Not just me then. Everyone is have great fun with the recent Eighth Doctor boxset’s title
Only just finished The Road Untraveled here. The first two episodes are both solid 4/5 for me. I like it when things get a bit emotional and personal. The two scenes that get me the most are Soldier’s letters from his dad in the first episode and 8th saying how it feels to travel with family again. Only then did I confirm that the Doctor’s not manipulating Alex (something I heard he does a lot in VNAs? SO I’m a bit worried that he might be doing that…). He’s simply enjoying the time he finally get to spend with Alex, teaching him to fly the TARDIS and everything.
Just finished Doctor Who - The Eighth Doctor Adventures - The Time War - Uncharted One - Reflections - The Road Untravelled.
Now this is the good stuff! Love good character drama and every single actor brings their A-game to it. As a C’Rizz hater I am very happy to hear Westmaas put in a great performance!
It’s hard to talk about any of this part without spoilers but it’s a very solid 4* for me, and I loved it a lot!
Just finished Doctor Who - The Eighth Doctor Adventures - The Time War - Uncharted 1 - Reflections - Cass-cade.
What a fun timey wimey episode! With lots for Cass to do! Great performances all round, and also very fun and amusing dialogue, especially from the androids.
Just another solid story from a solid set. Finale later!
. Really enjoying it so far. I think I might start making a ‘good grief’ tally, however .
I genuinely didn’t work out the twist, which made it more fun (maybe I’m just naive).
Had it not been for The Five Doctors, would Jon Pertwee have been the only Doctor not to have faced the Cybermen on screen?
Finished Doctor Who - The Eighth Doctor Adventures - The Time War - Uncharted #1 - Reflections - Borrow or Rob, and therefore finished, here we go again, Doctor Who - The Eighth Doctor Adventures - The Time War - Uncharted - Reflections as a whole.
The first 40 mins of this story I thought were alright. Solid 3 or 3.5*. But the last 20 mins hooked me entirely and good lord am I excited for the next part of this series! Amazing performances all round, special props go to both McGanns, and well… I can’t comment on literally anything else at all without spoiling. But what a hell of a final end to that set.
Overall, a good set and the best Time War set since the Davros one! Nice, concise title too.
Listened to the free download of The Quintessence part one. I need to stop listening to these free stories, because I inevitably want to buy the full releases.
Currently starting a listen of all the Doctor Adventures ranges from big finish in timeline order according to eyespider (I’m skipping over the 4DAs i’ve already listened to and most of the 8th doctor ranges because that would take far too long). Finished destination wars the other day and quite enjoyed it
Just listened to “The Survivor” from the third War Master season “Rage of the Time Lords”.
I’m going back and forth between a 3/5 and a 3,5/5 with this one.
It was good but it is the third Boxset season where these secondary characters take centre stage with the Master popping in from time to time, and I just don’t feel the urge to connect with these characters because their fate inevitably is locked in by them hanging around the Master. I would love for this to be much less “Master-lite”, by the third season I would expect to have a better grasp of what makes this incarnation of the Master unique, but while Derek Jacobi does a fine job the character feels fairly “generic Master is Eeeeevil”.
If for instance the Time Lords had stuck a “handler” on the Master on his missions in the Time War, a reluctant companion of a kind, it would give the War Master someone more permanent to bounce off of, someone who knows the Master’s MO and knows to watch their back.
Still not sold on this range, but I know Leela’s 18th favourite Time Lord will show up in the future so I’m sticking with it for now
Best thing of the War Master stories for me so far is the theme, such a fantastic “dark and sinister” take on the Doctor Who theme. That is fantastic
A niggle I’ve started to develop is the performances of Mina Anwar, she just feels so very like a one note actor in all her different roles in the Whoniverse. Very little to differentiate the characters she plays in my eyes (well my ears I suppose)
“The Coney Island Chameleon”.
Again an attempt to create an emotional story for a character I have no reason to have an emotional response to, with the Master in the background.
Hope it all links up in the two last parts, because these stories do very, very little for me on their own…
Been slowly working through The Not-quite States of America. It’s okay, but not really holding my interest that well. Then I started 1634: The Bavarian Crisis this morning, so I’ll work on that and probably mark the other as unfinished.
“What the hell was that?!” Yeah, that was basically my reaction to The Time Vampire, the final story in a Companion Chronicles trilogy of stories featuring Leela.
It does time jumps, which can be tricky on television, but are even trickier on audio where you can’t supply visual cues as to where the action has gone. Nothing takes me out of a story faster than not being able to tell what’s going on or wher it’s taking place. And I struggled with this one, I must have listed to the first half-dozen tracks or so at least half a dozen times before moving on. I was just struggling to get a picture in my head of what scene I was in and so on.
Eventually felt I’d gotten enough of it to continue on, but honestly, I still can’t say I really have the whole picture. I’ve understood the basics, but really couldn’t elucidate the specifics if my life depended on it.
And that whole section at the end? Well, okay, understood that well enough, just really, really did not like it. And I’m still lost as to why K9 became unapologetically murderous.
Louise Jameson was wonderful in this, as usual, but the disc itself, really left me behind.
Finished Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Adventures: The Time War: Uncharted: 1. Reflections: Borrow or Rob and a bit confused by the plot. Guess you can’t do timey-wimey audio while sorting your files. Gotta have a relisten later…
Listened to the last two stories of War Master: Rage of the Time Lords.
A 3/5 and a 3,5/5
I wasn’t really blown away by this season box-set to be honest.
Summary
The Doctor and Master working together is always a good thing in my book, and the 8th Doctor and the War Master was a splendid combination.
These last two parts made for a decent story, but the first two parts of the box set feel a bit superfluous. It was a long two hours to say that the Master collects specimens with different attributes.
Also it wasn’t really till the last part that things really started happening with the overall storyline, and when it did happen it felt entirely too predictable for my taste.
I finished Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Adventures: The Time War: Uncharted 1: Reflections yesterday.
It was very good! Very timey wimey. Perfect for the Time War. And loving the character development across the ranges here - although I love Liv and Helen, this set actually feels like the characters are affected by what is happening way more. Very good cliffhanger.
.
and a 3,5/5 
