Thanks! Depending on what else is out this year, I might pick this one up later then
Just let us know and we can give you a rundown but its fairly straight forward lol, I wish they did more with them but I’m super excited for Ray!
Yeah, you can listen to the set without doing the earlier ones. They refer to the previous set ones and there’s a bit of an arc going, but it’s nothing that hugely impacts the listening experience, so I’d say it’s safe. It’s a good set, too. And Ray is great!
Just finished Jago and Litefoot season 10 with “The Mourning After” and “The Museum of Curiosities”.
Utterly brilliant Whodunit here
A 4,5/5 and a well deserved 5/5
And a great cliffhanger for season 11
But (Inspector) quick question, Jago and Litefoot and Strax is between s 10 and 11 right?
Making my way through the Fugitive Doctor Box-set right now.
Listened to Gallifrey Warfare - what great story!
I loves how it wrapped up the Pandora arc, plus Darkel was so much better utilised everything about how shes portyated in this story is great. I like how Narvin is still never shown to be 100% trustworthy, but he is getting there espically with saving Romana and K9.
I was genuinely sad during Romana’s fakeout death even though I could obviously tell she’d survive.
My only minor issue is I feel like Pandora was defeated too easily/quickly, but at the same time Im not too bothered the rest of the series still has a lot of threats they set up that need to be addressed.
Listened to Omega for the first time yesterday evening and today - definitely a really fantastic story! I loved all the twists and turns (I half-guessed the big reveal, but not the full extent of it), and I think Omega himself was characterised perfectly. It’s interesting that this story plays around with some of the same ideas as The Reality War, with Omega becoming a victim of his own legend - I think it’s undoubtedly done more effectively in this story, but it does soften my opinions on The Reality War a little.
I haven’t listened to Davros in a couple of years, but I don’t think this is quite the masterpiece that Master is, so I gave it 4.5 stars (it’s only a whisker away though). Absolutely a story I look forward to revisiting in future!
The Very Dark Thing
Now listening to Fearmonger, my first audio with 7 and Ace together! Having loads of fun with this one
Feel free to hop into the Audio > Audio Club when you finish.
This morning, The Outliers. While an enjoyable listen, there’s one element essential to the plot that completely strained my credulity. Records indicate 20 people have disappeared when it’s really more than 175,000. And somehow, I guess no one picks up on this, not friends, loved ones, coworkers…
Started Time War: Cass. Keep thinking that both companions in this box set are interesting only because of their unique situation in canon rather than actually having a unique characterisation.
I just finished the first boxset of The Paternoster Gang: Heritage, which I loved! Strax telling his fellow factory workers to get rid of their chains and seize the means of production and starting a strike in the first audio is iconic! On to the next one!
I love the fact that audios I listened to around 25 years ago are still being discovered anew by fans. This is one of the things I love about Doctor Who - every story is still new to someone.
Does it count that I’ve been relistening to stories you listened to 25 years ago? I mean, it’s not the first time I listened to any of them, but in most cases it may as well be for all remember.
Though at this point, I’m near the end of 2017, not exactly 25 years. This afternoon was The Morton Legacy, which was pretty good with an obvious mystery…or was it? Not world-shaking, but I did like it.
Haven’t heard The Morton Legacy so no, it doesn’t count
In terms of the Main Range I’ve actually only listened as far as Shadow Planet/World Apart.
Finished The Very Dark Thing. It was fine, but probably the weakest of the set[1] so far. I’m not entirely sure what I’ll actually listen to next. I’ve got the set finale, The Twilight Kingdom, and Gallifrey: IE/EL on the docket, plus I’ve been working through Star Wars: Shadow of Sith which despite a slow start, is rather interesting.
It’s a sort of tie in to Rise of Skywalker, but boils down to the Sith Eternal tasking Ochi of Bestoon with hunting down a six-year-old Rey and her parents. Along the way Lando catches wind of it (while hunting his own daughter) and he and Luke head after them. All the while, Luke is having visions of Exagol and trying to stop a Sith threat.
The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield: Volume 3: The Unbound Universe ↩︎
And finally the second half of A Death in the Family. Fantastic story. Maybe even my favorite Big Finish so far. Evelyn and Maggie Stables are definitely missed.
Today’s listening:
The Skymines of Karthos to finish S2 of Benny Adventures.
Thicker than Water to continue my MR listening.
I’m really glad you enjoyed it! I think A Death in the Family is one of a very small handful of Doctor Who stories which are just perfectly constructed - everything in the story is there for a reason, and it all comes together not just as a fantastic story in its own right, but as the culmination of the entire Evelyn and Hex arcs up to that point. Personally, I kind of view this story as the definitive take on the Seventh Doctor; it could only really work with him, and it really takes his entire existing characterisation and somehow just elevates it even further, which is some feat given how great some of the Seven stories are which existed before this one.
Some other things I really love about this story:
- It has the all-time best Doctor/Antagonist confrontation scene at the end of part one, then it tops itself only three parts later!
- Speaking of antagonists, Nobody No-One might be the most genius concept for a villain ever, and he’s played perfectly here. Despite this story being a sequel and him not even being present for most of it, he makes an incredible impact. Besides the two aforementioned confrontation scenes, I love the bit where he speaks to Hex by the duck pond at the beginning - a real mood-setter of a scene
- I love how Hex and Ace each effectively lead whole parts of this story, and the way they’re characterised is just spot on. Seeing how these two companions, who are often at odds with their Doctor, have been unwittingly moulded by him is sublime. Hex, the “everyman” of the trio, finally finds himself back in a normal life but is unable to stop himself from trying to peel back the deceptions associated with it, while Ace, who often rails at Seven for his manipulative tendencies, completely uses and discards someone she’s come to love. Sophie Aldred and Philip Oliver do some really amazing work here, and I think this story is the high watermark for both their characters.
- If we’re talking companions, we can’t not mention Evelyn Smythe, who despite being a Sixth Doctor companion fits into this story perfectly. Maggie Stables is outstanding here, by turns sweet and grandmotherly, but also the fiery academic we’ve come to know and love - we get the former in her initial scene with Hex, the latter when she delivers her presentation on the time ship in part 4 (which is wonderful - I love that Evelyn takes absolutely no disrespect and is all too willing to shout back here), and then to top it all off, we get both sides of her in one scene during her final talk with the Doctor and subsequent fatal confrontation with Nobody No-One. I think this story is one of the all-time great companion exits, which is made all the more incredible by the fact Evelyn arguably isn’t even a big focus.
- I already touched on how I think this is the definitive story for Seven, but I want to highlight Sylvester McCoy’s acting here as well, because I think he gives his most memorable performance here. The reaction of his older self when he’s asked if he’s bothered about being dead is so unexpected that it gave me a real jolt on first listen. Despite not being in this one a whole lot, I think Sylvester really gets a lot of opportunity to show his range, and this audio probably has my all-time favourite scenes of his. It helps that he’s written perfectly too - the fact he has a calendar with all his friends’ deaths in it is such a wonderfully dark detail, and very appropriate for this incarnation.
- Just how incredibly intricately this story is plotted - the fact Steven Hall can kill the Doctor and bring him back in the same story, and make it feel natural, earned and easy to follow is a genuine work of genius.
- Lastly, the music is absolutely stunning, and is used in such a considered way so that it really elevates what is already a fantastic script and exceptional performances.
I’ve written loads here, but this is my joint favourite Doctor Who story of all-time, so Steven Hall deserves all the praise for pulling off what I would argue is the best-written Doctor Who story ever, and I would absolutely love for him to get the chance to write another (oh Fifty-Fifty, if only we lived in a world where you exist…)
Looking forward to seeing what you think of the rest of the arc - I’ve made it as far as Gods and Monsters, but I haven’t listened to anything since that for about two years. I really need to listen to Afterlife and the final few stories.