To each their own I suppose!
4 Likes
Listened to “The Dalek Defence”.
The scenes with the Doctor and Davros are great, but the story itself isn’t much to write home about - apart from the sigh twist at the end…
Both stories in Dalek Universe 3 has been 3,5/5 
for me, not bad by any measure, but somewhat without wow-factor.
Just one more story left in Dalek Universe now 
Hoping for a finale that can dazzle me a bit.
4 Likes
Listened to Torchwood Goodbye Picadilly.
I love the pairing of Andy and Norton, they’re very different characters. Andy’s a lot more open whilst Norton would makenthe 7th Doctor proud.
The story itself is pretty good, I’m surprised at how much of the story Andy spends nude. The characters definitely drive the story plus the end is very satisfying.
Really reminds me I need to finish the rest of Torchwood Soho!
7 Likes
I’m listening to “Truth and Bone,” and nucleotides were mentioned, and I got flashbacks to my genetics and evolutionary biology class when I was just trying to have a fun time listening to the Paternoster Gang.
3 Likes
The Spectre of Lanyon Moor: Episodes 2, 3 and 4
Just such a classic story. In many ways, this is Big Finish being the classic-iest classic they possibly can be. Still love it. Granted, the story is generic, but that’s kind of the point. This is all setting, character and that feel of sitting down in front of the telly in the 1970s, winter drawing in and the Doctor facing off against some ancient/alien evil with his pals. It’s that story. The Daemons meets Terror of the Zygons but with Colin instead of Jon or Tom.
It’s pure Doctor Who fun and comfort, with some genuinely nasty moments (at least, they’d have had my very young self cowering behing the proverbial sofa back in the 70s).
I loved it when I first heard it. Still love it now, all these years later. 
11 Likes
Philip Hinchcliffe presents… The Genesis Chamber: Part 1
Well, I’m up and running with this story. So far, so good! Enjoying the world building, the banter between Four and Leela, and the general feel so far. Early days, but I’m curious to see where this is going. The hover car gave me Pirate Planet vibes, reminding me of the air cars in one of my favourite stories. There are shades of The Savages too, though this is clearly a very different story. Hmmm. Episode 2 tomorrow. Let’s see what I think after that? 
6 Likes
This morning, two stories that I had the same basic issue with…
In Braxiatel in Love, Brax is in love, which must not be for real, right? So we just have to wait to see what’s really going on. The early going went on too long IMO, but once we got to the reveal, I really got into this one.
In Every Dark Thought, like Brax in the previous offering, someone is acting decidedly out of character, and so we have to wait to find out what’s really going on. Unlike the previous story, this one did not improve for me. If anything, it got more bombastic and dull after the reveal. Didn’t care for this one.
7 Likes
The Stuntman!
Story two in Tenth Doctor Classic Companions is also a bit experimental, they’re clearly doing something about alternate realities or alternate possibilities or versions of people anyway across this box thematically. Here we meet Kent Novem and his beloved daughter Kasey-Ann Frost, a famous movie stuntman coaching her into stardom of her own. The 10th Doctor arrives for an autograph, but as soon as he gets her alone he starts trying to get Kasey-Ann to remember when they used to fight stone men together in various gardens, and when Kent Novem gets angry he fires a red ray out of his nose. Because they are trapped in a virtual world under the control of a Time War criminal and they have to escape.
There’s a lot more story to go after that, and I did like what they were going for in giving John Leeson some other stuff to do (and it is kind of fun in what it implies about K-9’s underlying personality), but I do wish the villain had been a little bit stronger and that we had more time for 10 and actual Nyssa to interact in the real world; but as they say at the end, they are meeting all out of order later in Nyssa’s life, it’s actually probably best not to share too many details for web of time reasons. A strange story, though different and pretty fun, the overall concept here of 10 and K-9 hunting down post-Time War criminals and tech and stray anomalies is great, and I did like the sound design in the section where getaway vehicles are changing from cars to trains to horses as they tumble through virtual states. Again though, why is K-9 in stereo lol, Howard Carter I have notes. 3.5/5
11 Likes
Finished The Lost Resort. That relisten definitely bumped this one up to a favourite! In fact it’s certainly become one of my favourite Five stories. It feels silly to say but I was crying non-stop during the last episode – it hit quite a personal connection for me. A truly unique and heartbreaking script and the ending is just perfect.
7 Likes
Finished The Diary of River Song Volume 2. Enjoyed that. A solid 3.5 across with Five Twenty-Nine standing out as a good 4. I was slightly irritated by the first story with the convenient amnesia trope to explain River meeting 7 but by the final story I was enjoying River vs 6 vs 7 a lot more. I did like how she was able to use the lipstick on 6 but knew 7 wouldn’t go for it so tried to drug him instead.
The final story went a bit ‘shouty, noisy, action without necessarily being able to tell what was going on’ but I did like how it wrapped up the box set quite well.
My favourite bit though was seemingly including Daniel Defoe just so they could do a gag relating to Alex Kingston’s break out role as Moll Flanders…
10 Likes
Quantum Of Axos!
Last story in the Tenth Doctor Classic Companions set (which I can’t say is an overall recommend) is this tale of an attempted escape by Axos from the temporal loop they were placed in by the 3rd Doctor. Some of Axos has leaked out of containment and they’ve gotten into the world of smartphones, one of the funnier ideas here is using the “false promises” element of the Axons from their original appearance and tying it to an app’s terms and conditions (though writer Roy Gill should be absolutely ashamed of himself for the “Clause of Axos” joke, lord help me). Their company is being separately investigated by 10/K-9 and adult Ace and…another K-9?
The story is pretty predictable and ultimately not really the point, this box set exists to do what it says on the tin, cozy meetings of The 10th Doctor with previous companions, and on that score this is probably the best one in the set! Tennant and Sophie have fantastic chemistry together, 10/adult Ace is a solid pairing I’d be happy to see again, and I do love having K-9 around, particularly when writers make him a supercomputer who also has actual dog-like traits and opinions on cats lol. So a predictable plot but good chemistry here, the second story has a strange plot but keeps the two leads apart in reality, the first is very experimental but pretty interesting though the leads never actually met. Weird set, it’s kind of like they decided to do three alternate School Reunions, but at least everybody had something to keep them occupied in lockdown haha. 3.25/5 for the set, I think I’ll revise Splinters to 4, The Stuntman to 3, 3.5/5 for Quantum
8 Likes
Listening to the first DMP audiobook, really good stuff. Very exciting and Purves/Marsh are excellent readers
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Working at finishing Shadow of the Sith so that I can start the next Benny audiobook.
4 Likes
I listened to “The Triumph of Davros” this morning.
Good solid end to this little Dalek Universe saga.
The 10th Doctor Vs Terry Molloy’s Davros here is infinitely better than the 10th Doctor Vs Julian Bleach’s Davros on screen!
I’ve become quite attached to Anya Kingdom, I am going to have to listen to more stuff with her
7 Likes
The Fifth Doctor novelisations are done now with Planet of Fire. It’s a good reading, but I think Mark Strickson would have been a better choice in part because David Banks has a different pronunciation for Vislor than Mark does in the TV story (but it’s not the worst established vs audiobook pronunciation difference for me). The post production was great and overall it’s a very solid novelisation.
5 Likes
The Genesis Chamber: Part Two
Still enjoying this. It is a fun world, with its herd-flocks of giant terrestrial bird creatures (that resemble enormous feather dusters), settler/savages and elitist city dwellers. There’s plenty going on, and it certainly feels in the spirit of mid Fourth Doctor televised stories (though the scope and aural vista is so much grander). Leela is always worth listening to, and she’s great here. She revels in the parallels between the so-called savages and her own people (something we’d see again on screen in her attitudes towards the outsiders on Gallifrey in The Invasion of Time). Am I gripped? Not exactly, but I am enjoying this story gradually unfolding. Tom is also nicely on form by episode two, clearly channelling his season 14 / early season 15 persona.
Part three tomorrow. Keep it coming!
2 Likes
Just listened to “I, Davros: Innocence”.
Oh yeah, I think this is a miniseries I am going to enjoy 
Mamma Davros is eeevil😈
4,5/5
8 Likes
Listened to Fourty-Five. Decided to skip the Hex audios in between for now cause I want to get to A Death in the Family.
Quite underwhelming, honestly, especially compared to 100. Every one except The Word Lord was thoroughly unremarkable. TWL, on the other hand, was a very interesting story, although it felt more like a test run for Nobody No-One than anything. Excited to see him again.
The Word Lord 8/10, the rest anywhere from 3-6/10. Very unremarkable anthology.
7 Likes
Commentary tracks for The Faceless Ones 1 and 3 from Whotalk with Frazer Hines, Anneke Wills and Brian Hodgson. Frazer Hines’ main contribution has been identifying which women he fancied/dated from the show. Somehow, he gets away with it though because he’s such a charmer.
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It’s weird hearing Jon Culshaw just being Jon Culshaw in this audio and not doing any impressions haha
6 Likes