Michael and Gabriel are such fantastic villains. Gutted they never returned.
Though we could always pretend the Bald Master was just disguised as Gabriel 
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Lost Warriors: The Curse of Lady Macbeth
Another solid entry. Some nice ideas developed in this and I liked the concept of the Fuath. A nice take on Scottish folklore with the usual high standard of Big FInish aural landscape. On balance, this is a tale I would like to have seen televised. I actually think it would have worked better as a TV story than as an audio.
Christopher Eccleston comfortably doing his thing in this range of stories. He’s really rather wonderful in the role and it drives home to me just how limited his run of televised stories was. What he really needs, however, is a true classic audio story. I’m enjoying his stuff so far but not a one has blown me away yet.
Next up for me… “The Monsters of Metropolis”. Now this is a story I’m looking forward to. A sci fi classic backdrop, the Ninth Doctor and cybermen. All great ingredients but it really depends on the writer. So pleased to see John Dorney’s name on this. He has a knack of writing great Doctor Who. Will he do it again? Could this be the audio story that the Ninth Doctor’s been waiting for?
5 Likes
I finished Dark Gallifrey: Morbius the other day and really enjoyed it. Lovely use of ancient Gallifrey and I really like the way they incorporated the Doctor into this
Very much looking forward to starting the War Master set next.
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Working through the Silmarillion. Currently in the middle of the Siege of Angband.
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I need to read that book again!!
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The Ashes of Eternity - this is the one with the lovley mention of Uppsala getting incinerated by an asteroid in 900 years. I’m so sorry in advance, @Tian. Finland is always happy to take in Swedish refugees!
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Swedish refugees you say… Hmm 
Well as long as they aren’t from Norway I guess we could slot in some of them as well here in Denmark 
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I am about to start reading the new DWM comic set in Denmark. If it ends in some kind of destruction you are welcome here.
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I say Swedish because the last time I checked, Uppsala was in Sweden. I think Denmark will be safe when the asteroid drops. I just wanted to let Tian’s grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grandchildren know that they are welcome here! 
But I guess we have space for some of you Danish people as well. Please leave your Lego bricks behind but do grace us with your smørrebrød and wild parties 
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You can send all your LEGO bricks to me! I’ll keep them safe
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Got ‘The Hollows of Time’ on in the background whilst I write my review.
As you can all tell by the introduction, this is a “marvellous adventure”
Definitely not incomprehensible at all
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Halfway through The Other Side from the Ninth Doctor Chronicles.
Liking the way they’ve scripted Adam but had enough of Briggs’s ‘ay oop’ Northerner and generic London Rose. Glad they got the real Eccleston in eventually because I don’t think I’d ever have bought any more of these.
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Just finished this box set. Strangely, I had no memory of the last 2 stories so either I completely forgot, or never actually finished listening before like I thought I had!
Unfortunately the last one, with Derek Jacobi in, was a bit of a disappointment. You can read my review here - warning it has spoilers! (There’s not much to spoil about it though, it was a bit meh!).
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It’s strange how some writers from the television show transition nicely onto audio (Marc Platt possibly being my favourite example) and some … really don’t. Both CH Bidmead audios are, well, extraordinarily - almost deliberately, it seems - bad, and it seems the production of said audios wasn’t always harmonious.
And yet, he script-edited my very favourite series of TV Doctor Who. I found the seven stories from Series 18 packed with amazing concepts and ideas. Loved them all, from the themes of tachyonics to the unusual step of having a trilogy in the middle (and a less obvious trilogy directly afterwards) and ending with the mid-blowing power of mathematics in Logopolis.
But CHB’s audios? That’s another kettle of fish!
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Finished Find and Replace. Well that was really great, starts as a fun Jo and Iris story but then really emotionally hits you by the end.
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Blurbing my ongoing 1st Doctor audio binge thoughts here so I don’t clog up Discord.
Finished Guardian of the Solar System today; these Sara Kingdom stories penned by Simon Guerrier continue to underwhelm me. The framing device is far more interesting than the execution allows for, and each one of them so far has relied far too heavily on description of actions to be arresting. It raises some interesting ethical questions, and the visual of The Great Clock is striking, but it’s all too caught up in making Sara basically cause her entire character arc with a weird bootstrap paradox. It snagged a half point from me because of the prick-tease cliffhanger involving an unspecified Doctor, but I was glad to take a break from this and move onto
QUINNIS!! Marc Platt noodling over a throwaway reference made in the Series 1 to a pre-Totter’s Lane adventure with Susan? This is much more my speed. Lovely lovely Carole-Ann Ford is always a joy to listen to, and fifteen minutes in I’m already captivated far more by this story of the Fourth Universe and a town (city? planet?) made entirely of bridges and markets. It’s charming and evocative. It also gives us a good glimpse into the pre-television First Doctor, who is far more brash, confrontational, and hardy in this appearance so far.
EDIT - an update on Quinnis, which I just finished to little fanfare. It’s a really evocative and interesting location, and the way Platt manages to add layers and texture to the culture of the Stilt-Men in a relatively short span of time is a testament to his skill. I don’t know if it’s because I’m trying to listen to some of these in the background while playing No Man’s Sky, (because if I were an IRL space traveler, I would absolutely have my starship radio/spacesuit iPod on Big Finish at all times. With an infinite universe, maybe I’ll have time to finish up all the content) but the material action of the story sort of glazed over. Same thing with the resolution; that seems to be a common thread in the Companion Chronicles for me. Perhaps it’s because we’re removed even further from The Doctor’s POV than usual, but it can sometimes feel that the stories resolve in ways that are rather vague, hasty, or contrived. This isn’t a huge complaint - they all tend to wrap up neatly, but they also sort of wash off the memory quite quickly.
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My ranking for those three goes Paradise 5, Hollows, Leviathan. Paradise 5 is very likely my favorite Lost Story.
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My ranking would be Leviathan, Paradise 5 and Hollows of Time. My favourite from that series, however, would be Point of Entry - a really creepy piece!
I’m currently listening to Susan’s War: The Lost Son. An enjoyable listen so far.
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This morning’s Companion Chronicles entries were The Great Space Elevator and The Doll of Death.
I get the concept of the elevator, but I have a lot of trouble buying into it. Just seems too fragile and subject to unpredictable forces. The story seemed kind of vanilla, though I liked Wendy’s impression of Pat.
The other story started with one strike against it, as the title had me expecting that hideous killer doll from Terror of the Autons. Not in it at all, though. The story is all sorts of timey-wimey, and I though I got the gist just fine, I was never able to follow the action.
I was preoccupied by work concerns on the drive in, so I think I’ll give this one another go at home on the weekend.
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I’m genuinely shocked to see what you’ve got in second place - I nearly spat my coffee out in shock 
I’ve completed my relistens of the first series and am just going through my reviews now, so here are my scores;
#1.01. The Nightmare Fair ~ 6/10
#1.02. Mission to Magnus ~ 3/10
#1.03. Leviathan ~ 9/10
#1.04. The Hollows of Time ~ 1/10
#1.05. Paradise 5 ~ 10/10
#1.06. Point of Entry ~ 8/10
#1.07. The Song of Megaptera ~ 10/10
#1.08. The Macros ~ 4/10
8 Likes