Finished Excelis Rising so I’m going to launch into the first story of the Geronimo box set tomorrow!!!
9 Likes
New Benny!!!
8 Likes
The Mahogany Murders went way darker than I expected; it’s almost a Cyberman story in some aspects, especially the way it plays up the body horror. The fact that it rather comes out of left-field in a story up until then about wooden gangsters makes the horror all the more delicious. It’s also viscerally real, in both the horror of things lost and the horror of returning to (or existing in) a body that doesn’t belong to you, or even briefly your own body that’s falling apart. Stellar stuff, 5/5.
I decided to continue through to Season 5 of Jago & Litefoot, starting with The Age of Revolution (4.5/5). Spoiler tagging this quite heavily because it’s difficult to talk about without revealing spoilers for Season 4, but the opening in medias res was an intelligent move on the part of Jonathan Morris (who is rapidly becoming one of my favourite BF writers) and the way the explanations are spooled out keeps the pace up without bogging us down in exposition. It lets the dialog and character beats inform us of how Jago and Litefoot are adjusting to the 1960s instead of spelling it out, and it’s coupled with a straightforward plot about traditionalists trying to brainwash the youth out of knee-jerk fear reactions and racism. Frankly, this is a plot you can get away with in pretty much any decade, which doesn’t say good things about England socially, although the speeches defending the positives of this new modern era were cute and powerfully delivered. Overall, a great start to the series, and I’m hoping for more good to come. The next one is Marc Platt though, so the jury is very out.
7 Likes
Finished Something Inside yesterday with my friends, thought it was pretty good! Tomorrow we’re listening to Memory Lane. 8th Doctor audios are so freakin good.
10 Likes
THE WAR DOCTOR BEGINS: 1.1 Light the Flame
My goodness, Jonathan Carley is good isn’t he? No difficulty, whatsoever, envisaging a younger John Hurt.
I loved that this story picked up immediately after ‘Night of the Doctor’. A surprisingly small scale story with strong character development. Fantastic performances all round. As per usual, the soundscape is marvellous, really taking me to the windswept devestation on the surface of Karn. A fantastic start to this series. 
16 Likes
Oh I think you’re in for a treat with this series. Carley is excellent, In my opinion the best recast on Big Finish’s books.
I think Light the Flame is very cleverly done, it feels exactly like a new Doctor story for the War Doctor would and like the beginning of a new era just as it should.
Seems strange to think that this series has my favourite ever War Doctor story and it doesn’t even have John Hurt in it!
Hope you continue enjoying the run.
13 Likes
Thank you. I fell way behind with BF releases during a period of significant change at work (plus, there’s just so much) and am enjoying getting back into the swing of things. I enjoyed the John Hurt War Doctor series 1-4, yet ‘The War Doctor Begins’ already feels like a step up.
I quite agree. It’s a pitch perfect opener in many respects. The mark of a good audio, for me (plot aside) is being able to visualise things properly. ‘Light the Flame’ scores highly in this regard (both for characters and setting). Also, by focusing on character moments, there’s a real sense of the emergent War Doctor. Recognisably the character we know by the time of “Day of the Doctor”, I also felt that sense of him figuring out precisely how he was going to interact with Gallifrey and the whole Time War scenario. Given that this starts directly after the events of ‘Night of the Doctor’, I’m glad the Big Finish team took RTDs approach to regeneration and basically dispensed with the whole regen trauma shtick. This Doctor needed to hit the ground running and, boy, did he deliver! It beautifully sets up the new era. Atmospheric. Thoughtful. A rather lovely start.
12 Likes
Listened to Memory Lane and Absolution.
Memory Lane was an interesting, fun affair for the TARDIS crew. I enjoyed it well enough, probably a 7/10 for me.
Absolution was actually good too, despite it’s seemingly negative rating on here. I thought it had some excellent cliffhangers, the tension was really there. There’s a few parts I didn’t care for, but overall it’s like a 7.5/10 for me
7 Likes
You lot have clearly been gaslighting me. You keep telling me how good some bloke called Jacob Dudman is in the 11th Doctor and Valarie adventures, but it’s obvious that BF managed to secure the services of Matt Smith and it’s just a special secret (you know like whodunnit in The Mousetrap).
Because it is Matt Smith in these, isn’t it?
Isn’t it?
17 Likes
I’m quoting from memory, but the line:
“It’s like a bomb only less… explody.” has got to be one of the most Eleventh Doctor lines ever written, and delivered in the most Matt Smith way possible! 
13 Likes
Favourite line so far (and bear in mind I’m only 20 minutes in) about the sonic screwdriver:
Valarie: Is there anything it can’t do?
Doctor: Wood and the macarena.
Actually laughed out loud as I walked to work with that one.
18 Likes
I’m not a fan of Absolution other than its absolutely stellar ending, but I love Memory Lane! I went on a big 8th Doctor binge months ago so it’s nice seeing someone else go through these stories now too!
9 Likes
Something that I really love is when I’m listening to an audio and a line just makes me involuntarily burst into a big smile or a titter. It happened several times during ‘The Lost Stories: Deathworld’, primarily because of the wonderful and lively writing of dialogue between our first three Doctors (and their pitch perfect delivery of said lines).
13 Likes
Very glad you’re enjoying it so far Delta!!
7 Likes
This morning, the last Unbound for me, Masters of War, not to be confused with all those War Master stories the rest of you have been enjoying.
This one was an interesting twist on the Daleks and Thals, and on Davros for that matter. Really nice to see the Brig as a traveling companion too.
I think the next maybe 10 stories will all be Companion Chronicles, before other ranges come into play.
8 Likes
I’m listening to Holy Terror. This is my first experience with Frobisher and I’m gonna have to look up some of his comic appearances because he seems like a fun companion for Six. The story is goofy and I’m enjoying it so far!
17 Likes
Ohhh yeah i won’t spoil it, but you have a great time ahead of you with this one.
11 Likes
You’ll have to hop over to the Audio Club when you’re done and join in the conversation there.
6 Likes
Listened to The Demons Within from the BBC Audio Originals range. A lovely, atmospheric tale in a haunted Scottish house. Gary Russell can be very mixed as a writer but this is a really good story from him! David Banks narration is great too, it really fits the story.
7 Likes
“Goofy” isn’t the first word that springs to my mind when describing The Holy Terror, for reasons that become clear once you’ve listened to it all.
12 Likes