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Tag: Audio

Starting Fresh

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Review of The Marian Conspiracy (#6)
Big Finish Release Date: March 2000
Doctor/Companion: Six and Evelyn Smythe
Stars: Colin Baker and Maggie Stables
Preceding Story: The Fearmonger (Seven, Ace)
Succeeding Story: The Genocide Machine (Seven, Ace)

Apparently I just needed to start in the right spot.

After my last experience with a Big Finish audio adventure, I was a little reluctant to dip my toe back into the pool. Although previous forays had been enjoyable, I didn’t get as much out of my first Sixth Doctor story as I’d hoped. (Actually, it was only the first full-length one; I’ve heard a couple of shorts in which Six teams up with Jago & Litefoot.) I wanted to be as enthusiastic about Six’s adventures as I’d been about Eight’s, but something just didn’t quite click.

Good thing I persevered.

Having come into the middle of Evelyn’s travels with the Doctor in The Apocalypse Element, I didn’t quite “get” their relationship. Starting at its beginning, though, I was immediately charmed by Evelyn’s manner with him, and her refusal to take any of his shit. As a 55-year-old woman, she’s well established in her life as a history professor and knows her own mind. She has no need to feel in awe of him, as so many of his (especially younger) Companions have initially been. The more mature give and take between them makes for a refreshing change of pace—not least because it shows him not to be the brusque boor he often was in the televised stories.

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The Element of Distraction

Review of The Apocalypse Element (#11)
Big Finish Release Date: August 2000
Doctor/Companion: Six, Evelyn Smythe, and Romana II
Stars: Colin Baker, Maggie Stables, and Lalla Ward
Preceding Story: Winter for the Adept (Five, Nyssa)
Succeeding Story: The Fires of Vulcan (Seven, Mel)

A few months ago when Big Finish was having a sale, I managed to snatch up a few audio adventures for a song. Now that I have a bit of vacation time coming, I thought I’d listen to a few of them. Starting with the earliest release I had in my downloads, then, I jumped into one with Ol’ Sixie.

Perhaps it was simply the rigors of preparing for the approaching holiday while caring for a sick child, or perhaps it really was something about the story itself, but for what may be the first time, I found myself unable to enjoy a Big Finish drama to its fullest extent.

The Apocalypse Element follows the Sixth Doctor and his Companion Evelyn as they find themselves pulled off course (surprise!), and subsequently arriving at a time travel conference, where various temporal powers have gathered—including some Time Lords.

Over the course of the play, we learn that Romana, now Lord President of Gallifrey, is missing (along with an entire planet) and that the Daleks are involved. Eventually it comes to light that control of the mysterious “Element,” and its use as a weapon of galactic-scale destruction, is the Daleks’ objective.

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Turn Turn Turn

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Review of Seasons of Fear (#30)
Big Finish Release Date: March 2002
Doctor/Companion: Eight, Charlotte “Charley” Pollard
Stars: Paul McGann, India Fisher
Preceding Story: The Chimes of Midnight (Eight, Charley)
Succeeding Story: Embrace the Darkness (Eight, Charley)

I’m not familiar with many of Paul Cornell’s stories, but Father’s Day and Human Nature / The Family of Blood are both interesting and nicely self-consistent narratives. Knowing that Cornell wrote this story with his wife Caroline Symcox therefore gave me an optimistic outlook.

But despite the fact that it began with a direct continuation of the longer plotline centering on Charley’s experiences—the impetus behind the choice of audios I’m currently consuming and reviewing—I was immediately put off by a stylistic decision by the writers. Rather than the usual “film with sound” format I’m accustomed to for an audio drama, we get a voiceover. The Doctor is narrating the events in retrospect, telling us about the first time he met a character who becomes integral to the plot of the entire play.

Although the reason for this approach becomes clear some two hours later, at the end of the story, I personally found it distracting. I’d be rolling along with the narrative as the Doctor and Charley grappled with whatever setback currently faced them, and the Doctor’s voice would roll in with exposition. It pulled me out of the story every time.

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Chills at All Hours

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Review of The Chimes of Midnight (#29)
Big Finish Release Date: February 2002
Doctor/Companion: Eight, Charlotte “Charley” Pollard
Stars: Paul McGann, India Fisher
Preceding Story: Invaders from Mars (Eight, Charley)
Succeeding Story: Seasons of Fear (Eight, Charley)

There’s something deceptively luxe about an audio drama. Because all the visuals happen in your own head, the production values are higher than anything one could ever hope to see on screen. It’s like the intersection between reading a fabulous book and watching a fantastic film.

The more Big Finish (BF) audios I listen to, the more I love the format. In part, it’s undoubtedly because I’ve taken recommendations and chosen some of the better adventures available, but I suspect that the quality doesn’t vary as drastically in this medium as with television. Those with broader audio experience can correct me if I’m wrong, but I’d be surprised to learn there was a BF equivalent of, say, Timelash that gets almost universally panned.

A review of a BF audio, then, comes down almost entirely to story. Certainly if there were a voice actor that grated on the nerves for some reason, that might be something to mention, but for the most part, all I can think to critique for my readers’ edification is the plot. Spoilerphobe that I am, this fact leaves me in a bit of a predicament.

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Launching a New Chapter

Review of Storm Warning (#16)
Big Finish Release Date: January 2001
Doctor/Companion: Eight, Charlotte “Charley” Pollard
Stars: Paul McGann, India Fisher
Preceding Story: The Mutant Phase (Five, Nyssa)
Succeeding Story: Sword of Orion (Eight, Charley)

Welcome to my new series of reviews! As of today, I’m officially adding Big Finish audio adventures to my repertoire. Bowing to the will of reader poll voters and using the advice of friend and podcaster Paul Greaves, I’m starting with Eighth Doctor Paul McGann’s first foray into audio.

I’ve heard Paul say, when asked, that he started fresh with his characterization of the Doctor when he began audio work. He’d not really had a chance to develop Eight much in The Movie, so it makes sense he’d jump at the chance to explore the character further. Every once in a while, I could hear a tinge of the Doctor of the TVM here, but for the most part, I have to concur that Eight is a “new man” on audio, and it’s a man I quite adore.

You may remember from my previous post about Big Finish that I’ve heard a few adventures before (most of the four series of Eighth Doctor Adventures, Dark Eyes (the first set; the second still awaits its turn in the earphones), and two or three individual stories with other Doctors). I’d also managed to get my paws on Storm Warning before—though it’s been a couple of years—so as I listened this time, I mostly knew what was coming.

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Confession #25: I Love Alternative Media

It was after I first saw The Movie that started to dip my toe into “alternative media.” I’d really enjoyed McGann as Eight, and wanted more of him. Of course, there was no more in the most-often-held-as-canon televised sector. Even then, though, I knew there are more versions of “canon” out there than there are fans, so I wasn’t too worried about where these other media might take me, especially knowing that many Old School Fans (OSFs) grew up reading Target novelizations and such (though, come to think of it, I might not have known about those at the time). Suffice it to say, the lure of Eight was strong enough to overcome any minor misgivings I might have had.

I started with Shada. OSFs will know this as the Four story that never (quite) was. Filming began, but was never completed, due to a labor dispute not directly related to the Who team. Re-imagined as an Eight story – but still with Romana II – the webcast version gave me a chance to learn about both a famous yet unfamiliar story and a still unfamiliar Doctor. It was a nice way to get a first taste – but I wanted more.

Enter Big Finish. For ages, Big Finish (BF) has been creating audio dramas (and other good stuff, but I have been most familiar with their audio work) in various fandoms. Their original content for Doctor Who is top-notch. I was lucky enough to come across some of the first, second, and third series of The Eighth Doctor Adventures that had been (re?)broadcast on BBC Radio 7. (Thank you, Interwebs!) Game over. I was in love with BF, and even more with Eight.

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