bobod
Chancellery Guard
Likes: 2,759
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Post by bobod on Feb 27, 2016 17:57:50 GMT
Here's the thread for discussing Deliver Us from Evil this coming week (and beyond). This play is a sequel to both 34 Beneath the Veil and 35 The Enemy Within. ALL the information you need is recapped/flashbacked in Deliver Us... so there's no need to worry if you're approaching it without having heard those two. I'm just making sure folk know in case they want to 'do the homework'. And both of those are favourites of mine so I'm taking the opportunity to plug them.
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Post by kimalysong on Feb 29, 2016 21:30:55 GMT
So not going to lie I found this one really hard to get into. There could be a lot of reasons for that. I didn't really know the characters and have not heard the previous two background stories so I found it really difficult to connect to anyone in this. I am also not the biggest fan of devil possession stories. I hate the Exorcist for example.
However I did really love the performance by Simon Kent as Alfie Chapman. Not sure why but whenever he spoke I pictured Dan Duryea in my head...one of the greats at villains. I also liked the used of photography capturing the victim's fear at the moment of their death. Obviously that has been done before, perhaps my favorite example in the film Peeping Tom. But I think it is an interesting concept the voyeurism of it.
I am also very excited for the next one an Amy and David story.
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Rob Morris
Big Finish Creative Team
Avoiding this place for a while as it's become somewhat toxic.
Likes: 781
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Post by Rob Morris on Feb 29, 2016 22:31:13 GMT
Yes, I was very aware there was a danger of you not connecting to them, certainly it does tie up a lot of plot threads (including picking up on Sabrina and Amy's falling out over a mere trifle in Carriage of the Damned) so I think this was the one which was most going to cause new listeners most trouble.
Both The Enemy Within and Beneath the Veil are very good, of course. But you kind of know how it ends now.
We all have some triggers which make us a little queasy with some types of tale, though. I can cope with the Exorcist but it is coping and I really have no inclination to see it again.
And with Tainted Love next you will be properly prepared for where things will go this year...
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Post by kimalysong on Mar 1, 2016 0:04:56 GMT
^ Not entirely sure how spoiled I am for Enemy Within and Beneath the Veil because I don't think I understood everything happening in this release. At the very least I am sure some of it will be new to me when I finally listen to those.
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bobod
Chancellery Guard
Likes: 2,759
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Post by bobod on Mar 1, 2016 11:00:33 GMT
I was bored watching The Exorcist. I saw it in the cinema and was totally unmoved. Ghostwatch never bothered me either. I must be hard stuff. Or dead inside.
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Post by silverednickle on Mar 1, 2016 13:28:54 GMT
This tale can be tricky because basically all of the characters seem to have a second persona they also play. Even as veteran, I still have moments remembering which one is which. It's a great story tieing up a lot of loose ends, but maybe a little more time to explain where everyone is coming from. Speaking of lose ends, I'm happy that things have sort of been reorganized. Perhaps one of these days Sabrina and company will break into the full cast. She could have a plus two, whether intended or not, for the wedding.
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Post by elkawho on Mar 1, 2016 14:08:01 GMT
This was a very different post-Bloodlust release than we've had. All the others were stand alone character pieces while this was a much more horror driven conclusion of a story arc. I can see it being tough for those who haven't heard the first two. There are some great performances here, but I actually think that the two stories that introduce these characters are much better stories. I did really love the end of this one. It's really a "be careful what you wish for" story, isn't it?
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Post by Trace on Mar 2, 2016 5:31:24 GMT
I was struck during this listen by just how clear it all came to me 2nd time round! My first listen when it was first released, I was so confused by whose soul went where, who was in whose body, who was dead, in hell, or in the motel! This time--much better! This is really an ensemble piece with Sabrina and Amy framing the piece, 10 years after the original events took place. I love how the paths of these five hapless victims (yes, even Danielle and Alfie are victims here) cross with potentially catastrophic results for all of humanity. It has an urgency that is not always the main focus, but here it is. I like all five...is it a little weird to like a couple serial killers and the Devil's offspring?
Things I want to know: how did Sabrina remove her curse? Did it have something to do with Gerard Stiles' head? I can't seem to recall
Anxious to read more reviews! A great story, full of urgency, and wonderful characters!
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Rob Morris
Big Finish Creative Team
Avoiding this place for a while as it's become somewhat toxic.
Likes: 781
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Post by Rob Morris on Mar 2, 2016 9:32:52 GMT
At the end of Carriage of the Damned she allows herself to be possessed for a moment by Gerard and that drives the demon out of her. So she's now cured.
I guess demons don't like company much. Antisocial bunch.
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bobod
Chancellery Guard
Likes: 2,759
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Post by bobod on Mar 2, 2016 10:21:23 GMT
However I did really love the performance by Simon Kent as Alfie Chapman. He's in some of the current bumpers on Dave. I see him every week when I watch Alan Davies - As Yet Untitled.
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bobod
Chancellery Guard
Likes: 2,759
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Post by bobod on Mar 2, 2016 10:24:16 GMT
I love the character of John - possibly slightly more in The Enemy Within, as there's something very funny about the Son of the Dark Lord, sitting waiting in someone's head, being forced to be an incidental character in a story he can't really influence. He's got more power in Deliver Us... so the humour is different.
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bobod
Chancellery Guard
Likes: 2,759
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Post by bobod on Mar 4, 2016 11:00:29 GMT
This was a very different post-Bloodlust release than we've had. All the others were stand alone character pieces while this was a much more horror driven conclusion of a story arc. I can see it being tough for those who haven't heard the first two. There are some great performances here, but I actually think that the two stories that introduce these characters are much better stories. I did really love the end of this one. It's really a "be careful what you wish for" story, isn't it? I wouldn't have wanted to be the person writing a sequel to either Beneath the Veil or The Enemy Within, never mind to both of them. Hard acts to follow. Those two, probably more than anything, are what made me fall for Dark Shadows. I'd heard a couple of the very early audios already which mostly I'd found hard to connect to because I didn't know the show. I can't remember if I'd heard House by the Sea by then - I think it was actually just afterwards - but that also helped get me into town.
Beneath the Veil especially attracted me to the show since I could get a handle on the town and the bar and the characters, and it helped that I thought KLS - in a grounding supporting role - was just fantastic. And The Enemy Within - though set out of town - had the same vibe, and the brilliant phonecalls to Carolyn and Jim helped to connect it. These two audios made me want to start watching the TV show. And those audios, and watching the show from episode one onwards and refusing to watch any episode other than the next one, have really cemented the show for me as being about Collinwood and Collinsport, and the things that happen to the folk that live there. I never buy into in the same way the ones that take our characters elsewhere off on some jaunt/adventure - most of them are very good but I just don't connect to them in quite the way I do to the Collinwood/sport ones. And as good as Nicholas Blair and Adam were on first arrival, I got totally bored (and didn't watch any for months) as their story dragged on and on and was involving the townsfolk less and less. I'm kind of the same with Barnabas and Angelique - they feel divorced from the town and so I am always at a disconnect from them. (I'm not sure yet how I am with the trips to the past - I got bored very quickly with 1795 and was desperate for Vicki to head back to the 1960s and the 'proper' show. We'll see how I get on with 1897 now that I'm in that area.)
The Enemy Within needed following up at some point as the John story was on-going, but I actually liked the open-ending of Beneath the Veil - a couple more dangerous people heading out into the bigger world. I don't think we actually *needed* to hear what happened to them next. I did, however, then enjoy the two lots of trouble being thrown together. And I definitely want to hear more Cyrus and Sabrina. Chris Pennock is quite a full-blooded performer, isn't he? He really goes for it. I'm nowhere near him in the TV show yet so I only know him from the audios. At the moment, from my limited experience of him, he reminds me of Don Briscoe - they have TOTALLY different timbres but neither of them hold back when performing, they're full of gusto in the same way. I'd loved to have heard Don giving his all in an audio.
What a lot of words - I think I even remembered to mention Deliver Us From Evil occasionally.
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Post by silverednickle on Mar 9, 2016 3:10:48 GMT
1795 is more of a fatalistic tragedy story, so having Vicki continually try and fail to correct the past does start to drag. In the 1990s version, Vicki actually ends up saving the Collins line in 1790 to much confusion of how time works.
1897 it's quickly established that Barnabas really derailed the past and he's continually trying to figure out how to right what he's messed up and solve his mystery in the past. Plus you have a few rather eccentric characters to keep 1897 interesting. Plus you have the lovely writer Violet Welles helping author the show, which leads to some fresh storytelling and the element of humor within Dark Shadows.
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Post by barnabaslives on Mar 9, 2016 6:49:26 GMT
I'm not terribly keen on the Spawn-of-Satan theme myself, but this story is head and shoulders above its sort as far as I'm concerned. I adore the story and the fact that it takes care of many matters at hand while leaving the door open, instead of leaving off in a complete cloud of doom and despair as if doing so purely for the sake of sequels.
I still can think of no other reason I found this story so easy to visualize that it was nearly like watching the original series except that the author has a remarkable gift with words. Also I thought there was a lot about this story that was wonderfully poetic, as well as an ending that offers to engage the listener in a little soul-searching about what the most satisfactory outcome really could have been.
It was also so very well performed as usual, by everyone. Chris and Lisa just as awesome as ever. I especially love the way Danielle is portrayed, though - just everything about her seems like it's channeled into being genuinely scary. Even Angelique Bouchard has to actually speak French before the hair stands up on the back of my neck, but Danielle Roget can do it with just an accent.
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Post by barnabaslives on Mar 10, 2016 2:11:03 GMT
As a sort of Easter Egg to this story I suppose... if I recall correctly, in one of the Big Finish Dark Shadows audios, we actually get to hear the (non-sexually-explicit, thankfully) conception of the Antichrist from this tale?
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Post by silverednickle on Mar 14, 2016 14:03:40 GMT
Yes in Fall of the House of Trask does cover how John got into Cyrus' head, which itself was similar to Deliver Us from Evil by bringing together a ton of lose ends from even earlier audios such as The Poisoned Soul, The Carrion Queen, and London's Burning.
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Post by lurkerintheshadows on Apr 24, 2016 16:21:42 GMT
I hadn't actually checked out the cast list for this one before listening, apart from knowing that Cyrus, Sabrina and Amy were involved, so the return of Alfie and Danielle came as a surprise - a pleasant one, as I enjoyed seeing two strands from the 1973 episodes finally intertwine. And yet again, humanity in the Dark Shadows world comes across as more monstrous than the monsters, as serial killing Alfie seems more abominable than the supernatural creatures we meet - I mean, if you're the son of the Dark Lord, your pretty much set out on a particular path, like it or not, but Alfie's choice to be a killer makes him seem all the colder. Kimalysong has already mentioned the influence 'Peeping Tom' has on Alfie's m.o. here, which was a nice reference - and good to see that modern DS will allow the classics of the genre to show their influence, even if not as blatantly as the original would just lift huge chunks of literature and film and retool it to suit.
I loved the grimly humorous ending to the piece, which so fitted all the characters involved and the situations they haven't quite escaped - still keeping the monster chained up in the dark, whether literally or figuratively.
I'm particularly happy that Christopher Pennock is throwing himself so whole-heartedly into the range, and particularly that he gets the chance here to play the 'John' side of the character, even if I've yet to see the original series Parallel Time Cyrus/John in action outside of some clips here and there. One of the first major storylines I saw when I became a fan of the series was the 1840 saga, and Chris's turn as the bitter, conniving, duplicitous Gabriel Collins was so enjoyable and amusing that he's always been an integral part of DS for me. I also hope that Gabriel will get a more prominent appearance in the series at some point (beyond his Yuletide cameo in a previous release, of course), as it's a delicious role that I can fully imagine Mr Pennock seizing upon eagerly again after all these years.
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Post by silverednickle on Apr 25, 2016 0:37:19 GMT
Unfortunately, Big Finish hasn't focused so much on timelines. Sure, certain characters who live beyond their timeline will reminisce, but I think the writers feel that too many timelines would be hard to be friendly to the new fans. For the longest while, we rarely even had any 1840 stories.
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Post by lurkerintheshadows on Apr 25, 2016 9:27:24 GMT
I can see that moving things forward rather than jumping back too much into the past might be the preferred option, but I think there will still be excursions into the past now and again as long as a compelling story presents itself. I'm sure there's still unfinished business in the story of the 1840 branch of the family, not least of which involves a murder that Gabriel committed that creates a particular problem for the future Collins' existence. Not that I think every plot point needs tidying up, I'm just a massive fan of the time distortion and parallel time aspects of Dark Shadows that such a story would open up.
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Post by Trace on Apr 26, 2016 4:32:06 GMT
Shadows, your avatar--did you create that second book cover? I know NoDS never got published, but I didn't know if perhaps the cover had been designed and just never made it onto a novel.
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