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Post by elkawho on Feb 20, 2017 18:40:37 GMT
Agreed. This was an excellent story, and whole new way to look at Sontarans. They were actually scared! Well done!
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Post by omega on Feb 21, 2017 10:40:21 GMT
Did something different with the Sontarans while not playing them for comedy. Guest cast characterisation was a bit light, but that tends to be the norm with these single disc stories.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2017 22:40:11 GMT
Season 18 begins proper with this fantastic dark tale. Coming back, like a uncertain dread....The journey to the Season 18 Fourth Doctor truly begins.
And we know Big Finish is skilled at darkness. (DID YOU HAVE HAPPY MEMORIES OF THE FOURTH DOCTOR? IT'S TIME FOR THEM TO BE CRUSHED. K9 WAS PUT OUT OF HIS MISERY BY THAT MARSHMAN! BWHAAAAAAAAAAA!) |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2017 9:21:38 GMT
Wee bit OT but did the Doctor and Romana framing device of going to the pencil museum remind anyone of the rather stunning Ben Wheatley film Sightseers (if anyone's seen it)? One of the best black comedies of the past decade. The trip to the pencil museum was a rather prominent section. Quite unforgettable if you see it.  No idea if it was a tip of the hat from Cav and Mark to the film but I loved hearing it. Ben Wheatley, as well as being one of the best film directors working today (as well as the above he's done Kill List, A Field In England and High Rise) also directed Capaldi's Deep Breath and Into The Dalek, bringing some of his favoured actors in - Tony Way and the great Michael Smiley. |
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Post by number13 on Jan 11, 2018 13:26:20 GMT
The Eternal BattleI'm listening to series 6 all out of order! and it's a great series - I keep finding stories like this that I expect to be good and turn out so much better. This is a stonkingly good Sontaran war story by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright, a base-under-siege epic with the Sontarans on the inside and one of the few classic horror monsters that never showed up in the Gothic era coming to get them - zombies! Zombie humans and even worse, zombie Sontarans... I know this is meant to be a 'Season 18' series, but this story seemed to me to take the best bits from various Fourth Doctor styles and seasons and work them together very successfully: the horror of 13/14, the Doctor's peak flippancy of 17 and the science-fiction of 18 underpinning the explanation for it all. It's a serious story with war, death, undeath and death again and a moral lesson on the futility of war which ends up surprising even the teacher - but (although it irritates Romana severely!) the Doctor pops in some great one-liners and so do some of the Sontarans. The glorious warriors of the Sontaran Empire  are a varied bunch here, clones but all individuals and so well written and performed. When Sontarans start to abandon their rote battle training, get scared, think for themselves and accept help, we know things are very serious... Dan Starkey is as always the perfect voice of Sontar, playing both the old and the new: Field Major Lenk is a classic-series Sontaran, deadly serious and military but driven to actually be open-minded by the terrible prospect of defeat. Sergeant Major Stom seems more of a new series Sonataran at first and has some typical comedy exchanges with the Doctor especially. 'Logic is the finest weapon.' " I prefer grenades!"  But at the end of the day he shows he's far more than a mere clone and becomes another Sontaran who has his horizons broadened. Jamie Robertson's music and sound design are suitably epic; I could almost feel the squelching mud underfoot and the drenching rain but as this is audio that doesn't trouble K-9 and he has a very good story. As Mark commented upthread, Nicholas Briggs' direction is pacy and full of energy and so are the stars. Listening to them here, it's almost impossible to believe that it's nearly 40 years since Tom Baker, Lalla Ward and John Leeson played their TV characters; excellent performances, even for them. And one of the Doctor's closing lines seemed to me like a firm riposte to some new series storylines of recent years: 'Some of my best friends are soldiers' (with of course, a mention of the Brig.) Well said Doctor! One of the best 4DAs in a very strong series (O f course, human scum!) and highly recommended. Sontar-ha!
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Post by jonny on Jan 11, 2018 19:12:21 GMT
I bought this yesterday in Waterstones for half price. Looking forward to it.
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Post by kurumais on Jan 17, 2018 23:32:18 GMT
i didn't remember buying this one but the sontarans are me favorite enemy
i put it on just to get a taste, i have to say tom sounds great laila too
i might have to start getting into this range
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Post by shallacatop on Oct 4, 2018 16:36:44 GMT
Great little story. The use of the Sontarans here is more akin to their Early Adventures appearance in The Sontarans, which I like and think works a lot. Tom continues to impress. Romana treats poor K9 appallingly in this one! Wee bit OT but did the Doctor and Romana framing device of going to the pencil museum remind anyone of the rather stunning Ben Wheatley film Sightseers (if anyone's seen it)? One of the best black comedies of the past decade. The trip to the pencil museum was a rather prominent section. Quite unforgettable if you see it. View AttachmentNo idea if it was a tip of the hat from Cav and Mark to the film but I loved hearing it. Ben Wheatley, as well as being one of the best film directors working today (as well as the above he's done Kill List, A Field In England and High Rise) also directed Capaldi's Deep Breath and Into The Dalek, bringing some of his favoured actors in - Tony Way and the great Michael Smiley. It reminded me! Brilliant film; I think Ben Wheatley is terrific. |
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Post by Ela on Jul 5, 2019 21:27:24 GMT
Enjoyable story. Always enjoy a Dan Starkey Sontaran, the story concept was interesting, and I loved the insertion of little jokes in the story. The 4th Doctor, Romana II, and K9 are a fun team to listen to.
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Post by Star Platinum on Jul 5, 2019 21:46:26 GMT
I really enjoyed this story.
The sound design and music were on point, a great plot and most importantly of all, It took the Sontarans and made them supporting characters. It's a great opportunity to develop them as a race from a different perspective.
All in all a great story.
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ljwilson
Chancellery Guard
It's tangerine....not orange
Likes: 5,062 
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Post by ljwilson on Jul 6, 2019 7:58:35 GMT
Wee bit OT but did the Doctor and Romana framing device of going to the pencil museum remind anyone of the rather stunning Ben Wheatley film Sightseers (if anyone's seen it)? One of the best black comedies of the past decade. The trip to the pencil museum was a rather prominent section. Quite unforgettable if you see it. View AttachmentNo idea if it was a tip of the hat from Cav and Mark to the film but I loved hearing it. Ben Wheatley, as well as being one of the best film directors working today (as well as the above he's done Kill List, A Field In England and High Rise) also directed Capaldi's Deep Breath and Into The Dalek, bringing some of his favoured actors in - Tony Way and the great Michael Smiley. This is probably even more OT but I've been to the pencil museum in Keswick and one of my most used things is the fab mechanical pencil I bought there. Yes, I'm getting old. |
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are a varied bunch here, clones but all individuals and so well written and performed. When Sontarans start to abandon their rote battle training, get scared, think for themselves and accept help, we know things are very serious...
But at the end of the day he shows he's far more than a mere clone and becomes another Sontaran who has his horizons broadened.
