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Post by Star Platinum on Jan 2, 2018 8:08:39 GMT
Unit: The longest Night
An improvement to the previous two stories. But I’ve stopped caring about the regulars at this point.
A good plot (in a first for this series). But one that’s a touch, well difficult to swallow in the world.
ICIS bombing cities is a no no right now imo.
The only reason I’m looking forward to the next one is to get it over with.
6/10
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Post by Star Platinum on Jan 3, 2018 4:06:19 GMT
Dreamtime
I’ll rate this story if someone can explain it to me.
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Post by Star Platinum on Jan 3, 2018 4:07:22 GMT
Catch 1782
Kink in time, there’s a kink in your head!
I’m not sure what to make if this one. There’s nothing about it that really stands out and grabs my attention.
The story is functional enough, it’s a closed loop. But the writer doesn’t do anything new with the concept. They could have had both character active in the separate time periods, but as soon as Mel hits 1871, she basically spends the rest of the story in a drugged stupor.
My biggest issue is that it follows the Juggernauts. That was a great story for Mel. Lots of action and character work for her in that. But here, the writer basically has her sit on her hands the entire time.
A disappointment, utterly skippable.
4/10
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Post by Star Platinum on Jan 4, 2018 1:24:13 GMT
Three’s a crowd
This was dreadful, Davison seems disconnected, Peri is overly bossy and Erimem can’t carry the story on her own.
There’s nothing in this story that Gridlock doesn’t do better.
Do yourself a favour and skip this.
3/10
No more Colin Brake please.
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Post by Star Platinum on Jan 6, 2018 19:17:44 GMT
Unregenerate!
I’m pretty mixed about this one. One one hand there’s a great idea at the core of this story. (Forcing tardis brains into human bodies) but McCoy spends most of the story wheezing and gurning his way through it.
I do wish that he wouldn’t be written like that. I personally find it very grating to listen to an hour and a half of that.
Mel on the other hand has quite a bit to do (actually, feels like there’s been quite a bit of her lately) she’s resourceful and, I’ll even say fun to be around in this one. Bonnie certainly has come a long way since the 80’s.
Good enough, but nothing special. 7/10
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Post by Star Platinum on Jan 6, 2018 19:34:36 GMT
Unit: The Wasting
The only decent story from this spinoff.
Nick Courtney is back and he’s brought David Tennant along with him!
It’s a good thing the brig is back, chaudry couldn’t really support the series on her own,especially with her costars dying left and right. But the brig shows up and she just roles over for him!
David Tennant shows up and he is once again a delight as Brimmicombe-wood and his character is just as much fun as it was in sympathy for the devil. He also gets several great moments vs chaudry one he reveals his truth.
I’m glad this miniseries is over, I don’t think it had legs to support itself. I think BF should have simply gone post doctor classic unit if they wanted to do their own series. Well loved characters would have probably made success much more likely than what we got here.
7/10 barely.
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Post by Star Platinum on Jan 6, 2018 20:08:30 GMT
The Council of Nicaea
This was Fantastic! The last few stories with this team have been duds this story comes and it bares it’s claws.
Caroline Morris is outstanding in this story. She fulfills her characters destiny and leads the people under Arius’ banner and finds for him to be heard. While she can get carried away with her actions, (her outright rejection of the Doctor and Peri) she is worth the price of admission alone.
Peter Davison really seems to be enjoying this script, he’s really stepping up to match Morris. He’s walking a fine line in this story, trying to both preserve the timeline and protect Erimem from the consequences of her actions. That scene where he threatens to strand her in this time is super tense.
Peri seems to spend a great deal of this story chasing Erimem around. But the bond between them is storing and is tested once again in this story.
This is a great team and knowing there’s only a handful more stories with them left is a little disappointing.
9/10
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Post by Star Platinum on Jan 7, 2018 7:02:42 GMT
Terror Firma
The Eighth Doctor has returned from the Divergent Universe, except he brought the bad storytelling with him.
We have the Eighth Doctor in his first and so far only encounter with Davros and it leaves quite a bit to be desired. In his last two stories, we’ve had the chance to explore Davros, plumb the depth of his depravities and really see just what kind of a person he is. But here we have a Davros that isn’t himself at all, he’s loosing himself to the emperor half of himself and the other half being oddly petty.
The other thing he did which I didn’t care for was the virus, it felt far too fan fictiony, it feels like he took the thought experiment and blew way more significance into it then it needed.
Hokey pokey, seriously? Worst party ever. Is the English resistance a bunch of 6 year olds or are they suffering from Dalek idiocy beams?
All that aside my biggest issue is the the plot twist. That was a terrible idea. A twist like that really needs the listener to be attached to the characters. It doesn’t work when you throw new characters at us and then do that. It doesn’t bother me what Davros did to Samson and Jenna, doesn’t seem to bother Doctor, seeing as he’ll never mention either of them again. Imagine if that had been Erimem, or Evelyn. That’d be a huge shock.
All that aside, C’rizz gets some good development. He’s starting to simmer nicely.
Bad, very bad.
4/10
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Post by Star Platinum on Jan 12, 2018 5:05:39 GMT
Thicker than water
Absolutely beautiful. Maggie is wonderful as Evelyn and this story is a real treat.
I don’t have much to say about the plot, but the real meat of the story is our three regulars. Colin, Maggie and Bonnie are wonderful together and give us a nice twist to the traditional departure story.
The departure is so subdued. You can tell it’s aiming for a green death sequence departure but being audio it’s not easy to do. I don’t think it was as childish as he later says it was. I do think there was too much left unsaid.
This story is always a delight, and yet it is a relief knowing there is more to come for the Doctor and Evelyn.
8/10
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Post by Star Platinum on Jan 12, 2018 5:06:39 GMT
Cybermen: Scorpius
Call backs to sword of Orion? That was forever ago.
Karen Brett is interesting. She’s the new president and it’s clear the cybermen have their cyber eyes on her.
Paul hunt is an interesting cypher, it’s clear he’s working for the cybermen, but if he’s totally on side or if he’s trying to use them is still up in the air.
Interesting stuff. Looking forward to Fear.
7/10
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Post by Star Platinum on Jan 12, 2018 17:42:30 GMT
Live 34
That was brilliant. The first doctor lite story I can think of. It’s a nice change to see the effects of the Doctor from the point of view of a civilian. Hugely creative. The censorship of the story leaves just enough to the imagination that can be inferred by the listener. That makes it all the more terrifying.
My only issue is the regulars don’t get too much screen time. Hex is still very new, and this story doesn’t do much to advance his character. Granted, it does more than moffatt did with Rory’s career.
Excellent stuff.
9/10
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Post by Star Platinum on Jan 12, 2018 21:48:54 GMT
Cyberman: Fear
Karen isn’t quite sounding all there, and her choice of words are odd, I’m thinking some kind of slow conversions.
This one really just established Paul hunt as the big threat, now wether he’s using them or he’s just a tool for the cybermen is up in the air.
Good stuff 7/10
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Post by Star Platinum on Jan 14, 2018 20:09:42 GMT
Scaredy-cat
What a waste of time that was. A bad concept about evil. Coupled with the neat idea of visiting a newborn planet.
The morphic field stuff made no sense in Torchwood and makes even less here.
Mix all this with actors that sound like they’re only here to cash a Cheque and you have a recipe for disaster.
Skipping this won’t make you a scaredy cat. It’ll make you luckier than anyone that’s had to listen to this drivel.
1/10
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Post by Star Platinum on Jan 14, 2018 20:19:31 GMT
Sarah Jane Smith: Buried Secrets
It’s funny how life can be sometimes. I’ve been playing a fair bit of assassins creed 2 lately, with a fair bit of it dealing with the Medici family, and then I come to this story!
Generally, it’s a step ahead of the previous series. The bad 80s buddy cop soundtrack is gone (much to my relief) and replaced with something much more to my liking.
Between this and Unit: The Wasting, Harry’s presence is really being felt. It’s nice to know that the character isn’t forgotten. (He does tend to get overlooked when people talk about the Tom Baker era)
The story spends a fair bit of time setting up the next three releases, it already feels much tighter knit than the previous series.
The plot itself is nothing to write home about, and frankly Sarah’s lack of credulity about the prophecy being about her is surprising. She’s traveled in time to Italy in roughly the right time period. It’s totally logical for the prophecy to be about her. Unless I’m being really thick and she was just playing for time.
A welcome return for Sarah Jane, looking forward to her trip to the arctic. Brrr.
7/10
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Post by Star Platinum on Jan 14, 2018 20:24:21 GMT
Cyberman : Conversion
A cybermen on every street corner, things are not looking good.
Frankly, this story feels like a setup for both series 2 and Telos.
Karen is undergoing a slow conversion, and Paul Hunt’s backstory is revealed. Barnaby kisses his way through the story (felt like that went on a bit too long imo.) and barely makes his way to the android flagship. Not to mention the seeds of a romance between Liam and Samantha.
It’s more of an ideas story than anything else, but I’d loved to have seen how humanity dealt with a cyber occupation.
Good, but mainly setup for the most part.
7/10
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Post by Star Platinum on Jan 18, 2018 18:32:48 GMT
Singularity.
There’s not much for me to say about this one. It’s not a bad story by any means. But it just didn’t engage with me as much as others have.
That’s not to say it’s a bad story by any means. Davison is engaged again after a bored performance in threes a crowd and Strickson is a nice treat after nearly fifty releases.
There are some near moments. Turlough has a great speech about halfway through about changing history and the idea of humanity invading its own past is a near one that will be done again in the future.
But it took me three days to finish this story and I wasn’t driven to listen to it.
Good enough, but not engaging.
7/10
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Post by Star Platinum on Jan 18, 2018 18:38:47 GMT
Cyberman: Telos
If I had to compare this to Dalek Empire, the closest comparison would be the end of series 3. A battle in space, Briggs sets up with some great imagery. (The wrecked planet, searching for the tomb in space is great.)
Barnaby and Riordan manage to put aside their differences and destroy the tomb.
This is a great story with some great moments sprinkled throughout. It leaves itself set up for season 2, but it seems like that wasn’t the immediate plan, given the gap between series.
Good stuff, not as strong as Empire, but a mini series well worth a listen.
8/10
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Post by Star Platinum on Jan 20, 2018 17:51:13 GMT
Other Lives.
The first good truly enjoyable story for this team since Natural History of Fear.
It’s not perfect, there are a few too many coincidences, it’s like the massacre, but Stephen and Anne chaplet has doubles as well.
The world feels a little too small in this story, everyone interacts with each other, it makes the world small.
That being said, this is a huge step up from scaredy cat, all of the actors are engaged, and sound like they’re having a good time.
It’s a nice change of pace for the Doctor, he doesn’t get many chances for a slow relationship like this one. It’s a chance for him to see a life he could never have.
Solid stuff, best story for this team in quite some time.
8/10
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Post by Star Platinum on Jan 20, 2018 18:03:24 GMT
Pier pressure
I can’t really speak for the plot, as there wasn’t much of it I picked up on.
The big draw for me in this story was Roy Hudd’s Max Miller. He was delightful. Larger than life, and a real treat to listen too.
The Doctor was a bit off in this story. Closer to his season 22 self. But even then, I can hardly see him attacking someone with driftwood as his first reaction to a problem.
Decent, but an under utilized Max Miller really helps.
6/10
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Post by Star Platinum on Jan 20, 2018 23:50:18 GMT
Snow blind
Call backs to seeds of doom? Been a while since I’ve seen that one.
So, another good solid story, nice and pacey.
I had Morgane pegged, Briggs seemed too obvious. And I was wrong. But not completely, I will admit that I totally forgot the pilot.
It’s always good to hear Jacqueline pierce. Always puts in a good performance.
That Sullivan twist! That’s clever. Due to his heritage, I trusted him implicitly. Smart move Bishop.
7/10.
Looking forwards to how the Sullivan twist plays out.
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