|
|
Post by omega on Dec 15, 2017 6:07:06 GMT
DOCTOR WHO - FOURTH DOCTOR ADVENTURES » 7.4. THE DEMON RISES Released January 2018SynopsisA killer has been uncovered, but the mystery is far from solved. The Doctor, Leela, K9 and their friends are on the run, pursued from all sides. All the clues point to one place - but getting there alive may prove impossible. Something horrific is happening on Chaldera… and it has been happening for longer than anyone could possibly have realised. Now every life on the planet is at stake. Bar one. The dark secret at the heart of this world is about to be revealed. This story began in Doctor Who - The Fourth Doctor Adventures: 7.3 The Mind Runners(Note that this release is one of four collected together in Doctor Who - The Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 7A) Written By: John Dorney Directed By: Nicholas Briggs CASTTom Baker (The Doctor), Louise Jameson (Leela), John Leeson (K9), Sarah Lark (Jacinta), Alex Wyndham (Raphael), Robert Duncan (Krayl / Sternwood), Andy Secombe (Cloten / Shift), Justin Avoth (Cain)
|
|
|
|
Post by omega on Jan 18, 2018 10:25:54 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by Audio Watchdog on Jan 26, 2018 0:43:59 GMT
Well that was excellent. I think that dorney has written one of the greatest Doctor triumphant speeches in the history of the show. It was so good I played it back several times.
|
|
|
|
Post by Whovitt on Jan 26, 2018 1:30:54 GMT
A great story with a very surprising twist! It feels like they're moving away from making the Fourth Doctor Adventures as nostalgia trips and into a more New Series type of storytelling, but still maintaining the charm of the 70's. Also, did anyone else notice that they used the theme for K9 & Company for K9's entrance at the 30 second mark? I quite liked that  |
|
|
|
Post by number13 on Jan 27, 2018 16:01:58 GMT
4DA 7.3 The Mind Runners / 7.4 The Demon RisesThe two-episode 4DAs are great, but nothing feeds my fan nostalgia like a TV-length story. And this one is yet another winner by John dorney ! There's a shift in tone and theme around half-time (from 'Who Noir' to 'Monster Apocalypse Movie'), but this isn't a just linked pair of stories despite the two titles to fit the current structure of the 4DAs. This is the real thing, a classic four-parter with a mystery of murder and political intrigue and at least one super-villain to be unearthed. I enjoyed every minute of it, dark, complex and urban, with hints of something terrible lurking in the shadowed city and four inventive science-fiction ideas at work together. Any single one of them would have made a good story - with all four ideas in play and two especially strong guest characters, this is a brilliant, gripping listen and I guessed at least four different solutions to the mystery - and I was wrong every time! The Mind Runners are living other people's lives and the dead Digitals are embalmed as data and living the electronic afterlife to 'free' organic beings from their lives. Two great ideas for sub-cultures - but surely they both suggest there's something wrong with this world, even for a dying world, for people to make such choices? And there is, something massively wrong, which gave a whole new meaning to the B-movie slogan 'the monsters are in the streets!' and made an apocalyptic climax I hadn't seen coming at all, great stuff. Tom Baker has some trademark moments of Fourth Doctor flippancy (the more he's threatened, the more flippant this Doctor gets) but this is mostly the serious Doctor and his final confrontation scenes are epic, classic speeches given great performances. Leela's equally strong storylines have many memorable scenes and my favourites were those between Louise Jameson and Josette Simon (excellent as Officer Taraneth, an intelligent cop with an open mind), as the huntress tracks her prey through the city and shows how the skills of the Sevateem work in this urban 'forest'. And the episode 2 cliff-hanger is a jaw-dropper! Try waiting a week for episode 3 after that! I deliberately didn't read too much about this set in advance, so it was a treat to hear John Leeson appear in this particular story with a substantial role for K-9 after being left in the TARDIS for the previous two. Always ready to scan, blast and be entertainingly literal-minded, on audio he's also able to trundle at considerable speed and go through the foulest sewer with ease - but he still needs help with ladders and cars! (As announced by his plaintive 'Master, I shall require assistance.' Ahhh! ) And the final highlight - "Mr. Shift", played splendidly by Andy Secombe. A once good man and brilliant scientist transformed by a teleport experiment gone horribly wrong into 'a psychopath with a sense of humour', with a proper comic-strip villain's name, a shifting body able to be solid/liquid/gas and a mind shifted into evil. Possible to fight, seemingly impossible to destroy... I'm sure I wasn't the only listener rather pleased that John Dorney saved him at the end, to shift another day... Another terrific story to complete a highly recommended set; already looking forward to Vol 2 ! |
|
|
|
Post by omega on Jan 31, 2018 9:47:36 GMT
Poll's up.
|
|
|
|
Post by theotherjosh on Feb 9, 2018 15:50:34 GMT
A great story with a very surprising twist! It feels like they're moving away from making the Fourth Doctor Adventures as nostalgia trips and into a more New Series type of storytelling, but still maintaining the charm of the 70's. You said what I was thinking, but more elegantly. I'm just astonished that the 4DAs are still improving. It's amazing how good this set was. |
|
|
|
Post by fantasticalice on Mar 2, 2018 1:40:35 GMT
I bought these on 2 remits: Price and Leela. I don't know if they will hold a steady lower price but it's an amazing deal for so many stories. Although Louise commented about Jon Dorney being particularly good with female characters I also feel this was written by someone who listened to Gallifrey.
Leela continues to grow and I would say she's the Mirror equal to Zoe in regards to smartest classic companions. The writing in some episodes of Gallifrey and quite a few in the 4DAs show hpw utterly intelligent Leela is. I love the exploration of Leela's intelligence as it wasn't touched on as much as it should have been on telly.
We don't see that concept really looked at that much. We have fantasy epics with heroic protagonists but rarely do we get to see what someone with a genius OQ would do if raised in a tribal society. It's been lovely to not just follow Leela's unseen journeys and growth but also see how hyper intelligent and brilliant she is.
And Louise is just as much a part of that as the writers are. This was a brilliant twist and turning end to not just a 4 part classic story but to a 4 hour box.
A little bit more about Tom and Jon Leeson. K9 has a huge part in the last 2 stories and what's nice about it is it echoes the love ypu hear from the Tenth Doctor on seeing his old friend again. In the special features they comment that the Doctor sees him as more of a "companion" in these stories and he really shpws his worth. K9 is a beloved part of our childhood and he really shines on audio. I'd also say he has as many adventures on audio as we think he did on TV but fpr various reasons there weren't as many K9 episodes as our memories lead us to believe.
The Doctor is utterly Iconic. Everything from his borderline inappropriate sense of humour to his sarcasm to his cleverness and insight. I'm someone who loves every Doctor including David Warner and Peter Cushing.(although Davison, 1, and McGann are favourites)
Becaise of this I want to hear their Unique differences when I listen to or watch their stories. Big Finish is normally pretty gpod at this and this box set knocked it out of the park. This really could not have been another Doctor's adventure. The denouement and the way the Doctor reacts to it is so utterly Tom/4 that I am very glad I preordered this and got it on my doorstep barely a week aftet release.
I will likely preorder season 8 too. I have every reason for assuming it will be just as good and something very intriguing about a new companion!
|
|
|
|
Post by omega on Mar 2, 2018 2:11:29 GMT
Yeah, Leela isn't conventionally intelligent like Romana or the Doctor are, but has an open mind, is highly intuitive and can see right through the layers to the heart of an issue. A very good judge of character if lacking in tact, which her time on Gallifrey helps to temper.
|
|
|
|
Post by thethirddoctor on Mar 10, 2018 10:40:05 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by Whovitt on Mar 10, 2018 11:12:55 GMT
Where did you get the code from? |
|
|
|
Post by shallacatop on Sept 10, 2018 16:02:34 GMT
Pretty much the same thoughts I had with The Mind Runners. Great ideas and concepts, but they’re so confused. There’s just too many of them that’s it’s hard to reconcile them all and that this is in fact a four part story.
Ironic that it’s a rare extended story for Tom, but it’s something that could’ve been a great two parter if it used one of its ideas and ran with it. On the subject of Tom, he’s great in this, even if his speech fell a little flat for me; he’d not had any scenes with Mr Shift beforehand, nor knew a great deal, so it just comes out of nowhere with little foundation, for me.
It’s always nice to have K9, and he’s used really well.
Yeah, so a weird one for me. Hard to be too critical, but hard to be too praising.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ela on Jul 16, 2019 7:45:03 GMT
A great story with a very surprising twist! It feels like they're moving away from making the Fourth Doctor Adventures as nostalgia trips and into a more New Series type of storytelling, but still maintaining the charm of the 70's. Agree. I enjoyed the story very much. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Likes:
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2020 9:13:51 GMT
It goes to show...Tom Baker works best in a four parter 😜
as I said in previous The Mind Runners -fantastic story great performances but the vocal tinkering of many good performances (Josette Simon in the First two parts-The Mind Runners)of the cast really was distracting in a very dark,well performed story I would still give it a 5 regardless of this if it hadn’t been as when I first listened to it on CD I would have thought I had upped the speed of the playback
Go,listen to Josette Simon in CDNM-The Sontaran Ordeal-Andrew smith if you want to know why it was for me a bad idea.
But Perhaps it was Mr Dorneys idea and if it was ....Mr Dorney....nah lol
|
|
|
|
Post by Timelord007 on Dec 6, 2020 13:16:46 GMT
It goes to show...Tom Baker works best in a four parter 😜 as I said in previous The Mind Runners -fantastic story great performances but the vocal tinkering of many good performances (Josette Simon in the First two parts-The Mind Runners)of the cast really was distracting in a very dark,well performed story I would still give it a 5 regardless of this if it hadn’t been as when I first listened to it on CD I would have thought I had upped the speed of the playback Go,listen to Josette Simon in CDNM-The Sontaran Ordeal-Andrew smith if you want to know why it was for me a bad idea. But Perhaps it was Mr Dorneys idea and if it was ....Mr Dorney....nah lol Completely agree i love the longer Fourth Doctor stories as technically most of his tv storys were four parts. John Dorneys is like the postman he always delivers the goods. |
|
