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Post by Audio Watchdog on Aug 27, 2019 22:20:51 GMT
An Unearthly Woman due to my indifference to the recast of the first TARDIS team this one was always going to be the toughest sell in my mind going in so I surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I liked how the baddie used the atmosphere and weather of London to hide & move around in. Something I say all the time to designers is take what the space gives you, so it a refreshing change of pace to listen to that executed on an audio level. Ian & Barbara were both well drawn as characters and we had just enough of Susan to keep her interesting. River was on good form and overall the episode had a nice jocular tone with just enough darkness to not let it get silly. A fun start to the set.
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Post by nitronine on Aug 28, 2019 0:33:17 GMT
Thank you, I’ll leave The Web of Time for later Yes have you heard any of the eighth doctor sets as you may want to give the first take a miss until you have Yes I’m all caught up on those, and having heard the first story now I’m glad I was
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Post by barnabaslives on Aug 28, 2019 3:05:53 GMT
Just an observation- the credits. Is there a certain rule who reads them? So far they have hardly ever been read by the main hero actor, but this month this seems to have been shaken up and we had McGann read the credits in the Time War and now Alex Kingston here. Just wondering. I don't know the answer but it's a good question as I don't remember hearing it before. Besides these I was very pleasantly surprised to hear Peter Davison read the credits for some of the stories in The Legacy of Time.
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Post by barnabaslives on Aug 28, 2019 3:08:31 GMT
Well, I've heard An Unearthly Woman - 1 and 2/3 times in fact, since I tried listening to it last night but didn't finish before bedtime. Fanficcy and flirtatious or not (and even with my preferences and loyalities as to who I think should play The Doctor, Ian and Susan) I think it's absolutely priceless and just a joy to listen to. I hope I enjoy the rest of the set half as much as I enjoyed that.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2019 5:09:33 GMT
Well, I've heard An Unearthly Woman - 1 and 2/3 times in fact, since I tried listening to it last night but didn't finish before bedtime. Fanficcy and flirtatious or not (and even with my preferences and loyaliteis as to who I think should play The Doctor, Ian and Susan) I think it's absolutely priceless and just a joy to listen to. I hope I enjoy the rest of the set half as much as I enjoyed that. Yes it would have been absolutely wonderful to have had the original team but alas
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2019 6:09:54 GMT
Now being on the 3rd listen of each story and all I can say is each tale is a lloveable entity prett much carefully crafted.it would be so easy for River to be in your face but my feeling is that she isn’t she knows she has to play delicately with time in these stories and for me she does tread lightfootedly😉
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Post by elkawho on Aug 28, 2019 17:47:39 GMT
Oh, I guess I'm the only one who was disappointed by this set. The first and third stories worked best for me and really loved the cameos of the 2 Doctors. And it's always a treat to hear Christopher Benjamin as Jago, but on the whole none of the stories really grabbed me. I felt that this was the worst set in the range. Trying to stuff River adventures around the Doctor's adventures felt forced at times, as did some of the dialogue. For the first time ever I had a hard time believing Alex Kingston as River in parts of it. Maybe it's just where my head was at while listening, it's been a rough week, but I enjoyed he other sets in this range a lot more.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2019 17:58:00 GMT
Oh, I guess I'm the only one who was disappointed by this set. The first and third stories worked best for me and really loved the cameos of the 2 Doctors. And it's always a treat to hear Christopher Benjamin as Jago, but on the whole none of the stories really grabbed me. I felt that this was the worst set in the range. Trying to stuff River adventures around the Doctor's adventures felt forced at times, as did some of the dialogue. For the first time ever I had a hard time believing Alex Kingston as River in parts of it. Maybe it's just where my head was at while listening, it's been a rough week, but I enjoyed he other sets in this range a lot more. Sad to hear but as me and Tuigirl always say sometimes you need a different mindset. I found it fun from epsiode 1 straight through and very nostalgic . Unsually i listened straight away and was eager for it having listened and been up to date with most of the recent releases.I know in the past i used to pressure myself into listening because everyone else was but now i listen when I AM ready not for FOMO which can ruin something. I mean Here i am finally on Charlotte Pollard set 2 and tbh am actually enjoying it. I didnt find any of them forced all believable that she just happened to be there-One definitely grabbed me,there was melancholy on second,fun on the third and fourth.. Hope your week gets less rough and you get a relisten soon 😎
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Post by shallacatop on Aug 28, 2019 19:08:55 GMT
The Web of Time didn’t click with me at all. It’s just too reliant on being a prequel to The Web of Fear and having River avoid disrupting events: exactly the gimmick I feared when this set was first announced.
The way River handles avoiding events felt too forced and is explained through some clunky exposition that even the brilliant Alex Kingston doesn’t quite manage to sell. The exposition of the Doctor writing about the events of The Web of Fear in his diary and dedicating so much of it to Captain Knight. I can’t quite put my finger on why, as we know the Doctor keeps a diary and we know he shows remorse for those who die in events he’s involved with. I think the way it might be the way it’s explained in the story, which feels too convenient. John Dorney is clearly fond of the character, which is lovely, but expressing it through the Doctor seems forced.
I’ve met Ralph Watson, he’s a lovely chap, but his brief stint as Captain Knight in 1967 and his performance 52 years later caused a disconnect in my mind. I was just picturing River walking around with an old man, not the dashing Captain from The Web of Fear.
The best bit of the story was its initial concept of River acquiring the painting and showing more of her archeological side. Unfortunately, that’s quickly put to one side. I did love the Walt Disney gag at the beginning, though.
Not bad, but not particularly good either.
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Post by barnabaslives on Aug 28, 2019 20:22:06 GMT
I'm happy to say I did indeed enjoy the rest of the set just as much as I enjoyed the first story. Dorney's story is very interesting because it seems less flashy and more self-contained but a great story nonetheless. As with some other sets, Dorney seems to have chosen to do something a little different from the rest of the set and, I think very appropriately to the title, it did a wonderful job conveying the sense that River really is having to tread lightly within the delicate Web of Time rather than just party crashing into old adventures, and is fully aware of it - which for me seemed to cast a very positive reflection on the rest of the stories. In the poll I gave less that top marks to The Web of Time and The Talents of Greel just because {Spoiler} I had really been hoping that Frazer would get a bit of lipstick on him :-) or at least get a moment like Tim, and for some reason I struggled a bit with the recast of Chang
but by the time I finish my coffee and give more thought to whether that was fair of me (probably not), I'll probably upgrade my rating of both of them. It about goes without saying just how good it was to hear Henry Gordon Jago here, but a tip of the hat to Paul Morris for an excellent story and an excellent job balancing dark and light - a very serious but still fun story.
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Post by tuigirl on Aug 28, 2019 20:33:32 GMT
Finished Web of Time. I did not like this quite as much as the first story. Maybe because for me the original Web of fear does not rank as highly as it does for other people. I also did not think that the characters were quite as engaging as in the first story. However, I agree that this story tries to be a bit different and therefore gains some points for originality.
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Post by barnabaslives on Aug 28, 2019 20:58:51 GMT
I enjoyed An Unearthly Woman. It’s pleasantly mundane throughout, focusing on the guest characters and their interactions with River. I think it loses its way a little in the final 20 minutes or so, trying to balance the threat with the farce of River avoiding Ian & Barbara getting involved. It struggles with it, but it’s not bad by any means. I did think it was surprisingly Susan lite, but that’s good for two reasons: it maintains the early mystery of the character and I don’t really like Claudia Grant’s take. Like Jemma Powell, it leans too much on being an impersonation, rather than an interpretation, which is where David Bradley and Jamie Glover succeed. Takes all sorts, I guess. I very much think of Claudia's take on Susan as an interpretation rather than an impersonation and I think she generally does a great job, but whereas I think Carole Ann Ford perfectly captured the sense of otherworldly aloofness that comes with being an unearthly child, Claudia's take on Susan still sounds aloof to me in an aristocratic sense, like in her next line she's going to invite someone to her grandfather's mansion for a swim and polo, which is really quite a contrast to an old police box in a scrapyard. I can't really fault her for that because I think it's something any director should be spotting, and although it tends to take me out of the stories, it really hasn't diminished my enjoyment of them, so I'd still have to consider it a success and I remain a devoted follower of the First Doctor Adventures. Also to be fair I still have a bit of a struggle with Bradley and Glover, which is also not the performers' fault. Back in the day, First Doctor stories were highly recommended to me by the same friends who introduced me to Doctor Who when the Fourth Doctor arrived on the scene, and I'm sure I must have made it no further than The Doctor clubbing someone with a rock before I must have decided Tom Baker would never do that and that that just wasn't "my Doctor", lol, even though by the same time I'd become quite fond of the Third Doctor. It's only been the past few years then that I've been partaking of First Doctor stories and I'm amazed at how quickly I've come to associate certain performers so strongly with the roles, and have very much come to think of William Russell and Peter Purves as the First Doctor in equal measure in absence of William Hartnell (and likewise Frazer Hines as the Second Doctor in absence of Pat Troughton). I likely agree that Jemma's portrayal seems more of an impression, but then again I'm grateful that it's taking me the least adjustment of all four recasts to not be unsettled by it.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2019 5:41:10 GMT
I enjoyed An Unearthly Woman. It’s pleasantly mundane throughout, focusing on the guest characters and their interactions with River. I think it loses its way a little in the final 20 minutes or so, trying to balance the threat with the farce of River avoiding Ian & Barbara getting involved. It struggles with it, but it’s not bad by any means. I did think it was surprisingly Susan lite, but that’s good for two reasons: it maintains the early mystery of the character and I don’t really like Claudia Grant’s take. Like Jemma Powell, it leans too much on being an impersonation, rather than an interpretation, which is where David Bradley and Jamie Glover succeed. Takes all sorts, I guess. I very much think of Claudia's take on Susan as an interpretation rather than an impersonation and I think she generally does a great job, but whereas I think Carole Ann Ford perfectly captured the sense of otherworldly aloofness that comes with being an unearthly child, Claudia's take on Susan still sounds aloof to me in an aristocratic sense, like in her next line she's going to invite someone to her grandfather's mansion for a swim and polo, which is really quite a contrast to an old police box in a scrapyard. I can't really fault her for that because I think it's something any director should be spotting, and although it tends to take me out of the stories, it really hasn't diminished my enjoyment of them, so I'd still have to consider it a success and I remain a devoted follower of the First Doctor Adventures. Also to be fair I still have a bit of a struggle with Bradley and Glover, which is also not the performers' fault. Back in the day, First Doctor stories were highly recommended to me by the same friends who introduced me to Doctor Who when the Fourth Doctor arrived on the scene, and I'm sure I must have made it no further than The Doctor clubbing someone with a rock before I must have decided Tom Baker would never do that and that that just wasn't "my Doctor", lol, even though by the same time I'd become quite fond of the Third Doctor. It's only been the past few years then that I've been partaking of First Doctor stories and I'm amazed at how quickly I've come to associate certain performers so strongly with the roles, and have very much come to think of William Russell and Peter Purves as the First Doctor in equal measure in absence of William Hartnell (and likewise Frazer Hines as the Second Doctor in absence of Pat Troughton). I likely agree that Jemma's portrayal seems more of an impression, but then again I'm grateful that it's taking me the least adjustment of all four recasts to not be unsettled by it. I adjusted to these performers after giving The Bradley ones a listen and being well written I actually adjusted very easily which was a total surprise This story has become a firm favourite of the set too. This morning getting ready for work I put on The Greel story and again became totally sucked into the world again yes different performers in some of the roles but in my mind the same actors having such a marvellous original six parter set up of Victorian London the scenes were all set and also the mood I have really enjoyed all of these stories and think this a truly classic biz set now
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2019 5:56:55 GMT
Finished Web of Time. I did not like this quite as much as the first story. Maybe because for me the original Web of fear does not rank as highly as it does for other people. I also did not think that the characters were quite as engaging as in the first story. However, I agree that this story tries to be a bit different and therefore gains some points for originality. This has been a good experiment and each tale has grown in me with each listen each slightly different in approach but all equally welcome The black and white ones seem to have captured me more than the colour ones.
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Post by ollychops on Aug 29, 2019 16:51:04 GMT
I have mixed feelings about this release, and to start off positively (because I hate being negative!), I thought the stories were enjoyable for what they were. However, other than the first one, River felt quite shoehorned into the adventures. In fact... {Spoiler for The Talents of Greel} Was there any real explanation for River being in Victorian England? She made a comment about using Greel's technology to charge up her vortex manipulator, but unless I missed something, that was the only reason given, and it seemed like a very weak excuse for her to be there. Alex was good, as per usual, I love how far she's come from the first set, she's really settled into the role on audio now. But I had reservations going into the set, and I tried to forget about them and just enjoy the stories (and I did enjoy them), but it was pretty much what I expected when they announced this set. For me, it's the weakest set of the bunch, which isn't to say it's bad, but having River involved in past stories didn't totally work for me. Thinking about it, I feel like this sort of set would have worked far better and felt far more natural if they had Jenna Coleman on board and had the Clara splinters being involved in these adventures instead, trying to stop the Great Intelligence from meddling in the Doctor's timeline. All-in-all, a mixed bag for me. An Unearthly Woman and Peepshow were my favourites from the set.
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Post by masterdoctor on Aug 29, 2019 17:08:45 GMT
I'll echo what others have said that this release is a mixed bag. I felt River was shoehorned in for episodes 2 and 4, which surprised me as I was totally on board with the concept of this set. However, I will say that An Unearthly Woman and Peepshow were brilliant, which felt really weird and created a disconnect between the other two.
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Post by mark687 on Aug 29, 2019 17:19:23 GMT
So looks like I'm right to wait for details of Vol 7 before buying the Bundle then?
Regards
mark687
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2019 17:34:43 GMT
I have mixed feelings about this release, and to start off positively (because I hate being negative!), I thought the stories were enjoyable for what they were. However, other than the first one, River felt quite shoehorned into the adventures. In fact... {Spoiler for The Talents of Greel} Was there any real explanation for River being in Victorian England? She made a comment about using Greel's technology to charge up her vortex manipulator, but unless I missed something, that was the only reason given, and it seemed like a very weak excuse for her to be there. Alex was good, as per usual, I love how far she's come from the first set, she's really settled into the role on audio now. But I had reservations going into the set, and I tried to forget about them and just enjoy the stories (and I did enjoy them), but it was pretty much what I expected when they announced this set. For me, it's the weakest set of the bunch, which isn't to say it's bad, but having River involved in past stories didn't totally work for me. Thinking about it, I feel like this sort of set would have worked far better and felt far more natural if they had Jenna Coleman on board and had the Clara splinters being involved in these adventures instead, trying to stop the Great Intelligence from meddling in the Doctor's timeline. All-in-all, a mixed bag for me. An Unearthly Woman and Peepshow were my favourites from the set. I get where you are coming from...with Clara. I said before when i watch the tv show and think well how come the Doctor conveniently had that item or this item in his pocket to conveniently get out of a scrape.I think thats because Clara put it there at some point. I wouldnt say its a weak set i really have enjoyed all the stories they are fun and i need a bit of fun sometimes and they were an interesting experiment in the range and tbh quite nostalgic for me as an old timer. River doesnt need the Doctor to shine and am sure she has many enemies of her own crossing time like she has and it will be interesting when the writers start exploring those avenues. Definitely The Unearthly Woman is my top story and jointly the rest are my second hahaha
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Post by shallacatop on Aug 29, 2019 19:19:36 GMT
I thought Peepshow was a fun farce that quickly overstayed its welcome. River’s group consists of a Sontaran, Ogrons and Dibbsworth that are all broadly characterised. That’s fine in itself, but they’re all very similar; idiots, frankly. Dibbsworth has charm in some of his interactions with River, but when they’re all together, it becomes monotonous and shows how little substance there is to the story. I think it would’ve been better if the first half had consisted of an actual opening and build up of the story, rather than us being thrown into the middle of things, with River and Dibbsworth already paired together. That would’ve eliminated the farce to the latter half of events and I think the overall story would’ve been greater. I did like that the events of Carnival of Monsters led River to the miniscope, but it doesn’t drive the story, unlike The Web of Time. However, like the previous story, I find it hard to buy into the excuse of River flicking through the Doctor’s diary and then investigating herself. I think it’s a little derivative and I like to think she has much better things to be getting on with. The brief interaction between River and the Doctor is lovely. Her comments about Jo are touching and I truly think River completely understands the subtleties of his and Jo’s relationship.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2019 5:13:04 GMT
I cannot wait for my shiny discs now
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