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Post by martinw8686 on Nov 9, 2022 17:19:23 GMT
I'm halfway through London Orbital and enjoying the story so far, I'm hoping for more from the Seventh Doctor in parts 3 and 4 as he's very much on the periphery in parts 1 and 2.
So far the story (which is very good) is focused on Sullivan and Cross and world building for the Elves.
Looking forward to seeing how 7 fits into the story so far.
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Post by shallacatop on Nov 10, 2022 15:01:14 GMT
London Orbital didn’t really land for me, unfortunately. An intriguing first part followed by three parts of dense, un-engaging exposition. It’s a bit of a nothing story really; I get nothing from the Elves and their world building and also get nothing from the Doctor, Harry & Naomi. Their reunion doesn’t feel like anything, both in dialogue and delivery. It’s that fine line of allowing real life events crop into the in-story material. It's very tricky to develop and get across, so if they stumble there’s not a great deal to fall back on. Sylvester himself is on an unfortunate performance streak too; he’s always been inconsistent but this has gone on for a fair few releases now.
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Post by martinw8686 on Nov 10, 2022 18:28:01 GMT
Nearly finished London Orbital, still early days for 7 travelling with Sullivan and Cross, not sure how long until 7 returns them to their original time but there's plenty of potential for an interesting run of adventures.
I see in the polls someone has scored this story 1/5, that feels really harsh, I understand it may not be to everyone's taste but 1/5 is rather unkind. I also noticed the same score for Paradox of the Daleks and The Dalby Spook, again a really unkind score for two (my opinion) pretty decent adventures.
To me a 1/5 is the kind of score you give to a truly terrible production with little to enjoy all round, something like Battlefield Earth or Batman & Robin. I thought this story, though not perfect has a lot going for it, decent pace, interesting concept, strong story journey for Harry Sullivan and with a small cast a solid amount of world building.
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Post by ryan on Nov 10, 2022 19:48:22 GMT
Nearly finished London Orbital, still early days for 7 travelling with Sullivan and Cross, not sure how long until 7 returns them to their original time but there's plenty of potential for an interesting run of adventures. I see in the polls someone has scored this story 1/5, that feels really harsh, I understand it may not be to everyone's taste but 1/5 is rather unkind. I also noticed the same score for Paradox of the Daleks and The Dalby Spook, again a really unkind score for two (my opinion) pretty decent adventures. To me a 1/5 is the kind of score you give to a truly terrible production with little to enjoy all round, something like Battlefield Earth or Batman & Robin. I thought this story, though not perfect has a lot going for it, decent pace, interesting concept, strong story journey for Harry Sullivan and with a small cast a solid amount of world building. Totally agree. Great performance from Sylvester McCoy, too. He seemed slightly different here with more casual undertones in the delivery of his lines, more at home with the post-2005 doctors. Every line felt like it had been considered as opposed to the more erratic deliveries of past stories.
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Post by shallacatop on Nov 10, 2022 20:18:57 GMT
Scream of the Daleks is fun. A great little idea that unfortunately ends up with a rushed conclusion, which is a shame as it’s cleverly done; a third part would’ve done the trick. Sylvester is much better here and a delight to listen to.
I’m not sold on this ongoing Harry & Naomi narrative yet and I’ve heard all of their releases so far. Harry is a favourite of mine, though I appreciate he’s a blank slate, but I don’t really get much beyond him being very gentlemanly; it’s quite reductive. And I’m not sure what to make of Naomi at all. As a duo they don’t quite gel to say they’ve been through events together both with the Fourth Doctor and then being dropped off in the wrong time. Similarly it doesn’t feel like there’s any history with them and the Doctor, which we know isn’t the case. As I’ve said, it’s a fine line and one that’s not hitting the mark for me so far. Hopefully they become a great TARDIS team with future releases.
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Post by elkawho on Nov 11, 2022 12:23:49 GMT
Scream of the Daleks is fun. A great little idea that unfortunately ends up with a rushed conclusion, which is a shame as it’s cleverly done; a third part would’ve done the trick. Sylvester is much better here and a delight to listen to. I’m not sold on this ongoing Harry & Naomi narrative yet and I’ve heard all of their releases so far. Harry is a favourite of mine, though I appreciate he’s a blank slate, but I don’t really get much beyond him being very gentlemanly; it’s quite reductive. And I’m not sure what to make of Naomi at all. As a duo they don’t quite gel to say they’ve been through events together both with the Fourth Doctor and then being dropped off in the wrong time. Similarly it doesn’t feel like there’s any history with them and the Doctor, which we know isn’t the case. As I’ve said, it’s a fine line and one that’s not hitting the mark for me so far. Hopefully they become a great TARDIS team with future releases. I agree with you about this set and the Harry and Naomi pairing as well. They are just not gelling with me at all. I've actually been a little cold on Harry in most of his stories because I don't quite buy the old school gentleman all the time. And I'm not a fan of Naomi either. I have no idea who she is (and I've relistened to UNIT: Nemesis. It doesn't add to her character much, unfortunately), and the performance doesn't make me feel like I need to know. I hope that she gets a little more fleshed out in their 4th Doctor box set that is coming. I don't understand why they didn't release that set before releasing this one.
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Post by shallacatop on Nov 11, 2022 16:28:37 GMT
Scream of the Daleks is fun. A great little idea that unfortunately ends up with a rushed conclusion, which is a shame as it’s cleverly done; a third part would’ve done the trick. Sylvester is much better here and a delight to listen to. I’m not sold on this ongoing Harry & Naomi narrative yet and I’ve heard all of their releases so far. Harry is a favourite of mine, though I appreciate he’s a blank slate, but I don’t really get much beyond him being very gentlemanly; it’s quite reductive. And I’m not sure what to make of Naomi at all. As a duo they don’t quite gel to say they’ve been through events together both with the Fourth Doctor and then being dropped off in the wrong time. Similarly it doesn’t feel like there’s any history with them and the Doctor, which we know isn’t the case. As I’ve said, it’s a fine line and one that’s not hitting the mark for me so far. Hopefully they become a great TARDIS team with future releases. I agree with you about this set and the Harry and Naomi pairing as well. They are just not gelling with me at all. I've actually been a little cold on Harry in most of his stories because I don't quite buy the old school gentleman all the time. And I'm not a fan of Naomi either. I have no idea who she is (and I've relistened to UNIT: Nemesis. It doesn't add to her character much, unfortunately), and the performance doesn't make me feel like I need to know. I hope that she gets a little more fleshed out in their 4th Doctor box set that is coming. I don't understand why they didn't release that set before releasing this one. Yeah, it's an odd one, isn't it? I don't understand what it is they're trying to attempt by doing everything out of order. It's a difficult thing to pull off, but this isn't a River Song like situation where it's expertly crafted or carries meaning. It's just... out of order. And unfortunately the character work isn't up to scratch to suit it. There's no reason to be invested in Harry & Naomi as a pairing, or get invested in their previous adventures with the Doctor; I know nothing about them or what they've been through. I also don't sense any rapport with Seven, despite the fact they're already supposed to be established with the Doctor, albeit Four. We've got two UNIT stories where they're superfluous to requirements. We've got two adventures with the Seventh Doctor where they barely seem like a team or have shared any time together previously. And then we've got a run of Fourth Doctor stories coming up that's somehow meant to establish how they end up in later set stories, which the answer is unfortunately quite reductive and generic for Harry & Naomi respectively.
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Post by mark687 on Nov 11, 2022 16:39:33 GMT
I agree with you about this set and the Harry and Naomi pairing as well. They are just not gelling with me at all. I've actually been a little cold on Harry in most of his stories because I don't quite buy the old school gentleman all the time. And I'm not a fan of Naomi either. I have no idea who she is (and I've relistened to UNIT: Nemesis. It doesn't add to her character much, unfortunately), and the performance doesn't make me feel like I need to know. I hope that she gets a little more fleshed out in their 4th Doctor box set that is coming. I don't understand why they didn't release that set before releasing this one. Yeah, it's an odd one, isn't it? I don't understand what it is they're trying to attempt by doing everything out of order. It's a difficult thing to pull off, but this isn't a River Song like situation where it's expertly crafted or carries meaning. It's just... out of order. And unfortunately the character work isn't up to scratch to suit it. There's no reason to be invested in Harry & Naomi as a pairing, or get invested in their previous adventures with the Doctor; I know nothing about them or what they've been through. I also don't sense any rapport with Seven, despite the fact they're already supposed to be established with the Doctor, albeit Four. We've got two UNIT stories where they're superfluous to requirements. We've got two adventures with the Seventh Doctor where they barely seem like a team or have shared any time together previously. And then we've got a run of Fourth Doctor stories coming up that's somehow meant to establish how they end up in later set stories, which the answer is unfortunately quite reductive and generic for Harry & Naomi respectively. Kind of agree good enough stories but as an exercise to entice anyone who wasn't interested in different Ranges,,, Regards mark687
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Post by sidestep on Nov 11, 2022 18:38:48 GMT
I agree with you about this set and the Harry and Naomi pairing as well. They are just not gelling with me at all. I've actually been a little cold on Harry in most of his stories because I don't quite buy the old school gentleman all the time. And I'm not a fan of Naomi either. I have no idea who she is (and I've relistened to UNIT: Nemesis. It doesn't add to her character much, unfortunately), and the performance doesn't make me feel like I need to know. I hope that she gets a little more fleshed out in their 4th Doctor box set that is coming. I don't understand why they didn't release that set before releasing this one. Yeah, it's an odd one, isn't it? I don't understand what it is they're trying to attempt by doing everything out of order. It's a difficult thing to pull off, but this isn't a River Song like situation where it's expertly crafted or carries meaning. It's just... out of order. And unfortunately the character work isn't up to scratch to suit it. There's no reason to be invested in Harry & Naomi as a pairing, or get invested in their previous adventures with the Doctor; I know nothing about them or what they've been through. I also don't sense any rapport with Seven, despite the fact they're already supposed to be established with the Doctor, albeit Four. We've got two UNIT stories where they're superfluous to requirements. We've got two adventures with the Seventh Doctor where they barely seem like a team or have shared any time together previously. And then we've got a run of Fourth Doctor stories coming up that's somehow meant to establish how they end up in later set stories, which the answer is unfortunately quite reductive and generic for Harry & Naomi respectively. I don’t understand also why their story was released in this backwards sequence. Stylistic choice? Marketing? Release bottleneck?
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Post by ryan on Nov 11, 2022 21:49:10 GMT
Quick question: am I right in thinking that Candida Gubbins is a pseudonym for Katy Manning?
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Post by tuigirl on Nov 11, 2022 22:04:32 GMT
Quick question: am I right in thinking that Candida Gubbins is a pseudonym for Katy Manning? As a medical person, it sounds more like a nasty infection.... : p but googling the name comes up with a real person. Not Katy Manning.
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Post by Whovitt on Nov 12, 2022 4:17:54 GMT
This was another in the long list of the fairly standard XDA rebranded sets. I quite liked London Orbital, if only because Doctor Who doesn't do fantasy all that often. The plot itself wasn't anything particularly original, but I liked the way it was presented, and given a lot of Big Finish these days is starting to feel like "fresh" presentations of older ideas (they typically don't feel as "fresh" to me as they seem to to the writers), the fact that this one presents so well is why I enjoyed it. I find a lot of familiar ground has been being retrodden lately, and the new "twists" on the stories generally haven't landed for me at all, so the fact this one did was a pleasant surprise But then, it is a John Dorney script, and there's just something about the way he writes Doctor Who that his work genuinely has a 99% success rate for me! Scream of the Daleks on the other hand... oh boy. I was really enjoying the first episode, but then the Daleks turned up... and they were comedy Daleks! I know this sounds hypocritical coming from a fan of The Chase, but that was the ONLY time comedy Daleks have ever worked, and they certainly didn't work here. A Dalek making a "have you tried turning it off and on again?" joke? Daleks saying "Knock knock" to the Doctor so he'll let them into the TARDIS? Please! It was cringey and (and I don't use this word very often at all) just plain awful. All the goodwill from the first episode was lost. Which is a shame, as the first half of the story really was very good, and the actual plot of the second wasn't bad either. So yeah, from a story standpoint the set would have gotten a thumbs up from me. But those comedy Daleks... As for Harry and Naomi, I feel like a certain amount of mystery was trying to be built up in UNIT: Nemesis about why they were in modern day London. Now we know that it was simply the Doctor failing to return them to where they were meant to be. The "mystery" has been solved, and it was a simple matter of accidentally leaving them in the wrong time. Unless there's some big manipulative Seventh Doctor shenanigans going on that we're not privy to yet, all this build-up now feels a bit pointless. That's not the fault of this release, however, so I'm not holding that against it. At the end of the day, I think it just comes down to the fact that they did a run with Harry and Naomi that they recorded years ago with the Fourth Doctor and liked them so much that they decided to use them again in other ranges. The only reason there's a "mystery" is because the Fourth Doctor sets aren't out yet. I don't think there's anything more to it than that.
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Post by IndieMacUser on Nov 13, 2022 17:06:45 GMT
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dorney
Big Finish Creative Team
Likes: 3,079
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Post by dorney on Nov 13, 2022 17:50:07 GMT
I can explain the title if it helps! It doesn’t refer to the Underground, it refers to the ‘other London’ in orbit around ours (and is a play on the other name of the M25).
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Post by martinw8686 on Nov 13, 2022 18:23:29 GMT
Not quite finished Scream of the Daleks, will finish on way to work tomorrow. All in all I've enjoyed this set, I'd be happy for more from this cast, it feels like there's more places to go in terms of character development. I've always thought that the 7th Doctor would benefit from new big finish companions, Ace and Hex are great but compared to some of the other Doctors, 7 has had less chance to explore where he can go with an extended run with some fresh faces.
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Nov 15, 2022 22:15:38 GMT
Nearly finished London Orbital, still early days for 7 travelling with Sullivan and Cross, not sure how long until 7 returns them to their original time but there's plenty of potential for an interesting run of adventures. I see in the polls someone has scored this story 1/5, that feels really harsh, I understand it may not be to everyone's taste but 1/5 is rather unkind. I also noticed the same score for Paradox of the Daleks and The Dalby Spook, again a really unkind score for two (my opinion) pretty decent adventures. To me a 1/5 is the kind of score you give to a truly terrible production with little to enjoy all round, something like Battlefield Earth or Batman & Robin. I thought this story, though not perfect has a lot going for it, decent pace, interesting concept, strong story journey for Harry Sullivan and with a small cast a solid amount of world building. Unkind to whom? People are allowed to A) really, really dislike something while assigning a score that fits with their reactions and B) feel differently than you.
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Nov 15, 2022 22:24:23 GMT
London Orbital. While I like the idea of Doctor Who dipping its toes into a fantasy style story, I thought the idea of the story was better than the execution. This was at best a two part story stretched out over four episodes. After a pretty effective opening sequence the play instantly falls into a series of tired tropes and bog standard characterizations. I’m not sold on either Harry or Naomi. Anyway, the thing felt more than a little lackluster to me.
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Post by mark687 on Nov 15, 2022 22:25:49 GMT
Nearly finished London Orbital, still early days for 7 travelling with Sullivan and Cross, not sure how long until 7 returns them to their original time but there's plenty of potential for an interesting run of adventures. I see in the polls someone has scored this story 1/5, that feels really harsh, I understand it may not be to everyone's taste but 1/5 is rather unkind. I also noticed the same score for Paradox of the Daleks and The Dalby Spook, again a really unkind score for two (my opinion) pretty decent adventures. To me a 1/5 is the kind of score you give to a truly terrible production with little to enjoy all round, something like Battlefield Earth or Batman & Robin. I thought this story, though not perfect has a lot going for it, decent pace, interesting concept, strong story journey for Harry Sullivan and with a small cast a solid amount of world building. Unkind to whom? People are allowed to A) really, really dislike something while assigning a score that fits with their reactions and B) feel differently than you. Ok but for Nearly Every Release?! Regards mark687
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Nov 15, 2022 22:29:54 GMT
Unkind to whom? People are allowed to A) really, really dislike something while assigning a score that fits with their reactions and B) feel differently than you. Ok but for Nearly Every Release?! Regards mark687 And if someone wants to be the board crank, they have that right as well. Again, I don’t see how that is unkind to anyone.
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Post by mark687 on Nov 15, 2022 22:50:22 GMT
Ok but for Nearly Every Release?! Regards mark687 And if someone wants to be the board crank, they have that right as well. Again, I don’t see how that is unkind to anyone. Fair Enough still Peeves me off a bit though Regards mark687
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