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Post by IndieMacUser on Nov 30, 2022 11:09:50 GMT
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Post by Ian McArdell on Nov 30, 2022 15:27:02 GMT
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Nov 30, 2022 17:37:47 GMT
I rather liked Lay Down Your Arms more than the first story in the box. 9 as opera instructor was something I didn’t know I needed to hear but here I am.
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Post by shallacatop on Dec 1, 2022 13:35:44 GMT
This set did very little for me, unfortunately. It all felt quite hollow and lifeless.
The Seas of Titan has been done to death elsewhere and much better. It's similar to the Sontaran story in the previous set where it's not long enough to get anything substantial and instead it just riffs. The key difference is the Sontaran element had a lot of potential, whereas I don't think the Sea Devils would've gotten any further than continuous bickering. The worst sin committed was that after all that, a passing of time occurred where everything was handled in that and we just get a sudden ending and that's it! Kudos to the music and sound team, though, the whole world was very well realised in a way that doesn't come across in the script.
Lay Down Your Arms isn't too bad. It's a fun enough runaround, but it's unfortunate that it isn't awfully dissimilar to the Tsar story in Back to Earth, which I felt did everything better. I agree with other comments that the story does fall somewhat flat if you're not even aware of it being a celebrity historical until it's nearly finished. Both the pre-titles and epilogue were utterly bizarre too. The latter does delve into something nice, but I'm not keen on the Doctor influencing the decisions in celebrity historicals, which happens too often.
And then we have Flatpack, which I think is perhaps my least favourite Ninth Doctor story to have come out of the range so far. It's blatant that it's Eccleston in the pre-titles and the same for Walker & Root when their counterparts turned up, so that's ruined for a kick off. Flatpack also demonstrates why these returning elements don't really work with Eccleston's Doctor, particularly when it comes to returning companions. He isn't an incarnation that is built for continuity and Eccleston has no interest in the show, frankly. And that is no bad thing, it sells his performance, especially on screen, but when you hear his Doctor opposite Liv & Tania there's nothing to their interaction, it's completely lifeless. And that's made all the clearer as he has a second role in this, where his stint as the Manager is a nice, energetic performance. Mind you, this isn't an issue exclusive to Eccleston or his Doctor, as the recent Tenth Doctor, Classic Companions set lacked heart for the most part. It really does feel like these encounters don't get anything further than the idea of having them together on the cover; it certainly doesn't feel like there's a story to tell that drives it. School Reunion, Death of the Doctor and, more recently, The Power of the Doctor show you how that sort of thing is done. Flatpack pales in comparison. It's demonstrated most at the end where Liv insists the Doctor needs a companion; there's nothing in the story at all that indicates that. It's purely a riff of what's been done previously forced in. Plot wise, it's just unengaging nonsense, disguised by exposition about it being a flawed business plan. It's one of my pet peeves with Big Finish's storytelling; just because you justify or mention it in the story doesn't mean it's any good!
Alternative Tania said it best; "this is all such a waste of time".
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Post by sherlock on Dec 1, 2022 15:42:30 GMT
And then we have Flatpack, which I think is perhaps my least favourite Ninth Doctor story to have come out of the range so far. It's blatant that it's Eccleston in the pre-titles and the same for Walker & Root when their counterparts turned up, so that's ruined for a kick off. It is bizarre that the story seemed to expect the twist to be a surprise. Eccleston somewhat disguises his voice so I guess some effort was made there, but Walker sounds exactly as normal. She couldn’t be more obvious if she tried! Agreed. This story was for me the epitome of “because we could” storytelling. There’s real no point to any of this, no actual drama, no meat on the bones. The tell for me was that first scene where the Doctor’s meeting Liv and Tania is treated with all the significance of happening to bump into a work colleague on a weekend. Compare that to the reveal in School Reunion.I think they just wanted a crossover, for the sake of having a crossover. It’s all of Big Finish’s worst instincts strapped into a lacklustre plot. And I feel really foolish for having had the faith to pre-order this “Series 2” blindly as a result, cos the more money stuff like this makes the more Big Finish will pump out.
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Post by mark687 on Dec 1, 2022 15:51:41 GMT
And then we have Flatpack, which I think is perhaps my least favourite Ninth Doctor story to have come out of the range so far. It's blatant that it's Eccleston in the pre-titles and the same for Walker & Root when their counterparts turned up, so that's ruined for a kick off. It is bizarre that the story seemed to expect the twist to be a surprise. Eccleston somewhat disguises his voice so I guess some effort was made there, but Walker sounds exactly as normal. She couldn’t be more obvious if she tried! Agreed. This story was for me the epitome of “because we could” storytelling. There’s real no point to any of this, no actual drama, no meat on the bones. The tell for me was that first scene where the Doctor’s meeting Liv and Tania is treated with all the significance of happening to bump into a work colleague on a weekend. Compare that to the reveal in School Reunion.I think they just wanted a crossover, for the sake of having a crossover. It’s all of Big Finish’s worst instincts strapped into a lacklustre plot. And I feel really foolish for having had the faith to pre-order this “Series 2” blindly as a result, cos the more money stuff like this makes the more Big Finish will pump out. Even odder the DWM and VORTEX Previews Virtually spell it out. Regards mark687
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Post by tuigirl on Dec 1, 2022 17:21:13 GMT
And then we have Flatpack, which I think is perhaps my least favourite Ninth Doctor story to have come out of the range so far. It's blatant that it's Eccleston in the pre-titles and the same for Walker & Root when their counterparts turned up, so that's ruined for a kick off. It is bizarre that the story seemed to expect the twist to be a surprise. Eccleston somewhat disguises his voice so I guess some effort was made there, but Walker sounds exactly as normal. She couldn’t be more obvious if she tried! Agreed. This story was for me the epitome of “because we could” storytelling. There’s real no point to any of this, no actual drama, no meat on the bones. The tell for me was that first scene where the Doctor’s meeting Liv and Tania is treated with all the significance of happening to bump into a work colleague on a weekend. Compare that to the reveal in School Reunion.I think they just wanted a crossover, for the sake of having a crossover. It’s all of Big Finish’s worst instincts strapped into a lacklustre plot. And I feel really foolish for having had the faith to pre-order this “Series 2” blindly as a result, cos the more money stuff like this makes the more Big Finish will pump out. I actually think it is something else (worse?). I think Flatpack is simply a recycled story that was originally planned for Stranded (and then you-know-what happened).
However, without Mr. Dorney denying or confirming this, we will never know. This would explain why the 9th Doctor feels so out of place/ re-placeable in this story. Because, I agree on this, as a "crossover" story, it comes across as uncharacteristically clumsy compared to the usual writing of the author.
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Dec 6, 2022 14:45:38 GMT
Flatpack was……weird. And not in an interesting way. The installment felt perfunctory. I still don’t hear any chemistry between Liv & Tania and I certainly didn’t hear any between 9 and the duo. I think the basic premise has promise but that was about all I liked. I agree with tuigirl, if it wasn’t a story originally intended for Stranded, it certainly could have been. It probably would have worded better with 8. Anyway, for me this was the weakest 9DA by far.
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Post by martinw8686 on Dec 7, 2022 0:27:36 GMT
I enjoyed Flat pack as a story, I think the concept is really interesting and would have been really top notch if the idea was expanded upon.
I was hoping for a bit more character development with Liv meeting the 9th Doctor, exploring the fallout of realising that 8 has died, I'd built up a whole idea of Liv explaining what made her finally decide to leave the TARDIS and settle down with Tania, I thought it would be really cool to give a subtle tease of adventures yet to come with 8.
I still had a blast with this story, my expectations are often the reason behind any minor quibbles with how I rate the story. 4/5
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Post by mark687 on Dec 7, 2022 16:32:30 GMT
Vinyls being received in the UK it seems
Regards
mark687
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Post by masterdoctor on Dec 7, 2022 16:54:54 GMT
Mines been shipped as well and should receive it next week!
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Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on Dec 8, 2022 19:35:14 GMT
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Post by martinw8686 on Dec 8, 2022 20:41:25 GMT
Although it's wonderful having new episodes with Christopher Eccleston and most of the individual episodes have been really good, I feel the format needs a change should there be a third series. To me there needs to be an ongoing arc or more 2 to 3 parters, just continuing with individual 50 minutes episodes limits the story telling potential and also any charecter development for the 9th Doctor.
These pre Rose stories are a unique opportunity to explore why this Doctor feels unable to have regular traveling companions and explore how he heals after his Time War trauma.
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Post by Chakoteya on Dec 20, 2022 13:46:35 GMT
Ooo -Lay Down Your Arms was an historical! Love it when a writer wedges the Doctor into someone's life. Pity Bertha isn't more well known.
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Post by masterdoctor on Jan 29, 2023 19:59:13 GMT
I'd fallen quite behind in my listens, so have only just heard the first two stories, with the third on the docket for my transit time to and from work.
Seas of Titan was a solid hour, and the Sea Devils felt well-utilized and incorporated into the story, which I didn't feel happened in Legend of the Sea Devils. Eccelston delivers a solid performance in it, though I feel as if there could have been more mined from the peacekeeping role 9 was put into. I also found the story to be quite easily visualized, which for me is hard for even my favourite stories.
Lay Down Your Arms was very very very good, and nearly is a 5 out of 5 for me, and it might hit that on another listen, however, for some weird reason the individual cover has werewolves on it, and the alien threat in the story aren't werewolves, which is super weird to me. Otherwise, Kate Sissons and Joseph Kloska played extremely well off of Eccelston, and the pacing and dialogue of the story were quick and well done. I look forward to Flatpack tomorrow and then finally listening to Connections!
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Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on Feb 27, 2023 19:22:20 GMT
Time to stock up if you haven't already.
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Post by nottenst on Jan 17, 2024 16:00:59 GMT
Just finished this set. One nice thing about going in cold (without even looking at the covers) and so long after any publicity about the set was that I was completely surprised by Liv and Tania showing up in Flatpack. I did enjoy the story and did like Liv's talk with the 9th Doctor impressing upon him the need for having a companion - someone to watch his back. I did feel compelled to look up Bertha Kinský and see what the reality was. That was nice that The Doctor followed through the high points and cheered along. All three stories were good fun. I haven't listened to the BTS yet, but will do so later today. Looking forward to that and the next set.
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