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Post by slithe on Oct 22, 2019 9:51:10 GMT
Ironically, it was the soundtracks of the BBC 'lost stories' that got me back into BF. I was aware of the company from DWM and had purchased some of the stories, but hadn't kept up with the range. However, I did get the BBC Soundtracks and listened to them whilst studying - when I finished these, BF ended up as the natural successor again. I used to record episodes on cassette and listen to them before VHS... Wish I'd had thought of that... VHS was just becoming affordable when I started watching Doctor Who and whilst I taped the last few episodes of McCoy (family wanted to watch Corrie boo...), there was never really the opportunity to tape some of the older episodes as they weren't shown back then. Target Books were the only real way to experience these stories. Terrance Dicks and Roald Dahl pretty much taught me to read... Plus, parents absolutely hated the show and only got the chance to watch the episodes when the TV was 'free' (try telling younger people that most houses only had one TV with viewing set around a predetermined schedule!) I loved the soundtracks as I could listen to them over and over again and 'imagine' Doctor Who as I wanted it to be - big, blockbuster special effects (rather than naff quarries and sticky taped costumes that looked a bit worse for wear). Just like the Target books, the soundtracks put you (the reader/listener) at the heart of the action and for that, they will always have a special place for me. Whilst I am glad Doctor Who is back on TV, BF always takes me back to be a child and the moment the title music starts - I am right back to my younger self again!
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Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on Oct 22, 2019 11:42:41 GMT
Dark Eyes Season 3 Ep 1 "The Death Of Hope". Lunchtime tomorrow.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2019 11:48:23 GMT
I used to record episodes on cassette and listen to them before VHS... Wish I'd had thought of that... VHS was just becoming affordable when I started watching Doctor Who and whilst I taped the last few episodes of McCoy (family wanted to watch Corrie boo...), there was never really the opportunity to tape some of the older episodes as they weren't shown back then. Target Books were the only real way to experience these stories. Terrance Dicks and Roald Dahl pretty much taught me to read... Plus, parents absolutely hated the show and only got the chance to watch the episodes when the TV was 'free' (try telling younger people that most houses only had one TV with viewing set around a predetermined schedule!) I loved the soundtracks as I could listen to them over and over again and 'imagine' Doctor Who as I wanted it to be - big, blockbuster special effects (rather than naff quarries and sticky taped costumes that looked a bit worse for wear). Just like the Target books, the soundtracks put you (the reader/listener) at the heart of the action and for that, they will always have a special place for me. Whilst I am glad Doctor Who is back on TV, BF always takes me back to be a child and the moment the title music starts - I am right back to my younger self again! Totally get you it so bad that if you played the Guada Prime episodes of Blake’s Seven I know it from start to finish...those were the days...the closest I come now with Big Finish Is probably the Magic Mousetrap 🤪
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2019 11:49:25 GMT
I used to record episodes on cassette and listen to them before VHS... Wish I'd had thought of that... VHS was just becoming affordable when I started watching Doctor Who and whilst I taped the last few episodes of McCoy (family wanted to watch Corrie boo...), there was never really the opportunity to tape some of the older episodes as they weren't shown back then. Target Books were the only real way to experience these stories. Terrance Dicks and Roald Dahl pretty much taught me to read... Plus, parents absolutely hated the show and only got the chance to watch the episodes when the TV was 'free' (try telling younger people that most houses only had one TV with viewing set around a predetermined schedule!) I loved the soundtracks as I could listen to them over and over again and 'imagine' Doctor Who as I wanted it to be - big, blockbuster special effects (rather than naff quarries and sticky taped costumes that looked a bit worse for wear). Just like the Target books, the soundtracks put you (the reader/listener) at the heart of the action and for that, they will always have a special place for me. Whilst I am glad Doctor Who is back on TV, BF always takes me back to be a child and the moment the title music starts - I am right back to my younger self again! The only problem with audio cassette was you had my dad in the background complaining that it’s his house etc etc etc am getting old tape to tape,vinyl,the first mobiles.......
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ljwilson
Chancellery Guard
It's tangerine....not orange
Likes: 5,063
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Post by ljwilson on Oct 22, 2019 16:04:01 GMT
The Prisoner 1.1. Departure and Arrival, which really is excellent.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2019 17:39:42 GMT
The Prisoner 1.1. Departure and Arrival, which really is excellent. I do really enjoy these sets and totally love the theme tune too. I am looking forward to the third and possibly final set. They are good relistens too as random episodes too...geez so many episodes of BF too little time.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2019 17:44:46 GMT
I just went for a random-
Dark Eyes 4-A Life In The Day-John Dorney
There is the fun little scene of Liv trying on an outfit and bemoaning she doesnt know how to behave in society she is in. Its little moments that all out action packed epics do need now and again like Liv and the Ironing/laundry in Ravenous.Liv with Martin and being out of her depth is really brilliant going to the movies...MORE MOMENTS PLEASE 🤪👍 as Liv says “Doing ordinary things with ordinary people” and then let all hell break loose lol
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Post by tuigirl on Oct 22, 2019 17:48:22 GMT
I just went for a random- Dark Eyes 4-A Life In The Day-John DorneyThere is the fun little scene of Liv trying on an outfit and bemoaning she doesnt know how to behave in society she is in. Its little moments that all out action packed epics do need now and again like Liv and the Ironing/laundry in Ravenous.Liv with Martin and being out of her depth is really brilliant going to the movies...MORE MOMENTS PLEASE 🤪👍 as Liv says “Doing ordinary things with ordinary people” and then let all hell break loose lol Oh yes. Agreed.
And, that story is beautiful.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2019 17:53:17 GMT
I just went for a random- Dark Eyes 4-A Life In The Day-John DorneyThere is the fun little scene of Liv trying on an outfit and bemoaning she doesnt know how to behave in society she is in. Its little moments that all out action packed epics do need now and again like Liv and the Ironing/laundry in Ravenous.Liv with Martin and being out of her depth is really brilliant going to the movies...MORE MOMENTS PLEASE 🤪👍 as Liv says “Doing ordinary things with ordinary people” and then let all hell break loose lol Oh yes. Agreed.
And, that story is beautiful.
It is even as a random listen,it has a warmth to it when Liv pours out her heart to Martin-I can see that in the tardis with the Doctor and Helen.there is so much exploratory work to be done on these characters. Tbh not bored of them ,dont want rid of them i very much want more of them. Since this was Mr Dorneys first story apart from CC-Solitaire for the eighth Doctor it is rich stuff
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ljwilson
Chancellery Guard
It's tangerine....not orange
Likes: 5,063
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Post by ljwilson on Oct 22, 2019 18:11:52 GMT
The house is feckin' freezing as I have no wall at the back of the house, so I'm in bed at 19:10pm with a hot water bottle and 'The Cloisters of Terror' is keeping me company before all the footy starts on the radio.
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Post by elkawho on Oct 22, 2019 20:18:59 GMT
I had a very long car ride on Sunday and decided to listen to the JNT memoir that was in the last sale. I have mixed thoughts about this one. It's not nearly as good as most of the others that I've heard from Big Finish, and he's not the best writer. Listening to most of it, I was wishing for much more of his personal feelings and experiences with the other folks working on the episodes he talks about. That happens a little more when he gets to the era that he is most known for, but I still felt that a lot of the questions I had about his decisions were unanswered. Why was he so against ANY humor or affection being shown by the characters in a family show? Why was the decision made to have Adric leave? How much was Michael Grade really responsible for the problems during the Baker years? And most importantly, why the damn question marks on everything???
That being said, it was worth listening to. He did get somewhat more in depth about his later seasons, even bordering on the personal when discussing what happened with Eric Saward. I disagreed with many of his choices as producer while understanding the production budgets made some decisions necessary. It could have been so much more, but I'll take what I can from this Doctor Who legend who is sadly no longer around.
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Post by tuigirl on Oct 22, 2019 21:08:22 GMT
Starlight Robbery. Wow, this was so much better than expected. I love that the Sontarans were played straight for once and not as comic relief. They are a real threat and military geniuses. This adds a whole new dimension to them. Plus Dan Starkey does a great job voicing ALL of them. Great story. Just the ending... was a bit borderline grisly.
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Post by polly on Oct 23, 2019 0:29:56 GMT
The Shadow of the Scourge
When I finished Benny's first series not too long ago I'd kind of forgotten I'd be seeing her again so soon. Makes me wish Big Finish had continued the VNA adaptations.
This story has one of the worst covers I've ever seen from Big Finish. It looks like someone puked lightning all over a late 90s Tomb Raider ad.
It was interesting to see Seven on the back foot for once; his carefully laid plan got completely screwed up. They did a really good job of building up the Scourge to be a credible threat. I know these kinds of cosmic entities are dime a dozen in Doctor Who, but for whatever reason they worked well for me. It was also interesting to hear Benny in a companion role. I'm 90% sure I've only heard her solo before. And Ace got a serious wince out of me when she deafens herself.
I liked having the Doctor reflect on himself a little. I think it was well handled and didn't stray too far into overwrought angst. McCoy delivers another good performance, and I have to wonder why he seems so divisive with fans. Maybe I'm just too far biased since I'm firmly in the camp that loves 7/Ace.
Good story, no real complaints except the cheeseball moment at the end with the entire hotel lobby chanting in unison.
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Post by barnabaslives on Oct 23, 2019 2:04:49 GMT
Finished off Rose Tyler: The Dimension Cannon. I don't think I can sum up the set any better than davygallagher did in the thread for the set - it plays well to its own strengths, has many amazing human moments, Billie Piper carries the whole thing very well, and Camille Coduri is a treasure as always, making it very worthwhile. Excellent job by each of the authors. My sole complaint {Spoiler} I too could have done with a glimmer of hope in there somewhere, especially since I think the idea of searching for The Doctor did sort of lead me on to thinking at least maybe a trace of him might turn up. I'd been saving the last story as long as I could and kept hoping the title of it was misleading, but no.
For that, I think did find the set a touch too bleak and depressing. I may have to try to find something more uplifting to wash it down with. :-)
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Post by barnabaslives on Oct 23, 2019 6:26:44 GMT
BBC RADIO COLLECTION-THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMEN-Mervyn Haisman/Henry Lincoln
Bit of trivia I'd forgotten to mention earlier - I'd already encountered several books by Henry Lincoln and a video that he hosted and was very surprised when I saw his name on the credits for several Doctor Who stories a few years ago, and looked it up and found it was the same person. Still not sure what to make of some of his work, but I used to read his forum and still experiment with an antiquated metrological unit that one of his books introduced me to. Interesting person.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2019 8:23:25 GMT
Finished off Rose Tyler: The Dimension Cannon. I don't think I can sum up the set any better than davygallagher did in the thread for the set - it plays well to its own strengths, has many amazing human moments, Billie Piper carries the whole thing very well, and Camille Coduri is a treasure as always, making it very worthwhile. Excellent job by each of the authors. My sole complaint {Spoiler} I too could have done with a glimmer of hope in there somewhere, especially since I think the idea of searching for The Doctor did sort of lead me on to thinking at least maybe a trace of him might turn up. I'd been saving the last story as long as I could and kept hoping the title of it was misleading, but no.
For that, I think did find the set a touch too bleak and depressing. I may have to try to find something more uplifting to wash it down with. :-) Survivors🤪
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ljwilson
Chancellery Guard
It's tangerine....not orange
Likes: 5,063
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Post by ljwilson on Oct 23, 2019 10:42:38 GMT
Finished The Prisoner 1.2. The Schizoid Man (excellent) and am now attempting to get through 'The Land of the Dead'.
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Post by theotherjosh on Oct 23, 2019 15:59:54 GMT
The Nicholas Courtney Memoirs - A Soldier in Time
I don't know what I was expecting when I purchased this at the recent sale, other than that I would be getting a lot of Nicholas Courtney for a very good price.
I don't want to oversell it, but out of the hundreds of hours of audio I have heard from Big Finish, this ranks among the very best.
I began watching during the end of the Tom Baker era, so my first exposure to the Brig would probably have been Mawdryn Undead, hardly the most auspicious introduction.
I don't know if I would have remembered the character by the time I saw the Five Doctors, but I doubt it. To the extent I was aware of him at all, it was as a companion (though opinions differ on this classification as well) who had come and gone before I started watching.
I had read some supplemental material by the time I saw him in Battlefield and I knew by then that he occupied a unique role in the Doctor Who mythos. His appearance felt like something special.
This recording. Obviously, Nicholas Courtney has the best voice in world, so that's a big plus. He doesn't avoid talk about his struggles during difficult times, but approaches them with a tact and sensitivity that makes them relatable as part of a universal human experience. I don't know how much of these memoirs he wrote himself rather than outsourcing them to a ghost writer, but the frankness with how he discusses these topics leads me to believe that he had a very direct role.
I do appreciate his humanity and his dry wit. He led an extraordinary life, and I'm reminded of American actor Wallace Shawn in that he's just as fascinating as a person as any character he has played. A phenomenal reading of a phenomenal work by a phenomenal man. After his passing, Mark Gatiss called him "a childhood hero and the sweetest of gentlemen" and I can't say it any better than that.
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Post by elkawho on Oct 23, 2019 17:31:07 GMT
The Nicholas Courtney Memoirs - A Soldier in TimeI don't know what I was expecting when I purchased this at the recent sale, other than that I would be getting a lot of Nicholas Courtney for a very good price. I don't want to oversell it, but out of the hundreds of hours of audio I have heard from Big Finish, this ranks among the very best. I began watching during the end of the Tom Baker era, so my first exposure to the Brig would probably have been Mawdryn Undead, hardly the most auspicious introduction. I don't know if I would have remembered the character by the time I saw the Five Doctors, but I doubt it. To the extent I was aware of him at all, it was as a companion (though opinions differ on this classification as well) who had come and gone before I started watching. I had read some supplemental material by the time I saw him in Battlefield and I knew by then that he occupied a unique role in the Doctor Who mythos. His appearance felt like something special. This recording. Obviously, Nicholas Courtney has the best voice in world, so that's a big plus. He doesn't avoid talk about his struggles during difficult times, but approaches them with a tact and sensitivity that makes them relatable as part of a universal human experience. I don't know how much of these memoirs he wrote himself rather than outsourcing them to a ghost writer, but the frankness with how he discusses these topics leads me to believe that he had a very direct role. I do appreciate his humanity and his dry wit. He led an extraordinary life, and I'm reminded of American actor Wallace Shawn in that he's just as fascinating as a person as any character he has played. A phenomenal reading of a phenomenal work by a phenomenal man. After his passing, Mark Gatiss called him "a childhood hero and the sweetest of gentlemen" and I can't say it any better than that. I completely agree. I listened to this a few weeks ago, so I was hoping I would get something vaguely similar with the JNT memoir. But is has what the latter audiobook lacks, significant insight as to what was happening personally to the subject of the book while events were going on around him. Courtney is brave enough to discuss his mistakes as well as his triumphs. It was a joy to listen to.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2019 18:40:21 GMT
The house is feckin' freezing as I have no wall at the back of the house, so I'm in bed at 19:10pm with a hot water bottle and 'The Cloisters of Terror' is keeping me company before all the footy starts on the radio. I always juggle with that and Darkness Of Glass and darkness usually wins lol
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