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Post by nucleusofswarm on Jun 10, 2016 20:47:18 GMT
Am I the only one who finds the use of narration in the Early Adventures a little bit jarring, like the format's confused between a MR and a CC story? To me, you make a range like this so fans of 1 and 2 can enjoy adventures the same way they can with the other Doctors as straight audio dramas. The cast size, structure, pacing and directing are pretty much identical, so why is the narration still there if it's not a CC?
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Post by muckypup on Jun 10, 2016 21:41:15 GMT
nope, they are like the tv sountracks with linking narration.
I get it and second series with fraizer & co was a big step up from series 1
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2016 1:23:48 GMT
It also works a little bit better with some stories rather than others. The Doctor's Tale used it to its advantage by turning a lot of the narration into very colourful prose, whereas the narration for Domain of the Voord was a lot more functional.
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Post by icecreamdf on Jun 11, 2016 1:36:26 GMT
I really don't care either way. I don't mind the narration when its there, and I don't miss it when its not their.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2016 5:20:40 GMT
I think they've got it just right in these stories. As has been said, sometimes it's used to better affect than others, but I never find it intrusive.
Indeed, since listening to the Early Adventures I've really started to realise how much we sometimes have to fill in the gaps in ranges with no narration.
The only time narration didn't work for me was the Third Doctor set, and that's because there was so little of it that my brain kept slipping into Main Range mode and then I did find it jolting to have the odd line of narration.
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Post by nucleusofswarm on Jul 7, 2016 18:24:21 GMT
I think they've got it just right in these stories. As has been said, sometimes it's used to better affect than others, but I never find it intrusive. Indeed, since listening to the Early Adventures I've really started to realise how much we sometimes have to fill in the gaps in ranges with no narration. The only time narration didn't work for me was the Third Doctor set, and that's because there was so little of it that my brain kept slipping into Main Range mode and then I did find it jolting to have the odd line of narration. Indeed. That was my experience with The Forsaken, hence why I put up this thread: the narration I found redundant as BF's sound team always does a bang up job with creating a compelling soundscape and I felt like butting in with narration not only hurt some of the tension and suspense, but also felt like a step backwards in how much BF have evolved in their mastery of audio.
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Post by mrperson on Jul 7, 2016 18:50:25 GMT
I don't like the narration and do find it rather jarring. I find it especially odd given how good BF is at creating a soundscape that conveys to me precisely what is going on.
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Post by constonks on Jul 7, 2016 19:11:41 GMT
I find I like the narration a lot more if it's used to set up new location or open an episode, or if something creative is done with it.
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Post by elkawho on Jul 7, 2016 20:18:26 GMT
I actually really like the narration in the Early Adventures. I'm not sure why.
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Post by barnabaslives on Jul 7, 2016 20:27:15 GMT
It seems like narration is a useful thing in linking scene changes, describing a passage of time that won't fit into a particular audio, or describing something unfamiliar or alien in detail that may not make for plausible dialog - and perhaps that translates into more possibilities for what happens in a story.
I think it was very well used that way with the Third Doctor Adventures myself although I found it a tiny bit bit clumsy getting used to Tim Treloar as narrator at the same time I was getting used to him as Third Doctor.
If you're listening to the Early Adventures in "MR mode" as I've done before myself, the first thing that might occur to you is that the Monthly Range gets along fine without narration; if you're listening in "CC mode" then the Early Adventures can be more like Companion Chronicles with glorious bonuses of full-cast material.
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Post by coffeeaddict on Jul 7, 2016 22:18:40 GMT
I don't have any complaint with the narration in any of the DW ranges.
I'm one of the few who wasn't bothered by it in the Third Doctor set last year and haven't any issue with the Early Adventures either.
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Post by smith11 on Jul 7, 2016 22:29:30 GMT
Having grown up experiencing quite a few 60s stories by listening to the soundtracks I don't find the narration odd and in fact would miss it if it went.
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Post by elkawho on Jul 8, 2016 1:20:32 GMT
I don't have any complaint with the narration in any of the DW ranges. I'm one of the few who wasn't bothered by it in the Third Doctor set last year and haven't any issue with the Early Adventures either. The narration in the Third Doctor set didn't bother me either.
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Post by Sir Wearer of Hats on Jul 8, 2016 2:50:01 GMT
No problem, especially as William Russell and Peter Purves have lovely voices.
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Post by relativetime on Jul 8, 2016 3:03:32 GMT
Doesn't really bother me, to be honest. The only time narration ever really bothered me was during the Third Doctor Adventures Volume 01 where it just felt unnecessary at times - though, granted, there is one particular scene in The Havoc of Empires that might have been trickier to do without narration.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2016 5:30:05 GMT
I really liked it, I think it's why I prefer Early Adventures to main range.
Am I alone in sometimes sitting there listening to a non-narrated adventure thinking "sorry I've no idea what is going on" and hoping some exposition will come along in a minute to explain it.
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Post by dalekbuster523finish on Jul 8, 2016 8:58:32 GMT
I've only listened to the first episode of The Third Doctor Adventures Volume One and I found the linking narration very distracting. Somehow it makes it feel more like listening to a childrens' audio drama rather than one for Whovians such as ourselves.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2016 10:19:45 GMT
I find it tends to work better for some stories than others. I really enjoyed the prosaic, lyrical qualities of the narration for The Doctor's Tale in comparison to Domain of the Voord's rather functional stage directions. It works a lot better at establishing a sense of atmosphere and I think I would prefer it'd be left out altogether where it's not required.
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Post by literatedead on Jul 8, 2016 12:28:45 GMT
For me personally, I find it depends on the story/range.
I think the narration format worked for the Companion Chronicles as it made most of the stories more personal, and often involved an external narrative that added to the story. In the Lost Stories it felt like it was utilized to both fill in the gaps in lieu of the Doctors (i.e. Hartnell, Troughton, & Pertwee).
In the Early Adventures (at least the first series, as I haven't heard the second) it feels more of a distraction. The endless narration in Domain of the Voord actually dragged the story down, making it feel like a chore to sit through at times. It was better in A Doctor's Tale as the narrative style worked fine for a story without as much action, and Bounty of Ceres did a better job weaving from script to narrative; though I found An Ordinary Life had such a Companion Chronicles-esque story that it would have improved a bit by telling the narrative in first person.
I haven't heard the Third Doctor Box Set, myself, but admittedly the narrative format is what keeps that so low on my wishlist. If they're going to stick to the format, I'd rather just have a box set of Companion Chronicles stories set in the era (which is regrettably unlikely, since we've lost Caroline John and Nicholas Courtney, and John Levene will probably never come back).
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Post by dastari on Jul 8, 2016 17:14:58 GMT
Am I the only one who finds the use of narration in the Early Adventures a little bit jarring, like the format's confused between a MR and a CC story? To me, you make a range like this so fans of 1 and 2 can enjoy adventures the same way they can with the other Doctors as straight audio dramas. The cast size, structure, pacing and directing are pretty much identical, so why is the narration still there if it's not a CC? It still puzzles me that BF decided to forgo narration on further Third Doctor Adventures, but don't use the same philosophy with The Early Adventures. They're the same thing. As others have said, there are times that it works better than others, and that's what I'd like to see. If someone has a good reason to use a narrator as part of the cast then use narration. If there's no reason other than that editorial mandate requires it, then that's not a good reason and they shouldn't use it. To me, the narration on the Early Adventures and Third Doctor Adventures is a lot like the narration in The Lost Stories, which isn't the same as the CC's at all. The best IMHO CC's were the ones where the companion was telling this story as if it were an event that happened to them and it had a more personal effect. While some of the later CC's were a bit more generic in style, that framing device elevated the narration of the CC's and made it work. I don't think it's worked very well on any of the other ranges where it's used.
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