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Post by omega on Jun 13, 2017 11:48:53 GMT
On Facebook Scott Handcock, writer of World Apart, confirms that the writers, he and AK Benedict, were told somewhere between Forty-Five and Magic Mousetrap.
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Post by mark687 on Jun 13, 2017 13:07:32 GMT
Very good indeed and the ending Oh Hex if only you knew what lay ahead! Regards mark687
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Post by TinDogPodcast on Jun 13, 2017 13:19:16 GMT
On twitter mister H was v happy with my review. Which is nice
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Post by theotherjosh on Jun 13, 2017 18:56:40 GMT
I’ve only listened to Shadow Planet, because I’m doing my best to savor this. Holy fiddlesticks, this was good.
HEX! It’s Hex, guys! OH MY GOD!
He enters whistling! If this had been filmed in front of a live studio audience, the cheers would have been deafening.
The dialogue pops and the script overflows with memorable lines.
“Like flying pieces of old love letters that disintegrate in your hands.” “See you on the other side of you.” Ace makes a joke about losing her shadow? Didn’t that happen in a short trip? Tight script. Possibly the best since A Death in the Family. Every line advances the plot and entertains. Dorothy Gale (McShane) can’t click her heels for a resolution. Some of the best writing for the Seventh Doctor, ever.
I like this kind of baddie. I read a line in a story that said that “Most bad people aren’t bad all the time and they’re mostly bad in small ways,” and I’ve always kept that with me. It’s just that the ways in which they’re bad have disproportionate impact on those over whom they have power. I like this kind of baddie because you can see the evil rise out of rational self-interest and that always strikes me as more frightening and realistic.
Where did AK Benedict come from? She’s just amazing. It looks like a Class novel and two Torchwood stories are her only other Who credits. “Hitting the ground running” doesn’t even begin to do this justice. It’s an astonishing debut. Such talent, such understanding. I’m really hoping for a full-length audio from her soon.
It’s a great character study, but it’s so much more than that. I haven’t been a fan of the 2x2 stories, but this story is a great fit for the format. I can’t think of anything that would have made this story any better.
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Jun 13, 2017 20:01:42 GMT
I’ve only listened to Shadow Planet, because I’m doing my best to savor this. Holy fiddlesticks, this was good.
HEX! It’s Hex, guys! OH MY GOD!
He enters whistling! If this had been filmed in front of a live studio audience, the cheers would have been deafening.
The dialogue pops and the script overflows with memorable lines.
“Like flying pieces of old love letters that disintegrate in your hands.” “See you on the other side of you.” Ace makes a joke about losing her shadow? Didn’t that happen in a short trip? Tight script. Possibly the best since A Death in the Family. Every line advances the plot and entertains. Dorothy Gale (McShane) can’t click her heels for a resolution. Some of the best writing for the Seventh Doctor, ever.
I like this kind of baddie. I read a line in a story that said that “Most bad people aren’t bad all the time and they’re mostly bad in small ways,” and I’ve always kept that with me. It’s just that the ways in which they’re bad have disproportionate impact on those over whom they have power. I like this kind of baddie because you can see the evil rise out of rational self-interest and that always strikes me as more frightening and realistic.
Where did AK Benedict come from? She’s just amazing. It looks like a Class novel and two Torchwood stories are her only other Who credits. “Hitting the ground running” doesn’t even begin to do this justice. It’s an astonishing debut. Such talent, such understanding. I’m really hoping for a full-length audio from her soon.
It’s a great character study, but it’s so much more than that. I haven’t been a fan of the 2x2 stories, but this story is a great fit for the format. I can’t think of anything that would have made this story any better.
You should read her novel, The Beauty of Murder. It is about a time-traveling serial killer and is very, very good.
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Post by theotherjosh on Jun 13, 2017 20:07:37 GMT
You should read her novel, The Beauty of Murder. It is about a time-traveling serial killer and is very, very good. I will absolutely be seeking out her other stuff after this.
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Post by IndieMacUser on Jun 14, 2017 10:20:01 GMT
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Tony Jones
Chancellery Guard
Professor Chronotis
Still rockin' along!
Likes: 2,132
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Post by Tony Jones on Jun 14, 2017 10:29:29 GMT
AK Benedict's Torchwood stories are good, I felt her Class book was less impressive and it must be very hard to write for a new show before transmission. This touches some interesting territory. I was in two minds over the 'flying piece of love letters' line - very good prose, but is it something Hex would say?
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Post by Digi on Jun 14, 2017 11:31:29 GMT
I liked Shadow Planet, but wow, World Apart was really something else. Absolutely loved it. Beautifully creepy and unsettling.
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Post by mrperson on Jun 14, 2017 14:20:35 GMT
Great stuff.
Oddly enough, for some reason, before listening to it I'd gotten the idea into my head that this was going to be an older-Hex accidentally thrown back together with them, rather than set earlier.
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Post by theotherjosh on Jun 14, 2017 19:59:05 GMT
The worst thing about World Apart is that it has the misfortune to follow Shadow Planet. It’s good, maybe even great, but Planet is absolutely transcendent and anything that come after it is going to seem weaker by contrast. “We can’t all be natural space adventurers.” It’s one of my favorite subgenres of Doctor Who stories, the Ace and Hex on their own (Protect and Survive, Magic Mousetrap). I think that’s where they shine. Now I want a Hex and {Spoiler} Sally solo series. {Spoiler} It can guest-star Lysandra Aristedes!
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Post by number13 on Jun 14, 2017 22:56:36 GMT
Shadow PlanetHex is back! for a very good story with often wonderful dialogue where each line leads naturally to the next, forming one well-integrated whole - with one curious anomaly: who knew that Hex had the soul of a poet until he described those moths? If the Doctor had said it I wouldn't have been surprised, but Hex...? Maybe the planet was already working its influence? The story is apparently set after 'Forty-Five', but for me it could have been much earlier. Ace seemed young, impetuous and impatient for something - anything - to happen and the Doctor... well, this is the Seventh Doctor and he has the last word as usual, another twist on his manipulative path through life... I'll spoiler tag the rest because without discussing the inventive central concept I can't say anything except it's extremely well written and neatly told within the short format with pace and some surprising twists. But did the villains have to be evil capitalists, again? Perhaps all forms of 'Doctor Who' should be funded by purely optional donations in future? (Hey, I'd still give!) An enjoyable story and one that felt just right for this TARDIS crew. {Spoiler} I don't pretend to understand the psychological theory, but the artificial, physical separation of a person from their emotional 'shadow' is a great idea. Then you can meet your 'shadow' and reach an understanding before reintegration. How cool (and theraputic) would that be? Of course, that's assuming the shadow wants to be reintegrated... or the person.
With such a great central idea, I would have liked it to run rather deeper in two cases. Hex is such an all-round decent bloke that I expected his shadow to be fairly benign (as it was) - but I thought Ace would have had a much darker shadow than the 'don't care' teenagy rebel shadow we met. Thinking back to 'Fenric' or 'Ghostlight', there's a lot of troubled past hidden in Ace and I thought this would have shown up more. And the Doctor... the Seventh Doctor... we don't meet his real shadow in the end, as he manipulates his way deftly to a happy ending neatly done with TARDIS trickery. I thought this was a pity - the shadow of this particular incarnation would have been spectacular!
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Post by mrperson on Jun 15, 2017 4:11:16 GMT
Plot-heavier, so, perhaps unnecessary spoilers.
Oh, how opinions do vary. I wasn't so taken with the concepts in Shadow Planet. It wasn't bad. It was good. But it was one of those concepts that doesn't work so well for me, and might have done if squarely addressed: a sentient planet (inhale deeply, but I know, it's been done a bunch) that can neatly divide any conscious being into it's main self and shadow self no matter how alien the species?
It also didn't seem consistent what was meant in "self" terms. Is the non-shadow the main self? The good self? The self that simply wins internal arguments?
Is the shadow self the bad self? Is it a combo of bad self and ignored self? Or is it just the self that loses those internal arguments?
Basically, "shadow selves" alternated between being an equally conscious "you" but the one that tends to lose internal debates, and simply an ***hole-you.
I dunno. It ended up being vaguely Dreamtime-y for me, in terms of how much one had to swallow to accept the plot.
I suppose World Apart had it's whole "doesn't exist in normal space-time" thing and maybe-sentient/maybe-not planet, but that was about it. Otherwise, it managed to be eerie and threatening, even though one knew they both had to be saved......
...which wouldn't have been the case if somehow Hex had been temporarily nabbed away from his woman after X years post-arc.
Perhaps I can't put my finger on it and/or my opinion will change, but basically, I found Shadow Planet more by rote and World Apart more enjoyable. Though, perhaps, I'd have preferred each in the full 2h format.
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Post by mrperson on Jun 15, 2017 4:12:44 GMT
(Protect and Survive, Magic Mousetrap) .....now those are something else...
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Post by TinDogPodcast on Jun 15, 2017 5:13:33 GMT
Like I say in the review. The last part has a protect and survive feel...
Harrowing
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Post by omega on Jun 15, 2017 6:14:44 GMT
I felt that Shadow Planet has more potential as a Companion Chronicle or a Short Trip style story than a full cast. The two versions of Ace or Hex taking turns narrating, allowing us, the listeners, a better sense of the dominant and the shadow versions. What makes them different and how that shapes the character. Even some sense of how talking it out with each other affects the person when they become whole again.
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Post by acousticwolf on Jun 15, 2017 7:31:47 GMT
I felt that Shadow Planet has more potential as a Companion Chronicle or a Short Trip style story than a full cast. The two versions of Ace or Hex taking turns narrating, allowing us, the listeners, a better sense of the dominant and the shadow versions. What makes them different and how that shapes the character. Even some sense of how talking it out with each other affects the person when they become whole again. I like the sound of that Cheers Tony
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Post by omega on Jun 15, 2017 7:42:55 GMT
I felt that Shadow Planet has more potential as a Companion Chronicle or a Short Trip style story than a full cast. The two versions of Ace or Hex taking turns narrating, allowing us, the listeners, a better sense of the dominant and the shadow versions. What makes them different and how that shapes the character. Even some sense of how talking it out with each other affects the person when they become whole again. I like the sound of that Cheers Tony Since the story does better on character than on plot (the leader who ignores warnings because there's money to be made is an old trope), having Ace narrate the story, with a change in her personality to reflect the extraction of her shadow, would have shown this a lot more strongly. The oppressed of the rotten underbelly rising up to strike a blow against the evil capitalists is another familiar trope. Getting the Shadow Ace's inner thoughts would go a long way to shining new light on a character who has been around off and on thirty(!) years, including the New Adventures and previous Big Finish stories. A new angle on Ace is a miracle at this point.
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Post by number13 on Jun 15, 2017 12:39:08 GMT
World ApartA fantastic story of desolation, isolation, desertion and fear, on a strange world which begins as a mystery and ends as a source of pure terror. The narrative had me hooked right from the atmospheric scenes of a windswept, frozen beach lapped by the icy, pink sea, and this clear sense of place and landscape continued strongly throughout the story, almost as another character in the drama. This worked very well for me, in a tale where the TARDIS crew are the only living players and the tension gradually ratchets up from 'mildly unsettling' to 'edge-of-the-seat toenail-digging'! We know rescue must come in time, but even so... if you find yourself muttering 'come on, come on, quick!' at the CD, you may not be alone... When you're welcoming a popular companion actor 'home', this is the way to do it. Episode 2 especially might have been designed as a showcase for the excellence of Philip Olivier and Sophie Aldred who carry the episode practically alone - and brilliantly. I'm always so impressed by actors in these kind of stories, performing without the sound design which completes the picture for us, performing with total conviction to create a world of convincing horror... And finally, the Doctor... Sylvester McCoy gives him a wonderfully playful quality to begin with, the scientist-explorer literally 'gathering pebbles on the shore', but... {Spoiler} but by the end of the story he has never seemed more alien, explaining calmly why he acted by his own higher moral code; a reminder that for all his close friendships with humans, he is a Time Lord with a 'shadow' and stands a world apart...
A brilliant story to end this excellent sequence of releases. Of the six stories, for me one was good but unremarkable, two were very good indeed and three were absolute stunners! A very successful experiment - and now I'm looking forward to the return of the full-length adventures - and discovering 'The High Price of Parking'!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2017 16:07:47 GMT
Shadow Planet
I enjoyed this clever story, which is perfect for the two-episode formula. Some nice, often quite funny performances from the three regulars - and on that note, how nice to hear Hex again, unencumbered by his rather overwhelming final character developments. He's a good bloke, a nice chap, an optimist and thoroughly believable. He's also a good companion to Ace (and vice-versa).
Belinda Lang is wonderfully snipey in her part, and sounded uncannily like Liza Goddard on occasion. I'd like to hear more from Belinda with Big Finish. I enjoyed the subtle and effective Tangerine Dream-esque musical score from the dependable Steve Foxon.
As an aside, I like the cliffhanger ending to the story. I know this didn't happen a lot during Sylvester's TV shows (if at all), but it is something that occured once or twice during JNT's era, and it's an approach that makes me happy.
On the evidence of the stories so far - with one more to go - the two x two-parters formula has worked very well, far better than the three + one (rather superfluous) episode from a few years back.
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