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Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2016 11:01:08 GMT
So, we've had The Waters of Amsterdam, Aquitaine, The Peterloo Massacre, And You Will Obey Me, Vampire of the Mind and The Two Masters. We've had A Life of Crime, Fiesta of the Damned, Maker of Demons, The Memory Bank and Other Stories, Order of the Daleks, Absolute Power and Quicksilver.
It's easy to take the main range for granted. It's always there and has been for over 15 years now. But looking at the above list, I'm reminded how many gems it has given us this year. The highs far outweigh my perceived lows. In fact, only And You Will Obey Me (a necessary part of a terrific trilogy, but less than stellar in its own right) , A Life of Crime and Maker of Demons have failed to hit the mark for me (this Mel/Ace trilogy has been something of a disappointment. Not only have the book-ending stories been disappointing, but Mel's return has hardly been as interesting as it could have been, other than nice to get Bonnie back. For all the possibilities, these three stories might well have taken place sometime during Dragonfire - Ace's maturity has disappeared, and Mel is essentially the same as she always has with Big Finish. Only Fiesta emerged as a great story in its own right as far as I am concerned).
Apart from that, the trilogies have been very enjoyable. I'd forgotten how strong The Fifth Doctor's opening stories were - Aquitaine and Peterloo Massacre are pretty much classics, I think. The Master stories build up to reach the joy that is The Two Masters, which is a great celebration of two very powerful takes on the character. Great fun.
Finally, Old Sixie has a final great run in 2016. For me, Constance has been a slow-burner as a companion. A little starchy in her early stories, she's become a lovely character withg depth and flair, and her pairing with Flip has brought out great things in both of them. The future for this TARDIS team is very promising.
Those are my views on this year's monthgly range. I don't think there's another thread that has cast a retrospective look over the year, but if there is, please feel free to merge.
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Post by omega on Dec 17, 2016 11:13:36 GMT
The Seventh Doctor, Ace and Mel felt like it didn't live up to its potential for me. Nothing was fundamentally different about Ace and Mel, and their dynamic didn't do much for me. The meeting of companions as done far better with Constance and Flip, or Connie and Phillipa, in Quicksilver, where they worked well as a team despite their different backgrounds.
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Post by muckypup on Dec 17, 2016 11:31:40 GMT
For me it's been a downhill year
Started of with the best trilogy we have had in a long time, very underwhelmed by the master trilogy but it was ok, same for the ace & Mel trilogy, turlough one off felt the storys were just a bit blah
Admittedly I have not listened to current trilogy so it may end on a high.
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Dec 17, 2016 16:34:00 GMT
The high points for me were the first and the final trilogies of the year. I liked the first two installments of The Two Masters trilogy but didn't love them. I did adore the final part of it though. I liked Fiesta of the Damned a lot but didn't think much of the adventures which book ended it. It was nice to have The Doctor & Turlough pairing in the anthology release but none of the stories really stood out to me. I would really like to see BF do something different with that slot. Maybe a four part mini-series instead of the usual three part season with each of the MR Doctors on a rotating basis. Maybe a one off for 4 or 8. Anyway, overall a solid year of Big Finish featured in the Monthly Range.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2016 16:48:17 GMT
I'm so happy to say, after the past few years of being constantly underwhelmed by the older-Nyssa arc, that the 5th Doctor trilogy from the start of the year is the best BF, not just MR, I've heard this year. Davison sounded absolutely enthused and there's something to be said that none of them re-invented the wheel but they just told very strong stories and plots in logical, clear and interesting ways. Not that they were "safe" but they were just very good entries in the MR.
Having only finished the Mel-Ace trilogy yesterday I'd say that while I like the stories, I am disappointed that the premise of an older Ace who has seen some true horrors meeting a largely unchanged Mel doesn't come into play much. With some small rewrites this could be Ace just after Season 24 not post-Hex. That can be rectified in the future, I'm sure.
The Master trilogy was good, I loved the first Whistle Down The Wind influenced story the most The Master in the barn influencing young minds...yeah - that was cool. Vampire Of The Mind was a nice Colin story but I didn't think it was much of a Master adventure. I thought when the Two Masters met up, the Beevers incarnation was perhaps a bit too quippy compared to what we've heard from him before. That seemed much more natural for the McQueeen Master but Beevers played it so well I don't really mind - plus I can't complain about character development. In some stories the Beevers incarnation has been evil and little else so giving him some colour is a good move.
I still have Absolute power and Quicksilver to listen to over the weekend, but they'l have to go a long way to beat Aquitaine and Peterloo for my top stories of the year. Glad to say though this is the first year in an age that there's not been (so far) a story I dislike in the MR. Some I just like rather than love but I've enjoyed all 11 I've heard.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2016 22:50:45 GMT
2016 has been a good year for the Doctor Who Main Range; a year which started off with three very strong 5th Doctor stories and ended with three very strong 6th Doctor stories. There has been good things in all of the three-set groups of stories...and no stinkers for me this year. The anthology release I can take or leave, but one of those bite-sized adventures was very good (Memory Bank) and the others were enjoyable enough for what they were. (I find the Short Trips range delivers more for a Doctor Who story in a short space of time than the dramatised one episode stories.)
My Main Range highlights of the year were Order of the Daleks, Quicksilver, The Two Masters and Aquitaine, but the rest of them would get honourable mentions as they were all well written stories that I enjoyed very much. Nothing was below par this year.
There are no real low points for me in 2016. Although I do still find Ace's (at times) immaturity a bit of a yawn, so I'd prefer the 7th Doctor with Mel on her own, but the stories themselves were not bad.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2016 5:19:58 GMT
I still have Absolute power and Quicksilver to listen to over the weekend, but they'll have to go a long way to beat Aquitaine and Peterloo for my top stories of the year. And Quicksilver absolutely did - a nail-on for the best story of the year. I posted my thoughts in the thread on it elsewhere but I'd have to go back years to find a MR story I've loved so much, so quickly. |
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Post by relativetime on Dec 18, 2016 5:52:21 GMT
I'll echo the thoughts above - this was a fantastic year for the MR! I was absolutely floored by Aquitaine and The Peterloo Massacre early this year and I'm happy to say the experience repeated itself quite nicely with Quicksilver to round the year out. The two Masters trilogy was very strong as well - And You Will Obey Me was probably the weakest of the three, but I still find myself giving it repeat listens every now and then since it's hard to deny it has some definite charm as well as some really great scenes.
The Seventh Doctor trilogy was good, but not great, which I feel it had a lot of potential to be. It felt a little too much like Season 24 tonally - and that might make sense depending on how the tone shifts in next year's trilogy - and because of that, the trilogy forfeited a lot of great opportunities to explore Mel coming to terms with how much the Doctor has changed since she left him. It felt like the character development of both Ace and the Doctor had regressed - ESPECIALLY if this is supposed to be set post-Hex, which I find very hard to believe personally. Putting that aside, however, the stories were enjoyable for what they were. I particularly liked Fiesta of the Damned.
The Memory Bank and Other Stories was solid as well. We really do need more Fifth Doctor and Turlough stories!
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