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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2017 7:01:11 GMT
This may be the best release of the year! Night of the Vashta Nerada Worth the money by itself. Tom is on fire and such a coherent Cast its Who meet Jurassic Park Empire of the Racnoss Hell hath no Fury like Giant Spider-like people scorned The Carrionite Curse Lovely verbose but at the same time nuanced performance from Colin and a story point inadvertently serves as a touching tribute to a recently lost great Day of the Vashta Nerada If Night of was DW meets Jurassic Park then Day of was DW meets Alien Regards mark687 I'm tingling with excitement, you tease Mark
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Post by kinghumble on Jul 28, 2017 8:14:10 GMT
I also really enjoyed this release, though it came a bit late in the month for what i'd hoped.
The Carrionite Curse was probably the weakest of the four, but I mean that as a compliment to the set overall because Carrionite Curse was still very enjoyable. I did find myself wishing that Old Sixie was given a shot with a more iconic NuWho baddie; first the Judoon and now the witches? Let Colin take a bite out of the Weeping Angels or the Silence or even the Toclafane, please! I'm definitely hoping for a 3rd set, and would pre-order it like a shot... though three sets would probably be enough, at least until some new monsters are dreamt up by Chibnall's team (and BF is licensed to use them, so years from now, most likely).
This would be another good set to offer new fans who are unsure how to dive in to Big Finish, especially if those new folks could also be convinced to give the War Doctor set a try, to add context to DotVN
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Post by sherlock on Jul 28, 2017 10:47:22 GMT
Empire of the Racnoss: {Spoiler} Good fleshing out of the Racnoss, and a good handle on the fifth Doctor too, his compassion driving the story on.
Also did the Doctor just get a new companion? I liked her so was quite pleased at that. Can we expect to hear from her again?
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Post by kinghumble on Jul 28, 2017 14:01:11 GMT
Empire of the Racnoss: {Spoiler} Good fleshing out of the Racnoss, and a good handle on the fifth Doctor too, his compassion driving the story on.
Also did the Doctor just get a new companion? I liked her so was quite pleased at that. Can we expect to hear from her again? I had wondered the same
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Post by sherlock on Jul 28, 2017 16:16:51 GMT
The Carrionite Curse. {Spoiler} Weaker than the previous two I'd say. Still a good story, with it utilising the placement in the Doctoe's timeline to good effect (his post-Trial doubts are very much in evidence) and it was nice this actually tied into the Carrionites' appearance in the New Series. One small plot hole, a lot of fuss is made over his Presidency of the Time Lords...except this is definitely post-Trial so he's been deposed by this point. Presumably ex-Presidents still retain some authority. The references to Litefoot were a nice tribute as well, I do love the image of Jago defeating the Carrionites with his usual vocabulary.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2017 16:36:12 GMT
Empire of the Racnoss: {Spoiler} Good fleshing out of the Racnoss, and a good handle on the fifth Doctor too, his compassion driving the story on.
Also did the Doctor just get a new companion? I liked her so was quite pleased at that. Can we expect to hear from her again? Sounds a distinct possibility, doesn't it? Hope so! Empire of the Racnoss
One of the things I enjoyed about this were the voices of the varied Racnoss. No obvious character-sapping modulation in sight, just very good actors playing alien aggressors and sounding unique and individual, infusing all manner of emotion into the performances without having that lost and distorted into a special effect: an audio version of CGI. The interaction between the aliens and the humans seems much more natural. Now I've got that personal little rant off my chest, the story is solid, concise and highly enjoyable - a marital dispute on a galactic, world-changing scale. The scenes with The Doctor and his new friend swapping wearied barbs with Adjoa Andoh's Empress on a blasted wasteland in particular is excellent (what a TARDIS team this threesome would make - delightfully surreal) - Peter Davison's sarcasm is well served here, and I mean that as a complement. I wished they'd explored the Fifth Doctor's sardonic nature more on television because it is frequently hilarious.
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Post by sherlock on Jul 28, 2017 17:30:34 GMT
Day of the Vashta Nerada. {Spoiler} Another good take on the Vashta Nerada, exploring a variety of different forms. Quite a grim ending, which goes for almost all these stories really. The interaction between the Doctor and Ollistra was fun as usual, the eternally snarky Time Lady is a great creation of Big Finish's.
Overall this set is very good, here's hoping for a Volume 3...
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Post by DavidHogan on Jul 28, 2017 17:35:45 GMT
Listened to Night of the Vashta Nerada earlier, great little story. The characters were mostly stock sci-fi characters, but given the length of the story I was fine with that, it meant the story could concentrate on the Vashta Nerada and The Doctor's first encounter with a hostile version of them.
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Post by shallacatop on Jul 28, 2017 19:28:41 GMT
Empire of the Racnoss was very good. Solid story, Davison is very well served here, I so wish he'd been like this on telly. Adjoa Adhoh is clearly having the time of her life! The TARDIS team is delightfully bonkers in this one and has the Fifth Doctor picked up a new companion? I'd certainly be interested in a main range trilogy.
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Post by number13 on Jul 28, 2017 19:57:36 GMT
Trying to take these adventures in slowly, one at a time... Night of the Vashta NeradaI did wonder if the inaudible, individually invisible monsters would work on audio (silly me!) - of course I shouldn't have worried! John Dorney cleverly finds a way to give their thoughts and feelings a 'voice' and gives us a classical Fourth Doctor "haunted house" story in a space-future setting, where the shadows do their own lurking and the 'ghosts' have teeth... {Spoiler}A lovely detail! The Doctor issues 'a warning to the curious' (to keep away from this "haunted" world) - the title of a story featuring one of M.R. James' most deadly and vengeful ghosts...
Tom Baker gets his Doctor fizzing with energy and moral outrage at the deeds of a party of humans who have caused trouble and don't know when to give up and run. Amanda Steele (Pam Ferris) isn't used to running - a great character, not a soldier but a hunter and a very, very good one. But can even she hunt down the living dust that swirls in shadows...? It's a story full of tense plotting and waiting... then bang! Another skeleton rattles horribly to the floor, its former owner no longer requiring it... {Spoiler}Think 'Doctor Who' meets 'Predator', very well done - and again, there is a deliberate 'predator' line from the Doctor to mark this out for us.
Howard Carter's music and sound design is excellent, definitely 'blockbuster' style and you'll spot that from the opening 'shot', which could be nothing other than a mighty ship sliding into orbit, to the closing music which seems to tell us that {Spoiler} this story may not be over just yet... as we know, the Eighth Doctor is next in line for a meeting with the 'pirahnas of the air'...
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Post by shallacatop on Jul 29, 2017 8:09:31 GMT
I think The Carrionite Curse was easily my least favourite of the set. Colin Baker and wordplay is just a little too overbearing for me. I enjoyed it enough, but it falls in the same pit Harvest of the Sycorax did last year where it just riffs too much on the story it originates from. Though in the defence of Curse, it didn't pretty much quote The Shakespeare Code word for word in the way Harvest did for The Christmas Invasion!
It's been a good set overall, I just so wish they'd replaced this story with Sylvester and the Clockwork Droids.
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Post by number13 on Jul 29, 2017 14:18:42 GMT
Empire of the Racnoss
Scott Handcock drops the Fifth Doctor (and us) into the final stages of an epic space opera, as the ancient Racnoss Empire strikes back against internal foes and faces defeat at the hands of a terrible force - the Time Lords... How strange then, that the Empress sees the arrival of a Time Lord in her court as offering her people - and her ambitions - a new hope...
The episode is crammed with worlds-spanning space adventure and court and family politics at their most bitter, tangled and entertaining - and the twin webs of Time and Racnoss continuity are both maintained. But imagine fewer legs, eyes and spaceships, and legions and togas instead, and this story could equally well be played out in ancient Rome - the clever, scheming Racnoss come across as far more than mere 'monsters'.
Peter Davison is especially excellent in this adventure, partly thanks to the great script enabling him to play the Doctor as a fine mixture of morality, irony and biting sarcasm! There are moments when this side of the Fifth Doctor is revealed in other BF audios too; more please, because the results are highly enjoyable - and the good Time Lord who cares for all life, everywhere, still shines through as strongly as ever.
The Racnoss are never knowingly understated as a species and their Empress least of all; Adjoa Andoh's performance is brilliant and exactly right, great to listen to and seconded in fine style (male Racnoss can never do more than come second, or so the Empress thinks...) by Nigel Planer and Andrew French as the two rival males ensnared in her webs of intrigue...
Howard Carter's music is on an even grander scale than in the first story, as required by the sweep of this space opera and perfectly matched by Russell McGee's sound design, giving the audio equivalent of an 'HD widescreen' feel to this second, excellent story in the collection.
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Post by omega on Jul 29, 2017 14:34:37 GMT
Personally I think that in Night of the Vashta Nerada that they could have tried taking over the park animatronics. It'd give them another sound to work with (imagine the pre-programmed greetings getting slower and more mangled as the Vashta Nerada ruin the circuitry) and another way to inspire terror in their victims. Being stalked by a stuttering amusement park robot? I'd freak out.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2017 15:01:08 GMT
The Carrionite Curse
"Come on, Eileen!"
As someone who has connections with the location in which this story is set, it is nice to hear the Black Country accent used to provide local colour as opposed to taking the mick! I thoroughly enjoyed this - once again, the acting is top-notch, especially from the 'witches' (Andrée Bernard in particular). If the Midlands can be described thus, this is a good 'rural horror' and set in the 1980's, can almost be considered a period drama/horror. Colin Baker and Maya Sondhi - as Katy - work well together. Doctor and companion material, if the story hadn't other ideas. As others have said, the Litefoot connection is very nice. I also like the way this story could only have really worked with Colin's Doctor. Playing to the Sixth Doctor's strengths proves once again what a good character he always was/is.
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Post by elkawho on Jul 30, 2017 12:36:29 GMT
Ok, I think I have to listen to Empire of The Racnoss again. I was distracted during this story, so maybe that's why I didn't take to it as much as the rest of these wonderful tales. And I agree that the plot point in The Carrionite Curse was a lovely, and timely tribute.
Time for a re-listen!
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Post by omega on Jul 30, 2017 12:45:46 GMT
Due to the circumstances in which I was listening to Empire of the Racnoss and The Carrionite Curse (listening while waiting for a flight to board and tired on a plane) I'll need to relisten to them.
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aztec
Chancellery Guard
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Post by aztec on Jul 30, 2017 14:13:48 GMT
Still waiting for my copy to be delivered...
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Post by shallacatop on Jul 30, 2017 15:17:18 GMT
Glad to see people are getting more out of The Carrionite Curse than I did. I think it'll be one to relisten to in the coming weeks.
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Post by denyer97 on Jul 30, 2017 17:53:17 GMT
Glad to see the good reviews flooding in! I'm looking forward to hearing it on Friday when I get paid! I'm hopeful for a volume Three but after the comments in vortex I doubt it, still if it means we get new series monsters in the main range too then that's exciting too! I'm still hopeful for a 1st Doctor/Weeping Angel Early Adventure though!
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Post by number13 on Jul 30, 2017 22:00:12 GMT
The Carrionite Curse'Black magic in the Black Country' and enough Carrionite conversing complexity to confuse all but this Doctor! Solving witchy conundrums, something Sixie this way comes! I had high hopes of this story of West Midlands 'witchcraft' from when the boxset was announced and I wasn't disappointed. The Sixth Doctor, master of blistering articulation and with a dictionary for a tongue, seemed the perfect Doctor to wield the power of words against the ancient alien pseudo-witches, and so he was. Maybe not everyone has enjoyed this story as much as I did, and it's true that the setting, theme and some of the pace are quite different from the first two, but for me the varied styles of this boxset are part of its strength. Colin Baker is (of course) brilliant and the excellent guest cast, music and sound all combine with the script to make this another moment of magic in a great boxset. We know more or less what to expect from these guest 'monsters' and we get it in style (Andrée Bernard plays a splendid Carrionite), but that's only the starting point of the story. Simon Guerrier has given us not only an enjoyably classical earthbound story (feeling quite of the Pertwee era in some ways, despite its 1980s setting) but also a much more complex plot than simply smalltown Gothic with bonfires and levitating aliens, good though that part is. It takes even the Sixth Doctor a while to uncover it - but for me the wait was worth it. {Spoiler}It's a timey-wimey paradox which perfectly ties this story together with the new series and makes contact with several BF stories from other ranges. I enjoyed that a lot, continuity is great when it's handled this neatly - and the author could never have guessed how well he would demonstrate 'the power of words' by three words that will surely grab every listener like the powerful enchantment they are: {BIG Spoiler}Professor George Litefoot. What a lovely (and sadly, timely) tribute to Trevor Baxter's priceless Professor - his published recollections of his and Henry Jago's adventures hold the words of wisdom the Doctor needs to help him now...
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