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Post by Kestrel on Nov 21, 2020 20:05:06 GMT
After hearing many good things, I finally found time to listen to Time in Office! I find, in general, I tend to prefer the MR releases that are short story collections to the single, 2-hour stories. They just tend to feel... more focused.
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the highlight of these stories was, for me, Leela. Best classic companion? Best classic companion. Leela is, as ever, one of the most compelling characters in the story--although the other Gallifrey castmembers' absence here is pretty conspicuous. They're not even mentioned! Where is Narvin in all of this? Or Romana? Really confused how/where this release fits into the Gallifrey timeline.
-The Doctor mentions that he's traveled too far into the "future," presumably relative to Gallifrey's timeline, so presumably this occurs after Romana's abduction... so where is Romana? Why is she not president? Reconciling this story with the continuity of the Gallifrey and Time War ranges seems... difficult.
Ultimately I enjoyed this set of stories, but they were more humorous than I'd've preferred. Ive long been bummed at the Doctor's (conspicuous) absence from the Gallifrey range, and I'd hoped this release would scratch that itch, but it really doesn't, being more of a comedy than a drama and all. And maybe it's due to listening to this story on 3. November, 2020, but I don't find much inherently amusing about brazenly incompetent presidential malpractice. This feels like a premise that would be much more easy-to-swallow in a time and place when major governments aren't being so deliberately neglectful to the result of approximately ten-thousand people dying every day.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2021 10:20:11 GMT
Despite its loose story arc, does Time in Office count as an anthology?
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Post by mark687 on Feb 22, 2021 10:26:39 GMT
Despite its loose story arc, does Time in Office count as an anthology? I'd say Yes Regards mark687
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Post by sherlock on Feb 22, 2021 10:40:58 GMT
After hearing many good things, I finally found time to listen to Time in Office! I find, in general, I tend to prefer the MR releases that are short story collections to the single, 2-hour stories. They just tend to feel... more focused. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the highlight of these stories was, for me, Leela. Best classic companion? Best classic companion. Leela is, as ever, one of the most compelling characters in the story--although the other Gallifrey castmembers' absence here is pretty conspicuous. They're not even mentioned! Where is Narvin in all of this? Or Romana? Really confused how/where this release fits into the Gallifrey timeline. - The Doctor mentions that he's traveled too far into the " future," presumably relative to Gallifrey's timeline, so presumably this occurs after Romana's abduction... so where is Romana? Why is she not president? Reconciling this story with the continuity of the Gallifrey and Time War ranges seems... difficult. Ultimately I enjoyed this set of stories, but they were more humorous than I'd've preferred. Ive long been bummed at the Doctor's (conspicuous) absence from the Gallifrey range, and I'd hoped this release would scratch that itch, but it really doesn't, being more of a comedy than a drama and all. And maybe it's due to listening to this story on 3. November, 2020, but I don't find much inherently amusing about brazenly incompetent presidential malpractice. This feels like a premise that would be much more easy-to-swallow in a time and place when major governments aren't being so deliberately neglectful to the result of approximately ten-thousand people dying every day. If I’m remembering right that’s actually the Doctor referring to the events of Frontios where he crossed the temporal frontier beyond which time travellers aren’t supposed to go. He seems to think doing that is what enabled the Time Lords to track him down. So it’s not him being in the future of Gallifrey, this all appears to be the Fifth Doctor’s present Gallifrey. Narvin is still a low ranking CIA agent at this point, as he doesn’t become Coordinator till after the death of Vansell in Neverland, so there’s no real reason for him to be involved with the President at this stage in his career. As for Romana, as she’s not mentioned at all I guess she’s yet to come back from E-Space. The novel Blood Harvest depicted her return occurring during Flavia’s Presidency (which is probably post- Trial of a Time Lord) with help from the Seventh Doctor, and Big Finish has never really contradicted that.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2021 11:21:21 GMT
After hearing many good things, I finally found time to listen to Time in Office! I find, in general, I tend to prefer the MR releases that are short story collections to the single, 2-hour stories. They just tend to feel... more focused. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the highlight of these stories was, for me, Leela. Best classic companion? Best classic companion. Leela is, as ever, one of the most compelling characters in the story--although the other Gallifrey castmembers' absence here is pretty conspicuous. They're not even mentioned! Where is Narvin in all of this? Or Romana? Really confused how/where this release fits into the Gallifrey timeline. - The Doctor mentions that he's traveled too far into the " future," presumably relative to Gallifrey's timeline, so presumably this occurs after Romana's abduction... so where is Romana? Why is she not president? Reconciling this story with the continuity of the Gallifrey and Time War ranges seems... difficult. Ultimately I enjoyed this set of stories, but they were more humorous than I'd've preferred. Ive long been bummed at the Doctor's (conspicuous) absence from the Gallifrey range, and I'd hoped this release would scratch that itch, but it really doesn't, being more of a comedy than a drama and all. And maybe it's due to listening to this story on 3. November, 2020, but I don't find much inherently amusing about brazenly incompetent presidential malpractice. This feels like a premise that would be much more easy-to-swallow in a time and place when major governments aren't being so deliberately neglectful to the result of approximately ten-thousand people dying every day. If I’m remembering right that’s actually the Doctor referring to the events of Frontios where he crossed the temporal frontier beyond which time travellers aren’t supposed to go. He seems to think doing that is what enabled the Time Lords to track him down. So it’s not him being in the future of Gallifrey, this all appears to be the Fifth Doctor’s present Gallifrey. Narvin is still a low ranking CIA agent at this point, as he doesn’t become Coordinator till after the death of Vansell in Neverland, so there’s no real reason for him to be involved with the President at this stage in his career. As for Romana, as she’s not mentioned at all I guess she’s yet to come back from E-Space. The novel Blood Harvest depicted her return occurring during Flavia’s Presidency (which is probably post- Trial of a Time Lord) with help from the Seventh Doctor, and Big Finish has never really contradicted that. I think Romana's first appearance in Big Finish, The Apocalypse Element, actually supports it. According to her, Sixie is wearing the wrong body, but he counters with: "No, I'm wearing the right body. Just not necessarily in the right order." I can't remember when it was first established, it's kind of just picked up as writ, but the Seventh Doctor has a history of tying up loose ends from his predecessors. Both in the VNAs and in Big Finish. Indirectly, for the most part. Avoiding contact with his prior incarnations, though there are exceptions from time to time ( *cough* Emperor of the Daleks). In Romana's case, the little man with the red umbrella loops in an event that the Sixth Doctor never got around to encountering himself. Closing the gap. At a guess, maybe as a gift to a friend he knew was set to rise through the ranks in office?
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Post by number13 on Feb 22, 2021 14:17:16 GMT
Despite its loose story arc, does Time in Office count as an anthology? Yes imo. The arc is very loose, it's a collection of short stories with a few links. And I think it's excellent; I'm still waiting for 'Time In Office: The Second Term'.
I've said this before, but the Fifth Doctor does attract top quality anthologies doesn't he? Including the three most recent volumes 'Time Apart' and 'Shadow of the Daleks 1 / 2'.
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Post by grinch on Feb 22, 2021 14:31:26 GMT
Despite its loose story arc, does Time in Office count as an anthology? Yes imo. The arc is very loose, it's a collection of short stories with a few links. And I think it's excellent; I'm still waiting for 'Time In Office: The Second Term'.
I've said this before, but the Fifth Doctor does attract top quality anthologies doesn't he? Including the three most recent volumes 'Time Apart' and 'Shadow of the Daleks 1 / 2'.
I concur. I don’t know what it is but the Fifth Doctor just seems to suit the anthology format. I feel like when the Main Range inevitably transitions into the boxset format his incarnation will be the better for it.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2021 11:07:01 GMT
Yes imo. The arc is very loose, it's a collection of short stories with a few links. And I think it's excellent; I'm still waiting for 'Time In Office: The Second Term'.
I've said this before, but the Fifth Doctor does attract top quality anthologies doesn't he? Including the three most recent volumes 'Time Apart' and 'Shadow of the Daleks 1 / 2'.
I concur. I don’t know what it is but the Fifth Doctor just seems to suit the anthology format. I feel like when the Main Range inevitably transitions into the boxset format his incarnation will be the better for it. Couldn't agree more with the pair of you, especially with Shadow of the Daleks (both volumes). Thinking about starting a separate discussion thread on the Main Range anthology releases.
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Post by Kestrel on Feb 25, 2021 1:20:19 GMT
I concur. I don’t know what it is but the Fifth Doctor just seems to suit the anthology format. I feel like when the Main Range inevitably transitions into the boxset format his incarnation will be the better for it. Couldn't agree more with the pair of you, especially with Shadow of the Daleks (both volumes). Thinking about starting a separate discussion thread on the Main Range anthology releases. Sounds like a good idea to me! I find the anthology releases to be the highlights of the MR.
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Post by constonks on Feb 25, 2021 4:38:54 GMT
Yes imo. The arc is very loose, it's a collection of short stories with a few links. And I think it's excellent; I'm still waiting for 'Time In Office: The Second Term'. I've said this before, but the Fifth Doctor does attract top quality anthologies doesn't he? Including the three most recent volumes 'Time Apart' and 'Shadow of the Daleks 1 / 2'.
I concur. I don’t know what it is but the Fifth Doctor just seems to suit the anthology format. I feel like when the Main Range inevitably transitions into the boxset format his incarnation will be the better for it. Given that it sounds like we're primarily getting three-disc sets, I would love a six-story anthology with Davison (or something like 4 one-parters and a two).
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Post by Kestrel on Feb 26, 2021 3:41:34 GMT
That'd be fantastic! My one big fear for the reorganization is that they might stop doing the anthology releases, and just sort of shunt their smaller story ideas to the Short Trips range. And I mean, don't get me wrong, I love the Short Trips range, but it's just not quite the same as the full-cast short stories in the anthology releases.
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Post by constonks on Feb 26, 2021 4:14:41 GMT
That'd be fantastic! My one big fear for the reorganization is that they might stop doing the anthology releases, and just sort of shunt their smaller story ideas to the Short Trips range. And I mean, don't get me wrong, I love the Short Trips range, but it's just not quite the same as the full-cast short stories in the anthology releases. I'm still very optimistic that the reorganization will actually open up the types of stories we can get, not limit them. With no locked-in format (13x4x25 min each year), we can see all sorts of stuff. Look at the non-MR stories we've seen lately: - One-off one-hour stories in Out of Time and the TLV releases. - Four-part MR-style story in The Dalek Protocol. - Three hour-long stories in Wicked Sisters & The Eleven. - A six-part Fourth Doctor adventure (in 2024!) Not to mention, within the MR, we saw the very successful Shadow of the Daleks - which very well could have been an 8-part boxset. To me, the future looks bright and varied!
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Post by Kestrel on Feb 28, 2021 2:36:51 GMT
Ahahaha... I've seen so,e people,complain about Big Finish, at length, but I am also very hopeful for the future! Maybe the fandom was in a different place last year? I only started seriously following Big Finish back in April or May of last year, a d within that short window I've been pretty happy with (almost) all of the new material, as well as very excited for the upcoming projects they've announced. Some fans have spent the last year decrying Chibnall and mourning for the "death" of the franchise, or some such, but meanwhile I don't think I've ever been happier or more optimistic for Doctor Who in my life.
I don't really want to discuss the reorganization in too much detail before it happens (I imagine I'll have a lot to say after, but... ya' know) but I am curious whether or not Big Finish will still use CD data limits to restrict/dictate the lengths of their stories. I think it might (potentially) be nice to see them fully embrace digital and simply make each story as long or as short as it needs to be, without worry about how much uncompressed audio they can fit on a disc.
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