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Post by barnabaslives on Jul 26, 2017 21:52:52 GMT
Got to listen to The Wicked and the Dead today. I used to think this was sort of an odd place to try to fit a story, but it does actually work well and strikes me as something that could have as easily been done on the OS. I kind of like the way the story seems to justify the feelings of anyone who might have though the related events in the OS might have been overly harsh, by giving us the possibility of circumstances more extenuating that we knew of. I also thought it was a great example of something I love about Dark Shadows in general, which is that the journey is at least as important as the destination, and that the stories are still capable of being very suspenseful even if you know what's ahead.
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Post by Trace on Aug 1, 2017 4:11:45 GMT
I have been terribly lacking during this listen-thru. So sorry I haven't been able to keep up...a continuous stream of family houseguests (you may read that "pains in my ass") descended on my home for the past three weeks and even getting a quiet, private moment to use the bathroom was trying at best, and impossible at worst. Naturally, my TV viewing, reading, and listening really suffered.
Can someone tell me which audio we are up to for this week (the one that started today)?
Maybe I'm not the only one who has fallen behind, as there haven't been a lot of comments. I do apologize, and will try to get these caught up this week.
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Post by barnabaslives on Aug 1, 2017 5:12:04 GMT
I wonder why this is the only time Roger Davis has worked with Big Finish. His performance is a lot more nuanced than it was on the original series. Yes, it's a shame there aren't more audios with Roger, plus I think Charles Delaware Tate is a tremendously fascinating character. Unlikely hero that he might be, I think he is still the only character in the series to actually do something about someone's curse, and he still manages to be mysterious because his powers often seem beyond even Petofi's. At least The Darkest Shadow makes a wonderful contribution to Tate's legacy in his absence. I've always wanted Charles to turn out to be a long-lost Collins because you can't have someone that interesting in the series and not have them be a member of the Collins family :-)
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Post by Trace on Aug 2, 2017 2:30:41 GMT
So--nobody answered me but I take it we are 4 episodes in? Doing The Carrion Queen now? Is that correct? (This is me attempting to catch up!!)
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Post by Trace on Aug 2, 2017 4:24:24 GMT
Just listened to The Wicked and the Dead. I think what I like most about this are the two lead actors pulling out all the stops, not worrying about "over the top" performances (because that's what they both did on the TV series!) Certain actors can really ham it up for a role (we call it "chew the scenery") and many times, it's a negative, but not here. The two roles of Gregory Trask and Carl Collins literally beg for it! They just can't be played with subtle nuance and understatement.
I have listened to this one (and all these early ones) multiple times. I liked it as much today as I did 8 or 9 years ago (when it was first released!)
Now on to The Blind Painter. I WILL finish catching up on these THIS WEEK! It's nice to have your family as houseguests, but it's always such an overwhelming relief when it's over. I didn't like the fact that I couldn't keep it cool in here because they were always opening the door to go in and out, in and out....and every time I turned around they were heating up the oven or stove to cook something!! Seriously??? It was 105 today, and they felt the need to bake?? I don't get it. Anyway, I have my air conditioner back, my remote control, and my quiet time where I read a chapter of my latest book and listen to a chapter of my latest audiobook. Plus, I can catch up on good TV, and on my 1897 Listen-thru!!
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Post by Trace on Aug 2, 2017 6:01:06 GMT
Finished The Blind Painter. I'm still up at 1:50 a.m. and have to get up at 6:30 a.m. to get ready for work--ugh! But I was on a roll and wanted to keep going.
Roger Davis gives a really good performance. My only gripe is that it almost seems as if he whispered the entire thing--many times, I could hear Nicola Bryant just fine, but Roger's lines--I had to keep rewinding and turning the volume way up. Speaking of Nicola, she's great in this.
There are some DS audios that are very tragic. The Doll House is one. This is another. I love how it fleshes out a GREAT character that we knew very little about from the TV series. It's fun following him from starving artist to world-renowned painter. Plus, it's a strange (but wonderful) way of bringing the villain into the mix!
Great story. I remember loving this the first time I heard it, but yet, I was instantly left wondering why Roger spoke in very-hard-to-decipher whispers. I never said anything about it because nobody else did and I didn't want to be a pain!
Well, one final audio to go and I'll be caught up. Going to go to bed now so I can get 4 hours of sleep. Ay-yi-yi!!
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Post by omega on Aug 2, 2017 6:07:11 GMT
DARK SHADOWS - AUDIOBOOKS » 18. THE CARRION QUEENReleased June 2011Synopsis“One selfless deed. Just one. The first of you to commit an utterly selfless act - and your soul is free. The one who fails is mine.” Death is not the end for the Reverend Gregory Trask. After shooting himself to escape the torture of being walled-up alive, the priest is sent to the Dark Lord himself for Judgement. To the holy man’s horror, he is partnered with the equally cursed witch, Angelique, and sent to a vast battlefield in 1861 to compete for the return of their mortal soul. But neither is expecting to be pitched into the aftermath of one of America’s most deadly historic battles, nor to encounter the mysteriously beautiful woman who stalks it. Written By: Lizzie Hopley Directed By: Darren Gross CASTLara Parker (Angelique), Jerry Lacy (Reverend Trask) << 17. The Creeping Fog | 19. The Poisoned Soul >>
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Post by barnabaslives on Aug 5, 2017 9:05:00 GMT
Finished The Blind Painter... // Great story. I remember loving this the first time I heard it, but yet, I was instantly left wondering why Roger spoke in very-hard-to-decipher whispers. I never said anything about it because nobody else did and I didn't want to be a pain! Might be the particular playback system? Through my headphones I could hear Roger just as well as Nicola, although it happens often enough with music that my system is apparently different enough from what was originally used for the mix that to me it sounds like band members go missing for whole songs. Speaking of whispers though, lol, this audio coming up reminded me how much I've been missing hearing Nicola lately, so I had a go at another listen to Whispers of Terror the other day before getting totally interrupted halfway through it. Fortunately I managed to give a close listen to The Blind Painter without distractions. I think this was my fourth or fifth time hearing it but I enjoyed it as much as ever for being increasingly less preoccupied with events and details, than with the great performances and just taking in the strange and amazing story. It is soooooo good to hear Roger Davis in a Big Finish audio, thank you Big Finish! It was also really good to hear Lizzie Hopley again, her acting is awesome (and so is her writing) and I'm very jazzed that next up is one of hers.
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bobod
Chancellery Guard
Likes: 2,759
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Post by bobod on Aug 5, 2017 9:35:57 GMT
Finished The Blind Painter. I'm still up at 1:50 a.m. and have to get up at 6:30 a.m. to get ready for work--ugh! But I was on a roll and wanted to keep going. Roger Davis gives a really good performance. My only gripe is that it almost seems as if he whispered the entire thing--many times, I could hear Nicola Bryant just fine, but Roger's lines--I had to keep rewinding and turning the volume way up. Speaking of Nicola, she's great in this. There are some DS audios that are very tragic. The Doll House is one. This is another. I love how it fleshes out a GREAT character that we knew very little about from the TV series. It's fun following him from starving artist to world-renowned painter. Plus, it's a strange (but wonderful) way of bringing the villain into the mix! Great story. I remember loving this the first time I heard it, but yet, I was instantly left wondering why Roger spoke in very-hard-to-decipher whispers. I never said anything about it because nobody else did and I didn't want to be a pain! Well, one final audio to go and I'll be caught up. Going to go to bed now so I can get 4 hours of sleep. Ay-yi-yi!! Sorry, I've not really been on the forum this week. Oddly, I've found now that I'm unemployed I have less time for here than I did when I was working. I can't hear any problems with Roger's audibility here. That's not the first time you've mentioned having trouble hearing stuff that others had no trouble with, how do you listen to these? (Tone is hard to read online, I'm asking quite genuinely. I am intrigued as to why this would be.) I think Roger gets a bit of a hard time from people with regard to his performances, probably based on the fact we know he wasn't always the easiest person to work with. I think he's a good straight lead actor - if perhaps not the character actor some of the other cast are. Certainly, he's very good here. I think he'd read a bite-sized short story very well, he's got a good voice for that. (If one can hear him. )
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Post by omega on Aug 5, 2017 9:50:53 GMT
Finished The Blind Painter. I'm still up at 1:50 a.m. and have to get up at 6:30 a.m. to get ready for work--ugh! But I was on a roll and wanted to keep going. Roger Davis gives a really good performance. My only gripe is that it almost seems as if he whispered the entire thing--many times, I could hear Nicola Bryant just fine, but Roger's lines--I had to keep rewinding and turning the volume way up. Speaking of Nicola, she's great in this. There are some DS audios that are very tragic. The Doll House is one. This is another. I love how it fleshes out a GREAT character that we knew very little about from the TV series. It's fun following him from starving artist to world-renowned painter. Plus, it's a strange (but wonderful) way of bringing the villain into the mix! Great story. I remember loving this the first time I heard it, but yet, I was instantly left wondering why Roger spoke in very-hard-to-decipher whispers. I never said anything about it because nobody else did and I didn't want to be a pain! Well, one final audio to go and I'll be caught up. Going to go to bed now so I can get 4 hours of sleep. Ay-yi-yi!! Sorry, I've not really been on the forum this week. Oddly, I've found now that I'm unemployed I have less time for here than I did when I was working. I can't hear any problems with Roger's audibility here. That's not the first time you've mentioned having trouble hearing stuff that others had no trouble with, how do you listen to these? (Tone is hard to read online, I'm asking quite genuinely. I am intrigued as to why this would be.) I think Roger gets a bit of a hard time from people with regard to his performances, probably based on the fact we know he wasn't always the easiest person to work with. I think he's a good straight lead actor - if perhaps not the character actor some of the other cast are. Certainly, he's very good here. I think he'd read a bite-sized short story very well, he's got a good voice for that. (If one can hear him. ) I'd be up for a Roger Davis read short story giving Vicki and Peter a resolution after their last appearance on the show. I'm more than happy to treat the development late in the Leviathan storyline as something that didn't actually happen. Since Lara Parker's novels are different enough to be in a separate Time Band from the Big Finish stories it'd be a final farewell to Vicki. He got a hard time on the show because his acting style wasn't nuanced, it was grabby and shouty. No doubt Davis has gotten better with age, and his performance in The Blind Painter is loads better than what he did on the show.
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bobod
Chancellery Guard
Likes: 2,759
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Post by bobod on Aug 5, 2017 9:51:52 GMT
A straight lead.
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Post by omega on Aug 5, 2017 9:54:23 GMT
A straight lead. Prone TO SHOUTING HIS LINES! Good thing he was paired up WITH DR LANG for the ADAM AND EVE STORYLINE.
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Post by Trace on Aug 6, 2017 2:11:10 GMT
I can't hear any problems with Roger's audibility here. That's not the first time you've mentioned having trouble hearing stuff that others had no trouble with, how do you listen to these? (Tone is hard to read online, I'm asking quite genuinely. I am intrigued as to why this would be.) I usually listen only through my laptop's built in speaker, which perhaps contributes to this. I only recall having difficulty hearing one other time, and it was that I couldn't hear the sound of a beating heart over the theme music...think it was on Bloodlust. Everyone else could hear it plainly and I heard nothing. I didn't think Roger was bad here....quite the opposite actually. And "whispered" was probably the wrong word. It was more like "mumbled". Maybe I need to have my hearing tested, although I never seem to have trouble hearing in coversations. I'm not one who frequently has to say "What? Huh? Pardon me? Come again?" I think it's more likely the low quality of a built-in speaker.
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Post by barnabaslives on Aug 7, 2017 20:09:37 GMT
I thoroughly enjoyed having another listen to The Carrion Queen. Excellent story deftly woven into the canon and brought vividly to life by three excellent performers. Great premise - almost like a folk tale or fable - and whichever which way things work out, it ends up being pretty amazing. Glad to be finding out that these stories are standing the test of time so well, this is another Dark Shadows audio in the listen-thru where I'm pretty sure I enjoyed the latest listen the most.
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Post by Trace on Aug 8, 2017 1:45:50 GMT
I enjoyed The Carrion Queen also. Lara, Jerry and Lizzie are all excellent in it. It's a dark premise, even for Dark Shadows. The civil war (which was anything but) is a very dark spot in this young country's history and still provokes intense feelings in many Northerners and Southerners. This war sometimes pitted brother against brother, and was very bloody and brutal (what war isn't?). The idea of a personification for war is a good one--and Lizzie gives one more great performance. She's just always so good.
I don't really have a lot to say about it. Lara and Jerry have that chemistry that is so evident whenever they work together, probably one of the reasons that Tony and Cassandra are so popular with listeners. Anxious for that release!
Glad to revisit this one, as it moves us right into The Poisoned Soul and The Fall of the House of Trask. Onward we go!
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Post by barnabaslives on Aug 11, 2017 18:29:00 GMT
I think The Poisoned Soul works best for me as being in that classic OS tradition where the audience has been treated to a reveal and the suspense concerns how events unfold exactly or how long it takes the story characters to figure out what the audience already knows - the mystery seems a bit transparent but it's in no way a detriment to quality of the story.
As always, I very much enjoyed hearing Nancy (and here, her wonderful one-woman two-hander, ta-ra-ra-boom-te-ay). I don't know why I didn't remember there being a cameo with Nicola Bryant (yay!) before, and for some mysterious reason on this listen Roy Thinnes reminded me a great deal of Toby Longworth and the fact that I think Toby sounds nothing like Stokes. (That's actually very strange since also I think Matthew Waterhouse sounds nothing like Stokes, but that he did a superb job nonetheless bringing the good Professor to life recently in Tuedays and Thursdays. I guess not everything that happens in Collinsport has to make sense?) :-)
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bobod
Chancellery Guard
Likes: 2,759
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Post by bobod on Aug 11, 2017 18:36:24 GMT
Pansy/Charity is one of my very favourite characters/performances. It's lovely to hear her again.
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Post by Trace on Aug 15, 2017 4:14:28 GMT
Are we on The Fall of the House of Trask this week? Or The Poisoned Soul? If it's the former, I'm a week behind and will hopefully catch up on both of these this week.
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bobod
Chancellery Guard
Likes: 2,759
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Post by bobod on Aug 15, 2017 10:38:12 GMT
Are we on The Fall of the House of Trask this week? Or The Poisoned Soul? If it's the former, I'm a week behind and will hopefully catch up on both of these this week. I have to admit I raced ahead and did them all, and then now I'm not working I lost track of which week is which.
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Post by omega on Aug 15, 2017 10:40:53 GMT
Are we on The Fall of the House of Trask this week? Or The Poisoned Soul? If it's the former, I'm a week behind and will hopefully catch up on both of these this week. I have to admit I raced ahead and did them all, and then now I'm not working I lost track of which week is which. How about we take the Staircase Through Time to The Poisoned Soul? The iChing wands keep giving me skeletal comedy prostitutes.
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