BFC 13: The Time Machine (spoilers

Trailer is also up

Tick! Tock! Out now!

The Time Machine is materialising in our download accounts at this very instant of Time.
www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/the-time-machine-1602

It's worth reading the news story for a short interview with Marc Platt about the adaptation:
www.bigfinish.com/news/v/out-now-hg-wells-the-time-machine

Anyone know why they renamed the character of Weena?

I have a soft spot for the George Pal version, hope this is good too I will be purchasing soon.

In the Incredible Hulk TV show Bruce Banner was renamed David Banner because the name Bruce was perceived as gay or something like that. People are strange.

And then the PC brigade hit Enid Blyton.

I strongly recommend getting the bundle if possible. This has been a great Wells series by BF full of oustanding performances and every story adapted extremely well by some of BF's top writers.

'The Invisible Man' - Sir John Hurt and a great production.
'The First Men in the Moon' - it's "the quirky one" of the novels, an authentic adaptation plus a twist or two. Wells' science fiction comedy where the ending turns serious.
'The Shape of Things to Come' is my favourite to date, a stunning, creative adaptation of a most unusual novel (originally written as a history textbook from the future.)
'The Island of Dr. Moreau' - Ronald Pickup in a scientific horror story of creation and identity. Some have found it 'slow' but I think it is perfectly done, in keeping with the novel and magnificent sound design. My second favourite so far, just ahead of 'The Invisible Man'.

There is no "PC brigade".

But anyway, staying ON TOPIC(!) does anyone know why they changed the name of Weena?!?

Well Big Finish know but they haven't said... but I'd genuinely think that number13 is close enough with his theory above.

The Time Machine

The short version of my review: I loved it, what a fantastic Wells series this is! I will now wait (fairly) patiently for 'The Martian Invasion of Earth'...

Marc Platt's excellent and very faithful adaptation of H.G. Wells' most famous novel is another terrific entry in this Big Finish series. The original story is exciting and visionary (if also bleak and pessimistic in its outlook for the future of humanity) and this adaptation brings that excitement and vision vividly to life. You don't have to agree with Wells' politics-inspired vision of the future to believe strongly in the world he has imagined; it's a great novel and for any 'Doctor Who' fan this is clearly the mother-lode, the source of inspiration from which our favourite show was born. The journey depicts beauty and skin-crawling horror side-by-side and finally a vision so awesome it sends a shiver through me at every reading - and it did again here.

The (unnamed) Time Traveller makes his fantastic journey alone and returns to tell his friends, specifically his literary friend Mr. Wells (Nicholas Rowe), about his adventures. So the novel is structured as a narrative and the adaptation keeps this structure; there are full-cast moments, some in the future and some as the Traveller talks with his friends, but most of the story is told as a chronicle. This worked perfectly for me, partly because hearing the novel spring to life from the page carries its own excitement and partly because the adaptation of the narrative is excellent and very faithful; where there were small changes and omissions (that I noticed) I thought they all added to the story.

There was one significant addition that I was aware of on first listening, a short scene with a new character (who might very well have been there, unseen, in the novel) which again felt just right and was a very dramatic moment both in itself and for its surprise value. One key moment of discovery is I think shifted forwards to provide the half-time 'cliffhanger' (and it's a good one!) as the Traveller realises with horrified certainty, and slightly earlier than originally, exactly "what foul villainy" happens "under the new moon"...

Ben Miles' superb performance as the Time Traveller matches the brilliance of the novel and the high quality of the adaptation for the whole gripping production. The first half is an excellent story of mystery and discovery in a future world while the second half is better still, an increasingly desperate, exciting and tragic struggle to escape from that world's unforgettable horrors. And then the final vision...
took my breath away when I first read the novel in my teens - and it still does...

Very highly recommended.

Has anyone received their CD copy of this?