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Post by tuigirl on Dec 13, 2018 8:12:10 GMT
Concerning that spoiler {Spoiler} I was as surprised as you were at first at the behaviour of the Doctor. But I think it becomes very clear during the story that the Doctor is EXTREMELY annoyed with Iris (for her having him annoyed in the past, for her being there and for her existing)and this completely clouds his judgement. His odd behaviour even gets lampshaded by his companions, especially Hex, several times, because Hex sees Iris just as the audience sees her- a loveable, chaotic rogue. So after I realized this was going on, I relaxed into the story.
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Post by number13 on Dec 13, 2018 14:59:27 GMT
WARNING: Spoilers all over the place!
I absolutely loved it - warm and charming, surreal and mysterious - and that's just Iris! And the story too, a lovely blend of fun and mystery and the very human tale of Isabel and Kevin and the wonderfully dreadful surrealist (ahem) poetry that erupts out once his alien Muse finds him...
This is the way to bring special guest characters to the MR, with generous roles which put them at the heart of the plot. I liked Iris being (for her) serious for once, a sure sign she meant business and had a problem to solve - and how great that she turned out to be the hero with the plan to defeat the villain of the piece, while the Doctor's well-intentioned meddling almost ruined everything. And as a big fan of David Benson's brilliant Panda, I was delighted to see him find his proper place as the art critic we've often heard Panda talk about, and that skill essential to the story.
The way the two teams linked up was excellent - warm-hearted Iris and good bloke Hex hit it off straight away and the next time you're in a gallery displaying early 20thC cubist Life paintings, just think, one of the figures could be Hex! And Ace and Panda (two Companions with more than a little aggro within!) ruffled each other's fur up the wrong way at first sight and were a lot of fun.
And the Doctor and Iris... he jumps to the wrong conclusion and thinks the worst of her; she's so offended by that that she won't explain what's really going on. I wondered for a while if the Doctor was pretending to be fooled by Dora Muse as one of his deep schemes, but no, this time his annoyance with Iris got the better of him and the ultimate schemer was outschemed - but it all came right in the end with the villain defeated and a happy ending for all. I chuckled a lot with this story; the Doctor dancing with Iris was a delight (Sylvester McCoy and Katy Manning brilliant together!) and the 'sight' of an alien brain vampire running around in Panda's body with David Benson playing 'Dora' through Panda's voice was the best laugh of the lot!
(And who knew Iris has a Stattenheim remote control (which it presumably was) for her TARDIS? The Doctor would have been so jealous, I believe he's always wanted one of those!)
Another cracker for the MR, 5* naturellement!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2018 21:41:57 GMT
This is the first release, after 22 years, that it has dawned on me that the sound effects of the McGann TARDIS interior is a kind of echo of the sound of the de-materialization. These things take time.
Doctor Seven's lengthy latest series of BF audios are book-ended by a couple of delights. Red Planets is great, and this, although entirely different in tone (to anything!), is equally wonderful. An arch, over-the-top, intriguing, exotic, eccentric gem. Paul Magrs is more often than not a reliable writer of quality, and this is no exception, packed with wonderful, silly lines (a 'genius smoothie' is a favourite) with an effectively bitter-sweet ending. As others have said, The Doctor's immediate distrust of Iris is surprising, but his opinion is treated with equal disbelief. And without the misunderstanding, the story wouldn't be what it is.
Ace and Hex, despite the heightened style of the story, are written for more naturally than I remember in quite a while. Hex is the endearing, somewhat naive optimist he was before the story of his original departure, and Ace is entirely in-keeping with the more mature model we have become used to, with moments that remind us of her original 1980's self. The Doctor is great, Iris is wonderful, Panda is splendidly arch and other characters are all very well played.
A festive treat, no less. Great fun to listen to, and I suspect, great fun to record as well!
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Post by aemiliapaula on Dec 14, 2018 10:39:48 GMT
Full of twists and turns, loved it!
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Post by Timelord007 on Dec 14, 2018 12:48:48 GMT
Mine arrived with Hunting Ground & Crash In The UK, i been hearing lot of good things about this one, usually not fan Paul Magrs style of story's or Iris but this has me intrigued by all the high praise so I'll be listening to it over the weekend.
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Post by tuigirl on Dec 14, 2018 13:08:14 GMT
Mine arrived with Hunting Ground & Crash In The UK, i been hearing lot of good things about this one, usually not fan Paul Magrs style of story's or Iris but this has me intrigued by all the high praise so I'll be listening to it over the weekend. I bet you will like it. It is VERY well done and really fun. Plus, Iris has been toned down, she is much less over the top as usual, which will also help.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2018 13:11:07 GMT
Mine arrived with Hunting Ground & Crash In The UK, i been hearing lot of good things about this one, usually not fan Paul Magrs style of story's or Iris but this has me intrigued by all the high praise so I'll be listening to it over the weekend. I bet you will like it. It is VERY well done and really fun. Plus, Iris has been toned down, she is much less over the top as usual, which will also help.
Nice to hear a lot of positiveness about a release still working my way through others before I get to it
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2018 15:07:19 GMT
Only listened to part 1 so far, but has anyone else noticed that the opening theme is the full version of the McCulloch theme, rather than the abridged one BF normally use?
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Post by eric009 on Dec 15, 2018 18:13:26 GMT
Panda's back! I can't bare the wait. Bear? Bear? BEAR?! Also, Panda interacting with the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex will be brilliant. The Doctor will flummox him ("and I thought you were bad enough Iris"), Ace will pepper him with nicknames like Star Lord and Rocket in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 and Hex will put on a stoic face while it's actually confusing him. yay
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Post by eric009 on Dec 15, 2018 20:22:57 GMT
Auntie Iris and Panda are great did not like last box set of iris
{Spoiler of the last 2 Iris box set} mainy no Panda and the 1 before destorying the no22
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Post by aemiliapaula on Dec 15, 2018 21:21:36 GMT
Only listened to part 1 so far, but has anyone else noticed that the opening theme is the full version of the McCulloch theme, rather than the abridged one BF normally use? I did notice it was longer than usual. 7th Doctor theme is my favourite of the 80's themes. I kept expecting the piano music in the background at the salon to morph into the older Iris theme.
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Dec 16, 2018 1:37:22 GMT
Well, that was rather lovely, wasn't it? Paris of the 1920s is a perfect setting for a Doctor Who story. I don't know that I completely bought 7's belief that Iris was the baddie of the piece but when you have David Benson's Panda around, I can forgive a lot. And I want a 19 episode box set of Panda & 7 visiting the great artists of the 20th century. Now. Loved the Dali gag about his time with 7 & Panda being surreal. This is probably one of my favorite Hex stories. Between this & The Hunting Ground, the Main Range finishes the year in rude health and I also feel like it displays just how flexible the concept of Doctor Who is. It can, and often is, be about anything.
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Post by Whovitt on Dec 16, 2018 1:43:00 GMT
This was such good fun! Considering where I'm currently up to with the 7/Ace/Hex story line (last listen was the Project: Destiny trilogy), it was nice to have a more light-hearted entry for them. I've not heard much of Iris (only The Wormery and Find and Replace) but I like what I've heard, and she was really good in this release. This was my first story with Panda too, and he was hilarious Like a couple of others have mentioned, Seven's immediate mistrust of Iris felt a little unlikely, especially since it seemed pretty obvious what was going on (even I guessed it, so it can't have been too hard to work out ). It gave the story a more emotive ending for the TARDIS crew though, so I think it all paid off in the end.
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Post by shallacatop on Dec 16, 2018 22:45:49 GMT
I haven’t got a great deal to say about this release. It’s great fun, if slight, and the TARDIS crew, Iris and Panda get some terrific dialogue and interaction. A lovely listen for this time of the year.
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Dec 16, 2018 23:07:17 GMT
It is also a pretty clever piece of science fiction satire. An alien that wants to suck artist’s brains dry is something any creative person who has dealt with business types before can identify with.
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Post by Timelord007 on Dec 17, 2018 9:16:17 GMT
Bonkers, bizarre & brilliant, when Panda made a Terminator reference to Ace i literally cracked up in hysterical laughter.
Like i said not usually a fan of Paul Magrs style writing but this was brilliant.
5/5.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2018 18:23:03 GMT
I liked Muse of Fire and found it fun. It was a good Seventh Doctor story with some nice moments for Ace & (more so) Hex, coupled with a more calmer Iris Wildthyme, meant this was actually a very enjoyable story.
Both of December's Main Range releases were very good and were two very different, but delightful, stories. I hope this high standard continues in to 2019.
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Post by DavidHogan on Dec 17, 2018 19:12:53 GMT
A really fun and relaxing listen, and Iris was thankfully more reeled in than in some other releases... Enjoyed Panda a lot, despite this being my first exposure to the character. Overall a real treat for the festive season!
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Post by mrperson on Dec 18, 2018 19:35:35 GMT
Huh...
Well, I didn't dislike it, but I didn't like it as much as quite a lot of you. Oh well. For me, silly Who only works if it's done just so. This had an odd combination of 'silly Who' via Iris and her "Panda" android, and a rather generic villain with generic motives (it wants to *get* you!). And ...I dunno. They should try to get American actors to voice American characters via skype or something. The wannabe poet guy rubbed me the wrong way (though I suppose the character was written to be a bit of an irritating jerk).
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Post by Sir Wearer of Hats on Dec 19, 2018 3:18:01 GMT
Android? ANDROID!? He’s an ART CRITIC not an ANDROID!!
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