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Post by omega on Aug 12, 2018 1:00:08 GMT
DOCTOR WHO - MAIN RANGE » 189. REVENGE OF THE SWARM Released August 2014SynopsisThe Doctor thought he had defeated the microscopic Nucleus of the Swarm in his fourth incarnation. He was wrong. It survived within the TARDIS, and now it has brought it back to Titan Base, back to the point of its own creation. It has a plan that spans centuries, a plan which will result in the Nucleus becoming more powerful – and larger – than ever before. To defeat it, the Doctor, Ace and Hex must confront the Nucleus within its new domain - the computer-world of the Hypernet, the information network crucial to the survival of the human empire. But if the Doctor is to save the day, he has to risk everything and everyone he holds dear... Written By: Jonathan Morris Directed By: Ken Bentley CASTSylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Philip Olivier (Hector Thomas), John Leeson (The Nucleus of the Swarm/Computer), Mandi Symonds (Shafira), Maggie Service (Root/Receptionist), John Heffernan (Vonchef), Phyllida Nash (Professor Oksana Kilbracken), Siobhan Redmond (Talin), John Dorney (Lugerman), Paul Panting (Security Guard Brabbeko)
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Post by omega on Aug 12, 2018 1:05:38 GMT
Week 10, the penultimate week, of the Hex listen through notthebigfinishforum.freeforums.net/thread/4463/oh-god-hex-listenIn the 90's the Virgin New and Missing Adventures had quite a few novels that were sequels to Classic Who stories or brought back old characters/monsters who aren't usually the first picks for returning characters/monsters. Thankfully the BBC Eighth and Past Doctor Adventures novels broke away from this after trying a few times. Some examples worked, some didn't. Big Finish is no stranger to mining the more neglected creatures of Who Past and bringing them out and in front of the microphone. I don't think it's worked so well here. What the usually reliable Jonathan Morris has fallen into here is the origin story trap, giving superfluous background to the Nucleus of the Swarm. It doesn't add anything to the concept of the character. Some things are better off unsaid. The characterisation of Hector doesn't really work. He's basically Hex, minus the med school training and has gotten more irritable because Ace still thinks he's Hex and can bring out the Hex in him. This could have been an opportunity to explore the character without his training, emotional baggage and overriding compassion, but it comes off like a hastily rewritten Hex. Another thing is that the first half follows the plot beats of Invisible Enemy, where the TARDIS lands in Titan Base, people are infected by the Swarm and the action moves to medical station. The Doctor lampshades this! |
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Post by mark687 on Aug 12, 2018 10:28:04 GMT
Week 10, the penultimate week, of the Hex listen through notthebigfinishforum.freeforums.net/thread/4463/oh-god-hex-listenIn the 90's the Virgin New and Missing Adventures had quite a few novels that were sequels to Classic Who stories or brought back old characters/monsters who aren't usually the first picks for returning characters/monsters. Thankfully the BBC Eighth and Past Doctor Adventures novels broke away from this after trying a few times. Some examples worked, some didn't. Big Finish is no stranger to mining the more neglected creatures of Who Past and bringing them out and in front of the microphone. I don't think it's worked so well here. What the usually reliable Jonathan Morris has fallen into here is the origin story trap, giving superfluous background to the Nucleus of the Swarm. It doesn't add anything to the concept of the character. Some things are better off unsaid. The characterisation of Hector doesn't really work. He's basically Hex, minus the med school training and has gotten more irritable because Ace still thinks he's Hex and can bring out the Hex in him. This could have been an opportunity to explore the character without his training, emotional baggage and overriding compassion, but it comes off like a hastily rewritten Hex. Another thing is that the first half follows the plot beats of Invisible Enemy, where the TARDIS lands in Titan Base, people are infected by the Swarm and the action moves to medical station. The Doctor lampshades this! Apart from the fact I think it would've worked better as a Fifth Doctor story, my thoughts exactly.
Regards
mark687
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Post by omega on Aug 12, 2018 10:48:47 GMT
Week 10, the penultimate week, of the Hex listen through notthebigfinishforum.freeforums.net/thread/4463/oh-god-hex-listenIn the 90's the Virgin New and Missing Adventures had quite a few novels that were sequels to Classic Who stories or brought back old characters/monsters who aren't usually the first picks for returning characters/monsters. Thankfully the BBC Eighth and Past Doctor Adventures novels broke away from this after trying a few times. Some examples worked, some didn't. Big Finish is no stranger to mining the more neglected creatures of Who Past and bringing them out and in front of the microphone. I don't think it's worked so well here. What the usually reliable Jonathan Morris has fallen into here is the origin story trap, giving superfluous background to the Nucleus of the Swarm. It doesn't add anything to the concept of the character. Some things are better off unsaid. The characterisation of Hector doesn't really work. He's basically Hex, minus the med school training and has gotten more irritable because Ace still thinks he's Hex and can bring out the Hex in him. This could have been an opportunity to explore the character without his training, emotional baggage and overriding compassion, but it comes off like a hastily rewritten Hex. Another thing is that the first half follows the plot beats of Invisible Enemy, where the TARDIS lands in Titan Base, people are infected by the Swarm and the action moves to medical station. The Doctor lampshades this! Apart from the fact I think it would've worked better as a Fifth Doctor story, my thoughts exactly.
Regards
mark687
A classic monster can work, and works best when there’s a new angle on them. Retreading the same ground as their original appearance gets you this. The Voc Robots in Robophobia, which were used to explore more of Kaldor society. Zygote Who Fell to Earth follows a different narrative from Terror of the Zygons, with emotional results. Domain of the Voord opened up about the Voord without being an obvious origin story. |
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Post by mrperson on Aug 12, 2018 18:04:33 GMT
This was a pretty average story for me.
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Post by newt5996 on Aug 12, 2018 20:17:46 GMT
This was a pretty average story for me. Same. Not bad and a fun listen but nothing special |
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Aug 12, 2018 20:25:19 GMT
This was a pretty average story for me. Same. Not bad and a fun listen but nothing special Same x 3 |
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Post by Ela on Aug 12, 2018 23:30:58 GMT
Yeah, it was a pretty fun listen, but not up there with the best.
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Post by veryfactualdalek on Aug 15, 2018 0:04:29 GMT
Quite fun and it made me like The Invisible enemy more
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Post by aemiliapaula on Aug 15, 2018 0:17:01 GMT
Nostalgia for this as it was my first main range story. I love the Nucleus character and enjoyed when it became a computer virus and there were echoes of Tron.
I didn't know who Hex was, but neither did he at the time. I just now started the Hexathon, listened to 1 story so far.
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