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Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on Apr 17, 2019 9:16:14 GMT
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Post by mark687 on Apr 17, 2019 12:15:20 GMT
Well that was very good
Bob Holmes type almost, all the troupes spot on.
Great turns from the "Scientists" and Slv's back in melancholic but with grit mode that I really enjoy hearing .
Regards
mark687
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Post by Timelord007 on Apr 17, 2019 12:17:18 GMT
Well that was very good Bob Holmeseeces almost, all the troupes spot on. Great turns from the "Scientists" and Slv's back in melancholic but with grit mode that I really enjoy hearing . Regards mark687 You got me excited about hearing this now, you can't really go wrong with Matt Fitton script. |
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Post by Timelord007 on Apr 17, 2019 12:18:39 GMT
Blimey Shane you sh.t the bed or something you posted this quick you weren't F5 maniacally was you?  |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2019 14:58:00 GMT
Well that was very good Bob Holmes type almost, all the troupes spot on. Great turns from the "Scientists" and Slv's back in melancholic but with grit mode that I really enjoy hearing . Regards mark687 Subdued sinister Sylvester in a Bob Holmes-esque adventure? This sounds great! Looking forward to listening this evening. |
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Post by vivdunstan on Apr 18, 2019 1:06:53 GMT
I found the overall story a bit light - albeit with dark moral elements - but I really liked Jessica Martin and Sylvester McCoy’s performances. She seemed to fit comfortably back into the character, and the 7th Doc sounded great. So optimistically looking forward to the coming audios with this pair up. I did really like the Holmesian monster collector though. And the alien scientist was good. Just otherwise not my cup of tea so much.
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Post by elkawho on Apr 18, 2019 1:34:30 GMT
I loved this, I had a great time listening to it and I loved Jessica Martin. I've only seen The Greatest Show in The Galaxy once and I while I remember liking it for the most part, I don't have strong memories of Mags. But that didn't matter. I felt the history between her and The Doctor and it worked. I liked her asking about Ace, it fit nicely. Looking forward to more of her travels with Seven.
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Post by vivdunstan on Apr 18, 2019 2:46:54 GMT
I haven’t seen Mags since 1988/1989 and the original UK TV broadcast! Though I have recently started a 7th Doc rewatch, so will get to it sometime fairly soon. But yes, it wasn’t a problem for me. I felt I could pick up what I needed from this audio, and her character worked well.
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Post by barnabaslives on Apr 18, 2019 7:20:15 GMT
I'd hoped to watch Greatest Show in the Galaxy again before listening to this because I barely remember Mags, but I decided to dive straight into the audio instead and I don't think my listen suffered any for that. I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed hearing Monsters of Gokroth, quite possibly my favorite MR release so far this year.
It's interesting, I pretty much think of Ace as the Seventh Doctor companion who should therefore be in all Seventh Doctor adventures, lol, but I think I did enjoy the change of pace from the usual Seventh Doctor and Ace dynamics. At any rate, I'm quite a bit more optimistic about the whole idea of Mags and the next two adventures now.
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Post by mark687 on Apr 18, 2019 12:30:30 GMT
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Post by tuigirl on Apr 19, 2019 7:04:59 GMT
Going to be a bit critical here...
The good: loved Mags and 7 in this. Both are absolutely great and well characterized.
The indifferent: This is basically a mix of the island of Dr. Moreau + Frankenstein and at a guess a love letter to old horror films. It dutifully ticks of every box you would expect.... and exactly that I found dragged it down. It was not really original and since I am not really into oldschool horror movies, it just was not really my cup of tea at all.
The bad: Large parts of this consist of monsters screaming and growling at each other. Seriously? This was mildly annoying for me. I tried to listen to it as relaxation in bed at night and this might be one of the few BF audios completely unsuited for this. All the screaming grinds so much that there is no place for rest. However it would be ideal if you wanted to keep awake.
I am looking forward to the next one because I really like the Doctor and Mags dynamic. 7 and a pet werewolf are awesome.
This release however left me a bit wanting, it just was not my cup of tea.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2019 12:57:29 GMT
I liked this a huge amount. I’m reminded fondly of Sylv’s occasionally odd inflection. “And I thought the TARDIS’s sense of direction was poor” becomes “And I thought the TARDIS’s sense of direction was poor.”
The return of Mags has a similarity with the previous return of Kamelion. Kamelion’s party piece is that he gets ‘possessed’ and cannot be trusted – Mags' is that she transforms into a lycanthrope and cannot be trusted. The Seventh Doctor travelling round with a slavering monster brings back happy memories of Olla the Heat Vampire from the old Eighties comic strips. Jessica Martin is great, although at times I felt she sounded a little like Sarah Sutton.
For a story lovingly influenced by Frankenstein and Islands of Doctor Moreau, it’s interesting that the Doctor should mention those very classics as a point of reference.
Andy Hardwick’s score is very good and conjures up images of the ‘mittel European’ settings often used in Hammer/Universal’s classic horrors. I’m not often a fan of his work if I’m honest, but his broad musical strokes suit this tale, and it’s nice to hear him do something different with them.
I’m all in favour of full-blooded performances but I wonder how much more effective the villainous Varron would be if Jeremy Hitchen toned down his performance somewhat. A travelling showman he may be, but he need not be so over-the-top in every single scene; not an ‘r’ unrolled.
This is a very ‘shouty’ production, and I had fears that the audio monsters would come across as a battery of the usual synthesised voices. Happily, director Samuel Clemens and Andy Hardwick ensure that they sound genuinely guttural, with creaking, booming vocal sounds.
Finally, Sylvester is excellent in this as an older, more reflective Seventh Doctor. When his stories are good, he truly excels – and this story is very good, my favourite this year, and my favourite Sylv story since Red Planets.
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Post by Timelord007 on Apr 22, 2019 6:53:21 GMT
Loved it this is my type of Doctor Who, a dark mysterious Hammer horror type adventure featuring well written characters plus a clever twist that i didn't see coming, a exciting two hours of audio drama.
5/5.
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Post by shallacatop on Apr 22, 2019 9:52:54 GMT
I really struggled with this one. There’s not really much to the story at all, except Hammer Horror references. Just because the script references Frankenstein doesn’t automatically mean it gets away with it.
The titular Monsters just growl and shout at each other and aren’t very well realised.
Due to the passing of time between The Greatest Show of the Galaxy and now, I didn’t recognise Jessica Martin’s voice until a character called her Mags towards the end of the first episode. She’s great throughout, as is Sylvester McCoy. I really like this era of the Seventh Doctor, towards the end of his life. McCoy really sells the Doctor declaring himself old and that he’s tying up loose ends. It’s a shame that the pair don’t spend much time together in this story, particularly if it’s going to be a partnership restricted to this trilogy, with Ace in the final story.
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Post by number13 on Apr 25, 2019 0:32:03 GMT
That was a brrrrilliant Seven story from Matt Fitton! I've just finished my second listen and enjoyed noticing the clues I (as usual) missed the first time round. I did do my 'homework' by watching 'The Greatest Show in the Galaxy' again and while I enjoyed it a lot, it wasn't essential for enjoying this story. The link is Mags and even if you've never visted the Psychic Circus, Mags' history and her previous contact with the Doctor are made as clear as moonlight... I'm a fan of the 'Universal' monster classics from the 30s and 40s; the blu-rays sit proudly on my shelves next to the Doctor's adventures and I was hoping this trilogy would do at least some sort of 'cross-over' story... and here it is and I loved it! An excellent genre-inspired story in (as Mark said earlier) the Bob Holmes style, giving us all the familiar 'horror' elements and then a 'Doctor Who' science-fiction theme to make the familiar into a new story. It's 'Frankenstein' (the 'Universal' version rather than Mary Shelley's) meets 'The Island of Doctor Moreau' and the Doctor even says so. (I was almost 'checking off' the horror-classic nods as I went along, great fun and the absolute winner was Gor's shout of ' It's alive!'  ) The sound design is epic and I wonder if BF provide throat lozenges as well as their famous lunches  because that was a lot of 'RAAARRGHHH!!' acting, great stuff! Castle on the hill, maybe-evil scientist and her strange assistant, suspicious villagers, monsters in the forest - and none of them is what they seem! One twist after another which kept me guessing right through and made the characters sympathetic as we discovered their true stories at the same time as they did. I really liked the themes of self-discovery and that as people (of various kinds) discovered who they really were, knowing their shared origins bound them together.
But it would be a sad 'Doctor Who' where we ended up liking everyone - I demand a villain! And so Varron, the thoroughly hissable moustache-twirling exploiter of the unusual with his fairground trailer full of caged cyborgs. I imagined he might have a family or social connection with the Captain from the original story? Maybe there's a 'Hundred Systems Exploiters' Club' they both belonged to, the rotters! I also thought there might be nods to another early horror classic here, 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari', where the showman arrives with a cabinet containing a man who he controls to produce a fairground spectacle - and to do his evil will... Caligari uses hypnosis rather than cybernetic implants, but still... Great story, full of exciting action and big set-pieces, ending up with Varron killed by one of his 'monsters' as a horror villain should be, and the castle on the hill going up with a very large bang as every 'villain's lair' should even though the occupant turned out not to be a villain after all. I enjoyed all the performances and Sylvester McCoy and Jessica Martin make a great team and their characters worked so well together. I liked that while the story began with Mags desperate that her wolf-side was getting out of control, by the end not only was she controlling it better, but was confident enough to summon her inner wolf to help her in the final crisis. It'll be good to see where they take this theme now Mags has come onboard the TARDIS and I'm looking forward very much to the rest of the trilogy.
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Post by masterdoctor on Apr 27, 2019 19:00:43 GMT
I've now listened to this release three times and can say with absolute certainty that this is one of my favourite Main Range stories ever! I've never had such a thrill listening to Big Finish and Mags in one story is one of the best Seventh Doctor companions ever.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2019 19:54:49 GMT
I've now listened to this release three times and can say with absolute certainty that this is one of my favourite Main Range stories ever! I've never had such a thrill listening to Big Finish and Mags in one story is one of the best Seventh Doctor companions ever. Funnily enough, I've just listened to it for the second time today (which I don't often do, especially so soon after the initial hearing), and I too absolutely love it. It's definitely my favourite Mat Fitton story (and he's done some good 'uns). Yes, it's a bit 'shouty' but such is the nature of the tale being told, I think. Really enjoyable release, the best for a very long time. |
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Apr 27, 2019 19:56:21 GMT
Oh hell, it is release #250. I just noticed that.
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Post by slithe on Apr 28, 2019 9:50:10 GMT
Oh hell, it is release #250. I just noticed that. Yes - it is amazing to think that the MR has reached 250 releases. Whist the official '20th Anniversary' is not until July, I did wonder if BF would think about doing something to celebrate this milestone. I know there was a lot of publicity for the 200th release and I was a bit surprised that something similar wasn't done with this milestone. It is mind boggling to think about how far BF has come since 1999's The Sirens of Time and how much Doctor Who has changed! In 1999 the series was pretty much 'dead' and unlikely to be on TV again. We've had the series back for 15 years with 5 different Doctors (6 including John Hurt). In a small way I am sure that BF has played a key role in this - the early stories very much influenced the direction of the new series - the Forge being Torchwood, Jubilee being adapted as Dalek, etc. |
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Post by slithe on Apr 28, 2019 10:10:12 GMT
I've separated this post from my previous one as I wanted to use this one to comment on The Monsters of Gokroth.
For me, this story seemed to be an attempt to 'reset' and 'clear the decks' with the 7th Doctor. I've listened to it and it does almost feel a 'fresh' start for the 7th Doctor - he is travelling alone (whether intentionally or as part of a greater scheme) and is somewhere between the period of 'TV' incarnation (as shown by the costume design on the cover and the TARDIS interior at the end of the audio) and that of the TV Movie. The darker traits are beginning to emerge and the story does have a darker, more adult tone than we have seen with the TV stories. With a 'new' companion, it makes a great starting point and the story really shows this.
As is common with many 7th Doctor adventures (particularly with the NA range and the later BF releases), the Doctor is more in the background with this. McCoy is in all the four episodes, but his impact isn't really felt until later in the story. I liked the way that Fitton let the story develop across the first two episodes with little involvement of the Doctor. If anything, the Doctor is rather detached from the events in the first half - he is watching them intently and, as ever, is one step ahead, but the story carries on at its own pace. This allows for some strong characterisation and 'world building' - the castle on the hill, the village and the forest are well fleshed out as are the characters that inhabit this world. I also liked the fact that Fitton has set up a good plot - each character has their own reasons for doing things - the Doctor has his reasons (although not fully explained, which will be the story arc here), Mags, Maleeva, Varron, Trella and even Gor. The key cast are individualised in a way that we've not seen for a while in a BF script and it makes for a stronger story.
The plot itself is deceptively simple. At first, I though this was 'another Frankenstien-esque parody' and it would be 'goodies' in the village against 'baddies' in the castle. I also though that it would be a lot of 'growling' monsters and not much else. However, Fitton has constructed a multifaceted story that makes for a much clever release. Yep, the inspiration of Frankenstein and Dr Moreau are there to see and clearly acknowledged throughout (McCoy makes several references to Frankenstien to deliberately check this reference). Where this story is far stronger, in my view, is that is goes beyond that - the dislike of 'off-worlders' and the fear that the villagers have of both Maleeva and the 'monsters' is a brilliant mirror to what is happening in the UK at the moment - the idea of the village (and the world) being 'sealed' off from outsiders and the attempt to smash up anything alien and/or distrust anything different strikes at a political note that feeds well into the 7th Doctor style of adventure - the Doctor brilliantly plays on the fears of the villagers and tries to get people from all sides to reassess what makes someone a 'monster'. Even when the villagers band together with the monsters, they still try to smash up the Castle/space craft - reflecting the fear and paranoia of the outside world!
Similarly, there is a darker undertone with the creation of the monsters. The reveal about Xenotransplantation (a great parallel with the xenophobia of the villagers) makes for a nasty twist. The idea that people had been enslaved, taken and captured to be experimented on (and the authorities got away with it because these individuals would not be missed) is quite disturbing and brings this into a more NA style. Varron is also pretty unpleasant and his decision to scout the universe to find creatures to turn into entertainment objects is also quite unpleasant (as his is demise at the end). Certainly, not aspects that would be developed if this was a TV adventure.
There are plenty of plot twists and these are not fully revealed until the end of Episode 4. Varron's use of cybernetics was a bit of a red herring moment as was trying to work out whether Maleeva is trustworthy or not. There are some niggles - the monsters do come across as a bit 2D in places and whether all the villagers would be so welcoming and trusting of them is dubious - especially given the xenophobia at the start.
Overall, I really enjoyed this and it is probably the strongest McCoy release for a while. Hopefully, the rest of the trilogy will be as good. Just as Davison needed a break from Nyssa, I think McCoy is better without Ace for a while. The Mags story arc will be interesting to develop - I hope the 'turning into a wolf to solve X' will not become a common plot device. She has an interesting backstory, which I hope BF will develop.
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) The sound design is epic and I wonder if BF provide throat lozenges as well as their famous lunches 
