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Post by sherlock on Apr 4, 2020 16:46:47 GMT
I enjoy this greatly. It’s very gritty and establishes a very nice setup for the Cyberman spin-off.
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melkur
Chancellery Guard
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Post by melkur on Apr 4, 2020 20:37:03 GMT
I think I this is one of the first BF stories that I heard (I believe in the lead-up to Christmas 2007, though it potentially could have been the following year), and is one that I have a soft spot for to date...
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Post by masterdoctor on Apr 6, 2020 6:29:20 GMT
Sword of Orion by Nicholas Briggs
Going into this, I was dreading spending two hours relistening to Sword of Orion. When I first heard it, I found it dull, uninspired and dreadfully boring. I can say that another listen has helped me come to appreciate the story more. I appreciated the base under siege storyline a lot more here, and the soundscape was well-done. I think Briggs did an ok job with the writing, but it is definitely one of his lower works in my eyes. I find that most of Part One drags horribly, and the market scenes should have been cut in my eyes. It was incredibly cool to hear such Big Finish stalwarts in the early works. Helen Goldwyn, Barnaby Edwards and Mark Gatiss all have small but memorable roles.
Now for the weakest part of the story. Charley Pollard is just so... bland to the point of offensive. Nothing in the early stories give Charley any character depth, and relies on her being a temporal anomaly as a crutch instead of developing her character. And it doesn't help that India Fisher can't find any small bit of material to make something memorable. I may be overly harsh here, but I do think this is because both the character and Fisher are much more capable than this story shows, and with the companion being such a major part of a story, it really drags Sword of Orion down.
I'm glad I have listened to this story again, as I found a lot of good I hadn't before. But I still think that this is an incredibly average, and mostly boring story. One that is not for me.
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Post by Tim Bradley on Apr 7, 2020 7:19:35 GMT
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Tony Jones
Chancellery Guard
Professor Chronotis
Still rockin' along!
Likes: 2,130
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Post by Tony Jones on Apr 7, 2020 9:29:45 GMT
Sword of Orion by Nicholas BriggsGoing into this, I was dreading spending two hours relistening to Sword of Orion. When I first heard it, I found it dull, uninspired and dreadfully boring. I can say that another listen has helped me come to appreciate the story more. I appreciated the base under siege storyline a lot more here, and the soundscape was well-done. I think Briggs did an ok job with the writing, but it is definitely one of his lower works in my eyes. I find that most of Part One drags horribly, and the market scenes should have been cut in my eyes. It was incredibly cool to hear such Big Finish stalwarts in the early works. Helen Goldwyn, Barnaby Edwards and Mark Gatiss all have small but memorable roles. Now for the weakest part of the story. Charley Pollard is just so... bland to the point of offensive. Nothing in the early stories give Charley any character depth, and relies on her being a temporal anomaly as a crutch instead of developing her character. And it doesn't help that India Fisher can't find any small bit of material to make something memorable. I may be overly harsh here, but I do think this is because both the character and Fisher are much more capable than this story shows, and with the companion being such a major part of a story, it really drags Sword of Orion down. I'm glad I have listened to this story again, as I found a lot of good I hadn't before. But I still think that this is an incredibly average, and mostly boring story. One that is not for me. Interesting - I wonder how much is connected to the fact she wasn't in the original AV version? |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2020 9:54:18 GMT
Sword of Orion by Nicholas BriggsGoing into this, I was dreading spending two hours relistening to Sword of Orion. When I first heard it, I found it dull, uninspired and dreadfully boring. I can say that another listen has helped me come to appreciate the story more. I appreciated the base under siege storyline a lot more here, and the soundscape was well-done. I think Briggs did an ok job with the writing, but it is definitely one of his lower works in my eyes. I find that most of Part One drags horribly, and the market scenes should have been cut in my eyes. It was incredibly cool to hear such Big Finish stalwarts in the early works. Helen Goldwyn, Barnaby Edwards and Mark Gatiss all have small but memorable roles. Now for the weakest part of the story. Charley Pollard is just so... bland to the point of offensive. Nothing in the early stories give Charley any character depth, and relies on her being a temporal anomaly as a crutch instead of developing her character. And it doesn't help that India Fisher can't find any small bit of material to make something memorable. I may be overly harsh here, but I do think this is because both the character and Fisher are much more capable than this story shows, and with the companion being such a major part of a story, it really drags Sword of Orion down. I'm glad I have listened to this story again, as I found a lot of good I hadn't before. But I still think that this is an incredibly average, and mostly boring story. One that is not for me. Interesting - I wonder how much is connected to the fact she wasn't in the original AV version? It's certainly a possibility. Charley doesn't get much new material written for herself, per se. She has a tendency to get grafted into pre-existing threads or be tagging along with the Doctor. One example is Ike and Vol going down to deal with the Cybermat in the original. The only real difference between that and the remake is that Grash has planned for Charley to be there so she can suffer an "accident". Everything else is more or less the same, so she's not as active a character as she would be in other stories. |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2020 23:38:26 GMT
Just listening to Audio Visuals version for the first time. Quite impressed by the production quality, which was not what I expected. And that chilling musical signature is present and correct too. All that's missing is Paul McGann, so far (dare i say the 'Doctor' does not stand out as well amongst the voices - what became of the performer in the role, i wonder?).
Got the full set of AV releases on the hard drive. I will be venturing more into these after this, having not listened to them yet.
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Post by barnabaslives on Apr 12, 2020 11:05:00 GMT
I commented in the "What Are You Listening to Today?" thread, but I'll add some comments here too. Enjoyed this more than ever before by listening to the Cyberman series first for the first time. Everything about Sword of Orion - perhaps particularly the pacing - seems a lot more natural somehow after that. Instead of seeming downhill from Storm Warning it just seems like a classic TV episode with the Eight Doctor and Charley, so I definitely have a whole new appreciation of Sword of Orion.
Agreed with the comments that there probably wasn't enough focus on developing Charley's character here, but it does feel like the relationship between Eight and Charley has developed and she seem more natural as a companion here, which helps a lot to make up for it.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2020 12:41:15 GMT
One of the first audios I listened to, it was a hot summers day and I was mowing the lawn. Oddly its one of only two audios I clearly remember hearing for the first time when I initially started listening to BF a very long time ago.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2021 6:26:07 GMT
Nick said it was good and that was enough for me 😂🤭
No i have always enjoyed it its a slow burner but actually like it for that it has a great atmosphere but since it was taken from an original and reworked there was plenty of time for nick to work out the elements in his head.and also made at a time when there was no televised WHO to compare it to.Nowadays we are spoiled for choice in material but have to still admit a few clunkers here and there but the audios are still my GO TO for a Who fix.If Nick hadn’t been wanting/itching to do a sequel to Orion it would have been very easy to Fit The Charlotte episodes between Storm and this as Charley has already settled into companion role.
I do love it as a Cybermen adventure and it was good to give McGann his stand off against his older foes.
I still score it highly,classic Who 👍
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