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Post by drj on Jul 31, 2021 4:07:52 GMT
With all this praise, I’m definitely getting closer to getting this… and Dalek Universe! Do. They are the 2 best releases so far this year. You won't regret it. (Robots 4 comes close.) Thanks for the nudge! I took the plunge on The War Doctor Begins and was really impressed. As others have said, it’s an amazing performance and an uncanny likeness for John Hurt. It’s also really full of energy and held my attention well throughout. Lovey soundscape work too. Really, really good basically! The only downside is that I now have to squeeze volume 2 into my purchasing budget! Not much of a downside, I admit! Afterwards, I went back and re-listened to the first John Hurt War Doctor story, The Innocent. Interestingly, I enjoyed it even more the second time around and in particular having listened to The War Doctor Begins. We’re lucky to have both these series. Good work indeed!
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Post by Kestrel on Aug 2, 2021 15:50:37 GMT
Hm... I don't really know about this set. I liked it, generally, but it's one of those sets of stories where nothing really grabbed me. One of those listens where I'd constantly hit the pause button because I'd got distracted by something else. A far cry from the stories that just demand your attention because each scene is just that engaging. Do y'all get what I mean? I guess I kind of have to call this set good, for want of anything bad in it, but it's nowhere near the 'greats' for me. That said, it accomplished handily the main thing I was most concerned about: it convinced me of Carley's capacity to play the War Doctor. I still think his performance feels a bit too affected, but overall I was quite pleased with it, even if the scripts he had to work with didn't really impress me. Anyway, as per my old habit: random thoughts presented in bullet-point form! WDB 1.1: Light the Flame- Kinda funny that, while reminiscing, they describe the 8th Doctor by saying, "how full of hope he was." I mean, really? Not sure that's how I'd describe the 8th Doctor by the end. Probably not in the 8DTWs, and certainly not by the time of his regeneration. More desperate and traumatized, I think. A man who's trying to be hopeful and optimistic, but whose heart clearly doesn't believe his mouth's rhetoric.
- Another notable quote: "The one Time Lord he traveled with, corrupted." I mean, good god, Romana's reputation has really tanked by this point in the war, huh? How many times has she saved Gallifrey? Nevermind that one time where she spent several centuries rebuilding the entirely planet after Armageddon.
- Is this a new regeneration for Tamisin? Her voice sounds different to me. Older. I like it.
- Carley really sells the role in the simple, low-key dialog scenes. I think he's less good with the more emotional lines, where the affectation of the imitation becomes a bit too noticeable, but hopefully it's something that he'll get better with in time, while we likewise become more accustomed to it. I wish I could point to an example here, but I'm not far into the 3DAs an IMO I think David Bradley pretty much nailed the part from the very first 1DA.
- Okay, the last quote I'm gonna bring up. "I can't see either the Daleks or the Time Lords backing down." Goddammit Moffat. Okay, look. Lemme explain. This quote? Yes. Absolutely. This is the correct take. The problem is? The Time War is not a conflict that can ever end so long as both the Daleks and Time Lords exist. And while I know it's hip now to hate on Chibnall, I'm still kinda bitter at Moffat for bringing back the Time Lords without doing anything with them, and refusing the even acknowledge this elephant: the Daleks will never back down; the Time Lords will never back down. This is a war that only ever ended because the writers decided it was over, arbitrarily.
- When did Ohila meet the 7th Doctor? I want to see that story.
WDB 1.2: Lion Hearts
- This one feels like of like a great big shrug. What was the point of this story? The Doctor pretends to murder some POWs in an elaborate charade to convince the Time Lords that he's changed, that he's now the "big bad War Doctor" so many of the fans always wanted him to be, in spite of literally nothing but evidence to the contrary, and in doing so proves to the audience only one thing: that he hasn't changed at all.
- Yet so much of the dialog in this set is the Doctor insisting that he's different now, despite not being any different at all.
- And then there's the end, where the Doctor signs off the story talking about how when the war is over, everyone will have to account for their sins, "even him." Only... yeah, what sins? He hasn't done anything even remotely bad or even slightly questionably yet.
- The only difference between the War Doctor and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Doctors is that the prior eight would all act in the same way without constantly talking about how grimdark they are. Any JRPG fans here? I'm reminded of Tales of Berseria, where the protagonist, Velvet, is constantly talking about how bad/evil she is, despite acting just like any other generic JRPG hero. It's all very teen edgelord.
- Also, wow, gotta give a special shout-out to the sound design in this release. It's really quite fantastic--feels like a significant step up from prior releases, and is something that, in general, seems to be improving at a pretty substantial rate over the past year or two.
WDB 1.3: Shadow Squad- Probably the best story of the lot, IMHO.
- Really getting tired of these scripts assuring us that, "this Doctor is different!" While simultaneously refusing to depict this Doctor any differently than any of the others.
- Likewise, I'm sick of the silly, "I'm in-between names" nonsense. The War Doctor's name is "The Doctor." The thing he did that "betrayed" the name was the annihilation of Gallifrey at the end of the war! And, look, even if he committed all manner of other terrible crimes during the war, as some fans desperately want to headcanon, the simple fact is that he couldn't have committed any of them this soon into his regeneration. Big Finish really wrote themselves into a hole with this, "we can't ever give this character a name" thing.
- Love the whole concept of the shadow squad.
So... those are my chief thoughts. I hope I don't come across as too negative here. Overall I did enjoy the set, and am willing to give WDB2 a shot... it's just that nothing really stood out to impress me in the scripts. So the only thing I'm really left with to talk about are the bits that annoyed me. And, look, I dunno... maybe I'm predisposed to be overly critical here because it's a War Doctor set without John Hurt. I dunno. At the end, all I can say is that I'm a big fan of the War Doctor range, and I really wanted to like this set, but it just failed to wow me. Maybe my expectations were too high?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2021 9:36:40 GMT
Well i noticed I hadn’t commented to this but it was at a time my life was going downhill fast.......
I liked Jonathans version it really was a terrific performance i really did but it still did nothing really new story wise ,nothing new its time we put an end to all the Time War sagas in my opinion (well after we finish off The cliffhanger to McGanns set)like a one CD finish type of story.How about Carleys Doctor escapes the Time War and has some wee adventures NON TIME WAR related? But either way its probably a wee cash cow for BF but surely even the writers must be truly bored of it...I sure am.I doubt they would ever be allowed to voice that opinion,but if they want to PM me feel free 😂They could be putting their creative talents into other stuff I wont buy the next set as am already trapped into Stranded trapped and stranded lol unless BF do refunds and let me spend the money elsewhere 😂
of course in my opinion only...😂 Enjoy it if you are
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Post by tuigirl on Oct 24, 2021 11:28:24 GMT
Well i noticed I hadn’t commented to this but it was at a time my life was going downhill fast....... I liked Jonathans version it really was a terrific performance i really did but it still did nothing really new story wise ,nothing new its time we put an end to all the Time War sagas in my opinion (well after we finish off The cliffhanger to McGanns set)like a one CD finish type of story.How about Carleys Doctor escapes the Time War and has some wee adventures NON TIME WAR related? But either way its probably a wee cash cow for BF but surely even the writers must be truly bored of it...I sure am.I doubt they would ever be allowed to voice that opinion,but if they want to PM me feel free 😂They could be putting their creative talents into other stuff I wont buy the next set as am already trapped into Stranded trapped and stranded lol unless BF do refunds and let me spend the money elsewhere 😂 of course in my opinion only...😂 Enjoy it if you are Well, I will be blatantly honest. I had started on this set, and so far, have not finished it. Maybe I am, like you, tired of Time War stories. It just completely ran out of steam. Or maybe I was in one of my bad moods. I will come back to it at a later time, but it just did not grab me at all. As for the performance- yes, the sound-alike is uncanny. But I will be totally honest again- something is missing in the performance. Yes, this actor may sound exactly like John Hurt. But it is NOT John Hurt. The performance is missing something, it lacks a certain umph and gravitas. At times, this completely kicked me out of the story. It is some kind of audio UNCANNY VALLEY.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2021 11:34:49 GMT
Well i noticed I hadn’t commented to this but it was at a time my life was going downhill fast....... I liked Jonathans version it really was a terrific performance i really did but it still did nothing really new story wise ,nothing new its time we put an end to all the Time War sagas in my opinion (well after we finish off The cliffhanger to McGanns set)like a one CD finish type of story.How about Carleys Doctor escapes the Time War and has some wee adventures NON TIME WAR related? But either way its probably a wee cash cow for BF but surely even the writers must be truly bored of it...I sure am.I doubt they would ever be allowed to voice that opinion,but if they want to PM me feel free 😂They could be putting their creative talents into other stuff I wont buy the next set as am already trapped into Stranded trapped and stranded lol unless BF do refunds and let me spend the money elsewhere 😂 of course in my opinion only...😂 Enjoy it if you are Well, I will be blatantly honest. I had started on this set, and so far, have not finished it. Maybe I am, like you, tired of Time War stories. It just completely ran out of steam. Or maybe I was in one of my bad moods. I will come back to it at a later time, but it just did not grab me at all. As for the performance- yes, the sound-alike is uncanny. But I will be totally honest again- something is missing in the performance. Yes, this actor may sound exactly like John Hurt. But it is NOT John Hurt. The performance is missing something, it lacks a certain umph and gravitas. At times, this completely kicked me out of the story. It is some kind of audio UNCANNY VALLEY.
I always feel like a complete Judas but i never enjoyed Johns Performance as The Doctor nothing to do with John as an actor it was just a non event i stuck it out though,but am past that stage of sticking things out if it doesn’t grab me first time around then i have learned from experience it wont really the next time, it was just another run of the mill Dalek/Time Lord Time War blah blah blah thing....Jonathan gives a great rendition but there’s nowhere to go the Time War is a complete Black Hole 😂 There’s other stuff to go enjoy my new profile pic in which i look stunning sums the time war up
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Post by nottenst on Jun 3, 2022 16:01:44 GMT
Finally got around to listening to this set. It was very impressive. I think "The Shadow Squad" was my favorite as that really jumped into the strangest aspects of a Time War. Looking forward to listening to more of The War Doctor Begins.
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Post by tuigirl on Mar 26, 2023 15:10:48 GMT
Well, here you go. I made it through this first set and am halfway through the second. I am still not completely onboard and I am tired of the Time War. But the writing is tight, the stories are exciting and the performances are great. It probably won't become my favorite range, but it is far from the worst and it is above the stale standard stories we got too many of recently. And I still get some of that weird uncanny valley effect with the performance of Jonathan Carley.
Since I got all 4 releases of this first series as a bundle, I was kind of stuck with it and it took me long enough to finally give it a chance. As it stands at the moment, I won't preorder the second series and won't make the mistake of buying a bundle again. And I will only pick up releases in this range if they come highly recommended.
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