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Post by fitzoliverj on Mar 19, 2021 19:01:31 GMT
I enjoyed it, but I don't think it was a strong enough story for the bringing together of four Doctors. The resolution of the eeeevil scheme wsa a bit weak (did he really not realise that was the point of things being the way they were?).
Odd thing, the reviewers seem down on the first episode, but I thought that was the best one!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2021 21:29:50 GMT
Odd thing, the reviewers seem down on the first episode, but I thought that was the best one! Horses for courses!
I thought the first episode of The End of the Beginning was the weakest, with the 8th Doctor & Charley episode the best. In fact, hearing Paul McGann's Doctor with Charlotte Pollard once again was the highlight of The End of the Beginning for me... the rest of it was a bit underwhelming and average enough fare.
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Post by Ian McArdell on Mar 19, 2021 23:07:40 GMT
Well, i really rather enjoyed this - my take is now up at CultBox. I see Rob Valentine has a couple of further releases in the pipeline, including this month's Master! A good thing too IMHO.
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mbt66
Chancellery Guard
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Post by mbt66 on Mar 20, 2021 10:54:22 GMT
I enjoyed it, but I don't think it was a strong enough story for the bringing together of four Doctors. The resolution of the eeeevil scheme wsa a bit weak (did he really not realise that was the point of things being the way they were?). Odd thing, the reviewers seem down on the first episode, but I thought that was the best one! It was hearing that first episode via the newsletter that galvanised me into buying the full release and some other Doctor Who sets. So it was evidently strong enough to wake me from my Big Finish buying slumber!
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Post by number13 on Mar 20, 2021 13:52:11 GMT
I enjoyed it, but I don't think it was a strong enough story for the bringing together of four Doctors. The resolution of the eeeevil scheme wsa a bit weak (did he really not realise that was the point of things being the way they were?). Odd thing, the reviewers seem down on the first episode, but I thought that was the best one! I also enjoyed 'Death in the Desert'. A spot of "Indiana Jones and the Monolith of Time" went down very well with me.
I also enjoyed Sixie's comedy crime caper movie and the Eighth Doctor's 'Cool Britannia' vampire pic. The finale had one great twist I didn't see coming at all, then one which I had seen coming a mile off. But it was still fun and loudly dramatic stuff to finish with.
{Spoiler} Did the Doctor have any favourite tutors at the academy who didn't go on to become power-crazed renegades? That's the Pilgrim and Borusa both goners now!
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Post by slithe on Mar 21, 2021 12:03:00 GMT
I really liked this... I thought all the episodes themselves were good. I did like the first one - but then it hits some of my vibes and biases. Would this be the strongest story that BF have ever released - probably not. However, you can feel the genuine affection for the show here and the actors are on top form. The final episode is very strong for the chemistry between the actors - McGann, Baker and Davison are on fine form. Baker is amazing here and Sixie comes across so well in this - the smugness is there, but it is measured and more competitive than awful.
I am really sad this is the last MR story. I've grown up with this range and it has been a huge part of my life. The adventures with the Doctor have got me through some pretty dark times and some happier ones. I wandered away for a while, but found the CDs when I was clearing up and devoured them - it was like I'd never been away. Sitting in the cancer ward and listening to Sixie taking on villains was the best tonic ever. Never looked back.
The positive ending of more adventures is a good omen - and a real tribute to BF for all what they have done to revive interest in Doctor Who when very few people would publicly support it (especially in the 1990s).
BF also deserve huge praise for rehabilitating Sixie (I would never be saying he was my favourite Doctor before the MR!) and for giving us the 8th Doctor adventures - as much as I am unsure about the TV Movie, I really regret that McGann never got at least one set of adventures. He is amazing as the Doctor.
Look forward to seeing what comes next. I am also going to have to start wondering what to look out for each month - no more MR parcels!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2021 19:52:02 GMT
BF also deserve huge praise for rehabilitating Sixie (I would never be saying he was my favourite Doctor before the MR!) They sure do... so well done Big Finish.
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Post by Kestrel on Mar 27, 2021 19:56:51 GMT
- Opening narration is very reminiscent of 'The End of Time,' right?
- While it definitely paid off in a very-much-appreciated twist, starting the story off with the whole, "In that moment, I declared war on the universe," declaration really sapped my interest in the story by indicating a generic omnicidal maniac. While they ultimately subverted that trope, it would've been nice for the reveal to come sooner—otherwise, as it is, we've got three episodes of a story that seems much less interesting than it really is.
- For example, when the Doctor discovers Gallifreyan ruins on Earth? That's a really interesting mystery! They sadly don't really go anywhere with it, but it's engaging all the same! But then when you see that while "knowing" there's a "Big Bad" out there who wants to kill everything, it's hard to really engage with the mysteries presented.
- Wait, aren't most (all?) archaeologists technically thieves and plunderers? Especially the British ones? Thought for sure they were world-renowned for just that.
- Overall a very enjoyable story and a fantastic capstone to the Monthly Range. Big Finish definitely could have been more ambitious here, and built up to a big finale with some of the preceding stories, but I think the self-contained nature works very well--even each individual episode is very self-contained, making this story fairly reflective of the Monthly Range itself, on the whole.
- Now that it's out and done, I think this was the perfect way to end the range.
So now I can only wonder... what next?
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Post by tuigirl on Mar 30, 2021 18:26:38 GMT
Finished this. I quite enjoyed the first 3 stories, I liked the atmosphere of the desert Laurence of Arabia story, Sixie and Connie were great as always, and I realized I missed 8 and Charley very much. Hearing them together again was simply wonderful. I did not even mind the vampire bit, and I am not a fan of vampires at all. But the last story lost me. First, I could see the twist a mile off, and all this McGuffin hunting, threat to the universe, cackling villain was a bit too much. I have to say it did nothing for me, I did not even enjoy the Doctor banter. That has been done better before. So this gets a good average rating from me.
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Post by christmastrenzalore on Mar 30, 2021 22:09:35 GMT
Liked all the segments, especially the 3rd, not only because Eight/Charley was my favourite pair, but I dug the whole Vampire Vignette. I like it when a story has implied history without feeling the need to spell it all out. Solid 8/10 overall.
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Post by mark687 on Mar 31, 2021 8:53:59 GMT
PDF Script and Extended Extras DL Added to Subscribers Accounts
Regards
mark687
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Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on Mar 31, 2021 10:28:05 GMT
PDF Script and Extended Extras DL Added to Subscribers Accounts Regards mark687
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Post by Timelord007 on Apr 3, 2021 6:57:13 GMT
A good audio drama, the episodes with each Doctor were good & paced well however i did feel the build up sadly lacked a strong conclusion in it's fourth episode, for me it didn't feel a big enough threat for the Doctors to unite to save the day & the conclusion while not a bad one i thought was a underwhelming pay off & overall a bit "meh"
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Post by christmastrenzalore on Apr 3, 2021 12:02:23 GMT
On the ending: {Spoiler} What made the ending work for me is the addressal of a theoretical "Golden Age", and how things needn't be perfect to be good. Even if it felt a bit small, in many ways, it's a great distillation of why the Doctor so often rebels against his own people. He's an advocate for freedom and change, and often these ideas are weaponized in order to inhibit change, and justify control.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2021 13:14:56 GMT
I found this a really engaging and enjoyable tale and using the individual Doctors in their own tales Today I got to finish it as each time I tried I got to first episode and fell asleep lol so to have a lovely Easter Sunday and a Cd listen was so good. And as the end of the current MAin Range I cannot complain at all...and to have Turlough Charley and Constance was great it would have been easy to do a Legacy type story to finish off the MR but I feel this was far more fitting...👍👍
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Post by Kestrel on Apr 7, 2021 18:51:12 GMT
On the ending: {Spoiler} What made the ending work for me is the addressal of a theoretical "Golden Age", and how things needn't be perfect to be good. Even if it felt a bit small, in many ways, it's a great distillation of why the Doctor so often rebels against his own people. He's an advocate for freedom and change, and often these ideas are weaponized in order to inhibit change, and justify control. That's definitely an aspect of the character I'd love to see explored more (which is to say, I'll never get enough of it): as a time traveler, he is intimately aware of the realities of history, and is therefore much less likely to fall prey to the comforting illusion of nostalgia. He simply doesn't have the luxury of selective memory, and this--perhaps more than anything else--makes him unique. We (often) make fun of the Doctor's personal history--how all of his old friends and teachers wind up going insane, and trying to destroy the universe. Or conquer it. Or maybe just kill some people. And, in fairness, it is pretty silly. Who didn't love Liv's deadpan remarks about mad Time Lords in Ravenous? But this pattern does, if unintentionally, serve a purpose: it's a reminder that the Doctor, personally, is not immune. He cannot afford to romanticize history, nor can he afford to romanticize his own past. This even becomes a plot point in The End of Time, where the real tragedy of the story isn't so much the Doctor's impending death, but rather that the delusion he briefly held--that his people were good and noble and that the universe is lesser for their absence--is brutally revoked. This is a character who cannot even find solace in the lies he tells himself. And so the Doctor is forced to live with the guilt of "killing" all of the Gallifreyans--which is impossibly crushing--and can't even pretend that that the weight of that guilt is equal to their loss: because in spite of it all, the universe is better for their absence. EDIT: So... part 5 of 343? No, I don't know why I suddenly started talking about Tenant, either.
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Post by constonks on Apr 7, 2021 19:41:58 GMT
This even becomes a plot point in The End of Time, where the real tragedy of the story isn't so much the Doctor's impending death, but rather that the delusion he briefly held--that his people were good and noble and that the universe is lesser for their absence--is brutally revoked. This is a character who cannot even find solace in the lies he tells himself. Oof. I really like this reading. Adds some weight to the conversations between Tennant and Smith in Day of the Doctor, doesn't? Before and after The End of Time. The man who regrets and the man who forgets... (yes this is off-topic but I love a good character arc discussion, what can I say)
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Post by Digi on May 12, 2021 15:43:28 GMT
So that was....okay? I guess? There's nothing it really does wrong--each individual Doctor's adventure is a perfectly serviceable mini-adventure--but ultimately I felt like there were almost no stakes in the entire thing, and it really never added up to much. I would have accepted this one as a so-so, middle-of-the-road Monthly Range adventure at any random point in its run, but as the final entry in the range? What a disappointment.
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Post by nottenst on Jun 22, 2021 15:41:41 GMT
I enjoyed the individual episodes slightly more than the final meet up, although I LOVED the twist with Vakrass, and The Doctor and Charley's reaction to it. I enjoyed hearing Eight and Charley together again even more than I thought I would. That pair was the highlight of the story for me. This release did what they wanted it to do. Basically, gave the range a lovely but not too emotional or large of a send off. At the end you do get the sense of nothing but that these characters and their stories will continue as always, even if it's not in this range. It is a comfortable conclusion, and definitely not the end. I've been listening to the final 13 Monthly Adventures one a week and this is the End. I will miss the monthly range, but I have a complete set on CD wandering about my study. I was surprised by Vakrass and disappointed with Gostok (they do that just way too frequently). It looks like we might get more of Vakrass in the future and I look forward to that. Overall, it was fun and I would have liked to have heard from Flip. I have not yet listened to the interviews and am looking forward to that and the Robert Valentine interview that someone linked earlier. I am glad they did address recognizing or being reminded by Charley by the 5th and 6th - much in the way that people speculated earlier in this thread.
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Post by Ela on Oct 26, 2021 16:16:34 GMT
I enjoyed the release overall, but beyond that, I don't have that much to say about it.
Sad that the Main Range has ended. I enjoyed my subscriptions, the subscriber short trips, and being able to select an additional episode each time I renewed my subscription.
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