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Post by michaeljkevans on Oct 13, 2021 8:50:51 GMT
Watching the progress of a download has never seemed to take so long!!
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Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on Oct 13, 2021 9:08:46 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2021 9:21:22 GMT
And... *clap* Downloaded!
It's so wild to me that Dalek Universe is only nine 50-60 minute episodes in total. Going through the past two volumes, it's felt quite a lot longer. Almost two times that. It's certainly been living up to its predecessor's sense of scale.
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Post by mark687 on Oct 13, 2021 9:25:17 GMT
And... *clap* Downloaded! It's so wild to me that Dalek Universe is only nine 50-60 minute episodes in total. Going through the past two volumes, it's felt quite a lot longer. Almost two times that. It's certainly been living up to its predecessor's sense of scale. Yes and its really hit the balance right of combining pace and necessary depth/detail Regards mark687
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Post by denyer97 on Oct 13, 2021 9:51:19 GMT
{Spoiler} The First Son was a solid start and nice to pick up immediately after Volume 2’s cliffhanger, I would’ve liked a little more ‘actual’ River, but then she does have her own box set this month and this isn’t her story. All in all a nice set up for what’s to come. I have everything crossed that Anya makes it out of this story in one piece. I wasn’t entirely sold on her in the 4DAs but I have loved her opposite David Tennant.
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Post by mark687 on Oct 13, 2021 9:59:11 GMT
YouTube Trailer
Regards
mark687
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Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on Oct 13, 2021 11:06:30 GMT
I just got my dispatch email for DU3. That was quick..I should receive the cd boxset by mid-late November.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2021 12:09:59 GMT
I just got my dispatch email for DU3. That was quick..I should receive the cd boxset by mid-late November. Same! 😁
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Post by mark687 on Oct 13, 2021 12:46:46 GMT
Now that's what I call DW
Just a thoroughly enjoyable, externally well performed, consistent and coherent Arc.
To say anymore just now would be Spoilers but goodness me what a fun ride it was.
Regards
mark687
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Post by sherlock on Oct 13, 2021 13:15:26 GMT
Well this was a blockbuster. {Spoiler} It’s all well paced and keeps you listening certainly.
As a result of being a blockbuster, it’s not very deep. The whole ‘humanity creating monsters to face the Daleks’ theme does reoccur with Mark being the first Movellan (I assume this is the twist Big Finish are so keen to avoid being spoiled, as it’s the only significant twist even if it wasn’t completely surprising), but it’s too abstract. We don’t find out who did this to Mark, what their motivations were or what he went through. Just the end result of Mark being in charge of the Movellans.
The Tenth Doctor remains in his usual mood and Anya doesn’t seem too affected by what’s around her. She ends up exactly where she began, fighting Daleks for Earth. They try to make a big deal of him inviting her along properly, but as he was effectively already travelling with her that’s not really that big a deal.
Ten and Davros get a fair few scenes together but it really amounts to a lesser version of Journey’s End. ‘Monsters you created’ isn’t quite on the level of ‘your soul is revealed’.
But anyway, Davros schemes and Daleks yell. The pepper pots actually come across a bit impotent here as every plan they try here blows up in their faces within minutes. The Movellans get some new stuff and do come across more effectively than in Destiny. All the continuity toys are put back in their box, no doubt ready for their next outing. They even throw in a handy reference to place this definitively on Ten’s timeline (I have thoughts on that in another thread).
So Dalek Universe as a whole. Well it was entertaining. Half a blockbuster, half a bit more then that. Tennant was clearly along for the ride and gave it his all. Ultimately I do feel a little hollow from the ending though. For a while it felt like it was going somewhere a bit more meaningful about the impact of the Daleks.
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Post by shallacatop on Oct 13, 2021 15:31:04 GMT
Hmm. My opinion is broadly the same as sherlock’s. It’s certainly got that epic finale vibe to it, but it does mean a lot of stuff isn’t delved into and doesn’t feel as well thought out or detailed as it should be. If they’d been in the first or second sets then we’d have been listening to different, and, dare I say, more substantial stories. The First Son plays its hand too late and whilst the Movellans are used effectively and we get some nice content with them, it also feels at a disservice to the story. We know it will ultimately end up being River, so for it to go on so long and not get much “actual” River also feels like a disservice. I do like her presence throughout the set, though, even if she’s not actually in the final two episodes! The Mark Seven twist isn’t massively surprising and not a lot is done with it. We don’t know about his origins, why it happened or what actually happened to make him turn out how he did. It all ends up feeling like it’s baiting for a spin-off or further adventures outside of Dalek Universe, rather than serving this series. Davros has a lot of scenes but ultimately I’m not really sure he needed to be in it. His scenes with the Doctor are nice, but a redux of Journey’s End and as it’s placed much earlier for Davros, and is set during a particular gap, their interactions always feel stilted, as do his plans and motivations. The Daleks have more involvement than they do in the previous two sets, but I still don’t think it’s massively substantial. The Doctor’s interaction with them is to recap The Chase and The Daleks Master Plan and that’s pretty much it! 9 episodes and a range called Dalek Universe and we don’t get a “proper” Dalek story or a “proper” Doctor vs Dalek event. Probably the biggest issue I had was the characterisation of the Doctor and Anya. They’ve been so good and my biggest compliment about this range has been the way the Doctor has been written. In this final set he almost seems to revert back to his regular self, which feels a bit of a shame, and I’m not sure why he’s written to be like that. Same for Anya, she’s been very well served but in this set she’s almost watching events rather than actively participating and reacting to them. Overall it does a great job at linking back to the previous sets continuity wise and pulling story elements together, but in doing so seems to forget that our leads have gone on a journey too! I am quite critical in the spoiler tags, but I have given the set a 4/5, as I had a great time listening, but ultimately feel as though this set is quite reductive and hollow compared to the preceding two.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2021 15:46:30 GMT
What a finale. Dalek Universe 3 delivers an outstanding conclusion to the epic story arc. Perfectly paced with character closures and shocking plot twists, I call this boxset the best Big Finish release of 2021! To be honest, I was genuinely shocked by the plot twist revealing Mark Seven to be the first Movellan. Loved the outcome, nonetheless. And the ending, leading directly into The Day of the Doctor, with Ten meeting Elizabeth I in 1562? Nostalgic.
In the meantime, I'm gonna make a start on my unofficial Short Trip epilogue.
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Post by agentten on Oct 13, 2021 20:29:18 GMT
That was a phenomenal conclusion! This series has been a real high water mark for Big Finish. It's just come together so well with great writing and performances. It was a real joy to listen to. I'm going to let it sit for a few weeks and then listen back through the whole thing again.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2021 22:43:34 GMT
And... *clap* Downloaded! It's so wild to me that Dalek Universe is only nine 50-60 minute episodes in total. Going through the past two volumes, it's felt quite a lot longer. Almost two times that. It's certainly been living up to its predecessor's sense of scale. Yes and its really hit the balance right of combining pace and necessary depth/detail Regards mark687 Definitely, I've really appreciated that as a listener. There's the temptation to run through these stories in a whirlwind. From one crisis directly into another. No shilly-shallying. The trouble there is that you don't really get a sense of where you are or what the people are like. It's always felt like we're on a progressive curve, but it's taken the time to get us invested in each setting as more than just a set piece. It's almost been like listening to a puzzle box being assembled a piece at a time into a much bigger image (this bit feeds into that, that into here, and so on). I've very much enjoyed that. There's a very strong sense of the 41st-century coming out of this.
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Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on Oct 14, 2021 7:38:15 GMT
Loved the "Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy" pop culture reference in story #2..
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Post by readyproductions on Oct 14, 2021 8:54:58 GMT
Loved the "Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy" pop culture reference in story #2.. Your Plastic Pal Who's Fun To Be With!
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Post by theillusiveman on Oct 14, 2021 9:08:06 GMT
Certainly the best of the 3 boxsets thats for sure
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Post by constonks on Oct 14, 2021 19:32:02 GMT
I liked the first two boxes a bit more than this one BUT the whole thing still has immense relistenability. I think one of the hits against it was that I knew the twist from the second they set it up: It had been pointed out that Mark Seven and Kamen Vers were anagrams of each other - and sherlock theorized in this very thread that the ALARCs might predate the Movellans somehow. So when they said Kamen's code came from the "first Movellan" there was no doubt in my mind who that was. That line comes about halfway through The First Son, but the reveal happens only at the end of Dalek Defence, which meant I felt a sort of "okay get on with it" as an hour and a half passed where I was ahead of the story. And another slight hit against this for me - box 1 & 2 were very much set in a single time period, creating a world around Anya and the SSS... then suddenly it's a few hundred years later. Obviously you needed that jump for the Movellan twist to work but a little more connective tissue was needed, I think. Overall, I think episodes 1, 2, 5 & 6 were the best, but I did really enjoy Dalek Universe and would love to see more multi-box unbroken narratives like this in future.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2021 15:13:50 GMT
I really thought this was a fantastic set, and felt like the natural build from where we've been going. It didn't feel like "Put Davros in, we need a gimmick" for a second. It all felt organic. Davros felt like garnish rather than the main course, which is how it should be given where he is in the timeline.
For a new series Doctor set it really does feel the most like "you probably want to know the classic series before listening" out of all the new series releases. You'd want a familiarity with Dalek Master Plan and, especially here, Destiny Of The Daleks. And "Ann Kelso's" travels with The Fourth Doctor. I think you could get by without them but it'd be much more rewarding to have all that background.
The First Son was a fantastic use of Alex Kingston. I know some feel we should have had more time with the "real" River - but we've not that long ago had a box with her and Tennant. Surely with River being one of BF's most used characters, finding a fresh idea for her and really going with it is to be applauded. I really didn't know if it was River or not till the end. Was it something River programmed? A trap using a familiar face? It kept a nice mystery on top of the unfolding adventure. And in the "son", we get some foreshadowing of the ultimate protagonist without knowing.
The Dalek Defence surprised me. I expected Davros to be an ice-pole in it and only revealed at the end. That he's in it almost from the start was terrific as it gave him time to flesh out his plan AND establish relationships with the characters and circumstances. That he didn't need more than a few seconds to realise this "young" Doctor was actually much older than the one he's met twice was fab. I love it when writers remember we're dealing with a genius here, just a mad one. I got vibes of the MR story "Davros" when Tennant and he were forced to work together. I loved that dynamic then and love it now. Davros as almost the schoolboy wanting to show The Doctor he's faster and smarter. Terrific.
The Triumph Of Davros. Well, I love a title like this because it's raising expectations for one thing...and the story is something else. I mean...Davros is working for the Movellans. The Doctor for The Daleks. And yet neither for either at the same time. They're playing 4D chess here. I didn't read guesses so I was surprised when Mark Seven was revealed as the First Movellan. I honestly just thought it was gonna be a Davros story. But the frustration of The Doctor and Anya in not being able to reach their Mark made this quite harrowing. As did The Doctor telling Anya what happened to Brett and Sara on the very planet they're now on. Though it wasn't all dark. Again, The Doctor-Davros banter made it fun. Loved Davros showing off his chair, again saying he can one-up The Doctor.
I think this whole series showed how BF should use boxsets. Make nothing superfluous. There were Ravenous stories you could have done with any Doctor, or moved around the sets, or swapped with a Doom Coalition story and not changed anything. This was a 9 part serial in effect. You couldn't move the pieces around and it was much more rewarding for that. It had scale, depth and time to set up the world and characters. It didn't feel like Ravagers where a big story was cut up into 3 eps. This was - fitting for a quasi-Master Plan sequel - an epic the size of which we haven't seen before on BF. And epic in the sense of tapestry, not just "lots of Daleks shooting". Across the 9 stories there was very little "action" comparatively. It was a story of friendship, forgiveness and not giving up on people, ultimately. Much deeper than just "why aren't there more Daleks"
The Dalek Universe banner is apt. This universe is a response to the existence of them. All our characters are who they are because of Daleks, from Anya to Davros to Mark to The Doctor. The title means more in retrospect.
I'd love to pick up with Anya again in the future. I thought she had even better chemistry with David than Tom. Tennant, though never my fave Doc on TV, continues to show why he's such an in demand audio actor - he sounds like he's on set filming, not sitting at home recording remotely. He puts The Doctor on easier than anyone, as easily as he does that big coat of his.
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Oct 16, 2021 1:33:20 GMT
Taken as a whole, Dalek Universe is one of the best things Big Finish has produced in years and this is the best job BF has done of utilizing David Tennant’s 10th Doctor. It also manages the neat trick of being very continuity heavy whilst also being very accessible for new to Classic Who listeners. David did such a good job of hitting the stories that I don’t feel like I have much to add. Thank you BF.
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