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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2021 10:05:42 GMT
This is why I add the adjectives next to the numbers when I make release threads -- less room for confusion. But, yeah, otherwise some folks here are really not feeling Stranded 3. Which, I mean, fair, but it doesn't seem very likely, since presumably the only folks even in this thread are those who liked the first two sets at least well enough to consider the third. Well, from what I had been reading in here, it is a bit of a marmite release. However, I do not understand if people rank it on the same level as Exile.... I don’t even know if i was comparing it to anything really except McGanns own previously released sets and his Lucie Millers etc.For me it was just totally un engaging and did initially on prerelease have me expecting quite a thrilling ride and then try as i might it just left me bored and unengaged.I just cannot engage with it.I must admit the talent is there,the writers are there BUT the hook me and grab me in and give me an entertaining ride isnt ,if i could request a refund and go buy something else i most definitely would.I cannot believe there is still another set MONTHS away 😭 Lets hope The Charley set puts some oomph into McGanns Doctor again.
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Dec 27, 2021 12:55:30 GMT
I will say, just in terms of numerical score, I do believe review values are of little worth anyway. Its why on my own reviews of music or movies online, and now Youtube, I do not use any kind of scoring system. As Audio says, dont like something? Tell me why. Your 2 stars tell me very, very little of what the issue is, maybe it is an issue I wouldn't have and it would be a 5/5 for me if I were scoring. Take a recent example, Timelord007 said if Mel Gibson was in Fury Road and not Tom Hardy, it would be a much better film and he would rate it accordingly. Now I do not feel that way. Tom was terrific and Mad Max was not the "point" of that story anyway. It was Furiosa/Charlize Therons story. But because I know thats how Timelord feels, I can take it into account when he says it makes it a 1/5 not a 4/5 or whatever, he explained it and I can understand his point if not agree with it. Without that context, the score means little. Its also why a certain poster who has seen about 50 "single worst films ever made" has little cred - the boy cried wolf and once more never offers context to "Well, why is it so bad?". You cannot debate that way. In some ways I blame Ebert & Siskel, thumbs up and star ratings? Thats what people quote from them, not the expansive reviews. I do not believe they intended to at all but they turned criticism into a very facile sport. Binary in the case of every movie is either thumbs up or down. And any serious critique or response to art is just not that simple. Yet, yes, I stand by the notion that I espoused for many years on here and the previous forum. Be bold. Do not aim for safe. It doesn't mean every story must be "epic", but there are so many ways to tell a story, so many devices, tools - use them. It can alter the story. As I said of Dorneys story here, the last one - the reverse narrative IS the story. The plot itself is relatively simple and would be somewhat flat told in order but in John deciding to make the story backwards - and for us, the audience, not for the characters like most "time is backwards" stories - he made it better. By looking at the same plot..but from a different storytelling device. Same with art. Take music - heard Greta Van Fleet? They are a new band who sound like Led Zeppelin. And I mean exactly like Led Zeppelin. A tall singer who sounds like Plant. A uitar player who even moves like Jimmy Page. They add zip, nada, nothin to the Zep sound, so why would I care when I have the real bands entire output? You can be influenced, inspired and...sometimes, even nick an idea (Zep did!) but when your two albums are nothin but copies (they even do Plant and his Tolkien love) you need somethin else to add to the brew or you are middle of the road, derivative and of little consequence. There is a reason we remember the true artists. Vermeer did not paint like Da Vinci. Magritte - my favourite - did not paint like Picasso. Dylan does not make music like Frank Zappa. Tennyson did not write like Wordsworth. Orson Welles did not direct like John Ford. As someone who is somewhat of a pop culture student, amateur as it is, there are many out there who just wanted to be "new Elvis" "next Beatles" "act like Errol Flynn", "write like Kerouac". And most are lost to mainstream culture because they did not tell their stories, make their art..but a version of someone elses. Just make me feel somethin. If its anger - sometimes that is what you should feel. If its hate, well, once more - if the baddies won...why is that not a valid response? Indifference is the true enemy of art.You are correct sir.
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Post by theillusiveman on Dec 27, 2021 14:05:10 GMT
Well, from what I had been reading in here, it is a bit of a marmite release. However, I do not understand if people rank it on the same level as Exile.... I don’t even know if i was comparing it to anything really except McGanns own previously released sets and his Lucie Millers etc.For me it was just totally un engaging and did initially on prerelease have me expecting quite a thrilling ride and then try as i might it just left me bored and unengaged.I just cannot engage with it.I must admit the talent is there,the writers are there BUT the hook me and grab me in and give me an entertaining ride isnt ,if i could request a refund and go buy something else i most definitely would.I cannot believe there is still another set MONTHS away 😭 Lets hope The Charley set puts some oomph into McGanns Doctor again. Agreed, i think its terrible that you go into a box set with your favorite doctor and then when you finish it and feel like Big Finish robbed you of Money and Time then it makes it harder to want to trust them with future purchases by the way having a 4 box set arc span over 3 years is quite frankly absurd.
While i had issues with Dalek Universe's story i think The Three Box set Trilogy with 4 Stories is honestly the best route for the future of The 8th Doctor in terms of creativity and a more tighter narrative (Ravenous could have been quite easily 3 Box sets)
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2021 14:12:23 GMT
I don’t even know if i was comparing it to anything really except McGanns own previously released sets and his Lucie Millers etc.For me it was just totally un engaging and did initially on prerelease have me expecting quite a thrilling ride and then try as i might it just left me bored and unengaged.I just cannot engage with it.I must admit the talent is there,the writers are there BUT the hook me and grab me in and give me an entertaining ride isnt ,if i could request a refund and go buy something else i most definitely would.I cannot believe there is still another set MONTHS away 😭 Lets hope The Charley set puts some oomph into McGanns Doctor again. Agreed, i think its terrible that you go into a box set with your favorite doctor and then when you finish it and feel like Big Finish robbed you of Money and Time then it makes it harder to want to trust them with future purchases by the way having a 4 box set arc span over 3 years is quite frankly absurd.
While i had issues with Dalek Universe's story i think The Three Box set Trilogy with 4 Stories is honestly the best route for the future of The 8th Doctor in terms of creativity and a more tighter narrative (Ravenous could have been quite easily 3 Box sets)
Well is it really over 3 years? Geez felt like its been 8 😂 some types of storytelling suit some and not others am glad others have enjoyed but to say i did would be an absolute lie i cannot wait until the saga is finished with.Just didn’t work for me that is all. Ravenous was still exciting though despite wether or boot it was 3 or 4 sets. Dalek universe was still exciting and thrilling too...i just cannot find a rhythm to Stranded its just been a total bore for me. But hey...cannot win them all
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Post by Audio Watchdog on Dec 27, 2021 15:09:22 GMT
I don’t even know if i was comparing it to anything really except McGanns own previously released sets and his Lucie Millers etc.For me it was just totally un engaging and did initially on prerelease have me expecting quite a thrilling ride and then try as i might it just left me bored and unengaged.I just cannot engage with it.I must admit the talent is there,the writers are there BUT the hook me and grab me in and give me an entertaining ride isnt ,if i could request a refund and go buy something else i most definitely would.I cannot believe there is still another set MONTHS away 😭 Lets hope The Charley set puts some oomph into McGanns Doctor again. Agreed, i think its terrible that you go into a box set with your favorite doctor and then when you finish it and feel like Big Finish robbed you of Money and Time then it makes it harder to want to trust them with future purchases by the way having a 4 box set arc span over 3 years is quite frankly absurd.
While i had issues with Dalek Universe's story i think The Three Box set Trilogy with 4 Stories is honestly the best route for the future of The 8th Doctor in terms of creativity and a more tighter narrative (Ravenous could have been quite easily 3 Box sets)
No one sets out to make something bad. They produced something they believe in. It didn’t do much for you. It happens. I mean have you really never not liked something before?
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Post by shallacatop on Dec 28, 2021 9:22:58 GMT
There were some aspects of the first set I didn't care for (I think Big Finish is a bit too fond of in media res) but found the second set phenomenal. Still haven't listened to the third set--I tend to save these things for special occasions while I catch up with other ranges I don't have the same sky-high expectations for. But it's certainly easy to see why it's divisive: Stranded is the boldest this franchise has been since the Tom Baker era reimagined what the show was and could be (something I'd argue RTD's reboot only refined, rather than altered). Like imagine The Lodger spread out over a full season with most of the alien stuff absent entirely, and a larger cast of characters to balance. It's very ambitious and very much the usual sort of story the Big Finish writers are accustomed to. There's not really much in the way of "Big Idea" science fiction (which I typically love) or high-stakes drama (which I typically don't). It's more about a gaggle of people thrown together by happenstance (or maybe...?) as we slowly learn more about them, their lives, and their relationships to each other, one layer peeling away at a time. As I think johnhurtdoctor 's criticisms of the prior sets indicate, assuming you're down with the core premise, much of one's enjoyment of these stories is going to hinge on how organically these events unfold--after all, we need reasons to learn more about this large cast of weirdos--and there are certainly contrivances at play driving the story forward. I think the biggest weakness of the range, ultimately, is that it very much wants to be a series of character-driven stories, but more often than not it's the plot driving the action. I would disagree. This isn't bold at all. I expected the whole thing to be like the story Wild Animals. But far from the Doctor & co being Stranded & having to deal with earth based threats they are soon travelling through time, encountering aliens & UNIT, Torchwood etc. I think you're misrepresenting my criticisms. I can’t disagree with this assessment of Stranded. It just feels like it’s going through the motions thinking it’s bold and inventive when really it isn’t at all. It’s not stuck to the premise or the constraints that you’d expect to be in place if you’re actually stranding the TARDIS team. That’s not to say it’s Baker Street for 16 episodes, but they barely made it past one set. The jumps in time in between some episodes of the first set didn’t help, though, it’s a disservice to the listener, the characters and the story by telling us they’ve been stranded for months except not really showing it at all, just so they can crack on with telling other stories, which unfortunately aren’t as interesting as the original premise. But that’s the thing, and what’s lead to such a fascinating discussion on this thread that I’ve read this morning, Stranded isn’t awful. It’s not an attempt to be bold and innovative that is poor. It’s apathetic and that reflects my own view; I’m indifferent and that frustrates me more.
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Post by Kestrel on Dec 28, 2021 23:47:56 GMT
"Refute" also means "to deny the accuracy" of a statement, which is what I did (or tried to do). But follow this road much further and it ends, invariably, at slinging dictionary links back and forth. Personally, I would never just say, "I disagree" and leave it at that--doing so would be, to me, rude and dismissive. If I disagree with someone. I think the correct course of action is to either be silent, or explain why I disagree. Which, as you can see, is precisely what I'm doing here. As this place is a forum, the latter option seems most appropriate. Like... I do not want to be dismissive. If I think something is wrong, I'm going to do my best to explain how and why. I realize I have difficulty affecting a properly neutral tone (at least in terms of how others perceive it) and seldom pick up on subtext. It's an ASD thing. This is why I make an effort to explain myself thoroughly--and generally try to be careful and deliberate with my language. Clearly I have not been sufficiently vigilant with myself here and for that, I also apologize. But the accuracy only applies to you and how you view it. We are talking about art and how we perceive & process that, yes? I mean we aren’t talking about the Earth being round or covid vaccines being effective or Han Solo shooting first. I am more than willing to discuss opinions, how I came to them and trying to possibly move someone closer to my way of thinking but in the end, it is my/your opinion and neither of us is right or wrong. I don’t have a problem with anyone disagreeing with my subjective opinions, hell….disagreements are what make things interesting…the problem I had here was the way you were expressing your disagreement. i accept your word that what you were saying wasn’t meant to be personal or confrontational. I can only say that that was the way I perceived them. Still, as you say, conflict in this kind of setting is no fun and I have no desire to argue in circles over something that is a personal preference. Anyway, i hope you had a happy holiday. Yeah, I'm definitely not trying to impose my perceptions or opinions on anyone. The gist of my argument is that I did not find your framing sufficiently applicable to how I perceive and qualify media. The actual subject here--which I think has been somewhat lost under a great deal of abstraction--is how we (collectively and individually) apply 5-point grading scales. Which is, of course, going to be a very subjective thing. I don't know if you've noticed, or let alone remembered, that I've discussed ratings a bit,in some of my other comments for various releases. The whole "five golden TARDISes out of five," and whatnot--and I don't know how well this is conveyed through the text--but the tone is meant to be kind of tongue-in-cheek. I think we use the rating system because we expect it to, but--you'll have to forgive me here, but I do really like this word--it is an extremely reductive way of assessing media. All it really accomplishes is to convey a very vague sense of a person's (or peoples') overall mood about any given media. If you've spent much time with doctors, it's basically like the Pain Scale -- generally useful in certain contexts, but of frighteningly little utility overall. I think we expect it largely because it's such a ubiquitous shorthand, proliferated by by online shopping and the like, but you can really see just how clumsy of a tool it is when you apply it to unexpected forms of media. For example, try to imagine rating the Mona Lisa, or Starry Night ona 5-point scale. Feels especially useless, right?
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Post by Lafayette on Dec 31, 2021 6:43:38 GMT
I have to say, when I played "What Just Happened?", I did a double-take, and restarted my app, thinking it was being glitchy or something. {Spoiler} But they didn't start with the Big Finish interviews to make it truly reverse-chronological, (spoilers be damned!), so 0/10 for failure to commit to the bit!
Just kiddin', I actually loved it, it had me put in a little extra effort to piece the story as it went along, and I love the fun ways it created callbacks that then led to their set-up (mentions of a Maria, etc.). Furthermore, I love it when the narrative device has some poignancy to it; Here, I got the impression that this whole story is a potential timeline (much like it was doing in "Snow") that the Doctor experienced to see where the spark of the apocalypse started, and where he could then choose to make small choices to avert it. And, in essence, saving Andy in the end by avoiding that timeline (oh, right, and saving humanity, too).
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Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on Jan 3, 2022 10:11:09 GMT
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Post by nottenst on Jan 3, 2022 17:17:10 GMT
Just finished the set. I wish they provided the scripts as there is a line in What Just Happened? that I wanted to pull out. Our main characters were really only "stranded" in one time and place without the TARDIS for just the first set. After that they did begin traveling again and in this last story, there is a different definition of "stranded" that comes out. [Just listened to the line in question again.] It is in "What Just Happened? Track 11" - "The people you leave behind, stuck in one time, one place, they don't have the luxury of flitting off in a TARDIS, they're stuck with the consequences, stranded." The gimmick with the last story was interesting and like Memento, probably makes the inherent story more interesting than the actual plot would be with scenes going chronologically. I did remember from the earlier sets who the villain was, but I forgot about him until the last story in this set and then all the Divine Intervention of Snow and the "evil Doctor" of Twisted Folklore made sense. The "evil" Doctor appearing also cleared up some of the mysteries of the previous sets. One interesting thing with the "beginning" of What Just Happened? was that it was similar to final scene of "Snow". As for the loss of Andy in "What Just Happened?" It could very well be that he will be permanently lost in this series for these characters, but be saved elsewhere or when things reset. Overall, quite a good set. I am looking forward to see what they do in Stranded 4.
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Post by drj on Jan 4, 2022 12:05:07 GMT
Just listened to part 1 and my overriding first thought is…. I must go back and listen to Stranded 2 again… at least parts 1 and 4…. I’ll report back in a bit!
Ps. The discussion on this has been fascinating! I think I really do need Stranded 2 more fresh in my mind for taking on Stranded 3 though…
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Post by Chakoteya on Jan 20, 2022 17:28:08 GMT
Just finished Patience... and loved it. Yes, I know I'm slow. I'm trying to keep at least 5 plates spinning at a time. (oh, the promises of lock-down coming back to haunt.)
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Post by Kestrel on Jan 22, 2022 3:52:21 GMT
Just finished the set. I wish they provided the scripts as there is a line in What Just Happened? that I wanted to pull out. Good God yes. I've barely been able to listen to anything this month due to persistent migraines. Including the scripts--even if they didn't bother to integrate them into the app--would be a total game changer.
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Post by drj on Jan 23, 2022 12:24:06 GMT
I have a growing suspicion that too much of a good thing means needing to take a break every so often… I slowed down my BF consumption a bit, came back to this after re-listening to some of the previous box set and… really quite liked it! I’d go as far as to say that I’m really looking forward to the last box set. Some lovely character focus and developments, mixed in with some non-standard story telling approaches. I’m supportive of what BF have done here with Stranded, I really am. They’ve put thought into what they want to do and how they want to do it. This comes across very nicely in the post story interviews. But, basically I can’t keep up with all the content (a wider discussion point I know). I think if I tried to at the current rate of BF output then a) I’d be broke and b) I’d be burned out and finding it hard to love anything with a passion… that’s my suspicion anyway, particularly looking at some of the recent threads elsewhere on the board. Anyway…. ROLL ON BOX SET 4!!!
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Post by nottenst on Jan 24, 2022 17:53:49 GMT
Just finished the set. I wish they provided the scripts as there is a line in What Just Happened? that I wanted to pull out. Good God yes. I've barely been able to listen to anything this month due to persistent migraines. Including the scripts--even if they didn't bother to integrate them into the app--would be a total game changer. Your reply prompted me to send a note to the podcast asking for the return of scripts. Maybe they'll read the email in a few months and say whether they will consider that or not.
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Post by Timelord007 on Feb 16, 2022 15:41:46 GMT
2 episodes in & just not feeling it, it feels bland storytelling & i actually nodded off during second story & had relisen to it & 10 minutes later i haven't a clue ehat it about.
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Post by Timelord007 on Feb 18, 2022 14:09:06 GMT
After completing the box set & my overall impressions of the series i found this a very poor set of stories to the point i won't be purchasing volume 4.
I find this particular series dull & not one of BF best ranges.
2/5.
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Post by theillusiveman on Feb 18, 2022 14:24:42 GMT
After completing the box set & my overall impressions of the series i found this a very poor set of stories to the point i won't be purchasing volume 4. I find this particular series dull & not one of BF best ranges. 2/5. Surprised that you made it to Vol 3 i completely checked out at the end of Vol 2
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Post by elkawho on Feb 18, 2022 22:26:33 GMT
I find the distribution of the poll votes very interesting.
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Post by Kestrel on Feb 19, 2022 3:17:43 GMT
I find the distribution of the poll votes very interesting. Definitely. I think I've technically looked at... every single discussion thread here (for the Index) and while many of them do not have surveys, of those that do, none contain such an even spread. Which tells me that even people who aren't enjoying this series still find something about it compelling enough to motivate them to keep listening. Though that may have to do with how... erratic BF quality can be. Like, I'd say Dark Eyes is easily the weakest multi-set miniseries Big a finish has produced, and I wouldn't blame anyone for just not buying/listening to anything more after that first set, but even then it ultimately wound up delivering A Life in the Day, which is easily among the best 8th Doctor stories out there. It's just... really hard to correctly guess at how good a Big Finish release will be ahead of time. Like I went in fully expecting A Quiet Night In from the last War Master set to be pretty weak, but it wound up being one of the strongest stories n the whole range. I've had to just complete give up on trying to guess ahead of time how good a set will be.
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