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Post by Timelord007 on Feb 19, 2022 14:56:13 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 I'm done with Stranded, never been so bored listening to a BF, yeah i been grumpy listening to The Pirates & ruddy singing & Nekromanteia enraged me but Stranded just bored me that i nodded off first listen.
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mbt66
Chancellery Guard
Likes: 3,075
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Post by mbt66 on Feb 19, 2022 16:49:22 GMT
I abstained from Stranded simply because I didn’t like the write-up on the first box set and nothing I have read since has made we want to experience it.
I understand why they have taken the Eighth Doctor in a different direction, but that direction wasn’t for me and it sounds like others have come to the same conclusion. That’s not me saying I was right saving my money, as those who have stopped at least started and gave it a go; therefore making a much more informed decision than I did.
Personally I am crafting my own Stranded boxset to fill in the gap, as I hope that Big Finish will once again entice me back to the ongoing Eighth Doctor adventures.
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Post by Kestrel on Feb 20, 2022 20:55:50 GMT
Surprised that you made it to Vol 3 i completely checked out at the end of Vol 2 I'm done with Stranded, never been so bored listening to a BF, yeah i been grumpy listening to The Pirates & ruddy singing & Nekromanteia enraged me but Stranded just bored me that i nodded off first listen. Nekromanteia aside, you didn't like Doctor Who and the Pirates? I suspect our tastes are the exact opposite. Neat. Anyway, I adore the hell out of Stranded, but for about half its run it was more or less going concurrently with 8DTW sets--and then there were also the TLV stories--which provided more traditional adventurish fare. Hopefully Big Finish'll keep that up? These boxset arcs can be pretty hit or miss, so I really liked having two different lines running in parallel. EDIT: And back onto the topic of votes, I know many of us (myself included) don't always bother to vote, but I did count the totals, and it's interesting to note that Stranded 2 got 20 total votes, and Stranded 3 got 25 total. Normally you'd expect subsequent releases in a series to have fewer votes, as people stop listening or (myself included) take a while to catch up. I'm not gonna try to guess what that discrepancy might mean, I just found it interesting.
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Post by nottenst on Feb 21, 2022 14:08:08 GMT
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. To my surprise they answered my email quite promptly in the 2022-02-06 Annihilated Survivors podcast (at about the 42:50 point). Unfortunately, Nick said that scripts are not coming back. They take a lot of work to get the final script together of what was recorded. Primarily, though, their license to release audio is not a license to release manuscripts. It is not within the remit of their license.
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Post by Kestrel on Feb 21, 2022 22:04:40 GMT
That's too bad, but at least that still leaves the possibility of subtitles open. They wouldn't even need to use the scripts, just build a voice-to-text functionality into the app. This is how most captions are created these days, and they're far from perfect, but definitely much better than nothing.
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Post by mrperson on Mar 14, 2022 14:40:38 GMT
Well, I tried listening to "What Just Happened?" last night, and it really isn't doing it for me. I guess I'll have to look at the script if it's available. Each segment begins "X minutes" or "X hours" before. Sometimes it seems like the things happening are actually chronologically happening before what you just heard for the characters. Other times, it sounds more like maybe they've popped back in time so are in the past relative to what you heard but chronologically ahead in their own timelines. I don't know. Maybe I just am not good at following these kind of directions. I kept hearing things that didn't make sense. As in "wait, what? How is this happening before what I just heard? Didn't they just deal with that and this is supposed to be before what I just heard?" Etc. I also didn't catch what the kid's (Robin) motive is. I remember him being pissy in another series (was it 2?) because the Doctor wouldn't keep taking him around. Then I remember this little cameo that I took to mean he was the bad guy behind everything (I think this might have been somewhere in the first episode of the second set?). Something like... they get away. One of the interrogators goes and reports to someone, and that someone is him. But in this last one, I recalled something near the beginning about Robin remarking on a game he was playing, something about characters being 'worms'. And then when he's asked why he killed everyone, he says something like "because they're worms." I feel like I must have missed a series of big things.
At any rate, the episode's title was accurate. Each time I've finished it, I thought "ok, I know I listened through that, but what the hell DID just happen?" I'm not even sure what comes next. In going to try to stop the human race from being destroyed, they've now placed themselves right there at its destruction, which normally would mean they cannot now undo it because undoing it would change their own personal timelines, supposedly a no-no.
Except there's also this separate idea that's been jammed into Who to the effect that if someone else first changes history, anything goes in getting it back on track...so... I guess Stranded 4 is about making sure Robin doesn't turn into the kind of person who kills people because they're worms...or something. Something happened in 3, and something will happen in 4.
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Post by mrperson on Mar 14, 2022 14:49:05 GMT
<> 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. <>
Is there a good plot summary out there? I spent some time looking but only came across reviews, which go out of their way to give an opinion without saying anything spoilery. I want the spoilers. Hell, a diagram would help.
Maybe my head was scrambled each time I listened to this, but I really don't understand what the hell was supposed to happen other than at some point, they track down the end of the world and it's Robin, because he thought people are like worms. Maybe.
I spent the whole time trying to work out what was happening when and in relation to what. Parts of the story seemed to move forward chronologically, others jumped backwards, while did the "ending" (beginning) did at least seem to quite clearly be Liv returning at the actual end of the prior episode.
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Post by mark687 on Mar 14, 2022 15:06:32 GMT
Well, I tried listening to "What Just Happened?" last night, and it really isn't doing it for me. I guess I'll have to look at the script if it's available. Each segment begins "X minutes" or "X hours" before. Sometimes it seems like the things happening are actually chronologically happening before what you just heard for the characters. Other times, it sounds more like maybe they've popped back in time so are in the past relative to what you heard but chronologically ahead in their own timelines. I don't know. Maybe I just am not good at following these kind of directions. I kept hearing things that didn't make sense. As in "wait, what? How is this happening before what I just heard? Didn't they just deal with that and this is supposed to be before what I just heard?" Etc. I also didn't catch what the kid's (Robin) motive is. I remember him being pissy in another series (was it 2?) because the Doctor wouldn't keep taking him around. Then I remember this little cameo that I took to mean he was the bad guy behind everything (I think this might have been somewhere in the first episode of the second set?). Something like... they get away. One of the interrogators goes and reports to someone, and that someone is him.
But in this last one, I recalled something near the beginning about Robin remarking on a game he was playing, something about characters being 'worms'. And then when he's asked why he killed everyone, he says something like "because they're worms." I feel like I must have missed a series of big things.
At any rate, the episode's title was accurate. Each time I've finished it, I thought "ok, I know I listened through that, but what the hell DID just happen?" I'm not even sure what comes next. In going to try to stop the human race from being destroyed, they've now placed themselves right there at its destruction, which normally would mean they cannot now undo it because undoing it would change their own personal timelines, supposedly a no-no.
Except there's also this separate idea that's been jammed into Who to the effect that if someone else first changes history, anything goes in getting it back on track...so... I guess Stranded 4 is about making sure Robin doesn't turn into the kind of person who kills people because they're worms...or something. Something happened in 3, and something will happen in 4.
Exactly, Is he meant to be Tragic, Misunderstood, Callous? Is it an example of "Yes I could this awful thing to someone to prevent an even more awful thing happening I don't want to but they sort of deserve it."? Regards mark687
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dorney
Big Finish Creative Team
Likes: 3,063
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Post by dorney on Mar 14, 2022 15:10:34 GMT
If it helps, it’s really is a question of the scenes taking place in exact reverse order, both in terms of the story you hear and as it’s experienced by the characters. The first scene you hear is last, the last scene you hear is first. There’s no bit where ‘they've popped back in time so are in the past relative to what you heard but chronologically ahead in their own timelines’. I didn’t want to do anything tricksy as I wanted to make it easy to follow. Not entirely successfully it would appear!
I think, if you listen on a computer rather than the app, you should be able to start with the final track as released and skip backwards every time which may help. Sorry to confuse!
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Post by mrperson on Mar 14, 2022 15:16:29 GMT
If it helps, it’s really is a question of the scenes taking place in exact reverse order, both in terms of the story you hear and as it’s experienced by the characters. The first scene you hear is last, the last scene you hear is first. There’s no bit where ‘they've popped back in time so are in the past relative to what you heard but chronologically ahead in their own timelines’. I didn’t want to do anything tricksy as I wanted to make it easy to follow. Not entirely successfully it would appear! I think, if you listen on a computer rather than the app, you should be able to start with the final track as released and skip backwards every time which may help. Sorry to confuse! I may need to do it again fully-focused and wide-awake, not lying down at the end of the day. (But I know I didn't drift off).
I haven't had problems with other BF stories with atypical chronologies. I even had this ipod several years ago which, before it simply stopped working, would inexplicably load BF audios in the wrong order, so I'd accidentally end up listening to Ep 3, then Ep 4, then Ep 1, then Ep 2, and I didn't catch it for a few episodes....not until I sat down and listened at the computer rather than ipod. I figured BF was just being experimental.
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dorney
Big Finish Creative Team
Likes: 3,063
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Post by dorney on Mar 14, 2022 15:33:26 GMT
If it helps, it’s really is a question of the scenes taking place in exact reverse order, both in terms of the story you hear and as it’s experienced by the characters. The first scene you hear is last, the last scene you hear is first. There’s no bit where ‘they've popped back in time so are in the past relative to what you heard but chronologically ahead in their own timelines’. I didn’t want to do anything tricksy as I wanted to make it easy to follow. Not entirely successfully it would appear! I think, if you listen on a computer rather than the app, you should be able to start with the final track as released and skip backwards every time which may help. Sorry to confuse! I may need to do it again fully-focused and wide-awake, not lying down at the end of the day. (But I know I didn't drift off).
I haven't had problems with other BF stories with atypical chronologies. I even had this ipod several years ago which, before it simply stopped working, would inexplicably load BF audios in the wrong order, so I'd accidentally end up listening to Ep 3, then Ep 4, then Ep 1, then Ep 2, and I didn't catch it for a few episodes....not until I sat down and listened at the computer rather than ipod. I figured BF was just being experimental.
YANA. Only a few days ago I accidentally skipped four seasons ahead while watching a TV show and failed to notice for a good ten minutes.
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Post by mrperson on Mar 15, 2022 2:13:57 GMT
I may need to do it again fully-focused and wide-awake, not lying down at the end of the day. (But I know I didn't drift off).
I haven't had problems with other BF stories with atypical chronologies. I even had this ipod several years ago which, before it simply stopped working, would inexplicably load BF audios in the wrong order, so I'd accidentally end up listening to Ep 3, then Ep 4, then Ep 1, then Ep 2, and I didn't catch it for a few episodes....not until I sat down and listened at the computer rather than ipod. I figured BF was just being experimental.
YANA. Only a few days ago I accidentally skipped four seasons ahead while watching a TV show and failed to notice for a good ten minutes. And there's just one more thing I have to say right now: it really is something else to be able to talk to the people who create this; that a bunch of you show up and chat.
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Post by Kestrel on Apr 4, 2022 7:50:41 GMT
Well, I'm halfway through Stranded 3 now, and yeah, it's definitely not as good as the second. Kinda feels like they've abandoned the premise (which, to be fair, Big Finish seems to do fairly often).
I'm kind of confused by the resolution to 3.2: Twisted Folklore. Okay, very confused. Maybe I need to listen to it again? I couldn't follow the resolution at all. The humans introduce an airborne bioweapon (...and yeah, I just put that together) on the planet, which is somehow neutralized by... a magic song? How? Why? And it's effective because it "kills worms"? Is that still the metaphor or somehow literal now?
And I kind of got the sense that the song was created by the Doctor and disseminated into the local folklore via the TARDIS, but I don't think that was explicit. And then the end of the story seems to say that this magic song will somehow defend/protect them against future human violence? Huh? I am very confused. Do I need to listen to it again? Did y'all have a better time understanding everything?
'Cause right now I'm stuck asking, "What just happened?" two episodes early.
(Or maybe this is all intentional and the theme for this set is confusion?)
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Post by tuigirl on Apr 5, 2022 19:21:44 GMT
Well, I'm halfway through Stranded 3 now, and yeah, it's definitely not as good as the second. Kinda feels like they've abandoned the premise (which, to be fair, Big Finish seems to do fairly often). I'm kind of confused by the resolution to 3.2: Twisted Folklore. Okay, very confused. Maybe I need to listen to it again? I couldn't follow the resolution at all. The humans introduce an airborne bioweapon (...and yeah, I just put that together) on the planet, which is somehow neutralized by... a magic song? How? Why? And it's effective because it "kills worms"? Is that still the metaphor or somehow literal now? And I kind of got the sense that the song was created by the Doctor and disseminated into the local folklore via the TARDIS, but I don't think that was explicit. And then the end of the story seems to say that this magic song will somehow defend/protect them against future human violence? Huh? I am very confused. Do I need to listen to it again? Did y'all have a better time understanding everything? 'Cause right now I'm stuck asking, "What just happened?" two episodes early. (Or maybe this is all intentional and the theme for this set is confusion?) To be honest, I had exactly the same reaction as you concerning the first 2 stories. I also was confused. I also wondered "What was this?" And to answer your question: "Yeah, probably, something like that." I missed the energy to battle through it again to find out more.
Did not really have too much of an impact either way.
Luckily, the second half of the set is much better and back to form, plus back to the premise.
What a weird design decision to have the stories like that.
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Post by pawntake on Apr 10, 2022 13:09:46 GMT
Well, I'm halfway through Stranded 3 now, and yeah, it's definitely not as good as the second. Kinda feels like they've abandoned the premise (which, to be fair, Big Finish seems to do fairly often). I'm kind of confused by the resolution to 3.2: Twisted Folklore. Okay, very confused. Maybe I need to listen to it again? I couldn't follow the resolution at all. The humans introduce an airborne bioweapon (...and yeah, I just put that together) on the planet, which is somehow neutralized by... a magic song? How? Why? And it's effective because it "kills worms"? Is that still the metaphor or somehow literal now? And I kind of got the sense that the song was created by the Doctor and disseminated into the local folklore via the TARDIS, but I don't think that was explicit. And then the end of the story seems to say that this magic song will somehow defend/protect them against future human violence? Huh? I am very confused. Do I need to listen to it again? Did y'all have a better time understanding everything? 'Cause right now I'm stuck asking, "What just happened?" two episodes early. (Or maybe this is all intentional and the theme for this set is confusion?) Its a bit like the old TV series soap! Confused? you will be after next weeks episode! But i have just listened to SNOW and it is absolutely brilliant! So now i will take John Dorney's advice and listen to what just happened? by downloading the mp3 version and listen to the story in reverse.Hopefully to avoid any confusion Overall i like this series,with such a good cast.How could you not like it?
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