|
Post by mrperson on May 4, 2022 18:30:02 GMT
Also: just about any review I see mentions elements of stories while going out of its way not to spoil the plot.
Is there a review site that gives full spoilers, ie "This is what we think happened in this story"?
|
|
|
Post by Timelord007 on May 7, 2022 17:16:04 GMT
Well i gotta say after the average comments i didn't expect much but strangely i loved it, i enjoyed the story arc & were they went with this alternative timeline & can't wait to hear volume 2.
Colin Baker stole the show.
|
|
|
Post by Chakoteya on May 17, 2022 14:03:47 GMT
Just listened to the first story - bit of a mind-mangler. Yes, it's not Unbound in the same way as the earlier stories, but still an interesting exploration of that big What If? folks do like to speculate about. And the ultimate in paradox creation too.
Right at the end, the image that came into my mind was the First Ones doing a runner towards the end of Babylon 5...
|
|
|
Post by Ian McArdell on Jun 21, 2022 16:05:59 GMT
Fresh up on CultBox, my take on this boxset - "...an engaging boxset for those plugged in to the comings and goings of Doctor Who continuity. It is doubtless a tougher listen for those who do not have a good handle on the original stories."
|
|
|
Post by The Brigadier on Aug 30, 2022 15:18:26 GMT
Well..that was hardly straightforward now was it? Very.."wibbly wobbly timey wimey"..(I'm so sorry, but couldn't think how else to describe it without tieing myself into temporal knots.. 🤷♂️). Actually listened to the whole thing for a third time this morning and still trying to get my thought processes around what was going on. Was the desert planet in Dust Devil actually the contents of an hourglass? Was it a metaphor for time running out for the Universe? What if anything was the significance of the symbolism of two (two Doctors, two versions of Peri, twin Planets, twin Daleks and two versions of Romana). Was the Warrior on trial for a crime he had committed, was about to commit or maybe both at the same time? And most importantly how did a American Botany student end up as a British accented hitwoman with a spaceship in some god forsaken corner of the Universe?
Too many questions and not enough answers. Needless to say I will have to pick up Destiny to satisfy my curiosity ..eventually.
|
|
|
Post by mark687 on Aug 30, 2022 15:38:04 GMT
Well..that was hardly straightforward now was it? Very.."wibbly wobbly timey wimey"..(I'm so sorry, but couldn't think how else to describe it without tieing myself into temporal knots.. 🤷♂️). Actually listened to the whole thing for a third time this morning and still trying to get my thought processes around what was going on. Was the desert planet in Dust Devil actually the contents of an hourglass? Was it a metaphor for time running out for the Universe? What if anything was the significance of the symbolism of two (two Doctors, two versions of Peri, twin Planets, twin Daleks and two versions of Romana). Was the Warrior on trial for a crime he had committed, was about to commit or maybe both at the same time? And most importantly how did a American Botany student end up as a British accented hitwoman with a spaceship in some god forsaken corner of the Universe? Too many questions and not enough answers. Needless to say I will have to pick up Destiny to satisfy my curiosity ..eventually. I think that's seriously the best summery I've read for this one. Regards mark687
|
|
|
Post by theillusiveman on Sept 5, 2022 13:10:46 GMT
Honestly would have loved to have seen this
|
|
|
Post by tuigirl on Sept 5, 2022 18:05:58 GMT
Honestly would have loved to have seen this Come on, let Peter have a go!
|
|
|
Post by theillusiveman on Sept 6, 2022 9:02:57 GMT
Honestly would have loved to have seen this Come on, let Peter have a go! Well if the rumours are to be true he will be playing the curator in a future big finish audio
|
|
|
Post by tuigirl on Sept 6, 2022 17:45:47 GMT
Come on, let Peter have a go! Well if the rumours are to be true he will be playing the curator in a future big finish audio Yeah, good, but he never really gets a lot of chances to play really dark and moody. Although when he does, he is amazing.
This is why he would be so cool as another what if War Doctor.
|
|
|
Post by grinch on Sept 6, 2022 18:12:35 GMT
Well if the rumours are to be true he will be playing the curator in a future big finish audio Yeah, good, but he never really gets a lot of chances to play really dark and moody. Although when he does, he is amazing.
This is why he would be so cool as another what if War Doctor.
He was delightfully over the top in this story but I really liked his Evil Doctor in The Cradle of the Snake. Personally, I imagine his depiction of the Doctor of War to be akin to his role of Dangerous Davies. A fundamentally good man for whom things just seem to go wrong too many times.
|
|
|
Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on Sept 6, 2022 23:33:08 GMT
Yeah, good, but he never really gets a lot of chances to play really dark and moody. Although when he does, he is amazing.
This is why he would be so cool as another what if War Doctor.
He was delightfully over the top in this story but I really liked his Evil Doctor in The Cradle of the Snake. Personally, I imagine his depiction of the Doctor of War to be akin to his role of Dangerous Davies. A fundamentally good man for whom things just seem to go wrong too many times. Yes.. "Cradle of the Snake" is 1 of my favourite 5th Doctor stories.. Such a venomous take in this story, was great !
|
|
|
Post by elkawho on Sept 7, 2022 0:59:24 GMT
Yeah, good, but he never really gets a lot of chances to play really dark and moody. Although when he does, he is amazing.
This is why he would be so cool as another what if War Doctor.
He was delightfully over the top in this story but I really liked his Evil Doctor in The Cradle of the Snake. Personally, I imagine his depiction of the Doctor of War to be akin to his role of Dangerous Davies. A fundamentally good man for whom things just seem to go wrong too many times. He's also delightfully evil in the MR 2-parter Dalek Soul. He really does do evil very well.
|
|
|
Post by Kestrel on Sept 10, 2022 6:17:50 GMT
Yes.. "Cradle of the Snake" is 1 of my favourite 5th Doctor stories.. Such a venomous take in this story, was great ! I gotta say, I really love reading comments like this when the story in question is right up near the top of my listening queue. Cradle of the Snake is literally the next MR I'll be listening to, once I finish The Wishing Beast. (Sadly it'll be a while yet before I get to Dalek Soul.)
|
|
|
Post by nucleusofswarm on Oct 7, 2022 9:44:10 GMT
So during an unexpected (but much appreciated) break, I've been catching up on a lot of BF. This was one of them, and it was... frustrating. Not in the sense of being terrible, but just being an odd way to execute its 'what if Genesis' premise, with two of the stories almost completely disconnected from it, and the one most plugged in (Aftershocks) being the most challenging to follow (I was able to, but I don't think it really amounted to much).
It's really a Time War Unbound setup before its really a 'What if Four touched the wires' and exploring those ramifications-story. That's not bad in and of itself (Dust Devil is engaging as Dorney's work often is, even if its plot mechanics outstrip narrative depth, and Aftershocks is certainly go-for-broke labyrinthianian in an old school BF way) but it can't help but feel like we skipped over the real 'meat', the real emotion here: exploring what such a choice does to a character like the Doctor. While I think Colin is solid here, I can't help but think this should've been a Tom set. Having him take the Warrior potion and then bam, into the war, reads like a bit of a missed shot.
|
|
|
Post by tuigirl on Dec 3, 2022 12:46:48 GMT
Finished this set last night. I waited a while to listen to this, because of all the lukewarm reviews and I just did not want to be overly critical when I am in a bad mood. So here we go. This is a very difficult one to rate. One of the reasons is, this might well fall into the "false advertising" corner. Let's face it, we do not get what it says on the tin. Precious little of a War-Doctor going "Har,har" so to speak. What we get is a collection on "meta"- stories. It plays around with "what if", much of it relies on alternative / parallel time lines, dream sequences, Matrix sequences and plays out in the head of "the Doctor" (I am using the term loosely). This type of story has, from what I have seen, often mixed reception, even if it is well done. Doing a whole box set of these meta-stories was always going to be a hard sell- so this is most likely why it was not advertised as such. I actually like meta-stories, when they are well written, clever and make me think. I am sad to say that probably only half of what is in this set worked for me. And I can definitely see why this little experiment (and this is what it is) is so poorly received. This also makes me sad, since I have long wished for BF to try out more experimental things instead of going for the "big sellers" like "River Song meets the Second Doctor while flirting with Jo Grant". The mixed reception might mean we might get even less experimental stuff in the future. Yes, I am aware that not all experiments work (I am a scientist, after all), but of you do not shake it up and try new things, there cannot be any innovation, and one day, most people will be fed up with all the gimmick X meets Y stories.
So, all the critisism out of the way, now I will go into what I did like. The performances. Pretty much all of it is great. Colin certainly is having a blast playing all the different versions of the Doctor, he goes to town making each of them sound distinct and there is no chance of mixing them up as a listener. He goes from sad to ruthless and brutal, to happy and chuckling, to exhausted, old and weary. This is some amazing performance, he brings so much energy and enthusiasm across. I think this might be one of the best Colin performances we had in a while. Sound design also is another winner. And that new version of the War Doctor theme tune is also great.
So there you go. As I said, difficult to rate.
|
|
|
Post by martinw8686 on Dec 3, 2022 16:57:19 GMT
I feel with these unbound sets there are a lot of good ideas and worthwhile experimentation, I can't fault the intention with these stories, what I will say is that I had a totally different expectation when pre ordering both sets, I was looking forward to stories focusing on a ruthless Doctor trying to do the right thing but at the same time sacrificing the moral high ground and getting his hands dirty, a very dark take on what was once John Hurt's War Doctor.
What I got was very meta and disorienting, if this was the selling point to begin with then I would consider the sets a job well done, as I was expecting something different I came away dissapointed. I think for anyone going into these sets in future, there needs to be a tempering of expectations, someone fully prepared for a meta headf*#k may really enjoy these stories but I think the sets being called Doctor of War implied something very different to what we got, Temperal Confusion or Blurred Timelines would have been a more apt title.
|
|
|
Post by tuigirl on Dec 3, 2022 17:19:00 GMT
I feel with these unbound sets there are a lot of good ideas and worthwhile experimentation, I can't fault the intention with these stories, what I will say is that I had a totally different expectation when pre ordering both sets, I was looking forward to stories focusing on a ruthless Doctor trying to do the right thing but at the same time sacrificing the moral high ground and getting his hands dirty, a very dark take on what was once John Hurt's War Doctor. What I got was very meta and disorienting, if this was the selling point to begin with then I would consider the sets a job well done, as I was expecting something different I came away dissapointed. I think for anyone going into these sets in future, there needs to be a tempering of expectations, someone fully prepared for a meta headf*#k may really enjoy these stories but I think the sets being called Doctor of War implied something very different to what we got, Temperal Confusion or Blurred Timelines would have been a more apt title. Yeah, know what you mean. Well, I had enough "meta" for now, so not continuing with the second Unbound War set right now- from what I have seen, it will be equally as weird, meta and confusing as this one. However, I don't doubt that everyone involved will do a wonderful job with their performances.
I think I will listen to UNIT Nemesis 3 first, for some straight forward BOOM! and storytelling.
|
|
|
Post by martinw8686 on Dec 3, 2022 18:37:46 GMT
I feel with these unbound sets there are a lot of good ideas and worthwhile experimentation, I can't fault the intention with these stories, what I will say is that I had a totally different expectation when pre ordering both sets, I was looking forward to stories focusing on a ruthless Doctor trying to do the right thing but at the same time sacrificing the moral high ground and getting his hands dirty, a very dark take on what was once John Hurt's War Doctor. What I got was very meta and disorienting, if this was the selling point to begin with then I would consider the sets a job well done, as I was expecting something different I came away dissapointed. I think for anyone going into these sets in future, there needs to be a tempering of expectations, someone fully prepared for a meta headf*#k may really enjoy these stories but I think the sets being called Doctor of War implied something very different to what we got, Temperal Confusion or Blurred Timelines would have been a more apt title. Yeah, know what you mean. Well, I had enough "meta" for now, so not continuing with the second Unbound War set right now- from what I have seen, it will be equally as weird, meta and confusing as this one. However, I don't doubt that everyone involved will do a wonderful job with their performances.
I think I will listen to UNIT Nemesis 3 first, for some straight forward BOOM! and storytelling.
Straight forward BOOM! and storytelling is the perfect way to follow up listening to Doctor of War, I've been re-listening to the Lucie Miller era 8DAs and having a blast with those stories. Hope you enjoy UNIT Nemesis 3.
|
|
|
Post by jacobz40 on Mar 24, 2023 17:55:49 GMT
I just relistened to Aftershocks and I truly don't understand what is happening. I could just barely understand Dust Devil by the end. Somebody help me out? Is this stuff poorly written or am I thick?
|
|