Post by Kestrel on Apr 28, 2022 4:05:23 GMT
I don't have a whole lot to say about this one, which is a bit disappointing, because of the Companion Chronicles I've listened to this week (clearing out the backlog), Second Chances was easily the most enjoyable. It hooked me right away with that brilliant opening scene with the genie, and kept going strong all the way to the finish.
Honestly it feels a lot like one of the better Stephen Moffat scripts--it revels in the time-travel mechanics, but is fundamentally approaching the Doctor Who story as a fairy tale. Which, while sometimes a bit overdone in the TV show, is something I really like and probably my favorite "lens" to frame Doctor Who. Zoe's narration about second chances was certainly very reminiscent of the occasional bits of narration we got from River Song, about how the world doesn't work this way, but sometimes it does, and there's the Doctor in the middle of it.
Praise aside, I did unfortunately find the story a bit hard to follow. Partially that's down to a very dense plot, but I think the biggest issue (sadly) was the voice acting. Or, rather, the voice casting. There was just too little difference between Wendy Padury's voice and Emily Pithon's for me to easily tell the difference. Every time a character began speaking, I had to wonder who it was--a problem compounded by having multiple incarnations of the same characters in the story.
But even so... it was a delight. I haven't listened to many Companion Chronicles so far (as of now I've finished all of the handful that were recommended to me) so this may be premature to say... but Second Chances is, thus far, my favorite of the range.
Honestly it feels a lot like one of the better Stephen Moffat scripts--it revels in the time-travel mechanics, but is fundamentally approaching the Doctor Who story as a fairy tale. Which, while sometimes a bit overdone in the TV show, is something I really like and probably my favorite "lens" to frame Doctor Who. Zoe's narration about second chances was certainly very reminiscent of the occasional bits of narration we got from River Song, about how the world doesn't work this way, but sometimes it does, and there's the Doctor in the middle of it.
Praise aside, I did unfortunately find the story a bit hard to follow. Partially that's down to a very dense plot, but I think the biggest issue (sadly) was the voice acting. Or, rather, the voice casting. There was just too little difference between Wendy Padury's voice and Emily Pithon's for me to easily tell the difference. Every time a character began speaking, I had to wonder who it was--a problem compounded by having multiple incarnations of the same characters in the story.
But even so... it was a delight. I haven't listened to many Companion Chronicles so far (as of now I've finished all of the handful that were recommended to me) so this may be premature to say... but Second Chances is, thus far, my favorite of the range.