Deleted
Deleted Member
Likes:
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2023 1:36:41 GMT
Loved it. It embraces the festive theme perfectly but never at the expense of the story. There's a mini-arc of not being able to escape the time of year but nothing clawing or contrived.
Twenty Four Doors has a narrative structure that relies on the payoff, so it's just as well it's a lovely one. Al Norton gets a second chance and really deserves one. Shades of Stranded with the 8th Doctor and two companions living in Baker St for so long. Loved the offbeat popculture references to the Carry On films and Wizzard.
The Empty Man is very clever as in the last story The Doctor speculates it's an M.R. James like story but gets the Jamesian ending wrong. Here? We meet a James like writer and he does have that James like ending...but with a twinge of the bittersweet more than the outright sad.
Winter Of The Demon...can we keep Archie as a companion please BF? He brings out something fresh in Charley and it's great to have the different dynamics with everyone instantly click into place. Lovely use of time and place too. Anyone who's been to Edinburgh knows that bloody gun still goes off at 1pm every day..
Nice that they put in some lore that precedes Neverland to really set the scene of this being that early 2000s era BF. Odd to think we're as far from that now as City Of Death was when Paul and India recorded those....
And yet there was that odd moment where Charley made THAT christmas pud pun and couldn't think why she was doing it. Could be nothing, could be part of a bigger story. Time'll tell.
For now? A lovely set for a cup of hot chocolate and a nightcap.
|
|
|
Post by bonehead on Dec 6, 2023 13:24:16 GMT
Twenty-Four Doors.
Just as television Doctor Who is busy tying up plot points from 13 years ago, so Paul McGann's Doctor finds himself addressing issues regarding Charley from over twenty years ago. Only in the Doctor Who universe is this acceptable, and yet newer listeners might find themselves a bit excluded.
Anyway, that aside, this is very good, from the wonderful and nicely performed dialogue in the opening scenes to the very touching ending. I've always thought of The Eighth Doctor as the 'thinking' Doctor. Paul McGann plays him so quietly contemplative a lot of the time, studiously. No need for shouty over-dramatics. Ideal for audio. This is my first experience of Audacity and she's great, more terrific acting from Jaye Griffiths - and what a wonderful voice she has. Charley's return I felt a bit cheated by initially, but it's all good. She's likeable as ever and they all create a terrific TARDIS team. I liked too the character of Al. I live not a million miles from where Al's allegedly comes from and his accent - something often overplayed - is pretty good. The comedy lines all hit home ('evil bed linen' indeed!) partly due to real-ness of the delivery. One of the reasons I enjoyed this so much is because none of it is over-done. The humour, the drama, the emotion - it's all kept in check, and therefore very effective. The story is great - evocative of 2009's Death in Blackpool on occasion - but I didn't realise quite how clever it was until I heard the extras.
Beautiful. About as good as it gets. You can almost smell the Christmas punch.
|
|
|
Post by sherlock on Dec 6, 2023 23:06:02 GMT
I liked Twenty-Four Doors. The structure is neat and I appreciated the time given to Audacity getting her head around the modern(-ish) day. Charley’s return I’m still not feeling the need for. It’s nice that she and Audacity are rubbing along, but it doesn’t feel like making this combination was a really necessary choice.
And of course Eight makes time for a children’s Christmas Party whilst he’s in town. Bless him.
|
|
mbt66
Chancellery Guard
Likes: 3,081
|
Post by mbt66 on Dec 9, 2023 17:20:12 GMT
I think the positive posts have convinced me to buy this…but I might have to wait until Christmas to justify it.
Quick question: is Charley in all the stories or does she disappear before the end?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Likes:
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2023 17:25:26 GMT
I think the positive posts have convinced me to buy this…but I might have to wait until Christmas to justify it. Quick question: is Charley in all the stories or does she disappear before the end? In them all, and still there as they leave with no hint of breaking the team up.
|
|
mbt66
Chancellery Guard
Likes: 3,081
|
Post by mbt66 on Dec 9, 2023 17:27:36 GMT
Thank you!
|
|
|
Post by Who Review on Dec 11, 2023 10:33:25 GMT
|
|
|
Post by timleschild on Dec 11, 2023 19:58:53 GMT
I have only listened to Twenty Four Doors. I really enjoyed it. A lovely festive story. Still not sure we really need Charley. Time will tell.
|
|
|
Post by timleschild on Dec 12, 2023 19:18:25 GMT
The Empty Man, another really enjoyable story with very much of a classic christmas ghost story vibe.
|
|
|
Post by timleschild on Dec 13, 2023 23:13:20 GMT
Winter of the Demon, enjoyable but my least favourite. My main issue is David Robb. One of the most annoying voices ever in a Dr Who audio.
But overall a very good set.
|
|
|
Post by bonehead on Dec 16, 2023 17:51:29 GMT
The Empty Man by Tim Foley.
"You're not one of Ducky's boys?"
For me this begun as a very Dickensian style ghost story (with a Tardis chucked in of course) and I really liked it. Really liked it. It soon developed into a very Tim Foley story, however, which is never a bad thing. Could we have a Christmas release like this every year, do you think, BF? Perhaps with a different Doctor each time? Two stories in and I can't rate this set highly enough. A good period setting, wonderfully spooky sound design, and Paul McGann and Nicholas Grace swap some brilliantly snappy dialogue: what a double act! (Talking of double-acts, Jaye Griffiths and India Fisher are a riot together in the extras.) I had a moment or two's worry that Audacity is already being reduced to asking 'what is that' every time someone mentions a radio or a television or something. I hope that's kept in check because Jaye deserves some really strong material of her own. The concept of the titular Empty Man is a good and creepy one, very visual. It's also true to say that although Charley's story is done and dusted, it's nice to return to those days when she had a shadow hanging over her, and interesting too to hear Audacity's reaction to those events.
Regular Eighth Doctor stories slipped off my radar a bit with the Time War and the slightly drab latter Dark Eyes instalments, but I'm back to finding his adventures unmissable again.
Winter of the Demon by Roy Gill.
No hint of any such short-comings for Audacity here. All three travellers are successfully split up and explore the various story strands in this third extremely enjoyable tale ("Stone cannot wake," Audacity says at one point. She'll learn!). Really good chemistry between John Scougall's Archie and Charley. Ah the villainous capitalist (David Robb) - Donald Shaw (Tim's brother?) sounds a little to me like Matt Berry's Dixon Bainbridge from The Mighty Boosh. Deliberate? You can't unhear it! I would like Archie to have hopped aboard the Tardis for a trip, but probably not as much as Charley. What a lovely box set this has been. This dark and doomy Scottish tale might not match quite the excellence of the previous two tales, but it's a belter nonetheless, thick with doomy atmosphere.
This has been my last Big Finish pre-order since/until next month's Fugitive of the Daleks. Looking forward to that one.
|
|
|
Post by timleschild on Dec 17, 2023 16:41:53 GMT
Ah the villainous capitalist (David Robb) - Donald Shaw (Tim's brother?) sounds a little to me like Matt Berry's Dixon Bainbridge from The Mighty Boosh.
This is what put me off. Sounded like a bad impression.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Likes:
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2023 9:23:42 GMT
Loved it. It embraces the festive theme perfectly but never at the expense of the story. There's a mini-arc of not being able to escape the time of year but nothing clawing or contrived. Twenty Four Doors has a narrative structure that relies on the payoff, so it's just as well it's a lovely one. Al Norton gets a second chance and really deserves one. Shades of Stranded with the 8th Doctor and two companions living in Baker St for so long. Loved the offbeat popculture references to the Carry On films and Wizzard. The Empty Man is very clever as in the last story The Doctor speculates it's an M.R. James like story but gets the Jamesian ending wrong. Here? We meet a James like writer and he does have that James like ending...but with a twinge of the bittersweet more than the outright sad. Winter Of The Demon...can we keep Archie as a companion please BF? He brings out something fresh in Charley and it's great to have the different dynamics with everyone instantly click into place. Lovely use of time and place too. Anyone who's been to Edinburgh knows that bloody gun still goes off at 1pm every day.. Nice that they put in some lore that precedes Neverland to really set the scene of this being that early 2000s era BF. Odd to think we're as far from that now as City Of Death was when Paul and India recorded those.... T And yet there was that odd moment where Charley made THAT christmas pud pun and couldn't think why she was doing it. Could be nothing, could be part of a bigger story. Time'll tell. For now? A lovely set for a cup of hot chocolate and a nightcap. Bizarrely I was drinking hot chocolate while listening to Winter Of The Demon (Cue Twilight Zone theme). A excellent set of stories, I'm not a fan of 60 minute stories as I prefer the 2 hour format but these were all excellent & brilliantly written & featured excellent performances & production values.
|
|
|
Post by hewhowaits on Dec 20, 2023 13:13:27 GMT
A nice festive story collection
|
|
|
Post by sherlock on Dec 20, 2023 13:30:07 GMT
Finished this set. It’s not a particularly revelatory set but Charley and Audacity work well together and the stories are just well done. Decent festive fun all in all.
|
|
|
Post by tuigirl on Dec 21, 2023 0:12:47 GMT
Started on this. 24 doors- Nice little story. Very festive and great to listen to while sitting on my couch having my Christmas lights on. I also liked that it was a nice little mystery story without any "end of the world action", and there are no aliens (or, worse, Daleks! again). This again proves that we do not need world ending drama involving Daleks- and some of the best audios recently (just look at Albie's Angels or Friend of the Family!) can tell a story without.
I also had a big old laugh, not sure if this was meant to be as a joke for the German listeners: When the Doctor is listing all the weird Christmas time traditions, he mentions "Not watching Dinner for One." For anyone who ever was in Germany on New Years Eve, you will know that this original English sketch is played ON EVERY GERMAN TV station. SEVERAL TIMES. It is IMPOSSIBLE to not watch if you own a TV. It is one of the only English things that is not dubbed on German TV. It is THE German New Years tradition, watching this random BLACK AND WHITE English sketch from decades ago (I am aware that this sketch is not known anymore outside Germany, and especially not in England where it is from). So this was actually pretty funny to hear in a BF audio.
|
|
|
Post by number13 on Dec 21, 2023 1:24:53 GMT
Started on this. 24 doors- Nice little story. Very festive and great to listen to while sitting on my couch having my Christmas lights on. I also liked that it was a nice little mystery story without any "end of the world action", and there are no aliens (or, worse, Daleks! again). This again proves that we do not need world ending drama involving Daleks- and some of the best audios recently (just look at Albie's Angels or Friend of the Family!) can tell a story without. I also had a big old laugh, not sure if this was meant to be as a joke for the German listeners: When the Doctor is listing all the weird Christmas time traditions, he mentions "Not watching Dinner for One." For anyone who ever was in Germany on New Years Eve, you will know that this original English sketch is played ON EVERY GERMAN TV station. SEVERAL TIMES. It is IMPOSSIBLE to not watch if you own a TV. It is one of the only English things that is not dubbed on German TV. It is THE German New Years tradition, watching this random BLACK AND WHITE English sketch from decades ago (I am aware that this sketch is not known anymore outside Germany, and especially not in England where it is from). So this was actually pretty funny to hear in a BF audio. When the King made his state visit to Germany last year, he joked at the banquet that he was pleased to see he wasn't having... dinner for one.
So the BBC etc. then had to explain the joke to British viewers and even showed a clip. There was quite a bit of publicity with it being his first state visit so it's a less unknown sketch now than it was. I had definitely heard of the sketch and seen a bit of it before then, but I've no idea where or when. Perhaps you mentioned it on here one year? I learn a lot on DU!
|
|
|
Post by tuigirl on Dec 21, 2023 10:08:09 GMT
Started on this. 24 doors- Nice little story. Very festive and great to listen to while sitting on my couch having my Christmas lights on. I also liked that it was a nice little mystery story without any "end of the world action", and there are no aliens (or, worse, Daleks! again). This again proves that we do not need world ending drama involving Daleks- and some of the best audios recently (just look at Albie's Angels or Friend of the Family!) can tell a story without. I also had a big old laugh, not sure if this was meant to be as a joke for the German listeners: When the Doctor is listing all the weird Christmas time traditions, he mentions "Not watching Dinner for One." For anyone who ever was in Germany on New Years Eve, you will know that this original English sketch is played ON EVERY GERMAN TV station. SEVERAL TIMES. It is IMPOSSIBLE to not watch if you own a TV. It is one of the only English things that is not dubbed on German TV. It is THE German New Years tradition, watching this random BLACK AND WHITE English sketch from decades ago (I am aware that this sketch is not known anymore outside Germany, and especially not in England where it is from). So this was actually pretty funny to hear in a BF audio. When the King made his state visit to Germany last year, he joked at the banquet that he was pleased to see he wasn't having... dinner for one.
So the BBC etc. then had to explain the joke to British viewers and even showed a clip. There was quite a bit of publicity with it being his first state visit so it's a less unknown sketch now than it was. I had definitely heard of the sketch and seen a bit of it before then, but I've no idea where or when. Perhaps you mentioned it on here one year? I learn a lot on DU!
Haha, of course someone like Charles would know about such a weird random fact and make a joke about it.
My ex-boss from New Zealand (bird ecologist) once was showing Charles around and showing him his work and he was awed at all the random facts and insights and the humor the now king has.
Yes, I have shared this weird fact before on here, just because I myself am bewildered by it. There is no real explanation. The sketch is not THAT funny. But I have been raised as a Catholic, so weird traditions are nothing unusual for me in my life....
|
|
|
Post by tuigirl on Dec 21, 2023 22:49:33 GMT
The Empty Man- nice creepy ghost story, of a creature of pure entropy stalking an old man. Haunting, but still with lots of humor. I now also understand what people said that it was great that these stories tackle the "impossible girl" issue of the rescued Charley better than the original stories of that period. I agree, this is very well done. Performance wise, this is also great. All the leads spark off each other and there is some great banter. Really like this box set so far.
|
|
|
Post by tuigirl on Dec 22, 2023 22:04:08 GMT
Finished it.
Winter of the Demon- For me, this was the weakest story of the set. There were still some creepy elements, and I actually googled the Cramond Lioness. Funnily enough, I vaguely remember now that I walked past her when I visited the National Museum of Scotland this February. This story also again features some great banter, and I am actually glad (there I said it!) that we got Charley back and she bounces of Audacity wonderfully. They make a great team. I am not sure what I should make of the little romance strewn in here, knowing about audios like "Scherzo". Performances again are fantastic. However, I was not really taken by the villain. This was basically "generic capitalist greedy idiot number 19736". Still, there was some fun to be had with this story.
Well, all in all, this was a great set of festive stories. Nothing mind bending, or with "end-of-the-universe" stakes, just some slightly creepy and funny stories to listen to while drinking a nice cup of tea while sitting on the couch enjoying the Christmas lights in my window.
|
|