Au revoir, Sapphire.
Apart from The Surest Poison I've enjoyed every single one of the Sapphire and Steel audio plays immensely. I'd almost go as far as to say they're the best things Big Finish have ever done, although I haven't really heard enough Big Finish to really make such a sweeping statement. There's been something to like or love about all of the plays so far, but this one especially absolutely knocked my bloody socks off.
It's a "mythology" story, you see. Not that you'd guess that at first, but it is - a mythology story in disguise, basically. It's not really full of any major revelations (although there's some lovely character development to be had, primarily regarding Sapphire and Steel's relationship, and it's revealed once and for all that Silver saved them from the end of Assignment Six), but it does deal with the Transients once again. Not only that, but it's so ridiculously clever and well-constructed that it's hard not to boggle at the sheer audacity of it all, especially considering it was written in a couple of days at the very last minute as a replacement. Amazing. There are some gorgeous touches in there, from the brief, non-speaking cameo of Johnny Jack in the first episode to the nature of Mrs P's wood carvings to the connection to the previous play Water Like a Stone, it's just fantastic. Incredibly poignant too, with some glorious music and wonderful acting from a terrific guest cast.
And there's Ruby, who I love quite a lot. Lisa Bowerman is fab of course, but I was convinced that she was going to be just like Benny Summerfield. Then I actually heard her in action as Ruby and was quite delighted to find that she isn't. At all. Then again I kind of expected Mark Gatiss as Gold to sound like one of his League of Gentlemen characters, so I should clearly be a bit less cynical!
This was basically aces on toast and I loved it. Nigel Fairs, you could have my babies if you like.
Speaking of Lisa Bowerman and Bernice Summerfield, I'm contemplating fuelling my Big Finish addiction by purchasing the Benny audios and books because I've heard they're quite fab and I love Benny. But! Once you find out what order they all go in, it's still kind of complicated. Firstly, I don't really want to listen to the first series (which is basically adaptations of New Adventures books) just now, and I've heard a lot of negative things about the second series (Is this really true?! Lance Parkin wrote one of them!). Apparently it's the third series where things get great, but I'm prevented from jumping on here by the fact that The Squire's Crystal and The Glass Prison, two integral books in the series, are so incredibly out of print you'd have more luck flying to the moon in a cardboard box than finding copies for a reasonable price. I could read summaries, yes, but it's not quite the same. And I really want to read the actual bloody books!
So... I don't know. I might get The Doomsday Manuscript and feel my way around from there. But if any of you lovely folks in the know could give me some advice and recommendations it'd be much appreciated.
It's a "mythology" story, you see. Not that you'd guess that at first, but it is - a mythology story in disguise, basically. It's not really full of any major revelations (although there's some lovely character development to be had, primarily regarding Sapphire and Steel's relationship, and it's revealed once and for all that Silver saved them from the end of Assignment Six), but it does deal with the Transients once again. Not only that, but it's so ridiculously clever and well-constructed that it's hard not to boggle at the sheer audacity of it all, especially considering it was written in a couple of days at the very last minute as a replacement. Amazing. There are some gorgeous touches in there, from the brief, non-speaking cameo of Johnny Jack in the first episode to the nature of Mrs P's wood carvings to the connection to the previous play Water Like a Stone, it's just fantastic. Incredibly poignant too, with some glorious music and wonderful acting from a terrific guest cast.
And there's Ruby, who I love quite a lot. Lisa Bowerman is fab of course, but I was convinced that she was going to be just like Benny Summerfield. Then I actually heard her in action as Ruby and was quite delighted to find that she isn't. At all. Then again I kind of expected Mark Gatiss as Gold to sound like one of his League of Gentlemen characters, so I should clearly be a bit less cynical!
This was basically aces on toast and I loved it. Nigel Fairs, you could have my babies if you like.
Speaking of Lisa Bowerman and Bernice Summerfield, I'm contemplating fuelling my Big Finish addiction by purchasing the Benny audios and books because I've heard they're quite fab and I love Benny. But! Once you find out what order they all go in, it's still kind of complicated. Firstly, I don't really want to listen to the first series (which is basically adaptations of New Adventures books) just now, and I've heard a lot of negative things about the second series (Is this really true?! Lance Parkin wrote one of them!). Apparently it's the third series where things get great, but I'm prevented from jumping on here by the fact that The Squire's Crystal and The Glass Prison, two integral books in the series, are so incredibly out of print you'd have more luck flying to the moon in a cardboard box than finding copies for a reasonable price. I could read summaries, yes, but it's not quite the same. And I really want to read the actual bloody books!
So... I don't know. I might get The Doomsday Manuscript and feel my way around from there. But if any of you lovely folks in the know could give me some advice and recommendations it'd be much appreciated.