More and More Adventures with Doctor Who Audio
This was a complete Big Finish week as I didn't listen to anymore missing serials yet. I am having a hard time deciding what to listen to next. Obviously I am interested in everything I bought but there are some stories that interest me more than others. Do I save those for last or do I listen to them when my excitement is most high. It is a difficult decision.
I try to listen to some 2nd Doctor stories every week and some non-2nd Doctor stories every week, just to mix things up a bit. Not to mention I am not sure if Big Finish is going to have any new 2nd Doctor stories until 2015 and that is a very long wait. I don't want to listen to all my 2nd Doctor stories and then have nothing more for awhile.
Colditz This was my first venture into Big Finish's main range (although I also have the Chimes of Midnight an 8th Doctor Story to listen to). This is a 7th Doctor and Ace story.
I must confess out of all the Doctors, I think Seven is my least favorite. I feel bad about this because McCoy seems like the nicest guy, but his Doctor is too over the top for me. However I really love Ace and think she is one of the best companions.
Colditz didn't really change my opinion about Seven but it's my favorite 7th Doctor story so far (and this includes Remembrance of the Daleks, Fenric, and Ghost Light). I expected I would like it because it is a WWII prisoner of war story and well that is one of my favorite sub-genres. But this was even better because it has an alternate history angle to it. I often complain when I feel Doctor Who adds unnecessary Sci-fi angles to historicals, but alternate history is one of those sci-fi angles that work perfectly in a historical. I was a bit hesitant about this because it got mixed reviews but I absolutely loved it and it definetly makes me want to check out more of the Main Range. The first 50 are only $3.00 each and with a price like that I figure why not buy more.
On another note David Tennant has a leading role in this before he became the Doctor. I knew who he played beforehand, but honestly I don't think I would have recognized him if I hadn't known.
Shadow of Death This was another collection of stories as part of the 50th anniversary. There was one for each Doctor and naturally I listened to the one for the 2nd Doctor because it was narrated by Frazer.
The story for this was pretty simple. It's a base under siege story so reminiscent of the 2nd Doctor era (except for some reason it's placed in season 6 instead of 5 which I think would have fit better). The alien here is pretty scary and there is one scene where Jamie is trapped with the alien that is really tense and well done. The set up is simple but the atmosphere reminded me of the X-files. Unfortunately the explanation for what the aliens actually are, is a huge let down.
There is also a whole lot of the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe worrying about each other and it was quite adorable. Obviously you know they will be okay, but they don't know that and that's the point.
Finally there is a really fun cameo in this story. If you read any reviews you will be spoiled right away, but I won't spoil it here. This story isn't going to knock your socks off, but as a 2nd Doctor fan I thought it was enjoyable and a solid effort at recreating his era, even if the ending was a bit disappointing. The story also establishes that Jamie is 22 when he first joins the Doctor, I would have put him closer to 17.
The The Apocalypse Mirror This is a companion chronicle read by Frazer and Wendy but really it's mainly Frazer who does all the voices except for Zoe's. Not really sure why they even needed Wendy, since Zoe does very little in this story.
Frazer is fantastic at doing different voices, especially Patrick, but he doesn't have to do every voice. If they have Wendy, at least divide up the voices a bit.
Anyways while I enjoyed this one more than the Dying Light and it had some interesting themes, it wasn't really about Jamie. They seemed to realize this in the end where they have Jamie give this speech about how he was scared at first going into the future but learned to embrace it in order to encourage the character in the story to accept a better future for themselves instead of giving up (the story deals with two worlds one is dying and one is renewed). There were other fun scenes, the Doctor playing hackey sack, Jamie remembering his trip to the moon, and the Doctor & Jamie falling on each other at one point. I also liked the overall theme of this story. But I personally prefer when the companion chronicles further develop the companions (like Glorious Revolution) and I think this one failed to do that. I only have one more Jamie companion chronicle left The Jigsaw War which sounds exactly what I am looking for in a CC, but then I go back to my previously mentioned dilemma, do I listen now or do I save it?
Transit to Venus This was my first Ian companion chronicle and I really enjoyed this because it further explores Ian's character. It gives some hints about his love for Barbara and further explores Ian's role as a science teacher by having him travel with Captain Cook's expedition to Australia and meet up with Joseph Banks. The writer was trying to create something similar to Marco Polo with the Tardis crew forced to travel on a long journey without the Tardis. While this was nowhere near as good as Marco Polo (of course that was 7 episodes and this was only about an hour). It was still an enjoyable listen (especially the 2nd half) and Banks was an intriguing character. Banks starts doing things that make Ian think he is from the future and up to no good and as the audience you question what is really happening. I didn't 100% like the explanation but that's okay in this case the journey was more important and well it did lead to some shippy Ian/Barbara moments, which of course I enjoyed.
As for William Russell, in my opinion he doesn't really sound much like Ian any more but his narration is still very pleasant to listen to (and there seemed to be more narration than dialog in this one).
I try to listen to some 2nd Doctor stories every week and some non-2nd Doctor stories every week, just to mix things up a bit. Not to mention I am not sure if Big Finish is going to have any new 2nd Doctor stories until 2015 and that is a very long wait. I don't want to listen to all my 2nd Doctor stories and then have nothing more for awhile.
Colditz This was my first venture into Big Finish's main range (although I also have the Chimes of Midnight an 8th Doctor Story to listen to). This is a 7th Doctor and Ace story.
I must confess out of all the Doctors, I think Seven is my least favorite. I feel bad about this because McCoy seems like the nicest guy, but his Doctor is too over the top for me. However I really love Ace and think she is one of the best companions.
Colditz didn't really change my opinion about Seven but it's my favorite 7th Doctor story so far (and this includes Remembrance of the Daleks, Fenric, and Ghost Light). I expected I would like it because it is a WWII prisoner of war story and well that is one of my favorite sub-genres. But this was even better because it has an alternate history angle to it. I often complain when I feel Doctor Who adds unnecessary Sci-fi angles to historicals, but alternate history is one of those sci-fi angles that work perfectly in a historical. I was a bit hesitant about this because it got mixed reviews but I absolutely loved it and it definetly makes me want to check out more of the Main Range. The first 50 are only $3.00 each and with a price like that I figure why not buy more.
On another note David Tennant has a leading role in this before he became the Doctor. I knew who he played beforehand, but honestly I don't think I would have recognized him if I hadn't known.
Shadow of Death This was another collection of stories as part of the 50th anniversary. There was one for each Doctor and naturally I listened to the one for the 2nd Doctor because it was narrated by Frazer.
The story for this was pretty simple. It's a base under siege story so reminiscent of the 2nd Doctor era (except for some reason it's placed in season 6 instead of 5 which I think would have fit better). The alien here is pretty scary and there is one scene where Jamie is trapped with the alien that is really tense and well done. The set up is simple but the atmosphere reminded me of the X-files. Unfortunately the explanation for what the aliens actually are, is a huge let down.
There is also a whole lot of the Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe worrying about each other and it was quite adorable. Obviously you know they will be okay, but they don't know that and that's the point.
Finally there is a really fun cameo in this story. If you read any reviews you will be spoiled right away, but I won't spoil it here. This story isn't going to knock your socks off, but as a 2nd Doctor fan I thought it was enjoyable and a solid effort at recreating his era, even if the ending was a bit disappointing. The story also establishes that Jamie is 22 when he first joins the Doctor, I would have put him closer to 17.
The The Apocalypse Mirror This is a companion chronicle read by Frazer and Wendy but really it's mainly Frazer who does all the voices except for Zoe's. Not really sure why they even needed Wendy, since Zoe does very little in this story.
Frazer is fantastic at doing different voices, especially Patrick, but he doesn't have to do every voice. If they have Wendy, at least divide up the voices a bit.
Anyways while I enjoyed this one more than the Dying Light and it had some interesting themes, it wasn't really about Jamie. They seemed to realize this in the end where they have Jamie give this speech about how he was scared at first going into the future but learned to embrace it in order to encourage the character in the story to accept a better future for themselves instead of giving up (the story deals with two worlds one is dying and one is renewed). There were other fun scenes, the Doctor playing hackey sack, Jamie remembering his trip to the moon, and the Doctor & Jamie falling on each other at one point. I also liked the overall theme of this story. But I personally prefer when the companion chronicles further develop the companions (like Glorious Revolution) and I think this one failed to do that. I only have one more Jamie companion chronicle left The Jigsaw War which sounds exactly what I am looking for in a CC, but then I go back to my previously mentioned dilemma, do I listen now or do I save it?
Transit to Venus This was my first Ian companion chronicle and I really enjoyed this because it further explores Ian's character. It gives some hints about his love for Barbara and further explores Ian's role as a science teacher by having him travel with Captain Cook's expedition to Australia and meet up with Joseph Banks. The writer was trying to create something similar to Marco Polo with the Tardis crew forced to travel on a long journey without the Tardis. While this was nowhere near as good as Marco Polo (of course that was 7 episodes and this was only about an hour). It was still an enjoyable listen (especially the 2nd half) and Banks was an intriguing character. Banks starts doing things that make Ian think he is from the future and up to no good and as the audience you question what is really happening. I didn't 100% like the explanation but that's okay in this case the journey was more important and well it did lead to some shippy Ian/Barbara moments, which of course I enjoyed.
As for William Russell, in my opinion he doesn't really sound much like Ian any more but his narration is still very pleasant to listen to (and there seemed to be more narration than dialog in this one).