Big Finish Audio Plays: I.D. & Urgent Calls - Eddie Robson
Who_Daily Link: < a href="http://persiflage-1.livejournal.com/149009.html">I.D. & Urgent Calls by Eddie Robson reviewed by < lj user=persiflage_1>
This audio consists of a three-part story (I.D.) and a single-part story (Urgent Calls).
I.D. - Eddie Robson
In the 32nd century, the companion-less Sixth Doctor arrives on a planet that is piled high with discarded computer technology. Picking over these remains are an army of Scandroids (robots) together with a team of researchers from the mysterious Lonway Clinic, and a collection of unsavoury, illegal Data Pirates. This is a world of organic-digital transfer (ie. people interface directly with computers without needing keyboards or touchscreens) and 'personality surgery' - the Doctor finds the latter a disturbing thought, until something far more deadly starts to emerge.
I.D. looks at personality amending and even personality transplants. Claudia Bridge - one of the women researchers from Lonway Clinic has had her personality altered to remove her conscience, and her interactions with the Doctor are fascinating, because he's clearly repulsed by the idea.
Robson's story also features a character who has the 32nd century equivalent of dyslexia - analogexia - in essence this is a condition where a person's brain is unable to interface with a computer, so the sufferer has to use an old-fashioned touch-screen and monitor instead.
On a deeper level, the story also looks at what makes a person a person. Can one back up one's brain on a hard drive? And if the brain is then transferred into another body, do you still have the same person but in a new body? This is quite thought-provoking stuff, and Robson answers the question in a number of ways.
Urgent Calls - Eddie Robson
A wrong telephone number on Earth in 1974 has strange consequences. A young woman named Lauren is unwell and tries to ring her mother for comfort and advice. She misdials the number and rings a phone box (no, not THAT phone box). The Sixth Doctor is passing and picks up the call, and then a whole chain of seemingly coincidental occurrences take place. (To say more would give too much away!)
I found Lauren to be a very sympathetic character and I instantly took to her. Kate Brown is excellent in the role and she shares a lovely rapport with Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor. Through her 'chance' encounters with the Doctor via a series of random telephone calls, her eyes are opened to all the wonders of the universe. And it amazes her. It scares her. And it changes her.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story and will be getting the other three stories in the "Virus Strand" story arc (Urban Myths, The Vanity Box and Mission of the Viyrans).
This audio consists of a three-part story (I.D.) and a single-part story (Urgent Calls).
I.D. - Eddie Robson
In the 32nd century, the companion-less Sixth Doctor arrives on a planet that is piled high with discarded computer technology. Picking over these remains are an army of Scandroids (robots) together with a team of researchers from the mysterious Lonway Clinic, and a collection of unsavoury, illegal Data Pirates. This is a world of organic-digital transfer (ie. people interface directly with computers without needing keyboards or touchscreens) and 'personality surgery' - the Doctor finds the latter a disturbing thought, until something far more deadly starts to emerge.
I.D. looks at personality amending and even personality transplants. Claudia Bridge - one of the women researchers from Lonway Clinic has had her personality altered to remove her conscience, and her interactions with the Doctor are fascinating, because he's clearly repulsed by the idea.
Robson's story also features a character who has the 32nd century equivalent of dyslexia - analogexia - in essence this is a condition where a person's brain is unable to interface with a computer, so the sufferer has to use an old-fashioned touch-screen and monitor instead.
On a deeper level, the story also looks at what makes a person a person. Can one back up one's brain on a hard drive? And if the brain is then transferred into another body, do you still have the same person but in a new body? This is quite thought-provoking stuff, and Robson answers the question in a number of ways.
Urgent Calls - Eddie Robson
A wrong telephone number on Earth in 1974 has strange consequences. A young woman named Lauren is unwell and tries to ring her mother for comfort and advice. She misdials the number and rings a phone box (no, not THAT phone box). The Sixth Doctor is passing and picks up the call, and then a whole chain of seemingly coincidental occurrences take place. (To say more would give too much away!)
I found Lauren to be a very sympathetic character and I instantly took to her. Kate Brown is excellent in the role and she shares a lovely rapport with Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor. Through her 'chance' encounters with the Doctor via a series of random telephone calls, her eyes are opened to all the wonders of the universe. And it amazes her. It scares her. And it changes her.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story and will be getting the other three stories in the "Virus Strand" story arc (Urban Myths, The Vanity Box and Mission of the Viyrans).