What 'WHO Are You Currently Listening to?

[Nyder]

The Ratings War

Beep The Meep!!! He needs his own audio with Frobisher For a freebie this was quite good, with lots of satire abut the current state of reality shows on teevee. Meep is delightfully sadistic - keep him away from your guinea pigs.


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[Si Hunt]

I'm saving all my new Big Finish for holiday, so I'm having a Target Books Audio Marathon. Have knocked out "Logopolis" and "Castrovalva" I've loaded one up that's old but I've never listened to before - "The Time Warrior". Jeremy Bullock is an outstanding narrator and nails both Lynx and Irongron straight away. This one is sounding good so far!

Si.

[Nyder]

Currently half way through "The Chimes of Midnight". It's really rather good in a Sapphire & Steel type way. Just off to get me some plum pudding....

[Paul Clement]

Chimes has remained my favourite BF audio since first listening to it.

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[Si Hunt]

Wretched fallen former-Hero Colin Baker has elbowed his way into my train journey's this week with "The Two Doctors". He's got a good reading voice, although his flare for characters is poor- a lame attempt at Scots for Jamie, a pathetic American accent for Peri, his Chessene sounds wrong. Only Shockeye comes off well.

The star here is Robert Holmes' only novelisation- packed with interesting insights into the writers mind and little enhancements of the script, like the Doctor making up the name Gumblejack as an excuse to go Fishing, the Donya Arana's dead husband and Children and so on. It comes over as a book that an inexperienced novel author has tried very hard on, and is valuable as our only glimpse into the series' greatest writer's head outside of his well-watched TV episodes.

As for spending a week with Colin? Too soon.

Si.

[SiHart]

Ahh, Colin Baker, the man of a thousand voices, all his own

[Stuart Wallis]

And he has the receipts to prove it!

[Leah Betts]

There must be two Robert Holmes cause the one who wrote crap like The Power of Kroll and The Space Pirates was not the series' greatest writer.

[Andrew Curnow]

Conversely, I've been listening to the recent Colin interview CD on the way to/from work this week. I've enjoyed it so much, there aren't huge revelations but he's tremendously honest and makes for a very warm and articulate interviewee.

[Nyder]

I'll be listening to "The Wrong Doctors" during my time back in Wales. Hope it's a good 'un


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[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Have made a start on Doom Coalition this week.
More like this please Big Finish.

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[Si Hunt]

"Doom Coalition" for me too. It's fun and Hattie Morahan makes a good addition to the team. I still think there is zero chemistry between McGann and Liv Chenka though.

And I have a suspicion that these box sets are just an excuse to sell us four inconsequential and mediocre stories under one exciting title. So if you get an under-wealming one, well, it's just one bit of four and I expect it will all make sense "as a whole".

Si.

[Nyder]

Psychodrome - a really good post-Castrovalva story which sees the new TARDIS team trying to gel together whilst having to contend with what's in their minds being distorted and played out in front of them. Matthew W does try a bit too hard to bring a youthful timbre to Adric's voice - it comes across a bit wispy and ethereal at times, but that's a minor quibble.


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[Stuart Wallis]

Well he is 93, give him a chance!

[Si Hunt]

I'm doing the "Engines of War" audio book. I'm pleasantly surprised. Four hours in the company of Nick Briggs gave me chills, but he does a rather good John Hurt.

Before that I did "Planet of the Rani" which is also good - Marc Platt's script is rather gothic in a "Holy Terror" kind of way. I'm still worried about Siobahn Redmond though, as she's now done two stories and has failed to transcend "wooden" into "gloriously camp" as the roll demands. She's just not working, yet.

Si.

[SiHart]

I've had a few weeks of the Target Trial talking books, now followed by David Troughton's Curse of Peladon. All rather good in their own way.

[Si Hunt]

I've just finished "UNIT: Extinction". Hmmm. I kept being reminded of Steve's post about Jemma Redgrave sucking the life out of any scene she's in on TV. He's right! And she's even worse on audio! I could feel the energy draining out of every audio minute!

That aside, UNIT: Extinction was, in parts, electrifying, action-packed and fast pasted. let's find the positives. Can't fault the pace here and the effort to keep things frantically contemporary. On its own, if you hadn't heard any Doctor Who before, it's got a reasonably inventive over-arching plot including one truly terrifying idea of its own - that of people being injected with liquid plastic and having their organs encased in it. Ugh.

But it has two main problems. One, an issue which blights all Big Finish's recent boxed sets - there's a suspicion that it's far easier to stretch one story out over four discs than think up four new ones. This is essentially a Nestene alien invasion story padded out to a £20 box set. One hour-long disc alone is taken up tracking down one of the Nestene energy spheres.

The second issue is the wholesale theft of that story from other people. Okay, everyone knows the Autons and the Nestene Conciousness were Robert Holmes' idea. Using old monsters has been done since forever and could be considered a 'homage'. But when your story is the Nestenes sending energy spheres down to Earth and trying to 'grow' a huge roaring creature to gain corporeal existence, and using ordinary plastic everyday objects to wreak terror - that's just ripped off from other stories isn't it? The old plastic daffodils have been upgraded to be 3D printers for the 21st Century, but it's just not enough.

When, in the final episode, Kate Stewart reaches in her pocket for a tube of... anti-plastic, it just takes the biscuit. ANOTHER stolen idea, and not even a good one. Oh look, Big Finish have the rights to 21st Century Who! They can steal from that now as well.

So a few good ideas, but not enough, and a larger plot swiped wholesale from Doctor Who. If this was a 2-disc main range release, it might have gotton away with it. But stretched over three stories, it just doesn't.

Si.

[Rob McCow]

Eek! These New Series stories should be a bit of a winner. I'm certainly intrigued by them. It's a worry though that without Davies or Moffatt reading the scripts and saying 'This is an utter load of s*** start again you pig-brained imbecile!' we won't have the Quality Control that these products deserve.

I wonder if Torchwood will reach new depths of depravity on BF Audio? I don't think Big Finish have done a sex-references-and-swearing range of stories before.

[Si Hunt]

Also I forgot to say Nick Briggs has a fairly large part as a news report in U:E and he's too recognisable. It just sounds like Nick Briggs standing in! Stay behind the scenes in future, mister.

Si.

[Nyder]

I always take a classic Who audio (as in the ones recorded off the TV back in the day). This year it's The Macra Terror. And it's wonderful


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[SiHart]

I've loved that one!

[Nyder]

Well I really enjoyed Macra! I would have really liked to have seen all those highland flings at the end And I just loved the OTT vocal performance of The Controller!


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[Stuart Wallis]

The Mahogany Murderers. If it doesn't get you to at least consider giving the other Jago and Litefoots a go...

[Nyder]

This is one of my fave BF series - definitely worth a listen!

[Si Hunt]

I'm listening to the Curse of Fenric Audio Book. I do love to start the data with Terry Molloy's warm, comforting tones.

Si.