What 'WHO Are You Currently Listening to?

[Si Hunt]

I was probably in a silly mood! I don't recall it ever being debated after we initially wrote it though, when I was still laughing all over the place. Writing with other people there is such huge fun, it's very easy to get carried away!

Si.

[Pip Madeley]

I liked it anyway, we're not making serious Who after all - listening to Soap of Fatal Death makes that clear

[Rob McCow]

Soap of Fatal Death was great!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway.

Eye of The Daleks - Love this one. Perhaps it should have been called 'Waynestock' or 'Lots of Daleks Have A North'. The best bit is the twist ending, it's a moment where you think blimey, how are they going to get out of this one?! On top of that there's some good Dalek vs Doctor banter and hat action. And the Krotons! Who'd have thought it.

There's LOVE too, and WAR. It could have been a New Adventure if it was about 100 times more pompous.

Guest cast were all great, outside of the fabulous Daleks, I thought Ali was pretty cool and Ant... though we all cheered when that bee-man Fnub got killed. 'Oh no! They got Fnub!' Hurrah! Philip was a cool Fnubz, Manzzzz.

I really like 'Enjoy Your Shoes' too, but that's because I'm a monstrous egoist. I like that you can have a short story that can start off tiny with two characters chatting, but end up extending to the edge of the Universe and beyond. And it characters the motivation of the Daleks a bit.

[Rob McCow]

We had some Christmas Spirits this weekend too. The spirits in question were excellent, Jason, Emma and (yes!) Si Hunt in a heavily disguised voice. It's all very serious and extreme, while still having a sense of Christmas about it. The ending with the escape of Jason's character made a lot more sense this time round too, the first time I listened to it I wasn't quite clear what was going on.

Overall the story was a great idea, so good in fact I hear RTD has stolen it for this year's Christmas Special The only problem, I think, was that the back story was too complex and delivered mostly in one long speech. I think it may have been better to ditch the Nick and Rob scenes altogether in favour of having the drama of the back-story played out.

But then we wouldn't have had Paul singing, which has been the high point of all the audio plays so far!

[Rob McCow]

Ah Baro' for Aaaall Saison' (A Baron For All Seasons) - The 'Boring meeting' stuff with the Baron compaining was very amusing, as was a certain Madame President. Although I think she'd be a Madamoiselle??

Hats and Hatbands - I think I read this a little too quickly. Harold and Hilda in a spin-off adventure, who'd have thought it? Andrew Curnow apparently.

Blood Money - It's a bit grim and the Doctor and his companions do nothing to save the day. The caste system of the Skraith was quite interesting, shame that more wasn't made of it. And poor old Emperor Narl! The production is spot on, it's great to hear the difference that the new microphone has made. No popping and no hiss at all!

The Wrath of Jemimah Kitty - I like this. Of course I would, I wrote the damn thing, but I do like it. Dave Barnes did an excellent job of giving it a sense of rhythm.

[Pip Madeley]

Soap of Fatal Death was great!

I know! But it was a bit silly, one of the reasons I love it.

It's a bit grim and the Doctor and his companions do nothing to save the day.

Just you wait.

I've been taking advantage of the fact that the walk from my new front door to work takes just about 25 minutes and have been listening to "The Reign of Terror" - did episode 3 this morning, Hartnell's pretty good value and I hadn't remembered the business with Barbara and the jailor, he's basically offering to let her go for a bit of "fun"...

[Martin Penny]

Blood Money - It's a bit grim and the Doctor and his companions do nothing to save the day. The caste system of the Skraith was quite interesting, shame that more wasn't made of it. And poor old Emperor Narl! The production is spot on, it's great to hear the difference that the new microphone has made. No popping and no hiss at all!

Poor old Emperor Narl?! That wasn't what I was going for at all! He was a genocidal fascist!

I did consider putting more about the caste system in actually, but I assumed people would be bored by Skraith inter-species conflicts...apparently I was wrong! As other people seemed to find the whole caste thing interesting as well. In the back of my head, I had the idea that the Bee Man in 'Eye of the Daleks' was one of the Insectoid Skraith...

[Si Hunt]

But we'll never know because.... (all together now)...

Si.

[SiHart]

THEY GOT F'NUB!

Si xx

[Andrew Curnow]

In the back of my head, I had the idea that the Bee Man in 'Eye of the Daleks' was one of the Insectoid Skraith

I initially misread that as "I had the idea that Bumble Bee Man..." from the Simpsons!!!

[Martin Penny]

Bumble Bee Man from the Simpsons is clearly an insectoid Skraith!

[Andrew Curnow]

Ay ay ay! Daleko Invasie!!

Elsewhen, I listened to both parts of The Heart of the Haniad last weekend. I'd forgotten how 'different' it felt to the other stories to that date - not just the smaller episode count, but also the far smaller cast & scale to the plot. That's not a criticism, just an observation, but it definitely has a more 'intimate' feel - it also means that we get more time with the various characters, particularly new companion, the slightly-hysterical Edward Bradley!!!

The one thing that I wasn't totally sold on was the Doctor saving the day with his book of planets - one-liners about "My I-Spy book of spaceships" is one thing, but when suddenly it's something throwaway like that which saves the day then it doesn't quite work (for me). Maybe because it means you suddenly need to take it seriously - I suppose the best comparison would be, I don't object to the Himalayan business in Creature from the Pit, but if the plot was resolved by being able to communicate with Erato because he also speaks Himalayan, it would be just too daft. Does that make sense?

And, just like first time round, I found P-Bal & David's double act very entertaining, but also very moving - Grexos' matter-of-fact revelation of his love for Uxan especially.

This weekend I suspect there may be some Heist!ing to be done...

[Rob McCow]

The one thing that I wasn't totally sold on was the Doctor saving the day with his book of planets

Interesting... I tried to do it as a 'Doctor Who-ish' thing, the sort of event that would only happen in Who. But it probably wasn't quite right. On reflection, I think the Doctor should have told the Haniad about the other worlds in the solar system, then illustrated it with his book. So the Doctor has the knowledge, rather than the book.

Enjoy Heist!

I'm nearly at the end, with 'Hand of Peace' and 'Wealth of Craytians' now done. Both were excellent, very entertaining.

Hand of Peace had some marvellous moments with the Doctor and Ed, plus Prof Jurgen. Paul is especially brill in this one! The underlying idea was a bit fan-ish, but it expands on the elements from the old series and uses them in interesting ways - so it works. And I really liked the quote from 'Planet of The Spiders' at the end. Maybe I shouldn't have done, but I did! Guilty pleasure. Excellent production too, not too much and not too little, it complements the story brilliantly.

Wealth Of Craytians is a bit too familiar at this point. I know all the jokes too well, so it seemed a little flat. I'll have to come back to it once it's faded from memory a bit. That and I got bit fed up with the sound of my own voice! That said, it's still a strong story and I was very pleased with some bits of the production.

One more to go!

[Pip Madeley]

A new week and a new story on my walks to work and back - 'The Ambassadors of Death' with linking narration by Caroline "Mrs Doyle" John.

I love Space Controller Ralph Cornish, I'm not afraid to say that.

[Paul Monk]

I'm loving Steve and Andrew's reassessments of the PS Audios.
I'm glad they stand up to repeat listening (Especially Eye of the Daleks. Was worried about that one)

[Paul Monk]

Paul is especially brill in this one!

Thank you. It was my favourite audio to perform in because I got to be Evil. And I got to channel Janet Fielding although I wasn't wearing the boob tube or air hostess uniform. I want to make that clear

[Stuart Wallis]

And I got to channel Janet Fielding

Is that a euphormism?

[Andrew Curnow]

I'm sure it's something we'd all like to try. More than once if possible.

[SiHart]

Oh my!

Si xx

[Rob McCow]

And so we come at last to The Kalrexi Mutation. Which was better than I remembered it. I still think the 'teasers' at the end of other stories slightly spoiled the surprise twist at the start of this one. Doctor Thraxton seems to complete a Professorship at some point during the story. And there are too many flashbacks. That said, there is my favourite flashback, showing us how Prof Thraxton (Fraxton?) left the Golden Moon when he pressed the wrong button.

In some ways I prefer these jolly little stories to the more serious ones. There are some very good jokes and Alex's character is a delight, he could do the role full time - but Paul rises to the challenge of competition too! I'm afraid it's Si Hart who steals the show though, going way, way, way over the top as Prof Thraxton. "My pills... I must HAVE MY PILLS!"

Not a classic, but good fun all the way.

[Pip Madeley]

Having reached the fifth installment of "The Ambassadors of Death" (audio) this morning I'm firmly of the opinion that it's one of the best Doctor Who stories ever made. It's got everything you need from a Who episode: model shots, video/film, HAVOC, dodgy CSO, aliens, government buffoons, bad accents, UNIT, action-packed location work, great cliffhangers, Michael Wisher, playing with the TARDIS console, Dudley Simpson... I could go on!

[Jonno]

Yeah, but it doesn't explain who did hand the radiation pill to Cyril Shaps while he was securely locked in a UNIT cell...

[Stuart Wallis]

All i know is, it wasn't a frog pill!

[Andrew Curnow]

Didn't General Carrington slip it him?!

Anyway, I finished off "Heist!" this afternoon (although I haven't listened to the extras yet, just the story). Just as with the first time round, I really enjoyed it - it's a personal taste probably, but the fact that it started 'mid-adventure' as it were, appealed to me, being a very NA thing to do. I must admit I did have trouble hearing some of the dialogue, whether that was to do with the balance between speech & background music, or whether it was the hissing of the iron in my other hand, I'm not sure.

Again, like first time round, I particularly enjoyed Martin's Ed, the many of a thousand voices, and really, although the whole cast are pretty darned good, Martin steals the show. The script gives him the chance (from the opening "...and here I am standing in a field talking to myself" monologue onwards) and Martin takes full advantage of it!

I have a memory of being a bit unsure, on first listen, as to the ending - not the multi-twists, which worked really well without being confusing, but the fact that the Doctor doesn't really save the day. But on second listen I'm not so sure that's a valid complaint - he succeeds in getting the TARDIS back, and probably more to the point he is fully vindicated in his choice of trustworthy friends. He doesn't like Zunestra, he doesn't trust Jan, but he fully places all his faith in Ed, and that selection turns out to be spot on.

There did seem a lot of music on the final TARDIS scene, which had the side-effect of making the scene seem drawn out - by which I mean, the music felt like it was reaching a climax before the actors; but that may be just me.

Really enjoyed it though, and I'm looking forward to listening to "The Real Heist!" later in the week!

[SiHart]

There did seem a lot of music on the final TARDIS scene, which had the side-effect of making the scene seem drawn out - by which I mean, the music felt like it was reaching a climax before the actors; but that may be just me.

I did loop it round a few times to make it last the whole scene- so you're right there. It should have finished a couple of times!

Anyway, I finished off "Heist!" this afternoon (although I haven't listened to the extras yet, just the story). Just as with the first time round, I really enjoyed it - it's a personal taste probably, but the fact that it started 'mid-adventure' as it were, appealed to me, being a very NA thing to do. I must admit I did have trouble hearing some of the dialogue, whether that was to do with the balance between speech & background music, or whether it was the hissing of the iron in my other hand, I'm not sure.

Ahh, yes, you're probably right Andrew. In hindsight I probably should have worked on the balance between the dialogue and the music a bit more than I did at the time. It's not an easy thing to get right at all, and I suppose what sounds right to me might not be right for anyone else. It was my first go at making an audio and I was on a very steep learning curve all the way through it. There's a great deal I'd do differently now and I learnt a great deal from working on it. I hope that didn't impair your enjoyment too much.

Thanks for the kind words about it. I'm still dead proud of it and I agree wholeheartedly about the performances- everyone was brilliant in it and I think it's really Ed's story- the story of how the Doctor comes to choose him as a travelling companion perhaps. Ed proves himself through the story. No, the Doctor doesn't do very much in it, but he does what he does very stylishly! Glad the twists work though- I was very concerned about them!

Si xx