What 'WHO Are You Currently Listening to?

[Nyder]

Enjoyed The Highlanders a lot more than I thought. I really like Ben - he's fast becoming my face male companion. The character of the second Doctor still hasn't "settled down" yet, but his various disguises and silly voices is really quite endearing.


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[Nyder]

Urgent Calls

What a delightful one-parter with Sixie!


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[Nyder]

Starborn

Aka my Big Finish freebie :-)

How great is Maureen O'Brien in this. I'm not that familiar with her TV stories, but she sounds like a far superior version of Susan (sorry Carole!) A clever story involving Vicki's encounter with a Medium in 50s London. The format swings between a two-header and the more traditional Comp Chron narration. Very impressed!


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[Nyder]

Listened to the third RTD interview (Toby Hadoke Whoround). It's lovely to hear RTD's enthusiasm for Who, and he spoke so warmly about Lis Sladen. Got me really choked up!


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[SiHart]

We did that one at the weekend. Really good. RTD is such a good interviewee. So enthusiastic about it all!

[Junkyard]

Just finished two Companion Chronicles. Luna Romana (more Juliet Landau as Romana please) and The Prisoner of Peladon (also worth listening to). Also The Queen of Time, which I think may be not to everyone's taste.

[Dino]

Dipped my toes into Big Finish with "The Wrong Doctors". It was pretty good, but I didn't like the extra tracks of incidental music used to fill out disc one after the two episodes had finished!

[Stuart Wallis]

I agree it does seem unneccessary if the music wasn't that great.

[Dino]

I agree it does seem unneccessary if the music wasn't that great.

Well there isn't a law suggesting every CD has to fill out 75 minutes. I'd be happy with two discs both coming up to 45 minutes if it didn't break the story and kept it going along.

[Stuart Wallis]

I guess BF want to keep the format of their regular releases closer to the classic than the new series. But then 45 minute episodes mightjust help them tighten the stories up - a common complaint concerning their releases these days, it seems.

[Nyder]

The Doll of Death by Marc Platt (Companion Chronicles)

Now THIS is how you do timey-wimey stuff! Katy Manning puts in such gusto performances it's a joy to listen to. The Doctor and The Brig's characters have been really well realised too - muchly enjoyed this story :-)


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[Junkyard]

The Doll of Death by Marc Platt (Companion Chronicles)

Now THIS is how you do timey-wimey stuff! Katy Manning puts in such gusto performances it's a joy to listen to. The Doctor and The Brig's characters have been really well realised too - muchly enjoyed this story :-)


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Yes, Katy Manning is excellent in this. The whole reverse time concept is well realised; it's puzzling at first but all makes sense at the end. Or is that the beginning??

[Nyder]

The Great Space Elevator

A solid CC offering with Deb Watling doing the honors. I really liked the way she portrayed all the characters with such warmth (yes I'll forgive the dodgy McCrimmon accent). The story was pure Troughton as foam fills the base under siege. Well, elevator and space station under scene. I've said it before, but the audio medium really is well suited to the Comp Chrons format - I've not heard a really dire one yet. I'm sure I will though :-)

[Rob McCow]

The Companion Chronicles have got a fairly good hit rate. Though you may not be saying that if you get to the awful Mary Tamm one where the pylons come to life.

[Jon Masters]

I finished off the 8thDoc - Lucie series 3 over my week away - HotHouse, ScapeGoat, 8 Truths and World Wide Web. Liked the idea in the finale about a culty personal-development organisation using crystals to effect an invasion of an old monster

[SiHart]

Liked the idea in the finale about a culty personal-development organisation using crystals to effect an invasion of an old monster

Sounds familiar!

[Si Hunt]

I've just finished the oddly titled Fifth Doctor Box Set. Unusually "Psychodrome" (the Jonny Morris) was the weaker of the two stories. I swear I've read otherwise but this sounds like Matthew Waterhouse's first story recorded and he takes some adjusting to! He's decided to give a very deliberate, actory performance, drastically alter his pitch to be young and Adric was quite posh wasn't he? The result is like hearing an upper class schoolboy auditioning for Othello but it does make you realise how effortlessly the other three fit into their roles in comparison, particularly Tegan who has totally nailed Season 19 Tegan. A continuity-laden story feels wrong for a story set just after "Castrovalva" when things were actually new and not series-referencing.

John Dorneys's "Iterations of I" meanwhile is just the ticket - relocating the team to a ghost house on the Isle of Weight, it's creepy, atmospheric and ghostly, and Waterhouse has settled more into Adric. It loses its way towards the end a bit, being a bit too complex and conceptual, but on the whole it's good.

Morris misfires a bit on the main range "Revenge of the Swarm" as well. So eager to channel the original is he, that we get the same plot, the same location (Titan base), the same catchphrases and the same type of adventure. Unfortunately, Morris has forgotten that "The Invisible Enemy" was one of the worst Doctor Who adventures of all time, and he successfully recreates the exact same effect, for the same reasons, on audio. The Doctor Who equivilent of Steps cover of "Chain Reaction" - very good, but what's the point?

Si.

[Rob McCow]

"Let's bring back the Nucleus of The Swarm!"
"Have we got a good story to include them in?"
"No!"
"Ah I see."
"When has that ever stopped us though?"
"Ah-hah! Contact has been made! Yeah? YEAH?! Let's do it!"

[Junkyard]

Leviathan (Lost Stories No. 3).
Enjoyed this one, even though the noise on tube train muffled some of the dialogue. Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant both on good form.

I've just downloaded 'The Worlds of Doctor Who' box set but have yet to listen to it. I will give my opinions in the fullness of time.

[Junkyard]

The Worlds of Doctor Who-Part 1. Mind Games.
Jago & Litefoot on the trail of Mr. Rees, a mysterious mesmerist. A fairly straightforward story, not outstanding. Good performances from Baxter and Benjamin but they haven't got much to work with here. I'm hoping this is just a curtain-raiser for better things in Parts 2 to 4. 6/10.

[Junkyard]

The Worlds of Doctor Who-Part 2. The Reesinger Process.
Mr. Rees returns in the 1960s and the Countermeasures team are on the case.
The problem with this story is that you already know who the villain is, how he does what he does and what his objective is. The only question is how the heroes are going to foil him. Which for Rachel Jensen is fairly simple. Good performances from the regulars but even at my most generous I can't give it more than 7/10.

[Rob McCow]

Lynda Bellingham is reading me 'Doctor Who The Trial of A Timelord Parts 1-4 The Mysterious Planet' in the car at the moment. Terrance Dicks started off adding a lot of flavour but seems to have lost interest in that, so things are bowling along very quickly. Her Peri voice is really good - looking forward to seeing how Colin gets on with it in 'Doctor Who The Trial of A Timelord Parts 5-8 Mindwarp'.

[Si Hunt]

I too am working my way through "The Worlds of Doctor Who" and there's a distinct feeling of old rope being peddled. Marketed as an epic adventure uniting four ranges, what this actually is them squeezing an extra 50 minutes of material out of their various spin-off teams (Countermeasures, Jago and The Vault) and bolting them together. And essentially they are also just telling the same story each time, but with different characters.

For £40 this is a bit much. That said, things pep up when Justin Richards departs and Jonny Morris arises. It's not big on ideas though.

Si.

[Junkyard]

I too am working my way through "The Worlds of Doctor Who" and there's a distinct feeling of old rope being peddled. Marketed as an epic adventure uniting four ranges, what this actually is them squeezing an extra 50 minutes of material out of their various spin-off teams (Countermeasures, Jago and The Vault) and bolting them together. And essentially they are also just telling the same story each time, but with different characters.

For £40 this is a bit much. That said, things pep up when Justin Richards departs and Jonny Morris arises. It's not big on ideas though.

Si.

Generally I agree with you Si. £40 is too, too much. I bought the download only for £20 and I'm not sure it's worth this much.

Continuing from my previous posts, the last two stories are no improvement on the first two. The cast do their best but you already know the basic premise. The mystery that makes a good Doctor Who story is largely absent. In a four-part Doctor Who story, the true nature of the villain/ threat and objective are not usually revealed until part three, as the cliffhanger. This series doesn't work because too much is revealed too soon.

That said, there is nothing bad about the concept of four linked stories. It just needs a better plot/script. Also, I think the team of Yates, Matheson and Sato might be worth re-visiting.

[Si Hunt]

I'm listening to a wretched old Sylvester McCoy play called "Mask of Tragedy" which is the current main range release. I think it's supposed to be a comedy - camp aliens visit ancient greece, and the Greeks are all fine about alien visitors. Meanwhile Sophie Aldred is at her yelly worst as Ace.

It's all a bit painful.

Si.