Once Upon A Time Lord

[Jon Masters]

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttt ? "

Excellent stuff - more to say after a second listen

[SiHart]

I forgot to mention the lovely music too. I liked the little comic touches and the more atmospheric pieces. It really helped the episode along.

Great stuff Andrew!

Si xx

[Paul Monk]

The music is fantastic! I hope Andrew doesn't take this the wrong way but I really wasn't expecting a sound with quite as much depth as that. I thought it might be all piano but it sounds like Andrew had a whole room full of musicians. Excellent stuff. Helps hide all the duff bits in the script

[brandynigma]

How magnificent!

A cracking script from Paul, with a small selection of characters hinting at a much larger story. Excellent interplay between Ed and Buttercup. Kudos has to go to the music and the editing though- a stunning job brings them together to help tell the story.

Simply marvellous.

Oh, and I barely recognised myself, which is always a good thing.

[Dirk Gently]

"That sort of makes me River Island, eh it's a cool name"

Excellent episode. Can't wait for The Village Fete of Death.
Excellent music too. Nice one Andrew.

[Paul Monk]

"That sort of makes me River Island, eh it's a cool name"

I liked that line. Not one of mine though is it?

[Rob McCow]

Si and I really enjoyed this last night. It's good to have PS return to it's more comedic and baffling roots, literally in the case of those talking trees. There were moments where the humour was quite Python-esque, which is excellent.

Edward Bradley is still a delight, in writing and performance. I was especially pleased to see his peevish character traits brought to the fore again, with more muddy fields for him to stand in! "Oh Doctor, why have you abandoned me?" is Ed's catchphrase in the same way that "Can't we go back to the TARDUS" was Tegan's!

The production was great too, some lovely sound effects for the wolf's belly and the dark deadly wood - and oh yes! Ed chasing a pig around the farm at the start of the story! If there was one thing I'd have done differently (apart from not doing it quite as well, perhaps), I might have modulated Ash's voice when he becomes the Black Knight, but apart from that it was all spot-on.

The supporting cast were in fine form, from Si's charming narration to Ashley's star turn as the cross-dressing fairy godmother. Really enjoyable, charming performances all round. And whoever was playing Red-Riding Hood was great, but we were baffled by that one!

And - ah yes - my charming sister. Well done Susan as the evil Queen Pulcreena! She has assured me she will be listening to it and hiding behind her fiancé at all her own lines.

What else is there to mention? The cliffhanger of course... Whaaaaaatt???!!!

[Si Hunt]

whoever was playing Red-Riding Hood was great, but we were baffled by that one!

That was my sister, Katie.

Si.

[Martin Penny]

I listened to it before bed last night (fitting!) and really enjoyed it. This was probably the story I was most looking forward to hearing this year, because it was so different than anything we had done before. I also had great fun recording all of my lines, which I actually recorded remotely for this one.

Everyone in the story is clearly having a whale of a time with their characters, especially Steve's sister! Tremendous evil laughs! I particularly enjoyed Brendan's turn as the slightly creepy Mirror.

Andrew's music was great too, it blends in seamlessly, and just seems to match every scene perfectly!

Where's that Monk fellow though? He's hardly been in this season! I'm going to get sick of the sound of my own voice soon.

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

Thanks for the kind comments about the music. I really enjoyed working on this.

Andrew's music was great too, it blends in seamlessly, and just seems to match every scene perfectly!

I can't really take the credit for the way it matches the scenes; that was some clever editing from Si Hunt.

Some brilliant performances from the cast as always. Martin gets better and better. I loved Ashley in this too and both Susan and Katie were superb (Katie has a wonderfully cute voice.....ahem, better calm down....I'm married and all that)!!!

It was a great idea to have a narrator too and it's good to hear 'computer voice numbers 1 through to 50' getting the job of telling the story.

When's part two?

[Si Hunt]

Ha! She's married too! But she'll love to know she has a cute voice! It was once forced to play Peri in a million childhood Dr Who audio plays! I've said too much.

You want Part 2? I'd better make a start on it then! Just kidding, it'll be on-line next week!

Si. :mobile

[Alex]

I really really enjoyed that, as long as Paul doesn't do a "Forest of the Dead" and have a really disappointing conclusion, it could turn out to be my favourite PS Audio yet.

The performances were all superb, with Martin and Ashley making for a great double act, and Si's deliciously disturbing Wolf was brilliant too. As were all the female actresses, and it's great to have a wider variety of them available to us now as well. But for me it was the genuinely very funny and inventive script that made it such a delight. There were some superb lines throughout (the Primark gag, the casual chatting between the Wolf and Woodsman, Ed's pithy dialogue in general, and the wonderfully sycophantic magic mirror too). And I love how the plot kept me guessing throughout - what is going on in this seemingly fairytale based world? Why is it physically changing around them? How does a Wolf have electricity in it's stomach? And why are they repeating the same events over and over again?

Special mention has to go to the music - I've always been impressed with how the soundtracks have been pieced together using already available music, but this really lifted it to a different level. I loved the old school Who feel it had at the beginning, but also many of the different themes for the various parts of the story, so huge kudos to Mr Clancy for putting in so much work.

I always try to be honest when it comes to PS Audios, which can be hard as they're made by good friends and you never want to upset anyone, but as with any long running series (be it tv, radio or film) not everything released is going to work for you. And I was dreading this one a bit as Paul's a very close friend who I've known for over 20 years, so I'd especially never want to upset him. And he'd know if I was 'faking it'. So I'm so glad I can say that this was an incredibly enjoyable production, one which could (should!) be released commercially, and one I'll enjoy revisiting over time.

Unless you mess up the conclusion. Then you'll be in so much trouble, mister man!

[Paul Monk]

Thanks for the nice words, Alex. (I don't think you're fibbing!) To be honest I'm seriously dreading the second part and I just hope that the conclusion isn't disappointing. That can definitely be the hardest part to write. I just wrote some words down, the real magic is done by Si and his editing. Thats when it all comes alive!

[Martin Penny]

Forgot to mention how much I loved the Trees of Despair in my last post! One of my favourite scenes, and the modulation done on the Tree voices worked really well.

[Rob McCow]

Oh yes Paul, and how exactly did you persuade William Hartnell to reprise the role of the Doctor?

[Paul Monk]

. We had to do a bit of grave robbing.

I always wanted the Doctor's wizard persona to be a imitation of one of the other Doctors. Initially I thought Troughton would be the most wizard like but he's difficult to imitate. At least Hartnell has some recognisable speech patterns. And because my Doctor is doing the voice, it doesn't matter if its rubbish!

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

Special mention has to go to the music - I've always been impressed with how the soundtracks have been pieced together using already available music, but this really lifted it to a different level. I loved the old school Who feel it had at the beginning, but also many of the different themes for the various parts of the story, so huge kudos to Mr Clancy for putting in so much work.

Thanks Alex,
As it took me an eternity to get my soundtrack CD produced for the fan-vid that Ant Cox and I made 20 years ago (mainly due to the designing and printing of the CD booklet), I'm a little bit reluctant at this stage to start putting a CD togther - besides I don't really have the time.
However, if people are interested, I think I may produce a 'Once Upon A Time Lord' Suite type track (along the lines of the tracks on the Doctor Who - The Music II album). If Si is agreeable (and if people want it) then it could be available to download as an extra.

I could of course make all the individual cues available to download but I think that might be a bit of over-kill

[Rob McCow]

Seems like a good extra to me, Andrew!

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

Seems like a good extra to me, Andrew!

At least one person wants it - so I'm happy (I'll pay you later Steve)

Thinking about if you read this post in isolation it could sound a bit sordid!

[Rob McCow]

Psssttt! I hear that Clancy does a good few extras if you're polite to him! Don't tell anyone I said!

[SiHart]

Oh my!

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

The thrilling conclusion to the story, Episode 2 wil be on-line this evening at 7pm!

Si. :mobile

[Paul Monk]

I can't wait until then! My nerves will be shot to pieces.

[brandynigma]

The thrilling conclusion to the story, Episode 2 wil be on-line this evening at 7pm!

Si.

*adds 11 hours*

Fiddlesticks.

[SiHart]

Perfect timing for me- I'll be able to listen jjst after I get home from work this evening.

Si xx