BF 089: No Man's Land

[Si Hunt]

Shall we resume our discussion of the latest release?

I'm on Episode 3 and I'm afraid my interest is waning by the day. It hasn't got much of a WW1 flavour (being set completely within a field hospital) yet it's becoming increasingly likely the sci-fi element won't be up to much either.

Life force dying, life force dying...

Si.

[Pip Madeley]

Nice cover though.

[Dirk Gently]

I'm sorry to hear you're not enjoying it Si, (or the audio play ). I thought it was quite good.

Lets hope that you enjoy Year of the Pig more.

[Si Hunt]

I fear not Great Healer but we'll see. It has Colin, so that bodes well.

Si.

[Wayne]

As a gesture of confidence i've listed mine on eBay before i've even listened to it. I've got it pencilled in for my Monday bus journey though.

[Hex]

For me, this is the best story to feature the 7th, Ace and Hex. I feel their previous outings, other than The Harvest, have not really been up to much.

[Si Hunt]

Another crappun in my opinion. What was the point of it all? Without giving too much away, if you're waiting for big twist or revelation, there ain't one. The Doctor and friends investigate someone being a bit naughty in a setting in which thousands of people are dying anyway. Why should I care?

Si.

[Lissa]

On the plus side, I hear BF's licence has been extended until the end of 2009. My subscription has lapsed and, although not generally bothered about resubbing, I tried once and ntl's rubbish broadband network wouldn't load the payment site.

[Hex]

I made myself listen to this release over a longer period of time instead of all at once.

A good story, certainly the best for this Tardis team since The Harvest. I do not feel that stories for Ace and Hex since The Harvest have been anything to write home about, but this rebutted that trend.

My initial thoughts were completely wrong, which is quite nice. I did, however, pick up on a phrase familiar to Big Finish-ophiles and wondered if a reference would be made, and there it was, right in the last few seconds of the play. Good to know BF can create there own mythology and sustain it. Personally, I think an 8th Doctor encounter with that organisation is long over due.....

I do have a couple of gripes. I'm not sure the post-production is up to its usual standards. Firstly, I felt the whole play sounded like it had been recorded in a studio, even the outside scenes. This is very unusual for BF as the ambience they create is usually spot on. In addition, the 'sting' of the McCoy theme is clipped at the start of episode three, and I felt the theme came in a little late at the end of episode 4 to really make an impact, particularly as the incidental musaic seemed to have come to an end.

The acting, once again, is strong and McCoy wonderfully underplays the Doctor as a more thoughtful and refelctive character. Ace and Hex have some interesting scenes together, but I do find that both of the characters annoy me at different times during the play. Unusually for BF there is little incidental music.

Overall, I would probably give this an 8/10 at the moment. There are a couple of fundamental questions which I do not feel were answered. It could be I missed them this time. I usually find something new during the second listening.....

[Larry]

mixed opinions i've not listened to mine yet but I just hope it's better then the last few of Mccoy audio's i've listend to which have been mostly poor to average.

[Wayne]

This one was so instantly forgetable that i've only just remembered to mention the fact that i listened to it yesterday.
It started off not bad, i was quite intrigued initially, but by the time i reached the end i'd lost the will to live. My subscription runs out after next month's (i think). I'm not renewing it. Enough is enough. Time to accept the fact that i'm not really interested anymore.
I'm gonna keep an eye on the spin-offs, & I'm definitely gonna the rest of the 'I, Davros' range, & any Dalek related stuff, but that's it.

[SiHart]

After a gap of two and a half months, we resumed listening to this one last night and did Part 2. There's been a murder, but not much else seems to have happened.

Si xx

[Rob McCow]

There's been a murder, but not much else seems to have happened.

You only know that because McCoy shouted "There's been a murder!" at the end of the episode!
I was listening to No Man's Land. You were reading a book.

I wasn't sure whether it was the nice, cowardly sergeant who saw an angel that was killed, or whether it was the mean, bullying soldier.

It's been... OK so far. Fairly good, in fact.

[Si Hunt]

I died during Episode 3. I actually stopped living.

Si.

[Logo Polish]

Did you have an out-of-body experience, seeing yourself down below listening to it?

[SiHart]

We finished it. It was ok, but by no means a distinguished play. I'm still chuckling pver the Doctor's reaction to be threatened with a firing squad... "But this is monstrous!". Yes, that's exactly how you'd react!

Si xx

[Rob McCow]

SPOILERS (for a play that's 2 months old, for pete's sake)

I quite enjoyed No Man's Land overall. There was a lot about it that was quite poor, but I thought the acting was really good - McCoy included. Michael Cochrane is clearly top dog, giving a hard-as-nails performance as the Lieutenant-Colonel Brook. There's a good sense of mystery to the story and I especially liked that the 'temporal anomaly' note from the future turned out to be nothing of the sort!

The worst thing in the play was the sound effect for the motorbike the Doctor and Dudgeon escaped on. It sounded exactly like a bee in the studio, or a paper-and-comb solo. Jeez louise, they really should have given it a bit more beef. It was offputtingly hilarious at a point where the play needed to be getting serious and exciting.

I didn't like the siege of the church either. It seemed that the following exchange took place:
"Dr.Who, give us back our top secret papers!"
"No!"
"Then we will kill you all!"
"We've got matches."
"Eh?"
"We can set fire to your papers!"
"Dr.Who! Give us back our papers!"
"Never."
etc.

Six out of ten.

[Si Hunt]

paper-and-comb solo

Si.