Massive Big Finish listening update

[hildy89]

So I've been listening to a bunch of Big Finish audios recently. Most of them are Eight's continuing adventures with Charley, but there are a few oddball ones in there too.

I do always find it ironic whenever someone says how popular Tom Baker was in America as the Doctor, because he was certainly never my Doctor. If I saw the series on PBS, it was always Colin Baker or later Sylvester McCoy. Likewise, I knew Peter Davison mostly for his role in the Campion series, not for the Doctor or the "All Creatures Great and Small". (This will be relevant, really.)

I already posted my thoughts on "Blue Tooth" -- the Liz Shaw focused Companion Chronicle. I wasn't terribly impressed with that one. I had better hopes for "Beautiful People" featuring the fair and sharp-tongued Romana. I think part of the problem is the inherent nature of the series. These Chronicles are told by the Companion usually in first person with only one guest star to play off. You remember what happens when you tell a story in first person? You have to jiggle to make a character see or hear everything and it sometimes pushes the level of believability. Lalla Ward is still delightful and Romana certainly fairs better than Liz. She actually uses her brain and tries to solve the problem herself. And then there was the more problematic aspect of "Beautiful People" with the whole "fat farm" mentality. Sadly I could see Cassandra from "End of the World"/"New Earth" fitting in marvelously at Vita Novus. They mostly turned that on its head at the end… mostly.

By rights, "Other Lives" sounded tailor made for my listening pleasure. Francesca Hunt, the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace, the Duke of Wellington and lots of mistaken identities. I'm still not sure why it didn't work for me. Maybe it was the faintly cruel undercurrent throughout. Charley being mistaken for a prostitute on the street… C'rizz's subplot in the freak show… it almost felt like a relief to have the scenes with Georgina and Eight.

I've given my opinion on "Neverland" before and it mostly stands. I adored Romana, hated Anti Time, and rather wary of Rassilon. I mostly listened to it again to refresh my memory before the next two.

Before that, though, I listened to "Seasons of Fear", since it was briefly referred to in "Neverland". It started off well enough with Charley making her Singapore appointment and then went off into wacky paradox land. Only in Doctor Who can you have Romans, Edward the Confessor and the Hellfire Club in the same story and mostly make it work… mostly. The ending reminded me of the BBC7 subplots with the Headhunter. The main plot's done, but we're not quite finished yet.

"Zagreus" is a cracktastic multi-Doctor extravaganza. (That sounds like a Broadway show somehow…) The Zagreus little theme is an evil little earworm. I found myself repeating certain parts of it. And McGann says it so nicely with that accent. Ahem. Sorry. Lost me a little there. Hearing all the actors playing other roles is a lot of demented fun. I'm not sure what normadesmond, the Disney amusement park fan, would think of Uncle Winkie and his Wonderland. What is it about Goldilocks that they always want to make her a terrorist? I was reminded of her appearances in the "Fables" comic book. My favorite parts: Nicholas Courtney playing the Tardis with all the rage of a jilted old girlfriend. The three other Doctors working together at the end and as usual sniping at each other. As someone who jumped ahead to listen to "Gallifrey" series, I hadn't realized Romana and Leela hadn't met until "Zagreus". And Brax! (I shouldn't have laughed so hard after they said "Your robot dog can't work without its head" And K9 pops back with "Affirmative!")

After all that wackiness and levity, "Scherzo" was a very different kettle of fish. neadods warned me about this one. It discusses Charley and Eight's feelings and emotions rather frankly and it's not remotely fluffy or cheerful or truwuvfver type stuff. That part of it worked better for me that the main plot of arriving in the new Divergent Universe. Although the Doctor feeling blind without his sense of time/temporal senses was quite effective. Never mind he has managed without a Tardis before, but that was because the Time Lords trapped him on Earth. Even then Three was quite peckish and determined to get his Tardis back, Time Lords be damned. So maybe he hasn't changed all that much.

The last one I listened to was on a whim of sorts. I needed a break from the angst after "Scherzo", so an old-fashioned adventure was just what the Doctor ordered, albeit still with India Fisher along for the trip. I do seem to find the Christmas ghost stories in the Big Finish line, having already visited "Chimes of Midnight". Before India Fisher came aboard the Tardis as Charley Pollard, she first appeared on a Fifth Doctor adventure, "Winter for the Adept". This play also featured the always delightful Peter Jurasik, better known as Londo Mollari from "Babylon 5", still somewhat typecast in this role. I was also unfamiliar with Nyssa except from wiliqueen's occasional "Classic Who" posts. I loved the banter between Nyssa and the Fifth Doctor. Are they like that normally? I almost wish they hadn't tied the poltergeist/psychic activities to the invading aliens. Personally I much preferred the idea of a secret training school for psychics tucked away in the Alps.

I'll wait to cover the Gallifrey series after I get through the first series.

Comments

[nwhyte]

Totally agree on Zagreus. To my surprise I disagree with you on "Winter for the Adept", where I thought the plot holes swallowed the characterisation. But chacun à son goût.

[eve11]

Here from who_daily -- Winter for the Adept is an oddball in terms of the interaction between Nyssa and the Doctor. She seems overly critical and complaining. I think this audio was written with Tegan in mind as opposed to Nyssa. Something like "The Game" or "Spare Parts" is much more in line with the Doctor's usual repartee with Nyssa.

If you'd like a bit of a "spiky" relationship, you should check out Six and Evelyn Smythe. "The Marion Conspiracy" and "Project Twilight" have been my favorites so far.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Nyssa in the audios is a little more snarky and sarcastic than Nyssa on TV is.

[ghost2.livejournal.com]

Of that lot, so far I've listened to just two. One was Winter for the Adept. I didn't care for Bitchy!Nyssa--as someone else already said, it felt like the part had been written for Tegan rather than for Nyssa. Nyssa does not wear bitchiness well. I did like a lot of the plot, until they got into the alien business. Given some serious rewrites, though, I feel like this audio could have been one of my favorites.

I liked Seasons of Fear pretty well. Eight and Charley made for a good team, as usual.

[fly-to-dawn.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on Other Lives - it was a good story, but it didn't work for me either...I just wanted someone to save the day all the way through listening.

Also, something irrelevant: Have you received your new assignment for the DW Audio Ficathon? I sent it to you a few days ago.

[hildy.livejournal.com]

Yes, I received the assignment and thanks! I thought I'd replied to your confirmation request the other day.