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It does faff for a little bit while Peri and Erimem are jogging around in the past and discovering fake parts and whatnot, but once everything gets explained, it definitely picks up again. I don't remember how long the lull in the middle is because I listened to the whole thing at once on a plane, but I do remember that it has a great beginning, great acting from the guests, and a terrific ending.
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Jan 13, 2015 01:49
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Bicyclops posted:The Kingmaker is a lot of fun. I love that they got John Culshaw to do his Tom Baker impression for the Doctor's recorded notes. I was kind of disappointed when I found that out, because I thought Tom Baker had just done some voiceover for a documentary on Richard III or the War of the Roses or whatever, and Big Finish cleverly appropriated it.
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Jan 13, 2015 03:46
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You tend to hear Culshaw's Tom Baker impression a lot on British tv ads (presumably because he's much cheaper to hire than actual Tom Baker), so I've developed an ear for being able to hear the difference.
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Jan 13, 2015 09:20
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YOOOOO TOM AND LALLA AUDIOS BY GARETH ROBERTS THEY'RE OUT BUY THEM NOW
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Jan 13, 2015 10:03
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 The Kingmaker is a very silly story. It knows it is a very silly story, and it is trying to be a very silly story. Humor is, of course, subjective and thus some are going to love some of the comedy and dislike other bits, but I think it is fair to say that the comedy is a mixed-bag. Some things work very well, other bits fall flat, and for me the initial premise was rather off-putting and put me in a perhaps too sour mood through the first couple of episodes. By the end of the third episode however, where everybody comes back together and one of the most amazing cliffhanger lines the show has ever done is delivered, I had really warmed up to the whole thing. Episode 4 is just a wild ride where everything comes together, everything gets figured out, some extremely silly stuff happens and we kinda get a happy ending... sorta... I guess. Peri and Erimem are attending a live performance of one of Shakespeare's plays in the 16th Century, unimpressed with both the performance and the lewd behavior of the crowd, one of whom attempts to grope Erimem and gets a broken arm for his trouble. Returning to the TARDIS, they find the Doctor tinkering with an odd robot, and he rather sheepishly informs them that he is being hounded by a publishing house from the far flung future whom he owes a book to on a contract he signed in the 20th Century. This leads to a pretty awful meta-joke about a mistake in the printing leading to him being known as "Doctor Who", and the revelation that the Doctor brought them to the 16th Century to investigate firsthand the writings of Shakespeare on the "mystery" of Richard the Third, and the long-believed claims that he murdered his young nephews so he could take the throne for himself. Having failed to get anywhere with Shakespeare (initially he just wanted to see if Shakespeare was forced/convinced to do a hatchet job on Richard) he decides to go straight to the source, traveling to the 15th Century to find out for himself if Richard killed them or there was some other explanation. The story that unfolds is told in a very odd, non-linear way, as large sections of the narrative are skipped over and then returned to at later points in the story. The effect is a feeling of flashback, almost as if we're being told a story by somebody who is constantly having to stop and remind themselves of events... except there are multiple point of views. The odd structure does have the effect of leaving the listener never quite sure on why things are happening till they are later put into context, which is particularly important in terms of allowing a particular misconception by Peri to go unquestioned throughout the bulk of the story. However a more negative take on this structure is that the story in a strictly chronological format would be a rather drab affair, and that it is necessary to shake things up by moving the pieces around a bit - certainly once you have the full story in your head and can piece it all together, it is pretty basic and straightforward until the rather inspired lunacy of the climax. That's probably unfair though, the writer - Nev Fountain - has a long history of writing comedy and obviously knew how best to squeeze as much comedy out of the story as he could. He also makes good use of one of his fellow Dead Ringers castmates, as Jon Culshaw lends his voice to a couple of characters, including a rather neat use of a tape recording of the 4th Doctor's notes on previous attempts to produce the work on Richard the Third. Richard himself plays a large part, though rather distractingly (and extremely deliberately so) his voice is EXTREMELY familiar and sounds like somebody all Doctor Who fans will immediately know. Suffice to say that even knowing what limitations Big Finish have to work around, I still found myself wondering,"Maybe......?", and I have to give it credit for that. Unfortunately, due to his character's nature, the voice is extremely flat and his dour, depressed, deadpan makes him a bit of a chore to listen to. It doesn't help that this deadpan delivery means it is never entirely clear when he is joking and when he is being serious, which I guess it kind of the intent as his underlings often find themselves in a similar predicament. More interesting by far though is his reaction to meeting not only the Doctor, but other characters "alien" to him, and concepts that would make sense to even the most educated 15th Century inhabitant. His explanation for why he thinks the way he does, how he deals with situations like this, and what he has been planning/plotting all this time is really quite neat, in that it fleshes out the man as more than just the vague historical concept that the Doctor has come to get a gander at. He is given a more complex characterization, as he is disgusted at the notion of murdering his own nephews but doesn't bat an eyelid at the thought of torture or the casual execution of those he considers treasonous. He doesn't even seem particularly adverse to the concept of murdering children, so long as there is a legal or "moral" reason behind it - as there is none for killing his own nephews, he dismisses it grumpily and takes great offense at everybody else's presumption that he not only did it, but did so eagerly. He isn't at all a pleasant person, or a likeable one, or even necessarily a "good" one - but he isn't the monster that history has made him out to be, and hates the knowledge of the future he has come to know which tells him this is how history will remember him. An interesting segment occurs in episode 3 where Richard gets the Doctor in his power and they have a rather unpleasant discussion about the nature of fate and whether free will exists. The story flashes between scenes of the Doctor/Richard and Peri/Erimem rather clumsily, but basically it sets up a rather fascinating dilemma where it appears as if Richard is going to convince the Doctor to unknowingly order the murder of Peri and Erimem, and the way the Doctor gets forced into the situation and the way he extricates himself from it is the best part of the audio up to that point.... which sounds like high praise, except that everything that follows blows it out of the water, as episode 3 finishes with an amazing cliffhanger and episode 4 just ramps up the lunacy to a particularly satisfying and charming ending. The identity of the mysterious (and inept) Mr. Satan is revealed, a lengthy chase-scene occurs, reveals are made (some obvious, others completely out there), roles are reversed, there is a lot of discussion about a penis (seriously!) and the Doctor even gets to crack a joke about an old conspiracy theory regarding Francis Bacon - the "truth" as told by this audio is far funnier and far more satisfying, and about the best and most unlikely "revenge" you're ever likely to hear. Unfortunately amidst the humor are some pretty strange decisions, probably the most baffling being the fact that Peri and Erimem are separated from the Doctor for literally 2 years. I kept expecting to see the 2 year gap worked around or turn out to be some kind of misunderstanding, but nope for 2 years straight Peri and Erimem are basically left to survive as best they can in 15th Century England, including 6 months as serving wenches at a terrible pub - and yet zero changes occur as a result, they are still exactly the same characters as they were at the start of the story, they don't grow or develop or all and simply slot right back into their old roles with the Doctor at the end of the story as if they'd been split up for 2 days as opposed to 2 years (which is how long it has been for the Doctor). It is such a strange and bizarre thing to throw into the story, and serves only to distract - it worked in The Eleventh Hour because the whole point was that Amy has grown and changed so much from little Amelia, and then the follow-up gap also served to leave Amy in a point where she felt she was settling for a less exciting life only to have her imaginary friend show up and take her away for adventures again. But here, the 2 year gap is purely cosmetic, and not only do Peri and Erimem not change (Erimem in particular), but it again serves to highlight the knowledge that despite the many Big Finish adventures she has with Peter Davison, we're eventually going to get to The Caves of Androzani and Peri isn't going to look or act any different than she did in Planet of Evil. About the only nod to any kind of character development is in a brief aside between Erimem and the Doctor about a lie she told Peri. The story does at least have Erimem chastise Peri for her fear/distaste for death, which as a former Egyptian Pharoah makes sense, and is a far better take on the character than her horror over seeing a c-c-c-co-corpse  in Axis of Insanity.The Kingmaker is a strange, fun story with some odd choices in the narrative as well as in its structure. It is a story that doesn't take itself seriously or make any pretense of wanting the audience to do so either. The comedy is VERY funny when it works, falls flat when it doesn't, and the mixed result could easily frustrate or irritate the listener. I think what saves this story is the lunacy of episode 4, following a brilliant cliffhanger finish to episode 3, and seeing how everything unfolds. From the earliest point of the story, the Doctor has told Peri and Erimem about an old "CIA" philosophy that he finds particularly distasteful - the story changes but the end remains the same. That ends up happening in this story, but in a tremendously satisfying way, and for all the odd choices that abound throughout the narrative this is an audio that I'll continue to have fond memories of.
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Jan 13, 2015 10:04
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DoctorWhat posted:YOOOOO Nooooooope
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Jan 13, 2015 11:00
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MrL_JaKiri posted:Nooooooope But they're adaptations of the Missing Adventure novels!
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Jan 13, 2015 11:23
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J-RU, the 'Doctor Who' joke is doubly metafictional, as it refers directly to this real world series http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Doctor_Who_Discovers_(real_world) So it wasn't just a pointless 'Doctor Who?' joke. I mean, it was still a pointless joke, but I quite enjoyed it. Along with the rest of the audio.
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Jan 13, 2015 12:08
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I've been watching I, Claudius, and I think I found out what prompted the Master run away to the end of the universe in madness and fear.
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Jan 13, 2015 14:09
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The_Doctor posted:You tend to hear Culshaw's Tom Baker impression a lot on British tv ads (presumably because he's much cheaper to hire than actual Tom Baker), so I've developed an ear for being able to hear the difference. You can hear it pretty immediately. At first I thought it was Tom, but Culshaw dwells a little more gleefully on the vowels at the ends of his sentences, if that makes any sense. I don't know. It's easy to hear the difference, but his impression has a charm all on its own.
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Jan 13, 2015 15:11
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Can’t wait to get to The Kingmaker. I’ve always heard so many good things about it. Still stuck on Dreamtime… So, it’s time to re-do my office “Wall of Weird” to counteract my “I Love You” wall of awards and plaques that’s “officially not mandatory but you need to have one anyway due to peer pressure.” Which means that, after a year, I sadly must bid farewell to my picture of Colin Baker from Vengeance on Varos looking perturbed at the whole situation. In an effort to be more positive, I’m open to any suggestions for a fun, happy, uplifting picture from the show’s history. Any takers?
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Jan 13, 2015 15:20
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CobiWann posted:Can’t wait to get to The Kingmaker. I’ve always heard so many good things about it. Still stuck on Dreamtime… I listened to all of Dreamtime and for the life of me, I can't remember much about what happened in it. I think it was okay but kind of bland? If you're not moving on the Seventh Doctor, I'd put a candy jar next to the Wall of Weird (I like to keep a candy bowl on my desk sometimes, encourages people to come by mroe often!), and put this picture above it. 
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Jan 13, 2015 15:47
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Right. Upgraded from part-time to full-time at work and starting back tomorrow, so this seems like a great opportunity to finally get started on the EDA audio stories I downloaded when Big Finish had the Black Friday offer on last November and I splurged for the complete set. Looking forward to getting onto them.
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Jan 13, 2015 18:29
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Barry Foster posted:J-RU, the 'Doctor Who' joke is doubly metafictional, as it refers directly to this real world series The audio was enjoyable, if uneven, and any qualms I had about it were basically rendered irrelevant by just how much episode 4 was - the resolution was one of those kind of mad things where you sit there going,"Well this SHOULD be pretty awful.... but it's great!" CobiWann posted:In an effort to be more positive, I’m open to any suggestions for a fun, happy, uplifting picture from the show’s history. Any takers?  
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Jan 13, 2015 21:19
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CobiWann posted:In an effort to be more positive, I’m open to any suggestions for a fun, happy, uplifting picture from the show’s history. Any takers? 
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Jan 13, 2015 21:31
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Forktoss posted:I've been watching I, Claudius, and I think I found out what prompted the Master run away to the end of the universe in madness and fear. Livia did it?
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Jan 13, 2015 21:44
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jng2058 posted:Livia did it? The timelords ate the figs.
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Jan 13, 2015 21:45
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Jan 13, 2015 21:50
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Jan 13, 2015 21:53
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Jan 13, 2015 22:06
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Jan 13, 2015 22:56
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What was Tom's reasoning for not doing the special anyway?
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Jan 13, 2015 23:17
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Big Mean Jerk posted:What was Tom's reasoning for not doing the special anyway? They told him they would not pay for his booze and give him a salary, it was one or the other.
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Jan 13, 2015 23:23
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Big Mean Jerk posted:What was Tom's reasoning for not doing the special anyway? It had only been a couple of years since he finished up a seven year run on the show (and the split hadn't been entirely pleasant for all concerned), and - amongst other reasons - he felt that his return so soon would be a distraction, particularly for Davison's Doctor. I'm fairly certain that he's since said he regrets not taking part, but I can see things from his point of view.
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Jan 13, 2015 23:33
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That's...actually kind of admirable.
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Jan 13, 2015 23:39
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And the best bit? Big Finish wasn't going to do a multi-Doctor story for the 50th. Nick Briggs didn't want to do one for a variety of reasons. It was Tom who started the ball rolling, asking when they were going to do it.
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Jan 13, 2015 23:47
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Nick: Okay Tom, we'll do it! Tom: Marvelous... but we'll have to record it at my house because I'm shy 
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Jan 13, 2015 23:49
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Jerusalem posted:Nick: Okay Tom, we'll do it! Tom the local pub is not your house.
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Jan 13, 2015 23:49
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The publican may disagree!
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Jan 13, 2015 23:50
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The Five-ish Doctors joke about Baker's (non)appearance in Five Doctors was great.
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Jan 13, 2015 23:57
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Jerusalem posted:It had only been a couple of years since he finished up a seven year run on the show (and the split hadn't been entirely pleasant for all concerned), and - amongst other reasons - he felt that his return so soon would be a distraction, particularly for Davison's Doctor. Would this have been quite as mindblowingly special as it was if he'd done Five Doctors? I don't think so.
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Jan 14, 2015 00:08
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Trin Tragula posted:Would this have been quite as mindblowingly special as it was if he'd done Five Doctors? I don't think so. Goddamn that was such a great moment in such a great special
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Jan 14, 2015 00:12
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bobkatt013 posted:Tom the local pub is not your house. Semantics. It's actually an extension on the house.
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Jan 14, 2015 00:48
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Trin Tragula posted:Would this have been quite as mindblowingly special as it was if he'd done Five Doctors? I don't think so. I heard that voice and I recognized it immediately (he pretty much raised me through the TV) and I burst into tears. It was so wonderful.
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Jan 14, 2015 00:54
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Jerusalem posted:Nick: Okay Tom, we'll do it! Nick: Paul, we need to go to Tom's house to record. Paul: Will India be there? Nick: Tom insisted.
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Jan 14, 2015 01:44
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what happened to me
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Jan 14, 2015 02:00
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DoctorWhat posted:what happened to me Looks like you're working for Big Finish!
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Jan 14, 2015 02:11
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DoctorWhat posted:what happened to me You're Doctor What, you tell me.
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Jan 14, 2015 02:12
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In less being hazed news, everyone's favorite creepy alien sex simulator is coming back! http://metro.co.uk/2015/01/13/torchwood-is-returning-as-a-series-of-radio-plays-says-star-john-barrowman-5020919/ Basically at a Arrow conference, John Barrowman said Torchwood. radio plays with the help of Rusty and Julie Gardner are A Thing that will happen soon.
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Jan 14, 2015 02:24
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Screw the haters, more Myles and Barrowman is great news!
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Jan 14, 2015 02:39
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