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Tie-breaker for serial you'd most like to find an episode from This poll is closed. |
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| The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve |
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33 | 44.59% |
| The Highlanders |
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41 | 55.41% |
| Total: | 74 votes | ||
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| # ¿ Apr 16, 2024 19:36 |
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So this past weekend, my friend gave me all her Doctor Who novels. She literally shoved two boxes of books (new and classic) into my hands and demanded I take them.quote:I can’t read Doctor Who anymore. I’ll watch the show but I came to a realization this weekend.
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Nov 2, 2016 14:22
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The_Doctor posted:Yes, we will be! I was thinking about that today. I'll run up a post in the next couple of days while it's quiet at work. Although my new job has blocked Imgur, so that'll be fun. I'm sorry, is that an angry Christmas emoji?!? It's Christmas! What could people possibly be angry about?
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Nov 2, 2016 19:12
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Lick! The! Whisk! posted:Did you see last year's Christmas special? 
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Nov 2, 2016 19:52
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Lick! The! Whisk! posted:That's not last year's Christmas special. Yes, they changed things up a bit. I didn't like it.
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Nov 2, 2016 20:26
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 Doom Coalition 3 follows the same path as its predecessor but with much stronger footing. The Doctor, with Liv and Helen by his side, finds himself engaged in a dastardly plan that extends across both time and space, forcing the TARDIS crew to work together while scattered across different historical eras with allies such as a notorious English statesman, the queen of a mechanical alien race, and a gun-wielding nun. Slowly raising the stakes throughout the four stories, the box set gives listeners the added bonus of four distinct and memorable endings, one of which should go down in history as one of Big Finish’s best. Cast Paul McGann (The Doctor) Nicola Walker (Liv Chenka) Hattie Morahan (Helen Sinclair) Alex Kingston (River Song) Jeremy Clyde (George) Ian Puleston-Davies (Angus Selwyn) Richard Hope (Phillip Cook/Kal) Anna Acton (Kate Drury) John Shrapnel (Thomas Cromwell) Kasia Koleczek (Apolena) Glen McCready(Solvers/Abbot) Emma D'Inverno (Rosalia) Tim McMullan (Octavian) Janie Dee(Risolva) Robert Bathurst (Padrac) John Heffernan (The Imposter) Nicholas Woodeson (The Clocksmith) Written by Absent Friends – John Dorney The Eighth Piece – Matt Fitton The Doomsday Chronomter – Matt Fitton The Crucible of Souls – John Dorney Directed by: Ken Bentley Sound: Benji Clifford Music: Jamie Robertson Released: 22 September 2016 Trailer - https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/popout/doom-coalition-3-1223  Earth. The late 20th century. Across the world, the mobile phone is gaining popularity as more and more people decide to join the digital age. But for the residents of a sleepy English town sitting in the shade of a new transmission mast, that ubiquity has a troubling cost. When the TARDIS veers off-course, the Doctor and his companions find themselves in the middle of a mystery. Sometimes the past comes back to haunt you. And sometimes the future does as well. Absent Friends is easily reminiscent of Beachhead, the opening story for Doom Coalition 2. Both are low-key episodes that slowly and carefully set the stage for the box set’s larger story arc. In the late 1990’s, a small English town has been protesting the presence of a new transmission mast that has been planted right outside the village limits. In an attempt to appease the villagers, the global conglomerate Supervill has given each of them a mobile phone for them to use, free of charge, in order to learn the benefits of the new technology. While the phones allow for a new level of freedom and communication for their users, the villagers soon learn about the perils of unsolicited calls - calls from the past, coming from friends and relatives who have passed on to the next life. Unaware of their impending fate, all they want is to have a conversation with their loved ones. Is this simply the past giving the citizens of the village an opportunity to say goodbye and gain closure? Of course not. The Doctor knows there’s no such thing as ghosts… But even Liv, hailing from the far future, gets a phone call from her father who died suddenly from an undiscovered disease. What follows is your standard episode of Who that deals with the “supernatural” as the Doctor sets out to prove that (obviously) the telecommunications company that (maliciously) set up the transmission mast has a (dastardly) plan to take over the world. Writer John Dorney turns these potential clichés on their ear however with a CEO “villain” who gleefully chews the scenery and by having the source of the calls from the past/future having very little to do with the obvious, leaving the Doctor…not quite wrong, but not quite right either. The true reason for the mobile calls is where the larger plot for Doom Coalition 3 kicks in. While the Doctor and Liv are dealing with the phone calls, Helen is on the train to London to see how the city has changed/will change in the decades to come. Upon seeing her old apartment building from the 1960’s, Helen is surprised to see a relative of hers is still living there…and makes the mistake of trying to talking to him to find out what happened to her family during the 30+ years that she was “gone.” What follows is a very well written example of why the Doctor continually stresses that time travelers should never check into their own lives. With Absent Friends, Dorney gives listeners a story that conjures up memories of the Ninth Doctor televised episode Father’s Day as Helen deals with the effect her absence has/would have upon her family, while at the same time Liv tries to come to grips with the opportunity to tell her Dad to seek medical treatment before he’s struck down. Hattie Morahan gets some solid character development for Helen as she slowly realizes the ramifications one person can have on history. It’s a portrayal that carries over throughout the rest of the box set as Helen is very careful to tread lightly when dealing with history. Which is sort of ironic considering who she ends up paired with in the next episode. We also get some more background on Liv as Nicola Walker helps us dive into Liv’s relationship with her father and how difficult it is to be so far away from him, especially now that he’s gone. At the previous Doom Coalition box sets, both Liv and Helen were sometimes pushed to the side for the sake of the plot, and I’m very happy to say that this story sets the pattern that this will NOT be the case this time out! Absent Friends works as both a stand-alone episode and as the kick-off point for Doom Coalition 3. Having discovered the truth of the mobile calls, the Doctor places it in the safest place known to man (the Lost Property Office of the London Underground) before heading off in the TARDIS to track down its source. However, it’s not before listeners get a great cliffhanger as, of all things, the phone on the TARDIS door rings and the Doctor swears he will not, will not, WILL NOT pick it up… *click* quote:“Hello?”  15th Century Prague: in the castle dungeons, a prisoner raves about the end of the world. Outside, Liv Chenka seeks out the workshop of a strange Clockmaker to see what he is creating. England, 1538: Lord Thomas Cromwell finds his duties interrupted by otherworldly forces – clockwork soldiers, an unusual nun, and a mysterious scholar calling himself ‘the Doctor’. Perhaps the truth can be extracted in the torture chamber of London’s Bloody Tower? Rome, 2016: Helen Sinclair has an appointment with an enigmatic Professor, whose greatest work is almost complete. Only the Eighth Piece is missing… The Eighth Piece may be seen as the first episode of a two-part story. Seeking to find out more about the Doomsday Chronometer and how it ties into the past, present, and future of Earth, the Doctor splits up the TARDIS crew among three time periods to seek out more about the mysterious clock. While the Doctor heads to Tudor England and crosses paths with the infamous Thomas Cromwell, Liv finds herself in 15th century Prague seeking out the laboratory of a mysterious clockmaker. Helen pulls the “easy” task of landing in contemporary Italy where a professor has painstakingly assembled all the pieces of a fantastical timepiece. All he’s missing is one final component. But there’s someone else interested in that component – a nun with a gun, a vortex manipulator, and a little bit of familiarity with Helen, Liv, and the Doctor… Matt Fitton weaves three timelines together almost effortlessly with nary a hint of confusion. What one character does affects the adventures the other characters are having, and vice versa (and versa vice?). The Clocksmith, a renegade Time Lord, is intent on putting together the titular Doomsday Chronometer with the aid of the Solvers, a race of clockwork aliens who acts as the Clocksmith’s muscle. Liv and Helen both have run-ins with the Clocksmith in their respective time periods, but it’s a mysterious prisoner in 21st century Rome named Octavian that shows there’s much more to the Chronometer than it appears. Paul McGann has been on top of his game throughout Doom Coalition with energy and passion. The Eighth Doctor is far from subtle and prefers improvisation to scheming and planning and it shows as he bluntly explains to Cromwell what he’s after and how important it is. I could listen to McGann and Cromwell, played by John Shrapnel, go back and forth all day, King and Country vs. the Whole of Time and Space, with neither side wanting to give in. Nicholas Woodeson also deserves a shout-out as the Clocksmith, who doesn’t see himself as a villain so much as an artist, charming and dedicated to his craft. The Doomsday Chronometer is nothing more than his ultimate masterpiece. Anyone who gets in his way…well, they will make wonderful raw materials for his sculptures. By the time The Eighth Piece is discovered, Liv is at the mercy of the clockmaker, Helen is trying to wrap her mind around the appearance of a gun-wielding Sister, and the Doctor has been told by the Clocksmith that escaping from the Tower of London is impossible. Because according to history, this evening is the date a man called the Doctor is executed…  While River Song takes Helen on an archaeological expedition like no other, the Doctor finds himself enlisted by an alien Queen to save her people. Trapped and alone, Liv stares death in the face as she meets the enemy who’s been dogging the TARDIS travellers’ footsteps throughout Earth’s history. The Doomsday Chronometer has been protected for five centuries: secret cults and societies jealously guarding its mystery. But what is their real purpose? The Doctor is about to discover the truth… The Doomsday Chronometer concludes the story of the Clocksmith by pulling on all the threads and bringing all the players together. Liv stands before the Clocksmith, ready to be encased in molten metal as one of his creations, as Helen is pulled through history by one Melody Malone to claim as many pieces of the timepiece as possible before a fanatical cult dedicated to the end of time can. The Doctor and Sister Resolver, the queen of the clockwork Solvers, attempt to free her people from the grips of the renegade Time Lord. All of them, along with the prisoner Octavian, are moving towards the same goal – to stop the Clocksmith and prevent the Doomsday Chronometer from being assembled. One of the things I’ve always like about Big Finish is they do their best to keep the complex understandable instead of dumbing it down. They trust their listeners to follow along and work their way through the plot along with the characters. Desperate to complete his masterpiece, the Clocksmith travels back and forth along his own timeline, in many ways dooming himself to failure even before he begins (in a subtle call back to Helen’s consequences in Absent Friends)]. I admit, I was surprised and a little bummed at the way the Clocksmith meets his fate. It’s satisfying, but it felt like he was being built up as a secondary Big Bad along the lines of Caleera from The Sonomancer. To go out how he did was disappointing, if appropriate on a karmic level. I’m wary to type up much more about The Doomsday Chronometer because of its cliffhanger ending. It turns out the Doomsday Chronometer isn’t an ultimate weapon at all. Rather, it’s THE timepiece that will count down to the destruction of the universe. The end of time itself seems to be moving forward at an incredibly rapid rate to approach the modern day. The Doctor, with Melody Malone at his side, races off in the Clocksmith’s advanced TARDIS in an attempt to reach the end of time before it reaches them, leaving Helen, Liv, and his own TARDIS behind…  The date has been set. The trap has been sprung. A life has been taken and a maniac is on the loose. With the TARDIS crew separated and in terrible trouble, will today be the day the bad guys win? Spoilers… The Crucible of Souls is the climax of Doom Coalition 3 and it’s a HELL of a story to go out on. John Dorney pens the final chapter as the Doctor and Melody Malone (aka River Song) discover that temporal refugees fleeing from the end of time are being hunted down one-by-one while Helen and Liv finds themselves on Gallifrey, landing in the deepest parts of the Archives. A collection of forbidden weapons and lore, the Archives are overseen by one of the Doctor’s oldest friends who is very keen to figure out just how the two humans gained access…or rather, WHO helped them gain accesses… Again, I treading carefully because the last thing I want to do is spoil anything because the cliffhanger of The Doomsday Chronometer rolls wonderfully right into the events of The Crucible of Souls. With this story, a whole bunch of questions are answered, primarily “What the hell IS the Doom Coalition?” Along with “What is their grand plan?” And “Where does the insane Time Lord the Eleven fit into all of this, especially since Mark Bonnar isn’t in this box set?” It all comes together from three different angles into a finale with some horrifying concepts (imagine a weapon that can force a Time Lord to burn through all their regenerations in a few seconds before killing them permanently) and a cliffhanger that truly places the Doctor and his companions in an impossible situation, one that had even this long time fan wondering “how are they going to get out of THIS one?!?” It also added a new insult to my vocabulary. ”You have the face of a constipated Sontaran.” The promotional materials for Doom Coalition 2 prominently featured River Song even though she only appeared in the finale of that box set. In Doom Coalition 3 River is a vital part of three stories, and continues the trend of Big Finish taking a beloved television character (the Tenth Doctor, Donna Noble, Strax) and translating them perfectly to audio. With a box set of her own under the belt, Alex Kingston plays the archaeologist just as she did on television – sly, cocky, quick thinking, and just a little big smug. If you didn’t care for River on television (and I’ve admitted in the past that I wasn’t a big fan of the character) Kingston’s performance has a chance to win you over, especially since Dorney firmly puts River at the Doctor’s side. There’s no “they’re only talking over the intercom” or “River just slips behind the Doctor’s back when he enters the room.” Sister Melody Malone, complete with psychic wimple to make her look a bit like Rita Heyworth, is alongside the Doctor. There are the little hints that listeners will either find infuriating or charming such as Melody/River knowing how to fly the TARDIS and the one time drop of “spoilers.” Beyond that, putting River and the Doctor in the same room really drives home just how good the chemistry is between Kingston and McGann as they play off each other with ease. Walker and Morahan also have their moments, as their plot lines seen “normal” humans caught up in Time Lord shenanigans where both Liv and Helen manage to hold their own. Doom Coalition 3 wraps up with one hell of a cliffhanger, the perfect ending to a collection four superb stories. Even without Mark Bonnar’s Eleven as the central villain, the box set showcases the TARDIS crew and River Song with some strong character moments and memorable secondary characters. With the fourth and final box set being released in early 2017, Doom Coalition 3 is a strong lead-in for what’s sure to be a slam-bang finale to Eight’s fight against the Eleven. Cobi’s Synopsis – Four top-end stories, each with their own unique endings including one that just might be an instant classic, make Doom Coalition 3 a strong showing for all involved as the titular alliance stands revealed and their diabolic plan is laid bare for all to see.
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Nov 3, 2016 01:39
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Jerusalem posted:I should really listen to Doom Coalition.... which means I should really listen to Dark Eyes! Which means I need to get caught up on the contemporary Monthly Range titles..... oh and there is 4th Doctor Adventures Seasons 2 and up to do as well, not to mention the last War Doctor audio and the upcoming UNIT boxset and.... oh God May you never run out of new Doctor Who...
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Nov 3, 2016 03:31
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Bicyclops posted:I feel the opposite way. I think she started without enough characterization back during the half season where she was introduced, but gradually developed more as a character as the show went on. I feel that Clara was a much better fit with Twelve as opposed to Eleven on top of getting character development.
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Nov 3, 2016 17:32
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CaptainYesterday posted:They'd run out of yellow before episode 3. 
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Nov 7, 2016 02:48
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The second story of the new War Doctor set is what I've always wanted - the Sontarans telling the Time Lords and Daleks to let them into the Time War. Or else.
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Nov 8, 2016 04:31
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Jerusalem posted:Ahahaha oh God I gotta get this, I cannot wait to hear that. The War Doctor sets have been great. John Hurt does "world weary" so drat well.
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Nov 8, 2016 05:24
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Welp America. Here come the drums.
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Nov 9, 2016 07:44
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Jerusalem posted:I went with a friend who enjoys Who but isn't crazy into it, and has only seen a handful of classic episodes. She really dug it (and LOVED Troughton), but it sounds like your friend isn't much of a fan of the classic series and this one has all the "problems" you would find with that. The animation is mostly serviceable (at times it is really good, every so often it looks really stilted) - I'd say you'd be better off either going by yourself or trying to organize with some other friends to watch it on BBCA even if you don't watch it "live". She? Sounds like you have a Companion there, J-Ru. What's her opinion on Heathrow? I'm going to see it tomorrow night. Can't wait! The episode, not the airport.
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Nov 13, 2016 18:58
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I'm kind of bummed I saw the animated version tonight because now I'd give anything to see the actual broadcast version! (It was wonderful, absolutely wonderful)
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Nov 15, 2016 04:41
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Kind of a ...weird? Dumb?...question, but how prevalent were fascist/anti-fascist themes in 60's British science fiction? I definitely got a "hey, this is what happens when your goons turn on you" vibe from The Power of the Daleks.
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Nov 15, 2016 14:32
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After The War posted:Have you been doing The Prisoner, Cobi? I haven't checked the thread in a while. What's The Prisoner?
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Nov 15, 2016 15:13
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https://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/unit-assembled Guess whose back for the fourth Big Finish UNIT story? quote:New and classic eras of UNIT will come together in Big Finish’s four-disc audio drama UNIT: Assembled, which is released in May 2017. The ongoing series, which tells the further adventures of Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) and Osgood (Ingrid Oliver) gains three special recruits for the box set - Jo Jones (Katy Manning), John Benton (John Levene) and Mike Yates (Richard Franklin).
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Nov 18, 2016 02:22
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Cerv posted:a day out in an old quarry seems an appropriate rendezvous Or the pub. Because Tom may show up. If he's not there already.
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Nov 19, 2016 23:12
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Bicyclops posted:Yeah, that's fair. I guess it's a fairly typical Fifth Doctor problem, really, because Adric and Turlough have some similar issues. I do admit to getting pretty drat aggravated with how often the Fifth Doctor gets (gasp) the TARDIS stolen, so that he is stranded in time!! The first time, you have to give the TV show some credit for it, and Big Finish some credit for using the same plot point as an homage to the Doctor it belongs to, but sheesh! Probably as often as he gets gets captured and tied up/chained up. Not that I'm complaining, of course...
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Nov 28, 2016 12:54
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Jerusalem posted:It's really depressing because their first televised story was so good, but the Silurians have failed to live up to that potential ever since It says something when the best Silurian story since their debut is a Big Finish audio. Unless somehow Warriors of the Deep is so bad it loops backs around to...nope, still rubbish.
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Nov 30, 2016 10:59
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cargohills posted:I hope you're not talking about Bloodtide, because I'm not sure if I'd feel comfortable calling that the best of anything. I am talking about Bloodtide which I liked except for Charles Darwin's almost instant philosophical spiral into screaming "THERE IS NO GOD!" The Silurians, The Sea Devils, Bloodtide. There are your decent Silurian stories.
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Nov 30, 2016 20:11
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MrL_JaKiri posted:If I had a time machine I'd fill a cinema by myself "Sorry sir, The War Games is sold out. Would you like attend our showing of Fury From the Deep?"
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Dec 1, 2016 15:31
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Payndz posted:Is Ian Levine inside? "This popcorn is making me SICK TO MY STOMACH!"
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Dec 1, 2016 18:19
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Rhyno posted:Upon gaining my inevitable cosmic might I will be locking the lot of you in a theater where you will be forced to watch Timelash until you agree with me that it is indeed a brilliant classic. "It's ok guys, I've got my phone, a charger, and the Big Finish app. Chimes of Midnight anyone? It wouldn't be Christmas without it!"
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Dec 2, 2016 00:02
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jivjov posted:Nah, its one of those new little countries...Kasterborous or something like that. Gallifrexit?
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Dec 2, 2016 17:41
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Davros1 posted:Good news. It appears Power of the Daleks isn't going to be a Barnes & Noble exclusive. It's available on Amazon for pre-order. Love that cover too! Not seen in 50 years? Then what did I just see in the theater?
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Dec 6, 2016 11:07
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MrL_JaKiri posted:If you wanted to be pedantic then you'd say that the last episode aired on the 10th December, which is less than 50 years ago. That aside, the DVD box isn't claiming that nobody has seen it before the owner of this specific DVD because that's clearly silly. Good. Because if I went to the theater and hallucinated seeing The Power of the Daleks with my wife's ex-husband, I'm going to seek mental health treatment.
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Dec 6, 2016 15:47
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The_Doctor posted:Haha, wow Something something terrible things something something must be fought something something… Or, as I screamed one time to a man lying on the ground, bleeding from the nose, as my friends dragged me out of the bar on my 30th birthday… “Paul McGann is canon, you son of a bitch! PAUL MCGANN IS CANON!”
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Dec 7, 2016 13:43
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Peri never once referenced Old Bay or referred to Baltimore as "Ball-mer." Immersion ruined. 
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Dec 8, 2016 15:04
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Doctor Who is the one show my entire family agrees is exempt from the "wait to watch it with all of us" rule.
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Dec 9, 2016 03:36
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Found on Twitter...
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Dec 9, 2016 18:13
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CommonShore posted:Holy poo poo Vengeance on Varos - the doctor grapples with and dumps two goons into an acid bath; cue sad trombone. I have some thoughts on this topic however you'll forgive me if I don't join you.
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Dec 11, 2016 18:40
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My innocence! Shattered!
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Dec 15, 2016 20:03
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 The War Doctor Volume 3 – Agents of Chaos begins with two stories that explore the ingenuity and sheer determination of the Daleks and the Time Lords’ desperate attempts to hold back the tide. And while most planets are keeping their heads down and trying in vain to avoid the crossfire, the third story showcases one of Doctor Who’s most essential alien races and their attempts to JOIN the Time War on either side. Most importantly tough, Agents of Chaos shows just how jaded and ruthless the War Doctor has become, incredibly close to going over the edge as the sacrifice of the innocent is rapidly becoming all too common for him. Cast John Hurt (The War Doctor) Jacqueline Pearce (Cardinal Ollistra) Neve McIntosh (Lara) Honeysuckle Weeks (Heleyna) Timothy Speyer (Kruger), Helen Goldwyn (Professor Crane) Gunnar Cauthery (Kavarin) Matthew Cottle (Leith) Dan Starkey (General Fesk/Sontarans) Josh Bolt (Kalan) Barnaby Edwards (Vassarian) Andrew French (Muren) Nicholas Briggs (Dalek Time Strategist/Daleks) Written by: The Shadow Vortext – David Llewleyyn The Eternity Cage – Andrew Smith Eye of Harmony – Ken Dorney Directed by: Nicholas Briggs Sound and Music: Howard Carter Released: 6 October 2016 Trailer - https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/popout/the-war-doctor-volume-03-agents-of-chaos-1382 Theme – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxdzcRQ45Fc **  Cardinal Ollistra exploits the War Doctor’s affection for Earth to send him to East Berlin, 1961, on the trail of a Dalek agent. Lara Zannis has breached the planet’s quantum shield on a very special mission for the Dalek Time Strategist. Caught between MI6 and the KGB, the War Doctor must first escape the Stasi before he can hope to stop Lara. Cold War scientists are about to make a breakthrough – the Daleks want control of the ‘Shadow Vortex’, and Agent Zannis can provide it. The Shadow Vortex takes place in the divided city of Berlin in the early 1960’s. In most circumstances, this story would have been a perfect fit in any of the other Big Finish Doctor Who ranges (or even The Avengers range) as a solidly written, enjoyable-but-ultimately forgettable Cold War thriller. However, those pepperpot Daleks add a dash of the Time War to the story by sending one of their human agents, Lara Zannis, to Earth. The planet had been spared the ravages and destruction of the Time War thanks to a quantum shield erected around the planet by the Time Lords, but the Daleks plan to change all that. As the Doctor finds himself the “guest” of the notorious East German secret police known as the Stasi, Lara plans to radically chance both Earth’s history as well as the Doctor’s by giving an English nuclear project in West Berlin “stolen” “East German” “reactor” blueprints. Instead of providing the West with a powerful weapon or unlimited power, the blueprints create the Shadow Vortex, a portal that allows the Daleks to slip past the quantum shield and being their invasion of Earth nearly two hundred years early! And while mass destruction and extermination is always a priority to the Daleks, this time their plan has a different primary motivation – the death of the Doctor’s companions, to ensure they never cross paths with the Doctor and thus radically change not only the Doctor’s path but the path of the Daleks as well! It’s a neat idea, though I wish they would have specifically mentioned Barbara and Ian in some capacity as they were the Doctor’s first companions and DID meet up with the First Doctor and Susan in the early 1960s. The Cold War setting does lead to a few neat moments, such as the Doctor managing to convince his captor to help him escape, the mention of Russia’s Torchwood equivalent which knows about the Daleks and send the local KGB agent to form an alliance with them, and the Dalek invasion of Berlin sounds as horrific as one might imagine. The acting is solid enough – Timothy Speyer, a well known and respect actor of the stage, brings depth to the Stasi officer Kruger, a man who serves his country while repressing the memories of child soldiers dying under his command during the final days of World War II. Neve McIntosh is best known to Doctor Who fans as Madame Vastra, lesbian, detective, Silurian, in that order. It’s good to hear her in a role outside of Vastra, and she does a fine job as Lara, Dalek time agent who is capable of giving the Doctor a run for his money. For most of The Shadow Vortex the Doctor is the one on defense, trying to escape from East Berlin as Lara tricks the leaders of the English nuclear project into helping her complete her mission. The acting of the cast and writing by David Llewellyn is solid enough to make The Shadow Vortex enjoyable, but there’s nothing that really stands out about it. It doesn’t waste its premise as much as it does the bare minimum with it to tie the story into the greater Time War and leave John Hurt to do the heavy lifting. The solution to the closing of the Shadow Vortex is unique enough, standing out as something only the War Doctor would consider as an option as it threatens one of the fundamental rules of time travel. More importantly, it feels earned as it’s the only way to stop Lara and the Daleks from invading Earth and killing the Doctor’s companions, a high-stakes decision for a high-stakes problem.  Sontarans are the ultimate warriors – so they believe – and the Time War the ultimate conflict. Denied that glory by Skaro and Gallifrey alike, General Fesk of the Eighth Sontaran Battle Fleet employs a dangerous strategy to draw both sides to the planet Rovidia and prove his forces worthy… Meanwhile, the War Doctor leads a rescue mission, aided by Rovidian street-urchin Kalan. Neither Daleks nor Time Lords expect the Sontarans to be so fearsome a foe, until they uncover the secret of the Eternity Cage. I’ve always had a problem with the portrayal of the Sontarans in the revival series. Aside from The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky, the Sontarans were more defined as well-meaning but bumbling buffoons as shown by Strax – a great character, but most certainly not a representative of the brutal and cunning Sontaran race that once invaded Gallifrey itself and gravely frightened no less than Sarah Jane Smith. Thankfully, The Eternity Cage shows the Sontarans at their absolute “best.” The Sontarans consider themselves to be the finest military force in the entire universe. To be allowed to fight in the Time War, the conflict to end all conflicts, would be the highest and most glorious honor the Sontarans could possibly achieve. However the Daleks see the Sontarans as an inferior species and would not even consider an alliance with them, while the Time Lords believe the Sontarans couldn’t stand up to the Daleks in a fight. In an effort to prove them wrong, the Sontarans kidnap both Cardinal Ollistra and the Dalek Time Strategist. While the Doctor and a crack team of Time Lord commandos make an attempt to rescue the Cardinal with the assistance of a local guide who may or may not betray them, the two mortal enemies have a front row seat as the Sontarans demonstrate their might by wiping out an entire Dalek battle fleet. The Sontarans have a new weapon, something powerful enough to slice through the Dalek’s defenses with ease and something horrifying enough to give the Time Lords pause. And if neither side will ally with the Sontarans, than the Sontarans will simply declare war on them both. The Eternity Cage does a great job of making the Sontarans great again. Much like the Eighth Doctor story The Sontaran Ordeal from Classic Doctors New Monsters Volume 1, the Sontarans are portrayed as cunning, tough, ruthless, honorable, pragmatic, and dedicated solely and utterly towards their goal of joining the Time War. Cost and sacrifice mean nothing to the Sontarans as long as the ends justify the means, and it shows as writer Andrew Smith (writer of several Big Finish stories involving the Sontarans) reveals the details of the Eternity Cage. Its very concept is enough to give Doctor Who fans a shudder, an absolutely horrible creation that gives the Sontarans their edge. Dan Starkey once again voices the Sontarans in a Big Finish story. For General Fesk of the Eighth Battle fleet, the moral implications of the Eternity Cage mean nothing to him or the Sontarans. If it allows him to fight in the Time War, then the cost is worth the price. Starkey hits the right notes with a bombastic portrayal of a Sontaran leader, whose voice booms and carries the burden of both command and absolute obedience. The Sontarans plan hinges around the kidnapping of the military leaders of both races – the Dalek Time Strategist and Cardinal Ollistra of the Gallifreyan High Council. The Dalek Time Strategist is, of course, voiced by Nicholas Briggs (as are all the other Daleks in the box set). Where most Dalek stories involved Daleks ordering other Daleks around in the same three voices, the Dalek Time Strategist has a very unique voice thanks to a good bit of reverb. The deep tonal quality of the Time Strategist’s voice gives him an aura of command that doesn’t resort to the stilted screaming that is a Dalek trademark. The creation of a centrally unified military command another example of how the Daleks are adapting to the Time War much faster than the Time Lords are. There are no schemes, betrayals, or backstabbing within the Dalek forces. The Time Strategist commands and the Daleks obey. On the other side of the coin, Jacqueline Pierce’s performance allows listeners to observe the cracks beginning to form in Ollistra’s veneer. The last two box sets portrayed Ollistra as someone who was in control, always with a pragmatic plan and schemes within schemes, all to ensure that the Time Lords emerged victorious in the Time War even if it meant all the Daleks were destroyed and only one Time Lord was left standing, preferably her. This aura of confidence persists during Ollistra’s screen time in The Shadow Vortex, but come The Eternity Cage Ollistra finds herself discussing the Time War with the Dalek Time Strategist. It tells her where the Time War began – when the Time Lords “fired first” and tried to stop the creation of the Daleks in the Fourth Doctor serial Genesis of the Daleks. Faced with that information as well as being held hostage throughout both this story and The Eye of Harmony, Cardinal Ollistra finally comes face-to-face with the Time War and the damage its done both to the universe and to the lives of those who inhabit it, and the smooth, calm, scheming surface begins to wither and peel. Pierce does a wonderful job with this slow and well-earned realization that the immoral actions and desperate efforts of the Time Lords to win the Time War have done irreparable harm to the universe…and that it’s all been for nothing, as the Daleks are about to kick in Gallifrey’s back door.  In the aftermath of events on Rovidia, the Dalek Time Strategist is presented with a unique opportunity to strike a lethal blow to the heart of Gallifrey. A devastating power is set to be unleashed, and with agents in place ready to do the bidding of the Dalek Time Strategist, the future of the Time War could turn in an instant. Trapped inside a critically-damaged Battle-TARDIS, hopelessly adrift in the Time Vortex, the War Doctor and his allies have a final desperate fight on their hands... Eye of Harmony is all about big ideas boiling down to personal efforts and how one person, for better or for worse, can make all the difference. A traitor has taken Cardinal Ollistra hostage and hurled the Doctor out of a Battle TARDIS in mid-flight. The traitor has a long-standing grudge against not only Ollistra but all Time Lord, and the Daleks have promised her revenge. All she must do is make her way through to the room containing the TARDIS’ link to the Eye of Harmony, an exploding star trapped in a permanent state of decay whose boundless energy makes time travel possible. By the command of the Dalek Time Strategist, the traitor and a Dalek Time Assault Squad will do the unthinkable – use the Battle TARDIS’ link to the Eye of Harmony as a means to invade the heart of Gallifrey! Sowing death and destruction on the Time Lord homeworld is not among the Daleks’ plans however. Rather, their goal is something much bigger. The Daleks will ensure the erasure of the Time Lords from history by doing the unthinkable and allowing the Eye of Harmony to complete is collapse… In my head, this is the moment where the Daleks begin their march towards victory in Time War. Writer Ken Bentley (director of numerous Big Finish audios) manages to balance the huge threat of the traitor Heleyna working feverishly to open a transmat portal to allow the Daleks access to the Eye of Harmony with the Doctor’s attempts to traverse the Battle TARDIS, as well as the traps she has laid, in order to stop her. Assisting the Doctor is Kalan, a refugee from the Dalek extermination of his planet who does his best to believe in the goodness of humanity even with the chips are down. Josh Bolt (The Be All and End All) does a fine job playing the hopeful but naïve Kalan, who nicknames the Doctor “Graybeard” and tries so desperately to act tough as he threatens Heleyna. Heleyna, aka Dalek Agent Prydon, is played by Honeysuckle Weeks, who aside from having an awesome name is best known for her role in the series Foyle’s War. Her character blames the High Council for the death of her grandfather who was killed during a campaign against the Daleks that Ollistra argued to undertake that eventually turned out to have no military worth or value. The Daleks take advantage of her grief and convince her to assist them in destroying the Eye of Harmony, ensuring Rassilon and Omega never develop the means to travel through time and thus preventing the development of Time Lord society. Without the Time Lords, there would have been no offensive and thus her grandfather would have lived. Of course, it’s a bluff (“HU-MAN WEAK-NESS. YOU CAN NE-VER LET GO OF YOUR PAST,” says the Dalek Time Strategist) and Heleyna breaks down as the Daleks invade Gallifrey. In some ways, the climax of The Eye of Harmony isn’t about the Daleks, but about Kalan trying to convince Heleyna that there’s still a chance for her to do some good even though she’s done something absolutely horrible. Weeks does a solid job, much like bolt, in getting across Heleyna’s grief, breakdown, and eventual redemption. I mentioned earlier that Agents of Chaos shows listeners just how jaded and burned out the War Doctor has become. Upon finishing this box set and listening to John Hurt once again turn in a great performance at the War Doctor, I believe I’ve determined just what makes this incarnation of the Doctor one that his future incarnations tried to forget and deny ever existed. It’s not that the War Doctor did horrible things. The methods and solutions he utilizes throughout the box set are brutal and extreme, but they’re along the lines of the same types of methods and solutions that other Doctors have used when they had absolutely no other choice. What’s missing from the War Doctor, especially in the performance Hurt gives us this time out, is any sense of…enjoyment. That’s a poor word choice, but there’s very little pure mirth, glee, or excitement in the Doctor’s voice. Even in the worst of situations, there has always been a sense of “well, isn’t this fun” within the Doctor. After everything the Time War has thrown at him, the Doctor has stopped doing the one thing that has always defined him. He’s stopped caring. I don’t mean how the Eighth Doctor broke down and gave up. It’s more along the lines of when Eleven tells Amy why he takes on companions – “Because I can’t see it anymore.” All the wonders of the universe and the Doctor has seen them all. It’s his companions who provide the eyes for him now, his moral balance and emotional center. Without a companion, there’s no one to share his adventures with. No one to tell him that he did what he had to do. No one to tell him what’s wrong, or that he’s becoming someone who he isn’t. Without a companion, the Doctor isn’t the Doctor. All the actions he’s taken during the Time War and there’s no one around to help him put it in perspective except for civilians caught up in the crossfire, his fellow Time Lords who beginning to believe the ends justify the means, and the Daleks who just believe in the end. The Doctor has saved the day time and time again, but after seeing so much death and destruction no matter what actions he takes, he’s become numb to the consequences and the damage left behind. He WANTS to care, but he’s incapable of doing so anymore. The end of Eye of Harmony finds Hurt despairing about Heleyna, Kalan, and everything that’s happened, saying that it’s just one more battle in the Time War that will soon be forgotten when the next campaign begins. And he’ll go on and keep doing what he’s doing by reflex, because that’s what the Doctor does even if he can’t feel it anymore. He’s become the one thing he swore he’d never become – a soldier. The future incarnations don’t disavow the War Doctor because of what he’s done. They disavow him because he was incapable of caring anymore. My friend said it best when I proposed this theory to him… quote:That would explain why they were actually afraid of him in the Anniversary Special. You can't predict the actions of someone with nothing to live for. And that’s why the War Doctor so dangerous. Cobi’s Synopsis – Three solid stories about the widening of the Time War, including one concerning the Sontarans’ efforts to join the conflict, help Agent of Chaos shows the effect of the Time War on the War Doctor and how he’s finally burning out and risking becoming numb to the destruction around him.
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Dec 16, 2016 18:33
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Jerusalem posted:WE HAVE BETRAYED DAVROS! ONLY DALEKS ARE SUPERIOR! DAVROS IS NOW AN ENEMY OF THE DALEKS! .......CAN WE CRASH AT YOUR PLACE TILL WE FIGURE THINGS OUT, UNCLE NICK!?! "Well, there may be a problem. Dan Starkey is crashing with me at the moment..."
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Dec 17, 2016 17:27
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all-Rush mixtape posted:I bet your favorite Doctor is Four I just started watching The Face of Evil and based on the first episode alone, yes.
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Dec 19, 2016 00:51
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The_Doctor posted:Considering there's a whole year before the 8th Doctor Time War set comes out, I can't help but wonder if there'll be another season of War Doctor stories before that comes out. There's a whole bunch more Time War to play with, and it certainly feels like they're deliberately not going as dark as they could with the War Doctor. I read somewhere that these four were going to be the only "season." But then again, maybe Hurt will fall into the "likes working with Big Finish" camp and agree to come back for more! Tim Burns Effect posted:If only we had known in advance that Big Finish could get hold of a premise that allowed for weird, unique storytelling and completely squander its potential. Scherzo was just so loving good and both Faith Stealer and The Last are personal favorites of mine...but Creed of the Kromon. Boy, I just don't know.
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Dec 20, 2016 13:18
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OK. People from the United Kingdom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAQZaUixmpA Explain this. Please.
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Dec 20, 2016 15:45
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 The gently caress Britain?!?
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Dec 20, 2016 18:37
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| # ¿ Apr 16, 2024 19:36 |
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And what have we here?   Thanks, CaptainYesterday! In a weird twist of fate, I was just finishing up making an all-Rush CD for a friend of mine who said that all Rush songs sound the same...
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Dec 21, 2016 02:28
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