Best Audio Book?

Discussion in 'Doctor Who' started by Sindatur, Jan 30, 2011.

  1. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

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    Thanks, I thought it was a bit random, for the 8th Doctor and Romana to just all of a sudden do the Shada Story, but, I figured, what the heck, it sounds like fun anyways. Nice to know there is a logical explanation for the story.
     
  2. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

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    So , I've just finished Shada, it's fantastic, I enjoyed it greatly.

    I have the VHS of Tom Baker narrating the missing parts, and only seen it once about 10 years ago, but, I don't recall the story turning out that way, so, it's time to pop it in again soon. Also, This is my first Big Finish Audio, and therefore only my second exposure to Doctor 8, also gives me a yearning to watch the 1996 movie again soon.

    Next up is the Gallifrey Adventures, and I want to search for Spare Parts and the Unbound Doctor stories
     
  3. 23skidoo

    23skidoo Admiral Admiral

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    One set of audio books that hasn't been discussed yet is BBC Audio's intriguing line of unabridged readings of Target Books novelisations. More than just having an actor read the books verbatim, they've added music, special effects, Nick Briggs doing Dalek voices where applicable, and as they announced recently they even commissioned a new novelisation for The Stones of Blood for the audio version. I just bought my first one, Planet of the Spiders read by Elisabeth Sladen, and I'm quite enjoying it, even though I've read the book. Sadly, they're pretty expensive to buy in Canada ($36 for the one I just bought) but they might be worth checking out. The new Stones of Blood opens the door for other "new" novelisations to appear -- I keep hoping they'll finally get clearance to do ones based on Eric Saward's Daleks stories or, dare I say it, the three stories Douglas Adams wrote, or co-wrote - including Shada - which were never novelised for print originally because Target never came to an agreement with Adams. But audio is a different matter - they could simply classify the novelisation as an audio drama and since they have precedent with the webcast and CD release of that ...

    Alex
     
  4. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

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    Just finished the first 3 Series of Gallifrey Adventures, and I absolutely loved it.

    Political Gamemanship, twists and turns galore, fluid loyalties/allegiances, heart wrenching tear up moments, plus it Stars Romana and Leela and set on Gallifrey. I'm glad 3 full series were already released, I couldn't imagine the pain of having to wait months in between chapters. (Though I'm now stuck waiting for S4)
     
  5. The Nth Doctor

    The Nth Doctor Infinite Possibilities... Premium Member

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    Yeah, but imagine the years of waiting for series 4! :eek:

    Thankfully, I finished series 3 last year so only about a year wait for me.
     
  6. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

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    Ah geeze, I see Series 2 is from 2005 (can't see when Series 3 is from). I didn't realize, I thought they'd been pumping out a series a years for the last few years. Figured Series 3 was from 2010, Series 2 from 2009, Series 1 from 2008.

    Any estimate on Series 4 starting?
     
  7. The Nth Doctor

    The Nth Doctor Infinite Possibilities... Premium Member

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    Yes, the whole series comes out in a boxset at the end of the month! :D
     
  8. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

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    Listened to the Dr Who Unbound 1-7, loved some of it, not so hot on a couple.

    #1 and #7 - Geoffrey Bayldon First Doctor - Really enjoyed them. Bayldon does a good Hartnell impression, I could totally picture him in my head while listening. Neat stories, and neat twist about Susan's Illness.

    #2 David Warner as the 3rd Doctor with the Brigadier - I enjoyed this story too (How could it go wrong with the Brig and David Warner). Need to track down #8 the Sequel to it.

    #3 David Collings - Wow, this Dr. was a piece of work, and the ending was absolutely shocking. This one was very different and good.

    #4 Michael Jayston as the Valleyard - This one was real fun too, listening to everything unravel for him, and I'll bet Mel Haters love the ending.

    #5 Sir Derek Jacobi First Doctor - I enjoyed the portrayal, but, I got lost, couldn't keep track of where the story was going, maybe because I was listening on headphones while working, and I need to pay more attention. Will try it again when the truck CD Player is out of Thomas Covenant Books.

    #6 Arabella Weir The Third Doctor - Didn't get into this one at all, it was one big long drunken stupor with endless belching (This was made worse by the headphones, it was like the women belched in my ear for an hour, LOL). Oh, and then of course we treated to her puking once or twice, never really appreciate that in movies either. Not much else going on. I really wanted to like it, since it was the first female portrayal of a Doctor I've encountered. The story had a pretty good framework, but, it wasn't carried out to my taste, would've been better to drop the whole drunk bit, IMHO.

    Plus, I also tracked down:

    David Tennant - The Stone Rose - This one was alright, don't enjoy it as much as The Resurrection Casket, which is the only Dr. Who Audio I owned before this thread directed me at some great Big Finish stories
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2011
  9. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

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    So, I have some M4b Files. I believe they're IPOD Files? How do I convert them on a PC to regular CD Files or even to play on the PC? Neither Roxio, Windows Media Player, nor Nero will accept M4b files? I can burn Mp3 Files that are less than 79:57 onto a regular CD.

    I also have a 2GB Media Player (Music/Video/Photo) by Innovative Technology, I've never opened, that I need to break out and learn to use sometime soon, I assume this will likely accept Mp3 Files, and may help me with Mb4 Files?
     
  10. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Unless there's something wrong with your computer, after you install itunes, all the rest of your media players should figure out how to play m4b files.

    Google and other naughty places will find you conversion programs for free.

    Just listened to the last Eighth Doctor Adventure.

    Nice run.
     
  11. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

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    Ah, iTunes, OK, haven't gone there, a friend said I'd need iTunes for iPod, but, not for other MP3 Player. Thanks

    McGann, I've listened to his first two and Shada. It was nice meeting Charlie Pollard, since her sister appears in an episode of Gallifrey Adventures, and without knowledge of Charlie, you totally miss that.
     
  12. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

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    So, I've got all 4 Series of Gallifrey and Shada, and Charlie's first Story. Tonight I plan on purchasing the download of Zagreus. I've looked briefly at the Wikipedia entry for Zagreus (Not too much, because I didn't want to be spoield much) and Zagreus seems to be pretty involved.

    Will I have any troubles following Zagreus with what I've already listened too, or should I listen to something else first to better prepare myself?
     
  13. Stevil2001

    Stevil2001 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    If you're going to listen to the Charley stories anyway, I'd wait to listen to Zagreus until after Neverland, since it's a direct (if awful) sequel to that story.
     
  14. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

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    Thanks. Are you saying Zagreus is an awful story, or just that it's not very good as a sequel to Neverland?
     
  15. Joy

    Joy Commodore Commodore

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    I LOVED Neverland & Zagreus. Zagreus especially. And it leads into an incredibly fascinating story arc that brings us great stories like Scherzo and Natural History of Fear.
     
  16. The Nth Doctor

    The Nth Doctor Infinite Possibilities... Premium Member

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    A lot of people don't like Zagreus but I think this largely spurned by the fact it didn't meet particular expectations people had (i.e. lots of Doctor/Doctor/Doctor/Doctor interaction). Personally, I love the story for what it is and it's a satisfying (albeit not perfect) conclusion to the fantastic Neverland.
     
  17. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I didn't listen to the Charlie stories in order, in fact the first one I heard was the where 8 "lost" her.

    An unavoidable mistake.

    Stick to the viewing order, develop a relationship with the character.
     
  18. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

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    At the moment, I'm actually following Romana/Leela for the most part, which I kinda went into with a curiosity for McGann, especially his Shada (Plus the wonderful suggestions in the early part of the thread. Still have to get Spare Parts at some point), and that worked perfectly with the Gallifrey S1-4. I have a few other McGann's to need to listen to as well (Was distracted with Storm Warning listen).

    I'm assuming there isn't many stories between Charlie's first (Storm Warning?) and these two, in series chronology?

    EMH, yea thanks, I was very intrigued with the idea of so many prior actors voicing different characters, especially so many Doctors.

    Edit: (A Couple hours later): OK, I looked at what I had and how fits and copied most onto disk (Zagreus didn't make it yet). I have the first three Paul McGann/Charley stories, Shada, Neverland and Zagreus + Gallifrey S1-4. I want to fit them into Gallifrey S1-S4, to introduce my mother to Dr. Who Audioplays (She doesn't like straight up Audiobooks).

    So, I figure Shada (And maybe have her watch the Tom Baker Narrated Reconstruction VHS first, and maybe even the City of Death and The 5 Doctors to make the references complete?), then Neverland, then Zagreus, and then Gallifrey S1-4. We can work on the Unbound and the 8/Charley chronology next.
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2011
  19. Stevil2001

    Stevil2001 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I don't know about "A lot of people," but I hate Zagreus because it is four hours of bad dialogue and worse characterization.
     
  20. OmahaStar

    OmahaStar Disrespectful of his betters Admiral

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    I won't comment on the story. As with The Five Doctors, the story takes a back seat to everything else. It is an excuse to get as many living Doctors (and their companions) together, as possible. Plus one Doctor who is no longer living. And companions who hadn't even been introduced in the released stories, at that point (such as "c'rizz" or whatever his name is).

    Unfortunately, as with the Five Doctors, we have to wait until nearly the end to get all the Doctors together. Still, we know going in that it's an anniversary fan-service story.

    I'm happy with what we got. But then, I accept it for a typical multi-Doctor anniversary story.