I've just listened to the first Evelyn story, I like her, she is an excellent foil for the Doctor. I think my next Big Finish stories will be more of her adventures.
Another Big Finish special offer this weekend: several releases have been restored to their discounted pre-order prices. Notably, the sixth Doctor/Jago & Litefoot stories Voyage to Venus and Voyage to a New World are once again £1/$1 as downloads and £5 on CD. There are also deals on the UNIT: Dominion and Dark Eyes box sets.
I've listened to the first 3 Destiny stories. So far the second one is the best. They all have fairly straight forward stories, but Fraser Hines does a good job with the reading, his Troughton is spot on.
http://www.ministerofchance.com/The_Minister_of_Chance/Home.html The Minister of Chance, it's not Who but it has Paul McGann, Sylvester McCoy and Paul Darrow in it, and it's free. Anyone listened to this? I am downloading it now.
I'll have to check that out when I get home. Finished up Evelyn Smythe's 4th Story, it was quite enjoyable with Silurians and Darwin. So, I've moved onto Mordant's Need and went Window shopping for Evelyn's next 4 or 5 stories for after Mordant's Need finishes up, and all are downloadable from Big Finish for 7.49 pounds, except Real Time, whch is only available on a CD, so, I googled it to see if anyone else was offering it for download, and I ran across a flash animation for it on Youtube (At least I think that's what it's called with you have drawings that change like the Telesnap Reconstructions of issing Classic Who), so that will be kinda fun watching Evelyn on video, more or less.
It was originally available as an animated feature on the BBC website, long before the series came back. It was done with cheap flash animation, and available for free. Later, Big Finish (who produced the audio) released an expanded version of the story. They featured the same cast.
It's fine. Julian Wadham is no Stephen Fry, but he brings his own qualities to the part, and I really like the Minister's companion, though she seems a little peripheral at times. If you've heard Death Comes to Time, some of the story beats are a little too familiar, I think, but it's worth your while. The casting is great! You can see my reviews here if you're interested: http://unreality-sf.net/tag/the-minister-of-chance/
So, I just purchased, and am downloading the next 6 Evelyn Smythe Stories Project: Twilight through Project: Lazarus (Except, I had to buy the physical disk of Real Time). I'll be listening to Mordant's Need for a couple months probably, so, might stock up on even more of them before I get a chance to listen (It'll be like getting a Box Set) So, anyways, the Project: Twilight and Lazarus (And I noticed there is a Companion Chronicles and a Sylvester McCoy "Project:" as well.) Are they all connected in some way? ETA: Ah, I flick through chapters after burning each disk, to ensure each chapter actually starts, and I noticed Sylvester McCoy's voice in at least of one of the Project: stories, so I assume he's the tying factor?
Looks like Big Finish are having a sale of Ice Warrior stories this weekend, 10 for £40 according to their Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/thebigfinish?ref=ts&fref=ts
In a recent sale, I picked up a two-disc Companion Chronicle called "Peri and the Piscon Paradox." It's one of the rare CCs that has an actual Doctor providing the second character's voice. This is a two-disc set, starting with a very early Peri and Fifth Doctor, and also stars Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor. It starts out light and fluffy and just plain funny, then takes a turn. Nicola Bryant shows more range with Peri in this story than she showed through all of her on-screen appearances combined. And for good measure, we also find out the answer to a question that has been hanging out there since Trial of a Time-Lord aired. I finished listening to it last night, and am still thinking about it. There ... Praising it without spoiling it. The less you know going in, the more impact it has.
I bought a few more Six/Evelyn Stories, so, sadly I'm going to have to pass on The Ice Warriors Stories, which is a bummer, I like the Onscreen appearances of them, and I see two of them are Peladon stories Also, now that I am beyond 2003 on the Six/Evelyn stories, they have risen in price, Downloads were $7.99 each for 2003 and earlier release, but, 2004/2005 release are $11.99 and 2006 release was $12.99. Still definitely worth the price, but, really slows down the acquisition of the stories. On the Plus side, I now have 10 Six/Evelyn stories (Project: Twilight through Thicker Than Water) waiting for me when I finish Mordant's Need (Well, three of them still need to be burned to CD, but, I'll do that tonight). Still gonna take me another month or more to finish Mordant's Need, so, I might acquire most of the other 8 Six/Evelyn Stories by then
Price is a big issue for me. That's one reason I don't (currently) subscribe. I take advantage of the sales they run so often to fill in the gaps in my collection. For example, in the Ice Warriors sale they have running this weekend, they're including Mission to Magnus. That's one of the planned stories from the lost season, from when they put the series on hiatus before bringing it back with the Trial. Those stories are all around $23. Well, the fiver sale makes it around $7 - and if you buy the CD, the download comes with it free. If I pick up 2 or 3 during that sale (I'm also looking at the Bride of Peladon story), shipping will be about three dollars, and it is a price I can justify. For the most part, I am getting just the Sixth and Eighth Doctor stories. Nothing against Seven or Five, it's just, well, I'm not made of money.
Yea, The Audios can certainly become an expensive habit, if you let it, especially with so much already released, LOL I've got The First 7 Unbound (are there more?) The Colins I've recently reported buying (17, at the moment I believe - 14 Evelyns, both $1 Voyages and The Reaping) Gallifrey S1 - S5 (And of course will leap on S6 when available) 6 of McGann (Including Shada, Neverland, Zagreus and then his first 3 with Charley) Spare Parts So, I've got a lot to acquire still, plus those Blake's 7 Audiios keep calling out to me. I would love some new B7 stories (Though probably won't be sparked to act until I do a rewatch of the Series) Ooh, off BF to see if any of the early Charley/McGann are the 2003 and earlier $7.99 downloads, so I can plan for my next collection after Evelyn/Six is done (So a couple/few months in the future) ETA: Cool 6 of the next 7 McGann/Charley are 2003 or earlier for $7.99. The other one of those 7 is Living Legend, which is a DWM Special, I assume I'll have to scrounge Ebay for that one, when I get there, as BF doesn't bring it up
Just one, Masters of War, a sequel to the earlier Unbound story Sympathy for the Devil. Although it's a two-disc story, it's only $5 to download, which is a bit of a bargain. And for those who don't any of the Unbounds, a download subscription in the US is only $25 for 8 stories (6 single-disc and 2 double), which is a great deal. The Unbounds, which are alternate-history stories featuring non-canon Doctors, are some of the most striking stuff BF have done; even the bad ones have their charm, and the better ones are brilliant.
Masters of War and Sympathy for the Devil are both great stories. At least Tennant got to do a story with the Brig even if he wasn't playing the doctor. I have just bought teh Ice Warrior Bundle at £4 per story it's pretty good value. I got the next Destiny story too, this one is read by Lalla Ward.
Omaha (Or anyone else who knows Late Six/Evelyn Arc), I'm confused. Wikipedia list on Evelyn Smythe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Smythe , gives me these episodes in this order (Everything before this matches all 3 ways): Arrangements For War Medicinal Purposes Pier Pressure Thicker Than Water The Nowhere Place 100 Assassin in the Limelight Death in The Family (Yet First and Last Story up top says Death in the Family is her last) remaining 4 stories If you click on the first Story Listed on Evelyn Smythe's Wiki Page, and flip through story by story on the "Set between" links, it gives this order: (Everything before this matches all 3 ways) Arrangements For War Medicinal Purposes Pier Pressure The Nowhere Place 100 Assassin in the Limelight (And then the rest of her stories aside from Death in the Family and Thicker than Water) Thicker Than Water (Clicking on this story from Evelyn's page says it's after Assassin in the Limelight) A Town called Fortune is also an anomaly, it's between Thicker Than Water and Pier Pressure Big Finish Release Numbers Say: 57. Arrangements For War 60. Medicinal Purposes 73. Thicker Than Water 78. Pier Pressure 84. The Nowhere Place 100. 100 108. Assassin in the Limelight So, where does Thicker than Water belong and what about Death in the Family
The main Wikipedia list is supposed to reflect the release numbers but mixes up Thicker than Water (73) and Pier Pressure (78). The "set between" list, on the other hand, is based on the order events occur from Evelyn's perspective (but has its own errors). I would recommend going by the release numbers, since that's how people who were buying the audios at the time experienced the stories. You'll find out how Evelyn leaves before it actually happens, but so did everyone else.
Listened to the 4th Doctor Destiny novel, Doctor light focussing mostly on Romana, but as Lalla Ward reads it that works out fine. Babblesphere is a Dark Mirror lite take on twitter, but Lalla's performance makes it highly enjoyable.
I found a bunch of downloads that Big Finish are offering for free here: https://soundcloud.com/big-finish/sets/complete-free-big-finish
I tried to listen to a big finish story, but It just felt as though It was a TV episode with no video. It was really hard to follow, It was hard to tell when the scene had changed, nothing was described and too many people sounded too similar. I'm not sure if I picked a bad one to start with or I was just too tired. I prefer an audiobook to be more book-like, like the Red Dwarf ones read by Chris Barrie.