Best Audio Book?

[Emh]

OmahaStar wrote:

---

If I'm not mistaken, Romana as the President has adventures with all of the Doctors (Five through Eight). Shada is one of them. As mentioned above, Eight wants an adventure with Romana, so he goes to Gallifrey, grabs her by the hand and says "Let's have tea" then drags her to the Tardis and off they go. Or something like that.

Not quite. Unfortunately Romana hasn't had an adventure with The Seventh Doctor. I keep hoping they'll rectify that.

[VDCNI]

They did meet in the book Blood Harvest.

[Emh]

Ah, well, I was just counting the audio plays.

[Whofan]

Romana also appears in Lungbarrow.

It's her who sends the Doctor on a mission to collect the Master's remains from Skaro.

I did enjoy the Colin Baker/Cybermen story where they meet Peri's mother, played by Claudia Christian of Babylon 5. Although I've heard that's not considered one of the better ones.

[23skidoo]

OmahaStar wrote:

---

Shada is one of them. As mentioned above, Eight wants an adventure with Romana, so he goes to Gallifrey, grabs her by the hand and says "Let's have tea" then drags her to the Tardis and off they go. Or something like that.

That's a little off. Remembering that Shada was the abandoned story that was never completed in 1979 due to a strike, and then they used some footage from it in The Five Doctors. Years later, the Eighth Doctor gets hit with a strong sense of "unfinished business" drawing him back to Cambridge or wherever Shada was set, because those events were interrupted by The Five Doctors but needed to be completed (who knows, maybe it qualified as a fixed moment in time involving the Doctor). And because Romana and K-9 were involved too, he had to go back and get her. Fortunately for him they weren't stuck in E-Space anymore.

It's a bit messy, but the whole issue is dealt with in just a few minutes and then Douglas Adams' original story kicks in.

Alex

[Sindatur]

23skidoo wrote:

---

That's a little off. Remembering that Shada was the abandoned story that was never completed in 1979 due to a strike, and then they used some footage from it in The Five Doctors. Years later, the Eighth Doctor gets hit with a strong sense of "unfinished business" drawing him back to Cambridge or wherever Shada was set, because those events were interrupted by The Five Doctors but needed to be completed (who knows, maybe it qualified as a fixed moment in time involving the Doctor). And because Romana and K-9 were involved too, he had to go back and get her. Fortunately for him they weren't stuck in E-Space anymore.

It's a bit messy, but the whole issue is dealt with in just a few minutes and then Douglas Adams' original story kicks in.

Alex

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.

[Sindatur]

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

[23skidoo]

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

[Sindatur]

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)

[Emh]

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

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

[Sindatur]

Emh wrote:

---

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

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

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?

[Emh]

Yes, the whole series comes out in a boxset at the end of the month!

[Sindatur]

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

[Sindatur]

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?

[Guy Gardener]

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.