Best Audio Book?

[Sindatur]

Guy Gardener wrote:

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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.

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.

[Sindatur]

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?

[Steve Mollmann]

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.

[Sindatur]

Steve Mollmann wrote:

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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.

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

[Joy]

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.

[Emh]

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.

[Guy Gardener]

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.

[Sindatur]

Guy Gardener wrote:

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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.

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.

[Steve Mollmann]

Emh wrote:

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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.

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

[OmahaStar]

Steve Mollmann wrote:

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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.

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.

[Rarewolf]

Its certainly not forgettable. I can remember the type of part every regular was playing. I first heard it on the train on the 40th Anniversary coming back from Paul McGann's signing for it in London! I suppose I'll always have a fondness for it for that.

Theres a few things I didn't like in the McGann stories at the time... that are nothing compared to what the TV series has done since it came back!

[Sindatur]

So, I had a chance to listen to Neverland and Zagreus, and loved them both. I had no problem whatsoever that the previous Doctors were playing other characters (though, really they're not). I really enjoyed Colin Baker's character, really gave me some sympathy for the Vampires in the ESpace Trilogy.

Then I listed to Gallifrey Series 1, and they went back to back really, really well. Neverland and Zagreus first brought an extra dimension for me to a couple things in Gallifrey Series 1 that I didn't really catch, when I listed to it at work the first time (Though, that was a fairly distracted listening). Currently listening to Gallifrey Series 2, disk 1.

So, according to Wikipedia, it seems Charley and the Doctor continue their adventures together in the Divergent Universe in a series of about 10 Audio Plays, starting with Sherzo, I'll have to get those some time (Probably get the rest of the Charley adventures prior to Neverland first, though)

[Emh]

I'm slowly working my way through the Divergent Universe stories, and for the most part, I'm really enjoying it. Scherzo and The Natural History of Fear are not only two of the best audio plays during that run, they're amongst the best overall. I've read a lot of complaints about the Divergent Universe, such as rules changing after the first story and the fact that it went on "forever," but thus far I don't agree with the complaints. I guess it helps that I haven't had to wait for each release in real time and instead going on my own pace.

[Steve Mollmann]

The Natural History of Fear is genius. Blows my mind every time.

The main complaint I have with the Divergent Universe stories is that The Creed of the Kromon and The Twilight Kingdom are painfully awful Who-by-the-numbers.

[Emh]

Hm, that's surprising. I know a lot of people don't like The Creed of the Kromon (I don't mind it so much, but it's certainly nothing special), but I quite liked The Twilight Kingdom. The only thing I didn't about it is that Charley and C'rizz didn't have anything to do.