Last Doctor Who Story you listened to?

[Emperor-Tiberius]

For now, lets say that I listened to The Rulers of the Universe, part of the Diary of River Song box-set that went on sale on Christmas Day. And may I say, I liked it a lot. Its no Husbands of River Song, as the Doctor-River interaction is minimal at best - but her insight to the Eighth's naivety in regards to the Time War, and his own, willing reluctance to it is a lovely touch of characterization that I greatly appreciated. Its also a story about the Time War in some sense, but not really all that memorable at the end of it.

Overall, pretty OK, with great performances from Kingston and McGann.

 

[kirk55555]

I started in on my DW: The Last Adventure set with The End of the Line. It was brilliant. I loved every second of it. It wasn't without flaws (the new companion Constance was just ok, she didn't have much to do to make her feel like more than an average companion), but overall it was great. It was atmospheric, it left me guessing, its story was entertaining and the acting was very good. I especially liked hearing

Spoiler: The End of the Line

The master. I hadn't actually guessed it was him, because I was expecting The Valeyard (and I didn't figure out who The Valeyard was until the Doctor found the gadget he needed in the coat). Its cool that they basically had Ainley's Master in the story, but had him using an avatar so they could use him. The Valeyard's connection to the parallel universe junction was also interesting, and raises questions about his murky origin.

This was definitely a good way to start off the set. I've read (without reading spoilers) that several reviewers consider the next story, The Red House, to be the weakest in the set, but since I actually like such 6th Doctor stories as The Twin Dilemma, I'll probably enjoy The Red House fairly well.

 

[NightJim]

Started the Erirmem lot, started Axis of Insanity today. Nekromanteai was ... questionable. Bit too dark, especially for Davison.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

I started in on my DW: The Last Adventure set with The End of the Line. It was brilliant. I loved every second of it. It wasn't without flaws (the new companion Constance was just ok, she didn't have much to do to make her feel like more than an average companion), but overall it was great. It was atmospheric, it left me guessing, its story was entertaining and the acting was very good. I especially liked hearing

Spoiler: The End of the Line

The master. I hadn't actually guessed it was him, because I was expecting The Valeyard (and I didn't figure out who The Valeyard was until the Doctor found the gadget he needed in the coat). Its cool that they basically had Ainley's Master in the story, but had him using an avatar so they could use him. The Valeyard's connection to the parallel universe junction was also interesting, and raises questions about his murky origin.

This was definitely a good way to start off the set. I've read (without reading spoilers) that several reviewers consider the next story, The Red House, to be the weakest in the set, but since I actually like such 6th Doctor stories as The Twin Dilemma, I'll probably enjoy The Red House fairly well.

Pleasently surprised you got into that set. Enjoy the rest.

And yeah, Red House is the weakest by far, but its still passable. I'd recommend listening to Trial of the Valeyard, as a sort of bridge between this set and season 23.

 

[kirk55555]

I just finished The Red House. It wasn't bad, but it was a lot weaker than the first story.

Spoiler: The Red House

The twist on werewolves was interesting, but the story overall wasn't more than ok. The characters weren't super interesting (outside of The Doctor, Charley and The Valeyard), and the whole "werewolves being psychically lobotomized because humans are jerks" didn't really work well outside of being a basic motivation. I mean, I get it. A lot of humans (past, present and future) are jerks. But, so was the weird hippie werewolf once he got into the sun. I guess, in the end, it didn't do a great job of making me interested in the story specific situation and characters. So, overall, it was ok. I don't regret listening to it at all, and I'm sure I'll listen to it again, but it was a somewhat weak story.

As for the main characters, The Doctor was as good as always, and The Valeyard did just enough to keep me interested in what he's up to. Charley was ok. A bit better than Constance, but I'd probably get more if I was more familiar with her. They kind of shoe horned a bit of her backstory in there (it really wasn't necessary to bring up her traveling with the 8th Doctor first when it comes to the context of this story, and felt like they were just brining it up for the benefit of listeners who didn't know), but besides that she was ok.

Next up is Stage Fright. It has a companion I've never even heard of (Flip) and two guys I never would have expected to hear from again (before I heard that Big Finish had used them), Henry Gordon Jago and George Litefoot from The Talons of Weng-Chiang. Does them appearing outside of that story make any amount of sense? No, but I'm sure it will be fun to have them along.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Well, considering Sixie visits that period just to see them, it does make sens.e Also, just to let you know, Jago and Litefoot both know Sixie is the Doctor.

 

[Saga]

i listened to the first two War Doctor stories. liked the first one better. i also have the Early Adventures set which i'm looking forward to.

 

[Turbo]

Just finished K-9 and Company. It wasn't exactly the best of Classic Who, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd been lead to believe. Brendan and most of the villains were annoying as hell but Sarah Jane was spot-on, as usual. (I still think Lis Sladen was stoned while filming the title sequence, though.) Alas, calling the plot "wafer-thin" would be an insult to wafers.

 

[kirk55555]

Going through more of The Last Adventure, Stage Fright was an entertaining adventure. Jago and Litefoot were great, and Flip was the most interesting of the three companions so far. The Doctor and the Valeyard were as great as always, of course. The story was entertaining, and its easy to see how it connects to The Red House. I liked the premise,

Spoiler: Stage Fright

The Valeyard recreating The Doctor's regenerations was cool. The story felt a bit rushed, but I still enjoyed it, especially the character interactions.

Overall a solid story, although not quite as good as The End of the Line. Next up is The Brink of Death, and the end of the set.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Have you considered listening to the Trial of the Valeyard? Just for kicks?

And what made you persue the Last Adventure set, anyways? I thought you were anti-BF and all that.

 

[Turbo]

Whoops, got my threads crossed!

Last audio adventure I listened to was actually The Sirens of Time - somehow I'd managed to not hear the very first one for all these years. The individual Doctors' plots were pretty good, though the overall plot of the Sirens was disappointing. Having listened to Dalek Empire, though, it was neat to meet Sancroff and see how powerful the Knights of Velyshaa could have been. And of course Sarah Mowat and Maggie Stables were excellent, as always.

 

[kirk55555]

Have you considered listening to the Trial of the Valeyard? Just for kicks?

And what made you persue the Last Adventure set, anyways? I thought you were anti-BF and all that.

The fancy physical release was $35 directly from Amazon, down from $65 on Big Finish's site, right when I got christmas money. As a 6th Doctor fan, having that good a deal with something involving my favorite Doctor was too good to pass up. The physical release with its nice case and booklet was too much to resist. I figured that even if I ended up hating the audios (which I obviously didn't), it was too interesting a piece of Sixth Doctor merchandise to pass up. As for Trial of the Valeyard, I don't have any plans for additional Doctor Who audio. In any case, I consider the Valeyard's story to have come to a satisfactory end, and I don't need any more of him.

Speaking of endings, I finished off the set by listening to The Brink of Death. This was a weird one, but good.

Spoiler: The Brink of Death

This didn't start off great. I was groaning to myself when The Valeyard took The Doctor's place, thinking I might be in for a lot of people believing that The valeyard was The Doctor and a bunch of hijinks related to that (even though there are probably dozens of Time Lords who could identify both The Valeyard and the 6th Doctor). But, outside of a probably brainwashed Mel, it didn't really become an issue. Genesta was the most interesting "companion" in this whole set, and I'm with the Doctor in believing that she wasn't always just The Valeyard (or at least hoping that's the case).

It was interesting to see how all the stories lead to this one, except maybe The End of the Line, which was my favorite individual story but when it comes to the overall plot it mostly seems to exist to explain where the Valeyard goes when he's not harassing The Doctor. I kind of knew what was going to happen once The Doctor crossed his own time stream, but the actual event of The Doctor we've been following sacrificing himself so that the version of him earlier in time could die and regenerate was done very well, especially The Doctor's speech and interactions with The Valeyard.

The actual regeneration was better in context then it was out of context when I heard it before, but I still hate McCoy being part of it. No Doctor before or after had that happen, and its BS that Colin Baker had to share the scene with McCoy, and I'd say that even if I didn't generally consider the 7th Doctor to be the only bad Doctor. Still, the actual scene itself minus McCoy was ok. Its funny when you think about it that The Rani basically saved The Doctor's life by firing lethal radiation at him. Overall this was a solid story, and better than the non-regeneration The Sixth Doctor got on TV, even if it had a few flaws.

I'd say this audio set was a success, and I'm glad I got it. It doesn't remotely make me want to listen to any other Big Finish production, but I enjoyed it a lot, and grudgingly admit it will probably be part of my Doctor Who head canon, even if I still dispute the general idea of Big Finish stories being canon with the show.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

You'll come back. To BF, I mean - but take your time.

Anyway, what did you think of the Sixth Doctor in them? Did he resemble his TV persona in any way? And do you think these stories, especially the regeneration one, add to his legacy in a good way?

 

[kirk55555]

You'll come back. To BF, I mean - but take your time.

Anyway, what did you think of the Sixth Doctor in them? Did he resemble his TV persona in any way? And do you think these stories, especially the regeneration one, add to his legacy in a good way?

Well, I could have gone for a bit of the Season 22 attitude, but it wasn't a big deal. Mostly, he was great. Also, every story had his real costume, specifically mentioned, which is good because Blueberry Doctor would have taken me out of the story.

Honestly, the weakest part of the stories (and it wasn't a bad element, just compared to everything else) was the general lameness of the companions. Constance was possibly the most generic companion ever, and Charley was an annoying idiot. Mel was (thankfully) barely involved, but honestly I'd have preferred her to Charley, who annoyed me more in 60 or so minutes then I would have thought possible. I liked Flip, though. She's the only one I'd want to hear more from. Well, Constance would be tolerable, she's not bad just boring and with nothing interesting about her. Charley though was horrible. Even if The Red House story had been more than ok, she would still have been the worst part. She was stupid, gullible, and had no redeeming features. She wasn't Clara or TV Mel levels of bad, but I'd probably rank her that low if I had to hear more of her. It seems that the 8th Doctor got screwed when it came to companions, and then shifted her to the 6th for some reason. Genesta was probably about as good as Flip, although the fact that she may not actually exist puts her out of the running for best companion for this set.

As for his legacy, I don't think they add anything to it. They were nice stories, and I consider this his official regeneration story, at least for myself. But I'd still rate Attack of the Cybermen and The Two Doctors as better 6th Doctor stories than any of the ones on this set. That said, The End of the Line was excellent and a very close third, and Stage Fright and The Brink of Death were also among the better 6th Doctor stories. So I wouldn't say his legacy is enhanced by anything in the set (although it definitely wasn't tarnished or anything). They were generally solid stories that I'm glad I got. I would only change three things if I could. The Red House would be replaced with a better script, Peri would be in it instead of Charley, and Constance would be written better in her story.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

The Charley story had to have him in the blue costume, though. He didn't change that until after she "left".

 

[kirk55555]

The Charley story had to have him in the blue costume, though. He didn't change that until after she "left".

Its never mentioned, except maybe that someone said it was ridiculous (I seem to recall it getting insulted, in the scene when Charley wants The Doctor to take it off he reacts like she's insulting the coat). So, no mention of color = the real costume. It makes sense for her, though. The worst companion on the set is the one that traveled with the Blueberry Doctor. Still, they didn't say it was blue, so it wasn't blue.

Anyway, my general thought is that the Blueberry Doctor is completely non-canon (even more so than the average Big Finish story), so since that costume never existed, he couldn't have been wearing it. If the coat did exist (hypothetically speaking, of course), I'd still say that The Doctor mentions that he changes clothes sometimes in one of the stories, so I'd say that when he went to that planet in The Red House, he had changed back to his real costume. That's the beauty of audio, I don't have to see the worst thing anyone ever did to the Sixth Doctor, so unless they specifically state the color, he's automatically wearing the only clothes he ever actually wore.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

He changed his attire because Evelyn Smythe (Six's definitive audio companion) liked him with it when he wore for the first time, chronologically, in Real Time. He kept it for a couple of companions, but changed it after Charley because he thought she died (its complicated). He actually changes back to his normal coat just before Stage Fright, as the very mention in there is meant to showcase that she's not used to it yet (that story is also set halway their adventures). But whatever floats your boat.

The best time the coat was used when Blue-coat Six met with Trial-era Doctor in The Wrong Doctors. Its just after Evelyn left, too. Lovely to hear Colin Baker spar against Colin Baker.

 

[kirk55555]

He changed his attire because Evelyn Smythe (Six's definitive audio companion) liked him with it when he wore for the first time, chronologically, in Real Time. He kept it for a couple of companions, but changed it after Charley because he thought she died (its complicated). He actually changes back to his normal coat just before Stage Fright, as the very mention in there is meant to showcase that she's not used to it yet (that story is also set halway their adventures). But whatever floats your boat.

The best time the coat was used when Blue-coat Six met with Trial-era Doctor in The Wrong Doctors. Its just after Evelyn left, too. Lovely to hear Colin Baker spar against Colin Baker.

Well, the coat's color wasn't mentioned, so to me its the real costume in all four stories. That is useful info, though. If I ever decide to listen to more big finish (unlikely but possible if there is a good deal), I'll make sure to avoid Evelyn Smythe stories along with charley Pollard stories when it comes to the sixth Doctor. I know its the writers fault, but any companion that forces the Blueberry suit isn't something I'd ever listen to, Smythe sounds like a giant a-hole character if she's the reason for the non-canon blueberry suit in Big Finish.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

He likes the blue coat. He just prefers the rainbow coat, though.

And you'd be doing yourself a great disservice to avoid the Evelyn run, for two reasons: 1)Six's most best stories occur with her, and its the most consistent run of Doctor-companion in not only BF, but maybe of all of Who. 2)He actually wears the rainbow coat for the first half of their run together.

Maybe you should just go ahead and listen to the Lost Stories. There's plenty of season 22-23 Six there for you, with Peri, too.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

And Evelyn Smythe one of my top five companions, so watch it.