Doctor Who: Unbound - Big Finish audios

[Worf2DS9]

Has anyone ever listened to the Doctor Who: Unbound series of audios by Big Finish, which feature different actors as the Doctor? I just happened to be over there yesterday getting my next 8th Doctor download and notice the latest one featuring David Warner as the Doctor, Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier and Terry Molloy as Davros (Doctor Who: Unbound - Masters of War). Just curious if anyone's sampled any of these yet.

 

[Marc]

Some of them are good (Auld Mortality, Storm of Angels), very disapointing (Deadline), Mel the Timelord Hunter (He Jests at Scars - Bonnie Langford not being a screech owl, fairly good listen), Exile and Full Fathom Five I didn't like (FFF had David Collings who was in Robots of Death and Madrwyn Undead).

Haven't heard Sympathy for The Devil.

 

[Brendan Moody]

On the whole it's a very strong series.

Auld Mortality is a lovely, rather poetic meditation on the themes of Doctor Who, with a great Hartnell-esque but distinctive performance from Bayldon.

Sympathy for the Devil is an enjoyable action story. Nick Courtney is good as an embittered Brigadier, David Tennant has a nice small role as a modern UNIT commander, and the story feels like a chronologically displaced Pertwee romp. Not deep, but fun. Masters of War is a follow-up to this; I hope to buy it soon.

Full Fathom Five has a great concept but is hampered by bad dialogue and a cliched antagonist. Good for one listen, but loses its luster.

He Jests at Scars... has good lead actors (yes, even Bonnie Langford) but a fanwanky premise and little actual story. A fun listen if you turn your brain off.

Deadline is brilliant, but it's a darkly comic radio play about the idea of Doctor Who rather than a Doctor Who story as such. It features Jacqueline King, who plays Donna's mother Sylvia in the new series. Oh, and some guy named Derek Jacobi.

Exile is a piece of gross-out humor coupled with an obvious parody of the Time Lords. If that is your thing, go for it; I was bored.

A Storm of Angels, an Auld Mortality sequel, has a similiarly quasi-Hartnell tone, with Marc Platt's usual effective tone. Not quite as powerful as the first, but still a very strong play.

 

[The]

Not to hijack this thread (as I haven't heard the Unbound stuff), but what is the best McGann audio ever made? I'd love some suggestions. I've only ever heard Neverland and Zagreus.

As for the Unbound line, I would be curious to hear the alts of Tom Baker and Peter Davison. I guess the 'Shalka Doctor' would be considered Eccleston's alt? I wonder who McGann's would be? Maybe the Doctor in this upcoming Xmas special could be considered Tennant's alt, eh?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

As for the Unbound line, I would be curious to hear the alts of Tom Baker and Peter Davison. I guess the 'Shalka Doctor' would be considered Eccleston's alt? I wonder who McGann's would be? Maybe the Doctor in this upcoming Xmas special could be considered Tennant's alt, eh?

Yes, you can consider Bayldon an alternate first Doctor, as the Doctor never left Gallifrey in Auld Mortality. And David Warner is an alt third Doctor, because the Time Lords cocked things up at the end of "The War Games." And, heaven forbid, Exile also gives us an alternate third Doctor (as the story relates to the second Doctor comics published at the time, and no, I'd rather not explain).

But the others don't really correspond. The Valeyard is the Valeyard, whatever he is. David Collings Doctor may be an indeterminate future Doctor (as he appears in one of the themed Short Trips anthologies alongside the "canonical" Doctors). And Deadline is a story about Doctor Who, not a Doctor Who story.

And Richard E. Grant? We can call him an "Unbound" Doctor, but that's a fannish construct. The intention, when he was created, was that he was the ninth Doctor, and the BBC promoted him as the ninth Doctor. Three novels actually treat him as such. There's no evidence in the new series that he isn't the ninth Doctor. The only evidence that he isn't is the BBC's marketing. Does marketing count?

 

[wamdue]

^ what about the book in Human Nature, the pages with all the faces of the Doctor, it does not feature the Richard E Grant Doctor?

 

[Phillip Culley]

Not to hijack this thread (as I haven't heard the Unbound stuff), but what is the best McGann audio ever made? I'd love some suggestions. I've only ever heard Neverland and Zagreus.

Without a doubt 'The Chimes of Midnight'. However, to really appreciate it you need to have listened to some of the stories that precede it; especially McGann's first story 'Storm Warning'. Alternatively, 'Seasons of Fear' is another excellent story, which isn't reliant on continuity from previous stories.

If you've only heard Neverland and Zagreus without the stories that precede them, you have my sympathy - you've just watched the equivalent of a season finale without anything before them!

 

[Brendan Moody]

If you've heard "Neverland" and "Zagreus" period, you have my sympathy, but if you got through those the continuity of the first couple McGann seasons is light enough that you could just do the sublime "Chimes of Midnight" without any preparation. "Storm Warning" is fun light fare in any case.

 

[The]

Not to hijack this thread (as I haven't heard the Unbound stuff), but what is the best McGann audio ever made? I'd love some suggestions. I've only ever heard Neverland and Zagreus.

Without a doubt 'The Chimes of Midnight'. However, to really appreciate it you need to have listened to some of the stories that precede it; especially McGann's first story 'Storm Warning'. Alternatively, 'Seasons of Fear' is another excellent story, which isn't reliant on continuity from previous stories.

If you've only heard Neverland and Zagreus without the stories that precede them, you have my sympathy - you've just watched the equivalent of a season finale without anything before them!

If you've heard "Neverland" and "Zagreus" period, you have my sympathy, but if you got through those the continuity of the first couple McGann seasons is light enough that you could just do the sublime "Chimes of Midnight" without any preparation. "Storm Warning" is fun light fare in any case.

Excellent, thanks!!

• Storm Warning
  Seasons of Fear
  Chimes of Midnight

In that order? Any others? Doesn't he meet the Brigadier at some point? What about the Master? What about the new Morbius one?

Spoiler: As for Neverland and Zagreus...

As for Neverland and Zagreus, I sort of understand what you mean. However, on a whole for someone who was needing a Doctor Who "fix" at the time I purchased them (before the new series, wasn't it?) I really enjoyed them. I made sure to go back and read up on a few of the previous stories so that I understood what was going on with Charlie. But, even if I hadn't the stories made it explicitly clear. Over and over again.

Personally, I wished all the old Docs had played their Doctor's rather than a back-handed way of doing a multi-Doctor story. I'm sure it was done to give the actors something new to play. But, come on...you've got them all together! So, that was a bit of a tease. And don't get me started on the "jealous" TARDIS. The Pertwee "cameo" was awesome...and somewhat haunting, fittingly. Enjoyed the Alice In Wonderland motif, and the Brothers Grimm-ish nature of the Zagreus concept/rhyme. Charlie was overly whiney in Zagreus, though. By the end I was really hoping she would die.

Also, I liked how it briefly touched on romanticism with the character of The Doctor, which I know was later shrugged off with his "alien ways". Loved Leela, Romana, and the two K-9's. Where's Andred throughout all of this? Rassilon was a-w-e-some. Loved Colin as the vampire. TOTALLY pictured it. Syl as the Disney-esque guy came off weird, though. Kind of pervy, almost.

And, my favorite bit of the whole story? Colin remarking about his regeneration "a bump on the head??"

In the end, I liked Neverland far more than Zagreus. But, I could detect the weakness in both.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Doesn't he meet the Brigadier at some point?

In "Minuet in Hell," yes. Run far, far away from it.

 

[The]

Yes, you can consider Bayldon an alternate first Doctor, as the Doctor never left Gallifrey in Auld Mortality. And David Warner is an alt third Doctor, because the Time Lords cocked things up at the end of "The War Games." And, heaven forbid, Exile also gives us an alternate third Doctor (as the story relates to the second Doctor comics published at the time, and no, I'd rather not explain).

But the others don't really correspond. The Valeyard is the Valeyard, whatever he is. David Collings Doctor may be an indeterminate future Doctor (as he appears in one of the themed Short Trips anthologies alongside the "canonical" Doctors). And Deadline is a story about Doctor Who, not a Doctor Who story.

If you say so. I know nothing about any of that. I guess I was suggesting that would be the fun/interesting way to go with it, versus abstract Doctors.

And Richard E. Grant? We can call him an "Unbound" Doctor, but that's a fannish construct. The intention, when he was created, was that he was the ninth Doctor, and the BBC promoted him as the ninth Doctor. Three novels actually treat him as such. There's no evidence in the new series that he isn't the ninth Doctor. The only evidence that he isn't is the BBC's marketing. Does marketing count?

Are you taking the piss here? After four years of the new series, you're not seriously asking me about the canonical status of Eccleston's Doctor being The 9th Doctor, right? The BBC owns Doctor Who. They determine who is The Doctor, not fandom...

 

[The]

Doesn't he meet the Brigadier at some point?

In "Minuet in Hell," yes. Run far, far away from it.

That bad? Really?

 

[Brendan Moody]

"Chimes of Midnight" is set before "Seasons of Fear," not that the order matters all that much.

The one where he meets the Brigadier is "Minuet in Hell," which would come between "Storm Warning" and "The Chimes of Midnight" on your list. The Brigadier is very good in it, of course, as he always is, but the rest of the story is almost universally loathed. It's way too long, and most of the guest characters are ludicrous stereotypes with bad American accents.

The eighth Doctor hasn't met the Master on audio yet.

The one with Morbius is part of a new, post-Charley series with fifty-minute episodes and one or two part stories a la the new series. I haven't heard any of them; some people I know have commented that these episode lengths really don't suit the old series feel of BF's output.

The first eighth Doctor audio after "Zagreus," "Scherzo," is a strong two-hander for McGann and Fisher by the author of "The Chimes of Midnight." The Doctor and Charley's new universe doesn't seem to have much of anything in it, so all they have is each other- and the lingering uncertainties of their relationships. Strong character work in an eerie minimalist setting.

"The Natural History of Fear" is another post-"Zagreus" play that's pretty good, although it's not exactly a Doctor Who story in the obvious sense... it's hard to explain without spoiling it.

 

[Pindar]

Chimes of Midnight - this is available on iPlayer just now.

 

[Phillip Culley]

The first eighth Doctor audio after "Zagreus," "Scherzo," is a strong two-hander for McGann and Fisher by the author of "The Chimes of Midnight."

Being Rob Shearman, who of course also wrote the first season's 'Dalek', as well as the excellent Sixth Doctor audios 'The Holy Terror' and 'Jubilee' (which are well worth getting if you expand to getting past Doctor audios )

 

[The]

The first eighth Doctor audio after "Zagreus," "Scherzo," is a strong two-hander for McGann and Fisher by the author of "The Chimes of Midnight." The Doctor and Charley's new universe doesn't seem to have much of anything in it, so all they have is each other- and the lingering uncertainties of their relationships. Strong character work in an eerie minimalist setting.

That sounds good. I think I might have to download that one...

"The Natural History of Fear" is another post-"Zagreus" play that's pretty good, although it's not exactly a Doctor Who story in the obvious sense... it's hard to explain without spoiling it.

I'll look into it, but I'm sure I'll deal with Scherzo first.

Being Rob Shearman, who of course also wrote the first season's 'Dalek', as well as the excellent Sixth Doctor audios 'The Holy Terror' and 'Jubilee' (which are well worth getting if you expand to getting past Doctor audios )

I've listened to a few of the other Doctors here and there. I made it a point to order the Tegan episode, since Davison was one of my childhood Doctors, and Tegan was very much that era. I've listened to bits and pieces of Colin's stuff. But, I generally cannot stand that 'Evelyn' character. She annoys the HELL out of me. Even my wife can't stand her. I told her we need to find some Peri's audios. Are there any of just her and Colin?

 

[Brendan Moody]

Peri and the sixth Doctor have a couple good audios. "Whispers of Terror" is an early one that makes clever use of the audio medium to tell a story that absolutely wouldn't work on the screen or in print. "...ish" is another quirky story, about the Doctor investigating a murder among dictionary makers and the mysterious power of the Omniverbum. If you've heard the Tegan story "The Gathering," you might also enjoy "The Reaping," a Peri/sixth Doctor story that both sets up and follows the events with Tegan. I didn't think it was all that interesting personally, but the overall story is neat. I haven't heard any of the other Peri stories with Baker.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

And Richard E. Grant? We can call him an "Unbound" Doctor, but that's a fannish construct. The intention, when he was created, was that he was the ninth Doctor, and the BBC promoted him as the ninth Doctor. Three novels actually treat him as such. There's no evidence in the new series that he isn't the ninth Doctor. The only evidence that he isn't is the BBC's marketing. Does marketing count?

Are you taking the piss here? After four years of the new series, you're not seriously asking me about the canonical status of Eccleston's Doctor being The 9th Doctor, right? The BBC owns Doctor Who. They determine who is The Doctor, not fandom...

I'm not questioning Eccleston's status as the Doctor. But the truth is, The, that we don't know the Eccleston follows from McGann. We presume this, because the BBC's current marketing tells us this, but there's nothing in the series itself that tells us that McGann leads into Eccleston. (Indeed, I should note that had "The Flood" given us the eight-to-nine regeneration as planned, it would not have shown us Eccleston when all was said and done per "Flood Barriers.")

Nor is there anything that tells us that Richard E. Grant isn't the Doctor. He's not promoted as such any longer on the BBC's website, and despite being cleared for release the DVD of "Shalka" has yet to surface. So what his status is within the BBC is unknown. What I meant is that while we, as fans, can call Grant "Unbound" (and, to be fair, Paul Cornell, the creator of the REG Doctor, says that he's now Unbound), the BBC itself has made no statement one way or the other. We don't know that he fits, but neither do we know that he doesn't fit.

That's all I meant. And I'm certainly not taking the piss.

As for Grant's Doctor in three novels... there's the "Shalka" novelization by Cornell (which is worth it for Cornell's "Making Of" essay), Sometime... Never (which is really more of a lead-up to "Shalka"; Grant doesn't appear, but the Master does), and The Gallifrey Chronicles in which the Castellan Marnal looks into a TSV and sees the three ninth Doctors -- Atkinson, Grant, and Eccleston -- and is confused how a single Time Lord can have multiple, divergent futures.

 

[The]

And Richard E. Grant? We can call him an "Unbound" Doctor, but that's a fannish construct. The intention, when he was created, was that he was the ninth Doctor, and the BBC promoted him as the ninth Doctor. Three novels actually treat him as such. There's no evidence in the new series that he isn't the ninth Doctor. The only evidence that he isn't is the BBC's marketing. Does marketing count?

Are you taking the piss here? After four years of the new series, you're not seriously asking me about the canonical status of Eccleston's Doctor being The 9th Doctor, right? The BBC owns Doctor Who. They determine who is The Doctor, not fandom...

I'm not questioning Eccleston's status as the Doctor. But the truth is, The, that we don't know the Eccleston follows from McGann. We presume this, because the BBC's current marketing tells us this, but there's nothing in the series itself that tells us that McGann leads into Eccleston. (Indeed, I should note that had "The Flood" given us the eight-to-nine regeneration as planned, it would not have shown us Eccleston when all was said and done per "Flood Barriers.")

Nor is there anything that tells us that Richard E. Grant isn't the Doctor. He's not promoted as such any longer on the BBC's website, and despite being cleared for release the DVD of "Shalka" has yet to surface. So what his status is within the BBC is unknown. What I meant is that while we, as fans, can call Grant "Unbound" (and, to be fair, Paul Cornell, the creator of the REG Doctor, says that he's now Unbound), the BBC itself has made no statement one way or the other. We don't know that he fits, but neither do we know that he doesn't fit.

That's all I meant. And I'm certainly not taking the piss.

Okay, then I misunderstood you. I see what you're saying now. However, as you pointed out, ReG's Doc might as well be Unbound, since the Beeb doesn't acknowledge him at all, and his creator states that he is Unbound. Thus, negating him from "counting" in the main line of regenerations.

And if we're going to get right down to "cannon" (whatever that is in Who), the televised logic takes us from McGann to Eccleston, if not for the Book of Impossible Things, then in the order of real-world episode transmission...

 

[Worf2DS9]

Chimes of Midnight - this is available on iPlayer just now.

I'll also give a nod for "Chimes of Midnight". Definitely one of my faves. And of course "Storm Warning" because it's the first and introduces Charley. I also really like "Shada", which brings back Lalla Ward as Romana and John Leeson as K-9.