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[Doctor Who] audio dramas 

I listed to the first episode of slipback – it's not amazing, but it's so much better than Doctor Who and the Pescatons... if only because it is internally consistent... and doesn't have terrible grammar... and has good performances... and is augmented by background music...

[Doctor Who] audio dramas 

2 episodes in, and I actually don't know why it got such negative reviews... it doesn't really feel like Doctor Who, but it's not as horrible as I was lead to believe

[Doctor Who] audio dramas 

I finished slipback. It basically answered the question "What if Doctor Who was written in the style of Hitchiker's Guide?"

The answer to that is "it would feel anticlimactic and not actually be that funny"

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | behind the scenes 

ok, I made a table of contents.

And I'm convinced it's completely useless – in order to use it at all, you need to know what you're already looking for, and then read through a list of 259 different segments. It would be easier to just search the page.

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | money, decision 

Coming up soon is Bernice Summerfield Series 1, and I want to know if Bernice Summerfield is the kind of thing I want to listen to. So I have 2 options:

Option A – buy Series 1
Option B – buy "Bernice Summerfield – The Story So Far", which is intended to be a good introduction to the range.

(continued...)

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | money, decision 

It makes more sense to get The Story So Far (especially since I have that advice in my guide) but:

Series 1 is 6 stories (2 hours each) for $50
The Story so far is 3 stories (1 hour each) for $20

Now, obviously $20 will be better if I don't like the series. But if I *do* like the series, $50 for 12 hours is way better value than $20 for 3 hours.

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | money, decision 

(oh yeah, and the $50 price for series 1 is for the CDs, including delivery, whereas The Story So Far is a download.)

[Doctor Who] audio dramas 

The page is now significantly updated!

It's prettier, it's been proofread, and it has easy navigation between segments!

averylychee.neocities.org/doct

(I also listened to The Paradise of Death, which was good)

[Doctor Who] audio dramas 

I've now ordered Bernice Summerfield Series 1... hopefully I enjoy it

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | ghosts, afterlife 

Listening to The Ghosts of N-Space... it's weird to have a Doctor Who story that explicitly states that there is an afterlife, and that ghosts really are dead people coming back to try and fix what went wrong.

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | ghosts, afterlife 

it gets "worse" – one of the characters has an alchemical formula for the elixir of eternal life, and it works!

Now in Doctor Who, this generally has some kind of sci-fi explanation. But in this, the explanation is basically just "alchemy works, actually", which is really unsatisfying*.

The Ghosts of N-Space is a good story, and a good audio drama, but it doesn't really feel like Doctor Who.

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | ghosts, afterlife 

*the actual explanation given is that the formula allows someone to merge with their N-form.

Previously it was explained that N-forms are the forms people take after they die, and the forms that they use as they travel from real space through N-space to the afterlife.

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | ghosts, afterlife 

So in reality, the explanation for why the Elixir of Life is real is "the afterlife exists, but to get there you have to pass through N-space, and if you get stuck you become a ghost. This formula allows you to merge with your ghost, which means that you cannot die."

Which doesn't feel like a Sci-Fi explanation to me.

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | ✨ Update ✨ 

I just finished listening to Segment 1 (the BBC Radio Dramas)

Not the greatest segment., but still fairly enjoyable.

averylychee.neocities.org/doct

With this segment, the simplicity of my recommendations is fairly obvious to me – The Ghosts of N-Space is much better than Slipback, but both get a "Maybe" rating.

Both of them aren't quite enjoyable enough to warrant a "yes".

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | Advice wanted 

so today I listened to an audio drama outside of my listening order – it was Trial of the Valeyard, which is from Segment 123 (I've currently only listened to Segments 1 and 3).

So, my question is this: do I review this now, and have this reviewed audio drama mixed in with all the unreviewed ones, or do I review it when I innevitably get around to it when listening in the "proper" order?

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | Advice wanted 

extra context: this is a standalone release, it's not in the middle of a series or anything

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | ghosts, afterlife 

I just realised another thing about "The Ghosts of N-Space" that makes me like it less.

In the audio drama, the Doctor introduces "N-space" (short for null-space) as the place between here and the afterlife. Now, aside from all the problems I have with that on its own, it ignores a much more salient problem: "N-space" was already a term in the Doctor Who Universe.

N-space refers to *this* universe, in contrast to E-space (an alternate universe).

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | ghosts, afterlife 

(E-space originally featured in the 4th Doctor stories Full Circle, State of Decay, and Warrior's Gate; and has since featured in a small number of audio dramas and novels. N-space has featured in almost every single piece of Doctor Who media, by mere virtue of being the "default" universe)

[Doctor Who] audio dramas 

Listened to "The Choice", which is one of the fan made spin-offs.

It... wasn't as good as I hoped. In several scenes, I was rather confused as to what was actually happenning, and the tone kept rapidly switching back and forth between "comical" and "intensely dark".

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | ✨ Update ✨ 

I've now listened to the first 3 segments!

averylychee.neocities.org/doct

I'm also now ready to listen to all the subsequent segments up to segment 9, so.... exciting!

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | cw: pictures of: a cat with guns, a bug person and some nazis 

Bernice Summerfield Series 1 arrived!

CD 1: "Oh No It Isn't!"
Cover: a cat armed with a laser rifle

CD 2: "Beyond the Sun"
Cover: two desperate people in jumpsuits

CD 3: "Walking to Babylon"
Cover: someone in a headdress, presumably in a desert, with a smiley face following

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | cw: pictures of: a cat with guns, a bug person and some nazis 

CD 4: "Birthright"
Cover: a bug person in a british street

CD 5: "Just War"
Cover: some nazis marching in a british street

CD 6: Dragon's Wrath
Cover: a woman stealing a vase

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | cw: pictures of: a cat with guns, a bug person and some nazis 

Here's the covers again, but without glare

(I took these from the tardis wiki)

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | cw: pictures of: a cat with guns, a bug person and some nazis 

and the last half:

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | nazis 

I wish the cover of Just War had less nazi symbols on it.
In the story, they're unambiguously the bad guys (from everything I know about it), but....

it's still really weird to buy a product that literally has nazi stuff right on the front of it.

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | Bernice Summerfield 

I've now listened to the first 2 dramas.

[ Oh No It Isn't! ] — I didn't like it much... it''s centred around Bernice falling into a world of pantomime, which means it's very silly and not very sci-fi.

[ Beyond the Sun ] — really good! I loved the characters, and I loved the explorations into the different worldviews they had.

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | Bernice Summerfield 

I was a bit worried after listening to Oh No It Isn't!... I wondered if buying these dramas was a mistake.

But the second one turned out to be good, and I hope the rest are good too...

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | Bernice Summerfield, money 

Walking to Babylon is good, and (the first half of) Birthright is good too.

This was a good choice.

But now I have to make another choice: The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield, a 2014 follow up series, is currently on sale.

So I have to choose: do I spend $50 now, and get audio dramas from 15 years after what I'm currently listening to, or do I wait and spend $95 on them when I get to that point in the series?

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | Bernice Summerfield, money 

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | Bernice Summerfield, money 

I think I'm going to get it.

Worst case: I don't listen to The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield until I get up to them in my listening order, and by that time (in the distant future) they're discounted to this price already.

(and I have some spare money right now – I set aside some money over the past few months to get a Thing™, and then didn't get the thing.)

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | Bernice Summerfield 

I've really enjoyed the middle part of Series 1.

Story 1 (Oh No It Isn't!) wasn't that engaging in the first half.

But stories 2–5 have been really good. The one I listened to today (Just War) made me cry, and was really... human.

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | Bernice Summerfield 

gosh darnit.

Dragon's Wrath was a really good story... but the drama had a bunch of audio and post-production problems, and you can really hear it – there's times when the music makes it impossible to hear the dialogue, some of the characters sound like they've been recorded from the other side of the room...

It's not enough to make it unlistenable, but it is enough to be frustrating, especially since the story is good and an interesting change.

[Doctor Who] audio dramas 

But, on the other hand: I've now finished all* of segment 5!

averylychee.neocities.org/doct

*not actually all, because in the middle of it there are 2 special releases which are really hard to find.

And because I skipped ahead and listened to segment 6 already, I'm now moving on to segment 7, which contains the Doctor again! It's been almost a month since I listened to a drama with the Doctor in it, there's been a lot of spin off stuff.

[Doctor Who] audio dramas 

hmmm..... maybe I *should* add the original-to-audio audiobooks to this list...

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | opinions wanted 

Which should I do:

option 1: Add the audiobooks to the list, thus meaning I have to re-do all the segment numbers

option 2: Add the audiobooks to a seperate page, with notes about which segments they should be in

option 3: do nothing

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | opinions (no longer) wanted 

I'm going to be doing option 2 – the situation with audiobooks is much simpler than the situation with audio dramas.

Plus: if I'm in the mood for listening to an audio drama, I'm not necessarily in the mood for an audiobook, and I think that probably applies to other people too.

Plus plus: I can also make a list for the novels this way, without making it difficult for people to also find the audiobooks.

[Doctor Who] audio dramas 

I've finished a few more audio dramas since I last posted an update, 2 of which (The Holy Terror and The Mutant Phase) were very good.

But, exciting news: the next audio dramas in the list are ones starring Paul McGann as the 8th Doctor.

I'm really looking forward to these, I love (what little I've seen of) Paul McGann's portrayal of the Doctor, and I'm eager to see where this series takes the character.

[Doctor Who] audio dramas 

What makes these especially interesting is that the writers have free reign: with the other Doctors, all the stories have to somehow fit in with the established timeline shown on TV, but the only 8th Doctor TV story was the movie, which showed the first few hours of his life, and ended with him leaving alone in the TARDIS. There's no sequence of companions to deal with, and there's no difficulty adding in an essentially infinite number of adventures set after the movie

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | clarifying tangent 

I say that there's nothing to deal with, but that's an over simplification. Prior to the audio dramas starting, there were:

• 40 books published featuring the 8th doctor's adventures, set directly after the TV movie
• Two *separate* series of comic strips, a total of 20 stories.

But for the most part you can just say that the order of the stories is:

1. The Movie
2. Books
3. Comics
4. Audio Dramas

and each of those is completely separate

Follow

[Doctor Who] audio dramas | International Women's Day 

For International Women's day, Big Finish is releasing a box set of new stories that are lead by women, written by women, directed by women, AND produced by a woman.

bigfinish.com/news/v/the-eight

Doctor Who • Audio Dramas ░ Thoughts on Paul McGann after 2 episodes 

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Doctor Who • Audio Dramas ░ Thoughts on Paul McGann after 2 episodes 

Paul McGann is... really good!

I don't know what else to say except aaaa

Doctor Who • Audio Dramas ░ Main Range 17: Sword of Orion 

Sword of Orion is really hecking good.

It's the first Big Finish story to feature the cybermen, and I'm glad they didn't just go with the "foiling an invasion" plotline – this one is jam-packed with human drama and intrigue (much like my favourite classic series cyberman story, Tomb of the Cybermen).

Doctor Who • Audio Dramas ░ Main Range 18: The Stones of Venice 

I listened to The Stones of Venice today, and I liked it.

It's very gloomy, though...

Doctor Who • Audio Dramas 

I'm considering changing the page so that instead of each entry listing the featured companions and enemies, it lists the author.

Doctor Who • Audio Dramas 

Looking at this as though I'm a casual Doctor Who fan who wants to figure out what to listen to, I wouldn't find this useful.

Knowing who wrote a story is (sadly) far less intriguing than knowing who is in it.

Doctor Who • Audio Dramas ░ Main Range 19: Minuet in Hell 

I didn't like this one as much, and even though it's not the *worst*, it did have several themes that made me uncomfortable.

I did like that they had Nicholas Briggs playing a man who had been caught up in a time vortex malfunction and was convinced that he was The Doctor
(Briggs had previously played the Doctor in some fan audio dramas several years earlier.)

Doctor Who • Audio Dramas 

Speaking of Nicholas Briggs, he just answered a question of mine in the latest Big Finish podcast:

bigfinish.com/podcasts/v/2019-

(at around the 9 minute mark)

Doctor Who • Audio Dramas ░ Main Range 19: Minuet in Hell 

Thinking about Minuet in Hell again, and there are so many elements that I like:

• it features the Brigadier alongside the 8th Doctor, for the first time
• it's set on Earth, but not in London
• there are 3 seemingly separate plot-lines happening at once, and the ways they weave into each other are amazing

But I don't like how edgy it is.

(continued)

Doctor Who • Audio Dramas ░ Main Range 19: Minuet in Hell 

and I especially don't like that the 8th Doctor has such a diminished role in this story.

I usually like stories where the Doctor is absent/barely there (like Blink, Turn Left, and The Crimson Horror), but in this case I'm not too sure.

Especially since we have the Brigadier here! The Brigadier and the 8th Doctor only properly meet up in Part 4, and it feels like somewhat wasted potential.

Doctor Who • Audio Dramas ░ Main Range 19: Minuet in Hell 

Also I'm getting an increasing sense of "the audio dramas like to make paranormal things real or have creatures that feed on emotions"

MR 2: Phantasmagoria
features an occultist and seemingly supernatural phenomenon

MR 4: The Land of the Dead
features ancient creatures from Koyukon mythology

MR 5: The Fearmonger
features a creature which feeds on fear.

MR 9: The Spectre of Lanyon Moor
features a Spectre/imp

(cont)

Doctor Who • Audio Dramas 

MR 10: Winter for the Adept
features a poltergeist

MR 13: The Shadow of the Scourge
features creatures from another dimension which feed on dark thoughts

MR 19: Minuet in Hell
features "demons" who feed off fear and anger.

That's 37%.

37% of the main range stories so far feature either paranormal themes or emotion eating psychic creatures.

and the next one?
it features a werewolf.

Doctor Who • Audio Dramas 

It looks like they stop doing paranormal stories after Main Range 26: Primeval

thank goodness for that... I think the oversaturation of the audio dramas with Supernatural Nonsense That Turns Out To Be Aliens is starting to get a little draining.

Doctor Who • Audio Dramas ░ Wirrn: Race Memory 

Every time there's a gap between BBV stories, I forget that they can actually be good.

Race Memory is really good (and is somewhat of a sequel to the TV story "Ark in Space")

Doctor Who • Audio Dramas ░ Update ✨ 

I've now listened to all of Segment 8!

averylychee.neocities.org/doct

Currently I'm debating whether my reviews should be visible right away, or if they should be hidden by default. Let me know what you think!

Doctor Who • Audio Dramas 

Currently, my favourites list at the top of the page includes:

2 seventh doctor stories
1 sixth doctor story that I've not even actually listened to and keep intending on replacing
1 eighth doctor story

Maybe I should try to have one favourite for each doctor?

I'm not sure...

Doctor Who • Audio Dramas 

I think part of my problem is that (in my mind at least) "favourite" is a different category to "definitely recommended"

So even though I definitely recommend The Marian Conspiracy and The Holy Terror (6th Doctor stories), I don't consider either to be my favourite. And even if I did, The Holy Terror isn't neccessarily the best introduction point for someone new to big finish, and The Marian Conspiracy is purely historical, which makes it sound less appealing.

Doctor Who • Audio Dramas 

it's better to not have a 6th doctor story in the favourites list for now, than to have a list full of lies

Doctor Who • Audio Dramas ░ Main Range 20: Loups-Garoux 

I *was* enjoying this.

And then there's this really unnecessary scene where the Doctor goes to Turlough and awkwardly asks about dating and says stuff on the lines of "I don't really understand women".

And.... arg... it's so frustrating, because it humanises the Doctor in exactly the worst possible way — it makes him seem like an awkward school boy who has never had girls for friends, when the Doctor has had plenty of girls as companions.

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Doctor Who • Audio Dramas ░ Thoughts on Paul McGann after 2 episodes 

@lizardsquid Paul McGann is the best. It’s a shame so many of his audios are too stressful for me to listen to

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