Posted 8 days ago at 13:00 | |
I'm sitting here wondering how this Big Finish downloads 'taster' service is going to work. In essence, it's simple. Pay 99p and you can download the first episode of any play. Like it and you can download the rest for £12.
All well and good, you might think. But the trouble with most Big Finish plays is that the first episode usually isn't that good. Either it's terminally dull set-up for a story that only later turns out to be intriguing, or it's all a complicated set-up for a story that only explains itself in the fourth act.
Case in point: The Haunting of Thomas Brewster. This comes across in the first episode as a cross between a piece of Oliver Twist fan fiction and a standard twisty turny time-travel story in which everyone starts popping up and laying down plans before events have caused them to happen – or they've even arrived.
Yet, if you miss out on it, you'll be missing out on a new (and possibly interesting?) series of fifth Doctor adventures.
Continue reading "Review: Doctor Who - The Haunting of Thomas Brewster"
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Posted 16 days ago at 11:29 | |
Big Finish producer Nigel Fairs and co painted themselves into something of a corner with their last Sapphire and Steel audio play. They really thought it was going to be the last one, since the sales figures had been somewhat lacking, so they essentially killed off Sapphire and Steel.
Trouble was, Big Finish supremo Jason Haigh-Ellery decided he wanted more episodes, commissioned a third series of stories and Fairs and co had to come up with a way out for our heroes. Several glasses of red wine later, they came up with the idea of recasting Sapphire and Steel.
So here's Second Sight, answering a question no one had previously asked before and never really wanted an answer to either: what if Sapphire and Steel were played by young Australian soap stars?
Continue reading "Review: Sapphire and Steel - Second Sight"
Posted 16 days ago at 08:37 | |
Zzzzz. Zzzzz.
Oh hello. I didn't see you there. Was I asleep? Sorry.
Right. A review of the new Big Finish eighth Doctor/Lucie Miller play, The Skull of Sobek.
The Skull of Sobek is set…
Zzzz. Zzzz. Zzzz.
Oh, I'm sorry. Did I fall asleep just then? How rude. Let's try again.
The Skull of Sobek is set…
Zzzz. Zzzz. Zzzz.
Oh dear. I did it again, didn't I? Right. Back in a minute after I've knocked back a pack of Pro Plus. I can see this is the only way I'm going to be able to get through it.
Continue reading "Review: Doctor Who - The Skull of Sobek"
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Posted on March 31, 2008 at 09:55 | |
I'm quite a fan of David Quantick. He's written for just about every comedy programme going. He's collaborated with Charlie Brooker and Chris Morris. He is, to put it bluntly, a talented man.
How, then, to react to the idea of a David Quantick comedy play, particularly one written for the seventh Doctor?
Is it going to be of the science fiction/Doctor Who milieu or is it going to be some random piece of comedy that takes the piss?Is it going to be of the terminally rubbish (but beloved by Big Finish) comedic season 24, or is it going to be of the darker season 25/26 style? Is Quantick going to know the characters and the back story, particularly of new companion Hex, played by Philip "Brookside/The Games/Naked calendars" Olivier? Is it, in short, going to be rubbish, or is it going to be worth listening to?
On balance, I'd say, if it weren't for the slight hindrances of Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred, it would actually be all right.
Continue reading "Review: Doctor Who - The Dark Husband"
Posted on March 27, 2008 at 12:39 | |
Thank Christ for that.
For quite some time, I've been wondering if there was ever going to be another, truly decent Eighth Doctor and Lucie story. Certainly, this season's have all been a bit on the wrong side of completely terrible.
But finally, we have a good 'un. Yey.
Might I, at this point, just say: “Heads and tails, heads and tails, heads and tails. Heads and tails, heads and tails, heads and tails?”
Yes, the rumours are true. The living legend Derek Griffiths is in this one. All hail Derek Griffiths.
Continue reading "Review: Doctor Who - Brave New Town"
Posted on March 17, 2008 at 10:19 | |
Cross-promotion is one of those little ideas that publishers have from time to time. "Why don't we include some kind of free gift with our next issue? That way, people who want the gift will buy the magazine and be introduced to our high quality editorial content and then buy every issue from now until the end of time? And the free gift maker will get their product in the hands of our readers, who'll then start buying their high quality merchandise. It's a win-win situation."
Of course, it never quite works like that in practice. Apart from all the readers gradually becoming accustomed to getting free gifts and eventually refusing to buy a magazine that doesn't include one, there's the little issue of the quality of the free gift and whether the readers are the sort of people who'd end up buying more products from the free gift manufacturer.
This month's Doctor Who Magazine includes a brand new, exclusive Big Finish play, Cuddlesome. Starring Peter Davison, Roberta Taylor (off The Bill and EastEnders), Timothy West and David "Son of Patrick" Troughton, it's the kind of play that makes you wonder exactly who it's aimed at and whether you'd ever buy it.
Continue reading "Review: Doctor Who - Cuddlesome"
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Read more on David Tennant on Derren Brown tonight