Some Doctor Who Audios/AudioBooks
Jul. 21st, 2008 07:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eve11Where oh where did I leave off??? So anyway I had some free time (read, car trips) in which I listened to many Doctor Who audios over the past few weeks months: Spoilers within the commentary!
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Pest Control: Audiobook format read by David Tennant. Well worth it for his reading skill; he is way fun to listen to, and he does some really great voices for all of the characters to differentiate them. That, and the price of admission is worth it for Donna's line: "Doctor, they're dropping ponies on us!"
This was a great little adventure-- where else but in audio format (or audiobook, as it were) can you have war-torn planets, human soldiers, Centaurs (centaurs!), metamorphoses into giant bugs and oh yeah, A GIANT ROBOT!!! Giant Robot was total win. I knew zip zero nada about this story before listening to it, so all of these elements were a complete surprise. And whereas in video format I would probably find it *harder* to lose myself in the story, what with CGI and yeah, okay, CENTAURS, but the book format had just enough detachment for me to really enjoy it.
I loved the first appearance of the giant Robot, and Donna's reaction to it too. And the scene between the Doctor and the Equabi second-in-command-- Padova? No, that was the general-- arg, this is going to bug me (yes, okay, pun intended) until I remember it... anyway, the scene between Her and the Doctor when he's trying to get back in the TARDIS and it aaaaaalmost works ;) Anyway, I was meh on General Brudge and Surgeon Lenova-- they were rather stock bad guys. It bothered me too, that the Doctor at the end just kind of sat and postured about bah, no guns, no killing, etc, and stopped Brudge from shooting Bug-Queen-Lenova, and then she ate Brudge for his troubles! Doctor, I know the guy wasn't a good guy per se, but he didn't deserve that, and that death is squarely on your head! The writing itself was pretty stock but Tennant really gave it life. All in all a very enjoyable adventure and a crazy mystery with all of those different sub-plots coming into play. I definitely recommend it :)
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Assassin in the Limelight: I just listened to this one on my drive today (business trip in that quasi-gray area where it takes just as long to drive as to fly, so I drove and listened to Doctor Who audios. After buying an iTrip FM transmitter b/c while my rental car was quite zippy, it didn't have an audiojack!), and despite being unfamiliar with the Indo bad guys, I still enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It's a strange tale-- in the historical sensibility of Medicinal Purposes (hello again Doctor Knox, you crazy walking corpse, you!), but I think it was executed a bit better. Lots of misdirection and sub-plot red herrings waltzing around a pretty standard plot-- despair-thriving blue glowy aliens take over humans and wreak havoc... what? Not so standard? Well, I know Star Trek did it, except then the aliens were class and had a cane that turned into a snake (win!). Anyway, the accents were pretty good, and there was that moral dilemma of what you can and can't change, though Evelyn appears to have learned her lesson. And she taught the Doctor some lessons too! So it was a bit flighty, but still enjoyable. Poor Doctor, stuck for however long a time in that can-can-ing TARDIS, though. Heh.
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Grand Theft Cosmos, The Zygon Who Fell To Earth, and The Sisters of the Flame:
I've been enjoying season 2 of Eight and Lucie so much, I forgot that it's only 8 episodes. This left one very displeased chica cruising down the highway when we hit the massive cliffhanger at the end of Sisters of the Flame. Silly me, I should have realized, what with the next part being called "Vengeance of Morbius"-- but you see, I'd SEEN "Brain of Morbius" but had totally forgotten to connect the whole "mad scientist pieces together body of crazy Time Lord" subplot with "Crazy psycho sisterhood is ticked that the candle in their magic cupboard is going out." Silly me. Seriously though, I should've just remembered the shite time of it poor Sarah Jane had through both of those and then been like, "Oh yeah, I guess that was the same episode!". Blinded, kidnapped, tied up, almost turned into a crazed altEvilVerse Furbee-cum-Teletubby... she really got the short end of the stick in that one.
Aaaaanyway, did I mention I've been really loving this season? After the rather dud (or more like 'WTF???') of an opener in Dead London, we got Max Warp and I was introduced to the world of Top Gear (and it reminds me a bit of Bang-Bang-a-Boom that way, which I discuss later on), then Brave New Town which I loved to tiny itty bitty bits (unexpected!Autons!!!!), the Skull of Sobek which managed to be almost utterly incomprehensible BUT STILL ENTERTAINING (eep! Crocodiles! eep!), and then the above three episodes that I mention, which were all, by the way, utterly fantastic. Love the crazy diamond heist and the race against the Bounty Hunter and her protege, and I loved Lucie's Posh accent and how that just takes it out of her ;) New Who needs more capers! I decree it. And then in the Zygon Who Fell to Earth, we get the true story of auntie Pat, star-crossed lover of Trevor the Zygon (reformed), and she saves the world and it's grand and tragic. And the Doctor doesn't tell Lucie everything, and it's of course quite in character. And then the most recent one, wherein Alexander Siddig plays the dashing, brave and heroic... ten foot centipede... with a voice that rivals Paul McGann's on my "list of people I'd listen to reading the phone book". We see the return of Straxis, and the Time Rings, and that pesky sisterhood and a megalomaniacal baddie who nonetheless I thought was quite a real-world character in his frustrations at hisstaff personal army. And the Cliffhanger of DOOM! And a preview for the next one! Is it out yet? How about now? *sighs*
==========================
Some older ones that I don't think I've talked about yet (or haven't said much about, or just relistened to, or listened to a while ago but still want to talk about):
==========================
Bang-Bang-a-Boom: This is one of those audios I keep going back to re-listen to. Because it's brilliant. The Star Trek parody is top notch: Deep Space Eight, Doctor Harcourt who always feels so, so... helpless! and for good reason! The drunk-off-his-ass science officer who just makes shit up, and then oh yeah, by the way, did I mention the main plot of the audio is an Intergalactic Song Contest!!?? I love the over-the-top performance of the woman playing Queen Angvia, and the poor first announcer who gets offed early on, and the poor lieutenant who has to take his place. I love the Doctor and Mel, with Mel off jumping to conclusions and the Doctor sitting back, keeping the bickering to a minimum, and observing until he knows what's going on. "We shall convene, in the restroom!" "The Rest Room?" "Ah, Ready room, I mean...". And I'm SURE that the mediator "Jerry Packer" has got to be an in joke about someone, though I'm not sure whom. Eurovision's version of Ryan Seacrest, maybe?
At any rate, the date between the Doctor and Queen Angvia had me in stitches the first time I listened to it. Luckily I was in my car and stuck in a traffic jam, so I had time to wipe the tears from my eyes. And when he figures out what's happened, his conversation with Mel is priceless. "You know that thing, that I NEVER DO? I almost did!" "Doctor! With Angvia!!??" Oh man, I'm paraphrasing but it's utterly hilarious. I love that the Doctor plays the spoons at the end and wins the contest, and that all they have to do to keep Deep Space Eight from blowing to kingdom come is keep neurotic Nicky Newman from losing his lunch. Too many good things that I could choose from to talk about, not enough space. Ah well, guess I'll just have to go listen to it again...
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Nekromantea: I'd heard that this one was un-listenable, but I made it through allright. Whoa, though, can you say Dark? Jesus. Doctor gets decapitated, Erimem gets physically and pretty much almost sexually assaulted, and Peri gets kidnapped by witches who worship a giant skull hologram. And oh, who drink blood and re-animate the dead. And of course Peri is saved by a corporate anthropologist observer who is swayed by her beauty to go and rescue her outside the bounds of his duty when I'm sure he would have let a (a) male, (b) alien/black/insertminoritycharacterhere or (c) ugly person die. Then we have to listen in icky detail when the reanimated witch corpses cut out this dudes tongue! Holy Ick factor, batman!!!! Why exactly DID they go to that planet again?
But hey, Packers! Who show up in Bang-Bang-a-Boom (above) and that marketplace, I can't remember the name, but that marketplace is the same one from Storm Warning. Oh, oh yeah, there's some sub-plot with a scientist who saves his brain and who ends up in a sentient cat. You know, now that I think about it, it kind of reminds me of the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, with all of the blood and the witchcraft and the f-ed up planet. But I listened to it-- it was the only Five audio I'd not yet heard. So, yeah, for the completist. I recommend a dose of puppies and kittens and rainbows afterward to stave off the feelings of despair.
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==========================
The Fearmonger: Seemed like this one really smacked you over the head with the liberal agenda message. Which hey, I'm all for a liberal agenda, um, in some cases, but the whole anvil of truthiness to this ep kind of turned me off. On the other hand, I liked the fact at the end that it WASN'T the evil politicians who were possessed by the evil thing-that-somehow-makes-you-afraid-of-everything. And that also, oh yeah, they did a good job of making the Doctor sound utterly, utterly sinister when Ace was possessed with the thing. I was NOT prepared for the Doctor to be right, ie, for Ace to be the one infected. I didn't trust the Doctor further than I could throw him, in that. And then of course, at the end, you get that little gut-twisting scene that only Seven can do fully in character. He is a right bastard sometimes. He really is.
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==========================
Colditz: How did I not talk about this one before? Maybe I did, but I'll repeat myself. It's The Great Escape meets Doctor Who! Totally awesome. Complete with the standard "Nazis-win-WWII" trope and the "betrayed-by-cowardly-cohort" trope, and David Tennant doing what I'm told is a crappy German accent, but I didn't think it sounded too bad. Ace is totally Ace in this one, trying her darndest to get out as soon as possible, throwing wrenches into everyone's expectations and yeah, possibly also plans. Man, I have to go back and listen to this one again... I'm a sucker for capture and escape, outsmarting or outrunning, and I really liked the timey-wimey aspect of it too, with the Doctor's TARDIS weaving in and out of the tale. Top notch. Will listen to again :)
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==========================
Night Thoughts: This one creeped me the fuck out. No, seriously. It was like a gothic vampire/zombie tale meets Stephen King's The Shining, and F-ing creepier. The notion of a reanimate child who talks to people through a crazy girl and her crazy creep-me-the-fuck-out bunny rabbit... oh man, just take all of the horror movies I caught glimpses of as a kid (before up and leaving the room or changing the channel)-- take all of the weird, surreal, not-quite-ghost stories, untimely deaths, half-human vengeance spirits lurking in the dark and oh yeah freaking TAXIDERMISTS! (Jeez!), roll them into one and then listen with the light on. There were echoes of all the brilliantly creepy horror movies in this one-- Jason (??) from friday the 13th tugging the kids under the lake, Tony the redrum imaginary friend, even that creep-out electroshock machine from Return to Oz-- all under the thinnest veneer of temporal science but really, they just wanted to scare the pants off us, I think.
==========================
I've listened to some others (Catch-1782, The Nowhere Place, The Fires of Vulcan) that I don't have much to say about. Maybe later.
Next on my list, I've downloaded all six of the Doctor Who: Unbound series, though when they extracted into iTunes some of them looked like a small set of files, so I hope they were all full versions. Oh, and I have the Death Collectors... that one's for my drive back home.
==========================
Pest Control: Audiobook format read by David Tennant. Well worth it for his reading skill; he is way fun to listen to, and he does some really great voices for all of the characters to differentiate them. That, and the price of admission is worth it for Donna's line: "Doctor, they're dropping ponies on us!"
This was a great little adventure-- where else but in audio format (or audiobook, as it were) can you have war-torn planets, human soldiers, Centaurs (centaurs!), metamorphoses into giant bugs and oh yeah, A GIANT ROBOT!!! Giant Robot was total win. I knew zip zero nada about this story before listening to it, so all of these elements were a complete surprise. And whereas in video format I would probably find it *harder* to lose myself in the story, what with CGI and yeah, okay, CENTAURS, but the book format had just enough detachment for me to really enjoy it.
I loved the first appearance of the giant Robot, and Donna's reaction to it too. And the scene between the Doctor and the Equabi second-in-command-- Padova? No, that was the general-- arg, this is going to bug me (yes, okay, pun intended) until I remember it... anyway, the scene between Her and the Doctor when he's trying to get back in the TARDIS and it aaaaaalmost works ;) Anyway, I was meh on General Brudge and Surgeon Lenova-- they were rather stock bad guys. It bothered me too, that the Doctor at the end just kind of sat and postured about bah, no guns, no killing, etc, and stopped Brudge from shooting Bug-Queen-Lenova, and then she ate Brudge for his troubles! Doctor, I know the guy wasn't a good guy per se, but he didn't deserve that, and that death is squarely on your head! The writing itself was pretty stock but Tennant really gave it life. All in all a very enjoyable adventure and a crazy mystery with all of those different sub-plots coming into play. I definitely recommend it :)
==========================
==========================
Assassin in the Limelight: I just listened to this one on my drive today (business trip in that quasi-gray area where it takes just as long to drive as to fly, so I drove and listened to Doctor Who audios. After buying an iTrip FM transmitter b/c while my rental car was quite zippy, it didn't have an audiojack!), and despite being unfamiliar with the Indo bad guys, I still enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It's a strange tale-- in the historical sensibility of Medicinal Purposes (hello again Doctor Knox, you crazy walking corpse, you!), but I think it was executed a bit better. Lots of misdirection and sub-plot red herrings waltzing around a pretty standard plot-- despair-thriving blue glowy aliens take over humans and wreak havoc... what? Not so standard? Well, I know Star Trek did it, except then the aliens were class and had a cane that turned into a snake (win!). Anyway, the accents were pretty good, and there was that moral dilemma of what you can and can't change, though Evelyn appears to have learned her lesson. And she taught the Doctor some lessons too! So it was a bit flighty, but still enjoyable. Poor Doctor, stuck for however long a time in that can-can-ing TARDIS, though. Heh.
==========================
==========================
Grand Theft Cosmos, The Zygon Who Fell To Earth, and The Sisters of the Flame:
I've been enjoying season 2 of Eight and Lucie so much, I forgot that it's only 8 episodes. This left one very displeased chica cruising down the highway when we hit the massive cliffhanger at the end of Sisters of the Flame. Silly me, I should have realized, what with the next part being called "Vengeance of Morbius"-- but you see, I'd SEEN "Brain of Morbius" but had totally forgotten to connect the whole "mad scientist pieces together body of crazy Time Lord" subplot with "Crazy psycho sisterhood is ticked that the candle in their magic cupboard is going out." Silly me. Seriously though, I should've just remembered the shite time of it poor Sarah Jane had through both of those and then been like, "Oh yeah, I guess that was the same episode!". Blinded, kidnapped, tied up, almost turned into a crazed altEvilVerse Furbee-cum-Teletubby... she really got the short end of the stick in that one.
Aaaaanyway, did I mention I've been really loving this season? After the rather dud (or more like 'WTF???') of an opener in Dead London, we got Max Warp and I was introduced to the world of Top Gear (and it reminds me a bit of Bang-Bang-a-Boom that way, which I discuss later on), then Brave New Town which I loved to tiny itty bitty bits (unexpected!Autons!!!!), the Skull of Sobek which managed to be almost utterly incomprehensible BUT STILL ENTERTAINING (eep! Crocodiles! eep!), and then the above three episodes that I mention, which were all, by the way, utterly fantastic. Love the crazy diamond heist and the race against the Bounty Hunter and her protege, and I loved Lucie's Posh accent and how that just takes it out of her ;) New Who needs more capers! I decree it. And then in the Zygon Who Fell to Earth, we get the true story of auntie Pat, star-crossed lover of Trevor the Zygon (reformed), and she saves the world and it's grand and tragic. And the Doctor doesn't tell Lucie everything, and it's of course quite in character. And then the most recent one, wherein Alexander Siddig plays the dashing, brave and heroic... ten foot centipede... with a voice that rivals Paul McGann's on my "list of people I'd listen to reading the phone book". We see the return of Straxis, and the Time Rings, and that pesky sisterhood and a megalomaniacal baddie who nonetheless I thought was quite a real-world character in his frustrations at his
==========================
Some older ones that I don't think I've talked about yet (or haven't said much about, or just relistened to, or listened to a while ago but still want to talk about):
==========================
Bang-Bang-a-Boom: This is one of those audios I keep going back to re-listen to. Because it's brilliant. The Star Trek parody is top notch: Deep Space Eight, Doctor Harcourt who always feels so, so... helpless! and for good reason! The drunk-off-his-ass science officer who just makes shit up, and then oh yeah, by the way, did I mention the main plot of the audio is an Intergalactic Song Contest!!?? I love the over-the-top performance of the woman playing Queen Angvia, and the poor first announcer who gets offed early on, and the poor lieutenant who has to take his place. I love the Doctor and Mel, with Mel off jumping to conclusions and the Doctor sitting back, keeping the bickering to a minimum, and observing until he knows what's going on. "We shall convene, in the restroom!" "The Rest Room?" "Ah, Ready room, I mean...". And I'm SURE that the mediator "Jerry Packer" has got to be an in joke about someone, though I'm not sure whom. Eurovision's version of Ryan Seacrest, maybe?
At any rate, the date between the Doctor and Queen Angvia had me in stitches the first time I listened to it. Luckily I was in my car and stuck in a traffic jam, so I had time to wipe the tears from my eyes. And when he figures out what's happened, his conversation with Mel is priceless. "You know that thing, that I NEVER DO? I almost did!" "Doctor! With Angvia!!??" Oh man, I'm paraphrasing but it's utterly hilarious. I love that the Doctor plays the spoons at the end and wins the contest, and that all they have to do to keep Deep Space Eight from blowing to kingdom come is keep neurotic Nicky Newman from losing his lunch. Too many good things that I could choose from to talk about, not enough space. Ah well, guess I'll just have to go listen to it again...
==========================
==========================
Nekromantea: I'd heard that this one was un-listenable, but I made it through allright. Whoa, though, can you say Dark? Jesus. Doctor gets decapitated, Erimem gets physically and pretty much almost sexually assaulted, and Peri gets kidnapped by witches who worship a giant skull hologram. And oh, who drink blood and re-animate the dead. And of course Peri is saved by a corporate anthropologist observer who is swayed by her beauty to go and rescue her outside the bounds of his duty when I'm sure he would have let a (a) male, (b) alien/black/insertminoritycharacterhere or (c) ugly person die. Then we have to listen in icky detail when the reanimated witch corpses cut out this dudes tongue! Holy Ick factor, batman!!!! Why exactly DID they go to that planet again?
But hey, Packers! Who show up in Bang-Bang-a-Boom (above) and that marketplace, I can't remember the name, but that marketplace is the same one from Storm Warning. Oh, oh yeah, there's some sub-plot with a scientist who saves his brain and who ends up in a sentient cat. You know, now that I think about it, it kind of reminds me of the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, with all of the blood and the witchcraft and the f-ed up planet. But I listened to it-- it was the only Five audio I'd not yet heard. So, yeah, for the completist. I recommend a dose of puppies and kittens and rainbows afterward to stave off the feelings of despair.
==========================
==========================
The Fearmonger: Seemed like this one really smacked you over the head with the liberal agenda message. Which hey, I'm all for a liberal agenda, um, in some cases, but the whole anvil of truthiness to this ep kind of turned me off. On the other hand, I liked the fact at the end that it WASN'T the evil politicians who were possessed by the evil thing-that-somehow-makes-you-afraid-of-everything. And that also, oh yeah, they did a good job of making the Doctor sound utterly, utterly sinister when Ace was possessed with the thing. I was NOT prepared for the Doctor to be right, ie, for Ace to be the one infected. I didn't trust the Doctor further than I could throw him, in that. And then of course, at the end, you get that little gut-twisting scene that only Seven can do fully in character. He is a right bastard sometimes. He really is.
==========================
==========================
Colditz: How did I not talk about this one before? Maybe I did, but I'll repeat myself. It's The Great Escape meets Doctor Who! Totally awesome. Complete with the standard "Nazis-win-WWII" trope and the "betrayed-by-cowardly-cohort" trope, and David Tennant doing what I'm told is a crappy German accent, but I didn't think it sounded too bad. Ace is totally Ace in this one, trying her darndest to get out as soon as possible, throwing wrenches into everyone's expectations and yeah, possibly also plans. Man, I have to go back and listen to this one again... I'm a sucker for capture and escape, outsmarting or outrunning, and I really liked the timey-wimey aspect of it too, with the Doctor's TARDIS weaving in and out of the tale. Top notch. Will listen to again :)
==========================
==========================
Night Thoughts: This one creeped me the fuck out. No, seriously. It was like a gothic vampire/zombie tale meets Stephen King's The Shining, and F-ing creepier. The notion of a reanimate child who talks to people through a crazy girl and her crazy creep-me-the-fuck-out bunny rabbit... oh man, just take all of the horror movies I caught glimpses of as a kid (before up and leaving the room or changing the channel)-- take all of the weird, surreal, not-quite-ghost stories, untimely deaths, half-human vengeance spirits lurking in the dark and oh yeah freaking TAXIDERMISTS! (Jeez!), roll them into one and then listen with the light on. There were echoes of all the brilliantly creepy horror movies in this one-- Jason (??) from friday the 13th tugging the kids under the lake, Tony the redrum imaginary friend, even that creep-out electroshock machine from Return to Oz-- all under the thinnest veneer of temporal science but really, they just wanted to scare the pants off us, I think.
==========================
I've listened to some others (Catch-1782, The Nowhere Place, The Fires of Vulcan) that I don't have much to say about. Maybe later.
Next on my list, I've downloaded all six of the Doctor Who: Unbound series, though when they extracted into iTunes some of them looked like a small set of files, so I hope they were all full versions. Oh, and I have the Death Collectors... that one's for my drive back home.
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no subject
Date: 2008-07-23 02:10 pm (UTC)And, yeah, I really hope that Vengeance of Morbius isn't released late, 'cause I don't know how I'm going to wait for it as it is.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-24 03:14 am (UTC)I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed. I love it to bits!
And yeah, I want to hear Vengeance of Morbius now! More ten-foot-centipede-heroes!
no subject
Date: 2008-07-24 02:22 am (UTC)I don't think so. The squeaky rodent aliens were the Pakhars, and they first appeared back in the days of the Doctor Who: The New Adventures (NAs) book line (the 1990s). Jerry is actually Geri.
There was a Keri Pakhar in a couple of the books, and she might have been a slight in-joke -- I have a vague memory of someone suggesting that her way of talking reminded him of one of the NA authors. I wouldn't know, though.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-24 03:16 am (UTC)