Big Finish catchup post: Voyage to Venus, Love and War, UNIT: Dominion, Dark Eyes, Many Happy Return

[usuallyhats]

Can anyone recommend me a good PC-based twitter client that'll let me mark tweets as seen and clear seen tweets? I've been using Tweetdeck, but apparently that was bought by Twitter last year (!) and replaced with a version that doesn't have those features. :(

~

Off sick = listen to ALL the audios! Though actually some of these I listened to ages ago.

Voyage to Venus was lots of fun, but I did have one issue with it: when the guest characters started appearing, I thought, "oh, that's good, they've made up for the entirely male main cast by having all the supporting characters be female. Let's hope this isn't Yet Another Dystopian Matriarchy, though!" ...yeah. Note to writers: a society can be female dominated without a) their being tyrants and/or b) subjugating men out of existence. :/

Not much to say about Love and War except that I really liked it.

UNIT: Dominion I have more mixed feelings on. I warmed to Raine really fast (and am considering getting her Lost Stories to hear more about her), and spent a lot of part one going "but what about Raine and Seven? Let's get back to them!". I liked Klein a lot, too, and want to see where she goes next. The Skyheads were a brilliant idea and I would happily listen to a whole audio just about them. The image of our heroes flying around sitting on them was ace. Though, did I miss some dialogue or do we never actually find out what happens to them? (Genuine question: my brain is not at its best at the moment, due to ill.) On the minus side, I found the Other Doctor intensely irritating, and the revelation that he was really the Master didn't help: I prefer the Master to be more Delgado than Simm, please. Also, UNIT needed more women, seriously. As far as I could tell, it was pretty much a boy's club + Klein, sigh. I liked Pete Wilson, but would have LOVED Petra Wilson, for example. If nothing else, all the "oh noes my very pregnant wife" bits would have been less clichéd that way. Oh, and I am sad that it doesn't tie into the previous, excellent, UNIT series. :(

I wrote most of this earlier but held off on posting in case Dark Eyes ended badly, but I needn't have worried: it was fantastic and I loved it (almost - see later) unreservedly. It's about hope, and how sometimes it's difficult and takes courage, but it's important. I ADORED Molly: she's angry and scared and defensive and independent and resourceful, and joyful and no-nonsense, and she's sympathetic to the Doctor's pain but isn't going to let it justify any nonsense from him, and she can't keep her hands off the TARDIS console and AUGH I LOVE HERRRRRR. "Relentlessly unimpressed with the Doctor's shenanigans" is a quality I enjoy in a companion. My one issue is that she didn't stay. I am fed up with short term companions! (See also: Shelley, Mary.) The door is definitely open for the Doctor to go after her and get her back (and get Kitty too, so I can ship them some more, please and thank you), but I really wanted that to happen within the series itself. I'm listening to the extras right now and crossing my fingers that they say something about her coming back. (Also, for fellow fans of Paul McGann's voice, he both sings and speaks French. Yep.)

I also listened to the special Benny release, Many Happy Returns, which had the perfect Benny mixture of hilarity, adventure and feelings. ♥ Must catch up on Benny. I let my main range subscription lapse recently due to disorganisation, and having heard what happens in the next one I'm missing (Gods and Monsters) I'm not eager to pick it up, so maybe I will take a break for some Benny instead. And possibly some Companion Chronicles: I'm years behind on them. (Any recs?)

Comments

[paranoidangel]

I'm still using the old version of TweetDeck - at least I assume I am since it still has all those features. I must have put it on my new computer when I got it in May, so I can send you the setup file if you like.

Assuming you're using the standalone version, rather the browser version.

[usuallyhats]

That would be great, thank you! I still have it on my current laptop, but it would be good to have the setup file on hand in case I get a new laptop before I find a decent alternative. I'm planning to stick with the old TweetDeck as long as I can, but I have noticed that it's not working as well as it used to (it won't let me tweet photos any more, for example) - though of course that may be my aging laptop!

[paranoidangel]

Now I come to think of it, it does work better on Linux than Windows, but that could be because I usually read on Linux, so it never has more than 100 or so new posts, whereas on Windows it has as many as it can keep up with.

I think I've only tried posting a photo using it once and that was a long time ago.

I still miss the days when TweetDeck told you how many unread posts you had at the top of each column.

I went to upload the old version (I have 0.38.1) and found there's a choice of old versions at http://www.oldversion.com/windows/tweetdeck/ Interestingly the most popular version is 0.38.2, which suggests it all went downhill from there.

[usuallyhats]

Thank you! *bookmarks* I think I have version 0.38.1 at the moment too.

I don't post photos often, but it used to be really easy and now it gets stuck in an error message loop. :(

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Everything with Liz - or Katy Manning - with regard to the Companion Chronicles. Esp the last one Caroline John did (though listening to the extras may make you cry). But really, Liz's CCs are fantastic - I love her competence and no-nonsense attitude, and besides she always pwns!

Katy M's audios are worth it for the enormous variety of voices.

I agree with you about wanting more of Eight & Molly.

And yes, modern UNIT needs more women - especially Kate Lethbridge Stewart. (See to it Big Finish!)

[usuallyhats]

Ooo, yes, I really want to hear "The Last Post"! I'll look out for the other Caroline Johns and Katy Manning ones too - thanks.

I NEED Molly to come back.

YES PLEASE. The UNIT women we've had have been so great! I want both more women in general, and more of the ones we've already met.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Do because CJ's always fab as Liz, and KM usually makes me cry with laughter. (And if you've not heard it, Nick Courtney's one and only CC, Old Soldiers, is also lovely - but now makes me sob...)

I really hope they do bring Molly back. Eight needs a settled companion - and she'd be good for him.

Yes!!

Oh and VtoV? Loved it - but then I've got the biggest soft spot for Jago & Litefoot imaginable!

[usuallyhats]

I loved Old Soldiers, but haven't heard it since Nick Courtney died. I imagine it would have the same effect on me. :(

*g* I've not heard any of their audios apart from The Mahogany Murders, but I am fond of them.

(Love your icon!)

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Yeah... :(

Now I'm not so fond of the CC - I felt it too badly needed to be a full cast audio and doesn't work so well as a two-hander. But if you enjoyed it, you'll love the J&L full cast audios - and I have to say they get better and better with each year. I thought S3 was brilliant, but S4 blew me away.

Thanks - that was a birthday present from angelfireeast.

[everlasting-day.livejournal.com]

I was v. pleased with Dominion and Dark Eyes (I still cannot get over the nice hippy Daleks, they were amazing), although I think I liked Alex MacQueen's character more than you! Agreed r.e. the UNIT characters though, got quite fed up with all the BLOKES and the "ME WIFE!" stuff. I also hope Molly will be back, she was great.

Definitely catch up on Benny! Whereabouts did you leave off, because the boxsets have been really good so far; the new supporting cast are utterly fab. I think you'll really enjoy Benny and Ruth's friendship. Many Happy Returns was incredible, I might've done a cry a few times.

Companion Chronicles recs: Pretty much anything and everything First Doctor, but especially the Steven and Oliver trilogy (The Perpetual Bond, The Cold Equations, The First Wave) which is one of the best things ever. The Rocket Men/Return of the Rocket Men are great, as are The Time Museum and Quinnis. As for other Doctors, I'd highly recommend Solitaire, The Last Post, Find and Replace and Peri and the Piscon Paradox. Such a great, great range.

Have you heard any Jago and Litefoot at all?

[usuallyhats]

The hippy Daleks were brilliant! And just a little bit creepy. ♥

Heh, yeah, I think I'm in the minority on Alex MacQueen's character. Maybe I'd've liked him better if I hadn't wanted to get back to Seven and Raine so much.

I'm WAY behind with Benny: I got into the habit of picking up complete seasons in the summer and Christmas sales, so I'm only up to season six. Definitely time to catch up!

Thank you! I've heard (and loved) Solitaire and Find and Replace, but I'll check out the others. The First Doctor ones I've heard so far have been excellent (and I love the covers, too).

I've only heard their first companion chronicle - I liked it, but their series has got a bit stuck in the middle of my list of things to catch up on - things that I'm a bit more interested in keep coming along! Should I bump it up to "after Benny"?

[everlasting-day.livejournal.com]

Oh gosh, seasons 7 and 8 of Benny are just insanely good, and what comes after isn't exactly a drop in quality either. Some of the best stuff Big Finish has ever done, IMO (The End of the World is remarkable, as are all three of the Daniel O'Mahony-penned audios).

I'd certainly suggest bumping Jago and Litefoot up, yes! The consistent high quality of the stories plus the fabulous chemistry between the two leads is unbeatable - them and Benny are the two Big Finish series I anticipate new stuff coming from the most.

[usuallyhats]

Oh, awesome! I will order season 7 this afternoon. (I've already heard "Summer of Love"; looking forward to hearing it again!)

Hurray, I will move them to the top of the list! The main worry I have with Jago and Litefoot is that I'm not very good at voices, so I'm not sure I'll be able to tell them apart reliably, but I expect I'll get better at that the more I listen to. ;)

[ghost2.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear that you liked Dark Eyes. I was kind of hesitant about trying it until I knew some more about it. Now I think I'll get it.... when I have the extra money. I'm kind of torn between getting that one and some of the other BF stuff.

I totally get why you're skipping Gods and Monsters. That one bothered me. I'm ages behind on almost everything, so unfortunately I can't recommend any Companion Chronicles. I'm going to try to check out the ones that have been recced to you in the replies to this post, though. And I'll try to get better about posting my own BF reviews as I listen to material.

[usuallyhats]

Hope you enjoy Dark Eyes if you get it! (It's at the cheaper pre-order price for a bit longer, I think.) I'm really excited to listen to it again at some point; I haven't felt like that for a while!

And I'll try to get better about posting my own BF reviews as I listen to material.
Ooh, I would definitely be interested in reading them! I keep meaning to do that too but don't usually get round to it. Or I think up a post in my head but have forgotten it by the time I get to the computer...