Nothing to see here unless you care about my opinions on various BF audios.
Sirens of Time
I was expecting this to kind of not be so great considering it was the first audio, but I enjoyed it a lot. I've a constantly growing appreciation for 5-7, and this was just after I listened to my first Seven audio, so it was nice to get a dose of three Doctors at once. (I've always enjoyed multiple Doctor stories though) I didn't really get where the "if you listen to the Sirens twice you're stuck forever" twist came from at the end, but beyond that the plot was pretty interesting and for the most part made sense.
The Fires of Vulcan
This was my first Seven audio, and I bought it rather grudgingly in a sale because it got really good reviews. But I wasn't expecting much because it had Mel, and everyone hates Mel, and and although I like Seven well enough, he's not my fave and I mostly buy for the companions. So, I was completely wrong. Seven is awesome, and Mel is delightful. She was clever, sympathetic, and didn't put up with crap from either doomsday-Seven or the people in Pompeii trying to push her around. And Seven ! McCoy has such a lovely voice, and Seven was wonderful- his initial self defeating attitude and the following about-face and determination were both well done. And his repeated praising and obvious caring for Mel made me feel warm and fuzzy. And yes, the plot was similar to NuWho "Fires of Pompeii", and equally good. I'm wondering if NuWho took inspiration from the audio. I totally want more Seven audios, like now. And more Mel, too.
Loups-Garoux
I found this audio really interesting, but man, it seems indeterminately long. I don't mean that in a bad way, but I felt like it took me all week commuting to finish it. I really liked how it played with story structure, throwing in the bits with Rosa with no explanation and letting the listener figure it out. Turlough as always, is one of my favorites. He's such a jerk, and I love it. I need more Turlough audios, always. I especially loved the parts where he talked dismissively of humans. Five was good in this too, but it's funny, because I used to think Five was my favorite after Eight, but, although it's close, I don't know if that's true anymore. I still love him, but he seems a bit colder and more remote and hard to read. Like, near the end of this I think I was supposed to think that Five had feelings for the werewolf lady whose name is escaping me, and was tempted to bring her along. But I didn't really get any chemistry or personal interest from Five at all. That's not bad, but I think I appreciate Six's openness a bit more. Hmmm. Anyway, I also liked the futuristic setting mixed with the old-fashioned werewolves.
The Chimes of Midnight
This seemed to be one of everyone's favorite Eight/Charley audios, so I don't know if I built it up in my head, but I was kind of disappointed. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't particularly awesome. The mystery was neat, and there was more foreshadowing of Charley's big plot line, but beyond that, eh. I also didn't think the main plot point of the cook being obsessed with Charley made a lot of sense- I mean, I sort of get what they were getting at, that it was tragic that the cook's life was so empty, but I think it was handled poorly. If Charley had remembered the cook fondly, and was kind of nice to her, or if she had considered her like a daughter or younger sister, or if she had been in love with Charley I feel like it would have worked better. But "this 7 year old is my BEST FRIEND" as the secret of the mystery seems kind of out of left field and bizarre. ::shrug""
Embrace the Darkness
Another Eight and Charley, but I loved this one. It was really creepy, I thought it worked really well as an audio (especially with the characters not being able to see) and the different characters were varied and interesting. I thought the whispered alien voices would get a bit twee by the end, but I didn't mind them. And I loved when Charley was all "Screw you, we do everything together or not at all!" to Eight. Very cute. I think near the very end the plot sort of fell apart a bit- I'm not sure the explanation of the two different aliens made a ton of sense, or maybe I missed something- but it didn't bother me a ton.
Doctor Who and the Pirates
This was another one that fell short for me, but mostly I think because I read a lot of glowing reviews of it, and had a totally different concept of what it would be like than it actually was. I was expecting a swashbuckling type adventure that was taken seriously, and this was a tall-tale winking comedy-musical. I think if I had gone into it expecting that I would have enjoyed it more. I liked the two dual plots, and the banter between Six and Evelyn, and Evelyn's banter with the crew. The songs were amusing, but I'm not a big musical person so I didn't enjoy them as much as I suspect many others did. Evelyn seemed really upset at the end- I wondered if it was some sort of foreshadowing for upcoming plot.
Gallifrey: Insurgency
Aggggh. Gallifreyyyyyyy. I started and stopped listening to this one several times because I couldn't take the obvious fact that horrible things were going to happen. It didn't disappoint. Oh man. This was crazy, and exciting, and I'm am scared for the next ep. I knew things would end horribly with the student group, but it was still sad. I felt bad for Leela surrounded by sharks, but she's holding her own. Darkel is terrible, but that's no surprise. Of course she would let the students die, of course she would. And Romana. Wow. You can see her coming apart at the seams and it's a mess. We are definitely getting dark!Romana next ep, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Did she kill Andred? Before they resolved the whole Leela hating his guts thing? I guess I'll find out soon enough. Basically my feelings on this can be summed up as "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!"
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