FINALLY!

[ceebee_eebee]

Well, the Big Finish page finally stopped f-ing with me and let me download The Death Collectors. I gotta say, I have been very confused about BF's decision to make so many solo Seventh Doctor audios. Honestly, of Five, Six, and Seven, I think the Seventh Doctor is by FAR the least able to carry his own stories. Not because I think McCoy is incapable, but because of the Seventh Doctor's personality. He really doesn't do very well on his own. He spends much of the time bitching and moaning and wallowing in self-pity, and while I think that is COMPLETELY in character, I can't say it makes for a riveting listening experience. Particularly because he is so damn good with Ace and Hex and I don't get why BF doesn't use them every time.

Anyway, I generally go into Seventh Doctor solo audios with low expectations. Color me SHOCKED when The Death Collectors (and to a much lesser extent the one-part accompanying story Spider's Shadow) turned out to be hella great stuff.



I think this might be the only Big Finish audio to date that is pretty much a straight-up horror story, and it was completely chilling! The effects were gorgeous (particularly the voices of the Dar Traders) and the subject matter was absolutely creeptacular. A race of beings that exist on the edge of death, collecting death, obsessed with it...SO well done. Plus, they managed to keep the entire thing extremely claustrophobic with the limited cast, and while the super-powerful computer turning into a dangerous enemy trope is nothing new, I was completely freaked out every time Nancy, the AI computer, went all wonky. I'd say this was the best solo-Seven audio so far and I highly recommend it.

Comments

[airie-fairy.livejournal.com]

It's probably because the gap between Survival and the movie leaves such opportunity for solo stories. There's some room with Six, but we know Five never got a second to himself (beautifully ironic for his temperament XD). The only solo Seven I've heard is Master, which rocked. And I guess Sirens of Time, but that's a bit special. Other than that, I've heard him with Mel.

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

Oh, definitely. Seven has plenty of room for solo storylines, but it still confuses me. Just because they can set stories in between Survival and the Movie...they have Sophie and Philip, why not use them? As far as I can tell from the Big Finish site, the September release is yet ANOTHER solo. I want my Ace and Hex back. :-(

That being said, Death Collectors was a damn good audio. Better, I think, than Assassin in the Limelight and Six/Evelyn are my favorite audio team. So, that's pretty high praise.