Oh, Seven. Why so emo?

[ceebee_eebee]

Big Finish finally made the latest audio available for download yesterday, so I stayed up to a ridiculous hour listening to it because BF is my crack. The first of two September releases (WOOOO!), this one is yet another solo Seventh Doctor story. As I haven't exactly made my feelings about companion-less Seventh Doctor audios a secret, you can imagine I wasn't expecting all that much.



And in this case, the low expectations were a good idea because I found the whole thing pretty disappointing. First off, a little plot info. In Kingdom of Silver, the Doctor arrives on what the writer described as a "steam-punk Victorian era planet" that turns out to be another tomb world for the Cybermen. Now, I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE the Cybermen, particularly in audios. Their voices work incredibly well in the format and the BF people have done some amazing things with them (see Spare Parts). Here, they were wasted. Another plot point that should have made this audio great was the fact that it tied into the 8th Doctor audio Sword of Orion (which I loved) giving us a lot more backstory into the Orion war and the androids. His temp companions here are both deep-cover android operatives and I actually liked them a lot.

The main problem I had with this story was the people on the tomb planet. They'd finally been able to end a civil war between their empires, blah blah blah, by using cyber technology to benefit all the people of their world. Fine. But the characters were all SO FUCKING STUPID. The leader of what I think was supposed to be the most powerful of the empires was one of the most naive morons ever. His second in command was pathetic. I have never wanted people to be cyberized more than I wanted these idiots to. I couldn't WAIT for the cybermen to wake up and convert them. And I really don't think that was what BF was going for.

Another problem I had with this audio is the damn emo Seventh Doctor. I love Seven. I really, really love him. But in these solo audios he is at the end of his time in that incarnation and he is more fucking emo than Ten on his worst day and I'm totally over it.

Anyway. That was a 3-part story. The other story is Keepsake, a tie-in dealing with the fate of the two Orion operative "companions" and was actually UNBELIEVABLY sad. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either and I don't really want to spoil it. This one was worth listening to.

So, there you have it. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for this latest audio, but BF is ALWAYS worth listening to and I would love to hear some dissenting opinions.

Comments

[livii.livejournal.com]

Avoiding your comments as I haven't heard this one, but, man, YES, I haven't listened to any Seven-alone yet because COMPANIONS, THEY ARE USEFUL AND AWESOME. Also, why give us Seven alone when we could have Ace, or Mel, or preferably as you know for me, Ace and Hex? Seven has some of the bestest audio companions ever. It's a pity.

[ghost2.livejournal.com]

I haven't heard this one yet and it doesn't sound like I should be in any hurry. I haven't really cared for any companion-less audio so far that I can think of. The good ones have the companions playing significant roles.

Also? If Seven is more emo here than Ten at his worst, it sounds frankly horrifying.

I will listen to a nice Seven-Ace-Hex or Seven-Mel story instead, I think.

[elliptic-eye.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the heads-up, because a solo Seven story intrigues me much (perhaps because of th delicious crack a solo Six story like Davros is made from?). I think I'll give this one a miss for now and check out your rec of The Death Collectors instead...

[ravenskyewalker.livejournal.com]

Big Finish finally made the latest audio available for download yesterday,

I bought it from Who North America a couple of weeks ago and listened to it today for my birthday. :-D

But the characters were all SO FUCKING STUPID.

Amusingly, my opinion tends to be that a lot of incidental DW characters are incredibly effing stupid, and it can be a real problem. I tend not to like it when the plot is advanced by characters forgetting their intelligence, but it happens far too often.

Another problem I had with this audio is the damn emo Seventh Doctor. I love Seven. I really, really love him. But in these solo audios he is at the end of his time in that incarnation and he is more fucking emo than Ten on his worst day and I'm totally over it.

Now that I've heard this, I actually disagree. He was so much worse in Valhalla, practically dragging himself around moaning about how he needed to retire, so that I wanted to hit him over the head with his own brolly (just as I want Seven to whack Ten).

In this, he seemed functional and non-depressed. Maybe I need to relisten (no big hardship), but his outbursts didn't seem all that much worse than his overemoting on-screen. Let me be on record as saying that, while I love the Seventh Doctor, he didn't need to act as if he was more impressive when he got overwrought and shouted, because I found him much more compelling when he was quiet. Sylv was unfortunately harking back to that in KoS, but I don't think Seven was on the Valhalla level of bemoaning his life.

The other story is Keepsake, a tie-in dealing with the fate of the two Orion operative "companions" and was actually UNBELIEVABLY sad. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either and I don't really want to spoil it. This one was worth listening to.

A haunting, heartbreaking little story. Worth hearing, yes.

I would love to hear some dissenting opinions.

In a sense, I'm dissenting now. ;-)