Doctor Who: A Death in the Family
Mar. 6th, 2012 03:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andrasteWow, was this ever not a good audio to finish listening to on the train this afternoon.
I did not think I could ever love a Seventh Doctor & Ace story more than Ghost Light but, well, there it is. Big Finish are sometimes amazing like that. Naturally I highly recommend it. But not before you've heard all the Forge stories, Forty-Five, everything about Ace and Hex, everything about Evelyn's exit from the TARDIS ... and, er, yes. Part of what makes this great is that it's the culmination of so much of what Big Finish have done with the universe.
(Below the cut are giant story-destroying spoilers. If you have any interest in ever listening to audios about Seven and Ace and you haven't heard this already, for the love of Rassilon, do not click.)
I was actually holding to together pretty well until Evelyn started thinking about Six and then I kind of lost it. Because she's so disappointed when her Doctor doesn't show up, and THEY WILL NEVER SEE EACH OTHER AGAIN. Which is a kindness in some ways, because we saw what her death did to Six in Jubilee. And yet. I really hope Seven never let on to his previous self about any of this - he can say he's the same man all he likes, but Six would not have used Evelyn's death to destroy an enemy. (Which was not necessarily the wrong decision, just something Six could never have done.)
I already cried at the start of Part Three when Dying!Future!Seven said goodbye to Ace, because WAAAAAAH. And then I may have got a bit teary at the end when Ace ... did what she did. Which is precisely what Dying!Future!Seven knew she would do, the bastard. As if she'd ever choose a future with a man she loved over the Doctor's life. Like she said, she made her choice a long time ago. I spent her entire section going 'oh, Ace' over and over.
What's amazing about this story is how it captures everything that's wonderful and terrible about Seven, which is especially impressive since he's dead for about half the story. But of course that's the point - he may be gone, but his influence is still working itself out through the lives he touched, in good ways and bad. Like Hex, we're left wondering if the Future!Doctor is a better man than his 'current' self, or a million times worse. The idea that he's got a calendar marked with the death days of all his previous companions is simultaneously heart-warming and spine-chilling because, well, he would.
The other amazing thing is the return of Nobody No-One. Forget the Master, the Word Lord is Seven's most perfect nemesis. I am torn between wanting to see more of their battles through time and space and concern that the character might get diluted through repeated use. He's been a terrifying threat in both his appearances so far, and it would be a pity to spoil that. But I want to hear more about the Paul Reynolds version! And have Ian Reddington back! And find out what his first two incarnations were like! (Presumably a bit like William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton. Only not.)
The best thing of all, though, is that the Doctor uses Doctor Who to defeat Nobody No-One. Because, yes. Against a Word Lord, it's his best and most beautiful weapon.
I did not think I could ever love a Seventh Doctor & Ace story more than Ghost Light but, well, there it is. Big Finish are sometimes amazing like that. Naturally I highly recommend it. But not before you've heard all the Forge stories, Forty-Five, everything about Ace and Hex, everything about Evelyn's exit from the TARDIS ... and, er, yes. Part of what makes this great is that it's the culmination of so much of what Big Finish have done with the universe.
(Below the cut are giant story-destroying spoilers. If you have any interest in ever listening to audios about Seven and Ace and you haven't heard this already, for the love of Rassilon, do not click.)
I was actually holding to together pretty well until Evelyn started thinking about Six and then I kind of lost it. Because she's so disappointed when her Doctor doesn't show up, and THEY WILL NEVER SEE EACH OTHER AGAIN. Which is a kindness in some ways, because we saw what her death did to Six in Jubilee. And yet. I really hope Seven never let on to his previous self about any of this - he can say he's the same man all he likes, but Six would not have used Evelyn's death to destroy an enemy. (Which was not necessarily the wrong decision, just something Six could never have done.)
I already cried at the start of Part Three when Dying!Future!Seven said goodbye to Ace, because WAAAAAAH. And then I may have got a bit teary at the end when Ace ... did what she did. Which is precisely what Dying!Future!Seven knew she would do, the bastard. As if she'd ever choose a future with a man she loved over the Doctor's life. Like she said, she made her choice a long time ago. I spent her entire section going 'oh, Ace' over and over.
What's amazing about this story is how it captures everything that's wonderful and terrible about Seven, which is especially impressive since he's dead for about half the story. But of course that's the point - he may be gone, but his influence is still working itself out through the lives he touched, in good ways and bad. Like Hex, we're left wondering if the Future!Doctor is a better man than his 'current' self, or a million times worse. The idea that he's got a calendar marked with the death days of all his previous companions is simultaneously heart-warming and spine-chilling because, well, he would.
The other amazing thing is the return of Nobody No-One. Forget the Master, the Word Lord is Seven's most perfect nemesis. I am torn between wanting to see more of their battles through time and space and concern that the character might get diluted through repeated use. He's been a terrifying threat in both his appearances so far, and it would be a pity to spoil that. But I want to hear more about the Paul Reynolds version! And have Ian Reddington back! And find out what his first two incarnations were like! (Presumably a bit like William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton. Only not.)
The best thing of all, though, is that the Doctor uses Doctor Who to defeat Nobody No-One. Because, yes. Against a Word Lord, it's his best and most beautiful weapon.