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shivverI just noticed that I've never reviewed the audios in the Big Finish series "The Lives of Captain Jack", so I'm rectifying that now. (I've also not done "The Legacy of Time" nor finished reviewing "Once and Future". All in good time.)
tl;dr is that I really enjoyed all three series of "The Lives of Captain Jack". I kind of feel like these are the BF best series that I've listened to so far, in terms of overall quality. (Note: I haven't listened to all that much, so take this with a grain of salt.) I'm really sad that we'll never get more because BF followed the BBC in declaring John Barrowman persona non grata; still holding out for a reversal of that decision, on both their parts.
The purpose of these series were to tell stories of Jack Harkness all along his timeline, not just during the times that we know (Doctor Who series 1-4 and 12, and Torchwood), and over ten audios, we're treated to a range of times as well as styles. In most, Jack is the Jack we remember - the chaotic good rogue, out to help, always optimistic, and always flirtatious - but in a few, we get to see very different sides of him. In some, he's not even the main character.
Series 1: "The Year After I Died" by Guy Adams
I listened to this one maybe two years ago, so I don't remember it that well, but I know that I enjoyed it. As you probably guessed from the title, this is set in the year after Jack is abandoned by the Doctor and Rose on Gamestation. Jack is living on Earth, helping rebuild after the Dalek devastation, and he's bitter, both at having been left behind by his friends and at the populace branding him a hero for defeating the Daleks (considering he was one of the few survivors and no one, including himself, knows for certain who actually defeated them or how). By preference, he lives and works alone, and turns away anyone who comes looking for him.
The guest character (whose name I don't remember) is a journalist looking to profile the hero of the invasion, when when he turns her away, she goes off and gets embroiled in a situation where a scam is capturing people to do something - I don't remember, but whatever it was, the people ended up dead, in slavery, experimented on, something like that. Jack knows it's a scam and follows her to get her out of it - note that he hasn't yet realized he's immortal, so he's putting himself in mortal danger to save someone else, someone he barely knows. I think he ends up realizing that there's more out there for him than just sulking on Earth.
Sorry, I don't have more details, or more opinion, but it was a good story about a time in Jack's life we had no knowledge about.
Series 1: "Wednesdays for Beginners" by James Goss
This audio was a delight: something's slowly taking over the Powell Estate and Jackie Tyler teams up with her new neighbor, this handsome American named Jack, to save it. The story was great in itself, but this audio is worth it just for the interaction between these two iconic characters. I'm not even sure there were any other actors in this audio, and there didn't need to be: John Barrowman and Camille Coduri were wonderful together, and at the end, you'll wish there was more.
It's also notable that this audio is set during the time Jack was waiting for an appropriate version of the Doctor to appear, to seek his help to remove his immortality.
You might notice that it was written by James Goss, whom I've gushed over time and time again here in my blog. His character work is just amazing.
That's all that really needs to be said about this one.
Series 1: "One Enchanted Evening" by James Goss
This story takes place right after the Doctor gives Jack the message "His name is Alonso". Jack and Alonso spend the evening wining and dining, and as they head back to Jack's room, all hell breaks loose. The spaceship's being attacked, if I remember correctly, but it doesn't matter. They're immediately separated and have to deal with the situation. Jack tries to deal with the antagonist and Alonso is working with the ship's engineer to fix the damage and evacuate the passengers, while they're also trying to get back together again. Amazing character work again here, and Jack and Alonso feel right together, that it really had been one enchanted evening.
Series 1: "Month 25" by Guy Adams
The story you've all been waiting for: what happened to Jack when he worked for the Time Agency? Despite what you might expect, it's not a simple one of "this is what happened and thus, the Time Agency wiped Jack's memories". It's far more complex, and over the course of the audio, Javik Piotr Thane - Jack's original name - turns from a careless, lax Time Agent into the self-motivated (and still angry) con man we meet in "The Empty Child". The story itself is enjoyable, but this one's memorable because we get to see how "Captain Jack Harkness" is built. I definitely recommend this one not only because it's a bit of history we've always wanted to know, but because of the character work.
Series 2: "Piece of Mind" by James Goss
If you bought Series 2, it's probably for this story: because of it, Jack appears on the series cover in the Sixth Doctor's outfit. You find out right away what this story is going to be about: the Doctor is seriously wounded during an alien invasion on a planet; Jack arrives and rescues him, and must pretend to be the Doctor and save the planet while the Doctor recuperates.
Thus, Jack is the Doctor, with his own take on what that means. He's focused on the goal - to thwart the invasion and save as many lives as he can in the process - but he does it by mixing the Doctor's style (complete confidence in his own understanding of the situation, quips and technobabble, and enjoying the spotlight) with his own (entertaining his audience, flirting, and a willingness to use weapons as a first solution). It's amusing that Jack doesn't actually know the Sixth Doctor and so must be basing his Doctor on Nine or Ten and yet he still nails Six (or at least Captain!Six) spot-on.
The overall story is great, and the twist (there's always a twist, isn't there?) sends things off in a new, hilarious direction.
Series 2: "What Have I Done?" by Guy Adams
And in a complete tone shift, Captain Jack is in the trenches of Gallipoli, appearing to be an Entente soldier but trying to evacuate and save the life of a wounded Turkish soldier named Ata, while both sides are trying to kill them both. Ata doesn't trust Jack and also doesn't think he, Ata, deserves to live, due to cultural and family issues that he refuses to talk about. Furthermore, there's an alien nearby that hunts by sensing fear and despair, drawn to the area by the warfare and sensing that Ata would be a great dinner. Thus, the story follows them as they slog through the mud, Jack trying to keep Ata moving and calm his fear while Ata tries to figure out how Jack can stay entirely fearless and why he cares about him in the first place, while also staring death in the face.
It's a complete departure from anything I've seen in Doctor Who or Torchwood; the conflict is dark and personal. It requires a good amount of thought and attention, and will not work for you if you're only casually listening or expecting a normal, happy, feel-good adventure. It takes Captain Jack in a different direction and showcases JB's talents, and Atilla Akinci, who played Ata, is a match for him. The only quibble I have with this story is that it felt too long in a couple of places, that there were a couple too many scenes of the two hiding, with Ata telling Jack to leave him and save himself and Jack telling him to be quiet. I'm sure those scenes weren't actually superfluous, that there were reasons for them (probably to heighten the sense of danger and show that they had a long way to go to get safe), but I remember thinking, "Come on, get on with it."
Series 2: "Driving Miss Wells" by James Goss
If I had to choose the weakest audio of the bunch, I'd point at this one. This story brings back Trinity Wells (played by her original actress, Lachele Carl), the American news announcer during the RTD era (and more recently brought back in "The Giggle" as an anti-Z-Dexer). This story is entirely hers. After reporting about all of the weird things that happened in 2005 through 2010 and not being able to make sense of them, she resigned from news announcing and wrote a book declaring that there was no such things as aliens and that they'd all been hoaxes perpetrated by the government and the media. Though she has basically discredited herself, a British company that wants to establish a new, neutral news network asks her to be their news announcer because she's dedicated to neutral journalism, and she accepts. In Britain, she's assigned a driver named Jack Harkness, who she figures out pretty quickly is also there to be her bodyguard. Then, she start hallucinating, of people made of bees...
The problem with this story was that it consisted mostly of Trinity going places and seeing bees that no one else could see and wondering if she was going nuts (because of course they can't be aliens; she said there were no such thing). There wasn't an interesting character journey, of struggles, losses, and wins; it felt more like I spent half the audio waiting for things to happen. Jack didn't really figure into the plot all that much and I'm fine with that - I don't need him to be the star of the show - but it almost felt like Trinity didn't either.
So, yeah, a bit weak. I'd re-listen to any of the other stories, but not this one.
Series 3: "Crush" by Guy Adams
Did you like "Wednesday for Beginners"? Well, here we go again! I guess Big Finish really liked the result of pairing up Jack and Jackie, so they continued the idea. Jack, liking Jackie and realizing how lonely she is with Rose off with the Doctor, visits her every so often and takes her off for her own little trips. This time, he's taking her to the luxury resort planet of... I don't remember, Luxuria? It was some totally silly name like that. Doesn't matter. He's taking her there via a luxury space liner (yes, I'm repeating; I'm just keeping with the tone of the audio), with dining and dancing and...
Oh wait. The liner is in repair and they're going to have to travel in a shuttle that's so packed, everyone has to stand and they can barely move. Of course, everyone else in the shuttle are aliens with inscrutable and immutable social conventions, and of course, there's a disaster that Jack and Jackie have to figure out.
Honestly, I've always loved Captain Jack, and Big Finish has really made Jackie one of my favorites, and I can't get enough of these two together. Again, mournful words that Jack's never going to return again, because we can't get more of this pair-up.
Series 3: "Mighty and Despair" by Tim Foley
And... tone shift. This one's not as bleak as "What Have I Done?" but it's definitely not light-hearted like "Crush". Some time in the far future, Jack, weary of his long life of goodbyes as everyone eventually dies around him, has retreated to an inescapable planet to be alone for the rest of eternity. After some time (millennia?) two people arrive: a deposed vampire queen, Carla, and her human handmaiden, Persis. Distrusting the vampire, Jack wants nothing to do with them, but there's only one place to live on this planet, a monastery among the snows, so he has to share.
There's not much more I can summarize without spoiling the story, so I'll just say that I really enjoyed this. Excellent character development and journeys, and yes, even Jack can learn and grow.
Series 3: "R&J" by James Goss
Let me just say this outside of the cut: when this audio was over, I immediately restarted it and listened to it again. It was that good. Also, it was that complex.
"R&J" is about Jack meeting River. And again, I don't want to say anything because it would spoil it and I think this audio is best enjoyed by not knowing anything about it, other than, well, Jack meets River. But you'd know that just by looking at the cast list. So, general review is, this audio is totally worth having to buy the whole series to get it. Spoiler review hidden behind the cut.
Spoiler review:
No, actually, I'm not going to make this totally spoilerific, but I'll say a few things that you'd figure out within the first few minutes anyway. Jack and River, being time travelers, meet each other out of order, so they have no idea, when they meet, if the other is going to know them or, if they do, how well. The first time they meet, they've never met before, but they both recognize that they're special, dangerous, and intriguing, but not why. The story, then, is them getting to know each other. The progression is delightful, the banter is perfect, and the overall story is heartrending. There are also tons of callbacks.
I loved this audio. Also, a quarter of the way in, I said to myself, "This is James Goss. This is totally his style of story and dialogue." And I was right.
tl;dr is that I really enjoyed all three series of "The Lives of Captain Jack". I kind of feel like these are the BF best series that I've listened to so far, in terms of overall quality. (Note: I haven't listened to all that much, so take this with a grain of salt.) I'm really sad that we'll never get more because BF followed the BBC in declaring John Barrowman persona non grata; still holding out for a reversal of that decision, on both their parts.
The purpose of these series were to tell stories of Jack Harkness all along his timeline, not just during the times that we know (Doctor Who series 1-4 and 12, and Torchwood), and over ten audios, we're treated to a range of times as well as styles. In most, Jack is the Jack we remember - the chaotic good rogue, out to help, always optimistic, and always flirtatious - but in a few, we get to see very different sides of him. In some, he's not even the main character.
Series 1: "The Year After I Died" by Guy Adams
I listened to this one maybe two years ago, so I don't remember it that well, but I know that I enjoyed it. As you probably guessed from the title, this is set in the year after Jack is abandoned by the Doctor and Rose on Gamestation. Jack is living on Earth, helping rebuild after the Dalek devastation, and he's bitter, both at having been left behind by his friends and at the populace branding him a hero for defeating the Daleks (considering he was one of the few survivors and no one, including himself, knows for certain who actually defeated them or how). By preference, he lives and works alone, and turns away anyone who comes looking for him.
The guest character (whose name I don't remember) is a journalist looking to profile the hero of the invasion, when when he turns her away, she goes off and gets embroiled in a situation where a scam is capturing people to do something - I don't remember, but whatever it was, the people ended up dead, in slavery, experimented on, something like that. Jack knows it's a scam and follows her to get her out of it - note that he hasn't yet realized he's immortal, so he's putting himself in mortal danger to save someone else, someone he barely knows. I think he ends up realizing that there's more out there for him than just sulking on Earth.
Sorry, I don't have more details, or more opinion, but it was a good story about a time in Jack's life we had no knowledge about.
Series 1: "Wednesdays for Beginners" by James Goss
This audio was a delight: something's slowly taking over the Powell Estate and Jackie Tyler teams up with her new neighbor, this handsome American named Jack, to save it. The story was great in itself, but this audio is worth it just for the interaction between these two iconic characters. I'm not even sure there were any other actors in this audio, and there didn't need to be: John Barrowman and Camille Coduri were wonderful together, and at the end, you'll wish there was more.
It's also notable that this audio is set during the time Jack was waiting for an appropriate version of the Doctor to appear, to seek his help to remove his immortality.
You might notice that it was written by James Goss, whom I've gushed over time and time again here in my blog. His character work is just amazing.
That's all that really needs to be said about this one.
Series 1: "One Enchanted Evening" by James Goss
This story takes place right after the Doctor gives Jack the message "His name is Alonso". Jack and Alonso spend the evening wining and dining, and as they head back to Jack's room, all hell breaks loose. The spaceship's being attacked, if I remember correctly, but it doesn't matter. They're immediately separated and have to deal with the situation. Jack tries to deal with the antagonist and Alonso is working with the ship's engineer to fix the damage and evacuate the passengers, while they're also trying to get back together again. Amazing character work again here, and Jack and Alonso feel right together, that it really had been one enchanted evening.
Series 1: "Month 25" by Guy Adams
The story you've all been waiting for: what happened to Jack when he worked for the Time Agency? Despite what you might expect, it's not a simple one of "this is what happened and thus, the Time Agency wiped Jack's memories". It's far more complex, and over the course of the audio, Javik Piotr Thane - Jack's original name - turns from a careless, lax Time Agent into the self-motivated (and still angry) con man we meet in "The Empty Child". The story itself is enjoyable, but this one's memorable because we get to see how "Captain Jack Harkness" is built. I definitely recommend this one not only because it's a bit of history we've always wanted to know, but because of the character work.
Series 2: "Piece of Mind" by James Goss
If you bought Series 2, it's probably for this story: because of it, Jack appears on the series cover in the Sixth Doctor's outfit. You find out right away what this story is going to be about: the Doctor is seriously wounded during an alien invasion on a planet; Jack arrives and rescues him, and must pretend to be the Doctor and save the planet while the Doctor recuperates.
Thus, Jack is the Doctor, with his own take on what that means. He's focused on the goal - to thwart the invasion and save as many lives as he can in the process - but he does it by mixing the Doctor's style (complete confidence in his own understanding of the situation, quips and technobabble, and enjoying the spotlight) with his own (entertaining his audience, flirting, and a willingness to use weapons as a first solution). It's amusing that Jack doesn't actually know the Sixth Doctor and so must be basing his Doctor on Nine or Ten and yet he still nails Six (or at least Captain!Six) spot-on.
The overall story is great, and the twist (there's always a twist, isn't there?) sends things off in a new, hilarious direction.
Series 2: "What Have I Done?" by Guy Adams
And in a complete tone shift, Captain Jack is in the trenches of Gallipoli, appearing to be an Entente soldier but trying to evacuate and save the life of a wounded Turkish soldier named Ata, while both sides are trying to kill them both. Ata doesn't trust Jack and also doesn't think he, Ata, deserves to live, due to cultural and family issues that he refuses to talk about. Furthermore, there's an alien nearby that hunts by sensing fear and despair, drawn to the area by the warfare and sensing that Ata would be a great dinner. Thus, the story follows them as they slog through the mud, Jack trying to keep Ata moving and calm his fear while Ata tries to figure out how Jack can stay entirely fearless and why he cares about him in the first place, while also staring death in the face.
It's a complete departure from anything I've seen in Doctor Who or Torchwood; the conflict is dark and personal. It requires a good amount of thought and attention, and will not work for you if you're only casually listening or expecting a normal, happy, feel-good adventure. It takes Captain Jack in a different direction and showcases JB's talents, and Atilla Akinci, who played Ata, is a match for him. The only quibble I have with this story is that it felt too long in a couple of places, that there were a couple too many scenes of the two hiding, with Ata telling Jack to leave him and save himself and Jack telling him to be quiet. I'm sure those scenes weren't actually superfluous, that there were reasons for them (probably to heighten the sense of danger and show that they had a long way to go to get safe), but I remember thinking, "Come on, get on with it."
Series 2: "Driving Miss Wells" by James Goss
If I had to choose the weakest audio of the bunch, I'd point at this one. This story brings back Trinity Wells (played by her original actress, Lachele Carl), the American news announcer during the RTD era (and more recently brought back in "The Giggle" as an anti-Z-Dexer). This story is entirely hers. After reporting about all of the weird things that happened in 2005 through 2010 and not being able to make sense of them, she resigned from news announcing and wrote a book declaring that there was no such things as aliens and that they'd all been hoaxes perpetrated by the government and the media. Though she has basically discredited herself, a British company that wants to establish a new, neutral news network asks her to be their news announcer because she's dedicated to neutral journalism, and she accepts. In Britain, she's assigned a driver named Jack Harkness, who she figures out pretty quickly is also there to be her bodyguard. Then, she start hallucinating, of people made of bees...
The problem with this story was that it consisted mostly of Trinity going places and seeing bees that no one else could see and wondering if she was going nuts (because of course they can't be aliens; she said there were no such thing). There wasn't an interesting character journey, of struggles, losses, and wins; it felt more like I spent half the audio waiting for things to happen. Jack didn't really figure into the plot all that much and I'm fine with that - I don't need him to be the star of the show - but it almost felt like Trinity didn't either.
So, yeah, a bit weak. I'd re-listen to any of the other stories, but not this one.
Series 3: "Crush" by Guy Adams
Did you like "Wednesday for Beginners"? Well, here we go again! I guess Big Finish really liked the result of pairing up Jack and Jackie, so they continued the idea. Jack, liking Jackie and realizing how lonely she is with Rose off with the Doctor, visits her every so often and takes her off for her own little trips. This time, he's taking her to the luxury resort planet of... I don't remember, Luxuria? It was some totally silly name like that. Doesn't matter. He's taking her there via a luxury space liner (yes, I'm repeating; I'm just keeping with the tone of the audio), with dining and dancing and...
Oh wait. The liner is in repair and they're going to have to travel in a shuttle that's so packed, everyone has to stand and they can barely move. Of course, everyone else in the shuttle are aliens with inscrutable and immutable social conventions, and of course, there's a disaster that Jack and Jackie have to figure out.
Honestly, I've always loved Captain Jack, and Big Finish has really made Jackie one of my favorites, and I can't get enough of these two together. Again, mournful words that Jack's never going to return again, because we can't get more of this pair-up.
Series 3: "Mighty and Despair" by Tim Foley
And... tone shift. This one's not as bleak as "What Have I Done?" but it's definitely not light-hearted like "Crush". Some time in the far future, Jack, weary of his long life of goodbyes as everyone eventually dies around him, has retreated to an inescapable planet to be alone for the rest of eternity. After some time (millennia?) two people arrive: a deposed vampire queen, Carla, and her human handmaiden, Persis. Distrusting the vampire, Jack wants nothing to do with them, but there's only one place to live on this planet, a monastery among the snows, so he has to share.
There's not much more I can summarize without spoiling the story, so I'll just say that I really enjoyed this. Excellent character development and journeys, and yes, even Jack can learn and grow.
Series 3: "R&J" by James Goss
Let me just say this outside of the cut: when this audio was over, I immediately restarted it and listened to it again. It was that good. Also, it was that complex.
"R&J" is about Jack meeting River. And again, I don't want to say anything because it would spoil it and I think this audio is best enjoyed by not knowing anything about it, other than, well, Jack meets River. But you'd know that just by looking at the cast list. So, general review is, this audio is totally worth having to buy the whole series to get it. Spoiler review hidden behind the cut.
Spoiler review:
No, actually, I'm not going to make this totally spoilerific, but I'll say a few things that you'd figure out within the first few minutes anyway. Jack and River, being time travelers, meet each other out of order, so they have no idea, when they meet, if the other is going to know them or, if they do, how well. The first time they meet, they've never met before, but they both recognize that they're special, dangerous, and intriguing, but not why. The story, then, is them getting to know each other. The progression is delightful, the banter is perfect, and the overall story is heartrending. There are also tons of callbacks.
I loved this audio. Also, a quarter of the way in, I said to myself, "This is James Goss. This is totally his style of story and dialogue." And I was right.
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Date: 2024-03-26 06:00 pm (UTC)( Yeah… the one with the news anchor I think is the one BF decided to give an excerpt of. And the series 2 cover art … 😳)