Maius Intra Qua Extra

The final audio of Big Finish's 60th Anniversary series, "Once and Future", came out one or two months ago, nearly a year after the actual 60th Anniversary. The previous audios had been released once a month during 2023, with the last one in November as expected, and then months later, they announced this one. I listened to it a couple of weeks ago and here's my take on it.

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I 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.

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Series 1: "The Year After I Died" by Guy Adams
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Series 1: "Wednesdays for Beginners" by James Goss
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Series 1: "One Enchanted Evening" by James Goss
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Series 1: "Month 25" by Guy Adams
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Series 2: "Piece of Mind" by James Goss
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Series 2: "What Have I Done?" by Guy Adams
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Series 2: "Driving Miss Wells" by James Goss
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Series 3: "Crush" by Guy Adams
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Series 3: "Mighty and Despair" by Tim Foley
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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:
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It's been a while since I reviewed the first two audios in "Once and Future", Big Finish's 60th celebration series. I've listened to three more of them, so here are my thoughts.

Spoilers, of course.

A Genius for War (Seventh Doctor, The General, Davros)
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Two's Company (Sixth Doctor, Harry Sullivan, Jackie Tyler, Lady Christina de Souza)
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The Martian Invasion of Planetoid 50 (Tenth Doctor, Missy, Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, Strax)
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And then, in all three audios, just like in the first two, the Doctor basically arrives to find out about the degeneration weapon, gets caught up in the adventure, and leaves without finding anything out except the next place he should go look. So, in summary, I'd say AGfW and TMIoP50 are good stories worth listening to on their own and TC is skippable, and that I'm hoping we get some real story arc soon. There aren't many audios left in this series.

New Tenth Doctor Adventures from Big Finish! Review inside. I shouldn't have to give a spoiler warning, but here it is.

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I got to the end of Gallifrey Series 5, and while the characters are still in the same alternate Gallifrey and will likely be through Series 6, the story threw in a twist which was just WHAAA?? So, though I'm still wanting just get going and go home, at least this should be fun ride.

I've started listening to Series 6, and it provided one of the best quotes ever. It is VERY spoilerific, so I'm hiding it behind this cut, so if you look, that's your fault.

Cut hiding spoilers! You've been warned!

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One thing I've really liked about Gallifrey is that they reference the Doctor very sparingly. They don't use the Doctor as fan service; they instead rely on their own strong cast and storylines to build their own unique brand and following. I remember something that Neil Gaiman said once about the Sandman series. He said that when he wrote it, he imagined that the Endless were the celebrities, and that if he wanted one to appear in a story, he had to pay them a million dollars for each appearance. That way, he kept them special, while also forcing himself to improve the quality of the base stories and not rely on the Endless to keep the audience engaged. Gallifrey does the same thing. I think they've mentioned the Doctor twice in total so far. Well, three times...

Okay, a few more spoilers, though nothing you wouldn't know if you read the Big Finish teaser synopses...

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I finally got around to listening to "Last Chance", the last of the four Tenth Doctor Chronicles, narrated by Jacob Dudman, and teal deer, it was fantastic. I'd rate this story 8/10.

Spoilerific review:

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Just a quick thought...

I had to take a drive yesterday, so I popped in "Technophobia", the first of TDA series 1. (Despite the fact that it was casting from my phone to my car system over Bluetooth, I still use the phrase "popped in".) It's been long enough since I've heard it that though I remembered the conflict in the story, I didn't remember the antagonists, how their evil plan worked, nor how the Doctor saved the day.

The thing that struck me about the re-listen is its inherent energy. I haven't figured out if it's the writing or the performance, but though this doesn't rank among the best DW episodes or BF audios (I liked it and originally gave it a 7/10, but it's no "Peri and the Piscon Paradox"), it's exciting and fun. The dialogue is fast-paced, giving the Doctor plenty of technobabble rants, excited ramblings, and excruciating bouts of suffering and Donna lots of sarcasm and empathy. DT and CT sounded like they were having fun first and that acting and doing their jobs were secondary - but is it because the material was good? I'm not sure.

I immediately contrasted this to the series 2 TDAs, and there was none of that. Compared to his performance in series 1, DT was positively uninteresting - but is this because he simply didn't make the effort or because the material didn't give him opportunity? I don't know. I'm just hoping that series 3, whenever it might happen, recaptures the spirit of series 1.

I finally got a chance to listen to the second Tenth Doctor Adventure of the second series. I also received my collector's edition of the set. It went right on the shelf next to the collector's edition of the first series, still in its shrinkwrap. Yes, I know, it's got cool stuff in it that I should open and look at, but it's so pretty in mint condition!

Spoilerific review behind the cut.

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I told my husband that I rated "Death and the Queen" at 8/10, and he was surprised! He said he'd definitely give it a 9/10, and said that there was a specific reason why he wouldn't give it a 10/10: there was no mention of pockets. Ideally, Donna would have saved some situation by pulling something out and saying to the Doctor, "This time, my wedding dress has pockets!" or at the very least, when he was admiring her wedding dress, she should have told him that she had them put in pockets this time. That would have been a fantastic nod back to Donna's first wedding.

Seriously, though, I had no idea he liked it that much. Awesome. :)

I forgot to mention that "Death and the Queen" was written by James Goss, who also wrote the magnificent audiobook "Dead Air". Have you listened to that one? You should. Go do it now. I mentioned before that I am trying to pay attention to the writers to identify those whose works I like, so now Mr. Goss is going on my list and I need to search out his work.

Spoilerific review after the second listen.

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