I am Ashley Elsdon

someone who's doing some things

Tag: Audio books

I do like audio books.

The best news for a Friday, there is more Space 1999 coming

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I got an email today from Big Finish saying that there is going to be a new set of Space 1999 stories coming in May this year. Which is excellent news. I have really enjoyed the previous Space 1999 stories they made. I was a big fan of the original series and I’ve watched it many times over.

When it came back to audio with Big Finish I was so pleased that there would be new stories, and they’ve been really good too. My only complaint is that there haven’t been enough stories for my liking. At least there’s more coming and not too long to wait.

UFO is back

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I have been a fan of UFO for a long time now. In fact I like most of the work of Anderson Entertainment. Now, Big Finish have brought UFO back in a new series, and it is really good. I decided to get it without hearing it first, and it was well worth it.

I won’t go into details about the story as you might just be thinking about getting it yourself, but it is good. Really good. I’m looking forward to the next stories.

UFO Destruct Positive

Survivors: New Dawn 1

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Firstly, I have to say that is great that Survivors is back. I am really pleased that Big Finish decided to revive the series. I thoroughly enjoyed the nine box sets that they produced over the years, and, even if they had finished there it would have been excellent. I think I’ve listened to them about three times so far. I expect I will feel the urge to listen to them all again at some point.

New Dawn is exactly what it says it is. A new start for the Survivors series and set some years after the last set of stories. More than that I won’t say, as I wouldn’t want to spoil it for you if you do plan to listen to it.

Without giving anything away, what I can say is that the production values on this set of stories are just as good as all the previous ones, and the same with the performances. I am looking forward to hearing New Dawn 2 in a couple of months.

Here’s to more Survivors.

Survivors: Ghosts and Demons

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I bought this audiobook last year as I am a big fan of the ‘Survivors’ stories. But you probably know that already. This story was narrated rather than being a full cast story, full cast being my preferred format. Having said that it is a good story. It fits neatly into the existing timeline and uses the existing characters.

Overall I am just so glad that Big Finish are still making these stories.

Given that the world is still in the midst of a pandemic it might seem odd to be listening to an audiobook about a deadly pandemic. You might even think it was a bit morbid. But I really like these stories. Not that I am saying that they are some way of dealing with what is happening in the real world. Not at all. It’s really just a good story and a good reminder of what happens when our rules and systems break down.

Not for everyone I know. But I would recommend this.

More Survivors

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I posted a while ago that Big Finish were planning to bring out some more Survivors stories. Well they have, in fact, two have come out this week.

The first is ‘Ghosts and Demons’, which is a narrated story. Not that I particularly dislike a narrated story, at times they can be very good actually. This one is narrated by Carolyn Seymour, who is of course one of the main actors in the Survivors series anyway. I have listened to her narration before, and it is always great.

The second audiobook is a full cast drama with three individual stories.

I don’t know why I am such a big fan of the Survivors stories. I think it has something to do with the world being reset. Not always in a good way of course. Not always with positive outcomes. I find that I am drawn to these kinds of apocalyptic stories more and more. I don’t think that has anything to do with the pandemic in particular, although it does bring it home somewhat. But I always have enjoyed these kinds of stories.

I hope that Big Finish manage to keep Survivors going for some time to come. I had thought that it was done after season 9, but I’m always up for more, and I’m looking forward to hearing these.

More Space 1999 is coming

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Which is great news indeed. I had been wondering if Big Finish were going to produce any more in this series, and they are. It comes out in February next year.

The previous episodes in the Big Finish remake have been good. Not astonishing, but good. Which is enough for me. Especially as the graphic novels appear to have vanished for now.

  • Season 1 DVD Box Set

His Dark Materials (BBC)

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I was aware of this story and the books, but had never really thought about reading them. So when the BBC announced their new series I decided to give it a go. I have to admit that I had low expectations as they’d not exactly done a great job with War of the Worlds.

But, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. It was actually very good indeed. I watched all of the episodes, and, whilst I can’t say it was a story that I found totally gripping or interesting, it was actually good.

I think they’re making more of this too. I would definitely watch more if they do. If nothing else I expect it’ll be diverting.

The other thing it’s made me do is to get the first of the audio books. I haven’t started listening to it as yet, but I’ll get to it eventually.

Revisiting Survivors

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Survivors is a relatively little known TV show from the 1970s. It was about a virus that killed off almost the entire population of the planet. The people who were left were the ‘Survivors’. This is of course the subject of quite a lot of TV shows and films these days, but back then I think it was quite ground breaking.

It only got 3 seasons on TV, but, a few years ago, Big Finish, a company that makes some of my favourite audiobooks brought it back, with the three lead actors as well. Big Finish produced 9 seasons of it, each with 4 hour long episodes. It was brilliant. In fact, so much so that I’m revisiting the whole thing this year. Starting with the TV series. Which, in my opinion, stands the test of time, and is actually better than a lot of TV these days.

Survivors from the 1970s took a slow approach to storytelling. Or maybe that was the norm back then? Either way, it took its time in each episode. It had a natural feel too that somehow made it more believable.

I’ve enjoyed watching this again, and remembering the characters, the story and the where it took us.

Now that I’ve finished watching it I’m going to move on to listening to all of the audio stories that Big Finish Productions created. There are 9 box sets of these, so that will probably take me a while to get through I should think. When I do, I think I might post a summary of my thoughts on the whole thing.

Space 1999 (Big Finish Audio)

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A new version of Space 1999 from Big Finish

I’ve been a fan of Space 1999 since I was a kid. I just loved it. The idea was awesome, the show was awesome, but it only got two seasons, which was a shame really.

I’d hoped for a long time that Big Finish would bring it back, and they did. Releasing the first story “Breakaway” on the 13th of September last year. The date was significant. In the series the 13th of September was the date that the moon left earth’s orbit. Of course, that was back in 1999, so Big Finish releasing it on the 13th of September 2019 marked 20 years since the original story’s event.

The new version is excellent. It keeps to the original story but brings in a few new elements. I’ve listened to it twice now and it’s simply excellent.

It’s only fair that post 1999 be about Space 1999

It’s only right isn’t it. I’m a fan and I feel that I should dedicate post number 1999 to Space 1999. I’m still slowly making my way through season 2, and if that wasn’t enough I’m not sure that I’ve finished reading the comic editions on comixology either. Perhaps I need to make a bit…

by ashleyelsdon

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The Sons of Kaldor

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DW4D0701_thesonsofkaldor_1417

One of my all time favourite 4th Doctor episodes is “The Robots of Death”. It’s a great story and has some truly fantastic lines. It has been followed up a couple of times as far as I’m aware. One of the follow ups was “Corpse Marker“, a BBC audio book which I was really excited about, but fundamentally didn’t deliver on its promise and was, in the end, a real disappointment.

The next one I’m away of is “Robophobia”, which is a 7th Doctor story from Big Finish. I’m not a big 7th Doctor fan and so I haven’t heard this one. Perhaps I should give it a listen.

Now there’s “Sons of Kaldor”, the first story in the latest season of the 4th Doctor from Big Finish. I was a bit nervous about this story. I didn’t want to face the same disappointment as I had with “Corpse Market“. I didn’t need to worry about that. “Sons of Kaldor” has a very similar tone and pace to the original Robots of Death, it’s been carefully thought through and at its core it’s a good story.

The most important thing is that I really enjoyed it, and it’s a good start to volume one of this season. I’ve now listened to all of the stories and they’re a good bunch, and well worth listening to.