I am Ashley Elsdon

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Tag: Big Finish

A wonderful company that make audiobooks of some of my favourite stories, like Dr Who, Blake’s 7 and several others.

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.

Peladon

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As you might know if you’ve been to this site before, I do like Doctor Who. Although that is probably a bit of an understatement. I’m a huge fan of the output of Big Finish.

This set of stories was very appealing for a variety of reasons, not least of which was the cast, with David Troughton reprising his role from the original third doctor story, which is excellent. There are two Doctors and plenty of other great actors too.

In terms of story it is excellent. I won’t spoil it for you, just in case you do buy it. However, what I can tell you is that this set of stories was one of the most interesting I’ve heard from Big Finish in a while, and I like the stuff that they produce a lot. The story unfolds over decades, and has political and social dimensions in keeping with the original Peladon stories, which made a good deal of reference at the time to the political happenings in the UK. I’m glad that they echoed that in this collection.

I won’t say more about the story, just in case you decide to listen to it. If you do, it’s good, it’s really good.

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

Happy Birthday Tom!

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Mr Baker is, without a doubt, the best Doctor Who ever. What is more I am amazed and totally delighted that he is still making new stories. Stories that I love. I am especially looking forward to the next set of stories coming out in March this year. It will be a bit of a departure, but I am sure it will be amazing.

Happy birthday Mr Baker, may you continue for many years to come.

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.

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.

Blake’s 7: Liberator Chronicles 8 – Spoils

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I updated my Blake’s 7 library after Christmas as Big Finish was having a sale on a range of titles. One that I bought was the Liberator Chronicles 8. As a collection of four stories it was fine. Nothing bad in there, nothing amazing. That is until the last story in the collection. The last story in this collection is called ‘Spoils’.

I’m not going to spoil the story in case you plan to listen to it, but, I have to say it was probably one of the most interesting and unusual stories in the Blake’s 7 range I’ve ever heard.

I’ll leave it there. If you do listen to it, I think you’ll be surprised.

The Sons of Kaldor

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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.