Doctor Who Big Finish Review - Spare Parts
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
- Even before I made the jump to Big Finish, people were telling me that I had to hear this one. So, can it life up to the hype?
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One of my favourite moments has got to be where the Doctor asks Doctorman Allen, how could you do this to your own kind? And she looses it and screams, "because we're dying!". Everything she ranted out after that was great as well, but that one line perfectly sums up everything to understand about Mondas and about the Cybermen or how they were originally. People, pretty much humans who don't want power or to rule the universe but just want to live.
"Spare Parts" also inspired the two-part return of the Cybermen in Tennant's era ("The Age of Steel" and "Rise of the Cybermen") In fact, quite a few of the stories from RTD's tenure were inspired by Big Finish stories. Yvonne Hartley was even a character in the series 2 2-part finale.
jason thayer Yvonne Hartmann. They combined Allan and Harley.
Yeah, the Cyberman two-parter in series 2 is supposedly an adaptation of Spare Parts, to the point that the guy who wrote it gets a credit on those two episodes. In practice though, there's very little in common between the two and as pointed out, World Enough and Time is much closer to Spare Parts
James Gray _Rise of the Cybermen_ took basic plot beats, whereas _World Enough_ took the feel and atmosphere.
James Gray no that’s untrue
Fuck i should have gotten jubele
I wouldn’t call it an Exodus, I’d even go so much far as to call it a Genesis.
"Specifically, the Genesis of the Cybermen"
If you have Spotify, this was on there last time I checked. Just wait til you get to Jubilee , if you thought this was dark..,
I loved the silver turk. It's an 8th doctor audio, and it also features the cybermen, and was utterly chilling.
The fun fact is. In World Enough and Time they make all the different origins of the Cybermen their own independent stories. Explaining how every planet that has people eventually evolve into Cybermen. So it’s actually really interesting because it allows them to do spin off of Cybermen in stories or allows them to make new factions and tell a whole new origin story. And for me especially I love stories about the early stages of Cybermen, where it was done with twisted surgery and much more sadistic, creepy and scarier than the modern updated Cybermen
I get you thing about overhyping. It's why, when I recommend things, I just try to recommend them; I try to leave my opinion out of it.
That being said, after this, I recommend "Jubilee." Russell T. Davies asked the writer, Rob Shearman, to adapt "Jubilee" for the new series, and it became the Ninth Doctor "Dalek."
This story was even better than Genesis of the Daleks for me, Peter Davison really improved his performance in the Audios, after listening to this I needed a breather, if this had been televised it would have been remembered as one of the best Doctor Who stories ever. Marc Platt is a very meticulous writer, his stories are like an intricate puzzle that by the end of the story is perfectly assembled. I think anyone who wants to listen to a great story should check this one out, just be warned this story is incredibly unnerving.
You perfectly summed up my favorite message of the overall story at 7:37
The story screams the desperation of survival, the Heartbreak of losing your loved ones to something
you wouldn't have believed you helped allowed to exist, and the Harrowing lengths the forsaken people will go to
to just buy a little more time.
On second listening, I truly started to grasp the frail concept of the Committee resorting to
harvesting ROTTING ORGANS and BRITTLE BONES for transplants.
The Committee themselves were what I imagine myself to be the ultimate expression of body-horror,
I wish we could have some visual of what Hellish Contraption they were hooked up to.
If only more and more people watched this.
It's when the daughter starts screaming. That had me shook..
Especially as a Cyberman. The execution was just so nightmarish.
Glad to hear you liked "Spare Parts". I consider it to be one of Big Finish's stronger entries, much more so than "Sirens of Time" (I cut them some slack on that because it was their first attempt) or the lackluster "Shada". If you are looking for other Big Finish productions to listen to, then take a look at "The Holy Terror", "Chimes of Midnight" or "The One Doctor". If you only have budget for one of these, "The Holy Terror" gives the best bang for the buck.
I love Big Finish. They’ve made some of the best Doctor Who stories ever.
I love 'Spare Parts', very good review. Do check out the Sixth Doctor audio called 'Davros' sometime... I think it's one that is not as talked about as some other BF stories, but it's the best take on that villain done in any medium. It's a little underrated.
I would recommend giving the chimes of midnight a go it’s a brilliant one and you don’t necessarily have to listen to any past stories from that era and it’s an 8th doctor story !
Yes, every Christmas I listen to Chimes of Midnight
Great that youre covering BF audio.... I look forward to the day you (hopefully) talk about one of the stories I personally worked on (Not gonna tell u which ones tho)... be interested to hear your thoughts on the sound design (yep thats what I do) as thats what brings these stories to life...and spare Parts does that really really well!
Well dang. Given how much Big Finish there is and the fact that I’m currently tackling these at a pace of once a month, you’re really rolling the dice not even giving me a hint. Can you at least tell me if it was earlier or more recent in the range?
Council of Geeks Ok..... I will narrow it down for you :) ..... Summer 2016 and another in Summer 2017 :)
Plus Peter Davison came after Tom Baker 's doctor so he had some really big shoes to fill.
For me, in the show anyway (I like him more in the audios), Davison always seemed really bland.
Too smug not enough charm, comedy to back it up.
Can you do "The Marian Conspiracy" next? That's one of my favorites so far. Introduces my favorite Audio Companion too.
Sarvis The Buck my favorite companion in all of Doctor Who
The best Doctor Who companion of all time. For sure. Audio or otherwise.
When the Doctor makes the comment about the hip replacement etc, it’s the producer nodding to the man who came up with the idea of the Cybermen in the 1960’s. That was his explanation and It makes more sense that way.
I would love to know what you think of The Spectre of Lanyon Moor. One of my faves! If you haven't listened to anything with Six, I think it's a great showcase of how well Big Finish has handled him. As well as his original companion Evelyn Smythe. (Also, if you're a Brig fan, he's in it too!)
THE BEST AUDIO, equally as good as world enough and time. We need more creepy body horror cybermen stories, perhaps the Moonbase cybermen?
Listen to the 8th doctor stories in order
Oddly enough, the Cyberman two-parter in series 2 is supposedly an adaptation of Spare Parts, to the point that the guy who wrote it gets a credit on those two episodes. In practice though, there's very little in common between the two stories and as you pointed out, World Enough and Time is much closer. Great review.
I'm going to start getting the doctor who audio dramas at some point they sound great thank you I love your videos
This is one I've heard a lot about and definitely want to listen to as I'm a big fan of the Cybermen paticularly of the 1960s.
I strongly suggest you look into the BBC audio dramas of the Tenth Doctor. They are spectacular. So is the story arc "Doom Coalition"
Nice to see more Big Finish reviews. This one and Chimes of Midnight are some of the best Doctor who ever made.
The only complaint I have is that I found it really hard to understand what was being said at certain points
I quite enjoy the Big Finish audios. I listened to this one way before the last 2 episodes of season 10. I do have a recommendation for another 5th Doctor audio you might enjoy, but be really confused by. It is the Main Range stories, story 91, Circular Time. When and if you listen to this story, I’d like to hear you opinion on the “5th Doctor” and I am using quotes for a specific reason. The only spoiler I can give you is the 4th story involves The Watcher...
I wish more fans knew about Big Finish. And I also wished that more NuWho fans don't just dismiss it. Excellent video as always.
Love Spare Parts. Creepy as fuck but epic
And the pictures are better on Audio..
Dude everyone choked up at that moment it's impossible not to like inside out or rabbit proof fence
Spare Parts might be the GREATEST Doctor Who story in any medium IMO
So as a whovian i always wanted to listen to big finish stories.I chose this one cause i loooove the cybermen and 5 is my least favorite doctor, so i wanted to get his doctor more.
SPOILER ALERT
This was amazing, it lived upto my high expectations.I still feel the same way about 5 sadly. Nyssa was great in this. This story has one of the best collection of one time doctor who characters. Thomas is so slimy and fun,Doctorman allan is so tragic and egoistic,And that family omg i felt so bad for Yvonne hartley that was heartbreaking and the rest of the family was great too. The setting and atmosphere is top notch.The sound design makes this story much better than its on the page(whats on the page is still great).
Part 1,2 are both good just good.This is mainly cause i feel it drags quite a bit. The cybermen arent great here.Also the comittee voices are very difficult to understand in these parts.The chatacter stuff and dread is still present though.
Part 3 is a masterpiece in atmospheric story telling and being creepy in a pg 13 setting.The converted daughter she made me choke up that was just so heartbreaking.Seeing franks reaction to that was heartbrraking as well.
Part 4 was amazing but the use of cybermats felt like a deus ex machina so that wasnt great.The cybermat in this story are just there .The whole cybermen being semi based on the doctor was amazing.The concepts come to the fore front in this part and its great.I do have aquestion though why doesnt the comittee heat up the place so that people will atleast be left to convert other wise they will be dead.So am i being stupid not understanding something or its the writing.
Now its comparision to WEAT
Doctor:-12 wins this easily .His 10 minutes of screentime beats 5 in this story.
Companion:- As great as nyssa is Bill wins this one cause this is her story.
Side characters:-I love missy,nardole,razor,etc but this one goes to spare parts and it isnt close.
World building :-Very very very close but i gotta give to spare parts just because we see more of the world.
Atmosphere:- WEAT wins this because the 1st 2 parts are weak in comparision to parts 3,4 and WEAT
Amazing moments:-Spare parts has The convo between the daughter and her family,the doctor being converted and the ending.WEAT has many more, so it wins this one
Sci fi concepts:-Id give this to Spare parts if we only include this episode,but if the idea of cybermen evolving at the bottom of the ship from the doctor falls WEAT will win this one.
So i prefer WEAT mainly beacause i care more about bill than Yvonne and it is much more condensed whereas spare parts drags in the begining.
I feel Spare parts should be recreated as a 1hr 40 min story in the show. This would make it a great viewing experiance imo
So do u guys agree with my opinion.do let me know
Why was there black lightning at the end
I've always heard good things about this one. I'm also a fan of the fifth Doctor so I do need to check it out soon.
Creatures of Beauty
The Marian conspiracy
Master
Or Chimes of midnight
Save Chimes of Midnight for Christmas. It's meant to be a Christmas episode.
or for turkey-hunting season
Dusty Hyrax man I love charley
Tough choice. Master and Chimes of Midnight are such wonderful stories.
Great review!
Have you seen the Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood?
I saw the first series of Sarah Jane and all of Torchwood except Miracle Day.
The best part of every season, 1-3 of Sarah Jane Adventures, are the Trickster episodes. They are actually so good, which I saw when I was younger because my mum wouldn't let me watch Doctor Who but she did let me watch the Sarah Jane Adventures
There are some episodes of Big Finish, and this is one of them, where I love them so much except for "that one line" that I've memorized them enough to know when I need to pull out my phone and get ready to hit the "skip ten seconds" button and pretend the line doesn't exist.
I must confess to preferring Spare Parts to the Doctor Falls. The tragedy of the origins of the cybermen, is weakened by having a manipulative mastermind behind it. They even addressed this with a throwaway line at the start of the second part, when Peter gives the line, it would probably have happened anyway. The pain of choosing between partial conversion and a better chance of surviving/saving their people, was excellent. (I haven't listened to it in a while, so might have parts wrong) The dilemma between Salvation and Damnation bite deeper when it's your own free will and you surrender, rather than being tricked into conversion by the Master.
Robin Hislop yes but that's what the mondasians on the ship were doing, but bill, a human from modern times, sees that it has become way too dire, and would never be converted. In particular, the point that they are in so much pain, but they dont believe they have a choice. That to me was just as effective.
Thankfully, the way 12 two-parter is set, it still allows “Spare Parts” to have happened.
It's back! Hooray!
Yeah... I'd kill to get more of World Enough and Time, but I just can't bring myself to concentrate on audio books long enough. Would you share any tips that you've picked up? Cause you said that you've managed to get into the swing of it and I'd be curious to see what advice you might have.
The main thing was I had to get out of go the habit of multitasking too much. Like when I listen to podcasts I’ll also be working or playing a game or something. With these audio dramas, you really shouldn’t be doing anything more demanding on your attention than driving or walking or something like that.
+Council of Geeks I see. I did suspect that that would be the issue, but was hoping that there would be more to it than that. Thanks for confirming my suspicions, though!
Just in case it is a point of difference - a lot of Big Finish is audio "dramas", not audio "books". I totally struggle with audio books - I just tune out while people reading description at me. Whereas I find audio drama a lot more engaging - it relies a lot more on dialogue between characters - I'd liken it to eavesdropping. But agree, I have to be paying attention - so listen while driving or walking - or instead of reading before bed. I didn't think I'd get into Big Finish, but after trying a few I was hooked.
+Aaron Howell I see. Guess I didn't realise that the Big Finish stuff was different from a typical audiobook. I was under the impression that they also had descriptions of things and events. Then again, it's not like I've ever tried one.... But thanks for the reassurance!
Check out the similarities with the sky man within the war master boxset
You need to check out "Master". It's also got a bit of a creepy vibe.
Sorry, but if there isn't any visual, I can't get interested. Perhaps if I had grown up listening to radio dramas I'd be more receptive to Big Finish. I did listen to one BF once, and also acquired a soundtrack CD for The Daleks Masterplan, but both of them were very unsatisfying, as I grew increasingly frustrated not being able to see anything.
Still, great review, as always.
I get that. When I started the audios, I felt the same way. It takes time. Like, when I started, I had to listen to stories several times to get everything. Over time, however, I found the more I listened to them, the easier it got.
The Sentinel Whereas I, having been brought up listening to things like the musical version of War of the Worlds, found it easy to transition to this and I’m so glad I did.
Here it is! I stuck around!
Review Dark Eyes
Really good video though I have to disagree with your rant. It seems to be a thing in society lately that subtle = good and unsubtle = bad but I've never really understood why. Stories don't always have to be tests of the audiences intelligence. The writers had a point they wanted to make and they made it.
I think the problem, for me, is that Peter Davison's Doctor is just really boring. It's hard for me to get into anything his Doctor is in. Which is why I feel like the story was robbed by having this Doctor be the Doctor for it. Which is a shame.
At the very least it makes sense for Nyssa to be the companion in this story, especially with the events of Earthshock in mind.