Timothy X Atack

Consisting of three separate stories, as opposed to the first set's three part epic, I found more to like in the variety of elements present here. The first story, Girl Deconstructed really felt like an episode of Christopher Eccleston's one and only TV season. Particularly in the fate of Jana's friend Douglas. Fright Motif, the second story, was very strong on character with the cast and script doing a great job of breathing life into the inhabitants of post war Paris. Sadly, the story itself was a bit of a let down. Finally we have the third story, Planet of the End which steals the show, so to speak. Incredibly imaginative and epic, writer Timothy X Atack brings us a terrifically lovable character in the AI named Fred and a story which posits space capitalists as the most evil beings in the galaxy. All in all, a great box set and an improvement on the first.… (mais)

Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor - The Time War 2 is a bit disappointing on the whole. It's never awful or anything, but it's surprisingly mediocre. None of the stories are quite as good as the ones in the first Time War set and many of them just feel like Doctor Who as usual, just with a bit of extra darkness. There are some really good ideas, but they're frequently underutilized in favor of more generic scenes and plotlines. The overarching storyline isn't as strong as the first box set and the conclusion to it ends up not working all that well as the final episode devotes little time to actually exploring the idea it wants to explore. Much of the dialogue is good, but it's all lot down by weak plotlines in the stories. The acting, sound design, directing, and score are great, but, ultimately, these audio box sets live and die based on how good the stories are, and these stories were just exceedingly average for me. Most will still like it; it's certainly not a waste of time. But it doesn't feel as special as the first Time War set did, and that's disappointing.

A full review can be found on my blog.… (mais)

A deaf musician from the future goes back in time to meet the deaf composer - and gets the shock of her life when she realizes that Beethoven can actually hear. Had she ended up in an alternative past or had the deafness been a cruel joke coded as history?

Marking the 250th anniversary of the composer's birth, the play could not have asked for a better cast - Peter Capaldi takes on the role of Beethoven and Sophie Stone (who is deaf) plays the visitor. Add the deaf composer Lloyd Coleman who created the haunting music and even with a weaker plot, the play would have worked.

Except that the plot is anything but weak - the Visitor (who never gets a name) had come to get a few lessons from the composer but ends up teaching him about deafness and how important he had been as the first deaf composer. Being the 19th century, Beethoven believes that she is a messenger sent to show him the future and losing one's hearing is probably the worst he can think of. It is all about hearing and deafness and about what music is and what music can do - and all the thoughts and most of dialogue are accompanied by music that fits it in ways that almost sound surreal in places.

The end connects time and space in a way that does not resolve the initial question of what happened but that satisfy the play and history. Listening to Capaldi's delivery I could not get his Doctor Who out of my head - which did not diminish the power of the play - if anything, it felt like a variation of what he had done before. In a good way.

The recording runs for almost 90 minutes and contains a lot of beautiful music but if you do not feel like listening, the transcript is available for download. But I would highly recommend to listen to it - especially if you like Capaldi.… (mais)