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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
To be honest i was looking forwards to this not because of the plot or the cover or the appearance of Rassilon, or for Daphne Ashbrook, or even for Paul Darrow (though that was a minor selling point) but because it was to finally tie up all the loose ends of the overall disapointing Divergent Universe saga. As much as i enjoyed one or two of the audios, i thought as a whole it was inferior to the rest of McGann's dramas.
The actors are all great - McGann, Ashbrook, and Darrow especially - and the sound effects, including giant killer crabs (!) and tsunamis (!) are all very well done, but overall, well the plot just seems overdrawn. There is a massive information dump near the end just to tie up plot threads in one fell swoop, and the character of Daqar Keep (great name) is so clouded by plot twists that come the end of the drama you're not really sure whats going on. Only the final moments when everything crashes to a climax made me satisfied...and unfortunately for the wrong reasons...because its all finished and we can get back to the stand alone episodes which are much better. The cliffhanger is somewhat cliche and probably only thrown in because Zagreus ended the season with a spectacular cliffhanger all those audios before. However, it was not without some enjoyment that i listened - at not one point did i think of giving up, the plot still pulled me along at an acceptable pace - and so it sits at an average score. I must say, however, this is a necessary listen if you've been following the arc.
The actors are all great - McGann, Ashbrook, and Darrow especially - and the sound effects, including giant killer crabs (!) and tsunamis (!) are all very well done, but overall, well the plot just seems overdrawn. There is a massive information dump near the end just to tie up plot threads in one fell swoop, and the character of Daqar Keep (great name) is so clouded by plot twists that come the end of the drama you're not really sure whats going on. Only the final moments when everything crashes to a climax made me satisfied...and unfortunately for the wrong reasons...because its all finished and we can get back to the stand alone episodes which are much better. The cliffhanger is somewhat cliche and probably only thrown in because Zagreus ended the season with a spectacular cliffhanger all those audios before. However, it was not without some enjoyment that i listened - at not one point did i think of giving up, the plot still pulled me along at an acceptable pace - and so it sits at an average score. I must say, however, this is a necessary listen if you've been following the arc.
After an up and down season where the Doctor, Charley and K'Riss find themselves in a universe without time, I was really looking forward to this story. I hoped that it would tie up all of the loose ends and finally return the Tardis back to our regular time and space.
I can't fully review this story without giving away spoilers but it is sadly a pedestrian affair spread over 3 discs. A superb cast brings out the best of the story and listening to Paul Darrow is always a treat. Although an anti climax to the season, the end of this story certainly isn't. It is a great surprise and a final reminder that after all of the unpredictability of the timeless universe, things are going to be a lot more familiar from here on in, for better or worse.
Sadly I can only give this story 3 stars but of course it is a must listen if you need to know how the season ends.
I can't fully review this story without giving away spoilers but it is sadly a pedestrian affair spread over 3 discs. A superb cast brings out the best of the story and listening to Paul Darrow is always a treat. Although an anti climax to the season, the end of this story certainly isn't. It is a great surprise and a final reminder that after all of the unpredictability of the timeless universe, things are going to be a lot more familiar from here on in, for better or worse.
Sadly I can only give this story 3 stars but of course it is a must listen if you need to know how the season ends.
Doctor Who has often shirked one rather obvious consequence of travel in the Tardis: the sheer amount of death that is encountered. Even in the revived TV version, death is as often unremarked as it is unremarkable. Departing companions tend to dwell on how much fun they had, cheerfully ignoring how many people they had witnessed exterminated first hand.
With a few strokes of the pen, Alan Barnes and Gary Russell manage to redress the balance in this regard in what is one of the finest soliloquys the franchise has ever produced: Charley's "life and death on such a scale" speech on disc one of 'The Next Life'. Beautifully delivered and backed by Russell Stone's exceptional music from 'Faith Stealer', it is one of the most moving few minutes of Doctor Who I know of.
There is much else to admire: Paul McGann is (again) brilliant (and his banter with TV movie sparring partner Daphne Ashbrook is rather special), Stephane Cornicard makes for a marvellous villain and ERS do a wonderful job with the sound design, as well as mixing and matching music from previous stories to great effect. Charley revisiting the events prior to 'Storm Warning' is a lovely touch too, as is The Doctor's brinkmanship at the very end. So why not the full five stars?
'The Next Life' is let down by its tedious tying up of C'rizz's non-story. Conrad Westmaas does his best to fight through his miscasting, without ever succeeding, while Paul Darrow (as his dad) aims for 'sinister' but merely ends up with 'dreary'. One is constantly reminded that C'rizz's being there at all was a huge miscalculation and that time spent on fleshing out his back story was a narrative dead end.
Don't get me wrong: 'The Next Life' is really worth the money. Another epic, yes, and by no means a bad one, as long as one is prepared to put up with periodic lapses into the ordinary; its great moments, of which there are many, are enough to make it worth your while.
With a few strokes of the pen, Alan Barnes and Gary Russell manage to redress the balance in this regard in what is one of the finest soliloquys the franchise has ever produced: Charley's "life and death on such a scale" speech on disc one of 'The Next Life'. Beautifully delivered and backed by Russell Stone's exceptional music from 'Faith Stealer', it is one of the most moving few minutes of Doctor Who I know of.
There is much else to admire: Paul McGann is (again) brilliant (and his banter with TV movie sparring partner Daphne Ashbrook is rather special), Stephane Cornicard makes for a marvellous villain and ERS do a wonderful job with the sound design, as well as mixing and matching music from previous stories to great effect. Charley revisiting the events prior to 'Storm Warning' is a lovely touch too, as is The Doctor's brinkmanship at the very end. So why not the full five stars?
'The Next Life' is let down by its tedious tying up of C'rizz's non-story. Conrad Westmaas does his best to fight through his miscasting, without ever succeeding, while Paul Darrow (as his dad) aims for 'sinister' but merely ends up with 'dreary'. One is constantly reminded that C'rizz's being there at all was a huge miscalculation and that time spent on fleshing out his back story was a narrative dead end.
Don't get me wrong: 'The Next Life' is really worth the money. Another epic, yes, and by no means a bad one, as long as one is prepared to put up with periodic lapses into the ordinary; its great moments, of which there are many, are enough to make it worth your while.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Don't Believe the Hype
Out of all the audio Doctors The Eighth seems to be the worst served in terms of stories. The most successful are those that marry sinister characters and eerie locations with The... Read more
Published on 16 Nov 2007 by Captain Pugwash
For a long story, it is very entertaining....
Zagreus was quite confusing and hard to understand as the opening of the Paul Mcgann Divergence set of stories, and the only one i gave a lower mark. Read more
Published on 5 Sep 2007 by big mad doctor who guy
A somewhat bloated conclusion to the Divergent Universe arc
"'All things must die.'
"Washed up on the sandy shores of a paradise island, a wild-eyed shipwreck survivor is rescued by the wife of Daqar Keep, the richest man in the... Read more
"Washed up on the sandy shores of a paradise island, a wild-eyed shipwreck survivor is rescued by the wife of Daqar Keep, the richest man in the... Read more
Published on 1 Aug 2007 by M. Wilberforce
a brillient end to the divergent stories
This story is the best divergent story.it begins with the tardis crasing in to a moon.the docor is ship recked and ceres is with his wife lyda and charly with her mother. Read more
Published on 4 July 2005 by "mishatown"
Its over! Its over!
Hooray - At last the abysmal Divergent Universe adventures of the 8th Doctor are over! The Next Life is a curious beast, due to it's off pacing - perhaps stung by criticism of the... Read more
Published on 10 Feb 2005 by Jane Aland
Tying Up Loose Ends Successfully!
With the arrival of the 9th Doctor on TV shortly, the Big Finish team had to figure out a way to get the 8th Doctor out of the Divergence's universe and back into ours, ready for... Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2005 by GARY T PRUDHOE
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