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michaelklam's review
slow-paced
3.5
Like a lot of early Doctor Who, this set of undimmed stories has pacing issues but parts of it are pretty great and I cannot even imagine how that second story could have been produced back then but it would have been fantastic
cecesloth's review
5.0
An essential boxset for any Doctor Who fan. I'm really serious when I say BF should promote a "best of Big Finish" range and have this in spot number one.
Farewell Great Macedon:
On the one hand, it's almost a crime that this wasn't made for TV. On the other, having Farewell Great Macedon be a Lost Story lends the range a legitimacy that wasn't there beforehand, and rarely came back afterwards. Before this story, this range could've had the tagline "scripts we pulled out of the bin" and I would've heartily agreed. I think this release also gave the idea for The Early Adventures, an amazing collection of hybrid full-cast/narrated adventures that replaced the far inferior Companion Chronicles and for bringing together Carole Ann Ford and William Russell after so many years, so there's a lot to be thankful for here!
Anyway, back to Farewell Great Macedon. Why on Earth did David Whittaker pass on this amazing script? This not only would have been the best historical adventure, but one of the most brilliant stories of the show. The character drama here reminds me of Vincent and the Doctor, it's so modern in it's execution. You can really feel the weight of history on everyone's (but especially Barbara's) shoulders.
I can't imagine that this would have been above the means of the 60's production team, not with such beautiful offerings like Marco Polo and The Aztecs. The only thing that perhaps would have been too much on screen is the big Olympic Games spectacles, but I'm sure some compromise could've been reached.
As I mentioned earlier, this is the first time Carole Ann Ford and William Russell had worked together since The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and both give it their absolute all and come produce some top-notch performances. John Dorney makes for a brilliant Alexander, I didn't know he was as good an actor as he is a writer!
Farewell Great Macedon is one of Big Finish's greatest stories. If they ever release a best of Big Finish bundle (a set of stories for people wanting to get started in the wonderful world of audio) then this should absolutely be included! I'll leave this review with a horrifying thought: what if, this story was made in 1964, but was junked with Marco Polo et. al? Now that would be a tragedy worthy of the Greeks themselves.
The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance:
I often daydream about Doctor Who, it's my favourite pastime. I like putting myself in the shoes of producers and script editors to figure out what I'd do with some of the things that come across my desk. Lately, when I'm not listening to The Lost Stories, my brain has been fixated on the relatively few good ones and thinking about where and how they'd fit into the season. More on this in a bit.
You may have noticed my 5 star rating for The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance. Yes, I really do love it that much! Such a peculiar little script, a bit like a Shakespearean tragedy transposed onto an alien world (an interesting counterpoint to Farewell Great Macedon's transposing of the Greek tragedy to a 1960s television script!) I am an absolute sucker for two things in Doctor Who: world-building and conversations between two parties trying to rationalise one another. (Think Enlightenment, Venusian Lullaby, Vampire Science, Marco Polo, The Silurians etc.) Fragrance has both of these in spades, and manages it all within the one episode and all achieved with sound. You don't need fancy visuals to establish a mood or a world, as the Classic series demonstrated time and time again (and as The New Series seems to constantly forget...)
But if it were made in the 1960's, where would it fit? I think right in between The Edge of Destruction and Marco Polo would be best. If either An Unearthly Child or The Daleks was one episode shorter (they both need it really) then it would have fit nicely right at the end of the original 13 episode commission, and would've been a great way to finish it off if the series ultimately wasn't picked up. The Doctor once again "kidnapping" the three other people, but this time for their safety rather than his is a great way to demonstrate how far he's come since An Unearthly Child. You would also not be ending on a cliffhanger, but rather with a chariot literally riding into the sun. You'd finally get an explanation for how some of the TARDIS works (and it's such a good one too!) and most of all it might set a precedent for future quirky one episode interludes, something I wish was done throughout Classic Who.
Yes, it's a big leap to imagine that David Whitaker would let something like this be made. It's an even bigger one to imagine that The Daleks could've been shortened at such short notice, but it's a nice What If scenario that keeps me distracted enough to cope with real life.
Farewell Great Macedon:
On the one hand, it's almost a crime that this wasn't made for TV. On the other, having Farewell Great Macedon be a Lost Story lends the range a legitimacy that wasn't there beforehand, and rarely came back afterwards. Before this story, this range could've had the tagline "scripts we pulled out of the bin" and I would've heartily agreed. I think this release also gave the idea for The Early Adventures, an amazing collection of hybrid full-cast/narrated adventures that replaced the far inferior Companion Chronicles and for bringing together Carole Ann Ford and William Russell after so many years, so there's a lot to be thankful for here!
Anyway, back to Farewell Great Macedon. Why on Earth did David Whittaker pass on this amazing script? This not only would have been the best historical adventure, but one of the most brilliant stories of the show. The character drama here reminds me of Vincent and the Doctor, it's so modern in it's execution. You can really feel the weight of history on everyone's (but especially Barbara's) shoulders.
I can't imagine that this would have been above the means of the 60's production team, not with such beautiful offerings like Marco Polo and The Aztecs. The only thing that perhaps would have been too much on screen is the big Olympic Games spectacles, but I'm sure some compromise could've been reached.
As I mentioned earlier, this is the first time Carole Ann Ford and William Russell had worked together since The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and both give it their absolute all and come produce some top-notch performances. John Dorney makes for a brilliant Alexander, I didn't know he was as good an actor as he is a writer!
Farewell Great Macedon is one of Big Finish's greatest stories. If they ever release a best of Big Finish bundle (a set of stories for people wanting to get started in the wonderful world of audio) then this should absolutely be included! I'll leave this review with a horrifying thought: what if, this story was made in 1964, but was junked with Marco Polo et. al? Now that would be a tragedy worthy of the Greeks themselves.
The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance:
I often daydream about Doctor Who, it's my favourite pastime. I like putting myself in the shoes of producers and script editors to figure out what I'd do with some of the things that come across my desk. Lately, when I'm not listening to The Lost Stories, my brain has been fixated on the relatively few good ones and thinking about where and how they'd fit into the season. More on this in a bit.
You may have noticed my 5 star rating for The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance. Yes, I really do love it that much! Such a peculiar little script, a bit like a Shakespearean tragedy transposed onto an alien world (an interesting counterpoint to Farewell Great Macedon's transposing of the Greek tragedy to a 1960s television script!) I am an absolute sucker for two things in Doctor Who: world-building and conversations between two parties trying to rationalise one another. (Think Enlightenment, Venusian Lullaby, Vampire Science, Marco Polo, The Silurians etc.) Fragrance has both of these in spades, and manages it all within the one episode and all achieved with sound. You don't need fancy visuals to establish a mood or a world, as the Classic series demonstrated time and time again (and as The New Series seems to constantly forget...)
But if it were made in the 1960's, where would it fit? I think right in between The Edge of Destruction and Marco Polo would be best. If either An Unearthly Child or The Daleks was one episode shorter (they both need it really) then it would have fit nicely right at the end of the original 13 episode commission, and would've been a great way to finish it off if the series ultimately wasn't picked up. The Doctor once again "kidnapping" the three other people, but this time for their safety rather than his is a great way to demonstrate how far he's come since An Unearthly Child. You would also not be ending on a cliffhanger, but rather with a chariot literally riding into the sun. You'd finally get an explanation for how some of the TARDIS works (and it's such a good one too!) and most of all it might set a precedent for future quirky one episode interludes, something I wish was done throughout Classic Who.
Yes, it's a big leap to imagine that David Whitaker would let something like this be made. It's an even bigger one to imagine that The Daleks could've been shortened at such short notice, but it's a nice What If scenario that keeps me distracted enough to cope with real life.
petersimpson's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
zimb0's review
5.0
Satisfying, a rare historical that I thoroughly enjoyed. Be mindful of the second lost story being only one episode.
chicafrom3's review
adventurous
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Two lost stories from the First Doctor era, adapted as audio dramas in Companion Chronicles style, primarily narrated by William Russell and Carole Ann Ford. Both stories feature the First Doctor, Barbara, Ian, and Susan; the first centers on Alexander the Great and Babylon, the second takes place on the distant planet of Fragrance, where the TARDIS crew has stayed for a while and is now preparing to leave. Both are excellent, with beautiful characterization and gorgeous worldbuilding. They're very dense stories, and very worth it.
alex_t's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
librarycobwebs's review
adventurous
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
nwhyte's review
3.0
Big Finish, faced with the difficulty of doing them for audio now that William Hartnell and Jacqueline Hill are unable to contribute, have gone for an extended Companion Chronicle type format, with William Russell and Carole Ann Ford reprising the characters of Ian and Susan, also taking on various other incidental characters, joined by John Dorney as Alexander the Great for the first story and by Dorney and Helen Goldwyn for the second. As I said on reading them, they are both very sad stories which would have been unlikely to make it to the screen i 1964; but they are excellent pieces, and though each of the seven episodes (six for Macedon and one for Fragrance) extends well beyond the usual 25 minutes, they are well worth it. In particular, I was able to form a much better idea of the characters in Alexander's entourage thanks to Russell and Ford's performance than I could from simply reading the script. Strongly recommended for First Doctor fans in particular but really for anyone; these are good stories in their own right.
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