Age of Umbra
1x03 What Is Gained, What Is Lost [1st half]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube or Beacon.]
Sunday, 6 July 2025
Audio Drama
Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures
1.1 Vampire Weekend
Jodie Whittaker's Doctor comes to Big Finish — I'd say "finally", but this has to be quickest turnaround from TV to BF ever. No surprise: Jodie was talking about doing them before her time on TV had even finished. Anyway, here begins 12 new adventures released over the next couple of years (the final one is scheduled for May 2027). Can Big Finish do for the 13th Doctor what they've done for the 6th and, arguably, 8th and turn an underwhelming TV era into a fan favourite? Time will tell. This first instalment... isn't that.
But it's not bad, either. It feels very much like it's laying the groundwork. This is a light-weight romp-ish season opener; a reminder of all the different tones Who does, all at once (not a bad thing), with a breakneck pace and a focus on just being a bit of fun. In that sense, it's more successful than many of her TV episodes were.
Jodie and Mandip slip back into their roles as if they'd never been away, and there are some nice scenes between the Doctor and Yaz. That goes some way to make up for the supporting cast being a mite too large — there's not enough time for this many characters, so they're all quite vaguely sketched. It doesn't help that several sound quite similar, meaning it can get a bit confusing in fast-paced scenes with everyone present.
Still, a solid start to the 13th Doctor's adventures on audio. Hopefully future episodes will deliver on the promise of what Big Finish can do to positively transform an era's reputation.
1.1 Vampire Weekend
Jodie Whittaker's Doctor comes to Big Finish — I'd say "finally", but this has to be quickest turnaround from TV to BF ever. No surprise: Jodie was talking about doing them before her time on TV had even finished. Anyway, here begins 12 new adventures released over the next couple of years (the final one is scheduled for May 2027). Can Big Finish do for the 13th Doctor what they've done for the 6th and, arguably, 8th and turn an underwhelming TV era into a fan favourite? Time will tell. This first instalment... isn't that.
But it's not bad, either. It feels very much like it's laying the groundwork. This is a light-weight romp-ish season opener; a reminder of all the different tones Who does, all at once (not a bad thing), with a breakneck pace and a focus on just being a bit of fun. In that sense, it's more successful than many of her TV episodes were.
Jodie and Mandip slip back into their roles as if they'd never been away, and there are some nice scenes between the Doctor and Yaz. That goes some way to make up for the supporting cast being a mite too large — there's not enough time for this many characters, so they're all quite vaguely sketched. It doesn't help that several sound quite similar, meaning it can get a bit confusing in fast-paced scenes with everyone present.
Still, a solid start to the 13th Doctor's adventures on audio. Hopefully future episodes will deliver on the promise of what Big Finish can do to positively transform an era's reputation.
Fiction
Doctor Who: The New Adventures
Timewyrm: Revelation by Paul Cornell
Chapters 12–13
Epilogue [the end]
This seems to be regarded as among the best of the Timewyrm quartet — okay, we're only talking about four books, so there's not much room for manoeuvre in ordering them, but the rankings I've seen consistently place it first or second, and I've seen it ranked in the top ten of all New Adventures novels..
Well, I've found it a bit of a slog. I mean, it's taken me almost two months to get through it, compared to under two weeks for each of the previous parts (that's partly real-life events disrupting my reading rhythm, but also partly me finding it tough going). It's got some great ideas, actually, but they take a while to show up. Part of what makes them great is that they're reveals and reveals require setup, but obviously it didn't do that pre-work engagingly enough for me. Ah well, it's done now.
Not sure where I'll go next with the New Adventures — I own a bunch, but not the followup Cat's Cradle trilogy (because it's not meant to be very good); although I do have the entire 61-book run as ebooks, so I could continue there… or maybe I should stick to ones I actually own and paid money for, and just progress in order of release. Either way, I've spent the better part of two years just getting through these first four, so I either need to pick up the pace or accept I'm going to spend the rest of my life reading the NAs.
Timewyrm: Revelation by Paul Cornell
Chapters 12–13
Epilogue [the end]
This seems to be regarded as among the best of the Timewyrm quartet — okay, we're only talking about four books, so there's not much room for manoeuvre in ordering them, but the rankings I've seen consistently place it first or second, and I've seen it ranked in the top ten of all New Adventures novels..
Well, I've found it a bit of a slog. I mean, it's taken me almost two months to get through it, compared to under two weeks for each of the previous parts (that's partly real-life events disrupting my reading rhythm, but also partly me finding it tough going). It's got some great ideas, actually, but they take a while to show up. Part of what makes them great is that they're reveals and reveals require setup, but obviously it didn't do that pre-work engagingly enough for me. Ah well, it's done now.
Not sure where I'll go next with the New Adventures — I own a bunch, but not the followup Cat's Cradle trilogy (because it's not meant to be very good); although I do have the entire 61-book run as ebooks, so I could continue there… or maybe I should stick to ones I actually own and paid money for, and just progress in order of release. Either way, I've spent the better part of two years just getting through these first four, so I either need to pick up the pace or accept I'm going to spend the rest of my life reading the NAs.
Games
Gray Matter
I've got literally dozens of point-and-click adventure games I've bought over the last few years waiting to be played (not to mention a selection of various other types of game I've either bought on sale or got free through Prime, not least a few high-acclaimed and very long RPGs), and yet I wound up playing this, which I just saw recommended and, more or less on a whim, thought "let's play that!"
And then I spent way too much of my day trying to get it to work properly on my Mac (it's only available for PC — the basic port worked easily enough, but there was no audio, and that took ages to fix, and even now it doesn't work properly; but I can hear it, even if it's constantly glitchy, and that's better than nothing). So, I got there in the end, and therefore played... for 10 minutes.
Well, I've started it now, at least.
I've got literally dozens of point-and-click adventure games I've bought over the last few years waiting to be played (not to mention a selection of various other types of game I've either bought on sale or got free through Prime, not least a few high-acclaimed and very long RPGs), and yet I wound up playing this, which I just saw recommended and, more or less on a whim, thought "let's play that!"
And then I spent way too much of my day trying to get it to work properly on my Mac (it's only available for PC — the basic port worked easily enough, but there was no audio, and that took ages to fix, and even now it doesn't work properly; but I can hear it, even if it's constantly glitchy, and that's better than nothing). So, I got there in the end, and therefore played... for 10 minutes.
Well, I've started it now, at least.
this week on 100Films.co.uk
It feels like just the other day I was writing about May on 100Films.co.uk, but a whole 'nother month has flown by and it's time to look back at June.
First up, the overall review...
...accompanied by my list of "failures"...
More next Sunday? More likely it'll be August before I know it.
First up, the overall review...
...accompanied by my list of "failures"...
More next Sunday? More likely it'll be August before I know it.
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