Old Who: Three audios and a tv episode

[selenak]

A couple of short reviews from recent weeks, three audios and a tv episode.

Audios first.



The Spectre of Lanyon Moor, or, the one where the Doctor and Evelyn team up with the Brigadier. Which is the main attraction - the villains are standard DW, and there is no character examination of the Doctor himself through the guest characters, as in The Marian Conspiracy. Plus the script by Nicholas Pegg gets a minus point for the Doctor having to tell Evelyn about the Celts. Evelyn is a historian. Granted, one specializing in Tudor history (which comes in useful again in this story), but still - even with a general interest in history, she should know the exposition info the Doctor tells her. Since the audience might not, I can see the necessity, but why not let Evelyn fill in the Doctor instead? He can be forgiven for not knowing every single detail of Earth history, he might like the planet but he's an alien. Ah, well. That nitpick aside, it's impossible not to love a story showcasing the Brig as well as this one does, plus the way he immediately identifies the Doctor (whom he hasn't seen in this regeneration before) - outrageous wardrobe, makes a dramatic entrance, female companion, is all over me and calls me "Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, my dear fellow" = Doctor - is win. The script unfortunately forgets the scene in Battlefield where the Brig informs Seven of his marriage to Doris by letting him give Six the same information, but never mind, the Doctor reacting to the Brig's marriage is always good. As the Brig saving the day. All in all, a good audio adventure, though not extraordinary.



Invaders from Mars was written by Mark Gatiss and is probably a love or hate thing. As in, if you know 30s and 40s movies and radio shows and some of the history, you appreciate what Gatiss is doing her and are mightily amused by it, but I can imagine listeners without the background feel somewhat overwhelmed, since Gatiss uses every trope of the period ever - gangsters, Communists, Nazis, theatre, Orson Welles and aliens. Yes, it's set during that famous Halloween 1938 when young Orson W. scared the nation with his War of the Worlds broadcast. Which seems to be a minor subplot pottering along somewhat disconnected to the other plots until it all comes together in the final twist as the Doctor teams up with the Mercury theatre on the air in an ingenious twist. The characters are all lovingly used period stereotypes, from the Italo-American gangsters to the spy who for no reason switches from her American accent to a Russian one once she is discovered (both are over the top, but again, you don't mind in the context) to the actual aliens who are obviously the Flash Gordon serial type. At the same time, Gatiss brings in some sly actual background knowledge (the Italian gangster working together with the CIA, for example), and if you know your Wellesiana, the Doctor going fanboy on him and calling, as a goodbye, "I shouldn't do this, the timeline - never mind the timeline. Orson, don't let them cut Amersons! Don't let them cut Ambersons!" is absolutely priceless. Paul McGann has fun as the Doctor (especially when the Doctor tries impersonating a private detective mid-story), India Fisher is good as audio companion Charley, and Jessica Stevenson (Nurse Joan Redfern as Miss Glory Bee) is sadly missed when she drops out of the story. I could complain David Benson doesn't sound much like Orson Welles - who had one of the most distinctive voices in the business ever - but then again, who does?



The Chimes of Midnight is written by Rob Shearman, who went on to contribute Dalek to New Who. It's a wonderfully creepy ghost story, while at the same time showing the first serious consequences of Charley's survival. (The Doctor saved Charley in Storm Warning, when she was supposed to have died, and the repercussions are an ongoing arc in in the audios and incidentally a good exploration of why this really isn't something he could or should do all the time.) I think if you know your Who lore, you can guess the two twists - i.e. the culprit of the situation, and what Charley's connection to it all is - before the Doctor does, but that doesn't take away from the tension, and in true DW fashion, it's a firmly left wing and socially critical story to boot, using the Upstairs, Downstairs parallels to great effect. Shearman wrote this years before Gosford Park, otherwise I'd wonder whether that was an inspiration, too.

And now for one of the few short serials Old Who produced. Your average Old Who adventure has four to six parts, sometimes even eight, each around 20 minutes. This one has only two.



The King's Demons is pure twisty fluff of the Doctor/Master type. The plot doesn't bear thinking about (err, the Magna Charta as a foundation of democracy?!?), though as someone interested in history I was amused the Doctor, in addition to being a Ricardian, is also a defender of the much maligned John Lackland. And while Tegan at least gets to through a knife at the Master - which he catches without effort - Turlough spends most of his time captured and useless. (I really must watch the rest of the Black Guardian trilogy to get an impression of Turlough when he's not out of commission for plot reasons or incompetent...) But who cares? We get a totally gratitious Master/Doctor sword fight again, and while Davison and Ainley aren't quite up to the legendary Pertwee/Delgado duel, they're still having fun. Then we get mental arm wrestling. Which, given that the Master makes Kamelion appear as the Doctor and the Doctor makes him appear as the Master, offers some obvious scenarios. We get the Master, while controlling Kamelion-posing-as-John, playing more mind games of the following type:

John: *orders the Master to be locked in anachronistic torture device, as the Iron Maiden won't be invented for 300 more years*
Doctor: *protests and begs for mercy for the Master*
John: So you do you want me to torture this completely innocent redshirt instead? It's either him or your evil ex boyfriend.
Doctor: *stops protesting, looks miserable*
Master: * gets locked in Iron Maiden and then reveals Iron Maiden is really his TARDIS in disguise, and he's been controlling "John" all the time*

Together with "you've always been my greatest stimulation", three "my dear Doctor"s in a row and the aforementioned total idiocy of the preventing-the-Magna-Charta plot (which the script even has the Doctor commenting on as being way too small scale for the Master), one really has to use the slash explanation because otherwise this episode makes no sense at all.

Other offering swordfighting and mind sex a willpower/mind duel with the Master, The King's Demons has one good character bit near the end when it comes to the Doctor/Companion interaction, between the Doctor and Tegan, as we get the Five variation of "don't leave me, I can show you the stars". It's more passive-aggressive and sneaky than the Three variation (as seen in The Green Death with Jo, and in Invasion of the Dinosaurs with Sarah Jane - Three just launches in his wonders-of-the-galaxies seducto speech directly), and less blatantly needy than when Ten gives the speech to Donna in The Sontaran Strategem, but it's the same principle, only Five tries reverse psychology, i.e. "right, I'm bringing you home right now, and you're totally missing our nifty trip to the Eye of Orion, so there". If you compare companion reactions, it's interesting that it works on Sarah Jane and Tegan, two of the companions famous for being strong-willed, but not on Jo, who basically responds with "that's all very well, Doctor, but I want to save the environment of my own planet now, see you later!". Again, Jo's weakling rep is so massively unfair.

Lastly: it occurs to me that the Eye of Orion trip is of course what starts The Five Doctors, wherein Tegan gets to walk through the Death Zone on Gallifrey on stiletto boots. One really shouldn't trust the Doctor's vacation trip promises...

Comments

[bimo.livejournal.com]

(I really must watch the rest of the Black Guardian trilogy to get an impression of Turlough when he's not out of commission for plot reasons or incompetent...)

In my opinion, and I'm saying this as someone who really enjoys Turlough as a character, the sneaky ginger one doesn't reveal his strengths and more interesting facets until the end of his run. So my personal recommendations regarding a more satisfying portrayal of him would be Resurrection of the Daleks (mediocre plot, but quite sneaky Turlough plus Tegan's final goodbye) and Planet of Fire (Turlough's background finally revealed, some rather crucial Five/Master scenes, plus introduction of Peri)

one good character bit near the end when it comes to the Doctor/Companion interaction, between the Doctor and Tegan, as we get the Five variation of "don't leave me, I can show you the stars". It's more passive-aggressive and sneaky

Good observation, I couldn't agree more on this one if I tried to. If you ask me, Fivey's not-so-nice tendency to resort to passive-aggressiveness whenever he's feeling hurt or threatened is one of his most consistent character features, and displayed in quite a number of episodes. Hmh, maybe the only possible outlet for someone with such a repressed and usually quite considerate personality...?

Finally two things relating to older posts:

I think, I kind of suspected that we were all watching different shows ever since the good old days of Watchers!The intriguing story of a millennia old Immortal, infiltrating the very organization that has hunted him for centuries... ;-)

Oh, and count me in on those amazed by Georgia Moffett. I vaguely remember having read that in 2005 she also auditioned for the part of "Rose", so a certain willingness for a longtime DW commitment seems to be running in the family *g*. The facial resemblance with her father is fascinating and put to a fantastic use. I'm a bit torn whether to find the enthusiasm and determination written all across Jenny's face when she's setting out to explore the universe either endearing or heartbreaking, because for me it's like early!Five's enthusiasm and late!dying!Five's desperate determination all mixed into one.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I've seen Resurrection of the Daleks, actually - that was the first Five story I saw, which was unfortunate since as Andraste and KdS have observed, it falls squarely under the category of "Eric Saward really wanted to write about mercenaries in space, but he was stuck with this Doctor fellow", plus letting Five angst about whether or not to kill Davros when at the same time he has no problem killing Daleks makes him look bewilderingly speciesist. And then there's Davros himself, who really should have remained dead after Genesis of the Daleks (where he has a very impressive debut)... Anyway. Still not my favourite Five era story.

If you ask me, Fivey's not-so-nice tendency to resort to passive-aggressiveness whenever he's feeling hurt or threatened is one of his most consistent character features, and displayed in quite a number of episodes. Hmh, maybe the only possible outlet for someone with such a repressed and usually quite considerate personality...?

Makes psychological sense, and also fuels the theory that each regeneration reacts to issues of the previous one, as Five is followed by brash Six who gets into everyone's face all the time and of course starts his run by attempting to strangle his companion. Man, those repressed negative feelings must have build up during the years of being nice as Five...

I'm a bit torn whether to find the enthusiasm and determination written all across Jenny's face when she's setting out to explore the universe either endearing or heartbreaking, because for me it's like early!Five's enthusiasm and late!dying!Five's desperate determination all mixed into one.

X_los said the way the scene was lit and staged was a direct recall to Caves of Androzani (which I haven't watched yet). Given that the Confidential for this episode shows Georgia Moffet actually had red hair during the time, I think letting her be blonde as Jenny was another deliberate evocation of the Fifth Doctor...

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Caves of Androzani is rather on the style of Resurrection as far a mercenaries in space goes, but much, much better. I'm not sure whether to recommend it to you, as it really is an all-out Torture The Woobie story directed at Five. I did once recommend it to someone on my flist who usually loves Torture The Woobie stories, but even she found it a bit too ugly and gritty in general.

Basically Five takes Peri off for her first trip in the TARDIS as companion (audios and novels try to shove loads of stories for Five and Peri in between Planet of Fire and this, but it's rather emotionally necessary that it be Peri's first trip) and accidentally stumbles into an appallingly violent and sordid mess on a corrupt banana republic colony where several repellent gangs of vermin (one of them known technically as "the government") are fighting over the mineral rights. With no-one to actually sympathise with, and most of the populace just too nasty to be affected by the Doctor's usual charm and charisma much, the Doctor spends all his time just trying to stay alive (in which, of course, he fails) and stop Peri being either pointlessly killed or forced into sexual slavery. It's really quite unpleasant (and inaugurates the unfortunate tendency to put Peri under explicitly sexual threat that makes her period as companion quite problematic) but it's a good palate-cleanser if ever a story or era makes you think the Doctor is being portrayed as just too effortlessly uber.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

PS: You probably do need to see the bit (it's probably on YouTube) where Five is lying on the TARDIS floor struggling to regenerate and sees visions of all his companions from that regeneration begging him to live, but only manages to regenerate when he has a vision of the Master going "Die, you bastard!" and laughing at him.

Although the emo power of the regeneration is notoriously sapped by the fact that Peri's crouching over him in concern and the camera is pointed straight down her bosom the whole time.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I just watched the entire episode and posted a review. Wasn't distracted by Peri's bosom in the regeneration scene, but the creep out factor in the way the camera was complicit with Jek earlier was enormous.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Davros himself, who really should have remained dead after Genesis of the Daleks (where he has a very impressive debut)...

Oh yes! Oh yes! Oh yes! There are only two stories where I enjoy Davros: Genesis and Remembrance. And I'd happily sacrifice his appearance in the latter if it meant getting rid of the others. Some of them are perfectly good stories in themselves, but for years they got it stuck in their heads that you couldn't have Daleks without Davros, and I kept thinking "Um... why not? They coped perfectly well without him for centuries (probably)."

(julesjones and I started watching The Dalek Invasion of Earth today, which neither of us had actually seen before, and it was interesting that the Doctor explained the reappearance of the Daleks there when he and Chesterton had seen them die on Skaro by saying that that was the future and this was the middle period of their history. I wasn't quite sure about this continuity-wise, but I liked the sense that the encounters of the Daleks and the Doctor don't necessarily have to occur in the same order in their respective timelines, even when time travel is involved.)

I've been very glad that Davros hasn't been resurrected so far by New Who, but am constantly suspicious that someone won't resist it.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

The Dalek Invasion of Earth sticks to my mind mostly because of the fabulousness of Barbara in it and the emo of Susan's departure, but you're right, the timeline difference between the Doctor and the Daleks is a nifty concept...

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

We got another two episodes in at lunch today, and Barbara is indeed being fabulous. I rather like Jenny the Ray of Sunshine, too.

PS I presume someone has written fanfic explaining how Carl Tyler the 22nd-century freedom fighter is related to Rose?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Probably, though I wouldn't know. I don't read much fanfiction with Rose in it, because about 90% of it is Doctor/Rose 'shippy, and I'm not interested. (Either Nine or Ten.) Otoh, someone really should write it, if it hasn't been done before, possibly with a genealogy of the Tyler clan that also includes Sam and Vince Tyler from Queer as Folk.*g*

[eve11]

here from who_daily: Davros gets some good stories in the audios: The aptly named "Davros" is a good one with him and Six, and also "The Juggernauts". Wasn't thrilled with "Terror Firma", but two out of three ain't bad, right?

[deborah-judge.livejournal.com]

I second the "Davros" recommendation. It makes him feel real without making him sympathetic, and gives him great backstory. Also some brilliant Six moments. (Warning, though, for a badly written female history professor.)

a PS...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

to add I've watched Caves of Androzani now, and put a review up:

http://selenak.livejournal.com/385153.html

Re: a PS...

[bimo.livejournal.com]

I've watched Caves of Androzani now, and put a review up


*rushes over to read ... *

I'm so curious about your thoughts and observations. You might be looking at Five and his era without the rose-coloured glasses of undying fannish love from a somewhat different angle, but so far your observations have been nothing but spot on! :-)

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

Your audio reviews are always a delight to me (well, all your reviews really) because so few people do them! And you always have such excellent insight. Anyway, it's amusing to me that you picked Lanyon Moor and Chimes of Midnight to do today because those are 2 of my favorite audios. Not necessarily because they are so great (though I would argue that Chimes could be considered that) but because they are eminently re-listenable (is that a word?). I have heard both of those audios so many times it's a little absurd. To me, they represent everything that is fabulous about Who as a 'verse. They are just plain FUN.

Again, Jo's weakling rep is so massively unfair.

So true. And I don't even know where that rep COMES from. Or maybe I do. I think perhaps it's because Jo's strength comes from her femininity. Sarah Jane and Tegan are thought of as strong in a more traditional sense because they are loud and opiononated and willing to get in your face about it. Which, don't get me wrong, is brilliant. I'm that way most of the time. But Jo's strength comes more from the side of nurturing and compromise and stroking your ego and seeming to acquiesce until you look away and then doing what she was going to anyway. And society doesn't value traits that are considered feminine as highly as it does traditionally masculine traits. So people read Jo as weak when really her strength is just different. Or, maybe I'm making that all up. Who knows. In any event, I adore that girl and her fabulous but impractical footwear. ;-)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Chimes is definitely great, and you're right, they're both great fun. As for Jo, KdS has theorized it might be a backlash from the media cliché about Old Who companions, for which fans of Leela or Sarah Jane blamed Jo, and/or a similar case to Rose, i.e. the Doctor's emotions for a particular companion being not shared by a part of the audience who instead sees her as overprivileged. I don't know, either. My own latest speculation is that maybe she caught a part of the 90s' backlash against the entire Pertwee era? (You know, the whole "Doctor working for UNIT makes him part of the establishment" thing.)

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I love Jo, but I wonder if, on top of the feminine strengths elyssadc mentions, Katy Manning's topless stunt with the Dalek contributed to the idea of her being an unsuitable role model for feminists?

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

Katy Manning's topless stunt with the Dalek

Yeah. That was...ill advised. And the pics could have been SO much better. ;-)

My own latest speculation is that maybe she caught a part of the 90s' backlash against the entire Pertwee era?

Quite possibly. But I will NEVER understand not loving Pertwee. I find him absolutely brilliant as the Doctor and his era is one of my favorites. In large part because of UNIT. The Doctor has never been a role model for the anti-establishment set, and I certainly don't see Pertwee-era Doctor as significantly different from any other version. The Doctor was made president of Gallifrey for a while there, people. Can't get more establishment than THAT. Fanboys make me angry, it's a good thing for my bloodpressure that I avoid them and their infuriating comments about things I love. Best for everyone that way, really.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I sympathize, and as you know I entirely agree about Pertwee-as-Doctor, and UNIT. Though I am glad I discovered them on my own, basically, because I suspect the very fact so many agree on Tom Baker as their favourite Doctor and that era as the defining one might have put me off a little...

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

I suspect the very fact so many agree on Tom Baker as their favourite Doctor and that era as the defining one might have put me off a little...

Ugh, you and me both. I don't really consider myself a contrarian, but good grief. I definitely feel like I am one when it comes to fannish opinions on Who. And I agree completely that discovering Old Skool without the influence of fandom enhanced my appreciation exponentially.

The Seven Ages of Doctor

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of people like Tom Baker because he was their first Doctor (and having the longest tenure of the Tardis contributed to that).

Whereas I became conscious of Doctor Who in the later stages of Patrick Troughton (I was seven when he left), probably remember Jon Pertwee best, and Tom Baker... well, I suppose I was a jaded twelve-year-old when he arrived.

So Hartnell belongs to a mythical past, while Troughton represents a half-remembered Golden Age, and has always remained one of my favourites. Pertwee... oddly enough, I don't have very strong feelings about him, though I loved Jo and adored Delgado's Master.

Tom Baker I found irritating, Davison uninteresting, and I saw very little of Colin Baker as I didn't have a television at that time. Maybe one of the reasons for my attachment to Sylvester McCoy is that he represents a time when I was rediscovering the programme, and finding it much more enjoyable than I expected (it probably helped that I was reunited with a television for McCoy's second season).

[x-los.livejournal.com]

(You know, the whole "Doctor working for UNIT makes him part of the establishment" thing.)

I sort of dislike that uncomplicated 'he's working for UNIT and is therefor complicit with the entire military-industrial complex' assertion. What Third era does /brilliantly/ is make the UNIT members discrete, human individuals with strengths and failings working within a bureaucratic, military context while largely retaining their decency. And Three complicates and problematizes the militarism all the time, with everything from casual snipes about military intelligence to his obvious betrayal by the system re: the Brig ordering the deaths of the Silurians. Three era is a challenge and a negotiation of that establishment dynamic rather than the Doctor somehow selling out.

Also UNIT has interesting internationalist stuff going on--while obviously British staffed, at least at this base, (brace: the following will be corny) it's really refreshing to see Brig be patriotic without being rabidly nationalist? I think it comes back to that point about decency. Every time he handles a situation with surprising willingness to explain what's going on and calm, inclusive civility, I'm really surprised, because American television/discourse has taught me that it's impossible to be in his position or face any kind of crisis without becoming the American Military Stereotype.

I stumbled upon all the Pertwee-era hatin' like, a week ago (man, do I hate The Unfolding Text re: that, btw), and am still pretty confused about why people read him so negatively, construing him as an avatar of public school class tensions or something? Perhaps it's because I'm not British that his character came off as much more multi-dimensional than Posh Accent Man to me.

...well, and admittedly, no one likes to see her favorite dissed, and Three is so, so My Doctor.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Well, you're preaching to the choir here, as you know.*g* Re this point:

Perhaps it's because I'm not British that his character came off as much more multi-dimensional than Posh Accent Man to me.

I'm German, so I don't get this, either, at all. *is mystified by the whole accent triggering class resentment thing* Mind you, perhaps we'd see it differently if we'd ever been lectured by posh-accented people, but as it is... *shrugs*

[x-los.livejournal.com]

Ha, true. I need to go find people who don't agree with us and go see why they don't. I'm sure they've better arguments than 'he sounded rich and was vaguely arrogant.' They must.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Points (http://selenak.livejournal.com/376908.html?thread=5760332#t5760332); londonkds is ferociously smart, and also the only Old School fan on my flist who does have Pertwee issues, so if anyone can explain it, he can.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

I can't really go into more detail than what I put in the comment Selena linked to.

But my reading of stuff by really old school fans has given me the impression that there may also have been a case of people's issues about Pertwee's persona and behaviour at cons leaking into responses to the character - he did an awful lot of cons and I think people who he rubbed the wrong way saw him as a bit overpowering, grandstanding and constantly repeating the same store of anecdotes: Wood in the final volume of "About Time" hints that the character of the Captain in Greatest Show in the Galaxy (if you've seen it) was interpreted by some fans as a bit of a parody of Pertwee's con persona, although I don't think he ever turned Katie Manning into a werewolf and sicced her on the other guests.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

If you can track down the professionally-published anthology of pre-internet fanzine fan writing Licence Denied (edited by Paul Cornell) there's an interesting article in there about fannish hostility to Pertwee and Three by a fan who was initially anti and then mellowed towards him. The introduction to the book and some other pieces in passing also make it very clear that there were generational issues in fandom in that many people who were kids in the early 1970s and loved Letts/Dicks/Pertwee absolutely hated Williams/Adams/Baker, and hence people who grew up with and loved Williams/Adams/Baker, when they grew up and became BNFs, started retrospectively bashing Letts/Dicks/Pertwee in revenge for having their squee harshed when they were newbies.

[deborah-judge.livejournal.com]

"Lanyon Moore" is the only audio so far I haven't enjoyed, for exactly the reason you mention - it bothered me no end to have Six explain history to Evelyn. Even the amazingness of the Brigadier couldn't get me past that.

I did enjoy your other rec "The Fearmonger" very much, though. And yes, I liked Ace much better there, as a grown-up apprentice Time Lord.

Speaking of Six/Evelyn, I just listened to "Jubliee", which the episode "Dalek" was based on. The script is patchy in places but brilliant in others, and don't you want to see how the story changes when it's Six rather than Nine? Don't you? If you haven't heard it I won't spoil it (there is a really shocking twist that you're best off hearing without spoilers), but it's both different than one might expect *and* really showcases why Six is awesome.

I haven't listened to any of the Eight audios, but Charley sounds interesting. I'll look for "Storm Warning," then "Chimes".

[selenak.livejournal.com]

it bothered me no end to have Six explain history to Evelyn

As I said, I get that they needed to do an exposition scene for the audience, but not doing it the other way around when it would make MUCH MORE SENSE was just lazy writing.

Am very glad you liked The Fearmonger! And yes, I'll look out for Jubilee because I do want to know the twist and the difference, plus Colin Baker really thrives on the audios.

"Storm Warning" is a fun adventure, plus it has Gareth Thomas - who plays the title character in Blake's 7 as one of the guest stars; not extraordinary, but fun. It's set at the start of the 1930s and Charley is a cross between flapper girl/adventurer who wants to go to Singapore. Chimes is awesome. The whole Charley storyline (i.e. what happens if someone who is explicity meant to do die by history is saved) is something they do over several adventures, first in a subtle and then an increasingly prominent way until it comes to a conclusion.

[rusty_halo.livejournal.com]

Does he really say "you've always been my greatest stimulation"?

...I might have to watch this.

[versaphile.livejournal.com]

Indeed he does.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's just one of a lot of ridiculously slashy things said in that episode. Mind you, as far as Old School Doctor/Master are concerned, I'm Three/Delgado!Master all the way, because they're presented as equals plus the affection along with the enmity is main text, however one wants to interpret that affection, but Five and Ainley!Master do have chemistry (the only Doctor with whom Ainley!Master has chemistry, actually, which is unfortunate because Ainley is paired up with three more of them, but the actors just don't click), The King's Demons is the closest they get to an equals-with-underlying-fondness dynamic as well. Plus since it's a really short story, it should help you with your problem of the different Old School pacing. (Remember, the old episodes were meant to be watched in twenty minutes installments each evening, not as we today do watch them put together in 150 or so minutes.)

[misachan.livejournal.com]

This is awesome timing (I love my flist). I was just wondering about this earlier and you seem like the perfect person to ask: where's a good place to start with the Eighth Doctor audio dramas?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

The first one is Storm Warning, which is a good place to start. Not extraordinary, but a solid fun adventure, and it's basically Eight shortly after the events of Ye Dreadful TV Movie, i.e. pretty much at the start of his regeneration.