Month: January 2016

Categories
Audio Series Prisoner, The

Departure and Arrival

The PrisonerAn agent of the British Foreign Office unexpectedly submits his resignation, setting off a panic among his superiors, who discovered that he is planning to flee the country and go to the Bahamas. Armed agents break into his home and abduct him, and when he awakens, he is in the Village, a gaily-colored, self-contained community whose residents seem to know nothing beyond its boundaries. No one seems to know who he is, and no one knows his name. A man identifying himself as Number Two introduces himself, and welcomes the newly-christened “Number Six” to his surveillance and control center, the Green Dome. The tools at his disposal for watching every moment of every life within the Village unfold is mind-boggling, with cameras, mobile phones, ubiquitous and even portable screens, and a kind of interconnected network tying it all together at Number Two’s fingertips. Number Two makes it clear that no one leaves the Village – and Number Six suspects that the penalty for doing so would be fatal. A former intelligence colleague of Number Six, Cobb, is also on the island, and mounts a valiant escape attempt, but he is captured by a deadly security device called Rover and taken to the Village’s hospital; not long afterward, Cobb is reported to have committed suicide, though Number Six immediately suspects something far more sinister. A chance meeting with a woman named Number Nine leads to another escape plan, but is Nine truly an ally and a fellow victim of the Village…or is she a trap?

written by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Jamie Robertson

Cast: Mark Elstob (Number Six), John Standing (Number Two), Celia Imrie (Number Two), Sara Powell (Number Nine), Helen Goldwyn (Village Voice), Sarah Mowat (ZERO-SIX-TWO), Jim Barclay (Control/Old Captain/Cobb), Barnaby Edwards (Number 34/Danvers/Butler)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Audio Series Prisoner, The

Your Beautiful Village

The PrisonerNumber Six awakens to find his quarters in the Village – and indeed the entire Village itself – plunged into darkness. Phones and loudspeakers also seem to be on the fritz, and his attempts to contact Number Nine to check on her well-being are beset by blasts of radio frequency interference, dropped calls, and occasionally an almost unfathomable silence. Occasionally Number Two breaks through and claims that the entire Village is experiencing these problems and they need Number Six’s help. Refusing to give up, Number Six leaves his quarters in pitch blackness and tries to reach Number Nine, but is unable to do so. In addition to the darkness, Number Six finds that his memory of the Village’s layout isn’t as accurate as he thought. Number Two naturally wants to help Number Six reach his goal…and to help Number Six appreciate the beauty of the Village.

written by Nicholas Briggs
directed by Nicholas Briggs
music by Jamie Robertson

Cast: Mark Elstob (Number Six), Michael Cochrane (Number Two), Sara Powell (Number Nine), Helen Goldwyn (Village Voice), Sarah Mowat (ZERO-SIX-TWO)

Notes: Unlike the other three stories in the first Prisoner audio box set, Your Beautiful Village is a story original to Big Finish and not based on a previously filmed episode of the television series. The story deals with sensory deprivation torture, a subject that has been explored in such works as George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four”.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Big Finish Spinoffs Diary Of River Song Doctor Who The Audio Dramas

The Boundless Sea

Doctor WhoRiver is granted a temporary release from her stormcage prison cell to undertake a dangerous mission. The assignment seems simple enough: River, an archaeologist, is being asked to impersonate an archaeologist…on Earth, at a time when a gun-toting female archaeologist just isn’t the norm. But she’ll need those skills to investigate the disappearance of a young woman in an ancient tomb, especially when the young woman turns up again…as something a little bit less than human.

written by Jenny T. Colgan
directed by Ken Bentley
music by Howard Carter

Cast: Alex Kingston (River Song), Alexander Vlahos (Bertie Potts), Alexander Siddig (Marcus Gifford), Imogen Stubbs (Isabella Clerkwell), Gbemisola Ikumelo (Prim), Charlotte Christie (Daphne Garsington)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Rebels Season 2 Star Wars

A Princess On Lothal

Star Wars: RebelsAwaiting pickup by Hera aboard the Ghost, Kanan and Ezra catch up with Lothal’s former governor, Ryder Azadi, now a fugitive from the Empire, when a new wrinkle crops up in their escape plan: a Rebel convoy of three cruisers is being delivered to the Rebellion by way of Lothal, which is still patrolled by the Empire. Bringing the cruisers to Lothal is Princess Leia Organa, a member of Senator Bail Organa’s staff and a commanding presence, despite still being a teenager. But when the Empire locks down her three ships, Leia, Kanan and Ezra have to improvise fast.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Steven Melching
directed by Saul Ruiz
music by Bosco Ng
based on original themes and music by John Williams

RebelsCast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus / AT-AT Driver #3), Vanessa Marshall (Hera), Tiya Sircar (Sabine), Steve Blum (Zeb Orrelios / AT-AT Driver #2 / Stormtrooper Commander / Stormtrooper Deck Officer), Dave Filoni (AT-AT Driver / Stormtrooper / Stormtrooper Commander), Liam O’Brien (Lt. Lysle / Stormtrooper Squad Leader), Julie Dolan (Princess Leia Organa), Matthew Wood (Rebel Pilot), Clancy Brown (Ryder Azadi / Imperial Officer / Stormtrooper #2)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Rebels Season 2 Star Wars

Protectors Of Concord Dawn

Star Wars: RebelsAs the Empire’s hold on shipping and supply lanes grows tighter, the Rebellion is forced to try to make new pacts with allies. This brings Hera and Phoenix Squadron to the war-torn Mandalorian world of Concord Dawn, whose leader, the outlaw Fenn Rau, might be receptive to an alliance. But Hera discovers too late, and at the cost of half of Phoenix Squadron, that that Fenn Rau has declared his allegiance to the Empire. Sabine is the only pilot other than Hera to survive, and Hera herself barely survives. Kanan decides to go back to Condord Dawn to engage in more aggressive negotiations with Rau, but Sabine may have other ideas…such as declaring a Mandalorian blood feud.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazonwritten by Henry Gilroy & Kevin Hopps
directed by Brad Rau
music by Kevin Kiner
based on original themes and music by John Williams

RebelsCast: Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Kanan Jarrus), Vanessa Marshall (Hera / Phoenix Four / 2-1B Surgical Droid), Tiya Sircar (Sabine), Steve Blum (Zeb / Phoenix Two / Wingman #1), Keone Young (commander Sato), Kevin McKidd (Fenn Rau), Dave Filoni (Phoenix Three), Dee Bradley Baker (Rex / Imperial Officer / Wingman #2)

LogBook entry by Earl Green