Eighth Doctor audios question

[kindkit]

Will "Zagreus" make sense if I listen to it without having heard previous Eighth Doctor audios? (I'm planning my listening for the upcoming long drive.)

And if I should listen to other Eighth Doctor audios first, which ones? "All of them" is not an option.

Comments

[st_aurafina]

You might want to start with NeverLand, the story immediately before Zagreus, it has set up plot. Other than that and a bit of background information about Charley Pollard, I think you should be fine. (You haven't listened to any Eight audios? I think you will like them.)

[kindkit]

Okay, thanks.

You haven't listened to any Eight audios? I think you will like them.

I hope so. I've been reluctatnt to listen to them, despite my love for Paul McGann and his voice, because the Eighth Doctor novels have made me a strong Eight/Fitz Kreiner shipper. And I've heard the audios are pretty Eight/Charley Pollard shippy, which is not a thought that pleases me. I shall try to believe that the audios take place in an alternate universe where, tragically, Eight and Fitz never met.

[st_aurafina]

For me, it's very much a 'see it if you want to see it' situation - Charley definitely crushes on the Doctor, but to me, he's airily oblivious.

I shall try to believe that the audios take place in an alternate universe where, tragically, Eight and Fitz never met.

Or, you know, any minute now, Eight's going to wander into THAT universe and meet Fitz. (I really need to read those novels. I have them on my phone, waiting for me.)

[kindkit]

I really need to read those novels

*cheers you on* The first Fitz novel, The Taint, is not the best EDA ever, but has lots of great background details for Fitz.

Somewhere I have a list of EDAs that I particularly recommend, but unfortunately I can't find it.

[biichan]

The audios themselves basically confirm this in Zagreus. Basically, there's this bit where the Doctor gets a glimpse into parallel-running timelines and one of them has stuff from the DWM comic and the other one stuff from the novels.

ETA: There is some Doctor/Charley shippiness but it's mostly confined to Zagreus and Scherzo (and afterwards they kind of seem to mutually figure out that they prefer being friends.)

[kindkit]

The audios themselves basically confirm this in Zagreus

Cool! And I'm glad to hear the shippiness isn't too excessive/ongoing.

[biichan]

Yeah. You can kind of tell in the pre-Zagreus ones that Charley is crushing hard on the Doctor, but it doesn't seem like he returns any feelings until Zagreus itself and Scherzo is pretty much all about the fall-out from Zagreus, so that stuff gets dealt with. (I think Rob once said he was trying to show the entire course of a relationship, beginning to end, over the course of one audio? Which was actually totally doable the way Scherzo was written, because it's a two person cast.)

[nam_jai]

Agreed with the above comment that you should at least listen to Neverland -- I think of it as one continuous story with Zagreus. Otherwise, if you want to include a little more background, I'd recommend Storm Warning, Charley Pollard's first story, and Chimes at Midnight, which deals with the dilemma that will really come to a head in Neverland and Zagreus.

[kindkit]

Thanks! I'll have about twenty hours to kill, so I could easily listen to all of those.

[ellen_fremedon]

Second the rec for "Chimes of Midnight"; it's one of the very best Eight-and-Charley audios.

[pocketmouse]

Zagreus was the first EDA I listened to, and I was fine. Really my only confusion was that I kept getting the different voices mixed up, but I don't think you'll have that problem.

As for the audios being Doctor/Charley shippy, I haven't experienced that. I've listened to a half-dozen or so, and they all seem to be pretty generic level of Doctor/Companion interaction.

[kindkit]

Thanks! I think I'll probably listen to Neverland first and then Zagreus, but I'm glad to know I don't have to go all the way back to the start.