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Big Finish: Monthly Range #268
Doctor Who: The Flying Dutchman / Displaced
Two new adventures for the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex.
The Flying Dutchman by Gemma Arrowsmith
The Doctor, Ace and Hex find themselves on a seemingly deserted boat in the middle of the ocean. Eventually locating the crew, they discover that the men have been in hiding to avoid the attack of the legendary ghost ship The Flying Dutchman that they’ve recently glimpsed approaching through the fog. But ghosts don’t exist. Do they?
Displaced by Katharine Armitage
The Doctor, Ace and Hex arrive inside a mystery. An ordinary house where something extraordinary is happening. There are no occupants, the doors are sealed, and someone - or something - is attempting to communicate. And when the TARDIS locks them out, Ace and Hex suspect the Doctor of his usual tricks.
But the truth is even more disturbing...
The Flying Dutchman by Gemma Arrowsmith
The Doctor, Ace and Hex find themselves on a seemingly deserted boat in the middle of the ocean. Eventually locating the crew, they discover that the men have been in hiding to avoid the attack of the legendary ghost ship The Flying Dutchman that they’ve recently glimpsed approaching through the fog. But ghosts don’t exist. Do they?
Displaced by Katharine Armitage
The Doctor, Ace and Hex arrive inside a mystery. An ordinary house where something extraordinary is happening. There are no occupants, the doors are sealed, and someone - or something - is attempting to communicate. And when the TARDIS locks them out, Ace and Hex suspect the Doctor of his usual tricks.
But the truth is even more disturbing...
- GenresDoctor WhoAudiobook
Audio CD
First published September 8, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 12, 2021
The Flying Dutchman by Gemma Arrowsmith - 3/5
A cool little base under siege pirate story with a bit of a Scooby Doo touch to it. While it does have some flaws, I actually quite like that the writer didn’t take the expected route with the ending and tried something different here.
Displaced by Katharine Armitage - 4/5
The gang arrives at an ordinary yet seemingly abandoned house, providing us with a gripping mystery from the get-go. It’s an atmospheric story full of suspense.
A cool little base under siege pirate story with a bit of a Scooby Doo touch to it. While it does have some flaws, I actually quite like that the writer didn’t take the expected route with the ending and tried something different here.
Displaced by Katharine Armitage - 4/5
The gang arrives at an ordinary yet seemingly abandoned house, providing us with a gripping mystery from the get-go. It’s an atmospheric story full of suspense.
January 9, 2021
My first big finish audio of 2021 and it’s the Flying Dutchman/Displaced featuring 7th Doctor/Ace/Hex.
Not a bad audio to get back into big finish really. Nice and calming and not overly complicated. Both sets of stories featuring ghosts and haunted ships/houses as a major theme. But it was nice to hear the dynamic between these three again. Both enjoyable stories but nothing major to rave about. I also liked the fact there were hardly any aliens involved in these stories except for the Kraw in the displaced.
The Flying Dutchman by Gemma Arrowsmith: This story was interesting to hear but I did cringe a little with Archie/Anna arc and her being mesmerised by Ace a little big. Very scooby-do type of story finding out if the Flying Dutchman really existed or if aliens were really behind it or not. 3/5
Displaced by Katharine Armitage: A story purely featuring 7th Doctor/Ace/Hex was actually really nice for a change! I love these three so much so I am glad they finally got a story together with just mainly the three of them and a voice control Al named Harry. A haunted house setting in 2020, very atmospheric and very human. It’s a nice balance between these three. 3.5*/5 stars.
Not a bad audio to get back into big finish really. Nice and calming and not overly complicated. Both sets of stories featuring ghosts and haunted ships/houses as a major theme. But it was nice to hear the dynamic between these three again. Both enjoyable stories but nothing major to rave about. I also liked the fact there were hardly any aliens involved in these stories except for the Kraw in the displaced.
The Flying Dutchman by Gemma Arrowsmith: This story was interesting to hear but I did cringe a little with Archie/Anna arc and her being mesmerised by Ace a little big. Very scooby-do type of story finding out if the Flying Dutchman really existed or if aliens were really behind it or not. 3/5
Displaced by Katharine Armitage: A story purely featuring 7th Doctor/Ace/Hex was actually really nice for a change! I love these three so much so I am glad they finally got a story together with just mainly the three of them and a voice control Al named Harry. A haunted house setting in 2020, very atmospheric and very human. It’s a nice balance between these three. 3.5*/5 stars.
September 12, 2020
The Flying Dutchman:
Not exactly what I expected but it was still really good none the less. Gemma Arrowsmith has written a very Scooby Doo-esgue adventure with plenty of atmosphere and some really great characters. A very different kind of Doctor Who story but I'm all here for it and the cast did a good job bringing this story to life on audio! 8/10
Displaced:
A Haunted House story with a a voice control AI and a terrible past. A more depressing tone of a story in this set with it being set after a series of terrible events. A very atmospheric story with some great character moments for Ace and Hex and a Doctor who is left in the dark just as they are for a change. 8/10
Overall: 16/20
Not exactly what I expected but it was still really good none the less. Gemma Arrowsmith has written a very Scooby Doo-esgue adventure with plenty of atmosphere and some really great characters. A very different kind of Doctor Who story but I'm all here for it and the cast did a good job bringing this story to life on audio! 8/10
Displaced:
A Haunted House story with a a voice control AI and a terrible past. A more depressing tone of a story in this set with it being set after a series of terrible events. A very atmospheric story with some great character moments for Ace and Hex and a Doctor who is left in the dark just as they are for a change. 8/10
Overall: 16/20
May 1, 2022
Sometimes the two-for-one back-to-back model that Big Finish adopted in the latter part of the monthly range does something quite unexpected and memorable. Sometimes, for whatever reason, it just doesn't do it for me. This isn't to say that the stories are bad, because they definitely aren't bad. But in the long, winding arc of the Seven/Ace/Hex chronology, they don't - for me, at least - offer anything that hasn't been done better elsewhere. This is the Main Range marking time. Welcome credits for fresh writing talent, but not tales I'm likely to revisit.
September 16, 2020
This time, we get another two stories in one release.
The first story was not really my cup of tea, too much nautical "pirate" overacting for my taste.
But the second story, Displaced, makes this more than worth it.
It was creepy, it kept you guessing, it had a nice mystery and some nice character scenes.
It was a really good story.
Not much else you could wish for, really.
The first story was not really my cup of tea, too much nautical "pirate" overacting for my taste.
But the second story, Displaced, makes this more than worth it.
It was creepy, it kept you guessing, it had a nice mystery and some nice character scenes.
It was a really good story.
Not much else you could wish for, really.
March 18, 2023
Two one-hour stories that share a similar theme of apparently ghostly goings-on where the explanation isn't quite as it first appears. This seems to exist mainly to fill a gap in the release schedules and isn't even loosely connected to anything else, as well as having the oddity of being set earlier in BF's own 7th Doctor continuity, in that it still features Hex.
The Flying Dutchman - The first story is set on an 18th-century sailing ship in an unspecified location far out at sea, and features the appearance of the eponymous ghost ship. Which, since this is as fictional in this setting as it is in reality is a bit of a puzzle. (The myth doesn't appear in print until sometime after this story is set, but presumably wasn't new then, so it's plausible enough that the sailors would be familiar with it).
This seems a decent premise, but the story that results is let down by not really making much sense. It's hard to see how the villain could have carried out some parts of his plan without anyone noticing, and the guest characters don't act consistently - something that's particularly noticeable after the resolution of the halfway cliffhanger. There's also confusion on Arrowsmith's part between although that's perhaps easier to forgive. The acting and the sound effects are as well done as ever, making it really sound as if we're on a ship at sea... but it's hard to take the story seriously. 3 stars.
Displaced - The second story is the better of the two, being set in what appears to be a haunted modern-day house, with Alexa/Siri (obviously called something else here) as the closest thing to an inhabitant. Hard-to-understand ghostly voices keep intruding, although these are probably not something the characters are supposed to be hearing, since they don't really react to them... but at times, this isn't always clear.
It's a decent mystery, if not one of the greats, and, unlike the previous story, it does all make sense in the end. Plus, there's some good interaction between Hex and Ace, in a story where the difference in their respective personalities is a key element shaping what happens. Indeed, all three characters are well-written, and the fact that they're largely on their own gives Armitage room to explore them a little more than an author normally might in a story of this length. 4 stars.
The Flying Dutchman - The first story is set on an 18th-century sailing ship in an unspecified location far out at sea, and features the appearance of the eponymous ghost ship. Which, since this is as fictional in this setting as it is in reality is a bit of a puzzle. (The myth doesn't appear in print until sometime after this story is set, but presumably wasn't new then, so it's plausible enough that the sailors would be familiar with it).
This seems a decent premise, but the story that results is let down by not really making much sense. It's hard to see how the villain could have carried out some parts of his plan without anyone noticing, and the guest characters don't act consistently - something that's particularly noticeable after the resolution of the halfway cliffhanger. There's also confusion on Arrowsmith's part between although that's perhaps easier to forgive. The acting and the sound effects are as well done as ever, making it really sound as if we're on a ship at sea... but it's hard to take the story seriously. 3 stars.
Displaced - The second story is the better of the two, being set in what appears to be a haunted modern-day house, with Alexa/Siri (obviously called something else here) as the closest thing to an inhabitant. Hard-to-understand ghostly voices keep intruding, although these are probably not something the characters are supposed to be hearing, since they don't really react to them... but at times, this isn't always clear.
It's a decent mystery, if not one of the greats, and, unlike the previous story, it does all make sense in the end. Plus, there's some good interaction between Hex and Ace, in a story where the difference in their respective personalities is a key element shaping what happens. Indeed, all three characters are well-written, and the fact that they're largely on their own gives Armitage room to explore them a little more than an author normally might in a story of this length. 4 stars.
August 31, 2022
Displaced was one of the best Ace/Hex/Seventh Doctor stories of all time. Keeping the characters together in one setting allows for some very touching and enjoyable character explanation. 5/5.
The Flying Dutchman was not very well written. The two twists were easy to spot very early on in the story. But sadly the audience have to wait right until the end for the characters to catch up with them! This makes for a frustrating and annoying listen. The dialogue was painfully cheesy too. It’s hard for audio drama to convincingly portray action scenes without resorting to characters stating what they and others are doing. Sadly the author falls back on this quite a lot. E.g - “He’s standing on your left with a sword!” It’s very laughable. Characters also only state vital pieces of information when the plot needs them too and not at the time! 2/5
The Flying Dutchman was not very well written. The two twists were easy to spot very early on in the story. But sadly the audience have to wait right until the end for the characters to catch up with them! This makes for a frustrating and annoying listen. The dialogue was painfully cheesy too. It’s hard for audio drama to convincingly portray action scenes without resorting to characters stating what they and others are doing. Sadly the author falls back on this quite a lot. E.g - “He’s standing on your left with a sword!” It’s very laughable. Characters also only state vital pieces of information when the plot needs them too and not at the time! 2/5
January 2, 2021
Two stories, both with a bit of a ghost;y/supernatural theme but quite different. I wasn't too much for the first story The flying Ducthman - a bit too much like a Scooby-Doo tribute and rather overuse of nautical cliches; but the second story Displaced I really enjoyed - creepy, atmospheric, claustrophobic and really key to all stories - you want to know what happens next. Also some nice moments between Ace and Hex.
November 10, 2022
Of the two, I enjoyed The Flying Dutchman more. I’d give that one a 5/5. Quite enjoyed the stuff with Ace and Archie/Anna. And the action kept me engaged. Also, has Hex not known that The Doctor can regenerate? Displaced I’d give a 4/5. There was some interesting stuff going on with Ace and Hex character-wise.
September 13, 2020
The second story was weird and hard to understand.
October 10, 2020
The doctor, hex and ace fight host and investigate a shut up home.
May 25, 2021
3 stars for Flying Dutchman, 5 for Displaced, so averaged out at 4 stars.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews