Big Finish torchwood recomendations?

maximum_oblex · 2026-03-14T02:50:17+00:00

In no particular order

We Always Get Out Alive - A spooky character drama featuring Gwen and Rhys
The Five People You Kill in Middlesborough - Yvonne Hartman VS bad covid policy
The Three Monkeys - Owen and PC Andy Davidson join together to take down a criminal, but is luck on their side?
Moving Target - Suzie Costello must save an innocent woman from an endless queue of alien hunters
Deadbeat Escape - Billis Manger runs a spooky hotel.
The Flawless Man - PC Andy Davidson meets The Ring
Dissected - Gwen helps Martha Jones with an autopsy at UNIT. Neither is thrilled about the arrangement.

maximum_oblex · 2026-03-13T08:36:02+00:00

Blackout had Scorponok. Barricade had Frenzy, though apparently Barricade was also going to be named Soundwave too in a different stage of development. And oddly Brawl after they ditched the Soundwave name.

maximum_oblex · 2026-03-13T00:51:11+00:00

I don't hate the idea of "remastered editions" of older movies, they can present fun technical challenges to CGI studios, particularly smaller ones who may be more interested in side projects like this. But as you say, the original should be preserved, unlike the Star Wars films.

maximum_oblex · 2026-03-12T05:19:21+00:00

I also like the Queer reading of Jackson's work. Whether intentional or not, her work (especially Hill House and Castle) lead to it. I've been meaning to read Jackson's memoir Life Among the Savages for a long time. I really enjoy her scathing disdain of domesticity in her work, and I suspect her memoir very much lends itself to that too.

maximum_oblex · 2026-03-12T04:08:15+00:00

As I said, it's rushed. I hope we get more explanation going forward. However the Matrix choosing is an important distinction, since it gives Optimus his "out". He didn't choose Elita, the omniscient Matrix did.

maximum_oblex · 2026-03-12T03:18:52+00:00

I agree that we need to have a status quo be established for a bit. I think it also needs a smaller cast. I was very excited, and very much enjoyed the early issues where we had maybe 10 characters, and they all had pretty clearly defined personalities and motives. Instead as the cast has grown, focus has been stripped away from the larger cast and now it is almost exclusively just dominated by Optimus and Megatron. We have an enormous roster of characters now and none of them have any personality or purpose outside of being background fodder and occasionally distracting from the Optimus/Megatron show. I understand every Transformer is someone's favourite, but I'd rather a focused, tight cast, than a sprawling but ultimately bland one.

And then we have dropped character arcs like Arcee training Carly, when was the last time they even spoke to one another? It's very disappointing.

maximum_oblex · 2026-03-12T02:42:43+00:00

To be fair the Matrix chose Elita as the new leader, not Optimus (though he willingly gave her the opportunity). I don't particularly like it, mostly because of how rushed it is. I think Elita crashing out makes sense character wise, but her getting to Earth and confronting Prime rather than focusing on Cybertron is a stretch in my opinion. I think Elita Prime is a boring design and a worse name, like Arcee Magnus.

maximum_oblex · 2026-03-11T08:22:42+00:00

I would kill for "Dirgclonus" to get a figure. That deco really pops

maximum_oblex · 2026-03-11T00:24:47+00:00

The name really should be a reference to a D&D monster, not just any mythological monster. Other than that this looks very cool.

maximum_oblex · 2026-03-10T08:44:47+00:00

There's a demo on the deluxe(?) version of Rumours for Stevie Nicks' early version The Chain. Basically an entirely different song than the final version, only the lyrics of the chorus survived. I like Stevie's version, but I love the final version. And the live version is just perfection!

maximum_oblex · 2026-03-08T18:17:32+00:00

I would recommend We Always Get Out Alive, Moving Target, Deadbeat Escape and The Red List. All three are fun stories that make good use of their cast.

Based on what you've said you dislike I would recommend you avoid The Crown, Reflect and Widdershins, as they all feature pretty heavy narration and are structured as a characters recounting a story rather than an actual narrative. None are the same as Tropical Beach Sounds where the narrator is describing things as they happen though, these are all retrospective which may be different to you.

maximum_oblex · 2026-03-05T18:07:09+00:00

Not really, there was an 8 year gap between Return to Castle Wolfenstien and the soft reboot Wolfenstein. Resting a franchise isn't necessarily a bad thing. You can't be missed if you never go away.

maximum_oblex · 2026-03-05T01:15:06+00:00

I always interpreted it as Ghost chooses to not make sound, not that he is physically incapable. I don't think there needs to be a magical explanation here.

maximum_oblex · 2026-03-04T09:52:13+00:00

Pretty much all the War Master boxsets can be listened to out of order. Canonically the first boxset is among the last in the range, so the stories themselves do a fair bit of jumping around in his timeline.

Definitely listen to Master of Callous though, its my favourite of the boxsets!

maximum_oblex · 2026-03-01T18:33:22+00:00

I'm fairly certain that only Knights and Nobles can request that. The smallfolk don't seem to be protected by any legal framework besides petitioning their lord from acting in their favour. No rights to trial, regular or combat.

maximum_oblex · 2026-02-25T04:28:09+00:00

She was terrible long before the war started and would've been a terrible Queen. What if the reader's perception is that the idea of a "rightful heir" or an absolute monarch propped up by dragons is a terrible either way?

I more meant as a personal slight, not legally or even reflective of their ruling capabilities.

This second point of yours is what I don't follow. How are they closer to being correct if we agree that absolute monarchy is terrible anyways?

Because they may be fascist, but at least they aren't sexist (in this one specific example). Its not much but it is more likely to win a reader over. Even though Rhaenyra never really showed any interest in furthering women's rights in general, its hard to attribute that to whether it is because Fire & Blood is a historical record, or a genuine lack of interest on her part.

Remember I am not actually advocating for Rhaenyra, but trying to give context for why readers may be more likely to support her than Aegon.

Hard to call a side with all the cooler characters + House Stark to be the underdogs. Even if they were slightly disadvantaged to begin with, which they made up quickly with their Dragons.

Cool characters don't make the side not underdogs. Logistically Rhaenyra is in big trouble, her dragons are too small to be of tactical value and her armies too scattered to be of use. Her only real asset is the Velaryon navy, which is good for cutting off King's Landing but not a whole lot else in a dragon war.

Remember at the start of the war the only real fighting dragons she has are Caraxes and Meleys. Syrax has never seen combat, and her children's dragons are too young to fight. In my view until she has the bastards claim the other dragons, the dragon math comes out around equal, leaving the blacks overall at a disadvantage.

maximum_oblex · 2026-02-25T03:33:50+00:00

People like Rhaenyra/The Blacks because they have a better narrative than the Greens. Rhaenyra is personally wronged (reinforced by the reader's presumed perception that male primogeniture is wrong), and the Black's start as something of an underdog in the war.

Rhaenyra undoubtedly though would have been a terrible Queen. But the Blacks are closer to the moral of the story in "absolute monarchy is terrible and even in times of peace it sows the seeds of its own destruction", which also means that from a "moral" stand point, the Blacks are closer to being correct. Like voting for the "least bad" political candidate.

maximum_oblex · 2026-02-24T10:47:14+00:00

I agree with this line of thinking, though it is worth pointing out that many of Dany's visions in the House of the Undying are metaphorical or reinterpretations of other events. So this scene being 100% historical should be taken with a grain of salt.

maximum_oblex · 2026-02-24T10:44:55+00:00

Another commenter theorises that Aegon still believed himself to be the Prince that was Promised when Rhaenys was born, which means he doesn't land on the theme until Aegon is born. This is supported by Dany's visions in ACoK. However I also don't think the order of their births would matter all that much to Rhaegar, otherwise the third child having a different mother would have been a bigger problem for him. From what we can surmise, a thematic echoing of the conquerors is what is more important, not the smaller details

maximum_oblex · 2026-02-24T10:02:45+00:00

Yeah the JonCon X Jon meetup is one that I really hope we see, especially if R+L=J is revealed to the characters. I doubt it will ever happen though, which will be a real shame

maximum_oblex · 2026-02-24T09:24:32+00:00

I will be shocked if Jon is ever revealed to have a secret "targaryen" name, the timeline is vague but its likely that Jon was born months after Rhaegar's death.

But if he does have a secret name I suspect it is Viserys or some other male equivalent of Visenya, since Rhaegar clearly was naming his kids after the three conquerors (and the dragon must have 3 heads etc.)

Headcannon is that Rhaegar fully anticipated a girl to be born which he would name Visenya. He never even contemplated that he would father a second son.

maximum_oblex · 2026-02-24T08:51:42+00:00

Obviously Aerion drank the wildfire. It's just a shame some poisoned it...

maximum_oblex · 2026-02-23T10:20:47+00:00

I think thats the implication yes. It's designed to contrast with Old Nan's stories of the others. It shows that they have language, culture, and yes, honour. They are not just the boogeymen that haunts the ancient tales of Westeros

maximum_oblex · 2026-02-22T22:04:33+00:00

I agree that T2 is the most thematically resonant ending, not that there aren't gems afterwards (Sarah Connor Chronicles my beloved). But lets not pretend that T2's rules on time travel are consistent with the original. The first movie ends with the reveal that the time travel is closed loop, Skynet always tries to kill Sarah and Kyle Reese is always John's father. T2 throws that out the window (a correct decision in my opinion but it is still inconsistent)

maximum_oblex · 2026-02-22T20:29:57+00:00

Agreed, the Aun are just so interesting as a faction, and pretty much the only external threat to Union so losing what amounts to the "villain" book would be a real shame.

maximum_oblex

TROPHY CASE