Stories Audio Book Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trips Free Speech 1 image Overview Characters How to Listen Reviews 3 Statistics Quotes Overview Released Tuesday, December 29, 2020 Written by Eugenie Pusenjak Narrated by Jacob Dudman Runtime 44 minutes Story Type Competition Winner Inventory (Potential Spoilers!) Psychic Paper, Sonic Screwdriver Location (Potential Spoilers!) Skaz Synopsis On Skaz, speaking costs money. Aymius Todd is trapped in a police interrogation. They want to know about his links to the Garrulous Liberation, and his encounter with a man called the Doctor. But, Aymius is running out of words, and if he can’t afford to finish his story, then he’ll never be able to speak again. Winner of the The Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trip Opportunity 2020 Listen Listened Favourite Favourited Add Review Edit Review Log a repeat Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Owned Save to my list Saved Edit date completed Custom Date Release Date Archive (no date) Save Characters Tenth Doctor How to listen to Free Speech: View on Big Finish Reviews Add Review Edit Review Sort: Date (Newest First) Date (Oldest First) Likes (High-Low) Likes (Low-High) Rating (High-Low) Rating (Low-High) Word count (High-Low) Word count (Low-High) Username (A-Z) Username (Z-A) Spoilers First Spoilers Last 3 reviews 14 April 2025 · 204 words Review by Yar_Nazarenko Spoilers 1 This review contains spoilers! Original (Ukrainian) Translation (English) А ось і друге оповідання майже без Доктора! Й неочікувано детективний процедуал — майже все оповідання це сцена допиту. А сам сюжет — критика класової системи, хоч і трохи в лоб. Але спишемо це на короткий обсяг і недостатній обсяг для розкриття. Бо давайте чесно, ось ця тема… I was conscious of my own tongue chip, which felt hot and heavy in my mouth. Direct line to my bank account. Each word cost one Drooble. Always been that way on Skaz. You got the chip on your sixteenth birthday, and from then on, you paid to speak. And I only had a few hundred Droobles to my name. I didn’t want to be speaking unnecessary words in the week before my wedding. … не дуже віє оригінальністю. Мені, до прикладу, відразу згадався фільм Час з Тімберлейком в головній ролі. Але як гіпертрофований інструмент для висвітлення того, що в багатих людей більше фінансових можливостей продвинути свої ідеї та слова ніж в звичайного люду — зійде. І хоч, швидше за все, авторка мала на меті критику капіталізму (куди ж без неї), мені здається, що в оповідання є великий потенціал киритки конкретно олігархії та контролю мільйонерів над медіа та соц. мережами. А ніж сліпої критик капіталізму як такого. And here is the second story, almost without the Doctor! And unexpectedly, a detective procedural - nearly the whole story is an interrogation scene. And the plot itself—a critique of the class system, albeit a bit blunt. But let's attribute that to the short length and insufficient space for elaboration. Because let's be honest, this theme… I was conscious of my own tongue chip, which felt hot and heavy in my mouth. Direct line to my bank account. Each word cost one Drooble. Always been that way on Skaz. You got the chip on your sixteenth birthday, and from then on, you paid to speak. And I only had a few hundred Droobles to my name. I didn’t want to be speaking unnecessary words in the week before my wedding. ... it doesn’t feel very original. For instance, it immediately reminded me of the film ‘In Time’ with Justin Timberlake in the leading role. But as an exaggerated tool for highlighting that wealthy people have more financial means to advance their ideas and words than ordinary people—it works. And although, most likely, the author intended to criticize capitalism (where would we be without it), it seems to me that the story has great potential for specifically criticising oligarchy and the control of millionaires over media and social networks rather than blind criticism of capitalism per se. (Translation generated by AI, so mistakes are possible). Yar_Nazarenko View profile Like Liked 1 3 April 2025 · 76 words Review by 15thDoctor 4 The concept is perfect for a short Doctor Who story, and it’s well explored in the first half. Unfortunately the protagonist is very boring, there’s not much to him other than being a good person and a bit of an everyman. Made worse by the fact that the upper class villains are cartoonishly drawn. The moral of the story is so blindingly obvious that you already have a firm grasp of it within the first 5 minutes. 15thDoctor View profile Like Liked 4 27 April 2024 · 227 words Review by efficacy 5 A short trip set in a really interesting world where it costs money for every word you speak, so only the rich can say what they like. Clearly it's an allegory, but it is handled well, with the Doctor mainly in the background and the focus on a character who is short of cash and so has to choose his words wisely. The choice of the famously talkative 10th Doctor is a good one, as his rambling contrasts sharply to the short, to-the-point, speaking style of the main characters. It will come as no surprise, given the title, that the story resolves around the desire for free speech, and this aspect of the story works well. There is also a kind of clumsy romance sub-plot which obviously exists to highlight the difference in speech patterns of the wealthy and the poor, but felt unnecessary otherwise. My biggest issue was that the speech patterns of the poor people were not short enough. Several times the main character added an expression, a phrase, or a few extra words which were simply not necessary. A life of counting every word would likely have taught everyone how to say the absolute minimum words in any situation. Overall, a fun story in a very clever world which made good use of the 10th Doctor and did not include a spurious alien invasion. efficacy View profile Like Liked 5 Open in new window Statistics AVG. Rating109 members 3.66 / 5 GoodReads AVG. Rating173 votes 3.99 / 5 Member Statistics Listened 179 Favourited 12 Reviewed 3 Saved 2 Skipped 1 Quotes Add Quote Submit a Quote