Se tratando de uma primeira parte não há muito o que dizer e o que cobrar de “Sphere Of Freedom”. Porem, não seria exagero dizer que seu plot contribuiu um pouco para isso - Inicialmente sabemos que existe vários “Time Eddies” espalhados pela história, trata-se de um fenômeno desagradável que desloca pessoas em pontos diferentes no espaço tempo, é algo muito parecido com o que acontece em “The War Games”. Depois, temos um extenso bloco de apresentação de companion que preenche grande parte do áudio, conhecemos “Nova”, até o momento não senti muito hype na personagem. E por fim, ou melhor, em seus minutos beirando o tema de encerramento do áudio, conhecemos a vilã da box junto ao seu plano. Sinceramente eu senti que algumas coisas poderiam ser melhores aproveitadas, a apresentação dos elementos importantes para a continuidade é bem rasa e um pouco arrastada não criando aqueleee hype, mas é algo que dá para relevar tendo em conta de que essa é apenas a primeira parte de 3. Quanto ao desempenho de Eccleston, causa um largo sorriso no rosto ao ver novamente o nosso Chriszão na pele do 9° Doutor, embora haja uma sensação inevitável de super excesso de entusiasmo. Em resumo, não há muito o que exaltar em "Sphere Of Freedom", não vejo motivo para avaliações altas e muito menos motivos para uma total desaprovação...é apenas...Um áudio, OK 👍🏻
Agora é ouvir seu complemento para ter uma visão geral.

So far Briggs is painting the 9th Doctor as the intellectual working class hero Doctor. Someone who is going to support the oppressed and challenge the privileged. It is not a script that would work quite as well with any other Doctor but its SO perfect for Eccleston.

I adore how they have ditched the "sense of occasion" that would usually come with these releases and just pushed on straight with the action. Having not had new Eccleston for 16 years it was thrilling to hear him inhabiting the role from the word go, owning the space and just making it feel like a natural part of the ongoing narrative. First episodes often get caught up with a lot of fanfare, instead Briggs just gets straight in with the plot. And its a great plot, setting up the Ravagers arc.

Any fan of Doctor Who should love the idea of time eddies, its a neat concept which will give way for a bunch of interesting scenarios for The Doctor. Nova and Audrey are very intriguing. Having a companion with a unique back story - former indentured servant from a game station (I know - very series 1) who was forced to turn her back from her family - is another interesting set up which I think will pay dividends.

I've always heard for so long about how bad the first volume of the 9DA's are... and I understand this sentiment, but I still quite liked this first story! I thought it was neat!

B.

15.09.2021

I missed Nine. The story structure is questionable, particularly the confusing in medias res and the retelling core of it. The twist is sort of not set up, but sort of is. Nine is charming as ever, I sort of like Nova, though she is bleak sorta. The premise is grabbing, similar to a story I came up with a while ago, though more detailed and thought-out. 2.5/5??

I was very excited for the return of Christopher Eccleston, but there really isn't anything about this story in particular that feels anything like a very grand return. A boring story, confusing, muddled and inconsistent pacing, and even the acting from Eccleston himself doesn't seem to go very far beyond "serviceable". I'll continue listening to the 9DAs because Nine is one of my favourite Doctors and I'm also still very interested in immersing myself further into the audio stories, but this is far from a great start.