|
Burkion posted:Why are so many of his stories missing There is in fact a Big Finish Colin story which is about a similar fiction/reality issue.
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2016 03:06
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 6, 2024 02:13 |
|
|
Organza Quiz posted:There is in fact a Big Finish Colin story which is about a similar fiction/reality issue. Yeah, there's a trilogy plus a companion chronicle. One of my favourite of Colin's audio adventures.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2016 07:16
|
|
|
BSam posted:Yeah, there's a trilogy plus a companion chronicle. One of my favourite of Colin's audio adventures. God the climax of that trilogy is so goddamn clever and fun.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2016 07:33
|
|
|
Toxxupation posted:YO THIS SONG FUCKIN RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULES
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2016 04:51
|
|
|
bloody get on with it
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2016 08:36
|
|
|
I can decipher hidden codes He is secretly waiting for the soundtrack to be released before he reviews any more episodes Callin it
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2016 12:09
|
|
|
Doctor Who "Face the Raven" Series 9, Episode 10 Characters on Doctor Who come and go all the time - they leave, they're left behind, they die (usually the latter) - but Companion departures in particular make for tricky grades. On one extreme, there's episode-specific characters, who have no built-in goodwill to draw from. A bad, boring character is a bad, boring character, and a plethora of them within a single episode (as usually happens in "base under siege" hours, like this year's regrettable "Sleep No More") make for worse tales in the telling; no one's going to care more about an episode just because a bunch of interchangeable dumbasses in body armor get killed by a rubber suit. On the other end, there's Doctor regenerations. Considering actors who play The Doctor often end up in the role for half a decade or more, reviews of their exit stories end up as much an appraisal of the Number as of the narrative itself. To a critic, the work is already half-done when Ten becomes Eleven, or Eleven becomes Twelve. Helped along by a heavily nostalgic/retrospective approach, "End of Time Part Two" and "Time of the Doctor" earned easy A's. For a regeneration narrative to earn anything less, there have to be serious extenuating circumstances. As in, for instance, literally everything about "Parting of the Ways" besides Eccleston's farewell. Doctors get that luxury because their departures are so infrequent. In eleven or so years of the show, there's been three of them. Most Doctors last at least three years, and have plenty of episodes under their belt, with at least a dozen or so of those stories having legitimate claim for "all time classic" status. Each Doctor is generally the same, but also so different that one can characterize Nine as "the wounded war veteran", Ten as "the cheerful sociopath", Eleven as "the self-hating liar". Essentially, Doctors are full, deep characters in a way no other character realistically can be because their name isn't on the title of the show. The game's already rigged in The Doctor's favor, and as a result their regeneration episodes get graded much more softly. Companions sort of inhabit the "neither fish nor fowl" space between both extremes. The DW reboot has had many more Companions than Doctors - six to four, by my reckoning, and that's not counting extremely temporary or episode-specific Companions like Mickey, Clara Oswin Oswald, Adam (the guy from Series One who got Wikipedia implanted in his head), or Astrid (the maid from "Voyage of the Damned," who piloted a forklift into eternity), which balloons the count to ten. Companions last far less time, with most staying on for about a season or so before leaving the program permanently. As a result, Companion departures get judged harshly from both directions: their exit hours have to close out their personal arc in a satisfying way (even if that's not especially possible because their character got too little screentime to form a compelling arc/were especially bad characters, in the case of Martha and Rose respectively) and be great episodes besides (which, for instance, is what put the nail in the coffin for "Journey's End" for Donna fans like Oxxidation). Companions aren't important enough to warrant the pass on an otherwise-uninteresting story, but are important enough to warrant central focus when they leave. So, to reiterate, Companion departures make for tricky grades. Context is still relevant and not easily ignorable, but the compulsion for any fan - and, regardless, critics are always fans - is to ignore all that because of the emotional attachment made to Amy Pond, to Donna Noble, to Rose Tyler. To Clara Oswald. Because, yes, Clara's exit sequence from Doctor Who is as more-or-less perfect an exit as it is possible to be on the show. Not the death itself - I would call Clara's specific death scene to be problematic at best - but everything leading up to it is fully realized as a narrative piece. If I were to grade each Companion's final hour based solely on how good their adieu was, I would place Clara's juuuuuuust below Amy's - "Raggedy Man, goodbye." is probably the best three-word line the show has ever had. But even against the rough competition that is Amy's tearful sacrifice at the end of "The Angels Take Manhattan", Clara's death scene at the end of "Face the Raven" is some powerful stuff. Clara's death is much like Ten's, in that they both know their lives are on a timer and thus spend their borrowed time putting affairs in order before they cack it. And, much like Ten's regeneration, I adored Clara's extended goodbye, which was only possible due to the quantum shade conceit. It also helped that, personality-wise, the quantum shade allows Clara to be killed off in the most Clara Oswald-way possible. Amy Pond's death was immediate, heart-wrenching, and disastrous; the turn "Angels Take Manhattan" makes from an ostensibly happy ending to Amy's tearful "Raggedy Man, goodbye." is accomplished within a matter of minutes. Amy's exit reflects who she is: a confused, explosive, and deeply emotional redhead who loves Rory Williams more than anything else in the world, up to and including The Doctor. There's almost a feeling of shellshock that occurs when watching Amy get killed off by the lone Angel, because it happens so fast; there's barely enough time to process what's happened before it ends. It's whiplash-inducing, and intentionally so, to mirror the dramatic personality of Amy Pond. In contrast, Clara Oswald's departure is an involved, methodical sequence that eats up an entire act during "Raven". Clara was always a character who professed to know all the answers, even when she very clearly didn't. As a result, once she learns that she is marked for death, her reaction is measured, controlled. As Oxxidation pointed out, once Clara knows that there's no opportunities available to escape her fate she goes around and metaphorically puts all the chairs on the tables before turning the lights out permanently. Her final speech betrays a nonchalant fatalism; she's more concerned with how others will fare after she's gone than her own safety. She'll be fine, or at least she thinks she'll be fine. Even to the end, Clara Oswald tries desperately to remain in control and keep everyone calm. It's a very small, personal affair. It's important to note that Clara doesn't leave the room in which she learns of her death sentence until the moment she is killed. As everyone who has seen the last couple of seasons is aware, Clara is the Companion that most wants to be The Doctor, so it's fitting that of all the Companions her exit is the most Doctor-like. It's practically a knockoff regeneration; Clara spends the moments before an overwrought and supremely melodramatic death sequence trying to impart a central lesson to a willing participant before finally, inevitably facing the music. Mine as well call her Thirteen and be done with it. But the word "knockoff" is the thing. In one of the most interesting angles of her departure, Clara's final moments end up poisoned with a sort of desperate futility. Take one of her big, Doctor-y "final speeches": Clara: "You...Now you listen to me. You're gonna be alone now, and you're very bad at that. You're gonna be furious, and you're gonna be sad, but listen, to me, don't let this change you. No. Listen. Whatever happens next. Wherever she is sending you. I know what you're capable of. Promise me. Be a doctor." Unlike how I usually transcribe quotes, I transcribed the rhythm of the dialog here, and that's for a very specific reason. There's a harsh, clipped syncopation to Clara's "Big Moment". Look at the above paragraph, notice all the rushed pauses between words, all the sentence fragments even within that short speech. Helped by Jenna Coleman's awesome performance, it presents Clara in her final moments as a force of serenity and calm that actually betrays a confused interior, scrambling for the verbiage that serves as her legacy. If one were to read those lines on a page with correct punctuation, it would be virtually indistinguishable from any one of Ten's big moralistic monologues or Eleven's "I'll never forget...when The Doctor was me." bit. But it's the context that makes all the difference. Despite how hard Clara tries, despite how much she wants it to be so, she's not The Doctor, both literally and figuratively. She just can't quite make it. She's just not good enough. In wrestling terms, she's a B-plus player; someone who thinks she's better than she is. Not a main eventer. And the irony is, this is the source of her downfall. Remember, the only reason she gets marked for death is because she once again thought she was cleverer and more capable than she was. Clara ends up dying to a fatal flaw that ends up defining her: her pointless and foolhardy desire to be someone she's not. In a way, Clara's death is the most traditionally tragic of all, because of how utterly avoidable it was - and at the same time, it's utterly unavoidable, because the character of Clara Oswald really couldn't have gone out any other way. Clever Clara was always doomed to die from her reach exceeding her grasp, and it makes her entire arc into one of delayed misery, where she constantly ignores the warnings and basic common sense to play craps with her fate. At the end of the day, Clara Oswald is an addicted gambler, someone who never leaves the table no matter what. "Face the Raven", unfortunately, ends up being the first, last, and only time she rolls snake eyes. So, yes, Clara's death is very clearly the highlight of "Face the Raven", and from where I'm standing it's the most coherent and earned section of the piece. I don't think it's built to or realistically foreshadowed at all. Paradoxically speaking, though, I think that's the most appropriate possible frame of reference for this to happen; Clara's temperament and outlook demanded a departure that was supremely low-key and almost felt like an afterthought, in fitting with her outwardly measured and controlled personality. The problem is, of course, that Clara leaving the show isn't the only thing that happens in "Face the Raven". As I mentioned way back at the beginning of this writeup, Companion departures have to be both worthy farewells and good episodes as written, not just the former. Despite Clara's best efforts, she's still ultimately "just" a Companion, and "Face the Raven", as a whole, is... ...Pretty okay. Sarah Dollard, the writer for "Raven", ends up literally the first and so far only female writer for Who to craft a script worth the paper it's printed on. Even before the whole final act with Clara leaving, I was already praising this episode relentlessly while chatting with Oxxidation. There's a specific energy and insight it has, bursting with a bunch of really awesome, weird, inventive ideas. I love the concept of forgotten or wrong space, so everything about the "trap street" interested me as a fundamental conceit within which to build the episode. On top of that, the supporting cast is unusually strong this go-round. Bringing Rigsy (Joivan Wade) back was a smart idea, since "Flatline" was the last, and only previous, time where Clara ended up so directly assuming The Doctor mantle. It works as strong character foreshadowing to her eventual exit, since Clara ends up doubling down on the dynamic she had previously established with Rigsy of being the smart and capable lead who was really just making it up as she went along. Speaking about Rigsy in isolation, he was great on "Flatline" and he's great here. Making him the one framed for murder creates a sudden urgency to the situation due to the audience's previous connection to the character, which is only compounded by the entire quantum shade countdown bit. In that same vein. Mayor Me (Maisie Williams) is also decent for a change, probably owing to the fact that she's actually written as she was intended to be from the start - capable, intelligent, pragmatic, and fairly self-centered. She's simultaneously unlikable while still being understandable and even relatable, which is a very difficult line to tread. But Dollard navigates it adroitly in the script, and it finally does feel like Williams rises to the actually-decent material to put in a performance worthy of the cachet of goodwill she's built with Game of Thrones fans. But, on the other hand, "Face the Raven" is yet another Who episode that lacks major flaws but still gets dragged down by a whole host of persistent minor ones. Most notable is either quantum shade sequence, especially Clara's. They're both so overdone and melodramatic that they single-handedly turn what should be serious or affecting moments into laughable ones because of their sheer, ridiculous length. Like, seriously, Clara not only being killed but being killed from every conceivable angle at once turns her death into a farce. In that same vein, the fact that "Raven" presents itself as a murder mystery but commits the cardinal sin of all murder-mysteries - that being that it's unsolvable until a crucial piece of information surfaces mere moments before the reveal - makes many sections of the hour feel like time wasters, especially in retrospect. The truism of Series Nine - "Don't watch it twice" - continues on here, with my second watch-through of "Raven" feeling like a pleasant if somewhat dull slog before, well, Clara dies. Series Nine is bad. It is a bad season of television; it is a bad season of Doctor Who. Which is, I think, why Clara's death, despite being a joy to watch, doesn't quite work. Even from my perspective of knowing that Clara was going to be killed off this season going into it, there's no overarching plotline, character progression, or even thematic struggles for Clara to work through, things which would make her death a worthwhile capper to a season's worth of development. Oxxidation hit the nail on the head when he pointed out to me that "Face the Raven" could've aired right after "Death in Heaven" with absolutely no real difference. Clara's in a state of arrested development all season, and her being killed off isn't a note that's built to. She regresses to the vaguely pleasant if vanilla personality of late Series Seven, and it's only at "Raven" that the show seems to remember that she's a control freak, that she wants to be The Doctor, that she has the whole Danny Pink thing. Until then, until now, she's just sorta...there, a Clara-shaped hole in space that looks cute and adorable but is kinda forgettable. This ends up backhandedly messing up her departure, because even if the moment itself is great it lacks any frame of reference for it to have any meaning. Due to Clara feeling so superfluous in Series Nine, her exit ends up continuing past "restrained" and becomes practically inconsequential. A case study in "too little, too late", as a genuinely good if flawed episode arrived too slowly in a rotten season to make any real difference. Grade: B Random Thoughts:
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 20:20
|
|
|
This series really was pretty lousy. I was going to rewatch along but consistently just couldn't be bothered. The only episodes I've re watched at all are the two ending episodes coming up, and I think the two opening episodes as well. Everything in between, well I could barely sit through some of them the first time. Hopefully Moffat actually uses his year off to write some good stuff and delivers a good series in 2017.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 21:31
|
|
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven_Sent_%28Doctor_Who%29 In which The Doctor wins.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 21:42
|
|
|
So good.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 21:46
|
|
|
Heaven Sent is just the loving best man
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 21:47
|
|
|
...and this is why this series was bad. Just like Bethesda games will feature one renowned and well known actor and then spend the remaining few dollars of their VO budget on bland crappy nobodies, this episode hogged all the quality to itself. I believe it is the single best episode of Doctor Who that has ever been made, and if I knew someone who was definitely never going to watch Doctor Who regularly but could be convinced to watch one single episode I would tell them to watch Heaven Sent.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 21:47
|
|
|
2house2fly posted:I believe it is the single best episode of Doctor Who that has ever been made https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_s-b8Z9Suo
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 21:50
|
|
|
Toxxupation posted:Doctor Who Why do you insist on planting mines all over your reviews, Occ? Toxxupation posted:(…) and metaphorically puts all the chairs on the tables before turning the lights out permanently. Very teacher-y. I like it. 2house2fly posted:This series really was pretty lousy. I was going to rewatch along but consistently just couldn't be bothered. The only episodes I've re watched at all are the two ending episodes coming up, and I think the two opening episodes as well. Everything in between, well I could barely sit through some of them the first time. Hopefully Moffat actually uses his year off to write some good stuff and delivers a good series in 2017. Yeah, that's kind of where I'm at, as well. The Witch's Familiar is great, Face the Raven is good, and Heaven Sent absolutely owns, but everything in between just feels like fluff. I hope Moffat gives us one more amazing series before Chibnall takes over.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 21:51
|
|
|
Same
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 21:56
|
|
|
Heaven Sent is loving awesome and it's great and I love it so hard.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 21:59
|
|
|
In a way, I almost hate that Face the Raven and Heaven Sent are part of this otherwise awful season
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 22:07
|
|
|
Yeah I really really really really like this episode. its basically perfect
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 22:39
|
|
|
Absolutely agree about the drawn out repeated shots of the death scene robbing it of its impact - it was such a great departure handled so well up to that point and then it becomes almost comical in how it is portrayed. A real shame because otherwise it was a very strong episode with what looked to be a fantastic ending.Toxxupation posted:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven_Sent_%28Doctor_Who%29 This however, this is just a loving spectacular episode. "That's one hell of a bird!" 
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 22:41
|
|
|
christ this episode is so good I just wanna keep making post after post about how much it owns because it does
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 22:46
|
|
|
I'm probably suffering from Stockholm Syndrome with the show at this point, but I give S9 a pass because of Face the Raven and most especially Heaven Sent. The Doctor and Clara were really well done all season, regardless of how mediocre certain episodes were. Then we get Face the Raven and Heaven Sent and it elevates a "good season; great characters" back up to "hey, I really kinda liked the season". I haven't rewatched it though, as I have literally every other season, so it's not all roses and rainbows.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 22:54
|
|
|
Toxxupation posted:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven_Sent_%28Doctor_Who%29 This episode single handedly redeems the rest of the season, IMO.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 23:18
|
|
|
It's a pretty good episode, but it's no Aliens of London
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 23:23
|
|
|
MrL_JaKiri posted:It's a pretty good episode, but it's no Aliens of London mods????????? *fart*
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 23:35
|
|
|
Holy poo poo Heaven Sent. This is an episode that I feel only Capaldi could have pulled off. Definitely my all time favourite on all counts, atmosphere, pacing, general quality. Fantastic.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2016 23:35
|
|
|
That montage at the end is just so wonderfully done, I can't get enough of it. Tracking his progress through the wall by him telling a story is inspired. The whole last 15-20 minutes at the end of the episode is unbeatable.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2016 00:23
|
|
|
Heaven Sent is my favorite episode of this show. Aside from Capaldi's absolutely commanding performance, that ending montage is just so inspired. I would happily rewatch season 9 every day if it meant I got to watch heaven sent once a year.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2016 00:27
|
|
|
It's a great episode but all the complaints about Face the Raven's climax being overdone, I would say about Heaven Sent instead
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2016 00:32
|
|
|
Heaven Sent is Capaldi's best episode, period. It's his Caves of Androzani.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2016 00:50
|
|
|
That episode had some impact on me especially the music that stuff stuck with me even in my dreams
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2016 00:57
|
|
|
Tempo 119 posted:It's a great episode but all the complaints about Face the Raven's climax being overdone, I would say about Heaven Sent instead i agree, and it's my only complaint with the episode. when he gets to several billion years the numbers have just lost all meaning and become farcical. it's sort of a DW thing where writers assume bigger numbers mean bigger impact for the viewer. E: oh yeah, and the music is top notch, not often said about Golds work.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2016 01:02
|
|
|
CobiWann posted:Heaven Sent is Capaldi's best episode, period. It's his Caves of Androzani. There's no low cut tops in the episode at all, how can he be overshadowed by one 
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2016 01:31
|
|
|
THIS poo poo FUCKIN RULES https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8I9z6Y4mBY
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2016 02:09
|
|
|
Toxxupation posted:THIS poo poo FUCKIN RULES quote:I just realized something. Youtube comments never disappoint
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2016 02:23
|
|
|
Toxxupation posted:THIS poo poo FUCKIN RULES Clara: Is this the first time he's brought a girl home? TARDIS:  Reminds me of Amy seeing all of the Doctor's former companions being pretty girls, and 11's grumpy,"You couldn't have shown her the robot dog, huh?"
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2016 02:24
|
|
|
Jerusalem posted:Clara: Is this the first time he's brought a girl home? He was just happy she never saw Jamie.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2016 02:31
|
|
|
Burkion posted:He was just happy she never saw Jamie. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2016 02:39
|
|
|
I've been waiting for you to get to Heaven Sent, such a fantastic episode. The only episode this season I rewatched (and more than once as well!)
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2016 03:22
|
|
|
Heaven Sent is the best parts of Doctor Who merged with the best parts of Dark Souls AND with Peter Capaldi having 50+ straight minutes of screentime. It's the best TV episode of 2015.
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2016 03:24
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 6, 2024 02:13 |
|
|
This episode is okay
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2016 03:30
|
|