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Best Producer/Showrunner? This poll is closed. |
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| Verity Lambert |
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49 | 7.04% |
| John Wiles |
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1 | 0.14% |
| Innes Lloyd |
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1 | 0.14% |
| Peter Bryant |
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3 | 0.43% |
| Derrick Sherwin |
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3 | 0.43% |
| Barry Letts |
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12 | 1.72% |
| Phillip Hinchcliffe |
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62 | 8.91% |
| Graham Williams |
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3 | 0.43% |
| John Nathan-Turner |
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15 | 2.16% |
| Philip Segal |
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3 | 0.43% |
| Russel T Davies |
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106 | 15.23% |
| Steven Moffat |
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114 | 16.38% |
| Son Goku |
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324 | 46.55% |
| Total: | 696 votes | ||
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Speaking of which, LIVE 34 has just catapulted its way into the top slot of my worst audios list. In isolation I'd be willing to call it a clever and interesting idea marred by terrible execution, but they had the same idea and executed it brilliantly five years previously in The Fearmonger. The best part is the way the climax of the story happens off-screen in between episodes 3 and 4, and then episode 4 is just characters telling other characters about it.
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Aug 6, 2014 19:46
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I thought LIVE 34 was an interesting experiment in terms of audio storytelling. On the plus side you have the Doctor and his companions meddling the way they do, without the baggage of the Doctor not telling Ace and Hex what's going on. I agree that having major story beats and the climax occur "off-camera" was a bit of a cheat, and the resolution of who the main villain was kind of comes out of nowhere. On a whole, despite these problems and the fact that McCoy is one of my least favorite audio Doctors, I still came away with a positive attitude overall.
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Aug 6, 2014 20:07
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I love LIVE 34, but I admittedly haven't listened to The Fearmonger.
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Aug 6, 2014 20:22
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Live 34 properly felt like a story about dictatorships written by someone who didn't really understand them to me; I never got over the feeling that there's no way the radio broadcasts we hear would ever have gone out in the society portrayed. It's a striking example of an innovative form of storytelling highlighting the flaws in a setting rather than obscuring them.
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Aug 6, 2014 20:27
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vegetables posted:Live 34 properly felt like a story about dictatorships written by someone who didn't really understand them to me; I never got over the feeling that there's no way the radio broadcasts we hear would ever have gone out in the society portrayed. It's a striking example of an innovative form of storytelling highlighting the flaws in a setting rather than obscuring them. Yeah; a key aspect of the story is the competence and level of control the villains are supposed to have, but everything we actually see them do is incredibly naive and ham-fisted. thexerox123 posted:I love LIVE 34, but I admittedly haven't listened to The Fearmonger. To be fair Fearmonger mixed news broadcasts and traditional drama, so it wasn't as audacious as LIVE 34. But its setting and politics were much more believable, and I felt its characters had a lot more depth. NRVNQSR fucked around with this message at 21:07 on Aug 6, 2014 |
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Aug 6, 2014 21:01
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Just listened to "Living Legend." It is Hilarious. I hope I never catch World Cup Fever. Seems especially deadly.
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Aug 7, 2014 00:52
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Well I am relieved to say I have FINALLY finished the Divergent Arc, and while I applaud the notion behind the experiment I couldn't be happier to have the 8th Doctor back in the "real world". Faithstealer suffers from the same problems that most of the previous stories in the arc did - it's a fun and interesting concept but there is no reason it couldn't have taken place in the regular universe. Doctor Who tends to shy away from addressing religion (thank God, no pun intended) but in this story it dives in headfirst, yet somehow manages to walk the fine line between mocking and celebrating people of faith. The criticisms tend to be towards the obvious cult as opposed to the actual religions, though there is some rather cynical stuff about the commercialization of religion in there as well. The idea of an open town where religious freedom is absolute and every religion is free to be practiced without question or violence is a cool idea, though how it works in the context of the inter-zone and their idea of the wider planet they think exists pretty much makes no sense at all. Where do the pilgrims come from? How do they bring new religions? Is the Multihaven the ENTIRE planet? Are there other towns and cities and places out there? The story is pretty much all concept without any real thought for how it would work in reality, and excusing it as a result of the Divergent Universe's odd rules doesn't really excuse that.... especially when the resolution comes down to the Doctor breezily explaining away what the Miraculite is. Normally I love when the Doctor cuts through the bullshit to reveal the truth, but he's supposed to be in a universe where the normal rules don't apply and he doesn't know what is and isn't possible - to have him so casually explain it all away feels like a cheat and yet another reason to consider this a story that could have happened easily in the regular universe. There is also some ill-advised comedic stuff thrown into the middle of the story that feels very out of place for the story being told. It is quite funny when taken alone, but in context with the rest of the story it feels like padding, and a distraction. The Last is MUCH better, and the first story since Scherzo that actually takes advantage of the Divergent Universe setting to get down to some weird stuff. Sadly because of the way it is structured, a lot of very confusing and frustrating character actions and reactions don't make sense until you learn the secret of Bortresoye. Characters appear and disappear, their actions contradicting earlier statements of intent, their designations making little sense right up until the end when you discover that it all had a purpose. Unfortunately I think this may be more of an happy coincidence than good planning, as Charley also suffers a bizarre kind of detached sense of reality and she should stand outside the effects that the "natives" are suffering. But the cycle of rebirth that the planet deliberately undergoes could ONLY happen in a universe where time does not exist, so even if some of the people talk about the future and the past as if it something they understand, I feel like this is a story that actually takes good advantage of the setting for a change. It also (and I believe this is quite deliberate given revelations in the following stories) shows that the Doctor's very presence has tipped things for the better (depending on your point of view). Bortresoye is revealed as the actual planet that the Interzone is set on, and its fate (and salvation) ends up being the blueprint for how the Divergent Arc will eventually end. Caerdroia feels like a big tease, a promise of resolution that never really comes, and as the culmination of the Doctor's hunt for his TARDIS it is very unfulfilling. The saving grace of the story is Paul McGann, who puts in three wonderful performances as split versions of the Doctor, focusing on a different aspect of his characterization but sharing the same intellect and insight. The weirdness of the setting feels contrived, an obvious effort to play up the oddness of the Divergent Universe that feels more like a poor man's Alice in Wonderland (fitting considering the TARDIS' disdain for Carroll in Zagreus). McGann is excellent however, while everybody else feels like they're just making up the numbers, everything they do feels mostly pointless, and McGann's multiple performances more than carry the day. This story finally brings the Doctor and The Kro'Ka face to face (so to speak) after the latter has served mostly as a rather hackneyed taunting villain serving as the link between the various stories. There is a certain grim satisfaction to watching the Doctor run circles around it, luring it in with its own hubris in episode 1 and then have each version of the Doctor taunt and haunt it with their goading... but it also means that all the previous stories feel a little empty now, because there was never really any threat at all - the Kro'Ka was never anything more than a trumped up middle manager glorying in what little power it thought that it had. Even so, it does make for some fun when Kro'Ka thinks that it finally has its hands on a compliant and "weak" Doctor, especially when the Practical Incarnation warns that his Goofy Incarnation isn't the idiot he makes himself out to be. The "Mean" One gets a nice final showdown with the Kro'Ka that serves as a good reminder of what the Doctor is capable of if he didn't restrain himself (and have companions to give him the right sense of morality) and then they finally locate the TARDIS, because Kro'Ka was so inept that even its attempts to torture the practical Doctor only served to focus him on the message the TARDIS was trying to send. The reunion should be a joyous and exhilarating one, but it just kind of happens, the Divergent Arc never quite sold me on the idea of the desperation of the Doctor's situation nor the near state of panic he was in trying to find the TARDIS. They step inside and, free of the Interzone at last, head out for adventures in space since time is still supposedly unavailable to them. That WAS a relief, but not from a fistpumping "Yes! The Doctor did it!" state of mind, but more from a,"Oh thank gently caress that part is done with" one. The Next Life attempts to wrap everything up in a nice neat bow and mostly succeeds, even if it meanders it way to get to the point over six loooong episodes. Part of the problem with it is that a number of very deliberate anachronisms pop up that the characters (including the Doctor) take far, far, far, far too long to notice. How they didn't grasp that the presence of lions and monkeys and a man who speaks French wasn't odd in a Universe completely separate from the normal one is beyond me, but it isn't till episode six that somebody finally says,"Hang on a minute....  ". There is also some absolutely awful manipulation of Charley and C'Rizz both, as the main villain (Rassilon) attempts some astonishingly crude and transparent attempts to trick them that they somehow seem incapable of seeing through. C'Rizz I could understand, but not Charley, who seems to take him at his word about a number of things he is saying, then never brings any of them up to the Doctor when they're reunited, then out of nowhere declares to the villain in a later episode,"You didn't trick me you know!" - well that's great... but absolutely nothing came of it because none of it was brought up between when it happened and the moment she told him it didn't work.C'Rizz on the other hand... well. I haven't really mentioned him till now, but through the entire Divergent Arc he's been a maddening character. Utterly without any distinctive characteristics outside of being sullen and moody for no reason, he's spent the last few episodes either betraying the Doctor and Charley or being mind-controlled or just being swept along by somebody else's words. Like Adric he continually made me wonder WHY he was along for the ride, why the others put up with him, and hoping he would just go away. In The Next Life this gets turned up to 11 as within a single scene he completely changes his mindset with NO prompting - going from defiant to utterly cowed and filled with religious fervor to standing up to his father to having always been working for some other guy to cowed and clinging to his religion again to... well, he just lacks any distinct personality at all. In this story an explanation is actually finally provided, and though it does go a long way to explaining WHY C'Rizz is the way he is, it still leaves me with one major problem - a character who is deliberately written to be sullen, moody, hypocritical and prone to blindly following whoever happens to be the loudest or most charismatic person around is STILL a bad character. The end of the story offers the promise that C'Rizz is going to try and break that mindset and become more his own person, and I hope it works out, because I'm not exactly thrilled that he is sticking around. A valiant attempt is made to tie up all the loose ends and tighten the thread running through all the stories, including elements introduced all the way back in Scherzo. Unfortunately, almost all the characters who provide these explanations are liars or being deliberately misleading. Was Perfection originally the end result of the Divergents' initial experimentation as she claims, or was she just a body that was co-opted by Zagreus/the Anti-Time infection? Is Keep the potential organism that would have resulted if the Doctor and Charley had made a different decision in Scherzo? If he is, then how come he claims to have been present for at least some of the instances of Rassilon's failed attempts to escape the Divergent Universe?. I can buy organisms of potential futures existing in the present of a universe where time has no meaning, but if Keep is what he claims to be, and the Doctor and Charley's arrival upset the balance of things as claimed, then surely this is the first time he has ever made it to "the end"? Still, the full extent of Keep's powers are chilling and show just how much the Doctor gave up when he agreed to separate from Charley at the end of Scherzo. They also mean that Guidance was hopelessly out of his league the whole time, and even more upsetting is that it was a waste of Paul Darrow, who gives an unusually restrained performance in a role that really doesn't go anywhere or have much impact on anything. The story can't seem to decide who it wants the main villain to be - Kro'Ka or its master? Guidance? Keep? Perfection? All of them? Daphne Ashbrook plays Perfection, acting opposite Paul McGann for the first time since the 1996 TV movie (which leads to a winking joke about "Grace" at one point in the story). She isn't at all what she appears to be, throwing out any number of false leads in her attempt to get the Doctor to do what she wants. Her strong accent actually reminded me of Peri a lot, and I had to keep reminding myself I hadn't accidentally thrown on a Fifth Doctor audio instead. Her bitchy relationship with Charley is a hoot, and I like that her distaste for Charley is eventually revealed to be out of fear - she made herself out to be the perfect companion to attract the Doctor to do what she wanted, and she knows Charley threatens that because their connection is a real one, not some paint by numbers fantasy. Unfortunately, given the nature of what she is, the story ends on a rather dark note for the Divergent Universe itself (and God I hope not as a set-up for a return down the line) - Keep and Perfection battle each other and discover that neither can kill the other, and come to the conclusion that it would be more fun to dominate the universe. With no Doctor around, it leaves the Divergent Universe (its artificial cycle of rebirth now seemingly broken forever meaning all bets are off) completely at their mercy, and it's not like they're very nice people. While the fate of Kro'Ka and his master is suitably cruel (they're locked in the Scherzo experiment, only this time with their memories intact and the knowledge there is NOBODY overseeing things), it leaves Keep and Perfection undeniably the masters of their universe. Maybe a new Keep will emerge from this experiment, however, and challenge the old one? Or maybe they'll stay in the experiment forever? Whatever the case, the Divergent Universe (with the actual Divergents long since dead thanks to all the outside interference, so much for Rassilon's claim their ascendency was inevitable) doesn't seem like it is going to be a very nice place to live. The Doctor, being the Doctor, almost gives up his chance to return to the "real" universe by refusing to budge until Charley and C'Rizz settle their differences. In the process he lays down some firm and much-needed ground rules that his 10 Incarnation could learn from - NO romance, they're just mates going on adventures together. Charley promises not to sigh wistfully after him any longer, C'Rizz promises to try and develop an actual honest to God personality of his own, and they take off in the TARDIS and finally escape this godawful Divergent Reality. A noble experiment by Big Finish, but one they never really realized the full potential of. There were plenty of perfectly fine stories in there, but most could have just as easily taken place in the regular reality of the show - a couple like Scherzo and The Last tried their hardest to fulfill that potential though and should be lauded for it, even if the latter didn't work anywhere near as well as the former. But with the Doctor back in our reality, the question remained how sure were they that they had actually escaped. The answer comes in the cliffhanger climax to this story, which is loving glorious. Much like the show did in 1966 when Patrick Troughton took over as the Doctor and they wanted to establish that yes this was STILL the Doctor, Big Finish falls back on good old reliable Daleks. The Doctor steps through a door, that familiar pulsing sound of a Dalek spaceship comes through the speakers, Daleks begin screaming and, best of all, a delighted Davros welcomes the Doctor back to the right and proper Doctor Who Universe. Thank God for that. Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 10:00 on Aug 7, 2014 |
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Aug 7, 2014 02:22
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This is very tenuously related to Doctor Who, but my copy of Franz Kafka's It's A Wonderful Life just came in today. This should be fun.
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Aug 7, 2014 03:58
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wins.
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My friends threw me a surprise birthday party tonight, but the biggest surprise had to be the cake.  My roommate loves making these weird little 8-bit looking things, so she made me a Doctor Who cake, complete with a fez-sporting 11, the TARDIS, and a Weeping Angel. I love that the Doctor even has his little sonic. It really came out fantastic (I feel like the pictures don't even do it justice) but I thought you guys might get a kick out of it.
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Aug 7, 2014 09:14
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Gatekeeper posted:My friends threw me a surprise birthday party tonight, but the biggest surprise had to be the cake. That's really cute. I hope the cake was good.
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Aug 7, 2014 13:05
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Just asked by the maintenance staff to take a “Tenant Appreciation Survey.” I told them I was more of a Tom Baker fan.  (how does this thread(s) not have a custom smiley/emoticon yet?)
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Aug 7, 2014 15:48
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CobiWann posted:Just asked by the maintenance staff to take a “Tenant Appreciation Survey.” I hope you did a Tom Baker voice, with the laugh and everything.
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Aug 7, 2014 16:01
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DoctorWhat posted:I hope you did a Tom Baker voice, with the laugh and everything. …I should have. Ok, here’s an assignment for the thread. My fiancée is a high school English teacher and she actually uses Doctor Who in the classroom. She uses Blink to teach mood and the various “Bad Wolf” sightings to illustrate foreshadowing. As such, she lets me put up a little “Wall of Who” in the back with pictures of all twelve (now thirteen) Doctors. Just the Doctors, no companions (if I get asked “where’s Rose” by one of her students one more flipping time), usually BBC promo shots (or Big Finish for McGann). So, over the next few days, I’m taking submissions. Pictures of each Doctor, Hartnell through Capaldi, that I can put up on her wall to teach high school kids there were, and always will be, Doctors besides Tennant and Smith. I'll print out the best ones and you can rest knowing you've done your bit to educate American students, since obviously no one else will...
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Aug 7, 2014 16:26
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CobiWann posted:…I should have.  jk jk
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Aug 7, 2014 16:29
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DoctorWhat posted:
Commander Maxil wasn't a Doctor  .
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Aug 7, 2014 16:31
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DoctorWhat posted:
I just found out that the convention I’m going to will have both Colin Baker AND Nicola Bryant there. I want to ask one or both of them to sign a glossy photo of that picture. I won’t, out of respect, but man I am so tempted.
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Aug 7, 2014 16:46
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CobiWann posted:I just found out that the convention I’m going to will have both Colin Baker AND Nicola Bryant there. I happen to know for a fact that Colin is well aware of how much certain fans love this picture (and its fellows from the same shoot). I'm sure he'd sign it. (there's some short video out in the tumblr ether of him discussing it, I'll find it if I can) (and it's also on his official website's photo gallery)
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Aug 7, 2014 16:48
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DoctorWhat posted:I happen to know for a fact that Colin is well aware of how much certain fans love this picture (and its fellows from the same shoot). I'm sure he'd sign it. I'm actually hoping for him to sign my copy of Jubilee. Although, I could always, just for you guys, buy a copy of Timelash...
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Aug 7, 2014 16:52
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CobiWann posted:
Just be sure that Hartnell is featured prominently, staring right at anyone who gets any ideas about looking at someone else's paper. 
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Aug 7, 2014 17:21
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Bicyclops posted:Just be sure that Hartnell is featured prominently, staring right at anyone who gets any ideas about looking at someone else's paper. I hope to take a picture as awesome as this once I'm old enough. My hair isn't white enough yet. And I don't have a monocle. I'll never be as amazing as William Hartnell.
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Aug 7, 2014 17:27
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 When the Doctor, Charley and C'rizz find their journey through the Interzone interrupted by a nightmarish vision, they are surprised to find the Kro'ka offering the perfect solution. The Multihaven - a vast array of religions and faiths housed in one harmonious community - appears to offer the perfect sanctuary in which to convalesce. But under the guidance of the charismatic Laan Carder, one religion seems to be gathering disciples at an alarming rate. With the Doctor and Charley catching glimpses of an old friend and C'rizz on the receiving end of some unorthodox religious practices, their belief, hope and faith are about to be tested to the limit. Paul McGann is the Doctor in Faith Stealer. Cast Paul McGann (The Doctor) India Fisher (Charley Pollard) Conrad Westmaas (C'Rizz) Stephen Perring (The Kro'Ka) Christian Rodska (Laan Carder) Tessa Shaw (The Bordinan) Jenny Coverack (Miraculite) Ifan Huw Dafydd (Bishop Parrash) Helen Kirkpatrick (Jebdal) Neil Bett (Director Garfolt) Chris Walter-Evans (The Bordinan's Assistant) John Dorney (Bakoan) Jane Hills (L'Da) Written By: Graham Duff Directed By: Gary Russell Trailer - http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/popout/faith-stealer-227 X X X X X On March 22, 2004, the BBC announced that Christopher Eccleston would be the new Doctor, as after fifteen years Doctor Who was back in production. While the fandom rejoiced, the questions that only a devoted and slightly rabid fanbase could consider began to pop up. Was this a reboot of the entire franchise, meaning Eccleston was the “First” Doctor? If not, which Doctor would Eccleston be? Would he be the Eighth Doctor after Sylvester McCoy? The Ninth Doctor after Paul McGann? Or even the Tenth Doctor after Richard E Grant in the web series The Scream of the Shalka? An even smaller portion of the fanbase, but one just as rabid, was asking a different question. What would this mean for Paul McGann, who had been portraying the Eighth Doctor in a series of Big Finish audios since 2001? And also, what would this mean for India Fisher and Edwardian adventuress Charlotte Pollard? At the time of the BBC’s announcement, the pair, along with Conrad Westmaas, were in the middle of a long-story arc that saw the trio trapped in the Divergent Universe, a universe where time as the Doctor knew it did not exist. Would the BBC insist that Big Finish stop using the Doctor (any of the Doctors) to avoid confusion with Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor? Would McGann’s Doctor be trapped in the Divergent Universe, forever without a proper ending? Luckily, the BBC let Big Finish keep the license for the pre-revival Doctors, which meant they could continue to tell tales starring the “Eighth” Doctor (the actual canonicity of McGann’s Doctor wouldn’t be set until Human Nature/The Family of Blood and reaffirmed in The Eleventh Hour) as well as the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and eventually the Fourth Doctor. On their end, Big Finish realized that they would need to conclude the Divergent Universe arc as not to confuse or possibly alienate any new listeners that the company picked up as a result of the revival, thanks to the sheer alien nature of the Divergent Universe. As such, two planned seasons had to be condensed into one season, with eight episodes put into four-and-a-half. Faith Stealer is the opening episode for the “fourth” season of the Eighth Doctor’s run. The Doctor, Charley, and C’Rizz find themselves in a unique city where all religions co-exist in peaceful harmony even as they scramble to convert the other’s followers. Mixing a bit of drama and a bit of humor, Faith Stealer is enjoyable without being preachy, a rare thing in any piece of fiction involving religion, and serves as the perfect opener for the final part of the Divergent Universe saga. C’rizz is having flashbacks to his murder of his wife L’Da, saving her from being an egg-laying queen for the Kromon. The Kro’ka, being strangely helpful, directs the trio to the Multihaven, a city where a myriad of faiths, cults, and religions all exists in balance and tranquility. While C’rizz recuperates under the watchful eye of the perpetual hymn-singing Bakoans, the Doctor and Charley find themselves hearing and chasing a familiar sound across the city. But as they search futilely, C’rizz’s rest is shattered by the Lucidians, a religion that is growing by leaps and bounds by converting the followers of other faiths. Whether they want to be converted or not, in the end they all see the light…the bright, shining light…so much lucidity… Graham Duff is best known in Britain as a writer whose works feature dark content and quick wordplay. He co-wrote the horror spoof Doctor Terrible’s House of Horrible alongside Steve Coogan as well as the sitcom Ideal. Faith Stealer is Duff’s first (and so far only) Big Finish audio, and his fingerprints are all over this story As the first writer since Robert Shearman to actually utilize the concept of the Doctor being in an entirely new universe with new rules, Duff introduces a variety of new faiths with new tenants and new messiahs (the pure capitalist religion, with the priest yelling about “FREE PROPHECY FORCES,” made me laugh). And more importantly, Duff does so in a way that, while gently needling organized religion, doesn’t outright mock it or deride it, as opposed to the hostile way Jonathan Morris did in Bloodtide. His concerns focus on extremism, not faith. Now, I hesitate to use the words “Python-Esque” or “Adams-Esque” because Monty Python and Douglas Adams are in a comedic league all their own. But I will say that Duff’s script definitely has moments that come very close to those lofty heights.The humor is quite evident from the beginning as the Doctor and Charley make up a religion on the spot (“We’re Tourists!”), the concept of a redemption vending machine, and the Doctor’s run in with the accident-worshipping Church of Serendipity and their patron Whoops the Great Neglector, as well as Charley and the Doctor “kicking the tires” of the 23rd Church of Lucidity as they shop for a new religion. The moments of terror are there as well, with C’rizz and the head of one of the Multihaven’s major faiths trapped in the endless hallways of the Accumulator and the lead up to the third act cliffhanger where Garfolt attempts to soothe and cure C’rizz of his nightmares with some…”radical therapy.” The humor stands out more than the horror, but Duff, under the direction of (say it with me kids!) Gary Russell, never lets the story get bogged down. The pace is brisk, though in a weird way it makes the entire story lack a sense of overall urgency. The lead-up to the final showdown is much better than the actual showdown itself, where McGann channels a bit of Peter Davison to hastily dispatch the villain with a few choice words. Speaking of McGann, Faith Stealer sees him give his most enjoyable performance in a long time. After the body horror of Scherzo and the “you might think I’m the Doctor, but I couldn’t possibly comment” role in The Natural History of Fear, it’s nice to hear the Doctor BE the Doctor once again. The Doctor is, after all, a madman with a box. We hear the Doctor’s desperation in McGann’s voice as he tries, time and time again, to track down the familiar noise of the TARDIS, always just seconds from finding her once again. We hear his anger as he confronts Carder and the deity he serves. But more importantly, the listener hears the Doctor having several spots of fun. One of the things I love most about the Doctors, all of them, is their ability to find the humor in nearly anything, be it slapstick, wordplay, or even gallows humor. The humor in Faith Stealer might be hit-or-miss to listeners, but McGann is at least having some fun with the role of the Doctor after the grimness of his third season. On the other hand, Charley Pollard is in Faith Stealer solely as the proverbial “girl who hands the Doctor the test tubes.” India Fisher really isn’t given much to work with in this story. Charley mostly comments on what’s going on around her, but aside from being choked by C’rizz doesn’t really contribute to the story. Luckily, this is more than made up for in the next serial, The Last. But that doesn’t help much here, and it’s not a case of “too many people in the TARDIS.” It’s just a lack of focus on Charley and not giving her anything to do this time out. A man much wiser than me made an interesting statement regarding C’rizz a few days ago. “C’rizz is Adric 2.0,” he proclaimed with wide-eyed terror. While I wouldn’t go THAT far, C’rizz up to this point has been a blank canvas, not being given much characterization over his three adventures with the Doctor. Faith Stealer finally shines the light on the alien, kicking off his character arc after all these months. This should have been the story to follow The Creed of the Kromon as we finally get a peek into his life. Even as he is weighed down by the guilt of mercy killing his wife, C’rizz seems more relaxed and a little more jovial around the Doctor and Charley. This change in behavior is one of the main story arcs going through the fourth season, and we begin to see snippets of C’rizz’s past. He mentions being a member of the Church of the Foundation, who’s tenants are not to be found in the Multihaven…and that’s about it, which is very strange in a play about religion! As he is being “cured” at one point, listeners get to see his self-doubt and psychological scarring at his wife’s death; was it truly merciful or the sign of something deeper? Sadly, this character arc gets jammed into four serials instead of over two seasons, so it does come off as a bit rushed. It’s a good performance from Conrad Westmaas as C’rizz, though, which at least holds some promise for the rest of the season. Faith Stealer benefits from a strong supporting cast. Christian Rodska is a prolific British character actor, and his turn here as Laan Carder, the leader of the Lucidian faith, is very solid. He’s what you expect as the head of a religion that focuses solely on obtaining new followers - charming, but slightly off-putting. Minor miracles abound but anything more concrete requires someone to meet with him one-on-one, where the truth of his religion and its methods of conversion can be told. Tessa Shaw is another well-traveled British actress, who starred as a UNIT officer in the first Third Doctor story, Spearhead from Space. As the Bordinan, she’s the one responsible for keeping the various religions in check, revoking the license of those faiths who stir up trouble. She is stern, but fair, and realizes just how absurd her job can be at times. And Ifan Huw Dafydd (Welsh, or Doctor Who alien race? You decide!) is also a seasoned performer, who gives his best as the pompous Bishop Parrish. His airs of importance quickly vanish as he’s confronted with the Lucidian “god” and becomes a quivering, faithless mess as he and C’rizz attempt to escape its grasp. As per a story about religion, we get a soft, soothing score from Russell Stone that doesn’t really stand out, but sits in the background, unobtrusive. Which, in a way, makes sense. The Multihaven comes alive under the work of Gareth Jenkins, with the bustling nature of the city mixed in with the conversations and shouts of various religions. The sounds of the misfortunes befalling the Church of Serendipity could have come directly from a Three Stooges short and I wouldn’t have even noticed! The concept behind the Lucidian’s object of worship is a neat one – psychic energy that fell between the cracks of the universes and seeks to obtain a physical form by stealing dream residue from its sleeping followers. But it’s not truly explored, explained, dismissed, and defeated by the Doctor with a few choice words. The “villain” is a great concept, but really needed time to develop and become more of a threat, as opposed to simply acting through the slimy Carder. This is a very good example of Faith Stealer’s major shortcoming. Ideas are put out there, but never developed or concluded in a proper manner. Duff touches upon the Divergent Universe and its concept of multiple religions, but not in enough of a fashion to truly set the story IN the Divergent Universe. With just a bit of tweaking, Faith Stealer could have been easily set in the “normal” universe, where religion is examined the same way tax rates were in the Fourth Doctor story The Sun Makers. Not only that, but after going through the Interzone and seeing how this universe is divided up…where do all the pilgrims to the Multihaven come from? Are there towns out there? More cities? Do these faiths even HAVE a “home base” like the Vatican or Mecca? If so, then the Doctor should have been all over the idea after bouncing from zone to zone, but it’s never brought up and never discussed. As the fourth season progresses, we begin to get answers to some of the questions the Divergent Universe arc has brought up, but this story would have been the perfect place to define and hone both the questions AND possible answers. In the end, however, Faith Stealer is simply a harmlessly entertaining story, and that’s really what this fourth season needed. The third season was all downhill after Scherzo and while there was much more that could have been done with both C’rizz and the concept of the Multihaven, and the humor might not suit every listener’s taste, in the end Big Finish delivers exactly what the Eighth Doctor needed; a solid Doctor Who adventure.  Synopsis – Faith Stealer is a good premiere for the fourth season of the Eighth Doctor, mixing humor, terror, and actual character development for C’rizz while respectfully handling the topic of religious extremism.4/5 Up next - With Charley immobilised and C'rizz left to battle against the elements with some of the victims of war, one final, desperate hope of escape presents itself to the travellers... Paul McGann is the Doctor in...The Last.
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Aug 7, 2014 18:25
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Graham Duff is also responsible for Nebulous, a radio 4 sitcom that owes something of a debt to both Who and the Quatermass serials.
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Aug 7, 2014 18:31
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egon_beeblebrox posted:I hope to take a picture as awesome as this once I'm old enough. My hair isn't white enough yet. And I don't have a monocle. I'll never be as amazing as William Hartnell. Very few people will be, my friend. Take comfort in that.
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Aug 7, 2014 19:27
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CobiWann posted:…I should have. Well I'm guessing you've already got these two.  
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Aug 7, 2014 21:21
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CobiWann posted:…I should have. Its as well shes a high school teacher and not grade school, otherwise we'd have kids learning to count "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,War,9,10,11...".
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Aug 7, 2014 23:19
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CobiWann posted:
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Aug 7, 2014 23:33
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bpc908 posted:[snip] Oh, those steely blue eyes... 
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Aug 7, 2014 23:39
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What do you think I used last year? 
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Aug 7, 2014 23:50
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Well I guess that means we need to use Night of the Doctor 8 then
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Aug 7, 2014 23:54
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CobiWann posted:
I wouldn't rate it anywhere near that high, but it is a good story. It just lacks a really satisfying conclusion, and while I do think the comedy in it is good, it feels really out of place. Same deal with the more sadistic elements. All the parts of the story are good, but as a whole the story doesn't quite gel. CobiWann posted:So, over the next few days, I'm taking submissions. Pictures of each Doctor, Hartnell through Capaldi, that I can put up on her wall to teach high school kids there were, and always will be, Doctors besides Tennant and Smith. I'll print out the best ones and you can rest knowing you've done your bit to educate American students, since obviously no one else will...        And, of course: 
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Aug 8, 2014 00:19
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Yvonmukluk posted:Well I'm guessing you've already got these two. God drat, Eccleston has a fantastic nose.
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Aug 8, 2014 00:46
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drat. Just worked out how Pat managed that double-life lothario thing.
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Aug 8, 2014 00:59
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Gaz-L posted:drat. Just worked out how Pat managed that double-life lothario thing. Sterling Archer Draper Troughton
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Aug 8, 2014 01:09
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Jerusalem posted:I wouldn't rate it anywhere near that high, but it is a good story. It just lacks a really satisfying conclusion, and while I do think the comedy in it is good, it feels really out of place. Same deal with the more sadistic elements. All the parts of the story are good, but as a whole the story doesn't quite gel. I agree. And reading Cobi's review it sounded like it was more in the attitude of a 3/5 scoring story.
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Aug 8, 2014 01:34
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Potsticker posted:I agree. And reading Cobi's review it sounded like it was more in the attitude of a 3/5 scoring story. I waffled a bit between 3 and 4, and went with 4 because...well, I thought the story was funny, but more importantly after the missteps of The Creed of the Kromon and The Twilight Kingdom, it was exactly the type of story that was needed for Eight to get the final arc rolling.
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Aug 8, 2014 01:41
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My current Facebook picture.
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Aug 8, 2014 01:48
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I didn't know Robert DeNiro ever played the Doctor.
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Aug 8, 2014 02:03
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That Troughton picture looks so little like Troughton as I'm familiar with him that when Sidney showed it to Hartnell in Adventure in Space and Time, I thought they were building to have Hartnell suggest someone else, and for them to go with him.
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Aug 8, 2014 02:24
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bpc908 posted:Well I guess that means we need to use Night of the Doctor 8 then I just got his Sonic Screwdriver I've been actively styling my hair like this for the last year or so.
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Aug 8, 2014 04:34
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"LOST!! In a CORN MAZE! With two Daleks that won't SHUT UP! WHYYYYYYY?!" Also I notice now that whenever I listen to any 8 audio I automatically picture him looking like he does in Night. When they reference his costume or long hair it takes me out of it for a second...
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Aug 8, 2014 04:58
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