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Jerusalem posted:Well there's a simple explanation for this, NASA is just putting all their funding into making sure Doctor Who is an accurate representation of the future. To be fair, I can't think of a better use for their time, effort and money. Isn't this what Tony Abbott is doing with Australia and Mad Max: Fury Road?
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Apr 17, 2015 10:23
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PantsOptional posted:Well, this is a conundrum. McCoy will be at a convention nearby (Marlborough, MA) this weekend. However, as cool as it would be to meet him, I really don't enjoy conventions at all and this one looks especially weird as a solid 50% of the convention lineup is washed-up wrestlers. I hadn't even heard that there was a convention and I can't even find one by searching "convention Marlborough." Also, why the heck would anyone have a convention in MA during marathon weekend? 
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Apr 17, 2015 14:13
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It's completely crazy to me, too, but at least it's not actually running on Monday., That would be completely ridiculous. It doesn't look all that great, aside from McCoy. Last year they apparently had Adam West and Burt Ward, which is somehow amusing and depressing at the same time. With all those wrestlers there, I just hope Virgil is somewhere off on the sidelines desperately trying to hawk photos of himself.
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Apr 17, 2015 14:26
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Wolfechu posted:Has anyone mentioned these fan-made covers in the style of the old Target Novelizations? Because they're amazing. Some of the quotes on the back are a little cringeworthy, but otherwise these are a ton of fun 
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Apr 17, 2015 14:28
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PantsOptional posted:It's completely crazy to me, too, but at least it's not actually running on Monday., That would be completely ridiculous. Man, they are going to have trouble with flights. I would not want to be a part of the team that has to organize it! I suppose if I were going to go to a convention, it would be one of the ones actually in Boston, but it actually doesn't look bad.
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Apr 17, 2015 14:40
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 haha, "what the gently caress are you doing, master?"
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Apr 17, 2015 19:44
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Attitude Indicator posted:
I realize the color of the Doctor's jacket is supposed to match the Title, but... bleh. Way too much purple.
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Apr 17, 2015 22:22
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RunAndGun posted:I realize the color of the Doctor's jacket is supposed to match the Title, but... bleh. Way too much purple. Yeah, Tennant and a purple suit just don't mix.
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Apr 17, 2015 23:33
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Bicyclops posted:Also, why the heck would anyone have a convention in MA during marathon weekend? Maybe they're hoping it'll blow up?
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Apr 17, 2015 23:43
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BSam posted:Yeah, Tennant and a purple suit just don't mix. To be fair, it's not a suit. 
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Apr 17, 2015 23:48
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The_Doctor posted:To be fair, it's not a suit. Is that from that new Alias series that's gonna be on Netflix? I am really excited about that if it's going to be anywhere near as good as the comic it is based on.
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Apr 18, 2015 00:20
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Jerusalem posted:Is that from that new Alias series that's gonna be on Netflix? I am really excited about that if it's going to be anywhere near as good as the comic it is based on. It is indeed. I'm finishing up on Daredevil right now, and enjoying the hell out of that. Hopefully AKA Jessica Jones (Alias is obviously taken as a title) will be with us before 2015 is over.
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Apr 18, 2015 00:29
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PantsOptional posted:It's completely crazy to me, too, but at least it's not actually running on Monday. Well done.
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Apr 18, 2015 00:38
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As someone who has like 40 or so Target books, I would pay cash money for those. Especially if someone did a Target writing style novelization of the modern episodes. (ie written by Terrance Dicks) Also, it appears Stephen Moffat saved us from a lovely Hollywood Doctor Who movie: http://io9.com/sony-really-wanted-to-make-that-doctor-who-movie-1698484644 quote:The plans for Doctor Who were put in an email sent in January [2014] from Andrea Wong, president of International Production for Sony, to the company's chief executive Michael Lynton. Nice to know that the showrunners of a "mere" tv franchise have enough juice to put a wrench into film plans. That typically hasn't been the case in the entertainment industry in the past. The split between BBC Worldwide and BBC Television over the status of movies and tv reminds me a lot of the Star Trek movie/tv rights being split between two studios, though I'm sure it's a bit different then that. It muddies the waters of having a coherent film and tv franchise with CBS and Paramount in the mix, and I'm sure it's no easier with Doctor Who since the two entities seem very separate. But good on the Moff for keeping things coherent and planned. You may not like his plans, but at least he has them and has the best interests of the fans as his intentions. Reading some of the Sony stuff about Marvel is frustrating. It once again shows movie execs have zero clue or care about canon, fans, stories, characters, etc. It amazes me that the top people of an industry who have worked in it for decades can be so out of touch. Astroman fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Apr 18, 2015 |
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Apr 18, 2015 04:33
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Astroman posted:As someone who has like 40 or so Target books, I would pay cash money for those. Especially if someone did a Target writing style novelization of the modern episodes. (ie written by Terrance Dicks) As I recall, the idea for the movies was that it was going to be a completely different canon, not unlike how they did the Cushing movies (only since Doctor Who is more defined now, presumably a lot more 'correct'). No casting was ever done, but with names like Daniel Radcliffe* being bandied around they at least seemed to understand that Who 'should' be British. It came around when the 50th was looming, so I feel like the talk about the movies probably informed Moffat's decision to do Day of the Doctor. Sort of a 'well, if they think there's potential in a movie, why not try' thing. *Radcliffe was asked in an interview when that deal was still recent, he said he wouldn't be confident he'd do a good job because he considered the Doctor to be Matt Smith's role. I think he'd do a decent job, but it'd be weird to see Harry Potter as the Doctor.
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Apr 18, 2015 05:52
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If these reports of a GODAMN DW HOLLYWOOD SHITFLICK are true, then Sony truly deserves having it's credibility and dignity stripped bare like a Bolton skin-job. Based Moffat.
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Apr 18, 2015 06:06
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Grouchio posted:Based Moffat. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.
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Apr 18, 2015 07:17
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Attitude Indicator posted:
Looks like the Master's about to drop the Mic. Truly he is the sickest Master of rap in all time and space.
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Apr 18, 2015 07:42
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I'm watching The Sontaran Experiment and it's really hard to take Mr. Potato Heads seriously, even after the alien bug things in The Ark in Space. Harry Sullivan is awesome though.
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Apr 18, 2015 08:05
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monster on a stick posted:I'm watching The Sontaran Experiment and it's really hard to take Mr. Potato Heads seriously, even after the alien bug things in The Ark in Space. HARRY SULLIVAN IS AN IMBECILE
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Apr 18, 2015 10:21
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Astroman posted:As someone who has like 40 or so Target books, I would pay cash money for those. Especially if someone did a Target writing style novelization of the modern episodes. (ie written by Terrance Dicks) That was a project we had here for a little while. Modern adventures rewritten with classic Doctors in the Target style. I was doing Silence in the Library with Seven/Ace. It died a quiet death.
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Apr 18, 2015 12:24
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The_Doctor posted:That was a project we had here for a little while. Modern adventures rewritten with classic Doctors in the Target style. I was doing Silence in the Library with Seven/Ace. It died a quiet death. But it did lead to the Five/Turlough/Mass Effect story I'm currently writing...
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Apr 18, 2015 13:24
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CobiWann posted:But it did lead to the Five/Turlough/Mass Effect story I'm currently writing... I would want to read that. I should go.
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Apr 18, 2015 15:18
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Neddy Seagoon posted:Looks like the Master's about to drop the Mic. Truly he is the sickest Master of rap in all time and space. "He's grown farther from home, he's no father He goes home and barely knows his own daughter But hold your nose 'cause here goes the cold water His hoes don't want him no more, he's cold product They moved on to the next schmoe who flows He nose dove and sold nada So the soap opera is told and unfolds I suppose it's old partner but the beat goes on Da da dum da dum da da"
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Apr 18, 2015 16:06
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 I.D is 3/4s of an interesting story that doesn't get any time to breath, rushing to a conclusion before it's due, an uncomfortable hybrid between the single episode format of the revival and the traditional multi-episode format of the Classic Series (to be fair, the Classic series experimented with numbers of episodes per serial as well, particularly towards the end). The story kind of comes to a halt and a particularly unsatisfying resolution, not helped by the fact that a fourth episode IS included, but as a single standalone and entirely unrelated story - I had assumed the fourth part would be some kind of epilogue/follow-up to the first three episodes that would actually tie up the unresolved issues in them... instead it was a (quite good!) one-off that had nothing to do with the main story. The Sixth Doctor is traveling alone, which I guess places this story sometime in the vaguely defined period between Trial of a Timelord and Time and the Rani, between the Doctor dropping off Mel so he could go off and eventually meet her for the "first" time, and she could wait around for his timeline to catch up to hers. He finds himself on a planet (or planetoid) used as a vast dumping ground for computer technology, which has attracted an industry of data pirates hunting for useable/saleable technology - scrap, software, and most valuable of all, memories. In the 32nd Century, humans have developed methods for recording/altering/inserting/dumping/backing-up memories, emotions, personalities etc, and an industry has grown out of trade for these "products". People freely have "personality surgery" to make them more efficient at their work, more valuable as employable commodities, less concerned with things like "conscience" that get in the way of their efforts to clamber to the top of the heap. It is a cynical, depressing, selfish time for the human race, and the Doctor runs smack-dab into the middle of it as he is immediately taken hostage by the first two people he meets, who attempt to ransom him off to a borderline official "clinic" operating on the dump-planet, believing him to be an employee. Everybody on the planet, from the Data-Pirates to the Clinic employees, are concerned with profit and personal gain. Claudia Bridge is sent from the clinic with a small amount of funds to negotiate the release of the hostage, with strict instructions not to go beyond that figure because the technician they believe has been kidnapped "isn't worth" any more than that. Everything is a cost/benefit analysis, and Bridge has had personality surgery that has removed her conscience so that decisions like this won't bother her or - more importantly - get in the way of her advancement up the ranks. When she discovers the Doctor is the hostage and thus not a clinic employee, she shrugs and walks away without a second thought since he isn't her problem, which leaves him to convince his captors to release him using the logic that he's not worth any money to them and thus not worth keeping around. They keep the equipment they found on him, including the Sonic Screwdriver (this NEVER comes up again, and the Doctor eventually leaves the planet without retrieving them) and he catches up with Bridge, discovering the TARDIS has been grabbed up by other scavengers which leaves him having to beg a ride off of Bridge on her glider. They quickly find the TARDIS, as well as dead bodies, somebody or something has been killing people on a direct path towards the Clinic, and all signs point to the culprits being the robot "Scandroids" whose job is to assist in data collection for the clinic. At least one appears to be running amok, and what's worse the problem seems to be contagious, as every other Scandroid it comes into contact with similarly goes on a killing rampage. At the Clinic, the Chief - Dr Marriott - is attempting to ingratiate himself with a visiting accountant - Ms Tevez - to ensure their funding isn't shut down. The Clinic is barely making a profit as they hunt down memory discs for research into more potentially profitable surgeries, but Marriott came to this planet for a very particular reason which he begrudgingly reveals to Tevez. He believes the research of a controversial figure named Zachary Kindell can be found on the planet, a man who pushed past even their society's dubious ethical boundaries in pursuit of his research - but he was undoubtedly a genius, and Marriott believes that with technology that the late Kindell never had access to, they can pick and choose the best parts of his research and make breakthroughs which will revolutionize the industry and make them huge amounts of profit. Tevez is intrigued and agrees to recommend leaving the clinic open, which is when the Scandroids return and all hell breaks loose. Only the arrival of the Doctor and Bridge saves them from a massacre, and despite Marriott's strenuous objections, the Doctor quickly discovers that he is ultimately responsible for what is going on - the Scandroids haven't run amok, they're following their priority programming put in place by Marriott himself, they have discovered Kindell's research which has triggered a "return to the clinic, pass on encoded message to any other Scandroid you meet, deliver encoded material to any member of Clinic staff, only Director Marriott can decode message" command that cannot be countermanded. The problem is, Kindell's research is boobytrapped, and kills any human being who has it forced onto them, while every other Scandroid is given the imperative to also pass on that information. This story is concerned with ethics, with the single-minded pursuit of a goal at any cost, and how quickly that kind of thinking can escalate to death and destruction. The Scandroids are simply the purest expression of this, they act without conscience or question of their orders, they are simply doing what they are instructed to do no matter what happens. Bridge is halfway there herself, while she is capable of questioning, her objections are usually based purely on how they affect her personally - she is selfish, callous and indifferent to the plight of others beyond her own immediate interests. Marriott is no better than the Data Pirates, just wrapped up in a cloak of respectability by his position within the clinic, his only concern for his own prestige and the profit that comes with it. Tevez comes off as a cold fish, and though she seems as concerned with profit as Marriott, her quick shift to the Doctor's side when things go south show that her primary concern is her own wellbeing - she looks at things clinically, weighs the options, and comes to the conclusion that benefits her. It is only the Doctor who really comes across as any sort of moral person, because he's the only one who is outside of their system. Even the gormless Data Pirate Gabe who is clearly in this "job" only because his mother forced him to is predominantly concerned with making a profit - after his mother is brutally killed by a Scandroid, his first thought isn't for revenge or anything beyond momentary grief, but simply how to turn this to his advantage to make money. His medical "condition" allows him to receive the message from the Scandroids without dying, and he immediately makes a beeline for Marriott and sells the data to him, which kicks off another wave of death and destruction after the Doctor had managed to painstakingly return the Scandroids to normalcy. The story takes an odd turn at this point, as Kindell's research turns out to have been more booby-trapped than believed, and affects Tevez and Marriott in very different ways. Marriott becomes for all intents and purposes the Incredible Hulk, stomping around smashing things and screaming,"KILL SCUM!" over and over and over again. Tevez "dies", her personality completely overwritten by Kindell's who developed a way to transplant not just personality traits, but the entire personality/memory of an individual, overwriting the other, effectively making him immortal... or at least his mind, anyway. Marriott's mutation spreads to the Scandroids, which leads to a rather fun bit where the Doctor turns Kindell's research back on itself and overwrites the "mutant" Scandroids with Kindell's personality, causing the "Kindell-bots" to all gather together and bemoan the unfairness of their fate as the human mind cannot operate properly within the limited parameters of the robot "brain". The Doctor far too quickly figures out how to reverse the process on Marriott and Tevez (who has also become mutated), but only has a back-up of Tevez's personality to use, which causes him to create two Tevez's (including physically), Marriott being lost forever. This is the ultimate end expression of the personality "surgery" so popular in this culture - chop and change and you begin to lose parts of what make you "you", and here Marriott loses everything, while Tevez gets to experience the complete loss and then regaining of her own identity.... and then face up to the fact that another "her" also exists. This comes to a depressing conclusion and the surviving Tevez makes the point to the Doctor there is no way of knowing if she is the original Tevez or not - it's possible she was Marriott, and there is no way she will ever know. The Doctor notes that this is what happens when you play around with identity, and tells her that the only person who can tell her who SHE is.... is herself. The Doctor says his goodbyes, heartened to hear Bridge offer to assist Gabe in tracking down and destroying Kindell's research, thinking it might be a sign that she is redeveloping the conscience she had excised. That seems like he is jumping to the conclusion he'd like rather than the one all the evidence is pointing to, though, Bridge has shown no real capacity for growth throughout the story and her offer feels more like a deliberate attempt to get on somebody's good side so she can make what best advantage she can out of her current situation. This rather rushed feeling ending is why I figured episode 4 would have a time-jump and show the Doctor dealing with the unforeseen consequences of Bridge pulling a Marriott, but instead it moves on to a completely separate one-off story. That story, Urgent Calls is a fun piece about a woman who continually finds herself making or receiving "wrong number" phonecalls to/from the Doctor, discovering she has been "infected" with a virus that causes fortuitous circumstances for the infected, which also allows it to spread out across the world. The Doctor is attempting to track down and wipe out the virus despite its apparent helpful nature, an adventure we only get glimpses of through Lauren's increasingly familiar conversations with him. It ends on a very upbeat note despite the fact she loses all contact with the Doctor, and is a pleasant "after dinner mint" for the main course of the rushed and slightly disappointing main course. I.D is just too rushed, compressing the story into three parts but only pacing the first two like a typical Big Finish story, so that part 3 just kind of ends things at a point where it feels like the action should be ramping up. As a look into ethics, personality and the nature of the individual, it falls short of its lofty goals, particularly since we've later had a far better example of that type of story in the Flesh 2-parter from Season 6 of the Revived television series. The Doctor without a proper regular companion hurts things too, since he doesn't share the same easygoing chemistry he'd have had with Peri, Mel or Evelyn, though this may have been intentional as the Doctor is very much meant to be the outsider in this world. A regular companion may have also crowded the three episode format too much, though in that case I'd say just not to make a three episode story, because it is too long for a short story and too short for a proper length story. I can't argue with the desire to experiment with the format, but I hope that this three episode experiment was a short one nonetheless.
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Apr 20, 2015 00:44
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I think the "3 + 1' format was a brief experiment from Big Finish to change things up a bit, since one of the big complaints for many audios has always been padding. It's definitely prevalent in the "70 - 90' range it feels like, with stories that are nearly or over 2+ hours long that are just a chore to listen to (I'm looking at you, Pier Pressure). A shorter story with an additional one-off so subscribers didn't feel cheated, maybe?
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Apr 20, 2015 02:30
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They certainly got a bit more experimental once they became comfortable with the format, which is to be applauded, but it does make it a bit of a slog to get through some of those early experiments. They also tried a couple of stories that were only 2 parters but about 45 minutes long each, which I recall them doing back during the latter part of the Classic series run too (I didn't like it then either!).
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Apr 20, 2015 03:36
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Jerusalem posted:They certainly got a bit more experimental once they became comfortable with the format, which is to be applauded, but it does make it a bit of a slog to get through some of those early experiments. They also tried a couple of stories that were only 2 parters but about 45 minutes long each, which I recall them doing back during the latter part of the Classic series run too (I didn't like it then either!). In fairness the classic season when they did that was Colin Baker's first one and the problems weren't isolated to the episode length. Also, for British listeners it's worth noting that in I.D. Marriott is played by Gyles Brandreth, so if you've ever wanted to hear a former Tory MP basically growling "HULK SMASH" then this is the audio for you.
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Apr 20, 2015 07:11
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I relaly liked Urgent Calls. Also on my current listen through the last one i did was Pier Pressure, and I largely liked it, but it's not on my "listen to again" list. also at various points, dispite trying my hardest there were three which I just couldn't finish (nekromanteia, creed of the kromon (just bad) and dreamtime (zzzzz)) currently partway through timeworks. I'd do reviews too but i'm no good at them, but i like that one of you guys is roughly where i'm up to, which is nice,
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Apr 20, 2015 08:58
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Creed really is just pretty goddamn awful, whereas at least Dreamtime is just kinda boring with a dollop of rather insensitive cultural appropriation thrown in.
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Apr 20, 2015 09:21
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Jerusalem posted:Creed really is just pretty goddamn awful, whereas at least Dreamtime is just kinda boring with a dollop of rather insensitive cultural appropriation thrown in. Yeah I did my best to ignore that, us Australians are great at ignoring the cultural appropriation of our indigenous population. But I just kept falling asleep, so I thought gently caress it.
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Apr 20, 2015 09:30
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Don't know if anyone's interested, but Big Finish put a good bit of the early Blake's 7 stuff on permanent sale (like the early Who main range releasses) to make room for new stuff in the warehouse. http://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/blake-s-7-at-big-finish After Daredevil, this is next on my list to sit down and watch. The episodes are all on Youtube now and I can watch it on my big screen - all the sci-fi of Doctor Who with half the budget!
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Apr 20, 2015 14:10
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I'm finally looking at the Toxx review thread, and jesus christ, the smug not-spoilery spoilers thing between actual reviews is insufferable. Bad Who fans! Bad! No!
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Apr 20, 2015 17:09
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The_Doctor posted:I'm finally looking at the Toxx review thread, and jesus christ, the smug not-spoilery spoilers thing between actual reviews is insufferable. Bad Who fans! Bad! No! When has that been happening recently?
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Apr 20, 2015 17:17
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MrL_JaKiri posted:When has that been happening recently? Well it all started when Let's Kill Hitler got a "B" episode grade...
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Apr 20, 2015 17:18
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CobiWann posted:Well it all started when Let's Kill Hitler got a "B" episode grade... I've just gone back and reread this and I really can't see any "smug non-spoilery things"?
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Apr 20, 2015 17:33
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I'm pretty sure people only start half-talking around the next episode when Toxx gives an indication that he's seen it and is writing.
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Apr 20, 2015 17:34
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Dabir posted:I'm pretty sure people only start half-talking around the next episode when Toxx gives an indication that he's seen it and is writing. Yeah, once he posts the Wiki page, it's free game to discuss.
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Apr 20, 2015 17:36
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MrL_JaKiri posted:When has that been happening recently? Oh no, not recently. I'm waaaaay back in the Eccleston season, like, literally just started at the beginning of the thread.
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Apr 20, 2015 17:45
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Annekie started taking an interest in the thread and got people to stop it
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Apr 20, 2015 17:59
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