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Jerusalem posted:I still can't believe multiple Lego Doctor Who sets (official) don't already exist. Perhaps they do in another dimension. Sadly, the prototype for the Power of the Daleks set was lost in a fire. 
CobiWann fucked around with this message at 03:00 on Mar 26, 2015 |
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Mar 26, 2015 02:43
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The_Doctor posted:Sweet, thanks. And having listened to a little of the audio book, Briggs' John Hurt isn't all that. Bugger. Has it really been four Doctors in ten years? Well, five if you count Hurt. Six if you count Paul McGann!
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Mar 26, 2015 10:52
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2house2fly posted:Plenty of established fans felt the same way about Deep Breath. Listen might be a decent introductory episode for someone who wants to start in the Capaldi era, since it's pretty much self-contained outside of the Clara/Danny stuff which really only got started in that episode anyway. I say starting with Deep Breath is like telling someone “start with the first season of Parks and Recreation. It’s six episodes and they’re not the best, but they find their stride by the end and the second season is where it gets good.” Put up with the first half of Deep Breath and they can dive into the second half and Into the Dalek.
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Mar 26, 2015 13:40
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Was anyone here from the UK NOT surprised by the fact that Billie Piper could actually act?
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Mar 26, 2015 17:03
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SiKboy posted:Personally I will certainly be suprised if I ever see any evidence of this. What, you didn't like her Irish accent in Penny Dreadful?
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Mar 26, 2015 17:16
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So...this is my first Who convention and I am NOT prepared for this. So many utili-kilts...so many fezzes...
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Mar 27, 2015 19:44
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PantsOptional posted:I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It's worse. I just got to the ponies.
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Mar 27, 2015 19:53
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Thunderfinger posted:Is it just you out there or did you take your family with you? Just me for now, wife and kiddo coming tonight. I am proud of myself. Colin and Sophie just walked by and I didn't fanboy out. As i said, lot of fezzes, lot of scarves, a few spoons, and enough naked fat flesh to convince me that I'm going on a drat diet when this is over.
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Mar 27, 2015 20:10
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The_Doctor posted:I can only imagine an American Who convention as being fezzes, bowties, converse hi-tops and TARDIS dresses as far as the eye can see. And DoctorWhat as the sole Classic Who holdout, constantly having to explain who he is. I did just see a teenager with green bubble wrap on one hand.
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Mar 27, 2015 20:22
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After The War posted:I'm hoping to see a few more old-timers there. Maryland Public Television showed the original series for a little over 20 years, and was the last holdout in the US even as the BBC kept restricting what episodes they were able to show. Hah! I remember just moving to DC, some friends were visiting from out of town, and we were drunk off our rear end when one of then came across Arc of Infinity on Maryland Public TV! Me and her were the only ones who made it to the end and it took a lot more booze...
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Mar 27, 2015 20:35
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Yes, Maera Soir and After the War got to sit with Sylvester McCoy and Terry Malloy for drinks, while I set in a panel about "what do you consider canon" and tried very hard not to strangle someone who said School Reunion was the worst episode of the revival.
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Mar 28, 2015 13:09
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The_Doctor posted:Maybe it's like a Suicide Squad set in the Whoniverse. The Master! A Dalek! Sharez Jek! Mavic Chen! The Rani! Throw in Salamander and I'd buy it! And I just realized - I've never seen anyone cosplay as the TV movie Master. CobiWann fucked around with this message at 15:48 on Mar 28, 2015 |
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Mar 28, 2015 15:40
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I have to say, the kiddo was SO nervous to meet Sylvester McCoy. But he put her totally at ease by asking her how to spell her name, then his name, pulling the photo back after he signed it, and pretending she had a strong grip by hitting his wrist against the table when they shook hands. He's a great class act. The kiddo also sat in with me when the showed the 1996 TV movie. She loved Grace, but asked me if Eric Roberts showed up in the audios, because he was NOT her Master. So now I get to introduce her to Alex MacQueen...
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Mar 28, 2015 23:14
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Big Finish came up a LOT. Not only at panels with the actors, but there were a few panels about introducing people to the audios, and Terry Molloy and Nev Fountain had panels about acting and writing for Big Finish. And there was some spirited bar conversation as well between a few of us. Also, IDW's Matt Smith just told me to go gently caress myself!
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Mar 29, 2015 05:10
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DoctorWhat posted:There was a dedicated Big Finish panel at NYCC 2013. It is a Thing. Now you're just bragging!
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Mar 29, 2015 05:20
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Having just watched this today after nearly 20 years, you hit it all spot on. And even though Eight's costume is Wild Bill, you can't help but notice the Shelley/Frankenstein motifs in his regeneration and post-regen amnesia, with the sheets and the Lightning.
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Mar 29, 2015 06:30
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Fil5000 posted:Man, the title sequence for Grace:1999 would be great. Roberts - "I was camp?!? No, MCGANN was camp!" I am bummed - Roberts is a pretty decent actor, especially since he cleaned up his life and stopped doing drugs. He just didn't fit in this movie in this role, but he could of...
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Mar 29, 2015 13:04
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quote:Your wife told you to go off and have fun. We took you to an alcohol fueled, IRL version of this thread. I'd call that a job well done.  What made this convention so special to me and the family were how INFORMAL the guests were. Nicola Bryant said at the tea this morning that there was a difference between a "small" Who only convention, where actors and actress could spend a bit of time with the guests off-panel and in the bar, and the bigger conventions where it just seems like an assembly line autograph signing. I definitely got the vibe that the guests wanted to be there in large part because of how great the fans are and how enthusiastic Whovians are (along with the paycheck), versus other sci-fi series gatherings where it sometimes comes off like the guests are there solely for a paycheck.
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Mar 29, 2015 23:31
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I think the one thing everyone agrees on about the TV movie is that casting Paul McGann as the Doctor was a good idea!
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Mar 30, 2015 13:52
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After The War posted:Seeing the actors over the weekend really drove him the theatrical nature of the original series. Realism was never the goal, and accepting what's presented as standing in for a larger, more complex world the way you would a play helps a lot. Hearing Sylvester talking about just HOW much fun the pyrotechnics crew had on Remembrance of the Daleks was a hoot. "So they set the explosions off...and when the dust cleared, three Daleks had been melted in half. Oh, and did I mention this was on the 60th anniversary of the Easter Rebellion? As we heard the sirens, the director said 'well, let's call it a day. Everybody? Please run."
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Mar 30, 2015 17:58
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CaptainYesterday posted:Maisie Williams, who plays Arya Stark on Game of Thrones, will appear in the upcoming series. Despite my avatar's text, I've never watched the show. She's a great actor and I'm sure she'll appreciate being on a show where no one dies!
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Mar 30, 2015 21:50
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 "You're listening to LIVE 34." "LIVE 34 | News on the hour every hour | LIVE 34 | Broadcasting to Colony 34 all day every day | LIVE 34 | Constantly updated every minute of every hour | LIVE 34 | Sport, weather, business, local news, interplanetary affairs | LIVE 34 | Live, independent, accurate, comprehensive | LIVE 34 all news, all day, every day | LIVE 34." "Reports are coming in of an explosion..." "On the line now is the leader of the FDP..." "The President is about to begin his address..." "We can see bodies in the wreckage..." Sylvester McCoy is the Doctor in LIVE 34 X X X X X Cast Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor) Sophie Aldred (Ace) Philip Olivier (Hex) Andrew Collins (Drew Shahan) William Hoyland (Premier Jaeger) Zehra Naqvi (Charlotte Singh) Duncan Wiseby (Ryan Wareing) Ann Bryson (Gina Grewal) Joy Elias-Rilwan (Lula) Written By: James Parsons and Andrew Stirling-Brown Directed By: Gary Russell Trailer - http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/popout/live-34-240 X X X X X From Wikipedia… quote:Propaganda is a form of communication aimed towards influencing the attitude of a population toward some cause or position. Propaganda can be found throughout history. It has been used to convince a population to convert to a new religion, to introduce proper hygiene and waste disposal techniques to urban populations, and to encourage citizens to report criminal activity and sign up for elections or a census. It has also been used to convince a nation that a race of people is inferior and the cause of all that country’s problems. It has been used to recruit soldiers to join the armed forces. It has been used to discourage an opposing force via radio broadcast. And if you’ve braved the 24-hour cable news in the past ten years, it’s been used to convince deep red AND deep blue voters that their side is completely right and the other side is out for nothing more than the complete and utter destruction of the American way of life via a mix of ruthless, calculated intelligence and complete and utter idiocy. (This is why I get all my news from the BBC. Maybe there’s a bias there I’m not seeing due to my colonial upbringing, but it’s refreshing to see the news delivered in such an incredibly polite manner) LIVE 34 is an experimental audio from Big Finish. Instead of experiencing the Doctor’s adventures first hand, listeners are instead treated to a news program that presents the exploits of the Doctor and his companions in a series of live reports and exclusive interviews, all under the watchful eyes of the colony’s regime. It’s a very unique narrative device that will deeply appeal to some listeners as it gives a “bad guy’s view” of the Doctor’s actions. Other listeners, though, might be turned off by the fact that they’re listening to two straight hours worth of news programming that glosses over the Doctor’s off-screen actions. All listened, though, should be disappointed by the “huge reveal” that comes completely out of left field, which may lead to mixed feelings about the story’s sudden conclusion. LIVE 34, broadcasting 25 hours a day, reports all kinds of problems on Colony 34 via the smooth and reassuring tones of Drew Shanan. The threat of alien infiltration, an ongoing power crisis, and the recent bombings of various government sites has led to the curtailing of public gatherings, enforced curfews, and the continued postponement of a colony-wide election three years overdue. The Freedom and Democracy Party have repeatedly called for elections, this time with a new figure called the Resident Doctor as their candidate. But are the FDP behind a recent spite of bombings, carried out by a shadow figure called the Rebel Queen? The government insists so, and LIVE 34 is right there reporting the news as it happens, exactly as the government says it happens… In the summer of 2003, Big Finish threw open their doors and held an open submission period, where any could send an audio script to the company for possible production and broadcast. Over 650 scripts were submitted during that period. In the end, what attracted Gary Russell to the script by James Parsons and Andrew Stirling-Brown (the pair also contributed a story, Purity, for the I, Davros range) for LIVE 34 wasn’t the standard tale of “the Doctor overthrows a corrupt regime,” but how the story was delivered. Four half-hour (roughly) news programs from Channel LIVE 34 covers the events of sixteen days with a mix of straight forward “news of the day” delivery and two in-depth reports by two separate reporters. The “news of the day” deliver contains live reports and recorded words as well, all containing the standards dialogue, clichés, and situations that go along with being the mouthpiece for a totalitarian government such as “with a heavy heart” and “they threaten our liberty” and “iron-clad evidence.” The script by Parsons and Stirling-Brown also goes a long way in establishing the setting without resorting to direct exposition, with phrases such as “since the colony was founded over a century ago” and “bombings in Second and Third City.” Using a news program at the only narrative source, however, does have its drawbacks, however, which I’ll go into a bit later on. Sylvester McCoy can monologue and grandstand with the best of them, and when interviewed by talking head Drew Shanan during the first episode, the Seventh Doctor shows his strength at verbal wordplay, turning the conversation around with careful words and outright ignoring the most obscene factors. We get hints of his anger, some coy responses to past events, hints to future events, and even a little humor when he dryly grouses that “someone doesn’t know when to wait to start causing explosions.” But as the Doctor becomes the candidate for the Freedom and Democracy Party, standing in a fresh election against Premier Jaeger, he steps into the background for episodes two and three. This is a good thing, not only because it gives Ace and Hex more screentime for their episodes, but the Doctor isn’t mean to be the spokesperson/politician type. If anything, the Seventh Doctor is more of a “hatchet man” who does the things that need to be done behind the scenes…and since the listeners doesn’t get to see his behind the scenes exploits this time out, it’s hard to put McCoy’s performance in the proper context. The Doctor gets his moment at the end when he holds sway over a hostile Premier, his security forces, and an angry, cheering mob…but without knowing the full details about the events that led up to that moment, it all feels very deus ex machina. McCoy’s grand, but the Doctor that we see in LIVE 34 just doesn’t seem to match up with all that listeners know about him. Long time Doctor Who fans won’t be surprised to find out that none other than Dorothy “Ace” McShane is the Rebel Queen (a name she didn’t pick for herself), the “rabbling rousing terrorist” responsible for a string of bombings across Colony 34. Aldred’s job in the second episode, as she submits to an interview with reporter Ryan Wareing deep in the slums just outside the walls of First City, is to provide the exposition as to how she came to Colony 34 (on a bit of R&R, she came across a political refugee, aided him in breaking his family out of a nearby camp, one thing led to another…). Aldred does a great job as being a bit older and a bit wiser as to how the world works, with admitting the bombings her group did that didn’t kill anyone, and how the government has been framing her by blowing up occupied buildings. But she’s still young enough to maintain that streak of anger against authority that viewers saw during her time on television, that sometimes she feels there’s no problem a little Nitro-9 won’t fix. Hex is definitely the “new guy” in the TARDIS in LIVE 34, AND Philip Olivier mixes “bewildered” with “quickly grasps the situation” very nicely. It’s refreshing to see a companion who, after a few adventures under his belt, still holds onto the “what the HELL have I gotten myself into” mentality. Olivier has revitalized the Seven/Ace dynamic, but here he’s on his own in the third episode, working undercover as an EMT-type being followed by reporter Charlotte Singh for an “over the shoulder” report about emergency workers. We get a little bit of background on Hex’s parents, specifically his Dad, and how his Dad steered him towards medical work. Just two minutes or so of backstory has me more emotionally invested in Hex than over a half of dozen audios featuring C’rizz! Hex gets a phone call about a lady who hurt her leg in a minor spill, but it turns out that the torrential rains opened a sinkhole under her house…and Hex realizes the sinkhole is actually a mass grave full of skeletons, and that the Doctor called it in so the reporter could show it live on television. It’s definitely in the vein of the Doctor not revealing his plans to his companions, but props to Hex (and Olivier) for realizing the situation for what it was very quickly. Olivier also gets points for when he’s gently prodded by the Doctor to give part of the big exposition dump in front of a public square filled with people, and he hesitantly works his way through the speech. It shows the Seventh Doctor is still a “Professor” of sorts and that Hex hasn’t magically become an amazing, perfect companion after only a few TARDIS trips. While living in mid-00’s America wasn’t a police state (and anyone who tells you otherwise needs to lighten up or be shown what happens in an actual police state), Premier Jaeger could have walked right out of the more shadowy portions of the Bush Administration with his talk of “utmost regret,” “iron clad enemies,” and “justice delivered swiftly.” William Hoyland is a veteran actor of British television, along with roles in the movies Gandhi and For Your Eyes Only, and he hits every single note that a “dictator in all but name” needs to hit. He doesn’t go full V for Vendetta and chew the scenery until the very end of the story, instead coming off as a leader who is trying, with the heaviest of hearts, to do the “right thing” for “the greater good” against “those who would strike a blow at our way of life,” which “measures taken with the utmost regret.” It’s incredibly chilling and gives listeners an insight into the slippery slope of a colony willing to trade liberty for security, with Hoyland’s Jaeger at the helm. News announcer Drew Shanan delivers everything as a stereotypical newscaster would - straight forward, right off the teleprompter, with complete and utter sincerity, even to the point that a mention of his broadcast colleague mysteriously committing suicide (probably from shooting himself in the back of the head. Twice) is played off as nothing more than the normal course of events and barely warrants a mention at the end of another story. Andrew Collins was a great choice to play Shanan, as he’s a well-respected pop culture for the UK paper The Guardian and would go on to appear on over a dozen episodes of Doctor Who Confidential. This is Duncan Wisbey’s first role with Big Finish, as the doomed reporter Ryan Wareing who dares to broadcast a quasi-accurate sympathetic Rebel Queen, and he does a good job as an intrepid reporter looking for the story. The same goes for Hex’s reporter companion Charlotte Singh as played by Zehra Naqvi, who realizes the danger of their situation and manages to survive by calling for an end to the broadcast, only to step up at the end of the story when the real news begins to happen. On one hand, for an audio that’s supposed to be a news broadcast, LIVE 34 succeeds admirably. Points to director Gary Russell and the post-production crew led by David Darlington for making LIVE 34 sound like an actual news broadcast, with theme music, quick cuts, static, archive footage sounding slightly seasoned with static. As a Doctor Who story, the narrative structure doesn’t quite work. In many ways, LIVE 34 is a counterpart to televised serial The Happiness Patrol. In that story, we follow the Seventh Doctor as he topples a dictatorship where citizen happiness is mandatory. In LIVE 34, we follow the dictatorship as the Doctor topples it from behind the scenes. This means, in the long run, this story simply has too many holes in the narrative. Ace fills in some of the gaps in the second episode, but there’s still so many big questions. How did the Doctor becoming a political nominee? How did he take control of the FDP? Why were the people in the mass grave Hex found shot? How did the Doctor convince the Central Committee to declare the election null and void…actually, how did he convince them to allow an election in the first place? LIVE 34 embraces the concept of “tell don’t show” as its main narrative device, and while it works very well on that note, there’s always this sense, just beyond the horizon of needing to know more. It’s not quite a case of “events happen to solely to move the plot along,” but considering LIVE 34 takes place over sixteen days in a little less than two real-time hours, I wish there would have been a little more exposition, or maybe “hidden recordings dropped off at our news agency’s doorstep,” to fill in those gaps. Nowhere is this more apparent than the big reveal…that Premier Jaeger isn’t really Premier Jaeger! Rather, he’s someone who looked enough like him that a little plastic surgery allowed him to act in Jaeger’s stead when the original Premier came down with a disease that caused horrible facial scarring. Over time, the “double” took power and locked the “original” away, keeping him alive solely for biometrics and DNA samples. The other reveal, that the dead bodies of the poor are being burned for fuel to avert a power shortage, had its seeds planted throughout the story and comes as a shock, not a surprise, to the listener. The twin dilemma, though, comes out of right field with the barest of hints - a body bag delivered to the hospital while Hex is there that suggested to the Doctor that he should do a little snooping. This is where the flaws of LIVE 34 come through – a normal story would have followed the Doctor trying to recover the body bag and find out the truth of the matter, but instead the Doctor (and Hex, with his prodding) give a huge exposition-laden speech that explains the whole matter. While it makes sense in terms of a news broadcast, the listener feels cheated, like if the murderer in an Agatha Christie novel was introduced and revealed in the last five pages after never being mentioned once before in the story. The sudden ending to the story, where the broadcast cuts off as Jaeger is attacked by the mob, is also a bit divisive. Some might feel as if it’s a cop-out, while others think that it’s appropriate for the news broadcast to suddenly cut out at the right moment. To me, it fits the Seventh Doctor. Arrive, topple an empire, leave, and let everyone else pick up the pieces. We've always seen the Doctor quietly slip away when the job is done. The regime is toppled, and it's up to the citizens to make sure it doesn't happen again, though Jaeger's fate makes me wonder if the Doctor might have to come back to Colony 34 at some point to fix an even bigger mess... I applaud LIVE 34 for doing something different. Big Finish had stretched the audio format to its utmost before and will continue to do so in future releases. This story is definitely worth a listen for its novelty, but the news broadcasts cut out the most interesting parts of the story – the actual actions of the Doctor and his companions. Having those actions explained to us by a talking head makes the story feel at empty as this regime's words. Synopsis – An interesting experiment, LIVE 34 captures the mood and tone of a corrupt regime's news outlet reporting on the outcomes of Seventh Doctor's actions against the government, but fails to deliver by failing to cover the actions themselves. 3/5 Next up - Millennia ago, the people of the planet Caludaar pledged never to set foot on their sister planet Endarra. But what secrets does the planet hold? Paul McGann is the Doctor in...Scaredy Cat
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Mar 31, 2015 03:59
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Jerusalem posted:I do appreciate that they committed so fully to the gimmick, even if it doesn't quite come off. I thought it was a particularly nice touch removing the opening and closing theme too, it's just important to remember that everything we see and hear in the episode is mediated even moreso than normal - there's never any real sense that we're getting the FULL story. I also still can't decide if the overall sense that the colony's population itself was "sick" and that the Doctor merely treated the symptoms was deliberate, or if the ending and the fate of the antagonist was rather unsettlingly intended to be considered a "good" thing, or somehow "fixing" all the problems clearly present in the foundation of the colony itself. He's really more of a "I did the triple bypass, now it's up to you to get in shape" type of hero. There are a whole mess of other problems with the colony in this storu, but the Doctor, I'd like to think, has faith that the people will work it out on their own. Counter-argument - The Long Game.
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Mar 31, 2015 10:36
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If there's one thing I really appreciated about this minisode, it's that the burden of the Time War wasn't put on Eight because...it just seemed a bit unfair to McGann. 90 minutes of screen time and he's the Doctor to push the Red Button, without seeing how he came to that point OR without most casual fans knowing about Big Finish, isn't very cricket. But we got this, and even in 7 minutes, McGann just owns the part of the Doctor. No one's ever complained that McGann's casting was a poor choice, and the "faith" in him that us long-suffering fans, a rare breed who see Eight as "our" Doctor, was rewarded. Good Lord, this thread went INSANE with joy that day...I really hope Oxxipation does a review of it when he gets to the 50th.
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Apr 1, 2015 23:55
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Jerusalem posted:That's pretty great, McGann is a proven draw! Is this why McGann got shuffled down the card to the audios and David Tennant got pushed to the main series? 
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Apr 2, 2015 03:37
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Jerusalem posted:McGann is clearly only "wig over"  May you find a copy of a full copy of The Tenth Planet in your Christmas Cracker this year.
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Apr 2, 2015 03:51
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Or sometimes you could be the Master and go "Regeneration? HAH!"
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Apr 2, 2015 12:51
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 "Yaranaa - it means literally, 'the soul of the vengeful' - those whose lives have been cut short early and died with empty hearts" Millennia ago, the people of the planet Caludaar pledged never to set foot on their sister planet Endarra. But what secrets does the planet hold? There are laws even the Doctor won't break. And while C'rizz learns that some tragedies can't be averted, Charley must decide who the enemy actually is. For death walks on Endarra, and this time she won't be denied. Paul McGann is the Doctor in Scaredy Cat. X X X X X Cast Paul McGann (The Doctor) India Fisher (Charley) Conrad Westmaas (C'rizz) Michael Chance (Flood) Arthur Bostrom (Arken) Spencer Mclaren (Bronik) Rosalind Blessed (Niah) Ellis Pike (Eldrin) Linda Bartram (Galayana) Written By: Will Schindler Directed By: Nigel Fairs Trailer - http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/popout/scaredy-cat-241 X X X X X Scaredy Cat is such a disjointed and boring story that I can’t even be bothered to try to come up with one of my trademark meandering introductions. A substandard plot with major pacing issues and actors who sound completely lifeless playing parts that suffer from poor characterization add up to a story that doesn’t hit the bottom of Big Finish’s barrel, but you sure can see it from where this serial lands. C’rizz wonders about seeing a newly formed planet, a virgin world untouched by man and civilization. The Doctor obliges him, whisking C’rizz and Charley to Endarra, the uninhabited twin planet of Caludaar. The people of Caludaar have pledged to never step foot on the surface of their sister planet. But as the TARDIS hovers in the atmosphere, a strange experiment is taking place below, one who’s hypothesis concerns nothing less than the nature of evil itself, and the unknown history of Endarra is about to play a very vital part in its outcome… Scaredy Cat is Will Shindler’s second offering from Big Finish, the other being the Divergent Universe story The Twilight Kingdom. That story suffered from a major case of “tell don’t show” throughout its runtime, compounded by a lack of follow-up or pay-off to several of its plot points, adding up to a story that only needed three episodes instead of four to be told. Scaredy Cat takes those same problems, but heads in a different direction by being the shortest four-episode main range story, clocking in at 77 minutes…spread over 101 different “parts.” Director Nigel Fairs would go on to spend most of his time doing the behind-the-scenes work and production on a wide variety of Companion Chronicles, but there's nothing here that shows a natural affinity towards such work as some scenes in this story clocked in at under a minute, with a few coming in under 30 seconds and one scene being 11 seconds total! Scaredy Cats has some halfway decent ideas that could (and should) have been expanded on, but Shindler jumps from scene to scene, and therefore plot to plot, with barely any explanation or exposition! It’s one thing to trust the listener enough to fill in the narrative gaps on their own, but with the story moving so fast, it’s like riding a rickety roller coaster with a leather strap for a seat belt. You’re banging around so much from the turns and drops that you’re not getting a chance to process the sensations before being thrown into the next turn. Oh, and the roller coaster isn’t that good to begin with. Paul McGann is “my” Doctor, and I say this with confidence even after re-watching the 1996 TV movie with my stepdaughter this weekend and having put up with the Divergent Universe arc. At this point in McGann’s time with Big Finish, I have to keep reminding myself that the Eighth Doctor Adventures are right around the corner (and according to most fans, I have Other Lives and Memory Lane to enjoy before then), because I am just not digging the Eight/Charley/C’rizz TARDIS crew. I kind of think McGann wasn’t either by this point in his run, and was just showing up to cash a paycheck and have some of Big Finish's legendary catering. For a supposedly fast-paced story, the Eighth Doctor (and McGann) sound utterly bored during the entirety of the proceedings. A mystery in front of him, time travel, a creepy girl, C'rizz messing with the Web of Time...these events should elicit some kind of emotion from the Doctor, but the highlight of McGann's performance is a triumphant yelling of “bluetits!” I am not making this up. I know there are better stories and seasons in the future for the Eighth Doctor, and it's the only thing keeping me going at this point in his run. Charley...I loved Charlotte Pollard's character arc from Storm Warning to Neverland, with Scherzo an interesting coda to that storyline. Ever since Scherzo, though, India Fisher has been reduced to the Liz Shaw role; a strong, smart female character who asks questions, hands the Doctor test tubes, and get put in grave peril time and time again. Once again, I know there are better stories coming up for Charley. But for now, I can't remember her being a major presence in ANY recent story beyond being “the female Companion.” In Scaredy Cat, Charley's contribution is being thrown in a holding facility with the story's villain at the end of the second episode and running away from him as he kills a scientist in the third episode. This whole story is simply a major disservice to India Fisher. In LIVE 34, Hex gives a bit of background about his father and grandmother, and how they encouraged him to find a job there would always be a need for, which is how he ended up as a nurse. This little throwaway segment made me care more about Hex then multiple stories have about C'rizz! It's not Conrad Westmaas' fault. I feel like he's doing the best with what he's given, but the more he appears, the more I really wish C'rizz had been a one-off character in The Creed of the Kromon. His presence in this story is pretty much to be the butt monkey. First, the Doctor and he travel back in time 4 million years to when there was a new colony on Endarra, one whose presence is unknown to modern history. The people have been infected by an experimental biological weapon launched at the planet by a hostile alien race simply as a weapon test. With the colonist dying, C'rizz decides that it's up to him to save the colony, even though their fate is to die. The Doctor argues with C'rizz about this (in the most unemotional argument ever), and after C'rizz sneaks them the antidote, the Doctor simply takes C'rizz three months in the future where the colony lies empty because ...and that's it. The idea of C'rizz interfering with the Web of Time because he's sick of death is a topic that could have been spun out into an entire audio, but in 77 minutes, there obviously just isn't time other than a quick, unnecessary subplot that's easily wrapped up and has no other bearing on the story. Then, there's when C'rizz, the murderer, someone who has battled with this guilt for stories and stories, threatening the story's villain with “so, am I locked up in here with you...or are you locked up in here with me?” And the villain easily puts C'rizz in his place. Again, I know what's upcoming with C'rizz, so I'm willing to endure his stories until that final piece of absolution. The supporting cast here...they're nothing to write home about. For most of them, this is their only Big Finish appearance – the head scientist whose twisted methods hide a need to cure evil, the willing female assistant who questions the morality of their work, the other scientist who finds himself in over his head, and the wannabe Hannibal Lecter villain who can't play suave or sophisticated, and doesn't even give the scenery a proper chewing. Even the creepy little girl, who's presence boils down to chanting “scaredy cat, scaredy cat” over and over again, doesn't elicit any sort of scare or discomfort in the listener. The only high point for this serial is, as usual, Big Finish's sound crew, who establish the setting of a virgin world with hooting natives, a dying colony infected with disease, and the sounds of minds under assault with their standard solid effort. There's so much wrong with this story, and it's hard to write about because it's difficult to nail down the one key point. Scaredy Cat is just a poor story all around. The story is too short and jumps around from topic to topic without spending any time developing those topics. Does it want to talk about the nature of evil? The despoiling of nature? The harm colonists due to native culture? Interference in the Web of Time? Can planets hold memories, and can it use those memories to defend itself? By not grasping a single narrative and not giving the characters any real sense of motivation or emotion, Scaredy Cat fails to hold the listener's attention. For a fast paced story, that's the biggest sin it can commit. (And this is with me glossing over the fact that the story's villain is defeated by the little girl, the manifestation of the planet's anger, chanting “scaredy cat, scaredy cat” at him over and over again...) Synopsis – With a narrative that bounces all over the place, aimless characters played by bored actors, and several plots without any direction or development, Scaredy Cat is one of the weaker outputs from Big Finish, as well as one of the lower points of Paul McGann's run. 2/5 Next up - Time is fracturing and the Doctor and Turlough are at the heart of the chaos. History is about to change and the galaxy will burn in its wake... Peter Davison is the Doctor in...Singularity.
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Apr 3, 2015 03:37
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Bicyclops posted:And C'Rizz really is insufferable, unfortunately. They can't decide what to do with him, so he's forever a grumpy, gloomy nobody who always seems on the verge of betraying his companions through some form of brainwashing. Much though I like Charlie, Lucie Miller really is a better fit for Eight in a lot of ways. C'rizz just doesn't do ANYTHING for me. I'm listening to Other Lives right now and I'm more interested in "The Misadventures of Charlotte Pollard, Mistaken Victorian Prostitute" than anything C'rizz has done since Faith Stealer. As much as I love Charley/India Fisher, her character arc ended in Scherzo. Ever since then, she's just been a flat character. Thanks to my OCD, I have to listen to the main range until The Girl Who Never Was and THEN I'll rip through the first season of the EDA's and second second of the FDA's before coming back to the main range. I really want to get to Lucie "Bleedin'" Miller, and I'm prepared to race J-Ru to get there first!
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Apr 3, 2015 15:04
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 Russia, the near future. The Somnus Foundation knows the fate of mankind; they promise a tomorrow where humanity will evolve into a godlike form of infinite power. They will lead us there, to a destiny that spans the stars. This is how the future will unfold. The Doctor knows the fate of mankind; the human race is destined to fight and struggle for their very existence, to survive disaster and war and carve an empire from an unforgiving universe. He has seen it with his own eyes. This is how the future will unfold. Beneath the towering headquarters of the Somnus in the streets of Moscow, a dark power is building, and a conspiracy that stretches across eternity is nearing completion. Time is fracturing and the Doctor and Turlough are at the heart of the chaos. History is about to change and the galaxy will burn in its wake... Peter Davison is the Doctor in Singularity Cast Peter Davison (The Doctor) Mark Strickson (Turlough) Eve Polycarpou (Qel Maitland Chandler (Seo) Michael Cuckson (Cord) Natasha Radiski (Lena Korolev) Oleg Mirochnikov (Alexi Korolev) Max Bollinger (Pavel Fedorin) Dominika Boon (Natalia Pushkin) Billy Miller (Tev) Marq English (Xen) Written By: James Swallow Directed By: Gary Russell Trailer - http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/popout/singularity-242 X X X X X I’m surprised it took this long for a non-prose Doctor Who story to be set in Russia. Even if you ignore the Soviet era (indeed, Soviet spies tried to steal a codebreaking device in The Curse of Fenric), there’s just so much about Russia that could provide the background for an excellent story. The wilds of Siberia. The history of the Cossacks. The Grand Duchy of Moscow. Heck, the relentless determination of the Russian people to endure and survive, no matter what life throws at them, could give the Cybermen a run for their money. Singularity, set in the heart of 21st century Moscow, touches upon the will to survive. A mysterious organization with powerful allies promises the next evolution of humanity, one that the Fifth Doctor knows isn’t due for a very long time. With Turlough at his side and a pair of Russian allies, the Doctor races to figure out the truth behind the Somnus Foundation. It’s a solid, classic Who story, with science gone wrong, innocent people caught up in a bad situation, a companion in peril, and the Doctor saving the day. After a string of “meh” serials and some experimental stories, this story’s few flaws (mainly slightly off-kilter characterization) are easily overlooked. The Somnus Foundation knows the future of mankind, and invites humanity to join it to work towards and obtain the next stage of human evolution. The Doctor knows that mankind’s history lies along a different path, Turlough knows that the Doctor is going to stick his nose in where it doesn’t belong once again, Max knows that the tendrils of the Foundation reach to the highest levels of government, Lena knows that her brother Alexi has been enticed by the Foundation’s lies, and Alexi knows that his acceptance into the Foundation shouldn’t have included his personality being transferred into a creaking body of rotting flesh and rusting metal… James Swallow is a VERY prolific science fiction writer. His work spans countless fields, from video games (Deus Ex: Human Revolution) to novels (several in the Warhammer 40k universe) to television (Star Trek: Voyager) and even to audio dramas (Blake’s 7). With regards to Doctor Who, he’s done several novels, short stories, and the Big Finish Companion Chronicle Old Soldiers with Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. With such a veteran wielding the pen, it’s no surprise that Singularity is one of the better scripts in Big Finish’s recent output. Not only does it contains all the classic elements of a Who story, but it pulls in several elements from science fiction in general, and by pairing the two together “genres” together, Swallow delivers an interesting tale. The new Russian economy mixed with old Soviet paranoia. The ties of family versus the need to belong. Poking your nose in seemingly making things worse. The will of the crowd against the strength of the individual. And several hair-raising scenes, including Turlough’s “fate” mid-way through the third episode and the “experimentation” on the TARDIS. The highest praise I can give this story is this; while driving to RegenerationCon, a normally two hour drive from Fredericksburg to Baltimore, I never stopped listening Singularity, spending the last ten minute sitting in the hotel parking lot because I HAD to know how the story ended. And without giving anything away, the ending to this story might be the closest Doctor Who comes to the classic (and heartbreaking) Futurama episode Jurassic Bark. AKA, the one with Fry’s dog. (I’ll pause here to let my readers recover. Eyes dry? Moving on) Peter Davison shines best as a Doctor who constantly lets his curiosity get the better of him, ending up way over his head and flailing about for a bit before getting things under control and sorting it all out. I have two main (and minor) problems with Singularity, and the first one is that, during the third and fourth episode when things are at their worst and it’s the Doctor vs. the Somnus Foundation…the Fifth Doctor’s a bit TOO cheerful, a bit TOO flippant, and a bit TOO nonchalant. He has his moments (such as his realization about what’s happening to the TARDIS during the third episode cliffhanger), but I just felt that there should have been a little more urgency across all of his proceedings at that point. But it’s a very small quibble, as for the most part Davison is on top of his game this time out. He throws himself (and Turlough) right into the situation without a moment’s thought, walks directly into the Somnus Foundation for a chat, and takes the TARDIS back in time and allows a young man to hook himself directly to a medical device to find out information, all before going right back to the Sonmus Foundation and confronting the villains without a moment’s pause. This is classic Fifth Doctor, and Davison gives it his all; charming, inquisitive, and commanding, knowing he’s in charge even when everyone else in the room thinks they’re in charge. But the best moments come when people call the Doctor out on his actions. Turlough proclaims that he’s sick of the Doctor lying to him (the Doctor says they’re landing in Russia “because why not” when in reality he’s tracing a time anomaly), Lena calls him out for sometimes making things worse (does his very presence cause the trouble he seeks to avert?), and the villains of the piece blame him for their troubles (“This is all the fault of YOUR kind, Time Lord!”). The Doctor is 900 years old at this point, and he lies, he causes trouble, and he sometimes lords his temporal status above others. It’s nice to hear people call him out for it…and it’s also nice that, since he’s 900 years old at this point, the Doctor’s going to just blow it off with a “I’m sorry” that you know he means, but that isn’t going to change anything in the long run. With regards to main range stories, this is easily Davison’s finest performance in a very long time, especially the calm and gentle way the Doctor comes across in the story’s final moments. It’s no secret I am a Turlough fanboy. Male companions are a rare breed in and of themselves, but Turlough is not only a “bad teammate turned good,” but someone who never seemingly bought into everything the Doctor was selling. And nobody, nobody, does “dear GOD, you’re all insane and I’m the only rational one here” than Mark Strickson. The same minor concern I had with Peter Davison’s performance kind of carries over to Strickson, as it seems like nearly every line Turlough has during the first half of Singularity is a snarky, cross comment. While Turlough was the sourest knight in the TARDIS for sure, Swallow’s script cranks it up to 11. It’s the same concern I have with some writers for Peri, where everything she says is sarcastic and flippant. The switch is flipped, however, when Turlough finds himself having to talk Lena out of saving her dying mother during the trip to the past. Strickson many not do as many audios as the other companions, and he may have traded acting for producing wildlife documentaries (the man has a Zoology degree from the University of New England in Armidale, New South Wales), but when given the right material, he shines. He tells Lena about his own problems, concerns, and heartaches, and the listener can feel the words convince Lena to head back to the TARDIS…but not before vowing to give the Doctor a piece of her mind for putting her in that situation in the first place, something Turlough can easily relate to. I’m going to take a page from another reviewer here for a second, who brought up a very interesting point with regards to Turlough. During the third episode, Turlough finds himself captured (again), chained up (AGAIN), and then submitted to the same body-swapping procedure as Alexi before being flung to the very end of space and time; Ember, the last planet orbiting the last dying sun as entropy spreads across the galaxy. It’s here, where human beings have given up, that Turlough, an alien (“You look human.” “Have you considered all humans look like they come from Trion?”) steps up and takes charge, even if it’s as simple as “I’m not going to sit here and die, I’m going to go head on and smash something with a pipe.” Turlough’s internal conflict is the same as the Twelfth Doctor’s; is he a good man? Turlough is a coward, he’s left his companions and the Doctor to die to save his own skin, but he always goes back for them. When the chips are down, he’ll step up to save the day…but it’s because it’s HIS life on the line as well. Doctor Who has plenty of villains who do the wrong thing for the right reasons. I think one of the reasons I like Turlough is that, in the end, he does the right thing for the WRONG reasons, but he still does the right thing. It’s an interesting philosophical quandary, “the ends justify means” but in a reverse, mirror-like way. And no actor other than Mark Strickson can pull off such a quandary. A lot of the complaints about Singularity have been that the Russian characters often come off as very Rocky and Bullwinkle “moose and squirrel” stereotypes. Which I find kind of funny, as half the supporting cast are actual Russian actors! Natasha Radiski plays Lena, and does a great job as both temporary companion and temporary antagonist, as she calls the Doctor out on his meddling even as she seeks his help in rescuring her brother Alexi from the Somnus Foundation. She comes off as a caring sister and a long-time friend to Pavel, played by Max Bollinger (who also stared in The Waters of Mars). Pavel knows something is up with the Foundation, and risks his life to find out what it is, with a great sense of paranoia and bravery that’s a bit akin to Turlough. (for the record, this review is already longer than the one I just did for Scaredy Cat…) Oleg Mirochnikov’s Alexi is the secondary character who gets in over his head, and he sells his character’s terror at realizing the bill of goods he’s just been sold. Maitland Chandler (who appears in the next main range audio, Other Lives) and Eve Polycarpou are the heads of the Somnus Foundation and the two villains of the piece (along with a minor villain, the jailer Xen who puts the stolen human through their punishment paces on Ember). Chandler’s Seo is the head of the Foundation and the leader of the aliens, while Polycarpou’s Qel has her own agenda, one that specifically involves a TARDIS. Both villains are played as evil, competent, and utterly ruthless, seeing the humans in Moscow as nothing more than dirty savages. They’re both ambitious, accusing the other of treachery and “interfering with the Great Plan,” something the Doctor plays on and exploits during the climax after seeds of discord had been planted throughout the story. The pair is great at playing the bad guys, and their final fates are well deserved. Gary Russell does a good job of keeping the action going throughout the story, bouncing back and forth between the Foundation/Ember and the Doctor/Turlough without either feeling rushed or outstaying their welcome. The sound work is great as well, especially the distant feeling of Ember and the decaying bodies the kidnapped human personalities are forced to inhabit, along with a Moscow being forced to become a hive mind and pursue the Doctor through the empty streets. As an aside, the CD covers for Singularity are among my favorites from Big Finish so far, both the original at the top of this review and the alternate one at the bottom. Even if the flag is wrong, I love it just for the look on Turlough’s face. Now, even though this story came out three years earlier, there definitely are a lot of parallels to The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords. An alien race from the end of everything has come back to modern day Earth in order to wreak havoc and renew their own lives through horrific means. There’s just a lot less scenery chewing in Singularity than there was in those two episodes. With the talk of decaying flesh and rusting bodies, my first thought was “Cybermen, it’s the last of the Cybermen.” But I was pleasantly surprised by the identity of the aliens. Who they were, why they picked human beings, and why they kept referring to them as “filthy savages” made perfect sense. The core reason behind their plan, however, causes a listener to stop and think. At the end of everything, when time is literally running out, the Time Lords left this universe for a new one. And they took their favorite species to start over again, which didn’t include this particular race. Their plan is to come back in time, force humanity to uplift into a massive gestalt consciousness, and wipe out the Time Lords in revenge…starting with the Doctor, the one Time Lord who SHOULD have interfered, as he always did, but chose this time to sit on the sidelines. It’s an audio that could never be written, but it’s a great idea. The Time Lords COULD have saved them…but if you’re so desperate to live that you’d hijack and rewrite the past, then the Time Lords have every right to leave you behind, you rotten, rotten nutters. And again, the very last scene…some might find it bland, but I found it very bittersweet. What other Doctor than Five could have pulled it off? Last Time Lord in the galaxy, please turn off the light. Singularity is a story I feel I could hand to a newcomer to Big Finish and say “give it a whirl.” It’s got all the classic Doctor Who and science fiction trappings, with a strong script, interesting plot, and solid (if slightly mischaracterized) acting, all set in a familiar land that still holds an air of mystery. It’s Strickson’s last audio for five years (he won’t return to the main range and a Companion Chronicle until 2010), and it’s a very solid one to go out on.  Synopsis – A new setting, a great evil scheme, a strong plot, solid writing, and interesting ideas as to what lengths a species will go to in order to survive makes Singularity a stand-out story. 4/5 Next up - London, 1851. Scene of the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations. Scene also of a plot to un-seat the government, de-throne the monarch and start a republic. If the Duke of Wellington himself is to be believed... Paul McGann is the Doctor in…Other Lives
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Apr 3, 2015 19:58
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Better story for the kiddo - City of Death or Robots of Death?
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Apr 5, 2015 22:51
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After The War posted:Web of Caves. It's high time she got to see the Gatiss Doctor. ...um...I didn't know these existed. I had just seen The Kidnappers. Welp, there goes my morning. Edit - right now, it's a toss up between City of Death and Battlefield to show the kiddo this week. I want to introduce her to more Tom Baker, but she loves Ace and Seven so much...
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Apr 6, 2015 14:46
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But this one has swords and Merlin.
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Apr 6, 2015 15:52
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Sad King Billy posted:Greatest Show In The Galaxy is nice and creepy, also has Sylvester at his most nonchalant! She refuses to see anything with a clown it. See The Deadly Assassin. Or puppets. See The Talons of Weng-Chiang.
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Apr 6, 2015 16:48
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It's not until Capaldi really becomes the Doctor that it clicks. Otherwise it's the "one-note characters who are wearing out their welcome hour" for the first half.
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Apr 7, 2015 03:07
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Fil5000 posted:All episodes written by Joe Lidster, each revealing a horrible way Rory was tortured during his thousands of years of life. Rory finds the lost Doctor Who episodes! On Betamax!
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Apr 7, 2015 14:59
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How are the two Unbound audios with David Warner?
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Apr 7, 2015 15:31
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After The War posted:The woefully out-of-date picture on the button at the bottom? "Hold on, I thought that Mark Gatiss chap was the Doctor now..."
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Apr 7, 2015 23:50
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Jerusalem posted:Well to be fair, RTD casts a long shadow, what with literally being a giant and all. Giants, dragons...what other mystical creatures come from Wales?
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Apr 8, 2015 10:32
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