|
Best Producer/Showrunner? This poll is closed. |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Verity Lambert |
|
49 | 7.04% |
| John Wiles |
|
1 | 0.14% |
| Innes Lloyd |
|
1 | 0.14% |
| Peter Bryant |
|
3 | 0.43% |
| Derrick Sherwin |
|
3 | 0.43% |
| Barry Letts |
|
12 | 1.72% |
| Phillip Hinchcliffe |
|
62 | 8.91% |
| Graham Williams |
|
3 | 0.43% |
| John Nathan-Turner |
|
15 | 2.16% |
| Philip Segal |
|
3 | 0.43% |
| Russel T Davies |
|
106 | 15.23% |
| Steven Moffat |
|
114 | 16.38% |
| Son Goku |
|
324 | 46.55% |
| Total: | 696 votes | ||
|
I like Sirens of Time a little more than other people do. Big Finish is definitely still stumbling to its feet and finding its identity, way more than even the second story or any after, but it's not offensively bad, just kind of awkward.
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2014 19:28
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 03:54 |
|
|
Jerusalem posted:I made the first vote of the poll and Phillip Hinchcliffe has 100% of the votes. This is accurate and this percentage should not change. He gave us Robert Holmes. That man cannot be denied.
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2014 19:43
|
|
|
Detective No. 27 posted:Have any Americans received their Dark Eyes 2 discs yet? They were released last week. It takes, on average, about a week and half, two weeks for US delivery.
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2014 19:51
|
|
|
Fighting Trousers posted:That guy also seems to really hate that Eight and Charley talk about love in Scherzo, too. Well, he also really hated Natural History of Fear and thought it had no plot or resolution. I'm sensing from the reviews that he doesn't do subtle very well.
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2014 19:51
|
|
|
The title should be "Doctor Who: We swear, TimeLash wasn't that bad!" I made a mistake. I am sorry.
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2014 20:15
|
|
|
Doctor who: "split season means fans only wait a few weeks for new eps"
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2014 21:07
|
|
|
MattD1zzl3 posted:Doctor who: "split season means fans only wait a few weeks for new eps" Ugh, no thanks, the split seasons are hopefully dead and buried forever.
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2014 21:08
|
|
|
Doctor Who: "Split seasons are erased from Doctor Who!"
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2014 21:17
|
|
|
The Doctor, who has a thread.
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2014 21:53
|
|
|
Bicyclops posted:I like Sirens of Time a little more than other people do. Big Finish is definitely still stumbling to its feet and finding its identity, way more than even the second story or any after, but it's not offensively bad, just kind of awkward. I actually only remember the submarine episode and the climax. And then only for the trash chute scene in the latter. I liked the sub bit, anyway! 
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2014 22:36
|
|
|
Split seasons are the half life 2, episode X of the BBC. "Less content, ("Night of the doctor" is "Lost coast")
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2014 23:13
|
|
|
Dr. Who: 6 months is too long to wait, bring back the Doctor don't hesitate
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 00:22
|
|
|
Jerusalem posted:I made the first vote of the poll and Phillip Hinchcliffe has 100% of the votes. This is accurate and this percentage should not change. Go Team Verity 
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 00:32
|
|
|
I think I'm good for the next 6 months. 
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 01:06
|
|
|
The_Doctor posted:I think I'm good for the next 6 months. I don't see Vengeance on Varos! Do I have to come over and lock all the doors?
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 01:19
|
|
|
And I count at least 15 stories that are worse than VoV in that
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 01:25
|
|
|
Oh, you've changed the thread title. I don't like it.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 01:31
|
|
|
CobiWann posted:
A magnificent story. The plot is a little over-complicated, the supporting characters (including Romana, sadly) are uneven with subplots that don't particularly go anywhere or have endings that don't feel quite earned, and the nods to continuity just muddy the waters a bit too much. But all that said, it doesn't matter, because the performance of Paul McGann utterly elevates this story to the top, and the emotional side of things more than makes up for the the rather clunky technical aspects of the story. I can't praise McGann enough in this story. Whether he's cheerfully mocking the Time Lords or the Never People or desperately trying to hide Charley away in her "birthday gift", or the utterly brilliant section where he refuses to do something another character insists is utterly essential, he absolutely owns the role. The latter bit in particular is the best, because it links in so beautifully with the man we saw in The Night of the Doctor, the guy who was willing to stand on the other side of a door and die in a crash when he could have easily escaped in his TARDIS. Why? Because this is the guy who refuses to give up, who refuses to accept that death is the only option. This is the guy who couldn't have used The Moment to kill the Time Lords and the Daleks and regenerated so a "different" Doctor could make the decisions that he absolutely refused to. This is "the man who never would", and that character trait has never been clearer to me than in this story, at that moment when he is given an easy out that would solve all the problems and refuses to take it because it is not right. I understand that Big Finish, despite not being allowed to mention/do stories about The Time War, took it upon themselves to begin setting things up so that McGann's Doctor could conceivably have been in a position to be the one that did it. In light of how excellent this story was, and what we now know about the 8th Doctor's ultimate fate, I hope that they will veer away from making the 8th Doctor "darker". Allow him dismay at the horrors he sees for certain, but don't let him lose that desperate hope we saw in Night of the Doctor or indeed in the end of this story - the idea that somehow there is always another way, and that while he might gladly sacrifice himself for the greater good (as he does in Night) he would never sacrifice anybody else, not if he can help it. Charley has some good, strong moments in the story but sadly spends a great deal of it just sitting around complaining but unable to do anything else. While this is a little unfair since India Fisher has a dual-role and ends up with probably more airtime than even McGann, it does add to the sense that the story bit off a little more than it could chew in the provided format. The story is in two long parts rather than four standard ones and I don't think it really works all that well, it would have been better to keep the standard format so that the lengthy periods where a particular character doesn't show up don't appear to be as long. Breaking things up/resetting with the opening and closing themes goes a long way towards helping that, even if you are listening to everything all at once rather than an episode at a time. Charley gets to show how much her travels with the Doctor have helped her to grow as a person, and her selfless offer of sacrifice mirrors the Doctor's own all too well. It is important to note that the Time Lords were all too willing to sacrifice her to "fix" things and that she fought that every step of the way, but was more than happy to make that choice for herself when she felt it was necessary. Functionally the two sides are identical, but there is no doubt (for me anyway) that the Time Lords are morally wrong and Charley is morally right - it is the difference between Oates saying he is going outside and may be some time, and Scott bashing his head in with a frozen huskie. Unfortunately I was less impressed with Fisher's performance as Sentris, which was a character with a lot of potential. I don't know if it is because they post-processed it so much or because she delibertately chose (or was told) to make Sentris' speech patterns slow and measured, but it felt like she was phoning in the performance most of the time. Her delivery and tone didn't match what she was saying at all, often I got the feeling she was supposed to sound bemused or angry or offended but she just gave the same sonorous, stable delivery. I know she can deliver a better performance than that and even her default delivery is pretty great (I could listen to her describe food on MasterChef all day :allears) so this was disappointing. However, I do love the resolution of Charley's "wrongful" existence, I thought it was a fantastic way of showing the web of time incorporating the paradox into the thread - she died but she lived which gave anti-time access to the universe and threatened to destroy time, but because of that the problem (she inadvertantly caused!) was able to be fixed, and therefore it was a necessary and established part of the flow of events - history now records that Charley died and lived simultaneously without any sense of,"Wait, that makes no sense!". The supporting characters, sadly, feel underwritten. Romana's story goes nowhere, she gets where she is going, we learn that she can't do anything, and then she just kinda hangs out there till she is informed what happened and given a choice to leave or stay. It is a shame because Romana is a fascinating character and Lalla Ward is a good actress, and I was looking forward to hearing her again. I haven't listened to The Apocalypse Element so I don't know if they got it all out of the way then or not, but the lack of warmth between her and the Doctor was noticeable - I felt like she was being treated as another one-off part who had returned for an audio, as opposed to a long-standing companion of the Doctor's during a particularly popular and well-regarded run on the show who had been written out as becoming very "Doctor-ish" in her own right. She makes a few exasperated comments in regards to the Doctor but they're the kind of lines that could have been made by anyone... in fact Vansell - an entirely new character! - gets written as if he and the Doctor have a longer and more storied history than the Doctor and Romana! Vansell himself could have been a pretty interesting character, slimy and entirely too convinced of the necessity of his actions. Unfortunately they kind of rob his actions of any agency with the throwaway line that Romana thinks he may have been entirely influenced to do everything he did, as opposed to the Never People using his pre-existing motivations and drawing him further down the path he was already committed to[spoiler]. I think that also wrecks any redemption in his final actions, because it's just somebody doing what they would have always done without external influence, as opposed to somebody realizing the error of their ways and trying to make amends. There is a lot of missed/robbed potential in this story like that, I would have loved a further exploration of the impact and psychological damage caused by using The Oubliette of Eternity. But not only do they fail to really examine it further, apart from a brief few lines by the Doctor they also ignore the fact of Sentris' hypocritical motivations - [spoiler]Sentris committed self-dissipation using the Oubliette out of guilt over all the times they discovered they had already used it, and then seeks to wipe out the rest of the universe in a similar fashion in "revenge" for the process that created the Never People. The Doctor uses it as an example of why Charley is a better person than Sentris, but they could have really delved into this facet of the character, as opposed to spending their time on Sentris dragging on in a modulated voice about the end of the Time Lords. Rassilon features heavily in the story as a figure of legend and worship, and is one of the major reasons for the expedition into Anti-Time. The search for his body makes zero sense since we already know WHERE his body is from The Five Doctors, and yet even though the Doctor actually brings this up it then gets tucked under the bed and everybody apparently forgets about it until the SHOCKING reveal that that's not Rassilon's body inside the casket after all!  . I found that aspect of things really confusing, and while the acceptance of conflicting information might make sense for those supposedly infected by Anti-Time, the fact that Romana and the Doctor accept it as well (after the Doctor's initial slight objection) just makes the whole thing weird. Of course, Rassilon in this story is established as a hero, a wise and just ruler who was farsighted and fair. In The Five Doctors the 2nd Doctor notes that this public image of Rassilon MIGHT have hid a darker secret of a man obsessed with immortality and callous about using and abusing others for his own amusement. Given what happens in The End of Time that appears to have been the way Rassilon was, and it conflicts with the image in this story. That said, I think both interpretations can and do fit - I can see Rassilon as a benevolent figure who rose the Time Lords to the height of power in the universe who then became corrupted by his own power. I can see his mind continuing to work even in his "sleep", and removed from power and temptation becoming the wise and benevolent figure once more. And I can see him resurrected by the Time Lords in their desperation during the Time War, and in the face of that madness becoming utterly corrupted again and obsessed with keeping the Time Lords at the top of the universe.You could argue the ending is a bit of a Deus Ex Machina, as the Doctor does something very clever and EXTREMELY dangerous in an act of sacrifice requiring split-second timing only for Rassilon to step in and fix everything in order to show his favor for the Doctor's selfless actions. I love the cliffhanger that results though, I can't believe so many stories sat between that cliffhanger and the resolution, and I can't wait to listen to Zagreus and hear how it all works out. Neverland is a fantastic resolution to the arc of Charley's impossible existence, overpowering its overly-optimistic complicated storyline/themes with a powerful emotional performance by Paul McGann and strong work from India Fisher. Not the strongest overall Big Finish story I've listened to, it is a very satisfying climax to everything that has gone before, though I would not recommend it at all as a standalone story - you need to have heard at least some of the stories before it to get the most from it. Also, I quite honestly (and shamefacedly) have to admit that I had no idea the R101 airship and its crash was an actual historical event, and had assumed all along that it was going to be written out of time in some way. Once that remained unresolved I actually went and looked it up and discovered it actually happened, and I don't understand why I've never heard of it before. I guess the Hindenburg gets all the attention because there is video and audio footage of its crash, so at least Doctor Who has achieved one part of its original educational intentions!
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 01:53
|
|
|
Bicyclops posted:Oh, okay. I guess most of the post City of Death stuff was a bit forgettable. I should have gone with Son Goku anyway. Have to go with 2. The eyes sell it. The monocole is almost a distraction. The hat IS a distraction in 1, and in 3, with his face not facing directly at you, and thus not fulling projecting Hartnell, is watered down.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 02:08
|
|
|
I finally picked the colour one, because it reminds me the most of Niles.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 02:46
|
|
|
Potsticker posted:No Nick Briggs in the Poll? Suddenly the audio show doesn't count? That's right.... people. The Doctor Who DiscContinuity Guide posted:Oh, what fun! McGann's first Big Finish season closes on a big (and long!) story with a great script and the Brigadier on top form. Despite an American and a Canadian in the cast some dodgy accents feature, but with an imaginative setting and some stand-out scenes (Marchosias using Becky-Lee's powers to kill Pargeter, Crane 'testing' the Doctor's memories, the Brigadier's 'collapse'), 'Minuet' is hellishly good. If the 'join' sometimes shows between the story's two authors, it doesn't really matter. It's a shame the (real) Doctor isn't in it more, but it would be a treat to hear Gideon again. Although it was him saying that Jubilee was a "letdown" that made me stop reading his reviews.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 03:54
|
|
|
After The War posted:That's right.... people. Jubilee was a letdown for me, too. (You can stop reading my posts here.) It was a very good story, but I had heard so many times in these threads that it inspired Dalek that what would have otherwise been a brilliant reveal was just a "oh, there it is" instead. It's still a fantasic tale, but I'm afraid I was much too informed on it beforehand. I do highly recommend it, though.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 04:02
|
|
|
quote:I can't believe so many stories sat between that cliffhanger and the resolution, and I can't wait to listen to Zagreus and hear how it all works out. [Barrett]I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news…[/Barrett] Well, that’s not entirely true. Zagreus does go a long way towards resolving the cliffhanger (and clocking in at almost four hours, I do mean a LONG way) but the whole serial felt in a way like one big acid trip. It’s next on my list once I finish my Sirens of Time review tomorrow. I will say this, though. Romana gets another shot at a supporting role, and the concept of Rassilon get rewritten AGAIN… Another solid review, of course! I really like the concept of Eight as “The Man Who Never Would.” Big Finish has gone on and slowly begun to…not break him, but burn him out. By the time a listener gets to Dark Eyes, they can see McGann’s Doctor being the one who goes “maybe the universe doesn’t need a Doctor anymore” because no matter how hard he’s tried, everything has fallen apart around him. Everything he touches with the best of intentions withers and dies, and there’s no Nyssa becoming a doctor of her own or Turlough going back to his home planet to make it a better place to balance out the horrors piled up on the other scale. Eight doesn’t give up so much as he just physically, mentally, and emotionally breaks down – Steve Austin passing out in the Sharpshooter as opposed to tapping. Oh, and Vansell has shown up before, in both The Sirens of Time and The Apocalypse Element. I do want to ask this, as you’ve gone through McGann’s audio line at a good clip. It seems like there’s a good mix of “OId Who” stories, such as Storm Warning or Invaders from Mars where the historical setting or event is one of the driving forces, and “New Who” stories like The Chimes of Midnight or even Minuet in Hell, where the focus is much more on the players and the plot and the setting is mostly window dressing. But then along comes something like Neverland, Zagreus and pretty much the entire upcoming Divergent Universe arc from Scherzo to The Next Life. Neverland and Zagreus both felt like…they weren’t “Who” stories in the traditional sense. Time travel and the destruction of the universe, sure, and they featured the Doctor as a main character, but I couldn’t fit either story into a “Old Who” or a “New Who” box. Am I making any sense? quote:I guess the Hindenburg gets all the attention because there is video and audio footage of its crash, so at least Doctor Who has achieved one part of its original educational intentions! And because of this post, now I know who Lawrence Oates was… … … …hold on. Jerusalem, you don’t happen to be over 1200 years old, do you? Run around with attractive young women? Know Venusian Aikido or how to play the spoons? CobiWann fucked around with this message at 19:08 on Mar 12, 2014 |
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 12:56
|
|
|
CobiWann posted:
And thanks to your post, I now know who Oates was, and that the Doctor references his famous last words in not one but two episodes --- one of which being Earthshock, which I was GIS-ing yesterday for my low-effort job on your friend's b-day card  (Other one's Planet of Evil, to save y'all the googling.)
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 14:12
|
|
|
JacquelineDempsey posted:And thanks to your post, I now know who Oates was, and that the Doctor references his famous last words in not one but two episodes --- one of which being Earthshock, which I was GIS-ing yesterday for my low-effort job on your friend's b-day card Well, I am not the Doctor. I did not record a novelty song in the 1970's. That I remember. (she loved the cards, by the way. She got a kick out of both of them!)
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 14:24
|
|
|
JacquelineDempsey posted:And thanks to your post, I now know who Oates was, and that the Doctor references his famous last words in not one but two episodes --- one of which being Earthshock, which I was GIS-ing yesterday for my low-effort job on your friend's b-day card This is one of those things that could serve as a Blade Runner-style test to see which of us are Yanks. That famous walk seems to be a sufficient part of British culture that it's thrown out in Red Dwarf as readily as any pop-culture reference. I think we can blame the US educational system, we just don't like to talk about losers, no matter how well intentioned or self-sacrificing.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 16:45
|
|
|
After The War posted:This is one of those things that could serve as a Blade Runner-style test to see which of us are Yanks. That famous walk seems to be a sufficient part of British culture that it's thrown out in Red Dwarf as readily as any pop-culture reference. I think we can blame the US educational system, we just don't like to talk about losers, no matter how well intentioned or self-sacrificing. Counterpoint - the Confederacy. Actually, now that I think of it, has there ever been a serial set during the English Civil War?
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 16:50
|
|
|
After The War posted:This is one of those things that could serve as a Blade Runner-style test to see which of us are Yanks. That famous walk seems to be a sufficient part of British culture that it's thrown out in Red Dwarf as readily as any pop-culture reference. I think we can blame the US educational system, we just don't like to talk about losers, no matter how well intentioned or self-sacrificing. Edit: also, Yanks? Really?
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 17:02
|
|
|
LividLiquid posted:Edit: also, Yanks? Really? As an American, it took me several Doctor Who Christmas specials to realize that the paper crowns and crackers were a British tradition rather than an alien one.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 17:06
|
|
|
LividLiquid posted:Which walk is this, and when did it appear in Red Dwarf? During Walter Scott's expedition to the North Pole, one of his fellows, Captain Oates, realised he was dying and decided to leave the tent rather than die in front of his friends, so he exited with the words, "I'm just going out; I may be gone some time." As for Red Dwarf, I think it was mentioned in "Holoship" in season five. Wheat Loaf fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Feb 20, 2014 |
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 17:07
|
|
|
The Action Man posted:As an American, it took me several Doctor Who Christmas specials to realize that the paper crowns and crackers were a British tradition rather than an alien one. I'm American and we usually do that at Christmas 
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 17:41
|
|
|
Metal Loaf posted:During Walter Scott's expedition to the North Pole, one of his fellows, Captain Oates, realised he was dying and decided to leave the tent rather than die in front of his friends, so he exited with the words, "I'm just going out; I may be gone some time."
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 17:42
|
|
|
CobiWann posted:Well, I am not the Doctor. I did not record a novelty song in the 1970's. That I remember. You could have surpressed it.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 17:43
|
|
|
CobiWann posted:Counterpoint - the Confederacy. LividLiquid posted:Which walk is this, and when did it appear in Red Dwarf? Red Dwarf: White Hole posted:Kryten: You'd sacrifice your life for the good of the crew? LividLiquid posted:Edit: also, Yanks? Really?
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 17:48
|
|
|
Right, "White Hole". I think "Holoship" had a similar scene with Rimmer which I must have confused it with.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 17:50
|
|
|
While I'm not the kind of person that can write a J-ru or CobiWann-style writeup, I just have to say that I'm finally listening to the first Dark Eyes and I'm enjoying the hell out of it.Bicyclops posted:I'm American and we usually do that at Christmas Well to add another data point, I'm American and I'd also never seen it until Doctor Who.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 17:51
|
|
|
Metal Loaf posted:During Walter was the novelist, Robert was the popsicle.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 18:00
|
|
|
Bicyclops posted:I finally picked the colour one, because it reminds me the most of Niles. The first doctor could do his laundry without burning it
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 18:07
|
|
|
Bicyclops posted:I'm American and we usually do that at Christmas I've never encountered it in all my life, but no part of my family is in any way British. Maybe that's it?
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 18:08
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 19, 2024 03:54 |
|
|
The Action Man posted:I've never encountered it in all my life, but no part of my family is in any way British. Maybe that's it? We're all Irish descendents, so maybe. Who knows? It could be a regional thing in the U.S.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2014 18:18
|
|