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Stobbit posted:So after years of reading this thread and skimming over audio discussion, I've finally taken the Big Finish Plunge. Big Finish does improve as it goes on - if you want to go for just the really good ones in that first fifty then I'd skip ahead to Holy Terror, maybe Dust Breeding, Colditz, Chimes of Midnight (maybe listen to Storm Warning before that one though), Spare Parts, ...ish, Jubilee, Creatures of Beauty and Davros. If none of THOSE do anything for you then yeah, give up. Also McCoy doesn't get too many great audios in the first 50. His first really good one comes with The Harvest which is 58.
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Aug 14, 2015 09:21
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Yeah, going in order is a laudable goal but it'll sour you on Big Finish pretty fast - it was produced at an odd time in the Wilderness Years, and they were finding their way as they went along. I'd just pick out the stuff that interests you from the descriptions and see what you think, and if you end up becoming a big fan you can always go back and relisten to those early ones you skipped and see if you missed any gold along the way. Cobi and I have reviews indexed on the first page of the thread if you want to look at any of those for guidance, though of course all that will tell you is the stories that WE liked, not necessarily the ones that you will.
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Aug 14, 2015 09:26
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What Big Finish did in its early days was take quite a while to find their feet. Out of the first 10, I thought The Genocide Machine was probably about the best (although looking at Lanyon Moor, I remember nothing about it). The next 10 contain Fires of Vulcan, Holy Terror and Storm Warning, so that's arguably when BF started working out what was going right for them.
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Aug 14, 2015 09:49
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But it does also have noted bad episode minuet
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Aug 14, 2015 09:54
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Little_wh0re posted:But it does also have noted bad episode minuet At least Minuet is good-bad though. It's never boring, it's just bewildering.
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Aug 14, 2015 10:08
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I only know of it by reputation
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Aug 14, 2015 10:14
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Early Big Finish consists of a group of actors, crew, and writers all trying to find their feet in a brand new format, and it shows with how uneven their early work is. There aren't really any stories that I found truly 100% bad (well, there are three, but everyone knows Minuet, you get to find the other two for yourself!), but definitely some that were boring, dull, or just not my taste. In my opinion, they had a few early successes (The Fearmonger, The Fires of Vulcan, The Holy Terror) before hitting a bit of an early stride around Storm Warning/The Eye of the Scorpion with a few clunkers tossed in, lost their way around the time of Zagreus with the news of the revival series and Christopher Eccleston being cast, found it again around Thicker Than Water/The Kingmaker, and have been doing pretty well ever since. That said, diving right in makes you a very brave man. Even though I started with Spare Parts and Storm Warning, it took me about three months to give Sword of Orion a try, and it was a long Fourth of July weekend roundabout road trip that got me through the first six audios, and this is coming from someone who grew up on old time radio and the audio format. My advice to you is to pick and choose what interests YOU. There are some classics, there are some hidden gems, there are some bad stories, there are one or two truly horrible ones, and there are a good bit of "eh/blah/it's alright to me" stories, especially in the first 50. There is something for everyone, but it's a very rare person who likes EVERY story in the first 50... As for McCoy? He takes a while to get used to the audio format, and strikes me as the type of actor who a script helps to elevate as opposed to an actor who can elevate a script. He's got some good stories (The Fires of Vulcan, Colditz) but it's not until Hex shows up in The Harvest that McCoy really starts to click, and it rolls over into other audios as well (such as the Seven/Mel story Red).
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Aug 14, 2015 10:21
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I liked The Land of the Dead.
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Aug 14, 2015 10:41
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Davros1 posted:I liked The Land of the Dead. So did I. The first two episodes were a bit of a drag to get through but it REALLY picked up in the back half. Davison and Sutton always had an underrated chemistry in my mind.
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Aug 14, 2015 13:25
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I just finished watching Robot and yeah, although I was warned about the effects.. yowch. If anyone in the thread can remember watching it when it aired, was it considered cutting edge at the time or has it been dodgy for 40 years?
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Aug 14, 2015 13:38
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Sadly Land of the Dead just didn't do it for me, nothing abut it really grabbed me at all and I still don't think the Doctor/Nyssa companionship really works as a duo. About the only exception is 100, and maybe Primeval.Espilae posted:I just finished watching Robot and yeah, although I was warned about the effects.. yowch. If anyone in the thread can remember watching it when it aired, was it considered cutting edge at the time or has it been dodgy for 40 years? I remember watching it in the 80s (so not quite the original airdate) and even by then the effects were pretty cringeworthy.
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Aug 14, 2015 13:39
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Ehhh it was only really in the late 70's with Star Wars that special effects really came big. It wouldn't have looked good, but it would have looked less bad
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Aug 14, 2015 15:26
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Fil5000 posted:Now let's explain UNIT dating... Stobbit posted:As an addendum - does Sylvester McCoy ever reach a point where it doesn't feel like he's sitting in a booth absentmindedly reading words off a piece of paper? His performances have been kinda lacking so far, which is a shame because I really like the Seventh Doctor. Dr. Gene Dango MD fucked around with this message at 16:42 on Aug 14, 2015 |
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Aug 14, 2015 15:50
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Espilae posted:I just finished watching Robot and yeah, although I was warned about the effects.. yowch. If anyone in the thread can remember watching it when it aired, was it considered cutting edge at the time or has it been dodgy for 40 years? It looks much worse now, but even back then it was about as cheap as you could get. I've mentioned it before, but there was a contemporary sci fi show, UltraSeven, that had much better effects work in comparison to either Doctor Who or Star Trek. Part of that was because it was made by the Special Effects master of Japan at the height of his career. While there would be some dodgy effects, never would it be.... PUSH THE TOY TANK INTO FRAME
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Aug 14, 2015 16:43
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qntm posted:There's a duplicate Earth, almost identical to the first, with almost exactly the same people living on it and a very similar history. The Doctor lands there by accident about one time in four. He hasn't noticed yet. Everyone knows that. Eventually UNIT becomes the Cybermen, after all.
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Aug 14, 2015 16:45
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Posted by Colin Baker on Twitter @SawbonesHex: Just received and opened The Last Adventure. Ooooh. The Welsh would say it was 'lush'! What a brilliantly put together piece of fabulousness @SawbonesHex: Seems odd to talk about one's own demise in glowing terms but even though I know what happens- I'm really excited (unusual for me) @bigfinish @SawbonesHex: @bigfinish The four story old Sixie epic denouement is simply glorious - thank you all @BriggsNicholas @RichardsonBF @JHaigh_Ellery
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Aug 14, 2015 17:48
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Stobbit posted:So after years of reading this thread and skimming over audio discussion, I've finally taken the Big Finish Plunge. Hahahahaha. Yes. People will tell you that the early stuff is some of their worst and don't get me wrong, it is, but Big Finish never gets over its really bad signal to noise ratio. Ask for recommendations and cherry pick or your experience will never improve. Chairman Mao fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Aug 14, 2015 |
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Aug 14, 2015 20:25
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The Dark Side will never stand a chance: http://www.scififantasynetwork.com/tom-baker-cast-in-star-wars/
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Aug 14, 2015 21:27
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Davros1 posted:The Dark Side will never stand a chance: Oh snap. That's awesome.
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Aug 14, 2015 21:34
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Davros1 posted:The Dark Side will never stand a chance: But if fear is a constant companion and fear leads to anger and anger leads to hate and hate leads to the dark side are we all screwed?
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Aug 14, 2015 22:41
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Davros1 posted:The Dark Side will never stand a chance: That is so freaking cool. There's also a story about Sylvester McCoy getting down to the last two for being cast in the LOTR trilogy before they went with Ian Holm. I'd like to think it is because the last scene they did with him had him declare,"I'm off on a grrrrrrrrrand adventure, to Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrivendell!"
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Aug 15, 2015 00:05
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MrL_JaKiri posted:Ehhh it was only really in the late 70's with Star Wars that special effects really came big. Star Wars was pretty unique in that it actually looked good and still looks good today (even without all that 'special edition' stuff). I've watched a lot of sci-fi from the same time and in most of them the special effects are laughable and they look dated to that era.
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Aug 15, 2015 03:00
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I don't know if I can think of a movie with better special effects than Star Wars, honestly. Maybe Alien and Aliens? Even Tim Burton's Batman, more than a decade later, has some terrible miniature shots (but terrible in the way they make you go "aww," not "ew"). Doctor Who's got a couple of high marks: the design of the Daleks, the robots in Robots of Death, the swamp in Planet of Evil. But even there Star Wars trumps Who because the Dagobah set might be the best looking set of all time.
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Aug 15, 2015 03:13
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2001 ranks up there. The matte lines and such are near invisible because of how insanely meticulous Kubrick was.
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Aug 15, 2015 04:06
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That said, I'd love to see what Star Wars and 2001 look like when given the TNG HD treatment, even just as an experiment. (For the Star Trek TNG blu-rays they went back and dug up the original film of models against bluescreens, scanned it in HD and recomposited it with modern matte and colour corrections and it looks loving incredible. Example. Obviously the movies are already HD but I'd love to see what a re-matte could do)
MikeJF fucked around with this message at 08:42 on Aug 15, 2015 |
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Aug 15, 2015 05:32
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Rochallor posted:I don't know if I can think of a movie with better special effects than Star Wars, honestly. Maybe Alien and Aliens? Even Tim Burton's Batman, more than a decade later, has some terrible miniature shots (but terrible in the way they make you go "aww," not "ew"). I always thought the first Jurassic Park looked great (for the most part).
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Aug 15, 2015 06:28
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Maxwell Lord posted:2001 ranks up there. Yeah, 2001 still looks incredible to this day, and it was made in nineteen sixty-eight 
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Aug 15, 2015 08:34
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Jerusalem posted:Yeah, 2001 still looks incredible to this day, and it was made in nineteen sixty-eight Same for Aliens - 1986 and it's STILL one of the best looking action/horror/sci-fi movies ever. Cameron might be a dick to work with but he's a wizard behind the camera.
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Aug 15, 2015 10:01
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CobiWann posted:Same for Aliens - 1986 and it's STILL one of the best looking action/horror/sci-fi movies ever. Cameron might be a dick to work with but he's a wizard behind the camera. Actually a decent number of late 70s/early 80s holds up pretty well effects wise. Maybe I just like the aesthetic but Silent Running, The Black Hole and that sort of thing still looks pretty good to me.
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Aug 15, 2015 10:10
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Star Trek: The Motion Picture still looks great, too
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Aug 15, 2015 13:26
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MrL_JaKiri posted:Star Trek: The Motion Picture still looks great, too Not... really. They had massive trouble with the lights coming off the pearlescent paintjob on the Enterprise and they had to underlight the model and use an unconventional matte technique to compensate and it kinda shows. It's really washed out and low-contrast and there's still pretty heavy matte lines at times (look at the bit below where it's coming in front of earth, just before the sun flares). And they just weren't able to actually capture the effect in the end - it was meant to glimmer with colours as light played across the sheen.    compare that last to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p1hxvPOIhE Honestly, of all the films I'd like to see get the TNG HD effect, it's TMP the most, because they could probably use computer matteing and digital colour correction to make that thing sing. Maybe even bring out the pearlescence. (Which was painted over in subsequent films). That said, it still looks drat incredible just because of how wonderful the actual design and detailing on the Enterprise Refit itself was. Despite being designed in the 70s, it would absolutely look in-place in a film today. (In my opinion , anyway) It's timeless and the quality of detail on the model is just insane. ...sorry, you said Star Trek and set me off. Please return to your regular Doctor Who discussion. MikeJF fucked around with this message at 14:52 on Aug 15, 2015 |
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Aug 15, 2015 14:12
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Jerusalem posted:Yeah, 2001 still looks incredible to this day, and it was made in nineteen sixty-eight 2001 was the high water mark of science fiction special effects for about four decades.
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Aug 15, 2015 14:20
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qntm posted:2001 was the high water mark of science fiction special effects for about four decades. I should really pick up the remaster they did last year. It'll be nice to see it with space actually black rather than grey. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfF0vxKZRhc
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Aug 15, 2015 14:23
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I think a lot of the creature effects (not all of them) in The Thing still look pretty good.
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Aug 15, 2015 15:34
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No matter how good your effects are, producing something completely alien like the Thing will always look dodgy in places. The Fly also has good special effects
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Aug 15, 2015 15:48
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Phil Hartnoll from Orbital on what he'd do with the theme tune:  Give this man a job.
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Aug 15, 2015 18:16
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Fil5000 posted:Actually a decent number of late 70s/early 80s holds up pretty well effects wise. Maybe I just like the aesthetic but Silent Running, The Black Hole and that sort of thing still looks pretty good to me. You just dropped a Silent Running reference.  I think that era of film making had a bunch of very clever crewman who did amazing things...then CGI came about, and people did amazing things (Terminator 2) before studios had an excuse to get lazy and cheap. Just look at how much better 1981's Escape From New York looks as opposed to 1997's Escape from L.A..
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Aug 15, 2015 18:16
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Wolfechu posted:Phil Hartnoll from Orbital on what he'd do with the theme tune: I definitely think it's time the Doctor Who theme got experimental and actively bizarre-sounding again.
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Aug 15, 2015 18:30
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Wolfechu posted:Phil Hartnoll from Orbital on what he'd do with the theme tune: gently caress, I love when Orbital are given tricky commissions.  Guys, any chance you could come out of retirement to do a thing for the opening ceremony of the Paralympics? We're thinking that it should be themed on the large hadron collider and start with an introduction by Stephen Hawking and have an interlude of a disabled theatre company* singing Ian Dury's pub-rock punk protest song 'Spasticus Autisticus' and gandalf should be in it waving a placard. Oh and we're going to finish up with a giant inflatable sculpture of a naked pregnant woman with phocomelia. Sure, sounds like a laughhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfmpxaLl6c4 * for Who connections - the Graeae theatre company that was founded by Nabil Shaban who played Sil. One Swell Foop fucked around with this message at 18:45 on Aug 15, 2015 |
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Aug 15, 2015 18:40
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CobiWann posted:You just dropped a Silent Running reference. Silent Running rules. Also you could totally drop the doctor into exactly that storyline and... Well it'd play out the same wouldn't it?
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Aug 15, 2015 19:39
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