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Best Producer/Showrunner? This poll is closed. |
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| Verity Lambert |
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49 | 7.04% |
| John Wiles |
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1 | 0.14% |
| Innes Lloyd |
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1 | 0.14% |
| Peter Bryant |
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3 | 0.43% |
| Derrick Sherwin |
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3 | 0.43% |
| Barry Letts |
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12 | 1.72% |
| Phillip Hinchcliffe |
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62 | 8.91% |
| Graham Williams |
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3 | 0.43% |
| John Nathan-Turner |
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15 | 2.16% |
| Philip Segal |
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3 | 0.43% |
| Russel T Davies |
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106 | 15.23% |
| Steven Moffat |
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114 | 16.38% |
| Son Goku |
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324 | 46.55% |
| Total: | 696 votes | ||
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FreezingInferno posted:So hey there, you cool thread, you! I like Big Finish! I also like Sylvester McCoy! These two things have rarely intersected for me! Hell, I think the only 7 audios I've heard have been Dust Breeding, Colditz, and Master. UNIT: Dominion. The Fearmonger. Protect & Survive. Fires of Vulcan. Bang-Bang-A-Boom (if you're British). Any of the Klein stories. Gaz-L fucked around with this message at 01:03 on Aug 15, 2014 |
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Aug 15, 2014 01:00
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TL posted:There's some sort of Doctor Dance Party at the front of the theater. Where's the drat video?
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Aug 15, 2014 01:01
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TL posted:Wait, I see it...THE COAT! Here also - didn't realize they would be projecting fan art as the preshow :|
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Aug 15, 2014 01:02
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Rhyno posted:Where's the drat video? Hahaha, I'm way far back and it's dark. The Coat and the McCoy hats were all I could clearly make out.
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Aug 15, 2014 01:04
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Rhyno posted:Where's the drat video? Agreeing with Rhyno, where did I go wrong with my life?
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Aug 15, 2014 01:38
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Apologies if this has been posted before. Finally an actor to play the Doctor who not only has dropped acid, may still be tripping balls! http://youtu.be/i5zhExXiL8A
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Aug 15, 2014 01:46
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FreezingInferno posted:So hey there, you cool thread, you! I like Big Finish! I also like Sylvester McCoy! These two things have rarely intersected for me! Hell, I think the only 7 audios I've heard have been Dust Breeding, Colditz, and Master. The Fearmonger, The Fires of Vulcan, The Harvest. The last one introduces a new companion, Hex, who's pretty cool from what I've heard so far.
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Aug 15, 2014 02:47
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 Trapped on a dying world, the Doctor and Charley come face-to-face with those responsible for the war to end wars, while C'rizz tries to understand what has happened and learns the terrible truth. Powerful forces are at work on Bortresoye that not even a nuclear holocaust can tame; natural forces that have excited the interest of Excelsior, the self-proclaimed saviour of her people. With Charley immobilised and C'rizz left to battle against the elements with some of the victims of war, one final, desperate hope of escape presents itself to the travellers. But who will be the last to leave the planet? Who will have to stay behind? And will the Doctor, Charley and C'rizz live long enough to find out? Paul McGann is the Doctor in The Last. Cast Paul McGann (The Doctor) India Fisher (Charley Pollard) Conrad Westmaas (C'Rizz) Stephen Perring (The Kro'Ka) Carolyn Jones (Excelsior) Ian Brooker (Minister Voss) Robert Hines (Minister Tralfinial) Richard Derrington (Landscar) Tom Eastwood (Requiem) Jane Hills (Nurse) John Dorney (Make-Up Assistant) Written By: Gary Hopkins Directed By: Gary Russell Trailer – http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/popout/the-last-228 X X X X X Star Trek: Voyager. Reset button. Most science fiction fans immediately remember the correlation between the two. Star Trek: Voyager was a series on the American network UPN from 1995 to 2001. A Federation starship, USS Voyager, was transported to the far side of the known universe, and then some, by a mysterious being. Forced to ally with a group of terrorist and insurgents, Voyager travelled through the unknown and unmapped Delta Quadrant, encountering strange beings and unknown alien races as they tried to make their way back home. It was a great concept, and one that had the potential to make for some great television. Sadly, the number of “great” or even “good” Star Trek: Voyager episodes could be counted on two hands, and that’s being generous. The show played it incredibly safe through its run, downplaying tensions between the Federation personnel and Maquis terrorists. While new villains and alien species were introduced, the show’s main villains ended up being the Borg, who showed up time and time again in the classic case of “going to the well one too many times.” Most disappointing of all, the writers had a tendency to push the “reset button” at the end of each episode. The crew would experiencing something that caused a massive physical change, or run short of critical supplies, or even go through some horrible emotional or mental experience. But by the end of the episode, everything would be back to normal. The characters would act no different and the events of the episodes were rarely mentioned again. This was no more prevalent than the two-part episode Year of Hell, which showed the Voyager slowly being beaten and worn out, its crew being killed by constant attacks by an alien race and the very ship itself being cannibalized for parts. It was very good television and one of the best two-parters Star Trek ever did. But it was all ruined by the climax, where thanks to the actions of two Starfleet officers, everything that happened over the past “year” was wiped away, with not a SINGLE member of the crew remembering anything that happened and the point-of-divergence for the whole “Year of Hell” being handwaved away with one or two lines of dialogue. What could have been an episode with long-term ramifications, with the memories of everything haunting the crew, was wiped away with a few simple temporal mechanics . It’s perhaps the biggest “reset button” offender of the show’s entire run. (There IS the episode Threshold which is a big case of “pushing the reset button,”, but this episode was so bad, even the creator of the show declared it non-canon. It makes Timelash look like Robot.) When The Last was released in October 2004, this was the big cry from the Big Finish faithful. Even to this day, many people deride this episode as “the serial with the major reset button.” While, as one could probably tell by the fact that I opened up this review with a Star Trek: Voyager reference, The Last does contain a hitting of the reset button, it’s actually done so in a way that reveals to the Doctor a BIG piece of the puzzle that is the Divergent Universe. The story itself is very strong, an anti-war screed that doesn’t pull any punches, and there are several scenes that catch the listener completely off-guard. The play’s success is almost held back, however, by some slightly off-kilter performances from two of the regular players. The war is over on Bortresoye, and Excelsior stands triumphant with her victorious people. At least, that’s what the Ministers tell her. Safely hidden below the surface in a secure bunker, her two surviving advisors Trafinial and Voss do their best to hide the truth from her; the war has turned the entire planet in a nuclear wasteland. The Doctor, Charley, and C’rizz experience this first hand as they arrive in a dead city from the Interzone. Soon separated by a collapsing building, C’rizz finds a group of survivors in the ruins, while the Doctor and Charley, trapped under a beam, are rescued and brought into the bunker at the behest of Landscar, the third and most trusted of Excelsior’s surviving advisors. During their rescue, however, Charley and the Doctor realize an awful truth; the beam has crushed her spine from the neck down, and she will never walk again. As the Doctor swears to find a way to cure her, C’rizz leads the survivors to the bunker. Around them, the planet enters its death throes, ravaged beyond repair by the actions of its inhabitants. The means to escape the planet are present, but who will survive, and who will be left behind? The Last was the last of four audio plays I listened to on a round-trip from Washington, DC to Orlando, Florida. It’s the one that stuck with me the most out of the four, made a bit more relevant by the fact that I was driving through North Carolina and Virginia during the play’s runtime; two American states that are very pro-military, to the extent that North Carolina proudly proclaims it on its “Welcome to North Carolina” signs. With the exception of Robert Shearman and Scherzo and the finale of the Divergent Universe arc, The Next Life, all of the Divergent Universe stories have been written by first-time Big Finish writers. Gary Hopkins is no exception. The Last is the first of several audios Hopkins will pen, and it’s the first to fully embrace the Divergent Universe since the arc’s opening story. While Faith Stealer plays with the concept a little bit, The Last dives right in with a story that could ONLY take place in the Divergent Universe. Hopkins gives us an anti-war screed that borders just a little bit on preachy, but not enough to annoy the listener. He pulls no punches with the descriptions of the blasted wasteland or the tough choices the survivors must be willing to make. The final moments of the third episode in particular were an absolute gut punch, done in a way that made no mistake about what actually happened. It was both brutal and brilliant at the same time. If one were to look just at the script alone, The Last would be one of the best episode of Big Finish’s run, up there with pieces such as Creatures of Beauty or A Death in the Family. Sadly, the script doesn’t exist in a vacuum. For some reason, Paul McGann seems just a bit off with his performance in this story. McGann will grab hold of a solid script and refuse to let it go, as seen with The Chimes of Midnight or The Natural History of Fear. Here, we have a Doctor who has been beaten, battered, bruised (physically, mentally, emotionally) and is now stranded on a dying planet with little hope of escape and his companions injured or missing. If one were to go by dialogue along, Hopkins seems to have the best “grip” on the Doctor during his time in the Divergent Universe; weary, at the end of his rope, but with anger and frustration just under the surface, pushed on and on by his urge to never, ever give up. For some of The Last’s run time, McGann shows that smoldering fire, but at other times, where he should have cut loose and let that rage and sense of futility boil forth, he was just incredibly bland with his delivery. I don’t know if McGann was tired or just having an off-day when they recorded this story, because when he quietly tells Charley how sorry he is at the dramatically appropriate moment, it doesn’t come off as dramatic appropriate. The same comes when he claims that he could kill Excelsior, something the Doctor rarely says. McGann just sounds utterly bored by the whole mess; not desperate, not a Time Lord who’s finally run out of “give a drat,” but an actor who just wants the session over with. One could make the case that the nature of Bortresoye is the reason for the Doctor acting how he does, but it’s a weak reason. The Last sees McGann turn in a good performance, but after hearing the story, I was bummed that it wasn’t the great one it could have been. I will say, however, McGann’s weary “what the hell” near the story’s end was delivered in a way that everyone who’s ever made that kind of decision will absolutely relate to. “Screw it, let’s just see what happens.” I joked that Faith Stealer saw Charley with very little to do. In The Last, she spends a good portion of the serial lying down!  Injured in the opening act, Charley is paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of the story’s runtime. One would think that the Edwardian Adventuress would be upset, spitting nails and vowing that she’ll do whatever it takes to get back on her feet. Instead, what we get is a Charley who…gives up. The woman who stowed away on the R-101, who threatened to slit her wrists to free the Doctor from Edward Grove, the woman who stared down Zagreus and flung herself into the Divergent Universe because the Doctor shouldn’t be alone…gives up. She tells the Doctor “it’s alright, I’ve accepted it.” Acceptance of her condition happens way too fast. Charley shouldn’t be bubbly and happy five minutes after finding out she’s paralyzed for the rest of her life. This is the major misstep in Hopkins’ script and something that director Gary Russell and India Fisher should have ironed out with him before production. This is the moment that made me realize that, at least with audios, it should be the Doctor and one companion over the long-term. Charley has been given the back seat during most of the Divergent Universe arc and her character progression has suffered as a result. Now, I say this while knowing that the Seven/Dorothy/Hex trio will be incredibly awesome, but with Eight, Charley and C’rizz just haven’t been written properly enough for them to gel and come off as a functional TARDIS crew. It’s funny that I say that, because Conrad Westmaas is great in The Last. C’rizz gets the chance to emote like crazy, wondering if he’s going insane because of the group of survivors he found and the fact that no one else can see them! When push comes to shove at the end, it’s C’rizz who stands up for Charley (no pun intended this time), and his verbal sparring and rage against Excelsior are among the best moments C’rizz has put thus far. C’rizz still isn’t quite growing on me and I’m really wanting things to go back to the Doctor and Charley, but I will give credit to Conrad Westmaas for doing the heavy lifting out of the three in this story. And the truth of the survivor’s leader Requiem, and the fact that only C’rizz can see him, sets up events for the arc’s finale, The Next Life. It’s a great supporting cast, one of the best that Big Finish managed to put together up to that point. What makes it more impressive is that, aside from Ian Brooker, the other cast members only have a handful of Big Finish appearances between then! Brooker has appeared in several audios including Embrace the Darkness and The Time of the Daleks, while his counterpart, Robert Hines, makes his only appearance with Big Finish in this story. Both of them play the part of political advisors seeking to save their own necks very well, only giving the right amount of correct information to Excelsior and “lying by omission” to save their necks, squabbling for those little pieces of power in a world already gone to hell. Requiem, the ghost of a planetary archivist with an anvil-esque name, is played by Tom Eastwood in his only Big Finish appearance. He does a fine job interacting with C’rizz, a plot point that becomes very important during The Next Life, as the tortured leader of the planet’s ghost. Speaking of the planet, with another conspicuous name like Landscar, it’s no surprise that Richard Derrington, bucking the trend by starring in a previous Big Finish production before this one (The Harvest), is Bortresoye’s avatar, representing a world ruined by humans and ushering it towards its final end via whispered advice to its leader. And indeed, it’s another Big Finish newcomer, Carolyn Jones, who absolutely crushes it as Excelsior, the deranged, delusion, and psychotic leader of Bortresoye’s blasted remains. Part the regality of Queen Victoria, part the iron will of Margaret Thatcher, and part the insanity of Queen Elizabeth from Blackadder II, Jones plays the unhinged leader who lives in her own reality and will kill anyone to maintain that illusion. Strong in voice and speech and firm in conviction, Excelsior is one of the best female antagonists across the entire Doctor Whocontinuity. She’s the best type of villain; the kind who believes completely and utterly that every action they take is justified. Excelsior spends a good bit of time primping her make-up and worrying about the delivery of her grand victory speech to her (non-existent) subjects. But when she shows her dark side, it packs a major wallop. Her casual threats towards her surviving advisors, her dismissal of the deaths of other survivors in the bunker; Jones’ delivery puts them a cut above most other Big Finish villains. But it’s her big moment in episode three, when it’s just her and Charley, that is absolutely chilling and played perfectly, utterly, ruthlessly straight. Jones would go on to appear in the I, Davros range, but maybe it’s for the best that this is her only main range appearance. It would be nearly impossible for Jones to be any better than she is in The Last. I’ve read a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction in my time (I highly recommend Robert McCammon’s novel Swan Song as a great example of this genre) and David Darlington’s sound work here is the “soundtrack” I always imagined and now never want to hear again. He hits the right notes with both the ruins of the city and the claustrophobic bunker. We have whipping winds, collapsing buildings, boots crunching over rubble, all done in an incredibly unnerving and disturbing manner. Then we have the echoes of the stone tomb the survivors inhabit, along with the sounds of water breaking in and the desperate flight from the flood. The music is a few dramatic stings, but the sound work is what truly stands out in this story. I opened this review talking about the “reset button.” The Last has been criticized for wasting a golden opportunity. It’s like Hopkins looked at the end of Warriors of the Deep and thought it was too optimistic, that “kill them all” was a challenge and not a guideline. But at the very end, things are back to…quasi-normal, but with major changes. That’s where I think people who complain about the “reset button” are missing the point of the story. The events of the story and the memories of all involved, save the Doctor’s, are wiped away, but in a manner that makes perfect sense. Finally, after audios and audios dancing around the topic, listeners finally get to know what’s so important about the Divergent Universe; everything repeats itself. Events, lives, people, places, they all happen again and again and again. Each time, little things are changed, but the end result is almost always the same. In this case, Bortresoye would always be depleted, nuked, and destroyed, no matter how many times the pattern was reset and the population allowed to try again without knowing of their previous mistakes. It wasn’t until the Doctor showed up that things truly and completely changed. This realization made me go back to consider my review of The Natural History of Fear. I said the Doctor’s presence didn’t matter, and I was wrong. His presence has mattered. And it’s no wonder that the three best stories in the Divergent Universe arc – Scherzo, The Natural History of Fear, The Last – all focus on this topic. The nature of the Interzone is explained, just what these “experiments” are supposed to be is laid out for the viewer to draw their conclusions, and the Doctor, finally armed with the proper knowledge, is ready to move on and confront the Kro’ka once and for all. It’s not hitting the “reset button.” It’s entering “THE DOCTOR” as a cheat code. Faith Stealer was the story that the season needed to open with; funny, a bit light-hearted, and brushing alongside different ideas and concepts. A complete 180 degrees from that story, The Last finally moves the Divergent Universe arc forward in a large manner. Events are set in motion, but with only two stories to go, things are beginning to feel a little rushed as Big Finish finds itself pressed for time. If the entirety of the Divergent Universe arc was up to the quality of this story and did just as fine a job of both touching about what make this reality so different and pushing the metaplot along, then I would be a bit bummed about the storyline only getting two seasons instead of three. As it stands, subpar performances from McGann and Fisher aside, The Last is a great story that I would rank below only Scherzo as the best Divergent Universe story, but I'm also ready for the arc to end and things to get back to normal.  Synopsis – The Last is the story the Divergent Universe arc needed; it’s different, it’s brutal, it gives C’rizz some more character development, it contains a great antagonist, and most importantly it finally pulls back the curtain on a major aspect of this new reality the Doctor finds himself in. 4/5 Next up - Threatened and desperate, the Kro'ka abandons his behind-the-scenes machinations to confront the Doctor directly. But will both of them lose their way in the maze of the strange world in which they find themselves? Paul McGann is the Doctor in…Caerdroia.
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Aug 15, 2014 03:10
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Re: Year of Hell
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Aug 15, 2014 03:19
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CobiWann posted:
I enjoyed the story and I agree that it is the first story since Scherzo that actually makes proper use of the Divergent Universe's so-called lack of time, but there is a real failure to separate the effected inhabitants of the planet with the outsiders like the Doctor, Charley and C'Rizz. Characterization in the story is poor, obvious changes to the status quo go unquestioned - when it's just Excelsior, the Doctor and C'Rizz left there is no reason why they would continue to pander to her whims etc. I think it is one of the better Divergent Arc stories, but 4/5 seems a bit high to me. The Doctor's "oh what the hell!" moment really is fantastic though.
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Aug 15, 2014 03:25
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jng2058 posted:It was pretty much like going to any other movie. I talked to the buddy who got us the tickets, other people talked with their friends. Then the episode started and we all shut up to watch it. People cheered or laughed at appropriate moments, gasped when Tom appeared, then it ended and we all went home. Edited your post to remove the non-relevant points to save space. I guess I simply assumed that it would be more like a Rocky Horror showing than any other movie premiere, and that to me sounded incredibly annoying. I don't want people yelling at the screen and making HILARIOUS in-jokes with their buddies...but then again, I made that assumption based on..oh...nothing at all, I guess. So that's what I am afraid of. People dressing in cosplay and having a good time, no problem! Hell, I cosplayed as Tennant for Halloween (it was an easy costume when you own a close enough suit!) when I was just getting into the show - I'm incredibly embarrassed. Not by my cosplay, but by my choice of Doctor. I just got really bothered by being 'called to the carpet' (so to speak) for drawing the line at MY level of fandom, when in reality I don't feel like that is it at all. I'm a huge nerd. But I don't wear a scarf in 90 degrees just because it's a Doctor Who thing, ya dig? If it's cold enough for it, sure I'll bust it out..but only because it has utility, not because it's MAH IDENTITY AS A WHOVIAN. I hope that clears up something that no one was actually wondering about! But regardless of everyone else moving on (or not caring in the first place) for some reason I felt the need to justify myself. And then the need to justify justifying myself...OK I'll just call it quits now and go watch some Doctor Who!
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Aug 15, 2014 04:01
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I always imagined C’rizz with lobster claws.
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Aug 15, 2014 04:09
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I politely asked Diabolik and TL (who I eventually caught up with) to NOT spoil you all on this: THIS IS A THING THAT HAPPENED!!! More pictures and stories and stuff to come over the coming days, but I can tell you all this: I was stopped for photo-taking so many times over the past 12-ish hours, I lost count entirely. Now I have to scour Instagram, Tumblr, et cetera for those images. ALSO I GOT INTERVIEWED BY LINDALEE ROSE, I HAVE PEAKED IN DOCTOR WHO FANDOM!!!
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Aug 15, 2014 04:47
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Please tell me you let at least one of the McCoy's run around in your coat to re-enact the beginning of Time and The Rani...
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Aug 15, 2014 04:53
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DoctorWhat posted:I politely asked Diabolik and TL (who I eventually caught up with) to NOT spoil you all on this: How'd it feel to be face to face with a fan who saw that coat come to life in REAL TIME on tv? Oh and I hear he does something or other now. Likely not important.
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Aug 15, 2014 04:57
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Astroman posted:Please tell me you let at least one of the McCoy's run around in your coat to re-enact the beginning of Time and The Rani... I'm afraid not, it didn't occur to me. But you can have this!  This is from the BBC America Instagram feed - I actually HOPPED OVER THE RAILING to "give chase" to Seven over here, ad-libbing lines like "I can't BEGIN to believe I could EVER regenerate into someone so CALLOUS and MANIPULATIVE" as I followed him down the street. It was a hit!!!\ What a day. I think I've peaked.
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Aug 15, 2014 04:59
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Well that all sounds like a blast 
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Aug 15, 2014 05:07
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oh my god, my face in this is as close as I've ever gotten to a particulat favored expression of Colin Baker: If anyone can find the specific image/gif of Six I'm inadvertently recreating, that'd be incredible. DoctorWhat fucked around with this message at 05:15 on Aug 15, 2014 |
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Aug 15, 2014 05:09
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Peaked? Dude, you start perming your hair and this poo poo is gonna explode for you.
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Aug 15, 2014 05:14
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I'm seriously considering it for NYCC and LI Who.
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Aug 15, 2014 05:16
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DoctorWhat posted:I'm seriously considering it for NYCC and LI Who. Or maybe a wig? And if you dye your hair you can be 6 and Fake Colin-About-to-be-Seven!
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Aug 15, 2014 05:18
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A wig seems more likely.
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Aug 15, 2014 05:22
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DoctorWhat posted:A wig seems more likely. You should really take mu suggestion and darken your hair for that sweet Sly action as well.
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Aug 15, 2014 05:29
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I have no interest in doing Seven - as seen in that picture, I'm far too tall! Man, the height difference with that Seven was perfect. When more of the group photos hit the internet, I'll show more off.
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Aug 15, 2014 05:30
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My two cents: first, I loved the episode. Second, Jenna Coleman is ungodly beautiful. Three, there's nothing like seeing Doctor Who in an audience full of Whovians. Everyone laughs and cheers and gasps together, it's spectacular. Four, Peter Capaldi is a very soft spoken, but effortlessly charming man. Five, the Moff Steven was very funny. Fifth, LINDALEE! That was one of the highlights of the night. Sixth, the funniest part of the evening was the guy during the fan Q&A who referenced Fires of Pompeii, and referred to Capaldi as playing Julius Caesar. The audience didn't like that, and the poor guy looked mortified. Capaldi simply pointed towards the door. It was hilarious.
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Aug 15, 2014 05:47
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DoctorWhat posted:oh my god, my face in this is as close as I've ever gotten to a particulat favored expression of Colin Baker: Wait, are you bright coat bravado (or something like that) on tumblr? Because I just saw this picture.
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Aug 15, 2014 05:49
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THE VERY SAME! As more pictures and stuff make their way online, I'll be sharing the bulk of them there only, so as not to clog up this thread as we approach new-thread-day in a week or so. My Tumblr URL is https://bright-coat-and-bravado.tumblr.com DoctorWhat fucked around with this message at 05:53 on Aug 15, 2014 |
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Aug 15, 2014 05:50
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One last thing I forgot to mention, Chris Hardwick almost fell out of his chair and died.
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Aug 15, 2014 05:51
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No joke, I actually got approached - MULTIPLE TIMES - by a reporter for the Daily Mail, of all goddamn things, for an interview. I had to make it very clear, more than once, that I wasn't interested in contributing content to his "newspaper". He must have noticed how much attention I was getting from fans in and around the line.
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Aug 15, 2014 05:55
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TL posted:Chris Hardwick almost fell out of his chair and died. Tease. I can't stand Six, but that is a pretty impressive coat.
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Aug 15, 2014 05:56
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DoctorWhat posted:I have no interest in doing Seven - as seen in that picture, I'm far too tall! Bah! You're no fun!
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Aug 15, 2014 05:59
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THE COAT is even more spectacular in person. It has to be seen to be believed.
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Aug 15, 2014 06:00
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There was actually a SECOND PERSON THERE with a coat from the same supplier, but it was an earlier version with way-too-faded-looking red-tartan sections, and he didn't have the whole outfit.
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Aug 15, 2014 06:04
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DoctorWhat posted:There was actually a SECOND PERSON THERE with a coat from the same supplier, but it was an earlier version with way-too-faded-looking red-tartan sections, and he didn't have the whole outfit. And then you cut his head off because THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE. Right?
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Aug 15, 2014 06:06
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Rhyno posted:And then you cut his head off because THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE. You fool! Another could just pick up the (other) coat and gain its (flawed) power! You must burn it with alcoholic carrot juice.
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Aug 15, 2014 06:28
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DoctorWhat posted:I politely asked Diabolik and TL (who I eventually caught up with) to NOT spoil you all on this: You are absolutely adorable! (oh and that other guy is okay I guess????) Now that you're famous I hope you don't forget the stupid forum where your REAL fans are! Everythings sounds amazing and it's great you had a blast not dealing with The Fandom except for the Daily Mail reporter I guess because thet are obviously the true Who fans.
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Aug 15, 2014 07:28
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Potsticker posted:Now that you're famous I hope you don't forget the stupid forum where your REAL fans are! Don't let all this go to your head and forget to fix your sand shoes But no really that's pretty rad that you're a cosplay star, that coat will take you places.
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Aug 15, 2014 08:13
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DoctorWhat posted:No joke, I actually got approached - MULTIPLE TIMES - by a reporter for the Daily Mail, of all goddamn things, for an interview. Of all the excellent posts in this thread, this is the best one. Although I'd still expect to see you in the Mail with fabricated quotes.
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Aug 15, 2014 08:51
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The Unicorn and the Wasp is terrible, one of the worst episodes of Doctor Who ever made. Sure other stories have had more offensive or outright stupid content, but they at least had a degree of competence to the actual construction of the episode... to a greater or lesser extent they had basic three act structures, competent continuity editing, logical cause and effect relationships, characters that at least seemed concievable to exist within the world of the story etc. This plot is a poor rehash, the characters are ill-defined, scenes seem to exist independent of what came before or after, the emotional tone of the plot is all over the place, the CGI is awful, and the editing is piss-poor. It's awful. Everybody involved seems to have bought their C-game to the story, from script to direction to editing to acting to continuity issues. As a result, it's hard to point to any one particular person as being responsible, maybe it was purely a budgetary or time-restriction thing during a particular production block? It's directed by Graeme Harper who can usually be relied on at his very worst to direct a competently made episode. It's written by Gareth Roberts who wrote the excellent The Lodger. It's a "Doctor meets a famous writer" episode which in the revival have been usually reasonably watchable. It's got Tennant and Tate who retain their usual chemistry, and features a guest spot from Felicity Kendal that is absolutely wasted, but even the acting feels subpar. The story is basically a rehash of Roberts' season 3 story, The Shakespeare Code - the Doctor and companion meet a popular author and run into trouble with an alien, and supposedly rely on the author's creativity and sharp mind to help solve the day. There's even the same emotional beats of the author struggling with a crippling loss in their recent past (the death of Shakespeare's son, the end of Agatha Christie's marriage), but where TSC at least mostly left Shakespeare to turn his words into a weapon (with a minor helpful bit of plagiarism from Martha), in this story Christie is mostly sidelined with only lip-service paid to her intelligence and creative mind. Throughout the story she vacillates between reminding everybody she is only an author who shouldn't be considered the authority on solving a mystery, and eagerly taking part in the investigations. During the former, the Doctor warmly informs her that she has a brilliant mind and that she is the one who can solve this mystery. Without any indication of where the information comes from, we cut to a parlor scene where she suddenly begins laying out reasons why particular individuals are innocent (or guilty of other crimes)... and then when it comes down to actually solving the crime.... the Doctor steps in and completely takes over, while Christie stands in the background and listens along, just as much a spectator as everybody else. About the only crime she solved was the identity of the Unicorn, a completely redundant character who adds nothing to the story and promptly disappears from the narrative (as does everybody else). Christie's presence in the story is utterly wasted, and the happy message the Doctor gives to Donna about the longevity of Christie's work is completely wasted on her since Donna already knew Christie remained hugely popular for decades at least. Christie's concern about whether her work would last seems like no more than a cheap knock-off of what was handled far better in The Unquiet Dead with Charles Dickens, with Eccleston's quiet and surprised reply of,"Forever" to Dickens' question over how long he would be remembered. The basic premise of the story is that the Doctor and Donna have found themselves involved in a real life version of a Christie novel, with the author herself present. That means there are plenty of very broadly drawn characters and red herrings - but while there is a (poor) reason provided for why this scenario is unfolding, it does little to excuse how thinly drawn and one-dimensional the various characters are. They're all also thoroughly unpleasant, and the prospect of their potential deaths doesn't really illicit any response from me at all - they're basically props in the scenario, hell at one point Donna even points out that this is basically coming across as a real-life version of Cluedo (Clue for Americans). Perhaps appropriately for the setting and the scenario, the entire staff of the estate are almost entirely ignored as potential suspects or even victims, even though one of them is killed and the Butler is briefly put out as a red herring. It's odd that the Doctor would never think to question any of the kitchen or cleaning staff, he more than anybody else should know that everybody is important. There's an utterly embarrassing section where the suspects are questioned and each flashbacks (complete with shimmering screen wipe and sound effects  ) and give what are meant to be humorously misleading interpretations of what they were actually doing. In amongst these memories and the investigations are peppered the clues that Christie is supposedly picking up on but not bothering to mention till after the Doctor convinces her of her skill at deductive reasoning (she's a mystery writer, not a detective herself). It should be a good thing that these clues are present even when not pointed out, except that the editing of these revelations is so clumsily handled and laid out that they're either easily missed or absolutely open to multiple interpretations (particularly the scene where the Colonel falls out of his wheelchair, which we later learn was because he - unseen by everybody including the viewer! - stood up out of it). This comes to a head when the murderer is revealed (by the Doctor, not Christie) and a CGI monster knocks about in a room and then chases everybody to a boat leading to its death (for no reason) and apparent redemption (unseen and again without reason). That particular sequence is atrociously handled, sudden cuts and close-ups and plenty of exposition to cover up what was probably some VERY ropey CGI or a sudden realization of how over-budget they had gone. The acting of the supporting actors lives up to the depth of their characters... in that it is pretty shallow. It's not like they have much to work with, they're playing broad stereotypes and barely have any time to develop.... but one thing REALLY stands out. The final parlor scene is a scene full of misinterpretations, accusations, shock, tears and a ridiculous man making buzzing noises that would make the Menoptra cringe.... and the ENTIRE time it is going on, the entire time jokes are being made or people are making confessions or Donna is stuffing her face and repeatedly asking who the murderer is (which I admit I did find funny)..... LADY EDDISON AND COLONEL CURBISHLY'S SON IS DEAD! He's murdered during dinner, the only (acknowledged) son of the couple, and then they allow the Doctor to gather them in the parlor so Agatha Christie can play detective? All the excuses of "We're British" can't excuse how poor the writing in this section is, how badly it sweeps aside the fact that their son was murdered at most a few hours earlier. It's a problem present throughout the entire story, it can't decide what tone it wants to have - is it comedy? Parody? Mystery? Tragedy? Tale of redemption? It tries to be everything and ends up being nothing. All the deaths in the episode are treated in this cavalier manner, even the other guests seem to mostly treat it as a bit of a game and encourage Agatha Christie to try and solve it. The Wasp's death, as previously mentioned, is very clumsily handled. It also makes very little sense, I'm not entirely sure WHY it does - yes it leaps into the water after the necklace that Donna threw in, but why did it stay under? She reminds the Doctor that this is how its father was killed but that was being swept away by rushing floodwaters in a monsoon, which is quite a bit different from diving into a still lake. Even a regular wasp takes a fair bit to die under water, and why this one couldn't break the surface to get air or, you know, take human form again and simply swim or float out.... well that's never explained. It just leaps into the water and basically just dies. At the same time, Agatha Christie is apparently dying too because of her telepathic connection to the wasp... except she doesn't have a connection! The connection through the necklace was with Lady Eddison, and the obsession with Agatha Christie was because at the time the truth of its nature was revealed to it she was thinking of Agatha Christie and her novels. There is no actual connection between the two, and if her holding the necklace somehow caused it then why didn't it affect Donna or the Unicorn? This particular plot point is only there so that the Wasp can "release" Christie, serving both to give her amnesia and to give the Wasp a redemption that was completely undeserved and unearned (and unseen, the Doctor has to explain it all through exposition). The Doctor and Donna jump ahead in time 10 days and drop Agatha off at the Swan Hotel with no memory of where she has been or what she has done. The other guests can apparently be relied on never to say a word about either her presence or the alien because "it wouldn't be British" to air their dirty laundry in public.... of course three people are still dead and I imagine at least one of the forgotten servants would have been happy to sell the story given the huge attention that Christie's disappearance got at the time. The Doctor shows Donna a Christie novel published in the year 5 Billion to prove to her (who didn't need to know) that Christie's novels would always remain famous, and thankfully they move on and leave this utterly awful episode behind them. To end things on a positive note - the charades scene where the Doctor tries to negate the effects of cyanide is genuinely funny. It's also very stupid and introduces an ability of the Doctor's not seen before or since, but it's a scene where the chemistry between Tennant and Tate shines through, and is the positive memory I will always associate with this episode while I try to forget every other part of it. Thank God the library 2-parter is next.
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Aug 15, 2014 09:08
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Fil5000 posted:Of all the excellent posts in this thread, this is the best one. Although I'd still expect to see you in the Mail with fabricated quotes. "A suspected illegal immigrant in an offensively garish coat, possibly reflecting the insidious gay agenda, was unavailable for comment..."
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Aug 15, 2014 09:14
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