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Trin Tragula posted:I'm waiting for a bit more information to leak out about the upcoming series so I can do an OP worth having. Kate Stewart is back. Yawn.
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Feb 18, 2015 20:13
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 01:17 |
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Lets have a section for Audio-Drama in the OP this time around.
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Feb 18, 2015 20:14
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Trin Tragula posted:I'm waiting for a bit more information to leak out about the upcoming series so I can do an OP worth having. Why change policy now
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Feb 18, 2015 20:28
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If there is a hiatus thread, please title it "Radio dramas, reproductions and stage plays" to scare everyone away, or at least anger the two people who complain about it.
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Feb 18, 2015 20:41
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Doctor Who – More fun than a barrel full of telepathic monkeys Doctor Who – A scarf, a coat, a cup of tea, and a jammy dodger Doctor Who – The New Jerusalem (the last one regenerated into Jack Davenport) Doctor Who – River Song Appreciation Station Doctor Who – The Angels have the thread Doctor Who – We swear, “Warriors of the Deep” is THAT bad! Doctor Who – It’s us. We’re all the Valeyard Doctor Who – “Torchwood” is one of the best BBC dramas in recent years Doctor Who – Nothing but Fifth Doctor avatars Doctor Who – New posters get a free copy of “The Chimes of Midnight!” Doctor Who – “Why, was he an idiot?” Doctor Who – Plastic Rory is better than Plastic Mickey Doctor Who – More fun than a barrel full of telepathic monkeys Doctor Who – You never forget your first Doctor. Unless you’re Donna Noble
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Feb 18, 2015 20:51
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Doctor Who - a Spin-off of the critically acclaimed Torchwood. Doctor Who - Featuring the Biggest Finish! Doctor Who - This is the Cyberman of the Doctor Who threads
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Feb 18, 2015 21:02
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Doctor Who - apparently only 4 BRCTs per poster
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Feb 18, 2015 21:06
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Thread's due for a title change but most of those are terrible. (could live with "why? was he an idiot?") Maybe a title about missy would be good since she was the talk of last season but I'm too tired to think of a good one.
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Feb 18, 2015 21:07
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Dr. Who - Bring back Ten and Rose to the Tardis!
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Feb 18, 2015 21:40
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Doctor Who: Our Hivemind Can't Even Agree on a Thread Title
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Feb 18, 2015 21:49
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The Leisure Hive-Mind
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Feb 18, 2015 21:51
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The Hivemind of Evil
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Feb 18, 2015 21:58
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Oh look. Rocks.
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Feb 18, 2015 22:13
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CobiWann posted:Oh look. Rocks. /thread
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Feb 18, 2015 22:24
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Doctor Who - It's not IF Moffat peaked, it's WHEN
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Feb 18, 2015 22:40
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CobiWann posted:Oh look. Rocks. This. This is the title. Make it this.
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Feb 18, 2015 22:58
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Forktoss posted:The Hivemind of Evil The Hivemind ... Of Death *Twang* In Big Finish news: I finally got Ceardroia to extract properly and now I'm most of the way through Time Works. I think I'll go back and get through at least 6's cheap stories before I move on again with 8. What has this thread done to me ...
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Feb 19, 2015 00:14
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 Pier Pressure is a poorly structured mess of an audio, with an aimless story, weak characters, poor motivations and an unsatisfying conclusion. That all makes it sound worse than it really is, but this is a story that is - at best - passable, an entirely forgettable affair that does almost nothing to recommend it to listeners beyond completion's sake. It wastes the setting, the use of the guest character, and perhaps most criminally it wastes Colin Baker and Maggie Stables. The sound design is nothing special, the villain is shallowly written and - even worse - inconsistently so, and supporting characters drop in and out of the narrative with so little impact that those who die tend not to stand out any more than those who simply.... stop being in the story. The Doctor is in a tremendously sour mood, which highly amuses Evelyn who keeps needling him into cheering up which he stridently refuses to do, at one point complaining that she is "ruining" things because he actually wants to enjoy being in a foul mood. Being British, she suggests they take a trip to the seaside to cheer him up, and eagerly suggests Blackpool, which he is alarmed by, given the events of The Nightmare Fair, a previously planned TV story that would eventually be made as an audio by Big Finish. To his relief, the TARDIS instead lands in Brighton, where he is convinced it is the early 1980s - he's only 50 years off, which I imagine he would claim was excellent given how long eternity is, it's the 1930s and (of course) there are strange goings-on in the town, though the papers are of no use to him despite the misleading calls of a young paperboy. He takes Evelyn to the local bar, insisting it is the best place to get information while she tuts that he is showing a disturbing tendency towards hanging out in bars, where he runs into Max Miller - highly regarded as one of the greatest stand-up comedians of his generation. Miller is hanging out with a young actor named Billy who quickly departs from the story, complaining bitterly about how ridiculous the Doctor and his claims are. While there is absolutely nothing in his performance to suggest it, the idea is that this is supposed to be basically William Hartnell near the start of his career, though of course in the universe of Doctor Who Billy Hartnell would have just been some guy who eked out a solid if unspectacular career as a respected character actor. He has zero impact on the story, only there as a nod and a wink, which in turn only serves to cause the narrative to drag as they waste time on banter between Max and Billy that goes nowhere and has no real impact on the story. Max is portrayed by Roy Hudd, a huge fan of Miller, who obviously takes great pleasure in the role, and is perhaps the best thing about the story - he eagerly breathes life into the character, both in his use of existing stand-up material and in how he portrays the character in interactions with others. He's a "cheeky chappie", unable to resist cracking jokes in the worst of situations, always with an eye out on how to turn things to his advantage or incorporate something into his act. When he discovers the TARDIS' ability to dematerialize and rematerialize, he instantly forgets about everything else going on to eagerly encourage the Doctor to put together a stage show, offering to find a pretty young lady to be his assistant (which puts Evelyn out tremendously!). Though it predates the episode, there is even an element of The Shakespeare Code to the climax, as Max uses his ability with words to hold off the villain long enough for the Doctor's plan to come to fruition. Miller casts a large shadow over the entire story, and is its saving grace - he is such a larger than life presence that as the story lurches around he provides the stability of an interesting character who is fun to listen to. I mean, there's a scene where he and Evelyn play,"I spy with my little eye..." while waiting around bored inside the TARDIS for the Doctor to return and it's perhaps the most interesting part of the episode, and listening to him complaining about Evelyn breaking the rules or the pointlessness of not keeping score is a lot of fun. Similarly, a brief bit where he "borrows" a rowboat, is convinced to leave some payment, then gleefully explains how his reputation for being mean with money will result in the check NOT being cashed because the recipient will get greater material benefit from dining out on having it in the first place is also a lovely bit of character work. Probably nothing quite says how much he overshadows the rest of the story though, as when he first meets the Doctor, and mistakes his outfit as a poor attempt at emulating his own garish sense of fashion. As a Doctor Who story, Pier Pressure is really all about Max Miller, and the Doctor feels secondary. Sadly the rest of the supporting characters (and the main antagonist) are NOT as strong, not even close. Billy disappears from the story early on, leaving the young couple of Albert and Emily as the major supporting characters, and they're a complete waste. Albert is enjoying giving Emily a bit of a fright on the beach with lurid tales of phantoms that attack solitary young maidens when the two hear what is supposed to be an unearthly roar coming from the ocean. Unfortunately the roar is a thoroughly unimpressive and flat sound, but they are both scared witless and Emily insists they go inform the police. Albert wants a drink to stiffen his resolve first, though, which is how they run into Max Miller and then the Doctor, who both take some interest in their story and decide to investigate further - the Doctor out of pleasure in finding something to get him out of his funk, and Miller out a mixture of curiosity and belief that the Doctor works for the BBC (which leads to a rather fun aside from Baker). They investigate the beach and the Doctor notices the shack at the end of the pier, which apparently belongs to the mysterious mystic Professor Tolbert, a character we have heard talking at times throughout the story to this point - and this is where the first "shock" comes, as the Doctor is told that Tolbert has been dead for 15 years. Of course the "shock" is negated both by the fact that none of the characters have any reason to suspect Tolbert at this point, nor to have thought he was alive, so this "shock" is meant for the listeners alone, which doesn't make much sense as a cliffhanger for the characters. The other issue is that in Tolbert's earlier monologue, he'd already mentioned coming back from the dead, so the fact he's believed dead is hardly some big surprise. As a cliffhanger, it's pretty awful, and this continues throughout the rest of the story. Emily's  "Walk. Find. Kill" is another cliffhanger moment without impact, as is the sound of a splash in the third episode cliffhanger when the Doctor is struggling to keep an alien presence out of his mind. Nothing has impact, because it's either poorly executed or ill-conceived.Emily and Albert are extremely flat characters, perhaps explained by the fact they're named after characters from the ridiculously broad Carry On.... film series, in this case Carry On Screaming. That they're played straight makes sense since Miller in the funny-man, but they're not so much straight-men characters as very boring ones. Despite some attempts to give Emily some backstory (Albert remains very shallowly defined as a young man who wants to be in films), there is basically no reason to care about her as a character, so her off-screen death(s) basically have no impact at all, even Albert's shocked mourning feels more like he is putting on a performance. Emily is basically shunted aside without a second thought, and given how the story ends, it's an extremely unpleasant way of treating the character, reducing her to little more than a prop. Miller makes a bad taste joke about Emily's mother finding her corpse in the shed and apologizes for it, but in the end that is precisely what IS going to happen, because once they casually mention disposing of her body there, they seem to forget about her entirely, all of them treating any reference to her fate in a more joking fashion regarding how it will affect THEM (Evelyn herself is guilty of this, which is terrible). From the beginning she is constantly in the background, the object of other people's intentions, and the Doctor's saccharine-sweet speech about the goodness of her soul overcoming the evil of her manipulators doesn't feel earned at all, more yet another use of her as a prop rather than as a person in her own right. Albert, meanwhile, lacks any sense of direction or backbone (maybe this was deliberate), and after Emily's death, he takes it all in stride and then falls apart entirely. The Doctor puts this down to him being in shock, though he (and the writer!) both seem to forget that Albert goes inside the TARDIS at one point, so his later questioning of why Albert isn't surprised to see the TARDIS appear in front of him feels a little weird. Albert also feels like an afterthought, they don't at all sell the sense of shock he must be feeling, and indeed conflicting scenes of his meeting with Tolbert and later meetings with the Doctor feel like they come from different drafts of the script - one where Albert is made a puppet of Tolbert vs another where Albert is left to clean up the mess caused by Emily's death. So his ultimate sacrifice also feels unearned, because while intellectually his despondency and determination to make it "right" makes sense, it doesn't hit emotionally, as a character who was barely on the periphery for most of the story is suddenly put into the most important position. Similarly, Tolbert is a mess of writing. One moment he's a panicky nincompoop in fear of his masters, the next he is a smooth and charismatic master manipulator trying to play all sides against the other, the next he is a pathetic figure desperate for social status, the next he is a disgruntled and disgraced magician. The resolution to episode 3's cliffhanger is AWFUL, and the scene in the TARDIS is almost embarrassing in how badly it comes across, and how ultimately extraneous it is as a scene, feeling more like time-filler than anything else. The Doctor himself spends most of his interactions with Tolbert making fun of him and his masters for being cliched and unoriginal, which is fun from a meta-sense but hardly makes the stakes feel particularly real in the context of the episode itself. The writing can't seem to decide what it wants Tolbert to be, and then he dies (again) and the whole thing just kind of comes to an anti-climactic ending where the "evil" is contained, with the Doctor commenting it'll probably all be contained in the Pier for another 60-70 years (referencing collapses of the pier in the 1990s and 2000s) which is hardly what I would call a particularly resounding victory. Are the creatures and their pure evil a threat or not? They're not physical beings so how does containing them within the pier not leave them free to continue to try and enforce a malign influence on anybody who comes near? For that matter how does the Doctor figure out what the nature of their powers are in the first place? In most Doctor Who stories, the Doctor figures things out through exposure, witnessing events or convincing people to reveal their plans etc. Here, the Doctor just randomly decides that MAYBE things are happening because of a theory he just seems to come up with out of nowhere, and it turns out to be a completely accurate read on the situation based on.... nothing but the fact that the Doctor just pulled it out of thin air based on nothing but the decidedly ignorant perspective of Albert and Emily. This is Pier Pressure in a nutshell. It's inconsistently written, where things happen/characters do things/realizations are come to not because of a natural progression of the narrative, but because we've reached the point in the story where the writer has decided these things are going to happen. The characters are weak and inconsistent, the loose theme of negative and positive emotions is barely touched upon, the villain is utterly unconvincing and nonthreatening to the point that the Doctor mocks him for it, and about the only thing the story has going for it is the pleasure that Roy Hudd takes in portraying Max Miller. The pure gold of the audio world this story is NOT.
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Feb 19, 2015 00:35
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I agree generally on the Pier Pressure. I listened it about week ago and can't say anything about specifics, because I've forgotten most of it. The monthly Range seems vary in quality, quite a lot. The Few series I've listened (EDA, FDA & Dalek Empire) seem to have much more consistent quality.
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Feb 19, 2015 02:33
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adhuin posted:I agree generally on the Pier Pressure. I listened it about week ago and can't say anything about specifics, because I've forgotten most of it. I tend to agree. It seems the EDA's were written with a "season' in mind, and only being an hour long mean less padding and more plot-related story/action. So the writers have a consistent idea across the whole range. As for the FDA's...it's Tom Baker. And only an hour long too, which fits him.
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Feb 19, 2015 02:37
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Yeah. also they probably have more hands on showrunners that keep individual writers in check.
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Feb 19, 2015 02:43
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Eighth Doctor Avatar Combo Breaker! Is there a good source for behind-the-scenes BF stuff? I just finished Absolution, and I'd to know more about why they... did that.
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Feb 19, 2015 03:13
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Toby Hadoke does a Big Finish podcast that might cover some of that perhaps, I've never actually listened to it myself. Pier Pressure seems to fit in with that period of time where Big Finish kind of felt like they weren't quite sure where they were going (and maybe were a little concerned about how the revival might affect them), but thankfully it didn't seem to last too long. Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 03:25 on Feb 19, 2015 |
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Feb 19, 2015 03:20
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After The War posted:Eighth Doctor Avatar Combo Breaker! If you find something let me know, because I've been wondering this for the 5 months it's been since I listened to it.
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Feb 19, 2015 03:41
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Jerusalem posted:Toby Hadoke does a Big Finish podcast that might cover some of that perhaps, I've never actually listened to it myself. I instinctually skipped it when I found out that it carried over from the abysmal Medicinal Purposes. Good to know that was the right choice. There's a third story by the writer, Assassin in the Limelight, which is probably also poo poo. GonSmithe posted:If you find something let me know, because I've been wondering this for the 5 months it's been since I listened to it. I don't have a source for this, but I remember reading at some point that Big Finish wanted to wrap up the divergent universe arc much more quickly than they had originally planned, because they thought TARDIS-less adventures wouldn't appeal to fans of the new series. I'm speculating, but I'd bet they wanted to get the Eighth Doctor stories out of the main range and into the EDAs. I think it was said that the EDAs were specifically targeted at new series fans. So they slapped together a conclusion and had the Doctor act like a dickwad to make Charley want to leave. While we're randomly speculating, has Paul McGann just been really busy these past few years? It seems like Dark Eyes was a way to work around not having a lot of studio time with him, and then he wasn't even in Dark Eyes 3 all that much. There's not much on Wikipedia regarding TV or movies. Does he do a lot of theatre?
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Feb 19, 2015 03:58
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Filming. Always filming.
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Feb 19, 2015 04:33
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Rochallor posted:I instinctually skipped it when I found out that it carried over from the abysmal Medicinal Purposes. Oh God then that would explain the brief bit where Evelyn fearfully brings up the villain of that story to the Doctor, who assures her he doesn't sense that formidable and clearly compelling to listeners enemy is around 
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Feb 19, 2015 04:49
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Jerusalem posted:Oh God then that would explain the brief bit where Evelyn fearfully brings up the villain of that story to the Doctor, who assures her he doesn't sense that formidable and clearly compelling to listeners enemy is around Thankfully, that villain doesn't reappear I believe...nor does the intergalactic gangster from The Game.
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Feb 19, 2015 04:59
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CobiWann posted:Thankfully, that villain doesn't reappear I believe...nor does the intergalactic gangster from The Game. I'm pretty sure he DOES reappear, in Assassin in the Limelight
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Feb 19, 2015 05:14
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Doctor Who: Ten Years, 4 1/2 Doctors
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Feb 19, 2015 05:19
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CobiWann posted:Doctor Who – You never forget your first Doctor. Unless you’re Donna Noble  That's cold. But loving hilarious! Second choice: DoctorWhat posted:The Leisure Hive-Mind
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Feb 19, 2015 06:17
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Jerusalem posted:Doctor Who: Our Hivemind Can't Even Agree on a Thread Title  Yeah, pretty much. I'm not sure we could get the thread "Hivemind" to agree on what the protagonist of the show is called. I legitimately wouldn't be surprised if there was a vocal disagreement from more than one person.Unrelated: I finished listening to The Girl Who Never Was. It is an unorganized, confusing mess and I loved it. First of all, for a story which begins with a companion being quite angry with the Doctor due to previous circumstances, it is surprisingly upbeat and the chemistry between Charlie and Eight is great. It leaps back and forth between different time periods and sometimes it's a little difficult to keep track of where you and what characters are involved, because all of them come from stock and don't necessarily distinguish themselves enough in the writing to make you instantly remember who is where. The Cybermen plot feels very much like the classic Who Cybermen plot, with all of the catch-and-escapes for padding, all of the belligerent morons who collude with the Cybermen, the separation of the companion and Doctor so that the catch-and-escapes can happen twice, all of it, it's there.. Nick Briggs does a good job with the voice modulation and sound editing. All of the actors are in their element (including Jake McGann!). The "twists" are not particularly revelatory or clever, but they also do not feel cheap gotchas or time loops. What really works for me is the characterization of the Doctor and Charlie in it. They are saying goodbye, but there aren't any particularly hard feelings. In fact, they both want to see each other again and aren't really aware of it, and despite Eight's chucking Charlie's message in the bin, I don't think he's mad at her, just sad that he's had to outlive the time they could spend together. The references to "Escape Plan Number [X]" really encompasses Eight, who is a little more openly closer to his companions than previous Doctors, but has a little of Four's tongue caught in his cheek all the time. Charlie is ever the Edwardian adventuress who got to experience the future, and like all companions from the past, really makes you long for one in the new show, provided they could write them like her (or Jaime, or Victoria, or Leela, who yes, I know technically is not from the past). Finally, the cliffhanger ending is great. I had known, from this thread, that Six ends up traveling with Charlie, but had somehow completely forgotten about it. It's objectively a bit unfocused as a story, but it was really such a joy, written with love, and was a lovely celebration of the almost seven years of Eight and Charlie together. Big Finish is great at breaking all the rules and doing something that blows me away, and those are typically my favorite stories, but a story that just grabs the concept of Doctor Who and gives it a big hug is perfectly fine for a story like this, and that's what it was.
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Feb 19, 2015 06:37
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Doctor Who: Trin is a curmudgeon and deliberately doesn't pick any of the suggested thread titles so knock yourselves out
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Feb 19, 2015 12:39
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http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-02-19/doctor-who-series-9-opening-episode-titles-revealed-michelle-gomez-and-jemma-redgrave-to-return I'm confused. I thought the Master was dead! DoctorWhat posted:I'm pretty sure he DOES reappear, in Assassin in the Limelight Oh, drat it, that one's a follow-up to both Medicinal Purposes AND Pier Pressure.  Lord, I hated Medicinal Purposes for everything save David Tennant. I still catch myself exclaiming "Jamie famous!" CobiWann fucked around with this message at 13:21 on Feb 19, 2015 |
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Feb 19, 2015 13:19
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CobiWann posted:http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-02-19/doctor-who-series-9-opening-episode-titles-revealed-michelle-gomez-and-jemma-redgrave-to-return Yessss, I am so excited about more Missy.
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Feb 19, 2015 14:05
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Bicyclops posted:
Bullshit. We all know she's called "Clara".
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Feb 19, 2015 14:13
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SirSamVimes posted:Yessss, I am so excited about more Missy. Also, everyone watch that video. Michelle is The Best.
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Feb 19, 2015 15:20
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Gaz-L posted:Also, everyone watch that video. Michelle is The Best. I love manic Missy...but that video makes me also want a passive, rambling Missy. No threats, no action. Just sittin' in the Tardis, talking about apples.
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Feb 19, 2015 17:34
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Michelle Gomez is a treasure at all brands of nutty.
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Feb 19, 2015 17:40
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 01:17 |
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It is still possible that it's all a ploy by the Master to make us think Gomez is still the Master so when the Master shows up no one knows it's the Master. Except that their name will be a fairly obvious anagram of Master or something similar.
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Feb 19, 2015 18:04
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