|
Which non-Power of the Daleks story would you like to see an episode found from? This poll is closed. |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Marco Polo |
|
36 | 20.69% |
| The Myth Makers |
|
10 | 5.75% |
| The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve |
|
45 | 25.86% |
| The Savages |
|
2 | 1.15% |
| The Smugglers |
|
2 | 1.15% |
| The Highlanders |
|
45 | 25.86% |
| The Macra Terror |
|
21 | 12.07% |
| Fury from the Deep |
|
13 | 7.47% |
| Total: | 174 votes | ||
|
Yeah, that's the bleak joke behind Chimes -- the Doctor and Charley need Edith to die and commit herself to a life of longing and neglect in order for the two of them to live and go on living. They're just as bad as Edward Grove -- why else would it try to turn them into a Lord and Lady rather than serving staff? The ending isn't remotely happy; it's selfish. At its heart, The Chimes of Midnight is an eviscerating critique of the late-Edwardian era, and of anyone who'd go around dressing and acting like Edwardians to boot. How many times has the Doctor required people to kill themselves, to sacrifice their lives in order for him or his companion to live?Is the Doctor and Charley's decision to make her feel good about herself, to give her a purpose, any better when they're still exploiting her utterly miserable life? Incidentally, I thoroughly disagree about Edith's characterization being superficial -- the difference between the older, angrier version of the character and the younger, naive one is fairly pronounced. Plus the character incorporates the struggle of being same-sex attracted in ways that adds a depth to her struggle -- and I think a queer reading of the play, particularly the way it uses the dead/suicidal lesbian cliche, would be potentially interesting.
|
#
¿
Jan 27, 2016 15:08
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 23, 2024 19:04 |
|
|
twistedmentat posted:The Nimon is pretty hilarious. I wonder if its weird body posture is the actor inside the suit trying to walk on giant platform shoes while wearing a mask that completely covers his head. They're all played by ballerinas. No joke.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 22, 2016 02:58
|
|
|
Rochallor posted:
That was Nick Briggs. Platt wrote the crocodile one, which I thought was pretty great. (That said, Platt has his ups and downs, but at the very least he clearly puts a lot of effort into creating imaginative and interesting settings and characters. It's more like he concocts stories than plots them, hence all the foul tasting brews I guess.)
|
|
#
¿
Feb 25, 2016 11:16
|
|
|
qntm posted:Oh phew, I thought I was the only one. And together we make three. It's not even the obvious objectionable stuff -- the rape threat, the general "ha ha misogyny lol" stuff with the hunter character, the Doctor killing Solomon -- that I don't like. Some of that's pretty terrible, but I've forgiven episodes with worse. The central concept is just so mediocre. The characters turn up, run around and blow the place up. The end. It's the capture-escape-capture plot played to a T. The sympathetic dinosaur death and the treatment of Nefertiti is meant to give it some weight, but the entire thing is so loving blase about everything that I really couldn't give a poo poo. I'm not going to care if the episode doesn't really care, you know?
|
|
#
¿
Mar 9, 2016 12:05
|
|
|
I'm not sure I really understand anyone's motivations in The Magician's Apprentice. Why's the Doctor all withdrawn? What's with his confession dial? Why does Clara seem so pally with Missy? Moffat's never had a particularly strong sense of sentimentality to his writing, but to be so clearly out of touch with his character's emotions is confusing. (And, by extension, why was the Doctor so blase about Gallifrey being back in the finale? Just two seasons ago he was crying about it being even possibly back, but now he treats it with the same contempt he had for it back in the 80's. What's more, it's exactly the same planet of stiff collars that it was back in the 80's, which seems like a wasted opportunity tbh. If the Doctor doesn't seem particularly worried about the lot of them being back -- which, why hasn't it started the next Last Great Time Wa again? -- then that's kind of deflating.) Eugh. That started out as a legitimate question and turned into a rant.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 10, 2016 14:31
|
|
|
For all that Vervoids does suck, that effects shot at the end of episode 2 is something I remember being quite impressive. Plus, Honour Blackman is cool in it.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 17, 2016 00:09
|
|
|
Fil5000 posted:Man, I wish I could get paid to make audio recordings of stuff I did thirty years ago. Sadly no one wants to pay to listen to a grown man playing with Transformers. Kinkshaming will get you everywhere.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 17, 2016 11:41
|
|
|
Actually, that's a good question: what are the big gaps in everyone's viewing history? I've never seen Day of the Daleks, because when the ABC was airing the show down here, they skipped all the Dalek episodes for a while because they didn't have the rights. No-one every really talks about that story though. I've also never seen Frontios or The Awakening, something I've always meant to correct. Otherwise, I think I've seen most of them. Burkion posted:Tomb of the Cybermen has some unfortunate under (and over) tones, but it all mostly makes sense if you keep in mind that it's a huge send up of Braving the Egyptian Tombs style stories and movies. Down to it being the Pseudo 20s but OF THE FUTURE I swear the woman in that is wearing some form of darkening make-up to make her look more "swarthy". She's so shiny!
|
|
#
¿
Mar 19, 2016 00:48
|
|
|
Barry Foster posted:I loathe that Big Finish Audio Play, perhaps more than any other, and that includes Nekromanteia and The Rapture. It's staggeringly misogynistic and classist. Bad show, Briggsy, bad show. It's a shame, because at its heart it's got quite a clever set of ideas -- what if the Doctor went into hiding, a self-imposed exile where she has to give up the adventuring and generally stay under the radar. What if, instead of being pulled back into the life of adventure because innocents are in danger -- AKA the way these stories always go -- what if she went to great and damaging lengths to deny her own history? Exile was sold on being a bawdy sex-change comedy, but it's also a story about the Doctor as alcoholic and possible schizophrenic. She experiences delusional spells (a trait strangely common among the Unbound Doctors), and there are moments when you can sense parts of the Doctor's earlier adventures peaking in around the edges of the script, in ways that suggest we're seeing a character who's losing their mind. Plus, casting Arrabella Weir as a working class Doctor means that you've got a good basis to explore and challenge some of the built-in assumptions about the character. Why is the Doctor (nearly) always an eccentric, upper-middleclass Edwardianite? How is that an essential part of their characterization? Just look at the play's best scene if you want to see what Exile could have been -- the sequence where Weir drunkenly communes with a static playing television. It's the middle of the night, the character is blackout drunk, and she's hallucinating a vision of her former life, but she's also detected an alien message hidden among the whitenoise. Okay, I haven't heard the play in years, but I remember the sequence being spooky, sad and interesting. At least, taken on its own. However, the entire thing decides to bill itself as the broadest possible comedy, and ends up being basically rubbish. (And, yeah, sexist and classist). Still inherently braver and better than Full Fathom Five or He Jests At Scars, though. The only thing good about that last one is Michael Jayston's performance and the (gorgeous) score.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 16, 2016 12:32
|
|
|
CaptainYesterday posted:The Space Pirates only has one episode surviving, how would you know if it's middling? Yeah, but it's the middle one. Budumtish. Edit: nnnnnope. Episode 2 of 6.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 29, 2016 08:40
|
|
|
Jerusalem posted:I haven't heard that one yet but I'm only 3 audios away from it I didn't mind it. It clearly gives no shits about nostalgia, but it's pretty fun. If you like Doctor Who at its most silly and irreverent, then it's probably up your alley. I really like Paul Magr's work in general though, even though I know his work can be pretty divisive at times (e.g. The Blue Angel, Verdigris)
|
|
#
¿
Jun 16, 2016 11:39
|
|
|
CobiWann posted:The guy from the Grey Poupon commercials? You may very well think that, I couldn't possibly comment. You're not wrong. He's also the original House Of Cards guy, among many other things. He was in Bleak House, Murder Rooms, tonnes of good stuff. Father of Miles Richardson, who plays Brax on radio. Last role he played was Death in Hogfather, ironically.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 30, 2016 12:26
|
|
|
I'd be interested in seeing a radical reinterpretation of the Krillitane from School Reunion, something that made use of their whole bodysnatcher, parasite biology thing. But that probably defeats the purpose of bringing them back, since they wouldn't be the same creature at all. I also think the Flesh have massive untapped potential, but I'd kind of want to see a "Doctorless" story about the Ganger Doctor struggling to live on after the events of that story. Big Finish could probably do some great stuff with The Wire as well, especially if they got Maureen Lipman back.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 6, 2016 12:26
|
|
|
After The War posted:Why the hell am I listening to Graceless? I don't post in this thread much, because I think I see radio Who* a bit differently (I think Briggs has really gone downhill over the years) but I really, really loving love Graceless. I think it's probably one of the best things that Big Finish have had a hand in, and I'd place Simon Guerrier up there with the best of Big Finish's discoveries, like Robert Shearman, Nev Fountain, Jonathan Clements, and, yes, Joe Lidster. (Though I admit he had a rocky start). * Just radio. My god Invasion / Inversion of the Zygons is a massive pile of reactionary poo poo, and I'm glad posters here have their heads screwed on.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 9, 2016 05:11
|
|
|
Jerusalem posted:Just out of curiosity, did Carey Mulligan ever do anything for Big Finish before she was in Blink and then transitioned successfully into films? Nope. Blink was very early in her career, IIRC.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 15, 2016 08:20
|
|
|
The_Doctor posted:Presumably the rest of his human suit was good quality for his wife not to notice during their moments of nefarious excitement. I've always assumed she thought he was gay. That seems to be the intention of at least one scene, anyway.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 18, 2016 20:03
|
|
|
Pish. So many people with wrong Bernice Summerfield opinions in this thread. No, but seriously, there are some weak seasons here and there -- the second series of radio plays suffers from some terrible sound design that shits all over at least one quite good script; the later Legion seasons are too convoluted for their own good -- but I stand by there being at least one quite good story in every series, and some series with a higher batting average than Big Finish have frequently managed in their main range plays. I also want to go into bat for the books. Bernice started as a literary character, and I think it's only fair that Big Finish kept to her roots when developing their range. Yes, two of the early books are trash, but the two Jaqueline Rayner books are quite good, and the one that was written by Paul Cornell (with contributions by Steven Moffat) is excellent. If you're only following the radio plays, the jumps in continuity can be frustrating, but I think it's important to remember that the radio plays weren't considered her primary medium in those days. She was still a book character, first and foremost. It's only in Series 3 that this starts to shift, and the Series 4 finale can be seen as a more formal handover between the mediums. The first half, Life During Wartime, is an anthology novel, that ends on a cliffhanger that's resolved in the radio play Death And The Daleks, though it's honestly pretty clear what's happening in the latter if you're just listening to the radio play by itself. I think the diptych is probably one of the strongest things that Big Finish have produced, and has contributions by heavyweights like Kate Orman, Robert Shearman, Jonathan Blum, Jim Mortimore, and future range editor Simon Guerrier. Later series still have the books playing an important role, though they're probably secondary, and the radio plays become the main range. They peter out around Series 11, though they still have contributions by some excellent authors, like Phillip Purser-Hallard, Kelly Hale, Eddie Robson, Mags L. Halliday, Jonathan Clements, Kate Orman, Jonathan Blum, Ben Aaronovitch and Marc Platt. This, not coincidentally, happened around the same time the series attempted something of a soft reboot, and was much the worse for it. The range during this time is frequently terrible, and nearly resulted in the cancellation of the the series entirely thanks to a number of poor choices. I think there are a few good stories here and there, but for the most part they're a bit drap. And of the four books released during this time, at least two are loving terrible. I've not had the heart to read any more. In terms of jumping off points, though, you're best off starting with the three most recent box-sets, though you can straight up start with the Unbound box set if you want to. They're all designed to be more accessible. None of them, except maybe the most recent Unbound set, are particularly Doctor heavy. They're still firmly about Bernice, so don't expect anything too much like a main range release with these. Additionally, as a word of warning, the second box set contains a number of serious spoilers for earlier Benny series. So be prepared for that if you're planning on getting into the series at a later date. (Which is well worth it, IMO).
|
|
#
¿
Aug 26, 2016 07:27
|
|
|
Maxwell Lord posted:Season 10's delay may be in part to S9's ratings having taken a big hit in the fall. So they were given some extra time so that s10 would be earlier next year and hopefully not do as bad. Or -- as was the case with the split season seven -- it's because the previous season went massively over budget, necessitating the BBC to pull various shenanigans to keep the show on television. I'm looking forward to the inevitable tell all book about this era: Moffat's Who has gone through more Producers than Hogwarts went through Defense Against Dark Arts professors. At least we're getting Class this year, which I'm actually very excited for.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 5, 2016 05:25
|
|
|
Fil5000 posted:I think it's more a case of Big Finish just wanting to get as much stuff out of Who as they can that they could legitimately continue with if they ever lose the license. That is a thing that Big Finish does, but they wouldn't be allowed to in this case. The use of Counter Measures, like Gallifrey or Jago and Lightfoot, is bundled up in the Doctor Who licence, as opposed to stuff like Graceless, Vienna or their version of Dorian Gray, which are owned wholly by Big Finish (give or take creator rights, e.g. what's going on with Erimem). Then there's stuff like Bernice, the Daleks and the Cybermen, which are very much their own thing.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 23, 2016 14:46
|
|
|
I want to say that this thread is the only place I've ever seen your theory, but I also can't quite remember it. Something about Urgent Calls happening during Patient Zero? I haven't heard Patient Zero in ages, but I'm not sure I buy that.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 6, 2016 06:06
|
|
|
I dunno. Sexy teens are always a draw. Plus, the lack of Doctor Who this year is going to drive viewers to the show. This is basically going for the same audience who was hooked by Skins, or Misfits, or anything else from that brand of teen programming. (Am I loving ancient if I mention As If?)
|
|
#
¿
Oct 9, 2016 02:51
|
|
|
Box of Bunnies posted:Yeah, I loved hearing them together again in The Anachronauts (and have An Ordinary Life waiting in my queue) An Ordinary Life has... interesting things to say about immigration. It'd make an excellent double-feature with The Zygon Inversion, basically.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 13, 2016 10:47
|
|
|
jivjov posted:I listened to Ordinary Life mostly while stocking the cooler at work; I must've missed the problematic bits....what did I miss? The story clearly wants to be a pro-immigration, anti-racist story, but the alien plot just ends up muddling everything -- particularly when it's revealed that the non-white characters have accidentally brought an infectious alien virus to England -- one that wants to infiltrate and replace contemporary British culture and replace it with its own. It's basically every argument that reactionary anti-immigration arseholes wrapped up into a Doctor Who monster. Immigrants are dangerous because they're infectious vectors. They want to infiltrate our lives and replace our culture with theirs. Ban halal food! It's like the story wants to be one thing, but then turns around and starts being the complete opposite of what it wanted to be. And that second thing is kinda racist.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 13, 2016 13:38
|
|
|
The_Doctor posted:Ah, the same metaphor that could be put on the Gelth in the Unquiet Dead. Yeah, except this story is actually about immigration. 
|
|
#
¿
Oct 13, 2016 16:26
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 23, 2024 19:04 |
|
|
Box of Bunnies posted:
I really like that set. The final episode, that's just Benny trudging through the ruined Dalek city is probably my favourite Dalek story since Jubilee / Davros. (Not sure why we're spoiling, but doing it out of courtesy)
|
|
#
¿
Oct 29, 2016 09:24
|
|