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Forktoss
Feb 13, 2012

I'm OK, you're so-so
Oh yeah, definitely watch at least Spearhead before Inferno.

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Rirse
May 7, 2006

by R. Guyovich
I grabbed all the 1 - 3 doctor dvds there along with that "The Doctors Revisited" set that has Aztecs, Tomb of the Cyberman, Spearheads from Space, and Pyramids of Mars on it.

Doctor Zero
Sep 21, 2002

Would you like a jelly baby?
It's been in my pocket through 4 regenerations,
but it's still good.

Rirse posted:

I grabbed all the 1 - 3 doctor dvds there along with that "The Doctors Revisited" set that has Aztecs, Tomb of the Cyberman, Spearheads from Space, and Pyramids of Mars on it.

Next time get Keeper of Traken and Logopolis.

Logopolis is one of my favorite episodes because the Master very nearly accidentally destroys the universe solely because he’s being a dick to the Doctor.

And Keeper sets it up.

Also get The Doris Day Show because I’ve never seen that before. Is that a Pertwee episode?

Rirse
May 7, 2006

by R. Guyovich

Doctor Zero posted:

Next time get Keeper of Traken and Logopolis.

Logopolis is one of my favorite episodes because the Master very nearly accidentally destroys the universe solely because he’s being a dick to the Doctor.

And Keeper sets it up.

Also get The Doris Day Show because I’ve never seen that before. Is that a Pertwee episode?

I would grabbed Logopolis, but that is the END of the Tom Baker episodes. I don't want to skip to the last chapter of a good book.

Doctor Zero
Sep 21, 2002

Would you like a jelly baby?
It's been in my pocket through 4 regenerations,
but it's still good.

Rirse posted:

I would grabbed Logopolis, but that is the END of the Tom Baker episodes. I don't want to skip to the last chapter of a good book.

Oh I missed the part where you hadn’t seen any. I thought you were just using the thread as a decision maker. Yeah don’t do that then.

Doctor Zero
Sep 21, 2002

Would you like a jelly baby?
It's been in my pocket through 4 regenerations,
but it's still good.

Maera Sior posted:

I heard something similar about Otakon, although it was more about the property damage. It let my con get an excellent contact at one of the Baltimore hotels. (You should come, a lot of the people are functional adults and the gamers are quarantined.)

What con is that? Regeneration?

Wheat Loaf
Feb 13, 2012

by FactsAreUseless

The_Doctor posted:

See, I don’t know if Remembrance is a good jumping on point, seeing how much it depends on continuity. It’s literally a 25th anniversary story (far more than Silver Nemesis was). I’d suggest maybe Curse of Fenric?

It was the first classic story I ever watched in its entirety and I thought it was great, but I was about 10 at the time and thought the Daleks were cool so continuity wasn't a consideration to me.

I think the best sampler of every classic Doctor is still the original eight dvds the BBC released back in 2001 (with one exception):

1. "The Aztecs"
2. "Tomb of the Cybermen"
3. "Spearhead from Space"
4. "The Robots of Death"
5. "Caves of Androzani" (this is the one I would change, since it's Davison's last story - I'd substitute it for "The Visitation")
6. "Vengeance On Varos"
7. "Remembrance of the Daleks"
8. The Movie

MrL_JaKiri
Sep 23, 2003

A bracing glass of carrot juice!
State of Decay is really cool and good

Maera Sior
Jan 5, 2012

Doctor Zero posted:

What con is that? Regeneration?

Balticon. It's a literary con, not a media or gaming con.
I've been to RW once and don't plan on going back. Hanging out with the guests outside the hotel bar was amazing, but as a con it's not my cup of tea.

Gynovore
Jun 17, 2009

Forget your RoboCoX or your StickyCoX or your EvilCoX, MY CoX has Blinking Bewbs!

WHY IS THIS GAME DEAD?!

Maera Sior posted:

I heard something similar about Otakon, although it was more about the property damage. It let my con get an excellent contact at one of the Baltimore hotels. (You should come, a lot of the people are functional adults and the gamers are quarantined.)

I'm sorry, but I have to ask, how exactly do you 'quarantine' the gamers? Are they not allowed to leave the room until they make eye contact with someone and talk about sports? Or is the gaming area across a footbridge which only supports 300lbs?

Davros1
Jul 19, 2007

You've got to admit, you are kind of implausible



https://twitter.com/RobbieLedger1/status/848867060247650306

https://twitter.com/IcarFaem/status/848938862604931076

Box of Bunnies
Apr 3, 2012

by Pragmatica
Ooh, Michael Jayston is reprising the Valeyard for Big Finish again in one of the Benny sets they're putting out later this year.

quote:

4. Every Dark Thought by Eddie Robson

The Doctor has asked for Benny's help digging up some mysterious ruins. He claims they contain the secret of eternal life. Why would the Doctor want that?

Doctor Zero
Sep 21, 2002

Would you like a jelly baby?
It's been in my pocket through 4 regenerations,
but it's still good.

Maera Sior posted:

Balticon. It's a literary con, not a media or gaming con.
I've been to RW once and don't plan on going back. Hanging out with the guests outside the hotel bar was amazing, but as a con it's not my cup of tea.

Why’s that? We decided to go because of the guest list. Can’t wait to meet Capaldi and Gomez together! :swoon:

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

Wheat Loaf posted:

It was the first classic story I ever watched in its entirety and I thought it was great, but I was about 10 at the time and thought the Daleks were cool so continuity wasn't a consideration to me.

I think the best sampler of every classic Doctor is still the original eight dvds the BBC released back in 2001 (with one exception):

1. "The Aztecs"
2. "Tomb of the Cybermen"
3. "Spearhead from Space"
4. "The Robots of Death"
5. "Caves of Androzani" (this is the one I would change, since it's Davison's last story - I'd substitute it for "The Visitation")
6. "Vengeance On Varos"
7. "Remembrance of the Daleks"
8. The Movie

Caves is absolutely Davison's best story, but yeah not a place to jump on. Though honestly, I think it's fine even then, since there's not exactly a plot-heavy arc leading up to it. The only thing you really need to know going in is that Peri's literally just started traveling with him; this is their first official trip together (if you ignore Big Finish continuity).

It's also Colin Baker's best televised Doctor Who episode.

Rhyno
Mar 22, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 10 years!

docbeard posted:


It's also Colin Baker's best televised Doctor Who episode.

You son of a bitch how dare you

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

Rhyno posted:

You son of a bitch how dare you

It's a single, perfect scene, and there's no chance of the episode going to poo poo after.

And no one gets turned into a bird.

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

(I do not care for Vengeance on Varos)

Rhyno
Mar 22, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 10 years!

docbeard posted:

(I do not care for Vengeance on Varos)

I'LL KILL YOU

Box of Bunnies
Apr 3, 2012

by Pragmatica

Rhyno posted:

I'LL KILL YOU

I believe it's customary in these situations to shove them into a vat of acid and then make a glib quip

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

I'm probably gonna do a Master-themed binge through all (most of) the Doctors the way I did with the Cybermen a bit ago, as soon as I'm done watching old Misfits of Science episodes off Youtube, so I'll be curious to see how The Mark of the Rani holds up. My vague memory is at least of pretty much everyone involved having a laugh doing it, which is a pretty reasonable standard.

On a related topic, if you had to pick, would you watch The Deadly Assassin or The Keeper of Traken? (Saving Logopolis for a first-and-last episode binge somewhere down the line.) (e. I've seen them all, but not for a very, very long time.)

Big Mean Jerk
Jan 27, 2009

Well, of course I know him.
He's me.
Well, this is interesting.

A little more info. I'm not sure why this wouldn't just be a new DVD set since almost everything was shot on video. I guess it might be convenient for Region 1 folks since I'm fairly sure some of these are out of print. :shrug:

Gynovore
Jun 17, 2009

Forget your RoboCoX or your StickyCoX or your EvilCoX, MY CoX has Blinking Bewbs!

WHY IS THIS GAME DEAD?!

docbeard posted:

I'm probably gonna do a Master-themed binge through all (most of) the Doctors the way I did with the Cybermen a bit ago,

I'd say Logopolis is the best one, because it shows how hosed up the Master is; he blackmailed the entire the universe with the threat of destroying it, and not only would he have done it, but it might have been destroyed anyway and he didn't care.

And, keep in mind that actor Anthony Ainley was playing the part just for the fun of it; he was quite wealthy and didn't need to work. During the Peter Davison run, he would call the BBC every year or so and say "hey, any Master episodes coming up?"

Edward Mass
Sep 14, 2011

𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen
𝅘𝅥𝅮

Big Mean Jerk posted:

Well, this is interesting.

A little more info. I'm not sure why this wouldn't just be a new DVD set since almost everything was shot on video. I guess it might be convenient for Region 1 folks since I'm fairly sure some of these are out of print. :shrug:

They listened to me :neckbeard:

Timby
Dec 23, 2006

Your mother!

Big Mean Jerk posted:

Well, this is interesting.

A little more info. I'm not sure why this wouldn't just be a new DVD set since almost everything was shot on video. I guess it might be convenient for Region 1 folks since I'm fairly sure some of these are out of print. :shrug:

Maybe because with 172 episodes at 25 minutes a pop, so at 72 hours of standard-def resolution, you could conceivably fit them all just a couple of discs?

Astroman
Apr 8, 2001


docbeard posted:

(I do not care for Vengeance on Varos)

I think you'll find some say it's a classic!

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?



Short Synopsis: A Doctor and Nurse go on their Holidays together

Long Synopsis: The Doctor's search for perspective takes him to World War 1, 1970s London, an alien sanitarium and a Dalek occupied planet, while a large scale plot begins, progresses and completes around him without much input from him required.

What Worked/What Didn't:
  • + The premise. Playing off the end of the 8th Doctor Adventures, the Doctor decides to head to the end of the universe and the end of time itself. It's assumed by others that he intends suicide, or perhaps permanent exile, but as he explains he's simply looking for perspective, or rather hope. He wants to go to the end of everything so he can look back and figure out if all the death and destruction was outweighed by whatever good there was. So the entire story is permeated with this sense of the Doctor looking for reinvigorated purpose, which goes some way to explaining his at-times uncharacteristic passiveness. Despite himself he finds himself having fun, enjoying the thrill of being chased and having a problem to tackle, but at other times he's brought back by his sense of guilt and despair from recent events, as well as his anger about being directed by the Time Lords. Even if you're unfamiliar with the EDAs that preceded/set-up this story, the context is provided by the dialogue without feeling overly expository

  • - Bill & Ted. The comedy movie had a lot of fun with the notion of Time Travel, especially in the second film where they ultimately defeat the bad guy because... they were always going to defeat the bad guy. Even when he turned their own tricks against them it is irrelevant because since they were always going to win, obviously everything he set up was set up by THEM to fool him. It works well because it's a comedy, the time travel is there purely in service of that comedy, and nobody but an insane person is going to expect a movie like that to put too much effort into making sure time travel works logically. Only insane people expect that of Doctor Who too, but plenty of Doctor Who fans are insane and I guess I'm one of them, because this aspect of Dark Eyes drove me nuts. The Daleks have built a Relativity Map, something which only the Time Lords should have and even then something they would use relatively rarely. With it, they are able to track wherever anybody is, was or ever will be at any given time. Which leads to odd moments in the story like when the Doctor takes Molly back centuries to an enslaved Dalek planet so they can learn what the bad guys are doing before they do it, only to be rumbled by said bad guys who decide not to do anything because (paraphrased): "In the future our plan must be working so they must fail to stop us now, therefore trying to stop them is pointless and might actually cause us to fail in the future". It feels like it is trying to be clever but doesn't quite pull it off. There's more stuff like that too, including somebody attempting to commit suicide, and the final showdown between the villain and a supporting character that makes you realize the whole thing has largely been mental masturbation.

  • + Molly Sullivan. Molly is great. There are elements of Lucie Bleeding Miller to her, which is important as the Doctor needs to bond with her and this similarity helps, but while she is outspoken and confident, she's also very much a character in her own right. An Irish maid who joined her mistress in volunteering to give aid to soldiers in World War I, Molly is no-nonsense and serious but not to the point of being a stick in the mud. She can have fun when she wants, and takes a great deal of pleasure in needling the Doctor, but she also doesn't put up with fools and is adamant in her sense of morality. Plus Ruth Bradley's Irish accent is a delight, and her character's take on the technological marvels of the future feels almost natural - she is perhaps more amazed to discover the Doctor's "house" (a follow-up from a previous Big Finish audio) has electricity than she is by her initial entrance into the TARDIS (or Tardy Box, as she calls it). There is also a well-handled element of "what is her mystery" going on, something probably borrowed from the way the companions were going over on the television side of things. Even with all that having worn a bit thin by the time I write this, I still found it refreshingly well done, because the mystery of her "Dark Eyes" was always secondary to the writing of her as an actual character, something that Moffat didn't always get right. Molly's final scene with the Doctor is very well done too, and made it feel like if this was the only time Molly would appear in Big Finish, that it was okay. It seems she actually sticks around for more though, which is just as welcome.

  • - The Time Lords. I find 98% of Time Lords' appearances in ANY media to be underwhelming at best, actively lovely at worst. I'm not a fan of the politics, and especially not of the attempts to write particular characters as genius arch-manipulators whose actions/characters don't live up to their so-called status. It was a problem when they introduced the Rani all those years ago on television and it's a problem today - you can't make somebody a genius or the "ultimate strategist" if the only evidence that exists is that you keep insisting they are. A character especially guilty of this is Straxus, and I even dislike his name so I feel like he's just designed to irritate me. All he is, is a (admittedly VERY) good voice delivering his lines with oily, detached arrogance that none of his actions or "strategies" ever warrants. That this goober could so casually and easily outsmart/trick the Doctor multiple times through the story is just annoying, especally as it largely has no resolution/point, or at least not one that I was in any way invested in. Given that all this was supposed to string the whole story together, it ended up detracting from it for me.

  • + Toby Jones. Jones' character of X could (literally!) be just as guilty as everything I just accused Straxus of, with one major difference. Though I have no problem with Peter Egan since it is the writing that bugs me, Jones is just a much better actor and is able to transcend any poor qualities the writing might have. Again, that isn't a knock against Egan, very few actors out there could say,"Well I am upset you think Toby Jones is better than me" because... well, he is! Jones plays X, a character with access to Time Travel, a loathing of the Time Lords, a surprisingly degree of authority over the Daleks, and a VERY long-term plan to use the Doctor and Molly to prevent the Time Lords from having ever existed. He joined by the Dalek Time Controller, which survived its death because by its very nature it exists outside of regular time and is able to essentially "reset" following death with all the knowledge of the events that lead to its failure. The two have good chemistry, made all the more interesting because ANYBODY having chemistry with a Dalek is an eye-opener. But then, that's Toby Jones! The only downside is that it appears he's killed off pretty decisively by the end, but then I don't have a problem imagining that Jones would probably be too busy to commit to more regular appearances. I just enjoyed what I got, so far he's two-from-two from what I've seen/heard playing Doctor Who villains, first as the Dream Lord and now as X.

  • - The Doctor's "irrelevance". While there is a ton going on that is very important character-wise for the 8th Doctor, and the growing bond between himself and Molly is vital to the overall story... the Doctor's actual relevance to the main plot is almost non-existant. Every part of X's scheme and Straxus' counter-scheme happens largely without his input or even a required presence. Even the big showdown between the two mostly has the Doctor standing around making snippy comments about how dumb the whole thing is and how he doesn't want any part of it. The major wrenches thrown into their schemes come from a third party entirely (though it's neat to see Ian Cullen, Ixta from The Aztecs in that role) and then when all is said and done and it's just the Doctor and Molly left standing, I was left thinking,"Well, why was the Doctor even needed?" - yeah he was tangentially, but even X himself admits that adding the Doctor to the scheme was a major gamble because he was so unpredictable even with the Relativity Map, and surely while the Doctor is more accessible than most Time Lords, he could have found somebody else? I list this as a negative but I don't want to undersell just how enjoyable the Doctor/Molly interactions are, and how good the Doctor in each of the different environments he ends up are. The train escape in World War I; fleeing through the streets of London (a largely wasted setting/premise with the early AI too); his slowly dawning realization of what the pain in his head is; clambering down the giant drillhole etc - it's all great. It just feels detached from what is supposed to be THE main plot.

Final Thoughts:

Dark Eyes got a ton of praise when it first came out, and it is a story I have felt bad about waiting so long to listen to. Now that I have, the hype feels a little overblown. It's very good, but it's not the end-all and be-all of Doctor Who stories. Released roughly a year before Day of the Doctor, the behind the scenes features have a couple of bits that are very interesting with the benefit of hindsight, with McGann pondering how much he would love to reprise the role on TV even if only for a small thing (Night of the Doctor) and Nick Briggs poking fun at the notion of a Time War story, saying it would be dreadfully boring and even worse as audio, then admitting this might come back to bite him on the rear end at some point. As the introduction to a new character (potentially), and as an examination of the fallout of the end of the Eighth Doctor Adventures, it works very well however. Throw in a great performance by Toby Jones, plenty of Daleks and some neat settings and you have a story that is very easy to listen to and will ultimately leave you satisfied... at least it did me. Yeah there are problems, and the villain's schemes (and the counter-schemes to those schemes) have holes you could drive a truck through... but I've heard a lot worse, and this story at its worst is still very good. I certainly want to see where they go from here with the follow-ups, and hope that Molly will be back in spite of her clean exit at the end of the story. The 8th Doctor has had two brilliant companions in Charley and Lucie, and I'm hoping Molly will be another.

Big Mean Jerk
Jan 27, 2009

Well, of course I know him.
He's me.

Timby posted:

Maybe because with 172 episodes at 25 minutes a pop, so at 72 hours of standard-def resolution, you could conceivably fit them all just a couple of discs?

It’s only his first season, so 20 episodes/8.3 hours.

This also seems like something that may sell well for one or two seasons, but I can’t imagine there’s a huge demand for his later years. As a collector it’s good and convenient, but I’m struggling to see where Warner/BBC think there’s money to be had doing this.

Timby
Dec 23, 2006

Your mother!

Big Mean Jerk posted:

It’s only his first season, so 20 episodes/8.3 hours.

This also seems like something that may sell well for one or two seasons, but I can’t imagine there’s a huge demand for his later years. As a collector it’s good and convenient, but I’m struggling to see where Warner/BBC think there’s money to be had doing this.

Oh, durf, I read that as a complete Fourth Doctor Blu-ray.

Gynovore
Jun 17, 2009

Forget your RoboCoX or your StickyCoX or your EvilCoX, MY CoX has Blinking Bewbs!

WHY IS THIS GAME DEAD?!

Is this coming up as "Complete First S" for everyone else?

Doctor Zero
Sep 21, 2002

Would you like a jelly baby?
It's been in my pocket through 4 regenerations,
but it's still good.

Big Mean Jerk posted:

It’s only his first season, so 20 episodes/8.3 hours.

This also seems like something that may sell well for one or two seasons, but I can’t imagine there’s a huge demand for his later years. As a collector it’s good and convenient, but I’m struggling to see where Warner/BBC think there’s money to be had doing this.

Ok, because DVD is a dead format, then? And they’re too stuck in the past to put it on streaming?

Big Mean Jerk
Jan 27, 2009

Well, of course I know him.
He's me.

Doctor Zero posted:

Ok, because DVD is a dead format, then?

Blu-ray is just as dead or nearly there for most folks. There's a reason most major films get a digital release 2+ weeks before physical now.

Timby
Dec 23, 2006

Your mother!

Big Mean Jerk posted:

Blu-ray is just as dead or nearly there for most folks. There's a reason most major films get a digital release 2+ weeks before physical now.

Physical media is declining but the digital release comes earlier because the profit margins are so, so, so much higher.

Edward Mass
Sep 14, 2011

𝅘𝅥𝅮 I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
Friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen
𝅘𝅥𝅮
There's also the bonus features that aren't on iTunes or Google Play. And classic Doctor Who has a LOT of bonus features per serial.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Yeah, the bonus features are amazing on the classic Who DVDs. No reason any blu-ray collection couldn't have those too of course.

Bicyclops
Aug 27, 2004

*rushing in, out of breath from my probation* Oh, my sainted aunt, that library shelf! The DVDs you want to select are-

Oh. Oh, I see... it's over.

Well, you made some excellent choices! Very excellent choices. I'm going to go sit in the corner and think about my choices to argue with a certain kind of person. I'm sure my recommendations wouldn't have been that important anyway. I wasn't eagerly awaiting the library screenshot or anything, haha.

corn in the bible
Jun 5, 2004

Oh no oh god it's all true!
City of Death is really good

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

corn in the bible posted:

City of Death is really good

The cliffhanger where Scarlioni shows up somewhere he absolutely should not be AND asks the Doctor by name what he is doing there is one of the best cliffhangers the show has ever done. I still remember my reaction the first time I saw it :vince:

Tim Burns Effect
Apr 1, 2011

Big Mean Jerk posted:

Well, this is interesting.

A little more info. I'm not sure why this wouldn't just be a new DVD set since almost everything was shot on video. I guess it might be convenient for Region 1 folks since I'm fairly sure some of these are out of print. :shrug:

I don't believe it just because it's way too cheap, a Region 1 BBC Blu-ray should at least be $20 per episode

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

corn in the bible posted:

City of Death is really good

Exquisite...absolutely exquisite.

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Davros1
Jul 19, 2007

You've got to admit, you are kind of implausible



I had a dream I was WATCHING an episode on Jago & Litefoot :(

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