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  • Locked thread
RunAndGun
Apr 30, 2011

The_Doctor posted:

But it has automatic sand!

Yeah, but does Space Florida have a Space Cape Canaveral that launches ships into... Space?

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ashpanash
Apr 9, 2008

I can see when you are lying.

MikeJF posted:

No, it was a thing that he didn't see them between those two; that was his two-hundred-year going-to-die grump/'farewell tour', remember?

The Doctor lies.

Pesky Splinter
Feb 16, 2011

A worried pug.
Having finished off the Eighth Doctor Adventures, here's round two of my thoughts and opinions;

Firstly, last time, I missed off mentioning three other stories. The first was Solitaire, which features only Charley, who has to match wits against the Celestial Toymaker, with the Eighth Doctor appearing only as a ventriloquist dummy who can only speak when Charley interacts with it. It's a fairly tense episode, with another great performance from India Fisher, and from the very Michael Gough-ish sounding, David Bailie.

The second was Shada, an adaption of the incomplete Fourth Doctor episode of the same name. I've honestly forgotten about it - it's not that great.

The other, An Earthly Child is set during the Doctor's travels alone, whereupon he makes his way to 22nd Earth, and encounters Susan, the grand-daughter he left behind, and the newly-introduced Alex, his great-grandson. While the premise is initially promising, the main plot feels underwhelming, and the family encounters are fractured and fleeting, when really it feels that they should have been a more major focus. That said, the highlight is the meeting between Susan and the Doctor, aided by the chemistry of both McGann, and Carole Ann Ford as they discuss what they've done with themselves the last twenty or so years (from Susan's perspective).
Alex however...while a good concept for a character, with the potential to show both how far Susan has come, and how Alex himself would cope with his knowledge of alien heritage, is completely undersold by Jake McGann, Paul McGann's son. When he's not sounding bored, it sound like he's just reading off cue-cards. Every line he delivers is completely flat. It's more obvious when listening to the behind the scenes audio, where he's speaking normally, that he doesn't have much acting experience. It's a shame really.

With those out of the way, it's on the EDA! :toot:

The most noticable aspect of the series, compared to the mothly releases, is the shorter run-times. While it doesn't sound like much, it generally results in a much brisker pace and less padding, which is a tremendous relief after some of the utter slogs of the worst episodes of the monthly adventures. That's the other major thing about the series; the average quality of the episodes have evened out - previously the monthly stories would either be, very good, or very bad with little-to-no inbetween - now there are "good" episodes, "okay" episodes, and "meh" episodes.

Series one opens with the Doctor encountering Lucie Miller who has mysteriously been teleported onboard his TARDIS, sent there by the CIA for the doctor to protect her for reasons she can't recall, and the Doctor doesn't know. Lucie Miller is comparable to the Donna Noble, in the sense that they're both fairly standard 21st century women who interact with the Doctor in a fairly antagonistic manner, but calling her Donna Noble of the North would be a disservice to both characters. Not having looked up the cast, I was surprised to hear Sheridan Smith acting as the companion, though it's obvious she's having a good time in the role, and she gives a pretty good performance.

Blood of the Daleks, while having a good introduction to Lucie, feels more like a middle series episode than a series introduction. It's a typical Dalek story with Daleks doing what Daleks do best, and while that's okay, I feel they could have done something else maybe.
Horror of Glam Rock and Phobos are fun little adventures, the latter being my personal favourite of the first series, despite the pair sharing rather underwhelming antagonists, but making up for it in atmosphere and fun.
Immortal Beloved and No More Lies share the theme of a continuing cycle of love, the first by brain-wiping clones and filling them with someone's mind and the other through a literal time-loop. No More Lies is a bittersweet story and the better of the two, while Immortal Beloved showcases the benefits of the shorter run-time, because it would be intolerable in the monthly two hour format.
Human Resources is probably the best of the first series, for atmosphere, the concept, the camp, and the cliffhanger for the first part.

Series two is a much more mixed bag.

Dead London is a fairly confusing series opener - lots of scene changes and teleportation, with another fairly weak antagonist.
Max Warp and Grand Theft Cosmos raise up the enjoyable camp factor of the series. Max Warp is essentially Top Gear...in Space but what if Jeremy Clarkson was a space-racist against Space-Argentina. While Grand Theft Cosmos is an enjoyable heist adventure and my personal favourite for the second series.
Brave New Town and the Skull of Sobek are more standard stories, although the Skull of Sobek becomes rather dull by the end point. BNT covers more unexplored territory by showing the autons becoming..well, autonomous seemingly stuck in the year 1991.
The Zygon Who Fell To Earth is the series, seemingly requisite, bittersweet story. It's decent, although the story resolution is too obviously telegraphed.

The finale, Sisters of the Flame and Vengeance of Morbius, really doesn't feel that major. Sisters of the Flame is the better of the two, setting things up, and establishing the threat, but Vengrance of Morbius is a lacklustre snooze-fest. While it's nice to see the, seemingly-invincible, Time Lords cowering behind their limited defences, with their control of time nullified, Morbius himself is such a boring villain, and the climax zooms by so fast, it's hard to care.

The third series is another mixed bag of episodes.
Orbis, reveals that following from the conclusion of the last series, the Doctor has amnesia again for the fourth or fifth time, and is living a rather quiter life on some planet backwater, stranded without his TARDIS for 300 years, tending to the needs of Jellyfish people, and defending them from an invading race of mollusc/crustacean things. The tone is all over the place; it can't decide if it wants to be serious, happy, campy silliness or sad. Thankfully, the planet is wiped out and the Doctor continues on his travels with Lucie. For some reason, the writers have a really difficult time with series intros for the EDA.
Hothouse, Wirrn Dawn and The Cannabilists are fairly typical, compatant Doctor stories. The Cannabilists is the best of the three, exploring AI sapience and, (for once) having a Central Command AI that isn't a malfunctioning psychopath...it's just all the drone AIs instead :v:
The Beast of Orlok and Scapegoat are more fun adventures, with a large dollap of Hammer House of Horrors for the former, and the théâtralité de la Grand Guignol for the latter, with the ususal Who sci-fi elements.

The Eight Truths and Worldwide Web are acceptable stories that finish off the series story arc, they're just kinda, there. It's another build up of an antagonist that turns out to be a bunch of psychic spiders, and are just incredibly uninteresting.

The fourth, and final, series is probably the strongest by far, despite suffering from a reduced appearance of Lucie Miller for the first half anyway :ssh:.

Death in Blackpool is the strongest series opener by far, and is itself a continuation of plot elements from the Horror of Glam Rock and The Zygon Who Fell To Earth, in which the Doctor is taking Lucie home for her to have a family Christmas. While the antagonist is nothing special (a reoccuring thing throughout the EDA), the main focus is on the breakdown between the relationship of the Doctor and Lucie, which having seen them grow closer and closer as friends is quite :smith:
Situation Vacant is an odd episode. There are parallels with the monthly adventures The Company of Friends, though Situation Vacant is more comedic and light-hearted. It also introduces the Doctor's new companion, Tamsin Drew who is the most generic companion ever devised, and has the personality of toast.
Nevermore is the Poe-inspired gothic story (in space!), where the most enjoyable aspect is having all the Poe references pointed out to you. It's another one of the "meh/okay", stories where the only highlight is...well, the Poe imagery.
The Book of Kells, by contrast, has much more going for it, seeing the return of the classic series villain the Monk, played perfectly by Jim Broadbent Graeme Garden (thanks for the correction Fil5000), and in a more historical setting a la the classic series.
Similarly, Deimos and The Resurrection of Mars, see the return of the Ice Warriors, another race of villains from the classic series, time having been interferred with by the Monk releasing them from cryosleep decades too soon. It's also a fairly grim set of stories - lots of death and misery, but are a pretty decent pair.
Relative Dimensions is refreshingly cheerful, by contrast. Having failed to give Lucie a proper Christmas in Blackpool, they decide to celebrate Christmas on the TARDIS, and invite the Doctor's relatives, Susan and Alex. What An Earthly Child, lacks in familial interaction, Relative Dimensions makes up for in spades. Even Jake McGann sounds more engaged at times. It's a pretty great episode, even though it means that Lucie, once again, leaves the Doctor, though this time on more amicable terms - touring the globe with Alex.

The EDA finale is really a three-parter, with the first serving as an introduction to what the Doctor is doing, and the second to what is happening on Earth in his absence.
Prisoner of the Sun is a fairly bland tale, serving as a device as to why the Doctor can't immediately drop what he is doing to return to Earth. That's really about it; it's a prison of his own morality - if he leaves there's a chance billions will die, he could escape any time, but won't.

The second part, Lucie Miller, is the :smith: episode of the series, told by Lucie via flashback, with excellent voice acting by Sheridan Smith. The whole globe suffering a mysterious plague, Lucie suffering, but surviving, having lost the vision in right eye, and barely able to walk ever again. The Second Invasion of the Daleks, the resistance, the failure, the death :smith: On the plus side, this is probably the best Jake McGann has been. He actually emotes more.

The final part, To The Death is a conga-line of misery-porn. Tamsin dies, Alex dies (and supposedly can't regenerate), Lucie kamikazes into the Daleks taking out most of them and the Doctor and Susan are left in utter hopeless despair, leading to a bittersweet paraphrase of the Doctor's final speech to Susan, when he left her on Earth, all those years ago.

Welp, now on to Dark Eyes.

Pesky Splinter fucked around with this message at 11:50 on Jan 28, 2015

CobiWann
Oct 21, 2009

Have fun!
Wow. Poor, poor Eight...I can't wait to get to them, especially since I want to see how Eight works in a season format, but man it sounds like the Doctor needs a hug after all that.

Organza Quiz
Nov 7, 2009


Wait, are you saying Alex McGann's acting in the EDAs is an improvement on his acting in An Earthly Child? I haven't listened to the latter but I have listened to the EDA episodes with him and I can't imagine his acting being worse than it is in those. It was obvious from the start that he had to be someone's son because even the smallest of speaking roles in big finish go to better actors than that.

Pesky Splinter
Feb 16, 2011

A worried pug.

CobiWann posted:

Wow. Poor, poor Eight...I can't wait to get to them, especially since I want to see how Eight works in a season format, but man it sounds like the Doctor needs a hug after all that.

They work pretty much the same as the monthly stories, really, except the series overall story arc tends to move faster, and the instigators pop up more quickly. Eight's had the most miserable existance, hasn't he? Didn't even get his own tv series

Organza Quiz posted:

Wait, are you saying Alex McGann's acting in the EDAs is an improvement on his acting in An Earthly Child? I haven't listened to the latter but I have listened to the EDA episodes with him and I can't imagine his acting being worse than it is in those. It was obvious from the start that he had to be someone's son because even the smallest of speaking roles in big finish go to better actors than that.

Yeah, believe it or not, it's actually worse in An Earthly Child. The only change in his delivery is when he's meant to be angry - which translates to "READING. THE. WORDS. SLIGHTY. LOUDER." :geno:
He's a loving rainbow of emotions in all the other ones by comparison.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

I think I'm half a dozen 8 audios away from finishing up his main range stories, at which point I can jump back into the 8th Doctor adventures (I think I'll just re-listen to season 1, since the episodes are so short). I'll be glad to finally move into something different with him, I like that they try to differentiate him in some way from the classic Doctors in their main range (well, apart from Tom, which is understandable).

Astroman
Apr 8, 2001


Jerusalem posted:

There's nothing to indicate they don't age like humans though, particularly Turlough who was attending school for human youths and may have looked a bit weird if he was aging at a remarkably slower rate than the other kids.

They also did it with Peri and Erimem, and though Erimem never appeared on the show, Peri has only a couple of stories with the 5th Doctor before he regenerates and yet she not only goes on multiple adventures with him via Big Finish, but spends two years living in the 15th Century during one of them.

I know it's being a bit pedantic, but given how small a timeframe we're dealing with when thinking back to the first and last 5th Doctor/Peri televised adventures, throwing in a random 2 year gap amongst the many other adventures feels really quite silly.

Well with Nyssa she does actually age much slower than humans. When the Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough catch up to her it's been 80 years or something like that, but she looks like she's only aged 20-30 years. And then she's "de-aged" for something something reasons a couple of stories back. So she'd look the same. And Turlough, who knows? Peri's extra adventures with 5 really do push it though. When you add in those, plus now her going back, she's probably one of the longest "serving" companions. At least that particular incarnation of her.

Time. Ain't it a bitch.


CobiWann posted:

I think, and I could be wrong, it's a mix of letting Big Finish focus on the old series, getting the Doctors/actors back or letting them have time to have careers before bringing them back, and the BBC not wanting fans to think that absolutely have to buy the audios in order to be all caught up on the current TV series.

Or just blame the Tories.

Do you seriously think you could keep David Tennant away if he could legally resume the role, especially for BF? Even in all his dreams of AMERICAN STARDOM he would jump at it. Especially since the time commitment to doing them is so low. From what I gather from the behind the scenes stuff, it takes them a day or so to record an episode. He could bang out a season in a week. I bet Matt Smith would be up for it as well. And as was mentioned, Darvil has done a ton of stuff for BF.


Jerusalem posted:

I think I'm half a dozen 8 audios away from finishing up his main range stories, at which point I can jump back into the 8th Doctor adventures (I think I'll just re-listen to season 1, since the episodes are so short). I'll be glad to finally move into something different with him, I like that they try to differentiate him in some way from the classic Doctors in their main range (well, apart from Tom, which is understandable).

I finished his main range stuff awhile ago, and recently capped the second season of the EDAs (though I couldn't resist jumping ahead to Dark Eyes I last year). So far I like Charlie the most, but Lucie is growing on me. I'm not sure how Dark Eyes II and III will work as overall listens, but my gut feeling is that I'd rather have some small self contained "seasons" of individual episodes, like Tom does (or quite frankly like the others do in the Main Range, where they do 3-4 stories back to back in successive continuity). I'll reserve judgement til I get there, and since I'm putting off the rest of Dark Eyes til I actually do finish the EDAs, then it'll be awhile. By then they'll probably do something else entirely.

Fil5000
Jun 23, 2003

HOLD ON GUYS I'M POSTING ABOUT INTERNET ROBOTS
I'm pretty sure it's Graeme Garden that plays that spoilered character and not Jim Broadbent. Man, broadbent would be great.

Pesky Splinter
Feb 16, 2011

A worried pug.

Fil5000 posted:

I'm pretty sure it's Graeme Garden that plays that spoilered character and not Jim Broadbent. Man, broadbent would be great.

Huh, you're right. Put it down to not reading the cast list.

CobiWann
Oct 21, 2009

Have fun!
Oh, and Big Finish is at it again with another sale...

http://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/the-13th-day-of-christmas---51-to-100-of-doctor-who-main-range

Fil5000
Jun 23, 2003

HOLD ON GUYS I'M POSTING ABOUT INTERNET ROBOTS

Pesky Splinter posted:

Huh, you're right. Put it down to not reading the cast list.

I'd put my recognition of him down to listening to far too much Radio 4 over the years.

CobiWann
Oct 21, 2009

Have fun!
Thought for the morning...

Is Colin Baker SO AWESOME that he could make a serial with Six and Adric listenable?

Burkion
May 10, 2012

by Fluffdaddy

CobiWann posted:

Thought for the morning...

Is Colin Baker SO AWESOME that he could make a serial with Six and Adric listenable?

Well Tom Baker kept Adric in line, so maybe. Peter just had trouble because he wasn't the same kind of Doctor. Though eventually he got the right idea!

Bicyclops
Aug 27, 2004

CobiWann posted:

Thought for the morning...

Is Colin Baker SO AWESOME that he could make a serial with Six and Adric listenable?

He might even be a better Doctor for Adric than Tom.

Big Mean Jerk
Jan 27, 2009

Well, of course I know him.
He's me.
Adric and Six together sounds like it would result in an ER trip for the listener.

Bicyclops
Aug 27, 2004

Think how much different the infamous and unforgivable strangling scene would have been if Colin had been strangling Adric instead of Peri.

I want a video of him stomping on Adric's little badge and the looking at him with his most :smug: Baker-face.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?


"From today until Monday morning (UK time) we're putting 50 of our main range Doctor Who stories at a special offer price, both on CD and Download."

Looks like I'll be filling some more gaps in my collection. :stare:

CobiWann
Oct 21, 2009

Have fun!

Jerusalem posted:

"From today until Monday morning (UK time) we're putting 50 of our main range Doctor Who stories at a special offer price, both on CD and Download."

Looks like I'll be filling some more gaps in my collection. :stare:

Aha! Now you have no choice but to listen to Minu...

Wait. Haven't we done this before?

Rochallor
Apr 23, 2010

ふっっっっっっっっっっっっck

Jerusalem posted:

"From today until Monday morning (UK time) we're putting 50 of our main range Doctor Who stories at a special offer price, both on CD and Download."

Looks like I'll be filling some more gaps in my collection. :stare:

Just looking through the titles on sale, it's not...a particularly strong set, I have to say. It's been too long since I've listened to the Eighth Doctor audios, but Scherzo, The Natural History of Fear, and The Last all stand out for me. CobiWann has also done reviews of most of them recently.

From the other Doctors, Arrangements for War, The Harvest, The Kingmaker, and Circular Time are essential. It's too long, but I quite enjoyed Year of the Pig, mostly because of how ridiculous it becomes. The Wishing Beast & The Vanity Box isn't great, but it's a nice Six/Mel story and you could probably get away with just listening to The Vanity Box by itself. And of course, 100 is great fun except for the Joseph Lidster story.

Speaking of Lidster, avoid The Reaping and The Gathering at all costs. And Terror Firma, for the same reason, unless you want to know what the best Lidster script is (it's still pretty bad). Also, Medicinal Purposes, unless you want to hear the Doctor be a Burke and Hare apologist.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Well I figured gently caress it, I'm gonna listen to them all eventually anyway, so now I own every single audio between 50-100.

The next few days of sales are gonna be hell :gonk:

Edit: Thanks for the suggestions, Rochallor, I've heard most of those already, good and bad, but it's always good to hear somebody else's take on them.

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
𝅘𝅥𝅮
According to ABC (the Australian one), Peter Davison doesn't think the Doctor should ever be played by a woman.

Barry Foster
Dec 24, 2007

What is going wrong with that one (face is longer than it should be)
Who still wants to kiss Peter?

e: f,b

Burkion
May 10, 2012

by Fluffdaddy
Goddamnit please thread do not break in half

PriorMarcus
Oct 17, 2008

ASK ME ABOUT BEING ALLERGIC TO POSITIVITY

Burkion posted:

Goddamnit please thread do not break in half

He's older, entitled to his opinion and shilling for his daughter.

Right or wrong I don't think its that big of a deal he holds that opinion.

Burkion
May 10, 2012

by Fluffdaddy

PriorMarcus posted:

He's older, entitled to his opinion and shilling for his daughter.

Right or wrong I don't think its that big of a deal he holds that opinion.

I agree- which is why I hope the thread doesn't take it any which way and it doesn't become an issue.

I remember the derails in these parts during the casting of 12.

They were not happy times.

PriorMarcus
Oct 17, 2008

ASK ME ABOUT BEING ALLERGIC TO POSITIVITY

Here's something cool instead:

Remember the amazing 50th trailer with the awesome version of the theme that's never been released? Well HardWired, a really talented fan has recreated that score and released it. I know there has been isolated versions taken from the advert itself, but they suffer from having been lifted directly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NipbaQRAjW0

Wheat Loaf
Feb 13, 2012

by FactsAreUseless

Burkion posted:

I agree- which is why I hope the thread doesn't take it any which way and it doesn't become an issue.

I remember the derails in these parts during the casting of 12.

They were not happy times.

We're fine until Colin Baker says he agrees with him.

DoctorWhat
Nov 18, 2011

A little privacy, please?
Colin is very much in favor of a female Doctor, as I recall.

Cleretic
Feb 3, 2010


Ignore my posts!
I'm aggressively wrong about everything!
I actually don't mind his logic.The dynamic that New Who goes for is 'troubled (male) Doctor, grounding-force (female) companion', and it's a dynamic that works very well. If you reverse the genders, then without a major change in the way the Doctor is written, it's just going to come off weird and sexist. I think the only New Who season that might have, if it had a female Doctor, managed to avoid that is maybe season five, and even that would still have some weird subtext regarding certain Doctor/Amy elements.

I think you'd need a proper, old-school Doctor to make it work right. New Who, as it is now, couldn't really handle it.

EDIT: Plus, you guys can't seriously tell me you'd trust Moffat to write a female Doctor.

Cleretic fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Jan 29, 2015

Rochallor
Apr 23, 2010

ふっっっっっっっっっっっっck

Cleretic posted:

I actually don't mind his logic.The dynamic that New Who goes for is 'troubled (male) Doctor, grounding-force (female) companion', and it's a dynamic that works very well. If you reverse the genders, then without a major change in the way the Doctor is written, it's just going to come off weird and sexist. I think the only New Who season that might have, if it had a female Doctor, managed to avoid that is maybe season five, and even that would still have some weird subtext regarding certain Doctor/Amy elements.

I think you'd need a proper, old-school Doctor to make it work right. New Who, as it is now, couldn't really handle it.

EDIT: Plus, you guys can't seriously tell me you'd trust Moffat to write a female Doctor.

That's not necessarily a dynamic that has to continue, however. And it's pretty general as far as things go. I mean, it generally describes both Series 1 and 8, but the nature of those relationships is totally different.

And what's wrong with Moffat writing a female Doctor? The reaction to Missy and Clara this season (in this thread, anyway) has been pretty great.

Burkion
May 10, 2012

by Fluffdaddy
The Master had some moments that would have made me a bit leery if they were to go a step further, and Clara's biggest defining Thing this season was her relationship with Danny.

Mind Clara was a huge improvement over the abyss of last season and her relationship with Danny was- well OK it was polarizing for some but not because of the relationship- but generally it's not the source of her character flaws, just something for them to cling to.

So you could make an argument either way on that ground as far as Moffat writing women goes.



So rewatching The Dalek Invasion of Earth again, I forgot how BIG the old school Dalek props could be. I really wish they could be that size nowadays, without the unfortunate badonkadonks.

Organza Quiz
Nov 7, 2009


I actually think Moffat might be okay writing a female Doctor. His problem is that when he's coming up with his own female characters he tends to go for the same archetype over and over again, but he's quite capable of writing other women. I mean, look at his writing of each of the companions from the RTD years. I think he's enough of a fan of the Doctor as a character that he'd be able to write a woman as the Doctor instead of as a Standard Moffat Female Character.

EDIT: Sorry, what? Clara's biggest Thing this season was Danny and not the whole thing about her learning to lie and be like the Doctor and that not necessarily being a good thing?

Burkion
May 10, 2012

by Fluffdaddy

Organza Quiz posted:

I actually think Moffat might be okay writing a female Doctor. His problem is that when he's coming up with his own female characters he tends to go for the same archetype over and over again, but he's quite capable of writing other women. I mean, look at his writing of each of the companions from the RTD years. I think he's enough of a fan of the Doctor as a character that he'd be able to write a woman as the Doctor instead of as a Standard Moffat Female Character.

EDIT: Sorry, what? Clara's biggest Thing this season was Danny and not the whole thing about her learning to lie and be like the Doctor and that not necessarily being a good thing?

They're pretty equally connected but I'll concede the point mostly because I really don't care. The Danny relationship stuff was connected to it, but separate from it- mostly connected through the lying bits and both informed her character pretty heavily.

Bicyclops
Aug 27, 2004

I disagree with Peter Davison's opinion regarding casting, which is a bad opinion worthy of rolled eyes and beleaguered moaning that we will now have to hear the same bad excuses like "but he was born a man" and "it's important for children to have a nonviolent male role model" and "Moffat writes women poorly," but I do not think that it necessarily makes him a bad person or necessitates seeing any of his stories any differently; he is just an actor and no doubt he has plenty of good opinions and plenty of bad ones. Tom Baker would almost certainly say something similar if asked.

edit: The worst thing about it is that it will give Doctor What another opportunity to call him Captain Beige.

Organza Quiz
Nov 7, 2009


Bicyclops posted:

Tom Baker would almost certainly say something similar if asked.

I agree with most of your post, but:

Tom Baker in this interview posted:

There was for a time persistent speculation that there could be a female Doctor Who? Do you think a woman could take on the role?

Well, I don't have any convictions about that, I don't have many convictions anyway. I think it would have been quite nice to have a woman. I think it would have been quite nice to have a man dressed as a woman. I have always wanted to play Lady Bracknell [from The Importance of Being Earnest] myself. Or someone who was very, very obviously gay might break it up. And I don't necessarily see why he has to stay long. If the audience don't like it, kill him off. He doesn't have to be an institution just because I stayed too long.

You underestimate the nature of Tom Baker.

Cleretic
Feb 3, 2010


Ignore my posts!
I'm aggressively wrong about everything!

Rochallor posted:

That's not necessarily a dynamic that has to continue, however. And it's pretty general as far as things go. I mean, it generally describes both Series 1 and 8, but the nature of those relationships is totally different.

I think what I'm saying is that it has to be a really conscious, proper, planned shift. The 'base' New Who Doctor, that vague outline of a character that everyone writes the Doctor as before they really know how a particular Doctor feels, wouldn't work out. That dynamic can change, but it's so default that, for that establishing first season, you'd have to police the entire process to make sure it worked right. You can't just have the new Doctor be a lady, you need to really focus on making that happen.

Thinking about it more, season 1 could have sustained a female Doctor well. Nine was troubled and unstable, he needed Rose to balance him out, but he wasn't weak. I feel like that would be the character skeleton we'd need for a 'current' female Doctor.

EDIT: To better illustrate what I'm getting at regarding 'just gender-flipping New Who wouldn't work', mentally swap the sexes of the Tennant years. I dunno about you guys, but to me it suddenly looks A LOT worse.

Cleretic fucked around with this message at 06:36 on Jan 29, 2015

Emerson Cod
Apr 14, 2004

by Pragmatica
As I tell my writing team, if you swap the gender of your character and they suddenly make no sense, you've written a lovely character.

Issaries
Sep 15, 2008

"At the end of the day
We are all human beings
My father once told me that
The world has no borders"

CobiWann posted:

Aha! Now you have no choice but to listen to Minu...

Wait. Haven't we done this before?

That isn't on sale!

I broke down and got the whole lot. :)

I've never seen/listened any 5th/6th/7th Doctor episodes. Is there any chronological list of episodes?
The series seems to jump between Doctors (easy to sort) and Companions (Not that easy).

At least 8th Doctor episodes don't change companions from episode to episode!

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Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Just listen to them in release order, anything else is just going to get needlessly complicated.

Of course I bought them piecemeal so I keep jumping back anyway, so don't make my mistake!

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