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computer parts posted:Have we seen that special Dalek before? He looks familiar. The red one? He was in the Series 4 finale.
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Aug 12, 2015 22:34
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http://www.salon.com/2015/08/09/steven_moffat_on_why_he_hasnt_cast_a_female_doctor_yet_i_think_it_would_have_been_a_disaster/ This is a pretty good interview with the Moff that clears up a lot of misconceptions. Most relevant passage: quote:Bearing all that in mind, why do you think the time wasn’t right for a female “Doctor Who”?
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Aug 12, 2015 22:45
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Haha, I love the red supreme Dalek and seeing him being moved into the studios has been awesome this year, especially because he's had some upgrades to his build quality - that and, you know, brand new classic Daleks.
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Aug 12, 2015 22:47
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I'm gonna get to see the Master yukking it up with (well, at) the Daleks - Series 9 now confirmed as 100% brilliant forever.
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Aug 12, 2015 22:56
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tadashi posted:It wasn't him. Just something that resembled what I remembered him looking like until I could look him up. Zygon.
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Aug 12, 2015 22:58
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thrawn527 posted:Series 9 trailer is up! Looks like the Doctor and Clara have finally worked through their relationship issues. That's nice.
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Aug 13, 2015 00:08
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Spatula City posted:http://www.salon.com/2015/08/09/steven_moffat_on_why_he_hasnt_cast_a_female_doctor_yet_i_think_it_would_have_been_a_disaster/ I'm kind of surprised he describes himself as a Lefty, something about the general tone of his writing made me sure he'd be a conservative. I might be getting his gentle mockery of the Scottish people mixed up with Tory disdain for the country's existence.
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Aug 13, 2015 00:22
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He's Scottish. The chance of him being a Tory would have been about a million-to-one.
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Aug 13, 2015 00:29
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Angela Christine posted:Looks like the Doctor and Clara have finally worked through their relationship issues. That's nice. I think Last Christmas did a pretty great job of providing a clean slate for them to begin all over again without the baggage of their pasts dragging them down anymore, and I'm hoping that the drama/tension this season is going to come from a different place, while the two of them continue that lovely camaraderie that developed by the end of season 8.
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Aug 13, 2015 00:31
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PriorMarcus posted:Haha, I love the red supreme Dalek and seeing him being moved into the studios has been awesome this year, especially because he's had some upgrades to his build quality - that and, you know, brand new classic Daleks. Are they brand new? Or are they just bringing them out of the museum again? Either way, it's neat that they're mixing the designs. The Daleks are really the only monster you could get away with it, too; most classic Cybermen, Sontarans, etc., would look like garbage.
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Aug 13, 2015 01:09
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Clara in that outfit with the rocket launcher nearly turned me straight.
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Aug 13, 2015 01:41
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Rochallor posted:Are they brand new? Or are they just bringing them out of the museum again? They are HD ready, which they weren't before, so either they are new or loving restored. They also have the black time war Dalek, the Iron Daleks from World War 2, the Dalek Emperor model and the newly painted Dalek paradigm ones about - which looks much better now with black accents and dark metallic colours.
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Aug 13, 2015 02:19
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MikeJF posted:Clara in that outfit with the rocket launcher nearly turned me straight. I know right, although that may have been the rocket launcher
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Aug 13, 2015 03:41
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she can launch my rocket any time 
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Aug 13, 2015 03:48
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  Not bad. New one had less architects.
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Aug 13, 2015 03:52
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cargohills posted:He's Scottish. The chance of him being a Tory would have been about a million-to-one. Come now - the Tories in Scotland are at least as well represented at Westminster as the Labour Party. 
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Aug 13, 2015 08:52
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 Welcome to Valhalla, Capital of Callisto, Jupiter's premier moon, where anything and everything is up for sale. But Valhalla isn't quite what it says in the brochures – not since Earth granted independence and cut off the supplies. The former Doctor (FOR SALE. EXCELLENT CONDITION) visits the Job Centre and finds power cuts, barcoded citizens and monthly riots (ALL BOOKABLE.) And then there's the problem with the termites… Sylvester McCoy is the Doctor in Valhalla. X X X X X Cast Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor) Michelle Gomez (Jevvan) Phillip Jackson (Laxton Susannah York (Our Mother/Registry/Tannoy) Fraser James (Gerium) Donna Berlin (Tin-Marie) Duncan Wisbey (Clerk/Sergeant/Pilot/New Tannoy) Dominic Frisby (Groom/Drome Guard/Resolute Pilot/Worker 1/Marketeer); Jack Galagher(Worker 2) Written By: Marc Platt Directed By: John Ainsworth Trailer - http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/popout/valhalla-262 X X X X X Valhalla is a very good story that comes incredibly close to being a great one. A fleshed-out setting from a veteran Who writer, a creepy alien race, top notch and slightly disturbing sound work, and a incredible performance from Sylvester McCoy make this serial stand out, but a abundance of padding mixed with a weird turn from the alien race in the third episode pull this story down just enough to keep the brass ring out of reach. Anything can be bought and sold on Valhalla, a mining colony on Callisto granted its “independence” from Earth once its resources were exhausted. Not just items and rarities, but jobs and skill sets as well. This is where the Doctor finds himself, weary of traveling throughout time and space. He's ready to settle down and let people come to him for help, rather than the other way around. He even has a resume handy! But underneath Valhalla, down below the pipes, conduits, and other unseen necessities that ensure the city's day-to-day existence, an unstoppable force is making their way to the surface. They also are interested in taking part in the unchecked capitalism that rules Valhalla. But the products they're interested in selling aren't goods and services – it's the citizens themselves... Marc Platt has one heck of a Doctor Who pedigree – he wrote one of the quintessential Seventh Doctor stories, Ghost Light, as well as one of Big Finish's best productions ever, Spare Parts. Oh, and he also penned a personal favorite of mine, Loups-Garoux. Platt's major strength is his ability to establish a strong setting with just a few words from the characters. It doesn't take very long for the listener to recognize that Valhalla was abandoned by Earth once its natural resources ran out, and has been struggling ever since to maintain its very existence. It is an open market where everything and anything is for sale, but there's still a modicum of control held by the central authority. Everyone coming into the city is cataloged with a barcode on their tongue listing their identity, skills, and talents, and riots are scheduled on a regular basis, complete with complementary armor and weapons, to allow the residents to blow off steam in a controlled atmosphere. Platt also easily lays out the Doctor's melancholy as the Time Lord struggles with bureaucracy and his desire to just sit down for a bit and let the universe go by. One would hope that this character establishment would extend to the central villains of the piece, an army of giant termites led by a queen known as Our Mother. Indeed, the threat of this army is laid out in grand fashion, as they chew through anything to get to their victims, easily pick up entire buildings on their backs to move them across the city, and once Our Mother is revealed to also be the city's central computer known as Registry, able to track the Doctor and his allies anywhere in the city, easily blocking their escape routes and “encouraging” the Doctor to allow himself to be escorted to her. The termites and Our Mother were well on their way to being one of the more memorable foes in Big Finish's history, by the AMAZING performance of well-known British actress Susannah York at the queen determined to ensure her species survive by the most nefarious means possible – pure capitalism. York chews the scenery to play up the “divine right” of the queen and her pure insistence that humanity gave up on Valhalla a long time ago and she can do with Earth's castoffs as she pleases. Her performance is only enhanced by some great voice modulation. It's one of those times where everything was so close to clicking with Our Mother and her army. Until the third episode, when the Doctor uses the TARDIS' translation circuit in an attempt to blend in with the termites, and it turns out the termites sound exactly like a group of Tottenham Hotspur supporters. The fear and unease brought about by Our Mother's insectoid army goes right out the window as they termites act like a bunch of blue collar squaddies, joking with each other and asking the Doctor “hey, what's the big idea” when he doesn't know the password. It just took me right out of the story, an extended moment of humor whose presence was completely out of place, especially as the mood snapped right back to tension and fear in the fourth episode. I was expecting the xenomorphs from Aliens hissing and snapping at the Doctor as he tried to bluff them. Instead, I got the xenomorphs from Aliens: Colonial Marines walking the dinosaur.  Valhalla is, put simply, one of Sylvester McCoy's finest performances for Big Finish. After a brief step back in Nocturne, Valhalla sees McCoy return to form in very dashing style! This is a Seventh Doctor at the end of his days, somewhere between Master and the 1996 television movie. No Ace, no Hex, no Melanie Bush...he's alone, a lonely man in a blue box, toppling empires and no longer mixing metaphors. His arrival on Valhalla is for one simple reason – he wants to semi-retire, to lean back and let someone else take charge for a bit. Instead of going about time and space solving problems, people can come to HIM. It turns out, of course, that there's more to the Doctor's interest towards cashing in his karmic 401(k). But for those moments, McCoy is simply superb. You can hear the weariness in his voice and the surprisingly lack of anger at dealing with Valhall's government. Even his fury towards Our Mother seems to lack a certain spark at times as one could almost hear the Doctor sighing to himself as he deals with yet ANOTHER genocidal maniac. As the story progresses, the little moments of Seven come out – jokes towards his temporary companions, comments about how “watertight plans always spring a leak,” and even an offer for someone to join him on his travels once the crisis his averted...and the despair in McCoy's voice at the very end, when said person turns him down, is just heartbreaking. The secondary characters are mostly serviceable. There's Laxton, played by Phillip Jackson, who is the administrator of Valhalla and subverts the “corrupt official” role by trying to do his best to serve the people of Valhalla, even going to far as to offer to sacrifice himself to save the citizens. Donna Berlin's Tin-Marie and Fraser James' Gerium serve as the minor characters who are sounding boards for the Doctor, with James having a nice turn as the “anything to save his skin” type who grouses his way towards doing the right thing. The highlight of the secondary cast, however, should come as no surprise. The technician Jevvan is played by none other than Michelle “Missy” Gomez, appearing in a Doctor Who production eight years before the premiere of Deep Breath. Gomez is solid in the role as the temporary companion, someone who wants to save her friends and do the right thing and slowly, thanks to the Doctor's influence, gets a chance to do so. Gomez hits all the appropriate notes, being scared, brave, resourceful, and both in awe and afraid of the Seventh Doctor. quote:“What's the point of travelling if you don't see the bits in between? There's no point in going if you can't see where you're going.” Simon Robinson with the music, Steve Foxon with the sound work, and once again Big Finish nails the audio portion of...well, an audio. Foxon paints a city both bustling with people and later abandoned to the chittering termites who eat through walls and drag buildings about. There's also a hint of Eight's TARDIS in some of the noises we hear during Seven and Jevvan's time inside. But the highlight (and the part that will stick with me) is the noise of a helpless human being cocooned. The screams become muffled as the termites spit their amber to form a hard carapace that keeps the human in suspended animation pending sale. It's just absolutely chilling to hear, to the point that I'm getting that icky feeling at the base of my neck just typing about it... Platt spins a great story, and Valhalla is a serial I wish had produced in the three-parter/one-parter format. The story before this one and the story after this one (Exotron and The Wishing Beast) both utilizes this style. Valhalla suffers from a third episode where there's a lot of running around and the Doctor yelling at Our Mother with very little actual plot advancement. Don't get me wrong, I could listen to McCoy get indignant at a villain for two hours, but the scene with the termite squaddies wasn't necessary and could have easily been trimmed. And it's especially jarring when the solution to the whole entire problem is simply the Doctor getting on the city's public address system and lying to the termite army, telling them that their queen is dead and causing them to swarm into the air and leave Valhalla in an effort to find a new queen. More time is spent on Our Mother's slow demise than actually defeating her, and it feels like her defeat is pure deus ex machina. If Platt had spent more time on the climax than on the squaddies, Valhalla would have been much better off. I feel like I'm being a bit unfair towards Valhalla. In the end, this IS a drat good story from Marc Platt with a Doctor we haven't quite seen before, Michelle Gomez being solid, a unique setting and a terrifying enemy. The fact that it comes SO close to being a great story is just incredibly frustrating and makes its flaws stand out even more, with an episode of padding spent on a strange turn in the characterization of the bad guys. Still, Valhalla is worth a pick-up, as it's one of McCoy's best performances as the Doctor while still managing to convey a sense of dread and unease during its runtime. Pros + Sylvester McCoy with one of his best turns for Big Finish + Well done music and sound, especially with the termite army + Michelle Gomez! + Susannah York with a great turn as Our Mother Cons - The termites turn into blue collar blokes for an episode before going right back to alien invaders - A lot of standing around and talking that could have been edited out - Deus ex machina solution  Cobi's Synopsis – Valhalla could have been a classic save for too much padding and some mischaracterizaton of the alien enemy, but still turns out to be a very good story from Marc Platt, thanks to great turns from Sylvester McCoy, Michelle Gomez, and Susannah York. Next up - What can it mean when the Doctor and Mel are drawn to an asteroid by a message from the strange, elderly Applewhite sisters? Colin Baker is the Doctor in...The Wishing Beast
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Aug 13, 2015 09:56
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The better version of that:
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Aug 13, 2015 10:17
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So does this 'Last Adventure' thing Big Finish just got me to preorder mean that Colin Baker isn't doing any more episodes? That would be a drag, even though I have tons of his stuff still to listen to.
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Aug 13, 2015 13:38
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evenworse username posted:So does this 'Last Adventure' thing Big Finish just got me to preorder mean that Colin Baker isn't doing any more episodes? Oh, no! Colin still has plenty of Big Finish stuff lined up as Six. This is just the last CHRONOLOGICAL adventure before Six regenerates into Seven in order to give Six a more proper send-off than “fell, hit his head, put on a bad wig, turned into Sylvester McCoy.”
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Aug 13, 2015 13:42
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Rochallor posted:Either way, it's neat that they're mixing the designs. The Daleks are really the only monster you could get away with it, too; most classic Cybermen, Sontarans, etc., would look like garbage. I don't think the Cybermen from the Moonbase would need much tweaking to work, although I guess that's just a description of the current ones really.
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Aug 13, 2015 14:09
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CobiWann posted:Oh, no! Colin still has plenty of Big Finish stuff lined up as Six. That's what I had hoped, good to know. Because it was free I also downloaded UNIT: The Coup which was more than slightly rushed but pretty fun for the Brig being awesome. Anyone listened to the rest of the series? (I alllllso got listening to the Survivors stuff Big Finish did because Louise Jameson is pretty cool and they do a nice job I thought)
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Aug 13, 2015 14:11
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CobiWann posted:Oh, no! Colin still has plenty of Big Finish stuff lined up as Six. But it's with some other companion who isn't Mel...? 
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Aug 13, 2015 14:36
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The_Doctor posted:But it's with some other companion who isn't Mel...? It's four stories from various points in the Sixth Doctor's timeline with different companions, with the final one being with Mel, leading into his regeneration.
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Aug 13, 2015 14:39
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Pesky Splinter posted:It's four stories from various points in the Sixth Doctor's timeline with different companions, with the final one being with Mel, leading into his regeneration. The Last-ish Adventure.
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Aug 13, 2015 14:44
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The_Doctor posted:But it's with some other companion who isn't Mel...? The broadcast version of Time and the Rani has a line edit - originally the Rani says "Take that girl and murder her, leave that girl, it's the man I want". This explains why the other companion isn't present. Now let's explain UNIT dating...
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Aug 13, 2015 14:57
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Fil5000 posted:Now let's explain UNIT dating... Pretty straightforward. The Brig's married, Liz gets married, Jo gets married, and Yates and Benton totally had a thing going on on the side.
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Aug 13, 2015 15:00
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Fil5000 posted:Now let's explain UNIT dating... 
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Aug 13, 2015 15:17
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Fil5000 posted:Now let's explain UNIT dating... There's a duplicate Earth, almost identical to the first, with almost exactly the same people living on it and a very similar history. The Doctor lands there by accident about one time in four. He hasn't noticed yet.
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Aug 13, 2015 16:36
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DoctorWhat posted:Pretty straightforward. The Brig's married, Liz gets married, Jo gets married, and Yates and Benton totally had a thing going on on the side. You forgot about Sarah Jane. qntm posted:There's a duplicate Earth, almost identical to the first, with almost exactly the same people living on it and a very similar history. The Doctor lands there by accident about one time in four. He hasn't noticed yet. See, that'd actually be a fun story to do with it also being a throwaway explanation of the date issues.
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Aug 13, 2015 16:43
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Fil5000 posted:You forgot about Sarah Jane. Sarah Jane wasn't part of UNIT
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Aug 13, 2015 16:59
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qntm posted:There's a duplicate Earth, almost identical to the first, with almost exactly the same people living on it and a very similar history. The Doctor lands there by accident about one time in four. He hasn't noticed yet. Sure, it starts easy and simple like that, but before long you end up with this poo poo. What I'm saying is...  let's do this 
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Aug 13, 2015 17:22
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CobiWann posted:Cobi's Synopsis – Valhalla could have been a classic save for too much padding and some mischaracterizaton of the alien enemy, but still turns out to be a very good story from Marc Platt, thanks to great turns from Sylvester McCoy, Michelle Gomez, and Susannah York. It's such a frustrating story, remove (or adjust) that third episode stuff with the translation and it could have been a near classic, but that just completely takes the wind out of its sails. I'm also not a fan of how the hosed up society of the humans never really gets addressed, and the people (outside of Jevvan) not only don't seem to learn anything but have their behavior positively reinforced and are soon to set off out to multiple other worlds taking their attitudes with them. Michelle Gomez feels kind of wasted because her character is mostly bland, and if you listen to the CD Extras you get a sense of how wonderfully batshit she just naturally is - on the other hand, with Susannah York hamming it up so beautifully in the story there really wasn't room for another "wacky" character.
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Aug 13, 2015 18:27
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Jerusalem posted:It's such a frustrating story, remove (or adjust) that third episode stuff with the translation and it could have been a near classic, but that just completely takes the wind out of its sails. I'm also not a fan of how the hosed up society of the humans never really gets addressed, and the people (outside of Jevvan) not only don't seem to learn anything but have their behavior positively reinforced and are soon to set off out to multiple other worlds taking their attitudes with them. Sadly, that IS humanity for you... quote:Michelle Gomez feels kind of wasted because her character is mostly bland, and if you listen to the CD Extras you get a sense of how wonderfully batshit she just naturally is - on the other hand, with Susannah York hamming it up so beautifully in the story there really wasn't room for another "wacky" character. I liked the grounded character Gomez played, actually. Maybe because I was expected Missy (or batshit crazy Gomez), but it fit nicely with her final words to the Doctor about "it's not just the destinations, it's the trip there."
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Aug 13, 2015 18:31
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So after years of reading this thread and skimming over audio discussion, I've finally taken the Big Finish Plunge. I bought the first 50 audios from the Monthly Range (got them all for around AU$150). So far I've listened to the first eleven stories (just finished The Apocalypse Element). It's hard guys. It's really hard. Am I doing it wrong? The Sirens of Time - the three individual stories were pretty terrible, the banter between Doctors was great, but the actual story itself was loving awful. Phantasmagoria - Boring as poo poo. Just utter boredom. Whispers of Terror - Entertaining enough, but hard to suspend disbelief. A sound wave? Really? Land of the Dead - Boring. The Fearmonger - A great start and a good ending, but lost my interest in the middle. The Marian Conspiracy - Slow paced, but one of the first ones I actually enjoyed. Shocking, because I'm not normally a fan of straight historicals. The Genocide Machine - Interesting enough, but a bit too predictable for my tastes. Red Dawn - Boring. So boring. The Spectre of Lanyon Moor - Kinda enjoyed this one - starting to see why people like the Sixth Doctor. Winter for the Adept - Fell asleep in the first part. Got better towards the end, but holy poo poo that was slow to start. The Apocalypse Element - Good, but a bit all over the place. Too many characters to keep track of in the beginning. So far I'll say I've had around a 30% enjoyment rate so far. Everything else has been utter boredom. And - as someone coming from the New Series - two hours for a single story is a long commitment. I know there are awesome stories coming up. I realise this. But what I want to know is: have I experienced enough of the general vibe to be able to decide if listening to every story is something I want to do or should I keep pressing on? As an addendum - does Sylvester McCoy ever reach a point where it doesn't feel like he's sitting in a booth absentmindedly reading words off a piece of paper? His performances have been kinda lacking so far, which is a shame because I really like the Seventh Doctor. 
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Aug 14, 2015 08:45
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Oh god!
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Aug 14, 2015 09:09
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Go storm warning -> seasons of fear -> chimes of midnight -> embrace the darkness. At first dip around what you liked. Try jubilee or spare parts. But going in order? You maniac
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Aug 14, 2015 09:14
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Seasons of Fear comes after Chimes of Midnight, although I don't think it would make a whole lot of difference in terms of character or plot or anything. But yeah, you're listening to their very first attempts from decades ago. It's true you probably have listened to enough to decide that listening to ALL of them isn't worth it to you, but you'd have to be slightly nuts to want to listen to all of them in the first place. Just skip to the good/interesting ones or listen to particular doctor/companion arcs that interest you enough to get you through the worse episodes.
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Aug 14, 2015 09:17
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If you like the run time of the revival consider the eighth doctor adventures. Personally I'm kinda prefer the classic style runlengths of the main rangebut whatever floats your boat.
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Aug 14, 2015 09:19
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| # ? Jun 7, 2024 16:07 |
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If you like seven then try Colditz
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Aug 14, 2015 09:20
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