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Jerusalem posted:Edit: I'm sorry to keep on going on about this, but the idea of,"So ALL confession dials are actually personal torture devices that the Time Lords make for themselves?" strikes me as the same kind of thinking as,"There was a spike trap under that pile of leaves, why do humans hide spike traps under ALL piles of leaves in the world?" Just speculating The Doctor's confession dial is the only one we've encountered, so it may even be one of a kind. Or like I said, it might be meant for convicted criminals on the galactic equivalent of death row. We don't know how he got it, after all, just that it exists and Missy wanted it.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 00:28 |
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# ? Jun 8, 2024 07:17 |
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I'm watching The Chase / Journey Into Terror right now and the idea of a "custom scary house" seems to anticipate what happened in that confession dial somehow. Not sure if there's any connections that can (or should) be drawn from it, but It's just interesting to me I guess given all of the speculation that's happening.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 00:49 |
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CobiWann posted:I didn’t think that the Doctor was scared of the Hybrid killing him – he was scared of the Hybrid and what it would become in the grand scheme of things, kind of that momentary panic when you hear a gunshot in the distance before realizing its hunting season. Or realizing it’s a lot closer than you originally thought it was. That still seems like a pretty wild leap in logic considering it's not really supported by the way the episode presents the Doctor's statements. You kind of treat it as fact in your review.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 00:55 |
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Something I've been wondering about came up when a friend was talking about this the other day and it made me ponder...when 12 closes his eyes can he hear the other incarnations yacking to him? Does The Doctor ever deal with multiple personality disorder in anyway? It seemed like when he talked to himself in Mummy on the Orient Express there was a little bit of 4 there conversing with him... I mean, yeah I get how they're all The Doctor, but they're still different personalities...
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 00:57 |
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CobiWann posted:I heard it's harder to put together than the last story in The Trial of a Time Lord. How is it? I stand by my assessment that the first set is pretty much rear end. Also the LEGO Daleks look like poo poo compared to the CB Daleks.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 00:58 |
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2house2fly posted:Different Doctor different rules, probably. 11 never seemed that upset about dying. 11 went out the same way he came in (and lived): as a goddamn hyped up nerd rockstar.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 01:06 |
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And More posted:That still seems like a pretty wild leap in logic considering it's not really supported by the way the episode presents the Doctor's statements. You kind of treat it as fact in your review. You're probably right and I read too much into things or drew a wild conclusion. It wouldn't be the first time I put 1, 2 and 3 together and came up with 5.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 01:06 |
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Murderion posted:You don't? Mega Man corroborates that spike traps are, in fact, everywhere.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 01:24 |
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EricFate posted:This is true. Well, River Song is making an appearance this season and the Doctor does lie. Also there are 4 options. Don't forget about Donna. Intrepid00 fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Dec 2, 2015 |
# ? Dec 2, 2015 03:26 |
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AndyElusive posted:Something I've been wondering about came up when a friend was talking about this the other day and it made me ponder...when 12 closes his eyes can he hear the other incarnations yacking to him? Does The Doctor ever deal with multiple personality disorder in anyway? It seemed like when he talked to himself in Mummy on the Orient Express there was a little bit of 4 there conversing with him... This is actually the big gimmick of the current villain for the Eighth Doctor audios, a Time Lord that switches between all his personas. And some of the books have had the implication that the Doctor can indeed consult with his past selves in some way.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 03:46 |
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Man, you're all going to feel so SLOW-witted when Sam Swift the Quick is the Hybrid .
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 04:12 |
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Short Synopsis: If only the Doctor understood the power.... of the Dark Long Synopsis: The 7th Doctor and Ace travel to pick up Bernice Summerfield, and run headfirst into the rebirth of a dark cult dedicated to destroying all the light in the universe. A robot with an identity crisis really moves the Doctor, Bernice has a change of mind, and Ace plays the highest stakes game of Hide 'n' Seek in history. What's Good:
What's Not:
Final Thoughts: The Dark Flame is actually a perfectly listenable story, but all the little things add up to make it sound worse than it actually was. It's not bad, but it's not particularly good either, and it's biggest issue is that it feels like a barely translated novel turned into a rough audio script. The characterization of Ace in particular just feels off to me, because it's written around the New Adventures version of the character, with all the baggage that brings with it. Embarrassing in parts, particular when it starts going on about THE DARK, the story at least makes a solid attempt to wrap everything up in a neat package. By trying to serve both the New Adventures and Big Finish masters, it serves none. It is laudable that Big Finish didn't just throw that period of the Wilderness Years under the bus once they got the official license to produce new Doctor Who - much like the revival didn't throw Big Finish under the bus - but the way the NA went clearly doesn't mesh with Big Finish's ideas. This is not a story I'd recommend listening to, but also not one I'd recommend avoiding. It's just kind of.... it's just there, an utterly unremarkable story that you can listen to or not, and it probably won't make any difference one way or another
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 04:44 |
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Jerusalem posted:Well anything is always possible, but when the concept of a confession dial is first introduced to us, it's explicitly stated to be the Time Lord version of a Last Will and Testament, and something to be delivered to the owner's closest friend on the owner's last day. Actually, wasn't the confession dial programmed to find the Master upon the Doctor's death? Seems like there's a perfectly good reason for this particular dial to work like that.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 05:38 |
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echoplex posted:I was on board for the first two series but there's only really so much "Aha! I knew it all along, you simpering cretins, especially you in the audience" one can take. Don't tell your boss you said that!
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 05:40 |
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This episode was loving great but man, how has this show not fixed its problems with sound mixing in ten whole years. This episode had some truly fantastic music ruined by either the arrangement being too bombastic or just the music itself being too loud in the mix.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 08:28 |
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Escobarbarian posted:This episode was loving great but man, how has this show not fixed its problems with sound mixing in ten whole years. This episode had some truly fantastic music ruined by either the arrangement being too bombastic or just the music itself being too loud in the mix. A lot of televisions these days post-process the audio and video without any way of shutting that off. Even "normal" mode, in many cases, screws with the audio. Filmmakers are kind of furious about TV manufacturers between this and upconverting to 48FPS with predictive frames, making everything look like 1980s soap operas.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 09:26 |
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Jerusalem posted:
It's a whole lot better than the previous, Doctor, Ace, and and Benny story "The Shadow of the Scourge:, so it at least has that going for it. It's actually the only time Benny's not written as the ultimate Mary Sue.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 10:17 |
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qntm posted:Yup. Hi, I've enjoyed reading your short stories off and on for several years now. Welp see you later.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 10:24 |
Jerusalem posted:[*] Avoiding ONE cliche. This is a story filled with a number of cliches, but thankfully it avoids one of the more aggravating ones - the "remember who you are!" speech. Characters - including in the main cast - get taken control of and do horrible things, but at no point does the Doctor or Ace or anybody else stand up and say,"No, this isn't you, remember who you are!" enabling the victim to suddenly stop, shake their head and fight off the control. Instead, the mind control is shown to be terrifyingly effective as it should be to have impact - it removes the agency of the characters it affects entirely. By making it as complete as it is, it warrants the fear and rage the others feel to see their friends controlled, and makes the stakes the story plays with actually feel justified. Apropos of nothing else, I hate this cliche more than almost any other I can think of.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 10:57 |
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armoredgorilla posted:Hi, I've enjoyed reading your short stories off and on for several years now. Welp see you later. Thank you.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 11:07 |
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Barry Foster posted:Apropos of nothing else, I hate this cliche more than almost any other I can think of. I think Jessica Jones is about the only time I've ever seen that cliche done in a way that arguably worked. And that's mostly because it's not put into play as an attempt to break them out during it, but rather more as an attempt to ease and explain to the victim after the fact. That show is really good, by the way. I was mostly coming in to see David Tennant play the villain, and that's a weirdly perfect way to approach it. He plays Killgrave so close to how he played Ten that it has to be a deliberate choice, and it adds a hell of a lot more to the experience than you'd think it would.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 12:04 |
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Davros1 posted:It's a whole lot better than the previous, Doctor, Ace, and and Benny story "The Shadow of the Scourge:, so it at least has that going for it. It's actually the only time Benny's not written as the ultimate Mary Sue. Yeah, it is definitely better than Shadow of the Scourge, though to be fair that is damning with faint praise. To people who were familiar with the trio from the books from back before Big Finish and then the revival came along, are the stories any better for at least having a context to put them into? Or do they not work even then?
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 13:15 |
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So, what the Hell was that Time Tot (Timepole?) doing in the middle of the desert? Do the Time Lords just have child sentries stationed across the planet in case the Doctor makes a dramatic entrance?
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 13:34 |
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Mind Loving Owl posted:So, what the Hell was that Time Tot (Timepole?) doing in the middle of the desert? Do the Time Lords just have child sentries stationed across the planet in case the Doctor makes a dramatic entrance? Outsiders live outside the cities. Hell, even the Doctor talked about growing up in a house halfway up a mountain.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 13:36 |
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Mind Loving Owl posted:So, what the Hell was that Time Tot (Timepole?) doing in the middle of the desert? Do the Time Lords just have child sentries stationed across the planet in case the Doctor makes a dramatic entrance?
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 15:20 |
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Mind Loving Owl posted:So, what the Hell was that Time Tot (Timepole?) doing in the middle of the desert? Do the Time Lords just have child sentries stationed across the planet in case the Doctor makes a dramatic entrance? He was just a short hike outside of that bubbletown after all. And we only see that far in a couple directions, so could be the kid was just out on a walk looking for some succulent timeagave to make into timetequila or timepotatoes to make timevodka (I assume the boy is Tom Baker). Also if that kid was going to be a Time Lord he may have been instinctively drawn to places of meaningful historical value or some other such silliness.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 17:16 |
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Davros1 posted:It's a whole lot better than the previous, Doctor, Ace, and and Benny story "The Shadow of the Scourge:, so it at least has that going for it. It's actually the only time Benny's not written as the ultimate Mary Sue. It's a testament to Lisa Bowerman's charisma and acting, that Benny isn't completely insufferable as a character. That said, they certainly got way too self-indulgent with the character, especially in the latter Benny Summerfield audios.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 17:17 |
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I'm going to assume the kid was an Outsider with no access to the city, who probably hid for a while until he thought the scary glasses man forgot about him.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 17:54 |
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CobiWann posted:The strengths of Moffat's script are enhanced by the direction of Rachel Talalay, who helmed Dark Water and Death in Heaven, and Murray Gold actually using an understated score for once. The actual “HOLY CRAP IT'S MURRAY GOLD MUSIC” moments work because they're paired with moments that actually called for emotional and impactful music.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 17:57 |
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I love the 80s synths from Heaven Sent, especially.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 18:01 |
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Pizdec posted:Good writeup, but I gotta say, Gold has been on his best behaviour this entire season. There is a far better balance recently between bombast and more classic, electronic stuff and I love it. Moffat has been getting a lot of poo poo for listening to Tumblr, but I think his willingness to listen to feedback and make adjustments accordingly has been in general a welcome trend. He really has. I poke fun at generalities over the past couple of seasons, but I can’t think of a time this series where the score has overwhelmed the on-screen action.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 18:15 |
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It's amazing how this series has turned around for me in its last couple of episodes. Now, I don't think any episode of Series 9 has been bad, exactly. Hell, it's produced the only Found Footage thing I've actually enjoyed. It's just that after so many Earth (or Sol) bound stories, it's really refreshing to have an episode so awash with otherness. Though, ironically, I think the budget for [i] Heaven Sent [/i} is why we haven't strayed far from 21st century Britain this year.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 18:22 |
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Pesky Splinter posted:It's a testament to Lisa Bowerman's charisma and acting, that Benny isn't completely insufferable as a character. That said, they certainly got way too self-indulgent with the character, especially in the latter Benny Summerfield audios. This is very true, at least from what I've heard. I've only listened to the two monthly stories (not very good), the New Adventures thing they did (which I liked) and the first series of the Benny Summerfield audios which were based on various NA books. It's mixed, there's some good stuff (the first panto based one is silly but it's the good type of silly plus it has Nicholas Courtney playing a talking cat (don't ask), the Babylon one was interesting and I really dug Love and War for some reason: they are both part of the same story arc but the one in the middle can be skipped unless you really need to hear Colin Baker's terrible Russian accent). There's some poo poo in there as well although that might be because they picked terrible books to adapt, idk
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 19:06 |
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Gaz-L posted:This is actually the big gimmick of the current villain for the Eighth Doctor audios, a Time Lord that switches between all his personas. And some of the books have had the implication that the Doctor can indeed consult with his past selves in some way. I need Doom Coalition in my life, right now. Just read the synopsis of The Eleven and that sounds amazing.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 19:32 |
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re: Gallifrey -- I'd prefer most of the Doctor's mysteries remain obscure, but one I'd like explained is why Gallifrey is as barren and inhospitable as Skaro. You can't blame the Time War; it was like that in Invasion of Time. (And the practical reason is "because quarries.") The New Series has chosen to keep things that way, though, and I'm sure they would have given the place some more climate variety if they'd been inclined to. It rankles me a bit that the civilization that has ostensibly Figured Everything Out and Owns All of You is living in a little bubble on a shattered planet. Or heck, maybe it's an excellent metaphor for colonialist capitalism, but I'd like it if the show made that a bit more intentional. If you want to mess with the show's mythology, tell us about that. Keep the big stuff shrouded in mystery.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 21:03 |
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Earth has spots like that, and also other spots that aren't like that. Maybe he just happens to visit the quarry-like parts of Gallifrey rather than the rainforests.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 21:07 |
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AndyElusive posted:
The actor playing him is FANTASTIC in the part too.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 21:12 |
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pgroce posted:It rankles me a bit that the civilization that has ostensibly Figured Everything Out and Owns All of You is living in a little bubble on a shattered planet. Or heck, maybe it's an excellent metaphor for colonialist capitalism, but I'd like it if the show made that a bit more intentional. Little bubble?! You make it sound like it's a bad thing. They have the perfect city with everything they could want without having to be bothered with the dirty 'outside'.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 21:15 |
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CobiWann posted:The actor playing him is FANTASTIC in the part too. I immediately recognized him as the voice of Blackbeard in Assassin's Creed 4 and he owns in that too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsAqMyxl8cI
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 21:16 |
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# ? Jun 8, 2024 07:17 |
pgroce posted:re: Gallifrey -- I'd prefer most of the Doctor's mysteries remain obscure, but one I'd like explained is why Gallifrey is as barren and inhospitable as Skaro. You can't blame the Time War; it was like that in Invasion of Time. (And the practical reason is "because quarries.") The New Series has chosen to keep things that way, though, and I'm sure they would have given the place some more climate variety if they'd been inclined to. It's because Gallifrey is immeasurably ancient and the world itself long ago died. The grand cities are contained within the baubles because that contains their false atmosphere and ecology. That city might look small, but every building and corridor is bigger on the inside. If you measured the actual size of that city it would cover the entire Earth and theirs a few dozen of them on Gallifrey.
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# ? Dec 2, 2015 21:56 |