Sunday, April 6, 2008

Doctor Who - Crime And Relative Dimensions...

NOTE: I'm trying to avoid spoilers so I don't ruin it for the few readers of this blog.

No sooner has the final shattering conclusion of Torchwood er... concluded, then suddenly in a myriad mess of orange and red, the TARDIS spins into the vortex contained in the pupil of an open eye; an army of Sontarans; the burning translator of an Ood clearing to show a squad of Daleks lost in flames; a familiar face reflected in the blue eye stalk of a Dalek; a long-coated figure fleeing a spewing fireball; a Sontaran firing his rifle, an Ood roaring, and the Doctor standing alone in the dark:

He's out there, burning through time, facing a thousand dangers beyond the stars and never giving up. He looks like a man, but he's a legend and his name... is the Doctor.

[Kaldor City Analysis: "Translation: There are thousands of evil alien devil-worshiping bastards out there, waiting to get us. The Doctor is a stern and strong male authority figure who will come to protect us, and tell us what to do. Xenophobic, patriarchal, bordering on the fascist." I hope they slit their wrists before the series is out.]

Well, not the sort of ad I was expecting to herald the new series. The others were cheerful travelogues - "Dya wanna come with me?" "Come on then!" "I hope this box is big enough for both of us!" - but this is positively grim. A kind of, 'unavoidable catastrophe heading straight for you so start running' kind of vibe. Has any other season of Doctor Who been presented as something to fear rather than something to watch? There's also a distinct lack of any footage from the series, any clue to the stories, which seems interesting as Season 4 has to be the most spoiled of the lot. Big spoilers. But you won't find them here.

I have to admit to a distinct lack of blood-racing excitement when Voyage of the Damned trailer for the series eschewed the traditional Who theme for the rising drum and horns crescendo most memorable from when Yana opened the watch. The fact it was an OLD companion and the most spectacular things we were sold was a feral Ood, Min from Jekyll acting even more smug and clueless than before, and a close up of a Sontaran, ending with a rather embarassed vicar. The previous ones ended with what seemed be the Doctor being dragged before a Cybermen, or blown off his feet to land at the base of Dalek Sec. "Same old, same old" seemed to be what was promised with the trailer. Torchwood had better trailers. I tell you, the spoilers are what got me excited, cause there's nothing there to impress. It's a DWAD style montage of other stuff done perfectly well or better elsewhere, and this new trailer seems to be something that would out-grim Planet of Lies!

So. As we begin our last proper series until 2010, when the Lenny Henry Doctor arrives to fight the evil Thatchos and her Cyber legions, I think to myself, "Yes, I know this sort of confirmed future is a better deal than Doctor Who has ever, ever had before, no exceptions, not even Tom Baker had this kind of long term guarantee, but RTD is talking out of the wrong hole when he thinks anyone WANTS regular hiatiuses. Hiatii. Whatever."




DOCTOR WHO: PARTNERS IN CRIME

Oh, child of mine, you're such a killer!
You had me up all night but I could not get a look in!
You gave me the pale face, on and on!
Well those big fat guys, and I wonder what's goin' on?

Oh, baby you, got me in the shape I'm in!
Oh, baby you, got me in the shape I'm in!

Oh, baby you, got me in the shape I'm in!

Given the back-breaking and mind-blowing schedule RTD inflicts upon himself, it's not particularly surprising that his better episodes are ones with a point to them. Is it any coincidence that his weakest opening episode was New Earth, which DIDN'T introduce anything new to the show and its major story arc potential - the Face of Boe's dying words - was taken elsewhere. When he's got a clear purpose to a plot, he can do wonders, but when he leaves himself too much space to work with, you end up with a godawful mess.

Thus, a story that has to introduce Donna as a companion is scuppered because the audience know who she is, and she knows who the Doctor is. And so the opening episode of Season Four takes an unusual twist of being farce. That's not an insult, just the best description I can think of - the Doctor and Donna are in the same building, same room, with the same mission talking to the same people, yet, keep missing each other and don't realize the other is even involved. I can only think of one other story that attempted that (bar a one-off sight gag in Paradise Towers) was The Romans where the Doctor, Ian and Barbara all have individuals adventures, never realizing the others are often just feet away. Now, while this is interesting, and a novel way to take the plot, it reaches the point where the Doctor and Donna seem to be doing a dance routine where they pop up like moles or meercats alternately... I can imagine the Tenth Doctor being that itchy-footed and figety he might engage in such pointless gymnastics, and maybe Donna... but at the same time in the same room? It goes on JUST too long, maybe about three seconds?, but it stops being funny and becomes wearying. I have a feeling that this sequence - which isn't as funny as the chase in Love and Monsters, because this time we're supposed to have a reliable narrator - was adlibbed, since the script gives a very good reason for both the Doctor and Donna to have their heads down at the exact same time. Definitely this sequence should have been a DVD extra. I daresay even new viewers wouldn't have been impressed. The fact that they only register each other's presence 23 minutes into the story - a Classic Series cliffhanger - suggests, as I still argue, splitting these stories in two could be a good move. It worked for The Sarah Jane Adventures, didn't it?

Now, this is just one moment out of the episode, and if I were to judge Partners In Crime on this I might as well judge Nightmare of Eden on the "my everything", and that would make me no better than those Williams-haters I enjoy beating the shit out of.

The plot is not, have some had dubbed, a ripoff/homage/remake of Slow Decay. True, there are some similarities, but you might as well accuse Terror of the Autons for being a rip off of The Abominable Snowmen (both after all feature old acquaintences of the Doctor helping a disembodied intelligence use robotic bodies to create an invasion plan under the cover of a respected organization). There are echoes of Invasion of the Bane, Slow Decay and Meat, with a stern blonde widow bitch running an organization of weightloss drugs that patently involve injesting alien material, but they are echoes and there are enough differences to let it go. After all, how many alien menaces used religions, power stations or chemical plants to conquer Earth? Attacking via the food chain is logical, but once again I think that RTD (never a slender man) has some kind of axe to grind over fat people. Either they're corpses containing aliens, gullible dupes containing aliens, or likeable idiots with "DEAD MEAT" tatooed on their foreheads. Still, you want to be relevent to the now generation, discuss obesity.

But I have to say the old "the whole alien base is actually a transmitter of energy as part of their plan" is now more officially overused than quarries. The London Eye, Cardiff waterfall, Torchwood House, Alexandra Palace, Battersea Powerstation, Canary Wharf, Thames Water Base, Albion Hospital, The Globe Theatre, Empire State Building, Suffolk Cathedral... it's gotten OLD Russell. And, seriously, this Shadow Proclamation gig being the universe's Geneva Convention I might have bought except for the fact no such thing existed in the classic series, even by another name. Even The Amargeddon Convention doesn't fit! Still, like I said, you can't judge a whole story from a rather annoying line of dialogue.

And on obesity, I agree with Mad Larry though, having a non-supermodel-proportioned companion would be nice. And I don't think Donna counts. Mind you, that mole on her chin is REALLY distracting for some reason. And does she have some urinary problems or something, judging her mild obsession with lavatories?

Speaking of Donna, despite getting her own origin story, she has to suffer Penny's backstory as well - and RTD, cheeky bastard, even has Penny in the same episode, where she shows off what a better adventurer she is than Donna! The guy's intertextuality knows no bounds! - as we see Donna's vow to walk in the dust and make something of her life has left her somewhere between Sarah Jane Smith and Rose Tyler: living at home with her disgusting and abusive mother, but trying to do her own Scooby Do style adventures as she eagerly waits for the Doctor to return. Like Katie Ryan, Sylvia Noble is so utterly horid and rude she can only be there to ensure that Donna always looks nicer and compassionate in comparison. Mind you, like Mr Copper, Wilf seems far more interesting companion than the blatantly obvious candidate being flung down our throats.

Nevertheless, the Doctor and Donna do work quite well in this episode and more than a little remind me of Bernad Black and Manny Bianco respectively, especially in the very amusing bit where they try to mime/mouth a conversation through a window, which is right out of The Lockout, as the Doctor's TARDIS telepathic circuits and knowledge of five billion languages are unable to make any sense of Donna's charades. Donna picks up the banter quickly, too, and her enthusiasm for these death-defying scapes (which remind similarly of Bottom: Hole, the one in the Ferris Wheel) fits badly with the woman who walked away in horror. Mind you, she HAD had a bad day what with the love of her life betraying her and all that.

The Doctor hasn't changed much, but when even Donna can tell he's not coping as well as he was when they parted company - it seems that the Master and Astrid dying, Jack abandoning him and all has really got to him. As he quietly admits, Martha was the best thing that could have happened to him, "And I destroyed her life, so she's gone now. And she fancied me." Indeed, having his godhood finally thrown back into his face has killed off his confidence, leading to Davison-style panic and helplessness when it looks like everything is going to end in a bloodbath. His palpable lack of enthusiasm to Donna joining up is not that she won't shut up or that he finds her irritating, but he doesn't trust himself to stop Donna's life being completely screwed up. What this portends for the rest of the series I dunno, but it's good that they haven't auto-reset the Doctor as happy-go-lucky. Maybe I've been watching Torchwood too much lately, but it's sometimes easy to forget other shows don't have such difficulty in remembering how their characters develop.

The Adipose continue the "look cute but utterly deadly" tradition of the new series, with cute little blobby baby things that look like they're out of an ad for 'good bacteria', and their happy little baby noises and expressions bely the fact they kill people. Which is surely the point of Doctor Who? I remember the Meep and that acid-spitting dinosaur from Jurassic Park, so in concept I have no truck (and I winced as they were accidentally run over at points). As to what they look like, well, their simple design means they look more fake than Myffanwy the Pterodactyle, despite the fact a lot more money and care has been put into the Adipose. Their oddly-shaped top lips however, look like a badly-moulded plastic toy. But it seems deliberately put there, maybe to MAKE them look fake? All in all, I was more alarmed when Venus was shown to be a pale blue planet. I always assumed it was an orange-pink one, still, why should I complain? Suns are bright blue, not orange-red balls of fire, and only look that way through Earth's atmosphere. Outside it, different story alltogether. But do we diss 42 on this ground?

As for the main villainess, RTD provides us with another female villain (last count: 12 - Cassandra, Margaret Slitheen, Queen Victoria, the Wire, Chloe, Yvonne Hartman, The Empress of the Rachnoss, Florance, Lilith, Lady Thaw, Mother of Mine, Lucy Saxon, not to mention Jackie, Sylvia and Harriet Jones) and she's played by Rose from Rose and Malony - you know, the emotionally-distorted blonde obsessive with a boyfriend called Mickey who was sick of her boring everyday life - as, well, Servalan. But, I hasten to add, this is Season One Servalan, where she was utterly polite and composed, which made her ironically seem more psychotic than when she was releasing super weapons and murdering people with crystals stuffed up her sleeves. Miss Foster's idly-amused manner, giving the impression her mind's on something else probably R-rated, makes it a pity that it's obvious for the first scene she won't survive the episode to become a regular villain. A pity, especially when she proves able to outmaneuver the Doctor in ways unseen since Professor Yana or Will Scarlett, yet never even hinting she's heard of the git before facing him, let alone planned her operation with obvious Doctor-insurance like deadlock seals, her own sonic screwdriver and incorruptible henchmen.

Also, a note on "people's credulity of aliens". Well, Donna finds it surprising at how Wilf firmly believes in alien life, but she's probably impressed anyone in her family is that open-minded. Certainly, when a whacking great alien spaceship arrives, the crowds react much as they do in Smith & Jones or Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - despair. However, recently seeing the "last" Goodies episode (according to the ABC), U-friend or UFO?, the giant Close-Encounters-type ship making trombone-type noises seems almost a homage... and that episode had R2D2 doing his best Nick Briggs impersonation with a sink plunger! Where does it all end?!

And will every episode now be dedicated to someone who's died? Imagine An Unearthly Child fading from the shadow over the TARDIS to IN MEMORY OF JFK, CS LEWIS AND AULDUS HUXLEY, or Rose with DEDICATED RESPECTFULLY TO POPE JEAN-PAUL II?

No, all in all, Partners In Crime is a good episode. Despite my expectations, RTD has focussed on the plot and come up with an interesting, simple idea for a story with plenty of humor in it. I find it funny, and humor is subjective, but it's several light years ahead for the "contempt of comedy" perpetrated by Torchwood: Something Borrowed, even with its partrurient theme of alien gestation. Even the bit where the Doctor does his "one last chance" speil works because DT's playing as a man depressed because he KNOWS he just KNOWS he's wasting his breath with all this talk, and he's not going to be allowed to show mercy. The final scene with the Doctor, Wilf and Donna brings a smile to my face and the fact there's a bit of 'flying TARDIS' garnared the whole episode being slated by The Times amazes me. Of ALL the things you pick on. That's like damning Caves of Androzani because the gun runners sell bullets and nothing cool and futuristic!

No, this is easy-on-the-brain stuff to ease starting off the new year. What seems to piss off fans first and foremost, as RTD predicted, is that the dark suidical nihilism of The Family of Blood through to Voyage of the Damned (Time Crash not included) has not been maintained. Presumably if millions were left dead and grieving, if Donna was now a suicidal drug addict and the Doctor sobbing bitterly instead of joking around, they'd love it.

Well, screw them.

I've got 45 minutes of interesting characters, novel approach to the plot, genuinely funny comedy and an intriguing twist at an ending. Which is what I wanted. And a surprising arc scene which, it has to be said, stunned me into silence. It's not quite Darla at the end of Angel: Hearthrob, but... whoa. That's... I would never have thought of doing that. Even in an abstract, 3d-thought manner. If I were to YOA2K+8 this, none of them would be able to think of a thing to say about it.

Wow.

And I've no idea why people complain about the theme tune. OK, they might not like it, but it's exactly like the one we had in Voyage of the Damned.

NEXT TIME: "It's Volcano Day!"
Steve Lyons' The Fires of Vulcan with monsters! Ron Mallet's The Final Days with a coherent plot and characters! It's Malony from Rose and Malony, just after we saw ROSE from Rose and Malony - what is this, a conspiracy?!? The Ancient Romans realizing they're fucked when a certain blue box arrives, not because Mt Vesuvius is giving up ominous rumbles! Will a certain Time Agent appear? Will the Seventh Doctor and Mel be involved or even alluded to! Will that ugly bug-eyed pratt who played the guy the Vicar of Dibley lusted over for ten years die in the lava? Can I wait a whole week or will I have to download Ashes to Ashes instead?


8/10!!

19 comments:

Cameron Mason said...


And will every episode now be dedicated to someone who's died? Imagine An Unearthly Child fading from the shadow over the TARDIS to IN MEMORY OF JFK, CS LEWIS AND AULDUS HUXLEY, or Rose with DEDICATED RESPECTFULLY TO POPE JEAN-PAUL II?


Be fair Ewen, Howard Attfield did record his scenes for this episode before he passed away (and was contracted for up to another five).

Such a damn shame, I found Geoff Noble such an interesting contrast to his wife...

Cameron

Youth of Australia said...

Ah, didn't know that. So the Season 4 boxset WON'T include this alternate version of part 1, I assume. After all, the boxsets always avoid the good stuff.

Jared "No Nickname" Hansen said...

Yeah, can somebody please remind me what exactly Donna's mum did to earn her position as A Gigantic Bitch in Runaway Bride? Because everyone in fandom seems to be bringing it up at the mo and I only remember her having about half a dozen lines of dialogue... let' see...

"Where were you, what happened, Donna etc?"
"Don't be silly they're just decorations... ooh my!"
"Donna... who IS that man?"

I'm paraphrasing from bad memory but I'm genuinely confused because I can recall anything vaguel bitchy. I remember the bloke with the camcorder better...

And if she IS a total bitch (Apparently in this episode she is, so I'll accept that) do you think this suggests that RTD has mother issues? I mean, come on, Jacqui Tyler and "Ballcrusher" Jones already! I'm sure there must be more than a couple of nice mums out there...

Youth of Australia said...

I think fans remember the bit where she goes, "Yeah, we had the reception without you, because we paid for it, and who gives a shit about you when you talk crap about being on another planet?" moment in TRB. But yeah, I hadn't pegged her as godawful as this.

As for nice mums in RTD scripts, um... er... well... gimme a minute... ah. What's her name who had the kittens in Gridlock was nice. One of LINDA was a nice mum trying to find her daughter. Cathy Salt in Boomtown, and Clive's missus Caroline in the first episode.

Actually, they're not the most memorable of characters are they? Mind you, with Jackie there was always her love of Rose which made her bearable, and considering we only ever met Martha's mum for one week/year which was hard on her...

But no. I mean, seriously, I cannot think of a character who goes on with such nastiness without being punched at the end of it. She IS Katie Ryan!

But no, I did like this episode, and my hopes for the future are higher even than when Martha joined.

Jared "No Nickname" Hansen said...

What's her name who had the kittens in Gridlock was nice. One of LINDA was a nice mum trying to find her daughter. Cathy Salt in Boomtown, and Clive's missus Caroline in the first episode.

Hmm. All younger women...

and considering we only ever met Martha's mum for one week/year which was hard on her...

Ah... didn't really think of that.

Christ, what a terrible week of it the Joneses had, eh?

Have you looked a Lawrence Miles' DW blog recently? I'm picking up a slight hint that he doesn't like Catherine Tate very much.

For my part, though, I love the idea of Donna as a companion. It can be Tegan done RIGHT!

Youth of Australia said...

Hmm. All younger women...
Well, the one in LINDA was hardly younger... and what about Nancy, hmm?

Ah... didn't really think of that.
Christ, what a terrible week of it the Joneses had, eh?

I admit it wasn't to forefront of my mind, until the Doctor pointed it out in his latest ep.

Have you looked a Lawrence Miles' DW blog recently?
I have to say, his blog pisses the hell out of me... not because of what he SAYS, but because he keeps posting stuff then deleting it before I get to read it.

I'm picking up a slight hint that he doesn't like Catherine Tate very much.
Well, that's his problem. She's pretty darned good in this ep, especially the scenes with her granddad.

For my part, though, I love the idea of Donna as a companion. It can be Tegan done RIGHT!
Yes, I have to admit that Tegan ended up being done WRONG on more occasions than she was done right - mind you, she was lucky enough to survive Four to Doomsday, unlike Adric.

It's a bit like The King's Demons, where they're clearly friends. She was done right then, definitely.

Jared "No Nickname" Hansen said...

Well, the one in LINDA was hardly younger...

Well, I couldn't remember it that well...

and what about Nancy, hmm?

..erm, Empty Child? What was wrong with her?

I have to say, his blog pisses the hell out of me... not because of what he SAYS, but because he keeps posting stuff then deleting it before I get to read it.

He deletes stuff so he doesn't keep it in the archive. Which seems a slightly guilty thing to do. Maybe he hopes that in three years, when Moffat's producer, not everyone can point out the bit where he says he "could have pissed ["Blink"] in my sleep!"

Never did a review of Voyage of the Damned, oddly enough..

Yes, I have to admit that Tegan ended up being done WRONG on more occasions than she was done right

You think?

Saward. Just Saward.

It's a bit like The King's Demons, where they're clearly friends. She was done right then, definitely.

As further testament to my odd frame of mind, I misread that as The Kingmaker. Probably because I heard the trailer this morning. Dear god. Is it just me, or can you hear the regulars dripping with contempt for the material?

I guess they were good in Demons, though. They didn't TRY ME TOO HARD!!!

Youth of Australia said...

Well, I couldn't remember it that well...
Fair enough. She was in her late forties.

..erm, Empty Child? What was wrong with her?
Well, she was underage. I thought that might be relevent with the 'only young mothers are nice' motiff.

He deletes stuff so he doesn't keep it in the archive. Which seems a slightly guilty thing to do. Maybe he hopes that in three years, when Moffat's producer, not everyone can point out the bit where he says he "could have pissed ["Blink"] in my sleep!"
Well, I'll be honest, if Moffat told me the whole plot and told me to make a script out of it, I doubt it would have been that good.

Except for the bit with Martha. I could have done better there.

Never did a review of Voyage of the Damned, oddly enough..
He didn't watch it, I thought. He just ate junk food as he sat in his arm chair with an old film.

I mean, I'm pretty sure that's what HE said he did that night.

You think?
Saward. Just Saward.

Yeah.

As further testament to my odd frame of mind, I misread that as The Kingmaker. Probably because I heard the trailer this morning. Dear god. Is it just me, or can you hear the regulars dripping with contempt for the material?
I think I've made clear my utter, palpable disgust in every way possible for that story, and its incredibly smug creator. His OG thread where he took the piss out of the DWM reviewer - who only said it was a bit uneven as a plot - will live in my memory.

BTW, I put up The Sequel on the site, complete and everything. Now working on 100, the story where Nick Briggs snaps and tries to kill Colin Baker. What on Earth I can do with a plot like that?

I guess they were good in Demons, though. They didn't TRY ME TOO HARD!!!
Well... not everyone got through that story unscathed.

Like, you know... everyone else.

"CUM SAH, DISPAAAAAAAAAAATCH!!!"

Cameron Mason said...


Ah, didn't know that. So the Season 4 boxset WON'T include this alternate version of part 1, I assume. After all, the boxsets always avoid the good stuff.


Depends on:

1) If they think it would be in good taste to do so

2) If they get permission from his family to release the material he was able to record

Cameron

Jared "No Nickname" Hansen said...

Well, she was underage. I thought that might be relevent with the 'only young mothers are nice' motiff.

Yeah, but she was nice.

Or were you agreeing with me? I automatically assume it's meant to be a debate...

Well, I'll be honest, if Moffat told me the whole plot and told me to make a script out of it, I doubt it would have been that good.

Yeah, that's the thing. I think Larry gets a bit obsessed with ideas over everything else...so anything that doesn't have as much weird ideas in it as Interference he automatically goes "I could have written that!"

I think, in truth, he couldn't have.

Except for the bit with Martha. I could have done better there.

Yeah, it seemed a bit unfair. I mean, it's meant to be the Doctor-lite story...

I mean, I'm pretty sure that's what HE said he did that night.

Hmm, can't remember hearing that. I was waiting for the review but he just posted a review of Sound of Drums six months late.

I think I've made clear my utter, palpable disgust in every way possible for that story, and its incredibly smug creator.

Yeah, sorry, I know it's beyond well-trodden ground now but I was just taken aback by the fact that Davo and co. sounded like they felt the same way.

Because of the way it seems to have been recieved I assumed that the regulars had to have had fun doing it. But, seriously, Davison sounded more miserable and lifeless than I ever heard him before...

BTW, I put up The Sequel on the site, complete and everything.

Yeah, I saw it. Pure gold. Even had one of those rare quotes from Jared "No Nickname" Hansen in it. Odd how he always seems to be saying something distinctly unrelated to the actual story being spoofed.

Now working on 100, the story where Nick Briggs snaps and tries to kill Colin Baker. What on Earth I can do with a plot like that?

Nick Briggs snaps and makes love to Colin Baker?

(Oh Christ... just gave myself an imagine of the Jack-and-John bar brawl in KKBB with substituted characters... that is beyond disturbing)

Youth of Australia said...

Yeah, but she was nice. Or were you agreeing with me? I automatically assume it's meant to be a debate...
No, I was agreeing, and the whole 'younger they are, nicer they are' motiff.

Yeah, that's the thing. I think Larry gets a bit obsessed with ideas over everything else...so anything that doesn't have as much weird ideas in it as Interference he automatically goes "I could have written that!"
And you know, as a book itself, Interference isn't THAT good. The bits that are interesting are his HHGTG-style segues into the universe rather than stuff like 'people shoot each other'.

Yeah, it seemed a bit unfair. I mean, it's meant to be the Doctor-lite story...
Still, that's two lines of dialogue out of an episode. Hardly "pissing in the sleep".

Hmm, can't remember hearing that. I was waiting for the review but he just posted a review of Sound of Drums six months late.
I checked out the blog recently, and one of the posts was written on Christmas Day before it screened.

Yeah, sorry, I know it's beyond well-trodden ground now but I was just taken aback by the fact that Davo and co. sounded like they felt the same way.
Yeah. You can HEAR them rolling their eyes in disbelief.

Yeah, I saw it. Pure gold. Even had one of those rare quotes from Jared "No Nickname" Hansen in it. Odd how he always seems to be saying something distinctly unrelated to the actual story being spoofed.

Nick Briggs snaps and makes love to Colin Baker? (Oh Christ... just gave myself an imagine of the Jack-and-John bar brawl in KKBB with substituted characters... that is beyond disturbing)
I'll avoid that. Like I avoid Ben Chatham and Del Tarrant shagging.

Mind you, that episode is pretty rubbish, as the Doc and Evelyn talk about how they've met five other Doctors. But they don't actually appear or anything. Even though they're ones BF can record with.

Cameron Mason said...


Mind you, that episode is pretty rubbish, as the Doc and Evelyn talk about how they've met five other Doctors. But they don't actually appear or anything. Even though they're ones BF can record with.


Even the Benny audios have managed to pull off things like a sneaky cameo from Sylvester McCoy AND there's a couple of recent stories where whole scenes are dramatisations of NA sequences featuring Benny and Jason or Benny and Brax.

Surely Big Finish could have dumped in clips or outtakes - I mean it was the 100th release...

Cameron

Youth of Australia said...

So true. Those Magazine CDs are more of a celebration than 100. Of course, if *I* were writing it...

Inside the Green Room, they find two versions of the Eighth Doctor playing poker watched by their companions who are all wearing beautiful dresses and feathers in their hair – even the six-foot lizard.

"What the hell is going on here?" the Sixth Doctor demands.

"Oh no, not again," sighs one of the Eighth Doctors.

"Look, fatso, we are trying to concentrate here!" counters the other.

"You’ve crossed your own time stream! You’re putting the entire sanctity of the continuum in peril... JUST FOR A GAME OF POKER!"

"Strip Poker," the posh companion who isn’t a lizard points out.

"Vile Bodies has got nothing on you," the mainstream companion who isn’t a lizard either retorts in a Northern accent.

"Look," one of the Eighth Doctor notes as he sacrifices his frock coat. "These things can happen quite safely in the right circumstances. In this case, one of us is from Big Finish, the other from the BBC."

"Yeah, why have a super ability like that and not use it?" the other Eighth Doctor agrees. "The downside is even if I beat him, I’ll end up losing to myself sooner or later. But in the meantime, what could possibly go wrong?"

At that moment, Nick Briggs storms in, snapping Ace’s bloodstained baseball bat over his knee as he shrieks, "Happy days! HAPPY DAYS!"

The Eighth Doctors look at each other and unison say, "Now that was a COMPLETELY fucking stupid thing to say."

Cameron Mason said...

Having now seen Partners in Crime I can say the following:

- Sarah Lanashire was chilling
- Catherine Tate played it pitch perfect
- The Adipose were very cute
- All up a fanatastic start to the season

Cameron

Youth of Australia said...

I've downloaded confidental and realize the following

- ASH is the first narrator to do two series
- each ep has a special specific title sequence
- there was a pre-credits sequence cut at the scripting stage
- the opening scene originally had the Austin Powers tune playing instead of Murray Gold
- the dialoge for Geoff is identical to the one Wilf got
- that wierd lip of the adipose is a fang
- there are 'untreated' scenes where a stuffed toy adipose was used for people to react to
- the window scene took weeks to record using two buildings, five actors, and monumentally pissing off everyone who wasn't RTD at the thought of it
- at one point, THAT scene was the cliffhanger finale to the ep (I'm being coy coz Jared ain't seen it yet)

And I've finally downloaded Punchline.

Cameron Mason said...


- each ep has a special specific title sequence


If they're going that far, rather than the usual montage of BTS footage from the entire shooting period, then what's coming this year MUST be big...


- there was a pre-credits sequence cut at the scripting stage


Scene One: Donna exits the house as Sylvia bitches about how dressed up she is just for 'signing on'.


- the opening scene originally had the Austin Powers tune playing instead of Murray Gold


Are you sure it wasn't just Confidential condensing down the opening sequence with soundtrack?


- the dialoge for Geoff is identical to the one Wilf got


Do they show the whole scene with Geoff, or is it just an extract?


And I've finally downloaded Punchline.


So you won't be needing my copy then...

Cameron

Youth of Australia said...

If they're going that far, rather than the usual montage of BTS footage from the entire shooting period, then what's coming this year MUST be big...
Well, remember how they changed for Utopia?

Scene One: Donna exits the house as Sylvia bitches about how dressed up she is just for 'signing on'.
How'd you find that out?

I assumed it was old 'zoom in on Earth' gag...

Are you sure it wasn't just Confidential condensing down the opening sequence with soundtrack?
Well the script specifies 'fast cheeky music' rather than Murray Gold's tune, so something like the AP tune was wanted. I mean, we know all the music RTD wanted in TPOTWs and EOTW...

Do they show the whole scene with Geoff, or is it just an extract?
We see the rehearsal with Geoff doing the scene. Words identical. Mind you, he was completely bald at the time. It's not said whether or not he actually filmed anything before he died.

So you won't be needing my copy then...
But I am grateful for the offer.

I've managed to do two parts of 100 though...

Cameron Mason said...


How'd you find that out?


I made it up.

Plausible though...


I assumed it was old 'zoom in on Earth' gag...


Scene one: Standard zoom in on Earth down to the Noble household, with the standard Murray Gold music build up accompanying the shot. We cut to:


We see the rehearsal with Geoff doing the scene. Words identical. Mind you, he was completely bald at the time. It's not said whether or not he actually filmed anything before he died.


Hmm...

I'm sure we'll find out in due course...


I've managed to do two parts of 100 though...


Cool.

Cameron

Youth of Australia said...

I made it up.
Plausible though...

Actually, it would kill a lot of the point of Donna coming home to face her mum, since that reveals the hithertoo unknown status of her life.

Was probably some kind of 'inside a dark factory, something stirs in the darkness... and then waves, making baby noises'.

Scene one: Standard zoom in on Earth down to the Noble household, with the standard Murray Gold music build up accompanying the shot. We cut to:
I'm rather glad they got rid of that zoom. I remember the despair that gripped me for AOG and TRB, assuming I'd downloaded the wrong ep...

Hmm...
I'm sure we'll find out in due course...

Mmm.

Cool.
Only need to do MOPW and 100's finished! BWahahah!