Thoughts on 8th Doctor BFAs

[eve11]

I've taken to hooking up my laptop in my car and listening to these on the commute. It's great; they really make me not care if traffic gets ugly and I spend an hour in the car. I'm just sad that (a) they won't be able to produce them quick enough for me to have perpetual doctor who audios from here onward, and (b) I don't have the self-discipline to ration them to just for car trips, thus exacerbating point (a) ;)


I'd listened to most of the fifth doctor audios and tried some of six and seven, but overall I'm liking 8 very very much. I've skipped around some. Listened to the first three and found them so-so, then skipped on ahead to "Neverland" and "Zagreus" through to "Caerdroia" -- these will get their own posts eventually, just let me say that "Zagreus" blew my mind. I really like the surreal pieces, and so that whole run afterward really got my attention. I think Audio Plays are a fantastic medium for Doctor Who, and Paul McGann and India Fisher are growing on me a lot. I'm really enjoying his Doctor, sad he didn't get more actual screen time beyond the 1996 movie.

Now I've also gone back and also listened to some of the earlier ones I skipped-- Being warned to skip "Minuet in Hell" unless I was truly in the market for pain and horrible american accents, I moved to "Invaders from Mars" (Horrible American Accents! Gangsters and queens and incompetent 'Martians'! Cheesy melodrama music segues! Dixon Hill Holodeck Adventures Private Investigators, Russian spies and Orson Welles! Wow, almost overload, but it made me laugh). And also "Chimes of Midnight" which creeped me the frell out and gave a good mystery that and even some humor in it too ("To be killed by his own Chrysler! Or Bentley, or whatever it was!").

Now I'm 2/3 of the way through "Seasons of Fear"-- I've just gotten to the point wherein every American listening smacks their head on the steering wheel and says "OMG Ben Franklin was never president!". Other than that it's intriguing. I wonder if Charley has figured out yet that taking away Grayle's immortality means her beau Alex won't be born? If Grayle really is his grandfather, at any rate. Well, I'm not sure if the story is going to go that way or not. Does Grayle show up in the Eighth Doctor Novels? I remember maybe reading one with him... and Alan Turing? (Another cool thing about Zagreus-- I think it was Zagreus-- wherein the Doctor takes all the AU canon and makes it canon-- "I see a timeline where I rip out one of my own hearts...": that definitely happened in the novels.)

Comments

[cryptile.livejournal.com]

Why does Minuet in Hell have such a bad rep? I thought the Brig was in it!

[eve11]

Not sure. I was warned to stay away from it though. Might just have been the badness of the American accents. I'll probably listen to it eventually, but after hearing some of the earlier 5th doctor audios I'm kind of wary of the big finish beginning. Though I suppose it's number 19 so hopefully it won't be as horrifying as Red Dawn or whatever the one with the Indian bone beasts in Alaska was....

[themonkeycabal.livejournal.com]

Minuet in Hell ... *shudder* So awful. So awful. Stay well clear. Most of the American accents are terrible, but that's not the bad part, the bad part is that they're so deeply, deeply insultingly terrible. See: Senator Yosemite Sam. Also, it's just flat a bad story -- I couldn't tell when it was supposed to take place, until the Brig showed up and tried to use his email. Before that, I thought it was the 1920s or something. Also, I seem to recall mention of the great state of Philadelphia. Which ... badness!

Other than that, I mostly love the Eighth Doctor audios and I'm terribly in love with the Eighth Doctor himself. And I love "Zagreus". It just pleases me so much. Completely insane Doctor works for me on many levels. I loved "Caerdroia" for the same reasons. Bless.

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

(Here via who_daily)
Minuet in Hell is kind of a guilty pleasure for me. I mean, I really can't defend it as being good: it does have "American" accents of truly unsurpassed horribleness and the plot doesn't really make sense. But it does have the Brigadier, and a confused semi-amnesiac Doctor (almost as much fun as insane!Doctor), and...I sort of like it. But I still wouldn't necessarily recommend it to anyone else.

Regarding Seasons of Fear, I believe they retconned the Benjamin Franklin goof as being a symptom of the time distortions caused by the Doctor rescuing Charley. (But yes, I smacked my head on the steering wheel too at that line.) And while they never say so in the audio itself, I think taking away Grayle's immortality actually allows Alex to be born - Grayle is clearly an ancestor of Alex (because they share DNA), though he must be farther back in the family tree than grandfather. But in Part 2 of Seasons of Fear, the immortal Grayle says that he never had any children.

I'm listening to the 8th doc ones in order, and haven't gotten to Zagreus yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I like the surreal stuff, too.

[eve11]

Ah, I could not resist the lure of Amnesiac!Doctor. That sub-plot is about the only thing worth listening to, though. I'm through part 3. I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment; I think the "insultingly terrible" part hits the nail on the head. You have to laugh and hope they really don't think that's what America is like. Mostly I kept thinking, "Don't they have American TV over there at least?" I mean, come on. Varmint? Varmint???? Tarnation???? Who the hell talks like that??? Even rednecks don't talk like that, and if they did, how the hell would they make it to the US Senate?

And yeah, state of Philadelphia, and a political landscape out of a 1920's parody of hillbillys. Plus we've got Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Jim Bakker, the freaky mind machine from Return to Oz, and a not-demon who I sincerely hope is not taking himself seriously.

I think the funniest thing about the accents isn't the accents per se, but the total lack of americanization of the dialogue whatsoever. Even if they had a perfect accent, they're still saying "corridor" and "what's happened?" and generally completely Brit-ifying the cadence and mannerisms. Wow.

[eve11]

yeah, I had to give it a shot because of the Brig and the amnesiac!Doctor. See my comments to themonkeycabal above. Basically, if you could erase the whole "contemporary America" thing, and set it in an insane asylum in the 1860's, lose the senators and all the political stuff, and maybe keep Becky Lee (but for God's sake, just call her Buffy instead, right?), it might have the start of a good story :)

Tarnation!

I couldn't help myself. I have to go listen to part 4 now :)

As for good old Ben making it to President; actually, probably what happens is that the historians do the steering-wheel headbang, and the rest of America says, "Huh, I didn't think he was ever president, but someone with a somewhat posh British accent is telling me so, so it must be true, right?" :) Then we remember Minuet in Hell and wonder if they just got it wrong and Franklin was really just the Governor of Philadelphia ;)

BTW I *loved* the King and Queen from part 2 in Seasons of Fear. They totally rocked.

And if you like insane doctor, yeeeeah, Zagreus will knock your socks off. Go get caught up! I want someone to squee with, four years late! :) :) :)