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Post by mark687 on Jun 7, 2019 12:08:48 GMT
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
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Post by lidar2 on Jun 7, 2019 12:12:14 GMT
Houdini has been recast (from Smoke & Mirrors)
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Post by tuigirl on Jun 7, 2019 19:51:46 GMT
Sounds great! Really looking forward to that one!
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Post by slithe on Jun 9, 2019 8:52:24 GMT
Sounds great! Really looking forward to that one! Ditto! Am really keen to hear the next Sixth Doctor Trilogy. Intriguingly, story details for the Emissary of the Daleks are still not up yet - which is interesting in itself... Hopefully, An Alien Werewolf in London will be as good as the first first two Mags releases, which would mean that after a bit of a rocky start, 2019 could be shaping up for a vintage year for the MR.
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Post by Max Kashevsky on Jun 9, 2019 9:05:40 GMT
Sounds great! Really looking forward to that one! Hopefully, An Alien Werewolf in London will be as good as the first first two Mags releases, which would mean that after a bit of a rocky start, 2019 could be shaping up for a vintage year for the MR. I've heard quite mixed reviews for the first two, but personally, I don't get it—I adored them! Each one takes a fairly traditionalist premise and twists it in really unique ways. Moons easily became one of my favorite MRs in years (though I'm horribly behind, tbf).
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Post by slithe on Jun 9, 2019 9:13:21 GMT
Hopefully, An Alien Werewolf in London will be as good as the first first two Mags releases, which would mean that after a bit of a rocky start, 2019 could be shaping up for a vintage year for the MR. I've heard quite mixed reviews for the first two, but personally, I don't get it—I adored them! Each one takes a fairly traditionalist premise and twists it in really unique ways. Moons easily became one of my favorite MRs in years (though I'm horribly behind, tbf). If I'm honest, I like them because of their underlying political subtext. I might be inferring too much into these, but there is a strong political subplot to both Moons and Monsters that fits with McCoy's era. For me, both releases are subtle digs about isolationism and fears of the outsider. Outsiders are blamed for the problems in both societies and there is a desire to 'cling' to old ways and shut people out. That strikes wonderfully at the political climate in the UK (especially with Brexit) and the wider world. Moons also has that wonderful class-based society that seems to be the rich ruling and exploiting the poor - which also fits with wider political debates. For me, this overcomes much of the weaknesses of any plot. I suppose if you take out the political subtext, then they are rather generic. Interesting as well that there are strong female characters in both releases (not just Mags), which I like and think is a welcome development. Love the throw back to the Holmes/Hincliffe era as well.
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Post by tuigirl on Jun 9, 2019 9:20:20 GMT
Hopefully, An Alien Werewolf in London will be as good as the first first two Mags releases, which would mean that after a bit of a rocky start, 2019 could be shaping up for a vintage year for the MR. I've heard quite mixed reviews for the first two, but personally, I don't get it—I adored them! Each one takes a fairly traditionalist premise and twists it in really unique ways. Moons easily became one of my favorite MRs in years (though I'm horribly behind, tbf). I did not care much for the first one, but Moons was amazing (apart from the ending, which just went right over my ability to suspend disbelief).
Haha, my favorite in the past years has to be Muse of Fire, if you have not heard it, do it. Pure fun!
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Post by tuigirl on Jun 9, 2019 9:22:18 GMT
I've heard quite mixed reviews for the first two, but personally, I don't get it—I adored them! Each one takes a fairly traditionalist premise and twists it in really unique ways. Moons easily became one of my favorite MRs in years (though I'm horribly behind, tbf). If I'm honest, I like them because of their underlying political subtext. I might be inferring too much into these, but there is a strong political subplot to both Moons and Monsters that fits with McCoy's era. For me, both releases are subtle digs about isolationism and fears of the outsider. Outsiders are blamed for the problems in both societies and there is a desire to 'cling' to old ways and shut people out. That strikes wonderfully at the political climate in the UK (especially with Brexit) and the wider world. Moons also has that wonderful class-based society that seems to be the rich ruling and exploiting the poor - which also fits with wider political debates. For me, this overcomes much of the weaknesses of any plot. I suppose if you take out the political subtext, then they are rather generic. Interesting as well that there are strong female characters in both releases (not just Mags), which I like and think is a welcome development. Love the throw back to the Holmes/Hincliffe era as well. Haha, I did not even "get" the political subtext... maybe because reality has become so much weirder than fiction could ever be... But now that you point it out...
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Post by slithe on Jun 9, 2019 9:39:24 GMT
I did not care much for the first one, but Moons was amazing (apart from the ending, which just went right over my ability to suspend disbelief). Haha, my favorite in the past years has to be Muse of Fire, if you have not heard it, do it. Pure fun! Muse of Fire is great, I agree totally with that. A real gem of a release and great fun. I wondered if it was going to mark the return of BF's more 'festive fun' release that we had with The One Doctor in 2001 and Bang-Bang-a-Boom in 2002. I was really surprised at that one and I dismissed it, rather arrogantly, in favour of The Hunting Ground. Ironically, Muse of Fire was the better story. All the cast are good in this and it is nice to have a Hex story that doesn't involve the character being put through the ringer!
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Post by slithe on Jun 9, 2019 9:43:29 GMT
Haha, I did not even "get" the political subtext... maybe because reality has become so much weirder than fiction could ever be... But now that you point it out...
True - our politics is, sadly, more weirder than fiction. I've always liked the more political edge of the Seventh Doctor releases and I, personally, feel that these are the better releases for his Doctor - especially as McCoy himself seems to put a lot more into these. His initial run on the TV made subtle digs at the Thatcher Government (although not so subtle in the case of the Happiness Patrol) and you can clearly see it in stories such as Survival - the humdrum and tedium of Thatcher's Britain is well realised there. That's why The Assassination Games, A Thousand Tiny Wings and Red Planets are up there as some of my favourite Seventh Doctor BF stories - they fit so well with this approach.
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Post by tuigirl on Jun 9, 2019 10:33:17 GMT
Muse of Fire is great, I agree totally with that. A real gem of a release and great fun. I wondered if it was going to mark the return of BF's more 'festive fun' release that we had with The One Doctor in 2001 and Bang-Bang-a-Boom in 2002. I was really surprised at that one and I dismissed it, rather arrogantly, in favour of The Hunting Ground. Ironically, Muse of Fire was the better story. All the cast are good in this and it is nice to have a Hex story that doesn't involve the character being put through the ringer!But he does get put through the ringer, doesn't he? Only wearing a towel no less. I jest. Worth it for that scene alone.
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Post by number13 on Jun 9, 2019 13:24:50 GMT
Haha, I did not even "get" the political subtext... maybe because reality has become so much weirder than fiction could ever be... But now that you point it out...
True - our politics is, sadly, more weirder than fiction. I've always liked the more political edge of the Seventh Doctor releases and I, personally, feel that these are the better releases for his Doctor - especially as McCoy himself seems to put a lot more into these. His initial run on the TV made subtle digs at the Thatcher Government (although not so subtle in the case of the Happiness Patrol) and you can clearly see it in stories such as Survival - the humdrum and tedium of Thatcher's Britain is well realised there. That's why The Assassination Games, A Thousand Tiny Wings and Red Planets are up there as some of my favourite Seventh Doctor BF stories - they fit so well with this approach. Subtle? It was blatant (at least to me at the time.) A big mistake for 'Doctor Who' to be party political, for one thing it falls into the usual trap of the converted of assuming that everyone thinks like them, or at least will do, if they are re-educated hard enough. When often, they don't and never will and all that happens is that quality goes down. The (imo) rubbish "CND speech" ending to 'Battlefield' (which is otherwise a very enjoyable story; great monster, great guest stars) is a prime example. (And ironically 'Battlefield's ending was partly out of date by the time it was broadcast because a multi-lateral Europe-wide disarmament deal had been agreed by then, which I seriously doubt would ever have happened if NATO had listened to the unilateral disarmers.)
I too love all three of the BFs you mention, they are political but not party political, just like some of the best stories of the classic era - 'The Green Death' and 'Invasion of the Dinosaurs' would be two top examples of 'issue-political' stories and although it's not so well regarded, 'The Monster of Peladon' is another fascinating political story (well I like it anyway!) And from the McCoy era, I think 'Remembrance of the Daleks' is a really great 'issue-political' story.
(I personally don't remember the Thatcher years as ones of 'humdrum and tedium' . I voted for the Alliance back then (from which the Lib Dems later formed), but whichever side of politics one happened to be on, it wasn't boring!! My memory of the 80s (and the 70s too) is of more-or-less continous turmoil of one sort or another. The last few decades have seemed very quiet by comparison... but as a great man once said in a different context, 'here we go again'.)
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Post by slithe on Jun 9, 2019 16:42:49 GMT
(I personally don't remember the Thatcher years as ones of 'humdrum and tedium' . I voted for the Alliance back then (from which the Lib Dems later formed), but whichever side of politics one happened to be on, it wasn't boring!! My memory of the 80s (and the 70s too) is of more-or-less continous turmoil of one sort or another. The last few decades have seemed very quiet by comparison... but as a great man once said in a different context, 'here we go again'.)
Meant the humdrum and tedium of suburban life in Thatcher's Britain - the idea of conformity, everyone aspiring to own the '3 bed semi with a car' viz., her property owning democracy idea. Hale and Pace in that small corner shop just seems to encapsulate a time, where outside the rough and tumble, it was quite dully and depressing... I didn't meant that I want the Doctor to suddenly be overtly political, but politically-inspired story telling seems to work better with McCoy in my opinion. Just fits the character much better.
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Post by slithe on Jun 9, 2019 16:53:30 GMT
I too love all three of the BFs you mention, they are political but not party political, just like some of the best stories of the classic era - 'The Green Death' and 'Invasion of the Dinosaurs' would be two top examples of 'issue-political' stories and although it's not so well regarded, 'The Monster of Peladon' is another fascinating political story (well I like it anyway!) And from the McCoy era, I think 'Remembrance of the Daleks' is a really great 'issue-political' story. I agree with you here and I think you phrase this better than I did. Ironically, Doctor Who has always had quite political writers, usually from the left - Malcolm Hulke was a member of the Communist Party as was Ben Aarronovitch. I can remember reading a column by David Aaronovitch in The Times whereby he says that his family 'knew' Hulke from the Communist Party and, as a result, Doctor Who was 'approved' by them. I think Brian Hayes was also left-leaning as was Barry Letts (and probably Terrance Dicks). The infamous 'TARDIS Revolution' under JNT and Cartmel has been well documented in the press and there are still accusations of left-leaning bias in the revived series under Davies and Cibnall. It's the main reason I told most critics of the new Whittaker series as being 'too PC' to button it - the series has always had that approach if you look carefully... As an aside - Pertwee's Doctor is often the one who is seen as a 'Tory' Doctor because of his links to 'the establishment of UNIT' - the irony there being that quite often the Doctor ignores the Brig and is contemptuous of those in authority and positions of power (I love Pertwee's interrogation of The Controller in Day of the Daleks and his sparring with Kettering in The Mind of Evil)!
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Post by fingersmash on Jun 9, 2019 19:38:26 GMT
I really think this upcoming Sixth Doctor trilogy is going to be just plain spectacular. I've missed Peri.
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
Likes: 5,819
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Post by lidar2 on Jun 10, 2019 8:09:12 GMT
I think Brian Hayes was also left-leaning as was Barry Letts (and probably Terrance Dicks). I remember reading that Letts voted Liberal so that wold make him a centrist. Dicks I don't know about, but I think on the Mutants DVD documentary he says something like Letts and Baker/Martin thought the British Empire was a bad thing whereas he thought it was a good thing (or something like that - I only watched it once 5 or 6 years ago) so since then I've always had the impression he was a bit right-leaning, or at least a small "c" conservative.
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Post by Max Kashevsky on Jun 10, 2019 8:25:18 GMT
As an aside - Pertwee's Doctor is often the one who is seen as a 'Tory' Doctor because of his links to 'the establishment of UNIT' - the irony there being that quite often the Doctor ignores the Brig and is contemptuous of those in authority and positions of power (I love Pertwee's interrogation of The Controller in Day of the Daleks and his sparring with Kettering in The Mind of Evil)! Which is why Verity Lambert's critique of the Pertwee Doctor compared to Hartnell was really fascinating.
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Post by tuigirl on Jun 10, 2019 8:33:23 GMT
As an aside - Pertwee's Doctor is often the one who is seen as a 'Tory' Doctor because of his links to 'the establishment of UNIT' - the irony there being that quite often the Doctor ignores the Brig and is contemptuous of those in authority and positions of power (I love Pertwee's interrogation of The Controller in Day of the Daleks and his sparring with Kettering in The Mind of Evil)! Which is why Verity Lambert's critique of the Pertwee Doctor compared to Hartnell was really fascinating. I wonder if she had ever really watched it apart from a casual glance, however. I think it was the idea of the Doctor working for the government she despised.
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Post by Max Kashevsky on Jun 10, 2019 9:36:06 GMT
I wonder if she had ever really watched it apart from a casual glance, however. I think it was the idea of the Doctor working for the government she despised. Probably. And fair enough. But I think you're right: she may have missed out on his smaller, subversive moments.
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Post by slithe on Jun 12, 2019 19:18:15 GMT
As an aside - Pertwee's Doctor is often the one who is seen as a 'Tory' Doctor because of his links to 'the establishment of UNIT' - the irony there being that quite often the Doctor ignores the Brig and is contemptuous of those in authority and positions of power (I love Pertwee's interrogation of The Controller in Day of the Daleks and his sparring with Kettering in The Mind of Evil)! Which is why Verity Lambert's critique of the Pertwee Doctor compared to Hartnell was really fascinating. Did not know this about Lambert criticising the Third Doctor... I know Hartnell himself was quite dismissive of the series (though probably not for political reasons). The irony being that even the First Doctor gets involved with 'the Establishment' in the War Machines. The story itself feels a very good 'dummy' run for the UNIT stories that would be launched with Troughton.
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