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Post by nucleusofswarm on Nov 10, 2018 0:55:05 GMT
Platt wrote one of Classic Who's most distinct and unusual stories. Note my choice of words there: not good or bad, but distinct. It's a strange puzzle box that plays both as oddball tribute and yet also a strange vivisection and rearrangement of Holmes' Gothic historicals, with liberal helpings from old school Gothic literature as well as more twisty-turny 60s and 70s literary big ideas sci-fi ala Vonnegut and Zelazny.
What does everyone else think?
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Post by glynnlondon on Nov 10, 2018 1:10:52 GMT
Bit of hammer horror as well when the maids come out of the walls , very creepy.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2018 2:02:20 GMT
It's kind of eerie that it ended up being the classic show's final serial production-wise as a ghost light is a real thing in theatre. It's kept alight when the building is otherwise empty to allow the structure's ghosts to perform on-stage. The idea being that if they were appeased, they wouldn't sabotage the human productions or curse the theatre out of frustration. I'm a bit biassed, I've never met a Marc Platt story I didn't like. Ghost Light feels like a definitive entry of what the series could have done had it continued into the 1990s. Everything is linked. The Doctor to Ace and Ace to Gabriel Chase. I love this idea of an isolated residence containing an eclectic collection of persons from times and places all over the world (and beyond it). There's a quiet dignity to Nimrod as the displaced Neanderthal and there's a lovely subversion of expectations with Ace ushering Control through her transformation into a fair lady. Redvers is very striking, doing what Who does well and showing a broken man who's clung fast to his dignity. Platt's always done this gentle unsheathing of greater evils really well (the Cyber-Leveller in the recent Tyrants of Logic is a fantastic example). Light doesn't actually appear until the last episode, but you can feel his presence throughout the house. In Josiah, in Control, in Nimrod, even Ace and the Doctor. The Doctor's gloriously written here, full of depth and quiet solemnity for burnt toast and lost souls. He's effortlessly mysterious and powerful, but there's still a sense of stakes to the proceedings. He's in control, but he's involved as well. Just trying to keep everyone alive and the world unconquered before the evening's out. A classic.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2018 10:50:43 GMT
It's kind of eerie that it ended up being the classic show's final serial production-wise as a ghost light is a real thing in theatre. It's kept alight when the building is otherwise empty to allow the structure's ghosts to perform on-stage. The idea being that if they were appeased, they wouldn't sabotage the human productions or curse the theatre out of frustration. I'm a bit biassed, I've never met a Marc Platt story I didn't like. Ghost Light feels like a definitive entry of what the series could have done had it continued into the 1990s. Everything is linked. The Doctor to Ace and Ace to Gabriel Chase. I love this idea of an isolated residence containing an eclectic collection of persons from times and places all over the world (and beyond it). There's a quiet dignity to Nimrod as the displaced Neanderthal and there's a lovely subversion of expectations with Ace ushering Control through her transformation into a fair lady. Redvers is very striking, doing what Who does well and showing a broken man who's clung fast to his dignity. Platt's always done this gentle unsheathing of greater evils really well (the Cyber-Leveller in the recent Tyrants of Logic is a fantastic example). Light doesn't actually appear until the last episode, but you can feel his presence throughout the house. In Josiah, in Control, in Nimrod, even Ace and the Doctor. The Doctor's gloriously written here, full of depth and quiet solemnity for burnt toast and lost souls. He's effortlessly mysterious and powerful, but there's still a sense of stakes to the proceedings. He's in control, but he's involved as well. Just trying to keep everyone alive and the world unconquered before the evening's out. A classic. What Wolfie said. I remember watching Ghost Light (it aired directly after Battlefield, which I wasn't keen on) and being relieved that (a) the Cartmel era was still capable of producing something compelling and (b) after 26 years, the old show could still produce challenging, eerie, strange, funny television unlike anything it had previously attempted. Although it was apparent Doctor Who probably wouldn't be around for much longer, it was great to see it firing on all cylinders, confounding and delighting this viewer in a way only Doctor Who can. It saddens me when people talk of McCoy's tenure in less than glowing terms, because stories like this are as good as anything that has gone before. Not traditional, not straightforward, but a challenging piece of work, which looked great, and boasted one of the best casts ever in Doctor Who. How wonderful Marc Platt is still producing the goods for Big Finish.
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Post by whiskeybrewer on Nov 10, 2018 14:44:59 GMT
Its a great story that always makes you think. Just a shame you needed an extra on the DVD to get the final elements
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Post by charlesuirdhein on Nov 10, 2018 15:20:01 GMT
I love that it doesn't explain itself.
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Post by eric009 on Nov 10, 2018 16:38:10 GMT
i like it because it fill in abit of ace past it's on my watch list for next week a friend coming over who's not seen the old who so doing one story per doctor an earthly child, web of fear,inferno,The Talons of Weng-Chiang(trying to get him to try jago and litefoot), Earthshock The Two Doctors and Ghost Light he a daleks fan i given him a list of all the dalek storys there are be a few of them too
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Post by Hieronymus on Nov 10, 2018 23:04:49 GMT
This is the only Who story where I understood it (as much as that is possible) only after reading the novelisation. There was so much packed into the story on screen that you just couldn't process it all. Thank goodness home video-recorders were available by then or the story would have left the audience completely befuddled; it certainly took more than one viewing to get your head around this one.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2018 18:56:20 GMT
Didn't get it then, don't get it now, and undoubtedly I won't get it tomorrow
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2018 19:05:30 GMT
Didn't get it then, don't get it now, and undoubtedly I won't get it tomorrow Don’t have the soup-theres meat in it
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2018 19:18:11 GMT
Didn't get it then, don't get it now, and undoubtedly I won't get it tomorrow Don’t have the soup-theres meat in it I won't, I only like Tomata
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2018 19:20:04 GMT
Don’t have the soup-theres meat in it I won't, I only like Tomata I believe its pig soup 🤪
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Post by Hieronymus on Nov 12, 2018 20:45:34 GMT
I won't, I only like Tomata I believe its pig soup 🤪 Cream of Copper
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Post by shallacatop on Nov 12, 2018 21:52:02 GMT
I don’t pretend to understand Ghost Light, but it’s so steeped with atmosphere it sort of carries you along. McCoy steals every scene he’s in. It’s a shame that the whole thing looks so ropey due to the cameras used at the time.
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Post by number13 on Nov 13, 2018 12:11:16 GMT
I love it - a ghost story and evolutionary theory rolled into one. It's strange, spooky, mysterious, very clever and always talks up to the audience, gving us credit for being as smart as it is. (Though I never feel I am even after n viewings over 30 years, there's a lot to take in!) And it made Marc Platt canon which as a big fan of all his BF work I think may well be the best bit of all!
I have to admit that in 1989 I did laugh at the fate of the creationalist preacher regressing into 'Darwinian Man' (which wasn't very kind of me was it? ) but I'm a huge admirer of Darwin and his astonishingly visionary theory, which seems just as astonishing to me now as it did to people in the age of housemaids and side-whiskers. He defied the day-to-day obvious 'facts' of Time on a human scale ( of course living things don't change, daft idea! ) and instead saw the possibilities inherent in the then newly-discovered vastness of geological Time, on a world and a Universe now numbered not in thousands but in billions of years. And not discovered with genetic analysis and a modern lab full of equipment, but with careful observation of tortoises, bird beaks and earthworms - and imagination.
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Post by doctorkernow on Nov 13, 2018 12:40:13 GMT
Hello again.
This story had great atmosphere. It completely bamboozled me on first viewing as a teenager. I liked the cast. All concerned contributed to the weirdness of the story. I wondered why the Husks kept saying what sounded like Ratkin. Then there was that wonderful song played by Gwendoline and the creepy incidental music.
The central thing that had me glued to my chair was Ace. The Doctor's role in bringing her to face her fears is very peculiar. It is very different to his relationship with other companions. The novelisation was great too.
And then there is the soup...
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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2018 13:44:52 GMT
Hello again. This story had great atmosphere. It completely bamboozled me on first viewing as a teenager. I liked the cast. All concerned contributed to the weirdness of the story. I wondered why the Husks kept saying what sounded like Ratkin. Then there was that wonderful song played by Gwendoline and the creepy incidental music. The central thing that had me glued to my chair was Ace. The Doctor's role in bringing her to face her fears is very peculiar. It is very different to his relationship with other companions. The novelisation was great too. And then there is the soup... Yeah..don’t have the soup🤪
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Post by Timelord007 on Nov 13, 2018 13:53:30 GMT
Checkout the Target novel/audiobook it fleshes out certain plots & gives a much clearer narrative than the transmitted episode's.
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Post by Tim Bradley on Nov 13, 2018 14:54:36 GMT
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Post by theotherjosh on Nov 13, 2018 16:03:03 GMT
My favorite anecdote about Ghost Light is from Andrew Cartmel: "At a convention I went to, Marc Platt was on a quiz show during the cabaret and his first question was, 'explain the plot of Ghost Light in 10 words or less.'"
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