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Post by sherlock on Jan 21, 2017 22:21:48 GMT
Wowza. That was very good, the ending was beautifully inevitable and touching. “Kindness” and “forgiveness” aren’t the first words that come to mind when thinking of the Seventh Doctor, so it might seem strange that he became the lead in the story. However, I’ve been a fan of Doctor Who ever since I was eight years old. As I’ve grown older and (hopefully) matured, I’ve come to appreciate aspects that I overlooked in my youth. I’ve always loved the relationship between the Doctor and Ace, but especially since I became a father, I think the aspect that resonates with me the most is what a wonderful mentor he is to Ace. He doesn’t solve her problems for her; he helps her become a person capable of solving those problems. In any given encounter, the audience is rarely in any real doubt that the Doctor will overcome his adversary. There may be unintended consequences that result from his victory, but we remain reasonably confident that Doctor is going to win at the end of the day. I’ve always been of the opinion that the Doctor considers a confrontation a failure if he’s unable to talk a villain out of a scheme. The ideal outcome isn’t overthrowing the evil genius; the ideal outcome is convincing him to turn his powers toward the betterment of humankind. If the Doctor is forced to destroy someone, then he has failed the villain, and he’s failed himself. We seldom see a story in which the adversary sees the light and walks away, because that lack of overt conflict makes it difficult to write a compelling story, but I felt the shorter stories of the Short Trips line would be the ideal format in which to explore it. That’s why the smaller, more personal stories always have the most tension for me. This is a story where the Doctor can fail. The world doesn’t end if Sean falls back into villainy. The Doctor did his best, he tried to guide Sean as he mentored Ace and he will thwart Sean if Sean returns to his dreams of conquest, but in the end, when the time comes for Sean to make his decision about who is going to be, all the Doctor can do is step back and allow him to make that choice and hope it is the right one. Or to put it another way: “Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine. I must say-I find your interpretation of the Doctor fascinating. Too often the Doctor's giving a villain a chance is glossed over like he doesn't really mean. Certainly I prefer it infinitely more to the stereotypical take on the seventh Doctor as an almost cold-blooded man willing to do anything to stop evil.
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Post by theotherjosh on Jan 30, 2017 20:00:55 GMT
I must say-I find your interpretation of the Doctor fascinating. Too often the Doctor's giving a villain a chance is glossed over like he doesn't really mean. Certainly I prefer it infinitely more to the stereotypical take on the seventh Doctor as an almost cold-blooded man willing to do anything to stop evil. As you may have concluded from the story and from my posts here, I'm a big old bleeding heart. I figured that I would only have one chance to write for Big Finish, so I would try to tell the story I wanted to tell. I’ve always been fond of an answer that Abraham Lincoln gave when he was asked why he did not destroy the soldiers of the Confederacy. "Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?" When I was an undergrad, my major was forensic chemistry (which wasn’t as interesting as it sounds. It was mostly just a biochem curriculum, but they played the CSI soundtrack during class). Classes in criminal justice and technical writing were also part of the degree, and over the course of my time there, I discovered that I liked those parts of program much more than I liked the chemistry part, so I wound up taking more of them than I had to, and eventually switching my major. Without getting into too much detail, and with the understanding that I’m simplifying things quite a bit, there are different philosophies and theories of criminal justice, but the one that held the most resonance for me was the idea that the best way to prevent crime is to eliminate the situations that give rise to it. If we catch and punish someone after they have committed a crime, that represents a failure of society. In some situations, where few options exist, criminal activity is the most rational course of action, and we can prevent crime by minimizing circumstances where this is the case. To return to your point, I think the Seventh Doctor will destroy lives and worlds if that’s what it takes, but that would not be his first choice. He’s not vengeful; he’s practical and he’s willing to massage a baddie’s ego and spend a little extra time smoothing over any difficulties if that leads to a better outcome for everyone involved. I see the Seventh Doctor as someone willing to make hard choices, but not eager to do so, and when he gets a nominally happy ending as he does here, he’s as a happy as anyone.
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Post by whiskeybrewer on Feb 2, 2017 12:57:46 GMT
Just listened to it and it was an absolutely brilliant story. Perfectly paced and Im not ashamed to say i had a tear in my eye at the end
Also laughed too hard at the Giddy Aunt joke
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Post by Ela on Feb 12, 2017 20:19:35 GMT
I listened to the story about a week ago, when I was traveling, and really enjoyed it. I plan to give it another listen. Also enjoyed reading all your notes, theotherjosh, about what went into creating the story. Hope you have another chance at a BF story one of these days.
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Post by theotherjosh on Feb 12, 2017 23:51:38 GMT
I listened to the story about a week ago, when I was traveling, and really enjoyed it. I plan to give it another listen. Also enjoyed reading all your notes, theotherjosh , about what went into creating the story. Hope you have another chance at a BF story one of these days. Thank you very much! I don't know if you'll be at ReGen Who this year, but they were kind enough to accept my panel submission, so I'll be speaking about it there as well.
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Post by Ela on Feb 13, 2017 0:13:05 GMT
I listened to the story about a week ago, when I was traveling, and really enjoyed it. I plan to give it another listen. Also enjoyed reading all your notes, theotherjosh , about what went into creating the story. Hope you have another chance at a BF story one of these days. Thank you very much! I don't know if you'll be at ReGen Who this year, but they were kind enough to accept my panel submission, so I'll be speaking about it there as well. I though about coming, but it's the same month my first grandson is due. So I thought it best not to try it to make it this year. Maybe next year. Hope your panel goes well!
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Post by nottenst on Feb 14, 2017 4:11:39 GMT
Just listened to it today. It seemed that Briggs was sounding more like Capaldi than McCoy near the end. Anyone else think that?
One thing I'm not quite sure about - at the end it seemed the whole interference by The Doctor was to produce the right Odessa, but it didn't seem clear that if Calvin had used the Leviathan in the beginning that Odessa would have existed in any form. Or did he mean that Calvin would have insinuated himself into the docile culture, tried to guide it, got married, Odessa would have been born, and then somehow a rebellion would have overthrown him and then we'd get the other Odessa?
I am looking forward to the panel on it at ReGeneration in March.
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Post by theotherjosh on Feb 14, 2017 19:07:12 GMT
One thing I'm not quite sure about - at the end it seemed the whole interference by The Doctor was to produce the right Odessa, but it didn't seem clear that if Calvin had used the Leviathan in the beginning that Odessa would have existed in any form. Or did he mean that Calvin would have insinuated himself into the docile culture, tried to guide it, got married, Odessa would have been born, and then somehow a rebellion would have overthrown him and then we'd get the other Odessa? I am looking forward to the panel on it at ReGeneration in March. My first inclination was to say “Stay tuned! I’ll answer the question in March.” but I thought that would make me sound like a jerk. I’ll be stacking the audience with a couple friends to serve as ringers, and I’ve provided them with questions like “Isn’t it a curse to be so handsome?” so there might not be time to answer yours. My head canon pretty much corresponds to the second scenario you outlined. Had the Doctor not intervened in the prologue, I thought Sean would have used the Leviathan, reigned for a few years and then been overthrown by liberators from outside of Elysium. (The Doctor’s line about generations in thrall was an exaggeration.) Then he would have met Lisa (under different circumstances) and Odessa would have been born with her parents on the run and she would have grown up seeing her father persecuted and would eventually become the wrathful version. Perhaps I shouldn’t be answering at all. I caught an interview with Guy Adams who said the correct way to answer these questions about apparent contradictions is not to reply at all. Eventually someone will offer an explanation, and after a consensus has been reached, the author can nod sagely and say “Of course. That’s what I intended all along.”
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Post by nottenst on Feb 14, 2017 20:50:40 GMT
Perhaps I shouldn’t be answering at all. I caught an interview with Guy Adams who said the correct way to answer these questions about apparent contradictions is not to reply at all. Eventually someone will offer an explanation, and after a consensus has been reached, the author can nod sagely and say “Of course. That’s what I intended all along.” And that is how the panel may go Thanks.
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Post by ollychops on Feb 14, 2017 21:33:38 GMT
Finally got around to listening to this - wow! This is only the second short trip I've listened to, but it's sold me on the Short Trips range. I really enjoyed the plot - the pacing was great, I loved seeing the development of Sean over the years. The ending was bittersweet but full of hope for Odessa - and I really loved the exchange between Seven and Ace regarding Odessa and her future. All-in-all, well done to theotherjosh for such a great story! It's not hard to see why you won the competition. Hopefully we'll get to hear another BF story from you someday.
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Post by theotherjosh on Feb 14, 2017 23:15:49 GMT
Finally got around to listening to this - wow! This is only the second short trip I've listened to, but it's sold me on the Short Trips range. I really enjoyed the plot - the pacing was great, I loved seeing the development of Sean over the years. The ending was bittersweet but full of hope for Odessa - and I really loved the exchange between Seven and Ace regarding Odessa and her future. All-in-all, well done to theotherjosh for such a great story! It's not hard to see why you won the competition. Hopefully we'll get to hear another BF story from you someday. Thank you very much! That really means a lot!
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Post by dalekbuster523finish on Feb 24, 2017 12:18:25 GMT
Finally found chance to listen to this. Well done, Josh - that was fantastic. Big Finish need to get you to write a Main Range Doctor Who audio drama for the 7th Doctor as soon as possible!
I particularly loved the format of 'Day X/Year X'. Very nice idea.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2017 5:28:45 GMT
Listened to it again and again really good. Well done Josh!
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Post by theotherjosh on Apr 27, 2017 15:29:13 GMT
I was interviewed about the story a couple months ago and the podcast finally dropped. I wasn’t as bad as I had feared, but I still got so flustered and tongue-tied that I sounded like a text-to-speech robot with a stammer and collection of weird vocal tics. I speak my sentences like a Zac Snyder fight scene SLLLOOOOOOOWWWW MOOOTTTIIOONNN. THENSUDDENLYFASTMOTION! Then SLOOOOOOOOWWWWWW MOOOOTTIIIIOOONNNN AAAGGGAAIIIINNNN. If I haven't scared you off, it’s at this link if you want to listen. The first part of the hour is a more general discussion about Big Finish, and I enjoyed that. The Roundtable is usually worth a listen anyway and they had a great interview with Sophie Aldred a few weeks ago.
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Post by Ela on Apr 27, 2017 22:40:45 GMT
Why is your episode not on iTunes yet!!! Well, maybe I'll listen to the Sophie Aldred one while I wait.
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Post by theotherjosh on Apr 27, 2017 23:03:21 GMT
Why is your episode not on iTunes yet!!! Well, maybe I'll listen to the Sophie Aldred one while I wait. No, no, for the love of God, Montresor, no! Don't listen to Sophie before you listen to me! She's brilliant and talented and capable of completing a sentence without adding twelve "ums". I'm going to sound even worse if you listen to her first!
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Post by Ela on Apr 27, 2017 23:15:48 GMT
Why is your episode not on iTunes yet!!! Well, maybe I'll listen to the Sophie Aldred one while I wait. No, no, for the love of God, Montresor, no! Don't listen to Sophie before you listen to me! She's brilliant and talented and capable of completing a sentence without adding twelve "ums". I'm going to sound even worse if you listen to her first! That's just silly. The podcast you're in is not showing up on iTunes right now. Hers is. And if I download her interview, it will remind me to look for yours in the next couple days.
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Post by Ela on Apr 28, 2017 12:22:21 GMT
Why is your episode not on iTunes yet!!! Well, maybe I'll listen to the Sophie Aldred one while I wait. No, no, for the love of God, Montresor, no! Don't listen to Sophie before you listen to me! She's brilliant and talented and capable of completing a sentence without adding twelve "ums". I'm going to sound even worse if you listen to her first! No fears. After I downloaded the Sophie episode, the episode you're in appeared in my news feed. So I can listen to you first.
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Post by Ela on Apr 30, 2017 4:19:11 GMT
I was interviewed about the story a couple months ago and the podcast finally dropped. I wasn’t as bad as I had feared, but I still got so flustered and tongue-tied that I sounded like a text-to-speech robot with a stammer and collection of weird vocal tics. I speak my sentences like a Zac Snyder fight scene SLLLOOOOOOOWWWW MOOOTTTIIOONNN. THENSUDDENLYFASTMOTION! Then SLOOOOOOOOWWWWWW MOOOOTTIIIIOOONNNN AAAGGGAAIIIINNNN. If I haven't scared you off, it’s at this link if you want to listen. The first part of the hour is a more general discussion about Big Finish, and I enjoyed that. The Roundtable is usually worth a listen anyway and they had a great interview with Sophie Aldred a few weeks ago. I thought your interview was very good. Enjoyed listening it. I skipped through just to hear you. The first part was an overview of Doctor Who (not specifically Big Finish) episodes they recommended, especially for people new to classic Who, and it was very long. Plus, I was getting annoyed cause I disagreed with too much of their pontificating about which episodes were good or bad.
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Post by theotherjosh on Apr 30, 2017 14:14:27 GMT
I thought your interview was very good. Enjoyed listening it. You're very kind. I was nervous and I do think I could have done better. I mean, how do I mess up a softball question like, "Who were your influences?" (For this story, Hayou Miyazaki and Grant Morrison's All Star Superman, in case you were wondering) The best thing to come out of it was that I recognized that I could have done better, so I looked where I didn't do as well as I could have and took those lessons to my Regen Who panel and I was much happier with my performance there. Some friends were kind enough to record it, and I'm meeting them tonight, so I'll see if I can grab the file and upload it somewhere.
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