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Post by tuigirl on Apr 24, 2019 7:32:39 GMT
Finished Soldier Obscura. Wow, this was great, I absolutely loved Brax in this. He was simply delicious. This is exactly the type of story I am looking for, with great original characters in it. But I admit I did not really get why {Spoiler} did Brax have to kill Dana? Did she have no regenerations left? If she was too old, he could just have forced her to regenerate. Was it that he was just so massively disappointed that his amazing plan did not work out? The whole scene felt a bit contrived to me, somehow just for the sake of showing what an evil bastard Brax can be.
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Post by sherlock on Apr 24, 2019 10:11:15 GMT
Finished Soldier Obscura. Wow, this was great, I absolutely loved Brax in this. He was simply delicious. This is exactly the type of story I am looking for, with great original characters in it. But I admit I did not really get why {Spoiler} did Brax have to kill Dana? Did she have no regenerations left? If she was too old, he could just have forced her to regenerate. Was it that he was just so massively disappointed that his amazing plan did not work out? The whole scene felt a bit contrived to me, somehow just for the sake of showing what an evil bastard Brax can be. {Spoiler} I think it was just a case of she was now a liability for him, and with the Daleks coming and having to think on his feet Brax couldn't have any liabilities.
As her regenerating is never discussed, she’s probably on her last incarnation. It is mentioned she is very old.
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Post by number13 on Apr 24, 2019 15:49:59 GMT
Finished Soldier Obscura. Wow, this was great, I absolutely loved Brax in this. He was simply delicious. This is exactly the type of story I am looking for, with great original characters in it. But I admit I did not really get why {Spoiler}did Brax have to kill Dana? Did she have no regenerations left? If she was too old, he could just have forced her to regenerate. Was it that he was just so massively disappointed that his amazing plan did not work out? The whole scene felt a bit contrived to me, somehow just for the sake of showing what an evil bastard Brax can be. {Spoiler}I think it was just a case of she was now a liability for him, and with the Daleks coming and having to think on his feet Brax couldn't have any liabilities.
As her regenerating is never discussed, she’s probably on her last incarnation. It is mentioned she is very old. {Spoiler}Agree, I think he was covering his tracks, ruthlessly but effectively. If Dana had had further regenerations available... well, Brax will do what it takes to survive...
The Daleks are coming and they'll be looking for him and all Time Lords. If any Gallifreyan knows where/when he started to run from, the Daleks might be able to follow his trail. (He knows he can hide Ace on Earth as one human among 7 billion.)
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Post by Kestrel on Jan 20, 2021 10:54:36 GMT
The time has come... after much postponement, I am now fully prepared to dive into the Gallifrey Time War range! I love this range so much, I don't really want to see it end... but I'm getting ahead of myself, I think. My thoughts. As usual, my very, very disorganized thoughts: GAL 9.1: Celestial Intervention- Okay, I'll admit it: I had to laugh a bit at Narvin trying to convince Romana that the Time War was inevitable. I mean, sure, maybe it was. It probably was. But Narvin, Narvin, Narvin... you are the last person in all of time and space who should be making that argument.
- As per the familiar pattern, I find myself fascinated by the continuity here. As I understand it: the Daleks invaded Gallifrey in GAL 6 (or was that GAL 7?) and seemed to kill Romana, which prompted Narvin to send the 4th Doctor back in time to prevent their creation on Skaro. Then, the Daleks attack the other temporal powers, and act which will later be pointed at as the official start of hostilities, but in the immediate 'present' the Time Lords still believe they're on a pre-war footing when the Phidonian refugees come seeking asylum. So while this story will retroactively become set early in the War, from the POV of all of the characters, the war hasn't started yet.
- I do wonder, also, about the geography of the Time Lords. Do they possess an interstellar empire? They have fleets of TARDISes (grown in "plantations," how cool is that?) and "dimensional enclaves" set up all throughout time and space... but do they have colony worlds? How much territory do they control directly? Or do they merely have stations/outposts set up all over the universe, to conduct research or monitor the 'web of time' and whatnot?
- Most of this story is establishment and build-up, so I don't have too much to say... but I do appreciate and enjoy the parallels to GAL 1, with Romana advocating for alien immigrants to Gallifrey. Perhaps the 'savage' comments are also a callback? At this point in time, Leela is pretty old, right? I think it's safe to say she's spent most of her life on Gallifrey, or at least working with Time Lords. Not sure she still qualifies as a 'savage'.
- Oh, good lord. That final scene when Ace was introduced to Brax? Absolutely perfect. Fantastic dialog and great music. Really sets expectations for the next story quite high.
GAL 9.2: Soldier Obscura- ...and then 9.2 delivers on those expectations handily. Brax and Ace is an unusual pairing, but it winds up working really well here. I think they've only ever implied that Brax is the Doctor's brother, right? It's never been explicit? I wonder if Ace knows, or suspects, at their relationship....
- Speaking of Ace, I wonder, is there a story that leads into this one directly? IE when, how and why did the 7th Doctor decide to drop Ace off on Gallifrey? Was he aware of the impending war, or was he motivated by something else? It occurs to me, now that I think on it, that we've never really seen the Doctor's "introduction" to the War. We get hints about the Time War in Doom Coalition, but by the time the 8th Doctor Time War range starts, the conflict has already been raging for a while. I suppose it's possible that the 7th Doctor was aware of the war... but I'm not sure how I'd feel about that. It would definitely put a bizarre spin on the 8th Doctor's very long life....
- And more on Ace... Sophie Aldred is great. But, more and more, I think I enjoy her more in the BTS tracks, as herself, than in the stories as Ace. And Soldier Obscura demonstrates why: Aldred can really work well in a more active role! When she's not relegated to the companion role, and allowed the chance to be more independent, she really shines. Kinda makes me wish she'd come into the Gallifrey range on a more permanent basis....
- Okay, I'll admit it: it was cheesy as hell but I loved the whole bluff about Ace being a secret Time Lord weapon, complete with the goofy ACE acronym.
- So, from the POV of the main cast, when the Daleks launch the invasion of this outpost, does this mark the point where they're forced to acknowledge that hostilities have already begun? EG after clearing out the other Temporal Powers, the Daleks gather their fleet and secure this outpost before moving immediately to invade Gallifrey.
- Ahahahaha I love it that the thing that really pisses Brax off isn't Ace discovering his duplicity, or her calling him a coward... it's when she threatens to tell Romana that Braxiatel really gets angry. I really love how they've just kept Brax's... infatuation, I suppose is the word, simmering in the background throughout this range.
- Ffffffffffffff-- that mind-rape scene was dark. And that dialog. Yikes. "You're worse than the Daleks!" "Perhaps I am. Perhaps that's why I'm the man to stop them."
- And then there's that final line Brax sends to Gallifrey. Simply: "Invasion imminent." Chills.
- So this marks the point where the Time Lords are forced to acknowledge that the war has begun, with a Dalek fleet bearing down on them... and Romana immediately determines to summon the Master to aid them, leading in directly to GAL 9.3... a story that has nothing to do with the incoming fleet. So I've got to ask: just what, exactly, happened to the Dalek invasion force?
- Ace's final words: "Who are you, anyway? Whoo- no! Was that--it can't have been." The clear implication here, to me, is that Ace suspects that Braxiatel was a regeneration of the Doctor. This would indicate that only her recent memories were affected by the mind-rape. Potentially she still remembers going to Gallifrey and the beginnings of the war, and has simply forgotten everything from just before she met Brax in the preceding story.
- Okay... pet peeve time. And maybe this isn't the place to get into it... BUT, Narvin has this really telling line at the end. He says, "We have no choice." And... yeah. He's right. They don't have a choice. They either fight the Daleks, or roll over and die. How would you even begin to conceive of a counterargument? So, you've gotta ask: why is the Doctor running around acting like he has a choice? The Doctor's refusal to involve himself in the war seems increasingly amoral the more I think of it. I really hope the 8DAs set up just why, exactly, the Doctor would eventually find himself so dead-set against it.
GAL 9.3: The Devil You Know- Hooooooooly Bejesus. I love this story. Not sure if it technically qualifies to be my favorite story in the GAL range without Romana, Narvin or Brax, but it's way, way up there. Definitely one of my all-time favorite Big Finish releases, no question. I've said this before and I'll likely say it again: I see people complain about all of the Time War sets, but for my money, every single release has contained at least one story that ranks among my all-time favorites. I could not possibly be more pleased with these ranges.
- It's always a pleasure to see Derek Jacobi pop up outside of his War Master range. Perhaps there's some lingering sadness in my mind for the late John Hurt, but I find myself deeply thankful for every appearance he's made outside of those first four sets--which could easily have been it for his Master.
- Interesting note: Romana states that she's aware of the Master's many crimes since his resurrection--which would seem to imply that, unlike the War Doctor, this incarnation of the Master has had significant adventures -outside- the War. Which opens up the door for possible stories involving Jacobi's Master that take place prior to the Time War, and don't involve the Time War in any way. I'd love to see some some stories detailing the Macqueen Master's regeneration into Jacobi's Master, and maybe some of the final adventures of the former, and first adventures of the latter.
- Romana also offers the Master a blanket pardon--total forgiveness for all crimes past, present and future for his help. She'll make a similar offer to the Daleks in the next story. We don't really get a good idea of the 'stakes' here, but these lines make it clear that Romana is very desperate.
- I adore the dialog in this story. Every single line is perfect. How can anyone listen to this story without grinning the entire time? "But why confess it? You know me of old, and yet that does not worry you." Love how Leela sounds genuinely curious--and how the Master's frank attitude betrays a sense of absolute and unassailable confidence.
- Ballsy of Romana to assume Leela would be fine with the Master, of all people, immediately after seeing Ace get killed (from her POV) on a mission with Brax. Sometimes I wonder if Romana doesn't secretly hate Leela, and is constantly sending her on these insanely difficult missions in an attempt to get her killed.
- Oh god, oh god. Jacobi has just the best evil laugh here--because it doesn't sound evil at all. There's none of the camp in the 'evil laughs' of Delgado or Beevers, just a very natural-sounding, genuine laugh. In any other context it would be unremarkable--just laughter of honest, pure delight. But because it's the Master who's laughing, it's terrifying. If he's having a good time, you just know that very soon, no one else will be having a good time at all.
- LMFAO at Leela trying to convince her prisoner that some Time Lords are very fine people, actually, while working with the Master.
- "I feel that it's important that I be honest with you," he says. Immediately after acceding that most people would consider him evil. Hnnnnng I love this story so much.
- Ahahahaha and then, in a brilliant inversion of expectations, it's Leela who gets angry and tries to murder their prisoner--only for the Master to intervene and de-escalate the situation, calming her down. Hoo boy.
- Leela: "I warn you, my ways are not pleasant." The Master: "Don't worry," he whispers. "Neither are mine."
- Interesting note on the premise: the prisoner and his civilization are not affiliated with the Time Lords in any way. They're simply an unrelated group who took notice of the Time War, and began developing temporal weapons as a means to defend themselves. This is an interesting angle that makes the Time War infinitely more terrifying: it's not just a conflict between Daleks, Time Lords, and their respective puppets--it's also inspiring everyone who sees it to join in, simply out of desperation.
- Another interesting note: this is technically a 'bottle episode'. Maybe that's why I love it so much? Just three characters talking to each other. Y'all know this kinda thing is my jam, right?
- The Master: "My dear Leela--" Leela: "I am not dear to you." The Master: "My dear, dear Leela." I said I loved the dialog in this story, right?
- The conclusion is really, really solid. Demonstrating his intelligence, the Master notes that they're halving their own efficiency while doubling their prisoner's by splitting up; he manages to discern the information he desires from micro-expressions. You really get the sense that the Master is just as brilliant as the Doctor at his best here.
- Speaking of whom, it occurs to me that the Master is being a better 'Doctor' to Leela's 'Companion' here than the real Doctor often was. He's very open and honest with her, and doesn't really hide anything from her or manipulate her in any way. He's a character who is clearly exceptionally clever and very confident, so much so that he's surpassed the need for subterfuge. He's above all of that classical skulking now.
- And then there's the climax: the Master's betrayal. Honestly I think it came as just as much of a surprise to the Master as Leela (who it's clear, despite her knowing better, had lowered her guard). He just decides to chuck her out the TARDIS' doors on a whim. It's a fantastic moment and very reminiscent of a certain other, highly-memorable moment of abrupt violence from Day of the Master.
- And speaking again to the Master's confidence, and in a lovely parallel to the preceding story, Leela questions why the Master would let her live, and not try to wipe her memory (as Brax did to Ace). But this Master is above such pettiness: he's operating on another level entirely.
- Easily one of my all-time favorite stories. I loved every single second.
GAL 9.4: Desperate Measures- So 9.1 sets up the beginning of the war, and 9.2 and 9.3 are parallel stories--each shearing off some of Romana's support structure. Now, her allies are gone, and she's stuck on Gallifrey alone. Well, okay, Narvin is there, but he's Narvin. Not exactly the most reliable of friends, eh? With 9.3 being so good, it'd be impossible to top, and no matter what it was, the 9.4 was going to pale in comparison. So, in that view, it's probably a good idea that they didn't really try to tell a big story with this one. Instead, Desperate Measures is more of a denouement to the set as a whole, while also serving as a prologue for the "real" Time War, which is about to (finally) begin in earnest.
- Although I'm still curious about what happened to that Dalek invasion fleet.
- The episode opens immediately with a scene that raises all sorts of red flags: Romana communicating directly with the Dalek Emperor. This is deeply, profoundly unwise. This range has always tried to portray Romana as an effective politician, but at the same time she keeps making really, really poor moves. This is definitely not something she should ever have considered doing on her own: she should be doing with at Livia's direction. We're supposed to root for Romana as a hero, right? But that's kinda hard when she's running the CIA like a rogue agency. It's hard not to sympathize with her 'enemies' in the President's Office and War Council. No matter the morality of her intentions, the ethics of her actions are clearly compromised.
- This story also marks the moment where the "shape" of the beginning of the war is confirmed: hostilities began when the Daleks attacked the Temporal Powers--the Unvoss (sp?) and Tsunari (sp?) -- which happened in GAL 6 or GAL 7, right? Definitely before the Warpwrights of Phidon were attacks in GAL 9.1.
- Did we ever get any stories shedding light on Livia's first term in office? I can't remember....
- So, from all of the dialog... both Gallifrey, Earth and Project Revenant are located in the "7th Galaxy." Assuming this is Dalek terminology, this would place Skaro around 7 galaxies away from the Milky Way.
- So an interesting continuity snaggle for the other ranges: Romana notes that the War Master has fled, which might indicate that he's fled the war entirely (leading into Utopia) or it could just mean he's gone rogue; she also notes that the War Council intends to begin conscription, leading directly into 8DTW1 and Susan's War.
- So the shape of the war... Romana states, "We've waged this war for just a few relative months, but already we've seen centuries of conflict and millions upon millions dead." So, essentially, Gallifrey and wherever the Dalek Emperor is (is he based on a planet, or a starship?) are time-locked, and they conduct the war throughout spacetime from these locations that are more-or-less synced to each other. Couldn't either side exponentially increase their war potential by creating additional time-locked HQs? Or 'slowing down' the rate at which time passes for them, giving them more time to react and make plans and whatnot? I dunno. The Time War is a burning ouroboros, an unending wheel of fire, and perhaps it's best not to think too deeply on the shape of it.
- I dunno about y'all, but I could really do without all of the 'MGGA' and 'Lock Her Up' BS. I go to my escapist fiction to escape from all that shit. And look, BF, if you really want to associate Trump with your villains, maybe don't accidentally plaster white supremacist symbols all over your website?
- Listening to the BTS track, I think it was a bad idea to direct Valerian the way they did. The actor's natural speaking voice is much more tolerable. Valerian, meanwhile, just sounds too affected. Too artificial. It's hard to take the character seriously, and impossible to imagine him surviving the story. That he died at the end was no surprise, but it was a nice twist that Livia orchestrated it all. I really love just how toweringly incompetent she is. Romana mentions, earlier, having covered up just how much of a dick Rassilon was, though, so perhaps this was partly her fault? In other circumstances, I'd assume that the predisent would be privy to that classified information, but since Romana has been running the CIA as a rogue agency, perhaps not....
- I don't really know where the range is going to go from here, but I can't wait to find out! It's gonna be hard rationing myself, but I've gotta try not to binge through the whole thing... GTW2 is certainly raising the stakes, with Romana stuck alone and without any friends on a Gallifrey ruled by Rassilon.
- Oh, right. Narvin's there, too.
- Speaking of whom, maybe now might be a good time to dive into the last NABS set....
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2021 12:06:33 GMT
The time has come... after much postponement, I am now fully prepared to dive into the Gallifrey Time War range! I love this range so much, I don't really want to see it end... but I'm getting ahead of myself, I think. My thoughts. As usual, my very, very disorganized thoughts: Excellent post as always very detailed. Made me remember he stories vividly considering its been two years since i heard them. Although, about the symbols part...err what?
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Post by sherlock on Jan 20, 2021 13:21:55 GMT
The time has come... after much postponement, I am now fully prepared to dive into the Gallifrey Time War range! I love this range so much, I don't really want to see it end... but I'm getting ahead of myself, I think. My thoughts. As usual, my very, very disorganized thoughts: Just to answer some of your points- Annoyingly there is still no story which reveals how Ace got to Gallifrey or why Seven took her there. Ace speculates it was for the Time War, she’s probably wrong. The Daleks have considered themselves at war with the Time Lords since forever really. All that’s changed for them is the Time Lords are now fighting back, so now the Daleks are focusing all their attention on them. Hence beginning missions like to the Obscura. I don’t think there is a singular Dalek invasion force. The Daleks are just sniffing around for ways to potentially invade Gallifrey by the backdoor, as at this point they’re not able to fully assault the planet’s defences. First they try the Rift at the Obscura, not realising Brax intended that as a trap, and then Project Revenant’s little dimension. Point of Brax’s warning being if they manage to find that backdoor, they’ll flood in and invade Gallifrey. We haven’t seen the Daleks’ attacks on any of the Temporal Powers. They’ve all happened offscreen between Gallifrey 8 ( Enemy Lines) and this set. The Master’s resurrection initially resulted in the MacQueen incarnation, who definitely was pre-Time War so it’s possible it’s his escapades that Romana knows about, as there’s nothing to suggest she’s encountered Jacobi before. Narvin on the other hand has had dealings with the Jacobi Master, hence him trying to warn her about how the War has changed the Master. I saw Romana’s dealings with the Emperor as effectively her final stab at diplomacy. It’s likely doomed to fail, and she probably knows that, but she’s got to try. After all her entire political career on Gallifrey was kinda about promoting diplomacy. We haven’t explicitly seen Livia’s first term, but it’s possible she’s the offscreen President during Doom Coalition. I don’t know what you mean by white supremacist symbols on the Big Finish website? That reminds me, I need to finish the latest Benny set.
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Post by Kestrel on Jan 22, 2021 1:05:09 GMT
Brax specifically says, "invasion imminent," and they make it clear that the Dalek fleet attacking the outpost is the same fleet that wiped out the other temporal powers. Obviously we know that this invasion attempt won't succeed, since we know the war will yet continue for several more centuries (relative tonGallifrey) before the "fall of Arcadia," but it's still weird they don't really explain or even allude to what happened. If Gallifrey were truly so well-protected that the Daleks did not have a means to invade, I doubt Brax would have said the invasion was imminent. I think it's just one more case (of many) of Big Finish creating story hooks it has no immediate intention of following up on. Which is fine--it's just a tad distracting when it happens in the middle of a Boxset instead of at the end.
Re: Doom Coalition... I'm trying to remember, what happened to the President there? Did they stay on Gallifrey for all that chaos, or were they on Earth with Ollistra?
Anyway, regarding the white supremacist thing... this is going to sound deeply stupid, but I'm afraid that's just what American politics is like these days... but it's the "O.K." symbol. The one Big Finish uses for their recommendation button. It was co-opted by the fascists a few years ago because the fingers kinda-sorta resemble the letters "W" and "P" for "white power." This became sufficiently well-known that these days you've basically gotta assume that anyone using the gesture is deliberate signaling white supremacy. There's a lot of bullshit like that right now--little fascy dogwhistles that are designed to slip past peoples' radars and provide a veneer of deniability. Ever see anyone online with a green cartoon frog avatar, or Greco-Roman statue? That was a fascist.
Basically it's a whole big can of profoundly stupid nonsense that most of us would rather not pay attention to when we can avoid it, and Big Finish dipping their toes into MAGA culture is just... deeply unpleasant. And not something, I think, they're fully prepared to deal with.
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