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Post by number13 on Sept 13, 2017 14:25:19 GMT
Story poll added.
The Silurian Candidate wants your vote!
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Post by TinDogPodcast on Sept 14, 2017 7:36:59 GMT
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2017 7:57:48 GMT
I like the music. Very techno thriller. Lots of continuity in the story. Well, that's me sold. Love me a a good techno-thriller.
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Post by elkawho on Sept 14, 2017 12:32:16 GMT
Inescapable what with the setting, but something about the political angle seemed very relevant with real world politics. Faldo seemed to me like a thinly veiled version of a certain well-known political figure with dubious credentials, and I'll leave it at that. This was a 5/5 for me after the first 2 parts. And it stayed close to that throughout. What dropped it down to a 4/5 for me was {Spoiler} the Trump-ish leader ends up being the brain-washed idiot who wants to destroy the world. Come on already. As this point, that's so cliche and the easy way to write the story. It would have been much better if one of the others was the Silurian mole. I'm just tired of the cliche already. But I will keep an eye out (or an ear out) for more from Matthew J. Elliott. I really enjoyed this story.
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Post by TinDogPodcast on Sept 14, 2017 16:42:16 GMT
The odd thing... for me was Nic Brigg French accent...
I don't know why but it didn't work for me... a bit too Alo Alo
Good moaning...
Ah it was just me.
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Post by The Matt on Sept 14, 2017 18:32:47 GMT
Really like the classic Silurians. Looking forward to getting to listen to this one. Glad it is getting good reviews.
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Post by number13 on Sept 15, 2017 0:18:00 GMT
I came to The Silurian Candidate with high expectations, having greatly enjoyed the author's 'Zaltys', but was disappointed. I liked the general storyline idea (but not all the detailed content) including the clear reference to 'The Manchurian Candidate'; however while the idea was very good, the identity of the 'candidate' was painfully obvious satire. And I did like the Doctor's elegant solution which would eventually allow the two sentient species to inherit the Earth on an equal footing, a clever idea and great use of continuity.
The Silurians' half of the story was serious and I really wished its tone could have been carried over to the other, human side of the storyline. But 'our' side of the story is partly populated by comedy guest characters - robotic and human and some very exaggerated - and I felt that the two halves of the story grated together and for me didn't really gel. The Silurians are such a serious and clever creation by Malcolm Hulke, exploring an alternative 'us' and 'them' (viewed either way) that I think they belong in wholly serious stories. I much preferred the story they were given in 'UNIT:Assembled': new series Silurians but a gripping epic which fitted very well with the classic-era stories.
I felt that faster pacing would have helped, even to the loss of a full episode if one or two incidents were trimmed - Mel and a killer robot, for example, an incident I wasn't convinced by. The dialogue and backchat which had sounded so witty in 'Zaltys' earlier this year here felt rather forced - and I do think the pacing was partly to do with this because it seemed sharper when I just read the script. One moment which I have to admit I thought was most unconvincing was the end of episode 2, where Mel very 'conveniently' stumbles on the exact moment in the Silurian scientist's lab diary where he helpfully repeats their entire grand plan in detail as part of his notes...
Bonnie Langford played Mel very well as the moral conscience of the story, but that was at the expense of the Doctor who sometimes seemed to have lost his. I liked Fiona Sheehan as Professor Ruth Drexler (and her plan), Nick Briggs' Silurians, the excellent sound design (Luke Pietnik) and music (Howard Carter) and the superb cover art by Anthony Lamb.
What really threw me was that at a certain point I suddenly felt lost in the company of this TARDIS crew: a man is attacked by a dinosaur and fatally wounded. The Doctor ignores him and walks off after expressing concern - but only about the welfare of the dinosaur. Then Ace follows, leaving Mel to cope with a dying man and only a robot for company. What had happened to the three friends who made such a great team in 'The High Price of Parking'? They seemed like different (earlier?) versions of the characters compared with the rest of the trilogy.
So overall, I gave it 3*.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2017 16:06:04 GMT
This is probably my favourite story from the trilogy. There are some fun performances and some well-drawn characters. There's even a scene at the beginning where Ace and Mel spend some time talking about their relationship with the Doctor, which is the kind of thing I'd hoped there would have been more of when it was first announced that Mel, Ace and the Doctor would be getting back together again. I would say Bonnie steals the show here - she's given a fair bit to do and gives a brilliant performance, but Sophie and Sylvester still retain their very appealing avuncular relationship. With the best will in the world: the line given to (one of ) Nick Briggs' character(s) - "I do all the work and yet stay in the shadows." In the shadows? Is it irony?
I think perhaps there are a few too many continuity references here. A few mentions of past incidents can be very pleasing, but echoes/copies of lines from other stories amongst so many other nods to the past become rather too much for me. The sound design and especially Howard Carter's music are great here - very different from much of his other stuff. I also found the ending very heart-warming.
I'd love more from this team-up, and stories that play to strengths of the characters, as this has done.
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Post by number13 on Sept 18, 2017 18:01:43 GMT
Availability update by mark687 on the 'Today's Arrivals' thread: For anyone wondering DW MR 229 The Silurian Candidate CDs got to the BF Warehouse today and should be dispatched on Wednesday according to the BF Sales Team. Regards mark687 I found the following message with the 'Time in Office' CD which arrived today: "The Silurian Candidate - awaiting repress to follow". Good to know it will be with us soon and the free download for CD buyers is much appreciated, as always!
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Post by mark687 on Sept 18, 2017 18:17:33 GMT
The odd thing... for me was Nic Brigg French accent... I don't know why but it didn't work for me... a bit too Alo Alo Good moaning... Ah it was just me. No not just you
Regards
mark687
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vdcni
New Member
Likes: 14
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Post by vdcni on Sept 19, 2017 7:59:56 GMT
This wasn't for me.
The script was awful - just terribly clunky and melodramatic with some truly bad dialogue.
The beginning of episode 2 with the dullest dinosaur attack in history and then everyone except Mel buggering off without showing a dying man the slightest bit of compassion rang totally false.
Not that the first two episodes actually mattered, they were just a drawn out way of getting us to the recording that started the next two episodes. At which point they ran into the worst Australian accent in the history of drama and the whole thing really fell apart.
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Post by andrewwooding on Sept 19, 2017 8:46:12 GMT
I always go into these releases wanting to enjoy them, not to pick them apart.
I really enjoyed the five previous 7th/Ace/Mel releases, including Maker of Demons by the same author as this. In fact, I have liked everything this author has previously written.
But this time round the dialogue felt forced. It felt like sitcom dialogue, not natural at all. I am sorry to say that this made much of the release sound like one of those fan-written productions.
No problem with the Australian and French accents, honest. The sound design was great. And it was a good idea for a plot. But the way the dialogue was written made it hard to listen to.
So sorry. I wish everyone involved in this production the best, honest!
Andrew
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Post by omega on Sept 19, 2017 9:43:49 GMT
This wasn't for me. The script was awful - just terribly clunky and melodramatic with some truly bad dialogue. The beginning of episode 2 with the dullest dinosaur attack in history and then everyone except Mel buggering off without showing a dying man the slightest bit of compassion rang totally false. Not that the first two episodes actually mattered, they were just a drawn out way of getting us to the recording that started the next two episodes. At which point they ran into the worst Australian accent in the history of drama and the whole thing really fell apart. And behind that accent was the most obvious and pointless Trump-derived character ever. I know he was being mind controlled, but Falco was just thick. That cliffhanger at the end of the third episode could have gone loads better, if Falco had just shut up about his hairpiece. Really, Falco was the obvious candidate for the Candidate. If you're going to plant a red herring, you don't describe them exactly as you want people to think the real mccoy (pun unintended) to be. The moment Shen was described as cold blooded I knew she was a red herring. I did think it was Jodelay, as he mentioned he was the real leader and there is the evil adviser trope after all.
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Post by number13 on Sept 19, 2017 10:54:46 GMT
This wasn't for me. The script was awful - just terribly clunky and melodramatic with some truly bad dialogue. The beginning of episode 2 with the dullest dinosaur attack in history and then everyone except Mel buggering off without showing a dying man the slightest bit of compassion rang totally false. Not that the first two episodes actually mattered, they were just a drawn out way of getting us to the recording that started the next two episodes. At which point they ran into the worst Australian accent in the history of drama and the whole thing really fell apart. And behind that accent was the most obvious and pointless Trump-derived character ever. I know he was being mind controlled, but Falco was just thick. That cliffhanger at the end of the third episode could have gone loads better, if Falco had just shut up about his hairpiece. Really, Falco was the obvious candidate for the Candidate. If you're going to plant a red herring, you don't describe them exactly as you want people to think the real mccoy (pun unintended) to be. The moment Shen was described as cold blooded I knew she was a red herring. I did think it was Jodelay, as he mentioned he was the real leader and there is the evil adviser trope after all. This! I thought I must have been brainwashed by an evil force to feel so negative about this release when everyone else apparently loved it... but no, I am not alone...
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2017 11:01:47 GMT
I quite liked it!
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Post by number13 on Sept 19, 2017 11:36:37 GMT
Fair enough, it's a free Divergent Universe! (And most people seem to have liked it; the online reviews are positively rapturous.) Last month I thought 'The Blood Furnace' was a very good story when most people didn't seem to like it much; I seem to be specialising in minority opinions on Seventh Doctor stories! At least I agreed with popular opinion about what great fun 'The High Price of Parking' was.
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Post by mark687 on Sept 19, 2017 11:55:32 GMT
Fair enough, it's a free Divergent Universe! (And most people seem to have liked it; the online reviews are positively rapturous.) Last month I thought 'The Blood Furnace' was a very good story when most people didn't seem to like it much; I seem to be specialising in minority opinions on Seventh Doctor stories! At least I agreed with popular opinion about what great fun 'The High Price of Parking' was. I also think Maker of Demons and The Silurian Candidate are the weakest of the runs but that's only because the preceding are more inventive, however, they are both solid good traditional examples of the period.
Regards
mark687
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Post by barnabaslives on Sept 19, 2017 12:06:25 GMT
I thought I must have been brainwashed by an evil force to feel so negative about this release when everyone else apparently loved it... but no, I am not alone... I could see how there could be things you don't like about the story. To be honest, I could name three things about the story I could have done without (including anything that might be becoming a trope concerning Silurians) and anything about Falco probably does count as at least another - but the story also held a number strong points for me that seem to have more than made up for my complaints. I found the audio very enjoyable and engaging in spite of all that, and I'm actually that much more impressed with it on that account.
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Post by eric009 on Sept 19, 2017 22:09:00 GMT
I like it and they never said Myrka
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Post by jasonward on Sept 27, 2017 16:16:39 GMT
Enjoyed this story, it wasn't the best, but it was nice enough. The comedic, perhaps farcical elements were just a little too heavy for what is otherwise a serious story, the references to Trump were fairly shallow which worked for me, but it wasn't the point of the story, nor did it over power the stories narrative.
6 out of 10
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