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Post by Digi on May 26, 2022 23:26:16 GMT
Just finished my revisit of this one. It's....an interesting first episode. I enjoy how it dives right into its universe, how it feels like we're stepping into a longer story already being told. It feels a very naturalistic way of introducing us to characters and setting. I especially love the concept of Gryben as a 'trap' or 'processing centre' for unauthorized time travelers. I'm not sure exactly what it is about it that appeals to me, but I find it fascinating. I also quite enjoy how almost everyone owns their roles right away, from established Whoniverse folks like Lalla and Lou and John, to newcomers like Carlsen (and, of course, Miles Richardson returning as Brax). Also fun that they begin threading in the Imperiatrix concept/story right here in the very first story. It's also...a little rough around the edges in some spots. The way the Free Time terrorist likes to yell "Free Time!" feels so ludicrously over the top that it's hard for me to not laugh, the incidental sound effects in Romana's office are a bit much / feel a bit like 'look, sound design!', the idea of K9 as a criminal mastermind requires a bit more suspension of disbelief than usual, a handful of other niggles.... On the whole though, it's an enjoyable story and a solid start to a brilliant series. EDIT: I always forget this after listening so I'll ask now before I do so again -- what the heck do "oblique" and "stroke" mean in the context of the dialogue in this story? I feel like these are UK names for keyboard characters that are called other things here, and it'd be nice (after all this time) to finally find out what they are
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Post by Kestrel on May 27, 2022 2:22:54 GMT
Haven't had a chance to relisten yet, but it's at the top of my queue. I wonder how well it'll fare compared to my recollection? I got into Big Finish with the 8th Doctor stories, and Gallifrey marked my first foray beyond that. IIRC this happened after I'd listened to all of McGann's MR stories, but before I'd started Dark Eyes or started venturing into the other Doctors' MRs. I remember Weapon of Choice as sucking me in almost immediately. I think it was described to me as, " Doctor Who meets The West Wing," which is a bit silly, but a pretty fair descriptor, I think. Everything to do with the Time Lords and Gallifrey is absurdly messy, but this set did a great job establishing a believable setting and culture around the "temporal powers" and gave us an interesting SF dynamic quite unlike anything else in the genre. There's no real indication that any of the "Temporal Powers" have much in the way of territory or military might, they're just extremely influential/powerful because of their access to time travel. It's makes for... a subtler kind of international relations. Which in retrospect is something this range really wound up failing to properly explore. After this first set, as I recall, the focus shifted much more to Gallifrey's internal politics. Would've been interesting to more of Gallifrey interacting with the broader international community. A bit more, " Doctor Who meets Babylon 5." EDIT: I always forget this after listening so I'll ask now before I do so again -- what the heck do "oblique" and "stroke" mean in the context of the dialogue in this story? I feel like these are UK names for keyboard characters that are called other things here, and it'd be nice (after all this time) to finally find out what they are I think I've seen "stroke" used to refer to either em dashes (EG "--") or slashes (EG "/", "\").
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Post by Kestrel on Jun 30, 2022 4:03:31 GMT
Okay, so I'm finally all caught up now, so I hope y'all can forgive me for posting my thoughts on multiple stories all at once. Honestly I just haven't been feeling well enough to sit down at my desk so I could type all this up on my PC.
Anyway.
So, yeah, this is a really good pilot. I had a few misgivings going back to it, because while I remember the first series of Gallifrey very fondly, it was also one of the earlier ranges I started exploring. Now that I've listened to so much more, I (presumably) have much more refined tastes and standards, yeah? So I was a bit worried it wouldn't hold up. But nope, it's awesome. Lalla Ward and Louise Jameson absolutely kill it, and while Miles Richardson doesn't get a whole heckuva lot to do, he's fun here, and Sean Carlsen's Narvin makes an immediate and unforgettably smarmy impression as Narvin. The actual plot of Weapon of Choice isn't terribly interesting, but godddamn is the cast impressive. This story perfectly sells the idea that this is an interesting group of characters it'll be fun to see bounce off each other.
Though in retrospect, I think it's interesting just how much the range wound up diverging from the tone of this first series. I suppose you could say that Gallifrey found its identity, its own way, eventually, but I can't help but wonder what the range would be like if they'd embraced the style of this first series going forward... in terms of both the focus on external politics as well as the carefully-balanced humor. Speaking of which....
Quote of the story: "I beg you, as a fellow biped, take pity on poor Arcadian!"
To be fair, not all of the humor lands well. Arcadian Mephistopheles is an absolute caricature of a character, and is almost impossible to take seriously. Even without that ridiculous name actor Hugo Myatt is really hamming it up whereas everyone else (except for maybe K9) are playing much more grounded characters. He feels very out of place.
But then you also get gems like K9's brief stint as an intergalactic criminal. That was great stuff!
(And in the middle there are kinda-sorta-gags that almost work, but don't quite, like naming the terrorist group Free Time -- which feels very Douglass Adams-y but never quite seems to click in place.)
Another thing I couldn't help but notice in retrospect was that there's a fair bit of foreshadowing for things that won't really come up again until the second series. Arcadian refers to Romana as, "Imperiatrix," and Romana determines that Free Time was likely being incited by a fellow Time Lord.
It's also interesting to note that this came out in 2004, the year before Doctor Who's big TV revival, and it features the Time Lords creating some kind of catastrophically dangerous temporal weapon that all of the other temporal powers were too wise to even consider developing -- unintentionally foreshadowing the Gallifreyan ego and recklessness that would lead to the Time War and the unspeakable horrors unleashed therein.
....
Overall Weapon of Choice may only be a 4/5 story, but as a new series pilot? 5/5. Few, I think, introduce audiences to a world a set of characters even half so well. It definitely does a good job making the universe feel big and expansive (always difficult with so few characters and zero visuals to work with) and teeming with potential story threads to unravel.
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