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Post by omega on May 5, 2018 10:56:44 GMT
DOCTOR WHO - MAIN RANGE » 78. PIER PRESSURE Released January 2006SynopsisBrighton, Sussex; 1936 "Ere, listen listen, I've got one for you. There once was this bloke, you see. Good-looking sort of chap. Lovely, brightly coloured coat. No rubbish. Quality gear. Never bought a drink neither... or so they say. But his name wasn't Miller. Oh no, there'll never be another Cheeky Chappie, lady, there'll never be another. They broke the mould when they made me you know. No, this bloke called himself the Doctor. Doctor who you ask? And may well you. Don't know me self. No one ever knew. Funny that. He was a real strange one. Odd things happened when he arrived. Mind you, them were dark days. No one was laughing. And these were my people. My public. It was like playing first house at the Glasgow Empire. Just like the entire town was cursed it was. Cursed by something not of this world..." Written By: Robert Ross Directed By: Gary Russell CastColin Baker (The Doctor); Maggie Stables (Evelyn Smythe); Roy Hudd (Max Miller); Doug Bradley (Professor Talbot); Chris Simmons (Albert Potter); Sally Ann Curran (Emily Bung); Martin Parsons (Billy)
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Post by omega on May 5, 2018 11:00:30 GMT
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
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Post by lidar2 on May 5, 2018 14:03:26 GMT
Roy Hudd was the highlight for me.
A shame this came out before the days of extras as I think Roy Hudd would have been well worth listening to, both in general and on the subject of Max Millar
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2018 16:35:26 GMT
I gave this a 2 in the poll as Pier Pressure is definitely a poor story, and easily one of the worst Sixie/Evelyn stories for me.
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Post by eric009 on May 5, 2018 21:54:49 GMT
I gave this a 2 in the poll as Pier Pressure is definitely a poor story, and easily one of the worst Sixie/Evelyn stories for me. same here Written By Robert Ross his next 1 is 108. Assassin in the Limelight should be called Assassin in the storytelling |
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Post by slithe on May 6, 2018 9:21:30 GMT
Sadly, this is one of the very few Sixth Doctor audios that is well, to put it mildly, not very good.
Whilst there is nothing wrong with Colin Baker and Maggie Stables in this, the plot itself is very dull and unmemorable. Whilst Roy Hudd does a good guest star turn, there just isn't enough reason for Max Miller to be involved with the plot to make the story relevant to him. It could have been *any* entertainer who was in Brighton at the time rather than Miller specifically. I would have thought the plot could have been developed more closely to fit something with Miller's timeline (Hudd being an expert might have been able to help here).
I also found the timing of the adventure rather misplaced. If the monster feeds on sadness and conflict, I would either have moved the narrative forward a few years (to say the outbreak of World War II) or moved it back to deal with the sadness and horror of the Great War. Certainly, the same monster is far closer to the end of the American Civil War in Assassin in the Limelight.
I am trying to be positive about this one, but can't see much that would warrant a re-listen.
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Post by fingersmash on May 6, 2018 14:33:57 GMT
I just want to know why BF thought to bring back Robert Ross not only after his terrible turn in Medicinal Purposes, but with this piece of garbage. He should have been blacklisted from ever writing for the company again. Did he have a three story contract or something? It truly puzzles me to no end why he got two, let alone three stories. A lot of people find Nekromanteia and The Dark Husband to be the worst of the worst Big Finish Main Ranges, but the Robert Ross trilogy of dreck is devoid of life, good storytelling, good villains, and even a hint of fun that it makes those two infamous stories look like The Chimes of Midnight for me. The only reason I didn't give it a 1 is Colin and Maggie elevate it just enough that it is listenable.
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Post by dalektimecontroller on May 7, 2018 8:47:24 GMT
I just want to know why BF thought to bring back Robert Ross not only after his terrible turn in Medicinal Purposes, but with this piece of garbage. He should have been blacklisted from ever writing for the company again. Did he have a three story contract or something? It truly puzzles me to no end why he got two, let alone three stories. A lot of people find Nekromanteia and The Dark Husband to be the worst of the worst Big Finish Main Ranges, but the Robert Ross trilogy of dreck is devoid of life, good storytelling, good villains, and even a hint of fun that it makes those two infamous stories look like The Chimes of Midnight for me. The only reason I didn't give it a 1 is Colin and Maggie elevate it just enough that it is listenable. I actually rather enjoyed Medicinal Purposes. Pier Pressure and Assassin in the Limelight are definitely nothing special, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that they could have been predictable flops like The Dark Husband. They're fairly inoffensive as stories go - I can't remember thinking either were particularly brilliant, but they don't stick in my mind as stinkers either. |
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Post by Ela on May 7, 2018 16:41:57 GMT
I remember this story and I remembering listening to it with interest. Hence, I always wonder why so many thing it's terrible. It's not a favorite, but I also don't remember thinking, "wow this is a terrible story" as I was listening to it and even after I'd finished listening to it. Even reading the comments so far, I'm not getting a clear picture of what it is exactly that people dislike about this story.
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Post by nucleusofswarm on May 7, 2018 20:04:04 GMT
First half was actually fairly decent. Nice setup, good banter between Six and Evelyn and some nuggets of British comedy history (which makes sense, since that's Ross' specialty). However, after two duff cliffhangars, everything crashes in Part 3. Pacing is awful, the stakes distinegrate so you're just wading through tedious exposition with no sense of tension, and it amounts to a stale, half-baked Holmes clone with slivers of English Way of Death.
No idea how a seasoned script editor said yes to this. Either they ran out of time to fix it, or Ross pulled a Bidmead and completely ignored any notes.
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Post by mrperson on May 8, 2018 17:05:34 GMT
This one was a dud for me. I'd forgotten about that.
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Post by number13 on May 17, 2018 9:04:52 GMT
Judging by most of the comments up-thread I may have to dodge some over-ripe fruit while 'performing' this review but... a funny thing happened to me on the way to the end of 'Pier Pressure' - I rather enjoyed it!  Viewed as serious 'Doctor Who' science fiction, it's less impressive, but seen as a humorous horror-historical, it's seaside fun in 1930s Brighton which makes no secret of its true intentions. The banter between the Doctor, Evelyn and Roy Hudd's brilliant 'star turn' as renowned comic Max Miller (a famous son of Brighton) is excellent and so well played by all three. And the rest of the small guest cast also impress. Yes, there are aliens and yes they do want to take over the world (eventually, no real hurry!) but this is clearly a comedy with alien-horror interruptions and more than a touch of the 'Carry Ons' about it. If you doubt that, well - 'Albert Potter' and 'Emily Bung' share their names with characters from that highlight of horror hilarity, the wonderful 'Carry On Screaming' (" Frying tonight!"  ) and so Prof. Talbot in this story presumably wears his name as an homage to Talbot Rothwell, writer of 'Carry On Screaming' (and the other classic 'Carry Ons'). And any cliff-hanger in which two characters chant 'Kill the Doctor!' is surely asking not to be taken entirely without a chuckle. To keep at least slightly on the more conventional 'Doctor Who' track, I thought the second half could have done with another 'possession' or two or other active menaces to keep the pace up and I did wonder about the talk (unusual for 'Doctor Who') of human spirits surviving after death (and I'm sure the word 'soul' was used at least once.) But if we want to imagine 'a neuro-cortical memory accidentally kept active by the alien presence' (or similar Doctorish techno-babble!  ) we can, and it's the end result which counts. Human will/spirit is too strong to simply be overwritten; something survives and the influence of that something is just enough to make the difference in slowing down the aliens while the Doctor comes up with his solution.
It's one he's used before (in 'The Masque of Mandragora'): earth the alien power with a coil of wire and it works again here with a twist or two. The power is earthed into the structure of the pier by heroic Albert and the Doctor doesn't seem too concerned that when the decaying pier crumbles away in a few more decades, the alien energy will be released once again... Because in this case, the Doctor does know the future...
And that's the final twist, which is not spelled out by the plot presumably because most British listeners would also know the future - or in 2006 when 'Pier Pressure' was released, the very recent past. Brighton had two piers in the 20thC until much of the West Pier (which this is) was destroyed by fire in 2003. According to Wikipedia "The cause of the fire remains unknown". But in the 'Doctor Who' universe, I think we can guess that evil alien energy was also destroyed, while trying to escape its long captivity...
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Post by mark687 on May 30, 2018 10:00:02 GMT
Roy Hudd as Max saves this from being a dud, as he knew the man IRL he's believable.
Also I think all "The Bill" actors are underrated so having Chris Simmons in it was good.
However the threat was dull and pedestrian and one we didn't need to hear from again did we? 
Regards
mark687 |
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Post by Tim Bradley on May 31, 2018 6:52:37 GMT
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2018 7:57:57 GMT
I just want to know why BF thought to bring back Robert Ross not only after his terrible turn in Medicinal Purposes, but with this piece of garbage. He should have been blacklisted from ever writing for the company again. Did he have a three story contract or something? It truly puzzles me to no end why he got two, let alone three stories. A lot of people find Nekromanteia and The Dark Husband to be the worst of the worst Big Finish Main Ranges, but the Robert Ross trilogy of dreck is devoid of life, good storytelling, good villains, and even a hint of fun that it makes those two infamous stories look like The Chimes of Midnight for me. The only reason I didn't give it a 1 is Colin and Maggie elevate it just enough that it is listenable. I actually rather enjoyed Medicinal Purposes. Pier Pressure and Assassin in the Limelight are definitely nothing special, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that they could have been predictable flops like The Dark Husband. They're fairly inoffensive as stories go - I can't remember thinking either were particularly brilliant, but they don't stick in my mind as stinkers either. Got to agree with you i enjoyed all three.Dark Husband am going to listen to again one day...and it is one of the reasons i dont read reviews anymore as i had preconceived ideas going into the story gleaned from others,Dreamtime is another one. |
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Post by eric009 on Aug 20, 2018 23:35:06 GMT
I actually rather enjoyed Medicinal Purposes. Pier Pressure and Assassin in the Limelight are definitely nothing special, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that they could have been predictable flops like The Dark Husband. They're fairly inoffensive as stories go - I can't remember thinking either were particularly brilliant, but they don't stick in my mind as stinkers either. Got to agree with you i enjoyed all three.Dark Husband am going to listen to again one day...and it is one of the reasons i dont read reviews anymore as i had preconceived ideas going into the story gleaned from others,Dreamtime is another one. As rule, I try my best not find out anything about a story before I see or listen to it film, tv or cd` |
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ljwilson
Chancellery Guard
It's tangerine....not orange
Likes: 5,062
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Post by ljwilson on Mar 16, 2020 13:36:54 GMT
Roy Hudd has sadly passed away, may have another listed to Pier Pressure tonight.
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Post by mark687 on Mar 16, 2020 13:55:34 GMT
Roy Hudd has sadly passed away, may have another listed to Pier Pressure tonight. Same Regards mark687 |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2020 18:48:02 GMT
I always remembered Roy Hudd from this Public Information Film (PIF) that was on regular rotation when I was younger. From 1968 but a familiar sight in the early to mid seventies:
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Post by Tim Bradley on Mar 17, 2020 7:28:07 GMT
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) and so Prof. Talbot in this story presumably wears his name as an homage to Talbot Rothwell, writer of 'Carry On Screaming' (and the other classic 'Carry Ons'). And any cliff-hanger in which two characters chant 'Kill the Doctor!' is surely asking not to be taken entirely without a chuckle. 
) we can, and it's the end result which counts. Human will/spirit is too strong to simply be overwritten; something survives and the influence of that something is just enough to make the difference in slowing down the aliens while the Doctor comes up with his solution.
