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Post by number13 on Feb 18, 2019 9:46:04 GMT
Power Game
Back in the early 80s, 'adventure games' were all the rage - on TV and on (what we thought of as) computers - up to date ones with colour graphics (graphics using 4 colours at once!) and 32K of RAM. 32,000 whole bytes. A PC keyboard has more than that now! But the games were fun and so were the TV shows and that of course includes 'The Five Doctors', a perfect example of the 'adventure game' genre turned into drama (and one of my all-time favourites) which was perfectly of its time.
And for me, Eddie Robson's story is also perfectly of its time and I loved it for that. If you don't remember the (other) time when the Doctor was young and blond, this might come across as 'just' a good, entertaining 'Doctor Who' adventure, but for someone like me who was around in those ancient days then this is a beautifully depicted slice of pure nostalgia plus alien skulduggery. I had friends just like Una and Richard and Stuart - in fact I might have been one of those guys with their prize possession - a state-of-the-art VCR - which is ancient English for Video Cassette Recorder. Respect, guys, I know how much you had to save to buy that box! (Because I did the same, just in time that I could record 'The Five Doctors' in November 1983.) They cost hundreds in 1983/4 terms, maybe £1500 today's equivalent, so these are some serious tech-heads and just the right sort of people to pick up on alien weirdness infiltrating the wealth (four) of channels on British TV.
I liked the vibe of 'The Adventure Game' meets 'Knightmare' of the alien 'game' very much. The latter (ITV) was more gothic and 'dungeons and dragons'-y and I think aimed at younger viewers, the former (BBC) was the show I watched, high-tech styled and set on Arg with alien 'Argonds' (dragons) pretending to be humans to welcome their guests. Win, and you went home. Lose and... well, there's an awful lot of space out there if you're hitch-hiking... 'The Adventure Game' was the one contemporary with the Fifth Doctor in the early 80s and like his TARDIS, sometimes used in-game graphics done on a BBC Micro (presumably a Model B. You were not taken seriously if you only had a Model A. ) So I loved the idea that the Hostess showed a real and dangerous world as BBC Micro graphics to make her 'players' feel at home.
This alien adventure played out in the usual 'Doctor Who' style but I didn't mind that at all, with a double-dose of nostalgia on offer it was very enjoyable. This could have been a 'lost' Fifth Doctor story of the era imo and it depicts the real-world era as sharply as cyan and purple line graphics on a black background. (Historical reference.)
My only criticism is that for the third story running, Kamelion becomes the unwilling agent of trouble and has to be rescued / defeated. I suppose this is almost inevitable, doing the will of others is what Kamelion was created for. But I would have hoped for one story where the Doctor or his companions provide the will (with Kamelion's active participation) to turn it into an agent of good - a silver hero to go perhaps where no organic life-form could do. Maybe in the final story of the set we'll get the good Kamelion? And I seem to remember Uncle Aspidistra! Gronda! Gronda!
Who also sometimes manifested himself as a steaming kettle if I'm remembering right?!
EDIT: wikipedia says a teapot, but I was close.
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Post by DavidHogan on Feb 18, 2019 11:22:49 GMT
Two very good stories (with two completely different tones!), I only hope the constant use of the same plotline for Kamelion is going somewhere...
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Post by slithe on Feb 20, 2019 11:08:17 GMT
Power Game
Out of the two story set, I thought that this might have been the weaker story. Actually, I think it is probably the strongest of the two and a, welcome, return to form for the Fifth Doctor. Whilst Black Thursday was fine, it ended up being quite generic at the end and not particularly credible. Devil in the Mist was also very hit and miss, which was a rare lapse for a Fifth Doctor range that has excelled since February 2015. As a two-parter it is nearly there with Dalek Soul, which was the last two-parter that I thought was excellent.
The story itself is deceptively simple. Alien menace is kidnapping humans to play a series of games to capture 'power gems' - the broadcasts are made to unsuspecting viewers to familiarise themselves with the content, which makes them more vulnerable to being chosen as the next 'contestants' (or victims). Unsurprisingly, one of the Doctor's companions is taken and he ends up having to sort out the mess. Just enough for two episodes and the pacing is tight enough to convey a sense of emergency, whilst allowing the story to play out. Had this been a four parter (or even three part) then this would have struggled a bit and needed some unnecessary sub-plots or padding. I agree with the earlier comment that this 'felt' like a 'lost-Davison' story and I think that is a great assessment - I remember feeling that this was a bit like a 'Target novelisation' of a TV story in the style of Uncle Terrance.
I also think this works because it 'fits' the Fifth Doctor era so well. Set in 1984 it does evoke the period very, very well. I can also remember the exorbitant costs of VCRs (I still have to explain to younger family members/students what these actually were) and I also warmly remember the old 'gaming computers' - the cassette tapes, the awful noise of loading the system up and the garish cyan/purple/green that were used for the graphics. References to war films on BBC2, not being able to 'get Channel 4' and having to 'wait' for a particular time slot (no Sky Plus or on-demand!!) are nice touches. Similarly, mentioning Tron and BBC Micros also are great pluses for nostalgia. The Crystal Maze type-vibe is also handled well - ironically for an audio story, the world is created well enough to allow the listener to really imagine what has happening. Cleverly, the games themselves are kept to a minimum - as I expect they'd end up being quite naff if fully played out (remember the 'floor of death' or 'maze of doom' from Death to the Daleks!). There were also some hints to the New Series which I liked - the group getting together to discuss the show need something else to discuss (the Doctor obviously), which hints at LINDA. The northern setting also fits with the new Chibnall approach.
The Doctor just seems 'so' at home here and is able to ingratiate himself into the action quite easily/effortlessly that it takes away a lot of the need for explaining/info-dumping. Getting Turlough to do the spade work is also quite neat, the Doctor is kept out of the action for the first half of Part 1 and, in a manner that is very akin to early-Hartnell, doesn't seem all that bothered about Tegan going missing. Whilst Kamelion gets taken over 'again!' I didn't find this such an issue as with the previous stories - there is more of a point to this one and keeping him disguised until the second episode is much more interesting. There possibly needed some more explanation of 'how' Kamelion ended up being taken over this time, but it wasn't essential and it didn't detract too much from the plot. The ending was a little bit weak and deus ex machina, but it was well resolved in the end.
The regulars come across well. Davison is far more authoritative here than is usually the case and at times the Doctor was more like his Sixth Incarnation that the laid back Fifth. He is also playing a man of action for a change. I love the comment that the Doctor makes about not bothering to come up with an alternative explanation and being quite blunt. Strickson is better as Turlough here and takes centre stage. Fielding is excellent as Tegan, as always, and is clearly having a blast. Whether she is playing this entirely straight is questionable - I do wonder if she is taking the p*** when she gets excited about finding 'Power Gems' - the confused Tegan at the start is well done too. Culshaw is rather irrelevant here, but the ending does segue into the end of the arc for Kamelion, which hopefully will be resolved satisfactorily in the next release.
A great story and one that kept me entertained for nearly an hour. Definitely a great slice of 1980s nostalgia with a decent BF twist.
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Post by omega on Mar 1, 2019 0:01:46 GMT
Extended extras and PDF script are now available to download for subscribers.
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Post by nottenst on Mar 1, 2019 15:35:07 GMT
Two very good stories (with two completely different tones!), I only hope the constant use of the same plotline for Kamelion is going somewhere... Yes, having each story feature a Kamelion out of control or being controlled by some other entity is getting a little old.
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Post by mrperson on Mar 7, 2019 17:51:44 GMT
Just started the first one. What a cheerful and uplifting beginning.
...
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Post by Ela on May 6, 2019 22:20:11 GMT
The stories were enjoyable enough, but I agree that the device of Kamelion going out of control for each of the stories he's in is getting a bit old.
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2019 15:39:26 GMT
Just listened to Black Thursday, and I found it incredibly dull, I'm sad to say. Just felt like a slice of hollow melodrama to me, well enough performed, but very paint by numbers, and it just didn't resonate on any level with me, personally. And I'm already sick of the 'Kamelion under the influence' trope, if I'm being honest. I quite enjoyed Devil in the Mist, but given that Kamelion was influenced by external forces at least twice, to do so yet again in the very next story already feels like overkill to me. After all, if you want audiences to connect with Kamelion and his struggles, then you have to let us experience him on a good day, too, when he is an asset, not a burden. Yet I suspect more of the same is yet to come.
Ultimately I guess it depends on the purpose that these stories are meant to serve. If this trilogy of releases were created simply as a justification for Kamelion's fate in Planet of Fire, then I suppose I get making the character such a colossal liability, but if so then to me that feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity. Indeed if instead they have/had any intention of reusing Kamelion in future stories then I feel that they really should have spread out his failures a lot more, and put more focus on developing his character instead. But have those failures, when they did happen, be more resonant with bigger stakes attached.
Only being halfway through the trilogy I have no idea which path they have actually chosen yet, but I feel like there is a lot of potential in Culshaw's take on Kamelion, so it would be a shame if this trilogy was ultimately just a continuity gap filler.
On to Power Game...
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2019 13:02:27 GMT
Quite enjoyed Power Game, as it turns out. Nothing overly remarkable about it, story wise, and yet I found it breezily enjoyable. Just one of those fun romps where everything seemed to click, and really well paced as a two episode yarn. The cast seemed to be quite enjoying themselves here, too, which gave it that extra little kick along, too. Just good fun.
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
Likes: 5,812
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Post by lidar2 on Jun 5, 2019 12:29:18 GMT
Black Thursday
This started so well and gripped me with the depictions of the miners' home and working lives and the sudden, tragic accident - one among so many in the industry around that time. (Several of my great-grandparents and many of their relatives were of mining families from the mid 19thC at least (some in Wales), and one of my great-grandfathers died in a mining accident around this period, so this story was of special interest.) And the Doctor and friends helping out, with Kamelion initially developing and learning by helping people in need was well done.
Unfortunately Kamelion became a menace again and enacted a melodrama about revenge with I thought the over-familiar characters of the callous toff and his good, caring daughter who for me belonged in a 'mill town' melodrama from about 1850. So when Kamelion started out to be the robotic 'angel of death' I simply didn't care much what happened to them. (I do wish Matson had been written as a more realistic, three dimensional character, it seemed such a waste.)
And then we discovered that Judith was (of course) the result of the evil toff having his wicked way among the "village maidens" like so many melodrama villains before him, but the stalwart yeoman hero settled the score with his sturdy fist; Virtue triumphant, Villainy repaid! (In the real 1902, Mr. Evans' "gallant" punch would of course have got him fired, arrested and probably jailed.)
So Eira, who had lost everyone she loved in the tragic, powerful opening section (and her income and soon her home too - their mining cottage probably went with the job), magically claims her (rich) long-lost daughter and finds a hero to 'protect her' in an ending which those Victorian melodrama audiences would surely have lapped up, but which I thought was far too neat and simplistic. Real life isn't so kind and in 1902, still less so.
Then suddenly, there was the unexpected and beautifully done little epilogue at the miners' memorial in 'the present day' of 1984. A moving end to a story which started so promisingly, but for me the melodramatic middle section and the 'happy ending' let it down despite the work of a great cast and the usual high quality sound design.
(I really wish the story had continued along the lines that shallacatop suggests, as a story of grief and Kamelion learning from a well-intentioned mistake of helping Eira by 'replacing' her son Gwyn. (Tegan and the Doctor both know what it is to grieve for family and friends and could have helped him understand in the end.) And for the 'action' side, there were still 60 men trapped underground - their realistic rescue could have made a gripping storyline to test Turlough's developing courage and willingness to help others (the Frontios spirit, as we're in that season.)) I thought I had enjoyed this until I read your review!
Seriously, I did enjoy it on its own terms for what it was when I listened to it, it was only when I read your review and shallacatop's that I realised how it could have been done differently and, arguably, better.
The reference to one person wanting to get the priest struck me as a little jarring - in Wales just prior to the 1904-5 Revival, would the people not more likely have been Methodists rather than Roman Catholics?
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Post by number13 on Jun 5, 2019 12:48:53 GMT
I thought I had enjoyed this until I read your review!
Seriously, I did enjoy it on its own terms for what it was when I listened to it, it was only when I read your review and shallacatop's that I realised how it could have been done differently and, arguably, better.
The reference to one person wanting to get the priest struck me as a little jarring - in Wales just prior to the 1904-5 Revival, would the people not more likely have been Methodists rather than Roman Catholics?
Sorry!
Yes, I also spotted the line about the priest but I thought I'd been critical enough already so I didn't mention it... Not very likely in the Chapel-going valleys was it? (And back then I can imagine some non-conformists would have found the idea of calling in a priest actually offensive!)
Possibly the script said 'Priest' because it's unambiguous, whereas 'Minister' would now make many people think of a politician and be confusing?
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
Likes: 5,812
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Post by lidar2 on Jun 5, 2019 14:15:37 GMT
I thought I had enjoyed this until I read your review!
Seriously, I did enjoy it on its own terms for what it was when I listened to it, it was only when I read your review and shallacatop's that I realised how it could have been done differently and, arguably, better.
The reference to one person wanting to get the priest struck me as a little jarring - in Wales just prior to the 1904-5 Revival, would the people not more likely have been Methodists rather than Roman Catholics?
Sorry!
Yes, I also spotted the line about the priest but I thought I'd been critical enough already so I didn't mention it... Not very likely in the Chapel-going valleys was it? (And back then I can imagine some non-conformists would have found the idea of calling in a priest actually offensive!)
Possibly the script said 'Priest' because it's unambiguous, whereas 'Minister' would now make many people think of a politician and be confusing?
I find that quite often in this secular day and age a lot of people simply are aren't aware of or interested in the denominational distinctions and simply assume that all Christian denominations have priests, so I would tend to put this slip up down to ignorance. In terms of historical accuracy, maybe the term "preacher" would have been the best one for BF to have used?
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
Likes: 5,812
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Post by lidar2 on Jun 6, 2019 7:37:02 GMT
Listened to Power Game yesterday. It did exactly what it said on the tin - or what Eddie Robson said in the extras - something a bit lighter to contrast with Black Thursday, that was very much of its era. I enjoyed it very much. I think there was enough there in terms of ideas to have made a 4-parter. There could have been more build-p of missing people at the start, with Tegan appearing on the game show as the episode 1 cliffhanger, then the whole section in the other universe could have been expanded as the problem seemed to be solved very quickly/easily in episode 2.
Powergems kept making me think of energems form Power Rangers (my children watch it, not me)
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
Likes: 5,812
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Post by lidar2 on Jun 6, 2019 7:47:53 GMT
The stories were enjoyable enough, but I agree that the device of Kamelion going out of control for each of the stories he's in is getting a bit old. Virtually everyone who has posted on this thread seems to be making the same point about Kamelion and I agree - it is becoming tiresome.
However, I suppose that if he was not taken over then his shape shifting abilities would end up becoming a deus ex machine plot device that could in theory resolve a lot of stories within the first 5 minutes - e.g. every time the doctor gets arrested/thwarted by an authority figure, Kamelion just has to morph into that authority figure's superior and order them to co-operate with the Doctor. So if Kamelion wasn't taken over the writers would then be continually coming up with reasons to explain why Kamelion doesn't just morph into the Cyberleader or the Dalek Supreme and help the Doctor sort everything out a lot quicker. (I guess this is the reason why Frobisher ended up stuck in the shape of a penguin.)
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Post by slithe on Jun 9, 2019 8:57:28 GMT
Listened to Power Game yesterday. It did exactly what it said on the tin - or what Eddie Robson said in the extras - something a bit lighter to contrast with Black Thursday, that was very much of its era. I enjoyed it very much. I think there was enough there in terms of ideas to have made a 4-parter. There could have been more build-p of missing people at the start, with Tegan appearing on the game show as the episode 1 cliffhanger, then the whole section in the other universe could have been expanded as the problem seemed to be solved very quickly/easily in episode 2. Powergems kept making me think of energems form Power Rangers (my children watch it, not me) Yep, agree with this. Thought that there could easily have been a 4 part story there and the back story of the other universe could be developed a bit. Power Game is very evocative of the 1980s, which is why I think it worked. It is another example of Pertwee's famous 'Tooting Bec Effect'. Still not sure where Janet Fielding/Peter Davison are playing this one entirely straight. There are a couple of times when Fielding seems to be taking the p*** and even Davison makes a couple of wry remarks. Probably reinforces the more lighthearted tone after Black Thursday. I thought, on reflection, Power Game was probably the better of the Kamelion releases. I liked what Black Thursday was trying to do, but not how it was resolved - ended up being quite unrealistic in the end for reasons that others have pointed out. Pity really, as The Peterloo Massacre was much better and captured the human side of the disaster in a more effective way.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2019 13:21:40 GMT
Black Thursday, I absolutely loved it. More so perhaps because I wasn't at all impressed with Devil In The Mist.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2021 13:13:25 GMT
Black Thursday- highly engaging gripping historical adventure ... the grief involved after the incident in the mines and the way people look for someone/something to blame after tragedy I think the Tardis crew are on fine dramatic form dealing with a more earthly tale.Could it have been done better ,could it have dealt with other matters and delved into further areas,yes it probably could but it dealt with the material it dealt with and either way it served as a reminder for me of all the people who have lost their lives down the centuries to give me the present life I now have and that reminder is a good thing.
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