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Post by nucleusofswarm on Feb 21, 2020 17:49:50 GMT
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Post by nucleusofswarm on Feb 22, 2020 1:12:13 GMT
Interesting that, though she was part of a lot of initial discussion here, not much has been said about Mary Shelley here. Now I don't think comparing to Cox would be fair - she had more time and is playing a different take on the character. I don't think it's a case of better/worse, just different. Cox was more of a confident, self-assured woman - she was wide-eyed and curious, but I think some fo the stature and myth did inform this approach. Lili Miller, by contrast, plays a younger, more vulnerable Mary, a woman at a crossroads in her life who's already been through alot. After all, in reality, Mary had miscarried a year before, and William wouldn't live much longer (now that line from the Cyberman/Ashad carries a double, darker meaning). In some ways, she's still a girl in a world of adults - she's bright, but she's still on a journey and learning how to deal with things.
Miller is good, especially when she has her scene with Ashad and she is trying her hardest to find the good in him, but I don't think she reaches Visjnic's height when it comes to historical guest performers this series. Just not as much to do.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2020 1:42:49 GMT
Interesting that, though she was part of a lot of initial discussion here, not much has been said about Mary Shelley here. Now I don't think comparing to Cox would be fair - she had more time and is playing a different take on the character. I don't think it's a case of better/worse, just different. Cox was more of a confident, self-assured woman - she was wide-eyed and curious, but I think some fo the stature and myth did inform this approach. Lili Miller, by contrast, plays a younger, more vulnerable Mary, a woman at a crossroads in her life who's already been through alot. After all, in reality, Mary had miscarried a year before, and William wouldn't live much longer (now that line from the Cyberman/Ashad carries a double, darker meaning). In some ways, she's still a girl in a world of adults - she's bright, but she's still on a journey and learning how to deal with things. Miller is good, especially when she has her scene with Ashad and she is trying her hardest to find the good in him, but I don't think she reaches Visjnic's height when it comes to historical guest performers this series. Just not as much to do. Yes, though I guess much of the speculation and chatter about Mary before hand on here comes from two factors: 1. The press did say "A Mary Shelley story..." going right back to the first rumours, making it seem as though she would be the focus of the ep, pre-broadcast And 2. BF fans are clearly going to focus on a character we've had an ongoing take on already in the McGann adventures. Detached from expectations and what-ifs, I think anyone watching would probably either consider it a guest ensemble or be more likely to consider Byron the main guest star over Mary. He probably has twice as many lines as Mary, more screentime, more time with The Doctor and even gets the eulogy for the ep with his recital of Darkness. He got the scene stealing part as well as the heavy lifting while the show itself being a sneaky opening to a finale 3 parter rather than the 2 we expected was always going to get a lot of the chatter too. So she was fine but as part of the team wheras Goran's Tesla had to be very much the leading man. Different gigs, really. As such it's not terribly surprising there was more chat about her before hand than afterwards.
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Post by number13 on Feb 22, 2020 1:50:47 GMT
Interesting that, though she was part of a lot of initial discussion here, not much has been said about Mary Shelley here. Now I don't think comparing to Cox would be fair - she had more time and is playing a different take on the character. I don't think it's a case of better/worse, just different. Cox was more of a confident, self-assured woman - she was wide-eyed and curious, but I think some fo the stature and myth did inform this approach. Lili Miller, by contrast, plays a younger, more vulnerable Mary, a woman at a crossroads in her life who's already been through alot. After all, in reality, Mary had miscarried a year before, and William wouldn't live much longer (now that line from the Cyberman/Ashad carries a double, darker meaning). In some ways, she's still a girl in a world of adults - she's bright, but she's still on a journey and learning how to deal with things. Miller is good, especially when she has her scene with Ashad and she is trying her hardest to find the good in him, but I don't think she reaches Visjnic's height when it comes to historical guest performers this series. Just not as much to do. Mary must have been a difficult role to write and play, one of those 'celebrity historical' characters who we all know is going to do something revolutionary but as yet she doesn't - apparently. Even when the Doctor can't resist giving her a nudge about 'why not invent ghost stories tonight', Mary simply ignores the comment and brightly suggests dancing another quadrille.
As I was starting this comment, that reaction struck me as very odd. The soon-to-be-author of 'Frankenstein' must have already had considerable experience of story-telling and private writing for her friends and family circle and surely must have toyed with ghost/horror/scientific fiction ideas in her private writing, but Mary doesn't respond at all to the Doctor's hint. (I'm not a Mary Shelley 'scholar' in any way, so I'm sure someone on here knows about her early writings - I'm extrapolating from, for example, Jane Austen.)
Mary's non-reaction is as strange as if the Doctor suggested to Jane Austen that maybe she might invent a story about the loves and marriages of a group of sisters - and the soon-to-be author of 'Pride and Prejudice' (who had tried out such ideas in private writing for her family over many years) didn't even blink. Perhaps, thinking about the personal tragedy that nucleus mentions, we might imagine that Mary had put any thought of writing aside for a long time, taking refuge in the typical life of the then upper-classes - socialising, dancing, games etc. - and was only inspired to begin creating again by her strange encounter? (Or in reality, by a new location, inspiring company and very bad weather.)
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Post by scriptortempore on Feb 22, 2020 23:33:28 GMT
Fun little casting trivia here. Apparently the guy who played Polidori also played Caesarion in HBO's excellent series Rome!
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Post by nucleusofswarm on Mar 19, 2020 1:09:08 GMT
28 days figure is 5.6m.
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