Post by Kestrel on Oct 18, 2021 3:32:56 GMT
After my deep dive into Big Finish began in earnest back at the beginning of Quarantine, some six-thousand years ago, other than my Grand Quest to consume literally every single story with Paul McGann (which is very nearly concluded!) I mostly allowed community recommendations to guide my listening habits. The one exception being the various anthology releases--because who doesn't love a good short story?
Which brings us here, to Breaking Bubbles.
Honestly I really don't want to get into this one. At all. Not because it's bad or problematic or anything like that, just because it hits a little close to home and I'm just not super comfortable talking about certain things. But let's save that mess for the end.
So, with no more excessive preamble, here are my thoughts on the 188th Monthly Range release:
MR 188.1: Breaking Bubbles
In retrospect I'd expect a bit more from the titular story. I didn't even fully notice that it was the titular story until starting this write-up, because the title feels like such a nonsequitur. Did the term "breaking bubbles" have any relevance to the story? If so, not only do I not remember, I also forgot with remarkable alacrity.
Aside from that note, I have very little to say about this story. It was fine, but didn't really have a terribly strong hook--I think it relied a bit too heavily on familiar Doctor Who tropes. This story could even be framed as a loose reimagining of The Hand of Fear. And it sort of requires that the characters, likewise, be familiar with these tropes--we know the Empress is a villain because we've seen this before, but it doesn't really make sense for Peri to also know that she's a villain, long before her dialog makes that explicit. Peri's basically going off her speaking with a vaguely sinister cadence.
Unless, for example, there's meant to be some political commentary element to this story in the vein of any ruler who leads a nation into war is inherently evil, just as a matter,of,course (which, I mean, fair) -- but I didn't really get the feeling that's what this story was going for. Rather the vibe I got was that some crucial limes were probably cut or re-ordered and not sufficiently patched up.
Otherwise, though, this was a pretty solid story. I really appreciated it (as I always do) that the Empress was eventually persuaded, simply, to cease her "evil plan." We don't really see enough of the situation to get a proper handle on which faction (if either) is morally justified, but her readiness to stand down suggests that things might not be so black-and-white as the tropes suggest--and therefore the story ends on a pleasant, implicitly ambiguous note.
MR188.2: Of Chaos Time The
I may have been predisposed against this story due to the title reminding me too much of a very specific sort of juvenile pretentiousness (so random) I'd had my fill of in high school. But then the arbitrary arrangement of the nonlinear scenes also reminded me a bit too much of a very specific sort of undergrad-taking-their-first-creative-writing-class, mistaking confusing for clever. Which is not to say I think this is a "bad" story either--just not my, if you'll pardon the expression, cup of tea.
Even so I think I could've been persuaded otherwise had this story more meat to it--but as it is, perhaps owing more to the constraints of the format than anything else, there's really nothing to this story beyond the gimmick of it's structure. No interesting characters beats, no humor, no big ideas... just a fairly generic adventure story told out-of-order.
But, if nothing else, it certainly highlights just what a phenomenal and deeply dedicated actor Colin Baker is, that he can devote himself so fully even into short, fairly unremarkable stories. He could easily have phoned this one end and I doubt anyone would've minded, but instead he gave it his all.
And look, I just wouldn't be me if I didn't take every possible opportunity (and then some) to expound on how magnificent Colin Baker is.
MR 188.3: An Eye For Murder
Here we are: the most disappointing story of the set. Sometimes I look at these anthologies or Short Trips and can't help but scratch my head, wondering just what, exactly, Big Finish was thinking. An Eye For Murder is a fantastic story, with an absolutely delectable premise--so why isn't it a full four-episode release? Hell, the 6th Doctor and Peri investigating a girls' college on the cusp of the Second World War, dealing with Nazis, socialists, aliens and anachronistic gender politics? I mean, good grief. What kind of person looks at this premise and,thinks, "yeah, we only need 30 minutes of this." It is baffling.
Which all to say, in considerably more words, that hot damn, I loved this story! Each of the characters is very well-realized and distinct, the mystery is compelling and proceeds at a pleasantly snappy pace, and the dialog is very consistently on-point. It's funny, dramatic, and relevant. What's not to love? I don't know about the other three stories included in this anthology, but I'll definitely be listening to it again someday. Just a really fun story. It easily sells the set.
Addendum: just noticed this was written by Una McCormack. It always feels surreal to see her name attached to "new" Doctor Who stories. Obviously I can't count on anyone else on the planet sharing this sentiment, but for me McCormack is very much a relic from a very specific period of my life, around the age of 10, when I was deeply invested in Star Trek and reading every single expanded-universe book I could get my hands on. Most of those authors I've long since forgotten, but not Una McCormack.
MR 188.4: The Curious Incident of the Doctor in the Night-Time
Oof. Here we go. Time for me tohop up on my soapbox and start whining talking about neurodivergence again. At least it's not mutism again this time.
Up front, I don't think this is a bad story. In fact, I think it's pretty good, all things considered, and fairly enjoyable. But the thing is... it's an a story with a character on the spectrum, us they say, and for those of us with ASD experiencing stories like this can be very stressful. Why? Because we're generally treated prettyshittily poorly by neurotypical media--ever the butt of jokes, objects to pity or deride, often infantilized or dehumanized. Basically it's hard not to go into something like this without considerable anxiety. And in my personal experience, that anxiety can encourage a sharper critique of stumbles and mis-steps even when considering "good" representation.
So... that's mainly what I have to talk about here. Ignoring the ND aspects, I thought this was a great story and really appreciated the flipped perspective--seeing events unfold from the point-of-view of a local, rather than the TARDIS crew. Aside from the issues I'll get into shortly, I think Michael was a really fun protagonist, and it was nice seeing a story that actually (finally) acknowledged the fact that the character of the Doctor has long been coded as autistic. I think there was an opportunity here to really explore how the Doctor,might find it easier to relate to an ND child than the usual NT hu,ans he deals with, but alas such things are not possible within the limits of so short a tale.
Again I'd like to stress that I enjoyed this story, because no it's time to dig into the iffy bits.
First I must make it clear that, as perhaps one might expect, autism is a spectrum. There are a variety of different characteristics, which are not uniformly found across the community, and those characteristics can manifest very differently, to varying degrees of severity. To use myself as an example, as obliquely as I can manage, my experience with selective mutism was not a product of my ASD, but rather a product of psychological trauma inflicted upon me by NTs because of my ASD. So, for example, I cannot fully appreciate what it means to have nonspeaking autism. Likewise, I can relate our narrator here, Michael, only to my own experiences--and I fully acknowledge that this character may feel more genuine to the loved experiences of others.
And with that out of the way, and boldly confident that few people are likely to have read this far down, here are my issues with Michael, as succinctly as I can manage (today): in short, he feels very stereotypical, and while the story treats him with respect, not all of those stereotypes are necessarily positive.
Much of this stems from Michael's purported age--fourteen. He's generally treated as being remarkably naive/ignorant of NT social conventions. Which, yeah, I get it--but it's an infantilising concept. In reality it turns out that most of us do, in fact, learn. And then there's the scene where Michael mistakes television drama for reality which... ulgh. Just a pure baby child.
This idea that NDs are so alien that we're incapable of understanding how NTs operate. Like, there's one line in particular that I really justI need to stop swearing loathe: "Michael, you don't belong on this planet." It hits at the (sadly common) notion that people with ASD are fundamentally and intractable different. This is a very damaging stereotype rooted in the fact that people with ASD process and communicate emotions differently. So much, so I need to stop swearing much abuse occurs because our lack of conventional affectation is misinterpreted as an absence of emotion or feeling. And our failures to pick up on nonverbal communication likewise misinterpreted as apathy or, worse, hostility.
Its interesting that the script goes out of its way to eschew the archaic labeling of "special" to Michael when the story itself is bending over backwards to depict him as a Very Special Boy.
Again, I like the story, but the way it depicts the most high-profile ASD characteristics just feels... a bit Written-By-Wikipedia. A bit inauthentic. Writer Nev Fountain is clearly trying their best here, and I applaud the effort, but this story does not feel like one written by or with the consultation of anyone with ASD. Again, this inauthenticity is generated by my personal experiences, so I may well be mistaken--for all I know Fountain is also stuck in the ND seating. But just looking at the relevant wiki pages, it seems this story was heavily inspired by a novel, which maybe explains the feeling I'm getting--because it's one writers interpretation of another writer's interpretation of an autistic character.
Now that I've more or less said my piece (apologies if it's a bit much, I have difficulty seeing the "lines") and railed against this story's depiction of ASD (and if you think that was a long wall of text, be glad I didn't discuss the meltdown/breakdown scene)... I'd like close this rambling diatribe by briefly talking about my favorite aspect of said depiction: the secret rules.
If you're an NT, this may be difficult to understand, or even if you're just an ND with markedly different experiences, but for many of us, communication and miscommunication is one of the biggest components--and source of the greatest difficulties--of living in an NT world. I suspect most of us can sympathize with Michael's frustration app with "secret rules" -- laws that govern behavior, that no one ever explains before we break them, and get unreasonably mad at us when we ask for clarification or explanation before the fact. Growing up (and honestly, even sometimes today) I often suspected other people of being telepathic. I just couldn't understand how people were able to interact with each other no verbally, or by not being direct and clear with their speech. It was, frankly, terrified. And the idea that everyone else on Earth had access to this skill, and could therefore recognize--immediately--that I lacked it, and hate me for that lack. This is why, I suspect, so many NDS who find their diagnosis late in live tend experience that torments us daily, from childhood to the grave.
Addendum: there's actually a really cool old Japanese TV series, starring Odagiri Joe, constructed on a similar premise. In the world of Satorare, a small subset of people are born with the innate ability to broadcast their every thought telepathically to everyone within a certain range. And, for reasons, there is an elaborate international conspiracy to hide this fact from the telepaths. It's a very heartwarming comedy/drama and I highly recommend it, and there are English fansubs, so,it's relatively accessible. The whole,dynamic,is basically the inverse of the reality that child-me feared.
Hm... huh. You know, going into this thread I though, "I don't really have much to say here. This'll be a short one." Whatthe goddamned hell happened? I'm so sorry about this... unfortunately I am really not up to the task of pruning through all that mess to decide what's really worth saying and what's not. If I did, I'm confident I would delete all of the personal stuff, and I've been trying lately--I really have been--to be a bit more open about myself and my experiences. Best to just fire-and-forget, I think.
So... such are my blisteringly tedious thoughts on Breaking Bubbles and Other Stories. Overall I'd say it's one of the weaker anthology releases, but still pretty solid overall. While I may not recommend it to others, I certainly don't regret buying it. Have any of you listened to MR 188 recently, or remember it well enough to weigh in? I'm very curious to hear what y'all think of this release.
Which brings us here, to Breaking Bubbles.
Honestly I really don't want to get into this one. At all. Not because it's bad or problematic or anything like that, just because it hits a little close to home and I'm just not super comfortable talking about certain things. But let's save that mess for the end.
So, with no more excessive preamble, here are my thoughts on the 188th Monthly Range release:
MR 188.1: Breaking Bubbles
In retrospect I'd expect a bit more from the titular story. I didn't even fully notice that it was the titular story until starting this write-up, because the title feels like such a nonsequitur. Did the term "breaking bubbles" have any relevance to the story? If so, not only do I not remember, I also forgot with remarkable alacrity.
Aside from that note, I have very little to say about this story. It was fine, but didn't really have a terribly strong hook--I think it relied a bit too heavily on familiar Doctor Who tropes. This story could even be framed as a loose reimagining of The Hand of Fear. And it sort of requires that the characters, likewise, be familiar with these tropes--we know the Empress is a villain because we've seen this before, but it doesn't really make sense for Peri to also know that she's a villain, long before her dialog makes that explicit. Peri's basically going off her speaking with a vaguely sinister cadence.
Unless, for example, there's meant to be some political commentary element to this story in the vein of any ruler who leads a nation into war is inherently evil, just as a matter,of,course (which, I mean, fair) -- but I didn't really get the feeling that's what this story was going for. Rather the vibe I got was that some crucial limes were probably cut or re-ordered and not sufficiently patched up.
Otherwise, though, this was a pretty solid story. I really appreciated it (as I always do) that the Empress was eventually persuaded, simply, to cease her "evil plan." We don't really see enough of the situation to get a proper handle on which faction (if either) is morally justified, but her readiness to stand down suggests that things might not be so black-and-white as the tropes suggest--and therefore the story ends on a pleasant, implicitly ambiguous note.
MR188.2: Of Chaos Time The
I may have been predisposed against this story due to the title reminding me too much of a very specific sort of juvenile pretentiousness (so random) I'd had my fill of in high school. But then the arbitrary arrangement of the nonlinear scenes also reminded me a bit too much of a very specific sort of undergrad-taking-their-first-creative-writing-class, mistaking confusing for clever. Which is not to say I think this is a "bad" story either--just not my, if you'll pardon the expression, cup of tea.
Even so I think I could've been persuaded otherwise had this story more meat to it--but as it is, perhaps owing more to the constraints of the format than anything else, there's really nothing to this story beyond the gimmick of it's structure. No interesting characters beats, no humor, no big ideas... just a fairly generic adventure story told out-of-order.
But, if nothing else, it certainly highlights just what a phenomenal and deeply dedicated actor Colin Baker is, that he can devote himself so fully even into short, fairly unremarkable stories. He could easily have phoned this one end and I doubt anyone would've minded, but instead he gave it his all.
And look, I just wouldn't be me if I didn't take every possible opportunity (and then some) to expound on how magnificent Colin Baker is.
MR 188.3: An Eye For Murder
Here we are: the most disappointing story of the set. Sometimes I look at these anthologies or Short Trips and can't help but scratch my head, wondering just what, exactly, Big Finish was thinking. An Eye For Murder is a fantastic story, with an absolutely delectable premise--so why isn't it a full four-episode release? Hell, the 6th Doctor and Peri investigating a girls' college on the cusp of the Second World War, dealing with Nazis, socialists, aliens and anachronistic gender politics? I mean, good grief. What kind of person looks at this premise and,thinks, "yeah, we only need 30 minutes of this." It is baffling.
Which all to say, in considerably more words, that hot damn, I loved this story! Each of the characters is very well-realized and distinct, the mystery is compelling and proceeds at a pleasantly snappy pace, and the dialog is very consistently on-point. It's funny, dramatic, and relevant. What's not to love? I don't know about the other three stories included in this anthology, but I'll definitely be listening to it again someday. Just a really fun story. It easily sells the set.
Addendum: just noticed this was written by Una McCormack. It always feels surreal to see her name attached to "new" Doctor Who stories. Obviously I can't count on anyone else on the planet sharing this sentiment, but for me McCormack is very much a relic from a very specific period of my life, around the age of 10, when I was deeply invested in Star Trek and reading every single expanded-universe book I could get my hands on. Most of those authors I've long since forgotten, but not Una McCormack.
MR 188.4: The Curious Incident of the Doctor in the Night-Time
Oof. Here we go. Time for me to
Up front, I don't think this is a bad story. In fact, I think it's pretty good, all things considered, and fairly enjoyable. But the thing is... it's an a story with a character on the spectrum, us they say, and for those of us with ASD experiencing stories like this can be very stressful. Why? Because we're generally treated pretty
So... that's mainly what I have to talk about here. Ignoring the ND aspects, I thought this was a great story and really appreciated the flipped perspective--seeing events unfold from the point-of-view of a local, rather than the TARDIS crew. Aside from the issues I'll get into shortly, I think Michael was a really fun protagonist, and it was nice seeing a story that actually (finally) acknowledged the fact that the character of the Doctor has long been coded as autistic. I think there was an opportunity here to really explore how the Doctor,might find it easier to relate to an ND child than the usual NT hu,ans he deals with, but alas such things are not possible within the limits of so short a tale.
Again I'd like to stress that I enjoyed this story, because no it's time to dig into the iffy bits.
First I must make it clear that, as perhaps one might expect, autism is a spectrum. There are a variety of different characteristics, which are not uniformly found across the community, and those characteristics can manifest very differently, to varying degrees of severity. To use myself as an example, as obliquely as I can manage, my experience with selective mutism was not a product of my ASD, but rather a product of psychological trauma inflicted upon me by NTs because of my ASD. So, for example, I cannot fully appreciate what it means to have nonspeaking autism. Likewise, I can relate our narrator here, Michael, only to my own experiences--and I fully acknowledge that this character may feel more genuine to the loved experiences of others.
And with that out of the way, and boldly confident that few people are likely to have read this far down, here are my issues with Michael, as succinctly as I can manage (today): in short, he feels very stereotypical, and while the story treats him with respect, not all of those stereotypes are necessarily positive.
Much of this stems from Michael's purported age--fourteen. He's generally treated as being remarkably naive/ignorant of NT social conventions. Which, yeah, I get it--but it's an infantilising concept. In reality it turns out that most of us do, in fact, learn. And then there's the scene where Michael mistakes television drama for reality which... ulgh. Just a pure baby child.
This idea that NDs are so alien that we're incapable of understanding how NTs operate. Like, there's one line in particular that I really just
Its interesting that the script goes out of its way to eschew the archaic labeling of "special" to Michael when the story itself is bending over backwards to depict him as a Very Special Boy.
Again, I like the story, but the way it depicts the most high-profile ASD characteristics just feels... a bit Written-By-Wikipedia. A bit inauthentic. Writer Nev Fountain is clearly trying their best here, and I applaud the effort, but this story does not feel like one written by or with the consultation of anyone with ASD. Again, this inauthenticity is generated by my personal experiences, so I may well be mistaken--for all I know Fountain is also stuck in the ND seating. But just looking at the relevant wiki pages, it seems this story was heavily inspired by a novel, which maybe explains the feeling I'm getting--because it's one writers interpretation of another writer's interpretation of an autistic character.
Now that I've more or less said my piece (apologies if it's a bit much, I have difficulty seeing the "lines") and railed against this story's depiction of ASD (and if you think that was a long wall of text, be glad I didn't discuss the meltdown/breakdown scene)... I'd like close this rambling diatribe by briefly talking about my favorite aspect of said depiction: the secret rules.
If you're an NT, this may be difficult to understand, or even if you're just an ND with markedly different experiences, but for many of us, communication and miscommunication is one of the biggest components--and source of the greatest difficulties--of living in an NT world. I suspect most of us can sympathize with Michael's frustration app with "secret rules" -- laws that govern behavior, that no one ever explains before we break them, and get unreasonably mad at us when we ask for clarification or explanation before the fact. Growing up (and honestly, even sometimes today) I often suspected other people of being telepathic. I just couldn't understand how people were able to interact with each other no verbally, or by not being direct and clear with their speech. It was, frankly, terrified. And the idea that everyone else on Earth had access to this skill, and could therefore recognize--immediately--that I lacked it, and hate me for that lack. This is why, I suspect, so many NDS who find their diagnosis late in live tend experience that torments us daily, from childhood to the grave.
Addendum: there's actually a really cool old Japanese TV series, starring Odagiri Joe, constructed on a similar premise. In the world of Satorare, a small subset of people are born with the innate ability to broadcast their every thought telepathically to everyone within a certain range. And, for reasons, there is an elaborate international conspiracy to hide this fact from the telepaths. It's a very heartwarming comedy/drama and I highly recommend it, and there are English fansubs, so,it's relatively accessible. The whole,dynamic,is basically the inverse of the reality that child-me feared.
Hm... huh. You know, going into this thread I though, "I don't really have much to say here. This'll be a short one." What
So... such are my blisteringly tedious thoughts on Breaking Bubbles and Other Stories. Overall I'd say it's one of the weaker anthology releases, but still pretty solid overall. While I may not recommend it to others, I certainly don't regret buying it. Have any of you listened to MR 188 recently, or remember it well enough to weigh in? I'm very curious to hear what y'all think of this release.