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Post by mark687 on Aug 11, 2022 15:16:50 GMT
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Post by grinch on Aug 11, 2022 18:36:16 GMT
Interesting. Certainly not giving a lot away with this story.
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Post by shallacatop on Aug 11, 2022 19:05:07 GMT
Yeah, a very sparse news article! The talk of the set being the equivalent of a concept album and a new monster are very intriguing. The War Doctor walking a dark path is what this range has been building up to, which could make for a blistering second series.
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Post by bonehead on Aug 11, 2022 19:07:18 GMT
I'm enthused about this range again after the slight dip following Boxset 2. 'Concept album', 'dark path', and what's this? A new foe? Consider this pre-ordered!
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Post by martinw8686 on Aug 11, 2022 19:33:11 GMT
One 3 hour story with a new foe, sounds great, I'm in too.
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Post by masterdoctor on Aug 11, 2022 23:58:13 GMT
Very excited and have been loving the recent spat of single writer sets being announced!
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Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on Aug 12, 2022 0:01:25 GMT
His impression of Sir John Hurt continues to make me smile. I love it.  |
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
Likes: 5,811 
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Post by lidar2 on Aug 19, 2022 10:06:30 GMT
Yeah, a very sparse news article! The talk of the set being the equivalent of a concept album and a new monster are very intriguing. The War Doctor walking a dark path is what this range has been building up to, which could make for a blistering second series. BF have been dancing round this for years. The original WD series with Sir John took place after his supposed dark path when he felt bad about it, so far the WDB has not really shown us anything too dark. I wonder how much, if any, of this is down to the BBC withholding approval for some darker stuff as not being on brand? I do kind of fear that the WD's dark deeds might turn out to have been not that dark after all, but he just felt bad about them due to an over-tender conscience. Hopefully not though, that would be a bit of a cop out. |
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Post by Sir Wearer of Hats on Aug 19, 2022 10:13:09 GMT
Yeah, a very sparse news article! The talk of the set being the equivalent of a concept album and a new monster are very intriguing. The War Doctor walking a dark path is what this range has been building up to, which could make for a blistering second series. BF have been dancing round this for years. The original WD series with Sir John took place after his supposed dark path when he felt bad about it, so far the WDB has not really shown us anything too dark. I wonder how much, if any, of this is down to the BBC withholding approval for some darker stuff as not being on brand? I do kind of fear that the WD's dark deeds might turn out to have been not that dark after all, but he just felt bad about them due to an over-tender conscience. Hopefully not though, that would be a bit of a cop out. The closest we ever got was him reliving the memory (or it could have been a nightmare) of firing on refugee ships because the Daleks were using thrm as human shields. Irrespective of anything else he did, that one act would have been “unDoctorish” enough to break him). |
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Post by theillusiveman on Aug 19, 2022 10:17:28 GMT
Yeah, a very sparse news article! The talk of the set being the equivalent of a concept album and a new monster are very intriguing. The War Doctor walking a dark path is what this range has been building up to, which could make for a blistering second series. BF have been dancing round this for years. The original WD series with Sir John took place after his supposed dark path when he felt bad about it, so far the WDB has not really shown us anything too dark. I wonder how much, if any, of this is down to the BBC withholding approval for some darker stuff as not being on brand? I do kind of fear that the WD's dark deeds might turn out to have been not that dark after all, but he just felt bad about them due to an over-tender conscience. Hopefully not though, that would be a bit of a cop out. Its kinda ironic that The Seventh Doctor has committed way more darker stuff than the War Doctor so far |
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Post by shallacatop on Aug 19, 2022 10:35:37 GMT
Yeah, a very sparse news article! The talk of the set being the equivalent of a concept album and a new monster are very intriguing. The War Doctor walking a dark path is what this range has been building up to, which could make for a blistering second series. BF have been dancing round this for years. The original WD series with Sir John took place after his supposed dark path when he felt bad about it, so far the WDB has not really shown us anything too dark. I wonder how much, if any, of this is down to the BBC withholding approval for some darker stuff as not being on brand? I do kind of fear that the WD's dark deeds might turn out to have been not that dark after all, but he just felt bad about them due to an over-tender conscience. Hopefully not though, that would be a bit of a cop out. It depends entirely on your definition of dark. War Doctor Begins has certainly shown the War Doctor with an edge to him compared to the Hurt run (where he was fed up and all but defeated), and that does seem to be building up to something. I’ve said as much since the first volume came out. His character of the Doctor he was is completely broken down in Light the Flame, replaced with the foundations of the incarnation needed for the Time War. Lion Hearts is almost unsettling in places and makes you believe the Doctor has made the decision and done so in a callous manner. The fact he didn’t is irrelevant, you don’t doubt that he could or would. And then in The Shadow Squad with his first confrontation with the Daleks he handles them completely differently to any other incarnation. And in Warbringer, he’s already building up a reputation and is manipulative in places. He’s learning from his quirks from when he was The Doctor and using them to his advantage in a Time War setting. Again, it completely depends on your definition. If you’re wanting him to be bloodthirsty and a complete and utter bastard, you’re going to be disappointed, because that’s not the point. He is the soldier that he needed to be to serve in the Time War and do the job. It’s a similar criticism to saying a horror film will be rubbish because it’s not R rated. |
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Post by tuigirl on Aug 19, 2022 16:50:06 GMT
I don't know, I do not want to rain on any sunny parades, but I just do not feel this range at all.
I started with the first box set and so far have not finished it.
It just did not grip me at all.
I am also not really taken by the re-cast.
Yes, he sounds like Hurt, but I get a real "audio uncanny valley" effect from him. It just does not feel right for me and rips me out of the story.
I do not have this effect for, let's say Dudman, because he just is not completely there and you are aware it is an imitation.
But this John Hurt impression.... since it is so good, when it fails, in small tiny ways, it makes my skin crawl.
Maybe it is just me, I seem to be more affected by "uncanny valley" effects than most people on here I have noticed.
I have however pre-ordered the whole bundle, so one day, I will listen to all of them, maybe when I am in a more favorable and receptive mood for it.
But not right now.
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Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on Aug 19, 2022 23:08:02 GMT
I don't know, I do not want to rain on any sunny parades, but I just do not feel this range at all. I started with the first box set and so far have not finished it. It just did not grip me at all. I am also not really taken by the re-cast. Yes, he sounds like Hurt, but I get a real "audio uncanny valley" effect from him. It just does not feel right for me and rips me out of the story. I do not have this effect for, let's say Dudman, because he just is not completely there and you are aware it is an imitation. But this John Hurt impression.... since it is so good, when it fails, in small tiny ways, it makes my skin crawl. Maybe it is just me, I seem to be more affected by "uncanny valley" effects than most people on here I have noticed. I have however pre-ordered the whole bundle, so one day, I will listen to all of them, maybe when I am in a more favorable and receptive mood for it. But not right now. That's sort of how I feel about #1 and #2, I haven't bought or listened to any. Slowly buying #3 because that completely grips me, I am working hard on committing to the latest 4 boxset for #11 .
I honestly got a couple chills from the 1st 2 WDB boxset stories.
Audio is definitely a "listen when you are totally in the mood".
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Post by martinw8686 on Sept 10, 2022 20:58:36 GMT
I really enjoyed the three part structure of vol 2, I think it's great of Big Finish to mix things up between box sets. Has a second series been announced?
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Post by mark687 on Sept 10, 2022 21:03:32 GMT
I really enjoyed the three part structure of vol 2, I think it's great of Big Finish to mix things up between box sets. Has a second series been announced? Not Yet Regards mark687 |
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Post by martinw8686 on Sept 10, 2022 21:21:59 GMT
I really enjoyed the three part structure of vol 2, I think it's great of Big Finish to mix things up between box sets. Has a second series been announced? Not Yet Regards mark687 Fingers crossed  |
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Post by Kestrel on Sept 12, 2022 4:51:23 GMT
Yeah, a very sparse news article! The talk of the set being the equivalent of a concept album and a new monster are very intriguing. The War Doctor walking a dark path is what this range has been building up to, which could make for a blistering second series. BF have been dancing round this for years. The original WD series with Sir John took place after his supposed dark path when he felt bad about it, so far the WDB has not really shown us anything too dark. I wonder how much, if any, of this is down to the BBC withholding approval for some darker stuff as not being on brand? I do kind of fear that the WD's dark deeds might turn out to have been not that dark after all, but he just felt bad about them due to an over-tender conscience. Hopefully not though, that would be a bit of a cop out. My interpretation of the WD was always that he only acted "unbecoming" of the Doctor at the very end of the war, when he annihilated Gallifrey. Which is why he's able to "redeem" himself in The Day of the Doctor. If the War Doctor had always been this dark, violent anti-Doctor the fandom seems to want him to be, then I don't think DotD really works as a coherent narrative any longer. Like... the whole point of the character in DotD and that whole arc is that the WD shouldered the guilt for exterminating the Daleks and Time Lords. That's already pretty dark! He doesn't need to have been going around, I dunno, torturing kittens before then. We already know what his "original sin" was, and it was a doozy. |
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Post by 20fridge on Sept 12, 2022 5:47:13 GMT
^ I've taken a similar view, though with a slight twist. I definitely think the War Doctor isn't the anti-Doctor some people think he is. Rather, the un-Doctorly thing he did was willingly joining the Time War and serving the Time Lords. Destroying Gallifrey and the Time Lords was the culmination of this choice. Mind you, while he fought in the Time War, when he did fight he did it in the most Doctorly way possible. His choice to fight was a slight adjustment to his ethos, not a radical rejection of all his beliefs. What's funny is that with even the "darkest" War Doctor stories Big Finish has done, it's easy to see other Doctors making the same (or substantially similar choices). I think the biggest distinction in the War Doctor is his self-perception rather than his actions.
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Post by bonehead on Sept 12, 2022 9:02:33 GMT
As someone who has wished that The War Doctor could have been darker, I've re-evaluated my opinion after reading the two considered posts above - both of which make absolute and perfect sense: he *has* to be redeemable!
Thanks, both!
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Post by Kestrel on Sept 12, 2022 9:29:44 GMT
^ I've taken a similar view, though with a slight twist. I definitely think the War Doctor isn't the anti-Doctor some people think he is. Rather, the un-Doctorly thing he did was willingly joining the Time War and serving the Time Lords. Destroying Gallifrey and the Time Lords was the culmination of this choice. Mind you, while he fought in the Time War, when he did fight he did it in the most Doctorly way possible. His choice to fight was a slight adjustment to his ethos, not a radical rejection of all his beliefs. What's funny is that with even the "darkest" War Doctor stories Big Finish has done, it's easy to see other Doctors making the same (or substantially similar choices). I think the biggest distinction in the War Doctor is his self-perception rather than his actions. How I'd frame it, or like it to be framed, in an ideal world would be... the 7th Doctor, for example, will commit terrible deeds secure in the knowledge that his actions are justified; when the War Doctor acts in the same manner, he does it with the knowledge that nothing can justify his actions. You could say that the "Doctor" still clings to the excuse that doing harm now can heal later (the familiar cliche of the scalpel, cutting out infected tissue); the War Doctor discards that excuse.
(EDIT: which also fits nicely, I think, with the implied 7->8 character arc, wherein the 8th Doctor recognizes that he went much, much too far as the 7th Doctor, and vowed "never to be that man again." That the WD arguably is that man again, on one hand, would be your usual dramatic irony -- but in the other hand, with the above framing, the shift in awareness would make the WD a very different character internally, even while outwardly similar.)But I don't think that interpretation is really justified in the text of either the Moffat stories or the Big Finish stuff, sadly. What makes the WDB range, specifically, fall so flat for me is that it frequently feels stuck trying to balance these two mutually incompatible ideas: the WD as the grimdark anti-hero some fans crave, as well as the WD as the war-weary figure John Hurt played -- cynical and worn but (as Clara said) still innocent, his great and terrible crime yet to come. So we get these bizarre sequences where the WD behaves, well, just as we'd expect any other Doctor to behave, while the script uses other characters to frame that behavior as somehow darker or more brutal or more... whatever (imagine me gesturing vaguely here) than prior Doctors. It's weird. I know other people had issues with Hurt's all-too-brief War Doctor range, but I generally enjoyed them quite a bit (though I do intend to do a relisten eventually and maybe that opinion'll change) precisely because they took the relatively simple concept of, "The Doctor, but in a war," and ran with it, without really trying to make any grand statement on the WD's character. |
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