The Gamer's Quarter

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Oh, I watched the first four episodes of Angel 3. Some of the best stuff so far. I like the way the characterization is going.
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aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Didn't bother to post earlier, but I noticed something:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/gallery/doctor_donna/1024/25.jpg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/gallery/doctor_donna/1024/24.jpg

Quickly flip the tabs back and forth, and watch their heads inflate.

Also, the Doctor's nickname at the Academy was "Theta Sigma", right? Well, uh...

Didn't at all get this pun until now.
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aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

And "oh" again.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s110/Scootyboy/Random%20Filming/DSCF3893.jpg

So, uh. Imagine the proper prosthetic face in place.

And there were pictures of, I think, Thals earlier. Either that or Pertwee imitators.

I really don't know what's going on here.

Someone on Roobarb's, which isn't so bad, really, said this is turning out like Davies' own personal Five Doctors. Someone else badly Photoshopped Davies' face over Rassilon's in a screen from that story. Someone even elser said that from now on he's referring to him as "Russilon". And I cackled out loud.
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Well, yes. It's got nothing to do with the narrative as such.

Big jump to the side, though, there was one weird 1960s serial called The War Games (in which some guy invented the Internet and it was evil), where the big mainframe in charge of the network keeps referring to the Doctor as "DOC-TOR WHOOOOO". If it just happened once, you could maybe shrug it off because the delivery is so stilted anyway, but it keeps doing it. This is just an artifact of the writer not being with the plan, and the (then rather new) script editor not catching it. Still... there it is!
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digi · Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:50 pm Post subject:

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Oh God, I meant The War Machines. Stupid Doctor Who titles!

The War Games is much better than The War Machines.

Oh, and... another familiar character is returning with SJS, apparently.

As if that's a surprise at this rate.

And... burlesque...
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aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Something I posted somewhere else, after actually seeing a couple of people arguing in favor of Time and the Rani, sort of. With even some modest enthusiasm.

==
Yeah, pretty much. I find it bizarre that people take Time and the Rani seriously enough to direct so much bile at it. It's a lighthearted satire of contemporary popular perception of the show. The scene that pretty much spells out what the serial is about is where, after staring at Ranimel for a few moments, noticing nothing in particular the matter, the Doctor begins to imagine Mel's face superimposed. And he's horrified! What was the quote? Something about the most horrible monster imaginable?

I'm not sure how a person who knew fan reactions to the casting and the character could see that, then go on to take the serial in any other spirit besides "hurr hurr". I'm reminded of a number of things Russel T Davies sticks in his scripts specifically to annoy fans. Which... well, come to think of it, usually work. Even as they make me hoot.

As a satire of Doctor Who (or rather, its viewing audience), that nevertheless fits within continuity, it does a pretty solid job within its scope. It certainly looks gorgeous enough in its way, what with the computer effects and the bright colors.

I'm just... I mean, it's not like it's that subversive. Yet the way people react to it is pretty much exactly what it's mocking (ever so affectionately). So it's interesting to see people just... do it, anyway. Especially since it's so harmless, otherwise.

Though it's not completely successful, in some ways I think it's actually the most interesting thing to happen with the show since... man, when? Maybe sometime in season 20? Enlightenment? I'm being conservative here, because not a lot really interesting happened during Saward's era. I'm tempted to just go back to Logopolis or something. I could go further back, if I weren't afraid of giving people aneurysms.

It's just, for all the show's potential, it was kind of rare that people really played around with it.

And... well, for anyone who doubts the postmodern commentary, there's the infamous exchange in Dragonfire later that same season -- and then there's the fan in Greatest Show, the following year.

Oh, well, and all of Delta.

This stuff pervades Cartmel's era, and it kind of makes sense to me that the first story he oversaw is the most self-aware in its criticism. It seems like as he developed his own ideas about what to do with the show, the (slightly clumsy) satire died down a bit in favor of (slightly clumsy) postmodern attempts at mythology. It all comes from the same place, though. It's all steeped in university-level literary analysis.
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aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

This just in, sort of: Russel T Davies sort of has a twenty-year plan for Doctor Who.

He's said things like this before. Here he's a little more explicit, though.

I actually don't think he's exaggerating much -- at least, in terms of what he's trying to do. You can interpret it as him saying "I'm setting things up so it'll probably run smoothly for a good few years after I leave" -- yet.. though he's being optimistic as hell, this sounds like Serious Russel. He is thinking in terms of decades.
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Westacular · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 12:29 am Post subject:

Well his comment is largely just about production scheduling -- specially, next year's pseudohiatus -- and amounts to little more than "don't put off your vacation until after you lose your mind" or "the use of regularly-scheduled maintenance is critical to long-term operation"

Which seems obvious but is, I suppose, an important evolutionary step in the world of long-running TV series.

I was hoping based on your comment that he said something indicating a general, long-term plan or template for story arcs.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Yeah, no. It's more about laying down a structure for future teams to follow. A continuous cycle of beginning-middle-end, intermission, to keep the storytelling fresh and to keep people from burning out.

This is... sort of new, conceptually.
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aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

The comment underneath these, when I found them: "Christ, I can smell the gin!"

Also, Black Orchid trailer and Invasion of time article.

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aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Well, that was a bit of nothing. Done well enough for what it is (despite continued confusion about Owen's status; can he feel anything or not? Can he breathe or not?). It doesn't fit into the show's format really well, though (especially this year). And it's just this narrative island. And it's clumsily written in places. The ending, in particular. At least Blink is straightforward with its "FEAR THINGS! RARR! STORY NOT OVER" trope drum. Here, it's just...

It feels like it was written for an audience of twenty years ago. Never mind that the premise is old hat in itself (Should have been titled "The Purple Rose of Cardiff"), and that the concept of film should long since be demystified; it's just... hard to relate to a fear of something so specific and (in 2008) esoteric as old film cans that you might find at a rummage sale.

And were those images on the piece of film the lad edited or not? Because he insists they weren't there before, yet when the Torchwood team takes the film can, the images do seem to be physically part of the reel.

The story probably isn't meant for rational breakdown; it's B-grade mystical faff. It's just distracting when something can't even get its own internal logic straight.

The bad guys suffer from that ineffectual, poorly-defined TV villain thing. If the woman needs or loves water so much, and they're in Cardiff, why is she squatting around, guzzling from stagnant ponds and lying in bathtubs? They're right on the bay! It's even salt water, which seems to be her preference! Why do they spend most of the episode milling around aimlessly, looking bored? You'd think if they were motivated enough to escape from a bit of celluloid they would tend to use their time more efficiently.

Julian Bleach was decent, if a bit unchallenged. Going by his Shockheaded Peter stuff, he just seems to be stamping out his trademark performance. It'll be interesting to see what happens when he has a suit as specific as Davros to fill out.

Anyway. Harmless enough; just kind of irrelevant. Next week's looks interesting. From here on it seems like we're building toward the climax.

Beyond all the other criticisms, this is kind of like a lot of Torchwood series one episodes, or like "42" from series three of Who, in that it feels like it could be an episode of nearly any TV show with a vague sci-fantasy bent to it. Although the heroic parts are roughly adapted to the main cast of this show, it could have been tweaked for The X-Files or Supernatural or (yes) Sapphire & Steel, or any number of other shows in this vein. And it might fit in any of those somewhat more mystical shows better than in Torchwood.

Man, I wonder if Mark Gatiss is going to write for this show. That would have been so appropriate for series one.
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Westacular · Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:48 pm Post subject:

Yeah, this was what I expected given the writer and the preview. My expectations were such that I was numb to the faults of logic -- rather than thinking about it, and getting upset, I've just not thought about it.

I'd argue the "Blink Moment" was more effective here, in that it's actually built into the episode, rather than a tacky bit of filler. (I can see why one might argue the other way using the same reason: i.e., Blink was better because you can completely ignore that part and simply chop the last minute off the episode without affecting anything.)

Owen's one "he's conveniently dead!" moment was a fun little subversion of how the entire episode leading up to that point seemed to forget this; the episode almost surprises you with the reminder.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Right; that's the thing. In "Blink", the moment was gleefully, self-consciously tacky, and the writing and direction played that to its hilt. Which is easy when you're talking about statues in public places. This tried to be reasonably subtle. Yet its message... "Maybe somewhere out there... there are other old film cans, with evil people on them! So if you're ever at a rummage sale, and happen to buy one, and you own, or know someone who owns, an appropriate projector, then maybe if you stage a showing, something bad will happen!! Watch out!!"

Some more set photos.

Big surprise!

(Just noticed that it looks gunmetal gray here. It's actually bronze.)
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

Have you seen the comedy show that Mark Gatiss made his name with over here, The League of Gentlemen?

ALSO, Eric-Jon I've never heard your thoughts on the Mother series, will you post in my Mother thread?

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Yes. It's a very weird show. I watched a few episodes, said "hmm", then didn't watch any more.

I've not really played any of the Mother games. I tried playing Earthbound a few times on an emulator, but didn't get far into it.
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

This is the correct opinion to hold on The League Of Gentlemen. It is shit.

Dammit you need to play the Mother series

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

It's hard to concentrate on stuff like that, on an emulator. If I had the actual cartridge, that would be another thing.

I have yet to see anything by Mark Gatiss that impresses me. Both of his Doctor Who scripts are conservative to the point of irrelevance. You could easily skip them both altogether, except that Davies later seized on a plot point from one of them (the Cardiff space-time rift) and made it a central element of the modern-day Whoniverse.

Wait, a few of his skits are kind of funny.
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Patrick Alexander · . Joined: 26 Jul 2007 Posts: 123 Location: various

The League of Gentlemen is probably the greatest TV show ever made by anyone.
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Raymondo Person | Eegra | Things

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Better than Welcome Back, Kotter?
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Some good stuff in here. It kind of falls apart once Gwen actually finds the island. It becomes icky, and it seems like Chibnall was searching for an excuse for all of those people to be held there. Then since the excuses he found weren't particularly persuasive, he lumped in some ham-handed philosophy about whether it's better to not know these horrible things. On the basis of the last part of episode, and the lingering feeling it's given me, I'd say maybe. I'm not sure that's the parallel he was looking for, however.

What a weak and uninquisitive mind Chibnall seems to have. One of the things I like about Doctor Who is its sense that knowledge and experience sets a person free. That whatever the hardship, however difficult the knowledge, it's better to know and have done than not. It's better to grow than to sit and cower about what might happen. But Chibnall... he consistently writes shrill characters who go histrionic when presented with anything they can't immediately understand. And whose minds MELT when forced to deal with anything outside themselves. This... is not enriching my life.

Again, though. Some neat character and myth stuff in the first thirty-five minutes or whatever.
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aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

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aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Another Hugo nom. I guess there isn't a lot of excellent short form dramatic sci-fi-ish stuff to nominate lately.

Weird to see Torchwood in there, though hey. If they're gonna nominate an episode...

Of the choices, it's fairly obvious that Moffat is on his way to a cluttered shelf. "Razor" is boring. They're scraping if a fan production is on the list. As good as "Human Nature" and solid as "Captain Jack Harkness" are, neither is as clever or excellent a piece of sci-fi as-such as "Blink".

Still, Human Nature wouldn't not deserve it.
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aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Another Torchwood today. Better than the last couple of episodes. Does kind of what "Adam" tried to do, except with a less annoying narrative device and more pertinent information. A bit slow, though. And man, did that ever end abruptly. Didn't even get a chance to assess how damaged Owen was.

I thought in some interviews Naoko Mori said this episode would get into the Aliens of London business. Perhaps it was scripted or shot, but didn't make it in?

I was also very nearly surprised that, in the 1999 segment, they didn't make some kind of a reference to a temporal anomaly over San Francisco.

The earpieces from last season are used to make Jack look "retro". Hm.
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Westacular · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 10:13 pm Post subject:

ha @ 19th century Torchwood 3 being even more gay.

The episode seemed to be searching for a purpose and coming up short. I'm not criticizing the back-stories, or the usefulness of knowing these things, but ... why now, after two years? And all at once? The present-day part of the episode didn't build on the flashbacks in any specific way. It felt like they were drawing from Lost without understanding the other half of why the flashback device works so well there. Was it just to underline what Jack cares about to make the threat at the end more personal? (And developing the other characters along the way?) I guess we'll see if they build on it in the finale.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Going by some things I've heard of the final episode, it's probably a good time to get some of the character backgrounds out of the way. It is bizarre that it took so long, though, yes. And it is a little awkward how they were shoved in here, with the modern-day framing device having... pretty much no relation to anything, and then being shrugged off without a thought.

Still better than "Adam". Honestly, I'd have sprinkled the revelations in this episode and in "Adam" throughout the season. And tied them specifically into the stories of various episodes. Not quite like Lost, but. Yes. Might have helped a bit in the mission to show how working for an organization like Torchwood affects people's lives.

Oh, by the way.
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Westacular · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:54 pm Post subject:

Television would be better if all ads had to be either shorter than 10 seconds or longer than a minute.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Well, to test the theory, there's another one here. (And here's something else longer than a minute.)

So the second part of the Sontaran story is "The Poison Sky", and part two of the Moffat library thing is "River's Run". Nice titles. The last couple of years, they seem to be trying to mix up the throwback titles ("The Sontaran Stratagem", "Evolution of the Daleks", "Planet of the Ood") with more interesting stuff ("The Sound of Drums", "Smith and Jones", "42").

This just leaves the "Doctor's daughter" episode and the final three unnamed.
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Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

wait whoa hold the fuck up

what's this crap about The League of Gentlemen being shit? it is awesome

except for the movie
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

But it's not funny at all!

The movie is about as good as the show.

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

harvey how can you like shit like bart the general and not pure genius like The League of Gentlemen, you have issues, mate
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

How can this thread have gone on for so long, is what I wonder.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

Westacular · Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 3:12 pm Post subject:

Yes, after three full years a probably a hundred pages of continuous discussion you'd think we'd have realized how terrible and unwatchable and boring and stupid the new show is.

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

You'd think that, yes.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

This is the only good thing to come out of the new series:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hXPuudMlP8
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

And even then, Monty Python references are old as fuck and only trainspotters still think they're funny to make in casual conversation.

Gay Daleks.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Maybe I'll stop forcing you to read this thread, then. Clearly there was some miscommunication going on there.
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

Westacular · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 4:11 pm Post subject:

I watched Casino Royale recently and noticed that the rookie agent at the start whose screw-up causes the movie is played by the same guy as the dad on Sarah Jane Adventures.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

I was watching some of the start of season four of Angel, the other day; I turned it off, and plugged in the TV aerial that I'd been meaning to reattach for a few weeks. I reprogrammed the channels, and the TV focused on NBC. And there was Fred. On Criminal Intent. Playing... Fred, basically.
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Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

so i decided to give the new dr who another shot, only because the guy from LIFE ON MARS plays the new master and he's pretty cool

anyone here watch life on mars? it was a pretty brilliant show, though it was a bit over-dramatic at points. made up for it with some great humour.
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

He's not hurting anyone!

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

Dracko, don't be so impolite.
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

Gee whizz, Dracko

Westacular · Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:51 pm Post subject:

Oh no, aderack has drawn too much aggro. Quick, somebody cast Taunt!

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Anyone else care to chime in? Now's the time.
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Ashura · . Joined: 02 Dec 2006 Posts: 109

We sort of moved this thread here to avoid this bullshit, guys. I'd like to ask ya'll to follow this simple rule of thumb when you're writing replies:

If your entire post is one sentence comprised of dumping on someone else or someone else's opinion without any other constructive criticism or added interesting content, then please just don't post it.

I know I really have no say, but please be civil. There's really no reason for this rampant amount of asshattery.

On Life on Mars: I really want to watch it, though I'm waiting to try to get the first season on DVD or something first. I wish BBC America would just rerun it, honestly.