Demon Chas08

Actually, he should be glad that DC pulled what turned out to be the blatant, stagnant turd of an otherwise brilliant and near-flawless HB run.

Yeah instead of taking a page from Rick Veitch. We could've had three more years of him as opposed to Brian Azzarello's 25 issue reign

SUPRISE!!

None of the below either.

 

LMAO. Nice one.

Hartnell - The Aztecs

Troughton - The Mind Robber

Pertwee - The Sea Devils

T. Baker - The Seeds of Doom

Davison - Loups-Garoux (Big Finish)

C. Baker - The Marion Conspiracy (Big Finish)

McCoy - Remembrance of the Daleks & The Harvest (Big Finish)

McGann - Terror Firma (Big Finish)

Eccleston - Father's Day

Tennant - Blink

Smith - Too early to say (in the US).

I'm a day late but..

Yeah, even depressed angsty action included.

 

Did John really say "STICH THAT" in Dangerous Habits?

I might need to re-read some Ennis issues. That's just...bad dialogue. I didn't remember Ennis' writing making me cringe, but I was young too.

Zed said the same thing in #4

Dig my new avatar!

I don't read it, Chas. Are you in that one?

I wish.

Anyone got their copy of this month's DWM?

Err...you might want to re-read the post Malin was quoting, since that's exactly what you did suggest. I complained about a lack of good-quality casual-listener friendly plays, to which you responded with a list of three stories which are continuity-heavy sequels to earlier BF plays (and 'Kingdom Of Silver', which I sort of enjoyed, although didn't rate nearly as highly as you). Seriously, you might want to read the posts you're replying to a little more carefully (Malin didn't actually ask whether or not Charley continued to travel with the 6th Doctor, either, although you seem to have thought she did). This is what I was getting at with my earlier comment about us talking at cross-purposes - there's clearly some sort of communication problem going on here, I'm afraid.

Oopsies

I love my wife. I swear, I didn't tell her to write that.

 

(She's completely correct on all points, too. While I share Pål and Chas's dissatisfaction with the over-use of Rose, she's got absolutely nothing on Charley Pollard, a character whose narrative arc reached its logical conclusion a good seven or eight years ago, and who still just won't fucking go away).

At least her mom (voiced by Anneke Wills) never popped up in most episodes and nor does she had a boyfriend who goes from nutless to bad-ass in a parallel universe*

*I don't have much of a problem with Mickey nor him hooking up with Martha in the End of Time

 

Malin is my barometer for the casual Who fan, and while she's enjoyed a lot of the BF plays I've given her in the past, I can't think of too many stories from the main range in the last few years which she'd get a lot out of. Part of it's down to the quality - it's been a while since they produced anything of 'Spare Parts'/'Jubilee'/'Kingmaker' calibre (Paul Cornell's 'Circular Time' was probably the last exceptional standout, to my mind, and that was a few years ago now), but there also seems to have been a shift in editorial focus towards more diehard-friendly material, which is a bit of a shame.

 

So, The Girl Who Never Was, Kingdom of Silver, The Condemned and Assassin in the Limelight don't count?

 

 

Are you really suggesting that a casual listener who hasn't listened to several seasons worth of Paul McGann audios and knows who Charley is would be able to listen to and understand The Girl Who Never Was and The Condemned? Cause I have listened to a lot of them (got REALLY sick of Charley in the end), and even then, The Girl Who Never Was didn't make a whole lot of sense. Also, WHY in blazes, when she could finally have been gone - did they let her continue with the 6th Doctor?

They did continue until Blue Forgotten Planet and no, I'm not really suggesting that. Then again would any US comic book reader understood the Charley reference in the recent IDW comics?

I see what you mean. If you're right, then my criticism of the use of Rose would be directed more to what he actually wanted to do with the series, then. (Since, if RTD - as you say - writes character-driven plots, the overuse of Rose is a very concious choice based in what he wanted the series to be. A wrong choice.)

Thank you!

Not only it was a wrong choice, but Ten's behavior towards Martha (plus RTD's unnecessary unrequired love angle) in Series 3 ultimatly makes him my least favorite Doctor.

Nah, that's got nowt to do with continuity, it's just a bit of a Marmite story. Me, I hated it, but I know some people who reckon it's one of BF's best (crazy, deluded fools). It's just that, based on the books he wrote back in the '90s, Gary Russell generally tends towards material which relies heavily on prior knowledge of older events/characters/monsters. That's something he largely avoided at BF - aside from the McGann series, which very quickly became completely inpenetrable to anyone who wasn't following all the stories. Other than that, I can't think of many early BF plays which couldn't be picked up and fully understood by a complete newcomer, and that's just not true anymore.

There's definitely been a shift in the editorial direction of the main line since Nick Briggs took over, though, which is particularly odd because Gary Russell - who was in charge previously - is the ultimate continuity-obsessed fanboy.

You mean continuity divider (i.e. Zagreus).

I hadn't spotted that you were entering a story there, Chas - good luck!).

Thanks.

I've recently gained a few early 8th Doctor books and managed to avoid Terrance Dicks' anti-TV Movie bitching (The Eight Doctors) and John Peel's epic fail.

 

I think this latest idea really sums up why I've lost a lot of interest in the main BF range since Nick Briggs took the reins - it's all become fairly insular and fannish, and that's not really what I'm into (despite being, obviously, a hugely nerdy fanboy myself).

 

They've written out most of their own original companions, and are resorting more and more to fairly hardcore fanservice - bringing in characters and settings from the old DWM comics, teaming the Sixth Doctor up with Jamie, dragging out a one-off character from a decade-old play for a trilogy of stories with McCoy, adaptations of long-forgotten stage plays, and unused scripts from a fairly unpopular era in the show's history, trilogies of stories as opposed to stand-alones...

Hex's still there and a Companion Chronicle with Evelyn is in progress.

About the Klien trilogy, it did surprise me that they bring her back. So far I've enjoyed A Thousand Tiny Wings and Survival of the Fittest. With the new 8th Doctor adventures ending and McGann returning to the monthly range, who knows? Maybe the stand alone stories will return.

It makes some sense for them as a business strategy, since diehard nerds are very much their core audience these days, what with the TV show providing a far more appealing option for more casual fans. But as a listener who had enjoyed some of their attempts to push the old characters into new areas, it irks me.

That's how I felt about the 2006 series. More geared towards shippers. That and the pointless Rose references and return the following two years later.

Malin is my barometer for the casual Who fan, and while she's enjoyed a lot of the BF plays I've given her in the past, I can't think of too many stories from the main range in the last few years which she'd get a lot out of. Part of it's down to the quality - it's been a while since they produced anything of 'Spare Parts'/'Jubilee'/'Kingmaker' calibre (Paul Cornell's 'Circular Time' was probably the last exceptional standout, to my mind, and that was a few years ago now), but there also seems to have been a shift in editorial focus towards more diehard-friendly material, which is a bit of a shame.

Fortunately, the the Paul McGann series, outside of the main range, has been picking up some of the slack in that area, but it'd be nice to have some nice, accessible standalone stories with Peter Davison or Colin Baker as well.

He was a quiet man sure was awesome, though.

 

Constantine sucked donkey balls, though. You win some, you fuck some up...

 

Is this where we can play "worst comic adaptations ever?" Like any of the 3 Punisher movies, and Constantine.

 

When I first logged into this forum, it was a couple of years after the movie came out (07?) and I found some of those threads where the forum members just went off on Tears for Rain. To his credit, he didn't roll over and spread 'em, but there were some wonderfully worded smacks of hardness.

 

And the line "Tears in Rain fell down" (or something to that effect).

 

Keep making movies because you make some good ones, just stay the hell off Constantine 2.

 

If the rumours I'm hearing out of WB offices are true, they'll be completely junking the previous film and going for something that hews a lot closer in tone to the book.

 

Are they junking Keanu Reeves, then? That would go a long way.

Anyway, since The Matrix, the WB would greenlight any movie as an excuse to have Keanu dressed in black again (barring The Day The Earth Stood Still remake from Faux). Reboot and give us the John Constantine we know and love, goddammit!

Rumour also has it that Keanu has no interest in doing another.

God, I hope it's true.

2,500 words? That's a very short story. Good luck with that, Chas.

Thanks!

Check out the cover art for the upcoming 6th/Jamie trilogy and more at Simon Holub's flikr page. I'm thinking of making this one my avatar:

Oh, they are. They really, really are.

*cue Comical Reaction*

Agree to disagree it is, then.

I'm participating in Big Finish 's New Writing Opportunity

I think the first three episodes of 'Master' were perilously-close to brilliant, but it blew away all of that goodwill in the final part with one of the most jawdroppingly-poor retcons I think I've ever encountered, something which - while also being a fairly shit twist in and of itself - completely breaks the core characters of both the Doctor and the Master in a fairly fundamental way.

That's Geoffrey Beevers - he's reprised the role a few times for Big Finish, actually. None of the stories are much cop, sadly, but he does a decent job.

Loved Master, on the fence about Dust Breeding.

I had the same thought, but apparently not (not least because, if Pat Mills were getting a credit, we'd most likely have heard about it by now). Big Finish have been doing a series of audios adapted from the "Lost" Season 23 stories which were commissioned/scripted but never made in 1986*, and one of them is 'Song Of The Space Whale'. Only they've renamed it 'Song Of The Megaptera', which makes a lot more sense now we know that Moffat's doing a Space/Star Whale story for the telly - Cardiff HQ have to approve all BF's scripts, and this wouldn't be the first time they've requested a change to avoid crossover with something they've planned for the TV show.

 

 

 

*Spoiler warning: They wouldn't have been very good.

The Lost Stories so far:

The Nightmare Fair = 8/10 (david ballie makes a fantastic Toymaker)

Mission to Magnus = 7/10 (I would've rated it a 6 but Phillip Martin managed not to turn female characters into mutant-esqe creatures)

Leviathan = 9/10 Excellent

The Hollows of Time 7/10 Shame they could use a certain man in black. Damn Cardiff HQ!

Speaking of the Toymaker, there'll be a Companion Chronicles release faturing Charley Pollard. The cover may/may not surprise you...

FYI, The puppet is real

I've turn 21 today.

And someon get Bernard Cribbins a BAFTA please. Thank you.

Fuck that! He needs to be knighted.

Levine has since claimed that the song was originally the brain child of Gary Downie, a production manager at the BBC and partner of John Nathan-Turner, the producer of the show at the time

I'll join in after Feb 8th (my 21 Bday)