Brave New Town

Autons! I love Autons. I love surprise Autons.

Starts off with a typical TARDIS didn’t go where it was supposed to go routine. The Doctor and Lucie wonder into an apparently abandoned town. Once there they discover that everyone things it’s September 1, 1991. Only the TARDIS says that it’s 2008. Bit of a difference no? The set up lead me to believe that they were going to do something with people being stuck in a timeloop or something like that. Instead there are Autons. Autons stuck awaiting orders after they stopped receiving them. Autons thinking they are human and British.

I just loved the set up and the execution of this one. I love that the Autons thought they were human, acted like they were human and really just wanted to go back to pretending to be human. It was the Nestene that made them go on their brief period of killing all humans. Once that was safely locked away they were perfectly content to go back to their old lives.

Although once again I’m left disturbed by what could be the events following the Doctor and Lucie leaving. Here it looks as though the local government is going to turn them into spys and soldiers. Whether they want to be turned into these things or not. Not as disturbing as what happened to Red Rocket Rising (still confused as to whether I was supposed to find that funny or not, cause I didn’t), but not really all that comfortable of an ending. Which may have been what they were going for.

I like these Autons. Created by an experimenting government that found bits of the Nestene that fell to Earth. They walk, they talk, they complain about the music. *hugs Autons*

In conclusion: This is how re-imagining an old enemy should be.

First season of the Lucie’n'Eight Adventures (not real name)

So I listened to the Eight’n'Lucie audios. Out of order by accident. Not sure if that helped me or hindered me. When I started listening to them I was determined that I’d like Lucie.

I didn’t like her at first. She’s very reminiscent of Tegan. Without a lot of Tegan’s good points really. At least at first. I did end up liking her. I think if the quality of the audios had been a bit better I would really like her. But there was just some bad writing in there and thus my liking of it all was lowered. Perhaps with the next season? Anyways onwards and upwards in their proper order and not the order I listened to them in.

Blood of the Daleks (1&2)

I think having the Time Lords dump Lucie on him was an interesting idea as a way to get a companion introduced that wasn’t played very well. Lucie seemed far too accepting of her circumstances despite everything. I just find it hard to believe that anyone would take things as well as she did. There were a million ways to make the Doctor more accepting of Lucie that I can’t help but feel the lack of. The Time Lords would have at least tried something, because a cooperative Doctor is much better than a sulky Doctor. Well known fact of the universe.

The story in and of itself just kinda falls flat. Again I liked the idea in theory, but there just seemed to be too many attempts at humor that just fell flat. Not the least of which was to have Red Rocket Rising survive Daleks to be converted by the Cybermen. I didn’t find that funny, though I think I was supposed to. Other than that the storyline just seemed like your stock Cybermen storyline replaced with Daleks. Thus is didn’t really work nearly as well. I mean really if Hex worked on Red Rocket Rising it could have been The Harvest.

I liked Lucie and the Doctor’s interactions more towards the end of the story, but they still just weren’t clicking for me. I think a lot of it had to do with my dislike of the story itself.

Horror of Glam Rock

Yet another interesting idea that just didn’t seem to work. Aliens communicating through music should be a really neat concept. Lucie running into her aunt when her aunt was a twenty-something should be neat. Yet it wasn’t. I kept waiting for the story to be good and for Lucie to do something and it never happened. I don’t even remember much of the story and I listened to it a few days ago. That’s how little of an impression it left. Yeah.

Immortal Beloved

This one I liked. It was an interesting concept that was played with well. It showed Lucie in a positive light and not just as a nagging person the Doctor has to take around with him. I liked the idea of the planet where people had set themselves up as the Greek Gods. I liked the cloning and Lucie’s horror at it. This was really the episode that gave Lucie a few more dimensions. So that was good. I liked that Lucie wasn’t above being really shallow about a pretty boy. Of course in retrospect this one could have been good simply because the others were so very bad. Hmmm…

Phobos

Again they managed to make something of an interesting concept. Which is a win for the writers. Lucie seems to be a bit too free about saying she’s a time traveler though. That annoyed me a bit. Discretion girl. I just finished this one and I’m really kinda angry that they didn’t just go ahead with the Drew/Hayd stuff instead of chickening out with it. It’s annoying.

But I liked the idea. I liked that the Doctor scared the fear creator with what he’s seen. I liked Lucie doing the companion thing and talking and making friends with people. I liked her experiencing things. I’m just annoyed about the Drew/Hayd thing at the end. Do it or don’t do it but don’t fucking go halfway.

No More Lies

This one won me over due to Lucie driving. Just because I can see her telling the Doctor in no uncertain terms that she doesn’t want to be stuck in space dependent on his driving so he damn well better teach her how to drive the TARDIS thank you very much. Or else she’s not getting back on at the next stop. Because she would do that. I think Lucie has been moved to the head of the Companion Most Likely to Nick the TARDIS list.

I really liked that this episode finally highlighted that Lucie is an intelligent person even if she’s a mouth on legs to use Tegan’s self description. She figured stuff out and almost saved the day till the Doctor buggered it up.

Bonus points for referencing Ramsey. I like Vortisores and now apparently the other being that live in the Vortex. I hope we see more of them.

Human Resources

This one suffered from a lot of the same problem as BotD did. It wasn’t funny when it was trying to be and an interesting idea just somehow wasn’t written well. Also there was randomness that didn’t make sense. Like when did the Doctor get a cell phone? Hmmm? That confused me. I can see Lucie making him get one, but unless I fell asleep for that part we never had a scene where she gave him one or anything. He just suddenly had a cell phone.

Also I find it hard to think that Eight wouldn’t find out who they were fighting before sabotaging things. Maybe I’m wrong there but that’s the way I see it. Also after everything else and Lucie freaks out because she should have been a dictator? Really? I’m so glad it wasn’t her in the end cause that was just stupid. Why the hell would the CIA care about a human becoming a dictator on Earth? If it went against the Web of Time then they’d be able to fix it no worries from anyone else. Otherwise why the hell would they care? I haven’t listened to the Gallifrey stuff so maybe it’s explained there.

Anyways the plot was thin at best and the characterization overall seemed off. And for all the build up with the headhunter it was a rather small pay off yes?

Overall the series suffered from a number of similar problems. Good ideas not properly written. Bad ideas as to what is funny or should be funny. Shoddy character development and plot arc payoff. I did end up liking Lucie in the end, but I think I’d have liked her a lot more if her stories had been good.

Absolution

They killed him. Killed him dead. I am sitting here listening to the cast and crew interviews with tears streaming down my face because they killed him. They killed my lovable little psychopath. The killed C’rizz and the Doctor didn’t care. My favorite Doctor didn’t care that C’rizz was killed. I really hope The Girl Who Never Was has a scene that shows that he actually cares that C’rizz is dead.

That’s all I can think of right now. C’rizz is gone. Later I’ll think on the comment about Charley being mostly human. Right now C’rizz is dead and I’m not okay with that.

The Reaping

Wasn’t as good as The Gathering as there was no Tegan.

It was still quite good though. Even without Tegan. And I think I listened to these backwards as I listened to the Gathering months ago and had a hard time finding a copy of the Reaping. So I spent a good portion of the audio waiting for the horrible thing to happen to Nat and for Kathy to go evil.

Also at the beginning I suddenly got the Six/Peri stuff and my mind hurt. Quite a bit and that’s all I will say on it.

Although they do have a rather fantastic friendship yes? They argue and insult each other but there is such a nice bit of underlying love for each other that it’s all of the good.

On to the story. I rather liked this as it was a way of showing why Peri never goes back home on the show. By the end of the story she doesn’t have a home to go to. And that is sad. But at the same time makes her never going home understandable because old Who never really thought of these things. And her pain at her mom’s death and the Doctor coming back for her. It was all very sad. I did really like the decision to have Peri decide to stay with her family. It was the only thing that was going to make sense by the end. And the way that Six was utterly shocked by it was fun. He really didn’t think that she would ever leave him. Especially like that.

And then he went to go see what happened to her and came running back. That was the part that almost made me cry. He went back and gave her a hug and let her cry on him and then took her off into the TARDIS again. Cause he’s her best friend.

I just have this sudden love for the Six and Peri dynamic. It’s kinda weird.

And the Cybermen story made very little sense, overall. It was way too convoluted and not with the making of sense. It almost felt tacked on at the end. Like the writer went, oh shit I only have twenty minutes to resolve this *throws stuff together* ‘eh it’s good enough. I think if the Cybermen part had been a bit better done it would have been a very good story. I still liked it, but more as a character study then as a story.

Also ear disk things=ear pods y/y? Rusty do you have any original ideas? At all?

Son of the Dragon

I liked it. I like pure historicals, things that give Erimem a chance to be the ruler type, and things where Five gets confused for the court jester. So those were all there and thus it was good. Peri rather annoyed me with her instance in believing that all of the legends about Dracula were true though. She was worried about her girlfriendErimem so that gets a pass.

Although I am left confused by all the people who think it would have been great for Erimem to have run off with Dracula and had this be her exit story. Umm…no. Sure he wasn’t as bad as the myths claim, but he was still called Vlad the Impaler for a reason. Also the part where he tried to kill Erimem, several times. And basically forced her to agree to marry him. Honestly, not as bad as previously claimed, but not really good enough for Erimem.

Overall I liked that it had the overall lesson that no one was really the good guy in the situation and the even Dracula had reasons behind impaling 10,000 people. Also killing all those other people. I also liked the message that Rado wasn’t that different and everyone was a product of their times and upbrining.

It kinda felt like going a bit backwards in Erimem’s character arc though. She’s been going in the direction of leaving behind all of the Pharaoh stuff while still maintaining her basic outlook on life and this felt like it was going back to the Pharaoh stuff. Erimem is a leader, but I think she has the potential to become the kind leader who doesn’t agree with impaling people on spikes. Or marring a guy that thinks impaling people on spikes is a good plan. But maybe that’s just me.

Overall I liked it. Can’t understand the squee for Erimem/Dracula. Although that’s a pairing made in crack heaven.

Shada

And why did I take so long to listen to this? Shada was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Didn’t quite make it into the list of audios I probably shouldn’t listen to in public as people look at you funny when you burst out laughing, but it came close. Eight and Romana are so fantastic together. Things to love about them:

Eight begging Romana to come with him.
Eight calling Romana a genius, several times.
Witty banter!
Just everything good about the Doctor and Romana being in the same room together. The stuff that there even when Six and Romana are being awkward with each other and not knowing quite how to act. That stuff.

Also K-9 was fantastic. And the stupid bike thing. And one of the worst criminals in Gallifrey’s history turning into a forgetful Cambridge professor. Love.

I really liked Shada.

Memory Lane

I didn’t hate it. Wasn’t wowed by it either. I like the aliens. I liked the idea of a race that has a hard time remembering things. It amuses me. I like that they’ve kept Tom in a prison so that they can watch the first contact with an alien race over and over again. And then because of their memories it’s like the first time every time. Poor Tom, but good humor. Tom was kinda annoying anyway.

Mainly this one left me even more worried about C’rizz. I think it’s clear that something horrible is going to happen with him. What with his belief that killing people=saving them. And the Dalek living in his head, that just can’t be good. Also Big Finish lists him in the next audio, but not the one after that. So I’m worried about C’rizz.

I like C’rizz, I think he’s a fun character, but his time has always been limited. More so than most characters on Doctor Who. Something horrible is going to happen to make the Doctor either leave him or end in C’rizz being dead. Bah.

Anyway back to Memory Lane. I can still talk about C’rizz though. I loved his bitchiness. He hated the lady astronaut (who’s name I can’t be bothered to remember) and didn’t feel like he should have to deny it. Also I love the way he wasn’t polite to anyone. Such a contrast to Eight, who always tries to be polite. Really about the only memorable part of this one was C’rizz and the aliens.

Oh and the fact that the Doctor’s fantasy about saving the day envolves Charley and C’rizz telling him how brilliant he is. That caused me to laugh out loud, which isn’t a good thing on the bus (people look at you funny and carefully edge away…so maybe it is a good thing).

Yeah, that’s all I’ve got.

Flip-Flop

If I had to make a list of my top five favorite Doctor Who storylines ever; tv show, audio, comic (not that I’ve read any of those), book, whatever this would be on it.

First off it has Mel. I love Mel. I kinda dread finally seeing an episode with her because apparently she is not awesome. Audio Mel is made of win. Flip-Flop is made of win. And Seven is made of win.

I hadn’t actually read anything about the plot for this before I listened to it, so was confused by the lack of CD1 or CD2 and instead the choice of Black or White. I randomly picked one and went at it. Imagine my delight when I found out it doesn’t matter which one you start with because each side you start with because each one ends with the beginning of the other. It was brilliant. The Doctor and Mel are looking for some crystals to stop something or another and end up on the only planet in the universe that has them. Only before they can cause any trouble they’re already wanted by the authorities and are arrested.

This leads on into the story of how they piss off the authorities and cause themselves to be arrested. Because the planet has a very neat paradox attached to it wherein each timeline creates the other. It’s brilliant and I love Mel’s drawn out explanations of things the Doctor just said. The way they have to deal with running into alterna!versions of the people they already knew. The way both sets leave the problem to their other set to fix. The entire circular nature of the storyline. It’s brilliant.

Also I love Mel.