Oo! We've been doing a lot of talking about bringing old characters and plot elements out of the woodwork, but MUSIC. There's a topic. If there is one old piece of Who music I'd love to be redone for the anniversary, it's this.
First time I ever really noticed Who music aside the theme song, made my hair stand up on end...
Good astounded or bad astounded?
It's mostly that Baker and Ward have really good chemistry. They bounce off each other well and manage to be totally batty in ways that sort of counterbalance each other.
Both Romanas were particularly good. Mary Tam isn't as popular due to her decreased time in the role, but she gives a particularly clever performance by cleverly reinterpreting her role as audience surrogate. Instead of playing a character who had to have the plot and circumstances explained to them and who'd discover the show's world along with the audience, Tam created a character who knew exactly how shitty the show could often be, acknowledged its problems, and seemed to argue that the entire thing was still worthwhile. Lalla Ward just continually had fun, and gave a performance that encouraged a breezy laissez-faire attitude that the Williams Era would foster at the best of times.
The two together probably provided the single strongest companion character (on television) until Ace. (Though Peri and Nyssa particularly have managed to be redeemed by Big Finish, while Ace has, if anything, travelled quickly and perhaps irrevocably downhill.) I don't know if anyone in this thread has been exposed to those reinterpretations, but the development those two characters have had is absolutely staggering. And for anyone who's interested in the show's development, or in writing in general, I highly recommend checking out Cryptobiosis, ...ish, The Axis Of Insanity and The Reaping for Peri, and Creatures Of Beauty, Spare Parts, Primeval and Circular Time for Nyssa.)
Possibly two of the more amazing cases of character resuscitation I've ever seen — at least Colin Baker and Mel had traits, however annoying/problematic. These two were bland as bland can be, but managed to become fully developed, dynamic, multi-dimensional characters. And I'm not arguing this as a fanboy. Well, not purely.
/Gush.
Edit: And just to be more on topic, for Who's 50fthy, I just want something simple. A stand-alone story. The Doctor, plus a completely new person, in a one-off. They meet the Doctor, solve some crisis (preferably something small) and then the Doctor leaves them a better person. That's what the show's about, to me. I've never been a fan of the epics, I've always been more of a Human Nature/SLEEPY/Return Of The Living Dad kind of guy. Something quiet and contemplative would do me just fine.
edited 31st Dec '11 12:54:31 AM by Nicknacks
This post has been powered by avenging fury and a balanced diet.A little. Some of it's useful to join some of the dots together — there's something a little worrying about her decisions to travel in time with a man who tried to strangle her, and then to go marry an abusive, Neanderthal-ic warlord. There's liking the bad boys, and then there's that. Plus her uncle is way sketchy. But it can go a little too far.
But there's a good amount of making her a gutsy, impulsive, think later, act first girl whose willingness to stick to her beliefs occasionally overrides her sense of self-preservation, who thinks she's open to new ideas, but is quickly grasping the fact that she doesn't know as much as she thought she did and is trying to come to terms with her own judgemental anger and prickly nature (which, yes, is implied to stem from sexual abuse). There's a fantastic sequence in Cryptobiosis where she throws herself in front of a gun wielding mad man and forces him to stand down through sheer fury and a passionate need for justice. What makes it fantastic — and it is, it really is. It's one of the best companion moments the show ever did — is that it's clearly a pointless act, and she knows it, but she does it anyway because she's so furious at all the pointless death around her that she just doesn't care anymore. She's going to get justice, dammit, and she doesn't care if she gets shot in the process.
It's part of what the EU's doing to make her asspull transformation into a Warrior Queen not so much an asspull, but a logical endpoint to her characterisation.
This post has been powered by avenging fury and a balanced diet.To add to my "fused timelines"* suggestion: We would also see alternate versions of the Doctor, played by other actors - since the new incarnation's appearance seems in part to depend on the circustances of the previous one's demise, we could see the roads not taken - a Sixth Doctor played by Stephen Fry, a Ninth Doctor played by Alan Rickman... you know, all the possible awesome. And, hidden amongst those, pretending to be just another one of these alternate incarnations: the Twelfth Doctor. Now to make a plot going with that and allowing for equal screentime for all without pushing it too far...
Let me explain! ...No, there is too much. Let me sum up!Awesome astounded. Like I said, that percussion section. Is just the most amazingly suspenseful sci-fi sounding thing ever. I wish there more music like that in Nu Who. I love the idea of re-using Classic music (or at least having Gold re-arrange it) for the anniversary.
There used to be a very well done mashup of the Season 4 and the Season 5-6 DW opening theme - can't find it anywhere now. But what I'd really like to hear is a mix between I Am The Doctor and The Doctor's Theme... I wish I knew how to do it myself.
edited 31st Dec '11 9:10:11 AM by karasu91
Let me explain! ...No, there is too much. Let me sum up!Incidentally, if they can find some way to condense all the awesomeness of this
into 30-45 seconds, it should be used as the opening. (With Matt Smith stuffs added, naturally.)
edited 31st Dec '11 9:51:40 AM by Wackd
Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.
I agree with you If there is one thing I don't want is the special episode being an average episode (if not then what's the point?).
edited 31st Dec '11 1:19:37 PM by FallenLegend
Make your hearth shine through the darkest night; let it transform hate into kindness, evil into justice, and loneliness into love.
No, but see my point is they can do an episode like that any time they want. There's no special reason for that to be the entirty of the fiftieth celebration.
Ooh. An entire season where every/most episode is a standalone with some relevance to the Who zeitgeist, building to a four-episode multi-Doctor finale, with the Doctor's entire existence (and thus all the good he's ever done) in the balance.
... what if he finds himself having to choose between keeping himself from being erased from history or all the (other)good Time Lords coming back?
edited 10th Feb '12 12:32:41 AM by TParadox
Fresh-eyed movie blogGood Time Lords? I think you'll find that they've all been retconned as insane because it's twice as tragic for Ten
◊.
Um, what? I think Rassilon was just threatening them into going along with his insane plan, not that all the Time Lords were insane enough to want him to succeed. Would you go up against a guy who can turn you to dust with a flick of his wrist?
The Corsair was a good Time Lord. Granted, he got om nom nom'd but his existence proves that there were non-asshole ones. Plus, that one face covered up Time Lord who isn't not the Doctor's mother or whatever was a good one too. Who could somehow project herself outside the Time Lock. Yeah.
Forever liveblogging the Avengers

edited 30th Dec '11 9:51:55 PM by Mort08
Looking for some stories?