Lazy summer days.
Jul. 24th, 2013 11:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
regndoft- Yesterday I met up with not just one, but two people I am actually not related to (i e friends) for the first time in weeks. We continued the grand tradition of bitterly complaining about this world's injustices, made ice cream and watched Legally Blonde, which is possibly one of the best feel-good movies ever.
- I started listening to Welcome to Night Vale. Those of you who have Tumblrs might've seen it around, as the fandom seems to have sprung up virtually overnight. For those of you who haven't--
Welcome to Night Vale is a horror/comedy podcast probably best described with words like "bizarre" and "Fantasy Kitchen Sink" (WARNING: TV Tropes link). The show is told in the format of a radio broadcast hosted by the protagonist Cecil Baldwin, who matter-of-factly reports on the various news, events and eldritch abominations that's part of the community life in the desert town of Night Vale (as well as the activities of Cecil's crush, Carlos the scientist). The comedy largely stems from the sheer absurdity of the events and the fact that the citizens of Night Vale are so desensitised to them that they often seem more concerned with completely mundane matters.
It's a strange little show that might be a bit hard to get into, but personally I'm enjoying it very much. The podcast is available free for streaming and download on iTunes, so anyone interested should definitely check it out. :)
- I've listened to BFAs less and less frequently the past month. Thus I have neglected the short non-spoilery reaction posts I got into the habit of making earlier this year. As I've now *cough*torrented*cough* acquired more of them, without further ado...
*Deep breath*
Minuet in Hell: I put off listening to this for ages, simply because of its bad reputation. Which, as it turned out, was the right decision. Even without the embarrassing and nonsensical portrayal of Americans and their allegedly infernal politics it's riddled with plotholes. It so dearly wants to be cool and dark and ends up looking nothing more than ridiculous.
Loups-Garoux: There were things I liked about this audio; I loved the setting, the plot itself isn't bad, but there are also pseudo-mystical plot elements that just... fall flat, together with the theme of unearthliness that the writer seems to have wanted to introduce (as no one in the story is actually human). Nearly all the minor characters are extremely unsympathetic.
Renaissance of the Daleks: Is apparently based on a script by Christopher H. Bidmead, which... makes a lot of sense. For better and worse, this largely feels like an 80s serial, and while it didn't leave a deep impression I liked it well enough. It's Okay, but not something I'd recommend in a hurry.
I.D. & Urgent Calls: Two stories with the sixth Doctor going solo; the first is a really enjoyable and tightly plotted action adventure, while the second is told only in phone calls. Both are eminently listenable. <3
Valhalla: This audio opens with Seven placing an ad trying to sell himself (no, really). This is the best part of the entire story, tbh. It's set in the future, at a point in time when Seven is travelling alone; ignoring the fact that Big Finish doesn't seem to have a substantial idea of why this is/how this would actually affect his character development, it means that without engaging side characters, an ok story that could've been good enough remains merely ok. The plot itself is rather basic and unoriginal.
The Wishing Beast & The Vanity Box: THESE ARE BOTH OFFENSIVELY BAD. I. I have no idea what was running through Paul Magrs' head when writing these. He seems to have a thing for writing more fantasy-flavoured, kind of fairy tale-esque Who; when done right, this is fine. This is about how wrong it could possibly get. And it's awful.
The Vanity Box, at least, has the saving grace of featuring Six disguised as a woman. But that's the only silver-lining I can find.
Frozen Time: Seven going solo again, bland minor characters again (the one engaging one doesn't have nearly enough "screen" time), dull and unoriginal story again, Base Under Siege style. Also the Doctor surviving MILLIONS OF YEARS in ice with only his clothes as protection is ridiculous. You can only stretch suspension of disbelief so far until it snaps, even for Doctor Who.
Son of the Dragon: Why do Five, Peri and Erimem lend themselves so well to historicals? I don't know, but this is certainly one of the best of them there is.
100: Four half-hour stories, the first of which is UPSETTINGLY OOC, which completely negates any emotional gravitas it might've wanted to convey; the second is good fun and the best of the lot; the third has a decent concept but the ending feels cheap; the fourth is ok, but not as good as it could've been.
Absolution: Utter rubbish; whenever Big Finish tries to introduce hellish cults into the mix everything goes pear-shaped, apparently. I actually fell asleep during the last part, presumably as a defense mechanism. An extremely unsatisfying end to C'rizz's character arc (not that there was much to be salvaged from that, tbh); I do like how the events in this story affect Charley and forces her own character development.
The Mind's Eye & Mission of the Viyrans: The Mind's Eye is a fairly stellar Who story; enjoyable enough, but not particularly daring or memorable (although it does serve as ~*foreshadowing*~). Mission of the Viyrans, meanwhile, is perhaps a bit too memorable, as it's made of nightmare fuel. .__.;
The Girl Who Never Was: There are a couple of things about the last part of this audio that really, really bother me, and I feel like that might be influencing my overall impression of it. Which is unfair, as it's a very good story; the side characters are distinct and memorable, and the time-travel-as-plot-device doesn't feel contrived. I might've been more enthused if I'd liked Charley more.
The Bride of Peladon: I LOVE THIS AUDIO PLAY SO MUCH I THINK I WANT TO MARRY IT. I already adore Peladon, and hearing this audio take so many aspects of the serials while simultaneously introducing new characters and concepts that make for a whole new story is a delight. The minor characters are great (Zixlyr in particular is wonderful and heartbreaking) and Erimem's level of badassery could power a town of average size for a year at least. I rolled over and squeed more than once. It's so nearly perfect, I'm willing to ignore the fact that fridging female characters is a plot point.
The Condemned: I love the low-scale setting of this. Murder and aliens living undercover in Manchester is more X-Files than Doctor Who tends to be, but it works really, really well. It feels a bit wobbly towards the end, but it's not a fatal flaw.
The Dark Husband: Such crackficcy goodness, tbh. The Doctor tries to stop a war by getting married. This goes about as well as you'd expect it to. It's a funny one, in a way, because the story itself is really rather serious and on a grand scale like something you'd expect from a Seven audio, but it's littered with one-liners. A fun romp, all in all.
- I started listening to Welcome to Night Vale. Those of you who have Tumblrs might've seen it around, as the fandom seems to have sprung up virtually overnight. For those of you who haven't--
Welcome to Night Vale is a horror/comedy podcast probably best described with words like "bizarre" and "Fantasy Kitchen Sink" (WARNING: TV Tropes link). The show is told in the format of a radio broadcast hosted by the protagonist Cecil Baldwin, who matter-of-factly reports on the various news, events and eldritch abominations that's part of the community life in the desert town of Night Vale (as well as the activities of Cecil's crush, Carlos the scientist). The comedy largely stems from the sheer absurdity of the events and the fact that the citizens of Night Vale are so desensitised to them that they often seem more concerned with completely mundane matters.
It's a strange little show that might be a bit hard to get into, but personally I'm enjoying it very much. The podcast is available free for streaming and download on iTunes, so anyone interested should definitely check it out. :)
- I've listened to BFAs less and less frequently the past month. Thus I have neglected the short non-spoilery reaction posts I got into the habit of making earlier this year. As I've now *cough*torrented*cough* acquired more of them, without further ado...
*Deep breath*
Minuet in Hell: I put off listening to this for ages, simply because of its bad reputation. Which, as it turned out, was the right decision. Even without the embarrassing and nonsensical portrayal of Americans and their allegedly infernal politics it's riddled with plotholes. It so dearly wants to be cool and dark and ends up looking nothing more than ridiculous.
Loups-Garoux: There were things I liked about this audio; I loved the setting, the plot itself isn't bad, but there are also pseudo-mystical plot elements that just... fall flat, together with the theme of unearthliness that the writer seems to have wanted to introduce (as no one in the story is actually human). Nearly all the minor characters are extremely unsympathetic.
Renaissance of the Daleks: Is apparently based on a script by Christopher H. Bidmead, which... makes a lot of sense. For better and worse, this largely feels like an 80s serial, and while it didn't leave a deep impression I liked it well enough. It's Okay, but not something I'd recommend in a hurry.
I.D. & Urgent Calls: Two stories with the sixth Doctor going solo; the first is a really enjoyable and tightly plotted action adventure, while the second is told only in phone calls. Both are eminently listenable. <3
Valhalla: This audio opens with Seven placing an ad trying to sell himself (no, really). This is the best part of the entire story, tbh. It's set in the future, at a point in time when Seven is travelling alone; ignoring the fact that Big Finish doesn't seem to have a substantial idea of why this is/how this would actually affect his character development, it means that without engaging side characters, an ok story that could've been good enough remains merely ok. The plot itself is rather basic and unoriginal.
The Wishing Beast & The Vanity Box: THESE ARE BOTH OFFENSIVELY BAD. I. I have no idea what was running through Paul Magrs' head when writing these. He seems to have a thing for writing more fantasy-flavoured, kind of fairy tale-esque Who; when done right, this is fine. This is about how wrong it could possibly get. And it's awful.
The Vanity Box, at least, has the saving grace of featuring Six disguised as a woman. But that's the only silver-lining I can find.
Frozen Time: Seven going solo again, bland minor characters again (the one engaging one doesn't have nearly enough "screen" time), dull and unoriginal story again, Base Under Siege style. Also the Doctor surviving MILLIONS OF YEARS in ice with only his clothes as protection is ridiculous. You can only stretch suspension of disbelief so far until it snaps, even for Doctor Who.
Son of the Dragon: Why do Five, Peri and Erimem lend themselves so well to historicals? I don't know, but this is certainly one of the best of them there is.
100: Four half-hour stories, the first of which is UPSETTINGLY OOC, which completely negates any emotional gravitas it might've wanted to convey; the second is good fun and the best of the lot; the third has a decent concept but the ending feels cheap; the fourth is ok, but not as good as it could've been.
Absolution: Utter rubbish; whenever Big Finish tries to introduce hellish cults into the mix everything goes pear-shaped, apparently. I actually fell asleep during the last part, presumably as a defense mechanism. An extremely unsatisfying end to C'rizz's character arc (not that there was much to be salvaged from that, tbh); I do like how the events in this story affect Charley and forces her own character development.
The Mind's Eye & Mission of the Viyrans: The Mind's Eye is a fairly stellar Who story; enjoyable enough, but not particularly daring or memorable (although it does serve as ~*foreshadowing*~). Mission of the Viyrans, meanwhile, is perhaps a bit too memorable, as it's made of nightmare fuel. .__.;
The Girl Who Never Was: There are a couple of things about the last part of this audio that really, really bother me, and I feel like that might be influencing my overall impression of it. Which is unfair, as it's a very good story; the side characters are distinct and memorable, and the time-travel-as-plot-device doesn't feel contrived. I might've been more enthused if I'd liked Charley more.
The Bride of Peladon: I LOVE THIS AUDIO PLAY SO MUCH I THINK I WANT TO MARRY IT. I already adore Peladon, and hearing this audio take so many aspects of the serials while simultaneously introducing new characters and concepts that make for a whole new story is a delight. The minor characters are great (Zixlyr in particular is wonderful and heartbreaking) and Erimem's level of badassery could power a town of average size for a year at least. I rolled over and squeed more than once. It's so nearly perfect, I'm willing to ignore the fact that fridging female characters is a plot point.
The Condemned: I love the low-scale setting of this. Murder and aliens living undercover in Manchester is more X-Files than Doctor Who tends to be, but it works really, really well. It feels a bit wobbly towards the end, but it's not a fatal flaw.
The Dark Husband: Such crackficcy goodness, tbh. The Doctor tries to stop a war by getting married. This goes about as well as you'd expect it to. It's a funny one, in a way, because the story itself is really rather serious and on a grand scale like something you'd expect from a Seven audio, but it's littered with one-liners. A fun romp, all in all.
