Starborn Dragon
Captain
The Eighth Doctor?
isn't that Tom Baker?
isn't that Tom Baker?
Big Finish get River Song (and lots more!)
- Thread starter StCoop
- Start date
Baker was Fourth. Paul McGann was Eighth.
Here's the link for the plot descrition of the Fifth Doctor/Weeping Angels story.
http://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/doctor-who-meet-the-victims-of-the-weeping-angels
http://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/doctor-who-meet-the-victims-of-the-weeping-angels
Details on The Churchill Years.
http://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/doctor-who-the-churchill-years
So four stories but only three feturing the Doctor. And from the description of the last one it sounds like it could be Amy in it.
http://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/doctor-who-the-churchill-years
So four stories but only three feturing the Doctor. And from the description of the last one it sounds like it could be Amy in it.
If the final story does have an Amy post-"Angels of Manhattan" in it, my interest in this series (which, frankly, has been close to nil) will inch up slightly. My fear is that it will feature Iris Wildthyme instead.
The eleventh Doctor story, from its description, sounds utterly misguided -- "Let's take Churchill on a trip in the TARDIS and have him meet Julius Caesar!" Why would you do that? Maybe it makes sense within context, but from the blurb this doesn't make any sense to me.
I was hoping for something more interesting from Churchill, like a story that explored why he was so gung-ho for Gallipoli.
Honestly, I'm not comfortable with the notion of the Doctor being good pals with Winston Churchill. The real Churchill was a racist and a warmonger, the sort of man who approved of using chemical weapons against "uncivilised tribes" (i.e. Arabs) to spread "terror," and who may have deliberately diverted food from India during a famine, depending on which historians you ask. Granted, the show hinted at that darker side of him by showing him willing to use Daleks to fight Hitler, but otherwise it's made him into too much of a cuddly caricature.
I am absolutely in agreement with you, Christopher. I wasn't happy with Churchill's portrayal in "Victory of the Daleks" because I felt it whitewashed him far too much. That's a reason why I haven't been excited by this audio project.
Now, if Big Finish could portray Churchill in a way closer to the historical Churchill, warts and all, I might have more interest. If the Doctor felt no compunction against taking down PM Harriet Jones because she crossed the line with the Sycorax, why wouldn't he do the same -- or worse -- with Churchill? But that's moral complexion that Doctor Who doesn't really do.
How many DW versions of historical figures actualy resemble the real person?
Anyway, the Doctor is probably the biggest mass murder in the Universe so anyone looks good next to him!
This announcement came at exactly the wrong time. I've just finished reading Player with the Second and Sixth Doctor meeting Churchill at various times in his life. This sounds like it completely contradicts that novel (which I know Who doesn't care about but :P)
I was at zero interest already for this one, somehow that's just dropped further.
I was at zero interest already for this one, somehow that's just dropped further.
It doesn't necessarily have to contradict that novel. As long as they don't try to say in the Ninth Doctor story that this is the first time the Doctor and Churchill have met, than there's no contradiction.
That could be worth examining. Like, maybe the Doctor realizes he has no choice but to leave Churchill in power because he's so important to fighting Hitler. Maybe he even befriended him to try to ameliorate his nastier tendencies.
But would the British public be comfortable with a negative portrait of Churchill?
I find myself in complete agreement with Christopher and Allyn Gibson, re: Churchill. The more one reads the actual historical facts of the man, the more one realizes he was a ruthless, single-minded individual who barely tolerated communism/socialism, and was the last remnant of the British Empire's colonialism thiking.
He was a major reason I dislike Victory of the Daleks, as well. A cuddly, oh-shucks-to-be-the-Prime-Minister character who was ruthless because he had no other choice, huh? Bah!
While DW is not really the source for accurate history-telling, especially in regards to the 20th century and onward (has the Doctor ever criticisized colonialism and open slavery in regards to that, on-screen?), but taking Churchill and making him the equivelant of Chief O'Hara from the Mickey Mouse comics is just downright whitewash. As its also been said, too.
The only I am excited at all for the release, has less to do with Churcill and more to do with the fact that we're getting some kind of new adventures featuring the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors. Thats it. Story-wise, I certainly hope we'll see a proper exploration of the character and in a meaningful way, perhaps making the bold distinction that the Churchill in DW is not like the Churchill of real-life, therefore justifying the white-wash by saying that, in-universe, Churchill was a distinctinctly different personality in all regards.
Of course, what would the point be of him beign Churchill at all, then. Why not Bimbaduring or something like that. And that would be a valid question, indeed.
He was a major reason I dislike Victory of the Daleks, as well. A cuddly, oh-shucks-to-be-the-Prime-Minister character who was ruthless because he had no other choice, huh? Bah!
While DW is not really the source for accurate history-telling, especially in regards to the 20th century and onward (has the Doctor ever criticisized colonialism and open slavery in regards to that, on-screen?), but taking Churchill and making him the equivelant of Chief O'Hara from the Mickey Mouse comics is just downright whitewash. As its also been said, too.
The only I am excited at all for the release, has less to do with Churcill and more to do with the fact that we're getting some kind of new adventures featuring the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors. Thats it. Story-wise, I certainly hope we'll see a proper exploration of the character and in a meaningful way, perhaps making the bold distinction that the Churchill in DW is not like the Churchill of real-life, therefore justifying the white-wash by saying that, in-universe, Churchill was a distinctinctly different personality in all regards.
Of course, what would the point be of him beign Churchill at all, then. Why not Bimbaduring or something like that. And that would be a valid question, indeed.
A number of '70s and '80s episodes critiqued the colonialist mentality through futuristic allegories, like "Colony in Space" and "Kinda."
Kinda like how Who-verse Richard Nixon was actually a nice guy whose apparent paranoia was actually a necessary response to the threat of the Silence?
That's Jeff the Good-Looking One. Although how BF will convey his looks in the audio drama proper should prove interesting...
Well, I prefered that story over The Snowmen. And Last Christmas. At the very least.
It's the only episode of the series that I haven't fully seen (or heard for those that are lost) as I turned it off with about 10 minutes left because I couldn't take any more.
Yeah, sorta.
Though now that you mention it, I admit that even that was a soft white-wash.
Damn, so far, under Moffat's reign, two notorious politicians were seemingly whitewashed. Who's next?
Its a unique Christmas tale, with a very moving conclusion. Vastly underrated story.
I don't like "Widow," and I think it's probably the worst thing Moffat has written for Doctor Who. (Its main competitors, for me, are "Let's Kill Hitler" and "The Wedding of River Song.") I find it tedious with a manic-depressive tone. I simply cannot care about anything in the story -- not the trees on Androzani Minor, not saving the father's downed Lancaster, nothing. The climax, where they fly the tree ship and save the tree spirits, makes me go, "Whiskey tango foxtrot?" every time.
Yet, there are some truly great moments, like the Doctor's talk with Madge about how she's trying to keep her children happy because she knows that they're going to be sad. Or, really, most scenes of the Doctor and Madge, like when she visits him in the attic at the end. And the Doctor arriving for Christmas at the Ponds' in the final scene is quite touching.
All of that said...
I don't remember anything compelling about the daughter from "Widow." I doubt she'd make my "top 100 one-off Doctor Who characters I'd like to see agan" list.
In retrospect, I think the boy should have been a young Wilf, which would make Madge Donna's great-grandmother. Maybe that would have been a little small-universe, but it would have been entirely appropriate for a Narnia-inspired story.
Damn, so far, under Moffat's reign, two notorious politicians were seemingly whitewashed. Who's next?
Vlad Tepes? We'll find out that he and the Doctor were besties?
Similar threads
