Classic!Who s7—Inferno
Mar. 18th, 2015 09:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flowsoffireHello! There hasn't been any updates really, simply because there was nothing very interesting to tell. I'm still working as much as I can, still trying to novel-edit and keep up with fandom and all the things. I came down with a bit of a cold today that had me feeling really sleepy, but still managed to get a few things done in the most energetic intervals so yay. And I finished s7! So you get a review! :D This is where you clap and cheer, yes.
So, Inferno. Inferno had gorgeous opening images, first, what with the pretty lava and stuff. ;) The lava wasn't so very relevant but never mind. It also got off to a very nice start, with the Doctor singing opera, random old pictures of the Brigadier with some classmates of his, Three sassing the hell out of the completely unbearable professor Stahlman. It had monster people, which were nice and monstery and not extremely scary, but with lots of greenness and hair. That was a thing. It had lots of hilarious lines, see later.
The cast was nice; there was professor Stahlman, who was basically there so everyone would want to kill him, characters and audience both. Except for his assistant Petra, because she is nice. There is Greg, who didn't make the best of first impressions with his grossly awkward flirting at Petra, but turned out to be a really decent guy, who was just awkward because Men Can Be Like That, but had a wonderfully shippy and sweet dynamic with Petra besides and obviously cared tons about her. There was a bit more of Benton, though not so much. Also, Venusian karate will save you in every situation, pursuits with Bessie are the coolest thing, Liz and the Doctor's companionship is all the sweetness
But the core of it is really *drumroll* the parallel universes thing. Which gave me lots of feels and interest, because classic!Who vs. new!Who comparisons, All The History, blah blah blah, but mostly it was so fascinating when it came to the characterizations. Evil!Brig and Liz, indeed. And I really wondered about the character traits that got so turned around in them—first, Brig and Liz are the focus as far as the changes are concerned, because Stahlman is still bad news, Greg and Petra are roughly similar (she wears a bun. There might be discreet changes, nothing very striking), but the Brig and Liz, oh my. This is an authoritarian setting. Liz is a good little follower, not a scientist, all good and brainwashed, and the Brigade Leader is… bad news. Nicholas Courtney must have had fun acting that. The eye, the voice, the really unhinged and borderline sadistic side! Whoa. (That time when they interrogated the Doctor gave me chills, I'm telling you.) This was something else. So how did they work that out? Did they just pick character versions that would be startling and impactful to the audience, or was it relevant to Liz and the Brig's actual personalities? Basically, parts of them that were there and just neatly repressed (authoritarian!Brig works, brainwashed!Liz not so much) or complete opposites? Or a bit of both. Likely a bit of both, because after all evil!Liz and the Brigade Leader were not *born* of the ones we know; they are different, fully independent versions, with some identical and some different traits. Not going backwards or forwards, slipping sideways. I will love that wording forever, it is really fascinating.
Actually when it all became critical and disaster-y, it was interesting to see how the tables turned—at first Greg wanted to just run away with Petra, try and save his skin as there was nothing they could do. Understandable, but the Brigade Leader was all like "you are AWOL-material scum and I shall end you if you try to leave because you're human and scared". But when there was actually a plan, and difficult choices to be made—helping the Doctor get back to his dimension and save the other world—Greg was ready to make that sacrifice and trust the Doctor, whereas the Brig went berserk, pushed everyone around (almost driving Petra to tears when she was busy struggling to *save the day*, before she put her foot down and cut him down to size, bless her), wanted to shoot the Doctor so he would take them all along and save them—so much for a soldier's spirit of sacrifice—and Liz turned on him too and was the one to disarm him in the end. No wonder the Doctor was rather shocked by this version of his dear friend. And it brought on rather interesting Doctor vs. Brigadier tension at the end, I really thought this would blow into their faces, but once more the show doesn't really go into angst!mode about those two's differences, so the ending was actually hilarious and sweet and reminding that yeah, they can fail at communicating ENTIRELY, but they have been friends forever really, so who cares, they'll still secretly love the hell out of each other.
Conclusion: Greg/Petra endgame, TARDIS apparently operational but very capricious (involving unexpected trips to the rubbish tip), and it closes on Liz giggling like the adorable baby she is at her idiotic and adorable friends? I like :D
SO THIS IS IT. I watched a wee bit of Terror of the Autons already, though my brain is scattered so I don't know if I'll keep on the classic!Who spree in the next few days or have a shift of mood; Jo is the cutest thing, and I stared at the Master so hard my eyes all but jumped out of my skull. XD Eeeee. All the excitement.
All the cool lines:
Stahlman [being a bastard]: "Your concern is with such important matters as the canteen facilities and the new roster for the cleaners. Anything to do with the drilling is my concern and mine alone."
Three [about the Brig's old pictures]: "Yes, well, if it's true, I can see why you grew that moustache." (Brigade Leader doesn't have one.)
Three: "Allow? Look, Miss Shaw may have the misfortune to work for you, Brigadier. I am a free agent."
Petra [to Greg]: "Mister Sutton, I am Professor Stahlman's personal assistant, not a typist, and I'm not available for borrowing. Will you excuse me?"
Three [to Stahlman]: "Our liver playing us up again this morning, is it Professor?"
Three: "Yes, well I'll tell you something that should be of vital interest to you, Professor."
Stahlman: "Well, what?"
Three: "That you, sir, are a nitwit!"
Three: "But I don't exist in your world!"
Brigade Leader: "Then you won't feel the bullets when we shoot you."
Greg: "Would you care?" [if I got killed off]
Petra: "I'd regret the waste, that is all."
Benton [relying Stahlman's words to the Brig]: "He says he's too busy to waste time bandying words with a pompous military idiot, sir!"
Three: "What did you expect? Some kind of space rocket with Batman at the controls?"
Brigadier: "I'll send for a doctor."
Liz: "I happen to be a doctor, Brigadier, remember?"
Three: "I'm not sick, I'm not in need of a doctor and I'm not a raving idiot!"
Brigadier: "No, no, no, of course not."
So, Inferno. Inferno had gorgeous opening images, first, what with the pretty lava and stuff. ;) The lava wasn't so very relevant but never mind. It also got off to a very nice start, with the Doctor singing opera, random old pictures of the Brigadier with some classmates of his, Three sassing the hell out of the completely unbearable professor Stahlman. It had monster people, which were nice and monstery and not extremely scary, but with lots of greenness and hair. That was a thing. It had lots of hilarious lines, see later.
The cast was nice; there was professor Stahlman, who was basically there so everyone would want to kill him, characters and audience both. Except for his assistant Petra, because she is nice. There is Greg, who didn't make the best of first impressions with his grossly awkward flirting at Petra, but turned out to be a really decent guy, who was just awkward because Men Can Be Like That, but had a wonderfully shippy and sweet dynamic with Petra besides and obviously cared tons about her. There was a bit more of Benton, though not so much. Also, Venusian karate will save you in every situation, pursuits with Bessie are the coolest thing, Liz and the Doctor's companionship is all the sweetness
But the core of it is really *drumroll* the parallel universes thing. Which gave me lots of feels and interest, because classic!Who vs. new!Who comparisons, All The History, blah blah blah, but mostly it was so fascinating when it came to the characterizations. Evil!Brig and Liz, indeed. And I really wondered about the character traits that got so turned around in them—first, Brig and Liz are the focus as far as the changes are concerned, because Stahlman is still bad news, Greg and Petra are roughly similar (she wears a bun. There might be discreet changes, nothing very striking), but the Brig and Liz, oh my. This is an authoritarian setting. Liz is a good little follower, not a scientist, all good and brainwashed, and the Brigade Leader is… bad news. Nicholas Courtney must have had fun acting that. The eye, the voice, the really unhinged and borderline sadistic side! Whoa. (That time when they interrogated the Doctor gave me chills, I'm telling you.) This was something else. So how did they work that out? Did they just pick character versions that would be startling and impactful to the audience, or was it relevant to Liz and the Brig's actual personalities? Basically, parts of them that were there and just neatly repressed (authoritarian!Brig works, brainwashed!Liz not so much) or complete opposites? Or a bit of both. Likely a bit of both, because after all evil!Liz and the Brigade Leader were not *born* of the ones we know; they are different, fully independent versions, with some identical and some different traits. Not going backwards or forwards, slipping sideways. I will love that wording forever, it is really fascinating.
Actually when it all became critical and disaster-y, it was interesting to see how the tables turned—at first Greg wanted to just run away with Petra, try and save his skin as there was nothing they could do. Understandable, but the Brigade Leader was all like "you are AWOL-material scum and I shall end you if you try to leave because you're human and scared". But when there was actually a plan, and difficult choices to be made—helping the Doctor get back to his dimension and save the other world—Greg was ready to make that sacrifice and trust the Doctor, whereas the Brig went berserk, pushed everyone around (almost driving Petra to tears when she was busy struggling to *save the day*, before she put her foot down and cut him down to size, bless her), wanted to shoot the Doctor so he would take them all along and save them—so much for a soldier's spirit of sacrifice—and Liz turned on him too and was the one to disarm him in the end. No wonder the Doctor was rather shocked by this version of his dear friend. And it brought on rather interesting Doctor vs. Brigadier tension at the end, I really thought this would blow into their faces, but once more the show doesn't really go into angst!mode about those two's differences, so the ending was actually hilarious and sweet and reminding that yeah, they can fail at communicating ENTIRELY, but they have been friends forever really, so who cares, they'll still secretly love the hell out of each other.
Conclusion: Greg/Petra endgame, TARDIS apparently operational but very capricious (involving unexpected trips to the rubbish tip), and it closes on Liz giggling like the adorable baby she is at her idiotic and adorable friends? I like :D
SO THIS IS IT. I watched a wee bit of Terror of the Autons already, though my brain is scattered so I don't know if I'll keep on the classic!Who spree in the next few days or have a shift of mood; Jo is the cutest thing, and I stared at the Master so hard my eyes all but jumped out of my skull. XD Eeeee. All the excitement.
All the cool lines:
Stahlman [being a bastard]: "Your concern is with such important matters as the canteen facilities and the new roster for the cleaners. Anything to do with the drilling is my concern and mine alone."
Three [about the Brig's old pictures]: "Yes, well, if it's true, I can see why you grew that moustache." (Brigade Leader doesn't have one.)
Three: "Allow? Look, Miss Shaw may have the misfortune to work for you, Brigadier. I am a free agent."
Petra [to Greg]: "Mister Sutton, I am Professor Stahlman's personal assistant, not a typist, and I'm not available for borrowing. Will you excuse me?"
Three [to Stahlman]: "Our liver playing us up again this morning, is it Professor?"
Three: "Yes, well I'll tell you something that should be of vital interest to you, Professor."
Stahlman: "Well, what?"
Three: "That you, sir, are a nitwit!"
Three: "But I don't exist in your world!"
Brigade Leader: "Then you won't feel the bullets when we shoot you."
Greg: "Would you care?" [if I got killed off]
Petra: "I'd regret the waste, that is all."
Benton [relying Stahlman's words to the Brig]: "He says he's too busy to waste time bandying words with a pompous military idiot, sir!"
Three: "What did you expect? Some kind of space rocket with Batman at the controls?"
Brigadier: "I'll send for a doctor."
Liz: "I happen to be a doctor, Brigadier, remember?"
Three: "I'm not sick, I'm not in need of a doctor and I'm not a raving idiot!"
Brigadier: "No, no, no, of course not."
