Doctor Who Audios: The Church and the Crown, The Kingmaker, The Reaping, Terror Firma

[selenak]

Some Doctor Who audios I listened to in recent months, but somehow never found the time to review:



The Church and the Crown is the second outing for audio companion Erimem and the point where she officially joins team TARDIS, currently consisting of the Fifth Doctor and Peri. As I haven't reviewed any Peri/Erimem/Five adventures before, I should say they require a massive suspension of disbelief because they supposedly all take place between Planet of Fire and The Caves of Androzani, and frankly, I can't really buy that because Five at the start of Caves is pretty much Traumatized-by-killing-the-Master!Five and he and Peri are obviously still very new to each other. (That convenient sci fi ploy, amnesia, can't be on the cards because in a Sixth Doctor audio adventure he fondly talks about Peri and Erimem and how they brought out the best in each other.) On the other hand, Five/Peri/Erimem are so much fun together that I wouldn't want to miss out their adventures, either. If anyone has come up with a good theory that would make it possible to explain how Five 'n Peri are at the start of Caves if they have done all this travelling with Erimem, pray tell, I'd be glad to adopt it.

Anyway. Erimem is an Egpytian pharaoh (who didn't get to reign) and the audios really use the fact she's not a 20th (or 21st) century human, and has a quite different perspective from a 20th century woman like Peri. This particular story lands our heroes in early 17th century Paris and manages to be both a very entertaining homage to Alexandre Dumas' Three Musketeers and another part of Big Finish's ongoing effort to educate about historical characters who traditionally got a bad press, in this case Cardinal Richelieu, who comes across as a responsible statesman to Louis XIII. petulant brat king. (Erimem at one point has a great rant to Louis and Queen Anne both about what being a monarch means and what a pair of egotistical brats they are.) They also play with audience expectations (based on the assumption that the audience is familiar with at least one version of Dumas' novel), with everyone suspecting Richelieu of villainous doings at the start and the two musketeers in this story talking about how that guy from Gascogne got all the credit for the business with the Queen's jewels. And of course there is lots of swashbuckling. ("How does a swash actually buckle, Doctor?" asks Peri.) Nicola Bryant audibly enjoys herself in a double role, as she doesn't just play Peri but Queen Anne, whom Peri happens to resemble (cue mistaken identies and kidnapppings), the later without fake American accent, naturally. Our villain is the Duke of Buckingham, which makes for a great line when he accuses the Doctor of planning to invade England ("No," quoth Five, "usually I prevent that sort of thing"). All great fun, and my inner nitpicker just groaned once, when Richelieu mentioned Louis' mother and refered to her as Catherine de' Medici. No, dear Cavon Scott and Mark Wright (aka the scriptwriters), that was the other Medici queen. The mother of Louis XIII was Marie de' Medici, a far more stupid woman, prone to be ruled by her favourites (whereas say what you want about Catherine, but she did the backstage ruling herself). Don't ask me why I found this irritating when I swallowed the way more ahistorical premise of Buckingham smuggling an army right in front of the gates of Paris; I can't tell you, either. Not a nitpick, just an observation: Five has very little to do in this audio, with Erimem and Peri doing most of the heavy lifting plot-wise, and the Doctor mostly passive except for the finale. Now passivity is sort of a Five thing, so it's not ooc, but it's also why while I like Five, he'll never be one of my favourite Doctors.

And finally: said scriptwriters apt to confuse Medici queens weren't too keen on some other people, either. In the foreword on the leaflet coming with the CD, they write (in September 2002): "You know, time travel is supposed to be fun. From watching the Fifth Doctor's era on TV, you may have missed that bit. The TARDIS crew at the time were a whining bunch of kids who spent most of the time arguing whilst the Universe tapped its foot, looked at its watch and waited to be saved. Nobody seemed to want to be there. And let's not get started on Turlough." Why don't you tell us how you really feel about everyone in the Five era save Peter Davison as Five, boys...




This was actually the first Fifth Doctor era audio I heard - or rather, started to hear - years ago. I bought it because it has the Doctor and friends (Peri and Erimem) meeting Richard III., expecting a straight forward historical a la The Aztecs, started it and then was massively disappointed because on the contrary, it appeared to be a Blackadder type spoof ("I'll be your serving wench for this evening; do you want a carousing or non-carousing table?"). Not that there's anything wrong with Blackadder, but it wasn't what I had wanted, and so I stopped listening and let the CD gather dust. Then I found out The Kingmaker actually ends up in most people's greatest Big Finish productions list, and decided to give it another try. This time, I found it hysterically funny, unexpectedly moving in parts, and a very clever (and very mad) twist on all the different theories about Richard III and the princes in the Tower. (Not to mention the Shakespeare authorship theories...)

The Doctor is far more involved here than in The Church and the Crown, from the start, and Peter Davison gets the chance for a really great scene, as the Doctor goes from being a Ricardian in theory (i.e. someone who believes Richard didn't do it, for non-experts in the field) to being appalled to see Richard apparantly do some very sinister things indeed in practice to figuring out the truth of what is actually going on. The Peri & Erimem combination shines again, with, as mentioned, Erimem's different background used to good effect (in this case, her attitude towards suicide and murder, neither of which is anything like Peri's). There is also a priceless DW continuity joke there, as Peri, when discovering that the villain behind the scenes appears to be a time-travelling bearded man dressed in black, naturally concludes it must be the Master, somehow resurrected, and when wearily told by the Doctor it isn't wonders how many bearded villains in black stalking him he knows.

By now, The Kingmaker is thoroughly jossed (err, Russell'd) by New Who on several fronts (most nobably through The Shakespeare Code), but then, it never was intended as serious history. (Though the foreword in the CD leaflet could give you that impression. It's both jossed, a bit uninformed and a tad hyprocritical, as it complaints the Doctor has never been put in a situation where he "has to get his hands dirty" by not just letting some awful historical fact happen but by having to do it himself. As I recall, One point-blank refused to save anyone from the St. Bartholomew's Eve massacre because their deaths were all fixed, including a woman his then companion Steven had fallen in love with. And of course more recently, long after The Kingmaker was made, Ten had to kill the 20.000 something inhabitants of Pompeii by directly causing the volcano to explode to begin with. Whereas in The Kingmaker Five actually gets around having to do something awful to preserve history by figuring out the truth in time.) Though if you're familiar with the Princes in the Tower debate, it should give you another kick, but it's amusing as hell either way.




A good play sadly let down by its ending, written by Joseph Lidster, which is why I picked it. On the good side of things, this presents Six and Peri interaction which gets the balance between bantering and bullying right; here they come across as genuinenly fond of each other, and their bickering as good natured gives-and-takes. It also deals with something left open by tv canon: whatever became of Peri's family after Planet of Fire, and what did they make of her absence? Peri's mother is played by Claudia Christian, which if you're a Babylon 5 fan like myself is good news. (Claudia Christian played Susan Ivanova on B5, who is one of the most memorable human characters on the station.) In the grand tradition of mothers on DW (and since this story was produced in 2006, it's definitely after the relaunch), she disapproves of the Doctor on sight and argues with her daughter non-stop, but is more than capable of going up against the monsters when it counts. Said monsters are the Cybermen, and I have to say somewhat heretically that I don't share the opinion the original Mondas-grown bunch were better than the Cybus products; neither will ever be anywhere near my favourite villains, though they're used effectively here, in a neat combination with zombie horror movie motives (the story takes place in Baltimore, after all, partly in the graveyard, no less - though Poe's grave never gets referenced). Until the end, that is, and I found it really disappointing because the rest of the story is quite good.

So, my issues with the last ten minutes or so: for starters, the solution of the Cybermen plot. After establishing the Cyberleader was devious enough to lay out a complicated trap for the Doctor, we're required to believe he'd a) use a very stupid blackmail ("either watch your companions die or change history which means they'll never have existed" is like the Doctor points out not much of an alternative or threat), b) simply believe the Doctor's word on having committed a completely unlikely action (a massive change of human history in favour of the Cybermen) without making any attempts to check whether the Doctor did indeed do so, and c) not figure out what the audience has figured out long ago, that the Doctor when returning him to the present won't set him loose on Earth. Mind you, the Doctor dumping him on doomed Mondas is a very Six-ish (or Seven-ish) kind of thing to do, no complaints there, it's the sudden dropping of intelligence in the main villain I can't buy.

Even more seriously, though: the "solution" to the Peri-and-her-mother-and-friends plot. This one starts going wrong by requiring the Doctor and Peri to do something absolutely bewildering, and no, I don't mean Peri deciding she needs to stay with her mother and friends after all that happened in this story. She asks for the remaining Cyber conversation unit as a souvenir and the Doctor gives it to her, and at this point my brain breaks in disbelief. (Both because why on earth should Peri want that as a souvener from her TARDIS days, and why would the Doctor be so criminally irresponsible to give it to her? Makes Nine's behaviour in The Long Game look almost decent by comparison, and I hate his behaviour in that episode.) Then the Doctor, deciding to check on Peri in the galactic news archive where they started their adventure (which btw is a neat invention - it's on the moon and called the gogglebox) finds out something went horribly wrong in 1984 (no kidding), and the audience finds out what: no, the conversion unit didn't convert, but Peri's mother accidentally triggers the self destroy mechanism and it blows up, killing her and another character in the story in the process. This is both gratitious cruelty (which, okay, you could say fits that particular TV era, but the audios usually don't do this) and a cheap way to reunite Peri and the Doctor (who comes to collect her at her mother's funeral) so canon can go on as established.

Really a shame, because I did enjoy the audio until then. One great exchange mid-story, when the Doctor has to explain where Peri is: "My young friend is dealing with some family issues." "And you?" "I don't have issues." (This is as funny in an Old Who context as it is in a New Who one.)




Terror Firma was also written by Joseph Lidster, takes place directly after the Doctor, Charley and C'rizz return from the dimension the Doctor had to go to post-Zagreus, and this one is truly great. No nitpicks here, though it makes me eat my words again regarding Davros being better left dead post Genesis of the Daleks, just as the earlier Sixth Doctor audio Davros did, proving there were actually still some ways to use the character that weren't repetitive. Because wouldn't you know it, no sooner is the Doctor back in the "normal" universe that he runs straight into his oldest foes, the Daleks. Complete with Davros, a Davros post-Remembrance of the Daleks, and hence extra vengeful after Seven destroyed Skaro. (Or technically as the Doctor points out tricked Davros & the Daleks into destroying it.) Davros being Davros, he's firmly of the "death isn't too good for my enemies unless they are the Doctor" persuasion and has thought long and hard about payback, which results in what is fannishly referred to as a massive mindfuck. The audience is put in the same situation as the Doctor, having to puzzle out the connection between three different plot threads and being given clues.

The two most interesting scenes, as far as the Doctor-and-Davros storyline is concerned, are the lead-up to Davros revealing the full extent of what he did, because before that we get two great character insights (and the fact the hostile and brutally frank conversation between the Doctor and Davros is written in a way that both feel natural instead of inserted says something about Lidster's writing skill). Davros being afraid of ending up completely absorbed into the Daleks, his original identity gone, makes sense. He had already Dalek-fied himself as early as Genesis to some degree, but between his massive ego and his rather strong emotions, actually becoming a Dalek, indistinguishable from the rest of his creation, would be regard as a fate worse than death by him. Having admitted this, Davros gets the Doctor to admit to some seriously mixed feelings about his own people, which isn't a suprise if you know Old Who, but also to what he sees and fears as his eventual future, which is. Quoting from memory and hence definitely incorrectly, but this is the gist of it:

Davros: You're ashamed of them?
Doctor: Well, they tend to be either evil megalomaniacs or dull as dirt. And I know that some day, I will become one or the other.
(After a statement about his companions preventing this so far): But sooner or later, they'll leave. They all do. And then one day I will return to Gallifrey and start to gather dust with the rest of them.

Mind you, I imagine Romana fans being indignant about this classification of Time Lords as either evil and power-mad or dull. And what about Flavia? Still, listening to this was one of those "I hadn't thought about it this way before, but it makes sense to me" moments. I hadn't wondered how the Doctor envisioned his future pre-Time War, but I could see him eyeing the prospect of either basically becoming the Valeyard or becoming just another Time Lord on Gallifrey with almost equal dread, though in the interest of the rest of the galaxy seeing the "gathering dust on Gallifrey" prospect as the preferable option; that he even considers it instead of imagining running till the end of his days could also speak of some (distrusted) sparks of longing, which only kick into full gear once the planet is irrevocably gone, of course.

The other big character scene is the showdown. Now Five's refusal to kill Davros is one of the irritating elements in that serial to me because in the same story, Five has no problems with the demise of quite a lot of Daleks, and so to stop short of Davros - who does more harm than your avarage Dalek at any point in his existence - makes him look speciesist. It basically screams "we want to keep Davros as a recurring villain and need an excuse for the Doctor not to kill him". It won't exactly come as a flabbergasting surprise that Eight doesn't kill Davros in Terror Firma, either. However, his reason for not doing so isn't "because I don't kill" - he's not Five any longer, and at this point is past being Six and Seven, which means he already committed on screen genocide and is responsible for other deaths as well. No, it's far darker and right in line with that part of the Doctor that in Human Nature/Family of Blood, when he is Ten, deals out a terrible fate to the Family, all the more so for not being lethal. After a story in which Davros managed to change eight billion humans into Daleks and make future!Earth into the new Skaro, Dalek-fy two past companions of the Doctor's, and mess with his mind and his TARDIS he managed to trigger vengefulness in even the optimistic Eight, and the Doctor when vengeful gets really vicious. You might have guessed it by now: he hands over Davros to the Daleks for complete conversion.

As far as the dynamics between Eight-Charley-C'rizz are concerned, it's very different from the Eight/Charley audios pre and including Zagreus. Eight and Charley had an increasingly less subtextual romance culminating in an "I love you" (when he thought he wouldn't survive, go figure) and then the TARDIS going mad and the near wreckage of the universe. This, the stint in the alt!dimension and the addition of C'rizz seem to have put an end to romantic longings from either side. I found it striking that the Doctor addressed both Charley and C'rizz as "children" in their first scene in this story, and their team dynamic definitely was more in line with earlier "crowded" TARDISes; as I'm non-shipper as far as the Doctor and current companions are concerned, I'm all for it. (Once they stopped travelling with him, it's a different matter. I have a soft spot for Ten/Sarah Jane and can see Eight/Romana as well.) C'rizz is a rare non-human and genuinenly alien companion, and the teasings about his dark past and his possible intention to "save" Charley and the Doctor ("save" has a very sinister meaning in this context) work for better for me than the Draco-Malfoy-in-Half-Blood-Prince plot did for Turlough in Maegwryn Undead. At the same time, one never doubts he does genuinenly care for them.

Guest characters: other than Davros, most memorably a tough old bird named Harriet (this audio was produced in 2005, so this might or might not have been a coincidence), who turns out to be the leader of the human resistance.

Trivia: very inventive use of the tunnel connecting France and England (with whom Charley as a girl from 1930 isn't familiar), and, well, an amnesia stint for Eight. (Though via backstory, not in the present day action.) Poor old Eight. If Ten's thing is people kissing him, Eight's is getting amnesia. Seriously. In the books, in the audios, and of course in the tv movie of doom - it keeps happening!



Lastly, a Third Doctor drabble I loved: Adrift.

Comments

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

McCoy did say once he'd really like to do a Ricardian story...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

That would have been great. *wishes retrospectively for a Seven 'n Ace meet Richard story*

[aralias.livejournal.com]

i love the CD notes about five's era from church and the crown. as much as i love that era, they're right. sadly, i didn't find church and the crown much fun (plus, how much fun did five have this episode? not much). i'd expected and hoped to love it because there were musketeers and there was intrigue etc, but i found it curiously empty, perhaps because - as you've pointed out - it felt at times almost doctor-lite. he was off being tortured while political intrigue was sort of going on, but not that much intrigue really. i think it's a story that would have worked a lot better being filmed, then we could have enjoyed the battles and the sword fighting and the silly costumes and two peris - maybe that's why i like eight's audios the best: generally they do things that couldn't be done as well in other mediums. terra firma is brilliant.

on the other hand, so is the kingmaker (which is, sadly, better than the properly canon shakespeare code). and i can't believe you didn't mention the best bit i.e. the ridiculous passing notes conversation between peri and the doctor (notes delivered by nine, who sounds a bit like richard the III. fantastic). the weird thing about the kingmaker is that peri and erimem have to spend a whole year together and then just go back to the doctor, for whom almost no time has passed. thats a very interesting relationship change, or should be, but there isn't really time to explore it because there's so much resolving to be done. also the way the doctor just lets ____ happen at the end is a bit o_o but it's all fun and non-canonical games, so i don't really mind.

[aralias.livejournal.com]

oh, and romana did go power mad if you believe 'gallifrey' (madder than anyone has ever been before) so eight was right there....

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Well, I didn't think he'd ever list her in the "dull" category...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

i think it's a story that would have worked a lot better being filmed, then we could have enjoyed the battles and the sword fighting and the silly costumes and two peris - maybe that's why i like eight's audios the best: generally they do things that couldn't be done as well in other mediums.

*makes a case for Six and Doctor Who and the Pirates as the gag with every sailor sounding the same in Evelyn's version of the story would not have worked in anything but audio* But yes, I see your point.

The note passing: when I got to this point and was amused instead of annoyed, I knew I had gotten into the proper spirit of things.

Peri and Erimem: true, but then it also goes back to the problem that a Peri who has survived through a medieval year with Erimem =/= Peri at the start of Caves. I.e. it all falls under my general suspension of disbelief.

[aralias.livejournal.com]

viz 'and the pirates', you're completely right and that's one of the reasons i love it the most. for silly wonderful gags like that :)

and my reasons for not believing in the five and peri travelling together=canon are much simpler i.e. peri is wearing the same outfit. admittedly, she could have changed back into it, but probably not. character wise it doesn't work either obviously, though it might explain why she stays with six when he's so vile to her, but i do hate five hugging peri like he's known her for more than 3 hours in androzani.

as for romana, no, she's never dull (dangerously unstable, but never dull) and it still really upsets me when eight is so... unfeeling towards her after zagreus, traumatic personal experience or no traumatic personal experience.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Re: Zagreus: I must confess I'm too busy being upset about the temporary break-up of my Doctor/TARDIS OTP to angst about Doctor/Romana, so the fact he just got tortured by the TARDIS makes me give him leaveway for pretty much anything.

Re: Peri - in The Reaping after she told her mother the Doctor died for her (and explained about the regeneration concept) her mother point blank asks whether this is why she's staying with him, because she feels guilty. Peri denies this is the only reason but doesn't deny the feeling per se, which is a viable interpretation.

Also? I do feel for Peri at the end of Planet of Fire when Turlough is basically "so, look after him!" when she basically hasn't exchanged more than five minutes of conversation with the Doctor and certainly hasn't volunteered to babysit a traumatized Gallifreyan. Next thing she's taken captive by the creepy stalker from hell, nearly raped, gets infected with a lethal virus, and then the bewildering but sweet-natured guy changes into an aggressive almost-strangler. (Though you know, I kind of tend to agree with Six at the end of Caves when he says "not a moment too soon". Because yes. Five was so much at the mercy of a vicious universe he really needed to become someone who could deal and take out some villains.) It would be nice to think she had some good times in between.

[resolute.livejournal.com]

I am learning a lot about Old Who (and all sorts of British cult tv and radio) from the Cadmium II (http://cadmium2.wordpress.com/) podcast. Sadly, they are only up to the third series! So my Doctor education progresses sloooooowly. :D I sort of want to leap into some of the audios, but I am certain I would be lost. Any suggestions? I know the First, Ninth, and Tenth Doctors only . . .

[selenak.livejournal.com]

This is difficult, because there aren't any Nine or Ten era audios (which has to do with the whole ongoing canon thing, as well as the BBC licensing only past Doctors out to Big Finish). However, I think some of the audios are approachable if you're not familiar with the Doctor in question but with the general "Time Lord, travels in blue box, picks up people" principle, because they were designed as introductions to characters. For example:

"The Marian Conspiracy" - this one is a Sixth Doctor era adventure which introduces historian Evelyn Smythe, with 55 years the oldest (human) companion to date (Romana who is ca. two hundred when she meets Four is probably the oldest non-human, but Time Lords are different in age anyway). It also basically reintroduces Six for the audios as Evelyn is the pov character through which we meet him, and you don't need to know anything but what you know already. Evelyn and Six are a great team together, and I think you would enjoy the story, which is a historical. (Meaning not just that it's an adventure taking place in Earth's history but that the only alien in it is the Doctor.) If you do, I can rec more of their adventures.

"Storm Warning" - this one does the introduction/re-introduction thing as well. It's the first of the Eighth Doctor adventures. Eight only had the tv movie, which is, err, not very good, though Paul McGann is a great actor, and Big Finish was happy to give him good scripts so Eight could have adventures beyond the movie, too. In Storm Warning, he meets the first of his audio companions, adventuress Charley Pollard, for the first time. It uses a genuine air plane incident from the 1930s (no, not the Hindenburg) and mixes it with some aliens, and again, doesn't require any canon knowledge beyond the basic set-up of what the Doctor does.

"The Fearmonger" - the first of the Seventh Doctor era audios. This one doesn't introduce anyone, but I listened to it before having seen Seven and Ace on screen and had no problems following the story, either. It showcases both their characterisations very well. Ace should be your type of character; she was quite similar to early Kara Thrace, minus the cigars, but complete with massive Mommy issues and daredevil type of courage. She had a thing about explosives, once went up against a Dalek with a baseball bat and nicknames the Doctor "Professor" (something only she does in the whole of DW canon; she's also the only one he tries to actively mentor rather than let it happen by accident). Seven looks deceptively mild-mannered and does a good comedian act but is actually the most dangerous of the Old Who Doctors, being quite manipulative and prone to trap people especially if they thought they were trapping him. He does love Ace something fierce - as I said, this is the only companion he actively tries to mentor/form/play father with/however you want to call it - but it's not for nothing that one of their most significant tv episodes had a climax where the only way he could defeat the villain of the story was by destroying Ace's faith in himself, and he knew just which buttons to push. (It was like massive hurt/comfort fanfic, because of course afterwards he had to convince her he hadn't meant it.)

Trivia note: David Tennant, due to being a big Old Who fan and thus volunteering for this kind of thing, actually appears on a lot of Big Finish stories, just not as the Tenth Doctor. He's a Nazi guard in a Seven and Ace story, a UNIT commander in a Three AU story, a sweet-natured Scottish madman in a Sixth Doctor and Evelyn story and so forth.

[resolute.livejournal.com]

These are incredibly thoughtful, clear recommendations. Let me thank you, not only for these, but for your patience and time with all the Doctor Who questions I throw your way. If you'd been my introduction to Who when I was sixteen, instead of impatient and arrogant fanboys, I probably wouldn't have shied away. Thank you again!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome. Arrogant fanboys can cause one to stell the hell away, I know. I was lucky, being introduced via a fellow (female) fan whom I had first introduced to another British show, Blake's 7, and who wanted to return the favour.

Speaking of introductions: here are two vids, both by calapine, which give a great visual and emotional impression of

a) Ace and the Seventh Doctor:




b) The entire show, Old and New Who alike, focusing on the Doctor-Companion relationships. (Note: this was made pre-season 4 of New Who, so there is only a brief glimpse at Donna.) I'd like to point out especially the Sarah Jane sequence, where you see her going from meeting Three to travelling with Four to reunite with Ten, and the matching footage of Doctor/Master phonecalls. (Err, anyone dressed in black and with a beard would be a version of the Master. Old Who wasn't subtle about his costume.)




(As Eight only was in one measly movie, there is little footage to use of him, though there is some in the colletive vid. Six, on the other hand, does have footage but also has a famously eyes-burning costume...)

[resolute.livejournal.com]

Those are great vids!! Also, the Seventh Doctor and Ace wouldn't have been filmed, perchance, in the 80s, would it have?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Indeed they were. *g* And yes, it's noticable. Late 80s, though, as opposed to, say, Five and friends, who were the early and mid 80s.

Now, here are two vids representing Doctor Who, 70s style. First one about Jo Grant and the Third Doctor, which captures both the relationship and the early 70s flair of the Pertwee years:



And then another 70s Who vid, a great tongue-in-cheek homage to the Master in his Roger Delgado incarnation (that's the one which goes with the Third Doctor), to Johnny Cash's "Man in Black":

[resolute.livejournal.com]

WOW. There are some serious satin capes going on, there.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

'Twas the spirit of the age! (Also why Marvel comics crossovers with DW would totally work.)

from Who Daily

[biichan.livejournal.com]

In regards to the Five/Peri/Erimem thing, I kind of figured that Five and Peri had been memory-wiped by some random baddie (or perhaps even a Time Lord) shortly after Erimem leaves, which allows us to have Erimem while still having them back to their Planet of Fire emotional states at the start of Androzani. Sadly, it does kind of leave them having forgotten all about her, but maybe regeneration jogged Six's memory at least?

Also, hooray for someone else loving Terror Firma! I have an irrational fondness for that audio, so much that I made a fanmix for it.

Re: from Who Daily

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Could you linkme to said sound mix, and any other Terror Firma related posts?

Re: from Who Daily

[biichan.livejournal.com]

I never really made any meta/review posts about it myself, in my journal or elsewhere, but let me dig out where I have the mix. I may need to re-upload it, unfortunately. (Idiots tossed a lot of my fanmix links a while ago.)

Aha. Here it is. (http://community.livejournal.com/ohlookrocks/3436.html) I'll start reuploading the zip file.

ETA: And it's been re-uploaded. Enjoy!

Re: from Who Daily

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And btw, reading the comments: Eight didn't leave the Earth Dalek-occupied, he only left after the Daleks did, which he managed via the virus Davros had given him earlier - he threatened to release it if they stayed (bluff, but they didn't know that).

[neutralalienist.livejournal.com]

I've decided Erimem died horribly. (I really hated to decide that, but...I thought it the most plausible way to regress Five and Peri to where we saw them in Androzani. Those two helped him regain his sense of self, purpose, wonder - I always thought they were to him what Rose was to Nine - and then losing one of them like that? It traumatised both of them, and distanced them, because of course Five has no idea how to confide in people. I wrote a fic about it, which I hope made it seem realistic. This was before Erimem's final audio, of course, but I think Peri and Five really did visit her later, and that's when it happened.)

I've listened to Church and Crown so many times, and I love it to death - it's just so fun, and a great showing for both Peri and Erimem. I didn't mind Five being in the background, really, as that happens much less in the audios, and he did get to be snarky under torture and have another swordfight. (...I am occasionally very easy.) And Nicola Bryant without the accent sounded lovely. I wish they'd...soften Peri's. After all that time round British-sounding people.

The Kingmaker is great fun, isn't it? I've decided this is actually some sort of AU history and Five, um, never mentioned it.

I had the exact same problems with The Reaping you did - that was just...WHY? Just have Peri decide to go with Six without heaping more needless, implausible trauma on the poor girl. I thought maybe Six left it because he knew it had to happen, but then he was surprised, so...I don't even know.

Five vs Davros - I've alwyas thought the Doctor thought of Daleks as less sapient than other beings - "tragic killer bees, I think I called 'em" - which is why Five has more trouble killing Davros, who, while a dangerous madman, he still sees as more a person. Not because of how he looks, but because of his mind. (I also think he'd have finally gone through with it if not interrupted, and certainly by Planet of Fire.)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Those two helped him regain his sense of self, purpose, wonder - I always thought they were to him what Rose was to Nine - and then losing one of them like that? It traumatised both of them, and distanced them, because of course Five has no idea how to confide in people.

That does make sense, and yes, I can see the Nine comparison. Could you link me to your Erimem story?

And Nicola Bryant without the accent sounded lovely. I wish they'd...soften Peri's. After all that time round British-sounding people.

Quite. Unless one postulates she kept it up in order to show the Doctor she won't be assimilated.*g*

I thought maybe Six left it because he knew it had to happen, but then he was surprised, so...I don't even know.

Plus you know, he can be a bastard but not a bastard who leaves weapons to murder either past companions or their families. The Valeyard wouldn't even have had to bother.

Not because of how he looks, but because of his mind. (I also think he'd have finally gone through with it if not interrupted, and certainly by Planet of Fire.)

Okay, that I can accept.

[neutralalienist.livejournal.com]

I'm glad. :) And definitely! Twilight (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3790739/1/Twilight) It switches between Peri and Five's POV.

Quite. Unless one postulates she kept it up in order to show the Doctor she won't be assimilated.*g*

...I actually find that quite likely. XD Especially with Six.

Plus you know, he can be a bastard but not a bastard who leaves weapons to murder either past companions or their families.

Yeeeah. Six might seem like he would sometimes, but...no.

Okay, that I can accept.

Hooray! I just...can't accept the Doctor as speciesest. Especially Five, because he is My Favourite. (...Just.)

[andraste]

Mind you, I imagine Romana fans being indignant about this classification of Time Lords as either evil and power-mad or dull. And what about Flavia?

I think the Doctor assumes Romana will become either evil or dull over time, seeing as he assumes this about himself. Given that she does go home, become president and apparently becomes power mad in the audios I suppose he's not completely wrong *g*.

As for Flavia, while I don't think she's boring, the Doctor might not necessarily be with me on that.

Which audio is it where Six mentions Erimem, incidentally? I'd been assuming that a mindwipe was the only sensible explanation. Of course, failing all else, we can just wave our hands and say 'Time War' ...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Six mentions Erimem in 100, to be specific, in the Paul Cornell story where he and Evelyn have a hundred days to find out who poisoned him, and they revisit all his previous regenerations but in a stalking, just observing way.*g* Five is with Peri and Erimem when they check him out, and while Six is a bit touchy about Five (when Evelyn basically likes him on sight and comments how handsome he is), he's all fondness about Peri and Erimem, telling Evelyn how they shone and brought out the best in each other's company etc.

[andraste]

Five is with Peri and Erimem when they check him out, and while Six is a bit touchy about Five (when Evelyn basically likes him on sight and comments how handsome he is), he's all fondness about Peri and Erimem, telling Evelyn how they shone and brought out the best in each other's company etc.

That sounds lovely, albeit confusing for people trying to fit Erimem into the timeline. (Quite apart from the emotional continuity issues, she doesn't turn up as a revolving head when the Doctor regenerates.)

I'm going to listen to 100 as soon as I've forced myself to listen to the rest of Red Dawn. (Consider that one anti-recced - it's Five and Peri with no Erimem and it seems to be taking forever for anything to happen.)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

It has been suggested above that maybe the regeneration itself restored Six' memory of Erimem (so Five couldn't see her as a revolving head).

100: is a mixed affair. Avoid the first story, which is really disappointing (which is sad, since it's by Jacqueline Raynor); Evelyn is very ooc. The second story is dead brilliant (by Rob Sherman) and involves Mozart; the third story by Joseph Lidster is creepy in the best way and offers some standout acting; and the fourth by Paul Cornell is basically fun nostalgia and lots of in-jokes. (Six, upon observing Seven: "And people complain I am ruthless!" )

[mermaidrain.livejournal.com]

A thought occurred to me today (and frankly I'm surprised it hadn't occurred to me before) about the Doctor Who verse. And since I know you are familiar with most of the old Doctor Who cannon, I thought I'd ask you. Do you know if there has ever been a Doctor/Companion team that was same sex? I assume all the Doctors have been male and so far all the companions I've seen have been female. I'm just wondering if there have ever been any male companions. I don't know why I was thinking about the discrepancy today, but that just struck me as odd. WHY do the companions always have to be female?

Male Companions

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Of course there were male companions. Not as many as they were female ones, but they were around. Out of my head and without consulting wiki:

First Doctor - Ian Chesterton. (The original very first team Tardis was One, his granddaughter Susan, and the human Ian and Barbara.)
Later also Steven the astronaut, after Ian and Barbara left. Still later Ben, after Steven had left, in combination with Polly.

Second Doctor: First Ben, then later after Ben and Polly were gone Jamie McCrimmon. (In combination with Victoria and later Zoe.) Jamie got referenced in New Who, btw - when the Doctor introduces himself in Tooth and Claw, he doesn't use his usual John Smith alias but says he's "Dr. James McCrimmon". It was a lovely homage, as Jamie was a highlander and was Two's favourite companion.

Third Doctor: special circumstances. He was exiled on Earth and was unable to travel at all for most of his tenure. While he did have female assistants during that time - Liz Shaw, Jo Grant and Sarah Jane Smith - he also worked with and for the Brigadier (err, male), who became the Übercompanion, in a way. (The Brigadier first met Two, became friends with Three and all the subsequent Doctors had some adventures with him as well.) Also, as Three was working for UNIT and most UNIT personnel was male, there were more men than women around in that period.

Fourth Doctor: Dr. Harry Sullivan, who travelled with Four and Sarah Jane for a while. Later Adric, who travelled with Four and Romana.

Fifth Doctor: Adric (until he died) in combination with Tegan and Nyssa, later Turlough. (As part of the Five/Tegan/Nyssa/Turlough combination. Nyssa and Tegan were female, btw.)

Sixth Doctor: no male Companion, unless you count the comics and audios. If you do, he travelled with a shapeshifting alien for a while whose favourite form was that of a talking penguin. But on screen, only women.

Seventh Doctor: no male Companion.

Eigth Doctor: a male teenager in the movie, C'rizz the alien in the audios (together with Charley, who is a woman).

Ninth Doctor: Jack. Whether Adam counts is debatable.

Tenth Doctor: Jack. Jackson Lake probably is his own category, as the Doctor offered to be his companion.

Re: Male Companions

[bats_eye.livejournal.com]

Also, if you don't mind me butting in, Mickey for the Tenth Doctor.

I think Steven, Adric, Jamie and Turlough are the only ones who are around without a female companion though. And generally only for one serial until a new girl is introduced.

Re: Male Companions

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Right, how could I forget Mickey!

I remember there were two great sketches, one showing the male and one the female companions, but I can't find the links right now...