Gallifrey round-up

[lizbee]

I'm on the verge of being done with my Gallifrey re-listen.  Which makes me a bit sad, because there's a whole world of Big Finish audios out there, but I've already listened to all the ones with Romana and/or Brax.  (Miles Richardson is apparently playing Iris Wildthyme's ex-husband in an upcoming audio, but ... look, there are depths to which I refuse to stoop.  This week, anyway.)



Here are some random thoughts, covering mostly "Appropriation" and "Mindbomb":

- Genartis, in addition to being the only Time Lord on Gallifrey with a regional UK accent, is a delightful worm.  Former allies are invading the planet?  He'll just give them Romana, no one here wants her.  The plan is delightfully slimy, not to mention rather clever.  I will be very sad when he's exiled to the Outlands and has to spend his days mooching around Romana's family House and threatening passing ex-presidents with rape.  Even sadder when he is zombified, not least because then I have to hear John Leeson and Lalla Ward use the word "zombified" multiple times.
- In retrospect, it's Really Quite Obvious that Matthias is working for Braxiatel.  Nevertheless, it's lovely to see all Brax's scheming-by-proxy.
- Soooo, Romana has been imprisoned for at least a couple of days, and thinks she's on her way to being executed, and instead gets to sit and have a chat with Narvin.  Which is lovely, and I'd be a lot more cheery about it than she is, but then he's all, "So what would you do, if you could walk out of here?"  And she answers, "Break into Braxiatel's office."

And I'm like, WHAT?  Because in that situation, "Oh, go through Brax's stuff" is what I'd answer, but there's no in-story reason for Romana to be thinking of him, except that the plot requires Leela and K9 to be in his space.

Ideally, Romana's proper answer should be, "Take Leela and K9, steal a TARDIS and hit the beach AND NEVER COME BACK", but she's a bit too crazy for that. 

- Seriously, it makes me a bit sad that Romana ends the series even crazier than when she started.  At the beginning she was just restless and constantly putting herself in situations where she kept ending up nearly dead/tortured/humiliated.  By the end, she's ... well, a bit power-mad and broken, possibly from all the time she's spent hosting at least one incorporeal lunatic in her head.  She was totally planning to sacrifice herself to destroy Pandora, and since Leela saved her she's been a bit lost.
- Concentrating on Romana's INSANITY makes it easier to overlook all the times when they write her like Gallifrey's own Sarah Palin. 
- I don't know why it's apparently so hard to write Romana and Leela in-character, since girl!fandom does it all the time, but in pro-fandom, only Gareth Roberts and Chris Boucher seem to manage it with any consistency.
- Every now and then I get this urge to write fic where Narvin survives the Time War and ends up working for Torchwood in Cardiff.  'Cos, they need someone competent, and Narvin could be sarcastic when they stuff up and endanger the world every week.  Also, Torchwood is pretty fail in general, and having a former xenophobic-secret-police-type-commander in their midst might actually improve their moral standing.
- I have this problem where all the chancellery guards sound the same to me.  I tell them apart by remembering that Wynter is dead, Hallam has a slightly deeper voice, and Annos is the nice one who is secretly in love with Romana.
- It makes me a bit sad that we don't find out what happens right after Brax declares Matthias his successor, because there were probably shenanigans.  At the very least, we know that Romana was exiled from the Capitol.  STUFF HAPPENED AND I WANT TO KNOW HOW IT WENT DOWN AND THEY CHEAT ME, DAMMIT!
- Equally sad is the unlikelihood that BF will ever do anymore of these.  *weeps*

Comments

[garpu.livejournal.com]

Do you know if they're going to do any more stories with Brax on the Bernice Summerfield line? Feels like they just dropped that whole plotline.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

I don't think so, not in the next year or so, but I'm not certain.

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

Yes, as far as I know they are going to go back to that plotline next season. This season was short (only the four audios) and they wanted to get away from the main thread to explore some other character stuff. I don't know if you've heard the first 3 yet, so I don't want to say anything spoilery. Unless you ask. ;-)

[garpu.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks! :)

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

I WOULD LIKE TO BE SPOILERED PLS.

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

HA! I knew you'd say that. I absolutely adored this season. In the opener, she and Peter talk about how they've been moving around so much and he hates it and it becomes clear that Benny knows he wasn't responsible for Jason's death but they haven't dealt with it and both of them are suffering because of the lack of communication. In the following audio, it's completely Peter-centric and he's a total little shit but he is also SOOOOOOO obviously Benny's son. Cause honestly? She was a crap mom in a lot of ways. (You know I worship her, but it's true.) This last audio was kind of a sequel to the best NA EVER and Benny winds up with Mycroft Holmes and embroiled in a bizarre situation with a somewhat sinister Time Lord.

The reason this is important is because in all three audios, the through-line is that Benny is running away from the problems on the Collection and she knows if she wants any peace she's going to need to go back and deal with everything that happened. She left Adrian there being tortured, and Peter needs his father, Brax is fucked up beyond belief and from what the Time Lord says in Adventures of the Diogenes Damsel, Gallifrey isn't going to get involved. (Though they probably will because we know they are all big, fat liars.) So Benny knows it's really up to her. I think there is no question that when you listen to this season, it's building up to a major Brax-related showdown. But BF wanted to do change it up after the heavily single-plotted last season.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

My love of spoilers is indeed predictable.

And from the sounds of it, I really need to listen to season 9 of Benny, like, yesterday.

I just hope that the Brax-related showdown doesn't end in his death. I keep thinking, "They wouldn't kill off such a longstanding and popular character, would they?" and then I remember Jason and get the fear.

[elyssadc.livejournal.com]

Except! Jason had clones. In the books (which I would fucking KILL to get my hands on) he has clones with whom he was in contact. I am hoping like hell they bring back one of the clones and then Benny and Peter have to deal with the complications of having a Jason who isn't really Jason. I miss him desperately, so I may be reaching. But still, why have clones if you aren't going to use them?

And I also hope like hell it doesn't end with Brax's death. But I don't think they'd do that. I really, really don't. I want him back, I want Bev back, and I want Jason back. And I want them to deal with the whole Doggles mystery. And...I want a lot of things, really. The short seasons make me crazy because I am so fucking into this series and 4 hours a year is just not enough. Not even close.

[garpu.livejournal.com]

Practicality, but don't they license Braxiatel's character from Justin Richards? If so, I can't see them killing the character off, when they don't own it.

[audio-time-team.livejournal.com]

Remember they also licensed Jason Kane from Dave Stone so I there's precedence for that happening.

[garpu.livejournal.com]

Oh poop, they did. Well, then there's always fanfic. :)

[audio-time-team.livejournal.com]

See, and this is where fandom fails me. I know there's Benny fans out there. But there's like no Benny circa Braxiatel Collection stuff out there. At least I can't find any. What little Benny fic there is, outside of Lizbee's, is all NA centered and very rarely is she an actual driving force in the piece.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

I've been looking for that sort of thing too, and it doesn't seem to exist. I guess the people who are buying the series are not, for the most part, the fic-writing types.

[audio-time-team.livejournal.com]

Or what might be the case, the ones most likely to write fanfic like Simon Guerrier and Eddie Robson, now get paid to write Benny stories.

I do fanfic in other fandoms but I've never given Benny a try. I'm too afraid I'd make her a caricature and not live up to what Cornell and the gang have laid down. It's very intimidating, at least for me.

I would even live with a good Benny NA era story, just something with her that's more than a "oh we need snark so we'll have Benny say it" moment.

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

"Seriously, it makes me a bit sad that Romana ends the series even crazier than when she started. At the beginning she was just restless and constantly putting herself in situations where she kept ending up nearly dead/tortured/humiliated. By the end, she's ... well, a bit power-mad and broken, possibly from all the time she's spent hosting at least one incorporeal lunatic in her head."

Though you can't argue that they haven't legitimately kept up the hinted-at canon that every Gallifreyan president who serves for long enough inevitably goes mad. In that thing we're writing I presume she did in fact lose it, then got it back at some point between being deposed/ending up in that refugee camp (private fanon there, pay it no mind) and when we see her again. Which just adds to the whole Haunted by Time War Ghosts thing in actual nice ways.

"Concentrating on Romana's INSANITY makes it easier to overlook all the times when they write her like Gallifrey's own Sarah Palin."

Oh, thank God it's not just me sitting there going, "GAAH! This is NOT the same character AT ALL, you stupid STUPID fanboys!"

"I don't know why it's apparently so hard to write Romana and Leela in-character, since girl!fandom does it all the time, but in pro-fandom, only Gareth Roberts and Chris Boucher seem to manage it with any consistency."

Through absolutely no fault whatsoever of Louise Jameson, I'm finding their version of Leela just...insulting, a lot of the time. I've said this before, but Jim Mortimore's tie-in Eye of Heaven has some actually great Leela characterization and backstory; that and Chris Boucher's tie-ins are Leela canon to me.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

Though you can't argue that they haven't legitimately kept up the hinted-at canon that every Gallifreyan president who serves for long enough inevitably goes mad.

Gallifreyan presidents: Like Starfleet admirals, in a way.

In that thing we're writing I presume she did in fact lose it, then got it back at some point between being deposed/ending up in that refugee camp (private fanon there, pay it no mind) and when we see her again. Which just adds to the whole Haunted by Time War Ghosts thing in actual nice ways.

Agreed, although I'm not sure the refugee camp works in our timeline. (Pity, because it makes me think of Modesty Blaise.)

Through absolutely no fault whatsoever of Louise Jameson, I'm finding their version of Leela just...insulting, a lot of the time.

I agree, and I think to a great extent with both Romana and Leela, the writers have lost the ability to distinguish between the actresses and the characters. Louise Jameson may be an Earth mothery hippie chick, but Leela was kicked out of the Sevateem because she didn't believe in their god.

As for Romana, between the "let's put the plot on hold while we plagiarise Richard Dawkins" thing in "Spirit", and Lalla's Companion Chronicle, it's actually just plain embarrassing.

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

"Agreed, although I'm not sure the refugee camp works in our timeline. (Pity, because it makes me think of Modesty Blaise.)"

It doesn't work with that story's backstory, it's just small bits of personal fanon.

"I think to a great extent with both Romana and Leela, the writers have lost the ability to distinguish between the actresses and the characters. Louise Jameson may be an Earth mothery hippie chick, but Leela was kicked out of the Sevateem because she didn't believe in their god."

One of my defining Leela moments came in "Horror of Fang Rock" when she starts taking off her sweater in front of Lighthouse Guy without any self-consciousness, he gets his Victorian shock on and she just glares at him with a look of "What the hell are you staring at, asshole?" Also, I kind of want to sit the Gallifrey writers down and tell them, look, you can either write Leela as someone literally still struggling with the meanings of common two-syllable words or you can write her as able instantly to understand large chunks of technobabble whenever the plot demands it, but you really can't do both.

"As for Romana, between the 'let's put the plot on hold while we plagiarise Richard Dawkins' thing in 'Spirit,' and Lalla's Companion Chronicle, it's actually just plain embarrassing."

As you said, if Gareth Roberts didn't write it, it's probably going to be a headdesker. I think I lasted about five minutes into her Companion Chronicle and I'd been all excited about it.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

One of my defining Leela moments came in "Horror of Fang Rock" when she starts taking off her sweater in front of Lighthouse Guy without any self-consciousness, he gets his Victorian shock on and she just glares at him with a look of "What the hell are you staring at, asshole?"

Which is really magnificent, and DAMMIT, why haven't I sat down and watched all her stories yet? (Because I'm running out of hard drive space, that's why.)

I think I lasted about five minutes into her Companion Chronicle and I'd been all excited about it.

You missed nothing at all. It was like a mix of Lalla's gym-hate + "cute" references to Dawkins, all wrapped up in a sad imitation of Douglas Adams. Which is pretty fucking tasteless when you consider how he died. Also, the villain's Evil Plot was basically, "Well, I'm going to make everyone thin", and that was it. At least the Adipose actually killed people.

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

"Which is really magnificent, and DAMMIT, why haven't I sat down and watched all her stories yet? (Because I'm running out of hard drive space, that's why.)"

Television!Leela: "The Doctor has taught me about science!"

Big Finish!Leela: " 'Sigh-entz'?"

[benbenberi.livejournal.com]

If you ever do get around to writing Narvin-in-Torchwood, I will cheer loudly! They need someone like him to actually do the dirty work of world-saving while they strike attitudes and sex each other.

[biichan.livejournal.com]

There's a guy named Peter Anghelides that's doing two BF audios with Romana in them next spring. One of them is going to be end of that Key 2 Time three-parter with Fivey where Lalla will be playing Madam President and the other one has Mary Tamm doing Romana I's companion chronicle. It says in Wikipedia that he wrote an EDA called The Ancestor Cell--is that one of the more crappy books?

[ionlylurkhere.livejournal.com]

Oh, DUDE, The Ancestor Cell is the notorious Big Wrap Up Of The War book. It's actually kinda OK if you have a high tolerance for technobabble like what I do and can manage to completely ignore that it's supposed to be Doctor Who. And in some ways its notoriety is more to do with what happened next than the book itself. (It does have evil flapper Romana III, but that was something they were stuck with by that point.)

Anghelides did write one of the best SJS audios, though (Mirror, Signal, Manoe-Manoeu-OhbloodyhellIcanneverspellthatword). So I'm not prepared to write him off completely.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

Erk. I'm sure he's a lovely person, but he wrote the failier version of Evil Flapper Romana, and had her slinking about saying that she couldn't have women on the High Council because she wouldn't be able to control them with sex.

But the EDAs have sunk to depths that Big Finish never even looks at, so I'm still cautiously optimistic.

[silly-cleo.livejournal.com]

I want to respond to this in more detail but I'm so inarticulate right now, just this:

Ideally, Romana's proper answer should be, "Take Leela and K9, steal a TARDIS and hit the beach AND NEVER COME BACK", but she's a bit too crazy for that.

*FLAILS* YES, DAMNIT. *CRIES* THIS is my answer to everything from about 'Pandora' onwards, though. Actually, no, 'Blind Eye' onwards.

My re-listen is a lot less thought-y than yours, it's mostly proving my level of batshit for Leela/Romana as a pairing. Hai.

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

I shouldn't be reading about these audio-thingies. They make me sad. *clings to in-character-Romana*