"reconfigured in aggression mode, master!"
Tuesday, 2 November 2010 10:30![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhats
Finished "State of Decay" at the weekend! And thoroughly enjoyed it; very entertaining story.
Only one more Romana story left, woe! And only one more new-to-me Four story, but I am actually ok with that: much as I love Four, I am ready for a new Doctor.
- Romana's socks were amazing! As was her whole outfit, but I'd seen pictures of that before so I knew it would be. Her I'm-a-sacrifice dress was also beautiful.
- Excellent beardage in this episode. The king obviously wins Beard of the Episode (and possibly also Beard of My Life), and one of the rebels had a very silky beard that rippled every time he spoke; I couldn't stop watching it.
- I'd heard of the Great Vampires, but hadn't realised they were just... really big vampires, heh. And sadly the effects just don't work - the hand bursting out of the ground is ok, but as soon as the Three Who Rule were greenscreened on top it just looked terrible.
- Which was a shame, because on the whole this story looked so great. The location filming in particular was wonderful - spooky, atmospheric, autumnal: just right. And I really loved the spaceship/tower model shots. (I used to have a book about how to make model landscapes like that, all papier mâché hills and trees made out of sponges. It was great. I wonder what happened to it?)
- Oh, K9! The disappointed looks on everyone's faces when he trundled out of the TARDIS! ♥ Also, how did he get up onto the throne? (Insert joke about not being allowed on the furniture here.) Good dog!
- Some really great dialogue in this episode: "Then die! That is the function of guards", of course, and a whole lot of the Four/Romana stuff too. "You're wonderful."/"I suppose I am, I hadn't really thought about it," or something to that effect.
- Romana perched on the throne, swinging her legs: so adorable!
- Hmmm, I see what Dicks was trying to do with Adric's character, but Matthew Waterhouse really wasn't up to it. Shame. But other than that, great story.
Only one more Romana story left, woe! And only one more new-to-me Four story, but I am actually ok with that: much as I love Four, I am ready for a new Doctor.
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Date: 2 Nov 2010 10:37 (UTC)Romana, though - she's made of win always!
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Date: 2 Nov 2010 11:52 (UTC)ET-Change my Icon: Since this one is from the Original Shada.
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Date: 2 Nov 2010 11:54 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2 Nov 2010 12:09 (UTC)SECONDED.
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Date: 2 Nov 2010 12:14 (UTC)(I oonfess, Shada is my absolute favourite - but Neverland's quite a bit of fun too with Eight's snarking at Nosebung, I mean Vansell, and Romana desperately trying to keep them from squabbling like six year olds!)
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Date: 2 Nov 2010 20:36 (UTC)I adore Shada! It works so well with Eight, as well as with Four.
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Date: 2 Nov 2010 20:40 (UTC)I adore Shada an insane amount. I've not really seen anything of the Fourth Doctor version - except the snippets they used in The Five Doctors. I don't think I could watch it with Four now - it's so engrained in my being that it's an Eight and Romana story (I think I've listened to the CD about 8 times, so far!)
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Date: 3 Nov 2010 11:19 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Nov 2010 13:36 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2 Nov 2010 12:07 (UTC)She is! ♥
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Date: 2 Nov 2010 12:16 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2 Nov 2010 20:38 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2 Nov 2010 11:52 (UTC)The next story was one of my favourites, and still is.
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Date: 2 Nov 2010 12:08 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2 Nov 2010 12:55 (UTC)Warriors' Gate is incredible, I hope you enjoy it!
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Date: 2 Nov 2010 20:39 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2 Nov 2010 17:41 (UTC)Also, I love all the bits about the vampires
mainly because of Zagreus.:D :D :D Does this mean you're moving on to Five next?
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Date: 2 Nov 2010 20:43 (UTC)Also, I love all the bits about the vampires
mainly because of Zagreus.*g* Everything I know about the Great Vampires I learned from Zagreus. Now I shall have even more fun imagining Colin Baker as one of them!
His whole "UGH Romana, I was *bluffing*, GOD WHY DIDN'T YOU KNOW THAT, MY LIFE IS SO HAAAARD, I'm gonna to listen to loud music in my room like the teenager I am" act, and that.
Hee! I must admit, I didn't think he quite managed to pull off the "morally ambiguous, how far was he really tempted?" stuff, though.
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Date: 2 Nov 2010 21:09 (UTC)Yeah, I didn't ever see him as being morally ambiguous or tempted, even if the writers were trying for that - it's a leftover habit of the whole English major thing that I instantly chuck authorial intention in the mental bin as being completely irrelevant and just look at the material itself. I don't know if Adric was what they might have envisioned for him, but what he is is Adorable with a capital A. ♥ I think he deserves a lot more love than he tends to get.
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Date: 3 Nov 2010 11:23 (UTC)I've liked the Five episodes I've already seen! Alas, my tv time is really limited at the moment, so I have to prioritise currently running stuff (or run out of tape to record it on), or I would be zooming through much faster.
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Date: 2 Nov 2010 20:48 (UTC)I did enjoy Terrance Dicks, on the commentary, pointing out that Tom doesn't look at Lalla until about halfway through the story, cos that's when they made up.
It does feel a lot like an earlier story, but I think it works rather well in season 18 too, tying in with all the themes about death and, well, decay. :D And yes, it's definitely a charming story!