Comments | yahtzee63: chaos, Upstairs Downstairs, Guiding Light

yahtzee63

chaos, Upstairs Downstairs, Guiding Light

May 01, 2011 22:11

So, I thought I was flying down to NOLA for the house closing Tuesday night, but no! The flight is Tuesday morning. This makes tomorrow extra special chaos, during which I have -- you know, let's just say I have a lot to do. It's a little overpowering. But I'm canceling what I can cancel and determined to just get up in the morning and hit it hard ( Read more... )

guiding light, doctor who, home ownership

Comments 32

shayheyred May 2 2011, 03:24:00 UTC

I LOVED Eight. The movie was a mish-mash, but Paul McGann was charming and vulnerable and crazy etc. etc. etc. I believe he recorded audio episodes - but that's a very vague notion I have. But I've been a PMcG fan since "Withnail and I."

yahtzee63 May 2 2011, 03:25:13 UTC

Yes, I think McGann's done audio, and i know there are tons of written adventures with Eight. I'd like to check out some more, I think. And I am going to keep wishing to see McGann's Eight in a New Who adventure!

(The comment has been removed)

yahtzee63 May 2 2011, 14:23:23 UTC

Oh, I long for a period companion. Yes, I'll want to check out some stuff with Eight/Charley.

cmdr_zoom May 2 2011, 03:39:31 UTC

I also have a soft spot for Eight. Like Six, I think he was a victim of a lot of bad decisions and half-assed support behind the scenes and at least one pretty bad script (in this case, the only one). I think that in a regular serial, he'd have made a fine Doctor. (The audio series seem to bear that out.)

I think the problem with Eric Roberts is one of casting. He appears well-suited to playing the kind of slimy, creepy small-time hustlers like poor Miss Stratten's boyfriend... and the Master is so totally NOT that kind of villain. The Master is grand, he is charming, he is a chessmaster. He has style.

yahtzee63 May 2 2011, 03:43:49 UTC

Yes, Paul McGann is at times dragging the script along, using all his strength. And he almost makes it! Really it would be great to see more of what he could do with the role onscreen.

I think Eric Roberts' role in "Star 80" ended up with him being typecast that way, but that performance is too deep, too intelligently calibrated, to be merely the result of him being the right "type." His talent was a lot greater than his career has been, due to any number of factors. If he hadn't gotten so derailed (and at times derailed himself), I think Roberts might well have shown himself as someone capable of playing the charming, chessmaster sort of villain as well, and more besides.

cupcakery May 2 2011, 04:02:22 UTC

Eight is MY Doctor; of all of them, I love him the most (Eleven comes very close, but he is rather more than a bit similar to Eight). I love the steampunk-ish, gothic TARDIS and the Edwardian fancy dress clothes. I feel like I know him best, which is funny, given that there's only the one televised adventure. But the audios! They do things that you can't do on television. And have Eight being in War of the Worlds, and there being that bit about Rassilon being all off his rocker way before the television series showed him as that in The End of Time. The Zagreus arc is one of my favourite bits of Who.

Um, basically, if they got him to come back for the fiftieth anniversary show or something, I would probably explode.

yahtzee63 May 2 2011, 04:05:31 UTC

I'm really looking forward to diving in to some Eight adventures -- he's delightful, the perfect mixture of romantic, cerebral and utterly bizarre.

I was also thinking that several elements of the '96 film that probably seemed very threatening at the time -- the American setting, the Eight/Grace kissing, the more actiony elements -- feel very natural or at least not out of place now.

mrstater May 2 2011, 04:02:47 UTC

I loved UD! (And they've commissioned another series, yay!) I thought it was really fascinating to see how the class structure as exemplified in that household influenced the British fascist movement--and that, in turn, was really interesting having seen The King's Speech not long ago.

And I'm totally with you loving Mr. Amanjit and Rachel! Why did she have to die? He was so obviously in love with her...I shipped them so hard in that one episode, lol. He's my absolute favorite.

yahtzee63 May 2 2011, 04:07:43 UTC

Yes, ITA that having seen "The King's Speech" added a lot to UD. And yes, Amanjit is marvelous. He did love Rachel and yet was totally willing to accept her on whatever terms she chose, whether that was as coworkers, friends or more. He really admires Maud - their relationship is one I'd like to see explored more in-depth. And how AWESOME was it when Hallam ordered Amanjit to go through Maud's private papers and he said, "Threaten me. I will not do it unless you threaten me." That was badass.

mrstater May 2 2011, 04:14:40 UTC

He did love Rachel and yet was totally willing to accept her on whatever terms she chose, whether that was as coworkers, friends or more.

Sigh. And that just makes him all the more wonderful...And fanfic-worthy, lol.

And how AWESOME was it when Hallam ordered Amanjit to go through Maud's private papers and he said, "Threaten me. I will not do it unless you threaten me." That was badass.

Guh. I loved that. Especially because you know he wanted Rachel's daughter (OMG, totally blanking on her name) back as much as anyone did!

yahtzee63 May 2 2011, 04:26:20 UTC

OMG, totally. He adored Lotte but wouldn't betray Maud because he is a Man of Honor, dammit. I would love to write/read Amanjit/Rachel fic.

Thread 7

brightly_woven May 2 2011, 04:17:41 UTC

I think my golden years choices were a little earlier than that. I stopped watching sometime between 1988-1992. (started about the same time as you and also watched As the World Turns and Capitol, then later Days of Our Lives).

The whole Kelly/Morgan/Philip/Beth thing was my favorite story line ever.

I do love Riva, though.

Alan Spalding was pretty great too.

Hmmmm...the Lewises? Yeah, I'll take em.

That's about as much as extensively as I can converse about GL.

yahtzee63 May 2 2011, 04:29:54 UTC

The Kelly/Morgan era (late '70s/early '80s) and the Beth/Philip era (mid-'80s) would be tied, in my mind, for the Silver Age. Both of those were very, very strong periods for the show; the day Morgan told off Nola for once and for all was SO HUGE for me. I mean, I loved it. And when Philip helped Beth run away from evil, evil Bradley? My God, that was some good stuff.

brightly_woven May 2 2011, 04:45:50 UTC

Were they really not all on together. My mind has conflated them into some sort of 4-some. Hmmm...wasn't there another couple with Kelly/Morgan? Gah! I'm 40 and you'd think I was 80 sometimes.

LOL

yahtzee63 May 2 2011, 04:48:54 UTC

Kelly and Morgan were more their own couple, with Nola as meddler. However, you might be thinking of the "Four Musketeers" of the mid-'80s, Philip/Beth/Rick/Mindy, aka possibly the best love quadrangle ever. They all loved each other dearly; they were all four distinct, appealing personalities; the young actors were all very good; and they were destined to rip each other's hearts out six ways from Sunday.

Thread 8