And this is why I listen to commentaries
Jul. 16th, 2008 02:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
omorkaSo this week (while I've been waiting for Eureka Season 2 to ship on DVD) I had a hankering for some Ninth Doctor. For all that I love David Tennant, and think it's great that he's a fan and everything, there is something unsettling about the way he plays the Doctor. There are moments - especially in the RTD-penned stories - when he verges on self-parody, when the cosmic hobo, the bohemian ferryman, the bouncy cricketer, and the chessmaster all fight for dominance in the character. It's almost as if Ten has to be manic and flail about to avoid being swallowed by his past selves. For all that I had issues with the brokenness and adrenaline-junkie aspect of Nine, that was never a problem with him; he was his own self, complete, if never whole exactly. I suspect Eccleston was simply less embedded in the frame, as it were. And so it was that I started watching the Reset Season 1 episodes with the commentary on.
RTD cannot give good commentary to save his life. Good (Time) Lord, someone tell this man to stop talking about himself and pronouncing everything "cool." No wonder so many fans hate him. (And others are beginning to make his initials half of a curse, with JN-T the other half.) But, I have to admit, I had the same problem with Peter Jackson's commentaries on the LotR discs - he talked about how he came up with ideas and how tired he was, and not much else. And I still have some respect for Jackson. (He does manage not to come off as a total doofus in interviews, which RTD still appears to struggle with.)
Generally speaking, the special effects guys are trying really hard, but often there's just not a whole lot they can say that's going to be interesting, especially when it's the computer guys. There's one point when one of them is describing either Platform One or Satellite Five, and the writer obviously has a bless-his-heart moment and throws the guy an incredibly softball question just so he can talk longer.
The writers are generally pretty good. So are the small-part actors - Bruno Langley (Adam) and Christine Adams (Cathica) were both pretty entertaining, and talked a bit about getting into character and acting against effects both practical and digital, which I find somewhat interesting. The guy who does the Dalek voice was on "Dalek," and discussed the difficulties getting a flashing pepperpot to emote properly, which again was an acting challenge I didn't mind hearing about.
Billie Piper was damn near incoherent, except when she was talking about crying. Then again, she stated flat out that she hadn't seen her episode in its finished form, just a rough cut, so when the Reapers first appeared in "Father's Day," she actually shrieked. This made the effects guy happy, at least. I get the impression that she doesn't think about things much once the filming is finished.
And then we got to "Empty Child/Doctor Dances." [insert fangirl squee here] Steven Moffat, John Barrowman, and the special effects guy. And they *sparkle*. I know, I know, Barrowman could read the phone book and I'd probably listen to it for forty-two minutes. But he and Moffat just bounce off of each other the whole time. Okay, they spend a lot of time pointing out errors (like how long it's half past nine), but it's funny and I still came away feeling like I learned something about the show and its dynamics from listening.
Best part: They're watching the first scene in the hospital, and Barrowman mentions that the hospital they used is haunted. Not "supposed to be haunted," not "someone said it was haunted," just states it as a fact. Moffat mentions that someone told him that, with a good-naturedly skeptical tone. Barrowman then explains that one of the extras in the gas masks in that scene is "a bit of a medium" and took them back to a place in the hospital where he could sense a pair of spirits. Either Moffat or the FX guy goes "oh, really?" Barrowman explains that they all listened, and they really could feel/hear something, and the doors moved inexplicably, and it was really, really creepy. Then:
Moffat: "Well, yes, but you have to admit, if you get that many actors in one place, they will say it's haunted. Then they'll show you their crystals."
Barrowman: *loses it*
Moffat: "That is not a euphemism."
Still got the last disc to go. Too bad they couldn't get Eccleston back to do commentaries, though; I'd have loved to hear his recollections, even if he complained the whole time.
RTD cannot give good commentary to save his life. Good (Time) Lord, someone tell this man to stop talking about himself and pronouncing everything "cool." No wonder so many fans hate him. (And others are beginning to make his initials half of a curse, with JN-T the other half.) But, I have to admit, I had the same problem with Peter Jackson's commentaries on the LotR discs - he talked about how he came up with ideas and how tired he was, and not much else. And I still have some respect for Jackson. (He does manage not to come off as a total doofus in interviews, which RTD still appears to struggle with.)
Generally speaking, the special effects guys are trying really hard, but often there's just not a whole lot they can say that's going to be interesting, especially when it's the computer guys. There's one point when one of them is describing either Platform One or Satellite Five, and the writer obviously has a bless-his-heart moment and throws the guy an incredibly softball question just so he can talk longer.
The writers are generally pretty good. So are the small-part actors - Bruno Langley (Adam) and Christine Adams (Cathica) were both pretty entertaining, and talked a bit about getting into character and acting against effects both practical and digital, which I find somewhat interesting. The guy who does the Dalek voice was on "Dalek," and discussed the difficulties getting a flashing pepperpot to emote properly, which again was an acting challenge I didn't mind hearing about.
Billie Piper was damn near incoherent, except when she was talking about crying. Then again, she stated flat out that she hadn't seen her episode in its finished form, just a rough cut, so when the Reapers first appeared in "Father's Day," she actually shrieked. This made the effects guy happy, at least. I get the impression that she doesn't think about things much once the filming is finished.
And then we got to "Empty Child/Doctor Dances." [insert fangirl squee here] Steven Moffat, John Barrowman, and the special effects guy. And they *sparkle*. I know, I know, Barrowman could read the phone book and I'd probably listen to it for forty-two minutes. But he and Moffat just bounce off of each other the whole time. Okay, they spend a lot of time pointing out errors (like how long it's half past nine), but it's funny and I still came away feeling like I learned something about the show and its dynamics from listening.
Best part: They're watching the first scene in the hospital, and Barrowman mentions that the hospital they used is haunted. Not "supposed to be haunted," not "someone said it was haunted," just states it as a fact. Moffat mentions that someone told him that, with a good-naturedly skeptical tone. Barrowman then explains that one of the extras in the gas masks in that scene is "a bit of a medium" and took them back to a place in the hospital where he could sense a pair of spirits. Either Moffat or the FX guy goes "oh, really?" Barrowman explains that they all listened, and they really could feel/hear something, and the doors moved inexplicably, and it was really, really creepy. Then:
Moffat: "Well, yes, but you have to admit, if you get that many actors in one place, they will say it's haunted. Then they'll show you their crystals."
Barrowman: *loses it*
Moffat: "That is not a euphemism."
Still got the last disc to go. Too bad they couldn't get Eccleston back to do commentaries, though; I'd have loved to hear his recollections, even if he complained the whole time.
