Post by 🐍 huss 🐍 on Dec 9, 2014 22:11:15 GMT -5
Last week on Dark Eyes 3: The Doctor and the Master are trapped on an imminently exploding ship? Sounds like a slash fic setup.
This week on Dark Eyes 3: CLIMAX.
Who is this trying-very-hard-to-sound-American newscaster? It's Casey Carraway (and not Peri). She's voiced by Beth Chalmers, who may be known to Big Finish listeners as Raine Creevey, an occasional companion of the Seventh Doctor and friend to Ace.
Having lost a doctor and gained a med tech, the Master sets Liv Chenka to watch over Molly O'Sullivan, who's having weird dreams. The Master appears to be trying to insert himself into her memories and wipe out the memories of the Doctor. Liv hates constantly sedating her and following the Master's orders, but she wants to help her friend not... explode, basically.
The Earth Alliance has just finished its war against the Eminence (OR HAVE THEY), and all the service members who were out fighting wherever it was in the universe are coming back home. Little do they know that the Eminence is on Earth as well, subtly seeding the air to make every human a potential Infinite Warrior. Of course, the Master's already countering that with Molly's retogenitor particles to take control of the army himself, but the Eminence doesn't know that. They're working together for the time being.
The Doctor and Narvin have followed the Master to Earth and split up to catch him. The Doctor is on his way to the Media Hub in Byzantium (fka Istanbul) to confront "Walter Vincent," the mysterious new Grand Administrator of Earth who no one's ever seen but I guess somehow got elected, this future Earth needs work on its politics. Narvin is heading off to Brunei to rescue Liv and Molly.
WHAT A TWIST. Walter Vincent isn't the Master! The Doctor "oh shits" off and rushes back to Brunei, where Narvin is walking into a trap. So what is Walter? He's a construct created by the Master, containing some memories of Molly's father and the rest... is apparently created by memes? I must have zoned out a bit at this point, because it didn't really make a ton of sense. "Meme technology." Because he's made of memes, he can act as a transmitter for thoughts...?
"I wondered whether I could persuade someone to die. Not quite, but close enough." The Master uses his knowledge of Liv's illness to get her body nearly to shut down as she momentarily gains the upper hand and trains a gun on him. It turns out that during the time that Liv's spent with the Master, the various experiments that he's been running on Molly have benefited Liv too, curing her of the theta ray poisoning. It is weird when the Master's plans have unexpected good side effects (see also: saving the colonists in "The Death of Hope"). Narvin is captured and the Eminence attempts to feast on his consciousness, but to the guy's credit, he's better at psychic resistance than either the Doctor or the Master. Sure sounds like it hurts, though.
On a global broadcast, Walter Vincent activates his... meme-itude and all the minds of Earth become one, eyes blacking out. The pilot of the shuttle (her name is Tallow, which tbh sounds a lot like Turlough) flying the Doctor back to Brunei (the TARDIS is "lost luggage" during this episode) is overtaken by the Vincent-Master-Eminence transmission, and although the Doctor tries valiantly to break their grip on her, she activates the self-destruct. She dies, the Doctor escapes. Surprise.
The Doctor is able to rescue Liv (but not Molly, who is too weakened by the Master's control), and sends her to the Media Hub to break Walter's meme-control (seriously this is such a pathetic concept for a character) and reduce him to ashes. The Doctor teams up with the Eminence, sort of, by promising it the universe and allowing it access to his brain so it can tell he's telling the truth. Which he is, after a fashion. The Eminence will rule, at the end of the universe, when everything else is dead. As the Doctor says, "A Time Lord's brain is bigger on the inside." The Eminence only saw the part of the Doctor's plan that he let it. But with the Eminence on his side, the Doctor is able to defeat the Master. The Eminence learned from the Doctor about Time Lord physiology, and uses that knowledge to incapacitate the Master. And then some business with feelings and Molly eliminates the traces of Eminence gas from the Earth's atmosphere, burning it off.
During the Eminence's burn-off, the Master escapes. Of course. His TARDIS was disguised as a palm tree. Narvin is freed from his torture and buggers off back to the CIA.
Liv and Molly have a touching goodbye scene. The Doctor and Molly do, too. And then there's the scene where Liv asks the Doctor if she can travel with him, and he says yes and gives her a key, and I get hearts in my eyes.
Stray observations:
"Of course I've got a hover-boat." Shades of the Third Doctor's love of ridiculous vehicles.
"Earth is open for business! And our business is death!" Yep, you really want a super-cheery fake-American voice for that line. Nicely done, Ms. Chalmers.
Final thoughts:
Episode rankings: 3, 2, 1, 4? I think. That's changeable, though. I'm really not super-keen on this final episode generally. Nice moments, weak overall.
For real though, Liv is the best and I'm super happy she's a bona fide companion now. That being said, they try like hell to give her the WORST lines, lines that no one could make sound fresh. "You're a journalist! Just do what you always do—make it up!" ugh. I need to listen to Robophobia, her introductory episode with Sylvester McCoy. Gotta wait for that sucker to be on sale though, I'm not paying 13 money units.
I'm still sad Sally Armstrong was offed. My hopes that she would come back in some manner were dashed quite expertly.
Molly's not my favorite, but I loved her friendship with Liv (their scenes in this episode particularly were quite touching).
I hope Alex Macqueen gets to work with some of the other Doctors after the Dark Eyes series is concluded next year. Mostly I just want him and Colin Baker to pompous at each other.
Available from Big Finish.
(ping Prole Hole)
This week on Dark Eyes 3: CLIMAX.
Who is this trying-very-hard-to-sound-American newscaster? It's Casey Carraway (and not Peri). She's voiced by Beth Chalmers, who may be known to Big Finish listeners as Raine Creevey, an occasional companion of the Seventh Doctor and friend to Ace.
Having lost a doctor and gained a med tech, the Master sets Liv Chenka to watch over Molly O'Sullivan, who's having weird dreams. The Master appears to be trying to insert himself into her memories and wipe out the memories of the Doctor. Liv hates constantly sedating her and following the Master's orders, but she wants to help her friend not... explode, basically.
The Earth Alliance has just finished its war against the Eminence (OR HAVE THEY), and all the service members who were out fighting wherever it was in the universe are coming back home. Little do they know that the Eminence is on Earth as well, subtly seeding the air to make every human a potential Infinite Warrior. Of course, the Master's already countering that with Molly's retogenitor particles to take control of the army himself, but the Eminence doesn't know that. They're working together for the time being.
The Doctor and Narvin have followed the Master to Earth and split up to catch him. The Doctor is on his way to the Media Hub in Byzantium (fka Istanbul) to confront "Walter Vincent," the mysterious new Grand Administrator of Earth who no one's ever seen but I guess somehow got elected, this future Earth needs work on its politics. Narvin is heading off to Brunei to rescue Liv and Molly.
WHAT A TWIST. Walter Vincent isn't the Master! The Doctor "oh shits" off and rushes back to Brunei, where Narvin is walking into a trap. So what is Walter? He's a construct created by the Master, containing some memories of Molly's father and the rest... is apparently created by memes? I must have zoned out a bit at this point, because it didn't really make a ton of sense. "Meme technology." Because he's made of memes, he can act as a transmitter for thoughts...?
"I wondered whether I could persuade someone to die. Not quite, but close enough." The Master uses his knowledge of Liv's illness to get her body nearly to shut down as she momentarily gains the upper hand and trains a gun on him. It turns out that during the time that Liv's spent with the Master, the various experiments that he's been running on Molly have benefited Liv too, curing her of the theta ray poisoning. It is weird when the Master's plans have unexpected good side effects (see also: saving the colonists in "The Death of Hope"). Narvin is captured and the Eminence attempts to feast on his consciousness, but to the guy's credit, he's better at psychic resistance than either the Doctor or the Master. Sure sounds like it hurts, though.
On a global broadcast, Walter Vincent activates his... meme-itude and all the minds of Earth become one, eyes blacking out. The pilot of the shuttle (her name is Tallow, which tbh sounds a lot like Turlough) flying the Doctor back to Brunei (the TARDIS is "lost luggage" during this episode) is overtaken by the Vincent-Master-Eminence transmission, and although the Doctor tries valiantly to break their grip on her, she activates the self-destruct. She dies, the Doctor escapes. Surprise.
The Doctor is able to rescue Liv (but not Molly, who is too weakened by the Master's control), and sends her to the Media Hub to break Walter's meme-control (seriously this is such a pathetic concept for a character) and reduce him to ashes. The Doctor teams up with the Eminence, sort of, by promising it the universe and allowing it access to his brain so it can tell he's telling the truth. Which he is, after a fashion. The Eminence will rule, at the end of the universe, when everything else is dead. As the Doctor says, "A Time Lord's brain is bigger on the inside." The Eminence only saw the part of the Doctor's plan that he let it. But with the Eminence on his side, the Doctor is able to defeat the Master. The Eminence learned from the Doctor about Time Lord physiology, and uses that knowledge to incapacitate the Master. And then some business with feelings and Molly eliminates the traces of Eminence gas from the Earth's atmosphere, burning it off.
During the Eminence's burn-off, the Master escapes. Of course. His TARDIS was disguised as a palm tree. Narvin is freed from his torture and buggers off back to the CIA.
Liv and Molly have a touching goodbye scene. The Doctor and Molly do, too. And then there's the scene where Liv asks the Doctor if she can travel with him, and he says yes and gives her a key, and I get hearts in my eyes.
Stray observations:
"Of course I've got a hover-boat." Shades of the Third Doctor's love of ridiculous vehicles.
"Earth is open for business! And our business is death!" Yep, you really want a super-cheery fake-American voice for that line. Nicely done, Ms. Chalmers.
Final thoughts:
Episode rankings: 3, 2, 1, 4? I think. That's changeable, though. I'm really not super-keen on this final episode generally. Nice moments, weak overall.
For real though, Liv is the best and I'm super happy she's a bona fide companion now. That being said, they try like hell to give her the WORST lines, lines that no one could make sound fresh. "You're a journalist! Just do what you always do—make it up!" ugh. I need to listen to Robophobia, her introductory episode with Sylvester McCoy. Gotta wait for that sucker to be on sale though, I'm not paying 13 money units.
I'm still sad Sally Armstrong was offed. My hopes that she would come back in some manner were dashed quite expertly.
Molly's not my favorite, but I loved her friendship with Liv (their scenes in this episode particularly were quite touching).
I hope Alex Macqueen gets to work with some of the other Doctors after the Dark Eyes series is concluded next year. Mostly I just want him and Colin Baker to pompous at each other.
Available from Big Finish.
(ping Prole Hole)
