ValueSubtracted

joined 2 years ago
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I don't actually think this has come up here yet, but flag football will be part of the 2028 Olympics, and former Winnipeg/Ottawa coach Paul LaPolice will be coaching the Canadian men's team. There will also be a women's team, coached by University of Montreal head coach Rachel Lessard.

 

Here we go again...

  • There's no getting around it - this one is pretty rough. Overlong, and not terribly interesting.
  • The drama surrounding the Sixth Doctor's regeneration into the Seventh is pretty well-documented, but it's still wild that "Sylvester McCoy in a wig" was considered an adequate substitute.
  • The regeneration-related hijinks were the most entertaining aspect of the story for me, by a pretty wide margin. The Rani's truly awful Mel disguise was at least amusing, and Mel and the Doctor's scene of mutual mistrust was actually kind of clever, making good use of the Doctor's post-regeneration amnesia.
  • The Tetrap costumes manage to be truly awful, but still kind of great with those beautifully-sculpted heads.
  • The Lakertyans, on the other hand, look pretty bad all around.
  • The story is largely an excuse to run around in a quarry (classic!), and there's really not much to say about it.
  • As for the Rani...unfortunately, she's largely reduced to a standard tyrant, with none of the unique "dispassionate mad scientist" feel until the final episode. It's a waste of what set her apart from the Master, and with no one to play off aside from her lackeys, she doesn't really stand out.
  • But hey, at least we got to hear Mel scream a lot.
 

For no reason whatsoever, I decided to look at "The Mark of the Rani" this weekend. As a fan whose Classic Who experience is...limited, to say the least, here are side things that came to mind.

  • Really great location work, I found the mining village very convincing.

  • Peri is an endearing companion, despite the dodgy accent and her ranking for the "I need my medication" gambit.

  • Including the Master in the story was a good choice - seeing the Rani's child, detached mad scientist play off the Master's revenge-obsessed impatience helped to solidify her character quickly.

  • The Rani's TARDIS is rad.

All in all, it's a decent little story, and as a two-parter, it's easy to get through, and doesn't feel padded.

Full credit to their fans for starting an initiative to donate $55 to the True North Foundation, though. Very classy, and worthy of mention.

So is the protowarp merely a more powerful version of the warp drive?

That was my takeaway - it's got the power to propel the ship (much) higher into the warp 9.9XXXXX range.

It was a tough one, especially under the circumstances. It's a shame they dug themselves into such a deep hole in the series.

I notice that they didn’t explicitly mention the ESC by name once in the episode. did they have difficulty getting the rights to that?

Probably - it makes me think of how UNIT no longer refers to the United Nations.

how Kid got into the station in the first place.

I assume he had a ticket. Hellions may be marginalized, but it seemed like they are treated poorly, rather than legally segregated from society.

they’re making bigeneration a general thing

There's no such thing!

In fairness, they brought him back twice in season two - once as a dancing Klingon, no less.

[–] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You have to admire the commitment.

[–] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Perusing the stories about this on the official website and Radio Times, it's frustrating and concerning that they're (a) not giving the actual release date for some reason, and (b) not saying whether it will go up on YouTube like the other episodes of Unleashed have this season.

If only we could harness the power of angry people on the internet.

[–] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Noted - looks like I have homework!

[–] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

That was, as they say, a hoot.

I think the core moral storyline was pointed enough to acknowledge the political minefield that Eurovision is, yet vague enough to be applied to just about any real-world situation. This could be seen as a positive or a negative thing, I suppose.

The one thing that didn't completely land for me was the Doctor's holographic "torture" - I honestly think it was a little tame, and they could have gone with something a little more...visceral. That said, the wrathful Doctor is one of my favourite things to see from time to time, so it was nice to see Ncuti shift into that gear for a while.

Oh, and I was a little surprised to get an "everybody lives" ending from RTD - I wouldn't have put it past him to kill 100,000 spectators.

[–] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 5 points 1 month ago (5 children)

The Rani — and a Rani to boot.

Okay, but what's the fandom going to latch onto when they catch speculation fever, now that "X is the Rani" is off the table?

Real talk: I only know the Rani by reputation/from internet research, and would appreciate any Classic Who recommendations.

Flood Watch 2025

She loves a good show. I think that about covers it.

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