An early Christmas present for the Eighth Doctor:
"She's back – and it's about time! India Fisher returns today for three brand-new full-cast audio dramas from Big Finish Productions."
Audio Disclosure: when I listened to If I Should Die Before I Wake from the Classic Doctors, New Monsters: The Stuff of Nightmares boxset it was in isolation, what I mean is, I went straight to the story which had the Eighth Doctor's face on it and ignored the rest on the expectation that I'd come back to them after I'd caught up on everything else. Then Summer came, then Autumn and with modern content consumption options which resemble the Temporal Loom exploding in Disney+'s Marvel's Loki (TM), completely forgot about it. Until last night when I decided to do an audit of the Eighth Doctor material still to be covered and noticed he was listed as appearing in this Sixth Doctor story. So, here we are.
Roy Gill's Together in Eclectic Dreams brings the return of the Dream Crabs from TV's Last Christmas. The Sixth Doctor's companion Mari is experiencing nightmares, so he takes her to a monastery in the Archipelago of High Dream in the hopes they'll be able to offer some therapy. During her first sleep observation session she finds herself inside another TARDIS and another Doctor who we know is the Eighth Doctor, sounding cantankerous and desperate because he's already well aware that he's lost in a dream and doesn't know which way to go, with Mari finally offering a lifeline. As the story progresses, the characters find themselves slipping between various states of Inceptionesque slumber.
This is still the Sixth Doctor's story with the Eighth Doctor very much a supporting player. But is he real or just part of the collective unconsciousness of the characters? Sam the dream expert suggests that this "green man" changes faces and in his mental travels he's seen what sounds like the Twelfth and Thirteenth Doctors too, but I think it is supposed to be Eighth, perhaps from when he's also caught up in the crab's claws in the following story If I Should Die Before I Wake. There's a wonderful moment when their two minds contact and we're treated to the poetry of their collective history including a "terrible" great-aunt who lived in a draughty house high in the Gallifreyan mountains who would nevertheless sing him lullabies.
Last Christmas offered up what the "boards" univerally acknowledged as one of the best companions we never got in the shape of Faye Marsay's Shona and her eclectic film collection. Coincidentally, Big Finish have achieved the same with Mari, who between Gill's script and Susan Hingley's performance manages to create a figure as richly drawn as any of the official companions, funny and clever and who you simply enjoy spending time with and wanting to hear more from. The point was obviously to create the perfect plus one so Sixth would feel the loss when she's not there. In my head canon, the moment after the story ends is when he hear's Charley's distress call at the beginning of The Condemned, explaining why he's so open to having this stranger on board in the ensuring episodes.
Placement: Assuming this is a real Eighth Doctor, I'll put it in front of the next story in the boxset.
Audio Ah The Paternoster Gang. At least once a year, Big Finish have the Eighth Doctor wander into one of their spin-off series and finally, he's turned up in Victorian England and bumped into Vastra, Jenny and Strax. With only a finite amount of money at my disposal, I avoided the previous series, only really dipping my toe in via The Eighth of March box, Once and Future and the crossover with Jago & Lightfoot. Steven Moffat apparently pitched this spin-off when he was showrunner, with the opening half of The Crimson Horror looking for all the world like a backdoor pilot. He was knocked back but at least thanks to our audio BF we can have some idea of what such a thing would be like.
It's fun. Having not heard the opening box, I don't know how much this replicates the formula, but it's very much the s7/Torchwood/SJA model of an alien of the week in a Holmisan period setting usually being exploited by some local hoodlum with the gang investigating then breaking the case wide open. The characters are the draw, the naughty interplay between Vastra and Jenny whose relationship can be explored in greater detail and the sheer brilliance of Strax, played with such determination by Dan Starkey (who also writes the second story in the series) and probably offers the most laughs across these three episodes.
Till Death Us Do Part
Vastra and Jenny are finally having a wedding but the planning and ceremony are interrupted by a series of curious events with duplicates of themselves and others, creating havoc. There is a general sense of unease throughout as characters sound almost but not exactly like themselves and the Eighth Doctor appears all over the place but not apparently in a linear order and out of sorts. DWM's reviewer attributes this to Paul, suggesting he sounds "distracted and possibly even a little bit confused by it all" but it's obviously because the character himself is supposed to be: he's forgetful, skittish and one minute knows who Jenny is and the next has no idea.
Placement: Like The Truth of Peladon, he's wearing his Dark Eyes leathers on the cover even though there isn't really a gap for him to be travelling along, so I'll put it next to that for now unless something else crops up.
Audio Ha, OK. Even before listening to this, I had the opening paragraph of a review in my head, about how this was yet another bold new era for the Doctor, presumably somewhere around the DWM comic strips judging by the costume on the cover perhaps set right at the start of the Big Finish audios before Shada, even. Then spoiler happens and I'm of the opinion that Big Finish are just fucking with me personally. So the "placement" section at the bottom of this will probably be longer than usual, but it might be worth staying away until you've had a chance to hear this.
Even without the costume, you can somehow tell this is a much earlier Eighth than the Lucie, Dark Eyes era (for want of a better description) and the Time War. Having shaken off the events of both the novels and comics (in my headcanon), he's the slightly tigerish, adventurous figure who doesn't yet have the weight of the multiple deaths and estrangement that he experiences in the audio years on his shoulders and still very willing to collect passengers, especially, as Audacity is here, in dire need of saving. It just shows you what an asset McGann is that he can recreate all of these subtly different versions of the character.
Of course, he's intrigued by Lady Audacity Montague, of course he is. Apart from her gung-ho, fearless, feminist attitude, she's from a period before technology which means he's able to impress her with future technology and other kinds of spectacles, to impress her, as she calls him on early in their second episode together. She's in the lineage of companions that includes River, Lady Christina, Trix and Fey, the kind who can get along perfectly well without him but take a shine to the Time Lord and his magic box for whatever reason and find a mutual understanding, if not love.
The Devouring
Follows the Rose/Storm Warning playbook of introducing the companion first and whatever madness has been let loose with the Doctor's gradual introduction. The Devouring, an alien species obsessing over another being who happened to look in their direction is perhaps a metaphor for stalkers and how they can consume a person's whole life. Writer Lisa McMullin has RTD's facility for sketching in but making meaningful side characters which means the scenes in the foe consumers everyone Audicity's been in contact with are even more horrible.
The Great Cyber-War
Good, bold title as the Doctor finally visits a period which has been hinted at throughout the franchise, notably TV's Revenge of the Cybermen apparently at random (although we know it is really the TARDIS taking him where he needs to be). Now we have an explanation for why gold of all things was so damaging to Cybermen, why they sounded so emotional in the 80s episodes despite saying that they'd drained themselves of emotion and how Voga ended up orbiting Jupiter. It's all about as convincing as these grace notes usually are and it won't be the last time the Doctor finds himself making history.
Writer Tim Foley doesn't shortchange the action either, this is a six-episode (in old money), multi-location, cast of dozens epic with rich characterisation across the board, which also knows that all most of us really want or need from a Cyberman story is for one of the metal monsters to clench his biker-gloved fist and say "Excellent" with a mid-Atlantic accent as though they have bucket on their head and for the Doctor to shout "It's a cyber mat!" when required. It's all good, clean tremendous, straightforward fun I'm glad we're hearing more of it in these releases.
Placement: Ha, well. As I said in the introduction, I was all ready to drop this before Shada, but then Charley appears at the end in Tibet, the Doctor having dropped her there for a bit, much as he did with Sam at Greenpeace and my brain turned to soup and began pouring out of my ears. Assuming this is chronological, Charley sounds more mature than in her first season so I'm assuming this is supposed to be somewhere close to the start of the second season unless more information comes to light, like all of this is actually set after The Girl Who Never Was or the Doctor's jumped back into his own past and selfishly picked up Charley before an earlier version of himself was supposed to.
BBC Children's Exhibition
Designed by William Gillespie & Partners.
Exhibition: Lawrence and Gerry Design Group.
Sponsored by B.B.C.
Children’s broadcasting introduced a new and exciting element to the lives of young people. The reassuring voices of Uncle Mac and Aunty Kathleen were as memorable to those who grew up with them as the visual drama of Dr. Who has become to the television generation.
This exhibition commemorate sixty years of children’s broadcasting by the BBC, using photographs and videos of past programmes as well as exhibits from the productions currently on the air.
It provides a trip down memory lane for former Children’s Hour listeners, many of them now grandparents, for whom Muffin the Mule, Andy Pandy, and Mr. Turnip will evoke early television programmes.
Visitors enter this world of fantasy and fiction through pergola shaped like a television screen. The central exhibition, in a series of colourful hexagonal marquees linked around a courtyardm is complemented by striking forms as Dr. Who’s Tardis and K9 menaced by Daleks and a Blue Peter Galleon.
There are more favourites: Postman Pat, The Magic Roundabout with Florence, Zebedee, Dougal and Ermentrude, Paddington Bear, The Wombles. Posh Paws and Humpty from Playschool. Jackanory's old kaleidoscope machine will be on show. Visitors will also have a chance to operate video cameras and a BBC computer.
Outside broadcast to take base from time to time in a small arena which also serves as a play area with giant Play School playblocks as the centre please.
Blue Peter Competition Garden
Designed by Theodore Gayer Anderson
Sponsored by: Blue Peter - BBC.
19,940 viewers entered Blue Peter's competition to design a special Festival Garden - with a difference. It didn't have to be full of flowers but anything calculated to amaze, delight and intrigue the estimated three million visitors to the International Garden Festival. We were after good ideas rather than brilliant drawings and we never dreamed would receive such imaginative and well thought out suggestions. They ranged from a Bangers and Mash Garden with gigantic foam rubber sausages and a baked bean stepping stone path, to gardens, especially for the disabled including one with a class on mushrooms sheltering the displays each with two sides, one for sighted people and the other with exhibits blind people could touch.
The Design Co-ordinator, Rodney Beaumont, joined us for the judging and decided the entries were so good some of them should be displayed at the BBC Children’s Programs. Jubilee Exhibition. They included the nine First, Second and Third prize winning designs in the competition's three age groups.
The judges were unanimous in their decision to award the Overall Top Prize to 14-year-old Theodore Gayer Anderson’s spectacular red dragon. He's bound to give us a great deal of pleasure. For us he’s the highlight of the festival - make sure you don’t miss the experience of walking through the dragon's head, along his back and down his right hand leg!
Biddy Baxter, Editor, Blue Peter, 10th of February. 1984.
Film Recently, in the lead-up to the 400th anniversary of the publication of the First Folio, the BBC has broadcast a series of archive Shakespeare productions including a Hamlet double bill on one Sunday night, which would have tested the metal of even his biggest fan (and I speak as someone who once listened to three full-text audio versions in a day).
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Of all the plays you would think might be the first to survive on film, it wouldn't be King John. But there he is, actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree playing the doomed monarch in poisonous, fearful death, silently intoning Shakespeare's words back in 1899. The Folger Shakespeare Library has a lengthy article about this which explains that it was shot on stage at the Palace Theatre on September 20th, the same night Tree's own stage production began its sun at Her Majesty's Theatre.
Shakespeare has flourished in film since with hundreds of productions across most of the rest of the canon. What we're concerning ourselves with here are those which as projects were originated and shot on film (so no direct stage transfers) or HD in a so-called "classical Hollywood" style with all the visual tricks that entail. The text could be cut or rearranged, but the words coming out of the actor's mouths are Shakespeare's.
Here is my curated list in First Folio order. As you'll see I've tried to pay respect to both theatrical and cinematic history (Ken, Larry, Orson etc). It's also fair to say that some of the choices are by default because they're the only version of the play to fit the criteria. We still await the retro-noir version of Measure for Measure I've had in my head for decades (and just turning the colour off on the BBC 1994 Performance version isn't quite the same). Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.
Propero's Books (1991) After numerous attempts with various directors, John Gielgud finally played the title character of The Tempest in Peter Greenaway's eclectic, avant-garde visually stunning treatment. Greenaway plays with the notion of Prospero as Shakespeare's avatar and the popular belief that in writing the text and the sorcerer's words he was bidding farewell to his life's work. If you are treating this as the opening film of a festival, it's a great introduction.
Two Gentlemen of Verona There have been no cinematic versions.
The Merry Wives of Windsor There have (mostly) been no cinematic versions. See Chimes at Midnight.
Measure for Measure There have been no cinematic versions.
The Comedy of Errors There have been no cinematic versions.
Much Ado About Nothing (1991) There's not much of a contest here, this has Ken and Em at their zenith shot beneath the golden Tuscan sky in a rendering of the play which makes sense of the comedic scenes as well as the tragic. More than most of Branagh's films, this has him clashing Hollywood and UK theatrical royalty together, with Denzel meeting Briersley and BRIAN BLESSED and Ben Elton playing sidekick to Michael Keaton. Also the first major screen role for Kate Beckinsale.
Love's Labour's Lost (2000) Ken's version of this prequel to a lost play drew criticism from some for cutting almost three-quarters of the play and turning the whole thing into a 1930s musical (especially with this being the only film version of the play available) but the result is so adorable I'll forgive everything. The cuts are also immensely clever. In its complete form, LLL can be difficult to follow in places, but through production design and costume, everything here is perfectly clear.
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999) The apogee of the 90s Shakespeare film cycle, this Branagh-influenced version returns to a Tuscan setting (still referred to as Greece in the text) and has John Sessions as Philostrate. The magic of the forest is given the full special effects treatment and the whole of the cast is just so gosh-darn adorable, with Michelle Pfeiffer at her imperious best as Titannia and Kevin Kline offering his thoroughly cute Bottom.
The Merchant of Venice (2004) The casting of the Sicilian Italian-American Al Pacino as Shylock looks pretty dated in retrospect, but Michael Radford's production does at least notice that this isn't a particularly funny play, cutting most of the box-checking scenes and highlighting the animosity between the ethnic and religious groups in Venice. It's also notable for its location shooting in Venice and doesn't downplay the homo-erotic aspects of some relationships.
As You Like It (2006) Back to Branagh for his final Shakespeare production on film (so far) which transposes the play to a late 19th-century European colony in Japan after the Meiji Restoration amongst the English traders who were fascinated by the local culture. Future Doctor Who Romola Garai plays Celia, with most of his usual repertory appearing and Kevin Kline joining as Jaques. Theatrically released in the UK, it was produced for HBO back when they did this sort of thing.
The Taming of the Shrew (1967) Taylor and Burton bouncing off the walls of Cineceta and each other. Unlike her husband, Liz hadn't acted Shakespeare before and after much persistence, she was able to lobby director Franco Zeffrelli to redo the first week's shooting at the end once she'd got the hang of the iambic pentameter. Cuts include the induction with Christopher Sly and most of the Lucentio and Bianca subplot. Michael Hordern is delightful as Kate's father
All's Well That Ends Well There have been no cinematic versions.
Twelfth Night (1996) Considering its popularity, it's surprising that Adrian Noble's country house take is the only version of the play on film. It's perfectly fine with a strong cast led by Imogen Stubbs and Helena Bonham Carter with Ben Kingsley as Feste, REG as Aguecheek, Mel Smith as Toby Belch and Nigel Hawthorne as Malvolio. Once again it feels of a piece with Ken's style but he'd already produced a TV version for Channel 4 in 1988 with Briesley in the yellow britches.
The Winter's Tale There have been no cinematic versions (in 1968, Frank Dunlop adapted his Edinburgh Festival stage production but even that isn't available).
King John There have been no cinematic versions (apart from the 1899 version which wouldn't count anyway).
The Hollow Crown (2012-2016) For the tetralogies, you've two choices. The Hollow Crown allows you to follow the whole damn story with shared casts, all of the best actors of the period reading Shakespeare's words in a style which is essentially Game of Thrones without the dragons, with Henry VI is heavily cut and runs across two episodes. Or you can treat some of the plays individually and take a more eclectic approach. See below:
Richard II There have been no other cinematic versions.
Chimes at Midnight (1966) Out of circulation until recently due to licensing issues, Orson Welles's labour of love essentially pulls all of the Falstaff scenes from the various plays including The Merry Wives of Windsor and spins them into a relatively coherent screenplay. The director makes for a rambunctious lead character and the eclectic cast includes Gielgud and Jeane Moreau as Doll Tearsheet.
Henry V (1944) To ease us out of the Welles, it's back to one of the grandparents of Shakespeare on film. Opening in a recreation of an Elizabethan theatre to underscore the artifice of what's ahead, like a backstage musical the stage becomes a near-infinite space across which the battle of Agincourt and everything else in Larry's interpretation takes place. Sacred enough that when Ken wanted to make his version, the effort was branded as precocious.
Richard III (1955) Olivier played Richard on stage, but his film version is a different entity with a new cast and production design. Apparently, it wasn't well received by critics at the time but the opening monologue has become iconic and it's said many actors work hard not to play it like Olivier (Ken parodies this during the audition scene of In The Bleak Midwinter). The late, lamented Network released a wonderfully crisp restoration of this which is worth tracking down.
Henry VIII (1979) Director Kevin Billington, in an effort to shift the play away from its usual presentation as a pageant, shot this on location at Leeds Castle, Penshurst Place and Hever Castle, often in the rooms where the historical action is presumed to take place. As a result, it looks more "cinematic" than a lot of the films on this list not least because everyone looks absolutely freezing, their breath steaming throughout. The DVD transfer is pin-sharp.
Troilus and Cressida (1981) There have been no cinematic versions.
Coriolanus (2011) In this modern dress adaptation, director Ralph Feinnes transfers ancient Rome to the Balkans during a pseudo-Yugoslave war, with the actual Jon Snow offering backstory at the beginning in the style of a newscast. Rattles through a cut text in a couple of hours, Fiennes cuts a commanding, bloodthirsty figure as the title character, nevertheless crumbling in the face of Vanessa Redgrave's Volumnia. Mother knows best.
Titus (1999) Like Coriolanus, Julie Taymor's film refuses to accept the play's original setting, instead clashing together designs from various periods of history, from ancient Rome to Mussolini's Italy through the eyes of the contemporary small boy introduced at the beginning who enters the production as young Lucius is really just messing about with toy soldiers. Which doesn't make it any less gruesome, Tony Hopkins serving revenge with Lectorish glee.
William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996) Could it be anything other than Baz Luhrmann? Few productions have convincingly suggested these two could fall in love overnight, but when Leo and Claire furtively gaze at one another through the fish tank you're sold. Also manages to make you forget this is a play you've seen a dozen times before, with the various contrivances absolutely heart-sucking. One for the ages.
Timon of Athens (1981) There have been no cinematic versions.
Julius Caesar (1953) Developed in reaction to Olivier's Henry V, this full-tilt classical Hollywood production re-uses sets from Quo Vadis and was shot in black and white so as not to draw comparison and to suggest contemporary film reels reflecting the still evident fascist movements in Europe. Features James Mason and Gielgud as Brutus and Cassius, Marlon Brando as Mark Anthony and a host of recognisable character actors from that period.
Macbeth (1948) Orson Welles: "I thought I was making what might be a good film, and what, if the 23-day shoot schedule came off, might encourage other filmmakers to tackle difficult subjects at greater speed. Unfortunately, not one critic in any part of the world chose to compliment me on the speed. They thought it was a scandal that it should only take 23 days. Of course, they were right, but I could not write to every one of them and explain that no one would give me any money for a further day's shooting . . . However, I am not ashamed of the limitations of the picture."
Hamlet (1996) Branagh's magnum opus, a four-hour production of a conflated text collecting as much Hamlet as Shakespeare wrote, including some odds and sods from Q1. As with 99% of productions, Ken and his cohorts are too old for their parts (is everyone in court a mature student?) but this is Shakespeare rendered in 70mm with more stars than a Record Breakers Christmas Special. Briersley's spymaster Polonius steals the show.
King Lear (1970) Pitch dark Bergmanesque production from Peter Brook with Paul Schofield's Lear against a blasted wilderness, shot in the wintery dune country of Denmark's Jutland Peninsula. Visually it's absolutely extraordinary, the grain of the 16mm creating the impression that we're watching action filmed in a documentary style in the deep past. Probably in my top three favourite Lears, along with Kurosawa's Ran and the RSC production with Romola Garai amongst others.
Othello (1995) Although there had been earlier indie productions starring Ted Lange and Yaphet Kotto, this was the first mainstream production to feature a black actor in the lead role, the fantastic Laurence Fishburne. It's adapted and directed by Oliver Parker and Ken only plays Iago, but manages to feature some of his usual ensembles, Michael Maloney and Nicholas Farrell. Shot on location in Venice and Cyprus, David Johnson's cinematography gives it an erotic thriller feel.
Antony and Cleopatra (1972) Having yet to have the chance to see this, here's a take from the BFI's old ScreenOnline website: "Emphasising spectacle at the expense of subtlety (even to the point of recycling shots from the 1959 Ben-Hur, in which Heston had starred some thirteen years earlier!), this adaptation shows little feeling for the emotions at the core of the story, and is torpedoed by the lack of chemistry between Heston and South African actress Hildegard Neil, who is arguably miscast as Cleopatra."
Cymbeline There have been no cinematic versions.