Jon Arnold (2)
Auteur van The Black Archive: Rose
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Time, Unincorporated: The Doctor Who Fanzine Archives, Vol. 3: Writings on the New Series (2011) — Medewerker — 19 exemplaren
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The actual analytical content of the book is the shortest of any of the Black Archives I have seen so far. Given that Scream of the Shalka turned out to be a dead end in continuity, there is not a lot to say, and most of it had already been said by Paul Cornell.
However there's one particularly interesting point covered off by Arnold in the first chapter, which is on the nature of the Doctor; namely, why is it that the average viewer (Arnold quotes Russell T. Davies and Elizabeth Sandifer, but I would agree with them) finds Grant's performance rather lacking in vigour, while those who were present at the actual shoot (Paul Cornell and James Goss, both of whom I would normally regard as reliable witnesses) describe him as thoroughly and energetically engaged in the recording? Arnold's answer is that the medium itself is the issue:
“The problem is that each line is delivered clearly and in full before the next line begins; everyone politely waits for the other person to fully finish speaking before they begin their line. As Who's Next's verdict on Shalka notes, this feeling of the ‘in-the-room intimacy of a radio drama […] sits oddly when you're watching pictures on a screen at the same time.‘ Conversations therefore rarely develop the energy of genuine interaction between two people, and instead feel like two people speaking in the same place and same time but not actually communicating. Whilst animation ameliorates this to a degree by the simple use of close-ups and characters facing each other, it drains the energy and emotion from performances; we don't get proper reactions to build a scene.”
This is one of the most interesting production-related insights I've gleaned from the Black Archive series so far.
Just for completeness, the (few) chapters of Arnold's monograph cover:
* the nature of the Shalka!Doctor, as already discussed, and his roots in Dracula, Sherlock Holmes and Cornell's other work;
* Alison as a companion;
* The Master;
* Scream of the Shalka as a reboot story;
* a conclusion to the main narrative: "It’s a brave, flawed attempt to find a future for Doctor Who when no-one thought it had one."
* an appendix debating the extent to which Scream of the Shalka is canon;
* another appendix looking at "The Feast of the Stone", the only other published story in Shalka!Doctor continuity;
* a final, very long appendix presenting the sequel which came closest to being made, Simon Clark's "Blood of the Robots" (other script proposals by Paul Cornell and Jonathan Clements were recycled elsewhere in the Whoniverse; the one by Stephen Baxter has not resurfaced).
If you're intrigued by the possibilities of the Shalka!Doctor continuity, this book will tick your boxes.… (meer)