"Battlefield" commentary rec

[dbskyler]

Just finished listening to the commentary on the "Battlefield" DVD and it was hilarious. Basically script editor Andrew Cartmel and author Ben Aaronovitch spent the entire time making digs at the production values, pointing out dodgy special effects, plot-crucial sound effects that were in the script but didn't make it into the episode, a spaceship that's supposed to be underwater but doesn't look like it's underwater, etc., etc. Aaronovitch also made multiple disparaging remarks about his own writing -- he said quite openly that he feels the script is not his best work. Meanwhile Angela Bruce (Bambera), Sophie Aldred (Ace) and Nicholas Courtney (the Brig : D) didn't seem to know quite what to say in response. It's pretty funny. At least everyone agreed that the acting was good, which it was.

I'm a little picky about commentaries because I sometimes find them incredibly boring, but I absolutely recommend this one. Definitely not at all boring, and full of interesting insights into what went into making the show (and what didn't go into making the show, but should have).

And I don't think the script was that bad, truthfully. Believe me, RTD has done far worse.

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

Heh. Janet is very entertaining. She asks Tom Baker why he seemed to be so angry when she met him first, and, on watching Black Orchid, she puts the important question to Peter Davison: "So, Pete, did you shave, or are you just not very hairy?" Warriors of the Deep they have Mat Irvine cramping their style (but even so, she manages to come up with this ratio between the campness of men's costumes and the butchness of their acting. And "You're not very butch," she tells Peter...)

And Sophie and Sylvester are just as fond of each other off-screen as on, which always comes across. And I like Remembrance - her talling him how in awe she was of him when she started. Sylvester's instantly chuffed.

I've found that with Tom and Lis, too, but it depends how early a commentary it was (a lot of the first releases the cast and crew are all a little 'What is this commentary thing? What are we allowed to say?') and I do find that Philip Hinchcliffe, despite his sterling contribution to the show, does tend to be rather dull - and with them both a lot.

I rather like the one for Spearhead in Space, which is quiet and just Caroline John and Nicholas Courtney, but he's so instantly at home with these things, even though it must have been his first. And they discuss the Brig's love life. ("So, she said, it's between me and this Doctor and you know what the Brigadier is about duty...")

I've only heard The Five Doctors with David Tennant on so far, but I can imagine! I keep eying the new Who boxsets when they're on offer. It's only a matter of time before I give in. :-) (My one lasting regret on that release is the lack of Janet. If she had been on the one with Terrance Dicks and Peter, it would have been just about perfect.)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

a lot of the first releases the cast and crew are all a little 'What is this commentary thing? What are we allowed to say?

Very true. And I think that at first the cast was encouraged to do no preparation, but simply sit down and watch and react naturally, which does sometimes give you some great moments -- Tom and Lis' interactions on "The Hand of Fear" commentary make me smile every time -- but it also, and inevitably, I think, means there will be long stretches of not-much-to-say-for-this-scene. The commentaries I enjoy most are the ones where the person has obviously prepared and thought about what anecdotes they can tell for various points in the story. I think it also takes a certain skill, an ability to think of interesting things to say off-the-cuff, and that skill is, as far as I can tell, completely unrelated to acting ability. Which is why some of the best commentaries I've listened to weren't done by actors at all -- e.g., Phil Collinson, and as I said in the post above, Andrew Cartmel and Ben Aaronovitch.

By the way, I don't blame the people who aren't good at it -- I'm sure it's hard, and personally, I'm pretty sure I would suck at it.

I don't have any Davison episodes in my to-be-watched queue, but now I'm going to have to put some in just so I can hear Janet Fielding. She sounds like the best kind of commentator -- the evil instigator. : )