Claws of Axos, part 1!

[dbskyler]

Saw part 1 of "Claws of Axos" tonight, and just feel like jotting down a few quick reactions:



--The Brig!!!! He's so awesome. Loved him (as always), especially when he was not answering government-guy's questions about the Doctor.

-- Cheesy monsters are indeed cheesy. And their spaceship looks like the alien from that Star Trek episode. You know, the one where the music keeps going "dah dah dah dah DAH dah" over and over? (Yeah, I know, I'll move on now.)

-- Is that guy supposed to have an American accent? I honestly can't tell. He sounds British to me, but in a very weird "why is he talking like that?" way.

-- What is this thing that writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin have about nuclear power stations?

-- The Master!!!!!!! The Master is being held captive!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!

-- 70's alien space-age outfits are alien and space-age and 70's. I'm pretty sure I saw aliens wearing pretty much the same thing on a Space: 1999 episode once.

Looking forward to part 2, but for now I am tired and will go to bed.

Comments

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

-- Cheesy monsters are indeed cheesy.

*grins* Did I not say so? :D

I luffs the Brig when he's been obtuse and stubborn!

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I luffs the Brig when he's been obtuse and stubborn!

So do I. I also love it when the Doctor is misbehaving and the Brig says "Doctor!" in that way that is part warning, part long-suffering "here we go again."

And now I'm thinking that there really needs to be a Doctor / Brigadier reunion in New Who. Also that it's time I went looking for a Brig icon.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

So do I. I also love it when the Doctor is misbehaving and the Brig says "Doctor!" in that way that is part warning, part long-suffering "here we go again."

LOL Yes!

And now I'm thinking that there really needs to be a Doctor / Brigadier reunion in New Who. Also that it's time I went looking for a Brig icon.

Agreed! It IS about time we had a reunion between the Brig and the Doctor. (There was a rumour a while ago that the Brig and SJS would be Eleven's companions for part of S5 - but I've no idea if it's more than a wild tabloid rumour.)

[primsong.livejournal.com]

Wootness for the Brig! I love the UNIT guys in this one. And I'm vastly amused by your ref to Space 1999...egads, did I really watch that show once upon a time?

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I used to watch all those shows. There was a clip of John Barrowman that someone posted recently at doctorwho where he listed the sci-fi shows he watched growing up -- Space:1999, Bionic Woman, Six Million Dollar Man, (original) Battlestar Galactica, and of course Doctor Who -- and yep, me too, every single one.

It's fun to re-watch Space:1999 and see their vision of "the future" now that we're at 2009. Where's my moonbase?

[thisbluespirit]

The Master and the brigadier, didn't I say? ;-D

The guy with the dodgy US accent is Canadian, I think. So Canadian trying to do US for 70s UK TV who don't seem to care any more than US TV shows still do... (whoops, did I type that aloud?). He turns up in Blake's 7 (which, as I said, has EVERYONE nearly from 70s Who in it, sporting what might be his actual accent. Or still some dodgy fake one). The 1960s/70s approach to US/Canadian accents seems to be "Who'd know the difference?" :lol: Count it as revenge for all those dreadful US cockneys!!!

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I doubt it's a Canadian / US difference, because the (English-speaking) Canadian and US accents really are very, very close. I went to grad school with someone for years before I found out one day that she was Canadian -- I'd had no idea. We have a lot of Canadian actors here (e.g., Michael J. Fox, William Shatner). And I've traveled in Canada and "passed" for Canadian with my US accent.

Of course, the actor could be Canadian and just have a strange accent. I met up with a Canadian relative once who'd been living in Australia for years, and she had a very bizarre accent to my ears, somewhere halfway in-between Canadian and Australian. She probably still sounds Canadian to the Australians, but she sure didn't to me.

I'm sure US television is bad at British accents, so it's only fair that UK television has bad American accents in return. At least bad accents are fun to make fun of, except for the rare case when you're subjected to one for a long time that happens to be over-the-top irritating (*cough* Nicola Bryant *cough*).

[thisbluespirit]

I'm fairly ignorant, but I'd have to go and check - I'm sure the actor concerned is Canadian. And I always thought there was, generally speaking a difference (although obviously that would vary regionally, and I imagine be hard to distinguish across the borders).

I had a Canadian teacher for A-Level, you see, and he expected us to notice the difference and hated being taken for an American, so I did become a little bit more aware of that. (Oddly, one of my other two teachers was an American, but he was a demon of some sort and had an accent all his own). Also, we had a girl in our class before that who was Canadian. Not that I'd really know to spot the difference when watching TV - I'm a bit clueless, mostly. Ah, bad accents, why will actors & directors do it? They're so distracting. (Are genuine US/English/Irish/Whatever really so hard to find?)

And the BBC are still sometimes shameless even about say comedy West Country accents (something 70s Who is full of, with Mrs Tyler being about the only one to manage a genuine one). I'm sure DW used a Canadian for an American in the Gunfighters, too. (Right side of the Atlantic, at least? :lol:) And recently, we still had Philip Glenister in Demons pretending he was American. (This is very unlikely. I should have watched an episode just to see him make the effort).

And, yes, there are some terrible accents that have equally appeared on US TV. Absolutely! Heh. Mind, I'm all admiration for those who can actually pull it off.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I always thought there was, generally speaking a difference

There is -- especially in the pronunciation of "ou" -- but with most of the Canadians I've met, it's very subtle if it's there at all. Granted, a lot of them have been living in the U.S., but I still think that someone fresh off the plane from Vancouver would have no problem passing as a native in San Francisco (at least as far as accent goes). There are probably some Canadian regional differences that I don't know about, and your teacher may have been from a province with a heavier accent, or maybe he just really didn't want to be taken for American -- can't blame him, really, considering some of the idiots we've had for presidents in the past. (Sometimes we Americans joke about pretending we're Canadian when we go abroad. And sometimes it's not a joke.)

Are genuine US/English/Irish/Whatever really so hard to find?

Good question. They found John Barrowman, and I'll vouch that his American accent is genuine. Although maybe he was hired in spite of the accent, not because of it? But then David Tennant puts on an accent -- how's his? I sometimes think I hear a bit of Scottish accent creeping through in his performance, but I'm no expert.

I'm all admiration for those who can actually pull it off.

Me too. Hugh Laurie springs to mind.

[thisbluespirit]

Heh. I have a feeling my teacher probably really didn't want to be labelled as American. But then, the only other American in the building at the time was the demonic English teacher Merle, so fair enough. He probably would have helped his case by not wearing cowboy boots all the time. It doesn't take much to mislead us West Country local yokels as we wander round going ooh-arrr, me loverr, where did I put me tractorrr and me mangel-worzel? (Oh, wait, we don't do that, except on the BBC...) ;-D

Hmm, Tennant's 'mockney' accent doesn't bother me, but the fact that it's got a name suggests that more observant people than me notice a lot. Then again, there's Tony Head, whose real accent comes as a shock when I see him back on British TV, as he does have a London accent (but not Cockney) and it's not his BBC-English Giles accent!

Yes, and about that Hugh Laurie thing - can we have him back now, please? ;-D

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

(Oh, wait, we don't do that, except on the BBC...) ;-D

LOL. I once met a person in Scotland who refused to believe I was from California because I don't have blonde hair. But that was probably American TV's fault.

That's not Anthony Head's real accent? Wow, I never knew. On the other hand, I've heard that Elisabeth Sladen has a Liverpool accent in real life that I've never heard, because she uses BBC-English for interviews as well as for playing SJS.

And no, you can't have Hugh Laurie back! He's ours now, ha ha ha ha!!!!!! ; D

[thisbluespirit]

Heh.

Yes, the accent he uses for the teenage Giles (Band Candy) is much more his real accent.

*sulks about not being allowed to have Hugh Laurie back*

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

*relents and lets you have Hugh Laurie for an occasional visit*