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eponymous_rose(First off, I'd like to accept the Terrible Flister award once again, to apologise to everyone whose comments/posts are sitting without replies, and to thank my apartment-hunting for being so kind as to monopolise my time and spicy brains. Next week will be full of catching up, and all the people who only know me from the Classic Who Friending Meme may actually discover that I'm not such a terrible commenter most of the time!)
Well, I finished all of the Sapphire and Steel TV show last night, and started in with the first two Big Finish audios today - I was a little bit worried they'd screw something up, because it's such a wonky and half-glimpsed canon to have to play with... but come on, you guys. It's Big Finish, after all - it's absolutely marvellous.
I'm absolutely amazed at how well Harker and Warner stand in for Lumley and McCallum - especially Warner, who's got a bit of a strange pair of shoes to fill. He's a little gruffer than McCallum's Steel (almost fatherly at times, which is weird to say the least), but he does do the occasional bafflement and impatience and concern and such just as nicely.
General feel of the thing is gorgeous - it's so easy to make Sapphire and Steel seem way too heroic and "Stop right now, you evildoers!"-esque, but they avoid it beautifully in the series. There's the matter-of-factness, coupled with the usual moments of concern and fear (rendered in a wonderfully alien way), and the ruthlessness is there (oh, is it ever there!). Only thing that I'll really miss in the transition from video to audio will be all those little moments where Sapphire and Steel (or Sapphire and Silver, for that matter) will be doing all the exposition telepathically and you can just tell someone was all "well, we can't just have them stand here doing nothing and staring at each other, can we?", and threw in some kissing and such, which is just so wonderfully non sequitur-ish. And, um. Wouldn't transfer over to the audio medium.
Random favourite quote from Assignment Five:
SAPPHIRE: "Not necessarily in love; he was using her."
STEEL: *baffled* "There's a difference?"
SAPPHIRE: "On this planet, yes."
Anyway, yes. Matter at hand: Sapphire. End of "Daisy Chain", prompting young girl to kill herself to save her family (and Steel). That's a new side, it really is - all throughout the TV series, Sapphire's the liaison, the one apologising for Steel ("He's a shade too serious but you'll get used to him"), the one who turns on the charm and sympathy and - as it turns out - has us all fooled, just a bit. "Daisy Chain" was to her what the end of Assignment Two was to Steel - the moment where we find out just how creepily different they are. I find Sapphire way scarier than Steel, for the most part, because at least he's halfway honest about his priorities. In "Daisy Chain", it wasn't terribly unexpected when he got the boy to pick up the music box ("It won't hurt you!" Haha, Steel. Haha.), and the bit where he drags in the dead pizza delivery guy fits his character. But oh, the subtle little things with Sapphire - not being able to meet the boy's eyes when she and Steel are all quick let's sneak out before they notice the daughter's committed suicide - just make it that much scarier. But then, we get that whole it's-been-a-long-time vibe at the start of "The Passenger", so it kind of makes you wonder what happened in the interim. And I'm also wondering whether they're ever gonna address the events of Assignment Six, with the being stuck in nothingness and all. (No spoilers, please?)
In other words, hooray Big Finish!
(And ohmigoodness Mark Gatiss was wonderful as Gold. Eee!)
Yes. Er. I still really want to write some sort of epic crossover fic with Doctor Who, because it just works, especially right after the Time War - timelines ripped asunder, time sneaking in everywhere, Sapphire and Steel have been assigned, etc. - and particularly since the Doctor generally seems to view Time as a sort of ally, whereas Time is unquestionably the enemy in Sapphire and Steel. It could be wacky! I'm not touching anything longer than drabbles until after I've finished the audios, though, because canon is so sparse that I wouldn't want to miss a thing.
(That said - any fanfic recs for this fandom? I get the impression I'm gonna be insanely picky, but it'd be nice to have something to read once I finish the audios.)
Also, hey! Check out![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
loves_them_all's companion posting month! Happy meta/recs/rambles for all!
Well, I finished all of the Sapphire and Steel TV show last night, and started in with the first two Big Finish audios today - I was a little bit worried they'd screw something up, because it's such a wonky and half-glimpsed canon to have to play with... but come on, you guys. It's Big Finish, after all - it's absolutely marvellous.
I'm absolutely amazed at how well Harker and Warner stand in for Lumley and McCallum - especially Warner, who's got a bit of a strange pair of shoes to fill. He's a little gruffer than McCallum's Steel (almost fatherly at times, which is weird to say the least), but he does do the occasional bafflement and impatience and concern and such just as nicely.
General feel of the thing is gorgeous - it's so easy to make Sapphire and Steel seem way too heroic and "Stop right now, you evildoers!"-esque, but they avoid it beautifully in the series. There's the matter-of-factness, coupled with the usual moments of concern and fear (rendered in a wonderfully alien way), and the ruthlessness is there (oh, is it ever there!). Only thing that I'll really miss in the transition from video to audio will be all those little moments where Sapphire and Steel (or Sapphire and Silver, for that matter) will be doing all the exposition telepathically and you can just tell someone was all "well, we can't just have them stand here doing nothing and staring at each other, can we?", and threw in some kissing and such, which is just so wonderfully non sequitur-ish. And, um. Wouldn't transfer over to the audio medium.
Random favourite quote from Assignment Five:
SAPPHIRE: "Not necessarily in love; he was using her."
STEEL: *baffled* "There's a difference?"
SAPPHIRE: "On this planet, yes."
Anyway, yes. Matter at hand: Sapphire. End of "Daisy Chain", prompting young girl to kill herself to save her family (and Steel). That's a new side, it really is - all throughout the TV series, Sapphire's the liaison, the one apologising for Steel ("He's a shade too serious but you'll get used to him"), the one who turns on the charm and sympathy and - as it turns out - has us all fooled, just a bit. "Daisy Chain" was to her what the end of Assignment Two was to Steel - the moment where we find out just how creepily different they are. I find Sapphire way scarier than Steel, for the most part, because at least he's halfway honest about his priorities. In "Daisy Chain", it wasn't terribly unexpected when he got the boy to pick up the music box ("It won't hurt you!" Haha, Steel. Haha.), and the bit where he drags in the dead pizza delivery guy fits his character. But oh, the subtle little things with Sapphire - not being able to meet the boy's eyes when she and Steel are all quick let's sneak out before they notice the daughter's committed suicide - just make it that much scarier. But then, we get that whole it's-been-a-long-time vibe at the start of "The Passenger", so it kind of makes you wonder what happened in the interim. And I'm also wondering whether they're ever gonna address the events of Assignment Six, with the being stuck in nothingness and all. (No spoilers, please?)
In other words, hooray Big Finish!
(And ohmigoodness Mark Gatiss was wonderful as Gold. Eee!)
Yes. Er. I still really want to write some sort of epic crossover fic with Doctor Who, because it just works, especially right after the Time War - timelines ripped asunder, time sneaking in everywhere, Sapphire and Steel have been assigned, etc. - and particularly since the Doctor generally seems to view Time as a sort of ally, whereas Time is unquestionably the enemy in Sapphire and Steel. It could be wacky! I'm not touching anything longer than drabbles until after I've finished the audios, though, because canon is so sparse that I wouldn't want to miss a thing.
(That said - any fanfic recs for this fandom? I get the impression I'm gonna be insanely picky, but it'd be nice to have something to read once I finish the audios.)
Also, hey! Check out
loves_them_all's companion posting month! Happy meta/recs/rambles for all!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-03-23 03:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-23 03:55 am (UTC)I need to finish the S&S TV series.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-23 03:58 am (UTC)I need to finish the S&S TV series.
You do! It flags a bit in the middle, there, but the last assignment's well worth the wait. And the audios are excellent, of course.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-23 04:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-23 04:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-23 05:05 am (UTC)Also there have been some fic posts over at
I love Daisy Chain to bits. It's just so wonderfully messed up.
Gold! Gold is fantastic and I want more of him. Luckily the next season has a story that is apparently just Gold and Silver. It makes me happy just thinking about it.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-23 06:46 am (UTC)Wow, my whole face just did a thing there without me telling it to. Really?! :oD Awesome.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-23 07:03 am (UTC)Recs? Anything by
no subject
Date: 2008-03-23 02:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-23 02:56 pm (UTC)1. Do you think you can understand BF's version without the TV show?
2. Could you upload the first couple audios?