-R- Second Episode or What You Will (McCoy Makes Merry in Dragonfire)

[Dennis McLaughlin]

Whilst watching episode two of "Dragonfire" last night, I was
delighted by the sequence where the Doctor facilitates a diversion
allowing Sabalom Glitz (sp?) to attempt recapture of the Nosferatu.

The Doctor engages the guard in a philosophical discussion which
ultimately gets out of hand. I found it wonderfully idiosyncratic
that the chosen form of distraction for a guard is an abstract
philosphical conversation! Beyond the cleverness of the writing,
however, is the spontaneity of the performances.

It is a joy for me to behold an actor making discoveries whilst he is
performing, and Sylvester, who has been known to take a few knocks for
his acting (deservedly?), is absolutley brilliant, in my opinion.

The Doctor seems somewhat taken aback by the degree of responsiveness
demonstrated by the guard. Now it occurs to me that perhaps the
Doctor was hoping that his ruse might fail (after all, he does help
Glitz steal the ship, but then shames his notion of leaving the
planet.) Could this perhaps be one of the first instances of his
future manipulative tendencies? (pretending to help Glitz whilst
undermining his own endeavour)

Regardless, from an acting standpoint, IMO Sylvester performs this
sequence admirably. He seems to be genuinely listening to what the
other actor is saying (as opposed to waiting until the other actor
stops talking so he can say his bit -- classic bad acting), and
discovers while he is listening that he is overwhelmed, surprised, and
amused. All this is fine, but what is superior is that Sylvester
*allows* that to come through in a natural fashion. I'm not a huge
fan of "Dragonfire," and was only paying cursory attention, but when
he started laughing and responding, suddenly I couldn't take my eyes
off him. A few moments later, when Belaze asks him "What are you
doing here?" he responds as if she is asking him to describe his life
purpose. I appreciated it.

Pity the rest of the episode doesn't captivate me as much. A few
minor quibbles:

(1) Why do zombies have to move so slowly? Fast zombies are much
more likely to capture their prey, aren't they? Case in point: when
Kane sends Glitz's crew after him, they creak out of the freezing room
as if they were city workers with broken hips. The Doctor and Glitz
would be able to stroll away from them without breaking a sweat.
Wouldn't a competent director find some way of making this believable?

(2) Why does Sophie Aldred drink from an empty cup? There was
supposed to be coffee in that cup, but she brings it to her mouth,
pretends to drink and then moves the cup away. The proof of this is
that she doesn't swallow. Also a classic example of lazy acting. (on
the bright side -- Sophie is really quite vulnerable and charming here
-- which left me feeling melancholic in consideration of the changes
Ace would soon experience between the series and the NAs)
--
[Exit pursued by a Bear]
Dennis McLaughlin
den...@anet-chi.com

[Marcus Durham]

In article <333075d...@news.anet-chi.com>, that nice Dennis
McLaughlin <den...@anet-chi.com> writes:
[snip]

>(2) Why does Sophie Aldred drink from an empty cup? There was
>supposed to be coffee in that cup, but she brings it to her mouth,
>pretends to drink and then moves the cup away.

[snip]

For some reason this is quite normal in television as I have noticed
this in lots of other shows. However, Im not sure of the reason behind
it.
--
Marcus E. Durham
http://www.zenn.demon.co.uk/index.htm
Bournemouth Meet:http://www.zenn.demon.co.uk/wibble/meet/meet.htm
"Shut That Door"

[Dennis McLaughlin]

Dive, thoughts, down to my soul -- here Marcus Durham
<Mar...@zenn.demon.co.uk> comes:

>In article <333075d...@news.anet-chi.com>, that nice Dennis
>McLaughlin <den...@anet-chi.com> writes:
>[snip]
>>(2) Why does Sophie Aldred drink from an empty cup? There was
>>supposed to be coffee in that cup, but she brings it to her mouth,
>>pretends to drink and then moves the cup away.
>[snip]
>
>For some reason this is quite normal in television as I have noticed
>this in lots of other shows. However, Im not sure of the reason behind
>it.

Maybe they had some rule about liquids on the set. Who knows?
Regardless, a trained actor would know that if they're *supposed* to
be drinking, they will have to swallow, even if they're swallowing
air. It's patently phony otherwise (unlike Kandyman :-)). Maybe
people don't care about such minutiae, but it really strikes me.

This wasn't meant as a flame against Sophie. Maybe she just didn't
know better at that point. I'll bet she swallows fine now. (No jokes
about whether Sophie swallows, please...)