I'm going to be
examining Doctor Who... every single episode. I'm going to take you on a
journey through the 50+ years worth of this show, showcasing the good
and the bad along the way. For each episode I'm going to give you a
very brief rundown of the plot, how good/bad the story is, and anything
interesting about the episode. Basically I'll just talk about whatever
comes to mind for each of them. These will be a more in-depth overview
of the series as a whole so you can see which stories or episodes (if
any) you want to check out for yourself. Today I'm going to be talking
about
The Sixth Doctor
Colin Baker
Season Twenty Three
Season twenty three ran from September 6, 1986 to December 6, 1986. It contained fourteen episodes across four stories. We have the second season-wide story most often referred to as The Trial of a Time Lord. It can honestly be seen as either one story of fourteen episodes or four stories. I prefer the latter. It had been eighteen months since the last season when the show got cancelled but due to public outcry the BBC had brought it back. It was clear that they didn't want to because they didn't restructure the show or provide any more money... in fact they cut the budget and from this point on there would only be four stories a season. There were arguments going on behind the scenes too. John Nathan-Turner wanted to leave the show but the BBC wouldn't allow him to. Head writer Eric Seyward vehemently hated Colin Baker as the Doctor and disliked his job working on the show. Because of this they jettisoned the entire set of stories we were going to have for this season and went in a new direction. Since the show itself was sort of on trial to see if it would continue they decided to put the Doctor on Trial through the whole season... a move that even Colin Baker thought was risky. The show also returned to it's original 25 minute run time per episode. This season we also say goodbye to Peri and gain quite possibly the worst companion in all of Doctor Who, Mel.
For anyone interested, the original Season 23 that was discarded entirely was supposed to include a story about a strange video arcade which saw the return of the Celestial Toymaker (a lost 1st Doctor story), a fairly standard story called The Ultimate Evil, and a story featuring the return of the Ice Warriors who hadn't been seen since Pertwee's era. Also it was planned to include one of the strangest entries of all; it was a story set in Singapore, it was to feature The Master, The Rani, the return of the Autons who also hadn't been seen since the Pertwee Era, as well as the return of the Brigadier. It held the title *cough* Yellow Fever and How to Cure It.
This Season is going to be hard to discuss as there are constantly interruptions, questions, and explaining going on in the courtroom in the middle of each of the first three stories. To top it off, the evidence seems to be tampered with as stuff is skipped over, edited, or even been changed. I'll try my best to keep these stories as understandable as can be.
Story 144 The Mysterious Planet
The first story is The Mysterious Planet and it's four episodes long. The Doctor and TARDIS are summoned to a Time Lord space ship and has been put on trial for meddling in the affairs of other people. The prosecution is The Valyard who decides to show the court an adventure from the Doctor's Past. The Doctor and Peri arrive on the planet of Ravalox where there is a struggle going on between the Saxon-like natives living above ground, and the more futuristic people living below ground who are being controlled by a giant robot. It seems that some sort of apocalyptic event had taken place in the planet's past. At the same time, a pair of mercenaries are attempting to destroy a generator in order to destroy the robot below. Eventually the Doctor finds out that the planet Ravalox is actually Earth who was moved across the galaxy for some reason. In the end, the above ground tribesmen attack the underground workers and the Doctor and Peri work with one of the mercenaries, Sabalom Glitz, to get him to take the giant robot off the planet. The Doctor and Peri leave allowing both sets of humans to work things out together. The Valyard uses this adventure to prove that the Doctor has been meddling in the affairs of other worlds.
This story is weird and not very good. It is the last fully completed script by Robert Holmes as he passed away midway through writing the finale of this season. This is really kind of boring and the things that have been edited, muted, and changed in this story make the whole thing confusing. There are only two things that really stand out in this episode. The mercenary duo are quite excellent and the books that have survived the apocalypse are really funny. In most post-apocalyptic tales there are a few books that survive and structure the world around them. Here it's The Water Babies, Moby Dick, and The UK Habitats of the Canadian Goose...which is just weird and great. Past that there's nothing here worth seeing.
Story 145 Mindwarp
The next story is Mindwarp and it's four episodes long. The Valyard has decided to show an adventure from the present. In fact, this was the adventure the Doctor was on when he was summoned. The TARDIS lands on the planet Thoros Beta. There they discover Sil who they last saw on Varos. Sil's boss Kiv is dying and is having a scientist transplant his brain into another beings body so that he may live on. When the Doctor and Peri are discovered they run for it with one of the test subject, King Ycarnos. Later the Doctor betrays Peri and Ycarnos and begins working directly with Sil (the Doctor does not remember doing this.) Eventually Kiv's brain is transferred into another body but it is rejecting him. While Ycarnos gathers his men to take on Kiv's guards, the scientist decides to use Peri's body to house Kiv's mind against the Doctor's complaints. Ycarnos and his men storm the complex and as the Doctor is rushing to save his companion, the Time Lords summon him away. The Doctor tries to say that the Time Lords interference put Peri in mortal danger but the Valyard says his interference in the first place is what caused all this. They watch as the operation is successful and a grief stricken Ycarnos, who had fallen in love with Peri, kills her. The Doctor is grief sticken but starts to think there is another reason for this trial and in his defense he plans to find out why.
This is the best story of the season. It's still not fantastic but it's far better than any of the other stories we get. It's very surreal and confusing but it's confusing for a reason. It's obvious that the evidence is being tampered with at this point which is good for the trial but it's bad for the story as we never really find out what truly happened. This is the story we finally get Brian Blessed in Doctor Who as King Ycarnos and he's everything you would hope he would be. It also has a very bitter and strong ending for Peri... an ending that will be retconned later in this season. If there's one story to watch in this season it's this one.
Story 146 Terror of the Vervoids
The next story is Terror of the Vervoids and it's four episodes long. It's time for the Doctor's defense and he decides to pull from the Matrix an adventure that he hasn't had yet with a companion he hasn't met yet in order to prove that he will learn from his mistakes. The Doctor and Mel land on a space liner and quickly find that everything isn't right as people start to die, cabins on the ship are being guarded, and strange plants are hanging in the hold. A new lifeform of plant-like aliens called Vervoids appear from the plants and start killing people. The Doctor realizes that he must not allow the Vervoids to reach Earth or they will wipe out the planet. With Mel's help, the Doctor finds the one and only way to stop them, which is to kill them all and save Earth. The Valyard is pleased because now the Doctor has shown evidence of another crime...genocide of which there are no exceptions.
This story is simultaneously standard as can be but also awful. The plant creatures look absolutely ridiculous and the story should have been called Terror of the Plant Vaginas. I'm not entirely sure how the Doctor works out that the human race will go extinct if the Vervoids land on Earth...at all. Tagging along for her first episode is Mel who is probably the worst companion we've ever had. Mel was designed to be a throwback to the kind of companions people thought existed in the 60's but really didn't. Basically she's there to run around and scream...A LOT. She does very little but get into trouble and scream. I even prefer Adric to her. I understand Nathan-Turner's logic in hiring a well known actress for the part but she just wasn't given any character to work with and it made her a terrible companion. There's one other thing that really bugs me about this story. The Valyard now says they can convict him for genocide...in a story that hasn't happened yet. The biggest part of this story is that it's a mystery and the Doctor doesn't know enough to stop the events. Now that he's seen his own future the mystery is gone and he may not actually cause genocide in the process. It's just...this is a mess.
Story 147 The Ultimate Foe
The last story is The Ultimate Foe and it's two episodes long. As the Valyard closes in for a verdict on the Doctor, the Doctor claims that the evidence has been tampered with once more. The Master appears on the Matrix screen and informs the trial that the Doctor is, indeed telling the truth. The master has brought Sabalom Glitz and Mel to the courtroom to assist as well. He then reveals the truth about the Valyard. He is actually a combination of the Doctor's evil sides made flesh somewhere between his 12th and 13th regenerations. The Valyard made a deal with the Time Lords to get the Doctor's remaining regenerations. His plan discovered, the Valyard runs into the Matrix and the Doctor and Glitz follow. After several weird and surreal happenings in the dream-like Matrix with help from Glitz and the Master, the Doctor and Mel finally catch the Valyard to find he intends to murder everyone in the courtroom with a disintegration bomb. The Doctor stops the bomb and returns to the court room. All charges are dropped and the inquisitor informs him that Peri survived and married King Ycarnos. The Doctor leaves to take Mel back to her own time.
This story is an absolute mess, and in many respects that was all it could have ever been. Robert Holmes was supposed to write this two parter. He got the first episode written but then passed away. Eric Seyward decided to pick up the second episode but there was another argument between him and John Nathan-Turner. Seyward wanted to end the season with the Doctor and the Valyard falling into the Time Vortex kind of like a deep space Reichenbach Falls. JNT demanded the more happy ended we got and so Seyward quit the show. JNT hired Pip and Jane Baker to finish the story but due to legal problems they couldn't read Holmes finished first episode or use anything Seyward had done. They just sort of had to make things up as they went the best they knew how. I honestly left a lot of the strange and confusing out of my description just to make it sound more coherent than it actually is. That being said it was nice to see Geoffrey Hughes playing a role in the show.
Conclusion
That concludes season twenty three and the Colin Baker era. BOY was it bad. Somehow after the hiatus, this season was even worse than the previous one. This is a situation where if you are a Colin Baker fan or just want to fully watch the show then check this out. If you are neither then there's nothing here for you in all honesty. Colin Baker deserved so much more than what he got. He was a fantastic Doctor who drew the short end of the stick with the production. As I've previously stated, he wanted to be the Doctor for eight seasons and he only got two as he was fired not long after this season. It's truly the end of Colin Baker as we have yet to see him on screen again. He was so pissed off at his treatment that he refused to return for his regeneration story/regeneration scene. But I'll talk about that next time. Please join me again as we continue to examine all of Doctor Who.
This is Ghost, fading into the darkness
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You can click here if you wish to see my introduction to Doctor Who
If you want to check out all of my Doctor Who content please click here.
"And theeeen we do stuff like 'Persona!' and with our Personas beat the crap out of Shadows!"
LENGTH WARNING - This is a long game with a lot of plot. I'll try to keep it as concise as possible but....well if you know my reviews you know that won't happen.
Ghost here, Thanks for joining me.
I originally had a large "comedy" routine for the opening of this review featuring some announcer getting me to play this game under false pretenses and only afterwards telling me about all the weirdness within. However, once I actually got to writing this review I realized that would probably detract some from the content I wished to talk about; it might paint a poor light on something that I truly feel many people should experience. Yes this is yet another game where I've basically already told you my feelings in the very introduction but...some games are just worth it to show to you exactly why they are so good.
Have you ever discovered something that you had a sort of preconceived notion about which turned out to be vastly different than what you thought? Sure, we all have and it usually turns out to the detriment of the production in question. We've all been disappointed by something promising. However, that's not what I'm talking about today; in fact, my meaning is the exact opposite. Have you ever found something that is very different than what you thought but actually turned out to be EVEN BETTER than you originally thought it would be? This has only happened a few times to me (mostly with food) but the subject of today's review is one such instance.
KoD as Yu Narukami
I first heard of Persona 4 through that constant contributor friend of mine KoD and his cosplay of the main character. I was curious about the game and he not only told me the general premise of the story but explained it's RPG nature. I was also interested in this game because of the upcoming Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE that was coming out. I wanted a feel of the gameplay with a Shin Megami Tensei game before seeing if I wanted to get the Fire Emblem Crossover game or not. KoD even decided to stream the game for me over Skype. I thought I had a pretty good idea of what would be in store for me based on KoD's partial playthrough and discussions. Admittedly part of the gameplay during the Skype sessions seemed a bit less than exciting but it seemed good enough to warrant spending $15 on Amazon to get it for myself. However, once I got to actually playing the game I was surprised. The things I thought were exciting at first turned out to be pretty much as expected or even a little bit mundane. However, the parts KoD showed me that I was bored with actually became my favorite part of playing the game in person. It was a VERY different experience than what I was expecting and was far better than my expectations gave me.
So what exactly impressed me so? Let's take a closer look at Persona 4 and find out!
~STORY~
April 11, 2011, Yu Narukami has come to Inaba, Japan to live with his Uncle Ryotaro Dojima and cousin Nanako for a year as his parents are traveling for work. That very night a local news reporter is murdered and rumors about the Midnight Channel, a strange show that appears briefly at midnight when it's raining, starts to surface. The next morning a high school student, Saki Konishi, finds the reporter's body and within a couple days she is also murdered. Yu's Uncle Dojima and a rookie detective Adachi begin the investigation into the deaths but the cause of death in both cases was completely inconclusive. Meanwhile, Yu has started attending the same high school as Saki and has made at least three friends already in Yosuke Hanamura, Chie Satonaka, and Yukiko Amagi. One day while hanging out with Yosuke and Chie, the trio accidentally fall into a television as Yu discovers his hand could pass through the TV. They land in a bizarre fog-filled world inside the TV and run into a strange bear creature named Teddie who tells them to leave before the shadows attack. Bizarre grotesque creatures known as shadows do attack but Yu feels a surge of power. Yu summons a being known as a persona to help him fight off the shadows. With the shadows defeated, Teddie creates an exit point and shoves the trio back into the real world.
Yosuke can't keep the TV world out of his mind and asks Yu to take him back into that world as he remembers seeing Saki on the Midnight Channel the night before her death. They agree and run into Teddie who informs them that people have, in fact, been thrown into his world and asks them to help find the person responsible. Teddie takes them to the place where Saki was thrown in. When a person is thrown into the TV world, the area around changes to reflect their psyche; in Sakis case it became her family's liquor store. Yosuke hears Saki's voice and runs after it only to find it is a trick by the world to torment him. Suddenly Yosuke is face to face with a shadow version of himself. The Shadow versions of people are the manifestation of a person's hidden thoughts or parts of their personality they are not proud of. Shadow Yosuke attacks but Yu is able to subdue him. Yosuke accepts Shadow Yosuke as part of himself and the shadow transforms into a Persona that Yosuke can use in battle. The pair return to the real world.
Dojima and Adachi still haven't found anything out about the murders but the media has gone crazy even interviewing Yukiko as the news reporter was staying in her family's inn before the murder. Things take a turn when Yukiko appears on the Midnight Channel and almost instantly goes missing. Chie, desperate to save her best friend has Yu and Yosuke take her into the TV World. With the help of Teddie they find where Yukiko is currently being held which has manifest itself as a castle. Chie bursts forward but instead of finding Yukiko she finds her own shadow who represents her jealousy of Yukiko's more girly nature and talents. Just like with Yosuke, Shadow Chie attacks, is defeated, and turns into a persona for Chie. The trio return not long after to search the castle once more. They finally find Yukiko being confronted by her shadow who represents her feelings of being trapped by her family and the inn. Shadow Yukiko is defeated and becomes a persona for Yukiko.
Still unable to find anything out about the two murders, the higher ups send a young brilliant detective, Naoto Shirogane to help Dojima and Adachi who begins keeping an eye on Yu's group. Before long, the news picks up a story about a local punk named Kanji Tatsumi who beat up an entire biker gang. That same night Kanji appears on the midnight channel. The team tries to warn him but are unsuccessful and he disappears. The four go into the TV World and with Teddie's help find Kanji's area which has taken the place of a bathhouse. Eventually they find Kanji who is being confronted by his shadow who represents his love of cute things that aren't manly and his fear of rejection (being manifest as homosexuality.) Shadow Kanji is defeated and becomes a Persona for Kanji who joins the team.
Around this same time, famous Japanese Idol Rise "Risette" Kujikawa has a media conference that she is stepping down from her career and returning home to Inaba. That night, Rise appears on the Midnight Channel. Once again the team tries to warn her but she goes missing. The group enters the TV to find Teddie despondent that he doesn't remember who he actually is. Despite this, he helps them find Rise's area which has taken the form of a strip club. They find Rise being confronted by her shadow who represents her frustration of being sold as an airhead sex object when nobody knows the real her. Shadow Rise attacks but is different from the others. She can scan the other personas and render them completely useless. Teddie, however feels a surge of energy and attacks defeating the shadow who turns into a persona for Rise. But things get harder when Shadow Teddie suddenly appears behind the bear representing the real fear that his search to find who he is would be pointless and only end in pain. The group defeat Shadow Teddie who turns into a Persona for the bear. Teddie becomes a fighting member of the group while Rise becomes a supporting member.
Things take a turn for the unexpected when Yu's homeroom teacher, Mr. Morooka is murdered and found in the same position as the reporter and Saki though he never appeared on the Midnight Channel. Naoto, the young detective, informs Yu's group that a suspect has come forward and that their "little game" is at an end. However, that night on the Midnight Channel a mentally disturbed high school student named Mitsuo Kubo appears and says "Catch me if you can." The group rush to the TV World and find Mitsuo's area which has taken the form of a video game. There he is in a confrontation with his shadow who represents his feeling of emptiness. After defeating his shadow, Mitsuo confesses to all three murders and is taken into custody in the real world.
Naoto, however is not convinced and keeps digging into the mystery. Eventually Naoto makes a television appearance to voice concerns that the case may not be over. That same night Naoto appears on the Midnight Channel and goes missing. The group find Naoto's area which is in the form of a secret base and discover through Naoto's shadow that he has been a girl this whole time. Naoto's shadow, who represents her repressed childhood and femininity attacks and is defeated, transforming into a Persona. Naoto becomes the last member of the group and is not certain that Mitsuo is not the real killer as she was tossed into the TV world after his capture. Mitsuo only killed Morooka so that he could come forward and claim responsibility for all the murders and be seen by the people around him.
Yu begins receiving threatening notes to stop saving people so his Uncle brings him in for questioning. Yu tells Dojima of everything but he doesn't believe him and leaves him locked up for the night. Unfortunately, that night Nanako appears on the Midnight Channel and goes missing. The group comes to Yu's aid as Dojima goes out to search for his daughter. Naoto, with some information gathered by Dojima, believes that the murderer must be someone Nanako knows, must be able to be unnoticed, and must have the ability to carry a large TV with him. Only one man immediately fits the category, delivery truck driver Taro Namatame. They radio Dojima who sees Namatame's car and pursues him. Namatame crashes his truck, causing Dojima to be severely injured, and jumps into the TV in the rear or his truck. Naoto discovers Namatame's diary with words about how he was wanting to save people by throwing them into the TV. Yu and the gang rush to the TV world and locate Nanako and Namatame in an area resembling Heaven. There they find Namatame holding Nanako who is slowly turning unconscious due to the world's fog. Namatame smiles at Yukiko, Kanji, and Rise as he has saved them and won't allow them to stop him from saving Nanako as well. He gathers shadows to him and transforms into a large grotesque angel. Yu's group defeat Namatame as both he and Nanako lose consciousness. The group bring them back to the real world and they are admitted to the hospital. However, they notice the fog from the TV World has started showing up in the real world. Nanako's condition keeps on getting worse and worse with the fog around.
SPOILER WARNING If you don't want the ending of this game spoiled, then skip on to the gameplay section. This is the only warning you'll get.
Nanako passes away in the hospital surrounded by her father and Yu. Teddie stays by her side as the others rush to Namatame's room. There is a large TV in his room and Namatame's shadow appears on the TV to taunt them. They contemplate tossing him into the TV and allowing him to die for his crimes. (Side Note: You CAN choose to do this. If you choose this option the game ends with all of Japan dying though.) Yu still thinks something is off and lets Namatame go. At the same time, Teddie is seen in a strange void not sure of where he is but his memories are slowly coming back to him. Back in the real world, Teddie's disappearance has somehow cause Nanako to come back to life. The group confronts Namatame for his side of the story.
Namatame agrees. He had seen the reporter die on the Midnight Channel and that night discovered his hand could go into the TV. However when he saw her body the next morning he realized the TV may be a warning. When he saw Saki on the TV he tried to warn her but she ignored him and ended up dead as well. Later when Yukiko appeared on the Midnight Channel he called the police who refused to listen to his claim. He then decided he should save the people from death and his TV may be telling him to put them in there so the murderer would not kill them. He stuffed Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, and Naoto into the TV. Since the murders stopped (with the exception of the copycat murder of Morooka) he believed he was doing the right thing. So when Nanako appeared on the TV he was going to do the same thing only this time he needed to follow her and it was only then he realized what that world actually was and what he may have been doing.
Naoto begins to think further. Namatame didn't murder the reporter or Saki; he also did not throw Mitsuo into the TV. There must be one other person who could easily blend in and be involved in all these circles of people. Finally they arrive at the proper conclusion and confront the rookie detective Adachi believing him to be the murderer. Adachi flees into the TV world and the group follows. There they meet Teddie who stumbled back into that world realizing that he was once a shadow with special powers (which explains Nanako coming back to life) who developed human emotions. They learn that Adachi was the one who tossed the reporter and Saki into the TV and was enjoying the little game Namatame was doing. Adachi had also tossed Mitsuo into the TV not wanting the excitement to end because a kid took credit for murders he didn't commit. Adachi also reveals the reason for the fog in the real world is that the TV World and Real World were joining together soon and that everyone would eventually become shadows. The group fight Adachi who also has an evil persona and defeat him. However, a large eye-ball creature named Ameno-sagiri appears It is he who has partially influenced Adachi's actions and it is he who has brought the fog and the impending destruction of the real world. Ameno-sagiri is not an evil presense but rather is there to fulfill mankind's wishes. Since much of mankind prefers fantasy to reality he has brought the fog to give them their wish. However he promises to lift the fog and fade away if he is defeated. Yu's group defeats the creature and the fog is lifted for good. Nanako returns to full health because of the fog's departure.
It is March 2012 and Yu is about to depart for home when he receives a letter from Adachi in prison. Adachi can't shake the question of how he, Namatame, and Yu all three could enter the TV world without having a persona at first. Yu decides to track down this question and questions Nanako on what they did his first day in Inaba. He remembers meeting a gas station attendant and shaking the man's hand. Yu finds the gas attendant who transforms in front of him. The attendant is the goddess Izanami who still plans to cover the world in fog so that people could live in their fantasies and end suffering all around. She gave Yu, Namatame, and Adachi their powers, created the TV world, created the Midnight Channel, and influenced how people would utilize them with the rumors. Yu's group fight and defeat the goddess who is pleased with mankind's choice for reality and promises to not interfere. Yu boards his train and waves goodbye to his friends, promising to see them on his breaks as often as he possibly can.
~Gameplay~
If you're talking gameplay with Persona 4, there are really three major aspects to the game. The TV World, Social Links in the Real World, and Fusing Personas in the Velvet Room.
The portions inside the TV world is filled with your fairly standard dungeon crawling RPG elements. In order to save each of the people inside the TV, or stop the villains, you must go to differently themed areas and climb up to the top of the structure. You are allowed to choose three other teammates from your party to join you as you go. Each floor changes to a completely random layout every time you enter the dungeon, and you have some 10-15 floors per dungeon on average. Inside you will find prizes, chests, and lots of shadow enemies. Touching a shadow will initiate a turn-based battle. If a shadow touches you first then they gain an extra turn at the beginning, however if you are able to strike the shadow without them noticing you then your whole team gets an extra turn at the beginning. Each shadow will have its strengths and weaknesses and you must utilize your teammates as well as your various personas you can change between in order to stack the odds in your best advantage. If you are fighting a fire-based persona but have an ice-based persona on you, you should change it immediately. It's kind of like Final Fantasy with a bit of pokemon tossed in there for good measure in a really simple and basic formula that any RPG lover can easily jump into.
The more unconventional part of this game is the Social Links in the Real World. I had mentioned above that you can change your persona during battle. This is because Yu has the special ability to have multiple personas at once. Each persona is grouped in a category called an Arcana. For example, Pyro Jack is of the Magician Arcana. Each Arcana is tied to a human in the real world and by growing a closer friendship or bond with that person in particular you can create more powerful persona of that particular Arcana. Using the same example as before, Pyro Jack is of the Magician Arcana which is tied to Yosuke. There are several social links including your entire investigation team, your uncle and cousin, several classmates in high school, a nurse, an elderly lady, a fox, a young mother with her stepson, the mysterious Margaret, and a middle school boy. You grow closer to these people by spending an afternoon or evening with them, listening to their problems and concerns, selecting the right response for those people and generally helping them out along the way. If you happen to already have a persona on you of that particular arcana it will increase your chances to grow closer to that person. Each person can rank up to level 10, which is the max rank for a social link and unlocks the ability to create the most powerful persona of that arcana.
Speaking of creating persona, that's where the Velvet Room comes in handy. The Velvet Room is a special place that only you can access or even see. It is inhabited by Igor and Margaret who help you along your journey by keeping records, giving you advice, and allowing you to fuse persona. Fusing persona is exactly what it sounds like. You can take anywhere from two to four or five persona (i think) and fuse them together in a particular order to create new and stronger persona. This is especially helpful for the later dungeons in the game as the persona you can obtain through random chance during the shadow battles are far weaker than some of the ones you can only get through fusion.
~Culture and Theme~
This is one incredibly Japanese game. I don't think I've played a game so deeply set in Japan since the likes of Okami. Now I realize that many games are supposed to be based on Japan or feature Japanese characters who honestly don't look that much like their supposed national origin... Kingdom Hearts and Pokemon Red/Blue/Green come instantly to mind. That is not the case here. This game is dripping with Japanese culture. You have Yu making various Japanese dishes that you may not have heard of. Yu attends school six days a week as I assume Japanese youth do. There are questions in class that revolve around specific aspects of Japanese history or like knowing what time a house in Japan is most likely to be burglarized. You get to see the kinds of festivals and holidays that Japan has with Yu either being off school or attending these festivals. There's this whole thing about getting a new kotatsu for Nanako late in the game. Not to mention all of the name additions that get thrown around like -chan, -senpai, and -san which I've never fully understood. There are just so many aspects that people outside of Japan may not really be knowledgeable of. However it's never presented in a manner that you would be confused by it. Everything that might be new is explained briefly and simply enough that you get the general idea and you feel like you really have stepped into another country for a year.
One of the more interesting aspects/themes of this game is how they handle the shadow versions of the main characters. It was honestly something that took me by surprise. Each shadow was an example or an over exaggeration of the person in question's hidden feelings or suppressed emotions. This being suddenly standing before them was shouting out all of the things that they may have thought but would never say openly to anyone. The parts of their personality or life that they were the most ashamed of was suddenly put under the spotlight. Rather than shun these feelings and shadows, the only way to truly end the terror around them was to accept that person as part of themselves. They had to face the feelings and thoughts they had buried deep within and own them. In fact, the game goes so far as to teach that those parts of us all that we don't like or are ashamed of are still part of us. If we are to accept ourselves as we truly are we will become a stronger and better person overall. Which is something each of us can truly take away from this game and take to heart.
~What's Bad About It?~
I'm going to break the norm and talk about the negatives first as honestly there's only one big one.
One of the goals in Persona 4 is to max out all of your social links. This becomes difficult because certain social links are only available on certain days and in certain weather. Some other social links won't even initiate till your courage, understanding, or knowledge are at a high enough level. Other social links like Nanako and Dojima stop being available after a certain point meaning you need to prioritize them a little bit. This becomes a scheduling nightmare as none of these dates or times are given to you. Either they are available or they aren't and it's up to you to figure out what order to get things done in. You also just have to know which answers will give you the most social points to level them up without having to spend an afternoon just simply spending time with them to get closer to maxing max them all out. Now people in the fan community have gotten together to help you out and there are Max Social Link guides sitting out there to assist you. However they aren't perfect as the one I used (which is widely considered to be the best one) sort of fell apart mid June and I had to make things up on my own for the rest of the year and was behind on 5 different social links at one time. I only barely finished my social links in enough time to end the game. If you are planning on using a guide, it has every single answer you need to give and every move you need to make on every day. You can't really deviate from the structure of the guide as you have to follow it as verbatim as it will let you. It basically becomes a game where you are 50% playing the game and 50% looking at the guide. It becomes really tedious and annoying because NO guide is 100% accurate for you making the social links part incredibly frustrating.
~What's Good About It?~
Pretty much everything else is either good or excellent. The story is fantastic, the RPG TV World part is nothing new but still quite good and accessible to even newcomers to the RPG genre. The Social Links were beyond amazing and quickly became my favorite part of the game as a whole; in fact, I wouldn't mind a whole game of just the social links without the combat if it were done as perfectly as this. The Japanese culture and the teaching of self acceptance were all done fantastically. There's practically nothing that I can say poor beyond the bizarre micromanaging of your time in order to max out your social links. Since I have already talked about all of these topics, let's just hit a couple of additional things that are fantastic in this game which I hadn't covered yet.
This is one absolutely hysterical game. I didn't really get into any of the comedy bits during my story or else we'd still be talking story at this point in the review. There were times when I legitimately had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard at the shenanigans this group of people have gotten themselves into. Many of the character's quips and comebacks are a riot; practically everything that comes out of Kanji's mouth could be considered on a best quotes list. There's the portion where they get drunk off the atmosphere of a club and play the King's Game to increased sexual awkwardness. Teddie is constantly bringing up Yukiko's shadow mentioning that she wanted to "score with guys." The guys are constantly irritating Kanji about his sexuality. The Fall Festival where Yosuke signed the girls up for a beauty contest and in order to get revenge, Chie signs the guys up for a cross dressing competition. There's all the hilarity at the Amagi Inn with the bathhouse and the promiscuous teacher. I could go on and just thinking about these moments makes me chuckle even just mentioning them here.
Part of the reason the social links became my favorite part of the game is because these characters are beyond fantastic. The team really knew what they were doing when they made each of these diverse and amazing people. It sounds silly but through the social link interactions and how well these characters were written and played... they practically seem real to me. This isn't the case with most games as Lara Croft is just a character, Professor Oak is just a character. Not with these guys...these are different. You get to see what makes these characters tick and get to know them on such a personal level that I almost feel like I could pick up the phone and call any of these people to go hang out. They all felt real; Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, Naoto, Dojima, Nanako and Teddie all felt real. When Yu left to go back home, I am honest enough to admit that I was teary-eyed because the game was ending. I felt simultaneously fulfilled but a little empty. I was saddened that the game was over. I felt that I too was leaving my friends behind and that's not something I wanted to do. It's a realness that I don't think I've experienced before with a video game and it was a realness that was very much appreciated.
~Conclusion~
What else can I say? This is a masterpiece. Sure it may not be for everyone and it IS rated M so children shouldn't be playing it, but it's a masterpiece none the less. I was only 1/3rd of the way through the game and it had already started dethroning several games from their position on my top 10 favorite games list. It's something I wasn't expecting and it's something that you may not honestly be expecting either. The parts that I thought would be enjoyable (the fighting, the rpg elements, the leveling) were still good but were nothing compared to the parts that I honestly thought I wouldn't enjoy (the social links) but ending up falling in love with. This game was so good and so popular among its fans that it spawned an Anime adaption of the game, a remake in Persona 4 Golden with it's own anime adaption, as well as three additional spin off games in Persona 4 Arcade, Persona Q, and Persona 4 Dance All Night.
This is something you really should check out especially as Atlus seems to be a bigger powerhouse in the gaming industry with Fire Emblem becoming far more popular, Tokyo Mirage Sessions having recently been released, and Persona 5 coming out next year. It's an excellent game to see what Persona is all about. I shall leave you with the ending theme of the game.
Side Note: Persona 3 is also good though definitely not as good as Persona 4. If you are interested in Persona 3 then I would suggest playing it first (The FES Version) as it has some additional frustrations/quirks that Persona 4 was wise to remove. It was difficult for me to get into Persona 3 after playing Persona 4, but it's still a good game.
I'm going to be
examining Doctor Who... every single episode. I'm going to take you on a
journey through the 50+ years worth of this show, showcasing the good
and the bad along the way. For each episode I'm going to give you a
very brief rundown of the plot, how good/bad the story is, and anything
interesting about the episode. Basically I'll just talk about whatever
comes to mind for each of them. These will be a more in-depth overview
of the series as a whole so you can see which stories or episodes (if
any) you want to check out for yourself. Today I'm going to be talking
about
The Sixth Doctor
Colin Baker
Season Twenty One and Twenty Two
I'm going to warn you now. This one is going to be long because there is a LOT to discuss about Colin Baker and two of the stories I will be covering today.
Colin Baker's Tenure of Season twenty one was a single four-episode story that ran from March 22-30 1984. This was the debut of Colin Baker as the Doctor. It was the first time a Doctor had regenerated mid-season since Hartnell regenerated into Troughton. Now, Colin Baker's rise to becoming the Doctor was an interesting one. He played Commander Maxil in the previous season and became friends with the production crew and due to that friendship he was invited to a wedding. At the wedding he entertained the guests so much what they thought he would be the ideal man to be the next Doctor. He was then hired without an audition. He was also one of the few Doctors who had no say in his costume. Colin Baker wanted to dress in all black and be suave but John Nathan-Turner overruled him and he got that outfit. His goal was to be the Doctor for eight seasons so that he could beat Tom Baker's record. Unfortunately that was not going to happen. It's as if his stint in season twenty one was a sign. The problem with season twenty one is that his story, The Twin Dilemma was abysmal. It was poorly received due to some of the decisions made and to this day carries the reputation of the worst story of the classic era. To top matters off this was the season finale meaning that the general public would have to stew on this terrible story from April till January before getting to see the 6th Doctor again. Things didn't go well.
Season twenty two ran from January 5, 1985 till March 30, 1985. It consisted of thirteen 45-minute episodes across six stories. Season twenty two is bad...very bad. Confusing production decisions abounded left and right and even the absolute best story from this season is just ok. This has nothing to do with Colin Baker as the Doctor; it's all to do with behind the scenes, writing, and budgetary nonsense. For some reason the production crew really enjoyed the run time of Resurrection of the Daleks from last season and made this entire season be 45 minute long episodes. However the writers didn't necessarily change their mentality on the episodes with this new edict which made for some bad choices as well. With the standard 25 minute episodes, generally the Doctor would get involved in the story at the end of the first episode. For some reason many of these stories retained that idea meaning half of the story was over before the Doctor was even invested in helping out. Most famously is Revelation of the Daleks where the Doctor and Peri walk around in the snow for 45 minutes. Due to how horrible this season was, the BBC put the show on hiatus after this season and ceased work on the planned season twenty three.
Season Twenty One
Story 137 The Twin Dilemma
Colin Baker's first story is the Twin Dilemma and it's four episodes long. A Time lard named Azmael has kidnapped twins who are mathematical geniuses. Meanwhile the Doctor is having a very bad stint of post-regeneration mania which takes the form of random cowardice, random outrage and even almost choking Peri to death. The twin's father alerts the authorities and an officer tracks down Azmael's ship but crashes on the same planet the TARDIS is sitting on. After helping the officer, the Doctor and Peri infiltrate a building on their deserted planet which shouldn't be there. There they find Azmael and the Doctor remembers him as a friend when he was the 4th Doctor. A bird like alien with Azmael ushers the time lord and the boys into a teleport to take them all to the planet of Jaconda. He then locks the teleporter and sets the place to self destruct. The Doctor figures out a way around this teleportation lock and escapes to the TARDIS where he intends to track down his friend. It turns out that Azmael is working under duress for a slug alien named Mestor who intends to utilize Time Lord technology and the twin's mathematical minds to explode the planet of Jaconda in order to spread his offspring's eggs and conquer the entire galaxy. The Doctor and Azmael eventually confront Mestor and the slug takes over Azmael's body. The Doctor destroys Mestor's body so that he cannot return, and Azmael who is on his last regeneration, forces a regeneration to kill Mestor's mind and himself with it.
I understand what they were going for here. There's something decent hidden deep within all the amounts of terrible. I kinda of like the idea of the slug sending it's eggs all over the galaxy and I thought Azmael's death sequence was actually touching. That said... this IS terrible. It's reputation as the worst story is well earned. I could go on all day about this but I'll just make a short list of all the things wrong with this story. The Doctor is on and off unstable throughout the entire four episodes, the Doctor strangles Peri, the child actors not only have a speech impediment but are not good actors whatsoever, there is insane amounts of Macguyvering going on with the teleporter, planetary physics that would never work, and the slug monster looks terrible. This story is one of the reasons that the 6th Doctor was not very popular. While other Doctors like Tom Baker and Peter Davison did have some post regeneration madness going on it was only briefly or for one episode. Colin Baker's mania was throughout the entire thing. Now this (and honestly him strangling Peri) may not have been bad ideas if this were the first story of a season. They were a bold move that might have paid off if we'd get an immediate look at how this Doctor ACTUALLY reacts in the very next story the next week. Unfortunately all we got was about five minutes of him being the true 6th Doctor and the public was stuck with this mental image of a cowardly maniacal and violent man for almost a full year before seeing him. This was a bad bad bad decision and a bad bad bad story. Diamanda Hagan said it best. "When it comes to the Twin Dilemma the only dilemma is whether to burn your copy or keep it as a warning for the future."
Season Twenty Two
Story 138 Attack of the Cybermen
The first story is Attack of the Cybermen and it's two episodes long. The Doctor begins working on the TARDIS to fix the chameleon circuit when he receives a distress beacon and lands on Earth. The beacon was set of by Lytton, the former Dalek agent, who is underground and looking for the Cybermen. Meanwhile on the Cybermen's adopted home world of Telos two men behead a Cyberman and plan to infiltrate Cyber Control in order to get their time machine back. Eventually the Doctor and Peri find Lytton but the Cybermen are with him and force the Doctor to take them to Telos. They arrive in the frozen tombs of the Cybermen where Lytton escapes to find the two men and their time machine and Peri is rescued by the Cryons. The Cryons are the natives of Telos who must live in subzero temperatures and want to Cybermen to leave their planet alone. It turns out that Lytton was actually working for the Cryons to stop the Cybermen's plan of using the time machine to stop the destruction of their homeworld Mondas. Lytton is captured by the Cybermen, tortured, and set up to be converted. The Doctor learning the truth of Lytton sets up a series of eventual explosions and tries to save Lytton but is too late. In the end the Cyber Controller is killed in a crossfire and the explosions wipe out Cyber Control and the tombs.
This is another episode that many people don't like but I think is quite good. One silly thing about it, however, is that they try to keep up a mystery as to what has been killing people underground forgetting that the title of the story is Attack of the CYBERMEN. This is sort of a sequel to a majority of Doctor Who in general as it features or references Totter's Lane (An Unearthly Child) Lytton (Resurrection of the Daleks), the destruction of Mondas (The Tenth Planet), Cybermen in the London Underground (The Invasion) as well as a few others I'm possibly missing. It's also really cool to see the chameleon circuit sort of working and making the TARDIS look absolutely ridiculous... though it does revert back to permanent police box by the end of the story. The last noteworthy thing is the Cryons. I love the design of the Cryons because it's effectively a whole race of subzero moustached fish lesbians.... and that's just great! Check this one out if you want a good laugh or two.
Story 139 Vengeance on Varos
The next story is Vengeance and Varos and it's two episodes long. The TARDIS is running low on a particular mineral that is abundant on the planet of Varos so the Doctor heads there. Varos is a very poor planet who's idea of democracy is to vote on everything even people's deaths. Televised deaths and mineral working are about the only things to do on the planet. The system is crappy and the governor is trying to do the best he can to make it better... at least until the popular vote is to kill him and the next one tries the same. The people of Varos are being severely underpaid for their rare mineral by the evil Sil. They are so poor that they have resorted to selling tapes of the torture and death of people who break the law. The Doctor, Peri, and some revolutionaries have to make their way though the psychologically torturous Punishment Dome and attempt to help the current governor seize control back of his planet, learn the worth of his precious minerals and be out from under the oppression of Sil.
There more going on in this story than I really mentioned such as Peri being slowly turned into a bird, lots of torture, and Sil's overall plan. It's a strange story but it's actually ok. I personally believe this is the closest to good that the Colin Baker era ever saw (though some people would disagree and say Revelation of the Daleks is better.) The story has an interesting spin on democracy and the "popular vote" as well as introducing the single best character outside the Doctor and Peri... Sil. Sil is a slimy overly bloated take on extreme capitalism and he's an absolute treat to watch. Check this out for Sil if nothing else.
Story 140 The Mark of the Rani
The next story is The Mark of the Rani and it's two episodes long. The TARDIS has landed in 19th Century England due to a time distortion. The Doctor and Peri run into some crazed miners with a strange red mark and seek refuge at the local village. Meanwhile the Master has shown up and immediately finds an old woman who is actually another Time Lord in disguise known as The Rani. The Rani has been luring miners into a bath house, draining the chemical needed to induce sleep from their brain and letting them go; this results in their aggressive behavior. She needs these chemicals because of her experiments on the the planet she controls has caused the population not to be able to sleep. The Master convinces the Rani (by stealing some of her brain fluid collection) to help him destroy the Doctor. They capture the Doctor but he escapes thanks to inventor George Stephenson. Stephenson plans to have a meeting of all the most brilliant minds in the village but the Master plans to use this to further Earth's technological advances and eventually use Earth as a base of operation. Meanwhile Peri is using her botany expertise to create a sleeping draft for the miners. Eventually the Doctor sneaks into the Rani's TARDIS, retrieves the stolen brain fluid, and sabotages it causing the Master and the Rani to be hurled away from Earth. The Doctor then give the brain fluid to a local doctor so that the miners can return to normal.
This one is very hard to pin down. It has some really great moments but some really dull and terrible moments. The Rani is excellent in this story. She's completely amoral and only cares about her research. There's also a really horrifying part of this story that sounds stupid at first but gets worse when you think about it. The Rani lays land mines which turns people into trees if you step on it. However they are fully conscious of their condition, cannot sleep, cannot call for help, and are just standing around in a forest waiting for one day to be chopped down which may not happen for several hundred years. The Master isn't well used here. Usually he's at the center of all things evil but this time he's more around to just be an annoyance to the Rani. This also includes one of the more noteworthy cliffhangers for the fact that it was bullcrap. The Doctor is strapped to a table and tossed down a mine shaft. At the end of the first episode we see the table being to fall into the mine, but at the beginning of the episode he is rescued long before he gets near the mine opening. If the Rani sounds interesting to you then give this a watch because this is the only time she's any good. If not then feel free to skip.
Story 141 The Two Doctors
The next story is The Two Doctors and it's three episodes long. The Second Doctor and Jamie arrive on a space ship with orders from the Time Lords to have the ship stop their time experiments. However one of the shipmates signals a team of Sontarans to the ship and she, the scientist, the Sontarans, and the chef kidnap the Second Doctor. The Chef and the woman are both Androgums, a race of space gourmands who are obsessed with eating any and all meat they can find across the galaxy. The Sontarans plan to use the Doctor's knowledge to allow them a working time machine while the Androgums and scientist intend on double crossing the Sontarans and getting the machine for themselves. The Sixth Doctor collapses and sees a vision of his Second self dying and goes to the ship where he last felt his presence. There they pick up a confused and distraught Jamie. The Doctor concentrates on his memory and remembers hearing the bells in Seville, Spain. The three go there and infiltrate the base to save the Second Doctor. Unfortunately, the scientist has given the Second Doctor a large dose of Androgum DNA and he starts to turn into one. After a lot of running around, double crossing, sabotage, the Androgum almost eating Peri, and the mutated Second Doctor and Androgum go into town in search of food, the Second Doctor's body rejects the DNA and returns to normal. Eventually both Doctors, Peri, and Jamie stop the Androgums and destroy the time machine. The Second Doctor uses a TARDIS recall device and he along with Jamie fly off.
This story....OOOHHH this story. This story is the only non-special to have more than one Doctor featured in it. It has two fantastic Doctors, two fantastic companions, there was location shooting, and it was written by Robert Holmes who wrote many of the greats of the show. They practically had this gift-wrapped to them to be awesome but it was mishandled by stupidity and screw-ups in a major way. The first problem is the Sontarans...not only are the pointless and don't really add anything to the adventure but they look absolutely terrible. Someone also must have forgotten that they are supposed to be a clone race as the two actors are clearly nowhere near the same size. This story also fails in a major way. One of the big sticking points is that the Second Doctor is slowly turning into an Androgum and the Sixth Doctor is trying to stop this and save himself. The problem is that there is no dramatic tension here because the Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Doctors are not Androgums. They also had to come up with constant reasons why the Sixth Doctor couldn't remember where he was when he was the Second multiple times throughout the story. What SHOULD have happened was the Sontarans not being present at all, the Sixth Doctor being kidnapped and turned into an Androgum, and the Second Doctor, Peri, and Jamie had to go on the rescue that way they wouldn't know where he was at all and there would be a legitimate threat. As is, this story is really really bad and I hate saying that because it's the last time we get to see the great Patrick Troughton and Frazier Hines.
This story DID however bring about one thing absolutely wonderful to Doctor Who as a whole aside from seeing the Second Doctor and Jamie. That, ladies and gentlemen would be Season 6B. When Robert Holmes wrote this, he wasn't sure which of the Doctors was constantly sent on missions by the Time Lords and just assumed that he had always done so. The Doctor Who fandom came up with a theory that isn't perfect but it works. We never see the Second Doctor actually regenerate into the Third Doctor...we just see him fade away and Jon Pertwee falls out of the TARDIS. The theory states that the Doctor was pulled out of his execution and forced to do work for the Time Lord secret service so that they wouldn't get their hands dirty by using an exiled Time Lord. Once they were done with him they placed him back in his proper time and was executed. This would explain his presence in the Three Doctors, The Five Doctors and here more easily without using some time babble. It would also explain how he has a TARDIS recall device in this story that the Sixth Doctor says he's "always wanted." Again, it's not a 100% perfect theory but it's better than anything the show gave us and the BBC has sort of accepted it as canon.
Anyway, check this out if you want to see Patrick Troughton and Frazier Hines although be warned you're in for something terrible.
Story 142 Timelash
The next story is Timelash and its two episodes long. The TARDIS lands on the planet of Karfel which is run by the evil Borad. The Borad sentences people who cross him to be tossed into a time corridor that leads to 1883 Scotland. Peri is kidnapped and sent to a cave to be eaten by the reptilian Morlox if the Doctor doesn't go into the Timelash and recover an amulet necessary to transfer power on the planet. The Doctor does so and runs into HG Wells. Wells accompanies the Doctor to Karfel where they eventually run into the Borad to find that he is a hideous half-man half-Morlox. The Borad intends to cause a war against another planet in order to kill all the people of Karfel and start up his own society of Morlox and half-morlox. He then sets off some gas to turn Peri into a half-morlox. With the help from Wells, the Doctor saves Peri and stops the ongoing war. The Borad eventually falls into the Timelash where the Doctor theorizes he may eventually become the Loch Ness Monster.
This story is very bad. The design work and the script are just not that good. What is good about the story is the strange nod to Jon Pertwee as there is a mural from his first visit there.. a visit we've never seen. Also the makeup on the Borad is amazing. It's some of the best makeup work in the show's history. It's also weird to have two historical famous people in the same season, the first was George Stephenson in Mark of the Rani. All good points aside this story is bad and I don't really recommend it.
Story 143 Revelation of the Daleks
The last story of the season is Revelation of the Daleks and it's two episodes long. The TARDIS lands on the funeral planet Necros because the Doctor is looking for an old friend. While there he is attacked by a mutant which Peri kills. Before he can die, he explains that he is the result of experiments by the Great Healer. The Great Healer is actually Davros who has set up shop to turn the dying people in suspended animation into Daleks loyal to him and him only. The rejects he then chops up into food and provides to a food distributor for famine relief. The distributor is ready to be done with Davros' dealings for good and hires two assassins. It is also found out that the friend the Doctor has been looking for is in the process of being transformed into a Dalek. Eventually, the Doctor and the assassins meet up with Davros but forces from Skaro have landed and an all out Dalek Civil War is taking place. The Dalek Supreme's forces win and take Davros back to Skaro for trial.
Many people prefer this story to Vengeance on Varos and I can see why. It's very dark, the assassins are a nice double act, and there is a lot of comedy thrown in the dialog. One notable thing is that Clive Swift (Richard from Keeping Up Appearances) plays a role in this story. Unfortunately despite all of these good things, I think this story is a bit of a mess. There's some junk about a tombstone with the Doctor's face that makes no sense at all, the Radio DJ is beyond annoying, and the Doctor and Peri don't even get into the thick of the problem till the second episode. Yes, they spend 45 minutes just walking around in the snow for absolutely no reason. You may enjoy this more than I did...it's not terrible because of the comedy and the darkness but I just don't think it works that well.
Conclusion
That was seasons twenty one and twenty two. I was probably being more kind to these stories than I should have. These stories were mostly bad...very bad. It's a real shame too because Colin Baker was a very strong and very capable Doctor. John Nathan-Turner was not wrong to have cast him for the part. He was just very badly handled with awful stories. It was during this time that the BBC had it in for the show and as such the next season was cancelled. We'll talk about what happened after that next time. Please join me again as we continue to examine all of Doctor Who.
This is Ghost, fading into the darkness
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You can click here if you wish to see my introduction to Doctor Who
If you want to check out all of my Doctor Who content please click here.
Hello everyone and welcome to another segment of...
Have you ever been invited to a function or a party where the host tells you that they have the main dishes covered but they just want you to bring a side dish? That used to annoy me partially because I would sit there and think "well... crap! Most everything I know how to cook is a main dish or the side items are cooked with the main dish." You don't want to be extremely lame and bring something that you just need to open the can and warm up, or something you just pick up from the store and open. At the same time...what else is there for side items? Sure there are some really elaborate side dishes that can be made but who has time for that? Ultimately you just bring a pot of baked beans or offer to make a dessert instead and hope for the best.
Well now you don't have to do that. Today's dish is a simple side dish that goes great for small outings and can easily be doubled for larger events. It's something that shows you cared enough to actually cook a side dish but it's also extremely easy to make. I'd like to thank my sister-in-law, Rachel, for giving my wife this recipe that I can share with you all!
Gather Your Ingredients
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can cream styled corn
1 stick butter
8 oz container of sour cream
1 box Jiffy corn bread mix
8x8 glass dish
Spoon
1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Place butter in dish and place in oven
3. Remove from oven as soon as the butter is melted fully
4. Pour both cans of corn and sour cream into dish
5. Mix thoroughly
6. Add Jiffy Corn Bread Mix to the dish
7. Mix till uniform texture
Don't get lazy on this one. Mix this stuff together vigorously. When you think it's mixed enough, mix it for another minute because the more thoroughly mixed this is, the better end product you will get.
8. Bake for 45 minutes.
9. Cut the casserole into slices and serve.
TIP: If you are having a large party and need far more of this simply double all of the ingredients, use a 9X13 pan, and bake for an hour and 15 minutes.
This is insanely simple. It's one of those things that can be done without really thinking about it but will be impressive to bring simply because it's not just something lame picked up at the store. It tastes great and goes with just about anything. One word of warning though. This may not be the case with you but personally I wouldn't fix this dish too often. It's not that the dish is bad it's just one of those things that... when you eat it too often you get sick to death of eating the blasted thing. Due to it's easy and inexpensive nature you may be tempted to make this a lot as I did, but resist the urge and it will remain a favorite,
