S07E01 - Asylum of the Daleks

Well, first of all: Welcome! Welcome back my old loyal readers; indeed a most highly anticipated review has finally turned up upon this recently-revamped site much to the (hopeful) joys of those most common with my style of ramblings. Also, to those new readers, whomever and wherever you may be, if you even exist: you’re in for an intellectual race of complete confusion, so be prepared… ‘Wibbly’ doesn’t even cover my loony style of writing. But never mind, eh? On with the show!

What’s scarier than an insane Dalek? SEVERAL insane Daleks!

Well, with Asylum of the Daleks now official seen by millions, it has to be said that the Daleks are pretty damn scary! Sadly, though, unlike what the Moffat et al have said, this episode did not bring fear back to tin cans, although it did leave a very questionable future for them – let’s hope it’s a future where you see less of them for a few years and come back only once-a-Doctor ala the classic series (well, Peter Davison onwards anyway) as the less of them you see, the more terrifying they can be.

One thing that must be addressed before this review goes any further is the surprise appearance of future-Companion, Jenna-Louise Coleman – possibly brought into this episode so as to allow the audience and Whovians alike to see how absolutely brilliant she is as an actress. Of course, judging by this episode, Oswin ‘Soufflé Girl’ Oswald will not be the companion introduced in the Christmas Special, yet even so, this particular character was completely genius; stunning, smart, beautiful, quick-witted and perfect in every sense of those words. And what some superb acting! How this character, of course, relates to that the soon-to-be Clara Oswin is yet to be seen though, although I strongly suspect Soufflé Girl to be, at least, a relative to that of Clara; whether that a descendant or simply a sibling…

Anyway, moving back to the episode review I have to say what a remarkable way to start what seems to be ‘the best season yet’ – well everyone says the latest season of any show is the best in the entire run so that title’s not surprising – although the appearance at the beginning of Skaro, home planet of the Daleks, was a fantastic way to start. Skaro in fact brought to life after its last CG appearance in Doctor Who Adventure Games ‘City of the Daleks’ – that massive Dalek statue right at the beginning was stunningly creepy! – yet it’s still not specified what exactly happened to the Kaled Home World between Remembrance of the Daleks and now.

New technology of the Daleks also seems to have been introduced since last we saw them: nanocloud-technology, not unlike that seen in Season One of Who but for different reasons and effect, which can convert anything living, or dead, into that of a Pupper Dalek. A scary thing to think of; being slowly turned into a part-Dalek soulless puppet, no wonder Amy was terrified when it started happening to her, not to mention the Skeletal Vasta Nerada-esque Puppet killers! And then of course, the nanocloud can even, sadly, convert someone into a complete Golden Dalek, which might even explain how the Dalek Emperor could have done so in Season One. Let us also not forget about their joint memory; linking all Daleks and their records together like the Star Trek Borg or similar: The Doctor being deleted from said banks and the Daleks having no idea on who he was – the scariest part of all the episode in my opinion.

Then, although prepared for the cinema-style representation of these new episodes, thanks to pre-warning spoiler-free reviews and of course the official posters, it was still quite a surprise to see it in such formula; good old traditional Doctor Who revamped into a style of pure sleek and 110% movie-esque. Yet, the formula worked, it really did; not to mention the new retro-style title sequence. They finally fitted Darvill’s name into the sequence WITHOUT it seeming last minute. In fact, it felt like something from Old Who made modern – and the sparkles on the title card, SPARKLES damn you!

Rolling back to speaking of Darvill; what a surprise of Amy and Rory’s relationship?! The two being separated for, to begin with, unknown reasons, but of course, it’s a longer plot ranging back to the previous season and Demon’s Run; Amy can no longer have children; she scared that Rory would leave her because of this so throws him out instead because of her panic. Silly lovely Amy – of course she still loves Rory, she loves him will all her heart and mind, she was just being fuelled by fear, the most common human trait: fear of the future. A most unpredictable future as she came to quickly realise, with her makeup artist suddenly, and horrifically, revealing her Dalek Puppet-ness. Of course, relatable to that, loveable Rory will now forever be thought as the man who believed a Dalek wanted some eggs. Well it is a common mistake for anyone when all a Dalek seems to say is ‘Eggzzz’.

How fantastic though was it to actually see some classic Daleks in New Who? Although completely dusty and bathed in golden light, you do get to see some small head lamps and even the Special Weapons Dalek, if only briefly! And the idea of an Asylum was extremely clever, albeit slightly confusing considering the Timewar and all related, but since even the Daleks feared it, it seems plausible that none would try and recruit a new army from said Asylum so one could let that pass.

Now are the Daleks scary, I ask you? Possibly, possibly… Some of the things they can do are pretty terrifying; like the whole nanocloud technology mentioned above, the fact they find beauty in hatred, that they have a Path Web mind, not to mention the new massive army seen within this episode which could possibly be the most terrifying of all. Then there is Parliament of the Daleks… yeaaah, probably not the best idea in the history of the Dalek race, especially having a Prime Minister Dalek. In the past we’ve had Emperors, Supremes, Leaders and even Davros, the Creator… and then we have the Dalek Prime Minister. Hmm, yeah, I think I’ll leave it at that.

So, what do I think of the episode? What was it like? Fantastic! I need not review the companions, the Doctor, Soufflé Girl, or even the Daleks because they were all just fantastic! Asylum was just a brilliant way to bring the show crashing back with a bang, leading nicely into the fiftieth anniversary next year.

Bring on the Dinosaurs!

Marvel's The Avengers - Film Review

Having never truly been a Comic Book ‘Geek’ – preferring Doctor Who over such things as Iron Man and Batman – it was of course with an untrained, uncaring eye that I left the Iron Man film and its sequel in the dark, never really feeling for the build up towards the inevitable Avengers. Of course, with that said I still loved Marvel’s other comic book heroes, the X Men and Spiderman; loving both for their 90’s cartoon series and the former for its first three and most recent movies (the latter’s live action movies, thus far, being kind of on the crappy side – although bring on The Amazing Spiderman!).

I can say now that what first got my attention for the latest, biggest, Marvel franchise was that of actually seeing Iron Man 2 on television and loving it for its actual believable technology, witty humour, clever(ish) plot and of course, Mr Downey Junior and Mrs Martin (aka Gwyneth Paltrow). It was with that that I went back and watched the first Iron Man film (thank god for brother and his habit of buying anything he sees on the shelf) and the rest is, as they always say, history.

Of course, it also helped that I had one truly fantastic friend who is an absolute, adorable geek of the franchise, who really helped me get up to speed on what Marvel is and what it’s about bar people in metal suits, mutants with power issues and teenagers bitten by radioactive arachnids. So when Thor came out on DVD it was on the top of my list to see, along with Captain America – the first true sign of what epic-ness the Avengers was going to be with its teasing ‘The First Avenger’ sub-title. Although this wasn’t to say that I was an immediate fan of everything in the franchise.

The Incredible Hulk; it was a must-see film and of course, part of the bigger picture to the direction of the Avengers. I had seen the 2003 film Hulk, I already knew the story in spite of it and yet didn’t feel the need. The fact that Edward Norton was such a diva when the cameras weren’t rolling wasn’t a big help in my need to see it but I was eventually persuaded to watch the film anyway and can easily say I was impressed but not overly mind-blown. It didn’t matter. I had seen everything I needed to be ready for the big screen blockbuster; I was actually excited and could easily squeal with my superior geeky friend at what was to come.

And then can the announcement of the name change in the UK from ‘Marvel’s The Avengers’ to ‘Marvel’s Avengers Assemble’. Well, the backstory behind that was because of apparent confusion in the box office because of the ‘60/‘70s television show, and it’s ’90 movie remake ‘The Avengers’, which might I add now did NOT have the word ‘Marvel’ anywhere in the title so confusion between the two would have been minimal to say the least. If I could have had a suggestion with the box office people, a much clever and fan-pleasing title would have been ‘Marvel’s The Avengers Initiative’ – yes, a bit of long but makes more sense and is less annoying than ‘…Assemble’.

Despite the random title change, this fan, and many, many, many, over the UK and across the world went to see the film and it’s easy to say that it blew everyone’s mind. Rightfully beating Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 in the first weekend (as a Potter fan too, I’m pleased) and put Joss Whedon back on the ‘God-like’ radar after his meh-ish series Dollhouse; fan’s able to see how much of a fan Whedon really is by writing the characters of the Avengers as close to their cartoon counterparts (apparently) while keeping in mind their movie personas.

The choice of casting was also something to blow the fans away. Of course we all knew that Downey Jnr, Evans, Hemsworth, Hiddleston, Jackson, Gregg, Renner, and Johansson were all returning, respectfully, but the announcement of diva Norton leaving production and the brilliant Mark Ruffalo replacing him could not have been a more brilliant choice! Ruffalo easily surpasses Norton and Eric Bana (Bruce from 2003’s Hulk) and brings such a calm, adorableness to the role that the moment he starts turning into ‘the other guy’ you suddenly question how this character didn’t scare you before, and even question why you don’t fear the character after. Even as Hulk, with stop-motion capture to get Ruffalo to play the mean green smashing machine, there’s still something sweet and caring in those dark angry eyes.

Cobie Smulders casting as Maria Hill, a character I admittedly didn’t know too much of, was also a fantastic choice, looking a lot like her comic counterpart and just perfectly kicking arse while remaining a somewhat ‘suit’ to S.H.E.I.L.D. and their staff – a much needed female presence on the film, along with Johansson’s Natasha who was much better written and portrayed than in Iron Man 2.

Now, the two twists within the movie was something of perfection. The first being Loki’s ability to change the mind of anyone his awesome-looking sceptre touches, by the changing of allegiance for both Clint ‘Hawkeye’ Barton and Doctor Erik Selvig. It’s something no one could see coming until it happened but the moment it did, it all made sense and added that little bit more emotion to bring in Natasha. The other twist within the film was something fans of the Son of Coul will never forgive Whedon for, but with a sorrow-filled heart know it needed to be done – to motivate the team into working together, for a real proper, human, cause.

The comedy aspect within the film was perfectly amazing – I bet you can easily tell me three things that made you laugh off the top of your head and these would be among them: Tony stealing Thor away just before Thor speaks to Loki (“…I’m listening.”), Coulson’s trading cards, Thor’s rushed announcement of Loki being his adopted brother, anything Tony Stark says, the appearance of a classic computer game, Bruce waking up naked, Hulk smashing the ‘puny god’ along with punching the other one off of the screen, the policemen’s questioning of Steve Roger’s authority in the situation of defending New York against the Chitauri, Rogers telling Hulk to Smash, Romanoff commenting Stark’s definition of a ‘party’ and of course, the brilliant cameo of Stan Lee denying the existence of what he made his career out of. The words following these funny moments on screen could not be heard for laughter within the cinema – that’s for sure.

Now the Chitauri! What creepy looking things are they? That whole epic battle, those few heroes against that massive army and those massive snake-like things that housed some of the army and did quite a lot of destruction themselves where hell to fight, although Hulk smashed through them quite easily hope really did seem vain, with the army keeping on coming through that really brilliantly CGI’ed portal. Selvig and Stark were the final heroes of the film, the former having subconsciously created an ‘off’ button to the Tessaract portal and the latter flying a nuke, Independence Day style, into the Chitauri’s lead ship and cutting off the power and life-support for its Earth battling fleet. Such a truly brilliant use of graphics, story, acting and skills – makes one want to have a Shawarma, doesn’t it?

With every second of that film being epic, with the build-up of the team, the differences of each member and that amazing battle in the woods, Loki’s massive ego and the comedy involved, there really is just too much to speak of and review in one so all I can now say is this: The film is awesome. It’s worthy of its box office breakthrough and those who haven’t seen it, MUST, even if you’re not a comic book fan, it is such a great production and begins and rounds itself off nicely with no massive need to have to know the backstory, although it helps to find out a bit more before seeing it. So go, get off your bums, and use that spare tenner you have sticking out of your purse or wallet and wander to the cinema and have yourself a great time! Off you go!

S07E00 - The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe

Now, whenever someone asks me of my opinion on this year’s Doctor Who special, my reply is always the same: “A lovely episode, got a bit over the top near the end but overall, lovely.” But what do I mean by this? How can I prove what about it was ‘lovely’ and where exactly was the over the top part – or parts – of the episode, the typical-Moffat-madness…?

Well, with an insane, but extremely Who-ish beginning, and one that loosely reflects back to ‘Voyage of the Damned’, it seemed we were into a questionable and explosive episode, but that theory was not to be proved as the whole thing came crashing down to earth – practically literally for the Doctor. Now before this episode I had to question one Clare Skinner’s acting abilities, having not seen her in many things, if any, but Miss Skinner was to prove me ever so delightfully wrong, presenting an airy-fairy yet wholly sensible character, and somewhat companion for the Doctor as the slightly incompletely edited credits proved. With the Doctor stuck backwards in a flesh-repairing spacesuit, and the question of whether he’d be repaired back-to-front hanging loosely in the air, it was known from that moment that the episode was going to politely blow Part Two of the latest series out of the water.

Alexander Armstrong was a lovely addition to the guest cast, especially as he WAS played by Armstrong, though this time without a moustache and jacket scaring Chris Addsion as seen in recent months. His character, more of a side-line but very important to the overall story of this year’s episode, served as the husband to Clare Skinner and father to their rather ordinary yet imaginative family and to some extent a stalker within backstory but general lovely. Shipped off to war – though as a fighter pilot – and presumable lost or gone, this simple yet effective story of the now-widowed Skinner is the foundation stone to the entire episode as Christmas comes to a war-ridden England…

Lily and Cyril, the former becoming the more a-typical companion for the Narina-esque tale, were such wonderful and central characters, Cyril – played by Maurice Cole – played the part of the curious and keen adventurer, proving that most children, no matter from when they come, always sneak out of bed in the wee hours of the morning to open at least one Christmas present, and a whopper of a present it turned out to be! A portal to another world, something the Doctor believes to be appropriate – again a representation as to how alien he can prove to be – turns out to become something dangerous as the Doctor fails to learn the truth about the planet, the fact that come Christmas morning the forest in a box in the living room would no longer exist; although this leads me to several confusing questions and the fact that the whole episode leads along the lines of sheer dumb luck.

References to past adventures, particularly series one’s ‘The End of the World’ are prominent within the episode, it should be noted to the die-hard fans. Several references to the Forest of Cheem are made noticeable as we once again visit the prospect of sentient trees, several references to the Fifth Doctor’s final adventure (‘The Caves of Androzani’) are prominent as the sister planet one the one featured back then, Androzani Major, are the main benefactors in melting the forest featured for fuel. Also, the fact that the Doctor’s trusty sonic works not on wood is also referenced again, although more comical than ever before (“I TOLD you this would happen!”). We also get to see Britain’s topmost finest in the most hilarious scene of the episode, yes Bill Bailey comes forth and delivers and perfectly written script with precision timing and the perfect sprinkle of hilarity to make the scene with himself, Skinner and fellow guest cast Paul Bazely and Arabella Weir the most realistic of the episode – Skinner herself proving the theory that simple tears can be the best way to lower defences and take higher ground.

Expanding more on the luck part of the episode now, one has to question how trees knew that outsiders were coming to rescue them, and that they were human, and how they could have possibly called Cyril to them, and how exactly it is possible for a simple bauble on a tree to turn into that massive King so quickly and so… promptly. That said, Madge’s – Skinner’s character – appearance within the forest was luck and a little bit of determination, her need to find and protect her family by any means becomes the sole ‘thing’ of the episode which somehow helped to control a gargantuan robot through a forest to a tree-grown building and thusly becoming the ‘strong’ character the forest needed to transport it’s tree’s souls from the danger.

Please though, do not get me started on the whole ‘flying through the Time Vortex’ thing – I admit, there was definitely no other way to get the Arwell family and the Doctor back to Earth, but it still seemed over the top and simply ridiculous, especially with a severely damaged plane flying in tow. That said, the scene that followed, with Lily and Cyril demanding to know what had happened to their father was heart-breaking, the innocent insistence of the two children was simply lovely to see – two really talented kids – and Skinner’s reluctant acceptance that she HAD to reveal all just simply wonderful.

Of course, no Christmas should have a sad ending. With the revelation that Reg (Armstrong) had survived a plane crash by following the Doctor and co. through the Vortex (though with the mysterious disappearance of his two crewmembers) and the Doctor returning to the Ponds to find that they always expect him, that they have become, in some twisted and weird and wholly-temporary form as the Doctor will outlive them, his little family, especially with Rory supporting the Doctor’s famous quiff with ease and style was simply heart-warming, something definitely missing from last year’s Christmas special and certainly never present in any before – even the Tyler’s never truly accepted the Doctor for Christmas and I doubt that even Jackie set up places for more than herself, Rose and Mickey at the dinner table.

And so here we are again…

• Doctor = 9/10 – Mad and manic as ever, I doubt the man will ever get a love score. His sudden overwhelming emotion at the end was lovely, although we HAVE seen the man cry before, by Amelia’s bedside, hating repeats.
• Madge = 10/10 – Clare Skinner was simply a perfect part of the cast, slotting into place like the final piece of a difficult jigsaw in a Who puzzle and presenting a wonderful, accepting, and very motherly character throughout the entire episode.
• Lily = 9/10 – Becoming the ‘Companion’ of the episode by simply being with the Doctor and asking the right questions, Lily was simply wonderful, and I have to admit a fantastic casting. I’d personally like to see her return for a full companion role, though probably when she a little bit older.
• Cyril = 8/10 – Very few lines throughout the main part of the episode, the wonderful boy had to simply look on in astonishment and discover all these new things, and Cole performed that with wonderful ease – such a lovely character and person.

Episodic Rating: 9 out of 10. Much better than the ‘Wedding’ episode and such a lovely feel-good thing for all the family, as Christmas should be. One can only hope that this reflects things to come by more simplistic storylines, a happier family feel and less – how do I put it? – Insaneness.

S06E13 - The Wedding of River Song

With Steven Moffat’s second series of Doctor Who now under wraps, as a regular viewer and fan I have to pose just one simple question to the man: Will the finale of series seven (series three for the Moff) included a complicated plot, an alternative/aborted timeline and an epicenter to a time-explosion of sorts being close to the Doctor? The reason being is that this is the second year in a row to include a similar story, as last year proved with the TARDIS exploding (still not answered/looked into by the way) creating an alternate universe with just the Earth and the time machine’s explosion being the only thing in existence – the TARDIS being the epicenter of that new, lonely, universe. Okay true, the results of this year’s ‘big bang’ meant that all of time converged on one point but again that raised questions for, if all time IS happening at once, the universe would be created and simultaneously destroyed in one go and that would be it.

Moving on… this episode was good to prove what would happen should a fix point in time be changed but in all respects to Steven Moffat, it was completely, utterly pointless. True it gave a few answers with the purpose to Madam Kovarian wearing an eye-patch and created a reason for River to really KNOW the Doctor and also to show the man how much he is loved, but the way the episode was executed was all wrong – very similar to the finale of ‘Torchwood: Miracle Day’ to be honest. Now, I know many of you will disagree – indeed, two friends of mine whom I discuss this with on a regular basis liked the episode, so no disrespect to them or anyone else who appreciated ‘The Wedding of River Song’ but for me it was a reasonable amount of dung (bar the last five minutes, though).

Given the chance of a rewrite, the episode would for me include the ‘pre’-stuff the Doctor alluded to via flash-backs in the episode aired, then have River finding out of the Teselectra Doctor pretty quickly (before she shoots him obviously), have River and the Doctor (as the Teselectra in disguise as Rory or Amy) running from the Shadow Proclamation (or whomever it was who arrests River for killing the Doctor) so as to get Kovarian and the Silents once and for all. They would most likely get caught in a sticky situation near the end and forced to marry in a comical-yet-binding way with River getting arrested and the Doctor returning Dorium’s head, as seen, in the final moments of the episode with the whole Question thing AND have the same post-Byzantium River meeting her parents bit – as that was done brilliantly. With that idea in mind it would definitely involve less ‘modeling Silents in water tanks’ and more ‘mindless adventure and laughs’ which Doctor Who is actually meant to be about, believe it or not.

Now, one thing I have to wonder from the episode shown though; Alternate-Amy killed Madam Kovarian which real current-Amy can remember, so does that mean Kovarian IS dead now or what? Presumably if she’s not seen again then we have to presume that despite the fact she was killed in an aborted timeline she remains dead, which would be a shame as she was/is such a genius character and an actual rival to the Doctor (think of the implications! Like a newer, better Rani – NOT the SJA’s Rani Chandra - only not Timelord and less… rash) who doesn’t have to be behind everything like ‘Saxon’ was a few series back. That said and wished, Kovarian was/is only one aspect of the larger organization NOW called the Church of Silents, a cult dedicated to destruction of the universe when the Doctor tells someone – obviously River considering the implications of her gaining the Tenth Doctor’s trust in ‘Silence in the Library’ – his real name, and most likely doing that by exploding his very own TARDIS, which is old news now.

A typical Moffat timey-wimey move though, wouldn’t you say? We’ve seen how epically the Silents failed when exploding the TARDIS, so let’s see how they became such failures. It’s like River’s out-of-order Timeline (not VERY back-to-front, but close to). Moffat does like to mess about with things which are good for the show in respect that it has an Executive Producer who’s not scared to playing with fire, but by doing so may very well be driving the audience away with the mad plots and hard-to-describe time frames. An example of this is, knowing Moffat’s recent track record (okay, mainly ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’ as Part Two of Series Six was proving a bit of a let-down anyway), as a viewer I went into ‘The Wedding of River Song’ with low expectations and was STILL disappointed – now whether that says something about me as a viewer, Moffat as a writer or the BBC as a production company in general I cannot tell but I hate placing blame on the Moff-ster so will have to leave that thought in the air…

What about the episode can I say? Well firstly they wasted a good use on money bringing back stars whom needn’t have been part of the episode (Simon Callows as Charles Dickens and the Richard Hope as Silurian Doctor Malokeh to name two), then they continued wasting money with ridiculous CGI (cars flying via balloons, trains spiraling around the Gherkin – out of proportion to the real Gherkin might i add – and the pyramid ‘Area 52’) and finally dressed many tall thin actors in uncomfortable suits only for them to point and do… well, very little. With those negative notes out there now, having some strange alternative Amy and Rory (even though this is set AFTER series five for everyone involved) was pretty awesome to see – Karen as a sexy commander and Arthur as an equally sexy solider, bringing back Dorium as just his head-in-a-box was absolutely hilarious and helped move the plot along nicely (I REALLY hope he continues returning as Dorium is a character with a real history to be explored anyway), and the Teselecta’s introduction earlier this series proved not to be a pointless factor but actually one of the most important objects of the series.

I have to admit though that it WAS clever to have the Doctor as a Soothsayer in the aborted timeline, with him bearded and in rags (even though he’s still the Teselectra), telling the story of how he got to where he was then and marking off Silents in the telling – really cleverly done when he notices the tag on his arm and the slow introduction of himself and Churchill’s weapons! Really, despite its many faults, I can see the potential of the episode with the way it was presented, the cleverness of a progressing story and the ability not to give the viewers the straight-up facts and see how the protagonist deals with it (which was kind of my suggestion for the alternative story).

Also to note: the Doctor and Asto-River’s conversation by the lake was a little too long for my liking; that and the lighting of the scene, trying to match to the actual light of Utah during the time of filming the original scene, with a blurry background was terribly done and reminded me of something from old Who done worse than it could be done. But hey, was all about lighting and the ability not to be able to shrink a conversation to a few lines each instead of massive paragraphs per character.

What else is there to say? Oh yes! How could I forget?! With the loving tribute seen to Elizabeth Sladen just before ‘The Impossible Astronaut’, the Doctor Who Team really outdid themselves with a dedication to Nicholas Courtney’s Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart by having the Doctor call the nursing home where the Brig had must have retired to, only to find the man had passed away, the nurse noting that the Brig never gave up hoping that the Timelord would return for one last visit… so sad yet so lovely – no one could change that bit of script for the world.

And here we are again…

• The Doctor = 10/10 – Although mostly the Tesadoctor, it was a very cleverly scripted episode for the Timelord and explained away a good deal of questions built up throughout the series, though not a lot of back-storage from the previous series…
• Amy = 10/10 – Sexy, stunning and amazing as ever! Now although I do love the Ponds I have to hope that someone new is introduced as fulltime companion next series as it’s starting to get rather…stale with the same lot episode after episode.
• Rory = 10/10 – Poor Rory almost-sacrificing himself again for Amy; he really will do anything for her whether he knows he loves her or not! And that final scene with the three Ponds was lovely, although Rory missed the bulk of it; it was just so beautifully done.
• River = 10/10 – Well it’s official – her mother’s guess way back in ‘The Time of Angels’ was correct and she’s his wife, though I have to wonder by what custom? Would, say, they be married on Clom or Skaro or even Earth with just those few words? How serious WAS the Doctor in marrying this woman or was it all just so he could get back to pretending to be dead? Then again, it did all happen in an aborted timeline AND to the Teselectra…
• Kovarian = 10/10 – I really want to see more of this lady, although I doubt it. Frances Barber is simply a superb actress!

Episodic Rating: 5 out of 10. Disappointing I know, but like I’ve said; it went off on one and couldn’t get back until the end, with the main points of the episode being represented at the start and within the last five/ten minutes. Yes, it was definitely different to  last year’s ‘The Big Bang’, but it wasn’t better – indeed, I preferred last year’s finale to this year’s but you’ve got to take the good with the bad and with such a fantastic mid-series finale, it’s fair to say that nothing could ever follow so greatly in the same complete series.

And so there we have it, another series of Doctor Who complete for the year. With next year only presenting us with half-a-series in preparation for 2013’s fiftieth anniversary (though let us not forget this year’s Christmas Special), and with the rather wobbly series we’ve just had, maybe a cut-down is generally needed; a time to take a breather and assess one’s priorities. Depending on how many episode class as ‘half’, we’re looking at an good five to seven next year, so not a complete Who-draught as 2009 saw, with RTD promising ‘the formula would work’ before scarpering good and proper… anyway, for the Who Review, either a full series review or two half-series reviews will be posted up at some point between now and Christmas, so keep your eyes peeled for updates! But for now… happy soon-to-be-Hallowe’en! 

S06E12 - Closing Time

Closing Time… well what can I say about it? Having waiting impatiently through several half-arsed episode of Doctor Who, I confess myself yet again disappointed, although this time by the lack of Cybermen within the episode as the concentration of the story was set more upon ‘oh no, I’m going to die… again’ from the Doctor, which is understandable, yes, but surely even he knows he’s going to outlive his own death? I’m sure ‘The Wedding of River Song’ is going to be another thrilling episode, most likely similar to ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’, but with Matt Smith already filming the Christmas Who episode, and having signed to another series, the whole arc this series about the Doctor finally dying seems to fall rather flat on its face. Personally this arc should have been used for when Matt Smith finally decided to leave – let the producers leave the casting of the Twelfth Doctor in shadow, film without fans knowing and THEN you can have a brilliant series, with the fan base actually believing it will be over for the Doctor hen suddenly bam, regeneration! Anyway, rant over, back to the episode…

I have to admit, despite my initial disappointment towards a lack of Cybermen, it seems a case of less-is-better, even if less means five or minus, although I would actually like to know one thing: two series in for the new Doctor, the new regime and Moffat himself, it would actually be nice to know if these Cybermen are Cybusmen or the original Mondas/Telos Cybers in their newest form due to the lack of Cybus Industries logo upon their chest plates – perhaps next series might explain something, if not another rant may be in order. Although, come to think of it, the use of Cybermats this time round might in fact be a massive clue, as the Moffat does like to lay down smaller things instead of tell people straight off. Nevertheless, the episode itself was actually much better than most of the rest of the series, probably not AS good as ‘The Doctor’s Wife’, ‘Good Man…’ or ‘The Girl Who Waited’, but definitely higher in rank than most of the others.

What I was most interested to find out, besides Craig and Cybers, was what happened to Amy and Rory once the Doctor left and it was nice, if not a little coincidental, to see that in the form of a one-minute cameo, Amy having become a model, with the fantastic tag line ‘For The Girl Who’s Tired of Waiting’ to the perfume of ‘Petrichor’ – a reference to both the TARDIS, and something that saved the married couple from a troubled Ood…. Ahem. Although I would like to hope that Rory, as seen previously as nurse, has progressed to Doctor, something that obviously couldn’t be mentioned within the latest episode but maybe next week if Moffat doesn’t over-stretch unnecessarily, like in Let’s Kill Hitler.

Craig’s return! Wonderfully done, although the whole ‘checking up on old friends’ thing for the Doctor is definitely so Tennant-era, but an easy way to bring him back AND to see his little baby and the brief appearance of Sophie – the actress whom plays her probably unavailable for more than the tiniest appearance, all of which could have been filmed easily in one day. And adorable as though the Doctor’s Baby Talk can be, as established earlier in the series, it does get rather boring quite quickly, and almost a little repetitive, even with the nickname Stormageddon/Stormy to little Alfie – which even I have to admit, was cute. But it’s been done so don’t overdo it, please… Also, the final few moments of the ‘climatic’ battle, with Craig answering the cry of Alfie, although very emotional and gripping (I honestly thought Craig HAS been converted for a moment) was rather… old. Is that the right wording? It’s one of those things that’s been done over and over again in shows and movies that for it to be done in Who, although inevitable, seemed annoying and almost a letdown.

Lynda Baron! Nurse Gladys Emmanuel in Doctor Who once more (having been in Fifth Doctor episode ‘Enlightenment’ and provide vocals for First Doctor episode ‘The Gunfighters’) was so fantastic to see. I, personally, love Lynda and her character Val, although not important to the episode in general, she was lovely to watch and a character I would love to have a conversation with. Getting the wrong end of Craig and the Doctor’s relationship, thinking them to be an actual couple was just fantastic, especially the Doctor, and eventually Craig’s, reaction, which was a brilliant laugh. In fact the episode had a lot of laughs to it; no doubt in attempt to keep spirit’s high, ready for next week’s doubtlessly mad-cap episode.

And that brings us in an almost full circle to those final few moments, with River and Madam Kovarian, the Silents and the Astronaut. Although a shocking and gripping few moments, the whole River-is-the-Astronaut thing was completely predictable, if even if a little questionable for, if the whole reason River is arrested was because she shot the Doctor as the Astronaut one needs to know who else was there to actually arrest her as there was only the older River, Amy, Rory and a Silent as seen in the first episode. Secondly, the Astronaut with River within went back into the water, most likely transported away and thirdly, as River was set up by higher powers for the purpose of killing the Doctor it would be seriously low, even for the Order of the Silents, to arrest her for something they made her do. Also, surely the River who witnessed the Doctor’s death knew she was within the Astronaut suit, considering the one within was only JUST starting and the River with the rest was much later in her timeline…? But it was lovely seeing Alex Kingston and Frances Barber once again anyway.

And now…

• The Doctor = 9/10 – Matt was fantastic as ever, but he felt repetitive, with regurgitations from the rest of the series like Baby Talk and playing with toys unnecessarily. And the use of the Stetson and the blue envelopes – completely unneeded; one doesn’t need to tie in everything with everything else!
• Craig = 10/10 – Before the Lodger I admit I never liked James Cordon, but he’s just brilliant now, and Craig is the reason why. His return within this episode just boosted my love of Cordon… that is all.

Episodic Rating: 9 out of 10; not good enough for full marks but better than quite a few of the rest of the series, in fact, compared to Series Five, the Sixth has been terribly disappointing, which is a shame as, not only was it Darvill’s first full series but also this was the series where writers officially knew how to write for Matt Smith’s Doctor and despite that it’s still been worse than last series.

Now I shall reserve thoughts towards the finale episode, but having seen pictures from it, the prequel and of course that next time trailer, I feel it’s going to be yet another over-the-top episode with too much action and too less of good plot (including a Dalek even though Moffat promised NO Daleks this series, the stinking liar!). A good view definitely of course, Moffat can always assure viewers and fans of that, but in all it might just be too much for forty-five/fifty minutes of episode. All I shall say now about ‘The Wedding of River Song’ is that Silents are now models and like to strut their stuff in water tanks. Yes, indeed…

S06E11 - The God Complex

For an episode that not only had been highly anticipated since series six began filming but also had contained references to both the Shining and past Who story ‘The Curse of Fenric’, for me, ‘The God Complex’ had a lot of unexplained intentions, confusing plotlines and a resolution in a quick write-off which resolved itself only mere minutes later. What do I mean? Well the story itself was about Amy having too much faith in the Doctor, and said Timelord needed to rid her of that so as to save her life, but only reasserting Amy’s faith by saving her from himself – in all, forty minutes to prove something five minutes could have resolved and a story who’s explanation was rather vague and unknowing; A little like Series Four’s ‘Midnight’.

Now, don’t get me wrong it was a good episode – with Minotaur’s, Doctor Angst, scared faces, long corridors and death aplenty; a really atypical Doctor Who episode and worthy of Toby Whithouse’s rather warped mind, but it never properly explained the how’s, what’s and why’s. An example of this confusion comes from exactly HOW the Minotaur (/alien) could kill/feed from just people’s faith and why the prison ship had been disguised as the hotel of the episode, or indeed how or why it had reverted back from the simulation when the Doctor cut off the Minotaur’s food supply to kill it.

For an episode with a lot seemingly going on, there seemed little actually happening, with the same fate befalling all of the Doctor’s new friends the adventure became seemingly repetitive and had it not been for the acting of all the cast, the episode would had flopped big time. Indeed, one standout performance, for all viewers I hope, was Amara Karan’s performance as Rita, the other companion who never was (after my hopes for Mels before her big reveal). Led on by her religious faith, the Minotaur had a hard time trying to seek out her inner personal faith – a faith of succeeding, if I interpreted that correctly – and by so doing delaying it’s feast from her, allowing Rita the time to help the Doctor and co. and to assert fans and viewers at how good she would have been had she been a companion…

Which leads me to the question of the location of the Minotaur’s victims – we know that it’s previous feeds, such as Officer Lucy, must have been in the prison-hologram-place too, most likely within their own rooms, but even after the Doctor laid the bodies of the creature’s most recent preys to rest, and when the hologram ends, revealing a much smaller place than the hotel had been, there are no signs of the bodies. Could it possibly be that by killing the Minotaur had allowed the programme to reverse? To take the body back to the time and place they had been taken?

Speaking of the Minotaur’s victims, a rather pointless but Potter-ish fact for readers: the guy who played Howie (the geek in glasses) is the older brother of Gryffindor chaser, Katie Bell (from the Half-Blood Prince anyway), so another nice link between my two favourite topics there… Also, wasn’t David Walliams just fantastic as Gibbis; suited the role perfectly and congratulation to him on swimming the Thames and not befalling tragically ill; he’d have needed the inoculations from New Earth to survive what lurks in that river, don’t you think?

Now that ending! Who ever thought that would happen? Obviously the Doctor knew the hell he can put his companions through after nearly nine-hundred years of having them about but still a shock for the viewers and Amy and Rory too! One has to wonder though how the Doctor managed to get Rory the car he always wanted without actually leaving their side AND of course WHERE Amy and Rory now live, because that didn’t look like Leadworth! Best bet is they moved to Gloucester for better work and lives away from the Doctor after he dumped them off sometime after ‘A Christmas Carol’ and before ‘The Impossible Astronaut’ – as both would only have a twenty minute car ride back home to visit their respective families. Although that street reminded me of the one seen at the end of ‘The Doctor’s Daughter’ and it probably was in retrospect, considering ninety-five percent of everything is filmed in Wales and after six series they would run out of new locations…

And now…

• The Doctor = 10/10 – Even when he’s smashing up half the holographic kitchen he can still be amazingly brilliant! Also, it was fascinating Rita picking up on the Doctor’s own God Complex (for which the episode was so named), by his need to constantly save people. (Another link to Potter with Harry’s own ‘saving people thing’ Hermione points out in ‘Order of the Phoenix’.)
• Amy = 10/10 – Karen just gets better and better each episode, and how brilliant was it to see Caitlin Blackwood again as little Amelia? – A lovely pleasant shock for myself, being a Caitlin fan.
• Rory = 10/10 – And apparently a man of no, or little faith, unless it’s for a way out, which by the fire exit only he could see might have indeed meant that his faith was in personal freedom (and possibly freedom from the Doctor!).
• Rita = 10/10 – I really loved her! Why do they always have to kill the good ones off? They did in Torchwood and they’re doing it in Doctor Who damnit!
• Gibbis = 10/10 – From a race of cowards, his own cowardly traits help save himself from the Minotaur, although his fear/faith in the Weeping Angels was also questionable…

Episodic Rating: A disappointing 7 out of 10, for it had its moment and a gripping finale, which raised marks, but that didn’t hide the fact that the episode held a lot of confusion, like a Moffat-copy episode, and reflected pointless moment from ‘Midnight’ two series ago. Nevertheless it was a worthy episode, if only a little too over-anticipated by Moffat and co. Here’s to seriously looking forward to Cybermen, Cybermats and the return of Craig next episode! (Yes, tomorrow I know – I’ve been seriously reluctant and lax of reviewing recently, to which I continuously apologize.)

Torchwood: S04E10 - The Blood Line

For the final episode of Torchwood’s Miracle Day saga, it can be said that Russell T Davies can definitely write a conclusion! The execution of the episode was absolutely fantastic; keeping the audience with the programme from the moment of the pre-credits opening started to the moment, or maybe just before, Rex woke after being shot. That said of course, proof goes that plot-wise, the finale was full of unavoidable holes and questions with answers that simply will never truly explain anything; an example of this is the final moments where Rex is suddenly immortal – Rose didn’t save him too Russell! And don’t get me started on Rex’s blood transfusion…

Continuing down the plot-hole road, several other things were noticeable for, not only this episode, but the entire series, one of which has to be Jilly’s old employers, PhiCorp. A pharmaceutical obviously linked to the Families, yet never truly explored as they had been notified of the Miracle from the Families (something else put into question now) and stocked up on medications such as painkiller in preparation to make millions, but on the show, when push came to shove, they were rather unceremoniously shoved into a corner to be left to rot, even moving Jilly out and into the belly of the Families without so much as an explanation as the link between PhiCorp and the Families – the simplest explanation to all this can be that the Families owned PhiCorp, which is most likely THE explanation, but it’s still not right to completely ignore the company considering they had just under TEN hours of programme to explore with. Also, the Families make it clear to the Torchwood Team that the Miracle was done so the strongest rose to the top, which leads to the question of ‘Why…?’ Why did they even bother stock up so much, just to make money they could have easily gained via other means, when after all that  they only wanted the strongest to survive?

The Blessing itself is another thing to put to question, the main one being the inevitable ‘how…?’ How did that... crack get to where it was in the Earth and how could it possibly lead directly through the center of the planet? For a start the cracks face horizontally to a vertical decent (as dictated on screen) on complete opposites to one another, with the only possible explanation to a direct link between the two being that of a spiraling decent through, or around, the Earth’s core. Not only that but, taking into account that it’s believable that whole morphic-field-directly-linked-to-the-blessing thing makes sense, we’re told to believe that it gave everyone on Earth Jack’s ‘immortality’ but took it away from the originator and the only way to reverse the effects would be to feed the blood back to it? I know Torchwood can be farfetched at times, but come on!

Don’t get me wrong though, there were bits within ‘The Blood Lune’ that I rather liked, whether for the script or the acting, and it has to be said that the acting of Bill Pullman before Oswald dies was incredible (and just slightly drawn out), the man suddenly becoming demented, calling for the girl he murdered to run once more – a simply chilling performance! Of course from the script itself I can happily mention my approval for the Racnoss reference, their ship being the core of the planet as seen in Doctor Who’s ‘The Runaway Bride’ back in Christmas of ‘06! Also the ‘breath’ over the planet, as seen from Gwen’s voice over was so fantastically done – Kai Owens’ emotional performance as he sat by Geraint’s bedside as he was allowed to die was really simply heart-melting and heartbreaking at the same time!

But let us not get sidetracked from some of the more convenient parts of the final episode though: Rex’s impossible transfusion of Jack’s own blood and his subsequent impossible immortality as a consequence, all of course leading to Esther’s rather pointless death – I mean after all she’d been put through in the series, they simply couldn’t allow the new Torchwood team a break as they’d already killed off the fantastic Vera to prove a point, I mean really! But that’s not all, no, Jilly survival and the mention of another ‘Family plan’ was another useful grip into the potentiality of a new series, to which, even though I do love Lauren Ambrose, I do NOT want to see happen now – but something that must be pointed out towards Jilly herself; she must be wanted felon to be associated with the Families, unable to get a job and yet no one notices the same red-haired beaut on the same bench in the same part of the city for, what was it, two month?! Come on now!

Disappointment fills my mind towards the entirety of the fourth series, and my hopes of watching a fifth series, should it be commissioned, are at a very mere minimum, lest Russell actually PLAN the thing out. It can’t be helped but feel that the Executive Producer didn’t put his heart into the project, to which he probably didn’t, wanting to move onto more American projects to which he rightfully should do. With that thought, the Miracle Day series would have worked better had the whole thing been shrunk into five or so episode, with the potential fifth series as part of the Miracle Day tale, with a different title maybe. You see, I see that as this…

Miracle Day should have been split, like Doctor Who, in two but only two parts of five instead of seven and six. The first half should have kept the title ‘Miracle Day’ with the first three episode condensed easily into two, the third as the camps, but with Vera dying at the end of episode three, Rex and Esther’s escape as part of the fourth episode, minus anything to do with Angelo but maybe as prequel to episode one being Jack’s ‘blood’ being collected, and with the ending of episode four the same as the ninth and the fifth episode exactly the same but ending with the breath, just before Esther’s funeral – a fantastic cliffhanger with months to wait in between; will Esther survive? The sixth episode would start with the funeral, the discovery of Charlotte as traitor by Rex but with her getting away and Rex having discovered his Jack-ness and the concluding episodes could continue on with that, discovering the Families, tying knots that the actual ten episodes completely failed to achieve and discovering the why’s to Rex’s immortality.

• Jack = 10/10 – A very emotional performance from Mr. Barrowman, which he always pulls off, but he definitely put in his all for this final performance as Jack Harkness.
• Gwen = 10/10 – Absolutely fantastic! Eve Myles is an amazing actress and she’s really perfected Gwen over the past four series, and that definitely shows – anyone else want to see her and Jack as the Doctor’s companions sometime, or is it just me…?
• Rex = 10/10 – Another one who puts in his all to the performance of a lifetime, although those with an eye would have seen Rex’s sudden immortality when he survived having all of Jack’s blood pumped from him via the Blessing, and NOT the bit where he came back from death after being shot.
• Esther = 10/10 – They keep on killing the good ones off! Her death was definitely foretold prior to facing the Blessing, the most noticeable being her informing the rest of the team that she’d see them ‘when it’s all over’ – heartbreaking really.
• Oswald = 10/10 – I’ve mentioned what I needed to; Oswald’s final chilling performance. Although I have to say here and how, how fantastic is it, not only to have such a Hollywood actor as Bill Pullman in little old Torchwood, but also how fantastic IS he?! You’ve really got to love him.
• Jilly = 10/10 – Heck, I’ll give everyone a ten! Although her character hadn’t exactly evolved throughout the series, Jilly is just one of those characters you love to hate, hate to love and just adore in the meantime.

Episodic Rating: 6 out of 10. Don’t get me wrong it WAS a fantastic watch, but the plot was just ridiculous!

Overall series rating: 5 out of 10 – It was very brave of Starz to resurrect a show the BBC let die, but in general it was a terrible resurrection on the whole. The best characters were killed off, while the mediocre were left to survive and as for the plot, well as I’ve gone through this over the last ten weeks and they really needed to actually figure out links that are expressed on screen without plowing through with crossed fingers – and if they want to fund a fifth series, it’s something they immediately need to discuss and then, only then, would I consider watching it. For the moment though, I shall happily watch the last Sarah Jane Adventures, then stick heartedly and singularly to Doctor Who.