Chistmas Trailer

From Children in Need, BBC, Nov 2012

Christmas Prequal

Christmas 'prequal', Children in Need, BBC, Nov 2012

The Angels Take Manhattan

Awesome. Not much more I can say at the moment, loved it!

The Power of Three

Another interesting episode, with lots of great ideas, but not necessarily adding up to the sum of their parts...

Surprising we haven’t had more of this type of 'Amy and Rory' perspective on a story, and being their penultimate episode, something we won't see again. However the story nicely made space for lots of spin off stories (Zygons included). I loved the idea of mankind needing culling to prevent it reaching plague proportions, with the cubes like slug pellets - although think more could have been made of this - when is Doctor Who going to get serious with environmental issues and mankind destroying this planet, rather than the Doctor blindly defending humanity, as he does a lot in this new series.

But we like Rory's dad. He's good. I almost felt at the end I wanted Amy and Rory to stay behind and dad to come along instead. Certainly Smith's childish Doctor needs a father figure... too much silly messing about going on for my liking, although he is very good at it.

And why is it that UNIT stories are always a bit of a let down? I'm glad we didn't have to get introduced to a role call of sergeants and captains, and yes, nice nod with having the Brig's daughter as the new special advisor, but I'm not sure I'm looking forward to more UNIT stories being developed - in their day they were great, but these days it's too familiar.

And those cubes... think they missed a trick but not showing us the Doctor trying to break into one, would have been better than showing him painting a fence and doing the hoovering, and more relevant to the story.

For me this wasn't the big impact episode I was looking for. Yes, it mixed up a load of ideas, mentioned zygons and had UNIT, but it felt like a script pulled from the RTD recipe book for new series earth-bound Who, utilising too many of the tricks of the Tennant years, including a wave of cameos, which I must admit did make me chuckle, especially Alan Sugar, who is such a plonker - to the point were the original elements of the story got lost in the mix. The Shakri are a nice idea, but looked too much like Darth Vader without his mask from the orginal Star Wars flims. Good job they give up easily hey.

And what a coincidence that Rory's hospital was one of the focal points for the cubes, but I'm not sure about doctors in masks with big needles. Come on, it's too easy, and it's all been used before, mostly by Moffat himself.

And the resolution at the end, with a bit of sonic and some frankly unbelievable cardiac therapy bringing everybody back to life, was just too much. And why was the ship colleting humans from the hospital, and the two doctors who had unwisely stuffed their cubes in their mouths? And the 'power of three'? I didn't really get that. Sort of excluded Rory's dad, and after he'd spent so much time watching his cube.

Damn, it's even making last week's episode look better, which is no good sign. Let hope next week gives us a much needed boost - but will it be enough to stop the slide in the ratings?

A Town Called Mercy

Well, as with last week, I wasn't expecting much from this episode, but was pleasantly surprised. Well produced and acted, it was entertaining, without hitting the cringe or slapstick buttons, and actually dealt with some serious themes.

My one big dislike, and it they used twice in the plot... I mean, would this supposedly high-tech terminator cyborg really not be able to tell its alien quarry from the humans he was hiding among, and be fooled by someone dressing up in his hat, or later by everyone with bits of face paint? It was just a bit too weak - couldn't they have come up with something clever like a good old fashioned 'reverse the polarity of the neutron flow' home made device, using the (other) alien Doc's primative electricity rig (I mean, what was the point of that is it's not used in the story?), or ship, or something, to disrupt the cyborg's computer recognition... or perhaps they shoud have tricked him into getting drunk - I'd have thought that would be a good way to deal with a cyborg. In fact the whole thing could have revolved around the bar - we could have have had Amy doing the can-can, and Rory could have done, um, something. Anything.

If I had to re-write this story (a useful mental exercise in terms of playing with ideas and generally faffing around, so good Sunday fodder), I'd be tempted to have made the barrier surrounding the town a force-field set up by the alien Doc to protect himself, but with everyone thinking the cyborg controls it. Then our Doctor and accompanying Ponds, trapped inside with everyone else, could have uncovered the truth, and the alien Doc. The town would want to lynch him, and our Doctor could save him from that and then deliver him to the cyborg, or whatever. Not sure I liked the 'noble death' in suicide, think he should have tried to escape and got blown up by a booby-trap set by the cyborg, but anyway. And I wouldn't have kiled Issac, I mean he was like a good man. And after the cyborg accidentally shot Issac, why didn't he just try again whilst the Doc was just standing there hey?

But other than all that, it was fun, and better than last week although I doubt the ratings will reflect that. I think the season needs to really pick up from here until the half-season break.

Dinosaurs, on a Spaceship

After the excitement of last week I wasn't expecting much from this episode (I think the second and third stories of recent seasons have been poor), and whilst it rolled along quite happily, this ultimately won't be remembered for much other than a silly romp with dinosaurs, on a spaceship. It sort of stinks of Moffat throwing the poor writer the ingredients (dinosaurs, on a spaceship, oh, and Rory's Dad), and the guy has to come up with his best plan of bringing it together. The backstory, a Silurian 'ark', was a great idea. Except it wasn't as good as it should have been, wasted without the Silurians. If the ship had fake beaches why not other fake environments where the dinosaurs would have been much more at home. And without their Silurian masters the barriers could be breaking down... And why not give us a handfull of Silurian survivors into the mix as well, hiding out in different environs? So many missed opportunities. Could have been an epic two parter.

And how long had those dinosaurs been on that ship? Are we talking of the numbers necessary to maintain genetically viable breeding populations? Surely the Silurians, as experts in hibernation, would have put the big reptiles to sleep for the journey... much easier... and talking of reptiles, how exactly did those dinosaurs thermo regulate and maintain body temperature? Silly little things I know, but a good script could have covered these. And if the Doctor drops the dinosaurs off at the end on some planet 'Siluria' somewhere, what a missed opportunity to give the Silurians, if we'd had a couple, a new home planet and story concept for their furture development and use. One the biggest problems with them is the lack of potential for storylines...

I fear the Silurians are being slowly turned into a 'Star Trek' style supporting alien race and will pop up more and more. Shame, I was hoping we would have a break from green reptilian monsters before bringing back the Ice Warriors... but we certainly needed to get the Silurians into space to fit with them turning up with the Pandorica, don't we? I wonder if will we've got a Moffat after story before the pre story here, if you know what I mean, surely they won't waste the idea of Silurians, on a spaceship, with dinosaurs. Plus it would be a nice echo of the original Hartnell 'Arc' story, which also visited an ark, or be it with a different cargo, in two different time periods.

But the episode did have that 'big production' feel which they are obviously aiming for this series - so much so it almost felt like a silly christmas episode. In fact it should have been a Christmas episode, it was that light-weight. And so many elements of the story appeared overly familiar, from within the show itself, to influences from outside it. I'm all for recycling, but weren't some elements just overly Jurassic Park? I think the 'raptors should have been dumped in favour of some other threat, from the young T-rex perhaps, which would have surely woken and smelt them down.

As predicted we had the now typical jumping all over history to introduce the characters and bring Amy and Roy along. And the update on Amy's life, right at the climax of the episode, just took away all the dramatic effect that the episode had managed to built up. I like the idea of them leaving and carrying on their lives, but we don't need it every week - what was the point of dropping them off last week to pick them up again this? And did we really need the random historical characters? I'm all for historical stories, and characters, but not used like this. I really think the Doctor needs to loose control of the TARDIS again and go back to not knowing where she's taking him. What's the betting these two don;t turn up again before the end of the season, or for the end of the season!

In summary, for me, an inconsequential episode. And I didn't like the use of innuendo, it just made me cringe, epsecially in an episode aimed so obviously at the kids. But credit where credit is due - the dinosaurs were good, and so was the spaceship (although why, if it was Silurian, wasn't it very, err, Silurian on the inside?).

Shame, I'm going to put this one down as a misinterpretation of Who events, and pretend that in my version of Who it all happened the same same but slightly differently! One of the advantages of being dillusional.

Teasers?

Then in June we got the following 'on location' snaps, which got the fans talking. Now I haven't been following the location shooting, as I think it gives away too many spoilers, but I reckon she just popped in to say hello and isn't even in costume. But what do I know.

[oh yes, there's more...]

Alternative Movie Poster

From here.

Asylum of the Daleks

Well, was it worth the wait? You bet. Assuming you've seen it (and what are you doing reading stuff like this is you haven't? Go away!! Now!), you'll be wondering about the significance of events. Some random and rambling thoughts... (well it would have been rude not to post something - I know, I've neglected you, but you know I will always be back! - and rambling is all I can manage at the moment!)

Yes, following on from last season, we have a Doctor that the known universe thinks dead, but not the Daleks, they're too clever for that. And Skaro is back. I never really liked the fact that Skaro was destroyed in the original series - and in such an arbitrary way. It just never sat well for me. So Moff doing a bit of re-writing here is not only welcome, but gives us something to look forward to - odds on a Skaro Dalek story coming soon?

And we have a new method of Dalek control over humans. Dead or alive. Cool. Typical Moff! And, biggest shock of all, a Parliament of the Daleks. Nice, if not odd, idea. Reminded me of the old TV21 comic series where we got the full impression of a Dalek society and empire, something never really achieved in the original series. And a prime minister, all naked and proud of his natural Dalek form. Good for him. My only criticism here was the 'rubberiness' of the mutant skin and the lack of moisture or slimy gunk to sort of bring him to life. But as we all know, that sort of stuff perishes rubber, and I guess they will be wanting to use this again before too long!

The our new toy Daleks luring around in the background - there's a whole chunck of Dalek sociology we need to get our heads round here - weren't the new toy Daleks supposed to be in charge?

OK, and what else do we have? Oh, I nearly forgot, lots of different Daleks, perhaps not all used to their best effect, although I thought they were magnificent just standing around. Love it. Eggs-cellent in fact.

Oh, and nearly forgot. Jenna-Louise Coleman. Wow. How on earth did they manage to keep that under wraps! What a magnetic performance! She is going to be absolutely knockout! Moff has given us a Victoria style background (kidnapped by the Daleks), turned it on its head, added a bit of Zoe, and made the perfect companion for his 'second' Doctor. Shame we have to deal with the Rory and Amy (eish, I nearly forgot her name there) soap opera for another few episodes!

And what a great twist at the end. I must admit I was expecting the poor lass to be wired up into the Dalek network or something, but what an evil twist of script-writing genius.

Now Jenna-Louise just shone with charisma, and dare we say it, oused with sex appeal. I remember a certain Karen Gillan claiming to be the sexiest Who companion ever, a claim I was unsure to myself (I like a feisty redhead, don't get me wrong, but...) Well someone's just been out done on the sexy score for sure. I bet it takes more than a couple of pints and a kebab on the way home to gain the attention of our young Jenna-Louise! (Saying that, I've never seen Emmerdale, so for all I know that's exactly what she's been doing all this time).

And how is she going to get written back into the series? We seemingly have an independent storyline for her - she arrives on the crashed ship and dies at the end (again typical Moff). So she's not been brought into contact with the Daleks by the Doctor himself (which would have been cool). But we know something has to happen, so can only guess the Doctor picks her up at an earlier stage in her life, and drops her off, knowing full well what has to happen (or, perhaps even more interestingly maybe he doesn't!). She must therefore know him... We're gonna end up watching Asylum in a whole new light soon!

Looks like she's going to be another strong, independent and intelligent female character. Yippee. I really think the world would be a better place if women ran everything. Would they let us destroy our home to satisfy greed? Nah. But anyway, I digress. (Although I am thinking of starting a Jenna-Louise Coleman for President of the world campaign. She's got my vote already.)

And what else happened? Well, the Daleks have forgotten who the Doctor is. Not sure I liked this but, but anyway. Bit by bit Moff is setting the stage and correcting all the elements of the shows story he doesn't like, getting ready for something epic. This man's got plans - big plans - I can only guess he's thinking at least a season or two ahead here... and I can only hope he stays around to make them happen - on the strength of this episode he's back on top form, and I must admit I was worried after the last series and xmas special.

But before we get carried away, let's steady our expectations, for we still have the traditionally (very) weak second and third stories of the season to deal with first... lets hope they are better than they sound...

Ah, yes, and Amy and Rory get dropped off back home again. Nice touch, but does mean they have to come up with another excuse to pull them all back together next week... another 5 mins of Pond life padding. Get ready for another rollercoaster beginning next week, where in the first five minutes the poor writer has to pull the all back together... Oh just hurry up and kill 'em off!

Return of the Zygons?

Doctor Who executive producer Caroline Skinner may have dropped a hint on one of the returning foes for Series 7.

As we've reported here, last year it was revealed that a couple of classic monsters from the 60′s and 70′s will be back.

In an interview with the producer, SFX asked if we might see the Zygons again and her answer was simple: “Wait and see.”

Skinner also teased that episode 1, written by Steven Moffat is, “going to blow everybody’s mind.”

She added that not all of Series 7′s scripts are written yet, “But we’ve got a lot of them and the ones that are written are really, really epic and very exciting.”

Source

Monster ruminations

The other day we looked at the (usual) pre-season rumours of returning monsters. We've been promised a couple of classic who monsters from the 60s and 70s, and as season 7 goes into production shortly, and in the absence of any solid info, we may as well waffle on a bit about stuff. I tend to avoid all the speculation and spoilers which do the rounds as the show starts filming and reports start accumulating on stories and scripts, but there's no harm in a bit of rumour rumination.

As we said, strories of Yeti have been doing the rounds, and whilst I'd welcome the Great Intelligence returning, I think the Yeti themselves are past their use-by date.

My personal favourites to return would be the Ice Warriors, but again their backstory is weak (like the cybermen they may need reinventing), and like the Silurians their name is somewhat problematic. Ice Warriors are called Ice Warriors because we first encountered them frozen in a lump if ice. It's not like thus is one if their favourite places to chillout. And whilst everybody loves a good old Ice Warrior, we like bad, untrust worthy ones even better. But the biggest problem for me is we've just had humanoid reptilian type monsters returning with the Silurians, so I doubt we'll get the Warriors just yet, or the Draconians, which is another monster race deserving of a revist, although their unfashionable future space opera type scenario makes these guys even more unlikely to reappear any time soon. And they're green.


That's where I think Zygon's get the nod. At least they're orange, which would compliment Silurian and (in time) 'Ice Warrior' green when we get a great big monster mash-up which will now doubt be next year (and I think maybe the end of Moff and Smith). Again I see a draw back in the limited plot options with the ugly orange buggers - they're just suckers for an alien invasion of Earth story, duplicates and all, and not much else. But that didn't stop the Nestine/Autons returning, and they suffer from the same problem (as if being specifically evolved to invade Earth during the age of plastic, as we may as well call it).


The BBC website has recently reintroduced the Rutans, and as we've already got the Sontarians, so their epic war is an area of classic Who which really could be explored. Perhaps a god season finalae? I think they should be blue though, not green. Or perhaps orange. And blue. Perhaps they should change colour with their mood like squid and octopusses, that would be cool.

And I did wonder about the spiders... I love that idea if them being on your back, an idea already recycled with Donna and those beetle things. Lots of potential there, and scary stuff. I must admit I dislike spiders myself, dispite being a bit of an ecologist and general wildlife lover, but last year got bitten by poisonous spiders (twice!) whilst out in Africa. Now my irrational fear has been intensified and I can't even look at a picture of the horrible eight legged creepy-crawly things without getting the fear. They must die. All of them. And given the Moff treatment they could really be scary. We like scary. And we love really scary. All good stuff to terrorise a new companion with...

Monster rumours....

Towards the end of last year, Who producer Marcus Wilson revealed that a couple of classic Doctor Who monsters from the 60s and 70s are set to reappear in Series 7...

“We’ve got a couple of returning monsters, some old fan favourites, but we’re going to move them on a bit,” Wilson was quoted in Doctor Who Magazine. “‘That’s how they were done in the 60s or 70s. Here’s what we can do with them now.’

“Kids these days are really good at spotting bad CGI or prosthetics, so we can’t do anything substandard. One flick of the remote and you go from Doctor Who to Harry Potter. We’ve got to compete at that level, on a hundredth of the budget.”

Wilson also spoke about the Daleks multicoloured misstep: “I don’t think any of us would say that the multicoloured Daleks quite worked, but you’ve got to try new things. If you just repeat and repeat the show is in danger of stagnating.”

The early word is that one of them is in fact the Yeti... again.

This is not the first time the monsters have been rumoured to return. Back in 2010, a piece of Yeti artwork from concept artist Peter Mckinstry spread the net with many believing it to be for the Christmas special. But it turned out this was actually for the Doctor Who DVD Files magazine.


It's fair to say that a lot of traditional Who fans would welcome this, but, how exactly do your bring back the Yeti? Bring back the Great Intelligence, which controlled the Yeti robots, by all means, but the form of the Yeti was adopted for the particular setting of their first story, the Himalayas. A follow up story based in London was nicely fitted in (with a reactivated Yeti robot kicking it all off), but let's be honest, surely if the Great Intelligence was to return, it would shape a new form to do it's dirty work? All that time floating about in space with no physical form, you're bound to come up with something better than giant fluffy robots... surely? I like the idea of some crazed religious TV preacher in the States (you know, like Tom Cruse) getting possessed and becoming the GI figurehead... so I guess we could have an army of Sasquatch... or giant fluffy robots.

Other monsters often rumoured to return? Zygons? I'd love to see the Zygons done again, and they do make a nice change (of colour). And considering their success as a monster, and that they only appeared in one original TV series, they did quite well (I can still remember them being on the back of my (sadly thrown away) Wheetabix packet). I say bring back both... but please, get someone good to write the stories!