Hello again. This will just be short. But I'd thought you'd enjoy this - an article in today's UK Daily Mirror newspaper which basically backs up most I have said and justifies my criticisms.
You can read the Daily Mirror article here.
See ya!
Tuesday 3 July 2007
Monday 2 July 2007
The Last Of The ... Quality Storylines (sorry Russell!)
First things first. I am very sorry that I have kept you good people waiting so long before giving you a new blog entry. I did mean to last week, really I did! But I had just a million other things to do and always got round to blog time at WAY after midnight. By which time I was asleep on the keyboard - which is possible better on a laptop than on a desktop, but there you go!
Right then. Yes, are you SURPRISED by my title today? Judging by the (rather weak) response to my most recent poll, 3 out of 5 of you were very excited to see The Master back in Doctor Who. Well, SO WAS I after the 'Utopia' episode given Derek Jacobi's superb performance in an absolutely THRILL-PACKED episode to rank with the very best this series AND THE LAST.
But as seems to happen on Doctor Who that we have these days, they put all the energy into the first part of the story then the second (and THIRD in this case) are a bit drab and a general let-down.
Yup, it was the same old story. But in fact it goes even further than that. I tell you this right now, I am just SO DISAPPOINTED with the BBC and feel SO LET-DOWN by the normally superb Russell T. Davies' storylines. Why?
Well, even after having watched it again today (which did actually settle SOME issues but not the most grievous ones), I still feel that I've watched a complete load of nonsense the like of which I have not seen since that "6th Sense" movie with Bruce Willis.
As I have said before, I really LOVE science fiction because it is the escape into a great world of imagination. But imagination is one thing. Another thing is to wrench into your head BEFORE it all begins that a whole load of stuff has happened between last week when you were there and right now when you're sitting down to watch the new one. yes, my friends, I am talking about this Miracle Year when Martha Jones, this medical student from London, has gone globe-trotting spreading the gospel of The Doctor and making sure that ALL those people, at 3 o'clock UK Time think the same thought at that same time and say out loud the word, "Doctor". Whoo Hoo!! So that's around 6 billion people - not necessarily individually, but anyway - who ALL have to be coordinated to do this ONE THING at this ONE TIME. Blimey! I mean, not even Bob Geldof could do THAT and he did many great things to Help The World in his time with charity work so far.
AH, but that's only the START of the silliness. Now The Doctor, as we know, is a pretty damn GREAT GUY and can do many marvellous things the like of which the human brain cannot even imagine. Let's look at how Wikipedia has described what happened:-
"She told everyone about the Doctor; specifically, she told everyone to think of the Doctor at the same time the Master plans to launch his fleet. Combined with the Master's Archangel satellite network, which the Doctor has had an entire year to get in tune with, this has the effect of charging the Doctor with the combined psychic energy of the people of Earth."
Are YOU psychic? Gee, I sure wish I WAS! Then I'd have known about all this before it even happened (WHOOAAHH!! There you are then!!).
But sorry, NO NO NO! As I understand it, the Archangel Network was a way that The Master could influence The People, ie, one way-traffic. And in addition, since he was dealing with the people of the Earth in what we can assume is present-day time, there is NO WAY people on Earth HAVE that ability to be psychic.
So WHAT IN HELL'S NAME did The Doctor actually tune his Antenna-Mind IN TO EXACTLY?? And anyway, WHATEVER that WAS, HOW THE HELL did it cause him to miraculously rejuvenate (ah no, NOT a regeneration this time but a different word!)? And HOW could such a rejuvenation make him pick up those 900 years that The Master had aged him by? And I DO remember The Master saying, before he aged him the second time, that he was about to reduce or hamper his capacity to regenerate (something like that, but it sounded like The Master was about to age The Doctor so much that he simply could NOT reverse it). So WHAT ABOUT THAT THEN?
Oh there's even more. During this Miracle Rejuvenation, The Master attempted two things. Firstly, he tried to shoot The Doctor with his Laser Screwdriver but failed because .... well, some kind of incredible force-field prevented the laser blast getting through. The Laser Screwdriver then fell or was knocked to the floor. But before The Master could pick it up, The Doctor "moved" it out of his reach by the power of some kind of telekinesis (ie, moving objects with the mind). Now WHEN has The Doctor ever had THAT power before? NEVER!
Oh, but The Doctor then flies across the room (OK, I'll let THAT one go!) and then goes to The Master (who is now cowering afraid on the floor). What does he say? "I Forgive You!".
Now excuse me here, but Russell T. Davies, YOU have just made The Doctor into a GOD!
The ninth Doctor, Christopher Eccleston, said in, "Boom Town", to Margaret Slitheen, "You wouldn't want to worship me, I'd make a very bad God". Seems like THAT reference was a literal one.
Can we now assume for the future that, basically, The Doctor is basically God fighting against - sorry, trying to SAVE - all that is BAD in the universe. But that couldn't market him this way, so, erm ....., let's make him look human and stick a bit ofd regeneration on top just to keep it interesting and make him a Little Bit Mortal.
Well, he did encounter The Devil on 'The Impossible Planet' together with The Ood! And BEAT him too (it seems). I guess that was a clue even then back in Series 2.
Oh dear!
You know, when I was watching this episode, I was even prepared to let go this thing of Martha travelling the world preaching The Gospel According To The Doctor. It was all fine, and the episode was going on until Martha's capture by The Master. I looked at my watch and thought, "Oh! There's less than 15 minutes to go! The whole thing, this whole Master and Toclafane and Planet Earth Wasteland thing is all going to be resolved and sorted out in UNDER 15 minutes - most likely 10 minutes to allow for goodbyes and that." It was at THAT moment that I knew it was all going a bit silly.
Anyway, back we go! OK, The Master is on the floor, The Doctor forgives him and then WHOOPS! They teleport together to The Earth below. OK, nice fight scene coming up, I thought. NO! the Master brandishes his Black Hole Creator (or whatever it was) and threatens to destroy his fleet by activating it to have millions of rockets and millions of Black Holes sucking The Earth in to destruction. The Doctor replies that he would only destroy himself doing that and persuades the handover - EASILY DONE! Well, it would destroy The Doctor too! Didn't The Master think of THAT? Should have made him do it! But no.
Back up to the ship and Jack arrives after having successfully blasted his way through and into the Tardis to destroy the Paradox Machine that The Master had created. All done WITH EASE!!?? Ah, but now let's see what Wikipedia says about it:-
"When destroyed, it has the effect of reversing time up to the point immediately before it was originally activated. However those in proximity to the device are immune to this effect by virtue of being in the "eye of the storm"."
Another amazing fact just THRUST upon us! Well, how LUCKY we are that this happens! Three Cheers for the Paradox Machine! Hip Hip Hooray etc.
So Time Is In Reverse. And back we go to just after the moment when the President of the USA is killed. WHO BY? No Toclafane, sorry, they're all back at the other end of the universe - so The Doctor kindly informs us. So .... Who Shot The President? Another fact just brushed over and ignored. Anyway, the President couldn't have been shot, could he? Why? Because it happened inside the ship! So his assassination actually DID HAPPEN somewhere else done by someone else. EH???
Complete insanity all round.
OK, that all over, relative normality is restored when Jack arrives to stop The Master's escape and handcuffs him. Francine Jones fails to shoot him and drops the gun. Then The Doctor says The Master is his responsibility and intends to keep him in the Tardis. THAT would have made a good future story possibility, but NO! A gunshot from Lucy Saxon, and The Master falls dead in The Doctor's arms. What's more, he refuses to regenerate saying he'd rather die then be a prisoner forever.
Good moment, except for one thing. The Master is DEAD (maybe)! After all the effort of Russell T. and co. to bring him back and after all that on Doctor Who Confidential telling us how they'd always planned it and wanted it, NOW all that is .... wasted! And ANOTHER future storyline and credible Bad Guy goes down the pan.
But I do remember the Female Hand With Red Nail Varnish taking The Master's signet ring from the funeral pyre with Background Laughter. A rather old-looking hand - seemed too old to be that of Lucy Saxon, but she was so obviously wearing red that you have to assume it was her. Perhaps she too is a Time-Lord-Made-Human. Russell T. joked about this hand being "the Hand Of The Rani" ....
So by the time we get to the very end of this episode and series we have lost a total of one Doctor, three companions, all the Cybermen, all but one Dalek, and the poor old Doctor is alone again! Back we go to the very beginning. Well, except for a rude interruption from a Very Large Ship (is Kylie on there or not?).
Hold on, hold on, I'm not finished there. We had the final revelation to really nail the coffin lid right down on any possible Shred Of Plausibility that might have been left in this episode. Once again, Wikipedia tells the story:-
"Thinking about what he might look like millions of years from now, Jack turns this thought into a story about how when he was "the first person from the Boeshane Peninsula to join the Time Agency", his good looks earned him the name "the Face of Boe"."
Words fail me ....
When Russell T. Davies said that the Face Of Boe was, "not out of it yet", I in my naivety thought of something far more meaty for this series end. Yeah, my end was that the Face Of Boe was The Master's father / adopted father / mentor and would appear to him Star-Wars-Yoda style to tell him off or something. I reckon I should go away and develop my ending more - much better and more interesting that the RTD one. Captain Jack the Face Of Boe?? What the hell is going on here?
If a Doctor Who two-parter is a let-down in the second of the episodes, what can a three-parter be? A let-down AND a mickey-take (sorry, that's a British expression meaning "to make fun of"). So please PLEASE NO MORE THREE-PART DOCTOR WHO STORIES. Pretty please!
And this is turning into a consistent fault in Doctor Who. Good endings - especially with two-parters. Sort it out guys!
OK, this has been one great big long RANT! And deservedly so. If I had written about, "The Sound Of Drums", it would have sounded better. Except for the way that The Doctor, Martha and Jack escaped the Future Kind. Kind of obvious, but a bit lame I thought.
Yes, I knew those poor Year-10-Trillion humans wouldn't make it. Not quite clear how The Master butchered them all and turned them into Toclafane but I'll let that pass too.
The END of Doctor Who then! What on EARTH will I do on a Saturday night at 7 o'clock? An awful long wait to Christmas!!
By the way, it may be the end of Doctor Who Series 3 but it isn't the end of this blog. I have been watching, and hope to watch more, of what they are now calling the Classic Series. Oh, I've seen some CLASSICS I can tell you. But more next time. Am hoping to watch some Patrick Troughton if possible - it's the FACES he makes that do it for me. FANTASTIC!!
Right then. Yes, are you SURPRISED by my title today? Judging by the (rather weak) response to my most recent poll, 3 out of 5 of you were very excited to see The Master back in Doctor Who. Well, SO WAS I after the 'Utopia' episode given Derek Jacobi's superb performance in an absolutely THRILL-PACKED episode to rank with the very best this series AND THE LAST.
But as seems to happen on Doctor Who that we have these days, they put all the energy into the first part of the story then the second (and THIRD in this case) are a bit drab and a general let-down.
Yup, it was the same old story. But in fact it goes even further than that. I tell you this right now, I am just SO DISAPPOINTED with the BBC and feel SO LET-DOWN by the normally superb Russell T. Davies' storylines. Why?
Well, even after having watched it again today (which did actually settle SOME issues but not the most grievous ones), I still feel that I've watched a complete load of nonsense the like of which I have not seen since that "6th Sense" movie with Bruce Willis.
As I have said before, I really LOVE science fiction because it is the escape into a great world of imagination. But imagination is one thing. Another thing is to wrench into your head BEFORE it all begins that a whole load of stuff has happened between last week when you were there and right now when you're sitting down to watch the new one. yes, my friends, I am talking about this Miracle Year when Martha Jones, this medical student from London, has gone globe-trotting spreading the gospel of The Doctor and making sure that ALL those people, at 3 o'clock UK Time think the same thought at that same time and say out loud the word, "Doctor". Whoo Hoo!! So that's around 6 billion people - not necessarily individually, but anyway - who ALL have to be coordinated to do this ONE THING at this ONE TIME. Blimey! I mean, not even Bob Geldof could do THAT and he did many great things to Help The World in his time with charity work so far.
AH, but that's only the START of the silliness. Now The Doctor, as we know, is a pretty damn GREAT GUY and can do many marvellous things the like of which the human brain cannot even imagine. Let's look at how Wikipedia has described what happened:-
"She told everyone about the Doctor; specifically, she told everyone to think of the Doctor at the same time the Master plans to launch his fleet. Combined with the Master's Archangel satellite network, which the Doctor has had an entire year to get in tune with, this has the effect of charging the Doctor with the combined psychic energy of the people of Earth."
Are YOU psychic? Gee, I sure wish I WAS! Then I'd have known about all this before it even happened (WHOOAAHH!! There you are then!!).
But sorry, NO NO NO! As I understand it, the Archangel Network was a way that The Master could influence The People, ie, one way-traffic. And in addition, since he was dealing with the people of the Earth in what we can assume is present-day time, there is NO WAY people on Earth HAVE that ability to be psychic.
So WHAT IN HELL'S NAME did The Doctor actually tune his Antenna-Mind IN TO EXACTLY?? And anyway, WHATEVER that WAS, HOW THE HELL did it cause him to miraculously rejuvenate (ah no, NOT a regeneration this time but a different word!)? And HOW could such a rejuvenation make him pick up those 900 years that The Master had aged him by? And I DO remember The Master saying, before he aged him the second time, that he was about to reduce or hamper his capacity to regenerate (something like that, but it sounded like The Master was about to age The Doctor so much that he simply could NOT reverse it). So WHAT ABOUT THAT THEN?
Oh there's even more. During this Miracle Rejuvenation, The Master attempted two things. Firstly, he tried to shoot The Doctor with his Laser Screwdriver but failed because .... well, some kind of incredible force-field prevented the laser blast getting through. The Laser Screwdriver then fell or was knocked to the floor. But before The Master could pick it up, The Doctor "moved" it out of his reach by the power of some kind of telekinesis (ie, moving objects with the mind). Now WHEN has The Doctor ever had THAT power before? NEVER!
Oh, but The Doctor then flies across the room (OK, I'll let THAT one go!) and then goes to The Master (who is now cowering afraid on the floor). What does he say? "I Forgive You!".
Now excuse me here, but Russell T. Davies, YOU have just made The Doctor into a GOD!
The ninth Doctor, Christopher Eccleston, said in, "Boom Town", to Margaret Slitheen, "You wouldn't want to worship me, I'd make a very bad God". Seems like THAT reference was a literal one.
Can we now assume for the future that, basically, The Doctor is basically God fighting against - sorry, trying to SAVE - all that is BAD in the universe. But that couldn't market him this way, so, erm ....., let's make him look human and stick a bit ofd regeneration on top just to keep it interesting and make him a Little Bit Mortal.
Well, he did encounter The Devil on 'The Impossible Planet' together with The Ood! And BEAT him too (it seems). I guess that was a clue even then back in Series 2.
Oh dear!
You know, when I was watching this episode, I was even prepared to let go this thing of Martha travelling the world preaching The Gospel According To The Doctor. It was all fine, and the episode was going on until Martha's capture by The Master. I looked at my watch and thought, "Oh! There's less than 15 minutes to go! The whole thing, this whole Master and Toclafane and Planet Earth Wasteland thing is all going to be resolved and sorted out in UNDER 15 minutes - most likely 10 minutes to allow for goodbyes and that." It was at THAT moment that I knew it was all going a bit silly.
Anyway, back we go! OK, The Master is on the floor, The Doctor forgives him and then WHOOPS! They teleport together to The Earth below. OK, nice fight scene coming up, I thought. NO! the Master brandishes his Black Hole Creator (or whatever it was) and threatens to destroy his fleet by activating it to have millions of rockets and millions of Black Holes sucking The Earth in to destruction. The Doctor replies that he would only destroy himself doing that and persuades the handover - EASILY DONE! Well, it would destroy The Doctor too! Didn't The Master think of THAT? Should have made him do it! But no.
Back up to the ship and Jack arrives after having successfully blasted his way through and into the Tardis to destroy the Paradox Machine that The Master had created. All done WITH EASE!!?? Ah, but now let's see what Wikipedia says about it:-
"When destroyed, it has the effect of reversing time up to the point immediately before it was originally activated. However those in proximity to the device are immune to this effect by virtue of being in the "eye of the storm"."
Another amazing fact just THRUST upon us! Well, how LUCKY we are that this happens! Three Cheers for the Paradox Machine! Hip Hip Hooray etc.
So Time Is In Reverse. And back we go to just after the moment when the President of the USA is killed. WHO BY? No Toclafane, sorry, they're all back at the other end of the universe - so The Doctor kindly informs us. So .... Who Shot The President? Another fact just brushed over and ignored. Anyway, the President couldn't have been shot, could he? Why? Because it happened inside the ship! So his assassination actually DID HAPPEN somewhere else done by someone else. EH???
Complete insanity all round.
OK, that all over, relative normality is restored when Jack arrives to stop The Master's escape and handcuffs him. Francine Jones fails to shoot him and drops the gun. Then The Doctor says The Master is his responsibility and intends to keep him in the Tardis. THAT would have made a good future story possibility, but NO! A gunshot from Lucy Saxon, and The Master falls dead in The Doctor's arms. What's more, he refuses to regenerate saying he'd rather die then be a prisoner forever.
Good moment, except for one thing. The Master is DEAD (maybe)! After all the effort of Russell T. and co. to bring him back and after all that on Doctor Who Confidential telling us how they'd always planned it and wanted it, NOW all that is .... wasted! And ANOTHER future storyline and credible Bad Guy goes down the pan.
But I do remember the Female Hand With Red Nail Varnish taking The Master's signet ring from the funeral pyre with Background Laughter. A rather old-looking hand - seemed too old to be that of Lucy Saxon, but she was so obviously wearing red that you have to assume it was her. Perhaps she too is a Time-Lord-Made-Human. Russell T. joked about this hand being "the Hand Of The Rani" ....
So by the time we get to the very end of this episode and series we have lost a total of one Doctor, three companions, all the Cybermen, all but one Dalek, and the poor old Doctor is alone again! Back we go to the very beginning. Well, except for a rude interruption from a Very Large Ship (is Kylie on there or not?).
Hold on, hold on, I'm not finished there. We had the final revelation to really nail the coffin lid right down on any possible Shred Of Plausibility that might have been left in this episode. Once again, Wikipedia tells the story:-
"Thinking about what he might look like millions of years from now, Jack turns this thought into a story about how when he was "the first person from the Boeshane Peninsula to join the Time Agency", his good looks earned him the name "the Face of Boe"."
Words fail me ....
When Russell T. Davies said that the Face Of Boe was, "not out of it yet", I in my naivety thought of something far more meaty for this series end. Yeah, my end was that the Face Of Boe was The Master's father / adopted father / mentor and would appear to him Star-Wars-Yoda style to tell him off or something. I reckon I should go away and develop my ending more - much better and more interesting that the RTD one. Captain Jack the Face Of Boe?? What the hell is going on here?
If a Doctor Who two-parter is a let-down in the second of the episodes, what can a three-parter be? A let-down AND a mickey-take (sorry, that's a British expression meaning "to make fun of"). So please PLEASE NO MORE THREE-PART DOCTOR WHO STORIES. Pretty please!
And this is turning into a consistent fault in Doctor Who. Good endings - especially with two-parters. Sort it out guys!
OK, this has been one great big long RANT! And deservedly so. If I had written about, "The Sound Of Drums", it would have sounded better. Except for the way that The Doctor, Martha and Jack escaped the Future Kind. Kind of obvious, but a bit lame I thought.
Yes, I knew those poor Year-10-Trillion humans wouldn't make it. Not quite clear how The Master butchered them all and turned them into Toclafane but I'll let that pass too.
The END of Doctor Who then! What on EARTH will I do on a Saturday night at 7 o'clock? An awful long wait to Christmas!!
By the way, it may be the end of Doctor Who Series 3 but it isn't the end of this blog. I have been watching, and hope to watch more, of what they are now calling the Classic Series. Oh, I've seen some CLASSICS I can tell you. But more next time. Am hoping to watch some Patrick Troughton if possible - it's the FACES he makes that do it for me. FANTASTIC!!
Saturday 16 June 2007
The Sound Of Drums is in my Head. Off to Utopia then ....
OK, now I'm here writing this a little earlier than I wanted to be. But I am totally thrilled and at the same time a little dulled with predictability that The Master is back in Doctor Who.
Yeah yeah, we knew it was coming. Right from February this year, 2007 when it was reported in British Sunday newspaper, 'The Independent On Sunday' (11th February issue) that John Simm WAS to play the role. And since that time the speculators had been going into overdrive as to how the role would manifest itself. But even then all we knew was that he would be playing the role of Harold Saxon, politician.
The first time we heard of Mr Saxon was, of course, the Christmas episode 2006, 'The Runaway Bride' when, "under orders from Mr Saxon", the army opened fire on and destroyed the Racnoss ship bringing it down and destroying it. Why did he do that? Will we find out why? That is unknown at this point.
From then, Mr Saxon has been one of those recurring themes that we have had through Series 3. In Episode 1, "Smith And Jones", there were election posters with his name on in the background in the final scenes when Martha enters the Tardis. "The Lazarus Experiment", of course, had us seeing him direct for the first time as both the sponsor of the main event and as the Mysterious Man warning Martha's mother of the 'dangers' of The Doctor. A telephone call to find the answer to one of the door unlocking questions in "42" was next, and also at the end of that episode we saw Martha's mother again under the watchful eye of Mr Saxon's associates while they tried to get a trace on his location. Another little break, and now HERE HE IS!
Or rather there he will be and was. Because he was The Professor in the laboratory at the end of the universe trying to get the rocket working to save the remains of humanity from the vampire Future Kind, and it seemed to be a success (but WHERE will those humans end up?). Not sure where saving those humans fits in with anything and not sure HOW he ended up here either.
BUT it was all unfolding VERY nicely indeed. The Face Of Boe's prophecy, "You Are Not Alone". OK, yet again it was obvious in the end who THAT was about. But there's more. The Derek Jacobi 'Master' said that he had been found abandoned as an orphan boy in the Silver Devastation. Guess what! THIS is the VERY SAME place in the universe where The Face Of Boe is supposed to be from!!
So what do we get from this? Hmm, now we are speculating again. The Face Of Boe brought him up as a child? The face Of Boe knew who he was and so sent him to the last possible place in the universe where he knew (or THOUGHT) he could not get away from? And before doing that he would have had to put him through the Chameleon Arch process as The Doctor went through a few episodes back. Hmm again.
What about the Time War? And how did The Master escape from The Eye Of Harmony where he had been sucked into last time we saw him with Paul McGann in the 1996 TV movie. What I think is this: during the Time War he was able to escape The Eye Of Harmony which was probably severely weakened by the Dalek force and their attack. He had not been killed by The Eye - just kept prisoner forever (or so it seemed).
And what we have now is a three-parter to end Series 3. Oh, THAT MAN Russell T. Davies does it again. You know what? Wikipedia has had Utopia listed apart from the other episodes since they began and no-one had a SINGLE CLUE that it would end up like this. Those cunning people at the BBC kept it from us so as not to give away the Final Secret.
Just like I said last time. The low point of Series 3 has passed away some time ago and now we are peaking, Peaking, PEAKING!!!!! TOTALLY AND UTTERLY FANTASTIC STUFF!!! And 100 percent gripping until the end in two weeks time.
The End?? Can it be true? No, I must be mistaken. Yup, only TWO MORE EPISODES TO GO and then that's it until Christmas! Darn, I wish I had a Tardis myself to go forward to then.
But before I do that, I simply HAVE TO get myself a copy somewhere of that 1996 Doctor Who TV Movie. All I've seen is the McCoy-to-McGan regeneration sequence. And the photo on Wikipedia of them battling it out over The Eye. GOT TO GET IT!!!
And to end with, an admission. Those of you who visit my blog more than once (and I KNOW there ARE some out there) will notice that yesterday's survey has been quickly and miraculously replaced by a new (and rather hastily conceived idea for) one. Well, you know, I thought that previous survey was actually a good 'un and I really didn't imagine that we would find out THIS WEEK that Mr Saxon was who we supposed him to be. Not sure that I like the new poll I've done, so if I think of a new and better one I'll get it in there.
Yeah yeah, we knew it was coming. Right from February this year, 2007 when it was reported in British Sunday newspaper, 'The Independent On Sunday' (11th February issue) that John Simm WAS to play the role. And since that time the speculators had been going into overdrive as to how the role would manifest itself. But even then all we knew was that he would be playing the role of Harold Saxon, politician.
The first time we heard of Mr Saxon was, of course, the Christmas episode 2006, 'The Runaway Bride' when, "under orders from Mr Saxon", the army opened fire on and destroyed the Racnoss ship bringing it down and destroying it. Why did he do that? Will we find out why? That is unknown at this point.
From then, Mr Saxon has been one of those recurring themes that we have had through Series 3. In Episode 1, "Smith And Jones", there were election posters with his name on in the background in the final scenes when Martha enters the Tardis. "The Lazarus Experiment", of course, had us seeing him direct for the first time as both the sponsor of the main event and as the Mysterious Man warning Martha's mother of the 'dangers' of The Doctor. A telephone call to find the answer to one of the door unlocking questions in "42" was next, and also at the end of that episode we saw Martha's mother again under the watchful eye of Mr Saxon's associates while they tried to get a trace on his location. Another little break, and now HERE HE IS!
Or rather there he will be and was. Because he was The Professor in the laboratory at the end of the universe trying to get the rocket working to save the remains of humanity from the vampire Future Kind, and it seemed to be a success (but WHERE will those humans end up?). Not sure where saving those humans fits in with anything and not sure HOW he ended up here either.
BUT it was all unfolding VERY nicely indeed. The Face Of Boe's prophecy, "You Are Not Alone". OK, yet again it was obvious in the end who THAT was about. But there's more. The Derek Jacobi 'Master' said that he had been found abandoned as an orphan boy in the Silver Devastation. Guess what! THIS is the VERY SAME place in the universe where The Face Of Boe is supposed to be from!!
So what do we get from this? Hmm, now we are speculating again. The Face Of Boe brought him up as a child? The face Of Boe knew who he was and so sent him to the last possible place in the universe where he knew (or THOUGHT) he could not get away from? And before doing that he would have had to put him through the Chameleon Arch process as The Doctor went through a few episodes back. Hmm again.
What about the Time War? And how did The Master escape from The Eye Of Harmony where he had been sucked into last time we saw him with Paul McGann in the 1996 TV movie. What I think is this: during the Time War he was able to escape The Eye Of Harmony which was probably severely weakened by the Dalek force and their attack. He had not been killed by The Eye - just kept prisoner forever (or so it seemed).
And what we have now is a three-parter to end Series 3. Oh, THAT MAN Russell T. Davies does it again. You know what? Wikipedia has had Utopia listed apart from the other episodes since they began and no-one had a SINGLE CLUE that it would end up like this. Those cunning people at the BBC kept it from us so as not to give away the Final Secret.
Just like I said last time. The low point of Series 3 has passed away some time ago and now we are peaking, Peaking, PEAKING!!!!! TOTALLY AND UTTERLY FANTASTIC STUFF!!! And 100 percent gripping until the end in two weeks time.
The End?? Can it be true? No, I must be mistaken. Yup, only TWO MORE EPISODES TO GO and then that's it until Christmas! Darn, I wish I had a Tardis myself to go forward to then.
But before I do that, I simply HAVE TO get myself a copy somewhere of that 1996 Doctor Who TV Movie. All I've seen is the McCoy-to-McGan regeneration sequence. And the photo on Wikipedia of them battling it out over The Eye. GOT TO GET IT!!!
And to end with, an admission. Those of you who visit my blog more than once (and I KNOW there ARE some out there) will notice that yesterday's survey has been quickly and miraculously replaced by a new (and rather hastily conceived idea for) one. Well, you know, I thought that previous survey was actually a good 'un and I really didn't imagine that we would find out THIS WEEK that Mr Saxon was who we supposed him to be. Not sure that I like the new poll I've done, so if I think of a new and better one I'll get it in there.
Friday 15 June 2007
The ten regenerations of Doctor Who from William Hartnell to David Tennant
Hello again. Two blogs in two days - must be a record. Anyway I came across this regeneration sequence of videos on YouTube today and thought you'd all like to see it. We go all the way - William Hartnell to Patrick troughton to Jon Pertwee to Tom Baker to Peter Davison to Colin Baker to Sylvester McCoy to Paul McGann to Christopher Eccleston to David Tennant.
ENJOY! So which one was your favourite regeneration sequence then? Mine definitely (despite losing the great man) was from Tom Baker to Peter Davison (even though it was the beginning of the downfall of the series).
ENJOY! So which one was your favourite regeneration sequence then? Mine definitely (despite losing the great man) was from Tom Baker to Peter Davison (even though it was the beginning of the downfall of the series).
Thursday 14 June 2007
Don't Blink, Don't Turn Your Back or you'll miss this Blog!
Hold on a mo though. Just before I get into this one I want to put right something that was maybe a little cloudy last week. And that is this: I really DID like the two-part story "Human Nature / Family Of Blood". Probably the best of Series 3 so far. And the character of Jeremy Baines was BRILLIANTLY done. So although I had my criticisms of the second of the parts, the story as a whole stands up to anything else over this series. And the last series, and even Series 1.
There, that's put the record straight.
A Doctor-light episode .... Last time they said that we had the biggest and most complete load of DROSS OF ALL TIME with 'Love And Monsters' featuring the Abzorbaloff. When I saw they were doing ANOTHER one I froze with horror.
Ah, but THIS one was written by one of my favourite Dr Who writers, Steven Moffat. He is the man responsible for possibly my favourite story of Series 1 - 'The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances'. And he has a forthcoming BBC serial update of Jekyll And Hyde to be shown later this year. So he is GOOD!!
Before transmission of this story, we were, as ever, promised the world. Promised a monster that would make us jump - REALLY jump! A real behind-the-sofa Doctor Who monster of old! I tell you what - they certainly got the hype machine going for THIS one!
Oh, but it WAS good. And it DID make me JUMP even especially in that sequence towards the end when Larry Nightingale is left staring his heart out at the advancing Weeping Angel which gets oh-so-much-closer every time he takes his eyes off it, and it gets to within inches of his face with teeth and claws showing for all at home to see.
GREAT STUFF! And it really DIDN'T matter that The Doctor wasn't much in it this time. I guess they learnt from last time to involve him just a little more. Or was it all really EXACTLY like last time with the Abzorbaloff and I just didn't notice this time round? Not sure.
And it was such a clever idea for a story too. Most of it anyway. The idea, as The Doctor put it, that Time Is Not A Linear Progression But Is More Of Wibbly-Wobby Timey-Wimey Kind Of Stuff gave us the basis perhaps. It was one of those story lines that leaves you with a LOAD of, "How Did They ....?", or, "How Could He .... If ....?", kind of questions. Keeps you talking and thinking about it all evening and even all night. A similar thing happened to me when I watched two other - completely unrelated - films: "Total Recall" and "The Talented Mr Ripley". The kind of plots where after you've watched them fill you with so many unanswered questions, Why's and Who-Was's and How-Could's that you just HAVE TO sit back and admire just how good those writers are.
At first I didn't get why Kathy Nightingale was transported back to the past and then later why Billy Shipton was too. If they were not dead then was the story of how they would return to the present, I wondered. Ah, but on second viewing I quickly realised what was going on. Oh, darn - there I go analyzing again! Bloody adult mind that I have!!
And I certainly didn't understand why the Weeping Angels suddenly started coming after them. But it was THE KEY, stupid!! Yes, of COURSE it was!
And then the Grand Finale - the final chase of Sparrow and Nightingale through the building, through the car park, into the Tardis (and HOW could those mere HUMANS get IN THERE?? ANYTHING could have happened!!). That was then followed by the final sequence in the shop where Sally Sparrow sees The Doctor get out of a .... TAXI!! .... and then rushes out to give them all the scripts and other stuff that they would need ..... kind of ..... later .... or is it earlier? No LATER definitely because they said so.
Yes, we've definitely passed that middle-dip in the series and all the naff episodes are out the way now. Good Bye 'Shakespeare Code'! Good Bye '42'! And next week we hold onto our seats again for what the pre-episode promos call "A Pivotal Doctor Who Moment", featuring Captain Jack's return and Derek Jacobi as .... The Professor ....
Feeling a bit low myself for a moment here. Do you realise out there that in ONLY THREE WEEKS TIME it'll be the end of Doctor Who until .... well, CHRISTMAS I suppose!! WAAGGHH!! WHAT the hell are we gonna do every Saturday evening at 7 o'clock?
So until That Pivotal Moment comes I will wish you goodbye.
Now, next time I write, it'll be about some really great Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker stories I've been watching recently. And not-so good Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker stories too. But not at the same time! See ya!!
There, that's put the record straight.
A Doctor-light episode .... Last time they said that we had the biggest and most complete load of DROSS OF ALL TIME with 'Love And Monsters' featuring the Abzorbaloff. When I saw they were doing ANOTHER one I froze with horror.
Ah, but THIS one was written by one of my favourite Dr Who writers, Steven Moffat. He is the man responsible for possibly my favourite story of Series 1 - 'The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances'. And he has a forthcoming BBC serial update of Jekyll And Hyde to be shown later this year. So he is GOOD!!
Before transmission of this story, we were, as ever, promised the world. Promised a monster that would make us jump - REALLY jump! A real behind-the-sofa Doctor Who monster of old! I tell you what - they certainly got the hype machine going for THIS one!
Oh, but it WAS good. And it DID make me JUMP even especially in that sequence towards the end when Larry Nightingale is left staring his heart out at the advancing Weeping Angel which gets oh-so-much-closer every time he takes his eyes off it, and it gets to within inches of his face with teeth and claws showing for all at home to see.
GREAT STUFF! And it really DIDN'T matter that The Doctor wasn't much in it this time. I guess they learnt from last time to involve him just a little more. Or was it all really EXACTLY like last time with the Abzorbaloff and I just didn't notice this time round? Not sure.
And it was such a clever idea for a story too. Most of it anyway. The idea, as The Doctor put it, that Time Is Not A Linear Progression But Is More Of Wibbly-Wobby Timey-Wimey Kind Of Stuff gave us the basis perhaps. It was one of those story lines that leaves you with a LOAD of, "How Did They ....?", or, "How Could He .... If ....?", kind of questions. Keeps you talking and thinking about it all evening and even all night. A similar thing happened to me when I watched two other - completely unrelated - films: "Total Recall" and "The Talented Mr Ripley". The kind of plots where after you've watched them fill you with so many unanswered questions, Why's and Who-Was's and How-Could's that you just HAVE TO sit back and admire just how good those writers are.
At first I didn't get why Kathy Nightingale was transported back to the past and then later why Billy Shipton was too. If they were not dead then was the story of how they would return to the present, I wondered. Ah, but on second viewing I quickly realised what was going on. Oh, darn - there I go analyzing again! Bloody adult mind that I have!!
And I certainly didn't understand why the Weeping Angels suddenly started coming after them. But it was THE KEY, stupid!! Yes, of COURSE it was!
And then the Grand Finale - the final chase of Sparrow and Nightingale through the building, through the car park, into the Tardis (and HOW could those mere HUMANS get IN THERE?? ANYTHING could have happened!!). That was then followed by the final sequence in the shop where Sally Sparrow sees The Doctor get out of a .... TAXI!! .... and then rushes out to give them all the scripts and other stuff that they would need ..... kind of ..... later .... or is it earlier? No LATER definitely because they said so.
Yes, we've definitely passed that middle-dip in the series and all the naff episodes are out the way now. Good Bye 'Shakespeare Code'! Good Bye '42'! And next week we hold onto our seats again for what the pre-episode promos call "A Pivotal Doctor Who Moment", featuring Captain Jack's return and Derek Jacobi as .... The Professor ....
Feeling a bit low myself for a moment here. Do you realise out there that in ONLY THREE WEEKS TIME it'll be the end of Doctor Who until .... well, CHRISTMAS I suppose!! WAAGGHH!! WHAT the hell are we gonna do every Saturday evening at 7 o'clock?
So until That Pivotal Moment comes I will wish you goodbye.
Now, next time I write, it'll be about some really great Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker stories I've been watching recently. And not-so good Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker stories too. But not at the same time! See ya!!
Monday 4 June 2007
"You Wouldn't Want To Worship Me. I'd Make A Very Bad God"
So said the Ninth Doctor, Christopher Eccleston, to Margaret Slitheen when, on entering the Tardis she was in awe of the whole thing and how wonderful it was. Well, now we are starting to know what he meant.
A slightly bizarre ending to "The Family Of Blood", and a very dark one too. I think I remember reading somewhere that another rumour on The-Master-Or-Not ending was that Mr Saxon would actually turn out NOT to be The Master but some kind of Really-Bad-Guy future incarnation of The Doctor of way into the future. This may well prove to be right based on what we saw in this two-part story.
But it's just a little tricky to get your head around it all. So here goes: The Doctor and Martha at the start are apparently escaping from The Family Of Blood as we see a laser shot. The Doctor sees they can follow him anywhere through time and space so feels it might be better to hide somewhere as a human because that way they could not trace him. He hopes too that they did not see Martha's face. This is what we saw in the "Human Nature" episode, and you would be quite sensible to conclude that this was some kind of rare enemy that The Doctor really WAS afraid of. Even more scary than the Daleks and Cybermen - those two must be like wimps in comparison to the mighty FAMILY! So this is what we take through episode 8 until the conclusion of that where they find him - the Human 'him' that is.
Through we go then to the "Family Of Blood" episode where the Quest For The Watch is on. We assume, and are made to believe, that if John Smith can find the watch before The Family then he can turn back into The Doctor (and miraculously regain his internal biology!). He can then know what to do, will not be afraid any more of this previously terrifying enemy (whose fear factor will have miraculously gone for him), and can then fight them all off and Save The Day Once More (Hurrah Hurrah!)
Ah, but no. It's all turned on its head! Turns out that the reason The Doctor wanted to hide is that he wanted to spare The Family their Ultimate Punishment (which they all got in the end anyway!). He wanted to show them mercy by pretending he had disappeared and so they would, in the end, just die off "like mayflies" with Punishment Not Administered. Kind of like dying of Old Age when on Death Row I suppose.
Well, I think I've analysed it enough from An Adult Point Of View which of course is completely wrong in a programme made for children (Gee, we adults spoil the whole thing, eh!).
While watching "The Family Of Blood" on Saturday night I found myself thinking two things. Firstly, that this was yet another two-parter where the second of the two parts was something of a let-down when compared to the first part. They've all been that way actually right back to Eccleston days. Part 1 full of great things, Part 2 The Doctor cleans up and makes the drama of Part 1 look like it needn't have happened. Secondly, what a rather LAME ending it WAS! I mean, The Doctor tricks The Family pretending he's still John Smith gives them the Fake Watch then falls around the place pressing a few buttons, they then fall for this little charade and the end result of this is that something that could have been done by anyone at any time happens and End-Of-Story. I mean, come ON! If all it takes to blow up a ship like that is to press a few buttons In The Wrong Way, then it ain't much of a ship, IS IT? And I think we deserved a better ending than THAT!!
Speaking of Lame Endings, it gets me thinking of previous two-parters and how they ended in comparison to this:-
DALEKS IN MANHATTAN / EVOLUTION OF THE DALEKS --> This actually wasn't a bad ending at all except that by rights The Doctor should have been dead with such a huge bolt of lightning going all the way through his body from SUCH a big storm as we were told it was
ARMY OF GHOSTS / DOOMSDAY (Series 2) --> Utterly superb of course since it was the end of Series 2 and the dramatic departure of Rose. But since it WAS the end-of-series, you would expect it to be good!
IMPOSSIBLE PLANET / SATAN PIT (Series 2) --> Many people criticised this story, but I really loved it as a whole. But it has to be said that it made NO SENSE AT ALL that Rose could shoot out the window of the rocket with a bolt gun and not have the WHOLE CREW sucked out together. Seat belts holding them in? Yeah, right, and isn't space a .... VACUUM??!!
RISE OF THE CYBERMEN / AGE OF STEEL (Series 2) --> Got to be one of the dumbest endings of a Doctor Who story, as good as the rest of the story was up until that ending. OK, Mickey hacks the computer, gets the code 'somehow' (was the Binary 9 enough of a clue?), sends it to Rose's phone, The Doctor then conveniently has a point to plunge Rose's phone into (remember, an ORDINARY MOBILE PHONE!), sticks it in there and hey presto he causes chaos with the Cybermen. And blows up the factory too while we're at it. Talk about something outta nothing!! And a stupid ending to an otherwise great story.
BAD WOLF / PARTING OF THE WAYS (Series 1) --> Was again full of drama being the end of the series and end of Doctor Who #9. Rose, Mickey and the car breakdown crane yank open the Tardis's innards (the time vortex) which then goes into Rose's mind and makes her some kind of Mega-God-Of-Time and able to do what she wants - killing, turning to dust, bringing back to life etc. Did I like that one? Yes and no. It provided the way forward for the regeneration though in a somewhat bizarre way, and wouldn't the time vortex have fried Rose's brain a whole lot sooner? I mean, if it made the Doc do a regen so quickly then why was Rose virtually unhurt? Ah, because The Doctor sucked it all out! Hmm .... OK then.
EMPTY CHILD / DOCTOR DANCES --> One of my real favourites over these three series. And yes, I even liked the ending. Yes, it is plausible that these nanogenes could, intelligent as they were, recognise the parent DNA and change all things back and then the newly-enlightened nanogenes could certainly then put the rest of the gasmask-people back to normal. So that was a good story. BUT I'm not sure about how ol' Captain Jack managed to hook up with the Tardis and escape just before his ship exploded. Well, a small thing and I won't worry too much about it. It just DID, alright?
ALIENS OF LONDON / WORLD WAR THREE --> The Slitheens went from being big and fearsome in part one to floppy and just a bit pathetic in part 2. Fine when they were done in CGI, silly otherwise. Their hands were just too darn BIG! And OK, so Mickey and The Doc hacked their way into the Royal Navy computer to launch the missile and somehow managed to stop it getting intercepted. Gee, that Mickey sure learns fast! I mean, just HOW DID HE stop it being intercepted. Again, a small detail. I don't know if I'd be that scared of a Slitheen - big pot-bellies, oversized ridiculous hands that you could probably pull off if you tugged hard enough and slow-moving (but NOT so slow in CGI!!). So a good part two? Yes, but a little too condensed for my liking.
So if you look at these opinions of mine you can probably see a trend forming. Two-part Doctor Who stories are kind of running out of steam. They could probably fit a whole two-parter into one whole hour I reckon. That was another thing I was thinking on Saturday night - how it was really a one-and-a-half-parter.
Back to the present then. So we've seen a darker side to Doctor Who that will, no doubt, climax in the end of the Series in some way. Now I'm not so sure that Mr Saxon IS The Master after all but is some kind of evil alter-ego which has found its way back to meet The Doctor in present time to confront him to stop him in his tracks. A bit like that if Mr Saxon won, there would ne no chance he could be stopped in the future. OR, in a Terminator kind of way, he has come from the future to prevent the future from happening (if you see what I mean).
Next week is one of those Doctor-light episodes so I don't think I'll bother writing about that. But surely I'll come up with something to entertain you (and myself) with!
Before I sign off, I want to say just HOW GOOD WAS THE CHARACTER OF JEREMY BAINES!! A really SUPERB PERFORMANCE by the actor involved, Harry Lloyd! Oh, and I discovered, to my amusement, that the girl who played the character of the Daughter Of Mine (red balloon girl) is in fact a Canadian ice skater!
See ya next time then, Time Lords!
A slightly bizarre ending to "The Family Of Blood", and a very dark one too. I think I remember reading somewhere that another rumour on The-Master-Or-Not ending was that Mr Saxon would actually turn out NOT to be The Master but some kind of Really-Bad-Guy future incarnation of The Doctor of way into the future. This may well prove to be right based on what we saw in this two-part story.
But it's just a little tricky to get your head around it all. So here goes: The Doctor and Martha at the start are apparently escaping from The Family Of Blood as we see a laser shot. The Doctor sees they can follow him anywhere through time and space so feels it might be better to hide somewhere as a human because that way they could not trace him. He hopes too that they did not see Martha's face. This is what we saw in the "Human Nature" episode, and you would be quite sensible to conclude that this was some kind of rare enemy that The Doctor really WAS afraid of. Even more scary than the Daleks and Cybermen - those two must be like wimps in comparison to the mighty FAMILY! So this is what we take through episode 8 until the conclusion of that where they find him - the Human 'him' that is.
Through we go then to the "Family Of Blood" episode where the Quest For The Watch is on. We assume, and are made to believe, that if John Smith can find the watch before The Family then he can turn back into The Doctor (and miraculously regain his internal biology!). He can then know what to do, will not be afraid any more of this previously terrifying enemy (whose fear factor will have miraculously gone for him), and can then fight them all off and Save The Day Once More (Hurrah Hurrah!)
Ah, but no. It's all turned on its head! Turns out that the reason The Doctor wanted to hide is that he wanted to spare The Family their Ultimate Punishment (which they all got in the end anyway!). He wanted to show them mercy by pretending he had disappeared and so they would, in the end, just die off "like mayflies" with Punishment Not Administered. Kind of like dying of Old Age when on Death Row I suppose.
Well, I think I've analysed it enough from An Adult Point Of View which of course is completely wrong in a programme made for children (Gee, we adults spoil the whole thing, eh!).
While watching "The Family Of Blood" on Saturday night I found myself thinking two things. Firstly, that this was yet another two-parter where the second of the two parts was something of a let-down when compared to the first part. They've all been that way actually right back to Eccleston days. Part 1 full of great things, Part 2 The Doctor cleans up and makes the drama of Part 1 look like it needn't have happened. Secondly, what a rather LAME ending it WAS! I mean, The Doctor tricks The Family pretending he's still John Smith gives them the Fake Watch then falls around the place pressing a few buttons, they then fall for this little charade and the end result of this is that something that could have been done by anyone at any time happens and End-Of-Story. I mean, come ON! If all it takes to blow up a ship like that is to press a few buttons In The Wrong Way, then it ain't much of a ship, IS IT? And I think we deserved a better ending than THAT!!
Speaking of Lame Endings, it gets me thinking of previous two-parters and how they ended in comparison to this:-
DALEKS IN MANHATTAN / EVOLUTION OF THE DALEKS --> This actually wasn't a bad ending at all except that by rights The Doctor should have been dead with such a huge bolt of lightning going all the way through his body from SUCH a big storm as we were told it was
ARMY OF GHOSTS / DOOMSDAY (Series 2) --> Utterly superb of course since it was the end of Series 2 and the dramatic departure of Rose. But since it WAS the end-of-series, you would expect it to be good!
IMPOSSIBLE PLANET / SATAN PIT (Series 2) --> Many people criticised this story, but I really loved it as a whole. But it has to be said that it made NO SENSE AT ALL that Rose could shoot out the window of the rocket with a bolt gun and not have the WHOLE CREW sucked out together. Seat belts holding them in? Yeah, right, and isn't space a .... VACUUM??!!
RISE OF THE CYBERMEN / AGE OF STEEL (Series 2) --> Got to be one of the dumbest endings of a Doctor Who story, as good as the rest of the story was up until that ending. OK, Mickey hacks the computer, gets the code 'somehow' (was the Binary 9 enough of a clue?), sends it to Rose's phone, The Doctor then conveniently has a point to plunge Rose's phone into (remember, an ORDINARY MOBILE PHONE!), sticks it in there and hey presto he causes chaos with the Cybermen. And blows up the factory too while we're at it. Talk about something outta nothing!! And a stupid ending to an otherwise great story.
BAD WOLF / PARTING OF THE WAYS (Series 1) --> Was again full of drama being the end of the series and end of Doctor Who #9. Rose, Mickey and the car breakdown crane yank open the Tardis's innards (the time vortex) which then goes into Rose's mind and makes her some kind of Mega-God-Of-Time and able to do what she wants - killing, turning to dust, bringing back to life etc. Did I like that one? Yes and no. It provided the way forward for the regeneration though in a somewhat bizarre way, and wouldn't the time vortex have fried Rose's brain a whole lot sooner? I mean, if it made the Doc do a regen so quickly then why was Rose virtually unhurt? Ah, because The Doctor sucked it all out! Hmm .... OK then.
EMPTY CHILD / DOCTOR DANCES --> One of my real favourites over these three series. And yes, I even liked the ending. Yes, it is plausible that these nanogenes could, intelligent as they were, recognise the parent DNA and change all things back and then the newly-enlightened nanogenes could certainly then put the rest of the gasmask-people back to normal. So that was a good story. BUT I'm not sure about how ol' Captain Jack managed to hook up with the Tardis and escape just before his ship exploded. Well, a small thing and I won't worry too much about it. It just DID, alright?
ALIENS OF LONDON / WORLD WAR THREE --> The Slitheens went from being big and fearsome in part one to floppy and just a bit pathetic in part 2. Fine when they were done in CGI, silly otherwise. Their hands were just too darn BIG! And OK, so Mickey and The Doc hacked their way into the Royal Navy computer to launch the missile and somehow managed to stop it getting intercepted. Gee, that Mickey sure learns fast! I mean, just HOW DID HE stop it being intercepted. Again, a small detail. I don't know if I'd be that scared of a Slitheen - big pot-bellies, oversized ridiculous hands that you could probably pull off if you tugged hard enough and slow-moving (but NOT so slow in CGI!!). So a good part two? Yes, but a little too condensed for my liking.
So if you look at these opinions of mine you can probably see a trend forming. Two-part Doctor Who stories are kind of running out of steam. They could probably fit a whole two-parter into one whole hour I reckon. That was another thing I was thinking on Saturday night - how it was really a one-and-a-half-parter.
Back to the present then. So we've seen a darker side to Doctor Who that will, no doubt, climax in the end of the Series in some way. Now I'm not so sure that Mr Saxon IS The Master after all but is some kind of evil alter-ego which has found its way back to meet The Doctor in present time to confront him to stop him in his tracks. A bit like that if Mr Saxon won, there would ne no chance he could be stopped in the future. OR, in a Terminator kind of way, he has come from the future to prevent the future from happening (if you see what I mean).
Next week is one of those Doctor-light episodes so I don't think I'll bother writing about that. But surely I'll come up with something to entertain you (and myself) with!
Before I sign off, I want to say just HOW GOOD WAS THE CHARACTER OF JEREMY BAINES!! A really SUPERB PERFORMANCE by the actor involved, Harry Lloyd! Oh, and I discovered, to my amusement, that the girl who played the character of the Daughter Of Mine (red balloon girl) is in fact a Canadian ice skater!
See ya next time then, Time Lords!
Friday 1 June 2007
Doctor Who to be Deleted after Series 4?? It's a Dalek Rumour!
OK, now I am not one for reacting wildly to newspaper stories which are, most likely, gossip, tittle-tattle, most-likely unfounded, bordering-on ridiculous and plain scandalous at best. But I feel that I have to write a piece about what English tabloid newspaper 'The Sun' has been saying about Doctor Who, about Freema Agyeman (Martha), about Russell T. Davies and about the whole institute of Dr Who as we know it today.
There was a story published in The Sun yesterday, 31st May. The title of this was, "Doctor Who to get axe in 2008" and the gist of this so-called 'story' is that Russell T. and the guys have had enough of their 16-hour Dr Who days and are all going to quit together in summer 2008. You can also see a forum thread here also on this topic
My first reaction, as was many of yours too, was absolute shock and UTTER HORROR that the BBC could consider doing such a thing.
But that's the way 'The Sun' newspaper works, you see. What they have gone on for this report, it seems, is one of those Anonymous Sources. And whizz-bang - you have a news story!
BUT it's also a news story that I can't ignore and can't totally dismiss. I don't mean the content of the story itself and what The Sun Says - NO! What I mean is that way back at the start of this blog's creation I actually speculated about this myself in Blog Entry Number One. If you don't recall that far back, I basically said that I was wondering how they would carry on past the middle of Series 4 next year. One Time Lord generation gone, one companion gone (Rose), cybermen seemingly all gone, Daleks reduced to just one again, the great Face Of Boe dead and soon to be revived Master making a comeback. Options for good storylines definitely ARE being dried up.
Of course, the thing about sci-fi is that The Universe Is A Big Place And All Things Can Happen. And Doctor Who is very much proof of THAT little number!
The question is this: with many good and strong storylines and baddies used up, where is the strength coming from for future series (beyond Series 4 anyway)? It's a GOOD question, isn't it? But why, you say, should we answer it since if we WERE able to answer it then it would make it all far too predictable and therefore not watchable and it might once again descend into the Pit Of Bad Writing. And no-ones wants THAT ugly monster to rear IT'S hideous head, do they?
As i said at the start, this blog entry was inspired by more than one of The Sun's little articles lately. The second nasty little rumour they're putting about is that Freema Agyeman is to be sacked from the show. BUT they don't give any idea as to WHEN this is supposed to happen. Yup, it's another of these Anonymous Sources spreading it about a bit, causing trouble, making chaos.
Well, Dr Who is to be congratulated if The Sun is taking so much interest in it. I mean, there are so many things, so many shows on TV and so many showbiz stars they could choose to attack and undermine. So it is definitely a great complement to all that Russell T. Davies and the crew have achieved in their brilliant revival of The World's Greatest Time Traveller that so much is being said - albeit from not the most reliable journalistic source on the planet!
News stories like these just make me angry that there are people calling themselves journalists who just try to create the news by extrapolating the "truth" from Anonymous Sources who might have 1001 reasons why they would want to damage the people or insitutions they give their little leaks on. This is what we get from a free press of course, but that is not any topic of THIS blog.
I was thinking and wondering about this all last evening after reading about it. Today I read this news story from ITV News which did put me at my ease a bit mainly because of the speed of the reaction from the BBC to The Sun's story. In it, a BBC spokesman has described the story as "idle speculation". Good! Err .... but hold on a moment. Do I believe an Anonymous Source or an Anonymous Spokesman? Hmmm .... well, I prefer the spokesman's view myself. I guess it shows that maybe we believe what we want to believe! Well, let's say that I believe what the BBC says over and above what The Sun newspaper says! NO CONTEST!! The spokesman also said that "the BBC has a long-term commitment to Doctor Who". Nuff said! Case closed (almost!).
Last of all, I want to comment on this report from Sky News that Russell T. Davies wants to have more time to concentrate on other projects. He might well, yes, and after all Doctor Who is not the only thing he has done as we well know. Certainly he has a lot of good shows on TV now and from the near-past. But the nature of writing for TV and for a programme like Doctor Who is, unfortunately, that you DO have to give it a lot of your time. But I see that even now RTD is delegating more of the writing to others - look at Helen Raynor's credit in the Daleks In Manhattan story when in actual fact it was Russell's ideas that were given her to put together (and I see now she doesn't do Script Editing any more!). In addition, as much as I am enjoying this two-parter Human Nature / Family Of Blood, we all know full well that the idea is from a book. I wonder how many other Dr Who stories started off life as books - not many I'll bet! So that is possible another indication that RTD is trying to make time for himself and his other work. I also read here in this news story from 23rd March this year on some kind of speculation from the Series 3 Launch Party about a possible "spin off" movie. Now that IS INTERESTING!!
So, in summary, any thought of killing off Doctor Who after Series 4 or at any time before that is completely out of the question and the BBC would be stark-staring bonkers to quit on such a bankable number as The Doc! ZAP!!!!!! CASE CLOSED (in a Judoon kind of way)!!!
There was a story published in The Sun yesterday, 31st May. The title of this was, "Doctor Who to get axe in 2008" and the gist of this so-called 'story' is that Russell T. and the guys have had enough of their 16-hour Dr Who days and are all going to quit together in summer 2008. You can also see a forum thread here also on this topic
My first reaction, as was many of yours too, was absolute shock and UTTER HORROR that the BBC could consider doing such a thing.
But that's the way 'The Sun' newspaper works, you see. What they have gone on for this report, it seems, is one of those Anonymous Sources. And whizz-bang - you have a news story!
BUT it's also a news story that I can't ignore and can't totally dismiss. I don't mean the content of the story itself and what The Sun Says - NO! What I mean is that way back at the start of this blog's creation I actually speculated about this myself in Blog Entry Number One. If you don't recall that far back, I basically said that I was wondering how they would carry on past the middle of Series 4 next year. One Time Lord generation gone, one companion gone (Rose), cybermen seemingly all gone, Daleks reduced to just one again, the great Face Of Boe dead and soon to be revived Master making a comeback. Options for good storylines definitely ARE being dried up.
Of course, the thing about sci-fi is that The Universe Is A Big Place And All Things Can Happen. And Doctor Who is very much proof of THAT little number!
The question is this: with many good and strong storylines and baddies used up, where is the strength coming from for future series (beyond Series 4 anyway)? It's a GOOD question, isn't it? But why, you say, should we answer it since if we WERE able to answer it then it would make it all far too predictable and therefore not watchable and it might once again descend into the Pit Of Bad Writing. And no-ones wants THAT ugly monster to rear IT'S hideous head, do they?
As i said at the start, this blog entry was inspired by more than one of The Sun's little articles lately. The second nasty little rumour they're putting about is that Freema Agyeman is to be sacked from the show. BUT they don't give any idea as to WHEN this is supposed to happen. Yup, it's another of these Anonymous Sources spreading it about a bit, causing trouble, making chaos.
Well, Dr Who is to be congratulated if The Sun is taking so much interest in it. I mean, there are so many things, so many shows on TV and so many showbiz stars they could choose to attack and undermine. So it is definitely a great complement to all that Russell T. Davies and the crew have achieved in their brilliant revival of The World's Greatest Time Traveller that so much is being said - albeit from not the most reliable journalistic source on the planet!
News stories like these just make me angry that there are people calling themselves journalists who just try to create the news by extrapolating the "truth" from Anonymous Sources who might have 1001 reasons why they would want to damage the people or insitutions they give their little leaks on. This is what we get from a free press of course, but that is not any topic of THIS blog.
I was thinking and wondering about this all last evening after reading about it. Today I read this news story from ITV News which did put me at my ease a bit mainly because of the speed of the reaction from the BBC to The Sun's story. In it, a BBC spokesman has described the story as "idle speculation". Good! Err .... but hold on a moment. Do I believe an Anonymous Source or an Anonymous Spokesman? Hmmm .... well, I prefer the spokesman's view myself. I guess it shows that maybe we believe what we want to believe! Well, let's say that I believe what the BBC says over and above what The Sun newspaper says! NO CONTEST!! The spokesman also said that "the BBC has a long-term commitment to Doctor Who". Nuff said! Case closed (almost!).
Last of all, I want to comment on this report from Sky News that Russell T. Davies wants to have more time to concentrate on other projects. He might well, yes, and after all Doctor Who is not the only thing he has done as we well know. Certainly he has a lot of good shows on TV now and from the near-past. But the nature of writing for TV and for a programme like Doctor Who is, unfortunately, that you DO have to give it a lot of your time. But I see that even now RTD is delegating more of the writing to others - look at Helen Raynor's credit in the Daleks In Manhattan story when in actual fact it was Russell's ideas that were given her to put together (and I see now she doesn't do Script Editing any more!). In addition, as much as I am enjoying this two-parter Human Nature / Family Of Blood, we all know full well that the idea is from a book. I wonder how many other Dr Who stories started off life as books - not many I'll bet! So that is possible another indication that RTD is trying to make time for himself and his other work. I also read here in this news story from 23rd March this year on some kind of speculation from the Series 3 Launch Party about a possible "spin off" movie. Now that IS INTERESTING!!
So, in summary, any thought of killing off Doctor Who after Series 4 or at any time before that is completely out of the question and the BBC would be stark-staring bonkers to quit on such a bankable number as The Doc! ZAP!!!!!! CASE CLOSED (in a Judoon kind of way)!!!
Monday 28 May 2007
Review of 'Doctor Who: The Five Doctors', 30th Anniversary Special
Now, some of you will be reading this and straight away thinking, "This man's insane! One minute he's telling us about the latest speculation of 'Human Nature' with David Tennant and now he's going all retro again to a long-forgotten Doctor Who story of more than TEN YEARS AGO!!".
Ah, my friends, I am quite sane I assure you. Why dismiss what is part of a long-running and classic period of Doctor Who history? Why criticise the BBC's effort in bringing together the Doctors of the peiod to celebrate the magnificence of what, effectively, we still have today? And anyway, this was more my era of Doctor Who.
But why I wanted to write this was that it was the first time I watched this the other day. And HOW it contrasts with what we have NOW is incredible in SO MANY WAYS!
First things first though. Yes, it actually wasn't that great a Doctor Who story. Rather slow-moving and somewhat plot-less and an ending that was just a little predictable. Has to be said.
But it was, in OTHER ways, a really GREAT Doctor Who story. Just think! For anyone who had not seen Doctor Who before, it gave so MANY things. We got to see Daleks (well, ONE Dalek anyway!), Cybermen and a strange thing called a Yeti (from the Patrick Troughton era). AND we had a new Doctor Who adversary called a 'Raston Warrior Robot'. Not sure if this is a Good Guy or bad-to-the-bone Bad Guy, or if its main function in life is to kill everything that moves (which it does with incredible speed and menace). But it was a great new creature. Wikipedia says it is found only in the Gallifrey Death Zone, so if that is the case then it is surely no more since Gallifrey is gone forever. But maybe someone could revive it! ...... Or maybe it is just too deadly to be useful. Anyway, GREAT to see it!
It was also my first look at Patrick Troughton playing The Doctor on screen. And oh, I wish I could see more of his Doctor Who adventures. Totally superb - a Doctor with ATTITUDE, knowledge and a complete oversized fur coat (which is maybe a bit non-PC these days!). All a great Doctor Who should be with that essential mixture of wisdom and manicness and, to some extent, dominance. HOW could you compare THAT with a wimp of a Doctor like Peter Davison or, worse still, Colin Baker?? Doesn't bear thinking about, does it?
But the Tardis!! It was not MY first look at the original Tardis layout, but WAS my son's. And he COULDN'T BELIEVE what he saw! And nor could I given the magnificence of the current 21st century look.
Looking at that old Tardis control room, the first thing that strikes you is HOW LITLE SPACE they had! I mean, you just WOULD NOT have David Tennant jumping around or going manic rushing around the controls in THAT old-style console. The cameras wouldn't keep up!! And get this - they used to have sometimes two Doctor Who companions in that small space - even THREE on a few occasions. AND even K9 in Tom Baker years gliding around. Ah, but how could K9 get IN to the modern Tardis? He couldn't! HOW could he go up the steps? It's that old Dalek problem again!
Another thing which is a huge contract is, of course, the central column of the Tardis. The part which moves up and down in flight. Old Tardis: a simple up-down movement. New Tardis: the central console goes ALL THE WAY UP TO THE CEILING and contains the up-down moving column! And then there's the decoration as a whole. Old Tardis: white, white, and more WHITE with cut-out holes around the walls - some of which double as windows to the outside world. New Tardis doesn't have these, and the walls are that much further away from the centre of the room anyway. All visions of the outside world are from the computer screen on the central console. This, in retrospect, is a but limited for us, the viewers since we have to go out to see what's going on. But it doesn't seem to have mattered up until now.
And then there's the sets, of course. The Five Doctors was filmed mostly on location on Dartmoor, Southwest England - the outdoor shots anyway. That was quite unusual for Doctor Who at that time unlike now where the majority of it is still done out of the studio (though the percentage of that is, I feel, getting less). The indoor stuff in the 'caves' did, I have to say, look a bit hammy and unstable like one push might bring it all down. Well, to be fair, I guess I'm talking mainly about the mirror caves which the First Doctor came into. But the final sequences where they are all at the Tomb Of Rassilon were quite nicely done, although very retro in feel. I'd just like to know how they'd do all that using the CGI and green screen that we have now.
And the COSTUMES OF THE TIME LORDS - particularly the Time Lord guards. "Where did you get that hat?". 'Nuff said! Yes, another great moment in Doctor Who dress-sense history!
Back to the story. When I read about it on Wikipedia, it seemed very long and I couldn't imagine how they could keep all that going on screen. But happy to say that the TV version went along at a good enough pace and all the parts that Wikipedia so laboured over actually proceeded more quickly that in the text version. Yes, as much as I love the Wikipedia for holding all that info, I do find sometimes that its descriptions are a bit longer and more-drawn out than need be. But just glad it's there!
I said at the start that the story itself was not the best part of the whole thing. Well, maybe in today's more condensed Dr Who pace it would have been whipped through a bit quicker. Really though, I think the anniversary was just a good excuse for bringing out the best Doctor Who monsters (Daleks and Cybermen), for reuniting the five Docs and, of course, for bringing together for the first time many Doctor Who companions old and new (with the NOTABLE omission of Jo Grant!). It was more than just a PITY than Tom Baker refused to be included at the time (he was said to regret this later) because, he said, it was too close to his departure from the series to be sensible. His inclusion would have been the Icing On The Cake, but there you go. But his absence did mean that Katy Manning (Jo Grant) could not be included as she had no Time Lord to be paired with. SHE was my first Doctor Who assistant that I remember! And an excellent screamer too when the time was right only matched by Sarah Jane Smith after her. Yes, it was nice to see them all working together to sort it all out.
Peter Davison had, I suppose, the main Doctorly role since he was the current Doctor of the time. And this spoiled it rather as I never liked him as Doctor Who anyway! He just never showed any emotion. Even when he discovered the tune that he had to play on the harp he reacted rather - well, EMPTILY I thought! People say that he was a more vulnerable Doctor Who character than others and that was what made him. But he just could not express himself well and did little to make the Doctor Who character of his era memorable. It was, I suppose, the beginning of the decline of the original series - after all, Tom Baker was an incredibly hard act to follow. I often wonder why he was cast. Patrick Troughton, it seems recommended him but told him not to stay more than three years - LONG years as it turned out!
Overall then, thinking about it all as a whole, I think that it IS worth watching for the joy of seeing the retro side of Doctor Who and to see all these Doctor Who actors of old coming together. Have I mentioned Jon Pertwee before now? Sorry Jon! YOU were great too, and you were my first Doctor (just about!). I would say that if you haven't seen this, then you should make an effort to do so because it has a lot to offer.
Ah, my friends, I am quite sane I assure you. Why dismiss what is part of a long-running and classic period of Doctor Who history? Why criticise the BBC's effort in bringing together the Doctors of the peiod to celebrate the magnificence of what, effectively, we still have today? And anyway, this was more my era of Doctor Who.
But why I wanted to write this was that it was the first time I watched this the other day. And HOW it contrasts with what we have NOW is incredible in SO MANY WAYS!
First things first though. Yes, it actually wasn't that great a Doctor Who story. Rather slow-moving and somewhat plot-less and an ending that was just a little predictable. Has to be said.
But it was, in OTHER ways, a really GREAT Doctor Who story. Just think! For anyone who had not seen Doctor Who before, it gave so MANY things. We got to see Daleks (well, ONE Dalek anyway!), Cybermen and a strange thing called a Yeti (from the Patrick Troughton era). AND we had a new Doctor Who adversary called a 'Raston Warrior Robot'. Not sure if this is a Good Guy or bad-to-the-bone Bad Guy, or if its main function in life is to kill everything that moves (which it does with incredible speed and menace). But it was a great new creature. Wikipedia says it is found only in the Gallifrey Death Zone, so if that is the case then it is surely no more since Gallifrey is gone forever. But maybe someone could revive it! ...... Or maybe it is just too deadly to be useful. Anyway, GREAT to see it!
It was also my first look at Patrick Troughton playing The Doctor on screen. And oh, I wish I could see more of his Doctor Who adventures. Totally superb - a Doctor with ATTITUDE, knowledge and a complete oversized fur coat (which is maybe a bit non-PC these days!). All a great Doctor Who should be with that essential mixture of wisdom and manicness and, to some extent, dominance. HOW could you compare THAT with a wimp of a Doctor like Peter Davison or, worse still, Colin Baker?? Doesn't bear thinking about, does it?
But the Tardis!! It was not MY first look at the original Tardis layout, but WAS my son's. And he COULDN'T BELIEVE what he saw! And nor could I given the magnificence of the current 21st century look.
Looking at that old Tardis control room, the first thing that strikes you is HOW LITLE SPACE they had! I mean, you just WOULD NOT have David Tennant jumping around or going manic rushing around the controls in THAT old-style console. The cameras wouldn't keep up!! And get this - they used to have sometimes two Doctor Who companions in that small space - even THREE on a few occasions. AND even K9 in Tom Baker years gliding around. Ah, but how could K9 get IN to the modern Tardis? He couldn't! HOW could he go up the steps? It's that old Dalek problem again!
Another thing which is a huge contract is, of course, the central column of the Tardis. The part which moves up and down in flight. Old Tardis: a simple up-down movement. New Tardis: the central console goes ALL THE WAY UP TO THE CEILING and contains the up-down moving column! And then there's the decoration as a whole. Old Tardis: white, white, and more WHITE with cut-out holes around the walls - some of which double as windows to the outside world. New Tardis doesn't have these, and the walls are that much further away from the centre of the room anyway. All visions of the outside world are from the computer screen on the central console. This, in retrospect, is a but limited for us, the viewers since we have to go out to see what's going on. But it doesn't seem to have mattered up until now.
And then there's the sets, of course. The Five Doctors was filmed mostly on location on Dartmoor, Southwest England - the outdoor shots anyway. That was quite unusual for Doctor Who at that time unlike now where the majority of it is still done out of the studio (though the percentage of that is, I feel, getting less). The indoor stuff in the 'caves' did, I have to say, look a bit hammy and unstable like one push might bring it all down. Well, to be fair, I guess I'm talking mainly about the mirror caves which the First Doctor came into. But the final sequences where they are all at the Tomb Of Rassilon were quite nicely done, although very retro in feel. I'd just like to know how they'd do all that using the CGI and green screen that we have now.
And the COSTUMES OF THE TIME LORDS - particularly the Time Lord guards. "Where did you get that hat?". 'Nuff said! Yes, another great moment in Doctor Who dress-sense history!
Back to the story. When I read about it on Wikipedia, it seemed very long and I couldn't imagine how they could keep all that going on screen. But happy to say that the TV version went along at a good enough pace and all the parts that Wikipedia so laboured over actually proceeded more quickly that in the text version. Yes, as much as I love the Wikipedia for holding all that info, I do find sometimes that its descriptions are a bit longer and more-drawn out than need be. But just glad it's there!
I said at the start that the story itself was not the best part of the whole thing. Well, maybe in today's more condensed Dr Who pace it would have been whipped through a bit quicker. Really though, I think the anniversary was just a good excuse for bringing out the best Doctor Who monsters (Daleks and Cybermen), for reuniting the five Docs and, of course, for bringing together for the first time many Doctor Who companions old and new (with the NOTABLE omission of Jo Grant!). It was more than just a PITY than Tom Baker refused to be included at the time (he was said to regret this later) because, he said, it was too close to his departure from the series to be sensible. His inclusion would have been the Icing On The Cake, but there you go. But his absence did mean that Katy Manning (Jo Grant) could not be included as she had no Time Lord to be paired with. SHE was my first Doctor Who assistant that I remember! And an excellent screamer too when the time was right only matched by Sarah Jane Smith after her. Yes, it was nice to see them all working together to sort it all out.
Peter Davison had, I suppose, the main Doctorly role since he was the current Doctor of the time. And this spoiled it rather as I never liked him as Doctor Who anyway! He just never showed any emotion. Even when he discovered the tune that he had to play on the harp he reacted rather - well, EMPTILY I thought! People say that he was a more vulnerable Doctor Who character than others and that was what made him. But he just could not express himself well and did little to make the Doctor Who character of his era memorable. It was, I suppose, the beginning of the decline of the original series - after all, Tom Baker was an incredibly hard act to follow. I often wonder why he was cast. Patrick Troughton, it seems recommended him but told him not to stay more than three years - LONG years as it turned out!
Overall then, thinking about it all as a whole, I think that it IS worth watching for the joy of seeing the retro side of Doctor Who and to see all these Doctor Who actors of old coming together. Have I mentioned Jon Pertwee before now? Sorry Jon! YOU were great too, and you were my first Doctor (just about!). I would say that if you haven't seen this, then you should make an effort to do so because it has a lot to offer.
Sunday 27 May 2007
Ah HAH! Now THAT'S more like it!
Last week, we had a definite Downer in Series 3 with the ridiculous episode entitled '42'. But I wrote about that last time so no repeats here - this isn't BBC3 folks! So I was hoping and praying that something better would spring out from our TV screens this week to compensate and put Doctor Who back on the Greatness Track where it belongs.
Oh, and I was IN NO WAY disappointed! We had, "Human Nature", the first in a two-part Dr Who story set in England in 1913 - one year before World War One (not sure of the significance of THAT yet but still). Next week it concludes, and seven days is WAY TOO LONG if you ask me, and potentially we have the best story of the series to date. Yes, EVEN BETTER than the Dalek story, which, although good, didn't really do it for me as a true Evil-Daleks-Try-To-Conquer-The-Universe type of story. Important, yes, but not nearly as good a Dalek story as that in Series 1 with Christopher Ecclestone or the Series 2 ender with Cybermen combined.
No, even today I watched it again and it stil gives you loads to think about, to wonder about, to speculate about what it all means, who they all are, why they are there, who sent them, how The Doctor knows them etc. etc.
The first thing, and I reckon this could be the most important part next week, is Tim Latimer, the boy who took the Doctor's watch. Now, he obviously went to John Smith's study for that very reason to get that watch and not to get the book. WHY? Who is he? Then there was some kind of clip or backflash of him bumping into Martha, Martha saying Sorry and then Martha running on somewhere. Except that in this backflash clip, Martha was dressed as she was at the start of this episode. So did they meet in the events leading up to the very beginning of this Human Nature episode in the part we didn't see? It seems like they may well have done!
And another thing. When Jeremy Baines returned from his 'Alien Conversion' in the woods and had come through the window, he gave a long suspicious look at Tim Latimer, who had by then opened the Doctor's watch. AND SO DID the three family members out in the countryside.
And did you notice how those three cocked their heads to one side when looking at this boy? What does THAT remind you of? Come on, think hard, think, THINK!! COME ON, it's obvious, isn't it?? Yes, full marks!! It was, of course, exactly the same gesture as Jamie, the "Are You My Mummy?" kid, the Empty Child from the brilliant Series 1 story, "The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances" story with Christopher Ecclestone and Billie Piper. Significant? Well, perhaps not but in THIS Doctor Who these days, nothing should be dismissed.
So this boy, Tim Latimer, then. I seem to remember David Tennant in, "Girl In The Fireplace" (I think it was) saying, as The Doctor, how he HAD had a child once. Maybe THIS IS THAT CHILD who has somehow managed to time travel to that time period at the same time as The Doctor. He definitely KNEW what he was doing taking that watch because he had not even seen it before entering that room - had he?
And there's also Nurse Joan Redfern, who as we have seen is to get married to our Mr John Smith next week. And a BABY too!! EHHHHH????? She too knows more than what we can see on the surface. Perhaps SHE came with the boy together from ......
Ah, now here comes the next set of speculation which comes from the Face Of Boe and his prophecy. Did you notice that the first thing we heard once the kid had opened the watch for the second time WAS indeed the words, "You Are Not Alone"? Oh, YES!!!! Mind you, this was AFTER he had got it back to his room. And we saw him with it open for a THIRD time sitting outside in .... the garden being observed by The Family Of Blood. So clearly he has been influenced in some way by the contents of that watch. Is he now some kind of Time Lord boy?
There is speculation that this Family Of Blood is somehow connected to Mr Saxon aka The Master, and that could well prove to be true. They are "hunters", The Doctor said, and for some reason need a Time Lord. Well, that would obviously target The Doctor. I'm not sure about this, but wasn't there something about The Master that he was running out of regenerations and needed another cycle? He nearly got one in 'The Five Doctors' on the promise from Barosa, the President, but that was most likely not a genuine promise as Barosa just wanted to make sure they all did his dirty work for him.
YET another piece of speculation and gossip I've got to put your way. Remember the Carrionites from Episode 2 - the witch ladies which The Doctor supposedly caught and imprisoned in some kind of 'crystal ball' and put for safe-keeping in his Tardis' attic. Well, I am thinking of the scene now inside the alien spaceship where the three Family Members have caught the other house-maid, Jenny. The bit where Jeremy Baines takes his green-glowing crystal ball saying it is The Mother and then the 'being' gets into Jenny. IS IT my imagination, or was that a bit too Carrionite Witch to be ignored?? Certainly seemed significant to me!
I seem to have picked up on a whole lot of things from this episode which may or may not have any meaning at all. Hey, YOU out there in blogland reading this! Don't be silent! Tell me what YOU think! We've got six more days to sweat over it all, and that's a WHOLE LOT OF TIME even for a Time Lord fan!
Oh, and I was IN NO WAY disappointed! We had, "Human Nature", the first in a two-part Dr Who story set in England in 1913 - one year before World War One (not sure of the significance of THAT yet but still). Next week it concludes, and seven days is WAY TOO LONG if you ask me, and potentially we have the best story of the series to date. Yes, EVEN BETTER than the Dalek story, which, although good, didn't really do it for me as a true Evil-Daleks-Try-To-Conquer-The-Universe type of story. Important, yes, but not nearly as good a Dalek story as that in Series 1 with Christopher Ecclestone or the Series 2 ender with Cybermen combined.
No, even today I watched it again and it stil gives you loads to think about, to wonder about, to speculate about what it all means, who they all are, why they are there, who sent them, how The Doctor knows them etc. etc.
The first thing, and I reckon this could be the most important part next week, is Tim Latimer, the boy who took the Doctor's watch. Now, he obviously went to John Smith's study for that very reason to get that watch and not to get the book. WHY? Who is he? Then there was some kind of clip or backflash of him bumping into Martha, Martha saying Sorry and then Martha running on somewhere. Except that in this backflash clip, Martha was dressed as she was at the start of this episode. So did they meet in the events leading up to the very beginning of this Human Nature episode in the part we didn't see? It seems like they may well have done!
And another thing. When Jeremy Baines returned from his 'Alien Conversion' in the woods and had come through the window, he gave a long suspicious look at Tim Latimer, who had by then opened the Doctor's watch. AND SO DID the three family members out in the countryside.
And did you notice how those three cocked their heads to one side when looking at this boy? What does THAT remind you of? Come on, think hard, think, THINK!! COME ON, it's obvious, isn't it?? Yes, full marks!! It was, of course, exactly the same gesture as Jamie, the "Are You My Mummy?" kid, the Empty Child from the brilliant Series 1 story, "The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances" story with Christopher Ecclestone and Billie Piper. Significant? Well, perhaps not but in THIS Doctor Who these days, nothing should be dismissed.
So this boy, Tim Latimer, then. I seem to remember David Tennant in, "Girl In The Fireplace" (I think it was) saying, as The Doctor, how he HAD had a child once. Maybe THIS IS THAT CHILD who has somehow managed to time travel to that time period at the same time as The Doctor. He definitely KNEW what he was doing taking that watch because he had not even seen it before entering that room - had he?
And there's also Nurse Joan Redfern, who as we have seen is to get married to our Mr John Smith next week. And a BABY too!! EHHHHH????? She too knows more than what we can see on the surface. Perhaps SHE came with the boy together from ......
Ah, now here comes the next set of speculation which comes from the Face Of Boe and his prophecy. Did you notice that the first thing we heard once the kid had opened the watch for the second time WAS indeed the words, "You Are Not Alone"? Oh, YES!!!! Mind you, this was AFTER he had got it back to his room. And we saw him with it open for a THIRD time sitting outside in .... the garden being observed by The Family Of Blood. So clearly he has been influenced in some way by the contents of that watch. Is he now some kind of Time Lord boy?
There is speculation that this Family Of Blood is somehow connected to Mr Saxon aka The Master, and that could well prove to be true. They are "hunters", The Doctor said, and for some reason need a Time Lord. Well, that would obviously target The Doctor. I'm not sure about this, but wasn't there something about The Master that he was running out of regenerations and needed another cycle? He nearly got one in 'The Five Doctors' on the promise from Barosa, the President, but that was most likely not a genuine promise as Barosa just wanted to make sure they all did his dirty work for him.
YET another piece of speculation and gossip I've got to put your way. Remember the Carrionites from Episode 2 - the witch ladies which The Doctor supposedly caught and imprisoned in some kind of 'crystal ball' and put for safe-keeping in his Tardis' attic. Well, I am thinking of the scene now inside the alien spaceship where the three Family Members have caught the other house-maid, Jenny. The bit where Jeremy Baines takes his green-glowing crystal ball saying it is The Mother and then the 'being' gets into Jenny. IS IT my imagination, or was that a bit too Carrionite Witch to be ignored?? Certainly seemed significant to me!
I seem to have picked up on a whole lot of things from this episode which may or may not have any meaning at all. Hey, YOU out there in blogland reading this! Don't be silent! Tell me what YOU think! We've got six more days to sweat over it all, and that's a WHOLE LOT OF TIME even for a Time Lord fan!
Sunday 20 May 2007
So ... was it worth the wait or not?
Well, I'm talking about Episode 7 - 42 of course. And the title certainly was intriguing even before it got to our screens. Forty-two is after all, according to Douglas Adams the answer to "Life, The Universe And Everything" from the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. And Dougie A. did contribute to Doctor Who many years ago so maybe it was some kind of tribute to him or acknowledgement of this.
Anyway, we were promised that it was, in fact, to be 42 minutes of real-time thrills and action and The Doctor and Martha Jones would NOT know what hit them by the end! Oh, and we were also tempted by ex-Eastenders soap star Michelle Collins in the main role as the ship's captain Kath McDonnell.
I was at a kid's party for my son at Doctor Who Time yesterday so caught it on Catch-Up TV that we have on our cale channel (as most of you do I'm sure). Only missed it by about 20 minutes live mind you, so don't go calling me a Lightweight or anything like that! My boy's birthday comes first - even before Doctor Who (though HE might disagree!).
It was, I think, yet another new Doctor Who writer in Chris Chibnall, though he has apparently done Torchwood episodes before now. Well, sorry mate but in my opinion you'd better stick to the 'Wood and leave Doctor Who alone!
WHY do I say such a callous thing? After all, yes, it was an action-packed 42 minutes as the ship hurtled towards the sun with those mysterious "Burn With Me" sun-guys (well they didn't have a name, did they?). And OK, I DID like the final idea revealed near the end that the 'sun' was in fact a living organism which was powerful and was able to possess living things (ie, people) and get them to do its killing work for it. What else? Yes, the bit where Martha is ejected in the escape pod with that other lonely guy which then has HER heading faster towards that toasty end which never came. That was a great bit full of desperation and I really thought that Martha was gone for good. there was no way that she could be brought back - after all, this was one hot BABY of a sun and would surely burn them up together quicker than they knew it. The Doctor's seemingly vain call of, "I'll Save You!", really did seem like a hopeless cause as there was no way it could have happened that she got back.
OK, I love science fiction above most other types of TV and film. Sci-fi for me is that nightmarish vision of our future, that abandonment of present-time sensibility for future impossibility where they have all the technology in the world to do what they will. It is the most imaginative form of vide entertainment there is and that is a brilliant thing and that is why I love this totally escapist form of TV and movie entertainment.
BUT sci-fi or not, it has to be believable or at least explained in a plausible sci-fi kind of way. And we surely have to believe that the laws of physics are still present even in deep space.
And this is where it all goes up on its head and where I start to groan.
My biggest Groan Of Implausibility is obviously the bit where The Doctor somehow manages to remagnetise the escape pod's 'connewction' to the ship which "magically" pulls the escape podded Martha and new friend back to the safety of the ship - which by now is only ten seconds away from the sun itself anyway so is bound to be roasted PDQ. I mean, COME ON NOW GUYS!! In order to remagnetise such a large item as this escape pod had to be, you are looking at an absolutely HUGE magnetic force! ESPECIALLY considering the distance it was from the ship for crying out loud!! Even a powerful electromagnet couldn't work at THAT kind of range! And they were in space, ie, in a vacuum. Well, here's where I'm not so sure and where my Physics knowledge might let me down. But can you magnetise something so far away in a vacuum through space?? This was just about the most ridiculous moment in the entire Series 3, and is high on the Silly List for David Tennant's term as The Doctor. The only other more silly moments I can think of are the horse leaping through the mirror in Series 2's "Girl In The Fireplace", the whole of the "Love And Monsters" Abzorbaloff carry-on and I guess "The School Reunion" episode where of COURSE a bunch of super-hyper-intelligent school kids REALLY COULD get closer to solving the Skasis Paradigm (the God-Maker) with just a few modern-day computers and a spinning cube! So that remagnetisation RANKS HIGHLY!
Ah, but that is not the end of my critique, my friends! There is more to follow. Now, this part is not nearly so silly, but WHAT ABOUT the aprt where The Doctor himself is 'possessed' by this Living Sun and becomes a Burn-With-Me? Seems it doesn't get him quite so bad since he still has the ability to carefully instruct Martha and tell her exactly what to do to save him - which was TWO THINGS she had to do. Complicated ones too! Myself, I thought it would prove the rumours to be true and that it was regeneration time. And THAT was quite exciting, and in a way appropriate because it would show the brilliance of the BBC's timing to delay this for one week before letting it at us. But no, somehow he survived that because after the sun-fuel dump, all the Living Sun organisms magically bled away from everyone on the ship leaving him clean and dry!
Oh, and of course the last bit (but by this stage my criticism is only a small one) On The Silly Side is these 29 doors between the crew and the Control Room sealed by what? A bunch of quiz question which they thoughtr up when they were DRUNK!! OhMyGod! HOW pathetic is that? Makes good watching for all those eight-year-olds, eh! Yup, really shows them how it should be done! Well, if they had such a corny thing, why not share MORE of these dumb questions with us? I mean, we ALL love a good Pub Quiz, except THIS one was a Saturday and not a Sunday night.
Did I like Michelle Collins though? Prefer her in blonde! No, just kidding. Yes, she wasn't bad, though she seemed to be hiding some Dark Secrets that we weren't told. And one of her crew (I forget their names right now) said something about how she was the KEY to all this and that they ALL depended on her. So I had hoped for something darker to be revealed at the end, but NO!!
Oh yes, before I go, yes there was more good stuff though not enough of it. The "Continuity" bit with Mr Saxon and his mysterious pursuit of The Doctor now using Martha's mother as bait to try to lure them in. Mmmmmm!!
Ah, and of course The Tardis Key. Rose got it in episode 4 but it's taken Martha up until episode SEVEN to get hers. Will they have a tiff and will she be giving it back like The Doc and Rose did? Will she let some Unwanted Visitors in to the Tardis? Oh, and let's not forget that ONLY NOW does Martha get her SuperPhone! Rose got her upgrade way back in episode 2 which was, by some coincidence also a space episode.
Poor Martha! it's all happening too little and too late for you, my dear! Watch out for my little Martha/Rose poll coming soon.
OK, that's it, Yup, in summary, I didn't like the Saturday episode! We've got a two-parter coming up next week which promises to be a good'un. See ya then, Time Lords!
Anyway, we were promised that it was, in fact, to be 42 minutes of real-time thrills and action and The Doctor and Martha Jones would NOT know what hit them by the end! Oh, and we were also tempted by ex-Eastenders soap star Michelle Collins in the main role as the ship's captain Kath McDonnell.
I was at a kid's party for my son at Doctor Who Time yesterday so caught it on Catch-Up TV that we have on our cale channel (as most of you do I'm sure). Only missed it by about 20 minutes live mind you, so don't go calling me a Lightweight or anything like that! My boy's birthday comes first - even before Doctor Who (though HE might disagree!).
It was, I think, yet another new Doctor Who writer in Chris Chibnall, though he has apparently done Torchwood episodes before now. Well, sorry mate but in my opinion you'd better stick to the 'Wood and leave Doctor Who alone!
WHY do I say such a callous thing? After all, yes, it was an action-packed 42 minutes as the ship hurtled towards the sun with those mysterious "Burn With Me" sun-guys (well they didn't have a name, did they?). And OK, I DID like the final idea revealed near the end that the 'sun' was in fact a living organism which was powerful and was able to possess living things (ie, people) and get them to do its killing work for it. What else? Yes, the bit where Martha is ejected in the escape pod with that other lonely guy which then has HER heading faster towards that toasty end which never came. That was a great bit full of desperation and I really thought that Martha was gone for good. there was no way that she could be brought back - after all, this was one hot BABY of a sun and would surely burn them up together quicker than they knew it. The Doctor's seemingly vain call of, "I'll Save You!", really did seem like a hopeless cause as there was no way it could have happened that she got back.
OK, I love science fiction above most other types of TV and film. Sci-fi for me is that nightmarish vision of our future, that abandonment of present-time sensibility for future impossibility where they have all the technology in the world to do what they will. It is the most imaginative form of vide entertainment there is and that is a brilliant thing and that is why I love this totally escapist form of TV and movie entertainment.
BUT sci-fi or not, it has to be believable or at least explained in a plausible sci-fi kind of way. And we surely have to believe that the laws of physics are still present even in deep space.
And this is where it all goes up on its head and where I start to groan.
My biggest Groan Of Implausibility is obviously the bit where The Doctor somehow manages to remagnetise the escape pod's 'connewction' to the ship which "magically" pulls the escape podded Martha and new friend back to the safety of the ship - which by now is only ten seconds away from the sun itself anyway so is bound to be roasted PDQ. I mean, COME ON NOW GUYS!! In order to remagnetise such a large item as this escape pod had to be, you are looking at an absolutely HUGE magnetic force! ESPECIALLY considering the distance it was from the ship for crying out loud!! Even a powerful electromagnet couldn't work at THAT kind of range! And they were in space, ie, in a vacuum. Well, here's where I'm not so sure and where my Physics knowledge might let me down. But can you magnetise something so far away in a vacuum through space?? This was just about the most ridiculous moment in the entire Series 3, and is high on the Silly List for David Tennant's term as The Doctor. The only other more silly moments I can think of are the horse leaping through the mirror in Series 2's "Girl In The Fireplace", the whole of the "Love And Monsters" Abzorbaloff carry-on and I guess "The School Reunion" episode where of COURSE a bunch of super-hyper-intelligent school kids REALLY COULD get closer to solving the Skasis Paradigm (the God-Maker) with just a few modern-day computers and a spinning cube! So that remagnetisation RANKS HIGHLY!
Ah, but that is not the end of my critique, my friends! There is more to follow. Now, this part is not nearly so silly, but WHAT ABOUT the aprt where The Doctor himself is 'possessed' by this Living Sun and becomes a Burn-With-Me? Seems it doesn't get him quite so bad since he still has the ability to carefully instruct Martha and tell her exactly what to do to save him - which was TWO THINGS she had to do. Complicated ones too! Myself, I thought it would prove the rumours to be true and that it was regeneration time. And THAT was quite exciting, and in a way appropriate because it would show the brilliance of the BBC's timing to delay this for one week before letting it at us. But no, somehow he survived that because after the sun-fuel dump, all the Living Sun organisms magically bled away from everyone on the ship leaving him clean and dry!
Oh, and of course the last bit (but by this stage my criticism is only a small one) On The Silly Side is these 29 doors between the crew and the Control Room sealed by what? A bunch of quiz question which they thoughtr up when they were DRUNK!! OhMyGod! HOW pathetic is that? Makes good watching for all those eight-year-olds, eh! Yup, really shows them how it should be done! Well, if they had such a corny thing, why not share MORE of these dumb questions with us? I mean, we ALL love a good Pub Quiz, except THIS one was a Saturday and not a Sunday night.
Did I like Michelle Collins though? Prefer her in blonde! No, just kidding. Yes, she wasn't bad, though she seemed to be hiding some Dark Secrets that we weren't told. And one of her crew (I forget their names right now) said something about how she was the KEY to all this and that they ALL depended on her. So I had hoped for something darker to be revealed at the end, but NO!!
Oh yes, before I go, yes there was more good stuff though not enough of it. The "Continuity" bit with Mr Saxon and his mysterious pursuit of The Doctor now using Martha's mother as bait to try to lure them in. Mmmmmm!!
Ah, and of course The Tardis Key. Rose got it in episode 4 but it's taken Martha up until episode SEVEN to get hers. Will they have a tiff and will she be giving it back like The Doc and Rose did? Will she let some Unwanted Visitors in to the Tardis? Oh, and let's not forget that ONLY NOW does Martha get her SuperPhone! Rose got her upgrade way back in episode 2 which was, by some coincidence also a space episode.
Poor Martha! it's all happening too little and too late for you, my dear! Watch out for my little Martha/Rose poll coming soon.
OK, that's it, Yup, in summary, I didn't like the Saturday episode! We've got a two-parter coming up next week which promises to be a good'un. See ya then, Time Lords!
Friday 11 May 2007
A Doctor Who episode postponed one week for WHAT??
Oh my dear Auntie Beeb! How could you be so callous? I mean, delaying your Number One show of the whole week for what I have to say is the Number One in the Dire Charts in the entire continent - maybe even in the world.
I wonder what the Americans think of this nonsense institution we have every year over here in Europe that is Eurovision (and I am OH SO hating myself for dirtying my precious blog with THAT word - don't you DARE tag it!!). I bet the Aussies think we got a "bad case of the trots" for daring to delay the might Doctor Who for THIS kind of triviality.
Anyway, enough free blog-vertising for the bloody Eurovision Song Contest. I'm fighting back here, and I decided to dig around for any previous times in Doctor Who history when an episode was delayed or postponed for some, well TRIVIAL and NONSENSICAL reason.
Ah hah! It will not be the first time, my blog-friends! According to the mighty Wikipedia, the first time such a scandalous event occurred was way, WAY back to the era of none other than William Hartnell, the first Doctor. It was the third episode of 'The Sensorites' which had to be delayed by one week because of an overrun of former BBC Sports programme "Grandstand". Not sure of the exact date of this, but it was something like the first Saturday of August in the year 1964. And NO, yer cheeky buggers, I myself was sadly NOT EVEN BORN in that year. Don't even THINK about it!
Was this the only time this has happened. No no, not at all. There was another occurrence of Doc-Delay a couple of years later from this opne I just told you about. Oh YES, another crash into poor Willy Hartnell at his finest! This time, the Dr Who story was 'The Dalek's Master Plan' and the postponement occurred because of the showing of the BBC's Christmas Special of that year. So we can suppose it was the Xmas weekend, and the year was 1966. Well .... getting a little closer to my entering this world but yer still got almost another year to go until I was a fully paid Earth Member. Oh, by the way, this valuable nugget of information comes to you via something called 'Pat's Doctor Who Quiz' which I highly recommend you check out some time to test your knowledge. In fact, I highly advise you to Vote With Your Remote, refuse to switch on the TV and do this quiz instead. Eurovision, Schmurovision indeed!!
Of course, there was the near thing a few weeks back when there was the, erm, possibility of the Man Utd. v. Watford FA Cup game going into extra time. But the Mighty Reds gave the Wats a darn good thumping to save the Doctor Who Bacon. Maybe the good Doc himself had something to do with that ....
That's all I could find in my efforts at digging the web I'm afraid. Hey, you never know! Use this as a Pub Quiz Question or indeed if you're really on the ball, a Pub Quiz Answer. ASTOUND your friends and drinking buddies with your knowledge of all things Doctor Who. And don't forget to tell them where They Too Can Be Like You and send them here.
I'm off to read my very first copy of the Doctor Who Magazine. I mean, first one I ever BOUGHT - not Issue 1 Year 1. I may be WHO but I'm no Whovian you know. See yer next time!
I wonder what the Americans think of this nonsense institution we have every year over here in Europe that is Eurovision (and I am OH SO hating myself for dirtying my precious blog with THAT word - don't you DARE tag it!!). I bet the Aussies think we got a "bad case of the trots" for daring to delay the might Doctor Who for THIS kind of triviality.
Anyway, enough free blog-vertising for the bloody Eurovision Song Contest. I'm fighting back here, and I decided to dig around for any previous times in Doctor Who history when an episode was delayed or postponed for some, well TRIVIAL and NONSENSICAL reason.
Ah hah! It will not be the first time, my blog-friends! According to the mighty Wikipedia, the first time such a scandalous event occurred was way, WAY back to the era of none other than William Hartnell, the first Doctor. It was the third episode of 'The Sensorites' which had to be delayed by one week because of an overrun of former BBC Sports programme "Grandstand". Not sure of the exact date of this, but it was something like the first Saturday of August in the year 1964. And NO, yer cheeky buggers, I myself was sadly NOT EVEN BORN in that year. Don't even THINK about it!
Was this the only time this has happened. No no, not at all. There was another occurrence of Doc-Delay a couple of years later from this opne I just told you about. Oh YES, another crash into poor Willy Hartnell at his finest! This time, the Dr Who story was 'The Dalek's Master Plan' and the postponement occurred because of the showing of the BBC's Christmas Special of that year. So we can suppose it was the Xmas weekend, and the year was 1966. Well .... getting a little closer to my entering this world but yer still got almost another year to go until I was a fully paid Earth Member. Oh, by the way, this valuable nugget of information comes to you via something called 'Pat's Doctor Who Quiz' which I highly recommend you check out some time to test your knowledge. In fact, I highly advise you to Vote With Your Remote, refuse to switch on the TV and do this quiz instead. Eurovision, Schmurovision indeed!!
Of course, there was the near thing a few weeks back when there was the, erm, possibility of the Man Utd. v. Watford FA Cup game going into extra time. But the Mighty Reds gave the Wats a darn good thumping to save the Doctor Who Bacon. Maybe the good Doc himself had something to do with that ....
That's all I could find in my efforts at digging the web I'm afraid. Hey, you never know! Use this as a Pub Quiz Question or indeed if you're really on the ball, a Pub Quiz Answer. ASTOUND your friends and drinking buddies with your knowledge of all things Doctor Who. And don't forget to tell them where They Too Can Be Like You and send them here.
I'm off to read my very first copy of the Doctor Who Magazine. I mean, first one I ever BOUGHT - not Issue 1 Year 1. I may be WHO but I'm no Whovian you know. See yer next time!
Tuesday 8 May 2007
How did I get back into watching Doctor Who after 16 years?
Hey guys! While I'm well and truly in this Forum Spirit of things I thought of something. Actually I was reminded of something while watching the "Parting Of The Ways" with Christopher Ecclestone doing his regenaration thing while Rose fries the Emperor Dalek's brain (wasn't that just a GREAT and yet TOTALL BIZARRE episode??!!).
And it was this. How did I get back into Doctor Who after all these years and what started me again? Well, it was Series 1 of course and the first two episodes. My dad sent these to me on video around the time they had come out. I really didn't want to watch, and the video remained unseen in the cabinet for around a year - maybe more. My dad had watched and his comments had not been that complementary. And another reason I had resisted for ages was that BILLIE PIPER was in it!! EUUWWWWW! That one-off pop star! Couldn't imagine HOW she could POSSIBLY fit in and thought how naff it must all be. No way!! Then one day the server which gave me my internet was down a LONG TIME. Hmmm, I thought, what shall I do now - ah, I know! Let's watch that Doctor Who! And so it was done.
SERIES ONE (Christopher Ecclestone, Billie Piper)
1. ROSE - The Doc, Rose, Autons, Nestene Consciousness, new Tardis, first sight of Mickey and Jackie Tyler
OK, I'll do more with that 'blooper reel' another time. But I think I got out of a tight spot there. And you didn't really notice, did you?
And it was this. How did I get back into Doctor Who after all these years and what started me again? Well, it was Series 1 of course and the first two episodes. My dad sent these to me on video around the time they had come out. I really didn't want to watch, and the video remained unseen in the cabinet for around a year - maybe more. My dad had watched and his comments had not been that complementary. And another reason I had resisted for ages was that BILLIE PIPER was in it!! EUUWWWWW! That one-off pop star! Couldn't imagine HOW she could POSSIBLY fit in and thought how naff it must all be. No way!! Then one day the server which gave me my internet was down a LONG TIME. Hmmm, I thought, what shall I do now - ah, I know! Let's watch that Doctor Who! And so it was done.
SERIES ONE (Christopher Ecclestone, Billie Piper)
1. ROSE - The Doc, Rose, Autons, Nestene Consciousness, new Tardis, first sight of Mickey and Jackie Tyler
- I suppose they needed a way to get Rose into it all as a shop girl and the Autons were the obvious target for Villain Number 1. But they were good though not great. It gave us a good first look at our New Doctor Who that we'd waited 16 years for. Was kind of strange with me remembering old Tom Baker with his scarf and long coat and manic smile. "Doctor Who in a leather jacket of all things!!". Loved the run across the Bridge, the scene at Rose's home with the Auton arm was silly and the acting of Billie Piper on that was pretty poor. Also good though only necessary for people who'd never ever seen Doctor Who before in their life, was how Rose met and talked with Clive about the "historic sightings" of Doctor Who throughout the ages.
- We also saw the first hint of humour - there was the Doc getting throttled by this arm, falling down and Rose with no idea what was going on. Pretty silly. Also daft was the scene with Rose's mum in her dressing gown seeing the Doc for the first time and coming on to him. It was totally out of character as we saw in the character of Jackie for the rest of the two series as she never did anything like that again (except maybe in 'Love And Monsters' with the Abzorbaloff).
- OVERALL RATING FOR EPISODE --> 7 / 10
- THIS WAS THE ONE THAT DID FOR ME and proved to me that Doctor Who really WAS BACK.
- This was such a brilliant episode! Not only a great Doctor Who episode but a really GREAT science-fiction story in its own right. The monsters were brilliant, the action was great and the argument between the Doc and Rose was a high point too. The only naff and unexplained bit is of course HOW the hell DID Doctor Who walk through those rotating blades and not get chopped to bits? OK, he concentrated, and maybe that was it. Ah hell! It's sci-fi!! Who says you have to explain it all!
- And it was the final few monents which really did it for me. The final few seconds when The Doc saved them all, the sight of the sun exploding and the Earth shattering to pieces. And to cap it all, it was the final revelation that Gallifrey had gone in a Time War. "They nuked the Time Lords!!", I thought. What could be next? This was definitely IT now!
- OVERALL RATING FOR EPISODE --> 9.5 / 10
OK, I'll do more with that 'blooper reel' another time. But I think I got out of a tight spot there. And you didn't really notice, did you?
Monday 7 May 2007
A new Doctor Who? The Sun says ....
Just read today about how The Sun predicts the end of David Tennant at the end of this series. Yes, you read correct - the end of THIS SERIES, SERIES 3.
I mean, I know that if THE SUN SAYS, then hey it must be true. But it just cannot be TRUE.
Consider if it was. The BBC would be effectively pulling the trigger in the game of Dr Who Russian Roulette with the chamber loaded. I mean, it would be two Doctors and Rose in three series only! And sorry, the BBC knows what a good thing it is onto with Dr Who and it surely would do NOTHING to jeopardise that. I mean, think what they get from merchandise on the thing.
And we've only just got used to having a settled Doctor in the role after the Ecclestone exit, and THAT was too much to take in itself. A regeneration is an emotional thing and the BBC takes a big gamble every time it does one that people won't like the new Doc and will switch off. So WHY would they do it twice in three years?? It's GOT TO be a wind-up! Oh, it HAS TO BE!! I sincerely HOPE SO for the whole future of the thing.
I mean, I know that if THE SUN SAYS, then hey it must be true. But it just cannot be TRUE.
Consider if it was. The BBC would be effectively pulling the trigger in the game of Dr Who Russian Roulette with the chamber loaded. I mean, it would be two Doctors and Rose in three series only! And sorry, the BBC knows what a good thing it is onto with Dr Who and it surely would do NOTHING to jeopardise that. I mean, think what they get from merchandise on the thing.
And we've only just got used to having a settled Doctor in the role after the Ecclestone exit, and THAT was too much to take in itself. A regeneration is an emotional thing and the BBC takes a big gamble every time it does one that people won't like the new Doc and will switch off. So WHY would they do it twice in three years?? It's GOT TO be a wind-up! Oh, it HAS TO BE!! I sincerely HOPE SO for the whole future of the thing.
Sunday 6 May 2007
I'm Two Years Late with this BUT ....
OK, why I am doing this? Well, Those Who Know About These Things say that blogging is a Good Thing so that about seals it for me. I mean, I am a computer graduate so I know about these things but this Blogworld is a strange and crazy one if you ask me.
A bit like the strange and crazy world of our very great favourite Man Of Questioning Title.
So here we are. We just had episode 6 here in the UK featuring The Lazarus Experiment. A pretty good one I'd say - 3.5 out of 5. Not the best story ever - you knew where it was going from the start really that something weird was going to come out of the Lazarus body. Actually we all knew that from the trailers. Why watch, you might say when just about all of that episode was shown in the days up to it.
Ah, because the intriguing thing is this continuing Mr Saxon Character who keeps popping up - the Recurring Theme Of Series 3. Every series had one - Chris Ecclestone was dogged by the Bad Wolf (Still not convinced that was IT for that idea and I think Rose will be back somewhere anyhow). Series 2 had the Daleks pretty much haunting us through the last half (and a few Cybermen). Now we have the mysterious Mr Saxon.
Except he's not a mystery either if you read the wikipedia and other Dr Who blogs and sites. They are all convinced that it's gonna be The Master coming back.
I can't help thinking this: bleeaagghh! What a tired storyline THAT is. I mean, OK, the Master's a Bad Guy and all that but just not very exciting. OK, some of you will be yelling that every Good Guy must have his equal and opposite Bad Guy who never gives up and let's face it they all have them. Sherlock Holmes had Moriarty, Spiderman has Venom, Batman and Robin had ..... Liberace (I suppose).
But it does not fill ME personally with excitement at the prospect of seeing The Master come back. Now, I am not of the Roger Delgado generation but I do remember the guy who played him in the era of Tom The Great Baker. And sorry but he just isn't Bad Enough. Too HUMAN I say!
Nuff said there. Now what do you all think of Martha? I would say that up until yesterday's Lazarus thing she had been pretty lame and extremely unconvincing. WHY the hell have they given her the same idea as with Rose? And WHY is she in love with him? OK, the big Snog/Genetic Transfer in the Judoon episode, but soreeeeeee!!!! THAT is not enough to make a woman as sensible as Martha Jones fall for the Doc so quickly as all that! Well not in MY book anyway.
In the Lazarus ep, yes, she did a bit more to justify herself and justify being able to continue with the Grand Old Doc. But I tell you what. If she hadn't got in the Tardis at the end and had stayed at home then I would not have minded at all. Her character's going not very far. Unless Russell "The Wizard" T has some Spice for her at the end.
This blog, even though it is the first, is putting together too many storyline chats into one. Could have split it up I guess. But no matter - I've Started So I'll Finish!
Yeah, I said about Wikipedia. On there they already have the list of episodes and about what's goiung to happen until the end of Series 3. OK, I read them and maybe I shouldn't have but They Were There and it was late and I was bored and so there! But what is ALSO on Wikipedia which hacks me off a bit is just about the full story of the whole of the rest of Series 3. yes, nice, Captain Jack returns next time, yes the last two episodes of Series 3 are, wow wow, a 2-part story (original or WHAT!) and yes the thing with Martha's family will kind of go on.
Actually talking about Martha's family, I wanted to see more of them before now. Hey, let's have more Annalise!! OOOOHH YEAH! Legs like that should be compulsory. Actually all of her should be ALL the time! A bimbo in Doctor Who! Now for all you Doc fans when was the last Doc Who bimbo? And this is not one of those questions I know the answer to. I just thought of it right here on the Blog Spot. Who would count as a bimbo? I reckon Jo Grant of the Jon Pertwee might do. Maybe Peri (but too clever by far). Perhaps Leela given that she was a kind of tribal girl of a rather basic race of people. Ah, now what about Tegan, the Aussie flight attendant. Now THAT was a dumb way to get into the TARDIS - getting lost like that and - oh, let's go in here cos it looks like a good place to keep out the rain. As dumb entries into the Doctor Who world go, THAT was near the TOP!
Yeah yeah anyway, back to present day. I'm getting a bit worried actually. Why? Well, two series in and we've lost both The Doctor and Rose who after all brought the whole thing back into our living rooms in the first place. Mind you, I just can't see Christopher Ecclestone doing it in the same way as Tennant does. It just would not work. Do we really know the TRUTH why Chris E. bowed out after just one series? To me it looks like they couldn't get David Tennant for the start (I read someplace that he was supposed to start from the beginning), and so they had to get the other guy to fill in. Now don't get me wrong. I think Christopher Ecclestone was really GREAT and I was really sorry to see him go so soon. Wish he was still here actually. But as I said, to lose him PLUS Rose after two series is ..... well, it's getting a bit careless.
I don't see how things are going to continue more than halfway into Series 4. Yeah OK lots of new monsters and that but they are running out fast of recurring themes. Face Of Boe dead, wisdom imparted, by end of Series 3 we'll know what THAT'S all about. Dalek Emperor gone in a shot, back we go to One Dalek In Existance (Dalek Caan), Cybermen not going to be back for ages and ages I reckon. And let's face it they were pretty stupid in the end. Take over the world, make us all into Cybers, oops their factory goes meltdown, off they go through The Void and back they get sucked into it. Back where they started in John Lukic's lab. So they weren't much cop. No way we're seeing any more Autons - what kind of storyline could they have other than .... err, .... shop window dummies and yes once again they come alive and zap us all and in comes the good old Doc to switch them all off. But the Recurring Themes To Keep Us Hooked slate is rapidly being wiped VERY clean. No mystery left = a VERY BIG JOB to create the whole thing again right from scratch. In other words, back we go two years.
What about the rumours of Tennant going out mid- series 4? Nah that's never happened before so they might or might not. I reckon that if they bounced out a second Doctor in three series, they would lose a whole lot of viewers.
Riding a bit of a tightrope then I think with storylines for the series we're on and the proposed Series 4. I cannot see a Series 5 happening at all UNLESS there is something still bound up and waiting to be unleashed. The one I hope is that ..... perish the thought BIG TIME ..... Russell T Davies does not quit. THAT would be the END! But what I see now this series is les episoides written by him and more by what I think are lesser known writers. I mean, the writer of the Lazarus ep - Stephen Greenhorn. Wikipedia says he has written for The Bill, a Scottish soap opera, Where The Heart Is and is working now on a Proclaimers musical. Uh huh!! LOTS of good Doctor Who talent there, ma boy!! And I see we only have one Stephen Moffatt episode due this series. I think his stuff varies but he did what I think is one of the best Doctor Who's ever - 'The Empty Child (are you my mummy?)'. So that's good enough for me.
Anything I could say in this first blog line? Nah, I reckon that'll do you for starters. I reckon I'll write this at least once a week and in between too. Lots of stuff in my mind about Tom "the Great" Baker. Will there ever be another like HIM?
Peace and Love to all!
A bit like the strange and crazy world of our very great favourite Man Of Questioning Title.
So here we are. We just had episode 6 here in the UK featuring The Lazarus Experiment. A pretty good one I'd say - 3.5 out of 5. Not the best story ever - you knew where it was going from the start really that something weird was going to come out of the Lazarus body. Actually we all knew that from the trailers. Why watch, you might say when just about all of that episode was shown in the days up to it.
Ah, because the intriguing thing is this continuing Mr Saxon Character who keeps popping up - the Recurring Theme Of Series 3. Every series had one - Chris Ecclestone was dogged by the Bad Wolf (Still not convinced that was IT for that idea and I think Rose will be back somewhere anyhow). Series 2 had the Daleks pretty much haunting us through the last half (and a few Cybermen). Now we have the mysterious Mr Saxon.
Except he's not a mystery either if you read the wikipedia and other Dr Who blogs and sites. They are all convinced that it's gonna be The Master coming back.
I can't help thinking this: bleeaagghh! What a tired storyline THAT is. I mean, OK, the Master's a Bad Guy and all that but just not very exciting. OK, some of you will be yelling that every Good Guy must have his equal and opposite Bad Guy who never gives up and let's face it they all have them. Sherlock Holmes had Moriarty, Spiderman has Venom, Batman and Robin had ..... Liberace (I suppose).
But it does not fill ME personally with excitement at the prospect of seeing The Master come back. Now, I am not of the Roger Delgado generation but I do remember the guy who played him in the era of Tom The Great Baker. And sorry but he just isn't Bad Enough. Too HUMAN I say!
Nuff said there. Now what do you all think of Martha? I would say that up until yesterday's Lazarus thing she had been pretty lame and extremely unconvincing. WHY the hell have they given her the same idea as with Rose? And WHY is she in love with him? OK, the big Snog/Genetic Transfer in the Judoon episode, but soreeeeeee!!!! THAT is not enough to make a woman as sensible as Martha Jones fall for the Doc so quickly as all that! Well not in MY book anyway.
In the Lazarus ep, yes, she did a bit more to justify herself and justify being able to continue with the Grand Old Doc. But I tell you what. If she hadn't got in the Tardis at the end and had stayed at home then I would not have minded at all. Her character's going not very far. Unless Russell "The Wizard" T has some Spice for her at the end.
This blog, even though it is the first, is putting together too many storyline chats into one. Could have split it up I guess. But no matter - I've Started So I'll Finish!
Yeah, I said about Wikipedia. On there they already have the list of episodes and about what's goiung to happen until the end of Series 3. OK, I read them and maybe I shouldn't have but They Were There and it was late and I was bored and so there! But what is ALSO on Wikipedia which hacks me off a bit is just about the full story of the whole of the rest of Series 3. yes, nice, Captain Jack returns next time, yes the last two episodes of Series 3 are, wow wow, a 2-part story (original or WHAT!) and yes the thing with Martha's family will kind of go on.
Actually talking about Martha's family, I wanted to see more of them before now. Hey, let's have more Annalise!! OOOOHH YEAH! Legs like that should be compulsory. Actually all of her should be ALL the time! A bimbo in Doctor Who! Now for all you Doc fans when was the last Doc Who bimbo? And this is not one of those questions I know the answer to. I just thought of it right here on the Blog Spot. Who would count as a bimbo? I reckon Jo Grant of the Jon Pertwee might do. Maybe Peri (but too clever by far). Perhaps Leela given that she was a kind of tribal girl of a rather basic race of people. Ah, now what about Tegan, the Aussie flight attendant. Now THAT was a dumb way to get into the TARDIS - getting lost like that and - oh, let's go in here cos it looks like a good place to keep out the rain. As dumb entries into the Doctor Who world go, THAT was near the TOP!
Yeah yeah anyway, back to present day. I'm getting a bit worried actually. Why? Well, two series in and we've lost both The Doctor and Rose who after all brought the whole thing back into our living rooms in the first place. Mind you, I just can't see Christopher Ecclestone doing it in the same way as Tennant does. It just would not work. Do we really know the TRUTH why Chris E. bowed out after just one series? To me it looks like they couldn't get David Tennant for the start (I read someplace that he was supposed to start from the beginning), and so they had to get the other guy to fill in. Now don't get me wrong. I think Christopher Ecclestone was really GREAT and I was really sorry to see him go so soon. Wish he was still here actually. But as I said, to lose him PLUS Rose after two series is ..... well, it's getting a bit careless.
I don't see how things are going to continue more than halfway into Series 4. Yeah OK lots of new monsters and that but they are running out fast of recurring themes. Face Of Boe dead, wisdom imparted, by end of Series 3 we'll know what THAT'S all about. Dalek Emperor gone in a shot, back we go to One Dalek In Existance (Dalek Caan), Cybermen not going to be back for ages and ages I reckon. And let's face it they were pretty stupid in the end. Take over the world, make us all into Cybers, oops their factory goes meltdown, off they go through The Void and back they get sucked into it. Back where they started in John Lukic's lab. So they weren't much cop. No way we're seeing any more Autons - what kind of storyline could they have other than .... err, .... shop window dummies and yes once again they come alive and zap us all and in comes the good old Doc to switch them all off. But the Recurring Themes To Keep Us Hooked slate is rapidly being wiped VERY clean. No mystery left = a VERY BIG JOB to create the whole thing again right from scratch. In other words, back we go two years.
What about the rumours of Tennant going out mid- series 4? Nah that's never happened before so they might or might not. I reckon that if they bounced out a second Doctor in three series, they would lose a whole lot of viewers.
Riding a bit of a tightrope then I think with storylines for the series we're on and the proposed Series 4. I cannot see a Series 5 happening at all UNLESS there is something still bound up and waiting to be unleashed. The one I hope is that ..... perish the thought BIG TIME ..... Russell T Davies does not quit. THAT would be the END! But what I see now this series is les episoides written by him and more by what I think are lesser known writers. I mean, the writer of the Lazarus ep - Stephen Greenhorn. Wikipedia says he has written for The Bill, a Scottish soap opera, Where The Heart Is and is working now on a Proclaimers musical. Uh huh!! LOTS of good Doctor Who talent there, ma boy!! And I see we only have one Stephen Moffatt episode due this series. I think his stuff varies but he did what I think is one of the best Doctor Who's ever - 'The Empty Child (are you my mummy?)'. So that's good enough for me.
Anything I could say in this first blog line? Nah, I reckon that'll do you for starters. I reckon I'll write this at least once a week and in between too. Lots of stuff in my mind about Tom "the Great" Baker. Will there ever be another like HIM?
Peace and Love to all!
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