Doctor Who thoughts

Trying out Blogger's new app ( unfortunately not an iPad one).

So, at the end of the God Complex (clever title that) the Doctor takes Amy and Rory to a house on a road that looks very familiar (also whatever happened to their home in Leadworth?). Its very similar to the road seen in the Lodger, where one house had 3 stories. The third story was actually a ship in disguise - a special TARDIS-like ship that could only be piloted by Timelordy people. And at the end of this week's episode, Amy asks the Doctor to get her daughter, River, to visit sometime. And River is sort of Timelordy.

So was the ship in the Lodger River's perhaps?

Anyway, lets see if this works...

Doctor Who: A Good Man Goes To War

I'm back - and of course one of the first things I did after getting back off holiday (other than putting on a load of washing) was to watch the midseason cliffhanger to Doctor Who. Better late than ever! And, wow, was it a good one.

Right from the brilliant pre-title sequence with a very authoritive Rory and the re-introduction of the Cybermen, this was a rollercoaster ride with the Doctor - plus a few helpful aides - at war with those who took Amy and her baby. There were some fantastic Star Wars -esque effects with spaceships docking during this beginning sequence but it was a pity we didn't see more of the Cybermen. Bit of a wasted opportunity there.

In fact, because there seemed to be so much packed into this episode, there was much that was just glossed over. It was chock full of genius ideas but some characters were introduced and then far too quickly killed off. For most, it didn't really matter but it's a pity we won't see any more of Sontaran nurse Commander Strax. Newcomer Madame Vastra and sidekick Jenny seem to have gone down well with the fans though (and quite right too). Loved the little nod to Thunderbirds with her coachman Parker - "Yes, m'lady".

The revelation Of River Song's identity wasn't too surprising once we'd learnt the name of Amy's baby although for a moment I was flummoxed when River supposedly revealed all to the Doctor and yet it didn't seem clear to the viewer. I wondered whether I had missed something - I just had to be a little patient.

I thought Moffat wanted a break in the series to give us a wonderful cliffhanger to fret over but, I have to say, this wasn't much of a cliffhanger. The one at the end of the last episode was better.

Also I wonder how the eye-patch woman knew Amy was pregnant before she kidnapped her at a point before the beginning of this series? No-one else knew at that point. And why were the Clerics the bad guys here but the good guys in the Time of the Angels?

So, little Melody was taken to Earth where she was brought up in a spacesuit by the Silence until she escaped and may (or may not) have killed an older Doctor and then went on to regenerate. How do the Silence fit in with eye-patch woman? How is Melody/River supposed to help fight against the Doctor (I suppose if she was the one in the spacesuit that killed the Doctor then I guess she did the job)? How does this all fit in with the TARDIS exploding?

So, great episode but still lots of questions. And complex but in a good way (although both my wife and 9year old daughter were confused by what was happening during this episode). The next episode after the break sounds pretty awesome though - "Lets Kill Hitler".

Doctor Who: The Almost People

Spoilers ahoy!!!



So, did the Doctor's shoes dissolve when he sonicked fake Amy? Because he'd swapped them with the fake Doctor's earlier and as far as I could see he didn't swap back.

More importantly why did he sonic fake Amy? After an episode which tried to show that flesh versions of people were really no different to the regular people - so much so that a couple of flesh versions took over the lives of the regular humans at the end - the Doctor's melting of fake Amy seemed a little... harsh.

Anyway, I guess this episode of Doctor Who - the second part of the Rebel Flesh - will mostly be remembered for the last five minutes or so which was something of a game changer for this season (and which I've already spoiled above). Yet the rest of the episode was pretty decent too. Nothing wonderful, and it felt a little padded out, but reasonably thrilling, scary with a intriguing delve into what makes a human. The physical effects were pretty good although some of the CGI, such as when fake Jennifer turned into her monstrous form, were a little iffy. Some great characters and acting too - I especially like Cleaves, the leader of the group.

Still, it's that last little revelation concerning Amy that really ramped this up from an above average episode to an excellent one. It also means this "filler" episode was actually strongly linked to the series long storyline. So when was real Amy swapped for the ganger? When the Silence captured her? Or prior to that when Amy and Rory were on Earth sans Doctor? And why has the Eye Patch Lady taken Amy and so interested in her baby?

Next week it's the mid season cliffhanger and then a break over the summer. Unfortunately (well, sort of) I'll be on holiday so I won't see it until the week after. Eeek! I may have to steer away from spoilers until then.

Who - SNES style

(Click to see the vid. Hopefully)

By DoctorOctoroc.

Doctor Who: The Rebel Flesh

Part way through this week's episode of Doctor Who I thought we were going to see Rory die. Again. It was when the woman with the electric taser thingy was threatening to zap the Gangers and Rory tackled her to the ground. I thought he'd get zapped, die, but then we'd discover he was actually a Ganger all along.

But no, amazingly Rory remained unharmed this week. Although he has gone wandering off to save Jennifer (leaving his wife to the other Gangers) so who knows how he'll fare.

This weeks episode was good but not wonderful or exciting like last weeks or the first two weeks. Though it was better than the pirate episode. The pace seemed somewhat slower than previously and the story was given room to breathe. That also meant that occasionally things moved a little too slowly for me. Still it was enjoyable and suitably scary - it was the first episode my daughter had watched since the Christmas episode and it'll probably be the last for a while. She found it a bit too "freaky" (as she called it).

Quite a bit was made of the fact that the Doctor and the rest were unconscious for an hour or more but we haven't really seen the effect of that. Are Amy and Rory gangers? Perhaps even the 'original' people are actually gangers and the originals are elsewhere?

We'll just have to wait until next week for the second part. And then the week after it's the midseason cliffhanger. Already!

Q&A with Neil Gaiman

Over on The Guardian website, Neil Gaiman has answered a number of questions about his Doctor Who episode The Doctor's Wife.

It explains a number of those niggling questions about that episode, such as why we didn't see more rooms inside the TARDIS or learn more about Idris (a lot of it boils down to limited running time and money).

Doctor Who: The Doctor's Wife

So that's where the Tenth's control room appears. We'd seen pictures of Amy and Rory in the old control room and here it appears as an archived room in the TARDIS. A back-up, as it were.

This week's episode was all about the Doctor's relationship with the TARDIS as 'she' finally found her voice. And what a fantastic episode it was. Just brilliant.

When the only complaint I can make was that the only bit of the TARDIS we saw (other than that old control room) was lots of the same corridor then it can't be bad. Well, sometimes it went a bit too fast to keep up as well I suppose...

Still all I can say is marvellous!

Then there was that little prediction at the end: "the only water in the forest is the river". What with a river, a forest and the silence this all sort of points towards the Silence In The Library/Forest Of the Dead episodes from a couple of series ago. Are they still in the library then? Perhaps saved in the computer like River?

And, of course, a pond is made of water. So does this mean River is Amy Pond? Or that Amy doesn't really exist, only River?

Yet another mystery to add to the rather large list.

Next week there's another two parter and it looks pretty spooky!

Monster Monday

by LeightonNoyes

Doctor Who: The Curse of the Black Spot

I thought the sonic screwdriver didn't work against bolts? Hmmm....

So, the first of the "filler" episodes in the sixth series of Doctor Who aired yesterday and although it wasn't terrible (I don't think any episode of New Who has been rubbish) it wasn't very good either. It didn't help that - as Heropress pointed out - it was just a rehash of The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances story (though not as good by a long way).

The problem with the Moff's plan to have a fascinating and complicated series long mystery, one that even stretches back to the beginning of Series 5, is that he hasn't written every episode. Some of them will be written by others and, although they may be competent, they feel a little jarring because they don't advance the series plot. Russell T Davies' didn't really do this sort of things - his "Bad Wolf" and Harold Saxon running themes were merely hints pointing towards the final episode(s) - and so different individual stories written by others (though often rewritten by Davies which helped give them some consistency) weren't a problem.

Of course, individual episodes not written by the head writer can sometimes produce some wonderful results. Take Blink for example. But the Curse of the Black spot wasn't one of those.

Whereas last week there seemed to be too much crammed into 45 minutes for my liking, here there seemed to be too little. A Siren who "attacks" a pirate ship and apparently "kills" anyone who has injured themselves turns out to be a holographic doctor from an alien, alternate-dimension spaceship which has somehow 'fused' with the pirate ship. There wasn't enough to fill a whole episode so let's throw in the captain's son and a long drawn-out sequence where one of the companions appears to die, shall we? And, y'know, I thought travelling from one parallel dimension to another wasn't generally possible...?

The idea that the 'siren' appeared from reflections seemed somewhat inconsistant as well. Was it only when a reflection of an injured person occurred that the siren appeared? If so, how did the Doctor and Amy (neither of whom had any injuries at that point) summon the siren to go and save a drowning Rory? It all seemed a bit vague.

Oh and why were all the others strapped onto beds in the 'sickbay' when the siren brought them to the alien ship whereas the Doctor, Amy and the Captain were just left unattended in a corridor somewhere? And why did the Doctor run out of the TARDIS when it started dematerialising? Why not stay in it to see where it went?

I could go on. There were a number of niggling things that didn't really work.

And throwing in a few bits linking to the main mysteries of this series - the Doctor looking at a TARDIS monitor of Amy's quantum pregnancy *again* and the strange woman with an eyepatch at a little window - didn't really raise this above just okay. In fact, all it probably did was remind people how much better the last two episodes were.

Next week though, it's Neil Gaiman's episode which hopefully means we'll get something a little better. The trailer certainly looked interesting!

Doctor Who: Day of the Moon

WTF?

Well, the ending of last Saturday's exciting episode of Doctor Who - Day of the Moon - was a bit of a shock and pretty much added yet another question into the mix. Is the girl a Time Lord? Or, perhaps, she was the one in the spaceman suit who shot the Future Doctor, stole his regeneration energy and is now using it. Maybe...?

Can't say I was keen on the old 3 months later start. It seemed a bit of a cheat after last weeks cliffhanger ending and meant things were a bit messy at the beginning of this episode. Amy shot the girl but it seems they did check on her, or ask her who she was or take her with them. And the Doctor didn't investigate the tunnels or the Silence. Instead they just seemed to run. But surely as soon as they looked away from the Silence they would have forgot about them?

And why was Canton pretending to hunt down the Doctor and his companions? It wasn't because the Silence made him do it. Nor was it because they were interested in the Doctor - he's been on Earth a lot of times before and they've not bothered. It just seemed to be because the whole subterfuge thing would be cool.

The forgetting the Silence thing came and went as well. Sometimes as soon as they looked away they'd forget everything whereas later, in the TARDIS, they were talking about them (but this time just couldn't remember what they looked like). A bit inconsistent.

Anyway, after a shaky start, things improved. It was a very action-packed, fascinating episode and the time just flew by. But I felt it tried to pack too much into 45 minutes. This storyline could've been used for a 13 episode series in some shows.

Then there was that wonderful ending (after the Doctor had turned everyone who watches the moon landing into a murderer!) with the girl that came as a bit of a wonderful shock. Slightly ruined by the bit beforehand where the Doctor said that maybe they'd go on a few adventures for a while. Why isn't he investigating Amy's quantum pregnancy? Or the Silence and where they got that makeshift TARDIS? Or find the girl? No, instead let's suspend the series story line for 4 episodes of "filler" - thoroughly entertaining and wonderful episode (no doubt) - but filler nonetheless. Ah well.

So a good episode but not perfect. And there's still lots of questions left to be answered (i hope they'll be answered). Roll on Saturday and y'aaaahhh - pirates!

A few pseudo random thoughts

A couple of things just before the second episode of this series of Doctor Who ("Day of the Moon").

Wouldn't it be interesting if River Song turned out to be an evil villain?

In her past (the Doctor's, and our, future), she worked out that the both she and the Doctor were meeting in opposite temporal directions. And so now, before the Doctor finds out she's evil, she's playing all nice and flirting with him. And when we find out she is a villain, that's when it all changes.

Also, how did that spaceman appear and then disappear from that lake in America? No one had seen him beforehand and then he/she was just standing there. Did he, maybe, have a vortex manipulator? Who do we know with one of those?

Doctor Who: The Impossible Astronaut

I waited months for that?!? Really? All that build up, for what...?!

Nah, I'm just kidding.

The first episode of Series 6 of new Doctor Who was actually quite wonderful (though perhaps not as great as I'd built it up to be in my head beforehand). Some fantastic performances from everyone - and Karen Gillen has improved immensely as Amy Pond - for this funny, scary mystery.

Steven Moffat is a master of the one-liners and amusing little situations and he's also probably the best current Who writer at bringing the scares. His Weeping Angels from Blink and gasmask-wearing little boy from The Empty Child were wonderfully creepy and here he introduces us to the Silence (or are they the Silents?). They're similar, in a way, to the Angels in that you only remember them whilst you're looking at them. It's a fascinating idea and one that leads to the possibility that the Silence have been around for ages - long enough it seems that they've invaded us and burrowed under the Earth - it's just that we don't remember them ever coming here. Funnily though, they're strangely not as silent as they're name suggests, as one stretched its mouth (looking a bit like Edvard Munch's 'The Scream') to talk to Amy.

Loved that scene with Amy and the Silent as the alien blasted Joy in slow motion, btw.

Mystery-wise, we're left with loads of questions. Who was the spaceman who killed the future Doctor? Why did he kill him? Why did the Doctor go calmly to his end? Who/what are the Silence and what do they want? Why have they got a makeshift Tardis like the one seen in The Lodger underground? Who's the little girl calling the President? Who is River Song and which 'good man' did she kill? What bearing will Amy's pregancy have on things? And how will Amy, Rory and River stop the Doctor from being killed?

Regarding the future Doctor, it's surprising that he's still the Matt Smith version in 200 years (what years are these? Earth years? Gallifreyan years? It must be tricky to measure these things as a time traveller!). And, are we to assume in all that time, the only people he's met and trusts are Amy, Rory, River and an older Canton Everett Delaware? Surely he'll have met other companions in that time?

At first sight it also screws up the TV programme in that now the Doctor can't regenerate. So that means Matt has to stay on for the rest of the lifetime of the show. Of course, I suspect the Moff will come up with some clever cheat around this. Or have the Doctor regenerate numerous times but then, in just under 200 years time, decide to regenerate back into the shape of Matt Smith. We know Time Lords can choose what they look like when they regenerate - Romana did it - it's just that the Doctor has (up until now) preferred a more random approach.

So who shot the Doctor? A part of me was reminded of the recent death of Captain America when we saw the Doctor getting shot by the spaceman. The gun was some sort of hi-tech affair which made me wonder whether it was storing the Doctor's soul - or regeneration energy - to be used on another body. Perhaps then it was the Doctor inside the spacesuit? Or, considering that River has killed someone in her past (our future), perhaps it's her?

Talking of River, she seemed to act rather strangely after climbing down the manhole into the Silence's tunnels. After coming back up and saying everything was clear (because she had forgotten seeing the aliens, I guess), she decided she needed to check again with Rory. Not sure why. But then, when we see Rory coming down the ladder River is feeling a little unwell in the tunnel. Why was this? Was it merely a diversion from Amy's morning sickness or was there something else going on here?

And how does River travel around in time and space so much? Does she have her own Tardis?

Anyway, the fact that I'm analysing this, considering ideas and postulating theories, is very encouraging. It means it was an extremely intriguing episode, and hopefully one that everyone else found interesting and not confusing (I do wonder if younger kids were left baffled by it all). Together with sensationalist hyperbole to grab headlines and attentions, it'll hopefully continue to secure Doctor Who's place at the top of Auntie Beeb's output.

Only four days left to go until the second part...

Goodbye Sarah Jane

Just found out that Elisabeth Sladen, who played one of my favourite ever companions to the Doctor - Sarah Jane Smith - has died today after battling with cancer.

That really is sad sad news. RIP Lis.

:(

(Dork Tower cartoon by John Kovalic)

Building the Tardis

Ooooh... Building a MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) console inside a TARDIS. Wow. I want one.

And there are also some new Doctor Who images released.

Considering we see the Doctor, Rory and Amy in the pirate-y third episode of Series 6 and River is supposed to return in the cliffhanging seventh episode, I wonder who the heck dies in the series opener as teased by Steven Moffat!?!

Death and the Silence in Doctor Who

Bleeding Cool have posted the covers of the latest Doctor Who Magazine which lets slip a little twist. Namely, one of the characters - either the Doctor, Amy, Rory or River - is going to die.

Head writer Steven Moffat has said that it isn't a trick and whoever it is is definitely going to die. Now, if that was really true it would pretty much mean that the Doctor himself was out of the running. I mean, you can't have Doctor Who without the Doctor (well, maybe for an episode or two but no more). I'd also say that Amy was out of the running as well. She's still the Doctor's assistant/companion and I don't think they'd just replace her at the beginning of a new series.

So that leaves Rory and River, both of whom have died before. Of course, if River died then it would sort of ruin her ending in the Silence in the Library. Which, finally, leaves Rory...

Now, this all assumes the death will not be, in some clever way, undone. As with other previous deaths, I suspect that won't be the case. Generally speculation, based in part on the Doctor's words in the trailer ("Amy Pond. My life is in your hands" or something similar), is that it is the Doctor who dies (killed by River, perhaps, to fulfill her destiny in ending the life of a good man, as mentioned in the last series?) and Amy and Rory have to go back and change time to stop it from happening. Which, if true, means the death is a bit of a cheat, after all. I guess we'll find out when the new series starts on April 23rd.

Whilst I'm here, another thing to note is that people have been wondering what "The Silence" is that will apparently 'fall' in this series (and predicted to fall way back at the beginning of the last series). The BBC's recently released press pack contains a sort of Q&A section with Steven Moffat in which it says:

"Will there be new monsters? They're ... scary. Very scary. And, ohh, I don't want to say more – there's the Silence in episodes one and two, the Siren, in episode three, the Gangers in five and six, all these are more than just freaky costumes and masks; there are SCARY ideas here".

And later, Matt Smith says,

"I think The Silence are one of the greatest monsters of recent years and certainly one of the scariest. They're also very clever and I love the fact they've been silently working since the dawn of time to make The Doctor come unstuck."

Which all seems to indicate that, yes, the Silence are the Grey-like race of 'monsters' or aliens we've seen hiding in the background in the trailers. So, I wonder what's so bad about them 'falling'?

And then there's the cliffhanger that'll come at the end of episode 7 (before the series takes a break and comes back in autumn):

"Normally our cliff-hangers are lives being threatened; with this one, three live are changed FOREVER".

I wonder which three lives these will be? Probably those of the Doctor, Rory and Amy when they finally discover who River Song actually is, I guess!

Finally, here's the synopsis to the first episode - The Impossible Astronaut:
"Four envelopes, numbered 2, 3 and 4, each containing a date, time and map reference, unsigned, but TARDIS blue. Who sent them? And who received the missing number one? This strange summons reunites the Doctor, Amy, Rory and River Song in the middle of the Utah desert and unveils a terrible secret the Doctor's friends must never reveal to him.

Placing his life entirely in their hands, the Doctor agrees to search for the recipient of the fourth envelope - just who is Canton Everett Delaware the Third? And what is the relevance of their only other clue: 'Space 1969'? Their quest lands them - quite literally - in the Oval Office, where they are enlisted by President Nixon himself to assist enigmatic former-FBI agent Canton, in saving a terrified little girl from a mysterious spaceman".

The Writer's Tale: The Final Chapter

Although I already have the hardback version of The Writer's Tale, this paperback version - which I happened to stumble across whilst at my local library - isn't just a straight reprint. This edition is broken into two halves; the first half is a copy of the hardback version (minus the reprinted scripts which are now online) whereas the second half contains all new material from Russell T Davies' last days on New Who. There's over 300 pages of new stuff included - so, in a way, it's like two books in one, one old and one new.

The new material mostly covers the last year of David Tennant's (and RTD's) tenure on the show during a sort of "quiet" period, when only four specials - The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, Waters of Mars, End of Time - were produced. Well, and Torchwood: Children of Earth and various Sarah Jane Adventures episodes, of course! It's done in the same style as the first book, with emails between Russell and Benjamin Cook discussing the shows, although this time there's perhaps slightly more emphasis on Russell himself and less on writing Dr Who in general.

Because this essentially consists of emails, it often feels like reading someone's blog or a forum inhabited only by two posters. Being someone who reads blogs and forums daily, this means it's quite a easy and entralling read. Of course, it's also fascinating to discover the behind-the-scenes process that goes into putting out Doctor Who.

So, as with the hardback version, this is highly recommended if you're a fan of New Who or want to know the creative process behind writing for a successful TV show.

Now, if only Steven Moffat would write a similar book...

When Who?

Bleeding Cool has posted a banner image indicating that BBC America will start showing the new series of Doctor Who on the 23rd April (Easter Saturday). Which is probably a good guess for when it will start in the UK.

Woohoo!

Doctor Who: The End Of Time

"Your song is ending, sir. It is returning, it is returning through the dark. And then... he will knock four times."

So went the prophecy first stated in Planet of the Dead all those months ago and here, in the latest Doctor Who special - The End of Time - it was Gallifrey that returned, albeit briefly, from the dark in a wonderful, dramatic, emotional (though slightly flawed) story.

The return of the Time Lords - from their dark, shadowy chambers locked within the Time War - was also short-lived. But then we knew it would be because they were fated to die by the Doctor's hand. But during their brief appearance they showed up here on Earth surrounded by bright light (a lovely bit of juxtaposition there) full of pomp and ceremony, with Timothy Dalton playing a spittingly marvellous Rassilon.

All that was after the Master had returned.

And, of course, is wasn't "he" that knocked four times. No, his constant drumbeat - echoing the theme tune and the heartbeat of the Time Lords - was too obvious. Instead, a glass-tapping Wilf in Part Two was a lovely little goose-bump-raising, and somewhat sad, twist towards the end of this final story for the Tenth Doctor.

"I don't want to go"

That's not to say that everything was perfect. Far from it. Part One of the End of Time, shown here in the UK on Christmas Day, was a bit messy. It's like Russell Davies couldn't decide what plot to follow and who was the ultimate enemy. We had the Master returning, then supposedly dying, then some guy called Naismith turning up with an Immortality Gate, then those green, spiky Vinvocci aliens, the Master reappearing and turning the whole Earth into copies of himself and finally the prophesised return of the Time Lords. All in Part One. Whew.

There was a lot going on, a lot of plot holes and unexplained threads, and the pacing was a bit choppy what with the running from one derelict site to another. I enjoyed Part One immensely (and it was nowhere near as bad as some on the internet have made out - it was far from the Worse Episode Ever that some are screaming) but I could see that it had numerous faults and seemed to be a little bit of a letdown considering all the hype.

But I needn't have worried - Part Two was better. Much better.

"Worst... Rescue... Ever!"

Again, it wasn't perfect. But I thought it was a fantastic, thrilling rollercoaster ride to the end. I love stories that circle back around to hint at the beginning and/or reflect earlier plots. At the start of New Who, the Ninth Doctor had just escaped the Time War, obviously devastated by the loss of his race and his actions to prevent their madness from spilling over into Real Time. And here, we have the Time Lords trying to escape the Time War and the Tenth Doctor agonising over whether he should send them back into the Time Lock and to their deaths.

Rassilon's use of the Visionary, a prophecy-spewing madwoman, echoed Davros and mad Dalek Caan from the Stolen Earth special over a year ago. Dalek Caan managed to break into the Time Lock and get Davros out of the Time War, so of course here we have a story where the Time Lords, the arch-enemies of the Daleks, break out of the Time War using a maddened Master. And, in both of those stories, planets appear in the sky above Earth.

Then there was the whole going back to the beginning of 2005 to visit a younger Rose Tyler before she met the Doctor. And it was snowing on the estate, just like it was in the Tenth's first story. Thus the end returns to the beginning.

Some have complained about the Doctor's "reward" at the end, stating that it went on too long or that it felt more like RTD's self-indulgent reward than the Doctor's, but I loved seeing the Doctor visit all his past companions one last time. (And, anyway, the Fifth Doctor took nearly a whole story to "die" and then regenerate from spectrox poisoning in what is considered one of the best Who stories of all time. What's a few hours suffering from radiation poisoning compared to that?). Visions of past companions seem to be a recurring theme with the Doctor's regenerations.

There have been other complaints but, overall, I thought this was wonderful telly! And a great end to David Tennant's, and Russell Davies', tenure on Doctor Who.

"This song is ending, but the story never ends"

It been a great four years with New Who. Who'd have thought this little ol' sci-fi show would be one of the most viewed on British telly before 2005? And now, other than the last 30 seconds of this story, Matt Smith's and Steven Moffat's time on the show starts in Spring. I can't wait!

Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars

"The Doctor. Doctor. Fun" ;)

Although, surprisingly, I wouldn't describe the latest one-off Doctor Who
special "The Waters of Mars" as 'fun'. Yes, it was exciting, entertaining
and yet another great episode. I would also say that it was much better than
the last special "Planet of the Dead". But it was also dark and disturbing.
In fact, it reminded me a little of the last 5-part Torchwood series. Well,
it had a different story, a different cast, a different setting, and...
okay, so the only similarity was the somewhat downbeat ending.

The watery enemy, the Flood, were interesting but I found them not as scary
as I thought they'd be - perhaps I'd been spoiled by the many trailers I'd
seen. Mind you, the main "base-under-siege" storyline was really just a
backdrop to explore the Doctor's evolving character. He's the last of the
Time Lords, the Time Lord Victorious, the only one in charge of the time
continuum-thingy, which leads him to the realisation that he can change the
rules. He can stop running, take control and save everyone. But should he?

This cracking, intriguing episode was, like many of RTD's stories, peppered
with holes. How did a simple filter stop the Flood (at least for a few
weeks) when several inches of steel slow them only for a few minutes? Will
the suicide of Adelaide Brooke in her own home really have the same impact
to her grand-daughter? Where did those rocket boosters come from at the back
of Gadget? Why does Bowie Base One have such long, empty corridors that
appear to have no function when the material to build them would require
significantly more fuel than a few fold-away bikes? And so on. But, in the
end, these problems are minor complaints.

Overall, this was great stuff, with nice little touches and a fitting lead
in to the next chilling two-part special at Christmas. Only five weeks to
go!

Easter TV

Here’s a little run-down of what I watched over Easter. Overall it was slightly disappointing considering the big build-up.

Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead

I thought this was pretty good, though perhaps not "Doctor Who Special" good. It felt more like an exciting 45-minute episode stretched out to last an hour. So, it didn't really feel like a special but entertaining nonetheless.

I thought Michelle Ryan was quite good, and not as annoying as I thought she'd be, as Christina. And Lee Evans - as a bumbling, nerdy scientist - was brilliant. "I love you!" Indeed we do. The others on the bus were just glorified extras, there to humanise the situation and give the Doctor even more of a reason to get back to Earth.

I was expecting a more shocking revelation about what had happened to the desert planet and how the spatial rift had appeared, perhaps something more mysterious than a bunch of planet-stripping creatures that flew around the planet creating a doorway to the next world on their menu. And the flying bus at the end was just a little too much, in my opinion.

Otherwise, very good (just not brilliant).

Red Dwarf: Back To Earth

Whereas the new three-part Red Dwarf special, shown on backwater digital channel Dave, was merely average.

Yes, it was good to see Lister, Rimmer, Cat and Kryten back together. Considering it's been 9 years since Red Dwarf was last on, they hardly looked like they'd changed. And I thought the effects were definitely a step up. So it certainly looked good.

But, for some reason, the whole thing seemed flat. The lack of a laughter track - whilst still appearing to leave quiet gaps after each joke - didn't help. The ending was a bit of a rip off as well - although there was a clue in the title ("Back To Earth" being very close to "Back To Reality"). I also didn't care much for the Blade Runner homage. It seemed to be going through the motions.

Still, new Red Dwarf is better than most stuff on TV. So, still worth watching.

Heroes: Into Asylum (vol 4 ep 8)

Heroes is also somewhat average at the moment. Sylar hooked up with that Hunter guy whilst Claire was off drinking with her dad in Central America. Meanwhile Peter helped out his mum. Hmmm...

Again, nothing much is really happening. It's okay but I'm not desperate to see next week's episode.