The Stolen Earth: First Glance
Posted by Paul | Filed under Current Episodes, Games and Merchandise
Crikey! Russell T sure knows how to have a good time. Seriously good episode from a fanboy point of view. Can you really fault it? The Doctor, Sarah Jane, Torchwood… even Harriet Jones makes a heroic return as the core of the resistance, the head of the Doctor’s Army.
The episode made sly references to the past and Bernard Cribbins did make a connection - as they make reference to moving planets and the Doctor comments that someone has tried to move the Earth before. In Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD, the Daleks attempt to move the Earth by dropping a bomb into the planet’s core - and The Doctor, his granddaughter, his niece, and a policeman, Tom Campbell (Cribbins), do everything in their power to ultimately defeat the maniac pepperpots.
I knew that Dave Ross was returning long before the start of the series, though I had hoped for one or two other surprises (like a return visit from a previous Doctor). The make-up was absolutely fabulous - incredibly realistic and deliciously creepy. The whole business that he chose to recreate the Dalek from his own body, making them of pure (if mutated) Kaled stock, fits into the whole Nazi slant and eugenics. The Cult of Skaro showed the same self-sacrifice for the survival of the Dalek race, cannibalizing their own armour - and Dave takes it a step further.
So, regenerating, huh? What is that all about? Given the general consensus that David had agreed to do the Christmas Special and the extended one-off episodes next year, what the heck is going to happen there?
Funny that 18 months ago to the day, The Sun reported that David would be leaving the show and started guessing who might replace him…
Tags: Bernard Cribbins, Captain Jack Harkness, Dalek Invasion Earth 2150 AD, Daleks, Dave Ross, Donna Noble, Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Martha Jones, Rose Tyler, Sarah Jane Smith, The Shadow Proclamation, The Time War
The Encroaching Darkness
Posted by Paul | Filed under Current Episodes, Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood
While I won’t yet write-up my overall view of ‘Turn Left’ (because I still have a lot of catching up to do), I enjoyed the nod at continuity when the Doctor referred to the beetle as one of the Trickster’s lot. The Trickster was the excellent villain from the ‘Sarah Jane Adventures’ episode ‘Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?’ - and given the return of the Sonic Lipstick wielding journalist in the next two episodes, this made for a great touch.
In respect of the next two episodes, I can only imagine a hoard of fans will probably be truly spent for the Summer - exhausted with the exertion of almost two hours of copious fan-w**king. The Doctor, Donna, Martha, Rose, Captain Jack, Ianto Jones, Gwen Cooper, Sarah Jane, Luke, the Daleks and Dave… it beggars belief. On top of that, I could have sworn one of the Daleks in the trailer (the red one) looked like the style faced by the alternate first Doctor in the cinematic movies in which Bernard Cribbins played a part… another superlative fan pleaser if it’s true.
Tags: Bernard Cribbins, Captain Jack Harkness, Daleks, Donna Noble, First Doctor, Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Luke Smith, Martha Jones, Rose Tyler, Sarah Jane Smith, The Doctor, The Trickster
The Angels Have The Phone Box 2
Posted by Paul | Filed under Games and Merchandise
Having experimented with creating my own hand-crafted versions of the t-shirt (and I’ve happily created several now for friends), I’ve taken the plunge of creating a Cafepress store of this ‘The Angels Have The Phone Box‘ design.
Tags: Blink, Cafepress, T-shirt, The Angels have the Phone Box
The Fires of Pompeii: First Glance
Posted by Paul | Filed under Current Episodes
The historical story had a key role during the adventures of the First Doctor, but over time they started to slip out of favour or became a backdrop to a tale set in the future. The Fifth Doctor, to my recollection, had quite a few, too. Now, we can expect something from the past in every season, or more than one if we’re lucky, and ‘The Fires of Pompeii‘ doesn’t fail to deliver at any level.
Great story, great scenery, superlative special effects - the Pyrovile looked appropriately menacing throughout. The early appearance of the Pyrovile sentry really made an impact, and the whole background of secret cults and visions provided a compelling and believable setting.
Again, Donna provided wit, wailing and a little wisdom, showing her willingness to stand-up to the Doctor when it comes to the crunch. Unlike other companions, who might have allowed the Doctor to leave while swallowing back their objections, Donna shows her backbone and ability to serve as the Doctor’s back-up conscience.
And wouldn’t you love to watch the archaeologist who digs up the frieze of the household gods, with Doctor, Donna and TARDIS? (Yes, I know that frieze isn’t the right word… but, it’ll suffice until I think of the right one).
Tags: Donna Noble, Fifth Doctor, First Doctor, Historical Episode, Pompeii, Pyrovile
Partners in Crime: First Glance
Posted by Paul | Filed under Current Episodes
So, having taken a holiday from writing anything at all… I’m going to do the lot in one go. Right…
‘Partners in Crime‘ - I have no trouble with. Thing is, while people rate it down scale from ‘Smith and Jones‘, I didn’t find the Judoon slash vampire granny episode any more compelling than ‘New Earth‘… and none of them (in spite of plastic Mickey) compares to the raw thrills and excitement of ‘Rose‘. Yes, flat blobs from another planet would have worked equally as well (if not better) in the ‘Sarah Jane Adventures’, but they provided a relatively safe basis for some good humour, an over-confident villain, and a meeting of Time Lord and companion.
The silent window conversation worked brilliantly and Catherine Tate proved she could (just about) play a semi-serious role without wailing and gurning every three seconds.
In hindsight, you might agree with the principle of starting the series on such a light hearted note, given the steady descent into darker (shadowier) realms since.
As a Yorkshireman once said: ‘Aye, very passable, that, very passable…’.
Tags: Catherine Tate, Judoon, Martha Jones, Monty Python, Plasmavore
Ill Fortune
Posted by Paul | Filed under Current Episodes, Torchwood
The new series of Doctor Who has been on for six weeks now. Torchwood ended a little before that. A lot to review - and nothing to show for it. Anyone would think I’d been ill or something.
Tags: Doctor Who, Torchwood
Reset: First Glance
Posted by Paul | Filed under Current Episodes, Torchwood
Martha makes her presence felt in the Torchwood Hub, assisting in a story, ‘Reset’, that’ll span at least three episodes. Why bring Martha in…? Well, aside from providing a welcome addition to the crew and an ideal way to draw interesting moments of interaction out from each of the other characters, she also provides an necessary story element. The arc needs a time traveller and a doctor who is neither Jack nor Owen. It couldn’t be Jack, because if the experiments performed on Martha had been performed on Jack instead, his invulnerability to death would have created a whole different ending. It couldn’t be Owen because, well… he’s going to be out of the equation and Torchwood needed someone to replace him. Voila! Martha saves the day!
Overall, an interesting episode - though I’m not sure about the medical research. The Pharm does some normal medical trials for cover and more dubious experiments on the side. However, why experiment with weird alien DNA when you genuinely have no clue what might happen? Why release these people back into the community? What did Doctor Copley imagine would come of the experimentation should one of the ’swarms’ hatch another giant mayfly - especially if the birth might happen almost anywhere?
Bizarre objectives aside, the CGI giant mayfly looked convincing enough and the story had plenty of energy and drive. A good dose of James Bond-style espionage and gadgetry combined with character interaction meant by the end of the episode the team held together well and Owen’s sacrifice didn’t seem like an entirely throwaway plot device. Nice to see Torchwood using some more alien technology - like the camera lenses. Onionskin plotting - investigating one thing only to discover something more itself covering up something else - handled well… and I just know we have another Resurrection Glove coming (that’s the funny thing about gloves, isn’t it Ianto… they always come in pairs…).
Tags: Martha Jones, Owen Harper, Resurrection Glove, The Hub
Timing Malfunction
Posted by Paul | Filed under 21st Century Doctor, Games and Merchandise, Torchwood
Damn. I seem to have missed my opportunity to join the playtest for the Doctor Who Role Playing game, by Cubicle 7. That’ll teach me for not trawling the Internet constantly looking for references to Who. It’s unfortunate because they only announced the game in December and the playtest has, therefore, only been running for a few weeks.
Anyway - despite a sense of mild disappointment, I intend to plough ahead with the concept of running a post-World War One Torchwood campaign using the Call of Cthulhu system - partially because of the wealth of material, partially because the game system revolves around that period anyway, and also because I happen to find the system very easier to use. I shall post updates on how this moves along…
Tags: Call of Cthulhu, Cubicle 7, Doctor Who Role Playing Game, Torchwood
Adam: First Glance
Posted by Paul | Filed under Current Episodes, Torchwood
Neat from the outset, with subtle changes in the characters during the titles. Then we have Adam front and centre right away. Worked for me - though, as a power, seems like a whole kettle of fish to keep having to touch everyone and try to keep things straight in their memories. The panic to change Gwen was great, a rush job that left Rhys out of the equation. Slightly bemused by the apparent need to perform a Vulcan nerve pinch to attain contact on the first couple of occasions… It would have seemed more natural to touch Gwen on the arm, for example, rather than reaching for her shoulder - and therefore close to her face - which would surely make a suspicious individual flinch away. I imagine it came down to camera angle…
Ianto got to be cheeky again - Tosh: “You write about artefacts in your diary?”, Ianto: “Amongst other things…” (wink) - and then had Adam put him through some thoroughly harrowing false memories. The whole sequence of Ianto murdering women, with pig squeals instead of screams… utterly dark, utterly effective. Gareth David-Lloyd’s acting sure has come on since ‘Cyberwoman’ when that sobbing really didn’t convince me at all… Wrapped up in his long black coat, I could almost picture him in a long term career as a murderer.
The whole episode held up well, with lots of potential for some very different acting. Tosh turning Owen down for a date, face furious with indignation at the very thought… yeah, why not! Owen reminded me of Adrian Mole or something with the whole geek persona in place.
It was only the amnesia stuff that let me down a bit, as the story trailed off into an over-extended conclusion in the board room. The final effort by Adam to survive, however, managed to rescue the story somewhat… though I freely admit to being confused why the alien artefact contained sand, presumably from Jack’s homeworld.
And speaking of Jack’s homeworld… the best bit - Captain Jack’s accent is how they all talked in the Boeshane Peninsula. Obviously. Well done on that little bit of continuity jiggery-pokery!
Tags: Adam, Adrian Mole, Boeshane Peninsula, Captain Jack Harkness, Cyberwoman
Meat: First Glance
Posted by Paul | Filed under Current Episodes, Torchwood
I admit I might simply be a big softy with a bigger heart when it comes down to suffering. I could probably put it down to that quality in my character that made ‘Meat’ such an effective episode for me. Having spent the first three episodes in limbo, credited but no apparent, Rhys got his ample first outing for the season and did an effective job of stepping on toes and revealing the bad guys. The rest of the cast turned in fine performances, with Ianto continuing to shine with a couple of one liners and the CGI whale-alien doing a good job at roping in my sympathy and empathy.
A tale of just how callous humanity can be in pursuit of profit, ‘Meat’ showed Torchwood doing a very necessary task that, as Owen rightly highlighted, probably wouldn’t turn around the dark fate of Earth in the 21st Century. Like ‘Small Worlds‘ in the first season, Jack seemed resigned to taking the least pleasant but necessary path in the end, though Owen beat him to making the actual decision on the fate of the whale-alien. Poor thing.
Was there something ‘Countrycide’-like in the plotting? The team investigates, they get deep and end up captured, one of the team manages to crash into the midst of the proceedings and save the day… Maybe, or maybe not.
Tags: Captain Jack Harkness, Countrycide, Owen Harper, Rhys Williams
