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Moffat Who Take One

Doctor Who, Movies & TV 1 Response »
Apr 032010

Tonight was a crunch night for the revived Doctor Who, perhaps more so than when it returned five years ago. Back then whilst there was a love for the old show, there was almost a suspicion that it wouldn’t fly, wouldn’t work with modern audiences. However fly it did, and despite a quick change of leading actor after only thirteen episodes under the hand of lead writer Russell T Davies it became a massive success.

Not that everybody was happy. I know a good few long term fans who were less than pleased with the almost soap opera-ish aspects that RTD brought in, and thought that his plots were less than stellar. There were some good stories, the ones written by Steven Moffat being particularly noteworthy, but despite the detractors from within the existing fanbase it was a success.

Last year with David Tennant the incumbent and incredibly popular Doctor having decided to move on, the production team saw it as a good time to move on also. For the fans, especially the RTD detractors there was much rejoicing when Steven Moffat was handed the lead writer role – hopefully that will bring a much better standard of plotting, and back to something more akin to the old Who the old fans were craving – but at the same time the RTD Who had proved massively popular with legions of new fans. Moffat then threw a total curve ball by picking an almost totally unknown actor, Matt Smith to play the title role.

So as the UK sat down to watch, how was the first outing for Moffat Who?

I’ll try and not give away too many spoilers, however in our household it was generally well received. The well plotted and entertaining Moffat style from his previous episodes has certainly survived his promotion. The episode kicked off with a great post regeneration sequence, including a sequence with food that was vaguely reminiscent of trying to find food for our daughter Lucy.

Like RTD who there is still a good deal of backstory – whether it will annoy the fans in quite the same way as it did previously remains to be seen. However whilst RTD seemed keen at times to distance himself from so called classic Who, all ten previous Doctors do make an appearance. There are also references to the TARDIS library and pool, and a clothes scene that harks back to the one TV outing for the eighth Doctor. The other thing that appears is the Doctor who knows more than he is letting on, most prominent during the seventh Doctor era. At the very end, after leaving, the Doctor comes back and really pushes Amy to come with him. When she asks why, he makes a comment about being lonely – but take a look at what is on the screen that he hurriedly turns off before she sees…

Matt Smith is different from his predecessors, but still has elements of them. As Beth points out on a couple of occasions he delivers lines in a way that is much the same as David Tennant. Certainly his age doesn’t seem to matter. Like any actor taking on the role he’ll need probably the whole series to find his feet in the role properly, but he certainly seems to have made a good start. Karen Gillan also makes an impressive debut as the new companion, her frustration with the inability of the Doctor to keep time harking back to another companion who once famously said “A broken clock keeps better time than you, at least it’s right twice a day!”.

Taking a look on Twitter after the show, whilst there are a few people who aren’t happy, the overwhelming majority seem to have enjoyed the show. Moffat does seem to have pulled it off, and the show has transformed once again. New music, new production team, new stars, new TARDIS even – but still Doctor Who.

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Posted by Richard at 10:23 pm Tagged with: , , , ,

Comic Relief Treats

Asides, Doctor Who, Movies & TV No Responses »
Mar 152009

So the iTunes Store seems to be getting into the whole Red Nose Day support, and already have a compilation of clips from the night available. However the real treats can be found if you take a look at the Best of Comic Relief Volume 1 which contains Blackadder: The Cavalier Years, Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death plus Comic Relief contributions from Ricky Gervais, Catherine Tate and the Vicar of Dibley, and the Best of Comic Relief Volume 2 which includes a special Men Behaving Badly, and an infamous Ali G interview with Posh and Becks.

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Posted by Richard at 6:47 pm Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Matt Who?

Doctor Who, Movies & TV No Responses »
Jan 042009

_45343466_newdocotr226There must be a lot of pretty happy bookies this morning. If you check out the posted odds against potential new Doctor Who’s listed on Outpost Gallifrey Matt Smith is not listed, indeed his name only appeared in the press as part of a BBC Breakfast item. From that it can be pretty safe to assume that the bookies won’t be paying out much at all now the eleventh Doctor has been announced.

It has to be said that the announcement came as somewhat of a surprise, perhaps most to the guys over at Doctor Who fan site Kasterborous who got a hot tip and announced Paterson Joseph as the new Doctor back in November, resulting in a bit of an embarrassing apology after the announcement yesterday.

The thing to bear in mind is that although the production team, especially Russell T Davies were making lots of press comment about the casting process during the pre-publicity for the Christmas show, the senior members of the production team were totally changing, so despite the seemingly random names RTD was throwing about, the decision was made by Steven Moffat – RTD was told once the casting had been made, but had no input. The whole Paterson Joseph story seems to have started as a name amongst many, and his name in particular, partly thanks to his skin colour rolled up with events across the pond took off such that one bookie stopped taking bets on him as the new actor.

Throughout all of this, Stephen Moffat kept quietly out of the limelight, and pretty much as expected made his own decision, casting the person that he thought really nailed the part, Matt Smith, a rising star who whilst his work has impressed, hasn’t figured large with most of the general public. He is unknown enough that BBC News has done a special “Who on earth is Matt Smith?â€? item.

So what are my thoughts? I’m certainly inclined to trust the judgement of Stephen Moffat – they apparently saw Matt Smith second in the process, but carried on seeing a number of other actors, always coming back to Matt. Also, let us not forget that David Tennant certainly wasn’t a big star when he took the part, and earlier still Tom Baker was working on a building site when he got the part. Although well known actors have got the part in the past it is certainly not unusual for it to go to someone relatively unknown like Matt Smith.

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Posted by Richard at 4:27 pm Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

Let the Discussions Begin

Doctor Who, Movies & TV No Responses »
Nov 152008

So in amongst the usual selection of specials and weird cross-overs Children in Need last night included a preview of the first two minutes of the upcoming Christmas Doctor Who, The Next Doctor.

After David Tennant’s recent announcement there is much speculation over the title of the new episode, more so once you’ve watched the clip…

So is, as the title suggests, David Morrissey really the next Doctor? Is it the Doctor from a parallel universe, or an imposter? Beth is leaning towards the latter, in particular because he name checks things like the TARDIS and the sonic screwdriver, and then prominently says he is a Time Lord, me I’m maybe more towards the parallel universe, especially with the Cybermen around. Needless to say there is a good deal of discussion across the net as to exactly what is going on…

Posted by Richard at 5:37 pm Tagged with: , , , ,

Tying Up the Loose Ends

Doctor Who, Movies & TV 2 Responses »
Jul 062008

In talking about episode twelve of Doctor Who last week, I expressed the hope that we wouldn’t get a total cop out of a resolution to the Doctor regenerating cliff-hanger – so what did we get? A total cop out of a solution where the Doctor directs his regeneration energy into his hand in the jar. If the Doctor is able to partially heal and then stop the regeneration by redirecting remaining regeneration energy somewhere else, why hasn’t he done it before? It’s not as it it hasn’t been established that the Doctor has special healing capabilities before – the climax of Frontier in Space leading in to the beginning of Planet of the Daleks for example – however it wouldn’t have had quite such a big climax to lead into Journey’s End if they had done that. The regeneration energy is also needed as a vehicle for the creation of another Doctor from the hand in the jar, and to give Donna the abilities to save the universe, but also the reason why she must leave the Doctor.

Sadly, much as with last year, the cop outs extended to the way that the threat of the Daleks is dealt with. As the Doctor and his companions are trapped by Davros and the Daleks it becomes clear that Davros is very much not in charge – however this idea once started is just abandoned as the whole plan to destroy reality is defeated by a technobabble based solution revolving around a convenient machine in the Dalek base that allows Donna, now embrued with all of the Doctor’s knowledge having touched the hand in the jar, to remotely disable all of the Daleks, and for the half-human clone of the Doctor to destroy them all.

The previously unknown powers that might have been useful previously pop up again after this with the TARDIS hauling the planet Earth back home (although don’t thing too much about the effect of the Earth vanishing and then being hauled back into place might have on the rest of the solar system) and then in the final scenes the Doctor seems to be able to telepathically erase bits of Donna’s memory, again something that has not been seen before. This scene is equally frustrating because it is just rushed through – indeed it could be argued that Donna was mentally violated by the Doctor in that she is not given any choice about what happens – whether to die as a result of the effect of the merger with the Doctor’s mind, or to have those memories and all her memories of the Doctor removed, but to live. Certainly I think there would have been more pathos to the whole thing if Donna herself had to choose.

However, like much of the ending, it was rushed, as there were quite a lot of farewells to get in. First off, Sarah Jane heads off, then Jack heads back to Torchwood apparently taking Martha and Mickey with him. Rose and her mother are deposited back into their parallel world, along with the clone of the Doctor – when you think about it, a bit of a lousy consolation prize for the girl who has declared undying love for the Doctor, being left with his potentially unstable clone. All of this then leaves the Doctor heading off alone once again, as he has done at the end of each season aside from the first.

I think what bugs me most about this, is that much as with last year, and probably more than episode twelve, this is a reminder that Russell T Davies was a childhood fan of the show, and through his series finale episodes in particular he produces the kind of massive spectacular stories that most childhood fans produce. But having to produce a vaguely coherent story he then has to resolve all of these spectacular ideas, which is where the whole thing falls down. When you look back at episodes such as Midnight it is apparent that he can produce a good story, however all to often he goes for the big spectacle ideas that end up coming over as being not much more than fan fiction with a budget. When looking back at the last four years it is interesting to note that the well respected writers such as Steven Moffat and Paul Cornell are the ones that are producing stories that push the format with new ideas, and who generally avoid dealing with established characters or monsters. Whether Steven Moffat will continue to eschew established monsters, and especially avoid the kind of end of season spectaculars we have come to expect remains to be seen. If he doesn’t, we can only hope that Steven Moffat will realise that at the heart of the story we still need a coherent plot.

So were there any redeeming features? Once again, Julian Bleach delivered a fantastic performance as Davros, and certainly I hope he gets the opportunity to reprise the role, perhaps with a bit better plot to work with. Bernard Cribbins again gave a good performance in the closing scenes as the Doctor returns his granddaughter. Certainly you can’t help wishing that perhaps the character would have got at least one journey in the TARDIS during his time on the show. There were a few laughs during the programme too, with a running joke between Donna and Jack, and the return of characters such as Jackie and Mickey giving the opportunity for some reminders of previous relationships.

All in all, with the departures of Phil Collinson, Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner, this was very much a swan song episode for the three of them, tying up a load of loose ends and finishing up the stories for characters created during their era in charge of the show. Much as in the past, when the next full series returns in 2010, I’m expecting that it will feel rather different, as Steven Moffat makes his mark. Whilst there may be elements that will be carried over, certainly other things will be rather different – getting rid of fanfic style finales for a start we hope.

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Posted by Richard at 3:34 pm Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Can You Keep a Secret?

Doctor Who, Movies & TV 2 Responses »
Jun 292008

Back when Doctor Who was re-launched, after a well received opening, the whole thing was very nearly derailed by the shock news that Christopher Eccleston had resigned from the role that leaked out after just one episode. Following on from that debacle they’ve always tried to keep the big shocks secret, although that didn’t stop rumours about the return of the Master last year, nor did it stop the Sun from printing a picture of Davros in the run up to the finale this year. However, I’m certainly not the only fan who was rather surprised when this happened at the very end of last nights episode…

So what exactly is going on? It was announced ages ago that David Tennant was signed on for the specials next year, indeed he has apparently been seen filming the show for Christmas already. Only last week there were reports that the BBC was offering him £1.3 million to stay in the role. About the only high profile “David is leavingâ€? came from Catherine Tate back before Christmas. So has the BBC finally succeeded in keeping something secret from fandom? We’ll have to wait until next week to find out – certainly the trailer is giving nothing away, and the press office release is still only listing Tennant in the part.

Anyway, what about the rest of the episode? I’d mentioned last week my fear that it would be a return to a traditional Russell T Davies episode in that all the numerous guest stars would crowd out elements such as the plot. Certainly from the blink-and-you-miss-it nature of the opening titles, plus a further list of names captioned over the opening scenes, it was clear that there were a lot of big names to fit in. But to some extent, looking back at the episode as a whole although there were a lot of strands there wasn’t really that much of a coherent plot, indeed although we establish that it is the Daleks who have Stolen Earth, by the end of the episode we really have no idea of why the planet has been taken, it having taken most of the running time of the episode for the Doctor to even find where the planet has been taken.

To do this he first heads off to visit the Shadow Proclamation. After being mentioned throughout the series over a number of years, their appearance was frankly rather a disappointment, after a great looking external shot the actual location looked like an office foyer. From an action point of view the Doctor and Donna effectively explain the back story that has been building up, so we get a list of missing planets which alongside several from the new series includes Calufrax Minor, the name being familiar to people who remember the Douglas Adams story The Pirate Planet. Ultimately it is the missing bees, which have been mentioned in throwaway lines that leads the Doctor to a way to locate the missing planets, and takes the TARDIS to the Medusa Cascade, referred to in Last of the Time Lords as the location of a time rift sealed by the Doctor during the Time War. However when the TARDIS arrives, there is no sign of the missing planets and the trail goes cold, leaving a despondent Doctor.

Most of the action is occurring on the Earth, with Torchwood, Sarah Jane and Martha ultimately being brought together through a secret communications network by Harriet Jones in an attempt to contact the Doctor. (It’s worth noting at this point that in a surprising lapse the BBC have missed a trick by not having the phone number used linked to something – 24 for example linked up a special surprise for people who phoned Jack Bauer’s number after it had appeared on screen.)

Once the signal is boosted enough to break through to the TARDIS and Harriet Jones is discovered by the Daleks and apparently exterminated – although note that we don’t see her die. Torchwood again are discovered by the same means, and Sarah Jane ends up face to face with two Daleks too. However it seems that the Daleks are well aware of the Doctor’s allies. Davros it is revealed has been saved from his death during the Time War by Dalek Caan who having escaped at the end of Evolution of the Daleks has broken the time lock around the Time War to save his creator, albeit at the cost of his sanity. Davros however has kept him alive as he now seems to be able to predict the future – making vague predictions about the arrival of the Doctor, the death of his most loyal companion, and the arrival of the Dark Lord.

The one factor that doesn’t seem to have figured in the plans – and indeed is someone never seen by the Daleks is Rose, who despite the Earth being shifted is still quite able to transfer in and out of the stolen Earth at will. She and the Doctor finally meet again at the climax of the episode, shortly before the Doctor is floored by a glancing hit from a Dalek gun, and the apparent regeneration process begins.

So what is going on? There are lots of strands to connect, and quite a few throw-away lines that I’m sure will come back to be significant – in particular the mysterious Osterhagen Key that Martha is given as she escapes New York, but later told never to use by Harriet Jones. The fact that Dalek Caan has broken the time lock around the Time War may yet prove to be significant, along with the stolen worlds being hidden outside the normal flow of time. I’m sure that there will be some more significance to some of the things that Dalek Caan has said too.

In all it was an enjoyable episode, but with some classic Russell T Davies techno-babble to hurry the plot along. I’m more inclined to credit the crisp direction from the highly experienced Graeme Harper that rose above the script for the final result. It wasn’t only the good director that made it enjoyable, there were also some fabulous performances from the extensive guest cast – Julian Bleach being a particularly creepy Davros, and some great moments from Bernard Cribbins reliving his earlier encounter with the Daleks with some well aimed paint gun pellets. The crossover elements relied somewhat on knowing the other programmes, and certainly there were lines in those scenes that would be totally lost on people who hadn’t watched them, however nothing that really required that you had watched. As you can no doubt gather from my comments further back, the ending was a real surprise, and certainly if David Tennant isn’t leaving I hope we don’t get a total cop-out of a resolution.

They have now released a trailer for next week – needless to say it doesn’t really give that much more away:

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Posted by Richard at 4:20 pm Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

"Surprise" Return?

Doctor Who, Movies & TV 1 Response »
Jun 222008

The trailer for Doctor Who next week started showing tonight – I notice that aside from a fully lit shot (for that see the Sun) – they are not bothering to try and hide the “surprise” return of Davros much any more…

Also from the flashes of faces in the trailer, it does look like this is going to be a three-way crossover between Doctor Who, Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures – whether it will be brief cameos or something more we’ll have to see, but with that many people, and a load of returning characters from the main series I doubt there will be a lot of screen time for many of them.

Fingers crossed that in amongst the cross overs and guest stars RTD left room for a decent plot – it has got Graeme Harper directing which is a plus, and the trailer looks good though…

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Posted by Richard at 10:37 pm Tagged with: , , , , ,

What If?

Doctor Who, Movies & TV No Responses »
Jun 222008

Doctor-light episodes seem to have become a way for the Doctor Who production team to do something a bit more experimental. This has happened right back from the early days when a lead actor needed to take a break the Doctor or his companions would find one or other of them turned invisible as in The Celesital Toymaker, transformed temporarily into a different actor as occurred in The Mind Robber or imprisoned as happened in The Time Meddler. In the new series we’ve had a couple of Doctor light episodes where the main cast gets involved in the story but the core characters are separate. This year we had a pair of stories, with Donna taking a break last week, however it is rather more difficult to sideline the Doctor in the same way.

In Turn Left the chosen route was a classic alternative history story, exploring what would have happened if Donna had not taken the job where she initially gets involved with the Doctor. As a result, she is not present to snap the Doctor out of his almost trance like state during the climax of The Runaway Bride, and in the alternative version of events the Doctor dies during the encounter. Throughout the rest of the episode we see key events in the series through the eyes of Donna as an ordinary person. So the events of Smith and Jones are seen, but Martha Jones dies, and it is Sarah Jane Smith who gets involved, and again she doesn’t make it out alive. The next big event series wise is the return of The Master, but of course since he is released by the Doctor after the events of The Runaway Bride, in this alternate reality he is still trapped in the far future. Next up without the Doctor, the replica of the Titanic does smash into London, wiping out millions and plunging the UK into chaos. Thanks to a bit of intervention from Rose Tyler, Donna is safely away in the country. Moving on to the latest stories, the Adipose don’t much affect the crippled UK, and with petrol rationed, the Sontaran Stratagem has much less of an effect, but it is Captain Jack and Torchwood who help defeat that threat, but again at the cost of their lives – the immortal Captain Jack is left stranded on Sontar.

All of this goes towards removing all the possibilities for salvation when towards the climax of the episode stars in the night sky start to disappear as part of what Rose refers to as the approaching darkness. Using the last remaining power from the TARDIS, which UNIT had salvaged, but which following the passing of it’s owner is slowly dying, Rose sends Donna back in time to stop her past self from making the fateful decision that leads her away from the Doctor, turning right rather than turning left. Ultimately Donna sacrifices herself in the alternate timeline, and as she lays dying, Rose appears once again and whispers two words to tell the Doctor.

Much as with Utopia last year, episode eleven was very much about putting things in place for the series finale. With that episode as with this, it is the last few minutes of the episode that are key. This time around the big reveal moment is when Donna repeats the whispered words which both confirms the identity of Rose, and also highlights the importance of what is happening – Bad Wolf – the words that Rose scattered through time to guide herself and the Doctor towards their fateful battle against the resurgent Daleks. In much the same way, from the glimpses in the trailer, it seems the last Dalek who escaped at the conclusion of Evolution of the Daleks may have started anew – perhaps with a little help – and once again Bad Wolf is guiding the Doctor and his companions towards another battle, and again from the clues laid down in this weeks episode, the cost is going to be high.

What made the episode, was the big conclusion, and the expectation it produced for the finale. Despite some strong performances, I thought the rest was pretty derivative. The “What Ifâ€? idea has been done in a lot of other series, and whilst it was interesting to see the alternative history, it was in some ways pretty predictable, and a lot of the episode was very much a whole series of continuity references for fans – and yet another temporal paradox. The almost messianic idea that Russell has used previously was clear as well, everything is bad without the Doctor. What might have been more experimental would be if some things had actually been better had the Doctor not been involved. The giant beetle monster and the whole concept of what it did really didn’t hang together overly well either – and the question of how a dying Donna in the alternate timeline that ceases to exist was able to give a message to the Doctor is something that really doesn’t make sense either. As the SFX preview of the finale has said cramming an episode with continuity references entertains the fans, but sometimes when you look at it rationally, peeling back the references, there isn’t much underneath – sadly my opinion this week was that it was primarily a vehicle for the fan pleasing references, and didn’t do much underneath. Hopefully things might be better next week.

Turning to next week, it looks like we’re going to get multiple trailers, the first of which is online already.

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Posted by Richard at 4:26 pm Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,

Something Different

Doctor Who, Movies & TV 2 Responses »
Jun 152008

It’s good to be surprised from time to time, and a surprise was exactly what we got when we watched Doctor Who last night. The episode that went out was the first of the last block of four, all written by current lead writer Russell T Davies, and it has to be said that there are a good few people who don’t look forward to his contributions, indeed some people actively avoid watching now. Therefore it was a rather pleasant surprise when Midnight turned out to be probably one of his best scripts, taking a small cast, limited sets, and a simple idea and turning it into a very creepy episode.

As with previous seasons, by this point of the filming schedule they have to make two episodes simultaneously. In previous years episodes such as Blink and Love and Monsters have had minimal contributions from the main cast, this year the programme is doing something slightly different so this week Midnight was the first story since the Deadly Assassin to feature a main narrative where the Doctor has no companion, and also the first since Genesis of the Daleks where the TARDIS does not appear at all. Next week the Doctor will have only a minimal contribution, with companions Donna and Rose carrying the main story.

Perhaps the reason why Midnight is so creepy is because there isn’t a monster as such. The Doctor and Donna are relaxing on the planet Midnight, a place which is bathed in deadly radiation that would vaporise any living thing that walked on the surface. A leisure corporation placed a holiday resort on the surface, and runs tours to see some of the amazing sites on the planet. The Doctor decides to join one such tour to see the amazing Sapphire Waterfall, leaving Donna behind. Thanks to the deadly radiation, the tour shuttle is totally enclosed, leaving the passengers unable to see outside for the four hour trip, however part way through, the transport mysteriously stops, and the driver reports seeing a shadow moving outside. Then the passengers hear something hitting the outside of the metal transport – at first they think it might be rocks – but they are rocks that repeat the knocks they make on the inside. The transport is then violently shaken, and the power fails, at which point one of the passengers starts acting very strangely and repeating everybody else, getting to the point where she is simultaneously speaking with everybody else. The Doctor attempts to take charge, arguing that this is a new lifeform that should be understood, whilst his frightened fellow passengers demand that the possessed passenger be thrown outside. As the Doctor rapidly loses control, he too is possessed, and the passengers decide that he too should be thrown outside.

During the whole course of the episode you neither truly find out exactly what the creature is, nor do you actually see it – all the time it is merely possessing other characters. It doesn’t actually do anything particularly threatening either except repeat the words of other characters, but it is this repeating that builds the tension and adds to the fear. Compared to many Russell T Davies scripts it is a much more adult story, very psychological, and relying on characters rather than special effects – as guest star (and son of former Doctor Patrick Troughton) David Troughton said on Confidential, it was much more of an old style episode that we’re used to now. As such I’m not quite sure how it would have been received by some of the younger fans of the programme, however I suspect it will be a nice counterpoint to the Dalek/ex-companion-fest that we’re expecting over the last three weeks of the season.

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Posted by Richard at 3:19 pm Tagged with: , , ,

Forest of the Dead

Doctor Who, Movies & TV 2 Responses »
Jun 082008

Years ago when Star Trek: The Next Generation did a two part episode, it seemed to be almost a given that part two would be a bit of a letdown, that the exciting cliff-hanger built up in part one wouldn’t go anywhere much in part two. Steven Moffat on the other hand seems to produce second parts that whilst they aren’t more of the same, are still equal to the first part.

Take his episode of Doctor Who shown yesterday, Forest of the Dead, the conclusion of Silence in the Library. Whilst it continued from the end of the previous episode, the focus was rather different. The major focus last week had been on the Vashta Nerada, who this week were there as a threat, but with little further exposition, indeed by the end of the story they had not been defeated, but instead the Doctor had negotiated a truce with them in order to give him the time to rescue the four thousand people who had been saved by the central computer when the library had originally been taken over.

This time the main focus of the story was on Donna, who had been saved by the computer, and was starting to live within the virtual reality within the computer itself. We also discover that the girl seen previously is in actual fact the preserved consciousness of a dying child, who had saved the occupants of the library, but was now struggling to keep the four thousand personalities in check. The mysterious Doctor Moon is in actual fact a representation of the moon of the planet, an artificial satellite placed in orbit to maintain the computer core.

Whilst Donna is trapped in this virtual world, in the real world the temporal paradox around the Doctor and River Song is deepened when in order to persuade the Doctor that he should trust her, River reveals that she knows his real name – one of the longest running mysteries in the series (the title of the show is actually a question – Doctor who?) – needless to say it doesn’t get revealed to us the viewer. However the revelation is enough for the Doctor to trust her, to the point that he is caught out when she knocks him out in order that she might sacrifice herself to save the saved people of the library, rather than the Doctor. All is not lost however as thanks to the temporal paradox, the future Doctor knows when River is going to die, and has rigged the sonic screwdriver he gives to her to save her consciousness, allowing his past self to transfer her into the data banks of the computer.

Despite River spending most of the episode carrying around a book of spoilers – stories of the Doctor’s future, he doesn’t look. The most he gets is a description of the last time River met the Doctor, and the knowledge that the TARDIS doors will open if the Doctor snaps his fingers, something he tries out at the end of the episode. The Doctor deliberately leaves the book behind as he leaves, although we the viewer, if you are quick with the pause button get a little glimpse at the very end of the episode as we look over River’s shoulder as she reads from the book…

So after a tour-de-force from the new lead writer of the series, for the last four episodes we are back with the current lead writer, Russell T, with firstly a pair of lead character light episodes, Midnight being mainly the Doctor, and Turn Left being companion focused featuring Donna and the much anticipated return of Rose.

Incidentally, if you weren’t up and watching TV this morning, you would have missed David Tennant talking about (amongst other things), his upcoming turn as Hamlet, plus a bit about Doctor Who, including the standard “when are you leaving” question, to which he gives the usual answer! However, you can catch up with the interview thanks to the BBC News website.

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Posted by Richard at 3:01 pm Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Are You Afraid of the Shadows?

Doctor Who, Movies & TV No Responses »
May 312008

After having induced an irrational fear of statues amongst the youth of the nation last year, Steven Moffat has certainly had a good go at making them afraid of shadows this time around!

Much as he did with his previous two part story for Doctor Who, the excellent Empty Child, Silence in the Library leaves you with a stack of questions at the end of it’s forty-five minutes. The bemusement comes right from the beginning, with the pre-credits sequence that finds a young girl talking to a psychiatrist about visions she has been having about a giant deserted library, however as she is describing an ongoing vision suddenly her empty library is broken into by the Doctor and Donna. After the opening credits we get a little bit of flashback to bring the time travellers to the same point in the story, so we see the Doctor and Donna landing in the deserted library and looking around, discovering that their arrival is not an accident – the Doctor has received a personal message on his psychic paper summoning him – and that although they are the only two humanoids on the planet there are more than a million million (a long-scale billion, rather than the now more common American billion) life-forms detected – but why can’t they see them?

What is interesting is that when we see the meeting that occurred in the pre-credit sequence from the others side, the Doctor and Donna are merely meeting a security camera. When the girl in shock snaps out of her vision, the security camera fails, but as the Doctor with his sonic screwdriver attempts to reactivate the security camera, the girl feels the effects in the other reality.

the Doctor and Donna are not without people to talk to in the library however. They have been told what has happened to the library thanks to a message delivered by one of the automated nodes, which chillingly are robots with real human faces, apparently donated to the library after death. The first node they meet recounts the last moments of the last people in the library. Later on we discover that whilst nobody lived, the last four thousand people on the planet were ‘saved’ – but what does that mean?

the Doctor and Donna are not alone for long. They are joined by an expedition of archeologists brought in by the family who own the library, coming to find out what has happened. The team is lead by Professor River Song, the woman who sent the message to the Doctor and seems to know him very well. Unfortunately to the Doctor she is a total stranger. River Song is a surprisingly rare thing in the series, especially considering the programme is about a time traveller, someone who the Doctor has yet to meet, but who has certainly met him a number of times before. I suspect largely because of the confusion it induces, and complications for the writers, the Doctor always tends to meet people linearly, certainly this is the first occasion I recall him having not met someone who has met him. It does seem from the trailer for the episode next week that even the Doctor cannot resist finding out about his own future…

Once the exploration team are on the scene, the action kicks off as fairly swiftly one of the team is killed in gruesome fashion, leaving only bones and tattered remains of her clothing. The Doctor describes the cause as being Vashta Nerada, swarm creatures that live in the dark, and strip a creature of it’s flesh. In a typical “terrify the kidsâ€? moment the Doctor says that they exist all over the universe, even on Earth, hiding in shadows, waiting for prey. They appear just as shadows, so when later on one of the exploration team inexplicably gains a second shadow, the Doctor knows something is wrong with him.

As he has done previously, the Doctor gets his companion to safety, transporting her, he thinks, back to the safety of the TARDIS, but unbeknownst to him something goes wrong, and it is not until a few minutes later, being chased by Vashta Nerada, the Doctor finds a node with the face of Donna starring back. The node confirms that Donna too has been ‘saved’, much like the four thousand or so others.

Then there is just the question of the girl. During the episode on a number of occasions the world of the library, and this other reality cross over, with the Doctor and the girl managing to communicate, and her almost robot-like reporting when Donna has been saved. There is certainly something significant going on, as on the wall of the house in which she is are what are obviously the drawings of a child, but is that a wolf in one, and someone that looks rather like Rose in another? Even more intriguing is towards the end of the episode when Doctor Moon, the psychiatrist tells the girl that the library in her visions is real, not her reality, and that she is the key to saving people in the library.

Like all the best first parts, it leaves you with a ton of questions, and wishing you didn’t have to wait a week for part two!

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Posted by Richard at 11:19 pm Tagged with: , , , , ,

Doctor Who Mid-Season Preview

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May 252008

After the general despondency induced by a whole load of depressing Eurovision voting, there was the main event of the evening (to some people), the Doctor Who mid-season preview, the now traditional special trailer we get to make up for the fact that the programme has been bumped for a week.

First off, no secret of the fact that Rose is definitely coming back, although this is definitely more of a tough gun wielding Rose than before, and the Doctor seems happy she’s there. In terms of other rumoured returning companions there is no sight of Captain Jack or Sarah-Jane Smith.

In terms of plot give-aways, we’re certainly going to have to contend with a generation of kids with an irrational fear of the dark after next week I’m sure – but darkness also seems to figure elsewhere, with stars apparently disappearing in the night sky. Rose refers to a darkness coming from across the stars at one point too. We also get a lot of quick fire clips of explosions, what looks like a fire in the TARDIS, and also the Doctor apparently swimming through the time vortex.

It is also pretty clear from the trailer that the Daleks are back in force, so my guess would be that they are turning up in the finale. You also get a pretty good hint that Davros is going to return, as the trailer includes something that looks very much like an updated version of the character moving out of shadow, but which of course cuts before you get a clear sight.

Much as with all good trailers, it dangles a whole load of stuff in front of you, without really giving that much away…

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Posted by Richard at 6:02 pm Tagged with: , , ,

New Doctor Who Executive Producer Confirmed

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May 202008

So after months of speculation, the BBC has finally confirmed what most fans suspected, that Russell T Davies will be handing of the reigns of Doctor Who for the fifth season – the second part of the rumour is that David Tennant will be leaving at the same time, which hasn’t been confirmed or denied.

One aspect of the discussion about Russell leaving, was always a discussion about who would replace him in the job of executive producer and lead writer. The hope amongst fans was always that Steven Moffat, as the writer who has produced the most consistently good stories throughout the new series, would be persuaded to take the job, but many thought it unlikely that he would. I’m pleased to say that he has been persuaded, and has been typically humorous in his quote on getting the job:

“My entire career has been a Secret Plan to get this job, I applied before but I got knocked back cos the BBC wanted someone else. Also I was seven. Anyway, I’m glad the BBC has finally seen the light, and it’s a huge honour to be following Russell into the best – and the toughest – job in television.

The arrival of a new producer in the past often sees a change in direction or focus, and I suspect this changeover will be no different. Quite what will happen I don’t know, but certainly if his previous contributions to the series, and his other work on series like Jekyll, I, and I expect most of the fans have pretty high expectations – as he has said, one of the toughest jobs in television, with probably one of the most vocal fanbases too. Good luck Steven!

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Posted by Richard at 11:25 pm Tagged with: , , ,

The Unicorn and the Wasp

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May 182008

Last nights episode of Doctor Who was perhaps one that could be classed as primarily an entertaining romp. The basic plot was your regular Doctor against a monster – in this case a giant wasp – but around that was placed a classic Agatha Christie murder mystery at a stately home, with guests being killed off one by one, plus a notorious jewel thief on the prowl, and complete with Agatha Christie herself in attendance.

Structured into the plot is also Agatha Christie’s well publicised disappearance – although since that actually occurred in December, the summer garden party and trees in full leaf don’t exactly fit. Needless to say the explanation for her disappearance, leaving her car in Surrey and reappearance a few days later in Yorkshire is explained in the programme as being amnesia caused by her final encounter with the giant wasp followed by a trip in the TARDIS, resulting in a bit of a paradox as the Doctor deposits Agatha Christie where he knows she will later be found.

Gareth Roberts and Russell T certainly had some fun with the script. The first murder is classic Cluedo, with Professor Peach being murdered with the lead piping in the library. From there we have someone killed by a falling statue, and stabbed in the back at dinner, ending up face down in the soup course. You of course have the local vicar in attendance, and a butler too, and lots of people with dark secrets. The team also have a fun time with flashbacks – which never quite match up with what the protagonists are actually saying. It all finishes up with a relatively low speed car chase in classic cars setting everything in place for the disappearance. Buried in the script are also numerous references to classic Agatha Christie book titles, and also Donna inadvertently giving Christie a number of story ideas. The episode also references previous episodes with Donna remarking on how amazing it is being with Agatha Christie, almost as amazing as meeting Charles Dickens with ghosts at Christmas…

In some ways this was a bit of a comedic interlude before we get into the more serious stories in the second part of the season, kicking off with the much anticipated (and apparently very frightening) Steven Moffat story Silence in the Library, leading in to the return of Rose as part of the final four episodes which are all scripted by Russell T, usually indicating that they are fairly important episodes in terms of the series. In the case of one of the four episodes the title has yet to be revealed for fear of giving too much away. Suffice to say that the Daleks have appeared in the series trailers, but are not appearing anywhere else in the series as far as we have been told so far…

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Posted by Richard at 5:24 pm Tagged with: , , , , ,

The Doctor's Daughter

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May 112008
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After all the speculation as to who the titular daughter was going to turn out to be, what we in fact got in The Doctor’s Daughter was a new character – an extension of the continuity rather than an attempt to weave a story within the established history of the programme.

As an episode it wasn’t bad – although the plot somewhat fell apart when it got towards the end with the idea of the war only having been going on for seven days – especially when you took a look at the human general. However, the basic premise of Jenny being created and the chance to explore how the Doctor dealt with his new family tended to rise above the holes in the plot. Perhaps the only part that felt really unnecessary was the scene where Martha falls into the quicksand and is saved by the sacrifice of the Hath who is accompanying her – it would have made more sense had it been seen and used as an example to the warring humans and Hath, but taking place as it did away from the main action there didn’t really seem to be much point, except maybe to remind Martha of the cost of travelling with the Doctor and why she stopped before.

To some extent, Martha seemed to be present primarily in order to give the Hath view, as the character of Donna was needed to counterpoint the reaction of the Doctor to his new, and potentially rather violent daughter. Alongside this, as his daughter, Jenny was able to challenge the Doctor on some of his own actions when they appeared contradictory in a way that other characters maybe cannot – in particular his criticism of what she was.

Ultimately though, what the story gave us is another Timelord in the universe (and perhaps a character designed to appeal to another audience demographic) – and from the comments at the end of the accompanying Doctor Who: Confidential, that were as close to spoilers without actually giving away the upcoming plot – one who we are going to see again before too long.

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Posted by Richard at 5:05 pm Tagged with: , , , , ,

The Poison Sky

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May 052008
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The conclusion of the current two part Doctor Who story – The Poison Sky – proved to be just as enjoyable as the first. Chief amongst the spectacular moments was the first time on screen we’ve seen Sontarans in battle – in the original series more often than not we only ever saw one or two of the creatures at any one time. This time, although the humans later fought back, initially they were totally outgunned – as Sontaran Commander Skorr is heard to say at one point, “This isn’t war, this is sport!â€?

Needless to say the Doctor defeated the attack on the Earth by using the terra-forming equipment that was mentioned only in passing in episode one to ignite the Sontaran gas that was polluting the atmosphere. However, in the end it was former Sontaran ally Rattigan who pushed the button that destroyed the Sontaran battle cruiser.

The episode was full of references to both old and new Doctor Who – it seems that now there is enough of the new series to allow writers to reference other stories, the production team are a lot less afraid to reference classic elements. For example the Brigadier is mentioned at one point (referred to as “Sir Alastairâ€?), when the Doctor bemoans the fact he has to deal with Colonel Mace and that the Brigadier would be better. Amongst the more amusing moments, when asked to put on a gas mask, the Doctor references The Empty Child when he says “Are you my mummy?â€? The other significant reference, which is definitely a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, was the brief appearance of Rose on the TARDIS view-screen – definitely something that will be explained later on in the series, and certainly related to her earlier appearance in Partners in Crime.

The conclusion of the episode was also a bit of a cliff-hanger, providing the reason that Martha, who had been saying throughout both preceding episodes that she wanted to stay on Earth, ends up travelling in the TARDIS again, as just as they are finishing their good-byes the TARDIS is gripped by an unknown force that sends it travelling across the universe. The big clue being that the jar containing the Doctor’s hand bubbling furiously, much as it has done at key moments in previous episodes. We then get a tantalising glimpse of what is to come in The Doctor’s Daughter next week.

The episode next week certainly has got the fans speculating due to the title, but the production team are being typically vague in what they have given away. We have been told that it is the Doctor’s daughter, but not much else – whether it will tie in to the only other relation that has been seen, the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan, and maybe gives an explanation as to why the Doctor and Susan were travelling together remains to be seen. Of course the other, totally deliberate piece of casting is that the part of the Doctor’s daughter herself is played by Georgia Moffett, daughter of Peter Davison who played the fifth Doctor.

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Posted by Richard at 1:00 pm Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,

The Sontaran Stratagem

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Apr 272008
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Last night, The Sontaran Stratagem marked the return of another of the classic Doctor Who monsters brought back for the new series – this time being one of Russell T’s acknowledged favourites, the Sontarans. Much as with the other returning monsters the advances in prosthetic effects, and the much increased budget for the new show have made a big improvement, so rather than the rather scruffy costumes from the monsters last appearance back in The Two Doctor’s this time there really did seem to be a vast army of cloned warriors ready to take over the planet. The same can also be said of this episode’s other returnee – UNIT (now renamed the Unified Intelligence Taskforce to remove the United Nations references) who unlike the fairly small contingent of troops that used to be seen onscreen in the past rolled up with a much increased number of troops giving a much more convincing army unit.

In many ways this episode was a classic Doctor Who/UNIT set-up, with a less than enthusiastic Doctor placed against Colonel Mace filling the familiar place in proceedings that in times gone by would have been occupied by Nick Courtney as the Brigadier. In much the same way Mace and the Doctor frustrate each other as the one tries to run his military organisation remaining sceptical to what is going on whilst the Doctor in familiar fashion appears like a whirlwind through a well organised plan. As at the end of this first episode of the two-parter the bulk of UNIT have yet to come face to face with the Sontarans, but I’m sure amongst the raft of other in-jokes that we can expect Mace to be ordering his troops to fire “Five rounds, rapidâ€? at the small chaps in the blue armour!

At this point in the proceedings, the actual the Sontaran plan is still unclear. The episode opened with an undercover reporter being thrown out of a school for the gifted, run by Luke Rattigan, a gifted child prodigy and millionaire. Amongst other things, his organisation has developed the ATMOS system, that cleans all carbon from car exhaust fumes, and also provides satellite navigation. The reporter, driving away tries to turn off the system, but can’t, discovering too late that it can also take over full control of her car as it plunges her into a river. The the Sontarans are providing Rattigan with assistance to produce these new devices – as we discover at the climax of the episode the ATMOS system also is the key to the Sontaran invasion plan, producing poisonous gas from installations in millions of cars across the globe. They also have the ability to clone humans – at one point cloning Martha Jones who also makes a return appearance in this episode. Previous Sontaran episodes have highlighted the strategic importance of the Earth in the ongoing war with the Rutans, so perhaps this will become more clear next week.

Unlike the new Cybermen for example, the Sontarans are very much an updating of the creature, rather than a reboot, so there are still the humorous elements of the creatures that go right back to Robert Holmes original ideas where we get a great build up of military bluster from General Staal, before the Doctor briefly incapacitates him using a squash ball to injure the probic vent on the back of the General’s neck. Much as before the creatures singular military focus is actually shown to be a weakness at times, perhaps paralleled by the same limitations with regards to UNIT operating through a military view.

The next episode preview of course doesn’t give much away. Certainly it looks as though UNIT and the Sontarans are going to meet face to face. It’s probably fairly certain who will ultimately win – but at what cost? New Doctor Who has always shown the personal impacts of life with the Doctor on those left behind, and with the comments that Martha makes at one point I can’t help thinking that some of that may be coming the way of Donna and her family.

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Posted by Richard at 3:33 pm Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Partners in Crime

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Apr 052008
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I think perhaps it was a mistake to air the first part of the new series of Doctor Who quite so soon after the last part of Torchwood as it really marks out the differences between the two programmes. After a dire episode of Torchwood we get a great opening to the new series of Doctor Who – and Donna was nowhere near as annoying as I thought she would be either!

The plot of the first episode, Partners in Crime, revolved around a new alien called the Adipose. Through a front company they are marketing themselves as a miracle diet – except the diet pills are essentially alien eggs that absorb fat from the host species – in this case humans – and as the company adverts say, “The fat just walks awayâ€?. However, it’s not totally foolproof – if the process goes wrong, Adipose can form themselves from any biological matter in the host, reducing them to nothing.

At the beginning of the episode, both the Doctor and Donna are separately investigating the company, and through the early part of the episode you get the two characters narrowly missing seeing each other on a couple of occasions, in a sequence reminiscent of numerous comedy routines over the years. Ultimately they spot each other, just at the wrong time, when they are both outside the offices of Miss Foster, the person running the whole operation. All of those sequences work fantastically thanks to having two good actors in the form of David Tennant and Catherine Tate to pull it off.

This being a new companion, we also get to meet the family – or in this case re-meet them as her mother appeared in The Runaway Bride, and Bernard Cribbins character from Voyage of the Damned, Wilfred Mott, is Donna’s grandfather. In amongst the action and comedy moments, Donna and her grandfather share a touching moment where Donna confides in him what she is looking for – something she cannot tell her mother.

The story is interesting in that it could be argued that there isn’t really a ‘baddie’. The cute little Adipose are quite happily breeding, and in fact are a benefit to their hosts in that they are consuming something the humans want to get rid of – the point where one host totally decomposes is actually caused by Donna herself, who by fiddling with one of the pendants that the Adipose use to mark the hosts that she has stolen, interferes with the breeding process. Indeed the final mass birth is only triggered because the Adipose have been discovered by the Doctor the implication is that had they not been discovered, things would have carried on and nobody would have noticed. This is definitely one of those episodes where you wonder whether the interference of the Doctor was actually for the best. An ethical question to ponder no doubt.

After watching the Adipose leave, Donna and the Doctor head for the TARDIS – stopping only to pick up her suitcases from her car, Donna being one of the few companions to have packed in advance for her trip with the Doctor. At this point, Donna has to get her car keys back to her mother which she does by hiding them, and then giving a cryptic message to a woman waiting in the crowd. Now if you’ve managed to miss the pre-publicity for the series, when the woman turns around it will be a total curve ball, as the woman is none other than Rose Tyler – even more perplexing as she walks away she seems to fade into nothing. No explanations on that, but I’m sure all will become clear in a few weeks time…

All in all it was a great episode with which to kick off the new season, a good crowd pleasing story with a nice mix of comedy and action, and one Rose Tyler shaped mystery to tantalise for the weeks ahead.

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Posted by Richard at 10:33 pm Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,

More New Series Build-Up

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Mar 292008

A week to go now and a new trailer, building the expectations…

Posted by Richard at 7:45 pm Tagged with: , ,

Is Doctor Who Evil?

Asides, Church, Doctor Who, Movies & TV No Responses »
Mar 262008

So, Christians have found another topic of disagreement, to join the multitude of others. We now have a discussion over whether Doctor Who is evil… On the one hand we have Christians holding a Spirituality and Doctor Who event next month, and on the other we have a born again Christian in Trowbridge selling his Doctor Who collection describing it as “the greatest lie that Satan ever told“.

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Posted by Richard at 2:35 pm Tagged with: , , ,
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