Author Archives: James Willetts

About James Willetts

James left Cardiff to go back home to Birmingham. He likes comic books, movies and comic book movies. He got into Doctor Who with the relaunch and is still painfully ignorant of any incarnation before 9. His favourite film is Jurassic Park and his favourite X-Man is Colossus. His Grand Unified Theory of Die Hard proved that Die Hard With A Vengeance was actually rubbish. In his spare time he paints pictures of Godzilla. Jonathan Ross follows him on Twitter.

Doctor Who Review – 7.08, The Rings of Akhaten

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Angry Sun God vs The Doctor

A little later than scheduled, our reviewer James Willets is here to pick over the bones of one of New Who’s most divisive episodes in ages.

There was a point about halfway through ‘Rings’ when I thought (realised?) that this was going to be one of my favourite episodes for a long time. After journeying to an intergalactic version of Camden Lock and rescuing this week’s plot-relevant moppet, we got a sequence so wonderfully constructed and unusual, it made me realise how rarely we get to see something different in Doctor Who.

This was the first episode in years that felt truly alien. For all its sci-fi trappings, Doctor Who can often feel like a trip though other programmes the BBC does – lashings of period drama, becostumed thespians and CGI Macguffinery and very little in the way of actual world building.

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Doctor Who Review – 7.07 ‘The Bells of Saint John’

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Clara on the phoneAs the Doctor tracks down Clara, and the Great Intelligence attempts to create a World Wide Web of Fear, James Willetts gives us his appraisal of the opening episode, The Bells of St John. Don’t forget to check out our commentary!

It’s that time again – new Doctor Who! And a new companion too – well, newish. Admittedly Clara has appeared in two episodes already, not that that’s done her much good, she’s already developing a habit of dying. She’s a more female Rory, basically.

And this then is her third introductory episode, and Moffat pads around the issue a little bit. We’re given a cold open first, to introduce the threat of the episode. The Internet has started killing people – it’s not Black Mirror, but it’s a pretty horrible conceit. Unlike Gas Mask children, clockwork dolls, statues or even libraries, we all have wi-fi in our house, which is always a good sign that something is going to be creepy.
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The Cape and the Cowl 2 – X-Men Death, DC “0” issues, Secret War and more

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Death of Xavier in Avengers vs X-MenJames and Olivia return to the world of comics in the second edition of The Cape and the Cowl! With the much-publicised death in Avengers vs X-Men, we stop to ask – wait, you mean Xavier was still around?! We also consider DC’s 0 Issues, look back at Marvel’s Secret War in Hazy Recollection, and make our recommendations for the best of indie comics right now…

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:06:46 — 61.2MB)

(Please note that this was recorded mid-September, but hasn’t been released until now because we were busy with Doctor Who and other stuff – sorry! Future episodes will be more current, we promise!)

Doctor Who Review – 7.5 ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’

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To follow our ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’ commentary, James brings you his review of the episode. Don’t forget to let us know what you thought too. Come along Pond!

So, goodbye Ponds. Over the course of the last two and a half seasons you’ve been exceptional. You and Matt Smith have consistently been the best things about nearly every episode of Doctor Who for the last few years, and I will sorely miss you.
From Amelia Pond waiting in her garden, to the introduction of Amy proper, waiting for her Doctor to return for her entire life, making the choice of Rory over the Doctor, then Rory and the Doctor – at the heart of Karen Gillan’s portrayal of Amy Pond has been true character growth. It’s easy to feel like Amy really has grown up with the Doctor over the last few years, and she’s turned into a kick-ass woman and half of one of the best relationships in sci-fi (up there with Han and Leia, Adama and Roslin or Zoe and Wash).
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Doctor Who Review – 7.4 ‘The Power of Three’

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The Doctor, Rory and Amy togetherThe Power of Three is, for the most part, an absolute cracker of an episode, of the kind that we haven’t had in quite a while. Whilst it may not have ended up being a Blink or a Midnight – an episode that will be talked about for years to come – it certainly marked a great improvement on the hum drum tone so far. It also felt much more like a classic Doctor Who episode than any other this series, and certainly more than many from the quiet relaunch under Moffat.

When I say Classic-Doctor Who I admittedly refer to it purely as something that, like Professional Wrestling or Star Trek, I find more interesting as a programming concept than an actual show. I’m still to watch much of the pre-relaunch Doctor Who – I’ve seen one full story and snippets of others and if I’m honest it’s not something that I feel any need to go back to. Continue reading →

Doctor Who Review – 7.3 ‘A Town Called Mercy’

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To follow our ‘A Town Called Mercy’ commentary, James brings you his review of the episode. Don’t forget to let us know what you thought too.

With three episodes of the series shown I’m pretty comfortable calling this. This will not be a season to remember.

 

‘A Town Called Mercy’ is the Back to the Future 3 of the series. Back to the Future was all nostalgic cool, goofy and fun that had something for everyone, like Dinosaurs. Back to the Future Part 2 took a darker tack, like Daleks. Back to the Future 3 was really, really Westerny. Like Mercy.

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