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 – 7.2 ‘Dinosaurs on a Spaceship’

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Dinosaurs on a Spaceship reviewTo follow our commentary on last night’s Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, James is back with his review. Were the dinosaurs up to scratch and was David Bradley’s character a depart from tradition for a Doctor Who villian? Beware spoilers!

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship is pretty much hardwired to be something I enjoy. It’s got Dinosaurs, comedy and enough sci-fi in-jokes to choke a T-Rex. And unlike last weeks episode it actually has a plot, with a clear start, middle and end.

So on one level, this is the best episode of the series, a welcome return to form after the Daleks did their best to kill off Doctor Who as a programme (if not The Doctor himself). On the other hand, it has some of the worst CGI of new Who, some horrifically written jokes and adds very little beyond its key concept of Dinosaurs on a Spaceship.

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The Cape and The Cowl, Issue 1 – new comics podcast!

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Welcome to The Cape and the Cowl! In the new Comic Book Podcast, James and Olivia round-up how Superman kissing Wonder Woman damages female characters, discuss Rob Liefeld vs. Scott Snyder, review Kelly Sue DeConnick’s new Captain Marvel series, rundown the comics you should pick up this week, and try to remember what happened in Civil War.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:06:22 — 60.8MB)

Let us know what you think – are you an avid comics reader, and if so, what titles are you into? Or are you new to the world of comics, but interested in finding out more? James and Olivia will be back soon with another Cape and Cowl, so get in touch with your feedback, comments and questions!

Doctor Who Review – 7.1 ‘Asylum of the Daleks’

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Giant Dalek statue on SkaroJames gives us his review of ‘Asylum of the Daleks‘ as a first reaction ahead of our podcast commentary, coming later today online now! Does this story restore the Daleks as effective villains, or do they just rely on nostalgia value for their survival? SPOILERS ahoy!

It’s amazing that this episode wasn’t spoiled well ahead of broadcast, and it’s undoubtably better for it. There’s at least two twists in there that I don’t think anyone coming in blind will expect, so I’m going to save talking about those until the end so as to avoid spoiling it for you.

Let’s get right down to it. The Daleks are no longer a good Doctor Who villain. They survive more on nostalgia value than anything else, and there’s not really been a New Who episode that showcases them as potentially lethal threats since Dalek. The closest thing we’ve had to an episode in which the Daleks constitute a real threat since then is The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End, episodes which hardly stands as a high point for villainous masterplans.

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Fantasy Doctor Who Film Draft

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We’re four years old today! And to celebrate, we’re challenging David Yates to his own game and coming up with our very own Doctor Who movie.

High concept ideas. Multi million dollar budgets. A cast of thousands. These are just some of the things we’ll never be trusted with and, on the strength of this podcast, that’s probably a wise move. But we let our imaginations run riot and cook up not one, but six competing movie pitches.

Who are our Doctors of choice? Which monsters will they be facing? And who will write and direct the madness? Join us to find out!

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:17:52 — 71.3MB)

Once you’ve heard the podcast, head to our Facebook page or the comments section below to vote for whose film you’d choose to see. Find IMDB links on our choices page – contains spoilers for the podcast!

Sherlock – Review and Discussion

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There’s more to Moffat than Doctor Who but is Sherlock really the series that “puts the ‘sexy’ in sexist?”

As the second series of Moffat’s award winning adaptation draws to a close, Caleb Woodbridge, Sarah Burrow, Olivia Cottrell and James Willets put their heads together to examine the latest run of episodes. They also share their thoughts on the sexism furore and Moffat’s response, how the series fares against other adaptations (Robert Downey Jr, take a bow) and the show’s unique visual style.

This was our first attempt at recording an all-Skype discussion, so the sound quality does vary in places, but shouldn’t be too distracting.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:58 — 48.5MB)

Points of Who #2: Doctor Who movie rumours and series 6 DVD review

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In the second Points of Who, we go beyond our commentaries to catch up on the Doctor Who news and rumours.

In this episode:

  • Caleb and Sarah discuss David Yates’ original comments on making a Doctor Who film.
  • Swithun and James discuss Steven Moffat’s response and what they’d like to see from a Doctor Who movie.
  • Caleb and Sarah discuss the Night and the Doctor mini-episodes.
  • Caleb gives his in-depth review of series 6 as a whole.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:18 — 18.5MB)

Should Doctor Who go to Hollywood, or is it better suited for the small-screen? How does series 6 hold up now it’s out as a box-set? Let us know your thoughts below!