Lively Doctor Who podcast commentaries, plus reviews and discussions of science fiction and fantasy in books, TV, films and more!

Torchwood Spoiler-free Preview – Miracle Day 5, ‘Categories of Life’

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Caleb Woodbridge previews ‘Categories of Life’, episode 5 of Torchwood: Miracle Day. As governments worldwide agree on the new “categories of life”, the Torchwood team goes undercover to discover the secrets of the overflow camps and their mysterious “modules”…

If you’ve been wavering over whether to stick with the series, this week may well be make or break. So far, Miracle Day has plodded rather than gripped, but events take a darker and more dramatic turn. This week brings some real shocks and revelations. Either you’ll be on the edge of your seat waiting for the next episode, or throwing things at the screen in frustration, or maybe even both.

‘Categories of Life’ is helped by keeping some of the cheesier conspiracy elements in the background: the focus is firmly on how society deals with the Miracle, without any off-the-peg Men in Black agents or mysterious spinning triangles. It’s all the stronger for it, and it’s possibly the first time that the scenes with Torchwood are as interesting as those with Oswald Danes and Jilly Kitzinger.

But while episode 5 pleases by actually making some bold moves, it sometimes frustrates with the clumsiness with which certain scenes and characters are handled. Sledgehammer subtlety would be elegant by comparison.

For all that, it regains a much needed sense of excitement and momentum, and is probably the best episode of Miracle Day since the series opener.

Episode 5 airs 9pm, Thursday 11th August, BBC1/HD, and our audio commentary will be online immediately afterwards. is now available.

Game of Thrones Review – 1.08: ‘The Pointy End’

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If you want a job done properly, do it yourself. But, as Game of Thrones plunges ever closer to its bloody climax, Kieran Mathers wonders if authors are the best people to adapt their own works. Our usual mild spoiler warning applies.

This week’s episode was written by the man himself, G.R.R Martin, author of the entire A Song of Ice and Fire series. Normally, I’d wonder why they called on the author to adapt his own material, as it calls for different skills – you don’t see Joanne Rowling writing the scripts for the Harry Potter movies, for example. But in this case it works. Martin has a huge amount of experience in writing screenplays for shows such as The Twilight Zone and I think it’s clear that, like Douglas Adams, he also understands the difference in format.

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Book Review – ‘Dead Souls’ – Editor: Mark S. Deniz

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Our book review thread is back! P.G. Bell dives into Dead Souls, a collection of short tales that charts the murky depths of mankind. 

Reviewing short story anthologies can be a tricky business. Each tale has to be judged on its own merits while the anthology as a whole – with its various authors, tones and voices – has to be considered as a cohesive unit. Many anthologies make life easier by opting for a particular theme, motif or character around which to group their stories but Dead Souls is a little more abstract.

As editor Mark S. Deniz makes clear in his foreword, the anthology uses its title (taken from a song by Joy Division) as its starting point, launching an examination of “human nature through short stories about people, people who do terrible things.”

That sounds clear enough, and you could be forgiven for assuming the book sits firmly in the horror genre, especially given Reece Notley’s gorgeous, if disturbing cover.  But it soon proves to be a rather more nebulous beast.

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Torchwood Commentary – Miracle Day 4: ‘Escape to L.A.’

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Caleb Woodbridge and P.G. Bell give our commentary on episode 4, Escape to L.A. (check out our spoiler-free review), including Tea Party politics, the ethics of euthanasia, and the possible return of the Slitheen. We also consider Torchwood’s uncertain future, and wonder whether the show can go on without Russell T Davies at the helm.

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What did you think of the latest episode of Miracle Day? What did you think of Ellis Hartley Monroe’s  “Dead is Dead” campaign? Who do you think the mysterious Families are? Let us know your thoughts!

Torchwood Review – Miracle Day 3, ‘Dead of Night’

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James Willetts shares his thoughts on last week’s episode of Torchwood. It seems he’s a glutton for punishment. Don’t forget to download our commentary for Episode 4: ‘Escape to LA’, available immediately after the UK broadcast tonight!

Torchwood, Torchwood, Torchwood. What the heck is going on here then?

Whilst the last few episodes have been all over the place in terms of realism, characterisation, plotting and holding an audience’s attention I’m still happy to watch this. No matter how bad it is, the innate draw of sci-fi, or just a neat ‘what if’ are enough to keep me going. Something has to be really bad to lose me entirely. I’m not one of these people who think life’s too short to waste on bad TV, or low budget B-Movies, or spending an evening of my life trying to find some Superhero themed music*.

Some people might see it as a character flaw. Personally, I think it’s more of a triumph. Anyone who’s read anything I’ve ever written, knows that I frequently dislike the shows I watch. Just because I have a tolerance for nonsense, doesn’t mean I can’t recognise it when I see it.

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Video Games Review – ‘Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team’

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This week, resident games geek Olivia Cottrell indulges her inner (and outer) nerd in the franchise that swallowed so many of our adolescent hours. And there’s no need to fork out for a new Codex…

Impossible Podcasts, I have a confession to make. My name is Olivia Cottrell, and I am a former Warhammer 40,000 tabletop gamer. Yes, some of my most formative years were spent hunched over tiny plastic figurines huffing more paint fumes than was probably good for me. I can tell you why painting an Ork vehicle red makes it go faster. I have read no less than five Dan Abnett books. I even, Emperor help me, know what a Krootox is. The Warhammer 40k universe, with its bold strokes of evil aliens versus grim (but noble) bald men lends itself exceptionally well to a certain style of tongue-in-cheek video gaming, and I was excited to revisit that world without accidentally gluing my hand to the table.

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