Tag Archives: Doctor Who

Doctor Who – The Curse of the Black Spot – Review

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Inconsequential, thy name is ‘The Curse Of The Black Spot’.

If ever a stand alone episode has suffered from the excessive momentum of its predecessors this was it. Whatever followed the massive cliffhanger from last week was always going to be a little bit of a let down, so instead of explaining anything, we’re just moving on. All those questions that we have are to be put to one side for a little bit as we get a lighter, less ongoing-plot heavy episode instead.

This is very much Doctor Who by the numbers. That’s not to say it’s a bad episode. It’s a pretty good episode, with one or two really good ideas, and an intriguing narrative. It’s just that it was exactly what you might expect from Doctor Who. There was no effort made to make it more than your standard Doctor Who, no twists, just your monster of the week time again! There’s pirates, and a mermaid, and a spaceship and everything. This is totally what Doctor Who is all about.

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Doctor Who Commentary – 6.01 ‘The Impossible Astronaut’

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The latest series of Doctor Who kicks off with the show travelling to America. The Doctor, Amy, Rory and River come together to discover what the world has forgotten about the events of 1969, but only after a deadly encounter with an impossible astronaut. We discuss all the twists and turns in our commentary!

This edition’s commentators:Caleb, Swithun and Peter.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:24 — 28.2MB)

Doctor Who – Day of the Moon – Review

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Wow. If last week left me reeling with just how they could possibly square the opening ten minutes then this one has totally blown apart any theories, thoughts or expectations that I might have built up over the previous 40 minutes.

It’s almost impossible to describe how excited I am about that.

For a long time Doctor Who has been a monster of the week piece. Word is there are two types of series. There are your monster of the week style series, like Doctor Who under RTD, where each week the villain is introduced and wrapped up in one. Think of your Scooby Doo’s, your early Smallville or Buffy. Great episodes could be thrown in but there’s no through line. Characters may develop, there may be consequences, but the plot of that monster doesn’t follow through over a series in an important way. What happens in that episode may be referenced, the villain may pop up again but there won’t be anything in that episode that you need to have watched in order to understand what happens next week, or in the season finale.

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Doctor Who – The Impossible Astronaut – Review

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The Impossible Astronaut, or ‘Silence in the White House’, starts off Season 6 of Doctor Who in the most ridiculously explosive way imaginable. In the run up to this series two things have been vigorously advertised; it’s American credentials (simultaneous broadcast with America, shot on location in America, set in a quintessentially American locale of the White House, featuring the American space programme) and that one character would die in the first episode.

Now, if you’ve ever seen any Sci-Fi at all, you’ll know how that works. One character will die means it’s a hoax or a dream or a clone, or there’s a handy hand lying around to siphon off regeneration energy into*. The character will come back, or a clone of them will, or their body will be possessed by a primal force, or there will be an alternate reality version of them appearing soon, who’s left handed or has a beard or something. What it never means is that that person is gone.

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The Half-Time Score

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We’ll be bringing you our verdict on series 5 as a whole very soon. But here are our half-time thoughts on the first half of the series, as polled mid-way through.

What are your overall impressions so far?

Aled: Good, I’ve enjoyed all the episodes, and there’s been a decent mix of Moffat scariness and general Doctor Who bonkers-ness. I like the continuity of the cracks in time appearing in most episodes, though whether they’re good or not will depend on the finale.

Swithun: It’s doing ok- started slowly and had the Victory of Merchandise, but the last two episodes [Vampires of Venice and Amy’s Choice] have seen an increase in quality. Let’s hope some more innovative ideas in the second half of the season.

Peter: Not the seismic shift in tone I’d been expecting; despite a welcome increase in the more overt fantasy elements, the show often seems reluctant to leave its comfort zone and Moffat seems to deliberately ape RTD’s style at times. But we’ve also been offered tantalising glimpses of something fresh and different and I hope we see more progress in this direction as the series continues. Most importantly, Moffat has made the show interesting again! Hoorah!

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Doctor Who – Vampires in Venice – Review

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‘Vampires in Venice’ is schlock. Pure and simple. It’s cheesy and silly and daft and sort of naff and everything about it is just brilliant. I really enjoyed this episode.

Now, much like Daleks in World War 2 this is an entire storyline that is entirely set up to appeal to people like me. It’s an entire storyline, much like Werewolves in Scotland, which is perfectly crafted for people who love period creature features. I have a love of alternate history which Doctor Who is a regular vehicle for appeasing. Vampires have a similar place in my heart, being one of those monsters with an iconic set of features that can still be rewritten and crafted to fit the demands of the writer.

There’s almost nothing else that could be so universally malleable as the Vampire. From Anne Rice to Stephanie Meyer, Bram Stoker to Joss Whedon, you have as diverse a range of monsters as is possible. Personally, I don’t care what my Vampires are as long as they suck blood. Make them friendly, let them fly, or walk in daylight, make them mutants, infected, aliens, whatever. Vampires in my book are always cool. It takes a lot more than sparkling in sunlight to turn me away from this.

Making them into fish aliens, yeah, I’ll manage.

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