Doctor Who Spoiler-free Review – 6.12 ‘Closing Time’

Caleb Woodbridge previews ‘Closing Time’, episode 12 of Doctor Who by Gareth Roberts.

Two hundred years later, and the Doctor is preparing to meet his end at Lake Silencio. As part of his “farewell tour”, he calls in on Craig Owens (James Corden from The Lodger) to make a social call, but with mysterious power shortages and disappearing shop attendants, he can’t resist investigating one last mystery…

After exploring the darker side of travelling with the Doctor in The Girl Who Waited and The God Complex (don’t forget to check out our audio commentaries on those episode), we’re back to a much lighter action-adventure in this week’s encounter with the Cybermen. The domestic humour combined with something sinister in a department store harks back to Russell T Davies-era Who, especially the first episode Rose, which is no bad thing in my book.

As might be expected from the pen of Gareth Roberts, who brought us last series’ The Lodger, as well as the witty The Unicorn and the Wasp and The Shakespeare Code, the jokes come thick-and-fast. The bromance between the Doctor and Craig reaches new levels (and the return of the so-called “Gay Agenda”!) One of the Doctor’s new abilities from earlier in the series provides a great running gag too.

James Corden is one of those comedy guest stars, like David Walliams last week or Catherine Tate before, who tend to polarise opinion. I really enjoyed both Gavin and Stacey and The Lodger, and Corden’s turn as the hapless but likeable Craig Owens is just as entertaining a second time round, though sadly Daisy Haggard only gets a cameo as Sophie. There’s a fun reappearance for Lynda Baron, making her third guest showing in Doctor Who: she was Captain Wrack in the Peter Davison story Enlightenment, and sang ‘The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon’ all the way back in 1966 for The Gunfighters!

Some might find the ending a bit too sentimental – the Doctor says as much! But I really enjoyed it – it’s fun, touching and scary in the right places. The Cybermen get treated properly as monsters and are nicely effective, even on a small scale.

Although an unashamedly fun episode, the shadow of the Doctor’s impending death looms large, and the closing moments lead directly in to the events we saw back at the start of the series, where the Doctor was struck down by the Impossible Astronaut. Closing time indeed…

Check back on Saturday night for our audio commentary on ‘Closing Time’ and to let us know what you thought!

Torchwood Commentary & Series Review – Miracle Day 10 ‘The Blood Line’

Caleb Woodbridge and Swithun Dobson discuss the finale of Torchwood: Miracle Day, The Blood Line. Has Miracle Day given Torchwood a new lease of life or reduced it to shambling corpse?

We discuss Holocaust parallels, dystopian futures, sympathy for the devil (or at least Oswald Danes), the clash between its high concept science fiction concept and its action-thriller format, and deliver our verdict on the series as a whole!

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Have you stuck with Torchwood through to the end? What did you think of the conclusion to Miracle Day? Do you want to see more from the Torchwood team, and if so, where should the show go next?

Doctor Who Review – 6.10 ‘The Girl Who Waited’

James Willetts brings us his review of ‘The Girl Who Waited’! Don’t forget to check out our commentary, and let us know what you think!

What can you say about The Girl Who Waited? Well first of all, it’s brilliant. Secondly though, it’s yet another chance for the cast to showcase just how great they are.

I was speaking to someone the other day who complained that since RTD left Doctor Who hadn’t been the same. They were right. It’s got better. This has been touted as a little bit like Turn Left, but it’s as superior to that as the Original Trilogy is to the Prequels.

This isn’t just look what happens if the Doctor dies, if you make the wrong choice, go through the wrong door. This is what happens if that wrong decision is compounded again and again. None of it malicious. This wasn’t a trick to make things deliberately worse. This wasn’t a world threatening sequence of disasters. It was one woman who pressed the wrong button and ended up in a different time stream. That’s it.

In fact the whole theme of this episode was choices. It opens with Amy making the wrong choice of what button to press (but it was one that Rory and the Doctor could easily have made too), hinged upon Amy making the decision to work with Rory to save her younger self, and ended with the Doctor leaving Rory to make the choice about which wife to save.

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Doctor Who Spoiler-free Review – 6.11 ‘The God Complex’

Caleb Woodbridge reviews ‘The God Complex’, episode 11 of Doctor Who, a weird and twisted tale of nightmares and infinite corridors by Being Human scribe Toby Whithouse.

After last week’s excellent The Girl Who Waited, this keeps up the high standard with a neat psychological tale. Although last week’s events aren’t referenced directly, it certainly has an impact on the Doctor’s relationship with Amy and Rory. The Doctor’s fallibility comes under more scrutiny as the TARDIS team face their worst nightmares…

The Minotaur makes for a great monster, and there’s a strong guest cast, including David Walliams doing a typically Walliamsian turn as Gibbis, one of the most cowardly creatures in the cosmos. Amara Karan is the other stand-our performance, playing Rita, who I think is Doctor Who‘s first Muslim character (at least since the 1965 historical story The Crusade, which says a lot). Questions of faith form an important part of the story – it’s the most theological Doctor Who has been since The Satan Pit back in Tennant’s first series.

The nightmare hotel is reminiscent of Whithouse’s portrayal of Purgatory in Being Human series 3, which also featured people’s individual fears. It’s interesting that in telefantasy, Purgatory has become a place where characters go to “Face their Issues” rather than be purged of their sins: the afterlife adapted for the therapy age. That’s not what’s going on here though – we’re still firmly in science-fiction territory.

There are lots of easter-eggs for fans of the show, including blink and you’ll miss them glimpses of old monsters (plus a member of the production team!) There’s a sly link back to a Tom Baker era story, and a vital scene that echoes a moment in The Curse of Fenric. 

It’s not as emotional as last week, but still a strong, moving and intelligent story. Check back on Saturday night for our podcast commentary on the show!

Torchwood Spoiler-free Review – Miracle Day 10 ‘The Blood Line’

Caleb Woodbridge previews ‘The Blood Line’, the shocking finale of Torchwood: Miracle Day. With Torchwood split across opposite sides of the world – Rex and Esther in Buenos Aires; Gwen, Jack and Oswald in Shanghai – the race is on to reverse the Miracle before the Families can implement the next stage of their grand plan.

It’s the end, but has the moment been prepared for? Well, sort of – like Miracle Day as a whole, ‘The Blood Line’ is a mix of the good, the bad and the just plain silly. But it carries it off with enough energy and conviction to make it compelling, if not entirely coherent, storytelling. And inevitably, not everyone is going to make it out alive…

Tough choices await Captain Jack and the rest of his team. Much of the drama centres around the decision to bring back death, giving a real sense of the weight and responsibility of the choice. This is especially true of Gwen Cooper, whose opening speech sets the tone for the episode, and Eve Myles does a great job as usual of humanising what could become a rather abstract concept. Central to the series is the theme of the danger of deciding who lives and who dies.

On a lighter note, there are also some fan-pleasing references to Doctor Who continuity. And the last few scenes come with a twist that will redefine Torchwood as a show if it returns – but whether it will be renewed is very much in question.

Perhaps more importantly, should the show return? Check back on Thursday night for our commentary and full post-mortem dissection of the undead corpse of Torchwood: Miracle Day!

Book Review – ‘Kingston to Cable’ – Gary Greenwood

There’s a new reviewer in town. Claire Fayers squares off against the latest offering from fantasy and horror writer Gary Greenwood. Who will be left standing?

Western crossovers seem to be gaining in popularity. First we had Western-martial arts comedy (Shanghai Noon), then Korean Western (The Good the Bad and the Weird). Cowboys and ninjas fought in The Warrior’s Way and, as I write this, Harrison Ford is doing battle in Cowboys & Aliens.

Kingston to Cable by Gary Greenwood takes the Western, shakes it up a bit and dumps it in a fantasy setting. The world is one of isolated towns separated by vast expanses of inhospitable territory and the opening scene is the most classic of all Western classics: a stranger rides into town.

Or, rather, a Stranger. In Kingston, Strangers are a recognised class – wanderers with names such as Slake and Hook and Justice. They stay in the town Station, drink in the town bar, stay for a few days or a few weeks, and move on. Some of them are pursuing their own agendas, some just appear to enjoy causing trouble. Many are reputed to have magical powers, which explains the townspeople’s reluctance to get involved with them.

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