Tag Archives: Review

Torchwood Discussion – Miracle Day 9 ‘The Gathering’

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Batten down the hatches, lock up your daughters and wrap that precious Torchwood fandom of yours in cotton wool and bubble wrap – Swithun is back!

As the Torchwood team make their penultimate moves in the game against the Three Families, we discuss the overall sweep of the series so far, wonder at the true nature of the Blessing and take a wild guess at how things might be resolved next week. This is your last (but one) chance to join us, so click below and give us a listen!

This week’s contributors: P.G. Bell and Swithun Dobson

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:14 — 25.9MB)

We’re thinking of taking our arc plot disucssion further and would love to have your input. Let us know your favourite and most hated arc-heavy shows. Lost, BSG, X-Files… we want your opinions on the lot. Make yourself heard and we’ll do our best to include your thoughts in a future podcast!

Doctor Who Discussion – 6.09 ‘Night Terrors’

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We don’t have our usual commentary for you this week, but worry not – we’ve got a terrificly spirited and in-depth discussion for you instead.

Location, location, location… how much influence does it have on Doctor Who, and how does Steven Moffat use it differently to Russell T. Davies? Plus, as Mark Gatiss returns to the show he helped relaunch, we examine his back catalogue and wonder whether we can forgive him for last year’s Dalek fiasco. Finally, we veer into a fairly serious debate about arc plots v. standalone episodes. Has Doctor Who got the balance right? (We’ll give you three guesses about Swithun’s stance on this one…)

All this, and a brand new podcaster! Join us in welcoming Sarah Burrow to our scary cupboard of fandom.

 

 

This week’s contributors: Anna Bell, P.G. Bell, Sarah Burrow, Swithun Dobson

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:56 — 34.7MB)

Article: Click here for Swithun’s article, ‘Doctor Who’s Story Arc of Infinity (and Beyond?)’

We’re thinking of taking our arc plot disucssion further and would love to have your input. Let us know your favourite and most hated arc-heavy shows. Lost, BSG, X-Files… we want your opinions on the lot. Make yourself heard and we’ll do our best to include your thoughts in a future podcast!

Doctor Who Review – 6.09 ‘Night Terrors’

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Scary for scary’s sake? Reviewer James Willetts asks whether last Saturday’s episode had more to it that meets the (glass) eye…

There’s a lot of talk a lot of the time about how scary new-Who can be. How it’s somehow unsuitable for children, as though terrifying them about a fictional monster is in some way going to emotionally cripple them for life. It’s an argument that most people, thankfully, have little time for, and I bring it up because ‘Night Terrors’, an episode which was seemingly designed simply to scare the crap out of small children everywhere, actually addresses it. It’s a nicely meta moment that sums up everything else within this episode; a child’s father mentions that, to stop him being scared, they banned scary television.

It’s probably a common response. If you read the message boards and speak to parents they often worry that Doctor Who may be unsuitable for their child. As though mild peril with a through-flowing message that everything will be alright in the end is a bad thing.

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Television Review – My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

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We were a little surprised when Olivia Cottrell first asked to write a review of the new My Little Pony series. After all, she’s not exactly the girly-girl type. But then, from the sound of it, neither is the series… 

When you hear ‘My Little Pony’, what springs to mind? Chances are you’ll think of the pastel, plastic doe-eyed monstrosities that were advertised with an equally vapid cartoon- strictly the territory of little girls, and not particularly discerning ones at that. However, if you’ve spent a little time on the Internet recently, you might have noticed the growing popularity of a modern version of the cartoon. Entitled My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, this new series has enchanted a new demographic of 18-35 year old males (among others) and consequently taken the Internet by storm. Fan art, fan fiction and pony-dedicated websites abound in every corner of the web. So what has made this show so popular? Has the Internet finally gone mad? And what on earth is a Sonic Rainboom?

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Doctor Who Review – 6.08: ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’

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James Willetts. Doctor Who. Review. Need we say more?

There’s something wonderful about Nazis. Not in a weird way – I’m not one of those people. But if you want someone who can exist as simply a villain, with no qualms, morality or care for their welfare, Nazis are brilliant. Always have been. Forget Islamic terrorists, the Soviets or whatever super villain society you can conjure up; if you want an unquestionably evil bad guy, you have to go with Nazis*.

And Hitler, now Hitler is just a whole other level. If Nazis are bad, then the chief Nazi must be so much worse.

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Torchwood Review – Miracle Day 6, ‘The Middle Men’

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Reviewer James Willetts weighs in on the latest episode of Torchwood. Has his patience finally paid off?

With a single episode Torchwood has sparked a resurgence, albeit one that may well have come too late for the casual viewer. After five weeks of lethargically plotted, unyieldingly slow story, we’re finally rewarded with three ongoing plot threads that are equally relevant and interesting. It’s hard to believe that this is the same series.

Whilst Rhys and Gwen try to break her father out of the Welsh concentration camp, Jack does some investigative work into PhiCorp and Rex and Esther set out to reveal the truth about the death of Dr Juarez.

Rex and Esther are both given a chance to shine here and, after five weeks in which neither have shown much in the way of engaging characterisation (Esther in particular having suffered from a bad case of the ‘Nobody Cares-ies’) it’s certainly refreshing to see them both engaging in some plot advancing escapades. Their story also benefits from a series of scenes which successfully build the tension as Rex digs himself deeper and deeper into trouble.

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