Posts Tagged ‘DoctorWho’

Dr.Who-Review-S1ep0 – The Christmas Invasion (60 minute special)

Posted: December 8, 2013 in Dr.Who-Reviews
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Deck the halls with red aliens!

 

Season two of Dr.Who starts off with a slightly strange episode, that doesn’t hesitate to revisit a lot of the previous episode’s ideas and characters. For example, we get another (very welcome) return of one of my favorite guest stars from season one, Harriet Jones. This time, her role is that of the Prime Minister who is very proactive and smart. This is fantastic, finally we get a character that isn’t either related or with Rose, and isn’t the villain… until the end.

At the end of the episode, the writers decide to make Harriet attack the leaving alien ship, and killing thousands… I’m honestly not sure how I feel about this. She’s now hated by the Doctor, and is having a mental breakdown. This was unfortunate because I would have loved to see her in future episodes.

But anyway, this entire episode was fairly solid, however had a few missteps. The pacing was slightly off, the aliens weren’t too intimidating, and there was a sorry lack of the ACTUAL Doctor, which was unfortunate. Let me take this moment to say that I’m not sure on Tennant right now, I’m aware the fans adore him, so I’m sure he gets better. But as of right now, he is decent at best.

The alien threat was assessed, and the plot thickened very quickly, but still felt somewhat disjointed and slow in areas. Everything about this episode felt just slightly off… from the not-so-threatening alien, to the odd final battle involving swords… I was just not too sure about the entire episode in general.

However, I must say that Tennant does a good job delivering his lines, as he seems to have quite a bit of energy to his words, just like Eccleston did. Although the Doctor may be different, their personalities are still somewhat the same. Using slapstick humor to lighten a dark situation, and have some really badass moments.

But overall, it was a fairly unremarkable episode, it didn’t do anything totally wrong, but it did have a few glaring issues that speckled the entirety of it. I do hope this show gets back into shape quicker than season 1 did, because it does finally seem like the writers know how to utilize all the characters in the episode without going overboard. Let’s see what the first proper episode of season 2 brings, let’s go!

P.S- Seems that the catchphrase is here to stay! Fantastic!

 

Grade: B-

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Dr.Who-Review-S1ep13 – The Parting of Ways

Posted: December 7, 2013 in Dr.Who-Reviews
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Are these new teeth?

 

WOooOOOooOO! Well THAT was season 1! I have to say, about thirty minutes into the episode, when Rose is trying her hardest to open up the heart of the TARDIS, I was thinking to myself “wow, what a B+ episode this is.” And you know what? I would have given it a B+, I really would have, you know… until I realized that by the end I was both laughing and applauding with the dumbest grin on my face.

Was this episode good? No. It was fantastic. The doctor was fantastic, better yet, Jack the bisexual rogue was fantastic. Even Rose, who was having on and off performances throughout the season, she was fantastic! I finally got to see what the regeneration process is like, and I got to see what the hell Badwolf means!

I think my main, and only, gripe with this episode lies with the whole execution of “Badwolf” (not the episode), how Rose was just completely omnipotent, able to change whatever she wanted. I don’t know how I feel about this… it just felt slightly off.

Anyway! Apart from that it had a decent first half, which involved them setting up a way to exterminate (hehe) the Daleks AND the human race on accident. However, we soon figure out (as guessed) the Doctor really isn’t like the Daleks, he isn’t capable of destroying an entire race (or at least I think). Perhaps Rose changed him.

The fact of the matter is, we got plenty of campy and cheesy dialogue that never strafed overboard into the “ugh, what the hell?” territory, and I got a good chunk of laughs as well. The entire story between Rose being “stuck” on earth was slightly upsetting. The fact that she bluntly tells Micky (is he even her boyfriend anymore?) that she has NOTHING left for her… I don’t know how I feel about that, but it does seem like an understandable character choice so I let it pass.

So what exactly happens? Rose returns and kicks some Dalek ass, the Doctor smooches her, and then transfers all the energy back into the TARDIS. May I just say, THIS… THIS is how romance should be done in tv-shows. In a SUBTLE way for once, where it’s not banged over your god damn head every minute with longing stares and gasps. SCREW THAT, instead, please do what Dr.Who did, and make these characters grow through dialogue that isn’t just endless dumb flirting that makes me want to dip my face in acid.

I do hope they keep this trend going somewhat, if they want romance (which they don’t need at all, it really doesn’t add much), then they should do it in a subtle way, not address or talk about it in a serious manner either. Of course we got to see close-quarters combat between the humans and the Dalek, and that was majorly just alright, mainly because I know this show isn’t running on a high budget and they need to save it for the CGI goodness that occurred in the final ten minutes.

We had Jack die, sadly, and then get revived… only to be left on his own. Sad, but I really do hope they see him again. I honestly REALLY liked Jack as a character, and if in some alternate universe he turned out to be a permanent star on the show, I would be nothing but happy to see him. After all, his chemistry with the Doctor was addressed directly… with a kiss. Which was fantastic!

I really enjoyed this episode, if you couldn’t tell already. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a fitting conclusion to a very memorable character. Mr.Eccleston, you shall be missed! But it is time to move on to Tennant, whom had a fantastic character entrance.

OFF TO BARCELONA!   …………………… The planet.

Grade: A-

Dr.Who-Review-S1ep12 – Badwolf

Posted: December 7, 2013 in Dr.Who-Reviews
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Who let the Dogs out? Wait no… WOLFS!

 

WHAT?! WHEN?! HOW?! Guess who’s ACTUALLY back?!

Oh boy was this episode fun! Oh boy was this episode interesting. OH BOY was this episode intense! And holy CRAP was it original!  I think I just summed up what this episode did to my brain, and how downright inexplicably intense it was.  

                So the Doctor, Rose, and Jack all get beamed up into the future, however, we recognize this place. It’s the satellite they visited in the previous episode “The long Game” and I’m ecstatic that, that title finally makes sense! It was all the Daleks, they are back to exterminate everything!

Now, I can obviously say that “how did they all survive?” or… “WHAT?!” But for the time being I’m willing to believe they will all explain this in the finale, and if they don’t I’ll have to change this grade! Because so far, this was an absurdly enjoyable episode. We get goofy humor that never goes all out bonkers (thankfully), pop culture references, and some cool ideas that played very well!

I remember writing my review for “The long Game” and mentioning that I’m not sure what will happen to the earth now that the Doctor destroyed the Satellite…. And low and behold, the earth is quite literally in ruins. It’s played as a puppet, taking any person at random and using them for their entertainment. This is a ballistic situation that I somehow was fully enveloped in. Seeing how the world was 100 years ago (when the satellite was still broadcasting news), made me think that this situation is somewhat plausible for a world filled with such mindless drones.

I also won’t forget at how many twists and turns this episode was able to pull off. Rose getting disintegrated was a brilliant touch as well. The Doctors reaction…. Bloody fantastic! I’m never endlessly intrigued by this earth that is 200,000 years in the future, and I’m eagerly anticipated the moment I’m done with this review so I can sit down and finish the season.

The Daleks are back, they have hundreds if not thousands of ships, and there are two thousands of them per ship. Judging at how difficult it was to kill one… this is going to be one tough and long ride. But that is all for the next episode, as for this one, we received some intriguing continuity. I knew, deep down, that the word “bad wolf” as mentioned in the previous episode had some bigger meaning… I just didn’t know it was THIS big!

This episode had blazing hot pacing, shooting through each act like a bullet, but never truly feeling as if it’s going too fast. Now I won’t claim that “Badwolfs” was a perfect episode, by no means. I still have lots of unanswered questions, and also, a few holes in the stories plot. However, it was very fun, and at the end of the day, that’s exactly what I like seeing from a show like this!

Dr.Who has proven to me that it can do fun, and it’s at its best when it can do fun! However, it can also do spooky and scary as in the second two parter, and it can do emotional like in “Fathers day”. Now it hasn’t mastered any of this so far, but it has proven to me that it can do it to varying extents. Lets hope the finale truly packs a wallop!

Grade: A-