Since I haven't done a DC-related post in a while, here's a post about some recently cancelled titles from that company. Among them are Legion of Super-Heroes (which hasn't been good in a long time, if you ask me), Demon Knights (a medieval fantasy title that actually sounded interesting, but probably would've worked better as a stand-alone series), Dial H (a "darker and edgier" version of a children's comic called Dial H for Hero; while the original series was fun, this series sounded too depressing for my tastes) and Threshold (a title that I know nothing about.) And these are just some of the latest titles to be cancelled by DC. The New 52 titles are beginning to dwindle, and I wonder how long it'll be before someone declares it a failure and revives the original DC Universe.
In related news, it would seem that James Robinson is leaving DC. It doesn't bother me too much, since in my opinion he hasn't been a good writer since his JSA title that he co-authored with Geoff Johns and David S. Goyer. Not to mention that Cry for Justice was horrible and the politically correct version of the JSA in Earth Two was lame, too.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Friday, May 17, 2013
"Nightmare in Silver" review
INTRODUCTION: I've mentioned in the past how I wasn't a big fan of Neil Gaiman's previous Doctor Who episode "The Doctor's Wife," so suffice to say that my expectations for this episode were quite low. Now, as his second scripting effort for Doctor Who, does it work? Well, read on and figure out. And as always, be leery of spoilers.
PLOT: The episode continues from the end of "The Crimson Horror" where Angie (Eve de Leon Allen) and Artie (Kassius Carey Johnson), the kids that Clara looks after, blackmailed her into letting them travel with her and the Doctor. They arrive at an extraterrestrial theme park, but soon learn that it has been shut down and occupied by the military. The Doctor uses his psychic paper to convince the troops and their Captain (Tamzin Outhwaite of EastEnders fame) that he is an official looking for their Emperor, who disappeared years ago. They soon meet a man named Webley, the operator of the theme park, who takes them on a tour. He shows them a few deactivated Cybermen (and these are the original Cybermen as opposed to the parallel universe Cybermen that we've been seeing throughout the revived series) and explains to them that they were mostly wiped out a millennia ago in a war. Today they are harmless museum pieces programmed by chess champion Porridge (Warwick Davis).
The kids have fun playing around but Clara is nervous and wants to bring them back home so nothing bad can happen to them. However, the Doctor decides to stay after he spots some mysterious insects crawling throughout the theme park. He soon realizes they are a new form of Cybermat called Cybermites. They crawl into the deactivated Cybermen and revive them, and they proceed to abduct Webley, Artie and Angie.
The Doctor and Clara find the Captain and her platoon and inform her of the revived Cybermen. She is shocked to hear this and reveals that she and her platoon are a punishment unit banished to the theme park world to keep them away. The Doctor then appoints Clara to lead the troops and tells her not to let the Captain try and destroy the planet while he sets off to rescue Angie and Artie from the Cybermen. Communications with Earth's Empire have been cut off and Clara has the platoon, along with Porridge, relocate to a nearby castle to reestablish it.
The Doctor, meanwhile, finds Angie and Artie under the control of the Cybermites and a partially converted Webley reveals to him that the Cybermen have been secretly rebuilding themselves, having kidnapped people from the amusement park prior to its closure. To further their plans, though, they require a brain like the Doctor's. The Doctor insists that they can only use humans, since he isn't a human, but a Time Lord. However, Cyber-Webley reveals that they've upgraded themselves to the point where they can assimilate any organic lifeform, not just humans. The Doctor is infected with the Cybermites, is partially converted (Cyber-Webley hails him as " and a Cybermen consciousness called the Cyber-Planner tries to take over his mind, labeling himself "Mr. Clever." To prevent Mr. Clever from seizing control of his mind, the Doctor threatens to regnerate, which would expel Clever from his mind and destroy the Cyber-implants. Aware they've reached a stalemate, Mr. Clever agrees to the Doctor's challenge to a game of chess, with the winner getting control of the Doctor's mind.
At the castle, Clara take a look at the platoon's weaponry and discovers that they only have one anti-Cybermen gun, five pulsers, and a planet-destroying bomb. She takes possession of the bomb trigger and tells the Captain not to use it. The Captain and Porridge talk, and she says that she know who he really is and that she was once a member of the Imperial Guard. Porridge informs Clara that drastic measures are the only way to find the Cybermen and if they cannot effectively deal with them, they've no choice but to destroy the planet. The Captain, having mentioned earlier in the episode how she was sent to the planet as punishment, decides to atone for past mistakes by activating the bomb. Clara and Porridge protest, but before the Captain can do this she is shot and killed by the Cybermen. Clara leads the platoon on an offensive and manages to destroy various Cybermen that get in their way.
Back at the base, the Doctor and Mr. Clever are playing chess. The Doctor manages to temporarily override Clever's control over him and warns Clara that Clever will activate all the dormant Cybermen on the base so they can kill her and the platoon. He proceeds with the chess game against Clever, who takes over the Doctor's mind and subsequently tricks Clara into getting close enough to the trigger to destroy it. With no more threats against him, Clever sends the entire Cybermen army against them. The humans and Cybermen battle, while the Doctor sacrifices his Queen to ensure that Angie and Artie are freed. The Doctor bluffs Clever, saying he can defeat him in three moves. Clever falls for this and shuts down the Cybermen army so he can figure out the Doctor's strategy. The kids are freed.
The Doctor uses the distraction to disable the Cyber-implants and banish Clever from his mind, but the Cybermen start to reactivate. Angie points out that Porridge himself is the Emperor, and she has known this since he spotted his face on an Imperial coin earlier in the episode. Porridge says that he never wanted to be Emperor and reluctantly uses his voice to activate the planet-shattering bomb. He reveals to everyone that they will all be teleported onboard his orbiting spaceship, including the TARDIS. They are all transported to safety as the planet below them explodes.
Onboard the ship, Porridge asks Clara to marry him, impressed by her beauty and intelligence, but she rejects his offer, saying that she doesn't want to be Queen of the Universe. The Doctor and Clara leave with Artie and Angie in tow; the TARDIS gives Angie a new cell phone since she lost hers earlier in the episode. Angie and Artie thank the Doctor and Clara for taking them on the trip.
Back in the future, Porridge scans the area for remaining Cybermen technology and after finding none, prepares to return home on his ship. As the episode ends, however, we can see a single Cybermite floating through space, indicating that the threat is not quite over yet.
ANALYSIS: While not perfect, this was much better than Gaiman's last Doctor Who episode and there was actually a fairly decent story this time around. There were flaws and plot holes, but really, it wasn't as severe as they were in "The Doctor's Wife" so they probably don't count here. While some have said that Angie and Artie were annoying and I agree the episode could have done without them, I don't think they were as bad as some said they were. They didn't add much, but they got their wish to travel with the Doctor and Clara as per their request in the previous episode.
Matt Smith did a good job in his performance as both the Doctor and the Cyber-Doctor and seemed to really be enjoying himself as both.
I was glad to see the original Mondas Cybermen redesigned and brought back as a formidable enemy for the Doctor; well, actually, since Moffat took over the show, they've been the Cybermen we've seen as opposed to the parallel universe Cybermen from the previous seasons.
It's quite clear that Gaiman knows his Doctor Who history and this episode derived heavily from Cybermen lore, with homages to classic series episodes like The Tomb of the Cybermen (which I reviewed here) in one sequence and references in interviews to the Mondas Cybermen and the parallel universe Cybermen merging to form one race of cyborgs. So now there's only race of Cybermen once more. And also there are homages to the Fifth Doctor episode The Five Doctors which had a similar plot, with the Cybermen trying to become just like the Time Lords.
The sequence where we get to see all the Doctor's previous incarnations was neat, as always.
OVERALL RATING: 4 out of 5 stars
UP NEXT: We reach the season finale, and secrets will be revealed not only about Clara, but also the Name of the Doctor. Now, that may turn out to be a red herring, but considering that Steven Moffat has mentioned that this episode "will change the course of the series," I'm inclined to believe that they actually are going to reveal his name. Now I'm finally caught up.
PLOT: The episode continues from the end of "The Crimson Horror" where Angie (Eve de Leon Allen) and Artie (Kassius Carey Johnson), the kids that Clara looks after, blackmailed her into letting them travel with her and the Doctor. They arrive at an extraterrestrial theme park, but soon learn that it has been shut down and occupied by the military. The Doctor uses his psychic paper to convince the troops and their Captain (Tamzin Outhwaite of EastEnders fame) that he is an official looking for their Emperor, who disappeared years ago. They soon meet a man named Webley, the operator of the theme park, who takes them on a tour. He shows them a few deactivated Cybermen (and these are the original Cybermen as opposed to the parallel universe Cybermen that we've been seeing throughout the revived series) and explains to them that they were mostly wiped out a millennia ago in a war. Today they are harmless museum pieces programmed by chess champion Porridge (Warwick Davis).
The kids have fun playing around but Clara is nervous and wants to bring them back home so nothing bad can happen to them. However, the Doctor decides to stay after he spots some mysterious insects crawling throughout the theme park. He soon realizes they are a new form of Cybermat called Cybermites. They crawl into the deactivated Cybermen and revive them, and they proceed to abduct Webley, Artie and Angie.
The Doctor and Clara find the Captain and her platoon and inform her of the revived Cybermen. She is shocked to hear this and reveals that she and her platoon are a punishment unit banished to the theme park world to keep them away. The Doctor then appoints Clara to lead the troops and tells her not to let the Captain try and destroy the planet while he sets off to rescue Angie and Artie from the Cybermen. Communications with Earth's Empire have been cut off and Clara has the platoon, along with Porridge, relocate to a nearby castle to reestablish it.
The Doctor, meanwhile, finds Angie and Artie under the control of the Cybermites and a partially converted Webley reveals to him that the Cybermen have been secretly rebuilding themselves, having kidnapped people from the amusement park prior to its closure. To further their plans, though, they require a brain like the Doctor's. The Doctor insists that they can only use humans, since he isn't a human, but a Time Lord. However, Cyber-Webley reveals that they've upgraded themselves to the point where they can assimilate any organic lifeform, not just humans. The Doctor is infected with the Cybermites, is partially converted (Cyber-Webley hails him as " and a Cybermen consciousness called the Cyber-Planner tries to take over his mind, labeling himself "Mr. Clever." To prevent Mr. Clever from seizing control of his mind, the Doctor threatens to regnerate, which would expel Clever from his mind and destroy the Cyber-implants. Aware they've reached a stalemate, Mr. Clever agrees to the Doctor's challenge to a game of chess, with the winner getting control of the Doctor's mind.
At the castle, Clara take a look at the platoon's weaponry and discovers that they only have one anti-Cybermen gun, five pulsers, and a planet-destroying bomb. She takes possession of the bomb trigger and tells the Captain not to use it. The Captain and Porridge talk, and she says that she know who he really is and that she was once a member of the Imperial Guard. Porridge informs Clara that drastic measures are the only way to find the Cybermen and if they cannot effectively deal with them, they've no choice but to destroy the planet. The Captain, having mentioned earlier in the episode how she was sent to the planet as punishment, decides to atone for past mistakes by activating the bomb. Clara and Porridge protest, but before the Captain can do this she is shot and killed by the Cybermen. Clara leads the platoon on an offensive and manages to destroy various Cybermen that get in their way.
Back at the base, the Doctor and Mr. Clever are playing chess. The Doctor manages to temporarily override Clever's control over him and warns Clara that Clever will activate all the dormant Cybermen on the base so they can kill her and the platoon. He proceeds with the chess game against Clever, who takes over the Doctor's mind and subsequently tricks Clara into getting close enough to the trigger to destroy it. With no more threats against him, Clever sends the entire Cybermen army against them. The humans and Cybermen battle, while the Doctor sacrifices his Queen to ensure that Angie and Artie are freed. The Doctor bluffs Clever, saying he can defeat him in three moves. Clever falls for this and shuts down the Cybermen army so he can figure out the Doctor's strategy. The kids are freed.
The Doctor uses the distraction to disable the Cyber-implants and banish Clever from his mind, but the Cybermen start to reactivate. Angie points out that Porridge himself is the Emperor, and she has known this since he spotted his face on an Imperial coin earlier in the episode. Porridge says that he never wanted to be Emperor and reluctantly uses his voice to activate the planet-shattering bomb. He reveals to everyone that they will all be teleported onboard his orbiting spaceship, including the TARDIS. They are all transported to safety as the planet below them explodes.
Onboard the ship, Porridge asks Clara to marry him, impressed by her beauty and intelligence, but she rejects his offer, saying that she doesn't want to be Queen of the Universe. The Doctor and Clara leave with Artie and Angie in tow; the TARDIS gives Angie a new cell phone since she lost hers earlier in the episode. Angie and Artie thank the Doctor and Clara for taking them on the trip.
Back in the future, Porridge scans the area for remaining Cybermen technology and after finding none, prepares to return home on his ship. As the episode ends, however, we can see a single Cybermite floating through space, indicating that the threat is not quite over yet.
ANALYSIS: While not perfect, this was much better than Gaiman's last Doctor Who episode and there was actually a fairly decent story this time around. There were flaws and plot holes, but really, it wasn't as severe as they were in "The Doctor's Wife" so they probably don't count here. While some have said that Angie and Artie were annoying and I agree the episode could have done without them, I don't think they were as bad as some said they were. They didn't add much, but they got their wish to travel with the Doctor and Clara as per their request in the previous episode.
Matt Smith did a good job in his performance as both the Doctor and the Cyber-Doctor and seemed to really be enjoying himself as both.
I was glad to see the original Mondas Cybermen redesigned and brought back as a formidable enemy for the Doctor; well, actually, since Moffat took over the show, they've been the Cybermen we've seen as opposed to the parallel universe Cybermen from the previous seasons.
It's quite clear that Gaiman knows his Doctor Who history and this episode derived heavily from Cybermen lore, with homages to classic series episodes like The Tomb of the Cybermen (which I reviewed here) in one sequence and references in interviews to the Mondas Cybermen and the parallel universe Cybermen merging to form one race of cyborgs. So now there's only race of Cybermen once more. And also there are homages to the Fifth Doctor episode The Five Doctors which had a similar plot, with the Cybermen trying to become just like the Time Lords.
The sequence where we get to see all the Doctor's previous incarnations was neat, as always.
OVERALL RATING: 4 out of 5 stars
UP NEXT: We reach the season finale, and secrets will be revealed not only about Clara, but also the Name of the Doctor. Now, that may turn out to be a red herring, but considering that Steven Moffat has mentioned that this episode "will change the course of the series," I'm inclined to believe that they actually are going to reveal his name. Now I'm finally caught up.
Star Trek review update
Okay, I'm a bit low on money right now so I won't be able to see the movie and write up a review next weekend. I might be able to see over Memorial Day weekend next week and I'll try to post the review around that time, so stay tuned.
"The Crimson Horror" review
INTRODUCTION: Again, this is another review that I fell behind on, but since I already explained the reasoning I won't repeat it here. This week we feature an episode where the Doctor's allies from the Victorian age take center stage and one that also features Diana Rigg (gorgeous spy Emma Peel from the 1960s Avengers TV show) as an antagonist, with her real-life daughter Rachael Stirling as her daughter here; this is the first time they've ever acted together. So, as always, there will be spoilers.
PLOT: In 1893, the Silurian detective Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh), her human lover Jenny Flint (Catrin Stewart) and their Sontaran butler Strax (Dan Starkey) investigate something called the "Crimson Horror," a mysterious cause of death that results in the victims' skin turning bright red. While at the morgue, they learn that superstition holds that the retina retains the last thing the victim saw before dying (which was actually a popular theory at that time, believe it or not) and they are shocked to see that the last person he saw was the Doctor.
Fearing their friend might be in trouble, the trio heads to Yorkshire, where Jenny goes undercover in a strange community called Sweetville, which is lead by the elderly Mrs. Gillyflower (the aforementioned Diana Rigg) and her rarely-seen accomplice Mr. Sweet, the village's namsake. Gillyflower is a bats*** insane old woman who preaches about the coming apocalypse so she can encourage people to come to Sweetville. She uses her blind daughter Ada (the aforementioned Rachael Stirling), who was beaten by her (that is, Mrs. Gillyflower) late husband as an example of how the larger society is doomed.
Jenny manages to sneak away and discovers the Doctor chained up in a cell, his skin having turned bright red and his joints having been rendered stiff. She leads him to a chamber where he manages to restore himself to normal and explains to Jenny how he came to be here. He and Clara had arrived in 19th century Yorkshire and learned of the Crimson Horror mystery, so they decided to investigate Sweetville for themselves. However, they were found out by Mrs. Gillyflower and captured, where they were dipped into a red substance along with other people to be "preserved." The Doctor managed to survive due to not being human and was saved from being destroyed by Ada, who kept him in the cell and affectionately called him her "monster."
Having said this, the Doctor and Jenny set off to find Clara. When they do, Jenny is shocked and confused, since she witnessed another version of Clara die the previous Christmas. They manage to find her displayed as though she were some kind of Victorian store mannequin and lead her to the chamber, where she is restored to normal. Madame Vastra, meanwhile, determines that the crimson substance is derived from the poison of a red leech, which was a parasite that threatened the Silurians' survival 6.5 million years ago.
The Doctor and Clara go off to confront Mrs. Gillyflower, who reveals that she intends to launch a rocket (the silo of which is disguised as the factory's chimney) that will spread poison over the skies and wipe out most of humanity. She also reveals to them the actual identity of Mr. Sweet, which is the aforementioned red leech that has formed a symbiotic relationship with her. He berates her for experimenting on Ada, which caused her blindness, so she could perfect her formula for the Crimson Horror.
Ada overhears this and angrily attacks her mother to give Clara time to smash the controls, which are hidden in the piano. Gillyflower points a gun at Ada's head and takes her hostage, retreating into the rocket silo, where she manages to launch the rocket, but Jenny and Madame Vastra had removed the vial of poison earlier. The Doctor, Clara and the others pursue the insane old woman up the stairs but she threatens to kill Ada repeatedly before Strax appears on top of the silo and shoots Gillyflower, causing her to tumble down to the staircase. Mortally wounded, she says she's proud of her daughter's hatred of her and dies. Mr. Sweet manages to remove himself from her body and attempts to crawl away to latch onto another host, but a disgusted Ada manages to crush the vile creature to death with her cane.
The Doctor and Clara prepare to leave, with Ada bidding farewell to her "monster" and telling them that she's looking forward to new opportunities in her life now that her mother is gone and Sweetville is destroyed. Clara enters the TARDIS and Jenny, Madame Vastra and Strax ask the Doctor about her, since they can remember the previous version of her dying during their battle with the Great Intelligence's Snowmen. The Doctor, however, declines to explain anything and departs.
The Doctor drops Clara off at her home in 21st century London, where she briefly plays with a Transformers toy and finds that the two children she looks after, Angie and Artie, have discovered pictures of her time traveling exploits on the internet; we can see a picture of her and the Doctor onboard a Soviet submarine in 1983, at a haunted mansion in 1974 and another picture of her in Victorian London from "The Snowmen," even though she's unaware of this and insists that she went to Victorian Yorkshire, not Victorian London. The kids have figured out that she's a time traveler and so is the Doctor, whom they refer to as her "boyfriend," and demand to go on a trip with them or otherwise they'll tell their father everything.
ANALYSIS: This was an excellent episode and it was cool to see Madame Vastra, Strax and Jenny take the spotlight for once. Those three characters are interesting and they deserve a spinoff series of their own. Strax's trigger-happy demeanor is hilarious (he is from a warrior race, after all) but ultimately he's a good guy unlike most Sontarans. Jenny is good-looking and also a good fighter while Madame Vastra is the first Silurian I've actually liked in the series.
Diana Rigg did a marvelous job as the main antagonist and was quite clear that she was enjoying herself enormously throughout the entire episode. She was a menacing, cackling old woman and complete monster who was so obsessed with bringing about a new world with Mr. Sweet that she resorted to experimenting on her own daughter just to perfect the formula they wanted to poison the world with. "I'm the Doctor, you're nuts and I'm going to stop you" described her character to a T.
Rachael Stirling also did a good job as her daughter and you felt genuine sympathy for her throughout the entire episode, how the fact that she was blind made her feel isolated from everyone (especially in the Victorian era) and she managed to acquire a companion of sorts in her "monster" aka the Doctor. I was glad to see her crush the abominable Mr. Sweet (easily one of the most terrifying and disgusting monsters on the show) with her cane.
I'm not sure how the kids managed to find those pictures on the internet. I don't know if Clara had put them there or if someone else like UNIT or even the Great Intelligence Institute or Torchwood (long story there, but they currently seem to be defunct, so it's probably not them) had obtained them. Especially the picture of Clara from "The Snowmen," although I suspect we'll find that in the season finale tomorrow.
OVERALL RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
UP NEXT: The kids blackmail the Doctor and Clara into letting them go on a TARDIS trip to a derelict amusement park where an old enemy is about to revived, in a Nightmare in Silver.
PLOT: In 1893, the Silurian detective Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh), her human lover Jenny Flint (Catrin Stewart) and their Sontaran butler Strax (Dan Starkey) investigate something called the "Crimson Horror," a mysterious cause of death that results in the victims' skin turning bright red. While at the morgue, they learn that superstition holds that the retina retains the last thing the victim saw before dying (which was actually a popular theory at that time, believe it or not) and they are shocked to see that the last person he saw was the Doctor.
Fearing their friend might be in trouble, the trio heads to Yorkshire, where Jenny goes undercover in a strange community called Sweetville, which is lead by the elderly Mrs. Gillyflower (the aforementioned Diana Rigg) and her rarely-seen accomplice Mr. Sweet, the village's namsake. Gillyflower is a bats*** insane old woman who preaches about the coming apocalypse so she can encourage people to come to Sweetville. She uses her blind daughter Ada (the aforementioned Rachael Stirling), who was beaten by her (that is, Mrs. Gillyflower) late husband as an example of how the larger society is doomed.
Jenny manages to sneak away and discovers the Doctor chained up in a cell, his skin having turned bright red and his joints having been rendered stiff. She leads him to a chamber where he manages to restore himself to normal and explains to Jenny how he came to be here. He and Clara had arrived in 19th century Yorkshire and learned of the Crimson Horror mystery, so they decided to investigate Sweetville for themselves. However, they were found out by Mrs. Gillyflower and captured, where they were dipped into a red substance along with other people to be "preserved." The Doctor managed to survive due to not being human and was saved from being destroyed by Ada, who kept him in the cell and affectionately called him her "monster."
Having said this, the Doctor and Jenny set off to find Clara. When they do, Jenny is shocked and confused, since she witnessed another version of Clara die the previous Christmas. They manage to find her displayed as though she were some kind of Victorian store mannequin and lead her to the chamber, where she is restored to normal. Madame Vastra, meanwhile, determines that the crimson substance is derived from the poison of a red leech, which was a parasite that threatened the Silurians' survival 6.5 million years ago.
The Doctor and Clara go off to confront Mrs. Gillyflower, who reveals that she intends to launch a rocket (the silo of which is disguised as the factory's chimney) that will spread poison over the skies and wipe out most of humanity. She also reveals to them the actual identity of Mr. Sweet, which is the aforementioned red leech that has formed a symbiotic relationship with her. He berates her for experimenting on Ada, which caused her blindness, so she could perfect her formula for the Crimson Horror.
Ada overhears this and angrily attacks her mother to give Clara time to smash the controls, which are hidden in the piano. Gillyflower points a gun at Ada's head and takes her hostage, retreating into the rocket silo, where she manages to launch the rocket, but Jenny and Madame Vastra had removed the vial of poison earlier. The Doctor, Clara and the others pursue the insane old woman up the stairs but she threatens to kill Ada repeatedly before Strax appears on top of the silo and shoots Gillyflower, causing her to tumble down to the staircase. Mortally wounded, she says she's proud of her daughter's hatred of her and dies. Mr. Sweet manages to remove himself from her body and attempts to crawl away to latch onto another host, but a disgusted Ada manages to crush the vile creature to death with her cane.
The Doctor and Clara prepare to leave, with Ada bidding farewell to her "monster" and telling them that she's looking forward to new opportunities in her life now that her mother is gone and Sweetville is destroyed. Clara enters the TARDIS and Jenny, Madame Vastra and Strax ask the Doctor about her, since they can remember the previous version of her dying during their battle with the Great Intelligence's Snowmen. The Doctor, however, declines to explain anything and departs.
The Doctor drops Clara off at her home in 21st century London, where she briefly plays with a Transformers toy and finds that the two children she looks after, Angie and Artie, have discovered pictures of her time traveling exploits on the internet; we can see a picture of her and the Doctor onboard a Soviet submarine in 1983, at a haunted mansion in 1974 and another picture of her in Victorian London from "The Snowmen," even though she's unaware of this and insists that she went to Victorian Yorkshire, not Victorian London. The kids have figured out that she's a time traveler and so is the Doctor, whom they refer to as her "boyfriend," and demand to go on a trip with them or otherwise they'll tell their father everything.
ANALYSIS: This was an excellent episode and it was cool to see Madame Vastra, Strax and Jenny take the spotlight for once. Those three characters are interesting and they deserve a spinoff series of their own. Strax's trigger-happy demeanor is hilarious (he is from a warrior race, after all) but ultimately he's a good guy unlike most Sontarans. Jenny is good-looking and also a good fighter while Madame Vastra is the first Silurian I've actually liked in the series.
Diana Rigg did a marvelous job as the main antagonist and was quite clear that she was enjoying herself enormously throughout the entire episode. She was a menacing, cackling old woman and complete monster who was so obsessed with bringing about a new world with Mr. Sweet that she resorted to experimenting on her own daughter just to perfect the formula they wanted to poison the world with. "I'm the Doctor, you're nuts and I'm going to stop you" described her character to a T.
Rachael Stirling also did a good job as her daughter and you felt genuine sympathy for her throughout the entire episode, how the fact that she was blind made her feel isolated from everyone (especially in the Victorian era) and she managed to acquire a companion of sorts in her "monster" aka the Doctor. I was glad to see her crush the abominable Mr. Sweet (easily one of the most terrifying and disgusting monsters on the show) with her cane.
I'm not sure how the kids managed to find those pictures on the internet. I don't know if Clara had put them there or if someone else like UNIT or even the Great Intelligence Institute or Torchwood (long story there, but they currently seem to be defunct, so it's probably not them) had obtained them. Especially the picture of Clara from "The Snowmen," although I suspect we'll find that in the season finale tomorrow.
OVERALL RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
UP NEXT: The kids blackmail the Doctor and Clara into letting them go on a TARDIS trip to a derelict amusement park where an old enemy is about to revived, in a Nightmare in Silver.
"Journey to the Center of the TARDIS" review
INTRODUCTION: Alright, this episode review is a couple weeks
late, but again that's because of my computer problems and being busy in
my personal life. But with the season finale airing tomorrow, I figure I
really need to get this done ASAP. So read ahead, and remember, there
are spoilers in this review.
PLOT: The episode begins with the Doctor, having sensed the TARDIS doesn't like Clara for some reason, teaching her how to operate it. He disables the shields (which rarely is a smart thing to do in any science fiction show) and enables its basic mode. At that moment, however, the TARDIS is caught in the tractor beam of a space salvage ship lead by the Van Baalen Brothers, which causes its systems to fail. Clara implores the Doctor to fix it, but he tells her there is no "big friendly button" that can magically fix it. An egg-like device appears on the floor and rolls toward them; Clara touches it and burns her hand. The ship is jolted by the tractor beam and the two are thrown into darkness.
The Doctor, having been separated from Clara, enters the salvage ship and confronts the Van Baalen Brothers, Gregor (Ashley Walters) and Bram (Mark Oliver), along with a humanoid android named Tricky (Jahvel Hall). He tries to convince them to help him find Clara inside the TARDIS in exchange for allowing them to salvage the ship. Gregor agrees, and the three accompany the Doctor inside. However, when they're all inside, the Doctor activates a self-destruct mechanism and he says he will disable it once Clara is rescued.
They begin to explore the TARDIS and Gregor tries to assess the value of various items onboard. The Doctor warns him that removing any parts will make it angry, since it's actually a living ship, but he orders Bram to salvage the console. As Bram does so, he is killed by a demonic-looking creature. After they remove a portion of the ship's archetictural configuration system, they find themselves trapped in an endless loop since the TARDIS is now trying to trap them so it can stop them from stealing its system.
Meanwhile, Clara wakes up in a corridor and manages to make her way to the console room, only to encountered a demonic-looking creature herself. She makes her way through various rooms, including the TARDIS library where she reads a book entitled A Brief History of the Time War (the name of which sounds like a nod to Stephen Hawking's book A Brief History of Time) which contains the Doctor's name, something that clearly unnerves her. However, she is forced to flee when the creature finds her. Her hand is still aching from having been burned earlier in the episode, but it's beginning to form words. She ends up in the console room once more where she encounters another demonic humanoid creature that mimics her movements.
The Doctor, Gregor and Tricky arrive in the console room where they detect Clara in an echo of the room. With the assistance of Gregor's scanner, the Doctor uses a temporary link and grabs her before the creature can harm her. Gregor demands the Doctor halt the countdown, but the latter reveals that there never was a countdown and that it was just a ruse to force their cooperation in helping him find Clara. However, he soon finds that the TARDIS engines have become unstable due to the leakage of time caused by the incident and they must go to the engine room via the Eye of Harmony (the artificial black hole that powers the TARDIS) to prevent the ship from exploding, which as we learned in series 5 had some pretty devastating consequences for the universe. En route to the engine room, Tricky is injured and Gregor is forced to reveal that Tricky is actually human and also his brother; after their father was killed in an accident, Tricky was injured and lost his memories. He also had various organ transplants and Gregor lied to him, stating he was an android so he can claim captaincy of the vessel. The Doctor berates Gregor for his treatment of Tricky and says he can do much better.
They make it to the Eye of Harmony and the four find themselves trapped by the creatures. Gregor scans one of the creatures and discover it was similar to Clara; the Doctor is forced to reveal that the creatures are actually badly-burned versions of themselves from the future who have appeared due to the time leak. The Doctor intends to prevent this future from happening. However, Gregor and Tricky are unable to avoid contacting themselves and merge to form one of the creatures that was chasing them throughout the episode. The Doctor and Clara flee the engine room but make it to a chasm with no way across
Thinking they are about to die, the Doctor asks Clara to explain who she is and why she's died twice already. However, she doesn't understand what he's talking about and is unaware of any past lives. He soon realizes that she has no knowledge of this and is just an ordinary young woman. They leap across the chasm, believing it to be an illusion and reach the engine room.
After they reach the engine room, the Doctor and Clara discover that the engine has already exploded but the TARDIS manages to place the room in time stasis. The Doctor is aware the ship is trying to tell him something but isn't sure what is until he looks at Clara's hand, on which the phrase "big friendly button" is inscribed. He realizes they have to go back to the point they were caught by the salvage ship and activate the magnetic beacon, the egg-shaped device, so they can reset the timeline and prevent the disaster from occurring. They reach the console room where the Doctor takes the beacon and prepares to travel through a crack in time. Clara asks him if she'll remember anything and informs him that she learned of his name through the book in the library. He tells her she'll remember nothing once this is over. He manages to successfully cross the rift and warns his past shelf about what is about to happen. The past Doctor understands the warning and grabs the beacon from Clara after she picks it up, the word "big friendly button" inscribed on the side, and hits the button.
Time resets itself and the future timeline no longer exists. The Van Baalen brothers ignore the TARDIS and move on to find new salvage. However, Gregor has become more appreciative of Tricky, having somehow managed to recall the Doctor's words. Meanwhile on the TARDIS, the Doctor asks Clara if she feels safe traveling with him and she says yes, she does.
ANALYSIS: I personally thought this was a good episode, and while there were some who complained about the "reset button" ending (a common criticism aimed at the Russell T. Davies era of the show), I can't really think of any other way it could've ended.
Since Gregor shows more respect for Tricky and retained this from the previous timeline, it does make me wonder if Clara may have unconsciously retained memory of the Doctor's name as well. It is certainly possible and would make since the season finale promises to reveal big secrets about both the Doctor and Clara.
And yes, it was cool to see more of the TARDIS in the episode, since usually the only part of the ship that we see is the control room. Well, the exterior as well. You see not only the library, but also the swimming pool, the Eye of Harmony (appearing for the first time since 1996's failed Doctor Who pilot with Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor) and this was the first time we got to see it in its entirety.
The crack in time was a neat call back to the main story arc of the fifth series, where an unknown agency called the Silence were trying to destroy the entire universe by blowing up the TARDIS.
All in all, it was a pretty good episode and I'd like to see more that are set entirely on the TARDIS. As far as bottle episodes go, this was good.
OVERALL RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
UP NEXT: The Doctor and Clara travel to the Victorian era where they (or rather, the Doctor, since this version of Clara has never encountered them before) reunite with Strax, Madame Vastra and Jenny to investigate a crimson horror in a northern English town that seem to be caused by a mother and daughter played by Diana Rigg of The Avengers fame (the British TV show from the 1960s, that is) and her real-life daughter, actress Rachael Stirling. Apparently this is the first time they've ever acted on screen together, so this should be very interesting. It'll be up shortly.
BONUS: And since it was featured in the episode, here's "Fire Woman" by the Cult:
PLOT: The episode begins with the Doctor, having sensed the TARDIS doesn't like Clara for some reason, teaching her how to operate it. He disables the shields (which rarely is a smart thing to do in any science fiction show) and enables its basic mode. At that moment, however, the TARDIS is caught in the tractor beam of a space salvage ship lead by the Van Baalen Brothers, which causes its systems to fail. Clara implores the Doctor to fix it, but he tells her there is no "big friendly button" that can magically fix it. An egg-like device appears on the floor and rolls toward them; Clara touches it and burns her hand. The ship is jolted by the tractor beam and the two are thrown into darkness.
The Doctor, having been separated from Clara, enters the salvage ship and confronts the Van Baalen Brothers, Gregor (Ashley Walters) and Bram (Mark Oliver), along with a humanoid android named Tricky (Jahvel Hall). He tries to convince them to help him find Clara inside the TARDIS in exchange for allowing them to salvage the ship. Gregor agrees, and the three accompany the Doctor inside. However, when they're all inside, the Doctor activates a self-destruct mechanism and he says he will disable it once Clara is rescued.
They begin to explore the TARDIS and Gregor tries to assess the value of various items onboard. The Doctor warns him that removing any parts will make it angry, since it's actually a living ship, but he orders Bram to salvage the console. As Bram does so, he is killed by a demonic-looking creature. After they remove a portion of the ship's archetictural configuration system, they find themselves trapped in an endless loop since the TARDIS is now trying to trap them so it can stop them from stealing its system.
Meanwhile, Clara wakes up in a corridor and manages to make her way to the console room, only to encountered a demonic-looking creature herself. She makes her way through various rooms, including the TARDIS library where she reads a book entitled A Brief History of the Time War (the name of which sounds like a nod to Stephen Hawking's book A Brief History of Time) which contains the Doctor's name, something that clearly unnerves her. However, she is forced to flee when the creature finds her. Her hand is still aching from having been burned earlier in the episode, but it's beginning to form words. She ends up in the console room once more where she encounters another demonic humanoid creature that mimics her movements.
The Doctor, Gregor and Tricky arrive in the console room where they detect Clara in an echo of the room. With the assistance of Gregor's scanner, the Doctor uses a temporary link and grabs her before the creature can harm her. Gregor demands the Doctor halt the countdown, but the latter reveals that there never was a countdown and that it was just a ruse to force their cooperation in helping him find Clara. However, he soon finds that the TARDIS engines have become unstable due to the leakage of time caused by the incident and they must go to the engine room via the Eye of Harmony (the artificial black hole that powers the TARDIS) to prevent the ship from exploding, which as we learned in series 5 had some pretty devastating consequences for the universe. En route to the engine room, Tricky is injured and Gregor is forced to reveal that Tricky is actually human and also his brother; after their father was killed in an accident, Tricky was injured and lost his memories. He also had various organ transplants and Gregor lied to him, stating he was an android so he can claim captaincy of the vessel. The Doctor berates Gregor for his treatment of Tricky and says he can do much better.
They make it to the Eye of Harmony and the four find themselves trapped by the creatures. Gregor scans one of the creatures and discover it was similar to Clara; the Doctor is forced to reveal that the creatures are actually badly-burned versions of themselves from the future who have appeared due to the time leak. The Doctor intends to prevent this future from happening. However, Gregor and Tricky are unable to avoid contacting themselves and merge to form one of the creatures that was chasing them throughout the episode. The Doctor and Clara flee the engine room but make it to a chasm with no way across
Thinking they are about to die, the Doctor asks Clara to explain who she is and why she's died twice already. However, she doesn't understand what he's talking about and is unaware of any past lives. He soon realizes that she has no knowledge of this and is just an ordinary young woman. They leap across the chasm, believing it to be an illusion and reach the engine room.
After they reach the engine room, the Doctor and Clara discover that the engine has already exploded but the TARDIS manages to place the room in time stasis. The Doctor is aware the ship is trying to tell him something but isn't sure what is until he looks at Clara's hand, on which the phrase "big friendly button" is inscribed. He realizes they have to go back to the point they were caught by the salvage ship and activate the magnetic beacon, the egg-shaped device, so they can reset the timeline and prevent the disaster from occurring. They reach the console room where the Doctor takes the beacon and prepares to travel through a crack in time. Clara asks him if she'll remember anything and informs him that she learned of his name through the book in the library. He tells her she'll remember nothing once this is over. He manages to successfully cross the rift and warns his past shelf about what is about to happen. The past Doctor understands the warning and grabs the beacon from Clara after she picks it up, the word "big friendly button" inscribed on the side, and hits the button.
Time resets itself and the future timeline no longer exists. The Van Baalen brothers ignore the TARDIS and move on to find new salvage. However, Gregor has become more appreciative of Tricky, having somehow managed to recall the Doctor's words. Meanwhile on the TARDIS, the Doctor asks Clara if she feels safe traveling with him and she says yes, she does.
ANALYSIS: I personally thought this was a good episode, and while there were some who complained about the "reset button" ending (a common criticism aimed at the Russell T. Davies era of the show), I can't really think of any other way it could've ended.
Since Gregor shows more respect for Tricky and retained this from the previous timeline, it does make me wonder if Clara may have unconsciously retained memory of the Doctor's name as well. It is certainly possible and would make since the season finale promises to reveal big secrets about both the Doctor and Clara.
And yes, it was cool to see more of the TARDIS in the episode, since usually the only part of the ship that we see is the control room. Well, the exterior as well. You see not only the library, but also the swimming pool, the Eye of Harmony (appearing for the first time since 1996's failed Doctor Who pilot with Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor) and this was the first time we got to see it in its entirety.
The crack in time was a neat call back to the main story arc of the fifth series, where an unknown agency called the Silence were trying to destroy the entire universe by blowing up the TARDIS.
All in all, it was a pretty good episode and I'd like to see more that are set entirely on the TARDIS. As far as bottle episodes go, this was good.
OVERALL RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
UP NEXT: The Doctor and Clara travel to the Victorian era where they (or rather, the Doctor, since this version of Clara has never encountered them before) reunite with Strax, Madame Vastra and Jenny to investigate a crimson horror in a northern English town that seem to be caused by a mother and daughter played by Diana Rigg of The Avengers fame (the British TV show from the 1960s, that is) and her real-life daughter, actress Rachael Stirling. Apparently this is the first time they've ever acted on screen together, so this should be very interesting. It'll be up shortly.
BONUS: And since it was featured in the episode, here's "Fire Woman" by the Cult:
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Think this'll be good?
It's the trailer for Marvel's Agents of SHIELD show, which will premiere on ABC this fall and will be produced by Joss Whedon. It's hard to tell how good it'll be, but some of the good news is that Agent Coulson is back (not sure how he survived his apparent death at the hands of Loki, but that'll probably be explained) and that it will have direct ties to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If it's good and successful, maybe it'll pave the way for more superhero shows to be on TV. It'll probably be better than Smallville, that's for sure.
A couple of my previous posts about the series are here and here.
A couple of my previous posts about the series are here and here.
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