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Doctor Who: The Church on Ruby Road (2023)
Fun, Steady Opener for Gatwa
After his bombastic entrance in "The Giggle" I had high expectations for Gatwa going into the Christmas Special.
This episode was nothing spectacular, however the star of the show was most certainly Gatwa, who seems to have limitless energy on screen. It was largely centred around the new companion, Ruby Sunday, and in classic RTD style there's some good world building in creating the family of Ruby and I thought they were an excellent feature in the episode.
The big risk of course in this episode was the musical number for the Goblin Song. A decent song, although even given the context the lyrics are a bit weird. I think it kind of worked for Gatwa's Doctor, and that is how we will remember the Goblins, because other than that they didn't have an impact on the episode.
The mystery of Ruby's past is Moffat-esque, with Amy Pond and Clara Oswald having similar kind of fairytale back stories. This episode will likely get either better or worse on rewatch having seen the story play out over the next series. But as it is, this episode itself is intruguing.
Murray Gold's new theme for the Doctor is right up there with some of his best work, and definitely gives the energy to the show that's been so lacking over recent years!
Onwards and upwards from here. Not amazing, but a steady start. Look forward to Series 14. 7/10.
Doctor Who: The Giggle (2023)
A Marvelous Ending for Tennant, A Spectacular Entrance for Gatwa!
Russell T Davies delivers quite possibly his most ambitious, and certainly one of his best episodes yet - this regeneration story is genuinely like no other and I have to applaud RTD for going with this idea, and executing it brilliantly.
The episode begins with a introduction to the Toymaker, an old foe, and throughout the story Neil Patrick Harris was fantastic in making a character the audience genuinely hates, as he taunts the Doctor and Donna.
This episode was so quickly paced, it could have been made into an entire series arc, but that's full credit to RTD for being able to make all of this fit within one episode. The concept of the giggle being engrained in human minds is great, and given it's origin, allows for some creepy puppet scenes.
The sequence with the Doctor and Donna being taken through the haunted house and the creepy dolls was exactly what I want from Doctor Who, especially considering the heartfelt conversation the Doctor and Donna had half way through it. This is what RTD can do best, it's not a case of occasionaly bringing the story back down to Earth, actually, among all the craziness, it's all down to earth emotional drama. And it's brilliant.
The use of UNIT was great, I can imagine them playing a big part in the future of Doctor Who. Speaking of which - Ncuti Gatwa burst onto the scene in the first bigeneration of the show. To have David Tennant and Ncuti Gatwa act along side eachother was incredible, especially knowing that for one, this will be their last episode, and the other, this is their first.
A game of throw and catch as the climax of the episode? I can see why people may have issues with that, but I'm here for a good time and I thought it worked in a classic RTD way.
Then the next 10 minutes is just wonderful Doctor Who - the 14th and 15th Doctor's figure out where they stand with some beautiful writing, acting, and music.
And as the 10th/14th Doctor's theme transitions into the 15th Doctor's theme, we know who's in charge now. It feels like Murray Gold has a new "I Am the Doctor" now, and that piece was a great way to end a fantastic episode of music!
I think it's going to be controversial to some, but I also think this will go down as a favourite, especially in years to come. When Gatwa becomes a popular Doctor as I'm sure he will, we'll look back at his first appearance, acting alongside potentially the show's greatest Doctor, with great fondness.
Russell T Davies, David Tennant, Ncuti Gatwa, Catherine Tate, Murray Gold. Well done all.
To conclude: Fantastic episode from start to finish. Was it an anniversary celebration like the Day of the Doctor was? No, but it didn't need to be. Brilliant episode. 9/10.
Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder (2023)
Bonker, Scary, Fun
Doctor Who can be many things, and this is a great example of how weird and whacky the show can be!
Firstly, a tremendous performance from David Tennant and Catherine Tate, who are - barring the pre credits scene - the only people in the episode.
The scene where we figure out there are duplicates of the Doctor and Donna is cleverly and eerily done, and the viewer is on the edge of the seat waiting to see what happens next.
And what happens next is absolutely wild, some scary moments, some bonkers moments, all while maintaining an emotional core where we're invested in the characters. The Doctor is confronted about his past, and Donna is worrying for her family, 100 trillions years away.
The plot is great and has a much more pleasing ending that last week's The Star Beast, and that whole last 10 minutes was absolutely wonderful.
I love how as a viewer, we don't know which Donna is which, so when the Doctor takes his pick, we're just hoping it's right. Then the Donna that's left behind on an exploding starts screaming, and it begins to become clear that that's our Donna. In that danger. The music by Murray Gold is an old classic that works brilliantly.
The Doctor quickly fixes his mistake and all is ok - leaving him clinging on to Donna. They land back on Earth, to see Wilfred Mott. The late Bernard Cribbins brought a great big smile to my face, and that wrapped up the episode beautifully.
I'm still trying to work out exactly how good this episode is, but an 8/10 seems fitting for now. Expecting big things from The Giggle next week.
Doctor Who: The Star Beast (2023)
A Solid Episode - Doctor Who as You Remember It
Doctor Who has been to many places since Russel T Davies and David Tennant departed with their final episode on New Year's Day 2010, though Whittaker's era may have been a disappointment, Matt Smith's era was magical, and Peter Capaldi's is a hidden gem.
However through all this, no one has been able to hit the popularity that RTD and Tennant had in their run (Smith came close).
With The Star Beast, it's as if they'd never been gone. I think it's fantastic how the viewer is swept straight into the adventure of the Doctor and Donna, just like old times. David Tennant and Catherine Tate bounce off eachother like no other Doctor - Companion duo - only this time there's an insanely improved budget - the episode looks fantastic.
The new and improved special effects were in action as the Doctor used his shiny new sonic to create a hologram, analysing the crashed ship. Fantastic visuals - but crucially, Doctor Who has its soul back - it's the music which makes the scene. The Doctor's Theme, first played in the opening episode of the revival in 2005, and now Murray Gold is back and with his old classics. A theme that has now been used for every Doctor in the revival.
The story was fun, and RTD's resolution doesn't seem as bad as others have made out. The focus is quickly shifted on to the the TARDIS reveal, which was fantastic. David Tennats's energy, Murray Gold's score, and the genuinely brilliant set built for the new Doctor.
There's a certain charm to this Doctor Who which will never be recreated, and perhaps Ncuti Gatwa's era will be brilliant, maybe, with the help of Disney+, even supercede Tennant's popularity. However, I consider RTD, Tennant, Gold to be quintessential Doctor Who, and I'm going to enjoy it while we've got it.
Thought Miriam Margolyes was superb as the Meep, Yasmin Finney was slightly stale as Rose, but generally Rose was an ok character and I think there's a decent chance we'll see her post 60th. RTD's handling of political themes were slightly heavy-handed here and there, I think he's got to be careful with that, but I'm not bothered by it like others seem to be.
Overnight TV ratings just over 5m, that's a number Whittaker would've been lucky to get in 30 day figures. I think it's an ok rating, and I'm expecting it to be uphill from here, possibly all the way in to the Christmas Special. At this point, Ncuti Gatwa's era seems far away, as we've only started with the 14th Doctor, but I think that's kind of the beauty of the Star Beast. It's the Doctor and Donna, it's 2008 again, for now. What's to come is going to be pretty special.
Overall, 8/10. Solid start, and whilst nothing special and out of this world, I do expect Wild Blue Yonder and The Giggle to be even better.
Doctor Who: The Power of the Doctor (2022)
The Power of the Doctor
A difficult 2 years for Chris Chibnall - steering the ship when COVID hit made navigating his way through series 13 and the 13th Doctor's final episodes a lot more stressful than it might've been.
Series 11 was forgettable, series 12 was controversial, series 13 was chaotic. Chibnall was then made to write a BBC Centenary Special, which would celebrate the show's history and be Jodie Whittaker's regeneration episode, and despite a poorly made show over his tenure, I was really routing for this one, after all he'd been through.
And... He delivered! The Power of the Doctor works as a centenary special, it had some wonderful moments with past companions (and Doctors!) which made the episode an instant classic. The Master as brilliantly played by Sacha Dhawan was superb again, he's the highlight of this era overall for me, it had to be him who caused the Doctor to regenerate (her actual regeneration).
We knew prior that this episode would have a lot going on, probably too much, and that is partly true. But here's the positives first - I thought the 1h 30m was just about enough to tell a coherent story, and have all the side characters feel involved and have satisfying conclusions. The plot regarding the Doctor's forced regeneration into the Master was fun, and allowed for some great scenes with Master as the Doctor. The Cybermen plot, and Dalek plot especially, were decently wrapped up, but the main problem was they felt out of place in the episode, and this is the negative - it didn't feel like a regeneration story. That 1h 30m wasn't enough for THAT plot and the regeneration.
A key problem over this era was defining characters, giving them a role, exploring their journeys, and so on. This was apparent here again, with the fact the Doctor didn't actually get a whole load of meaningful screen time in this episode, and it's her regeneration episode. We all knew it was coming, but if you were to watch The End of Time or Twice Upon a Time, for example, the regeneration is a huge part of the entire episode and if works in making it feel complete.
Within about 5 minutes, the Doctor goes from crying to Yaz 'I don't want to change!' to, 'tag, you're it'. Which by the way, is a great last line for a doctor. It's just a sudden change in attitude like that is going to give viewers whiplash.
I'm being too negative here though - the episode was Chris Chibnall's best, it looked great in parts and Jodie went out on a high. The first act felt a little slow, but that was okay because the final act was excellent.
And finally,
Introducing DAVID TENNANT as the Doctor. What?
Doctor Who: Legend of the Sea Devils (2022)
What actually happened?
I was sat there with 20 minutes to go thinking, nothing has happened yet. The Sea Devils themselves I enjoyed seeing, but that's basically it. I haven't ever watched Classic Who so didn't know much about them going into this, but I can only imagine fans of the Classic Series will be disappointed with the way they were handled here.
Most of the major criticisms I have of this episode are consistent throughout the Chibnall era, the best part is, the next episode is the last episode.
The neverending bland dialogue that somehow manages to kill every scene, the constant close up face shots which allow the actors no room to for body expressions etc, heck, how would Matt Smith cope with this!?
Segun Akinola with incredibly dire music, okay, he unleashed the orchestra a bit here but to no effect, I kind of felt sorry for him because it doesn't feel like he's actually scoring anything, but my main problem with him is his lack of comedy music. Dan (yes, he was actually in this episode if you think carefully) had a humourous line "you should meet my mum" (not that humourous), but still, the music is scoring the scene from 20 seconds before!! Just add a lighter a tone, and I hate to compare, Murray Gold could do that perfectly.
The lighting/colour... It all seems off. I'm no expert on this kind of thing but I'm just not a fan of the way these episodes are stylised.
The next and last episode... well unfortunately it seems there isn't going to be much of a plot. Either way, Whittaker will finally regenerate.
Around the World in 80 Days (2021)
Don't bother with the negative reviews
I'm seeing lots of criticism for this show for not living up to the originals, but coming from someone who hasn't ever seen them, I thoroughly enjoyed this series. It doesn't have to be identical to the original to still be a really good series, you just have to look at it for what it is.
David Tennant is phenomenonal throughout and the supporting cast is very good. Okay, it's not a perfect series but what is? I'd highly recommend watching if you want some adventure!
Doctor Who: Flux: Chapter Six - The Vanquishers (2021)
Disappointing Finale
- Swarm and Azure had very little development throughout the series, and the way they are defeated in this episode is so cheap. Also, what did they do this episode apart from wonder around taunting the Doctor? There's also a massive, massive plot hole as The Doctor and the Ood try and save the universe whilst Swarm and Azure just stand there in the background..
- Why is Yaz there? What has she done this entire series? The only character work she got is what we've already had, her being annoyed at the Doctor for not telling her about what she's trying to do.
- And speaking of what the Doctor was trying to do, her entire era of Doctor Who was spent trying to find out more about the Timeless Child, only for her to just throw the watch away. Now, I don't think this is objectively a terrible thing to do, however the way it happened was a real letdown. Just felt like 5 years for nothing.
- Other criticisms are what I have for every Chibnall episode, like poor, clunky dialogue, wasting characters, uncohesive storytelling, and painful music.
There are positives about this episode, I do think the Flux was wrapped up well and in general this series has been Chibnall's best. I'm liking the look of the New Year's Day special as well.
Perhaps this episode will be better on rewatch, but frankly I have no desire to do that.
Flux was wrapped up well, but so many inconsistencies and classic car crash style Chibnall episode. 3/10.
Doctor Who: Flux: Chapter Three - Once, Upon Time (2021)
What just happened!?
The story is really good, but it's very hard to follow. I can completely understand if someone switched over during that because they had absolutely no clue what was going on. It's all well and good having a confusing story, but the episode has to be standalone to some extent so it's watchable for someone who hasn't been obsessively following the series.
Moffat has done things similar to this but the execution of it was a lot better. It'll be much easier to judge the series and this episode once it's finished and we have all the answers.
For now though, it's time to look forward to what could be a belter next week. The Angel has the TARDIS...
Doctor Who: Flux: Chapter Two - War of the Sontarans (2021)
Welcome back Doctor Who!
The Halloween Apocalypse was a really good set up episode, it was a little bit messy and it was hard to judge it with it being part 1 of a 6 part series.
Now we're into Doctor Who: Flux and as a result of the Flux, whatever it is, the Sontarans have been able to invade Earth at different points in its time stream in an attempt to rewrite history. It's really good. The Sontarans were fantastic, the story with the Flux and Swarm is really intriguing and next week looks like it will focus on that a lot more.
Series 11 and 12 were terrible, but this is Chris Chibnall's best work on Doctor Who so far and has potential over the next 4 weeks to make this a special series. Jodie Whitaker has been great so far this series and John Bishop is brilliant as I expected. It's also visually very impressive, well done to all involved.
8/10. Bring on next week!
Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks (2021)
Best Doctor Who since 2017!
It's Important for reviews on here not to be a review of the whole Chibnall era, and that it doesn't cloud our thoughts. This special, on its own, was fun, exciting, and the Daleks didn't disappoint!
The Special struggles with pacing early on, but after some monologue between Ryan and the Doctor, the episode kicks on and we are not left short of any Dalek action! The story regarding the Daleks is really good, and the stakes were significantly raised when the Daleks exterminated the Prime-Minister there and then.
The defining moment of the episode as the Doctor defeats the Daleks was done well, as we had already had the other TARDIS seaded in our thoughts at the beginning of the episode.
Along with the Dalek action, there's a big focus on the characters, and on a character level, the defining moment came at the end as Ryan chooses to leave the TARDIS and Graham follows. Certainly not the most emotional of goodbyes on the show, but that's simply because the characters haven't been developed enough beforehand. On its own, I thought the scene was alright, but kind of carried by some great acting by Mandip Gill.
John Barrowman's energy is absolutely fantastic. He's simultaneously a blast from the past and a breath of fresh air, which only Doctor Who could do! It's great to have Jack back and he's written well, with some nice references to Rose Tyler and Gwen Cooper.
Let's hope Series 13 carries this same energy! 7/10.
Doctor Who: Ascension of the Cybermen (2020)
Decent story but not executed brilliantly.
The story with the cybermen and the whole "all you know is a lie" stuff going on is actually a good story arc across this series, and I'm looking forward to see what happens in the next episode.
However this episode in particular was quite boring. Just too much prolonged speech which doesn't need to be there, and the direction of the episode was poor, the scenes and pace were all over the place
The master's cameo at the end was good and I look forward to seeing him play a big part in the finale!
Doctor Who: The Haunting of Villa Diodati (2020)
Best yet!!
This series may have had about 5 "love and monsters" but this episode was actually alright - but let's be clear - it still wasn't absolutely brilliant.
But let's look on the bright side while we can. The first half was sort of creepy and reminded me a bit of 'The God Complex' going all the way back to series 6. But not fears, 'ghosts'.
And then we have the finale build up for the next half of the episode which I won't bother spoiling for you.
It definitely isn't my favourite story arc, but at least there is one, and at least I'm kind of half looking forward to the finale despite the amount of terrible episodes throughout this series.
My highest rating since Twice upon a Time: 7/10.
Doctor Who: Can You Hear Me? (2020)
Incredibly boring
I don't want to say I wasted 49 minutes of my life but that's the sad truth. And the worst thing is, this is the 4th time this has happened this series!
It was so lacklusture and tiresome. The script just went on and on, too much waffle!
And the story? Well it didn't exactly amaze me. In fact it didn't really make much sense - I could go in to it but I'll leave this spoiler free.
A lot of people might like the insight in to the companions personal life's in the last 10 minutes there, but for me? I almost fell asleep.
I'd also like to say that people need to stop defending this show so much! It was brilliant for 10 years or so but now it's nowhere near that quality - in fact it's actually quite terrible.
The quote "When People need help, I never refuse... Unless it's my friend wanting to talk about cancer, then I just do my quirky awkward alien stuff and don't help him"
That's absolutely ridiculous and there's no way that should've made the final script. Seen a number of people who found that downright offensive.
Having said all that I'm sort of looking forward to the two part finale to see if any previous characters return - such as The Master or Captain Jack Harkness. Could be an interesting story, depends where they go with it.
This episode though gets a 3/10 from me!
Doctor Who: Praxeus (2020)
More lectures, more boredom.
6 episodes so far. 3 of them have been big episodes (not necessarily good, but important), and the other 3 have been random trash which has absolutely nothing to do with the other ones!
They need to hint at the story arc in every episode, or at least most of them in a series. For example in series 1 it was bad wolf.
In series 4 it was Rose trying to reach the Doctor.
In series 6 it was building up to "the day the Doctor dies"
But in this series (and 11), there's been none of that.
In terms of this episode itself: There's more lectures on plastic and looking after the climate and what not, and more boring "adventures" on Earth.
And where was UNIT or whatever the new stuff is called? It's like if you're going to have an episode with them based on the storyline it's this one.
Shame how far this show had fallen.
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
Bland, unoriginal, Star Wars was dead ages ago
Some excellent CGI and action carried this movie and saw it out to a 4/10 from me, because the story was absolutely terrible. So unoriginal, so bland, and I was sat there bored. During the film I started to think about if lightsabers could actually be possible, rather than actually focusing on the film.
The writing was awful. There was this horrible jumble of a light-hearted kind of humorous goodbye movie, and a more dark movie.
But my main point here is, is that Star Wars has been long dead. They were clearly out of ideas because this story was just terrible. The were no intriguing plot twists, and any important scenes in the film were poorly delivered by poor direction.
Some of it, mainly the scenes with Han Solo and Luke Skywalker seemed very forced. It was almost like "let's just put these fellas in to keep the fans happy"
At no point did I feel any emotion. Such a bad ending to a saga.
Worst thing is, Disney plan on more Star Wars! And soon! I imagine it will be a complete change and we'll have a new Star Wars. And unfortunately I really don't want them to come out, and it's not like I'm even a Star Wars fan.
To summarise: some decent scenes towards the start, and some very good CGI and action scenes kept the film watchable. However the story was bland and unoriginal, and chances are you'll be bored out of your mind. 4/10.
Doctor Who: Spyfall: Part One (2020)
Best under Whitaker's era
Definitely an improvement from series 11 however that's not to say this episode was good by any stretch of the imagination.
The episode definitely picked up in the second half and the story is OKAY but the script is just terrible. Sometimes it's just cringy or sometimes dull, I actually sometimes feel sorry for the actors.
Having said all that I'll definitely be watching Part 2 on Sunday, and hopefully more will be explained.
So long as Chris Chibnall is in charge I can't imagine it will ever pick up under Jodie Whitaker.
The Aeronauts (2019)
Good film, bad history.
They've added this character, Amelia Wren, and whilst she isn't like a bad character, she's completely made up, and replaced the actual hero who was Henry Coxwell. Feminism propaganda? Maybe not however it was needless, and then romance between James Glaisher and Ameila Wren was implied at the end which is adding to the fiction in this film which was meant to be based on a true story.
Having said all that, if I take off my history specs and put on my film specs on, there are more positives to look at.
The film switches between past and present. The past looking at how they got to the balloon in the first place, and the present is the journey on the balloon, and the emotional and physical battles they face.
All in all it was an alright effort, definitely entertaining and engaging, and Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones did very well. I'd say worth a watch but if you're a bit touchy with the correctness of the history then I'd give it a miss.
Black Panther (2018)
Overrated and Underrated
So many reviews here with 1 star, and the majority of them specify it's dull, dry and only rated highly because of the political reasons.
On the other hand, many critics have gone a bit too mad in saying it's one of the greatest movies of all time with it being the first black superhero movie etc.
But overall I'd call it a solid addition to the MCU, being something a little different, and setting up Avengers: Infinity War very nicely.
The feel and atmosphere of the film was different to what we'd experienced before in the MCU, assisted nicely by a great score by Ludwig Göransson, and originals by Kendrick Lamar.
One major criticism I have is the execution of the climax scene as T'Challa and Killmonger face off and Killmonger is defeated but other than that there are some fantasticly directed, one being the car chase, or perhaps the two scenes where T'Challa is challenged, specifically the Killmonger challenge.
And on Killmonger, he's one of my favourite villians in the MCU. Michael B. Jordan did a brilliant job there.
People who think it's dull are probably just watching the wrong film.
There are different genres in the MCU, for example The Winter Soldier is a Spy kind of movie, whereas Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor: Ragnarok are more like Fantasy and Comedy, and different people like different genres.
People who complain about it being too politicaly correct are just morons. This film (along with the entire MCU) is based on the comics, and Kevin Feige wanted to introduce Black Panther just before Avengers: Infinity War, so that the setting for Wakanda was ready to play a prominent part in the film. And for this to happen, a lot of the cast has to be black. They can't make it without the cast being black, they're basically forced to include them. So there's no way it was made just for political correctness and what not.
Anyway Black Panther was a very good film, and I'd probably give it a 7.7/7.8 kind of rating which rounds up to 8 for this.
The House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018)
Awful from start to finish
The attempt by Eli Roth to put demons, magical spells raising dead to life, creepy dolls etc. into a PG film was a failure and some of the characters were just downright weird. The film never got going and it was a painful watch, some themes such as the walking toys + dolls and wiping out all life in the universe seem very familiar, I thought of Toy Story and Avengers Infinity War/Endgame. I also thought if goosebumps with Jack Black and that house and a Doctor Who episode with hearing the clock but not seeing it.
Don't mean to be horrible but the kids acting was diabolical.
It isn't worth paying money for.