Doctor Who Reviews: The Ghost Monument

DOCTOR WHO

THE GHOST MONUMENT 

Written By Chris Chibnall

Directed By Mark Tonderai

*WARNING! This Review may contain spoilers!*

"The Ghost Monument" picks up from when "The Woman Who Fell To Earth" very well indeed, as we go straight into the action, without messing around and we are treated to the all new title sequence and theme music. The overall feel of it is episode 2 off we go. 

I have to say as a story, I thorughly enjoyed "The Ghost Monument". I thought it was adventuerous, bold, and in some ways stimulating. There is lots of action and characters being active a lot of the time, some great acting from the cast, it sets off at a good pace, and I didn't feel board watching it.

This was our first visit to an alien world, and an interesting planet it was too, "Desolation" the name of the planet, reminded me very much of "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy". The sort of desilate, bleak, colourless sand of a wasteland desert. It's a dystopian rhapsody is what it is. That's the best way I can sum it up, in it's simplist form. But it also reminded me of a combination of "Mad Max: Fury Road" and those episodes of "The Apprentice" where the candidates go abroad and they are presented with a task of assembling together items from a shopping list. That's what it felt like to me in comparison. 

I'm still not sure about Jodie Whittaker's doctor, I did enjoy her performance in this episode. Her humour is wry and knockabout, yet the larking is interwoven with a refreshing sincerity and determination of wanting to do well for her friends and make sure they're safe, as any friend would do. I'm just not quite there with her yet, as to pin pointing what her doctor is about. Some people have commented saying that 'she's basically a female David Tennant' and in some ways, I can see that coming through in the performance. 

I think the main reason as to why I haven't warmed to her yet is because I loved Peter Capaldi so much and still feel very sad that he's not there anymore, I do find it hard to think that Whittaker is in it for the long haul. I think she defintetly has got some big shoes to fill. But I am liking what she's doing and will continue to watch with great interest. 

It is a story that is character driven, and relies on the progression of how the characters do within the context of having to survive on a planet which has become a deathtrap. Now, some people have said that the storyline was weak and that it was one dimensional, I couldn't see that or understand the reasoning as to why people thought that way. But then I am someone who liked Bladerunner 2049, lots of people thought Bladerunner 2049 was boring and ponderous, and I didn't. I suppose if I was to sum it up in a nutshell it would be a matter of agree to disagree. 

The Remnants were not that impressive, they sounded quite chilling when they spoke, but effectivly they were just some pieces of scary cloth which slithered about like a snake, and could kill you. Not keen on them as a monster. 

The TARDIS comes back to us and it's a happy ending as the new Doctor is reunited with her TARDIS again. I have to say it's really good to have the TARDIS back as I have missed it, which just goes to show how much of an impact the TARDIS has on the programme and how it is an issential part of it, just like the Daleks and the Cybermen. 

Nice new design. I like how they've redesigned it and made it into something more organic, it's a bit like the TV Movie TARDIS and the Coral blended into one. 

Overall, I thought that "The Ghost Monument" is an episode which is crammed with action, zinging delivery from Jodie Whittaker, and haunting intersteller landscapes which arguably adds up to an even more impressive feat to last week's episode. 

I would say that "The Ghost Monument" deserves, a very good, 7/10. 

Brian Blessed

Brian Blessed in conversation, talking about his career and autobiography. 

Avengers Assembled!

"There was an idea, to bring together a group of remarkable people, to see if we could become something more, so when they needed us we could fight the battles, that they never could." - The Avengers 

This whole thing started out with four people coming together to work on a play, and now here we are approaching our two year anniversary, and we've done so much during that time. We've been out to pubs together, we've been out for dinners together, we've done theatre trips together, we even went to our friend's wedding. 

You guessed it, this is another friends post. I haven't done one of these in a while and I felt like doing one because I've been thinking about my friends today. In a way, this post is a way of kind of telling myself how important it is for a person to have friends but not only that, I also wanted to say how lucky I am to be friends with these three remarkable people. 

Even though they wind me up, stress me out, and annoy me, these three mean a great deal to me. Since all the things that happened with Emily, I doubted that I would ever make any new friends. And certainly not as wonderful as them.

Amazingly, they saw something in me I couldn't see in myself and stayed. I am stronger, kinder, and just better off for knowing them.

Love your friends. They're the best thing you'll ever have and you never know how long you've got them for.

INJUSTICE 2: Bizarro's World - Friday 12th October 2018

INJUSTICE 2

BIZARRO'S WORLD

FRIDAY 12th OCTOBER 

Bizarro just wants to help others and save the world from the great threats which threaten to destroy it. Others see Bizarro as a monster, and the poor creature lashes out in frustration as he escapes from Red Sun Prison and intends on saving the world from Brainiac, and he will crush anyone who stands in his way.

MORTAL KOMBAT XL: NO TRAINING - TOMORROW - SUB ZERO!

NO TRAINING

SUB ZERO

WEDNESDAY 10th OCTOBER 

Sub Zero has laid out a training exercise for Special Forces in aid to prepare them for the fight against Shinnok and his army of revenants. Are Cassie Cage, Takeda, Jacqui Briggs, Kung Jin, Johnny Cage, and Sonya Blade up to the task of beating a Grandmaster of cold?

Doctor Who Reviews : The Woman Who Fell To Earth

Doctor Who

The Woman Who Fell To Earth

Written By Chris Chibnall

Directed By Jaime Childs

Doctor Who came back to our screens last night, as 8.2 million viewers tuned in to watch the new doctor 'Jodie Whittaker' debut.

This review will be short and sweet and will not contain any spoilers.

Well, I think it was undoubtedly the best episode that Chris Chibnall has written for Doctor Who so far, and it was a great opener for the new series, it served its purpose in terms of setting things up and establishing all the characters and introducing the new doctor. 

I'm happy with the decision to move it to Sunday, I think that was maybe what the show needed, Saturday evenings will always be Doctor Who's home, but for now, this seemed like a good move. It's been done before, it was on midweek in the 1980's, so this isn't a new thing.

It was a very enjoyable episode to watch, some of the main factors about it were characterization and identity of all the characters within the story and their status which added emotional depth to the overall story. I really liked all the characters, I thought Ryan was very good, I like Yaz, Graham was good in terms of providing comic relief as well as contributing to the overall progression of the episode's plot, and Grace was good too. I liked everyone for the fact that these all seemed to me like normal everyday people which you're likely to meet, something which we didn't really get with Steven Moffat.

Coming into Doctor Who in 2018 really does feel as if an evolution of the programme is essentially taking place. It definitely had a few niggles, but overall, looking forward to the rest. 

It didn't have the greatest monster/villain ever, but some really good character development, mostly solid laughs, great direction with fantastic cinematography, music was very good, I liked the score and Jodie Whittaker was brilliant throughout, all that I'll say about the new doctor for now is, I need to see more of her before I can establish a solid opinion. I don't feel like I can justify her character from this episode alone, because she's going through some post-regeneration trauma and I just felt we didn't get an overall consensus of what her character of the Doctor is about yet, that will come over time and watching the series each week. Having said that, I do really miss Peter Capaldi and think that Jodie Whittaker has some big shoes to fill. 

But I liked it when the new doctor got into her costume, One of my favourite scenes from any pre-regeneration story is when the new Doctor decides on his or her outfit, and when she comes out in the clothes she picks that we've seen from the publicity photos, it's just marvelous. 

I like the new theme music, it has some nice Derbyshire elements to it, not so keen on the drums, I'd personally tone them down a bit, but it worked fine for me.

The Woman Who Fell To Earth exceeds expectations for not just Doctor Who fans, but for television viewers as a whole. 8/10

Doctor Who - The Good and the Bad of New Who

THE GOOD AND THE BAD ABOUT NEW WHO

Hi everyone.

So, in this blog post, I'm going to talk about five things I think that are really good about the new series as a whole and five things that are not so good/ bad, so overall, it's ten things.

This has all come about because I was thinking the other day, with a brand new series of Doctor Who coming onto our screens and the first episode going out this Sunday, I thought I would look back on and have a think about the good and the bad.

So, without much ado. Let's get to it.  

THINGS WHICH THE NEW SERIES DOES WELL.

1. Developed Companions

We certainly get much better and more developed characters as companions in the new series than in the classic series. That's definitely a positive. If you think about character's such as Dodo, Katarina, Victoria, and Zoe, all of which don't have much to them and are people certain fans don't really care about very much. Here, we have characters who have families, history, desires and ambitions, and a whole number of various attributes and qualities which make the audience invest in them and make a character. The only character in the classic series who has a background to her character is Ace. 

But in New Who it really does come into fruition, starting with Rose. "Fathers Day" is a brilliant exploration of her character and allows the audience to get to know a bit about her history. 

2. Story Arcs

Now I have seen a lot of people, and I have said this in the past as well, 'oh fed up with story arcs, can we just go back to having individual stories' but television doesn't work that way anymore. Story arcs exist in television series in some way, whether it be through a character arc or a minor subplot, there will be something in series these days that will continue out throughout the series. They're there to hold the audience's attention. Television audience's nowadays are very fickle, they like to flick in and out of channels. The retention of the audience are what television publishers are most interested in. 

An example of this was BAD WOLF in Series One, that was a brilliant story arc because it was done incredibly well. It has you on the edge of your seat. 

3. The TARDIS Dimensions 

By this, I mean you open the TARDIS doors and you can see a console room, you can see the wall right at the back. You couldn't get that in the classic series. It was simply black. The set of the TARDIS was a back wall, and two side walls etc. The set was limited, whereas, in the new series, the TARDIS dimensions and the set is much more improved. 

4. Visual and Special Effects

Kind of along the same lines as the last one, but the visual effects are so much better than what we get in the classic Who. I mean, yes, classic who was Doctor Who made with love and on a budget of peanuts so you'll have to forgive what some people might call lousy special effects. But for the most part, the visual and special effects in the new series are very much improved and better than the classic series. However, various model shots in the classic series do work really well and are brilliantly designed. And models do look more realistic than CGI. 

5. Doctor Who being more popular in the US and globally. 

I'm pleased that Doctor Who has taken off and has become more popular on a global scale, and more people know about it and love it. There are Doctor Who fans all over the world now, and people become much more a part of the Whoniverse. 

THINGS WHICH THE NEW SERIES DOES NOT DO WELL.

1. Romance

I don't mean this in the context of everyday characters, I like Rose and Mickey, Amy and Rory, Clara and Danny, that's all fine. I'm talking about the romance between the Doctor and his companions. So the Tenth Doctor and Rose is a good example to name, the Doctor and River Song, marrying the Doctor off. I personally don't think you should cross the line and try to imply that there is a deeper relationship between the Doctor and his companions, there are lines you shouldn't cross and this is one of them.

2. The Doctor's language

"Big Sexy Woman!" The Doctor's lexicon in the new series is terrible. The Doctor should never say 'sexy', he should never call the TARDIS 'sexy', in "The Doctor's Wife" the Eleventh Doctor calls the TARDIS 'sexy thing'. The past few years, the doctor has unfortunately been written very poorly. No matter which actor or actress is playing the part, the writers always seem to write something in the script that doesn't ring true to the doctor's character. It doesn't sit well with whose playing the part now and what's been before. I just think the doctor talks and acts like your best mate, a certain essence of his character has gone.

3. Annoying Companions!

I'm talking about the overconfident and bulshy companions. All the companions now have a subtitled name. Clara Oswald "The Impossible Girl" -  Amy Pond "The Girl Who Waited" etc. I don't mean this about all the companions, just the ones who are really overconfident and cocky. Now, I don't like Amy. I hate Amy Pond, I'm sorry to the people who do like her, I just think she's annoying and not a nice character, but I could write another blog post explaining why I don't like Amy Pond. 

An example is in "Vincent and the Doctor" and there in the cafe and she's chatting up these men in a big, obnoxious, bulshy way, there was no women's limb in that time of the 1800 and women were treated differently back then, they didn't really have a voice. It actually weakens the Doctor, he just comes across as being more diminutive. Amy could make a comment which would put the Doctor down and the Doctor wouldn't come back with a throwback comment. 

River Song, thinking she's gods gift and owns the place! :( The show is called "Doctor Who"

Rose to some extent, only in Series Two. She's fine in Series One. I haven't got a problem with Rose is Series One, it's just in Series Two when she starts to get too big for her boots, it annoys me a lot. 

4. Messing around with / Ruining the 'Golden Oldies' Monsters

Not just in design, but also in characterization. 

The Cybermen - the 2006 design, I thought was very good, I didn't like the C on their chests. The stomping wasn't great and they came across as clunky, the "Delete" catchphrase to give them a catchphrase for the Daleks "Exterminate". I'm pleased Steven Moffatt dropped the delete, but the Cybermen have got worse in design, "Nightmare in Silver" they're completely unrecognizable, they just look and come across as just robots. It was made better in "Death in Heaven" they were walking like they used to, some of them had a power walk. It's not good.

Silurians - The silurians need to have a mention. I wasn't keen on their new design when I first saw it. It is possibly, the worst redesign out of all the monsters that have returned from the classic series because they look so unrecognizable, they could almost look like a new monster. It's a shame that the design and the story didn't live up to expectations. 

The Sontarans - too short and too blue, and Strax as well. Strax is an annoying character in my eyes, never found him funny and just very sad how the Sontarans have been made into a joke in the new series. 

5. The Sonic Screwdriver

It's used far too much. I mean it has been a staple for Doctor Who since the 1970's, but it was a tool. It was simply a piece of equipment that the Doctor used every now and again to open doors or to get out of a tight squeeze. It's used far too much now in the new series. It's the magic wand. It's overblown and overdone, to the extent where it's got beyond silly. By no means get rid of the sonic, although the fifth and sixth doctors did without one for a time. Just tone it down a bit, use it less. 

The Doctor has other gadgets, or if in doubt, make up your own. 

Those are my what's good and bad review of the new series. 

I'll be tuning in on Sunday evening to watch Jodie Whittaker's debut "The Woman Who Fell To Earth". Just starting to get a little bit excited now!