Now Showing - DalekbusterScreen5's reviews

Yeah, it's totally convincing. And even in the same story, the gas mask transformation was very believable and scary.

I'm guessing you've heard this interview:

https://soundcloud.com/774-abc-melbo...th-raf-epstein

– and once again there's the drip feed of 'revelations' about what happened with production in 2005. I must say the chances of Eccleston doing Big Finish sound the best they ever have, but I don't buy into this "light comedy" idea. What's wrong with just 'humour'? To my mind the humour was off-kilter and wrong for Eccleston anyway and I think the best humorous line in the season was this:

Rose: "He was saying that he always wanted to see the stars"
Doctor: "Tell him to go and stand outside then"

Maybe that felt truer than anything else he was given to say, simply because of how Northern it sounds. He's a bit too close to Earth and reality, I think, or maybe the truth, or both; so, I think the Doctor was, in his case, an insurmountable part at the time.

Yeah, that was incredible. I think the new series of Doctor Who is perhaps the greatest example of groundbreaking television CGI/special effects.
Yep, that was the one I was referring to - and where I found Eccleston's responses hugely surprising.

That and the ninth Doctor's whole treatment of Mickey were some of the first series' highlights for me. It was great whenever the Doctor would call Mickey 'Rickey' because it showed just how alien the Doctor is.

It was also harking back to getting Ian Chesterton's name wrong .

I didn't think that, although the ninth Doctor is clearly doing it out of spite to annoy Mickey whilst it was more a sign of age with the first Doctor.

Wallace and Gromit’s World of Invention

Wallace and Gromit is one of the best animated franchise of all time; in terms of success, it is the UK's nearest equivalent to Pixar's Toy Story series. When you see Wallace & Gromit, you expect a quality piece of entertainment. So I was hugely excited back in 2010 when it was announced that the plasticine duo would be getting their own primetime BBC1 series. Unfortunately, that excitement soon led to disappointment - it wasn't a terrible series by any means but hardly the hit many expected.

Wallace and Gromit's World of Invention saw Wallace (Peter Sallis) as the host of his own documentary series about real-life science inventions and contraptions. The series mixed stop-motion animation segments with live-action footage of real machinery and real interviews with inventors.

Which brings me onto the first point: the interviews. When Aardman produced their first documentary series in Creature Comforts, the interviews were far more interesting in the way that the audio recordings were synced with the lips of plasticine animals. None of that creativity is present here, lending for stiff and uninteresting interviews. The interviews would have been much more engaging had they been coming from the voices of the plasticine people of the Wallace and Gromit universe. Additionally, it would have made much more sense for the real-life footage to have been plasticine environments as it is odd seeing Wallace introducing segments filmed in real life. It doesn't make a lot of sense given that Wallace shouldn't have knowledge of our universe given that it isn't the same as the stop-motion world of Wallace & Gromit.

The live-action segments are made worse by the irritating narration by Ashley Jensen. Ashley Jensen is extremely patronising; half of the time it feels as though she is talking down to you rather than treating you as an intelligent intellectual. World of Invention was broadcast primetime on BBC1 yet the choice of narrator means it feels more like an afternoon CBBC show. A better narrator for this show would probably have been a presenter along the lines of Dara O' Briain or Brian Cox; someone who oozes a natural intelligence without intimidating the audience. I had not heard of Ashley Jensen before World of Inventions but she would probably be a better fit for CBBC than a BBC1 primetime.

The best elements of the show are the Wallace and Gromit stop motion animation. The classic Aardman humour are in these segments, be it one of Wallace's machines going awry or the famous expressionistic eyebrows of loveable pooch Gromit. It makes you wonder why the BBC didn't commission Aardman Animations to make a series of half an hour Wallace and Gromit shorts instead as World of Invention struggles whenever Wallace and Gromit are off-screen. The idea of Wallace as a presenter is appealing but would perhaps have worked better with a Saturday night game show rather than a documentary. A game show would have suited Wallace's personality more and could have been based around one of his infamous wacky inventions. Imagine the variety that could have been introduced with the rounds if each one were to be based off a different invention by Wallace. It could have been a hugely imaginative show and far better than the dreadful Don't Scare The Hare.

One thing that Wallace and Gromit's World of Inventions has going for it is that it genuinely feels like a documentary series Wallace would make were he to become a documentary presenter. The title sequence with the dream-bubble sequence feels well-suited to Wallace's personality; the kind of hare-brained/weird idea that Wallace would suggest for the title sequence of the show. It also maintains a good sense of continuity with the Wallace and Gromit shorts: for example, the title sequence features the getting-out-of-bed contraption from Curse of the Were-Rabbit. It's like you're actually watching a show by Wallace and Gromit - like this is their concept rather than anyone else's. This doesn't feel like a show from the mind of Nick Park, it feels like a show from the mind of Wallace.

Overall, Wallace & Gromit's World of Inventions is a low point for Wallace and Gromit. It has some strong points - in particular the stop-motion segments and the fact it feels like a show actually created by the characters themselves - but the live-action segments don't mix well with the stop-motion animation and the narrator of said sequences Ashley Jensen is patronising towards viewers. It's a shame they didn't go down the Creature Comforts route of setting everything within the stop-motion universe, with the audio recordings from the interviews synced with plasticine characters. It would have made for a more engrossing watch in my view and undoubtedly allowed for a more natural progression between Wallace in the studio and the documentary sequences.

2012

It is weird to think four years on that many were convinced 2012 would be the end of the world. In fact, I'd go as far as to say it's laughable how worried many of us were that the world would end. The conspiracy that 2012 was 'the end' all came from the rather tenuous link that the Mayan calendar happened to end on that year. The theory was that aeons ago the Mayans had foreseen a time where the Earth would die and their calendar stopping at 2012 was their way of signalling when it would happen. Of course, this all turned out to be a load of nonsense - otherwise we wouldn't be here now - but not before writer and director Ronald Emmerich (the director of the popular sci-fi film Independence Day) decided to create an apocalyptic film about it simply titled '2012'.

In 2012, American scientist Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) discovers that the Earth's core is heating up and warns U.S. President Thomas Wilson (Danny Glover) of the instability of the Earth's crust, which could result in the end of the human race if the world isn't prepared. Meanwhile, writer Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) learns of the same information and tries to save his family - ex-wife Kate (Amanda Peet) and kids Noah (Liam James) and Lily (Lilly Curtis) - from apocalyptic disaster.

If there's one thing that this movie has going for it, it's the CGI. The CGI in this film is incredible, be it megatsunamis or massive buildings collapsing. It looks extremely convincing and feels like an accurate reflection of what the apocalypse would be like if it were to happen in real life. If the mayans saw anything, it wouldn't surprise me if they actually saw the movie 2012 and mistook it to be what actually happened in the year 2012. The visual effects company Hydraulx have provided some of the best effects ever to be seen in a movie and it's unfortunate that their talents are wasted on a sub-par movie.

The action pieces are expertly directed also. You can tell that Ronald Emmerich knows how to direct disaster movies; the action scenes with the natural disasters are intense and exciting, providing a few memorable moments in a movie full of forgettable scenes. I get the feeling with both this movie and Independence Day that Ronald Emmerich would be one of those directors who would benefit with having a shortage of money to play with as opposed to a massive film budget. He seems like someone who is easily distracted by the big money shots and consequently the character moments fall flat.

You see, my main gripe with the movie 2012 is the characterisation. This is an area that falls flat in the movie, as the script by Ronald Emmerich is weak and provides little reason for us to care about the characters. We are clearly supposed to care about Jackson's family but they feel devoid of personality; they are more like stock characters than ones who are properly fleshed out. Their lines consist of generic dialogue such as 'That guy's crazy. Right, daddy?' and 'So, now that you have your map, where are we going?'. Even the main character's dialogue is rather simplistic in nature, spouting lines including 'We're going to need a bigger plane.' and 'Get in the ****ing car'. Ronald Emmerich tries to add personalites through humour but the jokes often feel forced (especially 'Do you think you've changed since we separated?', 'I certainly eat a lot more cereal now').

This isn't helped by the poor acting- it's almost as though the actors realised the script was bad and couldn't be bothered with the film anymore. Even Chiwetel Ejiofor is bland as Adrian Heimsley and John Cusack sounds more like a robot than he does a human being. Amanda Peet's character is only really there for the romance angle and is instantly forgettable in the role. Then there's the child actors Liam James and Noah, who are perhaps the biggest pile of bland out of all the actors in the movie (which is saying something). I couldn't care less about them; in fact, I would rather see them die in the apocalyptic environment rather than survive. John Cusack as Jackson may as well have chucked them in the volcano in Yellowstone Park for all the difference it would have made to the movie.

This isn't the worst thing about the movie 2012 however. Earlier in the review I mentioned how the disaster sequences are great. Well, guess what? The best parts of the movie often take ages to pop up! The pace of the movie 2012 is so creakingly slow that majority of the time you find yourself bored waiting for something to happen. 2012 is a shocking two hours and thirty eight minutes long when really it only needed to be an hour and a half. There is literally no reason for this film to be the length of a Harry Potter movie; Harry Potter is a series known for its depth due to JK Rowling's famously long books so there was a reason for majority of the films to be nearly three hours long. Here there is hardly any depth to the characters never mind the plot, especially for a film so close to hitting the three hour mark.

Overall, 2012 is an over-long movie with a ridiculously slow pace and poor characterisation. The writing is terrible, with most of the dialogue feeling generic. The actors actually appear as though they couldn't be bothered to act in this movie - but who can blame them given how little they are given to work with? The only elements of this movie that can be recommended are the excellent CGI by Hydraulx and the perfectly executed action sequences. Action and CGI however does not (and never will) make a good movie. If you want a great disaster movie, watch The Day After Tomorrow. 2012 is a literal disaster...and not in a good way.

Marco Polo (Telesnap Reconstruction)

For a while I have been wanting to review a Doctor Who serial that is completely missing but I have never been able to think up a satisfactory way of doing so. That's the reason for the delay of this review: I was desperate for my next review to be of a missing Doctor Who serial and spent some time trying to decide which missing story to review and what the review will be related to that currently exists. As the title says, I decided upon Marco Polo and after considering between reviewing the story represented in the DWM Special 'The Missing Episodes: The First Doctor' and the telesnap reconstruction (a picture slideshow of surviving images from the serial put to the surviving audio recordings) on 'The Beginning' box set I opted for the latter.

Marco Polo is arguably the most sought-after of Doctor Who's missing serials; it is the story pretty much every Whovian wants to see, be it animated (as with Power of the Daleks) or found. It follows the story of famous Venetian explorer Marco Polo's (Mark Eden) journey from Pamir Plateau in Asia to the Imperial Palace in Peking (China). The Doctor (William Hartnell) and his companions Ian Chesterton (William Russell), Barbara Wright (Jaqueline Hill) and Susan Foreman (Carole Anne Ford) join his group of travellers - young Chinese woman Ping-Cho (Zienia Merton) and Mongol War Lord Tegana ( Derren Nesbitt) - when Marco decides to requisition his TARDIS as a gift for Emperor Kublai Khan (Martin Miller) in exchange for his freedom from working for the emperor and subsequently allowing him to return home.

Bizarrely despite the actual serial being nearly three hours long the telesnap reconstruction only lasts half an hour and as a result it doesn't quite work. A lot of scenes that would have featured in the serial are cut altogether and the entire reconstruction feels somewhat disjointed as a result rather than a natural representation of the story. I can understand why a three hour reconstruction may not be feasible but why not an hour, for instance? Or split it up by episode: half an hour reconstruction for episode one, half an hour for episode two etc... Half an hour simply isn't long enough for a story as big as Marco Polo: one that, let's not forget, has been adapted into both a film and two ten episode-long seasons outside of Doctor Who.

The half hour cut also means that the story tends to drag, as a lot of the action sequences featuring Mongol soldiers that would have been present in the serial are gone and 90% of the time you are hearing the voices of the characters instead. It makes for a very dull watch, especially when you can't actually see things like Tegana's numerous betrayals and Tegana and Ian's sword fight. You're relying entirely on the images and a lot of the time the telesnaps aren't that interesting. This is a missing serial that would benefit more from the animation treatment than it does from a telesnap reconstruction; it feels like one of those William Hartnell stories that is very visual in the way it is represented, in the same way that The Daleks wouldn't work if you couldn't see that sucker moving towards Barbara and all you had was a telesnap picture to go on. The first episode of An Unearthly Child on the other hand would work much better represented through telesnaps as the lack of a picture would reinforce the mystery of just who this 'Doctor' is (although I wouldn't wish for An Unearthly Child to be missing in place of Marco Polo).

To be there to those behind the telesnap reconstruction, they do try to make it more interesting. They add a neat graphic showing Marco's journey to the Imperial Palace on a map; a graphic that I would imagine isn't too hard to create given that you see it used a lot on shows such as Clarkson, Hammond and May's Top Gear but at least is an attempt to provide something different to telesnaps. It offers some variety for the visuals but it isn't quite enough to sustain your interest through the poor half-hour cut. Sadly I imagine many young new series fans who watch the Marco Polo telesnap reconstruction would be put off the story because of how slow the half-an-hour version is but I do think Marco Polo is a missing classic series serial with lots of potential.

The character of Marco Polo, for example, comes across as a very interesting historical figure. There's certainly something about him viewers seem to like, considering what I mentioned earlier about the movie and television series. From the way he is represented through the audio in the telesnap reconstructions he seems like a character who could one-up the Doctor; a very intelligent and authorative figure who also happens to travel in his own 'box' (in this case, a caravan), with his own companions by his side. Ping-Cho herself is very similar to Susan Foreman in that she is a bright if naive young woman with a close, possibly paternal relationship to Marco. You could even say Tegana is Marco Polo's Master before the character of the Master was even conceived. It seems possible to me that Verity Lambert and Sydney Newman were inspired by the travels of Marco Polo when coming up with the concept of Doctor Who. There are many similarities that can be drawn and it makes Marco Polo's story feel like a natural fit for Doctor Who's first celebrity historical story.

It sounds like a story that may have contained some of the show's best acting also. Mark Eden's take on Marco Polo sounds like it would be engaging if the visuals had survived and the main cast all sound like they gave strong performances. I even like what you can hear of Zienia Merton's Ping Cho; she sounds like a character who could have potentially been a Doctor Who companion had they decided to add another companion to the mix this early on to the story. I wish we were able to see the Doctor's game of backgammon with Emperor Kublai Khan as William Hartnell and Martin Miller sound as though they have a natural chemistry.

The sets look extremely lavish for the classic series too, especially in the first series of its run. It is surprising how much the telesnaps look like pictures for a film production than they do a television one. Marco Polo seems like a serial that if it still existed many would applaud for its production values, especially considering the shoestring budget of the time. Again, this is one of the reasons why it would benefit more from an animated reconstruction than it does a telesnap one. It still wouldn't beat actually seeing the episodes themselves though; it's unfortunate that this is all missing as I would watch it in a double heartbeat.

I mean, the story itself represented in other mediums such as the missing episodes DWM magazine I mentioned earlier show what looks like a hugely exciting story full of adventure, danger and peril. In other words, like all the best William Hartnell serials. I'm sure if this story existed it would be hugely engrossing to watch; probably more comparable to, say, BBC1's The Musketeers than the bore that was ITV's Downton Abbey. There's a common idea among certain sections of Doctor Who fandom that historicals are boring but whilst I don't think they would work in the new series, I think the classic series approached them in an interesting way. I would say the same for ITV's Victoria; I usually find period dramas boring but Victoria in my view is much more engaging than a bunch of posh ladies talking about first world problems whilst Lord Grantham serves them tea.

Overall, the Marco Polo reconstruction is a poor attempt at representing the classic missing Doctor Who serial that is Marco Polo. The half hour cut from three hours of audio feels haphazard with many important scenes left out. This makes it a bore to watch, with many exciting sequences having hit the cutting room floor in favour of the characters talking. Variety is added through the means of a map documenting Marco's progress during his journey across Asia but it is not enough to make it a compelling watch. I have a feeling however that if Marco Polo were to turn up, it would live up to its reputation among fandom as one of William Hartnell's most beloved stories. Marco Polo sounds like an interesting character and the sets in the telesnaps look extremely impressive. It also sounds like the serial boasts some incredible acting, with phenomenal chemistry between William Hartnell and Martin Miller. In other mediums Marco Polo is a far more entertaining story, so my advice to anyone interested in the serial is to avoid the telesnap and read the much superior DWM Special magazine The Missing Episodes: The First Doctor; it is a much stronger representation of the story and documents all seven episodes rather than attempting to cut it down to one piece.

Telesnap reconstruction -
Potential as a classic series serial -

It can be a bit difficult – I never completed my review of The Power of the Daleks and I read the script, listened to the soundtrack and looked at the telesnap reconstruction DVD. Of course now I think I'd have to also factor in the upcoming animation just for the sake of completism (or should that be obsession ?).

The Power of the Daleks should be but Marco Polo has a fantastic reputation. It's the only missing story that I haven't listened to.

The animation will be a lot easier to review. You should definitely go back and do it!

I really wish the rumours that Marco Polo had been found when Enemy of the World and Web of Fear were announced as back in the archives had been true. I'd love to see Marco Polo as it is supposed to be seen.

Grease Live

Many were impressed by America's latest attempt at a live TV musical - Grease Live - when it aired earlier this year. I'm not quite sure why. Here in the UK the show aired on the 3rd February in pre-recorded form on ITV2, which to be fair made Grease Live better than the other rubbish you typically get on that channel. Grease Live always had a hard act to follow in the original classic starring John Travolta, so I suppose it was never going to be as good - but that's not the reason why I didn't really enjoy it.

Grease Live follows the story of school student Danny Zuko (Aaron Tveit), who is surprised to see his Summer holiday romance Sandy Young (Julianne Hough) enrol at his school Rydell High. But will their romance be able to continue at the school? Or is Danny too concerned about maintaining his bad boy image for it to work?

Whilst the scope of the television movie is impressive, the illusion of the popular television musical movie is spoilt by a number of bizarre decisions made by the production crew in the making of this film. The first is the idea of having a live audience. This takes away from much of the levity from the scenes as you are too aware that it's not real; the production as a result becomes too self-conscious of its existence and it starts to feel more like a tribute show to the Grease movie rather than a production in its own right.

Then there's the addition of behind the scenes sequences; these consist of sections played before an ad break and actors walking between sets. I would have much preferred the behind the scenes sections relegated to a separate behind the scenes show as with ITV's The Sound of Music Live, which managed to slot one inbetween episodes of Coronation Street. It is too distracting from the plot of the movie and feels as odd as if the upcoming Marvel film Doctor Strange, for example, featured Benedict Cumberbatch interacting with the boom operator. Going behind the scenes is all very interesting but it doesn't work when slotted into a work of fiction - one of the reasons why I don't like DVD/Blu-ray commentaries is that it interrupts the storytelling of the movie and the same principle applies here.

The same can be said for the random performance by Jessie J of Grease Is The Word. Don't get me wrong, Jessie J is a great singer and has a very nice voice but how does it fit with the movie? It doesn't make the slightest bit of sense. Who is Jessie J supposed to be here? Is she a teacher? Why is she singing to the audience? Having Jessie J singing the iconic Grease song doesn't even benefit the movie. It just feels random and out of place, as though Jessie J was on her way to a concert and accidentally ended up at the recording for Grease Live. If Jessie J really wanted to be in this then they should have written a part specially for her; maybe she could have been a music teacher?

The most impressive thing about this film is perhaps the production design. The set design by David Korins is brilliant. It looks as though they filmed in a real school; the fact that it was a set is only obvious from the behind the scenes sequences. They even had a whole exterior set with a school building! Fox must have spent billions on the set creation; it feels so much like a real place, like this is a school you could actually visit. Corridors are re-created, there's a whole flipping carnival in one scene and the Frosty Palace American diner set is impressive.

The acting is also wonderful. The entire cast thankfully are strong singers, especially Aaron Tveit) and Vanessa Hudgens (Betty Rizzo) does an incredible job given her father had passed away on the day of recording. You can't tell that she is upset even though she will have obviously been feeling emotional during the shoot and her acting and singing therefore isn't affected by it at all. It is very brave that she still continued her role in the production as Betty despite the circumstances. Julianne Hough makes for a good Sandy, although certainly not as great in the role as Olivia Newton-John was in the original. She's probably the best they could have hoped for with a new Sandy as I doubt anybody would be able to compare to the original Sandy Young.

Overall, Grease Live was a production that had a lot of potential that was unfortunately spoilt by three poor decisions by the producers: the addition of a live audience, the random performance by Jessie J and the insertion of behind the scenes features into the broadcast. These all spoilt by the illusion for me that I have come to expect from TV movie musicals. Of course, it doesn't help that Grease Live aired only two months after ITV's outstanding Sound of Music Live,but having said that Grease Live as a production in its own right could have been so much better had smarter choices been made. The acting is very strong though and the production design by David Korins is definitely a highlight. It's as though they filmed in a real school rather than one mocked up in a studio; everything from the school corridors to the school's gym is very impressive and it is clear Fox pumped a lot of money into the production of this TV musical. Grease Live is nowhere near as good as the original but it can at least be appreciated for the production values and acting from all involved, especially Vanessa Hudgens after her tragic loss.

The Unicorn and the Wasp

I am currently taking part in Movie Forums' latest Survivor game 'Murder Mansion', so I thought I'd review the episode where the Doctor solved a murder mystery: The Unicorn and the Wasp. The Doctor had suggested visiting Agatha Christie to his previous companion Martha Jones in Last of the Time Lords, so it was no surprise that the Doctor Who production team decided to follow this up in the next series. And it certainly doesn't disappoint. An Agatha Christie Doctor Who episode is just as good as you would expect it to be, full of murder, mystery and extremely enigmatic characters. In some ways, it is widely different to anything Doctor Who has done before. In others, it feels like perfect Doctor Who. It's a surprise this episode isn't considered a classic by more people as to me this is the quintessential David Tennant story and arguably one of the best celebrity historicals to date.

The Unicorn and the Wasp sees the Doctor (David Tennant) and his companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) arrive on the day Agatha Christie (Fenella Woolgar) goes missing. Soon they find themselves with Agatha in the middle of a murder mystery. Professor Peach (Ian Barritt) has been murdered and the Doctor, Donna and Agatha must find out who the culprit is. Was it the owner of the country estate Lady Eddison (Felicity Kendal), the young vicar Reverend Arnold Golighty (Tom Goodman Hill), the war veteran Hugh Curbishley (Christopher Benjamin), the jewel thief Ada Mullins (Felicity Jones), Arnold's brother Roger Curbishley (Adam Rayner), the butler Greeves (David Quilter), Roger's boyfriend Davenport (Daniel King), Indian woman Chandrakala (Leena Dhingra), cook Mrs Hart (Charlotte Eaton) or perhaps even the Doctor, Donna or Agatha Christie?

The Unicorn and the Wasp is a great deal of fun to watch; it is a story that plays to Catherine Tate's strengths as a comedy actor, providing many light-hearted moments. My absolute favourite has to be when the Doctor is poisoned and Donna is tasked with finding a way to shock him out of it. The scene is played perfectly with David Tennant and Catherine Tate, who know exactly how to play the exaggerated facial expressions needed to pull it off. Donna's shock being a kiss is hilarious and helps to enforce that this is a new series Doctor/companion dynamic where they're simply best friends travelling the universe as opposed to yet another romantic relationship. I loved the 10th Doctor and Rose Tyler together but overall I prefer the 'best friends' relationship between the Doctor and companion as in my view it is much more entertaining to watch and doesn't tire as quickly as the will-they/won't-they of 10 and Rose.

It helps that the pace is so well-plotted by writer Gareth Roberts; there is literally not one dull moment in this story. It rolls along at a rollicking pace and is hugely gripping from start to finish. The murderer never appears too obvious or too stupid; even though it is hard to guess who committed the murders when it is revealed the logic makes a lot of sense. It is not only a fun comedy episode but also a very strong murder mystery that nicely captures that sort of eery atmosphere of murder mysteries. If there's one complaint I'd have about this episode it's that I wish it was longer - and that's not really a complaint. If it leaves you wanting more, then it has done its job well.

The 'monster of the week' - a giant alien wasp known as the Vespiform - is also one of the new series' strongest CGI designs. The visual created by the Mill is absolutely fantastic and it actually looks like a real giant wasp. If I saw that outside my window in real life, I'd run five hundred miles...and then maybe five hundred more when it starts following me. Wasps are scary enough as it is but giant-sized they are terrifying. The sting from a giant wasp (or 'Vespiform') scarcely bears thinking about. 'Vespiform' is possibly among Doctor Who's most awesome names for an alien race too. It rings off the tongue nicely and feels right as the name for a species of giant wasps. I hope one day Big Finish bring them back for some new series audios as they deserve a return appearance. To me they are like the new series' Wiirn: a race that's obscure to anyone other than hardcore Whovians but are such an amazing concept that they deserve to be appreciated more.

Agatha Christie fans will be happy with Fenella Woolgar's portrayal of the famous author. She is absolutely brilliant in this episode and offers a very endearing portrayal of Agatha; she portrays the author with a fierce intelligence that could almost rival the Doctor's and the way they explain her mysterious disappearance is extremely clever. It's great the way certain new series episodes explore the mysteries surrounding certain historical figures and offer explanations within the Whoniverse for them; I imagine it sparks the imagination of many kids who watch the series and to me is something Sydney Newman would probably impressed by given that the original brief for the show was for it to be educational. The reason behind the disappearance may be fictional but many kids won't have even known she had disappeared before seeing this episode. I hadn't known myself as a 12 year old and therefore the show taught me that Agatha Christie disappeared in 1926 and turned up ten years' later with no recollection of what happened.

The way the episode plays with the idea of the bootstrap paradox most recently referred to in Under The Lake/Before The Flood in terms of Agatha Christie's books is also very impressive. The episode suggests that the adventures in this episode subconsciously inspired Agatha Christie to write Death in the Clouds and Donna also refers to the plot of Murder of the Orient Express to Agatha Christie, suggesting that she got the idea of the book from Donna (even if she can't remember doing so). This is another thing I like about the new series that the classic series didn't really do: the way it suggests certain ideas may have been influenced by the Doctor's travels through time and space. Donna may have had to have mentioned Murder of the Orient Express to Agatha Christie for it to have been written in the first place. It's such an inspired idea and one that works well with a show like Doctor Who where the lead character can visit any period of history.

This episode boasts the return of Christopher Benjamin (who previously played Henry Jago) to Doctor Who and whilst it's disappointing that he didn't reprise his previous role it is still great to see him again in this episode. Christopher Benjamin is very convincing as Hugh Curbishly and it is a wonder you don't see him more on television. Age shouldn't be an excuse for not featuring a certain actor if they are still fit enough to act and it is a shame that people of a certain age like Christopher Benjamin are featured so little. He does well despite being 80 years old to continue his acting career; he mainly records Big Finish audio dramas now but recently appeared in David Yates' latest film The Legend of Tarzan as Lord Knutsford.

Overall, The Unicorn and the Wasp is an incredibly fun and entertaining story by Gareth Roberts that deserves more appreciation than it tends to receive. The episode is extremely well-plotted, with a thrilling breakneck pace and the comedy performance from David Tennant and Catherine Tate is hilarious. It's also fun the way the episode plays with the real-life character of Agatha Christie, her mysterious disappearances and in-universe influences for some of her murder mystery books. The Vespiform is a very realistic work of CGI and it is great to see the return of Doctor Who veteran Christopher Benjamin, who still looks incredibly healthy for an 80 year old man. The Unicorn and the Wasp is perhaps the definitive David Tennant episode - it's funny, dark, fast and extremely energetic. Pretty much sums up Tennant's Doctor actually.

Nice reviews mate. Add some pics tho mate, glam this thread up a little.

__________________

Thanks. Pictures is a good idea actually. I'll take your recommendation onboard.

To be fair you have occasionally thrown the odd picture in when it was relevant .

That I have, but I am willing to add more.

Juno

Pregnancy isn't perhaps the most obvious idea for a comedy. As somebody of the male gender it may be hard to know how hard it is exactly for women carrying a large bump in their stomach - especially for someone like the character in this film who doesn't want the baby in the first place - but I doubt it is the most pleasant of experiences. The pregnant comedy has been attempted before in the movie Junior, featuring a pregnant Arnold Schwarzenegger:



Unsurprisingly, it's generally considered a poor movie - on Rotten Tomatoes it has a score of 32% rotten. Juno, on the other hand, is a film that featured countless praise from the critics; upon release it was certified fresh on the Rotten Tomatoes site with a fresh rating of 94%. Personally I don't quite understand why the film has such a high amount of praise; it's an okay film but not the masterpiece many hailed it as.

In Juno, sixteen year old girl Juno (Ellen Page) finds herself in the middle of an unborn pregnancy and decides to take an abortion. However once she enters the clinic she quickly changes her mind and decides to have the baby regardless. As she doesn't want the responsibility of looking after the baby, Juno searches for suitable parents to raise the kid as her own and comes across husband and wife team Mark (Jason Batemen) and Vanessa Loring (Jennifer Garning). She agrees to provide a closed adoption for them but begins to feel strong emotions towards the baby's father Paulie (Michael Cera). Will she admit that she loves Paulie? Or will Paulie have to accept he and Juno will never become an item?



My main problem with Juno is that it doesn't quite work as a comedy. I rarely found the jokes funny and it seemed like the film would work better as a drama. This is a film with plenty of heart; it is a sweet, good-natured take on the issue of unplanned pregnancies at such a young age. It doesn't really feel like the kind of idea that should be a comedy to begin with; there's nothing particularly funny about a sixteen year old falling pregnant and I think a proper comedy would feel obtuse if one were to be attempted on the subject matter. It would be like creating a light-hearted musical about Jimmy Saville or a period drama where Adolf Hitler is portrayed as a war hero.

Another thing that doesn't quite work is the suggestion that Juno and Mark have a strong romantic affection for one another. This is a thirty eight year old man developing feelings for a sixteen year old! It's just creepy and so uncomfortable to watch, also proving to be a pointless sub-plot given that it is clear Juno is in love with Paulie anyway. It's fine showing them as friends with a lot in common but the moment they start hinting that they fancy one another is the part of the film where Juno completely drops the ball.



Another strange decision the film makes is to portray the character of Vanessa as sympathetic. We are supposed to feel sorry for her because her husband is a 'big kid' and clearly doesn't want the kid as much as her but if anything I felt more sorry for Mark when watching this movie (even if he is a creep). Vanessa comes across as an extremely pushy and self-centered woman and it is hard to see why a character like Mark would want to be with her. She won't even let him embark on a music career or watch VHS horror movies; instead he's confined to writing radio jingles. I sincerely hope that if I get married one day I marry a woman who lets me watch Doctor Who and embark on a writing career as there is absolutely no way I would let somebody take those things away from me. I would sooner divorce such a woman and tell her I'd rather chase my dream of writing television and film than be with her.

Juno is saved from being a or entirely star review by the excellent acting in the movie. Ellen Page is fantastic as Juno and I can't imagine anyone else in the role. You get the feeling that she has heavily researched the issue of teenage pregnancies as she helps the character of Juno feel 'real'. Jason Bateman is great at playing the inadvertently 'sympathetic creep' too and Jennifer Garning is good at playing the obnoxious wife. More than any movie, it's the acting that carries the film here and is, I suspect, the reason why it received such glowering reviews.



The film has a very nice style in the way it is presented that feels unique to this movie. The opening has this quirky 'notebook drawing' aesthetic with the visuals that cannot be mistaken that feels like director Jason Reitman's (the son of Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman) unique stamp:



It's a very smooth transition too, from live-action to a sketchbook drawing:



It is certainly the best and most interesting way to present the opening credits, as opposed to the usual generic titles plastered over live-action footage you see in most movies.

Overall, Juno is a film with real heart and warmth, however as a comedy it falls flat. This is a movie that would work much better as a drama; a teenage pregnancy doesn't feel like an idea that's ripe for mickey-taking and the jokes are so careful to appear good-spirited that the humour feels somewhat forced. Then there's the odd suggestion that a 38 year old man has feelings for a 16 year old woman, which frankly is just creepy and not helped by the fact that you actually feel sympathy for this guy given how unfairly he is treated by his pushy wife. The film does have superb acting from all involved though and the way Jason Reitman makes the movie his own with a unique visual style in the opening credits is commendable. When you see the opening credits to this film, you know it's Juno and not, say, Junior - which I don't ever want to watch in my life as Arnold Schwarzenegger looks pretty terrifying with a pregnant bump.

The Girl Who Died

With director Ed Bazalgette announced for this year's Doctor Who Christmas Special, I thought I'd take a look at the first episode he directed: The Girl Who Died. Much of the disappointment many have of this episode stems from the poor marketing of Series 9: Maisie Williams' character was hyped up to ridiculous proportions in the Series 9 trailer that many expected her to be an important character from the series' past mythology.



The picture above is from the following episode The Woman Who Lived however without context it suggested the character is someone we should already have been familiar with. You can imagine then that many were upset when it turned out she was just an ordinary viking girl called Ashildr who happens to become important later on. This was one of a few problems I had with the same trailer - my other notable complaint is that to advertise it as the 'Same old, same old' (as 12 says in the trailer) was a silly mistake as it suggested to audiences that there was nothing new about this series of Doctor Who.



It's a shame that the marketing spoilt the enjoyment of certain episodes as The Girl Who Died in particular is an episode that deserves a higher level of appreciation.



The Girl Who Died sees the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) and Clara (Jenna Coleman) arrive in a viking village, where they are confronted by vikings who subsequently destroy the Doctor's Sonic Shades. Much to the Doctor's surprise, Odin (David Schofield) is very much 'real' in this village and invites the viking warriors to the majestic hall Valhalla on Asgard. Clara and Ashildr (Maisie Williams) are taken with them and they find themselves onboard a spaceship, where Ashildr declares war on Odin and the advanced warrior race known as the Mire. With the warriors killed, the Doctor decides to train the farmers and local traders left to fight but it seems like his work is cut out when they appear to be completely useless.

The idea of the Doctor teaching the Viking traders/farmers how to fight is a very funny one given that it subverts the image you usually see on television of the Vikings all being fighters. In real life of course there would have been sections of the Viking community whose job was to sell livestock and plant crops; in fact, the warriors people are most familiar with were probably a very small part of who the vikings were. It is hugely entertaining therefore to see vikings who are unfamiliar with how to wield a sword become the warriors they rely on. It is The comedy is very well-directed by David Schofield and has a Dad's Army feel about it, where the Doctor assumes the role of Captain Mainwaring (a very fun performance by Peter Capaldi) and the vikings are 'stupid boy' Private Pike. There's a very British idea to the concept too, in that we are willing to see the underdogs overcome the threat and emerge triumphant over those who are much more likely to win. It possibly wouldn't have been as much fun with the viking warriors taking on Odin and the Mire but by giving the viking community what seems like a very thin chance of success the episode is undeniably a product of this country and not, say, America (who through BBC America co-produced Series 9 with the BBC).



The Girl Who Died is possibly an episode that has a lot in common with the Key to Time serial The Pirate Planet. Odin is a character who reminds me a lot of the Pirate Captain from that serial: he has a very similar look and larger-than-life presence to the Captain and you have to wonder if Jamie Matheson was inspired by the serial when he wrote this story. The Girl Who Died doesn't quite reach the heights of The Pirate Planet but Odin is a very fun character that suits an episode like this aiming for a very light and comedic tone. I don't think he's a character with potential to return but as a one-off character he is huge fun to watch; it's a shame that Brian Blessed couldn't play the part as originally planned as this feels like the perfect character for him. I can see why they wanted Brian Blessed for the role:





Unfortunately his alien army aren't quite as memorable. The Mire are just your generic 'Monster of the week' villains and display too many similarities to past Doctor Who monsters such as the Sontarans and the Draconians. I can't imagine the Mire will catch on the same way as, say, the Sontarans have since their first appearance in The Time Warrior and I can't even imagine Big Finish using them in their audio dramas. It doesn't feel like there's a lot that could be done with The Mire; their characterisation is pretty much non-existent and despite being an alien 'species' they have a more robotic feel to the way they move and interact. You never quite get the sense they are this big warrior race we're told they are either; they feel more like background monsters than anything else.

The way they are defeated is extremely clever though. The 'fire in the water' pay-off is hugely satisfying after the build-up to the Mire fight and sees the Doctor use his vast intellect instead of just waving his Sonic Screwdriver around. In any other episode the other part of the solution with wouldn't really work but in an episode like this that's clearly not intended to be taken seriously it is a strong conclusion to what is a very fun episode to watch. I like the use of the Benny Hill theme for example, even if it's a joke that you see coming before it happens.



What surprised me was how early the revelation of why the 12th Doctor has the same face as Caelicius was explained. At the time of broadcast it felt way too soon for it to be revealed in episode five of Series 9 and in hindsight I still believe it should have been kept back for Hell Bent. It's such a pivotal moment for this Doctor as it leads to him saving someone who goes on to inadvertently cause Clara's two exits (yes, she doesn't just have one exit but two - in the previous series counting the Christmas Special she left three times then came back). This time her last exit is permanent but it doesn't happen until the very last episode Hell Bent. It's disappointingly never explained why 12 also shares the same face as Frobisher from Torchwood: Children of Earth:



...although the best time for that to be explored would be for John Barrowman to return as Captain Jack.

Now onto the revelation of Ashildr: a moment that was built up to before the first episode of Series 9 even aired. Whilst Maisie Williams is amazing in the role of Ashildr, the revelation that she's just some random viking girl is ultimately disappointing thanks to the unnecessary hype surrounding the mystery of her character. I would much rather she had turned out to be a newly-regenerated Susan or Romana rather than a random girl from the past. It's a very unsatisfying reveal - the complete opposite of, for example, Missy as the Master in Dark Water/Death In Heaven the previous year - and I wish they hadn't hyped Maisie Williams' in Doctor Who up so much purely because of the Game of Thrones connection. If there's nothing we should know about the character, then don't make a big deal over her. Ashildr turns out to be a very intriguing character anyway and Maisie Williams has so much chemistry with Jenna Coleman (who is also brilliant in this episode) but there's no way her character should have been undermined by a fake mystery.

Overall, The Girl Who Died is a fun episode with some great comedy moments from Peter Capaldi and a viking community unfamiliar with sword-fighting. There's clear inspiration from The Pirate Planet; like the Pirate Captain in that serial Odin is a very fun antagonist who adds to one of the show's most light-hearted comedy episodes. It's nice to see the Doctor use his brains rather than a Sonic Screwdriver or Sonic Shades for once too; the conclusion with electric eels is very clever and one of the new series' best episode resolutions. Unfortunately the Mire is a very generic threat and the mystery surrounding Ashildr ultimately leads to a disappointing reveal that doesn't mean a great deal until later episodes in the series. The Girl Who Died is a very funny episode though that perfectly uses Peter Capaldi's comedy talent and features a pivotal moment for the Doctor where he discovers why he has the same face as Caelicius from The Fires of Pompeii (a moment that really should have been in the Series 9 finale Hell Bent).

You're right. It sounds completely negative.

I thought that Capaldi would probably have been first choice for Frazer in the film version, but being in Doctor Who would have prevented that.

It's like if Toy Story 3 had been advertised with the incinerator scene.

"This new Toy Story is rubbish so we're killing the toys..."*


*Of course, it wasn't. It was an absolute masterpiece and somehow managed to improve on Toy Story 2.


He's probably glad he wasn't in it in the end judging by the reviews.