Praise4Media #61 - Doctor Who - Resolution

It’s January 2020 and you know what that means, I’m talking about Doctor Who again! And it’s my first Jodie Whitaker review. Series 11 of Doctor Who was solid. There were a number of mediocre episodes, a couple of real standouts (You know the two I’m talking about) and none that I consider outright bad.

That being said, mediocrity can often be less interesting to talk about than outright bad episodes, so let’s look at one that toes the line a bit, their New Year’s special, Resolution. Making the special a New Year’s special rather than a Christmas special was a smart move, New Year’s Day doesn’t have as much associated imagery so it allows for more creative freedom, and I think choice of having a Dalek as the villain isn’t a bad one because it the Daleks present a unique challenge to this particular Doctor. Jodie Whitaker’s Doctor has a very stern attitude towards violence and particularly guns, and here we have an enemy here who cannot be reasoned with and can only be defeated by violence, a challenge to her ideology in theory.  How did it work out? Let’s take a look.

TV Retrospective: The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 5 Episodes 9-10 review - The Man Who Never Was (+ lost episodes)

We’re back for a final look at the Sarah Jane Adventures.

TV Retrospective: The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 5 episodes 1-4 - Sky/The Curse of Clyde Langer

The final series of the Sarah Jane Adventures was tragically cut short after the death of Elizabeth Sladen. They had filmed everything they needed for 6 episodes, Skye, The Curse of Clyde Langer and The Man who never was, each following the usual 2-part narrative. I’ll be covering the first 2 of these stories in this retrospective, in the next I’ll be covering the final 2 episodes and will be analysing some of what the plans were for the rest of the series.

TV Retrospective - The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 4 Episodes 9-12 - Lost in Time/Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith

We continue our look at Series 4 of the Sarah Jane Adventures.

TV Retrospective - The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 4 Episodes 5-8 - Death of the Doctor/The Empty Planet

Doctor Who Series 10 Finale review - The Doctor Falls

Doctor Who Series 10 Episodes 4-5 review - Knock Knock/Oxygen

We continue our look at series 10 of Doctor Who with the 4th and 5th episodes of the series

Doctor Who Series 10 Episodes 2-3 review - Smile/Thin Ice

Doctor who continues its 10 season in its current run, here are my thoughts on episodes 2-3

Doctor Who Series 10 Episode 1 review - The Pilot

Doctor who has finally made its return to our screens, it’s been a few years, and a few reviews since his last but he’s back, he’s rested and now it’s #TimeForHeroes *sigh* anyway, let’s take a look at the first episode of the series

TV Retrospective - The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 1 part 1 - Invasion of the Bane/Revenge of the Slitheen

It’s been a while I know, but it’s time for another TV retrospective.

There have been a few Doctor Who Spinoff’s over the years, but there’s one I’d define as the best

In your dreams. This is the Sarah Jane Adventures

The series premiered in 2007 and ended in 2011 thanks to the tragic passing of Elizabeth Sladen. But it had a decent run of 1 tv movie and 52 episodes across 5 series. I’ll be covering the show 4 episodes at a time, counting the TV movie as 2 episodes.

Also, because of scheduling issues I’ll covering the first 2 series during April and May, the 3^rd in July and 4-5 will be covered from September.

Guilty Pleasures #36 - Time Month - Day of the Doctor

Note: The Bulk of this review was written shortly before the passing of John Hurt. I have made minor alterations since but my opinion of this special is unchanged

It’s time Month!

And I’m still not recovered from Time Shifter’s awfulness I need something half decent to review.

Of course! Doctor Who is staple when it comes to time travel and the like, so tackling something like Doctor Who is an inevitable part of the month. And where Steven Moffat tends to excel is using time tricks in writing episodes, rather than just using the ability of time travel to have an episode set anywhere and any when.

Day of the Doctor uses a couple of those time tricks, it was also a special that celebrated the 50^th Anniversary of Doctor Who, so it’s worth taking a look.

Mini Review: What we did on our holiday

I had to get to this one eventually. Comedy is not something I tend to cover very often. You can’t really make jokes about a good comedy without just repeating the jokes the movie makes, conversely there are only so many times you can say…

Regarding a bad comedy. But there are times where a line is crossed. Sometimes you can make great jokes out of it. Shows like the Simpsons and Family Guy use this tactic with mixed success (I never want to see clips of herpes ever again, Family guy) here, there are some serious issues being tackled as well. Cancer, family rows, divorce proceedings, the death of a loved one and others, but I’m sad to say it doesn’t work very well here.

What we did on our holiday was released in 2014 in the UK and 2015 in the US and made a modest return on its £3.5m budget. It was produced by the BBC and features some great British talent including former Doctor and crazed mind-controlling psychopath David Tennant; Rosamund Pike, who was nominated for an Academy Award in her next movie, Gone Girl; Ben Miller, who in the same year starred in my least favourite Doctor Who episode of that year (Robot of Sherwood), and one of Scotland’s comedic icons Billy Connolly.

Can this drama/comedy work, let’s take a closer look.

Doctor Who Series 9 Finale Review - Hell Bent

We're here folks, the series finale of Doctor Who, I'll be doing another editorial on the best and worst things about this season soon but until then, here are my initial thoughts on Hell Bent

Doctor Who series 9 episodes 10-11 review - Face the Raven/Heaven Sent

So, this week we have the episode where Clara dies and the first part of the finale, let's take a look.

Doctor Who Series 9 Episodes 8-9 review - The Zygon Inversion/Sleep No More

OK, I'll get this out of the way first. This is a review blog. I'm not here to provide commentary on the atrocities that have occurred in the last few weeks (my condolences to anyone who lost someone in any of those attacks). In perspective, obviously my rage of a couple of episodes of a British TV show is relatively small potatoes. But I do so, with some comedic intent, hope it might make someone smile.

With that said, let's take a look at one of the best and one of the worst episodes this season of Doctor Who with The Zygon Inversion and Sleep no more

Doctor Who Series 9 Episode 7 review - The Zygon Invasion

Well, who would’ve thought arranging a peace treaty between humans and Zygons would end in disaster

Ah, yeah…

Doctor Who Series 9 Episode 4 - Before the Flood review

Ah, Moffatt era, your isms are all over this episode, don’t ever change, not that you ever have before.

Doctor Who Series 9 Episode 3 review - Under the Lake

It’s time for Moffatt to explore a more horror element, and this is where he tends to excel, are we in for something interesting here.

Doctor Who Series 9 episode 2 review - The Witch's Familiar

Not really got any introductory blurb for this one so... Let's take a look

Doctor Who Series 9 Episode 1 review - The Magician's Apprentice

Doctor Who is back on the telly with a 9^th season. With Peter Capaldi in the chair as the Doctor, Jenna Coleman playing Clara and Missy being back as well, we’re in for a wild ride.