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.

#68 - Doctor Who - The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe

It’s January so time for a Doctor Who review, only the one this year, I’m not covering the New Year’s special. I try and do reviews 2 months in advance and that would completely put me off schedule, maybe next year.

Anyway, you may remember me recovering the Wedding of River Song, spoiler alert: it sucked. But immediately following that was another Doctor Who Christmas special, written by the Grand Moffat himself. Can he redeem the franchise after his last abysmal effort? You already know which review type I’m doing, so you already know the answer to that, let’s dig in

Mini Review: Doctor Who - Twice Upon a Time

So, it’s that time of year again, it’s been about a month since the Doctor Who special graced our screens and my review of it was inevitable. What might surprise you is this being a mini review and I do have a reason beyond being lazy, although that might factor in a bit.

But this is a very special Christmas special, not only have we got a crossover with the first doctor, not only is it Capaldi’s regeneration story, but it’s also a goodbye to Stephen Moffat as he bows out of Doctor Who. Does this hold up to those very high standards? Here are my thoughts

#54 Doctor Who - Love and Monsters

So, it’s that time of year again, time to talk about a bad episode of Doctor Who

Russel T Davies ran the show from its revival in 2005 until 2010, where Steven Moffat took over, until now I’ve not covered bad episodes from this era, they’re usually more infamous than the bad Moffat ones, also Russel T Davies is the man who got me into Doctor Who, even with one of the worst episodes of the show, Fear Her.

But that’s not the episode that I’m covering today, today it’s a special kind of bad. The kind of bad I hate beyond all others that, to his credit, Mofatt never did in his tenure. We’ve got a fan allegory! Beyond that, Love and Monsters is one of the most hated episodes of the show. There’s also something else but we’ll get to that in the review. Speaking of which…

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

TV Retrospective - The Sarah Jane Adventures series 3 part 2 - The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith/The Eternity Trap

 We’re back to looking at the Sarah Jane Adventures and… it’s time. Let’s begin

Editorial - The Best and Worst of Doctor Who series 10

Series 10 of Doctor Who was probably the strongest series of the show to date in my opinion and a great Swan Song for Steven Moffat's final season. Still, it's not without its flaws and I'm here to count down the top 5 best and worst moments of Doctor Who series 10. This editorial contains spoilers. You have been warned

Doctor Who Series 10 Finale review - The Doctor Falls

Doctor Who Series 10 episodes 10-11 review - The eaters of light/World enough and time

We return for another double-dose of Doctor Who, with the final episode so very close, spoilers will follow for it.

Doctor Who Series 10 episodes 8-9 review - The Lie of the Land/The Empress of Mars

Sorry this episode ended up late. Congratulations Tokio Meyers, and my condolences to everyone in London affected by the attack. Now I’ve officially made this review dated, let’s get to the matter at hand. I'll add the images

Doctor Who series 10 episodes 6-7 review - Extremis/The Pyramid at the End of the World

We continue our look at Doctor Who with a surprising dip in quality, I won't lie. Here are my Ravings

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

Guilty Pleasures #33 - Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio

I know someone out there, somewhere is thinking I bash on Moffat too much and should probably review a Russel T Davies episode, there are many flawed episodes to look over from his era. But Moffat is clearly a talented writer with potential, and I hate to see this potential squandered time and time again. So, if you want someone to bash on Russel episodes, go watch Diamanda Hagan, in the meantime let’s take a look at the latest Doctor Who Christmas special.

OK, you know what you’re in for with a title like that. A fun superhero romp is how Peter Capaldi described it and I’m not against a lighter toned Christmas special, it is Christmas and if you want depressing, you can always watch the soaps. My problem is 'superhero'. Doctor Who has mixed with superheroes in the past but we now live in an era where superhero films make the big bucks, last year 6 DC or Marvel superhero movies came out and there’s no sign of the pace slowing up. There are TV shows dedicated to superheroes that are growing in popularity to the extent that they're expanding on an almost yearly basis.

What I’m saying here is that this isn’t the show trying something different, it’s the show cashing in on a popular trend, and it would have to pull out all the stops to convince me otherwise. So, does it? Let’s see

#42 - Doctor Who - Hell Bent

It’s January and it’s time to correct a mistake with a review of Doctor Who’s series 9 finale, Hell Bent. Heaven Sent was a magnificent episode, featuring one of Capaldi’s greatest performances to date and was by the far the best episode of the series. What followed it was… it was bad, very bad and I was mistaken when I initially proclaimed it to be OK. Why have I changed my mind? Let’s take a look.

Guilty Pleasures #25 - Doctor Who: The Husbands of River Song

It’s time once again to look at a Doctor Who Christmas Special. It’s another one I actually enjoyed, hence it being a Guilty Pleasure.

Before we get into the review. Let’s talk about River Song. I think she’s an OK character, the idea of someone meeting the Doctor but in a different order to him remembering it was interesting. The issues come with her origin and how that ties with the romantic relationship between her and the Doctor

You see (and yes, we’re going into spoilers here) River Song is the daughter of Amy and Rory Williams (and yes they’re married so they’re called Williams, doesn’t matter what the Doctor says) who was conceived in a TARDIS in flight. Lots of bullsh*t happens (see my review of the Wedding of River Song for the worst of it) and they end up being married in an aborted timeline which somehow makes them married in this timeline too. It’s kinda creepy when you think about it.

So let’s dive into the swansong of the Doctor and River Song ‘The Husbands of River Song’

#32 Doctor Who - Kill the Moon

Thought this was going to be a 4 issue test of Doctor Strange? Well unfortunately #4 arrived later than I'd anticipated and I didn't know if I'd get it done in time. This one has been ready to go for a while, so dive into my re-review of Doctor Who - Kill the Moon

It’s January, so it’s time to look at 2 Doctor Who episodes. The first might be familiar to long term fans of this blog because I reviewed it a year ago. The review consisted of me mostly laughing at a particular plot point which we’ll get to

So why this episode? Well, I’ve given the episode time to stir in my mind a bit, I’ve read and seen other reviews of the episode and there’s a hell of a lot more wrong with it than just the bullsh*t I was laughing at in my original review.

So, how much worse is it than I remember? It’s bad, really, really bad. Let’s take a look

Editorial: The Highs and Lows of Doctor Who series 9

Doctor Who completed it's 9th season and once again it's been a great season...ish, actually a stronger series than series 8. So, join me as we once again look at the top 5 highs and lows of Doctor Who series 9

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