Current Doctor to visit his own past in Doctor Who’s 50th?

As production on the 50th anniversary special continues, so do the rumors. To date, there has been no official word on the appearance of surviving classic actors Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann in the special, but there are plenty of theories such as the use of CGi to place the current Doctor Matt Smith alongside his contemporaries in previous stories. This does get around two other problems; recasting the first three Doctors as they have passed on and the fact that the surviving actors mostly look nothing like their TV past appearances.

But it also sounds like a cop out in my opinion, especially where McCoy and McGann are concerned as they could easily pass off as their TV Doctor likenesses without any assistance.

More as it comes…

Via DoctorWhoTV:

In what is probably just another recycling of an old rumour, the Daily Star are claiming that the classic Doctors will appear in the 50th anniversary digitally using archive footage. David Tennant will apparently be the only Doctor to appear in the flesh.

The article states:

Viewers will see Matt Smith, 30, mingle with all the actors from the previous BBC series, including the late William Hartnell and Jon Pertwee.

TV chiefs came up with the plan, thanks to fellow sci-fi smash Star Trek.

In 1996, the cast of spin-off series Deep Space Nine had an adventure with the original Enterprise crew Captain Kirk and Mr Spock (William Shatner, 82, and Leonard Nimoy, 82) as they looked in the 1960s.

The show used hi-tech wizardry to digitally insert the young stars from Deep Space Nine into old footage from an episode called The Trouble With Tribbles, which aired in 1967.

Now BBC bosses plan to do the same. In November’s TV special to mark 50 years of Doctor Who, fans will see the current Doctor come face to face with all of the former Doctors who include Tom Baker, 79, Colin Baker, 69, and Peter Davison, 62.

He will be “placed” into clips from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s to make it look as though he is really there and interacting with his old Time Lord selves.

Ex-Doctor Who star David Tennant, 42, is the only actor who will appear in the flesh in the episode.

Doctor Who and The Bells of Saint John

The Bells of Saint John

Image by Francesco Francavilla

“This whole world is swimming in Wi-Fi. We are living in a Wi-Fi soup. Suppose something got into it. Suppose there was something living in the Wi-Fi, harvesting human minds… human souls trapped like flies in the world wide web.”
Written by Steven Moffat
Story 7.07
Transmitted 30 March, 2013

Doctor Who is an incredibly popular TV series with a fan following that grows bigger every year. A series that was once the punchline to any put down joke, it now graces the covers of pop culture magazines not just in the UK but in the US as well. BBC America has taken a very active role this year in promoting Doctor Who, just in time for its fiftieth anniversary by showing weekly installments of past episodes from the early days and offering up the opinions of the cast and crew of the current iteration. The seventh season is the most anticipated in a long time as it strays from the path of the Amy Pond story and into uncharted territory with a grand cinematic celebration at the end.

I have been watching Doctor Who for far too many years to remember and I have been running this blog since 2007. There are some regular readers who are here reading the latest in a long line of reviews. There are also some of you who have stumbled upon my blog because you are a Doctor Who fan, full of excitement and joy for your favorite series. You will likely not be pleased with much of what I have to say.

I am not a fun squasher, so if you don’t want to read about your favorite program getting dissected and criticized, I highly recommend going to one of many other review sites. I love Doctor Who and continue to watch every episode I can because of I love it… but when I find fault with the series I can get a bit salty.

So… consider this a friendly warning.

And if you are still reading and disagree, feel free to voice your opinion but don’t expect a heated argument because I’m just not interested.

All good? Lovely.

Ever since it returned in 2005, the BBC Wales version of Doctor Who has been obsessed with a very specific period of the program, specifically the first story of the eighth series. When the Doctor became stranded on Earth, the focus changed drastically from fantastical to the factual. The sci-fi elements were grounded in the every day things around us and made horrific. The best example of this is in Terror of the Autons in which the Master teamed up with the Nestene Consciousness to take over the planet through the animation of anything made from plastic. This was mainly a rehash of the previous year’s opener ‘Spearhead From Space’ but much goofier. In Spearhead, animated mannikins stalked the streets and entered houses, destroying anything in their path. In Terror, one executive was eating alive by a bean bag chair, another throttled by a doll while the Doctor was nearly garroted by a telephone line. Likewise, the new series has attempted to take everyday things and make them into terrifying fantastic horrors, be it shadows, statues, cellular phones, GPS or even Wi-Fi.

I wager at least half of all new Doctor Who stories have something in common with Terror of the Autons except for one thing; Terror of the Autons was actually a clever story that, while being on the absurd side was still clever and innovative. It softened the Quatermass-influence of series seven and replaced with a more comic strip-style version of Doctor Who but it still worked. The BBC Wales version, in comparison, is much more topical and disposable. It is so antiquated that almost half of the run time featured characters staring at monitors, back at the viewer or closeups of fingers in keyboards. The pre-credit teaser was an explanation of the premise rather than just showing us in the actual story. These are lazy techniques that went out of style twenty years ago.

Even the War Machines, a story from 1966 that was about a computer intelligence taking over the world was more plausible than The Bells of Saint John, and it had access to a small portion of the information available to the current series regarding technology. But the War Machines was written with the input of Kit Pedler, the brilliant scientist whose interest in real world cybernetics led to the creation of the Cybermen (fictionally… he didn’t make actual Cybermen).

The Bells of Saint John is written with all the intelligence gleaned by a cursory glance through wikipedia. It has hardly any idea what the internet is or how it works, let alone the common sense regarding Wi-Fi connections and security. Proof behind this is that only after Clara references Twitter does the Doctor acknowledge she has some kind of enhanced technical intelligence.

Award-winning author Steven Moffat has this amazingly flawed view of Doctor Who in that it is all about the companion and not the Doctor. He also views Doctor Who as a fairy tale. Neither of these things is problematic in itself. I quite like series five which was Moffat’s first year as producer and head writer and was almost entirely as companion-centric and fantasy-based. However, this story has lots of problems, especially given that Amy Pond was arguably the hub of the past three years and once she is gone she is replaced by Clara, the mystery girl who the Doctor is chasing through space and time.

Last year, the Doctor met a strange girl named Oswin who was trapped inside of a Dalek. In that adventure she died. The Christmas Special saw her return as a governess in Victorian London, where she also died. In the series seven point two mini-episode, we saw the Doctor meet with young Clara Oswald at a playground. At the opening of The Bells of Saint John, the Doctor is camped out in a monastery waiting for ‘The Bells of Saint John’ to ring. The bells are actually attached to the phone in the outer shell of the TARDIS, and the ringing is caused by Clara calling for tech support in the 21st Century where she is wondering ‘where the internet has gone.’ The fact that Clara is unable to connect to the net is seen as the entire web disappearing is rather suspect. Even my mom would not jump to that conclusion. I venture to say that each of us has had this kind of problem at some point and did not think that somehow the web had gone away. In any case, this is all connected to a weird alien Wi-Fi signal being used to suck people into the web and drain their minds.

Yes… the evil weird threat is Wi-Fi.

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Users are somehow downloaded into a server (with a cute progress bar showing the process) where they become vloggers warning people to stay offline and scream to be let go. How a webcam can be used to not only scan but download your consciousness is beyond me, but why would the result be a tiny TV screen of the poor victim screaming to be let go? Who wants that? The evil corporation who is behind all this mutely works away in a room dominated by a wall of screaming faces… every day. From the revelation at the end of the episode, this has somehow been going on for decades.

Just imagine what that job is like?

It must be Hell finding people to work at EvilCo (or Shard, but I think EvilCo is better), since the average employee is an imbecile and HR doesn’t monitor their web usage. The absolute raving idiocy that members of a super secret organization would not only use social networking sites but also note said employer and are online while working on their is almost laughable.

The intelligence of all these people is being siphoned by some unknown source… much like another classic story The Krotons in which the aliens sapped the minds of the brightest and converted it into raw energy. In this case, Shard has been at this for quite some time (begging the question why did the Doctor take so long to stop them) and yet it is unclear what the aim is. The plot is incomplete, much like The Idiot’s Lantern in which the Wire is sucking people through televisions but never explains why.

The Doctor and Clara team up using a laptop to take down the evil organization while the Doctor muses over who and what Clara is and why he keeps bumping into her. Wi-Fi is depicted as being so powerful that it can shut down whole city blocks and almost crash a jet into the suburbs… or take control of a cafe to show the Doctor how powerful they *really* are. That is impressive.

All of this is somehow tied into ‘The Great Intelligence’ from The Snowmen Christmas Special which is interesting, but shouldn’t we be seeing Sir Ian McKellen and not Richard E. Grant as REG was the human host and Sir Ian is the real baddie? And is this the same  ’The Great Intelligence’ from Classic Doctor Who? I’m starting to wonder.

The Doctor not only hacks the Shard’s technology but also uses an anti-gravity motorcycle to drive up the side of the corporate office to confront them.

There is a saying in TV, ‘jump the shark’ to mark when a program has achieved such a status of badness that it is beyond any other words. The Doctor jumped a building. If one can say that he jumped the shark as well, I don’t know… but this was pretty embarrassing both conceptually and visually. The effect was so poor, I can only imagine what it looked like on hi def.

The Doctor does his usual grand-standing to the baddie, but seems to have no real interest in the safety of anyone but his companion. This is very similar to The Idiot’s Lantern when the Doctor confronted the Wire for Rose’s freedom. When the Great Intelligence finally releases its hold and retreats, it is implied that the bodies of those previously trapped in the system may well be dead. When the Great Intelligence’s latest mouthpiece, Miss Kislet, is released, she tragically becomes an innocent little lost girl trapped in the body of a sixty year old woman… isn’t that nice?

The Doctor could care less about any of the damages, though, and is eager to fly off with his latest in a line of feisty females in what Clara calls his ‘snog box.’ Possibly the dumbest story to date, this is the ‘Idiot’s Lantern for Idiots.’

I will once again point out that Matt Smith is in fine fighting form and managed to take some of the worst dialog ever written and make it sound at least palatable. I’m still on the fence regarding the new companion played by Jenna-Louise Coleman. She seems to get by on being cute as a button… but that will get very old very quickly. The camera work was unusually superb with some lovely cinematography with the motorcycle ride into London a stand out moment.

But, largely this story was far too concerned with the companion and presented a juvenile and silly view of reality that could only be called ‘fantasy’ to save it from being called out as laughably poor. This is the same program that produced stories as otherworldly as Kinda and as dramatically impressive as Talons of Weng Chiang with ludicrously limited resources.  Even so, this was once a TV show screened late at night on PBS stations, a show whose name prompted laughter and ridicule.

To return to where I started, this is an incredibly successful program at arguably the peak of its popularity. It should be better than this.

Wi-Fi? Seriously?

The Bells of Saint John had an Appreciation Index, or AI score, of 87

The Appreciation Index or AI is a measure of how much the audience enjoyed the programme. The score, out of a hundred, is compiled by a specially selected panel of around 5,000 people who go online and rate and comment on programmes.

Doctor Who scored higher than most of Saturday’s output. Other high scoring programmes were Casulty with 87, Richard Briers: A Tribute with 88 and Easter From Kings with 89.

Overnight ratings from Doctor WhoTV:

• The Bells of Saint John – 6.18 million (overnight) TBC (final figure)
• The Snowmen – 7.6 million (overnight) 9.87 million (final figure)
• The Angels Take Manhattan - 5.9 million (overnight) 7.82 million (final figure)
• The Power of Three – 5.5 million (overnight) 7.67 million (final figure)
• A Town Called Mercy – 6.6 million (overnight) 8.42 million (final figure)
• Dinosaurs on a Spaceship -  5.5 million (overnight) 7.57 million (final figure)
• Asylum of the Daleks – 6.4 million (overnight) 8.3 million (final figure)

Next time: The Rings of Akhaten

First look at Doctor Who series 7 Part Two

A few promotional images for the first half of the second part of series 7 have arrived. There are a few details, but nothing Earth-shattering, so feel free to read on and not fear spoilers.

Introducing the new monsters ‘The Spoonheads,’ Steven Moffat describes this episode as “the traditional Doctor Who thing of taking something omnipresent in your life and making it sinister, if something did get in the Wi-Fi, we’d be kind of screwed. Nobody had really done it before, so I thought, ‘It’s time to get kids frightened of Wi-Fi!”

“The Bells of Saint John”: The Doctor’s search for Clara Oswald brings him to modern day London, where Wi-Fi is everywhere. Humanity lives in a Wi-Fi soup. But something dangerous is lurking in the signals, picking off minds and imprisoning them. As Clara becomes the target of this insidious menace, the Doctor races to save her and the world from an ancient enemy.

Written by Mark Gatiss, this story will be set in a submarine and feature a new take on another classic monster, the Ice Warriors, joining the Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans and Macra in the list of of classic baddies re-imagined for a new audience.

“Cold War”: The Doctor and Clara land on a damaged Russian Submarine in 1983 as it spirals out of control into the ocean depths. An alien creature is loose on board, having escaped from a block of Arctic ice. With tempers flaring and a cargo of nuclear weapons on board, it’s not just the crew but the whole of humanity at stake!

Written by Luther’s Neil Cross.

“The Rings of Akhaten”: Clara wants to see something awesome, so the Doctor whisks her off to the inhabited rings of the planet Akhaten, where the Festival of Offerings is in full swing. Clara meets the young Queen of Years as the pilgrims and natives ready for the ceremony. But something is stirring in the pyramid, and a sacrifice will be demanded.

Set in a haunted house and again written by Neil Cross.

“Hide”: Clara and the Doctor arrive at Caliburn House, a haunted mansion sat alone on a desolate moor. Within its walls, a ghost hunting Professor and a gifted psychic are searching for the Witch of the Well. Her apparition appears throughout the history of the building, but is she really a ghost? And what is chasing her?

Series 7.2 trailer for BBC America

Still to come: “Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS,” which is what it says it is and written by Curse of the Black Spot’s author, Mat King, “The Crimson Horror,” by Mark Gatiss which will reunite the Doctor with Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax, “The Last Cyberman” by Neil Gaiman and the untitled finale by Steven Moffat.

Series 7 part two starts on BBC America March 30th

Doctor Who and The Snowmen

The Snowmen

Written by Steven Moffat
Story 7.06
Transmitted 25 December, 2012
“I never know how, I only know who.”’
The Doctor is sulking in Victorian London with the former Sontaran soldier/nurse turned butler Strax, the Silurian warrior Lady Vastra and her wife (shock) Jenny. Depressed by the loss of Amy and Rory, the Doctor has sworn off adventuring for fear of endangering others. Despite his attempts to remain on the sidelines, he is called out of his reverie by Clara, the feisty barmaid/governess/mystery girl with a quirky grin. Snow is the culprit this time around and it could kill all of humanity by Christmas night. Guest-starring Richard E Grant as the evil Dr Simian, a distorted and angry young boy grown into a dangerous old man and Sir Ian McKellen as the voice of the Great Intelligence (though surely not the one from the Yeti adventures Abominable Snowmen and Web of Fear), The Snowmen is a wintry period piece of whimsy and fanciful fun for all… or is it?

There are some very well tread notions that are used in this story that are downright shameful given the level of popularity Doctor Who is enjoying and the fact that it is in its seventh year on TV and about to celebrate the program’s 50th anniversary. We really should be beyond many of the cliches that Moffat leans heavily on here and while The Snowmen does hint at a payoff later on, this particular tale is a vapid one.

The story opens with Dr Simian collecting snow using manual labor. Once again the working class or disenfranchised are depicted as helpless victims (see Age of Steel, Daleks Take Manhattan, The Next Doctor, etc), as Simian ‘feeds’ his staff to monstrous Snowmen. He’s so evil that he has no need of a plan at all, aside from collecting bits snow for a giant snow globe and talking to an evil disembodied voice about how well everything is going.

Dr Simian should really meet the Master (the proper Delgado one) for lessons in hatching evil schemes.

The new companion is introduced as a barmaid (previous companions for the new series have included a shop girl, office temp and kiss-o-gram. Only Martha Jones -remember her?- stands out as an exception being a promising medical student). The BBC Wales series seems obsessed with the working class as the heroes/victims and the gentry being the villains, all but omitting the middle class with Amy and Rory possibly being the only exception. In meeting Clara, the Doctor attempts some silly scientific investigation before wandering off into the night. Into the second half of his third year now, Smith has matured quite well and wears the mantle of lonely wanderer like it was made for him. He doesn’t over-sell it, an impish smile hints at some real joyful memories of his marvelous adventures, sadly in the distant past.

I keep saying this but the worse the story the more apparent it is to me how flipping perfect Smith is as the Doctor. He is a genuine childlike eccentric and he embodies the part with so much exuberance not seen since the late Patrick Troughton (his self-professed influence in the role of the Doctor).

Unfortunately, Moffat has yet to learn the skill of subtlety and places the Doctor and his TARDIS literally on a cloud overlooking the city… yes, he is actually refusing to look down at the world and is above it. I’d like to remind you that this guy won awards for writing.

Apparently the phrase ‘Doctor Who?’ was not a one-off fascination of Moffat’s as it is now referred to as ‘what starts adventure’ and a kind of secret phrase to get into his Victorian inner circle. We are also once more saddled with other characters telling us about who and what the Doctor is while he does mostly nothing. What’s more, he is called a savior and protector of the world. Additionally, call backs to the previous companion is used as a motive, much the same as Rose haunted two solid years of Doctor Who.

Because Moffat is writing this series for his son, he feels the need to include LOTS of children. In case the cliche is lost, Clara plays headmistress (not that kind, Hal) to the children of Captain Latimer and entertains the kids Julie Andrews-style with whimsical tales to distract them from their sexually frustrated widower father. She presents the Doctor as a fanciful magical uncle-type, or Mary Poppins in trousers. What’s peculiar (as SJV has pointed out), is that the Doctor has stated that he has to stop being such an icon to the universe and ‘go silent.’ Despite that, children are told that he will save them and is a special kind of person who fights off horrors (once again, let me point out that even though Clara tells the children this he has not only done no such thing but he has defiantly refused to get involved in anyone’s business).

The naughty headmistress who had become encased in ice is brought back via psychically sensitive snow… or ice… and transformed into an angry and embarrassing computer effect. In what could be the weirdest self aware moment of the entire new series, the Doctor appears as a Punch doll bearing his trusty sonic screwdriver which shatters the monster to pieces (though remember, it is NOT A WEAPON).

As if the comic characters of Lady Vastra, Jenny and Strax were not absurd enough, their arrival at Captain Latimer’s house causes the maid to scream then faint like an am dram drop out. It’s all very sad. Captain Latimer may as well have spouted, ‘This is most peculiar!’ and I’m kinda disappointed that he didn’t.

Assaulted from without by Dr Simian and his deadly snow maker (?) and from within by an ice woman who can’t get down a flight of stairs, things become far more familiar for long time viewers. The program is notorious for ‘base under siege’ plots in which the heroes are holed up trying to think of a way out while the enemy closes in. It’s also a handy way to chew up run time and fill in the odd plot ole such as what the ell is going on. For all of its many faults, the inability to actually tell a story while introducing characters and setting is the most damning. Doctor Who was once the most innovative TV series, today it cannot chew gum and skip at the same time.

Dr Simian is working for an alien intelligence (presumably not the other Great Intelligence from the similarly entitled classic story Abominable Snowmen featuring the fan favorite monster the Yeti) who are attempting to gain corporeal form through snow, ice and a fusion with the human body. Why not grass, brick, muffins or pantaloons? All of these things are in large supply in Victorian London during Christmas time.

In fact, I demand next year we see pantaloon monsters.

One massive tragedy is that Richard E Grant is absolutely wasted in this. I’m not saying that he is the most amazing actor ever, but I do enjoy a bit of Withnail and I. Finally making an appearance in the new Doctor Who, he not only has not much to do at all, but puts in some superb evil guy performances while Smith minces about like a loon. Sure, REG played the Doctor in the animated special that dare not be spoken of… but that’s different.

Thinking (?) quickly, the Doctor and Clara direct the ice governess away from the snow which can apparently not fly up and over the roof like snow could but must dutifully wait to be invited in. Using the magic staircase into the clouds, Clara bosses the Doctor into action (haven’t we done this three companions in a row now?) and we finally see the new console room. After all of the pretext over the redesign, it looks like a frigging carousel. I was on the fence about the static design but now that I see that the ceiling twirls about, all that is missing are ponies to ride on. It is nice for the TARDIS to have dials and switches again rather than cranks or rubber balls, but is still the most far out and goofy console room ever.

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor seems to say that he is beginning an adventuring relationship with Clara and through Moffat’s eyes that may be the only reason the Doctor ever does anything. It’s peculiar and takes the notion of the Doctor being a romantic character to a whole other level of inappropriateness. It also flies in the face of what Doctor Who was before RTD and Moffat got their hands on it… an adventure program. It has become a romance in which the Doctor is moved to action by a pretty girl. What is up with that?

And of course it is at this moment when Clara is attacked by the ice governess and pulled to her death. The action comes to a complete stop while the Doctor feels guilty over her possible death. Even Lady Vastra remarks that the snow and ice are still problems, but again they dutifully wait.

The Doctor confronts what is definitely not the Great Intelligence from Abominable Snowmen offering up a shard of the ice governess in a box bearing the map of the London Underground circa 1967 (when the Abominable Snowmen was screened) and Richard E Grant is subsumed by camp villain acting that will haunt him to the grave. On her death bed (her damned insides must have been crushed from the fall) Clara tries to reconcile Latimer’s lack of intimacy for his children (who all serve no purpose in the story) then turns the snow to rain by crying… um… of course.

Clara dies somehow and the Doctor realizes that Dr Simian’s business card is for the Great Intelligence and that it may have melted into the ground but could have maintained knowledge of the London Underground (which was invaded by the Yeti in 1968′s Web of Fear)… but it is surely not the Great Intelligence from Abominable Snowmen.

The Doctor also realizes that Clara was somehow on the Asylum for Wayward Daleks where she also died… and the multi-part mystery in which the companion takes importance over the Doctor begins anew.

Peter McKinstry’s new Yeti design

As each year of Doctor Who traditionally focuses on the return of a classic monster or villain (The Daleks, Cybermen, Master, Davros, Sontarans, Silurians and more have all come back as the main focus of each series), it could be that this is all leading to a showdown with the Yeti which could mean that Sir Ian McKellen may return which is nice as well. Designs of the Yeti have been circulated for ages so it does add up. However, the program has thrown curve balls before such as bringing voice actor Gabriel Woolf back for the Impossible Planet which led many fans to rightly interpret that Sutekh (from the very popular Pyramids of Mars) was on his way back.

Most finales involve River Song, marriages, heartbroken lovers or other such things, so I doubt that I am right in thinking that the Yeti are on their way… but dammit that would make sense. Instead we are going to be treated to the ‘mystery of Clara Oswald Oswin’ through the second half of series 7.  Ah well… the teaser looks pretty.

Next time…

 

Special note: I will be on vacation for the first time ever for the next four-five days. Don’t panic, I will be back and make sure to check in on my tumblr feed for updates as I find them. Happy Holidays and Merry X-Men!

Introducing the new TARDIS console room for Doctor Who series 7.2

(This comes via DoctorWhoOnline.com)

The new redesigned TARDIS console room is finally here. To be introduced in next week’s Christmas Special, the new design will replace current one introduced along with Matt Smith in the 5th series. Previously, redesigning the console room during the Doctor’s reign has been a big deal and has only been done a handful of times over the 50 year history, most famously during the Tom Baker and Peter Davison eras.

What do you think of the new ‘desktop theme’ (ugh, I hate that term)? Personally I think it’s too busy, but at least it is closer to the classic model and a step away from the zany/wacky design which included a rubber mallet, typewriter and rubber ball which made it look like a 5 year old put it together in a shed (not that I’d know).

(On a side-note, I really like the Doctor’s new costume)

Which console room design do you prefer?

The first design as seen in An Unearthly Child

The Troughton/Pertwee design as seen in The Three Doctors

The secondary console room as seen in The Deadly Assassin

The Baker/Davison design

The 1983-89 design as seen in The Five Doctors

The 1996 design as seen in the TV Movie starring Paul McGann

The 2005-2010 design from the Eccleston/Tennant era

The current design introduced in 2010

Doctor Who – The Great Detective minisode

In the streets of Victorian London, a Silurian detective and her sword-wielding companion Jenny solve unusual crimes along with their butler, a Sontaran named Strax. When faced with a particularly dangerous case, they petition for the assistance of that traveler of time and space known only as ‘The Doctor,’ but there’s a problem… he’s retired.

Watch the minisode below…

My 2 cents

The less said about Murray Gold’s music, the better.

I could do without the poor directing and thudding jokes, but I do quite like how the series keeps reinventing itself and staying fresh. At seven years, the program has had many different approaches with varied results and the 11th Doctor works best, in my opinion, when he is pitched as a fanciful hero in a children’s adventure (as most of series 5 was written). It seems that we may be headed back in that direction this Christmas and into next year when Doctor Who returns.

2013 trailer

Doctor Who Christmas Special minisode this Friday

Get an early look at the Doctor this Friday, November 16th during the Children in Need charity event.

Doctor Who, featuring Matt Smith, will bring viewers an extra special ‘prequel’ to its Christmas special, with a story line made for Children in Need, and an exclusive preview trailer of the Christmas special including the first glimpse of the Doctor with his new companion.

On-location filming

… and no, it will not be screened in the US, so American fans will have to find ‘alternate methods.’

This week at your comic shop – 11/7/12

For the complete list of this week’s comics, click here.

Not sure where your local comic shop is? Try comicshoplocator.com!

(note: all information including ad copy is from the publisher)
If you can’t make it to the shop, just click on any of the images below to be taken to an online retailer. I don’t get any referrals for these sales, I’m just doing my bit to spread the word on some neat products.

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Doctor Who Tardis Collection

Doctor Who Tardis Collection
Join the eleventh Doctor on his adventures with Amy Pond in these six original stories based on the hit series, presented in a beautiful TARDIS-shaped box.

The Runaway Train: the Doctor and Amy chase an alien artifact in the Wild West. Ring of Steel: on Orkney they battle walking electricity pylons with powerful masters. The Jade Pyramid: in medieval Japan they encounter terrifying powerful mannequins. The Hounds of Artemis: in 1920s Smyrna they witness an ancient evil awakening. The Gemini Contagion: in the far future they’re caught up in a frightening virus outbreak. The Eye of the Jungle: with Rory they’re watched by an all-seeing Eye in the Amazon rainforest.
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Action Comics #14

Action Comics #14
By: Grant Morrison, Brad Walker, Rags Morales
Type: Comics
Genres: Superhero
Series: Action Comics
Publisher: DC Comics
Pub. Date: November 07, 2012
Availability: Pre-Order
UPC: 76194130637701411

Brainiac first warned of the Multitude, and now Superman comes face to face with them – on Mars!

Plus: In the backup story, what appointment is so important that Superman would drop everything to attend it?
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All About Bond HC

All About Bond HC
By: Terry O’Neill
This autumn James Bond celebrates his 50th anniversary as a celluloid hero, and All About Bond is a unique memoir that will delight, amuse, and inform Bond’s many fans.

All About Bond is packed with surprises, insights and candid memories, both personal and photographic from legendary names who cut their teeth and carved out careers in some of the most memorable scenes in movie history.

The humor, the drama, and the camaradarie, on set and off, is captured through the immortal lens of one of the world’s most legendary photographers.
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Defenders #12

Defenders #12
By: Matt Fraction, Jamie Mckelvie, Terry Dodson
Series finale! The end of the Defenders! All your questions answered! Everybody dies! Everything ends! So how do the good guys pull it off?
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Blade Runner 30th Anniversary Bd Book

Blade Runner 30th Anniversary Bd Book
‘The #1 Sci-Fi Film of all time’ marks it’s return post 10 month moratorium with an all new 3-Disc Blu-ray/DVD and UV 30th Anniversary commemorative gift set.

Revisit the illustrious Final Cut on Blu-ray, DVD and get a UV copy of the feature. Additionally, the gift set features an all new concept spinner car for your collection, action Lenticular and a 72 page art production book with never-before-seen Ridley sketches, poster art and photos from the set.

Special Features: 36 page Hard Cover book presentation with never-before-seen images from the set and scene sketches from Ridley Scott. · The commemorative gift set includes all 10+ hours of bonus content from the critically acclaimed Ultimate Collector’s Edition from 2007 plus a new, comprehensive photo gallery of newly discovered sketches from director Ridley Scott, photos from the set and more.

Content includes all five feature film versions – The Final Cut, ’92 Director’s Cut, Domestic and International Theatrical versions and the rare Work Print.
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Age Of Apocalypse #9

Age Of Apocalypse #9
By: David Lapham, Renato Arlem, Kris Anka
Jean Grey finds herself on the runÖ from Cyclops! Prophet’s final plan for human survival takes shape. A weapon that could kill Weapon X, a.k.a. the Overlord, is discovered!
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Detective Comics #14

Detective Comics #14
By: John Layman, Jason Fabok
When Bruce Wayne’s life is saved by The Penguin, what surprises are in store for The Dark Knight? And in the backup story, an intimate look at Gotham City’s most dangerous foes provides a hint of the maelstrom to come.

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Before Watchmen Rorschach Red By Pope T-Shirt

Before Watchmen Rorschach Red By Pope T-Shirt
Rorschach Red features the incredible design and art of Steranko screenprinted in color on a Deep Red, 100% cotton shirt.
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Doctor Who Castrovalva Action Figure Set

Doctor Who Castrovalva Action Figure Set
Imported from the UK!

The newly regenerated fifth Doctor escapes with his companions back to the TARDIS, suffering from post-regeneration trauma. He seeks sanctuary in the peaceful domain of Castrovalva, oly to discover that it’s a paradoxical trap set for him by the Master.

Underground Toys’ celebrates Peter Davison’s debut episode of Doctor Who as the Doctor with ‘Castrovalva’ Collector’s Set that comes with a Post-Regeneration Fifth Doctor Action Figure, a Shrunken Figure Accessory, and the Master’s TARDIS.
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Arrow T-Shirt

Arrow T-Shirt
Green Arrrow celebrates his TV debut on the new Arrow T-Shirt. Features the silhouetted Emerald Archer screenprinted in color on a Deep Forest, 100% cotton shirt. Check out the show and the great new shirt today. NOW AVAILABLE for sale in Canada and U.K.
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Uncanny X-Force #33

Uncanny X-Force #33
By: Rick Remender, Phil Noto, Jerome Opena
FINAL EXECUTION races to its thrilling conclusion! X-Force brings the attack to the Brotherhood, but there is dissension in the ranks. Genesis faces the truth about Apocalypse and his destiny!
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Doctor Who Companion Chron Project Nirvana Audio CD

Doctor Who Companion Chron Project Nirvana Audio CD
A new adventure with the Seventh Doctor, as told by his companion, Aristedes. The place is Easterm Europe.

The year is 2015. The TARDIS lands in mid-air, and Captain Lysandra Aristedes is dropped into a daring mission in her own past. There are enemies and creatures out there in the night, and the Doctor is waiting at the rendezvous point.

Because this is all part of his bigger picture. And Aristedes is going to learn something about herself.
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Marvel Classic Characters Series 2 #4: Silver Surfer

Marvel Classic Characters Series 2 #4: Silver Surfer
The fourth release in this second series is the herald of mighty Galactus: Silver Surfer.

One of the greatest moments in the “Marvel Age” of comics was the introduction of Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four #48 in 1966, created by Jack Kirby with an assist from writer/editor Stan Lee.

Silver Surfer features a rough surface texture, visible seam lines, and other slightly distressed aspects, such as paint application. Sculpted by Yoe! Studio.
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Animal Man #14

Animal Man #14
By: Jeff Lemire, Steve Pugh
‘ROTWORLD: THE RED KINGDOM’ part two!

How did The Rot infect the DC Universe? Guest star John Constantine is here to tell you the hideous truth! The Red Kingdom faces an all-out attack by an army of the Rot, led by Felix Faust!

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New Crusaders Rise Of The Heroes #3

New Crusaders Rise Of The Heroes #3
By: Ian Flynn, Ben Bates
‘Legacies,’ Part 1.

The days of being ordinary teens are over: it’s time for them to become the New Crusaders! But the over-confidence of Shield and his charges could spell doom for the fledgling team. Who remains standing at the end of the day? The Red Circle Universe’s greatest heroes begin their journey in this pulse-pounding issue!

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Doctor Who Lost Stories Rosemariners Audio CD

Doctor Who Lost Stories Rosemariners Audio CD
A new adventure in time and space for the Second Doctor, told by his companions Jamie and Zoe.

The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find themselves on an almost deserted space lab. Years of research are coming to an end and only distinguished xeno-botantist Professor Arnold Biggs remains on board. But is there more to the closure than meets the eye? For the operation is being supervised by the Rosemariners of the planet Rosa Damascena.

Their terrifying Commander, Rugosa, seems to have something to hide. Who is he? What do the Rosemariners want with the scientists? And what is the secret of Rosedream?
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Planet of the Apes Cataclysm #3

Planet of the Apes Cataclysm #3
By: Corinna Bechko, Damian Couceiro, Alex Ross
Running out of options, Cornelius, Prisca and the others try to find shelter before the fragments of the moon set off an even greater calamity: the destruction of the dam, and the only thing keeping Ape City away from the devastating waters… Don’t forget to ask your retailer about the rare Alex Ross Black and White CGC 9.8 Near Mint variant!
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Avengers #33

Avengers #33
By: Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Mayhew, Brandon Peterson
Two classic Avengers return for the first time in years to celebrate the end of an era! But does this modern world really need the Avengers? A giant status quo shift is on the horizon. Watch as the Avengers come to terms with themselves as a team and a family.

PLUS: Hydra with alien tech? Uh oh!
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Time Tunnel Hist Of Television Series SC

Time Tunnel Hist Of Television Series SC
By: Martin Grams Jr, Usamaru Furuya
The Time Tunnel was by no means a superb product of Friday night entertainment. If the plot holes were not as large as the tunnel itself, viewers noticed the same props from Allen’s other television programs popping up on the show. This book documents the entire history of the program, the origin and conception of the series, why it never ran a second season, almost 200 never-before-published behind-the-scenes photographs, and a detailed episode guide.
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Swamp Thing #14

Swamp Thing #14
By: Scott Snyder, Yanick Paquette
‘ROTWORLD: THE GREEN KINGDOM’ continues! Swamp Thing must travel the rivers of Rotworld on his way to Gotham City! True terror awaits our hero on the undead waters!

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Shadow #7

Shadow #7
By: Victor Gischler, Jack Herbert, Alex Ross
The Shadow is known for the mystic power which allows him to cloud men’s minds and read their hearts. But what happens when this power fails him? After the Shadow fails to stop a routine mugging, he travels to the Far East with his pilot and sidekick WWI ace Miles Crofton. In Nepal, he hopes to reconnect with his old masters and to consult with them about what could be amiss with his powers. Instead, he finds opium smugglers. As always, The Shadow faces danger Ö but he must also look within himself.
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Earth 2 #6

Earth 2 #6
By: James Robinson, Nicola Scott, Ivan Reis
The Green vs. The Grey! Who will decide the fate of this dying Earth: Green Lantern or Grundy? Will the new wonders of Earth band together to form the first super team since the death of the Trinity? Does super-genius Sloan really know what’s best for this world?

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Iron Man #1

Iron Man #1
By: Kieron Gillen, Greg Land
Tony Stark-Iron Man: Technological visionary, wealthy playboy, unparalleled engineer, and armored Avenger. His greatest invention becomes his greatest mistake. Iron Man must act fast and Tony Stark must build faster! The lethal techno virus Extremis is out in the wild and out for grabs to the highest bidder! It’s up to Tony Stark to contain it and that means creating a new suit of armor NOW!
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Blast Off!: Rockets, Robots, Ray Guns, and Rarities From the Golden Age of Space Toys TPB

Blast Off!: Rockets, Robots, Ray Guns, and Rarities From the Golden Age of Space Toys TPB
By: S. Mark Young, Steve Duin, Mike Richardson
Back in print in softcover, Blast Off! chronicles the golden era of space toys, featuring hundreds of color photos of these beautiful and sometimes bizarre playthings, plus prototypes, original packaging and instructions, catalogs, advertisements, vintage comic-strip and pulp-magazine art, and more from every corner of the globe. An essential resource for the collector or anyone with an eye for pop culture and the love of fun!

* The definitive examination of vintage space toys.

* Introduction by Harlan Ellison.

* Now in paperback!
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Green Lantern #14

Green Lantern #14
By: Geoff Johns, Doug Mahnke
‘Rise of the Third Army’ continues! The Justice League comes after the new Green Lantern, demanding answers about the missing Hal Jordan! The Green Lantern Corps makes a disturbing discovery about the Guardians!
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New Avengers #32

New Avengers #32
By: Brian Michael Bendis, Carlos Pacheco, Mike Deodato
END TIMES CONTINUES!

The New Avengers are thrown into disarray as one of their deadliest enemies has returned. Many hard and permanent choices need to be made in this final arc of the New Avengers saga.

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Doctor Who and The Power of Three

The Power of Three

Written by Chris Chibnall
Story 7.04
Transmitted 22 September, 2012
“I’m running to you and Rory before you fade from me.”

Amy and Rory are struggling to come to grips with their unusual lifestyle. They are both a married suburban couple and a pair of time and space travelling champions who occasionally cross swords with nasties who threaten all of creation. Whereas the modern Doctor Who has repeatedly hammered home the message that the pedestrian lifestyle is unacceptable, the Ponds are realizing that it’s what they want. But just as they are about to make the big move to a real life, a new cataclysm arrives, ‘the slow invasion.’ The puzzling arrival of featureless black cubes across the planet has even the Doctor nonplussed and he reluctantly decides to move in with the Ponds for the duration until the answers present themselves.

If The Power of Three was actually about the Doctor living with Amy and Rory that would have been somewhat interesting, but even Chibnall could barely muster up enough interest to give us a quick montage. I’m not exactly interested in that (this was already covered in the series 5 story The Lodger to great effect. It’s barely even about what Amy and Rory are like without the Doctor because if seeing is believing Amy does sweet FA while Rory busts his skinny arse at the hospital.

The arrival of U.N.I.T. and its new leader Kate Stewart (complete with hand-held tri-corder/mobile phone) also fails to make much of an impact because its all so very boring. I do like Jemma Redgrave as the new head of U.N.I.T. but the decision to downplay her character left her little to actually do aside from be somewhat (but not too) plucky and clever.

The planet (well, England) has been invaded far too many times to count since 2005, so all that is left is for this story to put an interesting spin on it. The result is the pet rock invasion. That should be the actual title.

Aliens attack humanity using our gullibility and sheer stupidity by dropping scanning devices on our front lawns that we dutifully take in doors and keep as pets. When a year passes and people suddenly start dropping like stones it should have been viewed as a mercy killing rather than a disaster. People are so dumb that the press idly wonder if it’s some kind of viral marketing gimmick.

I was reminded of this time a few electronic devices appeared on a prominent bridge in Boston. It was immediately shut down and the bomb disposal squad was called in only to find that in this case it really was a marketing device (for Aqua Teen Hunger Force).

This has to be one of the all time most moronic stories I have ever watched, be it Doctor Who or Bullwinkle and Rocky. It makes absolutely no sense, serves no purpose and in the end frantically tries to serve up some kind of ‘message about the goodness of the human race’ at the viewer with nothing to back it up.

There were several moments that were so hackneyed and poor that I felt like I was stuck in a nightmare where Russell T Davies came back to the program and all hope was lost.

There were several moments that were so hackneyed and poor that I felt like I was stuck in a nightmare where Russell T Davies came back to the program and all hope was lost. Companion narration, blurred edits, celebrity cameos, pop culture references, madcap zany comedy, TV news anchors staring at me in a strobe of successive scenes of info-dumping and the inevitable ‘humanity is so great’ speech at the end. The only difference was that Davies would have made it a two parter and placed the cliff-hanger with the Doctor having a hear attack. The second part would have had the exact same plot points as this episode, just with extended scenes of the companion crying as the program tried to fake the viewer into thinking that the Doctor was dead.

That raises another problem that I have with Doctor Who (and Torchwood, for that matter), it lacks any understanding of the concept of death, its meaning and consequences. I mean, we see epidemics where people drop dead like droids in a Lucas film and it has just as little impact because the program has told us several times over that there are no consequences. If you doubt that, I refer you to the time the Doctor restarted the universe by recreating the Big Bang (something that Red Dwarf would use as a clever joke Doctor Who now relies upon as a plot device).

As another (far more well written) review stated, The Power of Three is hampered by the new series format. The short run time demands that a good 3/4 of the story is set up and the resolution is a magic wand flourish. Added to that the ‘blink and you miss them’ alien invaders and you’re left wondering what the point of all that was. The Doctor and the Ponds did not have an epiphany, the aliens harmed no one, U.N.I.T. was re-introduced and useless and the Doctor just hit the reset button on the magic box devices to save humanity. So… what was that for?

The only saving grace (again) was the cast. Smith was just superb (aside from the cringe-worthy Saturday Night Fever dance after coming back to life) and both Gillan and Darvill held their ground with some execrable material. Returning guest star Mark Williams (of Red Dwarf and the criminally under-rated and unavailable Strangerers) was very nice if you ignore the fact that he is a stand-in for Bernard Cribbins. Why the program feels the need to dangle the possibility that something may actually happen after showing people die then come right back to life as if they’d just had a snooze I have no idea.

Kate Stewart

Post-modern reverse-viral marketing? The cast eat fish fingers and custard while watching TV, something fans have been doing since Smith started as the Doctor

What?? A space craft? Is this a sci-fi program?

Doctor Who ‘jumps the shark’ again?

Some reject alien from Deep Space Nine?

When in doubt, wave a magic wand at the problem. That doesn’t work? Wave it MORE.

Yay! We’re all alive again!

The most interesting moment of the episode is a reference to something we never see.

Next week: ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’

Overnight ratings from Doctor WhoTV:

1. Asylum of the Daleks – 6.4 million (overnight) 8.33 million (final figure)
2. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship – 5.5 million (overnight) 7.57 million (final figure)
3. A Town Called Mercy – 6.6 million (overnight) 8.42 million (final figure)
4. The Power of Three – 5.5 million (overnight) TBA (final figure)
5. The Angels Take Manhattan

Doctor Who and A Town Called Mercy

‘A Town Called Mercy’

Written by Toby Whitehouse
Story 7.03
Transmitted 15 September, 2012
“Frightened people.  Give me a Dalek any day.”

The Doctor arrives in the old western town of Mercy and is almost immediately thrown back out of it by the angry townsfolk. There is clearly something odd going on as the inhabitants are wary of strangers and benefiting from electric lighting and heat. When the sheriff Isaac takes the Doctor in, he reveals the reason behind the fear and the savior of the town known as Mercy, a man who fell from the stars named Kahler Jex (or the Doctor). A gunslinger from another world, his body fused with his weapon, waits for Jex on the outskirts, but refuses to take action for fear of harming an innocent. Mercy has come into to the crossfire of a conflict far outside of its understanding, and it will take the Doctor’s intervention to set things right.

Just why the Doctor is once more travelling with Amy and Rory is unclear. In the classic program, the companions were stuck with the Doctor, unable to get back home and often in a panic at the non-stop dangerous lifestyle that the Doctor led. However, the new series sees the TARDIS as a pleasure yacht used to see Ian Drury in concert or pop round to Mexico for the Day of the Dead festival. It’s all very odd and I’m sure it only strikes some viewers as peculiar… but I’m one of them.

A Town Called Mercy is the first story of the BBC Wales Doctor Who program in quite some time to actually be about something. At first sight the Doctor sees Jex as an innocent on the run from a monstrous alien cyborg looking suspiciously like a certain terminator (he even has the same grid-like vision issues). However, when the Doctor breaks into Jex’s ship he finds that the alien doctor is not the saint that he appears to be.

When he returns, the Doctor proclaims Jex for the war criminal that he is and is unsure of how to proceed. The ‘monstrous’ cyborg is just one of an army of such creatures made by Jex and those like him to fight in a war on an alien world. When the war was over, one of the cyborgs broke free from his programming and sought revenge on its creators for the crimes it had endured. Just sending Jex to his fate as the townsfolk would want seems the most obvious solution and for once the Doctor agrees.

Frustrated with a life of mercy that has led only to more death, the Doctor seems prepared to try another way, one that would spare the universe of more killings from the Master, Daleks or countless other monsters. But, as Amy points out, this reduces the Doctor to the level of his nemesis, making him no greater than the evil that he fights against. The moment when Amy Pond stops the Doctor from sacrificing Jex completely validates the quandary of  ’why is the Doctor still travelling with Rory and Amy’ that has bothered me this series, well, at least partly. Rory still has sweet FA to do.

The only real problem with A Town Called Mercy aside from its suspicious similarities to the Red Dwarf story ‘Gunmen of the Apocalypse’ is that it has more to say than the shortened 45 minute format allows. Once the Doctor accepts that he must find another non-violent solution to the problem, very little time is left in which to hatch said plan.

In the end, the solution is rather slapdash and hackneyed. Getting the townsfolk to wear a facial tattoo similar to that worn by Jex is a flawed notion since not long ago the cyborg was fooled by someone nothing like the alien wearing the same hat and coat. Clearly the gunslinger’s effectiveness is hampered by the constraints of the plot. Also, the Doctor’s plan of helping Jex escape is not a very good one at all and only postpones the problem while extending the danger to another planet. Even Jex sees the flaws in this, leading to him taking the coward’s way out.

So, if this story had a sophisticated statement to make about violence and justice cleverly shot in the same locale as many spaghetti westerns, that kind of falls flat in the juvenile resolution.

The Doctor is not the great hero here, nor is he the clever wizard that he has been portrayed as in the past. He is instead a buffoon and a danger to himself and others. What was he doing even wearing a six-shooter in the first place, never mind aiming one at another person? The Doctor’s history with pacifism is dodgy, I know, but to see him meet violence with violence and accept suicide as an end to his problem then gleefully skip off to the next adventure alludes to some dubious issues in the writer’s shed.

Additionally, is no one concerned about the corruption of the web of time caused by an alien cyborg marshal or electric lighting and heating used a good decade before its invention? I only mention it because the new series seems to be interested in that kind of thing… from time to time. Plus, why was the gunslinger wearing a hat and bandolier?  Was he trying to blend in?  Did he think the massive ray-gun arm and glowing robot eye would be obscured by contemporary dress?

To date, A Town Called Mercy could be the best of the new series. Granted, previous to this we had the Daleks looking to eliminate all love and ball-sniffing dinosaurs, but the production values, direction and cast of this one were all quite good. Guest actor Bed Browder (of Farscape fame) was quite good as Issac and award-winning actor Adrian Scarborough was superb as the alien war criminal Kahler Jex. Not a perfect episode, but one that showed promise and had at least some interest toward telling a compelling story of some importance.

Next time: ‘The Power of Three’

Overnight ratings from Doctor WhoTV:

1. Asylum of the Daleks – 6.4 million (overnight) 8.33 million (final figure)
2. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship – 5.5 million (overnight) TBA (final figure)
3. A Town Called Mercy – 6.6 million (overnight) TBA (final figure)
4. The Power of Three
5. The Angels Take Manhattan