I was reading the British Doctor Who Magazine when I learned about the amazing Doctor Who Big Finish series and could not be happier that I did. They make the perfect way to drive in LA traffic, by distracting me in an amazing audio story.

Big Finish has gone and made Audio Adventures of past Doctor Who’s, starring Peter Davison, the fifth Doctor, Collin Baker, the sixth doctor, Sylvester McCoy, the 7th Doctor, and Paul McGann, the 8th Doctor, as well as old and new companions in brand new audio adventures. And these are not like a read story, but a complete audio adventure with sound effects and many actors, and most of them are pretty amazing.

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Another of the best films of the year, with both Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth proving just how good of actors they actually are! This historical drama is fantastic, a great duel of minds, and another must see film of the year. Do not miss this one.

Prince Albert, Duke of York and son of King George V (Colin Firth) makes a speech at the 1925 Empire Exhibition, stammering his way through it. He and his wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter here in non-insane mode) have him go through stammer cures including smoking and trying to talk with his mouth full of marbles, but none work, and he vows to stop trying to cure his stammer. Elizabeth, the duchess of York goes on her own to meet with an Australian speech therapist named Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) and persuades her husband to try his radical treatments. Logue and Albert but heads right away, as Albert has quite a temper, and does not like being treated as an equal, which Lionel insists on. He calls Albert “Bertie” which only his family calls him, and makes him stop smoking. He also bets him a shilling he can make him read without a stammer. Lionel has Bertie listen to music on headphones while he reads Shakespear’s Hamlet soliloquy and records it. Bertie is convinced he stammered throughout, and Logue gives him the recording with him reading it perfectly as a memento.

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An alright update of the Robin Hood legend for modern times, that suffered a bit from being drawn out too long, and some story points that just didn’t make sense. Sure some of the characters were fun and enjoyable to watch, and the show looks great and has good music, but the Robin Hood legend works better as a finite story, since otherwise you question why they didn’t just kill off the villains (they gave a better explanation in the second series for the sheriff, but for others it got a bit ridiculous). It also suffered in having Robin and Marrion’s love story get so drawn out, and having Guy of Gisborne constantly come between them, it just made her seem cruel, and flighty. I guess the show was decent enough, but overall not too impressive.

Having been wounded as a protector of the King in the holy land in the Crusades, Robin of Lockley (Jonas Armstrong) returns with his servant and best friend Much (Sam Troughton) to Nottingham and his lands, to find everything is changed. The old sheriff has lost power to a new evil man (Keith Allen). The old sheriff’s daughter Lady Marian (Lucy Griffiths) is pissed at him because he chose to leave her for the Holy Land and war, and his hated foe Sire Guy of Gisborne (Richard Armitage) fights for her affections. Robin quickly has his lands taken from him, and becomes an outlaw, joining with other outlaws Little John (Gordon Kennedy), Will Scarlett (Harry Lloyd ) and Allan A Dale (Joe Armstrong) to fight for what is right, and to fight for their King. The Sheriff works with he kings evil brother Prince John, and wants to kill the King and take the land of England into Darkness.

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A smart and stylish BBC One television series dealing with a group of British Intelligence officers from MI-5 Dealing with with in country terrorist threats. The show really rests on the shoulders of the excellent Matthew Macfadyen (who was recently in The PILLARS OF THE EARTH) and the show is really about him and his team including Keeley Hawes who would go on to be so excellent in Ashes to Ashes. I kind of lost it with 24 because it was so ridiculous, but I quite enjoy this show, though Series 3 did fall a bit for me, as it felt like an entire series just designed to get rid of the 3 members of the original team, and slowing starting a new team led by Rupert Penry-Jones as Adam Carter. And while this did allow some more focus on Kelley Hawes and David Oyelowo, it didn’t really let the new team start to take off until the 4th series. The show is thrilling, and worth checking out, especially since the first 4 series (out of 7) is available as MI-5 on Netflix Streaming. There are some fun cameos by High Laurie as an MI-6 officer and Andy Serkis as a rocker which are fun to watch for as well.

The series starts out following Tom Quinn (Matthew Macfayden) and his team, Zoe Reynolds (Kelley Hawes) and Danny Hunter (David Oyelowo) working at the Grid in Thames House for MI-5. There boss is Sir Harry Pearce (Peter Firth)who always had their back if needed. They are later joined by intelligence analyst Ruth Evershed (Nicola Walker) who is brought in to spy on them, but they catch her and make her a permanent team member. The first season deals with not only the missions to stop terrorism, but also Tom dealing with being in love with a woman and her daughter, and having the relationship torn apart by his job, and his constantly having to lie to her.

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I had stayed away from this series because the premise of dinosaurs in modern times has already been done and sounded just so incredibly lame, but having watched it I was blown away. This is a fantastic show with great characters and really top notch special effects! This show is 100% worth checking out. Well done and well acted. The 3rd Series did jump the shark a bit though, as the main storyline got sidelined, and killed off, and the whole thing kind of switched gears, but with Abby and Connor staying in the show, I will keep watching for sure. I am looking forward to the 4th and 5th series. I love having Netflix streaming! Great to be able to see the first 3 series streamed.

Professor Nick Cutter (Douglas Henshall) works at a university and ends up investigating some strange occurrences in the woods where his wife disappeared in the woods 8 years before. His assistant is Stephen Hart (James Murray) who was also in love with Nick’s wife. Also along for the ride is a eager grad student named Connor Temple (Andrew-Lee Potts). Also in the woods is zoologist Abby Maitland (Hannah Spearritt) who finds a prehistoric flying lizard, and ends up joining the team. They learn of holes in space time continuum where creatures are coming through. The government comes in and hides this, and makes them the lead team along with Claudia Brown (Lucy Brown) from the home office and James Lester (Ben Miller) a senior Home Office Official.

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Skins was a show that my wife and I started watching streaming off Netlfix (the much inferior US release which had the music changed) and really got into the show, even if it is a much more intense version of a teenage soap opera. It was with trepidation that I learned that the 3rd series would feature a new cast going to take their A levels before going on to college. Quickly I found the characters were interesting enough to keep going with. We already knew Effy Stonem (Kaya Scodelario) and her best friend Pandora Moon (Lisa Backwell) and the rest of the cast made for an interesting show. I especially like the sweet Emily Fitch (Kathryn Prescott) and the troubled but sweet JJ Jones (Ollie Barbieri), but it soon became obvious instead of being about relationships this show was more about ruining relationships, with everyone seemingly doing everything to destroy their relationships, and that was when this was good. The Second series completely jumps the shark, adding in a serial killer, and a bunch of other nonsense that was badly written and unnecessary. When the final episode of Series 4 ended, both my wife and I were in shock that they could have so completely destroyed the show! I mean seeing James Cook doing synchronized dancing and having a major killer randomly killed by a serial killer! WTF!!!! And they weren’t even close to bringing many of the story threads to a close. It was like the show runner had a stroke and thought he still should have total control yet his brain wasn’t working correctly. That is how much of an incredible mess the 4th series of this show was.

The show starts with 3 best friends on their way to school for the first day, this is the unruly and womanizing James Cook (Jack O’Connel) the skateboarder Freddie Mclair (Luke Pasqualino) and JJ Jones (Ollie Barbieri) who has some mental problems, but is as sweet as could be. On their way to school they Elizabth “Effy” Stonem (Kaya Scodelario) on her way to school and all three fall in love with her. Effy’s best friend finds that she can’t handle just taking beauty classes, so she joins her friend Effie. Other students are the twins Katie (Megan Prescott) and Emily Fitch (Kathryn Prescott) who could not be more different. Katie always has a man and is very outgoing, while Emily is quite and is fact gay and is love with another student Naomi Campbell (Lily Loveless). Naomi though is straight, and hates that Katie is always giving her shit about trying to seduce her sister, when it fact it was the other way around. On the first day the school lays out new rules, and Effie makes a game of breaking them all basically telling Freddie and Cook that they can have her if they break all the rules. Cook quickly does, and has Effie in the school nurses office, leaving Freddie to pine for the woman he loves (and who Effie actually cares for, but is not willing to ever let her emotions get the best of her). They soon meet Thomas Tomone (Merveille Lukeba) a recent emigrant from the Congo. He is a good kid, and sweet and starts seeing Pandora, but they get in a lot of trouble first, both with a gangster and then with his mom who catches the kids all doing drugs and having sex, and sends Thomas back home for a while.

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I had heard about this show and had been wanting to watch it for some time, and finally ended up watching it on Netflix on Demand, which may have been a mistake. It would seem the US releases have had their music removed and replaced with inferior music, also the stream seems to be the wrong aspect ratio, so this may make the show not as enjoyable to watch as it could be (I wish I had just ordered the PAL dvd’s from England). Still even with all the problems I greatly enjoyed this show and it’s characters, and especially the first season finale. Sure this is a teen drama, but there is so much more here than they would ever allow in the states, I mean nudity, sex, and lots of drug use throughout. And really it all comes down to the characters, and I liked the characters, or at least liked watching them, as you of course do not like them all. The standout is Mike Bailey as Sid Jenkins, whose character really is the heart of the show, but he sure did deserve a less crazy girl! And it interesting that the writing team has an average of 21, because this does seem pretty realistic, if a bit too much for one group (much like Platoon was dramatized as not all of that would have happened to one group of people). I found it quite interesting to see just how different that the British school system is, as we have nothing like these 2 preparatory college years that are the last years of mandatory education. An interesting and enjoyable show, and I look forward to seeing Seasons 3 and 4 with an almost entirely new cast (Effy Stonem played by Kaya Scodelario is the younger sister of one of the main characters of the first 2 seasons and appears multiple times in these seasons before going on to Season 2 and 3). I would say worth checking out, but the music issue does make it not as enjoyable as it would have been, so only if you a fan of British television.

This is the story of a group of friends in college preparatory classes for their last 2 years of mandatory schooling and their good and bad and love and hate, and all the partying in between. We have Tony Stonem (Nicholas Hoult, the boy from About a Boy who has sure sprouted) who is tall and handsome and quite manipulative of all of his friends. His girlfriend is Michelle Richardson (April Pearson) who he calls Nips and always disparages, though she is a sweet girl who loves him. Tony’s best friend is Sid Jenkins (Mike Bailey) who not only is not good in school, but looks down on himself and still a virgin, especially because he is in love with Michelle, and everyone knows it. They try and hook Sid up with the crazy Cassie Ainsworth (Hannie Murray) who is often put away because of an eating disorder. Then we have the party animal Chris Miles (Joe Dempsie) who will take any drug at any time, and is hiding from the death of his brother at a young age. Chris pursues and eventually gets the groups psychology teacher Angie (Siwan Morris). The Muslim of the group is Anwar Kharral (Dev Patel) who follows his religion in some ways, but still does drugs, and is always trying to have sex. His best friend is the openly gay Maxxie Oliver (Mitch Hewer) who wants to not do construction like his dad, and instead wants to be a dancer. Finally we have Jal Fazer (Larissa Wilson) a talented clarinet player whose dad is in music, and whose mother left for reasons unknown.

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The British Television series created by Channel 4 based on the Julie Burchill novel about the a 15 year old lesbian and her love for best friend in a ocean front resort town is a really fun show with great characters. It is a really fun show and it is a shame that the show didn’t get the 3rd series it so deserved. The characters are so much fun to watch that you really want more. Well worth checking out. This half hour series is quite a lot of fun.

Kim Daniels (Olivia Hallinan) is a 15 year old girl whose parents have just moved to a small resort town on the coast of England. Kim is an in the closet lesbian who is in love with her lascivious best friend Maria “Sugar” Sweet (Lenora Crichlow). Sugar loves men, and always is stringing along one boyfriend or another, and driving Kim absolutely crazy. Kim’s parents are having issues too. Stella (Sara Stewart) is not too happy, and has an affair with the handiman, while Nathan (Richard Lumsden) doesn’t even notice. And their son Matt (Kurtis O’Brien) is the strangest of the bunch, killing his animals, going goth, dressing as a girl and sleeping in a coffin. Kim has a good life, but is completely sexually frustrated, and would do anything to be with Sugar.

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I had been wanting to see this tale of a fictitious pirate radio station playing rock and roll to England in 1966 since I saw the trailer and the amazing cast. And it was an enjoyable movie, though not amazing. Everyone was cast perfectly and they were great in it, but it felt a little lacking, but was still done incredibly well. Well directed and edited, just needed a little more meat on it’s bones, though still worth seeing for sure. Still depressing that England got to see a longer version of the film entitled the Boat that Rocked which did not do too well, so was cut down and changed for the US release. I would actually like to see the full version of the film, though the US release, just has the extra scenes as deleted scenes (which I did not know, and returned the Netflix blu-ray disc).

In England in 1966 the BBC only plays an hour of Rock and Roll a day, so Pirate Radio stations have popped up on ships in international waters, but still survived on local advertising. To this particular ship young Carl (Tom Sturridge) is sent to make something of himself, and stay with the ship’s Captain, and his godfather Quentin (the great Bill Nighy). On the ship is a ship is a whole crew of malcontents, led by the king of their little radio empire, the Count (Philip Syemour Hoffman) from America. Then their is Dr. Dave (Nick Frost) who takes a liking to Carl, and then there is Simon Swafford (Chris O’Dowd) and Angus (Rhys Darby from flight of the Concords). Rounding out the crew is Car’s idiotic roommate “Thick” Kevin, the only woman allowed to stay on board, the lesbian cook Felicity (Katherine Parkinson) and the radio assistant Harold (Ike Hamilton). Much chaos and adventures ensue.

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Of course I had to rent this from Netflix because it has Robert Pattinson in it, and my wife is a fan, not only from Harry Potter, but also from Twilight. Of course also love the artwork of Dáli, and the films of his that I have seen, so seeing a story based on his younger years does have some appeal, and this film does it well. It is about the homosexual love between Dáli and the writer Federico García Loca, and also their friendship with the filmmaker Luis Bunuel. This sad film is very well directed and acted, though the use of documentary footage at times served to pull me out, instead of into the film (even if it was supposed to be indicative of Bunuel’s work, it really did not work for me). Still the actors all do excellent jobs, and the film is gorgeously shot, and well worth checking out. Pattinson really proves there is more to him, then just playing Edward Cullen, though I am sure many Twihards will not want to see him playing a strange bisexual character.

In 1922 the 18 year old Salvador Dáli (Robert Pattinson) came to university in Madrid. The strange introverted painter, was taken into a group of friend’s by the gregarious filmmaker Luis Bunuel (Matthew McNulty) where he meets the writer Federico García Loca (Javier Beltran). They become fast friends in a group of collegiate modernists. Luis dreams of going to Paris and being something in the world, while Federico hopes to change Spain and make it a better place. Federico is pursued by the writer Magdalena (Marina Gatell), but he never succumbs, and he and Salvador become fast friends. Salvador and Federico spend the summer together at Salvador’s families home.

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I had actually wanted to see this when it came out, because of the cast and trailer, but never got around to it. At least when I finally saw it, I TIVO’ed it in HD, and it looked great. A really enjoyable film about 2 hit men being sent out to lay low after a hit gone badly. This is very dark film with fantastic characters, and a story that really sucks you in, and has you hoping that the ending that you know will happen, does not. Really worth seeing, and I am sure McDonagh will going on to great things, especially if he keeps making films this good.

Hitmen Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) arrive in the “fairy tale” town of Bruges in Belgium, waiting for word from their employer Harry Waters (Ralph Fiennes). Something went badly with a hit of Ray’s, and they have to lay low, so Harry has sent them to Bruges. Ken is happy about it, as he wants to see the medieval town, but this is not the town for Ray at all. Ray hates Bruges with a passion. It is not at all where he wants to be, and he can’t stop complaining about it. We eventually learn that Ray was sent to kill a Priest ( Ciarán Hinds), which he did, but accidentally killed a child (Theo Stevenson) who was in the church praying, and Ray is wracked with guilt about it. All he wants to do is go out and get hammered and drunk, and try and forget, but their orders are to be in at night, to wait for Harry’s call. Ken feels for Ray, and they do end up going and seeing a film being shot in town. The film has an American midget named Jimmy (Jordan Prentice) who Ray is fascinsated with. And he he sneaks onto the set to talk to the beautiful Chloë (Clémence Poésy) who turns out to be a local drug dealer, who agrees to go on a date with him the next night. Of course because they were out they missed Harry’s call and he is none too happy about it.

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This excellent, Academy Award nominated British Film was one of the screeners my wife received this year, and I am so glad she did. With getting married and buying a house, funds can be a bit tight, so we did not see as many movies as we used to see, and might have missed that one, and that would have been a real shame, because this is really one of the best films of the year. The film stars Carey Mulligan who I remember from the excellent recent Doctor Who Episode BLINK and the always great Peter Sarsgaard, and a stellar supporting cast, and they all bring something special to this film. This is a powerful coming of age story in 1961, where a young girl learns many harsh truths of the world that she lives in, and though it is hard, manages to come out stronger. It is beautifuly done, and we really get to see this girl get hers eyes opened. Really once of the best films of the year, and an absolute must see.

Jenny Mellor (Carey Mulligan) is a bright and intelligent high school girl, with big plans for her life, which all may soon change. On the way home in the rain from a chior practice, where she plays cello, she gets a ride from a charming older man named David Goldman (Peter Sarsgaard). The two strike up a friendship, and quickly a relationship. David manages to charm her parents Jack (the always amazing Alfred Molina) and Marjorie (Cara Seymour), and Jenny starts to date David. Jenny quickly meets David’s friends, Danny (Dominic Cooper) and his cute but dumb as a post girlfriend Helen (Rosamund Pike), and they all start having a wonderful time, but David’s world is not all good, because he is an amazing liar, and not everything he does seems to be on the up and up.

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This Sherlock Holmes reboot was a strange choice for a Christmas Day release, because it is nothing more than a summer blockbuster. A pretty fun one, but not amazing, and certainly not worthy of it’s Oscar release date. Still having Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes as perfect, and Jude Law as Watson is also spectacular, though some of the other casting, like Rachel MacAdams could certainly have been better. I was impressed by Guy Ritchie though, as it seems he has grown up. Now I love his stylish previous films, but did not think it would fit here, and it seems neither did he, because this is a well done film without his signature style, and it does work, but it is the writing and a big coincidence in the end that just should not have happened in a film about a character so obsessed with logic that serves to bring this down to a lot less than this could have been. It is fun, but nothing you will ever think about going to see a second time.

London, 1891, Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) on his last mission with his friend and associate Watson (Jude Law) run into a ritual for a human sacrifice, where Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) is about to kill a young girl. The pair manage to stop the ceremony, and arrest Blackwood, though someone does escape. Inspector Lestrade (Eddie Marsan) comes in and takes possession of Blackwood, and he is set to be hung in 3 months time. In that time Holmes becomes a hermit in his room, never leaving or doing much useful, while Watson prepares to move out to his new place, where he plans on living with Mary Morstan (Kelly Reilly) whom he intends to wed. Blackwood requests that Holmes comes before his execution. Holmes finds everyone scared of Blackwood, who has supposedly made a guard sick, and has covered his cell with occult symbols. Blackwood promises there will be 3 more deaths after his execution, and that it will change the world, and outfox Holmes. Watson is there at the hanging and declares Blackwood dead. Holmes has a visitor in the form of Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) the one person who has managed to outwit him, and the love of his life, though she is a thief. She wants him to find a red haired midget for her. Holmes follows her, disguising himself as a beggar, and seeing a man hidden in her coach with a gun in his sleeve. A few days after Blackwood’s execution, Holmes gets a call from Lestrade that Blackwood has rissen from the grave, and broken out from the inside. Holmes takes Watson, as it his reputation as a doctor on the line, and they go to investigate. The game is afoot.

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Another of the missing series, and only the 3rd episode has been recovered, and is only available on CD, and it is a real shame since Troughton got to play 2 roles here, the Doctor, and the evil Salamander and it would be a joy to get see these dual roles in action and not just hear them. An enjoyable series with a good storyline. A real shame it doesn’t exist to watch in full, though it is great to be able to see one episode.

The Doctor (Patrick Troughton) along with his companions Jamie [James Robert McCrimmon (Frazer Hines)] and Victoria [Waterfield (Victoria Waterfield)] arrive and start running around a beach when there is an assassination attempt on the Doctor. They are rescued via helicopter by Astrid Ferrier (Mary Peach) who takes them to their boss Giles Kent (Bill Kerr). Giles is against a man named Salamander who is a physical double of the Doctor. Salamander rules the United Zones Organization which controls the Earth. Salamander used technology to use the sun to increase crop production and has been ruthless in his use of power, killing off anyone who gets in his way. Kent used to be a deputy leader in North Africa and Europe, but when he crossed Salamander he was destroyed. Kent convinces the Doctor to impersonate Salamander to get information so they can try and take down this evil man.

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As you know if you read this, I love Tom Baker’s Doctor, but I am glad that the Deadly Assassin Came out on the same day, because that is an amazing story, and this one was pretty much a stinker. Sure it has my favorite Doctor, and Leela (Louise Jameson) who is such a great contrast to him, but the story itself is not too good, and overall not too well done. Just a throw away series in my opinion. Only for the die hards.

A research center in Fetch Borough England is being run by the eccentric millionaire scientist Dr. Fendelman (Denis Lill) along with technical Thea Ransome (Wanda Ventham) and paleontologists Adam Colby (Edward Arthur) and his colleague Maximiliam Steal (Scott Fredericks). They are studying a strange crystal skull that was buried under a volcano 12 million years ago, or 8 million years older than man. Fendelmen activates a scanner on the skull, which causes many strange things. First the skull starts to glow. Then a man hiking though the nearby woods freezes and is taken by some force. And finally Thea seems to be taken over by some power in the skull. The Tardis feels the effects as well, being tossed around by a hole in time made by the scanner, so he and Leela decide to investigate. Leela is quite ferral here, almost killing the man they run into, but he does lead them to the Fetch Priory where the scientists are ensconced. Colby finds the corpse of the hiker, which has been completely drained of life, and wants to call the police, but is overruled by Fendelman, who also calls in his own security, led by David Mitchell (Derek Martin) making the scientists his prisoners. Stael does a post mortem on the corpse, and finds a strange mark on the back of the neck, and that the body is decomposing rapidly, and Fendelman has him hide it. Thea once again activates the skull, and seems to merge with it. The Doctor is almost attacked by the same creature that got the hiker, but manages to get away, and it attacks the Prior killing Mitchell, and it only stops when Colby shuts down the scanner.

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You never forget your first Doctor, and Tom Baker was my first, so I will always remember him, and amazing episodes like this are part of the reason why. Not only does he shine here, but this Manchurian Candidate-esque tale of intrigue on Gallifrey is one of the best Doctor Who stories all the way around, and I finally know what happened to him after he left Sarah Jane Smith on Earth to return to Gallifrey. Honestly I would have loved a few more stories sans companion of they were going to be this darn good! If you read my blog you also know I love episodes about Gallifrey, and while this is not the first, it really did set what the Timelord Homeworld was like for years to come, the look, the feel, and all the intrigue. We finally see that the other Timelords are not these benevolent watchers of time, but are petty and power hungry, and very very human. This series also features about an entire episode fought in a “virtual” computer world, which is action packed, and fun as can be. This really is one of my all-time favorite episodes!

The Doctor (the great Tom Baker) is on his way to Gallifrey after being summoned, and leaving Sarah Jane Smith behind. On the why he has a vision of the future, a vision of the President of the Timelords (Llewellyn Rees) being murdered, and he knows he must do all he can to stop it. As soon as the Doctor’s TARDIS arrives on Gallifrey it is pegged as an old illegal TARDIS type 40 which should be out of service, so soldiers, led by Commander Hildred (Derek Seaton) are sent to arrest it’s pilot. The Doctor realizes something is wrong, and hides. The Castellan Spandrell (George Pravda) is informed of the events. The Doctor runs for a service elevator, and is confronted by a guard, but a cloaked figure kills the guard, and is off before the Doctor can do anything. He realizes he has been set up, but he has to try and save the President. The Doctor sends the lift on it’s way, but sneaks off another way, so that Hildred will search the wrong building. We see the cloaked figure, who is the Master (Peter Pratt) who is watching, and of course has set up the Doctor.

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If you haven’t noticed, I am on a huge Doctor Who kick of late (was even the 4th Doctor for last Halloween, and my license plate on my blue prius is TARDIIS), and I had heard so much of this infamous attempt to bring Doctor Who to America that I really wanted to see it, even if it was as bad as it sounded. Well I finally did manage to track it down and check it out, and it is really, really bad (and even worse is considered canon), which is too bad, because it has 3 thing going for it. First the first 20 minutes features the 7th Doctor Sylvester McCoy who does a great job here. Second is the production design of McCoy’s Tardis which looks like something out of HG Wells, and looks all the better for it too. Third is in fact the eight doctor, here in his only on screen appearance (now in his popular 3rd season on the excellent Big Finish Audio Adventures) is Paul McGann who makes an excellent Doctor, even with the terrible script and horrific acting of the rest of the cast. He could have gone far, if only this had been done in England with producers and writers who really love Doctor Who instead of trying to make him a cheesy 1980′s American Action hero (and what is up with him supposedly being half human? WTF?!?!??!?). With how good the 3 things are, it takes a lot to take this down, but down it goes, down in flames! This to me is the worst Doctor Who adventure ever, and this chance to revitalize the show (which had run from 1963-1989) killed it until the 2005 revival of Doctor Who. Honestly only really serious Doctor Who fans should even try to see this, because it is after all considered Canon, but it just is is so bad, that it really hurts the whole Canon, and it is not like Doctor Who was not previously cheesy!

The film stars with the most epic version of the Doctor Who theme yet, and we learn that the Doctor’s most notorious nemesis The Master has been exterminated on Skaro (homeworld of the Daleks) for his crimes (Huh? Why would the Dalek’s do something for the Timelords their mortal enemies?!?!??!) and the current Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) was sent to pick up the remains and return with them to the homeworld of the Timelords, Gallifrey, but the remains escape, and cause the TARDIS to make an emergency landing on Earth in the 21st Century, San Franscisco’s Chinatown to be exact. There a Chinese boy named Chang Lee (Yee Jee Tso) is being chased by a Triad, and the Doctor is shot as he exits the TARDIS, with Lee safe behind it the materialized time machine. Lee takes the Doctor to the hospital, where he is quickly brought into surgery. They find the Doctor has 2 hearts, and call in surgeon Dr. Grace Halloway (Daphne Ashbrook). She thinks the x-ray is a double exposure and starts surgery. She inserts a cardiac probe, and the Doctor awakens, and tries to stop her, and tells her he needs a beryllium atomic clock (to fix his TARDIS) then passes out again, and dies of cardiac arrest (and the drugs she gave him supposedly slow the regeneration process, so it does not happen immediately, and also cause the 8th Doctor to have some memory loss, and possibly be half human, which seems completely ridiculous, but so is most of this story). So he is placed in the morgue. Lee quickly sneaks out with the Doctor’s possessions including the TARDIS key. The remains of the master take over the Ambulance driver, Bruce (Eric Roberts) possessing him. He kills his wife, and heads out to find the Doctor’s body, which he wants to use as his own, as he out of regenerations (having passed his 13th incarnation). That night in the morgue, the Doctor regenerates (into Paul McGann), taking a Wyatt Earp costume from someone’s locker for a New Years eve party, and heads out to find Grace, and convince her he is the same man as the one she operated on, to get her help, as his memory is foggy.

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Another adventure of the missing series with only the second of six episodes not missing, which reveals a recurring enemy the Yeti, and also Professor Travers (Jack Watling, Deborah Watling’s father!). I love the control spheres, the Yeti are not the most impressive looking enemy I have seen, this one could possibly have been improved by being audio only with the excellent narration by Frazer Hines.

Professor Travers (Jack Watling) in Tibet is awoken from his sleep, and sees a huge Yeti over the body of his friend an destroys his gun. Travers runs. The TARDIS arrives. The Doctor (Patrick Troughton) is overjoyed where they are and he begins to search for something that will get them quite a welcome when they go to the Detsen Monastery and gives it to them, this is the Ghanta a relic from the temple he got at 300 years ago.

The Doctor goes to investigate in a fur cloak, leaving Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines) and Deborah Watling (Victoria Waterfield) find the Ghanta and Jamie also finds a sword, which he decides to keep. The Doctor heads to the monastery on his to his own and finds Traver’s camp and the dead body and he takes the crushed gun and backpack.

Victoria gets bored and she and Jamie go out and decide to look on their own, and they find huge animal prints, which they follow.

The Doctor gets to the monastery, but finds his way barred by armed monks. Travers blames the Doctor for killing his friend, and the monks listen to him and lock up the Doctor, especially the head of the warrior monks Khrisong (Norman Jones).

Jamie and Victoria enter a cave and get trapped by a huge creature behind a boulder.

The Doctor looks out the window, but as Travers tells him it is a 100 foot drop and accuses the Doctor of being a journalist who is trying to sabotage him and his work about the Yeti. The Doctor knows the Yeti are in fact timid, so they can’t be attacking, and neither could he.

The monks are talking about the fate of the Doctor who they believe to be a murderer, and Khrisong believes Travers that the Doctor is a murderer even if the other monks don’t quite believe. And the fact that the Yeti are attacking make it worse, so he has the Doctor tied to the front gate of the keep.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

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The earliest serial of the Patrick Troughton era of Doctor Who that exists in it’s entirety, this is a classic series, with a great villain. And the joy is to really see Troughton shine as his zany space hobo version of the Doctor. This is a must see, and might help to convert some more Tom Bakers fans over to the greatness of Troughton who has become my favorite doctor.

An archeological expedition on the planet Telos finds a hidden entrance into a mountain. The TARDIS lands nearby and the Doctor (Patrick Troughton), Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines) and Victoria Waterfield (Deborah Watling) join them. The leader of the expedition Professor Parry (Aubrey Richards) are here to find the remains of the Cybermen who died out centuries before on best of Kaftan (Shirley Cooklin). Kaftan is accompanied by his servant Toberman (Roy Stewart) and Eric Kleig (George Pastell). They enter the chamber, finding a control panel and a large sealed door. The Doctor finds some hidden passageways, but does not manage to open the door, while Toberman sneaks off. Victoria along with Kaftan and Parry find a room with a huge sarcophagus, which Victoria climbs into. Meanwhile the Doctor and Klieg argue about not turning on the controls, but the Doctor gives Klieg the hint he needs to activate the machines, which restores power and locks Victoria in the sarcophagus.

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The Daleks are always a classic enemy of the Doctor, and this one introduces Deborah Watling as a companion, and starts right where the last adventure left off. Another of the missing episodes and a shame too, because it would be so much fun to see the Doctor Manipulating Jamie as he does in this one. Interesting to see the Doctor so manipulative towards Jamie too. He is trying to save them, but still he really puts Jamie through the ringer here, and we get to see just how great Jamie truly is, and how truly good.

The Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines) in London’s Gatwick Airport watch as the TARDIS is loaded on a truck and driven off. They give chase and end up at the antique shop of Edward Waterfield (John Bailey) who sells victorian antiques that seem brand new. In a back room we see that Waterfield is being forced by the Daleks, who kill Kennedy (Griffith Davies) who stole the TARDIS for Waterfield. When the Doctor and Jamie go to investigate, they are knocked out, and dragged into a time machine, and wake up in 1866 in the manor of Theodore Maxtible (Marius Goring), Waterfield’s partner. They had been working on a time machine using mirrors and static electricity, when the Daleks arrived through the machine, and took over, taking Waterfield’s beautiful daughter Victoria (Deborah Watling) as a hostage, so that Waterfield would lure the Doctor here. Maxtible meanwhile seems to be going along with the Dalek’s for his own reasons. The Daleks threaten to destroy the TARDIS unless the Doctor will help them in their experiments to isolate the “Human Factor” that allows humans to constantly defeat the Daleks. They want to the Doctor to implant his Human Factor into 3 Daleks and create a new Dalek Super Race. They force the Doctor to put Jamie through a series of test in an effort to rescue Victoria.

REVIEW CONTAIN SPOILERS…

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I do love the 3rd Doctor, and I love how Science fiction his episodes were. There were so many elements of space, like this one, which takes place on Earth, but still has that science fiction side to it, that helps make it so fun (along with such a great doctor, and my favorite companion). This is another of the lost series, so I listened to to it with narration by Frazer Hines, and two episodes are available on the Lost in Time Patrick Troughton DVD.

The TARDIS lands right on the runway at Gatwick Airport in England, and the Doctor (Patrick Troughton), Ben Jackson (Michael Craze), Poly (Anneke Wills) and Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines) all split up and run to avoid arrest, and the TARDIS is taken away by the authorities. Polly ends up the building of Chameleon tours, where she sees a man killed by Spencer (Victor Winding) with a futuristic gun. Spencer reports to his superior, Captain Blade (Donald Pickering) while Polly escapes, and finds the Doctor and Jamie. The trio come and find the body, but are seen by Blade. They go to warn the authorities, but Polly is taken by Blade. The Airport Commandant (Colin Gordon) does not want to believe the doctor, but goes with him and Jamie to Chamelon Tours, to see if there is any truth to the story, but the find no body, nor do they find Polly. After they leave, Spencer opens a crate and brings out a faceless humanoid creature, and the hospital nurse Pinto (Madalena Nicol) comes in with an unconscious air traffic control named Meadows (George Selway) and connects it to the creature, making the creature look like Meadows, and storing his body. The new Meadows returns to Air Traffic control. The Doctor and Jamie see Polly emerge from one of the planes, but the denies knowing them, and says she her name is Michelle and she is from Zurich.

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Another of the missing episodes, and very enjoyable as an audio adventure, though I am sure the Macra might not have been quite so terrifying as realized visually, but I still greatly enjoyed it, and would love to see these episodes in full. A disturbing look at a subverted society. I really love just how often the 3rd Doctor was out in space, or on a science fiction adventure instead of just being on Earth. I hope they do more of that with the 11th Doctor! Good fun, and so much fun listening to an episode each way on my way to work. I love that the Macra returned in Gridlock with the 10th Doctor as well. Very cool. This is narrated by Collin Baker strangely, but it is an enjoyable narration.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor (Patrick Troughton), Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer HInes), Polly (Anneke Wills) and Ben Jackson (Michael Craze) have just seen a giant claw on the scanner, and they arrive on an Earth Colony in the far future. They exit the TARDIS and run into Medok (Terence Lodge) a Colonist that has escaped from their medical facility, and when Ola (Gertan Klauber) the colony chief of police arrives, they hand the much chagrined Medok over to him, and they too are taken to the Colony. The people here are too happy, with strange songs playing extolling the joys of work, and obeying the Colony Controller (Denis Goacher) and the Colony Pilot (Peter Jeffrey) who gets his orders from the Controller and runs the Colony. Medok is taken to the medical section and locked up because he claims the Colony is infested by giant creatures with huge claws, like what the travellers saw on the TARDIS screen, called the Macra.

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A partially missing series, this Doctor Who story is missing the first and third episodes, but at least we get to see some of it (though I would have loved to have seen more of them in spacesuits in the moon). This is available in the Patrick Troughton Lost in Time DVD, though unlike the audio DVD’s the 2 episodes do not have narration like the BBC Radio Collection, so they are quite a bit harder to know exactly what is going on. A best case would be the creation of hybrid with both versions, and adding in the missing stills on the narrated version. This is an enjoyable adventure with fighting the arch enemies the Cybermen, though it is obvious that Jamie was thought to have left the show by now, because he spends most of the series unconscious babbling about some Scottish Demon that was going to attack him, which is in fact a Cyberman, though Hines does narrate the CD version.

The Doctor (the great Patrick Troughton) manages to land the TARDIS, this time on Earth’s moon in the year 2070. He with his companions Polly (Anneke Wills), Ben Jackson (Michael Craze) and his new companion the Scotish HIghlander Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines) head out in spacesuits to play on the moon surface. Jamie though is hurt in the low gravity. They band finds a Moonbase, which they head towards. The base is run by Hobson (Patrick Barr) who runs the Earth Weather Controller from the moon surface with a large machine called the Gravitron. The moonbase is having trouble with people collapsing into comas with some strange infection going though their whole bodies, and showing up as spider web like veins, making the base quarantined. The Travelers arrive in this mess, and the Doctor tries to see what he can do, putting Jamie into the sickbay, and trying to learn if he can help these people cure whatever it is that ails them.

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Another of the missing episodes, again listened on CD with narration by Anneke Wills, and this one also includes some interviews showing some great insight into the shooting, and being on set with Troughton. It has such nuggets as him never remembering his lines, but being so good at bullshitting, that he got away with it. And all of them terrorizing first time director Julia Smith. It also talks about the low quality of the sets, which she thinks detracted from the story, but which is missing from this silly (the Villain is way too over the top) but fun Doctor Who Adventure. This one I got for a very reasonable price from Audible. Sure you can’t lend it to anyone, but it is much cheaper than the out of print CD’s.

The TARDIS lands on a deserted beach of a volcanic island. The Doctor (The late great Patrick Troughton) looks at Tidal pools, while Jamie (Frazer Hines), Ben (Michael Craze) and Polly (Anneke Wills) explore the volcano. Polly goes into a cave seeing a strange object, but it is a reproduction, making her realize it is the 1960′s, just after her time, but then she is grabbed. Ben and Jamie come to get her, and they too are grabbed, and so is the Doctor, and they are tied up and sent down an elevator shaft going deep under the volcano. They are given food, which the Doctor eats, and realizes it is the seaweed of the supposedly late Professor Zaroff (Jospeh Furst), and then they are led to be sacrificed to sharks, but the Doctor gives a servant girl named Ara (Catheine Howe) a message to give to Zaroff. Zaroff is intrigued, and frees the Doctor and agrees to free his friends as well, angering the high priest Lolem (Peter Stephens). Zaroff likes that the Doctor lied to him, and brings him onto his scientific staff, as he plans to raise the Atlantis to the surface. Jamie and Ben are sent to work in the mines, but Polly is taken by a scientist named Damon (Colin Jeavons) to have surgery to be turned into the underwater farming (as Zarof’s food cannot be preserved and only lasts a day) as Fish People.

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The first appearance of my favorite Doctor Who companion, the great Jamie McCrimmon, the Scottish Highlander played by Frazer Hines is another missing episode, but at least I got to hear this enjoyable adventure. Troughton’s Doctor is really coming into his own here, and Anneke Wills has a lot of fun as Polly. This is another enjoyable adventure, and a must for any fans of Jamie McCrimmon.

The Tardis lands in Scotland in the 1700′s just at the end of the Battle of Culloden with the Briitsh forces having defeated the Highlander army under Prince Charles. The British forces are moving in to kill any survivors and steal anything they can steal to make some money. The Doctor (Patrick Troughton) finds the hat of the Prince, but discards it when he reads it’s shield, causing loyal highlanders to capture him, along with Polly (Anneke Wills) and Ben (Michael Craze). They are taken to a broken down cottage where Laird Colin McLaren (Donald Bissett) is resting having been wounded badly. He is attended by his daughter Kirsty (Hannah Gordon) his son Alexander (William Dysart) and his young piper, Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines). Ben accidentally sets off a gun, sending a patrol towards them, and Alexander goes off and dies trying to lead them off and is killed in the process. They are found by Lt. Algernon Finch (Michael Elwyn) and his hard as nails Sergeant (Peter Welch). Polly and Kirsty manage to slip away, and the Lt. goes after them with a few men, leaving the sergeant behind, and he decides to hang the rest.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

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