For any of you who read this blog, you probably know I am a huge Doctor Who fan, and of late have grown to love Patrick Troughton’s second Doctor as my second favorite (after my first Doctor, the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker), and having exhausted all the available videos of the second Doctor, have delved into his missing episodes. For those of you who don’t know the story, in the early 1970′s the BBC in it’s infinite wisdom decided to destroy much of it’s archive to save space, and many episodes of the first, second and third Doctor were destroyed, with the second doctor taking the brunt of the damage (all of the 3rd’s exist, though some are no longer in color) and only clips exist of many, and only stills of others, but all the audio has been preserved, mostly through the recordings of fans at the times. The BBC has taken these audio recordings of missing episodes, and gotten one of the companions to come in and record the narration, so you can tell what is going on in between dialogue, in this case they got Anneke Wills who played the companion Polly. These are in fact really successful, and even in some cases serve to enhance the story if the sets were not quite up to snuff (though of course we would all love to have the missing episodes instead). This is the first appearance of the Second Doctor, and a rip roaring Dalek adventure, that is a must listen for any Doctor Who fans out there! I love the quirkiness of the second Doctor, which is so different than William Hartnells doctor, and has been describes as a kind of Cosmic Hobo, which I think is pretty fitting.

The first Doctor (William Hartnell) having fallen to the ground after being radiation poisoned regenerates into the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton). Polly (Anneke Wills) seems to accept this strange, recorder obsessed man as the Doctor, but Ben Jackson (Michael Craze) is not quite so accepting. The TARDIS ends up landing on the planet Vulcan in a strange swamp, and they go out to investigate, where they watch an Earth Examiner get murdered. The Doctor takes the man’s identification and badge, and then head toward the human colony on the planet, where the Doctor poses as the Examiner to gain access. They are found by Bragen (Bernard Archard) and his security team and brought to the colony. There is currently a rebellion going on at the colony, though the Governor does not think it significant, though the good Deputy Governor Quinn (Nicholas Hawtrey) does, but Bragen is out to get him and has him locked up. The Doctor meets the scientist Lesterson (Tobert James) and his assistant the lovely Janley (Pamela Ann Davy) who are experimenting on a capsule that crashed before the colony was established. The Doctor uses a strange piece of metal he got out of his trunk on the Tardis, and opens it revealing 2 Daleks, and the place of a third, but the third is missing, though he and his companions do see a strange creature scurry away. The Doctors attempts to convince Lesterson and the Governor to destroy the Daleks, but the Governor overrules him, and orders Lesterson to try and revive them, without knowing how dangerous they are!

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

(more…)

Patrick Troughton has quickly moved his way up to my second favorite doctor of late, and this amazing adventure, and was instantly recognizable as the inspiration for the 2 10th Doctor David Tennat adventures, RISE OF THE CYBERMEN and THE AGE OF STEEL, though I must say the original is far superior. This is one of the series that was partially lost when the BBC decided it would be a good idea to trash all their old tapes and film, but luckily 6 out of the amazing 8 episode arc were recovered and here is the cool part, and something I wish the BBC would do with all the missing episodes which is to animated the two missing episodes! It looks great, and gives you a continuous story. I have been listening to the Troughton episodes on the BBC radio CD’s, which were mostly recovered from audio recordings from fans, with added narration by one of the supporting actors, and they are amazing, but don’t give the same feel as getting to see full episodes with others animated. Here’s to hoping that the BBC continues this process and does more animated episodes like these!

This an excellent, well directed, and enjoyable story, which is EPIC, and world changing, introducing UNIT (the United Nations Intelligence Unit) and also making the second appearance of Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart (Nicholas Courtney), though only his first as an actual Brigadier. The invasion of london is dark, and thrilling and one of the favorite episodes of Doctor Who of all time, so it is a must see.

The Tardis goes by the Moon, and is shot at by a missile, so it makes an emergency landing on Earth, but the visual stabilizer has been damaged leaving it invisible, and the Doctor (Patrick Troughton) decides to go and get some help to repair it. The Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines) and Zoe Heriot (Wendy Padbury) head out to find Professor Travers (who they know from The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear) to get his help, but things don’t seem all right in London, and they must sneak out of the area where they are with the help of a young man who smuggled them in a truck. They are escaping from the land of a company called International Electromatics. They Tardis crew manages to make it out, and they head to find that Travers has left for America, and now his house had been taken over by Professor Watkins (Edward Burnham) who is working at IE, and his model/photographer niece, the lovely Isobel Watkins (Sally Faulkner). Isobel tells them she has been trying to find her Uncle for weeks, and can’t get ahold of him, or even anyone human at IE. The Doctor and Jamie head to IE to find Watkins who might be able to help them, and Zoe stays with Isobel to act as her model and actually do something girly. Jamie and the Doctor head into IE, and can’t get past the computer receptionist, and when they try to get in another way, the pair is gassed, and brought to the Managing Director, the evil Tobias Vaughn (Kevin Stoney).

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS...

(more…)

The third series was a one week event airing in England in Early July, 2009, and in the US at the end of the month (though not in HD, though it was supposed to be the inauguration of BBC America HD, it seems no carriers have picked it up as of yet, come on Verizon, FIOS NEEDS IT!), picking up with the sad events of Series 3 left off, and showing even worse events. A show that can go places that the much lighter Doctor Who could never go, and showing us parts of Captain Jack Harkness we never thought we would see. In fact, this could easily be the end of Torchwood, at least as we know it. This series is dark, and amazing, and I am looking forward to watching it again on blu-ray soon! This show has gotten better and better, and it is so good to see back story, and family to some of our characters, even if in such dire circumstances. This is a must see for all Doctor Who and Torchwood fans, and people who have not seen Torchwood should star watching it, because this has been one of the best shows on TV. It is really cool to have a show with the leader be so openly bi-sexual, and yet such a bad ass, they would never try that in the US.

Only 3 people are left in Torchwood after the events of last season, the leader Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) his lover Ianto (Gareth David-Lloyd) and of course Gwen (Eve Myles). Suddenly, around the world, all the children stop at once, and start chanting about something coming, causing world wide panic, and Torchwood to investigate. And when it stops, they realize they need children to figure out what is going on. Meanwhile Gwen goes to investigate a man in a mental hospital who also is affected like the children. This turns out to be a man named Clement McDonald (Paul Copley) who smells that Gwen is 3 weeks pregnant, and had escaped an alien abduction in Scotland in 1965. Jack goes to his daughter Alice’s (Luxy Cohu) who pretends he is her brother so her son STeven (Bear McCausland) won’t be too confused, and refuses Jack access to the boy, while Ianto goes to his sister Rhiannon (Katy Wiz) who won’t let him take his niece. The Prime Minster Brian Green (Nicholas Farrell) does not want responsibility, because it seems that all has to do with some event in 1965 sanctioned by the British Government, where orphans were given to an alien race known as the 465 after the channel they communicate on. The buck is passed to the senior Home Office Civil Servant, John Frobisher (Peter Capaldi) who has his secretary call up Agent Johnson (Liz May Brice) to kill Jack Harkness as well as others. A doctor named Rupesh Patanjali (Rik Makrem) who has been trying to join Torchwood, turns out to be working for agent Johnson, and they use him to get Jack and plant a bomb in his stomach. Jack returns to the hub, and Gwen is scanning herself to confirm her pregnancy, and when he touches her, the computer detects the bomb. Ianto and Gwen manage to get out, just before Jack explodes, destroying the hub. Gwen and Ianto barely get away from assassins sent to kill them, but end up splitting up.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS...

(more…)

A very dark adventure of the sixth Doctor who I have grown to enjoy (even being the least popular doctor, and the only one to ever be fired, and refuse to come back for his regeneration sequence). He is the most acerbic of the doctors since the first, and certainly the most full of his own intelligence, but I enjoy seeing him, even if I hated him as a kid. A dark return of the cybermen, with the Doctor seeing people not for who they really are, as he really is not very trusting in this incarnation, and taking on the Cybermen with all his strength and will. I love the moments where the Doctor realizes that he is too untrusting now, and might have caused people harm.

In the London sewers two workers are attacked and taken by an unseen force. The Doctor (Colin Baker) is meanwhile making repairs to the TARDIS, fixing it’s chameleon circuit, which has been broken since the first adventure of the Doctor, and will allow it to change from the Police box it got stuck in while Earth so long ago. The repairs cause the ship to behave erratically, scaring Peri (Nicola Bryant) who is still worried about the Doctor as he has just not been the same since his regeneration. The Doctor brings Peri to the Solar System in 1985 and close enough to see Halley’s Comet. On Earth, Lytton (Maurice Clobourne) who was a Dalek Mercenary in Resurrection of the Daleks (an adventure of the much kinder 5th Doctor) is in London planning a raid on the Bank of England with Russell (Terry Molloy), Griffiths (Brian Glover) and Payne (James Beckett). Lytton actives a transmitter, and then heads into the sewers, where the workers disappeared. The TARDIS picks up the signal as a distress signal from Aliens, and he lands in scrapyard in England, with the Chameleon circuit changing into a conspicuous ornamental Stove, Peri remarks on it, but the Doctor brushes it off. They find a dummy transmitter and return to the Tardis to find the source, where the Tardis become a large Organ (Love the running gag). They head to the sewer entrance and are attacked by two policemen. They subdue them and enter the sewers.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

(more…)

The conclusion of the E-Space Trilogy with my favorite Doctor, the 4th, Tom Baker is the most interesting with the bunch, this one dealing with time travelers, and getting them back into N-Space, as well as the fate of Romana (at least in her televised presence). A very very enjoyable adventure of the 4th doctor. Well worth checking out.

A slaver vessel, piloted by humans, and navigated through time and space by the lion like Tharil, who are also it’s slave cargo, has become trapped at the nexus between E-Space and N-Space, when it’s navigator named Biroc (David Weston) manages to flee from the ship. Biroc comes upon the Tardis, which has also become mired in the space between the two spaces. Biroc appears inside the Tardis, doing something with the controls, though he is out of phase with The Doctor (Tom Baker) Romana (Lalla Ward), Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) and K-9 (John Leeson). Biroc warns them that the people who follow should not be trusted, and then runs off. The Doctor sets off after him, with Romana and Adric left behind, worried about K-9 who has had his memory wafers damaged by the winds of time in this strange part of space.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

(more…)

Part 2 of the E-Space Trilogy with Tom Baker as the 4th Doctor is more fun. And this one has fun miniatures, evil vampires, and location shooting and with K-9 and Matthew Waterhouse as Adric is another fun adventure of the Doctor. Not an amazing one, but certainly enjoyable and worth checking out. I love the campy fun of the original Doctor Who’s, and of course Tom Baker was my first Doctor, and you never forget your first Doctor. I mean I have even dressed as him at Halloween.

The Doctor (Tom Baker) and Romana (Lalla Ward) along with their robotic companion K-9 (John Leeson) try to find anything in E-Space, attempting to get back to normal N-Space. At a long range they find a planet, and head towards it. It seems to only have one civilization, so they head for it. It has a civilization in a feudal period, and the Doctor and Romana head out to investigate, leaving K-9 in the Tardis. Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) comes out of hiding, and is confronted by K-9, but he tricks him and manages to get out of the Tardis and follow the Doctor and Romana. The Feudal farmers of the village live to serve their 3 lords, and forced into Selections, where the best young people are taken to the castle, never to be seen again. Some are made guards, but nothing is known of what happens to the others. The leader of the Guards Habris (Iain Rattray) comes and makes the selection from the village headman Ivo (Clinton Greyn) and against his wishes his son is taken. The Doctor and Romana arrive and meet Ivo. They are then taken by two hooded figures and sneaked away. Adric shows up and Ivo’s wife Marta (Rhoda Lewis) takes him in, and wants him as his son, making him stay for the night, as it is dangerous out at night.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

(more…)

Tom Baker to me is the Doctor, so of course I am excited to have all of his adventures, and this, the start of the 3 part E Space Trilogy which answers some things I have wanted to see, such as where did Adric come from, and where did Romana go! And I also really enjoy overarching story-lines, so the 3 part E-Space Trilogy is right up my alley, and Full Circle is a fun and enjoyable way to start it off. As a Tomb Baker adventure this is a must see. And his interaction with Romana is always fun to watch (You can see they had something going on in their relationship). Fun Fun Fun!

Galifrey is demanding Romana’s return, so The Doctor (Tom Baker) has set the course to return to his home planet, against the wishes of the brilliant Timelord Romana (Lalla Ward) who does not wish to Return home. The Doctor is excited to see how Leela and her husband, and the previous K-9 (John Leeson) are doing, but it is not to be, as the Tardis passes through a CVE or Charged Vacuum Enoitment which sends them out of N-Space into the smaller E-Space, a pocket universe. And even more strangely, the scanner on the Tardis shows they have arrived on Gallifrey, but they are in fact in a forrest on the planet Alzarius in E-Space. On Alzarius live a small group of Humanoids living by a starship called the Starliner, which crashed there, and the people are living off the land, while they attempt to repair it. The people are ruled by a 3 member council knows as the Deciders. A boy named Varsh (Richard Willis) have rejected the ways of the people, and do not believe in Mistfall, and period of cataclysmic change in the atmosphere of the planet, where the people must retreat into the starship. Varsh’s brother, the super intelligent Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) wants to join his brother, though he has been trained for great things, and goes to steal fruit for them, but is caught by the head of the Deciders council, Draith (Leonard Mguire) just as Mistfall hits, and the elder is dragged into the swamp. Adric runs through the forrest and finds the Tardis. The Doctor and Romana take him in and fix his leg wound, and then head off to investigate the planet. Adric goes out and ends up coming back to the Tardis with Varsh and his compatriots to hide out from Mistfall which legend says could kill them all since the Starliner has already been sealed, and they force their way past Romana at knife point.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

(more…)

I got this one because of the rumor that the 11th Doctor, Matt Smith will be getting the re-appearance of an old villain, the Rani, a Timelord who first popped up here going against the 6th Doctor, and also dealing with the Master. Another timelord villain is certainly a good thing (and also hints more at the return of Gallifrey in the new series). As I have said I was not a fan of the sixth doctor, and his obvious feelings of superiority, but I am enjoying him more and more, the more I watch. Certainly not one of my top doctors, but he is still a Doctor after all, even if he did eventually get fired from the role. Still overall, this is an enjoyable historic doctor who, with 2 strong villains, and often the Doctor does seem to be in real danger.

In 19th Century England, in a town known as Killingsworth something is amiss. Miner from the local mine return to bath at the bathhouse of an old woman (Kate O’Mara), where she does something to them and they become strangely violent Luddites, with red marks on their necks. The Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) and Perpigullium “Peri” Brown (Nicola Bryant) arrive, and stop some of the Luddites who attack a man brining some equipment to Lord Ravensworth (Terence Alexander), so they head out to see the Lord and see what is going on. Ravensworth is holding a gathering of scientific minds, led by the inventor George Stephenson (Gawn Grainger) who has his labs on the premises, and the Doctor and Peri go to talk to Ravensworth, but they are attacked by more Luddites, who have been befriended by the evil Timelord the Master (Anthony Ainley) who has convinced them that the Doctor is their main enemy. The Master has also found the source of the “Luddites” which is in fact the old woman, who is really the Rani, The Rani is another exiled Timelord, one specializing in chemicals, who is stealing a chemical from the brains of the miners (leaving the red marks, which are the mark of the Rani), to create a chemical she will use back on the planet she took over Miasmia Goria. It leaves the human’s unable to rest, and makes them easily suggestible, and she has been doing it for hundreds of years. The Master steals the chemical from the Rani to make her work with him in his plans to destroy the Doctor.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

(more…)

I love science fiction, so when I saw this trailer I was immediately interested, it looked like a cross being 2001 and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2 movies I love, so there was no chance I was missing this. And I wanted to see it even more when I learned that Duncan Jones is in fact David Bowie’s son. Then even more than that when I learned that this incredible looking film only cost $5 million, which is nothing for something that looks this good, I mean most romantic comedies cost more than this nowdays. And then of course their is Sam Rockwell, who can be amazing, so I was hooked. I went and saw this opening weekend, and I am glad I did. This is a great straight science fiction film, only ignoring moon gravity (too expensive to fake), but well worth checking out. A really good film. And gladly Duncan Jones won Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer at the BAFTA’s, though it did not get any nominations for the Oscars.

Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is an employee working on the moon base Sarang on a 3 year contract extracting Earth’s new clean power, helium 3. He is the only one there, and is nearing the end of his 3 years, happy to be going home to his wife Tess (dominique McElligott) and young daughter he has never met Eve (Kaya Scodelario). His only companion is the robot Gerty (Kevin Spacey), and Sam is going a little loopy, starting to see a teenaged girl. There are harvesters that mine the helium-3, and when they are full, Sam goes out and picks up the extraction and sends it back to Earth. Currently one of the harvesters is broken, but the other 3 work. Unfortunately the lunar satellites are down, so Sam has no realtime communication with Earth, so his communications are slowly routed through Jupiter. When Sam is out on an extraction, he sees the girl again, and crashed into the harvester. Sam awakens to Gerty, explaining their has been an accident, and Gerty tells him he can’t go out. Gerty tests Sam to see how his skills are, and Sam sneaks out of bed and swears he sees Gerty talking realtime to Earth. Sam decides something is wrong, and fakes an accident with the station to get Gerty to let him out, and he takes a rover to the newly broken extractor and finds the crashed version of himself, in bad shape, but still alive, who he brings back to the station. Now there are 2 Sams, one younger and surlier, and one older and scruffier, both on the base.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

(more…)

I have never been a fan of the surly 6th Doctor, played by Colin Baker, but I have to say the more I watch him, the more I enjoy him, even if his blue outfit wouldn’t have clashed so bad (ha!). And his interaction with Peri (Nicola Bryant) does make for some interesting times, as the Doctor has never been quite so condescending, though she always does surprise him. And to add the Second Doctor in the mix certainly makes for some good fun. I love the crossovers with multiple doctors! I also love the whole Doctor becoming Andorgum thing, which makes for some great fun with not only Troughton, but also Baker. And this was the last appearance of Troughton and Hines, so that makes this even more interesting, as Troughton was still amazing as the second doctor! A very enjoyable adventure all the way around.

The Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and his companion the Scotsman Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines) land in the Tardis on the space Station Camera in the Third Zone, having been sent by the Timelords. They need to talk to the station director Dastari (Laurence Payne). They arrive and meet the station cook Shockeye (John Stratton) who is an Androgum, a primitive and violent race, who tend to like to eat fresh flesh, be it whatever race they meet. Shockeye offers to buy Jamie from the Doctor for a meal, though the Doctor of course refuses, and goes to see Dastari, but as they go, they hear the Tardis dematerialize. This is seen by the augmented Adrogum Chessenne (Jacqueline Pearce) who has plans of her own involving poisoning the scientists on the station, as well as someone named Stike who will be arriving soon. The Second Doctor tells the Dastari that the Time Lords want the time experiments of Kartz and Reimer to be stopped. The Time Lords are officially neutral, so they have sent the Doctor to add deniability. Destari introduces the Doctor and Jamie to Chessene, but the Doctor is immediately worried that no changes can completely change her Androgum nature. Stike (Clinton Greyn) arrives, and he is a Sontaran, and arrives with 3 battle cruisers. Chessene knocks out the defenses and opens the docking bays. The Doctor warns Dastari that the time experiments are on the verge of threatening space and time, but Dastari accuses the Time Lords of not wanting another race to have the power of Time Travel. Dastari faints, and Energy weapons can be heard. The Doctor orders Jamie to run, and then a Sontaran aims his gun at the Doctor.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS...

(more…)

A decent enough Doctor Who adventure, and honestly the first I have seen with Turlough as a companion, and also interesting in that the Doctor (Peter Davison) seems a bit more martial and devious than I have seen this doctor be before. Not amazing, but certainly enjoyable. I am liking the fifth Doctor more and more, too bad it seems I am about to catch up on all his adventures that have been released on DVD (much as I have done with my favorite, the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker).

In 2084 on Earth there is another planetary sized cold war going on. One side runs underwater missile bases, which can launch the countries strategic nuclear missiles, one such base us Sea Base 4 which cannot be activated without a human operator to sync his mind with the computer, but the base operator has recently been killed, so the Commander Vorshak (Tom Adams) has put an apprentice Ensign Maddox (Martin Neil) into that position, as he is the only one who can sync, though he does not feel up for the job at all. The base notices something on it’s long range sensors. Outside there is a Silurian battleship led by Icthar (Norman Comer) who plan on taking Base 4, and also plan on reviving their warrior cast to do battle. In the Tardis, the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) has promised to take Tegan (Janet Fielding) to Earth’s future, and Turlough (Mark Strickson) is along for the ride. The Tardis ends up in orbit around the Earth, and is attacked by an automated defense robot, and has to make an emergency materialization aboard the Sea Base so the Doctor can affect repairs. The base computer initiates a missile run, which turns out to be a practice, but it is too much for Maddox and he faints, and he is taken to the bases medical officer Doctor Solow (Ingrid Pitt) and Nilson (Ian McCulloch) who are in fact enemy agents. They get the captain to ggive them a program disk, and use it to program Maddox to destroy the ships computer. Meanwhile the crew realize they have intruders, and the Doctor rigs the reactor to overload so they can escape, but it doesn’t work, and they are found (after the Doctor is almost killed) and brought to the Captain.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

(more…)

I have literally been waiting years for this, and have had hopes of them making a movie (which it seems will never happen now), and maybe because of all the high hopes this is a bit of a disappointment. Sure it is great to have everyone back, and with the new effects, the stuff of Red Dwarf looks amazing. And I did really enjoy the opening, and the ending, but honestly the whole middle on Earth is a bit dragged out, and not as funny as it could be. And the fact that they have just skipped over a ninth series, but acted as it happened, has only served to make me long for more Dwarf instead of a 3 episode special that could have easily been 2 episodes. Lets have a whole new series or the much vaunted film which would be so funny! And I must say there was a little too much Blade Runner references in this to make it all together funny. Just watched the blu-ray, and it looks spectacular (who knew Red Dwarf could ever look so good, guess shooting on the RED really does make a different), and it includes 2 excellent docs on the making of, which are hysterical, and the actors really do seem to be enjoying themselves. Now if only they will do the feature, or at least series 11 (or I would be happy with series 9!)

9 years after Series VIII, the Dwarfers are still going alone on Red Dwarf, but much has happened (a missing series it seems). Dave Lister (Craig Charles) spends his time either playing pranks on Arnold Judas Rimmer (Chris Barrie) or mourning the death of his love Kristine Kochanski (Chloe Annett). The Cat (Danny John-Jules) spends time being the Cat, and the andriod Kryten (RObert Llewellyn) has been on vacation. They discover their is a problem with the only remaining water supply, it seems their is a giant squid monster in it. So Rimmer runs the controls, while Dave, Cat and Kryten go in a diving bell to fight the creature and are almost killed, but manage to just survive. Just then a new ships hologram arrives, this is Katerina Bartikovsky (Sophie Winkleman) a former science officer on the crew, who gives 24 hours to Rimmer before she will shut him off, and then plans on helping Lister repopulate the species. She uses the dimension hopping capabilities of the squid to open a portal back to Earth, though it claims that their dimension is fake, and they begin to get sucked into the portal.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

(more…)

Continuing right where Time Flight left off, this is another really strong enjoyable series of the fifth Doctor. I am usually a fan of when the Doctor returns to his home planet of Galifrey, and this is another one that shows just how messed up the Time Lords are as well. A really enjoyable series all the way around, making for a really enjoyable season of the Fifth Doctor. A must see.

Two kids traveling in Amsterdam, Colin Frazer (Alastair Cummings) and Robin Stuart (Andrew Boxer) have lost their passports, so they go and stay in a crypt, but something happens to Colin, and Stuart has to take off. It seems a Timelord has turned traitor, and is working with a creature from theanti-matter dimension known as the Renegade (Ian Collier), and has helped it by stealing the Doctor’s bio-data and sending it, which is caught by a technician named Damon (Neil Daglish). Using the data, the Renegade invades the Tardis, and attempts to take over the Doctor, but does not manage it. The Doctor (Peter Davison) and his companion Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) realize the Renegade is hiding in a place called the Arc of Infinity which can shield anti-matter. The Timelord High Council, led by Lord President Borusa (Leonard Sachs) as well as Chancellor Thalia (Elspet Gray) and Cardinal Zorax (Max Harvey) and the Doctor’s old friend Councilor Hedin (Michael Gough) activate the recall switch on the Doctor’s Tardis to force him to come back, as they realize that to destroy the creature before he can destroy the universe, they must kill the Doctor., an

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

(more…)

At first I was not a fan of Peter Davison, the fifth Doctor, because he replaced my favorite doctor, Tom Baker the fourth, but after starting to watch more of Davison I have realized that I actually really like the quirky fifth doctor, and this was an enjoyable adventure. And one that added to the fun by adding in the then very high tech, and now defunct Concorde, and also featuring one of the Doctor’s best villains. This is an enjoyable adventure, and well worth checking out.

The Concorde Golf Victor Foxtrot is coming in for a landing at Heathrow, when it’s signal breaks up, and the plane disappears. On the TARDIS, the Doctor (Peter Davison), Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) and the reluctant Tegan (Janet Fielding) hit some turbulence, and end up being drawn to the spot where the Concorde disappeared, so they land at Heathrow, and go out to see what is going on. The authorities see the police box, and the Doctor has them call Unit, and is put in charge of the investigation. They get another Concrode, Gold Alpha Charlie, and have the Tardis loaded aboard and the Doctor and his companions go with Captain Stapley (RIchard Waston) to go find the other Concorde. They find the disturbance, and the Concorde passes through it, though it seems they are landing at Heathrow, in fact they have travelled back 140 million years into the past, and it is a form of psychokinetic energy that is making them see things, and when they manage to clear their heads they find the other Concorde, as well as a citadel, and the remains of an alien spacecraft that has crashed some time before. The Doctor of course sets out to investigate.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS….

(more…)

An honestly very mediocre two parter starring Peter Davison as the fifth Doctor. This one is really a throw away, and not too enjoyable, except seeing Tegan dancing and having fun. Not much of a good episode, but it was followed by the excellent Earthshock. This is also only a 2 episode story, so it does seem like filler, and the unexplained woman who looks just like Nyssa is not very well used, and not at all very good. Pretty much just a waste.

In a house in the English countryside two people figtht, and a servant is killed. The killer goes into the room of a young woman. We then see the man tied to the bed, and guarded by an American Indian. The Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) plans to take Tegan (Janet Fielding) and Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) and Adric (Matthew Waterhouse), but the Tardis takes them to Earth in 1925, they arrive at a train station, and when the step out a chaffuer walks up to them and tells them that Lord Carnleigh (Michael Cochrane) is expecting the Doctor. Intrigued they get in the car. They arrive at the estate, and Lord Cranleigh is blown away, because Nyssa looks just like his fiancée. Meanwhile they get the doctor into their Cricket game, and he proves both good at bowling and batting, and wins the game for them, so they take them up to the house for the nights events.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

(more…)

Another sumptuous Keira Knightly period piece, and this one with another favorite actor of mine, Ralp Fiennes, I can’t believe I stayed away from this in the theater, but I did get it on Blu-ray at Costco, and it looks fantastic and is in fact a much more enjoyable film than what the reviewers made me believe. The whole cast is amazing, and it really shows the unfairness of life for women in that period, even a woman who was considered one of the top of the social scene, she was still trapped, and without anything she could do to make her life what she wanted. Really a well done, gorgeous and enjoyable film. And the Blu-Ray really looks absolutely fantastic with resolution a DVD could never touch. This film is really worth checking out, and even better if you can see it in HD, where you can see the gorgeous costumes, and sumptuous locations.

In the 18th Century 17 year old Georgiana Spencer (Kierra Knightly)has drawn a lot of notice, and one young man named Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper) particularly likes her, but it is not to be. Georgiana’s mother, Lady Spencer (Charlotte Rampling) sets up a very good marriage for her daughter to the high and powerful Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes) and Georgiana is immediately excited, but it does not last. The Duke barely talks to her, and is more interested in his dogs than in her, and only has sex with her because he must have a male heir which is stipulated in his parents will. In the few words she shares with her husband Georgiana explains how fashion is about the only way that a woman can express herself, and through her fashion and personality she becomes the center of their social circle filled with powerful men, and she becomes the most loved woman in England, by everyone but her husband. And even Grey is in her social circle, now a peer.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

(more…)

This lovely lyrical fairy tale of life for a boy from the slums in India deservedly won 4 golden globes for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Score and best screenplay (for Simon Beaufoyadapted from the novel by Vikras Swarup). While the acting could have been better, it doesn’t really matter in this film, because it is all about the amazing, and uplifting love story, that is one of the must see films of the year. Boyle really made up for Sunshine here, though I wonder how much he directed and how much Loveleen Tandan actually did as co-director. Still no matter what this film is really enjoyable and keeps you on the edge of your seat right until the closing credits.

Jamal Malik (Dev Patel a British television actor) a Muslim former street child, is being interrogated by a police inspector (Irrfan Khan) and Constable Srinivas (Saurabh Shukla). He is a contestant on Kaun Benega Crorepati, the Indian equivalent of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and has made it to the final question, but has been accused of cheating. We see through the interogation the story of Jamal’s life, and just how he happened to know the answer to all the questions. We see the young Jamal (Ayush Mahesh Khedekar). We see him crall through shit to get the autograph of a famous actor, through his brother Salim (Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail) sells it, and when they return home, his mother is killed in an anti-Muslim riot, and they end up as street kids. The two befriend an orphan girl named Latika (Rubiana Ali) who they take care of, and in turn get taken in by a gangster named Maman (Ankur Vikal) who uses kids to beg. Maman has plans for Salim, but is going to blind Jamal, so Salim betrays Maman and they escape, but aren’t able to save Latika, though Jamal sweats he will come back and save her, no matter how long it takes him.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

(more…)

A mediocre adventure of the Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy. There a lot of explosions, but the bad guys are pretty lame, with bad acting, and don’t seem to scary. I do like Ace (Sophie Aldred) as a companion, and I like how this ties her whole life together, than in fact she was a part of creating her own life, but overall this is not one of the best adventures. I watched this on Netflix, and it looked OK, though not very good.

During the second world war, two dinghies filled with Russian Communist soldiers head towards Maiden’s Point on the English coast, though one gets lost in the fog. The Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Ace (Sophie Aldred) dressed in period clothing arrive, and head intoa top secret Navy installation, and walk right in, and into the office of the wheelchair bound Dr. Judson (Dinsdale Landen) who is working on logic problems and a computer to translate german Ultra transmissions and both the Doctor and Ace impress him with their logic abilities, and the Doctor has forged a letter of authority which gives him access to the base. The Soviets meanwhile find the only survivor of the other dingy, who is wounded and delirious, the commander Captain Sorin (Tomek Bork) asks for their sealed orders, but gets no answer, though they are found with a picture of Judson, but the soldier is killed by something under the water. The Doctor and Ace go to a church of Reverend Wainwright (Nicholas Parsons) and see Judson who is trying to decipher some Viking inscriptions under the Church, and who plans to use the ULTIMA code machine to decipher them. Some girls from London, Jean (Joann Kenny) and Phyllis (Joane Bell) make friends with Ace, and make plans to go swimming. The Doctor and Ace discover the Soviets orders at Maiden’s point, he heads to the Church and warns Ace not to go in the water. The Doctor gets translations of the Viking inscriptions from Wainwright and takes it to Judson. Ace makes friends with one of the woman at the base, Kathleen Dudman (Cory Pulman) who plays chess, and has her baby Audrey (which Ace doesn’t like because it is the name of her hated mother) with her at the base. The Base leader Millington (Alfred Lynch) seems a little off, having his office made up like the Nazi intelligence office, and with a viking chess set, and he and Judson read the translation, while new runes appear in the crypt.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS….

(more…)

An enjoyable tale of the 5th Doctor Peter Davison, which has quite a sad ending, and involves the Doctor’s nemesis the Cybermen. I like the tension between the Doctor and Adric, and how headstrong that Tegan is, and Davidson is really growing on me as a doctor. I will have to check out more of his episodes.

On a future Earth, a Lieutenant Scott (James Warwick) leads a military team with scanning gear with a Professor Kyle (Clare Clifford) to scan for lifeforms of missing members of the scientific team that were searching underground for dinosaur fossil remains. Kyle is the only member who made it out, and rest have disappeared. The team going underground is being stalked by two robotic figures. The Doctor (Peter Davison) is arguing with Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) who wants to go home, and is trying to plot a course, but the Doctor does not want to take him. Tegan (Janet Fielding) and Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) don’t like the tension. They take the Tardis to Earth, and end up in the same caves, and the Scanner detects them, especially the alienness of the Doctor. Scott’s teams are attacked, and the wounded people keep disappearing off the scanner as they are killed, and Scott assumes the Doctor must be killing them. The Doctor is fascinated by the dinosaur bones, and wants to go back and see how they became extinct from a great impact. Scott come across the Doctor, and want to kill them, but the Doctor helps them fight the androids that are fighting them, and the Doctor realizes they are defending something. The Andriods are working for the Cyberman, and realize that this must be the Doctor.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

(more…)

I have to admit I stayed away from this because Jon Pertwee is not at all my favorite doctor, and I never did like the fact that he is trapped on Earth by the Timelords, so he is stuck working with the Brigadier and Unit. And I thought this would be like the Five Doctors, but it isn’t, as this actually does have the first three doctors, though Hartnell is barely in it, though Patrick Troughton has a major part, and I love seeing how the third and second doctors really but heads (plus Troughton is my friend Chris’s favorite Doctor, though I haven’t seen much of him, though I do like his quirkiness). This is enjoyable, and does get Pertwee off earth, which is always good, and also deals with the timelords, another bonus. A side note is I actually watched this with Netflix streaming on XBOX 360, and it looked pretty damn good, and a cool way to watch shows.

A Doctor Tyler (Rex Robison) is going out to get a special weather balloon that measures cosmic rays, the finder, a Mr. Ollis (Laurie Webb) disappears just as he arrives though, so Tyler heads to UNIT to see what they can do about it. Tyler arrives, and is shown to The Doctor’s (Jon Pertwee) lab, along with Jo Grant (Katy Manning) and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney). He shows his research on cosmic rays, and which shows a strange beam heading at faster than the speed of light to Earth. The Doctor and Jo go out, and Tyler looks for his results, finding a photo of Ollis in the Cosmic Rays, and then the case opens and something comes out, and sucks him in as well. When the Doctor and Jo return, they see the energy creature, which heads toward the Doctor, and ends up sucking up his car, as they run to the lab. The Doctor, Jo, the Brigadier and Sergeant Benton (John Levene) hide in the Tardis, as strange Aliens attack Unit, and surround the building. Meanwhile the Timelords are having troubles of their own, in fact they are losing all their power to a black hole, and the source of the strange beam, and their only hope is the Doctor, who is himself trapped. So the Timelords, break the first law of Time, and they allow the Doctor to cross his own time stream, and they send the second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) to save him, and also allow them to communicate with the first doctor (William Hartnell).

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS….

(more…)

Great to see the new Borne film, eh, I mean the new Bond film. Honestly I am a huge Bond fan, at least going through Goldeneye, then Bond started getting too silly even for itself, so I saw that a reboot might be in order. And I enjoyed Casino Royale enough, though I did have issues with it. And as I alluded too, once again this doesn’t really feel like a Bond film at all. Sure Bond is in it, but he doesn’t smoke, and he doesn’t drink Vodka Martinis, and he only sleeps with one woman, he has no gadgets expect a cool smart phone, and they barely play and Bond Music except in the end credits and the new Bond sound by Jack White and Alicia Keys. Strangely he does go back to the old Watlher P38 that Bond was known to carry for so long instead of the new version that Brosnan got, and has a lot more stopping power. Really it feels much more like a Borne film than a Bond film, because is not cool, but brutal and efficient. And while the film is action packed, I don’t Forster is the best action director, and while there is intense stuff going on, the constant shaky cam (a huge pet peeve of mine, and something that made Kelly Sick) makes you unable to see most of it, so you don’t really feel it as well as I feel you should. This film also harkens back to earlier bond films, with a super secret enemy organization, called Quantum, which replaced the old Spectre, and seems to be the main thread of these two films, and obviously the next film. Interesting to have a real continuing story going in Bond (another addition from Bourne). I am still not so sure about this reboot. The movies are cool enough, but they don’t feel like Bond to me.

This film starts right after Casino Royale, with James Bond (Daniel Craig) driving his Astin Martin (which they had at the Arclight, and I have photos of after the break) in a major high speed chase from Lake =Garda to Siene, Italy. After the chase, he arrives to an MI6 safehouse with Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) who has been in the car trunk for an interrogation. Bond’s handler, and the head of MI6, M (Judi Dench) is there with some agents, and they start the interrogation, but find that Mr. White works for some super secret organization that has agents everywhere, and M’s body guard of 8 years Craig Mitchell (Glenn Foster) turns on them, killing White, and taking Bond a huge chase (very reminiscent of Bourne’s rooftop chase) before Bond kills him. Now all they have are some tracked banknotes, which leads Bond to Haiti to find Mitchell’s contact Edmund Slate (Neil Jackson), who Bond quickly kills, but gets a briefcase, and meets up with the beautiful Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko) who Slate was sent to kill, and Bond follows her. Camille leads Bond to her lover, Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), the head of Greene Planet, who is meeting with former Bolivian General Medrano (Joaquín Cosio), who he is helping to state a coup in exchange for some barren desert land. Greene already knows that Camille is using him to get to the General, so he gives her to the General as a present.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

(more…)

I was very much looking forward to Guy Ritchie returning to his roots like Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels and Snathc, both awesome and stylish underworld dramas with black comedy elements, and some great characters, and this time with the bad ass Gerard Butler from 300 along for the ride. Unfortunately this film is a total misfire. The characters are very 2 dimensional, and not very bad ass or even like-able here, Ritchie’s classic style is also almost completely gone, except for one sex scene, and the whole story just doesn’t have any gravitas. You are never worried that anyone will die, and the whole overall just doesn’t become anything interesting. And what a waste of a great cast. And to see in the credits that there will be a sequel, Real RockNRolla, I just had to laugh. Who will see it? This film was enough crap. I was honestly thinking I was going to leave, because it was so boring.

Another ensemble, but this one dealing with real estate scams in London. Two gangsters, part of the so called Wild Bunch, One Two (Gerard Butler) and Mumbles (Idris Elba) get scammed on a land dealer, buy the fixer who is supposed to be helping them, Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson). Lenny thinks he runs London, and works with his right hand Archie (Mark Strong) and other thugs, has a city Councillor (Jimi Mistry) in his pocket. He scams the gangsters out of the building, plus says he owes them a grip of money. Lenny then gets into a deal with a Russian gangster building a sports stadium and development around it, this is Uri (Karel Roden) and his assistant Victor (Dragan Micanovic). Uri gives Lenny his good luck painting for the duration of the deal, and then goes to get 7 million to pay Lenny to grease the wheels. His crooked accountant is Stella (Thandie Newton) who is married to a gay atorney, and who craves action, so she gets One Two to steal the money, to give herself a kick and starting off a whole bunch of bad.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

(more…)

Tom Baker is of course my favorite doctor, so I have been collecting all of his episodes, because of course, you never forget your first Doctor. And I enjoyed this because it is Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen, but honestly it isn’t one of the better stories. The actresses who play the sisterhood freak me out, and have cheesy makeup, and this one just doesn’t come together too well for me.

The Doctor (Tom Baker) and Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) find themselves on the Planet Karn, where the Doctor suspects the Timelords have sent him for some unknown reason, and he isn’t happy about it. He only comes out when Sarah screams after finding the body of an insect alien who has had it’s head cut off, and then a whole field of crashed spacecraft. The Alien was killed by a hook handed minion named Condo (Colin Fay) who works for the mad scientist Mehendri Solon (Philip Madoc). Solon is trying to find a head for some evil experiment he is working on. The Doctor and Sarah head to Solon’s castle, but are observed by Ohica (Gilly Brown) of the ancient Sisterhood of Karn and goes to report their presence to the high priestess Maren (Cynthia Grenville). Maren confides in Ohica that she believes that the Doctor has been sent by the Timelords to steal their Sacred Fire, which creates a liquid that gives eternal life, and is sometimes used by the Timelords, when regeneration is not possible, and now the flame is going out. She an the sisters then use their powers to steal the Tardis, as The Doctor goes to meet Soron, and of course Soron is fascinated by his head.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

(more…)

Not just a one of the greats, or even a classic, but an all time classic story which deals not only with intrigues on Gallifrey, but also with an almost unstoppable enemy, and the fourth doctor acting stranger than he every has before. Could he really be a traitor to the timelords? I doubt it. And this series ends Leela as the companion, which was sad because she was such a great contrast to the only uses his mind Doctor. THis one is really a classic, I love seeing Tom Baker strut around, and become President of Gallifrey. He is perfect as the Doctor here. And this story is also one of the best ever. Plus it is fun to see so much of the Tardis, and to see the Doctor getting a bit lost in his own Tardis. A must see series.

The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) makes a deal and signs a contract with some unknown aliens, then heads to Galifrey with the warrior Leela (Louise Jameson) and K-9 Mark 1 (John Leeson), and the Doctor seems to be acting very strangely indeed. The Doctor is met by Commander Andred (Chris Tranchell) of the Chancellory Guard and he demands to be taken to Chancellor Borusa (John Arnatt) the Doctor’s old teacher who currently in charge of the Time Lords. The Doctor demands the position of the President of the Timelords, and do to some previous happenings, the request cannot be denied. The Doctor demands his Presidential chamber is decorated with lead lining, and shortly thereafter is sworn in, and given a staff, a thing that goes around his neck, a circlet that allows him to connect to the Matrix which is the sum of all TImelord Knowledge, and is supposed to get a key, but he isn’t given in. When he puts on the circlet, he collapses to the ground in pain. When he recovers he orders that Leela be expelled from the Citadel of the Timelords into the wastelands, then heads to his Tardis to work on a plan with K-9 to sabotage Galifrey’s defenses.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

(more…)

A pilot for a Doctor Who spin off with Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) that never made it, and it does explain how she got K-9 who didn’t join the show until after she left, and this was followed up in the current Doctor Who and the new Sarah Jane Adventures. It was an interesting concept, and it is too bad it didn’t become a show, though the opening credits were awful. And the show should honestly have been the Sarah Jane adventures, as she is the star and not K-9. Still I did enjoy this blast from the past into something that never was. Sure this is much more of a kids show, as the current Sarah Jane Adventures are, but it was still enjoyable.

Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) is returning to England to visit her aunt Lavania (Mary Wimbush) who is mysteriously out of town, though she has left a large box for her. Sarah then gets a call from her aunts ward, Brendan Richards (Ian Sears) who is waiting at the train station for her. When they get back to the house, they open the crate, and find K-9 (John Leeson) a gift left by the Doctor. Brednan is enthralled, but Sarah wants to figure out about her aunts absence. Sarah heads into town to find out all she can about her aunt.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

(more…)