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armageddon-generation · 5 years ago

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The Big Moffat Rewrite - Series 6

Following on from my Series 5 rewrite (which you don’t need to read to understand this).

SERIES 6

· The problem with series 6 is Moffat wanted an intense arc but tried to have it both ways by cramming in standalone episodes. COMMIT to the arc, give it room to breathe

· Mels is with the Ponds in the intro of The Impossible Astronaut, helping them look for 11, asking what he’s like – she watches their letter being delivered

· Restructure the series

PART 1

The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon

The Girl Who Waited

The God Complex

The Rebel Flesh / The Almost People

A Good Man Goes To War

PART 2

Let’s Kill Hitler / What Little Girls Are Made Of

Night Terrors

The Doctor’s Wife

Run

Bleeding Time / The Wedding of River Song

· Cut The Curse of the Black Spot – it’s filler, not well-liked and adds another Rory death

· 11 leaves the Ponds at the end of Let’s Kill Hitler, instead of out of nowhere in The God Complex. By restructuring Part 1 the way I have, it builds up 11 having a negative influence on the Ponds. Let’s Kill Hitler forces him to recognise how unintentionally destructive he’s been to Amy’s life – what happened to River was the straw that broke the camel’s back

· Part 2 builds 11’s relationship with River (replacing Night Terrors with a solo 11/River adventure). The Doctor’s Wife can be rewritten for one companion (Gaiman originally wrote it for just Amy) and we can expand on River’s interesting but underexplored relationship with the TARDIS.

· Series 6 will be the Ponds’ last series as companions in my rewrite, because Moffat doesn’t really do anything good with them in series 7, they just kinda meander a bit ‘til they leave.

· To that end, replace Rita in The God Complex with a timestream version of Clara, who actively saves 11 from the Minotaur after (it’s revealed in Series 7) the Great Intelligence manipulates the TARDIS into landing there

A Good Man Goes to War

· This is an ideal world, so we get Jack Harkness back, replacing Dorium and Captain Avery, and being beheaded to set up the Face of Boe

· Also, Jack is totally interested in Rory with his Centurion armour

· Add the cut Ood Sigma scene because we love callbacks

Let’s Kill Hitler/What Little Girls Are Made Of

· Make this a two-parter, because it’s a clusterfuck of information and super-confusing

· First part deals with Hitler (PROPERLY – don’t turn him into a joke and then stick him in the cupboard) and establishes Mels, then introduce River at the end of the episode – the cliffhanger is she poisons 11 and runs

· The second episode parallels the fascist propaganda machine of Nazi Germany with River’s brainwashing under the Silence – we see the effects of indoctrination, good people living in terror

· Even when he’s been poisoned, 11 is distracted by the injustice of Nazi regime – this is why he never comes here, the temptation to interfere is too great (which the Teselecta indulge in). River is shocked that even now he wants to help people

· Rory has a moment here – he’s already lived through WW2 once, protecting Amy as the Lone Centurion, and he had to keep his head down and not help then. He refuses to do it again.

· We more explicitly discuss River’s psychology – this is not a tone-deaf comedy romp. Fill in her life between 1969 and meeting Amy in the 90s, abandoned and alone, reoccurring nightmares of the Spaceman coming to get her.

· Madam Kovarian tracked her down midway through that time and brought her back in to the Silence, then set her up with Amy and Rory as kids to wait for 11. We have a sequence of Madam K. raising her as a dark, manipulative ‘mother’ to parallel the montage with Amy and Rory

· The problem with River is that, despite acting independent and in-charge, her entire life revolves around the Doctor and she has no life (that we see) outside of him – by setting up this ‘helping people’ motif in the story and previously interacting with 11, River more naturally makes the decision to save the Doctor on her own

· In the last scene when she becomes an archaeologist, establish that instead of “looking for the right man” River is trying to establish her own identity outside of the Doctor – she’s chosen archaeology because she knows how much it will annoy him (“I point and laugh at archaeologists”)

· In the second episode, have the comedy come from the characters, not edgy jokes about Nazism – the awkwardness when Rory tries to assert parental authority over River (that relationship gets no development!), Amy trying to be a mum to someone older than her and both Ponds being freaked out by the Doctor flirting with their daughter.

Night Terrors

· Rewrite Night Terrors (another not-too-brilliant standalone) as a River episode – an actually developed version of the ‘First Night’ minisode that’s ‘first meeting after Let’s kill Hitler what the fuck do we do now?

· Develop River from the psychopathic murderer into the character we know - she and 11 clash on methodology (she wants to be ruthless, and knows he’s capable of it)

· Finally, can we address that 11 ruined River’s life? She resents being made into a weapon because of him (and now he’s denying her that?). She’s stung by him leaving the Ponds, because of her

· The plot about an alien kid and adoptive parents provokes intense reactions from River, paralleling her tragic relationship with her parents

· Direct parallels between River/11 vs 11/Idris in the following The Doctor’s Wife

· River kinda sees Idris as a surrogate mother figure? Her loss hits her hard too

· At the end of The Doctor’s Wife 11 drops River off to go see the Ponds and try to connect with them, gifting her her Vortex Manipulator and leaving so he doesn’t have to see them. It’s just him and his box again.

Closing Time – renamed Run

· Alice/Shona replaces Craig again

· Just as Craig did, she’s had a kid with the guy 11 set her up with last time

· Instead of a naff Cybermen story, explore more of what 11’s been doing for the past 200 years – basically been going on a destructive time-and-space bender. Some threat from that chases after him.

· 11 learns of the Brigadeer’s death in this episode to give the moment more room to breathe. Alice, being down-to-Earth and no-nonsense, is the one who tells him to confront the thing he’s running from

Bleeding Time/The Wedding of River Song

· I’m rewriting this clusterfuck

· I know a lot of people hate the ‘time is broken so everything is happening at once’ idea because it completely breaks canon. It’d be better if the new world is a proper post-apocalypse with Reapers flying around killing everything they can get to

· Instead of the Area 51 pyramid, the rebels are holed up in the oldest object in the world – inside the TARDIS. (calling back to The Doctor’s Wife, where we established the inside of the TARDIS, and better explains how they’re sending out that signal into space – it’s the TARDIS)

· Make the finale a two-parter. First half is 11 held captive in an unknown location, being interrogated and recapping what happened before Lake Silencio. It ends with Amy walking in wearing an eyepatch, with the cliffhanger reveal of them being inside the TARDIS

· Second half is 11 with the rebel group and the Silence, arguing with River, trying to reset time

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hamliet · 6 years ago

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Scrubs (yes the sitcom)

Seasons 1-8 since we’re not touching season 9 and its new cast.

A sitcom that, by its fourth episode, showed (as it would continue to show) that it was at its best when it was at its most heartbreaking, because those were often the moments that it was also at its most heartwarming. The theme of “My Old Lady” (the fourth episode) is really that you can’t save everyone and death is indeed scary (a recurring theme in Scrubs), and you have to acknowledge that. But even in that fear, there are beautiful moments too, and taking the time to breathe and feel the sun and find something warm even in those moments can get you through them.

Dr. Kelso, Dr. Cox, Jordan, Elliott, Turk, and Carla were my favorite characters, though everyone was well done, from JD to Laverne to the Janitor. Jordan was just... an enjoyable twist on the devil woman archetype. For that matter, almost every character was really a hyperbolic, exaggerated character for comedic effect. Elliott’s eccentricities, Kelso’s cruelty, Cox’s grumpiness, Ted’s cowardice and incompetence, Todd’s sexuality, JD’s need for approval--they were all exaggerated for comedic purposes (which ties into why things weren’t ruined for me with those characters, but they could be for other people and it’s legit if so). Elliott was relatable in her anxieties, her parental issues, her relationship struggles. Cox’s breakdown in season 5 really got me, and Laverne--along with Turk and Cox’s sister Paige--all had their faith treated as an important part of their character just as Cox’s atheism was an important part of his, which I appreciated. Everyone was respected.

i also enjoyed how different seasons focused on slowly building up towards a breakdown of different characters. For example, Carla and Turk in season 4, JD and Cox in season 5 (kept focusing more than normal on his arrogance and that went places). The relationships were also really well written and enjoyable. From the Janitor and Lady, to Ted and Gooch, to Cox and Jordan, Elliott and JD, and of course Carla and Turk, each couple had their own unique foiling and unique strengths that made them appealing together. Their personalities always remained unique, but together they made something beautiful. And the friendships were just as powerful.

I appreciated that a main theme was that there are no easy answers. Be it professionally, relationally, grief, marriage, parenting--nothing is easy, but that doesn’t mean it’s miserable either. As Dr. Kelso says in season 4, “nothing worth having comes easy.” The nuance was great in this show. For me in particular, the episodes that focused on grief (and a LOT of them did) were incredibly cathartic and healing for me, as I’ve been working through my dad’s death over the past year.

The show was really good. The soundtrack was always on point--music as a whole was brilliantly used in this series. I highly recommend it if you want a feel-good show that doesn’t avoid even the darker aspects of life, and if you’re wrangling with grief.

Of course, it’s got its issues too. It hasn’t aged well, like at all, in how it portrays race and especially in its portrayal of sexual harassment. Todd Quinlan is basically Mineta from BNHA as a doctor--but somehow still likable/has redeeming qualities. STill, Todd’s actions are really despicable (as are Dr. Kelso’s towards his wife) even while played for comedy, and none of these things would fly today as funny, nor should they. But within the context of the series as a whole, in my personal opinion they didn’t ruin it for me even if I cringed. I still liked Todd and loved Dr. Kelso as characters.

Season 8 in particular was weaker than the other seasons, and if it weren’t for the writer’s strike in season 7 which cut it very short, I kind of think season 7 would have wrapped the show up. Season 8 had less budget, so the main characters didn’t always appear in episodes, and the jokes were a bit more... insensitive/cheap rather than clever like in the past (it switched networks between seasons 7 and 8 too). That being said, Season 8 did magnificently conclude the characters’ arcs, with Kelso stepping into a mentor role and a new friendship with Cox, to Cox and Jordan’s relationship, Carla and Turk’s, Elliott finding her worth and feeling as if it was okay to chase her desires, Ted and the Janitor both finding love with Gooch and Lady respectively, and everyone passing the torch to the new interns, wherein our cast became the teachers.

For my favorite episodes:

My Old Lady (season 1 episode 4). This episode really set the whole theme and tone of the show, and deserved the award it won.

My Own Personal Jesus (season 1 episode 11). A hilarious rendition of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” and the really cool theme of Christmas spirit made this great.

My Dream Job (season 2 episode 22). The last minutes of this episode were pure satisfactory gold that also marked a really important step in Dr. Cox’s, Elliott’s, and Dr. Kelso’s characters, and honestly JD’s as well. Also Ryan Reynolds guest-stars.

My Own American Girl (season 3 episode 1). This is one of the few ones on here for mostly comedy. “My machines!” is one of the funniest scenes I’ve ever seen.

My Brother Where Art Thou (Season 3 episode 5). Scrubs has a habit of doing excellent mini, cross-season arcs with its minor characters, and JD’s brother Dan had a great arc that continued in every episode he appeared in over the seasons. But his moment with Dr. Cox at the end makes this my favorite of the Dan episodes.

My Friend, the Doctor (season 3 episode 8). I loved the development for the Janitor.

My Screw-Up (season 3 episode 14). Like with Dan, Ben’s episodes as the brother of Jordan and best friend of Dr. Cox all really stood out, and this one’s twist at the end, plus expert foreshadowing, made it fantastic viewing.

My Boss’ Free Haircut (season 4 episode 20). Dr. Kelso’s humanity begins to emerge more, and his speech to his patient and to Turk is what I referenced above. It also deals with Carla and Turk’s marital issues in an empathetic way, and Carla is given room to grieve for her mom in a way that really resonated with me.

My New God (season 5 episode 5). Cox’s reveal of his childhood and interactions with Paige--a character who easily could have been played for ridicule but was instead given empathy for her beliefs just as Cox was--resonated with me.

My Bright Idea (season 5 episode 16). From JD’s hilarious slip-up in front of the priest to Carla and Turk’s pregnancy reveal in the episode’s final episodes, it was golden all the way through. I cried from happiness in this episode.

My Lunch & My Fallen Idol (season 5 episodes 20-21). I don’t remember the last time I cried so hard at a show/movie since Hodor died in Game of Thrones. It was based on a real case, and helped me cope with my own grief, in addition to giving a powerful development to Cox and JD’s relationship. I think these are the two best episodes.

My Musical (season 6 episode 6). Despite the idea of making an episode a musical, the premise for why it was a musical was clever, and the songs (”Guy Love” in particular) were hilarious.

My Long Goodbye (season 6 episode 15). Within a week of watching “My Lunch,” I watched this one and cried just as hard. This episode and the one that comes before it are really powerful, but they hurt.

My Cold Shower (Season 6 episode 19). Despite Elliott making a mistake, the way her friends are all genuinely happy for her and JD’s realization in the end that he loves her were... moving.

My Dumb Luck (season 7 episode 9). The episode that shows you just how much Dr. Kelso developed, from character you loved because you hated him to character you saw how much he cared. It was the perfect development for him.

My Princess (season 7 episode 11). A really clever use of a fairy-tale AU, and a powerful story too that allowed for Jordan and Cox to have one of their more humanizing, tender moments. Yet again, in the end though, the implications aren’t that you can save everyone, but even in failure, there’s something to believe in.

My Full Moon (season 8, episode 13) On the whole I think season 8 is the weakest of the acknowledged seasons (I’ve no interest in season 9) but it does have some really lovely conclusions, like I said, and this one concluded Elliott’s arc in a satisfying way. As she’s one of my faves, and as it has a really well-acted scene where she tells a patient they are HIV positive (as HIV awareness and decreasing the stigma are very important to me), it’s one of my favorites.

My Finale (Part 2) (season 8, episode 19) A really excellent final scene and a powerful series message.

#scrubs #hamliet reviews #elliott reid #john dorian #chris turk #carla espinosa #perry cox #jordan sullivan #kelso

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nerdtrash-iteration · 5 years ago

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(Re)watching Doctor Who: series 6

Wow okay so. I already knew a fair bit of what happened in this series before watching it for the first time in 2019. I knew that River was Amy and Rory’s daughter. That she was a proto-Time Lord due to being conceived on the TARDIS. I knew that Amy somehow loses her as a baby and that she ends up being her parents’ childhood friend. Anyway, let’s get into this very mixed bag of a series.

Series 6 (Eleventh Doctor) 6.0: A Christmas Carol First of all, I adore this Christmas special, it’s become one of my favourites. I love the setting. I love the premise of the Doctor changing someone’s past to make them a better person. Love Amy and Rory having fun with costumes on their wedding night. I’m not really fond of Abigail basically being a sexy lamp, some of her story is a bit creepy if you think too much about it. But a very beautiful episode overall.

6.1 + 6.2: The Impossible Astronaut + Day of the Moon This isn’t a bad story, but I am biased against it for a few reasons. I don’t tend to like stories set in America as they often feel really out of place in Doctor Who. American TV is already so pervasive, give another location some attention. It felt alienating to have your first story of a new series be set in America, with government conspiracies and time jumps and fake deaths. It just really didn’t feel like Doctor Who. Also I know that the Silence return but I didn’t like that they were just all killed off in the second half. They were built up as such a big deal and then killing them didn’t look that hard. Would have been better as a mid-season finale I think.

6.3: The Curse of the Black Spot I found this story pretty forgettable except for the last ten minutes. The guest characters really didn’t do much for me. Story wasn’t really interesting. It all felt a bit too silly. However, those last ten minutes really did hit me hard. What was an ehh pirate adventure became a mystical poignant story about a pirate crew trapped in limbo: trapped between dimensions and between life and death. It felt like a sci-fi take on Davy Jones, I loved that. Shame it just came in at the end.

6.4: The Doctor’s Wife I heard about this story before I saw it and was worried it would be really awkward and cringe-y. No, I actually really enjoyed it. I adore the setting: a pocket universe with a disembodied antagonist that eats TARDISes. Excellent. I loved the interactions between the Doctor and TARDIS/Idris (I felt calling her “Sexy” was a bit too far, but I don’t hate it). I felt the scenes with Amy and Rory were a bit generic and predictable, with how House messed with them. But overall I really liked this episode. I love the complexity it adds to the disappearance of the Time Lords.

6.5 + 6.6: The Rebel Flesh + The Almost People This is a pretty decent story, but maybe a bit too long. I think the premise is great and really creepy. Good examination of personhood and bodily autonomy. But I don’t think it really needed to be a two-parter. Or maybe it needed to just use its running time better. Too many scenes drag for me. And I really found the Flesh as a concept difficult to take seriously. How has this never been brought up before??? It really feels like the implications of the Flesh in human society should have been explored more. 6.7: A Good Man Goes to War I have mostly positive feelings towards this episode but it can still be a bit frustrating. I think the rescue is fairly well-paced. I really like the new characters introduced. I love the connection of “Melody Pond” with “River Song”. However there are some set-backs. I’m not really into the military Church or the headless monks. It felt like world-building for the sake of it that doesn’t actually go anywhere. I really like the Paternoster gang, but I don’t like how they are introduced. They are characters the Doctor already knows but there is very little explanation to Amy and Rory or the audience who they are. I really felt like I had missed something and didn’t enjoy that. Also the Silence’s plan feels a tad contrived. The idea of creating an assassin to kill the Doctor is interesting. But it feels way too risky of a plan. How could they guarantee their brainwashed assassin doesn’t escape and learn how to be better? Which is what happened. 6.8: Let’s Kill Hitler I had spoiled myself a bit here, having seen many scenes from this episode closer to its time of airing. But seeing it in full really left me frustrated. I do like the reveal of their childhood friend Melody and their daughter Melody being one and the same. But I really hate how she behaves in this episode once she regenerates into her “River” body. This is the problem with telling a story in this order. We know River will become a friend to the gang. So there doesn’t feel like there’s a lot of tension here. And her “Tee hee, I’m such a psychopath, I love you and I’m here to kill you” act drove me mad. She really felt like a bad fanfiction OC here. I don’t love River overall as a character but I know she can be much better than this. Also there was barely any use mad of the historical setting. I do love Rory saying “Shut up, Hitler” and River facing off against the Nazi soldiers though. 6.9: Night Terrors This was mostly another ehhh episode to me. I do like the reveal of the dollhouse and the idea of people being turned into dolls. I enjoy the premise of the Doctor being summoned by a frightened child. Although this is another overuse of the perception filter I feel. It feels like a device to just cover up parts of your story that don’t quite click together. I also didn’t really care for the guest characters here. 6.10: The Girl Who Waited I was fairly impressed with this episode. Great setting, really interesting moral dilemma. I felt like some of the screen time could have been used more effectively, some parts of the story felt like it dragged a bit. But a very solid story. 6.11: The God Complex I was really disappointed with this episode. I knew a bit about it and was excited to see it. I really like a lot of the guest characters, especially Rita and Gibbis. Many of the character interactions are great. I love that Amy’s fear was represented by her childhood self waiting. I really like the creepy hotel being a labyrinth. But I couldn’t stand the minotaur or the plot resolution. I also had issue with their being inconsistency with the rules of the hotel. I think some characters saw their room and ended up fine. Some seemed to just be killed off without enough explanation. The whole “feeding on fear” thing was really eh to me. It was a horror story that lacked in a lot of tension. 6.12: Closing Time I was very fond of this episode. Again awkward that Gareth Roberts wrote it. I’m very fond of Craig as a character. Also the Doctor’s interactions with Alfie a.k.a Stormaggedon were very sweet. Not the best Cybermen story but not bad. Certainly better than The Next Doctor. Also it was wild to see Lynda Baron as one of the shop clerks. She was a childhood icon for me as Auntie Mabel in the education programme Come Outside.

6.13: The Wedding of River Song Give me strength, what a hot mess of an episode. I don’t loathe it like many do, but it was a really frustrating watch. This is where the Silence arc pissed me off the most. Kept dangling vague ideas in our face on why the Doctor had to die. It really felt like a repeat of “Because...reasons”. At the time of writing, I have seen the series 7 finale and The Time of the Doctor so I know it does eventually resolve. But it was a really frustrating watch at the time. I also don’t like the Doctor being suddenly like “Yo River, we need to get married now because plot”. I know it’s justified with technobabble that it will change the moment of the Doctor’s “death” but it really felt very jarring. I mostly found the Doctor and River’s relationship very frustrating as it seemed like we kept being told that she was important to him, without really seeing it. I can’t be sure of whether he actually had any romantic feelings for her, it’s hard to say. But yeah, kinda a mess of a finale. So yeah I have had this post in my drafts for a while as series 6 is hard for me to talk about. Some stories I’m quite fond of and I like the Doctor and the Ponds as a group but overall it was too dominated by an unsatisfying series arc for me to enjoy it as much as series 5.

#Doctor Who #Doctor Who recap #Doctor Who series 6

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eddycurrents · 5 years ago

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For the week of 7 October 2019

Quick Bits:

Batman & The Outsiders #6 concludes “Lesser Gods” from Bryan Hill, Dexter Soy, Veronica Gandini, and Clayton Cowles. We get another “Batman’s doing something naughty” hint as Ishmael and co attempt to turn Cass and Duke to Ra’s al Ghul’s cause. This is less a hard end than a twist to lead into what might be coming next.

| Published by DC Comics

Black Hammer / Justice League: Hammer of Justice #4 gives us an explanation for what the Stranger did to zap the heroes across their respective realities, even as the more hot-headed Justice League members continue to cause problems on DC’s Earth. I’m still loving the eerie darkness that Michael Walsh is bringing to the art. It keeps it more consistent with the feel established by Dean Ormston and Dave Stewart, making it feel more like a Black Hammer story.

| Published by Dark Horse & DC Comics

Blade Runner 2019 #4 concludes the first arc. Michael Green, Mike Johnson, Andres Guinaldo, Marco Lesko, and Jim Campbell have done a great job capturing the overall feel of the Blade Runner franchise and it pays off here with one hell of a harrowing end, with a nice twist for what’s to come.

| Published by Titan

Buffy + Angel: Hellmouth #1 begins the event in earnest, even though you really do need to read the prelude issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to get the real first part of this story, from Jordie Bellaire, Jeremy Lambert, Eleonora Carlini, Cris Peter, and Ed Dukeshire. It’s good. As Spike and Dru’s first step in opening the Hellmouth causes havoc through Sunnydale, Buffy and Angel team up to try to stop what’s coming next.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Catwoman #16 has some truly stunning, beautiful artwork from Joëlle Jones and Laura Allred. It might also have a huge change on Selina’s status. Though, how exactly it fits in with “City of Bane” or anything else is anyone’s guess. Still, very nice artwork.

| Published by DC Comics

Coffin Bound #3 is even darker and more disturbing than what we’ve seen in the first two issues, going deep into some of Izzy and Cassandra’s past, while Cassandra’s sister learns how to be a peeler. Dan Watters, Dani, Brad Simpson, and Aditya Bidikar are doing something very different with this series.

| Published by Image

Collapser #4 feels like both a test and a turning point for Liam, one that almost seems like he failed. Liam’s new manager turns out to be a “Star Person”, and it feels like she’s leading him into temptation, as we seemingly can’t trust what we see. Mikey Way, Shaun Simon, Ilias Kyriazis, Cris Peter, and Simon Bowland are continuing to delivering one of the best, strangest trips out there.

| Published by DC Comics / Young Animal

Contagion #2 keeps this largely street-level, only reaching out to the Avengers as more or less support for the moment, as Iron Fist tries to deal with further eruptions of the contagion. Ed Brisson, Stephen Segovia, Veronica Gandini, and Cory Petit certainly make this feel grim as everything continues to go wrong.

| Published by Marvel

Detective Comics #1013 reveals more of what Mister Freeze has been up to, pushing some rather disturbing experiments as he continues to try to find a cure for his wife. Including a rather troubling cliffhanger that looks like it might upend a lot of what we think we know about Freeze’s situation. Very entertaining story here from Peter J. Tomasi, Doug Mahnke, Keith Champagne, Christian Alamy, David Baron, and Rob Leigh.

| Published by DC Comics

Doctor Doom #1 is an offbeat debut from Christopher Cantwell, Salvador Larroca, Guru e-FX, and Cory Petit. While it shows us some of the day to day runnings Doom does for Latveria, it sets up a mystery as his countries missiles and more launch an attack on a moon project designed to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Nice bits of humour in this one.

| Published by Marvel

Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror - Season Two #1 is a welcome return of this series, with a fun lead story playing through many of Poe’s luminary tales in “The Tell-Tale Black Cask of Usher” from Dean Motter, Alex Ogle, and Julie Barclay. Really great seeing new work from Motter. This issue is rounded out by the usual poetry, prose pieces, and the return of Hunt Emerson’s Black Cat.

| Published by Ahoy

Event Leviathan #5 works further at the identity of Leviathan, throwing a few more suspects on the fire, along with the possible death of an important character. Also, you’re probably never going to guess who this issue points at being Leviathan. Gorgeous artwork from Alex Maleev as always.

| Published by DC Comics

The Flash #80 continues to dismantle the new forces and characters built up recently as Zoom and the Black Flash separately try to eliminate the force users. Great art here from Scott Kolins and Luis Guerrero. Kolins is the perfect choice to usher in this next stage in Zolomon’s story.

| Published by DC Comics

Gotham City Monsters #2 is even better than the first issue, working through Melmoth’s resurrection and gathering the team with invested purpose to bring about his end. There’s also added depth in that Melmoth may very well be right about part of his plan, just not necessarily in his execution. It could add some modicum of moral quandary depending on which way this goes. Steve Orlando, Amancay Nahuelpan, Trish Mulvihill, and Tom Napolitano are doing some very nice work here.

| Published by DC Comics

Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy #2 continues the confrontation with Woodrue, building on elements from Justice League Dark, even as something is very, very wrong with Poison Ivy. There’s a more refined, controlled humour here than what we see in the Harley Quinn series itself and it seems to fit the more serious tone of the subject matter. I’m really liking the art from Adriano Melo, Mark Morales, and Hi-Fi.

| Published by DC Comics

Hawkman #17 brings Carter’s battle with the Shadow Thief to a close, but he takes a turn for the worse as the title runs deeper into the “Year of the Villain” event and the fallout from The Batman Who Laugh’s infected. It’s interesting how Robert Venditti, Pat Olliffe, Tom Palmer, Jeremiah Skipper, and Richard Starkings & Comicraft deal with these multiple spinning plates. Especially that very nice cliffhanger.

| Published by DC Comics

Ice Cream Man #15 is one of the stranger issues, which is really saying a bit considering that the series itself is regularly very strange. It’s dark, with a protagonist who seems to be suffering a psychotic break. W. Maxwell Prince, Martín Morazzo, Chris O’Halloran, and Good Old Neon continue to work magic with this horror series.

| Published by Image

Invaders #10 continues “Dead in the Water” from Chip Zdarsky, Carlos Magno, Butch Guice, Alex Guimarães, and Travis Lanham. Some interesting complications here as Roxxon is further added to the mix and Roman starts making more problems for Atlantis. A really nice set up for something new from Steve and Namor too.

| Published by Marvel

Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity #1, like Harleen #1 before it, surprised me. There’s a current saturation of Joker and Harley Quinn stories at the moment, spurred on by the movies, and it kind of tempers expectations. Thankfully, though, the start to this story from Kami Garcia, Mico Suayan, Mike Mayhew, and Richard Starkings is really rather good. It sets Harley as a criminal profiler, trying to figure out Joker’s murders, really getting inside this new take on her character and developing a more grounded crime thriller. The art from Mico Suayan is gorgeous, presented in greyscale, in contrast to the full-colour, photo reference of Mike Mayhew for flashbacks. I thought it was an interesting choice to present it that way, bucking convention for the flashbacks taking on a faded appearance. It gives the overall story a grittier feel for the present.

| Published by DC Comics - Black Label

Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Allegiance #1 is kind of a slow start to this intermediary step between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker from Ethan Sacks, Luke Ross, Lee Loughridge, and Clayton Cowles. There’s an interesting bit of showing just how evil the First Order really is, but a lot of what we get here is a regathering of the team. Gorgeous artwork from Ross and Loughridge.

| Published by Marvel

Justice League Odyssey #14 sees Dan Abnett, Chriscross, Cliff Richards, Le Beau Underwood, Danny Miki, Scott Hanna, Rain Beredo, Pete Pantazis, and AndWorld Design keep building this new team to confront Darkseid and his “new gods”. I really quite like the inversion of what we saw at the beginning, as Jessica Cruz is now working with villains attempting to do something heroic. We also get a reveal of Okkult, who is probably who everyone thought he was in the first place.

| Published by DC Comics

Livewire #11 gets at a point that was seemingly dropped in the wake of Harbinger Wars 2 in what the US government and their arms-length black ops group did in the Massacre, of how problematic rounding up and murdering a group of people are via American laws. I love that Vita Ayala, Tana Ford, Kelly Fitzpatrick, and Saida Temofonte pick it up here and incorporate it into another angle for this political warfare.

| Published by Valiant

Loki #4 concludes “The God Who Fell to Earth” and Loki’s conflict with Nightmare in fairly inventive fashion. Daniel Kibblesmith has been delivering some fairly interesting ideas here while planting more seeds for different permutations.

| Published by Marvel

Oliver #4 was well worth the wait. Gary Whitta, Darick Robertson, Diego Rodriguez, and Simon Bowland pack this confrontation full of action, with some absolutely beautiful artwork from Robertson and Rodriguez. Some very harrowing character moments as the story takes its next turn.

| Published by Image

Outer Darkness #11 is insanely good as John Layman, Afu Chan, and Pat Brosseau give us the first part of the two-part “season finale” to the series. The crew take shore leave as Rigg goes about interviewing what we think are replacement crew and a meeting with his superior, and then...well, you’re really going to have to read this issue. Great stuff.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Pretty Deadly: The Rat #2 is magnificent, delving into more of the existing mythology from the previous volumes, while still continuing on the new narrative for this era that started last issue. The repeated incorporation of visual motifs inspired by the film industry is a very nice touch. Kelly Sue DeConnick, Emma Rios, Jordie Bellaire, and Clayton Cowles are giving us a very compelling mystery here.

| Published by Image

Ronin Island #7 pushes the bandits and the Shogun into confrontation and...none of it goes exactly to Kenichi’s plan. Greg Pak, Giannis Milonogiannis, Irma Kniivila, and Simon Bowland continue to unfold this story in interesting ways, while Hana and Kenichi’s childhood lessons come back to both haunt and empower them.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Shoplifters Will Be Liquidated #1 is an interesting debut from Patrick Kindlon, Stefano Simeone, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. Set within a rather expansive big box store, it presents an extreme look at consumer culture and the lengths that this store’s loss prevention staff goes to in order to get their man. It’s rather cutthroat, literally.

| Published by AfterShock

Sonata #5 unveils a bit more about the planet and the Lumani, revealing an interesting depth to their technology that’s seemingly been abandoned and their method of reproduction. Mixing that in with the action of trying to save members of the two colonizers in conflict keeps the pace moving along. Gorgeous artwork from Brian Haberlin and Geirrod Van Dyke.

| Published by Image / Shadowline

Spawn #301 continues the story and structure of #300, with Todd McFarlane, Greg Capullo, Jason Shawn Alexander, Clayton Crain, Jerome Opeña, Jonathan Glapion, FCO Plascencia, Peter Steigerwald, Matt Hollingsworth, John Rauch, Greg Menzie, Jay Fotos, and Tom Orzechowski breaking it down into numerous chapters, dealing with the various different elements. Some interesting new characters revealed again, even though we only get a bit about them.

| Published by Image

Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order - Dark Temple #3 reveals a few more secrets in the past, even as the Inquisitor searches for them in the present. Gorgeous artwork from Paolo Villanelli and Arif Prianto. It definitely feels like something weird is going on here.

| Published by Marvel

Star Wars Adventures: Return to Vader’s Castle #2 is another great entry into this series, with a central story illustrated this time by Kelley Jones and Michelle Madsen. It’s a wonderful monster story with one of Tarkin’s experiments, showing us what really makes up a monster.

| Published by IDW

Supergirl #35 sees Marc Andreyko, Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira, FCO Plascencia, and Tom Napolitano juggling about as many plates as they are over in Hawkman. There’s “Year of the Villain” stuff and a rather deep tie-in to Event Leviathan as Leviathan makes a pitch for Kara to join him.

| Published by DC Comics

Superman #16 reunites Jon and Damian one last time before Jon heads off to join the Legion in the future, from Brian Michael Bendis, David Lafuente, Paul Mounts, and Dave Sharpe. It’s a fun, heartfelt send-off with some very funny moments, including a renaming of Leviathan that will hopefully stick.

| Published by DC Comics

These Savage Shores #5 brings an end to one of the most beautifully told stories in comics in the past few years. Ram V, Sumit Kumar, Vittorio Astone, and Aditya Bidikar have done an incredible thing with this story, giving new depth and nuance to tragic romance and the vampire story. This conclusion is heartrending as we see how far Bishan will go for love, in an epic confrontation between vampire and raakshas. Everyone owes it to themselves to read this series. Simply phenomenal.

| Published by Vault

Thumbs #5 is the conclusion to what has been a wonderful series from Sean Lewis and Hayden Sherman. There are some really interesting ideas, subverting the ideologies of both factions, showing realizations that maybe there might just be a better way.

| Published by Image

Triage #2 delves deeper into the three multiversal versions of Evie, contemplating how they came about while trying to figure out a way to stop whoever it is that’s hunting them. There’s some sweet and funny character moments with the main “normal” universe’s Evie and Tab. Phillip Sevy is doing a great job of juggling both the ordinary and extraordinary in this story.

| Published by Dark Horse

Vampirella/Red Sonja #2 is more fun from Jordie Bellaire, Drew Moss, Rebecca Nalty, and Becca Carey. The issues between Vampirella and Sonja become greater, even as they get a spell to understand one another. There’s a really nice mix of humour and action here.

| Published by Dynamite

Web of Black Widow #2 is another great issue. What Jody Houser, Stephen Mooney, Tríona Farrell, and Cory Petit are doing here feels perfect for Black Widow, giving us an action-packed story full of intrigue, even as it keeps us off-balance as to what exactly is going on.

| Published by Marvel

Wonder Twins #8 throws in a prison break and a high school reunion into the reasons why you should be reading this series. Mark Russell, Mike Norton, Cris Peter, and Dave Sharpe deliver another humorous chapter to this series, with some rather interesting heartbreak.

| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics

Other Highlights: Absolute Carnage: Miles Morales #3, Age of Conan: Valeria #3, Amazing Spider-Man #31, Animosity #24, Batman Universe #4, The Batman’s Grave #1, Battlepug #2, East of West #43, Future Fight Firsts: White Fox #1, Ghosted in LA #4, GI Joe: A Real American Hero #267, Go Go Power Rangers #24, Gwenpool Strikes Back #3, House of Whispers #14, Immortal Hulk: Director’s Cut #5, Joker: Year of the Villain #1, Jughead: The Hunger vs. Vampironica #5, Magnificent Ms. Marvel #8, Marvel Action: Spider-Man #9, Miles Morales: Spider-Man #11, Oblivion Song #20, Postal: Deliverance #4, Power Rangers: The Psycho Path, Powers of X #6, Reaver #4, Redneck #24, RWBY (print) #1, RWBY (digital) #4, Secrets of Sinister House #1, Star Wars: Target Vader #4, Thought Bubble Anthology 2019, TMNT: Urban Legends #17, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #49, Unearth #4, Usagi Yojimbo #5, Wonder Woman #80

Recommended Collections: A Walk Through Hell - Volume 2, Baltimore Omnibus - Volume 1, Battlestar Galactica Classic: Counterstrike, Battlestar Galactica: Twilight Command, Black Hammer ‘45 - Volume 1, Blossoms 666, Hack/Slash vs. Chaos, The Silencer - Volume 3: Up in Smoke, War of the Realms: Punisher, Wizard Beach

d. emerson eddy is ready for some shashlik.

#This Week in Comics

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stevesnightmares · 6 years ago

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Moffat's Doctor Who: Season 6

I already made a post about Moffat and how it seems that everyone absolutely hates every season where he was the showrunner, but I was watching the list of series 6 episodes and tbh? There is not one bad episode in my opinion, every episode is awesome.

The Christmas special was A Christmas Carol which I thought was one of the best Christmas specials if not the best.

Episode 1&2 (The impossible Astronaut/Day of the moon) were brilliant, I absolutely loved them and they were great openers for a new season because they got you instantly hooked on the series and excited for new episodes that had to come.

Episode 3 (The curse of the black spot) was a super underrated episode in my opinion. I thought it was a lot of fun, super intriguing, it had pirates and it also had a bit of an emotional punch. I loved it.

Episode 4 (The doctor's wife) was absolutely brilliant, really emotional, with a beautiful concept that was brilliantly executed. It also has one of my favourite quotes of all time: House: Fear me: I've killed hundreds of Time Lords.The Doctor: Fear me... I've killed all of them.

Episode 5&6 (The rebel flesh/The almost people) again, a two parters that was really good, it introduced a concept that has been used hundreds of time in sci-fi, that is, when men made things get feelings and don't want to be used and killed because they are sentient and living even tho they are created by humans. It had a lot of tension and I was always on my toes. Not my favourite episodes ever but still really good.

Episode 7 (A good man goes to war) I loved this episode, it was brilliant, and the first time I saw it I was really surprised by the plot twist. Just a great episode that tied in a LOT of things. Rory in this episode was an absolute badass and I love how the doctor recruited some of characters that we saw throughout the series. Absolutely loved it, and it also had my favourite quote of all time:

"Night will fall and drown the sun

When a good man goes to war

Friendship dies and true love lies

Night will fall and the dark will rise

When a good man goes to war

Demons run, but count the cost

The battle's won, but the child is lost"

And I also really liked the line: "Good men don't need rules. And today is not the day to find out why I have so many." + the colonel runaway part.

Episode 8 (Let's kill Hitler) A lot of people didn't like this episode, and I can understand why, it was really messy, but personally I did, and I watched it more then once. The reason I liked it is that it's a fun episode. That's it. It's just a fun episode that I watch when I want something light hearted to watch. I know it has some heavy moments but it's just fun, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Episode 9 (Night Terrors), it was creepy and the concept was really good and well executed. It's probably the episode that I enjoyed the least of series 6, but it's not because it's a bad episode, but because the others are better. This one however is still a really good episode.

Episode 10 (The girl who waited) This episode was just brilliant, I love this episode SO MUCH. Really heartbreaking and emotional and I just loved it.

Episode 11 (The god complex) Another episode that I absolutely adored. There is just something about this episode that makes me love it. This is one of those episodes that was really underrated at the beginning but than a lot of people started to praise him it more.

Episode 12 (Closing time) This is another really fun episode, I don't enjoy James Corden as a TV host but he was really good in both of his episodes on doctor who and I really enjoyed both of them. This is just one of those funny episodes, not one with a serious plot, and you have to see it for what it is.

Episode 13 (The wedding of River Song) I really liked the finale, not as much as I loved The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang becauseI loved that a lot more, but still a very exciting finale that didn't leave you underwhelmed.

Another thing that I loved about this series is that it showed more of the Doctor, Rory and Amy inside the TARDIS, and it hinted at things that happened when they were not on adventures but still with the doctor.

Series 5 was also absolutely brilliant with episodes like: The Big Bang, The Pandorica Opens, The time of angels/Flesh and stone, The beast below, The eleventh hour, however it also had Cold blood/The hungry earth that I didn't really enjoy, they weren't bad, they were just a bit meh, more on the average side than on the good, so I can't really say that, like season 6, it only had good/brilliant/awesome episodes because those two are just average.

#doctor who #steven moffat #11th doctor #amy pond #river song #rory pond #doctor who commentary #my commentary

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yeonchi · 5 years ago

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Doctor Who Series 12 Review: Epilogue

It’s time to wrap up another series of reviews. Thanks to the Series 12 finale, I’ve got quite a bit to talk about. I’m also going to cover a few topics related to the production of the series.

Final series rating and verdict

Episode 1: 8/10

Episode 2: 8/10

Episode 3: 5/10

Episode 4: 9/10

Episode 5: 8/10

Episode 6: 8/10

Episode 7: 8/10

Episode 8: 7/10

Episode 9: 9/10

Episode 10: 7/10

First half mid-series total: 38/50 (76%)

Second half mid-series total: 39/50 (78%)

Final series total: 77/100 (77%)

Compared to Series 11′s total of 73%, I can agree that Series 12 is better than Series 11 - but not by much. I can’t help but feel I’m giving this series too much credit given how it’s being handled under Chris Chibnall. I found less SJW red flags in this series, but they were major ones that reflected current affairs or absolutely broke the lore of the series.

In turn, there were more episodes where I was unable to find tokusatsu references - there was one such episode in Series 11, but in Series 12, there were three such episodes. It’s easier for me to count how many episodes don’t have tokusatsu references than those that do.

The elephant in the room that will never get solved

Unfortunately, before the premiere of the series finale, Sacha Dhawan and Steven Moffat have stated that the origin of O as the Master should be left to the fans and that it is unlikely that it will be answered in the series anytime soon. I mean, we almost saw that happen with John Simm as Harold Saxon, but then he came back for the Series 10 finale.

It's so amazing how this series started off with me denying that O was the Master to me begrudgingly accepting that O is the Master with contrived theories and opinions. Again, I wouldn't have had much of a problem with this if Missy wasn't (seemingly) killed off. If it weren’t for O admitting that he has no better nature, I could have locked in my theory, but I guess we’ll just leave it up in the air, shall we?

On one hand, if O's incarnation of the Master definitely came after Missy, then Saxon didn't give her the full blast because as I said in my review of the second episode, there is no reason why the Master would rob himself of opportunities to spite the Doctor, knowing that he would continue to live on. On the other hand, having O be set between Saxon and Missy, while it would fit him not having the character development of the latter, would be unnecessary because it would jumble the Master's timeline in relation to the Doctor's. I still think the Rani should have been brought back, though.

The Timeless Child and the Cartmel Masterplan

In case you haven’t seen the review of the Series 12 finale (which you should), I don’t have a very high opinion of the Timeless Child arc because it overcomplicates the Doctor’s past (and diversifies it in the form of pre-Hartnell incarnations) and puts the Doctor on a higher pedestal above the Time Lords, like a godly figure (as if the Time Lords weren’t “godly” enough). It also raises a lot of plot holes and issues that I can’t be bothered getting into because I’m so distraught about this episode; other people can probably sum them up better than I can (UPDATE - 13 March 2020: Screen Rant listed a few of them in this article).

In researching for this topic, I was reminded of this line in the Series 9 premiere, The Magician’s Apprentice, in which Missy states that she has cared about the Doctor “since always, since the Cloister Wars, since the night he stole the moon and the President’s wife and since he was a little girl” before saying that one of those was a lie. In Hell Bent, it was revealed that the third statement was a lie perpetuated by the Shobogans; the Doctor lost the moon and he actually stole the President’s daughter.

I would have been happy to leave this as a throwaway line and one of Missy’s lies (ala the honest and dishonest guards) if it weren’t for this episode. If that last statement is actually true, then there are only two possibilities: either the Timeless Child’s “friend” that she was seen playing with is actually a young Master or O’s incarnation is between the Saxon and Missy incarnations.

While doing the same research, I was also reminded of the Cartmel Masterplan. During the Seventh Doctor era, a group of writers led by Andrew Cartmel defined a vision that would reintroduce mystery into the Doctor’s character. It would reveal that the Doctor was a reincarnation of the Other, one of the Founding Fathers of Gallifrey. Due to producer John Nathan-Turner’s meddling with the scripts, only references to the Masterplan were kept in Seasons 25 and 26. The Masterplan would be explored in the Virgin New Adventures novels (of which Lungbarrow would be the final entry to feature the Seventh Doctor).

I wouldn’t have had such a problem with it if it was done before Series 7 (or the Moffat era) because Clara’s storyline basically locked in the definition of the Doctor and his lives as we knew him. And yet this was the storyline that Chris Chibnall wanted to write since he was young, essentially bringing a modified form of the Cartmel Masterplan to Doctor Who, which connects to my next bit.

Chris Chibnall, 1986

One of the well-known things about Chris Chibnall from before the revival was that in 1986, he (age 16) appeared on a BBC daytime show, Open Air, representing the Doctor Who Appreciation Society in Liverpool. Writers Pip and Jane Baker were also present. In that program, he criticised one of their stories, namely Terror of the Vervoids, stating that it was very clichéd and boring. Years later, in 2018, Chibnall would dismiss those words as nonsense, but in my opinion, to reflect those words on his time as showrunner so far would be an understatement. Maybe it’s why he couldn’t bring back the Rani in this series...

(in case you didn’t know, Pip and Jane Baker wrote The Mark of the Rani and Time and the Rani)

Expecting a full run every year

I covered this in the prelude of this series’ reviews, but I’ve learned a bit more about it since then.

Given how the first five series of the revived Doctor Who had a "full run", which I define to be exactly 13 episodes broadcast consistently at the same time each year without any splits, it's easy for people to assume at this point that the BBC aren't keeping to that standard. However, given the split seasons, the changing schedules and reducing episode numbers, the underlying causes are not as simple as we think.

I took a look at an overview of the Doctor Who series on Wikipedia and I found that the classic series has had more and less episodes per season when compared to the revived series. I know it may seem like that because the episodes are generally equivalent to half the length of a revived series episode, but things will be put to perspective when you halve those episode counts (with the exception of Season 22, which had 45-minute long episodes), so the numbers I quote will be taken with that in mind.

During the First and Second Doctor's eras, an equivalent average of 21 episodes were broadcast each season. In the Third, Fourth and Fifth Doctor's eras, that was reduced to 12.4 episodes. Finally, with the exception of Season 22, the Sixth and Seventh Doctor's eras had an average of 7 episodes per season. In a Radio Times interview, Chris Chibnall has stated that every episode is essentially a "big movie" with new guest casts, new sets and new monsters. In the same article, it stated that Russell T Davies was put under a lot of pressure during his time on Doctor Who, particularly given the fact that he was also overseeing Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures at the same time. Each Chibnall era series took 10 months to film, so that will presumably be the case when Series 13 starts pre-production in June 2020 with filming to start in September 2020.

As for Steven Moffat, the split of Series 6 was his idea, however the split of Series 7 wasn't necessarily his, but the BBC's idea to reduce the gap between the end of Series 7 and The Day of the Doctor. He also stated that he wanted to make Doctor Who an "event piece" by being open to "shaking up the transmission pattern", claiming that "the more Doctor Who becomes a perennial, the faster it starts to die". In short, if each new series of Doctor Who premiered at different times each year, then fans would be anticipating it for longer.

Following Series 11, there was only about a month to wait until the New Year’s special. Following that, there was a year until the start of Series 12. Now with Series 12 over, we have nine more months to wait until the festive special (whether it’ll be broadcast on Christmas or New Year’s Day is not confirmed yet) and then after that, we will potentially have another 9-10 months of waiting until Series 13 starts again in autumn 2021. This is one of the factors that are contributing to my decision to eventually move on from Doctor Who once I’m done with it.

About licence fees

I was going to do a bit about the ratings of the show, but the patterns are too erratic to infer anything specific. There are some general observations I can see; there was a downward trend in the average ratings during Steven Moffat’s time as showrunner while Series 11 had the biggest rate of viewer change by season (see the charts linked in this Reddit comment).

In the middle of February, it was suggested that Prime Minister Boris Johnson could order a reform of the BBC, scrapping the licence fee and changing it to a subscription model. This, combined with some of the fan reaction to Series 12, seems to be leading to a rise in calls for the licence fee to be scrapped.

In Britain, the TV licence increases with inflation each year. From April 2020, the cost of the TV licence will rise by £3 to £157.50 for colour licences, while the monochrome licence will stay at £52 (as if anyone still has monochrome TVs in the current year). Until the end of May 2020, TV licences are funded by the government and as such, are free for people over 75, but from June onwards, licences will be funded by the BBC and will only be free to anyone aged 75 or over who receives Pension Credit (which is apparently different from the State Pension, or so I’ve read), meaning that others will now have to pay the full licence fee (way to exploit old people, huh).

My other favourite country, Japan, also has a TV licence fee, which is used to fund the NHK. There are three types of licence, namely a satellite licence which also covers terrestrial broadcasts, a terrestrial licence which only covers said broadcasts and a special licence which covers satellite broadcasts for people who are having difficulty receiving terrestrial broadcasts due to trains or the terrain. As at October 2019, the annual (direct debit) cost of the three licences (which are cheaper than paying monthly or bi-monthly) are at 24,770 yen, 13,990 yen and 10,940 yen respectively. There are discounts if you live in Okinawa, near an airport or an air base, or if you are paying for multiple licences, through your cable company or as a family (with more than one licence).

Basically, you will need a TV licence if you watch any channel on free or pay TV (or any TV program on an online service if you’re in the UK) and the licence merely funds the national broadcaster. There have been calls for governments to stop funding public broadcasters with taxpayer money for various reasons. Some people also believe that the funding of those broadcasters are being jeopardised by their governments as well.

I consider myself to be lucky here in Australia as the licence fee was scrapped in 1974 and the ABC was funded by government grants ever since. Back in 1964, a TV licence would have cost £6 (A$12), which equates to A$171.08 in 2019 dollars.

The enforcement of the licence fee has made paying it in the first place a hassle for some people. If you do some searching on Google, then you might find stories from people, particularly in the UK and Japan, who have been harassed by these so-called licence fee collectors.

In my ideal world, I would prefer that public TV stations are funded like they do in the United States - partially from the government and partially through voluntary donations from the general public (and foundations and corporations as well). I can see how this would make them look like any ordinary charity, but it’s better than nothing and it makes everyone happy.

The fall of Western entertainment and everything I ever loved

Over the past two series of doing these reviews, I’ve been trying to convince myself that Doctor Who won’t take a big dive into the SJW agenda. Now having seen the Series 12 finale, I’m finally ready to take the red pill and fully accept that the show is no longer how I remembered it to be.

I hear a lot of people saying about how some series and franchises used to be good, but then got worse and worse as time went on due to the SJW agenda takeover. I don’t follow those other franchises, so maybe that’s why I’ve been sceptical for so long.

In terms of my personal life, I’ve lost interest in many things I used to like over the past decade due to various factors. New animes became too sexist for me (in terms of marketing and gender ratios). Video games are more focused on money than entertainment. Koei Tecmo barely dubbed their Warriors games fully and recently, they recast the entire English cast for Dynasty Warriors 9. While I was too busy to keep following My Little Pony, the main highlight I got from reading comments about the Friendship is Magic finale was that among other things, some things in the epilogue were not left to audience interpretation. And of course, Doctor Who retconned its past in ways no other person would have even dared to think.

With the exception of the English dub thing, it would be easy to blame SJWs for ruining the things I used to love and appreciate. It would be too optimistic, however, to consider that there were other factors besides SJWs, considering the way the world seems to be thinking at the moment.

Over the past few years, I’ve been unable to find any new significant things to love and appreciate. It almost feels like I’m Stan Marsh in those two South Park episodes where he turns 10 and starts seeing the world as shit. Maybe it might be time for me to grow up and accept the truth. Oh well, for the time being, at least I still have Japanese tokusatsu - my last bastion of sanity in this turbulent world.

UPDATE - 13 March 2020: Speaking of which, Power Rangers Super Megaforce disrespected 21 years of continuity and barely anyone was complaining about or defending it because of SJW reasons, yet when Doctor Who disrespected over 56 years of extended continuity, everyone was complaining about or defending it because of SJW reasons. I honestly hate to see where these observations go from here.

Regarding the festive special

As I stated, the next episode, Revolution of the Daleks, will be broadcast at the end of 2020. Interestingly, the episode (or at least parts of it) were filmed together with Series 12 as there were reports that Daleks were involved in filming at the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol around the end of October last year. This means that the footage would be held for at least a year before it would premiere on our screens, leaving a bigger risk for leaks than normal.

There is a rumour that John Barrowman will reprise his role as Jack Harkness again in this special. If so, then I hope it complements his appearance in Episode 5.

Recently, it was reported that Tosin Cole and Bradley Walsh would be leaving the series as they were casted in US courtroom drama 61st Street and a remake of UK comedy drama The Darling Buds of May respectively. Funnily enough, it was also stated that they could continue to make occasional appearances, so we’ll have to see it to believe it.

Obviously, this means that out of Graham, Ryan and Yaz, Yaz will be staying with the Doctor after the festive special. Talk about Yaz favouritism, eh? Speaking of which, I don’t think I saw as much Yaz favouritism in Series 12 than I did in Series 11. At the same time, Ryan’s dyspraxia was touched on as frequently in Series 12 than it was in Series 11.

Hopefully, this change means that we’ll be seeing more Yaz character development, though with the mystery of the Timeless Child still looming, I somehow doubt it.

Negotiating DWexit

So now, having watched the Series 12 finale, I’ve decided to take the red pill on this series falling to the SJW agenda. If it weren’t for my obligation to write these reviews, I would have decided to stop following the series, but seeing that Series 13 would be Jodie Whittaker’s third and possibly final series (based on how many series previous Doctors have done), I’m going to take one final chance and review Series 13 when it premieres late-2021. Remember that the series finale would set up some new plot threads that would be answered in the next series, so I’m looking forward to seeing how the Timeless Child arc concludes.

I was hoping to maintain a casual interest in the show after this entire review series is done, but there may come a time when I have to put my foot down and move on. Even if we find out later that the Master was in fact lying about the Timeless Child being the Doctor or that the Doctor’s pre-Hartnell incarnations weren’t canon, it doesn’t excuse the fact that Chibnall tried to diversify the Doctor’s past or contradict established canon. If casting the Thirteenth Doctor as a woman was strike one (which I’m teetering on), then this would be strike two. What it would take for a strike three would be another female for the Fourteenth Doctor or something even worse than the Series 12 finale.

In the meantime

Regardless of whether I will be reviewing Series 13, the fact is that there is still a lot of time to kill, so I’m going to share some of what I am planning to post on Tumblr for the rest of 2020. Aside from the sporadic random and content introduction posts, I have a couple of posts sitting in my drafts (hoping to make another one or two as well) about some obscure memes I’ve been appreciating.

I low-key mentioned this in the review for Episode 6 and on the Sea Princesses Wiki, but I’m planning to buy Fabio Yabu’s Princesas do Mar books and translate them so I can do reviews on them and put info from them on the wiki as my final project for it. I aim to start this by the end of this year when I earn enough money from work to buy the books, but if there are any Brazillian fans out there who wouldn’t mind sharing scans, snapshots or transcripts of the books, then please feel free to contact me and maybe we can work something out.

I’ve never thought about pointing this out for the past few years, but the truth is that my Facebook and Tumblr pages (along with my anime pages on Facebook) haven’t grown much over the past few years (whereas the Yui Hirasawa Waifu Network is seeing new followers almost every few days). As for this Tumblr blog in particular (my main page), I suspect that I may have been shadowbanned since at least 2015 while I was writing the Koei Warriors Rant Series, which is why I barely see any new followers or activity on here. Only one user liked one of my reviews during Series 12 and only one user liked a couple of my reviews during Series 11.

So if you happen to see this, feel free to follow me and look forward to my future content. And if you happen to see my past posts and you have a problem with them, then maybe you should have thought twice about following me or making a scene about it.

Otherwise, thank you for reading this series of reviews again. I’ll be back at the end of the year to review the festive special, Revolution of the Daleks.

#doctor who #doctor who series 12 #thirteenth doctor #doctor who series 12 review #thirteenth doctor review

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themistressofdolls · 7 years ago

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Moffat era doctor who guide

Doctor who moffat era skippable guide

Inspired by the skippable tumblr, wanted to do something for a friend that wants to go back through the moffat era, so I will list episodes worth watching in each series. Any episode not listed here is ether really bad or just not worth the time.

Note: Don’t really bother following the series 5-7 story arcs they don’t go anywhere and you will thank me for this. If you are interested in the worst this era has to offer go here http://themistressofdolls.tumblr.com/post/163290164560/httpthemistressofdollstumblrcompost163289662

(Best of this era)

Most of series 5.

The 2013 Specials

and Series 10

Series 5

The eleventh Hour(11's introduction, great episode)

The time of Angels+Flesh and stone(Builds on Blink, solid horror two parter)

Vampires of Venice(Not that great but has Rory joining the team)

Amys choice

The hungry Earth+cold blood(Dull in places but important ending)

Vincent and the doctor

The Lodger(Not my favourite but others like it)

The Pandorica opens+the Big bang(Solid finale but will leave plot holes)

A Christmas carol(One of moffs best christmas specials but corny as hell)

Series 6

The impossible Astronaut+Day of the moon(Epic two parter but don't invest much in the story arc)

The Doctors wife(MUST SEE)

the rebel flesh+Almost people(Just really not good but meh story arc tie in)

A good man goes to war(It's epic but so many holes and stupid stuff, also queer baiting and a really problematic trope that put people off this era)

Lets kill Hitler(This is bad but if you want the arc stuff see it)

The girl who waited(One of the better episodes this season)

The god complex

The wedding of river song(Worst finale in this era and shows moffats story arcs where hollow)

Series 7

Dinosaurs on a spaceship(Average but has Brian Williams who is great)

The power of three(Dull episode but introduces the new UNIT era)

The Angels Take Manhattan(Stupid in places but has Amy and Rorys exit)

The snowmen(Not too good but introduces Clara)

The bells of saint John(Honestly pretty fun this one)

The Rings of Akhaten(Has the speech)

Nightmare in Silver(This one is really terrible, bad child actors, cybermen in a theme park but does introduce the new cyberman design)

The name of the doctor.

2013 specials

Night of the Doctor(MUST WATCH Brings 8 back, references Big finish, just really good)

Day of the doctor(It's a good 50th special, could have done more but it was just good)

Time of the doctor(This one is just everything wrong with the moffat era and his arcs but it is 11s exit so check it out)

Series 8

Deep Breath(12's first story, I like the darker elements here)

Into the dalek

Time Heist

The caretaker

Mummy on the Orient Express

Flatline

Dark Water+Death in heaven(Missy introduced)

Series 9

The Magicians Apprentice+witches Familiar(Epic story but full of holes, fan wank and problems yet the Doctor Davros interactions are always great)

Under the lake+Before the flood

The girl who died

The woman who lived

The Zygon invasion+Inversion

Face the raven(Claras death, pretty good episode)

Heaven sent(This is 12 at his best, pity the follow on was terrible)

The husbands of River song(Introduces Nardole and gives River her final appearance)

Series 10

the pilot(Acts as a soft reboot to 12 which I like)

Smile

thin Ice

Knock Knock

Oxygen

Extremis

Pyramid at the end of the world(Not too great)

Lie of the land(Alright but the monk three parter was meh at best)

Empress of Mars

The eaters of light

World and enough time+The doctor falls(Best finale in a while)

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gokaihearts35 · 7 years ago

Text

My opinion of new series Doctor Who

Top Doctor

I love all the doctors in the new series, but I still prefer Peter Capald, even reviewing every episode. While I really like the ninth doctor,As he stayed only one season had no way to stay on top of the others, comparing how many different situations the other doctors suffered. The tenth and eleven were the most difficult to decide the positions, I love both, plus the tenth has several negative characteristics that I hate

1) 12

2) 11

3) 10

4) 9

Top Companion

Some characters surprised me as how much I liked. I did not remember that Rose was so fun and even with her various faults until I liked her more than I remembered, Donna I thought I would be better positioned since she has the best and More amusing relationship with the tenth doctor, but had forgotten how incredible Martha was, in several episodes she had to act alone to survive and save the day even with the tenth doctor treating her horribly and condescending several times. Rory and Amy did I did not remember how much I liked their relationship, and how beautiful it was Amy's relationship with the Doctor was, I liked her more than I expected. Clara I already knew that would be in first place, I love your relationship with the doctor, its complexity, its flaws, is the most complex and developed character of the new series (Clara, we knows that she loves stories, she sees the life of her parents as a fairy tale, loves and wants to take care of children she has an authoritarian personality and tries to take control of the situation (I'm not just talking about their several episodes of the eighth season about this, but also looks to the end of The Bells of Saint John different from the other companions that when the Doctor are invited them to Tardis instead of jumping inside the Tardis she sends him come back the next day, she takes control of the situation and it shows that it will do the thing of traveling with him on her terms, she takes control of the situation instead of the Doctor who let her travel with him is the Doctor waiting to know if she will travel with him). I hate it when they say that Clara is too perfect, when she is the companion with more defects being quoted and who are important for the stories and their development, this does not make sense. Clara is my favorite companion of the new series and the most of the people completely lose the arc point of the Impossible girl: The whole point of her season 7 arc was The doctor realizes that he was wrong and she is only a normal person who later did something incredible, like Rose and Donna. Initially she tried to balance her normal life with the life With life with the doctor, And as Danny died it was as if there was nothing else that bound her to Earth, she saw herself as a protagonist of a book, she and Doctor were the heroes who could always save the day and escape the danger, of course it ended Being so equal to the Doctor who ended up dead, plus she and the Doctor forged such a deep bond and he this season (the ninth) was already tired of letting people die (Ashildr's bow, the girl's death in the bow of the underwater base ) and did not want to lose anybody else and with desire of revenge against the Time Lords he ended up going too far and breaking the laws of time and he brought her to life, plus what could end up breaking the universe, but he with his selfish did not want Give up saving Clara, so he had to erase his memories of her, and you can notice he learned the lesson that everything has to end an hour, that nothing is forever, in the at the The Husbands of River Song. Clara of course would return to Gallifrey, her final arc was a critique of the trope of killing of female character and that any person can be the Doctor, that he is not just a being, but an ideal that anyone can try to be, Idea that has several Moffat scripts, like Extremis, The Zygon Inversion, The Witch's Familiar and several others. . Bill, while I quite liked her, she was very simple, and I sincerely liked the others more than hers.

1) Clara

2) Rory

3) Martha

4) Amy

5) Donna

6) Bill

7) River Song

8) Rose

9) Nardole

10) Captain Jack

11) Mickey

Top Season ( The best to worst)

Top Season Finale

One thing I prefer in the Moffat season finale is that it focuses on the characters' relationships with each other and their developments, how situations are dealt with, and are centered on the dialogues between the characters while those in Russell T Davies are more focused in action, how the situation affects the characters and their choices. In RT Davies are situations that are increasing, threatening the Earth or the Universe, while Moffat is the opposite, starts with a great threat, with several villains to become small situations, with only a few characters in one place, talking between they, in Davies the characters struggle with the external situation, in that of Moffat they struggle with their interior.

1-Face the Raven/Heaven Sent/Hell Bent

2- World Enough and Time / The Doctor Falls

3- The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang

4- Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords

5- Dark Water / Death in Heaven

6- Army of Ghosts/Doomsday

7- Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways

8- The Name of the Doctor

9- The Wedding of River Song

10- The Stolen Earth / Journey's End

There are no episodes that I did not like, for me, every episode goes from good to great. Actually it was very difficult to do the lists, because several episodes were good and great, so some positions were decided not only how much I liked, but by elements of the episodes.

SERIES 1

10º — The Long Game

9º — The End of the World

8º — Rose

7º — Boom Town

6º — Father's Day

5º — The Unquiet Dead

4º — Dalek

3º — Aliens of London/World War Three

2º — Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways

1º — The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances

Series 2

10º — Fear Her

9º — The Idiot's Lantern

8º — Tooth and Claw

7º — Love & Monsters

6º — School Reunion

5º — New Earth

4º — Army of Ghosts/Doomsday

3º — The Girl in the Fireplace

2º — Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel

1º — The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit

Series 3

9º — The Lazarus Experiment

8º — Smith and Jones

7º — 42

6º — Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks

5º — Gridlock

4º — The Shakespeare Code

3º —Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords

2º — Blink

1º — Human Nature/The Family of Blood

Series 4

10º — The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky

9º — Partners in Crime

8º — The Unicorn and the Wasp

7º — The Doctor's Daughter

6º — The Stolen Earth/Journey's End

5º — The Fires of Pompeii

4º — Turn Left

3º — Planet of the Ood

2º — Midnight

1º — Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead

Season 5

10º — The Vampires of Venice

9º — Amy's Choice

8º — Victory of the Daleks

7º — The Beast Below

6º — The Lodger

5º — The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood

4º — The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone

3º — The Eleventh Hour

2º — Vincent and the Doctor

1º — The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang

Season 6

11º — Night Terrors

10º — The Curse of the Black Spot

9º — Closing Time

8º — Let's Kill Hitler

7º — The Wedding of River Song

6º — The God Complex

5º — The Rebel Flesh / The Almost People

4º — A Good Man Goes to War

3º — The Doctor's Wife

2º — The Girl Who Waited

1º — The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon

Season 7

13º - Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS

12° - Hide

11º — Cold War

10º — Nightmare in Silver

9º — The Power of Three

8º — The Bells of Saint John

7º — The Angels Take Manhattan

6º — Asylum of the Daleks

5º — The Name of the Doctor

4º — Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

3º —The Crimson Horror

2º — A Town Called Mercy

1º — The Rings of Akhaten

Season 8

11º — Kill the Moon

10º — In the Forest of the Night

9º — The Caretaker

8º — Into the Dalek

7º — Time Heist

6º — Deep Breath

5º — Dark Water / Death in Heaven

4º — Listen

3º — Robot of Sherwood

2º — Flatline

1º — Mummy on the Orient Express

Season 9

6º — Sleep No More

5º — The Girl Who Died / The Woman Who Lived

4º — Under the Lake / Before the Flood

3º — The Zygon Invasion / The Zygon Inversion

2º — The Magician's Apprentice / The Witch's Familiar

1º — Face the Raven/Heaven Sent/Hell Bent

Seasn 10

10º — Knock Knock

9º — Smile

8º — The Pyramid at the End of the World / The Lie of the Land

7º — Empress of Mars

6º — The Pilot

5º — Thin Ice

4º — Oxygen

3º — The Eaters of Light

2º — Extremis

1º — World Enough and Time / The Doctor Falls

Chistmas Specials

12º — The End of Time

11º — The Next Doctor

10º — The Christmas Invasion

9º — The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe

8º — The Return of Doctor Mysterio

7º — The Runaway Bride

6º — Voyage of the Damned

5º — The Snowmen

4º — The Time of the Doctor

3º — The Husbands of River Song

2º — Last Christmas

1º — A Christmas Carol

Regarding the list of episodes of cybermen and daleks, one can notice that the list are not only of the ones I liked the most, but also how well I found them to have used these villains in history

Top Cybermen Episodes

1- World Enough and Time / The Doctor Falls

2- Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel

3- Dark Water / Death in Heaven

4- The Next Doctor

5- Army of Ghosts/Doomsday

6- Closing Time

7- Nightmare in Silver

Top Daleks Episodes

1- Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways

2- The Magician's Apprentice / The Witch's Familiar

3- Army of Ghosts/Doomsday

4- Dalek

5- Asylum of the Daleks

6- Into the Dalek

7- Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks

8- The Stolen Earth / Journey's End

9- Victory of the Daleks

Top Episodes of Russel T Davies

12 - Gridlock

11 - The Stolen Earth/Journey's End

10 - The Runaway Bride

9 - Partners in Crime

8 - Voyage of the Damned

7 - Aliens of London/World War Three

6 - Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways

5 - Army of Ghosts/Doomsday

4 - The Waters of Mars

3 - Turn Left

2 - Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords

1 – Midnight

Top Episodes of Steven Moffat

12 - The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances

11 - The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon

10 - Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead

9 - Blink

8 - The Magician's Apprentice / The Witch's Familiar

7 - Extremis

6 – Last Christmas

5 - A Christmas Carol

4 - The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang

3 - The Day of the Doctor

2 - World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls

1 – Heaven Sent/Hell Bent

Top Episodes of Mark Gatiss

1) Robot of Sherwood

2) The Crimson Horror

3) The Unquiet Dead

4) Empress of Mars

5) Cold War

6) The Idiot's Lantern

7) Victory of the Daleks

8) Night Terrors

9) Sleep No More

I love Robot of Sherwood, I think it's a really funny episode, Clara was great, I loved the Doctor's dynamics with Robin Hood and had a great message about heroism and inspiration and fiction from the heroes. The Crimson Horror, I like to focus in the Paternoster gang, mostly in Jenny, and I loved Winifred Gillyflower and Ada, they were great characters. As of Cold War, the episodes for me are just regular. Victory of the Daleks and Sleep No More are not so bad episodes, both have good ideas and scenes, in Victory I liked the story of the scientist, the fact that nobody believed in the Doctor and in the end the daleks win, already in Sleep No More sincerely not I see what's so bad about this episode, it has a good idea, a good mood and a good ending, of course there are several things I would do differently, but there's nothing bad about the villan. The only one I do not like, that I hate is Night Terrors, I hated the kid in the episode and had several things that I think did not made sense. Overall I like Mark Gatiss, he did not write my favorites of the seasons but he is not such a bad roter as people say.

#doctor who #top #doctor who analysis #steven moffat #russel t davies #mark gatiss #10th doctor #eleven doctor #twelfth doctor #clara oswald #daleks #cybermen

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