WHO Websites

The BBC seems to be having a field day with spin-off websites. Here's a few: http://www.deffryvale.co.uk/index.shtml http://www.deffryvale.co.uk/historyclub.shtml http://www.deffryvaleschool.org.uk/ http://www.millingdaleicecream.co.uk/ http://www.guinevere.org.uk/ http://www.cheapserve.co.uk/members/09032/ http://www.cheapserve.co.uk/members/7974/ http://www.whoisdoctorwho.co.uk/ http://www.geocomtex.net/ http://www.unit.org.uk/ http://www.leamingtonspalifeboatmuseum.co.uk/ http://www.visittorchwood.co.uk/ (the password is 'victoria') Interestingly, this one comes up as a BBC site but with no content at present: http://www.internationalelectromatics.co.uk/ David

Doctor Who - School Reunion

What a strange little tale. I think this is another story where it could really have done with a second episode to add some meat and depth to the situations. As it is, the whole thing is so fast and furious that you don't get to know anyone. Which is a shame as the episode is about relationships and we could have done with more time to explore it all. The Doctor and Rose are at a school - Deffy Vale High School as it tells us on the wall of the canteen hall - as a result of Mickey calling them to let them know that something strange seemed to be happening. There are two plots emerging, and neither have the slightest thing to do with each other - a very strange state of affairs and something which doesn't work in dramatic terms. The established wisdom is that in a drama (be it literary, theatre, TV or film) it will work better, be more rounded and 'feel' right if all the characters are driven by the same or similar needs or aspirations, if the core themes are reflected throughout. But here we have a very strong theme of companionship and love running side by side with the story of a bunch of generic 'monsters-r-us' trying to gain ultimate power for themselves. These are uneasy bedfellows and show why this story should have been longer. It would have been far more effective if, for example, the Krillitanes were not evil, but were seeking something related to that which Sarah Jane is seeking: closure on a period of her life; maybe hanging onto past dreams ... Then the whole of the mcguffin about the intelligence-enhanced schoolkids using computers to solve the so called 'Skasis Paradigm' (perhaps a sly acknowledgement of the Skeksis from the 1982 Henson film Dark Crystal the design of which seem to have inspired the Krillitanes) and provide ultimate power to the Krillitanes could have been dropped and rethought. If it was really that easy to crack this paradigm then why has no-one else ever done it? As it is, the Krillitane plot is the poorest aspect of the episode. But by far the strongest element was the complex relationship between Sarah Jane Smith, Rose, Mickey and the Doctor. Sarah is feeling cheated, as though there was something wrong with her, that she had done something wrong which was why the Doctor never came back for her and why she spent the rest of her life waiting for him. Rose realises that she is just one in a long line of travelling companions for the Doctor, and that just as the Doctor never mentions Sarah, so may she never be mentioned once she leaves him. Mickey realises that he is the robot dog - the reliable source of information. The 'stay in the car'/'stay at home' character who has all the answers. And the Doctor is forced to admit that he loves his companions (though he cannot use the word), and is alone despite seeing them all grow old and die. It's a hard equation, and yet the scripting and the acting allow it to soar, and the end result is a sequence of realisations and acknowledgements on all levels which brings tears to the eyes. The idea of Mickey realising that he is the 'robot dog' also made me wonder if this was setting up something for later on. With Mickey travelling with the Doctor and Rose at the end (much to Rose's displeasure) does this mean that he will sacrifice himself for them the same way that K9 does in this episode? Certainly food for thought. Unfortunately there are some less than satisfactory elements. The inclusion of the reference to Torchwood at the start was OK I suppose, but are we going to have this rammed at us every week? What was all the stuff about the Krillitane oil about? Where does the oil come from? Why does the school explode at the end? Did K9 detonate himself? It's probably, however, the Krillitanes exploding after getting the oil on them - as happened with the dinner lady earlier in the episode. And the cliched fat kid, Kenny, who saves the day. Oh dear. Also, why did Sarah have K9 in the back of the car at all? She said the dog didn't work and had broken ages ago. Maybe she drives around all day with the dog there? And how did he get out of the car to save the day in the canteen? Maybe we can just gloss over this - perhaps Mickey lifted him out after crashing through the school doors. There are some lovely elements too. I was especially impressed with the simple effect of the Krillitanes attacking the staff seen through the frosted staff room window. Very nicely done. As were the Krillitanes themselves, though a little too CGI fast, they looked quite effective. I was slightly puzzled as to why Mr Finch (or Brother Lassar - spelling guessed at) was human when the rest were bat-things. I know they sort of explained this, but I don't think it made much sense. And if Finch was in human form, how did he get on top of the building opposite the cafe to keep an eye on the Doctor and co? A final puzzling point with regards to Finch. He hears the Doctor say he's a Time Lord, but then seems to know that he's the last surviving one. But the Time War was in the future wasn't it? The Dalek in Dalek had fallen back through time and that was to the year 1938 (50 years before 2012 when Dalek was set), so how can there be no Time Lords in the year 2006 or whenever School Reunion is set? Overall I really enjoyed School Reunion, despite all my prior reservations about bringing back Sarah and K9. Elisabeth Sladen did a great job with the character and the role and managed to bring out the pathos well. Her early line 'I thought you died!' sounded so like her earlier incarnation, and she managed to play off against Billie Piper very well indeed. Anthony Head was awesome as Finch - a superb character, underplayed, and very well observed. Every movement, every word was delivered with understated precision and was a joy to watch. Next up ... clockwork people ... spaceships ... history ... I have no idea what The Girl in the Fireplace will be like!

Doctor Who - Tooth and Claw

That was a bit better. After the visually brilliant but scattershot plotting of New Earth, comes Tooth and Claw, a far tighter story with more great visuals and a werewolf to boot. One of the problems with reviewing is that it's always a lot easier to write something if there are elements which can be picked out as being lacking. With Tooth and Claw this is hard as the overall story is excellently paced, with some superb dialogue and some brilliant character pieces from the guest cast. We open with a group of Kung-fu monks arriving at a Scottish house and promptly delivering a mysterious covered cage to the cellar, wherein they have chained the Mistress of the house and most of her servants. When the cloth covering the cage is lifted, Mistress Isobel (Michelle Duncan) screams in abject horror ... A great start, but what exactly is she screaming at? As we see later, all that is in the cage is a somewhat quiet and weedy looking cowled figure ... The Doctor and his 'feral' companion arrive in a location they were not expecting to be, and promptly get involved in a story which sees a falling 'star' carrying an alien entity to Earth which can take on the appearance of a human while it waits to emerge. The Doctor and said companion take refuge in a building where the monster reveals itself and chases them, and a dwindling group of surviving humans, up to the top of the building, where the Doctor realises he can use the power of light, focussed by a diamond, to defeat the alien shapeshifter ... ... ah. Now hang on, that's the plot of Horror of Fang Rock! Surely not ... The main problem really is that, unlike Horror of Fang Rock, Tooth and Claw is all far too rushed to really develop the themes of an alien which can remain hidden until the appropriate moment. I remember with fondness the Doctor's wonderful episode-ending line in Horror that he thought he was locking the enemy out ... but instead he'd locked it in ... with them! Well there was none of this here. Instead we know from the word go who the monster is, and once it emerges then it's running and killing for the rest of the episode. Other points of comment: Queen Victoria was a bit of a wet fish. I'm not sure that Pauline Collins was the right choice for this part as she seemed totally lost in it. However, it is worth pointing out that the only reason that Collins seems weak is because the others were so strong. Particularly Ian Hanmore's awesome Father Angelo. A brilliant portrayal of the evil chief monk, and he really looked the part - sort of Richard O'Brien crossed with Patrick Stewart. It's a shame he died (or did he? We never saw this on screen) as he would be a great returning nemesis. The other character who impressed me was Jamie Sives as Captain Reynolds ... another brilliant piece of restrained acting. In fact, just about everyone was top notch. Which also had the effect of throwing Billie Piper's gooning into sharp relief. Rose's trying to get Queen Victoria to say 'We are not amused' was both silly and annoying. Maybe this was something included for the kids. Which is certainly what the werewolf was not - complete with the bone cracking sound effects which were left off the transformation of Dr Constantine in The Empty Child last year, the werewolf was scary, fast, growly and hairy and I'm sure the bringer of many nightmares last night. The deaths, though bloodless were likewise terrifying - in part because nothing was seen, leaving it all up to the fertile imaginations of children to decide what an 8 foot slavering, toothy man-wolf could do to a weak human body, especially given the state it left the cage in. Random questions: How does the Sonic Screwdriver now affect old-style mortice locks? How did Queen Victoria get her box from the 'safe' without the key to said 'safe'? Maybe they hadn't locked it. Why was Rose described as 'naked' when all but her arms were covered up? When Isobel noticed that the Monks were all garlanded with mistletoe and that the wolf left them alone, why did she then start cooking the stuff in the kitchen? Why not simply make more garlands from the piles of it left lying around? Why at the end when the wolf vanished, did the light from the telescope stop? It was still pointed at the moon. And while we're on that subject, where did the wolf go anyway? Moonlight made it change, but too much moonlight destroyed it? Made it go back to where it came? Caused it to super-evolve? I suppose it doesn't really matter, but this is another ending where the Doctor cobbles together some deus ex machina(**) to save the day ... it would be nice to have some 'proper' endings some times. I can't finish this review without mentioning Torchwood. Probably the most dreadful aspect of the episode. I internally groaned when the house was revealed as being called Torchwood house (and my kids also groaned unprompted by myself), but then the coda ... what a shoehorned, crowbarred piece of nonsense. And all this isn't even relevant - from all reports, Torchwood is not aimed at the same kiddie audience that Doctor Who is. It's an adult show planned for an after-9pm timeslot ... so what's with the blatant cross promotion? If you're going to do this then at least be subtle about it. Overall I really enjoyed Tooth and Claw. A great little episode which is, as far as I can see anyway, totally internally consistent. The acting was brilliant (except perhaps for Piper's Rose who for the first time seemed out of sorts here) and the overall impact high. Next week we appear to have an episode of The Demon Headmaster to look forward to ... (** - Ok, ok, so Deus Ex Machina doesn't exactly have the meaning I intended here ... I *know* DEM usually means 'a god from the machine' - in other words a cop-out, a little like the ending of Boom Town perhaps - but according to my dictionary it can also mean 'a romantic or artificial ending' and this is closer to my intent here - that the endings seem to be artificial rather than flowing from or having any connection to the preceeding plot threads - Why does shining moonlight through the crystal affect the Wolf at all? What happens there and why does this resolve things?)

Doctor Who - New Earth

I had been really looking forward to seeing New Earth, the first episode of the new series of Doctor Who. And on the whole I wasn't disappointed. The story was written by Russell T Davies and had all the hallmarks of his work - a fast and furious pace, some great dialogue and also some gaping plot holes where things just don't stand up to any sort of detailed thought. We opened with Jackie and Mickey saying goodbye to Rose as she headed off for more adventures with the Doctor ... nice I suppose, but I hope we don't spend too much time this season dwelling on the sub-EastEnders soap plots (some hope). The TARDIS arrives on New Earth in the far future, summoned there by a note on his psychic paper to visit ward 26. The CGI effects of the hospital and New New York with all the flying cars was very impressive. The first of the questions though: how could Chip (superbly played throughout by Sean Gallagher) tell that Rose was a pure blood human just from the picture transmitted from one of the spider robots? He himself did not seem to be terribly intelligent and so this information seems a bit of a leap for him. Arriving in the hospital, and my first thought was how similar the space looked to the museum in Dalek, the vast hall in The End of the World, and the levels on Platform One in The Long Game, Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways ... possibly because it was recorded at the same location?(This is an assumption, by the way, but the space does seem very familiar). Then we are into some nice comedy moments with the liquid disinfection in the lifts (question though: how could Rose continue to hear the Doctor after his lift door had closed and he was headed up?). Once the Doctor arrives in Ward 26, the mystery message seems to have been from the Face of Boe, who is apparently dying of old age, having lived for thousands, if not millions of years. He is being tended to by Novice Hame (Anna Hope) who was by far the best of the Cat Nuns - a superb piece of character acting which the series seems to excel at. Meanwhile Rose finds herself in the basement and encounters Cassandra (voiced by Zoe Wanamaker) and her cloned servant Chip. Now Cassandra claims to be the last human and has film of her attending a party with people in what seem to be very 20th Century clothes ... The presence of film seems to suggest around the 1970's or 1980's or it would have been video, as well as the styles at the party, which would make Cassandra considerably older than the Face of Boe ... but the Face was meant to be the oldest creature alive I thought (and didn't he have a baby as reported in The Long Game and yet here he seems to be the last of his kind - maybe I'm getting confused). There are some awesome lines here, with Rose referring to Chip as 'Gollum' and the 'So you're talking out your -' ... '- ask not' exchange between Rose and Cassandra. In short shrift, Cassandra uses a machine called a psychograft to take over Rose's body (she knows the term 'Chav' - a very 20th century expression. We could here also digress into why Cassandra is so horrified at this when she is in Rose's body as surely she would have known this beforehand, but we won't). Mention however must be given to Billie Piper as her performance as Rose/Cassandra is nothing short of inspired. She is totally convincing and very sexy and her kiss with the Doctor is a brilliant comic moment amonst several in this episode. Meanwhile we have discovered that the Cat Nuns have a secret ... people stashed in pods similar to those used by the Graske ... and that they are quite ruthless at destroying the people if they feel like it (though quite how a single lever on the wall incinerates just the one specific pod is unexplained.) The Doctor is starting to get suspicious, with diseases like Petrifold Regression, Marconi's Disease and Palidone Pancriosis being banded about and cured by the Cat Nuns and their mystery medicines. So the Doctor and Rose/Cassandra investigate and find themselves in the Nestene lair from Rose ... except this time it's banks of the pods all containing humans infected with every disease known in the galaxy. The Doctor realises that Rose is not Rose as she didn't care about the humans, and before we know it, the pods are opening and infected humans are on the rampage like something out of a George Romero film. But meanwhile we can ponder how Rose/Cassandra knew how to give them all a shot of adrenalin and how to open the pods (maybe it's by using the same multi-functional lever as before). But then one of the infected zombies shoves his arm in an electrical socket and every pod in the place opens ... what sort of a system is this! It's a wonder that the people had not escaped the last time there was a power failure. The CGI effects of the sickness spreading was surprisingly poor and on the Cats especially barely noticeable. But we're more concerned with Chip and his incredible ability to teleport. He gets left behind in the basement where he hides in a large empty drum ... and then he's amazingly in the isolation ward and hides in one of the pods ... but then he re-appears back in the wards ... an incredible talent to be sure. Unless there are actually many clones of Chip around ... After some bodyswapping shennanigans between Cassandra, Rose and the Doctor (what happened to the need for the psychograft machine? This seems to have been forgotten) the Doctor gets hold of all of the medicines and mixes them together, using the lifts' cleansing mechanisms to deliver the antidote to all the infected people. So ... let me get this right ... the Cat Nuns were keeping all these people as lab rats to test out cures and so on ... but when the Doctor mixes together all the cures, it cures in turn all of the lab rats ... so why were the Cat Nuns keeping them at all then? If they already had - in a single ward mind - the cures to every disease known available to them, then they surely have the best hospital going and there is no need to experiment any further. And in any case, since when does mixing all your medicines together in a vat and then spraying them over people actually work? Most of the medicines were in intravenous drip bags which suggests internal application through mixing them with the blood. What a strange and simplistic denoument. Despite the large suspension of disbelief needed here, the end play is excellent. The scenes of the Doctor bringing healing to everyone, and where he hugs the woman who has never been touched in her life are simply superb, and are very moving. But don't forget the plot ... the Doctor returns to see the Face of Boe who has woken up and isn't dying after all ... why was he in the hospital then and why did he call for the Doctor? But he delivers a cryptic message to the Doctor that they will meet for a third and final time and then he will deliver his message to the Doctor, before teleporting away somewhere else. You'd think he could figure out an easier way to tell the Doctor this ... Oh well. It all adds to the mystery and might be part of any ongoing theme or plot that this season has (aka Bad Wolf last year). As a coda, Cassandra ends up in Chip's body who then conveniently dies on her, but not before they have travelled back outside the hospital (doubtless avoiding all the NNCPD cops swarming everywhere) and back in time to that party where Cassandra was holding forth on the film. There Chip/Cassandra is the one who tells the human Cassandra that she is beautiful before dying at her feet. It's odd that Cassandra earlier recalled being told that she was beautiful, but not the messenger dying. Nor that he looked like her future cloned slave. Selective memory obviously. Overall I really enjoyed New Earth. I don't think it is perfect, but it's not at all bad. It's great fun and rattles along at a good pace, but if you scratch the surface then it starts to really not make a lot of sense. Billie Piper was brilliant as Cassandra, and David Tennant made a very watchable and entertaining Doctor. I do worry a little about the series plundering its own recent continuity quite so much (Cassandra, the spiders, the Face of Boe) but as long as they remember to try and keep it to the background then things will be fine. Next week we have a foray into Werewolves to look forward to, and reports suggest that this is one of the stronger episodes. Until then ...

Totally Doctor Who

So the BBC tries to up the anti with Doctor Who and to provide more content for the pre-teen audience that the show has attracted. However Totally Doctor Who was a shambles from start to end. First of all, it didn't have any real sense of being related to Doctor Who at all. Aside from a somewhat confused title sequence showing cartoon monsters and Doctor and the music, the presenters seemed so out of their depth it was embarrasing. Liz Barker reportedly left Blue Peter to do this ... boy was she mis-advised. I wonder who it was aimed at as well - Doctor Who is primarily for a family audience (ie aimed at adults and kids love it as well) and yet the BBC seem to think it's watched primarily by under-5s judging from Doctor Who Adventures magazine and some of the other merchandise, and so this show tried to be hip and with it for today's 'yoof' and totally missed any target in doing so. It will be interesting to see how it develops and if it gets any better as it goes along ... to be honest it can't get worse. It reminded me most of those Saturday morning shows that ITV tried to do to compete with the BBC's Live and Kicking when it was at its peak - almost all totally missed the mark. To be honest I would rather have seen all of that Doctor Who film made by the two fans and featured on the show as that was pretty impressive given their resources.

Cinema Macabre

One of the nicest things about going to the annual FantasyCon event is the friends you make and renew every year. It's great to have an annual event where you can wander through a hotel and see people you've not seen for a year and to catch up ... to spot writers, editors and artists at the bar and in the restaurant and to sit down for a chat and a drink and to renew old friendships. At FantasyCon in 2005, we were, as usual, in the bar, and there was discussion about great horror films and why we loved them. Usual bar chat really. But then Mark Morris, a talented author himself, suggested collecting some of these stories of love and passion in a book and Cinema Macabre was born. Various people were leaping in with suggestions of films to cover, and my suggestion was Suspiria, an incredible slice of Italian giallo from Dario Argento which I have loved ... well forever. So I duly penned my piece and submitted it ... Now, this week, the final book arrived ... and Wow. Oh my God was I blown away. It's been produced by Pete Crowther and the folks at PS Publishing and it is possibly the most gorgeous book I have seen. From J K Potter's eerie cover to a nice black and white photo section it looks and feels wonderful. And that's before you even get to the words. Jonathan Ross contributes an introduction and then we're into appreciations of films from the likes of Simon Clark (The Unknown), Neil Gaiman (The Bride of Frankenstein), Brian Aldiss (Les Diabioliques), Jeremy Dyson (Night of the Demon), Christopher Fowler (Witchfinder General), Mark Gatiss (From Beyond the Grave), Simon Pegg (Dawn of the Dead), Muriel Gray (The Thing), China Mieville (Razorback), Graham Joyce (Jacob's Ladder), Ramsey Campbell (Lost Highway) and Justina Robson (The Blair Witch Project). There are fifty films discussed here and some are obvious choices while some are more surprising. But none are dull. The standard hardback edition is signed by Mark Morris and is limited to 500 copies while there is also a slipcased deluxe hardback, which is limited to 200 copies and which is signed by all of the contributors ... yes, that's ALL of them. The 50 writers, plus Ross, plus Potter for the cover. Copies of both editions are available direct from PS Publishing if you're interested. The standard edition is £25 while the deluxe is £75. Visit www.pspublishing.co.uk for more details. I'm so proud to be a part of this project, and hearty congratulations to Mark and Peter for such a superb job in pulling it together.

April 15th

So ... we know now it's going to be April 15th ... the new series of Doctor Who starts then. Personally I can't wait. And apparently the trailers and general PR hoo ha starts today as well, so keep your eyes open. Radio Times are planning another Doctor Who special for the launch, with a cover and an insert special magazine and there will be coverage just about everywhere. I'm planning to resume the regular reviews here each week so I hope folks will stop by and have a look ... until then.

Dalek Workout Video

This had me in hysterics. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5513859749559731494&q=dalek Seems to work fine on broadband ... enjoy.

Video Clips

Found these today and thought I'd share. First one: very funny: http://youtube.com/watch?v=hyolobcSD2A Second one: very impressive: http://youtube.com/watch?v=_WS4lmcdi0M Enjoy ...

FantasyCon 2006

I've been going to the annual FantasyCon event every year for the last numpty numb years and usually handle the raffle and the quiz nite for the event. I was therefore delighted to be invited to be official Master of Ceremonies for this year's event :) Even more exciting is that the guest list is as follows: NEIL GAIMAN, CLIVE BARKER, RAYMOND FEIST, RAMSEY CAMPBELL and JULIET E MCKENNA ... what a line up! Apparently tickets are going fast (now there's a surprise) so if you fancy coming along to the event and rubbing shoulders in the bar with the abovementioned writers as well as with just about every other fantasy and horror writer and editor in the UK then check out www.fantasycon.org.uk for booking details.

Doctor Who - Attack of the Graske

Here's an oddity, an interactive Doctor Who adventure featuring the new Doctor, David Tennant. Shown on the BBC's digital 'red button' channel following the transmission of The Christmas Invasion, Attack of the Graske was written by Gareth Roberts and directed with a great deal of flair by Ashley Way. In fact, I admired the direction so much that I kind of hope that Way gets a crack at a proper episode sometime. Especially impressive was the way the camera moved and swooped and the revelation of detail in and around the TARDIS console which has been missing from the TV episodes so far. Back to the plot, and the idea is that you use your freeview remote control (or whatever remote is appropriate) to make on-screen selections at different points in the show. These then dictate which direction the narrative follows ... well that was the idea, but in practice, and in perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the show, it was pretty impossible not to follow the narrative as if you chose the wrong option then the Doctor either did it for you, or nothing significantly different occurred as a result. This was a bit of a wasted opportunity then, though maybe the constraints of budget meant that only a limited number of options could be available ... still, I would have thought that with a little more imagination, they could have come up with something better and more interesting to 'play'. The first puzzle is to decide which one of a family is possessed by an alien ... easy if you happen to be watching the camcorder footage but impossible otherwise. It was Mum for those who want to know such things, but if you get it wrong, no matter as the narrative carries on. Then we meet the Graske, a short fellah with pointy bits on his head. I wonder where the new series would be without Jimmy Vee, unsung hero of the show. From playing the Moxx of Balhoon and the alien Pig, now he's another alien being, a collector of sorts who replaces life forms with Graske replicants in order to take over the planet (or something). We now have to follow the Graske in the TARDIS and choose which controls to operate to do so. Again getting it all wrong changes nothing and we end up in England 1883 and have to follow the Graske's DNA trace to locate him. Getting it wrong makes no difference and we find ourselves with a rather nice street scene of child beggar and other Victorian characters. But the Graske is spotted and captures the beggar before transmatting off again. The Doctor is in hot pursuit and the TARDIS arrives on the planet Griffoth (no idea of the spelling of this, but it sounds right). Three air locks later (the answers are: Symbol 2; '89'; and key '1') and we're into the Graske's storage facility where there are all the life forms it has replaced. The production missed a trick here as aside from the Slitheen, there seem to be no recognisable life forms at all - why not include some old monsters? Or even be mega sneaky and include something from the 2006 season ... or maybe they did. The stored Slitheen is released by a ricocheting blast and chases the Graske around the complex and we now have our final decision to make: do we put the entire place in stasis or return everyone to their rightful place and time? This is the only point where the decision results in a different ending: choosing 'stasis' seems to be wrong as everyone is then trapped and the Graske replicants can continue to spoil Christmas for the family. Choosing 'return' results in a happy ending, the life forms returned and a happy family Christmas. As you make the various choices during the game, the Doctor, in both voice over and in shot has different lines depending on your progress. For example if you correctly spot the Graske hiding on Earth, you get a line about Opera, but if you fail, you get a random comment about liking mangoes. At the end, if you got it all right, the Doctor congratulates you with: 'You were amazing. Might even pick you up one day', wheras if you get things wrong, it's: 'Not good enough ... yet. But you weren't that bad - have another go.' I would rate this as a fun experiment. Something which shows the possibilities of the technology in taking the viewer on an interactive trip. The system seems straightforward and should be convertable for use on a standard DVD, with menu selections taking you to the different sections of the story. The scope of the script seemed a little limited, but perhaps this was itself hamstrung by committees and everpresent budgetary requirements. A shame if this was the case as the concept has a lot of potential which wasn't really realized here. I have no idea for how long this little adventure will be available or if it will find its way onto a DVD at some point in the future. It's worth looking out for as David Tennant is superb, and gives a far better demonstration of his power and charisma, and perhaps what his Doctor will be like, than most of The Christmas Invasion, where he is snoozing in bed as the world goes to pot around him, or confused with regeneration trauma.

Doctor Who - The Christmas Invasion

Christmas Days will never be the same again! For the first time since 1965 we have an episode of Doctor Who transmitted on Christmas Day, but more than this ... it was on the front cover of the Radio Times, the same with several other listings magazines and it was the pick of the day for just about everyone. But was it any good? Back in 1965, the production team chose to make that week's episode a bit of a jokey runaround, nothing too stressful for people to follow and with a few references to other shows thrown in for good measure. This time around though, things were a little different, although there were some that were the same. For a start, this was the first 'proper' episode to feature David Tennant as the new Doctor. I am convinced though that the brief sequence for Children in Need was planned all along - there's no way that the production team could seriously have considered leaping from the end of The Parting of the Ways to the start of The Christmas Invasion ... there's an obvious gaping hole there that needed to be filled. So we kick off with Jackie Tyler (who I am disliking as a character the more I see of her) and Mickey hearing the TARDIS arrive - and it must make one heck of a noise. Strange how no-one else seemed to hear it. The TARDIS appears and, in an impressive tour de force of effects, bashes around a few buildings and rubbish bins as it lands. And then there's our new Doctor. Breathless and confused he promptly collapses and is taken back to Jackie's to spend most of the episode in bed. Meanwhile the plot (what there is of it) starts to kick in and we learn about the Guinivere Space Programme and the probe which is approaching Mars. However it bumps into a huge rock-like spacecraft and is captured. It's a little strange to think that the folks on Earth who were tracking the probe didn't notice a pigging great spacecraft out in the vicinity of Mars ... and why was it there in the first place? No explanations are coming, making this episode a little light on logic. Back on Earth, Rose, Mickey and Jackie are menaced by apparently robot Santas armed with deadly musical instruments and then by a remote controlled spinning Christmas tree! Very eerie scenes, and the tree in particular is quite scary. I can see many kids frightened by their own household trees now ... but what was all this about? These Santas, they came from the spaceship, so how long had the Sycorax been monitoring Earth to be able to replicate the robots (if that's what they were) and to understand the customs of Christmastime and musical instruments (I can't see the Sycorax leader playing trumpet himself). And why were Rose and Mickey targetted? The Doctor suggests it's because he's leaking energy (why?) but it would have taken the Sycorax weeks if not months to arrive on Earth after the Doctor got there and they appeared to be there already. Oh well ... maybe we're not meant to think too hard about this after a heavy dinner. With the large spacecraft on its way to Earth, Prime Minister Harriet Jones (former MP for Flydale East) is in attendance at a UNIT operations centre apparently sited at the Tower of London. It's a shame that, when a ton of continuity references have already been dropped (for example that Martians look different, the UNIT logos, regeneration, the TARDIS translating languages) they didn't go the whole hog and have a Brigadier there as well ... But they can see the spaceship and so can Mickey with his super-laptop and ability to tap into secure government websites - wouldn't they have changed their passwords from when the Doctor told Mickey how to get on in Aliens of London? And then we get Torchwood crowbarred into the plot ... what? Another top secret organisation ... what's wrong with UNIT all of a sudden? Oh well ... The big ship arrives and I liked the touch of the Big Ben clock tower being repaired. The invaders seem to have some mystery power and cause loads of people to get hypnotically drawn to stand on high places. These scenes were very effective. I especially liked the woman trying to stop her kids - reminiscent of the scenes in The Lord of the Rings where the children are made to fight. But all these people have 'A+' type blood and the plot strands start to come together - there was some 'A+' blood on the Martian probe ... what? Actual blood? I thought in space travel every ounce was critical and so to include a tub of blood for no apparent reason seems a little strange. Why not give the chemical composition or have a picture of the DNA complex instead? Anyway, as the Sycorax have the blood, they can somehow control a third of the Earth's population. I guess we can be thankful that it wasn't a sample of type 'O' blood. So Harriet and her goons are teleported up to the ship where the alien leader has no trouble understanding them, but they need translation software to understand him. Two of the aides are killed with a funky electric lasso (neat death effects here), and the Aliens transmit messages that no-one can understand to the Earth. But then Rose and Mickey get the Doctor into the TARDIS and, thankfully leaving the annoying Jackie behind, conveniently get themselves teleported to the spaceship as the creatures detect the TARDIS' alien technology. So why did they bother with Harriet at all then? When Rose arrives she tries to get the Sycorax to leave, but they laugh at her cobbled together continuity-fest of a speech ... but then the humans realise that they can understand the Sycoraxic language and we all cheer as the Doctor appears, a hero in pyjamas. Tennant is brilliant here. His 'Hello big fellah' is superb as his is totally taking control of the situation and running rings around everyone else. He presses the big glowy button which will send the controlled humans to their doom but it doesn't work - it's like voodoo he explains and people's survival instincts are too strong ... but voodoo only works because the subjects know about it and fear it and believe it will work. You can't control masses of people you've never met at a distance in the same way. Oh well - it was nice and dramatic anyway. But then the Doctor (aka Luke Skywalker) challenges the Sycorax leader (aka Darth Vader) to a duel and they're off with swords flashing (and while we're here, why didn't the electric whip work on the Doctor?) The problem now is that the Doctor doesn't seem to have any plan past fighting the alien. He heads out onto the surface of the asteriod/spaceship thing and they fight some more. Then Darth (sorry, the Sycorax leader) cuts the Doctor's hand off ... but surprise ... the Doctor can grow a new one. I groaned at this. Cop out and silly I thought. What was the point of it? It seemed to serve no real part to the plot. And of course it had been done in Star Wars. The Doctor wins the fight and spares the alien's life. But then kills him with no emotion when he rushes at him. No. Not a very Doctory thing to do. Far better that the Doctor bends over to pick up something, or to straighten his shoe or something, and the alien trips over him and falls, but to have the Doctor actually kill him - I don't know. It reminded me of the conclusion to The End of the World where the Doctor kills Cassandra. I still feel that the Doctor needs to be a hero to all people, and that should include not taking the life of anyone who pisses him off. So the Doctor wins the day and the aliens leave Earth. I liked the comment about the Doctor being very 'Arthur Dent' - a reference to Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. However the plot is not yet over. The mysterious Torchwood let Harriet know they're ready, and she authorises them to fire. Immense bolts of power converge and blast the fleeing ship into oblivion. And the Doctor is well upset. In scenes harkening back to Doctor Who and the Silurians, the Doctor realises that maybe Harriet Jones is the real monster here and so chooses to set the wheels of change in motion with six words ('Don't you think she looks tired?'). I can't fully recall the end of World War III, but I thought that Jones' tenure as Prime Minister was hailed as a triumph for peace and prosperity. Maybe that squares with this, but maybe not. As the story plays out, the Doctor chooses his new clothes from an impressive TARDIS wardrobe. I liked seeing this - new parts of the TARDIS are always welcome even though we don't have much understanding of the layout of the inside of the TARDIS at the moment. But again, given the huge number of continuity references which have gone before, and given that it is now almost traditional, why were there no previous Doctor's costumes on display here? A shame. Still, I liked the Doctor's glasses - rather ugly black-rimmed affairs which make him look even more like gangly singer Jarvis Cocker. Overall I liked The Christmas Invasion. It showed a lot of the weaknesses in Russell T Davies' own writing though - a reliance on set pieces rather than a coherent plot, and way too many continuity references to be entirely self contained. Even the review in The Times picked up on the continuity, and so if it's apparent to general viewers then in my mind that's not a good thing. The story was fun, the aliens suitably nasty (even if we had little idea what they wanted or why they had come to Earth - this seemed to be to put half the population into slavery ... but doing what? And why only half? Or was it the Doctor they wanted? And where did those robot Santas come from?), and the Doctor totally brilliant (except when he was wasted lying in bed for ages). I think the future for David Tennant is very bright indeed. And Doctor Who would seem to be on a roll - the trailer for next season looked very promising indeed. But I hope they see the light and reduce the appearances of Jackie, and try and keep all that soap opera-ey kitchen sink drama in the background. Oh, and cut back on the continuity as well (fat chance with K9, Sarah Jane Smith and the Cybermen reappearing next year). I'd give this probably a 7 or 8 out of ten. Not as superlative as episodes like The Unquiet Dead, Dalek or The Empty Child, but not as disappointing as Aliens of London or The Long Game. EDITED 29/12/05 TO ADD: A friend has just pointed out that there are apparently old costumes in the Doctor's wardrobe. Here's his email:

Hi David, great review! But you'll want to watch the wardrobe scene again, because you missed some stuff. Not only are there definitely old Doctor outfits visible in the room, but the Mill have confirmed there's at least one thing there from every previous Doctor. Some stuff we've caught on screen grabs include Sylv's umbrella, the First Doctor's gold column thing from his console room, Davison's hat and standing mirror from 'Castrovalva', C. Baker's coat (very hard to see), and perhaps most amazingly, an exact - and I mean exact down to the colors of the stripes - replica of Steven's pullover from 'The Celestial Toymaker'! Lots of people went nuts when they caught that one.

I never spotted these as I was looking for Doctors costumes (ie long scarf, cricketting outfit and so on) rather than anything else. Still, good on the production team for making the effort.

Spamming of My Blog

Just so that folks know, a company seems to have taken a liking to my blog and has been spamming me with random comments advertising their wares on nearly all of my posts - another 30 or so arrived over Christmas. I'm therefore moderating all the comments for the moment and any genuine ones just might get deleted due to the volume I'm having to wade through. I've emailed them to ask them to stop and if they don't then I'll report them to their ISP and to anyone else I can find who is associated with them. Not amused.

Children In Need Special

Whoo hoo ... some more new Doctor Who ... and a first proper look at the new tenth Doctor in the form of David Tennant. As usual at this time of year, the Children In Need charity fundraiser brings in all manner of stars of stage and screen to raise money, and for the third time, Doctor Who formed a significant part of the proceedings. This was an untitled 5 minute or so piece which took place immediately following the ending of The Parting Of The Ways, and introduced David Tennant as the newly regenerated Doctor, discussing the event with Rose in the TARDIS as he headed first for Barcelona and then for Rose's home on Earth. The piece was beautifully written and performed, and ran the gamut from whimsy to excitement with ease. Tennant was superb as the Doctor, wringing gravitas and humour from the situation and flashing the most winning smile since Tom Baker travelled the universe in his scarf and hat. There wasn't much time for plot, but as the Cloister Bell tolled (in a really nice touch to the original series) the Doctor announced that his regeneration was failing and the TARDIS hurtled towards a new adventure on Earth on Christmas Day ... I can't wait.

A Teaspoon and an Open Mind

Picked up this new book the other day, The Science of Doctor Who by Michael White, and it's pretty dire to be honest. I don't mind a little non-Who material mixed in, but this seems to be nothing more than a selection of 'easy science' articles prefixed with a short paragraph which claims that Doctor Who featured or might have featured this aspect. It's really disappointing that none of the pieces bothers to use examples from Who to back up the arguments, preferring instead to rely on other shows like Star Trek ... there's a whole chapter on teleportation which is hardly a major element of the Doctor Who universe ... and it doesn't cover ray guns and blasters, or the dimensionally transcendental nature of the TARDIS ... White's style is easy-ish to read and the science is delivered in nice packages, but if I'd wanted to read a book like this I could have picked up a Stephen Hawking tome or something. There's also a consistent mis-spelling of Jon Pertwee's first name, and he gets the title of the first episode wrong as well ... It's basically a missed opportunity - a chance to look at the science which is in Doctor Who, using examples and themes from the show itself rather than being, as it appears to be, little more than a generic collection of articles packaged under the Doctor Who banner because it happens to be popular at the moment, and written by someone who has only a very casual acquaintance with the programme. A great disappointment.

New Toys

With Doctor Who hitting the headlines all the time at the moment, shops are eagerly awaiting the new toys from Character Options - I was out the other day in Kingston town centre and the big toyshop there has a sign apologising that they haven't managed to get the remote control Dalek in as yet ... I spoke to them as well and it seems that demand is so high that they will only get 12 of the Remote Control Dalek! Looks like the predictions of Doctor Who being this year's 'must have' toys are coming true. I was lucky to receive a selection of the new toys a few weeks or so back and so have been giving them the once over. I'm pleased to report that they are, as a selection, brilliant. Ranging from the remote control Dalek to the Sonic Screwdriver there is something for everyone here. REMOTE CONTROL DALEK Starting with absolutely the Christmas must-have, the beautiful gold remote control Dalek stands a foot tall and comes with a neat rt unit which controls its movement. There are also buttons down the centre of the unit which make the Dalek say various phrases. The toy is fairly easy to control once you get the hang of it, although a polished wooden floor or kitchen lino would seem to be the best surface, and as it moves along so its head swings and the eye raises and lowers. The eye is also illuminated with that eerie blue glow and the whole thing is as stately as a tank as it chases cats, dogs or other family members around the room. Everyone who has seen this wants one for Christmas ... SONIC SCREWDRIVER A nice replica of the Doctor's trusty tool from the TV series. This is made from plastic and has two buttons which make the end light up with uv light and the buzzing sound to emit. It also has a uv pen nib at one end (which can be interchanged with a black ink nib) and a pad of post-it type notes which can be written on. The uv pen is only visible under uv light so secret messages can be left for like minded friends. On the downside the toy is a little plasticky and the handle lacks the detailing on the original. Though I am told that this aspect is being improved for future releases. DALEK BATTLE SET This consists of two Daleks, a black and a gold, two remote control units and a model of either the Doctor or Rose. The Daleks, which are about 4 inches high, zoom around trying to exterminate each other and their lights flash faster as they are 'hit' until one of them 'dies' and switches off. Neat stuff though the set I have came with no instructions so I'm not quite sure how the thing works ... my black Dalek keeps dying before the gold no matter what. This is a fantastic toy and having Dalek chasing games around the dining room floor was brilliant. Top marks for this. TELEPHONE TARDIS A really neat idea, this. A small TARDIS model about four inches inches high on which the light flashes and the take-off sound is emitted when a mobile phone nearby is about to ring. Simple and effective. I loved this one. It's very cool. WALKIE TALKIES Large foot high models of the Doctor and a Slitheen hide walkie talkie handsets which can be used to communicate with friends. These are quite large and chunky and I don't like to break them out of their packaging to see how well they work. They are great models though, and it's really cool to see a monster other than a Dalek appearing as a physical model/figure for once. I wonder if the Slitheen farts :) DALEK LCD GAME A neat little LCD game which seems aimed at younger kids who haven't yet discovered the delights of PSPs and GameBoys as yet (does such a thing exist?) Nice Dalek packaging on this one. DOCTOR WHO MONEY BANK A TARDIS-shaped moneybank which speaks several phrases from the show when money is put in and the doors opened and closed. A rather nice idea to save up enough money to buy the other toys perhaps ... All the items have brilliant packaging and make a very consistent and attractive set of goodies from the show. Overall this is a fantastic set of toys with a few more goodies yet to come like talking mugs and the like. What an amazing time to be a fan of the show - we've not seen toys like these for many years and I hope we have many more to come over the next few years.

Night Watch

Went to the cinema tonight hoping to see Land of the Dead ... unfortunately that film was showing on different nights now, so we saw a film called Night Watch instead. I had no idea what this film was about, but I really was pleasantly surprised. It's in Russian with English subtitles, but please don't let that put you off as this is a rather classy horror flick with some superb ideas and visual effects, and it rolls along at a cracking pace. The plot is along the lines of there being two opposing forces: the Day Watch and the Night Watch, each of which keeps the other in check. But a new 'special' human, called an Other, has appeared and when he chooses whether to follow the forces of light (good) or dark (evil) then the balance will be tipped. The plot follows one 'Other' who finds himself seeking this new human to try and bring him to the light, but along the way there's a battle with vampires (some very neat stuff here with them only appearing in mirrors) and other witches and demons, and a nightmarish journey into something called the Gloom which seems to eat up those who venture into it if they are not careful. There are also beast-men and tiger-women, and an incredible sequence where an owl transforms into a woman ... there's a lot going on in this film! The sound design is brilliant, as is the subtitling which has been done in such a way that it actually integrates with the film itself, the words appearing at different speeds and in colours to match the tone at the time - some scenes are almost graphic novel-like in their combining of visuals and on-screen words. Very nicely done indeed. Other great moments are the spider-toy thing near the start, the incredibly edited sequence of the witch forcing a miscarriage on a girl, the sequence where a truck flips over a man in the road and lands and carries on driving the other side ... and many more besides. Overall the film comes over as a sort of hybrid between The Matrix and Underworld with much originality and cleverness added into the mix. I really enjoyed the experience and will probably get the film on DVD as and when so I can see and appreciate it again.

Updates ...

Apologies to all for the lack of updates over the last few months ... things have been pretty hectic ... I have loads of things I want to talk about from the new merchandise and books to the exhibition at Blackpool and other things too ... I'm really going to try and get back into the swing of things and post some musings and meanderings soon.

Doctor Who in Brighton

The new BBC Doctor Who exhibition in Brighton, which opened on the 14 May 2005, is an impressive affair. It's sited at the end of the main Brighton Pier in a large domed building. The work that has gone into it is amazing - and more impressive is the publicity. As we were driving into Brighton, one of the roads was adorned all the way along with banners on every streetlight promoting the exhibition. Then, on the pier itself are many more banners each showing different elements from the exhbition. At the entrance to the pier itself there's a Police Box and large advert for it as well. It's hard to miss that the Doctor is in town. The exhibition itself has a separate ticket booth, but once tickets are bought, you move into the main dome. First up are the two makeover androids from 'Bad Wolf'. These are even more impressive in real life, and the attention to detail is astounding. Moving around them, and there's a small tribute to the first 42 years of the show's history, with booths containing information on the Doctors and some of their foes. There are also some original costumes sited behind the displays which are quite hard to see. Then it's into a main area where a large TARDIS is revolving sedately in the centre, two sides showing as Police Box and the other two cut away to reveal the original costumes for Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper. Around this area are large murals of pictures and information about the show. There's some panels from the TARDIS interior and an original design model as well. Around the corner and we're into 'Rose' with an Auton model perched up high ... a wheelie bin and three Auton Brides crashing through a shop window. Then it's to 'The Unquiet Dead' and an area with a mysterious shrouded figure on a slab ... all the displays have audio/visuals and clips from the shows playing on screens. 'The Unquiet Dead' area is good, but a little uneventful. It's a shame that more costumes weren't on display here, or Sneed's cart and so on. It's good, but perhaps a little bare. I think I might have tried for a dingy, small corridor here, with flickering 'gas' lights along the sides and spooky funereal music playing, and then projected a Gelth onto the walls and made it flicker from 'good' blue to 'bad' red ... Around the corner and it's 'The End of the World'. Unfortunately both Cassandra and The Face of Boe were away when we visited, but it was nice to see the Moxx, costumes for the Trees and several props from the story. Next up is the Dalek! Hovering on a flight of stairs, the creature will turn it's eye to look at you when a button is pressed ... nice idea. Also here was the Emperor Dalek model from 'The Parting of the Ways' and lots of other bits and pieces besides, like the alien musical instrument. Around the corner again and we have the magnificent model of the Big Ben clocktower, all smashed in, and then the Slitheen, the alien pig and Margaret Blaine's skin ... The Slitheen can be made to fart on cue with a button ... Finally, we have a small display from 'The Empty Child' of a gas mask and the Schlecter Bomb ... again, slightly disappointing. Overall it's a superb exhibition, full of lights and sound and lots and lots to see. I'm told that more items are to be added as the year progresses, and I hope that some of the episodes without much presence at the moment will be represented, like 'The Long Game' or 'Father's Day'. Just before you exit the exhibition tent, there is a shop area selling piles of merchandise, including a load of items especially created for the exhibition, like CD cases, mini-tool sets, clocks, calculators, a mousemat, pens and other things. Other things I liked: the 'Bad Wolf' graffiti on the way out (but why wasn't it elsewhere in the exhibition ... they could run a 'hunt the Bad Wolf' competition to find all the references); the Dalek shell with the creature inside from 'Dalek'; Mickey's disembodied Auton head; and the fact that the place was packed - it was an incredibly hot Sunday afternoon that we went down, and the pier was heaving with people ... and there was no air conditioning in the Doctor Who area so air blowers had been set up. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves though. Outside the Exhibition, and back towards the entrance to the pier is a pub selling the most amazing chips and sausage (and beer and wine and coke) and the prices aren't too bad as well ... so it's well worth stopping off there for some good old fashioned English grub.

Brighton Toy Museum

Went down to Brighton last weekend both to see the new Doctor Who Exhibition there (more on that later on when I get the pictures sorted out), but also to install a pile of my Doctor Who merchandise into the Brighton Toy Museum.

Me with the display.

It was great to see all the items together, and I always enjoy sharing them with others. The display was arranged in conjunction with Experience Design and Management who are running the Doctor Who Exhibition, and it should be at the Toy Museum until at least the end of the year.

The main display of toys

If anyone wants to visit, then the Museum is up by Brighton Station. Out the front of the station there is a road which steeply heads down underneath the pedestrian area here. This road is called Trafalgar Street and the Museum is about 200 yards or so down there on the left. The full address and contact details are: Brighton Toy and Model Museum, 52-55 Trafalgar Street, Brighton BN1 4EB Tel: 01273 749494. They are closed on Sundays and Mondays; 10am - 5pm other days (11am start on Saturdays).