Bond 25 Update

After a long wait, EON Productions have officially announced that Bond will be returning to US Cinemas on November 8, 2019, with a traditional earlier release in the UK and the rest of the world.

The new film will be written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who have collaborated on and written several previous Bond films. It will be interesting to see which new topics their Bond film explore. Will they follow on Blofeld and Spectre or will this be yet another soft reboot?

It's nice to get some confirmation that this film is happening. There is still some uncertainty about whether Daniel Craig will be in it but I hope he is. He and Dalton are my favourites.

Doctor Who Updates

The week has certainly been an eventful one in Doctor Who. On Sunday, the trailer for the Christmas Special was released at San Diego Comicon and online. We now known to be called Twice Upon a Time. They missed a trick in not calling it Twelfth Night but it's still a much better title than the rumored title of The Doctors.

The first exciting thing is that Polly is coming back. She will be played in this episode by an actor called Lily Travers. It's likely that Ben will also be coming back. The scene in the trailer may be on the Cybermens' Space Ship.

It has also been revealled that Mark Gatiss will be playing an army officer. This character seems important enough to appear on the official image and is likely to be the companion for this episode. He may or may descendant of the Brigadier.

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David Bradley shows more promise. There's more of a twinkle to his performance. I wasn't sure about the idea of recasting the actor as the Doctor but he is growing on me. I expect Big Finish will announce an audio release for him soon enough.

Up and Coming on This Blog...

I've graduated and I will be quite busy. In my spare time I have been reaquainting myself with Linkin Park after hearing the sad news of the death of Chester Bennington. But here are a list of things that will be coming up on the blog if I can find the time.

My aim is to start some reviews for the earliest series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Since it's the 20th anniversary of Buffy it makes sense to do this now. Another television show I will be reviewing is the first series of Press Gang, in tribute to departing Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat.

More film reviews will be coming out. I hope to include reviews of La Belle et La Bette or Orphee. There will be many other things if I have a time.

As far as audio goes I may also review some of the BBV productions of the Faction Paradox Audios. It is twenty years since the organisation first debuted in Alien Bodies. 

With so much to do, I can't quite say when these will come out, but hopefully as soon as possible.

Jodie Whittaker

Wow...

I was not expecting Jodie Whittaker to be revealed as the thirteenth Doctor. When her name first appeared on betting sites,  I assumed that someone has got the wrong end of the stick of a Broadchurch actor being the new lead. Even after her face featuring on the front page of The Sun I was still convinced they'd all got it wrong. As it turns out I was the one who was wrong, just as I had been when I assumed that Peter Capaldi would not be the twelfth Doctor. I'm really not very good at guessing these casting decisions.

It's debatable whether the decision to broadcast the reveal after the Wimbledon Men's Final was a wise one. I normally enjoy watching tennis but this time around I felt especially tense and wanted the match to be over just so I could find out who the new Doctor was. There was no way of knowing how long the match would go on for and every little delay caused frustration. On the other hand, it meant the announcement could have been seen by a very wide audience, if they hadn't walked away in the gap before the next match started.

When we finally got to the reveal that too was drawn out. We saw the new Doctor from the back, walking through a sunny forest, in a long coat and hoodie that concealed the face and body. It could just as easily have been a slender man. It was not until a flash of eyelash that we got a hint that it was a woman and when she finally removed her hood, smiled and walked towards a dodgy TARDIS, viewers like me were left stunned.

If there was ever going to be a female Doctor then Jodie Whittaker was a good pick. She's not an overly 'eccentric' actor like a lot of the popular choices for a female Doctor Who. She was great in Broadchurch when she played Beth Latimer.  She has also appeared in a television adaption of Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Return to Cranford. I hope she keeps her Yorkshire accent. She is also the first Yorkshire Doctor. The decision is also in keeping with Chris Chibnall's desire to work with actors he has worked with before. It will be interesting to see how she acts. I certainly hope she keeps the costume she wore here, or something reminiscent of it, at least.

Reactions to the new Doctor have been understandably mixed. Some fans, like Ian Levine, have been getting angry about this change. Other fans have been crying 'sexist' at the doubters. Many more others are just fine with it. I'm personally indifferent. If she gives a great performance then I'll watch. I used to be against the idea of a woman as the Doctor until I saw the Barbara Benedetti fan film series a couple of years back. Those fan films were a little ropy by today's standards but they did prove that a female Doctor would not interfere too much with the format of the show.

It will be interesting to find out whether Steven Moffat knew the identity of the new Doctor, given how many references to Time Lord gender change were made in the finale of Series Ten. It's interesting to  that he was paving the way for his successor. I guess we'll find out in upcoming interviews.

We will have months to speculate on how this decision changes the show Will there be a new male companion? How often will the show refer to the Doctor's new gender? How will it affect the way the Doctor's personality is depicted? There are a lot of questions that the writers must answer.

Chris Chibnall has gone up in my estimations. Whether or not people accept this new Doctor remains to be seen but Chris has proved that he's willing to take risks and not just go for a bland conformity. There's no guarantee that Series Eleven will be better of course. There will probably be the usual mix of mostly good but some bad episodes. But it does seem more exciting than it did before.

The New Doctor Is Coming....

It's been a while coming but the BBC have announced that the new Doctor's identity will be revealled this Sunday after the Wimbledon Mens' Finals. I love the fact that this is a show where we get an announcement of an announcement. Few other shows do this. I've got new Doctor nerves. A sense of anticipation and fear that is likely to distract me from other duties this weekend. Am I going to like this Doctor or will I not? Knowing how long a Wimbledon final can go on, who knows how late it will be before the announcement? It might even go into the next day.

The trailer for the announcement was certainly interesting. It opens with a stone obelisk in the wild, a nice homage to the opening from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Obelisk is shown to contain a Tardis key and we cut to various signs and landmarks with the number '13' embedded into them. This sequence is punctuated by a weird little piece of synthesizer music that I quite liked.

The speculation was to the identity of the new Doctor will no doubt be ramping up. Somehow I get the feeling they won't be a woman, although I'm happy to be proved wrong. My fantasy casting for a female Doctor would be Eva Green. It's just a shame for us that she's too big a star for the show now. As for a male Doctor,sSomeone like Sacha Dhawan would be great for the role based on his appearance in the Tractate Middoth.  I wouldn't object to another young male Doctor but I hope he's a bit different from Tennant or Smith.People will undoubtably be scanning the betting sites for who it is. Chances are we may know a few hours before the actual announcement.

I have never before been so interested in knowing hte result of a tennis match.

DWM: A Change of Editor

What's the second most important part of Doctor Who after the television show? Some may argue that it's Big Finish. Others may argue that it's the books. I come close to the books but I'd say the real factor is the magazine. Even though the news section is made almost redundant by the internet, the magazine has many interesting features on the facts and fiction behind our favourite show. Today the magazine's current editor, Tom Spilsbury, announced that he would be stepping down from the role after the next issue. He willbe replaced by Marcus Hearn, who co-edited the magazine in the mid 90s.

Tom Spilsbury took over from Clayton Hickman with issue 397, way back in 2007. It featured the first interview with Catherine Tate after her character, Donna had become a full-time companion.

Tom Spilsbury was always pushing the boundaries and some issues had specific themes. One of my personal favourites was the soap opera-themed issue. I liked the way the cover art was similar to Inside Soap magazine.

During his time as editor, Tom was able to introduce three new Doctors. The Matt Smith's first cover was that iconic picture where Matt is standing next to the Tardis in a dark side street. The second was John Hurt as the War Doctor. A couple of months later, Peter Capaldi debued. The cover looked a bit odd but the interview with Zoe Ball was great.

So Farewell Tom Spilsbury. You've been a brilliant editor. And welcome, Marcus Hearn. Hopefully you can keep up the good work.

Doctor Who: Overview of Series Ten

Here we are at the end of another series of Doctor Who. Series Ten has been a long time coming and the build up was certainly interesting. We knew since January 2016 that Steven Moffat was going to be leaving the show but not before he produced one more series and introduced a new companion. This extra series was probably necessary to keep the show going but it still felt strange. What would Steven Moffat do with another year? Would he rock the boat before his departure or would the series be running on the spot, keeping warm until Chris Chibnall's arrival? The news that Matt Lucas was coming back as a companion also filled fans with confusion. How would this barely characterized character work as a companion?

The best thing about this new series have been the companions. Bill is fantastic. Pearl Mackie makes her a wonderfully grounded character compared to the slightly strange Amy and Clara. She is the best companion of the Steven Moffat.

The aforementioned return of Nardole was actually rather brilliant. The character was expanded on and his more serious side was well played by  Matt Lucas.

The Missy redemption story was decent even if I felt that it could have been handled better. The Lie of the Land suffered by having one scene where Missy is casual about killing people to the opposite where she is crying over her victims. These two scenes should have been in different episodes. Then it would have felt like time had passed and Missy had been thinking more about things. Michelle Gomez has been fantastic. I hope she gets brought back at some point in the future.

When we first met the Twelfth Doctor in Series 8 he was an angry man who claimed he didn't care. Series Nine humanized the character quite a bit, almost too much. In Series Ten he has found a happy medium. Peter Capaldi is perfect for being a tutor to Bill and his performance in the finale was outstanding. I really don't want to see his Doctor go.

My Final Episode rankings are as follows:

1. World Enough and Time (9/10)
2. The Doctor Falls (8/10)
3. The Pilot (8/10)
4. Eaters of Light (8/10)
5. The Empress of Mars (8/10)
6. The Pyramid at the End of the World (8/10)
7. Thin Ice (7/10)
8. Smile (7/10)
9. Knock Knock (6/10)
10. Oxygen (6/10)
11. Extremis (6/10)
12. The Lie of the Land (5/10)

Overall, Series Ten has been a solid series. Looking back at my scores, most of them were eight out of tens, meaning I found the episodes generally quite good. The World Enough and Time and The Doctor Dances were undoubtedly my favourites, taking the best bits from some of Moffat;s previous finales and making them into something even better.

Steven Moffat has only one more episode of the Twelfth Doctor's era left to go. Let's hope that it is a proper send off for his Doctor and not a continuity fest for the First.

Doctor Who 10x12: The Doctor Falls

As The Doctor Falls opens, the odds are heavily stacked against the Doctor. A new army of Cybermen is about to take over the Space Ship, the Master has teamed up with Missy and Bill has been converted into a Cyberman. How would these elements be resolved? 

The pre-titles sequence introduces us to another level of the ship. In contrast to the polluted city, this level resembles a nice countryside with an artificial sky and a solar farm where a woman called Hazran protects children from converted patients. As the children are walking along, the ground starts to break underneath them as a Space Ship bursts through from a lower level. A Mondassian Cyberman also emerges, carrying the Doctor. It’s a nice image. 

After the opening titles the story cuts back to some time previously, back in the city at the bottom of the ship. The Doctor is now a prisoner of the Master and Missy, who are gloating over their victory and the rise of their Cyberman army. It's a similar scene to those at the beginning of Last of the Time Lords and The End of Time Part Two and works just as well here.  In this scene, the Master gets to explain how he escaped from Gallifrey, his reason for disguising himself as Razor and for converting the ship's crew into Mondassians. It's nice that these things are addressed as its the kind of detail that can sometimes be hand-waved away. 

The Master and Missy’s victory is short lived. True to form, the Doctor has secretly managed to outwit the Master by tampering with the Cybermen programming. They will now pursue Time Lords as well as humans. As the Cybermen advance, the Master and Missy are forced to make their escape with Nardole on a Ship while the converted Bill resists her programming and helps the Doctor to escape. Our five main characters arrive at the Solar Farm that we saw in the pre-titles sequence and the story leaps to two weeks later. 

From here on in the plot is very straightforward.  Everyone on the Solar Farm prepares to defend themselves from the Cybermen long enough to allow the children to escape to one of the upper floors of the Ship.  Despite all of the hype, the actual Cyber-Attack is very short, and the Doctor can dispose of them by blowing up parts of the ship. Where the episode excels is in the character interaction and development that occurs in the build up to the assault. 

Bill has a particularly hard time in dealing with being a Cyberman. Although her body is cybernetic she has been able to able to retain her emotions due to her link with the Monks in Lie of the Land. She spends most of the episode trying to come to terms with her new appearance and the fact that people are afraid to approach her. She even tells the Doctor she does not want to live if she stays like this which is heartbreaking. Bill still images herself as human, which means that Pearl Mackie still feature heavily in the episode. It’s a clever writer trick by Steven Moffat, and Rachael Talalay pulls the transitions between human-Bill and Cyber-Bill with great aplomb. Cybermen voices are not great for conveying emotional depth so it makes sense to have Pearl Mackie. 

The Master and Missy are unwilling to involve themselves in the conflict and decide to escape in the Master’s Tardis. The character don't really contribute much to help but they are splendidly written in this episode.  The Master is sadistic when he taunts Bill. Missy’s true allegiances remain ambiguous. Together are flirtatious and sometimes answer the others’ thoughts. The fact that they want to run away from a dangerous situation is perfectly in keeping with the Masters of the past. We see that the Doctor’s attempt to redeem Missy did have an effect as she tries to kill the Master and return. The Master shoots her so the Doctor will never know that she tried to redeem herself. It’s a suitable fate for the character. Neither of them regenerates which means that Chris Chibnall could easily bring either of them back if he chooses. Although I would like to see them again, this would be good enough a conclusion for the character as it is. 

In a nice contrast with the two Masters' cowardice, Nardole gets to show off his bravery. He was sidelined in the previous episode but here he gets to play a crucial role in helping the solar farmers to prepare their defenses, There is also a lovely little subplot where he falls in love with Hazran, the woman looking after the kids. This episode serves as a departure for Nardole as he stays behind and look after the kids and protect them from further Cyberman attacks. His farewell to the Doctor and Bill was touching. It’s a nice ending for a character that started off as a bit of a coward and comic relief. It was grat to see what Matt Lucas could do. 

With all of the competing elements mentioned already, it would be easy to imagine that Peter Capaldi's Doctor would be overshadowed. Fortunately this is far from the case as he shines above verything else. As the episode progresses he is gradually weakening, and it seems that several wounds are causing his regeneration rather than one big event. Nevertheless he shows his bravery by plowing on. The speech he gives to the Master about kindness is probably one of his stand up moments. The Master’s response is great and the Doctor imploring Missy is also heart-breaking. We see the warrior side of the Doctor when he uses the sonic screwdriver to blow up parts of the ship and take the Cybermen with it. His regeneration is started when the Cybermen shoot him. The Doctor's regeneration is very reminiscent of previous Doctors. He gets flashbacks like Tom Baker's in Logopolis and also quotes 'I don't want to go' and 'the Doctor was me' from the last two. This time though his regeneration is more weary. 

The Cybermen themselves were decent even if they weren't really the focus on the episode. We not only see the Mondassian ones but also the Cybus and Cyberiad versions. The Doctor suggests that Cybermen evolve because of parallel evolution. There is a nice throw in to the Cybermen coming from Marinus in The World Shapes. The Cybermen are after the children because there is less spare flesh and blood to throw away which is sick. Although they do not get so much attention this week, they are at least in control of their situation and not actually pawns of the Master this time around. 

By the end of the episode all of our characters go their separate ways. The wounded Doctor is on his way to regeneration and Nardole is staying behind to look after children. The least satisfying of these was Bill’s departure. Throughout the episode she is crying tears and these turn out to be Heather, the undead girl from The Pilot. She saves Bill by taking her on as a passenger and they go off into the universe. It’s very similar to what happens to Clara in Hell Bent, although since Bill is a lot more likeable than Clara it is easy to let it pass. 

Although Bill’s departure was less than satisfying, everything else was so sublime that it was easy to let that go. Rachael Talalay’s direction was fantastic and I am sad that we may only have one more episode to go, unless Chibnall asks her to come back. Murray Gold’s score is decent, with callbacks to Rise of the Cybermen and Heaven Sent. 

There was certainly a lot of fan references in this episode. We got references to previous Cyberman stories as well as the Master having the same dematerialisation circuit as in the original series. Steven Moffat is definately not worrying too much about fans. 

The episode ends with the Twelfth Doctor in the snow, meeting his first incarnation played by David Bradley. It will be interesting to see the difference between his performance as the actor, William Hartnell and the character of the First Doctor. Will he be a better substitute than Richard Hurndall? I’m excited to find out. 

Series Ten has been a fairly good series. Nothing bad but nothing brilliant. The Doctor Falls was one of the better episodes.

8/10