New Exhibition at The Lightbox

From the Realm of the Dragon has finished and the Woking Dance Festival Winter Shorts come to an end today at The Lightbox Museum and Gallery in Woking.

However, a new display has opened: Images of Surrey: Watercolours by John and Edward Hassell. If you're interested in either the history of surrey, watercolours, or the works of father and son John and Edward, then this exhibition is for you! Come to the Lightbox in Woking!

Goodbye Ponds

Its been announced  that Amy and Rory will leave "heartbreakingly" during the next series of Doctor Who. After that, a new companion will join the Doctor on his travels.

I'm not that surprised really. After Amy's faith in the Doctor was shattered in The God Complex and the River Song storyline concluded in The Wedding of River Song, there doesn't appear to be many directions left for these characters to go. I'm looking forward to finding out what, on top of losing their child and losing faith in the Doctor, could force the Ponds to leave the Tardis permanently.

Since reports state that the next series is split across 2012 and 2013, I'd guess that Amy and Rory will be leaving after the 2012 episodes. This will leave the Doctor solo for the 2012 Christmas special before picking up his new companion in the 2013 episodes.  Or I could be completely wrong.

Although the Ponds are not my favourite Who companions of all time, I'll miss the actors, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill who always performed well and were often fun to watch off screen.

Still, it's not over yet. We've still got a few more episodes left to enjoy the Ponds at least. Let's hope they're good ones!

Two Episodes of Doctor Who Recovered!

It's been announced that two previously missing episodes of Doctor Who have been recovered. One of them is "Air Lock", the third Episode of the William Hartnell story Galaxy Four. The other is Episode Two of the Patrick Troughton story The Underwater Menace.

This brings the total number of Missing Episodes down to 106! I bet some fans are annoyed that there weren't any episodes from more popular stories. Personally I think it's great if any Doctor Who episodes are recovered, especially after they've been missing this long!

We'll have to wait and see how and when these episodes are going to be released to the public. Perhaps they'll feature in a re-release of the Lost In Time set? Whatever the case, this is a great christmas present for Doctor Who fans!

December Time

It's that busy time of year again.

The From The Realm of the Dragon closes today at The Lightbox in Woking. Next saturday a new exhibit Images of Surrey: Watercolours by John and Edward Russell will be opening. Anyone who's interested in watercolours should take note.

I've also finished my first full week at my new job. Archiving may sound boring to some people, but reading through old files can lead to fascinating discoveries. Check out the Broadmoor website since they've released details about Broadmoor.

On Twitter there's a lot of strange hints from Who fans including Tom Spilsbury, Mark Gatiss and Benjamin Cook. Sounds like they might have found a missing episode.

Anyway, onwards and upwards, and I'll be posting more Who reviews

Reviewing Series Six of Doctor Who

Series Six has certainly divided the Doctor Who fan community. Some people loved it, others hated it, but it has certainly left quite an impression. Steven Moffat's decision to run a long story arc through a split series was a big risk to take, but also a necessary one. Doctor Who has now been running for more than six years in a row. In the meantime, a new bunch of successful shows like Misfits and Downton Abbey have sprung up to challenge Who for the title of best drama series on television. If Doctor Who is to stay successful, it must continue to change with the times and find new, innovative ways of telling stories. If Moffat did, as some fans might argue, fail, then at least he failed while trying something interesting.

Juggling the plots of Doctor's impending death and the origins of River Song proved to be tricky to execute well. There were answers to some questions, but many others were raised instead. Some parts were totally ignored, like "when did the Doctor find out he was supposed to die?" or "why were Amy and Rory not bothered about searching for their lost child?". The latter question could be answered by the fact that Amy and Rory are happy that Melody becomes River, a person they admire, but I wish that could have been acknowledged in the actual scripts.

One price to pay with story arcs is that they make standalone episodes look weak by comparison. Night Terrors and Curse of the Black Spot were never going to be the strongest stories of Doctor Who, but placed amidst more exciting event episodes, they seemed less interesting than ever. The best example of a standalone episode was The Doctor's Wife, which didn't really contribute anything to the overall plot of Series Six, but made up for it with a new take on the Doctor, his ship, and the show's mythology.

Where the series definitely succeeded was in visually engaging the audience. The Tardis has travelled to a variety of colourful new locations, from the lakes of Utah, to a pirate ship, to a clinical hospital and Area 52. Credit must go to Michael Pickwoad who has designed many brilliant sets. It makes up for some of the duller design of Series Five.

Series Six was fascinating to watch, but I am happy that the show will move on to something a bit different. I am curious to see where Steven Moffat will take the show in the next two years.
8/10

Doctor Who 6x04 The Doctor's Wife

Hello Sexy

Of all the episodes for Series Six this was the one I was most anticipating. Not only was it written by Neil Gaiman, but the title showed promise. But did the broadcast episode live up to expectations?

As far as I'm concerned, the answer is a definite yes! For those hoping we were going to meet Susan's mother, this must have been a dissapointment. But for those like the notion of exploring the Doctor/Tardis relationship, then this is made of win. A lot of 90s fan fiction including Toy Story by Lawrence Miles has explored similar ideas, but nothing quite like this has ever been shown on public television, unless you count the exploration of the environment in Castrovalva.

Some older, stuffy fans will groan about the continuity. They'll say that this is like exploring the wardrobe instead of Narnia. Personally I think this kind of story is great because it inspires children to invent their own worlds and mythologies. Stories like Logopolis and Castrovalva, whatever their viewing merit, inspired new generations of fans. If there is any kind of New Adventures range it'll be inspired by stories like this.

Neil Gaiman has written a love letter to Doctor Who. It's self indulgent, yes, but like a big sugary cake, it tastes delicious!

10/10

Doctor Who - Movie Rumours

People are once again talking about a Doctor Who Movie. At the moment there's no script, actors or anything, so it's still really just an idea. A Doctor Who Movie has been in discussion for ages, and could easily fall into development hell.

What would a Doctor Who film actually be like? At best it could be an exciting family adventure film, like The Adventures of Tintin or the Harry Potter series. At worst it could be a bloated cash cow like the Pokemon or Transformers movies. The nature of the Tardis means the film could be set anywhere in time and space, in any number of genres. Where would a scriptwriter even begin to plan a storyline?

There's also the question of whether a movie would actually benefit the TV series it came from. Tie in films like Pokemon or the 1995 Power Rangers film were both turning points for their respective franchises, as each became less popular after the film showed, possibly because of the overkill in popularity and merchandising.

I personally feel that a movie franchise would work better once the TV series has come to an end, like the Star Trek films of the 80s, which featured the original cast and crew, and were able to develop in their own way, without being constrained by what the TV show was doing, like the Next Generation 90s films were.

Still, I'm cautiously optimistic. If anything comes from this film, I hope it's at least halfway decent.