Pathetic Protesters

So let me get this straight... nine in ten of the so called "protesters" camping outside St Pauls Cathedral are sneaking away from their tents at night to go home for warm food and shelter!?

It's nice to know that these people will enjoy the luxuries of the capitalist system they claim to despise! Abandoning their cause whenever it suits them!

Any respect I might have had for these hypocrites has gone.

(sigh) there just isn't a facepalm big enough for those losers!

From the Realm of the Dragon

This Tuesday, The Lightbox Gallery and Museum in Woking will be opening a fascinating new exhibition.

From the Realm of the Dragon: The Ceramic Heritage of Zibo, China is a major exhibition which will showcase a range of Chinese ceramics not previously seen in the UK, from the Zibo Ceramics Museum.

To find out more about The Lightbox and its exhibitions, visit their website by clicking here.

Doctor Who - The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon

Stetsons are cool!

Yes. I know. I've skipped over Series Five, but to be honest, I was VERY busy last year. Since I'm so far behind, I might as well push on to reviewing Series Six.

Moffat stated in DWM that he wanted this opening story to resemble a Season Finale, with a sense of epic scale. However, a Season finale usually answers questions whereas this two-parter poses them.

In the space of two episodes we get introduced to some shocking moments. The Doctor dies! Amy is pregnant! The Silence are revealled and there's a little girl who seems to be able to regenerate! All of these are fascinating but there's very little plot in between them. The Utah setting is simply a backdrop and really, the story could have been shot anywhere.

 

Matt Smith is now truly comfortable in the role of the Doctor, whether playing the tired and enigmatic future version, or the younger, more eccentric present version. His "don't take chances" speech was one of the best things he's ever said. It was like he was channelling William Hartnell or Colin Baker, a darker side to the Doctor.

 

Amy Pond seemed like a much more detailed character this time around. There were fewer quips and more moments of introspection. The moment where Amy made a promise on fish fingers and custard made it feel like there was a genuine bond between her and the Doctor. Rory Williams was perhaps less well utilized, since he spent most of the story being overcrowded by the more flamboyant Doctor, Amy and River.

 

I wasn't particularly looking forward to the return of River Song, but as with Amy, I found her much more interesting this time. She still says "spoilers" and flirts with the Doctor, but there are moments of genuine emotion when she tells Rory about the day she dreads.

 

Toby Haynes is back and continues to be a good director. The filming is excellant, I love the look of the Utah Lake with its strong orange deserts and clear blue waters. The scenes in the tunnels near the Silents' spaceship was suitably creepey.

In the end, what we have are a lot of good ideas, and a lot of good performances, but not much of a plot.

7/10

Doctor Who 2010 Christmas Special: A Christmas Carol

A spaceship is hurtling towards the surface of an alien planet! Amy and Rory are among the many passengers trapped on board! The only person who can save the ship is a bitter old man called Kazran Sardick, ruler of Sardicktown, and he just doesn't care.  Looks like he needs the Doctor!

Last year's Christmas Special, The End of Time was pretty doomy and gloomy so it's good to have a Christmas Special that is fun, frothy and simple. Steven Moffat promised us the most "christmassy christmas episode" and he certainly did his best. We get a vast planet of snow, and the Doctor building a snowman at the end. The actual story is a retelling of A Christmas Carol, with the Doctor showing Kazran his past in order to change his present. The Doctor and Kazran get to share Christmas dinner with a family and there's even a snowman at the end.

In spite of all the wonder and visuals, the story focuses on the life of Kazran Sardick, and the Doctor's timey wimey attempts in redeeming him. The Sci-Fi plotting was simple window dressing.  Like many Moffat episodes,  the story had fun with time paradoxes, but as they are focused on Kazran's life, they are character driven, unlike The Big Bang, which was concept driven. Some might complain that Moffat is reusing his time paradox trick too often. But then again, RTD repeated his invasion of earth trick, so what do you expect? All writers have their quirks and repetitions.

I've said it before, but Matt Smith continues to be brilliant in the role of the Doctor. Amy Pond wasn't in the episode much, but what I saw of her seemed okay. Her reaction to Kazran is nice, and one of the few occasions we see her empathise with a being on another world. Rory gets even less to say or do than Amy, so I can't really say anything about him at all.

The episode revolves around Michael Gambon's character Kazran Sardick. He is as you would expect from an actor of his calibre, very good indeed. Unfortunately, Katherine Jenkins had very little to do as The Abigail character was sadly lacking in personality, and seemed to exist as a mere love interest for Kazran, and a plot device to save the spaceship.

The design of this episode was great. Sardicktown looked like a wonderful city of steampunk. The only downside was the spaceship set, which looked like the kind of tacky rubbish you'd find in a 70s episode.

This was a fun little episode you can really enjoy while gorged on turkey and wine!

8/10

Next: America! A green eyed Ood! The Lodger Tardis! River Song naked! I want to see Series Six right now!!!

The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Death of the Doctor

The Dream Team

We thought that Russell T Davies' time writing for the Doctor was over. Now he returns as a writer in a story that sees the Eleventh Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith and Jo Grant team up. 

This tale deals with grief. Sarah Jane has to come to terms with the idea that the Doctor may be dead. These scenes are sad and really get across the idea of how people cope with grief. Fortunately she is not alone, batty old Jo Grant appears, like a crazy old relative, bringing much needed humour and levity at a sad time. 

It is not long before the Eleventh Doctor himself turns up, having been stranded on an alien planet by the Shansheeth. You can tell that Matt has clearly grown into the role of the Doctor. He can stand with two older ladies and still seem like he's older than both of them. 

Although there are three major Doctor Who juggernauts, the Bannerman road kids  do not get overshadowed. Finn Jones' Santiago felt slightly shoehorned in. He didn't actually contribute anything. Even the Groske contrinuted more. Some people might have found him easy on the eye but that doesn't excuse a slightly superfluous role. I suppose he was there to make the Sarah Jane gang seem more impressive. 

This was ultimately a quite uplifting piece. It ends with Sarah Jane ruminatingon the success of previous companions. It's a far more optimistic tone than The End of Time, and that is how it should be. 

Despite being a Doctor Who fan for many years, I never really got into The Sarah Jane Adventures I think the kid's show moniker put me off. However, with this series I've started taking an interest. Perhaps it is a show worth sticking to after all.

9/10

The Dark Knight (2008)

Although Batman Begins proved that Batman could be made to work again on the big screen, it was The Dark Knight that really cemented the popularity of the Nolan series.

In this film, Batman and Gordon team up with Harvey Dent in a plan to bring down organised crime in Gotham City. They almost succeed but soon the Joker starts causing trouble. The Joker's plans get worse and worse including the death of Rachel Dawes and the transformation of Harvey Dent into Two-Face. The plot draws on elements of  The Killing Joke and The Long Halloween to create its own plot.

Christian Bale is a great Bruce Wayne although his Batman voice continues to be unintentionally funny in certain scenes. The new costume he wears is slimmer and ,much better looking than the bulky affair he wears.

Gordon fares better in this film as the head of the Major Crimes Unit. Gary Oldman is good in the role. The character is less exciting than the others but he needs to be the reliably good cop.

The character of Harvey Dent is far better than the version in Batman Forever. Aaron Eckhart is great in the role, succeeding in the role of a good guy turned evil in a way that Hayden Christensen didn't quite manage as Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels.

Of course Heath Ledger as the Joker is phenomenal. This is certainly the scariest Joker with his obsession with standard blade weapons.

Rachel Dawes is back but dies off. Maggie Gyllenhal is good as the character. The decision to kill the character off is a wise one, though if they make a sequel they'll need more female characters

There are plenty of memorable characters. Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth and Morgan Freeman as Lucious Fox provide moral and technical support to our hero. On he villains side there is also Eric Roberts as Sal Maroni as well as a nice cameo of Cillian Murphy returning as the Scarecrow.

At one point in the film, the Joker tells Batman that he has changed things forever. That is as much of an apt description of the film. It has taken risks and other superhero films must up their game to catch up.

10/10

Batman Begins (2005)

There was a general sense that Batman and Robin had brought the Batman film franchise to a screaming halt. Aside from a turgid Catwoman movie in 2004, there was nothing Batman related to watch on the big screen until 2005. That was the year that Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins came along and brought the character back into popularity.

The film follows Bruce Wayne as he meets Henri Ducard joins the League of Shadows, a ninja organisation run by a mysterious Rhas a Ghul, and learns how to fight crime. As this happens there are several flashbacks to the murder of the Wayne parents. In contrast to Tim Burton's Batman, this script by David S. Goyer gives us the full details of how Bruce was shaped into Batman. It's a good way of reintroducing the character.

When Bruce realises that Rhas a Ghul expects him to kill, he instead burns down the League's Bruce  rescues Ducard and returns to Gotham City and we build up to the appearance of Batman. The construction of the suit and Bruce's motivation was shown in painstaking detail. As Bruce he adopts a playboy persona and reunites with his childhood friend, Rachel Dawes. He also gets gadget advice for Lucious Fox. As Batman he teams up with Commissioner Gordon.

The final act of the film sees Batman facing the big threat. He soon faces the Scarecrow's fear gas and that leads into fighting Henri Ducard revealled to be the real Rhas a Ghul. Although the League of Shadows try to destroy Gotham with gas, Batman defeats them.

Christian Bale's portrayal of Batman is decent enough. It is a pity that the growling voice is a little too over the top. The suit is bulky but effective.

Gary Oldman is good as Jim Gordon, having the same weathered look as the character did in Frank Miller's Year One. Michael Caine's take on a cockney Alfred is a good take on the character. The only weak link is Rachel Dawes who feels like the obligatory love interest. It is a shame that she is not a more interesting character in herself.

The villains are fairly low key. Cillian Murphy is a decent Jonathan Crane and Scarecrow. Liam Neeson is well cast as Henri Ducard, and Rhas a Ghul.

To say that Batman Begins is realistic would be inaccurate. This is a film with an army of ninjas trying to upset the city's economy and then release a gas to turn everybody mad. It would be more accurate to say that this is a James Bond style universe. It is a very successful film and brought the bat back into fashion.

8/10