HOLY CRAP.

So, something from Flesh and Blood, which has now aired in America, has been pointed out to me.





17:40, The Doctor leaves. No jacket.




18:06, The Doctor reappears, and tells Amy to remember what he told her as a little girl. Jacket.

Goof up while filming, or TWO DOCTORS? You decide.

Doctor Who Review - Flesh and Stone

Warning - The following contains spoilers for Doctor Who S5 Ep5, "Flesh and Stone". It will air in America on May 15th. If you have not seen it, and do not wish to be spoiled, do not read the following.













THAT WAS AN AMAZING EPISODE! Seriously, I had the highest expectations possible for this two parter, and I was still blown away. Flesh and Stone was the perfect mix of fun, scary, and awesome that I've come to expect from Steven Moffat after "The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit", "Blink", and "Midnight". Those four episodes are probably the best episodes of the new series. Moffat certainly has a knack for knowing what's scary. It's the unseen.

People are terrified of what they don't understand. They're terrified of what they don't see. The unknown is frightening. In The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit, the beast isn't what's scary. What's scary in that two parter is the fact that for the most part you don't understand it. Heck, I'm still not sure if The Beast was actually the devil, or just claiming to be.

Midnight is a scary episode because you never actually see the monster. The monster of Midnight is mysterious. You hear it banging on the bus. And once it possesses Sky, it's freaky because you don't understand it. Unlike a lot of the monsters on Doctor Who, it doesn't seem human at all, even though you only see it INSIDE a human.



Blink was scary because you had to see them. The second they became unseen, they become a threat. And that's scary, because once again, the unseen is terrifying.

I'd now add "The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone" to the same list of terrifyingly awesome episodes. Possibly the scariest yet. This time, the angels are even scarier, more powerful, and much stronger in numbers. I did find it odd that they seemed to write off the "Only psychopath to kill you kindly" aspect of them from Blink, but I'm willing to excuse it.

But the scariest thing in this episode is the fact that one character can't see the Angels (or anything for that matter) for a good portion of the episode. It feels chaotic, confusing, and scary. I was worried they were going to downplay the scariness of The Angels this time, but quite to the contrary, they were the scariest they've been. I want nothing more than to see The Angels become reoccuring monsters Ala the Daleks or Cybermen, only more awesome.

The thing is, the Daleks aren't really that cool anymore. That was one of the big problems with Victory of the Daleks. When the Daleks were created in 1963, they were relevant. The Daleks, for those who don't know, were created to be a direct analogy to the Nazis. And back then when WWII was still fresh in peoples minds (Relatively fresh, at least. It had been 17 years.) they were scary! But now... They're kind of campy. Fun fact, the first four seasons of the revived Doctor Who series have had more episodes feature The Daleks than Tom Bakers entire run as The Doctor.

My point is, the Daleks are not scary any more. I'm not saying they shouldn't be in the show any more, it wouldn't be Doctor Who without Daleks, but they're being used way too much. Every season has one or more episodes featuring the Daleks. Let them be! Take a season or two without them! The Weeping Angels! The Master! Even the Cybermen are more interesting than the Daleks at this point!

But this is about Flesh and Stone, not the Daleks. I will admit it seemed like an odd tangent they got off on for a good portion of the episode with the crack. I won't say exactly how it's used, but those cracks we've been seeing? Well, it plays a major part in this episode. I'm glad. Every season has had a reoccurring theme that's been mentioned repeatedly, and played into the season finale for those who don't know. In season one the words Bad Wolf were found in every episode. In season two, Torchwood was mentioned in almost every episode. In season three you saw a lot of mention of a Mr. Saxon. In season four you kept hearing about the bees disappearing. Those never came into play until the season finale. This time, the cracks seem to be coming into play in more than just the season finale. I'm interested to see where they take it.

Matt Smith seems to be settling into his role as The Doctor. He's similar to Tennant's Doctor, but there is most certainly a difference there. I really liked him in this episode. David Tennant will always be my Doctor, but Matt Smith seems to be doing the role justice. I did find myself thinking a couple times during the episode though, "This episode would be so much better with Tennant!". Ah well. I'll go back and watch him regenerate, and mourn him some more.

In short, this episode is by far the best of the new season, and one of the best two parters of the new SERIES. I don't know how they can top themselves with this one, but here's hoping Vampires in Venice is as good next week.

Just kidding, I don't expect Vampires in Venice to be anything more than a fun romp like Victory of the Daleks was. Let's just hope it's better than The Beast Below.

Doctor Who Review - The Time of Angels

Warning - The following contains spoilers for Doctor Who S5 Ep4, "The Time of Angels". It will air in America on May 8th. If you have not seen it, and do not wish to be spoiled, do not read the following.





NOW THAT IS HOW YOU DO A DOCTOR WHO EPISODE! After the disheartening mess the past two episodes have been, it's good to see such a good episode come out of the new episode. Or maybe I just love the Weeping Angels. I don't know, either way, this was freaking awesome.

I previously expressed the fact that I would love nothing more than for The Weeping Angels to become reoccurring creatures such as the Daleks or The Cybermen. The first time I saw Blink, I was edge of my seat. I was a little scared. It was a cool, great, scary episode. So the fact that The Weeping Angels are returning was good news to me. But I'll admit I was a little worried that, after the STAR WHALES episode (I neglected to review, but was awful), and the rushed Dalek episode, that Steven Moffat wouldn't do this episode right. And the news that River Song would be returning didn't help things either. I was a little worried it would be the exact same episode as "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead", but with The Weeping Angels instead of the... I dunno, little piranha things.

In a way it was. It did, in fact, feel similar to both "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead" and "Blink". But it also felt as though it made itself different enough that it was still freaking awesome. It all starts when River Song sends a message to The Doctor and he saves her from some guys in suits on a ship. The Doctor is shown up on his piloting ability of The Doctor and she explains there is a Weeping Angel in the ship. The ship crashes due to sabotage and the Angel escapes into some catacombs called the maze of the dead. Lovely.

If you thought the Angels were scary in Blink, you haven't seen anything yet. They have quite a few new tricks that weren't shown off in Blink, and they are pretty darn cool, and scary.

The episode has the same scary feel that Blink had, the same short cuts, close shots, that just gives a nervous feeling to all of it, but this time, well... We're not dealing with some weak scavengers who crashed on Earth.

I really can't even think up any complaints for the episode. It was freaking awesome. I can't wait to see the conclusion next week.

Doctor Who Review - The Eleventh Hour

Warning - The following contains spoilers for Doctor Who S5 Ep1, "The Eleventh Hour". It will air in America on April 17th. If you have not seen it, and do not wish to be spoiled, do not read the following.







HOLYCRAPAMAZING

Ok, any skepticism I had about Matt Smith, the Eleventh Doctor is now gone. This episode was freaking AMAZING. Jaw dropping, heart stopping, Doctor Who AWESOME.

And yes, I know it hasn't aired in America yet, so for the sake of the argument, let's just say I flew to England to see it.

When we last left off, David Tennant had just left, and Matt Smith had just become The Doctor. Only to find that he was crashing to earth. This episode picks up right from there, with him crashing towards Earth. After an opening of him crashing, they cut to a scene of a little girl, Amy Pond, praying to Santa... Which was odd. But ignoring that, she's praying about a small crack in her wall, which she says she hears thing through.

Suddenly, the TARDIS crashes outside her window, and she runs down, to meet The Doctor. She asks if he's here to fix the crack, and he begins to have chest pains, and glow, a side effect of the regeneration. She is ok with this, because she's a pretty cool 8 year old. He takes a look at the wall, and hears the words "PRISONER ZERO HAS ESCAPED". He explains it's not a crack in the wall, it's a crack in the fabric of reality, and opens the crack completely, where a giant eye stares at him, before he closes the crack completely.

He figures out that the prisoner zero has escaped onto earth through the crack, and that it's using a perception filter, which is awesome because I love the perception filter concept. Before he can do anything else, he hears the TARDIS, and runs to it, explaining that it'll explode if he doesn't take a trip to stabilize the engines. She asks how a box can have engines, and he explains that it's not a box, it's a time machine. She asks for a ride, and he says it's too dangerous, and that he'll come back in 5 minutes and give her a ride.

12 years later... He finally arrives.

Without spoiling too much of the rest of the episode, suffice it to say that it's The Doctor, still being The Doctor, and doing what he does best. Running. A race against time to save the earth.

The change in directors from Russel T. Davies, to Steven Moffat definatly shows, and the episode has a creepier feel than some of the old Russel T. Davies episodes, staying in line with Moffat's other episodes, such as Blink, and Midnight. But it's still Doctor Who, and feels like Doctor Who, just a little different.

All in all, it was amazing, and I can't wait for next week's episode. The overall story arc they've introduced seems pretty interesting.

Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, you've got me. Now keep it up.

The Reason I Haven't Posted in a Month, and why Flash Forward Is Kind of Terrible

So, I haven't posted in a month, and even before that posts were erratic at best. So what's the reason, you might ask? Well, theoretical reader who doesn't actually exist, the reason isn't what you might expect. No, it's not that I've been busy, or some such nonsense, it's not that I have a life, and it's certainly not because I've been neglecting this blog and playing games instead. The reason is simple: Time travel.

You see, it's actually only been 5 minutes since I last posted, but because of my highly technical time traveling device, it's been a month for you guys. Simple, see?


IN OTHER NEWS:

I really want to like the show Flash Forward. I really do. It's a good premise... But the show is just disappointing. And do you know why? They're trying to be Lost. The problem with that is, quite simply, Lost does Lost a lot better than Flash Forward does lost.

Lost has great characters, and a great overall mystery.
Flash Forward had terrible characters, and a decent overall mystery.

The Lost characters are all very well developed. Take for example, Sawyer:
James Ford (AKA Sawyer) has shown many sides during Lost. When we first meet him, he seems very one-dimensional. He's the bully of the group, who steals, calls names, and is just an overall jerk.

Later on, you find out he's a Con Man. That fits, right? Well, you also find out that when he was younger, a man named Sawyer conned his father, who then went crazy, and killed his mother, and then himself. Thus, Sawyers beginnings.

Now, I never really liked Sawyer much until last season. That showed us a new side of Sawyer, when he settled down in Dharmatown with Juliet. This new side of him was very interesting, and showed that deep down there was more to him than that one-dimensional con man we saw in season one. And now, with Juliet dead, his character just gets more and more interesting.

In contrast, the more we see the character of Jack, the token "Good guy" character, the more we see him for what he is. He has a messiah complex. He wants to save everyone, no, needs to save everyone, not for their sake, but because he wants everyone to view him as a savior. That's why he wanted to go back to save the survivors. Not for their sake, but because he wants people to praise him as a savior.

Thus, since the first season, in my opinion at least, the way Jack and Sawyer are perceived has reversed, Sawyer wants to save people for their sake, and doesn't care what people think of him, while Jack just wants the praise for being a savior. That makes the whole thing a lot more interesting, not being sure how you're supposed to view them in the first place any more.

Meanwhile, Flash Forward has such memorable characters as:
Mark Benford, who is an FBI Agent with a history of drinking, and a fear he may return to it.
Olivia Benford, Mark's wife, who's afraid she may betray him.
Lloyd Simco, who's trying to be a good father, and is struggling with guilt from his belief that he caused the blackout.

I'd like to say that there was more to each character than that... But there really isn't.

There's more too.

Gay cop, FBI boss, guy who doesn't think he's going to live, I can describe most the Flash Forward characters in a sentence or less.

The worst example though, is the character of Charlie Pa- I'm sorry, Simon Campos, who's defining trait in my mind is, in case you couldn't tell, that his actor played Charlie on, you guessed it, Lost. Even worse than that though, his character feels to me like a poor attempt of what Lost did, of making deep characters, with the most recent episode being the defining example of this.
"He's a bad guy.. But he's doing it because he loves his family! He loves his family so much that he's killing his family! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!"
I'm sorry, but it's a big problem when I've been watching your show for months now, and I still call one of your characters the name of the character their actor played on another show.

So what's the fix? Simple: Stop trying to be Lost. Be yourself! You have a good idea for a mystery with the Flash Forwards! Just stop trying to make people care about your characters so much, and just focus on the Flash Forwards. Also, kill off Mark. Seriously, he's just annoying.

I said, months before the show started, that the show could go either way, on the one hand, if they made it just another cop show, it would be bad. On the other, if they made it a show that focused on the idea that EVERYONE had a Flash Forward, and what it would mean, and how it would change life to have to account for the future, not just the past, then it would be good. Now, Flash Forward keeps saying that they're doing that, ("Everyone makes choice based on what WILL happen now!") but they don't ACTUALLY do it.

You know what a show I'd rather be watching is? One that's not about Mark. Lloyd and Simon, while neither are interesting characters, make the show itself more interesting while they are onscreen, just because they focus less on the characters, and more on the mystery.

You know who my favorite character on Lost is? Hurley. He's fun, and he has a good, fleshed out character. At first he seemed like just comic relief, and it's true, for the most part he is still just comic relief. But there's MORE TO HIM than just that.

You know who my favorite character on Flash Forward is? I don't have one. I'm so indifferent about all of them, that I cannot pick one out as my favorite.

That's a problem, and it's on they really need to fix. Oh well, at least I still have V.

Saddest Doctor Who Moment Ever

Not gonna post anything much today, but this is how The End of Time Pt. 2 ended. It brings a tear to my eye. David Tennant will be missed. Spoilers, in the video, in case you hadn't guessed.

So yeah. That's pretty much it.

So This Is How It Ends, Not With A Bang, But With A Whimper.

The Tenth Doctor was amazing. I'm sorry to see him go. (No pun intended.)I don't know how else I can put it. The Ninth Doctor was fantastic, sure, (pun intended.) but Ten was just brilliant.

The End Of Time should really be viewed as a whole. In fact, while other two part episodes have seperate names, (Utopia/The Sound Of Drums/The Last Of The Time Lords for example) this one has the same name, in two parts. And really, it's rightly so, because the episode is really just a Doctor Who movie, split into two halves. The closest we'll ever get at least. (The '96 movie doesn't count, because it was bad.)

What really shocks me is how long he's been setting this up for. Russel T. Davies knew he would be writing the swansong episode of Tennant's take on The Doctor, and so he began setting things up from the minute The Master returned. Between setting up the drumming, and Wilf, I'm quite impressed.

This episode feels like it really pays off on everything that the past few years with the 10th Doctor have been building up to. And as much as it hurts to see him go, and he'll always be The Doctor to me, this episode is a very fitting way for him to go.

Not that it didn't have it's share of cringe worthy moments, in fact I didn't even get the most out of the cliffhanger of Pt. 1 until the second watch through, because I spent the whole time laughing the first time. It was incredibly cheesy. But it was fitting. Because even though I love the heck outta the show, it's nothing if not cheesy. And you know what? There's nothing wrong with that. There's a place for cheesiness. And that was it.

It was incredibly emotional too. And I'll admit I nearly cried, more than once. And I don't cry for movies/TV shows usually. It takes something special. But this was special. The very end held a moment, hearing Ten talk about his mortality, and how even though he'll regenerate, it's like dying. It shows it's not something routine for Time Lords. It's not like going to the dentist. It's like... Death. You die, and a new man takes your place. Imagine that. If you died, and knew when you died a completely different person would get up and continue on.. It would be almost worse than real death wouldn't it?

The point is, David Tennants swansong episode was very fitting. It touched upon everything that makes The Doctor, The Doctor. It was easily one of the best episodes written by RTD. It was fitting end for his control over the show too. I gotta continue what I touched upon in yesterday's post, Stephen Moffat is my favorite writer for the show. Blink, and Midnight are amazing episodes. I really think the Weeping Angels could be a great reoccurring enemy if done right. And I think with him taking the reins from RTD next season, the show could be even better than before. But as far as RTD episodes go, The End of Time is pretty top notch. I really enjoyed it. The complaints I had were outweighed by the good of the episode.

This is how we're going to remember RTD, and David Tennant, and you know what? That's a good thing. The End of Time had it's share of problems (Too much build up, not enough payoff for the Time Lords for one thing.) but the extremely emotional, and surprising ending, paid off for the whole thing.

The last line Ten says, is really emotional. David Tennant was a Doctor Who fan growing up, and he seems like it. He loved being The Doctor. In fact, there's a line in The Waters of Mars that sums Tennant's take on the doctor up.

The captain of the Mars expedition says to The Doctor, "State your name, rank, and intention."
The Doctor replies: "The Doctor. Doctor. Fun."

He really enjoys seeing the universe, he's seen his share of sadness, and it shows, but all in all... He loves life. And in that, Ten, and Tennant both really loved being The Doctor.

Tennants take on the character, was much more built on relationships, and being The Doctor, than it was built upon great, epic, grand danger. In that, it's fitting that the regeneration doesn't come until AFTER the threat is foiled. It's very personal. The Doctor won. He could just walk away. He's told, to just walk away. But he can't, because that's not who he is. Because if there's one thing The Doctor loved more than being The Doctor... It's the people he met. All of them.

It was pretty much as fitting an ending as you could ask for. And with that Ten, I bid you farewell. The show won't be the same without you. It may be just as good, it may be terrible, it may even be better, but one thing it won't be, is the same. You'll always be the doctor to me.

Breaking Down the 11th Doctor Trailer

Alright, let me preface this by saying I am the biggest 10th Doctor fan you will ever find, and I'm seriously going to miss him as The Doctor.

Doctor Who is one of, if not, my favorite shows, and I have not seen, as of the time of writing, The End Of Time Pt. 2. I'm an American so it airs tomorrow night.

However, this lovely little trailer popped up tonight:



Did you see what I just saw? Because I've watched this trailer 4 times now and I'm still in amazement. Congratulations Matt Smith, I'm compelled even further to watch Season 5.

But what's really going on here? Well, let's break it down.


The trailer opening is very nice, as matt stands there asking what the TARDIS has in store this time.






What indeed, as the next few seconds are a roller coaster ride, featuring explosions, swords, and the doctor punching someone. (Looked like a woman to me, but I couldn't tell.)


But then at :08 you see an explosion in The Doctor's hand... And if you look closely, it's his sonic screwdriver.


Now let me say this is probably nothing. He's probably using it for deus ex machina like always.

But, let me put a small what-if into your head. What-if... He doesn't have his screwdriver anymore? What if, in this new, grittier Stephen Moffat era (writer of The Doctor Dances/The Empty Child, and Blink, among others.) he removes the magic wand. He makes The Doctor rely on wit alone, instead of his magical sonic screwdriver. Just a thought.


And then there's 0:11. And that was when I started really geeking out about it.
A bunch of guys are in a cave, or a certain basement with flashlights...

Suddenly the camera turns around, and you better hope none of them start blinking.



That's right. Return of the weeping angels.

Now let me just say I consider Blink the best single Doctor Who episode of the new series. It is amazing. So the fact that the weeping angels are back, that's fantastic.

Now, I suspect that Stephen Moffat taking lead instead of Russel T. Davies has a lot to do with them being back, as I have a feeling Moffat had as much fun writing that episode as I had watching it. I will eagerly await seeing the angels return, and hopefully it'll be it's own episode, heck, I'm hoping the angels can become the first real reoccurring enemies in the new series. So far, think about it, the main reoccurring enemies are:

The Daleks
The Cybermen
The Master

And all of those are classic series enemies. It's about time new Who got it's own iconic enemy.

But, moving on:

From 0:11-0:14 we see vampire ladies, and some demented mask, not sure what either of those are.

But at 0:15 we see this:


Oh yay, more Daleks. Aren't they supposed to be dead or something? Not that I don't like watching Dalek episodes, I just hope they come up with something that at least kind of makes sense for them to be back.

The shot itself shows The Doctor hitting the dalek with a hammer, pretty violently. Quite interesting.

After that we see The Doctor and his new companion kissing.
Then we see some aliens with ray guns, some explosions, another Dalek shot, more swordfighting, and some other various stuff. Then we see some soldier backing up, and some flickering lights, an explosion, in the dark... and well...



More angels! Yay!

Then, what is possibly, but I hope not, the new Doctor's catchphrase:

GERONIMO!

Then his companion is scared, and he jumps off of something.


Then more montage, and "Coming Spring 2010... The End... Is just the beginning..."

Ooh, The Doctor using a gun. Edgy.
Seriously though, I have no problem with him using a gun, especially if they do take away the sonic screwdriver, which they PROBABLY will not. It's also probably just an editing trick, he may just be shoot a rope lowering a cage full of, uh, I dunno, orphan puppies? Yeah. He's freeing the Orphan Puppies.

Finally: Trust him. He's The Doctor.


In conclusion: Big changes are in store for Doctor Who. It's a darker feel, yes, but that's expected with Stephen Moffat in charge, who's written some of the best new series stuff. I eagerly await to see the new season. Matt Smith has big shoes to fill, but I believe he can fill them. Maybe.

Tune in next time for my review of Doctor Who: The End of Time (Parts 1 and 2)

Maybe.

If I get around to it.