Doctor Who Review: The Eleventh Hour

So after the mess that was The End of Time, especially the ending where we see the Doctor doesn’t want to change, it was hardly going to be an easy job getting viewers to like the new Doctor. Add to that a change of companion, production team and Tardis, and you’ve got yourself quite a challenge. Is this a challenge that The Eleventh Hour succeeds in though? Well, let’s take a look.

This episode starts with a little girl calling for help, and the Doctor arriving. This really brings us back to the basic idea as the Doctor as just a man who helps people, without all the baggage of him being a lonely god and a destroyer of worlds brought to us courtesy of Russell T. Davies. It makes it simple and easy for us to get a hold of. If you’d never watched the show before, this would be a great place to jump on. It also allows for two things to take place in the plot; the post-regeneration without a companion and the introduction of Amy Pond. Normally the changes between actors have a companion with them so that the audience can understand that this is the same man, and see the problems of accepting this with his friends. We don’t have that here; instead there is a little girl. She accepts the Doctor and so that’s a good cue for the viewers to accept him too. Also, it allows us to have the Doctor act in strange post-regeneration ways without the new companion running away thinking he’s mad. The idea of the young Amy and her having to wait until she’s older gives a new spin on the meeting of the companion and allows for greater development in later episodes.

The main plot is relatively simple, alien prisoner on Earth; if he’s not found then prison guards will destroy Earth. There is not in that which would be confusing, and this allows us to get to know the new cast without getting distracted. How this simple plot plays out though is brilliantly detailed though, with the small parts of Jeff and his Gran providing great amounts of humour; the strange Prisoner Zero giving a new and unique villain (if not the most visually impressive) and many other things that it would take far too long to go into. You might as well just go and watch it instead. This is a very well made and interesting story, of the best from Matt Smith’s run, and would have worked well even if it had not been a regeneration story, unlike certain others (The Christmas Invasion).

The two jobs of this episode were to tell a good story and introduce us to the new cast. It worked on the first, but did it pull off the second? Yes. We get to see all the different aspects of the new Doctor, from his childlike silliness with Amelia, to his stern hard will with the Atraxi. It provides a large range of emotion and action for the new Doctor, Matt Smith to play with. And he does it fantastically. Can the same be said for Karen Gillan? Yes, but to a lesser degree. She gets a lot to do here and a lot of different emotions to convey, but most of them just end up being shouty. This is a problem that I’ll look at more in other episodes of this series, but Karen Gillan really doesn’t hit her stride until series 6, and in series 5, she just seems to be loud and shout a lot. That’s not to say she’s awful, but next to Matt Smith, who is a far better actor, it’s sometimes a little off putting. However Amy Pond is well written, Karen is very attractive and she’s not the worst companion ever, so it’s still fun to watch her.

Overall this episode succeeds in all the tasks set for it and not only does it introduce us and make us like the new Tardis crew, it also tells a brilliant story to boot. One of the best.

5/5

Review: Act of Valor/The Hunger Games

ACT OF VALOR



THE HUNGER GAMES

Doctor Who Review: The End of Time Part 3?!

Check out the episode first. Part 1 and Part 2 of the review are those hyperlinks. Also, I really wanted to call this review ‘The Ending of Time’. So be thankful I didn’t, because that’s the worst pun I’ve ever written. Yet.

Don’t worry. There wasn’t a secret third episode the BBC was hiding from you. No, this is just the third part of my review, the part which specifically deals with the ending. Because it doesn’t make sense and isn’t very good. And it may take me a little bit of time to explain, so tacking this onto the end of my already overlong Part 2 review would make it so long it’d make the Great Wall of China blush. Actually no, that was a terribly lame metaphor.

Anyway, onto the meat of the problem. Wilf is trapped in a chamber about to flood with lethal radiation and he can only be saved if the Doctor takes his place. So the Doctor looks a bit sad, but does it without hesitation because he’s the hero, and he always does the right thing. Oh wait, no. No, he guilt trips Wilf into telling him not to do it. He has a childish tantrum and insults Wilf too. I wouldn’t mind him being a bit sad about having to sacrifice his life, but making him a selfish asshole, isn’t really my idea of the Doctor. Did we see him doing this with Rose when he sacrificed himself for her in 2005? No. Did we see him do that to Peri when he sacrificed himself to her, back in the 80s? No again. So, it’s clearly not a trait of every Doctor, just this one apparently. What a great send off to your Doctor, to show that underneath it all, although he will save you, he’ll be cruel and reluctant about it. Our hero. For some strange reason I don’t like this. I wonder why. Maybe it’s because it’s completely out of character and makes our hero incredibly unlikable.

So, I don’t like that. But hey, it’s happened, I hold it up as a reason this isn’t a good story and we move on. I actually like the next part. The Doctor goes round to see all his companions, and this part works. The Doctor, over the last year, has been dealing with the fact he seems to ruin all the lives of the people he cares about. So, how better to send him off that for him to visit each of his companions, see that their lives have greatly improved and lift that weight off his shoulders before his regeneration. This allows him to go into it knowing he’s done good, and accept it. He sees that two of his lonely lover companions have found each other and are now happily married. He sees the son of his old friend Sarah, who is finally at peace now she has her family. He cheers up Captain Jack and spurs him onto better things. He finds out the woman who’s life he thought he ruined when he was human actually lived a fulfilled and happy life. He sees Donna fall in love again and get married to a good man. And last of all he sees Jackie and Rose, who are talking and clearly something is missing in their life. We see him smile as he’s glad to see Rose one last time and because he remembers how her life has improved now that her family is reunited and she has her own Doctor. And overall the Doctor sees that how his actions haven’t destroyed lives, in fact they’ve made them better. All the angst is gone the Doctor is truly happy again, and he can regenerate at peace with himself, knowing that this life was a good one. In fact (in a far too OTT move) the Ood turn up one last time to sing for the Doctor saying “this song is ending, but the story never ends”. So we see that the Doctor is unburdened, that Tennant’s time is over and we must move on, but this isn’t a bad thing, it’s just the way things have to be and we shouldn’t mourn it, instead be happy for a new beginning.

Or, the entire character arc, that the last half of the episode was devoted to, could be completely ignored. That sounds stupid and like it ruins the whole point of the episode, right? That would be like if at the end of Casablanca Bogart just said “Fuck this!” got his love off the plane, gave up her new man and ran away with her instead. It would be a terrible mistake. Well… that’s what happens here. After all this set-up for the Doctor to be at peace with his end, he’s not. He says “I don’t wanna go!” He’s not moved on at all. But he did. We saw that he did. We saw the character develop. Many fans might complain that the Doctor moping over his death is out of character. Well, that’s true, but I already went there with his tantrum to Wilf earlier. My problem with this line is not it isn’t what the Doctor would say in general, because we all know that. It’s that it doesn’t even make sense in the context of this story. We see the Doctor go through the stages of grief until he accepts his fate and prepares himself for it. He might be a little sad, but the main thing is that he’s ACCEPTED IT. “I don’t wanna go” are not the words of a man, who’s at peace. But the Doctor is. I don’t know what to say to make this any clearer, these words should not be here, because they don’t make any sense. Even to this story, which I already don’t like.

So basically, what I’m saying is that the last 20 minutes of this story isn’t in character and is only there to play with the audience’s emotions. And the very last line of Tennant’s Doctor is a terrible way to say goodbye, doesn’t resemble the character and doesn’t even make sense in this story. I like the bit at the end with Matt Smith, but to be honest I’m not sure if it’s because it’s good or whether it’s just because it cheers me up after this dire and depressing funeral of a story. And adding this ending to the rushed nonsensical plot that is the first half of The End of Time: Part 2 makes this truly one of lowest of Tennant’s run, only saved by the performance of Tennant, Simm, Cribbins and Dalton, and even then, they can only do the best with the terrible scripts they were handed. It’s neither a good story, nor a fitting farewell to a great Doctor. It might make you cry, but only because it’s manipulated you, not because it deserves it.

2/5

Review: 21 Jump Street/Contraband

21 JUMP STREET



CONTRABAND

Review: We Bought a Zoo/The Devil Inside

We Bought a Zoo





The Devil Inside

Making Movies (A Short Film)

Here's a short film that I made last week. Let me know what you think.

Review: John Carter/The Raven/Bel Ami

JOHN CARTER




THE RAVEN



BEL AMI

Doctor Who Review: The End of Time Part 2

I’d advise watching the episode before this review. I won’t explain every little detail and I will talk spoilers, so check out the show first. Also, have a read of the review of the first part of The End of Time.

Last time, I said I liked the first part of this story, but not the story as a whole. Now obviously this means I don’t like the second half of the story. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate everything. So here’s a list of the things I do like:
- The acting of the regulars is top notch, especially David Tennant, Bernard Cribbins and John Simm
- The casting of Timothy Dalton. He’s brilliant and it’s nice to see him in things again
- The fact they brought back the Master and the Time Lords. I like them both, I’m glad they came back, although, as I’ll talk about later, I don’t like the way they were used.
- That the cacti’s ship looked like Starbug from Red Dwarf. I don’t know if this was intentional, but if it was, it’s a nice nod to a fellow BBC show.
- The fact the Master sacrificed himself for the Doctor. This was planned in the Third Doctor’s finale, but due to the actor who played the Master, Roger Delgado’s untimely death, it was scrapped. It’s nice to see it here.
- Seeing the happy endings of the companions. Although there’s a but which we’ll get to.
- Matt Smith’s first scene. For cheering us up.

Never let it be said I hate this story. I just don’t like it very much. The reason, it’s like a big dumb action movie. Action’s ramped up, stakes are heightened, emotions are explosive, but then none of it really fits together, the climax is muffled, characters don’t make sense and the plot has more holes than Swiss cheese. It’s a story that attempts to be epic and powerful without first making sure that it’s even solid, which gives it a outer sheen of being great, but scratch the surface and it’s a mess. So let’s see why The End of Time: Part 2 is the Independence Day of modern Doctor Who.

Problem 1: Plot-holes
-When the Time Lords return the Master-race to being human, the effect of them being turned into the Master is reversed. What’s the problem with that? That means they are in exactly the same place they were the day before. Did every member of the Master-race just stand still for a whole day?
-Why do all the Masters obey the original? He’s incredibly untrustworthy, and there isn’t even a throwaway line to explain why all his copies are loyal and not trying to take power themselves.
- Are the Master-race human? If they copy him exactly, then why does he want the Time Lords, surely they would all be Time Lords? If they aren’t exact copies, instead just in the outer looks and personality, then why are they hungry, like he was in part 1? That was because of his Time Lord body being damaged. But then, if they’re hungry, why is he never hungry in Part 2? He’s still ripped apart, because he still has his powers, but he doesn’t have his hunger? That don’t make no sense.
- Why won’t the Doctor kill the Master? We’ve seen him kill in extreme circumstances before, but hey, he’s changed his ways since the Time War. So let’s revise this question. Why does the Master think the Doctor won’t kill him? The Master doesn’t really know the post-Time War Doctor that well. He remembers him more from his old ways. When he might have killed him. The Doctor from the classic series let the Master die a few times and killed a couple people himself, and that is the Doctor the Master knows. So why is he so certain the Doctor would never do it?
- Why do the writers miss a vital opportunity to fix something? The Master never had the drumming in his head before the new series. It’s established in this episode that the Time Lords put it in his head as a child while they were in the time war. Perfect, that’s why it only started after, because it was an effect of time being changed. But then the Time Lords say he had it all along before they put it there. Why ruin this perfect chance to make things make sense?
- The drumming as a signal. This is not so much a plot hole, more of just a piece of lazy writing. It doesn’t really seem to make any sense and is very sketchy. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems very like the writers couldn’t think of a way the drum beat could bring the Time Lords, so just said, “Fuck it, it does.”
- Why do the Time Lords arrive at this time?  Let me explain. The Time Lords use the signal to find the Master “now”. But that’s now from their perspective. Also, the Doctor and the Master are always at the same time as each other from their perspectives. That means they can meet anywhere and anytime, but the John Simm Master will never meet the ninth Doctor, because that time has passed. The Doctor and the Master always meet each other in the same order as each other because their times are both the same. Do you vaguely understand? Well that fact holds true for all Time Lords. And there is a Doctor in the ‘now’ the Time Lords are at who is probably the eighth Doctor. So surely finding the Master ‘now’ would lead them to the Master at the end of time as seen in Utopia. It would not lead them to the Master from their future. That’s not how it works. It could be argued that they’re desperate and there’s a way round it. But it’s not. At no point is any explanation given.
- Why is the vanguard of the Time Lords: The President, two official looking blokes and the people who are against their plan? The President knows the Doctor or the Master or both will be there when he arrives and he knows they are both dangerous and opposed to him. Surely he would just bring some guys with guns? Or at the very least not bring the two people who would want to help the Doctor?
- Why can the Woman appear to Wilf?  She seems to be a Time Lord. So why is she able to talk to Wilf before the bridge from Gallifrey to Earth is formed? The President can’t talk to the Master, so what makes her special?
- Why is there a line which goes “The star was a diamond and the diamond was a white point star”? That just sounds awful… wait, I’m being too nitpicky here.

But you see what I mean by plot holes? There’s probably more holes than plot in this story, and these aren’t for the most part little nitpicky problems, they are major obvious story telling flaws.

Problem Number 2: Characters

Another story telling flaw. Characters. There are three more than one-dimensional characters in this story. The Doctor, who doesn’t make sense, but that’s in the end, which we’re coming to. The Master, who is supposed to be a villain, but then as soon as the Time Lords appear, is reduced to some stupid kid who’s out of his depth and trying anything to save himself, making him seem like an enormous coward, which isn’t support by any of his other actions in this story. And Wilf. I don’t have a problem with Wilf.
You might say, what about Donna? She’s only in it for about three minutes. What about the cactus people? They are very flat characters with one character trait each. He’s cowardly and not used to action and she’s bossy. And the president? He’s a cardboard cut-out power-hungry villain. He only seems more because he’s played by Timothy Dalton, who’s a great actor. The characters in this story are either one-dimensional, inconsistent, or Wilf.

Problem Number 3: Pacing

Why is there a missile shooting space battle? Because otherwise the only action sequence would be the escape bit at the start. This is not a good reason for action. That’s a problem. But the main one here is not that, but the fact that everything is rushed so we can have the big long goodbye. The Master-Race don’t do anything but summon the Time Lords then get changed back to humans, they don’t have a purpose beyond furthering the plot. So all the time spent on making them a threat, was pointless as they’re dealt with in about ten seconds. And the Time Lords, the big return everything was leading up to… are on screen for five minutes. I mean, really. They were built up so much, then they appear, do nothing but talk, and the Doctor shoots a Magoffin and they’re gone. What a waste. Everything in this story was built up so much by Part 1, but then is let down due to a rush for the over-long ending.

You might think that it’s weird I’ve written all this without touching on the ending. And that’s because, well the ending is really annoying in its own right and deserves a blog to itself. So come back next time for the final end of my review. We’ll look at the ending which makes this already majorly flawed story even worse and then you’ll get my final thoughts on the story as a whole and the overall rating on part 2. We’ve not much longer to go, don’t worry. See you next time, for one last time.

Review: One for the Money/Project X/Wanderlust/This Means War

ONE FOR THE MONEY




PROJECT X





WANDERLUST




THIS MEANS WAR