Revisiting the TV Movie - 20 years on

It seems impossible, but the evidence is all there. Twenty years have passed since Paul McGann gurned his way into Doctor Who. It shouldn't come as that big a surprise since we've passed the revived show's tenth anniversary, the first episode's fiftieth anniversary and the classic series only ran for 26 years ("only" he says as if it were a blink of an eye!). What I have actually found all the more surprising are the other factors that put the TV Movie into context by also being twenty years old, things that I have just casually come across recently by coincidence. Alisha's Attic for instance. I knew the TV Movie was some time ago but I was shocked to discover "I Am, I Feel" was also from 1996, as was the Ford Ka, the original "Three Lions" single, Take That split up and Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill" all over the album chart. In a television context, "The X Files" had already been on air for three years!

So here we are on 27^th May 2016 looking back twenty years and celebrating what was a pivotal moment for Doctor Who. The show had been off air for just over six years and the quoted word "indefinitely" was really starting to make itself felt with an emphasis on "ongoing with no sign of ending". We'd been treated, teased and pacified with repeats of classic episodes (which was great, by the way) but it all just reminded us that we were lacking what we really wanted. Continuation. Then suddenly it was promised, almost, with a pilot, so-called, for a new series boosted by American money. The Doctor was returning with what would either secure the show's future or condemn it once and for all...

Paying the Bill with a Pearl

Trying to be clever with blog post titles can be tricky so I apologise now for this one... But I couldn't let this moment pass without posting it. On Thursday, it was announced that the new companion would be revealed during half-time in Saturday's FA Cup semi-final match. Well there's an odd thing to do! The tabloid and gossip press were already ahead of the game as it turns out, which is why I hate them. If something is supposed to be a surprise when it's announced then keep it to yourself until then. But I digress. There seemed to be no connection between football and Doctor Who so why had they chosen this moment to make the announcement? It would be approximately 6pm and possibly the biggest audience of the evening but apart from that it risked being missed by those who don't care about football (I'm sorry, but that includes me) and being overshadowed by the football. It would be an odd juxtaposition when the pundits wanted to talk about the match and it could easily have been missed by viewers taking a toilet break or putting the kettle on! The only connection I could come up with, other than a former footballer taking the role, was that Doctor Who traditionally followed the Final Score so they were kind of broadcast neighbours.

Moff is Off

It was officially announced yesterday that Seven Moffat will be stepping down as show runner at the end of the next series! That's perhaps not a shock or barely even a surprise since his departure had been hinted at over the last year or two, one way or another with general, vague comments that he won't be there forever and that he was closer to the end of his time than the beginning. The inclusion of River Song in the Christmas episode was explained by Steven as maybe his last chance to write for the character, as well as being an inappropriate time to introduce a new companion. So now it all adds up to one final series for him and hopes and prayers that Peter Capaldi will stay on with the new Exec Producer (Chris Chibnall, by the way) as that has not yet been mentioned. Also confirmed however, is the fact that 2016 will not see a new a full series. The full story there is that the only Doctor Who we will have in 2016 is the Christmas special and that Series 10 won't air until spring 2017! The reason for this is, no doubt, money saving. The official line is that 2016 already has some big event television (Football and Olympics) and BBC One controller Charlotte Moore wanted to "hold something big back for 2017 - I promise it will be worth the wait!" well it better had.

Chris Chibnall, for those who don't know, is the man behind the hugely successful "Broadchurch" and its American flavour "Gracepoint". He was also Co-Producer and effective lead writer for the original series of Torchwood, as well as writer of Doctor Who episodes 42, The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood, Dinosaurs On A Spaceship, and The Power Of Three... that's one featuring David Tennant, four with Matt Smith, but nothing since Clara was introduced.

It is unclear at this point when Chibnall will actually take over. Whether it will be for the expected Christmas special in 2017, an odd starting point, or the start of the new series in 2018, remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, I need to get back to my reviews! Again! Some things [i]never[/i] change!

Live Review: S9.E6 - The Woman Who Lived

The first episode to blur the lines of what constitutes a two part story, The Woman Who Lived follows on from The Girl Who Died but has a different writer and is set 1000 years later. It was known to star Maisie Williams again though and with such a similar title, it had to be part two...

We join the story amid a highwayman's ambush as The Nightmare robs a stage coach - he's faster than Sam Swift the Quick and deadlier than Deadly Dupont! The Nightmare is quick to pour derision on their pseudonyms but it's too late, the pompous grandiose of swashbuckling music is already tipping this episode over the edge and we're only just passing the first minute! The Nightmare appears to be in league with the devil as his accomplice hiding in the bushes has bright glowing eyes. Meanwhile, the Doctor steps out of his TARDIS with a gadget, clearly in search of something until he stumbles upon and rambles through the robbery, oblivious to the threats hurled at him until his gadget finds what he is looking for and it becomes clear that the Nightmare is after it too...

Live Review: S9.E5 - The Girl Who Died

This episode was all set to be one of the greats. It was written by Jamie Mathieson who wrote last year's The Mummy On The Orient Express and Flatline, though Steven Moffat was sharing credit this time (which could simply mean there is a chunk of the story that relates to ongoing matters, but could mean a major rewrite or simply collaborative work). It was also to feature Vikings and guest star Maisie Williams of Game Of Thrones fame... something of a coo and potentially a stroke of genius since that show is consistently in tight competition with Doctor Who at awards and usually takes the win. But as I have said before, on first viewing The Girl Who Died did little more than disappoint. Perhaps all the hype and expectation were a big part in it, but that was not what I was thinking as I watched. My recent second viewing cast it in a better light, but that's the benefit of knowing what to expect and with such low expectations the second time, there was greater scope to be pleasantly surprised... but ultimately The Girl Who Died is like a cross between The Romans and The Time Meddler...

Time and Relative Dimension

It's been a while since my last review was posted. Technically, I've only just posted my last review but I wanted to get that out of the way before I made this post, for fear of losing interest in writing again... As I write this, the penultimate episode of Series 9 has aired and without posting any spoilers it makes everything OK again, which is good because the next episode I am to review was pretty painful viewing. It's that pain that put me off writing before I even finished Before The Flood and it really put a downer on the series. The next episode after that felt slow and dull and I even dozed off for a minute or two! But don't worry, the Zygons would be returning after that and there was strength in those episodes, only they were a bit heavy on the drama and adult (grown up) feeling. That fits in with the show's later start times this year, but it isn't good for the show or its viewing figures. The Zygons were followed by a creepy single episode from Mark Gatiss that had audiences divided, an episode like none seen before which I really enjoyed. Then a second single episode story lead into the two part finale (which itself is really two single episodes tied together!)

So in review terms, I'm about to drop to the bottom of the Doctor Who scale, but I can do it with sight of the light at the end signalling the way forward to increasing greatness that ties everything together and gives the lesser moments a purpose. The Girl Who Died and The Woman Who Lived are two stand alone adventures that tie together and at first seemed to be nothing more, but they are in fact the beginning of something far more reaching than the tie between themselves...

Live Review: S9.E4 - Before The Flood

Steven Moffat has commented that the double episode stories in this series are not so much adventures told over two parts but more two part adventures. That is to say that while the second follows on from the first, the narrative and pace take a bit of a dog-leg and make a shift in gear. The first story saw episode one hanging off the mystery and setting the scene whereas episode two threw us into the action. This time, Under The Lake gave us a scary ghost story in a classic 'isolated base under siege' scenario that led to the ominous cliffhanger of the Doctor appearing as one of the ghosts then Before The Flood transposes the Doctor and three of the crew back in time to investigate the origins in the open space of the un-flooded village.

Before that however, the first new content for this episode does two, if not three things I didn't like. First of all, the Doctor is alone in the TARDIS and talking to himself... this is fine until you realise that he's not just talking to himself as he did in last year's Listen but he is talking to the audience and often directly into camera. Secondly, he is telling a story of a time traveller who wanted to meet Beethoven as if it really happened (presumably to him) but he states that it isn't a true story. Finally, he explains that the point of the story is to enlighten the viewers about the 'bootstrap paradox' saying "Google it." thus pointing at what is about to happen in the episode (why else talk about it?) and almost apologising for it, or at least warning the critics that the writers already know the potential pitfalls that they will moan about. It does however give Peter Capaldi an excuse to play his electric guitar again and Murry Gold an excuse to rock out the theme tune...

All that nonsense aside, the TARDIS has landed in what appears to be a bleak Russian town but which the Doctor soon points out is an abandoned Cold War training site in 1980... I say 'abandoned' because there is nobody there and the mysterious space ship they have come to investigate sticks out like a sore thumb! The Doctor explains that it is the hight of the Cold War and the military were being trained for combat on enemy soil... so should it really be so deserted? Is this a plot hole or was it a mistake to specify that it was 1980? Perhaps the town was only in occasional use on an ad hoc basis...

There's a little teaser snuck in to this establishing scene as well. O'Donnell reveals that she knows a fair bit about the Doctor, referring to Amy, Rose and Martha, because she is ex-military intelligence (she was demoted for dangling a colleague out of a window!) The little teaser comes as she registers the time they have arrived in, it's before Harold Saxon, the Minister of War, the Moon exploding and the big bat coming out of it... The Doctor picks up on "Minister Of War" because it's not one he's aware of but then stops her from explaining "I expect I'll find out soon enough." The question is, is this something being set up by Moffat for later in the series, or some time beyond? Or is it just a random idea dropped in by writer Toby Whithouse for anyone to pick up or not? Only time will tell, obviously.