Tag Archives: BBC

Dark streets and skyscrapers – review of Doctor Who The Angels Take Manhattan

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The dark streets and skyscrapers of 1930s New York suit the “film noir” detective drama genre perfectly. Rain swept streets, shady characters in long coats and hats, shadowy corners and hidden menaces, majestic buildings with stone statues.

But what happens if those statues can move? And only move when you are not looking at them. Keep an eye on them and they are frozen and still. But then if you turn away. Or if you blink. Or if the light goes out. Then they move like lightning. The Weeping Angels have taken Manhattan – an atmospheric backdrop to the mid-season finale of Doctor Who.

Review of Doctor Who The Angels Take Manhattan
The Film Poster

This is the climax we have waited for. The Doctor parts company with companions Amy and Rory for good. We were promised an emotional farewell. And Stephen Moffat delivers tears.

Cynics would argue that the only reason for the New York setting was to allow the pre-credit sequence to culminate in the shocking reveal that the Statue of Liberty is a giant Weeping Angel towering over its victim with fangs bared. But the city that never sleeps is perfect for the story and the feel of foreboding.

I love the scenes in modern-day Central Park before the action shifts to the grim shadows of the 1930s. And Moffat ingeniously weaves the time travel element into the story with the Doctor reading from an old detective paperback describing past events so that he can interact, now, with events that happened 70 years earlier.

Of course the Angels kill people in a nice way by zapping them 50 years into the past so that they can live themselves to death. When the Angels dispatch Rory to that earlier age, Amy elects to allow the Angels to send her back as well despite the Doctor’s tearful protestations. We feel the sadness of knowing that Amy and Rory are dead but also realise that they still lived to a ripe old age and lived happy ever after. Sort of.

The regulars, including Alex Kingston returning as River Song, act their socks off. The Angels are as scary as ever. Especially the giggling little cherubs blowing out candles and the mother and son statue watching from across the road.

A fabulous finale which leaves me waiting in anticipation for the Christmas episode. After the credits roll we get a tiny glimpse of the festive story complete with new companion played by Jenna-Louise Coleman. How on earth will she fit into the narrative given we last saw her as a Dalek in the season opener?

Over to you: Do you agree with my review of Doctor Who The Angels take Manhattan? Were you sad to see Rory and Amy leave? Were there tears? What about the Angels? Still scary or have they been over-used? What about those cherubs? Share your thoughts and comments below.

Cubes on the streets – review of Doctor Who The Power of Three

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If you woke to find the streets littered with shiny black cubes what would you do? Pick one up? Try to open it up like a puzzle box? Take it home with you?

So began the strangest invasion stories in almost 50 years of Doctor Who.

What were these silent, innocent, seemingly harmless cubes that appeared simultaneously all over the world? “I don’t know,” said Matt Smith’s Doctor, “And I don’t like knowing.”

review of Doctor Who The Power of Three

The story took place over the course of a year. People took the cubes into their homes and work places; made book cases out of them, used them for golf practice or used them as fashion accessories. Lord Sugar, in a lovely cameo as himself, even set a cube based Apprentice task.

Then when everyone was convinced they were as harmless as a pebble you might pick up off a beach, they started counting down from 7 to one, with sinister blue illuminated numbers. The slow invasion finally got nasty.

Of course the cubes and their meaning were really just a backdrop to further explore the Doctor’s relationship with Amy and Rory, his long running companions who will leave the show next week. So we saw the humdrum side of their lives. When not saving civilisations, fighting mad Daleks or dinosaurs on space ships, they had to deal with daily domestic terrors like sour milk, dirty clothes and crises at work. These scenes were well acted and set the scene for next week’s emotional departure.

The director managed to make his audience accept the cubes, allowed us to sweep them into the background, concentrate on the characters, so that when they started to countdown, we suddenly remembered them again. The tension was scary.

Pity then that the very rushed conclusion with an under used Steven Berkoff in a Star Wars Emperor style mask proved that the build up did not end up with excitement cubed but rather satisfaction halved.

Over to you: Would you pick up a cube and take it home? I think most people would. Do you agree with my review of Doctor Who The Power of Three? Has it set up the departure of Amy and Rory really well? Share your thoughts. Please leave a comment.

The Doctor, the bad and the ugly – review of Doctor Who A Town Called Mercy

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Doing a Western on a TV budget is always risky. Sand dunes, ponies, fake American accents and a few Stetsons do not add up to a small screen version of High Plains Drifter.

review of Doctor Who A Town Called Mercy
The Movie Poster for A Town Called Mercy

So hats off (or Stetsons off) to the BBC for flying the Doctor Who production team to Almeria in Spain and the famous Fort Bravo studios for the latest weekly blockbuster story, A Town Called Mercy. Authentic desert landscapes, shimmering heat hazes, and a wooden frontier town convinced me that the Doctor was genuinely in the old west – though admittedly the American accents were still a little, well, fake.

At high noon, Matt Smith faced “The Gun slinger” in the dusty town square. But his opponent was no Lee Van Cleef in a long flowing black coat. This was the Terminator in a long flowing black coat, complete with cyborg arm mounted laser cannon and bionic eye with heads up display.

Despite the potential for camp pantomime A Town Called Mercy is a dark story. A war criminal finds refuge in a western town and becomes a healer. When the half man half machine Gun-slinger arrives seeking revenge we find a morality tale in which even the Doctor seems ready to wield an executioners six-shooter.

The story explores quite adult themes for a family show, but humour offsets the darkness. Show-runner Steven Moffat promised us a movie each week for this series. A Town Called Mercy isn’t quite a cinematic as A Man Called Horse, but it tries very hard and just about pulls it off, whilst at the same time also introducing us to a horse called Susan.

Over to you: Do yo agree with my review of Doctor Who A Town Called Mercy? What did you think of the Doctor’s journey back into Spaghetti Western territory? Did the BBC pull it off or was this just bad and ugly. Share your thoughts. Leave a comment and let me know.

Forget snakes on a plane – Review of Doctor Who Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

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When I was a kid I loved dinosaurs. I read about them, drew pictures of them and even made Airfix plastic dinosaur models.

My favourite TV programme was Doctor Who. But on the one occasion that Doctor Who did dinosaurs it did them badly. The 1970s Jon Pertwee story showed the prehistoric lizards invading the streets of London and confounding the attempts of the army to stop their lethal rampage. Except even to the impressionable eyes of a youngster like me it was obvious that the mighty lizards were just badly designed glove puppets superimposed on to photos of empty London streets.

Since then we’ve seen films (Jurassic Park) and TV series (Walking with Dinosaurs) boasting convincing CGI lizards. So in keeping with revamped modern Doctor Who series 7’s attempt to deliver a block buster movie each week, the CGI in “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship” had to be cinematic. And it was. Even on a BBC budget.

Review of Doctor Who Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
Movie Style Poster for Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

The episode itself was great entertainment. It veered from comedy in the early scenes (Matt Smith’s joy at seeing the dinosaurs) to darkness at the end (Matt Smith dealing ruthlessly with the very unpleasant bad guy Solomon).

And whilst I thoroughly enjoyed every minute I can’t help wondering whether the producer decided that dinosaurs on a spaceship was a random good idea and then tried very hard, and not entirely successfully, to make the plot device fit the story.

That’s only a minor quibble though. I still think Doctor Who is the best all round drama entertainment series on TV at the moment for all ages.

Over to you: Do you agree with my Review of Doctor Who Dinosaurs on a Spaceship? Was it a bit convoluted? Or do you think it worked? How did it compare to famous dinosaur entertainment like Jurassic Park. Leave a comment, share your thoughts or post a link.