Doctor Who

[Captain Harkness]

Best Series Finale: A tight one, Could be any number of them, Series 1 and Series 4 stand out the best. Purely as the impact of S2 and s5 now have giant holes in them, Rose can never come back oh wait there she is and time can be rewritten but not all of it and only when and which way moffets decides too.
Least Favorite: Though glad it ended the series The End of Time was horrible. Utopia was brilliant, then it crashed and burned, oh your secrect is you cant suicide, oh look im a god, lets praise a helpless character who started the whole thing.

[Slenderman - Doctor]

Day 13 - My Favourite / Least Favourite Black & White Story

Day 14 - The Best and Worst Cliffhangers

[Captain Harkness]

Favorite Balck and White:Tomb of the Cybermen i think, It had my doctor and Cybermen. SO simple but so brilliant.
least Favorite: I don't think it is right to have a least favorite though if i really had too i'd say the dalek invasion or the War Machines. The Daleks because of the whole lost in space approach which i thought was too much or the war machines which were dalek wanabes.

[Captain Harkness]

I don't know where we are with he days so am gona geuss.
Favorite Cliffhanger: Aliens of London. It was brilliant to see the doctor descend to his knees looking as though he truly was about to die, Then it hit me for the first time just how alien the Doctor was.
Least Favorite: The sound of Drums, am not going to dignify this one to be honest.

[Captain Harkness]

Torchwood bought by Americans and bummed up the A***,
Tracking down every inch that was british and painting it red white and blue
the 21st century is when Torchwood was aired and america want to screw it.

My initial thoughts after watching that. A lot of it was for the sake of well the American audience which was really upsetting. Jack just appearing made no sense nor jumping from five stories and surviving because you landed in water as deep as a paddling pool. A series can not be based on one episode, not by a long shot but if it stays very similar for the entire series i will be watching from loyalty not enjoyment.

[Slenderman - Doctor]

The Owen Harper Effect

Every time Torchwood returns, it changes; it goes one bigger. Series 1 on BBC3, Series 2 on BBC2, Series 3 on BBC1, and now Series 4 primarily set in America and co-produced by Starz. And I think Series 4 may be the turning point for me. Series 1 wasn't great; Series 2 was a massive improvement; Series 3 was brilliant; Series 4... well, time will tell...

Torchwood: Miracle Day (1) The New World

RTD is back giving us more from the Whoniverse. It's obvious from the outset thanks to more of those old news reporter clips that he adores so much, and they're just as irritating as ever. I get the point; it shows the scale and removes the need to show every single person's reaction to the events, but it's a tiresome approach in need of new life (though with this series' theme, the news reporters may live forever). But I'll swiftly move on to the main meat of episode one.

It's pretty much all set-up. Nothing major happens; it's primarily character-driven. Some woman in the USA keeps banging on about this Torchwood and then everyone gets an email with one word - Torchwood - but nobody knows who sent it. It was sent at the time of the last ever reported death on Earth, and it's what brought Jack back.

I was a little unimpressed regarding the quick throwaway line about Jack coming back. It just happens. That said, he'll get more time with Gwen and I suspect they're going to have a serious conversation about Torchwood and his absence etc. in episode two.

Not only is Jack back, but we also get some nods to the previous series'. There's the mention that all Torchwood members died young; the reference by name to Owen Harper; the countless 456 inclusions; the fact that once Torchwood is on the scene, everything gets blown up; the iconic titles are back, even if they are slightly ruined (and just what the fuck is that music?); and we see the brief return of Retcon. But my favourite reference of all? The photo of Jack from "The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances" in Doctor Who!

On that note, though, it's worth mentioning that Torchwood is far removed from what it used to be. Remember all those years ago when a mish-mashy team had a huge underground base with a pterodactyl and went around shagging each other whilst shooting Weevils and aliens? Yep, all that's gone now. There are very few remaining original Torchwood elements left. All we have is Jack and Gwen, and by extention, PC Andy, Rhys and now baby Anwen.

I can't help but feel, however, that this series is gearing up to be a little generic. Of course, the whole Miracle Day idea is interesting and bold, but the rest seems so 'seen it all before'; the stereotypical American agents, the car chase and helicopter showdown, people on the run. There isn't much to go off, yet, so I'm willing to give it a chance. By the look of the "coming this season" trailer, apparently there's a lot more to come... that was the longest, most padded trailer ever and it really didn't show much - just more people saying 'Miracle Day' and people not dying.

I get the feeling this idea might not be able to stretch to ten episodes. Obviously it will, but I get the feeling a lot will be about characterisation, and the main plot won't really kick in until episode 5 or 6. Just guessing, but I'm struggling to see what more can happen. More people will get injured and not die, the population will increase, hospitals won't be able to look after everyone, people will shoot other people and Jack will most likely end up on the verge of death.

(Funnily enough, if this was a SJA concept, you could easily put the Trickster behind the whole thing, keeping people on the verge of death. Or if it was Who, you'd use the Black Guardian. Or, hell, you could even put Bad Wolf Rose behind it if you were being really fanwanky.)

Speaking of which, I'm in two minds about 'Captain Jack Bollocks'. On the one hand, it's nice to see Jack mortal again as the show has twisted the usual convention around massively. But then, well, he's going to end up immortal again, isn't he? Just like the rest of the world will become mortal again? It'd be a hugely brave move to have Jack remain mortal and I just can't see RTD taking away that unique character element.

I speculated on Gallifrey Base with a potential resolution; the masterminds behind Miracle Day are just after Jack (the 'Torchwood' email was enough to draw him back to Earth), they don't give a shit about the rest of the planet, Jack will die, the Earth goes back to normal, everyone who is now meant to be dead actually dies (cue massive drama, and a focus on Gwen and her dad), the Miracle masterminds die or fuck off, and Jack comes back to life with his immortality restored.

It sounds far too easy to be true, but time will tell. (That's something I'll say a lot on this blog, I suspect.)

So, on to the other characters. There are only a couple of memorable ones for me, so far, aside from the regulars. Rex, obviously, Oswald Danes and that one who just can't stop blabbing on about sodding Torchwood. Esther? Dunno. Rex seems pretty generic, though, so far, whereas Oswald is going to be the one to watch (quite literally, going by the trailer).

In Doctor Who, Jack was a conman and was involved with blowing up a fat green alien who wanted to destroy Earth and ride away on a supergalactic space surfboard. Now, he's in a show with a convicted murderer and rapist. We haven't seen much of Danes as yet, but I'm on the fence with him. It'll certainly be an interesting character development story to watch, but I'm not sure if it's needed.

Compare to last series. "Children of Earth" was adult; it was the show RTD had promised. A dark, gritty, adult drama. That didn't need a rapist or murderer. It just needed a damn good idea and it needed to stay true to the original Torchwood. Though they pushed the boundaries, it was still recognisably Torchwood and it was clever TV. But "The New World", today, has basically given me a show which is just throwing in what you might generally regard as 'adult' or 'gritty'. I dunno.

Maybe it's not just Danes. It might be the fact we're primarily in America now. I've read we'll see Wales in every episode, but the show's clearly aimed at the American audience and that's where the main bulk of the action will unfold. I'm not going to slam it for being too 'Americanised', but I feel it's just become like any other American sci-fi show. It's lost the British uniqueness it used to have.

The whole charm of Torchwood was that it lived in Cardiff, of all places. "Children of Earth" focused on Britain, yet it easily gave the impression it was a worldwide event. "Miracle Day", though doing the same, gives the impression it's just America so far and a lot of the new Torchwood team will be American. We've lost the original regulars, and we're left with Gwen and Rhys really.

It's hard to really explain what I mean. And my opinion's probably not worth a lot when there are 9 episodes still to come. I'll just sum it up in a different way; right now, I'm really missing Owen, Tosh and Ianto.

I had other things to say but I won't go on and on, like I'm tempted to. It'd be boring. Generally, it was a good set-up. I mean, "Children of Earth: Day One" wasn't the most interesting piece of TV, but then it significantly got better and better. This episode did what it needed to do; it re-introduced Torchwood and it tried to retain some of the old Torchwood elements. Maybe the show just isn't for me anymore?

In Doctor Who, I accept and embrace change because it's always been a major part of the show. Here, though Torchwood has changed year upon year, it's always remained true to itself. And I just feel like it's gone one step too far this time and torn away massively from it's original Cardiff routes. It's still Torchwood, and it's still canon, and I'll still give it a watch; but maybe this show isn't for me anymore.

For the third time then... time will tell.

And just before I end this review ... okay, ramble, I want to provide a link to another review which sums up a lot of my thoughts quite well. It's by Tachyon TV and it can be found here: Tachyon TV - Starz and Gripes.

Hmmmm.

[Slenderman - Doctor]

Days 15-19 can also be found at my blog.

[Slenderman - Doctor]

Day 20 - My Favourite / Least Favourite Non-Fiction Doctor Who Book

I haven't really read much in terms of non-fiction Who but I have read a couple of gems. The two that spring to mind are "Regeneration" (the expansive story behind the TV Movie and other concepts explored at the time) and "The Writer's Tale" (behind the scenes of the RTD era with RTD emailing Ben Cook about everything and anything Who).

I adore both books. "Regeneration" goes into amazing depth and detail, presenting pretty much every detail surrounding the TV Movie, and it's a great book because it details the stuff we never, thankfully, saw. The ideas and the storylines banded about were terrible, but this book is like a Bible of rich stories and it's a fascinating in-sight to the most isolated era of Doctor Who.

But then I equally love "The Writer's Tale" because it's, again, so detailed and interesting. I also love it because it's behind the scenes of Who I've grown up with, live on TV. I've watched the RTD era unfold and then been able to read all about it just a couple of months later. Ben Cook also helps the book massively, giving RTD someone to bounce off and share ideas with. And it's not just full of emails either; there are draft script extracts, doodles of scenes by RTD, character profiles, dropped ideas, the works. And it even explores RTD himself, as a writer, and the pressures and stress he had to deal with. And it's terribly fascinating to me, someone who wants to become a writer in the future.

So they're both my favourites.

(A *huge* mention has to go to the "About Time" books by Tat Wood and Lawrence Miles too; they provide really insightful commentaries and details about every story, and I found it really quite hard to sell them on. I'll probably seek this series back out again in the future because they were so good.)

I don't have a least favourite non-fiction book, really. Those, plus DWM, are the only books I've read that feature behind the scenes tidbits etc. So I'll end this post here.

I'd really like a Moffat version of "The Writer's Tale", actually, in the future, but I won't hold out hope.

[Captain Harkness]

15. My Favourite Non-Regular Character
The leftbridge steward or Marlo i believe from the easter 2010 speical by lee vans.
16. My Top 3 Classic Series Stories, so many and i only get to choose three? Genisis of the cybermen, the chase, tomb of the cybermen.

17. My Top 3 New Series stories, rise of the cybermen/age of steel was good. Bad Wolf/parting of ways or maybes the doctors wife.

18. My Favourite / Least Favourite Big Finish Audio Doctor Who Adventure NA

19. My Favourite / Least Favourite Target Novelization erm i dont know

20. My Favourite / Least Favourite Non-Fiction Doctor Who Book
I really love all books and naturally all of them are non-fiction.

[Slenderman - Doctor]

Originally Posted by Captain Harkness

15. My Favourite Non-Regular Character
The leftbridge steward or Marlo i believe from the easter 2010 speical by lee vans.
16. My Top 3 Classic Series Stories, so many and i only get to choose three? Genisis of the cybermen, the chase, tomb of the cybermen.

Dya mean Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart... and then Malcolm.

Genesis of the Cybermen...? That's not a story.

[Captain Harkness]

Originally Posted by Doctor

Dya mean Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart... and then Malcolm.

Genesis of the Cybermen...? That's not a story.

Genesis of the daleks. Though Genesis of the cybermen would be pretty cool.

[Slenderman - Doctor]

God, Torchwood is boring. Take your time; two episodes in and we've just about got our main heroes to America. Half an episode spent on a plane and half an episode with characters just spouting nonsense. Get on with it!

I've given up reviewing it until I can watch in my own time, and when I can skip the boring parts.

Instead, I've revamped my blog massively

[Captain Harkness]

Yeah it is dragging. Rhys is technically part of Torchwood. The CGI is up to the 1980s in my opinion and how Lyn got out side before everyone else is beyond me. I just hope there's more to the stories than jacks Mortal, The Baby, Gwens Dad and of course Rexs Heart.

[Slenderman - Doctor]

NEW TRAILER.

It actually looks rather good.

[Slenderman - Doctor]

27th August for the UK and USA.

Karen's in Series 7/Season 33, though it's unknown whether she'll be in all the series or not.

Episode 8: Let's Kill Hitler
Episode 9: Night Terrors
Episode 10: The Girl Who Waited
Episode 11: The God Complex
Episode 12: TBA
Episode 13: TBA