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Showing posts from April, 2021

REVIEW: Doctor Who, Season 19 Serial Seven 'Time-Flight'

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 REVIEW: Doctor Who, Season 19 Serial Seven 'Time-Flight' Originally published in 2020, here are my thoughts on Season 19's final serial 'Time-Flight'. There are certain antagonists within Doctor Who's history that seem to return on a frequent basis. The Daleks have had many encounters with the Doctor's various incarnations, the Cybermen have popped up regularly on the Time Lord's travels and even the Sontarans have had their fair share of encounters with the madman in charge of everybody's favourite blue box. One of these such antagonists is the Master, a character first introduced on the 2nd January 1971 with the actor Roger Delgado playing the role. Fast forward to 1982, and the Master (now played by Anthony Ainley) is as present as ever, appearing three times across two seasons. Having said that, 'Time-Flight' is far from one of the character's finest outings. This serial is not only one of the weakest narratives to feature the Master

REVIEW: All Creatures Great And Small, Series 1 Episode Five 'Out Of Practice'

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 REVIEW: All Creatures Great And Small, Series 1 Episode Five 'Out Of Practice' Originally published in 2020, here are my thoughts on All Creatures Great And Small's fifth episode 'Out Of Practice'. There's nothing more devastating for a dog owner than the idea of your family pooch falling ill or coming to some harm. It's hard seeing a dog in pain, as they are such loving and loyal creatures who make sure to shower you in love. In some ways, dogs are better than many humans, and there's no other pet quite like them. This can make it very hard to watch a show like All Creatures Great And Small, which deals with a small veterinary practice in Darrowby, as dogs are obviously going to feature quite regularly, being the nation's most common pet of choice.  As a dog lover this episode is an absolute rollercoaster of emotions. It starts of tragically as we are introduced to a dog with a bleeding leg who was left abandoned by the hills, and then it morphs in

REVIEW: Bates Motel, Season 2 Episode Ten 'The Immutable Truth'

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 REVIEW: Bates Motel, Season 2 Episode Ten 'The Immutable Truth' At the end of the previous episode, Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) was in quite a predicament. Still trapped inside of a glass box, buried under some grass, Norman was practically helpless, and with nobody knowing where he was, rescue wasn't on its way. At least, not until this episode. Dylan (Max Thieriot) and sheriff Alex Romero (Nestor Carbonell) are on the case pretty sharpish. As they search for Norman across the grass land where he is buried, it becomes quite tense, as it really doesn't look like they will find him. Of course, they do otherwise there'd be no Psycho , but the screenplay does a brilliant job at raising the stakes and making you believe that they might not. And Dylan and Alex make for one hell of a team up. These two characters work so well together, precisely because they come from opposite ends of the spectrum. Alex as a police 'sheriff' is meant to uphold the right si

REVIEW: Bates Motel, Season 2 Episode Nine 'The Box'

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 REVIEW: Bates Motel, Season 2 Episode Nine 'The Box' Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore), it's fair to say, is one of cinema's most famous horror villains. He has been prominent in popular culture ever since his introduction in 1960s, and remains just as relevant today. So it's perhaps strange to see him become the victim to somebody else's villainous deeds. Which is exactly what happens in this episode of Bates Motel, simply entitled 'The Box'. For Norman's kidnappers entrap him in - you guessed it - a box. And this is not where I expected this series to take Norman Bates. It's such a fresh and unique direction to take the character for an episode, to essentially make him this male 'damsel in distress, especially as it allows us to explore his psychology further when it prompts him to remember his murder of Blaire Watson. It's a great episode for Norma (Vera Farmiga) too, as we see her reaction to discovering Norman is missing. Vera Farm

REVIEW: Sherlock, Series 2 Episode One 'A Scandal In Belgravia'

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 REVIEW: Sherlock, Series 2 Episode One 'A Scandal In Belgravia' The previous episode to Sherlock's series two opener ended on a major cliffhanger. Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Moriarty (Andrew Scott) were in something of a stand-off, with both contemplating killing the other. It was quite a tense scene to end the first series on, with no obvious way out for Sherlock and John Watson (Martin Freeman). Which is perhaps why the resolution of said cliffhanger is probably the weakest aspect of this episode. For instead of Sherlock using his wits to escape Moriarty, Moriarty just gets a text and leaves. It's a rare mishap by writer Steven Moffat, who is usually better at reaching ingenious solutions in his scripts, but here just leaves the audience feeling somewhat underwhelmed. Thankfully the rest of the episode is very strong. It starts off with one of the wittiest sequences in the entire show, with Sherlock and Watson going through a string of boring cases. I wish

REVIEW: Doctor Who, Series 2 Episodes Five/Six 'Rise of the Cybermen/Age Of Steel'

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 REVIEW: Doctor Who, Series 2 Episodes Five/Six 'Rise of the Cybermen/Age Of Steel' In honour of Noel Clarke's latest drama series Viewpoint starting tonight on ITV, here are my thoughts on Rise of the Cybermen/Age Of Steel, originally published in 2016. One of the most interesting aspects of the Cybermen is how drastically their design evolves over their appearances in the show. Their Tenth Planet appearance, for example, is a considerably more stripped back approach to their look in The Moonbase : The 'Cybus' redesign, however, is arguably the most radical change to these emotionless beings yet: It presents a more robotic appearance for the Cybermen, which is also hinted in the way that they stomp about in unison rather than lurking in the shadows waiting to strike. Many Whovians  as a result are not fans of the Cybus design - in my view, however, it's perfectly in-keeping with the way that the Cybermen are constantly upgrading their look. It's essentiall

REVIEW: Gotham Season Three

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 REVIEW: Gotham Season Three With Batwoman's latest season having started on E4 here in the UK, here's a look back at the third season of Gotham. Batman's (David Mazvouz) origin story has been a hot topic of discussion for many years. It has been retold in so many forms, across comics, movies, TV Shows and even videogames, that everybody knows the basics at the very least by now. His parents were killed in an alleyway, he was raised by his butler Alfred (Sean Pertwee) in Wayne Manor and he used his vast wealth to fight crime. Gotham's third season dives deep into just how young Bruce becomes the adult Bruce Wayne/Batman we all know and love, and displays the amount of time and dedication that would come into fulfilling such an aim. Much of Gotham's third season is very Bruce-centric. It begins where the last season finished off, with the tease of a Bruce doppelgänger among the inmates who had escaped from Indian Hill. Bruce and Alfred set to track down this clone of

REVIEW: WandaVision, Season 1 Episode Four 'We Interrupt This Program'

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 REVIEW: WandaVision, Season 1 Episode Four 'We Interrupt This Program' With The Falcon And The Winter Soldier having now wrapped its first season on Friday, I thought I would take a look back at my thoughts on WandaVision's fourth episode 'We Interrupt This Program'. This seems like a very odd thing to say about WandaVision, given that it's hardly a conventional TV Show to begin with, but this is a really unusual episode of WandaVision. Not only does it change the format from old style U.S. sitcoms to a sort of supernatural mystery drama akin to The X Files , but it also switches the main characters, gets rid of one of the new main protagonists only ten minutes into the episode when Monica (Teyonah Parris) ends up in Wanda's (Elizabeth Olsen) sitcom world, and shows us very little of Wanda and Vision (Paul Bettany). Some who have invested in this series could see that as disappointing, and certainly last week I saw people on my Twitter feed who were upset

Whovian TV: 24/04/2021

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 WhoPotterVian TV: 24/04/2021 Another week has gone by at Whovian TV, and so once again it is time to look ahead at the next seven days. So grab your cup of tea and have a scroll for the Whovian TV listings for the week ahead... Saturday 24th April: 19:00 - In For A Penny (ITV) 19:30 - Game of Talents (ITV) 20:30 - Alan Carr's Epic Gameshow (ITV) 21:30 - The Jonathan Ross Show (ITV) 22:30 - The Gadget Show (My5) Sunday 25th April: 20:00 - Batwoman (E4) 21:00 - FILM: Wonder Woman 1984 (Rakuten TV) 23:30 - Prank Encounters, Season 1 Episode Four 'Urgent Scare' (Netflix) Monday 26th April: 19:30 - Coronation Street (ITV) 20:30 - Coronation Street (ITV) 21:00 - Viewpoint (ITV) 22:00 - Sherlock, Series 2 Episode One 'A Scandal In Belgravia' (BBC iPlayer/Netflix) 23:30 - Whose Line Is It Anyway? USA (UKTV Play) Tuesday 27th April:  20:00 - Bates Motel, Season 2 Episode Nine 'The Box (BBC iPlayer 21:00 - Viewpoint (ITV) 22:00 - LEGO Masters USA (E4) 23:00 - Bates Motel