Archive

Doctor Who

The Doctor’s Back!

December 28, 2011
Doctor Who
6 Comments

So by now, hopefully you’ve seen the Christmas special of Doctor Who. I mean perhaps you have, but you’ve gone back in time and have forgotten that you had seen it, and then came back to the future and skipped over watching it. Who knows, not me. Do you? But any who, after that timey-wimey mess, we can all agree that our favorite time traveler has come back after the fall break to deliver another good adventure.

I have to admit that I was more excited to see Michael Gambon in last’s Christmas Special, but this year’s “The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe” was an excellent addition to the Whoniverse! This was a very special episode, at least to me. There is entertainment and then there is great entertainment. Some of you may follow where I’m going. But, you truly know when something is great when the time flies (or you time travel) and before you know it, the adventure is over. You’re having fun enjoying it. I sat at my desk with a cup of coffee [yes at 9PM!] and lounged back in my chair watching it.

I’ve experienced this time of entertainment only a few times before. First noticed it while listening to Blink-182′s “Enema of the State” album back in my teenage years. And then again when my good friend Lukas had introduced me to Doctor Who back in ’08 or ’09. He had built the hype better than the BBC does for new episodes. They should probably hire him to promote reruns. I’d enjoy that. But anyways, I had this suspense built up inside and it’s the type of scenario where everything has gone right. And I’m glad that this episode instantly sparked awesome jokes and great conversations that lead back to awesome jokes. Now seriously, please stop crying. I can’t continue this blog post if you’re crying.

The episode had a lot to offer and I honestly recommend watching it. I’m sure it’ll be on BBC/BBC America again at some point again. In addition, it’ll probably be on iTunes shortly. It had suspense, comedy, and an awesome story. If you’re like me and wanted to sneak a peak at some filming pictures or spoilers, they did not help create a proper image. It all fell in to place well.

I’m really glad that I enjoyed the episode, hopefully you do too. Now we have another long wait until he stops back from his travels. What did you honestly think of the episode, leave me a comment below!

Doctor Who to the Big Screen Pt. 2

November 30, 2011
Doctor Who
Leave a Comment

Yes, much like Steven Moffat I am a fan of posting my thoughts in two-parters. But I guess this shouldn’t really be thought of a two-parter. This is more like a follow-up post. I’ve had some time to think about this interesting idea and possibility of a massive Doctor Who film franchise. I mean the last massive franchise out of the UK was some little film like Harry Potter. So not much hype to live up to? Well you’re wrong! There’s a lot that needs to be covered and answered.

1. Who will play the Doctor? (WHO DAMMIT!?!?)
2. I’m calling out the timey-wimeyness of this franchise. When will it take place? After 11? Before 1?
3. If you do the first in a three-year process, will the others take as long?

Just a few to mention, you get the picture. But, I’ve given some thought to this. I’m not quite sure if it’s just the tumultuous amounts of caffeine flowing through me right now, but I’m really digging on the idea of combining the show and the film. There wasn’t much talk of doing so. But after brewing on conversations that I had on the day this report came out, I’m really excited. Yes I’d currently be disappointed if the Doctor wasn’t played by Matt Smith. However, if it were to be played by a new actor, who then took over the roll on the television show, I’d be on board. Continuity is what I’m hoping for. Yes, I know… continuity on Doctor Who? Am I mad? Perhaps.

But imagine this, say this, we get Matt (or a new Doctor) for the next 3-4 years. To which he regenerates in the film. It can be told in a story like, flashback sequence even! Hmm.. that may be the answer to get David Tennant and Chris Eccleston back in the swing of things. But imagine that, culminating a “Who” story on a huge movie like this every couple of years. That’d be huge. I’d pay $10 to see that movie every few years. I know every Whovian would. Don’t lie, it’s not good to lie.

But what I’m saying is that I’m on board. I’d like to see the Time War on a ginormic screen. I’d ignore which Doctor we saw. It’s obvious that we can’t see a guy like Tom Baker in the role, but having open your mind and try to have fun with the ideas that are possible when you don’t see time in such a straight line. I mean come on, it’s more like a big ball of timey…wimey… yeahhh.

Doctor Who Heading to the Big Screen?

November 16, 2011
Doctor Who
Leave a Comment

A couple of days ago, an article on Variety‘s website came out stating how BBC is currently moving forward with a Doctor Who feature film with David Yates attached as the director. Seems cool enough, eh? But of course there are shades of gray (grey?) that go with this striking bit of news.

First bit to take notice of, is they want to turn this beloved ‘television’ franchise in to a film ‘franchise’. In doing so, they plan to start from scratch. But how far back do they want to do? In other scenario’s, a reboot (is this what they mean?) or a fresh start they can ignore facts. Much like Yates’ Harry Potter team with the Dumbledore character after the legendary actor Richard Harris sadly passed away, being succeeded by the awesome Michael Gambon. In that case, nobody cared, because his character was kept in line with the books. I think there’s a change of atmosphere when Gambon took over. You can see they changed from a magical lovey feeling in 1 and 2, to a more dark side in 3-7. This is all evident in the books though of course.

However, this is Doctor Who. And now we’re at the point where everybody loves Matt Smith. And if you don’t, you’re a liar. I was hesitant at first myself. But I do, I love the way he took on the role. And he has said it himself (or perhaps rumored), that he’d like to jump to the big screen. Maybe this is his chance? Maybe these feature films will give him the calling he needs and rightly deserves. It would keep things consistent. And as evident, they bring mention in the Variety article that they want a proper writer that will appeal to both the American and UK crowd. Why not keep Matt on board? It’ll hit two birds with one stone. I think if you have a Doctor in the show, and another Doctor on the big screen… there’d be a bit of confusion. Am I alone there? Sure us older folk can keep up (though we’ll have to grit our teeth). But the younger audience will see Matt on TV, but not in the movies.

As for the writer, I’m sure I won’t be the only one to say it. But I’d like nothing better than to see Mr. Neil Gaiman. I truly enjoyed his episode “The Doctor’s Wife.” It brought in a little old school Who, mixed in with new bits as well. And I think it was quite honestly the best written, and acted episode of the season. It was incredible! How could you not like it? Have to give a shout out to Michael Sheen on the voice acting in the episode as well! Such an amazing job well done. I’m fairly certain that he would work well with a production team on at least the first film. And together they could create a DW film for all Whovians to enjoy.

Who do you think should write this Doctor Who film? Leave your opinion in the comments below!

Doctor Who: The Best of Season 5

April 22, 2011
Doctor Who
Leave a Comment

Today is a very special day in this week as it’s season 5 day, which is the beginning of Matt Smith’s era. In the last episode of season 4, we saw David regenerate in to our dear Matt, and that saw the departure of a great deal of people from the Doctor Who Universe. David and Russel T Davies are two of the most notable. Why you might think that is sad, it has not been horrible at all. In fact I honestly believe the series has taken things further than before. And the new season promises to be even better! So let’s jump right in to season five and see what some of the favorites have been.

At first when Matt burst on to the Who scene, I was a bit skeptical and it took me until a few episodes in to be like… “I like him! I like him a lot!” This season has so much intertwined with each and every episode that it’s incredibly difficult to pick my favorite one. Between the weeping angels, Vincent van Gogh, and more Daleks? I mean there’s a lot to love in this season. I could be totally lame and just choose the entire season as my favorite, but I won’t.

For the benefit of this day, I will take one for the team and re-watch season five to figure out my favorite…. And now I’m back. I’m sure, if you know me, or have tweeted with me about #DoctorWho, you wouldn’t be too surprised at what episode I picked. But, for those who don’t, this is definitely one I hope we share!

I narrowed it down to a select few episodes that I was absolutely fond of. I get giddy every time I see them on BBC. They’re all episodes I’ll never deny. When it comes down to it, I look to “Flesh and Stone”, “Vincent and the Doctor” and “The Pandorica Opens.” Three of the more outstanding episodes, two of which feature River Song. Unlike quite a few Twitter-heads, I actually enjoy this River Song saga. I’m truly interested in finding out who she is.

For today’s purpose, the episode I’m choosing for the best in this season is….. *drumroll*

That’s right, you guessed it. “Flesh and Stone” in my mind is the best episode in season 5. A lot goes on in this episode that we learn, are shocked, and surprised by. Not only that, but go ahead and watch it again to see all of the queues in the episode with the Doctor crossing back on his own timeline. I never noticed it until I saw “The Big Bang” but it’s there. Not to mention any episode when the Doctor actually gets to meet the angels face to face, I’m down with that.

Also in this episode is a really great guest star. A lot of you will know him more recently as Dr. Isaac’s in Resident Evil. Iain Glenn, makes a great appearance in the first episode and the second (Flesh and Stone) of this excellent two-part adventure. He plays a great character, and one that gives us just the slightest bit of information about the lovely River Song. He gave us something to think about. Maybe we’ll find out if what he tells the Doctor is really true.

If you couldn’t tell, the angels seem to be my favorite ‘bad guy’ of Doctor Who because they’re really kind of frightening. This episode is also the closest we really get to everything in existence just blipping away. Aside from the finale of course.

But the journey for today isn’t over. A good friend of mine, Renee Rice (@tweetrenee) kindly joined in the fun to weigh in on her favorite episode of season 5!

The best episode of season 5 has got to be ‘Vincent and the Doctor’ this episode totally made me cry. Funny how a show that is about time travel would have its best episode based on earth. Being such a huge David Tennant fan I was not interested in Matt Smith in the least. Matt Smith is a more quirky and comical Doctor and it took me awhile to warm up to him. The beginning episodes where they had the Doctor interacting with familiar characters was hard for me to watch. I think ‘Vincent and the Doctor’ was the turning point. It was so heart breaking and heart warming at the same time.

There were lots of great moments in season 5. Amazing lines like: “Bow ties are cool” “fezzes are cool” “Hello. I’m The Doctor. Basically… run” and my favorite part of “The Big Bang”-

[Doctor to a sleeping Amy]: It’s funny, I thought, if you could hear me, I could hang on, somehow. Silly me. Silly old Doctor. When you wake up, you’ll have a mum and dad, and you won’t even remember me. Well, you’ll remember me a little. I’ll be a story in your head. But that’s OK: we’re all stories, in the end. Just make it a good one, eh? Because it was, you know, it was the best: a daft old man, who stole a magic box and ran away. Did I ever tell you I stole it? Well, I borrowed it; I was always going to take it back. Oh, that box, Amy, you’ll dream about that box. It’ll never leave you. Big and little at the same time, brand-new and ancient, and the bluest blue, ever. And the times we had, eh? Would’ve had. Never had. In your dreams, they’ll still be there. The Doctor and Amy Pond… and the days that never came.

Matt Smith won me over. David Tennant still owns my heart, but I’m over shutting Matt Smith out. I can’t wait for Stetsons becoming cool in season 6.

And this is it, the final day. The last day of such an awesome week. But it really doesn’t stop here…. it stops tomorrow. The season premier of Doctor Who will air on BBC America at 9PM! I know everybody is truly ready to see how awesome a Stetson is! Matt Smith (no relation to me.. dammit) is back again for the start of part one to season 6. And for the first time since season three, we’ll be season America in the Doctor’s travels! So tune in at 9PM on Saturday and enjoy! I know I will. And while this is the end of a “specially” themed Doctor Who week, you can be sure I’ll be posting often about this wonderful time lord as the season goes on! And don’t be afraid to send me a tweet or DM @heychrissmith!


Go to yesterday’s post! Click here.

All of the Doctor Who related links, images, and likenesses are credited to the BBC.

Doctor Who: The Best of Season 4

April 21, 2011
Doctor Who
3 Comments

Season four, just may very well be the most climatic season I’ve seen yet. There so much involved in this thrilling saga, and the thought of just losing David was very crushing. But sadly this is the last day for Mr. Tennant. How many of you were thinking that David would stay for longer? After he left and we spent the two years with Matt so far, I’ve realized that his time had really come. That he left on a very incredibly high note, which is good. He did what every actor should dream of. He left us wanting more.

But that aside, in today’s post, he’s still here and still quite brilliant. I loved watching through season 4 again, even though I hated Donna Noble during my first viewing. I absolutely HATED her. I was glad when Martha and Rose made appearances. But to it’s credit, we did get to meet a lot of great “bad guys”. And an awesome good guy, like Wilfred! How can you not like ol’ Wilf? His character was astonishingly humorous.

So today’s pick is actually an amazing two-part episode that brings us a new chapter in the Doctor’s little blue book. Because we’re left to wonder who a certain someone actually is. And that person is…. *drumroll* River Song.

Of course, to some this character and these episodes “Silence in the Library” and “Forest of the Dead” aren’t that good at all. But to me, y’know.. the author of these posts, it’s bloody amazing. I felt that these episodes are truly an adventure from start to finish. Even to this day we don’t know exactly who River Song is, but we’ll apparently find out soon.

These two episodes are definitely one of the best written, directed, and definitely a crowd favorite. They’re something that truly epitomizes what Russel T Davies wanted to do when he brought the series back to television. And this was a great season to end on for both David and Russel; and to hand the reigns over to Steven Moffat who’s done even more brilliant things in his time with the Doctor.



Some Notable Mentions
“The Stolen Planet”
“The Journey’s End”
“Voyage of the Damned” (Christmas Special)


Go to yesterday’s post! Click here.

All of the Doctor Who related links, images, and likenesses are credited to the BBC.



Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 898 other followers