SciFi Weekend: Doctor Who, Rosa Review And Spoiler-Free Comments On  Arachnids In The UK; Timeless Finale; Star Trek Jumps Ahead 1000 Years, And Other ST News; The Orville Season 2 Trailer; Two Series With David Tennant

October 28, 2018 — Ron Chusid

I will avoid spoilers for today’s episode of Doctor Who, Arachnids In The UK, as it has not yet been seen by those in the United States who wait to view it legally. The episode, like many episodes of Doctor Who, has its faults, but was still thoroughly enjoyable. It is best viewed not as a stand-alone episode but as part three of a trilogy which establishes the new Doctor and companions, beginning with The Woman Who Fell To Earth and The Ghost Monument. During the events of this trilogy, the group underwent an unknown number of adventures as the TARDIS failed to return home until Arachnids In The UK. We only saw one of these adventures, but Rosa is certain to become a classic episode of Doctor Who.

Rosa is a return to historical episodes of Doctor Who. It could be seen as a children’s educational show, including a recap of the significance of the story at the end. Then, being Doctor Who, there was a trip to see the asteroid named after Rosa Parks. However, it does not tone down the issues for children, showing the horrors of racist socient. The episode realistically shows racism as not being something isolated to certain evil individuals, but as the atmosphere of the time and area.

The companions worked well with the story, starting with Ryan experiencing racism when he simply tried to give a woman her dropped glove. Racism was similarly seen in other situations including in a restaurant, a white-only hotel, and, obviously for this story, on the bus. Racism was shown to be different with Yasmin, with the locals not being as clear as to where she fits in, with Yasmin even being mistaken for a Mexican. Yasmin was not welcome in the restaurant, but could sit with the whites in the front of the bus. Racism was as illogical in the episode as in real life.

Strangely nobody seemed disturbed that a woman was dressed like the Doctor in pants and an unusual shirt in 1955 Alabama.  Rather than deal with this, the episode did include a joke about the Doctor being the street artist Bansky. Plus Graham identified himself as Steve Jobs.

As with many historical Doctor Who episodes, there is an outside villain, but Krasko really isn’t all that memorable. (Similarly, does anyone recall the monster from Vincent and the Doctor?) Krasko just served to set up the situation of forcing the Doctor and her friends to make sure history played out correctly. Krasko did also show that Chris Chibnall isn’t totally ignoring the Moffat years, even if he is avoiding his characters. Krasko was recently released from Stormcage, where River Song was also imprisoned. A neural restrictor in his brain prevented him from directly killing–even if he could still conspire to do evil. His weapon was a version of how the Weeping Angels dispose of people, sending them to another time. Theoretically Krasko could appear again, but it is questionable as to whether there is any point in it.

One challenge in a story such as this was that the Doctor could not be the hero as usual. Rosa Parks had to be the star, and Vinette Robinson handled this very well in a story written by Malorie Blackman and Chris Chibnall. In many ways this felt more like an episode of Timeless than Doctor Who, with the stars concentrating on thwarting the efforts of someone who was trying to change the course of history.

The episode required an unusual victory, with the arrest of Rosa Parks hardly being a positive outcome unless viewed in its historical context of sparking protests. Graham was upset with being a part of this, being one of the whites on the bus who led to Rosa Parks being put in a situation where she was ordered to give up her seat, crying “No, no, I don’t want to be a part of this!” Graham actually seemed to have less understanding of racism and the civil rights movement than might be expected after he was married to a black woman. The episode even began with Graham first thinking of Elvis as opposed to racism when he learned they were in the south in the 1950’s.

Yaz clearly understood the significance of the events they were involved in: “I can be a police officer now because people like Rosa Parks fought those battles for me. For us. And in fifty-three years, they’ll have a black president as leader. Who knows where they’ll be fifty years after that? That’s proper change.”

As I mentioned above, last week’s episode of Doctor Who was structured more like an episode of Timeless than a typical episode of Doctor Who. Unfortunately Timeless will only be around for a tiny fraction of the time Doctor Who has been on the air. At least NBC has agreed to a television movie to wrap up the series, and the air date was announced last week. From Entertainment Weekly:

Timeless will air one last, well, time, on Thursday, Dec. 20 from 8 to 10 p.m. on NBC.

We’re told the episode is “an epic, unforgettable thrill ride through the past, present and future, with a healthy dose of Christmas spirit. Spread across three centuries and two continents, the finale will test Lucy, Wyatt and the entire Time Team like never before as they try to #SaveRufus, preserve history and put a stop to Rittenhouse once and for all.”

The next Short Trek jumps to one thousand years after Discovery, placing it beyond anything we have seen so far in the Star Trek time line. The above trailer has been released with the episode to be released on CBS All Access on November 8.

Following is the synopsis for the episode, written by Michael Chabron: After waking up in an unfamiliar sickbay, Craft (Aldis Hodge) finds himself onboard a deserted ship, and his only companion and hope for survival is an A.I. computer interface.

Not all of the upcoming series will be as big as a new series staring Patrick Stewart. Another new series has been announced, this time an animated comedy. From TrekMovie.com:

For the first time since the 1970s, Star Trek is getting animated. This morning CBS announced they have given a two-season order for Star Trek: Lower Decks, which is being developed by Mike McMahan, who recently won an Emmy for his work on the popular animated series Rick and Morty.

Star Trek: Lower Decks will be the first animated series for CBS All Access, and will be a half-hour comedy focused on the support crew serving on one of Starfleet’s least important ships. There are no details yet on what Star Trek era the show will be set in.

Mike McMahan also wrote the upcoming Harry Mudd-centric Star Trek: Short Treks. A longtime fan, back in 2015 he published the officially licensed Warped: An Engaging Guide to the Never-Aired 8th Season, which arose from @tng_s8 his popular parody Twitter account about an imagined eighth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

We have seen some of the technology from Star Trek become real, and now there is an effort to make a working holodeck. From TrekMovie.com:

Roddenberry Entertainment, owned by Rod Roddenberry, son of Gene Roddenberry, is teaming up with a number of technology companies working to make the Star Trek holodeck a reality. The partnership will leverage Light Field Lab’s revolutionary headgear-free holographic displays and OTOY’s ORBX Technology, the industry’s first open source and royalty-free format for rendering media and real-time graphics on Light Field Lab’s holographic display panels.

Original holographic content for the new system is in active development, spearheaded by Ari Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor, and Rod Roddenberry, CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment, and also an executive producer on Star Trek: Discovery.

“The concept of the Holodeck was extremely important to my father as well as the Star Trek Universe,” said Rod Roddenberry about his late father, Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek. “I want to see Star Trek’s technologies made real, and for the very first time, now believe that a real Holodeck is no longer limited to science fiction. Although it’s early days, my father would be beyond excited to know his vision is coming into reality thanks to OTOY’s trailblazing light field rendering, and the revolutionary holographic display systems created at Light Field Lab.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyKp5LDv3sE

The Orville was the last Star Trek related series billed as comedy before Lower Decks, but has turned out to be more. The above trailer for season two was released along with information on the release date. The season will premiere on December 30 after a football double header, and then return to Thursday nights.

ComicBook.com added:

The series is adding Jessica Szohr as a new series regular and Chris Johnson in a recurring role in its second season. A veteran Star Trekwriter was also brought on board as an additional executive producer, and multiple Star Trekactors will guest star.

Star Trek: The Next Generation star and director Jonathan Frakes will also contribute to the new season of The Orville. At a convention, Frakes spoke about the series in comparison to CBS All Access’s Star Trek: Discovery.

“The Star Trek that we have has really found its voice, and Discovery has really found its voice,” Frakes explained earlier this year. “And The Orville has filled in a void. For a lot of people, The Orville is their new Star Trek because it does tell stories like [The Next Generation], and it’s got wild humor in it.

“[Seth MacFarlane] clearly wanted [The Orville] to look like [The Next Generation].” Frakes added. “So, he hired the cinematographer [Marvin Rush] and the camera operator, and Brannon Braga, who wrote First Contact among other things that are fabulous. Robbie Duncan McNeill, one of our wonderful directors from Voyager, James Conway, who directed a bunch of great Next Gen episodes; he hired me. He filled the room with Next Gen people so that the show would look and feel like it. I think he did it.”

So far I’ve only watched the pilot for Camping, but the show looks like a terrible waste of the talents of Jennifer Garner and David Tennant. At least Garner’s role, while wasting her talents, was the dominant character in the pilot, while Tennant was totally wasted. Fortunately David Tennant will be appearing in other roles. This includes staring with Martin Sheen in an adaption of Neil Gaiman’s book Good Omens. Amazon has released the following trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZSXlNRRoGU&feature=youtu.be

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SciFi Weekend: Torchwood’s Immortal Sins; Doctor Who, Let’s Kill Hitler; The Doctor and Other Time Travelers Win Hugo Awards, The Hour (A Great Show To Watch While Waiting For Mad Men To Return)

August 21, 2011 — Ron Chusid

This week’s episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day, Immortal Sins,  is more Jack-centric, showing how his back story plays into the events of the Miracle, and presumably why there was a signal for Torchwood on the day that the Miracle began. The series has seemed to take a long time to move towards a conclusion at times, but I suspect that the pace will pick up in the final three episodes now that we have a better idea of where it is headed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d–_kOhavH4&feature=player_embedded

The episode even has two references to the Doctor in the scenes above. Those who complained to the BBC about the explicit gay sex won’t like this episode either. My only complaint is that there wasn’t a matching sex scene with a female as occurred earlier this season. Captain Jack gets the best line of the episode: “Forgive me father for I have sinned… so many times… and that’s just today!”

Season six of Doctor Who resumes next week. Above is a preview of the episode from BBC America. Karen Gillan also introduces Let’s Kill Hitler plus two clips from Doctor Who Confidential have also been released:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0AH3munR3I&feature=player_embedded

The Daily Mirror,  which is not the most reliable of sources, claims that Billie Piper, Freema Agyeman and Catherine Tate will all return in the episode. Consider how the Doctor left both Billie Piper (Rose) and Catherine Tate (Donna), this would seem difficult. Perhaps he meets them before his final encounters with them, or perhaps the actresses are there but they aren’t what they seem.

Doctor Who Lets Kill Hitler Amy Pond River Song

A prequel scene to Let’s Kill Hitler was released last week. The scene is posted here.

While nothing has been officially confirmed, based upon interviews with both Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill it appears like Amy and Rory will leave as regular companions at the end of the season, most likely to raise their newly-rescued baby, and a new companion will be introduced. Both have also said they will be returning in the future, and it is assumed they mean as recurring characters similar to how River Song has appeared intermittently.

Doctor Who Big Bang Pandorica Opens

Doctor Who, as well as other time-travel stories, did well in this year’s Hugo Award ceremony at the World Science Fiction Convention in Reno last night. Black Out/All Clear, a pair of novels dealing with time travel to England during World War II by Connie Willis, won best novel.

The season five  Doctor Who two-part story, The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang, won the Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. Two other episodes of Doctor Who, A Christmas Carol and Vincent and the Doctor, were also nominated this year.

The winning episodes were written by Steven Moffat, who previously won the Hugo Award for these episodes of  Doctor Who:   Blink in 2008, The Girl In The Fireplace in 2007 and The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances in 2006. An episode by Russel T. Davies, The Waters of Mars won in 2010 when there were only specials and no regular episodes written by Moffat.

Doctor Who was also responsible for a non-fiction award. Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It, edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O’Shea, won for Best Related Work.

Inception won for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. My interpretation of the movie was previously posted here.

Here’s something to watch if you can’t wait until next year for Mad Men to return. The Hour premiered on BBC America last week–trailer above.  The DVD set of the series will be released in September. After watching the first episode I quickly obtained episodes two through five, in preparation for the sixth and final episode of the season which airs Tuesday in the U.K.

There are several new shows which are trying to capitalize on the nostalgia value of Mad Men (but most ignore the fact that it is quality which made Mad Men a success). Both have a feeling of a previous era but one which is not all that different from today.  The creative type people on a news show in The Hour versus those in advertising on Mad Men, along with the drinking and smoking scenes, give the shows a similar feel. The third episode also reminded me of scenes from Brideshead Revisited.

American network shows trying to capitalize on the Mad Men feel such as Pan Am and one on the Playboy Club are also starting this fall, but I doubt they will show the same quality as either Mad Men or The Hour.

They are also very different shows too. Beyond its late 1950’s backdrop on a television news show, The Hour gets involved with a murder mystery and Cold War espionage. In some ways the show feels like a combination of the two AMC series, Mad Men and Rubicon. Being six hours has allowed it to develop the season-long arc without stretching it out too long. It is also reminiscent of Mad Men, which previously took place at the time of the  Cuban Missile Crisis, by dealing with the Suez crisis and Soviet invasion of Hungary.

The Hour has a superb cast. Best known to American audiences is Dominic West from The Wire. Romola Garai (pictured above) and Ben Whishaw are also excellent in their lead roles. Burn Gorman, who previously played Owen Harper on Torchwood, has a significant role. Now I can’t wait for Mad Men to return, and I know that once the series conclude its U.K. run on Tuesday I will be anxiously awaiting a second season of The Hour.

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SciFi Weekend: Doctor Who, The Impossible Astronaut; Elisabeth Sladen; More Doctor Who News; Surviving Judgment Day; A New Roommate For Sheldon Cooper

April 24, 2011 — Ron Chusid

Unless you were locked up in the Pandorica, you should know about the two big stories of the week: the season premiere of Doctor Who and the death of Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith). A video on Sladen’s career is posted above. My initial post on Elisabeth Sladen, which includes some major scenes from her career and tributes, was posted here. This week’s episode of Doctor Who, The Impossible Astronaut, began with a message in memory of Elisabeth Sladen on the BBC broadcast. A memorial show was broadcast afterward on CBBC. The full video of My Sarah Jane A Tribute To Elisabeth Sladen is posted here. David Tennant had this to say about Elisabeth Sladen on BBC Breakfast:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkKUcf_HvKM&feature=related

More of the interview with David Tennant can be seen here. Tom Baker has a tribute on his web site.

Those who need a refresher coarse on forty-seven years and eleven Doctors before beginning this season can check out this video which recaps it all in just six minutes:

Both NPR’s Morning Edition and The New York Times had stories about how this season is starting on the same day in the United Kingdom, The United States, and Canada (and soon after in Australia) to reduce pirating of the show. When there was a several month delay, there would typically be 200,000 illegal downloads the week an episode aired. The article reports that BBC America will not air a new episode on Memorial Day weekend, and then be a week behind for the remaining June episodes.  That will get many US fans to resume downloading on the day it first airs.Even the several hour delay between airings will make downloading irresistible. I had a high definition copy hours before I could have watched a standard definition version on cable, but if I ever get a Nielsen box I promise to turn on BBC America when Doctor Who is on.

The Impossible Astronaut began both what is probably a season-long arc and a two-part story with events of a magnitude which is more characteristic of a season finale. Now that there is no longer a gap before the U.S. version airs, posts here on completed episodes will no longer avoid spoilers.

The episode began with a few minutes of fez hats and other fun before bringing Amy, Rory, and River Song to a meeting with the Doctor (now wearing a stetson) in Utah. While breaking out of prison was no surprise, I’m not certain as to how River Song managed to get to Utah in 2011, but she always has been a resourceful person. Soon afterward the Doctor was killed, and then shot again during the regeneration cycle by someone in an astronaut outfit, leading to the Doctor’s actual death. This left the three with no choice but to burn the Doctor’s body as it goes out into the lake.

Doctor Who Regenerates The Impossible Astronaut

Obviously we knew that the Doctor could not really be dead, and figured that it was all part of some sort of plan, considering that the Doctor clearly knew what was going to happen and told the other three not to interfere. He even arranged for gasoline to be delivered for his funeral pyre. This was delivered by ex-FBI agent Canton Delaware, played by the father of Mark Sheppard who played the ex-agent in the 1969 portion of the story.

Moffat used some of his “timey-wimey” stuff to continue the story with a younger version of the Doctor, which was anticipated after a point was made of the Doctor’s age when he first met up with his three companions. Theoretically the story could continue after establishing that the Doctor would die when two hundred years older, but this would mean no further regenerations and that Matt Smith would be the last actor to play the Doctor. It is more likely that they will resolve this by preventing the Doctor from actually dying, and this was confirmed in an interview with Matt  Smith.

While we generally know when watching a show that the main character will not be killed, Doctor Who has always appeared to place the main character in less danger  due to his ability to regenerate. This episode shows that the Doctor can be killed, and that the character can feel he is at risk when taking actions which might endanger his life.

Knowing this detail of the Doctor’s future changes the dynamics as this time it is the companions who knew more, leaving the Doctor feeling very uncomfortable. He finally agreed to trust his friends and do what they say when Amy swore on something very important to her, “fish fingers and custard.”

They traveled back to 1969, with the TARDIS materializing in Richard Nixon’s oval office. I had expected that they would make use of a pre-existing set, but Doctor Who Confidential showed the crew actually building their version of the oval office. The Doctor wound up getting involved with the mystery of a young girl calling Richard Nixon every night, regardless of where he was. A new villain, which Amy first got a glimpse of  in Utah, was present–The Silence. With the Weeping Angels, Steven Moffat created a threat which would kill you if you blink and stop looking at them. The Silence is even harder to fight as the moment you look away you forget that you even saw them. They were presumably behind the destruction of the universe last season, and Doctor Who fans are reporting evidence of their appearance in several previous episodes.

The Silence told Amy that she must tell the Doctor something, which probably explains why she suddenly told him that she is pregnant at what was not a very convenient time. Presumably their instructions, while forgotten the moment Amy looked away, remained somewhere in her mind. The episode ended with a cliff hanger in which we found that the little girl who had been calling Richard Nixon was in an astronaut suit. Amy, assuming this is the same person who had killed the Doctor, shot the girl.

The cliff hanger left a lot to speculate about. Was the little girl in 1969 the same person in the astronaut suit who killed the Doctor in 2011? Could the girl be Amy’s daughter? Perhaps it was River Song who was in the astronaut suit and killed the Doctor. We were reminded of River’s story (presumably to allow new viewers to catch up) and the Doctor even asked her who she killed.  (“No spoilers.”)  In Flesh and Stone River said she had killed “the best man I’ve ever known.” She also foreshadowed her own “death,” at a time when the Doctor would no longer know her, in Forrest of the Dead. Perhaps River is even Amy’s daughter. Someone known as Pond just might name a daughter after another type of body of water. Hopefully we will get some answers next week in Day of the Moon:

Karen Gillan does say there will be a lot of revelations in an interview in the Scotsman.com:

“There are going to be a lot of revelations,” she suggests tantalisingly. “There’s one huge one that will change everything. Steven Moffat went around everybody and only told them the bits they needed to know, and we’re not allowed to discuss it with each other, which is really relevant for the whole story.”

Karen Gillan Amy Pond Doctor Who

In an interview with The Telegraph, Karen Gillan said she wanted to be like Robin Williams, or perhaps Birttany Murphy.  Karen Gillan’s interview with Craig Ferguson aired on Friday–a video is posted here.

In other Doctor Who news, Meredith Vieira and The Today Show will be traveling to the set of Doctor Who in May. Vieira will have a cameo role on the show.

Doctor Who has been nominated for three Hugo Awards, including two stories written by Steven Moffat, A Christmas Carol and The Pandorica Opens/Big Bang. A third episode of Doctor Who, Vincent and the Doctor written by Richard Curtis also received a nomination. In addition, a nomination went to a book entitled Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It, edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O’Shea.

Steven Moffat is vague in talking about Neil Gaiman’s script, but does tell us he is giving the Daleks a year off:

The TV boss and lead writer has opted to give the aliens a rest in 2011.

He wants to give them another make-over and bring them back with a bang next year.

Diehard fans hated the multi-coloured fat Daleks from the last series and dubbed them Dipsy, Tinky Winky, Laa-Laa and Po after children’s favourites the Teletubbies.

Moffat said: “We will bring back the Daleks.

“But there will be lots of different kinds.

“I want them to come back in a really brilliant way.

I started the post by noting there were two important events this week. Fortunately we escaped a third. According to Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, April 21, 2011 was Judgment Day, when the machines rose up to destroy most of humanity. We might have already been on borrowed time as the original Terminator movie set Judgment Day on August 4, 1997.

And, finally, there is news that Sheldon Cooper is getting a new roommate on Big Bang Theory. It will be someone we already know:

As teased in the new issue of EW, everyone favorite creature of habit is parting ways with his longtime roomie, Leonard.

“You have a situation where Priya is staying with her brother, and Leonard is spending time with Pryia,” executive producer Billy Prady says. “The current sleeping arrangement isn’t the best one. I think a little experimentation with people in different spots [is necessary].”

But who is the (un?)lucky soul to take Leonard’s spot in the apartment? Prady wouldn’t say, specifically, but guarantees, “It will be a human, and it will be someone we know.” Prady elaborates: “One of the things that Sheldon will [learn from] his new roommate — temporary or permanent, we don’t know — is just how long Leonard has been skating by. He’s going to have a terrific experience with this new roommate.”

The author speculates that it will be Amy Farrah Fowler. That is a definite possibility, but the two are so much alike. There could be far more conflict if Penny moves in with Sheldon to save money. There is already a bizarre chemistry between the two.

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SciFi Weekend: Fringe, Leonard Nimoy, V, The Cape, Matt Smith on Upcoming Season of Doctor Who, Nebula Award Nominees

February 27, 2011 — Ron Chusid

Fringe returned to the period shortly after Peter was brought over from the alternate universe–a period all involved now seem to have forgotten except for Walternate. Peter was so desperate to return home that he tied a weight to his leg and returned to the lake where he first came to our universe, believing he came from a world under that frozen water. Walter’s wife Elizabeth showed strength in saving Peter. Unfortunately she couldn’t handle the continued lies to Peter (which he apparently began to believe) and later began drinking.

The episode contained the first meeting between Peter and Olivia along with Olivia crossing over as a child. This left the clue for Walternate to figure out what happened to Peter. Olivia went to tell Walter about the abuse she suffered from her stepfather. She began by speaking to a Walter sitting behind a desk but this was actually Walternate, with Walter turning out to be behind her upon her return to our universe. While over there, Olivia left a picture she had drawn of herself and Peter.

The previews foreshadowed something which has already been reported–Leonard Nimoy returning to Fringe to reprise his role as William Bell. Nimoy again confirmed this story in a tweet on February 25: “Coming to Fringe. William’s bell rings soon. LLAP.” (Nimoy typically ends his tweets with LLAP: Live Long and Prosper.) While William Bell was shown to have died, this wouldn’t be the first time Nimoy has played a character who has been brought back to life. Will William Bell be revived on the Genesis Planet?

There’s already been talk that V is going to end the season with a cliffhanger. Executive producer Scott Rosenbaum has stated in an interview that this could include some deaths of regular characters:

The executive producer of V has revealed that several main characters will be killed off in the second season finale.

Scott Rosenbaum told TV Guide that two or “possibly even three” series regulars will not return to the ABC series if it is renewed for a third run.

He explained that the departure of certain actors was related to “what would be most devastating for the characters [he wanted] to continue”.

“People are going to be shocked,” added series star Laura Vandervoort. “When we read the script there was initially shock, then sadness. [It’s like] seeing your son go off to college or [your] grandma passing.”

Rosenbaum confirmed that Elisabeth Mitchell (Erica Evans) and Morena Baccarin (Anna) will return to the series, leaving Vandervoort (Lisa), Scott Wolf (Chad), Logan Huffman (Tyler), Morris Chestnut (Ryan), Joel Gretsch (Father Jack) and Jane Badler (Diana) as potential candidates for the axe.

The Cape has even less of a chance than V of returning. The show did conclude a good two-part episode last week which was probably its best story to date. Summer Glau spent the episode unconscious but being promoted to imagine a drug-induced wedding scene. It is not clear if we can interpret her visions of Vince as confirming that Orwell loves him m or whether she just put a familiar face into her dream. In the same episode Vince has contact with Dana, but only as The Cape. I just cannot buy the contrived drama from Vince keeping his survival secret from his wife along with everyone else. The wedding also advanced the widely held assumption that Peter Fleming is Orwell’s father, and a mysterious door might reveal more about Orwell and her mother if they get this in before the shortened season ends.

Doctor Who Amy Pond Vincent and the Doctor

Den of Geek summarizes what Matt Smith has to say about the upcoming season of Doctor Who:

We’re around two months away from the return of Doctor Who to Saturday nights, and Matt Smith has been chatting to Radio 1 about just what we can expect.

Talking specifically about the character of River Song, Smith told the station, “What’s amazing about Steven [Moffat] is, he’s been plotting this since [River’s] very first episode. It’s all connected. He’s had this sort of three-year plan and it’s all unfolding.”

Even more intriguingly, he’s offered a tease about the two-parter that’s going to kick the new series off, where we find out more about The Silence.

“I think The Silence is going to be the scariest Who monster in a long time, definitely since the Angels. I think Steven’s written a killer monster there,” said Smith.

Smith also confirmed that we’ve got a sizeable cliffhanger to look forward to at the end of the seventh episode, then the show will take its mid-series break. “I think the Doctor and Amy are really faced with some quite cataclysmic choices,” he said.

Tonight during the Academy Awards, Inception has the best chance for a genre movie to win an Oscar. Inception is one of the movies up against an episode of Doctor Who, Vincent and the Doctor, for a Nebula Award. Here’s the full list of nominees for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America will present the awards on May 11.

The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

  • Despicable Me, Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud (directors), Ken Daurio & Cinco Paul (screenplay), Sergio Pablos (story) (Illumination Entertainment)
  • Doctor Who: ‘‘Vincent and the Doctor’’, Richard Curtis (writer), Jonny Campbell (director)
  • How to Train Your Dragon, Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders (directors), William Davies, Dean DeBlois, & Chris Sanders (screenplay) (DreamWorks Animation)
  • Inception, Christopher Nolan (director), Christopher Nolan (screenplay) (Warner)
  • Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Edgar Wright (director), Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright (screenplay) (Universal)
  • Toy Story 3, Lee Unkrich (director), Michael Arndt (screenplay), John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, & Lee Unkrich (story) (Pixar/Disney)

Both of the excellent Thursday night genre comedies have now had recent guest appearances by LeVar Burton.  He appeared on Big Bang Theory this week following a recent appearance on Community. His appearance on Big Bang Theory was briefer than on Community, but provided the perfect ending for last week’s episode.

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SciFi Weekend: “Vincent and the Doctor” and “The Big Bang”

June 27, 2010 — Ron Chusid

The season concluded for Doctor Who on the BBC with The Big Bang while BBC America aired Vincent and the Doctor. This review contains major spoilers for Vincent and the Doctor (which I previously wrote about here.). I have attempted to keep reviews of episodes which have not aired yet in the United States free of any significant spoilers–as frustrating as it is not to talk more about The Big Bang–but there are a few comments on upcoming events.

Vincent and the Doctor seems to be a stand alone episode which goes back to the original intent of the show to be educational for children, but it does fit well into the season’s overall arc. The educational aspects of the show include both Van Gogh and depression, with the BBC including a pubic service announcement on depression at the end.

The episode took Rory’s disappearance from time into account. The Doctor accidentally referred to Vincent as Rory. Amy questioned why the Doctor was being so nice to her, and even Vincent saw signs that Amy had suffered a major loss despite not remembering it, at least on a conscious level. The episode had the Doctor explaining that “bow ties are cool.” The Big Bang has the Doctor finding something else he considers cool. I did not notice the crack in the wall in this episode, but Vincent does play a role in the two part season finale, along with many other characters from earlier in the season.

The episode included pictures of the first two Doctors and the use of a species identifier, which seemed like a combination of the “Googles” or “Layers” programs on my Droid and a rear view mirror. The rear view mirror allowed the Doctor to see this episode’s invisible monster, who in many ways was just like Vincent. Both are outcasts from their society.

The story involving the monster concluded several minutes before the conclusion of the episode. The Doctor then brought Vincent to the present to see how his work was being appreciated at the Musée d’Orsay. After returning Vincent to his time Amy and the Doctor returned to the museum. Amy believed that having seen how he would be appreciated would make a difference, perhaps keeping him from committing suicide. She expected to see many new works from Vincent. Instead they found two changes. The monster was no longer in the window in the work which first led them to meet Vincent, and a picture of sun flowers now says “for Amy.”

The Big Bang was an excellent conclusion for the season. While it wraps up some of the aspects of the season’s arc, the episode leaves some mysteries open for future seasons, including the relationship between River Song and the Doctor. The episode is extremely “timey wimy” as Steven Moffat would describe it, and shows how Moffat is more interested in writing a fairy tale about the characters than hard science fiction. Steven Moffat discussed the season after watching The Big Bang in the above interview conducted by his son Joshua.

Those who do not want any spoilers might hold off on watching the above interview. Those who have watched The Big Bang and want more might enjoy this link--but hold off if you don’t want any spoilers as to the season finale.

Matt Smith and Karen Gillan were interviewed by BBC Newsbeat, answering questions from viewers in the video above.

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SciFi Weekend: Amy’s Choice And Completing Doctor Who’s Season Long Arc

June 6, 2010 — Ron Chusid

With the finales completed on network television, which dominated recent posts in SciFi Weekend, this is a good time to return to the discussion of Doctor Who. Reviewing the series is even more complicated now that  BBC America has fallen three weeks behind the BBC airings of the show due to skipping Memorial Day weekend in the United States. As usual my comments may include major spoilers on the last episode to air in the United States (in this case Amy’s Choice). I will avoid major spoilers as to events which have not aired yet in the United States but make more general comments on what is upcoming which should not spoil the show for those watching. I will say there are really big things in store as the series long arcs has progressed. Those who want to know nothing as to what is to come might want to turn away.

Amy’s Choice continued the theme from the previous week of Amy deciding that Rory is her true love. As the season progresses Amy Pond has become one of the more significant characters in the history of Doctor Who, which is saying a lot for a show going back to 1963. This  season really is shaping up as Amy’s story, with the crack in time being one aspect of this.

When we look back on this season in the future we will obviously see it as the first year with Steven Moffat as show runner and Matt Smith as the Doctor, but more importantly it will be the story of Amy Pond. This has raised one disturbing thought that after this season’s arc is completed it might be the end of Amy’s story, but hopefully Moffat has more ideas for her for next year.

Amy’s Choice seems to involve two alternative realities. I’m sure most viewers assumed that the future story with Amy being pregnant and the characters being attacked by the Eknodine in the form of elderly humans was the dream. The story was fun, especially if viewed as a satire of many of the elements of a typical Doctor Who monster story, along with forcing Amy to decide that life without Rory was not worth living. As in any love story, complications will come in upcoming episodes which I will not spoil here (and which hopefully be resolved favorably after the Pandorica opens).

The story turned out to be far more complex as both realities were a dream caused by specks of psychic pollen which had fallen into the time rotor and got heated up. The episode ended with the Doctor revealing that the Dream Lord was the dark side of his personality, manifested by the pollen. The Dream Lord is in some ways reminiscent of the Valyard, and there are hints we will see him again.

Throughout the season we have seen references to the long television history of Doctor Who. The episode included this plaque identifying the Tardis as a Type 40 built in 1963 when the series began:

Viewers of the BBC episodes have seen three additional episodes. Following Amy’s Choice is a two-part story, The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood. The two-part episode works as both a stand alone story, has important ramifications for future human history, and advances the season long arc.

This week’s episode, Vincent and the Doctor, was perhaps the finest and most important fluff episode in the history of the series. The episode  worked in  images of earlier regenerations of the Doctor while returning to one of the early plans for the series in being an educational show for children (as well as adults). While I have already seen some reviewers who hated it, I found the episode thoroughly enjoyable. This is primarily a stand alone episode but it did refer back just enough to a major event of the previous episode which I will not spoil here.

In previous episodes we have seen how bizarre the Doctor is by human standards including, but not limited to, more than one recent mention that bow ties are cool. Next week in The Lodger the Doctor faces one of his greatest challenges in renting a room and having to blend in as a normal human. The preview shows continuity with this week’s episode including a flier for a Van Gogh exhibit.

This leads to the two-part episode, The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang written by Steven Moffat to conclude the season’s arc. A BBC press release for The Pandorica Opens reveals:

The Doctor’s friends unite to send him a terrible warning; the Pandorica – which is said to contain the most feared being in all the cosmos – is opening, as the time travelling drama continues. But what’s inside, and can the Doctor stop it?

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