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Rewatching... Doctor Who: The Evil Of The Daleks - Part 5
"I am a professor of a far wider academy..." Saturday 17 June 1967 I'm really enjoying this story. It's a very different Dalek tale to what we're used to. But then Power Of The Daleks was unusual too, and also brilliant. The Daleks haven't actually been in this one all that much so far, and I wonder how the children watching feel about that. When we do get to see them, gliding along the corridors of a Victorian manor house, its marvelous. As with having a new Doctor, this Dalek revival has felt like a new lease of life for the programme.
By Nick Brown9 years ago in Futurism
So Ron Howard's Directing a Star Wars Movie...
In what might be a new record between rumor and official confirmation, Lucasfilm announced on June 22nd that Ron Howard would be taking over the directing duties on the (as yet still untitled) Han Solo Star Wars spin-off film. Howard takes over the director's chair from Lego Movie filmmakers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller who left the production officially days earlier due to “creative differences.” With less than a year to go before the announced release date and months into production already, Howard certainly has his work cut out for him. What might we expect from his entry into the Star Wars canon?
By Matthew Kresal9 years ago in Futurism
Doctor Who: The Eaters Of Light Review
Warning: Potential spoilers ahead for the episode. The current season of Doctor Who is coming to its inevitable end. Before the season arrives at its two-part finale story, viewers have been treated to a couple of single episode tales. Following on Mark Gatiss' Empress Of Mars, this past Saturday saw the TARDIS crew head to Roman Britain with an episode written by a writer whose presence marks something of a first for New Who. For the first time, the 21st century incarnation of the series was being written by someone who had written for its original run with the return of noted playwright Rona Munro (who penned the Sylvester McCoy era story Survival that closed out the original series back in 1989). So how was Munro's foray into New Who?
By Matthew Kresal9 years ago in Futurism
Rewatching... Doctor Who: The Evil Of The Daleks - Part 4
Saturday 10 June 1967 So this episode is all about Jamie's 'test'. He's unaware he's being tested by the Daleks and last week's episode ended as he was confronted by a Turkish wrestler called Kemel. Now as you may know, I'm unable to see the video in many of these episodes, instead having to follow the soundtrack, with a glimpse of an occasional frame. Usually, this works ok and it's fairly easy to follow what's going on. This week it's a little more 'visual' than usual however and it starts with a rather protracted fight between Jamie and Kemel. And to make matters even more 'entertaining', Kemel is mute. I'm not a big fan of fight scenes at the best of times, finding them rather dull even when there are pictures, so as you can imagine I'm struggling a bit with this.
By Nick Brown9 years ago in Futurism
Doctor Who: Empress Of Mars Review
Having wrapped up the Monks trilogy that had come to define much of the middle of this season, Peter Capaldi's Doctor looked set to continue his last hurrah with the return of an old foe. The Ice Warriors, reptilian warriors from the planet Mars were one of the most iconic monsters to come out of the classic series of Doctor Who but had featured only once previously in its 21st century incarnation (ironically enough in Matt Smith's final season as the Doctor in 2013). Written by Mark Gatiss, Empress Of Mars would not only bring the Red Planet warriors back but fill in part of their story while also telling an immensely satisfying SF action/adventure story along the way.
By Matthew Kresal9 years ago in Futurism
Postal Automations
“As you may know, the Red Queen Corporation, when it bought the U.S. Postal Service, decreed all of you would be replaced by robots.” Maury Holliday, the postal supervisor, had given a similar sort of speech for a million mornings (it seemed) with dispassionate tones he hoped sounded professional and authoritative and stone-like in its superior power, but certainly his subordinates must have seen it as the pure, broken, sucked dry dispassion it actually was. All the postal faces he spoke to were so drawn down by gravity, so prone to dying at any moment, how could he put any passion into any of this variety of speechifying? “We’ve known for a long time you’d be integral in training the robots who’d replace you. However, news has come down the pipeline that, considering the expense of programming robots, the Red Queen Corporation has outsourced the development to mad scientists who work on the cheap with the agreement that their robots may also be used one day to take over the world. That being said, as you train your robot replacements, please, and this is vital: don’t let them take over the world.”
By F. Simon Grant9 years ago in Futurism
Rewatching... Doctor Who: The Evil Of The Daleks - Part 3
"You are more than human." Saturday 3 June 1967 All things considered it hasn't been a great day for Jamie. He opened a booby trapped box of gas which knocked him and the Doctor out. Then he woke up all groggy in 1866 with a thumping headache. In Canterbury. Now I'm sure most of us could tell a few stories about waking up in 1866 after springing a gas box (yes that's right: a euphemism), but even I have never woken up in Canterbury. And now he's been bashed on the head and abducted by a well loved 70s comedy actor (Windsor Davies), playing a thug called Toby, and has woken up all groggy with a thumping headache (probably - he doesn't actually say so), in a barn. Toby calls his weapon 'Mr Nod'. I like a villain who gives his weapon a pet name. Mr Nod is a sort of cudgel thing. I expect if he'd been armed with a pistol it would have been named Mr Death.
By Nick Brown9 years ago in Futurism
Luminous Beings Are We
Myths persist in our time. They evolve, take on new lexicons, new symbols—some shiny and chrome. Myths take our reality and spin wonders out of it. One glimpse through the Hubble Space telescope and our universe is filled with cosmic gods. Sea voyages of old become star sojourns, traced through celestial vistas filled with megalithic starships—be they Star Destroyers, or Battlestars. Enter the wise old sage, the Hermit of the tarot deck, as the Yodas and Obi Wans. Stories have traveled with us from the tales we uttered around the primordial fires, to the towering statues of worship in the Hellenistic world, to advent of great works of literature. Still more to the booming, dazzling icons of the movie screen.
By Jeremy Johnson9 years ago in Futurism
Doctor Who: The Lie Of The Land Review
Warning: Potential spoilers ahead for the episode. The trilogy is a most dangerous form of storytelling. It assumes that you will be able to tell one large story across three separate parts (or acts if you prefer) with each standing up on its own. The opening can be good, the middle can be strong, but it is the ending that might ultimately determine how the story is remembered. What has been termed “the Monks trilogy” has seen the long running British science fiction series Doctor Who attempt a trilogy in the middle of its tenth season with the titular aliens coming and taking over the Earth. So could the dystopian The Lie Of The Land bring the trilogy to a satisfying close?
By Matthew Kresal9 years ago in Futurism
The Fire Next Time
Climate change has hit the headlines again in the last few days with the decision made by the current administration to withdraw from the Paris Accords. There's been all the usual discussions: should we or shouldn't we be a part of it, is climate change even real, and so forth. In my own mind though was a miniseries I recently watched on the recommendation of a friend and fellow writer called The Fire Next Time that, despite being aired in 1993, touched upon much of what we're dealing with in the year it was set in.
By Matthew Kresal9 years ago in Futurism
