Doctor Who - The Almost People Review

This review can also be found on Step2Inspire.

The crew’s dopplegangers have rebelled against their subservient nature, war has broken out between the organic and the artificial workers, and there is now a doppleganger Doctor. After last week’s ponderous episode, the Almost People moves the story up a couple of gears and throws in a mind-bending twist that hits you in the side of the face like a wayward football - shockingly and without warning.

The episode opens with the Flesh-Doctor struggling to assimilate over 900 years of experience, every incarnation the Doctor has experienced flowing through his mind, manifested in a tirade of phrases uttered by the previous Doctors (including Pertwee’s one-time line “I’ve reversed the polarity of the neutron flow” and Tom Baker’s trademark “Would you like a jelly baby?”). Matt Smith threw himself into the bizarre convulsions with great fervour, giving a remarkably credible performance on both sides despite the obvious difficulties of having one actor play two separate characters at the same time. There’s nothing quite as fun for an actor than going completely doo-lally!

The whole double-Doctor scenario played out rather well, with both celebrating the presence of another Doctor of equal brilliance. The Doctor and the Doctor made quite a good double-act! Not everyone was too keen on the doppleganger, though, as Amy harboured a ‘not-quite-the-Doctor’ prejudice towards the Ganger, something which the script cunningly toyed with by revealing towards the end that the Doctor and Flesh-Doctor had swapped shoes to prove a point. Exactly when they swapped shoes is not particularly obvious (at a guess, I’d say during the popping up and down from behind the console), so when Amy informed the Flesh-Doctor of the Doctor’s future death, did she tell the Flesh-Doctor or the real Doctor?

The only thing that really got confusing in the double-Doctor arc was the exchange of the sonic screwdriver, as evidently the Ganger (or was it, by this point, the real one?) did not possess a screwdriver, so the other threw him his. This swapping of screwdrivers occurred on a couple of occasions, but at one point they both seemed to possess one at the same time, with one Doctor in the TARDIS and the other left outside yet both inexplicably in possession of a screwdriver. Perhaps if one throws a sonic screwdriver to one’s counter-part a certain number of times it causes a rupture in space-time, causing it to duplicate itself…? I would say the TARDIS produced a second one, but I’m sure the double-screwdriver paradox had occurred prior to that. Perhaps it was merely a mistake that had been overlooked, or something that seems negligible now but will prove to be an integral plot-point in the future?

It is, however, incredibly important to note that when the Flesh-Doctor is about to meet his end and destroy the now mutated-Flesh-Jennifer, the Doctor indicates that the Flesh-Doctor may somehow survive in some form. Presumably it’s still open for the Flesh-Doctor to be the one who dies in the scene we see in the the Impossible Astronaut?

The pseudo-humanising of the guest stars made a recurrence, with an attempt to make both the humans and the Gangers seem as if they had some degree of depth and emotion. Personally, I felt this all to be a little hollow and may have worked better without it. However, perhaps it was necessary, as towards the end of the episode the surviving Gangers, with a new sense of humanity ,depart to make a press conference which is hinted at being important for the future. There’s also a notably cringe-worthy line when Rory is shown the discarded Gangers, and Flesh-Jennifer asks “Who are the real monsters?” - if the moral undertones of the Rebel Flesh and the Almost People were not obvious beforehand, it’s now been clearly spelt out!

Finally, if you have not seen the Almost People yet, do so now (click here) as what follows is possibly the biggest spoiler for this half of the series…

Amy’s not real. She’s been a Ganger all this time, and the real Amy is in some pristine and clinically white capsule with a rather conspicuous bump and Madame Kovarian/Eye Patch Lady staring down at her. That certainly explains why Eye Patch Lady kept cropping up and opening non-existent hatches, and why Amy’s pregnancy was positive and negative whenever the Doctor scanned her. Amy`s Ganger must’ve had some form of psychic link to the real Amy. Little bit curious as to why the Doctor felt the need to melt the Flesh-Amy, seeing as until that point he’d claimed that the Flesh had just as much a right to life as anyone, but still... These final few minutes completely eclipsed the 40-odd minutes that had come before it!

So when was it Amy was replaced with a Ganger? In the 3 month gap between the Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon? When she was taken by the Silence? Preceding the entire series? Seeing as she claimed to be pregnant in the first episode but had changed her mind by the second, it’s all very odd and open for speculation.

Next week, a Good Man Goes To War, and apparently (at least, so the trailer indicated) we finally learn the identity of River Song!

42 Uses for a Towel

Happy Towel Day, you hoopy froods!

The 25th of May (on Earth's calendars) marks the celebration of Towel Day across the Universe in honour of the late great Douglas Adams and the biography (at least, I thought it was a biography) of interstellar hitch-hiker and quintessentially British tea-drinker Arthur Dent.

A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with. So here are 42 excellent uses for a towel (as recorded by GNews) on your myriad of intergalactic adventures!

1. Wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta.

2. Lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours.

3. Sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon.

4. Use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth.

5. Wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat.

6. Wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes.

7. Avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you).

8. Wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal.

9. Dry yourself off with it.

10. Attach it to a pole to make your very own flag – preferably with the “Don’t Panic” slogan.

11. Stuff your ears with it to block out the sound of Kria poetry (the second worst poetry in the Universe).

12. Set up the perfect foil to cover a towel sized hole to capture enemies.

13. Wear it as a majestic superhero cape.

14. Horde your precious Altairian dollars using your towel as a makeshift moneybag.

15. Wave it around madly like a Matador to confound intergalactic beasts.

16. Cover your modesty.

17. Fold it into a comfy pillow – easier to hold onto than the flying pillows of Squornshellous Delta.

18. Carefully wrap around a stick, dunk in flammable liquid and use as a fire torch.

19. Remove hot dishes from the oven in the absence of oven gloves.

20. Use it to support you weight as you slide down a massive zip line.

21. Swat flies and other irritating space gnats that come too close.

22. Cover the solar panel of robots, therefore rendering them useless.

23. Catch planetary aquatic life forms in a rudimentary fishing net on Frogstar World C .

24. Roll it into a ball and stuff it down the back of your shirt to imitate a hump.

25. Soak in Algolian Claret or another alcoholic tipple of your choice as a liquid sponge.

26. Blindfold yourself with it to avoid the unimaginable horrors of the Total Perspective Vortex.

27. Use it as a sun shade from the hot rays of Ursa Minor Beta.

28. Knot it together on a stick to make a haversack.

29. Apply to bleeding wounds as a field dressing.

30. Block drafts from the door on cold planets like Epun.

31. Drape it over your porthole on a spaceship as a curtain.

32. Combine with other hitchhikers’ towels to create a giant patchwork towel quilt.

33. Make a furry sack for Christmas presents.

34. Bind particularly weak and effeminate alien prisoners in the absence of handcuffs.

35. Wrap precious cargo such as the highly sought after Antarean parakeet glands for Galaxy Cocktails.

36. Stuff into the gob of an annoying loudmouth who will not shut up.

37. Whip lazy beasts that travel too slowly for your liking.

38. Open up your towel into a parachute on low-gravity planets.

39. Keep it across your face to ward off the dust and sand blizzards of Dangrabad Beta.

40. A knotted towel can be used as a short but effective climbing rope.

41. Tie neatly around your head to create a towel Turban.

42. Create a grand tent for a travelling Intergalactic Flea Circus.

And The BAFTA Goes To…

This article can also be found on Step2Inspire.

It is the most prestigious award in British film and television, and simply for the nominees to be considered in the running is an award in itself. There were some categories so tough to call, such as with the Leading Actor nominees, that it was hard to hedge bets or even pick a favourite!

There were five first-time BAFTA winners presented with an award last night. Daniel Rigby took home the Leading Actor award for his stellar performance as Eric Morecambe in Eric and Ernie, and Vicky McClure was award Leading Actress as Lol in This Is England ‘86. Lauren Socha won the Supporting Actress award for Misfits, which had been last year’s Drama Series winner, and the Supporting Actor award went to Martin Freeman for his performance as Watson in Sherlock, which picked up the award for Drama Series this year. Jo Brand also won her first BAFTA this year in the Female Performance in a Comedy Programme for Getting On.

If I had to nominate someone for the Best Surprised Face Of The Evening Award, it’d have to be a tie between Rigby and Brand for possibly the most perfect blend of shock, awe, and pleasure blended into a singular facial expression. Closely followed by Freeman for his expression of sheer bafflement when The Only Way Is Essex was announced as the winner of the YouTube Audience choice award!

The Male Performance in a Comedy Programme was awarded to Steve Coogan for The Trip. Coogan last won a BAFTA in 1998 for I’m Alan Partridge, which won two awards that year. Whether this will lead to a new series of The Trip, in which Rob Brydon is bitterly resentful of Coogan being nominated for the BAFTA and not him, remains to be seen.

The host of the evening, Graham Norton, also won an award in the Entertainment Performance category for The Graham Norton Show. Norton had previously won in this category for three consecutive years in 2000, 2001 and 2002 for So Graham Norton, but he had not been nominated since then. As an iconic figure of the British chat show scene, Norton’s perfect balance of humour, sociability, and interviewing technique makes him king of the chat show format, and more than deserving of this award.

The Entertainment Programme BAFTA was awarded for the first time to The Cube (a programme I feel could be made immeasurably better by introducing a lethal neurotoxin into the chamber whenever a contestant fails to complete a task successfully). If the Cube has developed sentience, as I’m sure it one day will, it is likely very proud that it’s cruel mind-games with human test subjects have been appreciated.

Channel 4’s Any Human Heart walked away with the BAFTA for Drama Serial, and BBC Four’s The Road to Coronation Street was awarded the Single Drama BAFTA. However, Coronation Street was beaten in the Continuing Drama category by EastEnders for the second year running.

Sky’s Flying Monsters 3D, which was awarded in the Specialist Factual category, was the first 3D television programme to win a BAFTA. It also marks the fourth televisual frontier in which Sir David Attenborough has won an award, as Attenborough has won in black and white, colour, high definition and now 3D.  There is not, and likely will never be, another man on Earth who can make such a claim in the medium of television.

The Factual Series award was presented to Welcome to Lagos, a series which explores the life in the capital of Nigeria. Single Documentary and Current Affairs awards were won by undercover documentary Zimbabwe’s Forgotten Children. The sheer amount of philanthropy work that went on as a result of this documentary was more than enough to reaffirm even the most hardened cynic’s faith in the good of humanity (even my cold and robotic core was touched!).

However, when it came to the YouTube Audience Choice award, The Only Way Is Essex won the BAFTA, beating Big Fat Gypsy Weddings, Downton Abbey, Sherlock The Killing, and Miranda. This particular category firmly reassured me that my cynicism of the voting public was indeed well placed, and any positive emotion I may have had regarding Zimbabwe’s Lost Children’s great work had rapidly been replaced with misanthropy! But clearly, judging by the votes, that’s just me…

The special recognitions of the evening were incredibly well deserved, though. Peter Bennett-Jones was awarded the Special Award for his outstanding work in the industry and his continued dedication to the developing of new talent. Lastly, the Fellowship was presented to Sir Trevor McDonald in recognition for his exceptional work in news broadcasting.

For more on the BAFTAs, including red carpet interviews, backstage with the winners, and a full list of the nominees and winners, please click here.

Doctor Who - The Rebel Flesh Review

This review can also be found on Step2Inspire.

The Rebel Flesh marks the second episode Matthew Graham has written for Doctor Who, his first being the rather unremarkable Fear Her from 2006. However, the Rebel Flesh was of a markedly higher quality than Fear Her, if still running a little slow. That’s not to say the episode was particularly bad, it just wasn’t of the kind of quality we’ve been spoilt by in regards to the opening two-parter and the Doctor’s Wife.

The TARDIS is caught in a solar tsunami and hurtled to 22nd century Earth, a point in our future which seems to be decidedly industrialised, where the Doctor, Amy and Rory discover a monastery-turned-mining-operation largely occupied by workers from the northern counties (Foreman Cleaves excluded). Clearly the future subscribes to a stereotypical view of the working class! Dopplegangers (simply referred to as Gangers) are employed to carry out tasks deemed too hazardous for humans to complete. The Gangers are completely expendable, and are incapable of feeling pain, so appear to be the ideal work force for dangerous tasks (despite obvious ethical complications).

The creation of each Ganger is strongly reminiscent of the resurrection technique employed by the humanoid Cylons in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, and used for very much the same effect. One copy dies, another is reborn.

However, as with any SciFi in which an artificial work-force is taken for granted (Galactica, again), it’s only a matter of time before that work-force becomes sentient and starts demanding human rights. Violently. The Gangers are no different, and after a second solar tsunami they all get a bit self-righteousy and a little bit perturbed at their original selves. The ‘natural’ workers, of course, respond the way most people do in this situation - with an equal level of fear, loathing and violence. It appears only the Doctor and Co (and the Co to a lesser degree) have a sense of perspective on the situation, and the Doctor attempts to broker an agreement between the two factions. This is inevitably thwarted by the inexplicably infuriating Foreman Cleaves (Raquel Cassidy), whose classic narrow-sighted authoritarianism results in the rekindling of the fire of war. And now the Doctor has a Ganger who may or may not be as inclined to murder and violence as the others.

The episode itself was not intrinsically bad, and it had a fair few elements to keep the viewer watching, but it didn’t feel as if it was getting anywhere. Evidently, judging by the cliff-hanger, the Rebel Flesh was simply the set-up for next week’s episode, and it definitely provided a good basis for the story, but only really got interesting towards the final five minutes.

In context of the continuity and obscure arc’s running throughout this season, the hatch-opening-eye-patch-lady makes a return after her much deserved holiday from opening hatches and being enigmatic last week (or perhaps she had difficulty opening a hatch to outside the Universe?), but this time around she has nothing to say and closes it again. “Curiouser and curiouser.” cried Alice, whilst she sat drinking tea with the March Hare and I.

The Doctor is also seen scanning Amy’s on-off pregnancy again (still unbeknownst to her) in the opening of the episode. I hear speculation that perhaps eye-patch-woman is the midwife who delivers Amy’s wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey baby, who is most likely the little girl who regenerated at the end of Day of the Moon, who may or may not have been the astronaut who killed the Doctor. Further theories suggest that perhaps the child, Amy’s baby, and so on, is River Song, who then kills the Doctor. All of which is quite probable, but I’m not willing to place my money on anything just yet!

But by far the more tantalising question I’m left with at the end of the Rebel Flesh is how they intend to deal with the duplicate Time Lord. Will he be more of a help or a hindrance? Is his fate to be sealed in the next episode, whether he needs to be destroyed or left to his own devices? And is this how the Doctor will cheat his death that we have foreseen in the Impossible Astronaut?

So many questions, and still so few answers… How I love an intriguing plot-arc!

If you missed the Rebel Flesh, you can catch it on iPlayer here.

Much Ado, But Certainly Not About Nothing!

It was with great pleasure I was able to attend one of the preview shows for the highly acclaimed and much anticipated production of Much Ado About Nothing at the Wyndham’s Theatre on Friday night (20th May). Having already seen a couple of productions of this particular play, and performing in one of them, I was already very well acquainted with the narrative. This production of Much Ado, directed by Josie Rourke, was unlike any other I have seen, but felt almost like it was exactly how it was meant to be done.

One of the first things that strikes you about the piece is that it’s been modernised. Although it maintains the original Elizabethan dialogue, the play has been brought to 1980’s Gibraltar with Don Pedro’s (Adam James) men serving in the navy. Having just returned from battle, the men stay for a lengthy period of R&R in the company of good senior Leonato (Jonathan Coy), enjoying a week of parties and courtship.

The physical comedy and little add-ons throughout made it a much more enjoyable and memorable production compared to some others (which abide by the original script almost religiously). Pleasant choices for extra character depth, such as Don John (Elliot Levey) purposefully undoing the hard, Rubik‘s-cube-solving work of a small child was gleefully presented. The added levels of slap-stick and farce made the show enjoyable all round, providing laughs for those not already familiar with Shakespeare’s work.

By far the most outstanding aspect of Much Ado, though, had to be the banter between Benedick and Beatrice, spectacularly performed by David Tennant and Catherine Tate. As many will know from the pair’s time together on Doctor Who, they have marvellous chemistry both on-stage and off, providing the most natural and sublime interpretation of the character’s and their love/hate relationship. Their individual and collaborative performances truly stole the show, just as any Benedick and Beatrice should!

I obviously should not fail to mention the stellar performance of the other central characters, Claudio (Tom Bateman) and Hero (Sarah MacRae). MacRae displays a markedly more passionate and feisty Hero than one might expect (that is, if one has seen the 1994 version of Much Ado directed by and starring Kenneth Brannagh), but it certainly is not out of place and is a refreshing take on a character that has often been portrayed as being more mild-mannered and submissive. Bateman portrays the quintessential Count Claudio, polite and well-tempered but quick to embrace his passion and anguish. This is the West End debut for both of these artists, which when taken into consideration makes their performance all the more remarkable. These are definitely two people to watch.

The overall casting worked perfectly, every actor providing an excellent performance no matter how small their role, and everyone was clearly enjoying themselves. It was evidently a production that every member of cast and crew loved! It was such an impressive production it is hard to find any fault with it at all, and I was so gripped at one point my drink and my mouth did not meet for near on twenty  minutes! Overall, it was a production that I’m sure if Shakespeare had been sat in the audience watching, he would have been proud!

The evening concluded with a standing ovation, and if that’s not a credit to the sublime performance of the cast and the spectacular directing from Josie Rourke, I don’t know what is!

The opening night for Much Ado is on the 1st June, and will run until 1st September. Tickets can be purchased here.

Actor Edward Hardwicke Dies, Aged 78

The actor Edward Hardwicke, probably best known for his role as Doctor Watson in the 1980s series of Sherlock Holmes, has died aged 78.

He began his career at the early age of 10, appearing in Victor Fleming’s film A Guy Named Joe. He performed in numerous theatre productions, and for seven years he performed regularly with Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre. He also performed alongside Olivier in Shakespeare’s Othello and Ibsen’s The Master Builder. In the 1970s, Hardwicke made his television debut as Captain Pat Grant in Colditz, as well as appearing in other shows such as My Old Man and The Sweeney.

In 1986, Hardwicke took on the role of Doctor Watson alongside Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes, after David Burke left the series and suggested Hardwicke to be his successor. The show ran for a further 8 years, with Hardwicke and Brett also appearing in a brief stint at the Wyndham’s Theatre in a stage adaptation of Sherlock Holmes.

To many, he was the definitive Watson to Brett’s definitive Holmes.

Doctor Who - The Doctor's Wife Review

This review can also be found on Step2Inspire.

When I heard that an episode of Doctor Who had been scripted by Neil Gaiman, I was excited. As the man behind such works as Stardust and Coraline (which were then adapted for the big screen), Gaiman is the premier writer of Sci-Fi and Fantasy with a very unique proclivity for the extraordinary and the bizarre. It was only natural, then, that his episode of Doctor Who would be out of this Universe! Quite literally.

The Doctor’s Wife takes place in a realm outside of the Universe ( “Imagine a great big soap bubble with one of those tiny little bubbles on the outside. It’s nothing like that.”) after the Doctor receives a distress signal from another, and inexplicably alive, Time Lord. However, everything is a little ‘off’ in this extra-Universe, with patchwork people and the disembodied voice of an entity called House, spectacularly voiced by Michael Sheen (not Hugh Laurie).

It’s not long before things go wrong, and the fantastically sinister voice of Michael Sheen makes off with the TARDIS with Amy and Rory running around like two spiders trapped under a glass inside. However, all is not lost for the Doctor, now seemingly stranded in a junkyard beyond the Universe, as the soul of the TARDIS has been transferred to the body of Idris, a resident of the extra-Universe. Together, he and his humanised and temporally confined TARDIS set about devising a way to escape and reclaim the House-TARDIS.

Suranne Jones provides a magnificent performance as Idris and the personification of the TARDIS (or Sexy, as the Doctor calls her, a statement I’m strongly inclined to agree with!) in a role which seems to have been inspired by a parallel Universe Helena Bonham-Carter. The chemistry between her and Matt Smith worked splendidly, and Jone’s quirky interpretation of a time-travelling box shoved inside a human certainly helped up Smith’s game to bring about considerably the best performance he’s given as the Doctor to date.

The real triumph of this episode, though, has to be Neil Gaiman’s fantastic script. The sublime characterisation, the brilliant dialogue, and the narrative as a whole felt thoroughly intriguing and original, and I sincerely hope that this is not the last time Gaiman writes for Who.

At the end of the day, there has always been one woman for the Doctor, only one woman who could be considered his wife, and that has to be the TARDIS. The symbiotic relationship between a Time Lord and his TARDIS. Or should that be a TARDIS and her Time Lord?

If you missed the Doctor's Wife, it is available on BBC iPlayer here.

Doctor Who - Curse of the Black Spot Review

This review can also be found on Step2Inspire.

If you were to ask me what I loved other than Doctor Who, I might answer with tea and biscuits. If you were then to say “No, not tea and biscuits, what else?”, I’d probably reel off an entire list; Dostoyevsky, dinosaurs, ducks, Diana Vickers, Descartes, democracy (mostly D’s at the moment), but somewhere in that list would be pirates. The point is, I do like pirates, there’s something about the dress code that comes with sailing under the Jolly Roger (although I do question their choice of name…). I’m very fond of 16th century fashion, and I’d wear it a lot more frequently if it weren’t for the odd looks I’d get when doing the weekly shop in Waitrose. Anyway, let’s just say I said pirates in the first place… So imagine my joy when Doctor Who and pirates came together in three glorious quarters of an hour!

After the epic opening two episodes, the Curse of the Black Spot felt a lot more relaxed and took us back into traditional stand-alone adventures. Confined to a pirate ship being stalked by a siren, determined to take anyone with the slightest of ailments, the Doctor and co set about figuring out just how to rid themselves of the ‘curse’. As it turns out, the sired isn’t so much a curse as an automated medical unit from a spaceship parked in the same multi-dimensional space as the pirate ship, and everyone thought dead is in fact alive in a medical facility. (Sorry, again, spoilers…)

Hugh Bonneville was splendidly cast as Captain Avery, but he didn’t quite feel ruthless enough to be a proper ‘nyar’ pirate, especially when he discovered his son on board. Not a fault, just an observation - the pirates didn’t feel like the scourge of the seven seas, more like a band of adventures with a penchant for shiny things and bad personal hygiene (and fantastic dress sense - I do like pirate fashion!). Then again, probably not all pirates were the cut-throat marauders we’re used to seeing, and Avery’s compassion for his estranged son made the character feel much more human than the classic interpretation of a pirate.

By far the most stand-out aspect of the story, though, was the siren. The casting of Lily Cole was absolutely sublime - after all, if you’re looking to cast an ethereally alluring mermaid, who better to play the part than the ethereally alluring Lily Cole! Despite not having any lines, Cole’s character felt fully characterised with a blend of enticing song and pernicious rage, all the while feeling thoroughly other-worldly.

The mysterious hatch-opening-eye-patch-woman makes another appearance, reassuring Amy that’s she’s doing fine and to stay calm, and there’s also another tease at the end regarding Amy’s on-again-off-again pregnancy. Out of the two, I find the hatch-opening-eye-patch-woman more intriguing, but I’m starting to wonder if the two are linked somehow. Perhaps if, like throughout last series with the cracks in time linking each point in time to another, the hatch-opening-eye-patch-woman is from a parallel time-line in which Amy is pregnant, her current confusion and the TARDIS’ mixed readings could be the result of a bleed-through effect. Or I could be wrong. Which I refuse to acknowledge can ever happen. I am always right.

In the end, the moral of the story is that you must be willing to give up all your worldly possessions for the ones you truly love. But if you don’t, your son will be abducted by a homicidal mermaid who actually means no harm, and you’ll get to gallivant across the stars with your piratey chums in your newly discovered spaceship. To be honest, I think the latter perfectly justifies selfish materialism!

Avast, me hearties, we set sail for Sirius B!

Next week, it's The Doctor's Wife, written by Neil Gaiman. Dare I say I'm ludicrously excited by the prospect of another Time Lord and the image of an Ood?!

SciFi – An Allegory for Modern Times

This article can also be found on Step2Inspire.

As a self-confessed (and moderately proud) SciFi fan, I naturally consider my favourite genre to be incredibly important to the progression of society. Not to the extent that my fanaticism destroys my ability to socialise with other human beings (although I do find small-talk incomprehensibly dull), but it does open up deeper thoughts and considerations regarding the human condition. When I talk about influential SciFi, I’m not necessarily thinking of the staple work of science fiction, Star Trek, but it is a start!

Star Trek was, and probably always will be, a landmark in the world of science fiction television, not least due to it’s massive fan base, but also it’s vision of the future. Back in 1966 when it first began, automatic doors and mobile communication devices adorned the original series, and lo and behold we have such things today - just need to invent teleportation and warp drive now and we’re away - but that’s not what I found most remarkable. Star Trek’s future was almost Utopian, with global peace and cooperation achieved, poverty abolished and currency made redundant. Human society was depicted as a glittering exemplar of civilisation, a bright and hopeful future for our kind, exploring a Universe packed with a multitude of life forms and curiosities. Star Trek didn’t revel in conflict and war between races with differing variants of lasers, but rather delved into a Universe of cooperation and understanding, only to seek further knowledge of the Universe.

However, Star Trek’s future Utopia had been preceded by long years of war on Earth, which only came to an end on April 5th 2063 when Zefram Cochrane carried out the maiden-voyage of the Phoenix, the first warp capable starship, drawing the attention of a Vulcan fleet in a nearby region of space initiating first contact between humanity and extraterrestrial life, subsequently uniting humanity and bringing an end to war, famine and poverty (yes, I do have a degree in future history!). Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future was a bright one, with a society based around Utilitarian principles (the greatest good for the greatest number, the needs of the many out-weigh the needs of the few or the one) and no need for monetary gain, but he knew it would take a monumental occasion, such as first contact with other intelligent life forms, to truly bring about such a realisation. If anything, I feel Star Trek’s society is the model of a decent and balanced civilisation. The next important step in the evolution of mankind, according to Roddenberry’s vision, does not lie in conjuring up new technologies and prolonging life, but through acceptance of one another.

The main impetuous for this article, however, is my recent indulgence in the re-imagined series of Battlestar Galactica and it’s spin-off, Caprica. Rather than dealing with SciFi through advanced technology and space battles, the Galactica Universe explores the best and worst attributes of humanity in a post-apocalyptic and dystopian society. The 12 Colonies of Man are destroyed in an attack by the Cylons, a robotic race created by humanity to serve as their workers, and the survivors escape the devastation in a ragtag fleet and set a course across the Galaxy in search of the fabled home of the 13th Colony, Earth. That setting alone is what makes it the perfect example of why SciFi can convey certain elements of our society, as it removes the concepts of an established social construct, thrusting the characters into a minimalistic and survivalist lifestyle. Compared to Star Trek, Galactica explores the much darker aspects of humanity, and more depressing plotlines, but it certainly succeeds in capturing the essence of what it is to be human.

Caprica, my most recent SciFi indulgence, explores the era almost six decades prior to Galactica, viewing the initial creation of the Cylons and the controversy not only surrounding the advances in technology but also the religious fanaticism, terrorism and corrupt enterprise which frames the entire piece. Whilst both Caprica and Galactica look into the intricacies of man, the endeavours, the follies, and the sheer ambition of our species as a whole, they also investigate just how this can all backfire. In a world of decadence (Caprica, before the fall), how long can luxury last? When advances in artificial intelligence eventually create what could be considered a new form of life, what rights of ownership do we really possess over another being’s consciousness, be it artificial or otherwise?

On April 25th of this year, a documentary titled ‘We Are All Cylons’ premiered at SciFi London. The film investigates exactly what it means to be human in the digital age, treating Galactica as an activation transmission, rather than a TV show, to awaken the Cylon within us. Interviewing the cast and fans of Battlestar Galactica, film-maker Ilana Rein discovers just what the show meant to it’s followers.

Galactica and Caprica have had such a massive impact on their fan base because it focuses on the human drama at the heart of it and resonates with the world of today. Combined with the optimistic and role-model future envisioned in Star Trek, this has lead me to believe that science fiction is much more than a medium of entertainment - it’s a work of art, a thought-provoking form of entertainment and a brilliant way to convey philosophical stances to the masses.

How many other television series can claim to have been such an influential force on people?!

More about We Are All Cylons can be found here.

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Doctor Who - Day of the Moon Review *Spoilers*

This review can also be found on Step2Inspire.

Three months after the events of The Impossible Astronaut, the Doctor is locked in the perfect prison in Area 51 and Amy, Rory and River are on the run from the FBI. It’s 1969, and the elusive manipulators of human history, the Silence, are calling the shots. This is how the second episode of the new series’ opening two-parter kicked off. Whilst this episode followed on very nicely from the series opener, it made some of the questions raised last episode even more complex, and invented a few more mysteries for us to ponder over...

The opening set up reveals a captive and brilliantly longer-haired and beardy Doctor (quite a good look, I reckon!), being secured in the perfect prison of Zero Balance Dwarf Star Alloy (first introduced in the Fourth Doctor serial ‘Warriors’ Gate’) and his companions being chased across America by the FBI. However, this all turns out to be a ruse, and FBI agent Canton Delaware is actually still on the Doctor’s side, slowly forming the basis for a revolution against the Silence. In an effort to understand just what the bloody hell is going on, Amy and Canton head to an orphanage to find out more about the astronaut child that may or may not have killed the Doctor in the future, and the Doctor, Rory and River infiltrate Apollo 11 to set their revolution into motion.

Early into the episode, the jarring moment at the conclusion of The Impossible Astronaut - in which Amy declares she’s pregnant and then attempts to shoot a little girl in the face - is resolved by her claiming that she had made a mistake, and she was not in fact pregnant. However, during the course of this episode the potential for Amy’s child is strongly hinted at. One such indication was whilst investigating the run down orphanage, where Amy discovers a picture in a room, possibly belonging to the spacesuit-clad child, of her holding a baby. Yet she very quickly seems to forget this - rather unusual, seeing as I imagine if I found a picture of me holding a child I’d never seen before, nor had any recollection of, it would be the only thing on my mind for quite some time! I sense more foul play from the Silence…

The crux of the episode was mostly focussed around the orphanage, and provided the most intriguing plot elements. A curious old man who has no memory of the past two years, and certainly seems to be gravely troubled by something, considers it his life’s purpose to protect the child - presumably, the Apollo spacesuit-clad child. It is strongly implied that the curious old chap has been influenced by the Silence to carry out their wishes, indicating that the child he tasks himself with protecting must also be very important to his ghoulish manipulators (who apparently have a penchant for sleeping on orphanage ceilings). There is also a bizarre encounter with a woman peering through a hatch, who’s brief appearance only features her saying “No I think she’s just dreaming.”, and promptly vanishing. If that isn’t a teaser for a future story, I don’t know what is! Well played, Moffat, well played…

An eye is exchanged for an eye, as Amy is taken hostage by the Silence, and Canton manages to wound a Silent, taking it back to Area 51. The being rather candidly informs Canton, who’s videoing this, that humans should ‘kill them all on sight’. Rather cunningly, the Doctor inserts this brief bit of footage into the feed from Apollo 11’s landing, implanting humanity with a post-hypnotic suggestion to kill all Silence on sight.

The episode concludes with River returning to her cell, where she and the Doctor share their last and first kiss respectively, with a rather spectacular performance from Alex Kingston when River realises that is the last time she’ll ever kiss the Doctor. Back in the TARDIS, Amy and the Doctor discuss her unknown pregnancy (with an almost throw-away comment regarding how time travel may have affected her child were she to have one, which I believe may very well be more relevant in episodes to come), and, unbeknownst to Amy, the TARDIS console’s quick scan reveals that the status of her pregnancy fluctuates between positive and negative. More timey-wimey, history can be rewritten, plot devices abound?

Skip to six months later in an alleyway in New York. The little girl from inside the spacesuit wanders around (no longer in said suit), coughing and spluttering. She tells a homeless man that she is dying, but that can be easily fixed, and she promptly bursts into an orange glow as she regenerates. End credits.
Wait… WHAT?!

So after all that, we’re still left with some pressing questions…

- Who was in the spacesuit that the Doctor recognised shortly before they killed him. Is this still the child?

- Why did Amy flit between thinking she was pregnant, and then not pregnant? Does the scan signify that it’s something that is not set in stone yet, and does the picture in the child’s room of Amy holding a baby indicate that she will be the mother of the regenerating-astronaut-cold calling Nixon-girl?

- When the woman peered through the hatch and said “No I think she’s just dreaming.” and promptly vanished into thin air, what was that all about?!

- What did the Silence mean by “We do you honour. You will bring the Silence. But your part will soon be over.” Is this another hint that perhaps the Apollo astronaut who killed the Doctor is the child that was calling Nixon and regenerating in a New York alleyway is perhaps Amy’s child? Artificial insemination?

- Who is River Song? We’ve been asking this for a while, but still…

- And who is this child? Daughter of Amy? If so, how is she able to regenerate? Why did the Silence believe this girl was so important that she needed protection and a mechanised spacesuit? Will she be the one who bring’s the Silence by killing the Doctor?

The combination of The Impossible Astronaut and The Day of the Moon represent everything that makes Doctor Who fantastic - the indepth narrative, the curious plot twists, and the all-round spectacle that draws you into the engaging stories. What other show can make you genuinely excited and be the topic for conversation and debate for young and old alike? Once more, Steven Moffat has sewn the seeds for even more fantastic future adventures - Bravo, sir, bravo!
I’m not entirely certain I’m willing to wait an entire week until the next episode…