Tamino

1 - Everything Changes            8.9
2 - Day One                              7.2
3 - Ghost Machine                     8.1
4 - Cyberwoman                       6.3
5 - Small Worlds                        6.1
6 - Countrycide                          8.0
7 - Greeks Bearing Gifts            9.2
8 - They Keep Killing Suzie        9.2
9 - Random Shoes                     8.4
10 - Out of Time                        5.6
11 - Combat                              9.0
12 - Captain Jack Harkness       7.6
13 - End of Days                        9.7

 

Overall average: 7.9/10

Spoilerific, Mindezman!

 

Right. Jack and Tosh taken back in time, meet Captain Jack..

All in all, nothing really substantial seemed to happen in this episode. There was the beautiful J/J moments, and Tosh finally getting some good air time, but the entire episode was just purely setting a scenario in which Torchwood was forced to open the rift. Well-thought-out that Tosh was taken back with Jack [If it had *just* been Jack, I don't believe it would have constituted any kind of problem at all, he'd just have lived for 65 years and hidden until present day], as Tosh brought about the real problem in it. She had to get out of there [Pearl Harbour later in the year..].

The reveal that Jack was not actually Jack.. was interesting, and strange. I’m now having trouble piecing together Jack’s timeline, it seems to go all over the place. I’m hoping the writers are intending to bring that to a reasonable explanation next series, because I really want to know Jack’s history now. He’s probably got the most interesting background in the new Who canon of anybody [Except possibly the Doctor].

So yes, I did enjoy this episode. However, I think that it should have just been that episode for this week. Their decision to show both finale episodes this week seemed a bit.. abrupt. Ah well.

Nothing to look forward to until April now.
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I’d say.. 7.6/10.

Contains spoilers. Click Read More to read the review.

 

Right.

I sat at the TV, with extremely low expectations. Sure, it was a Doctor Who spinoff, but it was a kids show. I was expecting extremely loud teenagers or something more like the crap that makes up most of kids TV.

But.. I actually found myself liking it. I don’t know if it was my low expectations upon sitting down to watch it, but I thought it was very good.

As for the characters, Sarah Jane Smith was excellent as always. Carrying on her life with the Doctor, without him. She has a different attitude to danger than him [Sarah Jane: "Stay out of it. I work alone." Doctor: "Wewt, danger! Come with me plx and i'll giv u dangerz =D"], which was nice. It made her seem more mysterious [throughout the first half of the episode, at least], and this was a good thing.

Maria was good, and all of Maria’s family. She seems like the kind of child that gets on well with her family, and shares a very communicative and good relationship [with the occasional 'embarrasing' bit like being made to kiss dad on the cheek] which is good to see.

Kelsey.. Oh god, I hated her. Within 20 seconds of her being on screen I twitched and shouted “I HATE HER”. She seems the kind to give in to peer pressure, and think that the views of so-called friends are the most important thing. I really hate characters like that. Always having the latest phone, always following the latest trend, etc. It may just be my natural aversion to all things normal that makes me hate this, though. She was a most annoying character.

Luke was good, too. A logical mind, beginning to learn about the world. A mind that can store a lot, and learn very quickly. The backstory and general character of him is very good. Seeing the world as only black or white, good or bad, etc. I’m sure that as [if] the series progresses he’ll learn more and more, and start to see that the world isn’t just black and white, and he’ll mature, and eventually start thinking as a [maturer] adult [ie. many different shades of grey].

As for K9, I didn’t quite see why Sarah Jane mentioned him, or anything. But I can see why he’ll not be in the actual series now. It’s hard to comment on the short amount of time he was on screen, so I’ll just say he was awesome. *nods*

Now, the plot. Aliens come, market a drink, put bits of themselves [or their own species anyway] in the drink, and use that to control humans. That is a good plot. It is thought out [as well as it could be, anyway] and every aspect is explained, as far as I could tell. Why Luke was made, why they came, etc. I think, actually, that this plot was better than [some of] the Doctor Who episodes. I’m thinking mainly of Love And Monsters, and Fear Her, and stuff like that.

Mm, I did enjoy this. The resolution wasn’t entirely perfect in my mind, but apart from that, it was fantastic.

8.8/10.

Ugh, it’s that time again. New years resolutions. And I’m going to make them - not because I intend to stick to them or have my life be controlled by them, but so that, next year, I’ll have something to look back on and laugh and go “HHAHAHA, DID I REALLY INTEND TO DO *THAT*?!?!”

So, here goes.

1) I will blog more. Much of 2006 was taken up by my blogging unsuccessfully. I think that, in 2006 alone, I must have started and failed with about 4-5 seperate blogs. So, I shall not let this blog die.

2) I will review Doctor Who. I have felt that, over the course of the last two years, my skill of reviewing something has really improved. I’m looking more at character development, and emotions, than my previously childish “Ooh, pretty effects! :o” that I was at this point two years ago. So I’m going to review my Doctor Who episodes [2006 season]. I’m definetely getting better - instead of the old short “..Yeah, didn’t like this episode” posts, I’ve found myself elaborating on it. I’m trying to find exactly what the *reason* I didn’t like it was, and stuff. Yeah.

3) I’m going to start my novel. My *proper* novel. My novel about Tamino, that I’ve had in my head for the last 5-6 years. I’m *going* to write this, and it’s *going* to be good.

4) I will complete Operation Californication. I have so far completed around 40% of Operation Californication, but I *AM* going to finish it, and I’m going to try and finish it as soon as possible. I really need to stick at something once I’ve started it.

5) I will use square brackets instead of round ones. ['nuff said.]

6) I will complete this frigging annoying puzzle book that’s been on my desk since September 2005. It’s so annoying now. Seriously. And I will order 2006’s puzzle book, and I will finish that before 2008. Promise.

7) If I start something, I will finish it. This is the resolution that I’m not in any way going to keep, it’s just in to taunt me.

I will do well on my exams this year. I have to put this in, frankly. I’m probably going to stick to this one, though.

 

Um.. I’m sure there’s more. But I can’t think of them right now. 5 hours until I can go to sleep!

Right, here goes. My review of 2006!

Hm, I’m tempted to rate this year highly because of, of course, Tennant!Doctor. However, I think a scene-by-scene commentary is required before I leave my final rating.

So, here it goes.

January - Boring month. Not much happened, the characters were rather one-dimensional. And oh yes, the return of that ’school’ scene. I hated that scene in 2005, I hate it now in 2006. Very low rating. 1/10.

February - Slightly better - Still nothing exciting happening, but it wasn’t as bad. I was getting used to the constant school thing, but it was still tedious. Again, nothing happened, but it was a shorter month than January, so it wasn’t boring for as long. Still, 3/10.

March - Much of this month was spent wondering when Doctor Who would be back on screen. I was greatly disappointed when the 31st came around and it hadn’t been on yet. Hopefully the year would get better from that point - Doctor Who, Torchwood, etc. I’d say… 4/10. Getting better.

April - Oh hooray, the return of Doctor Who! That gets this part a much higher rating. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any easter eggs, at all. So that pulls it down again. Hm, 5.6/10.

May - Ah, a full month of Doctor Who saturdays. I did not, though, enjoy this month. This was more due to school than Doctor Who - because the exams were coming. So much exam preparation. Yes, not a good month. 6.4/10

June - This month saw The Impossible Planet, but still more and more exam preparation. *sigh* Not much happened, as well. Mm, TIP and TSP were the best part of the month - what with Love And Monsters and Fear Her. So yes, purely for the enjoyment that TIP and TSP gave me, I give it 8/10.

July - The finale of Doctor Who - AoG and Doomsday. Oh they were most awesome. However, it also saw the final exams. A good experience, followed by a bad one. Of course, there was the bright side - I’d finished. Finished all exams for the whole year. Ah, that was a good feeling. That was a great month. 9.3/10.

August - The most eventful month, certainly. I saw my Dad, etc etc, went to Greece, etc etc, got my exam results, found out I failed [Which didn't feel too bad, actually], found a new college.. An eventful one, but nothing particularly “awesome” about it. A steady 7.7/10.

September - The dawn of a new school. It was a good month - the whole time spent getting to know teachers and classmates. However, there was no Doctor, no Torchwood.. It was a depressing ‘time between the seasons’. Much of it was spent rewatching Doomsday and Army of Ghosts. 6/10.

October - Ah, Torchwood. The premiere, and the start of the series. Those were most excellent. Anyway, there was a large bad part to the month. School was getting boring as well. High rating though, 7.4/10.

November - Yeah, not that good of one again. Torchwood was [slowly] getting better, but was a bit of a letdown each week. School was alright, though. Specially computing, as I was very far ahead by this point. Yes, an average month. 5.6/10.

December - Ah, this was a good month. I started blogging, finished all my task 2 Computing homework in an hour.. Plus christmas! A better one than last year, I feel. 9/10!

Thus, taking an average, that should put me at 6.0833333/10. However, I think I’ll round it up, because I can. 7/10 for 2006, and that’s my final rating.

As for 2007, I’m quite looking forward to it. We’ve got the Torchwood final, Sarah Jane adventures, more Tennant!Doctor… Plus exams! I’m REALLY looking forward to them next year, I wasn’t last year because I wasn’t clever. The subjects I’m doing now are much more what I *ENJOY* doing, so exam papers are more fun than they were dull last year.

Yes, I can’t wait for next year! Huzzah!

Yay, review time!

 This post contains spoilers about Doctor Who S01E02, starring William Hartnell, and stuff.

 CUT for spoilers.

First time I watched it, I had the following to say:

 

I thought this episode was awesome.  The first episode with daleks.  Thals and Dals, or something.  Though my one critique was that it was too long and drawn out.

I think they had at least 20 minutes worth of filler (Most of the episode of Ian and the Thals coming through the jungle, if I remember correctly), and the 7 episodes could have been compacted down to 6 easily, with no significant loss.  7 episode was a bit too much to hold my attention span, and I got fed up after about the 5th-6th-ish.

The Daleks were wonderful as always.

Oh, and Hartnell was awesome.  *nods*

 

And now, I have the following to say:

Well, that was awesome.  Much better than I thought originally.  I think it’s a case of paying more attention, my attention was mostly elsewhere on the first watch.

I originally stated that there was at least a full episodes worth of filler, but now on rewatching I see that everything that happened was totally necessary to keep the viewer interested.  I originally though “..What’s the point of the jumping-over-cliff scene”, and “What’s the point of the swamp scene”, but yes.  I now realise that they were totally required, for character development, and stuff.

Or, to put it another way, I’d be complaining a lot more if it had just been: 

Ian: Right!  Lets go thwack those Daleks, eh?  Lets go over the mountains!
*cut*
Ian: Right!  We’re here, now–Ooh look, neutron bomb!

So despite it probably being ‘filler’, I now realise that they ARE needed, not only as a transition between the two scenes, but also as Thal/Ian/Barbara character development.

The Daleks were.. not as Dalek-y as we have come to know them as.  But then, they always seem to suddenly lose the will to shoot whenever the Doctor walks in front of them, so that’s not a problem.  I’m just wondering.. why they didn’t kill Ian when they shot him?  He wasn’t required, surely the Daleks realised that they would only need one or two of them for whatever they needed them for.  But yes, this is nitpicking.

I felt there was also that underlying Dalek-rationalisation in their actions, as well.  

Doctor: That’s sheer murder!
Daleks: NO.  IT IS EX-TER-MIN-A-TION.”

Showing that the Daleks *know* what they’re doing, and they know that, in their belief, it is NOT wrong.  It is NOT murder, is it purification, extermination.  Murder, but murder that they have justified and rationalised.  The Dalek logic, at it’s best.

Brilliance.

I’ll give it 9/10.

 

Wow, I feel like my reviewing skills are getting much better!

A REVIEW OF TORCHWOOD EPISODE 10 - OUT OF TIME. Spoilers abound, but I don’t know how to break the post (Which is unusual, normally I’m really good at breaking technical things) so..yeah.

Okay, well. I’ll be brief with this: I didn’t like it. My original just-after rating was 3.2/10. Lets see if I can talk myself into changing it.

It started alright - the idea of people being lost in time, falling through a hole into a world that they otherwise would never know, that is completely different from anything they’ve experienced before. Wanderers, lost in the fourth dimension. And Torchwood were the only people that know of how they could possibly have fallen. And I think that the whole “lost in time” theme is a strong theme, if explored well. It was explored in this episode, but.. not well enough. It was certainly explored ENOUGH (Practically every scene had “omg we have nothing left!” and “omg it’s so NEW!”, but.. that was seemingly all there was to the episode.

It didn’t ‘pick up pace’ towards the end, or seem to get any stronger, as far as I could see, except in one case.

So, now to focus on the characters.

John - The business man, who’s lost everything. His name is all he’s got left, and he doesn’t want to give it up. He seems to want to keep the three lost people together, not to get mingled with the ‘new’ world. The prospect of the new world is too overpowering, and drives him crazy. He doesn’t want to live with nothing left. And his resolve not to gets the better of him. His storyline was, in my opinion, by *FAR* the strongest of the three.

Diane - ..Seemed to me just to be an excuse to insert random rompings into the episode. Her storyline followed a more passionate approach. As I have commented on Tamino Badwolf, it seems that you would have had to have experienced something like this in order to be absorbed by this. I haven’t, and so I wasn’t. Weakest of the three.

Other person - Seemed to not be doing much, actually. Besides having trouble adjusting, she seemed to have been inserted into the plot just to create Gwen/Rhys argument.

I think that combining the three ideas together only made it a bit messy. It would have been better, in my opinion, to just concentrate for longer on John’s storyline, which I found the most compelling. As I say, some people’s opinions may differ. It could be the boring non-emotional logical robotic personality of me that watched this, but I wasn’t remotely interested in Diane’s or TheOtherPerson’s storylines.

And finally, I will re-rate this episode. I’ll rate it at a 5.6/10. Decent, could be much much better, not my preferred choice of viewing on a Sunday evening. But at least the rating is higher.