Review: Doctor Who - Series Four (2005 Revival)

It has been far too long since my last review of Doctor Who. Long story short I never, never, never seem to have time to sit down and re-watch the show. I tend to get to watch an episode here and there except that “here and there” seem to be months apart! Since the last review a lot of changes have occurred in the franchise including a new companion and the first appearance of the Twelfth Doctor. However we’re still here in the fourth series talking about the Tenth Doctor. I will attempt to do this more frequently but as you should know by now I don’t like making promises about future content.

Anywho the fourth series of the revived Doctor Who is notable for several reasons but mainly that it was Russell T Davies’ final full season as show runner and that it would be the last season until 2010, a nearly two year hiatus (in lieu of a season 2009 had several Doctor Who specials). Change was fast approaching the show, bigger than the new series had experienced thus far.

Full review after the jump.

Black Chick Musings Episode 1

So a while ago The Lady asked me to help her make a web show. I agreed and ended up filming, directing and editing the first episode. I figured I'd post it here now that it's gone live. It's her project but I ended up doing a lot of work with it. In this pilot episode Quiana talks about what she wants and what she doesn't want in the upcoming Doctor Who 50th Anniversary special. 

If you like what you see you'll want to check her out here. 

Review: Doctor Who - Series Three (2005 Revival)

Though it has been a long while since the last time today I will continue looking at the revived Doctor Who TV show with Series 3. Originally broadcasted by the BBC in 2007 it’s pretty clear that by this point the writers had gotten a hold of what they wanted the show to be. David Tennant, playing the The Doctor, has a full season under his belt at this point and he’s really gotten into to his groove. Better yet (for me anyway) this season marks the first time in the new updated version of the show that a companion has left and been replaced. So no Rose Tyler, and if you recall from the last two reviews I’m not a fan of the character. At all. So happily get a whole season without her. Or at least that’s what I was hoping going into it (more on that later).

It should be pointed out that  after Series Two ended but before this one began a spin-off from Doctor Who aired called “Torchwood” (yes, the organization from Series Two) which was also created by Russell T Davies and starred John Barrowman reprising his role as Captain Jack Harkness. Now I will talk a tiny bit about that in this blog but as of right now I don’t have any plans review Torchwood here. For simplicity sake I will say that I’m not what you would call a fan. For now just take in mind that there was a spin-off and it featured Captain Jack.

Full review after the jump.

Review: Doctor Who - Series Two (2005 Revival)

Today we’ll continue looking that revived Doctor Who series. Because the first episode of series one was so well received the BBC commissioned a second season of the new show. Russell T. Davies’ plan to bring back Doctor Who was a rousing success. This series was extremely important to the revived TV show because it introduced the 10th Doctor who, even today, is pretty much the most popular version of the character in the new series and can make an argument for being one of the most popular version of the character in the entire metaseries. I’ve heard somewhere that David Tennant, the actor who takes over the role from Christopher Eccleston, was actually cast when the first series was in pre-production and was always tagged to come in at the end of the first series but I’ve also heard that Eccleston just wanted leave the show and Tennant was simply his replacement. I have no idea what the real story was but regardless after just one season a new actor has taken over the title role (Tennant actually first appeared in the previous season’s finale).

Anyway this season picks up right where the last one left off and, aside from the addition of Tennant, there’s not much in the way of cast changes.

Full review after the jump.

[WARNING: There are a lot of spoilers incoming, especially concerning Rose Tyler. Read at your own risk!]

Review: Doctor Who - Series One (2005 Revival)

Today we’ll be talking about the first season (or “series”, if you’re British) of the revived 2005 Doctor Who TV show. After the failed attempt to bring the show back in 1996 with the American TV movie plans to get the Doctor back on the air lingered for the next few years. Writer Russell T Davies, a longtime fan of the series, made it his goal to retrieve the show from hiatus. Talks began in 1998 before the show eventually returned in 2005. Davies wanted to update Doctor Who for the 21st Century and took cues form modern drama, notably Buffy the Vampire Slayer. His show would be about 45 minutes long per episode and encompass season long storylines with a “Big Bad” style of antagonist. Apparently there were some other pitches for revving the show floating around the BBC at the time, including a straight up reboot of the series and a “Gothic-style” show (Whatever the hell that means). Regardless of what you think about Davies as a writer and a showrunner I think that we got the best of the bunch. The net result was the show was a big hit and continues today, production having recently started for Series 7.

Anyway this will probably be the first of a series of Doctor Who reviews. While it’s impossible for me to talk about the first series of the new Doctor Who without comparing it, at least somewhat, to the proceeding series as well as Classic Who I will base my final option and the Panda Score solely on this season on its own. Is this season actually any good or highly, highly overrated and overexposed?

Full review after the jump.

[Warning: The following  reviews possesses relatively minor spoilers, but spoilers none the less.  Read at your own peril]

Beta Versus Doctor Who

Doo-Doo-Dooooo...Doo-Doooooooo

So for months, and I mean months, The Lady has bugged me about writing about Doctor Who. If you’ve checked out her blog (She Geek) then you probably already realized it’s her main nerdy fandom. I myself only started watching early last year, going through the entire new series to that point and getting started watching various stories from the classic show. I’ve finally decided to give in to The Lady’s demands and do some reviews of the long running science fiction series, mainly in order to capitalize on that sweet, sweet Whovian fandom web traffic. So tomorrow I’ll be releasing my review of the first season from the new show. However it occurred to me that like myself prior to my Who Awakening last year most of my readers may not know that much about the show. And seriously there’s a lot to talk about. So I decided to have a little intro separate from the main review, mostly because I don’t want a 3,000+ word article.

Anyway Doctor Who is a British science fiction television show that first aired in 1963. In a lot of ways the series is the UK’s equivalent of Star Trek. A big difference between the two is that while the original Trek series was canceled after only three seasons due to low ratings Doctor Who was a hugely popular program heavily ingraining itself in British pop culture. That show managed to go on until finally being canceled in 1989 in a move that seems to have just as much to do with BBC politics as it did with ratings. In 1996 an attempt to revive the series was made in the form of an American television movie (Which is considered part of canon) but didn’t spin-off into the ongoing TV series some hoped. Finally in 2005, under the helm of Russell T Davies, a new series hit the airwaves and became a huge international hit. Today the new Doctor Who is filming its seventh season while also gearing up for the highly anticipated 50 Year Anniversary.

More on the Doctor after the jump.