Audio Review: Doctor Who- The Runaway Train

When your fictional series uses time travel as one of it's plot devices, it allows you to draw from exciting moments in history to make adventures that are packed with both action and terrifying danger.

Few eras in history have as much opportunity for dangerous moments and excitement as the American wild west, and it seems a perfect fit for a fast paced Doctor Who tale.

Audio Review: Doctor Who- The Guardian of the Solar System

Life and death are at the very center of our lives every waking moment.

Even if we are consciously unaware of the fact that one day we have to pass onto whatever lies beyond this life, it is always there like a dark shadow at the very back of our respective closets, next to which stands the time that measures our life, both beginning and end, and the choices that we make that determine if that time is worthy or wasted, a life of promise or a life of despair.

 But what if you could change one of those choices?

Audio Review: Doctor Who- The Eight Truths

I have always stayed away from the kooks and weirdos that hang around airport terminals handing out flowers or the strange man on the train who hands out those little comics that give me instructions on how my soul can be saved from the Devil himself if only I'd listen.

It's nice to feel vindicated in one's beliefs, even if the source of vindication is a science fiction audio play from Big Finish Audio's Doctor Who series called The Eight Truths.

TV Review: Doctor Who- Love & Monsters (S02E10)

One of my favorite films of all time has to be Interview With a Vampire, based on the novel of the same name by Anne Rice. Like most things that become our personal favorites there are some scenes and certain dialogue which will always stick out in our minds and this film has one that has relevance when we are preparing to discuss one of the most controversial and dividing episodes of Doctor Who since it returned to television in 2005:

“Vampires pretending to be Human pretending to be vampires...how avant garde.”

It always seemed to me the line could be paraphrased to describe the episode Love & Monsters from Doctor Who's second series: “A fan writing for fans about actors pretending to be fans.”

When Doctor Who entered its second series in 2006, the glow of seeing it back on television had started to wane slightly, and that of course meant the ugliness that is a bitter and unsatisfied section of fans began to loudly protest some of the elements of the programme that they disagreed with.

Book Review: Doctor Who- The Annual Years by Paul Magrs

Nostalgia and Doctor Who go hand in hand, which is almost second nature for any creation that has stood the test of time the way this science fiction series has. As the world changes around it, it mirrors the current world and becomes part of our memories. A fondness develops around some of the most forgotten products and trappings of the series which older fans now recall being intertwined with a simpler time in their own lives.

The Doctor Who Annuals published by World Distributors from 1966 to 1986 are one great example of this, a merchandising tie-in that child of more than one generation might have found under the tree at Christmas.

Even I got a chance to experience the series first hand, even though it was right at the very end of the original Annual run with the 1986 Annual which I poured over for clues about the sixth Doctor's persona as The Twin Dilemma was not shown directly after The Caves of Androzani in some areas in the United States.

TV Review: Doctor Who-Robots of Death (Se14St05)

Doctor Who has always been able to pull off homages to all kinds of storytelling genres by virtue of the show's immensely flexible format. It allowed for both subtle and dramatic twists on established storytelling methods over the last fifty years of the series existence in various forms of media.
Robots of Death is no exception, with the action playing out in such a manner that it might have been created by a futuristic Agatha Christie.

Written by Chris Boucher, the author that had also penned the previous adventure The Face of Evil, it was indeed conceived with the 1939 Christie novel Ten Little Indians in mind.

The traditional trappings are all there, from the rogue's gallery of potential murder suspects and the mounting body count as the mystery progresses to the shocking reveal of the true villain at the end.
The murder-mystery angle is well performed by both cast and crew all the way around, with the suspense and mystery maintained through the first three episodes quite nicely.

It also evokes feelings more firmly rooted in traditional science fiction, such as the Human reaction to robots as part of their daily lives. This aspect of Robots of Death echoes some as Asminov's greatest works on the subject of robotics, such as I Robot, with the three classes of robots in the serial having rules about interacting with the Human Miners.

TV Review: Doctor Who- 5oth Anniversary Blue Peter Episode (2013)

Blue Peter and Doctor Who are intertwined throughout the latter programs fifty-year history. Since the time the first Doctor, William Hartnell was the Tardis console, Doctor Who themed segments and competitions have been featured on Blue Peter on a regular basis.

As Doctor Who turned fifty, Blue Peter, not only dedicated the show closest to the November 23rd anniversary to the Time Lord but also had an early morning party for viewers on the Saturday of the anniversary itself.

The main link between the regular Blue Peter broadcast and the party was a design a monster with a  twist as many fans got to be a 'part', with storyboard artist Shawn Williams sketching monster designs from Blue Peter viewers suggestions on the various physical aspects of the creature. The design would be sketched out during the regular Blue peter and would be 'brought to life' on the Doctor Who Party on Saturday morning.