It's Out TODAY!

The first seven episodes of the sixth series of 'Doctor Who' is available on Blu-Ray and DVD from TODAY! The double disc set contains the episodes as well as great special features and 'Doctor Who Confidential' cutdowns!

Grab your copy now!

'A Good Man Goes to War' Review

Series 6 - Episode 7: 'A Good Man Goes to War'

Written by Steven Moffat - Directed by Peter Hoar

So we've reached it; the ridiculous hiatus. No more 'Doctor Who' until September according to Moffat, and to think I was looking forward to a solid amount of great summer television. Oh well. Anyway, the mid-series finale promised and boasted to be the ultimate 'Who' episode; the one to knock fans out of the park and show the world the massive potential of the show and it's stories, but did it live up to all it's hype?

Plot Outline:

It all ends here - River Song is identified, Amy and Rory face the realities of having a child, the Silurians, Sontarans and Cybermen unite and The Doctor is heading towards an impossible war with a deadly foe.

 Now like everyone else, I was bouncing with excitement for The Doctor's 'final' adventure and took part in my usual Saturday night routine - curtains drawn, phone off, beer in hand, friends around me, putting BBC One HD on a disgustingly high volume and anxiously waiting for my favourite show to start, but after the 50 minutes were up, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. 

 'A Good Man Goes to War' started wonderfully and in typical Moffat style, the viewers were launched from multiple locations and time periods within 5 minutes. Much like the opening to 'Day of the Moon', my eyes were wide with wonder and awe - Rory's spectacular entrance, Amy and Melody stuck in Demon's Run; it was brilliant. And the episode continued to be excellent for a further 25/30 minutes, but after that, it seemed to lose it's footing and Moffat's boots went from a size 8 to Bobo the Clown's - There is just so much ground to cover in the last 6 episodes that we can't really afford to have any more adventure episodes and I don't believe that 'Let's Kill Hitler' is a round-up episode from this one somehow.

 This episode had many flashes of genius especially during the sequences on Demon's Run with the 'Headless Monks' and even though it painstakingly obvious The Doctor was hidden underneath one of their robes, it was still a great entrance to the massive action that was taking place. River's entrance was hilarious too - seeing Alex Kingston floating up the halls of her prison and meeting Rory or 'The Last Centurion' made my day, and it was brilliant to see a variety of The Doctor's enemies come together and actually help him rather than attack him, however I think the lack of the Cybermen was a bit of a cheek. They were one of the main focus points for the episode in all the press write-ups and considering they only actually had 2 minutes of screen-time seemed like a kick in the teeth. SPOILER ALERT! Also for me, the biggest and best shock was the fact that baby Melody was 'Flesh' - my jaw fell to the floor and remained there for a few minutes. It was a terrific and affecting twist; an art that Steven has perfected.

 However, I feel that narrative imbalance failed the episode; there was too many 'obvious' plot points and far too much information to cause further 'confusion' and unsettling during the break. Viewers were promised they would find out who River Song is, and to an extent we did - but it wasn't a complete nor a particularly satisfying affair. SPOILER ALERT! So, we now 'know' that River is in fact Amy's daughter - it explains the 'Flesh' baby, it also explains her name - River Song/Melody Pond; it's a great connection, but we still do not know who River supposedly killed and her relationship with The Doctor is still so vague it's infuriating. She can fly the TARDIS, she's potentially part Time-Lord and she and The Doctor must have been intimate at some point in their muddled time-lines so why don't we know more for sure? Personally, I want River to become the next companion - I think she's the best character and certainly the most intriguing but until Moffat lets his fans in a little more, I think some will become slightly tired with running around the houses for clues regarding her presence.

 Personally, I embrace the suspense of the show - I love not knowing what's going to happen and being shocked at the outcome, but I wasn't shocked or very impressed with the ending of 'A Good Man Goes to War' - virtually every Whovain guessed this would happen and I imagine the majority wanted to be wrong and feel mislead in order to be fully satisfied by the 'surprise' climax, and I hope some were but I unfortunately wasn't. I wouldn't go as far as saying it was a 'Cop-Out', but I felt it was just too darn clichéd. 

 As I've already said though, it's not all bad; the episode had some very strong elements and tackled some tough subject matters, plus for the most part Moffat's script was very good and new director Hoar pulled out all the stops with his camera work. The episode looked beautiful and really felt like a finale setting. Also Michael Pickwoad provided yet another perfect set with Demon's Run - the man is an incredible set designer and a fine addition to the show.

 The performances were all very solid too - Smith was excellent as always and his scenes of high emotion and panic were executed with great skill. Darvill was wonderful and made a definite impact on the story thankfully. Gillan was once again the strongest performer but then again she did have more to play with than her fellow cast. The scenes with Melody were gripping and her spiralling sorrow was dramatic and moving. Kingston was fantastic as always but she had far too little screen time - I'm sorry but less than 10 minutes is not enough River. I also loved the appearances of Captain Avery (Hugh Bonneville) and his son Toby from 'The Curse of the Black Spot', however they seemed to disappear in a flash which was a shame.

 But now it's time to contemplate and we have a long time to do so - no more 'Who' for at least two months, and no DVD release until the middle of July. So it seems we'll just have to wait it out. I was hoping to be high off excitement and suspense after 'A Good Man Goes to War' but now I feel a little stretched. I'm looking forward to killing Hitler though... 

'A Good Man Goes to War' - New Content!

'A Good Man Goes to War' Update!

Check out some brilliant new character images and stills from Saturday's mid-series finale plus three videos! Enjoy guys!

'The Almost People' Review

Series 6 - Episode 6: 'The Almost People'

Written by Matthew Graham - Directed by Julian Simpson

Last week's episode did what I believed it would do - set up the second part. Although 'The Rebel Flesh' was a very impressive episode and deserved congratulations on it's own merit, it's concluding episode, 'The Almost People' has snatched the spotlight with a whirlwind of moralistic ideas, fantastic special effects and THAT ending...

Plot Outline:

As the Solar Storm continues to rage, Jennifer's 'Ganger' prepares the rest of the 'Flesh' race for war. Rory is cut off from the rest of the group, whilst Amy is having to deal with two Doctors. To add further insult to injury, the TARDIS trio are heading for a crisis point that nobody could foresee. 

 In last Saturday's episode, viewers got time to learn about the 'Gangers' and understand why they are being created. However, what Graham's intelligent script doesn't cover is why are they being later mistreated. We learnt that they are in place in order to complete tasks seemed to dangerous for 'humans' but we never understand the prejudice regarding them once they are concious of themselves - the moment they realise they have a history, memories and feelings, they are punished by their 'creators'. In 'The Almost People', we receive that all important moral resolution, but we get heaps of prejudice, injustice and foul play beforehand. 

 For this, I further my argument of 'Doctor Who' as family viewing - it's certainly good to enforce ideas of acceptance and equality to all ages, in fact, it's far more important to educate the young about these issues as they have their whole lives ahead of them, but at points in this episode, even I quivered a little at the sinister undertones of this fantastic screen text. I don't want readers to think I'm complaining because I'm not - I love the fact the show is getting 'darker' and taking more risks with daring story lines and sub-plots; it's a great move that excites me dramatically, but I can't help but think some viewers may feel a little concerned after this two-parter, then again maybe not. Hopefully it's the latter.

 The plot-point with Amy and the 'Double Trouble' Doctors was genius and helped to enforce further characteristics of Gillan's companion. Her affection towards one of the Doctors was a marvellous way to cause friction between the group and set the scene for one of the episode's big reveals. This along with the narrative regarding the 'Gangers' vs. 'Humans' war set a politically motivated atmosphere which was beautifully portrayed on screen.

 But to say the episode was all doom and gloom would be a lie; like all 'Who' episodes, comic relief is always around the corner, and for me the funniest moment was the constantly changing voices of Matt's 'Ganger' as he grew into his current body; multiple voices babbling about Jelly Babies made my day. It was a very sweet (excuse the pun) homage to the show's wonderful and ever-growing history. And as well as comedy, we had our hearts warmed by Jimmy's (Mark Bonnar) 'Ganger' fathering his 'creator's' child. It was a touching and believable moment.

 Visually, the episode was fantastic - Simpson's direction was pin-point with accuracy and captured all the elements with style. This alongside the brilliant CGI helped make 'The Almost People' a dazzling audio-visual experience. The piles of used up 'Ganger Flesh' left to rot on the floor was a horrific image and Jennifer's mutated 'Ganger' looked astonishingly demented - another plug to David Cronenberg too. Also, is it just me or did it remind anyone slightly of a female, less-bony version of Lazarus from 'The Lazarus Experiment' (2007)? 

 I think I've delayed it for long enough now - let's discuss THAT ending...

It seems as though Moffat and the production team are hell bent on torturing us fans this year; next week sees the mid-series finale and that impossibly irritating hiatus, and so far, we have been given so many little scraps of information that I'm certain will not get any type of conclusion until the show returns.

POSSIBLE SPOILER AHEAD! - The big reveal in 'The Almost People' actually had little to do with the episode at all. Viewers were left speechless after seeing an abducted and imprisoned Amy in labour with the mysterious 'Eye Patch' woman telling her to "Push!" in the most disturbing manner. Now I'm certain other 'Who' blogs will talk this point to death and come up with multiple theories as to what's going on - well I'm not going to do that; I think it kills the drama a little and can make the actual outcome seem like an anti-climax. I have ideas as to what's going on with Amy, and I'm sure you do too, but I'm so excited to find out the truth that I'm going to button my lip, suffer in silence and ride it out. Dedicated describes us Whovians best.

 The performances were very good, however I was a little disappointed by the lack of Rory - after having a large amount of screen time and dialogue in 'The Rebel Flesh', he seemed like a 'spare part' again for the majority of this episode. This was a shame because Darvill was excellent last week; still he was entertaining in his brief moments here too. Double Matt was great too; the pair finishing each other sentences was rather endearing and the scene when one of the Doctors pins Amy to the wall and screams at her was brilliantly executed. Smith is a tremendous actor and I think those who are still moaning about him need to get off the David Tennant high-horse. However, Gillan gets my vote again; she's turning into the star for me - her story lines are so fresh and engaging and she's taking every opportunity she's given with skill and precision. I haven't chosen her just because of the final two minutes however, more because of what I previously mentioned - her prejudice against the supposed 'Ganger' Doctor was fabulous and allowed audiences to dive inside her damaged and misguided psyche - you couldn't help but be angered by her actions yet feel sorry for her at the same time.

 'The Almost People' was an outstanding conclusion to it's brilliant predecessor; it's narrative was bold and ambitious, it's visuals were stunning, and it's performances were solid as a rock. It was disturbingly original, culturally relevant and above all else, fantastically entertaining. If all the hype is correct, next week's episode should be monumental - so much is riding on 'A Good Man Goes to War' but I'm certain it will be utterly incredible.

Prequel & Trailer for 'A Good Man Goes to War'

'A Good Man Goes to War' - BRAND NEW!

If like me you are still knocked out by tonight's episode ending, then fear not! Check out the prequel and the trailer to next week's mid-series finale RIGHT NOW!

They're Back!

The Cybermen Return!

It has been confirmed that the Cybermen will return in the mid-series finale 'A Good Man Goes to War'! Check out the video interview with Episode 7 director Peter Hoar below!

New Clip and Stills for 'The Almost People'

'The Almost People' Update!

A new clip and stills have been released thanks to the BBC and we have them here! Take a look! Not long until Saturday now Who fans!