Plan B – The Defamation of Strickland Banks

The last couple of days I did a mass download of different and new tracks of the interwebs, thanks to the NME magazines (as purchased on the ipad) top 20 list they have in their magazine, I’ve discovered this British artist called Plan B. I want to call him a rapper, but after this album he can hardly be “just a rapper”. Where his first album was more of your standard hip hop fair, this album takes a much more brave directions by two things – a concept album, and a sort of soul / hip hop mixup.

The story (as far as I could tell – mind you, I was driving so I cant fully concentrate on music while I also have my head full of work things and phone calls) is about a fictional Soul singer named Strickland Banks who is sent to jail after a one night stand with an obsessive stalker who screams rape after he refuses her and goes back to his wife. The tone takes a dark turn where he’s forced to kill a man in self defence in prison, and the story ends just as he’s about to hear his verdict to the retrial…

It’s a great attempt although sometimes I felt he was trying too hard to fit the story into the song. When he’s also singing, it’s a little different than a “Mike Skinner rapping a story” that The Streets gave us in A Grand Don’t Come For Free. I think he does a much better job though. This guy has such an amazing voice and I was surprised to read on wiki later that his previous album was just your standard British Hip Hop album. I couldn’t help thinking I was listening to a soundtrack straight out of the 70s a lot of the time today. He’ll break this up with his great rapping skills, but it’s sewn into the songs themselves and works perfectly – There’s no jarring break into something not suiting the album.

I also read that this is an experiment and he’s interested into going back into something more like his first album. It’s a bit of a shame. While there’s not a full album of radio hit singles on here, it’s a great piece of work and i’d rather that anytime over a handful of disposable 3 minute chart fillers you hear on the radio today…

Here’s a song from the album, She Said. It’s a cute, well choreographed little clip which gives you a good idea what the album is like…

“i am a good man…”

We start off with a good old fashion comfrontation, as Sayid’s had enough of being stared at and goes to see Dogen. What we get is a kick ass fight scene that shows us Dogen’s no slouch, he’s just devious like that. How an accountant (as we find later) manages to kick so much ass living on the island for so long is another story. Bit unintentionally racist there?? Like the sisko, he loses his baseball and just stops. End of fight. And tells Sayid to “git”.
Meanwhile, Claire and her “friend”, Flocke are behind the ash wall that keeps him out of places (my guess is that the hut was not housing Jacob but keeping Flocke IN, but we’ll hopefully later see)

“Are you going to hurt them, Friend?” “Only the ones who won’t listen….” Great friend you’ve got there, Claire. I’d really think about getting out more. Either way, it’s Claire’s turn to do some work. It might keep Flocke out, but Claire’s happy to wander wherever she likes.

In Sayid’s words “Apparently, i’m evil” – he’s gone to pack up and leave being banished, talking to Medium-Miles. Looks like Hurls and emo-Jack aren’t back yet. And in walks Claire!! Even messy she’s still adorable.. don’t know if i’d pick her up if she were hitchhiking .. Miles makes a similar comment as well. We get a little you go see him, no he can come here, so Dogen decides to get sayid to kill him! Poor guy, wherever he goes he cant escape his past..

It’s coffee (or beer) time as Miles sings the praises of Claire and fills in Kate with what’s been going down since she got the talk from Sawyer.

Sayid’s looking aroundin the jungle, and we get the good old ca chunk ca chunk of Smokey’s true form,, forms into flocke and Sayid goes the stab. Mind you, Dogen instructed to stab before he spoke. Maybe thats why we get a “it’s just a flesh wound!” moment as Flocke pulls out the knight with a confused/annoyed look. “Why you go and do that? It’s quite a good moment. Made me giggle.

Flocke gives some answers here. Is he being trustful here ? “You had no chance. Dogen knew that and he was hoping i would kill you…” Sayid is offered his temptation – could have anything he wanted?? ahhh so i was wrong with that “Last Supper” photo they setup. Perhaps Sayid was meant to be the judas figure?? The betrayer??

Sayid returns and gives all the group a message “Jacob is dead. You no longer have to stay here anymore. You are free” … well, maybe.. we’ll see how well Flocke treats the redshirts… “Flocke wants to leave the island. Anyone who wants to go, join him… if you don’t, you die..” Dogen looks less than impressed…

Kate gets all up on hippy sol star’s face so she can go see Claire. Claire, however, is singing some ditty that i couldn’t recognise (well US Australian children certainly didn’t sing it) and Claire goes all OH HAI to I KILL U!!! once she figures out what happened to Aaron. the face change is amazing, Emilie is an amazing actress…

Sayid drops the knife off to Dogen, where Sayid asks him why he gets others to do his dirty work. The sad strings start and we here Dogen once lived in Osaka, he made a silly mistake and lost his son to a drink driving accident. He was also given the option for his son to live, but he had to come to the island and he would never be able to see his son again. Sayid, without blinking, decides to drown Dogen. Umm, dude, remember that water brought you back to life?? Well, regardless to whether Dogen comes back, it’s too late. Hippy sol star lets us know that Dogen was the only one keeping Flocke out, he gets a slash to the throat for his troubles and yes, the wail and ca chink sounds of good ol’ smokey…. have a guess what happens?? miles and take split up, and while take goes for Claire (stupidstupidstupid), Miles bumps into the rest of the Ajira crew, just in time Kate hides in the hole with Claire while smokey runs through the room, and Ben and Sayid have their confrontation.. Ben for the first time in his life is actually nice and caring, but the evil smile on the face of Sayid says it all.. Ben slowly backs out the room off to the rest of them where they hide in Hurley’s tunnel from the other week. Kate follows Sayid and Claire outside through all the destruction where we see Flocke did do good on his promise, the rest are behind him, a little scared, but alive nonetheless.

On Earth-A, however. Still it’s Sayid’s turn. Nadia is alive, and yet married to his brother. You can tell there’s some tension there, some tense looks which disappear when the Brother’s kids come in and Sayid gets them their presents – the fakest, dodgiest tourist boomerangs I have ever seen. I hate to be mean, but seriously, it looks like they were probably made in Hawaii.

Omar, the brother turns to Sayid in the middle of the night. Even in this world, Sayid still seems to be the go-to man when things get rough. Bro owes cash to bad men. You can guess what he’s been asked to do. I really feel for Sayid at this point. No matter what he does in his life, the memories of the past always come back to haunt him.
It’s really only the next day when Sayid’s bro is “mugged”, but wife and Sayid know better. Nadia pleads for him to go home and wait for the kids to come home from school. He actually agrees!! She gives him “why didn’t you want me” actually, that’s a DAMN good question. Who’d say no to her??? Looks like he still feels guilt over his past actions. YET – an extended stay on a weird island makes a different opinion later on. Go figure…

Later, Sayid bumps into some hired goons who offer him “a ride he cannot refuse”, and not in the dirty way (ew). In some kitchen restaurant, we find the head honcho is Keamy, that bastardo from the freighter a couple of years ago. Good to know a bastard is a bastard, no matter the time line. Sayid sorts the business out as he knows how, and on the way out bumps into Jin in a freezer… obviously that money he stashed in ep 2 was meant from them. And we’re left wondering WTF is going on there for another week. why Jin seems to be in a poorer position in this universe is beyond me. isn’t sun’s dad Mr. powerful and all of that?? *shrugs*

So far into this season and I’m already thinking of some ideas. Is that the gist?? Have we got two sets of people living on earth?? Maybe the time line WAS changed, just that the old paradox keeps the original time line going. So YES, technically Sayid would be able to see Nadia again, well as long with Sayid-B? maybe Flocke IS evil, but is the island really THAT important?? Now that the button is no longer an issue, does anyone really need to stay?? is it to protect it from outsiders? and speaking of which, hows widmore going? havent heard much about him lately… hmm

One thing I’ve noticed is the heavy handed religious theme they’re playing with Jacob/Flocke. Jacob with the God/Faith angle, and Flocke, the devil side actually offering power and answers. I’m not the most religious man in the world, but in my head it really feels like this is what they’re aiming for. i might have to look up some stuff online. It’s no confusion compared to say, Neon Genesis when it comes to religion, but I’ll say I’m still enjoying all of this and it’s keeping me watching, that’s for sure!

So I’m back for the week and we get to see John’s side story, and his New story, as The new Man in Black (apologies to Johnny Cash). Oh, yeah, SPOILERS as usual.

Locke was really getting sick of receiving all that Dharma spam in his inbox.

This week is John Locke’s turn at the sideways swipe. This time, however, things are different AND the same. John obviously had a healthier relationship with his father (yet STILL ended up in a wheelchair, how does that happen??) and is happily engaged to Leela, err, I mean Helen. No sex lines for THIS Locke He still tries to go on his walkabout, however, and is denied. What we get this time is more of the asshole boss, who ends up firing him and Locke bumps into the owner of the paper company, one Hugo Reyes (who never twigs seeing a bald wheelchair guy on the plane earlier, or vice versa) who still basks in luck in the alt-universe, and offers to help John with a new job.

Basically we see John agonize over the card given to him by Jack in the second episode during their past encounter. He decides to stop believing in Miracles and hopes that Helen can accept him for who he is and not keep holding onto a hope that one day he’ll walk again. It’s a sweet moment.

Back in Timeline A,  Fake Locke (or Flocke as he is known around the Lost forums) is running and ca-chinking around the island in hope to recruiting some people to his cause. His kidnap of everlasting Richard last week doesn’t help a bit – he refuses and ca-chinks back over to ex-Otherstown where Kate has tearfully left and somehow there’s still enough power for Sawyer to crank some Iggy and the Stooges on the turntable, and I crank the speakers for a few minutes .

Back on the beach, not too much happens. IIlana sooks a little about her dead crew. I don’t know why. Maybe they’re some sort of “off-island Jacob cult” and very close, but until these last couple of weeks, she’s seemed not much more than a muscle group here to help Jacob. However she scoops up some of Jacob’s ashes, buries Locke, and decide to all go to the temple, but before (of course) will have all sorts of zany adventures and stay out of the way until needed just before mid-break finale, where they will most definitely tease us with the Sun/Jin meetup as a cliffhanger…

Back in ex-Otherstown, James in his drunken state has gotten to the point where he just doesn’t CARE anymore about the weirdness of the island. I want to say he takes it all in his stride, but it’s more than that. More of a resignation in some ways. It’s very sad. Still, Flocke offers him answers and after a run around in the jungle with a warning by Richard and some creepy little kid, we fall down a rickety old ladder (good question – how in the hell are they getting back UP that cliff-face for next week?) and Flocke throws a white stone out in the ocean. I was right about the ying/yang thing. There are two sides to this show. Whoever Jacob WAS and Flocke IS, they are the ying/yang to all of this. Stands to reason whether black is evil and white is good… We see a large list of crossed out people, the list of the dead. The remaining on the list are the main characters. Jack, either Sun or Jin, Sawyer, Hurley and Sayid, all accompanied by those good ol’ numbers (according to the show, Jacob was a bit of a maths nerd). For once, we GET SOME ANSWERS! Jacob/Flocke were once men like them, Jacob is there to protect the island. Flocke, most probably, is chaos. Chaos/Order, anyone? Someone needs to replace Jacob, and “the list”, are the candidates. The remaining main cast of this show. Flocke gives him the options 1. Do nothing, and get struck off of the list (does that mean die, though, or be removed as a candidate?), 2. Become Jacob’s successor, or 3. Get off the island with Flocke, which is all that Flocke has ever wanted to do. And just as Sawyer decides, “stuff it, let’s leave”, it’s credits time.

i liked this episode. Out of all of the characters in this show, it seems that they let John Locke suffer the most. Nothing in this guys life ever seems to work out. Here though, despite his disability, he’s doing alright. He learns to deal with his drawbacks, and becomes a better person, something he couldn’t really do on the island as he was chasing faith every week. Locke’s a believer, and all this mystical shit is like Heroin to Charlie… In the real word of Timeline B, he’s decided – “enough dreaming, time to grow up a little”. It’s sad that I feel like all of this “what if” is going to be swept under the rug somehow, and we’re going to be left with the John Locke we buried this week.

The secrets? It’s good to finally, (if slowly) see some answers. My big question is do they ALL need to be part of what is to come? Is it destined? Something they can’t escape? The way Flocke was talking to Sawyer, it sounded like Death will be certain if he chooses not to take this path. We’ll see. And what about Jacob/Flocke? Did they come in the times of the Black Rock? Did these two replace some other people? Is it a never ending battle that started at the beginning, like the Egyptian times? I’m happy to see the black/white side though. And I like the little moment with Timeline B’s Locke’s alarm clock sounding very much like the alarm that the hatch used to make. Great episode and well done enough to keep us fans guessing and thinking for the week to come.

Oh, yes, before you go on. SPOILERS and all. I’m not going for a blow by blow account, but don’t get upset if i reveal anything in the two hour episode.

As we saddle in for the final season of Lost, probably one of the best series to hit TV since Babylon 5 for pure mind-fuck and well planned story, I think I shall try and blog the whole lot of this season this year. You know, I’m going to miss this crazy show once it’s finally off the air. It’s good for them though to say ” hey. we’ve got a plan. we don’t need to go on any further.” for example, look at the x files. that show went on for far too long and it suffered when it came to the overall story. I’ll just have to find another new show to obsess over. Until then, I still have Dr. Who, which comes back in March.. (yay!)

Well, let’s see. The alternate timelines is a clever but brilliant idea. It doesn’t seen to negate the original timeline either, the rest of the group are back in the present time and still being their typical selves. So instead of flashbacks and thinking “okay, enough is enough”, we get what would of happened to the group if they DID land at LAX instead. It’s gotten my attention so far. Kate is still Kate, We get a sweet cameo from some of the smaller characters (Froghurt) and apart from a big absence from Walt/Micheal (understandable, Walt can’t play being a kid again) we get the only difference from the original – Shannon decides to stay in Australia. Suits me fine – Couldn’t stand the character anyways… And, oh yes – we get our first appearance from Claire in a hell of a long time. Good to see she’s in it until the end. I would of hated to see that they couldn’t get her back for the show and they write her off with some back handed comment or something…

As for the current time, my thoughts aren’t as clear for the current moment. I’m glad to see I was correct – Jacob’s nemesis WAS Smokey the cloud monster and he’s been using dead people for quite some time. As for the temple? I don’t know. It’s good to see the kids and the rest of the flight still alive and safe, but it seems like a bit of a cop out. You’re trying to tell me that “The Others” as we have known them for the past 5 years didn’t know about this group living in the temple? Or perhaps this is their safe place?? Why didn’t they all run here when things got bad last year?? We’ll see what they have planned, oh, it’s good to see Kimberley Joseph again as the flight attendant. I thought she’d never come back.

So a delightful return for the last year of one of my favourite shows. Once this is over I’m certainly going back and rewatching them on Bluray to see the subtle clues (if any) they they have been planting since the beginning. Who would of thought this show would of been as sci-fi as it is now all those years ago

Tonight I watched “Timelash”, a rather maligned episode of the original series of Doctor Who, and twittered Episode 1 while I watched it. It took longer than expected, but I thought I’d add it here if anyone’s interested.

• Watching “Time Lash” for the first time ever. Even the DVD extras warn me that this ep of Dr. Who is a turkey. May comment during…
• First up, Doctor and Peri bickering. Typical. I like how Peri’s not digging the recommendation of the Eye of Orion…
• Rebels hiding. “They’ll throw us in the Time Lash!” Maybe it’s the 80s, but that doesn’t sound frightening in the way they wanted
• “That is a Time Corridor” No, THAT is some bad Amiga graphics that make Windows 95 look good.
• Well, there’s Colin Baker’s first over the top loud expression. “Bad? BAD!!!!!!”
• Back on future world, and it’s an Andorian whose lost his Antennae. And bad laser effects that looked better 5 years ago. WTF?
• And now we have a redesigned set from Vengeance on Varos. It’s the same big TV screen from that episode.
• A rebel slave with lipstick. And an evil man of mystery on a chair studded with diamonds. What are they trying to say?
• I can tell you that in the distant future we will all evolve into people with upper class English accents.
• “The Borat has promised…” THE BORAT!?!?!?!? *checks*, No, The Borad. Shame.
• Oh The Bandrils. So THIS is where that nerdy Dr. Who injoke comes from..
• The Andorian’s assistant has a haircut like one of the ABBA blokes. Geez, Andromeda in the future is regressing..
• Mygod! The guards are wearing Bee veils! Are the Bandrils some sort of insect menace or is this bad BBC costuming??
• The Timelash. Death by bad BBC fx. *shudder*
• Boring plot development. Andorian sounds like Robbie the Robot. TARDIS is broken again.
• “Cure your future wife, my daughter of her stubbornness” Oh, the wonderful 80s and their views.
• Power mad leader going out of control, check. Not a lot of Dr/Peri in this ep.
• Hah. Android/Andorian 2 has yellow hair/black skin instead of white hair/blue skin. Same actor. HOW CLEVER!!!
• Belt up for Time Corridor. Cause the last couple of times involved sideways camera work, I mean turbulance.
• Hahah. Aging death ray turns you into cheap fake skeleton you find in science labs.
• Woops. Think Android is the same one. Hah. Turbulance in TARDIS means bad camera shots and chipmunk voices
• Oh, Borat has met The Doctor before. Of course, not in an actual episode of the show…
• Dr’s landed, necklaces of Peri’s are being stolen… The Doc’s not too happy on their progress. They know Time Lords here, though.
• BWHAHAHAHA! The Bandrils! They look ridiculous! I bet they were expensive at the time too..
• Poor Peri. She may have been annoying at times, but she put up with a lot with Doc 6.
• And then she sticks her tongue out at alien plant life. Well done. Oh, there’s a kidnapping on the way…
• Have to admit, the underground sets don’t look that bad, although you can hear the bang as Peri walks into styrofoam
• Oh special effects of a self moving glass on a self made ojiga board, however you spell it. We’re finally back in time
• Oh Peri, fear the plastic snake alien creature. It could of eaten you by the time help is on its way.
• Oh! These people have a photo of Jo Grant! Nice old school reference!
• “Herbert” thinks the lady from the future is a spirit. He’s not sure whether she is angel or demon, but is still looking after her.
• Hahaha. Herbert’s answer to warding off the TARDIS is a crucifix and a bible.
• Hahaha. “Herbert” (historical celebrity not revealed as yet) snuck into the TARDIS. Doc’s expression is priceless…
• Hah. The Doctor in the “Timelash” as a cliffhanger. Surely a Time Lord can handle something like this
• And that’s it. Must sleep now. Sorry for taking over the timeline…. Night night…

Well, that’s Part 1. I’ll try Part 2 tomorrow night with a little more alcohol cause I think I’m going to need it. Night all.

Looking back at the episode a week later, I can totally understand why people are upset. I think I got overwhelmed with the pure fannish-ness of it. Yes, the episode was fan-wank pure and simple.You see, I know by now Russell T Davies never writes a satisfying conclusion to a series. From Jesus Doctor of last year, I’m starting to expect some elements of the show to fail. In fact, I think the Season 2 ending was the best of them all. End it with despair. In fact I wouldn’t of brought Rose back at all. Either that or kill her off. But not since Adric has a death hit Doctor Who. And most people hated the character, they were cheering when the ship crashed. (Myself? I didn’t care either way. I thought it was sad but the Adric character had some decent moments).

The technobabble? Yeah, I saw that coming. The piling up of characters? Yeah, this is Rusty’s last. Give him that at least. What annoyed me the most is the conclusion to the saga of Rose Tyler and Donna Noble. You can tell Rose is Russell’s favourite companion. Why I have no idea. She’s young, immature and “average”. Don’t get me wrong, she had some great moments and Billie Piper is not to be faulted, but I expected some kind of character development. She gets jealous at any other female who looks his way, and completely ignores the relationship between him and Reinette. And don’t get me started on the way she treats poor Mickey. I thought by the end of Doomsday, we’d get a sad departure but a moment from Rose “nothing lasts forever, I’m crushed but I need to move on”. Not so. Fair enough, she loved the guy. When I saw the hints at her return, thinking maybe this is it. We’ll see a grown Rose, moved on, trying to right wrongs on the Alt-Earth, sad but stronger with what she shared with The Doctor. Nope, we get a lot of moping, a brilliant reunion scene and the departure of one of the biggest cop outs. All this time she still hasn’t gotten over it. It shows how shallow she is as well – quite happy to accept a “copy” once the copy tells her those words she’s always wanted to hear. As for Donna? Well I understand the tragic departure but the fact she is back to the way she was really gets at me. I would have liked to have seen a small scene. Maybe a Donna who has no idea of what she has done but showing a slight glimmer of the better her, but not knowing why.

I think my gripe is with the fact that the characters who travel with The Doctor are always better for it afterwards. Look at Mickey – I hated the character at first. Cheap comic relief but slowly develops throughout the series to someone much braver, and unlike Rose realises when it’s time to move on. Captain Jack? A two bit con man who turns back to good after meeting The Doctor. Martha? Okay, she was already awesome before we met her but now she’s a part of UNIT (and now with Mickey, hopefully Torchwood) saving the Earth being even more brilliant. The fact that Donna and Rose are no better at the end really bugs me. And with Stephen Moffat taking over I have a feeling this is the end for these characters. I think it will next all be about either River or Jenny.

As for the show as a whole? Well people sometimes forget this is an entertaining family show. If you’re looking for ground breaking sci fi, look elsewhere. Sure, there are some absolute gems in the new series but I do not tune in week after week expecting 100% television. When I knew what was coming up, I put my mindset into “Five Doctors” mode. I think a lot of older fans are still looking for that darker, more intelligent series That Ace and Doc 7 were developing into. If the new series started in that direction I don’t know if it would have been as successful as it is now. Russell was writing not just for the fans, but for everyone. I don’t think he was the best writer in the world, he has elements of JNT about him, going a little over the top now and again. Judging by The Moff’s tv past, I really think we’re only going in a better direction. I have little to hate about the new series. The only episode I truly disliked was the 2010 Olympics episode, and that was because the kid ruined it.

I don’t know. I see the hate, and I just can’t join it. Each week I tune in and I am entertained. Much like Indy Jones 4, I really enjoyed the film and would happily watch again. People are putting way too much into this. If the show deals me a brilliant episode, I’m all for it. Let’s say I’d rather watch this than Battlestar Galactica, which I think takes itself way too seriously.

There’s an episode of Doctor Who during the old days that reminded me of the latest episode, The Five Doctors.

I won’t go into too much detail, but The Doctor in this episode has been “taken out of time” by an unknown baddie. The Time Lords, (still alive), in an act of desperation, call on the Master to help. This is back when the wonderful Anthony Ainley played the part. Whilst always enemies (The Doctor called him his “best enemy”), The Master comments – “A cosmos without the Doctor scarcely bears thinking about.”

Welcome to Turn Left. This is what this episode is all about.

Donna and The Doctor land on an Asian-styled planet which reminded me a little too much of Firefly/Serenity and Donna bumps into Chantho, this time in human form, as a fortune teller. Well, a futuristic fortune teller which manages (thanks to a terrible special effect beetle) to change the course of Donna’s life. She doesn’t meet the Doctor on that fateful Christmas and he doesn’t get out in time when destroying the Racnoss. What happens to the world now?

It’s a really well thought out and done episode, despite it being a “what if?” story. You know none of it is going to matter, but it’s still enjoyable anyway. The world gets worse and worse without The Doctor to save the day. The Titanic crashes into London destroying most of it, The Adipose move to America instead and eat all of their fat, and the the rest of the world continues to choke on Sontaren fumes. That’s not to say the world doesn’t have its fighters still – Jack and Torchwood perish saving the world during “The Poison Sky”, Sarah Jane, Luke and Martha die up on the Moon instead. They’re not included in the episode, just referenced. It’s nice to know these people wouldn’t sit by idly and let these things go down even without that Time Lord. We do get Rose again, though.

Rose. What to say? Maybe she was a little nervous? She lisps and mumbles through her scenes, and she just “looks” different. Hopefully next week will be better, but this time around she’s there in the background, helping Donna to realise that she needs to go back and set things right again. I have to say, this is all Donnas episode though. We do get a little of the annoying “Am I Bovvered?” Donna again but you can still tell she cares, she just doesn’t know what to do about it all, like the rest of the world. The moment at the end with her in the room of mirrors is probably one of Catherine Tate’s finest moments in this show. It’s pretty much confirmed she’s not returning next year, I’m glad she did join the TARDIS for that scene.

We also get a lot of supporting crew scenes in Donna’s family. Wilfred gets some damn fine scenes (there’s a moment where he says “it’s happening again” – I won’t spoil it, but it’s a beautiful moment) and he’s probably the main point of hope in this world gone wrong. Donna’s mother falls further into despair as the world tumbles and she’s also lost her husband. There’s one moment which I didn’t quite like. Donna says to her mother – “you always told me I was useless” and she replies with a single “yeah”. Whether she wasn’t listening or agreeing, it’s still cold.

Of course, everything is done right by end and the only big let downs for me are the beetle (which looked terrible), Rose and the climax. Knowing full well that Rose is coming back, having the big reveal for The Doctor didn’t excite me that much. Still, brilliant episode and judging by the sneak peeks online, the next two are only going to get better and better. 4 out of 5.

You know, It doesn’t feel right not posting about last weeks Who. By this point, everyone’s debated, discussed and fought over it on the many forums. Hey, it wouldn’t be fandom without it.

Well, Midnight.

Rule one – This isn’t just for Dr. Who. This is TV, movie, life rule. Never NEVER say “What could go wrong?” This is the only time bad luck is guaranteed to happen. My father curses me whenever I say it.

This was a pretty decent standalone episode. Having the two main characters absent from each others episodes works cleverly (I do like these special one off episodes, but why don’t they just add more time to the filming schedule?) and this one was probably the cheapest the show has done. A shuttle that noone can see outside of, it even looks like they just remade the old shuttle from Gridlock, I’m not sure.

As for the story? I did like it, but will it be as fondly remembered as Blink? Sadly, I don’t think so. I have to say, it’s probably Russell’s best episode in a long while. It did remind me a little of an episode of the Twilight Zone starring a very young and thin William Shatner called “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”. I like how you never see the bad guy in this, although I would of like more emphasis on the suspense, not actually ever knowing whether a monster gets in or not. Having everyone turn on the Doctor is an interesting change – He has noone to back him up, Donna’s soaking up the (extonic) rays klicks and klicks away. The supporting characters though, meh. It’s like Russell was deliberately trying to get all the cliches he could in an episode. And I didn’t pick until after the episode that the old man is in fact The Second Doctor’s sun. Wow. Shows you how much of a fan I am!

I really wish I had more to say. I didn’t LOVE this episode, but I wasn’t bored with it either. Finally we get onto the meatier side of the series, and we start to figure out what the hell is actually going on this year!!! Three out of Five this week.

The Moffster returns in part two of his brilliant story set in a mysterious library. But not only do we get a clever original story, we also get to know more about The Doctor than we discovered since the show has started back up.

First up, I’ll talk about the story. I don’t think the monsters were as frightening as the statues were last year, but like I said, dust, shadows – Steven likes using everyday ordinary things to get kids frightened. There’s nothing more clever than that.

Probably the best thing about these episodes are what we discover about The Doctor, and what is to come. The mysterious “River Song” is, yes in fact a future companion to come. I think with Russell’s time on the show coming to an end, we have Steven Moffat’s first seeds to what is to come – and what a clever idea. We’ve only ever seen The Doctor’s future once before, but that set of stories is best forgotten anyway, and the strike put those ideas on hold, and eventually thrown out the window to start anew. The big mystery that they seem to be heading towards is the truth about The Doctors name. River whispers it to him, he loses his name at a price, at the Medusa Cascade, but the reason behind it? just keep us guessing for time. it’s obvious that the “Cartmel Masterplan” is being thrown in the bin, and I’m actually all for it. i just hope they don’t do an X-Files on us and keep teasing and never answer these questions. i’m quite happy not to know the doctors name (let’s be honest, it would be disappointing no matter what it was…) but the reasons behind it? yeah, I am. even the Donna mystery is keeping me guessing. How does she leave the show?

I have to say, the part Donna plays this week was quite good. She gets the normal happy life she never got around to having yet on earth through Virtual Reality. I would of played with that more, have the separation more disastrous and just have her with the Hubby and kids, no questions asked. but I think it worked out okay. The end part where she walks off and just misses the guy was sad. leaves an interesting thought – what would of happened if she saw him?

The part that really bugged me with the whole episode was the dealing with the monsters. It’s all wrapped up so easy – “You have the knowledge of the library, look me up” – “Okay then, I give up”. Just like that? it’s good to see that an whole race of creatures (maybe bad) get to live. i find the reactions of everyone not kicking up a fuss about leaving a little questionable, but a pretty good episode.

Definitely four out of five this week. River totally stole the show this week, and I hope she returns in the near future and is not just a clever cameo.