I Voted Saxon!

Wow. One week left.

This week after our strange flashback moment and this and that, we really get our one last cliffhanger before it’s all over for good. The last time we see that LOST title and wonder “what’s to come next week??” hmm….

Then why at this point are they frustrating me??

Don’t get me wrong, I like the whole “source” of the island, even the whole Jacob/Smokey angle. That flashback ep was well done. Why do they make Ben and Charles’ wrap up stories so bad??

Some weeks ago, we got an excellent moment with Ben Linus. Almost a redemption of sorts. Since his birth, he’s been through hell because of this island. Maybe it’s time to realise all the mistakes his made because of the island’s.. The killings, the lies, the deaths… Then why hasn’t he learned anything?

Okay, yes I know he lost his daughter and all (mind you, not his REAL daughter, but anyways..) but apart from a brief mention this week, she’s been ignored in the storyline since last year. All of a sudden he thinks in the last moments of last weeks eps “to hell with the greater good, i have some petty squabble to fix”. Yes, the passion of the moment can cloud anyone’s judgement, but it was done in such a cold, calculated  way it’s not like it was even upsetting him. Maybe that’s more to do with Michael Emerson?’s acting style. Who knows… It just feels like that moment on the beach, standing by himself wanting to be part of that group (a perfectly shot moment) was for nothing. Never mind Charles Widmore’s death… After all that planning, all that buildup for him to return to the island, he’s killed off within seconds, like the writers ran out of ideas for him now he got to Othersville. It’s kinda weak.

Let’s use an example from another Scifi show, Deep Space Nine. Gul Dukat, played by the wonderful Marc Alaimo. Probably one of the best bad guys created for TV (tied with Al from Deadwood, but that’s another non scifi story,,,) he goes from supporting character, to baddie, to good guy to downright evil by the end of the 7 year run. The thing with his character, it wasn’t a pathetic WWE double cross or anything like that, at all times the character believed what he was doing was right. All the best bad guys believe it. During the series when he loses his position of leader due to his illegitimate half Bajoran daughter, he becomes an un-easy ally of some sorts to the Humans of the show, as he continues to fight the evil Dominion for the good of the empire. By the end of the series, he goes full on whackjob crazy not because “ahh shock! tricked you!”, more due to the fact that he has a mental breakdown due to the death of his daughter. If you’ve never seen DS9 and love clever scifi, give it ago… and mind the spoilers

The problem I have is the surprise twist in Lost is that it doesnt feel that real to me… He’s been betrayed by the island for not being that important. He never gets acceptance from Jacob in all his years which leads him to his mistake of killing the island’s protector. He receives acceptance somewhat with the remaining Losties (and the rest of the hangers on left over). After all he’s done to them all, they’re still willing to take him in while they’re busy running for their lives from Flocke. And yet he sides with Smokey at the end?

Maybe the creators are trying to tell us that deep inside Ben is a truly flawed man and can never learn from his mistakes, or he’s got an ace up his sleeve and the death of his old nemesis was just a bonus. Well, one more week to find out anyway

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.

SPOILERS, As usual…

In which we see Kate’s story as a girl on the run again, and Sayid finally gets a taste of his own medicine..

Deep breath, Claire. You’re about to go into Labour. AGAIN.

So this week we return to the flash-sideways? Is that a good way of putting it? Kate and Claire are in the taxi running for their lives and as soon as we get rid of the unimportant taxi man, it’s all about them. What I think they’re doing with these sideways stories is showing us a more “what if”, alternative universe, much like the new Star Trek movie and that their lives wouldn’t have been that much different if their plane didn’t crash. It begs the question “if that’s so, how did Jack etc end up back in the current day?” but even I scratch my head at that one. Best way I think.

I mean, look at it. The adopted couple end up not being able to keep the baby and Claire ends up going into premature labour. Apart from a nice little cameo from Ethan, or Dr. Goodspeed (obviously the Rom surname was a pseudonym of some sort) Claire decides to keep the baby and Kate ends up caring for Claire way more than she should.

I have to say, I have to giggle about poor old Artz copping it episode after episode. He must be a character the writers delight on making him suffer.

Back in the original timeline?? Sayid comes back from the dead and he gets a red hot poker, and some electrodes on the nipples, and DEFINITELY not in the kinky way. I mean, Sayid’s alright, but it would of been a nice moment where he goes “now I know how they all felt…” or something like that. Sawyer cops a brief comment before leaving, but he’s gone by the time the event happens. As for magical Sayid? The Gods champions? Claire playing for the “white” side (or if Jacob IS the good side) and Sayid being on the “black”, or Smokey’s side. The rest of that story was drawn way out as the whole group go “woah” and Jack and The mysterious Chinese guy get into a pissing competition about who is cooler and whatnot. Withholding information this late in the game?? Better start coughing up the answers soon, boys, we’ve only got one season left….

As for Sawyer, you really get the sense that he truly has lost everything. Finally finds love in Juliet and he gets it cruelly taken away from him. Kate follows out of a sense of… what? Love still? She says to Sawyer the reason she came back was for Claire, but you can tell from her reactions earlier with Jin (who also left the temple, looking for Sun in (of course) a later episode) and her tears when Sawyer and her have a little talk that I think Kate still has some feelings for our Western boy. My guess is that something happens with Juliet and Sawyer in the alternate timeline, I mean he’ll bump into Kate in some very too convenient way but by the end of the season, they’ll be happy in some way or another..

All in all, not a bad episode. There was less shock in this episode around, more of a building up to things. Poor ol’ Hurley maybe gets two words to bleat out (and while Jack admits that he didn’t save Sayid, he never tells him it was Big Hugo… Poor guy … Props where Props are due…) and the present day Claire reveal right at the very end probably will be a tease for another couple of weeks…

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

Everyone needs to see this. Bill Hicks, if you don’t know, is probably one of the best comedians ever to grace this Earth before his early demise. Sometimes I wish he was still here, I would of loved to have heard his thought on the latest Bush Administration and what they got into. I just know he would of been one of the first to speak out. Listening to some of his comedy routines you’d be surprised to know he’s actually talking about Bush Senior..

Anyways, he was known for his non-censorship. He liked to swear, he liked to say his mind which makes one of his last stand ups wasn’t even aired on Letterman’s show, it left some bad feelings between the two, who were mates as far as i can tell with what I read online.

I suppose this is what makes this clip online even more amusing. For the overseas people, the show “Hey Hey It’s Saturday” started as a early morning kids tv show. Eventually throughout the years before its cancellation it became prime time’s family friendly lite entertainment variety hour (actually couple of hours at it’s height). I remember reading somewhere (I think it was Helen Razor’s book) that the host Daryl Somers told the audience not to clap after UK’s Reef demolished the set after a particularly excited performance of one of their songs. (he said “don’t clap at them. they are on drugs.” or something to that effect) You can tell why I find Bill’s appearance on this show all the more amusing. You have to say though, even not swearing the man is funny.

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.

First, the funeral. Yes, It was sad but done in a nice way. The family didn’t want everyone bawling all day so my uncle got a nice send off. A few stories, even a few swear words let slip during the eulogies. That’s Australia for you. Thanks everybody for all your support either through twitter, FB or whatever. It means a lot.

Been home for the day. Apart from the general chaotic shambles of getting everything back into swing with work and the Mildura life, I managed to watch two episodes of TV tonight. Geez I’m pretty far behind. There’s Eureka, Heroes has just restarted, Fringe is keeping me interested and I just found out through a few peoples blogs that the new series of The Sarah Jane Adventures started again! I missed that one. Bad Terry!

I got to watch -

Rush

Despite its identical name, this is nothing like that black and white TV show The Late Show took the piss out of back in the 90s. This is a new cop show on Channel 10. And, I have to say I like it. There’s not much depth to it, but it’s gritty, the tech seems to be up to date and there’s a few actors from Underbelly on this as well. The first episode consisted of one of the cops beating up a father for attempting to drive his children over a cliff because he lost custody. Instead of say, getting the nasty father causing problems, he and the children are forgotten about and it focuses on the police and the new police officer sent down to take over. The lady is more “by the book” than the rest of them and of course there’s clashes.

There doesn’t seem to be much of a continuing plot from week to week, well, after the pilot anyway. I do like the action scenes. There’s a great attempt at the beginning of the episode that remind me of the “jumping” scene during Casino Royal that would of taken them quite a while. There’s also the little things – the computer whizz who is always on hand to check facts and details and monitors them constantly through a small camera every cop wears (I wonder if that part is true?? interesting if it is..) It was well written enough to keep me watching. Can it hold out week after week though? Not just for the acting – the reason I enjoyed East West 101 was also the sub-plots involving the characters pasts. I’d like to see them do something like that. Still, early days.

Kyle XY

It’s very family friendly. The ABC Family logo makes that very apparent, but it’s not that bad. The idea of this genius kid with absolutely NO memory and coming into a family reminded me a little of a tamer, family version of John From Cincinnati (jeez I wish that wasn’t cancelled…) but it’s not too bad at all. At it’s always good to see Teryl from Stargate in another show. And you can tell from the get go, there’s something fishy going on. Just hope it’s not too wussy and teenage as it goes on.

Martha. Rose. Sarah Jane. Every other character who is available? Check.

Russell T Davies crams as much as he can for the two part finale. He may not be leaving for another year, but I think this the concluding chapter to his four years on the show. And it’s a pretty good one too. I wouldn’t say it was prefect, but getting all the characters from the spin offs together, throwing out so many references to past stories – It’s all here. Even a second Doctor! I didn’t see that coming. I knew the regeneration would be quickly brushed off but didn’t expect that.

However, Rose continues to annoy me. Here we are, trying to be told that Rose has grown up, she doesn’t need the Doctor any more. Part One all she does is pine for him (although their initial meet up before the cliffhanger was a great moment) and when she finally gets back, she turns into child mode again. Not any more mature, still pining after the Doctor, so much so she’s given a spare Doctor. That was “interesting”, to say the least. Here’s a question, he’s meant to be an identical copy, if a little more angrier, slightly human. You think he’d like to be stuck on one planet? Living a normal life? Don’t think so. And what about Mickey? He doesn’t even get a farewell scene with Rose, I thought that was interesting. His scene with Jackie was probably the sweetest moment – “I’m going to miss you the most”. Awww. At least the rumours of a Torchwood with Martha and Mickey are probably true. We may see these two in the Whoniverse again, but I think that’s the end of the Tylers. Sad, really. I thought Rose would get a better send off than that. I was expecting her death actually.

Donna is the hero in this piece. Her DoctorDonna link was clever, and it was brilliant seeing her becoming more like him. The end with her back to the way she used to be was a little sad. I would of liked to have seen a little moment with maybe not her remembering anything, but a glimpse at her slightly changed for the better. Doctor’s moment with her grandfather was great. Shame we won’t see him again. And his moment with her mum – “try telling her that once in a while” – great to see that my main criticism of Turn Left was addressed.

Davros wasn’t that bad. Still the same old madman, although the weapon reminded me a little of the universe killer from the Big Finish Dalek Empire episode, which name completely escapes me. I think laughing Dalek Caan and his twist to the good side at the end was the best. Seeing what the Daleks really were was a top moment. And no reset switch! Thank god for that!!!

I have to give this episode 4 out of 5. I really think this episode could of done with another five or so minutes, it was very fast. That moment where all the companions all around the TARDIS saving the day was one of the best scenes from the series so far. Well done Russell. You may have had your weak moments and I am looking forward to Stephen Moffatt, but you started a show we thought long gone and made it a success again.

Life at the moment is having it’s ups and downs. Feeling kinda invisible at the moment, in life and online, but what can you do. People have their things, I get that. I can’t wait to go back for my weekend home. If only to see the family, should be a good time to get away from it all. Thinking holiday planning needs happening soon.

Better news however, got a phone call from the boss today. As well as a pay rise, we’re also getting new phones. We’ve had these LG CU500s for as long as the Telstra fools changed over from CDMA to 3G here in Australia. 1.2 megapixel camera, lousy battery life, a ringtone that starts soft and gets louder (and rings 5 times if your lucky). Terrible phone that I wouldnt wish upon my enemies. Dad calls me and says “I’m sorry, but the best I could do was a N95. It’ll have to do…”

Yes, he was serious. He really had no idea.

We’ll all probably have to get bluetooth earpieces for the time being, but that doesn’t bother me at all. I like the things, just my last one either hated this phone (which wouldn’t surprise me) or just a dodgy cheapo.

I also had a workmate here the other night, a quick stay on his way to Melbourne for training. Great guy, but very quiet. Difficult trying to start a conversation with the guy sometimes, he’s into classical music, chess and linux systems I’ve never even heard of. I mean, I’m geeky but this is beyond my knowledge. Luckily we both agreed on a show to watch that we both liked (and being free to air, not a lot that is good as well) – Top Gear.

I’ve grown up in a family of rev-heads. My father used to be into rally driving. My uncle and cousin have collector cars that are worth a mint. I have another uncle who only just finished working at the local Holden dealership in my home town. I mean, I like a nice car, but I’ve never been into them. And yet, I really really enjoy this show. Mainly because it’s not just about fast and beautiful cars. There’s a lot of humour in the show, whether it’s some bizarre competition across Botswana or the many strange introductions for the Stig, even watching the celebrities destroying their reasonably priced car. It looks like they have a lot of fun and it makes the show even more enjoyable. I’m currently watching the new episodes from the UK and the ones showing in Australia which are a year old. I’m not too sure if the Australian version will work though. Sure, it will be about local cars and they might have a decent budget but if it’s not as fun, it’s just another car show. And the presenters are unknowns to me. I was really hoping they’d get at least one moderately known celeb for the show. Someone with a bit of car knowledge, of course. There’s gotta be a few out of job presenters presently that love their cars, don’t you think?

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.