Kopic's Doctor Who & Torchwood News |
| Posted: 06 May 2008 11:47 AM CDT Those Sontarans, eh? If they're not fighting the Rutans, they're colonising planets to use the unhabitants as target practice to help in their fight against the Rutans. And if they're not fighting the Rutans or colonising planets to use the inhabitants as target practice in their fight against the Rutans, they're turning planets into cloning worlds to breed billions more Sontarans for their fight with the Rutans. And that was their stratagem this time. The Sontarans tricked young genius...  | ||
| Posted: 06 May 2008 10:02 AM CDT Classic series actor Bernard Archard has died at the age of 91. Archard created two memorable roles in the series. In 1966 he played the role of Bragen, the security chief seeking complete control of a colony of humans on the planet Vulcan, in Patrick Troughton's first story, The Power of the Daleks. He returned to the series in 1975 to create the classic role of Marcus Scarman in the Tom Baker story Pyramids of Mars a story highly rated by fans....  | ||
| The Poison Sky - AI and Digital Ratings Posted: 06 May 2008 08:48 AM CDT Episode five of series four, The Poison Sky, achieved an Appreciation Index of 88. Not only one of the highest scores in the series history, but the joint highest score for the weekend on any of the five main channels. With overnights now available for the whole week, Doctor Who is currently the 19th most watched programme of the week. Final figures will be released by BARB in 9 days time. Saturday's edition of Doctor Who Confidential was watched...  | ||
| Posted: 06 May 2008 08:15 AM CDT  According to the ratings, the Sontaran two-parter has really not done as well as other episodes. The first part came in with 6.4 million viewers and was beaten by ITV's Britain's Got Talent which had 9.4 million, and the second part fared even worse with 5.9 million and was again beaten by ITV which had 8.5 million. One way of reading this sort of trend is that people aren't that excited by Doctor Who any more and would rather watch brainless people be insulted by so-called 'celebrities' ... and also that the first part of the story was not gripping enough for people to want to watch the second part ...This broadly matches my own feelings about it. I talked last time about the sense of having seen it all before, the familiarity and the ennui which set in on watching the episode ... well the second part really failed to do much to change my mind. What it did do was to jettison the elements which were interesting in the first part (the clone plot mainly), and replace them with lots of soldiers running around, shooting guns and getting killed ... which doesn't really cut it these days. So we're back in the fray and Wilf has collapsed in a car. I think we are really struggling when the cliff hanger revolves around someone we have met only a couple of times in the series being trapped in a car! Luckily Donna's mum has the brains and also a handy axe (something that every home in leafy Croydon owns) and she smashes the front window to get Wilf out. Meanwhile clone Martha (C-Martha from now on) downloads UNIT's security protocols to a PDA and is able to control the launching of a nuclear strike from there ... just nod and smile and ignore the ludicrousness of this as a concept and go with it, okay? Oh no ... now we have the almost obligatory fake news broadcasts with 'real' newsreader Kirsty Wark in a head to head battle with 'fake' US correspondent Lachele Carl as to who can sound the most ominous in close up. The news out of the way and in Helen Raynor's Big Book of Scriptwriting it says that we now need to split everyone up, so Donna goes back to the TARDIS for no reason and is promptly transported to the Sontaran ship in space. The Doctor meanwhile is suspicous of C-Martha and wants to talk to the Sontarans, so he opens a channel to them. Donna can also see this exchange on the TARDIS screen (but misses Rose shouting the Doctor's name for a second before the Sontarans appear - a nice moment and for once fairly subtle). Questions here ... how did the Doctor know that C-Martha would get the TARDIS transported, that Donna would watch the screen or that the TARDIS would even be able to pick up the signal? Never mind. So the Doctor tells Donna to use the phone ... but she's mystified, not knowing who to call. So she calls her mum and has a cry at her down the line. Doesn't ask Sylvia or Wilf to contact UNIT, doesn't try ringing anyone else who might be able to help ... fairly useless really. But we're losing track of all our characters ... and the Big Book says we need to keep flicking between them now. So back to Luke Rattigan and his followers. I was wondering why they were following him? He's an annoying brat-like clever dick. Why would anyone follow him? Rattigan unveils his real plan, to go to another planet and start the human race anew with his faithful few. Yup, he's barking. So they all leave him. This is also shades of 'Operation Golden Age' from 'The Invasion of the Dinosaurs' back in 1973, only it was better realised and integrated into the plot back then. UNIT prepare to blast the Sontarans out of the skies using missiles fired from all around the world at the same moment. But they wouldn't all arrive at the same time, and some are on the other side of the Earth from the Sontaran ship. There's some very dodgy planning going on here. Suddenly there are hundreds of Sontarans in the ATMOS building - I assume they did teleport there after all, so why were their little space balls flying around in the previous episode? What need would they have to do that? Of course, when the Sontarans attack, the troops' guns don't work ... so the troops get slaughtered. Why would a warlike race with an ethos built on honour think it was good form to disarm your opponent and then to kill them - now that is cowardly. Hang on ... we've missed something! Ah, where is the Brigadier in all this? Don't worry, the Big Book says that all references to Doctor Who's long history can be dropped in as throwaway lines, and so we learn that the Brig is 'stranded' in Peru. Well that's okay then. Luke realises that the Sontarans have betrayed him, but, actually, we don't really care as the subplot about going to another planet was so badly nailed to the rest that even the people involved hadn't been told about it until too late. So what does Luke do? Return to his Acadamy and cry. Poor baby. The Doctor phones Donna on a phone borrowed from one of the UNIT folk, and yet she answers it knowing it is him. How? That's some impressive caller display. The Doctor gets her to leave the safety of the TARDIS and reactivate the teleports (having assumed in another leap of deduction that the Sontarans had disabled it). Along the way, Catherine Tate forgets she is supposed to be acting and lapses into pseudo Lauren-mode with a pithy 'Shut up' to the Doctor. I wince when these lapses happen. We had a 'Why did you call me miss? Do I look like a miss?' in the Ood episode, and various other pronouncements which are just so bad. I find it hard to believe we've not had an 'Am I bovvered?' yet, but I just feel in my bones that we will get it one week. What else is happening? Ah yes, UNIT don gasmasks and the Doctor quips 'Are you my mummy?' to hilarious applause from the continuity brigade, and then the Valiant (more applause) descends from the skies and in true Thunderbirds style, uses its engines to blow the poison gas away from the area. Then the Valiant fires on the factory. Hang on. While we're doing continuity, in 'The Christmas Invasion' didn't UNIT use a powerful ray weapon to blow the retreating Sycorax ship to smithereens. Why not use that now against the Sontaran ship? With new guns that work, the troops renew their assault on the Sontarans and gain ground. Interesting that the Sontaran's body armour is not bulletproof. Something of an oversight methinks. The Doctor and C-Martha (still using her PDA to stop UNIT from launching the missiles) head to the still-deserted basement, and find the clone tank. The Doctor knew C-Martha wasn't real all along as her iris response was wrong, she had thinning hair on her left temple, and she smelt of clone! So he frees the real Martha from the machine and C-Martha collapses. While the Doctor rewires the Teleport while on the phone to Donna like some sort of mad Teleport help line, Martha talks with C-Martha who takes an age to die. And the music is rubbish here as well - I really don't like the music in this story, it's all wrong, being intrusive and just naff for most of the time. C-Martha reveals that the gas is clone feed and the Doctor realises that this has been the Sontarans' plan all along, to convert Earth into a clone world. But he knows how to stop it. The Doctor rescues Donna, gets the TARDIS sent back to Earth and teleports to the Rattigan Acadamy where he uses the lab to build an atmosphere converter which Rattigan had the parts for as he was planning to do the same to the new world once he and his acolytes arrived there. As Staal orders the ATMOS systems in the cars to full power (why weren't they on full power anyway?) the Doctor, to music which sounds like very light hearted Tim Burton, launches a flare into the sky from the atmosphere converter and sets the atmosphere on fire! The flames engulf the Earth ... but strangely not a single person is apparently harmed as the gas and atmosphere burns explosively. Then it's all over and the flames clear to reveal a perfect human atmosphere again. So who turned the ATMOS system off in all the cars? Why didn't they just continue belching out the clone feed? Finally, we get stupid 'triumphant' music as the Earth rejoices that it is saved. So now the Doctor teleports back to the Sontaran ship with the atmosphere converter to burn it away unless the General leaves. So the air on the Sontaran ship is different from on Earth? How did Donna and Luke breath when on board? Staal prepares to blast the Earth and kill everyone on the planet. Why he didn't do that first and avoid all the problems with Rattigan and complex plots involving ATMOS and factories and whatnot is beyond me. With a deserted planet they could have converted the atmosphere in their own time with no resistance. Unfortunately for the Doctor, rather than offering any defence, the Sontarans launch into another victory Haka until Luke manages to swap places with the Doctor and detonate the converter himself, blowing the Sontarans and their ship to smithereens. So peace is returned to the Earth and people apparently can now deactivate and remove the ATMOS devices from their cars - if it was that simple ...? The Doctor, Martha and Donna return to the TARDIS, with Donna being told to go off by Wilf, who is, I think, head and shoulders the best new character this season. Cribbins manages not to play him for laughs, and has built a believable character who you can really empathise with. I wish we could ditch the annoying Sylvia and just have Wilf as Donna's link with Earth. At the very end ... possibly the best part of the episode. Another cliffhanger. Boy I missed these and I loved this one. Very much shades of the first Doctor and how his stories ran one into the next. Martha is all set to leave but the doors to the ship slam closed and the TARDIS is off again, but apparently of its own volition. What a great ending. And next week? Seems to be monsters, a cute blonde, backflips, snogging and ... what? She's the Doctor's daughter!  | ||
| Posted: 06 May 2008 07:57 AM CDT This charming little two-part story from Season 19 has been taking a bit of bashing recently. First from three quarters of the story&os;s main cast in the Black Orchid DVD commentary (which is not yet released in North America)...  | ||
| Dragon releases limited edition Mike Giant Calavera - Global Surf News Posted: 06 May 2008 06:59 AM CDT
 | ||
| 'Dr Who' director admits breaking Tardis Posted: 06 May 2008 05:19 AM CDT Doctor Who director Douglas Mackinnon admits to accidentally breaking the Tardis.  | ||
| HDNet Sets Encore Presentation for BBC’s Torchwood - World Screen News Posted: 06 May 2008 03:24 AM CDT
 | ||
| Jones to star in Little Dorrit on BBC1 - Stage Posted: 06 May 2008 12:12 AM CDT
 | ||
| Mackenzie Crook - News Shopper Posted: 06 May 2008 12:04 AM CDT
 | ||
| Georgia really is Doctor's daughter - Guide and Gazette Posted: 06 May 2008 12:03 AM CDT
 | ||
| Georgia really is Doctor's daughter - Crewe and Nantwich Guardian Posted: 05 May 2008 11:56 PM CDT
 | ||
| Actress Georgia Moffett has told how she destroyed David Tennant's ... - Littlehampton Gazette Posted: 05 May 2008 11:52 PM CDT
 | ||
| Big names in Dickens' classic - TeleText Posted: 05 May 2008 10:38 PM CDT
 | ||
| TISSINGTON WELL DRESSING [WITH PICS] - Derby Evening Telegraph Posted: 05 May 2008 09:21 PM CDT
 | ||
| Posted: 05 May 2008 09:05 PM CDT
 | ||
| Doctor Who's New Girlfriend GIves Good Phone - io9 Posted: 05 May 2008 08:37 PM CDT
 | ||
| Author interview: Richard Baker Posted: 05 May 2008 08:00 PM CDT You've found the latest SFX author interview! Each week we're uploading tips and advice for aspiring writers, based on the features running in the magazine. Whether you're penning a story for our Pulp Idol 2008 competition, or working on your first novel,...  | ||
| Doctor Who 4.5: The Poison Sky - Stage Posted: 05 May 2008 07:42 PM CDT
 | ||
| Jones to appear in BBC Dickens drama - Media Guardian Posted: 05 May 2008 07:37 PM CDT
 | ||
| Sassy, brassy Donna is a match for the Doctor - guardian.co.uk Posted: 05 May 2008 07:00 PM CDT
 | ||
| Doctor Who's real-life daughter dubs Tennant 'the sexiest' Time Lord - Daily Mail Posted: 05 May 2008 06:45 PM CDT
 | ||
| Dannii Minogues secret pain as best friend lost cancer battle - Thaindian.com Posted: 05 May 2008 06:30 PM CDT
 | ||
| Bruce turns action hero in BBC HD ad - Media Guardian Posted: 05 May 2008 06:03 PM CDT
 | ||
| James Moran interview: writing Doctor Who, Torchwood, Severance ... - Den Of Geek Posted: 05 May 2008 05:07 PM CDT
 | ||
| Doctor Who series 4 episode 5 review: The Poison Sky - Den Of Geek Posted: 05 May 2008 05:07 PM CDT
 | ||
| Posted: 05 May 2008 03:58 PM CDT
 | ||
| Dance company joins forces with county council - Knaresborough Today Posted: 05 May 2008 03:07 PM CDT
 | ||
| Posted: 05 May 2008 01:00 PM CDT Radio 4 documentary about the late composer.  | ||
| ‘People are our best asset but they’re an asset in short supply’ - ic Wales Posted: 04 May 2008 03:26 PM CDT
 | ||
| "Sontaran" Director Douglas MacKinnon Interview Posted: 04 May 2008 07:34 AM CDT Today's Sunday Mail carries an interview with Douglas MacKinnon, director of just-broadcast episodes "The Sontaran Stratagem" and "The Poison Sky". Having grown up watching Doctor Who as a young man, and remembering the Sontarans debut appearance in 1972's "The Time Warrior" starring Jon Pertwee and Elisabeth Sladen, directing these episodes was a dream come true for him. "To get a two-parter with Catherine Tate and Freema Agyeman and the Sontarans...  | ||
| Posted: 04 May 2008 07:02 AM CDT As reported in the Telegraph today, leaders at a church conference were encouraged to study Doctor Who and to draw upon the themes that run parallel to Christian doctrine in their sermons as a means of reaching more young people. Andrew Wooding, a spokesman for the Church Army, which organised the conference, said that its intention was to give vicars new ideas for conveying their message. "There are countless examples of Christian symbolism in...  | ||
| The Poison Sky - Overnight Ratings Posted: 03 May 2008 11:25 PM CDT Unofficial figures show that episode five of Series Four, The Poison Sky, was watched by 5.9 million viewers, giving it a 32.5% share of the total television audience. Although dipping below the 6 million mark, the programme was still the second most watched of the day, being beaten by ITV1's Britain's Got Talent, which got 8.5 million viewers. It was the highest rated programme on BBC1 for the day. The programme is currently the 17th most watched...  | ||
| This Week In Doctor Who - May 3, 2008 Posted: 03 May 2008 01:40 AM CDT THIS WEEK IN DOCTOR WHO May 3, 2008 - Vol 11, No 17 The weekly guide to Doctor Who and Sarah Jane broadcasts worldwide. by Benjamin F. Elliott http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thisweekindoctorwho http://groups.yahoo.com/group/torchwood Section A - Everything But The PBS Stations Upcoming premiere broadcasts: Saturday 3 May: LaDeux Belgium 5:10PM CET - The Idiot's Lantern (French) BBC Prime Europe/Middle East 7PM CET - Doomsday, pt 2 BBC One 6:20PM...  | ||
| Posted: 02 May 2008 06:01 AM CDT In BBC Ones Doctor Who tonight The Sontarans activate their masterplan and begin to choke the whole of planet Earth.  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Kopic's Doctor Who and Torchwood News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email Delivery powered by FeedBurner |
Inbox too full?  Subscribe to the feed version of Kopic's Doctor Who and Torchwood News in a feed reader. | |
| If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: Kopic's Doctor Who and Torchwood News, c/o FeedBurner, 20 W Kinzie, 9th Floor, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment