Celebrate, Regenerate: Book Review

I'm back, with a vengeance and this time I'm reviewing a book celebrating 50 years of 'Doctor Who' written by the fans of the show, all edited by Lewis Christian in a very well made tome which is a fitting tribute to the show.

Each page of this book is devoted to one story of the show and now I'm not going to pick any particular articles as all the ones I have read have been made with the love of the show in mind and it certainly does show. Surprisingly this book also covers some extra material like sketches and charity specials and I've even learnt some scenes from 'The Curse of Fatal Death' which didn't make the final cut that I never knew of before and I find that particular interesting, even more surprising is that some brave soul has managed to write an article on one of the many failed attempts of a 'Doctor Who' video game and that is 'Destiny of the Doctors'.

The design and layout of the book would make people think that this was an official book as each page is very well displayed with each author's work laid out in a way so it's easy to see what they have done and you won't have a hard time finding any particular author's work, included in most of these pages is artwork from different artists which are done in various styles as well which is also a welcome sight.

Another highlight of this book is the interviews with some of the people involved in the show such as Anneke Wills (Who played Polly in the series) and Joseph Lidster (Writer of the Big Finish story Master and Torchwood: A Day in the Death), it also has a section on the popular 'Doctor Who' themed band 'Chamelion Circuit' so this book has a bit of everything for the fans. This is a good book to show to your friends and relatives, even more so if you were involved and personally I feel glad to be part of it too.

Unlikely but interesting Doctor Who Spin Offs

After watching Tomb of the Cybermen, a thought had occurred to me: What potential yet unlikely Doctor Who spin off shows could there be? Here are a few ideas:

Peter Haydon: Adventures of a Cautious Archaeologist

There are a lot of potential spin off series from the entire crew of archaeologists from the Tomb of the Cybermen, but I have never seen a more cautious archaeologist than Peter Haydon, you could argue that Viner was more cautious, but he did end up as a paranoid wreck when he was killed whereas Haydon was worried for the safety of everybody else, including the Doctor and his companions which I find a bit odd, he did stick out early on when they are about to discover the Tomb entrance as he didn't look to be part of the group. does Haydon have a secret agenda? Sadly since he was killed at the end of the first episode, we will never find out, it's odd that everybody was shocked when he was killed yet almost totally ignored when he was alive. Maybe Big Finish could make a prequel series?

Carry On Meddling

It would be a fun idea to have a meddling Monk spin off, a comedic Carry On like spin off featuring the likes of Sid James and Kenneth Williams and the odd guest appearance from William Hartnell just to show it's not all death and destruction in the Doctor Who universe and it could be classed as a sort of official Carry On/Doctor Who crossover since there are a lot of actors who have been in both series it sounds like a marriage made in heaven.

Thals: War of the Daleks

I'm surprised that neither the BBC or Big Finish had ever thought of a Thal spin off following on from Planet of the Daleks, mind you they may have but the Terry Nation estate probably stopped it. The Thals in Planet of the Daleks were very well developed character wise is seems such a shame they were never followed on into a series of their own. It could have been popular since it would have primarily involved Thals fighting Daleks, lots of Daleks.

Ace

If the Sarah Jane Adventures continued, they would have seen the return of Ace (According to DWM) which would have been brilliant but sadly it never happened and yet it feels as if Steven Moffat has forgotten about poor Ace, we never see her depart (But you can read it, it's not a pleasant departure but she does return) and all we know is that she runs a charity called A Charitable Earth (ACE) which is a far cry from the Dalek killing marine which was described in the New Adventures novels. Let's face it, Ace, Bazooka and Daleks makes a good spin off.

Doctor Who: The Claws of Axos DVD Review

I must confess something, this is the only Doctor Who story that I think is very disturbing and to a certain degree, scary, seriously if you don't think the idea of an alien parasite coming to your planet and consuming all life is disturbing then either A) You are too scared to admit it or B) You are Axos (The actual alien, not Bernard Holley). I find it odd that it's rated a U as well since it does say Sci-Fi Horror at the back and there is a lot of visually horrific moments in the story. I did also do a sort of literal review/commentary on twitter as I was watching the story at the same time (Search #TheClawsOfAxos for that) but this time I am going to do this properly.

We start off with some ominous shots of Axos in space with a small scene in between with two people discovering the alien on their radar which is accompanied by some equally ominous music which goes well with the story (Not that I like it that much). After that we are introduced to Mr. Chinn (Played by Peter Bathurst) who plays the bad corporate guy type (Think Carter Burke from the film Aliens) and American agent Bill Filer (Played by Paul Grist) who I must admit have very little idea why he is involved as his motives are never properly explained and who he works for as well. I find it odd how the Doctor has some sort of attitude problem in this story, we know he is fed up of his exile but this is the only occasion where we see him like this. The Brigadier takes a back seat in this story, he seems more reduced to a plot device to get the story moving rather than being a heavily UNIT based story. We are also introduced to what could be possibly the funniest character in Doctor Who ever who goes by the name of Pigbin Josh who's entire vocabulary consists of "Ooh Arr!", believe me this has to be seen to be believed, unfortunately he is the first to be consumed by Axos, shame really as it would have been funny to make a spin off series of his adventures.

The Master also takes the back seat in this story with more or less the same purpose as the Brigadier, which in turn does have it's fair share of plot holes like why did Axos interrogate the Doctor on time travel mechanics when they have the Master? Plot holes aside this is still a very well made story and a technically ambitious one as well with some scenes having tons of CSO and other camera/visual effects that look like they may have been taken off Top of the Pops, to create something that resembles some sort of really disturbingly bad acid trip which makes it all the more horrific. Axos itself is an intriguing monster, a being that can create avatars of the race it encounters to make it look more friendly than it actually is, I think the phrase "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts" seems suitable for this story as they offer Axonite, a chameleon of the elements as they say that can solve any food and energy crisis, in reality it does the opposite, it leeches energy off it's host in this case it's Earth.

The leading Axon, brilliantly played by Bernard Holley, does make you feel edgy on first sight and makes you think can you believe what he is saying or not, as his character background has more plot holes than this story but we don't need to worry about it. Unlike most of the monsters and villains in Doctor Who (Specifically the new series), Axos feels a lot less like some cliché monster looking and acting unconvincingly. There are many layers to the character of Axos as you watch further on in the story, we get to go into what Axos is really like as it starts off by acting like an innocent being and we see gradually find out that it's intentions are far from innocent. All of this is helped by Bernard Holley's acting as he does sound very menacing and unforgettable as the voice of Axos and it does create a very credible feeling of fear when he interrogates the Doctor and threatens to age Jo Grant to death.

Another thing that interested me in this story is the unpredictable nature of the second half of the story with the Master given a decision to either destroy Axos with the Doctor and Jo still inside it or let Axos destroy the world and also the Doctor seemingly betray his friends and leaves Earth with the Master, both of these do end up differently than what you expect and that's another part of how this story works well. So if you have yet to see this story, or any classic Doctor Who story (If you haven't then why are you reading this? Go out and get this now!), I would recommend this as it's something different, a decent story that avoids some of the common clichés you would expect to see in a Doctor Who story and this story is overlooked by the other more recognisable Jon Pertwee stories.

I do wonder why it took about 40 years(!) for the sequel though, it could make a record as to how long it took to make a sequel and a good sequel at that.

Story:            9/10

Doctor Who: Day of the Daleks DVD Review

Here we have the most anticipated Doctor Who this year, this particular story in particular has a special edition version which includes new effects, CGI and new specially shot material as well as the original version of the story so unlike what George Lucas has done with Star Wars, you do get your moneys worth, nothing significant has been altered although some may complain of a situation which may be similar to "Who shot first?" when the Orgrons attack Auderly House and the Doctor tries to follow the Resistance whilst being attacked by Orgrons, I won't spoil the part for those who have yet to see it but it's in the special edition version.

The story itself is a good one since it deals heavily with various aspects of time travel as the story switches from the 20th century to the Dalek occupied 22nd century, the Daleks themselves feel like a last minute decision by the producers which in reality they were since this story never had Daleks in the first place. The Resistance are a very well developed characters and the preformances are believable and their story of going back in time to kill one man because they believe he started WWIII but in fact the resistance themselves caused it by going back there in the first place, put simply they are caught in a time paradox which is a really good turning point in the story that is not an easy subject in the science fiction genre to make a story with, but it works, just like in James Cameron's "The Terminator" where Kyle Reece went back in time to save John Connor's mother which in turn Kyle turns out to be the father to John Connor.

The character of the Controller is also an interesting one as he is essentially a middle man as he obeys orders from the Daleks but deep down he also has a soft spot for the resistance despite what he and his family have done since he eventually believed that the Doctor and Jo Grant can go back and change history which shows a good change of character since the beginning of the story when he had no idea who the Doctor and Jo were. the story behind the 22nd century is also very interesting but grim with the Daleks turning Earth into a factory, extracting all the minerals and using the humans as slaves.

The extras in this release on the whole have been very good. There is a very good making of the special edition which goes into detail on what has changed in this version. There is a light hearted look at the locations used in the story in Now and Then. An unusual but interesting feature called Cheating the Memory which is about how a childs view of Doctor Who has changed when you are an adult. Then there is a feature that has divided opinion of fans which is the UNIT Dating Conundrum which focuses on how screwed up the timeline is on the adventures with UNIT. On the same subject on UNIT is the UNIT Family part II which is an affectionate look back on the UNIT adventures with the cast and crew involved. There are also clips from Nationwide and Blue Peter as well as a behind the scenes of the original version of the story and a look in the "Gallery" at the BBC TV Center with the producer of this story and the vision mixer.

Story (Original):           8/10
Story (Special):            6/10
Extras:                        7/10