Morales Joins Caprica

Posted on by Chris McQuillan

Esai Morales, best known as Major Beck on Jericho, has joined the cast of SCI FI Channel’s two-hour pilot for Caprica, the proposed television prequel to Battlestar Galactica, according to The Hollywood…

Doctor Who: Series 4: The Poison Sky

Posted on by Gateway

David Tennant as \'Doctor Who\'In-brief:

Wow.

(Very) In-depth:

I’m a little bit shocked actually. I just sat down and watched the second of a two-part episode of Doctor Who, and not only did it manage to build upon the first episode, with no stone left not fully unturned, it did so in a way that was, quite simply, brilliant.

Plot; Martha has been cloned, the Sontarans are flooding the world with somekind of poisonous gas, Donna’s granddad is being poisoned to death by said gas and the Doctor, and UNIT, stand helpless…

…but not for long.

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Doctor Who: Series 4: The Sontaran Stratagem

Posted on by Gateway

Tennant and JonesIn brief:

Someone’s back! Oh! And it’s good!

In-depth:

So far with this series, there has not been a single episode I wouldn’t want to go back and watch again. I’ve got the DVDs for Series 3, but quite frankly, I tend to skip the Shakespeare episode (I feel the need to point out I had to think for a few long moments before I remember what the second episode was…), skip the first 20 odd minutes of ‘Gridlock’… With this collection, I could quite happily just sit back, and let the DVD play all of them.

And this episode is no exception.

Plot! A mysterious academy looms and a journalist is thrown from the building, ranting about how ATMOS is somekind of conspiracy… her death by her car driving into a river with the doors locked, is seemingly arranged by the satellite navigation device in her car, the ATMOS previously mentioned.

Onboard the TARDIS, Donna learns how to pilot, and the Doctor receives a phone call. Except it’s not his phone. It’s Martha Jones’, and only one person promised to ring that number…

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Doctor Who: Series 4: Planet of the Ood

Posted on by Gateway

OodIn brief: Solid storytelling.

In-depth: Okay. Now this is a curious little Doctor Who tale.

I simply can’t fault how beautiful this episode looked; the CGI effects of the snow covered planet, the interior and exterior designs of the Oodsphere complex… it was an alien planet that looked and felt like an alien planet! The design team here did some fantastic work.

Back to the story though, as it transpires, the Ood were a docile race that humans found and decided to take of; to educate as one character within the episode calls it. We know something has gone wrong though from the opening scene where one of the humans running the Ood servants company is murdered by the Ood who serves him. One who has a familiar looking red colour to his eye… The Doctor and Donna arrive and quickly the Doctor determines that the Ood are somehow being controlled by an outside force again – it simply isn’t in their nature to kill.

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Doctor Who: Series 4: Partners in Crime

Posted on by Gateway

David Tennant stars as the current Doctor.In brief:

Fun with good gut kick.

In-depth:

Russell T. Davies. I think what this man has done to Doctor Who, is absolutely nothing short of fantastic. He brought back to life a series which had been thought gone, and has helped to turn it into the powerhouse it is today with a strong guiding hand.

For that I am extremely thankful because it’s brought an element of fun to Saturday nights in front of the tv that hasn’t been there for a good while. All that said, I will freely admit I’m not entirely sure he’s the best person to write episodes of Doctor Who. I think, although he has brilliant ideas and themes, the execution gets a little bit mixed up sometimes.

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