Monday 13 April 2009

What an Easter - Dr Who, Red Dwarf, a Motorbike and Egg-Shaped Chocolate!

Hello to you all!

Reviews are below. Consider them spoilerful!

So... I know I didn't do one for the Christmas special, but here is: My Dr Who review.

Dr Who - Planet of the Dead

Well, I haven't written a review of anything for ages, so here goes. I liked this Dr Who, liked it a lot. Michelle Ryan was surprisingly un-annoying, I did think I was going to hate her, and the plot made, for the most part anyway, sense.

Lee Evans was almost good. If they hadn't given him stupid comedy falling over bits, he'd have been better, but such is life.

All the support characters were good actually, the bus people and UNIT... and the swarm also were brilliant.

One question though, did we really need the Tritovores?

If this had been old-school Dr Who I'd have seen the point, because you could have strung out the "they could be the baddies" idea for a couple of episodes, but in the fast-moving world of Nu-Who, they were just pointless, existing only so that the Dr could steal bits off their spaceship.

What annoys me more is they were quite good monsters, and I kind of feel they should have been saved for something more.

The flying bus? Well, regardless of the lack of science.. (how would turning the steering wheel cause the bus to turn when none of it has anything to push against?) which I know can all be covered with "the anti-gravity thingys work like that" it was pure RTD Dr Who, and fun. Although, given the rushed post-production of this episode, it was a bit ambitious...

On the whole? 7 out of 10. Maybe 8. Although I think the reason it doesn't get 8 is the ending. Maybe I know too much background information, but the end with the Dr and Christina seemed out of character, and seemed to have been written too much as a "we need to do something but we cannot use the TARDIS because the set is being re-built for HD work".

So, moving on...

RED DWARF: BACK TO EARTH

Before I write this, I would just like to clarify that I have only seen the episodes in 3 different parts, and I am sure that the whole thing would work better back to back, which I shall see tonight on Dave, so this may alter the rating.

PART ONE:

I both loved and seriously disliked this episode, mostly for reasons of "not much happens". There feels to be very little plot in regard to old Dwarf episodes, and I don't think it was the best thing to start the return of the show with.

However, I loved the sets, the acting, and most of the script. Some VERY funny gags.

Once I had watched the third part, part one made more sense.

Things I didn't like? No explanation of how Rimmer died and became a Hologram again, not enough for Cat to do (although that is a running problem in most of Red Dwarf!)

Rating - 7 out of 10

PART TWO

Ironically, the bit I was dreading, Them ending up on Present Day Earth, really gave it a bit of a kick up the arse. Doug Naylor obviously likes writing Rimmers opinions on 21st century culture a little too much though ;)

Some properly laugh out loud funny bits in this.... Rimmer and Katerina on the roadside, priceless! And I liked the Kids on the bus

Rating - 9 out of 10

PART THREE

So, hows it going to work?

The third part, starts with the dreaded Corrie visit, which actually worked quite well, and Craig Charles meeting Lister was priceless.

Visiting the Creator, and the entire typewriter sequence was hilarious.

Loved the Chinatown street run.

In fact, I loved it all, until the revelation about what caused it...

But then, they saved it for me again. Firstly with the appearance of Chloe Annett :) And secondly with the wonderfully funny corridor scene at the end.

Rating - 8 out of 10

TOTAL TRILOGY RATING - 8 out of 10

This may change once I have watched them all back to back.

Other good stuff - I have a motorbike! YAY! May put pictures up soon.

And I'm eating easter eggs. Mmmmmmm. Tasty.

3 comments:

Sprog said...

was it just me, or was Michelle Ryan horrendously like Lara Croft in doctor who?

Fox89 said...

I'm surprised you were so nice to Red Dwarf mate! I thought it was mostly abysmal. No studio audience hurt it, the premise was just too ridiculous (even by RD standards), and the lack of Rob Grant from the writing meant the humour was almost completely reduced to just Rimmer.

Pretty much agree with Doctor Who though. But why must EVERY would-be companion kiss the doctor? We get it! David Tennant is hot! Move on! XD

Brawny said...

I have to say Fox, that I completely disagree with most of your comments :P

Yes Red Dwarf is a different beast without Rob Grant, less rapid-fire gags, but it's the same scenarion we were in for seasons seven and eight... and I (against everyone else in the world) liked those. Particularly season 8.

The plot too ridiculous? Not really... no more so than many other episodes....

As for lack of humour, yes Cat was underplayed, and Kryten too a little, but Lister and Rimmer both held their own :)

Although the funniest gag in the show does belong to Rimmers question about ethics of killing a hologram.... :)