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Doctor Who – Season 6 – Episode 8 – Let’s Kill Hitler Review
DOCTOR WHO SEASON 6 REVIEWS- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Doctor Who is back! It’s a good thing too, since I was starting to go through serious withdraws. The 8000 episodes of Star Trek added to Netflix helped the pain a bit, but it was still a long summer. So did Let’s Kill Hitler deliver? In a word: yes. In two words: F&$* yes! In three words: Yes and No.
Confused? Me too. Although I think this is my second favorite episode this season ( the first being The Doctor’s Wife ) it took several watchings to get me to that conclusion. At first I was just spent by the whole thing emotionally. I bought every red herring hook, line, and sinker, and because of that I couldn’t properly gauge how I felt till at least watch-through number 2.
At any rate, look below for my spoil-filled review.
“You named your Spoilers after your Spoilers.”
THE GOOD
* HITLER IN A CUPBOARD – Although many people cheered and giggled at the announced title “Let’s Kill Hitler” when it appeared in epic bravado at the end of Episode 7 I cringed. I held out hope that the follow up to AGMGTW would be more River/Melody focused, and when the first 10 minutes of this episode seemed to be a standard historical romp with robot Nazi justice soldier I cringed even more. Then Hitler got put in a cupboard, Mels was revealed to be Melody (how did I not see that coming?), and the whole episode become beyond what I was looking for.
* Melody/River – I read somewhere that Russel T. Davies, who got the honor of casting River for her first appearance in the 4th season, originally wanted to cash in a favor to cast Kate Winslet in the part. I doubt the Oscar Winning Winslet would have ever returned had she been cast, and I wonder what the show would even look like now had that been the case. Alex Kingston was brilliant in this episode. It sort of reminded me of watching Buffy the Vampire after Angel lost his soul. We are forced to watch one of our favorite characters as evil, but unlike evil Angel, Melody/River has a certain innocence that comes with the sociopathic tenancies. Plus, she has the greatest line I think I’ve ever heard on Doctor Who “Well, I was on my way to this gay Gypsy bar mitzvah for the disabled when I suddenly thought, “Gosh, the Third Reich’s a bit rubbish. I think I’ll kill the Fuhrer.” Who’s with me?”
* ANTIBODYS – It’s hard not to like an entity that kills you so politely. “Your death will now be implemented. Please enjoy the music while you death party is being reached…”
* TIED UP LIKE A BOW – We get to find out why River didn’t regenerate when she dies in the library. We get to see her first given the diary by the doctor. We get to (I think) see where she hears the Doctor’s name (if that is what he whispers to her as he is dying. We even get the first ever “Hello Sweetie!”
THE BAD
* CONFUSING EMOTIONS – So I am confused, sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way. I still want Rory and Amy to get their baby back. It’s really weird to see Rory and Amy doing so well after there baby was kidnapped so traumatically in AGMGTW, and I hope as we go back into standalone episodes next week that it isn’t just brushed under the rug. At the same time, do I really want them to find the baby? Because if they do then the River Song we know and love might never have existed, Mels wouldn’t have pushed Amy and Rory together, or given them the name to name herself. Again, it is confusing.
THE UGLY
It took the Super Justice Robot Squad that long to check there instruments and find out they were in the wrong year? This seems pretty careless seeing as they had already spent a lot of time and resources killing a dude and assuming his identity. I guess I shouldn’t expect much of the group that thought it was a good idea to make a security system that would kill them if they forgot to wear their WWJD bracelets, but someone is paying a lot of dough for this. Transformers can’t be cheap. Otherwise, we’d all have our own Optimus Prime.
BOLD PREDICTIONS
* You Accept and Know this to be true? So Silence will fall when the big, bold, first question will be asked. The question is said to be in plain sight. So our big question is what is that question? Moffat likes to mess with mistaken dialogue a lot. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that when Robot Amy confronts River/Melody by saying “You killed the Doctor by order of the Silence, the Academy of the Question. You accept and know this to be true?” That it actually meant “the Academy of the Question: You accept and know this to be true?” As in You accept and know this to be true is the question in question, and the “this” refers to all of life.
FINAL SUMMARY
This was River’s episode, and after I knew that, I loved it. When the red car came darting through the corn field I expected River to come out. I was surprised when she didn’t, then surprised when I found out that she really did. We had a lot explained, and next week we get to some creepy stand alone romps, which honest-to-science I am kind of glad for. I have some plot fatigue.
Doctor Who – Season 6 – Episode 7 – A Good Man Goes to War Review
DOCTOR WHO SEASON 6 REVIEWS- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Since I have no good reason or excuse to explain my month long absence from doing anything productive on the internet, let’s just say I fell through a crack in space and time. (The sad truth was more along the lines of me sitting around in boxer shorts with my wife saying “Hey, don’t you have Doctor Who reviews to write and Podcasts to do” and me saying “I don’t wanna, these swiss cake rolls and Blu Rays won’t eat and watch themselves!” and her saying, “But isn’t this the exact rubbish you’d like to get paid for someday?” and me saying…..well nothing constructive with a mouth full of swiss cake roll.
On any account, the mid-season episode was pretty awesome. We even had an end of mid season soiree where my wife made delicious Doctor Who Cookies. Yes Gentlemen: Get Jealous.
I’ve had a lot more time than usual to reflect on “A Good Man Goes to War, which I think has been really helpful to the cause of reviewing it fairly.
A lot happened. A lot was revealed. A lot of my predictions were proved dead wrong. (I could have sworn River was going to turn out to be a sensorite ((that’s for sure a joke, sensorites have those awesome stethoscopes and Abe Lincoln beards).
Let us brave on to the spoiler filled review of “A Good Man Goes to War”….better late than never.
“I have gene-spliced myself for all Spoiling duties. I can produce magnificent quantities of lactic Spoilers!”
THE GOOD
*Rising Higher – As predictable as it was for it to be the Doctor under that third hood, it was really freaking awesome. And how cool was that recruiting sequence when all we see is silhouettes of the TARDIS and Matt Smith? Plus the idea of the Doctor calling in all his favors is a pretty cool one, as more people owe their lives to the Doctor than that Spikey Haired dude that gives away houses on ABC. I wish we could have gotten even more creatures from the past, but I understand the budget reasons for just using what they had lying around. The whole thing was filled with so much bad-assery, which brings me to the next thing….
* RORY IS SO EFFING AWESOME – It’s hard to even put into words the awesomeness that has become Rory. The initial setup is great too, making you think Amy is talking about the Doctor when she’s talking about “The Last Centurion.” The best bit though was the moment when Rory talked to the dying Sontaran nurse. As the Sontaran dies Rory says, “But you’re a great warrior,” and the Sonataran says, “No, Rory, I’m just a nurse,” echoing Rory’s own identity crisis he was probably feeling.
* LIZARD LEZZIES – Some might see this episode as a return of RTD’s “Gay Agenda”, but the show does it so little now it was nice to see a little rainbow in the galaxy again, especially in the case of the awesomely strange Silurian/Human coupling.
THE BAD
* WHAT’S MY MOTIVATION – Still understand very little about why these people care so much about fighting the doctor, or why they need to steal a baby weapon to fight him. I’m hoping it gets revealed later (in Moffat we trust) but I’ve got to say, I’m nervous that Eye Patch lady will never really get fleshed out like I’d like her too.
THE UGLY
*THE WAIT – Seriously…..September? I have to wait until September? *Slits Wrists*
BOLD PREDICTIONS
* A GOOD MAN – This whole season has been about identity, and Moffat has made it his mission for us to constantly mix up the Doctor and Rory. We’ve often assumed that River killing “The Greatest man she ever has known” meant the Doctor, but it could also easily mean her father, Rory. What we know with Moffat is that it won’t be simple, but I am predicting that we will see what put River in prison by the end of episode 12, so that 13 can end on a happy note.
BOLD PREDICTIONS PROVED FALSE
*ITTY BITTY TIMELORD- I think that the little girl is Amy’s Baby (still) and that said baby was engineered by the silence to be the first Time Lord (hence all the stuff with the suit, they had do give her second heart a safe environment to grow). Remember this is all wibly wombly timey wimey. The Doctor could easily take part in his own species’ origin story. And then we would finally know why humans look Timelord.
I made this one in Episode 2….I was actually pretty close, but no ballgame.
* The Only Water in the Forest is a River – These foreboding words of the TARDIS are talking about River’s death, which we have already seen (the library in that original Moffat two-parter was originally referred to as a Forest). The Tardis is looking backwards and forwards, but River’s death will have a great deal to do with the events of this season.
I was wrong about the TARDIS’s words in Episode 4, which I’m glad for, since this was a much cooler reveal.
FINAL SUMMARY
It wasn’t the “HUGE CLIFFHANGER” we were promised (at least it was nothing like last weeks) but it was a great episode to end the summer on. I just wish there wasn’t all this waiting. I’m really excited to see where the series goes on from here, especially in “Let’s Kill Hitler”
Hey Kids…Podcasts! Part 4
So Mike, Dennis, and Kobe already listed some of their favorite podcasts and now it’s my turn!
There’s a lot that the other dudes already covered that are my favorites (such as Nerdist, or WTF, and Tell ‘Em Steve-Dave) so I won’t talk about those (even though they are ones I listen to religiously)
The Film Vault: This show branched off of the Adam Carolla show (kinda, it’s not really a spinoff, but if podcasts did have spinoffs its kinda like that). It’s a podcast about movies (duh) where they spend the first part talking about the movies they saw throughout the week (which they call Flick-fessions) then they spend the second half counting down the top 5 something in movies (such as top 5 80s action movies, top 5 sex scenes, etc). What makes this show especially great is that the two host are so very different. The one is your more average obsessed movie nerd, while the other is your more artsy hipsterish (and sometimes demented) movie nerd. There answers are wildly different, and it’s a great show.
I Should Be Writing: I actually haven’t listened to this show for a long time, but it’s worth including because it’s what my podcast, Nerd Comic Rising, is loosely based on. In it Mur Lafferty started as a completely unpublished science fiction and fantasy author. She talked about the difficulties and challenges of writing, interviewed pros, and chronicled her experience. If you are an aspiring author, I encourage you to go back in the archives and start listening at episode one. You get to follow an author from an unknown to being a well liked published author and its pretty darn cool.
Radio Free Skaro: It’s no mystery to a lot of you that I’m a huge Who nerd (being that I write Doctor Who Reviews for this site) and this is my favorite Whocast. Three dudes from Canada break down each new episode, talk Who news, and in the off season do commentaries on old episodes. Again what makes this great is the differences in the hosts, since one likes almost everything, one likes almost nothing, and one is in the middle. If you’re a Who fan, you will really dig it.
Doug Loves Movies: This is so awesome! I can’t believe I’m the one who gets to talk about it. I love this show. It’s not quite a movie podcast, more like an entertaining comedy game show led by Doug Benson. All the game show “contestants” are Actors and Comedians. It’s a great show, and if you aren’t listening to it, you should! It’s very entertaining and if you love comedy you’ll love this.
Hollywood Babylon: I used to be a big fan of Kevin Smith’s first podcast Smodcast, but over time it got less funny or interesting to me. One of his 8000000 new podcasts (the dude is the Jude Law of Podcasts) is this one and I love it. He is with the impressionist Ralph Garman, and they talk about Hollywood News and stuff. Their banter can get really really funny and again its the differences between them that make the show great. Kevin Smith is now a big stoner teddy bear who loves everyone and everything. Ralph Garman is an impression doing Hate Machine who throw most his hate at Chelsea Handler (the funniest moment of the show was when Kevin had just come back from being on her show). It’s a great podcast, but one you might want to start at episode one with to make sure you get all the inside jokes.
Doctor Who – Season 6 – Episode 5 – The Rebel Flesh Review
DOCTOR WHO SEASON 6 REVIEWS- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
This weeks part one of a two parter was a romp that hit a checklist of Sci-Fi clichés, took doctor who back toward its roots, and did what it most needed to do, occupy space while using very little of the budget (the cash gained from these two episodes’ limitations is what allowed our heroes to play around in Utah and what not). All that being said, its rather hard to judge the first episode of a two-parter, especially a more traditional one like this. It’s a bit like shutting the movie “12 Monkeys” off at the halfway point and saying, “Well, what do you think?” All that won’t stop me from trying though, so look below for my spoiler filled review.
“Yes spoilers are insane and they’re about to get ‘insanerer.”
THE GOOD
*THE ‘GANGERS – The concept, albeit no where near a new one, was pretty cool and fairly well executed. The actors had a difficult job of playing themselves and their bizzaro clayface selfs, but they all did a good job. The effects (except for the snake one, and we’ll get to that later) were simple but freaky. Even though this was a more traditional Who episode, it definitely played well to the creepy of the new series.
* THE DOCTORGANGER – As much as the ending was telegraphed the length the Pretenders would walk away (500 miles, if you don’t get that joke) it was still pretty damn cool way to end the episode. I get to spend all week thinking about how this can be handled, or mishandled. What’s especially great about it is that it flipped everything on its head. The Doctor was all for the Gangers and the Normies to kiss and make up, but how will he feel about another Doctor calling the shots, or another Doctor that feels he has just as much right to the Tardis? This puts his own morals under fire, or rather, under acid, and it will be interesting and fun to watch next week.
THE BAD
* Why Can’t We All Just Get Along – It’s petty, but I’m growing kind of sick of the didactic “why does war have to happen” episodes when it all goes to hell because one psycho-lady can’t handle the concept of talking before filling the objects-that-are-supposed-to-represent-the-middle-east-or-some-such-nonsense full of lead. We get it. We humans; we stupid, we fight each other. I guess I’m only so mad because its so similar to last years hungry earth saga. Couldn’t we just watch Rory fake die again (please, no, Stephen Moffat, that was a joke).
THE UGLY
The Snake-Ganger thing looked horrible. Find whoever made that CGI and sack him!
BOLD PREDICTIONS
* GANGERS WON’T FEEL SO H.G. WELL – They spent a lot of needless time having the one normie sneeze a lot. I’m guessing in the end all the gangers will die from the common cold. I don’t want this to happen, again, it’s horribly cliché, but such is life. Clearly they have to have them all die in some sort of inevitable way anyways, otherwise the presence of the gangers (especially the one that looks like Matt Smith) presents to many problems.
FINAL SUMMARY
Like I said, it’s hard to review part one, but thus far I’m along for the ride.
Doctor Who – Season 6 – Episode 4 – The Doctor’s Wife Review
DOCTOR WHO SEASON 6 REVIEWS- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Another stand alone episode this week, and this is one was perhaps the greatest in recent history. I’ve waited two years for Neil Gaiman’s maiden entry into the Doctor Who universe and it did not disappoint. Before we get into the spoiler filled review, can I just say to the genius Neil Gaiman, “If you are listening, you better be writing a script for next season, you bloody brilliant bastard!” (That alliteration let’s him know I’m serious) Well alrighty, let’s plunge full tilt into this weeks review.
“I wanted to see the universe, so I spoiled a Timelord and spoiled away. You were the only one mad enough.”
THE GOOD
* NEIL MOTHERF*&%#ING GAIMAN – I can’t express in words how much I was looking forward to this. But part of me was a little worried that I was having too high of expectations. Could the episode really live up to the hype I was giving it? Well it did, and it was definitely very Gaiman-like with the patchwork people, and the pure whimsy of all the lines (my favorite being, I think, “Biting’s excellent, it’s like kissing only there’s a winner.” It was decidedly Who though as well. You could tell that it was written not just by a brilliant storyteller, but one who had a true love of Doctor Who. This episode was about the most central relationship of the entire series, the Doctor and his TARDIS, or, rather, the TARDIS and her thief.
* THE TARDIS – Having the soul of the TARDIS being put into a living body is just a really cool idea, but they way it was handled was absolutely brilliant. The great thing about about having a master craftsmen at the helm like Gaiman is that there are so many layers to everything. There is the surface things like brilliant dialogue and interactions, but there are the really cool deeper things too, like the fact that her first word is “goodbye” and her last word is “hello” symbolizing how she sees time differently. Having her spout off things that were about to happen later in the episode was fun too, and made her words about the “water in the forest” all the more ominous. The best bit though was one of the sweetest moments I have ever seen in Doctor Who, “You never take me where I want to go” to which she responds, “Because I take you where you need to go.”
* HOUSE – My favorite House on TV is still the curmudgeony Doctor who eats Vicodin like trail-mix, but this bodiless entity that eats TARDISes like trail-mix is pretty cool too. The way he lured the Doctor, the way he played with Amy and Rory, and the way he kept up living creatures from old Time Lord parts was decidedly wicked (in both the cool and “witch of the west” style.)
* THE EPISODE TITLE – This episode was originally titled “The House with no Name” by Gaiman, which is a fine enough title, but not as mindraping like “The Doctor’s Wife.” That was clearly a Moffat move. I’ve never seen a man delight more in torturing an audience, and how great was it that we were all convinced that this would have to do with River Song? And then, after the fact, I can’t think of a more perfect title, as it truly was about The Doctor’s wife.
THE BAD
* NOT ENOUGH TIME – There was just not enough time or money for this episode, which is sad. Apparently there was a swimming pool scene which was cut, and there was so much that could have been explored more fully but wasn’t. The TARDIS doesn’t seem to like Amy very much (she referred to Amy as the Orange one, but Rory as the “pretty” one). What’s more interesting is that she never seems to arrive on time for Amy, almost intentionally making her mad at the doctor (arriving 14 years late, then another two) but she seems to love River, always arriving in a moment’s notice for her. Does she know somehow that Amy will hurt the Doctor in the future? All of this would be really cool to explore, but sadly never will.
THE UGLY
Rory died again? Really? Even if it was just an illusion, come on now! He’s becoming the f&*#ing Kenny of Doctor Who.
BOLD PREDICTIONS
* The Only Water in the Forest is a River – These foreboding words of the TARDIS are talking about River’s death, which we have already seen (the library in that original Moffat two-parter was originally referred to as a Forest). The Tardis is looking backwards and forwards, but River’s death will have a great deal to do with the events of this season.
FINAL SUMMARY
What can I say? I loved it! My hope is that we get a Gaiman episode every year like we did before with Moffat, and when Moffat’s term is done, Gaiman can take over. This was a true classic episode, and will be talked about for seasons and seasons to come.
This Week in Late Night: May 13th Edition
Hey Off-The-Mikers, Jeff Conolly Here presenting my new segment:
THIS WEEK IN LATE NIGHT
So you wanted to watch Conan, Fallon, or whoever this week but those eye-lids were just oh-so-heavy. So what did you miss in the wonderful world of Late Night Comedy?
CONAN KNOCKS THE TSA
This was Conan’s first full beardless week as a late night host (post the events of 2010’s late night debacle) and in case you were worried that the success of the new show was akin to that of Samson’s (that’s a bible joke) look no further than his awesome ribbing of the TSA this week.
The TSA has long been in the running for the biggest douche-bags award, but they might of take the crown this week when they patted down a baby. Conan’s bit on the subject is gathering almost as much media attention as the Baby Bomb Bananza did itself.
Vodpod videos no longer available.On the Late Late Show Tuesday Night, Craig Ferguson had on Thor Director Kenneth Branagh. What I love about Ferguson is how unscripted it is (especially compared to other Late Night shows). I’ve seen so many of these chats from the Thor cast and crew in the past two weeks, but this is by far my favorite. (Especially since they nerd out together about Doctor Who and James Bond, two of my favorite things ever).
Vodpod videos no longer available.But wait, the coveted prize….what get’s this weeks
CLIP OF THE WEEK
Jimmy Fallon has about the best Act 2 and 3 of Late Night Comedy, and I continue to be impressed. This week he played beer pong with tennis legend John McEnroe, and although there have been funnier clips of Fallon doing this with other guests (Betty WHite for example) there is something very awesome about the competitive edge that shines through both these two as they play a silly game on national television.
Vodpod videos no longer available.COMIC OF THE WEEK
Jen Kirkman had a fabulous set on Conan this week where she did her bits on marriage, murder, and getting older.
Vodpod videos no longer available.Doctor Who- Season 6- Episode 3- Curse of the Black Spot Review
DOCTOR WHO SEASON 6 REVIEWS- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Episode 3 was a romp, mateys! But getting a standalone romp after the first two mind-bendy/revolutionary episodes kind of feels like getting a swell handy after two nights of sex that was…well mind-bendy and revolutionary. That, though, is certainly Arrr-guble. (That’s the last time I do that, I swear.) Check out my spoiler filled review below…
Yo-ho-Spoilers! Or does nobody actually say that?
THE GOOD
*PIRATES- Pirates are just cool, and this is exactly what makes Doctor Who such a great show. It’s the only show that can give you aliens one week, then straight up pirates the next. Plus, Amy Pond dressed like a pirate gives Rory and Amy more role-play props (as seen in the Christmas Special).
*Siren* The Siren/Mermaid/Doctor-that-made-House’s-Bed-side-manner-seem-amazing was a pretty effective monster. It wasn’t Silence good, but it was still pretty cool.I especially like the idea that it wasn’t really inherently good or evil. It was just there, abandoned, and it was trying to continue its work.
THE BAD
* GREED – The whole “I can’t give up the treasure” thing bugged me. It’s not bad, really, but its not good either. Its very, well, traditional.
*UNDERUTILIZED PIRATES- As cool as the pirates are…they didn’t really do much. They ran in fear. They acted greedy (see above) but that was it. As cool as the story was it’s a little odd. They visited pirates but couldn’t have sword fights, never fired a cannon, and didn’t look for treasure. There’s not really anything bad about that, but its a bit like visiting the star wars universe and spending the whole time watching that chess game in which you’re suppose to let the wookie win.
THE UGLY
*Rory’s Almost Death- The first season of Heroes, I watched it like crazy. I was the biggest fan, but mid third season, I stopped watching. Why? Because people kept dying and getting resurrected. When Rory started “dying” at the end of this episode, I didn’t feel sad, I felt annoyed. This again!? Fortunately, this wasn’t the case, but still…
*NO RIVER OR CANTON- Moffat’s best problem is that he introduces such brilliant characters that you feel a loss when they aren’t around. I know they can’t be there every episode, but seriously.
BOLD PREDICTIONS
*LADY IN THE WALL- The Lady in the wall is opening a version of the “crack from season 5, a whole in time and place. My bold prediction. What the heck, let’s go crazy. It’s the same girl, Amy’s child, but as an adult.
FINAL SUMMARY
It is what it is…an adequate episode. It wasn’t bad, but after the last two weeks of jaw-droppers it just kind of fell flat. I’m really excited for next week, as the episode is written by my favorite author Neil Gaiman. I’ve been waiting two years for this!
Off the Mike 