Articles of the Shadow Proclamation

Tooth and Claw – Episode 2.2

Hello. Here is my review of Tooth and Claw or, as I like to call it, “Queen Victoria, a Werewolf, and Kung-Fu Monks.” Yep, I’m still doing episode review catch-up. Did you like this episode?

Episode: Tooth and Claw by Russell T. Davies
Rating (1 to 5): 3.4
Baddie: Evil Monks, A Werewolf, and …Queen Victoria (a little)
Rose is trapped: Chained to a wall in the basement…near a werewolf. Then, in the Library with the Doctor.
The Doctor is trapped: In a Library with Rose, and a couple of others.
The Doctor enjoys: The Muppet Movie, His Thumb, Sir Robert’s Father, The werewolf. It’s beautiful.
The Doctor dislikes: Sir Robert’s lack of brains and the idea of The Wolf biting the Queen.
The Doctor apologizes to: No one?
Doctor-y Strangeness: Instant Scottish Accent & He licks the wall.
Scary Stuff: Werewolf! The Queen turning on The Doctor and Rose.
Torchwood? is the name of the estate. This is the Torchwood Institute origin story.
Does someone local help out? Sir Robert, His Wife, their staff, Queen Victoria, and her crew…quite a lot of folks, actually.
What we learn: The Doctor is a big old punk with a bit of Rockabilly thrown in. The Doctor is partial to his thumb. Skylab fell to Earth with a bit of help from him. The Doctor can do a Scottish accent. The Queen’s Husband and Sir Robert’s father planned against the wolf attacking the house. The Doctor becomes “Sir Doctor of TARDIS” and Rose is “Dame Rose of the Powell Estate.” The Doctor and Rose are banished from Victoria’s empire. The Torchwood Institute was started because of The Doctor.
My Favorite Bits: Kung Fu Monks! (in Victorian Scotland?!?) The Doctor and Rose circling the console to music. “Am I being rude again?” “There is something of the wolf about you.” “Where is she?!” “As a Doctor I recommend a vigorous jog. Good for the health.” Split Screen: The Doctor and The Wolf. Mid-danger hugging! “Books! Best weapons in the world!” Research Mode! The Doctor’s “Too Much Information” moment. Howling in the TARDIS.

Observations and musings:

Okay, let me just get this out of my system. Rose, shut up! I feel better now. Or, perhaps I should say…I am not amused. The rest of the episode I enjoyed, but Rose’s attempt to get the Queen to say “We are not amused” got annoying really fast. Even though she eventually won the bet. Poor Rose was obviously cold out there in her 1979 outfit. The Doctor should have lent her his coat. That would have also helped with the whole “nakedness” problem. I love Rose’s reaction to The Doctor’s rudeness, and the fact that he asks her if he’s being rude. Rose playing dress-up is fun, but I wish that she actually got to wear one of the dresses. (Okay, really I want the one she chose.) This episode sees another example of Rose’s transformation into someone who takes charge. She rallies the prisoners in the basement into freeing themselves from the wall, even though they are terrified of the wolf.

The Doctor has a Scottish accent this time out, and goes by the name Doctor James McCrimmon. I guess that the names of former companions come in handy when you need to come up with a new identity on the spur of the moment. (David Tennant had a wee bit of trouble playing The Doctor with his own accent, as he had, by now, gotten used to The Doctor’s character and accent. He did just fine, but I swear that there is one point in the telescope room where we see David and not The Doctor.) Mind you, if you’re going to do an accent, Doctor, you might take a bit more care to stick with it. Just sayin’. The Doctor gets the flight wrong once more, by…100 years. He really needs to work on that. He should also think twice before accepting someone else’s word about where Rose is. That way he doesn’t have to freak out and kick down doors so often. Also, folks need to listen to him more often. When The Doctor says “retreat upstairs” perhaps he knows what he is talking about. The Doctor’s reaction to Rose winning the bet was priceless.

I love the imagery in this one. Windswept heath, misty valleys, and moonlit stone. Fabulous. Ummm…Kung Fu Monks in Victorian Scotland? Perhaps it’s alien Kung Fu? But really well shot fight sequences. Well…it’s obviously directed by Euros Lyn. I love his work. Yea! The lady of the house has brains! Adventures with The Doctor…now with 20% more running for your life.

So…there you go. What did you think of the episode? Next review is: School Reunion.

Tags: 10th Doctor, Doctor Who, Tooth and Claw

So how many of our readers also enjoy the Doctor Who audio adventures from Big Finish?
I have been a big fan since a friend gave me a subscription to the main monthly Doctor Who Range as a birthday present. I was so hooked I have made sure to renew the subscription ever since. I beleive I have gone off about Big Finish before, but for the new visitor to this site, the reason I like the product so much is because it is as advertised, Classic Doctors in New Adventrues.

The style of story telling has evloved since the first few adventures but what they have settled on recently is, to my mind, a perfect balance between the classic series and the new series. The plots are at times just as confusing as the orginal series but the pacing has picked up to meet the needs of a modern audiance.

I have listened to all the main range adventures, all the special mini adventures, such as the Malteese Penguin, and all the 8th Doctor Adventures. Truely I am hard pressed to find a favorite. I guess I would say I liked the R101 story with The 8th Doctor and Charlie, and surprisingly I have really enjoyed the Sixth Doctor adventures since that incarnation was allowed to mellow out a bit. Colin Baker has really made the Big Finish medium his own.

So what was your favorite adventure? Why of all them was that the one?

I’m not sure if I’ve posted this here before, but if I did, it was long enough ago that I’ll bet you don’t remember either. This video is one of the extras on the Torchwood series one DVD set. John Barrowman is singing on the set of the show, and I’ll bet that you can spot the episode that said set is from. Really, the setting is perfect for the song.

What do y’all think about a musical episode of Torchwood? Too bad they didn’t do it before that last series…

John Barrowman Sings “Anything Goes”:

One of the songs from the Tenth Doctor playlist I did a while back is Mr. Blue Sky by the Electric Light Orchestra, otherwise known as ELO. Said song was played in the Doctor Who series two episode Love & Monsters. So, I figured what better way to remind folks about this song than with a fellow who looks like a young David Tennant (and is very tired of hearing about it…Sorry Liam) in a video where he listens to Mr. Blue Sky in a silly fashion on a train? Yep. He’s lip-syncing. I love the way he’s cut the video together.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Littleradge (and really, what internet-less cave have you been living in?), he lives in Edinburgh and loves making YouTube videos. So, that means that in addition to looking like David Tennant, he also sounds quite like him. Different region of Scotland, but Scotland nonetheless.

The Night Train (Littleradge and Mr. Blue Sky):

New Earth – Episode 2.1

Welcome to the review for the first episode of series 2, New Earth. Now that the new season is over, I’m catching up on reviews from back when. This may have something to do with Who Withdrawal Syndrome. Possibly.

Episode: New Earth by Russell T. Davies
Rating (1 to 5): 3.5
Baddie: Cassandra (and Chip), Sort of The Cat Nuns and their “Flesh”
Rose is trapped: in her own body when taken over by Cassandra, then in the Hospital when it’s under Quarantine.
The Doctor is trapped: in his own body when taken over by Cassandra, then in the Hospital when it’s under Quarantine.
The Doctor enjoys: Hospital shops, Traveling with Rose, Impossible, he seems to enjoy The Disinfectant, new species
The Doctor dislikes: The idea of something happening to Rose, Hospitals without a shop
The Doctor apologizes to: The first “Flesh” patient he sees. Chip.
Doctor-y Strangeness: Zooming down the lift shaft…without destroying his inner thigh.
Scary Stuff: Diseased zombie people who can kill you with a touch. eek!
Does someone local help out? Cassandra helps out a little, but mostly against her will.
What we learn: New New York is the 15th New York. The Doctor doesn’t like hospitals. The Face of Boe is thousands of years old (or perhaps millions.) Cassandra is now using the skin from the back of her body. The rest of Boekind became extinct long ago. There is a legend that The Face of Boe will impart his great secret just before his death to The Lonely God. The mind is a delicate thing.
My Favorite Bits: The Doctor fiddling with the console at the beginning. The Doctor and Rose hanging out on his coat in the apple grass. “-At last I can be revenged on that little… -Bit rich coming from you.” The Disinfectant. “I’m a chav!” Bouncy castle. “Still got it.” “Give her back to me.” Cassandra!Doctor. “The Doctor is in” “That is textbook enigmatic.”

Observations and musings:

Rose begins her transformation in this episode that we see continue throughout the second series. When she ends up in the basement and encounters a stranger who calls her by name, she picks up a weapon just in case. She is more willing to look at things on her own, to take charge of a situation. Too bad that she has to deal with Cassandra. Good to know that Rose has the right mindset about the human race moving forward. I wonder how long it has been since the Christmas Invasion. I mean, her hair is different and all. It sort of feels like they’ve been on a couple of adventures in between, and have come home for a visit. It doesn’t really look like winter any more, either. *shrug*

When did The Doctor have “it” that he believes he’s still got it? *giggle* Well, in this episode we see once more The Doctor’s new brand of anger, and furthermore his insistence that everyone keep to his moral code. If he doesn’t like something, it should be changed. It’s a bit arrogant, really. I mean, I agree with him, but “If you want to take it to a higher authority, there isn’t one”? The Lonely God indeed. Good thing that he can be very very calm when the situation calls for it. He’s a bit insistent that Rose be safe, isn’t he?

You can still see “Wolf” on the blacktop at the beginning of the episode. So, New Earth is in galaxy M87? Well, here are some pics from M87 courtesy of The Hubble Site:Picture 1, Picture 2, Picture 3, Picture 4, and Picture 5. I love how Cassandra!Rose leads with her chest. The whole “pass it on” Doctor bouncy thing was a bit over the top. What did you think of the episode? I’ll see you again next week for Tooth and Claw.

Tags: Doctor Who, New Earth

Have you seen this article? It appears that art may have imitated life. It looks like Churchill’s England did indeed have contact with aliens.

The Brittish have just declassified a series of documents concerning UFOs, and in this release is an account of a incident that took place during WWII.

Article 8 is finally here! And I would like to take this opportunity to thank our sound engineer (known as Koshvader) for his help with this one…and all of the others, really.

This is the one where we discuss Amy’s Choice, and then throw in a bit of dramatic reading for fun. We are planning to continue talking about this season’s episodes until we run out, so keep your eyes open for the next one which will cover The Hungry Earth & Cold Blood.

Image Source: BBC

Tags: Amy's Choice, Doctor Who, Podcast

On the 2009 Red Nose Day show for Comic Relief, David Tennant and Davina McCall competed in a special celebrity edition of Mastermind. Predictably, Davina “The announcer of Big Brother” McCall opted to answer questions for Big Brother 2000-2009 and David Tennant chose to answer questions about Doctor Who 1963-now. I won’t tell you who wins, but I will say that I was impressed my David’s knowledge of our show (well…except the one about the drink. I can’t believe he missed that one.) He really is “one of us.” Let me just add that I have no desire to ever appear on a game show like that. My brain would go completely blank. What about you lot?

Comic Relief | David Tennant and Davina McCall on Mastermind:

Red Nose Day, Comic Relief, David Tennant, Davina McCall, Doctor Who

For this first one, I would again like to thank Gillian for sending me the link all the way from Australia. I’d quite like a Dalek Cake.

Well, if you don’t know where to get a Dalek Cake, why not let Blue Peter help you make one of your own? I love it when Blue Peter does Doctor Who-related crafts, don’t you? (This video also includes a couple of clips from Doctor Who a couple of seasons ago.)

Tags: Dalek Cake

With a huge Hat tip to Gillian for sending me the link, I offer you The Doctor Who theme as done by the band Manta on Spicks and Spicks (from Australia.) No joke on the Didgeridoo, by the way. Quite a clever idea, really.