How I Got Addicted to Doctor Who

**Spoilers!! for Season 7**

Just a year ago, I started watching Doctor Who. After a few episodes of a raggedy man talking about time vortexes and sonic screwdrivers I got interested. Just for those who don’t know- Doctor Who is a long-running British Science Fiction TV Show that started in 1963. It revolves around a 900+ year-old Time Lord, travelling in a blue police box, which he calls TARDIS – Time And Relative Dimension In Space. He calls himself The Doctor. He also has the ability to change his face and body, its called regeneration.

At the time I started watching the TV Show, I had no clue that there were over 20 season before it, and the one I was watching was the reboot, starting with the 9th Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston. I became addicted to the show. All my time was consumed by thoughts of The Doctor. I was a zealot.

Craig Ferguson has suggested that nerds like me like Doctor Who because it’s about the triumph of intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism, and that’s a very accurate point, but that never explained why I became such a fanboy! Even Star Trek or Star Wars hadn’t affected me in such a way. I’m in no way educated in the entire  Whoniverse. I’ve seen some of the episodes of the old series and all of the rebooted ones.

According to me, the show reached it’s high point during the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh seasons. The fourth season had Donna Noble as the companion, who was fun and a bit noisy. During the fourth season we saw the introduction of River Song in a two part episode  Silence of the Library and Forest of the Dead. She was one of the biggest mysteries of the series. Her secret was revealed much later.

Then, in the fifth season, we saw Amy Pond becoming the new companion. She was the best! The Doctor and her had some kind of relationship. At times it seemed as if  Amy was in love with this man. This season had some very emotional episodes, especially “Vincent and The Doctor” which featured Vincent Van Gogh. This season also had the Weeping Angels, in another two parter. The episode ended with The Doctor causing The Big Bang 2.

The sixth season centered around The Doctor and his death. Then the sixth episode called ‘A Good Man Goes to War‘ was one of the best episode of the series. It ended with an episode called ‘The Wedding of River Song‘ which closed the death of the doctor story arc. But it also ushered in another plot line. Doctor Who? A question that must never be asked.

By the seventh season, Amy and Rory had become a part of my life. And their departure in episode 5 was very emotional. By the seventh season Doctor Who had gone from a regular TV Show to an obsession.

Here I give my top three reason for Doctor Who becoming, for lack of a better term, my religion:

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The Walking Dead: “Say the Word” Review

Director:

Greg Nicotero

Writer:

Angela Kang

Review:

OHHMYGOD!! The Walking Dead’s third season has consistently delivered wonderful episodes and this is no different.

As the episode starts you might think that it’s a flash back to happier times, but NO! It is actually Woodbury and its party. People seem to be happy there. Then we see The Governor combing a little girl’s hair and then a piece of her scalp falls of and we realise that the girl is actually a Walker/Biter and is his daughter. That whole scene was twisted and sick and messed up…. In a good way of course.

This was Michonne’s episode. She doesn’t trust The Governor (Obviously!). I must commend Danai Gurira‘s acting. She brings out the true essence of Michonne from the comics, which I love! She nonchalant way in which she cuts those walkers is just amazing! She then leaves Woodbury after having an argument with Andrea. Andrea has become somewhat irritating and Michonne got away from her. Woodbury has its parties too. Drinks, merriment and for entertainment… gladiator fights with… Walkers of course… Which led to Andrea getting angry at The Governor.

Back at the prison, Rick goes on a mad rampage. He takes an axe and starts killing all the walkers in the infested cellblock. On the other hand, the baby need formula to survive and thus Maggie and Daryl go into the town to find it. And when he returns, we see an emotional side of Daryl. He feeds the baby, smile at her and cradles her. He also keeps a Cherokee Rose on Carols grave.

Andrew Lincoln is an awesome actor. His emotional breakdown in the previous episode and continued in this is amazingly played out. He converted his grief to an intense killing urge. Rick had no dialogue in the whole episode (except till the very end, where he says “Hello?”) is a nice touch. He actually pushes away Glen who tries to help him. The phone ringing at the end and Rick answering it raises a lot of questions.

I’m upset that they havent cleared the air aout Carol. It’s been bugging me.. IS SHE ALIVE OR IS SHE DEAD? The Walkers kills were amazing. Kudos to the graphics team. I’d say that the best performances in this episode were my Michonne, Daryl and Rick. The only problem is that Andrea has become dense. Otherwise, this episode is amazing, just like the rest of the season.

Final Verdict:

8.7/10

The Alien Prequel that never was!

Ridley Scott‘s Prometheus wasn’t the Alien Prequel most fans were hoping for.  It wasn’t even intended to be an Alien Prequel. There were rumours of a earlier draft of the movie which was written by Jon Spaihts. It was titled Alien: Engineers. Now thanks to the internet, we can download it. I’ve attached it at the end.

Here’s what Badass Digest had to say:

“Spaihts’ draft is very similar to the finished film in many ways – except the finished film ruins or dumbs down aspects of his script. They’re on LV-426 in his draft. The guys who get lost in the pyramid? The script acknowledges the stupidity and makes it a character moment. It includes this great line: ‘To Milburn and Fifield. The first human beings to freak out, get lost, and sleep in their suits in the ruins of an alien civilization.’

“The ship isn’t called Prometheus. The connection between human and Engineer DNA is explained. The construction of the pyramids on Earth is explained! The scientists don’t get stupidly bummed out when they find the Engineers dead – they’re excited by what this means for science and understanding! Weyland wants to find the Engineers not for dumb eternal life, but for terraforming technology! And the end is better!”

You can read it here:

Alien: Engineers

 

Parks and Recreation: “Ben’s Parents” Review

Director:

Dean Holland

Review:

Another strong episode for Parks & Rec. Parks & Rec shows us that it can have the funniest characters and yet the sweetest. This episode, as the name suggests, it deals with Ben’s Parents and how they react to his son’s engagement. It also deals with Tom’s new business- Rent-A-Swag.

The episode is quite funny. The Twizzlers vs Red Vines debate was fun, but it fell along the lines of the Calzone debate. This episode was quite funny. But the solution to their quarrel was only so that they attend the wonder-couple’s wedding. Ben’s parents were a nightmare acting selfishly at the engagement party. The parents were so childish that Leslie was willing to take Ben up on his “there’s a cab parked outside ready to take us far away from here” plan. He had to abandon his, “You and I go star-gazing in the park, while my parents slowly strangle each other in the living room” plan..

Tom got his start-up money for ‘Rent-A-Swag’ from Ron Swanson. Surprising right? Yes. To do iso he had to let Jean-Ralphio. The low point of this episode was Chris. Yes, he still is an emotional wreck. It gets quite boring since its being repeated so many times. The best part of that scene was when April tried to make Chris happy by making “Snail’s come out from his mouth and/or butt”. Also Champion licked actual tears from his face.  On the bright side “beautiful, talented, brilliant, powerful musk ox” Ann came to the rescue.

On the whole this episode was funny., and an enjoyable watch.

Final Verdict:

8/10

The Big Bang Theory: ‘The Habitation Configuration’ Review

Director:

Mark Cendrowski

Guest Cast:

Will Wheaton as himself

Le Var Burton as himself

Review:

Will Wheaton returns to the show as a guest on Sheldon’s Fun with Flags. Amy directs the episode on Fun with Flags, due to which there’s friction between Amy and Will. Sheldon, being the clueless man he is, asks Amy to leave. This leads to conflict between Sheldon and Amy.

On the other hand, Howard finds it difficult to leave his mothers house and when he does, Bernadette   takes him back due to a story, which he tells her. She claims, “No husband of mine will break his mother’s heart”.

This episode, though it was the most watched, was not one of the shows best. Sheldon/Amy fight was amusing, but it drew only a chuckle from me. The highlight of the episode is when he goes to Penny for relationship advice and she gives him Long Island Iced Tea, which leads to him becoming drunk. And we all know how fun Drunk Sheldon can be. His Mad Hatter dialogue was the best of the show.

The episode established continuity by bringing back Sheldon’s web show. I have found that the episodes featuring Will Wheaton aren’t the best. This is also the second episode in a row to feature one (or rather two ) of Sheldon’s celebrity guests.

The Howard/Bernadette story wasn’t that funny either. It was an under-developed B-Plot. One story about he doing magic tricks for his mother leading to both coming back under the same roof? This episode didn’t feature Raj or Leonard. Raj is usually there for comic relief, but this episode the position went to Penny.

The second highlight of the episode was the LeVar Burton cameo at the end. His previous cameo was in the episode “The Toast Derivation”. Season 6 has been uneven so far and not the shoes brightest hour. I just pray that the series gets better. This is one of my favorite series on TV right now, I just hate to see it cancelled.

Final Verdict:

6.5/10

Writer for Star Wars Episode VII revealed!

As we all know, last week- though it doesn’t seem like just a week- The Walt Disney Company bought over LucasFilm. It was later revealed that Star Wars: Episode VII was going to be released in 2015. After the news broke, many people speculated as to who might direct the movie and who might write it.

Well, one part of it has been cleared. Michael Arndt has been revealed to pen the script for the trilogy. He is also working on the screenplay for Episode VII. His previous works include Toy Story 3 and Little Miss Sunshine (for which he won an Oscar). He has also contributed to the Screenplay of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Plus, pre-production on the film has begun.

Here’s the official report from StarWars.com :

“As pre-production of Star Wars: Episode VII begins, Lucasfilm has confirmed that award-winning writer Michael Arndt will write the screenplay for the new Star Wars film. As revealed in the ongoing video series posted here on StarWars.com, Kathleen Kennedy and George Lucas have begun story conferences with Arndt. Arndt won an Academy Award® for Best Original Screenplay for writing Little Miss Sunshine (2006), and was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for writing Toy Story 3 (2010).”

Keep checking back here for more news..

Here are the videos:

Gods of Galactica Episode 8

Here it is, our Batman themed episode. Our third member is still MIA…

Episode 8

Jurassic Park 3D Trailer & Poster

Steven Spielberg is releasing Jurassic Park 3D next year. It’ll be 20 years old next year. The 3D obviously doesn’t play a major role in the movie. It’s the same one converted to 3D. Here’s the poster:

Here’s the 2D version of the 3D trailer:

It releases in the US on April 13 2013…

 

First Trailer for World War Z

Here’s the first trailer for World War Z. I don’t know how to feel about this. The audio track seems to be a different version of the audio track used in the Alien movies. The trailer doesn’t compliment the movie. We don’t see the Zombies also properly.

First of all, making a movie based on the book isn’t very easy. But I’m still very interested to see the movie.

Anyway, here it is:

Green Lantern #14 Review

Writer:

Geoff Johns

Artist:

Doug Mahnke

Review:

Simon Baz as the new Green Lantern continues to impress the readers. Geoff Johns is known for his long form character driven stories. Here, with the inclusion of Justice League, he shows us that he has a sense of humor. This issue returns to the old superhero fare.

The artwork by Doug Mahnke was just wonderful. He has drawn the action scenes and the slightly humorous ones wonderfully. Kudos to the colorists. They bring out the the darkness of certain scenes. They have done a marvelous job. Strangely JL looks better here than in their own book. And I’m sure many people would agree with me, at least IGN does.

Simon Baz might just be the best thing that happened to the Green Lantern series. Mahnke should stay on the GL series as he has made this issue the high point of the GL series. The artwork is outstanding and the coloring of the issue was also awesome. They bring out the the darkness of certain scenes.

Final Verdict:

9/10