Doctor Who: "The Trial of a Time Lord"

The mid-‘80s were a turbulent time for Doctor Who. After the 22nd season, which ended in March of ‘85, the show was cancelled. There was a considerable uproar from the public, BBC bosses were forced to rethink the move, and its status went from cancelled to 18-month hiatus. But the reprieve came with a few conditions.

The 22nd season had been viewed by some as considerably more violent and adult in tone than such family-friendly fare ought to be, and so producer John Nathan-Turner was asked to tone down the gore and emphasize wit and humor for the 23rd season (which, all things considered, wasn’t an unreasonable request). Season 22 had also, for the first time in the show’s long history, been comprised entirely of 50-minute episodes – 13 of them, in fact. Season 23 was granted a 14-episode order! Sounds positive, right? The catch was that the show would revert back to its 25-minute format, so the seasonal running time had been effectively halved (and it retained this episode/minute count until the show finally did end in 1989.) Finally, the show needed to prove itself, and this wasn’t a guarantee of further seasons. This was no longer the ‘70s, and certain higher-ups were frankly embarrassed by Doctor Who, and thought it looked cheap compared to other film and television sci-fi (again, a valid point). In an inspired move, the art imitating life notion of putting the Doctor on trial for the entire season was born.

Read the rest of the DVD review for "The Trial of a Time Lord" by clicking here and visiting Bullz-Eye.

Doctor Who: "The Brain of Morbius" & "The Invisible Enemy/K-9 & Company"

When it comes to classic Doctor Who, there can be no doubt: “The Brain of Morbius” is one of the best. It comes from the treasured and oft-praised era of the series known as “the Hinchcliffe years” (so named after producer Philip), a time when the show could seemingly do no wrong. At this point in the series, every week was a new excursion into the realms of horror and sci-fi, and perhaps no other Doctor Who tale so successfully mixes up the two genres. I’d easily place it in my Top Five were I making a list of favorite Who serials. In addition to the horror/sci-fi aspects, “Morbius” also has a wicked sense of humor which takes it right up over the top.

Solon: (looking at the Doctor) What a magnificent head!
Sarah Jane: What?
Solon: Superb head.
The Doctor: (chuckling) Well, I’m glad you like it. I have had several. I used to have an old gray model before this. Some people liked it.
Sarah Jane: I did.

Read the rest of the DVD review for "The Brain of Morbius" by clicking here and visiting Bullz-Eye.

The U.K. title of this set was “K-9 Tales,” a label that was dropped for the U.S. release - probably wisely since the tin dog isn’t nearly as well known over here. It features two K-9 stories, the first being “The Invisible Enemy,” which marked the initial appearance of the Doctor’s dog-shaped computer back in ‘77. K-9 was allegedly the Doctor Who answer to the immense popularity of Star Wars. Perhaps the goal was to fuse the goofy cuteness of R2-D2 with the pompous intelligence of C-3PO - a cross that resulted in an obnoxious little peckerhead.

Read the rest of this DVD review for"The Invisible Enemy / K-9 and Company" by clicking here and visiting Bullz-Eye.

Boston Legal: Season Four

Early in Season Four of Boston Legal, Alan Shore (James Spader) has a heart to heart with Shirley Schmidt (Candice Bergen) about whether or not he would make a good father, as his current relationship demands that he ponder such issues. He reveals, “I come from a long line of dreadful fathers. My great-grandfather, my grandfather…my father. With each generation they get worse. And me, well…I think a child might get a little lost with me leading the way.” It’s a quiet, insightful moment, but also one that demonstrates the uniqueness of the show. At this stage of the TV game, many a series would bestow a child on its main character and force him to grow up; it happens all too often. Saddling Alan Shore with a child would be one of the lamest things this show could ever do. It’s just not what Boston Legal is about. Besides, Alan’s already got a child to take care of: William Shatner’s Denny Crane.

Read the rest of this DVD review by clicking here to visit Bullz-Eye.

Torchwood: The Complete Second Season

Season Two of Torchwood charges out of the gate, eager to seduce anyone left sitting on the fence at the close of its initial batch of episodes. If the freshman season displayed promise, then its sophomore outing delivers on that potential in a big way. Whereas Season One was an uneven mix of sci-fi and horror and sex and relationships, Season Two is a nearly ideal blend of those same components, and maybe even a few more. The show wants your viewership and is willing to go to whatever dramatic (and sometimes even comedic) lengths necessary to get it. Indeed, this season is so uniformly strong and yet diverse in its presentation, it’s tempting to recommend it to people who never even saw the first season. If this material doesn’t make you a fan, then nothing the series will ever do is likely to grab your attention.

Read the rest of this DVD review by clicking here to visit Bullz-Eye.

Doctor Who: The Time Warrior & Timelash

In a recent review of Robin of Sherwood, I wrote that it was “like attending the greatest renaissance festival of your life.” If so, then watching “The Time Warrior” is akin to experiencing the cheesiest ren-fest of your life – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially for those who don’t care how such material is presented, as long as it’s with conviction. “The Time Warrior” overflows with conviction, and the cheese has aged quite nicely over the past 35 years. If you’re mostly familiar with the new series, this classic entry is worth checking out for two reasons.

Find out what those two reasons are by clicking here and visiting Bullz-Eye.


And click here to read a quicktake on "Timelash" over at Premium Hollywood.

Desperate Housewives: Season Four

Desperate Housewives is a show that remains so hopelessly square that I’m befuddled by the fact the Parents Television Council continues to keep it high on their list of shows that rampantly promote evil and should never been seen by decent folk. In one episode, Lynette (Felicity Huffman), coping with cancer, is unknowingly dosed by her mother (Polly Bergen) with some pot brownies to help her deal with the pain. She takes the plate over to a charades party where basically the entire adult cast of the show is assembled, and proceeds to get progressively stoned. Just as the other various characters are about to unwittingly partake, dramatic developments interfere with what could have been an arguably hilarious scenario: the entire cast baked and playing charades. Why not take the risk and see what happens? Because Housewives just isn’t a daring enough program to do something that wouldn’t even be all that daring. Further, the brownies are treated as if they were laced with crack cocaine. This is a tame show. In another episode, a string of characters may or may not be passing an STD between them; the STD in question is – wait for it – crabs. When was the last time anyone in TV or film got crabs? Only this show, which so timelessly exists in its weird little bubble, would dare to play the crab card.

Find out if the rest of this DVD review is just as crabby by clicking here to visit Bullz-Eye.

House M.D.: Season Four

Four seasons into House M.D. and the ratings are as strong as ever, but is the quality still there? Truthfully, it’s hard for me to gauge, because this is the first full season of the show I’ve seen. An episode or two here or there before now, but this set was my first full-on foray into the sardonic tirades of Hugh Laurie’s Dr. Gregory House - or just plain House. I don’t think anyone ever called him Greg or Gregory at any point in these 16 episodes (come to think of it, he’s rarely called “Doctor.”) Christian names are seldom used on this show and most characters wander around barking everyone else’s surnames as a means to hail and identify. It’s really annoying. Is this just a TV contrivance, or is it how the real world works and I’ve just been blind to it all my life?

Read the rest of this DVD review by clicking here and visiting Bullz-Eye.

Robin of Sherwood: The Complete Collection

Dipping into Robin of Sherwood is like attending the greatest Renaissance festival of your life, even though it’s a TV relic of a different time – the mid ‘80s – when shows didn’t move as fast as they do now. If you’re high on the current BBC incarnation of Robin Hood, there’s no guarantee this will be your flagon of mead, as character names are about all the two shows have in common. But the show casts a potent spell, and is quite unlike any other take on the infamous thief – although many a Sherwood fanatic claim that Costner’s Prince of Thieves borrowed liberally from this series, turning gold into bullshit along the way. (And the show does have quite a rabid cult following that doesn’t seem to have waned over the years.) Indeed, if you felt the Costner movie showed potential but missed the target, then you’ll likely find that Robin of Sherwood hits the red dot squarely in the center.

Read the rest of this DVD review by clicking here and visiting Bullz-Eye.

Doctor Who: The Five Doctors: 25th Anniversary Edition

From the review:

The best reason to buy the 25th Anniversary Edition of “The Five Doctors” is for the hidden commentary track featuring David Tennant, Phil Collinson (producer of the new series) and Helen Raynor (writer for the new series). They kick back, drink champagne, bask in nostalgia, and crack wise right and left. I’ve had big issues with “The Five Doctors” for years and so do Tennant and Collinson. Yet they admire the story for the anniversary celebration it set out to be, while lovingly pointing out its many shortcomings. Their misgivings are the same as mine, but they’re warmer and fuzzier about them than I have been over the years. It’s a great commentary because they’re watching it as fans, not as people involved in the making of it. They reminisce about the buildup to the special in 1983 and share their unique memories of seeing it for the first time.

Read this entire DVD review by clicking here and visiting Bullz-Eye.

Dallas: The Complete Ninth Season

There’s one major aspect of Season Nine of Dallas that must be mentioned before discussing it further: the entire season is a dream. Or, rather, the producers retconned it into a dream one of the main characters had.

It’s important to know this going in because I can’t in good conscience recommend it to viewers if they’re going to feel cheated after investing nearly 25 hours into this material. It had to be said at the start. Surprising, though, is that, despite what reputation suggests, it’s actually a really good season of Dallas. The “why” behind the dream I’ll get to later, and if you don’t want to be spoiled further on the issue, then I suggest turning back now. On the other hand, the box art for this set goes out of its way to exploit the season’s final scene. In any case, you can’t say you weren’t warned.

Find out all about the infamous dream season by clicking here and reading the rest of this DVD review at Bullz-Eye.

Doctor Who: "Black Orchid"

After bemoaning the last few Peter Davison-era releases, I was excited about the release of “Black Orchid,” a story from his first season as the Doctor. Even though it’s half the length of a typical Doctor Who story (it’s only two episodes long), it’s regarded by many a fan as a little gem. But it’s an oddball gem, and not at all what one expects from this series. It has no science fiction elements aside from the TARDIS, and seems more like something that would’ve played on Mystery! back in the 80s. It’s noteworthy in that regard, because when the series started back in 1963, the first few seasons often featured such stories, although back then they were usually set against some important historical event. “Black Orchid,” by contrast, is far more intimate, and it isn’t trying to offer up some kind of history lesson seen through the eyes of time travelers.

Read the rest of this DVD review by clicking here to visit Bullz-Eye.

Doctor Who: Journey's End

At some point the Season Four finale of Doctor Who, “Journey’s End,” will stand on its own, but many involved in the zeitgeist of the series currently recall the week building up to its transmission on BBC1. The close of “The Stolen Earth” saw several cliffhangers, but none more powerful and mysterious than David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor regenerating. What the hell was going on? As Steven Cooper wrote to me in an e-mail: “… you have to admire RTD's skill in engineering the biggest Doctor Who cliffhanger ever seen, that generated an absolute avalanche of publicity in the UK. No matter how many times rationality insisted that David Tennant had already been seen filming the Christmas special and that there was just no way a new Doctor could be kept secret, for that whole week little paranoid doubts kept creeping in.” There’s no better way to put it. Was a new Doctor mere moments away?

Read the rest of this recap/commentary for the finale of Doctor Who's fourth season by clicking here to visit The House Next Door.

"Hurm..."

Class Reunion

“The Stolen Earth” is a wonderful and sometimes frustrating episode. Wonderful because it skillfully brings together not only all three of the series in the Russell T. Davies Whoniverse, but also numerous other elements from his four seasons of Doctor Who. It also truly kicks off the big finish of Season Four and ends with a big ol’ insane cliffhanger. It’s maybe frustrating for all the same reasons, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a hell of a lot of fun.

The story begins immediately where “Turn Left” ended. The TARDIS materializes on Earth and the Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna (Catherine Tate) are expecting disaster. But instead, all is perfectly calm; indeed, it’s a Saturday. Regardless, the Doctor remains unnerved by Donna’s meeting Rose, which indicates to him that if she can travel from one parallel world to another, then the walls of the universe are breaking down. (If only he’d seen her earlier in the season!) They head back to the TARDIS and no sooner do the doors close then strange things begin happening on the Earth. The TARDIS interior shakes and the Doctor runs to the door, swings it open and before you can say Han Solo, the planet’s gone. The TARDIS hovers in the empty space where the Earth once was.

To read the rest of the recap for the penultimate episode of Season Four, click here to visit The House Next Door.

Teasing Watchmen

Bullz-Eye has published a teaser piece for the Watchmen set visit I attended in January. This is only a tease and I'll be writing much more about the visit later, as we get closer to the release date.

From the article:

If you’ve journeyed out to the cinema and battled crowds to see The Dark Knight, chances are you got to sneak a peek at one of the most hotly anticipated comic book big screen adaptations. Yeah, yeah, I know, everyone seemingly says much the same about every comic book movie. Just as soon as Iron Man comes out -- a movie labeled “Best. Comic Book Movie. Everrrrrrr!” -- The Dark Knight comes along a few months later, and everyone is busy saying the same thing. In fact, I’d imagine there’s a segment of the movie-going public that’s really starting to tire not only of the fawning but the comic book movie trend in general. Surely there’s more to big budget filmmaking than capes, cowls, webheads and weirdos, right?

Enter Watchmen...

Read the rest of the article by clicking here and visiting Bullz-Eye.

Spaced: The Complete Series

It’s difficult to write about Spaced without first mentioning the intense industry adoration that surrounds it. Here are just a handful of the many quotes in the press release from people whose names you know only too well:

“The one, the only…Spaced. Accept no substitute.” – Quentin Tarantino

“Spaced is utter brilliance…a series for, well, anyone who has ever lived.” – JJ Abrams

“…like watching a Kevin Smith film if Kevin Smith had any real talent.” – Kevin Smith

“I laughed hard and I hate comedy.” – Judd Apatow

“The first TV show to combine my love of Star Wars, Evil Dead, and funny Brits. If I had grown up in England this show would be the documentary of my life.” – Eli Roth

“…the sole reason I bought an all region DVD player. Now you have no excuse! Buy this and be officially cool.” – Bill Hader

“Annoyingly good.” – Eddie Izzard

Can Spaced possibly live up to all this hype? Find out by clicking here to read the rest of this DVD review at Bullz-Eye.

Monk: Season Six

Monk is one of those shows that just keeps trucking along, season after season, doing variations on the same. Its formula -- a detective/mystery series with an obsessive-compulsive central character -- is so perfect that the biggest mistake it could ever make is to mess around with the way it’s done. The mysteries themselves are rarely all that intriguing. Sometimes we know whodunnit, sometimes we don’t, and sometimes we don’t even care. What keeps the show going is Tony Shalhoub, whose performance as the personally flawed but professionally brilliant Adrian Monk is so endlessly amusing that he’s taken home the Emmy for Best Actor in a Comedy three times out of five nominations.

Since writing this piece, Shalhoub has scored yet another Emmy nomination for his work on Monk. Read the rest of the piece by grabbing a wet wipe, clicking here and heading over to Bullz-Eye.

With or Without You

Since I was away from my desk this week, Steven Cooper ably filled in for me on the Doctor Who recap.

Each year the rigors of the production schedule require the Doctor Who team to film two episodes simultaneously. Previously, this resulted in both the Doctor and his companion being largely absent from one episode (“Love & Monsters” in Season Two, “Blink” in Season Three). This year, showrunner Russell T. Davies took a different approach, deciding to have separate “Donna-light” and “Doctor-light” episodes. So while David Tennant was spending a week-and-a-half confined to a single set in “Midnight,” Catherine Tate was out filming this sprawling epic, which takes its impetus from a simple question: What if Donna had never met the Doctor?

Read the rest of the piece by clicking here to "Turn Left" into The House Next Door.

The X-Files: Revelations

There was a time when I was an X-Files fanatic, but that was way back during its first season in ’93 and ’94. The series lost my viewership about halfway through its second season, and I only sporadically tuned in over the many seasons that followed. Why the falling out with Mulder and Scully? The arcing storyline about little green men and government conspiracies held zero interest for me. I’m not saying it was bad TV – clearly, Chris Carter and Co. built an engaging empire on aliens and chain-smoking suits that the public devoured – but I was always interested in the standalone tales, the monster of the week that eventually became the monster of the month. So when it was announced that a new X-Files movie was happening, and that it would be a standalone tale un-tied to its infamous arcing mythology, I got just a little bit excited.

This collection of eight episodes was chosen by creator Chris Carter and exec producer Frank Spotnitz, and it’s been deemed ideal primer for the upcoming film, The X-Files: I Want to Believe. If what’s on this set is anything to go by, then the film should certainly deliver some chills and make believers out of the uninitiated.

To read the rest of the DVD review for "The X-Files: Revelations," click here to visit Bullz-Eye.

Molto Bene

In addition to overseeing the seasonal story arcs, Russell T. Davies writes more scripts for Doctor Who than anyone else, and he does it every year. He has mostly provided crowd-pleasing tales, but he’s occasionally gone off the beaten path and given us something deeper to chew on, such as “Love & Monsters” and “Boom Town.” I once wrote that Davies could “pen an entire episode with just the Doctor and Rose sitting in the TARDIS talking to each other, and it’d be one of the highlights of a given Doctor Who season.” With “Midnight” he comes as close to that supposition as could probably be hoped for at this point. It may well be his finest Who achievement yet. “Midnight” sees Davies throwing caution to the wind and showing uncomfortable truths about the Doctor, as well as about humanity. “Midnight” isn’t necessarily a complex story, but it is a daring and disturbing one that for perhaps the first time in the new series is aimed squarely at adults, and doesn’t bother to take younger viewers into account—although maybe it acknowledges that kids are growing up along with the series and maybe they’re ready for more challenging fare.

Bask in the glow of Xtonic radiation by clicking here to read the rest of this recap at The House Next Door.