Doctor Who: Series Nine Episode Titles Revealed

Unusually this year we knew several of Series Nine's titles quite early on but now, with just a mere handful of days to go until the premiere, we have the entire set, released today in one handy image on the official Doctor Who twitter account.

Review: Marvel's Agent Carter (Season One)

Today we take a look at the forgotten hero of the Marvel universe - move over Iron Man et al, it's Peggy Carter's time in the limelight...

While I wouldn't say I'm an out and out fanboy, per se, of the Marvel Cinematic Universe I am certainly an appreciator of it. The Avengers is a perennially entertaining film and I also enjoyed the single-hero films, particularly the Captain America ones (though Iron Man is probably the best Avenger). In regards to the first 1940s-set Cap film - The First Avenger - a big reason for my liking it was the brilliant Peggy Carter, by far the best super-hero 'love interest' around. Well-played by Hayley Atwell, Peggy was a capable soldier and secret agent and didn't fall into the damsel-in-distress model. I was excited, then, when I heard she would be the first female character to lead her own instalment of the MCU in Agent Carter, the series. Eat your heart out, Black Widow!

Thankfully, Agent Carter was a genuinely thrilling show - the driving force of which is Peggy's fight to prove herself despite the fierce sexism of her co-workers at the SSR (the forerunner to SHIELD). The pace and plot more or less consistently gain momentum over the trim eight episode series so that, by the time of the finale, I was both excited and saddened to see it end. While at first the supporting characters seem plain and the villains too obscure, Peggy's fellow agents, such as the boorish Thompson, stern Chief Dooley and the understanding Souza, are fleshed out as the series goes on and two effective villains are introduced. Here's hoping we have more of them if the series is renewed. Oh, and word must be given to James D'Arcy's lovable stiff-upper lipped Edwin Jarvis, butler to Howard Stark, whose double act with Peggy makes up the majority of the humour - and heart - of the series. 

But the show can only belong to Hayley Atwell who triumphs in the starring role. Though at times the series itself seems less sure about her as its lead. For instance, whenever Dominic Cooper's Howard Stark turns up, as he does from time to time, the focus almost totally switches to him as if as the audience would much rather be watching a show about Iron Man's womanising Dad and Peggy is just holding his place. Mostly, though, Peggy is handled well by the showmakers and it's refreshing to have both an adventure-based period series and an exciting female lead. 

US TV seems to be superior to British telly in its female lead characters - Buffy comes to mind as the queen of them all - but still there's too few well-developed female characters like Peggy around today. For that alone, I'm very happy that, after some uncertainty, Agent Carter has been given a second series. It's lucky then that Agent Carter is a fun show on its own two legs regardless of Peggy. It may employ the odd familiar plot point or guessable twist but its general consistent quality more than make up for a few quibbles. Agent Carter, you had better report back for duty soon.

Female agency - Peggy Carter has to prove herself to her colleagues in a post-War America.

P.S. Despite the links to the popular MCU and starring three brits as the leads, for some unfathomable reason Agent Carter took an age to be shown in the UK. Hopefully, this will be sorted out next year or will simply just go up on Netflix. Come on, she's even nicknamed 'Miss Union Jack'...

Monthly Scribbles: The Return of River Song

Now that August has augustly bowed out for another year, we can finally say that Doctor Who is on this month! 'The Magician's Apprentice' will materialise on our screens on the 19th but there are a few news items and tidbits to chat about before that happens...

River Song Returns!  

The big Who news released in the last day or so is, oddly, not about the upcoming series but rather this year's Christmas special. Namely, it's been revealed that River Song, otherwise known as the Doctor's wife, is to return to the show this Chrimble. After a two series absence (her last appearance was in 2013's 'The Name of the Doctor'), River will encounter the Twelfth incarnation of her other half for the first time. A vague synopsis of the special has also been released:

It’s Christmas Day in the future and the TARDIS is parked on a snowy village street, covered in icicles, awaiting its next adventure. Time traveller River Song meets her husband’s new incarnation, in the form of Peter Capaldi, for the first time this Christmas. 

Interestingly, this is hot on the heels of the announcement that River will soon meet the Eighth Doctor on audio. Can we have River and Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor team up next? 
  

Hayley Atwell wants to be the Doctor!

The actress who has won fans worldwide for her awesome portrayal of Marvel's Agent Carter (expect a review of the series to be up on here soon) recently joked to a fan on Twitter, who asked her if she would like to be in Doctor Who, that she would love to be the Doctor. As happens, this then created an internet storm and whipped up the old 'should the Doctor be a woman?' argument again.

Personally, while I believe that there really needs to be more characters like Atwell's Peggy Carter around and am open to the idea of a female Doctor, I do worry that the issue is talked about so much that the production team, when choosing the next Doctor, will be influenced by the fans who are calling for a gender-swap rather than simply looking for the best person for the role, man or woman.

In the mean time, we've hopefully still got Peter Capaldi for quite a while yet!


Blackadder return 'on cards'

Away from Doctor Who, Baldrick himself Tony Robinson has got fans of historical sitcom Blackadder excited by saying that a new series is 'on the cards.' Most seem to be overjoyed at the news but, speaking as a huge fan, I'm wary of the notion of another series so long after the original four in the 1980s. Perhaps a one-off special, akin to 2000's Blackadder Back and Forth (which saw Blackadder and Baldrick travel through time in a TARDIS-like time machine), but a full series might be risking besmirching the name of one of the best British shows ever. In fact, if you've got a minute, it might turn out to be the worst mistake since someone said ‘yeah, let’s take this suspiciously large wooden horse into Troy, statues are all the rage this season.’


Mission DALEK

And, finally, I'll leave you with this mini Doctor Who adventure. Recently, the BBC launched a competition asking fans to design a Doctor Who story in video form for the chance to meet Peter Capaldi. The entries are a hugely varied bunch so far - including fans acting in cosplay, clip-based ones and animation. You'll have to click below to see which one this is. Warning: features some git failing to do a good impression of Peter Capaldi.

Sherlock Scribbles: Sherlock Holmes - A Game of Shadows

Continuing on the series of posts where I take a magnifying glass to a certain Holmesian adaptation, today I look at the sequel in the hit Robert Downey Jr duology as the Great Detective.

 

Starring: Robert Downey Jr (Sherlock Holmes), Jude Law (Doctor Watson), Noomi Rapace (Madame Simza), Jared Harris (Professor Moriarty) and Stephen Fry (Mycroft Holmes) with Rachel McAdams (Irene Adler)

Synopsis: After a spate of bombings cause tensions to brew across Europe, Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson travel across the continent on a hunt for the man who wants to create a world war for his own ends - the Napoeleon of crime, Professor James Moriarty...

Doyled or Spoiled?: While Doyle never wrote such a James Bondian adventure, many details of the film are lifted from the canon, as if to compensate. The story is extrapolated from 'The Final Problem' where we are told that Holmes and Watson travel across Europe in pursuit of Moriarty. The death of Irene Adler could be a reference to the unexplained mentions of The Woman being 'the late Irene Adler' in the canon. Watson marries Mary Morstan, as per Doyle and Sherlock (though Holmes is a far less obsessive Best Man here than he is in that version). And, finally, Colonel Sebastian Moran is Moriarty's right-hand man and assassin, just as we are told he was in 'The Empty Hearse.' Also, it's not Doyle, but one of Moriarty's victims is Professor Hoffmanstahl - the real surname of Holmes' love interest Gabrielle Valadon in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.

Highlight: For me, it's probably the several references to Doyle, as they help to remind you that you are watching a Sherlock Holmes film. The use of Watson's eulogy of Holmes being taken verbatim from 'The Final Problem' is a lovely touch and probably my favourite Doyleism in the film. Elsewhere, another highlight is Downey and Law's partnership. While they are not my favourite Holmes and Watson they have an enjoyable banter-masking-fierce-friendship relationship.

Verdict: Without a specific mystery for Holmes to solve - rather more of a globe-trotting manhunt - and the loss of London, this sequel lacks the the feel of a Sherlock Holmes story unlike the first film which cleverly trod the line between Sherlockiana and being a modern action film. Likewise, the cast is squandered - Noomi Rapace is in a thankless role as Simza, Jared Harris is nothing special as Moriarty and, worst of all, Stephen Fry is fantastic casting (he's a perfect match for Sidney Paget's drawings) but his Mycroft is sadly played for comic relief. Apart from Downey Jr's idiosyncratic Holmes then, it's a decent run-around with fights and explosions and other things people like in blockbuster films.*

*I really like the first one which is why I'm extra grumpy in this review.

Sherlock and friends run away from an explosion. They do a lot of that.

Another Doctor Who Series Nine Trailer Breakdown

Unusually, if memory serves, we've been granted two full-length trailers this year in the run-up to Series Nine (which is still a month away!). While a few clips are the same as the one released last month, it's mostly all-new material. Let's watch the new trailer and then take a closer look at what it has to offer...

A lot of the minute is made up of the Doctor and Clara doing Doctory/Claray things (I particularly like the Doctor apologising to the TARDIS for being late and Clara's clearly been taking lessons from Torchwood's Gwen Cooper on how to be an action-hero). On the supporting characters front, there's a shot of a scared-looking Rigsy (returning from last year's 'Flatline') and, I think, we also see the impossibly-resurrected Osgood out for a jog.

But the most important thing are the monsters - and there seems to be a bumper crop this year. Including this CGI dragon thing. As the Zygons are back, this could be the modern rendition of a Skrarasen, the Zygons' pet that was actually the Loch Ness Monster. If so, I sort of miss it looking like a rubbery toy dinosaur...

 

Also, of course, this fella who's on loan from Pan's Labyrinth

We also get more glimpses of Maisie Williams' character, who appears to be in league with this leonine creature (who elsewhere in the trailer breathes fire). A relation of the Tharils, the lion-like aliens from Fourth Doctor adventure 'Warrior's Gate'?

And look what have we here. It seems the Master and the Daleks will team-up (or perhaps go head-to-head) - for the first time since the Third Doctor battled them both in 'Frontier In Space.' If I were a Dalek, though, I'm not sure I'd be pals with Missy if she was cackling in my face like that. Unless I'd just told a hilarious joke. Which I wouldn't have done, being a Dalek.

But trumping even the promise of Missy and the Daleks is more Daleks! Namely, Daleks old and new coming together. Below we have the usual bronze Time War Daleks, some 60s models (including a couple with blue domes), a Special Weapons Dalek and even the red Dalek Supreme from 'The Stolen Earth/Journey's End.' Oh, and there's a 70s one elsewhere in the trailer. Just about everyone apart from the despised Paradigm Daleks. One day they'll come back...

Overall, this trailer just fuels my already very high hopes for Series Nine. From what we've seen so far, the Twelfth Doctor has settled down into himself this year and he and Clara are back to having good times rollocking around the universe. To misquote Clara, I haven't seen this series yet - but I will do and it will be spectacular.

Sherlock Scribbles: Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking

Last month I kicked off a new series of posts looking at different Holmesian adaptations with a look at 2002's The Hound of the Baskervilles. This month I'm following it up with its semi-sequel made in 2004. Unusually, while the actor of Holmes isn't carried over, Watson is, with Ian Hart reprising his role from the previous production.

Starring: Rupert Everett (Sherlock Holmes), Ian Hart (Doctor Watson), Jonathan Hyde (George Pentney), Helen McCrory (Mrs Vandeleur) and Michael Fassbender (Charles Allen)

Synopsis: In 1902, a new terror has struck the fog-bound streets of London in the form of a serial killer who is murdering young debutantes. Can the estranged Holmes and Watson come together to solve the case of the silk stocking?

Doyled or Spoiled?: With an original storyline, very litle of the plot is dervied from Doyle although Holmes often quotes directly from the stories (e.g. 'I cannot make bricks without clay,' 'Watson, you are the one fixed point in a changing age' ETC). Much like Hound, it also presents Holmes taking drugs during a case - including using opium, rather than just morphine or cocaine.
The biggest departure from the canon, however, is the identity of Watson's fiancee. Rather than the books (and most adaptations) he does not marry Mary Morstan but rather Jennifer Vandeleur, an American psycho-analyst. Similar to other modern versions - the Downey Jr films and Sherlock - Holmes is at first jealous of his best friend finding a(nother) partner before being won over by her.

Highlight: 100% Rupert Everett. A much better Holmes than Hound's Roxborough, he's something of a proto-Sherlock (interestingly, the special even uses the same font as the series) with his Cumberbatchian anti-social behaviour and snarky sense of humour. Although he lacks the manic energy of the best Holmeses, he absolutely looks the part and it would have been fascinating to see him take on the role in an adventure that more closely looked at Holmes' character. 

Verdict: An enjoyable if not totally successful Holmes adventure. While the storyline could have done with more inspiration from the canon, the film's great strength is how it really evokes the setting of Edwardian England, with the rich partying at debutante balls while murderers lurk in the treacherous fog. Likewise, the key relationship between Holmes and Watson is better handled here than in its predecessor although not entirely fixed, being much less prickly if not quite warm. In fact, the most interesting pairing of the piece must be that of Holmes and young girl Roberta who the detective seems to take under his wing. As such, while it is much better than the tepid Hound, my main gripe is that the plot, involving the hunt for a sexually-deviant serial killer, is much too modern crime drama and too little Sherlock Holmes to be completely satisfying.

Rupert Everett's smooth-as-silk Holmes saves the day in this pastiche

Monthly Scribbles: The BBC, Bond and Robin Hood

Now that July has been and gone (yes, I know, we're now over halfway through the year but hold off on the realisation that your life is dwindling away, all right, this is a light-hearted post) it's time for another sporadic round-up of the month's Scribble Creatures-y news in Monthly Scribbles.

Capaldi's Credentials

July was a busy month for the Big Two - Sherlock and Doctor Who - as tantalising trailers for both were released. But as I've already blabbed about those here and here, I'll look at a less covered item now. Namely, this fun interview that appeared online recently which shows Peter Capaldi at his Who-loving best. Everyone knows Capaldi is a life-long fan of the show but this interview - in which he seemingly can't stop himself from talking about his favourite Who episodes - is a great demonstration of his fan credentials. It's always nice when the Doctor loves Doctor Who just as much as the fans. 

The Game is over...

I'm sad to report that Toby Whithouse spy drama The Game has been cancelled. It's a great shame as, despite a couple of criticisms I had, it had a lot of promise. What with the loss of the brilliant In The Flesh earlier this year as well, it seems the Beeb have either gone off their rocker or simply can't afford to take a chance on such shows as they used to (thank you very much, government). Either way, the BBC may make mistakes but we would miss it terribly if it wasn't there. Hint hint: please sign this petition to protect the BBC. It's very worthwhile.

Anyway, now to get off my soapbox...


'Their name is... Spectre.' 

Not to be outdone by his fellow British heroes, there was also a trailer for the latest James Bond film Spectre released this month - and it was a whopper. As well as being an effective teaser for the film it is also littered with lovely kisses to the past - Bond and the new M seem to be at odds, suggesting the relationship between 007 and the original Ms, Christoph Waltz is wearing a very Blofeldian nehru jacket and Q is giving Bond a car with gadgets. Not to mention the rousing theme music from On Her Majesty's Secret Service playing throughout. The last film Skyfall somewhat converted me from Bond liker to fledgling fan so I'm eagerly awaiting this instalment, which seems to be a series finale to Craig's Bond films. 


Mini-Review of the Month

The Adventures of Robin Hood

Until this month, I had never read nor seen anything to do with Robin Hood (well, except such non-canonical takes as last year's Doctor Who episode and that Disney film with the foxes). After twenty-odd years I finally put that right when I came across a copy of Robert Lancelyn Green's children's novel, which tells the story of the Prince of Thieves' life, drawn from the classical ballads and folk stories. It's written in a charming fairy tale style which brings Sherwood Forest and its inhabitants to storybook life in a way that sends you back to being ten years old, even if like me you weren't familiar with the world at that age. Highlights include the bizarrely supernatural 'The Witch of Paplewick', a Maid Marion who is pleasingly pro-active rather than a damsel-in-distress and - spoiler warning for a 700 year old legend - the surprisingly moving final chapters.