Thursday 28 April 2011

Been On Holiday

Hey guys, I am in Spain for the next week and a half. I do have access to the internet here, but I am doing lots and lots of things. I should be able to watch doctor who online as I have found a good site for doing that internationally, so apart from my review and other important updates, expect no posts!

Greg

Sunday 24 April 2011

The Impossible Astronaut - Overnight Ratings (Plus a little rant of my own)


Well, not too good sadly. Doctor Who achieved Overnight ratings of 6.5 million viewers. Despite being majorly disappointing, especially for a series opener, you have to remember some pretty important things that would have altered the amount of views.

1) It was a hot day:
People will want be outside in the warm rather than inside watching TV.

2) Too damn early:
For me, of course, it hardly matters because its doctor who and I'll watch it whatever time it's on. But there will be millions of people who aren't finished at their work by the time it airs, and will therefore have to opt to recording it. I know the reason the BBC are airing it early though, Britains Got Talent. The BBC are obviously scared of a ratings clash and war. And it is obvious who will win. As yet again, The world of trash, reality, brainwashing TV lands upon the UK :(

3) It's Spring/Summer Time
It's no secret that TV Ratings go down in the summer. Big Time. This is why ITV is smart, and airs Britain's Got Talent after it gets dark, so it doesn't matter whether its Autumn or Summer. I know that my sisters family recorded Doctor Who and watched it at 9.00 in the evening. The reason being is that Doctor Who is about 10X less scary when it's light outside. I am telling you I can't wait till after the hiatus when Doctor Who airs when it's dark outside!

4)The World is becoming more Internet based.
More and more people are choosing to watch things on-line. This is a reason why Doctor Who does so well on I Player.(Doctor Who is currently the most popular thing on there, and I expect it to be so for the next day or two) If you don't have access to a TV, just watch it on-line. This isn't just in Doctor Who (again I am looking at Britain's Got 'No' Talent) which got nearly a 1 million drop in viewers with this years opener from last years opener.


So, I conclude, Doctor Who will almost definitely get a huge amount of viewers from Recordings and I Player views. I know I have already watched it a couple of times again via I Player. So, lets hope for good Final Figures (they after all, are what counts) and you can help by re-watching Doctor Who again by I Player!

Sorry if you were bored by my rant!

Greg

Saturday 23 April 2011

The Impossible Astronaut - My Review

Wow! That truly was a corker of an episode wasn't it! I knew it was going to be big, but I wasn't expecting that! Lets get things settled. By far the best series opener of doctor who since 2005. I mean, compare this episode, (American Desert, Shocking Secrets, and a really physiological deep alien) to the opener we got three years ago in 2008, (Pretty Lame Jokes, Pretty lame Story, and seriously stupid, little fat babies waddling about) if someone thinks 'Partners in Crime' is better than 'The Impossible Astronaut' then I doubt they have a soul. Now, this was by no means one of the best episodes ever...yet. The trouble with this episode (and probably one of my only quibbles) is that it genuinely felt like half an episode. I think it would have been so much better as one huge episode, the reason being is that it's a series opener. For the past years, all openers have been a one parter. I feel as though perhaps the only reason for this series opener to be a two parter, is because The Moff is trying to magnify the 'Epic' feel of this series. I would have much preferred an hour and a half long epic episode,but, it's just one mans opinions.

So, that aside, we begin my spoiler-y review. So, if you have not yet seen it, please don't read this review!

About a week or two ago, these character cards were leaked on-line, and I was silly enough to take a glance. On 'The Doctor's' card, it gave away the fact that the doctor we see is a future version of the doc. After I read this, I looked away and shut down the window. I did not want to be spoiled. So to me, I had worked the whole death thing out a long time ago. But, it still was great. It really reminded me of 'The Big Bang' when the doctor revisits his past.
I LOVED the idea that the three companions have to keep this a secret from the doctor. It really gives the episode a tension lacking from series 5, and especially series 1-4.
The Silence. What can I say. They are great. Not as great as I was expecting (that's all down to one reason, I will explain later) but without that one point they would be amazing. They look brilliant. They sound brilliant. The fact that you forget them whenever you look away, is brilliant. The way they kill people is Bri...no wait. It's awful. I am so sorry for people who can't see fault in the silence. But what on earth was that lightning way of killing. It seriously looked like a gimmicky pile of nonsense. The toilet scene was epic, and yet was seriously ruined by the almost humourous way of being killed. If they killed with no SFX, how epic would it look if the silence just raised it's arms at the woman, and silently, the woman just drops down dead. Oh Well, another small quibble, but I just had to get it out there.

I Loved the 'Spaceman' storyline, with the girl. who I found more scary than the silence but there you go. I loved Canton.Nixon.

The exchange between Rory and River towards the end of the episode is by far my favourite bit of the episode. I think it is definetly in my top 5 scenes on doctor who ever. It was beautiful done, and acted. It really makes you think how hard meeting the doctor in the wrong order is for her.

I swear I jumped out of my seat when I saw the Lodger TARDIS. Great to see that again. Knew the silence were behind it!

Amy's pregnant! I'm assuming she'll give birth at the end of this series. Which means no more Amy :( but, it has opened my eyes to a number of possibilities. Firstly, Her future baby is the girl in the spacesuit, Who she just shot. Heartbreaking, but I think it would be interesting if this theory turned out to be true. The second is that Amy's child will infact be River Song. I'm gonna leave that there.

I'm sorry this is a shockingly bad review. I am rushing this, and my mind is going a hundred miles a second so I just blurred out points I felt needed to say. Lets hope my next review is better!

Overall, an amazing series opener. I wish it was longer (seriously, someone start a petition to make doctor who an hour long!) but I can't wait till next week!

9/10!

Friday 22 April 2011

In Less than 24 Hours, we will know which of our four heroes dies in 'The Impossible Astronaut'

Elizabeth Sladen Tribute to air after Doctor Who

I'm not sure whether this has been confirmed, but according to various people, The Impossible Astronaut is to be dedicated to Elizabeth Sladen. And also there will definetly be a full length tribute to Liz airing on BBC1 (I think).

Greg

Sorry for no news!

There has been a lack of news in the who world in the run up to tomorrow! So sorry for not telling you guys that!

Greg

Tuesday 19 April 2011

Elizabeth Sladen - Dead

So, I was just watching the news when a story about Elizabeth Sladen came up. I thought it was probably going to be news about the Sarah Jane Adventures. But No.

Elizabeth Sladen is dead. She dies after complications when battling Cancer. Other than the fact that I was speechless for about five minutes since I heard. I am completely in shock. Liz Sladen was an amazing actress and it is undoubtedly sad now she has gone. Not only this, but she was still rather young. Just 63 years old. She looked healthy. And looked about 15 years younger than she actually is. My heart goes out to all those close to her and the cast of SJA.

I have no idea what will happen to the show.It will probably get cancelled. I am trying not to think about how Daniel Anthony, Tommy Knight, and Anjli Mohindra must be feeling. They were in the middle of filming series 5.

There really is nothing else I can say. To Be Honest I am in total shock

The Impossible Astronaut - BBC One Trailer

Here is the trailer for 'The Impossible Astronaut':






Ahh, the anticipation is killing me!

Greg

Monday 18 April 2011

Karen Gillan - The Telegraph Interview

Karen Gillan was interviewed in 'The Telegraph' Here it is (BE WARNED, IT IS EXTREMELY LONG!):

Doctor Who's Karen Gillan: 'I want to be like Robin Williams'

Karen Gillan talks about Who-mania, what Matt Smith gets up to in her trailer, and where she goes from here


April is the busiest month. Not only are we celebrating a certain royal wedding but for millions of fans the waiting will be over, when the news series of Doctor Who hits our screens next Saturday. The stakes are high for Karen Gillan and the 11th Doctor Who, Matt Smith. Can they repeat the magic of the last series?

With her doll-like features and skyscraper legs, 5ft 10in Gillan is startlingly beautiful in the flesh. She has style, too. At 10am she arrives for our shoot in her own pale lace maxi-dress offset by a black sash, mannish frock-coat and chunky ankle boots. Let me guess… Alberta Ferretti? 'Noo! Noo! Get down to Zara,’ she trills. 'Everyone says I’m really overdressed today but this is significantly easier than putting on jeans and a top, I would just like to point out.’

As for that other glossily maned ingénue teaming up with a constantly regenerating British institution: 'William and Kate? Um, I’m a bit indifferent, really,’ she confesses, then hastily checks herself. 'I guess the country will go into massive celebrations. It’ll be fun and they seem nice.’ She crosses those legs – legs that caused a minor furore when her Doctor Who character, Amy Pond, first appeared, pre-watershed, in a thigh-skimming, kissogram police uniform – before delivering her final verdict: 'I won’t be having a party.’

No commemorative tea towels, then? 'A tea towel? It’s so weird, I find it really weird.’ Surely, with all the Doctor Who merchandise that’s around Gillan can empathise with the royal couple? 'I’ve got a coin with my face on it,’ she concedes. 'It is really bizarre.’

'Bizarre’ is something of a Gillan buzz word, along with 'crazy’ and 'surreal’. It’s understandable when you consider how much the 23-year-old’s life has changed since she landed the role of the feisty Doctor’s companion Amy nearly two years ago. In keeping with the arcane world of Doctor Who, the casting sessions even had their own code-name, Panic Moon, an anagram of 'companion’.

She had modelled and acted before – appearing as a soothsayer in a 2008 episode of Doctor Who: The Fires of Pompeii, in the medical drama Harley Street and the Channel 4 sketch series The Kevin Bishop Show. But nothing could have prepared her for the onslaught of Who mania.

Last spring was just the start as she and the newly anointed Smith – now 28, and the youngest ever Doctor – kicked off their incumbency by touring schools, emerging from a special Doctor Who bus emblazoned with their image. In July they shared the Albert Hall stage with daleks as hosts of the Doctor Who prom. In August Gillan launched the Amy Pond doll in a Glasgow shopping centre. Does she ever feel like a cross between a Blue Peter presenter and Justin Bieber? 'Ha. It’s like no other acting job because it’s almost sometimes like being a pop star,’ she confirms.

Yet she can’t afford to think about the fans – from children to legions of male admirers – when she’s acting. 'The last thing you want to do when you are about to film a scene is think, “Oh my God, so many people are going to watch this,”’ she says.

And not just Brits. The première of the last series was watched by 1.2 million BBC America viewers. On an early promotional trip to New York Gillan was shocked to see fans queuing around the block to see it. 'People had been camping out and people would dress up as me. We didn’t think anyone knew what it was over there,’ she says.

The new series will air simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic. It opens with a double episode filmed in America, which takes the characters from the deserts of Utah to the Oval Office in the late 1960s. The Doctor even wears a stetson. For all its parochial charms – everyone from Ann Widdecombe to Sir Patrick Moore has had cameos – the show is now an international commodity. 'Apparently Spielberg said the world’s a better place with Doctor Who in it.’

This can only be good news for Gillan, who has already dipped a toe in the film world. She recently appeared alongside James Nesbitt in the British horror film Outcast, a role she filmed just two months before getting cast in Doctor Who, and is set to play a New Jersey high school student in a David Baddiel rom-com, Romeo & Brittney, a sci-fi version of Romeo and Juliet.

Yet she comes across more like an excitable student than a global star in the making, whether it’s discussing the joys of vintage shopping, recounting how Billie Piper, one of the Doctor’s previous companions, made the effort to approach her at an awards ceremony, or describing how she and Smith fool around on set. 'Matt has taken to hiding in my trailer and then jumping out and screaming at me, “I’m going to get you!” It’s the scariest thing.’

The pair have a teasing brother-sister relationship. He has likened her gangly physique to that of a praying mantis and nicknamed her Plural Chin for her habit of scoffing sandwiches. She says he has 'a weird head and a weird way of walking’.

Making just one series of Doctor Who means working nine months, 12 hours a day, with only one day off every 11 days, so it’s no wonder they’ve become close. 'You disappear off the face of the earth,’ she says.

The two live in the same apartment block in Cardiff. Evenings are spent learning lines and texting each other. Gillan says she gets just one free hour to herself. 'Me and Matt were talking about this – you have this one hour that you really treasure and we always eat these Nairn’s crackers – they’re amazing. I have this image of us shovelling hummus and oatcakes into our mouths; it happens every night.’

If that sounds a little mundane, she assures me that they do sometimes venture out. Recently, Cardiff music fans were treated to the sight of Smith, Gillan and Arthur Darvill, who plays her on-screen husband Rory, at an Arcade Fire gig. Smith was recognised but Gillan slipped under the radar. 'I didn’t have any trouble. I was dancing away,’ she says, gleefully.

Gillan has been with her real-life boyfriend, the photographer Patrick Green, for five years, but is careful to keep this side of her life private. You won’t see them falling out of nightclubs, though they were once photographed by paparazzi, buying a Bonsai tree in a Suffolk garden centre. 'What’s strange is that my boyfriend’s from Ipswich so they were following him and I just happened to turn up, so that was really… bizarre,’ she says.

Her taste in music veers from the poptastic (the Spice Girls and Britney Spears) to the classic (Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, American gospel), the latter influenced by her father, John, a care worker and a regular singer at pub open-mic nights. Her mother, Marie, a housewife, doesn’t do performing in any way, she adds, sounding relieved.

Gillan may appear happy-go-lucky but she clearly has Irn Bru in her veins. Growing up in Inverness, an only child, she had musical ambitions, but was cripplingly shy. 'I was one of those weird children that just couldn’t talk to people, so I kind of had to make myself be not like that because I knew it was going to hinder me.

I was going on stage trying to sing but couldn’t get anything out. My voice was quivering but I knew that I just had to keep on doing it because you only get scared of stuff that you don’t know; you’ve just got to familiarise yourself with it and then it's fine.’

By 16 she had conquered her fears sufficiently to play Liesl in a school production of The Sound of Music ('Cringe!’ is her verdict today). She headed to drama school in Edinburgh, and then moved to London to attend the Italia Conti stage school. Three months later a part came up in the Scottish detective drama Rebus – to take it up she had to drop out of school. 'I was 18, I couldn’t resist the temptation but it was only one episode so I was taking a gamble.’ What happened next? 'Nothing happened,’ she says, with a cackle. 'It was terrible.’

On the plus side, she got a job in a south London pub, where she perfected the art of drawing a clover in a pint of Guinness. This foray into civilian life was to prove short-lived. Scouted by a model agency, she walked the catwalk for Allegra Hicks. 'I have to wear size five shoes for heels to stay on but they’d always be a size seven so I’d be stuffing tissue in.’

Assessing her modelling career, which included a stint promoting a make-up range, Gillan becomes uncharacteristically subdued. 'I didn’t really care that much,’ she admits. I just wanted to earn some cash so I could subsidise myself to live in London and go to acting auditions.’ A friend of hers lives in a model apartment, where girls sleep two bunk beds to each bedroom. 'When it’s fashion week the local models are told, “Get out of the apartment, we’ve got some girls coming over from Russia who have nowhere to stay.” It’s a harsh world unless you’re some kind of supermodel.’

One can imagine Gillan joining the ranks of Emma Watson, with her lucrative modelling contracts for Burberry and Lancôme, or Gossip Girl’s Blake Lively, the face of Chanel’s Mademoiselle handbags, but this is not in the game plan. 'That would never come if you’re not doing good work, so you’ve just got to focus on doing good work,’ she says.

I ask if there’s an actor whose career she particularly admires. Her answer is refreshingly offbeat. 'Robin Williams. I want a career like his! I want to be like Robin Williams, really. It’s all the different characters he does, all the different voices.’ What about actresses? 'You know whose career I really liked? Brittany Murphy. I thought she played quite interesting characters. She was in Girl Interrupted, and in 8 Mile she had this griminess to her, this edge, which I quite liked.’

Is Gillan yearning for edgier roles? Compared to Doctors, companions can have short shelf-lives – there have even been hints that Amy Pond is to be killed off, as a mid-series cliffhanger. She says she would like to do theatre, either contemporary 'or something really bizarre like Eugène Ionesco’.

Matt Smith recently veered off-piste to play Christopher Isherwood in a BBC Two drama, to much acclaim. Gillan will shortly play Jean Shrimpton for the BBC Four film We’ll Take Manhattan about the 1960s style icon’s first encounter with David Bailey, at a Vogue photo-shoot in New York. Miniskirts and it-girls? It’s not very Robin Williams, but if anyone can pull it off Karen Gillan can. Those character parts may have to wait.

The new series of Doctor Who starts on BBC One on Saturday, 23 April


okay, A pretty long read. But still quite interesting...


Greg

Sunday 17 April 2011

The Impossible Astronaut - Confirmed Date and Time

A confirmation of the date and time for doctor who:
next saturday: April 23rd at 6:00pm on BBC1
I personally cant wait!

Friday 15 April 2011

The Impossible Astronaut & Day of the Moon - Friends Review (Spoiler-Free)

My friend from university lives in New York and queued all day for a chance to watch 'The Impossible Astronaut' and 'Day of the Moon'.

He Succeeded!

Here is his review:

So. Doctor Who Series 6 episodes 1 and 2. Are they any good?...short answer, yes. They are good. More than good. Possibly the single greatest hour and a half of television I have ever seen in my entire life. I was shaking when I went in. Shaking throughout, and shaking after the screening. I am still shaking now! The atmosphere was epic. Meeting the stars was epic. The episodes were Epic! So, onto the actual episodes!
eppie 1 starts off in a slightly odd way. There's a naked doctor, and painting. But despite this, it garnished many a laugh from the audience. But don't think this is a light episode. It isn't. I'm sure you know it isn't from all the buzz surrounding it. It's bloody scary. Scarier that Doctor Who has ever dared to go. I mean, I was hiding in my hands at a particular scene in a bathroom. The monsters are everything you would expect from Mr Moffat, and more. They look terrifying, enough to make you quiver in fear already. But then (in the bathroom scene - where we meet these monsters) we hear the idea behind them. You have probably heard this a million times before. But the idea behind them truly makes them something for the nightmares. One tease I can give away, is that whenever you look away from the silence, you forget they are even there. I mean, something about the silence makes our trio of heroes mark tally s on the faces. The episode isn't just scares though, there are many laughs scattered around.
Towards the end of ep 1, everyone will have A 'OMG IT'S THE ********* FROM *********' moment, and it really picks up the pace from here to episode 2 (alot more action-y, and much more spoiler-y)
River and the Doc kiss in episode 2. Which may perhaps give something away about who she is. There are secrets on board the TARDIS. Especially Amy. Am loving the dynamic between Rory and Amy and the Doctor.
Onto the acting. Matt is incredible. Much more that David Tennant in my opinion. He grows as an actor, and his doctor is just so old, wise. Just alien. He has upped his game this series. As has Karen and Arthur. A big shout out to Canton, who was portrayed brilliantly.
But, I think the main person to surprise me was Alex Kingston, giving a subtle, sometimes heart-breaking performance as River Song.
They used the Utah setting to wonderful shots. not as much as I would have liked but still. The SFX were better than ever. and so is the writing.
Can't say much about episode 2, but it is just as good as the one before it, and acctually ends on a cliffhanger of it's own!

now, I give you some teases for the episodes:

1) It isn't a man inside the spacesuit
2) There is a death. And boy is it shocking.
3) Look behind you Amy
4) Who is the little girl?
5) The silence have always been with us...

Thats it. No negatives. A stunning piece of telly. EPIC. AMAZING. SPECTACULAR. Moffat has done series 5 proud. And proved me wrong after that rather boring Christmas special.]

Five Stars - smiles all round.

Pretty exciting huh? He isn't telling me anything else though. So we'll just have to wait and see for ourselves in a weeks time...

SORRY FOR LEAVING YOU ALL :(

I can't express how sorry I am. Lets just leave it at that.

There is a new series coming up and I am determined to get right back on track. for real. seriously. I think the reason I never updated was because there really was no news for me to do. Hopefully I will be updating as usual as I did when this blog first started.

UPDATES TO FOLLOW!

Greg. :)