Tag Archives: British Television

TV Review – Doctor Who: Arachnids In The UK

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TL;DR –  If you have a deep-seated fear of spiders, well this might be one of those hide behind the coach kind of episodes for you.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

 

Doctor Who: Arachnids In The UK. Image Credit: BBC

 

Review –

Today we continue looking at Doctor Who’s 11th season, a season with a lot of promise but also some recurring issues. This has created a bit of a problem that you see all the good they are trying to do, but also how they are being held back for some odd reasons. Well, today we come crashing back to Earth for a creepy episode just in time for Halloween that is going back to a Doctor Who staples, monsters, running, and the failure of capitalism, oh my.

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TV Review – Doctor Who: Rosa

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TL;DR – While on the technical side of things this was not the best episode of Doctor Who, the story is leaps and bounds above the norm, and it shows the power this show can have if they apply themselves.

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

 

Rosa. Doctor Who. Image Credit: BBC

 

Review –

When you can travel through all of time and space, you can visit wondrous alien worlds, go back and visit key moments in history like the construction of the pyramids, or even explore what looks an awful lot like a quarry on the outskirts of Cardiff a couple of times. However, would you go back in time a visit the less fun parts of our history, those parts that we politely pretend do not exist, even though the ripple of those events still dominate our world today. Well in a world that needs to visit this part of its past Doctor Who has decided to do so for them as we delve into the world of the 1950s segregated America.

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TV Review – Doctor Who: The Ghost Monument

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TL;DR – Today we get a look at how the team will work together, what drives The Doctor, and also a little snippet as to what the overarching story of the season will be.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

 

Doctor Who The Ghost Monument. Image Credit: BBC

 

Review –

There is a lot you have to do in the first episode of a season, especially when you are setting it up as a soft-reboot. You have to introduce the characters and the world, and set the tone for what is to come. However, that is something that can take a whole episode, so you don’t have time for much else. Indeed at the end of last week’s The Woman Who Fell to Earth (see review) we had done all that, but it was a little short with the adventure, the wonder, well one way to add that is to end on a cliff-hanger with our whole team floating in space with no way out. It is one of those instants that you can’t help get captured in the moment even if only for a moment before the logical part of your brain snaps back in to remind you that there is no way they are killing everyone off in episode one. Today we look at the follow up the opener of the season, The Ghost Monument, where we get that sense of wonder and dread as we explore a planet that was once alive and now dead.

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TV Review – Doctor Who: The Woman Who Fell to Earth

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TL;DR – We barrel into the 11th season with an opening episode that will hit you in the feels, make you go ew, and have you sitting in wonder, so basically everything that makes Doctor Who work.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Doctor Who: The Woman Who Fell to Earth. Image Credit: BBC

 

Review –

Doctor Who is a show that is one that I have an interesting relationship with. There are times that it rockets to the top of my must-see list, and times where I feel like I am watching more out of obligation than anything else. However, unlike any other franchise, other than maybe James Bond, Doctor Who is always reinventing itself both metaphorical and literally, and today we see the next step in that evolution with The Woman Who Fell to Earth. With that in mind today we are going to have a look at the debut episode of the shows 11th season (well 37th if you want to get technical) and answer the question: can they reinvent The Doctor again.

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TV Review – Black Mirror: USS Callister

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TL;DR – This is a bleak dissection of fan culture and what would happen if you were given ultimate power, and it is a problem we need to talk about

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

USS Callister

Review –

So Black Mirror is one of those shows I have heard about and had full intentions to give it a watch, but whenever I went to take a look something else came up. Well, Season Four just came out on Netflix, so now is the best time to dive in. It does help that their first episode is examining the fan culture created around science fiction shows like Star Trek, a subject very dear to my heart. Now of course, just like I had been warned Black Mirror then took a knife and stabbed it in my heart and then held up a mirror to show me that I was the one doing it, so some complicated emotions happened during the watching of this episode. Look this is one of those episodes where it is best to go in knowing as little as possible and even my setting the scene is probably too much. So quickly before we move on, the acting is superb, they capture the essence of classic Trek warts and all, and it has something very important to say about how we relate to the media we consume, especially power fantasies. I do recommend.

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TV Review – Game of Thrones: The Dragon and the Wolf

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TL;DR – Tonight is the beginning of the end, as people come together and others get wrenched apart

Score –  4.5 out of 5 stars

Stormborn

Review –

So today we have reached the end of Game of Thrones’ penultimate season, and more than probably any than have gone before the game has changed completely again, though the more things change the most they stay the same. Now, this is the final episode of the season, so now more than ever There Will Be [SPOILERS] Ahead, if you have not seen the final episode then I would recommend not reading any further.
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TV Review – Game of Thrones: Beyond the Wall

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TL;DR – The Magnificent Seven venture beyond the wall to seek fame and fortune and a whole lot of dead people

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Beyond the Wall

Review –

Ok so today’s episode Beyond the Wall is the penultimate episode of the season, and if you know anything about Game of Thrones, you know that this is the episode where usually we get those spectacular moments that people talk about for weeks on end. See, for example, Battle of the Bastards, The Watchers on the Wall, The Rains of Castamere, Blackwater, and indeed the moment that started for everyone in Baelor, where Ned lost his head. Well, tonight’s episode has a lot to live up too, and while it might not quite get there, it has moments that will leave you speechless.
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TV Review – Game of Thrones: Eastwatch

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TL;DR – This week everyone is moved into position, across all of Westeros, for the dead are on the march

Score –  4 out of 5 stars
Stormborn

Review –

So to set the scene of where we start today, at the end of last week’s The Spoils of War (review) the dragons came to Westeros and they were everything we have waited seven seasons for. After losing allies left, right, and centre Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) was left with one issue, she had to act, or she will have lost before she started, but what should she do. So she targeted the Lannister food convey taking the plunder of Highgarden to King’s Landing. This created the first moment since maybe Season Two where we had a battle with multiple people on both sides that we didn’t want to see die. The battle was vicious, devastating, and a reminder that war has forever changed in Game of Thrones. This week we find out how Cerise (Lena Headey) responds, but also we are reminded that while people faff around in the South, in the North a greater enemy is coming, and it is not going to wait to find out who wins the game of thrones. As always, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] incoming.
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TV Review – Game of Thrones: The Spoils of War

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TL;DR – Beware the cornered queen, and Starks reunite

Score – 5 out of 5 stars

Stormborn

Review –

So today we have reached the half way point in Season Seven of Game of Thrones, and if you thought they were going to let up after last week’s slaughter you will be sadly mistaken. So at the end of last week’s The Queen’s Justice (review) Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) had lost pretty much all the allies she came to Westeros with. Yara (Gemma Whelan) is a prisoner of Euron (Pilou Asbæk) her weird uncle who is making a point to woo Cersei (Lena Headey) like right in front of Jamie (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), like dude, that’s a party foul. So the Greyjoys are done, Dorne has been lost as Ellaria (Indira Varma) is chained in the dungeons of King’s Landing watching her daughter die, oh and with Highgarden falling and the apparent death of the Lady Olenna (Diana Rigg) #QueenOfThornesUntilTheVeryEnd she has lost the Reach as well. All of this is topped off with Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) being outmanoeuvred by his brother leaving Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) and the rest of the unsullied trapped in Casterly Rock. Everything, all her carefully laid plans have failed, but when you back Daenerys into a corner, history has shown that this is when she is the most dangerous. Now, of course, there will be [SPOILERS] incoming.
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TV Review – Game of Thrones: The Queen’s Justice

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TL;DR – In the Battle of Queens you win or you die

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Stormborn

Review –

So at the end of last week’s Stormborn (review) a lot went down, Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) lost a big chunk of her forces when they were attacked on the way to Sunspear, we lost some Sand Snakes, Ellaria Sand (Indira Varma) was captured and Theon (Alfie Allen) said to Yara (Gemma Whelan) “Euron your own”. In the North Jon (Kit Harington) left Sansa (Sophie Turner) in charge to go treat with the Dragon Queen, but also didn’t kill Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen) which is a mistake at least half of the characters in the show has made so far. So what will tonight’s episode hold for use, will people’s mistakes come home to roost, will someone kill Littlefinger, how will Sam (John Bradley) gross us out, let’s find out. As always there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.
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