Tag Archives: Television

Doctor Who: The Legend of Ruby Sunday – TV Review

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TL;DR – This did everything it needed to do for a penultimate episode, as well as remind us how short this season was.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this series.

The TARDIS flies into UNIT Headquarters.

Doctor Who Review –

Well, we are almost at the end of the first season already, and goodness, what a ride it has already been. Since we started in earnest with The Church on Ruby Road, back in Christmas, we have seen Space Babies, gone back in time with The Devil’s Chord, discovered that the Doctor needs to watch where he is walking in Boom & 73 Yards, tried to save naïve racists in Dot and Bubble, and went Rogue in Rogue. But it is time to get that Part 1 energy on and dive back into UNIT.


So to set the scene, we start with the TARDIS smashing through the atmosphere and slamming into the control room of UNIT headquarters in London, UK. As you can see, The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) has two problems. The first is everywhere he goes since Wild Blue Yonder, he sees the same lady (Susan Twist). But Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) can conger snow at will, which is a neat trick but also a harbinger of some powerful timey-wimey stuff. Well, it’s a good thing UNIT is monitoring the situation and has cobbled together a time window for just such an occasion. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Doctor Who: Dot and Bubble – TV Review

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TL;DR – When subtlety is like a ‘two by four’ to the side of the head, you get this week’s episode.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this series.

Lindy looking into here bubble.

Doctor Who Review –

If there is one thing that Doctor Who always does, it is to shine a light on the modern world by using a fantastical setting. This is common throughout science fiction, but Doctor Who loves delving into this world. Add a dash of horror, and you will have today’s episode before it starts to fall apart.  

So, to set the scene, the colony of Finetime is a world where everyone lives in these social media bubbles in constant contact with their friends. It is so all-encompassing that they need directions to guide them through the world. No one lowers their bubble, and why would they? You are always in contact with everyone else. But what happens when you start losing contact with your friends, one person at a time? Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Discovery – Life, Itself & Season 5 – TV Review

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TL;DR – While you can tell this was never meant to be a season finale, it did still give us a lovely swan song for the series.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

The Binary Blackholes.

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

All good things come to an end, and while it was never meant to be the final episode, it is the end. In today’s review, we will first look at how the episode works as a finale. Then, we will take a look at Season 5 as a whole. Finally, we will take a moment to look back at the series in its entirety, the bastion of a new wave of Star Trek during the second golden age of Sci-Fi.    

So to set the scene, after spending all season trying to track down the Progenitor tech, the crew of the USS Discovery-A finally made it to the end of the treasure hunt. However, the Breen beat them to it in Lagrange Point. But as the portal to the tech gets flung into the binary black holes, Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Mol (Eve Harlow) get trapped inside. Now, the Discovery is trapped outside with an angry Breen dreadnaught and a new fleet on its way if Saru (Doug Jones) can’t stop them. Now, we will be looking at the Episode, Season, and Series as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Doctor Who: 73 Yards – TV Review

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TL;DR – A tense, brooding episode, and that is just the Welsh coastline.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this series.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Ruby and the Doctor hop out of the TARDIS on the Welsh Coastline.

Doctor Who Review –

One of the strengths of Doctor Who is that you never know what tone you are going to get. Will this be a fun romp with Space Babies or a deep dive into historical racism with Rosa. It can be an entertaining comedy, a profound emotional time or a deep dive into horror. Today’s episode falls firmly into the latter category with a dash of the supernatural.

So, to set the scene, they land on the Welsh coast, which is full of green beauty. The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) is in the middle of reminiscing with Ruby (Millie Gibson) about his love for the place when he steps on a woven construction in the grass (my boy needs to start looking where he steps). It seems like some sort of memorial, something that kids make, but when the Doctor disappears, the TARDIS locks itself, and a figure in black signs some kind of warning. Well, things started getting weird, and why do they stay 73 yards away? Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Discovery – Lagrange Point – TV Review

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TL;DR – A race to the end, but with some real charm.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

Escaping twin blackholes.

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

Well, it is the penultimate episode of the series, and I am not sure, but I am ready for it to end. Today, we get a perfectly solid part 1 to the end of the season and a part 1 to the end of a series. This is a significant burden to bear, even when you know it is coming, which makes the question today, how did it hold up when it didn’t know what it would end up being?  

So to set the scene, after the final clue was revealed in Labyrinths, it is now a race between the USS Discovery-A and the Breen to get to the location of the Progenitor’s tech. The only problem is that it is not just one Breen faction after the tech, and the Discovery was severely damaged in the last conflict. After Spore jumping in between two black holes, the Discovery is finally able to find the technology, only to see the Breen arrive and snatch it in front of their eyes. So, can the crew find a way to steal it back before the warring factions of the Breen descend on the power of creation itself? Now, we will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Doctor Who: Boom – TV Review

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TL;DR – An episode that was both profound and frustrating in almost equal measures

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this series.

The face of an ambulance.

Doctor Who Review –

Oh, okay, I think today’s review is going to need a little bit of a preface going in. I honestly think the best work the renewed series of Doctor Who has ever done was when Steven Moffat was writing during the first Russell T Davies era. That is not to say I didn’t like Russell T Davies’ work. The recent Space Babies & The Devil’s Chord were a blast, and what Steven Moffat did when he was showrunner wasn’t terrible. Rory and Amy are my favourite companions that had ever been in the show. But the combination of the two was always fire, so I came into this episode with very high expectations and left it with some pause.

So to set the scene, we open on a battlefield as two soldiers are trying to get back to base, concerned about the landmines, understandably, and the ambulances, more concerningly. However, as John Francis Vater (Joe Anderson) is captured by the ambulance, we understand his fear. The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) arrives just in time to hear a scream and runs to the call, only to step down and see a landmine under his foot. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Discovery – Labryinths – TV Review

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TL;DR – A fun action romp of an episode.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

The Breen Mourn.

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

We are getting to the pointy end of Discovery’s final season, and so far, I have been enjoying our treasure hunt across the galaxy. However, as we come towards the final piece in the puzzle, we need to ask, will the treasure be worth the hunt?

So to set the scene, in Erigah, two significant events happened. First, the Breen went from being mysterious and dangerous to being outright hostile, with the knowledge of what The Federation was seeking. Secondly, the crew finally unlocked the answer to take them to the final clue. This time, it was hidden in the Eternal Gallery and Archive in the book Labyrinths of the Mind. The Gallery is hiding in The Badlands, and hopefully, the USS Discovery-A can get to them before the Breen. Now, we will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Doctor Who: The Devil’s Chord – TV Review

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TL;DR – It generally hits the right chord, with a villain who commits to the note, and a Doctor who is ready to conduct

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this series.

The Doctor and Ruby on the famous crosswalk near Abby Road.

Doctor Who Review –

When they first announced this first season, the one episode they focused on was the one where we get to run into The Beatles. It has been everywhere, and they have been dropping songs and images to the lead-up. So, I am relieved that we got to dive into this episode in the first batch, along with Space Babies.

So to set the scene, in 1925, Mr Timothy Drake (Jeremy Limb) is showing a student, Henry Arbinger (Kit Rakusen), the joys of the piano when the conversation leads to the ‘Devil’s Chord’, which is just a fancy name for a tri-tone, but was banned less it let the devil enter the room. Not that anyone takes that seriously, but not until someone starts knocking from the piano case and the devil, well, a demon, well, something called Maestro (Jinkx Monsoon) bursts forth. Well, The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) asked Ruby (Millie Gibson) where she wanted to go, and she has only one place in mind: Abby Row, 1965, to see The Beatles record their first album, and the Doctor is there to oblige. Insert obligatory crosswalk photo here. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Discovery – Erigah – TV Review

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TL;DR – A very Star Trek episode all about whether violence or diplomacy is the best way forward.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

USS Locherer catches up with Moll and l'ak.

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

We are starting to get into the back half of the season, and you can feel things starting to come ahead. This would be tense in any season, but given this is the final season of Discovery, you can feel that being amplified even more so because the Breen are coming.  


So to set the scene, after finding the next clue in an abandoned weather tower, the next hint was some sort of Betazed text inscription. But when the USS Locherer catch up with Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis), the Discovery jumps straight there and beams them to their sick bay. L’ak is in bad shape and needs emergency cryo-therapy at Starfleet HQ before he dies. But the Breen knows where they are and are coming for Starfleet HQ with a dreadnaught, and everyone can feel that we are at a tipping point. Now, we will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Discovery – Mirrors – TV Review

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TL;DR – There are reflections a plenty this week, and that is not even contained to a mirror universe.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

The USS Discovery-A approaches the wormhole.

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

This season, we have had an interesting situation with a pair of antagonists who don’t quite fit the bill as bad guys. Sure, they deal with the shady side of things, but I also think we might forget that the Romulan ship in Red Directive was also legitimate salvage. But you could feel that some backstory was ready to be dropped. Well, today’s episode does just that.

So to set the scene, after flashing through time in Face The Strange, we discovered that Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak’s (Elias Toufexis) gambit worked, and they are now ahead of the USS Discovery-A crew. But as luck would have it, they know where they went because there is a wormhole of sorts, but not a nice friendly wormhole like in DS9. No, this one will rip your ship in half without thinking of it, which is what Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Book (David Ajala) discovered as they went in. That was surprising, but even more so was stumbling across the ISS Enterprise. Now, we will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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