Doctor Who - New series, new species part 44

A look at the species that appeared in the 50th Anniversary and Christmas Specials of Doctor Who, marking the end of Matt Smith's time as the Doctor.


The Moment

I thought the 'moment' was a great idea, not least because it gave a way to bring Billie Piper back into the show that worked without being overly sentimental. Especially with her interactions with John Hurt she played a great role as the sentient weapon. The special was one of the best if not the best episode of current era Doctor Who, a fitting episode for such a momentous occasion.

The Moment was a Galifreyan weapon created in ancient times with the power to wreak incredible destruction across space and time. So elegant was the design that the weapin developed sentience, becoming a being in it's own right. It was locked away by the Time Lords who feared to use a weapon with a conscience, but was stolen by the War Doctor. It interacted with him and was able to alter time to save Galifrey for the future.

Wooden Cybermen

I thought these cybermen, along with the whole episode was a bit of a let-down after the sheer brilliance that was the anniversary special. Nothing was particularly bad about it, it just didn't have the same magic, which you would expect for Matt Smith's end.

In an effort to penetrate the Doctor's defenses, the Cybermen created a soldier made of organic material, but this model too was bested by the Time Lord.

Blogga's Wall - 2013 roundup

Here's a summary of what went up on my wall in the latter part of 2013.

1) The World Set Free

One of a collection of Wells' novels donated to me by a friend. I've found a lot of his work to be quite tedious and self-important (Star-begotten being enough to put me off him altogether were it not for having read the masterpiece that is War of the Worlds). This book starts off in the same vein with a lengthy monologue about man's grasp for power, however the books progress into elaborate political alliances collapsing into a global war devastating countries with nuclear weapons and resulting in a global government is an uncannily accurate vision of what became and what could have been which can't be denied.

2) Under the Dome

The series from Stephen Spielberg and Stephen King adapting King's own novel was exciting to watch, with a town suddenly and dramatically (they kept reminding us with the image of a cow split in half by the dome's mighty power at the recap of each episode) cutting them off from the outside world and changing the face of the town. The series was well paced with engaging characters, but I'm waiting to see if the sliffhanger at series 1's end is going to be resolved well in the next installment.

3) Marvel's Agents of SHIELD

I've already posted on this and expect a post in the near future so I won't say anything except it's good!

4) Thor: The Dark World

With a somewhat ambiguous title I wasn't sure about this film but it totally delivered. The Marvel studios blend of engaging action and humour worked again with the relationship between Thor and Loki making for some great moments. The cinematic battle on Asgard as well as the wider conflicts were well realised and Chris Eccleston's Malekith was a believable and menacing villain.

5) Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor

Again a review of this is long overdue so I won't say much other than that this totally delivered too!!

6) The Food of the Gods

Another Wells novel, this time dealing with a discovered substance that produces incredible growth in this who ingest it. As the produce spreads to local wildlife as well as a few humans grown to gigantic proportions the impact on human society is enormous.

7) Chronicle

A very powerful take on the superhuman power story with three friends discovering an alien artifact the gives them tghe ability to move objects with their minds and move themselves through the sky. What begins as an opporunity to have fun soons turns dark as they start to see the full extent of what they can do if no one can stop them.

SF at the Movies - November '13

2 days late but here nonetheless


Gravity

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor

More next mon...err, this month!

Agents of SHIELD: Meet the team!

I'm loving the new series from Marvel and Joss Whedon, set in the Avengers Universe, with relevant references to the movies, grounding it in the same timeline, but also brand new characters and missions giving it the strength to stand on it's own.

 I plan on doing some sort of review (by which I mean geeking out over the cool new stuff in it!!) sometime around the mid-way point in a few weeks time, but to save time when I get there I thought it'd be good to introduce the key agents involved and thankfully Marvel have done my job for me with a set of 'level 7' videos introducing each character, their skills and history and the actor's own reflections on them.

First up the return of Phil Coulson

Science experts Fitz/Simmonds

'Just the driver' Melinda May

Combat expert Grant Ward

And former anti-SHIELD activist and hacker Skye

So that's the team - more on SHIELD soon!!

Doctor Who - New series, new species part 43

Yes it's about time to look back at the latest series of Doctor Who and the new aliens that appear in the series - to be fair there are a lot of 'sort-of' species in this post, creatures that technically aren't really new aliens at all but are worth mentioning nonetheless

Time Zombies

 I didn't know quite what to make of these creatures, they added a good deal of menace to what weoul otherwise have been a load of random exploring...but then again I'd have been happy with just random exploring!!

These creatures, roaming the core of the TARDIS, a result of the Doctor and his companions being exposed directly to the eye of Harmony. Thankfully the Doctor was able to change the course of events so that these creatures ceased to exist.

Red Leeches

 A quirky little alien in a nice episode starting with the Companions helping Clara and the Doctor and then taking the fight back to the enemy. I have to say the little leech was a nice mix of cute and evil and a nice take on a species type - don't think we've had a small wormy thing for a while on Who!

An ancient race, known as a menace to the Silurtians when they populated the Earth. They produced a venom which could cause horrific changes and death in conact with most humans but could also have a symbiotic and beneficial relationship with a chosen host body. One surviving member of the race, conspired with a corrupt human, Mrs. Gillyflower to take over the human race.

Cybermites

Another new Cyber-thingy, but I thought these little creatures were effective and better than last series' rebooted Cybermat with it's snappy teeth, these creatures were actually a threat. It was nice to see the actual Cybermen being more powerful and threatening than they have been in the past.

A weapon of the Cybermen, Cybermites were part of their arsenal in their longstanding war agains humanity. Cybermites could latch onto an organic host and begin the process of converting them into a Cyberman. They weren't able to convert a host by themselves but could turn a being into an agent for them and certainly incapacitate foes if they got close enough. They were also able to turn the Doctor into 'Mr Clever' and alter ego with some of the Doctor's personality and knowledge and yet fully serving the Cybermen.

Whisper Men

 







Another vague non-race designed to add some threat, these 'whisper men' were actually manifestations of the Great Intelligence and did not corporeally exist at all, though they could interact with the world, they were used by the Intelligence to threaten the Doctor's friends to make him open up his tomb on Trenzalore.

That's your lot - more after the Anniversary Special!!

Doctor Who - New series, new species part 42

Oh yes the answer to life, the universe and everything is contained in this post as we have a quick peek at the alien species featured in episodes 1-4 of part 2 of series 7 of the New Doctor Who (they don;t like to make their numbering easy do they?!!)

Well episode 1 'The Bells of St. John' (the title is a reference to the TARDIS) didn't feature any new races, rather a return of the Great Intelligence, a villain featured in the Christmas special and classic Who. The Intelligence inhabits the Wi-Fi, uploading people's consciousness for it's own purposes. In doing so it used some mobile servers, colloqiually known as 'spoonheads' to upload and control people remotely - they're not a species, but they're worth a mention on the blog I think.

Spoonhead

In the next episode 'The Rings of Akhaten' we were treated to a whole host of aliens in a bustling marketplace as well as some principal character races too. The Doctor ran around the marketplace like a giddy child (as would I!!!) and threw out some alien names, which I was too slow to catch - thankfully the community on the TARDIS Core website caught a few of them, which I'll post up here now.

First the races seen at the marketplace

Do'reen

The true species name is unknown, but  a member of this race was a vendor at the marketplace on Akhaten trading vehicles for items of psychometric value.

Pan-Babylonian

Native to the same system as Akhaten this race came to worship at the festival of offerings.

Hooloovoo

Another species native to the Akhaten system

Ultramancer

A metalic species which the Doctor was excited to see due to their rarity, also native to the system

Also named, were Terrabeserkers, Lucanians and Lugaleracush - I'm not sure but they may be one of these two beauties from the official site.

Ok, prime story races now.

Choristers

 










This humanoid race, native to the Akhaten system, were chosen to sing to the 'Grandfather' a deity they believed responsible for the creation of the universe and who they sang to keep asleep. They had psychic powers which enhanced their capabilities to reach out to the god and keep him at bay.

The Vigil

Appointed by the 'Grandfather' to oversee the sacrifice and worship of the singers these individuals hunted the young 'Queen of Years' who ran because she was afraid of her duties. They were able to teleport and use telikenisis against their opponents. When they were no longer needed they were obliterated by their master. 

The Mummy

The name given to this creature by the Doctor and others who encountered it, initially believed to be the old god who the worshippers tried to keep asleep, the being, encased in a transparent prison was in fact a way for the true god to wake up if the system of pacification failed. Like the Vigil it was destroyed by it's master. 

Akhaten

While visually impressive Akhaten wasn't really anything new and I was surprised at the Doctor stating it was the biggest thing he had faced when he had battled against a sentient star (as the tenth Doctor) and another sentient planet 'House' in this series. That aside the puzzle solving of finding the true villain and the corny-but-believable manner of defeat made it a convincing villain.

A malevolent gas giant that had become sentient and aquired great power it fed off the fear and worship of sentient beings who offered up their stories and songs to it, which fed it's hunger. Essentially a parasite it controlled and possessed other beings to bring it the food it desired and when the suystem finally stopped after centuries it attacked, threatening to consume the entire solar system. It had little self-control, however and consumed the overwhelming psychic power of Clara's leaf, which held potential stories as well as past history, until it destroyed itself, finally freeing the system from its tyrrany. 

The next episode 'Cold War' featured a classic Who race the Ice Warriors. It was nice to see this race, in their cumbersome looking armour as a credible threat and seeing Skaldak out of his armour was (to my knowledge) a first visual appearance in the series and it didn't disappoint. We also got a glimpse of an Ice Warrior spaceship.

The Crooked Man

I quite like this race visually, the story of a ghost having some sort of scientific explanation was standard DW fare, but the added menace/uncertainty of another creature in the equasion added to the mix. What I really liked was the creatures appearance - after the whacky but all humanoid creatures of the previous episodes it was good to have a truly weird looking alien!!

This unusual species was a rare kind. some of which hid among the shadows on Earth, one individual was trapped in a pocked universe and was trying to get home. The Doctor, tracking down a ghost that turned out to be a time traveller trapped in a pocket universe encountered this creature which was also stranded there. Initially fearful the Doctor returned to rescue the creature to his mate which was occupying the haunted house.

Phew! Don't think there'll be quite as many next time!!! I'll post about the second half of the series soon!

Halo: The Television Series

Before going back to my usual run of well out-of-date game and comic book reviews there's one more piece of news from the Xbox One event - a Halo TV series, directed by none other than Steven Spielberg himself!! No news on the story yet but if Forward Unto Dawn is anything to go by, this should be awesome.

It will be airing on Xbox One's new TV service so I don't know when I'll be able to get my hands on it but it's very exciting news nonetheless.

Watch the announcement video below for a bit more info.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

It's been a while but I'm going to post something current on this blog!!! It's been rumoured, hinted at and anticipated with trembling but the first official trailer for Marvel's 'Agents of SHIELD went online yesterday and here it is in all it's glory!!

It looks like these new agents are going to be investigating the other-worldly and finding their place in a world that is starting to fill up with super-heroes. It looks like it's got great potential with Avengers and Firefly director Joss Whedon heading up the show it's a sure hit!!

I'm hopeful that it can be the new Torchwood and be consitently good, unlike the Who spinoff, which had some great moments but wasn't consistently good.

I've no doubt it will come to Sky and I won't get to see it or blog about it till it's out on DVD but nonetheless I'm excited for this one!!!

Next Up: Doctor Who

Doctor Who - New series, new species part 41

Well the Christmas special has come and gone so time to discuss the aliens seen on our TVs Christmas day.

The Great Intelligence

OK this is technically breaking my rule as the Great Intelligence has appeared before in classic Doctor Who episodes and has battled the Doctor on previous occasions. I really enjoyed the creepy pop up snowmen in the lighthearted but moving Christmas day romp. I found the defeating the monster with love to be a little dull as it has been done so many times and so many wayds on Doctor Who but it was an exciting ride and I'm intriogued to find out more about the new companion who keeps popping up through time.

The Great Intelligence is a disembodied mind that has battled the Doctor many times taking different forms. In the Victorian era it took the form of snow, reaching out through the mind of a lonely child to build it's intelligence and attempted to become more human so that it could through subtlety replace and control the human race.

Blogga's Wall - November/December 2012

A Happy New Year to you all - I hope you have a wonderful 2013 with good times as well as cool movies, games and comic on the horizon!

Here's what went up on my wall in the last few weeks of 2012

1) Red Dwarf X

 Thanks to  the mostly re-run based channel 'Dave' we now have a brand new series of Red Dwarf. The long running BBC series came to an end a while ago much to the dismay of fans of the classic space comedy. Dave experimented with a min-series 'Back to Earth' a while ago which was quite fun but it was really exzciting to hear of a full series and it really hasn't missed a beat - there are some great moments, such as Rimmer meeting his brother and Lister dealing with parenting when his son is actuaslly himself!!!

2) The Assassin's Creed Encyclopedia

I was really excited to get my hands on this, ordered from UbiWorkshop earlier in the year the re-print of their exclusive encyclopedia details all the characters, events and locations of the exciting franchise including Assassin's Creed III. As I've yet to play the latest game it's a book full of spoilers but there are plenty of 'safe' articles I've enjoyed reading.

3) Halo 4

 










You'll be hearing plenty about this in the near future - a Christmas present I've thoroughly enjoyed starting this game. The campaign feels very true to the original games and while I do miss Firefight the co-op missions in Spartan Ops are well worth playing, though be warned it is set a few months after the campaign so you may be due some spoilers. When I eventually catch up on Mass Effect 3 you'll be hearing more about this game!!

Doctor Who - New series, new species part 40

A bit of a break from Mass Effect ass we look at the new alien species revealed in the new series of Doctor Who. As always for more in depth comments do check out the Impossible Podcasts website - well worth a listen!

Shakri

A somewhat dull ending to the on the whole intriguing episode 'the power of three'. Strange cubes appear that initially do nothing then perform a wide variety of functions to assess the human race. Then it turns out, in a plot line stolen directly from The Ultimates (but executed with a dull anti-climax instead of the epic battle fought against the Chitauri in the Marvel comic) they are the pest-controllers of the Universe who've decided to wipe out the human race and are incredibly easily defeated in such a purpose - presumably this is a set up for them to come again, but I don't care - try bringing in an interesting villain like the Trickster if you want to do some cool manipulation stuff.

The Shakri are a race believed to be mythical even by the Time Lords themselves. They see themselves as the caretakers of the universe and use incredibly advanced technology to manipulate and exterminate species they see as troublesome to the progress of the universe. 

The following episode returned us to the Weeping Angels, who managed to be creepy again like in Blink but their backstory got even more ridiculour with them 'taking over' other statues in the area including the Statue of Liberty, which somehow moved without anyone noticing - I'm giving up on the angels, hopefully christmas will give us something fresh!!

See ya!

Doctor Who - New series, new species part 39

So the Doctor is back on our screens and there are a few new exciting life forms for us to discover on his travels. As ever if you want more detailed discussion of the episodes themselves as well as Who in general I'll leave you in the expert hands of the Impossible Podcast team, who you can link to by clicking the sidebar.

Dalek Puppets

I'm not 100% sure about the term, but the Tardis wiki people use it and as I'm stealing this image from them I guess it'll work fine!! I liked this twist of the Daleks converting people into sleeper agents against their will and I even thought the Dalek probes coming out of their heads was a good idea. The only thing I didn't quite like was that the agent had too much personality when in Dalek mode, casually laughing about how they used her memories jarred a little and would have been better delivered devoid of emotion - the Alaska  crewers did a better job, starting confused and turning into scary Dalek mode.

And as for Oswin that was just tragic!

In the second episode we got a load of dinosaurs and a vaguely humanish guy plus a Silurian or two but nothing that could really classify as a new species - I did like the premise though, it remided me of Planetary stories - plus we did get a cool spaceship out of it!!

Silurian Ark Ship

Kahler

In this Western style episode the production team went down the Star Trek alien route featuring the 'basically human with a strange marking on the face' species type that so often encountered the Enterprise. This species seem to all feature distinctive green markings on their face, but on outward appearance are all basically human. However I suppose it did make sense for him to be more easily accepted by the townsfolk if he did basically look human.

The Kahler were a very technologically advanced race capable of building incredible forms of technology. At some point in their history they became embroiled in a catastrophic war that lead to the creation of cyborgs, mutilated beings that served to overpower their enemies. However, the cyborgs then turned on their masters and hunted down the men that made them into monsters.

More soon, probably Mass Effect

Blogga's Wall - December '11

So a little behind, as with everything else, but here's what went up on my wall this December.

1) Crimson Empire III













This is a long-awaited treat for Star Wars comic fans, a return of one of the best comic series produced by Dark Horse's Star Wars line. If you don't know the story follow Kir Kanos, the last of the Emperor's royal guard as he struggles to find his place following the death of the Emperor. It's great to have a comic series in the early New Republic era, it makes me very nostalgic to reading the original series when they first came out and the Thrawn books etc. Now informed by the prequel trilogy and the Vong books (Nom Anor, one of the key Yuuzhan Vong characters originated in Crimson Empire II) it is an exciting and relevant comic for any reader.

2) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy












Having long lost my copy it was great fun to watch this movie again through Xbox and their LoveFilm service. Not only is it great watching the movie, the novelty of shouting 'Xbox pause' at the TV has yet to wear off!! If you haven't seen this yet I reccommend it, Stephen Fry's narration, the musical number 'So long, and thanks for all the fish' and Bill Baley's voice cameo as a Sperm whale unwillingly called into existence are priceless moments.


3) Doctor Who: The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe












This was a good, fun episode and a nice break from the pace of the last series. While a little overly soppy and I've given my quibbles about the whole 'life force' thing I did enjoy it, the comedy Doctor moments at the start were delightful and the acting was great - another appearance by Bill Bailey was well worth seeing.

More soon!

Doctor Who - New series, new species part 38

OK so it's February - about time to discuss the Doctor Who Christmas Special eh!!

One more species turned up in the special, which unless you've been living in a cave for, well all your life you will know is heavily based on The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. As ever a new species turned up in the special, so let's talk about it.

Androzani Trees












I thought these trees were quite cool and the concept was fun, the Doctor wants to take the kids to a planet with naturally occuring Christmas trees. Only the trees are a live and trying to escape before being burned alive for conversion into fuel. The whole 'life force' thing has always been a vague get-out not only in Doctor Who but in other sci-Fi too (would it hurt to say soul?!!) and the concept of the life force escaping into Madge and then...something wasn't the best, but the human trees were cool and the episode was good fun.

Androzani trees are a sentient species that are harvested for fuel by the Harvest Rangers from Androzani major. On one instance the trees made an escape plan, seperating their life force into the body of Madge Arwell and then dispersing into the time vortex to live free while their 'bodies' were burned. They were able to create humanoid trees to interact with humans and birth them from strange silver 'baubles' that hung from their branches.

Doctor Who - New series, new species part 37

Well the Christmas special has just aired on Christmas day in the UK, but as usual I'm playing catch-up, so here are the new aliens we encountered as we bid farewell to The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Fleshkind/Metalkind










I quite liked this idea, even though I found the names 'fleshkind and 'metalkind' a little simplistic even for a kids show. But the concept of two races developing differently yet similarly and the tale of how how they drifted into endless war with each other was very well told and it was a good introduction for Sky, the fleshkind weapon who becomes another of Sarah Jane's adopted children.

Felshkind and Metalkind are two related species that diverged significantly in their development, one side (fleshkind) becoming carbon based lifeforms similar in appearance to humans, the other becoming boron based lifefoprms named 'metalkind'. Both species were able to emit powerful energy blasts and signals from their bodies, though whether this is natural or technological is unclear. The child 'Sky' was engineered to contain enough energy to wipe out the metalking in a single blast. While the crisis was averted by Sky's choice to join humanity the war still continues.

Hetocumtek









I thought this was possibly the rubbishest alien enemy in the series, which is a pity since it was in by far the best episode. Clyde's rejection by his family and friends led to an insightful and engaging portrayal of homelessness that was presented well for it's young audience, being neither overly hopeful nor direly pessimistic but showing the fight for survival that many have on the street. To bad it was ruined by a strange totem pole thing that was defeated by Clyde shouting his name at it with no explanation as to why that destroyed the monster.

Hetocumtek is the Native American name for an alien being that descended to Earth and was capable of wreaking great havokusing psychic abilities that were interpreted as 'curses' by the humans it encountered. The Indians found a way to imprison the being in one of thheir totem poles where it was imprisoned until it touched Clyde Langer. He cursed Clyde, making anyone who heard his name hate him, but Clyde retaliated with the help of his friends and broke the curse, defeating the monster.

Skullions










I really liked these little guys, at first seeming to be the villains. The story of them being slaves was cool and I absolutely loved their steampunk operating system for the hologram they operated and used to hypnotise people for their master. I really liked the reveal that there is an underground black market in captured aliens as slaves, it would have been a great plot line to follow, and I'm really hoping that some of the cool elements like the Trickster, the Captain and this trade can maybe migrate into the main show and continue.

Skullions are a technologically superior race that have fast space travel capabilities and are able to produce and control detailed holograms. One group came under the control of Serf Industries when their ship crashlanded in Asia and they were picked up and enslaved by a secret organisation that sells captured aliens and their technology to the highest bidder. They were rescued by Sarah Jane and returned to their home planet safely.

And that's it - I'll post the Christmas special soon!!

Smallville - From strip to screen, part 3

OK so I'm continuing my run through of existing DC characters who have popped up in this series of Smallville.

Conner Kent/ Superboy











Conner Kent shows up in Series 10 as one of a number of clones created by Lex Luthor to replace him in the event of his death. One of the few successful clones, he was also created from Clark's DNA, giving him some Kyrptonian abilities. He had a chequered story in the series, first beingf rescued by Tess, then running away when Lex's memories took hold of him, being corrupted by Lionel who manipulated him using red kryptonite and finally choosing to side with Clark and accept his guidance. In the comics superboy is also a clone of a very-much living Lex, who created him as a weapon against Superman, also rebelling against Lex he reluctantly accepted the name Superboy and trained with Clark, joining the Teen Titans.

Amos Fortune












Amos Fortune is the unfortunate owner of a club where Clark had his bachelor party, made more interesting by the gift of enchanted champagne donated by Zatanna. The group stole one of his trucks which was involved in a crime then battled him to get Lois's ring back, which she had lost. In the comics Fortune is also a club owner and crime lord that has frequent run-ins with the heroes.

And that's it folks - one more part to go!!!