Podcasts about mulkern

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Best podcasts about mulkern

Latest podcast episodes about mulkern

Point Nemo
Jackson Mulkern is Our Guest

Point Nemo

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 7, 2022 70:11


Jackson Mulkern recently drew the new Point Nemo picture.He's a great guy with a passion for art, music and comics! He's actually just wrapped up his second issue for his comic "Helhol" and with be releasing a re-issue of the first one along with it.We talk about his journey through art school, living and working in Chicago, living on Nantucket, health, death, music and MORE!Find him and his work:INSTA - https://www.instagram.com/goatfukercomix/PATREON - https://www.patreon.com/goatfukercomix666EMAIL for Questions and Commission Work - goatfukercomix@gmail.comIf you like the show, or even hate it, please rate and review where you listen to your podcasts.THANKS!Comment, like and subscribe and we'll give you a shoutout on the next podcast!Thanks for watching and be sure to follow us on all social media!New Episode out on Saturdays.Insta: www.instagram.com/pointnemopodcast/Twitter: www.twitter.com/PointNemoShowEmail us questions that we can answer for you on the podcast, or if you have interest in becoming a guest on the show, we can arrange it at location or Skype!GMAIL: thepointnemopodcast@gmail.com

Support Insights Podcast | CX & Customer Support Podcast by SentiSum
Ep. 34: Return of the podcast: A sit down with SentiSum [Feat. Bryony Mulkern, Community Manager and Sharad Khandelwal, CEO at SentiSum]

Support Insights Podcast | CX & Customer Support Podcast by SentiSum

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 14, 2022 11:09


Subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.sentisum.com/resources/support-insights The podcast is back! In today's episode we introduce new host and Community Manager at SentiSum, Bryony Mulkern in a sit down with Co-Founder and CEO, Sharad Khandelwal. We discuss the motivations that brought Sharad to develop SentiSum and the different approaches we've seen towards customer support in our own journeys. Music: Savour The Moment by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Pop Culture Yearbook
1987: Year in Review with Johnny Mulkern

Pop Culture Yearbook

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2022 119:47


We're kicking off 1987 with ALL OF IT! We have our specific choices coming up, but this year was too big to stop there. We try to stuff as much as we can into this one supersized episode. To make it even more special, we have our first visit from Classmate Johnny Mulkern. A 1988 high school graduate, he is a perfect choice for this discussion.We break this episode into 5 chapters: Memories, Movies, Music, TV, and Sports. Johnny is with us to add his thoughts for all of it. From the genesis of RTR to The Princess Bride to Def Leppard to Mr. Belvedere to the NFL strike to the Twins winning the freaking World Series, we've got 1987 covered like an exquisite mullet. Enjoy!Want to support our show and become a PCY Classmate? Check out https://www.buymeacoffee.com/PCYearbook!If you enjoy the show, please rate and review us on the iTunes/Apple Podcasts app or wherever you listen, follow us on Twitter and/or Facebook, and most importantly, tell a friend to listen!Interested in starting your own podcast? Click on the link below to get started and earn a $20 Amazon gift card when you sign up with Buzzsprout!https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1576564Support the show

Pop Culture Yearbook
1987: Year in Review with Johnny Mulkern

Pop Culture Yearbook

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2022 119:47


We're kicking off 1987 with ALL OF IT! We have our specific choices coming up, but this year was too big to stop there. We try to stuff as much as we can into this one supersized episode. To make it even more special, we have our first visit from Classmate Johnny Mulkern. A 1988 high school graduate, he is a perfect choice for this discussion.We break this episode into 5 chapters: Memories, Movies, Music, TV, and Sports. Johnny is with us to add his thoughts for all of it. From the genesis of RTR to The Princess Bride to Def Leppard to Mr. Belvedere to the NFL strike to the Twins winning the freaking World Series, we've got 1987 covered like an exquisite mullet. Enjoy!Want to support our show and become a PCY Classmate? Check out https://www.buymeacoffee.com/PCYearbook!If you enjoy the show, please rate and review us on the iTunes/Apple Podcasts app or wherever you listen, follow us on Twitter and/or Facebook, and most importantly, tell a friend to listen!Interested in starting your own podcast? Click on the link below to get started and earn a $20 Amazon gift card when you sign up with Buzzsprout!https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1576564Support the show

STRIVECast
Season 4, Episode 28: Julie Mulkern, Executive Director of WinterKids!

STRIVECast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 12, 2022 43:22


On today's episode of the #STRIVECast, we interview Julie Mulkern, Executive Director of WinterKids! Julie shares what WinterKids is all about, tells us what they are looking forward to, and also answers some tough lightning round questions!  Thanks for joining us, Julie! It was great talking with you! Later in the episode, we play a round of Susie's Q's about licorice, we answer Jeff's big questions, and Noel gives us a review of the new Sonic movie! Like what you hear? Be sure to like or comment below- maybe you could be out next listener of the week! Thanks for listening!

The Community Cast
Helping Children Develop Healthy Lifelong Habits with Julie Mulkern

The Community Cast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 5, 2022 37:20


In this episode, Jim Chalmers interviews Julie Mulkern, Executive Director of WinterKids.  They discuss how WinterKids works to brings outdoor winter activities to children in Maine and New Hampshire;  how schools, families and communities can get involved; and their hopes to reach children beyond northern New England.

Common Ground Education Podcast
Supporting LGBTQ+ Students with Patrick Mulkern

Common Ground Education Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 15, 2021 33:13


Patrick Mulkern is School Social Worker who serves as the Wellness Coordinator for a high school in the San Francisco area. As the Wellness Coordinator he leads a multidisciplinary team that works to reduce barriers to services for LGBTQ+ students. This program provides individual and group therapy, case management, mentoring and sexual/reproductive health services. Patrick brings his expertise and targeted experience in this area to help educators and school social workers envision and strategically plan for more inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ students. 1:00- Introduction to Patrick Mulkern and the Wellness Program 4:15- Tiered Supports for LGBTQ+ Students 8:15- Barriers LGBTQ+ Students Face 10:15- Providing Support to Queer and Questioning Youth 14:20- Challenging Staff 18:10- Creating Inclusive Environments for Students Across ALL Grade Levels 21:15- How to Engage Families Around Issues of Sex and Gender 23:00- Where Can School Social Workers Start? 26:00- Ideal Supports at the High School Level 30:00- Hopes for 2021- Policy Considerations

Exit Coach Radio
Anthony Mulkern - The Secrets of Exit and Succession Planning

Exit Coach Radio

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 21, 2020 22:49


  Click here to read this episode's transcript.    Anthony Mulkern, President of Mulkern Associates, helps CEOs, founders, and business owners increase their enterprise value through executive leadership training. Tony has over 30 years of experience as an executive coach and business consultant. He helps ensure that businesses which eventually go to market become part of the 20% that actually sell. Tony’s expertise will help you position your business to become far more valuable to buyers.    In his interview, Tony describes some of the many reasons that a majority of businesses never sell, and how you can get yourself into the category of those that do sell. Many business owners don’t realize that what they’re selling is an earning stream. He explains a bit about his methodology in coaching entrepreneurs on how to improve their enterprise value, and therefore become more attractive to buyers. Get a pen and paper ready for Tony’s extremely valuable tips.   1-Minute Sections: 4:17-5:34: An example of a reason why 80% of businesses that go to market do not sell. 6:14-7:11: Explaining why it is a problem if you wait too long to sell. 8:23-9:31: Why you need to be aware of potentially inflated business valuations. 14:14-15:17: Common mistakes that entrepreneurs make when hiring executives. 18:50-19:45: Some characteristics of businesses that will sell. We've built a special collection of 20 minute interviews from members of Provisors and Vistage speakers. To see the directory and choose an interview visit ExitCoachRadio.com Are you and your Company Transition-Ready? Click Here for a free report & assessment!

Dare to Soar
Dare To Soar (69) Patrick Mulkern

Dare to Soar

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 14, 2020 58:00


Tune in to "Dare To Soar with Doctor R.C." as she continues to bring attention to National School Social Work Month by speaking with SSWAA's National Campaign Representative Patrick Mulkern, MSW, PPSC about how the Unique Training & Skillset of School Social Workers positively IMPACTS the educational setting as Understanding & Clarity is brought to the forefront while working with our LGBTQ+ students.

Sustainable Dish Podcast
Audra Mulkern of The Female Farmer Project: Progress & Pitfalls for the Women Who Grow Our Food

Sustainable Dish Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 10, 2020 39:20


In honor of Women’s History Month, our next podcast features Audra Mulkern, founder of The Female Farmer Project and forthcoming documentary film project Women’s Work: The Untold Story of America’s Female Farmers. Mulkern also hosts a podcast dedicated to featuring female farmers and providing a way for them to share their stories, struggles, and successes.   Be sure to give it a listen and let us know your key takeaways!

Jason Marx presents

New music from Carl Cox & Ryan Blyth whilst Denney, Mark Knight, Mr Scruff & Chase & Status grace the playlist, meanwhile "The Artist Showcase" shines the musical spotlight on Lancashire producer Mulkern.

Doctor Who: Radio Free Skaro
Radio Free Skaro #583 - The Meddling Monks

Doctor Who: Radio Free Skaro

Play Episode Listen Later May 21, 2017 74:05


We’re at the midway point of Series 10 (sniff) so what better time for Steven Moffat to check in on the show he runs by penning another episode himself in the form of “Extremis”, a mind-bending escapade that took viewers from England to the Vatican and all points in between. Or did it…? Once again, the inestimable Kyle Anderson steps in as a replacement for one of the Three (in place of Warren this time) to join Chris and Steven on this review. What did they think? What of the Monks? And the occupant of the Vault? In this podcast we are revealed… Links: – Episode 6 – “Extremis” – Moffat and Mulkern talk “Extremis” – “Extremis” BBC One overnight viewing figures – “Oxygen” overnight viewing figures – Oxygen Appreciation Index – Jamie Mathieson talks Gus and Oxygen – “Knock Knock” final BBC One viewing figures – “The Lie of the Land” synopsis – Michelle Gomez leaving Who along with Moffat & Capaldi – …or is she? – Michelle Gomez reddit AMA – Big Finish releasing second Tenth Doctor audio series – BBC shutting down TV episode downloading service – Radiophonic Workshop’s “Burials in Several Earths” released – Who poetry book written by James Goss and Illustrated by Russell T Davies due in September – Doctor Who Time Vortex 360 web-based game released – Eric Pringle reportedly died

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast
TDP 315: The Crimson Horror

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 4, 2013 13:47


DOCTOR WHO TIN DOG PODCAST REVIEWS From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 237 – "The Crimson Horror"  episode Cast  ()  () Others  - Mrs Gillyflower  - Ada  – Strax  – Jenny Flint  – Madame Vastra Eve de Leon Allen – Angie Kassius Carey Johnson – Artie  – Edmund & Mr Thursday Graham Turner – Amos Olivia Vinall – Effie Michelle Tate – Abigail Jack Oliver Hudson – Urchin Boy Production Writer Director Producer Marcus Wilson Executive producer(s) Steven Moffat Caroline Skinner Incidental music composer Series Length 45 minutes Originally broadcast 4 May 2013 Chronology ← Preceded by Followed by → "" "" "The Crimson Horror" will be the eleventh episode of the  of the British science-fiction drama . It was written by  and directed by . The episode is also scheduled to be the 100th broadcast episode (not including mini-episodes) since the series was revived in 2005. []Production "The Crimson Horror" will see the return of Vastra, Jenny, and Strax from "". Executive producer  told  that the story would be from their point of view, for the audience "to see them tackle a case of their own, and stumble across the Doctor's path, quite accidentally". The episode was "specially written" for mother and daughter  and . It was the first time the two had worked together on screen. Gatiss had worked on a play with Stirling, who mentioned that she and Rigg had never appeared in something together, and Gatiss offered to "tailor" them into his Doctor Who episode, of which he had the basic idea of. Stirling said that Gatiss had written "an on-screen relationship between Ma and I that is truly delicious. We have never before worked together because the offers have not been tempting, but when such a funny and original script comes through you know the time has come." Gatiss also stated that he wanted to write "a properly northern Who" and revealed that Rigg was able to use her native accent for the first time. The episode began filming the week of 2 July 2012, with location filming done in , Caerphilly. []References ^   . . 19 March 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2013.  Moffat, Steven (30 March - 5 April 2013).  (). ^   Bowie-Sell, Daisy (2 July 2012).. . Retrieved 24 March 2013. ^   Mulkern, Patrick (28 April 2013)... Retrieved 28 April 2013. ^   Golder, Dave (2 July 2012). . . Retrieved 24 March 2013.  . . 3 July 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2013. []External links

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast
TDP 311: HIDE Smith 2013 Episode 4

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 20, 2013 12:38


TIN DOG PODCAST REVIEWS HIDE  FROM WIKI "Hide" is the ninth episode of the  of the British science-fiction drama . It first aired on  on 20 April 2013. It stars as the  and  as . This episode is based on ghosts and includes  playing a character called Emma Grayling and  in the role of a scientist named Professor Alec Palmer. Plot In 1974, Professor Alec Palmer and his assistant Emma Grayling collect photographic evidence of a ghost, known as the Witch of the Well, in the Caliburn mansion; Alec uses Emma's strong psychic powers to create an emotional connection that appears to summon the ghost. They are surprised by the arrival of the Doctor and Clara, claiming to be from military intelligence. The Doctor shows interest in the investigation after Clara points out that the ghost appears in the same position within each photograph. As they investigate, Clara finds that Emma has feelings for Alec but which are seemingly not reciprocated; at the same time, Emma warns Clara about sensing "a sliver of ice" within the Doctor's heart. The Doctor and Clara find a location in the mansion which is noticeably colder than the rest of the house, and the group feels as if they are being watched. Suddenly, the house grows cold, and Clara feels something holding her hand; the two race back to where Alec and Emma are waiting to see Alec's equipment activating on its own accord. A thin black disc materializes in front of them, and Emma senses something crying "help me" through her psychic abilities before the disc vanishes and the house returns to normal. The Doctor takes Clara in the TARDIS to examine the specific spot at several points during the Earth's history, and comes to the conclusion that there is a gateway to a pocket dimension there that is collapsing rapidly, and that someone - the person behind the ghost - is trapped within it. The Doctor asserts he cannot use the TARDIS as its energy would be drained as soon as it materialised, and instead helps to prepare a device to stimulate Emma's psychic abilities to open the gateway. He further constructs a tethered vest and means to pull him back across once he crosses over. When the Doctor crosses over, he finds himself in a forested area, a small bit of land floating in a void. He meets Hila Tukurian, a time traveller and the woman stuck in the pocket dimension, who warns him that something else is there, following them. They race to the gateway, seeing an echo of the Caliburn house appear in the pocket dimension and try to barricade themselves from the creature to give them time to return. The Doctor insists Hila go first, and though she is successfully saved, the gateway closes due to Emma's exhaustion, leaving the Doctor trapped in the forest with the fast-moving creature. Drawn by the sound of the TARDIS' , Clara races to the TARDIS, finding it locked. She pleads with the device to let them save the Doctor, and the TARDIS lets her in. The TARDIS briefly appears in the pocket universe, flying close to the ground to allow the Doctor to jump and hang onto it before the creature can grab him. The Doctor and the TARDIS safely reappear in the normal world. As the Doctor and Clara prepare to leave, the Doctor tells Emma the real reason he stopped at this point was to ask Emma if she could sense anything unusual about Clara, but Emma reveals that there is nothing strange, but does reveal that Clara is, "more scared than she lets on". The Doctor offers Hila a lift to any other place in history, but as he discusses the matter with her he reveals that she is the future descendant of Emma, and the blood connection is what allowed Emma to open the gateway to rescue her. Further, he states that Hila is also the future descendant of Alec. Contemplating the bonds that love can create, the Doctor then realises that there is another entity within the Caliburn house. He implores Emma's help one last time to rescue the creature from the pocket dimension and reunite it with its mate. []Continuity The blue crystal is from Metebelis III; the  () had stolen a blue crystal from the planet in  and returned it in . The Doctor mentions the Eye of Harmony, which was introduced in .The Doctor puts on the orange spacesuit he wore originally in "" / "" and wore on a number of occasions up to "". As in earlier episode , the TARDIS employs an emergency holographic service to communicate, though it did not previously broadcast this outside of its' control room. []Cultural references Clara introduces herself and The Doctor as . The Doctor recites in his dialogue the lyrics "Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it" from "" by . []Production Tyntesfield House, which was used as a filming location of the mansion. Writer  was a Doctor Who fan, but had never had the time to write an episode. Executive producer Caroline Skinner, who was new with the seventh series, knew him and offered to work his schedule around writing an episode; he was willing to do it. Executive producer and lead writer  was pleased to have Cross join, as he was a showrunner in his own right with . Cross also wrote the seventh episode of the series, "", which he was invited to do after the producers enjoyed "Hide". Cross wanted to write "a really old-fashioned scary episode of Doctor Who" targeted especially at children nine to twelve, which was how he remembered Doctor Who at that age. He aimed to show suspense and tension, as he felt it was more terrifying than "full-on shock horror blood and gore". Cross was inspired by  and its sequels, and originally intended to have the Doctor meet , though this was not possible due to copyright reasons. Cross was also inspired by Quatermass writer 's . The Crooked Man was something Cross said lurked in his imagination. Cross wanted to tell the story with "a small cast and as few locations as possible".  was offered the part of Emma Grayling, and later said that she had not realised "what an institution Doctor Who is" until she arrived on set. She said it was produced very differently from her series . Raine had also worked with Matt Smith before on a play. Cross said that Raine and co-guest star  were good at filling out their characters, as he found it difficult to fully "evoke the history of a quite complex relationship" between their characters with just the script. Subsequent to filming her appearance in this episode, Raine was cast as Doctor Who's original producer, , in the anniversary special . "Hide" was the first episode Jenna-Louise Coleman filmed as Clara. Scenes were filmed in  in June 2012. , a National Trust property near Bristol was used as the mansion. The scenes in the forest were filmed in a forest in Wales, with artificial mist. The Crooked Man's movements were done in reverse and then played forward, to give it an unnatural movement. []Broadcast and reception "Hide" was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on  on 20 April 2013. Overnight ratings showed that the episode was watched by 5 million viewers live. []Critical reception The episode received positive reviews. Neela Debnath of  praised how the episode blended a haunted house story with a science fiction tale, highlighting the twist at the end of "ugly aliens have feelings too".  reviewer Dan Martin said that it had "the hallmarks of an episode that will be discussed for years to come", including the guest stars and atmosphere. He praised the direction, but criticised some of the dialogue. Daisy Bowie-Sall of  gave "Hide" four out of five stars.  reviewer Patrick Mulkern gave "Hide" a positive review, highlighting Smith's performance and the spookiness. While he praised Raine and Scott, he felt that Hila was "shortchanged", and also criticised the "love story" ending. 's Alasdair Wilkins gave the episode an A-, praising the way it changed direction and the subtle hints about the Doctor. Morgan Jeffery of  gave the story four out of five stars, writing that it flowed better than Cross' last episode, "", and allowed for the exploration of several themes. While he was positive towards the way the story was tied back to a time traveller, he felt that the ending was "perhaps less interesting than what's come before, simply because it feels more familiar", though it was still "solid". 's Mark Snow gave the episode a score of 8.4 out of 10. He praised the smaller scope and focus on character, but wrote "the left-field genre detour didn't completely convince, and felt jarringly underwhelming considering the spooky set-up, but at least it tried something unique". Jordan Farley of  gave "Hide" four out of five stars. Farley felt that the science fiction element left too many answers, but said that it excelled as a love story. []References  . . Retrieved 8 April 2013.  . BBC Doctor Who. 16 March 2013. Retrieved 16 March 2013.  DW - List of characters with actors , , Retrieved on 20 April 2013. ^      . BBC. 20 March, 2013. Retrieved 20 March, 2013. ^   Mulkern, Patrick (20 April 2013). .. Retrieved 21 April 2013. ^   Radish, Christina (27 March 2013). . Collider. Retrieved 31 March 2013. ^   . . 5 April 2013. Retrieved 6 April 2013. ^      Jewell, Stephen (16 April 2013). . . Retrieved 16 April 2013. ^      (Video). BBC. 20 April 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2013. ^    McAlpine, Fraser (16 January 2013). . . Retrieved 24 March 2013.  . . 30 January 2013. Retrieved 18 April 2013. ^   Golder, Dave (1 June 2012). . . Retrieved 24 March 2013.  Eames, Tom (11 June 2012). . . Retrieved 24 March 2013.  Mulkern, Patrick (14 April 2013). . . Retrieved 14 April 2013.  . BBC. Retrieved 21 April 2013.  . . 21 April 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2013.  Debnath, Neela (20 April 2013). . . Retrieved 21 April 2013.  Martin, Dan (20 April 2013). . . Retrieved 21 April 2013.  Bowie-Sall, Daisy (20 April 2013). . . Retrieved 21 April 2013.  Wilkins, Alasdair (20 April 2013). . . Retrieved 21 April 2013.  Jeffery, Morgan (20 April 2013). . . Retrieved 21 April 2013.  Snow, Mark (20 April 2013). . . Retrieved 21 April 2013.  Farley, Jordan (20 April 2013). . . Retrieved 21 April 2013.

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast
TDP 310: Cold War - Smith 2013 Ep 3

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 18, 2013 14:03


DOCTOR WHO TIN DOG PODCAST REVIEWS COLD WAR reprinted from wiki "Cold War" is the ninth episode of the  of the British science-fiction drama . It first aired on  on 13 April 2013. The episode stars as the  and  as . It is the first TV episode to feature the  since the  serial  in 1974. Contents   []  []Plot The episode opens on a  submarine sailing near the North Pole in 1983 during the . A nuclear weapons launch drill they are running is interrupted by Professor Grisenko. In the submarine's cargo hold a sailor prematurely begins to defrost a block of ice that Grisenko believes contains a frozen  and is attacked. The submarine begins sinking as the creature in the ice escapes and runs amok. The  materialises inside the submarine; Clara and the Doctor tumble out, believing that they are in . Although the sailors restrain them the Doctor convinces Captain Zhukov to maneuver the submarine to the side, landing it safely and preventing it from imploding. During this the TARDIS inexplicably dematerialises. The Doctor tells the captain and his crew that he and Clara are time travelers. They then encounter the escaped , Grand Marshall Skaldak. The Doctor convinces them that they must be peaceful, but a frightened soldier shocks Skaldak with a  knocking him out cold. The chained Skaldak calls for his brothers to find him. The Doctor convinces Captain Zhukov that someone must speak to Skaldak. The Captain insists but the Doctor refuses, saying that as an enemy soldier, Skaldak will not talk to him. Zhukov refuses to let the Doctor do it. As the only one who knows the Ice Warriors, the Doctor is too valuable to risk. Clara volunteers, and although reluctant, the Doctor allows her to go. She relays the Doctor's words to Skaldak but he knows that the Doctor is listening. After learning that he has been encased in the ice for 5000 years Skaldak laments the loss of his daughter and his people. Skaldak escapes from his armor, and stops broadcasting the signal to the other Ice Warriors, believing himself to be the only one of his kind left. The Doctor surmises that, thinking himself alone in the universe, Skaldak has nothing left to lose. Skaldak manages to grab and kill three members of the crew. Having learnt of the ongoing Cold War and the , Skaldak plans to use the submarine's nuclear missiles to provoke a global thermonuclear war and destroy humanity as revenge for the humans attacking him, as under Martian code humanity as a whole has declared war on the Ice Warrior race. Reaching the bridge, he is able to connect himself to the sub's missile guidance systems and activate the missiles. The Doctor and Clara attempt to persuade Skaldak to show mercy when the sub is rocked by a tractor beam from above. The Ice Warrior's people have arrived over the site of the submarine's undersea grounding, and haul it to the surface. Skaldak is beamed aboard the Ice Warriors spaceship, though the missile launch system is still active. Showing mercy, Skaldak deactives the missiles remotely. When the Doctor's sonic screwdriver informs him the TARDIS has reappeared, he informs Clara that it had "relocated" automatically as part of the H.A.D.S. (short for "Hostile Action Displacement System") at the South Pole. The Doctor sheepishly ask Zhukov for a lift. []Production Writer Mark Gatiss had been lobbying to bring back the Ice Warriors, and came up with new ideas which finally sold the episode. The Ice Warriors were a well-known villain of the original Doctor Who series. They appeared alongside the  () in  (1967) and  (1969) and returned in the  () stories (1972) and  (1974). Showrunner  had originally been hesitant to bring back the Ice Warriors, worrying that they were seen as "the default condition for what people thought of as rubbish Doctor Whomonsters — things that moved very, very slowly and spoke in a way that meant you couldn't hear a word they said." Writer , however, was a fan of the Ice Warriors' stories and had been campaigning to bring them back. In a phone conversation with Moffat that was originally supposed to be about their show , Gatiss pitched new and "very clever ideas" of what to do with the Ice Warriors, and Moffat agreed. What sold Moffat were the submarine setting and seeing what the Ice Warriors looked like underneath their suits. Gatiss felt that the Ice Warriors had a lot of gaps in their timeline and had not been featured in a while, which allowed a lot of room to explore them. The submarine was Gatiss's idea; he felt that Doctor Who called out to be set on a submarine. Executive producer Caroline Skinner described the story as "Letting a huge Ice Warrior loose at the heart of a classic  style submarine movie." Gatiss chose the time period because he was "kind of obsessed" with the Cold War, and felt that there were several times in the 1980s where the danger was close. Gatiss also described "Cold War" as a "love-letter" to the base-under-siege stories that were common during Troughton's time; the episode even contains a reference to Troughton's , which was the last time the TARDIS' HADS had been mentioned. The  for "Cold War" took place on 6 June 2012, with filming beginning on 13 June. For the submarine setting, the cast would be sprayed in between every take. The scenes in which the characters are drenched in water were achieved by constantly pouring "gallons and gallons of water" on the cast. Coleman found the experience fun, while Smith said that it made acting easier.Coleman said, "The whole make-up process was reversed as they would damp us down in the morning and rub my mascara off!" For the shots of the submarine in the ocean, a model was used. It was suspended upside-down with "shredded feathers" blown at it to give the effect of being under the sea. Unlike some other returning monsters, the Ice Warriors were not heavily redesigned. Gatiss insisted upon keeping the fundamentals of the original and Moffat explained that the original design was not well-known enough to put a new spin on it, and so Skaldak's shell is just a "super-version of the original". Of the original design, Millennium FX's Neill Gorton said, "My problem with the old ones is they had  hands and weird, spindly arms but a bulky body and these strange saddlebag hips, almost feminine. They had fur sticking out everywhere. So all of that together didn't suggest "ice warriors." They should be much beefier and stronger. We gave it more of a bodybuilder physique, changed the hands and styled the body to make it look more like armour-plating, even though it's reptilian." The costume was made of flexible urethane rubber instead of the fibreglass like the original, as it would damage less easily and be more comfortable to wear. The costume was made to specially fit . Though only some of the Skaldak's real appearance was shown on-screen, Gorton stated that they created a full animatronic body. []Broadcast and reception "Cold War" was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on  on 13 April 2013. Overnight ratings showed that 5.73 million viewers watched the episode live, a 28.8% audience share. The episode also received an  of 84. []Critical reception The episode received generally positive reviews. Dan Martin of  wrote that "Cold War" was "easily the best of this new series so far, and Mark Gatiss's finest contribution yet." He praised the reinvention of the Ice Warrior and felt that the elements came together to form a "tense, tightly wound, claustrophobic but also full of heart." 's Geoff Berkshire said that "Cold War" was better than Gatiss' previous episodes "" and "". He praised the guest cast, but wished "their characters had a bit more meat to them."  reviewer Neela Debnath described the story as "slick and intelligent" with "cinematic aesthetics and tone." Patrick Mulkern of  found an inconsistency with the TARDIS translation matrix, but overall was positive towards the acting, visual aspects, and story.  reviewer Gavin Fuller gave the episode four out of five stars, describing it as "finely crafted" and "thrilling." He praised the setting and the dialogue, but felt that the Russian characters were "perilously close to being ciphers." 's Morgan Jeffery awarded the episode five out of five stars, saying that it was "fresh and exciting" but also had a "wonderfully old-school tone." He wrote that it had "one of the best guest casts to have graced Doctor Who since the show returned in 2005" and also praised the reintroduction of the Ice Warriors and the production values. Alasdair Wilkins of  gave "Cold War" a grade of A, highlighting the tense atmosphere, the "bold new direction" taken with the Ice Warriors, the guest performances, and Clara's importance. Russell Lewin of  gave "Cold War" four out of five stars, praising the set and direction as well as the Ice Warrior. On the other hand, Lewin noted that, as a base-under-siege story, it did not play with the narrative form or "go anywhere we couldn't have predicted," with the exception of the Ice Warrior breaking out of its suit. 's Mark Snow gave the episode a rating of 8.3 out of 10. Snow praised the reintroduction of the Ice Warriors and called Skaldak "the show's most memorable villain in a while, thanks to his stern, occasionally psychopathic approach to problem solving, and an environment that helped make the bulky, heavy creature design imposing rather than laughably naff." However, he felt that some of Skaldak's effects were "laughably rubbery" and that his motivations were "psychotically random." []References ^    . SFX. 11 February 2013. Retrieved 16 March 2013. ^   . . 21 February 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2013. ^   Setchfield, Nick (18 March 2013). . . Retrieved 19 March 2013. ^       (Video). BBC. 13 April 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2013. ^   Setchfield, Nick (9 April 2013). . . Retrieved 10 April 2013.  Gatiss, Mark (13 April 2013). . . Retrieved 14 April 2013. ^    Mulkern, Patrick (13 April 2013). . . Retrieved 14 April 2013.  . . Retrieved 14 April 2013. ^    (Press release). BBC. 18 March 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2013. ^   Mulkern, Patrick (7 April 2013). . . Retrieved 7 April 2013.  . BBC. Retrieved 14 April 2013.  Golder, Dave (14 April 2013). . . Retrieved 14 April 2013.  Hilton, Beth (14 April 2013). . . Retrieved 14 April 2013.  . . 15 April 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2013.  Martin, Dan (13 April 2013). . . Retrieved 14 April 2013.  Berkshire, Geoff (13 April 2013). .. Retrieved 14 April 2013.  Debnath, Neela (13 April 2013). . . Retrieved 14 April 2013.  Fuller, Gavin (13 April 2013). . . Retrieved 14 April 2013.  Jeffery, Morgan (13 April 2013). . . Retrieved 14 April 2013.  Wilkins, Alasdair (13 April 2013). . . Retrieved 14 April 2013.  Lewin, Russell (13 April 2013). . . Retrieved 14 April 2013.  Snow, Mark (13 April 2013). . . Retrieved 14 April 2013.

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast
TDP 290: The Snowmen - Christmas 2012

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 10, 2013 16:16


"The Snowmen" is the sixth episode and a Christmas special of the of the British series . It was written by and was first broadcast on 2012 at 5.15pm on in the UK. It stars as the and as , his new . The episode also features a redesigned , revised opening and theme music, and sees major changes to the Doctor's costume. The episode is set in the and sees the Doctor brooding with the assistance of Madame Vastra, her wife Jenny Flint and Strax, after the loss of companions and in the previous episode, "." He is forced out of hiding to investigate mysterious, sentient snowmen that are building themselves and meets Clara, a governess also investigating the snowmen. It guest stars and as the villains. McKellen provides the voice of the , a disembodied alien previously featured in Doctor Who in the serials and . From the Great Intelligence's perspective, this episode occurs before those serials and several elements from "The Snowmen" reference and lead into them. The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics, most of whom received the and character of Clara well, but some felt that Grant and McKellen were underused as villains. Contents Plot Prequels To promote the special, two prequels were released. The first was broadcast during the 2012 telethon on 16 November 2012, titled "The Great Detective". A for the special was also broadcast during this programme. In the prequel, the Madame Vastra, her human wife Jenny Flint, and the Strax (all returning from "", with Strax's apparently revival after being killed off in the earlier episode explained in the special) describe a number of strange phenomena to a shadowed fourth detective. The fourth detective reveals himself to be the Doctor, and tells the group that he has retired. A second prequel, titled "Vastra Investigates", was released online on 17 December 2012. At the end of a case, Vastra and Jenny converse with an officer from , apologising for Strax's violent wishes for the culprit's punishment. Vastra explains Strax's alien origin as well as her own to the officer, much to his astonishment. She was awoken by an extension to the and initially disliked humans, though that changed when she fell in love with Jenny, which leaves the officer flabbergasted. On the carriage ride home, during a discussion about the Doctor's , Jenny notices it is beginning to snow. Vastra voices that the snow is impossible due to the fact that there are no clouds in the sky. Synopsis In 1840s England, a young boy builds a snowman but refuses to play with the other children. The snowman starts speaking to the boy, repeating his assertions that the other children are "silly". Fifty years later, the boy has grown up to be Dr Simeon, proprietor of "The Great Intelligence Institute". He hires men to collect samples of snow, which he places in a large snow-filled globe in his laboratory, before feeding the men to a group of animated snowmen. Meanwhile, the Doctor, still despondent after losing his former companions and , has parked his TARDIS above Victorian London among the clouds, descending to the surface via a long circular staircase, and instructed his allies - the Silurian Madame Vastra, her human wife Jenny, and the Sontaran Strax - to scout the city, through which he learns of Dr Simeon's interest in the snow. Elsewhere, Clara, a barmaid, investigates a disturbance outside her tavern to find the Doctor walking by. She accuses him of building a snowman, but the Doctor realises that the snowman is made of snow with a memory. The Doctor attempts to leave discreetly, but Clara follows him to a coach. The Doctor, hesitant about gaining a new companion, instructs Strax to bring a "memory worm", with the intent to use the creature's touch to wipe away the last hour of Clara's memory, in particular her knowledge of him. As more snowmen form and try to harm them, the Doctor tells Clara that her thoughts are creating the snowmen, and to think of them melting; after she concentrates, the snowmen melt. Clara cautions the Doctor that if he wipes her memory, she will forget how to deal with the snowmen. The Doctor relents, letting her go, and returning to the TARDIS. Clara follows; she finds it locked and knocks, but hides and flees down the staircase when the Doctor answers. Clara returns to her other job as governess for the children of Captain Latimer. She learns that Latimer's daughter has been having horrible dreams about the old governess, who had been frozen a year prior in Latimer's pond - returning from the dead and killing them all. Clara attempts to contact the Doctor but instead attracts the attention of Jenny, who takes her to see Vastra. Vastra tells Clara she gets only one word to impress the Doctor with if she wants his help; she chooses "pond", which arouses the Doctor's interest. The Doctor visits Dr Simeon's laboratory, dressed as , and finds that the giant snow-filled globe contains the , the entity that has been speaking to Dr Simeon since childhood. The Doctor learns that the Great Intelligence has been controlling the snowmen and has taken interest in Latimer's pond, deducing that it contains the DNA to create a new snow creature. The Doctor visits the pond, where an ice creature in the form of the former governess rises out of the pond and enters the mansion. Vastra, Jenny and Strax arrive and trap the creature behind a barrier. Leaving Latimer and the children with his allies, the Doctor flees with Clara to the roof of the mansion followed by the ice creature. They ascend to the TARDIS and the Doctor gives Clara a key, explaining that he now considers her a companion, though he does not understand why. However, the ice creature grabs Clara and pulls her over the edge of the clouds. The Doctor recovers Clara from the snowmen and returns to the mansion. He collects the ice fragments from the creature, ensuring they remain dormant but finding they contain ice-based DNA, the material that the Great Intelligence is looking for, and apparently places them in a souvenir . He travels to Dr Simeon's lab, where the Doctor reveals the Great Intelligence's plan to replace humanity with ice creatures, and holds up the tin, stating that it contains the ice DNA that is necessary for the plan. Dr Simeon grabs the tin, but opens it to find it contains the memory worm. It bites Simeon; the Doctor states that the Great Intelligence, which has been existing as a mirror of Dr Simeon's thoughts, will vanish with the erasure of Dr Simeon's memories. Instead, the Intelligence reveals that it existed long enough that it can now control Dr Simeon's body, which it uses to attack the Doctor. However, the influence of the Great Intelligence quickly wanes, and Dr Simeon falls dead. Outside, a salt-water rain has started, and the Doctor realises that some other, more powerful psychic ability has taken control of the snow from the Great Intelligence. The Doctor deduces that it must be the Latimer family, crying for Clara. Strax informs the Doctor upon his return to the Latimer mansion that Clara only has moments left, and she passes away as the Doctor returns the TARDIS key to her. At her funeral, the Doctor reads Clara's full name, Clara Oswin Oswald, on her tombstone and realises she is the woman he met in "" who became a Dalek. He gleefully announces that a person dying twice is an impossibility he must investigate, says his goodbyes to his allies. In times, a young woman resembling Clara walks through the graveyard. Meanwhile, the Doctor dashes around the TARDIS console, echoing Clara's dying words: "watch me run!" Continuity The previously encountered the in the serials , set in the 1930s, and , set in the 1960s. In these stories, the Great Intelligence uses as its physical presence. The events of The Web of Fear are alluded to by the Doctor in "The Snowmen" when he presents the London Underground biscuit tin to the Great Intelligence in Dr. Simeon's laboratory; the Intelligence states, "I do not understand these markings", in reference to the design on the tin, an in 1892. The Doctor remarks that the Underground is a "key strategic weakness in metropolitan living", referring to (and possibly setting in motion) the future Yeti attack on London via the Underground. In this respect, "The Snowmen" may be considered as a prequel to the Second Doctor Yeti serials, establishing an origin for the Intelligence and explaining its penchant for "Snowmen" and knowledge of the London Underground. Vastra, Jenny and Strax first appeared in "". Vastra and Jenny were considered popular characters from the previous episode with some fans hoping for a spinoff series, but while Moffat stated then he had no time to work on such a show, he would consider reusing the characters within Doctor Who. Strax had died in that episode; the Doctor states that his death has been reversed ("He gave his life for a friend once. Another friend brought him back"), but the circumstances of how this occurred are not explained in full. Clara is given a test by Vastra to ask the Doctor why he should help in one word. She chooses "pond", which is the surname of former companion . In order to convey the emotional effect this word has on the Doctor, during the scene in which he hears it he is wearing the reading glasses Amy left him with at the close of "". Clara is played by the same actress, Coleman, as Oswin Oswald from "Asylum of the Daleks", though the connectivity of these characters is not established until the Doctor takes Clara into the TARDIS. There, the Doctor finds her to have an interest in , a trait that Oswin's character also had; the show uses scenes from "Asylum" to show the Doctor's recollection of this. The final scenes at the graveyard establish that Clara shares the same name as Oswin, leading the Doctor to surmise they are the same person. As seen on her gravestone, Clara's birthdate is 23 November, the date Doctor Who was first transmitted in 1963. Cultural references Doctor Simeon posits that is basing his stories in on the exploits of Vastra, a reference to 's stories of . The Doctor later uses the alias 'Sherlock Holmes' to gain entrance to Simeon's house, bearing the deerstalker and magnifying glass associated with the character. Doctor Who lead writer Steven Moffat, who wrote this episode, is also the co-creator of the BBC series , a contemporary update of Doyle's works, for which Matt Smith auditioned for the part of Doctor Watson. The Doctor Who novel features the sharing an adventure with Holmes himself. Production Promotional poster for The Snowmen Writing and design changes Writer stated that he wanted an "epic" quality to the Christmas special. He compared the withdrawn Doctor seen at the onset of the episode to the first appearances of the () in 1963 and the () in 2005. He also attributed the idea of a retired Doctor to a plot proposed by in the 1970s, but rejected by the production team at the time. As with the first half of series 7, "The Snowmen" was written like a movie. A movie poster was released in the , showing the Doctor and Clara ascending the ladder to the TARDIS. According to producer Caroline Skinner, the concept of introducing the new companion as Oswin in "Asylum of the Daleks" occurred to Moffat during casting auditions for Clara. The production team requested that the press and fans who attended advanced screenings keep Coleman's appearance a secret until "Asylum" was broadcast; the effort was ultimately successful. The episode saw several major design changes for the series. "The Snowmen" is the debut of a redesigned TARDIS interior, as well as a new title sequence and variation of (although the closing credits still use the previous version of the tune). The new title sequence features a brief glimpse of the Eleventh Doctor's face, the first time since the end of the original series in 1989 that the Doctor's face has been seen in the title sequence. Moffat had noticed that the TARDIS' design was getting "progressively whimsical" and resembled more of a "magical place" rather than a machine. The Doctor also wears a new costume, tying in to the purple colour scheme, which Smith described as "a bit meets the Doctor". Moffat described the new outfit as a "progression" as the Doctor was in "a different phase of his life now" and felt more "grown-up" and fatherlike. The costume was designed by Howard Burden for this episode. Casting This episode marks the return of , who previously appeared in the series 7 opener, "". Coleman was cast because of her chemistry with Matt Smith, and especially because she was able to talk faster than him. She auditioned for the role of Clara, not Oswin from "Asylum", as the concept of the two characters being the same only occurred to Moffat whilst casting for Clara. Smith said that Clara was different from her predecessor (), which allowed the audience to see a different side of the Doctor. Moffat felt that the introduction of a new companion made "the show feel different" and brought the story to "a new beginning" with a different person meeting the Doctor. Also returning are as Madame Vastra, as Strax and Catrin Stewart as Jenny. All three previously appeared in "" and reprised their roles both in this episode and in the prequels. They returned due to the popularity of Vastra and Jenny; Moffat considered a spin-off featuring them, though he did not have the time to do it. Instead, he decided to bring them back in the main series. Richard E. Grant had previously played the Doctor on two occasions, as an alternative in the spoof charity special , which was written by Moffat and as an in the animated story which had been intended to be a continuation of the series before it was revived in 2005. Smith commented that Grant was "born to be a Who villain. He pitches it on that perfect level and tone". Grant's appearance in Doctor Who was teased by the BC via , announcing his appearance at midnight August 5 2012. Tom Ward was drawn to his role because of the quality of the script, and also stated his young children were pleased that he appeared in the programme. The Great Intelligence was voiced by . The two children Clara is governess to, Digby and Francesca, were played by real-life brother and sister Joseph and Ellie Darcey-Alden. Filming and effects "The Snowmen" was originally intended to be produced in the fourth production block of the series and be the first episode Coleman shot as her character; however it did not begin filming until the week of 6 August 2012 after Coleman had worked on later episodes while Moffat was writing the Christmas special. The had taken place on 2 August 2012. This was the first Christmas special to be filmed in ' new studios. Scenes featuring Coleman and several guest stars in a Victorian setting were filmed in , while Coleman and Smith were also spotted filming in Bristol two weeks later on 21 August. Some scenes which used snow props were filmed in , where filming took place overnight on 21–22 August 2012. Director Saul Metzstein explained that it was difficult to achieve the desired look for the snowmen; the first ones he likened to from which was too "cute" of an appearance, and so the effects team created more menacing CGI faces. Clara's introduction to the TARDIS introduced two novel effects for the show. The first was a single-shot camera tracking from Clara's point of view, from a few feet away from the TARDIS to its interior, with the implication of the TARDIS's trans-dimenional nature shown to the audience. This was a shot that has been postulated throughout Doctor Who's production history, as documented in the special, but only first to be realized in The Snowmen. In the following shot, the camera does a complete circle of the TARDIS console, an effect not seen since the early days of the show. Metzstein wanted to include this shot to further emphasize the "bigger on the inside than the outside" nature of the time machine. Broadcast and reception "The Snowmen" aired on on 25 December 2012 at 5:15 p.m., the same day on in the US and in Canada and the next day on in Australia. UK overnight ratings showed that the special had been watched by 7.6 million viewers, coming in sixth for the night. Final consolidated figures (not including viewers) showed that the episode was watched by 9.87 million viewers, coming in fourth for the night. It also received an figure of 87, higher than most of the Doctor Who Christmas specials. The iPlayer version had 1,467,220 views, making it the most popular TV show on iPlayer over Christmas. The US airing was seen by 1.43 million viewers, with a 0.6 rating in the demographic of adults aged 18–49. Critical reception The episode received mostly positive reviews. Dan Martin of called it "actually the best since ''" and the first to be "actually scary", with "everything we like" about Doctor Who and Christmas. He praised Coleman's introduction as Clara and the gang of Vastra, Jenny, and Strax. 's Matt Risley gave "The Snowman" a score of 9.4 out of 10, describing it as "a rollicking, riveting masterclass in storytelling" which "refreshingly" lacked traditional Christmas references "in favour of some sparkling dialogue, gorgeous set design and fascinating characterisation". While he felt that Grant and McKellan were underused, he was very positive towards Coleman's "unpredictable" Clara. reviewer Patrick Mulkern was pleased with the return of the Great Intelligence despite an inconsistency in the timeline he found, and praised the "lovely images" and direction of the special, though he felt the variation of the theme music "lacks the menace" of the original. While he was positive towards Clara, he was "unmoved by her death" as it was "plainly silly" that she did not look injured. Nick Setchfield of gave the special four and a half out of five stars, writing that the "the power of emotion saves the day again" was appropriate in light of the festivities and many fairytales referenced in the story. Setchfield was positive towards the "terrific" comedy with Strax, Coleman and the "surprisingly underused" Grant, as well as the new title sequence and TARDIS. While he wrote that the subtle callback of the Great Intelligence was "a tad more interesting than the usual 'So, we meet again!' schtick", he ultimately felt their threat "never quite comes into sharp relief". Neela Debnath of wrote that "The Snowmen" was stronger than the previous year's "" as it was connected to the overall story of the series, but "still has a way to go if it is to live up to ''". Despite feeling that it was "enjoyable", she noted that "the story feels truncated and rushed" 's Jon Cooper also praised Coleman and the new side of the Doctor that was shown, comparing it to () challenging the (). However, he felt the character-heavy story was to the detriment of the plot, which was "a classic Who set-up that ultimately suffers from a lack of explanation [and] more set-pieces than a coherent whole". He felt that the episode may not have been accessible for casual viewers, but offered much for fans in time for the programme's fiftieth anniversary. Dominic Cavendish of gave "The Snowmen" three out of five stars, disappointed that it was not as scary as it had been hyped to be. While he was positive towards Smith and the TARDIS on the cloud, he criticised Strax and the "-like complexity" of the script. References ^ Jeffery, Morgan (19 December 2012). . . Retrieved 27 December 2012. . BBC News. 21 March 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2012. . BBC. 8 December 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2012. ^ . BBC. Retrieved 27 December 2012. Hogan, Michael (14 August 2012). . . Retrieved 1 September 2012. . BBC. 26 October 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2012. ^ Martin, Dan (29 September 2012). . . Retrieved 26 December 2012. ^ Risley, Matt (25 December 2012). . . Retrieved 26 December 2012. ^ Setchfield, Nick (25 December 2012). . . Retrieved 26 December 2012. . SFX. 16 November 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2012. Their marriage is not revealed until the main special itself. (Video). BBC. 20 November 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012. ^ (Video). BBC. 17 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012. Wilkins, Alasdair (25 December 2012). . . Retrieved 25 December 2012. . SFX. 10 June 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011. Setchfield, Nick (22 July 2011). . SFX. Retrieved 29 December 2012. Sagers, Aaron (18 December 2012). . . Retrieved 7 January 2013. French, Dan (4 February 2010). . Digital Spy. Retrieved 4 February 2010. . Doctor Who Reviews. Retrieved 4 January 2013. ^ . BBC. 8 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012. Moffat, Steven (December 2012). "Mr presents – Past & Future". Radio Times. Goodacre, Kate (27 November 2012). . Digital Spy. Retrieved 31 December 2012. ^ . YouTube. 1 September 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2013. Martinovic, Paul (1 September 2012). . . Retrieved 30 December 2012. Mulkern, Patrick (8 December 2012). . . Retrieved 18 December 2012. . BBC. 8 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012. . BBC. 17 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2012. Jones, Paul (4 December 2012). . . Retrieved 18 December 2012. Setchfield, Nick (20 December 2012). . . Retrieved 27 December 2012. Collins, Clark (28 November 2012). . . Retrieved 28 December 2012. Jeffery, Morgan (21 March 2012). . . Retrieved 25 June 2012. ^ . SFX. 30 May 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2012. Setchfield, Nick (22 July 2012). . SFX. Retrieved 17 November 2012. Walker-Arnott, Ellie (18 December 2012). . . Retrieved 18 December 2012. . Twitter @bbcdoctorwho. 5 August 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2012. . BBC. 6 August 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2012. Brew, Simon. . Den of Geek. Dennis Publishing. Retrieved 8 December 2012. (: ) (446). 5 April 2012. . BBC. 6 August 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2012. Saunders, Louise (9 August 2012). . . Retrieved 2 September 2012. Edwards, Richard (21 August 2012). . SFX. Retrieved 2 September 2012. . This is Bristol. 21 August 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2012. ^ Synnot, Siobhan (23 December 2013). . . Retrieved 4 January 2013. Who, Dale (28 December 2012). . Doctor Who Online. Retrieved 4 January 2013. Jeffery, Morgan (4 December 2012). . . Retrieved 27 December 2012. (Press release). . Retrieved 27 December 2012. . . 24 December 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2012. . . Retrieved 31 December 2012. . . 26 December 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2012. (Press release). BBC. 2 January 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2013. . . 27 December 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2012. ^ Laughlin, Andrew (2 January 2013). . Digital Spy. Retrieved 2 January 2013. Bibel, Sara (27 December 2012). . TV by the Numbers. Retrieved 30 December 2012. Mulkern, Patrick (25 December 2012). . . Retrieved 26 December 2012. Cooper, Jon (25 December 2012). . . Retrieved 26 December 2012. Cavendish, Dominic (25 December 2012). . . Retrieved 26 December 2012.

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast
TDP 271: Smith Yr 3 Ep 5 - The Angels Take Manhattan

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 5, 2012 20:08


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: , 229 – "The Angels Take Manhattan" episode Cast () () () Others – – Grayle Rob David – Sam Garner – Foreman Bentley Kalu – Hood 1 Burnell Tucker – Garner 2 Production Writer Director Producer Marcus Wilson Executive producer(s) Caroline Skinner Series Length 45 minutes Originally broadcast 29 September 2012 Chronology ← Preceded by Followed by → "" "The Angels Take Manhattan" is the fifth episode of the of the revived British science fiction television series , which was first broadcast on on 29 September 2012. It is the last in the first block of episodes in the seventh series, to be followed by a Christmas special. The episode was written by head writer and directed by . The story takes place in New York and features recurring monsters the . This is the final episode that features () and (). reprises her role as , the Doctor's wife and occasional companion, the daughter of Amy and Rory. Contents Plot In the prologue, private detective Sam Garner in 1938 New York is hired by the shady Mr. Grayle to investigate "moving statues" at the Winter Quay, a set of apartment blocks. There, Sam finds an elderly version of himself dying in a bed. Chased by to the rooftop, the man is confronted by a grimacing . In present-day New York City, the Doctor, Amy, and Rory enjoy a picnic in . The Doctor is reading to Amy from a 1930s detective , "The Angel's Kiss: A Melody Malone Story", while Rory leaves them to go for coffee. As he reads, the Doctor tears out the last page, noting he does this to avoid endings. Continuing, the Doctor and Amy are surprised to find Rory turn up in the plot of the novel. The Doctor and Amy continue to read in concurrence with events in the past, as Rory is joined by the book's lead character, Melody Malone, who turns out to be River Song. They are both abducted by Grayle's henchmen. River tells Rory that New York is subjected to unusual time distortions which would prevent the TARDIS from landing in this time period. As the Doctor and Amy return to the TARDIS, he scolds her to not read ahead in the novel for fear of creating a fixed point in time that they must follow, as she has already read about the Doctor breaking River's wrist. Grayle has Rory locked up in his basement with cherub-shaped Weeping Angels with only a box of matches to protect himself, while River is taken to his secured office. Information she provides via the book allows the Doctor to signal her via the writing on an old Chinese vase, and she activates a homing beacon, allowing the Doctor to guide the TARDIS to Grayle. In the meantime Grayle has shown River a damaged Weeping Angel, part of his collection, and allowed it to grab River's wrist to gain information about the Angels from her. Amy deduces that River will write the book and correctly guesses that she would have left hints. They identify Rory's location from the chapter titles in the novel, and the Doctor sends Amy to rescue him. However, the Doctor finds the last chapter is about Amy's farewell and frets. Upset, he tells River to free herself from the Angel without breaking her wrist. The Doctor joins Amy and finds that Rory has run out of matches and with no means to look at the Angels was snatched by them. River appears, having freed herself apparently without harm from the Angel, and soon locates Rory nearby at Winter Quay: he has unusually been moved in space and not time. However, as they race to leave, the Doctor grabs River's hand and discovers that her wrist is broken. Realising the events of the book are still coming true, the Doctor uses his regeneration energy to heal River. At the Quay, Rory is drawn to an apartment labelled with his name, just as the others catch up to him. In the apartment, they find an elderly Rory on his death bed, calling to Amy before dying. The Doctor realises that Rory's fate is now assured; the Doctor recognises that the Quay has been used by the Angels many times within the populous New York City as a battery farm, leaving their victims to live out their lives in solitude, whilst the Angels feast on their energy. Rory and Amy refuse to accept their fate, insisting they can run from the Angels forever. The Doctor and River agree, and help to distract the Angels converging on them. Amy and Rory make it to the roof of the building, where the Statue of Liberty, a giant Angel itself, awaits to take Rory to the past. Rory determines there is another exit — were he to die by jumping from the roof before the Angels take him, a paradox would be created, ending their preying methods and wiping them from existence. Rather than pushing him as he requests, Amy opts to join him, and just as the Doctor and River reach the roof, the two jump, creating the paradox and killing the Angels. The four find themselves in a New York graveyard in the present era again, though the Doctor notes with the paradox, he can no longer travel to that point in time for fear of destroying New York. As the others enter the TARDIS, Rory spots a tombstone with his name on it — moments before he is touched by one surviving Angel and disappears into the past. A distraught Amy convinces herself that if she were touched by the same Angel, it would send her to the same time it sent Rory. While she is still staring at the Angel she tearfully says goodbye to River. The Doctor tries to talk her out of it, knowing he can't return to the past to see her again, but River insists she goes. Amy finally says goodbye to the "Raggedy Man" - her early nickname for the Doctor - as she turns to face him and lets the Angel take her. The tombstone then changes to reflect Amy's presence in the past with Rory, both having died at an old age. In the TARDIS, the distraught Doctor asks River to travel with him, which she agrees to do, but "not always". He considers this, and suddenly realises that while River may be the author of "The Angel's Kiss", Amy would be the one to publish the book, and may have left a final message in the . He races back to their picnic spot to find the page he tore out earlier containing the afterword. In it, Amy tells him that she and Rory love him and assures him that they lived a good and happy life together. She also requests that he pay another visit to her younger self to reassure her that he will come back for her and take her on amazing journeys. As the episode ends, young Amelia Pond waits for the Doctor in her garden, looking to the skies as she hears the sound of the TARDIS engines. Continuity When River asks the Doctor whether the bulb on top of the TARDIS needs changing, he says that he has just changed it; flickering light bulbs have been a common motif throughout the current series, as well as a tactic used by the Angels in their previous appearances. In Amy's voice over, references are made to "", "", "", "", and "". The closing view of young Amelia waiting in her garden reprises a scene from "The Eleventh Hour". Production Matt Smith during filming of the episode in Central Park, New York In December 2011, Doctor Who announced that Amy and Rory would leave in the seventh series in "heartbreaking" circumstances. Amy's exit was a mutual decision between Moffat and Gillan. Gillan wanted her character to have a final ending, and ruled out returning to the show in the future as she felt it would take away from the impact of her final scene. Moffat stated he felt "tremendous pressure" writing Amy and Rory's ending. He later revealed that he "completely changed" the ending as he was writing it, feeling the emphasis was wrong. Gillan refused to read the script for a few weeks after she received it because she "didn't want to make it real". She said in an interview, "I literally couldn't read it without crying. It was the most highly-charged read-through I've ever experienced. But I couldn't have asked for a better exit. I don't think it'll be what people expect." However, the final episode Gillan and Darvill shot as Amy and Rory was actually the previous episode, "". Moffat was also interested in coming up with a new form for the Angels, and so he introduced the . Much of the episode was filmed in in in April 2012. The cast and crew were met with thousands of American fans, which surprised Smith, Gillan, and Darvill. Other scenes were shot at night in the city, involving old-fashioned cars. Moffat was in New York City when he came up with the story, and thought it was appropriate for the Weeping Angels. He described the city as "a different backdrop" to shoot a Doctor Who story in, and made use of its architecture. Fellow executive producer Caroline Skinner felt that the location "has such scale and romance" which "[gave] the episode a real atmosphere and a very different tone for Doctor Who". This marks the second time Doctor Who has filmed in the United States, the first being the opening episodes ""/"". The week spent filming in the city was done by a "small unit by American standards" according to producer Marcus Wilson. They did not take any props of Angels or the TARDIS, which were instead added in post-production. Other filming locations included , and a cemetery in . The New York skyline was added into the cemetery in post-production. The Doctor Who logo in the title sequence featured a texture showing the Statue of Liberty's crown, in keeping with the varied "blockbuster" themes for each of the opening five episodes of the series. The Angel's Kiss: A Melody Malone Story Main article: The story that the Doctor reads in this episode is titled The Angel's Kiss: A Melody Malone Story. BBC Books is due to publish this as an ebook on 4 October 2012. Broadcast and reception "The Angels Take Manhattan" was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on 29 September 2012. Overnight ratings showed that it was watched by 5.9 million viewers live, an increase of 400,000 from the previous week. It also received an of 88, the second highest of the series behind "" (89). Critical reception The episode received positive reviews. Dan Martin of gave a positive review, writing, "This was a fitting end to a golden era, and bravo to Steven Moffat for telling such an involving, emotional story with such style". He also praised the concept of the cherubs and the Angels in New York. However, he noted that he was "flummoxed" as to where in River's timeline the episode took place. reviewer Gavin Fuller gave it five out of five stars, concluding "'The Angels Take Manhattan' brought this mini-run of the series to a close with easily the best episode of the five: a powerful, taut, compelling, filmic, emotionally punchy affair which re-established the Angels as one of the standout monsters of the series and gave Amy Pond a fine send off". While he praised the four actors he felt Gillan was the star, and noted that Rory did not "get any sort of send-off". Keith Phipps of gave "The Angels Take Manhattan" a grade of A, attributing its success to "the way it does double duty as a twist adventure and a highly emotional story of farewells". Sam Wollaston, also writing for The Guardian, wrote positively of the scare factor in the episode, as well as the sadness. Neela Debnath of described it as a "wonderful swansong to the duo" and particularly praised the "stylish" cinematography and sense of danger. However, she considered the "only flaw" to be "the rule that time cannot be changed if one knows what is going to happen ... though it is probably best not to question the timey wimey side of things and just accept it and enjoy the adventure". 's Matt Risley rated the episode 9 out of 10, writing that it "stood strong as a heartfelt, emotional end for the TARDIS' longest serving companions (since the show's noughties' return at least), and the best episode of the season thus far". Risley also praised the three leads, though he did admit the episode "left a few nitpicky questions". reviewer Morgan Jeffery gave "The Angels Take Manhattan" five out of five stars, despite noting "plotholes ... and slightly-too-convenient plot contrivances" and that Rory did not get a heroic exit. Jeffery particularly praised the build-up to Amy and Rory's departure as well as the "superb production design". Dave Golder of awarded the episode four out of five stars, believing that the "bittersweet exit" of the Ponds distracted the viewer from various narrative problems, such as the Statue of Liberty. He felt that Gillan and Darvill "were on top form" as well as Smith's "brilliant performance" and a "less over-the-top River", and also wrote positively about the noir theme and the Angels using the Winter Quay as a battery farm. writer Maureen Ryan was more critical of the episode, worrying that the BBC's international promotion of the show was to the detriment of the quality of the writing. She felt that Amy deserved a better exit and "was crowded out by the distracting presence of River Song and by the fact that Rory was the one to make the essential choices first". She also personally disliked the "timey-whimey" devices, and commented that the "big and operatic tone the director was clearly going for clashed with the mood of film noir" and that the Angels "felt less menacing" and the "pace was a little too frantic". References ^ . Bbc.co.uk. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2012-09-28. ^ Mulkern, Patrick (2012). . Radio Times. Retrieved 30 September 2012. . BBC. 15 August 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012. ^ Eames, Tom (24 March 2012). . . Retrieved 25 June 2012. Jeffery, Morgan (21 March 2012). . . Retrieved 25 June 2012. Brew, Simon (2012-09-15). . . Retrieved 2012-09-29. Masters, Tim (15 December 2011). . BBC News. Retrieved 18 August 2012. Goldman, Eric (16 February 2012). . IGN. Retrieved 18 August 2012. Millar, Paul (2 November 2011). . . Retrieved 28 September 2012. Falls, Amanda Harris (27 September 2012). . . Retrieved 28 September 2012. Ryan, Maureen (3 May 2012). . . Retrieved 18 August 2012. Jeffery, Morgan; Mansell, Tom (17 August 2012). . . Retrieved 18 August 2012. ^ Hogan, Michael (14 August 2012). . . Retrieved 18 August 2012. Hilton, Beth (19 May 2012). . . Retrieved 18 August 2012. ^ Mulkern, Patrick (23 September 2012). . . Retrieved 23 September 2012. Woener, Meredith (11 April 2012). . . Retrieved 24 June 2012. , , , (29 September 2012). "Doctor Who in the U.S.". . . Golder, Dave (14 April 2012). . SFX. Retrieved 18 August 2012. ^ Radish, Christina (20 July 2012). . Collider. Retrieved 19 August 2012. McAlpine, Fraser (4 April 2012). . . Retrieved 18 August 2012. Wicks, Kevin (10 October 2011). . . Retrieved 28 September 2012. . . 20 August 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2012. . . 5 April 2012. Retrieved 24 June 2012. Griffith-Delgado, Jennifer (29 April 2012). . . Retrieved 24 June 2012. ^ Golder, Dave (29 September 2012). . SFX. Retrieved 1 October 2012. Mulkern, Patrick (15 August 2012). . . Retrieved 3 October 2012. Golder, Dave (27 September 2012). . SFX. Retrieved 1 October 2012. . BBC. Retrieved 30 September 2012. Golder, Dave (30 September 2012). . SFX. Retrieved 30 September 2012. Golder, Dave (1 October 2012). . SFX. Retrieved 1 October 2012. Martin, Dan (29 September 2012). . . Retrieved 30 September 2012. Fuller, Gavin (29 September 2012). . . Retrieved 30 September 2012. Phipps, Keith (29 September 2012). . . Retrieved 30 September 2012. Wollaston, Sam (30 September 2012). . . Retrieved 30 September 2012. Debnath, Neela (29 September 2012). . . Retrieved 30 September 2012. . . 30 September 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2012. Jeffery, Morgan (29 September 2012). . . Retrieved 1 October 2012. Ryan, Maureen (28 September 2012). . . Retrieved 1 October 2012. External links Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: at the on at

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast
TDP 267: Smith Yr3 Ep 4 - The Power Of Three

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 23, 2012 12:52


The Cube is a –winning which first aired on on 22 August 2009. Presented by , it offers contestants the chance to win a top prize of £250,000 by completing challenges from within a 4m × 4m × 4m cube. The show is based on the idea that even straightforward tasks become extremely challenging when confined and put under pressure in front of a large live studio audience. Once inside contestants can feel both claustrophobic and disorientated. Using "state-of-the-art filming techniques" the show aims to demonstrate the intense anxiety which contestants undergo as they progress through each task. provides the disembodied voice of The Cube, who explains the rules of the games. "The Power of Three" is the fourth episode of the of the British science fiction television series that will air on and on 22 September 2012. It was written by and directed by . The story will feature as alien time traveller and his , () and her husband (). It will be Amy and Rory's penultimate episode. It will also feature and will celebrate Amy and Rory's time with the Doctor by telling it from their point of view and examining his influence on their lives. Production The episode's title was originally reported as "Cubed", but was later announced as "The Power of Three". had previously written the Doctor Who episodes "" (2007), ""/"" (2010), and the second episode of the series, "". He was also a major contributor to the spinoff series . "The Power of Three" is his second contribution to Doctor Who's seventh series, after "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship". Chibnall described "The Power of Three" as "a lovely big Earth invasion story" but different than the ones done before, as it focused on Amy and Rory's time with the Doctor and the impact of him on their lives. He stated it is told more from Amy and Rory's point of view than ever before, and is about celebrating them before they leave in . Chibnall's brief from showrunner was to "live with the Doctor — , Doctor Who style. Chibnall was also inspired by the story of the . Smith put disgust into the Doctor's remark concerning in the episode, reflecting his real-life decision to stay off the social network. "The Power of Three" was filmed by itself in the series' third production block. Because of this schedule, it was the final episode Gillan and Darvill filmed as Amy and Rory. Their last scene filmed together was getting into the TARDIS with the Doctor; when the doors closed Gillan, Darvill, and Smith hugged and started crying. Some exterior scenes at Amy and Rory's house were re-shot in June and July 2012, with Darvill briefly returning for the June re-shoot. References ^ . SFX. 14 August 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012. ^ . BBC. 15 August 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2012. ^ . SFX. 2 July 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012. Golder, Dave (8 February 2012). . SFX. Retrieved 18 August 2012. . BBC. Retrieved 18 August 2012. ^ Cook, Benjamin (26 July 2012). "Life with the Doctor". (: ) (450): 36-39. Mulkern, Patrick (15 August 2012). . . Retrieved 18 August 2012. (: ) (446). 5 April 2012. Hogan, Michael (14 August 2012). . . Retrieved 18 August 2012. Eames, Tom (19 July 2012). . . Retrieved 18 August 2012. Fulton, Rick (18 May 2012). . . Retrieved 18 August 2012. . SFX. 8 June 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012. Contents Format All of the games take place from inside The Cube. Contestants are set a task to complete which can range from testing their agility to more simple procedures such as stopping a stopwatch after 10 seconds or building a tower of blocks. If they successfully complete the task, they will move up the money ladder and closer to the top prize. Each contestant is given nine lives. Each time a contestant fails a game, one life is lost, and the contestant must repeat the game. Any contestant who runs out of lives while trying to win a game loses all of the money he or she accumulated. Contestants may stop after any game and take the money they have won, but once a contestant decides to play, he or she cannot back out until after completing that game. Before each game, there is a short demonstration by "The Body", a faceless female character described as an expert in all the games. Her demonstrations allow the contestant to see how the game is played and formulate a strategy to succeed. Her face has not been seen; her outfit is a metal plate over her face, revealing just shoulder-length hair, and at one time, she lifted part of the mask, revealing her mouth and chin, to demonstrate Drift. GameValue 1 £1,000 2 £2,000 3 £10,000 4 £20,000 5 £50,000 6 £100,000 7 £250,000 The Cube offers each contestant two aids, each of which may be used only once. They may use a Simplify, which will make a certain game easier to complete. It remains in effect for all future attempts of the game until the contestant completes it. They also have the aid of a Trial Run, which is only available from the second game onwards. It gives the contestant a chance to attempt the game without any consequences. Even if the contestant completes the game, to advance to the next game, they must complete it again under the usual circumstances. However, if the contestant fails to complete the game, they will not be penalised for it. To assist contestants in making a decision on whether to play a game, can provide the player with statistics about the game they are facing, such as the average number of lives it takes for players to win the game, the percentage of people that completed the game on their first try, or whether one group of people was better at the game than another. With the exception of four episodes (two of which are Celebrity Specials), each episode generally features two contestants. Filming first approached in 2008 with the format. It was made into a non-televised by the channel, and was hosted by . Channel 4 eventually decided not to commission the show because it would have been too expensive. In February 2009, ITV purchased the rights to the show and filming began during April 2009 at Wembley's . The Cube is one of the first shows to use the game freeze filming technique on a frequent basis, such as when a contestant jumps. Using specially designed cameras, it allows the viewer to see one side of the Cube before the action is frozen, spun to another face of the Cube and then resumed. shots are again common to show action replays of the task a contestant just completed, or the critical moment of a game, to heighten the excitement of whether the contestant will succeed or fail. The show makes extensive use of to project images onto the walls and ceiling of the Cube, while a screen on the floor is also capable of showing images. These film techniques make the seemingly simple tasks that are put before the contestants seem much more exciting than they would normally be. The 5th and 6th series of The Cube were filmed from 26 January 2012. On 30 January, long-distance runner, took part in filming an Olympian special - which aired on Saturday 14 July. He became the first £250,000 jackpot winner with six lives remaining. Filming is known to be taking place as Schofield has annnouced it on . Additionally, filming of series 5 was announced on on 6 February 2012. Celebrity specials Celebrity specials of The Cube so far feature two contestants in each episode, except for two specials. Celebrity contestants that are defeated by The Cube are given £1,000 for their charities. played The Cube but only took £1,000 for DKH Legacy Trust. won £20,000 for Breast Cancer BC2000. played for the Trust, he lost a game but took £1,000 away for them. took £10,000 from the Cube for . Coronation Street star lost against The Cube but took £1,000 for Mood Swing. Boxer played and won £20,000 for Genesis Breast Cancer. star (the first celebrity that took a whole episode) won £100,000, splitting it between 2 charities, and . In a special of The Cube on Christmas Eve of 2011, took £20,000 for Maundy Relief and played for Christie's and won £10k for them. In an Olympians special took away £10,000 from The Cube for her charity and won £20,000 for Chestnut Tree Children's Hospital In the third edition of the Olympians Specials took away £20,000 for 21st Century Youth and won £50,000 for his charity. Other celebrities who took in The Cube in January were and . These episodes will also air later this year on . Records In the first series, Jonny Lowery became the first person to reach the final game, having only three lives left. For his final game, he was given a more difficult version of Direction, the first game he faced in The Cube, losing three lives and using his Simplify. In the more difficult version, the path had been narrowed to just 20 centimetres. He decided to leave with £100,000. In the second series, Paul McDonald became the second person to reach the final game, having five lives left. For his final game, he was given a more difficult version of Structure, in which he had to build a construction of blocks within a time limit of twelve seconds, three seconds less than his original attempt. He also decided to leave with £100,000. In the third series, of boyband managed to reach the final game, having four lives left. For his final game, he was given a more difficult version of Barrier, in which he had to cross three barriers instead of the original two. He also decided to leave with £100,000. The Fourth person to get to the final game was Luke who was given a more difficult version of Rebound. At the jackpot setting the target zone the ball had to land in was reduced by a significant amount but he also left with £100,000. Teresa was the first person to retire from the game due to injuring her foot in celebration after completing Dual Reflex. In the fifth series, , Olympic 5000 and 10000 metre runner, managed to not only reach the final game but also played the game, starting the final game with seven lives left (He had lost two lives in his first game Response.). For his final game, he guessed that Response would be his final game but was given a more difficult version of Barrier instead, in which he had to cross three barriers instead of the original two, which he had previously beaten on his first attempt. He won £250,000 only losing one more life in the final game. Defeated contestants So far, eighteen contestants have lost all their lives: Rhian lost £2,000 on the first episode of Series 1 playing Drop Zone. Martin lost £20,000 on the third episode of Series 2 playing Side-Track. Alex lost £2,000 on the fifth episode of Series 2 playing Descent. Christian lost £20,000 on the eighth episode of Series 2 playing Pinpoint. Zoe lost £1,000 on the ninth episode of Series 2 playing Stabilise. lost £1,000 on the tenth episode of Series 2 playing Gradient. lost £20,000 on the eleventh episode of Series 2 playing Pinpoint. lost £1,000 on the twelfth episode of Series 2 playing Blind-Shot. Paul lost £2,000 on the first episode of Series 3 playing new game Vault. Aaron lost £2,000 on the fourth episode of Series 3 playing Cylinder. Yolanda lost £10,000 on the fifth episode of Series 3 playing Spike. Debbie lost £10,000 on the second episode of Series 4 playing Tilt. Sarah lost £1,000 on the third episode of Series 4 playing Revolving Shot. Jim lost £10,000 on the fourth episode of Series 4 playing Shatter. Isaac lost £2,000 on the fifth episode of Series 4 playing Placement. Karen lost £20,000 on the fifth episode of Series 4 playing Construction. Neil lost £1,000 on the seventh episode of Series 4 playing Pendulum. Graham lost £2,000 on the fourth episode of Series 5 playing Succession. Top prize winner (£250,000 - Beat The Cube) : Celebrity special - Mo Farah Foundation; 6 lives remaining - 14 July 2012 Games The games are placed in the categories by when they were first introduced. If the game has been played at any other levels, the levels they have been played at have been placed in brackets. When The Cube was first made, 50 games were designed. However, they have added new games every new season. Currently, there are a total of 124 different games that have been played so far. Games featured in the show so far include: Game 1 — £1,000 Game 2 — £2,000 Game 3 — £10,000 Game 4 — £20,000 Game 5 — £50,000 Game 6 — £100,000 Game 7 — £250,000 On The Cube board games, there are games that aren't played on shows such as Bullseye Throw - they had to launch a ball of a catapult thrower so it goes through a small ring without making contact. Transmissions SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes 1 22 August 2009 3 October 2009 7 2 19 September 2010 2 January 2011 12 3 3 April 2011 11 June 2011 9 4 30 October 2011 31 December 2011 9 5 14 April 2012 Ratings Episode ratings from . Series 1 Episode No.AirdateTotal ViewersITV1 Weekly Ranking 1 22 August 2009 5,850,000 11 2 29 August 2009 5,120,000 11 3 5 September 2009 5,260,000 15 4 12 September 2009 5,060,000 15 5 19 September 2009 4,830,000 17 6 26 September 2009 4,810,000 20 7 3 October 2009 4,710,000 19 Series 2 Episode No.AirdateTotal ViewersITV1 Weekly Ranking 1 19 September 2010 4,980,000 15 2 26 September 2010 5,090,000 16 3 3 October 2010 5,780,000 16 4 10 October 2010 5,190,000 18 5 17 October 2010 5,210,000 20 6 24 October 2010 5,510,000 17 7 31 October 2010 5,210,000 18 8 7 November 2010 5,510,000 17 9 14 November 2010 5,530,000 19 10 21 November 2010 5,420,000 22 11 18 December 2010 3,920,000 22 12 2 January 2011 4,180,000 20 Series 3 Episode No.AirdateTotal ViewersITV1 Weekly Ranking 1 3 April 2011 3,640,000 22 2 10 April 2011 3,310,000 24 3 17 April 2011 3,320,000 23 4 24 April 2011 2,770,000 27 5 1 May 2011 3,500,000 24 6 8 May 2011 3,940,000 18 7 15 May 2011 4,020,000 17 8 22 May 2011 3,960,000 18 9 11 June 2011 3,350,000 22 Series 4 Episode No.AirdateTotal ViewersITV1 Weekly Ranking 1 30 October 2011 3,960,000 20 2 6 November 2011 4,000,000 20 3 13 November 2011 4,080,000 26 4 20 November 2011 4,060,000 23 5 27 November 2011 4,080,000 20 6 4 December 2011 4,090,000 21 7 11 December 2011 3,190,000 25 8 24 December 2011 4,960,000 16 9 31 December 2011 2,870,000 29 Series 5 Episode No.AirdateTotal ViewersITV1 Weekly Ranking 1 14 April 2012 3,990,000 14 2 21 April 2012 2,780,000 28 3 28 April 2012 2,820,000 25 4 5 May 2012 3,140,000 24 5 12 May 2012 3,000,000 30 6 2 June 2012 3,450,850 7 14 July 2012 5,415,240 24 8 21 July 2012 4,587,120 International versions CountryNameHostChannelTop prizePremiere/air dates   梦立方 Dream Cube To achieve the contestant's dream 13 May 2012   The Cube–Besiege den Würfel! 250,000 29 April 2011   The Cube - La Sfida Teo Mammucari 100,000 7 September 2011   O Cubo 30,000 16 May–11 July 2010   المكعب Al Moukaab Faisal Al Issa Saudi TV 1 250,000 24 March–8 July 2010   El Cubo 150,000 8 February 2012   Куб Kub 250,000 21 November 2011   500,000 2010 Pilot The UK version of The Cube is also currently being broadcast in by , in on , and in Australia on the . Most versions of The Cube, even those that air outside the UK, are filmed at in London. Merchandise An electronic board game based on the series was made available in stores from November 2010. As of June 2011, the game has been discontinued by most main retailers. The game comes with an electronic handheld system featuring games such as Time Freeze and Stop Zone, as well as 9 balls- six 18mm blow moulded balls, 1 30mm EVA foam ball, 1 25mm hard ball and one 50mm hard ball. The balls are used for different reasons and the foam ball is used for most games with a ball. For Multisphere, all balls are used unless it is being played in a room with hard floors, in that case eight balls are used. Tubes are used for almost evry physical game for starting positions, voids, tubes, towers and columns. Other equipment in the board game are track pieces, discs, clips, z shaped platform pieces, cannons, blocks, a ball flipper, a beam and card pieces,and a 7x7x7 plastic cube for playing a series of sixty physical games. The cube is used for a conatiner and to connect onto the cube platform for the electronic games. A reducer also comes with the cube allowing it to reduce the size of it. The Simplify for games with the reducer generally remove it. Many well known and classic games are here as well as new games, everyday life games and interesting and complex games. Around the time of the release of the board game, a computerised version of the series was made available via the iTunes store for use on the iPod and iPhone. This version features eighteen games from the series: Angular, Balance, Cylinder, Descent, Drop Zone, Focus, Multisphere, Perimeter, Precision, Pulse, Quantity, Reaction, Revolution, Shatter, Stabilise, Stop Zone, Time Freeze and Velocity. An update for the game was made available in January 2011, adding a further free game, Succession, and making four further games available at a cost: Exact, Pathfinder, Totalise and Tower. A second update was made available in March 2011, adding a further free game, Axis, and making four further games available at a cost: Invert, Composure, Calculate and Classify. A free online game has also been created, allowing viewers to attempt three games for free. The games that are available are Stop Zone, Cylinder and Multisphere. The player starts with three lives and has three attempts to beat The Cube. Players also have the opportunity to save their high scores in the games and also use to challenge friends. On October 5 a Cube game will be released on consoles for the first time. Nintendo 3DS has games such as Vault, Calculate, Pendulum and Pathfinder and many more. If you beat the Cube, then you unlock Extreme Mode, Where you play games never seen on TV. Features: The Body and The Voice on the Hit Show. Demonstrations of each Game. Features 33 games. Extreme Mode includes not seen challenges. Profiles letting multiple people track their wins and losses. Stats for each game. Multiplayer and Head to Head modes. The features are the same for Wii. The PS3 version is different to the 3DS and Wii because you have more ways to play. The PS3 version has games like Memory Flash, Dead Stop, Accelerate, Perimeter, Reflex, Drop Shot and many more. Here are features of the PS3 version of the Cube! Includes the Voice and the Body featured in the hit show. Cut scene demonstration for each game. Features 30 games. Extra DLC available for 10 more challenges. Extreme Mode which includes never seen challenges. Profiles making multiple players track their wins and losses. Stats for each game showing average lives used. Multiplayer Challenge and Head to Head modes. PlayStation Move compatible. References ITV Digital Spy Broadcast ? For example, the prize of the first 5 games for the very first contestant were , complete set of equipments, freestyle football party, replacement of old home appliances and a freestyle football studio respectively.

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast
TDP 263: Smith Yr3.2 Dinosaus on a Spaceship

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 8, 2012 10:47


"Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" is the second episode of the of the British science fiction television series , which first aired on in the UK on 8 September 2012. It was written by and directed by . The episode featured alien time traveller () and his companions () and () accompanied by Rory's father Brian (), (), and John Riddell, an English big-game hunter (). The group landed on a large spaceship that contains dinosaurs. Contents Plot When in Egypt with , receives a call about a spaceship which will crash into Earth in six hours. Taking Nefertiti with him, he picks up Edwardian explorer John Riddell and his and ten months after he last saw them in "", accidentally taking Rory's father Brian on the as well. They land on the spaceship and come face-to-face with dinosaurs. The Doctor and his companions discover that the ship is a ark designed to carry the reptilian humanoids to a new planet along with flora and fauna from their time period. After escaping from a group of , the Doctor, Rory, and Brian are escorted by two robots to a human called Solomon who was injured in a raptor attack. Solomon, who had boarded the spaceship and killed its inhabitants in order to sell the dinosaurs on board, threatens the Doctor into repairing his legs and into giving him Queen Nefertiti after seeing her value. Missiles are fired from Earth to stop the ship from crashing. The Doctor disables Solomon's robots and rescues Nefertiti before he tricks the missiles into targeting Solomon's ship and detaching it from the Silurian ark. Meanwhile, Rory and Brian pilot the ark away from the Earth. The Doctor then takes the Ponds back home after letting Brian view the Earth from orbit. The episode ends after showing that Brian Williams has now taken to travelling across the planet. Production Showrunner said that putting dinosaurs on a spaceship was "the secret of success". The idea to use dinosaurs in Doctor Who came from the special effects teams and Millennium FX. As "" was a darker opening episode, "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" is more about fun. In Moffat's pitch to writer , he proposed, "Maybe it's a ship heading towards Earth, and Earth is on alert". Chibnall had previously written the Doctor Who episodes "" (2007), ""/"" (2010), as well as work for the spinoff series . The Doctor had previously encountered dinosaurs in the 1974 serial . Chibnall suggested including a "bonkers" gang of characters picked from around time and space. He felt that Doctor Who could have "collisions of characters that no other show in the world can do", and that it was about finding a "disparate" group of characters who would "bounce" off each other. Chibnall asked to introduce Rory's father, as Amy and Rory would be leaving and Rory's family life had not been explored yet. , who played an Edwardian hunter in this episode, previously worked with Moffat on the BBC series . 's character, Solomon, was modelled on a "well-known nightclub owner with long hair". Chibnall described him as "half businessman, half pirate". "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" and the following episode, "", were the first episodes to be produced for the seventh series, both directed by . The two episodes are Metzstein's first Doctor Who credits. The production team had to be mindful of the series' budget when planning the effects and sets; Chibnall commented that "it would be very easy to spend £300m on this but we don't have it". As such, the dinosaurs could not dominate the episode, and Chibnall had to tell "a big other' story". The episode contains one of the biggest sets ever built for the show. Some scenes were also filmed at beach, in late February 2012. The beach had previously been used as "Bad Wolf Bay" in "" (2006) and "" (2008), and as the planet Alfava Metraxis in ""/"" (2010). A preview clip of the episode was released at the 2012 . Smith had to wear padded trousers when riding the dinosaurs, and recalled it was "a painful couple of hours, a laugh though and definitely worth it". The dinosaurs in the episode were built from scratch, and are a variety of "favourites". References ^ Edwards, Richard (15 July 2012). . SFX. Retrieved 16 July 2012. ^ Mulkern, Patrick (2 September 2012). . . Retrieved 2 September 2012. ^ Golder, Dave (3 September 2012). . SFX. Retrieved 3 September 2012. ^ Cook, Benjamin (26 July 2012). "Life with the Doctor". (: ) (450): 36-39. Golder, Dave (8 February 2012). . SFX. Retrieved 18 August 2012. . BBC. Retrieved 18 August 2012. ^ Berriman, Ian (2 August 2012). . SFX. Retrieved 2 August 2012. Jeffery, Morgan (22 February 2010). . . Retrieved 20 July 2012. Golder, Dave (27 July 2012). . SFX. Retrieved 28 July 2012. Jeffery, Morgan (9 February 2012). . . Retrieved 20 July 2012. Golder, Dave (11 February 2012). . SFX. Retrieved 20 July 2012. (: ) (446). 5 April 2012. Wilkins, Alasdair (24 February 2012). . . Retrieved 2 August 2012. McGloin, Matt (23 February 2012). . Cosmic Book News. Retrieved 2 August 2012. . BBC. Retrieved 2 August 2012. Bowie-Sell, Daisy (15 August 2012). . . Retrieved 18 August 2012.

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast
TDP 261: Smith 3.1 Asylum of the Daleks

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 4, 2012 12:45


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: , 225 – "Asylum of the Daleks" episode The unique logo from the title sequence, mimicing the distinct bodywork. Cast () () () Others – Oswin – Darla von Karlsen David Gyasi – Harvey – Cassandra – Voice of the – Dalek 1 – Dalek 2 – Photoshoot PA (uncredited) Production Writer Director Producer Marcus Wilson Executive producer(s) Caroline Skinner Series Length 48 minutes Originally broadcast 1 September 2012 Chronology ← Preceded by Followed by → "" (episode) (mini-serial) "" "Asylum of the Daleks" is the first episode of the of the British science fiction television series . This episode marks the return of the . It was broadcast on , and on 1 September 2012, and will be on in on 8 September 2012. The episode features the alien time traveller the () being captured by the , along with his () and (), who are about to divorce. They are sent by the Daleks to the Asylum, a planet where insane Daleks are exiled, to enable the Asylum to be destroyed before the insane Daleks can escape. The Doctor is helped along the way by Oswin (), a woman who lives on a spaceship that crashed on the planet a year ago and has been trapped there since then. Coleman makes her first appearance in Doctor Who in this episode, before returning as the Doctor's new companion in ; her appearance was successfully kept a secret from the general public prior to the episode's broadcast. Contents Plot Prequel A prequel was released to iTunes, Zune, and Amazon Instant Video on 2 September, 2012 for US subscribers for the series. As the Doctor has tea, a hooded messenger informs him that a woman, Darla von Karlsen, requests his help in freeing her daughter. The messenger provides space-time coordinates to the planet Skaro. is a different five-part mini serial prequel to this episode, which was released serially in the week leading up to the premiere. The fifth part hints at Amy and Rory's divorce. Synopsis is lured to the ruins of , original homeworld of the Daleks, by a humanoid Dalek "puppet", Darla, who teleports him to the Parliament of the Daleks. There he is reunited with and , who have been similarly kidnapped from present-day Earth, just after Rory has delivered Amy their divorce papers. Within the Parliament, the Prime Minister of the Daleks explains to them that the Daleks have a planet known as the Asylum, where they keep Daleks which have gone insane; the Daleks are unwilling to engage with the inmates themselves, as destroying such pure hatred face-to-face would contravene their sense of "beauty", much to the Doctor's revulsion. The Parliament has received a transmission of the "" from from a woman, Oswin Oswald. She is on board the Alaska, a ship which has crashed into the Asylum, and claims to have been fending off Dalek attacks for a year. The crash of the Alaska has ruptured the planet's force-field, thus risking the escape of the planet's inmates. The Parliament now wishes to destroy the planet remotely to prevent this, but the force-field is not ruptured sufficiently to allow that. The force-field can only be deactivated from the planet itself but, afraid to face such a mission themselves, the Daleks of the Parliament task the Doctor, Amy and Rory with doing so. The three are given bracelets to protect them from the planet's nanogene cloud, which would convert them into Dalek puppets to serve the facility's security systems, before being dropped through the force-field breach via a gravity tunnel onto the surface of the planet. The Doctor and Amy land close to each other and are discovered by Harvey, another survivor from the Alaska. Rory, however, is dropped to the bottom of a long shaft into the Asylum—there he accidentally awakens some of its inhabitants, but is saved and guided to a safe room by Oswin, who has accessed the computers. Meanwhile Harvey is revealed to be a Dalek puppet, converted by the nanogene cloud. A similar fate has befallen the corpses of other Alaska survivors, who re-animate and attack the Doctor and Amy, stealing her nano-field bracelet just before the pair are saved by Oswin and guided to Rory. Now unprotected from the nanogenes, Amy begins to be converted into a Dalek puppet and begins experiencing memory loss and hallucinations. The Doctor guesses that the Daleks will destroy the planet as soon as he deactivates the force-field, before he and his companions can escape. However, he realises that Rory's hideout is a telepad via which they can teleport onto the Dalek Parliament ship. Oswin agrees to deactivate the force-field in return for the Doctor coming to save her. While the Doctor is gone, Rory tries to give Amy his bracelet. The Doctor explained that love slows the Dalek puppet conversion, and Rory justifies that by "coldly and logically" asserting that he has always loved her more than she loves him, thus he would be converted more slowly, invoking his 2000-year vigil "". Amy angrily replies that she loves him equally, but gave him up since she is infertile as a result of the events of "" and thus unable to bear the children she knows that he has always desired. They then realise that the Doctor has already given Amy his own nano-field bracelet but didn't tell them, in order to allow the two to converse and reconcile. The Doctor makes his way to Oswin, venturing through the 'intensive care section', containing Daleks who survived encounters with him. They begin to re-activate, but he is saved from them by Oswin, who deletes the Doctor from the Daleks' collective, , leaving them with no memory of him. The Doctor enters Oswin's chamber only to discover to his horror that she has been fully converted into a Dalek. Unprotected from the nanogenes for nearly a year, she could not prevent herself from being converted in order to preserve her genius-level intellect for Dalek use. Unable to cope with her conversion, her mind retreated into a fantasy of survival as a human, which was picked up as the Carmen transmission. Oswin is nearly overcome by a Dalek personality at this revelation, though she still possesses human emotions and is unable to kill the Doctor. Oswin fulfils her promise of deactivating the force-field, on the condition that the Doctor remember her as the human she once was. The Doctor returns to Amy and Rory and teleports them back to his TARDIS, which is on board the Parliament ship, as the planet is destroyed. The Daleks fail to recognise him due to his removal from their hive intelligence. He leaves the ship and drops the reunited Amy and Rory back home. He then departs alone, delighting in the Dalek Parliament's closing question to him: "Doctor who?". Continuity In her opening speech, Darla refers to the Doctor fighting in the and then dying. The Doctor appears to die in the episodes "" and "". The nanogenes are mentioned in the two-parter ""/"", also written by Moffat. In the closing exchange in the Parliament, the Doctor refers to one of his nicknames as "The Oncoming Storm", first mentioned in the episode "". The final question of "Doctor who?", besides being an obvious callback to the programme's title, is the "question that must not be answered" that Dorium asks at the end of "The Wedding of River Song". Some of the Daleks are survivors of previous encounters with the Doctor on Spiridon (), Kembel ("" and ), Exxilon (), Aridius (), and Vulcan ().[] Production "Asylum of the Daleks" contained many variations of Daleks from the programme's 50-year history, and was intended to make them appear scary again. "Asylum of the Daleks" contains every kind of Dalek that has ever faced the Doctor, including the from the 1988 story, . Executive producer announced in 2011 that he intended to give a "rest" to the Daleks. The reason for the rest was that Moffat felt their frequent appearances made them the "most reliably defeatable enemies in the universe". Moffat recalled that the Daleks were remembered for being scary, but due to their legacy as British icons they had become "cuddly" over the years and their true menace forgotten; with "Asylum" he intended to make them scary again, reminding the audience of their intentions. He thought the best way to do this would be to show Daleks that were considered even madder than usual. Gillan admitted that she had not been scared of the Daleks before working on the episode. It is also the first Dalek story Moffat has written for the show; he stated that he "couldn't resist" the opportunity. In March 2012, it was announced that would replace Gillan and Darvill as the next companion, first appearing in the . It was Moffat's idea to have her appear in "Asylum of the Daleks" as the character of Oswin. He intended to keep it a secret, and thanked the press and fans that it was not leaked. Whether Coleman's later character is the same as Oswin has yet to be confirmed. According to , the production team located the remaining models of the various versions of the Daleks and shipped them to the studios in . This included a Dalek owned by , Moffat's predecessor. Executive producer Caroline Skinner knew Davies well and asked to borrow his replica. She stated that he was "thrilled" that it was canonised. The total number of different Daleks was around 25, with models from 1963 to 2010; Skinner said that "there was just a real magic and sense of history about having them". Many of the props were built from scratch. The snow scenes on the asylum planet were filmed during the production of "" when the production team realised they were near the snow resort in . Broadcast and reception "Asylum of the Daleks" was preview screened at on 14 August, and at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival during 23–25 August. On 25 August it was also screened in New York City and Toronto. "Asylum of the Daleks" was broadcast on 1 September 2012 on in the United Kingdom, in the United States, and on in Canada, and on 2 September on the service. It will premiere on 8 September 2012 on in Australia, and on 13 September on in New Zealand. Overnight viewing figures for the UK showed that it was watched by 6.4 million viewers, the lowest overnight figure for a premiere episode of the revived series; however, viewing patterns indicate that fewer people watch Doctor Who live, and it won its timeslot. It was also the most-viewed episode on BBC's online the day that it aired. It achieved an of 89, the highest for a series opener of Doctor Who. Critical reception "Asylum of the Daleks" received positive reviews from critics. Dan Martin of praised Moffat's "script packed with ace curveballs and zappy dialogue" and Nick Hurran's direction. He also was pleased that the asylum setting could explore the Daleks while making it reminicent of the classic series. reviewer Gavin Fuller gave it four out of five stars, describing it as a "confident opener" and highlighting the concept and set design of the asylum. He particularly praised Coleman, who he called "the star of the episode". Michael Hogan, also writing for The Telegraph, gave "Asylum of the Daleks" a slightly higher rating of four and a half stars out of five, also commending Coleman as well as many details of the script. Neela Debnath of commented positively on the show's continuing exploration of the Daleks and the more "adult tone", praising the peformance of the three leads. writer Patrick Mulkern stated that it "ticks all [his] boxes as a Doctor Who fan of more than 40 years standing", describing it as "clever, fast, funny, eerie, surprising and tearjerking". Nick Setchfield of gave the episode five out of five stars, calling it a "strong, cinematically-minded series opener" which succeeded in making the Daleks scary. He also praised Coleman's debut, Smith's performance, the special effects, and Amy and Rory's emotional subplot. reviewer noted that the plot "is mostly just an excuse to explore the Doctor's ongoing relationship with the Daleks, and to show how sad it's gotten". 's Morgan Jeffery also awarded it five stars, though he felt Amy and Rory's breakup was "a little difficult to buy" as it was resolved quickly, even if the situation was "sensitively handled" and "deftly performed". Keith Phipps of graded "Asylum of the Daleks" as a "B+", also writing that he had a "quibble" with the Ponds' marriage issue as it had not been foreshadowed. 's Matt Risley rated the episode as 8.5 out of 10, finding that the "only downside" was that "it felt less a tale about the Daleks than an adventure that just happened to have them in it". Maureen Ryan, writing for , felt it was a "ripping start to the season" that redeemed the Daleks from "". While she commended Gillan and Darvill's acting during Amy and Rory's emotional confrontation, she noted that they were not a couple that would break up because of infertility. References . BBC. 14 August 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2012. ^ . Radio Times. 22 August 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2012. ^ Martinovic, Paul (1 September 2012). . . Retrieved 2 September 2012. . Amazon. Retrieved 3 September, 2012. . . Retrieved 3 September 2012. . BBC. 22 August 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2012. (Video). BBC. 22 August 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2012. (Video). BBC. 31 August 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2012. ^ Martin, Dan (1 September 2012). . . Retrieved 2 September 2012. . BBC. Retrieved 3 September 2012. ^ Ryan, Maureen (31 August 2012). . . Retrieved 3 September 2012. ^ Setfield, Nick (1 September 2012). . . Retrieved 2 September 2012. . BBC. 25 June 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2012. ^ . BBC News. 31 May 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2012. ^ (Video). BBC. 29 August 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2012. . BBC. 15 August 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2012. (Video). BBC. 30 August 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2012. Moffat, Steven (28 August 2012). . . Retrieved 31 August 2012. . BBC News. 21 March 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2012. (Video). . 1 September 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2012. ^ Debnath, Neela (1 September 2012). . . Retrieved 2 September 2012. Gee, Catherine (1 September 2012). . . Retrieved 2 September 2012. Hogan, Michael (14 August 2012). . . Retrieved 14 August 2012. Brown, David (24 August 2012). . . Retrieved 26 August 2012. Setchfield, Nick (22 August 2012). . SFX. Retrieved 26 August 2012. (Video). BBC. 1 September 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2012. Sperling, Daniel (25 June 2012). . . Retrieved 25 June 2012. Golder, Dave (9 May 2012). . SFX. Retrieved 10 May 2012. Wicks, Kevin (25 August 2012). . . Retrieved 25 August 2012. . . 23 August 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2012. . . Retrieved 25 August 2012. . . 22 August 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2012. . . 28 August 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2012. . . 22 August 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2012. . Prime TV. 28 August 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2012. . Prime TV. 28 August 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2012. ^ Golder, Dave (2 September 2012). . . Retrieved 2 September 2012. . . 3 September 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2012. Fuller, Gavin (1 September 2012). . . Retrieved 2 September 2012. Hogan, Michael (2 September 2012). . . Retrieved 2 September 2012. Mulkern, Patrick (1 September 2012). . . Retrieved 2 September 2012. Anders, Charlie Jane (1 September 2012). . . Retrieved 3 September 2012. Jeffery, Morgan (1 September 2012). . . Retrieved 2 September 2012. Phipps, Keith (1 September 2012). . . Retrieved 2 September 2012. Risley, Matt (1 September 2012). . . Retrieved 2 September 2012. External links

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast
TDP 205: Closing Time

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 24, 2011 18:33


from wikipedia. "Closing Time" is the twelfth episode of the of the British television series , and was first broadcast on , and on 24 September 2011. Contents [] [] Plot summary Nearly two hundred years have passed for the Doctor after leaving Amy and Rory in ""; and the Doctor is on a farewell tour as he knows he has one more day in his relative time before his death (depicted in ""), saying goodbye to his past companions. He stops by Craig (""), finding he is living with his girlfriend Sophie, moved into a new home, and now raising their baby, Alfie. Craig, tending to Alfie alone while Sophie is away for the weekend, suspects the Doctor is investigating something alien. As the Doctor leaves, he notices an strange electrical disturbance in the area, and decides to investigate. Craig, while at a new department store with Alfie, discovers the Doctor working in the toy department. The Doctor reveals that he has traced the electrical disturbances to the store and using the job to allow him to investigate more. The Doctor and Craig enter a lift and find themselves teleported to a spacecraft, but the Doctor manages to reverse the teleporter and disables it. As Craig returns home, the Doctor sees Amy and Rory shopping, but stays out of their sight. The Doctor continues to follow rumours of a store clerk's disappearance and of a "silver rat". With Craig's help, the Doctor enters the store and catches a Cybermat, which has been siphoning small amounts of energy to the spacecraft. The Doctor also encounters a malfunctioning Cyberman in the building's basement, and is curious how it arrived in the store. At Craig's house, while the two are distracted, the Cybermat reactivates, but they are able to stop it, and the Doctor reprograms the unit to track down the Cybermen signal. The Doctors leaves on his own to locate the Cybermen at the store, but Craig shortly follows, bringing Alfie along. The Doctor finds the spaceship actually sits below the store, underground, accessed by a tunnel from a changing room. The ship has been slowly siphoning energy from the store's power lines, reactivating its crew. The Doctor is captured by the Cybermen, who tell him that their ship crashed long ago, but with this new energy, will soon have enough power to convert the human race. Craig, leaving Alfie with a store clerk, follows the Doctor into the tunnel, and is also captured and placed into a conversion machine. The Doctor reveals his own impending death and urges Craig to fight, but the conversion appears to be complete until Alfie's cries over the closed-circuit television echo in the ship. Craig fights the conversion, sending the rest of the Cybermen into overload as they painfully experience the emotions they have repressed. The Doctor and Craig escape via the teleporter as the ship explodes, the blast contained by the cavern. The Doctor slips away unseen, but Craig returns home to find that the Doctor has used time travel to clean the mess from the previous night. The Doctor tells Craig that Alfie now has a much higher opinion of his dad. The Doctor leaves just before Sophie returns. Nearby, the Doctor tells the TARDIS he knows this is his last trip in her and offers some parting words to a small group of children. In the far future, River Song, recently made a Doctor of Archaeology, reviews eyewitness accounts from those children, and also notes the date and location of the Doctor's death. She is interrupted by Madame Kovarian and agents of ; Kovarian tells River that she is still theirs, and will be the one to kill the Doctor. They place her in an astronaut's suit and submerge her in the lake to await the Doctor. [] Continuity Two hundred years have passed for the Doctor since the events of "", taking him to the age his older self was in "". Multiple events in the episode correspond to those of "The Impossible Astronaut": the Doctor takes from Craig's home the "TARDIS blue" envelopes he uses to bring Amy, Rory, River, Canton Delaware and his younger self to Lake Silencio; Craig gives him the Stetson hat he wears at the start of that episode; and the "impossible astronaut" is confirmed to be River Song. The Cybermen, like those in "", do not bear the Cybus Industries logo on their chests. are shown for the first time in the revived series. In the classic series, they appeared in , and . The Doctor stops by to see Craig before he dies, as the Tenth Doctor popped in on his former companions before regenerating in . The Doctor claims to be able to "speak 'baby'", as he did in "". The Doctor expresses his dislike for Craig's "redecorated" house in a variation of lines spoken by the in and , and Craig explains to the Doctor that the reason his house looks different is that it is a different house from the one he had in ""; Craig also remarks that he has inspected the upstairs level, alluding to the false story shown in "The Lodger". The Doctor echoes himself in the classic series serial when he recites the mini-poem "Not a rat, a Cybermat" from the novelization of Revenge of the Cybermen. Amy appears in an ad for Petrichor perfume, with the tagline, "For the girl who's tired of waiting." The concept of was used as a psychic password in "" and means "the smell of dust after rain". The Doctor frequently refers to Amy as "the girl who waited". [] Production Writer said in an interview that he was considering bringing the character of Craig back when was cast and he saw his performance, saying that "it already felt like he was one of the Who family". It was also his idea to bring back the Cybermen, because there were no other returning monsters in the series and he thought "there should be a sense of history about the Doctor's final battle to save Earth before he heads off to meet his death". [] Cast notes This episode marks 's third involvement with Doctor Who, having provided vocals for the "Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon", heard in , and appeared in as Wrack. The accompanying to "Closing Time" is entitled "Open All Hours" in honour of Baron's role in the . DJ appears in a non-speaking cameo role, as a man shopping for lingerie. [] Broadcast and reception "Closing Time" was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on on 24 September 2011 and in the United States on on the same date. It achieved overnight ratings of 5.3 million viewers, coming in second for its time slot behind . [] Critical reception The episode received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the comic interplay between Smith and Corden. Jack Pelling of Celluloid Heroes Radio praised Roberts' deftly crafted comic script, and described it as "one of the most enjoyable episodes of Doctor Who in recent years". Dan Martin of questioned the decision to air a standalone episode as the penultimate show of the series, calling "Closing Time" "something of a curiosity" as well as writing positively about "Smith and Cordon's double act". Gavin Fuller of awarded the episode three out of five stars, comparing Smith's performance favourably to that of . Neela Debnath of said it was an "intriguing change of pace" and succeeded with "great comedic moments" and the "brilliant chemistry between the Doctor and Craig". She praised Corden for excelling after his "average" performance in "The Lodger". Patrick Mulkern, writing for , thought that the ending was an "emotional overload...but what better way to deal with the emotionally deprived Cybermen?" He was pleased with the "sweet cameo" from Amy and Rory and the "tense coda" with River Song and Kovarian. 's Matt Risley rated the episode 7.5 out of 10, praising the chemistry between Smith and Corden as well as Smith's interaction with the baby, but was disappointed with the Cybermen, who he said "never really delivered on the threat or horror fans know they're capable of". reviewer Rob Power gave the episode three and a half out of five stars, saying it "[worked] wonders" as a light-hearted episode before the finale and with "properly bad" Cybermen. Though he thought the Cyberman lacked "real menance" and Craig escaped in a "cheesy way", he considered the main focus to be on the Doctor's "farewell tour" and praised Smith's performance. He thought that the moments of "sad-eyed loneliness and resignation" added weight to "what would otherwise have been a paper-thin episode". He also praised the ending for bringing things together for the finale, though he thought the final scene with River Song felt "a little tacked-on". [] References "". . Doctor Who Confidential. . 24 September 2011. No. 12, series 6. 4:52 minutes in. "The Doctor allows Craig to come along and play the part of his companion [...]" ^ . BBC. 17 September 2011. Retrieved 18 September 2011. ^ Martin, Dan (24 September 2011). . The Guardian. Retrieved 24 September 2011. . (writer), (director). . . . 25 December 2009–1 January 2010. No. 4, season . The Eleventh Doctor tells in that he visited her and each of his companions. ^ . BBC. Retrieved 25 September 2011. Anders, Charlie Jane (24 September 2011). . io9. Retrieved 25 September 2011. Novelisation of by ^ Power, Rob (24 September 2011). . SFX. Retrieved 25 September 2011. . BBC. 22 September 2011. Retrieved 23 September 2011. (Press release). BBC. Retrieved 25 September 2011. . BBC America. Retrieved 25 September 2011. Golder, Dave (25 September 2011). . SFX. Retrieved 25 September 2011. Pelling, Jack (24 September 2011). . Celluloid Heroes Radio. Retrieved 24 September 2011. Fuller, Gavin (24 September 2011). . The Telegraph. Retrieved 25 Septembe 2011. Debnath, Neela (25 September 2011). . The Independent. Retrieved 25 September 2011. Mulkern, Patrick (24 September 2011). . Radio Times. Retrieved 25 September 2011. Risley, Matt (25 September 2011). . . Retrieved 25 September 2011. at the

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast
TDP 204: The God Complex

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 19, 2011 11:16


reprinted from wikipedia with thanks and respect The God Complex From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 221 – "The God Complex" episode Cast () () () Others  — Lucy Hayward  — Rita  — Howie Spragg Daniel Pirrie — Joe Buchanan  — Gibbis Caitlin Blackwood — Amelia Pond Dafydd Emyr — PE Teacher  — The Creature Rashad Karapiet — Rita's Father Roger Ennals — Gorilla Production Writer Director Producer Executive producer(s) Length 50 mins Originally broadcast 17 September 2011 Chronology ← Preceded by Followed by → "" "" "The God Complex" is the eleventh episode of the of the British television series , and was first broadcast on , and on 17 September 2011. Contents [] [] Plot summary The TARDIS, while traveling to a new planet, arrives in what appears to be a 1980's Earth hotel, but the Doctor recognizes it as an alien structure specifically designed to take that appearance. They soon meet a group of four, humans Rita, Howie, Joe, and the alien Gibbis, each who had previously been taken from their routine lives and found themselves in the hotel. The four explain that there is a minotaur-like beast in the hotel that consumes others. It does this by enticing them to enter one of the many rooms in the hotel which contains their greatest fears, upon which they become brainwashed to "praise him" and allow themselves to be taken, their bodies left without any signs of life; many others have experienced this, and photos of them and their fears cover many of the hotel's walls. The hotel is inescapable — its doors and windows walled up — and its halls and rooms can change on a whim. The Doctor, Amy, and Rory soon find the TARDIS has also disappeared, and the Doctor warns them from opening any door they are drawn to, for fear of being possessed. As the Doctor tries to ascertain the situation, Joe, already possessed, has been drawn away from the group and is killed by the beast. Howie soon becomes possessed after entering a room against the Doctor's warnings. The remaining group set up a trap to lure the beast into the hotel's parlor using Howie's voice, upon which the Doctor questions the trapped creature and learns it is in agony wishing for its end. The Doctor realises the hotel is really a prison for the creature, and the "fears" in each room are harmless illusions. Howie escapes from the group, allowing the beast to escape and chase him down, killing him before the Doctor can save him. While exploring more of the hotel, both Amy and the Doctor are separately lured to look into two specific rooms, facing their own fears. Rita soon follows the fate of Joe and Howie. The Doctor, Amy, Rory, and Gibbis regroup, and the Doctor surmises that the other three believed that some higher fate controlled their lives. The hotel and its rooms were, by design, meant to challenge their faith by fear to allow the beast to possess them. The Doctor identifies that Gibbis has survived due to the extreme cowardice of his species, while Rory lacks any such faith to be broken. However, the Doctor realises that it is Amy's faith in him that is being challenged; Amy soon becomes possessed like the others. As the beast comes for Amy, the Doctor and the others grab her and take her to the room of her entrancement. Inside, they find the illusion of young Amy, Amelia, still waiting for the return of her "raggedy Doctor" (""). The Doctor asserts to Amy that he is "not a hero" but "just a mad man with a box" to break her faith in him; her faith broken, the beast outside the door collapses on the floor. As they watch, the hotel is revealed to be part of a large simulation; the Doctor identifies themselves aboard an automated prison spaceship, and the beast as a relative of the Nimon, a creature that feeds off the faith of others. The ship's automated systems had provided it "food" by bringing aboard creatures who had a strong faith. The Doctor identifies Amy's faith in him as the cause of their arrival on the ship. The beast mutters that "death would be a gift" for the Doctor before it passes away. The Doctor finds his TARDIS nearby, offering Gibbis a lift home. He then takes Amy and Rory back to their home on Earth, believing it best for the two to stop traveling with him for fear that their faith in him would lead to their deaths. The Doctor sets off alone in the TARDIS, contemplating these recent events. [] Continuity Several references to past alien species are displayed throughout the wall of photos of the past victims of the beast: Tritovore, Silurian, Sontaran, Judoon, Cat Nun, and the Daleks are referenced as the nightmare faced by one of the late guests. The Doctor identifies the beast as being from a species who are close relatives to the Nimon, previously a foe in the serial and audio drama ; and the group witnesses two illusions of , from the episodes "", "", and "". Though the audience is not shown the contents of the room that the Doctor is lured to open, the sound of the TARDIS' can be heard. This episode is the third time in the television series where the Doctor has forced his companions to leave the TARDIS, following and . Young Amelia, played by Gillan's cousin Caitlin Blackwood, is shown waiting for her "raggedy Doctor" to return from the episode "". The Doctor, being forced to break Amy's faith in him, repeats a previous event in where the is forced to break 's faith in him. [] Production originally pitched the episode for the with the idea of a hotel with shifting rooms. Showrunner thought that there were too many instances in which the characters were running through corridors in that series, so Whithouse wrote "" instead and "The God Complex" was pushed to the next series. The idea to have a be the monster came from Whithouse's love for . , who plays Gibbis in this episode, previously appeared in the audio drama where he played two separate characters. [] Outside references The hotel and setting has been compared to 's film, , using similar composition such as long corridor shots. [] Broadcast and reception "The God Complex" was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on on 17 September 2011 and on the same date in the United States on . Overnight ratings showed that 5.2 million viewers watched the episode on , beaten by direct competition on 1. This made Doctor Who third for the night behind and Family Fortunes. The episode was ranked number 1 on BBC's the day after it aired service and also was popular on social networking site , where the phrase "Amy and Rory" trended the night it aired. [] Critical reception The episode received generally positive reviews from critics. Jack Pelling of Celluloid Heroes Radio praised look of the episode, describing it as "stylishly directed by Nick Hurran, whose use of Dutch camera angles and Hitchcock zooms gave the episode an impressive, cinematic quality." Gavin Fuller of The Daily Telegraph awarded the episode 3 and a half stars, stating that "the surreal tone to the episode, helped camouflage the fact that the plot made very little sense." Dan Martin of the Guardian was surprised by the exits of Amy and Rory stating that "since the reboot they've been big, climactic, end-of-the-universe tragedies." Martin also praised Karen Gillan for her performance and stated that her exit was "the kind of ending that would have been nice for Sarah-Jane, really." Martin also praised Smith's Doctor stating that we start to see the darkside more, particularly directed at himself and stronger than Tennant's portrayal. The main part of the episode Martin felt that it was "like a runaround bolted on to make way for the ending." Continuing to add that as has already been shown in this series the formula is not a recipe for success. Martin sums up the episode though by describing it as funny and thoughtful. [] References ^ Martin, Dan (2011-09-17). . . Retrieved 2011-09-17. Queenie Le Trout (2011-09-17). . . Retrieved 2011-09-17. Anders, Charlie Jane (2011-09-17). . . Retrieved 2011-09-17. Brew, Simon (2011-09-17). . . Retrieved 2011-09-17. ^ . BBC. 10 September 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2011. Golder, Dave (25 July 2011). . SFX. Retrieved 11 September 2011. . . Retrieved 2011-09-11. Phillips, Keith (2011-09-17). . . Retrieved 2011-09-17. Mulkern, Patrick (2011-09-18). . . Retrieved 2011-09-18. (Press release). BBC. Retrieved 18 September 2011. . . Retrieved 18 September 2011. Golder, Dave (18 September 2011). . . Retrieved 18 September 2011. Pelling, Jack. . The God Complex. Celluloid Heroes Radio. Retrieved 17 September 2011. [] External links Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: on at the at the

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast
TDP 197: Lets Kill Hitler and Torchwood Ep 7

Doctor Who: Tin Dog Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 1, 2011 14:13


reprinted from wikipedia with thanks and respect "Let's Kill Hitler" is the eighth episode of the of the British television series , and was first broadcast on , and on 27 August 2011. It is the second episode of a two-part story, continuing stories from "". It features alien time traveller () and his companions () and her husband (), plus their daughter and the Doctor's sometimes-assistant (). Contents [] [] Plot [] Prequel On 15 August 2011, the BBC released a short "prequel" to "Let's Kill Hitler", written by . This procedure had previously been done earlier in the series to give a short introduction to "", "" and "". In the prequel, Amy calls the Doctor and leaves a message for the Doctor on the TARDIS' , begging him to find her child, Melody. Though Amy knows Melody will grow up to be , she does not want to miss seeing her grow up. As she ends her message, it is revealed that a very upset Doctor was listening but did not pick up the phone, even though Amy had pleaded for him to. [] Synopsis In modern-day Leadworth, and create a to gain the 's attention. He arrives with his , but they are soon joined by Mels, Amy and Rory's childhood friend who knows of Amy's "raggedy Doctor" and was responsible for Amy and Rory's relationship; Amy had subsequently named her daughter Melody after Mels. On the run from the police, Mels brandishes a gun and coerces them to escape in the TARDIS and "kill Hitler". Inside, she fires the gun, hitting the central console which fills the time machine with a poisonous gas and sends it out of control. Back in 1938 Berlin, "Justice Vehicle 6019", a robot manned by a human crew from the future miniaturised inside it and able to take on the appearance of other humans, is seeking to deliver justice on war criminals like . They do this by using the Teselecta's weapons to torture the criminal, near the end of their timeline. Having taken on the appearance of a officer to meet with Hitler, they are surprised when the TARDIS crashes into Hitler's office. Hitler, already panicked, fires on the Teselecta, but his aim is poor and strikes Mels. As Rory locks Hitler in a cupboard, the TARDIS crew finds Mels , becoming the woman they know as —Melody as a grown woman. River, having been trained by her captors to kill the Doctor, makes several attempts but the Doctor has taken precautions to nullify these. Instead, River kisses him and before disappearing into the streets of Berlin, reveals that her is a poison that will kill the Doctor within the hour and prevent his regeneration. The Doctor orders Amy and Rory to follow River, passing her his sonic screwdriver, while he returns to the TARDIS to try to discover a cure. The Teselecta, aware that the Doctor's death on 22 April 2011 is a "fixed point in time" (""), instead follow Amy and Rory in chasing down River, having identified her as their most wanted war criminal, responsible for the Doctor's death. Amy and Rory chase River to a café at the , but the Teselecta arrives, bringing them aboard as allies, and takes on Amy's appearance, allowing the robot to get close to River to attack her. Before they can complete the attack, the TARDIS materialises; the Doctor, spurred on by the TARDIS' "voice interface" hologram of Amy's younger self, Amelia, has found time to dress for the period and stops the attack, now aware of the Teselecta's nature. The captain speaks to the Doctor, informing him that River has been trained to kill him by the , a religious order that believes that "when the oldest question hidden in plain sight" is asked, silence will fall across the universe. When the crew refuse backing down from attacking River, Amy uses the sonic screwdriver to turn the robot's "antibodies"—its security robots—against the crew. The crew power down the robot and are teleported away by a mothership, leaving Amy and Rory to face the antibodies. The Doctor finds himself too weak from the poison's effects to pilot the TARDIS to rescue his companions; River is inspired by the Doctor's sympathy, and finds herself guided by the TARDIS itself to pilot the ship, and rescues Amy and Rory in time. On returning to the café, the Doctor whispers something in River's ear before he passes away. River asks Amy who River Song is; Amy uses the Teselecta to show River her form stored in the robot's database of who she is to become. With this, River sacrifices her remaining regenerations to bring the Doctor back to life, and passes out. The Doctor, Amy, and Rory take her to a hospital in the far future, leaving the TARDIS-shaped diary as a gift by her bedside, and depart. Later, River is shown becoming an archaeologist so she can find the Doctor herself. Aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor has discovered the date of his death from the records aboard the Teselecta, but does not reveal this knowledge to Amy or Rory. [] Continuity This episodes alludes to several previous elements of the character, several which include . River reveals herself as the young girl seen regenerating at the end of "" before she became Mels, short for Melody; Mels' name would used in turn by Amy to name her daughter. River's ability to regenerate is a result of being a "child of the TARDIS", from the infusion of Time Lord DNA into Melody during her conception aboard the TARDIS on Amy and Rory's wedding night as described in "". Later, when regenerating into the form of River Song, she learns of this name from the Doctor and Amy. River's TARDIS-coloured diary, which the Doctor and his companions have seen in River's relative future, is given to her anew by the Doctor. The Doctor further introduces River to the concept of "spoilers" of her future timeline, a phrase River has used in previous adventures. River's aptitude with flying the TARDIS, taught to her by the machine itself, is alluded to from "" where River explains she "had lessons from the very best" (which the Doctor has assumed referred to himself). During the moments after her initial regeneration into the River Song form, River reenacts the iconic scene between Mrs Robinson () and Benjamin () from the movie , calling out to the Doctor "Hello, Benjamin". The Doctor likens River to Mrs Robinson in "". The Teselecta crew consider River a wanted dangerous criminal; River has been shown to be imprisoned in her personal future in "The Time of Angels" for killing "the best man she ever knew". In the episode's epilogue, River is shown asking Professor Candy of Luna University to become an archaeologist as to find the Doctor; previous episodes that take place later in River's personal timeline show that she has acquired these degrees. Both the professor and the university appeared previously in Steven Moffat's 1997 Doctor Who short story Continuity Errors, which showed Candy as having himself conducted research concerning the Doctor. The concept of "fixed points in time" has been explored before, including the episodes "" and "". The supposed "state of temporal grace" within the TARDIS was previously alluded to by the during . Like River giving up her remaining regenerations for the Doctor, the Doctor has been shown prepared to do this to save his companions during the serial, . While bringing up the voice interface aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor is shown holograms of his former companions (), () and (). He rejects these, as they all cause him guilt, eventually settling on the young Amelia. She also appears in flashback scenes from Amy's past interacting with a younger Mels and Rory, revisiting the various toys and props Amelia created of her "raggedy Doctor" shown throughout series 5. The Amelia hologram refers back to "fish fingers and custard", a phrase used between Amelia and the Doctor during "" and "The Impossible Astronaut". The are revealed not to be a species as shown in "The Impossible Astronaut" and "Day of the Moon", but a religious order who believe silence will fall when "the oldest question in the universe" is asked. They are also revealed to be responsible for training Melody to assassinate the Doctor. The Eleventh Doctor wears his secondary jacket, a long dark-green military overcoat, for the first time in this episode. [] Production The for "Let's Kill Hitler" took place on 21 March 2011. The opening scene in the cornfield were the last shots filmed of the series on 11 July 2011. in used in the episode for the German dinner party, was also used for 's first Doctor Who appearance, when she played a Soothsayer in "". Exterior shots of the were filmed outside . One scene involving the Teselecta (disguised as a German soldier) chasing Amy and Rory on motorcycles through Berlin was cut from filming due to budget issues. , who wanted to advertise in the United States broadcast of the episode on as a tie-in to their "Rethink possible" slogan, brought the idea of using a to create a bridging scene within the advertising break where this scene would have been placed. AT&T and BBC America worked with Moffat and Senior to create the 60 second scene, which was animated by . The scene will be included in all international home video releases of the episode, though lacking the AT&T branding used on the initial broadcast. [] Broadcast and reception "Let's Kill Hitler" was first broadcast on 27 August 2011 on in the United Kingdom. Internationally, it was broadcast in America on on 27 August as well as on in Canada. Overnight ratings showed that the episode was watched by 6.2 million viewers on BBC One, the second most viewed show of the day behind and the second most-viewed Doctor Who episode in Series 6 behind "". The episode also came in a number one on the service the day after it aired. The episode also received an of 85. [] Critical reception The episode received generally positive reviews from critics. Dan Martin, writing for , was more pleased with "Let's Kill Hitler" as an opener than "A Good Man Goes to War" as a finale, and said it was "an energetic, timey-wimey tour de force with with gags and flourishes like the car and the crop circles that still maintained a strong sense of what it was about". He also commended Alex Kingston's performance, saying that "she got to steal her every scene even more completely than usual, masterfully swerving the episode into a properly emotional final act". Michael Hogan of gave the episode four out of five stars, praising it for being "jam-packed full of ideas, twists, turns and wibbly-wobbly time-bending stuff" and "giddily thrilling entertainment, albeit rather exhausting". He also praised the way it allowed Rory to "finally find his niche". Writing for , Neela Debnath praised the lighter mood and "great slapstick moments". Though she thought the identity of Mels was "obvious to everyone but the characters", she said that Toussaint-White was "excellent" and that "it was shame that she regenerated so early on because she brought a different energy to the character". reviewer Patrick Mulkern, unlike Debnath, admitted that Mels' true identity "took [him] completely by surprise". He thought that a plot hole was generated in terms of what Melody did in between regenerating in 1969 and joining Amy and Rory, still as a child, 20 years later, but said that "the episode moves too fast for such quibbles to stick, and it is hilarious". Ken Tucker of called it "a marvelously energetic, funny, clever, noble mid-season start" and praised the acting of Smith, Gillan, Darvill, and particularly Kingston, as well as the emotion that developed in the episode. 's Matt Risley gave the episode a score of 9 out of 10, saying that it was "arguably Moffat's most unashamedly fun Time Lord romp yet". While he praised the humour, plot, and character development, he was critical of the Teselecta; though they "score[ed] high on the sci-fi kitsch factor" they were "anything but memorable". critic Richard Edwards gave "Let's Kill Hitler" five out of five stars, thinking it "has to rank among the cleverest Who episodes Moffat has ever written". While he praised Kingston's performance, he wrote that "it's Matt Smith who steals the show, in one of his finest performances as the Doctor...he's utterly magnificent, whether acting the joker, or living out 32 minutes (ish) of death scene. The mix of optimism...and sadness is a tricky thing to pull off, yet Smith does it in a quintessentially Doctor way". Keith Phipps of graded the episode as a B+, saying that he was "a bit divided". He praised Moffat's River Song arc, which made "the mind [reel]...in a good way", as well as the dialogue and "big concepts". On the other hand, he did not think the Teselecta's mission was developed and "as characters they seem kind of bland". What "really [troubled]" him was that it did not have the "impact" of some previous episodes and he thought it unlikely that Amy and Rory were willing to quickly accept that they were meant to raise their daughter as a school friend. Gavin Fuller of The Daily Telegraph said the Moffat "delivered a pacy romp" and praised the concept of the Teselecta, but was disappointed with the "wasted opportunity" of the setting. He thought that the setting offered "great dramatic potential" but was "little more than window dressing for the story". He thought that using Hitler as a comic relief "struck a wrong note given the nature of the man and the regime he led" and that it was "an odd way to treat such an historically significant character". He was also critical of Moffat's "seeming keenness to kill the regular cast in some way, shape or form". Entertainment Weekly's Tucker thought that it "didn't need Hitler to be an excellent [Doctor Who] episode". Assignment X gave a negative review of the episode: "Matt Smith is wonderful as always and I love his new coat. And there ends the positive part of this review." Jim Shelley of also was negative about the episode, especially towards Alex Kingston, who appeared to be acting while "the rest of the cast play their parts perfectly ­naturally". [] References "News Flash!: Matt's Back!". (428): 5. 15 Dec 2010 (cover date). BBC (16 August 2011). . Press release. Retrieved 17 August 2011. . BBC. 12 August 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2011. . BBC. 27 June 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2011. Marshall, Rick (15 August 2011). . Yahoo! News. Retrieved 27 August 2011. Edwards, Richard (15 August 2011). . . Retrieved 27 August 2011. . BBC. Retrieved 27 August 2011. . BBC. 17 August 2011. Retrieved 17 August 2011. "". (writer), Peter Hoar (director). . . . 4 June 2011. No. 7, series 6. "". (writer), Adam Smith (director). . . . 24 April 2010. No. 4, series 5. ^ Hogan, Michael (27 August 2011). . . Retrieved 28 August 2011. ^ . BBC. Retrieved 28 August 2011. ^ Phipps, Keith (27 August 2011). . . Retrieved 28 August 2011. ^ Martin, Dan (27 August 2011). . . Retrieved 28 August 2011. ^ Debnath, Neela (27 August 2011). . . Retrieved 28 August 2011. . BBC. 27 August 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2011. "River Runs Wild". . . . 27 August 2011. No. 8, series 6. Hampp, Andrew (2011-08-26). . . Retrieved 2011-08-29. BBC. . Press release. Retrieved 28 August 2011. . . Retrieved 28 August 2011. . . 29 July 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2011. Golder, Dave (28 August 2011). . SFX. Retrieved 28 August 2011. . Doctor Who News Page. 29 August 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2011. Mulkern, Patrick (27 August 2011). . . Retrieved 28 August 2011. ^ Tucker, Ken (28 August 2011). . . Retrieved 28 August 2011. Risley, Matt (27 August 2011). . . Retrieved 28 August 2011. Edwards, Richard (27 August 2011). . SFX. Retrieved 28 August 2011. Fuller, Gavin (27 August 2011). . . Retrieved 28 August 2011. Shelley, Jim (29 August 2011). . . Retrieved 30 August 2011. [] External links has a collection of quotations related to: at the at the

Stage Door Radio Show
Pontine Theater Interview

Stage Door Radio Show

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 24, 2010 64:43


On Saturday November 20th I interviewed a few well known local members of Portsmouth's theater community.  The co-directors of Pontine Theater Marguerite Matthews and Greg Gathers were on my show and they performed Ogden Nash's holiday classic "The Christmas that Almost Wasn't" which was followed by a live interview. We talked about there upcoming show "A Poet's Christmas," the history of Pontine Theater as well as there current theater season.

Stage Door Radio Show
RENT Interview

Stage Door Radio Show

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 20, 2010 59:59


On June 19, 2010 I aired a pre-recorded interview w/the cast of Seacoast Repertory’s production of RENT, I also the director Brian Swayse and Craig Faulkner the Artistic Director of the theater. We talked about everything. Listen to me ask the famous “Inside the Actor’s Studio” to the actors of RENT, hear about Brian Swayse directing experiences and Craig Faulkner’s insight into New Hampshire’s thriving theater community.