Doctor Who: It Takes You Away

By Tim Knight (Heropress)

I was so excited by the possibilities when Jodie Whittaker was revealed as the Thirteenth Doctor and have really, really tried to embrace this new season, but it's simply not working for me.

Although It Takes You Away had some quirky ideas in it (particularly the whole Star Trek-like concept of a sentient parallel universe), this tale from former Skins writer Ed Hime took a shotgun approach to eccentricity, throwing in oddities just because he could.

The TARDIS delivers The Doctor and friends to contemporary Norway (Why? Because they could. It had zero bearing on the ensuing story) where they investigate an isolated, barricaded cottage that's home to a young blind girl, Hanne (Ellie Wallwork), who believes her father, Erik (Christian Rubeck) has been taken by a monstrous "thing" in the woods.

Of course, matters aren't that straight forward, and The Doctor soon discovers a portal in the house to an a strange non-space between realities, which is inhabited by an utterly redundant and derivative alien character called Ribbons (Kevin Eldon).

I've seen comments online saying Ribbons was a rip-off of Gollum (from Lord Of The Rings), but for me the most striking similarity - just lacking the charm - was to Zathras, from Babylon 5.

While it was nice to have the TARDIS landing on Earth somewhere other than the United Kingdom or America, just mentioning fjords a couple of times really didn't justify the use of the Norwegian setting... given that most of the action took part either inside the hut or in alternate worlds.

Much of what unravelled in the story totally failed to connect with me. Perhaps, as I've feared before, I've simply grown out of this new Doctor Who and am no longer capable of adjusting my mindset to see this as its target demographic.

However, on a positive note, there was the usual outstanding character work between the main players in Team TARDIS, particularly from Bradley Walsh as Graham O'Brien, who stole a number of scenes with his emotional performances.

Tosin Cole had his best chance since his introduction to shine as Ryan Sinclair in this story, even if it, at times, felt it was actually taking place earlier in the season's chronology.

One particularly lazy trait of Doctor Who since its return in 2005 has been The Doctor's over-reliance on the sonic screwdriver, which seems increasingly capable of solving any problem the characters find themselves in.

But it has reached new heights this season, with the device never out of Jodie Whittaker's hand, leading her to utter the cringe-worthy line: "Can I just say – I love me sonic."

Now, regardless of what I may say about the stories she's been saddled with, I love Jodie's performance as the still-not-settled-into-her-new-regeneration Doctor, but that line just felt such a clunker, a desperate attempt to heavy handedly gift fans with an instant meme quote.

To be honest, I just found so much of It Takes You Away a bit dull and pointless. There was so much crammed in that the superflurous material suffocated the meat of the story.

Yes, there was some nice weird science - which I always appreciate - and a talking frog (which was magnificent), but the story just lacked the necessary heart to make me really engage with it.

Next Time:

The X-Files: Conspiracy Theories About A Show Centered On Conspiracy Theories

Presented for your approval are two vastly different reviews of last night's X-Files premiere episode "My Struggle III" from two mainstream media outlets. Interestingly enough both critics watched the same episode that we all did, but came away from it with two contrasting opinions on what they had witnessed. Upon reading these two reviews it can only be assumed that both writers had preordained agendas to spin their reviews to reflect their strong views on subjects that are on the forefront of every media outlet.

Yahoo! took the political approach (surprise) by making it about U.S. president Donald Trump:

The new 'X-Files' is obsessed with Trump

Remember when The X-Files was obsessed with alien abductions, conspiracy theories, and monsters-of-the-week? Well, it still is, but the new episodes that begin airing Wednesday night on Fox have a new boogeyman: President Trump. Show creator Chris Carter and other writers pepper the scripts with references to Trump’s current dislike of the FBI, one of the series’ key characters talks about “fake news,” someone else wears a red Make America Great Again cap. There’s more — much more (I’d almost forgotten about Trump accusing Ted Cruz’s dad of assassinating JFK — damn you, Chris Carter!) — but I’ll let you find all the rotten Easter eggs on your own.

The 10 new episodes represent the return of The X-Files, a continuation of the revival that began in 2016, and follow closely on the mythology spun out from those episodes. As is always the case, the season premiere is written and directed by Carter. It’s titled “My Struggle III,” to remind you of last season’s bookender episodes, “My Struggle” and “My Struggle II.” This new 11th season picks up where Season 10 left off, with the Cigarette Smoking Man and talk of a “global contagion.” The “struggle” of the title, although plural, can be ascribed to both FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson). It’s always fun to spend time with these two — the characters and the actors. Indeed, as time goes by, it’s somewhat more fun to just appreciate the actors: Mulder and Scully remain fixed in their philosophical positions and reactions to various wild events, but Anderson and Duchovny have become more subtle performers who are using the fact of their middle-aging as an opportunity to present themselves as more sly, more self-aware, yet eminently comfortable with each other and appreciative of each other’s deepening skills. I wish I could say the same for Carter’s mythology, but, alas, the paranoid conspiracies that were so absorbing, the mythology that was once so satisfying to ruminate upon, has started to seem like dry, barren ground to be trod across, again and again, out of a sense of weary duty.

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Entertainment Weekly focused their review on sexual assault, specifically rape, making the point that the series has always danced around the subject:

... But so too is sexual abuse and consent, and this show has a shaky history there. Scully was violated without her consent when her eggs were harvested during her abduction; Mulder found out what had been taken from her before she did. That experience kicked off a series-long story that was less interested in Scully’s emotional trauma than it was in “will-they-won’t-they”-ing her uterus: She couldn’t have kids! She might be able to have kids! IVF didn’t work! She had a baby anyway! But was the baby Mulder’s?

Even when not centered on Scully, stories about rape on this show have a hard time using the word “rape.” (Season 5’s black-and-white classic “The Post-Modern Prometheus” skirted around dealing with the monster as a rapist because the women he “impregnated” all wanted kids.) Now, in 2018, the Smoking Man tells Skinner it was “science — alien science” that made him the father of Scully’s baby. Euphemisms aside, the outcome is the same. The X-Files just went back in time nearly 18 years to add in the rape of its main character by its villain and to question yet again whether Mulder is William’s father. It’s baffling. It’s irresponsible. And even if not everything CSM claims turns out to be true, dangling a terrible possibility over our heads only to eventually disprove it doesn’t usually make for satisfying drama.

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The Truth Is Out There

  

We Waited 12 Years For This?

Review of Shin Godzilla (Godzilla Resurgence) by Armand Vaquer.

Above, this shot of Pete Brothers may reflect our feelings of Shin Godzilla. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

UPDATE (10/18/16): I viewed the movie again last Saturday and have posted a 2nd review. To view it, go here.

October 12 on my calendar was originally going to be the day that my Small Claims Court case against my ex-fiancee would have been heard, had we not gone on Hot Bench last month instead. After seeing Shin Godzilla (Godzilla Resurgence) last night, something tells me that an appearance in Small Claims Court would have been much more entertaining.

Above, the Shin Godzilla poster at the theater. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, the entrance to the auditorium. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Peter H. Brothers and I met up at the Muvico Thousand Oaks 14 theaters to see the movie. Before going inside the auditorium, I perused a collection of Star Wars figures by Sideshow Collectibles in the theater lobby. Surprisingly, we were joined by Brant Elliott, who also happened to attend this screening and bought a ticket for the seat next to Pete. I hadn't seen Brant in years and it was a nice reunion.

Above, Brant Elliott and Peter H. Brothers. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

I purposely avoided reading any fan reviews of Shin Godzilla so I could make up my own mind about the film and to avoid any spoilers. Some fans said the movie was "different" and "interesting". Yes, I have to agree to both adjectives. "Entertaining" is not an adjective that I would bestow upon it, however. It started with a lot of promise, but was a disaster soon after.

Above, Pete Brothers and Armand at the bar following the movie. Photo by Brant Elliott.

For starters, the movie was about 95% talk-talk-talk-talk-talk-talk-talk by bureaucrats of various ministries of the Japanese government on dealing with the situation of Godzilla. That is fine to poke fun at the farcical ways the machinery of government operates, particularly the Japanese way of "governing by committee". But to make that 95% of the movie was overkill at its worst.

Above, Han Solo in carbonite in the theater lobby 
 by Sideshow Collectibles. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Next, the editing and structure of the movie was horrendous. Scenes were constantly jumping from one bureaucrat to another, with a little Godzilla thrown in on occasion. That was tiring! There was no continuity to the movie and there were no likable characters. There was no real storytelling. It almost makes Godzilla Final Wars (2004) a masterpiece of cinema in comparison (and I liked that movie)! It was a mess! Hideaki Anno, who directed the movie, may be a good anime director, but he completely ruined the Toho Godzilla's return.

The only redeeming feature of the movie are the special effects by Shinji Higuchi. They were inspired and innovative at times (I loved the scenes of boats being shoved aside on a river by a submerged Godzilla, which in his "early form", resembled a plucked Thanksgiving turkey). Those scenes reminded me of the tsunami footage from the Great East Japan Earthquake. Still, while the special effects were great, there was not enough Godzilla in the movie.

While it was nice to hear some of Akira Ifukube's Godzilla themes, the film had no coherent score to speak of.

One has to wonder, "What was Toho thinking?" when they greenlighted this movie.

Above, Yoda in the theater lobby. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

This has to rank as the worst Godzilla movie ever. Even worse than the 1998 American fiasco! At least G.I.N.O. (as we fans call the 1998 Godzilla by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin) had some storytelling to it.

I promised I'd take Jessica, my ex-roommate, to see it on Saturday. I guess I'll have to endure it again.
I very much wanted to enjoy the return of Toho's Godzilla, but this movie completely let me down.

I'm sorry to say. My grade: D-.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens - Review

Written By: Ken Hulsey

Last night I was treated to a movie that I had been waiting to see for thirty-two years, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. After the release of 'Return of the Jedi' in 1983 no one ever truly believed that it would take three decades for the next installment in the series to be produced. It seemed like a no-brainer that a money driven movie industry, along with a rabid fan base, would demand that after a short hiatus the next chapter in the Star Wars saga return to the silver screen. Alas that did not happen.

As we all know George Lucas would revisit his tribute to 1930s sci fi serials beginning in the 1990s with newly revamped versions of the original three films which paved the way for the three less than stellar Star Wars prequels. In the eyes of most fans the newly added scenes in 'A New Hope', 'Empire' and 'Jedi' did nothing to improve on the originals and the three films that followed them failed to capture the wonder and charm that made Star Wars the most beloved movie series in cinematic history.

Taking that into account I was optimistic but cautious about what Disney and J.J. Abrams would do with this beloved movie franchise. As it would turn out getting Star Wars away from George Lucas and into the hands of 'The Mouse Factory' was a great thing for both Star Wars and it's fanbase. As a fan who was there in 1977 when Star Wars I have to say that my expectations were far exceeded by what I saw last night.

I think what I tweeted (and posted on Facebook) immediately after seeing the movie summed it up best: "Just saw Star Wars The Force Awakens - MIND BLOWN!"

J.J. Abrams had to walk a razor thin line with this movie. He had to make a film that both captured the essence of the three originals, yet be new and fresh like his recent two 'Star Trek' movies. Amazingly the film maker was able to pull off exactly that. While watching The Force Awakens it was a joy to see an equal portion of Lucas (The Lucas who made A New Hope not Phantom Menace), Irvin Kershner (Empire), Richard Marquand (Jedi) and Abrams' influences in what made it onto the screen. I think that it would be safe to say what Abrams has produced here may be the most complete and polished Star Wars film with the exception of 'The Empire Strikes Back', which is arguably the best sci fi film ever made.

This is where things get tough. I really want to delve into the story at this point, but I realize that there are still a vast majority of fans who have not seen the movie yet and may not see it for a few days, so I'm not going to ruin it for you ... though I really, really want to talk about it.

That being said, I think that I won't be wrecking anyone's movie experience by talking about how the plot for The Force Awakens in many ways mirrors that of the first three films. A fact that has put off many of the critics who have already written about this movie. For myself personally this fact actually made the film more enjoyable. It helped connect this movie with the three original in ways that the three prequels failed to do. The plot for The Force Awakens may not have been 100% original, but who cares really? The film is both fun, compelling and stirred up more than a bucket full of emotions I can't get into without blowing any important parts of the story.

To sum it up, Star Wars The Force Awakens is an amazing movie with incredible effects, great acting and a kind of story that sadly had been missing from this franchise since the 1980s. As a fan this was what I wanted to see in a Star Wars movie for years.

In all honesty I waited til this morning to get all my thoughts together about what I saw last night, and I'm still trying to process it all, which in a way really speaks to what an overall amazing movie The Force Awakens really is. Maybe as the day goes by, or after I see it again numerous times, I can truly express whats brewing in my noggin.

Obviously I will be revisiting this film again in a few days after almost everyone has seen the movie to talk in depth more about the plot and the film as a whole in more detail.

The Force Awakens - I loved it, finally a Star Wars for Star Wars fans ... MIND BLOWN!