Doctor Who Finale Part 2

We now return you to the season final of Doctor Who.

You may remember I showed much dislike regarding the previous episode of the Doctor Who finale. Well I'm happy to announce that the second part of the two-parter was significantly better. Not to say that it was perfect, but it was definatley an improvement and much more enjoyable.

We start out with the opening of the season, with young Amelia Pond praying to Santa (on Easter, so she's extra polite) for someone to help her out with the ominous crack in her wall. However, unlike that episode, the Doctor dosn't show up. Poor Amy, nobody is going to eat all the food in her fridge and break several plates before scarring her for life and then leaving for about a decade.
She is then visited by a therapist who worries about the fact that she keeps drawing night skies full of stars. This would be odd normally, but due to the events of the previous episode, all the stars around the Earth have been extinguished.

One day someone pops a brochure to the mueseum, where the Pandorica from the previous episode is being held for all to see. She goes there and touches it, opening it up to reveal herself from the future. Yay!

Okay, I'm not going to review every single aspect of the episode like that. Basically, The Doctor travels back in time to tell Centurion Rory, who has recently fatally shot Amy, to use his sonic screwdriver to open the Pandorica and set things up so that he can reclaim it in the future. In the future, The Pandorica opens as stated above and the Doctor arrives. The funniest part of the episode is the inclusion of a Dalek as a fossilised creature. Which is then promptly revived by the light of the Pandorica, and fixes the main problem with the previous episode by have a constant threat. Yes, we had the imminent destruction of the universe and a half dead Cyberman, but the Dalek had then running, giving us an actual sense of 'We aren't stretching this episode out.' Rory appears, having gained a level of immortality via being an Auton, and briefly wards off the Dalek.

This episode finally cemented Rory as a good character. He is still sort of Mickey.2, and even though he is technically a clone, the series pretty much stated he had the real Rory's soul, so I'm just happy to see him back. The story of him defending the Pandorica over the course of two thousand years was actually done pretty well, and I was actually able to see Rory with a certain level of badass.

The Doctor appears via Vortex Manipulator (the same way he's travelling through time so quickly) and dies. The Doctor then realises the plot has some Fridge Logic in that if there are no stars, what's keeping the planet illuminated? As it turns out, the crashing TARDIS is illuminating the planet while the universe is being ripped apart. He is shot by the Dalek and teleports. River kills the Dalek in a moment that should be awesome, but just had me facepalming because Daleks aren't cry babies, and this one was screaming for mercy.

We then learn that the Doctor did not die, with untangles the Fridge Logic as to why he didn't regenerate shortly after, when we've clearly seen him do so in the Series 4 Finale. No, this was just a lie so he could strap himself into the Pandorica and launch it into the crashing TARDIS's, which would then illuminate the entire universe with it's restoring light and fix everything. He does this even though he will be stuck inside The Void for the rest of eternity...along with all those Daleks from Series 2 (yes, there WERE Cybermen, but chances are they've all been Exterminated by now). The Doctor then explains to Amy that the Crack in her wall (the cracks with can absorb objects and people and make them never have existed) had apparently been eating away at her life for years, erasing her memories of alien invasions and causing the disappearance of her parents.

The Doctor uses the Vortex Manipulator to launch the box (it's too complicated for normal teleporting) and sends River one last message on her Technodoohickey, "Geronimo," say what you will, I personally would expect nothing less from any incarnation of the Doctor. It works, and everyone wakes up where their lives should be, Amy has her parents again and she and Rory (who I am assuming is no longer an Auton) are preparing to wed later in the day.
But first, The Doctor has to slowly trudge back through his life, and returns to Amelia on the night where she met him and waited for him to take her on adventures through time, before deciding he'll skip the rest of his past to avoid needing to bring back David Tennant. So basically...


After the Wedding, Amy notices River walking by, and starts to feel strange. Rory gives her a Wedding Present apparently left by River, and opens it to find it is an empty book. She then realises that someone is missing from her Wedding, her good friend The Doctor. And then all the viewers at home clapped their hands and chanted, 'We believe in Doctor Who, we believe in Doctor Who,' and the TARDIS materialised right the at the Wedding, and suddenly everyone remember all the amazing adventures, and those who didn't know about them aren't too concerned about the Police Box that just teleported into the room from nowhere.

At the wedding party, the Doctor Dances...Oh, I see what you did there...and eventually decides it's time for him to leave and meets River outside, revealing the book is now full again (this has to do with Silence in the Library, but I missed that episode, so I don't fully understand). Rory and Amy then enter the TARDIS and ask if he's leaving. This is affirmative. They ask if this is good bye. This is affirmative. So then, Amy heads out of the miraculous Blue Box...and promptly yells goodbye to everyone outside as the TARDIS dematerialises and sends the trio on another adventure, and finally gives us another multiple season companion! Thank You!

And that's the second half of Series Finale. Is it better than the previous episode? Hell yes. I especially liked how they got out of the silly Legion of Doom concept by having the strange universe causing event erase them from time, though it was pretty predictable that if any were to get revived and chase the team around, it'd be a Dalek. Unfortunatley this also brings up how very wasted the idea of bringing in all the Doctors enemies truly was.
Second, I may have missed something, but what exactly was causing the whole universe collapsing event, anyway? I'm assuming the idea is the crashing TARDIS's, but that really came across as more of a steroid for situation as opposed to the castalyst. But I don't really mind, this episode did not feel as stretched out and was much better.

Good Things about Adequate Stuff.

Yes, I know I haven't really done this segment enough to start twisting it around, but meh.

After X-Men was released, Spider-Man proved to be about as much of a success, if not more. Then of course came Hulk. While I think the psychological take on the character was a good idea, I don't think that's what people wanted out of a film based on a creature who spends half his time crushing cities with his bare hands. That and Hulk looked a bit like Shrek. Daredevil was also pretty lackluster. The fighting was good, and I liked the was Kingpin and Bullseye were done, and the blind joke at the beginning was kinda funny, but on a whole, it wasn't very good. Then came Fantastic Four. Out of all these superhero films, this one was the one destined to succeed!

It didn't.

The film suffered from poorly done science, bland or even bad acting, a medium lack of action, and seemed a bit rushed in the storyline department. It wasn't a massive bomb, but people were still a little bit irritated. If you ask me, the sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer, was worse, not because of sheer badness, but because it was just too slow, lacked a lot of action and suffered from a number of similar problems.

But hey, like I said, the film wasn't THAT bad, so I'm going to tell you my personal points as to why.

1. Michael Chicklis as Ben Grimm/The Thing.
Ioan Gruffudd was kinda bland in his portrayel of Mr. Fantastic, but I can't really say I could've done any better, or even that I would know where to begin. But then we get my second favorite of the FF, The Thing, portrayed by Michael Chicklis. He was great. It was easy to like the character with or without the mutations. Even though he gets all rocky less than twenty or so minutes into the film, you've already known him long enough to sympathise once his fiance runs away from him in fear. It's also a good sign for him when Stan Lee named him as his favorite actor to portray one of his creations, Suck it, Maguire!

2. Dr. Doom.
To start off, Julian did not do a good job as Doom. He didn't do a god awful job, but he didn't do a good one either. He still seems Affably Evil, but that voice is just so non threatening that it's insane! Also he dosn't exactly have much in common with his comic book counterpart. But here's the good thing about that, he LOOKS awesome. There is no other way to portray Doom on screen other than this look, he looks like he just stepped out of the comic and is ready to pwn the world. He also has that nifty new electrical ability. Now I know you're probably saying, "Giving Doctor Doom powers is a disgrace to the comics!" Well how else were they going to make him a good villain for a film like this? Is he supposed to just pull out a hi-tech machine gun? He's be defeated in minutes. The only way to make him a decent adversary for the FF was to give him a proper super power. Just be glad they didn't do something really stupid like turn him into an evil Superman clone. And to fix his character in any rereleases of the film (Cos you know, the future might not realise it was bad) all they need to do his give him an electrinuc sound effect over his voice and he'll actually seem menacing. It's a shame that he could've been pretty much removed from Rise of the Silver Surfer all togethor. I know he was important plot wise, but I don't care, take him out and it's the same film. He was really just an excuse for a fight scene.

3. Victor's Romantic Gesture.
You've gotta admit, 'giving' someone the entire world beneath their feet is both romantic and Epic. That makes it Epicly Romantic. I actually feel a little annoyed that it all went sour from there.

4. It's Clobbering Time.
Yes it's small, but any fan of the FF must have squeled with delight the moment Chicklis let loose with that phrase. It does a good job of reinforcing my earlier stated opinion on his performance, as it dosn't even seem forced (well it mightm but with that gruff Thing voice, it's hard to tell). I'm not sure how him seeing the action figure that says the catchphrase before dimished the awesome or just prepared us for it.

5. Half of anything the Thing does.
This should be really, 'How Thing made the F4 Movie work.' The Thing is definatley my favorite character in the team, especially in this incarnation. To prove a point, he crushed Johnny's car into a ball. While angry, he smashes an action figure of himself, and manages to make saying 'Don't do drugs' really unsettling. That, and he probably gets the most action in the movie.

6. Jessica Alba's Performance wasn't that Bad.
I've heard a chief complaint about the film was Alba's horrid performance. I really don't think it was that bad. It wasn't very good in a few parts and it seemed forced at times, but on a whole I don't think it was worthy of a Razzy. This isn't so much a GOOD thing as something I disagree with.

Now that's six reasons why the film dosn't suck to the high heavens. Next time, I think I'll return to the usual way of this segment and tell you my opinions of Spider-Man.

The Eleventh Hour.

Doctor Who is probably my favorite show. I could tell you a number of cartoons which I enjoy, but Doctor is probably my favorite show. I love how it manages to fit in special effects scenes with genuinley interesting characters. Heck, even the effects for the original series are creative.

The latest Doctor, David Tennant, cemented himself as a figure of Doctor Who history by being hilarious, yet at the same time quite serious. He was probably the best Doctor since Tom Baker, but didn't let it go to his head. So, naturally people were a bit upset when it was announced that he'd finally be handing the torch over. While I didn't cry at his death scene, I might as well have. And yesturday, the Doctor returned to our screens as Matt Smith. So, how does it fare up? Ahem...

OH MY GOD IT WAS AWESOME! The Doctor was hilarious, the story was cool, the plan to save the world brilliant, the effects great, and oh my godness!

Okay, actually I have a few complaints I suppose. The Doctor seemed a bit too much like Tennant, but he was still funny in his own right (Beans are evil!) The bad guy, known as Prisoner 0, while scary looking, didn't do much. He snarled, he threatened, but really all he did was stand there, to the point that the Doctors Big Damn Heroes moment is slow enough to laugh at. It was like, 'I HAVE LARGE BIEY TEETH AND AM QUITE DISTURBING! NOW LOOK AT ME! But I guess he wasn't the overall threat. The overall threat was a giant eyeball attached to a spaceship. It didn't do much either, but it's very being there was cool.

I had heard that there would be a totally new set of theme music made for the series, being a fan of the music, I was angry. I was delighted to find that the new mmusic was just yet another cover of the original, and sounded great. The new opening sequence was okay, but I preferred the original.
I was surprisingly not put off by the new Sonic Screwdriver and TARDIS Interior. In fact, the most annoying thing about that was that the new screwdriver is green now. I suppose watching Doctor Who has wired me to expect change.

Long story short, I look forward to the rest of the season. It'll be great.







Custard Fish.