My Thoughts: “The Day of the Doctor”

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THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS ABOUT ‘The Day of the Doctor’

Hello once again and welcome to: ‘I’m Pretty Geeky, This is a Geeky Post – Get Over It!’

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These are my thoughts on the BBC’s Special 50th Anniversary episode of Doctor Who, an episode that I had high expectations for… and as a result, an episode which I woke up early in the morning (well, early compared to my usual awakening hour) to watch.

If you really liked the episode, and dislike others’ opinions… I suggest you stop reading this now.  My opinion doesn’t effect the video whatsoever, and it’s certainly not a concrete rating of any kind.  Whether something is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ is a variable determined by whoever’s watching it and what they think about it.  Basically what I’m saying is: don’t take this post the wrong way.

First up, let me talk about what I liked.  Then I’ll tell you about the things that kept ripping me away from the story and stopping me from feeling immersed, and ultimately, enjoying the special event.

What I Liked

I’m probably going to miss stuff out – I might come back and add to this if I remember other things I enjoyed.

Production

As someone who’s produced a fair few videos myself – I am aware how much time and effort went into the production of the 50th Anniversary. It’s pretty impressive, especially given the time frame.

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  • Unlike the Doctor Who documentary ‘An Adventure In Space And Time’, where the Doctor glitches in-front of the TARDIS console between two shots, I didn’t notice any visual issues in ‘The Day of the Doctor’ at all… well… apart from at the end with the awkward looking 2D Doctors standing in unison.  But what do you expect?  Recreating the Doctors in 3D for that shot would have been too time consuming.  They’ve been editing for months as it is! For the length of the shot, and the fan glowing inside me, it was fine. =)
  • The other effects like the paralax action going on with the 3D paintings was pretty damn nice.
  • Costumes, sets – everything was to the high standard we’ve come to expect from the more recent era of Doctor Who – although the Time War did seem a bit too Star Warsy…  I almost wish they had kept it out – because my vision of the Time War was so much larger and complicated than what was shown to us on screen. Time Lords in control of space and time using lasers like Stormtroopers? What’s up with that?

References

There were some funny references, as well as nostalgic ones in the 50th Anniversary.

  • Although I thought that the scarf the UNIT woman was wearing was a bit corny, as well as a bit of an obvious hint that we’d probably see Tom Baker later in the episode – even so, it was a clever ploy to introduce the scene that lays a crucial foundation for the next series of Doctor Who.
  • Clara working at the school that Susan used to go to – with the scrapyard where the TARDIS used to be parked just around the corner, the moment I saw that sign at the start, I smiled.
  • Rose’s BAD WOLF ‘incarnation’ – I wanted to mention this here – even though I’m not drWho9particularly fond of the idea. (Rhyming… woo!)  It didn’t really make too much sense… Obviously the machine (“The Moment”) wanted to choose an appearance for the War Doctor to interact with – and in doing so, chose one a bit further along in his timeline than it had planned… but it seemed like a waste when it comes to involving her in the show.
  • The joke about covering up the TARDIS/Helicopter ordeal by blaming it on Darren Brown and sending him some flowers again, was brilliant.
  • In the black archive, pictures of Susan and companions on the board, as well as Cybermen gear and Captain Jack’s not-your-ordinary-wrist-watch.
  • The Tennant Doctor’s use of old lines. While this was interesting – it did also annoy me to a degree, more on why this annoyed me is later on in this post.
  • And of course, although I didn’t pick up on many of them – there are various references to Classic Doctor Who, like the Brigadier’s daughter – and her mention of ‘Cromer’, the drWho14location believed to be the location of the UNIT base, from ‘The Three Doctors’ special in the early 1970s.
  • PETER CAPAULDI’S EYES!
  • Seeing the 9th Doctor begin to regenerate into the 9th Doctor… well, 10th Doctor now…

Dialog

The acting of the cast was immensely good, apart from a few of the extras that seemed a bit unnatural… Queen Elizabeth I for example, though maybe she actually acted like that.  IN WHICH CASE, I’m an idiot.  I must add that David did seem a bit odd, obviously this could be partly to do with the fact he hasn’t played the role in a few years.  There are quite a few lines I enjoyed, especially when the Doctor was bickering with himself.

  • “One of them is a Zygon.” “Eeeeh, I’m not judging you.” – David’s Doctor and Matt’s Doctor talking about the two Queen Elizabeths standing before them.
  • Then later after the Queen’s both kissed Tennant’s Doctor:
    “One of those was a Zygon.”
    “Yeap.”
    “Big red rubbery thing, covered in suckers…”
    “Yeap.” “Venom sacs in the tongue…”
    “Yeah, I’m getting the point thank you.”
    “Nice.”

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  • “Well, this has all the makings of your lucky day.” – John’s Doctor, When the English guards are talking about beheading the Doctor was hilarious. John Hurt had quite a few brilliant lines.

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  • “They’re screwdrivers! What are you going to do, assemble a cabinet at them?” – John’s Doctor when 10 and 11 (or 11 and 12) are standing waving their screwdrivers at the guards.drWho11
  • “We’re confusing the polarity” – David’s Doctor, this line was brilliant, loved it.
  • The entire segment where David’s Doctor rips into Matt’s Doctor about forgetting the body count.  It was such an intense moment that fitted the character of both Doctors – it’s exactly the way you’d expect them to act.  It was beautiful.

What I Didn’t Like

Yeah… here we go.

Plot

The plot, as it has with quite a few of Moffat’s Doctor Who episodes – has a few significant holes in it.  Obviously plot holes in Doctor Who, a show running for 50 years… is inevitable.  But some of the plot holes and unexplained altercations are recently ’caused’ – and they just remove me from the immersion of the story and leave me a bit unsatisfied.  Most of these are Moffat just refuting things that happened in the Russel T Davies series of Doctor Who – but he still included the Time Lock from ‘End of Time’? He’s cherry picking plot devices. Will I come back and add to this? Probably. *Evil Laugh*

  • The phone on the TARDIS doesn’t work – it’s not connected.  The one on the TARDIS console is the one that works.  We found this out with the 9th (10th) Doctor in ‘The Empty Child.’ So the TARDIS has changed to include a working phone now? Well, that’s one way of getting the Doctor to the door for that lovely dangling intro shot I guess…

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  • How the hell is the Doctor holding on to the TARDIS here?! How convenient… the TARDIS now also includes hand-grips on the base of the TARDIS.
  • I mentioned this earlier – I think Rose could have been involved more effectively in the episode.  But I think there are quite a few living Doctors and companions that could have been involved in the production as well. I found the other 50th Anniversary special video ‘The Five(ish) Doctors‘ far more of a comforting Doctor Who universe than the Doctor Who episode itself!  We see Peter Davison (5th Doctor), Sylvester McCoy (7th Doctor), Colin Baker (6th Doctor), Matt Smith (11th… 12th Doctor), Jenna Coleman (Clara), Paul McGann (8th Doctor), David Tennant (10th…11th Doctor), Georgia Moffett (The Doctor’s Daughter), John Barrowman (Captain Jack), Stefan Moffat (Current Doctor Who Writer), Russel T Davies (Previous Doctor Who Writer), Peter Jackson (Film Director, The Hobbit), Ian McKellen (Actor, Gandalf)… AND SO MANY MORE, there were family members of the original Doctors, Dalek operators – it was packed with people from the Doctor Who universe.  However in a fourth-wall-breaking ‘mocumentary’ styled sort of short film.

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  • The Doctors ran the calculation on their screwdriver to figure out how to disintegrate the door… but how could the Doctor’s screwdriver calculate something over centuries if it’s been broken, burnt out and replaced multiple times…  It’s not the same screwdriver that’s been upgraded… In ‘Smith and Jones’ the Doctor sacrifices his screwdriver to take out a ‘slab’… the screwdriver is toasted to a crisp, and then the Doctor throws the screwdriver over his shoulder.  Then he loses his screwdriver again at the start of Matt drWho15Smith’s era, in ‘Eleventh Hour’ which results in him getting the new green sonic screwdriver. Is there some telepathic screwdriver calculation field we haven’t heard about?  Because that’s one durable calculation… maybe the Doctor has ‘iCloud for Sonic Screwdrivers.’
  • Somehow all the Doctors were involved in the Gallifrey Time-Lock plan… Wait… so the first Doctor knew that he would have to Time-Lock Gallifrey and started doing the necessary calculations to perform this incredible maneuver – taking into account that in the future he would have 12 other Doctors and their TARDIS’s helping him?  Then after that, somehow, every Doctor proceeding the first remembered to continue on with the calculations leading up until the recent Doctors… then they forget about Time-Locking Gallifrey, toil with the idea of destroying it… and then come up with the idea to Time-Lock Gallifrey? What? Even if I haven’t followed that right, Hurt’s Doctor loses his memory of the whole ordeal because of the ‘Time-Sync’ issue, SO does Tennant’s Doctor – so if that’s the case, he wouldn’t remember about the Time-Lock, or doing the calculations… IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE. I really like the last scene, and it sent chills up my spine… but that drWho13detracted from it substantially.
  • And speaking of ‘Heroic’… Clara described John’s Doctor as the Warrior, David’s as the Hero… and before saying that Matt’s Doctor is the Doctor… she said that ‘any old idiot can be a hero’. Uh… okay. Ouch.  I know, I know I’m sounding like one of those argumentative Facebook pillocks playing the ‘he said, she said’ game… They probably didn’t even think about it that way when they wrote the script… but it’s not the only time this episode David’s Doctor is knocked down to ensure that Matt’s Doctor remains the most important Doctor on the scene.  It’s the 50th Special guys, surely we can forget about trying to make our Doctor look better than the previous writers’ Doctors.’

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  • At the end, the Zygons and humans are in the Black Archive… any negotiations
    they made in there would be meaningless by the time they walk out because they would forget everything that happened.
  • Not only that, but there were 6 Zygons hiding downstairs… and only 3 went into the Black Archive. What were the other Zygons doing then?
  • Although somewhat out-of-place, the 10th (I guess 11th now?) Doctor giving his serious speech to that rabbit was funny, however, I do feel he was acting a bit too idiotically for his character.
    David Tennant’s Doctor had some incredibly powerful moments… which were seemingly defecated on in this 50th Special.  His heroic line in ‘Voyage of the Damned’ has gone from a serious Doctor-taking-charge moment into something he just says to everyone.  Including rabbits.  I could have probably sailed with that, one line… no problem. BUT THEN at the end, he says when talking about Trenzalore, “I don’t want to go.” Matt’s Doctor then says to Clara, “He always says that.”  No he doesn’t… At this point in time he’s NEVER said it.  He will only ever say it ONCE.  After giving his life for Wilfred, and saying farewell to all of his companions. I guess Matt Smith’s Doctor is saying this ironically as a private joke with Clara, who’s seen the entire timeline of the Doctor and would know what he’s talking about… But all I see is Moffat jumping into the Davies timeline before the Tennant Doctor dies, and making his final-words-to-be just a ‘meaningless thing that he says all the time.’
  • ^ Does Clara still remember everything she saw in the Doctor’s timeline?  I think she must because she recognized Tennant in ‘locked’ prison cell.

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  • David Tennant’s Doctor is kissing like crazy – and the proposal thing? I get why they did it… but he isn’t supposed to remember the events that occur with the other Doctors… but then he mentions that he got married to the Ood in ‘End of Time.’

Other things of note:

I don’t want to come across as too picky… haha, who am I kidding. Well done… that’s exactly what I’ve done.  But these are other things I wanted to make note of – they wouldn’t have ruined the 50th Anniversary for me, but they were minor things that I thought about.

  • The Zygons… the seem like a bit of an odd addition, they could have done just fine in an episode of their own.
  • The War Doctor (9th?) told the (11th and 12th?) other two Doctors that they’re wasting their time waving their screwdrivers about at the English soldiers… yet they fight of a Dalek with them? I guess they’re just controlling the pace of time taking place inside the painting – but I don’t know. =/
  • Allons-y seemed like it was used a bit unnecessarily. It’s the first word you hear the 10th Doctor say, then he says it again at the end when flying the TARDIS.  I was pretty sure that he said it 3 times during the special, but after glancing back through the episode I think I must be wrong.  I think introducing Tennant with ‘Allons-y’ wasn’t needed…  They should have saved it to the end, made it truly special.
  • Clara, like many other recent companions, seems to be the sole decision making body in the Doctor’s mind.  We have three drWho12Doctors about to pull the plug – David’s doctor was so angry about it, and Matt’s Doctor regretted it every day. Yet, Clara is the one to tell him to come up with another plan.  (One that as I mentioned, he already supposedly had been figuring out for centuries.)
    However, obviously part of this companions being the ‘moral compass’ thing is to do with the Doctor forgetting about how to react.  He’s become a torn character that seems to need guidance – heck, that’s why he explores the universe with companions – because he’s gotten used to everything, so he needs someone to remind him how amazing it is.  Well at least, that’s how it was during Russel T Davies era… Who NOSE! Obviously not a total set back to the story, but something that did make me think.
  • So there we have it… for now… unless I decide to add something that I forgot. Obviously this episode was massive, there was a lot going on – and a lot of references everywhere you look.  But more importantly, everyone will experience it differently. I feel starved when it comes to Doctor Who… I haven’t had a satisfying feeling after watching a Doctor Who episode for some time now.  I still want to watch and I still want to follow what’s  going on – because I do love the concept and the universe surrounding it… but I’m not feeling content like I used to when watching Doctor Who. There are many other shows on television like Being Human, The Originals and Arrow, (Sherlock would be here too… but you need to get on the new series ASAP Mr Moffat) that I feel satisfied with after watching them.  My ‘story hunger’ is fed, it no longer hurts… but I still have the craving for new episodes… Doctor Who on the other hand… I’m getting breadcrumbs leading to an empty room…

Wow, so the Doctor wouldn’t remember this right? So perhaps the memory-wiping device on the wall of the Black Archive has something to do with that? Nah… It’s some time-sync issue, that didn’t exist when we had the Peter Davison and David Tennant mini-episode for Red Nose day…

Agh… Am I expecting too much?  Why am I expecting a believable plot solution to come out of adrWho10 SciFi show that involves travelling through time and space? A scientific impossibility, well, if you’re trying to travel backwards in time…

The way Moffat’s storylines work continue to leave me starving and

missing the satisfaction I used to get from watching Doctor Who as a child. His problem is that his plot solutions often come out of nowhere and can’t be figured out during the episode because it’s some insane thing that’s never even been referenced before… ever. AS a poorly written example:

PROBLEM: The lawn needs mowing.
SOLUTION: We saw a shed earlier on that potentially harbors a lawn mower.
MOFFAT SOLUTION: The grass begins to shrink… by growing in reverse.  The Doctor has upset the local flow of time because his TARDIS has parked in this same spot before – even though there isn’t an episode where he has parked here before, and the TARDIS has never modified time before by parking in the same spot, as exampled by the TARDIS’s visits to CARDIFF multiple times to recharge… but why would that matter? That’s a Russel T Davies issue, we’re in a new Moffat Universe Baby!

I shouldn’t have bothered writing that… Why did I choose mowing the lawn?  That’s the most mundane thing I could have picked to demonstrate a point.  Of course Moffat’s solution in this example would be more entertaining than actually… mowing the damn lawn…  But hopefully you sort-of get what I’m talking about.

There we go, I think I’ll end it here.  I think I’m being a bit over the top… which actually speaks more highly of Doctor Who in a sense – because I’m being as harsh about it as I am with my own work.  I question my own stories and films to the same extent – I guess it just shows how much I consider Doctor Who a part of my life if I feel like I have to critique it in the same manner.

Nonetheless, thanks so much for reading.

See you later,

Ben.

 

‘Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS’

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the Serious Doctor… who really needs way, way more screen time.

I have to say, Doctor Who is a relatively odd experience for me these days.  There have been many episodes in the Matt Smith episode that have just left me completely disappointed and dislocated from the absorbing storyline of  the Time Lord and his many companions.  To me it has been quite unnerving, because many of the plots have just been ludicrous to the point that I don’t want to ‘take them seriously’ – in other words, I cherry-pick my favourite episodes and try to forget all the below average episodes that don’t fit my vision of Doctor Who. Woah, reading that back to myself… Doctor Who IS a Religion!

But behold, the one episode of Doctor Who in Matt Smith’s era that I actually don’t mind.  Keep note here,  I didn’t say I love it – but it is most definitely an improvement.  That episode is ‘Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS’ – and let me tell you what really made this episode for me. THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS.

My Favourite Things

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1. “Save her, or we all die.

“It’s no secret that Matt Smith hasn’t played a very serious Doctor in his time on the show.  His incarnation of the Doctor often seems more confused and silly than serious and insightful – I’m not saying that the role of the Doctor shouldn’t be humorous – but there’s a balance needed to persuade the thought that there is over 900 years of Time Lord in that head.  Even Tom Baker, who was without a doubt one of the more silly Doctors, had his balance of seriousness and wisdom.

When the Doctor set the timer and locked the scavengers in the TARDIS – telling them that if Clara wasn’t found within the hour the Time Machine would explode killing them all – I, for the first time in ages of watching Doctor Who, laughed in excitement.  That was the Doctor that I’ve always wanted Matt Smith’s Doctor to be.  But it gets better. For me, the greatest moment in this episode… and I could probably go as far as to say the whole Matt Smith era leading up until now… was the bluff.  Later on in the episode, the Doctor reveals that he was bluffing – saying that you just have to ‘Wiggle a few buttons’ – but most importantly, give them ‘the face’ and say, “Save her, or we all die.”  Absolutely freaking brilliant and so very, very Doctor Who.  It sends shivers down my spine just thinking of the perfect execution of that scene. (They slightly diminished the moment when the dialogue suddenly devolved into ‘We’re in trouble Clara, proper trouble. It needs fixing or we’re toast.’ Nonetheless, that moment is fantastic all the same.

“I just wiggled a few buttons, yeah, the old wiggly-button trick – and the face, you’ve GOT to do the face.  Save her, or we all die. I thought I rushed it a bit but..” – Best Line, Evvver!

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2. Ye’ Old References

The references in this episode were pretty abundant.  I smiled when I saw the ‘Eye Of Harmony’ on the screen of the TARDIS console, memories of the Gallifreyan power-source, and the Doctor Who Movie from 1996. To be perfectly honest though – I really wish that it had been the only reference to the Eye of Harmony in the episode.  I’d much have preferred if it were left out of the plot – and just remained an Easter Egg.  Just like the ‘Smiths’ key, the various Gallifreyan audio encyclopedias, the toy TARDIS from Amy.  They even showed us the TARDIS’s swimming pool that we’ve heard so much about but never seen… at any point… ever.

I don’t think that a lot of the rooms that Clara bumped into really seemed to fit into the TARDIS… nor did it make sense that she was stopping and taking the time to look at these rooms and smiling while there was a monster chasing her…  These references seemed a bit out-of-place, or unnaturally squished into the episode.

3. Genuine Doctor-ness1

Often in Doctor Who there have been times where I felt that the reaction of the characters in the show don’t always seem very expected.  I have to say I was quite pleasantly surprised to find that when the TARDIS went dark the Doctor acted accordingly.  He wasn’t exaggerated and panicky, scared – he was serious and concerned.  I’m probably just pulling this out of the air. =)

 

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I know that the Doctor Who Movie isn’t really cited as a ‘true to Doctor Who’ storyline – being that the Doctor is somehow ‘half-human’ in the movie. But it still irritates me a bit that these two things are … so very different.

My Not-So-Favourite Things

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1. The Monsters

During the episode, everyone, particularly Clara, is being chased by these horrid mutant monstrosities. Later we find out that these monsters are in fact the Doctor, Clara and the scavengers from the future – who have been cooked and boiled alive by being exposed to the Eye of Harmony for too long. Considering the fact that exposure to the static pre-black hole is pretty ruddy damaging to… living in comfort… it really makes me wonder why the flip the Doctor decided that it’d be the best time to STOP and EXPLAIN his clever Gallifreyan technology to everyone… WHILE THEY’RE STANDING IN FRONT OF IT. Wouldn’t it have been better to give your tour-guide speech AFTER you’d gotten to safety and were no longer in threat of  being char-grill-zombified!? Come on!

Also – if you’re cooked, roasted and liquified I would have thought that you’d be in some pretty serious pain.  I would have also thought that walking around and hunting down yourself in the past would have seemed like a pretty ruddy weird thing to do.  Not to mention… your muscles and bones are… out-of-order… which I assume would make mobility quite difficult in the first place.

Why did the Doctor and Clara NOT turn into monsters even though they were exposed to the Eye for the same amount of time as the scavengers – and why on Earth is the transformation so instantaneous?

LASTLY,  the Doctor… is a Time Lord… We’ve all established this.  Now correct me if I’m wrong.  But if a Time Lord’s body is brutally injured or damaged beyond healing… there’s a certain little trick they’ve got called ‘Regeneration’ – I would have really thought that liquified cells, burning skin and strange glowing-eyes would be classified as pretty significant bodily damage.  Oh well, perhaps there’s a point where a Time Lord’s body can be too far damaged for the cycle to work.

2. The Name of The Doctor3

Quite an interesting inclusion was the ‘History of the Great Time War’ book – then again the fact that Clara learns the real name of the Doctor… only to forget it when time is rewritten (more on that later) seemed a bit pointless, (I guess you could claim the whole episode pointless considering it technically never happened. Hmm.)

It was cool to see – but poorly implemented.  Clara walks up and instantly flips to the exact page where the Doctor is mentioned by his Gallifreyan name?  How does she even know that its him that book is referring to?  I. Don’t. Know.  Seemed like it was more of a reference to the season finale more than anything.

 

3. TARDIS Engine Explosion?a2-engineboom

What? The engine of the TARDIS explodes – the TARDIS decides to freeze it in time and prevent it from causing any problems.

Just curious, it seemed like a very odd place for an engine.  A white vast empty space… and it… exploded upon ‘impact’ with the scavenging ship?  Lovely durable Gallifreyan technology right there, I’m surprised the black hole being held in stasis didn’t suddenly break free of its captivity and start swallowing everything up.  But never fear, you can fix all damaged done to the TARDIS by just jumping back in time…inside the time machine… and reclaim your time machine from before it broke. It’s all very strange.

 

4. Mountain Climbinga1

Why is there a large cliff inside the TARDIS?  I guess it’s a similar scenario to what we saw in Tom Baker’s era, where he was walking around corridors of the TARDIS which were quite obviously the hallways of an abandoned hospital.  Yes it added more variety to the episode – and the Doctor described it as ‘snarling’ at them to scare them away because it was vulnerable.  Well it seems more than just ruddy vulnerable if the engine has exploded…  Seems like it’s ‘in proper trouble.’

 

Conclusion

The writer, Steve Thompson, who also brought us the rather… ordinary… ‘Curse of the Black Spot’ episode, has done really well here.  By far my favourite Matt Smith episode – however I feel that the ending was very rushed, and because of this you come away after watching it pretty unfulfilled.  The feeling of fulfillment has been pretty rare with Doctor Who in recent times – but this episode was so close to being perfect! For what I got from this was 40 minutes of pretty decent, genuine, fan-boy Easter egg filled adventure… that was all swept under the rug and destroyed because the Doctor stopped it from ever happening in the first place.  The conversation the Doctor had with Clara about who she was? Never happened.  Clara’s journey through the TARDIS and finally getting to know her? Never happened.  ‘The Big Friendly Button?’ Whaaat?

Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS had some really great elements – but I just come away from it wanting more.  The ending was too quick and contributed nothing to the long-term storyline of the Doctor and Clara because they won’t remember any of it.  The zombified monsters that are really themselves… which means they’re attacking themselves for some strange reason… some family dilemmas between some of the scavengers – which you kind of suspect at the start of the episode anyway.

Certainly my favourite episode in this era so far – lets see though if Neil Gaiman can win me over with his ‘Nightmare in Silver’ episode.  Have to say, I’m quite worried about the episode entitled: “The Name of the Doctor” – but I doubt that Moffat would reveal the name of the Time Lord… I hope…

 

Well there, long post – probably ambiguous in nature and filled with contradiction… nonetheless.

See you later,

Ben.

Halo 3 Skulls, Terminals, Tips and Tricks.

Hey everyone,

As most of you know I’m Ben and I’ve finished the fight on Heroic and have finished a few on Legendary in Co-op.

Obviously not as great as some people, but still.
I dare say a few people will be thinking, “Heroic??? Wimp!!!”
Others may be thinking, “Crap! I struggle with Easy!”

Anyhow.
If you can’t play the game on Easy then you cannot find any of the skulls.
UNLESS, you have a buddy that you can play the game with.
The skulls will be listed below by their location throughout the game.
Here I’m going to tell you where the campaign skulls are, where the terminals are, a few tips, and a few tricks.

SKULLS:
Skulls unlock new armor, and make the game tricker, and more fun for the player.
If you find all the skulls you unlock the Haybusa armor, which looks pretty sweet,.
To find these skulls you must be on either Normal, Heroic or Legendary. If you are on Easy you CANNOT find these skulls, they do not appear in Easy.
You MUST also start from the beginning of the level you CANNOT start from a Rally Point Alpha, Bravo etc.

Sierra 117- Blind
This first skull is at the start of level where the Phantoms bring in Covenant forces onto that small river bank.
First clear the area of all the enemies then head to the right end of the cliff, there will be a rock sticking out over the water, at the end of the rock is the skull, pick it up using the RB button.
Now it may seem like it does nothing, No achievement will be unlocked, this is normal.
Then to drop the skull press Y. You DON’T need to take the skull to the end of the level, once you’ve picked it up you’ve got it. If you want you can even save and quit. You’ll still have unlocked the skull.

Sierra 117- Iron
In the area where you rescue Johnston, head along the bridge where all the Grunts and Brutes are, at the end of this bridge hop up on a block, then on a brown pipe then up onto the platform that goes around the giant glass house. Follow this platform and hiding at the very end is the skull.

Crow’s Nest- Black Eye
At the start of this level when you don’t have a weapon yet head up the steps so that you are standing on the level with the locked door, turn around and their should be a green cage/weapon rack. Jump on it then turn right and jump up on the red metal bar, then up onto the grey concrete pipe. Walk along the pipe right to the end and there will be the Iron skull pick it up using the RB button. You DON’T need to take the skull to the end of the level, once you’ve picked it up you’ve got it. If you want you can even save and quit . You’ll still have unlocked the skull.

Crow’s Nest- Grunt’s Birthday Party
For this skull I recommend grabbing a grav lift from the room with the Grav Hammer Brute and using it here in case you struggle.
The skull is in the weird black tubed place where the drones are flying across the room from one hole to another. Now the skull is underneath you, it is underneath the metal floor you are standing on, head to the end of the room where you are about to drop down to meet the arbiter. (unless you are playing on co-op he’ll be there) There are two ways to get this skull.
The first way is to keep to the wall as you drop down the hole at the end of the room,
The second way is to jump down the hole, find where the opening is above you then use the grav lift to get up there.
It’s your choice which one you choose to do.
Once in the opening the skull will be at the end of the passage.

Tsavo Highway- Tough Luck
When you get to the broken road where you have to leave your Warthog behind head back to the big pipe on the side of the road.
Jump up on the pipe and follow it along till you get to a yellow fence in your way, jump over this fence then jump down onto the platform below on your left. You may die a few times, try landing in different spots on the platform, you’ll get it.
Once on the platform head along it and to your left there is a big rock with the skull sitting on it, jump across to the skull and pick it up, there you go, Tough Luck.
Now unfortunately, you can’t get back up after getting this skull, so you must jump off the edge, don’t worry you won’t lose the skull, but you may lose your dignity.

The Storm- Catch
After beating all the Covenant forces in the building with the Warthog you drive out into an area with an Anti-Air Wraithand heaps of Ghosts.
There is a round building at the end near the Anti-Air Wraith that looks like a hugh water tank.
Now this can be painful to get while being attacked from behind so try to clear the area first, you need to drive the Warthog up to the water tank thing and jump on top of it, then onto the building. You may even need to get a ghost and drive it onto the Warthog to make it higher.
When driving the ghost onto the Warthog hold down A and boost, that should make it easier.
This can be a frustrating skull to get, If you can manage to highjack a Wraith you can use that to get up there too.

Floodgate- Fog
You have to be quick for this one, the skull jumps over you when you head back down into the buildings . The thing that’s carrying it is a flood.
If you get your Battlerifle and zoom in to the top of the building on your right you’ll see him as you go into the city.
He’ll run accross and jump, you have to shoot him at the right moment otherwise the skull will be stuck on top of the roof. As he is in midair is a goodtime to shoot, just before he jumps is also a good time. This is another skull that can be frustrating get.
Keep at it though.

The Ark- Famine
This is without a doubt the most annoying skulls that I had to claim, it took me countless attempts. After you’ve been in the area with the big door and the sentals and had the Pelican come to the platform with Johnston saying, “Follow my Pelican cheif, I’ll show you the way,”
Follow his Pelican and beat the two Ghosts in the next area, try not to destroy the ghosts, just kill the grunts driving them.
Now see that big platform above you that looks like the one in the last area? Up there is the skull, but you need either ghosts, plasma or spike grenades, a chopper or a deployable cover to get it.
So go up onto the platform, If you drive around past where it says, “Checkpoint . . . done” there is a spot where you can jump up on a large rock then walk up the slope and jump across to the platform, you can also drive the Ghost up there using boost and hold A and boost to make the jump.
The skull is at the far left side, opposite to where you just climbed up, it is hiding in the support beam coming from the top of the platform, you should see it, it’s pretty easy to spot.
Using grenade jump you’ll have to line yourself up on an angle, throw a grenade down and jump in the air as the grenade goes off. This can take a long time to get it right so alot of jumping back to the last save will be needed.
Using Ghosts, drive the two Ghosts that you fought below up onto the platform, park one Ghost on the slope right next to the support pillar with the skull on it, then park the other Ghost carefully on top. Jump on the top Ghost and jump across to the skull, again, this may take some time. And alot of climbing back up, and falling back down.
Using a Chopper, if you can manage to get a Chopper up there it makes it easier, no stacking, just parking and jumping.
Using a deployable cover, if you place it in the right spot you can jump on it and leap across to the skull.
This is a tricky skull to get, to don’t give up!

The Ark- Cowbell
After you’ve beaten the Scarab in the hugh area go into the building near where the Scarab was, inside there is a Chopper, and a few grav lifts, grab one of these grav lifts, you’ll need it.
Now head through into the building, at one point you head down into a room full of Brutes, if you look up before turning the U turn corner you’ll see openings, in the wall above you, use the grav lift to get to the top opening, There’s the skull, enjoy. If you don’t get it on the first try just keep going back to the checkpoint by going Start-Load Last Save.

The Covenant- Thunderstorm
Once your up to the part where you drive the Hornet go to the place that the Elites previously were, it’s the building on the cliff face to your right when you take off.
Land your Hornet and go up the ramp to the top and the skull will be at the end sitting there for you. If you’re interested there is also a Terminal in the building as well. Be sure to check out the Terminals section of this post.

The Covenant- IWHBYD (I Would Have Been Your Daddy)
After stopping Truth from firing the rings clear the area of the Flood, it makes it a hole lot easier.
Now the big glowing rings are actually a type of combination lock.
The ring closest to Truth is number 7 and the ring at the other end near the elevator is number 1. The 1st and 2nd ring you don’t even need to use! The rings go like this:

{ELEVATOR}-O-O-|-|-O-O-O-|-|-O-O–{TRUTH}
—————-1-2—–3–4-5—–6-7————-

First thing before you go jumping, you jump onto the block then jump right through the ring, secondly you always jump through the ring facing towards the Truth.
The order of the rings that you jump through is 4654534.
Remember to jump through the ring always facing in the direction of where the Truth was, this doesn’t mean jumping backwards, this means jumping forwards through the ring.

Cortana- Tilt
Again, an annoying one to get.
In the second large room where you fight the flood, the one that has the glass floor that you can see Brutes and cloaking belowyou. Clear the room of Flood first so that it’s easier.
Head over to a small purple stand, jump on it and you should see what looks like fungi above you, jump onto it, then jump up onto another fungi, then across to another fungi platform, then along a long skin coloured tube onto the big purple platform, on the platform are human remains with the Tilt skull.

Halo- Mythic
At the beginning of the level you will walk into a big ice cave, if you follow the wall to your right you will find a small passage leading to the Mythic skull. This is the easiest skull to get.

Congratulations! That’s all of the skulls!!!

TERMINALS
These terminals are weird, there are seven of them and they are on 3 maps only, The Ark, The Covenant and Halo.
Once you find them all there is an Xbox achievement, that’s all really.
Before we begin you have to remember that when looking at the terminals you must wait until the second lot of text comes up after the console flashes red.
I’ll explain again simpler, so go to the Terminal, hold RB to read it, there will be a page or so of text, then text will turn to code and the terminal will turn red, DON’T PRESS B YET wait until a new screen of text comes up before exiting.

The Ark

-TERMINAL 1-
After beating the Hunters you go up the cliff into the building, turn left instead of continuing down the hallway and the terminal will be in that room.

-TERMINAL 2-
After activating the weird energy bridge to let the tanks and Warthogs across the gap turn around, the terminal is directly infront of you.

-TERMINAL 3-
After being in the room with the sleeping Grunts you will come to an area with a ramp leading down to your left and an unlocked door in front of you. Go down the ramp and underneath the ramp is a door leading into a small room, the terminal is in there.

The Covenant

-TERMINAL 4-
In the first tower when you are on the elevator about to go upstairs look to your right and their is an area, jump across to this area and the terminal is here.

-TERMINAL 5-
When you get into the Hornet fly straight over to the building on the cliff to your right, the one that the Elites were at. Get out of the Hornet and go inside, the terminal is in there.
This is the same building that the Thunderstorm skull is on.

-TERMINAL 6-
In the last tower, the one that Johnston failed to de-activate stand on the elevator, just like you did for terminal 4 and there should be a small area to your Left that you jump accross to. The terminal is there.

Halo

-TERMINAL 7-
Once you exit the ice cave at the start if you stick to the right and go along the cliff there is a small hole in the ice, Cortana will say, “Where are you going?”
Go inside and there is a Terminal, Cortana will say, “Wait, what’s that?”
and, “How many of these have you found?”

Congratulations, that’s all the terminals and the Marathon Man achievement.

Tips:When playing online try to keep a stock of Plasma or Spike grenades handy, you can even the fight if you are about to die by taking your opponent with you, if you are running out of shield and you are close to them throw the grenade on them, you will die, but they will die too.

When playing either online or offline you can combine melee and shooting to strengthen yourself. In campaign Brutes can be taken out by shooting them then punching them by pressing B. In online play players can be killed the same way, also melee comes in handy if you are reloading.

When versing the Flood melee works well, but melee does not work so well against the wall shooters, so try not to carry melee only weapons, I find carrying a Needler does really well, but nothing beats it more than dual Plasma Rifles. Dual Plasma rifles slaughter the flood, and they aren’t melee.I finished Cortana a lot easier with them.

You can survive a lot longer by jumping around, online and in campaign, If you’re running out of shield jump around and get to cover, or if your good enough with your controls and looking you can jump all the time and shoot while jumping around.

Press start and go Settings-Game-Controls-Look Sensitivity
Changing it to 10 (INSANE) makes it quicker when you look around, this can take some time to get use to but makes you a lot more powerful and more quicker online and in campaign.

Incase anyone was wondering this symbol (to the left) appears next to some peoples names when playing online. This just means that the player has logged into the Bungie website with their Hotmail account.
You to can log into the website using your Hotmail account that you used to make your Xbox live account. Try it, there;s pretty cool stuff there.

TRICKS
I’ve found great use of the marines and elites on campaign, you can swap weapons with them right? Well!
I go around and collect stronger weapons and give them to my allies.
For example on The Covenant instead of using the Spartan Laser that you are given at the start of the level I gave it to an ODST troop, firstly he probably has better aim with that thing than I do, and secondly in his hands it will never run out of ammo.
Normally the Spartan Laser only has 5 shots, using 20 charges per shot. But with an ally holding it it lasts forever. I drove around in a Warthog with the ODST Spartan Laser troop in the passenger seat and he took out the Wraiths, Prowlers. Then when I went in the Hornet he took out a few Banshees and an Anti-Air Wraith.
Then I gave Brute shots to all the elites and gave a Fuel Rod to one of them, but enough about that.
Here’s something to remember though, Marines and ODST will not take alien weapons except for Plasma Pistols, Needlers and I think Carbines and Plasma Rifles.
Elites take practically any weapon you want to give to them.
There are 3 ‘cheats’ to Halo 3, I call them ‘Cheats’ because they aren’t really cheats at all, they are things the developers would have used during the game when testing it and stuff.

The first one hides your weapon from your view, everyone else can see it, but you cant.
To do this press and hold down LB, RB, LS, A and Down (D-Pad)

The next one shows coordinates, so basically grid location on the map.
To do this press and hold down LB, RB , LS , A +and Up (D-Pad)

And this next one only works if you have coordinates on, it changes the mode of the coordinates.
To do this press and hold down LS, RS and Press Left (D-Pad)

Thanks for reading the post people!
Be sure to get updates and more stuff
on Halo 3 in the near future.
I’ll be sticking some of my Halo 3 maps on here for you to see soon.

Until next time,

Ben A Ball, out.

Doctor Who Dreamland!!! What a disappointment!!!

I do not believe it.

That was possibly the worst Doctor Who episode that I have ever and will ever see in my entire life. It was absolutely terrible!!! How on earth did they think of making such a thing?

The image above is a snapshot of the Doctor Who episode called ‘Dreamland.’
It’s an animated episode of Doctor Who made by BBC, It was an absolute disgrace to the proper Doctor Who show!!! It was terrible!

It was like watching Jimmy Netron on steroids with plastic surgery.

The show contained too many chases and ‘action,’
The Doctor gets away and then he’s caught again, he gets away, and gets caught again, he gets away and gets caught again. It’s too repetitive!!!

And the animation was choppy in some parts and really, it doesn’t work.

Doctor Who + Animation = Absolute Rubbish!!!
The images above may look good, heh heh heh. It’s not, once you watch the show you get the full gist of it, sometimes the voice doesn’t seem to go with the character, the voice and lips move at the same time but it just doesn’t seem right.
It takes place in America, it seems to me that doing the episode in animation is because America would never let Britan ‘mock’ America.

I cannot believe that I watched it, I’m pretty let down now.
The voice of the Doctor is David Tennant’s but the animation, the show just doesn’t work unless it’s the real David on set.

I rate it a -2/10, Yes I’ve gone minus!
If this was an audio tape or a radio thing I may rate it higher because the sound is as good as it gets.

On the bright side BBC released their new 2010 Doctor Who Logo:

They are going to use it on the last 3 special episodes of David Tennant’s series.
Then from 2010 onward with the the new role Matt Smith they are going to use the logo and insigna.

For more on the logo and insignia CLICK HERE>

Thanks All.

Benaball,

The Cuckoo Clock Of Doom – R.L. Stine


Goosebumps- The Cuckoo Clock Of Doom
By R.L. Stine

Whoah! Now this book has an amazing thing about it.

(DON’T WORRY THERE ARE NO SPOILERS)

The author wrote this book in such a way that when reading you get the feelings from main character, Michael.

Michael has a younger sister called Tara which is without a doubt one of the most annoying siblings you could ever end up with.
She is always embarrasing him infront of friends or getting him into trouble.
The author does such a good job at transferring the anger from Michael into the reader. I found myself getting really angry and wanting to bang the table.

It all changes one day, his dad brings home an old clock from Anthony’s Antiques shop. His dad tells him and Tara to not lay a finger on it. If he caught either of them touching it they would be in big trouble.

Michael saw this as an opportunity to get Tara in trouble . . .

Have to stop their folks.
Read it and see what happens.

I particually liked the ending, it was well pieced together and I was left waiting for more.
All I was left with was the preview of another book at the back.

I hope there is a sequel to this.
I was left going “Awww! Don’t end there!”

I rate it 10/10

Good Book

You Belong With Me- Taylor Swift

Song- You Belong With Me

By- Taylor Swift

Lyrics-

You’re on the phone with your girlfriend, She’s upset
She’s going off about something that you said
She doesnt get your humour like I do

I’m in the room, its a typical Tuesday night
I’m listening to the kind of music she doesnt like
And she’ll never know your story like I do

But she wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts
She’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers
Dreaming bout the day when you’ll wake up and find
That what you’re lookin for has been here the whole time

If you could see that I’m the one who understands you
Been here all along so why can’t you see?
You belong with me
You belong with me

Walkin the streets with you in your worn out jeans
I cant help thinking this is how it ought to be
Laughing on the park bench thinkin to myself
Hey isnt this easy?

And you’ve got a smile that could light up this whole town
I havent seen it in awhile, since she brought you down
You say you find I know you better than that
Hey, Whatcha doing with a girl like that?

She wears high heels, I wear sneakers
She’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers
Dreaming bout the day when you’ll wake up and find
That what you’re looking for has been here the whole time

If you could see that I’m the one who understands you
Been here all along so why can’t you see?
You belong with me

Standin by, waiting at your back door
All this time how could you not know that?
You belong with me
You belong with me

Oh I remember you driving to my house in the middle of the night
I’m the one who makes you laugh when you know you’re about to cry
I know your favorite songs and you tell me about your dreams
I think I know where you belong. I think I know it’s with me.

Can’t you see that I’m the one who understand you?
Been here all along so why can’t you see?
You belong with me

Standing by or waiting at your back door
All this time how could you not know that
You belong with me
You belong with me

Have you ever thought just maybe
You belong with me
You belong with me

(Thanks to Mariana for these lyrics)
[ You Belong With Me Lyrics from http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]

Music Video-

 

Review-
A good song that gets stuck in your head. The music video is set like a story which is very unlike many music videos these days. In fact the music video has been at the top of the music video charts in iTunes for along time now. Right at the top in 1st place it is. Shows you how much the music video appeals to people aye?

Rating- 4.5/5

iTunes Download link coming soon.