Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #91.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #90.

This Year In Hell

So, once more we find ourselves at the end of yet another. Honestly, where do these things keep coming from? We should probably get someone in to look at that, the damn things seem to breed like cockroaches. Just when you think you finally gotten rid of one, another one shows up. Thus making years the opposite of buses. But I digress.

Every year I try and do a little write up of stuff that I thought was good. Not in any strict top 10 whatever kind of sense, but just as an exercise in forcing myself to remember that maybe not EVERYTHING is horrible. As time goes on this seems to get more difficult. I'm not going to lie, this has been a rough year, and my ability to look on the bright side has been atrophied to the point of extinction. But that's enough about the last series of Doctor Who. We're trying to be positive here. So let's begin shall we.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #89.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #88.

War And Piss

One of my abiding impressions coming out of The Force Awakens was just how incredibly LONG it felt. I don't mean that in a bad way. The runtime is, I think, about 2 and half hours. That's not short, but hardly excessively bloated. And it certain;y doesn't drag at any point. But whilst it certainly packs an awful lot in, the main issue was simply that about half way through I REALLY needed a pee.

I didn't have one. I wasn't going to risk missing a thing. And as the man once said:

So, scatological internet humour aside, how was it? Pretty good. Overall I'd say it's quite possibly the most Star Warsy thing I've seen since... Well, Star Wars.

I'd say that's probably a good sign.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #87.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #86.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #85.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #84.

Out Of Shape

You know, I was really looking forward to seeing Hell Bent. Sure, this had been a fairly weak series of Doctor Who thus far. But they'd finally gotten rid of Clara and it really looked like we finally going to start doing something interesting.

It's not the first time I've been wrong about something.

Without hyperbole or exaggeration, my honest reaction as the credits rolled was, LITERALLY this:

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #83.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #82.

Tick & Tock

There's a few interesting questions raised by Heaven Sent. The most obvious one being exactly how much of the budget for this series is being saved for the finale? That's one we can't really get into until next week of course, but I'm actually looking forward to finding out. But we're supposed to be talking about THIS weeks Doctor Who, not speculating about next weeks. So, next question was it actually any good?

Yes actually. I enjoyed this one a lot.

Which, given my response to the series thus far may come as something of a shock to many. But then it's hardly my fault that the vast majority of stories thus far have been bad is it? Just let me enjoy this brief respite from plot holes and mediocrity whilst I can.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #81.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #80.

Birdface Killah

I don't think it should come as any great shock that, in my opinion, this particular series of Doctor Who hasn't been exactly great. There are always going to be runs that are stronger or weaker than others of course, but this is the first time I've found myself not actually looking forward to the next episode. I mean, series 2 was, overall, pretty shite. And yet I would still optimistically keep tuning in, hopeful that the next episode would be better. Even when that episode was Fear Her.

But this week? I gotta admit, I was positively DREADING Face The Raven. The trailer seemed to promise a visit to Diagon Alley from Harry Potter. With some sort of magic bird thrown in. And I've never been a big fan of overtly magical stuff in Doctor Who. And then the pre episode hype kicks in with the news that Binty McWizard-Viking from TVs Game Of Thrones™ will be returning as well. And when you're my go to least favourite thing in a series that features Daleks LITERALLY MADE OF LIQUID POO... Well, it's not a good sign.

That I didn't actually hate the episode is actually somewhat confusing to me. And it's not even for the most obvious reason you might think.

Spoiler alert.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #79.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #78.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #77.

In Space No One Can Hear You Snooze

Sleep No More seems to be something of an anomaly. Both in terms of this particular series, as well as Doctor Who episodes in general. After watching it I was, I admit, somewhat ambivalent. Whilst there's a lot in there to like I had the terrible nagging feeling that it was missing something important. Now though I think I'm coming around to the idea of what it was trying to go for.

Perhaps because, somewhat ironically, I've had a chance to sleep on it.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #76.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #75.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #74.

The Osgood, The Bad And The Ugly

I think it's fair to say that so far my general impression of this current series of Doctor Who has been somewhat negative. Of course, the fact that everything is a 2 parter this time around does skew ones perceptions somewhat. Even if the first episode is good it's the inevitable let down in the second that sticks in ones mind.

So it's a great relief to me that The Zygon Inversion is probably the first sequel this episode that actually stands up and delivers on the promise of it's preceding instalment.

Interestingly enough, this sense of relief is itself comprised of two parts. Firstly of course there's the relief that I feel as a fan of the show who was really worrying that the whole production had lost the plot completely. It's nice to know they can still deliver a decent story when they really try. And secondly there's the relief that the whole thing really wasn't as horribly racist as it could have been.

Lest we forget.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #73.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #72.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #71.

Science Fiction Double Feature

♫Science Fiction
Double Feature
In the pit
There lurks a creature
Sepentine monsters
Like Sarff and Mara
The ultimate horror
Is an extra Clara
At the late night
Double feature
Picture show♫

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #70.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #69.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #68.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #67.

Chronicles Of Inania

I'm not gonna lie to you. I wasn't really looking forward to seeing The Woman Who Lived. After last weeks one two punch of crushing mediocrity and ghastly, character defying author fiat I just wasn't left with any particular faith that this weeks episode was going to be any good.

Any to be fair, it wasn't. But the problem I find myself facing is that it wasn't even bad in any particularly interesting ways. So now when I come to write the traditional review I'm left wondering what it is I can talk about without descending into petty personal insults and ad hominem strawman attacks.

And even that used to be better back in the old days.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #66.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #65.

A Space Helmet For A Cow.

You know, I always thought I had a pretty high tolerance for bad Doctor Who stories. I have willingly watched Timelash on several occasions and actually enjoyed it. I'm pretty sure that The Web Planet is the closest I'm ever going to get to experiencing hallucinogenic drugs. I've never met a Sylvester McCoy story I haven't liked, despite the 80's being objectively terrible at EVERYTHING.

It's funny because it's actually set in a freezer shop.

So I'm actually starting to worry a bit. Because I'm finding that I have a lot tolerance for the new series than I used to. Am I just getting old? Is this what losing ones faith feels like? Or maybe is the series just not being made for people like me any more?

The problem here is that it's the last of those options that's actually the most worrying. Because if the The Girl Who Died proves only one thing, it's that whoever the show is being made for these days has REALLY fucking low standards.

The Predictive Text

It's funny really. Last week I was starting worry that I might start having trouble finding things to say if the episodes were going to fall into the "Part 1 good, Part 2 meh" pattern that a lot of 2 part stories suffer from. And whilst I'm not sure that Before The Flood was quite as good as it's preceding chapter, it wasn't really bad in any way.

No, the problem I'm having in trying to talk about it is that it went almost EXACTLY as I expected.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #64.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #63.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #62.

Back To Bas(e Under Siege)ics

I love a bit of base under siege. I mean, who doesn't? It's a classic staple of Doctor Who. And there's an awful lot to recommend Under The Lake as a fairly strong entry into that venerable lineage of stories. And we'll get to all that good stuff in time, trust me. But first there's one thing that worrying me that I'd like to talk about for a moment.

This may sound odd, but as of right no I find myself slightly afraid of ping pong.

Don't look at me like that. Ping pong balls can be SCARY.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #61.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #60.

Dalek Corn

So.... That was problematic.

That's my reaction after watching the Witches Familiar. After last week I was feeling almost positive about this new series of Doctor Who. Things seemed like they might be going in interesting directions. And they still might. It's not like this episode was an irredeemable failure on every conceptual level like Asylum Of The Daleks was. It had some good stuff going on. But there are many elements that just don't quite work. As I'm sure I've talked about previously there are levels of this you can tolerate or even forgive, but if stuff builds up there eventually comes a point when you just can't ignore it any more and you're yanked right out enjoying and sent hurtling into complaining in a rather abrupt fashion.

Now, there are several fairly significant things that need to be nitpicked in tedious detail. And we will get to those. But if I had to pinpoint one particular moment in the episode when the roped well and truly snapped on my suspension of disbelief, well, that's easy.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #59.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #58.

Planes & A Snake

Okay, first things first. How many reviews of The Magicians Apprentice do you think are going to leading with a Snakes On A Plane joke or reference? It's got to be roughly all of them, right?

This is clearly all just egregious pandering to the internet. Assuming of course that, since it's a show about time travel, there's no such thing as a hopelessly outdated pop culture reference. You can always just go back to when it was still relevant.

As far as I can see the only real problem with this strategy is, sadly, that it WORKS. Clearly, despite some of the previous misfires the show is still managing to plug right into some portion of brain and make a connection. And I don't just mean in the way that it clearly KNOWS I'm going to want to make lame jokes about films I've never even actually seen and is generously indulging me whilst still delivering a rather damn fine episode.

See, like a lot of people writing about any part of pop culture I do occasionally indulge in the idle fantasy of wondering how it would be if the production team read my reviews. But after this episode I'm actually starting to get seriously worried that Steven Moffat is reading my MIND.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #57.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #56.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #55.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #54.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #53.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #52.

Adventures In Manga Maker Comipo #51.