You’re too short and bossy and your nose is all funny

Okay, for real this time...  One episode stories are really hurting this show!  Nightmare in Silver is a perfect example of why.

Before I get into pulling apart this episode, allow me to commend the new design of the Cybermen.  It is vastly superior to their previous look in the renewed show.  I'm still not a massive fan of the wrist-mounted guns...  But I'll overlook it since the redesign is closer to the classic Cybermen.

That being said, the rest of this episode is a mess and the blame for that falls on writer Neil Gaiman's (sorry Neil) inability to trim his material down to 45 minutes.  Not that I can blame him for wanting to keep as much of his stuff in as he can, there are some fun and interesting ideas in Nightmare in Silver, but there are just too many of them and so many loose ends it just falls apart.  Such a shame.

I'm fine with skipping the inevitable argument over bringing the kids along.  But I would've liked a quick scene where the Doctor lays out the rules for traveling with him to the young 'uns.

The whole episode would have run smoother had the punishment platoon not been there at all.  It was a nice idea, but they never had time to be more than cannon fodder.  The same effect could have been achieved by two or three security guards for the park.

The Cybermen liberally stealing from the Borg is 100% cool.  I mean, the ensuing cyber-lawsuit would be thrown out of Cyber-court.  It is about time the Cybermen took a little back from these johnny come lately Borg.

They were hit and miss though.  The slo-mo effect was cool and making Cybermen super-fast was novel, I wouldn't have thought of it but I like it.  I don't mind the hive mind and I do like that they just salvage biological parts like mechanical parts to build a new army.  One the other hand...  The free roaming hand and twist around head were goofy.  Atmosphere ruining daft.  Also, did we really have to go for the universe threatening monsters needing kids "limitless potential" again?

The Cyberplanner isn't new, but this rejigged concept...  Let's face it, this was good Ash/evil Ash territoy.  I understand that Matt Smith vs. a dreary monotone Matt Smith wouldn't have made spectacular TV, but the moments were it came across as cunning, malevolent and sinister were too few.

Emperor Porridge wasn't bad.  It even felt like the only developed subplot of the episode.  Warwick Davis was wonderful, he really put forth a great performance, as did the woefully underused Jason Watkins as Webley.  In my revision of this episode, he would have been the half-human/half-cyberman planner for the Doctor to banter with and try to outwit.

This was just rushed.  It needed to be at least twice as long.  The suspense could have been slowly cranked up, the supporting cast explored in more depth, the park more than just a few junk-strewn car parks and a fake castle...  And so on.

There were some lovely touches.  Cyber-mites?  Neat.  The Doctor using chess to battle his foe?  Hell yes...  Pity the end of that game was so cheap.

The moment that raised the biggest smile for me was the activation of the Cybermen, when they give a big loving nod to the classic show using mirrors to pretend there are more of them advancing towards the screen by animating them so precisely the same trick could have been used.

So yeah, Nightmare is Silver is a disappointment as an episode, but as a Cybermen fan I am forgiving a lot because of how much  like the new style.

Ignore All The Keep Out Signs

Finally!  After two episodes of rapidly diminishing quality, things pick up tremendously in "The Crimson Horror" by Mark Gatiss.  As a writer for Doctor Who, he has been a bit hit and miss, but this is a big hit in my eyes, making it two in a row for him this season.

The Crimson Horror begins as a Doctor-lite episode but ends as "The Doctor & His Gang" again, with Jenny Flint, Strax and Madam Vastra all making very welcome returns.  While it is certainly true that Strax has become entirely a comic relief character, I don't imagine anyone is too upset since the Sontarans are hardly the most beloved classic Doctor Who monster.

 

 

So, we've got mysterious deaths in Victorian...  Yorkshire, ahem.  Vastra & Co. doing the investigations, strangely red-skinned corpses, a factory that isn't actually making anything and the Doctor is nowhere to be seen except as an image captured in the eyes of a murder victim.

Yeah, this is a fun one!

While I do think some of the comedy is a bit broad, that is hardly a big issue.  We do get a few Avengers homage moments, no doubt inspired by the (also inspired) casting of Diana Rigg as our puritanical villainess Mrs. Gillyflower.  She has a cruel and dysfunctional relationship with her daughter and a cult of wannabe doomsday dodgers to back her up, plus the unseen-until-the-climax Mr. Sweet, who is interesting to say the least.

More than anything, this is a well-constructed episode.  The storytelling as fast as ever, but once again Gatiss proves he can tell a complete story in 45 minutes.  The plot is good, the secondary characters work and the wrap up doesn't rely on sprinkling fairy dust or cheap sentiment.  The episode is sprinkled with references to the classic series and more recent episodes (yes, the mystery of Clara is still going on), of which this is the 100th!!

Which is all to say that "The Crimson Horror" is a refreshing change after a fortnight of pretty bad stories.  Hopefully this is the first of three astonishingly good episodes to cap off what has been a hit and miss season.  This is a good period mystery, much better than the Christmas Special which it has obvious links with.

Next time...  We finally, finally, fin-bloody-lly get some Cybermen that don't look rubbish.  In an episode written by Neil Gaiman.  My inner geek is so very hopeful!

Iron Man 3

I saw Iron Man 3 on Saturday and now I've had a few days to absorb it.  I tend to do that with movies, think on it and find out what stuck with me.

We're going to sell SO MANY TOYS!!

 This is a Spoiler Free review for our colonial friends.

Iron Man 3 is really rather good!  I really hope it is an indicator of the quality of the upcoming Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: Winter Soldier.  If they come close to this in terms of quality, Marvel/Disney is likely to have a very profitable couple of years.  I also suspect they are desperate to keep Robert Downey Jr. in the role for more appearances.  I have to say, so am I.

There are a couple of very key, very important things Iron Man 3 does absolutely right.

Firstly, it immediately steps out of the shadow of The Avengers.  This is once again Tony Stark's story in his corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with big business, high technology, politics and war on the human level.  Tony, Pepper and Happy are back to what they do.

Secondly, despite what I just said, the events of The Avengers are not ignored.  Indeed, Tony can't quite seem to reconcile even his quite incredible lifestyle with the time spent fighting with gods and monsters.  He doesn't know how to go home again.  This makes for some good character drama.

Thirdly, Iron Man 3 continues with the growth of characterization in Tony Stark and "Pepper" Potts, something that began way back in 2008's Iron Man.  Despite all the explosions and comedy moments, there are some real human moments and the characters end the film in a different place to where they were at the start.  Obviously, this isn't protracted or plumbing the depths of the human heart...  It is a comic book movie.  But, the development is there, especially if you've followed these characters from the first movie.

In and of itself, Iron Man 3 has similarities to Iron Man 2.  We've got some high technology put to nefarious use and initially at least, Iron Man just isn't ready for it.  He thinks he is...  And you've all seen the posters that show how well that goes.

Iron Man 3 hangs together well.  It has a long running time, but fills it well, with only a couple of minor scenes that could probably have been cut out.  They really did cherry-pick the better ideas from the "Extremis" comic storyline and discard the really stupid ones, giving us a new threat that thankfully moves away from power armour and robots.

The final verdict is overwhelmingly positive.  Marvel/Disney continues to put out superhero blockbuster action movies that are actually fun and funny, and it seems that the post-Avengers "Phase 2" is off to a very good start.

The one thing that did really annoy me was that for whatever reason we didn't get a Thor: The Dark World trailer at our screening.  We got one for every crappy movie coming up like The Hangover 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness instead.  Y'know, movies they could pay me to see.