Lena Headey, Angela Bassett, Michelle Yeoh, Carla Gugino, and Paul Giamatti fill out the cast in Netflix’s hitman action movie, Gunpowder Milkshake. The first trailer showcases three generations of kick-ass women fighting back against those who could take everything from them.
Marvel Studios upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy keeps on casting some big names that keeps us talking and speculating. Last time we discussed James Gunn’s GotG we learned that Glenn Close would be playing a leading member of the Nova Corps along with a rumor that John C. Reilly was up for a role as well. Today we have another piece of news that set some tongues wagging.
The Doctor returns and straight away he is in a spot of bother. Following a distress call from Skaro he is set up and kidnapped by the Daleks as well as Rory and Amy who are now having severe relationship woes. In fact they were just about to get divorced! They are summoned to the parliament of the Daleks which they expect to be the end of their lives. Instead the Daleks say two words. Save us.
The Daleks have a problem. They have a planet; a planet that’s a prison full of insane and imperfect Daleks. The Daleks find it offensive to actually kill any form of hatred (which these Daleks have in spades) so they leave them on this planet. The planet however also has a problem (it’s not a good day to be a Dalek hey?); a ship has crashed landed there and there is now a small hole in the force field which means Daleks can now get out. The force field can only be turned off from the inside!
Another problem is that the Daleks are to bloody scared to send anyone to sort it! They have no trouble sending the doctor and co down there mind which they do by shooting them at the planet! So, their mission is two fold. They need to survive long enough to turn off the force field letting the Daleks blow up the planet and they need to rescue the trapped and quite brilliant Oswin who is stuck on the planet too (hers being one of the ships that crashed landed there). To make matters worse there is a nano bots in the air that turns anyone who encounters it into a Dalek hybrid, which sucks for Amy as she loses the wristband she was given to keep the nanobots out. Will Amy turn Dalek, will they rescue Oswin and will they manage to escape the planet of Daleks before the Daleks blow it up?!
Right from the start this episode grabs you and does not let go. The Doctor is made to look a dark and brooding character mostly seen in shadow on the walls. This Doctor is all business but bitter, a man who does not want to be the adventurer he once was. This adds an amazing amount of tension to this first opening scene. This follows through most of the episode with the Doctor near the end becoming more like the Doctor we know from series past. So a lot of this episode involves the Doctor finding the joy of actually been the Doctor again. It’s also about rekindling relationships with Rory and Amy needing a disaster like this to get them to open up about their feelings and actually tell one another they love each other. This first episode is also a historic one been the first episode shown in the UK, Canada and the U.S. at the same time!
The last series lost some of its magic near the end. The Doctor got very moody and the fun seemed to go from it. The series lost its way with a mix of topsy-turvy time travel stories, romantic sub plots and a general lack of fun! Writer Stephen Moffet is still finding his feet with the doctor I think. Some episodes were spot on, some not so much. For this episode he has streamlined it down to the basics. Daleks the old favorite are the bad guys, Doctor and co run about trying to stop a disaster. And it works. Basic approach really gets you gripped into the story again.
An episode called the Asylum of the Daleks is always going to conjure up scenes of grandeur. This is a more low key affair. Aside from the numerous Daleks at the start from all different time frames there are only a handful of Daleks at a time. In fact this episode plays a little like a zombie flick, enclosed spaces, Daleks popping out around corridors, etc. Again this thinned back approach works so much better than the special effects heavy last series.
There are some incredible scenes here to (SPOLIER ALERT). Rory getting trapped in a hall full of insane sleeping Daleks who wake up very slowly (very much like a scene from The Birds), the doctor and may finding a crew member who does not know he is a Dalek, zombie Daleks, an amazing scene in intensive care with Daleks surrounding the Doctor and a great end scene which is very much like Jacobsladder. The shock to this episode is the reveal of Oswind been an actual Dalek with a human mind who still thinks she’s human and one of her final acts being to wipe the Daleks memories of any knowledge of the Doctor.
This reveal caught me off guard but the signs are all there if you look for them! It’s actually a touching scene which tugs at your heart strings quite a lot. Jenna-Louise Coleman is a very engaging character in this episode, very witty and funny as well as been very smart. This is her first appearance but she will return in the Christmas special. Her sacrifice leads to the final scene with the Daleks completely confused about who is on their ship shouting “Doctor Who” while they make there get away! It’s a great little ending to a nicely laid out episode.
Sure there are some ropy bits especially Rory and Amy talking about the nanobots sucking out love (don’t ask!); the big hole in the plot of why build a planet you can only get access to from the inside and then dump Daleks on it if you are going to blow it up in the end anyway! But overall these are minor problems. The main thing is it’s a lot of fun which the last series lacked. Overall a great start to the new series and I cannot wait for episode two. Here’s a sneak peek of it.
Filming on the new series of Doctor Who got under way on the 20th of February, and they recently finished filming on location in Spain. This will be Matt Smith’s third year as ‘the Doctor’, but also Karen Gillian & Arthur Darvill‘s last as companions Amy and Rory. They will be leaving in episode 5. It, of course, means that a new companion will be joining the Doctor in the TARDIS. The actress to play this – so far unnamed – role has been recently announced: Jenna-Louise Coleman!
Jenna is 25 and comes from Blackpool. She has previously played ‘Jasmine Thomas’ in the ITV soap Emmerdale, and ‘Lindsay James’ in the BBC drama Waterloo Road. She also appeared, last Sunday, on new ITV drama Titanic, as ‘Annie Desmond’. All of which probably means nothing to anyone not from the UK. She was also the voice of Melia in Xenoblade on the Wii and had a small (very small – two lines small) part in the Captain America film.
When she found out she had got the part she was, apparently, in Marks & Spencers holding an avocado. Steven Moffat has said of her ” I think she’s possibly the only person I’ve ever heard [talk] faster than Matt.” He also said that when Jenna’s character meets the doctor it will be “one of the biggest mysteries the Time Lord ever encounters” and that “even by the Doctor’s standard this isn’t your usual boy meets girl.” She will be introduced in the Christmas special.
And so on to the new series (number 7 if you must, or number 33 as I – and lots of other fans – like to think of it). The BBC press release says:
Prepare yourselves for thrills, adventure and dramatic surprises as the show builds towards its enormous, climactic 50th anniversary year.” It also promises “Fourteen big blockbuster-movie episodes – each a brand new epic adventure featuring new monsters and some familiar foes as you’ve never seen them before.
A lot to live up to!
Guest stars so far confirmed are: David Bradley (Argus Filch in the Harry Potter films), Rupert Graves (most recently seen as D.I. Lestrade in Sherlock), Mark Williams (Arthur Weasley in the Harry Potter films) and Ben Browder (Farscape and Stargate).
And here is the first preview trailer. Yay! Cowboys, cyborgs, and running – lots of running.
“Anachronistic electricity; keep-out signs; aggressive stares – has someone been peeking at my Christmas list?!” Brilliant!
The new series will premiere this autumn – dates to be confirmed – on BBC One (UK), BBC America (USA) and SPACE (Canada). There will be six episodes this year (including the Christmas Special) and then 8 next year – hopefully just after New Year.
The Doctor is returning to BBC One and BBC America for the second half of the latest series. We told you in April about the start of the 32nd series, and now there is a trailer for the 2nd half to fill you full of glee and excitement! First though, here’s a rundown on what’s ahead…
– The first episode – Episode 8 will be Let’s Kill Hitler by Steven Moffat. According to the BBC website: ‘In the desperate search for Melody Pond, the TARDIS crash lands in 1930s Berlin, bringing the Doctor face to face with the greatest war criminal in the Universe. And Hitler. The Doctor must teach his adversaries that time travel has responsibilities – and in so doing, learns a harsh lesson in the cruellest warfare of all.’
– Episode 9 is entitled ‘Night Terrors’ and writer Mark Gatiss promises some of the scariest moments he has ever dreamed up.
– Episode 10 is written by Tom MacRae and will be ‘The Girl Who Waited’. It will b a Amy-centric story, apparently.
– Episode 11 is ‘The God Complex’ by Toby Whithouse. It will be set in a hotel and features David Walliams as an alien called Gibbis.
– Episode 12‘s title is yet to be announced. It’s written by Gareth Roberts and will see the return of Craig Owens (James Corden) from last years episode ‘The Lodger’.
– Episode 13 is written by Steven Moffat. The big finale will contain the biggest twist so far – or at least so says Karen Gillan.
Here’s the trailer:
No announcement yet as to when the series will re-start on BBC One. But it must be soon as (according to Gamma Squad) it will premier on BBC America on the 27th of August. Come on Auntie! I need my New Who fix!
Series 32 of Doctor Who starts on Saturday the 23rd of April, and will be shown on BBC One, BBC One HD and BBC America. And I, for one, am so excited I could wet myself! No, really, I could.
This is all the information I know up to now (no, not just the date, what I am about to impart to you.) There will be a few light spoilers, but not too many as I don’t want to know too much either.
First up is the fact that this years series will be split in two. The first seven episodes will end on what has been promised to be a ‘memorable and shocking cliffhanger’. Then a summer break in July and August before the final six episodes are shown in autumn (or fall, for all you Americans). It is also going to be more dark and spooky. Time to hide behind the sofa?
The first two part story is by Steven Moffat. Episode one is entitled ‘The Impossible Astronaut’ and episode two is ‘Day of The Moon’. It’s set in America in 1969 (there has been filming in Utah and Arizona) and sees the return of River Song (Alex Kingston).
The general plot, as reported by Doctor Who Magazine, goes as follows.
July 1969. Man takes his first, tentative steps on the Moon. That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for… okay, you’ve heard that one before. But a lot more happened on Earth that year than mankind remembers.
Four small TARDIS-blue envelopes. A date, time and map reference. “We’ve been recruited,” ponders River Song. All roads lead to Lake Silencio, in Utah, on one balmy day in April. And an astronaut. An Apollo astronaut in the lake. Impossible? Not today. For the heavens have become a part of man’s world, and this is the day that some one is going to die.
Someone is going to die, and it’s going to be either The Doctor, Amy, Rory or River
Yes, you read that right, one of them will die! Apparently.
Really? Didn’t Rory die last series? You can’t kill The Doctor, surely? River Song seems the most likely candidate, but… really? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
All this and, what are being called, the scariest monsters yet! Even more terrifying than the Weeping Angles. And this is just for starters.
Episode three will be ‘The Curse of The Black Spot’. Hugh Bonneville will feature as a pirate captain and Lilly Cole as a mysterious creature that haunts his ship.
Episode four is ‘The Doctor’s Wife’, written by comic legend Neil Gaiman. This is the story they ran out of money for before filming last year. It sees the return of the Ood(the only returning monsters this year).
Episode five – ‘The Rebel Flesh‘ – and episode six – ‘The Almost People‘ – are a two parter, and episode seven (written by Moffat) will be ‘A Good Man Goes to War’.
The only two episode titles, for the second part of the series, so far announced are episode nine (by Mark Gatiss), which will be called ‘What Are Little Boys Made of?‘ and episode eleven, titled ‘The God Complex’, which will see David Walliams (of Little Britain fame) as an alien character called Gibbs.
The other news of the second part of the series is that James Corden and Daisy Haggard will be reprising their roles as Craig Owens and Sophie from last years episode ‘The Lodger’.