First a reminder of the previous ranks and scores after initially watching the previous series
Series 8
1. Series 4
2. Series 8
3. Series 7
4. Series 2
5. Series 1
6. Series 3
7. Series 5
8. Series 6
Series 9
1. Series 4 = 7.94
2. Series 2 = 7.45
3. Series 1 = 7.40
4. Series 9 = 7.13
5. Series 8 = 7.00
6. Series 7 = 6.94
7. Series 3 = 6.90
8. Series 5 = 6.90
9. Series 6 = 6.58
Series 10
1. Series 4 = 7.87 (down 0.07)
2. Series 2 = 7.55 (up 0.10)
3. Series 1 = 7.50 (up 0.10)
4. Series 3 = 7.20 (up 0.30)
5. Series 10 = 7.18 (NEW) (Added Twice Upon a Time score)
6. Series 5 = 7.10 (up 0.20)
7. Series 9 = 7.00 (down 0.13)
8. Series 7 = 6.76 (down 0.18)
9. Series 6 = 6.75 (up 0.18)
10. Series 8 = 6.73 (down 0.27)
At the end of Series 10 every series had had alterations. It is clear before I analyse and add series 11's scores (of which the individual episode scores will be kept hidden upon pending all the release of the reviews), that I do suffer slightly from recent series/episode syndrome. The Newest series always seems to drop. Series 8, the first series that I reviewed on this site, started off in 3rd place and has since plummeted to last, ousting series 6 that had held that post for such a long while. Coincidentally all of the series that have been released since I started the List have topped all Moffat run series. Now with Moffat's era under wraps I do wonder if his series will remain consistent with RTD's. I have, it appears, become a more RTD lover in times, uniting with nostalgia as his series trumph all Moffat's now when that didn't used to be the case. Now let's see the new ranking, including Series 11.
Series 11
1. Series 4 = 7.87 (-)
2. Series 2 = 7.64 (up 0.09)
3. Series 1 = 7.40 (down 0.10)
4. Series 3 = 7.20 (-)
5. Series 10 = 7.00 (down 0.18)
6. Series 5 = 7.00 (down 0.10)
7. Series 8 = 6.81 (up 0.08)
8. Series 9 = 6.80 (down 0.20)
9. Series 7 = 6.76 (-)
10. Series 6 = 6.75 (-)
11. Series 11 = 6.27 (NEW)
Well there we have it, still a RTD and then Moffat and it seems in this case we also have the lone series by Chris Chibnall right at the bottom. This time round four series have remained at the same level, series 2 has gone up as has series 8 and Series 10, 5, and 9 have all lowered. Looking at series 10, which topped the Moffat era and now jointly does (although my personal preference is series 10). My RTD era order remains the same as it always has and probably always well as there is now quite a clear gap between the series and their scores. Series 6 no longer is the lowest series, as it wasn't last time either, but it has now returned to the lowest Moffat era series with Series 8 having a slight increase, now beating series 9. Series 9 in what appears to be a surprise to me, is my worst Capaldi series. I do think this is down to the fact that there a lot of great episodes in there and some solid poor ones. Now the elephant in the room. The series just gone. It is the lowest and by a considerable difference. Series 6 is the next highest and that is 0.48 ahead. The lowest RTD series is almost a whole score higher in average, 0.93 above. The best series of the modern era is a whole 1.5 above series 11 which is a disgrace for the most recent series. As I mentioned above I am a sufferer slightly of the recent series syndrome. If this means that Series 11 is going to drop than that is not good at all. Series 12 needs to improve on this significantly as this is not a good score. It still is above a 6 and joins 4 other series that also fit in the 6 category but if you are to round to the nearest full number, Series 11 becomes the first series to fall to a 6. Series 4 and 2 round to an 8 and the rest of the series, the other 8 round to a 7. All in all it is very clear the style of hte show that I prefer. The boundary though between RTD and Moffat is only 0.2 compared to the 0.48 between Moffat and Chibnall which is only likely to increase with time. By era by Doctor it appears it goes Tennant, Eccleston, Capaldi, Smith, Whitaker. This does not follow my ranking of Doctors which goes, Tennant, Capaldi, Smith, Eccleston, Whitaker. Oh yes spoilers for perhaps a future post but Whitaker is my least favourtie Doctor, not just of the modern era, but all of Who. This could differ and change when she finds her ground. I don't want to do a series 11 overview here because I want you to know my opinions of the episodes as they slowly come in one by one and I do apologies for that.
Series 11 is my least favourite series and that hopefully won't change because I don't want the next series to be even worse. I don't think it will be, I think with a more sense of familiarity it will be better than the series just gone but I don't know. A new series popping in so low in the order is wronging hugely. We shall see what happens to the show.
Star Wars and Doctor Who
Wednesday, 2 January 2019
Tuesday, 1 January 2019
The Daleks return today
I have been very minimal with my series 11 posts but I did want to explain briefly why I am pleased the Daleks are back today.
I definitely thought the Daleks needed a big break and initially I wanted a bigger break than they are getting but after series 11, I am dying to see them again for two main reasons.
1. It will provide a sense of familiarly which has been missing from this series
2. It gives a real threat for Jodie to deal with
They could really mess it up, but I hope not. If they do, then series 11 will be even more disappointing than it already is.
I definitely thought the Daleks needed a big break and initially I wanted a bigger break than they are getting but after series 11, I am dying to see them again for two main reasons.
1. It will provide a sense of familiarly which has been missing from this series
2. It gives a real threat for Jodie to deal with
They could really mess it up, but I hope not. If they do, then series 11 will be even more disappointing than it already is.
Doctor Who Series 11 Review #3 - Rosa by Majoire Blackman and Chris Chibnall
Here we are finally,
Rosa by Majorie Blackman and Chris Chibnall
Rosa is the third story and third episode of the 11th series of the modern era, and 13th Doctor's third series as well.
This episode marks the second time in the history of the show where the Doctor Who theme does not play in the closing credits. Now don't get me wrong, the episode was impactful but to put on the same scale of a death of a companion (I know it was Adric) seems wrong to me. This episode was a gem by series 11 standards though, it dealt with a real issue quite well I would say and although it was political correctness which was the series in a nutshell, it wasn't over the top, which was good.
Doctor Rating
13th Doctor - 7/10 - Jodie felt more in charge in this one than previously, of which I was pleased about. She took the stage and delivered the lines better, but it still was a bit CBBC
Companion Rating
Ryan Sinclair - 7/10 - Again Ryan felt a bit more alive in this episode. His delivery of when speaking to Martin Luther King and then to Rosa Parks payed off as I laughed. He still feels really awkward but this one did feel a bit more personal for Ryan
Yas Khan - 7/10 - Again same for Yas. She felt more real in this episode. Although it was only a throw away line, the one about her boyfriend from year 10 just made her feel more human and the line came at an appropriate time and wasn't just chucked in there which I know, through the benefit of hindsight, does occur later on in the series
Graham O'Biren - 8/10 - The little reference of Grace was acted so well by Bradley. He really was a good character in this one. Steve Jobs bit was very funny too
Enemy Rating
Krasko - 5/10 - Our space racist from the future in true pantomine style. His motives were well and good but he wasn't very threatening and he was just dealt with in a lacklusture way. Poor villains and poor pay offs for them is a common theme in this series
Story Rating
Story: 7/10 - This wasn't anything special other than dealing with an important issue. The actual story is quite simplistic.
Scariness: 5/10 - Krasko first couldn't aim and then that was then explained that he couldn't kill, which in turn made it not that scary. The seriousenss of the situation which is separate to scariness in my marking did provide a bit of fear factor
Seriousness: 9/10 - It didn't need to be universe exploding for it to be serious. I genially was on the edge of my sit hoping Rosa would be able to get to the bus on time. Therefore a high score is necessary here
Continuity: 6/10 - No references to the past really but the story made sense and flowed well. I deducted an entire point for the closing credits having a pop song in them. That is not Doctor Who.
Rest of Cast Performance
Rosa Parks - 8/10 - No fault in the acting, she played the part well. I think she could have been portrayed as more likeable but it is possible that Rosa was like that in real life, I don't know
James Blake: 8/10 - He was more believable than the villain. He seemed like a genuine human racist, which is good in the sense of portrayal but obviously racism isn't good
Rosa by Majorie Blackman and Chris Chibnall
Rosa is the third story and third episode of the 11th series of the modern era, and 13th Doctor's third series as well.
This episode marks the second time in the history of the show where the Doctor Who theme does not play in the closing credits. Now don't get me wrong, the episode was impactful but to put on the same scale of a death of a companion (I know it was Adric) seems wrong to me. This episode was a gem by series 11 standards though, it dealt with a real issue quite well I would say and although it was political correctness which was the series in a nutshell, it wasn't over the top, which was good.
Doctor Rating
13th Doctor - 7/10 - Jodie felt more in charge in this one than previously, of which I was pleased about. She took the stage and delivered the lines better, but it still was a bit CBBC
Companion Rating
Ryan Sinclair - 7/10 - Again Ryan felt a bit more alive in this episode. His delivery of when speaking to Martin Luther King and then to Rosa Parks payed off as I laughed. He still feels really awkward but this one did feel a bit more personal for Ryan
Yas Khan - 7/10 - Again same for Yas. She felt more real in this episode. Although it was only a throw away line, the one about her boyfriend from year 10 just made her feel more human and the line came at an appropriate time and wasn't just chucked in there which I know, through the benefit of hindsight, does occur later on in the series
Graham O'Biren - 8/10 - The little reference of Grace was acted so well by Bradley. He really was a good character in this one. Steve Jobs bit was very funny too
Enemy Rating
Krasko - 5/10 - Our space racist from the future in true pantomine style. His motives were well and good but he wasn't very threatening and he was just dealt with in a lacklusture way. Poor villains and poor pay offs for them is a common theme in this series
Story Rating
Story: 7/10 - This wasn't anything special other than dealing with an important issue. The actual story is quite simplistic.
Scariness: 5/10 - Krasko first couldn't aim and then that was then explained that he couldn't kill, which in turn made it not that scary. The seriousenss of the situation which is separate to scariness in my marking did provide a bit of fear factor
Seriousness: 9/10 - It didn't need to be universe exploding for it to be serious. I genially was on the edge of my sit hoping Rosa would be able to get to the bus on time. Therefore a high score is necessary here
Continuity: 6/10 - No references to the past really but the story made sense and flowed well. I deducted an entire point for the closing credits having a pop song in them. That is not Doctor Who.
Rest of Cast Performance
Rosa Parks - 8/10 - No fault in the acting, she played the part well. I think she could have been portrayed as more likeable but it is possible that Rosa was like that in real life, I don't know
James Blake: 8/10 - He was more believable than the villain. He seemed like a genuine human racist, which is good in the sense of portrayal but obviously racism isn't good
Total: 81/110
Series 11 Rankings:
The Woman who Fell to Earth: 64.29%
The Ghost Monument: 62.14%
Rosa: 73.63%
Scores out of 10:
The Woman who Fell to Earth: 6/10
The Ghost Monument: 6/10
Rosa: 7/10*
*As I have now seen all of the main run of series 11 and have loosened away from the recent episode syndrome I have lowered quite a few of my marks. Therefore on here I will initially have my score I had at the time before than lowering the score when I thought in my head to lower it.
Rosa at this stage was my favourite episode, shown through my review and through my own brain.
In terms of when I will review the rest of the series, the answer is I just don't know but hopefully soon.
I am looking forward to the New Year Day's feature of the Daleks
The Woman who Fell to Earth: 64.29%
The Woman who Fell to Earth: 6/10
The Ghost Monument: 6/10
Rosa: 7/10*
*As I have now seen all of the main run of series 11 and have loosened away from the recent episode syndrome I have lowered quite a few of my marks. Therefore on here I will initially have my score I had at the time before than lowering the score when I thought in my head to lower it.
Rosa at this stage was my favourite episode, shown through my review and through my own brain.
In terms of when I will review the rest of the series, the answer is I just don't know but hopefully soon.
I am looking forward to the New Year Day's feature of the Daleks
2018 - Ranking the films I saw
This is a tradition that I like to uphold if I can. 2018 has been a busy year for me and no doubt 2019 will be a busier one. I hope to continue the List for as long as I can, even if the posts become a little bit less frequent than they used to be. I am hoping to finish rewatching Rosa today and a review for that episode will be out hopefully today as well.
But without further a do, here is a ranking of the 11 films that I have been lucky enough to go to the cinema and watch this year
1. Solo: A Star Wars Story - Unfortunately this has to go here by default almost because it is Star Wars. Solo was not a bad film by any means, obviously as I have ranked it number 1 but it was the weakest for the Star Wars saga. That may be a surprise to many, particularly the prequel haters out there but for me it felt like a check list of all things Han Solo related. I found it such as coincidence that almost everything important that happened to Solo before we saw him in A New Hope happened in the space of a few days. It was fun, filled with a bit of hit and miss humor but an enjoyable film in the Star Wars saga. Releasing it in May was also a mistake for me because it meant that I hadn't got on the hype wagon. A December release would have done the film more justice in my eyes
2. Darkest Hour - the very first film that I saw in 2018. It was a corker. Gary Oldham was outstanding as Winston Churchill. It was a stellar film that portrayed the harrowing that the British had from the Germans and that good will always prevail. The 'Never Surrender speech' was one of the finest moments in cinematic history, as well as perhaps one of the greatest speeches made in the history of not just the United Kingdom but the world
3. Mission Impossible Fallout - The Mission Impossible series is one of the few where each film improves on the next and this was competing that trend. The film was not only full of excellent action sequences but was also tense with twists and an excellent plot. It wasn't a mundane story line, it was different and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
4. Jurassic World 2: Fallen Kingdom - For some this film had established itself too much as a horror film but I felt this was a proper on the edge film and I really enjoyed, more so than the first of the reboot series
5. Mamma Mia, Here we Go Again! - A return of a classic film from one of Britain's Greatest writers, Richard Curtis. This film was a great film full of classic songs and really uplifting.
6. Johnny English Strikes Again - This was a very funny film and I laughed out loud many a time. It is the weakest of the trilogy I believe and I think it wasn't necessary but it was very funny and that's the important thing. Rowan Atkinson is a terrific actor and he showed himself to be that once more in this film
7. Avengers: Infinity War - This was an exciting film with literally everybody from the Marvel Cinematic Universe in it. It was definitely the biggest film of the year there is no doubt about that, so why I have I ranked 6 films above it? For me if you took out the excitement the plot is, in my opinion, a bit bare. It is full of action but take away everyone meeting each other and it looses some elements. It was however a great film don't get me wrong and I am very interested to see where they go with the fourth installment of this series.
8. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald - If this film didn't have the exciting Harry Potter references I have to be incredibly honest and say I don't think I would have enjoyed it. The plot was very confusing, even for someone like me who is used to Steven Moffat plots! It felt like it was spending to much time setting up future films. It had a great performance from Jude Law as Dumbledore and Johnny Depp as Grindlewald. A few things did bug me though. Professor McGonagall was in it, even though by the book canon she isn't born for another 8 years so I do have an issue with that. Secondly I do have a problem with the children of Hogwarts, they acted very 21st century, more so than the students that we saw in Harry Potter which was set in the 1990's but equally made in the same century as this film. If you compare the behaviour of Tom Riddle (in his attitude to teachers not his murderous traits) in the flashbacks of The Chamber of Secrets, to the behaviour of the student here, it doesn't make quite much sense. I enjoyed the cameo from Nicholas Flammel however!
9. Incredibles 2 - This was a good film and enjoyable and funny childish moments (no surprise as it is a children's film) but it was slow to get going
10. Ready Player One - This film was good but I just wasn't invested in the characters or the stories and due to my age I only got a few references that it was making to the 1980's
11. Black Panther - This must be a surprise to you all. Not a bad film don't get me wrong but it was so generic for a super hero film. The enemy is someone who has similar powers to the main hero, they have to defend their city. It wasn't anything special in my mind. It was still good though.
And there you have it. A ranking of the 11 films that I have seen this year. All were good and I don't regret seeing any of them.
But without further a do, here is a ranking of the 11 films that I have been lucky enough to go to the cinema and watch this year
1. Solo: A Star Wars Story - Unfortunately this has to go here by default almost because it is Star Wars. Solo was not a bad film by any means, obviously as I have ranked it number 1 but it was the weakest for the Star Wars saga. That may be a surprise to many, particularly the prequel haters out there but for me it felt like a check list of all things Han Solo related. I found it such as coincidence that almost everything important that happened to Solo before we saw him in A New Hope happened in the space of a few days. It was fun, filled with a bit of hit and miss humor but an enjoyable film in the Star Wars saga. Releasing it in May was also a mistake for me because it meant that I hadn't got on the hype wagon. A December release would have done the film more justice in my eyes
2. Darkest Hour - the very first film that I saw in 2018. It was a corker. Gary Oldham was outstanding as Winston Churchill. It was a stellar film that portrayed the harrowing that the British had from the Germans and that good will always prevail. The 'Never Surrender speech' was one of the finest moments in cinematic history, as well as perhaps one of the greatest speeches made in the history of not just the United Kingdom but the world
3. Mission Impossible Fallout - The Mission Impossible series is one of the few where each film improves on the next and this was competing that trend. The film was not only full of excellent action sequences but was also tense with twists and an excellent plot. It wasn't a mundane story line, it was different and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
4. Jurassic World 2: Fallen Kingdom - For some this film had established itself too much as a horror film but I felt this was a proper on the edge film and I really enjoyed, more so than the first of the reboot series
5. Mamma Mia, Here we Go Again! - A return of a classic film from one of Britain's Greatest writers, Richard Curtis. This film was a great film full of classic songs and really uplifting.
6. Johnny English Strikes Again - This was a very funny film and I laughed out loud many a time. It is the weakest of the trilogy I believe and I think it wasn't necessary but it was very funny and that's the important thing. Rowan Atkinson is a terrific actor and he showed himself to be that once more in this film
7. Avengers: Infinity War - This was an exciting film with literally everybody from the Marvel Cinematic Universe in it. It was definitely the biggest film of the year there is no doubt about that, so why I have I ranked 6 films above it? For me if you took out the excitement the plot is, in my opinion, a bit bare. It is full of action but take away everyone meeting each other and it looses some elements. It was however a great film don't get me wrong and I am very interested to see where they go with the fourth installment of this series.
8. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald - If this film didn't have the exciting Harry Potter references I have to be incredibly honest and say I don't think I would have enjoyed it. The plot was very confusing, even for someone like me who is used to Steven Moffat plots! It felt like it was spending to much time setting up future films. It had a great performance from Jude Law as Dumbledore and Johnny Depp as Grindlewald. A few things did bug me though. Professor McGonagall was in it, even though by the book canon she isn't born for another 8 years so I do have an issue with that. Secondly I do have a problem with the children of Hogwarts, they acted very 21st century, more so than the students that we saw in Harry Potter which was set in the 1990's but equally made in the same century as this film. If you compare the behaviour of Tom Riddle (in his attitude to teachers not his murderous traits) in the flashbacks of The Chamber of Secrets, to the behaviour of the student here, it doesn't make quite much sense. I enjoyed the cameo from Nicholas Flammel however!
9. Incredibles 2 - This was a good film and enjoyable and funny childish moments (no surprise as it is a children's film) but it was slow to get going
10. Ready Player One - This film was good but I just wasn't invested in the characters or the stories and due to my age I only got a few references that it was making to the 1980's
11. Black Panther - This must be a surprise to you all. Not a bad film don't get me wrong but it was so generic for a super hero film. The enemy is someone who has similar powers to the main hero, they have to defend their city. It wasn't anything special in my mind. It was still good though.
And there you have it. A ranking of the 11 films that I have seen this year. All were good and I don't regret seeing any of them.
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