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

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

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.

Top 10 Christmas Facts

1. 25th December became the given day to celebrate the Birth of Christ
2. Christmas Trees came to Britain in 1848, being brought over by the German Prince Consort, husband to Queen Victoria, Prince Albert
3. St Nicholas, a genorous Catholic saint in Dutch is Sintar Klaas, which is where Santa Claus originates from
4. The current look off father Christmas, dressed in red, did not originate from Coca Cola but it helped establish that as the principal image. This was from one of their adverts in 1931
5. According to legend the stocking tradition at Christmas happened by accident. A man could not afford his daughters a dowry so St Nich dropped gold down the chimney at it fell into the stocking that was hanging on the fireplace
6. 'Jingle Bells' was written as a thanksgiving song, not a Christmas one
7. The abbreviation of Christmas, orginates as far back as the 11th century
8. The average American will spend $967.13 on Christmas gifts
9. Ham, not turkey, is the Christmas favourite
10. Candy Canes also originate from Germany

All facts came from Good Housekeeping

Merry Christmas!

Track Santa Post Three 2018

Time: 17.32pm
Current Position: Karsakpay, Kazakhstan
Gifts Delivered: 1,990,511,050

Track Santa Post Two 2018

Time: 13.23
Current Position: Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea  
Gifts Delivered: 728,384,094

Track Santa No.1 2018

Time: 11.45am
Current Position: Apia, Vanuatu 
Gifts Delivered: 232,800,477

Doctor Who Series 11 Reviews Update

I am terribly sorry that my reviews have been so slow. I have been bombarded with work as off late and the change of slot for the episodes to a Sunday have meant it is difficult to watch them.

I just wanted to let you all know that I haven't forgotten to watch Rosa onwards and hopefully at least a couple of reviews will be out by a months time.

Merry Christmas!