Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
2022 is coming to an end, everyone. Did I enjoy this year? Well, there are times where I think 2022 has been a good year, but there are times where I think it hasn’t been so good. Don’t get me wrong, this year hasn’t been Covid-19 pandemic-heavy as the previous two years – 2020 and 2021 – were. 🙂
This year, I’ve been able to go to conventions – four in total, although it was just one where I got to see Sarah Sutton and Peter Davison. I hoped to see Sarah and Peter at more conventions this year, but I suppose 2022 is considered another recovery year where we were coming out of the pandemic.
There have been occasions where I’ve been able to go out more and not have to wear a facemask. The trips to the cinema have been fruitful and I’ve been able to go on a summer holiday to Amroth in West Wales this year. I have enjoyed being out in the open instead of having to stay at home a lot.
Mind you, where I thought things were going to be optimistic and idyllic following the Covid-19 pandemic, they’ve been turned down with hardships and strife. There’s the war between Ukraine and Russia that’s been going on. This has meant the loss of many lives, which I’m so saddened about.
The UK’s economy is going through a tumultuous period, causing rail strikes, postal strikes and NHS strikes to happen. It’s disrupted many people’s daily lives. I’ve been lucky in being able to avoid the rail strikes to see friends as well as attend conventions. With that said, it hasn’t made life any easier.
I’ve found myself having to change my lifestyle in terms of how I conduct my reviews on my blog. I used to do individual reviews on episodes of TV shows like ‘Call the Midwife’, ‘Grantchester’ and the new ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ Channel 5 series. This year, I’ve only been able to do summaries of their seasons.
The volume of movie reviews based on DVD and Blu-ray viewings as well as Disney+ hasn’t been that plentiful in the last four months, and I haven’t had the free time I used to have, due to a new job I’ve had this year. Mind you, I’ve had to prioritise in preparing for ‘Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary next year.
As with my annual reports every year, I try my best to be positive and negative in how I sum up a particular year. 2022 has had good moments, but it’s also had bad ones. I hope to highlight more on what I’ve enjoyed about 2022 as opposed to what I haven’t, especially before the New Year starts. 🙂
I’m hoping that 2023 will be a better year next year, especially with the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th anniversary celebrations going into full swing. For now, let’s check out what the highlights of each month of my 2022 were. Let’s summarise how I’ve shared 2022 on my blog and how much I’ve enjoyed it. 🙂
JANUARY
2022 began with the conclusion of my 2021-22 ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season. The final two entries of the mini-review season were ‘The War Master’ story ‘Killing Time’ (I hope I will check out more ‘War Master’ audio stories sometime in 2023 and 2024) and the ‘Circular Time’ episode ‘Winter’.
The year also began with the first of the three 2022 specials of ‘Doctor Who’ featuring the end of the Jodie Whittaker/Chris Chibnall era of the TV show called ‘Eve of the Daleks’. This starred Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, Mandip Gill as Yaz, John Bishop as Dan, and the dreaded Daleks.
2022 was a year to celebrate 40 years of Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’. As well as a blog post to commemorate the occasion, I shared my epic eight-episode anthology ‘The Coins of Deno’, featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy, and I checked out the first ‘Forty’ CD box set. 🙂
In terms of other ‘Doctor Who’ reviews, I shared my review on ‘The Roundheads’, featuring the Second Doctor. I shared a quick review on ‘Lockdown: The Doctor Who Fans’ Survival Guide’ by Reeltime Pictures and I also reviewed the ‘Delta and the Bannermen’ Target novelization/audiobook.
I created a new ‘Doctor Who’ timeline for Ann Kelso/Anya Kingdom. This was to check out ‘The Syndicate Master Plan’ season of audios, starring Tom Baker (which I checked out in January) as well as the ‘Dalek Universe’ season of audios, starring David Tennant (which I checked out later in 2022).
From the Christmas period of 2021 into 2022, I shared quick reviews on the original ‘Jumanji’ film, starring Robin Williams, ‘Christmas Eve on Sesame Street’, ‘Casper’, ‘Casper: A Spirited Beginning’, Agatha Christie’s ‘Appointment with Death’ and ‘The Muppets Take Manhattan’. It’s all good fun. 🙂
I shared quick reviews on the Christmas presents my best mate Stephen gave me from December 2021, including ‘Howard the Duck’ and ‘Birdemic: Shock and Terror’. Whilst these two items aren’t great for many reasons, they were great fun to check out and I’m glad I saw them in their entirety.
I reviewed the 1991 ‘Dark Season’ TV series by Russell T. Davies, starring Victoria Lambert, Kate Winslet and Ben Chandler. 🙂 I also shared my updated reviews on ‘The Lord of the Rings’ BBC Radio Series. I wanted to update my reviews ‘The Lord of the Rings’ BBC Radio Series for quite a long time.
On Disney+, I saw ‘Shadow Conspiracy’, ‘People Like Us’, ‘Zootropolis’ and 1959’s ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’. I saw all eight episodes of ‘Around the World In 80 Days’, starring David Tennant, and I shared a quick review on Season 2 of ‘The Muppet Show’, which I’d seen on Disney+.
I’ve updated all my reviews on the ‘Keeping Up Appearances’ BBC sitcom TV series and I shared a new review on ‘Young Hyacinth’. I also started checking out the ‘It Ain’t Half Hot Mum’ BBC sitcom TV series, with a new page and a review on the first episode. My reviews on this BBC series is ongoing. 🙂
I shared my reviews on the complete BBC TV series ‘Sherlock’, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. I started on checking out the ‘Transformers’ film series, with a look into the first ‘Transformers’ movie by director Michael Bay and the sequel ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’. 🙂
FEBRUARY
In February, my viewing of movies on Disney+ continued with checking out the 1993 film ‘Tom and Huck’, ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’, ‘The Finest Hours’ and ‘Anna and the King’. I finished watching Season 1 of ‘Superman & Lois’, which I enjoyed greatly on BBC iPlayer from January into February. 🙂
I also shared an overview of what I thought of Series 11 of ‘Call the Midwife’, which I also watched from January into February. And I shared a quick Blu-ray review on Series 5 of ‘Downton Abbey’. My parents and I hoped to complete our viewing of the ‘Downton Abbey’ series in time for the upcoming film.
I also continued to watch more of the ‘Transformers’ film series by checking out ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’, ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’ and ‘Transformers: The Last Knight’. I don’t like the ‘Transformers’ films by director Michael Bay, but I happily finished off the series with ‘Bumblebee’. 🙂
In terms of ‘Doctor Who’, I created a new ‘Doctor Who’ timeline for Mark Seven, in time to check out ‘The Dalek Protocol’, starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. In February, I shared my reviews on the first CD box set of ‘Dalek Universe’ audio stories, starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. 🙂
The Divergent Wordsmiths shared their anthology ‘The Paul Spragg ReCollections, Volume 2’ that month. I contributed two stories to the anthology, both featuring the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa and they’re called ‘The Regeneration Dilemma’ and ‘Girl Out of Nowhere’. I enjoyed writing both stories. 🙂
Towards the end of February, I attended my second convention since the Covid-19 pandemic, which was the ‘London Comic Con Spring’ of 2022. I met Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill from ‘Doctor Who’ for the first time. I also visited The London Dungeon and Madame Tussauds for that weekend.
Sadly, from enjoying my weekend in London, my parents and I caught Covid for the first time. 😦 We’d been lucky by that point, as we didn’t catch Covid in 2020 and 2021. Thankfully, it wasn’t severe as I feared, but it was still a nuisance. Thankfully I recovered by the time I was halfway into March itself. 🙂
MARCH
Speaking of March, I shared my ‘convention memories’ of attending the ‘Cardiff Film and Comic Con’ back in March 2014. Incidentally, I hope Showmasters Events brings back more of their comic cons like the Cardiff one. They have begun with bringing back their Bournemouth comic con for next year.
In March, I shared my updated reviews on Season 17 of ‘Doctor Who’ with Tom Baker, based on its latest Blu-ray box set release. This included reviews on ‘Destiny of the Daleks’, ‘City of Death’, ‘The Creature From The Pit’, ‘Nightmare of Eden’, ‘The Horns of Nimon’ and ‘Shada’. Again, all great fun.
I also shared a brand-new review on the epic six-part ‘Doctor Who’ story called ‘Flux’, which is Series 13 of the new TV show, starring Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, Mandip Gill as Yaz and John Bishop as Dan. It was a mega review to put together, but I really enjoyed sharing it on my blog.
In terms of Big Finish audios, I shared my reviews on the second and third CD box sets of ‘Dalek Universe’, starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. I also shared my review on the BBC novelization and Big Finish audiobook of ‘Dark Season’ by Russell T. Davies. Victoria Lambert read it.
I saw the ‘Downton Abbey’ Christmas Special called ‘A Moorland Holiday’ on Blu-ray. I shared my reviews on Series 1 of ‘It Ain’t Half Hot Mum’. I also shared a quick DVD review on the Gerry Anderson TV show ‘Fireball XL5’. We also saw my Mum’s birthday present – 2015’s ‘Partners In Crime’.
At the cinema, my Mum and I checked out the long-awaited film adaptation of ‘Death on the Nile’ by Kenneth Branagh. I also saw the eagerly anticipated film ‘The Batman’, starring Robert Pattison. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the film, despite enjoying it. I also saw ‘Uncharted’, starring Tom Holland.
On Disney+, I saw movies like ‘The Marine’ with John Cena, ‘Flight of the Phoenix’, ‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’ and ‘The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild’. I also shared my thoughts on the first two seasons of ‘The Orville’, which I saw on Disney+ from 2021 right into 2022.
My parents and I started checking out a selection of my Dad’s favourites films, which I’ve reviewed on my blog, including ‘Pigskin Parade’, 1944’s ‘Gaslight’, 1937’s ‘Seventh Heaven’ and 1960’s ‘Psycho’. I’m pleased I’ve reviewed Alfred Hitchcock‘s ‘Psycho’, but I won’t be reviewing the sequels.
APRIL
I shared my April Fools video in April, which was about the new cast of the new ‘Wallace & Gromit’ film being announced! 😀 I’m looking forward to when the new ‘Wallace & Gromit’ film comes out in 2024. Hopefully, I’ll be able to see it when it’s shown on BBC TV and perhaps on Netflix if I’m lucky. 😀
In terms of cinema, April saw the release of ‘Morbius’, the third film in ‘Sony’s Spider-Man Universe’, starring Jared Leto. I also saw ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’ at the cinema. During the Easter holidays, I saw the films ‘Operation Mincemeat’ and ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’.
On Disney+, my parents and I saw ‘Swallows and Amazons’, 2010’s ‘Gulliver’s Travels’, ‘Flightplan’ and ‘Into the Woods’. My parents and I also saw the five ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ films ‘The Curse of the Black Pearl’, ‘Dead Man’s Chest’, ‘At World’s End’, ‘On Stranger Tides’ and ‘Salazar’s Revenge’.
I also finished watching the ‘Star Wars’ series ‘The Book of Boba Fett’ on Disney+. My parents and I also watched Series 7 of ‘Grantchester’ on Britbox. We also completed another Christmas present, which was one of Mum’s, and it was ‘Hetty Wainthropp Investigates’, starring Patricia Routledge. 🙂
My parents and I saw the last of my Dad’s selection of films to check out, which we started in March, and it was the 1936 film ‘San Francisco’, starring Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald. My parents and I revisited ‘The Gay Divorcee’, where I shared a post revisiting Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. 🙂
We completed our viewing of the ‘Downton Abbey’ series, as I shared a review on Series 6 and The Finale itself. We revisited the first ‘Downton Abbey’ film before we went on to check out ‘Downton Abbey: A New Era’ at the cinema. We saw the second ‘Downton Abbey’ film twice on the big screen.
In terms of ‘Doctor Who’, I shared my review on ‘The Ninth Doctor Adventures’ story ‘Ravagers’, starring Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor. I also shared my review on ‘The Doomsday Contract’, starring Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor, Lalla Ward’s Romana and K-9, voiced by John Leeson.
I shared a ‘Bradley’s Basement’s Strange Love’ discussion on the third story of the ‘New Beginnings’ trilogy called ‘Castrovalva’, which I did with Timelord007, WilliamsFan92 and Wolfie. I’m glad we completed the ‘New Beginnings’ trilogy, having done ‘The Keeper of Traken’ and ‘Logopolis’ in 2021.
I also shared the third Short Trip story featuring Timelord007‘s James Darby, where he meets two Sarah Jane Smiths as well as the Fourth Doctor in ‘The Two Sarah Janes’. This was to commemorate Elisabeth Sladen, since it was the 11th anniversary that she sadly passed away on April 19th in 2011.
For my Easter review season this year, I shared my reviews on ‘The Divergent Universe’ season of ‘Doctor Who’ audios by Big Finish, starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor. It included ‘Scherzo’, ‘The Creed of the Kromon’, ‘The Natural History of Fear’, ‘The Twilight Kingdom’, ‘Faith Stealer’, ‘The Last’, ‘Caerdroia’ and ‘The Next Life’. Timelord007 helped me out with my review on ‘The Next Life’.
On Good Friday, I shared my review on the four-part TV dramatisation on the biblical story of Jesus Christ called ‘Jesus of Nazareth’, starring Robert Powell. I shared my Easter Sunday blog post, and I also shared my TV review on the ‘Doctor Who’ 2022 Easter Special called ‘Legend of the Sea Devils’, starring Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, Mandip Gill as Yaz and John Bishop as Dan. Great!
MAY
To celebrate ‘Star Wars’ Day in May as well as for annual ‘Mayday’ blog post on Bank Holiday Monday in May, I shared the in-depth reviews I’ve done on ‘Star Wars’ stuff so far. This included the prequel film trilogy, the spin-offs, the original film trilogy and the Holiday Special, the first Thrawn book trilogy and the sequel film trilogy. I’ve still lots of ‘Star Wars’ stuff to cover and review. 😀
It was my birthday in May. I enjoyed going to Barry Island the day before my birthday with my best mate Stephen. I also enjoyed my birthday presents, which included the BBC sitcom series ‘Sorry!’ with Ronnie Corbett on DVD, ‘The Incredible Hulk’ TV series with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno on DVD (which I’m still checking out 😀 ) and there was also ‘Zack Synder’s Justice League Trilogy’ on Blu-ray.
Also for my birthday, I enjoyed seeing the ‘MCU’ film ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’, directed by Sam Raimi and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, at the cinema. On my birthday, it was announced that Ncuti Gatwa would be the next Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’. Back then, I assumed he would be the Fourteenth Doctor after Jodie Whittaker. So much has changed since then.
Regarding ‘Doctor Who’, I shared my reviews on two Sixth Doctor audio adventures that featured his penguin companion Frobisher, including ‘The Holy Terror’ and ‘The Maltese Penguin’. I also reviewed ‘Mind of the Hodiac’ by Russell T. Davies and the Ninth Doctor audio box set ‘Respond to All Calls’. 🙂
I shared a ‘Star Trek’ review on the first of the ‘Star Trek: Prometheus’ book trilogy, which was ‘Fire with Fire’ by Bernd Perplies and Christian Humberg, with the audiobook read by Alec Newman. I also reviewed the first of ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ radio series by Douglas Adams – ‘Primary Phase’. 🙂
I also shared reviews on two drama-related productions, including the 6-hour 1987 film adaptation of ‘Little Dorrit’ by Charles Dickens, starring Derek Jacobi and Alec Guinness. I also reviewed ‘Becoming Jane’, a biopic focusing on the early life of Jane Austen, starring Anna Hathaway as her. 🙂
In May, I was so happy to find that ‘TravelWise’, the four-part educational drama starring ‘Doctor Who’ actors like Sarah Sutton, Nicholas Courtney, Nicola Bryant, Colin Baker and Peter Miles is available to check out on YouTube. I updated my review accordingly after I’d checked out the video.
On Disney+, I checked out movies like ‘Hidalgo’, ‘Saving Mr. Banks’ and ‘Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers’. I also saw the fourth ‘P.R.O.B.E.’ episode by BBV called ‘Ghosts of Winterborne’ on DVD, starring Caroline John as Liz Shaw. Peter Davison, Louise Jameson and Reece Shearsmith were also in it.
I saw the two ‘Top Gun’ movies, including ‘Top Gun’ on Amazon Prime Video and ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ at the cinema, starring Tom Cruise. I shared my thoughts on the trailer on ‘Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One’. I’m looking forward to checking out the first ‘M:I – Dead Reckoning’ movie at the cinema.
JUNE
In June, I shared a quick review on the Gerry Anderson TV series ‘Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons’, which I had on DVD for Christmas last year. I’ve also shared my reviews on Series 2 of ‘It Ain’t Half Hot Mum’. At the cinema, I saw the movie ‘Lightyear’, which isn’t very good in my opinion.
I reviewed Season 1 of ‘Star Trek: Voyager’. I’ve seen more ‘Star Trek: Voyager’ episodes and I hope to finish Season 2 sometime soon. I’ve reviewed the second ‘Star Trek: Prometheus’ book called ‘The Root of all Rage’ by Bernd Perplies and Christian Humberg, with an audiobook read by Alec Newman.
On Disney+, I saw movies like 2011’s ‘The Three Musketeers’, ‘Marley & Me’, ‘The Princess Diaries’ and ‘The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement’. I’ve also seen ‘Jurassic Park’, ‘The Lost World: Jurassic Park’ and ‘Jurassic Park III’ on Amazon Prime Video. I’m pleased I’ve managed to see those.
I finished checking out Season 3 of ‘The Muppet Show’ on Disney+. I have seen Season 4 of ‘The Muppet Show’ and I hope to couple my review on that with Season 5 next year. On Amazon Prime Video, I checked out Season 2 of the ‘Alex Rider’ TV series, which was just as very good as Season 1.
With ‘Doctor Who’, I checked out and reviewed the two Ninth Doctor box sets ‘Lost Warriors’ and ‘Old Friends’. I’ve also shared my in-depth Blu-ray reviews on ‘Eve of the Daleks’ and ‘Legend of the Sea Devils’, starring Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, Mandip Gill as Yaz and John Bishop as Dan.
JULY
For the first weekend of July, I went to Newcastle and saw Sarah Sutton and Peter Davison at the ‘Newcastle Comic Con’. It was a great weekend, and I conducted a ‘Reunion’ interview with Sarah Sutton at the event. I also shared some highlights of Sarah Sutton’s Q&A at the event on YouTube. 🙂
In July, I shared my updated reviews on ‘Spider-Man’ movies like ‘Spider-Man’, ‘Spider-Man 2’ and ‘Spider-Man 3’ with Tobey Maguire and ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ with Andrew Garfield. I also shared ‘convention memories’ of attending ‘Time Warp’ at Weston-super-Mare back in July 2014. 🙂
July was a time to share the news that the Divergent Wordsmiths had opened a writing opportunity for their upcoming 60th anniversary anthology of ‘Doctor Who’ short stories called ‘A Sparkle of Doctors’. I’ve contributed to the anthology with an exciting story I look forward to seeing published.
I saw more ‘Jurassic Park’ movies in the form of the ‘Jurassic World’ trilogy. On Amazon Prime Video, I saw ‘Jurassic World’ and ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’. Twice at the cinema, I saw ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’. The first time I viewed ‘Jurassic World’ was when I went to Newcastle. 🙂
On Disney+, I saw movies like 2021’s ‘Nightmare Alley’, 1951’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and ‘Catch that Kid’/’Mission Without Permission’ and ‘Camp Nowhere’. I saw limited re-releases of ‘Dr. Who and the Daleks’ and ‘Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.’ with Peter Cushing as Dr. Who at the cinema.
I also saw ‘The Railway Children’ movies, with ‘The Railway Children’ on Amazon Prime Video and ‘The Railway Children Return’ at the cinema. And I saw the ‘MCU’ film ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ at the cinema. Even though ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ was fun to watch, I would have done the film differently.
Sadly, we lost a number of people in 2022, including David Warner, Bernard Cribbins and Nichelle Nichols. I’m lucky to have met these people at conventions, even if I met Bernard and Nichelle briefly, especially for photos. I will never forget the lovely chats with David Warner at conventions. 🙂
AUGUST
In August, I continued to share my updated reviews on ‘Spider-Man’ movies like ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ with Andrew Garfield, ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ and ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ with Tom Holland, and the 2018 CGI-animated movie known as ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’.
In that same month, I shared my in-depth review on the theatrical version of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ with Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. I also updated my reviews on the three ‘MCU’ movies ‘Captain America: Civil War’, ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and ‘Avengers: Endgame’. 🙂
On Disney+, I saw movies like 1965’s ‘That Darn Cat!’ and 1997’s ‘That Darn Cat’. I saw ‘No Exit’ on Disney+ and I saw 2017‘s ‘The Mummy’ with Tom Cruise on Netflix. I shared reviews on Series 2 of the new ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ TV series and reviews on Series 3 of ‘It Ain’t Half Hot Mum’.
At the cinema, I saw a limited re-release of ‘Shrek 2’ at my local Showcase Cinema in Nantgarw, which meant an opportunity to share my thoughts on all the ‘Shrek’ movies, including ‘Shrek’, ‘Shrek 2’, ‘Shrek the Third’ and ‘Shrek Forever After’. I hope to do in-depth reviews on these movies soon. 🙂
I checked out the third and final instalment of the ‘Star Trek: Prometheus’ book trilogy called ‘In the Heart of Chaos’ by Bernd Perplies and Christian Humberg, with the audiobook read by Alec Newman. I also managed to see Season 2 of ‘Star Trek: Picard’ on Amazon Prime Video, which was great to do.
In terms of ‘Doctor Who’, I checked out the animation video on YouTube by Josh Snares on ‘Out of Time’, starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. I also shared reviews on the comic stories featured in the ‘Voyager’ graphic novel (based on the ‘Doctor Who: The Complete History’ edition). The Sixth Doctor, Frobisher and sometimes Peri are in the stories. 🙂
There was a nice Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy story not written by this year called ‘Cold’ in the ‘States of Being’ anthology by WilliamsFan92 on his blog. I’m pleased WF92 wrote the story. I look forward to when he shares the other four stories in the rest of the ‘States of Being’ anthology online.
SEPTEMBER
In September, I shared my updated Blu-ray reviews on Season 22 of ‘Doctor Who’ with Colin Baker. This included reviews on ‘Attack of the Cybermen’, ‘Vengeance on Varos’, ‘The Mark of the Rani’, ‘The Two Doctors’, ‘Timelash’ and ‘Revelation of the Daleks’. I also reviewed ‘A Fix with Sontarans’. 🙂
I had another opportunity to see Jodie Whittaker (the Thirteenth Doctor) at a convention for the second time that year. I saw Jodie at ‘Collectormania 27 – Film & Comic Con Birmingham’. Colin Baker, Jo Martin, Sylvester McCoy, Sacha Dhawan and Marina Siritis were also in attendance that weekend.
I saw the extended version of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ twice at the cinema in September. The first time was at Showcase Cinema in Nantgarw. The second time was at Cineworld in Cardiff, with a 4DK experience. The 4DK experience of the extended version of ‘No Way Home’ was so exhilarating.
Sadly, we lost Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II this year. She meant a lot to people and I shall miss her televised speeches, including the ones on Christmas Day. To cheer people up, I shared a YouTube video where Paddington Bear met the Queen on her Platinum Jubilee, which happened back in June.
Back to ‘Doctor Who’, I shared my review on the ‘Out of Time’ story ‘The Gates of Hell’ with David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor. I hope I’ll get to review the third ‘Out of Time’ story ‘Wink’ with David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor and Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor in 2023.
On Disney+, I saw the 2022 remake of ‘Pinocchio’ by director Robert Zemeckis. I also shared my review on Disney film ‘Bambi 2’, the sequel to the 1942 ‘Bambi’ film, which I saw on Disney+. I shared my ‘Bambi 2’ review on the 19th of September in memory of my late sister Bethan’s birthday.
We also saw the 2011 film ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ on Disney+, which wasn’t to my tastes. I also saw the 1973 Disney film ‘Robin Hood’ on Disney+. I also shared my thoughts on the four ‘Spy Kids’ movies, including ‘Spy Kids’, ‘Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams’, ‘Spy Kids 3D: Game Over’ and ‘Spy Kids: All the Time in the World’. I hope to share in-depth reviews on the ‘Spy Kids’ movies soon.
September was a chance to go on holiday again. My parents and I revisited Amroth in West Wales. It was nice to go back to Amroth and see its surrounding areas like Wiseman’s Bridge, Saundersfoot and Tenby. We hadn’t been to Amroth in West Wales for three years since the Covid-19 pandemic. 🙂
I shared my ‘convention memories’ of attending the ‘Pandorica 2014’ convention in Bristol back in September 2014. The end of September 2022 was a time to celebrate ‘Bradley’s Basement’s 7th anniversary. I did that by sharing a blog post to commemorate the occasion and I shared a preview of my Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy story ‘Return to Christmas’, which was later released in December.
OCTOBER
In the last few months of 2022, I had to prioritise my time on preparing for the 60th anniversary of ‘Doctor Who’ in 2023, including writing my 60th anniversary special called ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’. I also prepared for my ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season and my Advent Calendar for December. 🙂
What I shared in October 2022 are as follows. I reviewed the latest Blu-ray release of the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Abominable Snowmen’, starring Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor, Frazer Hines as Jamie and Deborah Watling as Victoria. This included a new animated version of this story. 🙂
I reviewed the ‘MCU’ series ‘Moon Knight’, which I saw on Disney+. I also saw Series 3 of the new ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ TV series on Channel 5 from September to October. And I saw Jodie Whittaker’s swansong as the Thirteenth Doctor in the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Power of the Doctor’. I shared a spoiler free reaction of the episode on YouTube as well as my review on the BBC Centenary Special on my blog. At the cinema, I saw the DC superhero movie called ‘Black Adam’, starring Dwayne Johnson. I also shared my completed reviews on Series 4 of ‘It Ain’t Half Hot Mum’.
NOVEMBER
In November, to celebrate 59 years of ‘Doctor Who’, I shared teasers, including the Doctors, companions and monsters, that are to appear in my upcoming 60th anniversary special called ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’. I shared the title of my 60th anniversary special on the 23rd of November itself.
At the cinema, I saw the ‘MCU’ movie ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’. I saw Series 2 of ‘The Larkins’, which I enjoyed watching on ITV1 and Britbox from October to November in 2022. And I saw the ‘Star Wars’ series called ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’, which I also greatly enjoyed seeing on Disney+. 🙂
I shared two ‘convention memories’ blog posts in November, including the ‘Collectormania 22’ event at Milton Keynes and the ‘Timey Wimey 1’ event at Brighton. I attended both conventions in November 2014 and I shared my ‘convention memories’ of ‘Timey Wimey’ on the 23rd of November.
It was announced on Children in Need night on the 17th of November that Millie Gibson would be playing the new ‘Doctor Who’ companion with Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor named Ruby Sunday. I’m looking forward to seeing Millie Gibson as the new companion and hope that she’ll be brilliant. 🙂
I also attended my fourth and final convention in 2022, which was the ‘London Comic Con Winter’. I enjoyed attending the convention, since I got to meet Jodie Whittaker (the Thirteenth Doctor) for the third time, and I also met David Tennant (the Tenth and Fourteenth Doctors) for the first time. 🙂
Sadly, we lost Jason David Frank who played Tommy Oliver in the ‘Power Rangers’ series. It’s upsetting to think how Jason David Frank passed away, since I enjoyed him as Tommy in ‘Power Rangers’. November concluded with the announcement of my Advent Calendar for December 2022.
DECEMBER
The last month of 2022 was the time for me to share my ‘Bradley’s Basement’s Advent Calendar’ in the build-up to Christmas. For this occasion, I shared my thoughts on video clips from the ‘Doctor Who’ YouTube channel on four stories from Season 12 with Tom Baker and Season 19 with Peter Davison.
I shared my reviews on ‘The Santa Clause’ film trilogy with Tim Allen, including ‘The Santa Clause’, ‘The Santa Clause 2’ and ‘The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause’. I also checked out and did a quick review on ‘The Santa Clauses’ series on Disney+. I enjoyed watching it in the build-up to Christmas. 🙂
In December, I shared my ‘convention memories’ of attending the ‘Timeless Collectors’ sci-fi fair in Fareham in December 2014. I also shared my in-depth reviews on the 1994 film ‘Miracle on 34th Street’, the 1947 film ‘The Bishop’s Wife’ and the 2005 CGI animated Nativity short film ‘It’s a Boy’. 🙂
With no ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special to enjoy in December 2022 as well as a New Year’s Day Special in January 2023, I shared my own ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special called ‘Return to Christmas’, featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Billy and the Daleks. It was ideal timing to share that story. 🙂
On Disney+, I saw ‘Disenchanted’ and ‘The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special’. I also checked out the first two ‘Avatar’ movies by filmmaker James Cameron, including the 2009 film ‘Avatar’ and ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’. And I checked out ‘Glass Onion’, the sequel to ‘Knives Out’ on Netflix. 🙂
Christmas came and I shared my annual blog post to celebrate the occasion. I also shared my reviews on ‘Merry Bloody Christmas’, the 2022 Christmas Special of the new ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ TV series called and the 2022 Christmas Special of ‘Call the Midwife’. I also shared thoughts on what’s in the teaser trailer for the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Specials, shown on Christmas Day.
Over the Christmas period, I shared ITV’s ‘Animals Do The Funniest Things’ from 1999 on YouTube. I also shared my reviews on the ‘Myth Makers’ items in ‘The Doctors: The Peter Davison Years’ DVD compilation and I started ‘The Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review from December 2022 to January 2023. 🙂
So, 2022 hasn’t exactly been an inspiring year for many of us. Granted, the Covid-19 pandemic hasn’t been severe this time around and we’ve been able to go out more and see people. But the cost of living crisis as well as the war between Ukraine and Russia hasn’t made life that easier since then. 😦
It’s a shame, as I hoped the easing of restrictions and coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic would have made life better. That we’d all been living in an idyllic atmosphere. Sadly, it’s turned sour. It’s depressing, as most of us had to stick together during the pandemic and this is what the outcome is.
Thankfully, the highlight of 2022 for me has been to see Sarah Sutton and Peter Davison at the ‘Newcastle Comic Con’ in July. It’s a pity I didn’t see them at more conventions this year, but I’m glad I saw them at least once, and I hope to see them again for ‘Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary in 2023. 🙂
It’s also been amazing that I’ve seen Jodie Whittaker three times at conventions, including ‘London Comic Con Spring’ in March, ‘Collectormania 27 – Film & Comic Con Birmingham’ in September and ‘London Comic Con Winter’ in November. I’m also happy I’ve met David Tennant for the first time. 😉
I’m also glad I’ve seen movies at the cinema as well as on Disney+ and Netflix, as well as TV shows. I haven’t been able to review everything I’ve seen, but hopefully there will come a point where I’ll get a chance to review more films and TV shows following ‘Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary year in 2023.
2022 has been a pretty busy year for me and I’ve had to sacrifice my time and prioritise on other things such as my current job at work. It’s been a challenge to balance out my blog time as well as my work time, which has meant compressing reviews on seasons of TV shows into one review, and not individually. 😐
This applies to ‘Star Wars’ shows like ‘The Book of Boba Fett’ and ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ as well as drama shows like ‘Call the Midwife’, ‘Grantchester’ and the new ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ TV series. I’ve been lucky with dedicating my time on the 2022 specials of ‘Doctor Who’, featuring the end of Jodie Whittaker and Chis Chibnall’s era of the series.
As I said, the last few months has been dedicated to preparing for next year involving ‘Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary, including writing ‘The Thirteen+ Doctors’. There’s so much to get organised for 2023. I reflect on the amount of time I have to get it all sorted before the 60th anniversary arrives. 😐
Hopefully, 2023 will be an exciting year whatever may come. I intend to celebrate ‘Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary the best way I can, including attending conventions where hopefully, I’ll reunite with ‘Doctor Who’ stars like Sarah Sutton and Peter Davison as well as Sophie Aldred and Wendy Padbury. 😀
I do look back on 2022 with fond memories as well as not-so fond ones. The cost of living crisis, the war between Ukraine and Russia, and the industrial action that’s been going on in the UK hasn’t helped. But my memories of conventions and seeing films and TV shows has been really worthwhile.
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now, best wishes and please keep safe!
See you next year! 😀
Tim 🙂
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