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‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – Series 9 Summary

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Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Like Series 6 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series, Series 9, in my opinion, is the weakest of the three seasons to feature Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor in the Steven Moffat era. It’s not as convoluted as Series 6 is, but the overall season feels underwhelming, despite the good ideas it has. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Husbands of River Song’

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Let’s check out the 2015 Christmas Special of ‘Doctor Who’ called ‘The Husbands of River Song’ by Steven Moffat, starring Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor and Alex Kingston as River Song. This Christmas Special was the first ‘Doctor Who’ story I ever reviewed on ‘Bradley’s Basement’ from watching it on its initial BBC TV transmission on Christmas Day 2015. Since then, I’ve shared my in-depth review on the Christmas Special. ‘The Husbands of River Song’ also introduces Matt Lucas as Nardole, who would become a companion of the Twelfth Doctor in Series 10. The special also features guest star Greg Davis as King Hydroflax, along with Liam Cook as King Hydroflax’s body and Nonso Anozie as the voice of Hydroflax. After the horror aspects of ‘Last Christmas’ in 2014, this ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special decides to go into the realms of comedy. Does it work for me? Did I come away feeling happy from watching ‘The Husbands of River Song’? And does it feature a worthwhile interaction between the Twelfth Doctor and River Song? You can check out this ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – Series 7 Summary

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Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Like Series 6, Series 7 in the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series – Matt Smith’s third and final season as the Eleventh Doctor – is divided into two halves. Unlike Series 6 though, the two halves feel like they’re two separate seasons – with the Pond Season shown in 2012 and the Clara Season shown in 2013. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Name of the Doctor’

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

And thus, we have come to the season finale of Series 7 in the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. This is also where the 50th anniversary celebrations of ‘Doctor Who’ begin in the new TV series. It’s time for us to check out ‘The Name of the Doctor’ by Steven Moffat, starring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald. This is where the mystery of ‘the impossible girl’ is resolved, as the Doctor finds out who Clara is and how she died twice in ‘Asylum of the Daleks’ and ‘The Snowmen’. The episode features the Paternoster Gang, including Neve McIntosh as Madame Vastra, Catrin Stewart as Jenny Flint and Dan Starkey as Strax. There’s also the return of Alex Kingston as River Song, and there’s Richard E. Grant who returns as the Great Intelligence. This time, it’s not Yeti or Snowmen that the Great Intelligence are controlling, but it’s the Whispermen. 😀 There are nods to previous Doctors in the classic and new TV shows of ‘Doctor Who’ and we have the introduction of a unique incarnation of the Doctor that our time-travelling hero chooses to not talk about. ‘The Name of the Doctor’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s time for us to check out ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’ by Steven Moffat. This is the fifth episode in Series 7 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series and it’s the final episode of what I would label as the Pond Season in the first half of Series 7. This is Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill’s last regular appearance as Amy Pond and Rory Williams, who have been loyal companions for Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’. In this episode, the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory visit Central Park in New York in the year 2012 before they get swept up in a deadly adventure involving the Weeping Angels on the planet Earth in the year 1938. They’re joined by Alex Kingston who returns as River Song in the episode. Will I find this Weeping Angels episode better than ‘The Time of Angels’/’Flesh and Stone’ from Series 5? Will it match in similar quality to ‘Blink’ from Series 3? And will this be a very satisfying and emotional departure for Amy and Rory as ‘Doctor Who’ companions? ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – Series 6 Summary

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

For me, Series 6 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series is the weakest of the three seasons featuring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor. Series 6 is a convoluted jigsaw puzzle of a season that has a lot of good ideas in it. It’s a shame that a lot of the good ideas were executed in a very haphazard manner. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Wedding of River Song’

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Here we are on the season finale of Series 6 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. This isn’t a two-part story as you would expect. The finale happens to be a single episode. 😐 This is where theoretically mostly everything that’s been going on in Series 6 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series comes together in the episode. It’s time for ‘The Wedding of River Song’ by Steven Moffat, starring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond, Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams and Alex Kingston as River Song. This ‘Doctor Who’ episode also features the return of Frances Barber as Madame Kovarian, along with the Silence. There’s also the return of Simon Fisher-Becker as Dorium Maldovar, Ian McNeice as Winston Churchill, Richard Hope as Malokeh and there’s even Simon Callow as Charles Dickens. Was this is a satisfying ‘Doctor Who’ season finale for me? Were all the unanswered questions that went on in Series 6 answered in this episode? ‘The Wedding of River Song’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Closing Time’

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Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s time for us to check out the ‘Doctor Who’ episode called ‘Closing Time’ by Gareth Roberts. This is a sequel to the Series 5 episode called ‘The Lodger’ and it features the return of James Corden as Craig Owens. Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor is without Amy and Rory (though Karen Gillan as Amy and Arthur Darvill as Rory do appear briefly in the episode). Instead, Matt Smith’s Doctor teams up with Craig, as they work together to thwart some Cybermen hiding underneath a department store. And this is while Craig is looking after his baby son called Alfie – or Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All as he likes to be called, according to the Doctor. 😀 This episode also features the return of the Cybermats (well, one of them 😀 ), having last appeared in stories like ‘The Tomb of the Cybermen’, ‘The Wheel In Space’, ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’ and ‘Spare Parts’. There’s also special guest star Lynda Baron (who played Captain Wrack in ‘Enlightenment’) as Val at the department store. ‘Closing Time’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s time for us to start checking out Part 2 of Series 6 in the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. We start off with the episode called ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’ by Steven Moffat. I was hoping that this would be an episode featuring a full-on Nazi Germany extravaganza with Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory. Will that be the case when checking out the episode itself? This episode also features Alex Kingston as River Song and Nina Toussaint-White as Mels, Amy and Rory’s childhood friend. There’s also the return of Caitlin Blackwood who plays Amelia Pond in the episode. ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’ also features the Teselecta, a shape-changing and human-looking robot that’s manned by a human crew from the future, and they’re miniaturised inside it. The Teselecta also contains deadly antibodies inside it. ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘A Good Man Goes to War’

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Here we are on the mid-season finale in Series 6 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. Yes, this is where Part 1 of Series 6 comes to an end. In this episode called ‘A Good Man Goes to War’ by Steven Moffat, Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams have to rescue Karen Gillan as Amy Pond, who gives birth to her daughter Melody and is a prisoner aboard an asteroid base called Demon’s Run. This is where we properly meet Frances Barber as Madame Kovarian, who’s been appearing throughout the first half of Series 6. We’re also introduced to the Paternoster Gang from Victorian London, including Neve McIntosh as Madame Vastra, Catrin Stewart as Jenny Flint and Dan Starkey as Commander Strax. We also have the return of Simon Fisher-Becker as Dorium Maldovar, who appeared briefly in ‘The Pandorica Opens’. And there’s Christina Chong (who’s recently been in ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’) as Lorna Bucket. Will the Doctor and Rory also receive help from Alex Kingston as River Song to save Amy and her baby? ‘A Good Man Goes to War’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading