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‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Impossible Astronaut’/’Day of the Moon’

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

Series 6 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series begins with a two-part adventure called ‘The Impossible Astronaut’/’Day of the Moon’ by Steven Moffat. This ‘Doctor Who’ two-parter stars Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond, Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams and Alex Kingston as River Song. Our heroes visit the USA in 1969 where the landmark event of the first man to walk on Earth’s moon takes place. An astronaut appears on Lake Silencio in Utah and kills the Doctor. This two-part story starts off an arc in Series 6 in terms how the Eleventh Doctor ended up being killed by a mysterious astronaut and the Silence make their presence known in this ‘Doctor Who’ adventure. The story also features Mark Sheppard as Canton Everett Delaware III and Stuart Milligan as President Richard Nixon. ‘The Impossible Astronaut’/’Day of the Moon’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘A Christmas Carol’

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

It’s time for us to check out the first ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special that features Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor. This is ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Steven Moffat, based of course on the classic 1843 novella by Charles Dickens of the same name. 😀 The Christmas Special was shown on BBC TV on Christmas Day in 2010. As well as Matt Smith, there’s Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams, who are now married in the TV series. There’s Michael Gambon (who I’ve seen in the BBC’s 1999 TV production of ‘Wives & Daughters’ and is well-known for being in the ‘Harry Potter’ films) as the Scrooge-like Kazran Sardick. And there’s Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins who makes her acting debut as Abigail. There’s also Laurence Belcher as a young Kazran and Danny Horn as a grown-up Kazran. The special also has flying giant sharks in it. 😀 ‘A Christmas Carol’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – Series 5 Summary

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

In my opinion, Series 5 is the strongest of the three seasons featuring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor as well as being the strongest season in the entire Steven Moffat era of ‘Doctor Who’. It starts off well in ‘The Eleventh Hour’ and it concludes well in ‘The Pandorica Opens’/’The Big Bang’. 🙂 Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Pandorica Opens’/’The Big Bang’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

Here we are on the two-part season finale of Series 5 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series called ‘The Pandorica Opens’/’The Big Bang’ by Steven Moffat. In this two-part adventure, Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Karen Gillan as Amy Pond receive a message. They journey back in time to Roman Britain where they reunite with Alex Kingston as River Song. The trio soon ride off on horses to Stonehenge. There, they go underground to find a box-like structure called the Pandorica, which has been waiting for the Doctor. This story features a number of returning characters who have appeared in Series 5, including the return of Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams, who has managed to survive and cheat death following ‘Cold Blood’. This adventure also features the Pandorica Alliance of ‘Doctor Who’ monsters, including Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, Judoon, Silurians, etc. ‘The Pandorica Opens’/’The Big Bang’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Hungry Earth’/’Cold Blood’

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

I’ve found out that the two-part ‘Doctor Who’ story we’re revisiting today – ‘The Hungry Earth’/’Cold Blood’ by Chris Chibnall – takes place in the year 2020. Keep in mind that the two-part story was shown on BBC TV in May 2010. I’d like to assume that the story takes place in early 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic ever happened. Or it could be that the story takes place in an alternative universe where Covid-19 never happened. 😀 Anyway, let’s check out this two-part story starring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams, as they visit South Wales in 2020 and we have the return of the Silurians with a redesigned look compared to the classic TV series versions of them. The main Silurians featured in this story include Neve McIntosh as Alaya and Restac, Richard Hope as Malohkeh and Stephen Moore as Eldane. ‘The Hungry Earrth’/’Cold Blood’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Amy’s Choice’

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

It’s time for us to check out ‘Amy’s Choice’, another episode in Series 5 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. This ‘Doctor Who’ episode is by Simon Nye (who would go on to write ‘The Durrells’ and ‘The Larkins’ for ITV). In the episode, Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams experience two dream worlds. One where Amy and Rory are older and are living married lives in Leadworth village, and another where the Doctor, Amy and Rory are in the TARDIS heading towards a star that is ‘burning cold’ which will kill them. This ‘Doctor Who’ episode also features special guest star Toby Jones (who I’ve seen in many film, audio and TV productions over the years like ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’, 2016‘s ‘Dad’s Army’ and recently in ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’) as the Dream Lord. ‘Amy’s Choice’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Vampires of Venice’

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

I saw this ‘Doctor Who’ episode on my birthday, as it was shown on BBC One on the 8th of May 2010. 😀 This is ‘The Vampires of Venice’ by Toby Whithouse. In this episode, Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Karen Gillan as Amy Pond are joined by Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams, Amy’s fiancé, who previously appeared in ‘The Eleventh Hour’. The Doctor takes Amy and Rory on a romantic trip to Venice in 1580, but it goes pear-shaped since there happen to be vampires in Venice. But are these vampires like the ones in ‘State of Decay’ as well as in ‘Doctor Who’ books like ‘Goth Opera’ and ‘Blood Harvest’? This episode features the late Helen McCrory as Rosanna Calvierri, and there’s Gabriella Wilde (who’s been 2011’s ‘The Three Musketeers’ and ‘Wonder Woman 1984’) as one of the Vampire Girls. ‘The Vampires of Venice’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Eleventh Hour’

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

And welcome to the Steven Moffat reign of ‘Doctor Who’ where we begin the Matt Smith/Eleventh Doctor era. Both the Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi eras of ‘Doctor Who’ are a mixed bag for me, but more will be unveiled as we go through each era. Today, we’re starting off with the first episode of Series 5 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series, which is Matt Smith’s first season as the Eleventh Doctor. It’s time for ‘The Eleventh Hour’ by Steven Moffat, where Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor crash-lands to Earth and he meets Caitlin Blackwood as Amelia Pond, who soon grows up to become Karen Gillan as Amy Pond, the Doctor’s new companion. This episode also introduces us to Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams, Amy’s boyfriend. Can the Eleventh Doctor work out the mystery of Prisoner Zero whilst recovering from his regeneration and identifying who he is, and will he win Amy Pond over before she becomes his new companion? ‘The Eleventh Hour’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

Vinyl Review – ‘Echoes of Extinction’ (TLV) (Doctor Who)

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

Happy 58th anniversary ‘Doctor Who’ and welcome everyone to the thirteenth and final instalment of the ‘Time Lord Victorious’ review season!

One time, I said I was going to check out and review the ‘Time Lord Victorious’ series of ‘Doctor Who’ for an Easter review season. Those plans changed and here we are! For the final instalment of ‘TLV’, let’s check out ‘Echoes of Extinction’ by Alfie Shaw, starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor and David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor with guest stars like Burn Gorman, Kathryn Drysdale, Paul Clayton, Mina Anwar, Inès de Clercq and Arthur Darvill. Continue reading

Quick Vinyl Review – ‘Time Lord Victorious – Echoes of Extinction’ (Doctor Who)

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

Over my birthday weekend this year, I revisited my ASDA-exclusive vinyl edition of ‘1963: Fanfare For The Common Men’, starring Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton and enjoyed it very much. I also ventured into hearing the vinyl story ‘Echoes of Extinction’ which is part of the ‘Time Lord Victorious’ series. 🙂 Continue reading