Tag Archives: matt smith

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Asylum of the Daleks’

Hello everyone! 🙂

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

And welcome to Series 7 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. Here we are on Series 7 – Part 1, starring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams. This is what I would like to label as the Pond Season in Series 7 of the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. Series 7 – Part 1 depicts the five final adventures of the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory as a TARDIS trio. Will they be a satisfying final set of adventures featuring Eleven, Amy and Rory? We begin the season with ‘Asylum of the Daleks’ by Steven Moffat. This adventure features a variety of Daleks from both the classic TV series and the new TV series versions of ‘Doctor Who’. There’s also the introduction of Jenna-Louise Coleman as Oswin Oswald, whom the Doctor communicates via various intercoms throughout the adventure. Is ‘Asylum of the Daleks’ a satisfying Dalek adventure for me? Did I find it better than ‘Victory of the Daleks’ from Series 5? 😀 ‘Asylum of the Daleks’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe’

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

It’s time to check out the second ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special with Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, which was released on Christmas Day in December 2011. This is ‘The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe’ by Steven Moffat, loosely inspired by ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ by C.S. Lewis. As well as Matt Smith, there’s Claire Skinner as Madge Arwell. There are the Arwell children, including Maurice Cole as Cyril and Holly Earl as Lily. There’s Alexander Armstrong (well-known for voicing Mr. Smith in ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’) as Reg Arwell, Madge’s husband. There are comedic guest stars like Bill Bailey, Paul Bazely and Arabella Weir (who played an alternative version of the Doctor in the Big Finish audio ‘Exile’) in the Christmas Special. And there’s a Wooden King (played by Spencer Wilding) and a Wooden Queen (played by Paul Kasey). Does this Christmas Special satisfy me in being a good homage to ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’? ‘The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

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

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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 – ‘The God Complex’

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

We’re checking out another ‘Doctor Who’ episode in Series 6 of the new TV series today, and it happens to be ‘The God Complex’ by Toby Whithouse. In this episode, Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams find themselves trapped in what appears to be a 1980s hotel with constantly changing corridors (Not like ‘The Space Hotel’ then 😀 ). There’s also a Minotaur-like creature (played by Spencer Wilding) walking about the corridors of the hotel, as it feeds off the faith of the Doctors, his companions and other guests in the hotel. And yes, the Minotaur happens to be distantly-related to the Nimon from ‘The Horns of Nimon’. 😀 This ‘Doctor Who’ episode also features David Walliams (well-known for being in ‘Little Britain’) as Gibbis. There’s also Caitlin Blackwood, who briefly appears as Amy Pond in the episode. ‘The God Complex’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘The Girl Who Waited’

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

In today’s instalment of the ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon, it’s time for us to check out the ‘Doctor Who’ TV episode called ‘The Girl Who Waited’ by Tom MacRae. This is Tom MacRae’s second contribution to the new ‘Doctor Who’ TV series, since he wrote ‘Rise of the Cybermen’/’The Age of Steel’ in Series 2. In the episode, Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams visit the planet Apalapucia for a holiday, but they soon find that the planet is under quarantine as there seems to be a deadly plague about. Amy accidentally gets separated from the Doctor and Rory, and soon there are two Amys, including the younger Amy and an older Amy. This episode also features the Handbots, who are likely to kill our heroes, despite them saying that what they’re doing is ‘a kindness’. ‘The Girl Who Waited’ can be checked out on DVD, Blu-ray and BBC iPlayer. Continue reading

‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary Marathon – ‘Night Terrors’

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

After ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’, it’s time for us to check out something that’s a little straightforward. 😀 Today’s ‘Doctor Who’ episode in the 60th Anniversary Marathon is called ‘Night Terrors’ (No, not the ‘Star Trek: TNG’ episode 😀 ) by Mark Gatiss. In the episode, Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams make a ‘house call’ at a council estate in Croydon. In one of the flats, there’s an eight-year-old boy named George, who’s terrified of almost everything. He especially dreads the cupboard in his bedroom. This episode features special guest star Daniel Mays as Alex, who is George’s father. Daniel Mays would later go on to play Private Walker in the 2016 ‘Dad’s Army’ film. The episode also has Amy and Rory being trapped in a doll house with some terrifying life-size peg dolls. ‘Night Terrors’ 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’

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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