Apologies for the delay, but as with so much of this season, Doctor Who feels like it's biding time until the big finale. Having said that The Eaters of Light, promised a bit and delivered more than recent episodes. I acknowledge I've been hard on them, but when a great thing falls a little way from being … Continue reading Doctor Who: Roam where you want to
Review
Doctor Who: More ice?
Imagine ordering Empress of Mars, a colonialist, capitalist and slavery themed episode of Doctor Who that demonstrates 19th century military and mercantile values and not realising it was accomplished earlier, with more nuance and to a more satisfying degree in the episode Thin Ice? As if to make up for this, some fetching steam punk … Continue reading Doctor Who: More ice?
Doctor Who: Here’s a thought
Themes in Doctor Who repeat because history repeats, and stories do too, as per The Lie of the Land. I am endlessly interested in how stories are in and of their time but also universal, cosmic, mythical. How any story set today can refer to 'fake news' but also be about the first story humans … Continue reading Doctor Who: Here’s a thought
Review: Much have I seen and known
Maybe at another time I will provide a more considered and thorough critique of the following film and its performances, but right now it is too much with me and all I've got are raw feelings. Do you remember when you were young? When you rushed home from school full of energy, even after an … Continue reading Review: Much have I seen and known
Review: Love in art
The usual blockbuster events gain all the attention for the National Gallery of Victoria, and like cosmic detritus around a black hole, all are pulled by way of its gravitational attraction. And this is no bad thing, so go see Vincent van Gogh and the Four Seasons if you can. What these starry-eyed fans may … Continue reading Review: Love in art
Doctor Who: Blind faith
The doom monks of the previous episode Extremis are back in Doctor Who's Pyramid at the End of the World. As the latest Big Bad, these aliens are eerily reminiscent of the crypts of actual mummified Capuchin friars that hang from walls and ceilings. These aliens are even dressed the same (Capuchin indicates hooded). If you … Continue reading Doctor Who: Blind faith
Review: A brush with Vincent
The National Gallery of Victoria winter masterpiece exhibition this year is Vincent van Gogh and the Four Seasons (on now). I finally got to visit on a particularly sombre, grey Melbourne Friday afternoon. Last year the big exhibit was Degas. It was interesting. I recognised familiar paintings of the usual suspects, admired paintings I'd not … Continue reading Review: A brush with Vincent
Doctor Who: Use Your Words
'ere be spoilers, me hearties, k? In a Doctor Who story featuring two big reveals, the one regarding the vault was interesting, given the stuff about measurements of fatality, with an apt call back to River Song, but that was the curtain raiser. No, it was the other piece of news that kept me engaged … Continue reading Doctor Who: Use Your Words
Doctor Who: Raising Stakes
Ok, this is a two-fer-one deal this week. Two reviews for one episode. It's happened before and it may happen again. Here we go. Remember when Psychic Bec™ described the 2017 season's arc in terms of how each episode would edge closer to the main point of the series and how, in another post (if you've … Continue reading Doctor Who: Raising Stakes
Doctor Who: Deep Space Mine
Here be spoilers, because I can't do this otherwise, k? This Doctor Who episode, Oxygen, was saying a lot but I'm not sure I fully appreciated everything beyond omg zombies in space. The tension, the fear, the slow chase and quick deaths were compelling. Meanwhile, the tech looked satisfyingly advanced while also being reassuringly grimy and … Continue reading Doctor Who: Deep Space Mine
Writing Bec 