Doctor Who - Short Story : Cellmate

The Doctor mused at her surroundings. Blackened and bare walls on all sides, harbouring nothing that could be described as detail. Merely laden rock. A fortress of nothingness. A single oxygen shield allowed in a glimpse of the vast expanse of space beyond the prison in which she now found herself trapped, and alone. 

She found herself almost wanting to be slightly amused, being imprisoned by the Judoon for a crime which she technically was not guilty of committing, despite the fact of course, that she was, long ago during a lifetime that had been hidden from her until now. 

Ruth....The Doctor.....the one who’s crime was simply running away, grasping for freedom from the evil that was Gat and The Division. 

The one who was the actual fugitive. 

Yet here The Doctor stood, in a cold, lonely cell buried in the recesses of the Shada prison planet, in her place. 

A person could go mad in this place if imprisoned long enough. 

“What are the chances we might’ve both ended up here, Doctor?” called a voice out of the dark. 

An oh so familiar voice, one The Doctor hadn’t heard for ever such a long time. The one who’d warned her fam about the Cybermen. 

The voice became an outline, the outline becoming a shadow and the shadow stepped forth, revealing Captain Jack Harkness in the fraction of light that filled the cell. 

“It’s good to see you, ma’am” he said with that cheeky old smile plastered across his face. 

A sense of relief and confusion washed over her, at least she wasn’t alone but how on earth had she managed to arrive in the very same cell as her old friend and former companion? 

“Jack!” she sighed “okay you’re gonna have to explain” 

Jack laughed. 

“Funny story actually. After I met those new friends of yours, they’re great by the way, I found myself in Spacelane 89. Not the nicest corner of the galaxy let me tell you. Anyway, I was trying to get back to Earth but the power cell in my wrist strap was dead and technically the freighter that I scooped your friends from wasn’t mine, truthfully I stole it from the Pukalott Syndicate. Next thing I know, a Judoon faction are beaming down to the port on Spacelane 89 just as I’m about to get a ride off that junker and here I am serving a Generation Two sentence for Category A Grand Larceny” 

The Doctor rolled her eyes. Same old Jack. 

“I could use my sonic to recharge your power cell” she suggested, reaching inside her coat for her trusty device. 

Jack raised an eyebrow as he rolled up the sleeve of his heavy RAF greatcoat, opening the cap of his wrist strap and observing The Doctor’s new, rather amusingly shaped sonic screwdriver. 

“Surprised you were able to get that in here” he remarked “they usually scan for any alien technology” 

The screwdriver glowed a brilliant orange, the crystal atop the device, pulsating and rotating. 

His wrist strap began to kick back into life, bleeping loudly, buttons and dials illuminating a bright blue as the power cell returned to a full charge. 

“I suspect the only reason they didn’t take your vortex manipulator is because they thought it was useless with a depleted power cell. They knew you weren’t going to escape” she said, keeping her focus on the screwdriver and wrist strap. 

“Lucky you ended up here then I suppose.....gonna explain how?” 

The Doctor shook her head.

“Just mistaken identity, a story for another day maybe” she said, putting away her screwdriver “can you get us both out of here, I’ve programmed the TARDIS basecode numerals in there with the sonic” 

Jack nodded and pressed away at his wrist strap. 

“Got it, sector Alpha two five three slash acorn. I’ll use a hologram projection to make the Judoon think we’re still here. It should them a while to catch on and by then we should be out of range of their transmat” 

Translucent versions of both of them beamed into life before their eyes. 

“So that’s what I look like from the back....not bad” Jack said with a smirk, causing The Doctor to roll her eyes. 

If the Judoon didn’t catch up to and kill them, Jack’s vanity surely would, eventually. 

“Alright” Jack stated “hold on tight” 

The Doctor placed her hands around his wrist. 

In a crackling shimmer of bright blue, the two disappeared into the aether. 

To be continued......

Doctor Who : Ratings Are Not Everything.

9 days. This fandom has reached peak toxicity and we're barely a week into this break between series. I can't believe i actually have to write this but i'm already so done with seeing everyone bickering about ratings so i'm hoping this can go some way to being both educational and insightful on the current "health" of Doctor Who. In short, its absolutely fine but apparently it needs spelling out for some of us. 

(Chart graphic by my good friend, @AceCreepTwo)

Doctor Who's ratings have been falling. Since 2014. Because shockingly, viewing habits have changed worldwide. Doctor Who's ratings began to plummet when Peter Capaldi became the Twelfth Doctor (and it should be noted, Peter is and always will be my absolute favourite Doctor, i'm simply stating facts here). Series 8 managed to cling to the popularity drive bought about by the 50th anniversary and averaged a modest 7.3 million viewers. Then came Series 9 and something seemed to snap, causing a nosedive in viewership, bringing an average viewership of just 6.0 million. A gap year in 2016, populated only by failed spin-off Class and a festive special, didn't exactly do the show wonders so when the series returned for its tenth outing in the spring of 2017, it gained only a measly average of 5.5 million viewers and some of the lowest overnight figures since 2005. Yet, i don't recall anyone accusing Doctor Who of being in danger or rather more dramatically, dead when the ratings tanked in the latter of the Moffat years. 

Skip forward a year. 2018. The new year bought with it a new era of Doctor Who and one that a rather loud minority would have you believe is "a failure, isn't canon, has killed Doctor Who" and so on. Jodie Whittaker's first series bought with it the highest average viewership since the show's revival in 2005, averaging 7.9 million viewers and the first episode being the most watched episode since 2005 with a seven day consolidated figure of a whopping 10.54 million viewers. It's safe to say that curiosity & peculiarity on how the first female Doctor would translate to screen helped bumped the numbers to their highest in a series that was....mediocre at best. 2019 gave us another gap year as filming on Series 12 began, providing only the new year's day special, Resolution. 

Series 12 finally began on New Year's Day this year and it proved to be an especially unpredictable series with some huge moments, inclusion of familiar foes (The Master, The Judoon and The Cybermen) and incredible reveals in the lore of the central character. Sadly though, Series 11 simply hadn't worked for some and viewers, naturally had turned off and hadn't returned when Series 12 began with Spyfall which bought back The Master, now played by Sacha Dhawan. Much like every other series since at least 2014, the viewership dipped each week until finally, the tenth and final episode of Series 12 received a seven day consolidated figure of just 4.69 million. This is the lowest figure since the revival in 2005. It should be noted however, that overnight figures still remain generally stronger which means more people are watching live than in previous series or recording and watching later in the evening. Series 12 received an average viewership of 5.4 million, only a smidge under the average for Series 10 but down significantly from Series 11, despite being a far superior series. There is however, context to be explored.

2019 bought one episode. Just that. No spin-offs. One single episode only three weeks after Series 11 had finished and the promise of a Dalek story, the first 'classic monster' of the Whittaker & Chibnall era. Filming for Series 12 was kept tightly wrapped with little promotion of the show in the months before (though now we can understand why) and that may well have contributed somewhat to the decline in viewers. That's something the production team can choose to work on when Series 13 begins production later this year. We've already talked about this though, so lets move on. Toxicity & hatred toward the show has become rife, platforms are becoming more comfortable around hate speech, especially YouTube who seem to be actively allowing it more and more. Again we've talked about this before but its worth a mention here. If you haven't given it a read already, please consider doing so.

Here's the thing though, ratings simply are not everything and don't let anyone fool you into thinking they are. Doctor Who doesn't rely on high ratings as a measure of success. They play a part, of course but they aren't the be all and end all of Doctor Who's continued recommissioning. They never were and they never will be. There's international distribution deals in place, such as the deal with upcoming streaming service HBO Max which confirmed it has the rights to Series 12 through Series 15 to exclusively stream, confirming the show is recommissioned for AT LEAST another three series and will likely continue to be recommissioned as and when deals develop which is usually on a biyearly basis. Here though is the icing on the cake. Merchandise. Merchandise is essentially half the funding for Doctor Who and just about every other franchise like it. It isn't just the show anymore and everyone should be recognising this by now. Books, comics, figurines, clothing, calenders, CDs, DVD & Blu-Ray sales, new series and classic alike. Anything that is official merchandise and carries the Doctor Who branding directly contributes to the funding of the show and further merchandise releases. 

Right now we've got missing episodes being animated for release by TWO teams meaning double the volume of releases (potentially), we've got several releases in 'The Collection' line per year, new series steelbook releases, not to mention the seemingly endless Big Finish audio series, brand new figures both from the new series and the classic series B&M sets and that really is the tip of the iceberg in merchandising. There's so much more.

Folks, instead of worrying and lets face it, bitching at each other on the subject of ratings and using it as a weapon to try and damage the show (which by the way, you're entirely failing at), lets at least acknowledge that ratings are just one slice of a big cake. Its great if you get the biggest piece, but getting any is better than nothing. That's probably a bad metaphor but you get the point. Doctor Who isn't in any danger. It's still popular, it's still getting respectable viewing figures and it's still selling merchandise across the board and its selling very well. 

Doctor Who is alive and its just as healthy as ever.

Doctor Who : Why Hashtag 'NotMyDoctor' Is An Irrelevant Cause.

Approximately two and a half years ago, Jodie Whittaker was unveiled to the world as the first female actor to take on the role of The Doctor, succeeding Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor and becoming the Thirteenth incarnation of the time lord. An iconic moment for the history books that got people across the world talking and the biggest change that Doctor Who had ever implemented. Like everything else though, a small minority of people were not a fan of the change and Jodie's casting and immediately took to social media to voice their fury that the alien character known for being able to change their entire biology was finally going to become a woman and it spawned the online 'movement' known as "#NotMyDoctor". 

Ordinarily i might post an image to show a logo or an example of something but frankly, i'm not inclined to give any more recognition to these people than just writing this article. Lets press ahead. 

Skip ahead two and a half years to the present day. Astonishingly after nearly two entire seasons with Jodie Whittaker's Doctor, "#NotMyDoctor" is somehow still a thing and the same small minority of fragile, egocentric folk are still in uproar about.....just about everything that this show does. It doesn't matter what this show has to offer, be it Daleks, Cybermen, The Master, Judoon and so on, the NMD's still manage to find issue somewhere along the chain. Everyday i see videos being posted across social media and when i search anything Doctor Who related on YouTube, i get recommended videos from the likes of 'MatrixLord212', 'NoelZone', 'Nerdrotic' or 'Bowlestrek' when frankly, all i really want to do is watch the Doctor Who episode reactions from some of my favourite reactors - shout out to 'FailWhale34' and 'Sesskasays'. 

Those two are my favourite reaction channels. Please do check them out. 

Going back to the core subject of the "#NotMyDoctor" lot though, i want to simply say that their so called 'movement' or 'cause' - whatever synonym you want to dress it up as, is completely irrelevant at this stage. There's an argument that it's been irrelevant from the get go but thats another discussion entirely.  Those of us who have and continue to support Jodie Whittaker and the current era of Doctor Who are often put on blast by these people, especially on YouTube. We're called all sorts and have all kinds of abuse thrown at us and been credited as "fake fans" and "traitors" and we've even been labelled as "J-Bots". It speaks to the general maturity and etiquette of all of those who proudly parade themselves as being part of the "#NotMyDoctor" cause but its also massively ironic too. These same people often claim to have insider information about choices being made by the execs that very conveniently suits their anti-Jodie agenda, having been proven wrong on absolutely everything they've ever claimed in relation to (non-existent) "sources". When called out, they don't respond in any civilised manner, they go straight for the block. Be it social media or YouTube, they don't want actual facts being put out there to their audience, they'd rather spread their own alternative facts and have their followers/subscribers lapping it up. 

I'd love to say that it ends there...it doesn't. The reaction after the revelation of the Jo Martin incarnation was beyond horrifying. Bad enough that "#NotMyDoctor" revealed the blatant misogynistic side to certain so called fans, introducing the first POC actor to play The Doctor also, unsurprisingly revealed that the very same people carry extreme racist views and were more than happy to use disgusting and derogatory racist terms when talking in videos about this big moment in series 12. Words that i wont even type but i'm sure anyone reading this can probably imagine what some of those words were. Heck i'd almost say go and watch some of the reactions from the people i've talked about but i honestly don't recommend it if you have even a shred of faith in humanity. 

So, what's the message here?

The message is in the title of the article. The fact that hashtag 'NotMyDoctor' is an irrelevant cause, whether they accept it or not. We all know it. They know it.No matter how much they metaphorically kick and scream, they won't win. Nothing will change just to suit their collective agenda. My aim isn't to make them stop, we all know that a leopard doesn't change its spots after all. My message is to all my fellow fans, who support Jodie, support this era and still love and appreciate Doctor Who. They'd try and have us believe that they are right, that we are wrong. They'd have us believe that they have influence over the fandom and the show itself, that's how deluded they are. They actually believe their own delusions. They have no power, no influence. They have no connections to the show's production or decisions made by the BBC in relation to Doctor Who. 

They are just a loud minority who do not speak for the huge majority of decent, positively driven fans. They speak only for themselves and their fellow hatred spouting individuals who despite their insistence of loving the show previously, have clearly never received it or its message of kindness and acceptance for all properly. They thrive off hate and as long as we give them any kind of reaction across social media platforms, they'll continue to use it. So lets not give it to them. I'd encourage anyone and everyone, take measures to block these people from your social media profiles. Report their posts, their accounts and then block, whatever platform it is. Nobody needs to see their consistent hatred and i'm hopeful i speak for more than just myself with that.

I know that it might seem like they win that way but it doesn't. We do. You do. All of us do. It's one less person for their hatred to reach at the very least. If a social media post or an account, a video or a YouTube channel is removed, it cuts them off from spreading their hatred to the outside world. That's a step in the right direction. This isn't an instruction, its just advice from one fan to another. We are stronger together and ultimately, i like to think that we all represent the true values of Doctor Who. We're all children of the TARDIS.

She might not be their Doctor, but she's absolutely ours.

Doctor Who : Series 12 - Marketing And Promotion Problem

Doctor Who's twelfth series is well underway, in fact at the time of writing, only three episodes remain. It's been a strong series so far and a huge improvement on the last series which in my opinion, pales in comparison. Yet, there's an underlying problem with series 12 that isn't doing the show any favours at all. The marketing and promotion. 

Can it be fixed?

Well, in a word, yes. First though we have to establish exactly what the problem is and the effects that its having. After Spyfall concluded its two episode story, the wait began for the third episode of the series, 'Orphan 55' written by Ed Hime. Nobody really anticipated it being anything special given Hime's previous contribution to Doctor Who in series 11 with the mostly critically panned episode 'It Takes You Away'. There seemed to be though, some encouragement from the Doctor Who BBC America twitter account. 

A short teaser tweet posted by the Doctor Who BBC America account seemed to promise something big happening at the end of 'Orphan 55' that peaked viewers interest significantly. After the two major surprises of The Master and Gallifrey in 'Spyfall', it seemed to be a reasonable assumption that they were right.......there was nothing. Literally nothing dramatic or unexpected happened at the end of the episode. You could in fact miss how this episode ended, because the episode itself was as dull as the last one written by Ed Hime and the ending was rendered incredibly anti-climatic by this tease. It's probably fair to say that this didn't go down very well and it might just have knocked a legitimate tease that came only two weeks later.

Another teasing tweet, this time posted by the Official Doctor Who account teased that if they thought The Master returning was big, they "won't believe what happens this week" in advance of 'Fugitive Of The Judoon' and this time, they were damn right. The episode saw the return of John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness and the revelation that Jo Martin's seemingly ordinary character was in fact another incarnation of The Doctor herself. This time, the promise paid off in a big way but because of the previous tweet in relation to 'Orphan 55', some were quick to dismiss it as just being a ploy to rake in more viewers due to the decline in viewership this year. It was only after the two big points of this episode that got people talking across social media that a lot of people watched the episode on catchup. 

Skip ahead to this week. We've had 'Praxeus' and only 48 hours ago, we had 'Can You Hear Me?'. Next up we've got 'The Haunting Of Villa Diodati' which is one of the more exciting and unknown episodes of this season and this time, we've got a rather different tease. 

In another teaser tweet from the Doctor Who BBC America account, we get a preview of this week's episode with the tagline of "only 1 episode left until the incredible 2-part season finale". Now this is just my own opinion but why promote the episodes after the forthcoming episode instead of that one itself? You might as well be saying "don't bother with this one, the really good stuff is next week!"

It just doesn't make sense. Especially when in the case of this, we know this week's episode will feature the 'Lone Cyberman' and be the first of a loose 3-part finale, yet they're just skipping over and essentially disregarding Villa Diodati from promotion despite it being a pretty damn vital episode leading into the season finale which we now know will feature an entire army of brand new Cybermen.

Fixing the problem

Going into the Dalek special (rumour has it that it will air on Easter Sunday this year) and beyond into Series 13, the BBC has to reconsider and change up its strategies for marketing and promotion of the show entirely. Series 12 has proved that secrecy and misdirection can be vital and a great asset for the show but that doesn't mean that every little thing should necessarily be kept under lock and key. Chris Chibnall has proven himself to be rather clever with this series in particular as the trailers lifted certain elements from the scenes they were pulled from, the biggest being Sacha Dhawan having been digitally removed from Spyfall scenes featured in the trailer. This is a great and effective way to promote the show whilst keeping the big stuff under wraps. Series 13 could and really should double down on that. 

The production notes in DWM are scarce and rarely feature anything from Chris Chibnall. Obviously that is his own prerogative and nobody can force him to divulge anything but if there's anything that doesn't give away spoilers, why not let them out into the public domain? Ironically this is something he did do in advance of Series 11, dropping lots of character names and episode plot points. Maybe we could get that back for Series 13? I feel like transparency is something we could use more of when it comes to Chris Chibnall. Fans need stuff to talk about during the months when the show isn't on. Without it, we only have unsubstantiated (and often completely untrue) rumours from less than reliable 'sources'. 

Things like guest cast and episode titles being kept secret is something that really, i think most would agree, doesn't need to be kept as secret as it has been. If a title is very spoilery or references a returning character (i.e. Ascension Of The Cybermen, The Timeless Children) then by all means, hold it back until the time is right to let it out into the public domain but even then, there's no real reason to keep it held back. Knowing something like that will keep people talking, speculating and tuning in. It worked during the Russell T Davies era and it worked mostly during the Steven Moffat era. Secrecy in this era has proven itself to alienate a lot of fans and viewers because it often means we don't find anything out till the very last minute and that isn't healthy for the show.  

As for individual episodes and the 'teasing tweets' in the days before hand...maybe just don't do those next series or DO but make them a consistent feature for every episode and tease an element of each episode as suggested to me by a friend of mine on Twitter. It gets fans talking and hyping up a forthcoming episode whilst essentially remaining spoiler (and by attachment, context) free. Let's not do another 'Orphan 55' anytime soon eh?

Everything written above is only my own opinion and and suggestion and should be treated as such. I love this show and anything i've written is done so in suggestion of how to improve. My intention is not to criticise in any way. 

Doctor Who - Series 12 : Jack's Back, What Next?

He's back....and it's about time!

After a decade away from Doctor Who and nine years after his 'final' television appearance at the conclusion of Torchwood : Miracle Day, Jack Harkness made his grand on-screen return to the Doctor Who universe as John Barrowman reprised his most iconic role as the crazy pansexual hero Captain Jack Harkness in episode five of Doctor Who, Series 12 titled 'Fugitive Of The Judoon' written by Vinay Patel & co-written by showrunner Chris Chibnall. More on all of that in another post, we're here to talk about Jack.

Jack's return in either the main series or a Torchwood revival is something that seemed doomed to never happen. Actor John Barrowman has been very open and forthcoming about his efforts to bring our favourite Captain back into the fold over the years, meeting with the BBC, Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner as well as Chris Chibnall himself and finally, against all odds they've made it happen in the most unexpected way that anyone could've imagined. 

Though Jack was only introduced to Graham, Ryan and Yaz during this episode and we didn't quite get that Doctor & Jack reunion that we might've hoped for, it seems all but certain that Jack will be back (for real this time) sooner rather than later. This wasn't just a one off for nostalgia. So, what next?

Series 12 finale

So....this is where things are a little twisty. Episode 8 of Series 12 which is supposedly a story about a Cyberman and Mary Shelley at Lake Geneva, inspiring Shelley for the concept of Frankenstein, is written by Maxine Alderton and will very likely be co-written by Chris Chibnall. It is directed by Emma Sullivan....however, there are photos online from filming of Block 5 (episodes 9 and 10) at Nash Point that clearly show Jamie Magnus Stone as well as monsters that also appear to be Cybermen, meaning that this series could find itself with a directly connected three part finale in the same vein as Series 3 and 4. There has been rumours since the opening episodes 'Spyfall'  that the "Kasaavin" could well be a generation of advanced Voord or Cybermen in disguise and if so, this wouldn't be the first time that the Cybermen have disguised themselves as otherworldly entities. 

Where Jack fits into this though, is the interesting part. Jack returned with a warning for the companions to pass onto The Doctor to "beware the lone Cybermen. Don't give it what it wants" as well as promising to see her again, that he'd be there when she needed him. Given that Jack has this knowledge of The Doctor's future, its more than likely that Jack will make a reappearance in either this episode or at its conclusion and properly join the team in fighting whatever threatens the universe in the two part finale. After that is anyone's guess. There's every chance John could become a series regular or recurring guest actor but that's definitely not the only avenue for him to go down if he and the powers that be wish.

Torchwood Relaunch

It really is plain as day to see at this point. Torchwood is being given a life line. Nine years after the last series, Torchwood looks set to make an equally grand return to our TV screens at some point in the near future. Possibly next year which would be a fitting time for the show to return as it would mark a full decade since Miracle Day. The first inclination of a Torchwood revival came from the organisation being namedropped by Stephen Fry's character 'C' in 'Spyfall Part One' which was the first mention of Torchwood for several years in Doctor Who. I certainly didn't expect the second and humongous inclination to present itself so quickly either but here we are. Of course i have to mention the continued burning of the flame that has come from Big Finish' success with the Torchwood audios, especially the 'Aliens Among Us' and 'Gods Among Us' series that has continued on from the events of Miracle Day though how canon they are now is up for debate until such a time as a direct reference is made to them in the show, from Jack, when he next shows up. 

If and when Torchwood does return to TV, we'll likely see an entirely new team apart from Jack of course. I know Eve Myles still has a lot of passion for the show but she seems to be an incredibly busy actress now, making herself a household name in the popular BBC Drama 'Keeping Faith' which may prevent her from reprising her role as Gwen Cooper but that is only speculation on my part and i for one, would love for Eve to return to Torchwood. She and John are a force to be reckoned with. 

As far as potential showrunning duties would go for a new series of Torchwood, my guess would be that RTD and Chibnall would both be onboard executive producers and write episodes both separately and together as co-writers. I also wouldn't be surprised if some of the new Doctor Who writers re-teamed with Chris on any Torchwood related endeavours to pen an episode. Again though, just my own speculation and guessing. We'll have to wait and see what happens, if anything does. 

For now though, Jack is back!

 

Crisis On Infinite Earths - Analysis & Breakdown : Hour Five [DC's Legends Of Tomorrow]

I'm gonna say straight up that i basically hated this hour of Crisis. Being the DC's Legends Of Tomorrow hour, it was written by their writers who have absolutely no idea how to write serious & sincere stories and rely on outright silliness and semantics as their entire MO in showrunning this goofy, stupid mess of a show.

So of course, along came all of that to the biggest live action crossover in history and resulted in the most frustratingly childish anti-climax in history. We begin with the reveal that Barry and Kara co-exist on the same Earth, along with team Arrow and the Legends themselves. We get a delightful cameo from original Crisis comic writer Marv Wolfman who plays a lovely chap called...Marv, who asks if he can have Supergirl & Flash's autograph after taking down Weather Witch. This is one of the few good moments in this hour and the fact that it unifies all our main heroes on a single Earth means we can have more mini crossovers between each show as well as more references to the events taking place on each other's shows. Case in point being Black Lightning. 

Then it all sort of falls apart from there because fucking Beebo shows up. Yeah, that stupid, annoying cuddly toy introduced in Legends third season and became a major thing just had to be part of this crossover despite having absolutely no business being a part of it and contributes precisely nothing to this hour. I mean, it doesn't move the story along and it doesn't have anything to do with the bigger story in any way, shape or form. It honestly feels like product placement at this point.  

The rest of the episode is spent by J'onn restoring the memories of the original universe and timeline for those who were initially erased by the anti-matter wave in hour three, including the restored Nash Wells, no longer possessing his abilities as Pariah and each member of Team Arrow who now know that Oliver died twice. 

The biggest part of this episode comes with the reveal of the shadow demons are still hunting paragons and the Anti-Monitor being very much alive. Because of the time wasted by the whole Beebo scene, the big final battle feels very, very weak and incredibly rushed which ultimately results in a battle that seems far too easy for the heroes to win considering how powerful the Anti-Monitor has proven himself to be over the previous hours of the crossover. Ultimately though, with the idea from Ryan Choi and help from Nash, the Anti-Monitor is defeated using a shrinking bomb which will keep him shrinking for eternity, trapping him in the microverse (think : Ant-Man). 

The episode and by extention, event as a whole ends with a redux of the original opening monologue but this time, spoken by Oliver instead of The Monitor which reveals that while our heroes exist on one Earth (revealed to be Earth-Prime), the multiverse still exists and is home to Stargirl on Earth-2, HBO Max upcoming Green Lantern on Earth-12, Swamp Thing on Earth-19, Titans on Earth-9, the Doom Patrol on Earth-21 and Kingdom Come Superman on Earth-96. There's a poignant final scene of our heroes in the Hall Of Justice, officially setting up a CW Justice League and a direct reference to The Wonder twins with the reveal that Gleek was caged in the Hall and has seemingly escaped. So thats the next crossover sorted? 

So yeah, Crisis On Infinite Earths was by far the biggest thing ever done in live action comic book history on par with Avengers Infinity War & Endgame but with only a fraction of the budget for both movies, it still pulled off some serious fan service in this entire crossover and did not disappoint. It might have been rather anti-climactic in the end but overall, it was a spectacular feat of television. Crisis On Infinite Earths overall deserves a score of 10/10.

Crisis On Infinite Earths - Analysis & Breakdown : Hour Four [Arrow]

I think its fair to say that the fourth and penultimate hour of The CW's 'Crisis On Infinite Earths' crossover was one of the strongest instalments of the event.

We got to see just how Mar-Novu became the omnipotent being that was The Monitor and how a simple misjudgement on his part became the catalyst for the creation of Mobius/The Anti-Monitor. We got some great moments with the surviving paragons and the full blown introduction of Oliver Queen as The Spectre for this hour of the crossover. The use of anamorphic in scenes taking place inside the speedforce was a great touch as the paragons went to revisit key moments in Oliver's life....even if that didn't have a heck of a lot of payoff but what it did give us is one of the biggest WTF moments in the whole of live action comic book history. Yeah, THAT moment.

My heart almost stopped when Ezra Miller's DCEU Flash came up against Grant Gustin and i specifically remember shouting several loud expletives (bearing in mind i was streaming live from the UK in the early hours of Wednesday morning). I don't think anybody could've expected this to ever happen in a live action capacity so the fact that they managed to keep this secret for months was a truly epic feat on the part of The CW and DC Comics. Not only does this confirm that the DCEU is part of the Arrowverse's multiverse but also opens up the possibility for Grant Gustin to appear in Ezra's Flash movie which opens in 2022 and is said to be adapting the 'Flashpoint' storyline. Congratulations again to everyone involved with making this moment happen.

The rest of the episode saw some interesting dynamics, particularly how Ryan Choi blended with the rest of the heroes and perhaps a turning point for Jon Cryer's Lex Luthor who really stole the show in hour four, it has to be said. As usual, he had some of the wittiest dialogue in the whole thing and this, for me, cemented the fact that he is my favourite interpretation of Lex. I'm glad he'll be sticking around after Crisis. The final battle at the dawn of time was probably my second favourite bit of this hour as the paragons took on the shadow demons while Oliver/Spectre took on the Anti-Monitor in a visually stunning scene which saw the Anti-Monitor "defeated" and the universe "reborn"

'You have failed this universe'

Of course, this brings Oliver Queen's journey to its (supposedly) final end as he has served his purpose in bringing back the universe with help from the paragons and dies once more with Barry and Sara by his side. He finally became something else and he certainly did not fail this city or this universe. Oliver Queen was a hero. A legend.