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. 

Doctor Who : Series 12 - Everything We Know So Far [UPDATED February 2020]

What do we know about Series 12?

Despite the fact that at the time of writing, Series 12 has already begun, we still don't know all that much about the episodes to come. We know more than we did but still not as much as we might ordinarily do when at this stage of the game, though given what has already been established, that might just be a good thing. So let's dive straight in with everything we know so far about Doctor Who Series 12.

Episodes 1&2 - Spyfall Part One & Spyfall Part Two

Cast : Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill, Tosin Cole, Lenny Henry, Sacha Dhawan, Sylvie Briggs, Aurora Marion

Writer : Chris Chibnall

Directors : Jamie Magnus Stone & Lee Haven-Jones

Series 12 opened with a two part adventure broadcast on January 1st 2020 and January 5th 2020, marking the first two part story for the Jodie Whittaker era thus far and the first time since the show was revived in 2005 that two episodes have aired in the same week. The two part story saw Team TARDIS thrust into the world of espionage to take on Daniel Barton (played by Lenny Henry) and the mysterious Kasaavin. Part one ended with the revelation that supporting character O (played by Sacha Dhawan) was in fact a newly regenerated incarnation of The Master. The Doctor was separated from her friends who were in turn, left on a plane crashing towards Earth. Part two picked up the story and revealed that The Master had his own TARDIS (disguised as an outback hut) though neglected to reveal whether he is an incarnation after The Master killed by Missy or after Missy herself. The episode also opened up a new series arc, establishing that The Master had been back to Gallifrey recently and had completely destroyed the citadel and ravaged the surrounding settlements. He revealed that he had decimated their shared homeworld after discovering the truth of their species and that it connects to 'The Timeless Child' which will be the arc for this season.

Episode 3 - Orphan 55

Cast : Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill, Tosin Cole, James Buckley, Will Austin, Laura Fraser

Writer : Ed Hime

Director : Lee Haven-Jones

We don't know much about this episode but the synopsis simply reads "The Doctor and her friends discover that the luxury resort where they are holidaying is hiding a number of deadly secrets. What are the ferocious monsters attacking Tranquillity Spa"According to Jodie Whittaker, this episode features "a really scary monster"

Episode 4 - Nikola Tesla's Night Of Terror

Cast : Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill, Tosin Cole, Goran Višnjić, Robert Glenister, Anjli Mohindra, Haley McGee

Writer : Nina Metivier

Director : Nida Manzoor

This episode will see Goran Višnjić take on the role of famous inventor Nikola Tesla and Robert Glenister playing his rival Thomas Edison. It will also feature the reappearance of Anjli Mohindra in the whoniverse who will this time be playing the Queen Skithra, a race of scorpion like creatures. Fun fact : Anjli Mohindra and Sacha Dhawan are a real life couple! 

The synopsis reads : "The time: the earliest years of the 20th century. The place: New York City. Inventor Nikola Tesla is at war with his rival Thomas Edison. However, there’s an even greater threat in their midst…"

Episode 5 - Fugitive Of The Judoon

Cast : Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill, Tosin Cole, Jo Martin, John Barrowman, Neil Stuke, Paul Casey

Writer : Vinay Patel & Chris Chibnall

Director : Nida Manzoor

This episode will see the return of the outer space rhino police species, The Judoon as they search the town of Gloucester for a fugitive on the run from justice. Nothing else is known about this episode yet. 

The synopsis reads : "Stomping their way into present-day Gloucester, the Judoon are on the hunt for someone on the run. Who is this fugitive? And why are these alien mercenaries after them?"

Episode 6 - Praxeus

Cast : Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill, Tosin Cole, Matthew McNulty, Molly Harris, Joanna Borja

Writer : Pete McTighe & Chris Chibnall

Director : Jamie Magnus Stone

We really know nothing about this episode other than it features bat like creatures and plague doctors with laser rifles.

The synopsis reads : "The Doctor and her friends split up to investigate multiple mysteries across planet Earth. What they find will threaten all of humanity…"

Episode 7 - Can You Hear Me?

Cast : Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill, Tosin Cole, Ian Gelder

Writer : Charlene James

Director : Emma Sullivan

Very little is still known about this episode but it will be a dark and scary episode that is speculated to feature the black and white guardians for the first time in 'Nu-Who'

Episode 8 - The Haunting Of Villa Diodati

Cast : Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill, Tosin Cole, Nicholas Briggs, Jacob Collins-Levy, John Barrowman

Writer : Maxine Alderton & Chris Chibnall

Director : Emma Sullivan

This episode will see the return of The Cybermen for the first time in the Jodie Whittaker era. John Barrowman may well make a re-entrance in this episode as Jack had knowledge of this particular event in The Doctor's future. 

Episodes 9&10 - Ascension of The Cybermen & The Timeless Children

Cast : Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill, Tosin Cole, Sacha Dhawan, Jo Martin, John Barrowman

Writer : Chris Chibnall

Director : Jamie Magnus Stone

These episodes will almost definitely see the return of The Master and a story revolving around 'The Timeless Child' and fallout from Gallifrey's destruction. It's possible we could also see Lenny Henry returning as Daniel Barton but this is only speculation. Nothing else is known about these two episodes apart from them being one story and a two part series finale.Jo Martin and John Barrowman will also reappear in these episodes as 'The Doctor' and Jack Harkness, respectively.

The next issue of Doctor Who Magazine will likely reveal the episode titles for the remaining three episodes ('The Lone Cyberman' is not confirmed) of Series 12 as well as the first synopses and promotional pictures from each. You can expect a full update on the same day that happens.

'Praxeus' airs Sunday, February 2nd at 7:10pm on BBC One.

Star Wars : The Rise Of Skywalker - Spoiler Full Review

Let me start by simply saying that what you’re about to read is only my own opinion. It should not colour your view of whether or not to see this movie, assuming you haven’t already. It is merely my own thoughts on the movie and my personal reaction to it. Let’s jump in. Oh and adult language ahead. 


We had the original trilogy. Then we had the prequels and now here we are, at the end of the sequels. A trilogy that in all honesty, really didn’t need to have happened in the first place and why it did seems to point purely to the money tree for Disney to make a few bob on top of the mountains of money they already have. That’s not to say that ‘The Rise Of Skywalker’ or in fact it’s two predecessors in this trilogy are bad movies, they’re not. They just didn’t really need to happen and TROS rams that point home I think. The Force Awakens was for the most part a lesser copy of A New Hope, The Last Jedi had slightly more subtle parallels with Empire Strikes Back and The Rise Of Skywalker feels like it’s trying to emulate Return Of The Jedi but manages to distance itself where it’s important for it to do so even if....it shares the main story point. 

This is where my biggest problem with this movie comes in. While Rian Johnson went in a rather unexpected direction with TLJ after the events of TFA, it’s safe to say that TROS really does take a very, very hard turn from the former two instalments of this trilogy meaning the big bad (Palpatine) literally has to be re-introduced in the opening crawl and then his on screen introduction in the very first scene of the movie because who cares about the fact that there’s been absolutely no build up for the return of this character up to now. Fuck continuity said J.J. Abrams. Of course this is immediately explained as a basic retcon by revealing that Snoke was one of many clones that Palpatine essentially used as sock puppets to manipulate Kylo Ren whilst he and the remnants of the empire rebuilt and prepared for a comeback in the unknown regions. 

What the fuck J.J?

So if it’s not bad enough that Palpatine is shoe horned into this story from the get go, the reaction from the resistance is “hey guess what Palpy is back despite the fact that we’ve never mentioned this guy before now surprise”. Seriously, it’s very, very obvious that Palpatine was not the original big bad of this movie and according to recent leaks on Reddit, the original antagonist was supposed to be The Son of Mortis who would’ve been played by Matt Smith and this seems to be corroborated by the knowledge that script re-writes took place and a lot of stuff was reshot. I mean, at least these forced plot points manage to connect enough to the arcs of both TFA and TLJ, happily making the latter a better movie overall and they explain away the whole Snoke mystery but it still feels like a cop out. 

Lots of exposition later we get to the important stuff, J.J properly explaining the force bond (dyad) between Kylo and Rey which I guess is a plus because it builds on stuff established by Rian, the audience finally learning what Rey’s entire arc has been about with the audience learning that she is the granddaughter of Palpatine and her parents really were nobodies (her mother being played by Jodie Comer was unexpected) that left her on Jakku to keep her safe from the emperor was a satisfying enough answer to that question set back all the way back in TFA. It’s lazy and not quite worthy reveal but it does the job. 

Some more exposition later, we get THE moment with Rey finally besting Kylo on the wreckage of the Death Star II and Leia being given a heartbreaking send off as she uses what’s left of her life force to reach out to her son and passes away which is a hugely poignant character moment with it being the death of the final lead character from the original trilogy. The ‘death’ of Kylo sequence with Harrison Ford returning for a cameo as a vision in Ben’s head is equally as poignant and signifies the end of Ben’s journey from the dark and back to the light, metaphorically as well as literally with him throwing his crossguard lightsaber into the ocean. 

The above meme is pretty ironic as Rey’s first instinct in this still bewildering script is to take Ben’s TIE ship of which I forget the actual model and travels to Ahch-To in an effort to exile herself only to be given a pep talk by the ghost of Luke Skywalker as well as an extra lightsaber that once belonged to Leia in her days training as a Jedi. Admittedly, we do get a very lovely flashback sequence with a CGI Mark Hamill and CGI Carrie Fisher as young Leia and Luke but the CGI isn’t subtle and not particularly believable. It’s not The Irishman. It’s nice to see Mark Hamill back as the Luke we all knew and loved from the original trilogy and not the butchered, angry character assassination Luke that Rian Johnson provided us. Look what they did to my boy. 

Because Rey decided to torch the TIE ship that she arrived in, Luke obviously has to give her his old X-Wing fighter and Wayfinder to navigate her way to the unknown regions to defeat Palpatine once and for all. 

Cue the flashy space battles that are part and parcel of pretty much every Star Wars movie in the final act. Yep, as Rey ends up in the arena of the Sith temple, the skies above are filled with yet another new version of the original Empire Star Destroyers and these ones have planet destroying weapons. Sound familiar?...it should. Its fair to say though that despite the blatant copy paste here from both A New Hope and Return Of The Jedi, The Rise Of Skywalker does manage to deliver a visually stunning big battle with thousands of resistance reinforcements and sympathisers showing up to take down the empire once and for all, led by Lando Calrissian and new character Zorri Bliss. We get very quick cameos from Greg Grunberg as Snap Wexley and original trilogy character Wedge Antilles reprised by Denis Lawson. While all of this is going down, Ben conveniently shows up to help Rey defeat the emperor because redemption right?

LOL, nope.

Because the corpse like Palpatine delivers a typical line about not knowing the power of the force and siphons the energy of their force dyad to restore himself fully to life before yeeting the new good Ben Solo into the pit for no other reason than him being a Skywalker. Yeah, Palpatine holds a four decade grudge apparently. But every bad choice made in this movie is made up for in the immediate aftermath here as Rey finds herself hearing the voices of multiple Jedi including Anakin, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Mace Windu, Ashoka Tano, Luminara Unduli, Adi Gallia and Kanan Jarrus to spur her on and give her the strength to make her final stand against Palpatine...which she does and obviously, she wins too easily to actually be believable but at this stage, that ship already sailed. Then Rey dies for no reason....but wait! 

Yeah, this is where Ben miraculously climbs out of the pit and makes the ultimate sacrifice by passing his life force into Rey's lifeless corpse and voila, Rey is alive again. There's a random romantic moment when the two kiss (no seriously) before Ben slumps to the floor and his body disappears and we're switched back to the resistance base where Leia's body also fades from under the sheet. They've both become one with the force.

So yeah, Ben Solo's story really doesn't come to anything that is recognisable as an actual arc but there was probably no way to truly redeem him even after he came back to the light but its still a waste of Adam Driver's time and talent. Hell, even Rey who ends her story by going to Tatooine where she buries Luke and Leia's lightsabers before revealing her own newly constructed yellow bladed saber, doesn't really get a satisfying conclusion. She literally ended back in a parallel situation to where she started her journey. I get trying to bring it full circle but christ, its a bit on the nose. On top of that, when she's asked by a local who she is she literally answers "Rey Skywalker"

Anakin, Luke, Leia and Ben died for this. For it to become a story about the name and not the people. I have no words.

Admittedly, most of the horrible choices made in this movie are more on Chris Terrio but J.J played a part too. It seems like fan service really became the priority instead of an actual coherent story and i'm all for fan service but that alone won't make your movie a success. So yeah. I still think its the strongest of the sequel trilogy and its not horrendous in general but it leaves a lot to be desired ultimately. I am currently rewatching the Skywalker Saga and will be hitting the sequel trilogy part of my rewatch in the next few days so maybe my thoughts on The Rise Of Skywalker will alter somewhat. 

Obviously, as i said both in my spoiler-free review and at the beginning of this, don't judge the movie off the back of my own opinion, go see it for yourself and make your own observations, form your own opinions and decide whether its a worthy conclusion for you!