Doctor Who Arachnids in the UK Review

Think I’d better mention that I don’t like spiders. 

They have the effect of creeping me out. Too many legs, eyes and fangs. Don’t forget the fangs. Then there’s the webs wrapping you up, covering you, suffocating you. Being mummified alive. Trapped in tomb no bigger than yourself, screaming silently as you slowly die… 

Anyway Arachnids in the UK was meant to be a horror story. Back in the day Doctor Who was legendary for scaring people, the joke being the viewers often hid behind the sofa to het away from the terrifying things they had to see. Horror has been a staple of Doctor Who since it’s inception and it’s always been that The Doctor taught children it was alright to be scared. That fear was good and bravery wasn’t the absence of fear, but doing what had to be done despite it.

It was one of the best lines in the Curse of the Fatal Death (a comic relief skit on Doctor Who from the 90’s) when the Doctor was thought dead that summed it up wonderfully:- “…It will never be safe to be scared again.”

This is why we needed a horror story, specially around halloween. We needed to be scared. To be terrified. To be brave. So, were we?

Kind of, yes.

I would actually describe Arachnids in the UK as a tribute to shlock horror movies. There’s a whole sub-genre of horror films that feature some aspect of nature grow wildly out of control. Films like Night of the Lepus. Usually these films feature morally questionable experiments going awry or Nature fighting back against mankind’s often selfish actions.

In this episode we got a morality tale about (wo)man’s science messing with nature and things it shouldn’t trifle with. How the quick solution isn’t always, or ever, the best one. We also got to see the real monster, as always, is the worse excesses of humanity. Which all worked in a way and all straight from classic monster horror movies.

Doctor Who Rosa Review

Well that was… Horrific. On many different levels.

Trying to review this episode is difficult because its a difficult topic. They try to address it in a ridiculously short amount of time. 50 minutes is not long enough to go into any real detail. Add in the pointless time criminal sub plot (seriously what was the point of that guy?) and we have even less.

The problem is I don’t feel like I’m qualified to comment on it. Being English, from the hills of Lancashire and born long after the events in question, it’s not something I have the context to address. Certainly not in a short written review of the Episode in question

Yes I know who Rosa Parks was and yes I know why she was famous. I have the morals to say the very concept of segregation appals me. It’s a vile practice from a time I hope has long since past, but unfortunately still effects people to this day. It is something I would hope to have the courage to have fought against, were I there at the time, and would stand up against today should I be in a position to do so. I didn’t need the episode to tell me this. I most importantly didn’t need this episode to make me feel guilty about it! 

But I wasn’t the audience for this episode of Doctor Who. The audience was the people who are only just learning about this stuff and that’s alright. There are people in this world that don’t know about Rosa Parks just yet that could have watched it. That needs to learn that one woman’s bravery, and her anger, was important.

The problem there is that, again, it was and remains a complex issue that 50 minutes can’t do justice.

Doctor Who The Ghost Monument Review

Can I talk about Enlightenment. I want to talk about Enlightenment. No, I’m not taking a sudden right turn into philosophy and using the tile as clickbait. Enlightenment is a Classic Doctor Who adventure from the Peter Davidson (5th) Doctor’s run and in all honesty is one of my favourites of his time in the TARDIS. 

In it the Doctor lands in the middle of the final stage of a vast intergalactic boat race. It’s goal? Enlightenment. Ultimate knowledge. It’s all part of the never ending conflict between two Guardians, the Guardian of Light and the Guardian of Dark. Paired forces of elemental creation so powerful they have developed their own wills and personality. 

Whoever wins the race would have the freedom to do what ever they chose. If they did “good” with it they would tilt the scales in favour of the Light Guardian. “Bad” well then the Darkness gains in power. That is how the Guardians work, though proxies. Choosing champions to represent them across time and space, sometimes without them even knowing they have been chosen. Other times…

Doctor Who The Woman Who Fell To Earth Review

Well that was... Not what I expected. I guess pretty much all of my predictions were wrong. I honestly don’t know what to make of that. Is it better than my idea… Not sure really.

Spoilers ahead.

The story goes as follows; an alien hunter arrives on Earth, looking for a randomly selected human to take as trophy back home. Proving themselves to be a capable hunter is the final act needed to become the leader of their people. The only rule, he’s not supposed to use technology. Meaning no advanced weapons, it’s supposed to be a test of skill. 

He breaks that rule, using an array of tech that is both illegal and highly unethical to track down this poor sod and kill anyone that happens to witness him. Only the Doctor happens to fall (quite literally) into the middle of it all and takes umbrage at the hunter, nicknamed Tim Shaw in a mispronunciation of his true name, and his people's right of passage.

Meeting up with an unusual group consisting of a warehouse worker, Ryan, a police officer he went to school with, Yas, as well as his Grandmother, Grace, and her second husband, Graham, the five of them race after Tim Shaw and try to stop him the hunts for good.

Situation normal, but The Doctor is still recovering from a particularly traumatic Regeneration. Can she pull herself together in time to face this casual evil or will she be too slow to stop more cruel, ultimately pointless, deaths?