Meggin Watches Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two

           Because mostly the entire world knows what happens in the last Harry Potter film due to having seen the movie already or having read the book (and if you haven’t done any of these, you’re out of your mind. Why are you even reading this?), this review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two is going to be different. Or special. Whichever word you prefer. Instead of providing a synopsis of the movie and then the comparisons and my opinions of it, I’m going to provide my reactions to this OUTSTANDING movie. Yes, before I start off, I rate it five out of five stars for epic performances by the entire cast, great retelling of the novel, and the visual effects.

            I went to the midnight premiere of the film with several acquaintances of mine (cosplaying as Cho Chang. Asians ftw), but that very weekend, I went back to the cinema and took notes. This is what my thoughts look like: 

It’s a bit jumbled up, isn’t it? So here’s my much more organised version of what I thought about the movie. WARNING: This is not in chronological order.

            I watched the Literal Harry Potter trailer before heading off to the cinema, so at the really intense/serious moments, I’d think of the trailer to keep from crying my eyes out.

Students in Hogwarts marching in lines everywhere? Snape’s definitely increased discipline in the school...Reminds me of those strict fictional boarding schools I read about.

Neville = BAMF

Brilliant music! Alexandre Desplat is one of my favourite composers (closely following John Williams, Danny Elfman, and Murray Gold).

Neville + Luna. <3!! Even though that wasn’t originally in the book, it’s great to see how the film played out the awkward romance.

Professor McGonagall is one of my two favourite Hogwarts teachers. Maggie Smith is a gem; I’ve seen her play the strict-corset-grandmother role in so many films and costume TV dramas, and it’s so great to see her out of her typecast. Her epic duel with Snape is just outstanding, and I adore her hilarious quotes! “I’ve always wanted to use that spell!”

Way to mention that Harry’s Invisibility Cloak is a Deathly Hallow...There was one moment where Harry was the most powerful wizard ever...

Beautiful recreation of the Resurrection Stone. It hardly looks like a stone at all, but a perfectly carved gem. I did notice the Deathly Hallows symbol on it..

THE DRAGON IN GRINGOTTS OH HOLY EFF. I’ve never been so scared of a dragon in my entire life.

BELLATRIX LESTRANGE IS MY FAVOURITE VILLAIN IN THE WHOLE UNIVERSE. Half the time I often ask, “What the frack is she doing?” because she’s always doing something weird or different from all the other Death Eaters.

When Hermione is disguised as Bellatrix: brilliant acting! All the more reason why I love Helena Bonham Carter!

Bill Weasley is fit.

WTF is Cho still doing at Hogwarts?

I spy Percy...

“My lord?” *Voldemort kills* That’s a great way to die...

What?! In the book, Lavender does not get nommed on by Fenrir Greyback!

Neville vs. the Snatchers. Hilarious and epic. Neville’s changed so much!

When Harry explains who really owns the Elder Wand...Hilarious how he worded it a bit blatantly sarcastic. “It’s mine.” Laugh.

VOLDY, DON’T BREAK THE ELDER WAND!

Brilliant photography. Hats off to the cinematographers.

When Harry reads “I open at the close,” I then understood what it meant.

Voldy’s army. My reaction: “Oh shit...”

Harry, upon seeing his dearly departed relatives after retrieving the Resurrection Stone, hardly looks at his dad. Gee, way to leave out James...

RIP Lupin, Tonks, Fred. :’(

“That’s my girlfriend, you numpties!” One of the best quotes of the entire movie.

Snape is such a triple agent...

The kiss in the Chamber of Secrets – is that how it was supposed to happen? That was a bit too theatrical to me. But, hey, whatever pleases the audience...there was great whooping and applauding at that bit.

Snape is the second of my two favourite Hogwarts teachers. His life is so twisted and complex, and he’s always had the best taciturn moments of all the movies. He is the most dynamic character out of everyone. A lot is revealed that makes us sympathise for what he’s been through. Personally, it should have been Lily and Snape forever. Snape’s memories are so sad! It was the second time I cried through anything in the movie (I’ll discuss the first later), but this time, I cried for the longest amount of time. His death reminded me of his actor’s death in Sweeney Todd: first the razor-quick swipe across the throat, then the collapse to the floor. While he wasn’t stabbed repeatedly by a singing barber and thrown backwards into the furnace below, his attack from Nagini is just as horrific. Snape deserves the longest paragraph of this entire review, because he’s always been an outstanding character to me. He manages to make a laugh escape from me, followed quickly by waves of revulsion. He is one of the most confusing and interesting and romantic characters out of everyone in this series.

“Not my daughter, you BITCH!” This was the most highly anticipated line of the whole movie. SO well said. Perfectly drawn out, perfectly executed. Molly Weasley, kudos to you.

When the Malfoys all walked away after that awkward hug from Voldemort, I was thinking, “There could be a spin-off series about the history of the Malfoys. They’re always such pure-blooded cowards, hiding behind Voldemort, and Draco and Narcissa changed so much in the past three movies. This should happen.”

“Let’s finish this the way we started – together!” BROMANCE!!

Love the fake ending, slowly fading into “Nineteen years later...”

Okay, out of all the people who’ve aged, Hermione didn’t.

Albus Severus Potter is such a cutie. I can tell he’ll be another popular figure at Hogwarts. The Potters never disappoint...

The first time I cried was when all the Hogwarts teachers and students and members of the DA and (ex) Order of the Phoenix cast the protective enchantments over Hogwarts. I was thinking, “Oh God. This is it. Don’t lose it, don’t lose it, oh shit...”

This movie is just. Wow. There really aren’t any words to describe it. I so can’t wait for it to come out on Blu-ray so I can watch it in uber HD. Alas; the chronicles of Harry Potter are now officially, completely chronicled. I’m always in a melancholy stupor whenever a series ends. I was miserable for days when A Series of Unfortunate Events ended. I had endless, tearful Star Wars marathons after I saw Revenge of the Sith in the cinema. I cried for days when David Tennant regenerated into Matt Smith on Doctor Who. But, in the words of the Doctor himself, “Everything’s got to end sometime; otherwise nothing would ever get started.”

Meggin Watches Doctor Who: The Sontaran Experiment

Ever since the Doctor regenerated for the third time, he, Sarah Jane Smith, and Harry Sullivan have been careering through time and space by means of travelling in the TARDIS and now by transmat. In the previous adventure, The Ark in Space, the trio leave space station Nerva by means of teleportation, for the space station’s new captain asks them to fix the teleporting mechanism that beams them to Earth. The three time-space travellers materialise on planet Earth, and the Doctor starts to work on the circle of transmat refractors, encouraging Sarah and Harry to explore the different-and-yet-the-same planet. Little do they know that there’s something hiding on what appears to be this empty planet, and it’s not very nice...

            After several scuffles with what eventually turns out to be a stranded group of astronauts, the Doctor, Sarah, and Harry discover that the astronauts are being picked off one by one, but by what or whom, no one knows, until Sarah is captured by a robot and taken to a familiar space ship...

            The robot in question turns out to be the helper of a Sontaran, a militaristic alien. While the robot rounds up all the humans it can find on the planet (which turns out to be just the Doctor and his crew and the stranded astronauts), the Sontaran executes harsh and brutally fatal experiments on the humans and sends the information to the leader of his army. Once again, it is up to the Doctor and his companions to save the day, and to prevent a whole Sontaran army from destroying Earth.

            Because this arc is only two episodes long, there really isn’t an extensive overview on my part today. The length of this arc didn’t live up to my expectations of a classic Doctor Who story. However, while the story is brief, the plot is familiar and extensively well-written and detailed. The similar theme in this story reminds us as viewers of events that have happened in the past. The methods of experimentation that the Sontaran uses are similar to those performed by the Nazis on the people they holed up in their concentration camps. Dehydration tests, strength tests, food deprivation tests - these experiments have all obviously been toned down for the children watching this show, but it reflects the harsh experiments the Nazis used after World War II.

            In a way, the Sontaran race is similar to the Nazis as well, although not as spot-on as the Daleks. They aren’t born – they are cloned. Each Sontaran looks practically identical. They live only to fight, and are trained in combat in their early years so they can serve for their race. Their sole purpose in life is to die honourably in battle. It’s incredible how the writers of Doctor Who are inspired by the historical events of Earth’s past and can create alien villains that so resemble our own. In a way, it’s like creating one’s own version of events, like CS Lewis’ and Philip Pullman’s interpretation of the Bible and Christianity. Of course, I may just be thinking too deeply on such matters...

            On the subject of Sarah Jane’s outfit, however...

            Honestly, I don’t know what she was thinking...I mean, the orange Wellies, I can deal with, and I wouldn’t mind wearing a pair myself, and the blue hat (not pictured) is a nice touch, but a yellow raincoat and matching  trousers is like you’re a shining beacon for attracting aliens. That’s probably why she got captured in the first place...

            It’s nice to see the resurgence of Sarah’s attitude in this story. She never fails to stand up for herself, even when she’s been uprooted from her own time. When Harry keeps calling her “old thing” out of habit, she points out that she isn’t really a “thing” and insists that he call her by her name. It seems that it’s going to take Harry a while to get used her feminist attitude.

            And, of course, Tom Baker never fails to disappoint. From funny quips such as “Trafalgar Square is that way...mind the traffic,” to taking out his five hundred year diary to look up the Sontarans in his past, it just makes me admire him even more. I’m not sure if I like the fight scene between him and the Sontaran, as I still have to get used to the Doctor actually fighting someone.

            One thing that I still question even after watching is of what I heard one of the astronauts say to the Doctor about space station Nerva.

VURAL: Because Nerva doesn't exist, that's why. There's no such place.
DOCTOR: Fascinating. You don't believe it exists and yet you've obviously heard of it.
KRANS: Everybody's heard of the Lost Colony.
DOCTOR: Lost Colony? You mean it's become a legend like Lost Atlantis?
ERAK: Like what?
DOCTOR: Lost Atlantis. It's a legendary city... oh, never mind.

Why do the astronauts think that Nerva doesn’t exist, if the Doctor, Sarah, and Harry all just came from it? Something must happen to it, and I have a feeling that we’ll find out soon.

Meggin Watches Doctor Who: Robot

Last time on Doctor Who, in the conclusion of the arc Planet of the Spiders, the Brigadier and Sarah Jane Smith witness the Doctor’s transformation from one face to another, as Jon Pertwee says goodbye and Tom Baker says hello. With the Fourth Doctor comes an eccentrically erratic personality, doubt among the ranks, and a mysterious break-in, where the Doctor, the Brig, and Sarah Jane can solve the case. This is Robot, Tom Baker’s first story on Doctor Who.

            After regenerating, the Doctor wakes up in a rambling state, expressing a jumbled sequence of things he’s said in the past. After falling back into unconsciousness, the Brig asks for Lt Harry Sullivan, UNIT’s medical officer, to take care of the Doctor.

            The next day, the Brig and Sarah are discussing the break-in at the Ministry of Defence and the stolen plans, because the Brig can’t talk to the Doctor due to his unfit state. As the Brig gives Sarah a visitor’s pass to the National Institute for Advanced Scientific Research, or “Think Tank”, for a rare journalist opportunity, the Doctor sneaks into his own laboratory to gain entry to the TARDIS. Just as he’s about to open the blue doors, Harry Sullivan catches him in the act and attempts to return him to the sickbay. The Doctor throws a bit of a fit and continues rambling (this time about his ears), and when Sarah and the Brig return, they find Harry tied up with a jump rope and stuffed in a locker and the Doctor about to take off in the TARDIS. Sarah bangs on the TARDIS doors just in time, for as the Doctor opens the doors, he recognises Sarah and the Brig after several moments of prompting, and is convinced to stay on Earth because of his needed assistance to solve the mystery of the break-in.

            After several ridiculous wardrobe changes and settling into the classic long scarf of radiant colours, velvet jacket, argyle jumper, and floppy hat, the Doctor and the Brig set out to the scene of the crime while Sarah goes off on her journalism experience. Small clues cause the two situations to connect over one similarity: a robot.

            The robot in question is called K1. It is a prototype for replacing human beings who work dangerous activities, such as mining and handling radioactive materials. The director, a woman (what a shocker) named Hilda Winters, states that K1’s prime directive is to serve and not harm humanity. This directive becomes clouded when Sarah asks Winters to prove it isn’t dangerous, and Winters orders K1 to kill Sarah. Kind of difficult to serve humanity by harming humanity, is it not? Confused, the robot is forced to stop, and Sarah, seeing the torture inflicted upon it, asks K1 if it is feeling alright. This will obviously prove its purpose later on in this story. Of course, Winters scoffs, bluntly stating that robots have no feelings.

            In order to discover more about K1, the Doctor must talk to its inventor, Professor Kettlewell. When the Doctor arrives at Kettlewell’s, he realises it’s a trap, but too late: K1 receives orders to kill the Doctor because it has been told that he is an enemy of humanity. With UNIT forces coming in to back him up, the Doctor tries to find Sarah, only to realise she’s run off with Kettlewell because he can assist her to sneak into the Scientific Reform Society meeting that Think Tank is hosting. Upon arriving at the scene, all is revealed: Winters has acquired the Destructor Codes entrusted to Great Britain, and will be able to use them as nuclear ransom to ensure world domination. It is now up to the Doctor, Sarah, and the Brig to stop the nuclear outbreak before the countdown reaches zero...

            This episode is so far the best classic Doctor Who arc I’ve ever seen so far. I know I might’ve said this as well about The Monster of Peladon, but this trumps it a thousand times over. The story is extremely well-written, and there are Earthly problems that the people of this time were fretting about. Nuclear war, for instance, and feminism and “the good of humanity” play vital parts in this story. Hilda Winters, seeing the power of science as an avenue to world power, will resort to the detonation of nuclear devices to get what she wants. But how was she able to come across the Destructor Codes to begin with?

            Another history lesson: there were three main countries with nuclear weapons at the time: Russia, China, and America. To ensure peace during this time of cold war, the governments of these countries all decided to give the locations and launch codes of their nuclear weapons to a neutral country, which happened to be Great Britain. If things get heated between the three countries, Britain would feel free to publish said launch codes in order to cool things down. With the assistance of K1, Winters is able to acquire the codes and wreak havoc on humanity.

            So, you see how different – and somewhat refreshing – this Doctor Who story is. There are no aliens in this arc. The true villain is humanity itself. We are capable of acting against each other in order to become more powerful than everyone else, even if it is by “evil” means. And to use the reference of a nuclear war to secure world dominance is similar to the times of the Cold War.

            Feminism also plays a big role in this story. Sarah Jane is well known for her headstrong attitude towards equal rights, and we also see that feminism is another (mild) contributing factor to Hilda Winters acting out. There is one part of this story where Sarah Jane is trying to get into the Scientific Reform Society meeting, and the guard and Sarah engage in a heated debate over women wearing trousers.

 Short: Your own attire, is it really suitable?

            Sarah: Trousers? Oh, surely that’s a matter for me to decide?

            Short: As things are at the moment, it is. But in a more rationally ordered society -

            Sarah: - I would wear what you thought was good for me. I see. And think what you thought was good for me, too?

            Short: It’d be for your own good.

               Honestly, me not being a woman from the seventies, I don’t understand the problem with women wearing trousers, but it was obviously quite an ordeal back then.

            Of course, I leave the performance of the new Doctor for last. Tom Baker is outstanding. He is turning out to be a promising Doctor, and is becoming a fast favourite of mine. His silliness and eccentricity lightens up the show at times where it needs to be uplifted, such as when he comforts Sarah Jane by offering her some sweets by starting off with the well-worn catchphrase, “Would you like a jelly baby?” His scene with Harry towards the beginning of the first episode is enough to send me in a fit of laughter, from rambling on about his ears to jump-roping with Harry in time to a song. And that’s not it; just when I can’t get enough, he pulls off the comedic search for a new look, going from Viking to court jester to something that looks as if it jumped off a playing card. From the witty quotes to the wide eyes, I can’t seem to forget him.

            Memorable quotes:

Doctor: Don’t worry Brigadier! Everything’s fine I assure you! The brontosaurus is large and deplacid!

Doctor: Can’t? Can’t? There’s no such word as can’t! 

 Brigadier: Believe me, Doctor, the place is impregnable!

The Doctor: Never cared much for the word 'impregnable.' Sounds a bit too much like 'unsinkable.'

Harry Sullivan: What's wrong with unsinkable?

The Doctor: 'Nothing,' as the iceberg said to the Titanic!

Harry Sullivan: What?

The Doctor: Glub glub glub....

As for where the Doctor and Sarah, and now Harry Sullivan, are going off to next, well, we can be sure that they won’t be back in time for the dinner at Buckingham Palace…

Meggin Watches Doctor Who: Planet of the Spiders

Back on Earth, the Doctor and the Brigadier are investigating the mysterious practises of a clairvoyant due to the Doctor’s fascination with psychic ability. Meanwhile, the Doctor’s companion Sarah Jane Smith investigates a peculiar Tibetan meditation centre, where a familiar face there suggests something dangerous could be happening...

            After the fiasco some members of UNIT (stands for UNified Intelligence Taskforce) took part of in Invasion of the Dinosaurs a couple arcs back, Michael Yates, having left UNIT due to his participation in bringing back “The Golden Age”, seeks refuge in a Tibetan meditation centre. However, things appear fishy when he stumbles on a secret group meditating in the cellar, chanting something that doesn’t revolve around Tibetan beliefs. Too afraid to call on UNIT, he turns to Sarah Jane to get to the bottom of the matter. Yates and Sarah hide away in the cellar and watch the next secret meeting, where, after a string of incantations, a giant spider appears in the middle of the cellar, leaps on a man named Lupton’s back, and disappears. Fearing something of the alien kind, Sarah Jane returns to UNIT to inform the Doctor. Of course, while she’s been investigating away, the Doctor and the Brig are conducting experiments of their own back at UNIT HQ. The Doctor discovers Professor Clegg (no, not Nick Clegg, you numpties), a man with powerful psychic abilities. Clegg, having the ability to move objects without touching them and the ability to see into the future, is put to the test by the Doctor. However, upon looking into an alien blue crystal sent by post from the Amazon by the Doctor’s previous companion, Jo Grant, Clegg envisioned deadly spiders and met his unprecedented demise. The Doctor, wondering what the psychic message of spiders could mean, is enlightened by Sarah Jane of the events in the cellar. Seeing a connection with Clegg’s last vision and Sarah’s tale, the Doctor decides to look into the peculiar situation.

            Of course, before the Doctor can do any such thing, Lupton, having his mind shared with the giant spider, is forced by the spider to go to UNIT to retrieve the blue crystal in order to attain insurmountable power. Lupton steals the crystal with telepathic assistance from the spider in his head, and the Doctor, Sarah, and the Brigadier go off on a multi-vehicle chase to get the crystal back. All is lost when Lupton makes a miraculous escape and is persuaded by the spider to take the crystal to its home planet, where they can thwart the other spiders and rule the planet and many others to come. Little did Lupton know that the retreat’s simpleton handyman, Tommy, has a fixed fascination for “pretty, shiny things”, and secretly takes the blue crystal. Lupton, fearing the loss of his power, assures the spider they can bluff their part of the bargain, and so teleports to the planet, Metebelis III, anyways. Sarah, hot on his tracks after seeing him run off to the cellar, unexpectedly gets teleported as well. The Doctor, arriving at the scene too late, must return to Metebelis (a planet he visited once before) in the TARDIS and resolve the ever-growing dilemma before it is too late.

            Before watching this arc, I’ve heard nothing but great things about Planet of the Spiders, but in truth, after I watched it, I was a bit disappointed. Other than one trip in the TARDIS to collect Sarah from Metebelis, there’s hardly any time travel to confuse us. The special effects are great for the 1970’s, but the spiders aren’t. I don’t know how it could have been better, but the spiders just weren’t working for me. I mean, they’re very frightening, obviously – come on, giant spiders! They’re probably even more dangerous than the acromantulas in the second Harry Potter book! Perhaps it was the voices of the spiders that were a bit of a turn-off. Yes, they were loud, but also high-pitched; it made them appear even less frightening. However, when they are capable of possessing other bodies and bending their minds to their own will, they are capable of doing more than their eight legs can handle.

            One question I had, and that was raised in the middle of the story, was how the spiders came to Metebelis III. Some history for you: In the planet’s past, a space ship carrying humans from Earth crashed, and the people have lived on the planet for generations. However, a spider on board the space ship found its way to the Blue Mountains, home of the blue crystals, like the one the Doctor was in possession of. The spider basked in the effect of the crystals and grew smarter and larger, and its descendants have evolved into the giant spiders seen in this story.

            I’ve noticed that there are many references to the Doctor’s past in this season of Doctor Who. In Planet of the Spiders, we are comforted by the letter Jo Grant sent to the Doctor with the blue crystal from The Green Death, we return to Metebelis III, and although we haven’t seen him before, the Doctor is reunited with his old mentor from Gallifrey, who also aids him with his regeneration, of which this arc is famous for. Is it that the writers are feeling nostalgic, or have they just run out of ideas for Jon Pertwee now that this is his final season on the show?

            Might I say that it’s been trying to accept Sarah Jane’s red-and-white striped getup. The other two outfits used in this episode aren’t that bad, though. I once visited the Sarah Jane Smith Fashionista Fever website, and I noticed that whenever Sarah Jane is time-space travelling in the TARDIS with the Doctor, her outfits appear to be outrageous, yet bitingly loveable, but when she’s on Earth, her style dwindles to the styles of the ‘70’s and ‘80’s.

While on Earth, Sarah displays a toned-down style,
 quite different from her spacey outfits.

Just before her trip to Metebelis III,
she dons a stripey shirt and matching sweater.

            I also noted that this is the story in which Sarah Jane gets possessed by an alien for the first time on Doctor Who.

            I think that one of the best performances by anyone in this episode is of the character Tommy. He is the handyman at the Tibetan retreat, and although he’s a bit simple-minded, he is so adorable, and I’ve grown to love him since he first came on screen. What’s also incredible is how he actually plays a part in the fight for the possession of the blue crystal. Because of his obsession with “pretty, shiny things”, he takes the crystal from an unknowing Lupton. Of course, the crystal has the power to show a person his own mind, and when Tommy looks into the crystal, his mind becomes improved by the crystal’s power. He is able to read and speak and think coherently when before, he couldn’t. Because of his brand-new knowledge, those who’ve been involved in the secret group in the cellar are not aware of his transformation and underestimate him, making him the hero of the day.

            So, what is the theme of this story? Because there is one; it’s subconsciously dominant. Why did Tommy take the blue crystal? What convinced Lupton to aid the spider? Why did the Doctor even take the blue crystal from Metebelis III to begin with, causing this entire problem? Greed. It’s a perfectly common human fault that even the Doctor has, and he’s not even human. Even the spider, digging into Lupton’s mind, felt nothing but greed. It may not be so dominant in all of us, but it’s there.

            When I first got into Doctor Who, I watched a YouTube video chronicling every Doctor’s regeneration. So when Sarah and the Brigadier are in the Doctor’s room in UNIT fretting over his whereabouts, and they suddenly hear the TARDIS materialising, I was struck by the familiarity of this scene. I’m glad that the Brig and Sarah were there to witness his regeneration, for it symbolises the Doctor Who audience itself: there are those who have witnessed the Doctor regenerate before, having stuck with the show since the beginning, and there are newbies who saw this series first on transmission who didn’t know the Doctor could even do that. The latter resembles Sarah Jane, who’s only known the Third Doctor, and the former resembles the Brig, who’s been with the Doctor since the Patrick Troughton years (aka Second Doctor, for those who aren’t in the know). And to regenerate into Tom Baker, the infamous Fourth Doctor with the ridiculously long scarf and worn-out catchphrase regarding jelly babies, it makes me look forward to watching the Tom Baker years.

Meggin Watches Doctor Who: Victory of the Daleks

It is the year 1941, at the height of the London Blitz during World War II. The Germans invade England with a constant barrage of bombs and other means of warfare, while England remains in the dark, waiting out the invasions. England’s Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, seeing no other alternative, decides to wheel out the deadliest weapon that could either win them the war or wreak even more havoc...

            After receiving a call from Churchill himself requesting aid in the war effort, the Doctor and Amy Pond career off in the TARDIS, back into the past. For Amy, it’s been increasingly overwhelming, first from jumping into the distant future in the previous episode, The Beast Below, to heading into events long past. For the Doctor, it appears that meeting Churchill is a reunion, after apparently meeting him several times before. As the title of this episode suggests, the Doctor, accidentally arriving one month after Churchill rang, realises that Churchill’s deadly weapon to take down the Germans is the exact same force that the Doctor utterly despises.

            The first ten to fifteen minutes are spectacular – there is perfect pacing in the way the Daleks are revealed, how the Doctor reacts, and how the battle is taken up into space. In the beginning, the story has potential to be a two-parter, but then there are several tiny plots that unfold afterwards that come all jumbled together as the story must hastily draw to a close in a forty-some minute slot. As the story progresses, the pacing becomes erratic: slow at first, then ridiculously fast, then varying between the two, until eventually the dust settles, revealing the conclusion, and even that holds some mystery.

            The role of the companion at first is very quiet: Amy simply just stands back and watches the Doctor in awe as he, oh how should I put this, shows off. He wants Amy to be his companion, and what better way to convince her to stay than to take her back to England’s past so she can experience it herself? Of course, Amy steps back into the limelight for a moment when the Doctor asks her to tell Churchill that the Daleks are bad news, and she just looks daftly confused. Surely Amy was alive when the Daleks invaded Earth multiple times during the Russell T Davies era, so she should have experienced the full might of the Daleks when they took over the Earth and moved the planet across the universe and all that. But no, something’s happened to Amy that makes her forget the existence of the Daleks. This in itself has the essence of another hidden plot that won’t be revealed until several episodes later.

            Also, on the return of the Daleks: HOW?! I mean, yes, you can’t have Doctor Who without the Daleks, but the Doctor destroyed them all the last time they were involved. The excuses for each time the Daleks return are getting even more ridiculous. Although, their next excuse won’t be quite so frivolous, as they actually have a reason to return other than just “Oh, we need to have Daleks in every series.”

            There are some very brilliant parts in this episode that make up for the jumbled storyline. Amy eventually plays a key part by helping sending Spitfires into space to aid the Doctor, and she plays a vital role in saving the Earth from a catastrophic demise constructed by the Daleks. The dogfight in space (also advertised in the series trailer) is quite literally awesome, because of the hint of a Star Wars reference and, come on, how many times will we see a space fight on Doctor Who? However, I’m not sure yet if I like the new Daleks. I suppose it will take some getting used to...

            As for the mysterious crack in time, well, that’ll be for another day...

Meggin Watches Doctor Who: The Monster of Peladon

I have filled up my Netflix DVD queue this summer with an endless chronological stream of the Doctor’s adventures with his companion, Sarah Jane Smith. So for the rest of summer, my brain will constantly be absorbing all things Doctor Who.

Let’s hop into the TARDIS and go back to the year 1974. Why, do you ask? Because in that year, the British television show Doctor Who released a story arc about the Doctor and Sarah Jane’s adventure on the planet Peladon.

It is the Doctor’s second visit to Peladon (pronounced Peh-lah-dohn, for future reference), but Sarah Jane’s first. It has been fifty years since the Doctor’s first visit (with his previous companion, Jo Grant), and upon returning, he discovers a new face on the Peladonian throne, a patchy alliance with the Federation, and a peculiar string of murders amongst the miners of the planet.

During the Doctor’s first visit, as chronicled in the arc The Curse of Peladon, the Doctor encourages the Pels to join forces with the Galactic Federation because of their ability to supply some sort of war effort, mainly mining trisilicate, to the Federation, who is in conflict in the Galaxy Five confederation. However, in The Monster of Peladon, the miners are striking, demanding for better working conditions. Naturally, this raises speculation for the planet’s current ruler, Queen Thalira. Little does she know that the miners are being murdered one by one by what appears to be the spirit of Peladon’s sacred beast, Aggedor. The Doctor and Sarah Jane interfere with the planet’s affairs until the situation becomes out of hand and Alpha Centauri, the planet’s ambassador, calls for Federation forces to clear things up. However, things only get worse when the Ice Warriors, Galaxy Five agents and rivals of the Federation, appear and take the Federation’s place, demanding for the planet’s supply of trisilicate. It is up to the Doctor and Sarah Jane to find out how the Warriors arrived, who else is working with them, and what they’re really demanding for...

The Monster of Peladon has some quintessential factors that make up a classic Doctor Who arc: the abrupt cliff-hangers, the running-down-corridors frenzy, the female companion who gets captured and held hostage multiple times, the incidental music, the special effects, the antagonistic alien force and their assistants, and of course, the occasional alien who tries to the best of their ability to be on the Doctor’s side. Might I say that of the past several arcs with Jon Pertwee and Elisabeth Sladen, this has been Sladen’s best performance of the third Doctor/Sarah Jane adventures. Also, Sarah Jane’s outfit is so brilliant and looks like something I might find in my own wardrobe (mind you, I have an open-minded, somewhat artistic taste of clothes, and I find that Sarah Jane’s outfits tend to inspire me at times).

Sarah Jane and the Doctor discuss their situation
 with a resemblance of Aggedor looming behind them.

Worn underneath Sarah Jane's leather jacket
is a jumper from the 70's.

There is also something else about The Monster of Peladon that we as humans can relate to. Why do the miners strike? Why does the Queen seem like she’s not actually the ruler, and can be found seeking advice from another male authority? Sound a bit familiar? Sometimes we ask ourselves these questions about our own society. Should I quit my job? Should I complain about this? Is the President really giving the orders? It’s amazing how well a Doctor Who story arc can reflect the issues we face, with some extra aliens in the balance. This relation also helps in the story, when Sarah Jane, being a woman from Earth who doesn’t let men push her around, encourages Queen Thalira to stand up for herself in a planet where men are considered superior. After all, she is the Queen.

         However, one thing that constantly irritated me throughout the arc is that the Doctor fights back when engaged in a physical fight. Because I’m a new Whovian and I started watching Doctor Who with the 2005 rendition, I always thought of the Doctor as man who resorts to talking things out instead of referring to physical blows. I noticed this in the past several arcs that I’ve seen with the third Doctor and Sarah Jane, and I thought, “That can’t be the Doctor that I know of now.” I never thought that the Doctor could be a violent person when absolutely necessary. Perhaps he’s changed over the course of several regenerations?

            The Monster of Peladon is overall a fairly decent arc to sit through. It’s very political, both for labour issues and feminism, and those similarities between Peladon and Earth make it tolerable. Also, the return of a planet and its people as well as the return of an alien race turned bad make the audience remember the good old days.

            Also, one final question that hardly gets resolved: who really is the monster of Peladon? Is it the supposed spirit of Aggedor? Is it Ortron, the single-minded male advisor to the Queen? Or is it perhaps the Ice Warriors and their undercover assistant? This question keeps Whovians wondering even after the end credits.

Meggin Watches About a Boy

What's this? Another Hugh Grant film? Yes, I go from Notting Hill to About a Boy, from romance from a guy's perspective to, well, another romance from a guy's perspective. Well, two guys' perspectives.

Based off of the novel by Nick Hornby, About a Boy is narrated from the perspective of two guys:

1. A thirty-some-year-old man named Will Freeman (portrayed by Hugh Grant) living a leisurely life in London without working for a single penny, or quid, as is the currency in England. Living off the heaps of money he inherits from his father, who made a successfully redundant Christmas song, Will spends his leftover free time hitting on women. Will is also, to summarise his character, a jerk. He's very self-centred, and he really wouldn't give two shits of care to anyone else. He also admits that he's really shallow. For example, he thinks he's being friendly and contributing to the soup kitchen for homeless people, but he's actually passed by the kitchen without a single glance. His perspective is muddled by his own vision of what caring is about, hence why he doesn't think so highly of children.
2. A twelve-year-old boy named Marcus whose mum is dealing with the pressures of single parenting and depression. Marcus is also constantly being bullied at school for things such as his haircut, his clothes, and the fact that he randomly bursts into song.

The two guys meet when Will discovers SPAT, or Single Parents Alone Together, a group dedicated to single parents. Will thinks joining the group will guarantee him some play with the ladies, only there's a slight catch: he doesn't have a child. This situation struck me as ironic: how the way for Will get his one-way ticket to the ladies is to care about an imaginary child. He makes up a story for his kid, until it gets out of hand when SPAT decides to have a picnic with the parents and their children. Will hastily makes up an excuse, how his child is at his mum's house for the day, and he manages to get stuck with Marcus, whose mum, another member of SPAT, couldn't make it to the picnic.

Turns out, Marcus' mum was at home attempting suicide, and when Marcus and Will find out, Marcus decides to help his mum in any way possible. For some reason, he thinks that having Will in his life will make her feel happier. After a long succession of stalking, Will is confronted by Marcus, who repeats his theory to Will. Will, seeing no other alternative to get rid of Marcus, reluctantly succumbs. As Marcus makes a daily trip to Will's flat just to hang out and watch TV, Will starts to get soft...

In fact, this whole film is based off of irony. Which isn't bad, it's just very cliche and predictable. Of course, the ending was a bit off from what I originally predicted, but not far off. It's a really great film that's quite depressing and monotonous at first, but gets gradually somewhat more uplifting.