Doctor Who - Episode Review - Series 8 - Episode 12 - 'Death in Heaven'

Episode Review - Series 8 - Episode 12 - 'Death in Heaven' 

Hello again, 12 weeks on from my last blog post, and the latest series of Doctor Who has came to an end. I was going to be reviewing all 12 episodes but as you can see that hasn't happened, I have been plagued with work, so I thought to make it even and review the last episode of the series for you, hold on to your hats, this one was a whopper of an episode!

To begin, I am going to discuss the narrative. The Episode was the second part of the previous episode 'Dark Water', for ease I will not be talking about the first part in depth but will give you an overview of the goings on for the context of the review.

Missy AKA The Master

Missy, who was revealed as the master in the previous episode is back to bring death upon the earth. We see an army of Cyberman which is led by Missy. The scenes are iconic as it is set in the surroundings of St Paul's Cathedral, which relates to a previous episode of Doctor Who with the same villain and surroundings. Missy has set up an army of Cybermen, which she will use to kill every human on the planet. But she has more Cybermen than we first thought, in the previous episode we see Danny Pink get hit by a car, and die, and then appear in a after life world, which really turns out to be a hard drive storing dead peoples souls, which is Time Lord technology, as notified by Missy. These people stored in the drive are then used to make their dead bodies 'upgrade' into a Cyberman form, creating a bigger army. I think that the narrative of the story was unique and engaging, Steven Moffat includes moments of previous episodes, but he kept the story fresh and witty as he always does. I think that the story was imaginative and really got me thinking for hours after the episode about if the after life was a reality, which really shows the episode did its soul purpose of captivating minds. Moffat also made fan fiction into a reality by showing that Time Lords can regenerate into women, doing this certainly made the show fresh as it wasn't just brining back the master which if they did just bring him back then the episode would of lost its engagement.

The Cyberman plaguing London in 1968.

Lastly, we see an old friend, as Missy is about to be killed by the Doctor, former UNIT member Brigadier comes back as Cyberman form to kill Missy, and saves his daughter from the plane crash earlier on in the episode. We see her mentioned that her dad also wanted a salute off the Doctor, and he certainly got that off him after the killing of Missy. This was an incredible idea, and only Moffat could of thought of something like that, which again linked previous episodes, keeping that massive life of the Doctor, alive.



Visual effects were great as always, we had flying Cybermen, exploding planes, and even St Paul's Cathedral roof opening up! BBC have a great crew on the Doctor Who team getting special effects mastered. The little things we see aren't noticed but without them the reality of the show would be lost. My favourite effect would have to be the prosthetic face of Danny Pink, we see Clara take off his mask and reveal his corpse ridden face, this was amazing make-up effects and really just made it that extra bit weird and eyrie.

Danny Pink in Cyberman form

Overall, the episode was a packed show, full of emotions, and most of all it was fresh, Moffat still kept in key detail from the Doctors past, but he never fails to make an episode unique and new. I think that it would have to be my favourite episode of Doctor Who yet. The return of the master was unexpected and was carried out in a wonderful way to show that women can be Time Lords. I am really excited for the Christmas special and really hope that Clara returns. Lastly, Peter Capaldi is a great Doctor, over the 12 episodes he has grown to be my Doctor, and he now officially owns the title! Capaldi has played the role fantastically, and I am looking forward to the future of Doctor Who!

Did you like the episode? What was your favourite moment? Email me your thoughts at:
kadebeadman@gmail.com or comment below!



©beady1997    ©google images

Doctor Who- Episode Review- Series 8- Episode 1- 'Deep Breath'

Episode Review- Series 8 - Episode 1- 'Deep Breath'

So, just to give a bit of context, this is a new thing that I will be doing throughout the whole series 8 of Doctor Who. I feel that this is a great time to do it as this is a whole new look on the doctor, as the actor is not the usual type for the doctor, it will be exciting a different to see the character played by a unusual actor. There will be lots to review from the narrative, to visual effects, so I am going to kick off with the review of the first episode, ‘Deep Breath’.

This was the first episode we see Peter Capaldi playing the doctor in full. So, seeing as he is new I thought I would talk about him being the doctor, and how well I think he settled into the role.

At the start of the episode, it took a bit of getting used to, he is a 'different' sort of doctor, as most of the recent doctors have been quite funny, up-lifting, I found that Capaldi took a different approach to the doctor to make him unusual from the rest, I was getting a 'dark' vibe from him, and I think he isn't a happy man and he moans a lot, which adds comedy to his character. I had to adjust to his fast paced voice, I don't know if you can relate, but at the start of the episode, I wasn't certain on what Capaldi was saying, and his accent is quite native, which takes some getting used to, which I did in the middle of the episode.

To summarise, Capaldi's acting was 'Brilliant' that is one of many things the casting team are good at the BBC, casting decisions, he definitely is a varied actor, I have seen him on many different programmes, and he can create a character that is unique!

Now moving on to the narrative, I think the story was a great way to introduce the doctor to the world. Some people I have spoken to about the episode have said 'I wish we saw the crash landing of the 'tardis', at the beginning of the episode', I think it was a good idea not to include the crash scene, as I feel it would be repetitive to the previous doctor's regenerations, so not including made the episode that extra bit better, as it is a very predictable scene.

Now, adding to the exciting part of narrative, we see all manner of stories of events, we see a giant dinosaur parading through London in victorian England, Moffat doesn't let us down with that quirky and fun idea. We also have a new 'alien', I say new, it was a cyborg/clockwork/human thingy, I am not certain on the character name, but it does remind me of the clock-work robots on an older episode with Tennant, which we did hear a reference of this episode, which was a nice touch, keeping the other episodes alive within the new series, which kept the narrative alive too. Moving on, we see a nice appearance of 'Strax' and 'Madame Vastra' (well known lizard from previous episodes).

Lastly on the narrative side, we see Matt Smith former doctor, he phoned back Clara to tell her to 'look after him' meaning his future self. I thought this was a great thing to do, Moffat linked the actions in the Christmas special to the new episode, we see the 11th doctor, talking from 'trenseilor'. Again I like how the writers are integrating and keeping his previous lives alive, that way the narrative is much easy to understand.

Next, Visual effects, this is always an area the BBC team never fail to disappoint, if your a long 'whovian' then you will know that the VS on the show are incredible and immersive. I am just going to cover the basis of the effects, there are plenty of effects on the episode that I probably won't mention, (there were so many!). 

Dinosaur, London, both of these were all CGI and graphical effects, the actors were standing on a little bit of set and the rest of London (big ben) was all generated, but I didn't really notice this until after I watched 'Doctor Who EXTRA' which is a behind the scenes show. Oh, did I forget the dinosaur was fake too, I know I thought it was real, sorry to disappoint but it was CGI, but it was bloody fantastic, and the actors had a great reaction to an invisible dinosaur! There were loads of effects through out but it is hard to keep track of them all. 

To conclude, I think the episode overall was greatly written, and the narrative was great with references from previous episodes a while ago, to the former doctor speaking from the Christmas special, the episode was an all round, amazing start to the series, and I am really looking forward to the next episode, this saturday. 

Well, thats the end of the first review for this series, see you next week for the 2nd instalment of the blogs! Thanks for taking the time to read my crappy, poorly written blog, but I really enjoy writing these, and I am glad to share my thoughts on the episode. 

What did you think of the episode? Do you like the new doctor? Email me your thoughts at kadebeadman@gmail.com or comment below!

Bye, Kade!

©beady1997  ©google images

Things that Grind my Gears!

New Series of Blogs!

Hello again, I am back this time, no I mean it, I am back! As you probably can tell this blog is titled 'Things that Grind my Gears', basically this is a series of blogs that I will be making, writing about the things I hate, and that annoy me. Of course I will give my reasons and I don't want anyone to get offended as this is just MY opinion, but I would love to hear what you think of the things I dislike, or even mention things you dislike.

Smoking in Public

As you may know if you are a resident of the UK, smoking in a public place is illegal, well thats what I thought, but it seems that if it is outside (of the public place) then it is fine. I know some people may think I am being a bit petty, but seriously if I can smell or breathe smoke it makes me uncomfortable. I really dislike it when eating outside of a pub, someone is smoking and then I have to eat my food around this person, I feel that when people smoke, they need to do away from people, and I don't mean in the middle of a path where people walk past, I mean in a designated area.

Recently, I took a short break down the coast, in England, I noticed that a lot, I mean A LOT, of parents, were smoking freely around their children, especially people in cars, with babies in the back.

There are many reasons why I hate this, obviously it is passive smoking, which means that the smoke can have the same affect on the people surrounding the smoker, which can obviously for children become a big problem when growing up. Secondly, the children have no choice, if that child has health issues in later life, because of the affect of smoke, they can't do anything about it, and a child can't exactly tell their parents to stop, or even acknowledge that it can have effects, so I think that parents need to have more care. 

I was reading an article, a couple of months back about peoples thoughts on the matter, and parents feel that if they are outside with the children, the fumes will just go up in to the air, WRONG. It is a fact that smoke lingers, and can linger for hours, meaning that children who go in to the effected area, can still be attacked by the harmful toxins. 

What can parents do? They need to make sure they smoke away from there child, not out of a door, whilst the child sits in the room, but in an isolated area. I know this can sound all a little dramatic but smoking can really damage a child's health. 

I know many people may disagree with me, and I feel that this would be so difficult to police, but It would be great if it was banned, now I don't mind people smoking, but when I have to sit in an effected area, I think its against my rights to have to breathe it in. I do feel that the government need to do a lot more to tackle this, but not just rising prices, as we all know this hardly has an effect on anything, as if someone wants something they will get it. 

It just really grinds my gears when I come across people smoking near children, that is the worst thing for me to witness. There is a lot that can be done to stop smoking and get more people to quit. I really feel that smoking is a bad decision, because not only it can damage your health but it can also damage your finances.

I am going to conclude my first chapter of , 'things that grind my gears!', I hope you enjoy it, and please take into account that this is my own opinion, and I would love to hear your thoughts. 

What do you think about smoking? How could this issue be tackled? Comment below or email me your thoughts to kadebeadman@gmail.com (with subject line, the title of article). 

Thanks, see you again soon!

©beady1997 ©google images

I am back!

Welcome Back!

I am going to start blogging again! I do try my best to make Youtube videos at the moment but I find blogging a lot easier. I have a number of different things coming up, such as a Call of Duty: Ghosts new map pack review. Covering all the different maps and extinction, so tune in for that sometime next week. Please follow me on twitter @Beady1997 if you want to be notified when I update my blog. I can imagine that sounds like I am desperate for followers, I'm not, or am I? hehe. 

I also will be talking about whats occurring in the news, so current affairs. Don't worry I won't be picking boring stories or depressing stories, I will pick a story that is different and will get you guys engaged with it, and feel free to ask question, I would sure to answer them on my blog too. 

Lastly, I will be talking about what is going on in my life too. So if I visit somewhere then I may blog, take some photos. I also might talk about exams and what I am up to, I find that helps me as I feel as if I am talking to someone and they are listening, well reading. I know that sounds odd but it does help and even if know reads this I can imagine they are. Anyway I am off now, I am kind of turning this into a story. It is late at night so if there is any grammatical errors feel free to complain to the tiredness I have right now. 

Thanks, Kade. 

Ok, this just got letter like, I must stop. If you like this style of writing let me know, if you hate let me know but in a kind and gentle way, ok I am getting delusional now, bye.  

©beady1997

The Real-Life Simpson House

Real Life Simpson House!

Yes, you are reading correctly, in 1997 a replica of the famous Simpson household seen in The Simpson TV show was made especially for a raffle prize, but the raffle prize winner decided to take the $75,000 cash price and so the Simpson replica was stripped down to sell to another owner.

The 2,200 square-foot house was built in Henderson, Nevada, USA. The home contain all the iconic family photographs and colourful walls seen in the bundles of episodes made by the creator Matt Groening. 

According to research, the building team spent hours watching over 100 episodes of the well known show The Simpsons to make the house as perfect as it could be. The building team did face many problems when creating the replica as they said that things such as pictures changes, but also the front window changed a lot throughout the bundles of series of the show which made building the home, very difficult. 

                                              The drive way even included the famous pink car

                                               that the staring character 'Homer' owns. 

     

In 2001, the house was reported sold to another owner who kept none of the "Simpson" like features.  

What would have you done? Would you of took the cash prize? or would you love to live in a iconic house such as The Simpsons. Email me at kadebeadman@gmail.com or comment below!

See You soon!

©Beady1997  ©Curbed