It sure is dusty in here! We’ve been on a hiatus for a while because of some issues with our former site host, some illnesses, some job changes, and well, lots of life stuff that happens when you have a group of people all over the globe who have lives and families made up of people who also have lives. You’ve heard the expression about herding cats, yes?

Well, if you’ve been waiting, you’ll be happy to know that we’re working on getting this thing back up and running. You’ll see the return of some of our most popular features and plenty of fresh, new content so we can go back to being your shelter from the pop culture apocalypse. That means you’re not going to see yet another re-posting of every summer blockbuster trailer. Instead, you’re going to find out about lots of great stuff you’ve never heard of and how it relates to things you already love.

That’s our goal, and I hope you’re along for the ride.

Header Image Credit: Elsie esq.

With the fast tracked script, also came the time sensitive nature of filming. Due to budge restrictions, most episodes were allowed only one take.  William Hartnell was gradually succumbing to the disease which would eventually rob him of his memories.  Viewers may notice when he ad libs, throwing the other actors off the script. Within this episode he repeats a few lines and completely forgets to tell the audience why the clocks were malfunctioning. A geeky trivia note also sees the switch labels on the console of the TARDIS in felt tip pen!.

It becomes evident to everyone on board that the strange things happening stems from the TARDIS itself. The Doctor scoffs at the idea that the TARDIS is a living being (fast forward to “The Doctors Wife” to find out more about that idea!)

The Doctor begrudges the assistance Barbara continues to give, but  is forced to see that her fact finding leads them to the real problem the TARDIS is having.

Before they landed on the Dalek planet, the Doctor had initiated the ‘Fast Return Switch”; but it hadn’t worked.  He looks only to find that the spring has snapped. This tiny malfunction sees the TARDIS and its crew veering into the beginning of time. The TARDIS was only trying to warn the passengers to the impending danger.

The Doctor fixes the spring and disaster is once again averted. He is then forced to apologise to Barbara and agrees that he has been wrong about humans.

The TARDIS lands, opening up into a snowy field marked with huge footprints.

The next two episodes were  filmed entirely within the Tardis, marking it as one of the more unusual episodes filmed at the beginning.  Although these episodes worked brilliantly as a suspense filled, cabin fever style character driven plot, the real reason there were no planets or aliens encountered was that the BBC was still debating where or not to continue with the series and the sets and costuming for the next episodes had therefore not been completed.  The next two episodes were quickly written ( two days) and filmed to bid for time.

The last episode left Ian being dragged to the edge of an abyss.  The Thal who slipped and is hanging at the other end of the rope, cuts it and sacrifices himself for the good of the tribe and their ultimate goal.

The group seem to be wandering through the set aimlessly, until a small hole is discovered and the find the way into the city.

Viewers are taken back to where the Doctor and Susan are being held captive by he Daleks. Its revealed that the Daleks now intend on setting off all the nuclear reactors instead of a bomb.  In their tiny voices they gleefully inform the Doctor that they have the power to survive the impact where as all other life will be wiped out.

The Doctor tries to negotiate with them, telling them that he can build them a TARDIS so that they can travel off the planet.

All groups of the Thals meet up and begin an attack on the Dalek control centre.   Ina flurry of activity, they are able to destroy the machinery and disable the power sources the Daleks have for the city.

The Daleks loose their mobility and beg the Doctor to repair their systems and save them. He refuses to help them and collects his small group of time travellers, along with their fluid link and returns to the tribes camp.

A tearful farewell sees Barbara kiss one of the tribe members before rushing into the TARDIS.

As son as they have set course, the console of the TARDIS explodes and the team are thrown to the floor.

Climbing over styrofoam boulders and pushing their way through plastic leaves and branches, Ian, Barbara and the small group of Thals continue their search for a secret way into the Dalek City via the mountains.

The viewer is treated to several ‘swaps’ between the journey of this small group and the one comprising of the Doctor and Susan.

The Doctor finds the Daleks audio/ visual transmitter and manages to mask their passing with a flashing light. While the Daleks are confused as the intermittent images they are receiving, they are informed by their scientists that they have the capacity to build a bomb which will emit a powerful enough burst of radiation which will kill all living creatures within the planet bar themselves.  With the time frame of less than a earthly month, the set about to ensure the destruction of their enemies.

Meanwhile, the Doctor continues his streak of sabotage as he fiddles and blows up a control box to the computer terminals.(Remember that computers, even in the 25th century were housed in large rooms full of blinking buttons and spinning tapes)

Sadly for the Doctors group, they are quickly found and taken to the control centre where, as all evil characters are wont to do, tell them of their plans to take over the universe and destroy all enemies etc etc.

Flashing suddenly back to the other group, viewers are rewarded with a scene of the discover of a tunnel conveniently punched through the mountain to the city.  The group begin ot argue on the ethics of killing and disturbing the peace they have had when huge styrofoam rocks tumble down the mountain, blocking the tribes chance to back out. Pressing on, they find other tunnels; however the landslide has caused huge crevices and a gaping abyss they must cross. Carefully, the tribe use a rope tied to Ian to cross. As the last member climbs over, he stumbles and falls into the abyss, dragging Ian with him….

Things become very exciting in the storyline as writers begin to ease into their role and viewers fanatically tune in each week.

The Thals are convinced by the time travellers that violence can be used for good and it is decided that the tribe will attempt to overthrow the Daleks.   One group of the Thals lead Ian and Barbara through the swamp at the edge of the Dalek city with the intention that they will gain entrance unseen and be able to gain access to key areas of the Dalek Empire.  Viewers are treated with the newest technology in special effects where the radioactive lake, filled with unseen, but apparently horrifying mutants splash and threaten anyone who tries to come near. Barbara and ian spot a multi tentacle creature in the water and unconvincingly show thier horror and fear at what else may lurk underneath the waterline.

Another group of Thals, lead by the Doctor and Susan plan to act as a decoy by entering the front gateway.

The Daleks have very primitive scanning technology  and are able to see the tries huddling together and planning things, but they are unable to hear what is going on.  The Daleks are further distracted as they discover that the anti radiation medicine they had taken from the Thals has devastating side effects. They decide to increase the radiation output across the planet by setting off a huge bomb; which they believe will wipe out the Thals entirely.

Viewers are left with a scene where Ian has just discovered a number of pipes leading from the lake into the city.  One of the tribe members screams as a mutated monster drags him under the water and into a whirlpool.

Jude Law as Dr. Watson and Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes - Warner Bros.

The filmmakers of both Sherlock Holmes films, directed by Guy Ritchie, have re-imagined Holmes as a steampunk James Bond. Holmes is constantly chasing or being chased, using Bond gadgets and protecting or fighting Bond girl types. He travels to glamorous locales in between numerous gun battles and explosions—many, many explosions.  There’s also a Bond-type super villian with an evil plot to destroy the world: Professor Moriarty, a man who is hyped as Holmes’ intellectual equal.  And as with any good Bond villain, Moriarty has a capable and deadly Number Two, the sharpshooting Colonel Sebastian Moran, to do his dirty work.

In other words, this sequel is more of the same.  Is that bad?  That depends on how you felt with the first one.  I asked my movie-going companion how she felt this sequel fared compared to the original, and she had the same answer I had: she couldn’t say because she couldn’t remember much from the original.  2009’s Sherlock Holmes felt a lot like the Pirates of Caribbean franchise to me: lots of good action, but very little to take away other than the lead actor was fun to watch and that the damn thing was at least 15 minutes too long.

Like the Pirates movies, these new Sherlock Holmes films have a lot going for them.  There are some admittedly awesome special effects going on here: slo-mo and 360º everything, bad-ass fight scenes with Holmes mapping out fight sequences in advance, and again, things blowing up real good.  (As my companion pointed out, effects like going inside the workings of a gun and watching the gears turn as it’s fired are definitely “shiny.”)

Jared Harris as Professor Moriarty - Warner Bros.

And I can’t fault the acting.  Robert Downey Jr. is perfect for this version of Sherlock Holmes, and ditto for Jude Law’s Dr. Watson.  They had good chemistry in the original, and that carries over to the sequel.  Professor Moriarty is aptly played by Jared Harris, whom you may know from Mad Men.  Harris has brilliant evil down pat, and his character has the right amounts of sadistic malevolence and playfulness.  Like any Bond villain, Moriarty wants to destroy Holmes, but he wants to beat him first.

I also enjoyed the plot, of which I won’t reveal much of here, and overall, despite my apparent grumpiness, I have to admit that I had a good time watching this film.  But shouldn’t Holmes…I don’t know…detect more?  Like, with clues and whatnot?  It’s great to have the wonderful Stephen Fry as brother Mycroft, a kick-ass musical score, Victorian Europe effectively reproduced with CGI, and a few touching scenes and humorous exchanges between Holmes and Watson…but is that really what Sherlock Holmes is all about?  Although the train scene around the middle of the movie is a truly great action scene, should Holmes and Watson even be on that train in the first place?

The answer is no, but I’m still recommending seeing Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.  Life is full of moral complexities, I suppose, and I can’t deny that this was a worthy sequel and a good way to spend a couple of hours on a cold night.  It’s just that you might not remember much of it in two years.

The Time Travelers’ plan works, and they stumble through the Dalek City, whilst initially the Doctor and Susan push the Dalek around  and Ian struggles to work out how to control the Dalek from the inside.

However, they are discovered when questioned by another Dalek. While the alarm sounds, the Doctor works on magnetically locking the doorways which stop the Daleks from reaching them.  As the Daleks begin to laser their way through the doorway, the group attempt to retrieve Ian out from the Dalek casing, only to find he is stuck inside.

It’s a cliffhanger with Ian convincing the others to leave him and escape down the lift.  The Dalek army bursts through the door and blasts the casing Ian was in, only to find it is empty and he has made a very narrow escape.

The crew arrive at a place they see the Thal tribe collecting food. They notice that the Dalek army has made their way down the lifts and plan to surround them.  Ian picks up a very styrofoamed statue and throws it down the lift shaft to stop the army’s progression.  The others escape and run to warn the Thals.

Viewers find out that the Thals’ plan is to reason with the Daleks and ask for a longer truce. However, this is disturbed when Ian calls out to warn them of the trap.  All but the leader of the Thals escape and manage to find the others in the forest.

At the camp, the Thals describe to the time travelers the history of the tribes and the mutations.  The Thals proclaim that they live peacefully and adopt strict pacifism, despite their forebears being warriors.

Ian tries to convince them that they need to fight for their right to be on the planet.   The Doctor reveals that the fluid link which Ian had been holding had been left behind in the Dalek casing and as such, the crew cannot leave as it is a vital piece of the Tardis.

Susan struggles out of the city and into the (very fake) forest, where she meets an attractive athletic man who identifies himself as Alydon of the Thal race. It would seem that the Daleks perception of mutation is a little different to ours. Thankfully, the Thals wear alot of blue eyemakeup and all have blond hair to distinguish them from other humanoids.

After explaining that she needs some anti radiation drugs, he is very willing to supply her with some though warns her to divide it up and keep a secret stash as the myths he has heard about the Daleks tell him they are not to be trusted. Susan finds out that the Thal race is near to starving and is currently searching for new food sources. Alydon and Susan come to an agreement in that she will act as a contact between his race and the Dalek and hope that a trade agreement can take place.

Susan returns to the city and is able to give the companions drugs to cure them as well as speak to the Daleks about the peace agreement. The Daleks agree to allow the Thals to cultivate the land around the city and offer to give them food. (it seems odd that a mechanical civilisation would have stored food, but don’t let that stand in the way of a good sci fi)

After recovering, the Doctor urges everyone not to trust the Daleks and stage a fight so that Susan can destroy a camera which has been filming them in the cell room.

With this new freedom afforded to them, they devise a plan to overcome the Dalek and escape. Any long term Doctor Who fan will wear a wry grin as they watch this plan fall into place.   How simple would it be for future doctors to halt a Dalek with the use of a cape to disable their movement, some mud over their eye stalk to blind them and to simply rip the casing apart and pull the creature inside out?

However, this is what they do, and with Ian shoved into the Dalek, he escorts the others through the city and make a break for freedom.

(Of interest, the Thal race is visited a number of times throughout the Doctors Journey. Their progression from a subsistence based existence to a militarised one is one to watch.)

With Barbara lost in the deserted city, the time travellers continue to search and explore their surroundings, not only for their missing companion, but for mercury they need to fill up a vital piece of the Tardis. They begin to weaken, feeling the effects of the radiation which they believe originally destroyed the initial inhabitants. The Doctor realises what is making everyone ill and confesses that in his desperation to see the city, he misguided the others to think that the part was faulty, when in fact it was intact. They tussle with the decision to return to the Tardis without Barbara and risk more exposure to radiation.