Tag: John Bishop

Doctor Who (2005) s13e08 – Legend of the Sea Devils

Legend of the Sea Devils is incredibly genial. As Jodie Whittaker's penultimate "Doctor Who" outing, it's terribly disappointing, but Whittaker's entire run has been disappointing. It's far from her fault; rather, it's showrunner Chris Chibnall (who also co-wrote this special) being exceptionally milquetoast. But this special is a look at how blandly acceptable Whittaker's recent season could've been; they did a six-part series instead of individual episodes, meaning new companion John Bishop never could get situated.

He's situated here and fine. Bishop tries very hard in his scenes with Whittaker and other companion, Mandip Gill. But he also seems to know they're the regulars, and he's still the new guy. They've got a plot together, though, whereas Bishop's just their pal. This episode addresses Gill's recently revealed romantic interest in Whittaker, which is a "Who" no-no. No time for love. Though two of the five Doctors in this revival series have had significant romance or ostensible romance arcs, and now they're shoehorning it in for Whittaker at the very end.

It's a middling resolution; sincere enough it'd be nice to see Whittaker and Gill in something else together, breezy enough it doesn't slow things down. There are no other subplots in the episode which has the TARDIS going off course and landing in 1807 China, where the Sea Devils are attacking humans. The episode doesn't give the full details, but Whittaker has had dealings with them in the past. Well, the future, sort of. The Sea Devils are from the early seventies "Doctor Who," making the lousy costumes a little better. Obviously, it doesn't make the outfits look any better; it just means there's an excuse for them looking like… lousy seventies alien costumes.

Whittaker and Gill have to go the past to find a treasure while Bishop befriends a recent orphan (Marlowe Chan-Reeves) as they get in trouble with pirate Crystal Yu. It's fine. It'd be a completely solid, albeit uninspired regular episode. As a special—as Whittaker's penultimate "Who"—it's maybe wanting, but only because it's too little too late for the new team.

The special effects are sometimes wonky; the CGI background skies are terrible for whatever reason. Maybe it's intentional, like the alien costumes. There's also seemingly a Goonies visual reference, which is cute, and the other special effects aren't bad. Though the swashbuckling sword-fighting is wanting. Director Wang does much better with the emotional stuff than the action while not doing particularly well with any of it. Not bad, though. Just… not good.

Sea Devils feels like a contractual obligation, which just makes it remind how Whittaker never really had a chance with Chibnall driving the boat.

Doctor Who (2005) s13e07 – Eve of the Daleks

I was recently listening to a podcast and the host explained the holiday “Doctor Who” specials are meant for a more general audience than the regular series. I believe he said something British-y like, “It’s when everyone’s watching BBC all day on the telly.” And it stuck with me for Eve of the Daleks and not just for when Thirteenth Doctor Jodie Whittaker has a particularly terrible “Doctor Who inspires the humans” monologue. The terrible isn’t as much Whittaker’s fault as writer Chris Chibnall’s. It’s like an elevator pitch for a show no one would ever think they’d watch.

The Eve is New Year’s Eve. 2021’s New Year’s Eve in Manchester, to be exact. It’s Manchester so still new companion John Bishop—he’s in his fourth year as companion, story-wise, but only seventh episode—can talk some crap about Manchester. For BBC New Year’s bingers, I guess. It’s also more appropriate a story for Groundhog Day, as it’s about our heroes repeating the same few minutes over and over again. The Daleks are gunning for Whittaker and they’ve tracked her to a self-storage warehouse. But every time they kill the humans—there are five total, Whittaker, her two companions, and then two likable guest stars—time resets and the humans try to survive.

Aisling Bea and Adjani Salmon are the guest stars. She’s the irate, disgruntled self storage warehouse owner (she doesn’t like working New Year’s Eve) and Salmon’s a customer. And he’s got a crush on her but she’s too busy being snarky to notice. Salmon and Bea will have their lethal romantic comedy arc through the special and it’s moderately successful. It can get away with going through intense experiences together to bandaid some of the problems. But mostly once Bea finds out about the crush, Salmon stops being a character. Even if he turns out to be a thin one.

It happens towards the end so it’s not a problem for long. The time loops where the humans try to survive get shorter throughout (countdown to midnight, natch), so there’s a nice rising tension. Chibnall and director Annetta Laufer do a fine job with the procedural, problem-solving aspect of Eve. Though it very much does not stand up to the rest of, well, time. When there’s real-time action, the characters eventually are just taking up lots more than the story pretends they are so as to keep the counting down to midnight gimmick.

Where the special simultaneously stalls out and goes into the ditch is with a big reveal involving Mandip Gill. Bishop’s other point in the episode is to force conversations with his costars to gin up character development. It’ll be Gill’s first character development in ages. But it’s also going to involve Whittaker, who’s gotten no character development her whole time as Doctor (backstory reveals don’t count).

Except it’s Whittaker’s second-to-second-last appearance as the Doctor. Even if they take the time to do the arc, it’s going to be rushed. And, ultimately, pointless, which seems likely to be the epitaph on Whittaker’s tenure.

Sure, she’s the first female Doctor, but she exists in the BBC’s reality where Rona’s not just real, racism and sexism in modern day England are over too, and portraying it historically is rosy-colored as well. Toothless might be the better description.

But, you know, general disappointments aside, a fairly good holiday special.

Doctor Who (2005) s13e06 – The Vanquishers

What a lackluster conclusion. There’s actually a bunch of good stuff, including a triplicated Jodie Whittaker they should’ve been doing since the cliffhanger on the first episode. Still, as the finish to “Doctor Who vs. The Flux,” it’s minimally successful.

The resolution with rubber mask supervillains Sam Spruell and Rochenda Sandall is lousy, and then the hook is exactly what you’d expect anyway. It’s Whittaker’s last season as the Doctor, and of course, the villains know to threaten her with not being regenerated. They’ve been doing it since David Tennant was on the show. It’s been ten years of it. Blah.

There’s some really good stuff with guest star Jemma Redgrave, who hasn’t been on since Peter Capaldi. She and Whittaker have excellent chemistry—when the episode beats Bechdel, it beats Bechdel—only it’s Whittaker’s farewell lap. Maybe they should’ve introduced Redgrave earlier. In Whittaker’s reign, not in this season. Though, in this season too. They could’ve halved this “event” and had something.

There’s some good stuff with John Bishop, who just needed character development away from Whittaker to get into the right zone as a companion. Mandip Gill has decent material throughout until to have a thankless conclusion.

The “Flux”-specific companions all get some final arcs and farewells, with Craige Els, Jacob Anderson, and Thaddea Graham set for an obnoxious spin-off. The good work is from Kevin McNally and Annabel Scholey, who get thankless conclusions too. Scholey’s finish doesn’t even make sense for the timeline, but, whatever most of the universe is destroyed, so does it really matter.

The Sontaran villains are only good compared to Craig Parkinson as the pointless guest human villain. There are way too many qualifications on a way too long, way too thin storyline. Especially since the deus ex machina gives way to an even more effective deus ex machina, they could’ve obviously used. It’s terrible plotting from writer Chris Chibnall, who wasted full episodes of the season on nonsense.

A quarter of the episode plays like a Star Wars 1977 homage, like the BBC finally gave “Doctor Who” to do the riff on it they’d been planning since… 1977. There is some decent CGI work, though. Surprisingly good for the show. Even if the green screen compositing is still lousy.

But the three Whittakers—interacting with different sets of companions, friends, and foes in different times—is possibly the best Whittaker has done when it hasn’t been one of her companions holding up the show. It’s a shame it took them until now to figure out what to do with the character. Still, since Doctors Who are always temporary, it’s hard to get any character development going until they face their imminent recasting.

It’s a real shame they wasted so much of Whittaker, Gill, and Bishop’s limited time remaining on this six-part nonsense. Writer and showrunner Chiball stretched an okay three-parter (it’d have been better in two) way too far with way too little reward.

Doctor Who (2005) s13e05 – Survivors of the Flux

“Doctor Who” has been around for almost sixty years, but its plot reveals are recycled plot points from last summer’s popular entertainment. This episode opens with a terrible CGI sequence as we find out what happens to Doctor Jodie Whittaker after she gets turned into a Weeping Angel statue.

Nothing, it’s just carbonite to transport her to meet She Who Remains (Barbara Flynn, who appeared in a quick ominous cameo earlier this season). There Whittaker finds out everything she knew about the Time Lords and the Universe was wrong (again). Flynn runs the anti-Federation, called the Division, which breaks the Prime Directive to change species’ evolutions for the Time Lords’ purposes. Oh, and Flynn has a secret identity important to Whittaker’s history.

Only not really.

I mean, sure, technically, but at most, it’s Whittaker’s “history” from last season. But the weightiness of it is more from this season, like three episodes ago. Writer Chris Chibnall doesn’t even try to get away with the recently introduced fluff; instead, he relies on Whittaker and Flynn to make the scenes effective and then—since Flynn’s playing a caricature—it ends up being all on Whittaker.

Who’s fine. It could be a lot worse. It will be a lot worse. Chibnall actually manages to hold on to the narrative cheapness until the end of the episode. Well, the most narrative cheapness. There’s a bunch throughout.

Starting with companions-lost-in-time Mandip Gill, Josh Bishop, and Kevin McNally, who are much better without Whittaker. They’re trapped in 1905, where “Doctor Who” continues its British jingoist timeline where no one was racist or sexist and instead thinks Gill’s wonderful. They’ve been trapped in the past for three years, and this episode has them figuring out how to get back to the future. It’s literally something they should’ve figured out on the second day. Their adventures are kind of Indiana Jones, but with a lot of colonialism thrown in. Like, do the British not see themselves?

Anyway.

There’s also some stuff with returning mawg Craige Els, who’s no more charming than before. Not even after finding out he’s thousands if not hundreds of thousands of years old or whatever. He’s got a couple tasks this episode, including dragging down Thaddeus Graham. Then Jacob Anderson’s off doing something too.

Craig Parkinson’s back—he was a racist future villain in another episode this season. Now he’s just in the British government in the late twentieth century, where they reward racist villains. Nice cameo from Robert Bathurst; I, unfortunately, cannot remember his “Downton” nickname. But having, you know, good actors cameo makes you wonder why they don’t hire more of them.

It’s a better episode than most this season, but solo writer Chibnall really should’ve brought back his co-writer from the last episode. There’s only so much Gill, Bishop, and McNally being charming can cover for and the episode finds that limit way too quickly.

Doctor Who (2005) s13e04 – Village of the Angels

Most of this episode—save a brief appearance from rubber masked villain Rochenda Sandall—is quite good. Not just the best episode of the season so far (though it’s handily the best episode of the season so far), but an actual good episode.

Doctor Jodie Whittaker is solo in late sixties small village England, trying to stop the Weeping Angels from getting lost-in-time Annabel Scholey for their nefarious reasons. Sure, there’s some tedious stuff explaining why the Angels want Scholey and how it ties into Whittaker’s lost history arc, plus the rules for the Angels are a bit loose here. I mean, they have the same rules as always, but the episode seemingly forgets them from time to time to move the plot along.

But it’s a compelling episode. Whittaker and Scholey are a lot better together than Whittaker has been with her regular companions this season. Whittaker’s relationship with Mandip Gill is on its way for another hard talk because Whittaker’s still lying to her, and then John Bishop is just around. Though when Gill and Bishop team up to help the villagers search for missing ten-year-old Poppy Polivnick, it pretty much just works. Like Gill and Bishop have fine chemistry opposite one another. You wouldn’t be able to tell when they’re hanging off Whittaker.

Whittaker met Scholey in the first episode of the season when Scholey knew Whittaker (and Gill), but they didn’t know her, which ought to make everyone chill out a little because the only explanation for that disconnect is they’re going to survive this adventure for Scholey to again see Whittaker in the future. I think. It’s timey-wimey, who knows. Plus, the “Flux,” which destroyed most of the universe or whatever, didn’t affect Earth’s history. At least not since they did something, but then the rubber mask villains did something and then….

Doesn’t matter. Unraveling it distracts from the strong episode, which has Whittaker and Scholey fortifying in amusing old professor Kevin McNally’s house to survive the Angels.

Then Gill and Bishop are trying to find Polivnick, which leads to some big twists and turns and generally engaging television.

And Thaddea Graham’s a lot better this episode than last time. She’s traveling the Flux-ed universe in search of Jacob Anderson. That storyline is the easy least of the episode, but it’s not terrible. I mean, it’s a definite improvement (until the end) over before.

The writing’s better—this time Chris Chibnall has Maxine Alderton helping him in addition to the plot not being a series of tropes and pop culture steals—and it’s easily Jamie Magnus Stone’s best direction of the season.

The end’s wonky, but it’s a much better-than-lately forty-five minutes getting there.

Doctor Who (2005) s13e03 – Once, Upon Time

One of the reasons it’s easier to look at this season of “Doctor Who” through the lens of previous sci-fi is just talking about the new season of “Doctor Who” is boring. And narratively cheap. Chris Chibnall’s script this time uses two major manipulative devices just to get it across the finish line, and it’s literally about all the series bad guys taking over the universe. Even with the Daleks, the Cybermen, and the Angels, it’s a snoozer.

The episode opens with a title card—“Bel’s Story”—and then we meet Bel, played by Thaddea Graham. She’s on one side of the galaxy, post-Flux, trying to get to the other. She’s got a long-lost love to reunite with, and her only friend is a Tamagotchi. Now, it turns out the episode will be all about two Flux events, with Graham in one of them, but the episode hinting she’s in the other one. Would it be better if she were in the other one? Who knows, but it wouldn’t be as dull. It’s really dull, real rote, once Chibnall does the big reveal.

Though I guess the special effects on Graham’s spaceship journey are better than anywhere else. When Jodie Whittaker’s stuck in the time stream—she’s unstuck in time, we’ll get to it—the special effects are of the “oh, they’re supposed to be bad” quality. Sort of like the villains’ rubber masks. We also find out the bad guys are called “The Ravagers” this episode, which is definitely from Guardians of the Galaxy but I think the term’s been used at DC Comics too. It also doesn’t describe the villains well, like trying to imagine them sitting around and coming up with that name for themselves. The bad guys are mad because there’s a planet Time, which the Doctor apparently helped create then forgot.

No mention of the Time Lords this episode, like Chibnall’s only allowed to mess with canon so much before they hit the reset button at the end of the season.

The heroes are all unstuck in time. Whittaker, Mandip Gill, John Bishop, and Jacob Anderson. Whittaker’s got the ostensible A plot, about the first time the Flux happened, where she isn’t exactly herself, and she’s actually not remembering things right, but it’s suitable for reveals. Her team looks like Gill, Bishop, or Anderson, but we soon find out they aren’t actually those people, and it’s not the future; it’s the past. We also meet Barbara Flynn, who’s very ominous, and you expect her to wink at the camera and joke about being the “Master of Her Domain” or something.

Anyway, Whittaker’s portion of the episode looks like someone really liked the apocalypse epilogue in Zach Snyder’s Justice League. Or at least some of the CGI backdrops. So many lousy CGI composites in this episode. So many.

We get Anderson’s origin story, involving future white people still being racist. Gill fills in as other characters Anderson is misremembering and has the most acting work in the episode. It’s admirable work from Gill, though her actual character gets the shaft. Damsel in distress stuff when she gets it. Bishop’s got a busy work plot to make it all about saving a different damsel for him.

The cliffhanger’s effective at least, but they’re really sending Whittaker out with a lackluster finale. Especially when we find out she shouldn’t even be in the episode; she’s stealing someone else’s place. The whole thing is an eyeroll.

Doctor Who (2005) s13e02 – War of the Sontarans

So, one thing I don’t understand about “Doctor Who: Flux” is writer Chris Chibnall’s Marvel Cinematic Universe nods. Last episode, they established the only good special effects were going to be the Thanos disintegration effect (presumably the VFX staff bought an iPhone app for ninety-nine cents to get it done), but this episode…. Well, this episode goes overboard right from the start.

The first scene has Doctor Jodie Whittaker and companions Mandip Gill and John Bishop waking up at the end of the universe. It looks just like the end of the universe in “Loki.” Of course, it turns out not to be the end of the universe, and instead, they’ve been thrown in time back to the Crimean War, but it looks just like “Loki.”

And then the episode ends with a snap. After a bunch of Thanos disintegrating. And the snap is a Snap.

I can’t tell if Chibnall is doing terrible, desperate homage or if he really thinks… there’s no crossover between “Doctor Who” viewers and, you know, people who have seen the second and fifth highest-grossing movies of all time. Because even if they didn’t watch “Loki,” those lucky bastards, they might recognize the Snap.

Anyway.

The Crimean stuff is excellent. Best “Who” in ages, with Whittaker teaming up with historical figure Mary Seacole (played by Sara Powell; also Seacole was a subject on “Horrible Histories” if anyone needs to Google a refresher) as she discovers the Sontarans have done a temporal assault and are the bad guys in the Crimean War now, not the Russians. Were the Russians the bad guys in the Crimean War? I mean, they were from the British perspective, but… you know what, never mind.

Whittaker and Powell have to deal with an asshat British general (Gerald Kyd) in addition to the Sontarans. Now, these Sontarans aren’t from the past, they’re from the present (or future) and know the Doctor is their enemy, but they don’t realize the Doctor might be a girl now. Whittaker’s a lot better without her companions to clutter the scenes, and both Powell and Kyd are excellent.

Meanwhile, new companion Bishop goes back to the future, where he amusingly teams up with his parents (Sue Jenkins and Paul Broughton) to fight the Sontarans there. Lots of lousy CGI but Bishop’s slightly more amusing with the ‘rents than with Whittaker and Gill, or on his own. It’s actually a rather tense plotline, which has Bishop having to coordinate with Whittaker in the past.

Gill’s off at a magical time temple where she meets agents from the Time Bureau before—just kidding, she meets future human dude Jacob Anderson, and they have to try to repair the cheap holograms for the flying, talking triangles. The talking triangles don’t cast shadows, which is initially one of the big effects fails. There are more extensive effects fails later on, but the lack of shadows is the first hint at the eventual problems.

The time temple is also where time-traveling super-villain and Red Skull wannabe in a cheap Halloween mask Sam Spruell figures in. He and sidekick Rochenda Sandall do a lot of super-villain posturing, and it seems like the whole thing has to be a gag because it’s crappy camp.

But the Crimean War period stuff is solid, although it feels like Whittaker doing a leftover Peter Capaldi script. Whatever works, though. Whatever works.

Doctor Who (2005) s13e01 – The Halloween Apocalypse

Jodie Whittaker’s lame-duck season gets off to an inglorious start. It’d be inglorious no matter what—it’s Whittaker’s last season—but there’s an added dig with the next series being outside the BBC’s control or something. Sadly, instead of going out with a bang, writer Chris Chibnall, whoever hired the effects companies, and director Jamie Magnus Stone have decided it will be a struggle to even get it to a whimper.

After an awful “action-packed” opening with Whittaker and companion Mandip Gill escaping an actually very easy to win no-win scenario, the episode starts going through some of the old tropes. Whittaker lying to Gill? Check. Whittaker not remembering something because there have been seventy-bazillion Doctors, and she only remembers a handful of them? Check. End of the universe? Check. Familiar aliens? Check. Familiar aliens desperately used for effect? Check. There’s even a future companion (Annabel Scholey) running into Whittaker before they meet. It really doesn’t help Scholey looks like former companion Jenna Coleman and has a very similar name. I was wondering if they’d just recast the part.

And some of these tropes aren’t even new to Whittaker’s “Who.” I’m pretty sure last season was Gill being mad at Whittaker for lying to her most of the time too. There’s a quick mention of the departed Bradley Walsh and Tosin Cole, who apparently took all the heart with them when they left, but most of the companion stuff is setting up new guy John Bishop. He’s a Liverpool jingoist with a heart of gold, alternating between giving free tours in the Liverpool museum and working at a soup kitchen (even though he doesn’t have any food on his own shelves). He figures in coincidentally, with the bad guy who was after Whittaker at the open—Craige Els, whose alien costume reveal is one of the episode’s few smiles–kidnapping him from planet Earth.

Only Els’s motives turn out to make most of the twists involving the character, including the opening attempt to execute Whittaker, nonsensical. To be fair, I didn’t realize the giant plot hole was a massive plot hole until after the episode was over because I was too busy concentrating on the apparent season nemesis, played by Sam Spruell. I don’t think he gets a name in this episode because Whittaker doesn’t remember him, but he’s the Red Skull with Thanos’s zapping powers. They didn’t spend any money on the costumes—some of the masks are dollar store cheap or the big effects sequences requiring composite shots. Still, they did get an okay app to do the Thanos disintegration effect, which Spruell uses on various people throughout the episode.

Spruell’s got a nice and silly backstory—he’s been imprisoned from the start of time at the end of the universe (odd the Doctor didn’t run into him at the end of the universe a few seasons ago)—and it reminds of Star Trek V, which is the second time “Who”’s leaned on that Trek. Of course, they already did an imprisoned Satan years ago, just as ostensibly oblivious to the source material.

But this episode also ups the ante with a Star Trek: Generations “nod.” There’s a destructive force moving through the universe, destroying everything in its path. The only one who can stop it is a boy named Bastian Bux—wait, wait, whoops, NeverEnding Story. It’s not the Nothing, it’s not the Nexus, it’s the Flux, which is also this season’s subtitle.

Flux, not Not the Nothing, Not the Nexus, It’s the Flux, which is too bad because it’s a better title. “Who”’s something of a hopeless property, but it’s off to an even worse start than usual. Especially since the episode very intentionally doesn’t give Whittaker or Gill anything to do.

The Package (1989, Andrew Davis)

If it weren’t for the cast and direction, I’m not sure how The Package would play. The combination of Gene Hackman and Andrew Davis makes the film, which has a bunch of problems, noteworthy. Davis gives the film enough grit and realism to make it seem wholly believable, just so long as one doesn’t think about it much while watching it.

After a couple starts, about thirty minutes in, it becomes clear The Package is an assassination thriller. Unfortunately, it’s not a particularly compelling assassination thriller. Without Hackman holding it together, it’d fail. Even worse, the first two starts promise something far more interesting and unique.

Even the assassination thriller part starts better than it ends. With a slightly different approach, The Package would be a road movie. It’s still basically arranged in that manner–principle supporting characters show up in sequence, not all at once. First it’s Tommy Lee Jones (in a glorified cameo, which is too bad since he and Hackman are great together), then Pam Grier (solid in a thankless role) and finally Dennis Franz (playing a family man variation of his cop standard). Joanna Cassidy shows up between Jones and Grier and sticks around.

Nearly all the supporting cast is excellent, regardless of how much they have to do. Kevin Crowley, Chelcie Ross, Thalmus Rasulala–small roles, great performances (Rasulala doesn’t even get a name).

The only weak performance is John Heard, which hurts me to even type but he’s just bad.

The Package is okay, if problematic.

1.5/4★½

CREDITS

Directed by Andrew Davis; written by John Bishop; director of photography, Frank Tidy; edited by Billy Weber and Don Zimmerman; music by James Newton Howard; production designer, Michel Levesque; produced by Beverly J. Camhe and Tobie Haggerty; released by Orion Pictures.

Starring Gene Hackman (Sgt. Johnny Gallagher), Joanna Cassidy (Eileen Gallagher), Tommy Lee Jones (Thomas Boyette), John Heard (Col. Glen Whitacre), Dennis Franz (Lt. Milan Delich), Pam Grier (Ruth Butler), Kevin Crowley (Walter Henke) and Chelcie Ross (Gen. Hopkins).

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