Doctor Who: Series 6 Part 1, the first half of Doctor Who’s sixth season with the excellent Matt Smith, was released on Blu-ray and DVD 19 July. The two disc box set contains the first 7 episodes, including the sensational opening episode, The Impossible Astronaut, Day of the Moon, The Curse of the Black Spot, The Doctor's Wife, The Rebel Flesh, The Almost People and the half season cliff hanger, A Good Man Goes to War. Amy Pond and Rory, now husband and wife, and the prison inmate River Song from the Doctor's past (or is it future?), are all back for another round. Warner Bros. kindly provided us with a copy to review.
Over the years we've had cause to mention Richard Carpenter's BAFTA award-winning series Robin of Sherwood on a number of occasions, typically to recall in passing what an outstanding piece of television it is. As it first aired in the UK in the '80s and we struggle to keep up with new material, there's been little opportunity for us to write any more about it. Until now, that is, and the fortuitous arrival of a review copy of Seasons One and Two on Blu-ray. Happy days!
I’ve said this before and I’m not too proud to repeat myself: Game of Thrones is seriously good television, a sophisticated adaptation of a complex, sprawling and intelligent work of fantasy for an adult audience. The direction and production are superb, the cast is remarkably strong and the adaptation itself, penned by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, is inspired.
Nine episodes into HBO’s adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones and the timing could hardly be better for an announcement about HBO’s plans to adapt Neil Gaiman’s American Gods.
A trailer for the next season of Torchwood, Torchwood: Miracle Day, has hit the web and you can watch it below. The ten part series will be broadcast Friday, 8 July in the US. It's still debateable whether the move to the US, and the US focus of the upcoming series, will be good or bad for Torchwood, but I guess we don't have to wait much longer to find out.
If you liked the BBC’s pilot episode for Dirk Gently, the TV show based on Douglas Adams' comic fantasy novels, you’ll be glad to hear that more episodes are on the way. Adams of course is most famous for his Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, but also wrote two and a half Dirk Gently books before his unfortunate early death. Dirk Gently books include Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, and the incomplete The Salmon of Doubt.
Fans of the UK version of the fantasy TV show Being Human (the original and best) will be pleased to hear that Being Human season 4 is definitely happening. According to the BBC’s press site, Being Human season 4 will feature new characters and an epic new story line. The season 3 Being Human finale was watched by over 1.1 million viewers in the UK, and the next series will follow directly on from the finale’s cliff hanger, which may see the show take a radical new direction (I’ll won’t write anymore in case some of you haven’t watched it yet...).
New Doctor Who head writer Steven Moffat wasted no time launching season six in new and unexpected directions. If the first episode The Impossible Astronaut is anything to go by, it's going to be a wild ride. Matt Smith returns in his second season as the Doctor (looking older than ever) along with Amy Pond and Rory, now husband and wife, the prison inmate River Song from the Doctor's future, US President Richard Nixon, and a chilling new memory-eating, suit-wearing villain known as The Silence.
Doctor Who head writer Steven Moffat has written a mini Doctor Who episode for the UK's bi-annual Charity event, Comic Relief. Split into two parts, Time and Space, the short episodes have some great banter between the Doctor, Rory and Amy (particularly about her skirt length!) and make me even more interested in the upcoming Season 6. There's also a great bit where the TARDIS materialises inside itself. While you wait for The Doctor's Season 6, make sure you check it out below.
The next season of Torchwood (Season 4) has been renamed Torchwood: Miracle Day (changed from Torchwood: The New World) and will be broadcast Friday, 8 July in the US. This is a 10 part series, which sees Bill Pullman (most famous I guess for playing the US President in Independence Day) join the cast as the lead villain. Pullman plays Oswald Danes, a former school teacher and convicted child killer.