"Thor - The Dark World Review", or Please, Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em!

L to R: Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth)
and unconvincing CGI sky. Are they even
outside?

With the recent announcement of its partnership with Netflix to create four new super-hero series, as well as the success of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and following its merger with Disney, it has to be said the Marvel Studios brand is now one of the most successful and well-known out there. I'm reminded of the feeling audiences used to have for Pixar. All you had to see was that logo with the desk lamp, and people said, "I'll go see that."

Marvel's latest big-screen release, Thor - The Dark World, isn't anywhere near as good as Pixar at its best. It's not even Marvel at its best. But it does have enough of the best qualities of the Marvel style to wind up being a fun time at the movies.

50 Years of Who - Consumer Resistance

In 1984, Colin Baker (no relation to Tom) took over the role of the Doctor from the outgoing Peter Davison. Baker initially had tremendous enthusiasm for the role, wanting to outlast Tom Baker's seven year run as the Time Lord. Unfortunately, he was becoming the programme's leading man at the exact moment where the series entered its most troubled period, a period that would eventually see the series put on hiatus for decades.

After Davison's warm, vulnerable and relatable Fifth Doctor, producer John Nathan-Turner and Script Editor Eric Saward decided to make the character of the Sixth Doctor more off-putting, more challenging. He would hearken back to the irritable and irascible William Hartnell, and in many ways go even farther, with the plan being that Baker's Doctor mellow over time. In his first adventure, addled by a difficult regeneration, he actually attempts to strangle his companion Peri. It was a bold choice, and arguably the wrong one. Combined with Nathan-Turner's decision to dress the Doctor in a "tasteless" outfit, there was initially little for the viewer latch onto when it came to the Sixth Doctor.

Random Double Feature: The Bad and the Bogie-ful

Welcome to another edition of Random Double Features! This time out we've got a doozy for you, half of which I'm going to have to apologize for. The top half of the bill is a picture from Warner Bros. in 1941 starring Humphrey Bogart called All Through the Night. The bottom half is a picture from the seventh concentric circle of hell via Italy in 1960 and inexplicably called Atom Age Vampire.

All Through the Night is the first picture Bogart made following his star-making turn in The Maltese Falcon. As was usual for Bogart during this period, he got the lead when other actors turned the roles down. The film was originally written for newspaper columnist Walter Winchell, who backed out. Then, as with most stories like this about Bogie, George Raft was approached. He too turned it down, another role in a long line that Bogart took on to success and acclaim.

Bogart stars as "Gloves" Donohue, a man about New York that is not so subtly implied to be a gangster. Okay, it's not even implied, he's basically Arnold Rothstein. In any case, Gloves has two major peculiarities; he eats cheesecake from a particular bakery three times a day, and he can't refuse his mother (Jane Darwell) anything. When the baker of his cheesecakes turns up dead, his mother convinces him and his mob to look into the murder. Their nosing around uncovers a ring of Nazi spies operating in New York, planning to commit a major act of sabotage that only Gloves and his crew can stop. Basically, imagine the cast of Guys and Dolls going up against the bad guys of Raiders of the Lost Ark and you'll get some idea of how wonderfully bonkers the whole thing is. These aren't hard-boiled mobsters, they're played for laughs in the Damon Runyon vein, and played by some absolute top notch comedic stars like William Demerest, Phil Silvers, Frank McHugh and a young Jackie Gleason. The Nazis are similarly well-cast, with Conrad Veidt, Peter Lorre and Judith Anderson doing their villainous best.

50 Years of Who - Always The Perfect Guests

After seven years in the role, Tom Baker gave up being the Doctor, and the mantle passed to Peter Davison. Davison was only 29 when he was cast, and he had an incredibly difficult job ahead of him. He was succeeding a man who simply was the Doctor, who embodied the programme in the minds of the viewers. That's a big challenge, one that could only be met by playing the role so completely differently that comparison would be impossible. Thankfully, Davison was canny enough to do exactly that.

His Fifth Doctor was more vulnerable, more excitable and far less remote and alien. He was moody and easily frustrated. Like the Second Doctor, he was more affected by the events around him. He was like a favourite teacher, travelling on an extended school trip with a few favourite pupils. And still there was a touch of the "old man" that lurked beneath the surface of his portrayal. In this clip, he confronts an old enemy, the Cybermen, who had been absent from the series for seven years:





 

 

 

 

See you soon for more Classic Doctor Who!

50 Years of Who - Until We Meet Again, Sarah

For years, when various polls were conducted asking fans who their favourite travelling companion of the Doctor was, the answer would come back Sarah Jane Smith. There was just something about the intrepid feminist journalist that all viewers loved. Played with incredible warmth and charm by Elisabeth Sladen, Sarah Jane made her debut in Jon Pertwee's final season as the Doctor. But it was her remarkable chemistry with Tom Baker that made her a British TV institution. So much so, in fact, that when she left the series in 1976, it was front page news. The Fourth Doctor had called her his "best friend" and there's little doubt that it was true. Enjoy her terrific farewell scene from the closing moments of 1976's The Hand of Fear:

She had returned to the series in 1983 for the 20th Anniversary The Five Doctors (as well as having a spin-off that lasted only one episode in 1981), but her return to Doctor Who in 2006 introduced a whole new generation to Sarah Jane Smith in the episode School Reunion, this time alongside David Tennant's Tenth Doctor:

The popularity of that appearance led to a new spin-off children's series called The Sarah Jane Adventures, with further cross-overs during the Tennant era and into Matt Smith's era as the Doctor. The series ran for 5 seasons until Sladen's untimely death in April of 2011 at the age of 63. The companion against which all others are measured, she is missed.

50 Years of Who - The Definite Article

Jon Pertwee had played the Doctor for five seasons by 1974, taking the series to new heights in popularity. When he left he was replaced by the relatively unknown Tom Baker, whose career at that point had stalled to where he was working on a building site when he was cast as the Doctor.

Pertwee had played the Doctor as a cool and superior man of action, his largely Earth-bound stories and his straightforward approach gave his Doctor more of a human feel than his predecessors. A genuine eccentric himself, Tom Baker's approach to the role emphasized the remote and mercurial alien side of the Doctor, melded with an off-kilter sense of humour. The result was a performance that instantly captivated audiences and helped lead the series into what many consider its golden age, both critically and popularly.

Baker would remain in the role for seven years, and for many, he would come to define the program. Before the revival of the series in 2005, and perhaps even today, when the general public thought about Doctor Who, it was Tom Baker they thought of. The clip below comes from Baker's debut story, Robot, and it shows him already creating a performance that would leave an indelible impact.

See you soon for more from the 50 years of Doctor Who!

Superman hits 75, DC Releases Nifty Short to Celebrate

75 years ago, the modern Superhero was created by two Jewish kids in Cleveland. One was even Canadian. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster called their character Superman, and the rest is most definitely history. Now DC has released this short animated video, conceived by animation genius Bruce Timm, and filmmaker and celluloid Superman guru Zack Snyder. It's a little awkward, cramming a lot of stories into 2 minutes (and I really wish they didn't end with Supes in his blandest costume) but aside from that it's pretty damn cool.

Up, Up, and Awaaaaaaay!