The second story of the Third Doctor Adventures Vol. 3, Storm of the Horofax is a fun story, filled with a good few Third Doctor tropes and, oddly, a few new series ideas thrown in. The Horofax aren’t memorable and I doubt we’ll see them again, but as a one off story, it’s good. Let’s take a closer look! (and quickly, so we don’t have to see the rush job I did on photoshop to try and get rid of the previous story elements from the artwork…)
The Defenders comes to an end with a suitably action-packed final two episodes. Much like the earlier episodes, these don’t quite live up to some of the earlier Netflix MCU stuff, but it is very fun to watch, and well written. There is just that lack of a great villain stopping it still… Anyway, plenty good to talk about as well, so let’s take a look!
Sapphire and Steel reaches its conclusion, which feels far too soon but then I guess I’m comparing it to other longer running British sci-fi shows like Blake’s 7 and, well, Doctor Who, not that there are many shows that can match that episode count! Anyway, this episode has all the creepy atmosphere and question asking that comes with good examples of the series, but it also gives us a lot more of a glimpse into the world where the duo come from, which is certainly rare (and makes it feel more like the end, if nothing else) Let’s take a closer look…
The middle of The Defenders is full of interaction between the main four heroes, as well as their seconds, and plenty of new information about The Hand, including introducing all of the “Five Fingers of the Hand”. Basically it moves the plot along just enough to set the stage for the finale, but really it’s all about the four previous leads of their own series meeting each other… and it works really well! Let’s take a closer look…
The third volume of Third Doctor Adventures (a.k.a. Third Doctor stories with Tin Treloar doing a damn good job doing Jon Pertwee’s Third Doctor) starts off with Dalek story by Nicholas Briggs! … Unique! Seriously though, this does at least feel like a Third Doctor story, even if I would have preferred the Cybermen if we’re going with classic enemies (as the Third Doctor has three good Dalek TV stories and no Cybermen TV stories at all!) It does suffer from the usual Briggs Dalek war tropes, which is why this story sits somewhere between comfortably nostalgic and uncomfortably predictable… Let’s take a closer look, regardless!
It’s finally here! When the MCU Netflix slate was announced I really liked the idea of a “street level” Avengers set up, but it kind of got lost in amongst the great first two seasons of Daredevil and season 1 of Jessica Jones, three TV seasons I consider some of the best I’ve seen. Luke Cage was good, and Iron Fist was average at best, so the past year or so I’ve started looking forward to The Defenders again, and so far it hasn’t disappointed. Thanks to all episodes being released at once the first two and a bit episodes are pretty much entirely set up, seeing what the various characters have (or haven’t) been doing since we last saw them, before the four finally meeting at the end of Episode 3. So let’s take a look at this first chunk of story, shall we?
Sapphire and Steel’s fifth “Assignment” is … odd. It’s more quaint 30s murder mystery than it is anything resembling the show as its been presented in the past four stories. That being said, it did have some nice sci-fi twists in it, but in the end it was just annoying, with stereotypical posh dinner guests and all that bollocks taking up more screen time. It’s just not my thing, and for that I wasn’t a massive fan. Let’s take a look in more detail…
Continuing on with a look at Hellsing Ultimate, the next two volumes begin adapting where the original anime series stopped and we get the full push towards the frankly bizarre Nazi revenge plot that takes up the rest of the series. That’s right, in the end Hellsing comes down to Protestants vs. Catholics vs. Nazis, all three using supernatural beings like vampires and zombies to do their battling with. Like I said last time, it’s good shut your brain off entertainment, not Shakespeare! Let’s take a look at Parts III and IV, shall we?
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Sapphire and Steel’s fourth “Assignment” is a great example of how sometimes a shorter runtime can really help. This is only four episodes, rather than the previous stories being either six or eight, and it rolls along at a great pace. Still retains the spooky atmosphere and keeps you guessing, but doesn’t hang about too much. Let’s take a closer look, shall we?! …. Yes. Yes we shall.
Going into watching Thunderball, all I could remember is it’s “the one with all the underwater bits in it”, and, well… that about sums it up! There are some good scenes, don’t get me wrong, but there sure is a lot of slow underwater bits… Let’s take a closer look!
Hogan Reviews 