Doctor Who (2023) - Christmas 2023: The Church on Ruby Road (Quick Review)

Episode:

875

|

Serial:

304

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Mark Tonderai

|

Air Date:

25-Dec-2023

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about The Church on Ruby Road. Because I said I would, and it'd be weird not to after covering the other three 2023 specials. Plus this is a big deal. It's the first episode of the Fifteenth Doctor's era of Doctor Who!

It's going to be hard for Ncuti Gatwa to follow David Tennant, one of the most beloved Doctors in the series' history, but Matt Smith has already proved that it can be done. I'm not worried, as there has never been a bad Doctor in the series' entire history. Though sometimes good Doctors get stuck in a string of mediocre stories that prevent them from really shining. I'm sure there's no way that's going to happen to Ncuti though. Probably.

There will be SPOILERS below, but nothing for stories that come after this.

Doctor Who (2023): The Giggle

Episode:

874

|

Serial:

303

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Chanya Button

|

Air Date:

09-Dec-2023

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching the third and final Doctor Who 60th Anniversary special, The Giggle. That's seriously the title they went with. That's going to be stuck with us in episode lists forever now. Still, at least it's easier to spell than The Tsuranga Conundrum or The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos.

I just typed those from memory by the way, which I guess proves that my exposure to Doctor Who has gone way beyond safe limits. I can't remember what happened in Flux though, so there's still hope.

I'm expecting that this is where we see the Fourteenth Doctor regenerate into Ncuti Gatwa, which is a bit sad actually. It's rare that I honestly can say that a Doctor is going too soon, but this time he's really going too soon. Three episodes doesn't quite beat Paul McGann's record of one movie, but it's a lot shorter than Christopher Eccleston's thirteen episodes and even that wasn't enough.

There will be SPOILERS below for this story and earlier ones.

Doctor Who (2023): Wild Blue Yonder

Episode:

873

|

Serial:

302

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Tom Kingsley

|

Air Date:

02-Dec-2023

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching the second of Doctor Who's 60th Anniversary specials, Wild Blue Yonder! Hang on, isn't that a Futurama episode?

I've been doing a great job of avoiding learning anything about these specials but I didn't have to try too hard with this one. Seems that they've been extra secretive with it, which raises questions about what they've been hiding. I do know that it way written by showrunner Russell T Davies however, just like the rest of the specials. In fact, all of Doctor Who's specials in the modern era were written or co-written by the current showrunner at the time. What this means is, it's going to be a while before I see someone else's name at the start of one of these episodes.

There will be SPOILERS below for this episode and earlier ones.

Doctor Who (2023): The Star Beast - Part 2

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm still writing about The Star Beast, the first of Doctor Who's three 60th Anniversary specials. You can read PART ONE by clicking that text.

I've noticed that a few fans seem disappointed that we've gotten David Tennant back for three episodes as they wanted to get straight to Ncuti Gatwa. I guess some people are kind of done with the idea of returning to older characters and legacy actors in general, after the onslaught of nostalgia we've had this past decade.

In the last 8 years we've had movies and series starring Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, Mulder and Scully, Jean-Luc Picard and Seven of Nine, Neo and Trinity, Rocky Balboa, John Rambo, Laurie Strode, Maverick, Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi, Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator, Michael Keaton's Batman, Indiana Jones, Rick Deckard, Captain John Sheridan and Dave Lister. Plus they just made a game with Peter Weller playing RoboCop again!

Personally though, I'm one of the people who keeps watching all this stuff. In fact, I've been thinking I should check out some Big Finish audio dramas, where the classic actors have been reprising their roles consistently for 24 years. It's all good as long as it doesn't get in the way of new characters and actors being introduced, and I don't think it has in this case. Filming for the Barbie movie overlapped with the specials so it doesn't seem like Ncuti Gatwa was ever an option and I'd rather have three bonus episodes with David Tennant than nothing at all. They can continue giving me bonus Tennant stories next year as well if they want, I won't complain.

There will be SPOILERS below, for this and earlier stories.

Doctor Who (2023): The Star Beast - Part 1

Episode:

872

|

Serial:

301

|

Writer:

Russell T Davies

|

Director:

Rachel Talalay

|

Air Date:

25-Nov-2023

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching the first of Russell T Davies' 60th Anniversary specials: The Star Beast. That's such a pulp sci-fi title that it shares its name with a Robert A. Heinlein novel from the '50s. RTD ain't going with something as ordinary as 'Rose' this time, we're straight into laser guns and space monsters... presumably. I haven't seen the trailers and I don't actually know what it's about.

There's another familiar RT involved with this: director Rachel Talalay. She missed the first RTD run and skipped the Jodie Whittaker era, but she was trusted with every big season finale of the Peter Capaldi era, including Heaven Sent/Hell Bent so she's definitely who you want setting the tone for the show's latest regeneration.

It seems like they're considering this the start of a new volume of Doctor Who, with the 2005 Revival ending with Power of the Doctor last year. I let this information settle into my brain for a bit and I've decided that I like it. Dividing the show up helps me keep it organised in my head and after 18 years it could use a bit of a relaunch. Though maybe they could've waited until after the big nostalgic return of David Tennant to make a fresh start!

I'm going to be going through the whole episode scene by scene, so beware of SPOILERS. There are 60 years of this show for me to ruin now, so I won't get greedy and spoil things that happen in later episodes.

CLICK HERE TO SKIP THE FIRST 11 PICTURES AND JUMP STRAIGHT TO THE START OF THE STORY

Doctor Who (2005): The Day of the Doctor - Part 3

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about the final third of The Day of the Doctor, the epic 50th Anniversary Doctor Who special. Click one of these links to jump to an earlier part: PART ONE, PART TWO.

Did you know that the title is shiny 3D, not just flat white? That's just one of the awesome observations you'll be getting as I finally finish taking this episode apart.

There will be SPOILERS below, for this episode and earlier ones. Otherwise, you should be safe.

Doctor Who (2005): The Day of the Doctor - Part 2

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I want to go to London and slide down that railing.

Anyway, I'm still writing about The Day of the Doctor, arguably the most special of all of Doctor Who's anniversary specials. I've reached the middle third of the episode, but you can CLICK HERE to return to part one.

There will be SPOILERS here for this and older stuff, but nothing for newer stuff. I'll mention a few things from the novelisation as well, which shouldn't be too much of an issue as it's the same story.

Doctor Who (2005): The Day of the Doctor - Part 1

Episode:

799

|

Serial:

240

|

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Director:

Nick Hurran

|

Air Date:

23-Nov-2013

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing a bit about The Day of the Doctor, the 799th episode of Doctor Who! It got so close to being a milestone in the show's history. People could've still been talking about this story even now. But nope, it missed out by just one episode.

However, the story turned 10 years old last month, so I figured that this would be a good time to write something about it. Speaking of anniversaries, I've been writing about a lot of anniversary specials lately. The Three Doctors was Doctor Who's 10th, The Five Doctors was the 20th, Silver Nemesis was the 25th and Trials and Tribble-ations was Deep Space Nine's 30th.

Doctor Who did have a 30th Anniversary special, the Doctor Who/EastEnders crossover Dimensions in Time, made for Children in Need, but I'll be skipping that. I've seen it before and once was enough. In fact, it was the first Doctor Who story I ever saw from start to finish. I had no idea what the series was back then, but after watching Dimensions in Time I knew I didn't like it, and then the TV movie confirmed it. To be fair, if my first exposure to Star Wars had been the Holiday Special I probably would've avoided the rest of that for 20 years as well.

Anyway, the 40th got nothing new on television at all, but for the 50th Anniversary the BBC treated fans very well. There was An Adventure in Space and Time, dramatising William Hartnell's time on the series, The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot spoof, starring the classic Doctors, and then there was The Day of the Doctor, the 50th Anniversary special itself, simultaneously released both on TV and in actual cinemas. In 3D!

These screencaps aren't going to be in 3D, but I'll try to add some depth to my commentary as I go through the whole damn story scene by scene. Well, the first third of it a least. Either way, there will be SPOILERS below.

Doctor Who (2005): The Night of the Doctor

Writer:

Steven Moffat

|

Director:

John Hayes

|

Date:

14-Nov-2013

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm finally writing about The Night of the Doctor, the surprise seven-minute minisode prequel to The Day of the Doctor that just appeared on the internet out of nowhere a week before the 50th Anniversary.

2013 was a while ago now, and it's maybe hard to imagine what it was like to be a Doctor Who fan back then. It was the end of a Doctor's era, whose final run had been marred by long gaps between poorly received stories. But it was also an anniversary year and people were hyped for the return of familiar faces in a big anniversary special written by one of the series' most beloved writers. So it was basically nothing like 2023...

No one was hyped for The Night of the Doctor however, in fact they didn't know it was coming at all. But then a few people watched it and afterwards they told their friends to drop everything, stay off Twitter, and watch it themselves. Even knowing what it was about would be too much of a spoiler, all that fans needed to know is that they had to see it.

So I'll warn you now that there will be SPOILERS here, both for the episode and relevant stories leading up to it. I won't spoil anything that happens after this story however, even things that fans at the time would've already known.

Doctor Who (1963) 25-10: Silver Nemesis, Part Three

Episode:

677

|

Serial:

150

|

Writer:

Kevin Clarke

|

Director:

Chris Clough

|

Air Date:

07-Dec-1988

---

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about the final part of the infamous Silver Nemesis. It's only a three-parter this one. You can click these links to go to PART ONE or PART TWO.

There had been other three-parter episodes earlier in the show's run, even a couple of two-parters, and a one-parter, but the Seventh Doctor era was when they really became a regular thing. It's a little surprising to me that it took them so long, as splitting up a story into a beginning, a middle, and an end seems very natural, and people love their trilogies. Three-parters also have the advantage, theoretically, of not being padded out with irrelevant scenes and dragging on too long. I'll let you know how well that worked out in this case.

This is going to be full of SPOILERS, at least up to this point in the series.

Doctor Who (1963) 25-09: Silver Nemesis, Part Two

Episode:

676

|

Serial:

150

|

Writer:

Kevin Clarke

|

Director:

Chris Clough

|

Air Date:

30-Nov-1988

---

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I've got more Silver Nemesis for you, whether you want it or not. However you can CLICK HERE if you'd rather go back to to part one.

Silver Nemesis was writer Kevin Clarke's first serial for Doctor Who and, coincidentally, also his last. Though to be fair, at this point every serial was someone's last, as there were only five more stories left before the classic series got cancelled. Doctor Who did eventually come back, but the writers didn't (except for Rona Munro, who returned to write one of Peter Capaldi's final episodes).

There will be SPOILERS here for this episode and earlier stories. You don't have to worry about me spoiling anything that happens later though.

Doctor Who (1963) 25-08: Silver Nemesis, Part One

Episode:

675

|

Serial:

150

|

Writer:

Kevin Clarke

|

Director:

Chris Clough

|

Air Date:

23-Nov-1988

---

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching Silver Nemesis, Part One, the first episode of Doctor Who's silver anniversary story. In fact, it's not just the show's 25th anniversary celebration, but it's also its 150th serial. The latest Doctor Who story to air, The Power of the Doctor, was the 300th story, so this is exactly halfway through!

Plus it's the 675th episode, which isn't actually significant, except for being a bloody huge number. To put that into some perspective, the 675th episode of Star Trek was the 3rd season Enterprise episode Impulse. (And the 150th Trek story was the second season TNG episode Manhunt.)

It's a bit weird though that this is the anniversary story and not Remembrance of the Daleks, which... has certain connections to a past serial. Also, this is the first anniversary story to not list the number of Doctors it contains in the title. We're up to seven now, so it's probably for the best that they don't all show up.

There will be SPOILERS here for the episode and presumably earlier stories too if it really is an anniversary special like it claims. I won't give away anything that comes later though.

Doctor Who (1963): The Five Doctors - Part 4

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about the final chapter of The Five Doctors. If you want to go back and read an earlier part, click PART ONE, PART TWO or PART THREE.

This special features a ton of returning Doctor Who characters, but far from all of them. Counting only the absolutely unambiguous and indisputable companions, it's missing 13 people, and this goes up to 19 if you count the more debatable ones. I won't start listing them all, however, so you'll just have to imagine who I'm counting as ambiguous (*cough* Kamelion *cough*).

Funny thing is, if you were to look at this from a more non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint and count the number of companions from the series' future that are missing, that number would also be 19. Well, depending on who you decide to include.

You probably know this already, seeing as this is the fourth part of this review, but there will be SPOILERS beyond this point. Not for anything new though, and by 'new' I mean 'it aired during the last 40 years'.

Doctor Who (1963): The Five Doctors - Part 3

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm still writing about The Five Doctors, the epic crossover event that pulls together heroes from 1 TV series. If you want to return to an earlier part click PART ONE or PART TWO.

This special didn't quite manage to bring the full five Doctors together, but I'm struggling to think of another sci-fi TV series that managed to pack so many main protagonists into one story. I can't remember any Star Trek story that brings more than two lead captains together, and Stargate and Babylon 5 didn't do any better. One of the Star Wars shows must have done it by now though...or maybe not? Oh duh, the Arrowverse did Crisis on Infinite Earths. Still, this was the Avengers of 1983.

This review will be full of SPOILERS, but I'll not give away anything that happens later in the series.

Doctor Who (1963): The Five Doctors - Part 2

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm continuing with Doctor Who's 20th anniversary special, The Five Doctors! This is going to drag on for four parts, and if you want to jump back to part 1, CLICK HERE.

The Five Doctors was the final story by the legendary Terrance Dicks, who'd been writing Doctor Who episodes since the Second Doctor's era. His contributions to the series spanned 14 years, which is a long time... though not quite as long as Russell T Davies' incredible 18 years on the show (with a 12 year break in the middle).

It was hoped that they could get Waris Hussein to direct, as he'd directed the very first serial, An Unearthly Child, 20 years earlier. Unfortunately, he was in America, so the job ultimately went to Peter Moffatt, who'd already directed Peter Davison in a few episodes of All Creatures Great and Small.

Past this point you'll be flooded with SPOILERS for the episode and maybe a few earlier stories as well. I'll not spoil anything that comes later however.

Doctor Who (1963): The Five Doctors - Part 1

Episode:

602

|

Serial:

129

|

Writer:

Terrance Dicks

|

Director:

Peter Moffatt

|

Air Date:

25-Nov-1983

---

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching Doctor Who's 20th anniversary special, The Five Doctors!

The 10th anniversary story, The Three Doctors, was the first serial of a season that aired months before the actual anniversary date, but this time around they wanted to get it right. In fact, efforts were made to get the whole of season 20 rescheduled to air later in the year to make it line up properly. They failed, but they did win a consolation prize: Doctor Who was getting its first-ever feature-length special! There have been plenty of Christmas specials and New Year's specials since then, but The Five Doctors is still the longest episode to this day.

Though in 1995 it got George Lucasified into an even longer and even more special Special Edition, padded out with extra scenes that the director had originally cut for a good reason. Plus there's the 2023 Blu-ray edition as well, along with the version that was split into four separate episodes. I bet that has some interesting cliffhangers.

You know what, I'm going to split this article up to match the four-part edit and find out what all those cliffhangers are. I'm not sure what version I'll be getting on iPlayer, but I do know that it's going to be long, so it'll be more practical for me to tackle it in pieces.

SPOILER WARNING: I might spoil things that came before it, I won't spoil things that came after, and the episode itself is getting extremely spoiled. I'm going scene by scene to maximise spoiler coverage.

Doctor Who (1963) 10-04: The Three Doctors, Episode Four

Episode:

333

|

Serial:

65

|

Writers:

Bob Baker and Dave Martin

|

Director:

Lennie Mayne

|

Air Date:

20-Jan-1973

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's episode 333 of Doctor Who. That means the series was averaging 37 episodes a year up to this point, which isn't actually that ridiculous I guess, seeing as they were all 25 minutes long. Star Trek: The Original Series produced an average of 26 stories a year, each 50 minutes long, so when it came to minutes per week it was actually ahead.

Anyway, just have to write a few more words under screencaps and I'm finally done with The Three Doctors! This is part four of four, the conclusion to this anniversary event, and I'm hoping they didn't already blow through their pyrotechnics budget already with the first three parts, as my expectations have been raised. Also, I'm hoping the story's good etc. Click one of these links to jump back to an earlier episode: PART ONE, PART TWO, PART THREE.

You won't be shocked to hear that the heavily promoted season premiere which brought back Patrick Troughton and William Hartnell got the highest viewing figures for the Third Doctor's whole run, averaging 10.3 million on BBC. It had almost twice as many eyes on it as the least watched serial, Inferno. Wait, why didn't anyone watch Inferno? That one was great!

I'll be going through this whole episode scene by scene, so there will be SPOILERS below. I may find reason to mention things that happened in earlier episodes as well, but I won't spoil anything that happens later.

Doctor Who (1963) 10-03: The Three Doctors, Episode Three

Episode:

332

|

Serial:

65

|

Writers:

Bob Baker and Dave Martin

|

Director:

Lennie Mayne

|

Air Date:

13-Jan-1973

---

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's the third part of the The Three Doctors, the only serial in the entire series to feature 100% of the Doctors that had been introduced up to that point, all played by their original actors. Well, except for the entirety of the First Doctor's run, I suppose.

If you want to jump to PART ONE or PART TWO, click the appropriate link.

It looks weird if I don't pad this intro out with some trivia, so I'm going to talk about books for a moment. Each Doctor Who serial got its own novelisation, with the naming format often being "Doctor Who and [the name of the serial]". So you've got titles like Doctor Who and the Keys of Marinus and Doctor Who and the Tomb of the Cybermen etc. It's very Indiana Jones.

That title scheme didn't quite work with this story though, as you can't have 'Doctor Who and The Three Doctors', because then there'd be four Doctors and the story would be all messed up. So they just called it The Three Doctors.

SPOILER WARNING: I'm not going to spoil absolutely everything about this episode, but I feel like I could probably manage to give away at least 90% of it and I may mention one or two things that happened in previous stories as well.

Doctor Who (1963) 10-02: The Three Doctors, Episode Two

Episode:

331

|

Serial:

65

|

Writers:

Bob Baker and Dave Martin

|

Director:

Lennie Mayne

|

Air Date:

06-Jan-1973

---

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about the second episode of The Three Doctors - Doctor Who's epic 10th anniversary saga (that actually aired around its 9th anniversary). It's a four part serial so I'll have made it halfway through after this. Though you can click this link: EPISODE ONE if you'd rather go back and read about the first quarter of the story.

You know, I'm sure that title looks slightly different than it did on part one. They must have had to add it to each episode separately instead of just reusing the footage. That's the kind of quality trivia you can expect to find in my reviews.

Here's another Doctor Who fact for you: the episode was written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin, the folks who get a credit whenever K-9 appears in an episode.

Bob is maybe not the most famous Baker to work on Doctor Who, but he did get there before Tom and Colin at least. Plus he co-wrote the Wallace and Gromit stories!

SPOILER WARNING: There will be spoilers here for the events leading up to, and occurring within, this particular part of this particular serial. I won't spoil anything that happens afterwards though and I definitely won't give away how the story ends as I can't remember.

Doctor Who (1963) 10-01: The Three Doctors, Episode One

Episode:

330

|

Serial:

65

|

Writers:

Bob Baker and Dave Martin

|

Director:

Lennie Mayne

|

Air Date:

30-Dec-1972

---

Doctor Who is finally returning to television this month with its 60th anniversary special. But I can't write about something that hasn't aired yet, so today on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm covering the first part of the four-part 10th anniversary serial The Three Doctors!

Anniversary specials traditionally happen near an anniversary, but they decided to get an early start with this one. In fact, episode one aired at the end of 1972, almost a whole year early! This was the first episode of Jon Pertwee's fourth year in the role, which means he'd beaten Patrick Troughton's run (almost 3 seasons) and was getting close to matching William Hartnell's (a bit over 3 seasons). Pertwee still had a while to go before he matched their ridiculous episode counts though, as he was averaging 26 episodes a year compared to their 42 episode seasons. It'd take Ncuti Gatwa 15 years to match Hartnell's run and that's including Christmas specials.

I already wrote about this serial a few years back when Twitch did its marathon, but I don't actually remember what I said about it. Or what happens in it. I'm pretty sure I liked it though... unless I didn't. Anyway, this time around I'll be going through the whole story scene-by-scene and writing about it properly. This means there'll be SPOILERS for the episode and maybe a few earlier ones as well, if I can remember anything from them.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 5-06: Trials and Tribble-ations - Part 2

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about the second half of Deep Space Nine's big 30th anniversary episode, Trials and Tribble-ations! Click HERE for part one.

Hey, have you ever wondered how many Star Trek episodes have a dash in the title? Because I haven't. It had never even crossed my mind until right now. The answer is "8": The Magicks of Megas-tu, The Counter-Clock Incident, Q-Less, Trials and Tribble-ations, The Siege of AR-558, Badda-Bing Badda-Bang, Species Ten-C and First Con-tact.

I originally planned to mention here that this is the highest-rated Deep Space Nine episode on IMDb, but it's not anymore. It's dropped to second place, behind In the Pale Moonlight. That's a shame I reckon, because the very next episode to air, Let He Who is Without Sin, is the lowest-rated episode on IMDb. That's the biggest gap in quality between adjacent episodes since The City on the Edge of Forever came out the week after The Alternative Factor.

Alright, I'll be analysing the second half of Trials and Tribble-ations so there will be SPOILERS below. There may be some spoilers here for earlier series as well, but I won't spoil anything that comes after this episode.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 5-06: Trials and Tribble-ations - Part 1

Episode:

104

|

Writer:

Ronald D. Moore & René Echevarria

|

Director:

Jonathan West

|

Air Date:

04-Nov-1996

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I've finally reached Deep Space Nine's legendary Star Trek: The Original Series tribute episode Trials and Tribble-ations! This would've been a more impressive milestone for me if I hadn't skipped 73 episodes to get here.

Man, I haven't written about a Deep Space Nine episode in four years, that's crazy. I could've waited three more years and written about this 30th-anniversary episode on its own 30th anniversary, but I just wrote about The Trouble with Tribbles and More Tribbles, More Troubles and I've got to complete my tribble trilogy. (Publishing this 8 days earlier would've also been good).

This was the first tribble episode to not be written by David Gerrold, because he didn't work on Deep Space Nine. Instead, they assigned this to Ronald D. Moore and René Echevarria, who clearly knew a bit about the classic show. It was directed by Jonathan West, who'd also been working as DS9's director of photography since the start of season three. I guess his cinematography skills were useful for a project like this.

Okay, I'm going to go through Trials and Tribble-ations scene-by-scene with screencaps, so there'll be SPOILERS below. This is first-time viewer friendly, however! Everything Star Trek that aired after November 4th 1996 is off limits, everything that came before is fair game.

Star Trek: The Animated Series 1-05: More Tribbles, More Troubles

Episode:

5

|

Writer:

David Gerrold

|

Director:

Hal Sutherland

|

Air Date:

06-Oct-1973

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm finally watching a Star Trek: The Animated Series episode! That's because today is the series' 50th anniversary!

It's also the 50th anniversary of Lassie's Rescue Rangers, Everything's Archie, My Favorite Martians, and Mission: Magic!, the other four cartoon spin-offs started by Filmation in 1973, but Star Trek: The Animated Series has had a more lasting impact. People actually remember it existed. That's partly because they went to the trouble of bringing (most) of the original cast back and got scripts from writers who'd worked on Star Trek before. It's partly because the series goes absolutely crazy half the time. But it's mostly because it's got Star Trek in the title. The series did fall out of favour for a long while, but it's been invited back into the family in recent years. Maybe someday they'll invite Star Trek: Prodigy back as well.

Anyway, the episode I'm watching isn't the pilot. It's More Troubles, More Tribbles, the sequel to The Trouble with Tribbles, written by the same writer! Well, one of the writers, as Gene Coon wasn't around to do an uncredited rewrite this time. It'd been a long time since The Troubles with Tribbles had first aired, five years, but Trek had become a hit in repeats so I'm sure people were eager for more tribbles. I know I am.

There will be SPOILERS below for this episode and maybe some earlier ones as I go through it scene by scene and share my thoughts, but I won't spoil anything about later stories. Except for Harry Mudd showing up again eventually, I totally give that away.

Star Trek: The Original Series 2-15: The Trouble With Tribbles

Episode:

44

|

Writer:

David Gerrold

|

Director:

Joseph Pevney

|

Air Date:

29-Dec-1967

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm going to try to find something new to say about The Trouble with Tribbles, arguably the most famous episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It's the one with the tribbles in it.

You've probably figured out from the clues that this was written by David Gerrold. In fact, it was his first professional sale. He went on to provide two scripts for Star Trek: The Animated Series and was part of the team that developed Star Trek: The Next Generation, even writing some of the series bible. Unfortunately, season 1 TNG was a damn mess behind the scenes and he left the show without writing a single episode.

The title card doesn't mention that it was heavily rewritten by producer Gene Coon. It was one of his final episodes as producer, as the work was exhausting and he was butting heads with Gene Roddenberry over the amount of comedy he was bringing to what was supposed to be a serious show.

This was originally the last episode of 1967, which basically covered Coon's time on the series, give or take a few episodes. It's probably not a coincidence that 1967 may have also featured the best run of stories in the franchise's history. They weren't all winners, but the first episode to air that year was The Galileo Seven, one of my favourites, then you've got stories like Arena, Space Seed, Devil in the Dark, Errand of Mercy, City on the Edge of Forever, Amok Time, Mirror Mirror, The Doomsday Machine, Journey to Babel etc. I'm not saying that Gene Coon was the real talent behind classic Star Trek, it was a team effort, but the show shined brightest when he was part of that team. And not just a freelancer dropping off scripts like Spock's Brain.

Okay, I'm going to be going through the whole episode and writing my thoughts underneath screencaps, so there will be SPOILERS here. I won't spoil anything that aired after it though. Even episodes that actually have 'tribbles' in the title.

Babylon 5: A Call to Arms - Part 3

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching the final third of the 5th Babylon 5 movie, A Call to Arms.

I'm getting really close to the end of the Babylon 5 franchise now, with only 13 episodes of Crusade, one more pilot movie and two Lost Tales left to go before it's all over. Oh, plus an animated movie that came out of nowhere recently. And there is always the threat of that reboot series actually getting made, along with more animated films. But after all that I'll be done.

I suppose it could be worse. I could be working my way through Doctor Who or Star Trek...

This is the third and final part of my A Call to Arms review, so if you want to go back to PART ONE or PART TWO click the appropriate text. This is going to include big SPOILERS for the movie and the rest of Babylon 5, but I'll not spoil anything about Crusade.

Babylon 5: A Call to Arms - Part 2

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching the middle third of the Babylon 5 movie A Call to Arms, which is basically the pilot for the short-lived spin-off series Crusade. Or the prologue to it at least. It lays the groundwork.

The film aired on TNT right at the start of 1999, just 7 weeks after the previous movie, The River of Souls... which was arguably a bit too soon. Especially considering that it had only been a month since viewers had said an emotional goodbye to the characters in Sleeping in Light. It's like when half the Star Trek cast came back for the movie Star Trek: Generations right after wrapping their era up with Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, except worse because those guys at least waited three years!

This is part two (of three) so if you want to go back to PART ONE, click that text. This will include big SPOILERS for the movie and the rest of Babylon 5, so be aware of that. I'll not spoil anything about Crusade, however.

Babylon 5: A Call to Arms - Part 1

Written By:

J. Michael Straczynski

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Directed By:

Mike Vejar

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Release Date:

1999

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's the first part of my three-part review of the Babylon 5 TV movie A Call to Arms! Here's a fun fact for you straight away: this is one of only two Babylon 5 stories to share its name with a Deep Space Nine episode (the other being Chrysalis). 

A Call to Arms is the last of the four Babylon 5 TV movies made for TNT, as The Legend of the Rangers was actually made for the Sci Fi Channel. Legend of the Rangers features a new cast and new sets, and it goes off doing its own things. Call to Arms, on the other hand, is a proper Babylon 5 movie, featuring the station and the lead characters and everything. A Call to Arms and The Legend of the Rangers are similar in some ways though, as they were both designed to function as a pilot movie and both of their spin-offs got cancelled before a single episode had aired. At least Call to Arms' series, Crusade, was able to get 13 episodes filmed before being shut down.

Call to Arms also had the proper Babylon 5 production team behind it, with J. Michael Straczynski writing and Mike Vejar returning to direct. They didn't bring back composer Christopher Franke however, making this the first B5 story to be missing his music since the original pilot (and they eventually went back and rescored that to match the rest of the series). Instead, this features a soundtrack by Evan Chen, who'd continue to work on the Crusade series.

Alright, I'm going to go through the whole film scene by scene sharing my reactions and observations, so there will be huge SPOILERS here for the movie and perhaps the rest of Babylon 5. I won't spoil a thing about Crusade or Legend of the Rangers, however.

Doctor Who (2005) 1-02: The End of the World

Episode:

698

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Serial:

158

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Writer:

Russell T Davies

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Director:

Euros Lyn

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Air Date:

26-Mar-2005

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm finally getting around to the second episode of the 2005 Doctor Who revival: The End of the World! I wrote about episode 1, Rose, back in 2018 when I was covering all the modern regeneration stories leading up to the debut of the Thirteenth Doctor. Now we're about to get the Fourteenth Doctor, and I'm writing about episode 2, so at this rate I should be done with series 1 by the time the Twenty-Fifth Doctor comes around.

I'll be screencapping the whole episode and sharing my thoughts and observations as I go, so there will be SPOILERS here, but probably only really for this and Rose. I definitely won't be spoiling anything that comes after them.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Season 1 Review, Part 3

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about the epic finale of Strange New Worlds' first season! I wanted to get this published before the second season started so I've made it just under the wire.

I've got three reviews for you this time, covering these three episodes:

• 1-08 - The Elysian Kingdom
  
• 1-09 - All Those Who Wander
  
• 1-10 - A Quality of Mercy
  

Then afterwards I'll talk a little bit about the season overall afterwards. Will I be showering the series with glowing praise or going on an angry rant? The only way to find out is to keep reading until the end. Or I suppose you could just scroll down to the bottom, if you're in a hurry or whatever.

This will have SPOILERS for Picard season 2, the TOS story The Menagerie, and a whole bunch of other episodes. I know I'm writing about Strange New Worlds, but I just want to be certain you know that my spoilers will spread to other Trek series as well. I won't say a thing about anything that happens afterwards though. I mean at the time I'm writing this is the latest season, nothing else has happened past this point, but I've heard a few things about season 2 that I'll keep quiet about.

Star Trek: The Original Series 1-18: Arena

Episode:

18

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Writer:

Gene L. Coon

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Director:

Joseph Pevney

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Air Date:

19-Jan-1967

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I should really finish writing about Strange New Worlds season one before the second season starts, but I felt like I should cover this episode of the classic series first, for some reason. Like there's something in here that might be relevant...

Anyway, Arena was the 18th episode of Star Trek: The Original Series in its US airing order, coming just a few weeks after the last episode I wrote about, Balance of Terror. Here's some trivia you won't find anywhere else on the internet: Arena is the only episode of Star Trek to share its name with an Elder Scrolls game, and one of two to share its name with a Wing Commander game.

I've got some better trivia for you: they gave a 'story by' credit to writer Frederic Brown even though he didn't do any work on the episode whatsoever. In fact, Gene Coon came up with the whole script by himself. But then he learned that it had similarities to another story printed 20 years earlier in Astounding Science Fiction magazine, which was also called Arena. So Coon decided to just pretend he'd based it on Brown's idea and asked him for permission.

SPOILER WARNING: I'm going to go through Arena one scene at a time, writing down what happens and I what I think about that, so if you don't know what happens in the episode now, you will do by the time you reach the end. I'll not be spoiling anything that aired after it however, so if you're watching through Star Trek for the first time there'll be no Next Generation or Strange New Worlds spoilers to worry about here.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace - Part 5

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's the epic finale to my Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace article! Part five of five. You can jump to one of the earlier parts by clicking the text: PART ONE, PART TWO, PART THREE, PART FOUR.

It's hard to say what disappointed or confused fans the most about The Phantom Menace, but you could claim that the first thing to really trigger a wave of negativity was the title. From what I can tell, internet polls at the time showed that roughly 25% of people didn't entirely hate it! Fans had been hoping for something that sounded epic and cool, something like Balance of the Force, or Guardians of the Force, or Children of the Force ('the Force' seemed to show up a lot in rumoured titles).

By comparison, The Phantom Menace sounded cheesy, childish, hokey, and old-fashioned. Some people loved it because it sounded like a chapter in a Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers serial from the 30s, others hated it for the same reason. Some were even convinced that a title that bad had to be a hoax, maybe caused by someone hacking the Star Wars website, maybe planted by George Lucas himself as part of a cunning deception!

Personally, I have no idea what I thought of the name when I first saw it. At this point, it's just the title of the film for me and I wouldn't want it to be called anything else. And I have a feeling most of the people who hated the name eventually accepted it and moved on... to complaining about Episode II being called Attack of the Clones.

SPOILER WARNING: I'm going to write about the ending of the film and then share my thoughts about the movie overall. I'll also be spoiling things about the Original Trilogy films, but nothing about the Sequel Trilogy, the cartoons or the TV series. I won't spoil anything about the Ewoks movies either, but that's just because I don't actually know anything about the Ewoks movies.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace - Part 4

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, it's the penultimate part of my Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace article! If you'd like to read one of the earlier parts instead, click the appropriate text: PART ONE, PART TWO, PART THREE.

One thing I can appreciate about the Star Wars movies is that they're still using the same logo as the first film, even though it was introduced way back in 1977. Sometimes you want things to change, I like it when TV series get different opening titles each season for instance, but this logo is exactly what people wanted to see on screen in 1999 and they were just as happy to see it when The Force Awakens came out in 2015. I can't think of another movie series that's been so consistent with its typography, certainly not Star Trek. It helps to bind the films together as one complete saga.

Okay, I'm about an hour and a quarter in at this point, and I'm going to be writing about a half-hour chunk of the movie in detail, so there will be SPOILERS. I'll almost certainly end up spoiling something that happens in the Original Trilogy as well, because I can't help it. I know some people start with Episode I, but I want to compare things to other things!

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace - Part 3

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm still writing about The Phantom Menace, the first chapter of the Star Wars saga. Or the fourth, depending on your point of view.

This is unambiguously the third part of my article, so CLICK HERE for part one and CLICK HERE for part two. No part four yet, sorry. I'm still working on it. Writing takes forever, especially for a two-hour movie. At 133 minutes this is longer than any of the Original Trilogy films, though it's actually one of the shorter movies overall. Later films hit the 140-minute mark and The Last Jedi is 152 minutes long. That's close to 700 hours!

There'll probably be a couple of SPOILERS here for the Original Trilogy, and I'll be going through Phantom Menace scene by scene so I'm definitely going to be spoiling that. I'll not be spoiling The Clone Wars or The Mandalorian or anything like that however. Actually I've changed my mind, I'll spoil that they're good and you should watch them. Maybe get a watch list for Clone Wars though.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace - Part 2

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures it's the second part of my epic five-part article about Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace! If you want to go back to part one, CLICK HERE.

You might be wondering why I'm covering the film in five parts instead of four, or three, or one. Well, I did start off with one part, but then I just kept finding more and more to write about. George Lucas had a similar problem when he was coming up with the first Star Wars, as he found that he had enough story for a trilogy. Or a trilogy of trilogies in fact. I mean he didn't have the whole Prequel Trilogy written down in 1976, but he had backstory figured out that could be used as a foundation for more movies. Plus he called Empire Strikes Back 'Episode V', which was a definite hint that he had prequel episodes in mind.

I get the impression that people have gotten a bit wary of prequels, the shine's worn off the idea a bit, but I don't think they were much of a thing back in the 90s when this came out. In fact, I have a suspicion that The Phantom Menace is what really kicked off the trend and it's probably not a coincidence that a couple of years later Star Trek suddenly came up with its own prequel, Enterprise. The thing about Star Wars though, is so much of the story was still untold. We'd never gotten any hint about the origins of Darth Vader or the Empire, or who Luke's mother was etc. So unlike a lot of prequels, this trilogy was far from redundant. But was it any good? I'll let you know what I think, and you can me know what you think afterwards.

There will be SPOILERS here for Episode IV, Episode V, Episode VI and Episode I. Like major revelations about a character's identity you might not want to know.