Doctor Who (2005) - Easter 2022: Legend of the Sea Devils

Episode:

870

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Writer:

Ella Road and Chris Chibnall

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Director:

Haolu Wang

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Air Date:

17-Apr-2022

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching a Doctor Who episode... though maybe not the one you're expecting. I know I said that I'd be writing about the episode The Doctor's Wife from the Eleventh Doctor era, but that's because I forgot that Legend of the Sea Devils starring the Thirteenth Doctor was going to be on TV. Don't worry, you'll still be getting that other episode soon, you're just getting a bonus episode first.

Also I usually give my reviews a proper second draft to fix all the inaccuracies, rephrase sentences that make no sense, and catch at least half the typos, but this time I'm in too much of a rush. I want to get this published as soon as possible, so I'm mostly giving you my first thoughts, right off the top of my head.

Here's my first first thought: wow, it's weird seeing these opening titles for the second to last time. Presumably. It really doesn't feel like we've had them long, at least not to me. Legend of the Sea Devils is the second of the three specials we're getting this year in place of a full season, and it's the penultimate episode of the Chris Chibnall-era. Only one more story to go after this, and that's it for Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker.

The episode was also written by Ella Road and it was directed by Haolu Wang, who are both new to Doctor Who. In fact they're both pretty new in general, as this is the first script Road has gotten on TV and up to this point Wang had only ever directed shorts. You've got to start somewhere I guess!

Alright I'm going to go through the episode basically scene by scene and try to write something halfway interesting underneath each screencap as I recap the story and share my thoughts. There will be SPOILERS, though I won't give away anything from the 'next time' trailer at the end, even though I accidentally watched it.

Babylon 5 5-08: Day of the Dead

Episode:

96

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Writer:

Neil Gaiman

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Director:

Doug Lefler

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Air Date:

11-Mar-1998

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching the 57th episode of Babylon 5 in a row to be scripted by creator J. Michael Straczynski, whose tyranny over the series was absolute. No, hang on, this is actually a Neil Gaiman episode?

Gaiman had never written for Babylon 5 before, as he was busy writing Neverwhere and Sandman and stuff, but he did actually have a connection to the series as he has an alien race named after him (the Gaim). This was director Doug Lefler's only Babylon 5 episode as well. The guy had directed a few other episodes of other shows but these days he's mostly a storyboard artist, working on movies like Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Godzilla vs. Kong and Deadpool 2.

Day of the Dead was filmed between episodes 10 and 11, but the plan was to air it a couple of episodes later (after The Ragged Edge). Then the episodes got reordered in order to have a build-up of dramatic stories leading up to a break, so it was actually aired a couple of episodes earlier. The Lurker's Guide Master List I'm following places it back in its intended position and the list's been working out for me so far, so I'm going along with it.

That means to me this run of episodes looks like this:

11 - Phoenix Rising
12 - The Ragged Edge
08 - Day of the Dead
13 - The Corps is Mother, The Corps is Father
14 - Meditations on the Abyss

I think this is actually the last time that episodes are going to get shuffled around like this. From now on I can just watch them in the order they aired in.

Alright, I'm going to jump right into giving you my recap commentary, going through the episode scene by scene and writing words underneath screencaps. These words may contain huge SPOILERS for earlier episodes as well, but this review is first time viewer friendly so I won't spoil anything that comes after. Except I'm watching this after episodes 9, 10, 11, and 12 so I guess they'll be getting a little bit spoiled.

Babylon 5 5-12: The Ragged Edge

Episode:

100

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Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

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Director:

John Copeland

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Air Date:

08-Apr-1998

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching the 100th episode of Babylon 5! It wasn't the 100th episode to be filmed though, that was Phoenix Rising. It wasn't originally supposed to be the 100th to air either, but Day of the Dead got pulled forward and aired first. Which is a shame really, as if this had aired a week earlier like it was meant to, it would've been its 24th anniversary today.

I'm following the Lurker's Guide Master List which skips Day of the Dead until it's chronologically appropriate, so The Ragged Edge is the 11th episode I'm writing about this season. That means I've finally reached the halfway point of season five! I'm 90% through the entire series now, or at least I will be once I've gotten this episode out of the way.

It was directed by producer John Copeland and there aren't many episodes I can say that about. He did the fantastic Endgame from season 4, he did the last ever B5 episode filmed (Objects at Rest), he did this, and that's it. I don't want to get my hopes up too much but it seems like the guy only directed when he felt that he had a reason to so maybe I should be at least a little bit hyped.

Alright I'll be screencapping and recapping the whole episode for the purposes of writing my reactions, observations, opinions... basically I'm going to be overthinking everything. There will be SPOILERS, but this will be first time viewer friendly so as long as you've watched this far you'll be fine.

Sci-Fi Adventures Awards - Season 6 (2021-22)

I think it's about the right time for Ray Hardgrit's Sci-Fi Adventures Awards Season 6! I watched a lot of science fiction between April 2021 and March 2022 and now I'm going to celebrate the highs and say harsh things about the lows.

First though I should let you know that this is probably the last time I do one of these articles. My memory's just not good enough to do them justice, especially considering the amount of episodes I cover in a year. I mean everything in this list is in with a chance to win something here:

• Babylon 5 4-16 - The Exercise of Vital Powers to 5-11 - Phoenix Rising
  
• Babylon 5 - In the Beginning
• Cowboy Bebop 01 - Asteroid Blues
• Cowboy Bebop 2021
  
• Doctor Who series 13 - Flux
  
• Doctor Who - Eve of the Daleks
  
• Farscape 1-01 - Premier
  
• Firefly 1-01 - Serenity
• Outlaw Star 01 - Outlaw World to 04 - When the Hot Ice Melts
  
• Red Dwarf 1-01 - The End
• Star Trek 1-01 - The Man Trap
  
• Star Trek: The Next Generation 1-01 - Encounter at Farpoint
• Star Trek: Voyager 1-01 - Caretaker
• Star Trek: Enterprise 1-01 - Broken Bow
  
• Star Trek: Discovery season 3
• Star Trek: Lower Decks season 1
• Star Wars: The Mandalorian season 2

You can see why I don't want to do these anymore. There's 77 episodes and a movie in that list! 3000 minutes of science fiction from 15 different series! (Assuming I haven't accidentally left something out.) That's a lot of SPOILERS, so study the list carefully before reading further or else you might learn something about one of these stories you didn't want to know.

Red Dwarf 1-01: The End - Part 2

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm still writing about Red Dwarf's first episode, somehow. The episode's just 30 minutes long! I don't know why this is happening! It's just that whenever I go to type something about it all this useless trivia comes out of my brain. Like this:

Red Dwarf first aired on February 1988, about five months after Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered and a year before Doctor Who went on its long hiatus. Next Gen was the biggest fish in the TV sci-fi pond in America but it took three years to air on the BBC so Red Dwarf had plenty of time to establish itself as the top sci-fi show in the UK. The End got 4-5 million viewers, which is about what Doctor Who manages at its worst, but it was pretty good for a low-budget UK sitcom and the ratings grew over time. In fact Red Dwarf is still being made to this day (assuming they can get the legal problems sorted out) and would be Britain's longest running sci-fi series if Doctor Who didn't have the unfair advantage of starting 25 years earlier.

Anyway, if you're looking for the first half of this article, CLICK HERE. If you're looking for the conclusion you're already in the right place. Be warned though, there are SPOILERS ahead (for this one episode, not the whole series).

Red Dwarf 1-01: The End - Part 1

Episode:

1

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Writer:

Rob Grant & Doug Naylor

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Director:

Ed Bye

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Air Date:

15-Feb-1988

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm finally writing about long-running British sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf! The series started way back in 1988, so if I'd been a bit quicker about it I could've written this in time for the 30th anniversary four years ago. Still, I can't feel too bad as the series did nothing for its 30th either, despite airing new episodes in the two years leading up to it.

People joke about British shows having ridiculous short seasons, but Red Dwarf must set some kind of record for managing just 73 episodes in 30 years. Part of the reason for this is that British sitcoms typically have only one or two writers who work their asses off to get six scripts done a year. In fact Red Dwarf was scripted by former Spitting Image head writers Rob Grant and Doug Naylor for the first five years and then Naylor basically handled the rest of it on his own after Grant left. I was kind of hoping they'd sort their problems out and get back together, but last I heard Naylor's in a legal battle to get the rights back from his former friend so it doesn't seem like the rift's going to heal any time soon.

SPOILER WARNING: I'm going to be analysing this sitcom episode scene by scene, so I won't just be spoiling the story, I'm going to be ruining all the jokes too. I'll not be spoiling later episodes though.

Babylon 5 5-11: Phoenix Rising

Episode:

99

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Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

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Director:

David J. Eagle

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Air Date:

01-Apr-1998

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching Babylon 5 season 5 episode 11: Phoenix Rising.

Phoenix Rising was actually the 100th episode to be shot but only the 99th to air (due to Sleeping in Light being shelved for a while), so The Ragged Edge ended up getting the party in its place. They got a big cake from TNT for it and everything. Funny thing is, if the season had been broadcast in the correct order then neither of them would've gotten the cake. I haven't written about Day of the Dead yet because it should come after both stories, making it the true episode 100.

Hang on, that means I've covered 98 episodes and two movies now - this is MY 100TH BABYLON 5 REVIEW! Man, I should've gotten myself a cake.

The episode aired on April 1st, but somehow I doubt it'll be a joke. In fact it's basically the second half of A Tragedy of Telepaths. Or maybe part five of Strange Relations, depending on how you look at it. The series has gotten very serialised again.

There'll be lots of SPOILERS below, as I'm pretty much writing this for people who've already seen all of Babylon 5 up to this point (or followed along with my articles at least). You're fine if you're first time viewer though, as I won't be spoiling anything that comes later. Even the things I can remember.