Dork Adore » Steven Moffat

Sherlock: The Hounds Of Baskerville – Dork Review

Nick Bryan — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:27:10 +0000

The second episode of new Sherlock! This time, The Hound Of The Baskervilles gets the treatment, as Moffat and Gatiss pound through Conan Doyle’s most famous stories. There’s also a guest shot from Russell Tovey, who has now shown up in almost every famous geek show of our time, not to mention BBC3’s excellent Him & Her.

So this episode comes with a pedigree, but how did it perform in the dog show?

The Horror Of The Baskervilles

After last week’s London-based run through the Sherlock scenery, we got a change of pace. Our heroes decamp to the country to search for a mythical hellhound, whilst Russell Tovey’s character steadily breaks down around them. And it’s a slowdown from the usual Sherlock headrush of images.

In fact, there’s a sense of horror shot through here, both during the scenes set in the woods and the military facility segments. Writer Mark Gatiss is a renowned horror fan, scripting the unsettling Night Terrors episode of Doctor Who, not to mention his documentary on the subject, and it made him a good choice for this Hound.

I especially liked Bluebell the rabbit, who not only provided a funny callback, but also primed us for the possibility that genetically engineered animals are real, so… maybe there is a monstrous super-dog on the loose? Well pitched. But poor little bunny.

The Mind Palace Of Being Human

Since the whole show pivots around the Holmes/Watson relationship, it’s fortunate that this episode allows some interesting interactions between them. The possibility of real monsters not only unsettles the viewer, but the great detective too, and I enjoyed the resultant tension.

Russell Tovey brings his normal charm to his part, which helps make the character sympathetic despite a descent into mania. I was disappointed that he was largely absent in the second half, but I guess his name isn’t in the title. Also saddening that the Hound itself didn’t turn out to be Tovey’s character transformed into a werewolf.

Even though the eventual truth wasn’t as outlandish as hinted by Bluebell or Being Human, there were borderline-scifi moments that sat oddly next to other episodes. The “mind palace” scene pushed Sherlock further into alien robot territory than I really like.

Nonetheless, a good middle story, much better than last year’s slightly disappointing The Blind Banker. And next week, the final confrontation with Moriarty, worryingly penned by the writer of that episode, but nonetheless, after a strong series, I’m looking forward to seeing how they end it. Even if it feels like it’s all over far too soon.

Check this episode out on iPlayer, and let us know how you’re finding the second series of Sherlock. Are you excited for the finale?

More Sherlock on Dork Adore | Sherlock: The Great Game – Dork Review

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Sherlock: A Scandal In Belgravia – Dork Review

Nick Bryan — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 23:12:25 +0000

The return of Baker Street’s finest! Sherlock hits the BBC again, for another three movie-length adventures. Last year’s first run was widely regarded as marvellous, with two great episodes and, um, that other one, so anticipation was high for this comeback.

Can Sherlock live up to our expectations? And would he care either way?

A Reference In Circles

This first episode, written by Steven Moffat, is definitely very heavy on the mythology, with a lot of Mycroft, even more Irene Adler and a little Moriarty for good measure. It also features the visual flair we enjoyed during the first episode last year, which Moffat seems the most comfortable dealing with – it somewhat disappeared during the latter episodes.

But here, we get a lot of text on screen to portray Sherlock’s various thought processes, as well as an excellent first twenty minutes, which I may have enjoyed more than the part where the story got going – a few days in the life of Holmes and Watson.

Don’t get me wrong, the final plot is also very clever. It’s one of these mysteries that makes me want to watch again to see how it fits together. Sherlock is clever, but not too much, and Mark Gatiss as Mycroft is fun. Irene Adler was an interesting match for Sherlock, although as a Doctor Who viewer, she was written in an annoyingly similar voice to the River Song character.

A Venture In Fan-Fiction

Oh, and speaking of the level of self-referencing, we also have a lot of jokes about the “close” relationship between Holmes and Watson. Has Moffat been spending too much time on his own fan sites? Nonetheless, the bromance is in full force here, thanks to Cumberbatch and Freeman. The “punch me” scene particularly made me smile, as did that whole Christmas sequence.

No review would be complete without a complaint, and mine is this: the way they got out of last year’s cliffhanger did not entirely work for me. It was a little too cursory and smugly clever. I kept hoping we’d get an explanation of exactly how Adler made Moriarty spare them, but it never came.

Still, it was brushed aside so quickly that it didn’t stop me enjoying the rest of the episode. A good return for the boys, looking forward to next week. What did you think of Sherlock’s comeback? Catch the episode on iPlayer and let us know.

More Sherlock on Dork Adore | Sherlock: The Great Game - Dork Review

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Springwatch and Doctor Who: What We’ve Been Watching

Anna Lowman — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 20:49:35 +0000

I was on the damp, crowded Northern line this evening with a book in my hand. That book was BirdwatchingWatching by Alex Horne. And keeping the page in that book was a sheet of as yet unused Doctor Who stickers. On that tube, I was looked at with pity. Here, at Dork Adore, I know I am among friends…

Ecosystems – a Design For Life

Anyone who follows this blog with any sort of interest (hello!) will know that I love me a nature programme. Such beauty, such calm. Springwatch — and indeed Autumnwatch — combine that beauty and calm with moments of live drama, a bit of frenzied action here and there, silly jokes and, in Chris Packham‘s case, high geekery. I love it.

This year has been particularly wonderful so far, despite missing the excellent Simon King, whose roving reporter slot is being taken by a different guest presenter each week. We’ve had sand pipers’ nests being tragically destroyed by a clumsy sheep, fledging chicks stepping out of the nest and straight into a gushing waterfall (and surviving), and handfuls of tiny toads (literally, it was astonishing).

Best of all so far though was guest host Charlie having to commentate live over his own camera-work — pretty neat stuff. He’d been talking about the trial to reintroduce beavers to Scotland all week and finally, on Thursday, one swam by during the show. Chris and Kate Humble quickly broke off whatever they were no doubt giggling about to throw to him, and, no-one else apparently around, he had to do all the work himself, staying focussed on the animal as it sauntered through the lake, and whispering excitedly at the same time. Genuinely impressive.

And yes, dear old Chris has been up to his indie tricks again, attempting to drop the names of songs into conversation as casually as possible. With the Springwatch crew set up in Wales this year, he’s opted for Manic Street Preachers’ tracks — the game given away literally moments into last Monday’s opening episode when he described an ecosystem as a Design For Life. To be fair, that’s pretty good.

Let’s Kill Hitler!

I have to be honest, I’m a bit obsessed with the ‘next episode’ title that flashed up at the end of this Saturday’s “mid-season finale” of Doctor Who. I’ve barely stopped laughing since. Let’s Kill Hitler?! I mean, really.

But I shouldn’t let it overshadow what was, I think, a mighty fine episode. A lot of people, it seems, didn’t like it, having guessed the answer to the question ‘who is River Song?’ the moment we discovered Amy was pregnant (I didn’t, whatcha gunna do). But for me, it was the perfect coming together of Russell T Davies-esque emotion — sentiment, even — and those stunning touches of genius with which Steven Moffat sprinkles his episodes.

I loved the thin/fat gay anglican couple, the Star Wars-y sets and monks, the sweet reveal with the sewed lettering. I loved big blue Dorium, the Victorian lesbian Silurian, and the fact that we were fooled twice by the same trick. I haven’t loved this series — that darling Tardis and cool stetsons aside — but I loved this.

Check out Nick’s review of A Good Man Goes to War.

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Doctor Who: A Good Man Goes To War – Dork Review

Nick Bryan — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 11:23:13 +0000

This is the mid-series finale of Doctor Who. Promising us a resolution to last week’s uber-cliffhanger, not to mention the River Song mystery that has run for literally years, it would be helpful if this was brilliant, wouldn’t it? After teasing us with subplots for so many weeks, neutering the second episode of the series to amp them up, it should be great.

So, is it?

Rory Is A Man

Well, there were a lot of fun moments. Sontaran nurse and Victorian lizard-lady were great incidental characters, and stole the best bits. Seeing Roman Rory again was a nice touch, though the explanation was flimsy, even compared to the last time he swung that way, and of course it’s good to have him trying to “be cool”.

So as an exercise in hurling ideas at the screen, this was fantastic; I saw the Doctor trip over the kitchen sink during one of his hurried walks. The plot itself seemed a little thin, though. The obvious non-victory at the half-hour mark took a while to achieve, then I sat for an age, waiting for reprisals whilst the cast exchanged smug dialogue hinting at mysteries, and by the time the inevitable happened, it needed to be the best thing ever.

River Song Is A Girl

The identity of River Song wasn’t a big shock either, I guessed it last week, as did many others, but conversely I’m not going to criticise that. They finally resolved a subplot; it made sense and opened up new ideas for the future. Nice scene, too.

But one other thing did bother me – the volume of melodramatic statements about how important events are. Yes, the Doctor is a great bloke and he’s going to rise higher than ever, sailing on a unicorn, before falling like no mammal has before. I know. You’ve told me seven times. I’d rather have more proper character scenes, like the lovely one where the Doctor and the Pond family are re-united, and less speechifying.

And it’s risky to amp expectations up that much, considering ultimately not much happened. In truth, there was enough progression for a “mid-series” finale, but it felt a damp squib after so much talking up.

A Conclusion Is Necessary

So did I actually like it? It’s hard to say, because there was a decent pay-off in the final ten minutes, interesting questions about the nature of the Doctor, charming scenes along the way, but the first two thirds still seemed overly self-important to me. So let’s call it a draw.

Unfortunately, on that bittersweet note, we are done until September’s exciting-sounding “Let’s Kill Hitler”. I gather Torchwood is back next month to tide us over, and you can always watch the episode again on iPlayer. But for now, thanks for reading, do disagree with me below.

More Doctor Who on Dork Adore | Doctor Who: The Rebel Flesh – Dork Review

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Doctor Who: The Almost People – Dork Review

Nick Bryan — Sun, 29 May 2011 10:09:38 +0000

In the second part of Doctor Who’s putty-kneading adventure, our hero must persuade the nasty humans to make nice with a bunch of (doppel)gangers, including one of himself. This show doesn’t paint a nice picture of our species, does it? I’ve read the Daily Mail, I know some people suck, but still.

So aside from homo sapien PR, how is this episode? Does it deliver on last week’s decent set-up, or grind to a halt? And will I be spoiling the twist ending? (Yes.)

Rory Is An Individual, A Stupid Individual

Basically, this is an episode of two halves: the first 40 minutes, then the ending. (They are not very even halves.) This takes care of my subsections nicely. The larger chunk, of course, is resolving the human/ganger mess from last week and I thought it went well. Rather than grinding boringly towards an obvious ending (see: that Silurian thing last year), there are fights, twists and surprise decisions a-plenty.

It’s not perfect by any means – Rory acts like a moron at times, though manages to stay alive for once, and that child actor towards the end was so bad that I felt my review slouching downbeat as I watched. The huge gangly monster was also out of nowhere, but these are niggles. As mid-season Doctor Who two-parters go, this is one of the better ones. It took last week’s set-up and lit it up. Good job.

Spoilers Below, Don’t Complain

And then the ending happened. It’s certainly ambitious, and ties together some of those loose ends they’ve been teasing us with. Revealing the Doctor deliberately went to investigate the Flesh makes him look less like a man staring impotently at a scanner, which is good, although where was his concern for humane treatment of gangers in that final scene?

Also, I guess we’re meant to assume the big switch happened when Amy was taken by the Silence in Day Of The Moon, but didn’t she first see the eyepatch lady before that? This is the kind of thing that will hopefully be explained next week. Also potentially being revealed: River Song’s identity? All signs point to her being the Spawn Of Amy, as that would be both strange and coherent, but there may yet be another twist.

But for now, this was a surprising, fun episode and I find myself excited about the show again, having flagged a little of late. Alas, next is the mid-series finale, after which no more until September. Still, check out The Almost People on iPlayer, and if you have any thoughts on the episode, or theories about River Song, share below while you still can.

More Doctor Who on Dork Adore | Doctor Who: The Doctor’s Wife – Dork Review

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Doctor Who: Day Of The Moon – Dork Review

Nick Bryan — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 20:14:56 +0000

After watching the second episode of Doctor Who, I scratched my head. Then I wandered around. None of it helped. I still had no notion of what was going on in the last couple of scenes, so I’ll probably spoil them in this review as a form of therapy. You have been warned.

So was it all confusion and mental whiplash? Or did the Who Crew pick up the drama this week?

Silents Will Phall

Twitter has been shrieking about how complicated this was, but to give Steven Moffat his credit, the majority was relatively straight by his standards. He elaborated on his nifty concept of the Silence (Is that how we’re pluralising it?), made them even more creepy than last week, ended in a clever way, included character scenes, the usual.

But the resolution didn’t feel particularly final, or seem enough to justify two weeks. And that, presumably, is because the Silents (I don’t know) are coming back later, perhaps to argue with the Doctor that his reaction was a little extreme. Maybe this story would’ve worked better as a special hour-long premiere – as a two-parter, after all that amping up, it needed a bigger pay-off.

Schrödinger’s Uterus

My first thought as the episode neared its end was “Oh Rory, don’t spend the whole series being insecure, or I’ll stop liking you again”. Then I forgot about that, Silent-style. Apparently Amy’s reproductive system is so confusing that the TARDIS cannot fathom it? Also, she “thought she was pregnant, but wasn’t”? That’s a bit of a cop-out from last time’s cliffhanger, isn’t it? And that kid? Is it River Song? Amy’s daughter? The Doctor’s daughter from ages ago? All of the above?

Basically, in a typical Moffat Doctor Who episode, there are many cool-looking moments that make no sense, then he ties them up in a clever way and we all think he’s a genius. It’s starting to look like this whole series might be following that template. I hope he drip-feeds us answers, rather than saving it all until the end, or it may get wearing, especially with a huge gap in the middle of the run.

In the meantime, this instalment had cool moments and a climax, albeit one that doesn’t feel as climactic as I’d have liked, and some hinting that will hopefully go somewhere brilliant. I’m still enjoying it, but looking forward to next week when (please) we might get a story with a conclusive end.

Check it out on iPlayer if need be, and let us know below whether you felt entertained yet a little teased as well.

More Doctor Who on Dork Adore | Doctor Who: The Impossible Astronaut – Dork Review

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Doctor Who: Series Six – Dork Preview

Nick Bryan — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 11:54:40 +0000

The return of Doctor Who on Saturday is being anticipated with a pleasingly messianic fervour. Even in America, where they think we’re silly and quaint, the Doctor’s oh-so-British antics have been embraced. So much so that the they’re airing the episode on the same date as the UK (I’m not bitter) and the first two episodes of the series take place there.

As well as international location shooting, we have huge dangling plot resolutions from last year to look forward to, and an episode by fan-worshipped writer Neil Gaiman. Forward, nerds!

The Glorious Two Year Plan?

At the end of last series, when The Big Bang faded away, we were left with more questions than answers. Who is River Song? Why was that voice saying “silence will fall”? Did that gibberish about the crack eating Amy’s life actually explain all her contradictions?

Based on the publicity for the new run, all of that should be covered in the next thirteen episodes. So will this be the big climax to The Steven Moffat Years? There were rumours rolling around that Moffat (and perhaps Matt Smith too) were only on board for one huge two year arc.

And I’ll be sad if that is the case, but in the meantime, bring on the big revelations. Hopefully there will be some incomprehensible plot twists. Of course, they’re splitting the series into two chunks of seven and six episodes, and the cliffhanger between the two… I dread to think what we’re facing.

River And Pond Life

In terms of what’s actually going to happen, we had an tease that River Song is going to kill “a good man”. The obvious candidates are the Doctor and Poor Rory, but it’s only been a couple of episodes since Mr Pond was last dead. Surely they can’t knock him off again? I was just starting to like him.

And regarding River Song’s secret identity, the Gaiman-written episode is called The Doctor’s Wife, but based on pre-release material, it doesn’t look like River Song is appearing in that one, so I suspect it’s a red herring. And it was around then that I stopped reading publicity for the new series, as the sense of spoiler was getting a bit much.

Still, I’m pretty thrilled about it. After gently establishing the new Doctor last year to stop Tennant fans running for the lifeboats, it sounds like they’re really going to make the big guy suffer this time, and I can’t wait. If you have your own theories about what’s going to happen, or just want to share excitement with some exclamation marks, that’s what the comments below are for.

More Doctor Who on Dork Adore | Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith

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Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol – Dork Review

Nick Bryan — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 12:17:51 +0000

The Doctor Who Christmas Special was even more important this year, as the rest of the festive schedule was looking particularly desolate. Christmas night itself was almost empty of worthwhile entertainment, so I too was relying on the Doctor to save Christmas in my own small way.

So did Matt Smith and Steven Moffat deliver? Or will we need to wait until next year? More importantly, what did my mum think?

More Christmassy Than An Explosion At Santa’s Workshop

Moffat had said in the pre-match interviews that he wanted to deliver the most festive possible special, in particular because last year’s “The Epic Death Scene Of David Tennant” was comparatively downbeat. And all the elements are certainly in place, although he leaves a larger sense of tragedy than I expected.

But there’s flying, snow, a sleigh, a clear acknowledgment of the source material and, most importantly, both fun and sentiment. I came away feeling cheered, although it was also fairly convoluted for Christmas night. I’m not sure I’d have followed it if I hadn’t been sober and refreshed by a mid-afternoon nap.

Someone Has Emptied The Ponds!

Notable by their absence were regular companions Amy and Rory. Akin to previous Christmas specials, the Doctor is accompanied by guest-star assistants Michael Gambon and Katherine Jenkins, which leaves the regulars shoved off to one side. Due to their lack of presence in the publicity, I suspected it would go this way, but I admit to still feeling disappointed.

I suppose this shows how well Moffat and Karen Gillan have endeared Amy Pond to the audience, and I imagine we’ll get all the sickening Amy/Rory action we want next year. I laughed at the explanation for their old-school costumes, which caused pre-episode speculation about time travel and such, but ended up being a tad less high-minded.

Mrs Bryan Reviews Who

Anyway, they definitely threw everything in this year. I enjoyed the level of imagination on display, but wasn’t totally sure how well it hung together. And my mother, having ignored the previous Matt Smith episodes, commented that it was all a bit strange and silly, and did they really need those fish as well as everything else?

So, perhaps a good episode for the fans, rather than the casual onlooker? How did your family take “A Christmas Carol”? Do you need to watch it again on iPlayer? And were you as excited as me about the trailer for series six?

More Doctor Who on Dork Adore | Doctor Who and Sherlock news a-go-go from Edinburgh

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Doctor Who and Sherlock news a-go-go from Edinburgh

Nick Bryan — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:48:06 +0000

The Edinburgh TV Festival this weekend has brought forth some interesting announcements about the 2011 returns of Sherlock and Doctor Who from the BBC. Holmes confirmed for another coat-tastic year? The Doctor to regenerate in two separate halves? Clearly Steven Moffat’s Cardiff-based TV factory is hard at work.

First up, Sherlock, the Mark Gatiss-co-produced revisitation of the legendary detective, is to return for a second series. Considering the scale of the cliffhanger they visited upon us in the first finale, I’d have been quite appalled if it hadn’t, but it’s still good to have it confirmed.

It appears the new series will be another three 90 minute episodes, and I suppose there’s no point messing with the winning formula. Hopefully they will avoid the slightly weak middle episode this time and give us a perfect run.

The big daddy, Doctor Who, gets a more dramatic change, as its 2011 series will be split into two shorter runs, the first block in the normal spring slot and the second in autumn. According to the BBC Press folk, we can expect a gigantic plot twist at the midway break point.

Questionable motives?

When such alterations happen, our nature as nerds is to look for an ulterior motive. Did they feel viewers’ attention was drifting over the course of a thirteen-week run? Is this to avoid showing new episodes in the June/July spell, when people might inexplicably go outside instead? Or do they simply want to give ratings a boost by having two “premieres” and two “finales”?

I suspect the answer might be all of the above, myself. But what do you think of this news? Is it the way forward, or a victory for commerce over art? And on a scale of one to ten, how happy are you about Sherlock’s renewal?

Read the announcements on the BBC

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Sherlock Style: Grab his Belstaff Milford Coat

Emma Cossey — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 13:42:03 +0000

While Sherlock may be better know for his brains rather than his beauty, he also has the ability to be a rather dapper chap.

His style revolves around smart suits, a dark selection of scarves to keep him warm whilst dashing around London and, of course, the ever present Milford coat that had girlgeeks across the nation swooning.

His patterned coat is from Belstaff and will set you back a pricey £1,350. Good thing Sherlock has plenty of paid gigs solving crimes.

Whilst Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat can’t take all the credit for his style (after all, the recent Sherlock Holmes film also showcased a stylish Sherlock and previous incarnations have usually worn something suave involving tweed), there are similarities in his style and the style of the current Doctor Who.

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Dork Adore » Steven Moffat

Sherlock: The Hounds Of Baskerville – Dork Review

The Horror Of The Baskervilles

The Mind Palace Of Being Human

More stories like this

Sherlock: A Scandal In Belgravia – Dork Review

A Reference In Circles

A Venture In Fan-Fiction

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Springwatch and Doctor Who: What We’ve Been Watching

Ecosystems – a Design For Life

Let’s Kill Hitler!

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Doctor Who: A Good Man Goes To War – Dork Review

Rory Is A Man

River Song Is A Girl

A Conclusion Is Necessary

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Doctor Who: The Almost People – Dork Review

Rory Is An Individual, A Stupid Individual

Spoilers Below, Don’t Complain

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Doctor Who: Day Of The Moon – Dork Review

Silents Will Phall

Schrödinger’s Uterus

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Doctor Who: Series Six – Dork Preview

The Glorious Two Year Plan?

River And Pond Life

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Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol – Dork Review

More Christmassy Than An Explosion At Santa’s Workshop

Someone Has Emptied The Ponds!

Mrs Bryan Reviews Who

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Doctor Who and Sherlock news a-go-go from Edinburgh

Questionable motives?

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Sherlock Style: Grab his Belstaff Milford Coat

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