Pete Messum Reviews...

The Power of the Daleks has gone down in Doctor Who history as one of the show's most iconic stories. Kind of ironic then that it's also one of Doctor Who 's missing serials from the 1960s, and hasn't actually been seen in over 50 years. For its half-century birthday in November 2016 though, the BBC released The Power of the Daleks on DVD, brought to life with animation, akin to several missing episodes on prior releases. With the whole story missing, as opposed to two or three parts, the animation team had to really up their game with this release, and as for the result...well, we have to ask two questions really: is Power of the Daleks as good as its reputation suggests? And does the recreation bring the story to life after 50 years away? The story continues on from The Tenth Planet , with The Doctor having just regenerated in the TARDIS in front of his companions Ben and Polly. As the three of them get to grips with this strange new Doctor, the TARDIS arrive

So, here we are. The Final Problem. No, not that final problem from Series Two all those years ago, but the definitive final problem. Sherlock's last case. I'm going to cut to the chase: The Final Problem is an exhilarating roller coaster of emotions and revelations, but is sadly so fragile in its plot construction and writing that a if you were to concentrate just a little you'd notice the cracks almost instantly, meaning that Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat's teleplay is oddly enough one of their least tight. I'm not sure if it's the weakest in its construction, and certainly doesn't falter to the levels of The Abominable Bride, nor does it have the rather poor structure of The Six Thatchers, but The Final Problem just doesn't hold up to much, if any scrutiny. So, Sherlock has discovered that he had a sister when he was younger, and that Mycroft had kept her hidden away in a facility called Sherrinford since her and Sherlock were young children. At f

DC's Legends of Tomorrow, as some will know, is a particular guilty pleasure of mine. It's big, dumb colourful and fun, and occasionally features some very intelligent writing. The first season started on a rather clunky high but ended on a very strong note, setting up a second season that...almost entirely ignores the first. Legends clearly wants to be a whole new show this season, and while I can't say it completely works, the new story and elements introduced work very well in starting a new story up. So, this new season follows some time after the events of the first, with the Legends saving the Universe from time 'errors', and avoiding New York 1942 until they discover a plot involving Damien Darhk there. From this point on, the Legends disappear from history, until Oliver Queen and historian Nate Harewood discover the Wave Rider under the ocean and a frozen Heat Wave lets them in on what happened. Once the Legends band together again, with the help of Nat

Before starting this review, I want to say that I am not holding the ending to The Lying Detective as part of my conclusion whatsoever. It's unfair to pass judgement on a plot twist at the end of an episode that is more of a tease to next week's than it is an intrinsic part of this particular story. The Lying Detective picks up not long after the events of The Six Thatchers with a depressed John Watson seeing his wife everywhere he looks - a combination of grief and guilt physically manifested in his subconscious. He and Sherlock haven't spoken in some time, until Mrs Hudson drives up to his Therapist's door in a flashy car with Sherlock in the boot and Molly on her way. Sherlock is high on pretty much everything, and whilst being completely off his face he's picked up a case involving Culverton Smith's apparent murder of someone. Now, The Lying Detective is the sort of episode I have to think twice about. It's a Steven Moffat script, and that usually

Sorry for the lateness of this review. I did write this last week, but I completely forgot to post it. Although, to be fair I completely forgot Sherlock was actually on last week! There's a reason I've never reviewed Sherlock before and that's kind of because of the controversial hype culture its developed since its inception in 2010. Back when it first started, Sherlock was this out of nowhere hit that surprised everyone, and being co-created by Steven Moffat, and after how great his first series as show-runner on Doctor Who had been, it didn't seem to be a fluke at the time. Two years later and Sherlock: series two basically blew everyone away with how brilliant it was, and made Sherlock such a big deal that anyone who hadn't watched the show before was either caught up in the hype culture it had created or had the complete antithesis of hating the show and how big it had become. That's probably why series three was the one that really divided people, wit