“Twice Upon a Time” is Peter Capaldi’s Excellent Send Off

Since the modern series of Doctor Who started in 2005, there has been a Christmas Special every year. The first special, “The Christmas Invasion” was the introduction of David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor.  This year’s “Twice Upon a Time” is Peter Capaldi’s last story as the Twelfth Doctor, as well as the final episode for show-runner Steven Moffat. When Doctor Who returns sometime next fall, Chris Chibnall will helm the show and Jodie Whittaker will be the Thirteenth Doctor.

In a time travel twist, the Twelfth Doctor who is refusing to regenerate after the events of series 10’s finale, finds he is not alone in the South Pole. The First Doctor, portrayed by David Bradley and also refusing to regenerate, stumbles upon the Twelfth Doctor. The First Doctor doesn’t believe he’s with the Twelfth incarnation. Mysteriously time stops. Even the snowflakes are frozen. Interrupting the Doctor fest is a World War I captain who has been pulled from his timeline and dumped in the south pole. A glass figure soon approaches, disturbing the captain. The First Doctor invites him into the TARDIS and is surprised to find the Twelfth Doctor’s console room.  Suddenly the TARDIS is rocked. There is a much larger ship above that has seized the capsule and begins lifting it into a grand chamber.

Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor and David Bradley as the First Doctor

 

Star Trek: Discovery – Midseason Reaction

Trekkies rejoice: there’s new Star Trek for the first time in twelve years! Star Trek: Discovery is the seventh iteration of the Star Trek franchise. The show is set in the prime universe, ten years before The Original Series. However, it’s not airing on TV! Instead, Discovery is streaming behind a paywall at CBS All Access. Viewers have an option to pay seven dollars a month for limited commercials or ten dollars a month for commercial-free.

In a new development to the Star Trek canon, the female protagonist Michael Burnham was raised by Sarek and Amanda Grayson as their ward. This makes her Spock’s foster sister. Amanda raised the children together for the most part though Spock was four years younger. Both Sarek and Amanda appear in Star Trek: Discovery but Spock does not. (He does feature in the first tie-in novel, Desperate Measures by David Mack!)

Characters from Left to Right: Captain Georgiou, Michael Burnham, Saru, Captian Lorca, Paul Stamets, Sarek, Cadet Tilly, Ash Tyler

Doctor Who’s Breaking the TARDIS Mold: Series 11 Companions Cast

On Sunday the BBC announced via its Social Media channels that the Thirteenth Doctor has her companions for Series 11. For the first time since the series revival, three companions were announced simultaneously.

Yasmin (Mandip Gill), Graham (Bradley Walsh), The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and Ryan (Tosin Cole).

There are still very few details known about Series 11, other than a new show-runner, Chris Chibnall and the first female Doctor, Jodie Whittaker, who will make her first appearance in this year’s Christmas Special.

Mandip Gill graduated from university in 2009 with an acting degree. She’s a year or two younger than Jenna Coleman. She is best known for a three-year stint on the soap Hollyoaks, which she left in 2015. Interestingly, she’s guest starred on three separate medical dramas before being cast on Doctor Who. 

Bradley Walsh is a former footballer turned actor who had roles in soap Coronation Street and Law & Order: UK. He has also presented for ITV game shows. He is currently 57, which makes him one of the older actors cast for companion roles.

Tosin Cole also starred on Hollyoaks, from 2010 to 2012, meaning his time on the show overlapped with Mandip Gill’s. Before that he was on an internet spin-off of the soap EastEnders. He also had a small role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens as an X-Wing pilot.

In the BBC announcement the network also revealed that Doctor Who Series 11 will be a 10-week run of 50-minute episodes premiering in the Fall of 2018. Whether that means the end of August or 10 weeks before Christmas is unknown, but at least we have a general idea of an air date. With such a diverse TARDIS it’s hard not to get excited for Series 11!

From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty: Review and Signing Experience

On October 12, I had the pleasure of finally meeting my favorite mortician, Caitlin Doughty. It was a signing for her second published work, From Here to Eternity: Travelling the World to Find the Good Death hosted by distinguished D.C. bookstore Politics and Prose. The same humor and charisma that makes Doughty’s “Ask a Mortician” YouTube series so successful lends itself well to writing and book promotion, delighting her audience and readers. When I first covered Doughty in an interview and book review in 2014, I called her a death geek to highlight her relevance to our site. Now it’s increasingly clear that no stretch of the imagination is needed to show that the good death movement and feminist movement are intertwined.

Book Review: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Powerful and timely, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas well deserves its long-held spot at the top of the New York Times Young Adult Bestseller list. If you read only one book this year, it ought to be this one. Thomas masterfully combines social justice and talented story-telling in this novel about teenage Starr Carter who witnesses her best friend being shot to death by the police. Not only does the novel examine major problems that affect people of color like police brutality, but it also explores smaller, more insidious ones like microaggressions and cultural appropriation. Every character is so multi-faceted and believable, you will find yourself caring deeply about them and what they are going through.

Book Review: Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

If you are a feminist and haven’t been reading Adichie, it’s time to head to the library. Between her writings, TED Talks, and being featured in a Beyoncé song, Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is steadily becoming a household name in the international feminist scene. After reading her novel Americanah for book club, I decided to check out some of her works that deal more directly with her ideas on feminism. Today I will review her most recent publication: the epistolary essay Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, originally written as a letter to her friend with advice on how to raise a feminist daughter.

Book Review: Labyrinth Lost–a Story of Latina Magic

Sometimes, as a teenager, you wish your family would just disappear. But what happens when you have the magic to actually make that happen? Sixteen-year-old Alejandra Mortiz finds out in Zoraida Córdova’s Labyrinth Lost, Book #1 of the Brooklyn Brujas series. Alex dreads the Deathday ceremony that will awaken her powers, but when she tries to banish her magic, she banishes her family instead. Drawing from Latin American myth and culture and blending them with common tropes of the genre, Córdova creates a unique fantasy world for Alex to explore as she explores her own heritage. And despite what the back cover would have you believe, this isn’t your typical boy-girl romance. This is a book primarily about women and the relationships between them, be they familial, antagonistic, or romantic.

Never Too Late – Picking up Harry Potter as an Adult

When I started dating my current boyfriend, he decided it was time to finally pick up Harry Potter, if only for the sake of our relationship. Otherwise, how could he hope to communicate with a girlfriend who speaks in 50 percent Harry Potter quotes? Ever wondered what your impression of the books would be if you picked them up in your mid-twenties, two decades after they came out? Wondering if it’s worth your time to jump on the bandwagon now if you missed the boat so many years ago? Let’s ask him and find out!

Can We Still Consider J. K. Rowling a Feminist?

Integrity, loyalty, empathy, compassion. These are some of the moral components of lessons learned throughout Harry Potter. The novels have taught their readers lessons in being good people, in standing up for what they believe in, for fighting for what is right and raising your voice to do so. That is why when J.K. Rowling did not raise her own voice in light of the casting within the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them films, something seemed off.

J.K. Rowling is a fantastic writer and has been a triumphant voice against hatred, in favor of feminism and equality. However, her support of Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald makes her commitment to those beliefs questionable.

Trigger Warning: Discussion of abuse

The Curious Case of Percival Graves

I started this post with the simple intention of speculating about Percival Graves. I wouldn’t care too much normally, but when you’ve got Colin Farrell playing a character, I will become invested. At this point, spoilers for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them should be obvious.

I mean, who wouldn’t. (Photo: Warner Bros.)