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Tuesday, 14 April 2026

Ash Vs Evil Dead "Bait" Review


Whilst it could be argued that Friday The 13th: The Series was the first mainstream horror film to get it's own TV series it is something that we do see happening more and these days with both Scream and the Child's Play film having there own TV shows. Yet not alot of people remember or even know about the fact that Evil Dead has one as well and it's the second episode of that show that i'm going to be talking about today as this show really was really good when it first came out in 2015 and so then join me as I review the episode that proves that dinner with your parents can be killer with the episode is question being called simply just "Bait" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is mere moments after killing a deadite in his trailer home Ash and Pablo have to rush to their friends Kelly's parents house when she thinks that her dead mother is back alive and well. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With the plot of episode being as fun as the first episodes plot was but also being serious enough for us the audience to buy into the danger that the characters currently find themselves in with this being something that is pretty much in alot of this shows episodes as they all do have plots that can be seen as being goofy and silly and that don't take themselves to seriously but that is apart of the charm of this show and it is something that does work well enough with this episode as while the episodes plot isn't as strong as the first episodes plot was it was still a plot that knew exactly what it's strengths were and wasn't afraid of being something where you don't have to think to hard. Would it have been nice if this episode did have more of the series overall plot in it yes as given that this first season was only ten episodes long they should have started getting more into the series overall plot but interms of the episodes plot it was about as good as it was ever going to get this is despite the fact that the plot of the episode would have been alot more better if it was more stronger and was more focused on it's main plot rather then picking up and dropping it's plot alot of the time with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.


Starring in this episode is this shows executive producer Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams and Ray Santiago as Pablo Simon Bolivar. Also starring in this episode is Dana DeLorenzo as Kelly Maxwell , Jill Marie Jones as Amanda Fisher , Damien Garvey as Mr. Roper , Mimi Rogers as Suzy Maxwell , Phil Peleton as Mr. Maxwell , Andrew Grainger as Lieutenant Boyle , Joseph Wycoff as Phil , Jacque Drew as June and Zhi Wen Gong as The Police Sketch Artist.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. This was something that was genuinely quite surprising due to the fact that all of this episodes actors aren't that well known and therefor we would have no idea of what to expect from them from an acting point of view with the only known actor in this episode being Bruce Campbell and while that might be seen as a being a bad thing here it is something that does oddly work in this episodes favor as it does allow us to stop seeing the actor and to start seeing the character something which even true for Bruce Campbell coming as Ash as he is so well known in the role that it is easy to just see that character in quite literally anything that he's in. With the best actor in the whole entire episode being none other then Bruce Campbell himself with this being due mainly to the fact that he has had decades to really know Ash as a character as he did play him technically in four feature films and therefor of course he's going to be the best actor in this episode. However tho that's not to say that the rest of the actors in this episode are bad because there not infact alot of them are indeed really good in the episode it's just that Bruce has the expirence of playing the character for so long on his side with the acting thats in this very episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.


Character wise this episode does start to faulter a little bit as outside of the four main characters this episodes characters just aren't that interesting. As Kelly's parents don't have much all that going for them with her dad being someone who just believes whatever his wife says to him and that's really it and her mother while she does have a reason for acting how she does in this episode is someone who comes across as the stereotypical stay at home mom only she has nothing all that interesting about her that makes her a fully formed character however tho this is something that does make sense given just what her mother really is and is therefor kind of forgivable. What isn't forgivable tho is the fact that the father also has nothing going for him and yet they do set up something that could have been interesting as they mentioned a few times in the episode that her father is a hunter and yet it never comes into play in the episode which makes it a pointless thing to include as it feels like it was something that was only added into the episode to be the payoff to a joke which would have been fine the first time around but then they mention it again moments later during the dinner scene which is something that makes it feel like it was going to be more important. The Amanda character might as well as not even be in the episode as all of her stuff is literally the side plot of the episode with none of it doing a good job of setting up who she is a character due to the fact that alot of her scenes have her either arguing with her boss or questioning Ash's former neighbors and that's and that's great for the series overall plot but when it comes to this episode it doesn't give us a good insight into her character with both Pablo and Kelly coming across as being OK which does make sense as they are the main characters of the show with the same thing even being true for Ash himself. 


This episode does start something that does play a big role in the rest of this first season that being the fact that the police are hunting down Ash. This is due to the fact that they believe that he is killing alot of innocent people which is an interesting thing to include and it does make sense that they would set up this story in this episode due to the fact that the first episode was for obvious reason alot more focused on setting up the main plot and the main characters of the show and therefor it wouldn't have had the time to set up something that is essentially the side plot of the next couple of episodes as it would have made sense for them to do that in that episode. Yet here in this episode it something that does work really well due to the fact that it does make Ash's quest to stop the evil that he himself helped to unleash now have this almost ticking bomb element as we can now assume that the police are going to be red hot on the trail of our heroes even if our heroes don't know it. This is something that would have made for a great side plot for the rest of this season due to that ticking bomb element as now we the audience would be left wondering if this is going to the be the episode where they finally catch up with our heroes or if our heroes are just going to avoid them like is usually the case and yet for one reason or another it is something that does get dropped from the show and while it doesn't harm the show in a major way as it does serve as a logical way for Amanda to show up at all of these places it still would have been nice to see this looming threat in this first season of the show and while it doesn't take away anything from this episode it would have been nice if we did get a few more scenes devoted to this side plot as it is something that could have worked really well in the show as a whole.

It is hard to say exactly just what this show is as not only in this episode but in the show as a whole they have elements of both action and comedy. With them both being blended together really well in this episode infact that was one if the things that this episode did get a lot of praise for not only from the critics but also from the fans of The Evil Dead franchise on the whole and to be fair it's not that hard to see why as the action in this episode was really well done with the episode giving all of the main characters apart from Kelly a chance to shine and we do get to see alot of really cool moves be it from Ash and his chainsaw arm or from any of the two deadites that we get in this episode with both of them helping to make the action in this episode be alot of more better then what it really had any right to be. However not to be outdone by the action is the episodes comedy as while yes granted alot of the episodes jokes boil down to Ash being as dumb as a rock that is something that was also in alot of the other Evil Dead films as well with the episode finding a great balance between having an action scene and telling a joke with the jokes not getting in the way of the tension of the scene heck it could be argued that the jokes in this episode feel very character driven as of course Ash would make up a bad excuse as to why he and Pablo are covered in blood and of course he would make a comment about he and Kelly being gorgeous as he does have a huge ego and that is something that does play into that. Yet the episode itself does know when to get rid of the jokes and focus purely on the action as while yes we do get quips near the end from Ask talking about Kelly's now officially confirmed dead moms cooking they feel more like a cool way to end an action scene much like how they would have an action star make a quip in any eighties action film.  


Part of what makes this episode be as good as it is is the fact that we do get to Ash and Pablo work out if Kelly's mom really is alive or if she actually is a deadite or not. With this being something that the episode does take great pride in as we get alot of scenes with them at Kelly's parents house with Ash trying and failing several attempts to get the deadite to show herself all the while Pablo is just happy that Kelly finally has her mother back this is something that could have been the entire episode as it was fun seeing Ash trying all of these different ways and yet it never got old when it very easily could have done. Maybe it was due to the fact that we all knew that she was actually going to be a deadite that kept it from getting old and therefor it seemed like Ash was going on the offensive instead of always being on the defensive when it comes to the deadites but if the makers of this show really wanted to put a new spin on it there's something that they very easily could have done and that's have it actually be her mother alive and well as that would then cause Kelly to question if Ash is really the hero of this story or not and it was force Ash to question literally everything that he knows about these creatures and yet while the episode does indeed play it safe when it comes to there reveal it's not something that hurts the episode as it does give us exactly what we came to expect from not only these films but the show on the whole and to be fair the final fight between Ash and Kelly's mother is a pretty cool fight and was the perfect way to end this episode but at the same time tho one can't help but wonder just not only how different this show would have been but how different the character of sh would have been if it did turn out to be Kelly's mother and not a deadite.

Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly thirty minuets and one second. With this being pretty much the grand total running time for the rest of the show moving forward this is despite the fact that the first episode of this show was around forty minuets but given how much that that episode had to set up and establish it does make sense why that episode was as along as it was with this episode even having the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time in the first place and with this episode basically being the second part of the first episode it does make sense that this episode would be a lot more shorter as this episode has nothing to establish and is basically just about getting the main heroes on the same team. The episode does kind of use its running time very wisely as the episode does give us as fully developed of a plot that it really could have done as this is a show that doesn't really require that much of a well developed plot in order for it to work it just has to give us all of the things that we've come to expect from the Evil Dead films only now on TV and that's it and to be fair that's exactly what this episode did do. However tho the episode doesn't take the time to fully develop alot of it's characters and while this is understandable for Ash as you could make the argument that he got his character development over the course of the films which would be a fair point to make none of the episodes other characters be it Kelly's parents , Amanda or even Kelly herself get any kind of character development and while yes the latter two very well could get there's in future episodes the groundwork for that development needed to be layed down in this episode and sadly it wasn't but I really will admit that this very episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho. 


So now then as this is a horror show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. With the episode giving us all of the over the top gore and violence that helped to make the latter Evil Dead sequels be as well known as they are and while having over the top gore and violence would be understandably enough to put people off watching this show in this franchise it's done to a degree where they both become comical much like how the violence in Tom & Jerry cartoons is always over the top. With the best kill in the whole entire episode being Suzy Maxwell as she and Ash have this long drawn out fight which takes them all over the house starting in the kitchen and ending in up in what might be the living room with jumping onto the ceiling to get a good attack in on Ash and him using both his chainsaw and gun at several points in the whole fight and heck even Pablo gets in on the action by stabbing her through the top of her head which of course doesn't work but it does slow her down enough for Ask to use his chainsaw and stick it through her chest and then cut off her head which is just such a beautifully over the top kill for this episode to have with the fact that we see all three characters just get completely covered head to toe in blood being the icing on the cake with the rest of the episodes kills being just as good with the thing that does let them all down however being the fact that there might be some CGI blood which is something that will always look bad in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 


Overall this show does deserve to be remembered as it was a really good show and this episode is a good example of that as the episode does have a really good mixture of horror , action and comedy whilst also being a really fun filled episode to watch in it's own right in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly an 8 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in tis very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from these very episodes that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from these very episodes with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Monday, 13 April 2026

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers "Peace , Love And Woe" Review


Power Rangers especially in it's very earlier episodes was known for being a mixture of Saved By The Bell and Justice League. As the show would frequently mix in scenes detailing the characters normal day to day lives with alot of action scenes with the two of them barely connecting together with this episode that i'm going to be talking to you all about today being a good example of that and so that join me as I review the episode that was actually done better in this show then it is was in Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger with the episode in question being called simply ""Peace , Love And Woe" enjoy. 

The plot of this episode is when his date is kidnapped Billy and the rest of the rangers have to find her and defeat the evil Madam Woe before it's far to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. While yes this episodes plot is basically a plot where nothing actually happens it was still refreshing seeing Billy take the lead of an episode with the episodes plot being one that could have been done alot more better but at the same time tho that is something that could have been said for alot of the early Power Rangers episodes as even this episodes plot follows the structure of the rest of the rest of the show where we get a few minuets with the American actors at the start of episode to set up the plot and then we get the stock footage with the villain showing us the episodes main villain followed by an action scene and back to the American actors to wrap up the episodes plot. Which is something that this franchise has done really well but in this case it is something that does highlight it's flaws as it does seem like Rita is sending out Madam Woe just to mildly inconvenience the rangers and that's it with the episodes plot not being as strong as it could have been either but when the episodes plot is fun it can be really fun to watch with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 


Starring in this episode is Austin St. John as Jason Lee Scott , Thuy Trang as Trini Kwan and Walter Jones as Zack Taylor. Also starring in this episode is Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberly Ann Hart , David Yost as Billy Cranston , Paul Schrier as Farkas "Bulk" Bulkmeier , Jason Narvy as Eugene "Skull" Skullovitch , Richard Genelle as Ernie , Alexandra Wilson as Marge , David Fielding as the voice of Zordon , Richard Steven Horvitz as the voice of Alpha 5 , Barbara Goodson as the voice of Rita Repulsa , Kerrigan Mahan as the voice of Goldar , Robert Axelrod as the voice of Finster , Michael J. Sorich as the voice of Squatt , Dave Mallow as the voice of Baboo and Alex Borstein as the voice of Madame Woe.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. Whilst nobody expects good acting from anything to do with Power Rangers it is always nice when we get exactly that and that is something that we did get with this episode all five ranger actors really growing into their riles and becoming more and more confident in playing them with this being something that does shine through in there acting in this episode episode. Yet we do still get alot of bad acting from the episodes guest actors this is something that is to be expected as they have no clue wat kind of show that this is and therefor they do overact alot of the time with Alexandra Wilson being a good example of that as she does give these over the top facial expressions and have this over the top way of speaking that whist yes does make her character perfect for Billy it is also something that does cause her to turn in a bad performance in the episode with the best actor in the episode being Alex Borstein as the voice of Madame Woe as she does give the character a suitably creepy voice which does go along way to make her character seem like more of a threat then what she actually is with the acting that's in this very episode not really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so bad as it gives none of this episodes actors alot to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does hard the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.  


While we did have Squatt appear in American footage in "For Whom The Bell Trolls" thus making him the first villain to appear in American footage this episode does have a first as well as it's the first time that we see a fully morphed ranger appear in American footage. As we do get to see the blue ranger interact with both Marge ad Madam Woe with the other four rangers also being seen fully morphed interacting with Marge this is something that might be seen as being a small thing but given the fact that Power Rangers has always gotten at least fifty percent of it's footage from another show the fact that they have the morphed rangers appear in American footage is something that does help to trick us the audience into wondering if what we are watching is American footage or Japanese footage. With te blend being helped by the fact that alot of the American ranger footage happens in the dark and therefor we are unable to look alot closer at the suits and get a better look at them as that is something that would help us to tell apart just what bit of footage is coming from where and even Madame Woe herself does appear in one very small clip of American footage where they change the ending to the original Zyuranger episode where instead of having two spirits essentially reunite with one of them being on earth and the other being inside Madam Woe gem the ending now sees Billy grab Madam Woe's gem and crush it with that one brief bit of American footage causing a continuity issue as Madam Woe is seen missing her headdress in that bit of footage but the fact that they had all five rangers appear in American produced footage is still something to behold in it's own right and while the blend would be more common place in later seasons for this first batch of episodes it was a new thing.


Speaking of Madam Woe there is another issue that does come up but it's nothing to do with the character herself rather it's due to something that Rita says. With her demanding that Finster make her for her and yet in quite literally the very next scene Madam Woe is shown to working more of like a free agent of sorts with her being able to chose for whom she works with and when this is something that does make the previous scene with Rita be a huge mistake as now it looks like that Woe is both a free agent and yet also someone who is somehow made by Rita's clay when it would have worked just as well if the makers of this episode just went with one or the other. As they quite clearly had a Madame Woe suit made for the episode so they could have filmed a scene with her on Rita's moon base and cut around the fact that she and Rita are from totally different scenes or episodes and yet they somehow chose to go with both which is something that just doesn't work. Things are made just as worse when you take into account that Rita doesn't really have a plan in this episode which is fair enough as she also didn't have one in the Sentai episode either but given that Power Rangers already changes things from the Sentai then it would have made sense for them to alter this episode a tiny bit by making it seem like Rita has a plan with Madam Woe being a key part of it the episode isn't be any means harmed by her not having a plan as indeed alot of the early episodes of the show do follow the same suit but it is something that would made Rita seem more like a threat to the rangers instead of just someone who is mildly annoyed by them.

This episode despite it being a pretty average by the numbers episode of the show is also one that does get a few things right like for example it does do a good job building up the relationship between Billy and Marge to the point where you do want to see them together as they are essentially the same person just with different genders with this being something that we do see alot in the episode with it being made all the more sweet when it Billy that's the one that saves her and not one of the other rangers which is very easily could have been with this leading to a kind of funny moment when at the episode Marge is going on about how much she liked the blue ranger while Billy has to hide the fact that he is the blue ranger. With the other thing that the episode gets right is the fact that we do get someone other Zack or Jason be the main male hero of the episode as alot of the times in early Power Ranger it was either one of those two that got the spotlight episode with Billy only getting a small handful of them and yet whenever he does get them we do get to see just how much of a ladies man that he is and how much of a good sports player that she is and how much of a good dancer that he is all of which are things that while the latter two are mostly played for laughs to end out an episode do show us that Billy is lacking confidence in himself and yet when he does get that confidence he is able to do all of the things that his friends can do and sometimes even better. With him getting that confidence due to him being a Power Ranger as while in later episodes he would be able to more then hold his own in a fight here in this episode he's not that lucky and does call in his friends to help him out but when it comes to getting the ladies they are the ones that come to hm for help. 


Unlike alot of the episodes from this early era of the show this one does have more of a focus on the teens lives outside of being rangers. With this mainly being due to the fact that the sentai footage wouldn't have been usable alot of the time with this being something that does lead to there being long scenes just set at the Juice Bar which is fine as it is a nice set to look at but alot of the time tho there's nothing that's all that important to the plot of the episode happening outside of the opening scene where we see Billy and Marge agree to meet up and that's it and even then alot of that scene is filled up with typical Bulk and Skull hijinks which again is fine as you do expect that from Power Rangers but at the same time tho given just how light this episode is on footage there should have been a way to cut down the scenes at the Juice Bar to only the things that are important to the episodes plot. As we don't need to see Jason teaching Trini martial arts which in of it self makes no sense as she is shown to knowing martial arts in later episodes of the show and nor do we need to see Bulk crashing into a cake as it's just an unfunny setup to a slightly funny joke at the end of the episode. Rather what we do want to see is the Power Rangers doing there thing and while granted the original Sentai episode didn't have alot of scenes with them fighting in the suits so they couldn't do that much with them in the first place but what they could have done is have more scenes with them encountering Putties as that is something that would force them to go into action and given the fact that they do film original fight footage with them it is something that the makers of this show very easily could have done and worked into this episode in an organic way.

Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty minuets and six seconds. Which is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this how and to be fair this episode really doesn't need that long of a running time as it is the most basic Power Rangers episode that you can think off and therefor it really doesn't need a longer running time in order to tell its story in a way that does it justice with the episode even having the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place as the episode is fairly basic in it's approach to telling the story with the episode spending a few minuets just in setting up the plot and the rest of the time is just spent with the rangers fighting the villain and that's it. The episode doesn't however use its running time all that wisely due to the fact that the episode doesn't take the time that it should have done in fully developing the episodes plot as while the episode doesn't have alot of usable fight footage what they could have done is instead use that extra time to fully develop it's plot as best as they could have done as this is still Power Rangers afterall and you don't go into Power Rangers expecting a well thought out plot but you do still want the plot of the episode to be just in general a bit more then what it is in the final episode as the episode seems to be more focused on showing the teens set up for this party then it is in giving us a well thought plot. This is also something that does effect the episodes character development as well but to much more lesser extent as you can argue that the rangers don't need character development in this episode due to them getting it in other episodes which is fair enough and with Marge quite clearly being a one off character she doesn't really need it either but it still have been nice if Billy did get a little something in the way of character development tho but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.


So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented t us in this very episode well then in all honesty I inn all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With this episode not having that much action in it with this being due to the fact that the sentai episode that this episode is based off of didn't feature a zord fight and therefor the makers of this episode had to invent an action scene just to get to the Power Rangers alot more quickly then what would have been the case. With the best action scene in the episode being the unmorphed fight with the rangers taking n the putties which was a really cool scene as we do get to see just much more stronger that the rangers have grown since the first episode where they were barely able to fight them off on their own and yet here in this episode all except Billy are more then able to hold there own against them with it being helped by the fact that we do get to see both both Trini and Zack do some pretty cool moves during the scene with Zack fighting two of them whilst lying down on a park bench and Trini does a pretty leg sweep combo which is something that does look really cool with the only thing that let's this action down in the episode being the fact that we don't get to see alot of scenes with them fighting as the Power Rangers which is yes more of an issue with the sentai then it is this episode but at the same time it would have been pretty cool to see more of them fighting Madam Woe fully morphed with this episodes other action scene being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.


Overall whilst both the live show ad the movie proved that the makers of this show really can produce good suit fights for the rangers it was this episode that really did prove that we can also get alot of really cool unmorphed fights as well that work really well and while yes this episode really is just a stereotypical episode of the show it is still an entertaining watch in its own right in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and a such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from these very episodes that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from these very episodes with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Monday, 6 April 2026

My SPOILER FREE First Impressions Star Wars: Maul Shadow Lord


Whilst the whole world right now it rightfully talking about Daredevil: Born Again season 2 what they don't realise is that there is a new Star Wars animated show that's just been released. As while thia show hasn't had the best marketing out there this is a show that really will very easily become a favorite for alot of people as just by going off of these first two episodes alone it does really seem to be a really good show and so then join me as I give you my SPOILER FREE first impressions of the show that will end on May 4th with the show in question being called simply just "Star Wars: Maul Shadow Lord" enjoy.

The plot of these first two episodes is when Maul starts planning to take over the underworld now that the jedi are thought to be and he discovers that it might not be as easy as he first thought. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes was in all honesty really good. It's really is safe to say that no one had any idea that the plot for the show let alone these first two episodes was going to be as good as they were as lets be honest here Star Wars plots very recently haven't been the best and yet here we have a couple of episodes that proves that the folks over at Lucasfilm do still know how to make good Star Wars plots as there is alot more thought and effort into the plot of these first two episodes alone then there in the entire sequel trilogy as here you do get to see moments with the characters just talking abut what it is that there going to do next and while yes episode one is the typical set up episode where it's all about setting up the plot of the show that is something that's to expected ad to be fair to this show it is something that does work really well. As foes the fact that the episodes plot really does take it time as even tho this is set not that long after The Clone Wars TV show you do still get to just sit in this world and see how the characters both good and a bad are effected by it with the episodes plot showing us both the goo and bad sides of being both good and evil and it is something that does work for the story that this show is trying to tell with the plot of these episode also being really entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 


Starring in these episodes is Sam Witwer as Maul , Gideon Adlon as Devon Izara and Chris Diamantopoulos as Looti Vario. Also starring in these episodes is Dave Fennoy as Scorn , David W. Collins as Spybot and Pyke Pilot 1 , Dennis Haysbert as Master Eeko-Dio Daki , Richard Ayoade as Two-Boots , Sam Corlett as Officer Reb , Vanessa Marshall as Rook Kast , Wagner Moura as Brander Lawson , Andrew Kishino as Pyke Captain , Avery Kidd Waddell as Officer Wade , Charlie Bushnell as Rylee Lawson , Keiko Agena as Chief Klyce , Pamela Adlon as Rheena Sul , Sam Corlett as Officer Reb and Steve Blum as Icarus and Pyke Pilot 2.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes was in all honesty really good. To say that these episodes have some really good acting in them would be a huge understatement as both of these first episodes are filled to the brim with good acting with this being something that does make alot of sense as not only do we have actors that are reprising their roles from other animated Star Wars media but we also have actors that are just good actors in there rights with there skills showing through in both of these two episodes alone. With the best actor in both of these episodes being quite easily Sam Witwer as Maul as not only does he have a voice that is creepy in it's own right but it's also just oozing evil with Sam making what is already a really unlikable character now be quite smart and thinking several steps ahead which is something that makes him be more evil with the fact that you get scenes in both of these first two episodes where you get to see the character act and not just the actor as there are scenes where Maul does have to take a minuet and think with Sam's performance really selling you on those more quiet moments with the character. With the acting that's in these episodes really being helped that both of these scripts are just so good that all these episodes actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and as a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in these very episodes.


Doing the animation for these episodes is the legends and the great that are currently over at Lucasfilm Animation. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes was in all honesty really good. With the animation in both of these episodes being feature film good as that's how breath takingly good that the animation is n both of these episodes and while the animation from The Clone Wars onwards has always been really good no one's going to ever deny them that but here it felt like they were taking what they did in both Rebels and The Clone Wars and took it that extra step as everything in both of these episodes from a character design point of view to background point of view looks like that it could very easily belong in a live action movie or even an animated movie as that's how good that they look. With the thing that helps to sell you on the animation being being the lighting as that is something that never gets talked about when people mention animation and yet here in both of these episodes it is something that is worth talking about as it does help to sell you on this world and it helps to make this world feel more real and lived in and while a large part of episode 1 is set at night and therefor we don't get to see much colors the colors that we get to see in episode 2 look all the more better because of the fact that the lighting for this show seems to be really good. Heck the same thing is also true for the characters movements as they all have movements that look good with it being made clear as day that the makers of these episodes put alot of thought and effort into these episodes animation and it is something that does pay off as this show looks visually stunning to look at. 


Without giving away to much of what happens in these first two episodes it does seem like that they are going to reveal something big about Brander Lawson. Due to the fact that it does feel like that he might know a bit more then what he's letting on about when it comes to Maul as he refuses to get the Empire involved with this which is something that does make him seem like a good guy but at the same time the Empire didn't really let the public know that they were evil therefor it makes no sense for him to be distrusting of them especially as this show is meant to be set not that long after the events of The Clones Wars. However tho there is a good chance that this character does really no nothing about Maul and is basically acting as the audience surrogate character in that he's the one that's going to be asking all of the questions about him which is something that would be fine as he is meant to be a police officer but given the fact that Maul is essentially a war criminal it also wouldn't make sense that no police officer wouldn't know a thing about him all of which does make you wonder if by episode ten of this first season are we going to find something about Lawson as they can't make him a Jedi as that would be to obvious but what they could do is make him someone who once worked with Maul in the past or maybe he met Maul during the events of The Clone Wars which us something that is plausible. However tho there's one thing that makes me think that there's more to him then meets the eye as in episode 2 we find out that he's divorced single father and yet when his son has the opportunity to go and see his mother who he clearly loves Brander says to wait until he can go with him this is despite the fact that the son is more then old enough to see her on his own this could be for nothing and he could just be genuinely caring father however the episode wouldn't have added a scene like that if it wasn't leading to something bigger down the line.

Disney have done this show so dirty with it's marketing as there hasn't been a big push for this show at all as there's only been one teaser and I think one trailer plus a small handful of posters for the entire show. Which is something that does say that they might not have had much faith in the show to begin with however given the fact that they have given the show a season 2 renewal does seem to hint that they have come round to it either way tho there won't be alot of people that know that this show is even out now let alone that's been made in the first place which is a shame as this might be one of the more better things to come out of Disney era Star Wars due to the fact that it does have people working on it behind the scenes that do care for the characters and that do care for this franchise as a whole and want to see it back in the good graces of the fans that got made it as well as it once was in the first place. However tho those fans won't be able to do that if they don't know about the show coming out in the first place and while yes good word of mouth could also get the numbers up on Disney+ for the show weather or not those numbers will stay high for episodes 3 and 4 is not certain and that's something that would have been more certain if this show was marketed alot more better as there's not been one single social media post about the show which is where alot of this shows target fanbase will be this is not to say that they won't watch the trailer on Youtube and want to check it out because they could do but only doing one teaser and one full trailer weeks ago with nothing inbetween does mean that people are going to forget about this show even being a thing in the first place. 


Let's talk about Devon Izara as there is something that is revealed about this character in the shows second episode which is something that if you payed close attention to what was said by Eeko-Dio Daki in episode one it's something that you'll be able to work out right away. As in episode one just as she's about to steal some fruit he says "you can always rely on the kindness of strangers" now this might not seem like nothing but that is something that a Jedi would say with that one little line of dialog also being something that makes Devon not steal the fruit which again shows that she's good at heart which again is something that a Jedi is. This is something that makes the thing that gets revealed about her in episode two not all that surprising when it is something that should been a big shocking moment and yet as it was already pretty much signposted in the previous episode as heck she doesn't give Brander her name when she gets taken to the local police station thus hinting even further that she's on the run this is something is a bit of a negative aspect for me personally as if the makers of these episodes wanted that moment to be this big earth shattering reveal then they really should have had scenes in the first episode that show that she can be a bit a bad character like maybe she takes a minuet before deciding not to steal the fruit or maybe she given Brander a fake name just small things like that would go along way to make her big reveal as a force user in episode two all the more shocking. Yet on the flip of this tho is the face that we don't get to see Devon use her Jedi skills for all of the first episode with her only outing herself in the second episode when she has to stop a freeway from falling on her and even then she needed help to do it which is something that does say that she took the fact that she was essentially on the run very seriously.

Now then episode one of this show has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty eight minuets and eighteen second whilst episode two of this show has /had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty two minuets and nine seconds. With episode one being the more better running time this is despite the fact that episode two might have the running time that's more similar to what the other running times will be like for the rest of this show with both of these episodes having the right amount of plot there to cover there respective running times yet tho episode one has the better running time as everything about the show is just so good and therefor with episode one being longer it does give us the audience more time to get to know these new characters and to spend more time in the world of this show. However tho tho both of the episodes really don't use there respective running times all that wisely as none of them take the time to fully develop there plots this is something that does somewhat make sense as these are the first episodes of a new show and therefor of course the episodes aren't going to have plots that are that well developed but they both still could have taken the time to add things to either plot that makes them more well developed then what they are in the first place. This is also the same case for the episodes lack of character character development as of course none of this shows characters are going to be that well developed but it still would have been nice if the ground work was done for the character development to feel more natural since as of right now it does feel like that any character development that the characters cold get will come out of nowhere and be against just who they are as characters but I really will admit that these episodes really do have some really pacing to them tho.


So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk abut the actual action that' actually featured / presented to us in these very episodes well then in all honesty I im all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in these episodes was in all honesty really good. With both of the shows first two episodes having some really good action scenes in them both of which do tell that Lucasfilm does still know how to give us some really cool looking action scenes as that's what all of the action scenes un both of these episodes are with it being helped by the fact that both the animation and the lighting really do help to make the actin in these episodes come alive as there action scenes that are just lit by Maul's lightsaber which is just such a cool idea. With the best action scene in both of these episodes being quite hard to choose as both episodes really do have some really good action in them however if push did indeed come to shove i'd say that the best action scene in both episodes is the escape scene in episode one as we get to see Maul take on several police officers all at once without even breaking a sweat and while yes that scene is very similar to the one in Rogue One here it's done in such that it does make it feel new again as we've never seen Maul in a situation where he has to take on this many people just to get to this one prisoner and that is something that does make that scene so much fun to watch with it being helped by the fact that we get to see Maul do a lot of really cool moves with his double ended lightsaber with these episodes action scenes being just as good in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.


Overall if you didn't know about this show in the first place now you do and it is a show that does come very highly recommend as while it might not be the show that saves Star Wars it is the show that proves there really is still life to be found in this franchise yet as that's how good that these episodes are in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in both of these episodes in this very post and as this is only my first impressions of this show there won't be a rating given but if i'm still watching the show when the final episode airs then I will do a review of the revival as a whole.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very post well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very post from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from these very episodes that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from these very episodes with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Friday, 3 April 2026

Doctor Who: The Daleks' Master Plan Review


Missing episodes is classic Doctor Who is a cross that any Doctor Who fan just has to deal with as alot of classic Doctor Who is still missing to this very day. However about a month ago now we got confirmation that not one but two missing episodes have been found with the BBC then promising to have them up on BBC IPlayer over the easter holidays well at 6am this morning as of the time of this writing that's exactly what they did as they added episodes one and three of this still mostly missing serial and well I thought that i'd review the episodes that we still have with us so please do bare in mind that this review is being episodes one , two , three , five and ten of this serial and not the serial as whole and so then join me as i review the serial that sees not one but technically two characters die really gruesome deaths with the episode in episode in question being called simply just "The Daleks' Master Plan" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is The Daleks are launching an all out assault on just one planet but the entire universe and it's up to The Doctor , Steven and new companion Katarina to stop them before it's far to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. Even tho there are still huge portions of this episodes plot still missing due to the fact that there are still a WHOPPING seven episodes still left to find you can still the potential in this episodes plot as it does have the potential to be one of the best plots in the William Hartnell era of the show due to the show that we not only get to see The Doctor being being pushed to his limits and beyond them but we also get to see just how deadly that the daleks really can be. Both of these are things that do make this episodes be all the more interesting as so often we get told that the daleks are this big universe shattering threat and yet we barely get to see them act like it especially in classic Doctor Who which fair enough could always be drawn up to budget issues but here it is something that does work as by the time the plot of the episode starts the daleks have already taken over a planet yet with The Doctor even in modern Doctor Who we never really get to see him pushed to his limits and yet here due to the events of this episode we get to see what that looks like and it is something that does make this episodes plot be all the more better because of it. Whilst it is of course still hard to fully judge this episodes plot as there still lots of episodes missing what we can gather is that this episode does have a really good plot to it with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.


Starring in this episode is William Hartnell as The Doctor , Peter Purves as Steven Taylor and Adrienne Hill as Katarina. Also starring in this episode is Jean Marsh as Sara Kingdom , Kevin Stoney as Mavic Chen , Nicholas Courtney as Bret Vyon , Brian Cant as Kert Gantry , Pamela Greer as Lizan , Philip Anthony as Roald , Michael Guest as The Interviewer , Peter Butterworth as The Meddling Monk , Roy Evans as Trantis , Douglas Sheldon as Kirksen , Dallas Cavell as Bors , Geoffrey Cheshire as Garge , Maurice Browning as Karlton , Roger Avon as Daxtar , James Hall as Borkar , Bill Meilen as Froyn , John Herrington as Rhynmal , Peter Hawkins as the voice of the Daleks and David Graham as the voice of the Daleks.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With all of this episodes actors turning in some really good performances with this being something that's not really new to this show as this show even in it's early years did have some really good acting in it something which you can tell was going to be the case by the fact that alot of this episodes actors are a bunch of really good actors in there own right as alot of them do bring something that's unique to them not only to there characters but to the episode on the whole. With the best actor in this episode being William Hartnell which yes is a bit of cliche thing to say but it is also something that's true as we get to see in this episode not only how much fun he was having playing the role of the Doctor but also how threatening and stern that he could be as in episode ten he demands that the daleks release his friends something which they have to agree with as he has the mineral that they need with that being just how good of an actor that he is as you do believe that he could take on the daleks without even breaking a sweat. With the acting that's in this very episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode. 


Character wise all of the episodes characters of course including the shows main characters are all done really well. With them all acting how you would expect them to act in the given situation with The Doctor going from gleeful to meaning at a drop of a heart and Steven being the team regular action man bottom line is if you liked those characters in there other episodes then odds are your going to like them in this episode as the makers of this episode do take really good care in giving us heroes that we not only like but that we also want to succeed with the only character who doesn't get alot of screen time in this episode being Katarina herself which given what does happen to her in this episode is something that does make sense. However tho it's because of what happens to her that the character should have had alot more screen time given to her as she does come across as being a really fun character however given that she only appeared in the final episode of the previous adventure it would have made sense if the makers of this episode did give her more of a time to shone in this episode. With the episodes guest characters like for example both Bret and Sara being really well handled and getting alot of screen time in there own right with Bret being a military man who is very by the books and Sara is pretty much a female version of Steven only she isn't as trusting of a person then he is which is something that does make the dynamic alot of fun to watch as we get to see that he is willing to trust anyone who appears to be friendly to him with this being The Doctor rubbing of on him and yet due to the fact that Sara has never travelled with The Doctor she is more battle hardened as it does take a while for her to trust anyone and in her surviving early episode she doesn't trust The Doctor and his friends at all which is something that make her character quite interesting.


As was mentioned earlier on in this review this review is purely being based on the surviving episodes of this serial as there are still seven episodes still missing. Given that it's taken us THIRTEEN years to just get these two episodes I truly do think that the best thing for this adventure right now would be to animate the rest of the episodes and release them all together with the surviving episodes on DVD with this being something that the BBC could very easily do as they did release The Evil Of The Daleks which is seven episodes long and like this one does have missing episodes so it is something that they could do in the near future. Heck they could even then take the time to fully up on the cliffhanger from Galaxy 4 and animate Mission To The Unknown which is a prequel to this episode and have that be included as a bonus feature on the DVD along with the surviving episodes from this episode and while of course it would be preferrable to see all of the episodes returned of course it would but we do have to think realistically here as odds are those episodes are no longer with us or are damaged beyond repair therefor animating the rest of the venture would be the best way to go about getting the whole adventure not not only out on BBC IPlayer but also out to the general public to watch and enjoy as well. With this being something that we know for a fact that the BBC could do ant anytime as they have the sound recordings for all of the episodes due to the fact that they released both an audio book of the story and a Vinyl Record of the episode both of which were done using those original sound recordings with there truly being nothing to stop the BBC in releasing the rest of the story animated and given how well just releasing these two episodes have gone down that might be the wisest move that they could possibly make.

To be frank this episode was always going to be a treat as it does mean that we get to see more of the classic era of the show that might well have been lost forever due to the fact that there's all that much surviving material out there or this episode. Heck the BBC even did something that they never ever do when classic episodes of the show are returned to them as usually they'll just put out a press release and that'll be the end of it but here tho not only did they put out a press release they've also put out a few videos across all of there Doctor Who social media accounts they even just today put up a picture saying that the episodes are now up on BBC IPlayer and there even holding a special screening of both of the episodes as well. This says that even they know they this episode was something truly special as you don't do all of this for no reason you have to know that this is going to get peoples attention which in all fairness is something that they did do with these two episodes. With the fact that they even released the episodes onto Iplayer the day before the screening being something that says that they do care about the fans of this show which again begs the question of why not animate the rest of the episodes as now we have about half of the surviving episodes so it is something that it is not only something that they can do but it's also something that could do quite cheaply as well and it would give us all the chance to see the rest of this truly amazing story as while the episodes that we do have for this episode are good and they do give us alot of potential you can see the slight quality dip from say episode five to episode ten which given that this episode does have two different writers is something that des make alot of sense. 


While two of the still missing episodes of this story are really dark as they feature the on screen  deaths of both Katarina and Sara both of which appear to be shockingly gruesome with Katarina being sucked out of an air lock and Sara quite literally aging to death. We also get to see just how ruthless that the Daleks can be as we get to see them kill someone in cold blood just because they believed that he was a traitor to them all the while Mavic Chen looks away not out of disgust but out of boredom as it was something that just didn't interest him and heck we not only get to see them kill someone in the jungle in either episode 2 or 3 but we also get to his body. This is something that Doctor Who would very rarely if ever do with them only really doing it when it made things more dramatic and the villains more scary both of which is done in this episode as while we have always known just how scary that the daleks could be as we've seen them kill in cold blood before we then don't get to see that same persons body after the fact and yet this is something that they take great pride in showing us. Infact one could argue that the daleks seen in this episode are perhaps the most scariest that they've even been due to the fact that director Douglas Camfield uses shadows alot of the time to hide the things that are meant to be scary and sometimes this works like for example there is a great shot where we see a Dalek creepy out of the shadows to kill someone other times it doesn't work like for example in this same story where a monster that is meant to be scary clearly misses his target and yet the person still falls over dead and heck even before the daleks kill someone in there own base of operations they slowly circle and trap him in before instead of yelling there signature exterminate they yell execution just something like that makes them more scary.

Now then whilst I cannot for the absolutely life of me remember what this episodes grand total running time was I do that for a fact that this episode has / had an exact grand total running of roughly two hours. With there only being five surviving episodes of the show yet this is something that doesn't hinder the episode altho it is something that does make it hard to work if this is a solid running time for the episode to have as the story is meant to be twelve episodes long and even then one of them might be considered a filler episode however as it is the episode does have the right amount of plot to cover this amount of running time. Yet this is where it does become hard to judge this episodes running time as while the episode as of right now doesn't use it's running time due to the fact that it doesn't take the time to fully develop it's plot all of that plot development very well could com in the episodes that we don't have with us which is something that would be understandable due to the fact that the episode in it's current form does spend alot of time bouncing from planet to planet yet in those missing episodes we very well could get scenes that add to the plot of the episode and that make it more complex then how it appears to be in it's current form. The same thing is also true for the episodes lack of character development as while we know for for a fact that the character of Katarina will never get alot of character development due to the fact that she dies quite early on into this episode Sara for all we know could get some character development which would make her death ear the end of episode twelve all the more tragic but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.


So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I gave to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. Classic Doctor Who was never and will never be known for having great action in it especially when it comes to the middle of it's stories as they do usually save the big action set action pieces for the ending of the story which is fair enough as that's where you'd want to see alot of big action set pieces take place in the first place and yet here in this episode they do have one or two very small scale type action scenes take place both near the start of the story and near the end of episode ten. With the best action scene in these episodes being where a group of daleks light what might be there metallic claws on fire through the use of a flamethrower just too try and get into The Doctors and while granted that's not an action scene compared to the other action scene in this episode which actually is an action it comes off all the more better as that second action scene just boils down to a group of men hitting the Daleks with sticks before they all get killed which just isn't fun but the first one on the other hand does go to show you just how far that they are willing to go to access the TARDIS as they are perfectly willing to burn down an entire jungle just to get what they want with that being something that does make them feel all more scary as now we know that they won't think twice about killing you if it helps them the achieve there goals with the rest of the episodes action being just as good in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.


Overall it is so great to finally have episodes one and three of this episode back where it belongs and hopefully with the amount of goodwill that the BBC are earning from the Doctor Who fanbase for well done that they've handled the release of just these two episodes it might inspire other film collectors to check there attics or garage's and see if they have any missing Doctor Who episodes as this story just from these episodes is so good that it does need to be seen by all in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review an as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly an 8 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all f the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . U , Tardis . Wiki and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great Tardis . Wiki really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Tardis . Wiki really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.