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.

Doctor Who: The Ice Warriors Review

This is actually turning out to be a pretty historic week not just for Doctor Who fans in general but for classic Doctor Who fans. As just prior to me writing this review it was announced when the episodes of The Dalek's Masterplan would be up on BBC IPlayer which is a historic ting in it's it's own right with the episode that i'm going to be talking to you all about today being historic for a different reason and so then join me as I review the episode that sees some somewhat classic Doctor Who monsters make there debut with the episode in question being called simply just "The Ice Warriors" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is The Doctor and his companies Jaimie and Victoria have to stop an alien that's hell bent on not only taking over the earth but also on storming a nearby base to get the weapons that might hold the key to there destruction. 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 the episodes plot isn't as good as say The Daleks or even The Tenth Planet for example both of which much like this one also saw the debut of iconic Doctor Who villains what this episodes plot does have going for it is the fact that it does take the time to build up suspense and it does take the time to really get going with the episode just letting you sit in this setting for a good portion of the first episode as it could be argued that the episodes overall plot doesn't really get going until the end of that first episode. This is something that does both work for and against the episode as it works for the episode in a way that it does allow you to get to know the other human characters in the story but it works against the episode in that for alot of that first episode nothing really happens plot wise which does make alot of that first episode feel more redundant as they very easily could have had this plot be the plot for a good five part episode of the show and nothing plot wise would be affected by 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 Patrick Troughton as The Doctor , Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon and Deborah Watling as Victoria Waterfield. Also starring in this episode is Peter Barkworth as Clent , Peter Sallis as Penley , Wendy Gifford as Miss Garrett , Angus Lennie as Storr , Peter Diamond as Davis , George Waring as Arden , Malcolm Taylor as Walters , Roy Skelton  as the voice of the Computer , Roger Jones as Zondal , Sonny Caldinez as Turoc , Michael Attwell as Isbur , Tony Harwood as Rintan and Bernard Bresslaw as Varga.

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 show in it's classic era did always have some really good acting in it with this being due to the fact that the show would always cast some really good actors in it and if you want proof of that all you need to do is look at the actors that in this episode as alot of the episodes actors do turn in some really good performances in this episode with there only being one or two side actors that aren't as good as the rest of the actors in this episode. With the best actor in this episode being Peter Sallis as even tho alot of us are more used to him being this really funny be it from shows like Last Of Summer The Wine or from the Wallace & Gromit films here he does show that he was also a really good dramatic actor with him getting alot of the episodes more dramatic lines all of which he does pull off really well with this no doubt being helped by the fact that this episode director Derek Martinus did director alot of the more well known Doctor Who stories and all of which have some really good acting in them which does show that he knows how to get some really good performances out of his actors. With the acting that's in this very episode really being helped by he fact that the episodes script is just so good that all this episodes 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.

Doing the animation for this episode and the legends and the greats that are currently over at Qurios Entertainment. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation 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 animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that good. If we are being honest here these animated Doctor Who reconstructions have never really had any great animation to them especially alot of these ones that had episodes that were fully animated with this being due to two things the first thing being the fact that the BBC has always given these animated DVD releases very small budgets to work with and therefor they wouldn't have been able to do alot with it from an animation point of view which would be fine if they had alot of time to work on them which leads to the second issue as these animated episodes have neve had alot of time given to them. As alot of them are made and released within say six months to a year therefor the animators don't have the time to go back and do a second pass at a scene are at a character. Which is why alot of the mouth movements not just in this episode but in alot of these early releases look a little off and while yes this episode does have moments where they have some solid animation alot of the time the characters and backgrounds just look lifeless with both of these issues being things that could have been fixed if the BBC gave them more time and more money to fix these issues instead of rushing them out to meet a deadline heck there's even one shot in either episode two or three where it really looks like The Doctor's arm has come off of his body as that's how bad that the animation can be in this episode. 

For all three of you Doctor Who fans that don't know this episode does have four surviving episodes with only episodes two and three being fully animated. For a classic sixties era of Doctor Who where alot of the episodes are still missing the fact that they are this many episodes still surviving is a good thing as while we do have alot of the William Hartnell era and a good portion of the Patrick Troughton era there are still a good portion of episodes from both era's that are either missing or missing presumed destroyed and while that will always be bad thing as it does mean that while we are as close as we've even been to having Doctor Who fully back at the BBC as along as those episodes are still missing we do have to rely on these animated reconstructions to help to bring these classic stories back to life. Heck they have proven with the release of Shada that when these animated reconstructions are done well then they can be really good and while Shada will always be a different case when compared to something like Marco Polo or The Massacre for example where all of the episodes are missing we do have to hold out hope that one day we can get more classic Doctor Who back as these are stories that should be seen be fans old and new alike and yet due to the BBC's way of doing things back in the sixties that now might be a hard thing to achieve even through the use of animation as we never really know of anyone recorded the audio for the episode was it was fir being broadcast or if anyone took any telesnaps for these missing episodes as those are things that the animators use as a point of reference when there making these animated reconstructions.

As the title of this episode would suggest this episode does mark the debut of The Ice Warriors with them being creatures that were frozen in ice thousands if not millions of years ago. To be fair as a concept for a good villain the ice warriors do hold up really well as they are essentially villains out of time which is a cool concept and the episode does go as far as it possibly could have done with that idea however tho episode doesn't really make them seem like a threat due to the fact that the only somewhat threatening that they do is kidnap Victoria and possibly kill of a side character that's not all that important to the episodes plot in the first place. With there not really being anything that makes them standout from each other as all of the ice warriors in this episode not only look but also sound and act exactly the same as each ither with the only way your able to tell who Varga is being the fact that's literally credited as being the leader in this episodes ending credits when it would have been nice if they was something added to there designs either in animated form or in the surviving live action episodes that did help to make them stand out from a design a point of view as that would have made it a whole more easier for us to the audience to work out just which ice warrior is talking as well as which ice warrior is chasing Victoria through what might be valley. However tho the episode does get a few things right with the characters like the fact that they have an almost snake like voice to them where the characters heavily pronounce or make alot of words with S's or C's in them really longer which is something that does make them creepy and there plan while it is the stereotypical villain plan is something that does work for these characters.

There's one character that really annoyed me during this episode and that's Victoria Waterfield herself as all she does in this episode is either cry or scream with there being very little breaks inbetween either of them. Whilst this does make sense for her character given the fact that her character was from the victorian era and isn't quite as used to seeing monsters on a daily basis like what both Jaime and The Doctor are given the fact that she would have been with them for a good few episodes before this episode even started out. Yet she's still screaming and crying all of the time and while this was something that the makers of this show had alot of the classic era companions do here it seemed like something that was only done to remind us that this character was still in the story as while she can't add all that much to the plot as there really isn't alot to her character in the first place the episode could have taken the time to show us why she belongs in the TARDIS in the first place as while we know why The Doctor took her in as her feather died at the end of Evil Of The Daleks she doesn't really get a chance to prove why she belongs in the TARDIS with her pretty much just being there so that Jaime has someone that he can act more like a big brother towards and playfully tease and that's really when given the fact that her father was a scientist and the fact that she is good with people Victoria could have used her people skills in this episode to help the human scientists on a more emotional level. While that's not alot granted it is still something then what this episode has her doing which is basically just be a prisoner of the ice warriors and cry and scream and while her crying and screaming alot is fine for one or two scenes it does become an issue when alot of her screen time is just her either crying or screaming.

Now then I cannot for the absolute life of me remember whatever this episodes grand total running time even was but I do know that for a fact that this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of roughly two hours and thirty minuets. With this episode being six twenty five minuet episodes long and to be frank this episode didn't need to be six episodes as you very easily could have told this entire story and not lose anything that's important to the stories plot with this being due to the fact that alot of the first episode is just pointless filler that adds nothing to the plot of the episode as a whole this is despite the fact that this episode really does have the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of time. Yet due to the fact that the episode has more episodes to it then it really needed as all that first episode is drag down the rest of the story when it would flowed much more better if alot of the key things from the first episode were included in the second episode. With the episode not even using it's running time all that wisely due to the fact that this episode doesn't really take the time to fully develop it's plot this is despite the fact that the episode has more then enough episodes to give it's plot some kind of development and yet for one reason or another the makers of this episode don't do that and heck they could have used episode one t add things to the plot of the episode that they could then pay off later on in the story as that would then justify this story being six episodes along. The episode doesn't use take the time to fully develop any of it's characters which is fine for the main characters as then you could argue that they have the rest of the other episodes to get there character development but for the characters that are exclusive to this episode they really should have gotten some character development and yet they all feel like underbaked characters 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 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 OK at best. While early Doctor Who isn't as known for its action like modern day Doctor Who is when we do get some action it was usually something that did make the episode stand out and while we do get some good action in this episode like for example the chase in what might be a valley being a really good example of that sadly tho this episodes action just isn't that good. With there not really being alot of action that really stood out as the suits that they used for the ice warriors are done in a way that it makes it look like the actors inside of them can't really move around all that much but at a push the best action in this whole entire episode in when Penley uses a weapon the human scientists have at full blast and it causes the ice warriors ship to explode and that's really it and even then that action scene doesn't really stand out all that much as we never get to see alot of what happens to the ice warriors themselves as all of what we do see in from the humans point of view which is fine and it does work for tension showing from there point of view but given the fact that the episode had been building up these characters as a big threat and therefor we should have seen them really be involved more in the scene and not really be treated more as an afterthought in their own episode with the rest of the episodes action being nothing more the OK at best in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall whilst this episode isn't the best representation of both classic Doctor Who and these Doctor Who animated reconstructions there is still alot of good to be found in this episode it's just that you have to sit through alot of the bad stuff to get to it as that's how painfully average that this episode is in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as al 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 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 , 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.

Daredevil: Born Again "The Northern Star" SPOILER FILLED Review

 

It is a very rare thing for a show set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to be given a season 2 as all of them end after there first season. Which is something that does make this show kind of special as it was greenlit with a two season order with each season being really around nine or eight episodes each and will second season has just started and since I loved the first season it really only made sense that I check out this episode and so then join me as I give you my SPOILER FILLED review of the episode that sees Matt get a new suit with the episode in question being called simply just "The Northern Star" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is sometime after the events of the last season New York is still truly under Fisk's thumb and Matt has to try and find any kind of evidence that can be linked to Fisk in order to help to bring him down. 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 not that bad. With the episodes plot doing a good job of not only catching us up with where the characters are now but also in carrying on the plot for the first season with that plot still being as gripping as it was back in season one yet just based off of this episode it does look like that this season won't add anything to the shows overall plot which is something that does somewhat make sense as this shows plot was devised mostly with that two season order in mind and yet the plot of this episode still does feel like it's own unique thing as you don't really have to have watched the previous season to get the plot of this episode. Yet the thing that does let down this episodes plot is the fact that it's not the strongest plot to start the season out with and with any TV show you always want to start with your best foot forward with this episodes plot feeling very weak and like it was thought up very quickly as alot of what was said in this episode does appear to be nothing all that major with the plot of this episode 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 Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock / Daredevil and Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk. Also starring in this episode is Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page , Margarita Levieva as Heather Glenn , Matthew Lillard as Mr. Charles , Tony Dalton as Jack Duquesne , Michael Gandolfini as Daniel Blake , Nikki M. James as Kirsten McDuffie , Arty Froushan as Buck Cashman , Genneya Walton as BB Urich , Zabryna Guevara as Sheila Rivera , Clark Johnson as Cherry , Ayelet Zurer as Vanessa Fisk , Hamish Allan-Headley as Connor Powell , Ty Jones as Steverud , John Benjamin Hickey as Benjamin Hochberg , Thomas Cokenias as Achilleo Kyriaco , Yorgos Karamihos as Christofi Savva , Annie Parisse as Ariana , Lenny Platt as Juan Gomez and Michael Anthony Cruz as Longshoreman.

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 not that bad. With all of this shows main actors giving us some really good performances which given just whom is starring in this episode is something that was quite frankly to be expected where te acting does somewhat start to faulter is with it's guest actors as alot of them either overact in every scene that there in or show next to no emotion in scenes that do require emotion with the best example of this being in the episodes opening where a ships captain and his possibly second in command are talking while Daredevil is attacking there ship and yet they both don't show any kind of urgency as they play it off as being just another day at the office for them when this is something that would require alot of emotion. With the best actor in this episode being Matthew Lillard as Mr. Charles as not only does Matthew Lillard prove once again why he's a good actor and why he's having some really good few years acting wise but he does come across as being a less cocky version of Fisk himself with him and Vincent D'Onofrio really having some really good chemistry together which is something that does make all of there scenes together all the mor fun to watch. With the acting that's in this 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.

 

Doing the CGI for this episode is Ingenuity Studios and the legends and the greats that are currently over at RISE Visual Effects Studios. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI 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 CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. With this episode mainly using CGI in the way that it should be used as it's only used to extend sets and that's really it so no need to to fear there is no CGI smoke in this episode with the episode very much like the show on the whole preferring to us practical effects over CGI effects with the episodes practical effects working really well and blending it well with the episodes CGI. The episode does even manage to gave some fairly convincing looking water effects which is impressive on it's own as water is one of the most difficult things to get right on a feature film budget let alone on a streaming show budget and while they don't quite get it right here given that the scene that it appears in as at night it is forgivable even taking into account that this is a Disney show while there are some kind of bad looking green screen effects done on certain characters it's not really all that distracting it's just something that you will notice and that's really it but to be fair to this episode tho this show isn't an effects heavy show it never was in the first season and it looks like that's going to be true for this season as well and therefor for them to have good looking effects that blend in really well with what filmed for real is still something that's truly special to be hold.

SPOILERS START HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To be blunt Fisk in this episode doesn't really have that much on an impact on the episode as a whole as the only thing that he does is tell his task force officers to track down the two people on the ship and have a meeting with Mr. Charles. Which fair enough is still a solid enough way to use the character but when you bare in mind that season one of this show used the character so well by showing him being this manipulative person who is really willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his goals it makes what they do with him in this episode feel less impactful as they could have shown him and his wife filming fake videos to release to the public which is something that does get shown quite alot in this episode and they could have shown him getting mad when he finds out that one of his boats was attacked just something that would let us the audience know that Daredevil is starting to get to him and that he's starting to loose it. Yet at the same time tho the fact that they don't do any of that does make you wonder what he's really thinking as we all know from both the Netflix show and this shows first season that Wilson Fisk is a character who is always thinking two or three moves ahead of everyone else and therefor when he discovers that one of his boats was attacked he would already be thinking of ways to hurt or persons responsible for the attack in the first place and heck it could even be argued that this character is more scary when we don't see him react to it as we know just how evil that this character really is in the first place and while it is of course far two early to work out just what his grand scheme is for New York we know that it is something that is going to be scary just due to the fact that he is a creepy and scary character.

Much like how in the first episode of the previous season where they killed of Foggy Nelson here in this episode they hint at the fact that Cherry might be dead. Due to the fact that at the end of the episode when members of the task force come to interrogate him they give him a beating which his heart can't handle and starts to suffer a heart attack right there as Matt as Daredevil is trying to fight them off. With it being that very incident that made this review got from a SPOILER FREE review to a SPOILER FILLED review as while Cherry isn't as beloved of a character as Foggy was he was still a core member of Matt's inner circle of friends and having the episode eve hint at him dying was something that will be shocking thing to see but it is one that could have been handled more better due to the fact that they have it be the episodes cliff hanger which don't get wrong is a great cliff hanger to have as it makes you want to watch episode two of this show. On the flip side of that tho is the fact that it's pretty obvious that there not going to kill him off as then they would risk repeating everything that they did in the first season with Foggy's death and even then his death only worked due to the fact that the character appeared on the Netflix show and therefor the fans of that show already have that connection to his character where as here with Cherry he's a newly introduced character and therefor having him be killed of in a way that granted is still quite shocking to see just wouldn't have the same effect as when Foggy was killed of. However tho having Cherry be the one to possibly die would be a great way to rise the stakes a little bit as it would still tell us the audience that if this character can die then maybe Matt himself can die.

Also in that ending scene we do get a hint that Bullseye is going to be playing a big part in either the rest of the season or the next episode. As we see a knife come into Cherry's apartment and take out all of the task force agents which if so is going to make for an interesting next few episodes as it was him that killed of Foggy so having him and Matt sort of form a team even tho that both don't like each other is something that will make it interesting to see if they both can get along for the greater good and heck even the tease of him coming back in the next episode is a solid way to end the episode as now we the audience get to make theories on if he's going to be working with Matt or not or if he's saving Matt so that he can take him down himself. All of which are things that would work well for his character as while I never saw that much of the Netflix show based on his few appearances in the previous season of this show he does seem like the kind of character who would want to save the man that did try to kill him just so that he could be the one to deliver the killing blow himself but of course there could be another reason as to why he was teased at the end of this episode all of which do make this show fun to watch as there are so many theories that we all could come up with and the best part of all is that until any of them are confirmed by the show itself they could all be true and yet knowing the makers of this show there going to do the one thing that none of us would have thought of what it ends up being. While yes it would have worked just as well if they did show us the character even if it's just quickly very early on in the episode the fact that they didn't do that makes his possible return at the end of the episode all the more exciting.

Now then this film has / had an exact gran total running time of exactly fifty minuets and forty two seconds. Which to be fair to this episode is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this shows episodes to have in the first place with this episode having just about the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place. Yet this episode really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the episode doesn't take the time to fully develop it's plot with the plot of the episode feeling like it's playing second fiddle to everything else that's going on in the episode and yet when you compare it to the plot of the first episode of the previous season that episodes plot was as well developed as it was going to be given the fact that it was the first episode of a new show and yet here in this episode it felt like the makers of this show forgot how to make a good first episode as everything just felt very by the numbers with very little of what the episodes plot does do feeling earned. With the same thing being true for the episodes characters as well altho here you could make the argument that all of them don't really need there character development as alot of the older characters would of course have had the Netflix show and the first season of this show to get there character development which is fair enough and for the new characters you could make the case that they are going to be getting there character development in future episodes of this season but either way it still would have been nice if we got to find something literally anything about this episodes new characters as we find out nothing about Mr. Charles outside of possibly where was born and we get to find out nothing about Ariana this is despite the fact that she's technically a major character in this episode 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 action 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 really good. With the episode having all of the really good action that you have come to expect from this show not only from the previous season but also from the Netflix show as well with the episodes action looking as impressive as you'd want it to be given the fact that it's Daredevil and to the episodes credit it doesn't shy away from showing the hero getting beaten up something which they very easily could have done but the fact that they didn't do that does oddly make Matt Murdock seem more human. With the best action scene un the whole entire episode being the episodes opening scene as we get to see Matt as daredevil take on several guys basically at once in the cargo area of a ship with him flipping them into boxes and knocking them all out in really creative ways all which does make that action really fun to watch as much like how the action in the opening of James Bond film gets you excited for the rest of the film it could be argued that that's what that opening action scene does. The episode does even somewhat contrast that by having a more smaller action scene at the end of the episode where daredevil now has to take about four task force agents in Cherry's home with Daredevil winning the fight until he hears Cherry's heart and realizes what's going on which does give those agents the moment that they need to go in for the kill with them only being stopped by Bullseye's knife attacking and killing all four of them with the rest of the action in this episode being really good in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Overall for an episode that was barely promoted as there's only really been one trailer and three posters released for this new season this episode is still a really good as it does a good job of setting up the rest of the season whilst doing the one thing that all good first episodes should do and that's make you want to watch episode two as that's just how good that this episode really is in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well a all of the bad thigs that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does ern itself a grand old score of exactly a 7.5 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 an 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 this very episode 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 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 Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special Review

Back in the day when a TV show was getting it's cast back together for a reunion special it would usually be a one off TV movie. Well now the trend seems to be to get one or all of the actors together and have them either be interviewed or ask each other questions about there expirences on the show or movie in question which is something that barely works as while it worked for the Harry Potter special it failed for the Friends special with sadly this special really taking more of a cue from the Friends special then the Harry Potter one and so then join me as I review the special that will make alot of us feel really old with the special in question being called simply just "Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special" enjoy.

This special much like all of the most recent specials doesn't really have a plot to it with this being something that make alot of sense as it's just Miley being interviewed and that's it. Which I guess is fine if that's your thing but some thing that's gone on for this long you do expect there to be something bigger and something more grand for the special yet that's not something we get as all we get is something that feels like a carbon copy of what they did in the Friends special even down to having someone who had nothing to do with the original show serve kind of like a host for the special with this format being one that doesn't work as it doesn't give the fans what they want to see as they want to see those characters again even if it's for the last time. However tho to this specials credit it does kind of give the fans what they want with that being something that will be discussed later on in the review with the interviewing segments not really being all that bad altho they do bring the special down as we don't get to find out any backstage secrets from the show itself as it's all very surface level stuff which again is fine but it would have been more rewarding for the fans that where with the show since day one to find out some of those backstage secrets as that is something that would make the special feel exactly that special however it is understandable why they didn't do that as this is a big property for Disney and therefor might not have wanted to have to much stuff revealed about the show especially as it might have tainted the show legacy but it still would have been nice if we got to hear some backstage secrets tho in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this special is one this specials executive producers Miley Cyrus and one of this special executive producers Alex Cooper. Also starring in this special is Billy Ray Cyrus , Noah Cyrus , Tish Cyrus , Selena Gomez , Chappell Roan and Jamal Sims. There is one thing wrong with whom is starring in this special and that's the face that so few of the original stars of this show are in this special with alot of them appearing only archive footage which for alot of them is fine as they do have alot of things going on but there are some of them who aren't as busy and very easily could have come down for the day to do this special as without them all we get is a bunch 0of nobodies essentially who are either fans of the show or did a few episodes of the show and that's really it with the few exceptions of course being Miley , Billy Ray and oddly enough Noah Cyrus as she played alot of the little girls seen on the show. While having celebrity guests on a reunion special is something that does work as it does show the impact of the show itself it's not why the fans of this special are tuning in to watch it as they want to see the actors from the show talking abut there time on the show and there expirence in working on the show as due to the fact that alot of the original shows actors are busy in there own right and therefor we were never going to get a reunion episode in the traditional sense there still should have been some effort to get as much of the original cast back for this special as the fans of the show aren't going to care about the celebrities that loved the show rather they are instead going to care about what the original actors loved or hated about making the show. As that is something will mean alot more to them then knowing what some famous singer thought of the show and yet it's the one thing that this special doesn't give us the chance to find out.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual interviews that are actually in this special well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual interviews that are actually in this special was in all honesty not that bad. With alot of the people being interviewed not rally tripping over each other or asking the same questions which is something that they very easily could have done given just how small the list of people that are in this special is and yet at the same time it does make that the interviews in this special were as good as they were as host Alex Cooper is a podcaster and therefor she would of course no how to interview people. While she does only interview Miley Cyrus in this special Miley herself handles alot more of the interviews and she is passable at the job which is fair enough as she doesn't get to interview people with the best person being interviewed in this special being none other then Miley Cyrus herself with this being something that does make sense as she is the main tar of the special and gets all of the specials screen time with her giving us some good insight into what she was like at that time when she's being interviewed by Alex but it's when she's being interviewed by the other guest stars that she does kind of faulter as much like herself those people that are asking her these questions don't usually get the chance to do so all that often. While we do get some fun questions asked like what the audition process was like for her it would have been more interesting if she was asked something like how did she keep herself grounded when the show was taking off as it would have been very easy for anyone let alone a then twelve year old kid to get swept up in it all.

There was just something missing from this special that held it back from being as good as it could have been. As the special does feel alot more like a tribute to Miley Cyrus then it does Hannah Montana which is something that could be seen as being fair enough as not only was she the star of that show but also the most well known person coming out of the show as well however it still would have been nice to see some of the actors from the show or even the film appear in this special as they are all apart of the shows history and to just focus on one persons history with the show and character does do a slight disservice to the show as a whole. Yet the special isn't held back by this as we do get alot of insight from Miley be it her just walking through the whole set or her being asked questions as she does give give alot of good insight into what life was like for her when she was making the show and this is also a big issue for the special as the show isn't about her it's about the show Hannah Montana and therefor there should have been interviews from if not he other actors then why not get the original creators and producers in for this special as they would have great insight into the show given the fact that they helped to create it in the first place they had Gary Marsh who was big at Disney Channel at the time and yet they only have him read the email that he wrote to the other producers convincing them to take a chance on Miley as she has that "It" factor and while that's great that's really the only bit of look that we get from the behind the scenes of the show and it's not enough. Given the fact that this special takes the interview approach then why not interview people who had a helping hand in making the show in the first place as they are just as important to the show legacy and it's history then what Miley Cyrus herself is.

Whilst it might seem like that i'm hating on this special i'm really not it's just that there was so much promise for this special to be as good as what The Muppet Show 2026 was. With that special doing something that this special should have done by having it be the next episode of the show and while there are contributing factors as to why that was never going to be the case with this special as alot of the original shows actors are on other successful shows now going the same route as Friends: The Reunion which is an odd choice as while the makers of that special couldn't have known just how bad that that special was going to be thanks to it's approach the makers of this special would have known that and yet they still went ahead and did it that way. This is something that will always boggle my mind as the whole point of a reunion is get the original actors back together with us the audience not wanting to see the actors being interviewed by someone who claims to be a fan but is only there because of the fact that there being payed to be there as that is something that will never sit right with the fan and yet it's something that the makers of this special went and did but to this specials credit it does try to mix it up by having Miley herself conduct alot of the interviews which was a nice thing as then we the audience get to hear what it was like for other people and not just this one person and while that does make this already tired formular feel slightly new again it is a trend that does need to stop. As we want a proper reunion special for any TV show to have the actors be in character and having another adventure and while this formular does somewhat work it's not one that works for sitcoms.

Incase you were wondering why Miley was saying last year that there was going to be something planned for the twentieth anniversary this year this special does actually address that. As she apparently remembered some advice that she got from Dolly Parton where she said if you want something to happen announce it first and then they can't say no which was a really good idea as Miley did spend alot of the last year just saying that there was going to be something big for this year without actually taking a single meeting with Disney before hand this is something that des also explain why in alot of those interviews where she did say that that she never gave away any kind of details as to what the big surprise would have been as she herself had no idea of if this special would even get to be a thing in the first place. This is something that is kind of bold move to make as while she is a big named star there was still no guarantee that Disney would even pick up the phone and call her to ask about doing a special in the first place which is something that does lead you to wonder what plan b would have been if this special never got made in the first place would it have been a watch along of the first episode or would it have been something completely different as she very easily could have done a special concert and just sung sings from the show and movie and had a few guest stars from both appear on stage with her and it would have worked just fine and yet in doing that it would have excluded those that couldn't get tickets to the event. While a proper reunion episode would have been vert much preferred the fact that we got this special at all is still something to behold as Disney didn't have to do anything for this anniversary and yet they went ahead and produced a whole new special for it. 

Out of this and The Muppet Show 2026 it's clear which one got the bigger marketing budget as while you couldn't escape The Muppet Show 2026 here with this special we got one teaser and then last week we got the trailer and that was it. As there was nothing else released to help to promote this special at all no clips from the special no first looks nothing we just got the teaser , the trailer and the poster therefor it wouldn't be surprising if there are some of you out there who perhaps didn't know that this special was a thing in the first place as Disney have done nothing to let you know that it was being released when they should have put alot of thought and effort into marketing the special. Maybe they thought that the brand name and the fact that it's got Miley Cyrus in it would have been enough to promote the special which would be understandable but it's also not enough as not alot of people would have seen the trailer or would have seen the poster and therefor wouldn't have known that the special was a thing in the first place and whole they did get Miley on Disney Channel recently and do a Disney Channel Wand they don't mention this special at all during that ident she just mentions Hannah Montana and that's it. Whilst this is something that would be understandable if the special was also airing on TV as then you could say that there are adverts for the special being shown on TV all the time it's not as it's bein shown on Disney+ and yet they've done nothing to let you no that this special was ever a thing in the first place therefor it wouldn't be all that surprising if not alot of people saw this special as they just wouldn't know that it's a thing in the first place where as we saw what kind of numbers that The Muppet Show 2026 was getting for Disney+ and alot of that does come down to the fact that they did a fantastic job in marketing that special.

Now then this special has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly fifty eight minuets and forty seven seconds. Which was a decent enough time for this special as the special doesn't really have alot of ground to cover thanks to what type of reunion show that this one is but at the same time tho this special could have been done with being a bit shorter as it does start to feel repetitive alot of the time as the special does have a very strict formular with them doing an interview with Miley and then she does one with a guest somewhere around the set and then maybe we'll get a song from a newly recorded concert which is something that does get a bit boring. However if the special did try and do something new like giving us these pieces of back ground information like what gave the creators of the show the idea for the show in the first place and what was like for people when the show really took of just things like that as that would have broken the special formular up a bit and heck they even could have had a series of where are they now scenes where we catch up with actors from the show to see not only where they are now but also find out what it is that they've been up to since the show went of the air. Just something would have done as that would have made the special feel more exactly that special and less like something that whilst it does have alot of care put into it also feels like it was made at the last minuet and while the special could have been a little bit shorter the fact that it is as along as it is does give us the audience a chance to live in that world and feel like whatever age we all where when episode one first started airing but I really will admit that this special really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is a musical that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual songs that are actually featured / presented to us in this very special well then in all honesty I i all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual songs that are actually featured / presented to us in this very special was in all honesty really good. While the special only has four song in the whole special with the first three being songs from the show and the fourth being one just for this special the three songs from the show are still really good in the songs with the three from the show and film being in no particualr order "This Is the Life" , "Best Of Both Worlds" and "The Climb" all three of which are really good songs in there own right with the same thig even being true for the specials fourth song which is hard to find the name for. With the best song in the whole entire special being "Best Of Both Worlds" as it is one of the songs that we all really associate with Hannah Montana and therefor it would have felt weird not having that song in this special with Miley still being able to sing that song just just as good as she did back in 2006. With the really only thing that does let the song being more of nitpick then anything anything else as she sings the song first which is something that does make sense as it was the shows opening theme song but at the same time it would have been more of a fun way to say goodbye to this special if it was the final song that she did in the concert with the concert stuff being the closest that the special gets to being a Hannah Montana special with the rest of the specials songs being just as good in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall while The Muppet Show 2026 is the best special released thus far this year it's the Harry Potter reunion special that's the better special given the talk show like format that both that special and this special are quite clearly going for as while this special is a good special in it's own right there's just so much holding it back from being as good as it could have been 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 special in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very special really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out 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 mages 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 this very episode 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 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 Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.