Doctor Who (2005)
The Doctor is a Time Lord: a 900 year old alien with 2 hearts, part of a gifted civilization who mastered time travel. The Doctor saves planets for a living—more of a hobby actually, and the Doctor's very, very good at it.
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47 films that influenced Doctor Who
What critics say influenced Doctor Who
He brings the Doctor and Clara to the Saturn-like rings of the planet Akhaten, which contain a bustling marketplace (clearly inspired by the Mos Eisley scenes in Star Wars) where many different creatures from the seven inhabited planets of the system come together.
Maybe it’s Marvel. Maybe it’s Star Wars. But it’s not Doctor Who.
Russell T Davies, show runner and writer of the piece, said he felt a Christmas special was always in danger of working out too nicely. He slams on the brakes, bringing the vibe to a halt by having Harriet call upon the mysterious Torchwood to activate a Death Star-like weapon, which destroys the fleeing Sycorax ship.
A shot of the Earth from space turns into a brilliant evocation of the Star Wars opening as an enormous spaceship bristling with intimidating weaponry glides over the camera.
Disney had already built two massive extended universes with Marvel and Star Wars and were keen to add a third.
…introduces a charmingly absurd polishing droid that deserves its own Star Wars-esque merch line…
Meanwhile, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, the worst selling live action Star Wars film, sold around 2.3 million on opening day, more than seven times as much.
The way it stalked around the halls of the space station reminded me of the original Alien film, creating terror through the anticipation of when you’d see it next.
Immediately, it’s made clear that Doctor Who season 2, episode 3 is an Alien-style closed space experience.
Aliens worked in part because it escalated the threat of Ridley Scott’s original film Alien.
The Well aims to do for Midnight what Aliens did for Alien, and while this may have been somewhat overambitious, this is still a solid sequel.
…suddenly snatching people from above like in Alien and ripping them apart…
According to Last Christmas, he hasn’t seen Ridley Scott’s Alien either, but, of course, he’s seen Disney’s Frozen.
…the entire realization of the character owes more than a little bit to Tim Curry’s Darkness from Legend.
Even though it’s usually spoken of in the same breath as Star Wars and Star Trek, it’s a fraction as popular as either.
…several gags along the way referencing everything from Star Trek (the design of the ship’s bridge, especially the viewscreen, and the navigator with an artificial-eyesight device on his face)…
He emphasises an Ice Warrior obsession with honour, akin to Star Trek‘s Klingons…
Unfortunately, their presentation here is rather too derivative of the Borg from Star Trek, with their “cyber-mites” causing eruptions of metallic appliances on the faces of their victims, and their ability to instantly adapt to any tactic used against them.
A Cyberman that removes its hand, which then scuttles about like a hand-shaped robotic spider, is so silly they already used the gag in an episode of Red Dwarf.
…to Red Dwarf (“The light’s stopped flashing… Does this mean he’s on his way, or do I have to change the bulb?”).
…elevating it above the mid-tier Red Dwarf episode it keeps threatening to become.
By contrast, the original droid Twirly has echoes of Red Dwarf’s Talkie Toaster, which is hilarious in itself.
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Robert Zemeckis’ comedy Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and the more recent Mickey Mouse short “Get a Horse” (2013) draw a huge amount of entertainment out of the concept.
The pinnacle is Lux himself, whether he’s Roger Rabbit’ing around or becoming a grotesque 3D nightmare complete with “edgy” shading.
Who's the most fearsome cartoon villain?
Judge Doom, Who Framed Roger Rabbit…
Shirley (who zooms back fast enough to leave Back to the Future–style flame trails)…
The final moments set this in the style of It’s a Wonderful Life, but also robs the characters of the benefit of remembering or learning from the experience.
Styled after It’s a Wonderful Life, it’s a fan-pleasing rollercoaster of an episode that ultimately looks forward and not back.
Bakare’s alien conspirator Leandro looked a bit like Lion-O from Thundercats and he’s a character who you either believe or don’t.
…bellowing red robots who shout “Behold!” like they’re auditioning for a live-action Thundercats reboot…
…we can view a 1960s James Bond feature with the understanding that its sexist attitudes were broadly acceptable for the era in which it was made…
He isn’t afraid to lean into the 007-inspired plot, with a car chase, an airplane sequence and a computer hacking sequence all presented with a knowing charm and cinematic sheen.
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…it feels like there was a missed opportunity to do the EastEnders-style aerial view…
Infamously, the plot brings the Doctors to Albert Square, where they tangle with adversaries like the Rani and, er, the cast of EastEnders.
32 if you count her face-off against all the then-living Doctors and the cast of EastEnders in a charity special…
One of the soldiers is an uncredited Derek Martin, aka EastEnders’ Charlie Slater.
This is where I think Moffat did something inspired, which was to steal liberally from James Cameron’s film Aliens.
The Well aims to do for Midnight what Aliens did for Alien, and while this may have been somewhat overambitious, this is still a solid sequel.