The God Complex rescored

It is with great pleasure that I announce that the replacement score project for Doctor Who‘s The God Complex I have been working on with my good friend Chris Adams (also known as HardWire) is now complete and available for download.

One of the best episodes of the modern era. Frightening, complicated, and emotionally resonant, this well-paced episode felt like it came straight out of some of the best eras of Classic Doctor Who. Except for one thing: the score. Watching this episode, we felt that Murray Gold’s ham-fisted score was totally at odds with what was being seen on screen. Unwilling to settle for such a rare gem of an episode being compromised by such a letdown of a score, we took matters into our own hands, stripped the music away, and re-did it ourselves. We also made a couple of minor tweaks and edits to improve the flow and atmosphere of this excellent episode.

We hope that you enjoy this glimpse into what modern Doctor Who could be.

Click here to grab the torrent.

A Monster a Day Keeps the Doctor at Bay

After almost 800 episodes and six series, the Dr Who show is still as popular as ever. Each episode sees the supernatural Doctor travel through time and space to uncover another planet, monster, ghoul or evil force which is out to take over the universe. Within an hour, the Doctor discovers an unknown realm, before defeating the antagonist and restoring the balance of the universe. Or does he? The cliffhanger episodes and the long running underlying story, that one day the Doctor will be defeated, always comes back to shift the peace which has been restored at the end of the episode. What has made Dr Who so memorable and popular?

The episodes are fast paced and full of mysterious science conundrums, but they are also full of action and excitement. It is a show which has you glued to the screen from the opening scene. Just like how some people find playing games like Partypoker or Zelda online, draws them deep into the game, or a tense part of a film is gripping and exciting, the Dr Who episodes instantly grab your attention from the opening scene. The Doctor has seen the likes of monsters walking around bizarre looking hotels and even giant life size evil dolls glaring at their victims, but nothing seems to be a match for the Doctor. His gadgets and gizmos always help him out during his wildly creative escape ideas.

The BBC aired the first ever episode of Dr Who in 1963. It proved popular and lasted until the late 80s. A film in 1996 was released before the Revived series began in 2005. It has been one of the most watched scifi programmes and is listed under the Guinness World Records as the Longest Running Science Fiction TV Show in the World. It has been a very successful show in terms of DVD and book sales, not to mention winning a BAFTA, plus five consecutive wins at the National Television Awards. Various spin off shows have been made since; these include the Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood, which is in fact an anagram of Doctor Who.

The God Complex review

The below review was cross-posted from dannystewart.com.

The God Complex

After a run of episodes ranking anywhere from abysmal to above average (and roughly in that order), the writing, pacing, and directing of this episode were all excellent. The episode felt much longer than 45 minutes, and that’s not a bad thing. There was some terrific frightening imagery here and a very focused, well-developed plot. The dialogue was sharp and the whole episode treated its audience as intelligent viewers, something I am not at all accustomed to with the new series.

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The Big Fizzle: finale disappointment

At least Matt Smith was brilliant

Spoilers ahead.

Well, the finale has come and gone and the season has finally reached its end. It was a good run, and overall I was blown away at how much better this series has been than the ones that preceded it. Our own Luke Pietnik just posted his thoughts on the finale, and gave it an overall stellar review. His review expresses sentiments similar to those I’ve heard elsewhere. But I’ll be honest: the finale left me cold. At first I felt like the only person in the universe who didn’t like it, but eventually I found a few who shared my objections.

I have been trained thanks to years of spectacular RTD disappointments to keep my mouth shut regarding my dissenting opinions, so I really don’t feel like going into it myself, but thankfully there were others who summed up my objections pretty well.
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Live Fast and Prosper: How Stargate’s Impulsiveness Could Kill the Franchise

stargate I came to a new realization about the Stargate franchise this morning that I wanted to share, primarily after reading a new interview with Joe Flanigan (John Sheppard on Stargate Atlantis) on GateWorld. It seems so clear that I’m surprised I never fully connected the dots before now: the producers of the Stargate franchise have become spoiled and impulsive, and sooner or later it may be the death of the franchise.

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