What to watch out for on TV - Doctor Who and Scott Pilgrim
Vamshi Darisi
BIG THINGS coming to TV this week!
Doctor Who - Disney Plus
Thursday 23rd November is Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary!!! This is officially the longest-running science fiction show, and my absolute favourite thing in the world. The show follows The Doctor, a time travelling alien who has the ability to ‘regenerate’ when injured, changing their entire body - thus allowing many actors to portray the character in their own way. The Doctor travels in the TARDIS, a time machine that looks like a British police box that is bigger on the inside, with companions, often from modern day Earth, who are shown the vast wonders of the universe and get up to all sorts of adventures.
You may have heard of Doctor Who, perhaps when it was at its peak of popularity in the late 2000s. This man was all over the world - his name is David Tennant, and he played the Tenth Doctor.
He travelled with many companions, including the feisty Donna, played by Catherine Tate.
The show was written by Russell T. Davies, an award winning showrunner who created shows such as It’s a Sin and Queer as Folk.
Guess what - they’re all back!!! That’s right, for Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary, David Tennant and Catherine Tate return for three bombastic hour-long specials penned by Russell T. Davies, also starring Neil Patrick Harris. And for the first time ever, Doctor Who will be available outside of the UK on Disney Plus! At 7.30pm CET on Saturday 25th November, the first special, entitled ‘The Star Beast’ airs on both the BBC and Disney Plus, with the subsequent specials releasing over the next two Saturdays. So whether you’re an avid fan, or you stopped watching a long time ago, make sure to catch these specials to reintroduce you to the wonderful world of Doctor Who.
For those who aren’t familiar with Doctor Who at all, do not worry. After the 60th anniversary specials, there is soon to be a perfect jumping on point - sort of a ‘soft reboot’. Though the show’s previous history won’t be forgotten, the show will restart at ‘Season One’ (the previous series was called Series 13), with a new Doctor who you may recognise from Netflix’s Sex Education!
I am definitely looking forward to this new era of Doctor Who, as the new storylines seem incredibly exciting and I think the new Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa, is a hugely talented actor. The show seems to be gearing up for worldwide domination with its new Disney Plus deal, and I say bring it on!
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off
Fans of Scott Pilgrim AND people who have never heard of it, gather round! There is a new Scott Pilgrim show on Netflix, called Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.
Bryan Lee O’Malley’s series of graphic novels called Scott Pilgrim, focus on a guy (surprisingly called Scott Pilgrim) who’s a musician and a bit of a slacker. He wants to date a mysterious girl called Ramona Flowers - however, in order to do so, he must defeat Ramona's seven evil exes in battle. The graphic novels take place in a video-game style universe, and make for a really fun and often introspective story.
You may be familiar with Scott Pilgrim from the 2010 movie adaptation called Scott Pilgrim vs. the World from one of my favourite directors, Edgar Wright. The film stars a whole bunch of people who are now very famous: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Anna Kendrick, Brie Larson, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans and Jason Schwartzman to name a few. The film was quick paced, visually clever and so, so funny. Also, it had great music!
This week, Netflix released a new animated series adaptation, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.
This series was developed by the original writer, O'Malley, and the film’s director, Wright, and showcases a reimagining of the story different from both the graphic novel and the movie. Trust me, there’s a twist in the first episode that would surprise both newcomers and fans alike - it definitely surprised me.
For fans of the film, here’s the big pull: all the big celebrities who starred in the 2010 adaptation have come back! Every single cast member who played a character in the movie is voicing the same character in the show, and yes, that includes Captain America himself, Chris Evans.
So please, check it out! It's a show I really enjoyed and you will too regardless of your familiarity with the franchise. Let us know if you’ve heard of Scott Pilgrim before, and what you think of the show in the [comments/email].
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