Review-Scoob!

Scoob! Had been in development at Warner Bros, for about six years. It made headlines a year or so ago, when long-time Shaggy voice actor, Matthew Lilliard revealed on Twitter that he hadn’t been asked back. I can’t help but feel that he missed a bullet here.

Scoob! suffers from the same fate as Universal’s ‘Dark Universe’ and Sony’s ‘Amazing Spider-Man-verse’. In both instances, the studios tried to launch an entire universe. Before establishing one solid film.
This film also has the chore of re-introducing the world to everyone’s favourite ghost hunting adventurous, whilst setting up the wider Hanna-Barbera universe. Such as; the Blue Falcon and Dynomutt, Captain Caveman, and Whacky Racers. The film also went through several creative-team switch-ups and a major theatrical-release shift, moving from September 2018 to May 2020 and then, well. You know what happened in May 2020.

The animation is incredibly well done. Director Tony Cervone, was clearly inspired by the colourful nature of the original cartoon series. The actors all bring their A-game. Will Forte makes a great Shaggy. As always, Frank Welker is great as Scooby-Doo. However, the weak plot and shoe-horning of Hanna-Barbera properties really let this film down.

Scoob! is available digitally on-demand

Episode 227: Doctor Who-Survival

Martyn, Sam, and Chris discuss the 1989 episode of Doctor Who ‘Survival’.

Survival is the final serial of the 26th season and also the final story of the original 26-year run of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was originally broadcast in three weekly parts on BBC1 from 22 November to 6 December 1989. It marks the final regular television appearance of Anthony Ainley as the Master and of Sophie Aldred as Ace. It is also the last regular television appearance of Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor.

Journalist Matthew Sweet has described Survival as “a parable about Thatcherism”. In the serial, the renegade Time Lord the Master kidnaps humans from contemporary Perivale and uses the teenager Midge (Will Barton) to facilitate his escape from the disintegrating planet of the Cheetah People.

We’ve covered this story once before, listen here.

Check out the Pharos Project interview with Will Barton (Midge).

The trailer for Survival was taken from Veritaserumuk.

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Listen to Chris’ Second Doctor audio adventures.

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Episode 218: Sil and the devil seeds of Ardor

Martyn, Pete, and Sam discuss the original drama from the world of Doctor Who, featuring SIL, the ruthless alien entrepreneur from planet Thoros Beta, played by Nabil Shaban.

An original drama from the world of BBC’s DOCTOR WHO, featuring SIL, the ruthless alien entrepreneur from planet Thoros Beta, played by NABIL SHABAN.

SIL is worried, very worried, which doesn’t keep his reptilian skin in the best condition! Confined in a cold detention cell on the moon, awaiting a deportation hearing for trial on drugs offenses on Earth, he faces a death sentence if the application is successful and he is found guilty. And his employers at the Universal Monetary Fund aren’t pleased either. Not at all.

As time runs out and friends desert him, SIL must use all of his devious, vile, underhanded, ruthless, and amoral business acumen to survive.

Can he possibly slime his way out of this one?

Check out Pete’s interviews with Nabil Shaban, Keith Barnfather and Sophie Aldred.

The podcast is available from all good podcast services, such as but not limited to;

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If you’d like to support the show, then please shop via our Amazon link. A small percentage goes our way, at no extra cost to you.

Chris is taking part in Movember, find out how to donate here.

Sam has launched a Facebook page.

Check out Chris’ other podcast, We Sound Familiar.

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Venom-Blu Ray review

Venom is a bold project for Sony, they’re attempting to launch a Spider-Man universe, without Spider-Man. They want this universe to stand alone, but they don’t want to rule out the chance of a future crossover.

Whilst it’s never stated this is in the MCU (Marvel cinematic universe) they don’t say anything to contradict that it isn’t. Instead of New York, the action takes place in San Francisco.

Tom Hardy plays Eddie Brock, an investigative journalist. Eddie lives with his fiancé Anne (Michelle Williams), a successful lawyer, working for a firm that represents the controversial billionaire Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed).

One night, Eddie makes a bad decision and ends up losing his job, his relationship and his apartment.

Cut to six months later. Eddie has given up on himself — but when Dr Dora Skirth (Jenny Slate), a scientist who works for Drake, tells Eddie that Drake is sacrificing homeless people in mad experiments, Eddie decides to leap back into action to expose him. Whilst exploring the lab, Eddie gets bonded with an alien, that calls itself Venom.

All of a sudden we’re in a slapstick/buddy comedy. Invoking the obligatory talking alien mechanical baritone, Venom at first barks out primal commands such as “HUNGRY!” and “FOOD!”, but soon he’s commenting on Eddie’s romantic life and opening up about how he was considered a “loser” on his home planet.



The movie is a strange beast, it never truly settles on an identity. It’s unevenly dumb, part superhero movie, part horror/comedy and it doesn’t really do either well. It is funny? Yes, at times. I’ll admit I laughed. But, not always at the times the film wanted me to.

According to Hardy his favourite bits of the film, are the 40 minutes that ended up on the cutting room floor. He’s also said in interviews, that he mostly improvised his scenes. This could explain some of the choppy editing, or inconsistencies in the characters’ motivations.

The film wants us to want Eddie and Anne back together, but they’ve put her in a relationship with Dr Dan, probably the nicest/most understanding man in the universe. Venom feels like it fell through a time vortex, this is like a pre-MCU superhero movie. Something akin to 2003’s Daredevil.

The special effects are underwhelming. The CGI is terrible and the fight scenes are predictable and murky at best. The villains — human and extraterrestrial — are forgettable. And neither the ordinary guy nor his alter ego is particularly compelling to watch.

This film cements Tom Hardy, as the British Nicholas Cage.

⭐⭐

Blu-ray Disc Exclusives

  • Extended Post Credit Scene and Deleted Scenes
  • PLUS over an hour of extras including
  • Venom Mode: Trivia Track
  • The Lethal Protector in Action
  • The Anti-Hero
  • Venom Vision
  • Designing Venom
  • Symbiote Secrets

*AND MORE

Also includes

  • Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse Sneak Peek
  • Eminem Music Video

Blu Ray review-Reign of the supermen

Six months after Superman (Jerry O’Connell) sacrificed himself to defeat Doomsday, the world has been introduced to four new versions of the man of steel; Superboy, Steel, Cyborg-Superman, and the Eradicator. Each one of them is very different in their personalities and crime-fighting style compared to the original Man of Steel; leaving the world questioning which one, if any, is the true Superman.

At 87 minutes, this is one of the longer DC Universe Animated films. But the extra length enables it to achieve a number of things, such as continuing threads that were set up in ‘The Death of Superman’. We also get a great amount of character development, not only do we see some really touching moments between the Kents and Lois Lane (Rebecca Romijn). We also see Lois develop a friendship with Wonder Woman (Rosario Dawson). Lex Luthor also plays a very active role in this story-excellently voiced by Rainn Wilson. It also allows for the film to set up the wider DC animated universe.

DC’s animation department has once again proven their prowess with “Reign of the Supermen,” a triumph of a film. Despite its source material being a comic book from 1993, writers Tim Sheridan and Jim Krieg, along with director Sam Liu, manage to infuse the movie with a fresh and engaging feel. They fully comprehend the importance of the original comics to fans and flawlessly adapt them for the screen.

The film’s tone, darker and edgier, is something that DC’s live-action department should be striving for. The heroes’ actions have consequences, adding depth and weight to the story. However, it’s not without its lighter moments, making it an enjoyable experience for all. “Reign of the Supermen” is a prime example of the type of movie that DC’s live-action department should be emulating.

REIGN OF THE SUPERMEN is available now on Digital Download, Blu-ray™ and DVD

The Blu Ray special features include;

Lex Luthor:The greatest nemesis

Sneak peak at Justice League vs The Fatal Five

From the vault-two bonus cartoons.

Review-The Time Tunnel blu-ray

As a child of the nineties, I have fond memories of watching high-quality American shows from the 60s on Channel 4 during school holidays, such as Man from UNCLE, Get Smart, and The Time Tunnel. The latter show, in particular, captured my imagination and sparked my passion for sci-fi, even before I knew what sci-fi was.

Despite being extremely dated by today’s standards, The Time Tunnel remains an entertaining show that feels like a prequel to modern sci-fi classics like Quantum Leap and Stargate. Set in an imagined 1968, the near-future to when the show was made, two scientists named Tony Newman and Doug Philips find themselves traveling through time and space after testing their top-secret government project, the time tunnel.

Although the show has dodgy science, sets, and glaring plot holes, it’s precisely these elements that make it brilliant. The premise is a sandbox for any writer, with nothing off-limits and no logic to hold back the imagination. The time tunnel takes Tony and Doug to a range of different locations and time periods, from Ancient Greece to the first manned mission to Mars.

The transfer to HD is good, considering the show was not shot that way. Additionally, viewers can choose to listen to the original mono sound or the remixed 5.1, both of which work well.

Overall, The Time Tunnel is a great set that would make a perfect Christmas gift for any sci-fi fan. It’s a shame the show didn’t get a second series, given its potential for endless time-traveling adventures.

Episode 159:Gladiator Live at The Royal Albert Hall

In which Martyn and Gerrod attend and review Gladiator Live, at The Royal Albert Hall.

Gladiator is a 2000 epic historical drama filmdirected by Ridley Scott and written by David Franzoni, John Logan, and William Nicholson.

The film was jointly produced and released by DreamWorks Pictures and Universal Pictures.

It stars Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Ralf Möller, Oliver Reed (in his final role), Djimon Hounsou, Derek Jacobi, John Shrapnel, and Richard Harris.

Crowe portrays Hispano-Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is betrayed when Commodus, the ambitious son of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, murders his father and seizes the throne. Reduced to slavery, Maximus rises through the ranks of the gladiatorial arena to avenge the murders of his family and his emperor.

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DVD REVIEW-Clone

Originally called ‘Womb’ this straight to DVD release has a pre-Doctor Who Matt Smith playing the recently deceased lover of Eva Green. It’s sat on the shelf for a couple of years, but due to Smith now being the Doctor, it’s finally getting a release.

Smith has recently died and Green has decided like you do to clone him and raise him as her son.
I was initially intrigued by the premise, it isn’t every day you see a sci-fi movie shot as an art-house flick and I think this movie shows us why. It is beautifully shot, but the pacing is slow and you find yourself switching off after about 10 minutes.

Any dramatic tension that could have been built up over the course of the movie is lost on beautifully stunning, but out of place shots of a beach.



BLU RAY REVIEW-PUSS IN BOOTS

A Puss in Boots spin-off has been in development since he made his first appearance in Shrek 2 way back in 2004. Now that DreamWorks have milked the Shrek franchise for all its worth, it is finally time for the cat to have his day.

This is essentially an origin story. It’s set way before Puss met Shrek, Fiona and Donkey. Since Puss is the main character, he needs wacky, funny characters around him. The love interest is a feline named Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) and Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) is Puss’ best friend from childhood. Puss and Humpty Dumpty were once as close as brothers until Puss became famous. Humpty soon became jealous of Puss and betrayed him by tricking him into a bank robbery. Years later, Humpty tracks him down seeking forgiveness, as well as help with a new scheme. The scheme involves stealing some magic beans from out-law couple, Jack and Jill. The magic beans will send them up the famous beanstalk to the golden-egg laying goose.



The first half of the movie is better than the second half. I think this is due to it being such a busy story, the ending is little anti-climatic, but strangely unlike most children’s CGI movies, it isn’t bogged down by the over-preachy moral of the tale. The performances are all solid, but special mention must go to Antonio Banderas, he manages a performance that is consistently amusing as well as moving. The moment he sees his heartbroken mother staring at him is gut-wrenching. Visually the film is a treat. Puss in Boots is not a great film, but it is an extremely good film.

Special Features:

  • ‘Triple Play Edition’ includes the movie on 3 formats: Blu-ray, DVD & Digital Copy!
  • Puss In Boots: The Three Diablos – HD
  • How To Train Your Dragon Arena Spectacular – HD
  • Blu-ray Exclusives: A DreamWorks Fairytale, Puss’ Paw Pouncing Challenge, The Animators’ Corner, Trivia Track
  • Purr-fect Pairing: The Voices Behind the Legend – HD
  • Deleted Scenes – HD
  • Kitten to Cat – HD, Glitter Box Dance Off! – HD, Klepto Kitty – HD, Kitty Keyboard, Fairytale Pop Up Book, Kitty Strikes Again
  • Previews: Madagascar 3 – HD, Puss In Boots THQ Game Trailer – HD
  • The World Of Dreamworks: Shrek-HD, How To Train Your Dragon-HD, Kung Fu Panda-HD, Madagascar-HD, Megamind-HD

BLU RAY REVIEW-ANOTHER EARTH

Another Earth is a great little gem of a movie, written by Mark Cahill and Brit Marling. Marling also stars as the main character of the film, Rhoda Williams.
Rhoda has recently been accepted to MIT and she goes out to celebrate with friends and drives home drunk. On the drive home she listens to a news broadcast on the radio about an approaching planet that looks just like Earth, she looks out her car window and crashes into another car, putting John Burroughs (William Mapother) in a coma and killing his wife and son.



Rhoda is sent to prison and after serving her sentence she tracks John down and decides to take care of him. Rhoda learns that there is a lottery to win a trip to the mirror Earth. She hopes that her other self didn’t make the same mistake and applies for a place.
Although the title and premise make this sound like a sci-fi movie, it is far from it. Another Earth is clearly a metaphor for a second chance, something we all desire. The only misstep this movie took, was having Rhoda and John become romantically involved. The relationship could have been a lot more touching if it hadn’t been romantic.

This is easily the best movie I have seen in recent years and shows indie cinema at its best. Had this been a blockbuster the mirror Earth inhabitants would have been evil versions, with goatee beards and WMD’s. I can’t recommend this film enough, this deserves a lot of praise. I would love a mini-series follow up exploring the consequences of another Earth being so close to ours and also to see what was happening to the inhabitants on mirror Earth.

Special Features:

“The First Time I Saw Jupiter” by Fall On Your Sword – Music Video
Deleted Scenes
The Science Behind Another Earth – Featurette
Creating Another Earth – Featurette
Theatrical Trailer
Another Earth Soundtrack Info
Creating Another Earth