Heroes for All:
Ripley? Believe it or not…

  I’m seeing a bunch of memes and comments repudiating the idea that Wonder Woman represents a breakthrough for women in movies, and they do so by comparing Gal Gadot’s Diana to Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley (Aliens). Essentially, ‘Ripley got there first, your argument is invalid, redo from start.’ This idea misses the point. Misses it like […]

New Adventures in Time and Space

Peter Capaldi recently announced that he’s handing in the keys to the TARDIS after the next season. It’s not really a surprise. He’s easily the strongest candidate to have taken ownership since Doctor Who was brought back from the dead, but he’s not been well-served by the material. This has, of course, been a feast […]

Gotham:
One of a Kind

Again and again, I struggle to describe Gotham to people who haven’t seen it. In theory, nothing could be easier. It’s Gotham City before Batman arrives on the scene. It’s the rise of (not yet) Commissioner Jim Gordon. It’s the origin of Bruce Wayne’s most archetypal villains. All of these things are true, and yet […]

Writing Heroes:
Robert Holmes

The BBC doesn’t have the best record for celebrating the men and women who made Doctor Who the programme it is today. Some of that comes down to the fact that the show’s never really been a ‘creator led’ property. Star Trek had Gene Roddenbery, a visionary powerhouse who dominated the show’s fortunes, for good […]

‘Dem Bones
Gonna Walk

One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing Well, not quite. At least, not yet. But come the 4th of January, a long-time greeter will vanish from the Natural History Museum’s entrance hall, never to return. I speak, of course, of ‘Dippy’ the diplodocus, resident of Kensington since 1905 and – as far as I know – […]