New Fantastic Beasts Trailer Revealed

A new trailer for Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them has been revealed at Comic Con:

The footage in the trailer definitely captures that David Yates late Harry Potter feel within the cinematography, however there are also hints through the dialogue at a lighter tone more in-keeping with the Chris Columbus – Harry Potter movies. No-Maj Jacob (Dan Fogler) looks to be a highlight of the film; I think we can all sympathise with his desire to be a wizard!

The trailer sees a number of returning magical creatures, most notably house elves and goblins. The house elves barely featured in the Harry Potter films (despite the Hogwarts house elves along with Dobby and Barty Crouch Jnr’s house elf Winky being quite prominent in the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire book),so it is nice to see them star in the new film. Hopefully we will get to see plenty of the house elves this time round: perhaps Eddie Redmayne’s Newt Scamander has his own personal house elf among his collection of magical creatures?

One of my favourite moments in the trailer is the moving painting. These paintings are nothing new in the Harry Potter universe. They have appeared numerous times in both the books and films; one painting of a fat lady was the password-protected entrance to the Gryffindor common room (excellently portrayed by Dawn French in the films). It is still a cool effect however and one of my favourite elements of the Wizarding World.

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them is based on a Harry Potter spinoff book by JK Rowling, originally published in 2001. The book was intended to be one of Harry’s textbooks from Hogwarts, first mentioned in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone as one of the books required for his first year of studies. It is written in-universe by Newt Scamander as documentation of the magical creatures he has encountered. The book is scheduled to be republished on the 14th March 2017 with a new foreword by JK Rowling. The film’s screenplay will also be published this November and is currently available for pre-order on Amazon for the price of £8.49 (or if you operate in Wizarding World currency, fourteen sickles and three knuts).

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them opens on the 18th November 2016, so get practising your apparating skills. You don’t want to splinch yourself. Arriving at the cinema without your head wouldn’t be much fun…

 

Everything Is Awesome, New LEGO Batman Movie Pictures Released

 

Warner Bros. have released some new images for the upcoming LEGO Movie spinoff The LEGO Batman Movie. The new pictures feature Michael Cera’s Robin and Zach Galifianakis‘ Joker.

I have no idea why the Joker has stolen Jaws’ teeth:

His car is pretty neat however:

And he doesn’t look as bad as Robin, who has a pair of awful goggles that make him look more like Velma Dinkley than Dick Grayson:

Who am I to criticise LEGO though? I’m sure they know what they’re doing; they have already proven themselves in the movie business with The LEGO Movie and Will Arnett’s Batman was one of the best things about that film. There is absolutely no way they could mess up an idea as awesome as this one, unless Lord Business has somehow managed to seize creative control.

The LEGO Batman Movie comes out on the 10th February in 2017, directed by Chris McKay (Robot Chicken). Phil Lord and Chris Miller are returning as producers.  The official synopsis reads:

In the irreverent spirit of fun that made “The LEGO® Movie” a worldwide phenomenon, the self-described leading man of that ensemble – LEGO Batman – stars in his own big-screen adventure: “The LEGO® Batman Movie.” But there are big changes brewing in Gotham, and if he wants to save the city from The Joker’s hostile takeover, Batman may have to drop the lone vigilante thing, try to work with others and maybe, just maybe, learn to lighten up.

In a quote from USA Today, Director Chris McKay said “The Joker sees himself on the same level as Batman, a peer, at the top of the game. But Batman says that’s not the case, which sends Joker into a spiral trying to prove to Batman that he is indeed the greatest enemy,”.  In the same article the Joker’s car is described as ‘The Joker’s General Patton car, where he can survey the battle’.

Chris McKay has also revealed some details on Robin, who is accidentally adopted by Batman at a charity auction and is referred to by the director as a ‘super-positive kid who always sees the glass as half full’.

The LEGO Batman Movie is being alluded to as ‘About A Boy, as directed by Michael Mann‘. Perhaps it’s not too late to get Hugh Grant to voice The Riddler?

 

New UNO Videogame Announced

A new UNO videogame has been announced. The new game will be released on PS4, Xbox One and PC on 9th August and has been developed by the popular videogame company Ubisoft. Ubisoft are responsible for the critically acclaimed Rayman series and the hugely popular Assasins Creed, so the popular card game is in safe hands. However those who prefer physical copies will be disappointed as the game will only be released digitally through the Playstation Network, Xbox Live and Windows Store.

The new UNO release features video chat support and a ‘theme system’.  There will be a Rabbids theme available at launch. The theme includes four new cards, such as the ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ card that gives you the ability to protect yourself from drawing cards and pass on the penalty to another player. For example, should a player place a ‘plus four’ card on the pile, if the next player had placed the Wild Blue Yonder card down he would not have to draw four cards but instead can pass the duty onto another player. The ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ card appears to be one of the Theme Cards mentioned on the official site.

The game will offer users the ability to add a set of ‘house rules’ or ‘match settings’ to change the mechanics. For those who prefer simplicity, there is the option to play the classic card game without any added gimmicks (referred to on the UNO website as ‘Classic Play’).

In the latest UNO game, players will be able to compete against up to three players online, as well as utilise global and weekly leaderboards. Ubisoft have stated there will be special medals that can be unlocked during online play that can be shown to friends and other opponents.

There have been other games released based on the iconic card game. In 1999, Mattel Games released a Game Boy Colour title simply called ‘Uno’. The content consisted only of the classic UNO game, without any of the gimmicks that have followed in future iterations of the card game. More recently, Real Arcade released the game Uno Undercover for PC. This saw the introduction of an ‘Adventure Mode’, which introduced a number of storylines to play through alongside the traditional UNO gameplay. This will be the first UNO game for PS4 and Xbox One. Personally, I have always wanted to see a sequel to the card game called ‘Dos’ (Two) but I highly doubt that’s going to happen anytime soon.

 

SPOILERS: Ghostbusters Post-Credits Sequence – what could it mean?

One of the things I wanted to talk about in the review was the Ghostbusters post-credits sequence, however I didn’t feel it would be right to spoil it for those who have yet to see the movie. So instead I have decided to explore it in a separate article. If you have yet to see the Ghostbusters reboot and are planning to avoid spoilers, then stop reading now.

In the post-credits sequence, we see Patty listening to a tape in their new firehouse headquarters when she turns to the others and asks ‘Who is Zuul?’. For those who don’t know, Zuul – also known as ‘The Gatekeeper’ – is a demigod from the 1984 Ghostbusters who appears in the fridge at Dana Barrett’s apartment. She is subsequently possessed by the demonic entity and later his real form is revealed as that of a ‘Terror Dog’ (gargoyle-like figures who bear a vague resemblance to dogs).

So what could the Zuul tease mean?

Well, here are a few possibilities…

Gozer returns

Another thing about Zuul is that she was the servant to the God of Destruction, Gozer the Gozerian. Could we therefore see a Gozer return in a Ghostbusters (2016) sequel?

Given that the reboot features the likes of Slimer and Stay Puft Marshmallow Man (as a parade balloon), I’d say there is a pretty good chance. Featuring Gozer in the first film would have been a mistake considering that Gozer was the main antagonist of the 1984 original. The second Ghostbusters film on the other hand didn’t feature Gozer, so there is less chance it would be seen as staying too close to the original if a sequel to the 2016 film were to feature her as the main antagonist. I doubt they would bring Zuul back alone as the demigod wouldn’t have as much of a purpose without Gozer also making an appearance; the only thing that makes me question the idea is that in the 1984 film she asks the Ghostbusters to choose what form their ‘destructor’ will take. This has already been done with Rowan’s Ghost taking on the appearance of the Ghostbusters logo and I doubt they would want to do it again. Making their sequel appear as little more than a rehash of their first film would be a bad idea as it would suggest writer Kate Dippold has a limited imagination (which I am sure is not the case).

The original Ghostbusters still exist

Admittedly this is the most far-fetched of the theories given how contradictory it would be to Paul Feig’s vision but what if the original Ghostbusters do exist in the same universe after all?

Could it be that the tape Patty is listening to was left behind by the previous occupiers of the firehouse and the previous occupiers were Peter Venkman and co?

It would be one massive coincidence that a Ghostbusting business would set up shop in a firehouse that was previously used for a Ghostbusting business. Then there’s the issue that Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts and Sigourney Weaver all cameo as different characters in the movie. But what if there’s a reason behind all this?

A popular theory on the internet is that Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson are taking on different jobs and identities in order to hide from their past lives as paranormal investigators. We find out in the movie that the government has covered up past supernatural incidents, so maybe they were labelled as hoaxers – just like the female Ghostbusters?

Peter Venkman changed his name to Martin Heiss and pretended to be a sceptic so nobody would work out his true identity, Ray Stantz became a taxi driver (explaining how he knows what class two vapours and class four apparitions are) and Winston Zeddemore started a funeral service. Annie Potts’ hotel receptionist isn’t named so she could easily be Janine from the original Ghostbusters. As for Sigourney Weaver, maybe Rebecca Gorin is Dana Barrett’s sister and they share a familial resemblance?

Could it also be that the firehouse’s rent is so astronomically high as to prevent a new business moving in and accidentally releasing the ghosts from the containment unit housed inside, inadvertently creating mass hysteria?

There is one major plot hole with that theory: if the containment unit still existed inside the firehouse, then why didn’t Rowan use it to free the already-contained ghosts instead of creating his own machine to release them?

It would however explain how Slimer happens to exist in this universe; maybe somebody accidentally let him out of the firehouse and that’s what prompted the firehouse’s rent to increase?

There is one thing that supports this theory – in Columbia University there is a bust of Egon Spengler in shot as Erin leaves after being fired from her job as professor.

 

The original Ghostbusters return…in a multiverse

There has been talk for a while of a Ghostbusters Cinematic Universe and Gozer is an entity from another dimension, so could it be the character of Gozer who links the 1984 and 2016 Ghostbusters universes together?

Zuul and Gozer both had to travel outside their dimensions to terrorise Peter, Ray, Egon and Winston, therefore if they were to return it is possible that some form of dimensional travel would be established in order to allow various Ghostbusting teams to team up.  Paul Feig has previously expressed interest in the multiverse concept and when asked about the shared universe Ivan Reitman recently stated in an interview ‘I do think some kind of continuity and some kind of relationship should be created, and we’re working on that’ so it is possible that with the female Ghostbusters’ origin story out of the way they may decide to cross them over with the original Ghostbusters.

The reboot has already seen the likes of portals to another world and the original Ghostbusters themselves travel to another dimension in the 2009 videogame. It is a direction that already has precedent for taking place and is perhaps more likely than the cameo characters being revealed as Peter and his team all along. The multiverse concept would make them parallel versions of their characters in the 1984 universe; an idea that already makes a lot of sense given Bill Murray’s role as a skeptic. It would be fun to see a sequel that explores who Abby, Jillian, Erin and Patty are in the other universe – would they still be a group of extremely knowledgable women or would they be little more than secretaries similar to Janine in the 1984 Ghostbusters?

A multiverse would also allow them to bring in live-action takes on the cartoons – 1986’s The Real Ghostbusters, 1997’s The Extreme Ghostbusters and the upcoming animated series Ecto-Force. Imagine a blond Egon meeting Jillian Holtzmann (who shares a very similar look to him)? Or Ray Stantz commenting on his more ginger counterpart? There would be huge potential for comedic moments and would help draw more interest to other areas of the Ghostbusters brand.

It’s just a cool reference

Another possibility is that the scene was merely filmed as a fun reference to the 1984 Ghostbusters. During the credits there are numerous scenes that play which were clearly in the film at some point but for some reason or another were cut from the main narrative. This could be another one of those scenes; after all, the film is full of references to the 1984 original it is based on. Mentioning Zuul may be no different to Slimer eating food from a hot dog cart or Ray Parker Jnr’s Ghostbusters playing after the opening sequence of the film.

Maybe I am simply over-analysing and the scene means nothing other than ‘Hey, remember the 1984 Ghostbusters?’. It is fun to speculate however and I like to think that somewhere out there Paul Feig is sitting in a basement laughing deviously as he plots Gozer’s return.

There is no Feig, only Zuul….

 

Ghostbusters (2016) Review

For months on end, Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters has been hit with criticism – both from sexists and those just generally opposed to the idea of the original Ghostbusters not returning – but this review isn’t about that. I may feel sympathy for Paul Feig and the cast because of the amount of unnecessary abuse they have faced from those who cannot accept that there are funny female comedians out there but I would never take it into account when reviewing a movie. I review films on here or on my Dalekbuster Screen 5 blog site based on their own merit and not on the hate campaigns that may or may not surround them.

The Ghostbusters reboot follows Columbia University professor Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig), who is approached to investigate the haunted Eldridge Mansion by historian Ed Mulgrave (Ed Begley Jnr) after reading her book Ghosts of our Past: Both Literally and Figuratively. Erin is initially confused as she didn’t publish the book however before long she realises her co-author Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) must be to blame and sets off to confront her. There she meets nuclear engineer Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) and after Erin tells them about Ed’s request to investigate the mansion they set off to confront the ghost of Gertrude Eldridge (Bess Rous), who was locked in the cellar after murdering a bunch of people in the building. Their encounter is recorded and uploaded to YouTube. Erin is fired by her boss Harold Filmore (Charles Dance) as they don’t consider the study of paranormal proper science. Abby and Jillian hope their boss Dean (Steve Higgins) will be more lenient due to their workplace being a less prestigious university but they are soon shown the door. Together Jillian, Abby and Erin decide to start a Ghostbusting business and set up shop at a Zhu’s chinese restaurant after finding their first choice – a rather familiar firehouse – too expensive. They hire Australian Kevin (Chris Hemsworth) as their receptionist and before long are visited by their first client, Patty (Leslie Jones), who saw a ghost in the subway where she works. Through their investigations they find a guy called Rowan (Neil Casey) has been building devices to magnify paranormal presence and they set off to trap the ghosts he is releasing.

I hadn’t seen any Paul Feig films before but after watching this movie it isn’t hard to see why he has earned such a reputation as a highly-regarded comedy director. The Ghostbusters Reboot may not be as good as the 1984 original but it is a much more deserving follow-up than the 1989 sequel Ghostbusters 2. Whereas the sequel lacked the memorable lines of the original, the Reboot features many pieces of dialogue which I feel over time may gain an iconic status. One of my favourite lines was ‘Rowan, pick up your virginity from the lost and found!’, spoken by Abby during the confrontation with Rowan’s Ghost. This is a line that I feel could become the new generation’s ‘This man has no dick!’ as it has the same wit and charm of the quoted line from the original.

The directing of this film shows a clear understanding of what made the 1984 Ghostbusters work so well. Paul Feig has completely grasped that the comedy from Ghostbusters comes from the scary situations the characters are thrown into rather than it being a parody of the horror genre. The events of the film feel genuine for the characters who interact in it and this is reflected in the score by Theodore Shapiro, which feels more like a soundtrack for a horror movie than a comedy. There’s no silly ‘wah wahs’ (despite the noise Jillian Holtzmann makes at the failed proton stream during the subway sequence) or music that cries ‘THIS IS FUNNY’; instead the soundtrack consists of music that could easily have been taken from The Shining or The Blair Witch Project. You get the sense that the reboot could have taken a darker, more serious edge and it puts into context what Paul Feig had said in an early interview about taking inspiration from The Walking Dead. Talking about influences, I am sure he must have been inspired by a certain other show too.

The show I am referring to is Doctor Who. There is a scene in the film where Patty is chased by a plastic dummy that reminds me a lot of the Autons from the show. I am not certain if it is a deliberate reference but it does feel as though it could be an in-joke from the director. Indeed, the movie’s approach is very similar to that of Doctor Who – particularly the 2005 revival. Like the popular BBC1 show, the Ghostbusters Reboot uses the notion of ‘hiding behind the sofa’ (or in this case, ‘hiding behind the cinema seat’) in that amid the more light-hearted elements it deliberately sets out to scare you. There are a few jump scares scattered through the film and it helps to establish how serious the ghost threat is. The film also ingeniously follows the way Doctor Who’s 2005 Revival introduced its brand to a new audience: just like the episode Rose saw the debut of a new Doctor, Ghostbusters (2016) doesn’t bring back the original team but instead showcases a new one in order to familiarise a new generation with the concept of Proton Packs and PKE Meters. This is a wise decision as it doesn’t alienate those who are new to the Ghostbusters brand. There is no reason why the old team cannot be brought back later on anyway, especially when there are already plans to establish a Ghostbusters Cinematic Universe. Whose to say Ghostbusters (2016) can’t be a parallel universe from Ghostbusters (1984)? Personally I would rather see a new audience introduced to Ghostbusters with the 1984 Ghostbusters returning later on than Peter, Ray and Winston to be brought back in a third movie that alienates those unfamiliar with the brand and ultimately becomes a flop.

Of course it is possible that the Reboot could be a flop anyway but on the strength of the cast I hope otherwise. The four leading ladies have a huge amount of chemistry together and as with the original four it feels like lightning in a bottle. Kristen Wiig is much funnier than the trailers give her credit for. Many of her best moments are left out of the trailers and suffice to say she makes for a better lead than I had expected. Melissa McCarthy is more entertaining than her trailer appearances also, although the standouts of the Ghostbusters are unsurprisingly Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones. Kate McKinnon is wonderfully quirky as Jillian Holtzmann; one scene sees her eating Pringles whilst Erin confronts the ghost of Gertrude. Leslie Jones certainly is not the racist stereotype the reboot haters like to claim; she may not be a scientist but she proves to be extremely knowledgable about the history of New York and is therefore no less intelligent than the other Ghostbusters. Patty feels like a progressive step forward for acting roles within the black community and I hope to see more black actors given the opportunity to play characters like her.

The star of the reboot is rather ironically one of the male cast members. Chris Hemsworth is a revelation as Kevin; he is brilliantly endearing as the bumbling idiot and for someone who is known more as a dramatic actor provides some of the film’s biggest laughs. The scene where Kevin displays some of the logos he has created for the Ghostbusting business including a female ghost with big boobs and an ‘invisible ghost holding a hot dog’ is comedy gold. If this sounds sexist towards the male gender, I can assure you it isn’t. Everybody who isn’t a Ghostbuster be it male or female is portrayed as an idiot, which to be fair is pretty accurate to the present time given that we’re living in a world where Boris Johnson is foreign secretary of the United Kingdom and Donald Trump is running for president of the United States.

Another complaint I have heard is that the cameos and references to the 1984 original take you out of the film. This wasn’t the case for me. Whilst many of the cameos didn’t add much to the movie they didn’t ruin the cinema experience for me either. They were just there, with the exception of Bill Murray, who has a slightly bigger and more important role as skeptic Martin Heiss. Bill Murray is definitely the most meaningful of the cameos; whilst his character is significantly different to Peter Venkman it is fun to see him play the complete opposite of Peter. Martin Heiss is probably the closest to this movie’s Walter Peck, although there is no direct copy of the character. Whilst Walter was acting under authority, Martin’s motivations come more from his disbelief of the paranormal. This nicely ties in with Erin’s character arc of wanting others to trust that she has seen ghosts, which date back to when she experienced her first ghostly encounter as a child and nobody believed her.

Rowan is definitely not the under-developed villain many claim either. To me, his motivations made perfect sense – Rowan had been bullied all his life and wanted to exact revenge on the world for the way it had treated him. He is more a sympathetic villain than a moustache-twirling bad guy. Some of the criticisms for his character come from how he is able to build complex paranormal machinery similar to the technology created by Jillian Holtzmann. This is explained in the film; Rowan had studied Abby and Erin’s book Ghosts From Our Past and used this new knowledge gained from the reading to make his machines. As for those who complain about a certain sacrifice Rowan makes when he is told by the Ghostbusters the police are arriving at the scene, it is revealed that it was always a part of his plan. Another thing to note is that Rowan’s Ghost isn’t easily defeated; it takes more than a shoot at the private parts. They have to make the portal to another dimension bigger for one – Rowan is initially shown to be ‘too powerful’ to be drawn into the portal that opens up in New York.

My biggest gripe with this film is the way it relegates what should be an important scene to the end credits. During the credits, a possessed Kevin is shown leading soldiers in a dance sequence. This was removed from an earlier point of the film and explains why the same soldiers are placed into such odd positions by Kevin when they are under his possession. With no context, any members of the audience who decide to leave during the end credits will wonder what the sequence in the film with Kevin and the soldiers was about as it makes little sense until the credits play. The dance is a fun moment that could have worked nicely during the ghost battle in New York and the way it is relegated to the credits feels like an attempt by the studio to convince cinema-goers to stay until the end of the film. I am guessing they were worried viewers would miss the numerous mid-credits scenes and decided to include it to give them a reason to stay in the auditorium. There is still a problem that some may leave before the end credits however and miss the last tantalising scene; perhaps they should have announced in the press that there would be scenes during the credits instead?

Overall, Ghostbusters (2016) is a fun reboot of the 1984 original and feels like a more natural follow-up for the first film than Ghostbusters 2. Paul Feig seems to have a perfect understanding of what made the original Ghostbusters work so well; the comedy comes from the scary situations the characters are placed into rather than a parody of the horror genre. Like Ghostbusters (1984), Ghostbusters (2016)’s cast have a natural chemistry together and provide many laughs; they are the perfect ensemble and I doubt Sony would be able to find any actors more suitable for the franchise going forward than Melissa McCarthy and company. It seems like a lot of inspiration has been taken from Doctor Who (especially in the opening tour guide scene) and the way it sets out to scare its audience whilst offering a comforting blanket in the form of its heroes, as well as the strategy taken by the 2005 Revival to introduce an existing brand to a new audience. Kate McKinnon and Chris Hemsworth are the star performances; both offer the movie’s most hilarious moments be it eating Pringles in the face of danger or coming up with terrible logo designs. The only major problem is the way a major sequence becomes little more than a scene played during the credits. Kevin’s dance sequence really should have been a part of the movie’s story as its exclusion leaves a small hole in the narrative that doesn’t really make sense.

If you decide to see this film, make sure you see it in 3D; the 3D effects are spectacular – proton streams, slime and ghostly hands all come out of the screen – and the film would likely feel flat without them. Ghostbusters (2016) seems to have been made with the 3D effects in mind much in the same way as James Cameron intended Avatar to be seen in the format.

Simply put: this is one film you don’t want to miss in 3D. The power of Sean compels you!

Doctor Who: Is Gita Chandra returning?

Actor Mina Anwar has recently been cast in the latest series of Doctor Who, as a character called ‘Goodthing’. Many Whovians will remember Mina Anwar from the Doctor Who spinoff The Sarah Jane Adventures, where she played schoolgirl Rani’s mother Gita Chandra.

So could Gita Chandra be returning in Doctor Who?

Well, first you have got to ask why she would be returning. What importance could Gita possibly have to the plot of a Series 10 episode?

If the Bannerman Road Gang (consisting of school kids Sky, Luke, Clyde and Rani) were to return in Series 10, then it is possible they would bring Gita back in order to explore the domestic theme often present during Russell T Davies’ era of the show. The Moffat era has brought back the focus on domestic life before – for example, in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and The Power of Three with companion Rory’s father Brian Williams. Gita could fulfil the role of companion mothers Jackie Tyler or Francine Jones if the Bannerman Road Gang (or at least her daughter Rani) were to become guest companions for an episode.

Bringing the Bannerman Road Gang back would also be a nice way of continuing the late Elisabeth Sladen’s legacy, given that they were a part of a gang led by her character Sarah Jane Smith. It would be a nice tribute to such a brilliant and well-loved Doctor Who actor to have these characters appear in the main show. Sarah Jane may no longer be able to appear in Doctor Who but there is no reason why her presence can’t be felt with the appearance of her spinoff characters.

The one thing that may support this idea is the weird name given to Mina Anwar’s character. ‘Goodthing’ is far from a traditional name and reads more like a codename for something than what they would actually call a character. Doctor Who has had a long association with codenames; the revival of Doctor Who was initially referred to as ‘Torchwood’ and auditions for Amy Pond were talked about by the production crew under the name ‘Panic Moon’. ‘Goodthing’ may be another of these codenames to keep the return of the Bannerman Road Gang secret. After all, Steven Moffat is famously fond of keeping secrets; he kept the return of Davros in last years’ The Magician’s Apprentice/The Witch’s Familiar hushed up for one.

I think enough people care about the Bannerman Road Gang to warrant it being kept a secret. Many Doctor Who viewers have grown up with these characters and there is a sufficient demand to see the likes of Luke Smith and Clyde Langer return to the Whoniverse. The latest Doctor Who spinoff Class could always be used to remind viewers of the gang; maybe Luke could be a teacher at Coal Hill Academy, for instance?

Of course, it is equally possible that I could be wrong and Mina Anwar’s character is actually called Goodthing. The other members of the cast have also been given odd character names – Ralf Little is playing Steadfast and Kaizer Akhtar is Praiseworthy. Maybe the Doctor and Bill arrive on a planet where these names are commonplace? But it does seem suspect that the actor known for playing Gita Chandra has been cast in the show for the series of Doctor Who that will air ten years after The Sarah Jane Adventures began. Surely The Sarah Jane Adventures’ 10th anniversary would be the right time for a nod to the show?

Sony Pictures Announce New Ghostbusters Cartoon ‘Ecto Force’

Ghostbusters will be getting a new cartoon series in 2018, Sony Pictures revealed recently. The cartoon will be produced by Sony Pictures Animation in collaboration with director Ivan Reitman’s new Ghostbusters film company Ghost Corps. The cartoon series will feature a future setting, so won’t feature the Ghostbusters from the upcoming reboot.

Sony released an official synopsis for the animated TV show:

A brand new animated television series, Ghostbusters: Ecto Force, will further expand the Ghostbusters cinematic universe and focus on a new generation of Ghostbusters in the year 2050 who capture ghosts around the world with help from local teams—and some very cool gear!

Of course, this isn’t the first time Ghostbusters has had a cartoon series without the film Ghostbusters. The 1997 animation series Extreme Ghostbusters only featured one of the movie Ghostbusters (Egon Spengler); the rest were new characters: sarcastic slacker Eduardo Rivera (Rino Romano), mechanic Roland Jackson (Alfonso Ribiero), extreme sports fan Garrett Miller (Jason Marsden) and goth Kylie Griffin (Tara Charendoff).

That said, the original Ghostbusters still had a cartoon featuring the Ghostbusters from the film before they decided to introduce a new team. 1991’s The Real Ghostbusters featured Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler and Winston Zeddemore as the main characters, albeit without the live-action actors voicing their cartoon counterparts. Instead, David Coulier was the main voice of Peter Venkman (Lorenzo Music previously voiced him for the first two seasons), Maurice LaMarche voiced Egon Spengler (later reprising the role for Extreme Ghostbusters), Frank Welker was cast as both Ray Stantz and Slimer and Winston Zeddemore was voiced by Arensio Hall for three seasons before Buster Jones took over from season four.

It is therefore a curious decision to make a Ghostbusters cartoon with a new team before the current crew get one of their own. The original idea for the 1984 Ghostbusters had a future setting so maybe Ivan Reitman feels now is the right time to explore a futuristic Ghostbusters?

There are also plans for a Ghostbusters shared universe similar to the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) so it is possible this new team will operate similar to how Agents of SHIELD works as a television counterpart to the Marvel films. Maybe we’ll see some of the ghosts from the 2016 movie cross over to Ecto-Force? Maybe we might even get a live-action adaptation some point down the line that would allow the future team to meet the 2016 Ghostbusters via a time travel mechanic?

An interesting concept in the synopsis is the idea of the future team battling ghosts from around the world. It seems like we can expect the future Ghostbusters to do some globe-trotting, so could we see ghosts haunting London or the Australian Outback? The Ghostbusters taking on the ghost of Winston Churchill would be suitably barmy for what will likely be an eccentric kids’ television show.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though. The 2016 Ghostbusters reboot still has to be a success for the Ecto-Force cartoon to actually happen. Whilst it has been officially announced by Sony, if the Ghostbusters film flops then I expect Ecto-Force will be cancelled before it has even had a chance to air. Let’s hope the answer to the question ‘Who ya gonna call?’ will be ‘Melissa McCarthy‘ from the cinema-going public and not ‘someone else’.

 

The Perfect LEGO Doctor Who Videogame

In a time where LEGO Doctor Who is a thing, it’s hard to imagine now that at one point it seemed pretty unlikely to happen. Eleven years ago, despite the hugely successful revival the show just didn’t have the global reach. Fast forward eleven years and Doctor Who is talked about everywhere, from the pizza heaven of Italy to the McDonalds’ country of America. Doctor Who even got a level pack in the hugely popular toys­to­life game LEGO Dimensions. Yet there’s still no LEGO Doctor Who videogame…

So how would a LEGO Doctor Who videogame work? In this article, I will break it up into four areas: the hub, characters, vehicles and narrative (including gameplay).

The Hub

 

In a LEGO Doctor Who videogame, what else could the main hub be other than the TARDIS? The TARDIS is the show’s one remaining constant throughout its entire fifty three year history. Companions come and go, Doctors leave…but the TARDIS always remains. Imagine being able to explore the TARDIS corridors, enter the library or take a dip in the TARDIS swimming pool. In the control room, the central console should allow you to change the TARDIS’s desktop theme as well as travel to six hub worlds: Gallifrey, Skaro, Present Day London, New Earth, Victorian London and the Cavemen Era.

Gallifrey being the Doctor’s home planet would offer a fun place for Whovians to explore. I would want to be able to visit iconic places like the Time Lord Academy, the Citadel and the Death Zone. Skaro, meanwhile, would give you the other edge of the coin as the home of the Daleks. We’ve already seen the potential of an explorable Skaro in the Doctor Who Adventure World on LEGO Dimensions but there is one notable thing it misses out: the Dalek City. I want to be able to explore the Dalek corridors and maybe even stumble across a certain Barbara Wright who needs rescuing from them.

Present Day London of course would need to be a hub world given its importance in the new series. The majority of the new series companions are from London and only one is from anywhere other than the present day (Captain Jack Harkness). Whilst it doesn’t seem as exciting a place to explore as the previously mentioned hub worlds, it could be made more exciting by the ability to enter UNIT’s headquarters in the Tower of London and explore the Black Archive.

The only Earth location as prominent as Present Day London in Doctor Who is arguably Victorian London. Victorian London is something the show has explored as far back as 1967’s The Evil of the Daleks. Possibly the most famous Victorian London serial is 1977’s The Talons of Weing Chang, featuring two of the show’s most popular supporting characters in Jago & Litefoot. Victorian London could give you the chance to meet Jago & Litefoot at the Palace Theatre…or those other popular Victorian ­based characters Vastra, Jenny and Strax at 13 Paternoster Row.

As for The Cavemen Era, whilst admittedly it would a little limited in its potential as a hub environment it would make for a nice callback to the very first serial. The cavemen could give you various quests to complete such as making fire or helping an injured caveman.

New Earth would offer a larger variety of things to do. One of the things I would find fun in this setting would be trying to find a cure for the injured patients (maybe as part of a hub world quest). Flying through the Macra­i nfested motorway of Gridlock would be hugely enjoyable and being able to visit the hospital from New Earth would make for a nice bonus.

The Narrative

 

Okay, so we’ve covered the Hub…but what should the narrative actually be about?

Well, for a start I don’t think I’d want to see a LEGO version of already­ existing Doctor Who stories with the first LEGO Doctor Who video game. That could come with a later game, akin to how LEGO Marvel’s Avengers followed LEGO Marvel Superheroes. The first LEGO Doctor Who game should be an original storyline that pays tribute to the show’s entire history.

The best way to do that would be through a Multi­Doctor adventure. If the TV series can’t give us all thirteen Doctors onscreen at the same time, then let’s see LEGO do it. Better yet, let’s see LEGO actually bring together the surviving actors to voice their Doctors. William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee could be voiced by David Bradley, Reece Shearsmith and Sean Pertwee and if Christoper Eccleston can’t be enticed, Nicholas Briggs did a pretty decent impression for the Destiny of the Doctor audiobook Night of the Whisper.

And what of the companions? Well, I would like to see some of the most iconic companions joining the Doctors but it would be a bit much to expect every companion to appear in the main narrative. Mary Tamm, Nicholas Courtney and Elisabeth Sladen are sadly no longer with us and their deaths are too recent for their characters to be recast so sadly they can be ruled out. There’s no reason why Ian, Jo Grant, Ace or Leela couldn’t be a part of the narrative though and I would be open to Jemma Powell reprising her role as Barbara Wright from the Big Finish audios. Rose, Captain Jack, Mickey, Donna, Amy, Rory and Clara I would like to see a part of the same narrative also.

One thing I wouldn’t do is have the companions stick with their respective Doctors. Part of the fun of LEGO Marvel Superheroes was seeing the various characters from Marvel’s comicbook history interact with one another. I loved the bizarre combinations of Captain America and Mr Fantastic or Wolverine and the Human Torch. I would therefore want to see strange combinations like the first Doctor and Donna or the 11th Doctor and Zoe Heriot.

I would also want the iconic LEGO brick to be a big part of the story. My storyline would be as follows:

The Master is searching for the legendary Time Brick; a brick which grants its user the ability to erase time periods from existence. In order to help him claim the brick, the Master has teamed up with some of the Doctor’s deadliest enemies including the Daleks and the Nestene Consciousness. In order to combat this threat, Kate Lethbridge-­Stewart brings together every Doctor and a few of his most loyal companions. Can they get to the Time Brick before the Master?

One of my favourite things about the gameplay of the LEGO videogames are the puzzle­solving mechanics. My idea for a LEGO Doctor Who videogame therefore would see a large focus on solving puzzles in order to progress the narrative. Of course, the story would still see you fighting the Dalek Emperor or fending off the Wiirn but rather than achieving this through brawn you would be required to solve various puzzles such as mesmerizing a button pattern or solving a Pac­Man style maze. The Doctor has never been a fan of using fists and a LEGO game would have to reflect that as much as it can whilst maintaining the traditional LEGO formula.

Characters

 

Earlier in the article, I mentioned how including Sarah Jane, the Brigadier and Romana 1 in the main narrative would be unrealistic due to their unfortunate deaths, however their inclusion would be possible through characters that can be unlocked by completing quests in the hub worlds. The LEGO games generally don’t tend to give characters who aren’t in the main narrative dialogue (unless it’s LEGO Dimensions) so if they were to be included as playable characters outside the campaign recasting wouldn’t be required. In fact, it could make for a nice tribute that their characters live on through other mediums.

As well as Sarah, the Brigadier and Romana 1 I think it would be a good idea if the game allowed the other companions not in the main narrative to be unlockable also. I wouldn’t just want a handful of companions playable, I’d want to be able to play as them all. Every single one of them has played a big part in the show’s history (yes, even Adam Mitchell) and the LEGO games tend to have huge rosters anyway so I’m sure Traveller’s Tales would be able to find room to fit them all in.

Of course, no good hero would be complete without his enemies. And the Doctor is a good hero. There is therefore no way I would want to see a LEGO Doctor Who videogame

without a few of the Doctor’s enemies as playable characters. The Daleks would simply have to be playable – could you imagine a LEGO Doctor Who game where they aren’t? – but preferably as characters this time. I don’t like Traveller’s Tales’ decision to make the NFC Dalek in LEGO Dimensions a vehicle. Sure, the actual ‘Dalek’ is the Kaled mutant inside but the prospect of driving the travel machine is not as much fun as the idea of actually playing as a LEGO Dalek. Other villains I would want to play as include the Ice Warriors (I mean, they even have the LEGO hands), the Vashta Nerada and the Axons.

Something that many complain about when it comes to the LEGO rosters are the inclusion of generic characters like ‘Angry Cannibal’ from LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean or ‘Gryffindor Boy’ from LEGO Harry Potter Years 1­4. Doctor Who, being the marvelous show it is, has many infamous background characters though who would be fun to play as despite appearing generic. The Policeman from An Unearthly Child is one example. Or how about

Man Eating Chips from The Bells of Saint John? Perhaps the most popular inclusion would be Pigbin Josh from 1971’s The Claws of Axos. Simply put, LEGO Doctor Who: The Videogame would make the generic characters fun.

Vehicles

None of us think of Doctor Who for the vehicles but there are still a number I’d want to see. I particularly would love to be able to drive Bessie around Gallifrey as the 11th Doctor. Bessie had a small cameo in the LEGO Dimensions Doctor Who level pack The Dalek Extermination of Earth and it would be nice to be given the option to drive her around next time round.

Speaking of Pertwee Era vehicles, wouldn’t it be fun to pilot the Whomobile? Just imagine flying it above the fields of New Earth. What would make it even more fun is that you could be the Celestial Toymaker piloting it around. Imagine the Celestial Toymaker piloting one of the Doctor’s most well­known vehicles! Try telling me you wouldn’t want to see that.

Go on. Try.

You can’t, can you?

Because it would be undeniably awesome.

There aren’t really many other vehicles to mention, other than a UNIT Jeep. Spaceships would offer the most variety – not really surprising for a sci­fi show. You could have a Dalek spaceship, the Valiant, a Sontaran Battlecraft Pod, Cyber­ship…the list is endless. I’m sure if Traveller’s Tales were to release a LEGO Doctor Who game, the number of spaceships would be higher than the number of Earth vehicles. There would likely be a number of generic vehicles to make up the numbers (a random car here, a random bus there…) but from a LEGO Doctor Who game I would expect a higher emphasis on spacecraft overall.

Having said that, driving a UNIT Jeep around the Cavemen Era would be fun.

So those were my ideas for a LEGO Doctor Who videogame. We can only hope that one day Traveller’s Tales and LEGO will announce plans for a Doctor Who game. Doctor Who

would make the perfect LEGO videogame that I am sure many would buy and if it were to be as good as LEGO Marvel Superheroes, then one thing’s for sure: we’d be in for a trip of a lifetime.