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Celebrating Brad Dourif: X-Files’ Luther Lee Boggs

By Owen Quinn author

Photos copyright Fox

Beyond The Sea is an episode from the first season of The X-Files and one that scared me at the time. Even watching it today, it unnerves me.

It is one of the best Scully episodes and sets the scene for future seasons for the Scully family template. Her dad is played by the late, great Don S Davis, better known to fans as General Hammond from Stargate SG1. It opens at Christmas time where Scully has had her mother and father over for dinner. before they elave, her father asks her if work is good and Scully says yes. She calls him Ahab and he calls her Starbuck. From this brief moment, we see that Scully is close to her parents and has a good relationship with them.

Scully dozes off on the couch and wakes up to see her father sitting in an armchair. His mouth is moving but there is no sound coming out. Her phone rings and it is her mother to tell her that her father died from a massive heart attack an hour before. When Scully looks back at the chair, it is empty.

This is one powerful opening as it places super sceptic Scully right in the middle of her own paranormal event. It is also incredib,y spooky to me especially since the same thing has happened to me.

Scully is back to work much earlier than Mulder would have liked as the funeral won’t take place until noon that day. There’s a nice touch here when he calls her Dana rather than Scully. Scully picks up on it but they are plunged into a double kidnapping case which they only have days to solve. A criminal on Death Row, Luther Lee Boggs, has told the FBI that since he was almost put to death in the gas chamber, it has awakened psychic powers in him. He wants to deal if he can help save the two kidnapped people then his sentence is reduced to life. This time, Mulder is sceptic because it was him who put Boggs in to death row and this sudden claim of being able to see things doesn’t wash with him. It isn’t the power that is in question for Mulder; it is the person delivering it.

The song played at Scully’s Dad’s funeral is restricted to family. Beyond The Sea is played in French. Scully wonders if her father was proud of her since she took a career with the FBI rather than fully pursue medicine. All her mother says when asked was he proud of his daughter is, he was your father.

All of this is vital to setting up the character of Boggs. The first shot we get of him is in an orange jumpsuit, handcuffed with tattooed knuckles. He is in a room talking to Mulder and Scully, slumped in a chair and sweating. He appears to be channelling some entity that spouts things at them and how Boggs must atone for his sins. He wants to deal but Mulder insists he save the victims first.

When handed a piece of cloth from one of the victims, he cries about terrible pain and how the boy Jim is tied with twine. He convulses as if someone is hitting him with a wire coat hanger demonstrating real theatrics. The location is a condemned warehouse cellar and there is a stone angel with a waterfall that is not water. But Mulder reveals that the cloth is from a T shirt of his and not connected to the case. As they leave, Boggs begins to sing Beyond The Sea which catches Scully’s attention. She looks back and her father is there sitting in Bogg’s place. He switches back to Boggs who then asks “Did you get my message, Starbuck?”

In this scene alone, the audience is not sure if Boggs is telling the truth or not. He has already planted the seed in Scully’s head and this is compounded when she drives home and sees a stone angel and a waterfall that is not water. It is a street sign nd she stops at the abandoned warehouse where she finds a charm owned by the kidnap victim.

It’s a nice switch in perspectives as Scully is now leading towards believing to which Mulder reacts badly. Her is afraid her judgement is clouded and she is putting herself in danger. Is Boggs playing them, orchestrating the kidnap with a accomplice from outside? They have three days left.

When Boggs gives them a location and warns Mulder not to go near the white cross because Boggs sees his blood on it, we, as an audience, are torn. We see what he sees when he describes the kidnapper, his emotions and more attacks with the coat hanger.

The greatest trick that fake mediums pull is they feed on that slight hope fo grieving people that they will hear a whisper of something from the other side that will give them comfort their loved ones are still here. People will pay thousands just for that. And while I know there are genuine mediums out there, there a hundred charlatans on top of that again. But is Boggs real or is he getting his information about Scully from outside somehow? He isn’t getting it from his weekly phone calls because he uses that to taunt Mulder that Scully believes him so why doesn’t he? He has no visitors so could it be Boggs really is getting these visions from beyond?

His credibility is further cemented when they find one of the victims exactly where Boggs said. Mulder is shot and to Scully’s horror, his blood is on a white cross just as Bogg’s said. When the kidnapper is identified as Lucas Henry who was but never proven to be Bogg’s partner.

Furious, she storms into Bogg’s cell and screams at him that she will gas him out of this world if Mulder dies. All of this has been a revenge plot to get Mulder for convicting him. But Boggs plays mind games and she asks him to let her speak to her father.

This is the most pivotal scene in the show as Boggs seemingly forces the spirit of her father back until he gets the deal he wants. Boggs’ hell is going to the death chamber over and over for all eternity. He reveals his family were there when he went to die; the family he murdered. He claims he left his body and souls flooded his body giving him his powers.

There is almost a childlike delivery to Boggs as he manipulates and plays mind games with Scully. Scully fights against it saying for Mulder and her father, where they are is not cold. Up against the clock and the wall, Scully lies that she has gotten his deal. Tearfully, Boggs tries to locate the last victim. He tells her where to find him but admits he knows she is lying but that she tried. He warns her not to follow the blue devil. Scully stops Henry and is finally forced to admit that Boggs is in fact telling the truth. If he had been in cahoots then he would have warned him of the same danger’ a rotten strut on a briidge before a picture of a blue devil.

He promises her the final mesage when he is put in the chair. We see all the people he murdered lining the corridor as he is led to the chair. But Scully is not there to get her message.

We finish off with Scully visiting Mulder in hospital and she is trying to logically explain how Boggs knew those things about her. She admits she is afraid of believing and she always knew what her father left unsaid because as he mother said, he was her father.

Grief can do things to us that we don’t expect and that includes seeing things that may or may not be there. It also makes us victim to other parties preying on our grief. Luthor Boggs turned out to be genuine in the end. Turning the Mulder and Scully dynamic on its head this early was brilliant and really deepened the connection between the two. Dourif’s performance is flawless and the tears on his face when Scully tells him she got him a deal are misleading. They are not tears of joy but of sorrow because he knows that she tried but failed. He is afraid of the cold place he is going to and has seen the light too late for redemption. Yet he still saves two people even though he is going to die. Perhaps this was to help him make peace with himself in the hope that where he is going may not be so cold after all.

In the hands of a lesser actor, this episode would not be as powerful and as enduring since it debuted in 1994. Beyond The Sea is simply a masterclass in how to do it right on every level.

TW Visits the Village of the Damned 1960

By Owen Quinn Photos copyright MGM

Day of the Triffids author, John Wyndham wrote this book, The Midwich Cuckoos and it is one of those adaptions that has not been remade and twisted over the years. There has been one sequel, Children of the Damned and a John Carpenter remake starring Christopher Reeve in 1995.

it’s a great idea that gives a new twist to alien invasion. Instead of landing in ships, why not play the long game? If you implanted human women with alien embryos, you would be doing it the smart way. Most of us live to procreate and continue our lineage with kids. We would die for them, we protect them even after they have flown the nest. They become everything for us and in many, many cases, parents are overprotective to the point they will not even let their kids walk to school. In my day, we walked every day.

Putting your invasion force into the body of a child automatically beings them the protection of humans for the most part. You would have acceptable losses as seen in the scene where the government and George Sander’s character meet to decide what to do with these obvious super kids. The alien plan does not take in to account the many varied cultures of our world. We learn that Midwich is just one location for multiple births, all on the same day during mysterious blackouts in which women were impregnated. Eskimo women who gave birth to ten blond children with cobalt eyes may show us that the aliens did not understand human genetics completely, otherwise they would have made the babies assume their parent’s appearance. This violated the Eskimo taboos and none survived. In Australia, thirty babies were born but died within ten hours. In Russia, the men of one village murdered both the babies and their mothers while in another, the children are being given the best education available.

These kids are under human protection, seen by those in power as possible weapons despite the fact that they can wipe out humans in a second. The children grow faster than normal. Normal human kids suddenly start dying in mysterious accidents, justified by George Sander’s character Gordon Zellaby as accidents he can ignore. He sees the kids, including his own son, David as the means to bring a better world because the children dress the same, can read minds, their eyes glow making people do things against their will. This is demonstrated in the scene where Zellaby’s wife tries to bottle feed baby David but it is too hot. David is a four month baby the size of an eighteen month toddler. The other villagers do not want their kids playing with the cuckoos.

Zellaby convinces his peerrs to allow him to keep the kids in Midwich in one place so he can learn more about them. Through David, he learns that the children cannot extend their powers high enough to control planes but they are here to learn from the likes of Zellaby. They appear to be cold emotionally, aside from David, who seems the more human of them all.

Zellaby compares them to a beehive or ant colony, all of one mind. I have to say the scene where the bully takes the Chinese puzzle box from one of the children is disturbing. Zellaby has just shown David how to open it and instantly, all of the other kids know how to do it too. But when the bully takes the box to get the chocolate hidden inside for himself, both the cuckoos present turn on him. Their eyes glow and it is also credit to director Wolf Rilla’s camera angles that make the little girl in particular look almost like a demon or nonhuman. The kids grow older demonstrating the long game plan of this. is it an invasion or an alien experiment to see how their cuckoos cope in becoming rulers of the Earth. But what will that rule look like?

I recall the Twilight Zone episode where Bill Mumy’s Anthony Fremont, a little boy whose every thought controls the world. How far will the cuckoos’ powers grow and is the likes of Zellaby so blind to the fact that his son may blink at him one day and wipe him from existence? Man’s humanity and moral code is keeping these kids alive given they grow into school children who know the world fears them even though they tell them not to. So does that mean they could be a force for good after all but that moral structure will come from the people they interact with?

As kids, they lash out if someone harms or nearly harms one of them as in the case one when one is almost hit by a car. A moral person would figure out the situation. Here, it is clear this was a genuine accident. But the cuckoos immediately turn on the driver and make him plough his car into a wall, killing him in the explosion.

Mrs Zellaby witnesses it, seeing the lack of reaction from David for the death. Her memory is fuzzy as to exactly what happened. But the brother of the driver is not so confused. He demands they ask the kids. When his attempt to kill the kids is thwarted, the kids make him blow his own head off. Zellaby is there, so is his brother in law and wife. They too are frozen by the kids so they can take out yet another threat. Zellaby’s brother in law argues with Zellaby over the kids. he sees the danger. How many more threats will be neutralised at the hands of the kids’ own moral code?

To be fair, this scene shows both sides. the driver’s murder is wrong, but when they are threatened by a shotgun, they pull together and take it out. They move physically together when facing a threat. Their glowing eyes are accompanied by a sound effect and unnerving music when the children attack.

Things get more serious when the Russian town with the thirty cuckoos is wiped out because the kids were taking control, so every villager was sacrificed to end the threat.

So, our villagers do the old Frankenstein mob bit. They march on the kids’ location with burning torches intent on killing every last one f them. They make one of the villagers set fire to himself to warn the others off.

Alan, Zellaby’s brother in law confronts the kids and warns them human law is there to protect them but David replies human laws are no use to them. They are aware of the deaths of the other kids and that it won’t happen to them because they must survive no matter what the cost. Humans must be taught to leave the kids alone. His mind is ravaged by the kids’ powers. He barely survives but does so at the will of the children.

The kids are intent on staying alive even if it means murdering everyone else but maybe there is a small grain of hope here as Bernard is not killed and they made one man set fore to himself as a warning to the others to back off. Humans suffer from emotions and feelings so they will never be like the children.

Their plan is to leave and spread to form new colonies in order to expand their kind. Their plan is global and if anyone finds out, more people will die. These may be children, but they have no concept of playing or doing anything a normal kid would do at that age.

Interestingly, if this is an alien invasion, there seems to be no further communication with whatever caused the initial blackout so perhaps this is nothing more than an experiment. Or perhaps, it is a way of seeding a world with their kind and let them evolve accordingly. It is never explained and that’s cool.

Zellaby who has been the one to keep the kids alive now must be their executor without the rest of the village falling. This stoicism is the only thing that keeps the kids from discovering the bomb he carries in his briefcase. But not even he can stand the mental assault of the kids all as one, but he manages to kill them all in the explosion that saves Earth.

It is clear that left to their own devices, these children would have destroyed life as we know it. Devoid of emotions. they are the ultimate in science epitomised in human form. But is that the lesson we must take from this? Only by keeping the balance between what makes us human and driven to open the secrets of the universe, can we make any progress at all. That no one side can be the elitist in the progress of humanity because without one the other is cold and sterile.

The kids from the Village of the Damned certainly showered us the terrifying possibility that uncontrolled intellectual power alone will only doom us and any hope of becoming more than we are. But at the heart of it all is the fact, one man makes a choice we as parents should never have to. he has to kill his own child to save the world and in the process a mother, whether the baby is human or not, is left devastated childless and a widow.

Memorable Deaths: Robocop’s Emil Antonowsky

By Owen Quinn photos orion Pictures

ience’s minds as a classic.

So, you know the first Robocop. It was a violent movie directed by Paul Verhoeven but it was rightly violent. delta City is overrun with crime and mad gangs.

Indeed, one of the worst was the gang run by Clarence Boddicker. Don’t let the name Clarence fool you. This is one badass played brilliantly by Kurt Brocksmith. This gang knew no bounds having killed over thirty one police officers. Emil was part of this gang, usually the driver and one of the participants in the brutal torture and murder of Alex Murphy, Peter Weller.

As Robocop, no one counted on Alex retaining memories and despite Boddicker’s best attempts, the final showdown was going to be brutal and all bets were off. But the most memorable death came for Emil. It is the one everyone remembers because it was so damned brilliant. I bet Emil wished he was in Toxic Avenger given how his fate played out.

Robocop tackles Boddicker’s gang and they split up to take the cyborg down. Emil takes the van and has seemingly trapped Robocop in his crosshairs. Robocop fires his weapon into the windshield and steps out of the way. The van smashes into a vat of toxic waste.

The back doors open under the deluge of waste, carrying Emil along with it.

It is gross. His body is melted with the waste. His face is melted as his fingers hang like sausages. he lets out the most inhuman howl, letting us know that he has swallowed it too. He collides with one of his gang members who yells in horror. Emil lets out a pitiful “Help me!”

We get a closeup of his face. His bottom lip is hanging and his right is under melted skin.

Boddicker is in a car chase with Robocop’s partner, Anne Lewis. Limbs deforming as he moves, Emil steps out in front of the car, seeking help. His body is steaming with acid, melting as he walks. Now, we are expecting a normal body hit by a car and thrown to the side of the road. However, this is Paul Verhoeven and he makes the audience freak out.

On impact, Emil shatters into bloody liquid with only his head bouncing off the bonnet off the car before Boddicker crashes.

This is what makes this death so memorable to audiences because it is so unexpected. Exploding into liquid was a stroke of genius rather than the usual going over the top of the car. Paul McCrane’s performance is perfect and horrific. You feel no sympathy for him after the sadistic nature of their murder of Murphy. If karma ever came a knocking, then Emil certainly got both barrels of it. Emil even got his very own reaction action figure.

The special effects are flawless here with no CGI at the time, it was all practical effects. I have to say the whole thing is flawless. We know they would have a standing sack of liquid for the final smash, but it is so well done, I can’t see the seams at all. Credit has to be given to Paul McCrane for those prosthetics and performance. He went on to be a most unlikeable surgeon in ER who lost his arm in a helicopter accident before being finally killed by a falling helicopter. Many said his character deserved that too because he was so nasty. he would appear in many roles, one of which sparked the Scully cancer storyline. He played a medic Leonard Betts, a genetic mutant that could see cancer, feed on it and regenerate himself. This came in handy when he was decapitated in the opening scene. Betts was a s gross looking as Emil did when he bathed in toxic waste.

But this death will remain forever in movie as a classic.

Photo copyright Fox X Files Leonard Betts

TW Watches The Time Machine 1960

By Owen Quinn author

II’ve always had a thing for Victorian London and its mysteries. It almost seems like a nexus in time where anything could happen. It was a double world, one of elegance yet beneath its surface, something dark and evil was lurking.

That is why when I created the Time Warriors, I had to have one of my adventures in Victorian London with all the trimmings. Hence The Time Warriors: he Volaox Horror was born and available now in paperback and kindle on Amazon. How could you resist? Jack the Ripper, the Time Machine, Time After time, Whitechapel and more, all spawned from this time and place that intrigues us so much.

So, when I first saw the movie the Time Machine, based on HG Wells book (you know he got all his ideas from the sixth Doctor in Timelash, don’t you?), I was hooked.

I would time travel in a heartbeat. Who wouldn’t want to see how the world looks years from now? In Rod Taylor’s character of George is man born in the wrong time. I have felt like that too. he hates the time he lives in because science is designing new weapons to help kill people faster. he believes that the world will be better in the future. he has faith that man will grow and bring about a world less savage than Victorian London. For those of us with no time machine, we can only hope a better world comes through in or children and descendants. George has the time machine so he can go whenever he wants and find a time that cements all his hopes and dreams. His friend Filby begs he destroy the machine before it destroys him. But George takes his fateful trip and what he finds destroys his faith.

This is a movie with deep themes. Would you travel in time if you got the chance? Should we do it even if we had that chance? Will man evolve and change the world to a paradise or will human nature simply roll on in cycles until he destroys the world he lives in. If you can’t settle in your own time, can you truly be content in another? What is man at its very core? The first thing I recall was how beautiful the time machine looked. It was no Tardis but a very simple concept. You simply sat in it and behind you the great wheel would rotate as you worked the brass and wooden controls. It stills stands as a favourite today even appearing in Gremlins.

The second thing that got me about this movie was the stop motion effects of George being able to see history change before his very eyes as he moved through time. He saw fashions change in shop window, vegetation grow and wither, cities expand watch snails race by like racehorses and flowers closing their eyes for the night. The faster he goes, the more things speed up and melt before him. The visuals are excellent and still stand as a beautiful example of visualising time travel, allowing the audience to travel with George. Not even Doctor Who has done that.

But he soon sees his idea of paradise is sadly wrecked as he encounters war. Man has not learned to stop killing; he has learned how to do it on a massive scale in more and more inventive ways. This is seen when he stops is 1917 and sees for himself the bombs falling in the Second World War. A nice touch is that George sees it all from his cellar. He is sitting in one space and the world is revolving about him. He meets Filby’s son and learns his dear friend was killed in the war. George’s legacy is that he is a mystery, a disappearance left to rumour of ghosts. That is a lovely touch of meeting those you knew and their descendants. This is cemented when he meets Filby from 1927 again as an old man. isn’t that a dangerous thing to know? I included that in the Time Warriors in the character of Varran. He is afraid of knowing what is to come and refuses to travel into the future.

He sees the labour of centuries gone in an instant TO atomic bombs. Mother Nature releases volcanos burning what is left of civilisation. Again, the effects here are stunning with the time machine barely escaping as lava flows. So, when George ends up in the same place thousands of years later, he finds what he hopes is his paradise.

The world has started anew and there are two tribes now. The simplistic, gentle Eloi and below the ground the animalistic Morlocks. Again, beautiful effects as he watches nature reclaim the Earth. He finds a Spinx like statue which is the entrance to the Morlock world, hinting some sort of civilised being at least, sculpted it.

The Morlocks terrified me as a kid and their design is simplistically effective to this day. Their dragging Eloi down into their underground world freaked me out. Somehow, they were human once so what happened to make them regress like this while the Eloi did not? He soon discovers that at the end of a great war, humanity decided to split. The Morlocks went underground and had a sort of industrialised primitive society. The Eloi were their flock to rear and take on reaching a certain age. Using an air raid siren, the Eloi are somehow possessed, maybe posthypnotic, and are summoned to the entrance of the Morlock lair. There some are taken while the rest return to their great building.

While exploring the ruins of a building where he finds tables with plates and cutlery, George would have made a good Doctor. His excitement and quick disappointment at seeing what man has become is very human. Indeed, his costume is something the Doctor would wear; elegant, practical and classic.

But the Eloi being even more questions as they sit by while one of their own, Weena (Yvette Mimieux) almost drowns. They are simplistic, play in the sun and eat the food from the land. Nor do they display any interest in who George is and why he is so different. They cannot write nor spell and knowledge is of no interest to them. There is no government or leadership. There is no law, nothing. They simply exist but as a species does not evolve or progress. They are literally a blank slate that could be shaped into anything. Or a flock that can picked off one at a time to feed the Morlocks. George is furious that books have been left to crumble to dust and mankind is at a standstill. Especially since they don’t even know what fire is.

I always remember how scared I was when George discovers his time machine has gone. Something about being stranded with no means home always unnerved me whether because of a childhood incident or not, I can’t say. But the notion terrified me. But of course, that is stories for you. The Morlocks have taken it into their world forcing George to stand and fight, not only for himself it seems but for the Eloi too, even if they are useless like living vegetables.

Given that the monstrous looking Morlocks give the humans their food and clothes, I can’t help but wonder, does George have a god complex as he sees himself as someone who can lead the Eloi into a new future where they can be human again. He takes three books with him when he returns to the future but we never know what they are. In the end, George cannot find his paradise anywhere in time, so decides to make it along with the Eloi. George is very much the saviour figure as he alone dares to enter the Morlock world and save the taken Eloi.

The taken Eloi are eaten by the Morlocks who, despite their industrialisation, degenerated into cannibals. It is only Weena’s bravery at leaving the great building at night to warn George of the threat of the Morlocks that gives George hope that they can be led to a better future. Indeed, in the battle with the Morlocks when it seems George will die under their hand, an Eloi strikes a Morlock with his fist, saving George. God cleanses by fire so when George encourages the Eloi to throw dead wood into the burning Morlock kingdom, he saves them from not only that threat but shows them they can forge ahead under their own steam. Taking away the Morlocks ensures that the Eloi have to fend for themselves. And maybe George sees that the cycle will begin again. But if he stays then he could help shape that future and stop history repeating itself.

The Time Machine is a classic that left an indelible impact on me as a kid. It is rich in themes that are generational but also make us wonder, is man doomed to repeat self destruction time and again, no matter what history teaches us? Maybe for George, it isn’t a god complex that drives him but the hope that man can finally rise above war and create paradise at last. And who better to do that than the man who has seen it happen time and again for himself. In the end, George wants to deliver the peace we all deserve.

Stand By Me: A Reflection

By Owen Quinn author

“I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?”

Stand By Me, from the pen of Stephen King, is a classic and yes, I often do the theme song on karaoke. You all know the cast so won’t waste our time and if you don’t, why not?

The horror elements comes from a dead body out in the woods and the boys all having horrors at home that they are too young to deal with. They intend to find the body and become local heroes but they have a gang of local bullies to deal with.

Friends change over the years due to where life takes us and circumstance. But even when we lose touch, we don’t lose our memories of our time with them. Life is mad at twelve years old and your network back then was your friends.

They were your confidants, your backup and the only ones you could rely on.

The story is triggered when Geordie learns if the death of his best friend Chris Chambers.

That triggers their search for the body on Labour’s Day weekend.

Chris comes from an abusive home and his drunken father doesn’t want him top do that as a career. Geordi’s brother was killed in a car crash while Teddy’s father is seen as a loon but is suffering from PTSD.

Puberty is a weird time for anyone but it is a point where we begin to see that life is not as black and white as we thought. Kids can die too. What happens behind closed doors is not always pretty, people are treacherous and can abuse their power where kids are concerned.

When Chris admits he admits being poor and reveals he stole milk money. He confessed and returned the money but his teacher said nothing, pocketed the money and gave Chris detention. It is these things that drive him to be the writer he wants to be and escape the life he has. The scene where he tells one of his stories is magical and for boys, the most horrible thing that can happen is to have a leech on your penis.

The moment where Chris sees a deer while by himself is beautiful. It is a special moment he keeps to himself and I certainly have memories like that.

Stand By Me is a movie about friendship and the ties that bind us, even if we drift apart. As I said, friends come and go but the adventures we had with then=m never leave us. It is the journey of self discovery, finding the strength to stand up against bullies and do what’s right no matter what the world says.

By deciding not to take the credit for finding the body but leaving an anonymous phone call instead, they have grown during that weekend and shown more morality and openness than most adults.

What life was like before we grew up.

When Jodie Whittaker Nailed Being The Doctor: 2

By Owen Quinn author. Photos copyright BBC

2: You’ve had that coat a while then!

In Village of the Angels, part four of the Flux series, the Tardis has been hijacked by a Weeping Angel. It is piloting the craft somewhere, leaving the Doctor, Yaz and Dan trapped at the door, trying desperately not to blink.

Now this moment is not an action sequence or takes place at a dramatic moment. It is actually very subdued and immediately reminded me of something the eleventh Doctor would say. No matter what face the Doctor wears, they still have to have that quirky ‘Doctorness’, for want of a better word. Whether it be jelly babies, timey wimey or a fez, there has to always be that quality that will make the viewer sit up and go, there’s the Doctor.

In order to get rid of the angel, the Doctor tries a mad stunt which works. While this is going on, we learn that a village is out looking for a ten year old young girl that has gone missing called Peggy. Among the searchers are her great uncle and great aunt, Gerald (Vincent Brimble) and Jean (Emma Churchill).

When the Tardis lands, it is in a state and needs time to repair itself. Gerald and Jean are outside the police box. Gerald is trying to use the phone to summon help. Instantly, Yaz tells them they are a rapid response unit. It is night and the Doctor immediately begins sussing where they are. She can tell it is coastal, Devon and thinks it is the year 1949 when she sniffs Gerald’s coat much to his indignance.

He snaps back that it is 1967 to which the Doctor sheepishly replies, “You’ve had that coat a while then.”

It may seem like nothing but it is a Doctor moment. We’ve had Doctors licking things to guess their nature, we’ve had the eleventh Doctor lick his finger and hold it into the air to determine where and when they are. Add to that the newly regenerated Doctor sticks his finger in the Sycorax blood vat just to see what type of blood it is.

Wrongly guessing the year from the smell of the coat is a lovely character moment because it is exactly what the Doctor would do. It also tells us about Gerald. He is very particular and has kept the coat in excellent condition to the point it has worn very well and still as new as the day it was bought in 1959. Although I suspect that Jean had a lot to do with keeping it so pristine. It also reflects the time too when people got things and looked after them, getting great wear out of them, not like our disposable, instant gratification society of today. It is little unsaid details like this that add so much to a story and its characters.

Indeed, I still have my father’s overcoat that my mother bought him back in the eighties. It is as good as the day it was bought and that is what this scene reminded me of. Everything is of a time and place that will jog memories in everyone.

And having established where and when they are, the Doctor is distracted by something else and wanders off, telling her companions not to wander off. Again, such a Doctor thing to do. It is little details like this in the writing and performance that keep reminding you that you are watching Doctor Who. And when the 13th Doctor told the 15th that no matter what face they wear, they never change.

Say what you want about this era but Jodie was in her stride as the Doctor.

TW Watches The Walking Dead: Days Gone By S01E01

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

There are few shows that capture my heart and attention from the very first episode. I can literally count them on one hand and have stayed with me to this day. The Walking Dead is one such show.

I had never heard of the Walking Dead comics. I wasn’t even aware they existed and this new zombie show had come out of nowhere. Little did I know but I am glad I came to the show with eyes not tainted by the comic version. Now years later, it remains one of my favourites ever and my family are all fans of the show. We have visited Walker Stalker and my son volunteered at a convention where he worked with Steven Ogg all weekend. It is a love that has never died and why is that? Because I fell in love it from the first episode but not for the reasons you may think. Read on.

I was already familiar with Andrew Lincoln’s work from various British television shows so automatically I had a point of reference. All I knew was that this was a zombie show.

The opening scene hooked me straight away. A clean, neatly dressed Sherrif whom we later learn is Rick Grimes gets out of a cop car with a petrol container. There is utter silence bar the chirping of birds and as viewers we take in his surroundings. The road is filled with abandoned vehicles and on closer inspection there are children’s bikes and shoes littering the ground in places. Flies buzz in swarms and there is no gas at the gas station. Something big has occurred and Rick suddenly sees the feet of a little girl walking along. He sees her lean down and pick up a cuddly rabbit. When he speaks to her, she turns and we see the full horror of this world. She is a zombie which launches at him. He shoots her through the head and cue the theme music. I’ve always wondered why a zombie would pick up a cuddly toy unless there was still some residue of that human remaining.

That is a strong opening for any show as it opens the door to the disaster but also opens more questions. It also shows us that there will be no hold barred in this show and that not even kids are safe. In every disaster we instinctively protect children so for a child to be the first monster we see is jolting. Her pale skin and bloodied mouth stand to this day as pop culture and we would return to this image as would the zombie kid actors at later date.

We flashback to when the world was normal when Rick and his deputy and best friend Shane are caught in a shootout. Rick is hit and rushed to hospital. They discuss global warming and women which to us is a big threat to the planet. A zombie apocalypse is not even something we conceived of beyond movies. Rick’s marriage to wife Lauren is on the rocks opening threads for the future as Shane fancies Lauren.

When Sheriff Rick Grimes wakes up in a hospital after a shooting gone wrong, he is alone. The empty corridors strewn with debris and chained doors with the words, “Don’t Open. Dead Inside” sprayed on them evoke mystery from the start. There are dead bodies and partially eaten ones too. Something groaning tries to push the doors open from the other side scaring Rick. The scare factor continues as he walks down a dark staircase with only a lighter. Is there a chance that this is some type of nightmare of illusion created by the injured Rick’s mind and medication? There are so many questions that the audience ask as Rick ventures into the outside world.

The grounds of the hospital are lined with covered bodies and the sight of a crashed Helicopter alert us that even the military was taken down by whatever has happened. The direction evokes the sale of the disaster via long shots of deserted streets.

Desperate to get home, Rick finds a bicycle and a zombie ripped in half tries to attack him. In a webisode we would met this woman on the bike as it reminds us that these creatures were human once. Reaching home, Rick is devastated to find his family gone presuming them dead, yet hoping they are alive somewhere and wonders if he is dreaming this whole thing.

He sees a lone man walking down the street dressed in a suit and waves to him hopefully. It has been a silent world and suddenly the seeds for the future appear in the form of Morgan and his son, Duane, who hits Rick on the face with a shovel. Morgan takes Rick of the street and cares for him and we learn yet more when Morgan questions the typ of Rick’s wounds asking if he was bitten as well as shot. Morgan’s kindness is baanced by putting a knife to Rick’s face and warning him Morgan will have no hesitation in killing Rick. Rick relaises they are in a neighbour’s house and that the gunshot has drawn more of the dead to the area. They must hide here quietly to stay alive.

Morgan tells Rick what happened and all about walkers and the consequences of being bitten. Morgan’s wife is a walker too. We get to see the full horro of it all when we get a scare jump when a car alarm goes off bringing more walkers in. And we witness the horror of losing loved ones when Morgan’s wife comes to the door and tries to open the door after looking in the spyhole. She died in the house so again we wonder if there anything left of the person in the zombie body.

When daylight comes they go to Rick’s home where he realises that Laurie and Carl may still be alive as clothes and family albums have gone. There are refugee centres and rumours they are working on a cure. They head for the sheriff’s station where they shower and clean up. Rick decides to head to Atlanta to find his family leaving Morgan and Duane behind. Rick arms them and leaves them a walkie talkie promising to call in every day. As we know now Morgan would be back in a couple of seasons and eventually end up the lead in Fear The Walking Dead.

The world is now a scary place where death walks the streets. The human cost is once again demonstrated when Rick has to put one of his deputies down. This is important as it shows Rick stands for morality in this world. He cannot leave a colleague a zombie and gives him a merciful death because it’s the right thing to do even if Rick didn’t think much of him as a man. But more importantly this is the moment I fell in love with this show. While Morgan looks through photos of his late wife, Rick returns to the half zombie and sees her in a different light.

She was a person one but somehow became this thing to be feared. She is as much a victim of this nightmare as the rest of the world. He tell her he is sorry for this happening to her snd puts her out of her misery. You can almost feel that it is a relief for her. At the same time Morgan has his dead wife in his rifle’ sights. She looks up at him and he cannot bring himself to kill her. It is beautifully done as Morgan’s wife looks like a lost child. She has a wide eyed look as if asking why this has happened to her.

I felt sorry for the zombies too. For a show to make me see zombies through a sympathetic light is a show with very special writing. Zombies are victims just as we are.

We meet Shane, Carl and Laurie with a group of survivors. Shane and Laurie kiss but have no idea that her husband is on his way.

There have been many iconic images over the years but Rick riding into Atlanta on horseback is one of them. So far we have seen single or groups of zombies so the full horror has not been shown to us. How could these slow moving, brain dead corpses who cannot even run take down society? If the viewer thought the little girl zombie being shot in the head was horrific then they are to get a whole new world of terror.

The streets are quiet just like the world. The new background track of life is the buzz of flie and the chirping of birds. The stench of rotting corpses is the new aroma.

Rounding a street corner, avoiding a few zombies, Rick finds a tank and bodies being eaten by crows. Upon hearing a helicopter, Rick is suddenly faced with a zombie horde. The street is wall to wall with them and Morgan’s words come back to haunt us about how deadly they are in large groups. The horse rears throwing Rick off as the poor animal is ripped apart by te dead. He crawls under the tank. He is about to shoot himself when he sees the hatch in the underbelly. He shoots a zombie soldier but is deafend by the gunshot.

Again the zombies seem more intelligent as they crawl in after him and discover the top hatch. They seem to be trying to figure out a way in. Trapped, a voice comes over the walkie talkie. It is Glenn and we are left with the horse being devoured and the zombies trying to open the top hatch of the tank as the camera pans up into an overview.

This is a perfect opening for what would become a phenomenon. The story is opened layer by layer yet a lot is not unanswered. We meet some of the main characters but not Daryl. Frank Darabont does a great directing job evoking horror from every scene. The mass of bodies lying in the grounds of the hospital and on trucks amid wrecked vehicles is the stuff of nightmares. As I said this is the first time I have ever seen zombies through new eyes cementing my love for the show. I still didn’t know about the comics until about five episodes in. I never read any until several seasons in until the temptation to see exactly how the show deviated from the comics.

The source material was good allowing the show runners to build upon them and give us a special treat to something that would run for years allowing spin offs too. If ever you want a lesson on how to start a legend this is it.

TW Watches Teen Wolf S05E01 Creatures Of the Night

By Owen Quinn author

On the eve of their senior year, Scott McCalland his friends find themselves facing the possibility of a future without one another, a next phase of their lives that might take them in different directions despite their best intentions. Little do they know that outside forces are already plotting to break the pack apart long before they ever see graduation. New villains use a combination of science and the supernatural for a malevolent and mysterious purpose that will eventually pit Scott and his friends against their greatest enemy yet.

Teen Wolf had long shrugged off the image of Michael J Fox and drew totally on the horor aspects of the supernatural. Four seasons in and it was popular. Scott had become the alpha of his own pack but they had endured heavy losses. His girlfriend, Alison, had been killed at the end of season three but had found love again with Kira (Arden cho).

Their enemies were fierce and this show was not afraid to go full out horror . The monsters were great, the villains complex and alliances shifted as Scott became the wolf he was truly meant to be.

But season five would bring a terrifying new enemy that was like nothing they had seen before. The Dread Doctors arrived with an agenda of their own. They liked to cross supernatural species to create chimeras that they could control. They spliced together creatures to see if they worked. |if not, they would murder their own creations.

But before they arrive, we see Lydia, catatonic and being abused by mnurses in some sort of hospital.She triesd to escape using her banshee screams but is stopped. She cries out that sll her friends are going to die and she has to warn them. Police officer Parrish who is really a hellhound, is sent to investigate a noise complaint and is slashed across the chest by a werewolf hybrid, Belasko, that wants Scott.

The direction is excellent here as Parrish fades in and out of consciousness, comforted by the illusion of Lydia until he is found by Sheriff Stillinski, Stiles’ dad.

Buffy was famed for good battle choreography but Teen Wolf equals that and more. The wolf fights Scvott and Kira in a rain drenched backgroiund, charging from a waterfall as the drains are overflowing. This wolf manages to spear Scott and begins draining his power from him but Scott gains the upper hand. Scott being the balanced man he is gives the wolf the choice to run away rather than kill him on the spot.

It is also sees the arrival of Theo, an old school friend from years previous and whom Stiles immediately has suspicions about. As we would find out, Stiles is one hundred per cent right. It will be revealed that Theo is working with the Dread Doctors to create his own supernaturally charged pack and kill Scott. While the horor unfolds we get the balance of the friends worrying about their final year and losing contact with each other. This is particularly a concern for Stiles. he has the friends he wants and doesn’t want to lose them when they go their separate ways.

Belasko runs to the Doctors who have enhanced his ability, begging for more power so he can remove the obstacles. The Doctors kill him where he stands. The Dread Doctors are a brilliant concept. They are a mix of steampunk Borg alongside Cenobite elements with a medical degree. They are seen in slow motion, their faces behind masks, giving the impression their steampunk implants are powering them and their instruments. They have electronically augmented voices which are flat and emotionless almost like a Cyberman. These doctors are not the type you really want at your bedside. They do not give second chances and they are racing against the clock. Belasko is a failure and not worth any more time.

But the final scene reveals that this is a flashback. Lydia is in an asylum being questioned by one Doctor Valack who wants to know what happened to everyone. We get a series of flashbacks which show all of our heroes in danger or possibly dead. But since L:ydia cannot remember, then Valack will preform trepanning on her so he can get the information he wants.

So the mystery is set. Who are the Dread Doctors? What is their connection to Scott and Belasko? Is Theo really to be trusted? Things are going to get a lot darker before the end of the season but that’s what Teen Wolf does best. Heroes will get savaged and innocents will suffer.

After four seasons the cast are fluid and comfortable and you believe that they are a team. Writer and creator Jeff Davis knows his stuff and works the darker elements seamlessly with the day to day worries like having to order in food because there is nothing in the fridge. Jeff is also a great advocate for the gay community and brilliantly serves up fiuly fledged, three dimensional character to further diversity long before anyone else did. And by the time the season ends, Davis will once again show the world why they should be watching Teen Wolf.

One Day Only:Daredevil Star for Dublin Comic Con Summer 2026

GUEST ANNOUNCEMENT – SUNDAY ONLY 🔥😈

We’re beyond excited to announce that Charlie Cox will be joining us at Dublin Comic Con – Summer Edition 2026 on Sunday, August 9th only!

Best known as Matt Murdock / Daredevil in Daredevil, Daredevil: Born Again, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and more, Charlie has become one of the most beloved actors in the Marvel Universe. 🦸‍♂️🔥

⚠️ IMPORTANT – SUNDAY APPEARANCE ONLY

Due to expected demand:

✍️ Autographs are ONLY available via online pre-purchase in advance and will be sure to sell out

🎟️ Autograph numbers are strictly limited

📸 Photo Ops are also available via online pre-purchase only

🎟️ Photo Op numbers are limited and expected to sell quickly.

🕒 Both autograph and photo sessions will be split into Morning and Afternoon sessions, so please ensure you select the appropriate ticket when booking.

📅 The exact timings for all sessions will be confirmed and published on the event timetable closer to the show.

⏳ We fully expect both autographs and photo ops to sell out fast, so don’t delay if you want to secure your spot!

📍 Convention Centre Dublin

📅 Sunday, August 9th, 2026 ONLY

🎫 Entry tickets, photo ops, and autograph tickets available now at DublinComicCon.com or https://www.tixr.com/…/dublin-comic-con-summer-edition…

Brought to you by Comic Con Ireland – Est. 2013

#DublinComicCon#comicconireland#CharlieCox#Daredevil#Marvel#DaredevilBornAgain#MattMurdock#DCCSummer2026

Book Excerpt: Tales from Ballinfree: Ghosts of Halloween

By and copyright of Owen Quinn

Suddenly, Diamond Sparkle snapped awake as something teased her senses. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up and looked out the window. She could see the forest of sleeping butterflies. It was dark and the moon wasn’t full. Suddenly, something caught her attention. Leaning closer so her eyes could focus, she gasped.

There, floating among the trees above the ground were three white figures. They looked exactly like the things they had drawn for the classroom. It looked like white sheets moving through the air. They were glowing with an unearthly light just like in the stories.

She ducked down beneath the windowsill, hoping they could not come through her glass windows. They came closer. She held her breath.

After a few minutes, Diamond carefully peeked out was relieved there was nothing there. side.

Quickly, Diamond jumped back under her quilt and shut her eyes tight.

Mrs Squirrel was wrong.

The ghosts were real, and they had come to steal the candy buckets on Halloween.