Altoona Con - Review

Today I had the pleasure of attending the first (hopefully) annual con in Altoona Pennsylvania. Unfortunately the advertising for this was lackluster, but I was pleasantly surprised. 


The space was a corner room in the grand Altoona hotel (formerly Ramada). Thinking positively, all of the tables were filled with a decent variety of artists and regional dealers. However, the room was small and cramped. For $2, we got a gift of free comics and an enjoyable introduction to comic cons for my kids (my 7 year old girl went nuts at any Dr Who stuff). They also got to see a few cos-players as well. 


For a first year, it was nice. Vendors were pleasant and prices looked very reasonable. Hopefully the organizers will realize how needed this is in my area and increase the space. Until then, we have "sci fi in the valley" in May.

Review "Dark Water" & "Death in Heaven"

So the Season has come to end with a two part serial, "Dark Water" and then "Death in Heaven". Since this is one serial, I am going to review both episodes together as one.

There's a lot to take in from both of this serial. First the Master is back as a woman named "Missy". One mystery down. The Cybermen are back. Danny Pink is turned into a Cyberman and is potentially lost forever. The Brigadier is back, well kind of. We learn what the after-life is all about and I now know that I don't want to be cremated. That's a lot to take in. Lets look into each of these.

Review "Flatline" & "In the Forest of the Night"

Reviewing this new season of Dr Who has been trying for me, but I'm plugging away. Since I watched both "Flatline" & "In the Forest of the Night" today, I figured that I would review them both.

"Flatline" is first up and it's a bag of good and bad. The good, the special effects. The shrinking of the Tardis and having the Doctor trapped inside looked awesome and having the hand come out of the Tardis was really well done.  It's the not the first time the Tardis has been shrunken. In "Logopolis", the Master shrinks the Tardis down to a miniature size trying to kill the Doctor. You know the Master, he loves to shrink things. The other special effect that I thought was great was the 3-D versions of the monsters. They were creepy. I mean very creepy. I mean so creepy that if I saw one of them in person, I would crap my pants.

The thing I didn't enjoy at all was the overall lack of depth to the story. Yes, the creatures had some great moments, but they lacked depth (in more then one way). We know absolutely nothing about these creatures. This is the type of story that needed a more drawn out story. We need to know why they are here and their history. I just feel like after watching this episode, I could have skipped this episode and it wouldn't have made much of a difference. It was rather boring.