Shakespeare Code

Episode 2 sees the Doctor taking Martha on that one promised trip. They go back in time to meet William Shakespeare and view one of his plays. However his words are being used to help free the witches which will lead to the end of the world. If you were to read Timewardens review of this episode you will see that there are many similarities between this one and previous episodes. Mainly the "Unquiet Dead" where the Gelth are trying to free themselves from their world and take over the earth. That episode also featured a famous British writer, Charles Dickens.

Further similarities can be drawn from the two Companions, Rose and Martha. Both showed a very similar excitement for being in the past. Mind you who wouldn't and Martha seemed more concerned about the possibility of changing the future than Rose ever did. There is also the Doctor's reluctance to take on Martha as a permanent companion. The Doctor has shown this reluctance before but I don't remember him ever being cruel about it and it was never because he missed the previous companion. Telling Martha that Rose would know what to say just seemed out of character to me and a little too human.

Despite all this I still enjoyed it. I like the idea of real witches being the inspiration behind "Macbeth". I also liked a rather angry Queen Elizabeth showing up at the end and can only hope that this will lead to a future episode. This isn't exactly new either but I quite like the idea of the Doctor travelling around and upsetting monarchies of the past.

I have managed to finish another Star Trek TNG box set. I have to say that this has some of my favourite episodes in it. I love the Klingon story lines and this one has a large proportion of them. The main ones are "Minds Eye" and "Redemption" (part one). Both continue the story of the Klingon empire being close to war and the Romulans trying to make the most of it. It also sees the return of Denise Crosby this time playing the daughter of Tasha Yar. Watching the extras at the end it turns out that this was Crosby's idea. She wanted to come back and do a couple more episodes and she came up with the idea of playing her own daughter. The Klingon/Romulan plot was all ready being written and they added her in. Personally I think this addition just adds to the story.

The extras also state that the producers of the show wanted to make it more character based which does actually show. You can see that in episodes such as "Brothers", "Future Imperfect", "Final Mission", "The Loss" and "Data's Day" to name but a few. When I first watched the show these episodes were my favourite but that has since changed. I seem to now enjoy the more involved episodes such as the cliffhanger episode. A few more facts for you. This was also the first time that a continuing story had been tried in ST such as the Klingon/Romulan theme. "Family" is also the only ST episode which does not have a single shot of the bridge.

Crazee4books, I loved "Firefly". I wish they hadn't cancelled it either. It is one of those DVD box sets I have bought without having seen the show. After hearing so many people raving about it and then spotting it in a sale I went ahead and bought it. One of the best things I have bought. I have watched it a few times now and will probably watch it a number more. It never gets boring. I like the film "Serenity" too.

Thanks for the comments on the crafts. Glad the Dodos went down well. I hope my swap partner likes them as much as the both of you did. Lili, I plan on making yet another sock monkey. I am going travelling for work soon and my friends at work have said I should take one with me to photograph too. Glad you are still enjoying the book. It does get strange! I am reading a book just now which has been described in the papers as being similar to Coupland. I am reserving my judgement for now. Will review it when I have finished it.