Best of 2015: Television

It's been a good year for television, hasn't it? Here's my top 10 TV series' of 2015.

8 Bit Doctor Who Christmas Gifts

If you're in need a quick and easy gift to give to a friend/family member then look no further, these 8-Bit Doctor Who characters are fantastic and are fun additions to include in a Christmas present. They're also quite good to keep for yourself for keepsake. I wouldn't recommend only giving these as a present, they're fun to put as a small present to accompany an ordinary gift.

Doctor Who: Christmas Specials Reviews

So far Whovians have been treated to 10 New-Who Christmas specials. 5 (or 6 if you count The End of Time P.1 & P.2 seperately) with David Tennant's Tenth Doctor, 4 with Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor and 1 with Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor, with the upcoming The Husbands of River Song adding another Christmas episode to Capaldi's tenure.

Farewell, Clara Oswald

Who Should You Be For Halloween?

Before I start, do this quiz to find out who you should dress up as for Halloween! Then look below it to see how I would put these costumes together!

Seriously, these costume ideas are pretty cool. Some, as seen with the quiz above, are more complex than others. Here are some ways I would make them work. Do some gender-bending, or just go straight for whoever you want.

Batman

A Batman mask is relatively cheap online, find yourself a cape and a utility belt and it's a quick make-shift Batman costume.

Dumbledore

Dumbledore; find an old flat cap and tat it up and dye grey. Wear some grey, tatted up bed sheets. You're Dumbledore.

Groot

Wear some sticks/twigs/leaves and you're instantly a talking tree. ONLY say "I am Groot" though. 

Miranda Sings

Wear a lot of 'lisstick' as Miranda would say, put on a horrid old jumper and a red tracksuit on. You're internet star, Miranda Sings.

Lumpy Space Princess

Paint some cotton balls purple, stick them on you and wear a crown and a sassy attitude. You're Lumpy Space Princess!

Katniss Everdeen

I would especially go for a tribute look from the first Hunger Games movie, very similar to the books. Brown jacket, trousers, boots. 

Squirrel Girl

I would perhaps recommend going for the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl costume (on the right), unless you have a brown, furry leotard and a bunch of actual squirrels floating around somewhere. Obviously, the tail is the difficult thing here. Other than that, a jacket, jeans, boots, ginger hair, belt, squirrel ears. You're Squirrel Girl. 

Twelfth Doctor

The Twelfth Doctor: Spray hair grey, boots, trousers, waistcoat, shirt, and a long blazer, stitch red lining if you can be bothered. Speak with a Scottish accent. Ta-dah! You're a time lord!

BIZARRE CROSSOVERS

HELLO! Today's blog post is a bit of a weird one, I mean... no, seriously, it's a weird one. I have 5 bizarre crossovers that I'd, kind of, like to see. Don't judge, just appreciate the artistic integrity of these crossovers.

1. Miranda and The Hunger Games 

Hit BBC sitcom Miranda collides with the world of The Hunger Games, with Miranda finding herself and her friends Stevie, Tilly and Gary, and her mother Penny, in Panem. At the quarter quell reaping, it is announced that anybody of any age can be chosen as the district's tribute for this year's Hunger Games. Miranda is mistaken for a man (yet again) and finds herself representing District 12 alongside her best friend Stevie Sutton. How will they survive? Will Miranda become the Mockingjay and lead the rebellion against the Capitol? 

2. Modern Family and Doctor Who

Just imagine Cam Tucker against the Weeping Angels. Just imagine the screams. Haley would be confused as heck, and Phil would be trying to be best friends with the Twelfth Doctor. I feel like this crossover would actually work quite well, with Alex Dunphy and Mitchell Pritchett practically becoming the Doctor's companions while Gloria, Manny and Cam scream in fear of the Weeping Angels. 

3. The Muppets and Miranda Sings/GloZell

With The Muppets getting their TV series, we're guaranteed tonnes of guest stars. Now, this isn't much of a crossover as much as a WE NEED GLOZELL WITH KERMIT AND WE NEED MIRANDA SINGS TO ARGUE WITH MISS PIGGY. Just imagine the sass and all the green.

 I ship them. #KerZell

Miranda Sings VS Miss Piggy fight scene please. 

4. Keeping Up Appearances and Downton Abbey

Imagine Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Bouqet) finally achieving her goals of being an upper class snob, only to be challenged by Maggie Smith's Violet. Mind you, Hyacinth wouldn't need servants, she's got Richard.

5. New Girl and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Jess and Kimmy, the ultimate weird people. It would essentially be an episode where they try to compete over how bizarre they are, while Cece and Titus go shopping and Schmidt, Nick, Coach and Winston fight over Jacqueline Vorhees.

Was that bizarre enough? 

Check back on September 1st for my August Soundtrack, listing 10 songs I've been listening to throughout the month!

Bye for now!

TotallyCulture

Doctor Who Themed Cupcakes

Excuse the buttercream, I feel I had to open with that because the buttercream went considerably wrong, it still tastes good though and the colour is rather fun. Basically, THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF IS BACK WAHEYYY. I thought, being a fan of both Doctor Who and The Great British Bake Off, I'd connect the two and make some time vortex themed cupcakes, below I will include the recipe as well as 5 easy steps. Enjoy my bizarre attempt at geek baking.

Ingredients

• Caster sugar 55g
• Icing sugar 55g
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 60ml water
• Baking powder
• Food colour gel paste
• 55g softened butter x2
• Food colouring
• Edible glitter
• 55g plain flour
• 1 medium sized egg
• Edible gold stars
• 6 cupcake cases
• Pinch of salt

Cupcake recipe

• Preheat the oven to 180°/350F/Gas 4
• Place your 6 cupcake cases in the muffin tray
• Put the butter and sugar into a bowl and  beat until it's pale 
• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl, then beat the eggs and vanilla until it's all combined. Add the food colouring and gel paste to create the time vortex look, and then spoon into the 6 cupcake cases. 
• Bake for 18-20 minutes until the outside has risen and is firm, but also golden on the outside. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes then transfer the 6 cupcakes onto a wire rack to cool more. 

Buttercream recipe

• Beat 55g butter until soft, then beat in 55g icing sugar in, a tablespoon at a time. Add the coloured gel paste used in the mix for the darker tones and mix until it's an appropriate consistency and the fitting colour, depending on the colour theme you have chosen.
• Pipe onto the cupcakes once they are cooled, and sprinkle the edible glitter over the top of the buttercream in a circular rotation to add bright spirals around the buttercream. Add a small pinch of the glitter to the very top of the buttercream, creating a shiny point at the top.
• Take a few of the edible stars and sprinkle them onto the cupcake, following the glittered spirals. Take some more of the edible stars and place them randomly and loosely in small clusters. 
• EAT

1. Get your ingredients ready

2. Mix that 'ish

Basically, yeah. Mix it all up. Add a tiny bit of vanilla essence for flavour. 

3. Colour it up

Use one food colouring AND gel for two different consistencies, the gel should be used for the darker effect, the food colouring used for the lighter effect. Don't mix it fully, leave it to a loose mix to create streaks within the mix, this will create the time vortex look in the bake. Here I used green for lighter and navy blue for darker, use any colour combination to create a time vortex/space effect inside the cake as seen below, I would also recommend yellow/red, pink/purple, red/blue.

4. Conjure up the buttercream

5. Decorate the cakes

I initially used gold edible glitter, however the consistency was too heavy and the colour wasn't fitting, so I used silver/white edible glitter instead and 'sprinkled' it over the cupcake, adding edible gold stars on. On reflection, I wish the buttercream were much darker and a thicker consistency in order to really enhance the whole 'space' feel to it.

I'm sure these are cakes the Twelfth Doctor and Clara would happily eat (and maybe spit out). I'm not too sure about Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood though. 

Check out my good friend Sparkleeyes101's bake for GBBO here, which are considerably better than my failed attempt!

That's all for now...
Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

P.S. Make sure to check back on the 22nd for my Marvel Phase 4 Predictions. What happens after the Infinity War and we're introduced to the Inhumans? Which superheroes do I predict will debut, get their sequels, and what will be the big Avengers story of the MCU's Phase Four?

DOCTOR WHO MIX-UPS

Hello! As some of you may be aware, Doctor Who is my favourite thing of all time (other than strawberry squash). Have you ever wondered what it would be like to mix up the chronology of Doctor Who and have some current characters crossover with some older ones and vice versa? Today I'll be looking into that, enjoy!

1. The First Doctor and... Donna Noble

All the sass. IT'S ALL TOO MUCH. Sass implosion. Sassy Doctor and Donna against sassy Dalek Kahn. SASS. The question here is, who's the Doctor and who's the companion? Doctor Donna or The Doctor?

2. The Second Doctor and... Mel Bush

The quirky fab ones with an intense side... I mean, Mel Bush was badass as heck. 

3. The Third Doctor and... River Song

Pow pow pow (that's all I can say because this pairing is so cool and hip and intense)

4. The Fourth Doctor and... Rose Tyler

This is a fan-service pairing, possibly the most popular companion of New-Who paired with the most popular Doctor of all time, on par with Ten and Eleven. Also, this pairing would genuinely be fun to see. Would you like a jelly baby? DOCTORRRRRR.

5. The Fifth Doctor and... Clara Oswald

My favourite Doctor after Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor (I couldn't really pair Clara with a Doctor she's actually been a companion of) and my favourite companion. Besides, this pairing would be interesting to see, slightly different characteristics while both being kind and considerate. 

6. The Sixth Doctor and... Martha Jones

One of the harsher Doctor's paired with the person The Doctor turned into a soldier. Let's go. Let the badassery destruction begin. (For the greater good of course)

7. The Seventh Doctor and... Captain Jack Harkness

This duo, comedy gold mixed with genuine heroism. Yet, both have a darker side which could be explored brilliantly in the partnership.

8. The Eighth Doctor and... Amy Pond and Rory Williams

The first married couple in the TARDIS with the first ever romantic Doctor. It just works. 

9. The Ninth Doctor and... Tegan Jovanka 

Abrupt and direct, this pairing would be a force to be reckoned with. Just imagine all those speeches and sublime sass.

10. The Tenth Doctor and... Romana (I AND II)

The ultimate time lord and ladies combined for a whole lot of time and saving the world. Huzzah!

11. The Eleventh Doctor and... Ace

Quirky, clumsy and fun with a whole lot of heart. I'm actually desperate for this pairing to happen, PLEASE DOCTOR WHO PLEASSSEEEEEEEE I NEED IT TO HAPPEN.

12. The Twelfth Doctor and... Jo Grant 

Katy Manning's Jo Grant is my favourite Classic Who companion, and when she reappeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures I was ecstatic.. and then I saw a set of photos from Manning's visit to the TARDIS after shooting Casualty. 

It looks perfect, right? It actually looks perfect. Imagine Jo Grant adventuring with the Twelfth Doctor and Clara and facing up to Missy, the dynamic from the photo above alone is worthy of screen time. This is something I'd really, really, REALLY, love to see. 

13. The War Doctor and... Leela

Leela is a bad-ass member of a tribe from the future, The War Doctor is, well, it's in the name. I imagine Leela assisting John Hurt's Doctor in the time war, destroying the Daleks and ending the time war and (eventually) saving Gallifrey.

That's all for now, see you soon for a blog post about songs that young people need, songs that are motivating, iconic in teen cult films and songs that were prominent in our childhood. 

Bye for now!

TotallyCulture

CHOICES FOR A FEMALE DOCTOR

Hello! As some of you may or may not know, I'm hugely supportive of a female Doctor in, of course, Doctor Who. Gender is fluid in time-lord biology, as proven with Missy/The Master, as well as references to this fluidity in previous episodes. 

While some fans may be against a female Doctor because it's 'unnecessary' and 'the Doctor has always been a man so why should he change', I'm all for it. The introduction and regeneration into a female Doctor would hugely alter the narrative conventions of Doctor Who, and create a sharper, and fresh dynamic between The Doctor and their companion, enemies such as The Master, as well as the fans of Doctor Who themselves; introducing a younger audience to a world where women can be heroes. Just imagine, one of the flagship programme of the BBC, with a huge following amongst adults and children alike, with a female lead. Merchandise, video games, comics. It would be huge. New fans would come along, while old fans would decide if they'll stick to Doctor Who, or walk away and throw a tantrum because the Doctor isn't a man anymore. Anyway, I made a similar post fan-casting Captain Marvel, in the MCU for her own film released in a few years, being the first female-led Marvel superhero film in the cinematic universe, (the second female-led superhero film in general in this era of films following Wonder Woman), so be sure to check it out. I'm going to list 10 actors that most definitely could play a female regeneration of The Doctor, in a sense that they would be bringing something fresh to the role and truly portray The Doctor in a recognisable yet unique way.

1. Katherine Parkinson

 

Parkinson's work in The IT Crowd was brilliant, a truly fantastic comic actor that really fits the Doctor, and yet, whilst watching Humans, she's proven just how good of an actor she is overall. Katherine Parkinson has a fantastic talent, her ability to go from dramatic to comedic within a minute is admirable. Parkinson would be a fantastic choice for the Doctor.

2. Jessie Cave

 

Jessie Cave is my hero, her daily illustrations are hilarious, and her recently released book Lovesick is fantastic. Jessie Cave has been hard at work since her Harry Potter days as Lavender Brown, becoming a comedienne, acting in shows such as Glue and The Job Lot, and appearing in films such as Pride, as well as becoming a mother. Jessie Cave is a brilliant actress, and she definitely has the look for the Doctor. If I don't see this casting happen, I shall riot.

3. Lara Pulver 

 

Lara Pulver is brilliant. Her work as Irene Adler in the BBC's Sherlock was iconic, and will be remembered for a long time. However, despite how fitting Lara would be as the Doctor, already playing The Woman in Sherlock, I fear that perhaps she has already played such an iconic character in an huge series that it's unlikely she'd ever consider playing the Doctor (sad face).

4. Natalia Tena

Mostly known for her portrayal of Tonks in the Harry Potter franchise, Natalia Tena has appeared in Game of Thrones (pictured above), and played in Molotov Jukebox, proving her immense talent in acting and music. Natalia is quirky and generally 'cool', thus, a fantastic Doctor. Also, her work as Tonks showed her ability to play 'clumsy', something the Doctor is known for.

5. Emilia Fox

Emilia Fox is a huge part of British culture, no seriously. From Merlin to Silent Witness, she's absolutely fantastic. She's very talented and adapts to any role she takes on with ease, it really isn't questionable if she could play such an iconic character as the Doctor. Fox would take the role, and truly make it her own.

6. Katie Leung

Yet another Harry Potter star, Katie Leung is fantastic. Her recent dramatic work is truly admirable and notable for her engaging performances. I can truly see Leung in the TARDIS, facing up to the Master and beating the Daleks. I'm quite a fan of Leung's work, and it would be brilliant to see her leading Doctor Who. 

7. Georgina Leonidas

Georgina Leonidas is my kids TV hero, appearing as Molly in Basil Brush. Following her stint in children's television, she appeared, like a few others in this list, in HARRY POTTER. Georgina recently finished appearing in Beauty and the Beast at the Theatre Royal in Windsor. Her brother appeared in Doctor Who in 2011, as Howie Spragg. Georgina really can act, and I truly believe she would bring something different to the role of the Doctor.

8. Ruth Wilson

Ruth Wilson is epic. She presents this confidence and prowess that is perfect for the Doctor. Known for her work in Jane Eyre and Luther, Wilson can truly redefine the role of the Doctor without straying too far from the shows conventions and the expectations of the fans. Wilson is hugely popular when fan-casting a female Doctor, and I can definitely see why. Wilson, I must admit, is truly perfect for the role.

9. Tamsin Greig

How cool is Tamsin Greig? Very cool. If she were to become the Doctor, she'd resemble the early-Doctor days, being quirky and lively. She's a great comedic actor, and could perhaps bring a motherly-instinct to the Doctor, perhaps leading into a development of narrative into the Doctor's family. Greig can also be serious as heck, and would be perfect to follow Capaldi's current run as the Doctor. Greig is one of my more preferred castings, and would bring a new aspect of alien and heroism to the Doctor.

10. Miranda Hart

Miranda is yet more proof that comedians are actually rather good actors. Her sitcom Miranda is hilarious, and yet the serious moments really showed Miranda's ability to act. Miranda Hart also appeared in Call the Midwife, and again showed her ability to play 'serious' very well. I feel Miranda would bring a certain air of comedy to the role of the Doctor, whilst also having her dark moments, perhaps similar to Matt Smith's series 5 Doctor before he went all dark on us. Miranda was one of the more heavily rumoured actors to be replacing Matt Smith, coming first in many polls, and while obviously that role went to Peter Capaldi, I'd happily see Miranda play the Doctor. She's proven she can, so now she just has to do it. However, Miranda's currently breaking into Hollywood, featuring in Spy alongside Jude Law and Melissa McCarthy, but would that really stop her? I want to see Miranda's Doctor galloping whilst being chased by a Slitheen. How brilliant would that be? I'd have no words, and I'd still love it.

Honorable Mentions

Bonnie Wright

Lacey Turner

Jo Joyner

Louise Brealey

Alison King

That's all for now. 

See you soon!

TotallyCulture