Tales From The Crypt
Blu-ray
Director: Freddie Francis
Screenwriter: Milton Subotsky
Cast: Ralph Richardson, Joan Collins, Peter Cushing, Roy Dotrice, Richard Greene, Patrick Magee
Scream Factory
Rated PG | 83 Minutes
Release Date: December 2, 2014

Synopsis: “When five unwary travelers with dark hearts stumble into a series of catacombs, they find themselves in a cavern with no way out. But the horror’s only just begun as a mysterious figure appears to reveal to each person the shocking events that will lead to their well-deserved, untimely – and unavoidable – demise. Starring Joan Collins (Empire Of The Ants), Peter Cushing (Horror Of Dracula), Patrick Magee (A Clockwork Orange) and Sir Ralph Richardson (Rollerball), and directed by Freddie Francis (The Creeping Flesh), Tales from the Crypt is the original, gets-right-under-your-skin creepfest!”

Tales from the Crypt is an anthology film based on stories from EC Comics. Only two of the film’s stories, however, are from EC’s Tales from the Crypt. Three of the film’s segments – “…And All Through the House,” “Poetic Justice,” and “Wish You Were Here” – were adapted from The Vault of Horror and The Haunt of Fear comics.

Doctor Who
Season 8, Episode 2 “Into The Dalek”
Directed by Ben Wheatley
Written by Phil Ford, Steven Moffat
Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, Samuel Anderson
BBC America
Air date: Saturday, August 30, 2014, 9pm

Here we go again, indeed. This week on Doctor Who, we engage in a revisit of a foundational myth. Some critics have said that the show is at its greatest when it is willing to retcon its very beginnings. Here we see the attempt, yet again. William Hartnell’s second serial was called “The Daleks” and completed the definition of the four key elements of the show: the Doctor, the TARDIS, the companions, and the monsters. The Daleks are the first true monsters of the series and we learned what Doctor Who was about in 1963. Now, Phil Ford and Steven Moffat attempt to let a single Dalek show us what the series and a new actor playing the Doctor are about in 2014.

Happy birthday today to Tom Baker, the 4th incarnation of the time lord from Gallifrey, possibly the best known actor of the classic era of the long-running series Doctor Who, which just celebrated its 50th anniversary on the air last year, to play that chameleonic role. The inimitable actor, who recently appeared in the 50th anniversary special, Doctor Who: The Day Of The Doctor, turns 80 today.

Baker, who landed the role in 1974 and portrayed the cheeky, curious, and inquisitive character, decked out in flamboyant dress, ala hat, which barely covered his large curled tresses of hair; flowing bold multi-colored scarf; and a long coat, injected a sort of youth mentality and attitude into the character, who had been, up to that point, been portrayed by decidedly more elder actors, who gave the Doctor a bit of English intelligentsia and class. Baker did the same, but his youthful appearance and manner endeared him and the show to a more younger generation, and it set a sort of template for the character thereafter in which he was portrayed by much younger actors, and ultimately, the Doctor took on a different and rather new dimension for having been done with the new approach.

For many, many fans of classic Doctor Who, one of the real high points of The Day Of The Doctor 50th anniversary special had to be hearing a very familiar voice say, “You know, I really think you might” and then seeing Tom Baker play the Curator opposite Matt Smith as the Doctor for a few short moments. There had been clues that Baker, who’d played the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the 1970s, would appear in the special in the days leading up to November 23rd, most notably from Baker himself. The details of where and how this bit of magic from showrunner Steven Moffat came about were largely unknown, however, until a few days ago.

Mr. Baker discussed his involvement in The Day Of The Doctor as a part of his New Year’s message on his official web site. In it, he touches on aspects of the filming day, his working process as an actor for the role, and the publicity leading up to the first screening.

It’s taken 50 years, but Doctor Who is about to reach the end of the road, or so it would seem. One of the supposed central tenets of the Doctor Who series is that the Doctor can only regenerate twelve times.

With the recent addition of John Hurt’s “War Doctor” between Paul McGann and Christopher Eccleston during The Day of The Doctor and the admission that David Tennant used up a regeneration during the serial “Journey’s End,” Matt Smith is now the last in the sequence of twelve actors that have now played the Doctor.

Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat recently talked to the British Radio Times about this. Continue reading to see what he had to say.