Another big winner representing the English was Christian Bale, who took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in “The Fighter”.  His acceptance speech was my favorite of the night.  Watch the video below to see him talking about his win.

As most Beatles fans know, the original title of “Yesterday” was actually “Scrambled Eggs”.  Paul McCartney and Jimmy Fallon duet on the original lyrics…

I would personally love to see how this story line would play out between the two shows, and how Sarah Jane will react to seeing the new Doctor, as opposed to the last time when he still was played by David Tennant.   Check out the short teaser trailer below.

The show follows the life of the legendary hero Robin Hood as he returns from war in the Holy Land to his home town of Locklsey- only to find the evil Sheriff of Nottingham has taken over.  The series incorporates most of the elements from the classic tale.  We have Robin the famous archer versus the sheriff and other henchmen of Prince John’s while King Richard the Lion-Hearted fights in the Crusades.  Other familiar names/faces include Little John and Maid Marian. That’s about as true to the legend as it stays.   Part of the reason I love this show so much is its tendency to stray into the ridiculous; with so many anachronistic elements and corny plot lines that I willingly classify this as a serious guilty pleasure.

The first two seasons are very enjoyable, with the Sheriff as quite the vicious  scene stealer.  Not to mention the fact that he so resembles Billy Joel that I kept waiting for him to burst into “For the Longest Time”. It never happened, but I hoped.  The third season loses steam, and instead of focusing on the shenanigans of Robin and his merry outlaws, the show delves into overly saccharine moments, with romantic plot-lines that don’t make any sense at all.  The little sub-plots that were the strength of the previous seasons, become distracting and meaningless.  Despite this, Robin Hood is a must-see for any anglophile, even if it is less than historically accurate.

Please note that if you have yet to finish this season of Doctor Who the following post contains, as River Song would say, Spoilers!

This past season of Doctor Who marked the first for the new Doctor, Matt Smith, upon the exit of the beloved David Tennant.  Tennant being an almost impossible act to follow, I was surprisingly impressed with Smith’s performance this season and, as always, impressed with the writers of this wonderful show.

Smith injected the Doctor with a more manic, reckless energy as he went along on his various adventures.  Along for the ride went the new companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), her boyfriend Rory, and a brand new wardrobe consisting of suspenders and a bow tie.  Bow ties are cool, as we were reminded at least twice an episode.

Some old faces showed up to stir up trouble for our Doctor.  He battled Weeping Angels with River Song, Daleks (of course), and the season finale sent in everyone- Daleks, Cybermen and Santarans, oh my!

The story arc this season centered around the crack in Amy Pond’s wall, which  of course was more than just a crack in plaster.  Amy, impossible Amy Pond, the girl who waited, was an excellent companion for the Doctor and the scenes between young Amy and the Doctor are some of the best.

The writers really pulled at the heart strings this season.  When the Doctor left little girl Amy with her suitcase, waiting for her Raggedy Doctor to come back for her, my heart broke.  And that was only the first episode.  Rory’s death and then having him wiped from time was equally cruel and heart-wrenching.  And they owe Rory a serious apology.  First his girlfriend Amy goes travelling with the Doctor on the eve of their wedding, then it’s unclear where her heart really lies, then they kill him, bring him back, but bring him back as some sort of automaton that kills Amy.  The guy couldn’t catch a break.

The only other criticism I have on the season was the final episode.  During David Tennant’s season finales, I always felt the element of danger to be very real.  I was never totally sure that he would make it out all right and with all his friends and companions still alive as well.  For some reason, the final episode just wasn’t threatening enough for me.  I never doubted for a second that the Doctor wouldn’t escape the Pandorica, that Amy wouldn’t come back to life, or the River Song and the TARDIS wouldn’t come back in one piece.  You had to know Rory would make it okay, they’d already put him through just about everything one person can suffer.

The end of this series did leave us with some intriguing questions that should make for some great story lines when the show returns.  What was that ominous voice saying “silence will fall”?  Is the crack in time completely healed?  Will we see that weird dream lord again?  Whom did River Song kill?  Will the Doctor find another fez to wear?

The Christmas special seems so far off…