Sean Astin celebrates Middle-earth with LEGO

Travel to Middle-earth with LEGO Icons The Lord of the Rings: The Shire set.

Created in partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products, the breathtakingly detailed Shire set recreates the festive atmosphere of Bilbo Baggins’ eleventy-first birthday celebration.

From Bilbo's hobbit-hole, complete with its iconic round green door and richly appointed interior, to the nine included minifigures - Bilbo Baggins, Frodo, Mrs. Proudfoot, Farmer Proudfoot, Merry, Pippin, Rosie Cotton, Samwise Gamgee, and Gandalf the Grey - the set brings this iconic scene to life.

Sean Astin, who portrayed Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, comments: "Not all those who wander are lost... especially when travelling through the astonishing detail of the Shire made out of LEGO bricks! From the smallest hobbit-hole to the grandest fireworks, building this set brought back so many fond memories of Middle-earth. Now fans can journey there themselves and build their own adventures."

Order the LEGO Icons The Lord of the Rings: The Shire set from 2nd to 8th April and receive a free LEGO Icons The Lord of the Rings: Sméagol & Déagol minibuild gift with purchase (GWP) while stocks last.

Discover LEGO The Lord of the Rings on LEGO AU, CA, UK and US (affiliate links).

Will you be adding the Shire set to your collection? Which LEGO The Lord of the Rings sets would you like to see released in the future? Let me know in the comments below.

20 years of Doctor Who revival

Doctor Who is back on television and streaming screens in two weeks.

This past week celebrated twenty years of the beloved BBC sci-fi series' return to teatime television on a Saturday in March. Returning showrunner Russell T Davies rebooted the titular Time Lord for old and new generations.

When Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who) and Billie Piper (Rose Tyler) formed the new team TARDIS, it was a dark time in my personal life. My late mum was living in a nursing home after an NHS disaster, and it was traumatic.

Doctor Who is my all-time favourite television series, so I had serious reservations about the then-new series after a sixteen-year hiatus. Doctor Who: The Movie failed to launch a series in the mid-nineties. Would it be good? Battlestar Galactica had been rebooted to critical acclaim, but the BBC's budget was never on par with shiny US imports until the current Disney+ era. All fears were wiped away with the first appearance of the TARDIS and the chemistry between Eccleston and Piper.

My reviews for Rose and Dalek were published in the letters pages of Starburst magazine, which I had religiously read since the Marvel UK era.

Eccleston exited after one series and was followed by David Tennant, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, Jodie Whittaker and now Ncuti Gatwa at the controls of the TARDIS console. Doctor Who spawned spin-off series Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Class. The War Between The Land And The Sea is coming soon from the BBC and Disney+.

To mark the anniversary, here are ten of my favourite episodes (in no particular order):

Dalek
The Girl in the Fireplace
Blink
The Day of the Doctor
The Time of the Doctor
The Magician's Apprentice
Hell Bent
The Haunting of Villa Diodati
The Power of the Doctor
73 Yards

What are your memories from the past twenty years of the revival? What are your favourite episodes? Let me know in the comments below.

LEGO Star Wars: The Exhibition

May the bricks be with you! Embark on an epic hands-on and immersive journey through the galaxy's first LEGO Star Wars exhibition.

LEGO Star Wars: The Exhibition will make its galaxy-first debut at Melbourne Museum, Australia, in May 2025!

This world-first exhibition brings two of the world’s most beloved brands together with renowned LEGO Certified Professional Ryan ‘Brickman’ McNaught at the controls.

LEGO fans and Star Wars enthusiasts (myself included) will experience the Force like never before, with iconic characters and scenes brought to life in stunning LEGO brick detail. Step into a world of epic battles, gargantuan spaceships and stunning landscapes from a galaxy far, far away. Using over 8 million LEGO bricks and taking more than 25,000 hours to complete, LEGO Star Wars: The Exhibition is built right here in Melbourne at The Brickman headquarters.

Visitors are also invited to help build massive LEGO Star Wars landscapes brick by brick, take part in hands-on build activities, and see their LEGO Star Wars builds digitally come to life as they choose their allegiance and face-off against their friends. From building starfighters to creating custom lightsabers out of LEGO bricks, there will be interactive elements and engaging experiences for fans of all ages! 

Build, battle and explore the galaxy – only at Melbourne Museum.

Discover LEGO Star Wars on LEGO AU, CA, UK and US (affiliate links).

Are you excited about LEGO Star Wars: The Exhibition? Will you be attending the exhibition? Let me know in the comments below.

Doctor Who gets animated in season two

20 years ago, Doctor Who returned to Saturday teatime television on this day.

Russell T Davies rebooted the BBC's beloved Time Lord for generations of fans (myself included) and returned as showrunner for the 60th anniversary and beyond. I wrote about the poignant timing of Rose in March 2005, which was published in the letters pages of Starburst magazine.

The BBC and Disney+ have dropped a second official season two trailer and episode titles.



Read the official synopsis:

"The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) meets Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) and begins an epic quest to get her back to Earth. But a mysterious force is stopping their return and the time-travelling TARDIS team must face great dangers, bigger enemies and wider terrors than ever before."

Joining Gatwa, Sethu, and Millie Gibson (Ruby Sunday) for the second season are Rose Ayling-Ellis, Anita Dobson, Christopher Chung, Michelle Greenidge, Jonah Hauer-King, Ruth Madeley, Jemma Redgrave, Susan Twist, Bonnie Langford, Rylan Clark and Alan Cumming as the voice of Mr Ring-a-Ding.

Russell T Davies, showrunner says: “Excitement mounts as the new season gets closer, and there's nothing a Doctor Who fan loves more than facts! So here’s a whole bunch of them, with titles and writers, everything you need to get ready for transmission!”

The Robot Revolution: Written by Russell T Davies, directed by Peter Hoar
Lux: Written by Russell T Davies, directed by Amanda Brotchie
The Well: Written by Russell T Davies & Sharma Angel Walfall, directed by Amanda Brotchie
Lucky Day: Written by Pete McTighe, directed by Peter Hoar
The Story & the Engine: Written by Inua Ellams, directed by Makalla McPherson
The Interstellar Song Contest: Written by Juno Dawson, directed by Ben A. Williams
Wish World: Written by Russell T Davies, directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai
The Reality War: Written by Russell T Davies, directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai

The War Between The Land And The Sea — a new five-part spin-off series starring Jemma Redgrave and written by showrunner Russell T Davies and Pete McTighe — is on the way from the BBC and Disney+.

Doctor Who's second season premieres on 12th April on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and Disney+ outside the UK and Ireland.

Are you looking forward to season two of Doctor Who? Let me know in the comments below.

5 years of Disney+

5 years ago, the UK went into lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic and Disney+ serendipitously launched on this day followed by the closure of DisneyLife a month later.

Streaming services saw a surge in subscribers whilst we all stayed at home (key workers notwithstanding).

The Mandalorian debuted to critical acclaim on Disney+. Baby Yoda (before his name was revealed as Grogu in season two) became a pop culture sensation as Star Wars fans (myself included) clamoured for merchandise - I was lucky enough to be sent review samples from Lucasfilm licensees for the 2020 holiday season.

From Disney's press release celebrating the fifth anniversary of Disney+:

"As Disney+ celebrates its fifth birthday this March, the streaming service unveils an exciting lineup of titles set to premiere in the UK and Ireland in 2025. Titles include FX’s highly anticipated “Alien: Earth,” the new limited series FX’s “Dying for Sex” starring Michelle Williams and Jenny Slate, star-studded UK Original “The Stolen Girl” - a five-part psychological drama starring Denise Gough, Holliday Grainger and Ambika Mod, alongside Lucasfilm’s “Andor” season 2 returning for its long-awaited conclusion, and Searchlight Pictures’ Award-winning “A Real Pain”. Not to mention critically acclaimed and multiple Emmy® award-winning series returning including FX’s “The Bear”, “Only Murders in the Building” and the latest season of “The Simpsons” now streaming exclusively on Disney+ in the UK."

In related news. The Disney+ app has been updated with a long-requested feature. If you want to edit your Continue Watching list, you can do so now on Disney+ on the web, iOS devices, and Apple TV. It will be rolling out to other platforms in the coming weeks.

Subscription fatigue is a thing, and cancelling services has been therapeutic in the midst of a cost of living crisis! However, I'm enjoying Daredevil: Born Again, and my dad's an avid fan of NCIS, so renewing Disney+ was a no-brainer.

Are you subscribing to Disney+? What are you looking forward to watching in 2025? Let me know in the comments below.

Adam Savage stunned by Star Wars garage kit

Growing up, Star Wars model kits gave fans (myself included) an insight into how Lucasfilm's award-winning Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) division made movie magic.

After school, I would spend countless hours assembling and painting detailed replicas and dioramas from MPC/Ertl and Revell, which informed a lifelong love of the creative arts.

Adam Savage (MythBusters) painstakingly examines the original AT-ST, affectionately known as the "chicken walker", from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.



Read the official synopsis:

"Star Wars model kit time! After building and painting the incredible studio scale AT-AT Walker garage kit from Merlin Models, Adam tackles the new 1/24 scale AT-ST Scout Walker as seen in the Battle of Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back. But this is no ordinary garage kit--Adam and Norm find a combination of cast and machined parts that recreate the posable metal armature the ILM Model Shop built for the original stop-motion puppet!"

This is a must-see for fellow Star Wars fans and anyone with a modicum of interest in moviemaking. Of particular note is the AT-AT attack, which uses stop-motion animation pioneered by Ray Harryhausen.

Are you collecting Star Wars garage kits from Merlin Models? Let me know in the comments below.

Pedro Pascal dances away the blues with AirPods

Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian) stars in Someday, a short film directed by Spike Jonze (Her) promoting Apple AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation.

After playing the titular Mandalorian in the successful Star Wars live-action spin-off series on Disney+, Pascal is no stranger to wearing advanced technology.



The dancing evokes the iconic iPod campaign of the early noughties.

Pascal stars next in the second season of The Last of Us and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

What did you think of Someday? Will you be buying AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation? Let me know in the comments below.

Worlds of Doctor Who at Comic-Con Museum

Doctor Who Worlds of Wonder: Where Science Meets Fiction opens today at the Comic-Con Museum in San Diego.

US-based Whovians (including our own Nick Smith) can see and interact with a timey-wimey collection of props and sets from the beloved BBC sci-fi series streaming on Disney+.

“We are delighted to be working with BBC Studios and Sarner International to bring this fascinating exhibition that merges the worlds of science, fiction, and the popular arts through such a celebrated show,” said Comic-Con Museum Executive Director Rita Vandergaw. “This is the first time it will ever be shown in the country, and we can’t wait for fans to experience it.”

Although the exhibition will delight Doctor Who fans (myself included), attention was paid to making it approachable, said Steven Swaby, the curator.

“You don’t have to know everything about the show to enjoy this exhibition,” Swaby said. He added: “Making it accessible and inclusive is really, really important because we know museums and science centers have a very broad audience. So, it’s not just for Doctor Who fans, but you certainly get a lot out of it if you are a fan.”

The exhibition at the Comic-Con Museum is scheduled to run through March 2026.

Are you excited about Doctor Who Worlds of Wonder? Will you be attending the exhibition? Let me know in the comments below.

Andor season one with Tony Gilroy

In anticipation of season two of Andor on Disney+, creator and executive producer Tony Gilroy and other special guests take Star Wars fans (myself included) behind the scenes of the critically-acclaimed first season.



Andor is widely regarded as one of the best Star Wars spin-offs on Disney+, taking the franchise in a darker direction and forgoing lightsabers in favour of political intrigue under the auspices of Gilroy.

Andor Season 2 stars Diego Luna, Stellan Skarsgård, Genevieve O’Reilly, Denise Gough, Kyle Soller, Adria Arjona, Faye Marsay, Varada Sethu, Elizabeth Dulau, and Alan Tudyk, with Ben Mendelsohn and Forest Whitaker. The series was created by Tony Gilroy, who also serves as an executive producer along with Kathleen Kennedy, Sanne Wohlenberg, Diego Luna, Luke Hull, and John Gilroy.

Experience the three-episode second season premiere exclusively on Disney+ on 22nd April.

Are you looking forward to the second and final season of Andor? Let me know in the comments below.

The Last of Us cast at SXSW

South by Southwest (SXSW) hosted a panel at the Austin Convention Center on Saturday featuring the cast and creators of HBO’s Emmy-winning series The Last of Us.

Cast members Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Kaitlyn Dever, Gabriel Luna, Isabela Merced and Young Mazino attended the panel, alongside showrunners and directors Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin.



An official trailer for season two was dropped during the panel.



Read the official synopsis:

“After five years of peace following the events of the first season, Joel and Ellie’s collective past catches up to them, drawing them into conflict with each other and a world even more dangerous and unpredictable than the one they left behind.”

Bella Ramsey, Pedro Pascal and Gabriel Luna are back, and we also see Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, Isabela Merced as Dina, Young Mazino as Jesse, Ariela Barer as Mel, Tati Gabrielle as Nora, Spencer Lord as Owen, Danny Ramirez as Manny, and Jeffrey Wright as Isaac. Catherine O’Hara also guest stars.

The Last of Us returns this April on HBO and Sky Atlantic.

Are you looking forward to the second season of The Last of Us? Let me know in the comments below.