Saturday 10 January 2009

TV

Demons
1x01 They Bite
My God, that's one of the worst title sequences ever! A dreadful -- and dreadfully inappropriate -- song stuck on animation that would barely pass as a DVD menu. Oh dear oh dear. And Christian Cooke needs a better agent -- he's ostensibly the star, yet his name comes third? Ha! And Philip Glenister's accent is variable and a bit am-dram; which is a shame because, obviously, he's great otherwise.
Still, the first episode did alright in the ratings (and by "alright" I mean it didn't do as well as Merlin (created by some of the same people, incidentally) or Primeval -- or Doctor Who, obviously... or even the Doctor Who Confidential announcing the 11th Doctor, which was on earlier that evening -- but still beat what was on BBC One at the time); and the concept, albeit all nicked from other places (mainly Buffy), has legs.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Eurovision: Your Country Needs You
Episode 2 (of 5)
And so it becomes your bog-standard talent show. Except, it must be said, with less talent than usual.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Gilmore Girls
5x13 Wedding Bell Blues

Live at the Apollo
4x05 (9/1/09 edition)
So what if nearly all the guests are regulars on Mock the Week? It's still funny. Also, an appearance by Lenny Henry, which seems to be something of a rarity these days.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Sandbaggers
2x02 Enough of Ghosts
Bloody Germans, eh?

Non-Fiction

Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale by Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook
Chapters Twelve - Fifteen
Nineteen Days Later...
Appendix 1 & 2
[the end]
Including the first drafts of Journey's End and The Stolen Earth, featuring the original conception of the Shadow Proclamation -- so, so, so much more glorious than the couple of Judoon and pasty-faced woman we ended up with on screen. Plus, the alternate ending to Journey's End and an alternate open to The Next Doctor.
As I said before, this is a great book and a definite must-read for all Who fans and all aspiring writers. "If you still want to be a writer after reading this," says Steven Moffat, "then you probably will be." I guess I must be halfway there then...

Magazines

Doctor Who Magazine #404
DWM's 30 this year -- happy birthday, DWM! Though that's proudly emblazoned across the top of the cover, there's no mention of it inside (that I noticed anyway), so perhaps they have a big feature coming up. Then again, they only just did something for issue 400, so maybe not just yet, eh?

Torchwood: The Official Magazine #13
An even more uninspiring issue than usual, with absolutely no news on the forthcoming third series (to be fair, there's an interview with the new producer that features a couple of new piccies). In fact, the best bit is a teeny tiny news box-out, announcing three new radio plays to come later in the year (more news next issue folks!) Thankfully, the last page promises a great big revamp next issue, as the mag switches format to be 100 pages bimonthly. Let's hope that gives it a much needed kick up the arse, eh?