Friday 30 September 2011

TV

Perfect Couples
1x04 Perfect Health
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

QI
9x03 Imbroglio (XL edition)
[Watch QI XL (again) on iPlayer.]

Wilfred
1x04 Acceptance

Comics

Aquaman #1 by Geoff Johns & Ivan Reis
Another book I read digitally but now intend to buy in print and get at least an issue or two more of. More thoughts when I do my end-of-issue-1s wrap-up, soon (I know they're all out, but I haven't received all of mine yet). For some detailed thoughts, there's always CBR's review.

Daredevil #3 by Mark Waid & Paolo Rivera
Slightly damp squib of an ending. At least it explains who that villain is, but that means pages and pages of exposition-fuelled nattering. The final fight on a busy road sounds a good, visually dynamic idea, but I felt there was little sense of where the fight was taking place -- it may as well have been down an alley or something. Still, the closing pages, and the new setup for how Matt can defend people without being in court, work well. The CBR review has the complete opposite view on the book's two halves, however. I take their point about a sound-based villain being a perfect idea for a Daredevil story, but I didn't care for how he was used.
Also this issue, in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of 9/11 is a strip called Moment of Truth by Bill Jemas and Mark Bagley, based on the story of a Marvel employee's father, excerpted from a previous collection. It's a moving tale told without words. Great tribute.

Articles

The DC Comics New Reader Litmus Test: The New 52 Week 3 by Josie Campbell
(from Comic Book Resources)
Comparing their issues to watching only the first ten minutes of a television show, no one felt they received a fully rounded and complete story, and all were disappointed with how short their issues were.
And that, I think, is one of current comics' problems with appealing to new readers: they want a sizeable chunk of story for their $3-one-a-month. Not unreasonable, that. Considering how popular serialised TV shows are now, I don't think people would necessarily object to a story that didn't completely resolve in one issue, but I think they want to feel they got "an episode of TV" rather than "one sixth of an episode of TV".

(For the first two parts of this experiment, look here.)

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

Absolutely no change this week, for the first time in exactly a year (must be something about this time of year, I guess).

Next week: some additions. Hopefully.

Number of titles in collection: 1,386 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,139 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 247 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 3,433 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,466 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,162 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Thursday 29 September 2011

TV

Billy Connolly's Route 66
Episode 2 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Outnumbered
4x05 Episode 5
Twists! Cliffhangers! Not what you expect from Outnumbered, really... but it's still brilliant. And Karen may just be the best sitcom character ever. Her "oh Jesus" on seeing Angela was perfect.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
5x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Comics

Batgirl #1 by Gail Simone & Ardian Syaf
A book I've grabbed a bit later, because it's proved one of the best-selling and apparently-popular of DC's relaunch. Personally I didn't quite latch on to it. It felt a lot briefer than the other books I've read so far, for one thing -- the CBR review puts it best: "it feels like Batgirl #1 has barely gotten moving full steam ahead when we get to the cliffhanger". Exactly how I felt. Perhaps, however, that my chosen reading format was part of the problem: whereas I've read the rest (so far) in print, this was in digital, and I think I perhaps didn't savour the art and storytelling as much because of it.

Batwoman #1 by J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman
This one was scheduled to kick off long before the New 52 were announced (indeed, an issue #0 was published almost a year ago) and was highly anticipated. I'd also heard reports it was therefore hard to get into for new readers, presumably because it hadn't originally been intended as a complete jumping-on point. It's OK, though the backstory that's half-explained could do with greater explanation. Also read digitally; good enough that I'm going to re-buy and re-read in print, I think.

Articles

Dear DC Comics, by Michele Lee
(from Michele Lee)
There's been a lot of controversy surrounding the depiction of women in some of DC's relaunched comics. Here, a 7-year-old manages to get a better handle on what's wrong than the people at DC have (who just advised "look at a book's rating before buying"). It's certainly worth a read as a demonstration of how simple this is... yet DC seem unable to grasp it.

New 52 Pickup | Week 5 — decision time! by Steve Sunu
(from Robot 6 at Comic Book Resources)
The final summation of DC's 52 new #1s, ending with Sunu picking the 26 he'll buy #2 for. Except he only picks 25 -- the 26th is up to readers. Gasp!

Star Trek: The Next Generation is Coming to Blu-ray in 2012 by Angie Han
(from /Film)
In order to release the Blu-rays in high-definition, CBS dug up the original film negatives — over 25,000 reels — and edited them to match the original episodes precisely. Special effects were recreated, rather than upconverted from video tape. The end result will be all 178 episodes in high-definition 1080p, with 7.1 DTS Master Audio.
Crikey!

We will "save good television" say Doctor Who Confidential campaigners by Tim Glanfield
(from Radio Times)
RT interviews the anonymous person behind @SaveDWC.

Wednesday 28 September 2011

TV

The A to Z of Crime
Episode 4 MNOP (of 6)
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Pointless
5x20 (23/9/11 edition)
5x21 (26/9/11 edition)
Christ almighty that pair of cackling chatterboxes (in the second of these episodes) were annoying. Thank goodness they made it to the final so I don't have to suffer them again in the next episode! Never have I been so glad that just two people remembered an answer, or that a name the contestants misremembered turned out to be pointless. (I'm cruel, I know.)
[Watch the 23/9/11 and 26/9/11 editions (again) on iPlayer.]

Wilfred
1x03 Fear
Yeah, it may be five weeks since I last watched this (feels longer), but I hadn't forgotten it, no.

Articles

DC Comics: Bad at Math by David Willis
(from Shortpacked!)
Short comic that demonstrates why, for all its successes, some of the (controversial) moves in DC's New 52 are doing nothing at all to help the cause of boosting comic readership; indeed, they may be actively hindering it.

Doctor Who Confidential Axed by Dave Golder
(from SFX)
"Scrapped due to cost cutting measures. See, this is what happens when you moan about the license fee". Disappointing news. I know I've moaned about Confidential's quality, but overall it's a pretty good show. Plus, it makes up the vast majority of nuWho's DVD extras. What are we likely to get in its place? Nothing, I'd wager.
If you want to try to save it, there's @SaveDWC on twitter and a petition here.

In Defence of: Doomsday by Fergus Burke
(from The Movie Bit)
Not the Doctor Who episode, or one of any number of other things with that title, but the 2008 Neil Marshall film. As the article so rightly puts it, though Marshall's "film's rank fairly highly on the internet site Rotten Tomatoes, one is continuously shit on. Can you guess which?" Yes, this one. I've not seen it, but I do have it on DVD (story of my life), and this goes some way to reigniting my interest in seeing it.

The Wolverine script rewrite explained by Hugh Jackman by Mark Langshaw
(from Digital Spy)
To summarise: "We've got the best script we ever had, but a less-acclaimed director than the one we used to have is working on it now and he wants to put his own stamp on it."

Tuesday 27 September 2011

TV

Mock the Week
10x09 (22/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x19 (22/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)
[#81 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

Comics

Batman #1 by Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo
One of the few New 52 books to receive a resounding five stars from CBR, I'm not sure I was quite as taken with the book, but it does have a good setup (much more new-reader-friendly than Batman and Robin) and an intriguing plot.
Shame about the change of cover, though. The atmospheric original is on the left, the cartoony released one on the right. Click to enlarge.


Daredevil #2 by Mark Waid & Paolo Rivera
I would say CBR's 4-star review sums up most of my thoughts, though also note how may references it makes to past storylines -- potentially problematic for any new reader, and while I got by with much of it I had no idea I should/could have recognised the villain(s). Hopefully their pre-existence won't be too key to the story, then...

Articles

Doctor Who: The Complete Series Six Boxed Set confirmed for 21st November by Chuck Foster
(from Doctor Who News Page)
Only four audio commentaries this year? They're getting worse. I remember when the nuWho box sets were world-beaters: commentaries for every episode, Doctor Who Confidential Cut Downs, additional featurettes... Now we still get the shortened Confidentials, but they're quarter-length rather than half-length, a vastly reduced number of commentaries, no extra behind-the-scenes extras... We do get some new mini-episodes written by Moffat himself, but if they're anything like the online prequels or the two shorts on the previous box set, they're barely worth bothering with. Why not record more commentaries? How hard can it be to re-package some of the material from Confidential into extra featurettes in addition to the cut-down episodes? It just reeks of missed opportunities.
I do like those lenticular prints, though -- I hope there's a Blu-ray version too. Just a shame you have to get that nasty Silence-head cover to have them.

Photography and Contempt of Court by David Allen Green
(from New Statesman)
You may have heard the news story about the teenager jailed for two months simply for taking a photo in a courtroom. "A ridiculous overreaction!" was basically the tone of most reports. This, however, shows why you shouldn't believe everything you read: there's more to the story, and the sentence isn't so ludicrous after all.

Monday 26 September 2011

TV

Ask Rhod Gilbert
2x01 Episode 1
I quite liked the first series of this, but really didn't expect to see it back, so that was a... surprise.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x18 (21/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Comics

Daredevil #1 by Mark Waid, Paolo Rivera & Marcos Martín
So distracted have I been by DC's new lot I've only just got round to the similarly-relaunched Daredevil, which you may remember I mentioned a couple of months ago when CBR gave it a 5-star review. Very good it was too, an excellent example of how to relaunch a book without doing an origin story, both establishing the basics of the character and summarising recent events succinctly enough that new readers get what's going on and (I presume) established readers don't get bored to tears from recappery. This approach to a relaunch is something some of DC's lot could do with, apparently.
(Also, see the audio version here. They've up to issue four now, but I've no idea if they kept this up.)

Resurrection Man #1 by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning & Fernando Dagnino
I'm saving up all my thoughts on the New 52s I'm reading for once I get to the end of the first month, so I'll say more on this then. But, for now, I really enjoyed this.

Sunday 25 September 2011

TV

Pointless
5x17 (20/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Spooks
10x01 Episode 1
And so the final series of Spooks begins… and it was actually rather good, though having watched Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy recently it did seem a tad overblown at times. They seem to be doing one of the Big Long Story seasons they've done occasionally over the years (or maybe it's just a two-parter, who knows), which makes sense with the reduced episode count (down to six for the first time since the first series) and the desire to wrap up Harry's story as this is The Final Season. It'll be interesting to see how much time and development the supporting cast get this year, then, especially as they're all either leftover characters who had little to do before or newbies who have a maximum shelf life of five more episodes.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
[#80 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

this week on 100 Films

Just 1 new review was posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, and it was...

Night of the Demon (1957)
A horror movie in the old fashioned mode — creepy and uncanny, rather than aiming to make you constantly jump or turn your stomach with lashings of gore. A scene at a children’s party at Karswell’s house is particularly unsettling, the apparent jollity contrasting with the ominous winds and undercurrent of evil.

More next Sunday.

Saturday 24 September 2011

TV

Doctor Who
32x12 Closing Time
32x12a The Prequel to The Wedding of River Song
That was an amiable enough episode, even if the Cybermen were underused (as ever in nuWho, I feel). I also thought the ending -- which was effectively a prequel to next week's finale -- was a bit overlong. It might've been neater to bung up the "Next Time" before cutting to all that stuff with River, and have that instead of a regular trailer. That would've been unusual, and I'd've liked it. Or they could've made it the above prequel, of course... but I'm sure they're very aware that only a relatively small number of dedicated fans will be watching that,
[Watch Closing Time (again) in HD on iPlayer, and The Prequel to The Wedding of River Song on the official site.]

Doctor Who Confidential
6x12 Open All Hours
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Dragons' Den
9x08 Episode 8
Giving away 79% of their company?! Madness. Probably a first as well.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off
2x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Perfect Couples
1x03 Perfect Proposal
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Who Do You Think You Are?
8x02 JK Rowling
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Friday 23 September 2011

TV

The Jonathan Ross Show
1x03 (17/9/11 edition)
Finally, a fully worthwhile line-up of guests. Unfortunately the ITV show being almost quarter-of-an-hour shorter than the old BBC one means they don't really get enough time (especially when so long was given over to Peter Kay mucking about).
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Outnumbered
4x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x16 (19/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
5x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

After last week's flood, not much to report this week -- just one new release from last Monday (Attack the Block) and one early release from next Monday (Thor).

Number of titles in collection: 1,386 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,139 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 247 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 3,433 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,466 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,162 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Thursday 22 September 2011

TV

Horrible Histories Big Prom Party
This was, as you'd expect, brilliant fun. Shame they gutted the classical pieces to make it an hour long and super kid-friendly, but that's what you expect I guess.
The full programme for this Prom can be read here.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x15 (16/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

QI
9x02 International (XL edition)
Finally, an explanation of the QI scoring system! ...well, sort of.
(Incidentally, the British Comedy Guide episode guides I've started linking to for the main episode title are really rather good, not only listing the contents of the episode in full but also detailing them major differences between the regular and XL editions. In case you might be interested.)
[Watch QI XL (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

The DC Comics New Reader Litmus Test: The New 52
and
The DC Comics New Reader Litmus Test: Week 2
by Josie Campbell (from Comic Book Resources)

The whole point of The New 52 was to offer up a slate of #1 issues to attract new/lapsed readers to/back to the DCU. So what better way to test that than by showing all the issues to new readers, unfamiliar with comics. And what it shows is... a bit of a failure. One of the things DC was keen not to do was tell origin stories, feeling too often a re-launch meant telling the origin yet again. This survey seems to suggest they were right for well-known characters like Batman and Superman, but for all the rest (who are largely or completely unknown in popular culture), the move hasn't worked, with several newbies expressing that an origin would be better. DC's existing-reader-friendly idea of a "soft reboot" may work for current fans, but it's going to turn off newbies.

Still, in some respects one might argue this sample was flawed: it sounds like it picked on people who weren't necessarily interested in reading comics. (The second week improved the methodology, mind.) Now, that may not be true, but the people who are actually going to walk into a store and purchase these -- or, rather, DC are hoping they can attract into a store to purchase these -- are people who have an interest in reading comics, even if they've never actually read one. Would they be more susceptible to the books' charms than this lot? Or would the lack of background on unfamiliar characters still turn them off?

Either way, DC's sales have been strong, and so long as that keeps up I'm sure they're happy.

And in other comics-y articles...

New 52 Pickup | Week 4 by Steve Sunu
(from Robot 6 at Comic Book Resources)
Finally, a book I'm definitely getting that Sunu loves! (See below for more.)

Review of Batman #1 by Doug Zawisza
(from Comic Book Resources)
Five stars (out of five). Definitely looking forward to getting this one, then.

Wednesday 21 September 2011

TV

Billy Connolly's Route 66
Episode 1 (of 4)
To be completely honest, this was much better than I was expecting it to be! Most entertaining and informative.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Pointless
5x14 (15/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
5x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Comics

Batman and Robin #1 by Peter J. Tomasi & Patrick Gleason
Week 3 of DC's New 52 is out today, so while I await mine in the post it's about time I read what I picked up last week. Yes, all one of, er, it. Though with Forbidden Planet (.com) adding second printings to their orderable titles, I've decided to belatedly grab a few more well-reviewed books from the first two weeks.

Articles

Has Doctor Who got too complicated? by Dan Martin
(from TV & Radio Blog at guardian.co.uk)
Conclusion: no, and if you think it has you're just not paying enough attention. Despite my summarising this is still worth a read as it's bolstered by a few wonderful quotes.
As usual, Douglas Adams was bang on the money: "it was Douglas Adams who said, as a script editor in 1979, that the challenge of Doctor Who was to make it simple enough for adults and complicated enough for children."

Tuesday 20 September 2011

TV

The A to Z of Crime
Episode 3 HIJKL (of 6)
I'm amused by the super-reverence shown to Lynda La Plante, while effectively saying "she invented Law & Order... seven years after someone else already did".
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Mock the Week
10x08 (15/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x13 (14/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Comics

2000 AD #1747
So much for getting better/caught up. Must try harderer.
Anyway, this Prog's ECBT 2000AD reviews are here, here, here, here and here.

Articles

Doctor Who: The Wedding of River Song preview by Patrick Mulkern
(from Radio Times)
Be warned that this has spoilers for the opening few minutes, which sound absolutely bonkers and absolutely brilliant -- so good you might not want them spoiled. But no spoilers for the revelations and major plot points that follow... which sound incredibly intriguing. I wasn't convinced by the first half of this season, but I've been enjoying the second and I can't wait for this.

New 52 Pickup | Week 3 by Steve Sunu
(from Robot 6 at Comic Book Resources)
Ahead of new comics tomorrow (not that mine will turn up for a little while), I'm catching up on what Sunu had to say about last week's second batch of 13 new #1s. All things considered, they seem to be shaping up rather well... though he keeps putting the books I've chosen to buy "on the fence". Oops.

The Ten Things That the Forthcoming Star Wars Blu-rays Should Include. Revisited by Marcus Doidge
(from dvdactive)
Or: why, despite what some people claim now they have it (probably to justify to themselves shelling out £60/$80), this release is still a disappointment.

Monday 19 September 2011

TV

Dragons' Den
9x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x11 (12/9/11 edition)
5x12 (13/9/11 edition)
[Watch the 13/9/11 edition (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Doctor Who Magazine's Editor Interviewed! by Jason Arnopp
(from How to Be a Journalist)
I found this very interesting. If you're not at all curious about how magazines are put together, however, I imagine there's little of interest here. Though one quote is telling about the mindset of some Who fans:
We also liaise with Steven Moffat - generally about our interviews, but never for reviews or opinion pieces
You just know some people claim he controls reviews.

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

An absolute tonne of stuff this week, almost all of it Star Wars related, including the new Blu-rays of course. This delayed the update until today... not because of the post, for once (though it was later than it should have been), but because I was away for a few days and needed the time to account for it all once I got back. (This still only goes up to Saturday's post, however.)

Number of titles in collection: 1,384 [up 8]
Of which DVDs: 1,139 [up 4]
Of which Blu-rays: 245 [up 4]

Number of discs in collection: 3,429 [up 23]
Number of films in collection: 1,465 [up 12]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,175 [up 63]

The real accounting difficulty lies down here: it's time again for a running time update. Yay! So...

Total running time of collection (approx.):
247 days, 20 hours, and 29 minutes.
(Up 5 days, 8 hours, and 3 minutes from last month.)

That's a pretty big jump -- the third biggest ever, after the one covering last Christmas (the largest by almost 3½ days) and the one three months ago. Lovely. I might check later to see how it ranks in terms of other jumps (and update this, of course).

See you next week, faithful reader.

Sunday 18 September 2011

TV

The Great British Bake Off
2x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Torchwood: Miracle Day
4x10 The Blood Line [season finale]
Much to my surprise, I actually really enjoyed that. Except for Jilly Kitzinger surviving -- what a missed opportunity for a reference to Danes' infamous "she should've run faster" -- and the mention of the families having a Plan B. Who wants them back, really? If Torchwood does get a fifth series (and, based on reaction to this one, it would be fairly lucky if it did), the less said about this one the better. We certainly don't want a sequel.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Holiday (1938)
[#79 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

Comics

Detective Comics #1 by Tony S. Daniel
The first-ever relaunch for one of DC's two flagship titles (the other, Action Comics, also became one of The New 52 this month).
It was released almost two weeks ago, but for once this isn't my tardiness: it's taken this long for my mail-ordered copy to arrive. And now I await delivery of my comics from earlier this week -- I sense a pattern emerging...

Articles

Weekend Report: Lion King Reclaims Box Office Crown by Ray Subers
(from Box Office Mojo)
All three genuinely new releases combined to make less than the 3D re-release of The Lion King this weekend, reaffirming the Disney animated classic's continued popularity a whole 17 years after its initial run...

The first re-release to debut on top of the charts since Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi back in March 1997, The Lion King earned an estimated $29.3 million from 2,330 locations, which is the fifth-highest September opening ever.

Bad weekend for new releases, but it shows how phenomenally popular The Lion King is. And rightly so.

this week on 100 Films

2 new reviews were posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...

A Bunch of Amateurs (2008)
It’s thoroughly predictable — most viewers could probably map out the plot before the film even begins, so it’s certainly easy to guess what’s coming next as it trots along — but there’s also something reassuring about that predictability — it’s exactly the sort of Quaint British Movie you expect it to be. Some will find that insufferable; I’m sure there are some who find it absolutely lovely and it’s the only kind of film they ever want to watch.

The Day of the Locust (1975)
The magnificent riot at the end is a tour de force of cinema that single-handedly almost justifies that whole theme — it’s what happens when their frustrations at dreams not being realised overflows. It could be argued it makes an easy juxtaposition — of fans baying for stars at a premiere with a revenge-fuelled mob baying for blood — but it’s still a just one. It’s capped off by the way one turns into the other, and how that turns into a kind of apocalypse.

More next Sunday.

Saturday 17 September 2011

TV

Doctor Who
32x11 The God Complex
I don't know if it's just my imagination, but the Moffat era seems to be marked by a lot more experimental episodes. It's not Invasion Of The Week or other familiar formats every episode; there's a lot more Different kind of stories. And that's a good thing, for a show with a format that famously can do anything. As for this particular one, I loved it. Well done on them keeping the ending a secret too.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who Confidential
6x11 Heartbreak Hotel
Much, much better than the last episode. A good Doctor Who week all round then!
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Outnumbered
4x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Perfect Couples
1x02 Pilot
American sitcom-y shows often like to have witty formula episode titles -- see Scrubs, No Ordinary Family, etc. I don't know if we have Friends' The One With… to blame for that, or if it pre-dates even that. Anyway, Perfect Couples is no exception: they're all Perfect something. Sadly, it seems no one had the wit or forethought to call this a Perfect Pilot. Or maybe they just didn't want to seem cocky, I dunno.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Articles

Is 3D dead? This chart may hold the answer
(from Live for Films)
Clearly it's not dead yet -- the industry has too much invested into it in too long term a way to let it die off almost immediately -- but those numbers aren't looking healthy. If they don't start revising their strategies, and fast, it's going to become an irrelevant niche at best.

Friday 16 September 2011

TV

The Jonathan Ross Show
1x02 (10/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

QI
9x01 I-Spy (XL edition)
[Watch QI XL (again) on iPlayer.]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Part Six Smiley Sets a Trap
Part Seven Flushing Out the Mole [final episode]
I won't spoil the ending for anyone who's still not seen it or is waiting for the film (out today), but I guessed the mole correctly. Go me. Also, interesting -- and very like this intelligent, slow-paced series -- that the mole was revealed near the start of the final episode, with the rest dealing with the aftermath. Most series, both lesser and equal, would have pushed the Big Twist Revelation to the end and rushed through any after effects, but that's not in Tinker Tailor's style. Brilliant.

Thursday 15 September 2011

Articles

Columbia showcases impressive extended teaser for David Fincher's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Chris Eggertsen
(from HitFix)
As the tweet I saw promoting the article put it, "Extended Girl with the Dragon Tattoo teaser wows reporters, audiences". And it sounds brilliant too.

Wednesday 14 September 2011

TV

Pointless
5x10 (9/9/11 edition)
A round on Star Wars, just before the Blu-rays came out! Coincidencetastic.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Part Four How It All Fits Together
Part Five Tinker Tailor
When I first started watching this, I commented (to myself, at least) that they don't make them like this any more. And while that's true to an extent, I think some dramas have actually become more like this. Not mainstream shows, which are of course more flash-bang than ever, but a good portion of American cable dramas and even some British shows. They might not feel so slow-paced, but the way they gradually meter out information and extend the arc plot over multiple episodes (often 12 or 13, not the mere 7 of Tinker Tailor) is closer to this feel. And, in much the same way, Tinker Tailor can be more satisfying viewed in several-episode chunks. It's very good, you know.

Articles

Doctor Who and the Shada Man by J.R. Southall
(from Starburst Magazine)
Lenthy, a bit rambling, and with sometimes terrible punctuation (especially considering this is meant to be a professional publication), but nonetheless interesting look at the newly-completed Shada that we still might never get to see.

In the Shadow of Saturn
(from Astronomy Picture of the Day)
This is a photograph of Saturn. A photograph! Incredible.

Tuesday 13 September 2011

TV

The A to Z of Crime
Episode 2 EFG (of 6)
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Mock the Week
10x07 (8/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x08 (7/9/11 edition)
5x09 (8/9/11 edition)
[Watch the 7/9/11 and 8/9/11 editions (again) on iPlayer.]

Sunday 11 September 2011

TV

Pointless
5x06 (5/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Part One Return to the Circus [2nd watch]
Part Two Tarr Tells His Story [2nd watch]
I was feeling a bit dozy when I watched this the first time, so as it's so complex a second go seemed appropriate. It's really very good y'know.

this week on 100 Films

Just 1 new review was posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, and it was...

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (3D) (2011)
I have no idea if this was a 3D post-conversion or shot for real, but it doesn’t matter — it’s dull. Either things are too dark to matter, or it just doesn’t pop in the way you’d like. A couple of sweeping scenery shots aside, it offers no benefit. 3D is a gimmick and all about spectacle, but it’s a gimmick On Stranger Tides doesn’t engage with, in the process showing it lacks spectacle.

More next Sunday.

Saturday 10 September 2011

TV

Doctor Who
32x10 The Girl Who Waited
An excellent episode, I thought. Technically this season's Doctor Lite one, and presumably quite low-budget too, but it never really showed in either case. Surprisingly good performance from Miss Gillen as older Amy, though for my money Arthur Darvill is still the absolute star of current Who.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who Confidential
6x10 What Dreams May Come
Confidential is beginning to get a bit samey now, I think. Every episode is on set/location, covering more or less the same stuff. Yes, a behind the scenes series will always have that problem, but there's an awful lot of stuff they don't cover that they could. What about pre-production? More on the writing process, the design process, etc. Or post-production? There must be a tonne of interesting working in CGI, sound design, editing, etc. Of course the series has covered most or all of these things in the past, but it's also covered what it's like on set in the past -- every episode, in fact. Variety would be welcome.
And proper making-of variety, not the silly asides where we get to see one cast member learn to drive and another swim with sharks. What a waste of time.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Proms 2011
Prom 59 Hooray for Hollywood
Left this too late to point you in the direction of it on iPlayer, I'm afraid, but the programme can still be read here.

Articles

New 52 Pickup | Week 2 by Steve Sunu
(from Robot 6 at Comic Book Resources)
The first full week of The New 52 sees 13 titles released, and here's reviews of every last one. Not necessarily definitive (I've seen Batwing and Detective Comics highly praised elsewhere), but still an interesting project.

Friday 9 September 2011

TV

Dragons' Den
9x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Jonathan Ross Show
1x01 (3/9/11 edition)
Some have apparently criticised this for being the same as his previous series. Really? What did you expect? I'm glad not too much has changed, as I'm sure are the rest of his numerous fans. Feels like it needs to bed in a little on ITV, but then maybe that was just the quality of the guests.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Outnumbered
4x02 Episode 2
Karen vs. a chugger? Brilliant.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Perfect Couples
1x01 Perfect Tens
New sitcom from the US... or, at least, new to E4 -- considering how late they began How I Met Your Mother this could be years old for all I know. Decent first episode (very oddly, the pilot airs as episode two), looks promising... though I see it's been cancelled already. Ah well.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Would I Lie To You?
5x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Doctor WhoShada Completed by J.R. Southall
(from Starburst Magazine)
Ian Levine may be a controversial figure in Who fandom, but this is potentially great news. If only 2|entertain see sense and buy it for the inevitable DVD release.

Is it time for George Lucas to find a new force? by Alistair Harkness
(from living.scotsman.com)
On how Lucas' constant tinkering means fans have become the 'caretakers' of the original Star Wars trilogy, and other things like that.

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

Just one new addition this week (it's Kung Fu Panda, which I managed to pick up for under £5, if you're curious). Always feels like a measly change not worth mentioning... but hey-ho, here it is anyway.

Number of titles in collection: 1,376 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,135 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 241 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 3,406 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,453 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,112 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Thursday 8 September 2011

TV

The Great British Bake Off
2x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Torchwood: Miracle Day
4x09 The Gathering
A little increase in quality this week, I thought. Which is good, because next it's The End. Be nice if it somehow included some revenge on that ratty little government man too. Though, as this A.V. Club review reminds us, it's still not all that good.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Wednesday 7 September 2011

TV

The A to Z of Crime
Episode 1 ABCD (of 6)
Or The A-Z of Crime with Specsavers, as the title card would have it.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Pointless
5x05 (2/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Tuesday 6 September 2011

TV

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Part One (of 7)
Part Two (of 7)
With the film imminent, finally got round to starting the much-acclaimed 1979 miniseries starring Alec Guinness. Very good it is too; very different to your ordinary TV drama, I think, even of its period.

Articles

Face/Off poster for Picturehouse Stratford by Sam Gilbey
(from Sam Gilbey illustrates)
Title pretty much covers it. Good poster, though. In fact, here it is:


Click to enlarge.

It must be great having a 'passion' for sport. Which is why I'm going to develop one by Charlie Brooker
(from Comment is free at guardian.co.uk)
Brooker on, essentially, why BBC Four is better than sport. Obviously he's right.

Monday 5 September 2011

TV

Pointless
5x04 (1/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Yep, that's it for today. Where'd the day go? No idea.

Sunday 4 September 2011

TV

Grand Designs Australia
1x08 Cottage Point House
As I post this I notice the bastards decided to end the series with a double bill, meaning the final episode will have been deleted from Virgin Media catch up now. Grr. Guess I'll have to suffer the quality of it on 4oD online...
[Watch episode 8 (again) on 4oD.]

Ocean Giants
Part 3 Voices of the Sea (of 3)

Pointless
5x03 (31/8/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Ruth Jones' Summer Holiday
After her previous seasonal specials (I don't remember her Easter one, so I must have either missed it or have it sat around recorded somewhere), now she gets a 'summer' one, which is the weakest excuse yet. It'll be a full-blown series next at this rate -- no bad thing.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Comics

2000 AD #1747#1749
Judge Dredd: Day of Chaos - Nadia, Parts 5-8 by John Wagner & Ben Willsher

Normally I of course read Progs the sensible way, but what with events in Dredd being so monumental at the minute (and, as a subscriber, having the post-monumental-events Prog land on my doormat yesterday), I decided to skip ahead by reading just the Dredd strips from the relevant issues. (Naturally I'll return to the rest later.) Shame to race through the story like this (as you can see, it's half of it in the period of time I previously spent on an eighth), but hey-ho.

So, the end of Part 7 was indeed suitably dramatic... though perhaps lessened by the fact it's wrapped up later in the same Prog, and in the way I imagine everyone guessed it would be (or I did, anyway). Still, nice try, especially with an additional twist in Part 8.

Articles

Day 3875: Torchwood: Molecule Day: Frying Tonight! by Millennium Dome
(from The Very Fluffy Diary of Millennium Dome, Elephant)
A lengthy but very accurate assessment of Torchwood: Miracle Day at the halfway point (ish).

this week on 100 Films

2 new reviews were posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...

The Locket (1946)
The story is, largely, a passable melodrama. We’re presented with plenty of evidence that Nancy is definitely a tricksy operator, but then is the man telling the tale an unreliable narrator? I don’t know if the filmmakers were even aware of such a concept. Maybe that’s unkind; maybe they just didn’t want him to be one; but the ending we do get is very pat, and I’m not sure it quite makes sense.

Nirvana (1997)
The most obvious point of reference is Blade Runner... Writer/director Salvatores introduces themes of what it means to be human and a lead character one might like to decide isn’t after all, and sets it in a perma-night, dystopian, multi-cultural future... running us through locations named after Marrakech and Bombay City, which may or may not be part of the same sprawling metropolis, and which all exhibit appropriately specific cultural stylings. These aren’t just pretty backgrounds, but in some ways reflect the film’s use of video games as a metaphor for reincarnation.

Also this week, the monthly update for August. You've missed your chance to buy the thing it's selling, but hey-ho.

More next Sunday.

Saturday 3 September 2011

TV

Doctor Who
32x09 Night Terrors
Gatiss' best episode since his first, I'd say. Brilliantly creepy, with a bit of a classic Who feel despite it being undoubtedly nuWho. Beautifully directed by Richard Clark, too. I'd say who knew a glum tower block could look so good, but I think Let the Right One In sort of got there first in a similar way. But hey, if you're going to take inspiration from anywhere, take it from the best.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who Confidential
6x09 About a Boy
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x02 (30/8/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Fiction

Torchwood: Long Time Dead by Sarah Pinborough
Chapters 12-14
People are investigating things... problem is, we know what they're investigating. Oh, there are still mysteries -- what can't Cutler remember; what exactly is in Suzie, what does it want and how can it be stopped? -- but, for the minute, Suzie's up to something-and-nothing and Cutler's trying to find out stuff we already know.

Comics

Justice League #1 by Geoff Johns & Jim Lee

DC's New 52 starts here. It's come in for a lot of criticism in the fanboy reviews, but personally I enjoyed it. Could it have moved faster? Probably, in places, but crucially you don't notice while reading. Maybe it's a personal preference, but I'd rather have a story told in the time it needs, with space for characterisation, humour and action, than have it rushed through so everyone can feel they got a done-in-one starring all their favourite characters.

I think it strikes the right level for newbies, too, starting with the ever-popular Batman, in a world where these heroes have yet to meet each other (perfect for newcomers), featuring plenty of action and humour to keep it engrossing, and getting some plot in there too. I don't think it moves any slower than people would expect from TV or films these days either. It certainly left me wanting to read the next issue, and for a serialised comic that's surely the aim.

So maybe it isn't the greatest comic ever published, but it's an entertaining start to a new order.

Doctor Who theme... with lyrics

Started out thinking this was stupid and ridiculous... then, a little way in, I realised it's actually completely awesome.

Friday 2 September 2011

TV

Miranda
2x05 Just Act Normal [2nd watch]
One of Miranda's best episodes, I think. Must be odd for Mark Heap to be playing the most normal person in the room...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Outnumbered
4x01 Episode 1
The Radio Times are wondering if this is beginning to get tired. On the evidence of this episode, not quite yet.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x01 (29/8/11 edition)
It's a new series! So new, you'd never know if the episode guide didn't say it was. Quite why it is I have no idea. Well, it's presumably a production thing (note how Richard now says "up to the start of April 2011" whereas previously it was "to the start of January 2011", but... yeah...)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Rob Brydon Show
2x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Fiction

Torchwood: Long Time Dead by Sarah Pinborough
Chapters 10-11
I read the first of these Torchwood tie-ins in just under a fortnight; this second one's taken me two weeks already and I'm only a third of the way through. Oops.

Comics

2000 AD #1746
At least being behind on this means I can read the ECBT 2000AD reviews as soon as I'm done with the issue, rather than a couple of weeks later when they post them. This issue's lot can be read here, here, here, here and here. I disagree with their summaries, though -- didn't enjoy quite a lot of this Prog, even the stuff I normally like. Ho hum.

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

A last-minute pile of post (literally, a few minutes ago) gives a decent boost to this week's numbers. Might get quieter for a bit now... but then, Star Wars is out soon...

Number of titles in collection: 1,375 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,135 [up 3]
Of which Blu-rays: 240 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 3,405 [up 13]
Number of films in collection: 1,452 [up 8]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,112 [up 12]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Thursday 1 September 2011

TV

Doctor Who Confidential
6x08 River Runs Wild
Very nicely done "previously on Doctor Who" bit... but surely something like that would've made more sense on the episode itself?
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Epic Win
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Pointless
4x60 (26/8/11 edition) [season finale]
I say season finale -- tad arbitrary, as the next one started the day after.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Torchwood: Miracle Day
4x08 End of the Road
Are we really supposed to believe a mother who's had her children taken away because she's incapable of looking after them, and is being monitored in a special facility because of this, would be allowed access to the internet to sign herself and those already-taken-away kids up for, effectively, an assisted suicide programme? Even in Torchwood's pessimistic new world that's ridiculously implausible.
Still, only two more episodes to go. There better be a good finale.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

New 52 Pickup | And so it begins! by Steve Sunu
(from Robot 6 at Comic Book Resources)
Unsurprisingly the net's been flooded with reviews of Justice League #1, the first title in DC's New 52, but this is most interesting because it's the first in a series that intends to review every last one of the New 52 first issues and whittle them down to the best books over the coming months. One to keep looking out for, then.