Friday, 23 May 2014

TV

Arrow
2x23 Unthinkable [season finale]
They seemed to pile everything on extra thick for the finale -- not only the epic action, but also the cheese. S'all good fun though.

Elementary
2x24 The Grand Experiment [season finale]
Pretty sure there's no experiment in this, grand or otherwise.

Episodes
3x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Gavin & Stacey
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale; 2nd watch]

Films

Doctor Who: Celebrating 50 Years of Fandom

A Kickstarted Who documentary, due for release to mark the 50th anniversary but which finally turned up in the past month or so. It's a somewhat unfocused affair, with a random grab-bag of interviewees sharing their Who-related stories.

When it does hone in on a topic, like the appeal of conventions, or the effect of the revived series, or the gender of fans, it often raises interesting ideas but then fails to explore them further. There are several almost-throwaway remarks from interviewees which have the most potential for genuine interest here, but there never followed up on. It's a shame the filmmakers didn't put that extra effort into their film's construction.

There's a good documentary to be made exploring the details of fandom -- the story of it, the whys of it, the ways in which it's changed, the good and the bad of it -- but, sadly, this only skims the surface.

If you still fancy seeing the documentary, you can buy it on DVD, Blu-ray or HD download here, or stream it for £2.49 from here.

Comics

Rocket Raccoon: Free Comic Book Day by Joe Caramagna, Adam Archer & Ty Templeton

Marvel are very obviously pitching Rocket to be the break-out star of their late summer blockbuster, Guardians of the Galaxy: there's already tonnes of merchandise announced featuring him, there's a new on-going comic coming up, and he was the star of their FCBD offering this year.

In two short 10-page tales (one a reprint), Caramagna demonstrates that it's perfectly possible to tell a decent, self-contained story -- and if he can do it in ten, why the hell can't most comic book writers do it in 20?! OK, so these are simple, fun, all-ages quickies, not the grown-up in-depth tales most comic book fans expect nowadays, but I think the point stands -- it can be done.

Articles

Edgar Wright Departs Ant-Man
by James White (from Empire)

Well here's something no one saw coming! Wright's been working on an Ant-Man movie since before the MCU began (with Iron Man in 2008), and had recently cast it and got deep into pre-production. Bet there must be a juicy behind-the-scenes story there...