Heroes 3x14: A Clear and Present Danger

Heroes returns with Volume Four, Fugitives. Why not just call it Season Four, hm? Bloody US TV silliness.

Still, the main thing is, it's a helluva lot better than before! This episode contained as much incident as half a dozen episodes would've in the old-style Heroes and, with the exception of the odd unsubtle misstep (orange jumpsuits), it was all good, exciting, intriguing stuff.

But it's probably come too late -- the show's phenomenon status is well and truly shot on both sides of the Atlantic, with falling ratings over there and very little promotion for this new run over here (so little, in fact, that I skipped this ep on broadcast to watch L&O:UK, and only remembered the show was even on when I checked this evening's listings); plus tie-in making-of series Heroes Unmasked has apparently been cancelled.

It's all a shame, because if they'd pulled this kinda quality out of the bag for season two -- or even the start of season three -- it might've been enough to save the show's status. Now it's got to rebuild its popularity, and that's a big ask.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
3x12 (3/7/08 edition) [season finale]

Heroes
2x11 Powerless [season finale]
Everyone involved seems to think the 'Big Twist' at the end of Volume Two was a total shocker (based on what they had to say in Heroes Unmasked), but, really, that's just about the most predictable thing that can happen to someone giving a big tell-all speech. A bit of a rocky season, though nowhere near as poor as some claim; but let's hope they can still up the ante next year.

Heroes Unmasked
2x10 From Heroes to Villains [season finale]
See above.

Mine All Mine
Part 6 (of 6) [2nd watch]
Utterly, utterly barmy... and brilliant because of it! And oh-so very Welsh too. Such a shame it flopped.

Shark
2x13 Bar Fight
2x14 Leaving Las Vegas
2x15 One Hit Wonder

Spaced
1x07 Ends [season finale]

TV

No Little Dorrit today, because the BBC decided to show some tosh about Shannon bloody Matthews instead. It'll now be shown for the first time in Sunday's omnibus. Seems odd for such a big primetime drama -- maybe no one's been watching? Don't imagine they'd've done the same to East-bloody-Enders.

Lead Balloon
3x04 Karma

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
22x10 (4/12/08 edition)

Last week I summarised the appalling amount of TV I had to catch up on. How are things one week on? One Sarah Jane Adventures, one Survivors, one Wallander, one Heroes... four Apparitionses and five Heroes Unmaskeds. At least some have improved.

TV

Derren Brown: Trick or Treat
2x02 Kitten
The show with possibly the coolest title sequence on TV (it includes clues to every episode) continues with an episode in which a 19-year-old student is offered £500 to not kill a kitten. It might sound easy, but when you've got Derren's array of tricks levelled against you nothing is as it seems....

The Graham Norton Show
3x08 (5/6/08 edition)

Heroes
2x07 Out of Time
Certain media outlets persist in insisting that season two of Heroes is dull. Perhaps their memories of season one are too nostalgia-tinged, or perhaps they listened too hard to the early criticisms of others? Season two has just as much going on as the first -- occasionally not enough, occasionally (like tonight's episode) packed with incident, revelations and cliffhangers... including a fantastic final moment that merged two great surprises into a single shot.

Holby Blue
2x12 Episode 12 [season finale]
Holby Blue has been a lot better this season, focussing more on individual storylines than one arcing uber-criminal plot and spacing out plot developments in the characters' personal lives a tad more realistically. It also swerved away from repeating a first season storyline, in the process thankfully showing us a lot less of that bitch from the CPS. Long may she barely feature.

Red Dwarf
2x01 Kryten
Despite being a fan of Red Dwarf for over a decade, and owning all eight series on DVD, there are still many episodes I've never seen from series two to six. So, having recently re-watched the first series, I'm intending to continue on through them. As much as I enjoy the show's first six episodes, this series two opener seems to be a step-up in quality. Hopefully it continues.

Spooks
4x04 Road Trip (aka Infiltration of a New Threat)

TV

Heroes
3x08 Villains
Backstory episodes like this are often among Heroes' best, if you ask me. But that ending... my God that was gruesome! It says a lot about American TV that they'll merrily show a decapitated body -- and the head lying separately by itself -- but not so much swearing as "God" and not so much nudity as a bottom. What's wrong with that nation?!

Spooks
7x07 The Mole
Oh dear! Oh my! Not just for Harry being interrogated and the revelation of the mole, including a particularly vicious murder (though, next to that decapitation...), but because there were times when I actually liked Ros! Argh! "You are a fool" were probably the most satisfying four words in a drama for a while, especially as no good guys seem to be allowed to take appropriate revenge or deliver appropriate put-downs these days.

TV

Britain's Got an Extra Pop Factor ...And Then Some!
So, turns out, I missed the last five minutes. Which I have now watched. Nothing else to add.

Clone
1x06 The Librarian [season finale]
Possibly the best episode yet, though that's not saying much. It does pay off the producer's comments that there'd be developing storylines though, with a fairly interesting cliffhanger. I'm not sure if I want it resolved enough to see another series this weak though...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Crooked House
Part 1 The Wainscotting
Short series of three horror tales set in the same house, by League of Gentlemen co-founder/member and Doctor Who & Lucifer Box writer Mark Gatiss, also showing as a portmanteau horror movie on December 27th.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Heroes
3x12 Our Father
3x13 Dual
And so Volume Three comes to an end with this lacking mini-finale. As things turned out, not quite the grand Return To Form we were promised. Perhaps Volume Four can manage better when Heroes returns (in February, so I hear).

Lead Balloon
3x07 Nuts [season finale]
A surprisingly Christmassy Christmas special/final episode for Lead Balloon. And at the end it even all turns out nice. Almost.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Mock the Week
6x13 (23/12/08 edition) [Christmas special]
Despite having already aired a highlights/cut bits show at the end of the last series, here's another one for Christmas, though at least with some added festive material.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

No Heroics
1x04 Back Issues
Still sex-obsessed then. It's better than Clone, but would be better still if the writers could get their collective brains out of their collective groins.

QI
6x02 Fire & Freezing [Christmas special; 2nd watch]
The problem with families is they have a tendency to talk over Christmas TV. The great thing about modern technology is you can record things to watch again in peace. The good thing about QI is it's both funny and interesting, which rewards repeat views -- especially as I did indeed miss some jokes first time round.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles: TV news

Heroes 'will start from scratch'
(from BBC News)
"Heroes is returning to its roots in a bid to turn round falling audience figures in the US. Creator Tim Kring said series four will start "pretty much from scratch", after fans criticised a lack of direction in the second and third series." But then, remember what Kring said before the start of the third season? So I'll believe it when I see it.

ITV's Demons drops to 4.2m by Neil Wilkes
(from Digital Spy)
"ITV1's fantasy drama Demons lost another 650,000 viewers last night (Saturday), according to early figures. The third episode pulled in 4.18m... The audience is down almost 1.6m on that for the first episode." Oh dear oh dear. No second series then, I'm guessing.
(On an only-vaguelly-connected note, I love how Digital Spy's staff seem to work every day of the week! Either they have no life, or really love their job. Says the man who updates his blog every day. Hey, at least mine's a hobby.)

Jones feels Gavin & Stacey pressure by Alex Fletcher
(from Digital Spy)
Mostly interesting is something I hadn't yet heard: Gavin & Stacey is definitely getting a third series! Hurrah!

Laurie: Accent caused UK House flop by Simon Reynolds
(from Digital Spy)
"Hugh Laurie has claimed that his American accent is the reason for House's failure in the UK." For one, it's not really a "failure", is it? If it were a failure it wouldn't still be on a Freeview channel in a primetime slot. And to be honest, I rather suspect it has more to do with it being on Five. Five's ratings may've gone up in the past few years, but back when House started it was still before all this "everyone must have digital TV" stuff that's going on now and Five wasn't available everywhere (far from it!) Plus that there's a huge discrepancy between US and UK viewing figures anyway, and I expect he sees both, making the UK ones look teeny-tiny by comparison.

New Argumental on Dave in March by James Welsh
(from Digital Spy)
Hurray!
That's all.

Ross will not apologise for prank again
and
Jonathan Ross plans new Sachs apology
by Daniel Kilkelly (from Digital Spy)
Don't you just love it when there's a pair of stories like that? I guess we'll have to wait til Friday night to find out which is true, though the latter sounds more convincing.
The pair of stories also have an interesting line in establishing Ross' true thoughts about the affair and the BBC: "Being suspended hit Jonathan hard -- but he says, 'I have learnt my lesson'", and "Jonathan feels let down by some aspects of the BBC... It was a pre-recorded segment and he expected those who needed to check and follow through to do so. He was aware of the potential pitfalls and alerted other people at the BBC before it went out."

Ryan tipped as new Who assistant by Daniel Kilkelly
(from Digital Spy)
I'll believe it when I see it, considering the source; but, considering her recent recurring role in Merlin, her previous appearance in a Moffat production (Jekyll), and that she (supposedly) auditioned when Rose left, it's not at all implausible. She'd certainly be better than Lily bloody Allen. She's probably older than the new Doctor though, isn't she? But then, so's almost everyone they might consider, so...

Articles: Lists

10 Greatest Movie Posters Ever Made by Sam Ashurst
and
10 Worst Movie Posters Ever Made by Andy Lowe
(from Total Film)
Some odd choices on both sides, but worth pondering. Personally, I love the "Some Thing Has Found Us" tagline -- that's a very cleverly placed space.

10 Incredibly Strange Movie Trailers by Andy Lowe
(from Total Film)
I do love a good trailer, and some of these are just that. And some are unmitigated drivel. Follow the advice on #2, the clips it points you toward are utterly hilarious.

If Movie Posters Were Honest
(from Holy Taco)
As with all of these Photoshop-based comedy poster/advert efforts, there's a mix of very funny and "oh how I wish I were funny" efforts here. The Indy 4 spoof is unoriginal and, to be honest, a tired and fairly untrue complaint, but the too truthful The Happening spoof singlehandedly makes up for all the bad ones.

If TV Shows Had Truthful Titles
(from Holy Taco)
Yup, it's the exact same thing, only with TV show titles. Intriguingly, this article came first -- I'd've thought the ease and familiarity of movie posters (as opposed to having to find posters/DVD covers/cast photos with some words on for TV shows) made them a more obvious choice. Anyway, it's again a mixed bag, but the Heroes one makes it all worth it.

TV

Heroes
3x00 Countdown to the Premiere
3x01 The Second Coming
Not quite as mind-blowing an opening as some fans claimed at the time, this is still Heroes on good forms, with plenty of answers, twists, and new questions. The future glimpse of a city being destroyed is a bit too reminiscent of season one though.
(The countdown aired immediately prior to the 2-hour premiere in the US, and on BBC Three last Friday in the UK.)

Heroes Unmasked
3x01 Opening Pandora's Box
Now with new voiceover blokey, Santiago Cabrera. Nice that he's still connected with the show somehow.

TV

Big Cat Live
1x04 (8/10/08 edition)

Heroes
3x02 The Butterfly Effect

Heroes Unmasked
3x02 New Heroes on the Block

The Sandbaggers
1x01 First Principles
See here for my thoughts on this episode.

TV

Dead Set TV Trailer
Fantastic concept and seems to have high production values too. This looks like it could be brilliant. See a variety of trailers on the official site.

Heroes Unmasked
3x03 On a Heroic Scale

Spooks
6x01 The Virus Part 1
On to series six somewhat quicker than I was expecting -- normally I'd've waited for the DVD's inevitable price drop to around £15, but with series seven only a week away -- and this season available on DVD already (usually it's not out til the weekend before/after episode one) -- I thought it would be good to catch up in time to watch the new series when it's on.

Wired
Part 2 (of 3)

TV

Arrow
2x03 Broken Dolls
Ooh, blatant Batman reference is blatant!


Doctor Who
2x07 The End of Tomorrow
2x08 The Waking Ally
2x09 Flashpoint

Parts four to six of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, the second-ever Dalek serial. It's a marvellous story, actually, packed with incident and scale — things lacking from the "trek across the planet for half the story" first Dalek serial. It's also fantastically realised on what must have been the usual tiny budget — epic location filming, numerous (relatively) elaborate studio sets… The final scene, with Susan's departure (the first original regular to leave), is a particular highlight — not because we're glad to be rid of her, but because it's beautifully written and performed, especially by Hartnell.

And also...

Doctor Who
The TV Movie [2nd third; 5th watch]

I forgot to mention last time (in amongst all my other waffle) that the TVM is the 40th episode of #bbbDW50 -- at the end of this week it'll be two-thirds complete! More on giving over 20% of the viewing to the new series when I get there, next week.

So, 'Part 2' of the TVM takes us from "the morning after" (beginning of DVD chapter 8) to the Master and Chang Lee posing as paramedics to collect the Doctor and Grace from her house (end of DVD chapter 13) -- a bit of a cliffhanger, as our heroes happily trot off with a guy we know to be evil. Dun-dun-duuuun! Maybe not quite as effective as 'Part 1', but better than the next option (after the bike chase); and hey, the classic series has its fair share of under-dramatic episode endings.


Friends
4x12 The One with the Embryos [4th or so watch]
I suppose The One Where the Girls Lose Their Apartment to the Boys would've given away the ending rather. But it's that one.


Person of Interest
2x02 Bad Code
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

TV

The Graham Norton Show
4x08 (20/11/08 edition, uncut repeat)

Little Dorrit
Part 10 (of 14)
Today, it's the turn of Mr Meagles to receive a "go --!" cry, and the accompanying "hurrah!"

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
22x09 (27/11/08 edition)
It's the 198th episode special! Only on Buzzcocks, eh.

Three Apparitionses, two Sarah Jane Adventureses, two Survivorses, two Heroeses, and a single Spooks. Yes, I'm shockingly behind on any TV show whose name ends in "S". (Plus Lead Balloon, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Ponderland (just tonight's in each case), and Heroes Unmasked -- of which there are four.)

TV

FlashForward
1x01 No More Good Days
The latest big thing from the US -- aka "The New Lost" -- commences on Five just four days after it premiered in the US.
It's a solid start -- better than Lost's for my money -- with lots of mysteries set in motion, already the hints at where answers may come from, and some stunning visuals alongside it. The dialogue may lack the sparkle of the best programmes and the characterisation isn't exemplary either, but then neither Lost nor similar former-big-hit Heroes ever managed those things either. Besides which, this is a 45-minute pilot, tasked with setting in motion an incredibly complex set of events that's got to feed at least the rest of this season and, if the creators have their way, another six after that.
Signs are good though, so fingers crossed this can deliver, in the way Lost apparently has for its fans, rather than sink into mediocrity, a la Heroes.
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

How I Met Your Mother
1x15 Game Night

Last Chance to See
Part 2 Northern White Rhino
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Heroes
3x06 Dying of the Light

Heroes Unmasked
3x06 Teenage Kicks

Little Dorrit
Part 3 (of 14)

Spooks
7x03 The Tip-Off

this week on 100 Films

The second 100 Films Advent Calendar is well and truly underway now, meaning that 7 new reviews were published this week.

First, on Channel 4 tonight at 10pm:


Hanna (2011)

There’s the genre’s typical globetrotting, fistfighting thrills; but also an allegorical coming-of-age indie drama; plus a surreal, fairytale tone that drifts across proceedings like a pleasant morning mist.

Read more here.


And the rest:


Black Death (2010)

Though not entirely devoid of gore or jumps, this is more a creeping horror; a tale of the supernatural where an uncanny mood is more important than visceral thrills. I don’t think it’s too lofty to suggest comparison to The Wicker Man rather than an historical Saw.

Read more here.


The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)

There’s no shortage of ambition in the rendering on screen, but the film sadly comes up short on occasion. Despite director Michael Apted’s experienced hand on the wheel, the course strays into Syfy Channel TV movie territory at times, with a kind of cheapness that won’t please anyone

Read more here.


Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (Extended Cut) (2013)

Having heard only bad things, I expected a soul-crushing dud of Van Helsing proportions. Actually, it’s a lot of fun.

Read more here.


LEGO Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite (2013)

I’ve seen a couple of the LEGO Star Wars TV specials and found them to be quite fun, but LEGO Batman can’t reach their level. It’s not just that it’s almost four times as long as one of those, it’s that the humour it does contain doesn’t hit home in the same way. It’s often too juvenile, too “that’ll do”

Read more here.


Side by Side (2012)

a documentary on camera technology. No, wait, come back! It’s much more interesting than that sounds. Side by Side is, primarily, about the debate between those who prefer the old film ways and those who embrace the digital future...

Read more here.


Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

In an ethnically diverse and equal future, white American Kirk and white Vulcan-American Spock are commanded by white American Pike and white American Marcus to lead their crew to capture a Starfleet-targeting terrorist: John Harrison, a white Englishman

Read more here.


And one related review was new to the new blog too...


The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)

The epic final battle comes as close to rivalling Helm’s Deep as anything I can think of, albeit — in typical Narnia style — in broad daylight on a big field. It has a real story to it, with specific moves being made by each side in the name of an overall strategy, rather than just A Lot Of Good Guys charging at A Lot Of Bad Guys and hacking away ’til one side wins, the apparent battle tactic in most other such large encounters on film.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Heroes
3x04 I Am Become Death
This season's best episode, so far.

Heroes Unmasked
3x04 Playing God

TV

Doctor Who [new]
4x13 Journey's End [2nd watch; season finale]
See here for my thoughts on this story. [coming soon]

Heroes Season 3 Trailer
A brilliant two-minute trail for the forthcoming third season of Heroes, subtitled "Villains". It looks absolutely fantastic, even if it does use the very tired "Choose a Side" tagline.

Tin Man
Part 3 Conclusion (aka Tin Man) [final episode]
Y'know, one of the worst things about this is that it's packed with the cheap fantasy trick of pointlessly renaming everyday things in the fantasy world, such as "years" being called "annuals". It just draws attention to itself, making otherwise fine bits of dialogue objectionable. Well, actually, there are plenty worse things -- the CGI springs to mind, which would have been much better if they hadn't tried to reach beyond their means with such a large volume of needless or needlessly-long shots. I do find the references to the original stories amusing though, even if they help cement this as nothing more than an interesting curio for The Wizard of Oz than a fully independent piece of drama.

Collection Count

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

This week, I discovered I owned a copy of a film that I also owned in a box set -- the exact same disc -- and somehow I'd missed this fact when I bought the box set (over seven years ago, yikes!) and hadn't removed the standalone copy from my collection. So I've done that this week... alongside another busy week with seven new additions.

One of those is the UK limited edition of World on a Wire, for which I already own the Criterion release. Originally created as a two-part miniseries for German TV, the Criterion version features it as a single long movie, running at 24fps. The UK release retains the original two-part structure, across two discs, running at the correct 25fps -- that seemed like a good bet to me, especially as it has more special features. The Criterion release has a long-ish unique extra, however, so I'm keeping it for the time being, making this an addition rather than replacement.

Same goes for Doctor Who series 4 on Blu-ray, finally getting the Steelbook to go with my copies of series 1-3 and the David Tennant Specials. It should probably just replace the DVD, really, but I have a sentimental attachment to those big ol' box sets. Also a DVD-to-BD upgrade is Heroes Shed No Tears, but, similar to World on a Wire, the old edition has unique extras, so for now I'm keeping both.

The other four newcomers are all flat-out new, so that's nice.

Number of titles in collection: 2,298 [up 6]
Of which DVDs: 1,114 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 1,184 [up 7]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 44 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 5,995 [up 12]
Number of films: 2,691 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes: 8,769 [up 22]
Number of short films: 688 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader -- when I may well pass 6,000 discs!

Articles

Bollywood's Hari Puttar wins Harry Potter suit by Ramola Talwar Badam
(from Mail.com)
Craziness.

Google phone to cost $179, debut Oct. 22 by Peter Svensson
(from Mail.com)
Will it beat the iPhone? Not looking like that it won't.

Study: Series TV showing more gays, lesbians
(from Mail.com)
Amusingly thorough study of the number of LGBT characters in the forthcoming US TV season.

Talking Shop by Rory Bremner
(from Radio Times 27 Sept-3 Oct 2008, p.20-23)
Bremner supposedly interviews Parky -- a great idea, but the article includes next to nothing from their conversation. Boo! Apparently more can be found online at radiotimes.com/parkinson, though I haven't looked for myself.

And finally, coming soon...

Loft in Space by Benjamin Cook
(from Radio Times 27 Sept-3 Oct 2008, p.8-9)
The Sarah Jane Adventures is almost back! I really ought to get round to watching the trailers...

Upping the anti by Jenny Eden
(from Radio Times 27 Sept-3 Oct 2008, p.10-11)
Heroes is almost back! And with a teeny tiny delay from the US too. Lovely.