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.

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.]

TV

Pointless
5x07 (6/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Part Three Smiley Tracks the Mole

Films

Bringing Up Baby (1938)
[#78 in 100 Films in a Year 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.

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.

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 Who – Shada 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.

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.]

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.]

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.

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.

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).