TV

FlashForward
1x13 Blowback
Go beardy dad bloke!
As for the rest of the series... It's good we're getting answers; it's still not good though, is it.

The Mentalist
2x10 Throwing Fire
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

Articles

BBC Trust apologises for Frankie Boyle 'angry Jew' joke
(from guardian.co.uk)
In summary, if you call an Israeli a Jew it's "inappropriate and offensive".

Our Clegg-backing letter is one for the grandchildren by Richard Reeves
(from Comment is free at guardian.co.uk)
Not normally one for brandishing too much politics across the blog, but this (and the letter it links to at the end) still make for an interesting read.

Week 6 Schedule Update by Marcus
(from Doctor Who News Page)
Alternate headline: "Over the Rainbow stage scheduling coup while Moffat stranded in America".
I'm sure it's significantly less exciting than that, but, still.

preview of Doctor Who games has put me off

Preview: Doctor Who: The Adventure Games by Matthew Reynolds
(from Digital Spy)

I was really looking forward to these games -- Doctor Who has always seemed well-suited to a point-and-click-style adventure game and I'd always hoped they'd make one. And that's what this looked like -- it's got "Adventure Game" in the title, after all, and screenshots have shown 3D person controls and adventure-game-like on-screen options like "examine".

But appearances can be deceptive, as this preview reveals. Instead of a Who-ish game driven by story, conversation and inventory-based puzzles, we're getting stealth sections that sound thoroughly old-fashioned and mini-games every time the Doctor needs to unlock a door. And, from the sounds of the preview, that's all the game really has to offer. Oh.

If that was the kind of game they'd pitched, well, c'est la vie -- but it promised so much more! And it sounds like the developers lack the creativity to have even thought of the superior option. This quote demonstrates their complete lack of understanding:

The Doctor himself solves all the problems of the universe, saves humanity, with the power of negotiation and clever quips, which within themselves don't make for great gameplay... He hasn't got a blaster, it'll be brilliant if he had a lightsaber, it'll be great if he had twin guns, but he hasn't and we can't…

Basically, if it's not a shoot-em-up, it's not a game. What idiots.

Why couldn't this have been licensed to Telltale? Well, probably because they're American 'n' all that -- but they've proven it works as a business model (not that these Who games need a business model -- they're free), and I'd assumed their style had basically been copied for these games. But it seems not.

I'll still play them, of course, cos I'm a Who fan and they're canon and they're free. But before I was really looking forward to them, and now I'll just go through the motions because I have to. Which is a bit depressing.