Days til New York...

21

On July 12th I'm going off to New York for about five weeks. While the blog will still be updated, expect the odd gap while I'm travelling (and possibly while away too). As I won't have access to most/all of things like my DVD collection, I intend to finish many ongoing 'tasks' by then, such as watching season one of Babylon 5. This daily countdown is an aid to both you and me in seeing how long there is to go...

TV

This is the first day since the blog began that I haven't watched any TV!

Films

Hard Boiled (1992)
[#43 in 100 Films in a Year 2008]

Fiction

Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming
Chapter 19
On their train to freedom, Bond and Scarlett are assaulted by the henchman, Chagrin. No Red Grant-style fight of consequence, but he is afforded a great, brutal death. After that, their increasingly long-winded escape goes on a bit; although quite tense, we've had several chapters of this now, and it's not quite what you expect from the final few chapters of a Bond novel.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
3x10 (19/6/08 edition)

Heroes
2x09 Cautionary Tales

Spaced
1x02 Gatherings
1x03 Art

Spooks
4x09 The Sting
4x10 Diana [season finale]
Spooks manages the impressive feat of constructing a suitably epic season finale set almost entirely on the Grid, the show's main standing set. There's also a suitably dramatic cliffhanger, something I'd forgotten Spooks did after the almost-wholly-resolved third season finale. It's all still a tad far-fetched, but that's par for the course now, as Spooks has turned from "realistic(ish) spy show" to a more typical action spy show, that would err enough on the side of realism were it not for the seasons that preceded it.

Fiction

Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming
Chapters 15 - 18
An action-packed few chapters, as Bond is retrieved from the desert by Gorner and is once again treated to a handy description of a new despicable plan. Ooh, that dastardly foreigner! While Bond is stuck on Gorner's stolen British passenger plane, headed for Russia's main nuclear factory, Leiter teams up with Darius to stop the destruction. But there's a traitor in their midst... Unsurprisingly, there's some success in stopping Gorner's plans, but to get home Bond and Scarlett must journey into the heart of the Soviet Union, the country Bond's spent most of his adult life fighting! These are an exciting set of chapters, with a climactic feel -- though, with Gorner still alive and Bond in the heart of Russia, it's far from over. And there's still that mystery of how truthful Scarlett and/or Poppy are... (I'll post fuller notes on these chapters in my review of the book.)

Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: Lost Luggage by Colin Brake
See here for my thoughts on this book.

Winter Story by Jill Barklem

"Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: Lost Luggage" by Colin Brake

Colin Brake, king of the weak Decide Your Destiny book, returns for one final stab at the heart of gamebooks... sorry, I mean, one final stab at writing one. Lost Luggage is the first book of the series' final batch of releases (to date), and the ninth in the series. The last set of books added historical adventures to the mix, and now this one adds a companion-free Doctor... well, apart from you, obviously. "When the TARDIS goes missing in a busy spaceport, the Doctor and you must race against time and across space to find it, before the Doctor's incredible spaceship is lost forever..." Ooh, Terminal 5-a-like.

It will come as no surprise that all the problems evident in Brake's previous three books are present here too. From the very first entry you're -- here comes my well-worn complaint! -- making choices to direct the story, rather than to direct your character. Perhaps if these were Decide the Story books I'd accept this, but they're Decide Your Destiny, which rather implies you're meant to be directing your character's actions, as far as I'm concerned. That's certainly how these sort of books normally work, anyway, and there's a reason for that: it's more fun. Still, there's little point going over it all again -- it comes up in pretty much every review of this series -- so what of the plot?

Well, there are a couple of branches available. As usual, some make not a blind bit of difference -- at one point the Doctor can either pay for tickets or hitchhike, with either option leaving you on the same set of pages -- while others give you wildly differing plots -- one choice either gave me an engine fire or looting pirates... the second option sounded much more exciting. Something else I've berated before is the lack of consistency of plot when things like this happen, though I suppose it's to be expected when you're choosing a story rather than your actions (it's less forgivable when it occurs in the latter, in my opinion). It's not necessarily a bad story, but the scope of it seems a bit broad for such a short book: trying to squeeze arriving at a spaceport, meeting someone (a choice of two, of course, as this is part of the formula in a Brake book (not mentioned before because I have plenty else to whine about!)), losing the TARDIS, getting transport, a spaceship accident, two different reasons for this (at least), ensuing incidents, and finding the TARDIS -- along with the all the options required to make these things happen -- seems a bit much for 102 sections, as many of the incidents are quite brief. Still, there are space pirates -- that's always cool.

I'm sure regular readers can guess my conclusion. Brake's style of choices sap much of the fun out of playing this kind of book, and when you pair it with an over-ambitious plot (passable, but not as fun as some), you're once again looking at an entry at the lower end of the spectrum.

Bond from the Beginning #2: From Russia With Love

The fact that From Russia, With Love was one of John F. Kennedy's favourite novels inspired the Bond producers to make it their second film.

From Russia With Love is probably the most atypical Bond movie, because it functions equally well as a realistic Cold War spy thriller, breaking with the series' already-exhibited fantastical bent. This is also one of the reasons it's so good however, though it does mean some may view it as a low-key aside from the series' overall development. It's also a faithful adaptation of the novel, something actually rather rare amongst these films.

It may not be what you expect from a Bond film, but it's one of the absolute best in the series.

TV

Babylon 5
1x12 By Any Means Necessary

Doctor Who [classic]
22x13 Revelation of the Daleks Part Two [2nd watch; season finale]
See here for my thoughts on this story.

Gilmore Girls
4x15 Scene in a Mall

Film

Leon: Version Integrale (1994)
[#42 in 100 Films in a Year 2008]
While I have seen the theatrical cut of Leon twice before, this is the first time I've seen this notably-longer extended cut.

Fiction

Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: The Haunted Wagon Train by Colin Brake
See here for my thoughts on this book.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill
Graphic Novel, Section 4 (pages 158-175)
Graphic Novel, Section 5 (3D) (pages 176-192) [the end]
See here for my thoughts on the final sections of Black Dossier.

Doctor Who: Revelation of the Daleks

In the '80s, Doctor Who was in trouble. The massive popularity of Tom Baker's era gave way to a well-liked Doctor (played, of course, by Peter Davison), but also to a damaging new weeknight schedule and an obsession with referencing the past that soon led to a show only fans could understand. When Davison was replaced with Colin Baker, things got worse still. The new Doctor was initially violent and garish, a total contrast to the previous meek incarnation. In spite of the dad-friendly sight of Peri's cleavage, viewing figures plummeted (I should rewrite that with a different gag...) For its 22nd season, the show was reshaped from twenty-six 25-minute episodes to thirteen 45-minute ones -- surely that could never work?! Obviously, it does if you handle it correctly, but 1985 was not the right time for Doctor Who, and it was put on an 18-month suspension... You can catch the next part of this story when I come to review my next serial, but for now let's stick with this one -- Revelation of the Daleks, the last story broadcast before the hiatus.

Colin Baker's era is generally looked down upon (not without reason), but Revelation is a brilliant story for all sorts of reasons. The subject matter is wonderfully grim. Consequently the story is packed with violence and gore, all of it effectively achieved, especially considering the programme's budget. This is underscored by a set of great guest performances, both from recognisable faces like Eleanor Bron and Clive Swift, and lesser-known (to me, at least) actors such as William Gaunt. Even Alexei Sayle's DJ character, while incredibly irritating, provides a change of pace and style that is almost entertaining -- plus, whoever thought you'd get to see a Dalek killed by rock 'n' roll! Speaking of pace and style, both hold up incredibly well 23 years on -- with a few modifications, this might even fit quite comfortably into the new series. Graeme Harper's direction especially is as accomplished as ever, some of the best you're likely to see in classic Who -- or, I'd wager, in much drama from the same period.

There are flaws, of course. The Doctor and Peri take too long to actually get involved, meandering across Necros for the whole of Part One, while inside there's some actual plot going on. In the same vein the Daleks and Davros do next to nothing for the whole of the first episode -- their return is so underplayed, and then they're so underused, that one has to wonder if the story would be even better with an original enemy. Part Two does something to address these faults, but simultaneously discards much of what was going on in the first episode. Perhaps it goes without saying that the story might've been stronger if it could have mixed the two halves together, especially as the first half has quite a slow pace while the second rattles through events in a rush to get everything done.

The DVD of Revelation has the option for both new CGI effects and 5.1 Surround Sound. I'm a purist only as far as the original at least being an option, so I merrily turned both of these on for my viewing. The surround mix is great, making good use of the rear speakers for both effects and music (one of the things that most often annoys me about surround mixes is when they don't put the music across all the speakers. Why not?! It's not occurring either on screen or in the off-screen space (to get mildly technical!), so it should come from everywhere, not specifically the front!) Mark Ayres, the Restoration Team's audio expert, seems quite happy to add new effects, recreate dialogue, etc, for these surround mixes, so that they work as well as possible. As I said, this is fine as far as I'm concerned, as the originals are always included and are the default setting, but semi-purists may have different feelings. (For more information on the work Ayres did here, check out the Restoration Team's article.)

The new CGI effects, meanwhile, are so well integrated that most, if not all, would go unnoticed to an unaware first time viewer. I didn't compare them to the originals, which may of course be flatly bad -- I sometimes find classic Who's video effects, such as laser beams, are even worse than I remember -- but these new versions don't jump out as totally incongruous. In this respect I suppose the story benefits from not having any big model sequences, or dodgy aliens that could do with replacing, so doesn't have entirely CG-model sequences that would stand out like a sore thumb. It lessens the importance of any debate over whether to turn the new effects on, whereas on other, more heavily CGI'd stories I'm still not sure which version I'd plump for (especially for a first viewing).

Before he was unceremoniously booted off the show, C. Baker only managed to make eight stories -- less even than Chris Eccleston! (Though, this is because I count The Trial of a Time Lord as one story; if you listen to those who count it as more, Baker managed twelve tales.) Whilst I haven't seen them all (in fact, I've thus far missed out on the two widely considered to be among the programme's worst ever), I think it's safe to say Revelation is among his best. That might not be saying much, so I'll add that there are probably a sizable number of the stories from all the other Doctors I would rank lower than it too. Maybe, just maybe, I might even place it somewhere in my personal favourites... but then, as I've only seen 42% of classic Who, I'm always wary of making such sweeping statements.

"The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier" by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill - Running Commentary, Part 6

And so I reach the end of Black Dossier, the latest entry in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series. With the Dossier itself finished last time, it's full steam ahead to the plot's conclusion.

The remaining 35 pages of the novel can be split into two sections of roughly equal length (one's 18 pages, the other 17). The first is more chase, as Allan and Mina crash land in Scotland and head to meet... the Golliwogg! Considering the general shortage of ethnic minority characters in the League -- and that most of those who do turn up are villains -- this could be seen as quite a brave choice, given its consistent controversy, but then Moore's hardly one to shy away from such things. Besides, he's a good guy, saving Mina and Allan from their dastardly pursuers, so it's all good. Moore's witty re-appropriation of existing creations is also evident here, though attentive readers will have noticed signs of it earlier. For example, the XL spaceship series, in which each model is named after how the previous one was destroyed; so when Mina and Allen jet off in the Pancake XL4, some readers will surely know how things will end (and, of course, they do). Or The Third Man's Harry Lime, who was previously (and is again) known as Robert Cherry -- "poisonous fruit", as Mina puts it.

The eventual escape of Mina, Allan and the Golliwogg is a great couple of pages: rather than a big battle, Mina simply explains what's been going on to Drummond -- including several revelations for readers, too, with a clever use of Dr No -- which turns the 'new League' in on itself, while the good guys head off for their finale. There's a couple of nice splash panels in this section. I'm often wary of splash pages/panels in League books, as O'Neill's style doesn't always lend itself to them. Sometimes they work nonetheless though, and these occasions manage that. As 'Jimmy' and Emma Night walk out of the book, one can but hope they'll return. Moore clearly has a very low opinion of Bond, having him do all sorts of despicable things and delighting in just about everyone taking a swing at him throughout Black Dossier. He leaves Em with the notion that Mina or Allan killed her godfather, so let's hope that's reason enough for them to track down our heroes in a future volume.

Finally free of their pursuers, the final section sees our heroes fly into the Blazing World, which is where the 3D glasses finally come into play (as hinted at earlier). There's little that one can say about this final section because it really has to be seen. It's utter madness, with literally dozens of things going on over ever page -- no wonder the work on it delayed the book by months! And, thankfully, it works brilliantly. There may be very little plot in this section -- essentially, Mina and Allan arrive (after a long absence, fans will note) and are reunited with old friends-- but the point is more the spectacle, and on this level it's undoubtedly a success. There are even points which use the two-tone style cunningly -- close one eye and you see one thing, close the other and you see something else. It's the sort of trick that seems obvious once you see it done, but is pretty (if not wholly original). The 3D section makes for a fantastic ending to the book, and is surely one of the most visually impressive sections in any graphic medium ever. Magnificent.

The book ends with a monologue from Prospero, which, in Shakespearean language, expounds on the purpose of the League's universe, the joys of fiction, and its vital importance to us all -- "the fantasies thou've fashioned fashion thee." In itself, it's a great speech, and a perfect way to end a book that concentrates its efforts on merging so many disparate creations from so much of human history into one universe and narrative.

"Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: The Haunted Wagon Train" by Colin Brake

The consistently disappointing Colin Brake is back for his third crack at a Doctor Who: Decide Your Destiny book, this one being the final volume in the second batch of books and the eighth in the series as a whole. On the bright side, The Haunted Wagon Train is a welcome second trip to the past for the range. "Pioneers travelling across the American Midwest report ghost sightings, but you, the Doctor and Martha believe it's extraterrestrial activity. Can you track down the aliens before it's too late?" Ooh, spooky.

Right from the off Brake's old problems are evident, as your very first choice is between two problems the TARDIS could be reporting -- because all such faults are the decision of pre-teen boys the Doctor's randomly picked up! (Well, now, that sounds bad...) I almost gave up on the book right then. But, determined reader that I am (plus the fact that I bloody paid for this... and they don't take too long to get through), I ploughed on. Delving further, you'll find that, once again, many choices lead to new sections that both end with the same choice once again, making a number of your decisions mostly irrelevant. It would be less bad if the paths were similar but not identical, as your decisions could always have future repercussions -- for example, if you choose to meet a Western scout early on, he asks you the name of the current President. Whether you get it wrong or right, you'll go onto the same section after, so it's a pointless choice, but it really shouldn't be -- if you get it wrong he really should turn against you! Or at least be able to 'remember' it for later. But the limited scope of the book doesn't allow this, of course.

Despite these weakness, I pushed through to the book's end, one of a whopping eleven possibilities. Such variety in that respect is good at least, though as I haven't read them all there may be several almost identical ones for all I know. The plot itself -- about ghosts haunting a wagon train (as you may have guessed from the title), which, of course, turn out to be aliens -- is OK, though not exceptional. Most of the solutions seem to be of the "help the alien find a new home" variety. Compared to the range's only other historical, The Crystal Snare, the amount of detail -- or "educational worth", if you will -- is negligible, and the setting isn't exceptionally well evoked.

Another weak effort from Mr Brake, then. Luckily there's only one more book to go from him... and it's up next...

TV

Doctor Who [classic]
22x12 Revelation of the Daleks Part One [2nd watch]
I'll post a review of this story after Part Two, tomorrow.

Spaced
1x01 Beginnings [2nd watch]

Spooks
4x08 The Russian (aka Traitor in a Friend)
Spooks fairly runs down the 'unfeasible plots' route now, with an episode in which there's an MI5 conspiracy against the Government... instigated by Harry! Meanwhile, Adam has to deal with Psychological Issues, in what's in some respects just a rehash of Tom's storyline in season three.

Fiction

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill
The Sincerest Form of Flattery (pages 113-115)
What Ho, Gods of the Abyss by Bertram Wooster (pages 116-119)
Graphic Novel, Section 3 (pages 120-145)
When They Sound the Last All Clear (pages 146-147)
The Warralson Team, 1946-1947 (pages 148-149)
The Crazy Wide Forever by Sal Paradyse (pages 150-155)
SexJane (Tijuana bible insert)
Director's Summary (pages 156-157)
See here for my thoughts on these sections of Black Dossier.

Music

Silent Cry (Deluxe Edition) by Feeder

"The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier" by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill - Running Commentary, Part 5

A bumper-bonus lot of sections commented on today, as I raced through several sections of both the Dossier and interwoven action, helped along by the more modern, easier-to-read style of these documents, and the comic's addictively speedy plot.

First up are a couple of pages that detail the League's German and French counterparts. The German ones are given fairly short shrift, as if Moore either doesn't care about them or couldn't find enough decent German characters to make them worthwhile. Consequently the French ones are more interesting, and here Moore sets about detailing the battle that I mentioned before. It's great to know what happened, but disappointing that it's told here as it surely lessens the chances of a proper visual version of it appearing later. It reads a bit like a plot description for a comic, however, suggesting either that's how it originated, is where it's headed (fingers crossed), or that Moore still thinks like a comics writer (of course, many of the other prose pieces in the dossier would belie this, but then in those instances he's specifically imitating another style).

After this, Moore plunges into an amusing Jeeves & Wooster parody, called What Ho, Gods of the Abyss. It's wittily written and gives readers a brief chance to see the post-WWI second Murray Group in action, and whacks in a bit more of the Lovecraft stuff (fast becoming overdone, if you ask me -- and there's more of it yet). It's unsurprising that the Murray groups would get such emphasis -- speaking in-universe, it would be easiest for the Dossier's compilers to find notes and works that refer to them; out of it, they're the group most familiar to readers, and so the one many will be most interested in hearing new adventures of.

After this, it's back to the story of Mina and Allan in 1958. They're on their way to the Birmingham Spaceport, but they've been betrayed... One of the advantages of a graphic novel (rather than episodic issue) format comes out here, as Moore isn't limited to 22 pages for any of these segments. So earlier, for example, he could pack in a load of exposition without worrying that it would basically dominate an issue, and now he can run to 26 pages for a chunk of plot. It's a good section too, as the 'new League' catch up with our heroes at the fantastically realised Spaceport and a battle ensues. At one point Moore even pulls off a neat trick, which isn't uncommon on TV/film but I've personally not seen applied in print, where -- unannounced -- the story jumps back in time to follow another character, for four pages, before they hit the same point as we left. (It's one of those things that works fine when read but sounds awkward when abstractly explained.) I'm sure it's spoiling nothing to say Allan and Mina escape (their most dramatic yet), and it's back into the final section of documents from the Dossier...

The final set of documents round off the story of the Murray Groups, up to the early 1950s. The first is a simple factual report outlining the activities of the surviving members of the second group during World War II. A bit like some sections, especially in the Almanac, it's mostly timeline-filling for those who are interested. The following section is more amusing, detailing a League formed in 1946 that was in every respect an imitation of the first Murray Group, apart from that it only had one mission that failed miserably. Most of the characters Moore chooses for this line-up are even more obscure than those in the other Leagues, it seems to me, but they serve their purpose.

The penultimate piece is a parody of a beat novel, using characters from the works of Jack Kerouac. It's an appalling style if you ask me, hellish to read -- or, rather, battle through -- and with minimal discernible artistic merit. The story is just another adventure for Allan and Mina while they were AWOL in America (during the Big Brother years for the UK -- and who wouldn't want to escape the dominance of British Big Brother?), which offers little even if you can fight your way through it. I found the trick to understanding was just to keep reading and not try to understand everything that's being said, after which I managed to glean enough information to more or less follow what was going on. As I said, it's a small, inconsequential side adventure.

Finally, there's a summing up from the director of MI5 (the same one who's in place when Black Dossier's set). It doesn't sum up the whole Dossier, but again focuses on the exploits of the remnants of the final Murray Group, as far as they're known by MI5, up until the time of its writing in 1956. Maybe some of this will have some relevance in the coming sections (a bit of research I did to explain one reference suggests it might), but otherwise there's little new/exciting/relevant info.

And that concludes the Dossier section of Black Dossier! Next time, it's back to the plot as it races towards its climax...

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats
6x01 (13/6/08 edition)

Commercial Breakdown With Jimmy Carr
11x01 (15/6/08 edition)
"old fridges can KILL"

Gilmore Girls
4x14 The Incredible Sinking Lorelais
Despite the DVD menus clearly naming this episode as The Incredible Sinking Lorelais, every online guide seems to call it The Incredible Shrinking Lorelais. Who couldn't read something?

James Bond: The True Story
Documentary, shown last month on five, about the real-life people and events that inspired the James Bond novels.

Spooks
4x07 Syria (aka Where Trouble Lies)
Spooks reasserts its ability to pull off surprising deaths. I knew the character in question was doomed (this season aired three years ago, there's been plenty of time for spoilers), but I presumed it was in the season finale. How cunning.

Fiction

Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming
Chapter 14
More unwieldy exposition, as Gorner tells Bond the history of his henchman, Chagrin. The explanation for Chagrin's ruthlessness is pleasingly Bond-style (essentially, an operation removed his ability to empathise), though Faulks takes it a step too far by also adding the clichéd "he can't feel pain" to the mix. The chapter also includes what I take to be an amusing dig at Rupert Murdoch, before Bond is hauled off on a suicidal errand -- could it be the death of 007? (With six chapters to go -- and, of course, the money-making potential of future sequels -- I don't think the answer will surprise anyone.)

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill
Graphic Novel, Section 2 (pages 74-95)
Being a True and Faithful Mappe of Ye Blazing Worlde (page 96)
Shadows in the Steam by Campion Bond (pages 97-103)
The Nautilus, a Cutaway Schematic (pages 104-105)
Prospectus of London, 1901 (pages 106-107)
The Murray Group, Correspondence, 1899-1913 (pages 108-112)
See here for my thoughts on these sections of Black Dossier.

Music

From the Sky by Blackbud
[not 1st listen]

"The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier" by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill - Running Commentary, Part 4

Today's reading takes me past the halfway point of the latest volume in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series.

Following the first round of documents from the Dossier itself, it's back to the continuing adventures of Mina and Allan. The amount of plot in these sections is pleasing, as I was rather expecting near-pointless little vignettes designed to intersperse the pages of the Dossier; happily, it's almost the other way round, as the Dossier's documents are inserted at the points when the characters are reading them, and so in between there's an actual plot. Mina and Allan head to Kent, to the derelict Greyfriars public school, to investigate the mysterious initials mentioned in handwritten notes that cover the Dossier. Like the documents from the Dossier itself, this sequence is wordy and exposition-packed, in which Moore basically connects up various fictional characters of the '40s and '50s (and earlier) to bring his world together. There are a few twists and surprises in amongst this, but it's occasionally hard to escape the feeling that, like the Dossier, it's as much an academic exercise in world-building as it is a proper story. Perhaps this is why Black Dossier isn't counted as Volume III.

Also in this section, in London the current incarnation of 'M' pairs Bond... er, sorry, Jimmy... up with two other agents to hunt down Mina and Allan. What success will this new almost-League have? I suppose we'll find out in about 25 pages as, following a bout of rumpy-pumpy (Moore reigns himself in and doesn't show the act, instead treating readers to a three-panel silent page showing events elsewhere), it's back to the Dossier...

It doesn't feel like just 25 pages when making one's way through the Dossier's documents; not because they're dull, but they're frequently text-only pages, which unsurprisingly take longer to read than comic pages, however wordy they may get. First is a single-page map of the Blazing World, which both Prospero's and Gulliver's Leagues visited. There's little to note here, beyond hints at how the included 3D glasses might come into play, and a small picture of what looks to be a Police Box...

After this the documents move on to cover Murray's League, beginning with a chapter from Campion Bond's autobiography that describes the formation of it. While most of this was covered in Volume I, one part we never got to see was how Nemo was recruited, and that's what's covered here. It's a shame it hasn't been covered 'on screen', as the descriptions of the locations made me long to see them. (Incidentally, Bond's memoirs are first mentioned in a quote at the start of Volume I, which comes from this very chapter. I have to wonder if Moore has just managed to integrate this, or if he had already planned so far ahead -- that might sound unlikely, but I find it plausible, all things considered.)

The account of Nemo's recruitment are followed by a couple of brief sections: first, a cross-section of the Nautilus, which is like those ones magazines and annuals used to publish of craft from Gerry Anderson series (if anyone remembers those...) I always liked them when I was little, so this is quite nice. Secondly, a Prospectus of London, 1901 shows a selection of buildings and monuments related to the adventures of the Murray Group. Beyond being slight reference to the first two volumes, and showing what happened to some things they left behind (such as a Martian war machine becoming a children's play area), there's little to this brief segment.

As with the Prospectus, the next set of documents continues to explore the actions of some characters after the disbandment of the Murray Group (at the end of Volume II). Dramatically referred to as "Bulletins From Beyond" on the contents page, this collection of postcards is more factually called "The Murray Group, Correspondence, 1899-1913" on its title page. As well as a summary of their activities in this period, it includes eight postcards sent by Mina, Allan and Orlando, many from places mentioned in the Almanac. As I mentioned in a previous commentary, this once again as the advantage of re-presenting things we already know in a different context, with the odd sliver of new information. As the events of Volume III will be set during this period, such frames of reference may prove fruitful.

One thing: having read so much -- yet all of it vague -- about the battle between the League and their French counterparts, Les Hommes Mystérieux, in both the Almanac and various entries in the Dossier (and, no doubt, more to come in the next document, which I'll get to tomorrow), I hope Moore decides to properly tell the story of their encounter at some point -- as Volume IV would be nice.

TV

Dirt
2x07 In Lieu of Flowers... [season finale]

Red Dwarf
2x06 Parallel Universe [season finale]

Shark
2x09 Burning Sensation
"What they just did was illegal, that evidence can never be admitted!"
"But it needs to be otherwise the whole case, and therefore the episode's plot, completely falls apart!"
"I know, let's make up a fictional law that one of our characters can have created while she was the DA a while back!"
"Ooh, great idea! Let's hope no one notices..."

Spooks
4x06 The Innocent (aka Beyond the Cell)
Ordering to shoot without question? Paying a near-assassin a Government wage for the rest of his life? Seems this is where Spooks pushes credibility. Shame, because it undermines an otherwise fairly thoughtful episode.

Wild China
Part 6 Tides of Change [series finale]

Fiction

Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: Dark Planet by Davey Moore
See here for my thoughts on this book.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill
The New Adventures of Fanny Hill by John Cleland (pages 57-72)
The Most Popular Tall-Tale Teller in the Tavern (page 73)
See here for my thoughts on these sections of Black Dossier.

"The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier" by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill - Running Commentary, Part 3

Moving on to the next two sections of Black Dossier...

First up (ho ho) is The New Adventures of Fanny Hill, a sequel to John Cleland's infamous novel that tells the story of the second League, led by Lemuel Gulliver. Moore seems to have an obsession with erotica/pornography that comes more and more to the fore -- there are elements in the first volume that hint at it, full on sex scenes in the second (as well as much reference to it in the accompanying documents), and between penning volumes of the League he worked on Lost Girls (until recently 'banned' in the UK due to licensing issues with some characters). That said, this segment is cleverly written -- the text is apparently tame, but the accompanying illustrations explicitly depict what's actually meant, and consequently together they make for an amusing read. All of this League's adventures seem to have some basis in sex, however, and having related their stories at least twice over already I wouldn't expect Moore to tell them any more thoroughly in future (though you never know). This is also the first section on different paper stock -- a rougher, early-novel style -- which adds some pleasing variety and, for want of a better expression, reality to the book's style. Perhaps the forthcoming Absolute Edition will make even greater use of such tricks?

Following this is a single-page political cartoon, something to do with King George III and Prime Minister William Pitt wasting money on a band of fictional characters (that being Gulliver's League). It adds a small amount of detail to the reasons for this League's genesis, but little more.

Next time, a return to normal 'sequential art'...

"Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: Dark Planet" by Davey Moore

The seventh book in the Doctor Who: Decide Your Destiny series, Dark Planet sees the return of Davey Moore, author of the somewhat disappointing Corinthian Project. One of the problems in that book was the obsessive creation of a future world to the detriment of a plot. From the blurb, it sounds like Dark Planet may suffer the same fate. In the future, "Earth is divided. The Upsiders live in luxury while the Downsiders scavenge in the dark world below. Can you help the Doctor and Martha bring the two conflicting sides back together?" Ooh, dystopian.

Luckily, despite my fears, Dark Planet isn't over-created. The 'society split in two' concept of the Up Side and Down Side may be far from original, but it's also quite a universal idea so that hardly matters. Moore doesn't waste time describing the intricacies of how it works, but reveals enough of how it came about and how it's sustained to satiate curiosity. The plot itself is engaging too, with a couple of decent incidents and a fair backstory. In the book's first entry (one of the strongest of the entire series) you're offered a choice between three random buttons, and a quick scan through the results of the two I didn't choose suggests that each provides a vastly different version of events. It would seem there are three notably different adventures to be had from this book -- good value for money -- and, for once, a nice clear way to see how to access each one.

There's a downside to this variety though, which I shall longwindedly explain. The story I followed seemed to present two notably different strands, as at a couple of points you can choose to follow either an Upsider or a Downsider; I chose to go towards the Downsider every time, but still wound up following the Upsider. There were other, even more specific instances where my choice made no difference -- in one, either option led to the same bit of exposition, just given by different characters, and both then led on to the same concluding segment. The book also too often succumbs to the disappointing trick of shuttling you from entry to entry with no choices at all. I would imagine this is the price one pays for squeezing three totally different stories into 101 segments -- there's very little room to have many choices within each. Arguably the illusion of choice, as in the exposition example, is better than shuttling on throughout, but your choices actually making a difference is what should happen.

Moore's previous entry in this range, The Corinthian Project, probably wasn't as bad as my review suggested. Nonetheless, Dark Planet has a better plot, and it's pleasing to see the same author adopt a different style of creating varied adventures -- in his first book it's by offering various routes of exploration around the same location, while in this there's a selection of totally different strands. In spite of the flaws, then, the fact that Dark Planet offers three different adventures -- and that I enjoyed the one I read -- marks it out as one of the series' better efforts.

TV

Babylon 5
1x10 Believers
1x11 Survivors
My slow progression through the first season of Babylon 5 (if I were watching weekly I'd be at episode 14 by now) finally reaches halfway.

Doctor Who [new]
4x10 Midnight
See here for my thoughts on this story.

Gilmore Girls
4x13 Nag Hammadi is Where They Found the Gnostic Gospels
The bizarre title merely explains a throwaway joke in the episode.

House
4x16 Wilson's Heart [season finale]
A surprising, moving episode to round off House's fourth season. As with previous House season finales, there's no direct cliffhanger, but they leave the ongoing plotlines in such a position that I'm desperate for season five to find out what happens next. All in, one of the best ever episodes.

The Kids Are All Right
1x08 (14/6/08 edition)
The kids aren't alright, they're bloody annoying little brats. But in this final episode, the four adults facing them could possibly win the largest amount of cash yet... (They didn't.)

Red Dwarf
2x05 Queeg [2nd watch]

The Weakest Link
Blue Peter Special
Never mind the programme, the website hasn't been updated for two years!

Fiction

Autumn Story by Jill Barklem

Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming
Chapter 13
Faulks cleverly protracts the tension of Bond's capture by taking us away from him for a whole chapter. He were get a chance to see the present actions of some of Bond's allies -- Mathis, Leiter, 'M' and Darius Alizadeh -- all of whom, it seems, will have a greater part to play yet...

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill
On the Descent of Gods by Oliver Haddo (pages 26-28)
The Life of Orlando from The Trump (pages 29-48)
Faerie's Fortunes Founded by William Shakespeare (pages 49-56)
See here for my thoughts on these sections of Black Dossier.

Doctor Who: Midnight

We're on the home stretch now, as Who supremo Russell T Davies takes over writing duties for the final four episodes. There's the Big Three to round off the season, starting next week, but first we have a small-scale episode set on a futuristic minibus...

Doctor Who has finally done what I thought it should since the 'Doctor-lite' episodes commenced in season two, and that's pair the necessary 'Doctor-lite' episode with a 'companion-lite' one. Next week Donna (and friends) take the starring role, so this week the Doctor goes off by himself (leaving Donna in a health spa) to check out a natural marvel on the planet Midnight, which is made entirely of diamonds but with a surface so irradiated you can't even look at it. A jaunty beginning on this futuristic minibus lulls the unsuspecting viewer into a false sense of security... before something starts knocking on the outside of the bus... and then inhabits someone inside...

It's a deceptively simple episode, set entirely on one set (bar some bookends with Donna) and featuring all the guest characters locked in that one room with the Doctor, facing a possessed passenger who just repeats what they've said. But with these few elements Davies constructs an episode that is unmeasurably freakier than Steven Moffat's whizz-bang flashily-structured two-parter -- who'd've guessed RTD would craft a scarier episode than Moffat! The central performances of David Tennant and Lesley Sharp are what make the script work of course, especially when the two sit face-to-face hurling random words at each other.

If one wanted to pick flaws you could argue that the resolution is weak (almost non-existent), yet this lack of explanation helps retain the scariness of what you've just witnessed. There's also the very Who moment where the Doctor points out that no one even knew their saviour's name, though for once this isn't over-laboured and effectively speaks for itself. Like a lot of this episode, then: minimal and under-explained, and all the better for it.

"The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier" by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill - Running Commentary, Part 2

The Dossier proper begins with an account of our world's encounter with other planes, drawing heavily on the Lovecraft Mythos. Like The New Traveller's Almanac, it's a rather dry scholarly exercise in combining mythologies and providing a fictional history of the world, which I'm sure is of interest to some but just seems to provide near-irrelevant background to the series proper.

More interesting is the next item, the life of Orlando told in the style of '50s children's comics -- albeit with more graphic imagery! It's like a more entertaining version of events hinted at in The New Traveller's Almanac, telling the life of Orlando (obviously) chronologically and with pretty pictures. The brevity of the text makes it less verbose than the preceding document, which is a welcome change -- especially with some faux Shakespeare to come.

This Shakespeare 'play' (just the first two scenes from Act One) is convincingly written, though clearer to a modern reader than genuine untranslated Shakespeare is. It retains a sense of wit and mystery, however, and with references to events already covered or hinted at in the first two artefacts, the beginnings of a linking thread -- perhaps what one might even call a plot -- for this graphic novel are emerging. Individually, it shows the genesis of the first iteration of the League (commonly referred to as Prospero's Men in the series).

It may seem obvious to say this, but Black Dossier initially seems to be no more than a collection of roughly chronological artefacts, which together build up the world and history of the League. If it were just this then it would be an interesting experiment, of interest to diehard fans, but not convincing as anything more. However, in these first three documents there are some themes and ideas overlapping that, perhaps, will come together to create some sort of plot for this volume, beyond just the history of the League. Obviously it's impossible to say for certain until the end, but there is hope that there's more to the book!

Either way, what is here cleverly mashes various ideas and fictions together, and while each artefact follows the story of one character or group there are always crossover points that help you tie the sequence together. The advantage of having both things like the Almanac and this is that they are different ways of presenting similar information -- the Almanac being geographical, for example, whereas this is chronological-by-character. Put them all together and it becomes easier to follow the story. It's also worth nothing that, by the end of the book, there'll have been 108 pages of new story (as in, 'proper' comics pages) for the League itself -- equivalent to four or five issues of a normal comic, which makes it almost as long as the previous series.

"The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier" by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill - Running Commentary, Part 1

Black Dossier is not The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume III, despite being the third book in the series. Rather, it bridges the gap between Volume II and the forthcoming Century storyline. It's also technically the series' first graphic novel (the preceding volumes were originally released as six-part miniseries before being collected as trade paperbacks).

The volume also has a most unusual construction, mirroring the titular book -- really speaking, it's a real-life recreation of the Dossier, right down to the cover design (when you take the dust jacket off) and using different paper stock for some segments. Though it also has comics pages inserted, telling the story of how a couple of characters came across the Dossier itself (and then read it). As such, in my daily summaries I'll be listing all the sections I've read (much like I list individual episodes of TV) along with the pages I find them on. (I've chosen to number the opening pages 1-8, despite some random page numbers later suggesting they should be unnumbered. They're clearly part of the book and I don't imagine it will ever be published without them. The total page count this way is 192.)

As for the book itself... the Prologue tells the story of how two characters (most readers will know who they are) acquire the Black Dossier, which contains secret documents relating the history of the League, its members, and rival organisations. After this, the documents from the Dossier itself begin. In the LoEG world, Britain has just come out from the rule of Big Brother (from George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four) and so the book begins with warnings from that government. To this point, it's all just introductory stuff really, though the Prologue effectively establishes the new setting, re-establishes the characters, and gives some hints to what has occurred between the end of Volume II (set in 1898) and the start of Black Dossier (in 1958).

There's also a good use of a thinly-veiled James Bond -- thinly enough to avoid copyright issues, I presume, but clearly enough that any reasonably educated reader can't fail to work out who he is. One thing I dislike, however, was Jimmy ordering his martini stirred instead of shaken -- he's right that shaking it bruises the vodka and that's why one normally has it stirred, but in Casino Royale Bond states the bruising the vodka is precisely why he has it shaken. Possibly a slight gap in Moore's cleverness there, or just a deliberate inversion of the character's 'reality'? Who can say...

TV

Babylon 5
1x09 Deathwalker

Doctor Who [classic]
19x19 Earthshock Part One [4th watch]
19x20 Earthshock Part Two [4th watch]
19x21 Earthshock Part Three [4th watch]
19x22 Earthshock Part Four [4th watch]
See here for my thoughts on this story.

House
4x15 House's Head
Part one of House's two-part season finale, with a mystery that viewers without a medical degree can actually participate in: House was in a bus crash he can't remember, and must decipher clues from dreams and hallucinations to work out why he was there and what he saw. It's an interesting episode that leads to a neat cliffhanger.

Fiction

Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: War of the Robots by Trevor Baxendale
See here for my thoughts on this book.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill
'Titles' (pages 1-8)
Prologue (pages 9-23)
This Warn You (page 24)
Contents (page 25)
See here for my thoughts on the opening 25 pages of Black Dossier.

Doctor Who: Earthshock

I should warn you, dear reader, that this review contains major spoilers for the 26-year-old Doctor Who story Earthshock; spoilers that are plastered all over the DVD cover and menus, and are the main reasons people still talk about the story. But still, in case you are in blissful ignorance and may ever see this story without stumbling upon a DVD or VHS cover, or indeed a basic plot description, I felt I should warn you.

There's a good deal to like about Earthshock -- hence why I chose it, of course. There's the fifth Doctor, who's one of my favourites (and now everyone's, I'm sure). His TARDIS may be a little over-crowded with three companions, but this story soon sorts that out -- hurrah, Adric dies! It's a fantastic mix of joy at the annoying little brat being gone and some sort of shock/sadness at the death of a companion. But it's much needed, really, as three companions is too many -- Nyssa basically stands around in the TARDIS doing sod all for four episodes. Two companions, on the other hand, is a great number, with Tegan and Adric having plenty to do. The new series should look into using this idea (dalliances with Mickey, Jack and now Martha aside). Of course, Nyssa and Tegan may get more to do now that Adric's dead (hurrah!).

Then there's the Cybermen, the series' best-ever villains (sod those bloody Daleks). In this case they may be (as the Doctor puts it) "positively flippant", but they still stomp around with a certain degree of shiny silver coolness. And they can go up stairs (as a certified Doctor Who fan I'm still allowed to make that joke -- casuals, newbies and proper journalists aren't). They get a cool reveal at the end of Part One, and cool robot minions before that, and their plan to destroy Earth with a freighter is pretty nifty too (even if the bomb-in-a-cave before it is a crap one), plus they get the honour of killing Adric. Adric dies, you know -- did I mention that? Also, any story that has the audacity to completely change its setting and most of the guest cast after an episode and a half has to be applauded, especially when it makes it work so smoothly.

Parts of Earthshock are irritating padding, it's true, and especially obvious on repeat viewings. But when you've got Beryl Reid's excellent space captain, a traditional traitor-who-falls-foul-of-his-masters (just like in Tomb), the Doctor's classic speech about emotions, and all sorts of other nice bits and pieces -- and Adric's death! -- it's quite hard not to find something to enjoy in almost every part of Earthshock.

Plus, Adric dies.

"Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: War of the Robots" by Trevor Baxendale

Regular Who author Trevor Baxendale joins the Decide Your Destiny stable with this sixth book in the series (which has so far made it to twelve entries), the dramatically titled War of the Robots. Baxendale's adventure is set "on a distant world populated by robots [where] war has been raging for many years. Can you, the Doctor and Martha discover why the robots are fighting and end the war once and for all?" Ooh, peaceful.

The story begins as it means to go on -- with war! Smoke, gunfire, explosions... it's all-action here. Sadly, the first time I read the book through, Baxendale fell prey to the same trap as Davey Moore, shuttling the reader from page to page without any choices. It was so brief and horridly linear that I did actually read it through again, the first time I've bothered to do that. As an exercise, this showed how unlucky you can get with the wrong choices, as a re-read (attempting to follow several paths at once, too) gave me many more options and longer, more action-packed storylines. The first time through we quickly wound up on a space station, talking a robot into stopping the war; the second time we encountered a group of humans, and wound up killing robots and battling robot dogs. Compared to this, it's a shame the somewhat dull space station alternative even exists. Elsewhere, the choices offered are decent enough (importantly, as I stress with good reason in every review, you direct your character and not the story), if never hugely different. To be fair, I imagine it must be hard to offer many branches with just over 100 segments, and it may be too harsh to pick on the story always leading to similar events -- especially when I also call for the NPCs to be doing more or less the same things in every version.

Get the right path and Baxendale's book provides an entertaining read with moderately varied choices and some exciting sequences; but get the wrong one and you'll be shuttled through a dull denouement -- possibly a common problem that I just haven't been unfortunate enough to come across before. Even with this, it's one of the series' better efforts.

Bond from the Beginning #1: Dr. No

As previously mentioned, I'm going to begin posting 'archive' reviews of the films I've so far watched on my Bond from the Beginning undertaking. Here's the first:

James Bond movies have always been utterly escapist, despite what some might claim. No film shows this better than the first -- the series didn't slide into crazy plots and fantastical creations, it began there! Dr No and his secret base are as mad as anything that follows, and Honey Ryder (in that bikini) is still the defining image of a Bond girl (almost a genre unto themselves).

The story slowly draws you in to its fantasy of villainy; the Technicolor excess must surely have made for a beautiful break from the bleak 'kitchen sink' dramas of British cinema at the time, or the bleak Cold War threat in the real world. Connery is perfect from the start, and amongst the rest of the cast only Felix Leiter feels like a mistake. The action sequences are exciting, the villains are evil, the girl is eye-catching and Bond is properly ruthless. What more do you need?

Dr. No is oft forgotten behind some of the films that follow it, but it really shouldn't be -- if this hadn't been so good we wouldn't have any more.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
3x09 (12/6/08 edition)

Heroes
2x08 Four Months Ago...
Heroes takes a leaf out of Lost's book, and finally flashes back to what happened the night Peter exploded and in the four months since.

Fiction

Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming
Chapter 12
In which, true to traditional Bond structure, Bond and the girl are captured and taken to the villain's lair, where he's treated to an explanation of the villain's Evil Plan. From memory, Gorner is certainly one of the most despicable, sickest, least vulnerable villains Bond has encountered. Super.

Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: The Crystal Snare by Richard Dungworth
See here for my thoughts on this book.

The New Traveller's Almanac by Alan Moore
Chapters Five & Six [the end]
(from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2)
All done! Hurrah!

"Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: The Crystal Snare" by Richard Dungworth

The second set of Doctor Who: Decide Your Destiny books begins with The Crystal Snare, the series' fifth book, written by its only good author so far, Richard Dungworth. And right from the outset he's created another triumph -- the first Decide Your Destiny book brave enough to travel to somewhere that isn't the future! Hurrah! It's back to Victorian Britain, to attend the Great Exhibition. "People from all over the world were amazed at the exhibits on display at the Great Exhibition [exhibits at an exhibition? Whatever next!] - and they didn't even see the alien visitors! Help the Doctor and Martha put a stop to the aliens' plans, before they wreak havoc on humankind..." Ooh, ominous.

The Crystal Snare has something to live up to, as the first historical of the range, and it uses its setting well. At the start, you explore a bit of the Exhibition, with the Doctor telling you all sorts of interesting things. There's a choice of routes, of course, so the reader can see different exhibits on each read. It's not too long before the monsters turn up though, nanobot-things that can take the form of other creatures, including humans. The aliens' plan -- using these remote-controlled bots to collect and analyse a planet's life, then crafting a virus specifically to destroy them all before invading -- is certainly a clever one, but somewhat disappointing in that once the Doctor defeats the robots he doesn't bother going after the aliens who sent them. Surely they have more bots to send? This is also a 'celebrity historical', in the vein of The Unquiet Dead and Tooth and Claw (both also with a Victorian setting, incidentally). The choice -- engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel -- is entirely appropriate, but also underused by the story (at least in the version I read), turning up late and disappearing just as quickly.

Gameplay isn't bad this time round, though doesn't feel as exceptional as in Alien Arena. Pleasingly, the basic story is the same but with variances in experience. The four endings (I should've counted the number in the other books really) offer different resolutions, but none that contradict each other -- for example, in two the Doctor disrupts the signal to the nanobots, while in the other two he destroys their individual processors. Dungworth isn't afraid to write sections that run to several pages if he needs to convey that much information (the opening is five pages, all the climaxes three), which is a much better way of doing things than Davey Moore's forceful page-turning.

The Crystal Snare isn't quite as much fun as the same author's range highlight, Alien Arena, but the historical setting makes a nice change, the gameplay is more appropriate than Colin Brake's entries, and the plot less bogged-down in linearity and technicalities than Moore's book. All in, it's a worthwhile addition to the series.

"Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: The Corinthian Project" by Davey Moore

The first batch of Doctor Who: Decide Your Destiny books comes to an end with The Corinthian Project, the fourth book in the series, written by Davey Moore. Once again the reader/player is taken to the future (something I bemoaned in my last review), though this time it's only the near-future. "When the TARDIS lands in an undersea community known as the Corinthian Project, it doesn't take you long to realise there are some very strange things going on. Explore the Project and see if you can uncover the truth..." Ooh, misleading.

Well, somewhat misleading at any rate, because "explore" you certainly do. Moore has clearly spent at least as long creating the setting for this adventure -- its technology, its technicalities, and especially its acronyms -- as he has the actual plot, and he wants you to know it. Consequently the writing is highly descriptive, but too much so -- you can't run down a corridor without being told if you're going clockwise or anti-clockwise; early on you're herded into a Presentation Pod for an introductory lecture, where you're handed a three-page letter explaining the terms and characters... at the end of which you're offered the 'choice', "Now head back to 32 and choose a new direction".

And there is the book's fatal flaw. Never mind exploring the station or riding on a Sea Bike in no way that furthers the plot -- at least that sounds cool, and certain boys will revel in the over-detailing of the way the undersea station works -- but, frequently, once you've chosen a path via two or three decisions, you're shuttled from page to page following "Turn to 59"-style instructions. Where's the choice in that? Moore seems quite happy to let you make a few choices, but after that he wants to tell a straightforward story for a good half a dozen (or more) pages. At least it seems to fulfill another of my desires expressed last time, which was for the same essential events to be occurring 'behind the scenes', but if that sacrifices any choice then I'd prefer the shifting explanations of the last book.

So, at the end of the first batch of Decide Your Destiny books, they don't have a very good batting average. It's not the fault of the concept or the younger audience they're aimed at -- the prose style is good, simple but descriptive, effective for this sort of work. And the concept is obviously a brilliant one. But the weak plotting and style of choices in the books by Colin Brake and Davey Moore (who between them penned three of the initial four titles), makes those books less than satisfying. Only Richard Dungworth's Alien Arena has given me unquestioning enjoyment so far.

Looking ahead to the next batch, they're written by Richard Dungworth (yay!), Trevor Baxendale (author of some entertaining normal Who novels)... and Davey Moore and Colin Brake. Perhaps they learnt from their initial follies?

TV

Doctor Who [classic]
17x08 City of Death Part Four
See here for my thoughts on this story.

Films

Almost Famous (2000)
[#41 in 100 Films in a Year 2008]

Van Helsing (2004)
[2nd watch]
Four years on, with vastly lowered expectations, it's still not very good.

Fiction

Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming
Chapter 11
As Bond escapes and recovers from his investigative previous chapter, Scarlett somehow finds him again. She's becoming increasingly suspicious, that girl, and yet somehow Bond accepts everything she has to say, and even takes her along when he returns to investigate the 'Caspian Sea Monster'. Is there a poorly thought-through 'twist' coming with her, or is her story just as ludicrous as it seems?

Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: The Corinthian Project by Davey Moore
See here for my thoughts on this book.

The New Traveller's Almanac by Alan Moore
Chapter Four
(from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2)
Ploughing on through this, as I feel I ought to read it before embarking on Black Dossier (especially as it contains clues to what will happen in that), a book I've had for a good six months now. I'm looking forward to it (believe it or not).

Doctor Who: City of Death

And so my chronological wander through classic Doctor Who jumps 10 years on from the last story, deep into the era of the longest-running and arguably most-famous Doctor: the fourth, Tom Baker. The story I've chosen is City of Death, well known among Who fans as the highest-rated story ever (aided by an ITV strike, it reached the giddy heights of 17 million viewers). This is the first time I've seen it, however, and I was a bit wary -- the last time I saw such a well-regarded story was The Talons of Weng-Chiang, which I found a bit weak. Luckily, there's a lot more than just ratings success to make City of Death a memorable adventure.

In fact, where to begin? How about the beginning, an atmospheric prehistoric opening with some brilliant set design, models and visual effects work. The story moves quickly on to Paris -- the first time Doctor Who had shot overseas. While most of what we see is the Doctor and Romana running up and down Parisian streets, there's some good location work -- the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre all feature -- and it's truly bizarre to see them riding on the Metro, or indeed existing anywhere outside of the cosy confines of small sets built at Television Centre and shot on video! There are some artful shots too, giving a feeling more like something from the French New Wave than '70s British kids' TV. Dudley Simpson's music underlines this too, with possibly the most genteel race-against-time music I've ever heard (in Part Four, when the Doctor, Romana and Duggan run across Paris to the TARDIS).

But after the production team have had their fun showing off the location it's full steam ahead with a plot that involves a time-altering device and six fake Mona Lisas. It's a very strong storyline, backed up by an endlessly inventive and furiously witty screenplay -- the scripts were co-written by Douglas Adams, and it really shows. The cast are more than up to the task of delivering the marvellous dialogue -- I shouldn't wonder if Tom Baker's faux fool Doctor here wasn't the primary model for David Tennant's current incarnation. There are some more fantastic effects shots too, including an aging chicken, a similar gruesome death, and a surprisingly effective virtual reality bit. The part two cliffhanger is also brilliant -- it's hard to say if it's surprising because I'm so familiar with it from clip shows, etc, but it still seems a neat twist.

There are flaws of course, but they're incredibly minor and really just nitpicking for the sake of it, especially as I haven't even listed all the little bits of brilliance contained within. City of Death (there's one flaw -- a totally meaningless title) is unreserved entertainment from beginning to end. Fantastic.

TV

Doctor Who [classic]
17x05 City of Death Part One
17x06 City of Death Part Two
17x07 City of Death Part Three
I'll post a review of this story after Part Four, tomorrow.

Fiction

Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: The Time Crocodile by Colin Brake
See here for my thoughts on this book.

The New Traveller's Almanac by Alan Moore
Chapter Three
(from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2)

Music

The Singles by Feeder
[not 1st listen]

"Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: The Time Crocodile" by Colin Brake

The Time Crocodile is the third adventure in the Doctor Who: Decide Your Destiny series, in which the Doctor and Martha whisk you off to "the space zoo", which, unsurprisingly, "isn't like any zoo you've ever visited on Earth. For a start, some of the animals can talk! Explore the zoo and work out who can be trusted and who has a hidden agenda..." Ooh, leisurely.

Colin Brake, author of the series' first book, returns for this installment... and, sadly, all of the problems present in The Spaceship Graveyard come with him. Your choices are often limited to directing the story rather than your actions, and most routes lead to pages that just say the same thing but with different words! Or, at best, the events differ but you're left with the same choices at the end. At the worst point you're instructed to flip a coin to decide what happens next! It's dismal really, and, especially if you realise what's going on, hampers the fun. It suggests to me that Brake would be more comfortable writing a normal, linear novel. (To be fair, I haven't taken the time to examine the branching of options offered by the previous two books in this much depth, but even if they did it too it doesn't make it any less shoddy.)

Flicking through the bits of the book I didn't encounter, I think there are two different, mostly-linear stories, and which you get depends on whether you're polite or rude at the start. After that, they both seem to move along straightforwardly, with no real choice for the reader, until you hit a variety of endings. These endings are all totally different -- as in, the explanations for what's been going on are different each time. For example, one of the two stories leads to a resolution where the evil Professor Morrow (he's not so evil in the other thread) has captured something to create time windows. In one possible finale it's a Time Agent, in the other it's an alien from the future. In my opinion, it should always be the same thing trapped, and if/how it's released should be what you influence. It's probably personal preference, but I think this sort of book is better when there's one 'truth' behind events and your choices influence how it pans out, rather than your choices leading to almost completely different stories.

I'm not quite done moaning yet, though this is a problem with the range as a whole: they're all future-set sci-fi stories. One of the joys of Doctor Who is that there are present day and historical adventures too, but these are as yet unrepresented by the range. They were originally released in batches of four, but clearly no one thought to duplicate the "one past, one present, one future" theory of the normal novel releases. It's a bit of a shame and there's no good reason for it.

Regardless, The Time Crocodile is a weak entry, both in terms of plot and quality of play. There are two more books by Brake to come in this series, each released in a later batch -- I can only hope he learnt something from the vastly superior second book (and, possibly, the others I've yet to read) before he wrote them.

TV

Gilmore Girls
4x12 A Family Matter

Shark
2x08 In the Crosshairs
Oh dear, Shark's increasingly annoying daughter (as if she wasn't bad enough to start with) is back after a merciful break last week. On the bright side, we're halfway through the programme's final season. Shark may be a poor man's House-meets-(any legal drama), but it's still moderately entertaining.

Films

Bloody Sunday (2002)
[2nd watch]

Fiction

Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: Alien Arena by Richard Dungworth
See here for my thoughts on this book.

Music

We Are the People (single) by Feeder
Tracks: We Are the People and Calling Out For Days
Feeder are beginning to create a reputation (with me, anyway) for putting out B-sides that are superior to the album track they're paired with. I started to notice with the first single from their last album, Tumble and Fall, which had the excellent B-side Victoria, which was not only superior to the A-side but also any other track on the album. I can't speak for this album yet (it's out next Monday), but Calling Out For Days is the better of these two (both good) songs.

iPhone 3G

Apple have, as expected, announced the new iteration of their iPhone -- the iPhone 3G. And at a surprisingly low pair of price points too.

I'll be havin' me one of them, then.

"Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: Alien Arena" by Richard Dungworth

The second book in the series of Doctor Who: Decide Your Destiny adventures, Alien Arena is written by Richard Dungworth and again stars the Doctor and Martha (despite only featuring the Doctor on the cover). This time, "you're on an alien prison ship in the midst of a mutiny! The ringleader, Mr Big, has created an arena, where aliens from all over the universe are fighting each other. Only your quick wits, and a little help from the Doctor and Martha, can help you escape the arena!" Ooh, exciting.

After being somewhat disappointed by the first entry in this series, I had lowered expectations going into this adventure. It seems I needn't have worried -- this one has proper choices! Hurrah! As anyone who's read my previous review may remember, I disliked the style of choices the reader was offered in the first book (they let you direct the story, not your character's actions). Alien Arena consistently offers the latter however, with a nice mix between random decisions -- "go left or right" -- and actual choices -- "reason with him or run away", "hide or run away"... Yes, the second option is often "run away", but considering this is a Doctor Who story that seems reasonable enough (especially when most of the running away is down corridors). The many "left or right" choices give a sense that there's a lot of different adventures to be had here. While the plot must surely remain more or less the same (there are only 99 different sections in the book, after all), the encounters you have along the way, and the manner in which you approach some of them (for example, at one point, watching on a video screen for a clue how to save Martha, or just rushing straight to her location), would seem to allow for a nice degree of variation. Some choices are incredibly open: at one point, the Doctor and Martha each head off to do different things, and you have a choice of who to follow. Best of all is a fantastic final sequence in which you wind up in the titular arena, battling aliens! There are so many choices to make in this fight that it must take up a number of sections within the book, so I presume every storyline climaxes here. This is how a Decide Your Destiny book should be done.

Speaking of the Doctor and Martha (I was, a sentence or two ago), they don't turn up for a good while -- and when they do, the Doctor is Martha-less. Maybe he turns up sooner in some versions (or perhaps they even turn up together), but in the sections I read through you do a fair bit of solo exploring before you bump into the crazy side-burned time traveller. It gives a nice feeling of independence, whereas for much of The Spaceship Graveyard you just followed the Doctor and Martha around. Clearly the book doesn't fulfill my hope of continuing adventures in this series (every ending I saw in the previous book read "Your adventures continue" -- it seems they don't, at least not in this book). It's only a mild disappointment, which does nothing to hinder the excitement of this adventure.

After the lacklustre experience of the first Decide Your Destiny book, Alien Arena is a much more entertaining experience. There are several action-packed sequences and a real sense that you have choices and your decisions will matter. I'm tempted to start reading it again straight away and see what happens by going different ways down corridors or following different characters. Maybe this time it won't end with my memory being wiped...