TV

The A to Z of Crime
Episode 6 UVWXYZ (of 6)
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Billy Connolly's Route 66
Episode 4 (of 4)
Really enjoyed this series. If you didn't see it, I recommend you find a way to catch it (it's all still on ITV Player, but only just), especially if you have any interest in America.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Mock the Week
10x11 (6/10/11 edition)
This week's and next week's Radio Times seem insistent on labelling episode 12, the final episode, as episode 11 of 11. What?
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Perfect Couples
1x05 Perfect Jealousy
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Pointless
5x32 (11/10/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Music

Evanescence by Evanescence
I'd been unsure about bothering to get this, but then the reviews seemed decent. Suffice to say, despite five years since their last album and eight since their debut, not to mention numerous line-up changes, Evanescence still sound like Evanescence. Which has its pros and cons.

TV

The Great British Bake Off
2x09 Masterclass Part 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
25x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x31 (10/10/11 edition)
When asked to name languages the 2011 census was available in, more people said Polish than English. The Daily Mail would have a field day with that...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Comics

It's new comics day! Except the perils of mail-ordering leaves me with these two just-arrived issues from last week's new comics, plus there's a variety of others I'm still bloody waiting for.

But hey, I'll get today's new lot on Saturday... if I'm lucky. It might be next Tuesday. Or next Wednesday. Or, based on this week, next Thursday. I ought to seek out a proper bricks-and-mortar shop...

Animal Man #1 by Jeff Lemire & Travel Foreman
[2nd read]
My physical copy finally turned up, so this is a more-attentive-to-the-art print re-read. My first-reading thoughts are here.

Detective Comics #2 by Tony S. Daniel
This book seems to be receiving quite a mixed response, from the little I've read of general reaction, but I'm enjoying it. Some have complained that the Joker doesn't feature this issue, despite the first one's cliffhanger, but I think there's a bigger game at play here and it'll be interesting when he re-emerges.

TV

Ask Rhod Gilbert
2x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

House
8x01 Twenty Vicodin
It's always great to have House back, and always fun seeing him in a new situation (this time, prison)... though the episode ends without ending. What happens next, gorramit?! Desperately looking forward to the next one now... which I believe was on last night in the US, so... well...

Mark Lawson Talks To
Rob Brydon
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Misfits
2x01 Episode 1
2x02 Episode 2
Time flies -- I've been meaning to get round to this ever since it was on. Not sure exactly when that was, but the last time I watched an episode was last decade. Anyway, series three's on its way soon, so it seemed time to get a wriggle on. And it's just as good as it always was, so that's good, and now with added Mystery too.
[Watch episodes one and two (again) on 4oD.]

Pointless
5x30 (7/10/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Dragons' Den
9x10 Episode 10 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Epic Win
1x03 Episode 3
Crikey, I didn't realise how long it had been since I last bothered to watch this. It's hardly taxing -- at all --, but it has a kind of charm.

Grand Designs Australia
1x09 Indented Head House [season finale]
Mmm, home cinema...

Home Cooking Made Easy
1x02 Favourites
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Downton Abbey
2x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

The Great British Bake Off
2x08 Episode 8
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x29 (6/10/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Spooks
10x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Brothers Bloom (2008)
[#84 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

Articles

Life on Mars Russian remake will move '70s action from Manchester to Moscow by Ben Dowell & Shiv Malik
(from guardian.co.uk)
This sounds as interesting as the Spanish version did, but as that never made it over here I doubt this will either.

this week on 100 Films

2 new reviews were posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...

Browncoats: Redemption (2010)

It's quite understandable if you haven't heard of Browncoats: Redemption. In short, it's an officially-okayed Firefly/Serenity fan film for the benefit of charity. There's no doubting the enthusiasm and heart of the cast & crew of Redemption — on those factors they score a perfect 5 — but as a film in its own right... well...

A Study in Terror (1965)

it’s a decent Holmes movie, with an atmospheric rendering of Victorian London and a passably intriguing plot. However, the relatively light basis in the true story of Jack the Ripper may grate with some who approach it from that angle: there’s a Holmesian plot grafted onto a smattering of Ripper facts

More next Sunday.

TV

The Jonathan Ross Show
1x05 (1/10/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Merlin
4x02 The Darkest Hour Part Two
Didn't expect that development! I mean, if this wasn't a series based in long-established myths, then obviously that character was being positioned for that fate in this two-parter... but it is based in long-established myths, so I was surprised. Well done Merlin.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x28 (5/10/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

QI
9x04 Indecision (XL edition)
All that stuff about "chick sexing" was far more hilarious than it had any right to be.

Smallville
10x18 Booster
Regular readers may be aware that I don't watch Smallville, so what's this doing here? Well, I did watch it when it began, about a decade ago, but I happened to see that this episode featured Booster Gold, one of DC's most irritating heroes, so was quite curious. From the little I know they certainly seem to have captured his character -- i.e. he was suitably irritating. I was a little surprised to discover just how many other DC characters they've stuffed into it over the years, considering the stripped-back start it came from. Fan-pleasing, I guess.
More interesting than any of that, though, was that this episode was made within the past year but looked just like all those US SF/F series from the late '90s/early '00s. I guess it never transcended its roots in that era.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Comics

2000 AD #1750
After wrapping everything up last Prog, here's all-new stories. Except most of them carry on from previous ones again. That said, most are quite pick-up-able, and there's better variety of styles than in the last jumping on Prog -- even better for new readers, then.
Anyway, here's ECBT 2000AD's reviews for this week's Thrills:

Judge Dredd Day of Chaos: The Fourth Faction Part One

Ampney Crucis Investigates... The English Assassin Part One

Indigo Prime Everything and More Part One

Low Life The Deal Part 1

(I thought it was about time I made these link-lists a bit more useful than repetitions of the word "here".)
See also: a free Indigo Prime primer from 1990, available on the official 2000 AD site.

TV

Outnumbered
4x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x27 (4/10/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
5x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Magicians (2007)
[#83 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

Comics

Superman #1 by George Pérez & Jesús Merino

Having read the new Action Comics #1 yesterday, it seemed only sensible to read the other Superman reboot today. Whereas the former has been one of The New 52's more praised books, Superman has proved more divisive.

No surprises, really: Action Comics' "Young Superman" story is the kind of tale that always messes around with the status quo and accepted continuity; Superman, however, is set in the 'present day' of the new DC Universe, and it makes significant changes to the pre-New 52 setup. Clark and Lois are no longer married, for instance, and apparently have never even had a relationship; Perry White now looks less a roly-poly editor and more a slightly older Man Of Action; and Lois is heading up a digital division for the company that's just bought out the Daily Planet. How very Modern.

As someone who didn't read Superman before, and isn't necessarily intending to keep it up now, I'm not necessarily all that bothered by all that. It makes sense to move with the times after all, and this is the way the news business is going. Plus, if you're trying to attract new readers, many believe the setup is a will-they-won't-they between Clark and Lois, not a married couple, and it's probably wise to play into that. Is it right to play fast and loose with continuity and character development for the sake of engaging new readers? Well, that's a much wider debate the whole industry needs to engage with.

The issue does make mistakes for every reader, mind. There's some dreadfully clunky dialogue and exposition, most of it coming when the story ought to be getting more exciting rather than more wordy -- this is a comic, not a novel, so ditch the prose description of the pictures! Then there's a one-page aside that apparently serves no purpose other than to shill Stormwatch, a completely unrelated New 52 comic (which was released weeks before this one, in fact) -- a stupid distraction. And apparently having cast Justin Bieber as Jimmy Olsen is obviously a bad idea.

Other than that, though... It's not one I'll be rushing to buy in print, but I might check out issue two sometime.

Collection Count

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

An exciting Blu-ray from America and a Doctor Who upgrade make up this week's handful of updates.

Number of titles in collection: 1,388 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,140 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 248 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 3,438 [up 5]
Number of films in collection: 1,470 [up 4]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,166 [up 4]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Billy Connolly's Route 66
Episode 3 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Mock the Week
10x10 (29/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x26 (3/10/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Comics

Action Comics #1 by Grant Morrison & Rags Morales

Such are the perils of ordering comics online rather than going into a shop: this turned up today, a week and a day after this second printing was published (and just over a month since it was originally released). Ah well.

Another one of the more acclaimed titles from DC's relaunch, the revamped Action Comics sees Morrison telling the story of a young Superman, fighting crime in Metropolis, still half-myth, not yet in his full costume, not even working for the Daily Planet. More importantly than all that, however, is that Morrison has roughed him up a little: this isn't the dull All-American Boy Scout most people know as Superman, but one who's willing to be a little more against the law, a little more pro-active -- we're told he threw a wife-beater out of a window and broke his hip and six ribs, for instance.

A most interesting start.

Articles

Apple: Steve Jobs Has Died by Doug Aamoth
(from Techland at Time)
I'm sure you can't've missed the news about Apple's co-founder, but this article does a great job of collecting together the myriad tributes from relevant people and sources.

Apple logo turned into touching tribute to Steve Jobs by Joe Svetlik
(from T3)
And other images of mourning, but this one is the most effective:

And in other news...

'James Bond 23' title revealed to be Skyfall? by Justin Harp
(from Digital Spy)
I hope not -- that's a pretty weak title, in my opinion.

Joel Schumacher was asked to make Batman & Robin sequel by Zakia Uddin
(from Digital Spy)
Which just goes to show, money always rules in the movies.

TV

The A to Z of Crime
Episode 5 QRST (of 6)
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Ask Rhod Gilbert
2x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x25 (30/9/11 edition)
A special episode to mark the show's 200th edition, featuring only previous contestants who crashed out with 200 points (the highest possible score in a single round). I've seen people before who managed to exit with 400 points (i.e. the full 200 on both of the two episodes they're allowed) -- I guess they're saving those sorts for a future special...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Comics

2000 AD #1749
Firstly, as usual, I shall direct you to the ECBT 2000AD reviews, covering both parts of Judge Dredd, Savage, Sinister Dexter and Zombo.
Secondly, my thoughts on my first ten issues since returning to the 2000 AD readership are here.

Animal Man #1 by Jeff Lemire & Travel Foreman
This is one of the surprise hits of DC's New 52, selling out quickly and garnering much praise. So it was one of the few I decided to order belatedly based on recommendations, but after my reaction to Justice League International (see below) I decided it best to read a digital copy before my 2nd printing hardcopy turned up. Fortunately, unlike JLI, this one lived up to the hype. Animal Man has a wife a two kids and a very present family life, lending a completely different feel and set of stories to the regular superhero setup. There's a good amount of story too, unlike some of the other books (and modern comics in general). Unlike Batman: The Dark Knight, say, I feel like I got a decent chunk of the story. With intriguing elements going forward, including a great cliffhanger-twist, this is definitely one I'll be continuing with. Indeed, it's probably one of my favourites of the New 52 books I've read.

Justice League International #1 by Dan Jurgens & Aaron Lopresti
I'd heard this was quite good, quite fun, so decided to give it a go. It wasn't. A squabbling team of superheroes is the kind of thing that probably works -- indeed, Marvel are banking on it -- but it helps if you've actually heard of most of them. It wasn't funny, it wasn't much fun, and it was actually kind of dull.
This was one of those additional books I'd decided to order. Fortunately, however, I read it in time to cancel my order. That's £2 saved.

Articles

The DC Comics New Reader Litmus Test: The New 52 Week 4 by Josie Campbell
(from Comic Book Resources)

Today saw the release of the first round of #2s for DC's New 52 -- this'll be where it really gets interesting, seeing whether sales can match the high level they've reached so far. It's been more successful than most expected, but the much-hyped beginning was always going to be the biggest bit -- will it carry over?

Anyway, all of that news and speculation is for the coming week. First, here's the last part of CBR's new reader test, where the #1s are given to completely new readers to see if it works for them, as was intended by DC. Unsurprisingly, results are more or less the same as in the previous three weeks.

However, there are some pretty damning conclusions right at the end. This, for instance: "When it came to those I approached to participate in this test, the news of the relaunch had not reached a single reader not already familiar with comics in some capacity. … Based on our anecdotal evidence, DC has failed to reach greater mainstream consciousness and is marketing to its existing audience of comics' readers, not to a brand-new market."

Oh dear.

The Adventures of Tintin trailer

This looks brilliant. I may even bother to make one of my rare trips to the cinema for it.

2000 AD #1749

As I mentioned when I read the last Prog, all the stories that started in my first Prog of 2000 AD all end this week (well, "this Prog" -- "this week"'s issue is about five on from that). That would seem to make it the perfect time to reflect on my re-initiation into the world of 2000 AD so far.

Judge Dredd, then, is undoubtedly 2000 AD's flagship strip. This has been an interesting one: after an opening three-parter that had some fun but was painfully light on logic, and was also a wrap-up for previous events rather than a properly new-reader-friendly jumping-on point, the story has progressed with a decently intriguing procedural. There's clearly a lot left to go in this Day of Chaos story, but it's off to a good start.

Sinister Dexter, on the other hand, was spectacularly unfriendly to the new reader. Although starting a new story, it built completely on events from the previous one, and on top of that on events going back years. It wasn't even especially entertaining to make up for it either. Apparently this one's on its way to being wrapped up for good, and by the sounds of things there aren't many who'll miss it.

Savage, then again, is brilliant. A real change from the overtly sci-fi angle of the rest of the strips, this is like a WW2 resistance comic, only set now (more or less) after a Russian-allegory occupation of Britain. Patrick Goddard's realistic black-and-white art is never less than gorgeous and Pat Mills' scripts are almost always a perfect example of how to tell a pulpy story in small but exciting pieces. Indeed, he and Dredd writer John Wagner really are the masters of the form -- even if Wagner's overall storytelling has been a bit iffy at points, his structuring is immaculate.

Zombo seems to be much beloved by 2000 AD fans, and while I wasn't sure at first I was quickly won over. This is the third outing for the strip, and while that means there's some continuity to overcome for a new reader, it's much more accessible than Sinister Dexter. It took me a Prog or two to become accustomed to Al Ewing's wit, but once there it was a hoot. Similarly, Henry Flint's art at first appeared sketchy and cartoonish, but is actually highly detailed and completely appropriate. I really want to get the collected edition of the first two tales now -- can't say better than that!

Finally, Tharg's 3hrillers (which ended last Prog) have been a mixed bag -- which you'd expect from an anthology format. The first one was passable but lost its way towards the end; the second had a good atmosphere and concept but a hurried conclusion -- it would've been good if it had been longer and more thoroughly developed; the third was an unredeemable piece of rubbish, with a weak story and pathetic art. Ho hum.

The most interesting bit has been getting back into the culture of reading the mag itself. By which I mean, reading stories in five-or-six-page chunks once a week for a couple of months at a time, five stories at once. I haven't read a regular comic for years, so not getting a whole story in one go (as you do with collected paperbacks) and not getting an apparently meaningful chunk of narrative in each portion are both adjustments.

What it highlights, however, is the differing storytelling skill set needed to make a six-page chunk satisfying, rather than the 20+ pages of a US monthly comic. Some of those writers could do with reading and learning from 2000 AD, because there are occasions where a Tharg strip can cover as much ground in six pages as a US comic will cover in 20. They'd benefit from that added speed.

TV

How to Win in the Den
Episode 1 Pitching and Presentation (of 4)
Despite the title implying a new concept, this is just the latest Dragons' Den catch-up-with-previous-contestants series. (And, despite listings calling it Dragons' Den: How to blah blah blah, the words "Dragons' Den" never appear on screen. So there.)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
25x01 Episode 1
Hurrah for the return of Buzzcocks! They may have plasticky new CGI titles and a slight set redesign, but it's still the same old hilariousness. I just hope the final round isn't all about the guest host every week.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x24 (29/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Dragons' Den
9x09 Episode 9
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Home Cooking Made Easy
1x01 Comfort
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x23 (28/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

DC's The New 52 #1s: My Thoughts

With all of DC's New 52 first issues now out, and with (most of*) the ones I've chosen having finally made their way to me and been read by me, I thought I'd offer some quick thoughts on each (in the order I read them)…

(* I have three more #1s on order from their second printings, but I figure as it's nearly time for #2s (they start on Wednesday) it was best to give in and post this.)

Justice League by Geoff Johns & Jim Lee
This came in for a lot of stick, it felt like. No, it's not the greatest book ever, but it was a more-than-solid introduction to the series and universe. It may suffer from the infamous decompressed storytelling, but the thing is, so does everything else -- that's just how comics are now, and while it might be good if that were changed, it's going to require a shift bigger even than DC's re-numbering re-launch. So with that in mind, I think this is actually pretty good: there's action, humour, mystery, and the story is both newbie friendly and prepares them for what it's like to read comics. Good job.

Detective Comics by Tony S. Daniel
Both these first two Bat books felt slower than Justice League, to my mind; or, rather, less content-filled. This particular one sees Batman encounter the Joker in a way that suggests he's been tracking him for years but never really come face-to-face with him… and, in that grisly and surprising cliffhanger, maybe he never will! This is looking like it might be set up for something altogether more unusual.

Batman and Robin by Peter J. Tomasi & Patrick Gleason
Bit on the fence about this one. For one thing, it's not at all newbie friendly, referencing and building on a tonne of stuff from the last few years of Bat books. Luckily for me I'd been reading up a bit out of idle curiosity, but a total newbie is going to be totally lost. Fail as a new #1, then. Even more so than the two books above, this has long scenes with pages of few panels -- it's either slowly character building (followed by a decent action sequence in the second half), or a bit thumb-twiddling. The plot developing is Moscow is intriguing so I'll stick with it for now.

Resurrection Man by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning & Fernando Dagnino
This is one of the books I picked up retrospectively, having heard good things. The concept always appealed, mind, so I guess that says something about following your instincts. Anyway, it was worth it. This is a great example of how to do a re-launch character introduction without telling the origin story: we learn his powers, we learn there are people after him, there's plenty of enticing mystery but none of it feels like we need to know his past to understand. Can't wait to read more, and indeed it makes me want to go back and read the original run too. Can't say better than that.

Batman by Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo
The only Batman-starring book in the relaunch that seems to have achieved widespread acclaim, I wasn't as completely convinced. It's got some great bits though, including the cliffhanger and some proper detective work from our hero, but equally some speechmaking by Bruce Wayne drags along in the middle. Greg Capullo's art is brilliant in places, mainly anything with Batman himself, but I'm not such a fan of his manga-ish renderings of human characters. I also still resent the excellent solicited cover being switched for Capullo's cartoonish rendering of the same scene. Maybe they feared it would raise the wrong expectations for the internal art?

Batgirl by Gail Simone & Ardian Syaf
One of the best-selling and popular books of the relaunch, which lead me to get hold of it a bit later. Personally I didn't care for it a great deal -- it has an interesting villain and setup with Barbara Gordon's newfound ability to walk again (and hence her return to active superheroing), and I'd quite like to see where all that goes, but it felt even briefer than the other books I've read so far. Perhaps that's the fault of the format I read it in: with digital I don't think I savoured the art and storytelling in the same way I did the ones I bought in print. Which is kinda interesting, I suppose. That said, I'm not alone: as the CBR review I quoted before said, "it feels like Batgirl #1 has barely gotten moving full steam ahead when we get to the cliffhanger."

Batwoman by J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman
A long-awaited title finally emerges as part of the New 52. I have no idea why exactly it was so anticipated, but I'm sure people found it worth the wait. It's a tad hard to get into for a new reader, stuffed as it is with allusions to backstory and previous plots, but it feels like it's worth getting through that because the actual story and characters are intriguing. And, even more so, the art by J.H. Williams III is gorgeous: the crisp pencils and detailed inks really make an impact, and there's masses of innovative page layouts that demand your attention to follow (in a good way) and that you sit back and appreciate them as art in their own right. Loved it.

Aquaman by Geoff Johns & Ivan Reis
"How does it feel to be nobody's favourite superhero?" a character asks Aquaman in this issue, neatly bringing his real-world status into the story. Johns does this throughout, making the book a very entertaining read. And it's true, of course: real-world popularity effects how important characters are in-universe, because that's what makes readers want to see more or less of a character, and that makes them more or less involved in big stories. Anyway, it's a fun read, with strong art, especially the intriguing well-designed villains. I look forward to more.

Batman: The Dark Knight by David Finch & Paul Jenkins
This seems to have been the worst reviewed of the four books starring Batman, and I can see why. It has the slightest story of all four, achieving virtually nothing in its 20 pages. Plus, coming at the end of the month, its Bruce-Wayne-making-a-speech centre section and a big prison break sequence both feel repetitious of Batman #1. Finch's art is fine when drawing action but I find it ugly when crafting faces, making the long-ish dialogue-based scene at a charity gala an uncomfortable read. Even the cliffhanger wasn't particular intriguing for me. The reviews are right, this is easily the weakest Batman book of the New 52.

All Star Western by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti & Moritat
My initial run through The New 52's #1 ends with perhaps my most anticipated book. All Star Western is a continuation of Gray & Palmiotti's surprisingly-lengthy run on Jonah Hex in all but name… well, and setting. Instead of the Wild West, here Hex finds himself in a burgeoning Gotham City, teamed up with Dr Amadeus Arkham (yes, as in the Asylum) to hunt down a murderer of prostitutes. And, in the process, perhaps tie-in a little to the modern-day arc in Batman. Clever… but, importantly, it feels like neither will be dependant on you reading the other, just offer neat commentary/parallels if you do. This is an exciting, violent, gritty book, beautifully rendered in a sketchy style by Moritat. It lived up to all my expectations and I can't wait for more.

So that's that. If you're interested, my favourite books were Resurrection Man, All Star Western, Aquaman and Batman, while my least favourite were Batgirl and Batman: The Dark Knight. Neither of those were bad per se -- Batgirl in particular had a lot to recommend it -- but I either really liked or outright loved the other eight I've read so far.

I've been intending to read even more of the New 52 #1s at some point, possibly even all of them -- I suppose I ought to get on with it, really, to see if I'd want to continue with any other series. I'm sure I'll share similarly bitesize opinions on those as I read them, but as I read them rather than in a pointlessly saved-up way such as this.

TV

Downton Abbey
2x01 Episode 1
2x02 Episode 2
Episode 3 went out tonight -- about time I got caught up with ITV's ratings juggernaut.
The new series begins about two years on from where the last one left off, which is nice because it means things get a wriggle on and there's lots to find out. Indeed, for a genteel Sunday Night drama, Downton moves through plot points at a surprising lick. Criticisms levelled at some of the blunt dialogue or soapish plotting aren't misplaced, but it's good fun as much because of that as anything else.
And then for episode two, we get a handy marker telling us it's now April 1917. Thank goodness for this and I hope it continues -- I was rather surprised, and then bemused, when last year's finale suddenly revealed two years had supposedly passed during the course of the series (when it had felt like months, at most).
[Watch episodes one and two (again) on ITV Player.]

The Great British Bake Off
2x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Centurion (2010)
[#82 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

this week on 100 Films

2 new reviews were posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...

The House on 92nd Street (1945)

On the one hand we have a double-agent spy thriller, which has a noir-ish tinge but isn’t the most representative film of the genre; on the other, a fairly factual look at the contemporary workings of the FBI. Many of the smaller parts were played by real FBI agents and a lot of time is put into showing how they really work and investigate a case. At the time I imagine this was a fascinating procedural; now, we’re all a bit more familiar with how such things go, but it still works as an historical document.

Valley of Fear (1983)

The negatives of the previous films still remain, primarily the weak ’80s TV animation. It’s not as badly designed as the bright-and-colourful version of Baskervilles, at least. O’Toole’s performance is nothing to write home about either.

Plus we're now in October (dear God, where did the year go?!), so there was also the update for September.

More next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Who
32x13 The Wedding of River Song [season finale]
I don't know about you but I guessed most of the twists in this episode, including how the Doctor survived, what the eyepatches were for, and what The Question would be. But that doesn't matter one jot because, as with all the best stories, this was about far more than just what the twists were. It was rollicking good fun, in fact. Just a shame we'll have to wait another year -- at least -- to find out the ultimate significance of said Question.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who Confidential
6x13 When Time Froze [series finale]
So that's it! Goodbye Doctor Who Confidential -- your quality level may have been inconsistent, but you will be missed.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Jonathan Ross Show
1x04 (24/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Merlin
4x01 The Darkest Hour Part One
Ooh, it certainly is dark this year, isn't it? And a bit too stuffed with slow-mo, actually. Following Doctor Who could have made it look bad, but actually it held up decently enough.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x22 (27/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Comics

2000 AD #1748
Crikey, I've got massively behind on 2000 AD. I blame all those New 52s I've been reading. If anyone still cares (if they even did in the first place), the ECBT 2000AD reviews for this Prog are here, here, here, here and here.
Next Prog, all the stories that began with my first issue end, so I'll offer some thoughts on my first batch of 2000 AD tales then.

All Star Western #1 by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti & Moritat
Probably my most anticipated comic in DC's New 52, and luckily it lived up to my hopes. More when I publish my big review post of all the books I've read (so far), which I think will be on Monday.

Batman: The Dark Knight #1 by David Finch & Paul Jenkins
This seems to have been the most criticised of the four Batman-starring books. What did I think? See above.

Articles

Don't put your daughter on the stage Mrs Worthington... by Bethany Black
(from Bethany Black)
Following yet more criticism of Mock the Week not featuring enough female panelists, a working female stand-up outlines why it's if anything over-representative of women in her profession. It's a lengthy article but one that's definitely worth a read if you're interested in that world. It also has something to say about those kind of people who don't adjust their view to fit the facts, but bend the facts to fit their view.

My Next New Beverly Season: ‘Films Edgar Has Never Seen’ by Edgar Wright
(from edgar wright here)
Director Edgar Wright is scheduling a season of films he's never seen. Never mind that, though: the best part of this is where he talks about how it's OK to have not seen certain films for whatever reason, despite the one-upmanship common among film fans. "I am a firm believer that it’s never too late to enjoy a movie," he writes, "I see filling in the gaps in my film knowledge as a lifetime pursuit." Too true.

Sherlock meets Doctor Who trailer

This is exceptionally well put together...

TV

Perfect Couples
1x04 Perfect Health
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

QI
9x03 Imbroglio (XL edition)
[Watch QI XL (again) on iPlayer.]

Wilfred
1x04 Acceptance

Comics

Aquaman #1 by Geoff Johns & Ivan Reis
Another book I read digitally but now intend to buy in print and get at least an issue or two more of. More thoughts when I do my end-of-issue-1s wrap-up, soon (I know they're all out, but I haven't received all of mine yet). For some detailed thoughts, there's always CBR's review.

Daredevil #3 by Mark Waid & Paolo Rivera
Slightly damp squib of an ending. At least it explains who that villain is, but that means pages and pages of exposition-fuelled nattering. The final fight on a busy road sounds a good, visually dynamic idea, but I felt there was little sense of where the fight was taking place -- it may as well have been down an alley or something. Still, the closing pages, and the new setup for how Matt can defend people without being in court, work well. The CBR review has the complete opposite view on the book's two halves, however. I take their point about a sound-based villain being a perfect idea for a Daredevil story, but I didn't care for how he was used.
Also this issue, in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of 9/11 is a strip called Moment of Truth by Bill Jemas and Mark Bagley, based on the story of a Marvel employee's father, excerpted from a previous collection. It's a moving tale told without words. Great tribute.

Articles

The DC Comics New Reader Litmus Test: The New 52 Week 3 by Josie Campbell
(from Comic Book Resources)

Comparing their issues to watching only the first ten minutes of a television show, no one felt they received a fully rounded and complete story, and all were disappointed with how short their issues were.

And that, I think, is one of current comics' problems with appealing to new readers: they want a sizeable chunk of story for their $3-one-a-month. Not unreasonable, that. Considering how popular serialised TV shows are now, I don't think people would necessarily object to a story that didn't completely resolve in one issue, but I think they want to feel they got "an episode of TV" rather than "one sixth of an episode of TV".

(For the first two parts of this experiment, look here.)

Collection Count

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

Absolutely no change this week, for the first time in exactly a year (must be something about this time of year, I guess).

Next week: some additions. Hopefully.

Number of titles in collection: 1,386 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,139 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 247 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 3,433 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,466 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,162 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Billy Connolly's Route 66
Episode 2 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Outnumbered
4x05 Episode 5
Twists! Cliffhangers! Not what you expect from Outnumbered, really... but it's still brilliant. And Karen may just be the best sitcom character ever. Her "oh Jesus" on seeing Angela was perfect.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
5x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Comics

Batgirl #1 by Gail Simone & Ardian Syaf
A book I've grabbed a bit later, because it's proved one of the best-selling and apparently-popular of DC's relaunch. Personally I didn't quite latch on to it. It felt a lot briefer than the other books I've read so far, for one thing -- the CBR review puts it best: "it feels like Batgirl #1 has barely gotten moving full steam ahead when we get to the cliffhanger". Exactly how I felt. Perhaps, however, that my chosen reading format was part of the problem: whereas I've read the rest (so far) in print, this was in digital, and I think I perhaps didn't savour the art and storytelling as much because of it.

Batwoman #1 by J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman
This one was scheduled to kick off long before the New 52 were announced (indeed, an issue #0 was published almost a year ago) and was highly anticipated. I'd also heard reports it was therefore hard to get into for new readers, presumably because it hadn't originally been intended as a complete jumping-on point. It's OK, though the backstory that's half-explained could do with greater explanation. Also read digitally; good enough that I'm going to re-buy and re-read in print, I think.

Articles

Dear DC Comics, by Michele Lee
(from Michele Lee)
There's been a lot of controversy surrounding the depiction of women in some of DC's relaunched comics. Here, a 7-year-old manages to get a better handle on what's wrong than the people at DC have (who just advised "look at a book's rating before buying"). It's certainly worth a read as a demonstration of how simple this is... yet DC seem unable to grasp it.

New 52 Pickup | Week 5 — decision time! by Steve Sunu
(from Robot 6 at Comic Book Resources)
The final summation of DC's 52 new #1s, ending with Sunu picking the 26 he'll buy #2 for. Except he only picks 25 -- the 26th is up to readers. Gasp!

Star Trek: The Next Generation is Coming to Blu-ray in 2012 by Angie Han
(from /Film)

In order to release the Blu-rays in high-definition, CBS dug up the original film negatives — over 25,000 reels — and edited them to match the original episodes precisely. Special effects were recreated, rather than upconverted from video tape. The end result will be all 178 episodes in high-definition 1080p, with 7.1 DTS Master Audio.

Crikey!

We will "save good television" say Doctor Who Confidential campaigners by Tim Glanfield
(from Radio Times)
RT interviews the anonymous person behind @SaveDWC.

TV

The A to Z of Crime
Episode 4 MNOP (of 6)
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Pointless
5x20 (23/9/11 edition)
5x21 (26/9/11 edition)
Christ almighty that pair of cackling chatterboxes (in the second of these episodes) were annoying. Thank goodness they made it to the final so I don't have to suffer them again in the next episode! Never have I been so glad that just two people remembered an answer, or that a name the contestants misremembered turned out to be pointless. (I'm cruel, I know.)
[Watch the 23/9/11 and 26/9/11 editions (again) on iPlayer.]

Wilfred
1x03 Fear
Yeah, it may be five weeks since I last watched this (feels longer), but I hadn't forgotten it, no.

Articles

DC Comics: Bad at Math by David Willis
(from Shortpacked!)
Short comic that demonstrates why, for all its successes, some of the (controversial) moves in DC's New 52 are doing nothing at all to help the cause of boosting comic readership; indeed, they may be actively hindering it.

Doctor Who Confidential Axed by Dave Golder
(from SFX)
"Scrapped due to cost cutting measures. See, this is what happens when you moan about the license fee". Disappointing news. I know I've moaned about Confidential's quality, but overall it's a pretty good show. Plus, it makes up the vast majority of nuWho's DVD extras. What are we likely to get in its place? Nothing, I'd wager.
If you want to try to save it, there's @SaveDWC on twitter and a petition here.

In Defence of: Doomsday by Fergus Burke
(from The Movie Bit)
Not the Doctor Who episode, or one of any number of other things with that title, but the 2008 Neil Marshall film. As the article so rightly puts it, though Marshall's "film's rank fairly highly on the internet site Rotten Tomatoes, one is continuously shit on. Can you guess which?" Yes, this one. I've not seen it, but I do have it on DVD (story of my life), and this goes some way to reigniting my interest in seeing it.

The Wolverine script rewrite explained by Hugh Jackman by Mark Langshaw
(from Digital Spy)
To summarise: "We've got the best script we ever had, but a less-acclaimed director than the one we used to have is working on it now and he wants to put his own stamp on it."

TV

Mock the Week
10x09 (22/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x19 (22/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)
[#81 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

Comics

Batman #1 by Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo
One of the few New 52 books to receive a resounding five stars from CBR, I'm not sure I was quite as taken with the book, but it does have a good setup (much more new-reader-friendly than Batman and Robin) and an intriguing plot.
Shame about the change of cover, though. The atmospheric original is on the left, the cartoony released one on the right. Click to enlarge.

Daredevil #2 by Mark Waid & Paolo Rivera
I would say CBR's 4-star review sums up most of my thoughts, though also note how may references it makes to past storylines -- potentially problematic for any new reader, and while I got by with much of it I had no idea I should/could have recognised the villain(s). Hopefully their pre-existence won't be too key to the story, then...

Articles

Doctor Who: The Complete Series Six Boxed Set confirmed for 21st November by Chuck Foster
(from Doctor Who News Page)
Only four audio commentaries this year? They're getting worse. I remember when the nuWho box sets were world-beaters: commentaries for every episode, Doctor Who Confidential Cut Downs, additional featurettes... Now we still get the shortened Confidentials, but they're quarter-length rather than half-length, a vastly reduced number of commentaries, no extra behind-the-scenes extras... We do get some new mini-episodes written by Moffat himself, but if they're anything like the online prequels or the two shorts on the previous box set, they're barely worth bothering with. Why not record more commentaries? How hard can it be to re-package some of the material from Confidential into extra featurettes in addition to the cut-down episodes? It just reeks of missed opportunities.
I do like those lenticular prints, though -- I hope there's a Blu-ray version too. Just a shame you have to get that nasty Silence-head cover to have them.

Photography and Contempt of Court by David Allen Green
(from New Statesman)
You may have heard the news story about the teenager jailed for two months simply for taking a photo in a courtroom. "A ridiculous overreaction!" was basically the tone of most reports. This, however, shows why you shouldn't believe everything you read: there's more to the story, and the sentence isn't so ludicrous after all.

TV

Ask Rhod Gilbert
2x01 Episode 1
I quite liked the first series of this, but really didn't expect to see it back, so that was a... surprise.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x18 (21/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Comics

Daredevil #1 by Mark Waid, Paolo Rivera & Marcos Martín
So distracted have I been by DC's new lot I've only just got round to the similarly-relaunched Daredevil, which you may remember I mentioned a couple of months ago when CBR gave it a 5-star review. Very good it was too, an excellent example of how to relaunch a book without doing an origin story, both establishing the basics of the character and summarising recent events succinctly enough that new readers get what's going on and (I presume) established readers don't get bored to tears from recappery. This approach to a relaunch is something some of DC's lot could do with, apparently.
(Also, see the audio version here. They've up to issue four now, but I've no idea if they kept this up.)

Resurrection Man #1 by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning & Fernando Dagnino
I'm saving up all my thoughts on the New 52s I'm reading for once I get to the end of the first month, so I'll say more on this then. But, for now, I really enjoyed this.

TV

Pointless
5x17 (20/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Spooks
10x01 Episode 1
And so the final series of Spooks begins… and it was actually rather good, though having watched Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy recently it did seem a tad overblown at times. They seem to be doing one of the Big Long Story seasons they've done occasionally over the years (or maybe it's just a two-parter, who knows), which makes sense with the reduced episode count (down to six for the first time since the first series) and the desire to wrap up Harry's story as this is The Final Season. It'll be interesting to see how much time and development the supporting cast get this year, then, especially as they're all either leftover characters who had little to do before or newbies who have a maximum shelf life of five more episodes.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
[#80 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

this week on 100 Films

Just 1 new review was posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, and it was...

Night of the Demon (1957)

A horror movie in the old fashioned mode — creepy and uncanny, rather than aiming to make you constantly jump or turn your stomach with lashings of gore. A scene at a children’s party at Karswell’s house is particularly unsettling, the apparent jollity contrasting with the ominous winds and undercurrent of evil.

More next Sunday.

TV

Doctor Who
32x12 Closing Time
32x12a The Prequel to The Wedding of River Song
That was an amiable enough episode, even if the Cybermen were underused (as ever in nuWho, I feel). I also thought the ending -- which was effectively a prequel to next week's finale -- was a bit overlong. It might've been neater to bung up the "Next Time" before cutting to all that stuff with River, and have that instead of a regular trailer. That would've been unusual, and I'd've liked it. Or they could've made it the above prequel, of course... but I'm sure they're very aware that only a relatively small number of dedicated fans will be watching that,
[Watch Closing Time (again) in HD on iPlayer, and The Prequel to The Wedding of River Song on the official site.]

Doctor Who Confidential
6x12 Open All Hours
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Dragons' Den
9x08 Episode 8
Giving away 79% of their company?! Madness. Probably a first as well.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off
2x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Perfect Couples
1x03 Perfect Proposal
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Who Do You Think You Are?
8x02 JK Rowling
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

The Jonathan Ross Show
1x03 (17/9/11 edition)
Finally, a fully worthwhile line-up of guests. Unfortunately the ITV show being almost quarter-of-an-hour shorter than the old BBC one means they don't really get enough time (especially when so long was given over to Peter Kay mucking about).
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Outnumbered
4x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x16 (19/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
5x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

After last week's flood, not much to report this week -- just one new release from last Monday (Attack the Block) and one early release from next Monday (Thor).

Number of titles in collection: 1,386 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,139 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 247 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 3,433 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,466 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,162 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Horrible Histories Big Prom Party
This was, as you'd expect, brilliant fun. Shame they gutted the classical pieces to make it an hour long and super kid-friendly, but that's what you expect I guess.
The full programme for this Prom can be read here.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x15 (16/9/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

QI
9x02 International (XL edition)
Finally, an explanation of the QI scoring system! ...well, sort of.
(Incidentally, the British Comedy Guide episode guides I've started linking to for the main episode title are really rather good, not only listing the contents of the episode in full but also detailing them major differences between the regular and XL editions. In case you might be interested.)
[Watch QI XL (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

The DC Comics New Reader Litmus Test: The New 52
and
The DC Comics New Reader Litmus Test: Week 2
by Josie Campbell (from Comic Book Resources)

The whole point of The New 52 was to offer up a slate of #1 issues to attract new/lapsed readers to/back to the DCU. So what better way to test that than by showing all the issues to new readers, unfamiliar with comics. And what it shows is... a bit of a failure. One of the things DC was keen not to do was tell origin stories, feeling too often a re-launch meant telling the origin yet again. This survey seems to suggest they were right for well-known characters like Batman and Superman, but for all the rest (who are largely or completely unknown in popular culture), the move hasn't worked, with several newbies expressing that an origin would be better. DC's existing-reader-friendly idea of a "soft reboot" may work for current fans, but it's going to turn off newbies.

Still, in some respects one might argue this sample was flawed: it sounds like it picked on people who weren't necessarily interested in reading comics. (The second week improved the methodology, mind.) Now, that may not be true, but the people who are actually going to walk into a store and purchase these -- or, rather, DC are hoping they can attract into a store to purchase these -- are people who have an interest in reading comics, even if they've never actually read one. Would they be more susceptible to the books' charms than this lot? Or would the lack of background on unfamiliar characters still turn them off?

Either way, DC's sales have been strong, and so long as that keeps up I'm sure they're happy.

And in other comics-y articles...

New 52 Pickup | Week 4 by Steve Sunu
(from Robot 6 at Comic Book Resources)
Finally, a book I'm definitely getting that Sunu loves! (See below for more.)

Review of Batman #1 by Doug Zawisza
(from Comic Book Resources)
Five stars (out of five). Definitely looking forward to getting this one, then.