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.
Monday, 9 June 2008
Fiction
Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: Alien Arena by Richard Dungworth
See here for my thoughts on this book.
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.
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.
"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...
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...
Sunday, 8 June 2008
TV
Red Dwarf
2x04 Stasis Leak
For a show apparently about three people (and a computer) alone in the far future, early Red Dwarf certainly finds a number of ways to introduce other characters -- in this episode, the Dwarfers find a leak that allows them to travel back to three weeks before the ship was destroyed. Do they try to save it? No, they just try to find a way to save one person! There's also a distinct repetition of other Red Dwarf tropes, mainly various forms of time travel, seeing future events, and doubles -- it's especially reminiscent of a couple of first series episodes in this respect (and these ideas will crop up often in future episodes too). (Incidentally, virtual reality is another form the show uses often; not this episode, but the one before it and at least twice in future seasons.)
Spooks
4x05 The Book (aka A Journalist, a Minister and a Conservative Group)
Stylishly directed spy-vs-spy episode. It's notably different to how the first couple of seasons would've handled such a story -- it's increasingly headed in a more "action adventure" direction, like (say) 24, rather than the "relatively believable" initial premise -- but nonetheless entertaining. The conclusion is slightly lacklustre and almost rushed, however -- perhaps the events of this episode will have repercussions in the future?
Wild China
Part 5 Land of the Panda
2x04 Stasis Leak
For a show apparently about three people (and a computer) alone in the far future, early Red Dwarf certainly finds a number of ways to introduce other characters -- in this episode, the Dwarfers find a leak that allows them to travel back to three weeks before the ship was destroyed. Do they try to save it? No, they just try to find a way to save one person! There's also a distinct repetition of other Red Dwarf tropes, mainly various forms of time travel, seeing future events, and doubles -- it's especially reminiscent of a couple of first series episodes in this respect (and these ideas will crop up often in future episodes too). (Incidentally, virtual reality is another form the show uses often; not this episode, but the one before it and at least twice in future seasons.)
Spooks
4x05 The Book (aka A Journalist, a Minister and a Conservative Group)
Stylishly directed spy-vs-spy episode. It's notably different to how the first couple of seasons would've handled such a story -- it's increasingly headed in a more "action adventure" direction, like (say) 24, rather than the "relatively believable" initial premise -- but nonetheless entertaining. The conclusion is slightly lacklustre and almost rushed, however -- perhaps the events of this episode will have repercussions in the future?
Wild China
Part 5 Land of the Panda
Fiction
Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming
Chapters 9 & 10
Bond finally gets on with investigating Gorner in these two chapters. Initially hindered by a lack of translator/driver, he bumps into the CIA's man in Tehran (who warns him off)... and someone altogether more surprising (who helps him along)... Following the latter's lead, Bond discovers something even more surprising at a boat builder's yard. Faulks begins to bring in fantastical-yet-believable elements here, another staple of many of the best Bonds. The plot, as they say, thickens. (The end of Chapter 10 marks the novel's halfway point.)
Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: The Spaceship Graveyard by Colin Brake
See here for my thoughts on this book.
Chapters 9 & 10
Bond finally gets on with investigating Gorner in these two chapters. Initially hindered by a lack of translator/driver, he bumps into the CIA's man in Tehran (who warns him off)... and someone altogether more surprising (who helps him along)... Following the latter's lead, Bond discovers something even more surprising at a boat builder's yard. Faulks begins to bring in fantastical-yet-believable elements here, another staple of many of the best Bonds. The plot, as they say, thickens. (The end of Chapter 10 marks the novel's halfway point.)
Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: The Spaceship Graveyard by Colin Brake
See here for my thoughts on this book.
"Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: The Spaceship Graveyard" by Colin Brake
I used to love Decide Your Destiny-style books when I was younger. You know the ones -- you read a page of action featuring 'you' as the main character, then make a choice at the end which sends you off to another page, usually hidden in a completely different section of the book, where you read a bit more before making another choice, and so on til you reach one of the story's endings (or, sometimes, you just went round in circles). I suppose it's a simpler, more childish version of role-playing, but helpfully it's one that doesn't require a selection of other massively devoted friends.
So when I heard there was going to be a range of Doctor Who ones, I was faced with a bit of a dilemma: would they still interest me as (ostensibly) a grown-up? They have the massive advantage of being Doctor Who related, of course -- I've reverted to buying toys thanks to Doctor Who -- but was that enough? Would I read them? And if I did, would I enjoy them? At £4.99 RRP for such slim volumes, I decided against it... until The Book People offered the complete set of 12 for just £9.99. I found it was an offer I couldn't refuse. And now I'm actually going to read them, one by one (obviously), and report my thoughts.
First up in the numbered range is The Spaceship Graveyard, featuring the (10th) Doctor and Martha, written by Colin Brake. To quote the blurb: "When the TARDIS engines fail, you find yourselves on a planet littered with abandoned spaceships. But where are the crews? And why has the TARDIS crashed there, too? Explore the spaceship graveyard to find out..." Ooh, intriguing.
Unfortunately, the experience is flawed. But let's start with the good points. The prose is simple but descriptive, entirely appropriate for the level of these books. The main character (i.e. you) is sensibly considered to be a young boy (or possibly just human, but I assumed boy), which to some degree put me in that mindset and possibly helped me enjoy the book more. Brake captures the 10th Doctor well for the most part, though Martha has a disturbing tendency to keep winking at the reader... The plot isn't a bad idea, though it disappointingly doesn't all come together. One of the problems with constructing a book like this, I suppose, but I landed on a Draconian ship that, the Doctor informed me, had helped stop an Earth-Draconian war when it disappeared. Intriguing! But completely irrelevant to the rest of the plot.
This isn't the book's biggest problem, however. The real problem is that all of the decisions you make (at the end of each page, generally, though sometimes it stretches to two) are aimed at the reader and not the character. If that's not clear, I'll clarify: in my opinion, for books like this to truly draw you in, you need to be making decisions as the character. For example (these created by me): "To go left down the corridor turn to page 45, to go right turn to page 9", or "To shoot the alien turn to page 87, to talk to him turn to page 35", and so on. Instead, The Spaceship Graveyard is mostly (possibly entirely) made up of questions that direct the story but that the character you 'play' has no say in. For example (to paraphrase real ones from the novel): "If you meet an alien, go to page 78, if you meet a human go to page 3", or "If you find yourself on the bridge go to page 67, if you find yourself in the hold go to page 43". It's disappointing because you have no control over your actions, meaning you're left to guess what might make the most exciting story. And, flicking through the rest of the book while writing this review, some of the options I missed sound a lot more exciting.
On the plus side, this last point is somewhat reassuring -- there are clearly a variety of adventures to be had here (though, I'd wager, along similar lines), which clearly adds to replay value if one can remember enough to know to make different choices. But it's a huge shame that you're controlling the story and not your character's actions. I hope other books in the series manage the latter.
Talking of other books, this one begins with the Doctor picking you up, but ends with your adventures in time and space continuing. As I'm reading the books in order as a series, I hope they don't all begin with me getting picked up. I hardly expect any kind of character development or arc plot across all 12 (though it's theoretically possible to do something like that without impinging on the quality or stand-alone-ness of the books, so if they'd managed to work one in I'd be very impressed), but it would be nice if they were at least a bit connected in that respect, especially as they're clearly numbered.
So when I heard there was going to be a range of Doctor Who ones, I was faced with a bit of a dilemma: would they still interest me as (ostensibly) a grown-up? They have the massive advantage of being Doctor Who related, of course -- I've reverted to buying toys thanks to Doctor Who -- but was that enough? Would I read them? And if I did, would I enjoy them? At £4.99 RRP for such slim volumes, I decided against it... until The Book People offered the complete set of 12 for just £9.99. I found it was an offer I couldn't refuse. And now I'm actually going to read them, one by one (obviously), and report my thoughts.
First up in the numbered range is The Spaceship Graveyard, featuring the (10th) Doctor and Martha, written by Colin Brake. To quote the blurb: "When the TARDIS engines fail, you find yourselves on a planet littered with abandoned spaceships. But where are the crews? And why has the TARDIS crashed there, too? Explore the spaceship graveyard to find out..." Ooh, intriguing.
Unfortunately, the experience is flawed. But let's start with the good points. The prose is simple but descriptive, entirely appropriate for the level of these books. The main character (i.e. you) is sensibly considered to be a young boy (or possibly just human, but I assumed boy), which to some degree put me in that mindset and possibly helped me enjoy the book more. Brake captures the 10th Doctor well for the most part, though Martha has a disturbing tendency to keep winking at the reader... The plot isn't a bad idea, though it disappointingly doesn't all come together. One of the problems with constructing a book like this, I suppose, but I landed on a Draconian ship that, the Doctor informed me, had helped stop an Earth-Draconian war when it disappeared. Intriguing! But completely irrelevant to the rest of the plot.
This isn't the book's biggest problem, however. The real problem is that all of the decisions you make (at the end of each page, generally, though sometimes it stretches to two) are aimed at the reader and not the character. If that's not clear, I'll clarify: in my opinion, for books like this to truly draw you in, you need to be making decisions as the character. For example (these created by me): "To go left down the corridor turn to page 45, to go right turn to page 9", or "To shoot the alien turn to page 87, to talk to him turn to page 35", and so on. Instead, The Spaceship Graveyard is mostly (possibly entirely) made up of questions that direct the story but that the character you 'play' has no say in. For example (to paraphrase real ones from the novel): "If you meet an alien, go to page 78, if you meet a human go to page 3", or "If you find yourself on the bridge go to page 67, if you find yourself in the hold go to page 43". It's disappointing because you have no control over your actions, meaning you're left to guess what might make the most exciting story. And, flicking through the rest of the book while writing this review, some of the options I missed sound a lot more exciting.
On the plus side, this last point is somewhat reassuring -- there are clearly a variety of adventures to be had here (though, I'd wager, along similar lines), which clearly adds to replay value if one can remember enough to know to make different choices. But it's a huge shame that you're controlling the story and not your character's actions. I hope other books in the series manage the latter.
Talking of other books, this one begins with the Doctor picking you up, but ends with your adventures in time and space continuing. As I'm reading the books in order as a series, I hope they don't all begin with me getting picked up. I hardly expect any kind of character development or arc plot across all 12 (though it's theoretically possible to do something like that without impinging on the quality or stand-alone-ness of the books, so if they'd managed to work one in I'd be very impressed), but it would be nice if they were at least a bit connected in that respect, especially as they're clearly numbered.
Saturday, 7 June 2008
TV
Doctor Who [new]
4x09 Forest of the Dead
See here for my thoughts on this story.
Gilmore Girls
4x11 In the Clamor and the Clangor
Finally, after three and a half seasons, Mrs. Kim finds out the truth about Lane. Sadly, in typical Gilmore Girls fashion, it's nothing like as fantastic or victorious as it ought to be. Still, there's time yet...
Have I Got News For You
6/6/08 edition (extended repeat)
House
4x14 Living the Dream
Red Dwarf
2x03 Thanks For the Memory
More of an exemplary episode than the last, in my opinion, as it effectively combines character comedy, character drama, a clever (but not pointless) structure, and a handful of interesting science-fiction ideas. On the downside, it's not the funniest episode, which is obviously a problem for a comedy.
4x09 Forest of the Dead
See here for my thoughts on this story.
Gilmore Girls
4x11 In the Clamor and the Clangor
Finally, after three and a half seasons, Mrs. Kim finds out the truth about Lane. Sadly, in typical Gilmore Girls fashion, it's nothing like as fantastic or victorious as it ought to be. Still, there's time yet...
Have I Got News For You
6/6/08 edition (extended repeat)
House
4x14 Living the Dream
Red Dwarf
2x03 Thanks For the Memory
More of an exemplary episode than the last, in my opinion, as it effectively combines character comedy, character drama, a clever (but not pointless) structure, and a handful of interesting science-fiction ideas. On the downside, it's not the funniest episode, which is obviously a problem for a comedy.
Films
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)
[#39 in 100 Films in a Year 2008]
Bond from the Beginning #9:
The Man With the Golden Gun (1974)
[4th or so watch]
See here for my thoughts on this film.
[#39 in 100 Films in a Year 2008]
Bond from the Beginning #9:
The Man With the Golden Gun (1974)
[4th or so watch]
See here for my thoughts on this film.
Fiction
Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming
Chapter 8
Bond and Darius have dinner and visit the Paradise Club, "heaven on Earth" for people who like drink, opium, and naked swimming. Mainly, the chapter's about a little exposition and a little local colour. Also includes a reference to the Young Bond books, which seems to nicely affirm them as part of the Bond series as much as this is. (Of course, knowing Higson, he may've been referencing something from Fleming that Faulks is also independently referring to. Just to make things complicated.)
Chapter 8
Bond and Darius have dinner and visit the Paradise Club, "heaven on Earth" for people who like drink, opium, and naked swimming. Mainly, the chapter's about a little exposition and a little local colour. Also includes a reference to the Young Bond books, which seems to nicely affirm them as part of the Bond series as much as this is. (Of course, knowing Higson, he may've been referencing something from Fleming that Faulks is also independently referring to. Just to make things complicated.)
Bond from the Beginning
I'm currently in the middle of a little undertaking (for want of a better word) that I like to call Bond from the Beginning, which I shall now briefly (and, perhaps, pointlessly) introduce.
The task is simple: to watch all of the James Bond films, in order, from the start. The current iteration of this only includes the official Eon films -- so no TV Casino Royale, no spoof Casino Royale, and no Never Say Never Again. I've attempted this before (around 2002), where I only made it as far as Diamonds Are Forever. As you can see from my latest viewing, I'm doing better this time.
There are a couple of reasons for trying this. Like many boys & men in the UK (and elsewhere, of course), I've grown up with the Bond films around, catching them on TV, video and -- starting with Tomorrow Never Dies for me -- at the cinema. In this way I've seen them when I could, and generally out of sequence. I've never watched them progress in order from the start. Considering them in this way obviously puts each film in a different context to viewing them out of sequence, so I was intrigued by the chance to re-evaluate the 21 (so far) Bond films in this way.
Additionally, I've always struggled to definitively list my favourite Bond films in order of preference. Some people like to bandy around phrases like "it's in the top half of Bond films", especially as there are a neat 20 (before the Daniel Craig re-boot) and so they could be split cleanly into a Top 10 and Bottom 10. What better chance to create a definitive list of my favourites than when going through them in order? So that's what I'm doing. Obviously, I'll post said list when I reach the end. As I've been going I've also written mini-reviews of each film (intended for my other blog), which I'll now begin to post here.
I can't say how long this will take me to finish -- I've already been going since about April 2007 -- but now you can follow it all here. And at some point, there may be Bond from the Beginning 2...
The task is simple: to watch all of the James Bond films, in order, from the start. The current iteration of this only includes the official Eon films -- so no TV Casino Royale, no spoof Casino Royale, and no Never Say Never Again. I've attempted this before (around 2002), where I only made it as far as Diamonds Are Forever. As you can see from my latest viewing, I'm doing better this time.
There are a couple of reasons for trying this. Like many boys & men in the UK (and elsewhere, of course), I've grown up with the Bond films around, catching them on TV, video and -- starting with Tomorrow Never Dies for me -- at the cinema. In this way I've seen them when I could, and generally out of sequence. I've never watched them progress in order from the start. Considering them in this way obviously puts each film in a different context to viewing them out of sequence, so I was intrigued by the chance to re-evaluate the 21 (so far) Bond films in this way.
Additionally, I've always struggled to definitively list my favourite Bond films in order of preference. Some people like to bandy around phrases like "it's in the top half of Bond films", especially as there are a neat 20 (before the Daniel Craig re-boot) and so they could be split cleanly into a Top 10 and Bottom 10. What better chance to create a definitive list of my favourites than when going through them in order? So that's what I'm doing. Obviously, I'll post said list when I reach the end. As I've been going I've also written mini-reviews of each film (intended for my other blog), which I'll now begin to post here.
I can't say how long this will take me to finish -- I've already been going since about April 2007 -- but now you can follow it all here. And at some point, there may be Bond from the Beginning 2...
Bond from the Beginning #9: The Man With the Golden Gun
I really like The Man With the Golden Gun. There seems to be a consensus (especially among those who only accept For Your Eyes Only, or perhaps The Spy Who Loved Me, as decent efforts from the Moore era) that it's a relatively weak entry, but I think it has more than enough going for it.
Put simply, it's entertaining. Christopher Lee is a great villain, Moore isn't yet too old for the role, the plot's decent enough, the action is exciting, the humour amusing, the one-liners memorable... I even like Lulu's title song. There are numerous other moments that could be expanded on -- most of M's dialogue, the amazingly designed half-sunken ship HQ...
Of course it has its weak points (a few plot holes, J.W. Pepper, and especially the 'woo-oop'ing car stunt), but they don't detract from how flat-out enjoyable it all is. More often than not, that's exactly what a Bond film should be.
Put simply, it's entertaining. Christopher Lee is a great villain, Moore isn't yet too old for the role, the plot's decent enough, the action is exciting, the humour amusing, the one-liners memorable... I even like Lulu's title song. There are numerous other moments that could be expanded on -- most of M's dialogue, the amazingly designed half-sunken ship HQ...
Of course it has its weak points (a few plot holes, J.W. Pepper, and especially the 'woo-oop'ing car stunt), but they don't detract from how flat-out enjoyable it all is. More often than not, that's exactly what a Bond film should be.
Doctor Who: Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead
Steven Moffat's episodes of Doctor Who arrive with no small degree of expectation. Ever since he penned the first season two-parter The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances (which holds the rare honour of having both the best and worst episode titles ever, in my opinion), fans have revered Moffat as the God of new-Who writing. It's not an undeserved reputation: The Empty Child episodes are fantastic, one of my favourite ever stories (and winner of a Hugo); I think his second season effort, The Girl in the Fireplace (which also won a Hugo), is overrated by many, but it's still a good episode; and Blink (which has so far won a BAFTA, and would really be robbed if it didn't make it a hat-trick of Hugos) was an excellent concept wonderfully executed, with the best companion-who-wasn't ever. Then there's the Children in Need short he penned, Time Crash, which is just about perfect.
The news that he'll be taking charge of the whole shebang from season five (airing in 2010) has been greeted by many as if it were the second coming. I think they're being over-optimistic -- not because I think Moffat will do a bad job (quite the opposite), but because many are people who are somewhat unhappy with the way Russell T Davies has run things, and the quality of his episodes, and presume Moffat will bring more of the flavour of his episodes. I'm sure he'll bring his own spin to proceeding, but Moffat and Davies seem to get on well, and the former is clever enough to realise the reasoning behind Davies' showrunning decisions. If he chooses to pen five or six episodes per year, as Davies has, then I don't think anyone can expect them all to be of the same quality -- or indeed style -- as his one-or-two-per-year contribution so far, and he certainly won't make the whole season in the same vein. In my opinion, the correct outlook for Moffat's forthcoming reign is that it will continue Who in more or less the quality and style we've become accustomed to, and that's a good thing.
But analysis of a future that's two years (and nine episodes) away is slightly beside the point: what of the expectations for Moffat's latest two-parter, set in the 51st Century upon a planet that's one big library -- called, simply enough, The Library -- and concerning 'air piranhas' that live in the shadows and a present-day girl who may be dreaming everything... One of the first things that strikes me is Moffat's repeated motifs, which are arguably beginning to cover his Who work to the point of being too easily guessed. There's the faceless monsters (here, a skeleton in a spacesuit, following gas-masked zombies, clockwork droids and living statues); turning everyday things into scary things (ticking clocks, 'the monster under the bed', statues, now shadows); unusual female helpers for the Doctor (two this time -- River Song, who knows the Doctor from his future, and a little girl in another time -- following in the wake of a girl/woman he encountered across her timeline, and a girl interacting with a message he recorded decades earlier); which brings to light another motif, the mucking about with time (see previous examples); also mucking about with structure (more prevalent in his own series, Jekyll); an "everybody lives" ending; and catchphrases ("count the shadows", following "are you my mummy?" and "don't blink"). The only one he seems to have dropped is the banana.
Of course, this is repetition on an unintrusive level (with the possible exception of "everybody lives", which seemed to repeat dialogue wholesale from The Doctor Dances), and it's a tad churlish to pick on these things if the storytelling and new concepts are up to scratch. The latter certainly are: shadows are a great topic to pick on, and cunningly used; The Library is a beautiful idea (and prettily executed by all the design teams, especially the exterior vistas from The Mill); the human-faced helper statues are creepy; and, most effective of all, one of Who's best-ever death scenes, as the mind of Miss Evangelista remains stored in her suit and struggles to understand what's going on -- absolutely chilling, heart-achingly sad, and perfectly executed. Part two contains so many crazy, mashed together ideas that it's pretty hard to pick them apart. Which, in some ways, is a problem: the whole thing is so bold, so mad, so complex, so different, that it doesn't quite seem right at 7pm on Saturday on BBC One. Some people will love it, of course -- some would regardless, just cos it's by Moffat, so their views are virtually useless -- but I'd be fairly surprised if many of the show's target audience truly engaged with it.
As a fan, the main thing that troubles me is Professor River Song. She knows so much about the Doctor that it's incredibly tantalising for a viewer, wanting to know how and why she knows it all and what their adventures together were/will be like. On a practical, production level, the fact that she knows an older Doctor -- specifically, an older 10th Doctor -- is problematic. While it sounds great on the surface -- David Tennant for decades! Hurrah! -- on that practical production level, how do you assure he sticks around long enough to have a suitable number of adventures with River in the future? And that Alex Kingston (who everyone involved seems to think is a much more important actress than the average viewer would) agrees to return too? And if you don't do either of those things, surely this incarnation's final story is locked in as needing to end with some future-revealing montage that explains all this? Perhaps what worries me most is that, in their concern for telling a great story now and in their blithe disregard for such matters (RTD has often said how happy he is to leave continuity debates up to the fans), no one really bothered to consider all this, and it'll just be forever ignored for fans to argue about for eternity (the winner, of course, will be some alternative timeline theory, where the 10th Doctor didn't really regenerate at the end of the 2009 specials / season five / season six / etc, but lived for decades more and had his adventures with River, and somehow this River fell through some portal or other into our timeline and then met our Doctor and blah blah blah). On the bright side, perhaps they know something we don't about who's signed up for 2010's season five, or just what timeline-splitting events may occur in Journey's End...
I shouldn't worry so much of course -- I should, trust and/or ignore, and try to enjoy the story for what it is. But, as a fan, I can't help it; and, on the flip side, as someone who frequently enjoys engaging with Who on the same level as its target audience, I hardly think this new adventure from Mr Moffat is an unequivocal success.
In fact, a bit like Jekyll, I do wonder if I want to like it more than I actually do.
The news that he'll be taking charge of the whole shebang from season five (airing in 2010) has been greeted by many as if it were the second coming. I think they're being over-optimistic -- not because I think Moffat will do a bad job (quite the opposite), but because many are people who are somewhat unhappy with the way Russell T Davies has run things, and the quality of his episodes, and presume Moffat will bring more of the flavour of his episodes. I'm sure he'll bring his own spin to proceeding, but Moffat and Davies seem to get on well, and the former is clever enough to realise the reasoning behind Davies' showrunning decisions. If he chooses to pen five or six episodes per year, as Davies has, then I don't think anyone can expect them all to be of the same quality -- or indeed style -- as his one-or-two-per-year contribution so far, and he certainly won't make the whole season in the same vein. In my opinion, the correct outlook for Moffat's forthcoming reign is that it will continue Who in more or less the quality and style we've become accustomed to, and that's a good thing.
But analysis of a future that's two years (and nine episodes) away is slightly beside the point: what of the expectations for Moffat's latest two-parter, set in the 51st Century upon a planet that's one big library -- called, simply enough, The Library -- and concerning 'air piranhas' that live in the shadows and a present-day girl who may be dreaming everything... One of the first things that strikes me is Moffat's repeated motifs, which are arguably beginning to cover his Who work to the point of being too easily guessed. There's the faceless monsters (here, a skeleton in a spacesuit, following gas-masked zombies, clockwork droids and living statues); turning everyday things into scary things (ticking clocks, 'the monster under the bed', statues, now shadows); unusual female helpers for the Doctor (two this time -- River Song, who knows the Doctor from his future, and a little girl in another time -- following in the wake of a girl/woman he encountered across her timeline, and a girl interacting with a message he recorded decades earlier); which brings to light another motif, the mucking about with time (see previous examples); also mucking about with structure (more prevalent in his own series, Jekyll); an "everybody lives" ending; and catchphrases ("count the shadows", following "are you my mummy?" and "don't blink"). The only one he seems to have dropped is the banana.
Of course, this is repetition on an unintrusive level (with the possible exception of "everybody lives", which seemed to repeat dialogue wholesale from The Doctor Dances), and it's a tad churlish to pick on these things if the storytelling and new concepts are up to scratch. The latter certainly are: shadows are a great topic to pick on, and cunningly used; The Library is a beautiful idea (and prettily executed by all the design teams, especially the exterior vistas from The Mill); the human-faced helper statues are creepy; and, most effective of all, one of Who's best-ever death scenes, as the mind of Miss Evangelista remains stored in her suit and struggles to understand what's going on -- absolutely chilling, heart-achingly sad, and perfectly executed. Part two contains so many crazy, mashed together ideas that it's pretty hard to pick them apart. Which, in some ways, is a problem: the whole thing is so bold, so mad, so complex, so different, that it doesn't quite seem right at 7pm on Saturday on BBC One. Some people will love it, of course -- some would regardless, just cos it's by Moffat, so their views are virtually useless -- but I'd be fairly surprised if many of the show's target audience truly engaged with it.
As a fan, the main thing that troubles me is Professor River Song. She knows so much about the Doctor that it's incredibly tantalising for a viewer, wanting to know how and why she knows it all and what their adventures together were/will be like. On a practical, production level, the fact that she knows an older Doctor -- specifically, an older 10th Doctor -- is problematic. While it sounds great on the surface -- David Tennant for decades! Hurrah! -- on that practical production level, how do you assure he sticks around long enough to have a suitable number of adventures with River in the future? And that Alex Kingston (who everyone involved seems to think is a much more important actress than the average viewer would) agrees to return too? And if you don't do either of those things, surely this incarnation's final story is locked in as needing to end with some future-revealing montage that explains all this? Perhaps what worries me most is that, in their concern for telling a great story now and in their blithe disregard for such matters (RTD has often said how happy he is to leave continuity debates up to the fans), no one really bothered to consider all this, and it'll just be forever ignored for fans to argue about for eternity (the winner, of course, will be some alternative timeline theory, where the 10th Doctor didn't really regenerate at the end of the 2009 specials / season five / season six / etc, but lived for decades more and had his adventures with River, and somehow this River fell through some portal or other into our timeline and then met our Doctor and blah blah blah). On the bright side, perhaps they know something we don't about who's signed up for 2010's season five, or just what timeline-splitting events may occur in Journey's End...
I shouldn't worry so much of course -- I should, trust and/or ignore, and try to enjoy the story for what it is. But, as a fan, I can't help it; and, on the flip side, as someone who frequently enjoys engaging with Who on the same level as its target audience, I hardly think this new adventure from Mr Moffat is an unequivocal success.
In fact, a bit like Jekyll, I do wonder if I want to like it more than I actually do.
Friday, 6 June 2008
TV
Dirt
2x06 And the Winner is...
Doctor Who [classic]
7x01 Spearhead from Space Episode 1 [4th watch]
7x02 Spearhead from Space Episode 2 [4th watch]
7x03 Spearhead from Space Episode 3 [4th watch]
7x04 Spearhead from Space Episode 4 [4th watch]
See here for my thoughts on this story.
Red Dwarf
2x02 Better Than Life
Fan-favourite episode in which the Dwarfers play a virtual reality game that lives up to its title, Better Than Life. It's all well and good, except that the plot lacks a third act, ending instead with an unsatisfying hurried final gag.
2x06 And the Winner is...
Doctor Who [classic]
7x01 Spearhead from Space Episode 1 [4th watch]
7x02 Spearhead from Space Episode 2 [4th watch]
7x03 Spearhead from Space Episode 3 [4th watch]
7x04 Spearhead from Space Episode 4 [4th watch]
See here for my thoughts on this story.
Red Dwarf
2x02 Better Than Life
Fan-favourite episode in which the Dwarfers play a virtual reality game that lives up to its title, Better Than Life. It's all well and good, except that the plot lacks a third act, ending instead with an unsatisfying hurried final gag.
Fiction
The New Traveller's Almanac by Alan Moore
Chapter Two
(from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2)
This is proving incredibly hard going. In it, Moore cunningly assimilates hundreds of literary locations into a fictional guide to the world. Many of the references are incredibly obscure and it can sometimes be a little dryly written -- more a fascinating and impressive piece of work (laced with clues to the League's history for fans) than an entertaining read. This eight-page chapter (graphic novel size, densely filled with three columns of text) took me almost an hour and a half to get through, as I coupled it with Wikipedia research to try to better understand the things Moore refers to (without such an aid they are almost entirely oblique).
Chapter Two
(from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2)
This is proving incredibly hard going. In it, Moore cunningly assimilates hundreds of literary locations into a fictional guide to the world. Many of the references are incredibly obscure and it can sometimes be a little dryly written -- more a fascinating and impressive piece of work (laced with clues to the League's history for fans) than an entertaining read. This eight-page chapter (graphic novel size, densely filled with three columns of text) took me almost an hour and a half to get through, as I coupled it with Wikipedia research to try to better understand the things Moore refers to (without such an aid they are almost entirely oblique).
Doctor Who: Spearhead from Space
I seem to be accidentally picking season-openers for my current chronological wander through classic Doctor Who: having had season one's An Unearthly Child and season five's The Tomb of the Cybermen, we now move forward to Jon Pertwee's first story, the season seven opener Spearhead from Space.
Watching Spearhead is almost like coming to a new show, so numerous are the changes made. It's the first story of the 1970s (though only just, as episode one went out on January 3rd 1970); the first with Pertwee's new Doctor; the first in colour; it's shot entirely on location and on film (lending a glossier, higher-budget look that would disappear when the series permanently returned to video from the next serial); the first 'exiled to Earth' story (not a change immediately obvious as the Doctor has had adventures on present day Earth previously); and, by the same token. the first to feature the Brigadier and UNIT as an ongoing regulars (again, a change not necessarily obvious til later). Lump all these elements together -- especially the use of film and location, which give the direction and style a completely different air -- and it doesn't feel like quite the same programme as before.
The story itself gets off to a slow start, however. Episodes one and two almost repeat themselves, with the newly regenerated Doctor stuck unconscious in a hospital bed most of the time. Bits of this work -- viewers keen to know what the new Doctor will be like have such revelations held off for a long time -- but the actual story moves slowly, even for classic Who, and, one or two events aside, it doesn't really kick off until episode three. Personally, I think it would feel better if the events of the opening episodes had been combined, with the rushed part four spread out to fill the gap. As it is, the final episode is far and away the best. The Autons finally come to life en masse (including the (in)famous scenes of them breaking out of shop windows and slaughtering innocents) and there's a nice big battle at the factory. What with the Doctor and Liz heading to Madame Tussaud's to investigate a sideline of the company (an intriguing subplot that's all but ignored), then racing to construct a suitable weapon, before heading to defeat the newly-created body of the Nestene Consciousness, there's more than enough action to fill this single episode. It puts the repetitive first two in the shade.
Which may account for some of the fondness with which Spearhead is remembered -- it starts out with more than a touch of mediocrity, but ends on such a high that it's easy to go away thinking of it as one of the best ever.
Watching Spearhead is almost like coming to a new show, so numerous are the changes made. It's the first story of the 1970s (though only just, as episode one went out on January 3rd 1970); the first with Pertwee's new Doctor; the first in colour; it's shot entirely on location and on film (lending a glossier, higher-budget look that would disappear when the series permanently returned to video from the next serial); the first 'exiled to Earth' story (not a change immediately obvious as the Doctor has had adventures on present day Earth previously); and, by the same token. the first to feature the Brigadier and UNIT as an ongoing regulars (again, a change not necessarily obvious til later). Lump all these elements together -- especially the use of film and location, which give the direction and style a completely different air -- and it doesn't feel like quite the same programme as before.
The story itself gets off to a slow start, however. Episodes one and two almost repeat themselves, with the newly regenerated Doctor stuck unconscious in a hospital bed most of the time. Bits of this work -- viewers keen to know what the new Doctor will be like have such revelations held off for a long time -- but the actual story moves slowly, even for classic Who, and, one or two events aside, it doesn't really kick off until episode three. Personally, I think it would feel better if the events of the opening episodes had been combined, with the rushed part four spread out to fill the gap. As it is, the final episode is far and away the best. The Autons finally come to life en masse (including the (in)famous scenes of them breaking out of shop windows and slaughtering innocents) and there's a nice big battle at the factory. What with the Doctor and Liz heading to Madame Tussaud's to investigate a sideline of the company (an intriguing subplot that's all but ignored), then racing to construct a suitable weapon, before heading to defeat the newly-created body of the Nestene Consciousness, there's more than enough action to fill this single episode. It puts the repetitive first two in the shade.
Which may account for some of the fondness with which Spearhead is remembered -- it starts out with more than a touch of mediocrity, but ends on such a high that it's easy to go away thinking of it as one of the best ever.
Thursday, 5 June 2008
TV
Derren Brown: Trick or Treat
2x02 Kitten
The show with possibly the coolest title sequence on TV (it includes clues to every episode) continues with an episode in which a 19-year-old student is offered £500 to not kill a kitten. It might sound easy, but when you've got Derren's array of tricks levelled against you nothing is as it seems....
The Graham Norton Show
3x08 (5/6/08 edition)
Heroes
2x07 Out of Time
Certain media outlets persist in insisting that season two of Heroes is dull. Perhaps their memories of season one are too nostalgia-tinged, or perhaps they listened too hard to the early criticisms of others? Season two has just as much going on as the first -- occasionally not enough, occasionally (like tonight's episode) packed with incident, revelations and cliffhangers... including a fantastic final moment that merged two great surprises into a single shot.
Holby Blue
2x12 Episode 12 [season finale]
Holby Blue has been a lot better this season, focussing more on individual storylines than one arcing uber-criminal plot and spacing out plot developments in the characters' personal lives a tad more realistically. It also swerved away from repeating a first season storyline, in the process thankfully showing us a lot less of that bitch from the CPS. Long may she barely feature.
Red Dwarf
2x01 Kryten
Despite being a fan of Red Dwarf for over a decade, and owning all eight series on DVD, there are still many episodes I've never seen from series two to six. So, having recently re-watched the first series, I'm intending to continue on through them. As much as I enjoy the show's first six episodes, this series two opener seems to be a step-up in quality. Hopefully it continues.
Spooks
4x04 Road Trip (aka Infiltration of a New Threat)
2x02 Kitten
The show with possibly the coolest title sequence on TV (it includes clues to every episode) continues with an episode in which a 19-year-old student is offered £500 to not kill a kitten. It might sound easy, but when you've got Derren's array of tricks levelled against you nothing is as it seems....
The Graham Norton Show
3x08 (5/6/08 edition)
Heroes
2x07 Out of Time
Certain media outlets persist in insisting that season two of Heroes is dull. Perhaps their memories of season one are too nostalgia-tinged, or perhaps they listened too hard to the early criticisms of others? Season two has just as much going on as the first -- occasionally not enough, occasionally (like tonight's episode) packed with incident, revelations and cliffhangers... including a fantastic final moment that merged two great surprises into a single shot.
Holby Blue
2x12 Episode 12 [season finale]
Holby Blue has been a lot better this season, focussing more on individual storylines than one arcing uber-criminal plot and spacing out plot developments in the characters' personal lives a tad more realistically. It also swerved away from repeating a first season storyline, in the process thankfully showing us a lot less of that bitch from the CPS. Long may she barely feature.
Red Dwarf
2x01 Kryten
Despite being a fan of Red Dwarf for over a decade, and owning all eight series on DVD, there are still many episodes I've never seen from series two to six. So, having recently re-watched the first series, I'm intending to continue on through them. As much as I enjoy the show's first six episodes, this series two opener seems to be a step-up in quality. Hopefully it continues.
Spooks
4x04 Road Trip (aka Infiltration of a New Threat)
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