TV

Babylon 5
1x13 Signs and Portents

Criminal Justice
Part 1 (of 5)
BBC One's grim new drama, showing nightly this week, about a 20-something accused of a murder he may or may not have committed. Sounds like standard police drama fare, but this is more than that -- possibly a damning indictment of our legal system, or possibly just a depressing miscarriage-of-justice/prison-is-hard drama. It'll take an episode or two more to find out; so far, however, it's grim and depressing, and set to get worse.

Wimbledon 2008
Bits here and there, as usual, mainly from Andy Murray vs Richard Gasquet, which really pushed the light at five sets ending at 9:30 (and delaying Criminal Justice! On the other hand, if the BBC hadn't moved the tennis to One and delayed their schedule, I'd be stuck trying to find time to watch it on iPlayer before tomorrow's second part). Murray was bloody lucky to get that far, of course, losing the first two sets and only winning the third with an impressive -- though lucky rather than skillful -- final shot in a tiebreak. That boy knows how to work a crowd though (a British one, at any rate). I doubt he'll be so lucky in his quarter final against Nadal.

Fiction

Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: The Horror of Howling Hill by Jonathan Green
See here for my thoughts on this book.

Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
Chapter VII
Blood From the Shoulder of Pallas by Daniel Dreiberg
See here for my thoughts on these chapters of Watchmen.

Non-Fiction

Licence to Thrill: A Cultural History of James Bond by James Chapman
Chapter 4
Somewhat academic book placing the Bond films in social/historical context. I read the first three chapters a while back for an essay I was doing, so am now continuing it -- it's interesting enough, clearly.

"Watchmen" by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons - Chapter VII

Moore moves his focus to a pair of character in this chapter, as Dan Dreiberg and Laurie Juspeczyk -- a.k.a. the second Nite Owl and the second Silk Spectre -- chat, bond, hit it off, nearly have sex, resurrect their superhero IDs, accidentally rescue people from a burning building, manage to have sex (it's the excitement of the costumes and the superheroics, you see), and possibly come to a fairly shocking decision...

Once again Moore leaves the other character's storylines in the background, focussing on just two members of the (actually nonexistent) group of superheroes that the book's main plot revolves around. It's mainly about Dan's memories, though there are no flashbacks here: it's as much about how two old acquaintances become re-acquainted. It seems a difficult chapter to find much to say about. It's not treading water or marking time, but nor are there bold gestures or big action sequences -- well, apart from the tenement building rescue, which is somewhat exciting, but also has a share of laughs (importantly, not at the heroes or their abilities, but rather at things like Nite Owl having a coffee machine on board), or many significant plot points... beyond those I already outlined, anyway.

Moore slides a few of his chess pieces around, reveals that Dan is impotent while Nite Owl is not (this seems bordering on a cliché, though Watchmen was probably ahead of the curve on that and it's just 20 years later that it looks old hat), and sets up where things are probably heading next. And next is...

"Doctor Who - Decide Your Destiny: The Horror of Howling Hill" by Jonathan Green

And finally, the end is here: the twelfth, and last, book in the Doctor Who: Decide Your Destiny series. The Horror of Howling Hill is written by gamebook stalwart Jonathan Green, which is promising as it would be nice for the range to go out on a high. After a three-book absence, Martha's back, for an adventure in which you must "help the Doctor and Martha discover the truth behind the legend of Howling Hill, before the horror that stalks the night catches up with you..." Ooh, horrific.

Despite being the range's final book, it can claim a first to its credit: it's set entirely on present day Earth (in a small village in Wiltshire, to be precise). It makes for a nice change, and allows it to tap into one of Doctor Who's main genres -- creepy goings on in apparently lovely places. Who's horror aspect has been largely ignored by these books, and while Howling Hill is hardly scary it at least incorporates some elements of the genre to good effect. Nighttime setting? Check. Cursed ancient monuments? Check. Old artefacts with mysterious powers? Check. Fantastical folk tales that may have an element of unlikely truth? Check. Creepy woods? Creepy church? Creepy graveyard? Check check check. Geeky-type investigating things in a caravan? Check. Monster hiding in the shadows? Check. All it needs is a large group of characters who exist solely to get killed off and you're there. It's atmospherically written, with a long and engaging plot. There are also numerous references to past Who adventures, spanning both the classic and new series, and even the new series novels. Spotting them can be good fun for fans of all ages.

Unfortunately, the way I chose to read this book brought out some of its shortcomings. I tried to follow every path at once -- loopy, it would seem, but for most of the book entirely possible. If you pick the right paths then you'll end up reading most of the book before the story's out. There are some variation. For example, the vicar knows a lot, but without cheating like me no one path allows him to offer all his information (ironically, one result ends with the Doctor saying "we've learnt all we can here", in spite of the fact there are two or three more things the vicar could tell you about!) Another is the town's museum, which you may end up in early on, or may only visit later. On the other hand, choose the wrong path and you might be whisked through the adventure at quite a lick, skipping the church, vicar, and that geeky guy in the caravan. Indicative of this hidden linearity, the book has just two final entries. There is some variety to the climax that occurs before these, to be fair, and ultimately you're just sent to either a version where it's just you, the Doctor and Martha, or a near-identical one where the geek's still with you. It's quite sensible, really, as it doesn't waste space with more near-identical final sections just for the sake of appearing to have multiple endings.

So, while the choices Green offers are in an appropriate style, they ultimately extend or cut short your adventure, rather than changing it. I even noticed a glaring error -- as you can avoid meeting the geek, a couple of times you're told "If he's with you, go to X, if not, go to Y." A selection of the latter all point to one page... where he's with you! And you can wind up having the monster abduct him twice! Oh dear. While most of the book's lack of consequential choice would be hidden from the reader (unless, as I say, you manage to miss some of these encounters on one read or another), this one is glaringly obvious. Obviously the books needed a better proof reader by this point, as something similar appeared in Second Skin (also part of the final batch of four books).

Ultimately, if I hadn't cheated I wouldn't've noticed this flaw in the book. It's an atmospheric adventure with some good locations and characters, and provided you make the right choices (avoid going to the Hill for as long as possible, so as to hit the church and museum, and make sure to head to the caravan) you can experience the majority of the best bits with one straight read. Lacking in re-play value then, perhaps, but the pros more than outweigh the cons to make this one of my favourites. The Decide Your Destiny books have certainly had their ups and downs, but at least they end on a high.

Days til New York...

12

For a full explanation, please see the start of the countdown.

TV

Friday Night With Jonathan Ross
14x22 (20/6/08 edition)

Mine All Mine
Part 2 (of 6) [2nd watch]

Spaced
1x04 Battles

Spooks
5x01 Gas and Oil Part 1
Spooks now seems to be aiming to outdo 24 in the believability-stretching -- even more so in the second part, based on the trailer.

Top Gear
11x02 (29/6/08 edition)
Coincidentally, featuring Rupert Penry-Jones and Peter Firth from Spooks.

Films

Miami Vice (2006)
[2nd watch]

Days til New York...

13

For a full explanation, please see the start of the countdown.

TV

Doctor Who [new]
4x11 Turn Left [2nd watch]
4x12 The Stolen Earth
See here for my thoughts on Turn Left. (A review of The Stolen Earth will appear with its second part next week.)

Mine All Mine
Part 1 (of 6) [2nd watch]

Wimbledon 2008
The odd point from Andy Murray vs Tommy Haas and the end of Rafael Nadal vs Nicolas Kiefer.

Fiction

Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore & Brian Bolland
As well as the main story, there's an introduction by Tim Sale, an afterword by Brian Bolland, and a selection of art from the files of Brian Bolland included in the recently released Batman: The Killing Joke - The Deluxe Edition.
See here for my thoughts on The Killing Joke.

Blood Fever by Charlie Higson
Chapters 28 - 30 [the end]
An odd final few chapters, in which James faces off a string of increasingly minor enemies. Still, all in, an even better book than the first. Next up, the apparently Da Vinci Code-esque Double or Die.

An Innocent Guy by Brian Bolland
(from Batman: The Killing Joke - The Deluxe Edition)
Short Batman story written and drawn by Brian Bolland. Originally published as part of the Batman: Black & White strand, it's presented here in a coloured form.

Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
Chapter VI
Walter J. Kovacs files
See here for my thoughts on these chapters of Watchmen.

"Watchmen" by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons - Chapter VI

Major spoilers follow. You may well have gathered that I don't tend to do spoiler-free reviews, but there are some extra big ones in this entry.

Watchmen reaches the halfway point with a chapter focussed solely on Rorschach, much like the Dr Manhattan-focussed Chapter IV. Leaving all the other characters and stories aside for the moment, Moore focusses in on a series of interviews between Rorschach -- whose identity has been revealed to be Walter Kovacs; no one of importance, but we've seen him almost since page one as the guy wandering round with an apocalyptic placard -- and a prison psychoanalyst, who's attempting to find out what led Kovacs to become a vicious vigilante. Rorschach is a character who is, initially at least, easy to sympathy with. He had an horrendous childhood, later driven to extremes trying to protect the innocent. His efforts to murder childkillers, rapists, and other scum seem like the sort of thing we all might wish we could actually do, but he perhaps has a tendency to take it too far...

As well as showing how Kovacs came to be Rorschach -- including the origins of his incredibly shifting mask -- Moore follows the psychoanalyst as his obsession with the case leads to sleepless nights, perhaps the end of his marriage, and a general deterioration in his psychological state. It's an effective way of showing the effect of these truths of humanity on an ordinary, seemingly well-adjusted human being. As I've surely said before, this is really why Watchmen is so great and so acclaimed -- ostensibly it's about superheroes, but really it's about people, why they're driven to do things, and how they cope with the consequences. And all the while, in the background, (nuclear?) war is brewing...

Halfway through, Watchmen continues to be a stunning achievement. There are many mysteries left to be solved, undoubtedly including some that, like the identity of the placard-man, I don't even know need solving.

"Batman: The Killing Joke" by Alan Moore & Brian Bolland

As regular readers will have noticed, I've been reading a lot of stuff by Alan Moore lately. Moore is widely credited with revolutionising the comics medium over a series of works, and I'm finally beginning to catch up with them. Most of his stories are wholly original tales, such as Watchmen (the most praised of them all) or V for Vendetta; when not, they're usually his own tales from re-used material, such as From Hell (a take on Jack the Ripper) or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (which takes Victorian literary characters and makes a superhero team out of them). In this context, The Killing Joke is a rarity, because it's a Batman story -- a well-established existing character, obviously. Published in 1988, the 46-page tale is from the same era as Year One and The Dark Knight Returns, and not long after Watchmen -- all part of the growing-up and 'darkening' of comics in the '80s. Arguably this can be seen in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film, but with 2006's Batman Begins taking elements from Year One and Dark Knight Returns and the forthcoming The Dark Knight reportedly using Killing Joke as the basis for its version of the Joker (not to mention Watchmen finally being released next year), it seems the full effect of this particular movement has taken a bit longer to hit our screens.

But enough of that, what of the tale itself? It has two prongs: a 'present' element, in which a recently escaped Joker kidnaps Commissioner Gordon and psychology tortures him, attempting to prove that anyone can be driven mad as the Joker was; and a past thread, in which a young father-to-be has quit his job to be a comedian, but is considering a crime to make ends meet... Within this, Moore packs in all his favourite regular tricks and techniques: there's the opening few panels that pull out from extreme close-up to long shot; two stories told in parallel, one revealing the past of a character; a version of match-cutting in and out of these; zooming in and out of items/faces across multiple panels; retaining the same static 'shot' across multiple panels, often while something develops in the background; long passages with no dialogue; using several panels to show a character performing a simple action; an act of sexual violence as a key plot point; a deliberate blurring of the line between hero and villain; long, wordy, philosophical speeches; and mirroring techniques in the structure -- here, for example, the opening line of the finale is inserted as the book's first line, while at the same time Batman's opening dialogue is repeated over the climax. To say Moore is repetitive or constantly copying himself may be a bit much, but he certainly has a tendency to re-use a certain set of techniques in new arrangements to craft his tales (a bit like Steven Moffat with Doctor Who, then).

The story aside, Bolland's art is fantastic. Stylistically, it looks like it was drawn now, not 20 years ago, which in part must be due to fresh colouring. Bolland was never happy with the original colouring of the book -- he was scheduled to do it, but ran out of time and so it had to be completed by John Higgins, who didn't have the same vision as Bolland -- and so he was glad to have the chance to re-do it for this new edition. I haven't seen the original to compare fully, and it will surely upset some purists, but it looks brilliant. Bolland has clearly utilised all the modern computer-based techniques available to colourists, creating a subdued pallet that suits the story's nature. While the gaudy colours of Watchmen create a thematic counterpoint to the grim, realistic story, here I think such a technique would just undermine the point, so Bolland's new work fits like a glove. From the odd frame I've managed to find of the original colouring online, I'd actually quite like to get hold of that just for the sake of comparison.

IGN voted The Killing Joke as the 3rd greatest Batman story ever. I'm yet to read most of those that surround it on that list, so can't really comment for myself, but, in spite of Moore's increasingly familiar tropes, it's an engrossing story. The recent oversized hardback re-release, called The Deluxe Edition on the cover, is certainly worth owning -- while its £12 RRP is steep for a 46-page main story, 8-page second strip, and 6 pages of other stuff, it can be had for less and seems worth it to me.

While I'm primarily reading Watchmen at the minute, don't be surprised if more graphic novel reviews -- primarily Batman ones, I expect -- crop up over the next week or two.

Doctor Who: Turn Left

"Unrelentingly bleak" is probably the most accurate way to describe the penultimate story of Doctor Who's fourth revived season. It's certainly the darkest thing you'll've seen broadcast as part of a family show so early on a Saturday evening -- tonight's first half of the finale two-parter, full as it's likely to be of apocalyptic slaughter, is unlikely to equal the real-world horror of what happened after Donna turned right. Obviously the chances of a replica Titanic obliterating London are slim, but the increasingly disastrous consequences of a major destructive incident in Southern England are all too believable.

Aside from scaring viewers witless, Turn Left allows the series' recurring characters to shine. There are great scenes for both Bernard Cribbins and Jacqueline King here, showing the calibre of actor that Who can cast in even the smallest of roles. But, as was so insisted before the episode's broadcast, it really is Donna's episode. Truth be told, in spite of what people liked to say in the hype, Tate's performance here won't convince many (or any) of those who hate her. That's not because she's no good -- she's brilliant -- but it's the performance she's been giving for the last 10 episodes, plus a resurgence of her one from the 2006 Christmas special, combined and pushed to their utmost quality... but if you hate her in the first place, you're not going to like her any more now. Your loss, but there you go.

Davies' script cunningly re-appropriates elements from the present-day-Earth episodes from the last two seasons, showing how badly wrong things could have gone without the Doctor. The silly moment from the last Christmas special when the Titanic just missed Buckingham Palace becomes the chilling event which wipes out London and ruins Britain. The cute little Adipose, whose creation only resulted in the death of one person back at the start of this season, wipe out swathes of America. The Sontaran's Atmos is stopped, but at the cost of the lives of all Torchwood's remaining team members; the Doctor stopped the Judoon from killing anyone (well, mostly), but Martha, Sarah Jane and her friends die trying to stop them, along with everyone else in the hospital. And to top it all off, the BNP seem to have come into power as ethnic minorities are shipped off to 'labour camps'. Somehow, I don't think it's for "education education education".

Perhaps the most impressive thing about this episode, however, is that, after two Christmas specials and almost two whole seasons, Rose is back... and I've written three paragraphs without even bothering to mention here. Such is the extent that Donna dominates this episode, the return of one of the Doctor's most beloved companions -- certainly of recent years -- is actually an almost incidental element of the episode. The best bit of it is the re-appropriation of Bad Wolf, the first season's intriguing thread that led to a denouement many felt was lacking (personally, I never had any problems with it). It seems Russell T Davies has found new significance to give to it -- as, I suspect, he will do with many things from the preceding seasons in the next two weeks -- and that's probably a good thing.

Certainly, it's easy for the surprising final moments, and the exciting trailer for The Stolen Earth, to take all attention away from the episode itself. Such is the nature of excitement for a season finale which has, as ever, been building since episode one (and possibly longer). Turn Left is still a great, if highly depressing, episode, though difficult to love because it's about as much fun as torture by mosquitoes. I don't imagine it will be topping any Best Of Season polls.

Days til New York...

14

For a full explanation, please see the start of the countdown.

TV

Nelson Mandela: Happy 90th Birthday
Big ol' concert for the South African's 90th birthday, reportedly his last major public engagement. Amy Winehouse looked like she shouldn't've been allowed out of hospital (doesn't bode well for her Glastonbury set tomorrow, not that I'll be watching), Queen were of course excellent, and the interview with Stephen Fry was likely the most intelligent set of thoughts you'll hear about Mandela, his role, and the future of his causes.

Wimbledon 2008
Though saw hardly any today -- brief snippets here and there, mainly from the barely-finished match between Mario Ancic and David Ferrer (which we switched off for the Mandela concert).

Films

The Incredible Hulk (2008)
[#45 in 100 Films in a Year 2008]
Immeasurably more entertaining than Ang Lee's dull 2003 effort.

Fiction

Blood Fever by Charlie Higson
Chapters 25 - 27

Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
Chapter V
Treasure Island Treasury of Comics Chapter 5
See here for my thoughts on these chapters of Watchmen.

"Watchmen" by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons - Chapter V

Chapter V returns to Rorschach's hunt for the murderer of the Comedian, as Adrian Veidt (aka Ozymandias) becomes the latest former superhero to be attacked, though this time unsuccessfully. After the last chapter's internal musings of Dr Manhattan, this one is more plot-centric, also touching upon the potential burgeoning relationship of Dan Dreiberg and Laurie. Moore also continues to use Tales of the Black Freighter, this time to mirror the news vendor's ongoing musings on life.

The chapter ends with Rorschach lured into a trap, which leads to a rare action sequence and his capture... and the removal of his mask! While I feel left with little to comment on about this chapter -- it's a strong, plot-driving episode, but with little else to mention, clearly -- it sets up what should be an interesting sixth part, as the mystery of Rorschach's true identity has lingered around much of the story so far.

"Watchmen" by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons - Chapter IV

Alan Moore is clever. The fourth chapter of Watchmen focuses on Dr Manhattan, the only superhero in the book with any actual superpowers. Having run off to Mars at the end of the preceding chapter, Manhattan reflects on his life to date -- essentially, this is his backstory. The clever part comes from the way Moore re-uses images and the way he's seeded them in earlier chapters. For example, Manhattan remembers an argument he had with his then-girlfriend at a superhero meeting. We saw this same meeting in Chapter II. Flicking back to that chapter now, you can see the argument going on, they just don't have the speech bubbles to spell it out to us. There are a couple of other instances of this kind, which both add to the story's depth and are great fun for the reader -- it's sort of in the tradition of the best Agatha Christie stories, where all the clues you need are sat under your nose from the start, you just don't know what to do with them.

Within the chapter itself, Moore structures things cleverly. Manhattan sees time as the fourth (or fifth?) dimension, and so in some way is experiencing all of the past and all of the future at once. Moore uses this to slot his backstory together in a variety of ways, drawing parallels and connections between time periods without ever becoming too confusing. Events make sense the first time they're witnessed, but then Moore adds something and places the old events around it, giving them new or altered meaning in their new context. The clarity of Gibbon's art means that there's no need to retell events every time -- with repeated frames, sometimes even from earlier chapters, the reader vividly recalls the relevant scene; sometimes the colouring or focus is even modified to help draw our attention to another element, be it for a different meaning or just for a different transition (such a visual technique is, again, hard to adequately describe with words).

Previously I've moaned about Moore repeating himself. Another frequent trope turns up in the 'supporting documents' -- the autobiographies, magazine articles, etc, that sit between the chapters -- not only the one attached to Chapter IV, but also the autobiography that preceded it. Moore has the characters writing the documents refer to events we know nothing of as "well documented elsewhere", and then doesn't explain them himself. At first it seems an amusing way of maintaining mystery -- inevitably, these events are things Moore wants to reveal at a later point -- but when overdone it's just repetitive, and also unrealistic. In my experience, the sort of works Moore is parodying are all too happy to re-explain well-known things, or at least give a brief overview of them. If not those, they assume people's assumed knowledge; they don't make a point of telling the reader that they know about this (and then not telling them it). This could be seen as a minor point of course, and when the heart of the story is so good it really is, but it taints the edges and takes the sheen off things.

Nonetheless, the main thrust of Watchmen continues to be a completely engrossing story. There's much still to be revealed across its many plot strands -- I can't wait to see how Moore brings them all together.