TV

Battlestar Galactica [2004]
2x06 Home Part 1
2x07 Home Part 2
2x08 Final Cut
Guest starring Dexter's dad!
Also: if all of the Colonies' paper, photos, cards, etc -- and, most pertinently, video recordings -- are octagonal (as opposed to our use of quadrilaterals) then why are their TVs and monitors still rectangular? ("Because production design didn't think it through," is the real-world answer, of course.)

Damages
3x12 You Were His Little Monkey
All the threads are, of course, coming together just in time for the season (and, possibly, series) finale.

Doctor Who
31x13 The Big Bang [season finale]
See here for my thoughts on this episode.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

Eleven Things We've Learnt This Year by Patrick Mulkern
(from Doctor Who Blog at Radio Times)
A slightly different way of looking at the Doctor Who finale. Which is always nice.

Review of The Big Bang by Richard Edwards
(from SFX)
Just in case you fancied some more thoughts.

Doctor Who 31x13: The Big Bang

Just some quick initial thoughts. Normally these would go in today's TV post but they looked a little unwieldy, so...

While I did like last week's part one, I think I enjoyed that even more. Plot threads left dangling for next season, yes, but that's a good thing. And the promise we'll find out all about River soon... well, I still don't like her that much, but at least we should get answers.

Favourite parts: Rory! Yay for Rory! Always liked Rory. Love a three-person TARDIS crew, so I'm ever so glad he seems to be sticking around. Full name-in-opening-titles status next season, please. Also liked the wedding speech to bring the Doctor & TARDIS back into existence -- clever use of a well-known phrase + long-established Who history.

And the Stone Dalek was at least 100 times cooler than the multi-coloured plasticky regular new ones.

My one major disappointment, however: that the Doctor gave up on the rewind at The Eleventh Hour. What a perfect opportunity for a Greatest Hits of all ten Doctors! Considering we've seen them more than usual this season (especially William Hartnell), it seemed a golden opportunity. Oh well.

Still, a good, epic season finale, with a nice ending... even if it was missing a substantial Christmas special tease.

TV

Battlestar Galactica [2004]
2x04 Resistance
2x05 The Farm

Friday Night With Jonathan Ross
18x21 (18/6/10 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

BBC hoping to revive Ashes Gene Hunt? by Catriona Wightman
(from Digital Spy)
This is, a) from The Mirror, and b) features no comment from Philip Glenister or Matthew Graham. Not sounding likely, is it? Thank God. (Unless they have a really great idea, that is.)

It looks like Peter Jackson will direct The Hobbit after all by Sean O'Neal
(from A.V. Club)
"Believe it when I see it" and all that.

More Proof the Video Game Industry is Out of Ideas (E3 2010) by David Wong
(from Cracked.com)
Moves from an amusing opening (see picture below) to a more serious point about how the games industry is perhaps headed for a fall.

No Human Centipede for UK cinemas? by David Jenkins
(from Film on Time Out London)
From my own perspective, I can't say I'm sorry -- it sounds dire and I've no intention of seeing it -- but Jenkins makes his case with two good points:

looking to the US as a critical barometer, the film split journalists into two separate and very distinct camps... the important thing – and the thing the UK will miss – is that there is a debate to be had, and a DVD-only release will dull the potential coverage the film would have been assured from broadsheet critics.

And, relatedly:

could someone not get the film a week’s run in a single cinema just so we’re able to get Daily Mail critic Chris Tookey’s take on things?

He's always good for a laugh... albeit never one he intended.

Collection Count

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

That TV series I mentioned turned up, plus one unexpectedly early Blu-ray, leaving a nice little boost for all of this week's numbers.

Number of titles in collection: 1,185 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,095 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 90 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 2,920 [up 25]
Number of films in collection: 1,247 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 4,111 [up 60]

Statistic of the week:

Number of titles produced in the '80s:
120
(10.1% of the total)

I've previously covered titles produced in the '00s, '90s, and over 100 years ago, so continuing in that theme (as I haven't for a few weeks), this is the current tally for the '80s.

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Damages
3x11 All That Crap About Your Family
I don't think there was a single flashforward in this episode. Far too much going on in the present, I suppose, not least Frobisher's increasingly hilarious film -- check out that Ray Fiske!

Tinga Tinga Tales
Why Woodpecker Pecks
Why Hippo Has No Hair
I know this is only a little kids' show, but surely that doesn't excuse it the gaping great plot holes in the Woodpecker episode?
[Watch both episodes (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Wimbledon 2010
John Isner vs Nicolas Mahut concludes. Or concluded, I suppose, now. I would point you to it on iPlayer, but due no doubt to some shortsightedness somewhere in the BBC it's not there.

Articles

Steven Moffat talks Who finale, future by Neil Wilkes & Matthew Reynolds
(from Digital Spy)
Moffat is quite frankly irritating in many of his interviews. This one's no exception, but it's mostly confined to the middle -- the beginning, where he discusses how much of the finale he had planned, and the end, where he discusses lessons learnt and if he'd have RTD back, are interesting.

Red teaser trailer

I'd not heard of this film, or the comic it's based on, before. Now I really want to see it.

Trailer: job done.

TV

Battlestar Galactica [2004]
2x02 Valley of Darkness
2x03 Fragged

The Graham Norton Show
7x11 (21/6/10 edition)

"I was a dominatrix called Mistress Veronica."

[Watch that bit here, or watch the whole episode (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Wimbledon 2010
Been keeping a vague eye on Wimbledon so far, but paid proper attention today: picking up a match I saw some of the end of yesterday before play stopped for light... which, as you may have heard, turned to the record-demolishing Longest Match Of All Time -- John Isner vs Nicolas Mahut, in which the final set alone eventually beat the previous record for Longest Match Ever.

Magazines

Radio Times 26 June - 2 July 2010

One wonders if the Radio Times is subtly displaying a dislike for Mongrels, BBC Three's new puppet show. I quote:

"The mistake is thinking puppets can do all the work - you need a good script."

Mongrels is written by Daniel Peak and Jon Brown, who have previously worked on Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps and My Hero.

Or, to put it another way:

"you need a good script."

This script is by some guys who previously wrote some godawful shit.

TV

Battlestar Galactica [2004]
2x01 Scattered
Feels like ages since I watched BSG, but it's only been a week. That's what happens when you race through [the equivalent of] 17 episodes in 7 days. Week on, week off -- seems like a good viewing plan. Not that I expect to get through season two in a week.

The Mentalist
2x18 Aingavite Baa
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

Articles

First Look: Mad Men season 4 poster by Michael Ausiello
(from The Ausiello Files at EW.com)
Mad Men has a history of thematically dense, striking, iconic posters, and this latest is no exception, conveying the new state of affairs and new themes of the forthcoming fourth season. Now just have to wait until it reaches UK shores. (And by "have to" I mean "choose to", of course.)

Click to enlarge.

Most Magical Things to Buy in Hogsmeade (and Some to Avoid) by Chris Kohler
(from Underwire at Wired)
Not a list of things mentioned in the books or films or whathaveyou, but stuff you can now actually purchase in the recently-opened Harry Potter theme park. It mentions not only the 'cool' stuff, but also some of the misguided tat on offer.
(If you're interested, Underwire has several other articles about the park's opening.)

TV

Damages
3x10 Tell Me I'm Not Racist
What in the holy moly is going on with Damages this season?! All these weird dream sequences are highly bizarre.

Paul Merton's Weird and Wonderful World of Early Cinema
Another excellent film documentary from Paul Merton (shown back in March), which rather does what it says on the tin.

TV

Dexter
3x12 Do You Take Dexter Morgan? [season finale]

The Graham Norton Show
7x10 (14/6/10 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
[#63 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

Articles

20 (very amusing) tweets from the Death Star
(from Sci Fi Wire)

Topless Robot is having a contest to see who can come up with the best tweets from the Death Star, and it's more than worth 5 minutes of your time to read through the submissions. We've picked out 20 of the best below, but there are dozens more.

this week on 100 Films

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

The Condemned (2007)

It amuses me is how many reviews call this “a brainless action movie”. I’m not going to argue that it's actually a polemic on the evils of the media or modern violence-obsessed culture, but it has more to think about than the majority of action movies — meaning it’s neither brainless nor devoid of importance between action scenes.

Inkheart (2008)

it doesn’t bother to set out the rules, a major oversight in a fantasy movie such as this. The central conceit is that when Brendan Fraser’s character reads a novel aloud, what he’s reading enters our world — and, in exchange, some one or thing is sucked into the book. But how is it decided what comes out and what goes in? What can and can’t be read? Why not just write your own story to get you out of trouble?

Knowing (2009)

it's an intriguing mystery. Arguably this conquers all. There are attempts at giving the characters depth, but these are more about giving them a reason to care about the plot. That’s not necessarily a problem — I’d suggest if you’re watching a film like Knowing with the intention of focusing on the characters rather than the mystery then you’ve got the wrong end of the stick.

Tu£sday (2008)

The high-profile cast frequently belie what you’re watching. Most of the production has an amateurish feel. The look is like plain digital video, the choice of shots often obvious and lacking variety, the editing not as tight as it should be. The screenplay feels a draft or two away from completion, particularly dialogue.

More next Sunday.

TV

Dexter
3x11 I Had a Dream
Not what I was expecting from the penultimate episode! S'looking like a good finale.

Doctor Who
31x12 The Pandorica Opens
And talking of "looking like a good finale", how's he gonna get out of that one?! And where's our "Next Time" trailer? (Relatedly: today's Articles.)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who Confidential
5x12 Alien Abduction
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Mock the Week
9x01 (17/6/10 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Games

Doctor Who: The Adventure Games
Episode One City of the Daleks
I had meant to post fuller thoughts on this earlier today. Oops. Some soon.
[Download City of the Daleks for free (in the UK) from the official website.]