TV

The Sandbaggers
3x04 My Name is Anna Wiseman

You Have Been Watching
2x08 Crime Special [season finale]
The episode postponed because of one or other of the shooting sprees the other month. Now first broadcast at the end of a post-midnight repeat run on E4. (For some reason, it's still absent from the official episode guide, but is nonetheless on 4oD. Odd.)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Articles

Bruce Feirstein interview: James Bond, Blood Stone and modernising GoldenEye by Michael Leader
(from Den of Geek!)
Interesting point in this interview: writing GoldenEye, the film, was all about having to move Bond into a new, post-Cold War world; now, writing the GoldenEye game remake, which updates the story to today, 15 years on from the film, involves updating it to a much-changed world again. Which is kind of interesting. It's also increased my already-quite-high interest in the game. Crap, I'm gonna have to buy a console again, aren't I...

Mark Gatiss interview: writing Sherlock, and where it’s heading next by Simon Brew (from Den of Geek!)
and
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle writes villains like no other by Steven Moffat (from guardian.co.uk)
Just to whet your appetite ahead of this Sunday's Sherlock series finale, here's a pair of articles: the first an interview with co-creator Mark Gatiss about the series' conception and where it may go next; the second by co-creator Steven Moffat on why Holmes' nemesis, Moriarty, is so legendary, plus which are the best screen versions.

And in other Sherlock news...

Sherlock DVD & Blu-ray Cover Art
(from Sherlocking)
Seems like we now have nearly all the details for the DVD/BD release of this excellent series: all three episodes (naturally), commentaries on the first and third, a half-hour making-of, and, perhaps best of all, the unaired one-hour pilot. It could only be better if they'd done commentaries on episode two and the pilot -- hopefully the making-of will cover why the latter was rejected and the series rethought.

Torchwood attracts Buffy, Breaking Bad, House writers by Maureen Ryan
(from The Watcher at Chicago Tribune)
Or, the list of writers for Torchwood's forthcoming fourth season. Only one other UK writer (besides RTD): John Fay, who penned the middling Mobile but also two episodes of the outstanding Children of Earth (aka Torchwood season 3, of course).
Of the three yanks now involved, one is Jane Espenson, of excellent work such as Buffy and Battlestar Galactica, while the other two I've not heard of, but have worked on the likes of The X Files and House. It'll be interesting to see how Americanised this makes a series that obviously started out as very British/Welsh.

Collection Count

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

Absolutely no changes this week, though a few orders should see a pile of nice shiny new titles arriving in the next few weeks. Exciting stuff.

However, as alluded to in the past couple of updates, I do have a special stat of the week this time. 'Special' as in it took some extra effort to compile; this doesn't guarantee it'll be interesting.

Number of titles in collection: 1,194 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,096 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 98 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 2,932 [no change]
Number of films in collection: 1,253 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 4,160 [no change]

Statistic of the week:

Things I'd seen before buying them:

Titles: 347 (29.1%)
Films: 279 (22.3%)
TV episodes: 1323 (31.8%)

Be it at the cinema, on TV, or a rented or borrowed DVD -- or even VHS -- these are all the things I'd actually seen before I invested in the DVD/Blu-ray for myself. As you can see, I buy an awful lot of stuff 'blind'.

I've broken it down into both titles and films for one simple reason: box sets. There are some sets I own where I'd seen some but not all of the films before purchasing; these are only counted in the Titles number if I'd seen more of the set than not before purchasing. Hopefully this way it somehow evens out statistically. The straight Films number, of course, counts all films I'd seen, even if that's just one from a set of six, because… well, that's just accurate, isn't it?

The TV number is different again, in that it's more guesswork (in places). Just how many episodes of The World at War were we shown in school? How many episodes of Bugs did I miss while on holiday over a decade ago? Did I see all of Captain Scarlet when I was little or just some episodes? And so on. As for their inclusion in the titles number, I've also taken some leeway -- I've still not seen the second half of Buffy season 4 (why not you fool?!), never mind seeing it before buying it, but I've counted that set anyway. Angel, on the other hand, I've only watched the first half of season 1 (why not the rest you fool?!) and so not counted it.

Yes, I spend my time concerned with things like this.

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Normans
Part 1 Men from the North
An excellent series, this first part covering how Vikings conquered the North of France, creating Normandy, and eventually went on to invade Britain -- in 1066, of course. That's about as far as this episode (the first of three) goes.
Part of a major season on the BBC about the Normans, including various other programmes with varying degrees of interest (Norman walks? No thanks).
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Rev.
1x04 Episode 4
Fallen rather behind on this. Still recommend it, though. If you missed it, I believe you've got until Monday before all episodes are removed from iPlayer.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

That Mitchell and Webb Look
4x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Dragons' Den
8x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Top Gear
15x06 (1/8/10 edition) [season finale]
Series of Top Gear pass by far too fast.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

How I Met Your Mother
5x10 The Window
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Sandbaggers
3x03 Unusual Approach
Excellent as ever, this is a particularly enjoyable episode: Burnside is sent off to Greece to feature in a comedy subplot, while SIS deal with one of their most dangerous missions in his absence. More dramas like this today wouldn't go amiss.

Stand Up for the Week
1x06 (30/7/10 edition) [season finale]
After that brief, bizarre burst of Whitehall-like a few weeks back, he's now sunk to his lowest levels of laughter-lackingness yet. And he seems to have taken the whole show with him. I'm not sure how I've stuck with it to episode six, to be honest, but I certainly didn't make it to the end of this one (in fact, it was so good, I fell asleep).
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

That Mitchell and Webb Look
4x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

The 100 Greatest Family Films Ever! by Andrew Collins, Barry Norman & Mark Kermode
(from Radio Times, 7-13 August 2010, p12-18)
This is a very bizarre list. It does what it says on the tin, counting down the 100 greatest family films, voted for by the public, and most if not all are worthy inclusions... but the order they've wound up in is baffling. Temple of Doom 12 places above Raiders of the Lost Ark? Beauty and the Beast down at 96th, below a host of other, lesser (and, I thought, less-loved) Disneys? I know polls like this often clash with personal opinion, but even accounting for that there are numerous bizarre instances of X-beating-Y in this list (even beyond the two I've cited).

Kick-Ass DVD and Blu-ray Interview with Mark Millar
(from MovieWeb)
After Matthew Vaughn yesterday, now comic creator/writer Mark Millar chips in with some words on how Kick-Ass was received and the plans for Kick-Ass 2, both in comic form and on the big screen.

TV

Mock the Week
9x06 (29/7/10 edition)
The tradition best-of/outtakes mid-series show, as MtW takes a month(-ish) break for the Fringe.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Sherlock
1x02 The Blind Banker
Another enjoyable episode. Apparently this didn't go down as well as the first with some viewers/bloggers. I'd agree it wasn't as good, but it follows up one of the best bits of TV in a long time -- in itself, it's still a perfectly good tale.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

Matthew Vaughn Talks Kick-Ass DVD/Blu-Ray, Deleted Scenes, And Kick-Ass 2 by Rick Marshall
(from MTV Splash Page)
Well, I think that title pretty much has it covered.

Twilight spoof, yay!

It's taking the piss out of Twilight! Yay!



On the other hand, all the jokes are either obvious or rubbish. Though the use of a spade near the end very nearly redeems the whole thing.

TV

Dragons' Den
8x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Wallander [Swedish]
2x12 Indrivaren (aka The Collector)
If I didn't know better, I'd think this was the last one.
But it isn't.

Would I Lie To You?
4x02 (30/7/10 edition)
Having heard Ruth Jones tell the story about her tortoise before, it was a particular joy to see the other team flounder in their disbelief. Lee Mack's genuine shock when the truth is revealed was, of course, especially amusing...

[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Dragonslayer (1981)
[#73 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

this week on 100 Films

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

Get Smart (2008)

mostly quite good fun. Not all the jokes hit home, but enough do to keep it amusing — which is better than some comedies manage. Even after three Austin Powers films it seems there’s enough left to do with the spy genre to keep a comedy rolling along. And to make sure things don’t get dull, there’s a few action sequences that are surprisingly decent too

Mulan (1998)

The thing that stands out about Mulan, particularly now, is how very Americanised it is. That’s nothing new for Disney, of course, but it feels a little odd these days. When we’re so used to increased attempts at appropriate cultural reverence from Hollywood movies, it’s almost uncomfortable to hear such American accents from clearly Chinese characters.

Plus, with today being August 1st, there's the July update. Shiny.

More next Sunday.

TV

Battlestar Galactica [2004]
2x17 The Captain's Hand
2x18 Downloaded
2x19 Lay Down Your Burdens Part 1
2x20 Lay Down Your Burdens Part 2 [season finale]
Nearly a fortnight off and then a four-episode binge to end the season? Yup, that's my way. Still, I'll take a break before commencing season three (or rather, before that, The Resistance webisodes), just to try to separate them a bit in my mind.
Helluva conclusion though: after spending a miniseries and two whole seasons following the fleet for nine months, the series jumps forward twelve in a single cut. And then, after setting up a radically different status quo, it immediately wipes it out with a nice big twist/cliffhanger. Splendid stuff.

Films

No TV today, but a significant boost to my film viewing...

Ministry of Fear (1944)
[#70 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

Panic in the Streets (1950)
[#71 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

Terminator Salvation: Director's Cut (2009)
[#72 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

Articles

Steven Moffat interview: Sherlock, writing modern TV, and Doctor Who series 6 by Simon Brew
(from Den of Geek!)
Think that title has it covered! Though do note it's not as long as that lengthy list likely implies.

The UK Film Council is dead. Let's give the British Film Institute a chance by Dave Calhoun
(from Time Out London)
Or, why the closure of the UKFC isn't necessarily a bad thing. Well argued and a good counterpoint to all the clamour that shutting down the UKFC means the end of British cinema.

Collection Count

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

Not that you'd know it from the final numbers, but this week the total of films went down a little (since levelled out by new purchases) and TV went up instead. Not because of new purchases, but while going through my collection to compile next week's Statistic of the Week, I discovered some miniseries I'd somehow mislabelled as being 1 film instead of 6 episodes of TV. But then, like I say, some new films levelled it out, so it just looks like I bought some new TV series. Thrilling, eh...

Number of titles in collection: 1,194 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,096 [up 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 98 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 2,932 [up 6]
Number of films in collection: 1,253 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 4,160 [up 38]

Statistic of the week:

Total running time of collection (approx.):
206 days, 5 hours, and 22 minutes.
(Up 1 day and 50 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

DVD Extras

Sam & Max: Freelance Police - The Complete Animated Series Extras

Because I'm too lazy to type them out in full, I found myself semi-accidentally watching all the extras on the Sam & Max DVDs. Not that there are many, but in fairness to producers Shout! Factory, I don't imagine they had a huge budget to churn out a super-deluxe set considering the size of interest this was likely to generate.

And, actually, they didn't do badly at all: as well as all the episodes (obviously), there's a half-half-dozen animated shorts that were also made for TV, an interview with creator Steve Purcell, a featurette on the birth of Telltale Games (who now make the episodic Sam & Max PC games), a surprisingly-interesting 24-page series bible, and concept art.

Seems I could be bothered to type it out after all.

Articles

Running on empty: culture in the silly season by Mark Lawson
(from guardian.co.uk)
Interesting article that uses the summer broadcast of the well-received Sherlock to consider why Art is seen to exist in seasons. Just, for the sake of your sanity and blood pressure, don't go near the comments.

surely this means a crossover is imminent...

From @steven_moffat...

Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes; Steven Moffat as Sherlock co-creator and Doctor Who exec producer Steven Moffat; and Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor.