Comics

2000 AD #1742

There are magazines I read regularly that I don't bother to mention -- the Radio Times every week, DWM and SFX every month, among others. In the spirit of completeness I suppose I ought to, really, but they're a bit like articles: I don't mention every single one I read, just ones I feel are interesting enough to share or want to comment on.

You'd be forgiven for thinking 2000 AD had slotted in alongside the rest of these magazines, then... but because it's fiction (which I do a much better job of covering my experience of, be it TV or films or books) I've been intending to keep mentioning it... it's just that I haven't actually read it since last time I covered it (nearly three weeks ago). Busy busy me, I guess. Anyway, it's catch-up time -- hopefully I'll remember to read (and include) more issues over the coming days.

TV

Archer
2x13 Double Trouble [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Law & Order: UK
5x04 Tick Tock
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Pointless
4x36 (25/7/11 edition)
4x37 (26/7/11 edition)
[Watch the 26/7/11 edition (again) on iPlayer.]

Single-Handed
2x03 Between Two Fires Part 1
There's only been one fire so far... Tension! Maybe, or it could be metaphorical. Either way, I hope that nasty Costello gets his comeuppance soon, a la Driscoll Sr. in the first series.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

TV

Dragons' Den
9x01 Episode 1
After subjecting myself to an episode of the woeful US version, it's great to have the real Dragons' Den back. Even if new dragon Hilary Devey looks like a Doctor Who monster from the '80s, and her face looming from the shadows in the opening titles is liable to give people nightmares.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Robin Hood (1973)
[multipleth watch]

I can never remember how often I watched things as a child. Not just a precise number -- that's understandable; I was a kid, of course I wasn't counting -- but whether I watched something many times or just once and it made an indelible impression. There have been many films that I can remember with crystal clarity, but I'm certain I've only ever watched once, so any film I feel I must've seen multiple times I always wonder: did I, or did it just imprint itself?

This is, obviously, one of those films. Hence why I have invented the word "multipleth", whose meaning is hopefully clear.

(It's "multiple-th", not "multi-pleth".)

DVD Extras

Super: Behind the Scenes
Aside from the theatrical trailer, the only extra on the UK Super BD. As 19-minute making-ofs go it's decent: as this was an indie film we're not subjected to the usual low-quality, vacant, promotion-focused talking heads commonly found in these featurettes; you might even learn a few things about the production; it's still slightly padded with clips, mind. More disappointing is that a tonne of stuff on the US release is missing. If I can get my hands on the US Best Buy version, I will.

Music

5.1 Inception Soundtrack by Hans Zimmer
Finally had a flick through the Inception Blu-ray and one of the included extras is 39 minutes of Hans Zimmer's score, presented in 5.1 HD surround sound. It's really rather good. I may have to get round to buying the soundtrack now.

this week on 100 Films

Just 1 new review was posted to 100 Films in a Year again this week. It was...

Catfish (2010)

If you have any interest in the Internet and the way so many people now live their lives through it, with all the social networking it offers, and how that impacts back on their ‘real’ lives, then Catfish demands to be seen... As much as I loved The Social Network, this probably has more to say about the actual impact of Facebook on our lives than Fincher/Sorkin’s biopic does.

That's only two all month. Pathetic.

In about 11 hours you can see my summary of July's viewing, which is almost equally pathetic. It'll be available here then.

More, hopefully, next Sunday.

TV

Castle
1x07 Home is Where the Heart Stops
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Horrible Histories with Stephen Fry
1x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Just Good Friends
3x05 The Witness

Lee Mack's All Star Cast
1x06 (23/7/11 edition) [season finale]
(I know I've only got myself to blame for watching all of this, but) I do hope they don't bring it back.

Penn & Teller: Fool Us
1x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Films

Super (2010)
[#71 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
Out on DVD & Blu-ray in the UK from Monday, at shockingly low prices for a new release.
Out in the US a week Tuesday, but with loads more extras, and more still if you get the Best Buy exclusive version. (On the off chance anyone reading this knows of somewhere I can get the Best Buy version shipped to the UK, please let me know. Thanks.)

Collection Count

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

Disarray this week, thanks to upgrading a two-disc DVD to a single-disc BD alongside a single-disc BD with two films. And a regular one-disc-one-film release, too.

Look, it's not that exciting, alright, but if you thoroughly considered the numbers properly without knowing all that it might look unusual, all right?

Number of titles in collection: 1,350 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,126 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 224 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 3,343 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,424 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,005 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

How I Met Your Mother
6x22 The Perfect Cocktail
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

My Favourite Joke
Episode 1 (of 6)
This would be better if they played the whole routine/sketch/what-have-you either before or after all the comedians' comments. It's fine if you're familiar with the thing they're discussing, but if you've never seen it before it's a chore trying to piece it together from the snippets they scatter about, and it lessens the impact in the process. Shame.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

No Ordinary Family
1x14 No Ordinary Double Standard

The Rob Brydon Show
2x01 Episode 1
I'm glad this is back -- I thought it would be too odd to attract the numbers -- but, thankfully, here it is.
Also, Nina Conti should be on telly more often.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Grand Designs Australia
1x03 Southport Heritage House
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

No Ordinary Family
1x13 No Ordinary Detention
Or No Ordinary Bottle Episode, as this is essentially three contrived-single-location stories smudged into one episode. Still, by NOF standards it was quite good. Shame they let British Villain Lady escape though.
(Technically it's not really a bottle episode -- plenty of guest actors and a couple of non-standard sets -- but, y'know, near enough.)

Single-Handed
2x02 The Lost Boys Part 2
Even better second half. Glad to see having to do three stories at once (the previous three were produced over several years) hasn't diminished the quality (yet, anyway).
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Torchwood: Miracle Day
4x03 Dead of Night
"It's fizzy in the UK and flat in the US." "Just about sums it up." A metaphor for the series itself, one wonders?
Ironically, those lines come in what I felt was the best episode of the season so far. Not close to Children of Earth level, true, but it's steadily improving.
The much-discussed sex scene cuts were unnoticeable, of course, but even more importantly, having seen the uncut version I can say we weren't missing anything; we still get everything that was going on -- the very definition of a pointless/gratuitous scene.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Tudors
4x09 Secrets of the Heart
What the hell just happened -- suddenly everyone looks about 20 years older! Well, most people -- they haven't bothered with some. Clearly time has jumped forward -- there's no mention of Henry's collapse last time, they've all decamped somewhere else -- but not by that much. And most of the aged make-up isn't that good anyway. I can only assume they ran out of money by this point.
Or maybe they were just too busy rushing through the story. After wasting so much time treading water or seen-it-before storylines in the first half of this final season, it's a shame they've had to speed through some decent plots as it draws to a close. Ah well, almost the whole thing's been a missed opportunity anyway.

TV

Law & Order: UK
5x03 Crush
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Top Gear
17x05 (24/7/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Tudors
4x08 As It Should Be
He won the battle! But now they're going to take the city back! And then he keeled over! The end must be nigh... especially as there are only two episodes left...

TV

Dynamo: Magician Impossible
1x02 Episode 2
I don't get Watch (annoyingly), but popping home to my parents' for the day I found an episode of this on Sky Anytime. Dynamo's very impressive, and while I could guess how he did a couple of tricks (which pleases me -- as previously established, I like to know how it's done), there are some that are totally baffling -- how he can push his hand through (apparently-)real glass right before someone's eyes, for instance.
I think now I'll have to see if I can get the rest of the series... somehow...

(By-the-by, the link I've used for the episode title... Interesting and not un-true review/summary of the series, but do note the "This is a sponsored post" tucked away at the bottom. So, essentially, this is a paid-for advert masquerading as a genuine blog post. Sneaky.)

Music

Let Them Talk by Hugh Laurie
[4th & 5th listen]

Articles

Class 4G and the Zygons by Gary Gillatt
(from Squabbling Rubber)
A class of 10-11 year olds watch Doctor Who... back in 1995, when the series had been off air for six years (or "forever" to kids of that age). It's originally from DWM but is reproduced in full here. It might be interesting to re-run the experiment today -- six years isn't that long, really, and a lot of kids' TV at the time still had Who-ish production values; what would a class of a similar age today, weened on masses of slick kids' TV and years of the revamped Who, make of a '70s serial?

Graham Norton, Richard Hammond land BBC America shows by Catriona Wightman
(from Digital Spy)
I do hope they make it over to the UK, because a) it would be daft not to, and b) some of them do sound quite good.

Music

Let Them Talk by Hugh Laurie
[2nd & 3rd listen]

Articles

New Doctor Who picture, series six trailer released by Kate Goodacre
(from Digital Spy)
Same trailer, but ooh exciting new cast photo! Love a long coat.

TV

I would have watched the second Single-Handed today, but the Virgin Media catch-up service is being stupid again. Other means of acquisition will be required.

But other than that, there was:

Grand Designs Australia
1x02 Very Small House
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Tudors
4x07 Sixth and the Final Wife
War, huh? What is it good for? Not much, other than some exciting battle scenes. The speed of the plot seems to have picked up massively in the second half of the series. Shame they wasted so much time during the first half.

Articles

Doctor Who Return Date by Marcus
(from Doctor Who News Page)
As hinted at by Doctor Who Magazine on twitter ages ago, Doctor Who will return for Series 6: Part 2 (as the DVD/BD will brand it) on August 27th. So far only the US date is confirmed, but unless it's on a week earlier in the UK (which seems unlikely) this must be the UK return date too.
Additionally, a selection of UK trailers can be watched here.

Karen Gillan stays with Doctor Who by Marcus
(from Doctor Who News Page)
Relatedly, Karen Gillan confirms she'll be returning for Season 7. There'd been speculation that she and Arthur Darvill would be leaving as both have work commitments around the time Who would normally be shooting, but the recent much-discussed news about its various delays suggest that's no longer a problem. Which will make them the longest-serving companions for goodness knows how long! Maybe the 11th Doctor will pull a 2nd Doctor and retain the same companions throughout his run? (Yes, OK, "more or less" in the latter's case.)

And also relatedly...

Eccleston Expands on Reasons for Leaving by Marcus
(from Doctor Who News Page)
Remember when Chris Eccleston talked about his reasons for leaving Doctor Who the other day? Well, here's a fuller version of what he had to say. Intriguinger...