TV

Miranda
2x05 Just Act Normal [2nd watch]
One of Miranda's best episodes, I think. Must be odd for Mark Heap to be playing the most normal person in the room...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Outnumbered
4x01 Episode 1
The Radio Times are wondering if this is beginning to get tired. On the evidence of this episode, not quite yet.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Pointless
5x01 (29/8/11 edition)
It's a new series! So new, you'd never know if the episode guide didn't say it was. Quite why it is I have no idea. Well, it's presumably a production thing (note how Richard now says "up to the start of April 2011" whereas previously it was "to the start of January 2011", but... yeah...)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Rob Brydon Show
2x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Fiction

Torchwood: Long Time Dead by Sarah Pinborough
Chapters 10-11
I read the first of these Torchwood tie-ins in just under a fortnight; this second one's taken me two weeks already and I'm only a third of the way through. Oops.

Comics

2000 AD #1746
At least being behind on this means I can read the ECBT 2000AD reviews as soon as I'm done with the issue, rather than a couple of weeks later when they post them. This issue's lot can be read here, here, here, here and here. I disagree with their summaries, though -- didn't enjoy quite a lot of this Prog, even the stuff I normally like. Ho hum.

Collection Count

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

A last-minute pile of post (literally, a few minutes ago) gives a decent boost to this week's numbers. Might get quieter for a bit now... but then, Star Wars is out soon...

Number of titles in collection: 1,375 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 1,135 [up 3]
Of which Blu-rays: 240 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 3,405 [up 13]
Number of films in collection: 1,452 [up 8]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,112 [up 12]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Doctor Who Confidential
6x08 River Runs Wild
Very nicely done "previously on Doctor Who" bit... but surely something like that would've made more sense on the episode itself?
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Epic Win
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Pointless
4x60 (26/8/11 edition) [season finale]
I say season finale -- tad arbitrary, as the next one started the day after.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Torchwood: Miracle Day
4x08 End of the Road
Are we really supposed to believe a mother who's had her children taken away because she's incapable of looking after them, and is being monitored in a special facility because of this, would be allowed access to the internet to sign herself and those already-taken-away kids up for, effectively, an assisted suicide programme? Even in Torchwood's pessimistic new world that's ridiculously implausible.
Still, only two more episodes to go. There better be a good finale.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

New 52 Pickup | And so it begins! by Steve Sunu
(from Robot 6 at Comic Book Resources)
Unsurprisingly the net's been flooded with reviews of Justice League #1, the first title in DC's New 52, but this is most interesting because it's the first in a series that intends to review every last one of the New 52 first issues and whittle them down to the best books over the coming months. One to keep looking out for, then.

TV

The Great British Bake Off
2x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

My Favourite Joke
Episode 5 (of 6)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Penn & Teller: Fool Us
1x08 Episode 8 [season finale]
For some reason shown three weeks after the last episode, it's nice to have an extra burst of this super show. And apparently there's a Christmas special too. Grand.
And, in a case so rare it may break the whole internet, the review I've linked to above is dreadful but the comment section (OK, the only comment there) is rather good. That's not right at all.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Pointless
4x59 (25/8/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

8 awesome sci-fi movie skins that mess with your MacBook Apple by Scott Edelman
(from blastr)
Does what it says on the tin. Most are film inspired, of course.

The IT Crowd creator: 'Twitter put TV back in the crowd' by Andrew Laughlin
(from Digital Spy)
The headline makes it sound like a quick quote spun out into a news article, but it's actually a slightly longer piece on the relevance and usefulness of twitter.

TV

Dragons' Den
9x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Pointless
4x58 (24/8/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Browncoats: Redemption (2010)
[#77 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
Charity-benefitting fan film set in the Firefly/Serenity 'verse. One for forgiving die hard fans only. Available to buy on DVD or Blu-ray for another 29 hours only from the official website.

TV

Pointless
4x57 (23/8/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The House on 92nd Street (1945)
[#76 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

TV

Epic Win
1x01 Episode 1
Thoroughly daft... but what did you expect? Good fun for it.

Grand Designs Australia
1x07 Fish Creek Church House
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Ocean Giants
Part 2 Deep Thinkers (of 3)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Proms 2011
Prom 40 Comedy Prom
Another excellent Prom, and this one a first too. Can't say I ever expected to see Tim Minchin in a Prince Charles mask playing the Doctor Who theme on a keytar in the Royal Albert Hall... but now I have, I'm ever so glad. (You can see it too.)
The programme for this Prom, such as it is, can be read here.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Comics

2000 AD #1745

I really ought to make an even bigger effort to catch up: apparently the Dredd story in prog 1749 (out Wednesday in shops, with subscribers (including me) since yesterday) has a big surprise at the end... and big surprises mean not wanting it spoiled and wanting to keep up with The Conversation, as it were, so... yeah...

Also, apparently prog 1750 will be another all-number-1s jumping-on prog. That didn't turn out so well last time, with a collection of stories that still felt halfway through even if they were technically first parts... but it got me started, so clearly it wasn't a total failure. Still, perhaps they've made a greater effort for the round-number-ness of 1750?

Finally, the ECBT 2000AD reviews for this prog can be found here, here, here, here and here.

this week on 100 Films

No new reviews on 100 Films in a Year this week, but I did mark reaching #75 by creating a list of 25 films I own that I really should have seen.

TV

Doctor Who
32x08 Let's Kill Hitler
Well, I thoroughly enjoyed that. I'm concerned that in retrospect it might look more like four people stood around in a series of rooms explaining things to each other, but at least they ran around a bit between the rooms and it was quite funny. And Rory was as brilliant as ever.
And the title was worth it for the twitter trend #letskillhitler, half fed by people exclaiming that he's already dead. Idiots. (I mean, obviously he is dead, but look at the bloody trend and see why it's bloody trending. Idiots.)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Proms 2011
Prom 39 Spaghetti Western Orchestra
This was incredible, I thought -- so much fun, and brilliant music to boot. It's on iPlayer for the rest of the week, I urge you to check it out. Plus, the full programme can be read here.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Nirvana (1997)
[#75 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

The Radio Times described this as "one of the best science-fiction films ever made. Yet few people outside Italy have seen it." So when it was on BBC Two last night, it felt like a must-see -- it's not available on DVD over here, never even been classified by the BBFC.

It's an Italian film (you may have guessed), but the version shown by the Beeb was the US one: acquired by Miramax, they did their usual foreign film hatchet job, chopping out over quarter of an hour and dubbing it into English. I don't know what difference the cuts made (have to research that before writing my review, I suppose), but the dubbing doesn't help, oscillating between awkward accents with broken English (Christopher Lambert dubs himself) and regular stereotypically bad voice acting.

It's an interesting film, with some interesting ideas, but some plot threads seem unfocused -- possibly they're too thematically-minded and I missed a little of what they were aiming at. In this bastardised form, at least, I'd be loathe to call it one of the best sci-fi flicks ever.

I'm tempted to get the uncut, original language, and apparently very good quality, Italian DVD... but I'd also point out that, if you're interested, the English-language version is available on iPlayer for the next week.

TV

Natural World
Heligan: Secrets of the Lost Gardens
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Rob Brydon Show
2x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Fiction

Torchwood: Long Time Dead by Sarah Pinborough
Chapters 8-9
Two things: one, Pinborough seems to have an obsession with ageing geeky men who've never had relationships at all/of significance -- why? Two, how come everyone Suzie meets has met Torchwood in some way and now wants to kill themselves? Is this going somewhere -- everyone in Cardiff has been touched by Torchwood, that kind of thing -- or are we only seeing the ones who have and that's making it feel awkwardly coincidental that she keeps passing them? Fingers crossed these things have a reason or some sense to them, otherwise they'll just keep niggling...

Articles

Lots of exciting news today...

Charlie Brooker detective spoof Touch of Cloth arrives on Sky1 by Alex Fletcher
(from Digital Spy)
Shame about the channel but, otherwise, this sounds like it's worth looking forward to. The headline pretty much encapsulates why.

Daredevil #1 Audio Edition
(from Marvel)
This is rather appropriate (considering the titular character is blind): the first issue of the acclaimed relaunch of Daredevil is now available as an audio edition for the visually impaired. It's all been done in-house at Marvel -- the writer describes the panels, various editors do the voices -- making it seem more like a pet project they've let out than a fully-commissioned idea, but hey, it's still good for those who can't see well/at all.

The Hour renewed for second series by Catriona Wightman
(from Digital Spy)
Didn't expect that, but it's welcome -- despite an iffy start, I thought it had got rather good by the end. And BBC Two's first recommissioned original British drama in over a decade?! Crikey!

Rock Version of Silent Film Classic Metropolis to Hit Theatres This Fall by Borys Kit
(from The Hollywood Reporter)
Never mind theatres, it's also coming out on DVD and Blu-ray in November! This is great news. Some consider the shortened, colourised, rock-scored version of Metropolis to be a horrible bastardisation, and they have a point, but considering we now have the most-complete-available version of the original film released in fantastic DVD and Blu-ray editions, it's nice to have a chance to see this '80s oddity as well -- and in full HD too, not to mention with a couple of worthwhile special features (a restoration documentary, Moroder introduction, original trailer and photo gallery).
No idea if there's going to be a UK release, quite possibly not, so I'll definitely be pre-ordering the US BD when I can.