TV

The Jonathan Ross Show
1x08 (22/10/11 edition) [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Merlin
4x05 His Father's Son
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

X-Men: First Class (2011)
[2nd watch]
I saw this in the cinema back in June, making it #60 for this year's 100 Films, but the picture and sound quality were so wretched that I've waited until now to watch it again on Blu-ray (officially out Monday) before reviewing it. I enjoyed it even more the second time.

Articles

Isn’t It About Time You Gave Mirrormask Another Chance? by Lee Harris
(from SFX)
I've never seen MirrorMask. I think it's about time I gave it a chance. I have it on DVD... somewhere...

Minecraft awarded GameCity videogame arts prize by Leo Kelion
(from BBC News)
Interesting views on how gaming has become more widespread, thanks to Normal People playing them on smartphones, etc. "I think that technology is a real red herring. What technology is driving forward is the ability for games to look more real... I don't think that is in itself something that makes them art. Otherwise we wouldn't cry at Bambi." And so on.

TV

QI
9x07 Incomprehensible (XL edition)
[Watch QI XL (again) on iPlayer.]

Spy
1x02 Codename: Tramp
This is too good to be on Sky.

Top Gear USA
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Comics

2000 AD #1753
And the ECBT 2000AD reviews are...

visual review

Judge Dredd Day of Chaos: Elusive Part 01

Ampney Crucis Investigates... The English Assassin Part Four

Indigo Prime Everything and More Part Four

Angel Zero Part 03

Low Life The Deal Part 4

Still not liking Indigo Prime, but everything else is great, especially Low Life.

Articles

Micro-budget film is back with Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing by Ben Child
(from Film Blog at the Guardian)
Not much that hasn't been covered in other articles I've linked to, I don't think, but it's almost worth it just for the final paragraph's image of Michael Bay.

Collection Count

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

A couple of new titles this week, plus the removal of a DVD I upgraded to BD ages ago and then forgot to ditch.

The big episode count boost is thanks to getting the complete '90s X-Men animated series on DVD. I've been waiting for this for a long, long time, so I'm very happy.

Also, X-Men: First Class on Blu-ray! I'm fairly ecstatic. (Sorry.)

Number of titles in collection: 1,395 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,141 [up 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 254 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 3,469 [up 22]
Number of films in collection: 1,482 [up 9]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,270 [up 76]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Christ on a bike, where has this week gone?! It feels like only yesterday (well, the day before yesterday, if I'm honest) that I was watching the first Joanna Lumley.

And I haven't watched Misfits for a week and a half, but it feels like less time than I paused between episodes one & two and three, which was only six days. (I know, you're fascinated to know this.)

I think my body clock needs winding...

The Graham Norton Show
10x01 (21/10/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Great British Bake Off
2x11 Revisited [season finale]
Not revisiting the just-finished series two, but looking back to series one. Indeed, I'm quite glad I didn't watch the first series in a way, because this was just a recap/highlights with a few new comments and a couple of "where are they now"s.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Joanna Lumley's Greek Odyssey
Episode 2 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Perfect Couples
1x07 Perfect House
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Articles

Brad Bird Explains Why We Haven’t Seen an Incredibles Sequel Yet by Kevin Melrose
(from Spinoff Online at Comic Book Resources)
Because he doesn't have an idea for one, essentially. Which is fine -- I loved The Incredibles and would love a sequel, but there's no point if it's just for the sake of some easy cash.

The Science and Future of 3D Films, With Legend3D Founder, COO and CTO Dr. Barry Sandrew
Parts 1, 2 & 3 by Mark Hughes
(from Forbes)
This interview/polemic has an irritatingly fawning tone and a loose interpretation of some facts -- see in particular Sandrew and Hughes' dubious analysis of some figures at the bottom of part 2 page 1 -- but it's nonetheless interesting thanks to its inside-the-industry perspective.

TV

Pointless
3x24 (15/10/10 edition)
They put a shot of the four-team round one in the middle of the three-team round two! Shocking behaviour.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Comics

Batman #2 by Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo
Proper detective work, proper action, a whole heap of story and subplots too, plus Capullo's style is growing on me a lot. It's only 20 pages long, but those pages are so expertly used that it feels a lot longer -- where other books feel brief at this length, Snyder's Batman feels like it's an extra-long (for modern comics) issue. And that's obviously a good thing.
For more praise that I agree with, see CBR's review. "This is the sort of issue you could drop into anyone’s hand, no matter their level of knowledge or involvement, and make them a fan for life."

Articles

Downton Abbey bosses hit back at critics over 'ludicrous' storylines claims by Simon Boyle
(from Mirror)
Downton Abbey is not a soap because it gets incredibly high ratings and "combines comedy, romance and tension around 20 characters"? OK, if you say so...

New Mission: Impossible Poster Online by James White
(from Empire)
Or, as the poster seems very very keen for you to call it, Ghost Protocol. How small is that Mission: Impossible logo?! Especially relative to what is, technically, the subtitle. Bizarre. Obviously someone in the film's marketing has decided the M:I name is the opposite of a selling point.

Click to enlarge.

Steven Spielberg discusses Jurassic Park 4 and Indiana Jones 5 by Venkman
(from Geektyrant)
JP4 is on the scriptwriting stage and George Lucas is still developing a story for Indy 5... but never mind that, because what's most interesting here is what he has to say about the last Indy film:

I never liked the MacGuffin. George and I had big arguments about the MacGuffin. I didn't want these things to be either aliens or inter-dimensional beings.

More just-as-interesting comments at the link.

Unofficial Title Sequence for The Adventures of Tintin by Gig Patta
(from LatinoReview)
There's more to that title than meets the eye, though: the director/producer of Tintin, who is no less than Steven Spielberg of course, saw the video and liked it enough to invite its maker to the premiere... and give him a job on the next movie. Well crikey!
In case you don't fancy following the link, here it is:

TV

Ask Rhod Gilbert
2x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

House
8x03 Charity Case

Pointless
3x23 (1/10/10 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Spooks
10x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Comics

Judge Dredd Megazine #313

That story that was on part seven last time? I give up. It makes no sense. Maybe if I'd been reading since the start... But no, I'm not wasting my time. It's called Numbercruncher, if you happen to care.

As for the others, to refer to them as I did last time: the Dredd was a two-parter that ends here, though leaves an intriguing Big Thing set up for the future. Look forward to that coming back. The one that was on part two (now three, obviously) is Samizdat Squad, and while I can follow it I don't especially care for it.

Finally, Anderson, Psi-Division (which was on part four and finishes this issue) has been a great little tale for the two parts I've read -- the only one I wish I'd been following since the start. I suppose I could always order back issues...

Articles

Joss Whedon on his secret film of Much Ado About Nothing: 'This is the best vacation I've ever taken' by Adam B. Vary
(from Inside Movies at EW.com)
First interview with Joss (plus stars Sean Maher and Amy Acker) about the just-wrapped/just-announced adaptation. Unsurprisingly, there's a tonne of new details in here.

The Jury returns after nine years in retirement by Vicky Frost
(from the Guardian)
Interview-y article about the Julie Walters-starring second series of The Jury, speaking to Walters and writer Peter Morgan. (Much better than Mark Lawson's faintly embarrassing article, where he goes on about it being a remake when (as numerous commenters point out) it isn't.)

TV

Home Cooking Made Easy
1x04 Simple [final episode]

The Jury
Part 5 (of 6)
Part 6 (of 6)
I suppose in a way the verdict was unsurprising, but I'm still glad they reached it. A good final pair of episodes too, generating genuine tension and wrapping everything up satisfactorily -- which, in some cases, meant leaving it ambiguous or unfinished. I don't really understand why this was so ignored at the time and isn't more often mentioned as an example of great British drama, because I think it deserves to be. Looking forward to the sequel, whenever that's on.

Pointless
3x22 (30/9/10 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

RED (2010)
[#88 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]

Comics

Batman and Robin #2 by Peter J. Tomasi & Patrick Gleason
This series is becoming increasingly reliant on the past. I'm sure that's great for long-term readers, but it's not so good as part of (what's supposed to be) a line-wide new-reader-friendly re-launch. I coped with the first issue because I'm vaguely aware of some recent events in the Batman comics universe; this issue, it's really pushing my limit. We'll see how it goes -- I'll stick with it because nasty little git Damien, Bruce Wayne's son, is an interesting (if annoying) loose cannon.

Justice League #2 by Geoff Johns & Jim Lee
It's been a long wait for the second issue of DC's new flagship title -- nearly two months since #1! -- but critics found it worth the wait: after notoriously underwhelming reviews for that first issue, the follow-up has received much better notices. Personally, I enjoyed the first issue, and felt this one maintained the very good standard.

Resurrection Man #2 by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning & Fernando Dagnino
While this is still solid, all told I'm not as keen on it as the first issue. Resurrection Man is, I believe, the return of a long-dead series (oh irony), which makes it difficult to know if it's building on stuff from before or kicking off whole new mysteries. Considering the bafflement of the main character, hopefully things will get explained eventually, either way.

Articles

Drew Pearce to Write Sequel to As-Yet-Unreleased Sherlock Holmes Sequel by Kate Erbland
(from Film School Rejects)
To clarify, he's writing Sherlock Holmes 3 (as in the, the second sequel to the Downey Jr/Ritchie one). As the article says, "Pearce may very well be your favorite screenwriter whose work you’ve never actually seen" -- he's got several huge films in the offing, none of them yet released. Or even in front of cameras.

Joss Whedon & Nathan Fillion Do Shakespeare by Dave Golder
(from SFX)
Apparently around making The Biggest Blockbuster Ever (Maybe Probably Sort Of), Joss Whedon has found time to gather together a bunch of his chums (cast members from Buffy, Angel, Firefly and possibly others abound) to make a film of Much Ado About Nothing. What? Apparently it's not a hoax either. We'll see...
The official website, such as it is, is here.

Edit: there's a full press release confirming it all to be for real here. (It's also on the official website, but that has added commentary.)

TV

Downton Abbey
2x05 Episode 5
Mrs Bates is threatening something! ...but now it's sorted.
Mrs Bates is threatening something again! ...but now it's sorted.
Mrs Bates is threatening something else! ...but now it's sorted.
Time to wrap up the whole Mrs Bates thing, eh?
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Pointless
3x21 (29/9/10 edition)
25 people didn't know which war D Day was from?! I despair.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Spooks
10x04 Episode 4
As (most of) the rest of the nation's Spooks fans enjoy the series' last-ever episode, I'm still catching up on this final run. It is good though.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Would I Lie To You?
5x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]