TV

Archer
4x10 Un Chien Tangerine
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]


Doctor Who
22x09 The Two Doctors Part Three [2nd watch]

It seems even the great, legendary Robert Holmes can't muster a good Sixth Doctor story.

Here, we get an underused Patrick Troughton (though, even then, he can't help but be brilliant); Sontarans who may as well not be in it (they could be any generic heavies); and we're treated to some of the era's trademark violence, as the Doctor murders a villain with cyanide gas, a Sontaran's dismembered leg is gleefully waved about, and a supporting character is bloodily stabbed in the chest; the last leads to a death scene that I think is supposed to be poignant but is just comic, and is overshadowed by a final shot where the camera adjusts to highlight a different character's chest.

It's not all bad. There's the highly comical sight of the cast traipsing around Seville in daft sci-fi costumes; there's a surprisingly impressive explosion, which must have been practical; and, among the cast, there's Troughton, and Frazer Hines, plus Nicola Bryant bringing her ample charms.

Unless memory cheats, this is the end of the Bad Part of #bbbDW50 -- though some may disagree, as the next couple of stories (at least) are under-rated personal favourites.


Friends
3x25 The One at the Beach [season finale; 4th or so watch]


The Graham Norton Show
14x02 (18/10/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]


Was It Something I Said
1x02 Episode 2 (extended repeat)
[Watch only the shorter version on 4oD.]

Non-Fiction

Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter by Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook
Book Two, Chapter 16
Interlude
Chapters 17-20

TV

Archer
4x07 Live and Let Dine
4x09 The Honeymooners
C5 have deigned to show more episodes, meaning I get more Archer for the first time in a month. And there was another one on in the middle of the night, too. Hurrah, and/or about bloody time!
[Watch Live and Let Dine & The Honeymooners (again) on Demand 5.]

Friends
3x23 The One with Ross's Thing [4th or so watch]
3x24 The One with the Ultimate Fighting Champion [4th or so watch]

Man Down
1x01 Episode 1
Don't think I'll be bothering with any more of this.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Newsroom
2x06 One Step Too Many

TV

Castle
3x04 Punked
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Doctor Who
22x08 The Two Doctors Part Two [2nd watch]

Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited
1x03 The Third Doctor

Friends
3x22 The One with the Screamer [4th or so watch]

Films

The Tale of Zatoichi (1962)
[#92 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

aka Zatôichi monogatari, the first of 26 movies starring Shintarô Katsu as the titular blind swordsman.

Criterion are releasing a lavish (almost-)complete Blu-ray set of the series later in the year, which is massively tempting (it looks gorgeous), but as I've had the first few films knocking about on DVD for a few years I thought I should check one or two of them out before committing to Criterion's set.

One thing's for certain: the picture quality in the new set will be more pleasant. Not just because it's in HD, but because the 2006 US DVD I watched this on presented the film in its correct ultra-wide aspect ratio... but stuck within a 4:3 frame, with the subtitles under the film image -- i.e. a nightmare to watch nicely on a widescreen TV. I'll be happy to take it in again when I get that BD set.

TV

Friends
3x21 The One with a Chick and a Duck [4th or so watch]

The Great British Bake Off
4x09 French Week
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Wrong Mans
1x04 Inside Mans
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Non-Fiction

Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter by Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook
Book Two, Chapters 13-15

TV

Doctor Who
22x07 The Two Doctors Part One [2nd watch]

Instead of moving on, #bbbDW50 this week welcomes back the Second Doctor, guest starring in this Sixth Doctor adventure. It's an odd one: it begins with him and Jamie, spends a whole 10 minutes of the episode with them, and only then introduces the incumbent TARDIS team... who we spend the rest of the episode with, only fleetingly seeing the other Doctor and his companion in one other scene. They haven't even teamed up by episode's end.

It also feels like conclusive proof the 45-minute episode length was a bad fit for Who at the time. It feels slow and unfocussed, like someone's taken a 25-minute episode and stretched it rather than sticking two back to back. I know old drama moves at a slower pace and I'm fine with that, obviously, but this... just doesn't seem to work.

Or it could just be yet another weak Sixth Doctor story, of course.

Also, it's clearly evident that this was a relatively early entry in the DVD range. The restoration, while not bad, is nothing like as slick as on more recent titles. For one thing, this is before the Restoration Team's standard-for-years practice of replacing the opening & closing credits with a new, cleaner version, and as such they look pretty shoddy. Probably not a title that merits the full revisited treatment, though I'm sure it could be improved on now.


Have I Got News For You
46x02 (11/10/2013 edition; extended repeat)


Never Mind the Buzzcocks
27x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

The Night of the Hunter (1955)
[#91 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

TV

Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited
1x02 The Second Doctor

Friends
3x20 The One with the Dollhouse [4th or so watch]

Suburgatory
2x12 Body Talk
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Was It Something I Said
1x01 Episode 1 (extended repeat)
[Watch the shorter version (again) on 4oD.]
(or be like me and Torrent the longer one...)

Films

Shanghai Knights (2003)
[#90 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

this week on 100 Films

Four new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week.

First up, a film that has its UK free-TV premiere on Channel 5 at 4:20pm this afternoon...


Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)

Cloudy subverts first impressions by actually being really good. And I mean that as in “good for adults”, not just “good for kids”... The main selling point is that it’s very funny. Of course there’s the slapstick cartoon humour, which is well done, but there’s also a lot of great one-liners, random asides, and the like.

Read more here.


The Extraordinary Voyage (2011)

Documentary about the life and work of Georges Méliès, with particular attention to A Trip to the Moon, which then moves on to discuss how the hand-coloured print was rediscovered and the various attempts at restoring it.

Read more here.


The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991)

If you’ve seen a Zucker-Abrams-Zucker film you’ll know what you’re in for (and if you haven’t, is a sequel really the best place to start?), but the pleasing aspect is that this is as good as any. Well, not as good as any, but it’s a fine example of their style.

Read more here.


A Trip to the Moon (1902)

Of all the defining images of cinema — certainly of the silent era — the face on the Moon with a rocket in its eye must be one of the most recognised, though you have to wonder how many have actually seen Méliès’ full vision.

Read more here.


Just one review new to the new blog this week, though...


The House on 92nd Street (1945)

Here’s an unusual one from the pantheon of film noir. These days we’d probably call it a docu-drama, though thankfully there are no talking heads, but there is a factual voiceover narration. The story, we’re told, comes from the FBI’s files and is based on a real case — the original title was Now It Can Be Told and it’s “loosely based on the case of Duquesne Spy Ring headed by Frederick Joubert Duquesne and the work of real life double agent William G. Sebold.”

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Atlantis
1x04 Twist of Fate
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Friends
3x18 The One with the Hypnosis Tape [4th or so watch]
3x19 The One with the Tiny T-Shirt [4th or so watch]

Films

Shanghai Noon (2000)
[#89 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Collection Count

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

This week, the number of TV episodes in my collection shoots past 6,000. Oh dear Lordy. I wonder how many of those I've actually watched?

That same release is responsible for the short film, while the 'Final Cut' of The Wicker Man is responsible for a DVD-to-BD upgrade -- meaning changes across the board this week.

Number of titles in collection: 1,626 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,192 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 434 [up 4]

Number of discs in collection: 4,042 [up 9]
Number of films in collection: 1,727 [up 8]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,007 [up 13]
Number of short films in collection: 405 [up 1]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Doctor Who
21x24 The Twin Dilemma Part Four [season finale]

Well that's that over! The important thing here is, now I can say I've seen it.

Starting next Monday, #bbbDW50 moves on to... more Sixth Doctor. I bet you can guess which by now. It's also the phase of the project that's all neat: every story/era lasts a week. Until the modern one, which doesn't quite split as a week for RTD and a week for Moffat. But it almost does. Almost.


Friends
3x17 The One Without the Ski Trip [4th or so watch]


The Graham Norton Show
14x01 (11/10/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]


The Sarah Millican Slightly Longer Television Programme
3x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Non-Fiction

Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale - The Final Chapter by Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook
Book One, Chapters 11-12

That's the end of Book One -- from here on, it's all the new material.

Glad I re-read, though: it was both interesting all over again, and surely a good primer for the conversations, topics, dare I say "storylines" that will continue into the second half.

TV

Friends
3x14 The One with Phoebe's Ex-Partner [4th or so watch]
3x15 The One Where Ross and Rachel Take a Break [4th or so watch]
3x16 The One with the Morning After [4th or so watch]

Mock the Week
12x12 Highlights Special
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Lady of Deceit (1947)
[#88 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

More commonly known as Born to Kill, but this is the UK title and what it was called on BBC Two, so I go with that. It's also a better title, if you ask me -- Born to Kill is thoroughly generic noir, while Lady of Deceit better suggests the film's themes.

It's based on a novel called Deadlier Than the Male, which is also what it was known as in Australia. Why they didn't just stick with that everywhere, goodness only knows.

TV

Doctor Who
21x23 The Twin Dilemma Part Three
It finally feels like the story is getting underway... with just one part left. Hey-ho.

Friends
3x12 The One with All the Jealousy [4th or so watch]
3x13 The One Where Monica and Richard Are Just Friends [4th or so watch]

The Two Ronnies Spectacle
1x03 Songs & Serials [final episode]