// Film and Television
Snogging Quicksilver
My iGoogle home page served up my daily star sign today as usual (well, I usually find them diverting in a “yeah, right” sort of way) but the opening line this morning was particularly unusual I thought:
“Your key planet Venus receives a thoughtful kiss from intelligent Mercury”
I’ve got to say, a full-on tongue-lock with intelligent Mercury sounds like a scene worthy of Doctor Who in my opinion.
It’s probably being RTD’d even as I type…
Posted on August 17, 2007 | Filed Under Film and Television, Musings | 0 Comments
File under: Self-Awareness (Lack Of)
Much has been made in the news about Billie Piper’s distressing episode of blindness the other night, which it is thought was finally triggered by the flashbulbs used by the paparazzi.
Apparently there’s a suggestion that the problem may have started during a shoot earlier with celeb-snapper Rankin, but it was later as the other bulbs were going off that the problems really started, culminating in Piper being unable to open her eyes on Friday morning.
Which means that the Sun’s decision to run the story alongside ‘razi pictures of her distressed and weeping on the as she started suffering problems is at best a bit of an own-goal. Still, what did you expect from The Sun, eh? A sense of personal responsibility and self awareness? Nah.
Still, Billie’s going to be alright. Which is very good news indeed.
On a less positive note: Victoria Newton’s Bizarre - a grubby little column where the title is probably the only consistently accurate item - is still going strong.
Posted on August 11, 2007 | Filed Under Film and Television, The World we Live In | 0 Comments
John Normington
Strange how sometimes odd little coincidences occur, isn’t it?
Today I learned of the death of John Normington, an actor who has had two parts in my second favourite series (Doctor Who, for the uninitiated). One was as Morgus in the last Peter Davison serial “The Caves of Androzani” - widely regarded as one of the best stories the series ever did. The other was as as Trevor Sigma in Sylvester McCoy’s “The Happiness Patrol” - which in turn is widely (and in my opinion unfairly) regarded as one of the worst.
Strange thing is that last night I watched “The Happiness Patrol” on a whim, enjoying the sheer camp and audacity of it enormously. And I was watching John’s performance and thinking how damn good he was and how wasted an actor of his calibre was in the part he was given. (He owned the screen in his scenes let’s just say that - even when standing up against Shiela Hancock’s eerie Maggie Thatcher impression.)
Today I find he’s died.
Rest in peace, John. I see from the What’s On Stage article you achieved no small recognition and from what little I’ve seen you certainly deserved it.
Posted on July 30, 2007 | Filed Under Film and Television, In Memoriam | 2 Comments
“Let the Work of Change Begin”…
… says Gordon Brown, our new PM, in this article.
Which is eerily similar to the Master’s opening remarks to his cabinet in Saturday’s Doctor Who: “Let the work of Government begin.”
I wonder if Brown’s planning on assassinating them all in their first meeting?
Word to the wise, ministers: if he gets a gas mask out, run.
Posted on June 28, 2007 | Filed Under Film and Television, The World we Live In | 1 Comment
Doctor Who - Utopia
Well, it’s got to be said (and has been by many), the first half of the episode was… well… average. Fun, but not terribly satisfying. Our visit to an alien planet turned out (in classic Who tradition) to be largely based in a quarry, the bad guys had piercings and tattoos (pah!) and frankly it all seemed a bit throwaway really.
If it hadn’t been for strong performances from the leads and an amazing turn from Derek Jacobi then it would all have been a bit “yeah, okay, fine”.
But by golly it picked up at the end didn’t it?
All those themes from various parts of the series suddenly starting to tie up. The heartbreaking poignancy of Professor Yana’s speech with us knowing that soon he’d be transformed into another Time Lord. The way Jacobi completely changed his performance when he became the Master. All of it was sublime (especially when the Master locked the Doctor out of the TARDIS just by slipping the latch - genius).
And then a cliff-hanger? What? A three-parter? Really? Bloody hell!
I can barely contain myself with excitement. All my thoughts are on tomorrow night.
Posted on June 22, 2007 | Filed Under Film and Television | 2 Comments
Doctor Who - Blink
Doctor: “Don’t blink. Don’t even blink. Blink and you’re dead. They are fast, faster than you could believe. DON’T turn your back, DON’T look away, and DON’T BLINK. Good luck…”
Well, this year’s Doctor Lite episode was proof, if any were needed, of why Stephen Moffat is one of the best writers in television today.
Doctor: “People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect… but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it’s more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly…timey-wimey…stuff.”
Taut, funny, densely plotted with twists and turns of time, plus nervousness galore and the occasional pull at the heartstrings too. Frankly there is no justice if if Moffat doesn’t get nominated for another Hugo his year.
Sally: “I love old things. They make me feel sad.”
Cathy: “What’s good about sad?”
Sally: “It’s happy for deep people.”
There were some things which made me go “eh?” like why the Weeping Angel threw a stone at Sally in the first place (it seemed to be implied that it did) and what happens next to the Angels in the cellar once they were defeated, but I’m guessing there’s a nice cleanup job done by the Doctor once he gets his TARDIS back. And frankly they were such minor details in an otherwise sparkling episode I don’t much care.
The flatmate’s reaction to the Angel statues was one of “oh no, they’re as bad as the scarecrows!” so another classic monster there. Well done them!
Plus, as is evidenced in this very posting, it’s just so damn quotable.
Doctor: “This is my timey-wimey detector. Goes ding when there’s stuff. Also it can boil an egg at thirty paces - whether you want it to or not, actually, so I’ve learned to stay away from hens: it’s not pretty when they blow…”
Posted on June 17, 2007 | Filed Under Film and Television | 4 Comments
Doctor Who - Human Nature / The Family of Blood
Blimey.
And that is all I feel I can really say on the matter.
Television simply doesn’t get any better than these two rich, ominous, densely-packed, scary, surprising and heart-warming (not to mention breaking) episodes.
Wonderful. Simply wonderful.
I will of course be watching it again later.
With a box of tissues handy.
Posted on June 3, 2007 | Filed Under Film and Television | 6 Comments
Doctor Who - 42
Given that I have regarded Torchwood as desperately uneven, I had a nasty feeling that its head writer, Chris Chibnall, would provide us with a similarly lacklustre episode for Doctor Who last Saturday. Thankfully my fears turned out to be thoroughly unfounded as the real-time drama of 24 was brought to the series to excellent effect, with the Doc and Martha having 42 minutes to save the day.
But by golly it was red wasn’t it? I suppose unsurprisingly so given they were hurtling towards the sun, but my word I’ve never seen such a red episode of anything before. And frankly it was a bit daft of whoever designed the spaceship to put the backup escape capsule controls in a such an inacessible place. You’d almost think they’d done it for dramatic purposes.
So far the main repeated complaints I’ve heard are that the charring of the bodies on metal wasn’t accurate enough and that the supporting cast never got enough development or back-story for you to really care what happened to most of them.
In the case of the latter it’s a fair point. Only Riley really got much of a chance for you to sympathise and Michelle Collins’ captain only had a last minute “aw” moment, the others were just speaking extras, there to be bumped off within minutes (which they were). But, as ever, it’s a limitation of the format really. I could either get frustrated that it will ever be thus or just accept it and I think I’ll take the path of least resistance here.
As for the charring - yeah. But what did we honestly expect given the target audience and time of transmission? Again, given the high standard of the episode generally it seems churlish to get hung up on it really.
Otherwise I thought it was excellent. It was taut, scary, well-paced, playful and generally well-executed. Also the possession of the Doctor was one that genuinely surprised me - especially his admission of his own fear which I think will have surprised younger viewers who are probably now expecting him to be invulnerable. Frankly it did need to be re-asserted that he can actually suffer and actually die if he doesn’t get a chance to regenerate, so I was glad of that.
As far as I can see the generally high standard of this series is definitely continuing. Series two is beginning to look horribly limp by comparison.
And from the trailers tonight’s episode looks like it would seriously have to drop the ball not to deliver… it almost looks like it can’t not be bloody good.
Posted on May 26, 2007 | Filed Under Film and Television | 2 Comments
Doctor Who - The Lazarus Experiment
So, I suppose the good thing about Doctor Who being delayed is the fact that it gives me a week to catch up.
The Lazarus Experiment was, to be fair, a pretty slender misguided scientist plot, but it’s the little touches here and there which give it the extra shine. The interplay between Martha’s family and in particular her mother’s instant dislike of the Doctor sparkled, the return of a “reverse the polarity” line made me whoop, and in a script drowning in sparky dialogue there was even room for Spinal Tap and Quatermass references.
Okay, the CGI monster wasn’t really very good. It was a brave attempt but it didn’t quite convince, although it was canny the way they always had Lazarus change out of shot to save time and make sure the money was spent on the final creature.
So yeah… it was a thoroughly enjoyable runaround all told.
Somehow I find I’m enjoying this series rather more than the last. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but series two always seemed “good” but with qualifications. This series in comparison, however, is proving “very good” (albeit still with qualifications, but fewer of them it seems).
Probably the highlight though was the teaser they’d knocked up at the end to trail the remainder of the series. If the series turns out to be half as good as what is promised then it’ll be stunning. My aunt was suitably “oooh, Jack’s back - he’s lovely!” about it, and the flatmate’s reaction to the monsters from the two-part Human Nature and Family of Blood due in two weeks was to squirm and go “oh… I may not watch that one. I don’t like scarecrows”.
I’m a bit excited about the next few weeks, if truth be told.
Posted on May 13, 2007 | Filed Under Film and Television | 0 Comments
Eurovision
Well, no of course I didn’t watch it. Bad enough was the fact I am no great lover of the contest anyway (although the flatmate kept me updated with various Woganisms which were entertaining enough) but also the fact that Doctor Who got delayed for a week because of it.
Bastards.
I did, however, tune in for Scooch’s performance once I heard the strains of it emanating from the flatmate’s room just to see what the big twist for the performance on the night would be.
Oh yes: two extra dancers and all the eurovision flags over the trollies instead of just the Union Jack - inspired!
To be fair I don’t think it deserved the place it did. As a song our entry has rather grown on me and it is everything a traditional eurovision song should be: simple, infectious, meaningless and chirpy, but given our standing on the world stage at the moment I’m not sure a song about British nationalism was ever going to do wonders.
I honestly think we should give up.
Posted on May 13, 2007 | Filed Under Film and Television, Pop Music, The World we Live In | 3 Comments