Random Thoughts

The Black Hole

2011-06-01T17:29:00.000+01:00

"If there's any justice at all, the black hole will be your grave!"

The Black Hole, Disney’s blatant attempt to cash in on the sci-fi craze of the late ‘70s, is a film that wants to be many things. Actually, scratch that. It wants to be three distinct things. It wants to be Star Wars. It wants to be 2001: A Space Odyssey. And it wants to be a Disney movie for all the family. Sadly it fails to be any of those. It’s not rousing enough to be Star Wars, not nearly as cerebral as 2001 and often far too dark for magical kingdom of Disney.

The heroes (Robert Foster and the brilliantly named Joseph Bottoms) are nothing but a pair of chiselled-jawed blandroids, their sole purpose is to do all that action stuff while their co-stars do all the proper acting. The rest of the crew are equally vanilla save for the token robot, V.I.N.CENT, who is insufferably smug for an R2-D2 rip-off.

Even the films chief villain, Dr. Reinhart, is boring. Not nearly hammy or mad enough to be even slightly entertaining. His robotic henchmen, who stomp around the ship like they’re in search of a Nazi rally, are too often played for laughs rather than menace. Luckily there’s Maximillian, Reinhart’s intimidating crimson Cylon and chief enforcer. Without a single word Maximillian steals the entire movie, easily blowing the human characters off the screen with just the simplest mechanical glare.

But Maximillian seems to come from a completely different film, one where it’s okay to skewer Norman Bates with a propeller. The other robotic characters, the smug V.I.N.C.E.N.T. and country B.O.B., are meant to be cute, loveably and easily merchandised to small children. It’s that uneven tone that cripples the film. The Black Hole is a film unsure if it wants to be dark sci-fi or fun for all the family. At a glance the plot is uncomfortably similar to sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet. Just replace Morbius with Reinhart, Robbie with Maxillian, a planet with a spaceship, a dead crew with a zombie crew and the Krell with the black hole. All that’s lacking is a bit of shameless eye candy, Frank Drebin and a few monsters from the Id.

Then along comes the end, this is where the film really delves into 2001 territory. Visually the sequence isn’t that spectacular and, most important of all, isn’t really ambiguous enough. Kubrick took his audience on a trip beyond the infinite that, even without the advent of LSD, is still pretty damn mind-blowing today. The Stargate sequence made no attempt to explain itself to the members of the audience who weren’t high on drugs. It was up to them to interpret its meaning and decide whether it was profound or psychedelic gibberish. The Black Hole takes its audience on a far too literal journey, past the fire and brimstone of hell to drop of Reinhart and Maximillian and on through the angelic corridors of heaven to salvation for our heroes.

Notes and Quotes

--Besides Maximillian, the film’s only other saving grace is the phenomenal score by the genius that is John Barry. Its one of the great man’s most underappreciated works.

--This was Disney's first PG-rated movie.

--I had a little toy Maximillian growing up. Never knew what it was from until I saw this film. Didn't play with it much afterwards.

--When the film was released in the Soviet Union it was renamed because 'black hole' is an obscene term in Russian.

Dr. Reinhart: "The word 'impossible', Mr. Booth, is only found in the dictionary of fools."

Lt. Pizer: "When I volunteered for this mission, I never thought I'd end up playing straight man to a tin can."

Dr. Reinhart: "Maximilian, the time has come to liquidate our guests."

Two smug robot sidekicks out of four.

Doctor Who: Terror of the Autons Review

2011-04-16T00:32:00.014+01:00

“The human body has a basic weakness. One which I shall exploit to assist in the destruction of humanity”

Back when he was the undisputed overlord of the entire Doctor Who universe, Russell T. Davies was often heard to say that he liked to reboot the series at the start of every season, treating each season opener like it was ‘Rose’ all over again (which explains the high turnover of companions). Barry Letts did a similar thing with ‘Terror of the Autons’, effectively rebooting the entire series to better suit his idea of how it should be.

When he took over as producer from Derrick Sherwin, Barry Letts didn’t really have much to do. By the time he came on board during season 7 all the work had been done and the season was already well into production. But with season 8 Letts was finally able to make Doctor Who exactly the way he wanted to do it. He was quick to abandon Sherwin’s gritty and down to earth approach to the series as well as ditching everything else he didn’t realty like such as the Unit uniforms and the Doctor’s companion, Liz Shaw. She’s been seen scurrying back to Cambridge without so much as a “ta ta, luv”. As undignified companion exits go this one has to rank somewhere along with Dodo’s trip to the country in ‘The War Machines’. So, with Liz gone the Doctor’s needs someone else to pass him his test tubes and tell him how brilliant he is.

Enter Miss Josephine Grant.

I’ve always liked Jo. Yeah, she’s a step back into the girlie teenage companions of old (basically Zoe without the massive brain). She’s sweet and innocent, a tad clumsy most of the time but never lacking in helpful enthusiasm. At this stage there isn’t really much of a character behind all that cuteness but it’s hard not to like Jo because of how loveable Katy Manning is. And despite The Doctor’s claims that he needs a scientist to help him, you can tell he loves playing the mentor role with Jo. After all, he loves showing off how unbelievably brilliant he is. One of the essential requirements of a good companion is to look suitably impressed whenever the Doctor does something amazingly clever.

‘Terror of the Autons’ feels less a sequel to ‘Spearheads from Space’ and more like a fun little remake. Robert Holmes takes his previous tale of invasion by plastic aliens and reworks it into a showcase for the Doctor’s favourite enemy, the Master, essentially reducing the Autons to little more than glorified heavies. The Master is undoubtedly Letts’ greatest contribution to the series and my favourite Doctor Who villain. It was a masterstroke (forgive the irresistible pun) to give the Doctor a new regular adversary, a foe who would be, to use a worn out cliché, the Moriarty to his Sherlock Holmes.

From the very start Rodger Delgado was Letts’ only choice for the role and it is not hard to see why. Unlike those that came after him, who tended to go as far over the top as was humanly possible (sometimes even beyond), Delgado’s Master is charismatic and sophisticated, a shameless charmer with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. And yet he is pure evil, utterly ruthless and more than happy to use adorable blonde companions as suicide bombers. It’s a shame Holmes’ script doesn’t give him and the Doctor much screen time together. Being best mates in real life it’s no surprised that Delgado and Pertwee play brilliantly off each other.

Oh, and there’s absolutely nothing rubbish about his beard. I’d mud wrestle a naked Maggie Thatcher to be able to grow one like that.

Along with the Master and Jo, there’s another new addition to the cast, Captain Mike Yates.

Right, moving on...

More than any of his previous contributions ‘Terror of the Autons’ feels more like a Robert Holmes story. All the classic Holmes trademarks are present and correct; endlessly quotable dialogue, fully realized characters, clever ideas and the type of behind the sofa scares that are guaranteed to get the likes of Mary Whitehouse drooling with middle-class disgust. So what if the plot is recycled. At least he was being environmentally friendly. That subversive sense of humour of his is clearly more evident here than it ever was in ‘The Krotons’ or ‘Spearheads from Space’. Just look at how he envisions the Time Lords. Previously, they seemed almost God-like in their power and attitude. Here they can’t get their co-ordinates right and dress like all their knowledge of humanity comes from watching The Avengers.

Notes and Quotes (and there’s a lot of them)

--This the first story in the show’s history to feature a quarry being used to double as an actually quarry and not an alien planet.

--More championship gurning from Jon Pertwee as he wrestles with that phone cord.

--Britain has a National Space Museum? No doubt to show off all the achievements of our space program.

--There’s a great big open window and yet still the Doctor leaps through the door to catch the volatizer. He’s just showing off, isn’t he?

--Jo claims to be trained in cryptology, safe-breaking and explosives. Call me cynical but I think she might be exaggerating slightly on that last one.

--I love the little musical cue that plays whenever the Master appears or does something very Master-ish.

--Unit HQ seems to have a moat. Have they moved to a castle since ‘Spearheads from Space’?

--Just how does the Doctor know that the box Jo is opening contains a bomb? “She did” is not an acceptable answer.

-- Death by inflatable chair. That’s a new one.

The Doctor: "You ham-fisted bun vendor!"

The Master: “I am usually referred to as the Master.”
Hugh Russell: “Oh, is that so.”
The Master: “Universally.”

--Think I’ve just spotted a major flaw in Unit security.

The Doctor: “May I say I think you look quite ridiculous in those clothes.”
--Ha, he’s one to talk.

Time Lord: “An old acquaintance has landed here on Earth.”
The Doctor: “Huh, one of our people?”
Time Lord: “The Master.”
The Doctor: “That jackanapes! All he does is cause trouble.”

The Doctor: “I refuse to be worried by a renegade like The Master. He’s an unimaginative plodder.”
Time Lord: “His degree in Cosmic Science being of a higher class than yours.”
The Doctor: “Yes, well, I was something of a late developer.”

The Doctor: “Liz was a highly qualified scientist. I want someone with the same qualifications.”
The Brigadier: “Nonsense, what you need, Doctor, as Miss Shaw herself so often remarked, is someone to pass you your test tubes, and to tell you how brilliant you are.”

Mike Yates: “She’s hypnotised?”
The Doctor: “Of course, why else do you think she’d try to blow us all to pieces.”
--Yeah, try to keep up, Mike.

Rex Farrel: “My father would never dream of it.”
The Master: “My dear Mr Farrel, don’t worry about him. You’re under a new thumb now.”

The Doctor: “Brigadier, your methods have all the refined subtly of a bull in a china shop.”

The Doctor: “You’re an insulting ruffian, aren’t you?”

The Doctor: “What’s your friend’s name?”
Hugh Russell: “His name’s none of your business.”
The Doctor: “Hmm, strange name.”
Hugh Russell: “Come, come, Doctor, gentlemen don't discuss money.”
The Doctor: “Nonsense, gentlemen never talk about anything else.”

Rex Farrell: “And you're not angry?”
The Master: “Because the Doctor's escaped again? No. He's an interesting adversary. I admire him in many ways.”
Rex Farrell: “But you still intend to destroy him?”
The Master: “Of course. The more he struggles to postpone the moment, the greater the ultimate satisfaction.”

“The Doctor: What's wrong with being childish? I like being childish!”

The Master: “Good afternoon, Doctor. I hope I'm not interrupting anything important.”
The Doctor: “No, no, indeed not. You've come here to kill me, of course?”
The Master: “But not without considerable regret.”
The Doctor: “How very comforting.”
The Master: “You see, Doctor, you're my intellectual equal… almost. I have so few worthy opponents. When they're gone, I always miss them.”

Four out of four degrees in Cosmic Science.

Doctor Who: Inferno Review

2011-04-01T22:42:00.001+01:00

“Listen to that! It's the sound of the planet screaming out its rage!”

For a science fiction series with such a long and diverse history as Doctor Who it is somewhat surprising that ‘Inferno’ is the only time in its original 26-year run that everyone’s favourite Time Lord ever ventured into a “parallel space-time continuum”. Can’t understand why they never did it again because ‘Inferno’ is very good indeed.

I’ll admit that it isn’t perfect, often suffering from many of the same problems that blight most of season 7 (being too long, too serious and too grim). Also, it features some of the most embarrassing monsters this show has ever produced. But these are all minor faults that I feel ‘Inferno’ easily overcomes.

In keeping with the more gritty tone of this season ‘Inferno’ is a very dark and often brutal story. At one point the Doctor is practically being tortured as he is viciously interrogated by the Brigade Leader. And the ending of Episode 6 is a moment of utter hopelessness. Not only does the Doctor fails to save the other universe he is then forced to abandon it completely and everyone there in order to get back to his own in time to save it. I mean, this is the Doctor we’re talking about, the type of a man who values life so much he’d gladly sacrifice his own to save his enemies as well as his friends. So seeing him willingly leave behind people who have risked their own lives to get him home is something of a shock.

The parallel world the Doctor finds himself in is an Orwellian nightmare where even the most trusted friend is a deadly enemy. In this world our beloved Brigadier is the ruthless, one-eyed and shockingly ‘tache-less Brigade Leader with loveable Sgt. Benton as his obedient thug and Liz Shaw as…well, she’s still Liz Shaw, only sterner and sporting a horrendous wig. Bizarrely, the remaining supporting characters aren’t that much different from their dimensional opposites. Petra and Sutton are vitally identical (albeit, better dressed) and Stahlman is just as much an arse over there as he is over here.

‘Inferno’ is a great story for the Third Doctor and marks his gradual shift towards being more of an unconventional action hero. We finally get to see Worzel show off his fighting skills as the Doctor whips out the Venusian karate for the first time. You’ve gotta love that Jon Pertwee of all people, with his silver bouffant, frilly shirts and velvet jackets, is the one we consider to be the action Doctor. In days gone by all that action stuff, the running about and thumbing bad guys, was typically handled by the male companion. The Doctor just stood on the sidelines cheering them on, which isn’t really much of surprise when someone like William Hartnell is your Doctor. Can’t say I’ve ever imagined him karate chopping a bad guy across the head.

Typically of classic Doctor Who it’s the monsters that let the whole side down. 'Inferno' is one story that certainly didn’t really need any monsters. So I have no idea why the producers thought it would be a good idea to shove in a pack of lime flavoured wolfmen Ed Wood would dismiss as being too rubbish looking. I try not to judge the series too harshly for its charity shop production values. Despite being one of the BBC’s most popular shows it was made on a tiny budget. And in all fairness, the Primords are quite effective in the early stages, when they’re more like ravenous zombies. Too bad they don’t stay that way.

Notes and Quotes

--Final regular appearance of Caroline John as Liz Shaw. She was abruptly sacked between series as Barry Letts didn’t feel Liz Shaw was working out as a companion.

--In the 1984-inspired world Great Britain has become a brutal totalitarian Republic. There’s no monarchy with the entire Royal family having been executed as traitors (that’s one way to cut down on all the embarrassing scandals).

--There’s some classic Pertwee gurning action going on in Episode 1.

--Director Douglas Camfield was forced to pull out mid-filming after suffering a minor heart attack. Barry Letts quickly stepped in and directed the remainder of the story uncredited out of respect for Camfield, who had already done all the prep work needed with Letts just following his notes.

--It seems rather absurd that someone like Stahlman, an arrogant isolationist who values no one’s opinion but his own, would have such unquestionable control over a major government project.

--The Doctor was at Krakatoa in 1883.

--In a nice reversal of convention regular Stahlman has a goatee while his counterpart is clean shaven.

The Doctor: Look, without the Tardis, I feel rather lost. A stranger in a foreign land. A shipwrecked mariner.

Stahlman: I would’ve come to the same conclusion.

Sir Keith: He came to his answers in 10 minutes. You had a team of mathematicians working on it for months.

Stahlman: That’s hardly the point, Sir Keith.

The Doctor: What’s going to happen to me?

Brigade Leader: You’ll be shot, eventually.

The Doctor: Without a trial?

Brigade Leader: This is your trial.

The Doctor: Proper little bureaucrat, aren’t you? Can’t shoot me unless you’ve filled in all the forms, is that it?

The Doctor: I keep telling you, Brigade Leader, I don't exist here!

Brigade Leader: Then you won't feel the bullets when we shoot you.

The Doctor: Well, I'll tell you something that should be of vital interest to you. That you, Sir, are a NITWIT!

Greg Sutton: Marvellous, isn't it? The world's going up in flames and they're still playing at toy soldiers.

The Brigadier: “Pompous, self-opinionated idiot," I think you said, Doctor.

The Doctor:

--This could be the continuation of a beautiful friendship.

Rating: 4/5

Doctor Who: The Ambassadors of Death Review

2011-03-15T22:28:00.000Z

“Something took off from Mars”

I want to love ‘The Ambassadors of Death’ but find it so damn difficult. It's certainly not for lack of spectacle. For once it actually looks like the production team were allowed to spend some serious cash on the show, with action sequences that almost have an epic quality to them. In the first two episodes alone we have massive shootout in an abandoned factory followed by a truck hijack involving a helicopter. Doctor Who has never felt this big budget before. Even the model shots of the space modules, although pretty basic by today’s standards, aren’t as embarrassingly bad as a lot of the special effects on this show tend to be.

No, production-wise I can’t fault it. The script on the other hand...

Notoriously, it had something of a troubled genesis. Originally meant to feature Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe, David Whitaker struggled to rework his story to make it fit with the series’ new format and eventually gave up. The script was then handed from writer to writer like they were playing a game of pass the parcel resulting in the plot being a bit of a jumble.

With each new twist and double-cross the conspirators’ scheme eventually becomes so needlessly complicated that it stops being even vaguely plausible. There are far too many instances of characters not doing the smart or sensible thing because it would wrap things up too quickly. Take Lennox handing himself over to UNIT, for example. He could’ve easily told the Brigadier everything over the phone and ended it all then and there. Instead he decides to wait to see the Brigadier in person, allowing the bad guys plenty of time to kill him off in the most unnecessarily elaborate fashion. Seriously, a radioactive isotope? Someone obviously thought a gun or poison simply wouldn't be effective enough.

Humour is noticeable by its almost complete absence. Much like ‘The Silurians’ this is meant to be serious drama, taken seriously so there doesn’t appear to be any room for silly jokes and witty barbs. This is a shame because one of the great things about Doctor Who has always been its mischievous sense of humour. For the moment, that seems to have left with Patrick Troughton. Worzel gets a few good lines in now and then but they tend to be snippy rather than witty.

I know he gets better but so far the Third Doctor is turning out to be a generally unlikeable bastard. There’s little doubt that being exiled has turned the Doctor into an ill-mannered arse. He’s rude to everyone he meets, even nice people who don’t deserve it. Just look at the way he barges into the space centre, barking orders like he owns the place then insulting people because they don’t instantly give in to his every demand. Look, Worzel, I know you’re frustrated by not being able to fix the TARDIS but that’s no excuse for being such a prat to everyone.

On the companion side of things this is a great story for the Brigadier with Nicholas Courtney given ample opportunity to demonstrate his action man credentials. Alas, fans of Caroline John will be left disappointed as Liz Shaw’s involvement is practically an afterthought. She has next to nothing to do for the first few episodes before spending the rest of the story being held hostage by Reagan.

Along with the high than usual production values 'The Ambassadors of Death' benefits from having such a tragic central villain as General Carrington, brilliantly played by John Abineri. Bad guys on Doctor Who rarely get to be as psychologically complex as Carrington. He’s more misguided than flat out evil. Towards the end it becomes increasingly clear that he must be suffering from some sort of post-traumatic stress following his original encounter with the aliens and the unfortunate death of his shipmate, Jim. Although it was an accident Carrington has allowed xenophobia and paranoia to convince him that the aliens mean humanity harm and will do anything to destroy them, repeatedly stating that it is his “moral duty”.

When he’s finally defeated the Doctor doesn’t whip out the biblical condemnation he usually reserves for his opponents, allowing the General to keep some semblance of dignity as he’s taken away. The Doctor can see that he’s no monster and while he doesn’t condone Carrington’s actions he can understand his reasons for doing what he did.

Notes and Quotes

--A British space program? Capable of sending manned missions to Mars? Now that really is science fiction.

--The Doctor is still a little bitter about the Brigadier destroying the Silurian base.

--Security at the Space Centre is rubbish. Reagan sneaks in twice to cause trouble and gets away both times.

--Loveable Benton is back, now promoted to Sergeant.

--John Abineri had previously appeared in the lost Second Doctor story ‘Fury from the Deep’. He’s probably best known as Herne the Hunter on classic 80s series Robin of Sherwood.

--UNIT soldiers appear to have the marksmanship of a drunken Imperial Stormtrooper.

--If you happen to know what accent Dr. Taltalian is supposed to have please don’t hesitate to share with the rest of the class.

--David Whitaker got sole writing credit and a full fee because script-editor Terrance Dicks knew he’d been messed around by the establishment before and deserved it.

--I don’t think Carrington seriously thought his plan through. After all, what effect will nuclear weapons have on a race that lives off radiation?

--Bessie has an Anti-Theft force field. Downside is there’s not much battery life.

--Although all seven episodes still exist in the BBC archive they don’t all exist in colour. Some episodes even randomly flip back and forth between colour and monochrome (it’s like watching If…). A restored DVD release was planned for later this year but was delayed due to technical issues.

The Doctor: I don't know what came down in Recovery 7, but it certainly wasn't human!

The Doctor: The man's a fool. How can I possibly tell who the message is from until I know what it says? Let me explain this to you in very simple terms!

Reagan: This Doctor must have nine lives.

--13, actually…or 507.

General Carrington: I had to do what I did. It was my moral duty. You do understand, don't you?
The Doctor: Yes, General, I understand.

Rating: 3/5

Xena: Warrior Princess - Sins of the Past

2011-03-10T08:27:00.000Z

“You must know by now you can never escape your past. Xena, celebrate you dark side. Don't run away from it”

Like many I first started watching Xena: Warrior Princess because I loved the cheesy fun of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. And like so many more I ended up being an even bigger fan of the warrior princess than the son of Zeus. Although both shows possessed the same tongue-in-cheek sense of humour Xena could often be a much darker, more complex and character driven series. Xena was the Batman (and Wonder Woman) to Herc’s ancient world Superman. It was also cheesier than the entire dairy section at Sainsbury’s as the writers were never afraid to indulge even their loopiest ideas.

Xena first appeared in a trilogy of episodes from Hercules’ first season (‘The Warrior Princess’, ‘The Gauntlet’ and ‘Unchained Heart’) where she was a cold and ruthless bitch of a warlord who merrily slaughter her way across ancient New Zealand for shits and giggles. But after being betrayed and beaten to a pulp by her army Xena turned her back on her dark ways and became a force for good. Originally it would’ve all ended there with Xena sacrificing herself in one last act of heroic redemption. But the ancient TV gods smiled upon the warrior princess and gifted her with a spin-off series all of her own. Xena would go on to become a cultural phenomenon, eclipsing its parent show and turning its stars into icons. It might’ve all turned out differently if the producers had been stuck with their first choice. British actress Vanessa Angel was their first choice to don the leather armour but she fell sick and was unable to travel to New Zealand leaving the way open for the future Mrs Robert Tapert.

Forgive me while I descend into some pathetic fanboy worship but Lucy Lawless is a goddess. I’d crawl through fifty miles of broken glass just to sweat in her shadow and no doubt be bitch slapped with a restraining order for my troubles. On paper Xena is pure male fantasy; a gorgeous woman kicking butt while dressed in impractically revealing leather armour. But Lawless brought so much more to the role than simply looking good in impractical leather armour (although she did look pretty damn stunning). It’s actually almost sickening how talented she is. Drama, comedy, fighting, singing, dancing, you name and she could do it with gusto.

And then there’s Gabby. Lawless might’ve been the star and the rock holding everything together but it all would’ve been nothing without Renee O’Conner as Gabrielle, unquestionably the heart and soul of the entire series. If anything the show was more about her journey of self discovery than it was about Xena’s quest for redemption. Over the next six seasons we got to watch as Gabby went from innocent farm girl to...well, that would be spoiling.

Right, now me being shameless geek is out of the way let’s talk about the actually episode. Although I’d never rank ‘Sin of the Past’ amongst the series’ best, the plot is nothing more than your basic ‘defend the helpless villagers from the evil warlord’ scenario (a tried and tested formula with lots of mileage) and the encounters with the blind Cyclops is just extra padding to stretch out the runtime, it still works effectively as a second pilot for those who never watched Hercules, reintroducing Xena and giving us some much needed insight into her origins without ever becoming too much of a brain aching info-dump.

While she might’ve turned her back on being a murdering bitch Xena still loves to fight. In a pre-credit scene ripe with obviously obvious symbolism Xena, having conveniently just pass through a village she’d previous torched, tries cleansing herself of her dark past by stripping off her armour and burying it. But then some villagers in turmoil cried out for a hero and since Hercules was in a different timeslot it’s up to Xena to save the day. Quick as a flash she’s forgotten all about feeling bad about that torched village she conveniently passed and is instead kicking the crap out of Draco’s men with a gleeful relish.

Redemption is the core theme of Xena’s entire character arc. She doesn’t just want to be forgiven for all the pain and misery she’s caused over the years she wants to make up for it. ‘Sins of the Past’ is essentially all about Xena being caught between her past and her future, represented here by Draco and Gabrielle, respectively. He might be the bad guy but Draco is also cool, sexy and seems, for a bloodthirsty warlord, kinda fun. He wants Xena to forget all this hero nonsense and join him so it can be like the good old days of bloodshed and conquest (and, presumably, loads of post-battle sex). She’s tempted, a big part of her misses the lifestyle, but Draco isn’t nearly as good at the smouldering seduction act as a certain hunky god of war. So Xena ultimately rejects him the only way she knows how; a ludicrously over the top fight sequence. Why simply have a boring fight with staffs when you can an awesome fight with staffs while standing on a crumbling scaffold before moving onto to the heads of helpless villagers. Brilliant! Certainly one of the series’ best action sequences.

With Draco out of the way that leaves Xena to deal with her stalker, Gabrielle. Gabby is a feisty farm girl with strawberry blonde hair who doesn’t want to stay at home, marry the village idiot and raise his children (sorry, Perncus). She wants to travel the world, have adventures, explore her sexuality and, above all else, be Xena’s sidekick. Sure, she seems like a bit of an annoying pain incapable of keeping her mouth shut but Gabrielle is the one person in this entire episode who believes without a shadow of a doubt that Xena can be a good person. She has more faith in Xena than even Xena has in herself. To paraphrase Jim Gordon Gabrielle might not be the sidekick that Xena wanted but she is undoubtedly the sidekick that she needed.

Plus Gabby’s entire stalker act isn’t nearly as desperate and clingy as Draco’s whole ‘I’m going to ransack your village until you agree to go out with me again’ routine.

Myths and Legends:

--I like that, even after being defeated and humiliated, Draco still keeps his word to Xena even going so far as to kill one of his own men when he tries to attack her. Makes Draco a more interesting villain than the snarling over the top warlords you usually see on Hercules and Xena.

--Amphipolis, Xena’s home village, was an ancient Greek city while Potidaea, Gabrielle’s home village, was actually a Corinthian colony in the western point of Chalcidice.

--Not that I’m an expert on such things but what is with Xena’s Marsha Brady hair?

--I love how Draco continues on with his strategy meeting while nonchalantly killing Hector.

--This is the first time that Xena performs her signature ‘pinch’ move.

--Actress Sunny Duach was originally cast as Gabrielle. She didn’t want to leave her boyfriend in LA so she was replaced by O’Connor.

Xena: You know, you should find a different line of work.
Cyclops: Well, like what? I'm a blind Cyclops, for crying out loud.

Gabrielle: I’m going to join up with Xena.

Llia: (laughs) Are you serious?

Gabrielle: Absolutely, going to be a warrior, like her.

Lila: A warrior? Gabrielle, I can beat you up.

Gabrielle: Yeah, but you’re very strong for your age.

Cyclops: Shut up, I hate chatty food.

Xena: (to her dead brother) Since you've been gone, I kind of lost my way. Now, I found it. I thought I could start over. But no, they don't trust me. Not even Mother. I can't blame her. She can't see into my heart. But I've got to believe that you can. And I wish you were here. It's hard to be alone.
Gabrielle: You're not alone.

Draco: Xena! How was the homecoming, did they throw you a party?

Gabrielle: Xena, I'm not cut out for this village life. I was born to do so much more.

Gabrielle:Did you see the guy they want me to marry?
Xena: He looks like a gentle soul, that's rare in a man.
Gabrielle: It's not the gentle part I have a problem with, it's the dull, stupid part.

Doctor Who: The Silurians Review

2011-03-04T14:08:00.002Z

“Unless you Silurians tell us what you want the humans will destroy you!”

With ‘Doctor Who and The Silurians’ (to give it its full and accidental title) Malcolm Hulke takes the alien invasion story and flips it on its head. What could’ve so easily been nothing more than a simple tale of human battling lizard men becomes a morally complex thriller thanks to Hulke’s intelligent storytelling and sharp characterization. It's a masterpiece and one of my personal favourites from Worzel’s tenure.

Instead of the invaders being a bunch of aggressive extraterrestrials from beyond the stars we have the inaccurately named Silurians. They’re the original reptilian inhabitants of the planet who have been dormant underground for 200 million years and now want to rise up and reclaim their planet. But while they were sleeping a load of damn dirty apes started squatting on their property. This places the Doctor into something of a tricky situation. While the humans see monsters and reach for their shotguns and pitchforks he recognizes the Silurians as an intelligent and advanced species with a legitimate claim to the planet. But at the same time he can’t exactly tell the human’s to clear off and find somewhere else to live. For better or worse this is their planet now.

Being neither ape nor lizard the Doctor is the only genuine alien here and the ideal neutral party to try and bring the two sides together. It’s a role that suites Pertwee’s Doctor perfectly but at times he allows his own naivety to get the better of him. The Doctor is often so consumed with stopping the humans from causing trouble, worried that their inherent fear of the unknown will result in bloodshed that he fails to see the threat the Silurians pose until it’s too late. His efforts to bring the two races together and negotiate a peaceful settlement are constantly undone by fanatical factions on both sides.

Even after crisis has been averted and all the troublemakers on both sides are dead the Doctor, ever the optimists, still has hope that peace can be achieved between the two races. That apes and lizards can learn to share the planet with one another. But that was never going to happen. Human beings can barely share the planet with each other let alone another species. In the end the Doctor’s faith in humanity’s better nature goes unrewarded as the Brigadier blows the Silurians base to smithereens rather than risk another biological attack. He sees it as a necessary action to save lives. The Doctor sees it as nothing more than an act of cold blooded murder.

It’s certainly one of the bleakest endings the show has ever done and one that definitely puts a strain on the Doctor’s friendship with the Brigadier. Back when the Doctor was shorter, scruffier and altogether more likeable, the two of them had a much smoother working relationship. But now that he’s taller, debonair and altogether more irritable, things are constantly prickly and intense between them.

With the Doctor and the Brigadier constantly at logger heads with each other it is easy to forget that Liz is there as well. The snarky remarks have been thankfully toned down but she’s still struggling to display a distinctive personality of her own beyond “I’m a scientist”. And for someone who was an independent woman when she was first introduced I’m surprising how easily she backs down whenever the Doctor tells her to be a good girl and do as the Brigadier tells her.

Notes and Quotes

--First appearance of the Doctor’s beloved yellow roadster, Bessie – a car of great character.

--The Doctor claims to have lived for several thousand years. That’s inconsistent.

--The design of the Silurians is impressive but too rigid with limited movement, forcing the actors to shake their heads a lot.

--The Doctor appears to be quite the speedy little sketcher.

--Blake’s 7 fans will no doubt recognise Captain Hawkings as none other than a young Paul Darrow.

--Those caves sets do look awfully good, don’t they? Especially considering this was all on a Doctor Who budget.

--In the show’s grand tradition of rubbish monsters the Silurians’ pet dinosaur isn’t very convincing. More to the point is it supposed to be their pet or their great Uncle Gerald?

The Doctor: My dear Miss Shaw, I never report myself anywhere, particularly not forthwith.

Dr. Lawrence: You’re not proposing to dismantle a piece of equipment worth fifteen million pounds with a screwdriver?

The Doctor: Well, it’s not worth fifteen million pins if it doesn’t work, is it?

The Doctor: Hello, are you a Silurian?

Dr. Lawrence: This is the Permanent Under Secretary.

The Doctor: Yes, well, I've got no time to talk to under secretaries - permanent or otherwise.

The Doctor: That’s typical of the military mind, isn’t it? Present them with a new problem and they start shooting at it.

Rating: 5/5

Doctor Who: Spearheads From Space Review

2011-02-11T19:34:00.003Z

“We deal with the odd, the unexplained, anything on Earth... or beyond”

After six years of monochrome adventuring through time and space ‘Spearheads from Space’ sees Doctor Who undergo a complete transformation. Now broadcast in glorious colour (assuming, that is, you had a colour television in 1970) the entire format of the show was radically altered in order to keep production costs down as well as make the series grittier and more grown up. Taking inspiration from the likes of Nigel Kneale’s Quatermass serials outgoing producer Derrick Sherwin wanted to get away from ‘wobbly jellies in outer space’ by bringing the show crashing back down to earth.

Following his trial and conviction by the Time Lords at the end of ‘The War Games’ the freshly regenerated Doctor has been exiled to near future/modern day Earth (don’t ask), a far cheaper setting than all those alien quarries. Trapped in one place and time the Doctor now finds himself working alongside his old mates at UNIT, defending the earth from alien invaders and science experiments gone horribly wrong.

Before ‘The Eleventh Hour’ came along and made us all realise how undeniably cool bow times really are ‘Spearheads from Space’ was my favourite post-regeneration/new Doctor story. Much like Matt Smith’s introduction it works extremely well as a jumping on point for new fans. You don’t really need to have seen the previous six series to understand or enjoy it. Robert Holmes’ script cleverly covers all the basics you need to know without ever feeling like you’re being subjected to a massive info dump. At the same time it firmly establishing the legend that is Worzel Gummidge as the new Doctor.

Growing up Jon Pertwee was one of my favourite Doctors (partially because of the Worzel connection) but these days I’m not as enthusiastic about him as I used to be. At his absolute worst he could be a boorish, temperamental and patronizing old grump who, despite his flamboyant attire, is often more eccentric than extraterrestrial (I never got much of a Time Lord vibe with Pertwee). But when he’s at his best, as he is here, the Third Doctor is a charismatic, refined and debonair man of action as well as a compassionate do-gooder and ever curious scientist. He’s Bernard Quatermass crossed with Derek Flint, always happy to tinker with sci-fi gizmos, drive fast cars, knock back fine wines and karate chop bad guys across the head (obviously he never got the memo about the Doctor being a pacifist).

With Jamie and Zoe now mind-wiped and shuffled off back to their native times the Doctor gains a pair of brand new companions. The Brigadier is back, now on a permanent basis and as unflappable as ever.

Filling out the crucial role of female companion we have Miss Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Shaw. In terms of female characterization Liz Shaw is a step forward for the show. She’s a stronger and more mature character than the wide-eyed adolescent screamers the Doctor used to travel with, someone who’s more in tune with Woman’s Lib (albeit the show’s somewhat narrow understanding of it) and isn’t likely to be tolerant of the casual chauvinism of her UNIT colleagues. It’s just a shame I’ve never much liked Liz Shaw. It’s not that I hate her like I do with some other companions, I just can’t find anything to really like about her. Most of the time she comes across as an excessively sarcastic Scully, mocking our beloved Brigadier for believing in aliens and never once apologising for it when he’s proved right (bet she’s just jealous we love him more).

‘Spearheads from Space’ does have the unfortunate side effect of highlighting the major flaw with Sherwin’s more grounded, less fantastical approach to the series. As Malcolm Hulke was quick point out there’s very limited story potential in having the Doctor stuck on Earth all the time and working with UNIT. You can only do two types of story; alien invasion and mad scientist. This wasn’t a problem for Sherwin. He scarpered after this story to be replaced by Barry Letts.

Once the post-regeneration rigmarole is over and done with the last two episodes plays out like a condensed rehash of ‘The Invasion’. There are even a few bits and pieces of Quatermass II thrown in too such as the idea of aliens falling to Earth in meteorites, a factory being used to grow a creature and the government being infiltrated. But I’ve never let a lack of originality stop me from enjoying a Robert Holmes story before and I’m not going to start now.

The Autons themselves are quite a nifty concept. The idea of something as plain and everyday as shop window dummies coming alive and turning into instruments of death and destruction is brilliant and quintessentially Doctor Who. But, personally, I don’t think the execution quite manages to successfully live up to the idea. The final showdown with the Nestene’s perfect form/octopus-thingy is letdown by some special effects too dodgy even for this show and Jon Pertwee’s successful audition for the National Gurning Championship.

Notes and Quotes:

--As it now somewhat traditional, a new Doctor means a new title sequence, logo design and reworking of the theme tune.

--The Doctor steals his costume from the hospital lockers just like his Eighth and Eleventh incarnations. Along with the theft of the TARDIS and that hospital big wig’s fancy car its further evidence he’s something of a kleptomaniac.

--When he first appears the new Doctor is briefly seen wearing his predecessor’s wardrobe. Despite the noticeable height difference between Jon Pertwee and Patrick Trouhgton it fits him perfectly. Are the Doctor’s clothes also bigger on the inside?

--We learn for the first time that Time Lords have two hearts.

--Why do aliens invaders always seem to think that marching very, very slowly down the high street and zapping bus queues at random is a viable plan for global domination?

--That UNIT radar operator was seriously sweaty. Get some Lynx, man!

--The Doctor seems to have regenerated with both a tattoo and… tan lines?

--Did no one find it a little farfetched that there was a famous Civil Servants section at Madame Tussauds?

Liz: You really believe in a man who has helped to save the world twice, with the power to change his physical appearance?
The Brigadier: I’m not sure. It might not be the same man.
Liz: An alien who travels though time and space… in a police box?”

The Brigadier: In the last decade, we've been sending probes deeper and deeper into space. We've drawn attention to ourselves, Miss Shaw.

Liz: Do you know him?
The Brigadier: What? No. I thought I might do but he's a complete stranger. I've never seen him before in my life.
The Doctor: Lethbridge-Stewart? My dear fellow, how nice to see you again.

The Brigadier: Well at least he won't get very far.
Liz: You mean before your men shoot him again.
The Brigadier: I don't find that funny.

The Doctor: Alright, alright, I assume you want to see my pass, well I haven’t got one. And I’m not going to tell you my name. You just run along and tell Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart I want to see him. Well don’t just stand there arguing with me man!

Liz: What are you a doctor of, by the way?
The Doctor: Practically everything, my dear.

Rating: 4/5

Doctor Who: The War Games Review

2011-02-05T18:44:00.006Z

"NO!!!! Stop! You're making me giddy! No, you can't do this to me! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No!"

Epic in both length and content ‘The War Games’ is, in this humble fan’s opinion, the best Patrick Troughton story that still exists in its entirety. Bringing to an end one era of the show while neatly setting the stage for the next, this would be the final story in black and white, the last story of the 1960s and final regular appearance of Second Doctor and his ever faithful companions, Jamie and Zoe.

Naturally, being a mammoth ten episodes long the pace does begin to drag now and again. You could start a drinking game based on how many times the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe get captured, accused of being spies, manage to escape only to get captured and accused of being spies all over again. And that’s just the World War I scenes. After that we get into lots of tedious running back and forth between the different war zones before the War Lords are fully introduced and the main story really starts to get going.

The one thing that ‘The War Games’ is still best remembered for is finally shedding some light on the Doctor’s mysterious past by introducing his people, the all powerful Time Lords. But they don’t really show up until the end of episode nine, leaving the Doctor’s trial and subsequent exile to Earth as nothing more than an epilogue to the main story. Plus, it has to be said, despite their immense and terrifying power the Time Lords themselves are a bit on the dull side.

Patrick Troughton is at the absolute top of his game throughout. No real surprise there, he was always amazing. Even during this less than stellar season I never once caught him slouching off or phoning it in. It is a tragedy that more of his stories didn’t survive the BBC’s merciless purging of their back catalogue. Trouhgton might not have been the first actor to play the Doctor but there’s no doubt in my mind that he was the very first actor who truly was the Doctor. Even to this day you can still see the traces of the loveable cosmic hobo in every subsequent Doctor’s DNA, most evidently in Matt Smith. Bow ties only became cool because Patrick Troughton wore one.

One of the reasons this period in the show’s history was so memorable was because of the partnership between Troughton and his kilt wearing straight man, Fraser Hines. Together, the Second Doctor and Jamie were the finest double-act the series ever produced. No other Doctor and companion will ever develop the same kind of pitch perfect chemistry that these two shared (although David Tennant and Catherine Tate come pretty close).

It’s impossible not to love Jamie. Out of all the Doctor’s male companions he’s by far the best (sorry, Captain Jack fans). He might’ve been raised as a simple piper’s son from the highlands of 18^th century Scotland but Jamie possessed a brave heart, down to earth common sense, a willingness to accept the unbelievable (even if he didn’t always understand it) and a killer pair of legs. The man sure knew how to work a kilt.

The final goodbye scene is a heartbreaking gem, made all the better by how understated it is. It’s touching the way Jamie wants to still keep on fighting, to make one final attempt to escape, right until the end. After all they’ve been through together he remains unwavering in his loyalty to the Doctor. But the Doctor is consigned to his fate. He knows that he can’t beat the Time Lords and he would never dare risk his companions’ lives in doing so.

Beside the regulars most of the supporting characters are either outrageously over the top or decidedly one note and forgettable. Only the bad guys manage to standout. Reminding us why he was the best thing in ‘The Krotons’ Philip Madoc more or less steals the entire show as the War Lord, despite not even showing up until Episode 7. Meanwhile, Edward Brayshaw’s War Chief could almost be seen as a proto-Master. After all he’s a renegade Time Lord with aspirations of galactic conquest, a fondness for Nehru jackets, a questionable choice of facial hair and a history of sorts with the Doctor. If he wasn’t gunned down by the War Lord’s gimp goons you could almost argue that he actually is the Master (not that a little thing like death has stopped some fans theorising).

On the production side of things, the WWI scenes are simply amazing. Grim and gritty with an authentic feel for the period. Sadly, the American Civil War Zone just comes off as a bunch of RADA actors hanging out in a barn set practicing their ‘Yankee’ accents while the Roman Zone is just the same footage of galloping Centurions recycled over and over again. But I do love the pop art design of the War Lords’ base, especially the Security Chief’s groovy office. You can easily imagine it doubling for a nightclub on weekends when everyone wants to kick back and have some fun after a busy week of warmongering.

Notes and Quotes

--David Troughton (son of Patrick) appears in the minor speaking role of Private Moor. He'd previously been an extra in 'The Enemy of the World' and would later go on to appear in ‘The Curse of Peldon’ and ‘Midnight’.

--For once we get to see the Doctor actually uses the Sonic Screwdriver to actually unscrew an actual screw. Sonically!

--There seems to be an abundance of dry ice on Gallifrey.

--This story establishes that Time Lords can recognize one another regardless of regeneration.

-- In a story loaded with dodgy accents David Garfield gets the top prize for not just one appalling accent but two. Rudolph Walker gets the runner-up prize for repeatedly slipping into his natural Caribbean while Michael Napier-Brown is awarded the ‘Least Convincing Mexican Stereotype’ prize.

--The childish game of one-upmanship between the War Chief and the Security Chief is a personal highlight. Especially the War Lord’s amused reaction to their petty squabbling.

--Honestly, the Doctor and his companions have to be the worst hiders ever.

--The Doctor’s trial in Episode 10 features cameos from all the Doctor’s biggest enemies; the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Ice Warriors, the Yetis and… the Quarks???

--Bernard Horsfall previously appeared in ‘The Mind Robber’ as Gulliver. He’ll later appear in ‘Planet of the Daleks’ and ‘The Deadly Assassin’.

--Love the Doctor’s little card cube Time Lord communication thingy.

The Doctor: I have to go!

Jaime: Now look, if you’re gonna be in trouble, you’ll need me to look after you.

Zoe: Me too.

All together now, Awwwwww…

The War Lord: Don't worry. When the Time Lords get him, he'll wish you had killed him... they're coming.

The Doctor: It is a fact, Jamie, that I do tend to get involved with things.

Jamie: Aye, you can say that again. Whenever there’s any trouble, he’s in it right up to his neck.

The Doctor: (to Time Lords) Oh, good. I’m glad to see your sense of justice still prevails, (to Jamie and Zoe) even though they’ve lost their sense of humour.

The Doctor: All these evils I have fought, while you have done nothing but observe! True, I am guilty of interference. Just as you are guilty of failing to use your great powers to help those in need!

Time Lord: Is that all you have to say?

The Doctor: Well, isn’t it enough?

The Doctor: Goodbye, Jamie.

Jamie: But Doctor, surely we could…

The Doctor: Goodbye, Jamie.

Jamie: I won't forget you, you know.

The Doctor: I won't forget you. Now don't go blundering into too much trouble, will you?

Jamie: You're a fine one to talk!

Rating: 5/5

Doctor Who: The Seeds of Death Review

2011-01-27T19:20:00.008Z

“Your leader will be angry if you kill me! I’m a genius”

The Patrick Troughton years were the beginning of the monster boom on Doctor Who. The historical episodes, a regular fixture of the previous era, had been phase out and replaced by numerous ‘base under siege’ stories as the Doctor frequently battled Daleks, Cybermen, Yeti, Macra, Quarks, Krotons, Cybermen again and the Ice Warriors.

Coming from the planet Mars the Ice Warriors made their debut the previous season in, incidentally, ‘The Ice Warriors’. Alas, like so many of the Second Doctor’s best adventures, that story no longer exists in its entirety with two out of its six episodes currently missing. Luckily their next appearance in ‘The Seeds of Death’ has managed to survive intact. Alas, again, like many sequels it’s just not up to the same standard as the original.

While its predecessor featured some impressive sets and funky costumes ‘The Seeds of Death’ is the exact opposite with drab, identical costumes and cheap, dull-looking sets. It isn’t a terrible story just a rather drawn out and uninspired one. One thing that clearly separates classic and modern Doctor Who from each other is pace. Modern Who can move along at such a rapid pace you sometimes find yourself struggling to keep up. On the other hand classic Who could often be so languid you'd struggle just to maintain interest.

Nothing really happens for the first two episodes. The Ice Warriors show up, kill a bunch of extras then everyone dithers on about space rockets for what seems like forever. That’s one of the problems with six-parters, they tend to feature only four episodes worth of actually story and about two episodes of obvious padding. Things do pick up once our Police Box based heroes get to the moonbase and the plot gets some much need forward momentum, no doubt as the result of Terrance Dicks doing an uncredited rewrite of Hayles original script.

Unlike the angry pepper pots and the cyber dullards, I’ve always liked the Ice Warriors. They’ve always been one of the more three dimensional of the Doctor’s classic foes, equally adept at being ally and adversary, but that don’t change the fact they often lumber around the set like a bunch of drunken Frankensteins in turtle costumes. How anyone can fail to escape them is beyond me. This being classic Doctor Who there is the requisite running up and down of lots of corridors but director Ferguson has a bit of fun with it in episode three, turning the chase into a delightful farce with some nifty visual tricks concluding with one of the Doctor’s finest punch-lines (See Above).

Notes and Quotes

--The dreaded seeds of the title look about as apocalyptic as a bottle of Fairy Liquid. Death by soap suds does not make for the most gripping cliff-hanger. On the bright side at least now we know that if Martian warriors ever did invade we won’t have to worry about having any dirty dishes.

--In the future all forms of transport have been made obsolete by T-Mat. Does this mean people use T-Mat just to nip to the corner shop for some milk? The lazy buggers!

--Much like ‘The Ice Warriors’ this story features a distinctive mini-credit sequences with the atmospheric shots of the Earth and Moon.

--Hard to believe that mankind could be scientifically advanced enough to develop a form of matter transfer but not invent a mode of space transport more advanced that your basic rocket.

--Although this is the second appearance of the Ice Warriors this is the first time we see an Ice Lord.

Slaar: You did this.

The Doctor: Yes. That signal has been going no further than this control room.

Slaar: But they were receiving my signal.

The Doctor: Not yours - ours.

Rating: 3/5

Doctor Who: The Krotons Review

2011-01-23T11:33:00.001Z

“The Doctor’s almost as clever as I am”

Robert Holmes isn’t just my favourite Doctor Who writer, he is without a shadow of a doubt the finest writer this show has ever had (past, present or future) and I will gladly fight anyone who says differently.

What was that? Russell T. Davies? Right, you, outside now!

Holmes had a knack for writing clever (if not always entirely original) stories filled with colourful characters and dialogue Steven Moffat would sell his children for. Unfortunately, you’re unlikely to find any of that in ‘The Krotons’.

Even at its best this is the series at its absolute blandest. The plot is nothing we haven’t seen a dozen times before. In fact ‘The Krotons’ could almost be a textbook example of how to write an average Doctor Who story. The Doctor and his companions arrive on a planet to find one group of mean aliens enslaving another group of peaceful doormats. Quicker than you can say ‘reverse the polarity’ the bad guys are defeated, the slaves are freed and our heroes wave goodbye before departing in their trusty blue box.

Our villains of the week, the Krotons of Birmingham, are the latest in a long line of tiresome Daleks wannabes. Their basic design even looks suspiciously like it could’ve been rejected Dalek concept art (although I do love their spinning heads). Their slaves, the uniformly dressed Gonds, are a truly uninspired lot who spend far too much time bickering about how to fight their oppressors than they actually do fighting their oppressors. On the plus side, one of them is played by Philip Madoc, a seasoned expert in the delicate art of scene-stealing.

And as for the dialogue, for the most part it’s merely functional with only a few choice quotes. To be fair, this was only Holmes first script for the show so it is understandable and completely forgivable that he hasn’t yet found his niche. In time he’d be the king but for now he’s merely a stranger in a strange land trying to find his way.

Notes and Quotes

--Zoe seems to have developed the same affinity for hypnotically shorts skirts as Amy Pond.

--Philip Madoc had previously appeared (alongside Bernard Cribbins) in the Peter Cushing film, Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD.

--Zoe’s smug little grin at gaining the highest score on the Krotons’ learning machines is utterly adorable.

--The TARDIS has a Hostile Action Displacement System that causes the TARDIS to automatically dematerialize if under attack.

--This is the Krotons only appearance in the television series but they would latter feature in the Big Finish audio story ‘Return of the Krotons’ with the Sixth Doctor and Charley Pollard.

Beta: It is not patriotism to lead people into a war they cannot win.

Seleris: Doctor, you mean that thing was sent out to attack you and only you?

The Doctor: Yes, so it would seem. It’s rather flattering, isn’t it?

The Doctor: Zoe is something of a genius. It can be rather irritating at times.

The Doctor: Great jumping gobstoppers, what's that?

Rating: 2/4

Doctor Who: The Invasion Review

2011-01-20T21:04:00.009Z

"My body may be cybernetic but my mind stays human!"

Playing out like the world’s longest and cheapest Bond movie, ‘The Invasion’ is probably the most iconic and well-loved Cybermen story. As far as I’m concerned it’s unquestionably their finest hour, made all the better by the fact the cybernetic dullards from Mondas are hardly in it.

To be honest they’ve never been the Doctor’s most exciting adversaries and for the majority of the story they’re wisely kept firmly in the background. You don’t even see a Cyberman until the end of Episode 4. Keeping them hidden adds a little mystery and suspense to proceedings as we’re left to wonder who or indeed what Vaughn’s mysterious alien allies are. When the Cybermen do bother to show up in full force they get their big moment of glory as they pour out of the London sewers and march down the steps outside St Paul’s Cathedral. Sure, for a global invasion force you never see more than six Cybermen at a time but that never diminishes the impact of these scenes.

And yet you could easily swap them for any generic group of alien invaders and it wouldn’t make the slightest bit of difference. Make no mistake, the Cybermen might be the headliners but there’s little doubt that Kevin Stoney’s villainous Tobias Vaughn is the star attraction here. Like some twisted fusion of Rupert Murdoch and Steve Jobs, with just a tiny dash of Blofeld thrown in, Tobias Vaughn is one of the finest megalomaniacs the Doctor has ever faced. Around the Doctor and his companions he comes across as a suave, charming and affable businessman, his demeanour always calm and controlled. But behind all the charm is a truly unpleasant individual; sadistic, egotistical, arrogant and seriously foul tempered.

Being you’re typical diabolical mastermind Vaughn believes the world would be better off with him in charge. So he goes into partnership with the Cybermen, even going so far as to have his body partially cyber-converted. But an egotist like Vaughn would never allow himself to submit fully to the Cybermen’s control and become just another mindless drone. He’s a capitalist after all and has no time for any of that communist twaddle. Far as Vaughn is concerned the Cybermen are the junior partners in this coalition. He’s David Cameron, they’re Nick Clegg. Their sole purpose is to get him into power. Once that goal is achieved they will become irrelevant. But the Cybermen are no Lib Dem pushovers and cannot be easily wowed by cabinet posts and flashy ministerial cars. They see this alliance as more a Tony/Gordon sort of thing. They’ll play nice and make deals for the time being but at then end of the day they expect to be the ones in charge not Vaughn.

Vaughn’s presence also highlights one of the key problems with villains like the Cybermen; you just can’t talk to them. They’re not known for being great communicators so all you can do is rant at them over and over again about how cold and unemotional they are. All of which is redundant anyway since they couldn’t give a monkey’s. With Vaughn the Doctor comes across an adversary he can sit down with and have a proper conversation giving Stoney and Troughton ample opportunity to play off each other nicely.

Along with the march outside St Paul’s and Stoney’s effortless scene stealing ‘The Invasion’ is also notable as the very first story that saw the Doctor working alongside UNIT. Nowadays they’ve becomes less cuddly and more thuggish (although those red berets are certainly fetching) but back in the day the brave men, and occasional woman, of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce were a thoroughly decent set of chaps, ever eager to aid the Doctor and his companions in thwarting the schemes of alien invaders and diabolical masterminds intent on global domination. I’ve always remembered UNIT as a random association of well-meaning but clueless background extras. Here UNIT presented as a professional, well organised and believable military outfit.

But let’s forget about them for a second and instead talk about their leader, the venerable Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (a personification of unruffled Britishness if ever there was one). You’ve just gotta love the Brigadier. It’s practically the law now for all Doctor Who fans; “love the Brig or else its five rounds rapid”. Next to the Doctor he’s got to be the most enduring character in the show’s history. Thanks, in no small part, to the most immaculate ‘tache this side of Tom Selleck. It doesn’t even matter that it’s a big fat phoney because Nicholas Courtney wears it ever so well. I should hate the Brigadier. He’s exactly the sort of priggish, stiff-lipped, chauvinistic, by the book, upper class, professional British army officer my grim up north, working class, socialist upbringing has taught me to despise. But if I were tapped in a dark ally, facing down a horde of Cybermen there’s no one I’d want at my side more than the Brigadier.

Notes and Quotes

--This is one of the many stories from the 1960s that remains incomplete due to BBC wiping the original tapes. Episodes 1 and 4 are still currently in limbo. When ‘The Invasion’ was first released on home video Nicholas Courtney provided linking summaries. For the DVD release the missing episodes were animated by Cosgrove Hill using the script and off-air audio recordings of the original episodes made by fans. Sadly this seems to have been a one off venture and there are no further plans to animate any other missing episodes.

--If you look very carefully in Episode 1 you’ll notice that one of the animators has written ‘Bad Wolf’ on Isobel’s wall.

--The Brigadier was introduced the previous season in ‘The Web of Fear’, helping the Doctor to battle robot Yeti in the London Underground (yes, that description is as awesome as it sounds). Sadly, all episodes from that story featuring the Brig are currently lost.

--First appearance of loveable Corporal (later Sergeant) Benton. Also, thankfully, the only appearance of the patronising Captain Jimmy Turner.

--Kevin Stoney previously appeared as the villainous Mavic Chen in the 12-part epic ‘The Dalek’s Master Plan’ alongside Nicholas Courtney, who played space security agent Bret Vyon.

--First story with Terrance Dicks as script-editor. He’d remain in the post for the next seven years, longer than anyone else, and later go on to write a staggering number of Target novelizations.

--Packer has to be the most consistently hopeless minion I’ve ever seen. No wonder Vaughn is always losing his rag if he has to stand for that level of incompetence all the time.

--For such an international organization UNIT seems to have a very limited recruit strategy. If you’re not a white, middle-class male you need not apply.

--The Cybermen’s Cyber-Shoes appear to have Cyber-Shoelaces. Wonder if they got them at Clarks?

--This was the fourth and final time that the Second Doctor battled the Cybermen. They wouldn’t be seen again until ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’ six years later.

--Along with the Chameleon Circuit the TARDIS can also turn invisible, a handy feature, as long as you can remember where you parked.

The Doctor: Oh, yes, it could be 20th century.

England

in summertime, I should say. See the rain clouds?

The Doctor: It's Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart!
The Brigadier: Ah, Brigadier now, I've gone up in the world.

The Doctor: I hate computers and refuse to be bullied by them!

Professor Watkins: You're an evil man, Vaughn. You're sadistic. You're a megalomaniac. You're insane. I pity you. But if I get half a chance, I'll kill you.

The Brigadier: Well, don't look so worried. Fancy a cup of tea?

Told you, British to his very core.

Zoe: Just because you're a man you think you're superior, do you?
Jamie: Ah, now I didn't say that… Of course, it's true.

And this from a man wearing a skirt.

Tobias Vaughn: No. If I help you, it’ll only be because I hate them. The Cybermen, my “allies”. You think I’m mad, that all I want power for its own sake. No, I have to have power. The world is weak, vulnerable, a mess of uncoordinated and impossible ideals. It needs a strong man, a single mind, a leader.

Rating: 4/5

Doctor Who: The Mind Robber Review

2011-01-12T17:08:00.004Z

“Well, we’re nowhere. It’s as simple as that”

When I first saw ‘The Mind Robber’ at the wee age of very small I thought it was absolutely brilliant. A fantastical and atmospheric tale filled with some unforgettable imagery. But I eventually grew up and with age comes cynicism. Now I can’t help seeing ‘The Mind Robber’ for what it really is; a load of surrealist nonsense that could’ve only been produced in the 1960s

That’s not to say ‘The Mind Robber’ is bad. The first episode is a triumph as the Doctor and his companions find themselves trapped in an empty void, haunted by strange visions and hounded by mysterious White Robots. It’s a brilliantly low key and unsettling episode culminating in one of the show’s greatest cliff-hangers; the breaking up of the TARDIS.

Visually the whole story is faultless with director David Maloney proving that just because you’ve got less than a child’s pocket money for a budget doesn’t mean things have to look shabby. There are some brilliant ideas and fantastic images on display here such as the giant toy soldiers, the forest of words and a castle that’s fairy tale on the outside but sci-fi on the inside. Special mention must go to the BBC sound department for creating some truly unsettling soundscapes.

But there simply isn’t enough story material to sustain all five episodes. What starts out as surreal and atmospheric quickly becomes wearisome and infuriating by episode three. But once our heroes end up in the Land of Fiction they seem to aimlessly roam around, going from one tiresome puzzle to another before finally coming face to face with the rather lacklustre end of level baddie, the Master (no, not that one). And in the end he’s just the puppet of an unseen power with an absurdly convoluted scheme to, surprise, conquer the earth.

With only a few token sci-fi elements this is probably the closest Doctor Who has ever come to being pure fantasy which is part of the problem. Since nothing is real there’s no threat, no tension. Anything that might harm our heroes, including a variety of mythical beasties, is easily vanquished by doing a unified Victor Meldrew impression (“We don’t believe it! We don’t believe it!”). The climactic battle of wits between the Doctor and the Master involving an ever changing roster of literary swashbucklers is terrific. Then things get muddle and confusing, stuff starts blowing up and before you’ve even got the foggiest idea what is going on the Doctor and co are saying ‘cheerio’ and are off to their next adventure as if nothing had ever happened.

Notes and Quotes

--In their battle The Doctor and the Master summon up Cyrano de Bergerac, D'Artagnan, Blackbeard and Sir Lancelot. With the exception of Lancelot all were based on real people.

--The forest of words looks more impressive when seen from ground level rather than from above.

--It’s adorable the way Jamie clutches onto the Doctor for safety after they’ve activate the emergency unit.

--The Episode 1 cliff-hanger is an exceptional sequence still best remembered for the cameraman taking a nice long leer at Zoe’s bum. Sadly for those with an appreciation for the male form there are no gratuitous shots up Jamie’s kilt.

--The Karkus has to be the naffest superhero I’ve ever seen. The name is bad enough (as is the wandering accent) but that costume is truly absurd. However, despite some rubbish fight choreography, I do love it when Zoe goes all Emma Peel on his ass.

--Jamie’s unexpected change of appearance (and regional accent) was a last minute addition after Frazer Hines contracted chicken pox.

The Doctor: Well, there is an emergency unit, but, oh no, I can’t possibly use that.

Zoe: But this IS an emergency.

The Doctor: It moves the TARDIS out of the time-space dimension, out of reality.

Jamie: Fine, reality’s getting too hot, anyway.

Zoe: We're lost, aren't we.

Jamie: No, I wouldn't say that. We're just er... well...um... You want to know something?

Zoe: What?

Jamie: I think we're lost.

Gulliver: What became of my companions I cannot tell. They were all lost.

The Doctor: Oh my dear sir, you and I are in the same boat.

Gulliver: You have a stout ship?

The Master: We have no wish to destroy them, just... adjust their minds to suit our purposes.
The Doctor: Sausages! Man will just become like a string of sausages, all the same!

Gulliver: We obey our creator, that is all that can be expected of any character, unless the Master bids us otherwise.

Rating: 3/5

Doctor Who: The Dominators Review

2011-01-11T23:05:00.011Z

“Shall we destroy? Shall we destroy?”

One of the great tragedies of Doctor Who is the loss of numerous episodes from the show’s monochrome days due to the BBC’s insane junking policy during the 1970s (cheap gits wouldn’t fork out for new tapes so they just recorded over all the old ones). Patrick Troughton certainly came off the worst. To date only six of his stories still exist in their entirety. Eleven are incomplete and four are completely lost, unlikely to ever be recovered. Season six (Troughton’s last as the Doctor) is the only Second Doctor season that remains more or less intact with only two incomplete stories. ‘The Dominators’ was the opening story of that season and by Rassillon’s beard is it dull.

I’ve seen Doctor Who at its absolute best (‘The Caves of Androzani’), its unforgivable worst (‘The Twin Dilemma’) and everything else in-between but even all that wasn’t enough to prepare me for how relentlessly dull ‘The Dominators’ is. How lacklustre crap like this can have managed to survive unscathed while so many great stories are lost in limbo is surely definitive proof that the Almighty must’ve preferred The Tomorrow People.

Everything is dull. The bad guys, the Dominators, are dull. The Quarks, their robotic sidekicks and one of the last major attempts to duplicate the massive success of Dalekmania, are dull and rubbish. The spineless pacifists they’re picking on are dull not to mention annoying as they waste five episodes bickering over whether to surrender now or debate further. The costumes and the sets are drab and uninspiring while the plot moves along at the pace of a geriatric snail stuck in line at the Post Office.

One thing ‘The Dominators’ does have in its favour is the magic trio of Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury as the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe, unquestionably one of the best TARDIS teams there has ever been and one of my personal favourites. By this point the Second Doctor and Jamie were an indispensable double-act, each perfectly in-synch with the other. The addition of Zoe, a smug and utterly adorable smarty pants, was just the icing on the cake.

Notes and Quotes

--This story was originally supposed to be a six-parter but was heavily rewritten by then script-editor Derrick Sherwin and reduced to five episodes.

--The Dominators possess the most epic shoulder pads in existence.

--Writers Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln weren’t happy with Sherwin’s rewrites, nor the BBC’s plans to merchandise the Quarks. In response they had their names taken off and the pseudonym ‘Norman Ashby’ was used instead.

--Apparently the Quarks were operated from inside by three small boys. The BBC was notorious for its use of child labour back then.

Toba: Primitive architecture.

Rago: Every culture develops, Probationer Toba, never base an assumption on the past examine the present.

Toba: We’re meant to be obeyed!

Jamie: Not by me you’re not.

The Doctor: An unintelligent enemy is far less dangerous than an intelligent one, Jamie.
Jamie: Eh?
The Doctor: Just act stupid. Do you think you can manage that?
Jamie: Oh, aye, it's eas...

Jamie: Oh, no, you're not thinking of what I think you're thinking of, are you?

The Doctor: That, I think, Jamie, depends upon what you think I am thinking!

Rating: 2/5

Babylon 5: Season 5 DVD Review

2010-07-17T16:12:00.009+01:00

The Wheel of Fire

The last minute renewal for Babylon 5 was something of a mixed blessing. On one had it meant that the show would continue and J. Michael Straczynski would now be able to complete his much talked about five-year-plan. But since Straczynski had wrapped up almost every single significant plot thread the previous season he was now stumped about what to do next. Sure, he had a lot of great stuff with Londo planned but that didn’t get going until towards the end of the season. So what the hell was he going to do until then?

Straczynski had twenty-one episodes to fill up and had barely enough story material to cover a quarter of the season. Rather than relinquish some creative control by bringing in a load of new writers and some fresh ideas Straczynski continued to write virtually every single episode himself even though it’s clear by now that he’d reached his burnout point. Granted, the only time he did allow someone else to write an episode it resulted in Neil Gaiman’s dreary ‘Day of the Dead’ but that's still no excuse for not sharing your toys, Joe. Actually, in many ways the series came full circle with season five as Babylon 5 went back to the sort standalone filler dreck everyone thought we’d seen the last of in season one. Worst offender being the abysmal Stoppard homage ‘A View from the Galley’ which looks at an attack on the station from the perspective of two repair workers who sadly, unlike Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, don’t end up dead at the end.

The lack of decent episodes wasn't the show’s only problem this season, it's previously strong characterization seemed to have vanished entirely. They might’ve looked the same, they might’ve even sounded the same but these were not the same characters we’d been following faithfully over the last four years. Despite now being a President of the Interstellar Alliance (with all the power and influence of a UN Secretary-General) Sheridan still stomps around the station like he owns the place becoming the type of character you’d rather punch in the face than follow into the jaws of hell. Delenn, meanwhile, has been relegated to the prestigious role of ‘her indoors’. Elsewhere, Garibaldi roamed aimlessly around the station in a futile search for a decent plot line while Londo and G’Kar spend all season working on perfecting their buddy comedy routine. And with Claudia Christian gone (but sure as hell not forgotten) Tracy Scoggins was brought in to replace Susan Ivanova as Captain Elizabeth Lockley, the station’s new commander and Sheridan’s ex-wife (huh?). It’s perhaps humanly impossible to suspend disbelieve long enough to take the glamorous Scoggins seriously as a tough military leader.

Now that the Shadows were gone and President Clark had been overthrown there were no more enemies to fight and our heroes were all getting ready to live happily ever after. As a result virtually nothing happened for the majority of the season. The only significant event in the first half was a limp rebellion by Gap model telepaths lead by Byron, a walking personality black hole. The only upside to this arc was more focus on Patricia Tallman's underused Lyta Alexander and the always welcome return of Bester, who even get’s his own episode this season, the disappointingly bland ‘The Corp Is Mother, The Corp is Father’. Once all the dull telepath malarkey was done with the season finally starts to pick up some much needed steam as the Interstellar Alliance went to war with the Centauri. But even this conflict fails to provide the same kind of high drama and epic battles the show used to give us. Only the tragic conclusion of Londo’s story in ‘The Fall of Centauri Prime’ makes any kind of emotional impact.

The remaining episodes are all used for some last minute wrap up and a shed load of teary goodbye scenes to rival anything Peter Jackson could come up with. After everyone has gone their separate way Straczynski closes the book with ‘Sleeping in Light’ an elegant and beautiful epilogue for the series and one of the finest series finales of all time. Although it did mange to end on a high note (notably with an episode left over from the previous year) overall season five is a disappointing dud. Despite the less than grand farewell Babylon 5 still remains one of the finest sci-fi series ever produced. Admittedly it was something of a flawed masterpiece thanks to the occasional wooden acting, clunky dialogue, dodgy standalone episodes, cheap sets and a tendency to get lost up its own arse. But with this show Straczynski created something truly unique, an epic science fiction novel for television told in five volumes with a definitive beginning, middle and end. Yeah, the beginning was a bit uneven and the end part didn’t work out as planned but that middle section, boy, was it good.

Rating: 2/5

DVD Extras:
- Introduction by series creator J. Michael Straczynski
- Audio Commentaries
- Making-of documentaries "Digital Tomorrow: & "Beyond Babylon 5"
- Data & Personal Files
- Additional scenes
- Gag reel

Babylon 5: Season 4 DVD Review

2010-07-06T09:28:00.007+01:00

No Surrender, No Retreat

So much for best laid plans, eh. When he first conceived of Babylon 5 way back when J. Michael Straczynski had a definitive five year plan for the series. By the fourth season that plan was in serious danger of falling apart. The Prime Time Entertainment Network, the series’ home from day one, was not long for this world and as such the future of the series was uncertain. Fearing that his show would be cancelled before he could conclude the story Straczynski went in to emergency damage control and started wrapping up the all major storylines far earlier than he’d initially planned. As a result season four is the most densely packed season of the show’s entire run as barely a single episode is wasted in Straczynski’s mad rush to bring his story to a what seemed at the time to be a premature end.

After nearly three years of planning and build up the Shadow War, for many years the very driving force of the entire series, was over in the space of just six episodes. The whole thing raced to an underwhelming conclusion that basically amounted to nothing more than Captain Sheridan telling the Shadows and Vorlons off for being naughty and sending them their rooms without any supper for the rest of eternity. Babylon 5 was the first notable sci-fi series to start using extensive story arcs (something that’s practically the norm nowadays) but it was also the first to bring its story arcs to a disappointing resolution (something else that's practically the norm nowadays).

With that major arc out of the way Straczynski gets to work setting up the Drakh threat, built up the growing conflict between Sheridan and Garibaldi, dashed through a Minbari civil war in record speed before finally kicking off the war against President Clark’s fascist government in ‘No Surrender, No Retreat’. The conclusion of Shadow arc might’ve been a letdown but the Earth civil war was Babylon 5 at its absolute best. Only problem was it was over almost as quickly as it had started. Originally the plan was for the Earth conflict to be carried over into the fifth season with the fourth season ending with Garibaldi’s betrayal and Sheridan’s capture. But with the show’s future in doubt everything was wrapped up with ‘Endgame’ and ‘Raising Star’. Straczynski was all ready to end the series then and there but when cable network TNT agreed last minute to finance a full fifth season the final episode 'Sleeping in Light' was pushed back a year and a new season finale was quickly shot on the cheap.

Despite it's ups and downs season four is still a strong season. Even though there are no Hugo winners there are still several standout episodes, most notably Sheridan’s brutal interrogation in 'Intersections in Real Time'. The acting was excellent across the board this season but if there’s a single standout star without a doubt it’s Jerry Doyle. Straczynski sent Garibaldi to hell and back this season and Doyle rose to the challenge with gusto. Sadly this would be the final season for Susan Ivanova as a contract dispute would prevent Claudia Christian returning for the fifth season. With no time to shoot a proper goodbye scene her departure is clumsily handled in voiceover, a disappointing exit for one of the series finest characters.

Rating: 4/5
DVD Extras:- Introduction by series creator J. Michael Straczynski
- Audio Commentaries by Straczynski and cast members
- Celestial sounds
- No Surrender, No Retreat DVD Suite
- Data & Personal Files
- Gag reel

Babylon 5: Season 3 DVD Review

2010-06-28T22:32:00.010+01:00

Point of No Return

In my humble little opinion season three of Babylon 5 is the one of the finest seasons of television in the entire history of the medium. This was the absolute peek of J. Michael Straczynski’s small screen space opera. Admittedly, it’s not 100% perfect. It was at this point that Straczynski started writing ever single episode himself (an impressive achievement to be sure) so inevitable dreck like ‘Grey 17 is Missing’ gets sandwiched in between all the great stuff. And we were pretty much spoilt for choice with great stuff this season. After two years worth of build up this was the season where things were finally starting to pay off.

The season started quietly enough with a group of mostly standalone tales of varying quality and significance. But by the time we got to ‘Messages from Earth’ the fan was well and truly hit. The entire status quo of the series was suddenly turned upside down and there would be no going back. Straczynski didn’t so much as jettison the reset button as completely obliterate it. ‘Point of No Return’ saw the Earth Alliance became a fascist dictatorship under President Clark forcing the crew of Babylon 5 to break away into an independent state. This all lead to ‘Severed Dreams’ (another Hugo winner) as our heroes fought to defend the station from Clark’s forces. From now on Sheridan and company were cut off from home on their own (and got some nifty new uniforms to boot).

The season soon settled down for a bit after that until the Shadow war finally kicked off in full. ‘Interludes and Examinations’ sees Kosh make a devastating sacrifice on Sheridan’s behalf. The two-parter ‘War Without End’ saw the return of Sinclair and finally revealed the true story behind the disappearance of Babylon 4. After the big battles of ‘Shadow Dancing’ everything comes to a head in the season finale as Sheridan goes with his not-so-dead wife, Anna, back to Z’ha’dum. They should really use this episode in media studies as an example of how to write a truly great season finale. It’s simply a breathtaking 45 minutes of television that no one has yet to come close to equalling or surpassing.

With some many big events jostling for screen time JMS wisely doesn’t let the characterisation get lost in amongst all the explosions. Sheridan and Delenn kept making gooey eyes at each other. Ranger Marcus Cole arrived on the station and wasted no time hitting on Ivanova. G’Kar finally found inner peace and a new purpose in life. Franklin struggled with drug addiction and resigned. And Londo’s decent into darkness continued despite his best efforts to escape his destiny.

Season three was the middle chapter of Babylon 5 and the point in which it got seriously worse for our heroes before it could eventually get any better. Creatively the show was riding on a high note. From the acting to the special effects everything was at its absolute best. Sadly the show would never be this good again. Outside factors would eventually derail Straczynski’s carefully constructed five-year-plan resulting in a rushed forth season and a disappointingly muddled final season. But season three still stands as a shinning beacon of everything that was, and still is, great about Babylon 5.

Rating: 5/5

DVD Extras:
- Introduction from series creator J. Michael Straczynski
- Audio commentary on 3 episodes
- "Behind the Mask: Creating the Aliens of Babylon 5" documentary
- "Designing a Better Narn" documentary
- "Designing Tomorrow: The Look of Babylon 5" documentary
- Personnel files
- Data files
- Shadow dossier

Babylon 5: Season 2 DVD Review

2010-06-21T13:35:00.009+01:00

The Coming of Shadows
It was a year of change in season two of Babylon 5.

After the first season had wrapped up production it was mutually agree by all that Michael O’Hare wasn’t working out as the show’s leading man. O’Hare amicably agreed with creator J. Michael Straczynski to depart from the show (least that’s what they keep telling everyone) and was soon replaced by Bruce Boxleitner as Captain John J. Sheridan. The former Tron fitted in quite well on B5 and after about a few episodes you’d easily be forgiven for thinking he’d been there the whole time.

The first episode ‘Point of Departure’ serves to introduce and establish Sheridan as the new station command and show how he handles in a crisis. It’s not until episode two ‘Revelations’ that JMS got around to resolving all the cliff-hangers from the first season. Delenn came out of her cocoon with L'Oreal hair (because she’s worth it) and instantly caught Sheridan’s eye. Garibaldi woke from his coma to expose the man who shot him in the back. And G’Kar returned to the station with grave warnings about the darkness to come.

Season two has the look and feel of a show more assure of its self, more confident in what it can accomplish. This was the year Babylon 5 stopped looking like just another Star Trek clone and became the small screen sci-fi epic to be reckoned with. There were still a number of rubbish standalone episodes such as ‘The Long Dark’ and ‘GROPOS’ to put up with but they weren’t as bad as they had been in the first season. Besides when you have episodes as good as the Hugo Award winning ‘The Coming of Shadows’, ‘In the Shadow of Z’ha’dum’ and ‘The Long Twilight Struggle’ what’s a few duff ones here and there.

Walter Koenig returned as Bester in ‘A Race Through Dark Places’ and continued to make us forget he was ever Chekov. ‘And Now For a Word’ looked at life on the station from a perspective of a news program. Later in the season Lyta Alexander, not seen since the original pilot, would return in ‘Divided Loyalties’ to expose a sleeper agent on the station that had devastating consequences for Ivanova. And ‘Comes the Inquisitor’ sees the Vorlons test Delenn with the help of Jack the Ripper (no, seriously).

With the addition of Boxleitner the main cast was considerably stronger this season albeit there were still a few redundant characters that needed to be gotten rid off such as Lt. Keffer, a hotshot fighter pilot character the network insisted that Straczynski add to the line up. But JMS was not one to let even an unwanted character go to waste and used Keffer’s fate to further along the Shadow War arc. The same could not be said for G’Kar’s aid, Na’Toth, who just sort’ve vanished after two episodes without anyone, her boss included, noticing.

It’s no small thing to say that Andreas Katsulas and Peter Jurasik were the series best actors and this season they took their performances to another level. For most of the first season Londo was nothing more than the comic relief but this season Londo’s story went in a much darker direction as he grew closer and closer to Mr. Morden and his ‘associates’. Similarly as Londo fell further into darkness G’Kar began his long and painful journey towards redemption and spiritual enlightenment.

The season finale ‘The Fall of Night’ managed to end the season on a suitably downbeat note but lacked the universe shacking impact of ‘Chrysalis’. While the future looked bleak for the characters the show’s future looked ever brighter. With the flaws and weakness of the first season overcome Babylon 5 would continue from this point on to go from strength to strength.

Rating: 5/5

DVD Extras:
-All-new introduction and audio commentary on 3 episodes by J. Michael Straczynski and cast including Bruce Boxleitner
-"Building Babylon: Blueprint of an Episode" featurette
-"Shadows and Dreams: Honors of Babylon" featurette, including coverage of the Hugo Award
-10 personnel files
-10 data files
-5 tech files
-Historical timeline
-Gag reel
-Original episode previews

Babylon 5: Season 1 DVD Review

2010-06-16T12:23:00.007+01:00

Signs and Portents
J. Michael Straczynski’s Babylon 5 was the last, best hope for a rival sci-fi television franchise to challenge the dominance of Star Trek. It failed. And let’s be glad it did. Last thing we needed was another bloated franchise knocking out a never ending cycle of naff spin-offs. Instead let’s be thankful for what remains to this day as one of the finest sci-fi series ever made.

Straczynski envisioned the series as an epic novel for television told in five volumes with each episode being an individual chapter. JMS wanted to tell a universe changing saga of heroes and villains, epic battles and the rise and falls of empires. Something akin to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, only with in space with aliens instead of hobbits and on a limited television budget. Surprisingly this didn’t turn out to be as impossible as it might have seemed.

The year was 2258. The name of the place was, duh, Babylon 5, a massive five-mile long space station built by humans after the devastating Earth/Minbari to act as a natural place were aliens could meet to talk out their differences. Straczynski’s presented us with a future that was a far cry from the optimistic utopia of Gene Roddenberry. Crime, poverty, corruption and prejudice still existed. The various races were constantly at each other’s throats. Many of the alien raves felt genuinely extraterrestrial, not just a load humanoids with bumpy foreheads and pointed ears, although the station did have its fair share of those.

B5 was first aired in February 1993 with the feature length pilot ‘The Gathering’. A year later the first season began airing with ‘Midnight on the Firing Line’ on the now defunct PTEN network, the show’s home for its first four seasons. In truth the first season is not the series’ strongest. No doubt as not to alienate a potential audience the majority of season is driven more by predominantly naff standalone episodes rather than the show’s signature story arcs. The standalone tales were often just sub-Trek nonsense that did little to help B5 to stand out from its rivals. Nevertheless there was still some good to be found in amongst all the crap. After all, as rubbish as ‘Mind War’ was it still gave us Walter Koenig as that slippery Psi Cop Bester (still B5’s finest villain).

In the second half Straczynski gradually started to move away from alien of the week tripe like ‘TKO’, ‘Believers’ and ‘Infection’ and began to lay the foundations of the awesomeness that was to come in episodes like ‘And the Sky Full of Stars’, ‘Signs and Portents’ (the introduction of Mr Morden and the Shadows), the two-parter ‘A Voice in the Wilderness’ and ‘Babylon Squared’ in which the crew investigate the sudden and mysterious reappearance of the missing Babylon 4 station. The big season finale ‘Chrysalis’ is a veritable congregation of ‘holy shit, did they just do that?’ moments as earth shattering cliff-hanger follows earth shattering cliff-hanger. Sinclair’s final lament “Nothing is the same anymore” couldn’t have been more appropriate.

At this early stage the cast were also something of a mixed bag to be sure. While G’Kar and Londo arrive practically full formed (despite some rough early make-up effects) the rest of the cast all need a little more work. Sinclair was too often stiff and po-faced while Ivanova had yet to develop something resembling a sense of humour. And I can’t be the only one who thought that Jerry Doyle looked like the product of a failed attempt to clone Bruce Willis?

The first season was certainly a patchy start for Babylon 5. Much of it hasn’t dated well. While they were groundbreaking and innovative at the time some of the CGI effects now look rather primitive but still manage to stand up a lot better than most of the show from the time (Space: Above and Beyond for example). The costumes and alien make up are all a little rough. And the dialogue constantly veers between clunky and cheesy. But the series potential was still there for all to see. But by the second season the show would improve by leaps and bounds culminating in some of the finest TV drama of the last 20 years.

Rating: 3/5

DVD Extras
-Introduction and audio commentary on two episodes by J. Michael Straczynski
-"The Making of Babylon 5"
-"Back to Babylon 5"
-Enter the Universe of Babylon 5
-Episode previews

Hamlet DVD Review

2010-01-05T10:20:00.003Z

Starring: David Tennant, Patrick Stewart, Penny Downie, Oliver Ford Davies, Peter De Jersey, Mariah Gale, Edward Bennett

Review: Of all the various tragedies, comedies and histories he produced in his lifetime Hamlet remains my absolute favourite William Shakespeare play. It contains his best narrative, his most fascinating characters and without doubt his finest dialogue, much of which has now become imbedded in the national lexicon. Like many I was unable to acquire tickets to see this RSC production starring David Tennant when it debuted last year in Stratford-Upon-Avon. Fortunately the RSC, realising the mass appeal of Tennant, have team-up with the BBC to adapt the play for television which is now released on DVD.

Director Gregory Doran, also responsible for the stage production, wisely avoids the same trap that befalls many by refusing to simply record the play on the stage as it is performed. This production instead uses a mixture of studio set mixed with some location work. Doran’s Elsinore is a dark, cold and claustrophobic setting, a palace of polished black floors, shattered mirrors and security cameras on every wall. Doran takes full advantage of the camera but doesn’t resort to being flashing by showing off with cheap camera tricks. Instead he uses the camera to tell the story and showcase the performances of his cast. Many of the major soliloquies are delivered directly to the camera and often shot in continuous takes. Doran also utilises basic special effects to make Hamlet’s encounter with his father’s ghost that little more spooky.

As the Dane David Tennant is simply mesmerizing, effortlessly capturing the character’s torment, wit and cunning. There are times when his performance is a little too David Tennant-ish but that’s a minor quibble of a truly phenomenal performance. He’s masterfully supported by Patrick Stewart as Claudius and Penny Downie as Gertrude. But it’s Oliver Ford Davis who steals the whole show as a wonderfully infuriating Polonius.

It’s not a completely flawless production. Despite the passion and conviction of the acting the whole never truly comes alive as it might do on the stage. Some scenes still feel too static and stagy for television. The subplot with Fortinbras is retained but goes nowhere and could’ve been easily excised. The final act feels rushed and unsatisfying (more Bill’s fault than Doran’s). And although many of the cast are flawless Mariah Gale is at times too theatrical as Ophelia especially in ‘get thee to a nunnery’ scene.

Hamlet remains the Bard’s most performed and adapted work. To date Kenneth Branagh’s lavish four-hour epic remains the definitive screen version. This production could’ve never have hoped to match that achievement but still produces an engrossing interpretation with a towering performance by it’s leading man.

Rating: * * * *

Justice League: The Complete Series DVD Review

2009-11-17T22:29:00.006Z

In 1992 Bruce Timm set the standard for small screen animation when he helped create Batman: The Animated Series, perhaps the greatest animated series of all time. Timm followed that landmark series with a his own take on the last son of Krypton that sadly failed to make the same kind of impact as it’s predecessor despite being of the same high standard. Once both those shows wrapped up Timm and his team set their sight on expanding the DC Animated universe they had created beyond just the adventures of Batman and Superman. Justice League was the end result. And once again Timm struck gold and gave us another one of the finest animated series ever produced.

Like the comic it was based on Justice League centred on a super-team that was comprised of some of DC Comic’s biggest icons; Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern (John Stewart not Hal Jordan), Martian Manhunter and…err, Hawkgirl (?). After two seasons the show was give a major shake up and morphed into Justice League Unlimited and against all odds actually got better instead of worse as is usually the case when executives mess with something that was already working. The scope of the show was expanded to include almost every single DC hero ever created. This was great because it meant less well known characters like Green Arrow, Booster Gold, Mr Miracle, Black Canary, Captain Marvel, Dr Fate, Huntress, Hawk and Dove, The Atom and the Question got to have their time in spotlight along with all the A-listers.

While Justice League was a great show on its own Unlimited is by far the superior series. It’s a more inventive and entertaining series with better story arcs and character development. Plus it’s obvious that the creators had a real love and passion for the entire DC Universe. It was also surprisingly mature for a kid’s series with the creators wisely deciding not to treat their audience like imbeciles. But when all is said and done this was still an action show. Being a kids series the violence is never overdone but still remains fast and exciting. Superman’s numerous smack downs with Darkseid are a personal highlight.

Another great feature of the series is the fantastic voice work done by the entire cast. In fact, the sheer number of celebrity vocals (many Joss Whedon alumni) that pop up throughout the series is staggering. Okay, deep breath, here goes; Nathan Fillion, Eric Roberts, Michael Ironside, CCH Pounder, Alexis Deninof, Adam Baldwin, Juliet Landau, Mark Hamil, Robert Picardo, John C. McGinly and Clancy Brown to name but a few I could remember without checking IMDB. Special mentions must go, though, to Amy Acker as Huntress and Jeffery Combs as the Question. In fact The Question is the breakout character of the series, a ridiculously paranoid conspiracy theorist who believes that the little plastic things at the end of shoe laces have a sinister purpose and is not above murder if it serves the greater good.

Like I said, this show was surprisingly mature.

Rating: * * * * *

The Sarah Jane Adventures: Series 2 DVD Review

2009-11-13T13:10:00.005Z

Much as I adore Elisabeth Sladen and love her as the iconic Sarah Jane Smith I have to say that the second season of The Sarah Jane Adventures is sadly not as good as the first. While Torchwood has gone from strength to strength over the years, culminating in the exceptional Children of Earth, the more family friendly Doctor Who spin-off has become stuck in something of a rut.

Watching these six two-part adventures there’s a constant nagging sense that the series is simple going through the motions. The writers have found a way of doing things, a way that worked well last series, and they’ve decided to rigidly stick to it. This has left series two feeling safe, predictable and stagnant. They could do better, we know they can do better, but they don’t seem to want to try.

On the bright side at least there are no Slitheen around to ruin things this time around so we should all be thankful for small favours. Instead this series sees Sarah Jane and the kids face off against such galactic terrors as a vengeful Sontaran, Miss Moneypenny, Bradley Walsh trying (and failing) to do a Pennywise, that meddlesome Trickster again and Russ Abbot. Yes, Russ bleedin’ Abbot!

Now that’s positively terrifying.

In the opening story ‘The Last Sontaran’, a semi-sequel to the Doctor Who two-parter 'The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky', Sarah Jane’s faithful sidekick Maria Jackson departs for America with her dad. She's swiftly replaced in the next adventure by new girl Rani Chandra. Granted I use the word ‘new’ lightly. Rani and Maria, plus their respective parents, are so similar that part of me suspects they simply went through all the scripts and just changed all the names.

Once Rani has settled in and the new dynamic is established it’s back to business as usually. ‘Day of the Clown’ plays like a school play version of ‘It’ but the only thing scary here is Bradley Walsh’s American accent. Not to be outdone Russ Abbot hams it into the stratosphere in ‘Secret of the Stars’. Our semi-famous four battle the twin evils of has been light entertainment comedians and astrology. The Sarah Jane-lite 'Mark of the Berserker' is actually very good and the best story of the series. The same can't be said for ‘The Temptation of Sarah Jane’ which tries to recapture the highs of last series finest tale ‘Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?’ but manages to fall short.

The final story ‘Enemy of the Bane’ see Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart makes a long overdue comeback but disappointingly he has little to do, no doubt due to Nicholas Country’s age forcing him to spend the majority of his screen time sitting down. Nevertheless, it’s still great to see him again after all these years.

One thing that this series does have over its predecessor is the quality of the acting. Sladen is as wonderful ever but it’s the younger cast members that impress the most. Both Daniel Anthony (Clyde) and Tommy Knight (Luke) have grown into their roles immensely this year. And despite her character initially being nothing more than a Maria clone Anjli Mohindra is fantastic as Rani.

Rating: * * *

DVD Extras
- Series 1 synopsis recap
- Character, Tools & Alien profiles
- Blue Peter interview with cast
- Audio clip from the Time Capsule
- Me & my movie with Tommy Knight
- Photo Galleries
- Trailers
- Quiz

Supernatural: Season 4 DVD Review

2009-11-06T16:46:00.004Z

"The X-Files is a TV show. This is real"

You know what’s really great about being a Supernatural fan? Every year, regardless of the established laws of diminishing returns, the show just keeps getting better and better all the time. The first season was good but not great. The second was much better. And season three, despite being curtailed by the writer’s strike, was simply fantastic with a really dark and shocking twist at the end.

But season four has to be the show’s best season so far. This is no longer simply a show about two brothers roaming America, fighting monsters and ripping off crappy horror movies. The ante has been upped to Biblical levels as Sam and Dean are now at the centre of a epic celestial battle between demons and angels.

Don’t expect any Highway to Heaven-scale schmaltz from Castiel and co. These angels are, as Sam and Dean constantly reminded us all season, dicks. Yet they were the kind of dicks that could also smite a whole town off the map, fiddle about with the time space continuum, pluck the dead out of hell and turn demons to dust. These guys are Old Testament bastards to be sure.

While the central arc story goes from strength to strength this year the standalone episodes don’t suffer as a result. ‘Monster Movie’ is a great tribute and pastiche of classic horror movies complete with a scooter riding Dracula. The brothers find themselves against a suicidal giant teddy bear in the brilliant demented ‘Wishful Thinking’. Even the questionable nature of ‘Jump the Shark’ where a third, long-lost Winchester brother is introduced manages to defy preconception and be quite good.

It’s staggering to believe but there’s isn’t a single naff or rubbish episode all season. There are a couple of simply average and okay ones but that’s about as negative as it gets. ‘Metamorphosis’ and ‘Family Remains’ are perhaps the most average and okay, feeling more like leftovers from a much weaker season.

Oh well, nobody’s perfect.

Rating: * * * * *

DVD Extras
- Audio Commentaries
- Making of

- Deleted Scenes

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan DVD Review

2009-10-28T12:37:00.006Z

“We had our foot on the throat of humanity and we failed to step down hard enough”

Written by Jane Espenson and directed by Edward James Olmos, The Plan chronicles events from the early days of Battlestar Galactica, the original mini-series right up to the finale of season two, all seen from the perspective of the Cylons, in particular John Cavil. This is essentially Cavil’s story. He was the mastermind behind the attacks on the Twelve Colonies and the chief architect of the Cylon’s infamous plan. The actually plan itself was rather straightforward; kill all humans. That’s it. Blunt, clear and to the point. A plan so simple and fundamentally robotic Bender constantly mutters it in his sleep. But like all well laid plans it eventually all fell apart.

Back in the mini the attack on the colonies was mostly depicted off-screen or only glimpsed from a distance. In The Plan we see the attack in full, up close and personal. And it is a truly awesome and horrifying sight as entire fleets of Basestars rain down devastation on the Colonies. For the first time we see glimpses of all of the Twelve Colonies as one by one they fall to the Cylon onslaught. It is by far the best part of the whole thing and here in lies the key fault with The Plan, it peaks too early. After such a spectacular opening everything that follows feels rather inconsequential.

Boiled down to it the rest of The Plan is basically a game of fill in the blanks. So much archive footage is used that you begin to think that you’re watching nothing more than a glorified clip show. Many of the loose ends left dangling from the first two seasons are finally tied up. Admittedly, some of this is interesting but at the same hardly essential to our understanding and enjoyment of the series.

It goes with out saying that Dean Stockwell is exceptional as always, relishing every Machiavellian witticism Espenson gives him. He’s at his best as the Galactica Cavil, a villain dedicated to the cause but consumed by frustration and disappointment as one by one his plans to destroy the fleet fail and his fellow Cylons continue to let him down. Special mention must also go to Rick Worthy who finally gets his chance to shine as the most neglected Cylon, Simon.

Fans hoping to see their old favourites one last time may come away disappointed, The Plan is strictly a showcase for the show’s supporting cast. Lee, Kara, Helo and Baltar only appear in stock footage, Laura is absent altogether and Adama and Tigh only have bit parts. But fans of Tyrol, Six, Sharon, Anders and Leoben will be happy to know they all get their moment in the spotlight.

Rating: * * *

DVD Extras
- Commentary by Jane Espenson and Edward James Olmos
- From Admiral to Director: Edward James Olmos and The Plan
- The Cylons of The Plan
- The Cylon Attack
- Visual Effects: The Magic Behind The Plan
- Deleted Scenes

Lost: Season Five DVD Review

2009-10-27T11:07:00.006Z

“What lies in the shadow of the statue?”

Confusing, frustrating, thrilling, exciting, epic, intimate, funny, tedious, Lost is all these things and more. And perhaps nothing summed up the show’s good and bad points quite so much as the fifth season. Although not as good as the blistering fourth season season five is still more enjoyable than two and three and marks the penultimate chapter of one of television’s most addictive dramas.

It’s clear now that the writers no longer feel bound by the need to attract new viewers to the show (which might explain the ratings dip). Liberated from studio constraints they’ve indulged themselves with every single mad idea they might’ve previously held back on for being too out there, man. That means a butt load of time travel, a case of resurrection, some temporal paradoxes and Hurley writing the script to The Empire Strikes Back three years in advance. With improvements, of course.

The first half of the season is split into two separate storylines. The first follows those who escaped the island in the finale of season four, the so-called Oceanic Six, and deals with Jack and Ben’s attempts to persuade them to return to the island. The second, and my favourite, chronicles the events back on island and the struggles of those characters who were left behind. As a result of the Ben Linus turning that frozen donkey wheel the island has become unstuck in time, randomly yanking this helpless group of Billy Pilgrims back and forth through untold chapters in the shows back-story. This was a great way to delve into areas of the show’s history without having long, boring scenes of character talking. For example, instead of telling us what happened to Danielle and her crew we actually get to see it play out live.

The actual return of the Oceanic Six to the island is a rather muted and anti-climatic affair, almost as if the writers couldn’t be bothered to work it all out properly and just wanted everyone back on the island without delay. After a duo of fantastic episodes, “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” and “LaFleur” the momentum then grinds to a sudden halt as our heroes become trapped in 1977 and start hanging out with the Dharma Initiative. Initially this storyline seemed slow and directionless, enlivened only by Sayid shooting someone unexpected, until Daniel comes up with a bonkers plan to upend history, “Hi…err…guys…ahhh…we need to…Mmmm…nuke the…err…island”. Great plan, Dan.

The various plot strands finally come to a head in season finale “The Incident” an episode that is both stunning and infuriating in equal measure. Once again questions were answered only to lead to even more questions. After years of hints and clues we get to meet the mysterious Jacob only for him to be… oh, you’ll see. A new key player was introduced, although given the character’s nature it’s likely he was there all along we just didn’t know it. The season ends on the type of cliff-hanger that leaves everyone’s fate, and the entire fabric of the show’s reality, in some serious doubt.

Despites the many ups and downs this season the cast continues to remain strong. Michael Emerson earned his Emmy on more than one occasion. Looking back it’s hard to believe that he was originally only supposed to do five or six episodes. Ben Linus has become an indispensable part of this show’s mythology. On the other hand, Elizabeth Mitchell and Josh Holloway were both unforgivably snubbed this year. If anything this was the season that Sawyer and Juliet took centre stage and pushed Jack and Kate into the sidelines. Their touching, affectionate and ultimately tragic tale dominated the season and this particular viewer’s heart.

Rating: * * * *

DVD Extras
- Audio Commentaries
- LOST On Location
- Building 23 & Beyond
- An Epic Day With Richard Alpert
- Making Up For LOST Time
- Mysteries Of The Universe: The DHARMA Initiative
- LOST Bloopers - Deleted Scenes

Jonathan Creek: The Grinning Man DVD Review

2009-10-19T20:57:00.002+01:00

After a five year hiatus Alan Davis finally returned to TV screens last year as that duffle coated solver of impossible crimes, Jonathan Creek. Creator David Renwick admitted that he stopped writing the series because he simply ran out of good ideas. The only reason he bothered to drum up a new script was to hold off retirement.

However, there is very little that is actually new about Creek’s encore. Certainly “The Grinning Man” bares similarities to the show’s previous Christmas specials, “Black Canary” and “Satan’s Chimney” including a gothic setting and tone, the dark secrets of a former magician and a classic locked room mystery. Revealing more would give too much away so I’ll stop there.

The central mystery at the heart of “The Grinning Man” is certainly a gripping and intriguing one but hamstrung by too many lousy sub-plots and narrative cheats. The solution to one mystery is far too convoluted even for Jonathan Creek. And the storyline involving Jonathan’s boss, sleazy magician Adam Klaus, borders on the farcical as Klaus become involved in the porn industry.

Davis slips back into the role with ease. Jonathon is older, bit out of shape, no wiser but still just as fiendishly cleaver as he’s always been. Joining him is Sheridan Smith as Creek’s latest sidekick. Sadly, despite a strong performance, Smith fails to offer anything new to the mix. Her character is reminiscent of Creek’s last partner, Carla. The two character are virtually identical. Seems Renwick has a type and he’s sticking to it.

After such a long absence, especially with so much pedestrian murder mysteries like Midsummer Murders clogging up the airwaves, it is great to see Jonathan Creek back on the box. “The Grinning Man” maybe far from the glorious comeback some might of hoped for but nor is it the bitter disappointment others feared. Despite it’s flaws this is simply a good old fashioned mystery tale and a welcome return from one of TV’s finest sleuths.

Rating: * * *

DVD Extras
-Behind the Scenes
-Deleted Scenes

Sanctuary: Season 1 DVD Review

2009-10-17T22:55:00.003+01:00

Originally starting life as an eight-part internet series in 2007 Sanctuary managed to impress the higher ups at the Sci-Fi Channel (as it was known at the time) who soon commissioned a full series which debut last year. Stripped down Sanctuary is pure, unadulterated pulp entertainment. It’s highly unoriginal yet at the same time truly innovative and groundbreaking.

The original web series was pretty much a side project for a trio of Stargate alumni, writer Damian Kindler, director Martin Wood and actress Amanda Tapping, something fun and new for them to do after nearly 15 years of gate travel. The two-hour pilot ‘Sanctuary For All’ effectively re-works the original web series into a stylish and engrossing story that manages to introduce the characters and set up all the relevant story arcs with ease. The following episode ‘Fata Morgana’ is also adapted from the web series but feels lightweight in comparison with the pilot.

Tapping stars as Helen Magnus, a woman 157 years old who leads the Sanctuary, a secret international organization that seeks out non-human intelligent creatures or Abnormals, as they are known on the show, and tries to help and learn from them, while also having to contain the more dangerous creatures. She is assisted by her daughter Ashley (Emilie Ullerup), a butt-kicking monster hunter, former police forensic profiler Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne), a Bigfoot and Henry Floss (Ryan Robbins), their resident tech geek.

In many ways Sanctuary actually feels like a live-action comic book series and a less smutty (and Welsh) version Torchwood. The basic premise has shades of titles such as Men in Black, Planetary, B.P.R.D. The Middleman and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen only the tone is more overtly serious and Kindler and his writers lack the widescreen imaginations of Warren Ellis, Mike Mignola, Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Alan Moore. And while the overall quality of the series is consistently good most episodes are very routine and predictable while some are downright bad, the Fight Club wannabe ‘Warriors’ and Tribble tribute 'Nubblins' for instance. The central characters, despite being well played by the cast, all conform to established archetypes with Magnus as the wise and ancient leader, Ashley the action babe Henry the nervous geek and Will as the wide-eyed novice.

On a story front Sanctuary might be shamelessly derivative but on a technical front the series is ahead of it’s time. Making extensive use of CGI environments Sanctuary is able to transport viewers to another world, one like ours but different, a purely comic book world that looks absolutely nowt like Vancouver. Sometimes the effects are obvious but other times, as you’ll learn from the many commentaries, they are so subtle you’ll hardly notice. But while CGI sets are often impressive they do tend jar whenever the cast leave the studio and go out on location. Plus the creature effects and monster make-up for the Abnormals tend to let the side down on more than one occasion.

The series is also blessed with a strong cast lead by the wonderful Amanda Taping, although it does take a while to get used to the dark hair and British accent (she’ll always been Sam Carter to me). Christopher Heyerdahl, another Stargate semi-regular, is obviously having fun as John Duritt, Magnus’ former lover, Ashley’s father and, oh yeah, Jack the freakin’ Ripper. Dunne and Ullerup can both be rather bland most of the time but Robbins manages to compensate as Henry.

Rating: * * * *

DVD Extras
Commentaries on all episodes
3 Making-of Featurettes
Sanctuary: Original Webisodes
Season Two Sneak Peek
Photo Gallery
Bloopers

Heroes: Season 3 DVD Review

2009-10-12T12:30:00.003+01:00

Not since the decline of Twin Peaks has a television series fallen from grace quite as quickly as Heroes has done. At least Peaks had the benefit of being cancelled before it could get any worse than it already was. Heroes has had no such luck.

Hard to think now but only a few years ago Heroes was a global phenomenon. It had everything; critical acclaim, high ratings, the cast splattered on numerous magazine covers, everyone was repeating the catchphrase “save the cheerleader, save the world”, overnight it had achieved near universal success. Then season two happened. “Meh” was the general response to this lukewarm season, mercifully cut short by that infamous writer’s strike. Creator Tim Kring promised that next season would be better. The writers had seen where they went wrong and wouldn’t make the same mistakes with season three.

I wasn’t there when Kring said all this but I’m willing to bet his pants were starting to overheat at the time. While season three is not as bad as season two that’s simple because it is much, much worse. This season is so bad you’d almost think Kring and his team were deliberately trying to scuttle the ship. Maybe they were. Must’ve come as a shock to them when NBC renewed the show for a forth season. Some might see this as a sign of network faith in the series. I see it as further evidence that 30 Rock is actually a documentary about how inept things really are at NBC.

The season is divided into two volumes; ‘Villains’ and ‘Fugitives’. The first volume had the potential to be brilliant and for a brief time it did seem as if the show was returning to previous form. But all our good faith was misplaced as one by one the episodes get increasingly worse. The characters we once loved and adored had all been replaced by pod people. They might look and sound the same but their thoughts and actions were radically differently from the people we knew in season one.

‘Villains’ was meant to make us loves Heroes all over again but instead turned everyone off even more. The second volume ‘Fugitives’ is a slight improvement featuring a much better adversary in the form of Zeljko Ivanek. Bryan Fuller briefly returns to the writing staff, injecting so much need fun back into the mix. But by this point the lasting damage has already been done and not even the mighty Fuller could salvage this shipwreck.

Throughout the season you struggle to care what happens to these characters anymore. That original sense of excitement and wonder that enticed everyone during the first season has been completely lost. The show’s fall from grace has been equally tragic and infuriating for those of us who were willing enough to stay with the show up to this point. As the season came to a close once again Tim Kring promised that the fourth season would be better. They’d learned all their mistakes from season three and wouldn’t make them again.

Tell it to someone who cares, mate.

Rating: * *

DVD Extras
-The Super Powers of Heroes
-Genetics of a Scene
-The Prop Box
-Tim Sale Galleries of Screen Art
-Alternate Stories
-Completing the Scene
-The Writer's Forum
-Deleted Scenes

Green Lantern: First Flight DVD Review

2009-10-07T16:59:00.004+01:00

Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern of sector 2814 and one of my favourite comic book characters, has always been considered one of DC Comics b-list superheroes, a bridesmaid forever doomed to be overshadowed by the holy trinity of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. But all that could be about to change.

A big budget live action film version starring Ryan Reynolds and directed by Martin Campbell (Edge of Darkness, Casino Royale) is already in production and should start shooting next year. Thanks to The Sinestro Corp War and Blackest Night the Green Lanterns and Jordan in particular are now major players in the comic world regularly topping the sales charts. And then we have this animated DVD movie, the latest in the DC Universe Original Animated Movies range following Superman: Doomsday, Batman: Gotham Knight, Justice League: The New Frontier and Wonder Woman.

As the title suggests Green Lantern: First Flight chronicles the early days of Hal Jordan’s career as a Green Lantern. The origin story is rushed through in the first few minutes as Hal is given his power ring by a dying Green Lantern who has crashed landed on Earth. First Flight contains many of the things I love about the Green Lantern comics but at the same time is a rather underwhelming experience that never fully satisfies.

Considering the source material the scope is suitable epic. The plot takes us from Earth to Oa, home of the Green Lantern Corp, to other alien planets, space ports and back again. The action sequences are fast and exciting with the animators taking full advantage of the endless uses of the power ring. But the main plot is hopelessly predictable. You can easily guess every single twist and turn it takes before reaching the inevitable action pack climax. Hal Jordan’s origin is rushed through in the first five minutes robbing the narrative of anything resembling character development. You never get to know Hal or understand why he would want to be a Lantern. He’s just a generic do-gooder while Sinestro is telegraphed as the big bad from the second he appears.

Perhaps the main area where First Flight fails the most is the one where Bruce Timm productions often always excel; the voice acting. The vocals performances are mostly flat and uninspired with few exceptions. Worst of all, Christopher Meloni is lacklustre as Hal Jordan. David Boreanaz did a much better job in Justice League: The New Frontier and it’s a shame they didn’t ask him to come back. The other characters are just as underdeveloped. Victor Garber does his best as Sinestro but Tricia Helfer phones it in as Boodikka while Michael Madsen just mumbles his way through the whole thing as Kilowog.

First Flight is a perfectly entertaining action adventure story for all the family. As an introduction to the colourful mythology of the Green Lanterns its functional. But as a character piece for Hal Jordan it is definitely lacking. Frankly, if you want a really great animated movie featuring Hal Jordan I’d recommend watching Justice League: The New Frontier instead.

Rating: * * *

The Avengers: Series 2 DVD Review

2009-10-05T22:44:00.006+01:00

Is there any television series that is more quintessentially 1960s than The Avengers? Okay, granted there’s The Prisoner but was Number Six ever as much fun as John Steed? Did he have such iconic partners as Emma Peel or Cathy Gale? Thought not. No, all due respect to Patrick McGoohan but The Avengers remains the ultimate ‘60s TV series. But looking back on this collection of episodes from the show’s early days its shocking to see just how different The Avengers was when it first started out from the show it would eventually become.

The Avengers started life back in 1961 as a vehicle for Ian Hendry, star of the short lived series Police Surgeon. Hendry’s character, Dr. David Keel, teamed up with government agent John Steed (Patrick Macnee) to avenger the murder of his fiancée (hence the title) and fight crime on a regular basis. Back when the show started it was a far more tough and gritty affair than the flamboyant spy series we all know and love. Originally Hendry’s David Keel was the star with Steed as his rough and tumble, trench coat wearing sidekick, a far cry from the quintessential Englishman of legend. Only two and a half episodes still exist from the David Keel years and all have been collected in this set include a surviving episode of Police Surgeon.

After one series Hendry bailed to pursue a film career. Macnee was promoted to star status and saddled with a selection of rotating sidekicks only one of which was ever any good. Dr. Martin King (Jon Rollason) was a transparent David Keel clone which is no big surprise since all the episodes he appeared in were originally written for Ian Hendry. Meanwhile Julie Stevens’ Venus Smith was a night club singer, amateur spy and all round waste of space. The episodes that featured Venus were often more about showing off Stevens’ singing voice than her acting talent.

It was only when Steed was partnered up with Honor Blackman’s alluring Cathy Gale that the series really started to come alive. Gale was a revolutionary female character at the time; smart, confident, independent, quick-witted, capable of defending herself and had a fondness for wearing leather. British television audiences had never seen a woman like Cathy Gale before and were eager for more of her. By now Steed had ditched the trench coat, pick up his suits from Savile Row and pop on his bowler. Steed and Cathy sizzled on screen together even if their relationship never went far beyond some first-class flirting.

With the lead characters virtually established the series also began to slowly move away from being a gritty crime show and into more fantastical territories. Pop art sets, Cybernauts, diabolical masterminds and primary colours were still a few years away but by this point The Avengers was already well on its way to becoming one of the defining programs of the ‘60s and a classic of British television.

Shame the theme music was so crap. Someone get Laurie Johnson on the phone, pronto!

Rating: * * * *

Fringe Season One DVD Review

2009-09-29T10:24:00.010+01:00

When it debuted last year Fringe was being flaunted as the next big thing. Everyone was expecting uber-producer JJ Abrams to deliver another Lost sized hit. Instead what we got was a moderately successful remake of The X-Files. Co-created by Abrams with his Star Trek writers, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, Fringe shares the same basic premise as Chris Carter’s magnum opus with FBI agents investigating strange and unexplained scientific phenomenon. Only this time around Mulder is the cynical sceptic, Scully is the more open minded believer and the Lone Gunmen are condensed into a single eccentric mad scientist. Oddly enough it all works.

Mostly.

For the first half of its freshman season Fringe is a distinctly hit and miss affair. Great one week, average the next. By episode ten ‘Safe’ things start to improve although the standalone tales work less well than the mythology driven episodes. Although in true JJ Abrams style it’s a mythology dense in puzzling questions, obscure clues and cryptic answers. By the end of the season you’ll find yourself just as confused as you were at the start if not more so.

Besides the up and down quality of the episodes another of the series main problems is unfortunately its heroine, Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv). For the most part Olivia was difficult to like, too cold and distant, focused entirely on her job. It didn’t help that Torv seemed to be sleepwalking through her performance half of the time. She improves as the series progress. Introducing her sister and niece warmed up the character and made her more relatable. Not sure how I feel about her having possible super powers and a grand destiny (too much like Sydney Bristow) but so far it’s given the series some great episodes (“The Ability” and “Bad Dreams”).

The Bishops, on the other hand, were instant favourites. The delightful contrast between Walter’s childish enthusiasm and Peter’s sarcastic charm help bring some great moments of levity to what could have been a very dour and overly serious show. John Nobel does tend to overdo it as Walter in the early episodes but manages to tone it down later on. Joshua Jackson is the only one of the core three who arrives pretty much fully formed. Peter acts as the audience’s window into this world, decoding all the tech talking and ready with a sarcastic quip whenever things get a little too unbelievable.

The remaining characters add very little to the show's central dynamic beyond having someone else around to spout exposition or asking Walter to explain the technobable for all the dummies in the audience. Olivia’s partner, Charlie, is the weakest link, lacking anything even remotely resembling a personality.

Okay, so to quickly recap; Fringe is the basically The X-Files with some 21st century sheen. The mythology episodes are great while the standalone ones tend to be iffy. The central trio are strong, even if it does take time to warm up to Olivia, but the rest of the cast are weak and forgettable. And those lacking in strong stomachs should be warned this is not the type of show you can watch while having lunch. Seriously, there’s at least one gross out moment every episode. You’d think they have a gore quota to meet or something.

Rating: * * * *

DVD Extras
-Three Full-Length Commentaries
-Evolution: The Genesis of Fringe featurette
-Behind the Real Science of Fringe featurette
-A Massive Undertaking: The Making of Fringe
-The Casting of Fringe
-Fringe Visual Effects featurette
-Dissected Files: Unaired Scenes
-Unusual Side Effects: Gag Reel
-Fringe: Deciphering the Scene
-Roberto Orci Production Diary
-Gene the Cow montage

Smallville: Season 8 DVD Review

2009-09-12T20:55:00.004+01:00

It’s hard to believe that Smallville is still on the air after all these years. What’s even harder to believe is that I bothered watching it again after all these years. I all but gave up on the series during it’s sixth and seventh seasons, catching the occasional episode mainly because of morbid curiosity and my unwavering love for Alison Mack (please, someone find her a better show, she’s too good for this one now).

Season 8 was the first without the show’s original developers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. A new creative team was brought in to take over and hopefully shake the series out of its lethargy. This was the year they finally got Clark off that farm and start working at the Daily Planet. Mind you, he still lives on the farm, long distance commuting being no problem when you’re faster than a speeding bullet. This was also supposed to be the year that Clark final got over that wet blanket, Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk), and started making gooey eyes at Erica Durance’s feisty Lois Lane.

Sadly this was not to be. Just when it looked like Clark and Lois were finally going to get together who should show up but the emotional black hole herself. Great, just what everyone wanted, more Clark/Lana moping. Like there hasn’t been enough of that in the last seven seasons. Worst of all Lois is given the boot in favour of Lana and vanishes completely for a several episodes (boo). Lex briefly returns (although not played by Michael Rosenbaum) leading the way for Lana to be finally written out. Hopefully for good this time.

The season's overreaching arc, the Doomsday storyline, limped along before reaching an underwhelming climax. Even the death of a few regular characters couldn’t save this from being anything other than a massive wasted opportunity. The problem with this entire arc is that Doomsday, even in the comics, is a very weak villain despite the very best efforts of Samuel Witwer.

The regular characters are all just going through the same motions they’ve been going through since day one. Bless’em, they try to hide it but you can sort of tell they are really not bothered anymore. Tom Welling’s face seems to be permanently set on ‘perplexed’. Green Arrow (Justin Hartley) is promoted to series regular and as such is dually wasted the entire season. New character Tess (Cassidy Freeman), a blatant Lex substitute, brings nothing new to the table except someone else to get on your nerves whenever Lana isn’t on screen.

But seriously, let’s all be brutally honest here, does anyone really give a shit about this show anymore? I certainly don’t. I struggled though this season in the vain hope that it would be a return to form and offer a promising new direction for the series. I was wrong. Smallville should’ve been put out to pasture years ago but instead it continues to be renewed, due to return for a ninth season at the end of September.

Rating: * *

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys Season Two Review

2009-09-05T00:12:00.006+01:00

It’s hard to argue that Hercules: The Legendary Journeys was ever anything other than escapist fluff. Nevertheless, it was extremely well-made escapist fluff, crafted by a cast and crew who obviously loved and cared about what they were doing. After a successful freshman year the series went into its second season with greater confidence that is evident in these 22 episodes. The slightly darker tones of the first season had been ironed out and transferred over to spin-off, Xena: Warrior Princess, leaving Hercules free to fully embrace its place as a light-hearted hour of fun for all the family. The series had found its niche and never once looked back. At least, not until the dark days of season five but that’s a story for a latter review.

Without a doubt this was the year that the show’s wonderful supporting cast began to finally take shape. We got to meet Bruce Campbell’s dashing Autolycus, the king of thieves. Kevin Smith (no, not the chubby filmmaker) made his first appearance in ‘What’s in a Name’ only not as Ares but rather as Hercules other resentful half-brother, Iphicles. And ‘The Apple’ sees the arrival of Hercules shallow but adorable sister, Aphrodite, played with full Valley Girl ditzy cuteness by Alexandra Tydings. Despite the influx of new characters the strength of the series still remained the great partnership of Hercules and Iolaus and the wonderful performances of Kevin Sorbo and Michael Hurst. Wisely the producers give Hurst more to do this year, recognising his versatility as an actor by giving him the odd episode to carry solo.

Like most TV shows of its time the series was predominately episodic rather than arc driven. There isn't even so much as a two parter this season. The only recurring element linking many episodes together remains Hercules tiresome ongoing struggle with his wicked step-mother Hera. This plotline continues to go no where and just feels like its dragging on and on with no hope of ever reaching any sort of conclusion.

Standout episodes include season opener ‘The King of Thieves’ which, rather obviously, sees the introduction of Autolycus. Hercules journeys into the underworld in ‘The Other Side’ the series own take on the legend of Persephone and Hades. And ‘Once A Hero’ sees Herc and Iolaus team up with King Jason and their fellow Argonauts to go after the Golden Fleece again and battle some nifty skeleton warriors that would make Ray Harryhausen proud. Rather disappointingly after such a strong run of episodes the season ends in low key fashion with a rather limp clip show (seriously, a clip show!). ‘The Wedding of Alcmene’, a reunion special that brought together almost every supporting character from the show’s first two seasons, would’ve made for a much more suitable finale.

It had a giant sea monster and everything.

Rating: * * * *

Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods Final Cut DVD Review

2009-08-13T23:21:00.004+01:00

Okay, so assuming you already own the complete first season of Stargate SG-1, would you be willing to fork out your hard earned cash for a fancy new edit of the series' original pilot, 'Children of the Gods'? That’s the choice facing hardcore fans of the durable sci-fi franchise as this new DVD release hits the shelves. But is there more to this release than a simple case of pimp my pilot? Frankly, the answer is a resounding 'hell no'. No matter how the distributor might try to spin it Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods Final Cut can’t escape the foul stench of shameless cash-in.

This supposed final edit is more a quick paint job than an extensive nip and tuck. Not much has really been changed from the original version; the run time is slightly shorter, Joel Goldsmith has recorded a new score and the special effects have been spruced up with some brand new CGI. The original cliff-hanger ending has also been trimmed to make this feel more like a complete movie rather than a series pilot. Oh, and the full frontal nude scene with Vaitiare Bandera (Daniel Jackson's wife Sha're) has been cut so you don't see any naughty bits (boo!).

Of course this fresh polish can’t change the fact that 'Children of the Gods' is far from one of SG-1’s better efforts. Being early days it’s somewhat understandable that the cast hadn’t quite gelled yet but that doesn’t stop a lot of the acting being on the stiff side of things. The plot is littered with holes and over stuffed with incessant exposition, often at the expense of character and action. Oh, and I’d forgotten how painfully dull Apophis was as a bad guy. Why they stuck with this plank for so long is beyond me.

Although, simply for nostalgia, it is refreshing to look back on a time when Richard Dean Anderson’s dialogue didn’t consist entirely of wisecracks and references to The Simpsons.

Rating: * *

Stargate Atlantis: Season Five DVD Review

2009-08-08T00:14:00.005+01:00

Friends, Wraith, Replicators, lend me your ears. I come to bury the fifth season of Stargate Atlantis, not to praise it. Two years on from the end of it's parent series, Stargate: SG-1, and the lost city of Atlantis has finally been sunk once and for all. But the big question remains; does anyone really care anymore?

Having viewed the entire fifth season twice now I’d have to say ‘no’. Obviously even the creative forces behind the camera have all grown as tired and disinterested with their own creation as the viewers have done. This final season is a lacklustre assortment of the occasionally good, the horribly bad and consistently bland. Being the show’s swansong year several major plot threads are brought to a conclusion but often in an unsatisfactory way. The ending of the Michael arc is clumsily handled, turning one of the series best villains into a whinny teenager while the series’ grand finale ‘Enemy at the Gates’ is an exceptional disappointment. Clearly no one is bothered about wrapping things up neatly and giving everyone a memorable send off. That’s what the inevitable DVD movies are for.

There are a few diamonds in amongst all the rough. ‘The Shrine’ gives both David Hewlett and Jewel Staite the chance to shine with gusto. The midseason two-parter ‘First Contact’/‘The Lost Tribe’ is a great and features the return of Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks). Although, that did have the side effect of making me miss SG-1 all over again. Finally, the series manages to slip out of format for a week with the brilliant, CSI inspired ‘Vegas’ an episode that gives us the sight of a Wraith strolling through as casino to the sound of ‘Sympathy for the Devil’. In a word, brilliant!

Sadly the rest of the season is primarily made up of filler material including a lousy clip show. The cast also don’t seem that enthusiastic this season. The majority of the time they seem just as bored making it as I felt watching it. With Amanda Tapping too busy with Sanctuary to put in any regular appearances Carter is replaced by Richard Woolsey (the great Robert Picardo) but he’s just as underused this season as she was last season. Another in a long line of season five’s wasted opportunities.

Despite it humble begins Stargate managed to achieve what Babylon 5 had failed to do and supplement the once mighty Star Trek as the dominate sci-fi franchise on TV. But at the same time it fell into the same trap as Trek, becoming so safe and stale that audience become disenfranchised and eventually switched off for good. It remains to be seen if Stargate Universe can be the glorious revival its creators are hoping for or will it be just another nail in the franchise’s coffin. Besides, it’s got to be better than Stargate Infinity, right?

Rating: * *

Dollhouse: Season 1 DVD Review

2009-08-02T09:11:00.006+01:00

Joss Whedon is more that just a writer and a producer to some people. He’s a god, an idol to be worshiped and adored. He created Buffy, Angel and Firefly, co-wrote Toy Story, gave us Dr Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog, wrote the best X-Men comic in a decade and is just a genuine nice and funny chap. You want to give him a great big hug every time you see him. But the truth is that he’s not the messiah, he’s just clever little boy. He’s flesh and blood, like you and me. He’s not perfect and can make mistakes (Alien: Resurrection for one). And for a long time it seemed that Dollhouse would be his greatest folly.

So far Dollhouse is a flaw creation, a work in progress that didn’t show any real promise until the half way point, the much touted ‘Man on the Street’. Before that Dollhouse was a dreary by the numbers affair as week after week Echo (Eliza Dushku) was sent on mission after tedious mission. The first five episodes are obvious attempt by the network to sledgehammer the show into an acceptable format that audience could easily understand and follow regardless of whether or not it was any good. Even a writer’s room made up largely of Whedon alumni struggled with this and produced some mediocre and tiresome episodes. After ‘Man on the Street’ the series hits it stride, only rarely missing a beat. ‘Needs’, ‘A Spy in the House of Love’ and ‘Briar Rose’ are the definite standouts of the season and demonstrate just how great Dollhouse could be when the executives took a step back.

Of course, that still doesn’t excuse them for some really stupid decisions that almost derailed the whole thing. Having now viewed the original pilot ‘Echo’ it is hard to understand why it was ditched in favour of the lousy ‘Ghosts’. Compared to its replacement ‘Echo’ is a far more interesting and dramatic episode that would’ve got the series off to as great start. Also included in this DVD set is the unaired episode 13, the original finale of the first season. Again it hard to fathom the network’s thinking. ‘Epitaph One’ (guest starring the awesomeness that is Felicia Day) is a brilliant piece of television, one of the best of the year and would’ve sent the series out on a massive high after the underwhelming antics of ‘Omega’.

But there is a great big ‘but’ coming. Hard as it is to say but Dollhouse has to be the first Joss Whedon show where I didn’t instantly love a single character. Even after viewing the whole series again I still don’t have any favourites that I love unconditionally. Unlike Whedon’s previous series Dollhouse lacks a strong central figure. Echo is for the most part a non-entity, a vessel waiting to be filled. It hard to relate and sympathise with a character when she’s constantly chopping and changing personalities every five minutes. Ditto Sierra (Dichen Lachman) and Victor (Enver Gjokaj). The supposed romantic lead, Paul Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett), becomes increasingly off putting as the series progress to the point I cheered when he got the crap kicked out of him by Echo. Boyd (Harry J. Lennix) and Adelle DeWitt (Olivia Williams) are both interesting characters and fun to watch but hardly likeable considering what they do for a living. And I know Topher (Fran Kranz) is meant to be a loveable geek, the quirky nerd we all relate to but instead he comes across as an arrogant creep.

Back to the positives. I am fond of Dr. Saunders/Whiskey but that’s more to do with the fact she’s played by Amy Acker (she could play Myra Hindley and I’d still lover her). And I have a soft sport for sweet November (Miracle Laurie), hopefully we haven’t seen the last of her. Plus, the show has some great bad guys. Laurence Dominic (Reed Diamond) makes a great foe for Echo during the majority of the season until big bad Alpha (Wash!) finally steps out of the shadows.

Dollhouse could’ve been Joss Whedon’s first true failure and a blotch on a so far spotless record. While not a shinning success the series has proved that it has the potential to be something truly special. We just have to hope that the network will continue to give Joss the support he needs to fulfil that potential.

Rating: * * * *

The Middleman: Complete Series DVD Review

2009-08-01T19:22:00.005+01:00

“I’m just the Middleman”

It’s the same old sad story. Boy discovers new TV show. Boy falls madly in love with new TV show. Mean TV executives cancel new TV show. Boy is heartbroken. Orders the DVD.

The deranged brainchild of Javier Grillo-Marxuach (Lost, The Dead Zone, Medium), The Middleman is a glorious celebration of all that is nerdy and geeky without resorting to the patronising mockery of lesser TV shows (yeah, I’m looking at you, Big Bang Theory). This is a show where reading comic books and knowing your B5 from your DS9 is not only socially acceptable but the height of cool and an essential requirement if you wish to foil the evil plans of bad guys on a weekly basis.

The basic premise is sheer elegance in it’s simplicity; aspiring artist Wendy Watson (Natalie Morales) is recruited by 50s throwback and fixer of exotic problems, the Middleman (Matt Kesslar), to fight evil, save the plant and exchange witty barbs and pop culture references. Week after week our dynamic duo battle everything from gorilla mobsters, Mexican wrestlers, flying zombie trout, alien boy bands, vampire puppets and doppelgangers from an evil universe where everyone has a goatee. Yes, it’s that kind of show.

Along the way we meet a delightfully quirky and loveable cast of characters including Wendy’s adorable roommate and Middleman crush Lacey (Brit Morgan), their neighbour Noser (Jake Smollett), the Middleman’s cranky robotic assistant Ida (Mary Pat Gleason), the exceptionally named Manservent Neville (Mark A. Sheppard) and the wonderful Sensei Ping (Mark Dacascos).

Throw in subtle and not-so-subtle references to everything from Star Trek, Star Wars, James Bond, The Avengers, Indy, Buffy, Doctor Who, Ghostbusters and too many more to mention and you have possibly one of the greatest TV show ever! So, of course, it was cancelled after just one season.

Phooey!

Rating: * * * * *

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys Season One Review

2009-07-30T23:54:00.009+01:00

“Wherever there was evil, wherever an innocent would suffer, there would be…Hercules!”

This is the story of a time long ago. A time of myth and legend. When ancient TV producers were petty and cruel and they plagued mankind with increasingly drearily programming. Only one show dared to challenge their power… Hercules!

Back in 1994, long before the Spider-Man films catapulted him into the Hollywood A-List, director Sam Raimi, along with his producing partner Robert Tapert, produced a collection of action-adventure TV movies for Universal Media Studio’s syndicated Action Pack series. Starring Kevin Sorbo and shot in New Zealand these movies portrayed a more light-hearted and often tongue-in-cheek take on the adventures of that classic hero of Greek mythology, Hercules.

The five Hercules TV movies soon proved hugely popular with audiences (unlike William Shatner’s Tekwar) and eventually a full series was ordered. Hercules: The Legendary Journeys debuted in 1995 and proved a massive success, going so far as to dislodge Baywatch as the No. 1 show in the world (fact). Seems even the Hoff was no match for the son of Zeus. The success of Hercules led to a mini revival of fantasy programming in the late 90s with (mostly crap) shows like Sinbad, Conan, Beastmaster and The Adventures of Robin Hood popping up all over the place. Oh, and it also managed to spawn a spin-off series. You might’ve heard of it.

In an age dominated by cop shows, medical dramas, legal dramas and even more cop shows Hercules: The Legendary Journeys was a welcome breath a fresh air. It was light-hearted fun for all the family and unapologetically proud of it. True, a lot of the time it could be exceptional cheesy but luckily the series also possessed a brilliantly knowing sense of humour that helped you to overcome the b-grade special effects and the occasional blunt moral lesson for the kiddies. In the wrong hands the role of Hercules could’ve been nothing more than a bland hulk of muscle, a vacant tough guy with sawdust between his ears. Luckily Sorbo turned out to be warm and likeable leading man, both heroic and noble with a laidback and friendly charm. He was amiably supported by Michael Hurst as Iolaus, Herc’s best friend and sidekick. Their affectionate bromance was defiantly the heart and soul of the entire series.

Alas, as fun as the series was the original TV movies are a mixed bag when it came to quality. ‘Amazon Women’ is pretty dire, notable only for an early appearance by one Lucy Lawless and the first death of Iolaus (he could give Daniel Jackson a run for his money). ‘The Lost Kingdom’ is much better with a feisty performance by a young Renee O’Conner and a great sea monster yet still feels a little ropey around the edges. ‘The Circle of Fire’ and ‘In the Underworld’ remain the best of the lot while ‘Maze of the Minotaur’ is just a great big clip show with some serious plot holes. Throughout Anthony Quinn is permanently on autopilot as a randy old Zeus while, as Herc's wife, Tawny Kitaen proves that her acting talents clearly don’t extend beyond her cleavage.

The first season of the series proper are as equally hit and miss as the movies. Without a doubt the standout episodes were the Xena trilogy (‘Warrior Princess’, ‘The Gauntlet’ and ‘Unchained Heart’) that introduced everyone’s favourite butt kicker from Amphipolis. Apart from Xena we saw Hercules battle all sorts of enemies over these 13 episodes, including monsters, war lords, demons, slave traders, centaurs, giant beasts, gladiators, the odd misunderstood Cyclops and, as the voice-over man reminds us every week, the minions of his wicked step-mother Hera, the all powerful queen of the gods. However, unlike later seasons the Olympian Gods are kept strictly in the clouds, operating mainly through their lackeys and minions.

At this early stage in the show's development it had yet to fully establish its wonderful array of supporting characters. Favourites like Autolycus (Bruce Campbell), Jason (Jeffrey Thomas), Aphrodite (Alexandra Tydings) and Nebula (Gina Torres) wouldn’t be introduced until later seasons. Iolaus and Salmoneus (Robert Trebor) are both present and correct but the blind seer Tiresias (Norman Forsey) didn’t work out and was ditched after a few episodes.

The first season of Hercules is hit and miss to be sure but even at this early stage the series remains immensely enjoyable with some strong hints laid in of the series true potential. At the end of the season, after Xena rides off into the sunset (and spin-off glory), Hercules and Iolaus are left alone to continue their adventures together. Proving once and for all, that even in ancient Greece, bros always came before hoes.

Rating: * * *

Ashes to Ashes Season Two DVD Review

2009-07-13T20:25:00.003+01:00

Ashes to Ashes will never be as good as Life on Mars. It’s a sad fact but one we can’t escape. It’s a sequel for starts, which automatically makes it less good than Mars. It will always feel like an inferior retreat no matter how good it gets. And it certainly got good this series.

After a hit and miss first series that saw modern day DI Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) shot in the head and sent back in time to the 1980s where, like Sam Tyler, she finds herself working for that mighty dinosaur of policing DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister), this series has the writers finally finding their footing and gave us the worthy spin-off that Mars deserved.

The first series centred around Drake’s quest to save her parents and get back to her daughter. Series two expands the scope onto the more complex topic of police corruption, a recurring theme in both Ashes and Mars. Corruption personified here in the form of Detective Superintendent Charlie ‘SuperMac’ Macintosh (Roger Allam), a character in the same vein as Captain Dudley Smith from James Ellroy’s LA Quintet, warm and friendly on the outside but rotten to the core.

However, Mac is not the main villain of this series. That would be the enigmatic Martin Summers (Adrian Dunbar), a bent copper who, like Alex, is also from the future. With the Bowie clown now retired, Summers becomes Alex chief tormentor and nemesis throughout the second series. But Summers is too enigmatic and mysterious to be a credible adversary to Alex and his storyline becomes tiresome after a few episodes only to explode back to life after he commits one hell of a head twisting paradox.

After that we get a betrayal from within the team that isn’t as earth shattering as it should’ve been followed by a cliff-hanger ending that defiantly is. If John Simm hadn’t decided to jump ship I’m willing to bet this is how the second series of Mars might’ve ended.

Despite a quality dip in the middle the second series is defiantly stronger overall than the first. Gene Hunt is no longer the cartoon caricature of the first series. He’s a changed man, old and if onlyperhaps a little bit wiser. Forced to fight corruption within his own department as well as criminal scum. Alex Drake has improved and become a less annoying character, while the new hairstyle make Keeley Hawes even more gorgeous than ever. In fact everyone is given substantial character development this series with the exception of Shaz (the ever adorable Montserrat Lombard), who continues to be underused to the point of criminal neglect.

But I digress. If the writers can maintain the same high standards for the third and final series next year than maybe, just maybe, Ashes to Ashes will finally be as good as Life on Mars.

Rating: * * * *

Torchwood: Children of Earth DVD Review

2009-07-13T16:30:00.004+01:00

Wow! Now that is more like it. After a muddled first series and an improved second Torchwood has finally become that great sci-fi thriller we all hoped it would be. This is not the work of the same Russell T. Davis who gave us farting aliens in Downing Street, Kylie on the starship Titanic and flying double-decker buses. This is the Russell T. Davis that wrote The Second Coming, Touching Evil and Doctor Who’s darkest episode ‘Midnight’.

After the devastating events of ‘Exit Wounds’ everything is business as usual back in the Hub. Gwen and Rhys are looking for a house while Jack and Ianto get used to being a couple. Then things get eerie as all the children, everywhere in the world, stop and start chanting in unison (and English) “We Are Coming! We Are Coming!” over and over again. The Torchwood team begins to investigate. Or they would if only the British government didn’t want them all dead for some mysterious reason. Seems the past has come back to haunt Captain Jack again.

The new five episode mini-series format works amazingly well giving us further insight into the remaining members of the Torchwood gang. With the team slimmed down to three (four if you include Rhys) the focus is tighter and more intimate. We get to know more about Jack and Ianto in the first episode alone than we did in two series, while Gwen and Rhys have become one of TV’s most adorable couples. All the flaws from the previous series have been carefully ironed out. No more smutty innuendo, pointless swearing, inconsistent characterization and adolescent daftness. The stakes are higher than they’ve ever been before so the time has come to grow up. Children of Earth also works as an exceptional political thriller. Some of the best scenes of entire serial are just politicians, generals and civil servants sitting around tables talking to each other. Of course, there are still the requisite shootouts, explosions and punch ups to keep all the action junkies happy.

The alien threat, the ominous 456, is kept mostly in the shadows for the duration. We get glimpses here and there at what they actually look like but never a fully picture, which only adds to their unsettling presence. What we do get to see of them is horrifying enough, especially when we finally discover what they intend to do with 10% of the children of earth. Meanwhile, the scenes on the council estate with Ianto’s family help ground the story in the real world, something Davis has always been very good at.

By the fourth episode Children of Earth has become something truly special to behold. The chilling scenes of cabinet ministers rational planning the rounding up of 10% of the nation's children recall the casual horror the Wannsee Conference as the Nazis calmly planned their final solution. The final episode comes as a massive punch to the stomach swiftly followed by a serious kick to the face. Hard decisions are made, lives are lost, and victory comes at a terrible price.

Throughout John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Garth-David Lloyd and Kai Owen all give exceptional performances, with Barrowman especially really giving it his all in the final episode as Jack is forced to make a harrowing choice. Unquestionably, through, the star of the show is Peter Capaldi as John Frobisher, a civil servant as far from Malcolm Tucker as you can get. His story is the most tragic of all and if there is any justice in this world Capaldi won’t be going away empty handed when award season comes around. Also of note, Liz May Brice brings just the right amount of icy bitchiness to the role of Johnson, the government assassin tasked with eliminating Torchwood, while Ian Gelder is delightfully slimy as Mr. Dekker. In fact there’s not a single bad performance from anyone. Even the kids are quite good.

Thrilling, exciting, bleak, brutal, harrowing, disturbing and emotionally shattering, Torchwood: Children of Earth is without a doubt one of the finest television productions you are likely to see this year and proof that sometimes good things do eventually come to those who wait.

Rating: * * * * *

Robin of Sherwood

2009-07-08T12:14:00.017+01:00

“Nothing’s forgotten. Nothing is ever forgotten”

With the news recently that the BBC has decided to finally pull the plug on its current (rubbish) version of Robin Hood I decided to take a look back into the distant past, to the decade that style forgot, and remember another take on the legendary bandit, Robin of Sherwood.

Forget what you think you know. This is the definitive interpretation of the popular English myth, reinventing all that came before and influencing everything that would follow. Even the BBC’s naff version, which basically just rips-off the Kevin Costner movie that in turn ripped-off Robin of Sherwood.

Created in 1984 by Richard ‘Kip’ Carpenter (creator of Catweazle) , on the surface Robin of Sherwood seemed like just another run of the mill version of the Robin Hood, chronicling the adventures of Robin of Loxley (Michael Praed) and his merry band of thieves, Marion (Judi Trott), Little John (Clive Mantle), Will Scarlet (Ray Winston), Much (Peter Llewellyn Williams) and Fairer Tuck (Phil Rose) as they robbed from the stinking rich and gave to the poor. Added to the mix was the Saracen warrior Nasir (Mark Ryan), not a traditional part of the myth but the producers and cast were too amazed by Ryan’s performance not keep him around. As a result now every future version of Robin Hood would include a token Saracen character (something that still irritates Carpenter). As always the big guys were the Sheriff of Nottingham (Nickolas Grace), his brother, the corrupt Abbot Hugo (Philip Jackson) and their ever so blond lackey, Sir Guy of Gisburne (Robert Addie).

Beside the inclusion of a Saracen warrior, what really set the series apart from all the other Robin Hoods through the years was the way Carpenter presented us with a world that was a perfectly balanced mixture of authentic medieval dirt and grime, historical fact and pagan mythology. This was a Robin Hood who, when not battling Norman soldiers or vengeful Templer Knights, nattered with ancient forest spirits, was the chose one of Herne the Hunter (John Abineri), fought evil sorcerers, witches, satanic nuns, demons and even Lucifer himself. All with total conviction and sincerity, no room for hokum and cheese.

Amazingly all the fantasy and magic never clashed with the series' medieval realism. Carpenter was eager to avoid all the usual clichés of previous Robin Hood series and show a realistic and historically accurate 13th century England. Unlike the writers of the new Robin Hood Richard Carpenter actually bothered to read a history book and not just watch all the old movies. In this series, Richard Cœur de Lion was no longer the kind and noble king but an arrogant brute, more concerned with foreign wars and claiming territory than with the well fair of his own people. His return didn't end the merry men’s troubles only prolonged them. His death only allowed for his brother, Prince John, to became king. The series would latter chronicle key events of John’s reign including the dispute over the throne with Arthur of Brittany, his marriage to the 12 year old Princess Isabella of France, and the build up to the Welsh uprising of 1211.

No casino heists for this band of robbers, that for sure.

Above all else the series was propelled by an exceptional cast. Michael Praed made for a heroic and decent Robin, trading cocky bluster for an ethereal grace. This Robin was not a disgraced nobleman nor a veteran of the Crusades, he was a simple peasant, an orphan of Norman tyranny. A genuine man of the people. Plus, unlike some other Robin Hoods he could speak with an English accent. Along with Praed's Robin there will never a Marion as gutsy and bewitching as Judi Trott, a woman who didn’t need to dress up as a ninja to prove how tough she was. Elsewhere, Clive Mantle, later of Casualty fame, made for a kind and gentle giant as Little John and Mark Ryan proved that less is indeed more as Nasir. But the real standout was Ray Winston was Will Scarlet. Yes, that Ray Winston! Winston said he based his entire performance on football hooligans and you believe him. His Will Scarlet is a vessel of barely controlled rage, a borderline psychotic one step way from snapping.

While the series had many great villains, including Anthony Valentine’s demonic Baron De Belleme, Rula Lenska’s satanic nun Morgwyn of Ravenscar, Phil Davis’s unhinged King John and Richard O’Brien’s bog-eyed Gulnar, it was Nickolas Grace’s deliciously Machiavellian Robert de Rainault, Sheriff of Nottingham that rained supreme. This Sheriff never became a hammy caricature or shameful scene-stealer easily putting both Alan Rickman and Keith Allen to shame.

It may seem like a cliché to say this but you do get the sense that these people really did enjoy working together and took pride in making the series. Everyone plays it absolutely straight, no ham or cheeky winks to the camera. Despite all the mysticism and magic this felt real and genuine. Good people died. Episodes didn’t always end with a freeze frame of our heroes looking smug at having foiled another of the Sheriff’s plans.

Along with the excellent acting and some terrific scripts by Carpenter, the series was always brilliantly shot and directed. Just look at the opening scenes from ‘The Swords of Wayland’ as the Hounds of Lucifer ride out of the morning sun and prepare to be completely wowed. The soundtrack by Irish band Clannad may seem dated by today’s standards but a lot of it still stands up and is not cheesy as some would have you believe.

Sadly all things must eventually pass. At the end of the second series Praed decided to depart for Broadway and, later, Dynasty. Rather than call it quits Carpenter decide to incorporate the other myth of Robin Hood, that of the nobleman Robert of Huntington, into the series and introduce a brand new Robin. In a move motivated more by media buzz than common sense Jason Connery (son of Sir Sean) was brought in to take up Praed bow and arrow. The producers all but admit he was cast due to his famous name rather than thespian ability. Connery, despite his nice hair, often came across as stiff and lifeless, he was fine with the action sequences but the romance scenes with Marion could be excruciating. Along with the inferior leading man the third series also suffered a downturn in overall quality. Carpenter took a backseat, handing much of scripting duties over to other writers. As a result the third series was more uneven than the previous two, dodgy episode such as ‘The Inheritance’ and ‘Cromm Cruac’ clashing with classic like ‘The Sheriff of Nottingham’ and ‘Herne’s Son’.

After one series with Connery under the hood the show was cancelled due to Goldcrest, one of the key financers, being forced to pull out of the venture after one cinematic flop too many. But Robin of Sherwood remains a lyrical, elegant and emotional series. A true unsung classic of our times. It has not been forgotten, it will never be forgotten.

Battlestar Galactica: The Final Season DVD Review

2009-06-01T10:52:00.004+01:00

"She was a grand old lady"

Perhaps the most shocking thing for me about the grand finale of Battlestar Galactica wasn't the controversial Starbuck revelation or that fan dividing Time Square coda. It was that after all the heartache, all the pain and misery, after all the darkness, death and destruction, the most shocking thing about the ending of Galactica is that it was a happy one, pretty much just about everyone lived. Admittedly it was no Disney level schmaltzy happy ever after. There was pain, suffering, death, some serious shit being blown up and one final heartbreaking, but inevitable, loss.

I just never expected as series as unrelentingly bleak as Battlestar Galactica would end on a positive note. I was fully expecting a Wild Bunch-style last act blood bath. Sure, we did lose some good people in these final episodes, some by their own had others facing a firing squad, but the death toll was never to the extent we were all dreading.

It’s a given that no matter how Ron Moore and co decide to end the series they were never going to please everyone. It is strange, fans often shout and scream to TV executives that creators and showrunners be given the freedom and the chance to end their shows on their own terms. But then fans grumble and complain when those same creators and showrunners end their shows the way they wanted but not exactly the same way the fans wanted. Its a no-win scenario even James T. Kirk couldn't scheme his way out off. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

I’m not sure what narked off the fans more but if I had to guess I'd go with the entire Kara/god/angels hullabaloo. It seems that to some there is just no room for the spiritual in science-fiction. Many wanted cold, logical, if no doubt convoluted, answers to all their questions not a load of mystical mumbo jumbo. Personally I like the ambiguity of it all. So what if Kara Thrace is an angel of whatever supreme power is pull all the universal strings. Sometimes giving everything a clear and logical explanation can often just end up making things worse not better. Just compare the ambiguous end of the original (and still best) Life on Mars with the more cut and dry finale of the American remake and tell me which is best.

But enough of this rambling, lets get down to the nitty gritty of the matter, is this final half season any good? Answer: defiantly! This final batch of episodes is consistently stronger than the first half of the season even if the emphasis remains more on character than action. Admittedly there are some bumps and one uncharacteristic soapy misfire (“Deadlock”) along the way but the quality rate remains high, especially in "The Oath"/"Blood on the Scales", the two part mutiny storyline, by far BSG’s strongest since the Cain/Pegasus arc in Season Two.

Without a doubt Galactica’s most consistent asset has always been its phenomenal ensemble cast. If there’s one thing I’m going to miss most about the series it is seeing all those wonderful actors together. I'm feeling like one of my favourite bands has broken up. Special mention must go to Alessandro Juliani, undoubtedly the star of the season, who would’ve thought Felix Geata would become the tragic Judas of this saga.

Battlestar Galactica started with the ending of the world as we followed the last survivors of humanity from utter heartbreak to crippling depression and bitter disappointment. No one expected there would be a bright, shinning light at the end of that dark tunnel but Galactica was never a series that aimed to be predictable. It was a show that took risks and set out from the beginning to do things it own way. I seriously doubt we’ll ever see its like again.

But, you never know. Apparently all this has happened before and if we’re very lucky maybe, just maybe it might happen again.

So say we all.

Rating: * * * * *

Caprica Pilot Review

2009-04-21T22:10:00.004+01:00

“You can’t copy a soul!”

Staring: Eric Stoltz, Esai Morales, Paula Malcolmson, Polly Walker, Alessandra Toressani,

Review: Ron Moore isn’t one to flinch. Right from the first the beginning of Caprica we’re plugged straight into the techno decadence of the planet Caprica, 58 years before the fall. The place is Rome on acid, where anything, and everything, goes. In their virtual temples of sin the Capricans are free to indulge every impulse, every unspeakable desire without remorse or fear of consequence. Makes you wonder what the Enterprise crew really got up to in the holodeck on their off hours.

Caprica certainly has promise. Moore and Eick have made a conscious decision not to repeat themselves by simply giving us Galactica: The Previous Generation. Too many spin-offs these days are more concerned with milking the original rather then establish their own identity. The only thing that distinguishes the various CSIs from each other is geographical location. Instead of an epic space saga chronicling the struggle between the last remnants of humanity and their Cylon pursuers, Caprica is a more grounded and intimate family drama centred around two very different families that will both play crucial roles in the future for their species, the Graystones and the Adamas.

This certainly has the potential to be an intriguing series but, so far, it doesn’t seem to be a entirely gripping one. It’s hard to completely judge how the show might turn out just from the pilot, because most pilots are weak anyway but things move at a slower, more meditative pace then Galactica and humour is noticeable only by its absence. If Caprica is to survive it will need a Gaius Baltar. Stat!

Oh, and anyone expecting colossal space battles, tense dog fights or general Starbucking will be deeply disappointed.

Being a prequel it is said that Caprica will lack any dramatic tension as we already know how this story and civilization will invariably end. Which is a rather minor and silly criticism as it can be applied to any historical drama were the outcome is common knowledge. Caesar will always be assassinated, the Titanic is going to hit that iceberg and the allies will win World War II every time. Just because we know what is going to happen does not be we cannot enjoy seeing how it happened and, crucially, why.

On the acting front no one puts in a bad performance with Paula Malcolmson, in particular, doing so much with so little as Daniel’s wife, Amanda. Defiantly looking forward to seeing more of her when the full series airs. Anything with a Deadwood alumni is automatically 27% better. But the series rest on the characters of Daniel and Joseph both brilliantly brought to life by Stoltz and Morales.

Like its parent series it takes a horrifying event, the suicide bombing of a commuter train, to bring these two very different characters together. Under normal circumstance its unlikely these two would ever have met, Daniel is the Bill Gates of his world and part of the Caprican elite, Joseph is an immigrant from Tauron and a lawyer for the local mafia. Both men have lost loved ones in the bombing and are numb inside, they spend their first meeting just hanging out, drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, neither saying anything. They don’t needs to, each man perfectly understanding the other’s pain. It’s a small, elegant moment something they both needed.

While the acting is generally strong and the leads are exceptional some of the other characters may need some fleshing out. Zoe is your clichéd, annoying spoilt rich kid whose angry at her parents, the Tauron mafia all seemed to have majored in Mob Acting 101 and Polly Walker’s character is so underdeveloped she’s almost non-existent.

While there are many similarities and difference between Caprica and Galactica one theme remains constant between both shows, the question of what it really means to be human. Is it simply a matter of flesh and blood? Are we nothing but information on biological motherboard? Can you indeed copy a soul? Caprica ask these questions but like its predecessor doesn’t spoon feed it’s audience any easy answers. For Daniel the answer is simple, it doesn’t matter. As far as he is concerned the virtual copy of Zoe that he discovers is his daughter. The only difference is hardware, Zoe was flesh and blood while Zoe 2.0 is a glorified flash drive. Daniel’s obsession does eventually verge into Frankenstein territory but like Joseph he is simply a father desperate to connect with his child. Only his grief has blinded him to the point that he never stops to think that just because he can bring Zoe back doesn’t mean that he defiantly should.

Remember mate, all this has happened before…

Other Thoughts:

-Clearly all the explicit scenes of a sexual nature will be cut for broadcast. Unless SyFy wants to be a bit more HBO.

-Never thought I’d ever hear anyone refer to the Old Man as ‘Willy’ ;)

-The prototype Cylon, the Cybernetic Life-Form Nod, initially had a yellow eye instead of red. And the aim of an Imperial Stormtrooper.

-Joseph: “I understand, another five seconds I’m jumping off a bridge myself”

-The Tauron mafia are a lot like Russian mobsters, especially with all the tattoos.

-Joseph: “You know us Taurons, we’re nothing if not a stoic people”

-Daniel owns the Caprica Buccaneers the same Pyramid team Sam Anders would eventually play for.

-Taurons speak a different language from Capricans. This was never seen in BSG where everyone spoke the same language.

-Lacy: “Back that way are the group sex and drug dens keep going past that and you‘ll find the really gross stuff”

-The Caprica defence minister was played by X-Files alum William B. Davis (Cancer Man) who, in a nice Blade Runner nod, had some nifty Dr Tyrell style specs.

-Lacy: “Yeah right, the Porn sites were the first to licence that technology everyone knows that”
Daniel: “That’s different, that’s for adults”
Lacy: “Zoe always said you could rationalise anything”

-Joseph is an atheist and doesn’t believe in the gods. Like father like son.

-Prototype Cylon: “All targets naturalised. Program completed. By your command”

-Like their decendents everyone on Caprica smokes a lot. Ron Moore really is a bad role model for kids :)

I’m not hooked, not yet anyway. I am fascinated by most of the characters, especially Joseph and Daniel, and many of the issue raised it’s just that Caprica comes off as a little too sombre and needs to lighten up a tiny bit. But I’ll defiantly be back next year to watch the full series. Shame we have to wait a whole year to see to it. Frak!

Ratting: * * * *