TV This could well be the best of the series so far. At no point during the episode did you feel like you had to make allowances for moments designed y'know for kids. No farting or burping here. This was a story sleekly designed to frighten the bejesus out of everyone and was all the better for it. Arguably, for the first time, the series held its back story on its sleeve throwing references for long term viewers and fans all over the place, to Davros and Cybermen, without needing to name any names. But new mythology was created for new fans, with the adversaries in the Time War spelt out for the first time and The Doctor's part in it.
Ironically the scariest moment for me were the scenes in which this story was told as The Doctor confronted the Dalek. He just ranted at it, face red with anger, veins popping out all over. We've seen Eccleston do comedy in the series, but this was the first time we saw his out and out anger and I just sat clutching the armrests of my chair. I jumped as we saw The Doctor's face bending around the Dalek's line of sight. Hartnell smirked, McCoy underplayed, Eccleston boiled over. Billie Piper was at it again too bringing even more dimensions to her work. The moment when we were led to believe the Dalek had killed Rose, even though having seen spoilery clips of later episodes we know she'll still be around, was heart breaking because the histrionics and screams which could have greeted her end are replaced with a quiet seeya to The Doctor.
But it wouldn't have worked if Nick Briggs, in his voice work as the Dalek, hadn't been there giving as good as he got. I've been following Briggs' Daleks for years in the Big Finish audio dramas but I haven't witnessed anything like the performance he gave tonight. In the diary in this month's Doctor Who magazine, he talked about how he was asked to loosen his intonation slightly and he comments that he'd been wanting to do that for years (perhaps constrained before by expectation). It really showed. This Dalek had an emotional range which made it even creepier -- as it tricked Rose into caring for it to the extent that she would touch and reinvigorate -- with that quiet whisper. Terrifying.
Much like The Unquiet Dead the episode benefited from having a small number of humans. It's tricky for the main guest cast to make an impression in circumstances such as this, but Corey Johnson's Henry van Statten had just the right level of smarm, Anna-Louise Plowman (who was previously in the Stargate tv series) oozed charisma and Bruno Langley had to just the right amount of charm without you wanting to throttle him. I like that he'll be travelling to another adventure -- he's a good counterpoint to the now slightly darker Doctor. Also want to mention Jana Carpenter who I think was the guard on the stairs who stood her ground against the Dalek -- along with Beccy Armory who played Raffalo the plumber in the second episode its an example of someone really making you care in only a few moments of screen time.
But again, to demonstrate what an intricate jigsaw this episode was, none of their work might have been as good had Rob Shearman not produced another gem. I'd thought it would be a more traditional work than Big Finish's Chimes At Midnight and particularly Scherzo. So it was with all the action and chase sequences. But there was still something else going on. You have an episode with a Dalek. What to do with it. I mean you could just drop it in a city and letting it go on a killing spree, and that might be exciting and scary (and expensive) but what would be the point we'd need to do something new. And as has been the case with this new series and Shearman's past work it was bound to subvert expectations.
They've invaded Earth, the universe and time on countless occasions. We've seen their beginning and now and then their ultimate end. What next? Make us care for them. Actually make them the wounded and The Doctor the aggressor, wanting their ultimate destruction. No crouching on the floor with two wires debating whether they should be destroyed. They just needed to die at all costs, the hero standing almost over one with a giant gun hoping to finish the job of wiping out their race for the final time. And we didn't want him to. Actually the Daleks have been given feelings before, way back in the Troughton era in The Evil of the Daleks when they were infected with the human factor leading to them inploding in on themselves in a civil war. Then it was a cool way of ending the adventure in some excitement. We never heard of that faction again (give or take a comic strip).
The programme makers knew that if you gave them feelings it took away the one thing which made them different. That they just wanted to kill everything else. Watching tonight I was reminded of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode I, Borg in which that series' version of the unstoppable killing machine was drawn away from its kind, spent time with humans and started to question its purpose. In that series it had the ultimate effect of weakening the foe for years afterward, because we knew that under their organo-metal exterior they still had the capacity to care. And even when it returned to its own kind there was that little wink at the end that it had taken the experience with it. They became too human.
Doctor Who didn't make that mistake. The Dalek might have absorbed some of Rose's DNA and was beginning to have new ideas, thoughts and feelings but it didn't know what to do with them. It could have gone either way and made it even better at its job. Instead it just wanted to die. And there it went, imploding in on itself. But we know its just that Dalek and no matter what The Doctor says it was the last of them, in our heart of hearts we know they'll back, and judging by all the flying, plungering and electricuting, deadlier and scarier than they've ever been.
Some will question whether its right that our hero would go on the offensive in that way -- all of the jellybabies and telling Leela to put away her knife out the window. But we've seen this kind of thing already this series from this incarnation with anti-plastic, withholding moisturizer, gas explosions and hunking great missiles. What people probably won't like is how direct it is, in a moment when the enemy is already effectively defeated. Which is an idea entirely inkeeping with Shearman's canon -- the deconstruction of what we know -- in previous cases through the restructuring of story, this time the audiences reaction to a Doctor who becomes an anti-hero bent on revenge.
The jigsaw continues with Joe Aherne's direction. His vampire series Ultraviolet was one of the best looking and written genre series of the past twenty years so I was delighted to hear he was directing some Who. In television series like this, it's less easy to see the individual contributions of the director, editor, photographer and producer. But for me this show seemed to flow much better than the rest. It had a fairly linear story, certainly, but the pacing seemed perfect, and it didn't throw in a camera angle to be flashy. Everything seemed in service of the story. I'd include in this Murray Gold's score which demonstrated what he is capable of, pulling back when he needed to in a very Howard Shore way.
But, finally what of the realisation of the Dalek? Considering the horror stories in the past of Spider-Daleks and humanoids I was amazed and overjoyed at actually how respectful this design is. There is something of the Battle-Dalek from their last tv appearance about it, all gleaming metal. The rationalising of the sink plunger as part of its killing armoury worked very well, as did it's new approach to the electronic keypad. The CG effects really demonstrated how far tv has come, especially as the exterminated not only went negative but also transparant, shocks flying through skeleton.
After the disappointment of the film version of The HitchHiker's Guide To The Galaxy, I feel blessed that my actual favourite franchise is being rendered so perfecting in the next century. It took that familiar jigsaw, all of the icons of the series, and cut its own pieces out to fit. Our perception of The Doctor and those Daleks will never be the same again, and that's an extraordinary thing.
Sympathy for the Dalek
TV This could well be the best of the series so far. At no point during Dalek did you feel like you had to make allowances for moments designed y'know for kids. No farting or burping here. This was a story sleekly designed to frighten the bejesus out of everyone and was all the better for it. Arguably, for the first time, the series held its back story on its sleeve throwing references for long term viewers and fans all over the place, to Davros and Cybermen, without needing to name any names. But new mythology was created for new fans, with the adversaries in the Time War spelt out for the first time and The Doctor's part in it.
The scariest moment for me were the scenes in which The Doctor confronted the Dalek. He just ranted at it, face red with anger, veins popping out all over. We've seen Eccleston do comedy in the series, but this was the first time we saw his out and out anger and I just sat clutching the armrests of my chair. I jumped as we saw The Doctor's face bending around the Dalek's line of sight. Hartnell smirked, McCoy underplayed, Eccleston boiled over. Billie Piper was at it again too bringing even more dimensions to her work. The moment when we were led to believe the Dalek had killed Rose, even though having seen spoilery clips of later episodes we know she'll still be around, was heart breaking because the histrionics and screams which could have greeted her end are replaced with a quiet "seeya" to The Doctor.
But it wouldn't have worked if Nick Briggs, in his voice work as the Dalek, hadn't been there giving as good as he got. I've been following Briggs' Daleks for years in the Big Finish audio dramas but I haven't witnessed anything like the performance he gave tonight. In the diary in this month's Doctor Who Magazine, he talked about how he was asked to loosen his intonation slightly and he comments that he'd been wanting to do that for years (perhaps constrained before by expectation). It really showed. This Dalek had an emotional range which made it even creepier -- as it tricked Rose into caring for it to the extent that she would touch and reinvigorate -- with that quiet whisper. Terrifying.
Much like The Unquiet Dead the episode benefited from having a small number of humans. It's tricky for the main guest cast to make an impression in circumstances such as this, but Corey Johnson's Henry van Statten had just the right level of smarm, Anna-Louise Plowman (who was previously in the Stargate tv series) oozed charisma and Bruno Langley had to just the right amount of charm without you wanting to throttle him. I like that he'll be travelling to another adventure -- he's a good counterpoint to the now slightly darker Doctor. Also want to mention Jana Carpenter who I think was the guard on the stairs who stood her ground against the Dalek -- along with Beccy Armory who played Raffalo the plumber in the second episode its an example of someone really making you care in only a few moments of screen time.
But again, to demonstrate what an intricate jigsaw this episode was, none of their work might have been as good had Rob Shearman not produced another gem. I'd thought it would be a more traditional work than Big Finish's Chimes At Midnight and particularly Scherzo. So it was with all the action and chase sequences. But there was still something else going on. You have an episode with a Dalek. What to do with it. I mean you could just drop it in a city and letting it go on a killing spree, and that might be exciting and scary (and expensive) but what would be the point we'd need to do something new. And as has been the case with this new series and Shearman's past work it was bound to subvert expectations.
They've invaded Earth, the universe and time on countless occasions. We've seen their beginning and now and then their ultimate end. What next? Make us care for them. Actually make them the wounded and The Doctor the aggressor, wanting their ultimate destruction. No crouching on the floor with two wires debating whether they should be destroyed. They just needed to die at all costs, the hero standing almost over one with a giant gun hoping to finish the job of wiping out their race for the final time. And we didn't want him to. Actually the Daleks have been given feelings before, way back in the Troughton era in The Evil of the Daleks when they were infected with the human factor leading to them inploding in on themselves in a civil war. Then it was a cool way of ending the adventure in some excitement. We never heard of that faction again (give or take a comic strip).
The programme makers knew that if you gave them feelings it took away the one thing which made them different. That they just wanted to kill everything else. Watching tonight I was reminded of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode I, Borg in which that series' version of the unstoppable killing machine was drawn away from its kind, spent time with humans and started to question its purpose. In that series it had the ultimate effect of weakening the foe for years afterwards, because we knew that under their organo-metal exterior they still had the capacity to care. And even when it returned to its own kind there was that little wink at the end that it had taken the experience with it. They became too human.
Doctor Who didn't make that mistake. The Dalek might have absorbed some of Rose's DNA and was beginning to have new ideas, thoughts and feelings but it didn't know what to do with them. It could have gone either way and made it even better at its job. Instead it just wanted to die. And there it went, imploding in on itself. But we know its just that Dalek and no matter what The Doctor says it was the last of them, in our heart of hearts we know they'll back, and judging by all the flying, plungering and electrocuting, deadlier and scarier than they've ever been.
Some will question whether its right that our hero would go on the offensive in that way -- all of the jelly babies and telling Leela to put away her knife out the window. But we've seen this kind of thing already this series from this incarnation with anti-plastic, withholding moisturiser, gas explosions and honking great missiles. What people probably won't like is how direct it is, in a moment when the enemy is already effectively defeated. Which is an idea entirely in keeping with Shearman's canon -- the deconstruction of what we know -- in previous cases through the restructuring of story, this time the audiences reaction to a Doctor who becomes an anti-hero bent on revenge.
The jigsaw continues with Joe Aherne's direction. His vampire series Ultraviolet was one of the best looking and written genre series of the past twenty years so I was delighted to hear he was directing some Who. In television series like this, it's less easy to see the individual contributions of the director, editor, photographer and producer. But for me this show seemed to flow much better than the rest. It had a fairly linear story, certainly, but the pacing seemed perfect, and it didn't throw in a camera angle to be flashy. Everything seemed in service of the story. I'd include in this Murray Gold's score which demonstrated what he is capable of, pulling back when he needed to in a very Howard Shore way.
But, finally what of the realisation of the Dalek? Considering the horror stories in the past of Spider-Daleks and humanoids I was amazed and overjoyed at actually how respectful this design is. There is something of the Battle-Dalek from their last tv appearance about it, all gleaming metal. The rationalising of the sink plunger as part of its killing armoury worked very well, as did it's new approach to the electronic keypad. The CG effects really demonstrated how far tv has come, especially as the exterminated not only went negative but also transparant, shocks flying through skeleton.
After the disappointment of the film version of The HitchHiker's Guide To The Galaxy, I feel blessed that my actual favourite franchise is being rendered so perfecting in the next century. It took that familiar jigsaw, all of the icons of the series, and cut its own pieces out to fit. Our perception of The Doctor and those Daleks will never be the same again, and that's an extraordinary thing.
Heardsaid in the media
Heardsaid I think Heardsaid was mentioned on some US radio station called 108.9 The Fox. One of their shows has a recap blog and if you look at the entry for the 28th April 2005 it links to something about Skynyrd. That most of everything is from the show on air, it implies they've been there too ...
Film Chris has just sent me the following ...
BBFC Rates 'Revenge of the Sith' 12AAs he said in the subject line for the email, it's long and scary ...
------------------------------------
The British Board of Film Classification has given
'Revenge of the Sith' a 12A rating:
Classified 27 April, 2005
STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH
Contains moderate fantasy violence and scary scenes
This work was passed with no cuts made.
Run Time 139m 59s
Unlike the US, where a dozen or more running times
have been reported on various theater websites, the
BBFC lists the definitive runtime for the UK, at a
second shy of 2 hours and 20 minutes.
Oh that thing.
Books The Sony Librie. Jason's right. This could be huge if Sony actually gave the user some modicum of control over the content they'd purchased and their own equipment. Oh well. I'll wait for the cheaper, usable version from another company. But really, isn't the fact that something like this exists really great?
If you stick one in your ear ...
Download Singing Fish. This is a quietly impressive media search engine. Type in random words and find some real gems.
Magic?
Film Presenting in full, the cast listing for a new animated tv series, The Magic 7:
Jason Aaron Baca .... ZackJohn Candy? Hasn't he been dead for ten years? Kevin Bacon, Judy Collins. Bette Midler, Olivia Newton John, Meryl Street and Henry Winkler as themselves? Michael J. Fox as Marcel Maggot? Jeremy Irons? What is this thing? [via]
Kevin Bacon .... Himself
John Candy .... Smokestack Sam (voice)
Judy Collins .... Herself
Ted Danson .... Sean's Dad
Cory Danziger .... Sean
Michael J. Fox .... Marcel Maggot (voice)
Jennifer Love Hewitt .... Erica
Ice-T .... Dr. Scratch (voice)
Jeremy Irons .... Thraxx (voice)
James Earl Jones .... 5-Toe (voice)
Madeline Kahn .... Wastra (voice)
Bette Midler .... Herself
Demi Moore .... U-Z-Onesa (voice)
Olivia Newton-John .... Herself
Meryl Streep .... Herself
Dee Wallace-Stone .... Sean's Mom (as Dee Wallace Stone)
Henry Winkler .... Himself
Can it.
Names While I get over what happened last night, I realise that things could be worse. This Google search tells the story.
It begins with a house...
Film I suppose you ought to know I'm feeling very depressed. I've just returned from seeing the film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. On the bus home, two women were sitting with a giant piece of bubble wrap and were popping it intermittently and loudly. People shouted at them, pleading with them to stop and they just continued, and with more conviction creating headaches all round. I'm introducting this information because that experience was more preferable than sitting through large sections of this film. If you thought The Phantom Menace was the biggest disappointment of your life, you haven't seen anything yet. At least that had a cool lightsabre fight at the end.
I've been sitting at this keyboard for two hours trying to write a review. But I can't. After seeing the film I went to the pub and saw my friend Chris, who is much of a fan as I am. He asked me what it was like. I told him. The colour went out of his cheeks and it was as though I'd told him someone had died. I felt bad afterwards and wished I'd been more circumspect. So I'm giving you that. It's one of those films we're all going to end up making our own minds about. But long term reader will know what this film meant to me and I do feel like I've lost something.
There will be a huge number of very negative reviews written about the film over the following days and weeks. Which is good, it deserves them. But I do want to point out one particular positive, because there are so few things to like about the film. One of the new aspects is a romantic relationship between Arthur and Trillian. It's been hinted at in other versions, but here it's full blown and blooded. For some reason when the rest of the plot and film are falling apart, these scenes really work and it's generally because of Zooey Deschanel's playing. All the vague melancholy and loss which Simon Jones had in his playing of Arthur has been spirited into her -- when she finally finds out that the Earth was destroyed and from the last person you'd want to hear about it from, the look on her face is heartbreaking. The film feels more like her journey than anyone elses.
As I write I've got a copy of the book on my desk. It's a 7th printing, from 1980, the pages are yellow, but it's the original edition with the title of the book in computer lettering, in red on a greenish background. Open it up at a random page and you're guaranteed to find some kind of writing gem, be it dialogue, a description or a guide entry. I'll admit that having heard the radio series, seen the tv version, played the computer game and read the book a few times I know the material more than most, but it still has the power the thrill me and surprise me. I've opened the page and it's the moment when Arthur is sitting on Magrathea looking up at the stars and getting nostalgic about Earth as it dawns on him that the galaxy has lost a jewel and doesn't know about it. It's a moving moment, undercut as usual by Marvin saying how awful it sounds. The story in all these other forms is filled with these situations, a kind of sadness of something lost amid the humour. Which is the genius of the work. It's comedy, but it also has something to say about the universe and the human condition. It's a shame the film makers didn't understand that.
I've been sitting at this keyboard for two hours trying to write a review. But I can't. After seeing the film I went to the pub and saw my friend Chris, who is much of a fan as I am. He asked me what it was like. I told him. The colour went out of his cheeks and it was as though I'd told him someone had died. I felt bad afterwards and wished I'd been more circumspect. So I'm giving you that. It's one of those films we're all going to end up making our own minds about. But long term reader will know what this film meant to me and I do feel like I've lost something.
There will be a huge number of very negative reviews written about the film over the following days and weeks. Which is good, it deserves them. But I do want to point out one particular positive, because there are so few things to like about the film. One of the new aspects is a romantic relationship between Arthur and Trillian. It's been hinted at in other versions, but here it's full blown and blooded. For some reason when the rest of the plot and film are falling apart, these scenes really work and it's generally because of Zooey Deschanel's playing. All the vague melancholy and loss which Simon Jones had in his playing of Arthur has been spirited into her -- when she finally finds out that the Earth was destroyed and from the last person you'd want to hear about it from, the look on her face is heartbreaking. The film feels more like her journey than anyone elses.
As I write I've got a copy of the book on my desk. It's a 7th printing, from 1980, the pages are yellow, but it's the original edition with the title of the book in computer lettering, in red on a greenish background. Open it up at a random page and you're guaranteed to find some kind of writing gem, be it dialogue, a description or a guide entry. I'll admit that having heard the radio series, seen the tv version, played the computer game and read the book a few times I know the material more than most, but it still has the power the thrill me and surprise me. I've opened the page and it's the moment when Arthur is sitting on Magrathea looking up at the stars and getting nostalgic about Earth as it dawns on him that the galaxy has lost a jewel and doesn't know about it. It's a moving moment, undercut as usual by Marvin saying how awful it sounds. The story in all these other forms is filled with these situations, a kind of sadness of something lost amid the humour. Which is the genius of the work. It's comedy, but it also has something to say about the universe and the human condition. It's a shame the film makers didn't understand that.
I was on the way to somewhere...
Life Why didn't I ever spot this? "When waiting for the tube, look out for the faded white line along the platform edge - it?s more worn cos that?s where most of the doors end up stopping."
Hope
Life Why Geeks and Nerds Are Worth It... quite touching really and so true:
"They're rarely if ever possessive. They trust you, so you can be yourself around them. You like to walk around the house in a ratty t-shirt for comfort? He won't care. He does too! They won't get pissy if you don't wear make-up or don't want to bother primping your hair. If you gain a few pounds, they won't try their best to make you feel like crap."I realised today I may be a nerd. I accepted it and moved on.
03 Will Houston
Hamlet played by Will Houston
Directed by Michael Mundell
This is the first time I've seen the 'To Be Or Not To Be' speech with Hamlet standing on the edge of a cliff thinking about jumping in. At least I don't think I've seen it before. But that reflects this production overall, a grab bag of moments which seem very familiar, and not just because it's an oft produced play. Perhaps there are only so many ways you can present certain scenes.
This is a bit of an oddity. After looking about online I've found that this production was created for the education market. Which is possibly why it feels like a greatest hits of the play rather than an attempt to tell a cohesive story. The big moments for me such as the appearance of the Ghost and the set up for The Mousetrap are textually given short shrift whilst not a solliquey is lost. Some scenes end mid-speech with the characters walking offscreen or by simply cutting away. It generally doesn't feel like it's telling the story -- there isn't the emotional punch which the really good productions can give even though we've heard the dialogue and know the story by heart.
Under those circumstances that in the end Will Houston's Hamlet turns out quite well. He starts the play totally mad, in high pitched Berkoff mode all gestures and squeeking, looking upon that Ghost as being perfectly normal, almost as though he'd been waiting for him to show up. But during the flow of the play, Houston slips towards the sane with a slight glint in his eye that actually its the rest of the world which is insane.
He is hampered, though, by the production. Shot on video on location in Peebles and Stratford it seems to have been recorded in sometimes tiny spaces using a multiple camera set up. In places this means the framing is in entirely the wrong place for key moments -- we see much of Ophelia's madness in the bottom right of the frame hidden behind the back of an actor and a table. It's not a stylistic choice, it's just that the camera couldn't get there. Also, what's happening with the ghost? Someone's obviously found a setting on the camera which renders the picture through filter creating an outline effect -- it robs Hamlet Snr of his dignity.
The sound is extremely off putting in places. The producers have chosen to use the dialogue recorded 'on the day' which is fine, even if it means some of it sounds like it was recorded in a portacabin. The problem is that in many places the words are drowned out by sound effects dubbed in to create scene (crowds, or birds, or both) and the incidental music which comes along the point out when there is an important dramatic moment happening which we can't miss. Sometimes it's a bit inappropriate especially because it sounds like it's from stock and doesn't ebb and flow properly with the dialogue.
In the positives though, Gareth 'Blake's Seven' Thomas is a good Claudius (especially in the closing stages when it becomes clear that everything has gone horribly wrong), Lucy Cockram make a decent Ophelia and there are good performances throughout the rest of the cast, including Christopher Timothy's Gravedigger. And there are some lovely scene setting shots in the first hour of the film which have been recorded at some kind of medieval re-enactment day which are fun. It feels like a Doctor Who fan video - a group of people getting together to make a tribute to something they love -- at no point does anyone seem to be going through the motions and this generally sustains things through to the end.
I watched the dvd of this production on the 27th April 2005.
Film The meeting of Smith, Pegg and Wright is now online:
" Simon: No, it's a difficult thing to admit, but when I saw the Phantom Menace one I did. Even with the value of The Phantom Menace behind me, I cried when I saw Attack of the Clones with all the Jedis, and I've just learnt not to trust the trailers. Even if it's good, you just can't trust 'em. [Editor's note: Simon admitted to Empire just two days later that when he saw the Revenge Of The Sith trailer, he cried] "[via]
E4
TV Channel Four's digital station E4 is going Freeview from the end of May ostensibly for their Big Brother coverage (continuing with that mantra .... I will not be watching it this year, I must not be watching it this year....) Not that I watch much tv, but the chance to see the good US drama earlier is great news. Second chance Sunday, here we come.
Print me.
Film Admission time. I haven't been to the cinema since I saw Robots which feels like months ago. I'm looking at the top ten films on release and I haven't seen any of them. I'm out of the habit, I suppose, but also there hasn't been anything which has excited me enough to make me want to go there. But also I've become slightly disenchanted by the experience of having to watch a film while at the same time having to make allowances for audience members who don't seem to give a shit that they've paid £3.50 to eat and talk through the movie and some cruddy print which after touring the U.S. and parts of the south of England before turning up at local dirt and hairs intact. Only the newest of Hollywood films ever have a pristeen print although The lag time between theatrical release and dvd has shortened to just a few months anyway so anything at all interesting I'm waiting to appear through my letterbox via ScreenSelect and I can give it my full attention via the big old tv in the room with decent sound. It's sad.
So it's really interesting to me that the studios are considering simultaneous home and cinema releases for films. I assume what this means in practice is a vanilla dvd on theatrical release day followed up with the usual one with extras a few months later. This is no doubt to try and put some wind in the sails of the declining traditional rental market and quite how it would work with the online monthly paid for market I'm not sure. Anyone want to make a bet on which film will have distinction of being the first -- has it even been made yet? All of this said, I don't think my films of choice will be on this train ride yet. More on this at Twitch Film.
So it's really interesting to me that the studios are considering simultaneous home and cinema releases for films. I assume what this means in practice is a vanilla dvd on theatrical release day followed up with the usual one with extras a few months later. This is no doubt to try and put some wind in the sails of the declining traditional rental market and quite how it would work with the online monthly paid for market I'm not sure. Anyone want to make a bet on which film will have distinction of being the first -- has it even been made yet? All of this said, I don't think my films of choice will be on this train ride yet. More on this at Twitch Film.
Maaaaan.....
Film Watched Festival Express this evening. It's a kind of rail version of the Woodstock film, split screens and all but with contemporary interviews between all the lush period music footage. Saw Jerry Garcia jamming with Janice Joplin and members of The Band jamming in a train car. Not everyone seemed to know what was happening so it's a miracle the footage got out. Just an excellent thing, man. Worth catching for the moment when the train runs out of beer and they make an unauthorised stop for supplies -- emptying a liquer store of it's stock in the process. The lady from the poster art does not appear however.
'Oh God, oh God, we're all gonna die.'
Film Serenity trailer. Joss Whedon's Firefly on the big screen. I don't think I've heard that many quotable lines in one trailer. What else can I say but shiny ...
Podlitics
Politics My current breakfast television of choice, the Liberal Democrat press conference has had a spurt of excitement in recent mornings with all the anti-war retoric yesterday and the defection of Brian Sedgemore to the cause. It was particular tense yesterday when Andrew Neil had a bee in his bonnet and began to list all the reason Charles Kennedy should call for the inditement of Tony Blair only to be given a good verbal slapping by Shirley Williams. This morning it seemed be about timing and why Sedgemore picked this moment to cross the floor even though it would seem to be clear -- the postal votes are being received and sent in right now, so it's the perfect time to make the goverment to look weak.
For some reason, even taking into account the other press meetings, I feel as though there is a momentum behind the Lib Dems at the moment, although that isn't being reflected in the polls. I know it makes good copy, but I haven't yet met anyone or seen anyone interviewed in the media who will be voting Labour again, and for that matter has anything nice to say about Michael Howard and the Conservatives. In some constituencies, I've even heard Labour pollsters resorting to the tack of 'A vote for [insert name of Lib Dem or Other candidate here] is a vote for the Tories' which sounds a bit desperate for a party which is supposed to be all powerful. I think this is going to be a closer run thing this time.
The Iraq speech is available as a podcast here at the good lord Lib Dems Campaign Blog, which has the personal touch. While I'm downloading that I can live the fantasy using the Swingometer at the BBC Election site. We only need a 24% swing to win...
Also ... The London News Review says some things and has a point to make.
For some reason, even taking into account the other press meetings, I feel as though there is a momentum behind the Lib Dems at the moment, although that isn't being reflected in the polls. I know it makes good copy, but I haven't yet met anyone or seen anyone interviewed in the media who will be voting Labour again, and for that matter has anything nice to say about Michael Howard and the Conservatives. In some constituencies, I've even heard Labour pollsters resorting to the tack of 'A vote for [insert name of Lib Dem or Other candidate here] is a vote for the Tories' which sounds a bit desperate for a party which is supposed to be all powerful. I think this is going to be a closer run thing this time.
The Iraq speech is available as a podcast here at the good lord Lib Dems Campaign Blog, which has the personal touch. While I'm downloading that I can live the fantasy using the Swingometer at the BBC Election site. We only need a 24% swing to win...
Also ... The London News Review says some things and has a point to make.
Hoooo Haaaa Hoooo Haaaaa
Film Usually I manage to keep the fanboy side of me in check in the real world; but I couldn't stop myself in the Virgin Megastore today, as early copies of Empire magazine feature a talking cover. Open it up and underneath you'll find the unmistakable breathing of Darth Vader, which frankly is very cool and perfect for leaving dodgy voicemail messages on your mate's Nokia. I just stood at the magazine rack and laughed. As somewhat icing on an already rich cake, there is a Q&A inside between Kevin Smith, Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright which fulfills my dream of a few weeks ago that someone had recorded that meeting.
World War III.
TV Those fans who are grumbling that there isn't enough continuity in the new tv series should pick up a copy of Big Finish's latest Gallifrey play Lies which takes things to the other extreme. It requires the listener to not have heard the past four plays in the series, but also have a decent knowledge of most of the other audios which have mentioned Gallifrey including the Paul McGann audios, the Eighth Doctor novels, the Tom Baker era on tv and a daresay other stories I've missed completely. I don't think I've heard anything which relies so heavily on knowing who travelled the galaxy with whom and in what order. If I mention that one of the central trunks of the plotline is an attempt to explain why Mary Tamm's Romana decided to regenerate into Lalla Ward of her own free will at the start of Destiny of the Daleks, you'll have some understanding that if you're looking for an entry point into the rest of the universe of the series this is not the best place to start. I was farely bewildered and I've been a fan for years.
What's clever about the new series is that it's understood the mistakes of the tv movie and only throwing in continuity if it furthers the plot or the emotional core of characters. The utilisation of UNIT for example in World War III in no way diminishes what's gone before and actually more coherently sets up a future engagement when the new viewer will get the chance to meet this covert organisation in a more fleshed out manner with a story which is worthy (with an appearance by The Brigadier the icing on the cake for fans). But the difference is you don't actually need to have the Pertwee era locked in your brain for all that to work. Similarly we know The Doctor is an alien, he's a timelord and that his home planet has been destroyed. Other than having a time machine, that's really all new viewers need to know about him because we're still discovering him through Rose. Yet, with all the history, we're still discovering this Doctor and what's been happening to him. It's a freshing change not to know exactly who our hero is, to look into his eyes and not know what he's thinking -- and without the artificial histrionics of the late McCoy era.
Next week's episode, which if it was an old New York sitcom would be The One With The Dalek, is going to be the most fun because it's bound to the new approach's greatest extrapolation. As The Doctor and Rose step through this new space museum, we'll all be sitting there shouting and pointing: 'Cyberman!' 'Mechanoid!' 'Krynoid!' (maybe) 'Kandyman!' (maybe not) while the newb will see the hand from a Slitheen but also marvelling at all these different alien races, each step of our heros adding life to this universe they're just stumbling into. According to the trailer the Dalek's dropped through time. Personally I'm hoping it's one of those which went astray in the Big Finish audio Time of the Daleks, but the point is they probably won't tell us -- it'll be up to the viewer, no matter how much they know about the series, to make up their own minds if they want to. But is probably doesn't matter.
What's clever about the new series is that it's understood the mistakes of the tv movie and only throwing in continuity if it furthers the plot or the emotional core of characters. The utilisation of UNIT for example in World War III in no way diminishes what's gone before and actually more coherently sets up a future engagement when the new viewer will get the chance to meet this covert organisation in a more fleshed out manner with a story which is worthy (with an appearance by The Brigadier the icing on the cake for fans). But the difference is you don't actually need to have the Pertwee era locked in your brain for all that to work. Similarly we know The Doctor is an alien, he's a timelord and that his home planet has been destroyed. Other than having a time machine, that's really all new viewers need to know about him because we're still discovering him through Rose. Yet, with all the history, we're still discovering this Doctor and what's been happening to him. It's a freshing change not to know exactly who our hero is, to look into his eyes and not know what he's thinking -- and without the artificial histrionics of the late McCoy era.
Next week's episode, which if it was an old New York sitcom would be The One With The Dalek, is going to be the most fun because it's bound to the new approach's greatest extrapolation. As The Doctor and Rose step through this new space museum, we'll all be sitting there shouting and pointing: 'Cyberman!' 'Mechanoid!' 'Krynoid!' (maybe) 'Kandyman!' (maybe not) while the newb will see the hand from a Slitheen but also marvelling at all these different alien races, each step of our heros adding life to this universe they're just stumbling into. According to the trailer the Dalek's dropped through time. Personally I'm hoping it's one of those which went astray in the Big Finish audio Time of the Daleks, but the point is they probably won't tell us -- it'll be up to the viewer, no matter how much they know about the series, to make up their own minds if they want to. But is probably doesn't matter.
Coinage
Franchesca writes: "Whilst realizing I have no money, for some reason I decided to add up each demomination of coins and notes in the UK to see how much I would have if I had one of each. Oddly enough it works out at £88.88p . Try it urself if you dont believe me ... and don't forget like most people do, the £2 coin!"
i-equine
In 1967 at the height of the foot and mouth epidemic, horse racing was banned. The authorities resorted to electronic races with imaginary horses, but to give an extra level of authenticity on BBC's Grandstand, Peter O'Sullivan was drafted in to commentate on these unreal events. Footage exists of him getting excited over a close finish between two horses which didn't exist.
The Road To Beijing
The Road To Beijing Triathon returns to Salford.
"GREAT Britain?s triathletes will be racing for the highest stakes yet in a domestic event when the home leg of the International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Cup is staged in Salford on July 31. In an unprecedented three-in-one challenge, the Countryside Properties World Cup will incorporate two other incentives ... National Championship honours and selection for the European and World Championships."Although she's mentioned in the article, no word if Michelle Dillon is taking part -- but given it's significance as a qualifier and previous successes there, I think there's a good chance. [about]
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