Thursday, February 19th 2009
at last, some excitement

Ewar Woowar - sorry, Edward Woodward - is joining the cast of 'Stenders. But.. but.. this is Callan... the Equalizer...

"On the surface, this is a warm, charming and engaging man but there are other much darker things going on." says the producer.

Oh, obviously. They're all going to die in a hail of gunfire.

Jim Finnis
4:52PM

Tags: tv
Saturday, July 5th 2008
the good doctor

Right, let's see if:

  • Russell T presses the Reset Button and it all turns out to be an alternate reality, timeline or dream or something
  • Donna Noble (Noble Lady?) turns out to be Timelordy and somehow sacrifices herself to become the next regeneration (while hopefully leaving it Tennant)
  • The Doctor's Hand-in-a-Jar saves the day

Somehow I still think it's going to be Tennant. As Lawrence Miles points out, Big Russ would never let "It's starting!" be Tennant's last words, and regenerations have traditionally always been different - this one's so far identical to Ecclestone.

UPDATE: well, 2 and 3 pretty much, but some nice twists. Have to admit that Tennant does the 'tragic figure doomed to travel space the time' rather well, and Donna's apotheosis and exit was well done. But Rose getting the cheap knockoff Doctor for her very own was a bit much, and for God's sake don't put Martha and Mickey in Torchwood. Please.

Jim Finnis
6:42PM

Tags: scifi tv
Saturday, October 13th 2007
New TV...

Oooh, we've got a shiny new telly. It's not very big, but it's a massive improvement of the old one!

Jim Finnis
7:10PM

Tags: tv gadgets
Tuesday, September 25th 2007
Batman!

That's Catrin in absolute hysterics at her first ever viewing of the 60's Batman TV series. Of course, it's a part of my cultural upbringing, but I suppose to someone who's never seen it before it must look like it's from Mars. A very, very gay Mars.

Jim Finnis
7:42PM

Tags: mobile photo scifi tv
Wednesday, March 9th 2005
dr who
Warren Ellis has seen the new Doctor Who, and has reviewed it. He's a hard man to please, and he likes it.
It is, in fact, DOCTOR WHO, as it was, complete with fake jeopardy for the kids and laughs for the adults. It will probably disappoint old fans - and anyone looking for a BATTLESTAR GALACTICA-style treatment - because it resolutely refuses to take itself too seriously. It's not afraid of doing gags like having a kid eaten by a marauding plastic rubbish bin because that's all part of the ride, all part of the style. In Michael Moorcock's phrase, it obeys and enjoys the genre.

And so you get that nice little counterpoint between strange comedy bits and straight dramatic moments that is the hallmark of a certain strain of British fiction. Showroom dummies (yes) coming to life and shooting people might look funny, and it is - but the bodies are just as dead. And that - the placing of an alien element into a naturalistic contemporary British context - is the signature of the old British sf style, from WAR OF THE WORLDS to DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, from QUATERMASS AND THE PIT to, especially, DOCTOR WHO.

Definitely agree with that first paragraph - "taking itself too seriously" was the key mistake made by the Paul McGann abomination.

Oh, and read the next article, in which Warren talks about James Bond. Good stuff. Oh bugger - and the next article on Holmes.

Jim Finnis
5:31PM

Tags: scifi drwho tv

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Recent Comments

re Twitter posts for Sunday August 22 Catrin wrote:

It's actually going to be reviewed in a proper academic journal and everything. Well not actually everything, just a proper academic journal, but I think that's extremely exciting. It says so on the internet, it must be true.

23/08/10 11:28:33 AM

re Twitter posts for Friday July 2 Catrin wrote:

Hmm - that's a sentence whose meaning is changed completely if you don't realise that lame is in the French way not the English way.

02/07/10 10:26:05 AM

re 5536 Catrin wrote:

This was me trying to look like Amanda Palmer. I now realise I looked more like Tara Palmer Tompkinson. The reality check is always the one that bounces all the way to the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation isn't it.

24/05/10 10:20:37 AM

re Twitter posts for Monday May 10 Catrin wrote:

Anything in this case being a tailor's mannequin made out of a Catrin, a tee shirt, and two rolls of gaffa tape. I just hope it's not voodoo if you stick pins into effigies of yourself.

10/05/10 12:22:35 PM

re Twitter posts for Tuesday May 4 Catrin wrote:

According to Google, it's a stencil thing for doing eyebrows. The only options are thin, medium or thick. Naturally, I'd want it to include "Option 4: Eyebrows A La Amanda Palmer. Except of course, if I were to do that, just at the point when I am applying the makeup, my brain would start playing the Victoria Wood monologue where she paints one really high up and the other really low down. "Now I look like a person who's had a pint spilt over them and they can't quite remember what to do about it". Hilarity would ensue, I would look like a div, and like Victoria Wood, would end up wearing a big brown raincoat and a picnic rug and a pair of knickers on my head.

04/05/10 01:49:22 PM

re Twitter posts for Monday May 3 Catrin wrote:

Red Dead Hand. Great name for a kid.

04/05/10 01:31:20 PM

re Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley Catrin wrote:

Absolutely fantastic gig - I had such a such a such a good time. People do look at me funny though when I explain perfectly reasonably that I went to see a bloke and a woman being a pair of conjoined twins. Do other people not do that then?

28/04/10 05:50:17 PM

re Twitter posts for Thursday April 22 wrote:

they won't let e write it` 'yS, i like 'a man

24/04/10 02:11:43 AM

re Catrin T.J.Bates wrote:

Ouch!

18/04/10 09:57:49 PM

re 5188 T.J.Bates wrote:

Alas! Poor doughnut!

18/04/10 09:34:07 PM

re 5405 T.J.Bates wrote:

Still a cutie!

18/04/10 08:10:17 PM

re 5495 Steve wrote:

Blimey it looks bare in the winter. I'm off to listen to some Chumbawamba unless Jubilee's on.

27/03/10 09:25:57 PM

re Greenspun's Tenth Rule Stephen Usher wrote:

...unless the program is written in FORTRAN IV, as that doesn't do lists/characters.

22/02/10 08:42:36 PM

re Twitter posts for Saturday February 20 alecm wrote:

come visit some time; i have a very pubby pub :-) i also like the "abandon" button, above. we need more abandon.

22/02/10 07:36:49 PM

re Twitter posts for Tuesday February 9 rac wrote:

great news!

09/02/10 04:29:42 PM

re 5465 Catrin wrote:

Look, explaining the finer points of Land Registration requires some visual aids ok.

25/01/10 10:53:36 AM

re Twitter posts for Friday January 8 Catrin wrote:

Going to Boganning.

13/01/10 05:22:25 PM

re Twitter posts for Saturday January 2 Catrin wrote:

Isn't that a hotel chain?

04/01/10 11:10:00 AM

re Twitter posts for Monday December 21 Catrin wrote:

Umph. I can explain....

21/12/09 10:29:18 AM

re 5443 Mel Rimmer wrote:

Mmm, purdy.

17/12/09 04:07:00 PM

re 5443 Catrin wrote:

Ooh, pretty picture. I couldn't work out for a while which side of the river it was.

17/12/09 01:14:57 PM

re Twitter posts for Monday December 14 Jim wrote:

Of course, but *read it again* They're not reserving the right to REFUSE to serve, they're reserving the right to SERVE.

15/12/09 10:08:53 AM

re Twitter posts for Monday December 14 Ben wrote:

That's completely legal. Any trading establishment can refuse to serve any customer without giving a reason. It's generally considered bad for the trader's reputation as a good place to do business, but they do have that option.

14/12/09 08:39:39 PM

re Getting festive in Shrewsbury Catrin wrote:

My God! I look like an advert for Werthers Original.

14/12/09 10:57:00 AM

re Twitter posts for Monday November 30 Catrin wrote:

You're not planning on dying of E Coli are you?

01/12/09 12:56:26 PM

re Twitter posts for Sunday November 22 Catrin wrote:

Muppet.

24/11/09 02:55:03 PM

re Twitter posts for Sunday November 22 Jim wrote:

Ah, but I don't think the installer could have reasonably foreseen that particular injury...

24/11/09 11:16:07 AM

re Twitter posts for Sunday November 22 Catrin wrote:

And clearly displaying better workmanship than the oaf who installed the thing in the first place - it needing to be replaced because it came apart in my hand. I could have been seriously injured...if the light pull had hit me in the eye, causing me to flail around blindly, then fall down the stairs and impale myself on a coathook.

23/11/09 11:09:52 AM

re Twitter posts for Tuesday November 17 Stephen Usher wrote:

Would you act in "The Wicker Man?" Edward Woodward would.

17/11/09 09:58:13 PM

re Irn-Bru Turkish Delight Jane M wrote:

I had the same petit four at that same restaurant in Edinburgh just yesterday - it was fantastic. We has the deep fried mars bars alongside. Superb.

11/11/09 10:35:53 PM

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