Christmas vouchers and a tidy win on an office charity quiz (not to mention cheapy shop offers) have furnished me with some nice Doctor Who and Red Dwarf DVDs. A few thoughts on the contents thereof:
1. The Cosgrove Hall animated episodes on The Invasion really are pukkha. They've grown on me on second viewing (with the commentary). There are one or two moments where I get flashes of South Park (Tobias Vaughn's face getting larger when he shouts being the main one), and they haven't really got Vaughn's squint or Jamie's face in profile, but by and large it's top stuff.
And hey, it's better than looking at a black screen (or even looking at a slide show of off-screen photographs, I should imagine). It's even better than having Nicholas Courtney read synopses of the missing episodes, although it's nice that they included that option on the DVD. If only animating those two episodes hadn't (reportedly) cost something like four times as much as remastering the other six episodes and putting the other extras together, it might have been a viable (and entertaining) way of replacing all those missing 1960s stories.
To my mind, though, the best thing of all about the first episode of The Invasion being animated is that the Doctor and his chums come out of the Land of Fiction at the end of the previous story and straight into a cartoon. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. Double the delicious irony that this should happen to such a famously gritty and realistic story.
2. The optional CGI effects on Revelation of the Daleks (1985) actually work better than the optional CGI effects on The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964). Odd, no?
The thing is, although I'm a Colin Baker fan, and although this is undeniably his most presentable story (Vengeance on Varos is technically the best, say I, but Revelation is the one you can show to your mother without feeling dirty), I've always disliked those... enthusiastic 1980s video effects. They clutter up the screen and on more than one occasion here, they actually confuse what's meant to be happening. But with the new effects! Why, it's, if you will, a revelation.
(The other thing is that I can hear many of Davros' lines on the DVD that I previously couldn't make out. I don't know if this is down to remastering, or just my cloth ears. I'm hoping the former, because if the Restoration Team have rectified sound balance issues here, there's half a chance they may have done similar with Ghost Light and turned the f***ing incidental music down. Yes, it's beautiful, but it obscures most of the dialogue. When a certain online shop send me my rental copy, I shall find out.)
[EDIT: D'you know, it may just be wishful thinking, but I think perhaps they might. I'm sure I could hear a lot of dialogue at tactful late evening volume that I couldn't previously hear at normal volume or above on the VHS. Then again, there were still a few scenes where I had to lean forward to hear anything (actors mumbling a bit, to be honest). I suspect what may have happened is the Restoration Team guy has tweaked the volume up in the bits without loud incidental music so that we can hear the dialogue, but has had to leave other bits as they are. Sadly full details of the sound restoration for that one are not available on their website.]
The effects on Dalek Invasion, on the other hand, are few and only really concern the Dalek flying saucer, and to be honest it adds a wad of Sixties atmosphere to have the old B-movie model saucers in there.
3. While I'm on the subject of Dalek Invasion, it's funny how it suddenly changes tone after Episode Four. Up until that point, it's been unremittingly grim and utterly compelling. Then you see the Slyther and find out what the Daleks' plan is (to TWOC the Earth, basically, and joyride it round the galaxy - why??), and it becomes rather more comical. Still, as the Lovely Jo justly remarked, the model of the bomb shaft is a lovely piece of work and the addition of a little model Dalek a nice touch. And it's all good clean family fun.
4. Hattie Hayridge is not the best commentator on Red Dwarf. This is understandable, since she tended only to get half a dozen lines a show, if she was lucky (poor woman). But it is a bit wearing to keep hearing Hattie chip in with "Is this the one where [synopsis of an episode in a completely different season]?" Still, now we have the sacred Quarantine on DVD. Mr Flibble can be ours for the viewing at a moment's notice. Sweeeet.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Sunday, January 14, 2007
We've Bean to Cardiff
Back once again to Wholand - sorry, Cardiff. It's so handy having this SF TV mecca right on our doorstep; perhaps this is what it would've been like to live near Wookey Hole Caves in the 1970s? This time we were in the New Theatre - which just two short years ago saw Christopher Eccleston and Charles Dickens facing off against a Victorian zombie - to see John Barrowman in Jack and the Beanstalk. He's certainly flavour of the month.
Now, I'm no connoisseur of pantomime. For the Lovely Jo it used to be an annual event, apparently. I on the other hand have seen two pantomimes, and this was the second. As far as I can tell it's a form of theatre where the audience wants to see the actors get it wrong; there's also a lot of audience participation, but it's all led by the actors, and they don't seem to like the audience providing ad lib responses. It's not Rocky Horror.
Two notable things about our afternoon, neither of them to do with the show itself:
1. In the foyer, kiddies were being sold various items of panto merchandise, including a short red plastic sword with flashing lights in it. However, there were also two flashing lights in the red plastic hilt, on either side of the handguard. In short, it looked like a big flashing... cock-up on the part of the designers.
2. What was being piped into the auditorium over the PA system before the show started? It seemed to be some sort of dance music. (Not the good sort of dance music, by which I mean interesting electronic music that gets filed under "Dance" in the shops; no, this was the bad sort of dance music, which consists of very loud thumping in one continuous tempo and the occasional sound like a machine gun going off.) But what words were being sung over it? It took our friend Sarah to identify it - songs from the Disney movies, re-recorded nightclub style. Disney rave. File under "Ministry of Unsound".
Now, I'm no connoisseur of pantomime. For the Lovely Jo it used to be an annual event, apparently. I on the other hand have seen two pantomimes, and this was the second. As far as I can tell it's a form of theatre where the audience wants to see the actors get it wrong; there's also a lot of audience participation, but it's all led by the actors, and they don't seem to like the audience providing ad lib responses. It's not Rocky Horror.
Two notable things about our afternoon, neither of them to do with the show itself:
1. In the foyer, kiddies were being sold various items of panto merchandise, including a short red plastic sword with flashing lights in it. However, there were also two flashing lights in the red plastic hilt, on either side of the handguard. In short, it looked like a big flashing... cock-up on the part of the designers.
2. What was being piped into the auditorium over the PA system before the show started? It seemed to be some sort of dance music. (Not the good sort of dance music, by which I mean interesting electronic music that gets filed under "Dance" in the shops; no, this was the bad sort of dance music, which consists of very loud thumping in one continuous tempo and the occasional sound like a machine gun going off.) But what words were being sung over it? It took our friend Sarah to identify it - songs from the Disney movies, re-recorded nightclub style. Disney rave. File under "Ministry of Unsound".
Final verdict on Torchwood
Well, I've digested, cogitated and deliberated, and the top-to-bottom ratings of series 1 of Torchwood look something like this:
Captain Jack Harkness
Small Worlds
They Keep Killing Suzie
End of Days
Combat
Out of Time
Greeks Bearing Gifts
The Ghost Machine
Everything Changes
Countrycide
Cyberwoman
Day One
Random Shoes
I still think on balance that Small Worlds is a better story and a better 45 minutes of television than Captain Jack Harkness, but CJH feels closer to what the rest of the series should have been, whereas SW doesn't really feel connected to the rest of the series at all.
Mind you, I think on reflection the big problem with the first half to two thirds of the series is that the episodes don't feel connected to each other. That's not to say that we got "stand-alone episodes" as was claimed, just that there didn't seem to be any continuity of characters and situation from one week to the next. I've blogged about the Chibnall effect before, of course.
End of Days is knocked down by the last ten minutes, which were absurdly rushed, threw out a promising story in favour of a big end-of-level computer game monster with no build-up whatsoever, and reverted to the "scum" versions of the Torchwood team. But thirty-five excellent minutes and ten abysmal minutes still make a very good episode (cf 2005 Who episode Aliens of London, which had ten excellent minutes followed by thirty-five abysmal minutes).
Taking the last few episodes, which did start to gel as a series, as the echt Torchwood, I've therefore reconsidered the earlier episodes in their light. I enjoyed Countrycide and Cyberwoman as straightforward action/thriller stories, but looking back over the series as a whole they don't seem to fit in, so they end up near the bottom. Day One fits in a bit more, but is rather plain sci-fi tat, so goes below them. Random Shoes is unforgiveably poor and out of step with the overall feel of the show, and remains in last place.
Captain Jack Harkness
Small Worlds
They Keep Killing Suzie
End of Days
Combat
Out of Time
Greeks Bearing Gifts
The Ghost Machine
Everything Changes
Countrycide
Cyberwoman
Day One
Random Shoes
I still think on balance that Small Worlds is a better story and a better 45 minutes of television than Captain Jack Harkness, but CJH feels closer to what the rest of the series should have been, whereas SW doesn't really feel connected to the rest of the series at all.
Mind you, I think on reflection the big problem with the first half to two thirds of the series is that the episodes don't feel connected to each other. That's not to say that we got "stand-alone episodes" as was claimed, just that there didn't seem to be any continuity of characters and situation from one week to the next. I've blogged about the Chibnall effect before, of course.
End of Days is knocked down by the last ten minutes, which were absurdly rushed, threw out a promising story in favour of a big end-of-level computer game monster with no build-up whatsoever, and reverted to the "scum" versions of the Torchwood team. But thirty-five excellent minutes and ten abysmal minutes still make a very good episode (cf 2005 Who episode Aliens of London, which had ten excellent minutes followed by thirty-five abysmal minutes).
Taking the last few episodes, which did start to gel as a series, as the echt Torchwood, I've therefore reconsidered the earlier episodes in their light. I enjoyed Countrycide and Cyberwoman as straightforward action/thriller stories, but looking back over the series as a whole they don't seem to fit in, so they end up near the bottom. Day One fits in a bit more, but is rather plain sci-fi tat, so goes below them. Random Shoes is unforgiveably poor and out of step with the overall feel of the show, and remains in last place.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Home, home again
I like to be here when I can. And that's your Pink Floyd lyrics for the day.
As is customary, the festive break has left an abiding memory of games at The Lovely Jo's folks, and an excess of TV at mine. (I see George out of George and Mildred has joined Last of the Summer Wine. Old British TV actors don't die - their careers do. And then they go on Last of the Summer Wine.)
1. We did of course watch the Christmas Doctor Who, which was entertaining piffle. Nice monster (and hey, a big freaky spider-creature that didn't set off my arachnophobia), Catherine Tate turned out to be a passable (and not too annoying) actress, and some lovely effects - not just the big TARDIS chase scene, which was just as good on second viewing, but also watching the Earth forming. "You need someone to tell you when to stop" - very significant line, nice touch. But the story itself was absolute bulwarks from top to bottom. And what, another alien invader that uses robotic Santas and lethal Christmas trees? Or are we to take it that there's a Rent-a-Villainy stall just past Mars that sells these things to all comers? I somehow preferred The Christmas Invasion.
EDIT: There is one other nagging thought: did the script actually have the Empress of the Racnoss saying "Noooo! Noooo! My chillllldreeeeen!!" five times, or was it just the once and poor old Sarah Parish was forced to repeat the line so as not to spend the rest of that scene looking a bit of a lemon?
I think it's fair to say the best bit of The Runaway Bride was the series 3 trailer, but only because - ooh! Wow! Things! Shiny! A Dalek, again? Sod that - why's there a Busby Berkeley musical number in there? Look, Mark Gatiss! Mmm, Face of Boe. Yes, once again spring cannot come soon enough.
2. Robin Hood was not watched in the future in-laws' household, and so I did not see (nor even notice not seeing) the penultimate episode. I did see the finale at the ancestral residence, and sure enough the Sheriff and Guy of Gisbourne survived Robin H's grief-stricken rampage, as well as the foiling of the Sheriff's latest wicked scheme. In my mind, however, they've finally been lynched by a mob of angry earls and nobles, and so I can happily ignore the second series.
3. Torchwood was also not watched in the f i-ls' h, but we caught the Wednesday repeat of "Torchwood Does 'Fight Club'" at the a r. Pretty darn good really, and y'know, I did almost feel the faintest twinge for Owen at the end. Noel Clarke must write for Who. It's the only sensible course of action. Shame, looking back now, that this was the last major thing to happen to the Weevils. I was sure there was still more to be done with them. But maybe next year?
And then came "Torchwood Does 'Haunted Dancehall'". This was brilliant! Well, brilliant for a given value of brilliant. I mean, the to-ing and fro-ing with Tosh's message was a bit contrived, especially writing in blood - couldn't she ask someone for a pen? And presumably Jack has actually saved the real Captain Jack's life, since the next thing that would happen after their public gay kiss is that the Captain would be arrested (homosexuality being illegal in Britain in 1941) and therefore unable to fly to his doom the next day. But what a great character Bilis was! I kind of get the impression (not least from the title) that Captain Jack Harkness was supposed to be the focus of my attention, but not a hope with Bilis around!
Now I'm sure the makers of Torchwood won't mind a rank amateur like myself taking them to task over this. They're patient that way. But it seems to me the best thing in retrospect would have been to have this episode very early on - maybe even second after the intro episode - and spent the whole series building up the mystery of who Bilis is and what his agenda is. Screw the publicity talk of "stand-alone episodes", because we didn't exactly get that anyway - have a proper series arc instead of a last-minute two-episode arc. I'm sure if Who's "family" audience can handle series arcs, an "adult" audience can too. They could have built up the fact that Jack's got an Airfix TARDIS console - sorry, a "rift manipulator" - as well, instead of springing that on us all of a sudden.
But all in all, very good. I think at last the series was regaining the giddy heights of the fairy episode. And then the finale!
How corking was the first half hour of that? Really can't fault it - the outbreak of the Black Death, the dead people popping up in front of the team, more mysterious stuff with Bilis - best episode yet! If only this could've stretched over a couple more episodes! Because y'see, if there'd been more time spent on this story, and if there'd been more of a build-up of Bilis and his motives, having Randy Pan Goat-Boy suddenly bursting out of the rift in the last quarter hour wouldn't have come so completely out of a ****ing hat. What was the point of that?!
The other problem I had with this episode was that it kind of muddied the waters around Bilis' motives. Why did he make it so difficult for the team to fix up the Torchwood TARDIS - why did he actually steal a component from it - if he wanted them to open the rift all along? Sure, he scratched out Tosh's equations because he didn't want them to get their sums right, but why actual sabotage? But anyway. He vanished, so he could possibly come back. I expect there'll be some sort of follow-up in the second series.
No points for spotting the religious parallels, of course. So Jack sacrifices himself, is resurrected, forgives Owen Iscariot, and even ascends into Doctor Who series 3. And lo, he shall come again in the spring. But will he appear in Torchwood again?
As is customary, the festive break has left an abiding memory of games at The Lovely Jo's folks, and an excess of TV at mine. (I see George out of George and Mildred has joined Last of the Summer Wine. Old British TV actors don't die - their careers do. And then they go on Last of the Summer Wine.)
1. We did of course watch the Christmas Doctor Who, which was entertaining piffle. Nice monster (and hey, a big freaky spider-creature that didn't set off my arachnophobia), Catherine Tate turned out to be a passable (and not too annoying) actress, and some lovely effects - not just the big TARDIS chase scene, which was just as good on second viewing, but also watching the Earth forming. "You need someone to tell you when to stop" - very significant line, nice touch. But the story itself was absolute bulwarks from top to bottom. And what, another alien invader that uses robotic Santas and lethal Christmas trees? Or are we to take it that there's a Rent-a-Villainy stall just past Mars that sells these things to all comers? I somehow preferred The Christmas Invasion.
EDIT: There is one other nagging thought: did the script actually have the Empress of the Racnoss saying "Noooo! Noooo! My chillllldreeeeen!!" five times, or was it just the once and poor old Sarah Parish was forced to repeat the line so as not to spend the rest of that scene looking a bit of a lemon?
I think it's fair to say the best bit of The Runaway Bride was the series 3 trailer, but only because - ooh! Wow! Things! Shiny! A Dalek, again? Sod that - why's there a Busby Berkeley musical number in there? Look, Mark Gatiss! Mmm, Face of Boe. Yes, once again spring cannot come soon enough.
2. Robin Hood was not watched in the future in-laws' household, and so I did not see (nor even notice not seeing) the penultimate episode. I did see the finale at the ancestral residence, and sure enough the Sheriff and Guy of Gisbourne survived Robin H's grief-stricken rampage, as well as the foiling of the Sheriff's latest wicked scheme. In my mind, however, they've finally been lynched by a mob of angry earls and nobles, and so I can happily ignore the second series.
3. Torchwood was also not watched in the f i-ls' h, but we caught the Wednesday repeat of "Torchwood Does 'Fight Club'" at the a r. Pretty darn good really, and y'know, I did almost feel the faintest twinge for Owen at the end. Noel Clarke must write for Who. It's the only sensible course of action. Shame, looking back now, that this was the last major thing to happen to the Weevils. I was sure there was still more to be done with them. But maybe next year?
And then came "Torchwood Does 'Haunted Dancehall'". This was brilliant! Well, brilliant for a given value of brilliant. I mean, the to-ing and fro-ing with Tosh's message was a bit contrived, especially writing in blood - couldn't she ask someone for a pen? And presumably Jack has actually saved the real Captain Jack's life, since the next thing that would happen after their public gay kiss is that the Captain would be arrested (homosexuality being illegal in Britain in 1941) and therefore unable to fly to his doom the next day. But what a great character Bilis was! I kind of get the impression (not least from the title) that Captain Jack Harkness was supposed to be the focus of my attention, but not a hope with Bilis around!
Now I'm sure the makers of Torchwood won't mind a rank amateur like myself taking them to task over this. They're patient that way. But it seems to me the best thing in retrospect would have been to have this episode very early on - maybe even second after the intro episode - and spent the whole series building up the mystery of who Bilis is and what his agenda is. Screw the publicity talk of "stand-alone episodes", because we didn't exactly get that anyway - have a proper series arc instead of a last-minute two-episode arc. I'm sure if Who's "family" audience can handle series arcs, an "adult" audience can too. They could have built up the fact that Jack's got an Airfix TARDIS console - sorry, a "rift manipulator" - as well, instead of springing that on us all of a sudden.
But all in all, very good. I think at last the series was regaining the giddy heights of the fairy episode. And then the finale!
How corking was the first half hour of that? Really can't fault it - the outbreak of the Black Death, the dead people popping up in front of the team, more mysterious stuff with Bilis - best episode yet! If only this could've stretched over a couple more episodes! Because y'see, if there'd been more time spent on this story, and if there'd been more of a build-up of Bilis and his motives, having Randy Pan Goat-Boy suddenly bursting out of the rift in the last quarter hour wouldn't have come so completely out of a ****ing hat. What was the point of that?!
The other problem I had with this episode was that it kind of muddied the waters around Bilis' motives. Why did he make it so difficult for the team to fix up the Torchwood TARDIS - why did he actually steal a component from it - if he wanted them to open the rift all along? Sure, he scratched out Tosh's equations because he didn't want them to get their sums right, but why actual sabotage? But anyway. He vanished, so he could possibly come back. I expect there'll be some sort of follow-up in the second series.
No points for spotting the religious parallels, of course. So Jack sacrifices himself, is resurrected, forgives Owen Iscariot, and even ascends into Doctor Who series 3. And lo, he shall come again in the spring. But will he appear in Torchwood again?
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