Uncategorized April 30th, 2005
Is there such a thing as “too silly”? A few months back, discussing Stargate, Shannon and Matt complained that ‘Prometheus Unbound’ was too silly. I scoffed, and said something smug about how good being silly was. And here I am, today, wanting to tell you that this week’s Doctor Who was too silly.
In reality, it’s probably not much more silly than Aliens of London. It just doesn’t have all the good stuff that episode had to balance the package out. Television is like eating; you want a well-balanced meal. So perhaps ‘World War Three’ isn’t too silly, it’s just lacking in other areas. So let’s have a look at what might be the problem.
For starters, we begin with ten minutes of the sort of lame, Scooby Doo-esque running around that I really didn’t ever want to see in Who — or anywhere — again. I don’t mind corridor running, per se, but the moment you distract a previously formidable alien by dropping drapes on its head, you’ve lost me. Fire extinguishers are a bit lame, too. So perhaps it’s lacking gravitas. After zapping the ‘experts’ and killing the nice secretary-man last episode, I was all ready to be a bit afraid of the Slitheen. I didn’t get my wish. Innumerable changing, unsettling and largely unfunny use of the word “naked”,[ftn] and a hesitance to actually reach out and kill people when they have the chance all scupper any chance the Slitheen had of being scary.
In a very funny scene, the Doctor seals himself, Rose, and “Harriet Jones, MP Flydale North” in the secure, metal-walled cabinet room. This was cool — I didn’t see it coming, and it was a cute method of ‘escape’. What was less cool was the way they stayed there for pretty much the rest of the episode. They still managed to do a lot, and luckily, phone home… but something about having the heroes locked up for damn near an entire episode is unsatisfying to me. I like a story where everyone’s running around pursuing their own agendas. You know, a bit like ‘Aliens of London’.
Being locked up is especially irritating if it means you have to pretend that people can launch missiles on the interweb, through the use of one password.[ftn] Good plan, unbelievable execution. Couldn’t we have had a more exciting plan involving bringing the TARDIS to the Doctor, and then sneaking about a ship? Granted, it would have cost a lot more. But I’m not here to accept rational excuses. I’m here to knock down implausible plot elements. I’m fairly sure the idea of a calcium based life form is rather peculiar, but I won’t attack the script for that.[ftn]
‘World War Three’ was disappointing overall, but I must give it credit for the usual superb character development and interaction. And some great jokes. The Doctor’s threat to “triplicate the flammability”. The Doctor and Mickey the Idiot. The Doctor’s refusal to answer Jackie’s question, or to stay for dinner. Rose’s amazingly cute finger point and laugh — “You’re stuck with me…” ‘World War Three’ wasn’t crap. It was just a bit lame.
Awesome explosion, though. I particularly liked how the door stayed up longer than everything else.
Footnotes
- Coupling taught me about hot women mentioning the word, but skipped how I might feel if fat farting aliens tried it. Now I know. Yay?
- It’s like the Enigma machine being able to translate Viking runes in ‘The Curse of Fenric’. Aaaargh.
- Well, I can’t, really. I liked Signs and vinegar, while silly, is a step up from water.
Posted by Tom Charman to | 2 Comments »
Uncategorized April 28th, 2005
This looks sweet. Reading this review makes me sensibly cautious about fighting and customization — which is a shame, as I really like fiddling around with all the character-building minutae. However, then I read the first few paragraphs again and all is well. Some day soonish, I’m going to be a hero again, not the lame, depressing protagonist of KOTOR II.
I’m not so worried about the load times. They’re excellent for getting cups of tea and snacks. Unless you stretch all the quests ridiculously over all the maps for no purpose except to irritate the player. Hello, Telos in KOTOR II.
Is there a subtext in this review? I think there is. I should really write my review of that disappointment. To think I had it listed along my future iMac and the new series of Doctor Who as one of the best things to be happening this year. Pah! But I must finish it as an evil person first.
Now, back to preparing my physics presentation. [shudder]
Posted by Tom Charman to | 1 Comment »
Uncategorized April 27th, 2005
Well, the switch from Movable Type to Textpattern, and merging of the blogs, seemed to go well. I even found a shiny picture of Melbourne to use for the header — though I should probably go take my own some time, just to be extra specially legal about it.
Though, if I start worrying about that, the whole damn site starts getting a bit more dull.
Thanks go to Mr Jon Hicks for his series of informative articles on switching to Textpattern. He probably runs my favourite blog in the world — after this one, naturally. A strong focus on Macs, Web browsers, and liking Doctor Who all help. He’s also the bloke who designed the Firefox and Thunderbird icons.
The Hitchhikers movie comes out tomorrow. Damnably, I’ve got an Optics presentation on Friday and I’ll have to see it on the weekend. Hopefully it’s the start of a whole bunch more movie-going on my part. I’ve missed them, but there’s just been nothing to draw me in recently. And given my proximity to the cinema, there’s not that much drawing involved…
It’d be nice to review a film again, too. I don’t want to just do Who reviews for the next 8 weeks. Although, at least it’s keeping me regular. In the reviewing sense, that is.
Posted by Tom Charman to | Comments Off
Uncategorized April 24th, 2005
Picture in your head your typical ‘Alien Invasion’ scenario. I imagine people of this day and age would find themselves somewhat inspired by Independence Day and the like. There’s probably some explosions, some planes, some U.F.O.s.
‘Aliens of London’ is not your typical alien invasion. I wasn’t expecting fat, farting politicians. I wasn’t expecting a pig in a spacesuit.[ftn] ‘Aliens of London’ is very, very silly. Which works in most places, but not so much in other places. There’s enough interesting ideas in the story to carry it, and make it massively enjoyable to watch… but with slightly more subtle handling, it could have been better.
The most notable thing about Russell T. Davies’ scripts so far is his tendency to subvert the old fashioned Who ideas. In ‘Rose’, we saw the end of a typical adventure from the point of view of an outsider who happened to get caught up in it. In ‘The End of the World’, various tropes, such as the TARDIS’ telepathic circuits, and the Doctor’s heritage, were given a new angle. And this week, the Doctor’s previously non-existent relationship with the “domestic” is thrown into the foreground. Rose may well be the first companion to have had her immediate family get into the TARDIS.[ftn]
There’s great comedy value in these ideas — seeing the Doctor struggle to keep the noise down while he watches the invasion on TV is great,[ftn] and gets even better when he has to fight for control of the remote with a toddler. His patronising attitude to Mickey is interesting, too — still upset about the “He’s a THING” line from ‘Rose’? Or, more likely, just jealous. Perhaps Eccleston’s best comic moment is his nervous laugh as he confesses to Rose and her Mum that he may have gotten the time just a wee bit wrong.
Not all the comedy comes off this well, though. Eccleston and Piper can effortlessly ground any ridiculous scene they’re in. But the bits in 10 Downing Street are a bit more ropey. I’m not the world’s biggest fan of fart jokes, but I can deal with them. The initial farts are an important plot point, and not too bad. But later on, they just go too long. Very few things are funny enough to sustain almost twenty seconds of straight repetition. Farts aren’t one of them. It doesn’t help when one of the characters says “I’m shaking my booty” with the worst sort of self-conscious delivery imaginable. Of course, the scene gets better when they kill someone, but tonally, the Downing Street plot just doesn’t seem to fit well with the rest of the episode. Perhaps a little more gravitas was needed initially to make us actually feel like we were in the centre of British politics.
In amongst these comedic hits and misses is a pretty decent plot. Being part one of a two-parter, ‘Aliens’ has a bit more room to breathe, and is better for it. There’s a few interesting twists to the plot, and an excellent (but rather over-egged) cliffhanger. In fact, if it wasn’t for the somewhat cringe-worthy aspects I’ve mentioned,[ftn] it might have been one of the best episodes yet. It’s certainly a delight to see the new Doctor’s vanity on such clear display. As it stands, it’s probably the weakest.
But thankfully, still great fun.
Footnotes
- Well, alright, I was, but only due to vague spoilers.
- Unless you count the Master, who’d posessed the body of Nyssa’s father. But I doubt you would. I’m trying to keep these pointless continuity references confined to footnotes.
- I can completely relate.
- I’ve got some reservations about the presentation of the Slitheen, but I’ll wait till ‘World War III’ to discuss them properly.
Posted by Tom Charman to | 4 Comments »
Uncategorized April 22nd, 2005
The other day, with the help of that magical thing called the internet, I managed to turn my DVD player into a region free DVD player. I was really excited until I realised I didn’t have any non-region-four DVDs. Then I was indifferent. But now, I’ve realised it means I could buy American DVDs from amazon.com, I’ve cheered up.
In particular, I want The Princess Bride: Special Edition, which has two commentaries and a boodle of extras.
But ideally, I could save money on shipping if other people wanted to order things with me. If anyone fits this criteria, let me know.
‘Film’ doesn’t seem like the right category for this. Perhaps I need a ‘stuff’ category. Or a ‘shinies’ category. Hmmmm.
Posted by Tom Charman to | 9 Comments »
Uncategorized April 21st, 2005
Didn’t like Blade: Trinity? Well, guess what: nor did Wesley Snipes.
Apparently, Mr Snipes felt that the movie focussed too much on his lame sidekicks — in the hope of spinning them off into their own franchises. And he wasn’t crazy on writer David Goyer being the director either. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, he reckons he’s not been paid $3 million dollars.
I never saw these films, but I hope he wins. If stars gain the ability to sue for being in shit movies, perhaps fewer of them will appear? It would certainly cure the nastier side of sequelitis that Hollywood has been exhibiting lately. If only this suit had occurred sooner, we might have been spared Son of Mask.
Posted by Tom Charman to | Comments Off
Uncategorized April 21st, 2005
How’s this for tech? Once I’m wearing an Uba Mask, Null Brooch becomes almost a win condition. : )
Under a Mask, my opponent only gets to “draw” one card per turn, and I’ll never have any cards in my hand, so the Brooch will always be able to counter whatever they try to cast. (Except creatures…) Soft-lock! That should hold the game for the long enough that I can draw my Mindslaver, and start recurring it. ;)
There are hardly any creature spells in Vintage, and obviously I’d sideboard it out against an aggro deck. But against a control field, it’ll own. :) For the Library of Alexandria tournament on Saturday, I’m going to try to build a deck around this combo. “Uba Null” has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? ;) I’m going to use Bazaar of Baghdad as my draw engine, because the Uba Mask negates their drawback completely. Crazy card advantage. :)
Posted by Neil to | 3 Comments »
Uncategorized April 20th, 2005
I recently filled in enough forms to satisfy Centrelink that I have too much time on my hands and they’ve given me some money. If you feel that I may owe you a bit of money in some way then submit an application in triplicate to my email address comprising of: a 2000 word essay detailing your reasoning and explanation as to why you’re under the impression that you’re owed compensation; your bank details and PIN; a freshly baked donut; and the appropriate paperwork.
Posted by Andy Cocker to | 6 Comments »
Uncategorized April 16th, 2005
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAADAMNIT!AAAAAAAAAABASTARD!AAAAAAAAAABLAST!AAA AAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
How did this happen? I was prepared for such an eventuality. I took steps to avoid this problem. I knew these events would come to pass. Mad they called me. Me! HHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!
Dreamcast I said to Tom last week. Bring your Dreamcast I said to him. Dreamcast I said to Tom all last week. The Dreamcast I saw none.
Dreamcast I threatened Tom last night and a Dreamcast came at last. Oh ho ho! I said to Jackson. No mice for you this day. Yet the foreshadowed event had come to pass and there were no mice at all.
The pain, how vast. Where are you mice? I must save you. I must.
I was in England in the near past. I saw Choo Choo Rocket for four pound. I had a dream, standing there, of the future, and I saw a time (gasp!) in which I would have a Dreamcast and no Choo Choo Rocket to play. I blessed the heavens for this vision, this warning and prophecy, and I passed the Merchant the last coins I hast. I had nought to eat but I was safe.
I held it fast, steadfast, knowing it would save me one day. That day did not pass and I grew blasé. I got home and I put it down. I put it down and did not pick it up. Now I am 3500 kilometres from my emergency copy of Choo Choo Rocket. I left it behind. I went to Melbourne with out it. I did not think fast. I did not say aghast and have it sent in a parcel. And now Tom brings me a Dreamcast with no Choo Choo Rocket. My nightmare dream had come to pass and as I knew it would pass and I could not stop it. I saw this disaster and could not stop it.
I am downcast. Dreamcast.
Posted by Andy Cocker to | 1 Comment »
Uncategorized April 14th, 2005
Delenn’s on Lost! Woah!
Someone’s listed all the Pinky and the Brain ‘pondering’ jokes. Woah!
That’s all I came here to say.
Posted by Tom Charman to | 8 Comments »