Showing posts with label News Bite. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News Bite. Show all posts

Red Dwarf 2012

Category: , , , , , , By Rev/Views
Will I ever get tired of this logo?
It's slightly old news at this point - but I thought I'd write a little about what I've read on Red Dwarf's return to the small screen, something which has become official at this point after Craig Charles let it slip on Real Radio last week.

From what I've gathered we're looking at a return of the core cast - sans Kochanski and with Holly played by someone other than Norman Lovett.  Of course, as filming isn't due to occur until the latter part of 2011 this is probably still up in the air - but I would be disappointed with the lack of Chloë Annett - who I really came to appreciate as time passed - and of course Norman's brilliance as Holly.  I guess I could live with a return of Hattie, but a third actor as Holly would be disappointing to say the least.

The run will most likely be six episodes, and that's a fine length, but as Craig himself said it's only worth doing if it is "as funny as it used to be" he went on to say "we've got to recapture the highlights like series 5, series 6, that kind of stuff. If we can hit that mark, then brilliant. There's no point doing it if it's a bit so-so."

That's a spot on observation, because series 7, 8 and the mini-series Back to Earth really missed the mark at times, both on the comedy front and the plotting.  I'd welcome the show returning if it could hit the quality of the series 3-6 run (yes, I'm very fond of series 6 despite the loss of Red Dwarf and Holly, it was an interesting experiment, but it should have only run for one series without the small rouge one).


Six episodes seems the right amount to provide quality, but I can't feel confident until I read that Rob Grant and Doug Naylor are onboard in some aspect, when it was just Doug by himself the rhythm of the show went off.  It still had some excellent moments, but they were not the norm.

I'm excited, but apprehensive.

You can read a bit about Robert Llewellyn's thoughts on this at his blog here
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TV Caricatures from Anthony Geoffroy

Last week I posted a caricature of Horatio Cane and I wanted to show you some more of the Artist's work. His name is Anthony Geoffroy and his website is located at www.anthonygeoffroy.com (alternatively his deviant art page is here).

His site is all flash, and I'm not a big fan of flash websites, they always feel clunky and like they're trying too hard, but his art is excellent and here are some of my favourites.



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Saul Bass style opening credits for Lost

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I've always loved Saul Bass's style of opening credits, they're an essential element to classic films such as Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (amongst many others) and a huge stylistic influence on the opening credits for Mad Men.

Well here's some opening credits for Lost in his style. Enjoy!

(Mild spoilers for some well known plot elements contained within)




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Zoom, Rotate. Wait! Enhance that reflection!

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One of my favourite things to mock in police procedural type shows (amongst others) is the old Hollywood standby of digital enhancement. The short YouTube video above is a great example of just how prevalent this trope actually is. It's almost as common as the dreaded 'Will They/Won't They' and it's pretty much the key mechanism used to drive the plot in Rising Sun (the quintessential "enhance that picture" story).

I'd love to launch into a long rant about the ridiculousness of the trope, covering the hackneyed nature of it and the obvious crutch it provides for any CSI type show. Unfortunately I can't, because it turns out that technology can enhance pictures in this fashion, sharpening the image and using mathematical algorithms to fill in any blanks or blurred areas. So our dear friends in La-La land aren't as far off from the truth as we all thought (and hoped). Looks like fiction has predicted future technology once again.

"To do that, the algorithm takes the incomplete image and starts trying to fill in the blank spaces with large blocks of color. If it sees a cluster of green pixels near one another, for instance, it might plunk down a big green rectangle that fills the space between them. If it sees a cluster of yellow pixels, it puts down a large yellow rectangle. In areas where different colors are interspersed, it puts down smaller and smaller rectangles or other shapes that fill the space between each color. It keeps doing that over and over. Eventually it ends up with an image made of the smallest possible combination of building blocks and whose 1 million pixels have all been filled in with colors.

That image isn’t absolutely guaranteed to be the sparsest one or the exact image you were trying to reconstruct, but Candès and Tao have shown mathematically that the chance of its being wrong is infinitesimally small. "

You can read the full article here on Wired.

It looks like you win this one Caruso!


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Fall premiere dates listed over at Crimespree Cinema

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It's nearly that time again, and if you're unsure when your favourite show returns or if you want to see if there are any new shows which will fit into your viewing schedule Crimespree Cinema has the list with them all ordered by date with the day and time on them.

It's over here and frankly it's a great resource.
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Walking Dead to become a TV Series

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I'm sure by now you've read about the news on Walking Dead, but in case you haven't (and because I'm excited) AMC, those wonderful people who've given us Mad Men are now looking like they're going to take the exceptionally excellent comic book series Walking Dead and convert it's gorey goodness into a TV series.

I'm not much of a comic book reader, I have the complete Sin City, Watchmen and V is for Vendetta. That's as far as I go, but I have borrowed and read several of the Walking Dead books and been impressed by them, impressed enough that while reading I did idly think 'this would make an excellent TV show'. And now it seems Frank Darabont is in agreement, working on penning the script already (or so sources claim).

This just seems like a winning formula to me, Walking Dead is a grim tale which focuses not just on zombie horror, but also on what it means to be human, on survival and rebuilding of societies in a world where security is paramount. Where you need to be on guard from not just the dead, but the living as well. It's a great set of stories not afraid to deal with some very dark subject matter.

Combine this with the rising star of AMC and Frank's impressive writing pedigree and we might just have a show which is worth keeping an eye and an ear out for, as long as you can resist eating them that is...
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Watching the Wire - Delayed

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My apologies, but due to an exceptionally busy week, my birthday and now illness this week's Watching the Wire will be delayed. If I'm feeling well enough to sit in front of a screen and finish writing it all up on Tuesday then it'll be back dated to Sunday and a short link put up on the Tuesday.

Apologies for this, but I'm struggling to write sustained sentences. There will be an update on Monday as I have one pre-written. It's just the final Wire posts which aren't completed and can't go up.
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Emerson Wild: Monster Hunter Update

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There is now a blog for the show up at http://emersonwild.blogspot.com/ - while I'll continue to mention updates about the show here, this official blog looks like it'll be a great place to keep an eye on. Hurry up and release the first episode guys!
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Guardian Poll - Top Show of the Noughties

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The Guardian are running a poll to vote for the top show of this decade, the list is pretty decent with many worthy mentions on it:

24
30 Rock
Arrested Development
Band of Brothers
Battlestar Galactica
Big Brother
Black Books
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Deadwood
Dexter
Doctor Who
Extras
Family Guy
Firefly
Flight of the Conchords
House
Jam
Life on Mars
Lost
Mad Men
Oz
Peep Show
Planet Earth
QI
Rome
Shameless
Six Feet Under
South Park
Spaced
Spooks
State of Play
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
The Office
The Shield
The Sopranos
The Thick of It
The West Wing
The Wire
Top Gear

This being The Guardian, the smart money is on The Wire winning, but most of these shows deserve to be on the list (except for Spooks imo).

You can vote for your favourite at http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/poll/2009/jul/28/best-tv-show-noughties

Edit: At this stage the votes are being heavily weighted by Top Gear and QI fans, which has turned the entire thing into a quite brilliant and whimsical farce. But that's what happens when technologically adept fan(atic)s band together and also create 'sock puppet' votes to inflate their favourite show's standing.

In short, the Guardian really didn't think this one through and as such it's become a two horse race between QI and Top Gear, two excellent shows but neither one really deserves the title as 'the best' compared to many of the other shows there. And that's just hilarious.
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2009 Emmy Nominations

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Actually I've come to realise there is something worth muttering about this evening. It'll be short but the Emmy nominations are worth a quick scan. I'm writing this as I look at them, so here we go.

Link to the nominations is here.

Outstanding Animated Program
Hum, nothing really amazing here. Surprised to see American Dad. Would like to see Robot Chicken take it.

Outstanding Art Direction For A Miniseries Or Movie

I genuinely hope Generation Kill takes this, but it would be nice to see Little Dorrit as well (that said, I still want Generation Kill to win).

Outstanding Art Direction For A Multi-Camera Series
Come on How I Met Your Mother!

Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-Camera Series
As much as I adore Mad Men, I'd actually like to see Pushing Daisies take it, but it's probably not deserving - the nomination is enough.

Outstanding Casting For A Comedy Series
This feels like either 30 Rock or The Office's.

Outstanding Casting For A Drama Series
A really tough category, but Mad Men genuinely has the best cast. Damages wasn't as good this year as the last.

Outstanding Casting For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special & Outstanding Cinematography For A Miniseries Or Movie
Just like a broken record - Generation Kill.

Outstanding Cinematography For Reality Programming
UGH!

Outstanding Cinematography For A Half-Hour Series
I've always been amused that a 20 min show counts as a half hour series stateside. I don't really mind here, but what the heck is According to Jim doing there?

Outstanding Cinematography For A One Hour Series
This should be a two horse race between Breaking Bad and the frankly gorgeously shot Mad Men.

Outstanding Comedy Series
Another hot category.


Outstanding Costumes For A Series
Know what? I really liked the Pushing Daisies and No 1 Ladies Detective Agency costumes.

Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series
3 more for 30 Rock, looks like they're taking this one (and possibly sweeping everything, was this year's 30 Rock really that good?


Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series
BSG's last few moments dragged, Damages *makes so-so wavy hand motion*, so I guess it's between Boston Legal and Mad Men. I do hope BL takes it.

Outstanding Directing For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Dramatic Special
GK again please Bob!

Outstanding Drama Series
Ok, as Billy over at Geeky Talk pointed out. Not a snifter of The Shield? Seriously, you let the weakest Dexter Season so far in and The Shield doesn't even get a nod? Ridiculous.

Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series & Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series &
Nice nominations, can't really argue with most of them

Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series & Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series
I do hope CCH Pounder wins her category, she's fantastic.

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series & Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series
Hamm, Hall or Cranston please in drama, Baldwin in comedy.

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series & Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series
I will just about always root for Tina Fey, but I approve of most of the nominations in the comedy section. Not bothered about the drama bunch, but Glenn and Moss were both great this year.


Elsewhere (as it's getting late) I'd like to see the Sons of Anarchy theme win, HIMYM take the picture editing for 'Naked Man' which was just brilliantly done and Neil Patrick Harris MUST win best supporting actor in a comedy series.

Overall I think the nominations this year are better than last years, though the number of nominations 30 Rock received raises an eyebrow - then again, the cynic would not that Hollywood loves shows 'about the business' so it's not exactly a surprise. I am also pleased with the number of nominations Mad Men received but frankly incredulous that The Shield didn't get a single one, nadda, snatch. The Wire at least got a single nod last year but The Shield's final season was the best thing on this past TV year by a long margin. Eh, what can you do?

Go HIMYM (and NPH). Go Mad Men. Go Colbert Report. Go Generation Kill and I guess Go 30 Rock (but you don't really need me cheering you on at this point.)
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TV Guide's Top 100 Episodes

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TV Guide completed their list of the Top 100 Episodes (According to them at least) and here it is:

I've marked in bold all the ones I've seen. There's a little discussion afterwards as well.
  • 1. Seinfeld: "The Contest"
  • 2. The Sopranos: "College"
  • 3. The Mary Tyler Moore Show: "Chuckles Bites the Dust"
  • 4. I Love Lucy: "Lucy Does a TV Commercial"
  • 5. Lost: "Pilot"
  • 6. ER: "Love's Labor Lost"
  • 7. The Honeymooners: "Better Living Through TV"
  • 8. Mad Men: "Nixon vs. Kennedy"
  • 9. All in the Family: "Cousin Maude's Visit"
  • 10. 24: "Season 1: 11PM-12AM"
  • 11. The Twilight Zone: "Time Enough at Last"
  • 12. SNL from 4/22/78
  • 13. The Dick Van Dyke Show: "It May Look Like a Walnut"
  • 14. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: "Once More With Feeling"
  • 15. The Cosby Show: "Goodbye Mr. Fish"
  • 16. The Fugitive: "Judgment"
  • 17. South Park: "Trapped in the Closet"
  • 18. The Andy Griffith Show: "Opie the Birdman"
  • 19. The Office: "Diversity Day"
  • 20. MASH: "Abyssinia, Henry"
  • 21. Friends: "The One with the Embryos"
  • 22. Six Feet Under: "Everyone's Waiting"
  • 23. St. Elsewhere: "Time Heals"
  • 24. The Simpsons: "Krusty Gets Kancelled"
  • 25. Homicide:Life on the Street: "Subway"
  • 26. The Wire: "Final Grades"
  • 27. Curb Your Enthusiasm: "The Special Section"
  • 28. 30 Rock: "Black Tie"
  • 29. Cheers: "Show Down"
  • 30. NYPD Blue: "Hearts and Souls"
  • 31. Frasier: "The Ski Lodge"
  • 32. Arrested Development: "Development Arrested"
  • 33. Roseanne: "A Stash From the Past"
  • 34. Thirtysomething: "A Second Look"
  • 35. The X-Files: "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose"
  • 36. Star Trek:TNG: "Best of Both Worlds Part 1"
  • 37. The Bob Newhart Show: "Over the River and Through the Woods"
  • 38. The Shield: "Possible Kill Screen"
  • 39. The Wonder Years: "Pilot"
  • 40. The West Wing: "Two Cathedrals"
  • 41. Freaks and Geeks: "Carded and Discarded"
  • 42. Everybody Loves Raymond: "Marie's Sculpture"
  • 43. Battlestar Gallactica: "Blood on the Scales"
  • 44. My So-Called Life: "Self-Esteem"
  • 45. General Hospital: "Luke and Laura's Wedding"
  • 46. Ellen: "The Puppy Episode"
  • 47. CSI: "Grave Danger"
  • 48. Moonlighting: "Atomic Shakespeare"
  • 49. Dexter: "The British Invasion"
  • 50. The Larry Sanders Show: "Flip"
  • 51. Taxi: "Reverend Jim: A Space Odyssey"
  • 52. Damages: "Because I Know Patty"
  • 53. The Carol Burnett Show: "Went With the Wind"
  • 54. Twin Peaks: "Pilot"
  • 55. Desperate Housewives: "One Wonderful Day"
  • 56. How I Met Your Mother: "Slap Bet"
  • 57. Hill Street Blues: "Freedom's Last Stand"
  • 58. The Odd Couple: "Password"
  • 59. Alfred Hitchcock Presents: "Lamb to the Slaughter"
  • 60. The Big Bang Theory: "The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis"
  • 61. L.A. Law: "Good to the Last Drop"
  • 62. Law and Order: "Life Choice"
  • 63. Grey's Anatomy: "Losing My Religion"
  • 64. Murphy Brown: "You Say Potatoe, I Say Potato"
  • 65. WKRP in Cincinnati: "Turkeys Away"
  • 66. House: "Three Stories"
  • 67. Dynasty: "The Threat"
  • 68. Heroes: "Company Man"
  • 69. Dallas: "A House Divided"
  • 70. Sex and the City: "Pick-a-little, Talk-a-little"
  • 71. Little House on the Prairie: "I'll Be Waving as You Drive Away"
  • 72. Batman: "Better Luck Next Time"
  • 73. The Outer Limits: "Demon With a Glass Hand"
  • 74. Will & Grace: "Home for the Holidays"
  • 75. Gilmore Girls: "Raincoats and Recipes"
  • 76. Family Ties: "The Real Thing (Part 2)"
  • 77. The Waltons: "The Easter Story"
  • 78. Angel: "I Will Remember You"
  • 79. Charlie's Angels: "Angels in Chains"
  • 80. Star Trek: "City on the Edge of Forever"
  • 81. Smallville: "Rosetta"
  • 82. Farscape: "Revenging Angel"
  • 83. Good Times: "Black Jesus"
  • 84. Alias: "The Telling"
  • 85. Melrose Place: "The Bitch is Back"
  • 86. Scrubs: "My Musical"
  • 87. Happy Days: "Fonzie Loves Pinky"
  • 88. Magnum, P.I.: "Did You See the Sunrise"
  • 89. Beauty and the Beast: "Orphans"
  • 90. Malcolm in the Middle: "Bowling"
  • 91. Beverly Hills 90210: "Spring Dance"
  • 92. Party of Five: "Intervention"
  • 93. Big Love: "Come, Ye Saints"
  • 94. Ally McBeal: "Cro-Magnon"
  • 95. Supernatural: "No Rest for the Wicked"
  • 96. Rescue Me: "Baptism"
  • 97. Mary Hartman: "Chicken Soup"
  • 98. Breaking Bad: "Peek a Boo"
  • 99. Family Guy: "Blue Harvest"
  • 100. The Brady Bunch: "The Subject Was Noses"
Big Love is in italics because I'll be watching it later this week.

101 Was the Pilot Episode for Friday Night Lights (which I've seen and loved).

First of all I absolutely agree with Six Feet Under's entry; the finale "Everyone's Waiting" is one of two episodes which battles it out whenever I try to decide which was the best finale I've ever seen. (The second one doesn't make an appearance on this list). Likewise the entries for The Shield, Supernatural, Arrested Development, Rescue Me, Family Guy, The West Wing, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Buffy, Freaks and Geeks, My So Called Life, How I Met Your Mother and Twin Peaks are all greatly deserving. I'd even give a nod to House's "Three Stories" (but only after I went away and reminded myself what it was about).

The Homicide episode "Subway" was a real pleasure to see on the list, Homicide: Life on the Streets is a show which just needs more exposure in my opinion and Subway is a seriously powerful episode amongst a whole battalion of amazing stories.

Call me a cynic, but I'm not surprised TV Guide went with Seinfeld as a winner; The Contest is a great episode, possibly the best Seinfeld episode (not my favourite mind you) but there are better episodes on this list.

Dexter, Heroes, Lost and Damages all have their entries marred somewhat by what followed after them, both episodes are superb when you look at them in the context of what came before, but let down by what followed afterwards. In every case it's the season after the one which the episode appeared in which sucked somewhat.

I'm rather surprised to see My Musical in there for Scrubs, that was an episode which really didn't impress me and felt like a bit of an attempt to cash in on "Once More With Feeling". Scrubs has provided a lot of more moving and funnier episodes.

"Bowling" from Malcolm in the Middle was a surprise entry, I'm not sure it really deserves to be in there, but it's split story showing the difference between each parent supervising the boys bowling (like Sliding Doors) was certainly memorable. I don't think Malcolm in the Middle would have made it onto

There are a few noticable abscences; there seems to be no non-American shows at all, and there's a glaring abscense where Firefly should be present (which episode, is a different matter for debate) and there are a few other shows with episodes I can't help but feel should have made it on there; The Dead Zone "Precipitate", Futurama's "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings", Doctor Who's "Blink" or "Family of Blood" and I'm sure shows like Boston Legal, Justice League Unlimited, Nip/Tuck (Season One or Two) and Deadwood have at least one episode strong enough to make an appearance.

Still, agree or no. This has inspired me enough to consider sitting down and writing up the ten or twenty best episodes I've ever seen. That will turn up later this week. With possibly a top five finales list as well because I've been mulling that one over for some time.

Edit: Probably a little late to add this in, but a warm hello to those of you visiting my little site from Brazil and South America!
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Good News Everyone!

Category: By Rev/Views
As today has been such a fantastic day for television I like I'm going to break down the highlights, complete with links.

The Shield's final season is available for purchase on DVD this week, managing to make it to both sides of the Atlantic at the same time. A big thumbs up to the production company for managing this. Get out there and support quality TV by picking up either this or the complete set (I shall get both!)

Fox see sense and renews Futurama for another season with 26 episodes. I hope my purchasing of all the DVD movies helped in some small fashion. (Thanks to Rob Buckley for bringing this to my attention - always cite your resources!)

Rob, in a double whammy also let me know about an interview David Simon held with Simon Mayo and Treme is mentioned. I shall be listening to it on the train tomorrow.

Shawn Ryan (The Shield's creator) has his pilot "Terriers" greenlit. (Rob mentioned this as well, but I didn't notice it in the excitement over Futurama and found out about it elsewhere).

Mad Men's 3rd season hits the screens August 16th.

Seriously, as I have such a specific set of tastes in the world of Telly Vision (finding 99% of it out there utter rubbish and hiding from it like some TV hermit) days like this are so rare they have to be savoured and celebrated.
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Connected!

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Yes, the inconceivable has happened. I am indeed back online at home and fully connected (well my xbox 360 isn't connected right now, but one step at a time...)

So in the words of George Costanza. "I'm back baby!"

So much has happened in the time I've been offline it's going to take a while just to adjust, catch up with a few comments and requests made on older posts and get up to speed with the various events I've missed, I've caught up with a few of them here and there, but not everything.

I am indeed pleased to find out Chuck has been renewed for a third season. Likewise for Dollhouse and Bones. Shame about Sarah Conner, it was a series I half watched and planned to get into if it had a third season, not going to happen now. I'm not so plussed about Scrubs being renewed, I've not watched all of the eight season, but from what I've gathered so far the last finale would have been a good note to end it all on - it feels a little like flogging a deceased equine.

I also have an awful lot of catching up to do, there are a lot of shows I've missed the back run for and would like to see. I've also got a fair wad of DVDs I need to break down and review. I'll be mostly posting DVD reviews and bits of news over the next few weeks while I get back up to speed with the world of Television. Then comes pilot season, exciting times!

But for now, here in the middle of the hilly countryside this is Rev/Views saying "It's good to be back... At long last."
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Easter Specials - Doctor Who, Red Dwarf

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I'm still stuck in the mire which is convincing BT to remove the Broadband Tag from my phone line so I can have Internet access at home. I've had to speak to OfCom and dig around quite a bit, but all my attempts to contact BT Wholesale via e-mail have been ignored so far, I'm going try phoning them on Monday and I'm basically not going to stop until I get to speak to someone who can get this sorted out, because it's frankly ridiculous.

Anyway, the main reason for writing this is I wanted to take a few moments to look at the two sci-fi Easter specials which aired last weekend. First up is Britain's favourite time traveller.

Beware spoilers ahead!

Doctor Who - Planet of the Dead:

Overall I wasn't that impressed with Planet of the Dead, these specials are the final moments with RTD and David Tennant, they should be something amazing and spectacular. But overall PotD was exceptionally lackluster and rather uninspired. Now, it's not that it was bad, it wasn't, it's just that it should be something more than it was. These specials should be just that, special.

Instead the entire thing was rather humdrum, it could have been just another episode in any of the David Tennant run. There wasn't anything remarkable about it, no classic or iconic villains, no really big moments. Just a lot of average plotting with a few fun references (especially Tennant's Donna Noble impersonation and references).

Now there were a few nice touches, Michelle Ryan was competent and likable in this, as was Lee Evans' performance - even if his accent was atrocious, it sounded like mangled Welsh when he remembered to use it. Likewise the scenes shot in the desert were fantastic and more than made up for the utter horror of the flying bus. Ugh..

Still, it was an enjoyable time spent in front of the TV, it didn't offend or upset or even engage me particularly, which is honestly a bit of a shame. Because I adore David Tennant's Doctor and I'm going to miss him when he's gone, but stories like this are just wasted on his talent. He's capable of so much more than Planet of the Dead gave him.

Red Dwarf:

It's no secret how much I enjoy the cult classic Red Dwarf, it's also no secret just how apprehensive I was when I saw the trailers for the special. Every single one of them made it look like this three part story was going to be a giant pile of suck. I went into this fully expecting to be disappointed and vowing never to watch it again.

And if you'd asked me by the end of the first and second parts I would have said how disappointed I was with it. By that point I was almost miserable with how confusing, weak and terrible the storyline was. It felt like Red Dwarf had completely lost the plot and moved away from what it was. I was left in two minds by that stage, either the Back to Earth title was a reference to Back to Reality and this would turn out to be fictional or Red Dwarf had become a huge steamer on the pavement of Television. I was tending towards the first of the two options due to the overly obvious Cat origami foreshadowing, but I was still very nervous about the last part.

Fortunately the entire thing did turn out to be a big spin on the Despair Squid from series five, and once I'd watched the third part and taken the whole thing together it felt quite different. It wasn't the greatest Red Dwarf ever, but it was a lot better than I feared.

What was good about it? Well first of all it would be a crime to not acknowledge just how much Craig Charles has grown as an actor, the two strongest scenes in the special both came from his performances - the remembrance garden being the first and his goodbye to virtual Kochanski being the other. The sets were gorgeous and some of the scenes were brilliant.

What was bad? The total lack of Holly really hurt the show, there's not much more I can write about that if I'm honest. I missed the senile computer greatly, even a cameo would have done. Also the overall style of the special was a pretty poor construct, I spent the vast majority of this special shaking my head and thinking "No, please don't let this be happening. This is shockingly bad". If your viewer is hating over two thirds of your storyline and wishing they weren't happening because they're totally non-cannon in style, then you've screwed up.

I also missed Chloe Annet, yeah - I know I'm in a minority on this front, so I won't go into it in too much detail. Except to say I like her portrayal of Kochanski a lot.

Taken as a whole the special wasn't awful, but it sailed very close to being so and even on the re watch it isn't funny. Hyperdrive is funnier than the Red Dwarf special was, and that's not saying a lot. So as much as I do miss Red Dwarf, I think it's time to put the entire thing to rest and just look back on the best years (Series 3 to 6) with fondness.
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A Brief Status Update

Category: By Rev/Views
For those of you who are still wondering where Rev/Views is and what date I'll resume updating I do have some information for you. My phone line has been connected and activated, which means I'm very close to being back online. I have a couple of things I need to sort out before it can be set up but the current estimation is somewhere between one and two weeks.

See you then!
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Back Soon!

Category: By Rev/Views
As you may be aware I've had an impending move on the cards for the past few weeks, I've mostly been trying to sort it all out well in advance in order to avoid massive disruptions and skip past the inevitable disasters which always happen when you move.

I'm going to be moving my computer either tomorrow or Wednesday, but I think it's unlikely that I'll manage to post anything more on here before then because there's just so much I need to get on top of. Additionally everything TV related is now boxed up and as such it's impossible to tell where it is. So I'm going to call a hiatus to Rev/Views a day or so in advance here.

I have set up Twitter to receive phone texts from me, so until I'm back online I shall be exclusively communicating via the medium of tweets. You can see them in the top right corner of the main page or follow them directly here. Excuse me for not following you back immediately, but I won't be able to check for any possible new followers except when I have occasional access in work. Likewise I won't be able to see any messages from anyone I'm following right now.

Be back soon (hopefully) until then, see you on Twitter*!
*Or for those lucky few who know me personally, see you on facebook.
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Disruptions Ahead

Category: By Rev/Views
I've tried my best to avoid my impending move from being too disruptive here at Rev/Views, but unfortunately it's become somewhat unavoidable. I planned to write about Damages this evening, but putting things into cardboard boxes has taken up so much time and effort this evening that I've almost run out of free time.

As such I'm going to try and keep reviewing here and there over the next two weeks, but I can't guarantee anything resembling a structured schedule at all. I'll try to write about Damages tomorrow and Burn Notice on Sunday, but there's unlikely to be anything here on the Monday as I'm going to be on the road with a transit van moving the first load of my possessions up to my next home.

This has come about because my current agency are putting a tremendous amount of pressure on me to allow them to start showing the place to potential tenants and I can't allow them to do so until I move a lot of confidential work related material to the safe in my new home. Needless to say I'd rather be able to tell them they can start in order to keep them happy, agencies here aren't very kind towards leaving tenants, they seem to feel that being considerate to one is a little too much to ask.

My apologies for the upcoming couple of weeks, I hoped I could work around all of this and keep things correctly timed here on Rev/Views before the switch of internet service disrupted my ability to access blogger and post here.
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Live Blogging over at Dan's Media Digest

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Just a short news bite to promote Dan's upcoming live blogging of the BAFTAs. I'm not sure entirely how it'll turn out but I'll certainly be having a looksie around to see how this works out for him. It'll be located at Dan's Media Digest and his post about it is here.

Frankly I think this is a brilliant idea and should be supported, so if you're interested about the BAFTAs or just want to see some brilliant writing happening right there, live! Then have your computer or laptop up and on his site while you're watching it! I'm going to try and figure something out to see if I can (I might just have to trek back and forth between the office and the living room though).

Now if we could convince him to do it drunk then we'd have another Eurovision hit on our hands!

Edit: I now realise that the last sentence I used makes it sound like Dan will be singing if he drinks, I can't make that claim as I wouldn't know. I meant that it would be as enjoyable as watching the Eurovision song contest as presented by Terry Wogan, who gets increasingly more plastered as the show progresses.
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Rich Sommer of Mad Men interviewed over at GeekSpeak

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Interestingly enough I came across a lengthy interview with Richard Sommer (from Mad Men and The Devil Wears Prada) over on the site http://geekspeak.boardgamegeek.com/ it turns out that he's quite the board gamer, a pretty well grounded guy and just a very nice individual indeed.

The entire podcast can be listened to over here, be warned that the first part of the interview is less an interview and more friends just chatting about stuff. But there are some great moments later on about how he got his break in The Devil Wears Prada, assumptions about the sexuality of his character in that movie, Anne Hathaway, difficulties in getting cast and Rich's part as Harry Crane in Mad Men and appearing on The Office.

[Mild warning for profanities in this interview]
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News Bites

Category: By Rev/Views
I don't have much time today so instead of a proper post here's a selection of interesting news from various places.

Times Online has revealed the identity of Top Gear's The Stig, maybe I'm in a minority but I've never been that interested to find out who he really is. Still, if you do care, you can now find out!

Following on from Dead Like Me and Arrested Development, Veronica Mars starring the lovely Kristen Bell becomes the latest cancelled TV show to get a movie. If you've not seen Veronica Mars it's well worth a watch.

I shan't be reviewing it myself (as I gave up watching in season 3), but you can read all about the latest season of 24 over at Dan's Media Digest and Geeky Talk. I don't even watch the show and I consider these must reads.

If you fancy seeing how the British like to butcher good ideas Snark and Fury is writing about 'Demons' so you don't have to watch it.

Or you can head over to The Medium is Not Enough and join in the always fun 'Sitting Tennant' caption contest. I even managed wittiest caption once upon a time.

Reviews of Damages and The Beast's latest episodes arrive on Friday, I might also update something else today if I have the time and an idea strikes me. Until then, does anyone else think the UK should run a reality voting talent show to determine the next Prime Minister? I just need a catchy name and then I could go sell the idea to the BBC.
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