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Doctor Who
- Peter Davison's daughter to be the next companion?
- Torchwood to have less swearing, less sex, better scripts and more class!
Film
- I am Legend 2 rights sold
- Jeffrey Wright to return as Felix Leiter in Casino Royale sequel
British TV
US TV
- Sarah Connor pilot available via Yahoo!
- The dates of all the US season finales, assuming the writers' strike continues
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January 4, 2008 | Reply
I just finished watching the complete 'Odyssey 5' via Netflix, and I think 'Torchwood' could learn a lot from that show in making adult science fiction. The cursing was natural, grew out of the characters because you knew this would be the way that they talked. It didn't feel like it was shoe-horned into a conversation just because they knew the writers were given license to throw it in.
As for the sex, there wasn't much of it but enough to be shown that, like the cursing, it grew out of the situations characters found themselves in; and felt like it was natural, not some sideshow attraction as the Gwen and Owen "relationship" resembled.
I enjoyed most of the stories from last season of 'Torchwood', but it would have been so much better had those "adult" elements been handled properly. Kai Owen says it's going to be classy.... Well, it had better be overloaded with class to wash away the bad taste left by last season.
January 4, 2008 | Reply
Also Odyssey 5 was just repeated over xmas on SCi Fi (and might be again soon) and it made you realise how good it was in comparison to Torchwood. Mind you its so ruthless in the US they cut series down before they even get a chance to start..Journeyman for example.
I found some of Torchwood cringeworthy. Especially the Owen and Gwen romance. Less of that this year I say!
January 4, 2008 | Reply
"the Owen and Gwen romance"
I think I missed the romance part of that particular 'relationship'.
January 4, 2008 | Reply
I'm probably in the minority, but I thought that Gwen and Owen was sort of hot. The encounter they had in the woods was really... woah. (I think there's something about that situation that really gets me. If a guy talked like that to me, say, in a bar, it just wouldn't have the same effect.) I wouldn't want to have a relationship with him, though.
I think that the longer season for US television works against us rather than for us. I mean, it's nice to have a lot of episodes to look forward to and there are some really long story arcs that are great, but I also think that there's something nice about the UK's shorter seasons. The story-lines are a bit tighter and things aren't dragged out for so long.
January 5, 2008 | Reply
I'm commenting here because your next post ("What would your Mastermind subject be?") appears not to be there, despite the whole thing appearing in Bloglines.
I seem to recall the last time someone chose Doctor Who as a specialist subject for Mastermind, the level of difficulty was such that fans accross the country sneered at the easy nature of the questions. So I'd still consider it.
Other possibilities for me: the mathematician John Littlewood; the films of Peter Jackson; knowing that Mark Speight wasn't the Milkybar Kid back in the '70s.
January 5, 2008 | Reply
I'm also answering the Mastermind question in the wrong place. I have often said that I'd pick Neighbours or Home and Away, but actually they've been running for so long that when I look on the websites (as I sometimes do, to my shame) I realise that I have forgotten huge enormous chunks of both. I reckon I could do ER though, as I don't think there's a single episode I haven't seen. Also the revision would be fun.
January 5, 2008 | Reply
Stupid bloody blog software. Anyway, I've fixed it and it's over here now.
January 6, 2008 | Reply
When Shaun Williamson talked about having a spin off with Stephen Merchant it was definitely a joke.... do Sun journalists realise, but just print the stuff anyway...?
January 6, 2008 | Reply
Yes. It's a lot easier to fill space that way and people will read it anyway, bumping up sales/page hits.