Day: 25 October 2006

Classic Who back on UK Gold (and SciFi)

25 October 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Bit of a Who theme to the blog this week, but for UK fans of the classic/old series, it’s a good “set your video” weekend coming up. SciFi is showing the movie Doctor Who and The Daleks at 8.25pm (VIDEO Plus+: 86853041), which featured Peter Cushing as an alternative version of William Hartnell’s first Doctor; on Sunday, the TV movie is on UK Gold at 10.10am (VIDEO Plus+: 26553349) – that’s eighth Doctor Paul McGann’s only outing in the role on TV.

Repeats of the series proper kick off on Wednesday 1st in no particular order with Genesis of the Daleks (VIDEO Plus+: 3097401) from Tom Baker, the fourth Doctor, at 7.25am, Colony in Space (VIDEO Plus+: 72345520) at 7.20am on Saturday and Spearhead from Space (VIDEO Plus+: 98352394) on Sunday at 7am. The latter two are third Doctor stories, Spearhead being Pertwee’s first in the role.

Enjoy, assuming you’re in the UK, have access to UK Gold and haven’t already seen them. And you get up early or can be bothered to set the vid.

Review: I, Davros – Innocence

25 October 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

I, Davros - InnocenceOnce Big Finish get an idea into their collective noggin, they really like to mine it for all it’s worth. A while back (2003), Big Finish put out a few plays that delved into the motivations of famous Doctor Who villains: Omega, The Master and Davros. Davros proved popular enough that Big Finish went a bit deeper in Terror Firma and The Juggernauts.

Apparently, though, that wasn’t enough, because now we have a series of four plays, released under the monicker I, Davros, that will delve into Davros’ early life. Again.

The first, Innocence, is out now. Is it worth your hard-earned cash?

Continue reading “Review: I, Davros – Innocence”

Review: I, Davros – Innocence

25 October 2006 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

I, Davros - InnocenceOnce Big Finish get an idea into their collective noggin, they really like to mine it for all it’s worth. A while back (2003), Big Finish put out a few plays that delved into the motivations of famous Doctor Who villains: Omega, The Master and Davros. Davros proved popular enough that Big Finish went a bit deeper in Terror Firma and The Juggernauts.

Apparently, though, that wasn’t enough, because now we have a series of four plays, released under the monicker I, Davros, that will delve into Davros’ early life. Again.

The first, Innocence, is out now. Is it worth your hard-earned cash?

Continue reading “Review: I, Davros – Innocence”

Third-episode verdict: 30 Rock

25 October 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

30 Rock

Third-episode verdict time for 30 Rock. A big thumbs up from me now, after having had a few reservations about its first episode. Tina Fey and co have looked at the pilot, asked themselves what their weaknesses were (drama) and what their strengths are (comedy, Alec Baldwin) and rejigged everything accordingly.

So there’s a far higher density of cracking comedy per minute than drama and Alec Baldwin is getting the well deserved spotlight. His character is an inadvertently evil executive who has developed demographics to such a fine art that he can sum up anyone by their demographic group with just a glance, a talent that reaches a climax in a dead-on Hannibal Lecter-esque analysis of one character in the third episode.

Despite its low-ratings, I’m hoping this will continue (and get picked up by a network in the UK). It doesn’t quite have that must-see quality that will keep you coming back, but if you do, you’ll be glad you did.