Month: March 2007

BSG: Maelstrom changes permanent?

6 March 2007 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

So, US viewers who watched Battlestar Galactica on Sunday. Something happened, didn’t it? You all know what it was. I won’t mention it for the sakes of those in the UK who haven’t seen it yet. But it’s quite a big change.

Many people are wondering if this change is permanent, whether various elements of the story were hinting that something would undo it all by the end of the season. If you want to find out one way or another, this week’s podcast is pretty unequivocal.

Rubbish episode though, wasn’t it? Bored me rigid and the ending was obvious. Damn. Don’t tell me BSG has jumped the Lost… sorry, shark, too.

Tuesday’s “rivers of water” news

6 March 2007 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

I think I saw Noah a moment ago.

Books and comics

  • A comic book version of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game is on the way

Film

  • Iron Man info from Jon Favreau
  • McG may direct a remake of The Fantastic Voyage
  • Angelina Jolie to star in The Day The Earth Stood Still?
  • Oded Fehr won’t be in The Mummy 3
  • Premiere magazine is no more.

British TV

  • Virgin Media threatens to sue Sky
  • ITV has suspended ITV Play, pending investigations [free registration required]

US TV

  • ABC has yanked Knights of Prosperity from the schedule (Kristin says it’s been axed)
  • Ian Wright’s Unfit Kids now has a US version: presumably Shaquille O’Neal’s Unfit Kids
  • An interview with Katee Sackhoff from BSG [spoilers for last Sunday’s episode]
  • More BSG spoilers
  • Monday night at 9 is a little too popular
  • Six Degrees might get a reprieve
  • One for you Toby: is there a connection between Heroes and Lost? The creators reveal…
  • An interview with 24 writer Michael Loceff
  • Martin Scorsese and Mark Wahlberg are teaming up for an HBO series about Atlantic City
  • James van der Beek joins Football Wives
  • No one wants to be Lost any more [some spoilers for Jericho]
  • The pilot episode of Raines is now on the NBC web site
  • News and spoilers from Kristin: chances of renewal for Supernatural and The Class are poor; a great big Lost spoiler

Things I learnt from watching television last week

5 March 2007 Rob Buckley Post a comment

24: As long as something exciting happens all the time, I can watch the most mindless drivel.

30 Rock: Manatee. Hee, hee!

Battlestar Galactica: It is possible for Starbuck to be boring.

Heroes: Even people you suspect can’t act will start acting if you give them something to do. “Claire-bear” can reduce a grown man to tears. Sniff.

Jericho: Flashbacks are only interesting if you give a monkey’s about the flasher. If you know what I mean.

Lewis: Occasionally the writers can be funny. Lewis “not a professional Northerner”? Hee hee!

Lost: Oh yes. Lost used to be fun. I remember now.

Primeval: As long as something exciting happens all the time, I can watch the most mindless drivel. Also, the right backing track for a flock of dodos is Kasabian’s “Club Foot”.

The Unit: Eric Haney should be allowed to write episodes, too, not just Lynn Mamet as I suggested last week – another lesson learned. Also, all previous attempts to write realistic war dialogue have been rubbish: if it was authentic, we wouldn’t understand a word of it, as Haney has just proved. I had to watch it twice to work out what was going on.

US TV

Review: The 50 Greatest TV Dramas

5 March 2007 Rob Buckley 13 Comments

In the UK: Saturday, C4, 9pm

There’s nothing quite like a list of “best anythings” to get people talking – or annoyed – as anyone who’s ever been on the new steam-powered InterWeb will tell you. But how about something as controversial as the “50 Greatest TV Dramas”?

Ooh aye? 50 greatest ever? Is that just shows that have been on British TV? Within recent memory? Who’s voting? And surely it’ll just be the most popular rather than the best that come out on top? And is it really possible to have a great debate about whether Fall of Eagles or Cold Warrior is better, when no bugger remembers either of them?

All valid criticisms of The 50 Greatest TV Dramas, which polled legions of the great and the good from British television history to compile said list. But, despite those criticisms, it was actually a pretty good list.

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Audio and radio play reviews

Review: The Companion Chronicles – The Blue Tooth

5 March 2007 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

The Blue ToothAs a notorious Liz Shaw fan, I was looking forward to this entry in the Companion Chronicles range. One of the more adult companions (in a good way), she was one of the main elements of a short-lived strategy to make Doctor Who less childish, way back in season seven. However, she never got so much as a leaving scene when she was replaced by Jo Grant and hasn’t yet appeared in any of the Big Finish range. So it was good to hear she would be featuring in this brief set of audio books.

The Blue Tooth sees Liz returning to Cambridge to meet an old friend. In true Who style, it all goes very wrong when an outer space monster intrudes – no less a beastie than the Cybermen, in fact. And it opens with a promise: to reveal why Liz decided to leave the Doctor.

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