Year: 2008

Review: Big Finish downloads service

18 February 2008 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Fingers crossed, I’ll be giving both Bride of Peladon and Catalyst a listen this week, which might mean I review them as soon as… next week.

However, I thought I’d draw your attention to a couple of things first. Number one is that Big Finish now has a podcast. It’s a little bit cringeworthy, but it’s worth listening to since you do get advance information and behind-the-scenes explanation. Most notable in that is the first podcast, in which Nick Briggs explains the rationale behind the pricing structure of the downloads service. Did you realise, for example, that the US pricing of downloads is about $7.99? If you can follow Nick’s reasoning for that in comparison to the £12.99 charge for the UK (which appears to amount to “they’ve been paying over the odds for ages now, so now it’s the UK’s turn”), you’re a smarter person than I.

It’s also got a blog (of sorts. Guys, have you heard of comments? Permalinks?) which occasionally turfs up a bit of news, too.

I’m also producing the next run of Doctor Who Companion Chronicles, which has been a fantastic experience. I’ve chosen the companions and the writers and come up with eight (yes eight – you heard it here first) stories that I hope will please others as much as they please me. Oooh, I wish I could reveal more. I wish I could tell you who is flying into the country in May to return as a character that was such a pivotal part of my childhood but, sadly, for now you have to guess. Likewise I can’t reveal which one star from the last series is coming back this year.

Let the guessing on that one begin.

Over the weekend, I decided to give the downloads service a try, just to let you all know what it’s like. Here were my experiences…

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Monday’s good morning and welcome news

18 February 2008 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Doctor Who

Film

British TV

US TV

UK TV

Review: Primeval 2×6

16 February 2008 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Remember Crimson Tide? No, probably not.

It was this submarine movie starring Gene Hackman. Thing was, they had Quentin Tarantino as script advisor.

You’d have never known for most of us. It chugged along like a regular movie. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, there’s this bizarre scene where they all discuss which version of the Silver Surfer was their favourite. Stood out like a bodybuilder at a vegetarians convention.

I mention this purely because tonight, I seemed to wander into a completely different show from the Primeval I’ve been watching for the last few weeks. No surprise there though: it was written by Paul Cornell.

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Life on Mars series one for free

16 February 2008 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Life On Mars: Complete Series 1

FYI, if you buy today’s Daily Star and then sign up for a 30-day free trial with Lovefilm, they’ll send you a free copy of the first series of Life on Mars. You can keep it and everything.

Which is nice. Or would be if I weren’t a member already.

Actually, I caught an episode of the first series of Life on Mars on Bravo the other night and it’s weird how it’s so much better and Gene Hunt is such a better character compared with Ashes to Ashes.

Still, Phillip Glenister says it really gets going with episode three, and episode two was very good, so I’m going to go with that recommendation for now.

The CarusometerA Carusometer rating of 3

Third-episode verdict: Eli Stone

16 February 2008 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Time for final arguments on Eli Stone, Jonny Lee Miller’s US entry into religion and Ally McBeal territory. 

Who knew, following its first decidedly agnostic first episode, that it was possible for the show to be any less committed to the concept of God giving a lawyer divine inspiration and guidance? Because it’s backed away even further.

Yes, Eli Stone does have an odd knack of hallucinating the right names and visions to be able to win the case for the little guy at the last minute. But, for the most part, His guidance seems to be less incontrovertible than it was in the first episode. 

Eli’s fiancée has also become less of an evil Blonde Bitch (there’s a job description for that) and is becoming more supportive, etc. Nothing is absolute it seems.

Rather than sticking to its guns, then, Eli Stone has simply become the officially sanctioned show of quirkiness. It’s about lawyers who see things and do nice things. That’s it really.

Okay, slightly unfair. There is the growing realisation on Eli’s part that his Dad maybe not have been a complete arse after all, given that he had the same brain aneuryism that Eli has. Yes, Eli’s turning into his Dad, which is something many a male fears as he simultaneously realises his Dad wasn’t all bad after all and there was method to his madness. That’s moderately interesting.

There’s also a perky new incompetent, do-gooder newbie lawyer. And we don’t have to put up with the dodgy medicine of the first episode.

But it’s all infinitely forgettable really. Good for anyone who likes Jonny Lee Miller and a bit of unchallenging dramedy. Missable for everyone else.