Year: 2008

UK TV

Review: Derren Brown – The System

2 February 2008 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

In the UK: Friday 1st February, Channel 4, 9pm
In the US: Maybe SciFi since they seem to like him

Of late, Derren Brown has become less of a magician and more of a de-bunker. If you’ve read Tricks of the Mind, you’ll know he spends a good proportion of it debunking psychics, astrologers and others, while Derren Brown: Séance did more or less the same thing on a much larger scale, as did his stage show.

Which is nice. He’s becoming The Amazing Randi for a new generation of idiots viewers and probably a more effective one.

Now, he’s turned his attention to homeopathy et al. How did he try to point out the flaws in people’s thinking? By developing a system that he said would successfully predict the results of six horse races – then getting a poor single mum to bet all her money on the final race.

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Video help for Anna on her Sapphire and Steel quest

31 January 2008 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

A while back, Anna asked for advice on whether to give Sapphire and Steel a try. Since she hasn’t got back to us with her opinions yet, I’m guessing she’s been busy not watching Sapphire and Steel. Oh dear. Don’t give up Anna!

So here are some clips from Assignments 1, 2 and the ever-silly 5 that the PR agency responsible for promoting the box set have made available. I’m not sure they’re the best ones – they seem a bit daft out of context, much scarier in context – but for what it’s worth, here you go, Anna.

Incidentally, if you have the time available, some enterprising person has put the entire series up on YouTube:

I personally think the quality’s better on DVD – and you get more interviews and audio commentaries, too.

Assignment 1: Sapphire explains the nature of Time

Assignment 2: Steel locates a time jump in a corridor

Assignment 5: Sapphire analyses a glass

UK TV

Review: Torchwood 2×3 – To The Last Man

31 January 2008 Rob Buckley 16 Comments

Tosh getting wet

There are pretty much two writers’ names that can instil fear into the heart of a discerning Doctor Who or Torchwood fan: Chris Chibnall’s and Helen Raynor’s.

Chibnall has been responsible for some appalling pieces of work, with awful plots, awful characterisation and awful dialogue (cf Countrycide). But at least he’s fun. The opening episode of this series of Torchwood, which was one of Chibnall’s best, we all assumed would be a template for the show this series: daft, silly, but well paced and fun.

But no. At Torchwood, it seems “the script editor is out”, so consistency of tone and characterisation is something that we can’t possible hope for. Because here comes another of Helen Raynor’s massive worthy tomes.

Oh no.

The former script editor of Doctor Who, she was also responsible for last year’s tedious third episode, as well as the Who stinkers Daleks in Manhattan and Evolution of the Daleks.

As I remarked then,

“There’s something about Helen Raynor’s writing. It’s always nicely put together, doesn’t insult your intelligence too much and has a certain sensibility about it that makes you think she’s trying to write proper drama. But it’s absolutely dull to watch.”

And so it was with last night’s Torchwood episode, To The Last Man.

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