Month: April 2010

Audio and radio play reviews

Review: Doctor Who – 132 – The Architects of History

28 April 2010 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

Architects-of-History-The-cover.pngTime to wrap up the Klein trilogy.

When last we left blah blah, blah blah, blah blah, blah Seventh Doctor blah blah Nazi scientist for companion blah blah.

Anyway, things went a bit pear-shaped – who saw that coming? – and now the Doctor has to fix it. Now, given Big Finish trilogies can vary between awful (the Charley Pollard/Sixth Doctor concluding trilogy, the Key2Time) and gradually improving (the Stockbridge trilogy), it was a bit of a gamble as to whether the final part of this "seven years in the making" story was going to end well.

So let’s take some bets.

Hands up everyone who thinks this is going to be a classic.

And hands up everyone who thinks it’s going to be a steaming lump of you know what.

If I just add that this also features Lenora Crichlow as a companion for the Doctor, who’s going to change their minds?

Final fact: it also includes a race of intergalactic sharks who wander around in water-filled armour.

Last chance. 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…

Well, it just so happens that it’s…

Continue reading “Review: Doctor Who – 132 – The Architects of History”

Question of the week: are there too many Brits on US TV?

28 April 2010 Rob Buckley 8 Comments

Time was the only Brits you saw on US TV were there to play foreigners and villains. Soap operas were full of them to add a little bit of the exotic.

Now though, they’re all over the place. Just about every US TV show has at least one Brit in it, either with their natural accent or with a US accent; any US show set in the past and/or a foreign country requires even non-British actors to put on British accents, but predominantly hires Brits.

Why is this? Well, James Purefoy, who I saw at the BFI this Sunday, says it’s because British actors are lower maintenance and cheaper. "We’re called ‘white Mexicans’ in LA."

So today’s question(s) is this:

Is having so many British actors in US shows a good thing? Are we stealing American jobs? Or does our lack of ‘airs and graces’ and smaller pay cheques mean that shows that wouldn’t get made can go ahead and look better than they would otherwise? Or is that irrelevant and you just like seeing Brits in US shows?

As always, leave a comment with your answer or a link to your answer on your own blog.

Wednesday’s gay Doctor news

28 April 2010 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Film

British TV

French TV

US TV

Sitting Tennant

Tuesday’s Sitting Tennant (week 17, 2010)

27 April 2010 Rob Buckley 9 Comments

Doesn’t whatever someone else is eating always look more appealing? That, at least, appears to be the message of Ms Rullsenberg’s picture this week.

  1. Rullsenberg: 110
  2. Erin C: 100
  3. Sister Chastity, Toby: 90
  4. Rachel: 65
  5. Sabine: 60
  6. Karen: 35
  7. Dawn: 5

Despite my better instincts, I laughed hardest at Rullsenberg’s caption last week, so she’s also the winner of the 10 points in caption land. Thanks to everyone else who captioned and good luck this week!

  1. Toby, Rullsenberg: 80 
  2. Electric Dragon: 70
  3. Marie: 65
  4. Jane Henry: 50
  5. ecg, Rachel: 45
  6. Sabine, SK: 20
  7. kellyann06, Sister Chastity: 10
  8. whogal, Joe B: 5

Got a picture of David Tennant sitting, lying down or in some indeterminate state in between? Then leave a link to it below or email me and if it’s judged suitable, it will appear in the “Sitting Tennant” gallery. Don’t forget to include your name in the filename so I don’t get mixed up about who sent it to me.

The best pic in the stash each week will appear on Monday and get ten points; the runners up will appear on Friday (one per person who sends one in) and get five points.

You can also enter the witty and amusing captions league table by commenting on Monday’s Sitting Tennant photo, the best caption getting 10 points, everyone who contributes getting five points.

Tuesday’s Yes, again, Minister news

27 April 2010 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Film

  • Two Alien prequels on the way
  • New The Ring sequel to ditch original characters, go 3D

British TV

US TV