Month: June 2010

US TV

Review: Rookie Blue 1×1

30 June 2010 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

In Canada: Thursdays, 9/8c, Global Television

Despite her odd name and the fact she’s always tended to play characters you’re supposed to hate, I’ve always kind of liked Missy Perygrym. She was probably the most interesting of the ‘kids’ in Carlton Cuse’s old martial arts show Black Sash and she was plausibly interesting as the post-pilot love-interest on Reaper.

So I’m quite pleased to see she has her own show now. Okay, it’s a Canadian show getting simulcast on ABC in the US; it’s also an ensemble piece about rookie cops just starting out on the job; and most of the time, her character is a bit of an idiot.

But it’s actually quite enjoyable; really, she’s the star of the show; and despite the general backdrop of drug dealers and murders, it’s all Canadian and fluffy and nice. Here are some trailers, both a little spoiler-laden for the second episode and beyond – if you look hard, you’ll notice the second trailer carries the show’s original, very Canadian title, Copper:

Continue reading “Review: Rookie Blue 1×1”

Question of the week: what was your favourite Doctor Who story this series?

30 June 2010 Rob Buckley 20 Comments

So – except for viewers in the US who have their own programmes – series 5/season 31/series 1/there’s no such thing as seasons* of Doctor Who has just finished. Time for a very obvious question of the week:

What was your favourite episode this series and why?

You can also, if you wish, suggest your least favourite and you can even say what you thought of the show this series, how it compared to the previous series, what you thought of Amy, the Doctor, Karen Gillan, Matt Smith, that spud Rory, the new-look Silurians or anything else that grabs you. It’s a basic Who-ey free-for-all.

If you need to remind yourself of the episodes, what I said and even what you said, here are links to the reviews on the blog:

  1. The Eleventh Hour
  2. The Beast Below
  3. Victory of the Daleks
  4. The Time of Angels
  5. Flesh and Stone
  6. The Vampires of Venice
  7. Amy’s Choice
  8. The Hungry Earth
  9. Cold Blood
  10. Vincent and the Doctor
  11. The Lodger
  12. The Pandorica Opens
  13. The Big Bang

PS Rest assured, readers of the blog who don’t really give a monkey’s about Doctor Who, it’s all going to be a bit less Who-ey round here for a while.

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

* Delete according to your degree of mental illness

Wednesday’s “scripts better than plans” news

30 June 2010 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Doctor Who

  • Stevie Moffat’s plans for series 6 [minor spoilers]

Film

  • Jude Law, Ray Winstone and Christopher Lee among those joining Martin Scorsese’s Hugo Cabaret
  • Andy Serkis joins Rise of the Apes
  • Facebook app “Mafia Wars” to be turned into movie
  • Trailer for Paranormal Activity 2

Theatre

  • Peter Egan and Robert Daws to star in The Secret of Sherlock Holmes

British TV

US TV

US TV

Review: Fantastic TV – 50 Years of Cult Fantasy and Science Fiction

29 June 2010 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Fantastic TVAuthor: Steven Savile
Price: £14.99 (Amazon price: £8.54)
ISBN: 978-085965420-3
Pages: 272
Publisher: Plexus Publishing
Published: May 2010

What do you want from a non-fiction book about television, specifically science-fiction and fantasy TV? It’s a good question, since there are so many possible options.

Do you want a reference book like the Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction that’s exhaustive, gives a good description of each show and its themes, maybe an episode guide, and some production details?

No? How about a book like Doctor Who: The Unfolding Text that really goes to town on analysis, explaining the imagery, history, concepts, et al of a show so that you truly understand where it fits into modern culture and what it’s emblematic of?

No? How about a memoir like Paul Magrs’ The Diary of a “Dr Who” Addict, in which the author explains why a show holds personal appeal to them?

No? How about an ungainly, inaccurate mismatch of all three, where the author randomly cherry picks shows based purely on what interests him and that he either recalls quite well or has at best only a passing knowledge of; he then scribbles down a few ‘facts’ about the show, some of them wrong, together with descriptions that explain very little about the show to anyone who hasn’t seen it and misses out most of the characters and things that made them important; and then adds some meandering attempts to analyse the themes, importance to the genre and issues that would make a sixth-form media studies essay seem focused?

Yes? Then have I got the book for you: it’s called Fantastic TV and although it does have some things going for it, you do have to wonder not only why anyone would publish it, but whether it’s really an epic advert for the importance of book editors.

Continue reading “Review: Fantastic TV – 50 Years of Cult Fantasy and Science Fiction”

Sitting Tennant

Tuesday’s Sitting Tennant (week 26, 2010)

29 June 2010 Rob Buckley 7 Comments

dreamer-easy's Sitting Tennant

I hope you appreciate all the work I put into Sitting Tennant. I mean, it’s just so thoroughly sexist. Sure there are some gay guys out there who might like to see David Tennant sitting down from time to time, but really this is a girl-thing, isn’t it? There’s literally nothing in it for me.

I am a martyr. Y’all should be nice to me.

Except dreamer-easy. You’ve been nice already. We won’t talk about it, but you know what you did.

  1. Rullsenberg, Erin C: 165
  2. Sister Chastity: 145
  3. Toby: 120
  4. Rachel: 90
  5. Sabine: 65
  6. Karen: 35
  7. dreamer-easy: 25
  8. Dawn: 10
  9. kellyann06: 5

Over in caption land, it was a joint win by SK and Dani – congratulations to both of you and good luck to everyone else this week!

  1. Rullsenberg, Electric Dragon, Marie: 135
  2. Toby: 125
  3. Jane Henry: 55
  4. ecg: 50
  5. Rachel: 45
  6. SK: 40
  7. Sabine: 25
  8. Dani: 25
  9. kellyann06, Sister Chastity, Alex, whogal, Paul Ebbs: 10
  10. George, 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 Tuesday 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 Tuesday’s Sitting Tennant photo, the best caption getting 10 points, everyone who contributes getting five points.