Now this is full-blown mentalism: a Doctor Who Wii game, with sonic screwdriver remotes:
DOCTOR WHO VIDEO GAME ACCESSORIES TO HIT RETAIL THIS AUTUMN
BLUE OCEAN ACCESSORIES TO LAUNCH OFFICIAL DOCTOR WHO Wii AND DS PERIPHERALS IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS
LONDON, 6th September 2010: Blue Ocean Accessories today confirm that they are collaborating with BBC Worldwide to produce a range of branded video game accessories for the Nintendo DS and Wii based on the hit TV franchise Doctor Who. These will hit retail in October 2010.
Blue Ocean is the accessories division of Koch Media Ltd which is distributing the Doctor Who video games. The firm will debut six Doctor Who accessory packs featuring official artwork of Matt Smith as the Doctor and Karen Gillan as Amy Pond. Fans of the franchise will be delighted to hear that they will also be creating sonic screwdriver stylus controllers inspired by the show. A further three accessory packs will be produced as retail exclusives.
Commenting ahead of the launch of the innovative new products, Ben Jones, New Media Manager at Blue Ocean Accessories says, “We’re excited to be partnering with the BBC Worldwide on what we believe will be a great seller this Christmas and an excellent addition to our portfolio of licensed video game accessories. We are confident that these products will appeal to both casual gamers and the huge fan base of loyal Doctor Who followers.”
It’s Monday, so it’s time for the Big Train sketch of the week.
It was only a matter of time, but here it is, one of the most iconic Big Train sketches of all: the 43rd world stare-out finals. Some serious fights here. Nice commentary, too. This is pretty much what watching football and tennis feels like to me, BTW.
You can, incidentally, get the whole of Big Train on DVD.
Number 6: Where am I?
Number 2: In the Village.
Number 6: What do you want?
Number 2: Information.
Number 6: Whose side are you on?
Number 2: That would be telling. We want information… information… information
Number 6 : You won’t get it!
Number 2: By hook or by crook we will.
Number 6: Who are you?
Number 2: The new Number 2.
Number 6: Who is Number 1?
Number 2: You are Number 6.
Number 6: I AM NOT A NUMBER, I AM A FREE MAN!
Number 2: (LAUGHS)
A title sequence can serve many functions. Generally, it’s there to give the viewer a flavour of the show: is it action-packed, a comedy, a romance, a drama? It might also be there to introduce the cast.
In olden days – far less than nowadays – it also used tell the story of the show so that viewers could know the format of the show and the backstory, so they could drop in at any point, even if they had missed the first episode.
The Prisoner, one of the most famous and influential TV shows of the 60s and possibly ever, actually used its equally iconic title sequence in place of a first episode. Which you have to admit is weird.
In The Prisoner, a secret agent with no name but who looks and acts suspiciously like John Drake of the earlier international blockbuster TV show Danger Man (Secret Agent in the US) resigns his job. We don’t know why – although we do see him do it in the title sequence – and he heads off home. While he’s packing his bag for what looks like a holiday, he’s gassed through his front door’s keyhole by a mysterious man in a hearse.
He falls unconscious and when he wakes up, he’s in The Village, an Italianate paradise filled with people who only have numbers. They’re all spies and government employees who quit their jobs but whose knowledge was too important to have running around free on the outside, so were brought to The Village to keep their secrets secret.
Number 6 – as our hero is called in The Village – wants to escape. The people who run The Village – presumably Number 1 but also his deputy, Number 2, who’s played each episode by a different, usually very awesome actor such as Peter Wyngarde, Mary Morris or Leo McKern – want to know why Number 6 resigned and they’re going to stop him leaving, sometimes using a giant white ball called Rover that emerges from the sea, until he tells them.
For 17 episodes it’s a never-ending chess match between the two sides, with 6 using his brains and brawn to fight for his freedom, while the state tries to stop him.
See what happened there? I made the sub-text text. The Prisoner, you see, as well as being marvellous entertainment, is one of the most profound looks at the relationship between the individual and society that British TV has ever produced. Should we be happy to be just numbers and subvert our individuality for the common good, or should the state allow the individual to do as he or she wishes – even if it’s to the detriment of others?
It’s all good, but The Prisoner has many standout episodes:
Free For All: in which Number 6 decides to stand for election as Number 2 and is subverted by the process in a metaphor for politics and the media
Schizoid Man: in which a double of Number 6 turns up, claiming to be the real thing. Trouble is everyone thinks the real Number 6 is Number 12 and that he’s been hired to make Number 6 doubt himself – which since “Number 6” is a better version of himself than he is, gives 6 a few identity problems of his own
The General: a new technology is invented that can imprint knowledge into people’s minds through television – a whole degree in just a few minutes. But does it turn out educated people or just drones who can regurgitate facts?
Checkmate: Number 6 concocts his most impressive escape plan yet, using the natural arrogance of the guards against them. But an ironic twist spoils everything.
Hammer Into Anvil: When another prisoner kills herself thanks to the cruelty of Number 2, Number 6 organises a campaign to make him think he’s being undermined by his own staff
A Change of Mind: Number 6 is ostracised by the Village
The Girl Who Was Death: A left over Danger Man script
Fall Out: Number 6 escapes, but finds that society is the real prison, and the Village is everywhere.
That final episode proved to be so complex – and mental – that writer/producer/director/star Patrick McGoohan actually faced death threats and had to leave the country (beat that Lost). But the show has remained engrained on the collective TV mind ever since, with remakes threatened every five minutes (AMC and ITV made one last year and it was pants) and homages in everything from The Simpsons to The Tube. It’s certainly left a legacy of catchphrases, some of them oppressive in their Orwellian simplicity:
“Be seeing you”
“Beautiful day”
“Questions are a burden for others, answers are a prisoner for oneself”
“Unmutual!”
“A still tongue makes for a happy life”
“I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own.”
And, of course: “I am not a number. I am a free man” – which was always greeted with laughter and only ever appeared in that weird old title sequence:
After the jump, a couple of clips from the remastered Blu-Ray version of the series, including a great scene from my favourite episode, the metaphor-rich, extremely clever, Checkmate. But they all look gorgeous, I have to say.
Well, it’s been a month so you’d have thought I’d have caught up with everything. And I did catch up a bit. But two weeks away means that there’s a whole slew of things I’m still working my way through: I’ve got a load of episodes of The Gates, Mad Men, Scoundrels and Persons Unknown to get through for starters. Wonder Woman season 1 is turning out to be better, more subversive, more feminist – and weirder – than I remember though: Steve Trevor’s still a complete dick, mind.
But I have managed to see the following:
Burn Notice: Notably picking up in the final few episodes, but still hampered by that formula. And who could have seen that ending coming? Oh yes – everyone.
Dark Blue: Which should now more properly be called ‘Light Blue’, since the addition of Tricia Helfer to the mix has really messed the show up (although it’s not her fault). There were two things that made the show dark – it was about undercover cops doing things that might seem a little questionable and not especially enjoying it; and it was all shot in the dark. But now we have Helfer, suddenly it’s going all jokey and flirting with comedy. Fluffy haired Dermot M is off gardening and has a girlfriend, secondary characters that complicated storylines emotionally have been removed, Dermot no longer is his own boss so what they’re doing isn’t as dark any more. It’s all just a little bit less interesting now. There have been some good moments though and the secondary stars are all quite interesting in their own way. It’s just too far from reality to really make it a decent show any more. I wonder if that’s why TNT haven’t exactly been pushing themselves to promote it?
Covert Affairs: Has continued to be decent but not outstanding. Piper Perabo is great, but all attempts to make ‘Auggie’ interesting have been flawed. Sendhil Ramamurthy is getting more to do though which is good. I’m also liking the fact that while Annie can kick arse, she’s not as kick arse as most of the people she’s up against. Arrival of (spoiler) old boyfriend was anti-climactic though and Anne Dudek is largely being wasted. But it’s remaining an okay stab at action-spy realism.
Persons Unknown: Very much a chore, this has gone from excellent to awful. I’m hoping it picks up in the final three eps, when all will be revealed, but I don’t hold out too much hope.
Royal Pains: So a disappointing season overall, mainly because the first season was so good, rather than because this one was bad. It wasn’t bad, in fact, merely lacking in the edge the first season had. It was all a little too easygoing, too routine. The Jill/Hank relationship was sorely missing and much as I love Anastasia Griffith, her character wasn’t much of a replacement. I’m not that interested in Divya, and making her a mini-Hank didn’t make me love her more. Evan was at least less irritating this season, but the lack of Boris has been a problem, too. What the show really needed was the depth the first season had – the questions about Hank’s business, whether he would stay in the Hamptons, whether Jill was a holiday fling or not, Boris’s scarier qualities and so on. Fingers crossed for next season (or half-season) since there were hints in the final episode that it was all coming back.
Sherlock: So after an impressive first episode, written by Steven Moffat, we get a truly dreadful episode written by someone no one had heard of (he writes for the theatre, apparently). Should we be surprised that something written by someone other than Steven Moffat isn’t as good as something that is written by Steven Moffat? No, of course not. But this was bland and barely Sherlock Holmes at all. Then we get the third episode, this time by Mark Gattiss. Now this did at least recapture some of the fun qualities of the first ep – it does make me wonder about SM as a showrunner though. For Sherlock did he really only bother talking to Mark Gattiss and forget to talk to second guy at all, beyond “it’s Sherlock Holmes. You work it out,” or what? Because ep 2 just ignored all the series set-up that ep 1 incorporated (Watson’s blog-writing, his service revolver, etc) leaving almost all of it other than Moriarty for ep 3. Now ep 3 still wasn’t SM quality but it was pretty good. If you’re a Sherlock-lover, you’d have spotted the references to the five orange pips, the Bruce-Partington Plans, etc; the (spoiler)cliffhanger ending by the pool with Moriarty was of course an obvious reference to The Final Problem as well. Moriarty was a surprise and well handled, if a little OTT. But I do worry they’ve gone too far along the line of making Holmes almost sociopathic and uncaring. Watson’s lost his edge since the first ep too. But fingers crossed, with a second season, they’ll iron out the bugs.
But what have you been watching?
As always, no spoilers unless you’re going to use the <spoiler> </spoiler> tags, please. If you’ve reviewed something on your blog, you can put a link to it here rather than repeat yourself (although too many links and you might get killed by the spam filter).
