Year: 2011

Happy sixth birthday to The Medium Is Not Enough

21 June 2011 Rob Buckley 17 Comments

A birthday cakeHappy Birthday, The Medium is Not Enough. Yes, six years ago (amazing, huh?), this blog emerged into the light of the Internet with its first two posts: previews of Prison Break, the not-unpopular Supernatural and the still-unseen Global Frequency; and tedious cruft about The Omega Factor (which I ended up writing a review of after all when I got stuck for a Lost Gem).

Haven’t we come a long way since then, as we’ve branched out into picture caption competitions, borderline stalking, nostalgia for old kids’ shows and The Guardian‘s favourite feature, a look at old Big Train sketches. Which I don’t do any more.

The thank you list to all the commenters has now grown so long it’s actually impossible for me to thank you all individually, but an especially big thank you to the regulars Toby, Marie, Jane, Rullsenberg, SK, Bob the Skutter, Stu_n, Aaron, Hannibal, Electric Dragon, Mark Carroll and the other David, without whom I’d be as mad as that bloke on Oxford Street with the megaphone who just shouts at people, as well as a big “Welcome aboard” to all the new commenters who joined in this year.

As always, if you have any suggestions for what else you might like to see on the blog, please let me know below. If you don’t, I’ll just have to dream up something insanely stupid like Dick Heads* again.

Have a nice week (and, indeed, year),

MediumRob

* Actually, now I think about it, that was one of yours, wasn’t it? Might be a dual edged sword this asking for readers’ ideas thing.

Review: Falling Skies 1×1-1×2

21 June 2011 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

falling skies, steven spielberg, tnt, noah wyle, tnt, skitters, moon bloodgood, scifi shows, sci-fi shows, sci fi shows, aliens

In the US: Sundays, 10/9c, TNT
In Canada: Wednesdays, 10pm, Superchannel. Starts July 6
In the UK: Tuesdays, 9pm, FX. Starts July 5

There’s something about knowing that Steven Spielberg is the exec producer of a TV show that means you know pretty much exactly what you’re going to get. It started with Earth 2, in which a lot of very dull people, all by themselves, have to survive against the odds and face slightly scary aliens while looking after their wee little moppets, who are just ever so endearing. That was pretty much the template.

Now we have Falling Skies, in which 90% of the world’s population is killed by aliens, leaving a group of very dull people, including Noah Wylie in The Librarian mode, stuck in Boston, having to survive against the odds and face slightly scary aliens while looking after their wee little moppets, who are just so endearing.

Are there any differences, you might ask? Well, with the likes of Greg Beeman and Mark Verheiden on board, you’d suspect a hint of Heroes to the whole thing and you’d be right – out of a cast of about one hundred men, there are roughly three women, two of them blonde.

Here’s a trailer for Falling Skies, aka War of the Worlds meets Earth 2.

Continue reading “Review: Falling Skies 1×1-1×2”

Random Acts

Random Acts: Audrey Fleurot scares Woody Allen

21 June 2011 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Karlsson in Engrenages

It’s the turn of Audrey Fleurot to be a bit random this week by scaring Woody Allen so much he edited her out of his latest film, Midnight in Paris.  

“Tous mes potes pensent que je suis mythomane”, explique-t-elle à Télérama. “Sur le plateau, c’était étrange. Je suis allée dire bonjour à Woody Allen, il a fait un bond de deux mètres en arrière comme si je l’avais violé.”

“All my friends think I’m a pathological liar. On set, it was strange. I went to say hello to Woody Allen and he jumped back two metres as though I’d violated him.”

Sitting Tennant

Tuesday’s Sitting Tennant (week 23, 2011)

21 June 2011 Rob Buckley 9 Comments

Sister Chastity's Sitting Tennant

Apologies for the lack of Tennant Friday (not that anyone complained), but work caught up with me. Rest assured there’ll be a Friday dose this week (subject to unforeseen emergencies). This week’s Tuesday Tennant is provided care of Sister Chastity, who gets 10 juicy points. Keep sending these beauties in, everyone.

  1. Hebbie: 145
  2. Sister Chastity: 130
  3. Erin C: 70
  4. Rullsenberg: 55
  5. Janice: 20
  6. esgaril: 10
  7. theriverlady, Toby: 5

Unsurprisingly, given that she was the only entrant (although that’s probably because everyone else was laughing too hard), it’s Marie who gets last week’s top caption place at the full 10 points. Good luck with this week’s captioning, everyone.

  1. Marie: 140
  2. Rullsenberg: 110
  3. Electric Dragon, Toby: 85
  4. SK: 65
  5. Lisa G: 45
  6. Jane Henry: 45
  7. theriverlady: 35
  8. Hebbie, Virpi: 20
  9. Joe B: 15
  10. whoficwriter: 10
  11. kallan, Jeri: 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 and doesn’t obviously infringe copyright, 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.