Articles by Rob Buckley

About Rob Buckley
I’m Rob Buckley, a journalist who writes for UK media magazines that most people have never heard of although you might have heard me on the podcast Lockdown Land or Radio 5 Live’s Saturday Edition or Afternoon Edition. I’ve edited Dreamwatch, Sprocket and Cambridge Film Festival Daily; been technical editor for TV producers magazine Televisual; reviewed films for the short-lived newspaper Cambridge Insider; written features for the even shorter-lived newspaper Soho Independent; and was regularly sarcastic about television on the blink-and-you-missed-it “web site for urban hedonists” The Tribe. Since going freelance, I've contributed to the likes of Broadcast, Total Content + Media, Action TV, Off The Telly, Action Network, TV Scoop and The Custard TV.
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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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Thursday’s “Gladiators, ready!” news

31 January 2008 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Doctor Who

Film

  • Paramount planning a Cloverfield sequel
  • Paul Haggis’ new production company strikes a deal with the WGA
  • Snoop Dogg, Dennis Hopper, Angelica Huston and Rob Lowe to appear in the next batch of Orange cinema ads

British TV

US TV

Five movie martial artists that lost a deathmatch to dignity

30 January 2008 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Funny article over on Cracked about five movie martial artists who have gone downhill a bit of late:

  1. Steven Segal
  2. David Carradine (not strictly a martial artist but okay)
  3. Jean Claude van Damme
  4. Michael Dudikoff and
  5. surely not, Chuck Norris

I guess they’re just being honest, Chuck.

The best bits are the genuine Steven Segal facts (he’s a recognised Tulku – a Buddhist holy man who reincarnates; he’s a deputy sheriff in his hometown of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana and trains their SWAT Team; he adopts homeless animals, including two dogs called Chaos and Fist). The worst bit is one of his music videos – have mercy, Steven:

US TV

Review: In Treatment

30 January 2008 Rob Buckley 15 Comments

In Treatment

In the US: Mondays to Fridays, HBO, 9.30pm

In the UK: Not yet acquired

There are certain things actors like doing. They like good dialogue. They like building up a character. They like to display nuances. And they like showing off.

As a showcase for actors’ tendencies, it would be hard to beat In Treatment. Based on an Israeli TV show, Be ‘Tipul, In Treatment is innovative stuff. It’s centred on a therapist played by Gabriel Byrne. Each night of the week, we see a session between Byrne and one of his patients, who include the likes of Blair Underwood and Melissa George. Then at the end of the week, we see Byrne visit his own therapist (Dianne Wiest) to discuss the patients he’s been treating and his feelings about them, before we start again the following week with the next sessions in his patients’ schedules.

In effect, we’re getting five weekly pieces of two-handed theatre, all bundled in one series. You like Blair Underwood’s story best? Just tune in to Tuesdays’ sessions then.

Of course, how well such a concentrated environment is going to work – very little incidental music, no incidental characters, no explosions, just two people talking – is going to be down to the strength of the acting and the writing. And they’re all great.

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UK TV

Review: Horizon – What On Earth is Wrong with Gravity?

30 January 2008 Rob Buckley 9 Comments

Dr Brian Cox

In the UK: Tuesday 29th January 2008, 9pm, BBC2
In the US: Erm…

Every year, the GCSE and A-level results come out in Britain; every year, people question whether standards are slipping. the exams are getting easier and if today’s children are actually learning anything worthwhile in school.

The same sort of thing happens among the science geek population every time a new series of Horizon comes out. Is it dumbing down? Is it avoiding proper science in favour of whizzy things that look good on television?

Back in the glorious 80s when most grumbling science geeks were growing up, Horizon was a veritable powerhouse. There was the justly famous documentary about Richard Feynman, The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, which was more or less a straight-to-camera piece without the benefit of an interviewer that looked at one of the most interesting and famous physicists of all time.

There was the Horizon ‘special’, Lifestory, starring Jeff Goldblum, Tim Pigott-Smith and Juliet Stephenson as Jim Watson, Francis Crick and Rosalind Franklin, which still rates as one of my all-time favourite pieces of television ever (can anyone send me a copy that doesn’t cost $150?). I learnt more about DNA from that than I ever learnt at school (A-T, G-C; base pairs in keto form rather than enol; sugar chains running in opposite directions. Marvellous!)

Nowadays? Danny Wallace learning about chimpanzee communication. Maybe standards are dropping… (caveat: I haven’t seen it, so that one might have been good)

Last night’s What On Earth is Wrong With Gravity?, presented by Dr Brian Cox (no, not the Hannibal Lecktor actor – the particle physicist, Guardian science podcast guest star and former D:REAM keyboard player), tried to re-capture some of the glory days. While it was good in its own right, it still failed to demonstrate any of the strengths of the Horizon of old.

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