As you may recall, I went on my pilgrimage to Miami last month. Silly, forgetful me has neglected to stick with tradition, however, and talk about the quality of BA’s in-flight entertainment – just so budding travellers know whether to pack their iPods, books, etc or to sit back and relax.
Articles by Rob Buckley
Wednesday’s kick-arse news
Doctor Who
Film
- Clips from the new Nancy Drew movie. Or maybe you preferred the Hardy boys?
- Samuel L Jackson plots The Long Kiss Goodnight 2
- The Big Chill‘s ready for a remake apparently
Media journalism
- Tony Blair slags off the media [free registration required]
British TV
- Katie off The Apprentice has been fired for real
- Gordon Ramsay crashes his car while herding buffalo for The F-Word
- Toyah Willcox and Cheri Lunghi join Pipes for Belle de Jour [free registration required]
- Steven Moffat is working on a new rom com for the Beeb
- SciFi acquires the new Flash Gordon series [free registration required]
US TV
- Stargate SG-1 may never end
- CSI exec mulls over hiring Two and a Half Men writers, plans a trip to San Francisco and thinks seriously about London
- The UK’s Ladette to Lady becomes Lady or a Tramp, with Donald Trump keeping a watchful eye on party girls. Hmm
- Spoilers for 24, Supernatural, and House in the Ausiello Report, as well as the not unexpected news that if Supergirl’s popular in Smallville, she’ll get her own show
Tuesday’s fandabbydozey news
Film
- Disneyland launches a Finding Nemo submarine ride
- Toy Story 3 might not be awful
Commercials
- Channel 4 tries to reinvigorate ads with more awards
- Bob Monkhouse is back in a cancer awareness ad
Radio/Books
- Gervais sidekick Karl Pilkington has a new book out in October
- BBC4’s doing a documentary series about the World Service
British TV
- Channel 4 and HBO get Our Friends in the North writer to create a Civil War drama
- Virgin to launch its own channel to rival Sky One
- ITV1 has ordered up a sitcom about estate agents
- Pirate Master gets rubbish ratings
US TV
- A few details about Stargate Universe
- Mirabilis Deus! Supergirl joins Smallville
- David Chase talks about the ending of The Sopranos
- Showtime reckons it can replace HBO, now The Sopranos has gone
- Providing The Unit with homes can be lucrative
Review: The Loop 2.1-2.2
In the US: Fox, but they’re burning it off at a rate of knots so practically all the time now
In the UK: On Trouble TV at some point
Characters re-cast: 0
Major characters gotten rid of: 2
Major new characters: 2
Format change percentage: 25%
Oh dear. I spy with my little eye, something beginning with “Network interference”. It’s no secret that Fox wasn’t happy with the ratings for the first season of The Loop. But à la Tru Calling, they forked out the cash for a second season all the same. Then cancelled it before it even aired. Now they’re burning off the episodes in their back catalogue as quickly as they can.
I can see why. They’ve been tinkering and messed it up.
Audio and radio play reviews
Review: Doctor Who – Urban Myths
In keeping with the new Big Finish policy of pairing up audio plays, Exotron comes with Urban Myths, an entertaining little piece of fluff of no real import. As the Big Finish site describes it, “In an expensive restaurant somewhere on Earth, three gourmets plan their evening. First item on the menu: the death of the Doctor.”
It’s really just an excuse for Peter Davison and Nicola Bryant to play different versions of their characters, as Rashomon-style, the assembled Time Lord assassins recall with less than perfect memories the events that caused them to believe that the Doctor needs to be killed.
As time moves on, events become clearer. It’s evident from the outset more or less what’s happening, so there aren’t any huge surprises. All the same, it’s entertaining and good for a laugh, particularly when Nicola Bryant’s doing a deep-voiced, evil Peri. A nice accompaniment to Exotron, but not worth buying the CD set for if you weren’t sold on the idea of Exotron.