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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A Who event up North

30 June 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Most of my Who event news is London-oriented. I’m a Londoner. It’s the only important place in the world (except Wales, of course). But as a concession, here’s a piece of news for Northern Who fans.

This is Lancashire reports that Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), Eugene Washington (from School Reunion), K9 and writer Bob Baker will be at Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s Paradise Rooms on Saturday, July 8. Visitors will also be able to see the final episode of the current series, Doomsday, on a big screen. As if that weren’t exciting enough…:

Organisers The Who Shop, a London-based retailer of Doctor Who memorabilia, promise mystery guests, exclusive merchandise stalls, interviews and, most intriguingly of all, a world exclusive announcement.

Tickets, including a sit-down buffet meal, are priced at £25 and the event begins at 5pm. Contact The Who Shop on 020 8471 2356 or visit www.thewhoshop.com for more details.

No DT, I’m afraid, but at least you’ll have something Who-y to do now.

US TV

Review: Blade 1×1 (US: Spike TV; UK: Bravo)

30 June 2006 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

As you all know from yesterday’s blog, Bravo has bought the rights to air Blade: The Series in the UK. The first episode aired on Wednesday on Spike TV in the US. I’ve watched it and can now reliably inform you that it isn’t that good. Did you see that one coming?

Starring Kirk ‘Sticky’ Jones (aka Sticky Fingaz), presumably because he knows a little kickboxing and looks a bit like Wesley Snipes, Blade is a continuation of the movies. I would elaborate about the pilot’s plot but it adds nothing that you haven’t seen in the Blade movies already, bar the introduction of the series’ new characters: an Asian guy to help Blade; the big bad English vampire villain (Neil Jackson, last spotted in Sugar Rush); and a woman (Jill Wagner, a commercials model in her first acting role) who’s looking for the people who killed her brother. Naturally, those people turn out to be the vampires. Then – shock, horror – she gets turned into a vampire. Oh what will Blade do? What a dilemma!

But no one will actually be watching Blade for anything other fights and potential girl-on-girl lesbian vampire action so why waste time on plot description? Let’s get down to the ‘important’ stuff.

  • Martial arts: pretty average; some very obvious wire work; mostly kickboxing with a couple of locks added for good measure. Where’s Wesley with his capoeira when you need him?
  • Girl-on-girl action: not much at all – just a vaguely implied desire to kiss at one point. Sorry guys. Jill Wagner’s quite good looking though if that’s any consolation.

So basically, 90 minutes of wasted time. Naturally, though, the pilot got the highest ever ratings for Spike TV for an original series premiere, with 2.5 million tuning in. Tune in next week for more of the same.

Third-episode verdict: Saved and Windfall

29 June 2006 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

I’ve reviewed the first episodes of Saved and Windfall already. They’ve now passed the third episode stage so as is tradition round here, I’ll give you my (brief) verdicts on whether you should stick with them:

Saved: Less dark now, still not much fun, less interesting than it was. Probably not worth soldiering on with if you have any doubts.

Windfall: Has now succumbed to every cliché and obvious plot development possible. Save yourself: don’t watch it!

Oh well. I’m just going to have to start looking for the next great US TV show again, now. Sigh.