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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TV reviews

The US season finales are upon us: Smallville, Supernatural, Prison Break, The West Wing

17 May 2006 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

A good finale to a TV series can keep you watching even the biggest rubbish imaginable. They can be exciting, tense and a whole load of other things.

Stress, of course, is a major health hazard. Therefore, so that UK viewers can brace themselves to an appropriate degree, I’ll be giving near-spoiler free guides to just how tense and exciting each of the major US TV shows’ finales were, starting today. US TV shows don’t end all at once: they’re spread over a period of three weeks or so, so there’ll be another couple of updates to come after this over the next week or so.

Chlark

Smallville

Pretty tense, but not quite as tense as previous seasons’. Some good moments, some irritating moments and one excellent moment. Yes, Chloe and Clark finally get to smooch. Ha, Lana! I’m expecting a typical Smallville memory-wipe next season, though, so the tension will be only temporary at best.

Tension factor: 7/10

Supernatural

Supernatural

The finale was a couple of weeks ago and was actually quite good. Bleak, nasty and with almost no hope for the “sexy supernatural ghosthunters”. Since it’s part of an ongoing plot, I’ve no idea how quickly things will revert to X-Files “monster of the week” or whether there’ll be a format change coming with the move of the show to The CW.

Tension factor: 8/10

They made the break

Prison Break

It’ll be no surprise for anyone to hear that the motley band of inmates manages to escape in the last episode. Or that it all goes a bit pear-shaped. But there are a good collection of other surprises and the ending is actually my one solitary recurring nightmare. Obviously, with them out of prison, there’s going to be a complete change of format in season two, so it’ll be worth tuning in to see what season two will be like “After the Prison Break”.

Tension factor: 9/10

The West Wing's finale

The West Wing

Since the show’s been cancelled, no tension at all here. The finale was written by John Wells, who’s been responsible for most of the worst episodes of the show of late. It had a couple of okay moments and a few resolutions of ongoing plot lines, but not many. A flat ending to a former favourite.

Disappointment factor: 8/10

In the coming guides: CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, House, Numb3rs, 24, Scrubs, Lost, The Unit (assuming it has a finale soon – they’re showing two episodes every Tuesday now)

Incidentally, in compiling this guide, I watched CSI: New York for the first time in ages because the episode on last week looked like it should have been the finale. But it wasn’t. Anyway, the show’s still dull, it turns out, but I’ll bite the bullet, take one for the team, and watch this week’s episode, too.

Audio and radio play reviews

Review: Doctor Who – The Kingmaker

16 May 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Big Finish's The KingmakerI know I said I wasn’t going to mention those Big Finish audios again, but this tickled me. As you may know, the Big Finish Doctor Who audio plays have various past Doctors appearing in new stories. Apart from Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor, for whom they don’t have the rights, the most notable absence in their line-up is Tom Baker. They asked him if he’d like to do any, but there are ‘creative differences’ in how they’d like to feature the fourth Doctor and how Tombo wants to play him.

So, stuck with this thorny problem, the Big Finish have come up with a clever way round the issue in their latest play, The Kingmaker.

Q: What do you do if you want Tom Baker but he’s a fruit-bat who wants a talking cabbage for a companion?

A: You hire Jon Culshaw from Dead Ringers instead!

He’s only in a little bit, but it’s still a funny turn in a funny play, so catch it if you can. You’ll never guess who the villain is…

UK TV

Review: Doctor Who – 2×5 – Rise of the Cybermen

15 May 2006 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

The Cybermen are back! The Cybermen are back! Yeah. Whoop-dy do.

I was kind of looking forward to last Saturday’s episode of Doctor Who. But not much. Those publicity shots of everyone’s favourite cyborg who isn’t called Jamie, Steve or Murphy took away my enthusiasm. Star Trek had had the Borg, but these new Cybermen looked almost cuddly in comparison, even 15 years on. Nice one Beeb. The Cybermen could have been the stuff of nightmares. Instead, they’re ‘The Cybies’ in metal moon boots.

So I went into it with low expectations for the Cybermen. Instead, I was keeping my eye on the direction: Graeme Harper, famed and hallowed among classic Who directors, was telling the Cybermen what to do.

All things being equal, though, I wasn’t wholly impressed by Graeme’s first New Who, but then I don’t think he had much to work with. It was an interesting story that I suspect has just enough plot for one and a half episodes. Since they’re spreading the story over two episodes, rather than compressing it down to one, that left the first part distinctly flat and mostly set-up. Part two, however, is going to be worth waiting for since it’s going to be non-stop action.

So what was good?

  • Mickey and Ricky (will one become a Cyberman? Text “Spod” to 80110 for Mickey to get turned into a brain in a tank…);
  • Mickey finally being given a backstory
  • The new concept of the cybermen (brain in a tank)
  • TARDIS in distress and Doctor’s solution
  • Some of those Cyber-isation scenes which are guaranteed to scare the crap out of some of the kids
  • Not feeling like the entire episode was rushed

What was bad?

  • Billie Piper failing to give 110%. She’s starting to seem a bit “flaccid” next to Tennant
  • Don Warrington being given the boot after five lines
  • Another over the top villain in a wheelchair creating a race of monsters (we’ve got Davros for that)
  • Cybermen only being in it for five minutes
  • The new cyber catchphrase. I can’t even remember what it is, it was so catchy.

So not bad. Not brilliant either. I suspect part two is going to be outstanding though.

Incidentally, I know they have some strange music choices in Doctor Who Confidential, but the opening track from Clockwork Orange?

Since this is the second Who posting of the day, I’ve saved up the two Tennant images quota to give you one movie of his being interviewed by John Barrowman. Am I kind or what?