Audio and radio play reviews

Review: Doctor Who – Blood of the Daleks (part one)

Blood of the DaleksBastard was up to his little tricks again at the weekend. I asked him very nicely to record Blood of the Daleks on BBC7 on Sunday night, since I had better things to do like… oh, I don’t know, celebrate the New Year. But after first attempting not to record it at all, the cunning little thing then decided to cut the first episode off after half an hour. Git. Fortunately, I’m made of sterner stuff and went to the BBC7 Listen Again site to listen to it over the web.

Blood of the Daleks is the first in a series of Doctor Who audio plays starring Paul McGann. They’re designed, if certain parties are to be believed, to show how Paul McGann’s Doctor (number eight) ended up turning into Christopher Eccleston’s some time before, during or after the great big Time War with the Daleks. Since it’s BBC7 doing the commissioning, the budget’s a bit higher so we have a new companion for the eighth Doctor, an all-star cast and some decent music.

And judging by the first episode, it’s all going to be pretty good.

Continue reading “Review: Doctor Who – Blood of the Daleks (part one)”

TMINE

Schedule for the week

John BarrowmanHappy New Year everyone. Did you all have nice holidays? Feeling rested and geared up for another 365 days? Thought so.

Christmas is a funny time. It’s a time for eating and watching loads of television, apparently. I know this because Radio 1 told me so – while simultaneously berating the quality of Christmas TV – as I was driving over the Severn bridge. The funny thing is, despite being MediumRob, I hardly watched any tele.

In part, that’s because of Bastard. ‘Bastard’ is the new name for my PVR. Why am I anthropomorphising my PVR? Because just like the rest of us, it took a break for Christmas. Everything fine until December 23rd but then it took a little rest until I got back on the 28th. Ah diddums.

I managed to catch up a bit thanks to the beauties of digital TV and its constant repeats, but I still have a bit of a backlog of viewing because of my Christmas presents. As a little glimpse into my life (and what people think I’d like for Christmas), here’s a list of all the presents I got that didn’t include ‘voucher’ or ‘chocolate’ in their name.

Not quite as much sci-fi as you might have suspected, huh? I do in fact have more than one layer. Two maybe. I wouldn’t say more than three, though. Anyway, given a choice between watching Stanley Tucci and Daniel Benzali at the height of their acting powers or watching insipid Christmas TV, I plumped for Murder One. And everyone assembled agreed it was the right choice and could they have copies, too? (I said no, because that would be completely illegal).

So I’ve still to make my way through a few shows, and will be bunging up reviews later in the week than might have been expected. It’ll give you all some time to settle in. After the jump are some blipvert-style reviews of a few of the shows I’ve already managed to watch, since they probably don’t merit their own entries.

There was one extra present, though: Doctor Who Top Trumps (“Doctor Who Top Trumps…?!” “Oh you love it really.” Sigh). Anyway, there I was, Christmas Day, playing Doctor Who Top Trumps in the Celtic Manor. I mention this not to show off, but because at roughly the same time, John Barrowman and his family were in Wales’ other five-star hotel. I’m hoping that through some form of symmetry, they were playing “Snooty TV Reviewers Top Trumps”:

John: Rob Buckley? Never heard of him. Oh well, cheap sarcasm – nine.

John’s Dad: Damn. There you go.

John: Next card… Worth to society – one.

John’s Dad: You got the Clive James high card?!

Wouldn’t that have been fun?

TTFN

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UK TV

Review: I, Davros – Guilt

I, Davros - GuiltThere’s a certain expectation with prequels. At the end of them, you’re supposed to go, “Oh, that‘s why he/she/it did that.” Everything’s supposed to line up with the subsequent stories. It worked with Batman Begins; it sort of worked with Enterprise; even Foundation and Earth and House Atreides et al filled everything in and left you thinking you understood everything a little better. If I sat down and thought about it, I could probably come up with some non-SF prequels that did the same.

So why don’t I feel that way having sat through the whole of I, Davros? Actually, why do I feel ripped off by the whole mini-series?

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UK TV

Review: I, Davros – Corruption

I, Davros - CorruptionWe’re now up to part three of I, Davros, a potted biography of the inventor of the Daleks and the universe’s least politically correct villain. Cos, you know, those disableds are all evil cos they’re not like everyone else, you know, and they wish they were.

Not at all offensive, no.

Anyway, we’ve already had his slightly twisted childhood in Innocence, his slightly more rational 20s in Purity, and now, in Corruption, we’re up to his halcyon days, running the elite Kaled scientific corps.

Power’s going to his head though.

Continue reading “Review: I, Davros – Corruption”

UK TV

Review: I, Davros – Corruption

I, Davros - CorruptionWe’re now up to part three of I, Davros, a potted biography of the inventor of the Daleks and the universe’s least politically correct villain. Cos, you know, those disableds are all evil cos they’re not like everyone else, you know, and they wish they were.

Not at all offensive, no.

Anyway, we’ve already had his slightly twisted childhood in Innocence, his slightly more rational 20s in Purity, and now, in Corruption, we’re up to his halcyon days, running the elite Kaled scientific corps.

Power’s going to his head though.

Continue reading “Review: I, Davros – Corruption”