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Wednesday’s reaching news

20 February 2008 Rob Buckley 9 Comments

Rorschach versus the Swatteam

Doctor Who

  • Interviews with Peter Davison, Louise Jameson and Sophie Aldred
  • Paul O’Grady to cameo in fourth series
  • Martha to be more gutsy next series

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Father Ted festivals

19 February 2008 Rob Buckley Post a comment

I get some odd press releases sometimes.

AER ARANN SERVING CRAGGY ISLAND FROM LUTON, MANCHESTER, LEEDS, NEWCASTLE AND EDINBURGH

Book flights with Aer Arann, go on, go on, go on….

Followers of Father Ted will be making a pilgrimage to the hallowed Craggy Island later this month to pay homage to their hero at the official Ted Fest.

They will be winging their way with Aer Arann, one of Europe’s fastest growing regional airlines. Aer Arann is pleased to announce it is an official Ted Fest Travel Partner.

Colin Lewis, head of sales and marketing at Aer Arann confirms “The bishop doesn’t know yet, but we will be transporting priests, nuns and lovely girls to the Aran Islands”.

The festival takes place in two locations, inland Ireland at the town of Kilfenora (25-27 February), and on the Aran Island of Inis Mor (29 February – 2 March). Celebrations on Inis Mor will celebrate the island’s alias of ‘Craggy Island’, starting with a cabaret night, and leading onto ‘Sporting’ Saturday and ‘Spiritual’ Sunday.

There will be plenty of goings on (go on, go on, go on) including Dermot Morgan Memorial Priests and Nuns 5-a-side, the ‘Lovely Girls Competition’, and every punter’s favourite – ‘Dunk the Monk in the World’s Biggest Cup of Tea’

Aer Arann is proud to sponsor this particular occasion – “it has been ten years since Father Ted had its last hurrah with the filming of the final episode, we are glad to be blessed with the prestige of being an official carrier a decade later” adds Colin Lewis.

Tuesday’s news of regrets

19 February 2008 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Doctor Who

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  • Beeb to offer shows via iTunes

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Review: Knight Rider

18 February 2008 Rob Buckley 8 Comments

In the US: Sunday 17th February, 9/8c, NBC
In the UK: Not yet acquired

The road of TV show revivals is littered with failures. The Invaders crashed and burned; Mission: Impossible found it impossible to get the ratings; Captain Scarlet wasn’t indestructible after all.

They’re tricky things to pull off for one thing. How do you create a new show that embodies the spirit of the original, without being so utterly derivative that there’s nothing new or interesting yet without changing so much of the show’s concept that it p*sses off all the fans of the original?

If you want proof of the problem, look at Knight Rider. Numerous people have tried to remake it, even though it only lasted four seasons in the first place. There was Knight Rider 2000 (okay), Knight Rider 2010 (abysmal, despite Hudson Leick being in it), and Team Knight Rider (sub-abysmal). David Hasselhoff has been trying to get a movie made of it. And now we have a back-door pilot for a new series called simply Knight Rider.

So what ingredients do we have this time from the original? Cheesiness? Check. A talking smart-arse indestructible black car? Check. A pretty ex-soap opera actor with minimal talent pretending to be an ex special forces soldier? Check. 

And what’s new? A Ford Mustang, Transformers, Val Kilmer, Baywatch tributes, lesbians, and a budget. Oh yes, and a Ford Mustang. Did I mention there’s a Ford Mustang? Apparently, there’s a Ford Mustang.

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Review: Big Finish downloads service

18 February 2008 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Fingers crossed, I’ll be giving both Bride of Peladon and Catalyst a listen this week, which might mean I review them as soon as… next week.

However, I thought I’d draw your attention to a couple of things first. Number one is that Big Finish now has a podcast. It’s a little bit cringeworthy, but it’s worth listening to since you do get advance information and behind-the-scenes explanation. Most notable in that is the first podcast, in which Nick Briggs explains the rationale behind the pricing structure of the downloads service. Did you realise, for example, that the US pricing of downloads is about $7.99? If you can follow Nick’s reasoning for that in comparison to the £12.99 charge for the UK (which appears to amount to “they’ve been paying over the odds for ages now, so now it’s the UK’s turn”), you’re a smarter person than I.

It’s also got a blog (of sorts. Guys, have you heard of comments? Permalinks?) which occasionally turfs up a bit of news, too.

I’m also producing the next run of Doctor Who Companion Chronicles, which has been a fantastic experience. I’ve chosen the companions and the writers and come up with eight (yes eight – you heard it here first) stories that I hope will please others as much as they please me. Oooh, I wish I could reveal more. I wish I could tell you who is flying into the country in May to return as a character that was such a pivotal part of my childhood but, sadly, for now you have to guess. Likewise I can’t reveal which one star from the last series is coming back this year.

Let the guessing on that one begin.

Over the weekend, I decided to give the downloads service a try, just to let you all know what it’s like. Here were my experiences…

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