Review: Doctor Who – Immortal Beloved

22 January 2007 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

Immortal BelovedIf you’ve been a Doctor Who fan for long enough, you’re probably a bit of a Nigella by now. Take any new Doctor Who story and in an instant you can come up with the recipe used to make it.

Immortal Beloved‘s quite an easy one:

  • 25% Mawdryn Undead
  • 25% State of Decay
  • 50% The Romans.

Ta da!

Are you impressed? Thought not.

Anyway, despite being relatively easy to pin down, Immortal Beloved‘s a reasonable addition to the new BBC7 range of eighth Doctor stories. Better than Horror of Glam Rock, not as good as Blood of the Daleks, it still has some interesting, slightly sicko ideas and some good performances. Apart from son of Who’s, that is, but we’ll get onto that later.

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The weekend’s news

22 January 2007 Rob Buckley 8 Comments

Honey to the Bee

Doctor Who

Film

  • The Mummy 3 is coming packed with spoilers.

British TV

US TV

Third-episode verdict: The Knights of Prosperity

19 January 2007 Rob Buckley Post a comment

The Knights of Prosperity

I previewed this ages ago, back last summer when it was going to be a Fall premiere. Unlike certain pilots, though, this remained identical throughout – just as soon as they’d decided on what to call it. We’re now up to episode three and it’s ready for a third-episode verdict. We’re not quite ready for The Carusometer though.

Why? Well, it’s amiable enough and a bit rubbish, but it doesn’t cause my heart to sink whenever the prospect of watching another episode hits me, unlike In Case of Emergency. Being a serial comedy, it’s also started to hook me slightly. I want to see where they’re going with it. Will they actually rob Mick Jagger, or will they pull away at the last moment?

Its episodes so far have, unfortunately, been Mick Jagger-free (thanks to the network really annoying him by using him on all the promo posters, despite his specific request that they don’t), and since he’s the best thing about it, it’s not that great right now. I’m hoping for something a bit unconventional.

The cast are fine, the plots a bit ropey and the dialogue not really funny. It’s more of a cringe-comedy – there’s a lot of them about – but not quite as sadistic as some I could mention. You’ve really got to like physical comedy and the comedy of the stupid to love it.

But I’ll hold out to episode five, just to see if Mick turns up.

That’s Keppler

19 January 2007 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Keppler

Just a brief change from normal policy to discuss a CSI episode that’s only just aired in the US. Now, a whole load of UK fans have got to be worried about William Petersen’s taking a sabbatical. Who knows if he’ll want to be back next year, for example? Is his short-term replacement good enough to carry the show?

It’s Liev Schreiber. Hell yes.

But does his particular style of acting change the show?

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