You can easily see why it needed to be so long, what with all those endings...
The Daleks want to wipe out the entire universe... why again? What's the point? Seriously? (And did no-one hear The Apocalypse Element?) If they succeeded, yes they will be the only lifeforms in the universe, but, more importantly,... they will be the universe!! I don't know why they bothered with ships, because there would be nowhere to go. In fact, entropy would degrade their systems, and there would be no other material around to repair them, so they would just be hastening their own destruction. There's Pyrrhic victory, but that's going a bit far... (And why did we need Davros in particular? Except for being an easier mouthpiece, there really wasn't other reason, and if left alone the Daleks would have probably just exterminated the Doctor to begin with, and been a lot better for it...) Just as well it could all be fixed by simply flicking some switches!
But then we need something epic (destruction of the universe) to get together everyone, and their dog. Aside from tying together all the series and companions, did we really need them all? Yes, they all had a small part to play, but... they all had a small part to play. Some of them deserved better treatment that a mere 15 seconds of screentime (metaphorically speaking). Celebratory, yes, but not really respectful.
And then there's DoctorDonna. (I did, for some moments, think they might end up with Donna becoming a TARDIS...) I'm not sure what to say... yes, yes I did like it. Okay, I admit it. It was something new, even if Catherine Tate spouting technobabble was very disturbing, but it really was something we haven't seen before (...pause for Jon Preddle to point out several other similar situations...). And, oh your gods, how it gave something for the shippers out there. But we knew it had to end badly, not just because of what Kahn said. This is RTD, who not only needs to spend 10-15 minutes on wrapping things up after the episode ends, but loves to give us shocking, heart-rending endings (not that I was heart-rended, but then I'm a heartless bastard). Events happen to those who travel with the Doctor, and Donna was set up for tragedy from the start. An actual character arc! (Even if it ended with a huge reset button push. Meh. At least that meant we got to end with brilliant character actor Bernard Cribbens. Yay!)
This brings to close another season series of Doctor Who. No doubt there will be much writing done on this in fan magazines for some time to come, but it was a hell of a roller coaster to end four years of new Who on.
Next time: Cyber-tastic?
[END]
Monday, 7 July 2008
DW: Episode 4.13
Sunday, 6 July 2008
More Spore
Spore sounds like a great game. One that nearly makes me want to buy it (although my computer probably can't even slightly handle it).
A big step has been taken to promote Spore, and that is to release the Creature Creator. With this you can play around, create lots of creatures, with the scope merely limited by whether or not you get the free or full version from the Spore website.
However... and there is a however... one must ask: what price does one have to pay? No, not the actual price of the game, but the price of the EULA. One big issue about big games is what the users have to go through in order to actually merely play the game. And from the sounds of it, the security system for Spore will be a bitch. (I know I've be reluctant to install my Lego Star Wars because of SecuRom rumours...)
I can see that the piracy for this game will be strong, which of course is cited as the reason for the security system... but the ones who entangle with it aren't the ones who it's targeted against. (Reminds me of those copyright ads.)
Basic question: if there was minimal checking (eg. has to be a CD in the tray), would there be more or less people willing to buy the actual game? Just think about it...
[END]
Saturday, 5 July 2008
Ain't she a beautiful sight?
We were cautioned with major delays to getting to work on Friday, because... there was a convoy on the roads! Truckers took to the road in a united effort to draw attention to increased road charges. (One joke I heard "since people were getting to work early, this would mean more productivity, so we should have more price increases"... yeah...)
Certainly there were some blockages this morning...
Me, I got to work fine, and didn't even hear them around until 9am (and continued to hear the occasional horn blast for the next hour). I didn't get photos myself, but did grab cam images.
While I wasn't bothered, I can't say the same for everyone.
Don't worry, there are better photos around. And while this looked to be a good idea, some people took it too far.
As for me, I know nothing about road charges, but certainly I'm willing to take their view that something is off. But not sure that ultimately anything good will come from this... yet.
(And, yes, I did have that song going through my head.)
[END]
Friday, 4 July 2008
War Crimes are Fun!
A comment posted to my George Carlin post was a pointer to the site Fun With War Crimes. Now, while possibly spam, there was a link to a yourube video, so I knew that was safe to check out, so I was willing to give it a go...
Okay, yeah. This is not subtle political commentary, but it is fun! The basic set up is that the Bush administration is on trial for the Iraq situation, and... as I say, it's not subtle.
The first three episodes are up, "Heckuva Job!", "9/11 Changed Everything" and A Throbbing Surge, and the trailer is below. There will be eight episodes in all, so do check out Fun With War Crimes.
[END]
Thursday, 3 July 2008
Ultimate vapourware
The story of the current 15 seconds is... someone is selling their soul on TradeMe. As the article mentions, this was tried on eBay, but pulled as their contracts say that the item has to exist and a 'soul' was too tenuous a concept to be allowed. (Didn't stop a book being published called "I Soul My Soul on eBay", but that was about an atheist who was actually selling his time to go to churches in proportion to people bidding, and the money went to charity anyway.)
However, not such restriction applies to TradeMe that I can find. Certainly, my own views on the existence of a soul should be guessable by all, but failing that the winner will get a nice framed certificate.
The question and answer section is interesting and amusing. There are numerous references to that Simpsons episode, and references to religious implications (which Walter merely comments as 'interesting'. The very fact of him selling his soul either points to his own religious convictions, or a healthy sense of humour, or both!)
The idea of a soul, a nefariously ill-defined concept, is a tempting idea, the idea that something will live on when the body dies. There's certainly no scientific evidence towards it, and certainly not that it weighs 21 grams. That doesn't stop the idea from being captivating, and much has been made from convincing people that their soul is in jeopardy. All that taken into account... I think the best anyone will get out of that auction is the nice frame...
EDIT UPDATE: His soul went to Hell. ;)
[END]
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
On St Caspians Day
The latest in that seven-movie franchise of money grabbing is Harry Potter and... I mean: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. It's big and glossy and... has a lot of battling.
I'm not sure how much is in the book, or if it's broken up more, but there seems to be a lot of battling present. Most of the second half is one group fighting another in some location or another (the first half of the movie is spent getting the two main plots to meet). I have the books to read, so that'll be interest to see. (Certainly I'm not sure of the Christian imagery being tried for here, but I couldn't read much religion into this one...)
Of course the main point of the Narnia series is that swathes of time passes in Narnia, and so aside from the main four leads, there aren't any characters in common (well, except for the lion, of course, and another one I have no idea is supposed to be there or not from the book, if so would make the uber-arc a lot more interesting). The new characters are mainly affecting Spanish or Italian accents, and for some reason, except Caspian, all of them have beards... why, I'm not sure, but it is amusing to watch the big "army march" when there is row upon row of only bearded men walking past. (Continuing to speak of battles, interesting that in most of the battles there are few women taking part, aside from Susan.)
Big and pretty to look at, it's a long movie so be sure to be ready for it, and for extended fight scenes...
[END]
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
DW: Episode 4.12
Set up that last episode, RTD! And make sure as little as possible actually happens!
That may sound odd, but little actually happens that can't be summarised as "The Daleks attack, and the Doctor arrives". Sounds like the opening teaser really, and it is in many ways, as we head into Journey's End. The main point of the episode is to remind the viewers of who is who (in the new series Whoniverse), and position them for the final climatic... climax. (Now, I admit, I didn't see the Doctor's climax coming (oo-er missus), but the rest were predictable in that people must be put in jeopardy as the end tune hits, and who else to put in danger but companions?)
There were many beats hit in this episode, "Mr Smith, I need you", "Harriet Jones" (done three times, of course, with everyone knowing who she is), Captain Jack hits of everyone, Rose gets emotional... but one can hope that was a kind of "greatest hits" and that next time we can get on with it.
Many plot points were hit on as well, the Medusa Cascade, the bees, the missing planets... good to know that they were being set up for something (but we knew that anyway from last week's Confidential, as well as RTD's usual arc tactics). As for new plot points... well, we all know the Daleks and Davros were involved, but did we need Davros? Big Finish proved that the Daleks work fine without him (even if they caved and now we have tons of Davros stories...), and previous episodes were good. Still, sooner or later, one feels the need to give the Daleks more voice than their usual staccato utterances and Davros is a lot better than those Big Name Daleks...
Yes, I admit it was nice to see those old faces (but do we really need to beat on the Doctor/Rose relationship so much? Have the viewers not moved on, even if clearly RTD hasn't (or, at least, thinks the audience hasn't)? Bring on the last big episode, and Who ever is in it...
Next week: No idea. And not sure if a leaked trailer is a good or bad thing to watch...
[END]
