TW 213: Exit Wounds

Maudlin alert! Maudlin alert!


Oh dear gods, how much emotionality can one person stand! Grey is back, and is the big bad, all because he was taken as a child and tortured... well, it is a story that has worked before. But then we get the whole forgiveness/absolution layer added on, and the emotional brickbats are out in force. Still, it's good to know that if one is indeed responsible for the destruction of a city, the worst that will happen is being stuck in a deep freeze of oblivious sleep.

Speaking of destruction, most of it did seem pointless, a distraction by the writer to keep the rest of the team busy and create something to cut to when needed to fill in time. The nuclear reactor in particular seemed like an easy ticking clock, but it then provided the other emotional wellspring with tears aplenty for all. Now, technically, Owen might still be around in there, we can't tell, but I doubt anyone will really go in and check. But bravo on Chris for actually killing off members, and also for finally acknowledging the space pig, which people have been going on about since the series first began.

Despite the city-wide tapestry, this final episode is all about the personal stakes of the team and Jack in particular, and serves as a far more downbeat ending. If there is a series three (and as I write this I haven't heard confirmation either way, perhaps the Declassified might say something) it will be interesting to see who the replacements are. I doubt Marsha will be coming in permanently, and here's hoping Captain John only makes the odd cameo, but let's do hope that if the team does returns, it's with even more maturity than they tried this series.


Next Week: Next week? Never mind next week, tomorrow is the return of Doc the Who!

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4 minutes

As soon as I heard it was available, I went to YouTube, and yep! The official video:

Video is rather bizarre in parts, and the music is a bit too loud making it hard to hear the words (as such). But why Timberlake and Timberland? Oh, and how exactly does one save the world in four minutes? I have to doubt that listening to this sound would do that (just end up padding Maddy's pockets).

(I wonder how long the remix version is ;) )
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DW: The Pirate Loop

Next up is The Pirate Loop by Simon Guerrier. Wee, fun! Pirates! How original! Never had pirates in Doctor Who before!


And it is a lot of fun! People die, but it doesn’t matter! Let us all have a lot of joyous fun solving the mysterious puzzle of Starship Brilliant! There is indeed an interesting puzzle here as the Starship is caught up in some weird time craziness and the Doctor and Martha land right in the middle of it. Plot-wise, it is captivating, although the reader is ahead of the Doctor and Martha, which rather undercuts the drama Simon is trying to build.

Then again, Simon changes tack with the tone of the book entirely in the latter part of the book, making what has been enjoyable romp into something deadly serious, although he then tries again to change tack once more. It’s disconcerting, and ruined the atmosphere he had built up. And the ending was a bit weird as well.

Character-wise, the Doctor and Martha are solidly in charge of their scenes, as they should be. The rest of the cast are fairly non-noticeable with the exception of Mrs Wingsworth (who I never could picture properly) and the badger-faced pirates. Oh your gods, how many times did Simon write “badger faced pirates”? Too many times. These are obviously a creation that caught Simon’s fancy and by hell’s high water, he was going to make sure we knew about them. Tried too hard, and doesn’t really pull them off (like we need another “race based on some earth species” (although we do have a better reason for why they exist, unlike almost every other earth animal based species)).

Basically, the majority of the book was quite good, but there’s trouble with the ending.


Order: same place as Wishing Well. And it shows that we should read these in order as there is a reference to Wishing Well in this book.

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HC Again

Didn't get to play the previous weekend due to the con, but I was back into it last weekend.

There was basically one module, in which we encounter a very unlikely combination of double murders. (Includes a "game show" of Doctor Bakwena in the Harry the Hippo costume.) Pool: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7.

This was followed by general chat sessions which was recorded and put up for no readily explainable reason. Gamer Chat: Part 1, Part 2.

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Dating Internationally

Here in New Zealand, we're at the cutting edge of the future, ie we get to experience the future before anyone else. And sometimes we forget that the rest of the world is behind us.

For example, April Fools, that delightful time of prankstering and japering that we all love so much. (Although all we apparently managed was for a radio station to cause some fans a few problems.)

This means that when others go for their April Foolering, we're already on April 2nd, and have our mind space out of the April Fool zone. Which can lead us to not immediately getting some jokes.

And it looks like there were some good ones. YouTube rickrolled everyone. Darths & Droids got taken down by Lucas Films. And there was much merriment over Dungeons and Dragons version 4.1.08 coming out (on a board I read that you'd need to subscribe to, so no point linking to the thread).

Some were obvious. Some less so. But I'm sure they would have been more obvious if we could just remember that the rest of the world is backwards compared to us... in so many ways. :)

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Hostel II: Fully Booked

So previously was the first one, and now I've seen the sequel. Hostel II is about a group of female backpackers, a clearly original variation on the male backpackers of the last movie. Lots of time passes as they wander around not being tortured, and, yes, the fast forward button was pressed. Eli tries something different in showing how the other side get in on it (yep, we're talking murderers here), but frankly I'm not routing for anyone to "win" (as it were).

At least until the last ten minutes. Then the plot does something actually interesting that made being bored by the two movies worthwhile. Not that anyone should endure these two movies just for that, but it does create an actual highpoint.

But once again, the splatter is low. A little more than the first movie, but still not really going all out.

As I said though: why appreciate splatter?

Firstly, it's fiction. Let's be clear about that. We know it's fiction, and so don't feel guilty about the violence on the screen.

Secondly, and the main thing, the special effects. The splatter shows off the true special effects artistes. Wow, that limb just got hacked! Hey, that person's head was just axed! Oh, was that her liver? Man, I don't think that's supposed to twist like that!

The more realistic, the more gross, the better the effects team (and the director/cameraman) are doing their job. Cutting away just cheats of their chance. Show it! Make them earn their money! This is what appreciating splatter is all about!

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Hostile about Hostel

There are some films that become wannabe legends in their own lifetimes, films that get overhyped in their own genre. Hostel is one such movie, doubly so because of Quentin Taratino's name being attached to it.

Last night I finally sat down and watched this movie. And fast forwarded through a lot of it. This movie is yet another entry in the "Americans don't get horror" file. This isn't horror. Butchering people is splatter. Look at the Saw movies. They are splatter. Look at Texas Chainsaw Massacre, that is splatter. Hostel is splatter. Moreover, it's bad splatter. It's... and this is a terrible thing to say... boring. It takes half the movie to get going (trying to pass time by showing naked women) and then there's no real splatter, a lot of it takes place just off camera, and we see the make-up'ed after effects.

Ho-hum.

I can get into the splatter genre, indeed own the Saw movies, but I'm wondering why I took a punt and now own this. And, sad to say, Hostel II. There's watching I'm now not looking forwards to. (But once I've done that, I'll blog about what appreciating splatter really means.)

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