Doctor Who 9.11

It's another episode by Steven "I've got this great High Concept" Moffat. I'm beginning to treat his episodes with "oh dear".

We have this "neat idea" of the Doctor in his own nightmare, which somehow includes a large block of more than diamond he decides to punch through. Okay, we can see how this plays out from a generic point of view (although having read Mauritz by Jonathon Morris, I was suspecting it from early on).

Where it fails is thinking about how it began. How did the Doctor first get summoned there? He would have dived down and not found any skulls at all. Nor one attached to the machine. And there wouldn't have been any dry clothes to put on (not that I'm sure how the room 'resets' to having clothes in it anyway). And it may also have wider implications about free will if the Doctor does exactly the same things over and over again...

Still, we get a grand performance from Peter Capaldi, who has to hold his own against a monster with obvious large rubber claws. And, of course, the obligatory cameo by Jenna Coleman. (And I'm not the only one having trouble in believing in her death.)

And all this is a set up for "surprise, he's on Gallifrey!", which again I think most of us suspected. Okay, I didn't get the fact he was in the confession disc (which was One Neat Trick), but there he is.

Next week: Oh, this isn't going to be good...

[END]

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Ultimate 7

Another comic that I Kickstartered. It’s sci-fi about a group of warriors brought together to fight a Big Bad.

The story slowly unfolds, are we start with Jenny who then becomes the main character who is out to pick up the others. Which involves getting into a story that lasts an issue or two before finally they get the new companion to come with them.

This is three volumes, of four issues each. However, the last issue is super long, which makes me wonder if the story was supposed to be balanced more? Or the writer just thought a massive story was the way to go? Either way, I could have gotted to the big story quicker because the little vignettes didn’t really grab me.

Overall… I’m not sure I would have picked this up had I known the story.

[END]

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Nightmare on 2nd Street

Fred’s back… and his other parts are wanting out into the world, and there’s a nice young body he wants.

Our… hero isn’t the right word. He’s not heroic at all. Main character? He’s a very sweaty young man who has strange dreams of Fred. Eventually killings start to happen, and the main character is right there, only it’s not really him doing it. Finally, Fred does get out, and the lines between reality and dream get confused, and the main character’s not-quite-girlfriend confronts him and… not really Love Conquers All, but close.

Again, this isn’t the Freddy of later movies, and indeed is very different to the original movie in that we have Fred trying to get out and about… and this movie is more about the slow descent into madness of the main character (whose name I have no clue at this point) as he gets possessed. Which can be an interesting aspect to explore, but I think already the audience is all about ‘bring on Fred!’ so that’s not really much of a focus.

A rather scattered movie that has weird images and not really getting to a solid point.

[END]

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Hamish MacBeth Act I

One of the many sets I picked up was for Hamish Macbeth, and now I've at least seen season one.

This is part Scottish soap drama, part Scottish crime drama. I'm emphasising the Scottish part, because this series definitely does. Everyone puts on their accent, and we get a slew of Scottish place names, so we can check off authenticity. The crime part... is rather light. And in some ways nearly incidental. Of the five adventures in season one, there's really only about one case that is an actual case and involves investigation. The rest of the time, it's just casually strolling along, and if there's a crime, we get put that in the mix. Elsewise, it's soap because it's all about the characters and what they are doing day to day, and we are only lucky the pub isn't in Albert Square. And what's with ending seasons on marriage proposals?

We have Robert Carlyle in the lead, and doesn't he look young? There are also other people, and I recognise none of them. Decent performances, even if the stories aren't really stretching the imagination.

As I mentioned, there are only five episodes, because this is a British series, so I'll give the next season a go as well.

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Lankhmar: Swords Against Death

Join Fafhrd and Grey Mouser as they have divers adventures!\

When we left them, they were leaving Lankhmar, with no intention of ever going back. Within mere moments they decide to go back because... that's where the plot is? What follows then is various adventures, with the two of them having exciting times. Well, sometimes. Often is one of them or the other having the adventure. With, it has to be said, a favouritism towards the Mouser. Not that Fafhrd doesn't get a story or two, but the focus is clear.

If this is what the rest of the books are like, I might not bother blogging them. I can't say there was any particular adventure that stood out. These days, these are very familiar stories, although here is where a lot of them started. There are still a few new ones and twists I couldn't see coming, but still... and there are more than one story where I felt the Lovecraft influence in there.

Definitely going to continue with this, we'll see if it ends up here.

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It's a Festival of Magic!

Because they were giving away tickets, me and some family members when to a matinee performance of Chuck Jones and Company, a part of the World Festival of Magic "NZ"!

We got just over an hour of magic, family friendly stuff, with Chuck Jones being the performer of the day. There were a lot of classic bits (swords into boxes and switching people), and I spotted how some of them worked... although there are many that I have no idea about.

Still... the main point was that I had fun, as did the others in the audience. (It was at the Riley Center at the Wellington High School. Which wasn't even half way fill.)

I'm not sure about the actual price of tickets (yay free!), but hey, if you've got kids, this is a good outing.

[END]

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Beyond the Hills

If I was watching these on Netflix, I'm sure the suggestion algorithm would be very confused. This is a Romanian drama Beyond the Hills.

Voichita is now at a monastery (nunnery? they are all women except for the leading father), and her friend Alina turns up, wanting to be with her. (I'm not sure how clear that relationship is supposed to be.) But Voichita is wanting to stay there, and yet is drawn by Alina to leave. Then Alina starts causing problems, and the movie takes a strange turn to deal with Alina seemingly being possessed. (Again, I'm not clear on whether or now she's faking this.) And then, in the last half hour (this over 2 1/2 hours) it takes another twist, and ends on... I'm not entirely sure.

While I obviously am not exactly au fait with the plot, and wondered if I could stick it out, it did start to grow on me and I wanted to see what happened. Partly because the direction of the movie kept changing. And I wasn't sure which character I was supposed to side with.

Ultimately, this is probably a good movie, I'm not the one to get it properly though.

[END]

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