No joke, the more I see, the more I like. He might not even have to redub this one with proper acting...
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Doctor Who: The Sound of Silence
Onwards and upwards. Not a bad episode this, but... skippable. Or is it? Loose ends from Utopia, Midnight, The Day of the Doctor even Zagreus can be found within...
No joke, the more I see, the more I like. He might not even have to redub this one with proper acting...
No joke, the more I see, the more I like. He might not even have to redub this one with proper acting...
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Robin Who - A Clue: Awesome
Another little vid for my valued friends who follow this blog (including Jared - happy birthday, dude). And the miserable illiterate hatemongering scumbags who also check it out of sheer envy.
Ah yes. This episode is a good episode to watch.
Ah yes. This episode is a good episode to watch.
Friday, August 22, 2014
NEWS: CapaldiDoc is not crap shocker!!
Yes! At long last my prayers have been answered and from a source so unexpected even consulting detectives are getting whiplash from all the double-takes! A Mark Gatiss story too - the sort of thing that, on a very, very good day, scrapes past the "tolerable" level and has achieved the epic awesome shinanigan quality achieved only by Dinosaurs on a Spaceship in recent memory.
For the first time, Capaldi's actually doing something beyond standing on the sidelines whinging hypocritically at absolutely everyone else as innocent perish needlessly. He's now an active participant in the story, with a personality clearly based on Sterling Archer (the "six months" gag and his absent-minded fourth wall criticism of plot) as well as actually being mistaken about a villain's modus operandi for good reason instead of an abstract discussion and this doesn't actually completely screw himself over with needless stupidity.
The actual plot - the actual Robin Hood - is surprisingly well done, and the wholesale ransacking of Jonas Armstrong's version and even Robin of Sherwood (even down to Clannad's music over TARDIS scenes) works fantastically. Indeed, it feels almost like a sequel to the former, with the implication that the Robin we meet here is just another outlaw assuming the great hero's identity, which is exactly the sort of the PR stunt old Rairf Kcut would have come up with to deal with the new sherrif and the rebuilt Nottingham which happens to look exactly down to the old one. DW now reuses CGI rather than models, it seems.
A great swashbuckling Blackaddery episode and Ben Miller's Ainely-esque Sheriff combined with the fact that alien robots are programmed with images of Patrick Troughton, make this the first episode so far to make me glad the show didn't end last Christmas.
A clue: awesome.
And to pad out the rest of the post, an excerpt from the unprecedented YOA/2BG crossover...
Andrew, Nigel and Dave watched as the blonde waitress, shaking her head and clearly trying not to laugh at whatever the brunette had been saying, approached.
"Is that Paris Hilton or Drew Barrymore?" wondered Nigel idly.
"Not sure, but her friend is definitely Eliza Dushku," Andrew decided.
"Nigel, don't make a scene," Dave blurted out.
Nigel's eyes widened behind his shades. "Me? A scene? Did your last brain cell just implode?" he fumed, but the others shushed him.
The waitress arrived and gave a dazzling smile that seemed genuine. "Good evening," she said in a bright, high-pitched but not unpleasant voice. "I'll be your waitress, my name is Caroline. Sorry about the delay, all sorts of things going wrong I just know you don't care about."
"We might," Dave interjected dazedly.
"Sorry?" Caroline said, taken aback.
Andrew nodded. "Well, it's possible we might care," he agreed. "Depending on what it was. Must have been very serious. Do you need to talk about it?"
Caroline very visibly thought about it for a moment. "Well, it would probably take a lot of contextualizing," she admitted. "It's a long story."
"Probably a tall one too," Nigel said sweetly. "But if you don't want to tell us chapter and verse, I totally respect that decision. Do you, I dunno, maybe want to take our orders instead?"
Caroline's eyes narrowed for the briefest of brief instants. "Yeah, why not?" she said, clearly having detected Nigel's admittedly well-hidden rudeness. "What can I get you guys?"
Nigel grinned as dazzling a grin as Caroline had provided. "Spicy beef burger and chips, please," he said, offering her his menu to collect.
Still smiling, Caroline jotted that down.
"I'd like the waffles and chicken please," asked Andrew. "And, perhaps, for you to overlook the social retardation of the thing in the seat opposite us. Dave?"
"What did I do?" Dave blurted out in panic.
Caroline was surprised at his reaction, and so where Nigel and Andrew.
"Do you want to eat anything?" she asked gently.
"Oh. Yes." Dave nodded confidently. "Uh... what do you recommend, miss?"
Caroline smiled, genuinely this time. "Well, between you and me, I'd probably recommend eating somewhere else, but if you want the best thing available..."
Dave, not trusting himself to speak, nodded furiously.
"Well, we do have a selection of amazing cupcakes."
"Fine!" Dave said, trying to sound normal. "A plate of those, then."
"A plate of cupcakes?" Caroline repeated, delighted.
"Yeah, whichever you think are best," Dave agreed.
"Are these cupcakes homemade?" asked Andrew thoughtfully.
Nigel was shaking his head in disbelief. "Who the hell cares?" he demanded.
Caroline wisely ignored him. "They are indeed, and have had great reviews - Martha Stewart loved them and said so in writing."
"Did she?" asked Dave interestedly.
"Who's Martha Stewart?" Andrew asked him, confused.
"Patrick Stewart after a dodgy sex-change!" Nigel retorted. "Look," he paused to very visibly lower his shades and peer at her name tag "Caroline, I'm sure this is a fascinating conversation, probably the most interesting you've ever had, but I am really hungry right now and just assume that if you go away that food will come back quicker. I apologize for any rudness but for god's sake, move that skinny ass and feed me."
"My pleasure," she said, still smiling.
"I'm so sorry about him," Dave protested as she started to move off.
"No problem."
Andrew sighed. "I'd like to say he isn't always like this..."
"Like what? Stunningly attractive, witty, insightful and with the sexual prowess of a mountain lion on viagra?"
"...but as you can see, he's actually much worse."
"Oi!"
***
Caroline tore off the order slip and put it on the serving window. "Oleg, order for table ten," she called through. "And if you have some unwanted bodily fluids, the spicy beef burger is the place to put them."
The hairy Ukranian cook glanced up. "You know my urethra better than I do," he said. "And this is a compliment rarely given."
Max came over to fiddle with the coffee machine. "Wow, getting some of Oleg's secret herbs and spices," she marvelled. "What did they do? Make fun of you for being the daughter of the most notorious criminal since the guy who invented flash mobs?"
"No," Caroline sighed. "Just one of the guys was a total dick."
"And the other two were balls?"
"No, they seemed OK. Oh, and one of them wants a plate of cupcakes! Our cupcakes!" enthused Caroline, surging with enthusiasm on the turn of a dime. "Imagine it, Max, we could have international branding! People leave America thinking only of your cupcakes!"
"Hope that doesn't include the pilots, or else shares in airplanes will plummet." Max laughed. "See what I did there? Plummet!" She sighed. "So, where are those freaks from? England? Papua New Ginuea? The one in the singlet is clearly from Middle Earth..."
"I'm pretty sure they're Australian."
"Australia! Home of the Wiggles, Dame Edna and crocodile hunters who are fatally vulnerable to non-crocodiles!" Max enthused. "Wow! Hey, you ever been down under?"
Caroline stared at her. "Do you mean Australia or are you asking about my sex life?"
"Hey, you know I mean Australia. Why would ask about something non-existent? What do you think I am - a climate change skeptic?"
Caroline shrugged. "Well, yeah. Daddy took us there for the Olympics back in 2000."
"That was the one with the awesome closing ceremony, right?"
"There was this guy in a broken down motorcart that accidentally smashed all the stages over and ruined everything..."
"I know! It only needed Mel Gibson and Tina Turna."
"Max, trust me, everything was ruined already. That would have been overkill."
"So, which one of those ocker blockers was the trouble maker?"
"Um, the aborigine."
"...you mean the hipster? They have hipsters in Australia? Didn't the redback spiders kill them all?" Max shook her head. "OK, time to improve international relations."
Caroline grabbed her arm. "Max," she warned. "What are going to do?"
"Just verbally destroy him and everything he stands for. Maybe mention my vagina in an aggressive context. You know, the usual."
For the first time, Capaldi's actually doing something beyond standing on the sidelines whinging hypocritically at absolutely everyone else as innocent perish needlessly. He's now an active participant in the story, with a personality clearly based on Sterling Archer (the "six months" gag and his absent-minded fourth wall criticism of plot) as well as actually being mistaken about a villain's modus operandi for good reason instead of an abstract discussion and this doesn't actually completely screw himself over with needless stupidity.
The actual plot - the actual Robin Hood - is surprisingly well done, and the wholesale ransacking of Jonas Armstrong's version and even Robin of Sherwood (even down to Clannad's music over TARDIS scenes) works fantastically. Indeed, it feels almost like a sequel to the former, with the implication that the Robin we meet here is just another outlaw assuming the great hero's identity, which is exactly the sort of the PR stunt old Rairf Kcut would have come up with to deal with the new sherrif and the rebuilt Nottingham which happens to look exactly down to the old one. DW now reuses CGI rather than models, it seems.
A great swashbuckling Blackaddery episode and Ben Miller's Ainely-esque Sheriff combined with the fact that alien robots are programmed with images of Patrick Troughton, make this the first episode so far to make me glad the show didn't end last Christmas.
A clue: awesome.
And to pad out the rest of the post, an excerpt from the unprecedented YOA/2BG crossover...
Andrew, Nigel and Dave watched as the blonde waitress, shaking her head and clearly trying not to laugh at whatever the brunette had been saying, approached.
"Is that Paris Hilton or Drew Barrymore?" wondered Nigel idly.
"Not sure, but her friend is definitely Eliza Dushku," Andrew decided.
"Nigel, don't make a scene," Dave blurted out.
Nigel's eyes widened behind his shades. "Me? A scene? Did your last brain cell just implode?" he fumed, but the others shushed him.
The waitress arrived and gave a dazzling smile that seemed genuine. "Good evening," she said in a bright, high-pitched but not unpleasant voice. "I'll be your waitress, my name is Caroline. Sorry about the delay, all sorts of things going wrong I just know you don't care about."
"We might," Dave interjected dazedly.
"Sorry?" Caroline said, taken aback.
Andrew nodded. "Well, it's possible we might care," he agreed. "Depending on what it was. Must have been very serious. Do you need to talk about it?"
Caroline very visibly thought about it for a moment. "Well, it would probably take a lot of contextualizing," she admitted. "It's a long story."
"Probably a tall one too," Nigel said sweetly. "But if you don't want to tell us chapter and verse, I totally respect that decision. Do you, I dunno, maybe want to take our orders instead?"
Caroline's eyes narrowed for the briefest of brief instants. "Yeah, why not?" she said, clearly having detected Nigel's admittedly well-hidden rudeness. "What can I get you guys?"
Nigel grinned as dazzling a grin as Caroline had provided. "Spicy beef burger and chips, please," he said, offering her his menu to collect.
Still smiling, Caroline jotted that down.
"I'd like the waffles and chicken please," asked Andrew. "And, perhaps, for you to overlook the social retardation of the thing in the seat opposite us. Dave?"
"What did I do?" Dave blurted out in panic.
Caroline was surprised at his reaction, and so where Nigel and Andrew.
"Do you want to eat anything?" she asked gently.
"Oh. Yes." Dave nodded confidently. "Uh... what do you recommend, miss?"
Caroline smiled, genuinely this time. "Well, between you and me, I'd probably recommend eating somewhere else, but if you want the best thing available..."
Dave, not trusting himself to speak, nodded furiously.
"Well, we do have a selection of amazing cupcakes."
"Fine!" Dave said, trying to sound normal. "A plate of those, then."
"A plate of cupcakes?" Caroline repeated, delighted.
"Yeah, whichever you think are best," Dave agreed.
"Are these cupcakes homemade?" asked Andrew thoughtfully.
Nigel was shaking his head in disbelief. "Who the hell cares?" he demanded.
Caroline wisely ignored him. "They are indeed, and have had great reviews - Martha Stewart loved them and said so in writing."
"Did she?" asked Dave interestedly.
"Who's Martha Stewart?" Andrew asked him, confused.
"Patrick Stewart after a dodgy sex-change!" Nigel retorted. "Look," he paused to very visibly lower his shades and peer at her name tag "Caroline, I'm sure this is a fascinating conversation, probably the most interesting you've ever had, but I am really hungry right now and just assume that if you go away that food will come back quicker. I apologize for any rudness but for god's sake, move that skinny ass and feed me."
"My pleasure," she said, still smiling.
"I'm so sorry about him," Dave protested as she started to move off.
"No problem."
Andrew sighed. "I'd like to say he isn't always like this..."
"Like what? Stunningly attractive, witty, insightful and with the sexual prowess of a mountain lion on viagra?"
"...but as you can see, he's actually much worse."
"Oi!"
***
Caroline tore off the order slip and put it on the serving window. "Oleg, order for table ten," she called through. "And if you have some unwanted bodily fluids, the spicy beef burger is the place to put them."
The hairy Ukranian cook glanced up. "You know my urethra better than I do," he said. "And this is a compliment rarely given."
Max came over to fiddle with the coffee machine. "Wow, getting some of Oleg's secret herbs and spices," she marvelled. "What did they do? Make fun of you for being the daughter of the most notorious criminal since the guy who invented flash mobs?"
"No," Caroline sighed. "Just one of the guys was a total dick."
"And the other two were balls?"
"No, they seemed OK. Oh, and one of them wants a plate of cupcakes! Our cupcakes!" enthused Caroline, surging with enthusiasm on the turn of a dime. "Imagine it, Max, we could have international branding! People leave America thinking only of your cupcakes!"
"Hope that doesn't include the pilots, or else shares in airplanes will plummet." Max laughed. "See what I did there? Plummet!" She sighed. "So, where are those freaks from? England? Papua New Ginuea? The one in the singlet is clearly from Middle Earth..."
"I'm pretty sure they're Australian."
"Australia! Home of the Wiggles, Dame Edna and crocodile hunters who are fatally vulnerable to non-crocodiles!" Max enthused. "Wow! Hey, you ever been down under?"
Caroline stared at her. "Do you mean Australia or are you asking about my sex life?"
"Hey, you know I mean Australia. Why would ask about something non-existent? What do you think I am - a climate change skeptic?"
Caroline shrugged. "Well, yeah. Daddy took us there for the Olympics back in 2000."
"That was the one with the awesome closing ceremony, right?"
"There was this guy in a broken down motorcart that accidentally smashed all the stages over and ruined everything..."
"I know! It only needed Mel Gibson and Tina Turna."
"Max, trust me, everything was ruined already. That would have been overkill."
"So, which one of those ocker blockers was the trouble maker?"
"Um, the aborigine."
"...you mean the hipster? They have hipsters in Australia? Didn't the redback spiders kill them all?" Max shook her head. "OK, time to improve international relations."
Caroline grabbed her arm. "Max," she warned. "What are going to do?"
"Just verbally destroy him and everything he stands for. Maybe mention my vagina in an aggressive context. You know, the usual."
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Why, God, WHY?!?
For fuck's sake!
I finally get a date with a hot blonde chick willing to look past my innumerable physical and mental problems and what happens five minutes before? My bank account gets skimmed leaving me with on twelve bucks to my name - that ruined my cunning plan of being a gentleman capable of paying for coffee for her! And also cut the date short coz you gotta go straight to the bank to cancel my card and start the investigation to get my hard-earned three grand back!
I mean, wasn't creating those caterpillar-raping wasps and ovarian cysts enough for you o Lord? Causing my cousin's lung to rot inside her? Giving my best friend violent epilepsy? Killing all my animals one by one? Allowing Doctor Who to be ruined forever? AND NOW YOU DO THIS!!!
I tell you, there better be proper security on the pearly gates coz I'm thinking home invasion. Let's see your divinity shine through when I'm forcing you, your son and the holy ghost into a human pyramid at gunpoint you massive bastard! I've got Rik Mayall and Robin Williams on my side, so you're pretty much screwed!
FUCK!!
And now, the video youtube banned.
Yes. Into the Dalek through the lens of Archer Vice.
I finally get a date with a hot blonde chick willing to look past my innumerable physical and mental problems and what happens five minutes before? My bank account gets skimmed leaving me with on twelve bucks to my name - that ruined my cunning plan of being a gentleman capable of paying for coffee for her! And also cut the date short coz you gotta go straight to the bank to cancel my card and start the investigation to get my hard-earned three grand back!
I mean, wasn't creating those caterpillar-raping wasps and ovarian cysts enough for you o Lord? Causing my cousin's lung to rot inside her? Giving my best friend violent epilepsy? Killing all my animals one by one? Allowing Doctor Who to be ruined forever? AND NOW YOU DO THIS!!!
I tell you, there better be proper security on the pearly gates coz I'm thinking home invasion. Let's see your divinity shine through when I'm forcing you, your son and the holy ghost into a human pyramid at gunpoint you massive bastard! I've got Rik Mayall and Robin Williams on my side, so you're pretty much screwed!
FUCK!!
And now, the video youtube banned.
Yes. Into the Dalek through the lens of Archer Vice.
Friday, August 15, 2014
If Jared Reviewed Into the Dalek...
I will be more positive. I promise. The valium will stop me getting angry and betrayed.
...though I still refuse to call this Doctor Who.
I'll call it Last of the Time Lords instead. Or Time of Your Life or The Enemy Within or Utter Desecration Of My Favourite TV Show By Caledonian Cun-- anyway, moving on. Anyway. Daleks. Phil Ford. Probably a Hartnellesque episode to fulfill the ancient prophecy begun in 1966.
What could go wrong?
(Don't think about Something Borrowed. Don't think about Something Borrowed. Don't think about Something Borrowed. You remember Torchwood? No? What a surprise.)
So. Begin.
0:20 - Hm. This is a bit like the start of The Millennium Trap. Mind you, space battles and screaming pilots aren't unique. And does that suspiciously-repainted-Gallifreyan-looking armor stop Dalek rays?
0:25 - "Aristotle" is Cockney rhyming slang for "arse". (honest: aristotle-bottle-bottle and glass-glass-arse) So I find this sequence more amusing if our beleagured mixed race space pilot is screaming "ARSE!" into her radio over and over again.
0:39 - It's pretty much established that one of those Dalek saucers could effortlessly ravage a planet like Earth and stand up to a TARDIS in combat. And it seems to be in perfect working order. But it can't blow up a proper space ship? (Oh well, maybe the Daleks have been sent back to the Stone Age after the Siege of Trenzalore used up their entire war machine for nine hundred years?) Still, though. I don't get the Daleks are trying. Though maybe coz they sound like Nick Briggs hungover without the ring modulation?
1:01 - wow, that shot has a narrative purpose and isn't just some pretentious camerawork for a trailer.
1:13 - is this a deliberate mirroring of what Missy did with Not-John-Hurt last week? Am I just leaping to ridiculous connectection like Nala "Ooh-arr, sarbtekkkkkssss" Snevets?
1:27 - I know I'm in the dark about this whole Dalek war but sending soldiers into battle with their siblings on the front line IS sort of asking for priorities to slip (see The Tenth Planet for why this can end badly).
1:42 - I was expecting Capaldi to be more hyped up and angry in these scene. He sounds tired and bored. I mean, really, he sounds like he totally stopped giving a shit. Another Pertwee homage?
2:27 - um, if the Aristotle is a super-secret resistance bunker in a Dalek war... why is Trooper Journey Blue (WTF? And I thought River Song was a stupid name!) telling everyone about it and shouting out about it over radios Daleks are no doubt listening to as she lead an attack craft into the very asteroid belt it was hidden in? Is the Combined Galactic Resistance the ultimate evolution of Torchwood?
3:03 - it's Tyres from Spaced! Yeah, he's been a tough cop in Luther and Scott & Bailey, but to me he'll always be the ecstacy-driven bike courier with no short term memory and those FUCKING MOOD SWINGS!!!! But it's nice to see another Spaced regular in DW. I think there's only Mark Heap left. Which could be self-explanatory, after all.
3:31 - the security of this base is absolute? Apart from all the patrol ships running straight for it screaming "SAVE US FROM THE DALEKS OH SECRET ARISTOTLE BASE, WE RESISTANCE FIGHTERS DON'T WANT TO DIE WHEN WE COULD BE BACK AT BASE WHICH IS RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF US ON THAT PARTICULAR ASTEROID"?
3:38 - "Oh, it's a rollercoaster with you, isn't it?" Still got the mood swings, Tyres. I respect that. Even if there is a real whiff of Paradise Towers about this.
3:48 - Daleks still do duplicates? I thought they just nano-virused people nowadays.
4:20 - and after inserting himself into an unwilling dinosaur's mouth, Capaldi now discusses inserting himself into an unwilling patient's anal sphincter. And people whinged about "Allonzee".
4:56 - Matt Smith still in the credits. Oh, if only.
5:34 - crappest drill sergeant ever. Even the one in Meaning of Life who lets everyone go home early while he marches up and down the square had more self-respect.
5:50 - "Mr Pink." And these stupid names just keep coming...
6:06 - and after two syllables I want to slap the bint. Didn't anyone learn anything from TSJAs?!
6:42 - yeah, that'll make all the kids feel relaxed in your company. I'm just surprised they're not all whipping out their phones and texting "LOL! MY TEACH IS TOTS SERIAL KILLA!!!"
6.57- Heh. Flems is the only one who misses this blatant revelation.
7:40 - yes. It's not really a surprise Clara doesn't have many friends, is it?
8:12 - Mr. Pink, there are such things as therapists. And you must have had one to leave the army after grief after shooting a non-combatant woman - isn't that, like, the law now?
8:42 - I know Coal Hill has had some interesting choices of teacher over the years, but now this place is giving both Waterloo Rd and Teppapawai Boy's School a run for the money. In fact, it's as farcical as Teachers only with less charisma and more dysfunctional. Who talks to themselves like that?!
9:35 - undoubtedly this is the worst opening scene for any companion since Dodo. I mean, Lucie Miller made a more favorable impression. I know Mr. Pink is supposed to be a total Jeff-Murdoch style loser but when the defining characteristics of a person are "weeps uncontrollably, can't talk to girls, and headbutts tables in shameful humiliation"... you're not going through to the next round of Companion Academy.
9:53 - OK... I don't know about English schools, but in Australia the first term of the year kicks off early February. If school is already well underway, it's probably around that time, yes? So minus three weeks to the end of the previous episode and this means Clara was marooned in Glasgow about a month after Christmas. Where she was last seen having a tearful breakup with her nudist boyfriend and then ran away never to be seen again. Her family must have been going spare. Except for her stepmum or her aunt or whoever that bitch was. You think this might provide a tad more plot potential than Mr. Pink's Adrian Molesque self-pity.
10:19 - he's calling under-30s Clara a frumpy old spinster? After his big speech about rejecting all the human flirting stuff? Either he's trying to sabotage her love life or... well. He's a fuckwit.
11:07 - "Am I a good man?" "Well, you did spend a thousand years defending some innocent rednecks from every army in the entire universe until the day you died. And then you turned into a complete bastard who repeatedly abandoned me to die when you weren't coming up with every possible insult about my face, personality, intellect and species. Oh, and you killed someone for shits and giggles. So, on the balance of probabilities I'm going to say 'not any more' followed by 'fuck off and die you wanker'."
11:35 - that's it, show her a Star Trek movie. That'll make you seem less of a jerk.
11:42 - didn't they work out the truth on Trenzalore? Or maybe this is before the mindwipe? This whole amnesia thing is causing way more trouble than it should...
11:55 - yeah, I'm with Capaldi. That is pretty much Dalek 101. My god, these idiots ARE Torchwood!
12:33 - Into Darkness... Wrath of Khan... Dalek Khan? Is that you old buddy?
12:40 - um, Clara, you forgotten about the last few episodes? The ones with Daleks slaughtering billions of innocent children? Or are you just insulting Capaldi as petty revenge? Coz I'm fine with that.
13:08 - fast-talking sociopath with a seeming inability to generate emotion. No, I don't think Torchwood TNG should be happy about this. Come on, Capaldi, there is a thing called charisma you have? Might be wise to use some? Did you OD on botox or something?
13:20 - "DAR-leks" not "Dal-lex"! Come on, dude, you're a fan! You're as bad as the DWAD one that can't pronounce the word "TARDIS".
13:53 - so our heroes (one old Time Lord and a Coal Hill School teacher) are on a combat hospital on an asteroid using shrinking rays to go inside an alien and fix his brain damage. Can you imagine Hartnell in this? Well, yes, I can. ECC's rule of second stories remains totally vindicated! Mind you, who ever watched The Invisible Enemy and went "this needs more Daleks"?
14:18 - those not-teleport-bracelets are way too loose. This is just asking for trouble.
14:33 - say what you like, YOU'RE ON PROBATION!!! Yes, another Ideal regular is in the show. I'm expecting Johnny Vegas in the next episode. He's also been in Pramface and Game of Thrones, but he'll always be on probation to me.
14:47 - well, that'll shut Tat Wood up. Whole pages of About Time ripped out. Good work, Phil Ford.
15:24 - and who would have thought The Invisible Enemy would have a less pathetic shrinking scene? Not I!
16:20 -16.41 inclusive - fun with mirrors and black drapes. It's like Inferno. Only pointless.
17:16 - it took 45 years but at last THE STEEL OCTOPUS IS ON SCREEN!!!
19:17 - this must be New Paradigm stuff, because the Cult of Skaro kind of made it clear their lack of nice emotions is genetically-engineered, rather than some whacking great "emo-filter".
19:31 - ooh, Yeti balls... or Skagra balls... or Toclafane... or...
20:00 - so, just to be clear, the new Doctor has killed two people now. How lovely.
20:51 - did we lose another redshirt? Does anyone care?
20:57 - coz we didn't get enough of this in The Beast Below, let's do it all over again.
21:11 - more pages of About Time shredded.
21:58 - after wading through the Thames, being vomited on by a T-rex, Capaldi now has to wade waist-deep in Dalek shit. Someone in this show just doesn't like him.
22:58 - OK, this "I totally forget about previous episodes stuff" is officially past it's welcome. I'll him off forgetting about the events of The Girl in the Fireplace but being surprised to find radiation inside a Dalek? I mean, seriously?! What next? "My god, Clara - when I cut you, you bleed!!!"
23:57 - this would make more sense if it was just Khan. Seriously.
25:00 - oh, so we've gone back to the original idea that the Dalek mutants live in the skirt section and the upper bit is full of technology? More NPD cutbacks, I'll be bound.
26:30 - I don't wish to say this plot twist was predictable but there are as-yet undiscovered tribes of man in deepest Africia who knew this was going to happen.
26:38 - wa?! Dalek guns now make the same sound as Scorpio clipguns?! Also, this is the first on-screen extermination since 2010.
27:19 - this makes it look like the Dalek as drealocks. Funny, huh?
27:33 - ooh, those Daleks sound like Adrian Edmonsen. But more camp.
28:11 - Capaldi just doesn't make any good impressions in this show, does he? Just how many non-regular characters have to call him a useless tosser who is more trouble than he's worth before he gets the freaking message?
28:23 - and now Clara bitch-slapping him. That used to be Donna's comedy shtick, but now it feels like a tantalizingly glimpse of Capaldi having some sense gang-bashed into him.
28:57 - seriously, just undo the repairs! It is that fucking simple!
29:25 - Clara, while it's all well and good for you to shout today's lesson for the kids at home, the Dalek is killing people. Might be an idea to tell them your plan and then bitch later.
30:33 - the Dalek Empire must really be on the rocks if they're so desperate to retrieve one damaged trooper. And, seriously? "Spare no humans"? Thank you, Captain Obvious. Why not remind your crew that they're called Daleks while you're at it.
30:40 - this is using soundbites from Power of the Daleks. This is more and more like a DWAD!
32:06 - FOR FUCK'S SAKE!!
32:44 - biiiiiiiiiiiiiig vote of confidence for Capaldi there. A clue: no.
33:20 - dear god, you could not be less convincing if you tried. I thought he was an actor!
34:01 - ooooh. The Technodrome eye...
34:26 - didn't expect that. Well, I'm not surprised. But I didn't think that was happening this week.
35:41 - my god, how stupid ARE you?!?!
36:15 - aw, nice memories of The Power of Kroll.
36:30 - OK, that was a truly awesome line. Props deserved for that, and the delivery.
36:41 - see, he remembers the Battle of Canary Wharf, how can he if he's not Khan?!
37:24 - um, how have the resistance lasted this long if their guns don't work on Daleks? Have they been all, ow you zay, "knobbing each ozzer" to notice as true Torchwood members do?
38:23 - and he remembers blowing up the Valiant. Yet obviously doesn't remember the whacking great Donna Noble wiping them all out. No wonder the Daleks are confused...
39:09 - please stop talking, Christ on a bike. Did you acting talent vanish once Matt Smith left the room? It's like Chip Jamison as the Doctor!!!
39:39 - wow, this is old skool Who, this is. Extras with guns looking scared as a polystyrene door melts. Last time that happened was, er... Warriors of the Deep. Oh.
39:47 - ...is that the new title sequence?!
40:44 - There is no post-RTD footage of Daleks. Does rather ram home the fact Moffat's done fuck all with them for five years, doesn't it?
41:16 - Daleks shooting each other. What imagination. They haven't killed a speaking part since 2008 and not killed a major character since 2007...
42:00 - WTF?!?! How did they get out?!?
42:36 - oh, god, do you have ANY acting range AT ALL?! Sweet merciful fuck, how did you get these job when you could be out-emoted by a used t-bag!
42:59 - again, how many characters have to stop the plot to tell Capaldi what a useless dickwad he is before he actually does something about it?
43:27 - why in the name of fried squid testicles would Journey Blue want to join the TARDIS crew when she hates the Doctor (quite rightly), and has no interest in travel, other times, places or cultures? Mein Gott, it certainly makes Mr. Pink look overqualified for a TARDIS bedroom...
43:35 - Christ, how does that work? Someone fighting a defensive war against the Daleks is unsuitable to travel with the Doctor because they're a soldier? But the Doctor, someone even the Daleks themselves consider a rage-addled psychopathic serial killer, has the moral highground? Knee him in the bollocks. What a fuckwit. Why not simply say "Lady, I've known you half an hour and this is not a sound basis for a relationship"?
43:58 - more DWADness. Daleks use ST:TOS transporter noises.
44:23 - how cheap is that? My god, that has to be the lowest ebb for new series. It's as bad as Irongron's Castle magically turning into a quarry wall a second before it explodes...
44:30 - so ONE exploding Dalek could blow up an entire war fleet? Fuck off...
44:44 - look at him! He's too damn old for this role! Bring back John Hurt!
46:01 - oh. It's over. I could not give less of a shit. Oh where is Michael Grade when you need him.
...though I still refuse to call this Doctor Who.
I'll call it Last of the Time Lords instead. Or Time of Your Life or The Enemy Within or Utter Desecration Of My Favourite TV Show By Caledonian Cun-- anyway, moving on. Anyway. Daleks. Phil Ford. Probably a Hartnellesque episode to fulfill the ancient prophecy begun in 1966.
What could go wrong?
(Don't think about Something Borrowed. Don't think about Something Borrowed. Don't think about Something Borrowed. You remember Torchwood? No? What a surprise.)
So. Begin.
0:20 - Hm. This is a bit like the start of The Millennium Trap. Mind you, space battles and screaming pilots aren't unique. And does that suspiciously-repainted-Gallifreyan-looking armor stop Dalek rays?
0:25 - "Aristotle" is Cockney rhyming slang for "arse". (honest: aristotle-bottle-bottle and glass-glass-arse) So I find this sequence more amusing if our beleagured mixed race space pilot is screaming "ARSE!" into her radio over and over again.
0:39 - It's pretty much established that one of those Dalek saucers could effortlessly ravage a planet like Earth and stand up to a TARDIS in combat. And it seems to be in perfect working order. But it can't blow up a proper space ship? (Oh well, maybe the Daleks have been sent back to the Stone Age after the Siege of Trenzalore used up their entire war machine for nine hundred years?) Still, though. I don't get the Daleks are trying. Though maybe coz they sound like Nick Briggs hungover without the ring modulation?
1:01 - wow, that shot has a narrative purpose and isn't just some pretentious camerawork for a trailer.
1:13 - is this a deliberate mirroring of what Missy did with Not-John-Hurt last week? Am I just leaping to ridiculous connectection like Nala "Ooh-arr, sarbtekkkkkssss" Snevets?
1:27 - I know I'm in the dark about this whole Dalek war but sending soldiers into battle with their siblings on the front line IS sort of asking for priorities to slip (see The Tenth Planet for why this can end badly).
1:42 - I was expecting Capaldi to be more hyped up and angry in these scene. He sounds tired and bored. I mean, really, he sounds like he totally stopped giving a shit. Another Pertwee homage?
2:27 - um, if the Aristotle is a super-secret resistance bunker in a Dalek war... why is Trooper Journey Blue (WTF? And I thought River Song was a stupid name!) telling everyone about it and shouting out about it over radios Daleks are no doubt listening to as she lead an attack craft into the very asteroid belt it was hidden in? Is the Combined Galactic Resistance the ultimate evolution of Torchwood?
3:03 - it's Tyres from Spaced! Yeah, he's been a tough cop in Luther and Scott & Bailey, but to me he'll always be the ecstacy-driven bike courier with no short term memory and those FUCKING MOOD SWINGS!!!! But it's nice to see another Spaced regular in DW. I think there's only Mark Heap left. Which could be self-explanatory, after all.
3:31 - the security of this base is absolute? Apart from all the patrol ships running straight for it screaming "SAVE US FROM THE DALEKS OH SECRET ARISTOTLE BASE, WE RESISTANCE FIGHTERS DON'T WANT TO DIE WHEN WE COULD BE BACK AT BASE WHICH IS RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF US ON THAT PARTICULAR ASTEROID"?
3:38 - "Oh, it's a rollercoaster with you, isn't it?" Still got the mood swings, Tyres. I respect that. Even if there is a real whiff of Paradise Towers about this.
3:48 - Daleks still do duplicates? I thought they just nano-virused people nowadays.
4:20 - and after inserting himself into an unwilling dinosaur's mouth, Capaldi now discusses inserting himself into an unwilling patient's anal sphincter. And people whinged about "Allonzee".
4:56 - Matt Smith still in the credits. Oh, if only.
5:34 - crappest drill sergeant ever. Even the one in Meaning of Life who lets everyone go home early while he marches up and down the square had more self-respect.
5:50 - "Mr Pink." And these stupid names just keep coming...
6:06 - and after two syllables I want to slap the bint. Didn't anyone learn anything from TSJAs?!
6:42 - yeah, that'll make all the kids feel relaxed in your company. I'm just surprised they're not all whipping out their phones and texting "LOL! MY TEACH IS TOTS SERIAL KILLA!!!"
6.57- Heh. Flems is the only one who misses this blatant revelation.
7:40 - yes. It's not really a surprise Clara doesn't have many friends, is it?
8:12 - Mr. Pink, there are such things as therapists. And you must have had one to leave the army after grief after shooting a non-combatant woman - isn't that, like, the law now?
8:42 - I know Coal Hill has had some interesting choices of teacher over the years, but now this place is giving both Waterloo Rd and Teppapawai Boy's School a run for the money. In fact, it's as farcical as Teachers only with less charisma and more dysfunctional. Who talks to themselves like that?!
9:35 - undoubtedly this is the worst opening scene for any companion since Dodo. I mean, Lucie Miller made a more favorable impression. I know Mr. Pink is supposed to be a total Jeff-Murdoch style loser but when the defining characteristics of a person are "weeps uncontrollably, can't talk to girls, and headbutts tables in shameful humiliation"... you're not going through to the next round of Companion Academy.
9:53 - OK... I don't know about English schools, but in Australia the first term of the year kicks off early February. If school is already well underway, it's probably around that time, yes? So minus three weeks to the end of the previous episode and this means Clara was marooned in Glasgow about a month after Christmas. Where she was last seen having a tearful breakup with her nudist boyfriend and then ran away never to be seen again. Her family must have been going spare. Except for her stepmum or her aunt or whoever that bitch was. You think this might provide a tad more plot potential than Mr. Pink's Adrian Molesque self-pity.
10:19 - he's calling under-30s Clara a frumpy old spinster? After his big speech about rejecting all the human flirting stuff? Either he's trying to sabotage her love life or... well. He's a fuckwit.
11:07 - "Am I a good man?" "Well, you did spend a thousand years defending some innocent rednecks from every army in the entire universe until the day you died. And then you turned into a complete bastard who repeatedly abandoned me to die when you weren't coming up with every possible insult about my face, personality, intellect and species. Oh, and you killed someone for shits and giggles. So, on the balance of probabilities I'm going to say 'not any more' followed by 'fuck off and die you wanker'."
11:35 - that's it, show her a Star Trek movie. That'll make you seem less of a jerk.
11:42 - didn't they work out the truth on Trenzalore? Or maybe this is before the mindwipe? This whole amnesia thing is causing way more trouble than it should...
11:55 - yeah, I'm with Capaldi. That is pretty much Dalek 101. My god, these idiots ARE Torchwood!
12:33 - Into Darkness... Wrath of Khan... Dalek Khan? Is that you old buddy?
12:40 - um, Clara, you forgotten about the last few episodes? The ones with Daleks slaughtering billions of innocent children? Or are you just insulting Capaldi as petty revenge? Coz I'm fine with that.
13:08 - fast-talking sociopath with a seeming inability to generate emotion. No, I don't think Torchwood TNG should be happy about this. Come on, Capaldi, there is a thing called charisma you have? Might be wise to use some? Did you OD on botox or something?
13:20 - "DAR-leks" not "Dal-lex"! Come on, dude, you're a fan! You're as bad as the DWAD one that can't pronounce the word "TARDIS".
13:53 - so our heroes (one old Time Lord and a Coal Hill School teacher) are on a combat hospital on an asteroid using shrinking rays to go inside an alien and fix his brain damage. Can you imagine Hartnell in this? Well, yes, I can. ECC's rule of second stories remains totally vindicated! Mind you, who ever watched The Invisible Enemy and went "this needs more Daleks"?
14:18 - those not-teleport-bracelets are way too loose. This is just asking for trouble.
14:33 - say what you like, YOU'RE ON PROBATION!!! Yes, another Ideal regular is in the show. I'm expecting Johnny Vegas in the next episode. He's also been in Pramface and Game of Thrones, but he'll always be on probation to me.
14:47 - well, that'll shut Tat Wood up. Whole pages of About Time ripped out. Good work, Phil Ford.
15:24 - and who would have thought The Invisible Enemy would have a less pathetic shrinking scene? Not I!
16:20 -16.41 inclusive - fun with mirrors and black drapes. It's like Inferno. Only pointless.
17:16 - it took 45 years but at last THE STEEL OCTOPUS IS ON SCREEN!!!
19:17 - this must be New Paradigm stuff, because the Cult of Skaro kind of made it clear their lack of nice emotions is genetically-engineered, rather than some whacking great "emo-filter".
19:31 - ooh, Yeti balls... or Skagra balls... or Toclafane... or...
20:00 - so, just to be clear, the new Doctor has killed two people now. How lovely.
20:51 - did we lose another redshirt? Does anyone care?
20:57 - coz we didn't get enough of this in The Beast Below, let's do it all over again.
21:11 - more pages of About Time shredded.
21:58 - after wading through the Thames, being vomited on by a T-rex, Capaldi now has to wade waist-deep in Dalek shit. Someone in this show just doesn't like him.
22:58 - OK, this "I totally forget about previous episodes stuff" is officially past it's welcome. I'll him off forgetting about the events of The Girl in the Fireplace but being surprised to find radiation inside a Dalek? I mean, seriously?! What next? "My god, Clara - when I cut you, you bleed!!!"
23:57 - this would make more sense if it was just Khan. Seriously.
25:00 - oh, so we've gone back to the original idea that the Dalek mutants live in the skirt section and the upper bit is full of technology? More NPD cutbacks, I'll be bound.
26:30 - I don't wish to say this plot twist was predictable but there are as-yet undiscovered tribes of man in deepest Africia who knew this was going to happen.
26:38 - wa?! Dalek guns now make the same sound as Scorpio clipguns?! Also, this is the first on-screen extermination since 2010.
27:19 - this makes it look like the Dalek as drealocks. Funny, huh?
27:33 - ooh, those Daleks sound like Adrian Edmonsen. But more camp.
28:11 - Capaldi just doesn't make any good impressions in this show, does he? Just how many non-regular characters have to call him a useless tosser who is more trouble than he's worth before he gets the freaking message?
28:23 - and now Clara bitch-slapping him. That used to be Donna's comedy shtick, but now it feels like a tantalizingly glimpse of Capaldi having some sense gang-bashed into him.
28:57 - seriously, just undo the repairs! It is that fucking simple!
29:25 - Clara, while it's all well and good for you to shout today's lesson for the kids at home, the Dalek is killing people. Might be an idea to tell them your plan and then bitch later.
30:33 - the Dalek Empire must really be on the rocks if they're so desperate to retrieve one damaged trooper. And, seriously? "Spare no humans"? Thank you, Captain Obvious. Why not remind your crew that they're called Daleks while you're at it.
30:40 - this is using soundbites from Power of the Daleks. This is more and more like a DWAD!
32:06 - FOR FUCK'S SAKE!!
32:44 - biiiiiiiiiiiiiig vote of confidence for Capaldi there. A clue: no.
33:20 - dear god, you could not be less convincing if you tried. I thought he was an actor!
34:01 - ooooh. The Technodrome eye...
34:26 - didn't expect that. Well, I'm not surprised. But I didn't think that was happening this week.
35:41 - my god, how stupid ARE you?!?!
36:15 - aw, nice memories of The Power of Kroll.
36:30 - OK, that was a truly awesome line. Props deserved for that, and the delivery.
36:41 - see, he remembers the Battle of Canary Wharf, how can he if he's not Khan?!
37:24 - um, how have the resistance lasted this long if their guns don't work on Daleks? Have they been all, ow you zay, "knobbing each ozzer" to notice as true Torchwood members do?
38:23 - and he remembers blowing up the Valiant. Yet obviously doesn't remember the whacking great Donna Noble wiping them all out. No wonder the Daleks are confused...
39:09 - please stop talking, Christ on a bike. Did you acting talent vanish once Matt Smith left the room? It's like Chip Jamison as the Doctor!!!
39:39 - wow, this is old skool Who, this is. Extras with guns looking scared as a polystyrene door melts. Last time that happened was, er... Warriors of the Deep. Oh.
39:47 - ...is that the new title sequence?!
40:44 - There is no post-RTD footage of Daleks. Does rather ram home the fact Moffat's done fuck all with them for five years, doesn't it?
41:16 - Daleks shooting each other. What imagination. They haven't killed a speaking part since 2008 and not killed a major character since 2007...
42:00 - WTF?!?! How did they get out?!?
42:36 - oh, god, do you have ANY acting range AT ALL?! Sweet merciful fuck, how did you get these job when you could be out-emoted by a used t-bag!
42:59 - again, how many characters have to stop the plot to tell Capaldi what a useless dickwad he is before he actually does something about it?
43:27 - why in the name of fried squid testicles would Journey Blue want to join the TARDIS crew when she hates the Doctor (quite rightly), and has no interest in travel, other times, places or cultures? Mein Gott, it certainly makes Mr. Pink look overqualified for a TARDIS bedroom...
43:35 - Christ, how does that work? Someone fighting a defensive war against the Daleks is unsuitable to travel with the Doctor because they're a soldier? But the Doctor, someone even the Daleks themselves consider a rage-addled psychopathic serial killer, has the moral highground? Knee him in the bollocks. What a fuckwit. Why not simply say "Lady, I've known you half an hour and this is not a sound basis for a relationship"?
43:58 - more DWADness. Daleks use ST:TOS transporter noises.
44:23 - how cheap is that? My god, that has to be the lowest ebb for new series. It's as bad as Irongron's Castle magically turning into a quarry wall a second before it explodes...
44:30 - so ONE exploding Dalek could blow up an entire war fleet? Fuck off...
44:44 - look at him! He's too damn old for this role! Bring back John Hurt!
46:01 - oh. It's over. I could not give less of a shit. Oh where is Michael Grade when you need him.
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
I'm Doing Better Than Robin Williams...
...which is a sad thing to say.
So. Yeah. Getting better. Calmer, no longer gripped with paranoia and desperate to die just to escape the existential horror of murder, abandonment and incredibly-addictive feminist sitcoms (how addictive? I wrote fan fic for it, for crying out loud! Though kudos for me NOT simply describing hot lesbian sex betwixt the characters like 98% of everyone else on fanfic.net...). So, while I still feel strangely lost and unloved as if the world ended but no one else got the memo, I'm not totally shattered.
My dad's got through serious surgery well, both my cats are alive and well, my mum's recovered from pneumonia, and reviewing Deep Breath suggests it's not QUITE the abomination I instinctively felt. Mind you, The Twin Dilemma grew on me, so...
Hell, I got banned from Gallifrey Base AGAIN and I'm not feeling too down. (And, for once, I feel I'd have a case to protest the decision as the "personal attack" was a lolcats meme posted in good spirit to someone I actually like on the forum)
Just not sure what to post. Let's be honest here, dear reader, this is no longer the internet hotspot it once was. Without raving nutters spamming everything and jihads against Ben Chatham, it seems no one is really interested in this unusually pointless blog. At least not enough to post.
And this isn't some passive-aggressive bitching... not much... but a statement of fact. Is there any point blogging if no one reads it? If no one gains enjoyment of it? If my lengthily-composed copyright-violating music vids gain no accolades? It's not as if my obituary salutations are up to much in the first place.
I dunno what's worth posting now, anyway. The surprisingly-soothing mental discipline of reviewing 2BG episodes (a show that is depressingly LESS popular than Josh Thomas' Please Like Me nasally self-pitying half-hour), or perhaps bigging up that Sylvest McCoy annual my own dreams were mocking as pathetic?
Mmm.
Maybe my subconscious had a point.
I dunno. Maybe it's time to let this old blog gather dust and become a forgotten oddity in some corner of the internet, like all the others. Nothing lasts forever - look at poor Robin Williams.
ETA: this is neither rhetorical nor is this a spectator sport. Goddamnit, comment already!
So. Yeah. Getting better. Calmer, no longer gripped with paranoia and desperate to die just to escape the existential horror of murder, abandonment and incredibly-addictive feminist sitcoms (how addictive? I wrote fan fic for it, for crying out loud! Though kudos for me NOT simply describing hot lesbian sex betwixt the characters like 98% of everyone else on fanfic.net...). So, while I still feel strangely lost and unloved as if the world ended but no one else got the memo, I'm not totally shattered.
My dad's got through serious surgery well, both my cats are alive and well, my mum's recovered from pneumonia, and reviewing Deep Breath suggests it's not QUITE the abomination I instinctively felt. Mind you, The Twin Dilemma grew on me, so...
Hell, I got banned from Gallifrey Base AGAIN and I'm not feeling too down. (And, for once, I feel I'd have a case to protest the decision as the "personal attack" was a lolcats meme posted in good spirit to someone I actually like on the forum)
Just not sure what to post. Let's be honest here, dear reader, this is no longer the internet hotspot it once was. Without raving nutters spamming everything and jihads against Ben Chatham, it seems no one is really interested in this unusually pointless blog. At least not enough to post.
And this isn't some passive-aggressive bitching... not much... but a statement of fact. Is there any point blogging if no one reads it? If no one gains enjoyment of it? If my lengthily-composed copyright-violating music vids gain no accolades? It's not as if my obituary salutations are up to much in the first place.
I dunno what's worth posting now, anyway. The surprisingly-soothing mental discipline of reviewing 2BG episodes (a show that is depressingly LESS popular than Josh Thomas' Please Like Me nasally self-pitying half-hour), or perhaps bigging up that Sylvest McCoy annual my own dreams were mocking as pathetic?
Maybe my subconscious had a point.
I dunno. Maybe it's time to let this old blog gather dust and become a forgotten oddity in some corner of the internet, like all the others. Nothing lasts forever - look at poor Robin Williams.
ETA: this is neither rhetorical nor is this a spectator sport. Goddamnit, comment already!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
