TV this week:
- Dinner Impossible: "Robert's Lost Mission" - Robert takes on Lost. I have hardly ever watched the show, maybe one or two episodes, so I'm not feeling much of a connection. The nice twist is having to buy "ingredients" to build a kitchen, instead of the food itself.
- Doctor Who: "The Hungry Earth" - My problem with this episode stems from the fact that the "Silurians" look like Star Trek style Draconians. In short, I'm not impressed by the redesign... enough to say I actively hate it. That's not a Silurian. Silurians were interesting and truly alien. That's a bad Star Trek villain, complete with pathetic monologue. Otherwise, the story has a lot of potential. But the ill-conceived redesign and monologue brought the whole story down to make it my least favorite of this year so far. I think I actually hate the redesign more than I hate that stupid bow tie. Drinking game for this episode: any time you see a plot device that appeared in a Jon Pertwee story, take a drink.
- Brightest Day #1 - Manohman I was so pumped for this. Of course, plenty of people managed to spoil bits for me, but finally getting my hands on it so I could read it myself was very very nice. I'm really curious to see where this Aquaman plotline goes. Oh, and there were a couple of other characters in there too, but I wasn't much interested in them. I wish I could afford the alternate cover to this one.
- JSA All-Stars #6 - This felt like it ended too abruptly. Like the whole thing wrapped up in an instant and boom!... on to the next.
- Astro City: The Dark Age: Book Four #4 - I loved the bit at the end where the brothers decide what names they are going to use in the retelling of their tale. Good stuff.
- Demo V2 #4 - Aquaboy done Demo-style. Wow. Powerful little tale, but I wonder where he'll go from there. If he stays where he's at, isn't he going to eventually be found? Hrm.
- Doctor Who Classics Series 3 #3 - I think I may just have to sit down with this storyline once it's all been republished and try to read it through at once. As it is, it's just not working for me.
- Birds of Prey #1 - Zinda rocks.
- DMZ #53 - At this point I just wonder where Parco got himself off to, and what Matty's going to do about it.
My library book this week was Whittington by Alan Armstrong. A beat up cat finds a home in a barn of misfit animals, and tells them the story of his ancestor as life goes on. I have often heard the story of Dick Whittington and his cat, but this is a pleasant retelling designed for children. A great surprise was the endnote, which includes a lovely bibliography of books used to research both the history of the cat's tales and other specific events covered in the book. I'd give this or read this to a younger reader who is having trouble reading.
4 comments:
I was inspired by the episode to download the first couple of seasons on Jon Pertwee episodes, and finally get around to watching Inferno, which for some reason the Australian Broadcasting Commission never screened in Australia. This is particularly weird because every other DW episode got repeated ad infinitum when I was growing up.
Frankly, the Silurians/Eocenes/"Cave Monsters" needed redoing. The originals reminded me of reptilian versions of those furry animal costumes that greenie fundraisers wear while collecting for their cause -- usually koala costumes in Oz, but I presume a similar phenomenon exists elsewhere in the world too.
I don't disagree that they needed redoing, but turning them into generic Star Trek aliens was just ... dumb. I mean, they had a distinctly non-human aspect to them originally. Now it's just a woman in makeup.
Was curious about the redesign. Was a hot and sexy warrior lizard babe really necessary? They could have made the old critters appear viable with better makeup.
Oddly, although I didn't like it either, my problem with the episode was less the redesign and more that it was kind of dull and predictable, been-there-done-that-many-times, than we've had yet this series. (I think your drinking game covers part of that.) It wasn't good, it wasn't bad, it was just kind of...there. I had to remind myself that 1. it's only the first of a two parter, so I shouldn't fully judge and 2. it's a Chris Chibnall script, and he's apparently never met an illogical cliche he didn't like.
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