Sunday, January 30, 2011

A Sunday Review

TV this week:

  • Timeslip: "The Day of the Clone" - Final story of the series. All the various strings come working their way back together, and I get totally confused. I have a number of questions that might have been more clear if I'd seen the series closer together instead of spread out. Still, surprisingly satisfying series even after all these years.

  • Primeval: "Series 4 Episode 3" - People come out of the anomaly into a theatre, followed by monsters. I'm really getting curious as to what Matt is up to. But I enjoyed the episode.
  • Primeval: "Series 4 Episode 4" - Revenge of the nerds, as Connor becomes a role model in a high school incursion. That was one HUGE school. It was cool they could tap into the school's security cameras. Pity about the victims.
  • Primeval: "Series 4 Episode 5" - The setting was great in this one. Beautiful cliffs and coast. And the cave was a neat trick usually read about in children's adventure series, not seen concealing a "worm". The science in this one was interesting too, and showed Connor's value in the field. But Connor already spilled the beans on Philip's outside projects to at least two people before he was warned not to... interesting.

  • Being Human (US): "There Goes the Neighborhood, Part 1" - Definitely not the same as the British series. For one thing, Doomsday is a vampire. I like how his origin is changed from WWI to the Revolutionary War. And a quick intro to the werewolf's family. I wonder if the ghost's backstory will be the same as in the UK version.
  • Being Human (US): "There Goes the Neighborhood, Part 2" - Good cliffhanger on the first episode, nicely resolved at the beginning of the second. But I was having deja vu, as the whole thing happened in the UK series. Things are happening much more quickly in this series. It's not a problem for me, since I know the set up, but I wonder if newer viewers will have trouble keeping up.

  • Batman: The Brave and the Bold: "The Knights of Tomorrow!" - An Elseworlds tale, sort of. I really enjoyed this one, as we see the future of Batman... or do we?
  • Batman: The Brave and the Bold: "The Malicious Mr. Mind" - The Monster Society of Evil. I like Shazam and company, but I don't love 'em. And watching them battle it out just didn't do it for me. I was terribly amused by Batman's regression, though. Fun voices.

  • Young Justice: "Welcome to Happy Harbor" - I really thought for a moment that Speedy would join the crew. I liked how Aqualad handled himself in this story, and I'm really looking forward to seeing more of him in action. Definitely an interesting addition to the Aqua-family. Finally, a calm character from the sea.


My Comic related Kindle book this week was Agatha H and the Airship City by Phil and Kaja Foglio. This is the first book I bought specfically for the Kindle. I purchased it through the Amazon store and paid for it with some Amazon credit I got through the selling links in these reviews. So thank you to everyone who bought something through the links, allowing me to purchase this book and support two of my favorite creators. If you've read the graphic novels, the storyline will be extremely familiar, but the prose adds another layer to the characters even as it loses the joy of the artwork. This book covers the events in the first three collections of the graphic story, so if you've read them you'll find the story to be very familiar. However, there are significant differences, enough to make it more than worthwhile to have the prose book for a big fan of Girl Genius. I highly recommend it as just a great book, but it will definitely have added meaning for fans of the original comics. As with almost all Kindle books, there were some minor formatting issues, but it didn't affect the readability much at all.



My Kindle book this week was The Witches of Karres by James H. Schmitz. I got this as an eBook from webscription.net a long time ago and finally read it after my mom recommended it to me. I'll note that I have a big pile of eBooks from webscription.net that I've added to my Kindle library and will probably read now that I have something to read them on besides my laptop. It's just way easier on my eyes to read books on the Kindle. Anyway, this book concerns the captain of a ship who rescues three girls from slavery, starting a chain of events that eventually impacts worlds. I loved the humor in this book. It was sometimes subtle, and sometimes whacked you over the head, but it was always funny. Add in a good dose of dramatic tension, fantasy elements hand-in-hand with hard science fiction, and you've got a great little book. Definitely worth a read if you have a chance. No wonder it's considered a classic.



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