What Are You Currently Watching (on tv/dvd)?

[Ian]

Buffy: Gingerbread. The discovery of the bodies of two angelic young children, apparently slain by proponents of the occult, rapidly leads to widespread hysteria and a terrifying "witch hunt" in Sunnydale. This clever and creepy episode - a deeply sinister inversion of the Hansel & Gretel fairytale - is one of my favourites.

[Dahls]

Haven't seen the seriers since it first aired when I was a teenager, but I do vaguely remember that episode as one of the better ones.
Mass hysteria can be quite scary!

[Ian]

Saw Doctor Who - The Bells of St John last night and... what is there to say about it? It wasn't as screechingly awful as some but it wasn't what you'd call good either and we seem to have seen this episode before about six times at least. Jenna is hot but Clara has no discernible character other than making saucy quips ala every other Steven Moffat female, and the once promising Matt Smith is now firmly set on "infantile prat".

Once seen, forever forgotten. The Balls of St John would have been a more apposite epithet.

[DMt.]

I bet you can't say 'apposite epithet' ten times quickly...

[fish]

Apposite epithet.
Opposite epithet.
Opposite apathetic.
Opposite a pathetic.
Åw, I give up.

I kept waiting for Bells of St J to get good.

Waiting.
Waiting.

[Ian]

It was a vain hope.

As I'm sure our not-so secret nerd fish probably already knows, "apposite epithet" is actually a typically verbose line from the Colin Baker Who story Mark of the Rani. I was just being a smartarse. Very unlike me I know.

[DMt.]

[Sheldon]

One of my sesquipedalian inclination would undoubtedly be in a most invidious position in attempting a censorious posture re: another's [perceived] verbosity.

[/Sheldon]

PS I can't do it either, it's turned to mush and flubber after the second or third iteration...athopitte essethat, epithat opposite...

[fish]

I thought it all sounded like Sir Humphrey Appleby.

[Ian]

Saw Doctor Who - The Rings of whateveritscalled last night. Pretty lame again. To be fair, some of it was rather better than last week, less manic and hyperactive (aside from some stupid bits like the space bike) but just as the story seems to be getting somewhere and heating up with an impressive looking monster about to break out... it then dies for no apparent reason, Smithy makes a cringeworthy speech and the power of lurve saves the day again, rendering any positive qualities moot. Waste of time. Oh and the little girl out-acted the lot of them!

[fish]

... Oh and the little girl out-acted the lot of them!

Maybe that's why they seemed to leave her behind when they left the plamet.

Hated the space bike.
I mean, why not just take the Tardis over?

[Ian]

That wouldn't look all cool and moronic, now would it?

Watched three Buffys last night - Earshot, Choices and The Prom. I continue to be amazed, awed nay, by just how bloody good and how incredibly well written Buffy was and is. Of these three episodes, Earshot has a terrific premise but Choices is just there to remind us of The Mayor and Faith and get us ready for Graduation Day while not really contributing anything to the story, and The Prom has a plot so thin you could write it on the back of an envelope. And yet all three episodes are completely brilliant, written with so much care and so much intelligence and depth, so much attention to detail and characterisation and filled with fantastic little moments, be they dramatic, moving, sinister or laugh out loud funny, that they are simply glorious to watch.

And fifth viewing, and I STILL welled up at the Class Protector moment!

I miss this show. I miss TV this good.

[fish]

Don't hold back there Ian.
Tell us if you like it or not.

[Ian]

Perhaps it was just the vast qualitative difference between Buffy and current Who that inspired me to wax lyrical.

X Files: Ice. The one in the Arctic with the parasite that drives people homicidally insane. A hugely atmospheric early classic.

[Ian]

Just started watching The Following, the new show from Kevin Williamson (Scream/Dawson's Creek). Kevin Bacon is a retired-in-disgrace FBI agent dragged back into the fray when the notorious serial killer he caught (and who nearly killed him) escapes. Only it soon transpires that said maniac has managed to build himself a literal cult following of like-minded murderers who are all working together and doing his bidding. Rather good so far, strong, scary stuff.

[Ian]

Saw Cold War this morning. (downloaded; I know it's on tonight but I just can't be jacked to waste half the evening on New Who these days). Better than some of the recent episodes with at least some attempt made to generate some tension, but still flat. Good points such as the strong cast and Clara finally starting to become more believable (though that may have down to Jenna as much as the script) are let down by some typical New Who stupid bits, the awful decision to show the Ice Warrior out of armour - and the CGI face was hysterically crap - and another sappy ending. Routine at best, it's so difficult to find anything to be excited about in it these days, it all just seems so rushed and flat. Another in the ever-increasing list of modern episodes I doubt I'll watch again.