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

[Ian]

Saw Doctor Who - The Long Game, Fathers Day and Boom Town last night (after watching a boatland of movies the last few weeks, now I seem to be watching a boatload of DWs! ). TLG is okay. Nothing special, but nothing terrible either. Didn't get on much with Fathers Day this time around.

I did, however, really enjoy Boom Town. Very enjoyable ep, probably the best "single ep" story of the season. A nice mix of the humorous and the serious, with a great turn from Annette Badland and the regulars on sparkling form (oh, the days when Rose was likeable!), Eccleston especially. Very underrated IMHO.

[fish]

...(oh, the days when Rose was likeable!)...

I always thought Rose was a tad more than likeable.

Time commitments often force me to miss parts of the "series" episodes so I was always in favour of the one offs, and I agree with you about Eccleston, I think he's definitely one of the good ones.

[Ian]

Unfortunately, Rose kinda turned into a bunnyboiler from the following season. Glenn Close make way!


Saw Doctor Who -Bad Wolf/POTW last night (the climax to the first of the new series). Mm, well. Very much a game of two halves. The first part is excellent; the "homicidal TV show" thing shouldn't really work, yet it does, being both hilariously ridiculous and genuinely sick, and the build-up of tension to the reveal of the Dalek fleet and the cliffhanger is all top stuff, with Eccleston at the top of his game.

Unfortunately, it all goes to bits in part 2. Part 2 has lots of Daleks, and lots of bangs and flashes, but the story just falls away to nothing until SuperRose turns up to save the universe with a wave of her hand, while the Doctor stands about looking completely helpless and useless IN HIS OWN SODDING REGENERATION STORY. Unforgivable.

All in all, I've kind of gone off this season this time (and it was my fave of the new ones. Oh dear). Eccleston still emerges with kudos, though, on the plus side.

[fish]

Sorry Ian, I'm having a little trouble reconciling your imagery.

[Ian]

LOL You do realise its a Fatal Attraction reference, yes?

Billie is attractive, but somewhere between series 1 and 2 someone decided that Rose was in lurve with the Doctor. And she got SCARY possessive.

And ANNOYING.

[fish]

....And ANNOYING.

Ever since the early years they've been in lurve with the Doctor, but I'm willing to forgive her for being annoying 'cause she's so damned decorative.
and...
I've had this pic of a bunny in a boiler for ages trying to find some use for it, and you gave me the perfect opportunity.

[Rebecka Fan]

I just finished watching BBQ PItmasters.

[Ian]

Roseanne. Little DJ has been - ahem - "discovering" himself.

DARLENE: Yeah, DJ's finally found a friend who isn't invisible.

[Ian]

Started Buffy season 4 last night.

[Ian]

One Foot in the Grave 1990 Xmas Special - "Who's Listening?"

[Ian]

Downloaded the DW Xmas Special off YT this afternoon. Gonna go watch it in a minute. Hard liquor on standby.

[Ian]

Anyway, yes, I watched this last night. Hmmm. Well, it wasn't as awful as I'd been led to believe by some, but it wasn't particularly great either. Bernard Cribbins was good (aside from the totally pointless and cringeworthy stuff with the other OAPs). Simm veered from lame to good (seemingly taking time to get back into the role), though he wasn't helped by some of the stuff he was given to do. The whole "Resurrecting the Master" scene was awful, and the stuff with him shooting laserbolts and jumping tall buildings with a single bound was like something out of "Power Rangers". Much of the episode seemed fairly plotless and perfunctory. As for the ending... Well, it was quite the stupidest thing I've ever seen in Who, but it was SO stupid and SO ridiculous I did laugh out loud at it. But I mean, really... this is supposed to be an apocalyptic, doom-laden "end of time itself" regeneration story, and they're pulling ludicrous comedy cliffhangers? The thing is all over the place tonally. And, of course, the whole thing is pulled down by an incredible sense of deja vu... haven't we seen this all before, really?

I really hope (new head writer) Steven Moffat has some new ideas and a fresh take on the show coming up, because this style is not so much tired (it was tired about 2 years ago) as completely bloody comatose by now.

Still, not completely awful, and the (frankly long overdue) return of MASSIVE SPOILER IF ANYONE CARES is intriguing. Next week's could go either way as yet.

[fish]

So what you're saying is "It's not my favourite". Am I catching your drift here?

UKTV had another Cybermen in Victorian London episode last night.
I got there after it started so I don't know what it was called.
David Tennant as the Doc, without an assistant and with some dude as another Doc. Only he wasn't really, he was just some guy who'd gone into shock at the demise of his wife and son and had been "beamed" by this little ray thingy with images of DW's history, so he just assumed it was his own life/lives.

I liked the 2nd Doc's sonic screwdriver. Just an ordinary one but when he hit something with it it made a noise, therefore by definition making it sonic.

Good guys won in the end. Turns out the "beam" was also good for zapping cybermen.

[Ian]

Yeah, that one was crap too.

[Ian]

Saw Doctor Who - The End of Time Part 2 last night. Mm, not bad but not great either. Better than part 1 , but still overlong and very convoluted but reasonable entertainment for the most part. The Rassilon thing was baffling (meaningless for non-fans, and WTF? for fans), as was what the hell that whole ghost woman thing was about. The regeneration was the longest in history, but worked for the most part - providing it is the last we're going to see of all these companions in Who, and a genuine end of an era, otherwise it's just Journeys End all over again - and it almost made me sad. Almost. Fact is, though, I've never fully taken to Tennant (way too bloody emo for my liking) and am baffled by the almost hysterical cult that seems to have sprung up around him. Smith looks promising from the trailer, and hopefully he'll have some better scripts to back him up too. A bit more thought and plot and a bit less spectacle and crying, please Mr Moffat.