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Doctor Who 7.02
Sep. 9th, 2012 08:22 amIn which the author of Cyberman brings back velociraptors, even if they're not called Myfanwy, and the result is surprisingly enjoyable.
( Diinosaurs on a Space Ship )
( Diinosaurs on a Space Ship )
Sep. 9th, 2012
And in other news
Sep. 9th, 2012 01:01 pmA fantastic theory about the final l scene in the recent Breaking Bad episode. I almost hope it's true.
Elementary: saw the pilot, liked the pilot. No, not groundbreaking new television in any way, but you know, before all the kerfuffle about Female Watson OMG How Dare They! started (which made me want to watch the show), my main reason for not intending to tune in was: do I really need yet another version of the bratty jerky genius manchild and his devoted wrangler? Especially since, as far as recent incarnations of Holmes were concerned, I loathed Sherlock in Sherlock (though the second season made me thaw on him somewhat, but he's still my least favourite person on that show), thought the RDJ Holmes was way too much RDJ persona and way too little Holmes, and soured on House the ever unlearning in House rapidly through the later seasons till I stopped watching. One of the more pleasant surprises about Elementary was that this may be a version of the Holmes tale where I can like Holmes again. This is due to no end to the fact that Joan Watson calls him on his bullshit pretty much from the get go and that he seems to listen (of course the show proper may change that but I hope not), so that it's understandable why she would stick around beyond the pilot. If you want to sell me on a friendship as the central element of a show, you need to show me why these people actually are good for each other, not just one of them for the other, and you have to make me like both of them.
(Big obvious exception: Breaking Bad in that the Walter White and Jesse Pinkman relationship is central and deeply dysfunctional, and Walt is increasingly toxic to everyone he's involved with the longer the show goes on, but the relationship remains compelling. This is not least because BB doesn't glorify Walt, nor does it try to tell me Jesse should be glad to work with such a genius.)
Anyway, Joan Watson is a sensible, compassionate and smart (just not genius smart) person as all Watsons should be, with her own traumatic backstory (ditto) and her own life (many Watsons don't get to have one), and while I couldn't see her hanging around with the likes of Greg House or BBC Sherlock, I can buy her deciding Elementary Holmes is worth sticking around after all. So I'm mildly looking forward to the next few episodes.
Spartacus: Vengeance: aka the second season (Spartacus: Blood and Sand being the first, and Spartacus: Gods of the Arena being the prequel). Still trashy yet weirdly compelling and beating everyone's Slave AUs ever for over the top baroqueness. Between all the gore (now with new ways of decapitation), it does a surprisingly good job introducing new characters and making the audience care for them as well for previously introduced but barely sketched ones, who now get fleshed out, no pun intended, and while I doubt it would pass the Bechdel test as far as conversations without a man being in some way a topic is concerned, it has a lot of interesting women, and they get plenty of character development. Also, not surprisingly given the premise of the show, a very high death rate for both genders, so that bit where they're good in introducing new characters comes in rather handy. ( Spoilery details beneath the cut. )
Elementary: saw the pilot, liked the pilot. No, not groundbreaking new television in any way, but you know, before all the kerfuffle about Female Watson OMG How Dare They! started (which made me want to watch the show), my main reason for not intending to tune in was: do I really need yet another version of the bratty jerky genius manchild and his devoted wrangler? Especially since, as far as recent incarnations of Holmes were concerned, I loathed Sherlock in Sherlock (though the second season made me thaw on him somewhat, but he's still my least favourite person on that show), thought the RDJ Holmes was way too much RDJ persona and way too little Holmes, and soured on House the ever unlearning in House rapidly through the later seasons till I stopped watching. One of the more pleasant surprises about Elementary was that this may be a version of the Holmes tale where I can like Holmes again. This is due to no end to the fact that Joan Watson calls him on his bullshit pretty much from the get go and that he seems to listen (of course the show proper may change that but I hope not), so that it's understandable why she would stick around beyond the pilot. If you want to sell me on a friendship as the central element of a show, you need to show me why these people actually are good for each other, not just one of them for the other, and you have to make me like both of them.
(Big obvious exception: Breaking Bad in that the Walter White and Jesse Pinkman relationship is central and deeply dysfunctional, and Walt is increasingly toxic to everyone he's involved with the longer the show goes on, but the relationship remains compelling. This is not least because BB doesn't glorify Walt, nor does it try to tell me Jesse should be glad to work with such a genius.)
Anyway, Joan Watson is a sensible, compassionate and smart (just not genius smart) person as all Watsons should be, with her own traumatic backstory (ditto) and her own life (many Watsons don't get to have one), and while I couldn't see her hanging around with the likes of Greg House or BBC Sherlock, I can buy her deciding Elementary Holmes is worth sticking around after all. So I'm mildly looking forward to the next few episodes.
Spartacus: Vengeance: aka the second season (Spartacus: Blood and Sand being the first, and Spartacus: Gods of the Arena being the prequel). Still trashy yet weirdly compelling and beating everyone's Slave AUs ever for over the top baroqueness. Between all the gore (now with new ways of decapitation), it does a surprisingly good job introducing new characters and making the audience care for them as well for previously introduced but barely sketched ones, who now get fleshed out, no pun intended, and while I doubt it would pass the Bechdel test as far as conversations without a man being in some way a topic is concerned, it has a lot of interesting women, and they get plenty of character development. Also, not surprisingly given the premise of the show, a very high death rate for both genders, so that bit where they're good in introducing new characters comes in rather handy. ( Spoilery details beneath the cut. )
