Wednesday 21 April 2010

Stargate Universe More on it

I am more amazed than ever that supposedly sensible right thinking people like SGU.

It's boring, dull, un-inventive and over all fucking irritating. I'm not going to apologise for swearing because times like this it's the only viable option. Every problem they come across is suddenly solved by the biggest Deux Ex Mechanic in the business (the ship did it, again) and the crap doesn't stop there.

For one will everyone stop pretending Fly on the wall cameras are a good idea. I got a bellyful from Cloverfield and BSG and those were years ago. The fad is over, thank you and good night. Now fork over £20 and buy a damn tripod to go with those hand held cameras. Failing that push the boat out and film on something that has the faintest whiff of professionalism and find someone to hold them still for more than five minutes .

Next, for those of you taking notes, draft some writers that haven't burnt out after 15 years of SG-1 and Atlantis. Sorry to say they've had their time. They did a good job back in the day but they're used up, all writers get that way after awhile. Give them a holiday and leave them out to pasture. After a quick rest, maybe a year or two, they can come back refreshed and contribute new ideas. Or advise the new guys on the direction planned and accept that it might have been a bad idea to begin with. Anyone remember Star Trek Voyager and Enterprise, where a lot of the same people involved in Next Gen stayed on. Remember what happened to those shows, how no matter what new twists they put on the concept it was stale and more than a little shit. Yep Universe is, to me, the Enterprise of Stargate. I like to pretend it doesn't exist.

Finally, and this is the biggy, give me people and characters to like! Don't make the women whores that sleep with anyone and the men selfish arrogant arseholes that put their own wants above... I don't know, surviving! I am NOT kidding here, one woman shags every man she meets on the ship. The amateur doctor went as far as having an affair with her CO and the senators daughter, not four days after her father spaces himself for the greater good (he was of course dying already so A:- he didn't have a choice and B:- he wasn't a main character), jumps the bones of a two timing lieutenant who has an illegitimate child with a third woman who was sixteen at the time and now works as a pole dancer to support the boy. This reads like a hackneyed Soap Opera. Then add the concept that the CO is trying to get back with his wife but his second in command is having an affair with her. I am left waiting for the line;- "Bobby-joe I went back in time and you're my daughter but I love ya. Our child will be raised in a wholesome family that loves one another. I don't mind that you had sex with that squid thing last week, Ah love ya baby." I'm not joking, I honestly expect that to happen sooner or later.

My overall anger at this show can only be expressed in two subtle and understated words "FUCK" and "OFF". This is badly written shit from start to finish, all drama, logic and indeed compassion is missing. Whole story lines, lasting multiple episodes, could be fixed if just one person showed a gram of common sense.

I admit I do like one person. Eli. The shy and nerdy geek. He's every sci-fi fan in this sort of situation, doing his best to keep his head above metaphorical water, but in the end he's useless. Doesn't contribute anything to the overall story and it feels like they are looking for something for him to do. At the moment he's the go between the command staff and the dysfunctional crew, because lord knows we can't have competent crew. The series would be a lot shorter if there was more than two brain cells to rub together across the whole lot of them.

Give me back Firefly, I miss it. In fact I'm going to dig out my DVD's and enjoy the show again. On the same subject I wouldn't mind Farscape getting another chance at a better ending, but don't get me started on that one...

Saturday 17 April 2010

Doctor Who:- Victory of the Daleks

There is never going to be a sci-fi show more quintessentially British than Doctor Who. It's so refreshing to have my culture celebrated, respected. Then we have this episode, which redefines the whole idea.

Winston Churchill, the blitz and Daleks it's an epic idea and I don't know what more to say about it with out spoilers. Last episode I could dance around the subject, here we are dropped in to the story straight away. Even before, from the trail end of the last episode we knew it was the Daleks.

Still there are one or two points I can touch on; We're still seeing cracks, here there and everywhere. We don't know what they mean but they are getting a little worrying. The Daleks are back, and they are here to stay. And finally Amy has forgotten about the Daleks invasion of Earth.

Amy, just what the hell is going on with her? First of all she practically summons the Doctor, then she sets the monitor on the TARDIS into fits, her age doesn't add up (1300+ years old in the 29th Century... that doesn't work mathematically) and now she doesn't know about the Dalek invasion. She's also very clever and has an insight into humanity that even the Doctor misses. She's brilliant, too brilliant. Something very interesting is happening, something very interesting.

Meanwhile the Daleks are reinvented into the Dalek Power Rangers... Drone (red), Strategist (orange), Scientist (blue), Eternal (yellow and what the hell?) and Supreme (white). They are bigger, meaner and nastier than ever. Not worse, that would have been impossible. Unfortunately they don't feel as menacing to me. The bigger they are the clumsier they look. Great big blocky things, I know Daleks aren't supposed to have elegance but these guys just look fat. Fat lumps. Smaller, tighter bodies are a lot more evil sorry they scare me a lot more.

Another problem, one I saw in the last episode too, is cramming everything in. These are Doctor Who stories in the old style. Massive scale, ideas and solutions. Making this a two part-er would have been a good idea. In fact making all of these longer episodes / two or three parters would be a good idea. As it is everything feels rushed and a whirlwind of frantic actions. Alright that doesn't leave us much time to pick holes in the stories (or notice the fact that for the THIRD time running the Editor and Director's have made a complete hash of it.) but come on this was Epic, make it feel right.

Acting on all front's was top notch, I was a little twitchy about the Doctor resorting to violence but in the end it was to prove a point. Gillian does a great job and all the guest actors bring a touch of realism to the roles.

Over all four out of five again. Brilliant but still niggling flaws I hope they iron out soon.

Favourite lines:- too many to count, but I'm using KBO in my vocabulary form now on, so Keep Buggering On!

Saturday 10 April 2010

Doctor Who:- The Beast Below

Watching Stargate Universe and Caprica I was struck at how it always seems that our lead characters are scum. They are almost always driven by selfish needs and wants, without a real care for how they treat those they step on. I think of it as the Anti-trek philosophy, we're not going to work towards a greater good but on a we want so we have ideal. Now give us your sweets

Alright so it's art imitating life because, guess what, we're pretty much all a big bunch of selfish gits and that makes it more realistic. Still I don't like it, there is a fine line between rogue and villain. Han Solo in the first movie (IV:- A New Hope, if you're pedantic) takes his money and sods off. That makes him a bastard and a coward. Then he returns and saves the day, that makes you cheer because he's now a hero. Still you know he won't give the money back. That's why there is the big rant about who shot first. Han shoots first because he's a rogue, he isn't going to give Greedo half a chance. No honour whatsoever, but you love him because he does it for the right reasons. It might be a slippery slope, but that's what makes him more interesting than the goody two shoes who never forgets roses on his wife's birthday.

What does this have to do with the latest Doctor Who episode? Well everything really. What we have here is a spaceship that runs on perhaps the most monumentally heinous act imaginable because there was no other choice. A whole nation, a culture (what we have left of it) forced to chose between destruction and damnation. Literally. It's a monstrous choice and by making it everyone on the ship become monsters themselves. The Doctor's disgust at everyone is palatable, not least because we feel it too. The very idea of enslavement is something we got rid of centuries ago. To torture an innocent creature is horrifying. Still, in the story it's understandable, even if we can't condone it. It's a strong message.

The Doctor knows just how sticky a moral compass can get, he also knows just how slippery a slope you can fall down. He's seen it all and walks the razor's edge of the moral right. We admire him for that, amongst the horror and the darkness he is the beacon of light. He gets cut, every step of the way. Some people can't take it and leave him. Others get cut too deep and the wounds are there forever. That's the moral of this story, what it means.

It shows us that while the US grub around in the grottier parts of humanity, revelling in the dirt and filth in a desperate attempt to stay relevant we here in rainy ol' England acknowledge that side of life, but have grown past it.

I am stunned by the acting from the leads here, Karen Gillian does a wonderful turn as Amy Pond doing what a companion should: be an interesting and complex foil for the Doctor while providing us, the viewer, with exposition. When she makes a massive and potentially devastating mistake you wince, knowing the Doctor both already knew (or suspected) and would deal with it anyway. Then it hits you, she doesn't know him yet. Just like Martha she has no real idea just who she is travelling with.

This is the Doctor, he dug bones out of sand, carved them into chess pieces and challenged Evil itself to a game and won. Imprisoning it for thousands of years. This man saw the fall of Arcadia and is the sole survivor of a war that literately tore reality itself apart. He has seen empires rise and fall. Personally slew the king of the great Star Vampires and has faced the Devil, looking it in the eye as they tumbled into a Black Hole.

Thing is you can believe that, especially from Matt Smith's portrayal. As much as he plays the bumbling, mad, fool there's that hint of something deeper. A man who you would not cross. We saw a glimpse of that in the Eleventh Hour. Here we get something more. A sharp edge hidden under a woven tweed facade. This Doctor has hidden depths, but isn't afraid to use it. I have to admit I was a little flustered early on about him trading on his reputation. I'm glad to see him earning it. The fact that Matt Smith brings all this to the character is a very good sign indeed.

If I was asked to give it a score, however, it would have to be four out of five. As much as I loved it there were a couple of things that niggled me, then again we're still finding our feet. Everyone is still getting used to Matt and Karen and the real fun hasn't started yet, don't forget it took a couple episodes for everyone to get used to Tennent. New Earth (series 2's first episode) wasn't as good as this and it's the closest comparison we've got.

Oh and I have to note my favourite line of this episode... "Six hundred feet down, the heart of the ship. Must be Lancashire." Best part is the Doctor is talking about the mouth of a giant space monster. Ahh, I love being Lancastrian.

Saturday 3 April 2010

Doctor Who:- The Eleventh Hour

As I have said before one, of my all time favourite Doctors was the second one. He was that perfect mix of wacky, authoritarian and adventurer. Always one to get himself neck deep into a problem before pulling a magnificent turn, switching the problem back in on itself. Twisting clever plots back onto the plotters and schemers.

Think Heath Leger's speech as the Joker in The Dark Knight, only the Doctor doesn't use bombs or knifes just his intellect and whatever is handy. It might be a little early, but I get the feeling Moffet likes Troughton's run just as much as I do. There are a lot of overtones, right up to the "Raggedy Doctor" and the inappropriate sarcasm.

Other than the Space hobo, Karren Gillan's Amy Pond reminds me of another Doctor Who main stay. Ace. Ace was fantastic, pretty much the first super feisty companion. She had a big old bag full of high explosives, a baseball bat and enough attitude to take on a Dalek in a fist fight. She'd lose but that wouldn't stop her. Amy might as well have been cut out of the same bolt of cloth, but she's a whole different animal.

Put it this way, Ace would never EVER be a Kiss-o-gram, least of all admit it. She was always little bit shy when it came to that side of the human condition. Even if Amy is still a child at heart she always was fearless. Just what we need, someone who enjoys the adventure just as much as the Doctor. Even if the Doctor is the adventure! No more companion romances like Rose or Martha!

Now for the third character, the TARDIS. It's beautiful, literary gorgeous. It truly is organic and for the first time, in my opinion it looks alien. Not just alien but truly so far beyond anything we can hope to produce. The TARDIS lords it over all the other shows out there, as it should. No more comparisons to Farscape, it really is unique and what the Doctor deserves.

So on to the episode. Actually there's not much more; the foundations of a season long plot arc, alright two and some clever camera trickery. Still a good bit of drama, action and some fantastic acting. What drove this episode was the characters. The good guys and the bad had personality. The villain had a reason to escape, in fact everything had a reason. I'm sure if I watched it a bit longer I'd find a couple of plot holes, but for the life of me the only one I can find right now is how Amy got around without a car in such a small village.

Still It's early days now, let's see how we develop!