Merry Christmas!

Time for me to say goodbye for a while as I tootle off to places afar. I leave the Enterprise in my friend's capable hands solo and wish you all a Merry Christmas! :D

Review - The Prisoner: Hammer, Darling, Schizoid & Checkmate

The Prisoner wraps up it's story with the remaining four episodes, in America shown as two double episodes over two consecutive nights. Truth to tell this was probably a good idea as the story arc is just a little too obscure to be able to pick up on if you were watching them over a month. Nontheless...

Hammer - The Prisoner is ordered by 2 to join 909 in spying on the rest of the Village, looking for "dreamers" who appear to believe that there is another world outside the Village. However, as the story progresses, the Prisoner discovers that 909 is spying on both him and 313 and in order to protect the woman he is starting to develop a relationship with, the Prisoner learns that 909 is engaged in a slightly concerning homesexual relationship with 2's son 1112. However as 2 is on the verge of learning the same thing, 1112 takes some rather disturbing action to protect his secret and the Prisoner discovers that absolutely everyone in the Village is a spy for 2.

Although called Hammer, this episode seems to reflect more the original series episode Checkmate, where the Prisoner there tried to learn the difference between prisoners and guards. This episode has an intriguing idea, but the problem with the story is that it is almost too obscure to understand what is going on, and to offset this, we are presented with the odd scene that seems there for nothing but shock value (notably the teacher slitting his own throat, and the child 1000-100 being sent away for "treatment"). Strangely enough the original episode concept would have been fantastic too see, and even though there are a few moments where 2 becomes slightly paranoid by the possibility that someone is spying on him, there is never any real doubt that 2 is in complete control, and the Prisoner remains under his thumb. I think the other disappointing thing is that, in the original, this was the only episode where the Prisoner actually managed to get one up on Number 2. Sadly in this series, the Prisoner never achieves that, and so it's a little like six relentless episodes in a row. Would have been nice for a win just once.

Darling - In the last episode a hole appeared in the backyard of 147 and now another has turned up outside 2's residence. Something very strange is going on in the Village. Meanwhile, the Prisoner is a little surprised to find the woman from his other life turn up in the Village as his perfect match - though now strangely blind - and as the two fall in love, it's wedding bells in the air, though 313 is less than happy about the situation - and seems to know far more about it than she is letting on.

Once again despite the episode title, the concept seems to refelct more of the original series episode A, B And C rather than the episode it gets its title from. There are more and more themes coming through now, and the whole series is starting to become more interlinked, what with the holes in the ground, 2's wife and Lucy appearing in both the Village and the Prisoner's real world and 1112's continuing disillusionment with the Village and his father's actions. Darling is the better of the two episodes shown together, but there is still a lot of confusion with the episodes, and not in terms of the story arc, but in terms of what is actually happening in the episode. A little more script editing would help make the confusing intriguing rather than just frustrating. The other thing that is noticeable about these episodes is that sound quality of the episodes. More often than not, it is necessary to work out what is happening by the actions rather than the dialogue which is mumbled and incoherent.

Schizoid - The Prisoner has a double who is all animal, while he himself has become the voice of reason. When 6 times 2 threatens to kill 2, the Prisoner warns the head of the Village, only to find 2 has become un-2 and is now wandering around the Village breaking all the rules. Meanwhile, 313 is conflicted, more and more holes appear in the Village and in the other world the Prisoner goes back to his old workplace and is a little surprised to find that everyone in the Village is being monitored by his company.

Good stuff, from this episode, though it borrows a little from Fight Club, most noticeably when people have various conversations with 6 times 2 and un-2 only for another angle of the scene to show us that they are actually talking to no one. Possibly. Schizoid manages to achieve what Harmony and Darling failed to, and that is to confuse without muddling or frustrating. What helps is that it is becoming clearer that there is obviously something a lot more to the events leading up to the Prisoner's entry into the Village and that that has a great deal of significance to the Village itself. I don't know whether or not there was actually another 6, or whether it was a strange fight club style storyline, but I don't really care. The themes of the episode are far more important, and the development of the characters of 2 and 6 is what is really pushing the story. With one episode to go, the series has hit its stride.

Checkmate - In the real world, the Prisoner learns everything and is made an offer he can't refuse, while in the Village, 1112 ends everything; the holes continue to open with abandon and 2 has a revelation that will solve everything.

If this series has anything in common with its predecessor, it's that the ending is extremely confusing. It took me a good half hour of thinking after the film to put everything in order and while I was getting a Life On Mars (US) vibe about the whole show, the ending was completely and radically different to its former self (well, it would have to be, wouldn't it?). That said, in some ways the ending is exactly the same - the Prisoner appears to escape without actually escaping at all. I could explain more, but to do that gives away the plot and twist which I've deliberately tried not to do. It's brilliant performances all round, particularly Ruth Wilson, and the series' end is nicely murky. However, I'm not sure I entirely liked it - the fact we have had what seemed a relatively grounded series that suddenly takes a leap into the complete fantasy doesn't entirely sit comfortably for me, and that's probably where the Life On Mars (US) vibe comes from.

I'm not entirely certain that The Prisoner has worked, but I do think that it was a brave attempt to redo the series with a modern vibe. It's certainly worth watching, but satisfying? Probably not.

Review - The Sarah Jane Adventures

Sarah's back for two final adventures, bringing her third series to a close (but don't worry - it seems everybody at Upper Boat studios is pretty dead certain that there will be a fourth). So let's see how things went...

Mona Lisa's Revenge - After the somewhat lacklustre The Eternity Trap, Sarah and co return in an adventure that is, frankly, just barking. In a good way. It turns out that when Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa, he borrowed paint from a mad neighbour and that paint contained an alien entity which has taken the form of the Mona Lisa. All things told we should probably be glad that the fourth Doctor destroyed the other six copies that were painted by Leo at the time...
However, here we have Mona Lisa brought to life on a trip to England now that she is in the presence of her brother who was painted by the mad neighbour. Suranne Jones plays Lisa, and is frankly oozing so much sexuality it almost made me cover my own eyes. When Lisa appears, brandishing a Sontaran blaster, it seems she wants to shag Clyde rotten; but would probably then go an eat him. Meanwhile Sarah and Luke have had a falling out so that - in a brilliant cliffhanger to part one - when Sarah ends up inside a painting, it is up to the kids to save the day.

Anybody keeping count would realise that of the four episodes remaining, K-9 must turn up in both this story and the next, and he does indeed pop up in part two, though it's more of a cameo, and technically it's not really K-9, but I won't explain that comment because it will give away the ending. Nonetheless this story is a strong one and with the regulars on top notch and both Suranne Jones and other guest Jeff Rawle bringing generous slicings of ham to their characters, the truth is you can't help but adore this story. Let's hope Mona Lisa will make a return at some point.

The Gift - The Slitheen are back, once again with a bizarre plan to destroy Earth and make money, but rather surprisingly, they are beaten in the pretitle sequence of part one, and by the much mentioned but never seen Blathereen who are pretty much brown Slitheen. Everyone except Rani is suspicious of the new arrivals, particularly when they have a plant that will end starvation on Earth. Honestly, has Rani learnt nothing? Looking sexy is not much good if you don't have a brain, girl!

Yup, the plant is bad and soon sets out to envelop the planet and it turns out that the Blathereen are just like their cousins. Voiced by Miriam Margolyes and Simon Callow, the Blathereen have wonderful voices, and while Luke is again out of action (the GCSE's had to be done this year, so Tommy Knight takes a back seat often this season), Rani and Clyde, together with the formidable K-9 set out to save the world. Which they do, possibly unsurprisingly.

Sarah does have some fun when she manages to defeat the Blathereen, and the wonderful bitchiness between Mr Smith and K-9 continues as the two individually confess to Clyde that they frankly can't stand the other. Nonetheless the solution to the problem comes more from good luck than any actual planning by anyone, and that's a bit of a disappointment as it seems that the characters don't actually do anything proactive to save the day. Nonetheless, there is some great dialogue, but this story is probably down the bottom of the list of the series this year.
So, SJA is over for another year, but it's been a very successful year and it seems that the cast has benefitted from consistency this time around. The addition of K-9 has worked marvels and hopefully he'll return again next year on the same semi-permanent basis. Setting up the Trickster as Sarah's nemesis is a great thing, and the link to Doctor Who worked really well, distracting from neither programme. Ultimately everything that was experimented with this year has worked really well, and the show should continue in this direction. For a kid's programme, this is one of the finest things on television!

Review - The Prisoner: Arrival & Harmony

It's been exactly forty years since The Prisoner appeared on television screens, starring a particularly acerbic Patrick McGoohan, arguably playing his Danger Man character, now locked away in a rather beautiful Welsh holiday resort where a variety of "Number 2"'s attempted to find out why he resigned, or just forcing him to conform. Forty years later and a considerably less acerbic Jim Caviezel is imprisoned in a rather beautiful holiday resort somewhere in the deserts of Africa, under the thumb of Number 2 - Ian McKellan only. Quite why, at this point, though, remains a mystery.

When I heard about the remake of the Prisoner, I have to admit that I was very, very wary. The original programme was something iconic, almost so steeped in the sixties that I wondered if it was possible to remake it today. But the whole idea of The Prisoner will always resonate in a society where Big Brother watches, and today it continues to watch us closely. This gave me a little bit of hope for the programme, particularly when I discovered that the programme was going to star Caviezel and McKellan. Then I discovered that the six episodes would be based on six episodes from the original series, and I began to wonder why. But let's try to analyse this programme for it's own beast, rather than the spawn of something else.

We seem to have reached a point in television where the opening episode for any television series is essentially "shit happens". This is to make sure that the audience don't switch over because they need to stay to get those ratings, otherwise everything's all over. The second episode is where the explanations take place and most programmes show the first two episodes back to back so: "shit happens" and the audience is hooked, "everything's explained" and the audience generates enough interest to tune into episode three. Almost seems pointless for a six episode mini-series, but who am I to question televion makers?

The Prisoner gives us our prisoner, waking up in the desert and finding an old man who tells him that escape is possible. From that point on "shit happens", but it's just a little confusing to follow. The Prisoner (Caviezel that is, not the programme) spends an episode trying to find out who the old man was, why he was sent to 554, where he is, it's not possible to escape and everyone is happy to be his friend, though some people may be working for 2 (McKellan). Sound confusing? I did mention it was just a little.

Oh, did I mention on top of that we get vague flashbacks to the Prisoner's life before he left he entered "The Village", including him almost getting a date before he was yanked out of his old life?

I did say I wanted to review this away from it's predecessor, but the truth is that if I hadn't seen the original programme and known how confusing that was, I possibly would have been frustrated beyond belief during this first episode. However, because I was expecting to be confused, I was happy to sit back and let the bits and pieces wash over me that didn't make sense. As I said, the cast are immediately likable - even 2 who is a patriarch rather than a ruler - and it's very easy to engage with them. But after 45 minutes, one is just left with a lot of questions.

Episode 2, Harmony, is a little slower and a little more character driven. 6's past becomes clearer as we discover his job and the fact that the woman he met before he suddenly appeared in the Village was perhaps a little too keen to find out why he resigned. Meanwhile, 2 is not quite as self-composed as he originally seemed to be. His son 1112 is swayed by 6's allegations of an outside world, while 2 admits to 6's psychiatrist that he blames himself for his wife's condition - which is comatose.

But the thrust of this episode is 6's apparent discovery that he has a brother who has a family and worse than that, some meories of his distant past appeared to be fabricated. The whole point of the episode is 6 beginning to question whether the truth is what he believes, or what 2 and the rest of the Village are telling him. By the end, the question is not resolved, and 6's position is a lot worse than it was at the beginning.

From the outset I should say that I am actually really enjoying this new version of The Prisoner, and there are a tonne of nods to fans (the old man at the beginning is dressed as though he stepped out of the original series, people say "Be seeing you" and, most importantly, the Village is protected by the giant white balloon that was originally named "rover"). However, in some ways it seems as though the programme is a an amalgamation of lots of other things; the most notable influence being Lost. Happily the stories bear little resemblance to the 60's stories, and the plot does strike out its own identity from the original (I think for me, one of the most interesting thing is that, in the original, the inhabitants of the Village knew there were prisoners, they just didn't talk about it; whereas here the people genuinely have no concept of the outside world), but rather than getting a separate identity to the original, the programme needs a separate identity from other television programmes today.

I'm still looking forward to the next episodes though.

Review - Doctor Who: The Waters Of Mars

I have a confession to make - I'm not the biggest David Tennant fan in the world. I don't think he does "eccentric" very well, and there are times when he is just too over the top for my liking. That said, he's the only Doctor that can bring me to tears without trying and his impact on the world of Doctor Who is easily up there with Tom Baker's. But my biggest problem is that his Doctor is just so arrogant.

And then I think about it, and I think, is that perhaps a deliberate character trait of Tennant's Doctor? After all, Hartnell, Pertwee, Tom Baker, Colin Baker, even Eccleston to a lesser degree were all very arrogant Doctors. Perhaps the tenth Doctor is the Doctor where the arrogance trait is at the fore. And perhaps it is all planned, because The Waters Of Mars takes the tenth Doctor to his most arrogant and suddenly he is faced with a consequence of his behaviour that he hadn't anticipated. And while we are faced with a story that is freaky-scary, we are suddenly given some character development for the Doctor. And that is what makes The Waters Of Mars, more than anything, a bloody brilliant hour of television.

For the second special of 2009, the Doctor is on Mars where he encounters a group of people that he knows are going to die and he really can't be there, be it because he can't interfere with history, or just because he is aware that his own impending death is coming is never completely made clear, but it doesn't matter because both rules apply. Even as the Doctor is about to say his goodbyes, the water monster has started to infect the crew and soon everyone is on the run to escape and be free.

The cast for this story is uniformly excellent, and I have to say a little kudos to Peter O'Brien, an underrated Australian actor who gets to play an Aussie in this program (and even gets to say "bloody"!) and delivers a wonderfully understated character who clearly has a background with the base commander which is never really explained, but in some ways doesn't have to be - the point is that there is contention between them, and it's never fully resolved, which is nice in some ways because that's life really; it happens.

But it is base commander Adelaide Brook, played by Lindsay Duncan, that gets the "companion" status and it is thorougly deserved. Her performance is absolutely spot on and she eclipses the rest of the cast as a resolute, tough character who has some history that has changed her from what the Doctor knew of her to a by-the-book character with little room for freedom. Adelaide is the oldest companion the Doctor has ever had, and this leads to a couple of nice things; firstly she has was around - as a child - when the Earth was moved across space by the Daleks in "Journey's End" - and this gives us a lot of depth to her character; but also she has a daughter and a granddaughter, both of which give us an immediate emotional connection to her. Finally, Adelaide is like Donna; she doesn't tolerate the Doctor's firm belief in, basically, his own knowledge. But unlike Donna, who questioned the Doctor's decision not to save anyone in Pompeii, Adelaide questions the Doctor's decision to fight history. And that's where we come to David Tennant.

The Doctor walks a dark path in this story as he comes to the decision that he is around, not just as a survivor from the time war, but as the last of the Time Lords and therefore he can set the rules of time for himself. "The laws of time are mine and they will obey me!" he exlaims at one point, and we suddenly see a change in the Doctor's character - he has decided that the ends justify the means, and this is a very different Doctor to what has gone before. The Doctor chooses not only to rewrite a line of history, but to effectively rip out a few pages and replace them. Except history, backed by Adelaide Brooke is prepared to fight back. I won't go any further into the story because the ending is very dark, but very effective, and David Tennant reveals, to me at least, that his portrayal of the Doctor is something that is very carefully planned. Tennant steals this story, and in an exceptional cast with a top English actress, it goes to show why Tennant is one of the highest paid actors in Britain; he's simply brilliant.

For fans, there are nods to continuity in references to the Ice Warriors (phew, continuity is safe!), while I found the special effects, particularly the CGI, to be of a very high standard. Making the water the alien menace is a wonderful idea and no doubt kids across the countryside will be hosing down their friends to take them over. Doctor Who continues to be a production of the highest order and it's easy to see why Doctor Who has assumed a place as one of the top dramas in the UK.

And as for the "Next time" trailer...well...I'm not sure how I can possibly wait for Christmas to come!

Review - Comic: Runaways: Rock Zombies

Although I'm not the Enterprise's resident comic expert, I thought I might take the opportunity to review my latest purchase, which is Runaways: Rock Zombies.

For those not in the know, Runaways deals with a group of super-powered kids who discover that their equally super powered parents are actually a huge group of villians. Over time they've defeated their parents, been chased by the Avengers, befriend Cloak & Dagger and beaten up on Wolverine a number of times. Created by Brian K Vaughan, the series was then written by Joss Whedon and then Terry Moore - who is the author of Rock Zombies. Others have taken up the reigns since then, but the series is rested while Marvel think on it, and Brian K Vaughan is currently scripting the proposed movie, slated for release in 2011. But onto Rock Zombies...

The team have recently returned from the past, bringing with them chlorokinetic Klara. Wild lad Chase has taken a job at a radio station where his boss, unbeknownst to him, is meeting with very powerful wizards for some strange reason. And for alien Karolina, she's now dealing with the departure of her consort Xavin.

So we discover that Chase's boss intends to turn the majority of Malibu into zombies because he's just a little bit ego-inflated; he essentially wants the city to bow down at his feet, and his partners seem more than happy to help. Clearly the motives of the villain aren't astonishingly important to the plot of this book, but I'm not terribly bothered by that, simply because I'm more of a fan of the characters than the plot that they are involved in.

So by that I mean, I love the way that the kids are portrayed as kids, albeit those with super powers. In the opening scenes we see them playing truth and dare, with such dares as attempting to steal the symbol of power from a group of neo-Nazis, and such truths as who is the better kisser. They are just normal kids taking on extra-normal activities. Terry Moore has a nice line of banter for them, and again the hint that Karolina and Nico's relationship might become more than friends is strongly hinted at. These girls are surely destined to be with each other - just get them together for goodness' sake!

Also nicely devoping is how each member of the group are finding their identities within the group, encouraged by the fallout of the group in the last arc; Nico's power is getting greater and greater; Chase - the only powerless one - is becoming more of the group's benefactor; while Molly is now no longer the youngest member (at heart anyway) and has started to mother Klara in the same way that Karolina and Nico mother her. The group, of course, work wonderfully together and the zombies are quickly defeated, but that's to be expected.

Perhaps the only let down for this arc is that there is still no resolution to the hints that have been laid about the return of a character from some time ago - a past Runaway. Perhaps I'm just being antsy, but this story arc was laid down in the Whedon era, and Moore seems content to just completely ignore it.

One thing I'd like to mention about Rock Zombies is Takeshi Miyazawa's art. I find that Miyazawa's art really suits Runaways; his slightly more anime style lends towards a more cartoony feel that seems to fit with the Runaways rather well. It just makes the whole thing work in a way that some of the previous artists haven't quite managed to achieve. I desperately hope that Miyazawa stays on, but even as I write this I know that both he and Moore have been replaced, which is a little disappointing.
All in all, another serviceable entry into the Runaways canon - nice character moments, fairly ordinary plot. That's not so bad though.

News From Upper Boat!

Righto! Onto Doctor Who and environs news.

Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures have both begin preliminary work on their fourth series, though it should be stressed that neither series has been greenlighted, and all this preemptive work could be for nothing. But I doubt it somehow :).

Doctor Who - The Waters Of Mars will be broadcast this Sunday at 7 on BBC1 and will be fastracked to Australia to see broadcast on December 6th. The programme stars Lindsay Duncan as the Doctor's one-off companion Adelaide, while being joined by Peter O'Brien (ooo!). Meanwhile, RTD has revealed that a "wonderful and distinguished" Hollywood actor is providing the voice of the alien threat in the final two-parter. Given that John Simm has affirmed he is returning as the Master, this does provide some interesting questions about how the Master will fit into the story if there is an alternative alien threat - or the Master could just be working with them. Either way, the countdown to the end of David Tennant's run is getting more and more exciting.

And finally, it's time to reveiw the latest series of The Sarah Jane Adventures. We are four stories into it, and it's worth taking a little look back over this underrated television program.

Prisoner Of The Judoon sees a Judoon captain arriving on Earth trying to track down his prisoner Androvax, a being that has the ability to take over people's bodies. Towards the end of the first episode he takes over the body of Sarah Jane and as a result the Clyde, Rani and Luke are left to save the day. This does, however, give Elisabeth Sladen the chance to really vamp it up as the Androvax-possessed Sarah, and Clyde has some great scenes with the Judoon captain, slave as he is to the rules of Earth. A brilliant start to series 3.

The Mad Woman In The Attic is a curious little story that is framed by an elderly Rani recalling an adventure some fifty years earlier that resulted in her becoming a veritable hermit in Sarah's attic. The story centers around Rani, who was a little sidelined last episode, and we find that as she gets a little jealous of everyone's excitement over chatting to Maria (nicely remembered), she goes off to have her own adventure and, of course, is soon followed by her friends as the situation gets a little out of hand. In fact this is another great adventure, the main "villain" as it were, not being a villain at all, just badly misunderstood and it's strangely nice to see the group dealing with a situation that doesn't involve vicious aliens. More exciting, of course, is the return of K9 to the series on a more permanent basis. Another top story.

The Wedding Of Sarah Jane Smith is the story we were all looking forward to as worlds collided with the Trickster attempting to alter Sarah's life for a third time, this time using the rather brilliant Nigel Havers portraying Peter Dalton to marry and change Sarah's future. But of course a change of this nature sees Rani, Luke, Clyde and K9 teaming up with none other than the Doctor himself. It's an absolutely brilliant story, and for some reason seeing the Doctor through Clyde and Rani's eyes is a very heartwarming experience; you can't help but want the Doctor to give them a little journey at the end. Even more entertaining, however, is the bitchiness between K9 and Mr Smith, the two sniping at each other like a couple of queens. The best of the series so far, and not just for the fanwank appearance of the Doctor.
The Eternity Trap is an odd number, and I can't help but wonder why it wasn't swapped in order with TWOSJS as it is a very Halloween inspired story about ghost hunting in a haunted house. Luke, K9 and Mr Smith sit this adventure out, and while Clyde and Rani deliver some appalling puns about ghosts, the whole story is quite spooky and enormously well filmed. The second episode doesn't quite deliver what the first episode promises which is a little disappointing, and Donald Sumpter's performance as the villainous Erasmus Darkening is one you'll either love or hate. Not a bad story, and loaded with atmosphere, but you can't help feeling it should be just a litte better.

FINALLY (whew!), the first episode of K9 - Regeneration - was broadcast on Halloween, and it's a curious little beast. None of the performances are bad, and the children are actually quite good, though given that it is filmed in Brisbane, and there are scenes where this is clearly obvious, it's a shame that it's set in London and everyone delivers English accents. Would have been nice to see a Doctor Who series set in Australia for a change. The story is somewhat simple, and you can't help but compare it to The Sarah Jane Adventures which has more complex stories. As a result K9 feels it is talking down to the audience a little, which is a great shame. However, it's still not a bad little opener and I look forward to viewing the rest of it next year!