Good old Amazon pre-orders, getting the DVD to me on Saturday, two days before release.
Meglos is a 1980 tale featuring Tom Baker's Doctor. This was in his final season and the adventures were a lot darker and sciency. If any of Doctor Who has ever been science-fiction (which I don't believe that it is), this is it. However Meglos presents us with an anomaly, in the sense that it's a fairly light-hearted tale.
First of all, Meglos himself is an evil cactus, a concept that is bizarre even for Doctor Who. In the first episode it's very difficult to take this talking cactus seriously, as you can understand. However when the cactus steals the body of a human, we begin to see the sinister side, even more so when he alters his form to look like the Doctor!
For the first half of the story the Doctor does very little, there's certainly more of a focus on Meglos, the space pirates that he has enlisted the help of and the religion vs science argument that the planet Tigella's society seems to have as the prominent aspect of its planets culture. It's quite worrying to see that all the scientists are blond-haired and blue-eyed whilst the religious Deons are not.
The story is simple enough. Meglos steals something to power his weapon, crippling a planet in the process as the power source is required to power everything on their planet. The Doctor, Romana, K9 and a couple of the Aryan-looking scientists have to follow Meglos back to his home planet to stop the weapon from being fired. All the time the Doctor and Meglos are identical, each impersonating each other to confuse the Tigellans and the Space Pirates. This leads to a number of comic moments. When the two 'Doctors' eventually meet each other the comedy however turns to silliness. By this stage teh Doctor and Meglos are deadly enemies and should be locked in mortal combat, however they spend most of their time complimenting good looks.
There are some odd bits of writing and direction throughout. The fact that the Doctor, Romana and K9 don't even leave the TARDIS until part two should be disturbing, however the space pirates and Meglos provide enough action to keep the pace going. This is unfortunately canceled out by the tediousness of the science vs religion debates on Tigella, the same scene is repeated about five times in different parts of the Tigellan city.
The final episode, despite being entertaining, is a total mess. Lexa, leader of the Deons, played by original companion actress Jacqueline Hill, is killed off in the stupidest of ways. A space pirate that we thought was dead shoots her before actually dying. the scene is rushed and there is no tension at all, when something could easily be made from it, especially when you consider the episode's strangely low running time.
There is also the ending. A rushed scene back on Tigella after the destruction of the dodecahedron (the infinite power source) where the locals have changed their minds about attempting to inhabit the surface, that is covered by the unconvincing killer Bell Planes, and have started to do a bit of gardening.
Meglos is a rushed mess, yet it is still strangely watchable and enjoyable. The acting is on a surprisingly high level, mainly due to Tom Baker playing both the Doctor and Meglos for the majority of the story. There are some questionable moments by the space pirates but nothing that removes the viewer from the story. It's a dark story told in a surprisingly comic way. The only real letdown is the shortness of three of the episodes, all of which are considerably below running time, episode four taking up only 18 of the 25 minutes. If you're willing to overlook things like this then you will find Meglos to be highly enjoyable. 7/10
Monday 10 January 2011
Thursday 6 January 2011
The Wire
After my doubtful review of the first episode I plodded on and watched a few more and I have to say that my opinion has completely changed. It really is top-notch stuff. Looks like I'm in for all 5 series...
Monday 3 January 2011
Doctor Who - A Christmas Carol
It's taken me a while to review this, purely because I didn't feel I could talk about it without watching it for a second time. It was just simply too barmy to review after seeing it half-drunk and ill with gossiping relatives in the background on Christmas Day. So after a re watch, here's what I think...
As I already said, barmy. The episode single-handedly threw out about 7 established rules of Doctor Who, much as did the finale to the previous series.
Kazran was the villain of the piece. Or was he? We discover quite early on that it's not necessarily Kazran's fault that he's the miserable bugger that he is, but his fathers. Michael Gambon plays both characters excellently, but he was never going to be anything different.
Katherine Jenkin made her acting debut as the two-dimensional Abigail. Jenkins didn't give the greatest performance ever. The best advice to her would be to stick to singing to the troops. At least the previous two singers in the series (Billie Piper and Kylie) were able to act. On the plus side for Jenkins, she's probably the better singer.
The story itself was engaging if not different. Smith's Doctor decided to have a bit of fun whilst converting Kazran to his way of thinking. Tennant's Doctor would have simply screamed, shouted and used the word 'huuuuumans' a few too many times to get his way.
Keeping Amy and Rory out of the majority of the story was a good idea. We were yet to see Smith's Doctor working on his own. Gloing off evidence of past companionless stories and the way Smith did for 3/4 of ACC, a case for a companionless series could actually be starting to form. Although let's let Amy and Rory's characters to flow their natural course first.
A Christmas Carol was a very mixed bag. It was all over the place and nowhere near generic Doctor Who as many of the previous Christmas specials have been. But it was good. Probably the best Moffat has been since he took over the series, with the possible exception of last series Angels 2 parter. Very enjoyable and light-hearted as a Christmas special should be, A Christmas Carol is worthy of an 8/10, making it considerably better than a fair bulk of the last series.
As I already said, barmy. The episode single-handedly threw out about 7 established rules of Doctor Who, much as did the finale to the previous series.
Kazran was the villain of the piece. Or was he? We discover quite early on that it's not necessarily Kazran's fault that he's the miserable bugger that he is, but his fathers. Michael Gambon plays both characters excellently, but he was never going to be anything different.
Katherine Jenkin made her acting debut as the two-dimensional Abigail. Jenkins didn't give the greatest performance ever. The best advice to her would be to stick to singing to the troops. At least the previous two singers in the series (Billie Piper and Kylie) were able to act. On the plus side for Jenkins, she's probably the better singer.
The story itself was engaging if not different. Smith's Doctor decided to have a bit of fun whilst converting Kazran to his way of thinking. Tennant's Doctor would have simply screamed, shouted and used the word 'huuuuumans' a few too many times to get his way.
Keeping Amy and Rory out of the majority of the story was a good idea. We were yet to see Smith's Doctor working on his own. Gloing off evidence of past companionless stories and the way Smith did for 3/4 of ACC, a case for a companionless series could actually be starting to form. Although let's let Amy and Rory's characters to flow their natural course first.
A Christmas Carol was a very mixed bag. It was all over the place and nowhere near generic Doctor Who as many of the previous Christmas specials have been. But it was good. Probably the best Moffat has been since he took over the series, with the possible exception of last series Angels 2 parter. Very enjoyable and light-hearted as a Christmas special should be, A Christmas Carol is worthy of an 8/10, making it considerably better than a fair bulk of the last series.
Next Up...
I'm either going to give Babylon 5, The Wire, 24 or The X-files a look. I'll probably watch the first 2 or 3 episodes from each one and decide then. I'll report back soon. In the meantime, feel free to throw in some suggestions...
Deep Space 9 Final Opinions
The last episode of DS9 was interesting to say the least. Damar should have had more of a death rather than just stupidly running out and getting himself killed. Bashir and Garak's final scene was beautiful. Garak, finally having what he's wanted all the way through, realizes that it wasn't worth it in the end.
Bashir is the character I feel sorriest for. He loses both Miles and Garak, two people that have been his best friends on DS9. Although Ezri does a damn good job of making up for it.
Not moved at all by Worf's departure and it seemed that none of the crew were either, considering that Ezri waving from a balcony was the best goodbye they could muster.
Odo's departure was tragic but very predictable. It's always been made clear that he'd return home if his people weren't a bunch of empire-ruling psychopaths. Interestingly, the Dominion still exists in the Gamma Quadrant as it was only their army on Cardassia that was defeated. In series 6 we knew that they were cloning new troops in the Alpha Quadrant and one can assume that it was they who surrendered on Cardassia. The dominion isn't beaten, just simply shoved back to their side of the wormhole.
Dukat's death was a bit rushed and seemed tacked on to the end. It's a shame that he only got a scene back in Cardassian form. It'd have been criminal to let him die a Bajoran when that look simply took away his evilness. I'd love to know how Sisco suddenly decided to run for the fire caves suddenly, but there'll never be an answer. Weyoun's death was also rushed, Garak suddenly flicking into war-crime mode for a moment wasn't exactly out of character but it could have been handled a tad better. All deaths seemed a bit rushed really, considering that these characters have been villains all the way through or certainly for a good proportion of the series.
Keiko had a mercifully short role in the finale. A total bitch on her first appearance and just about the only character that didn't develop at all. How Miles didn't brutally murder her at some point I'll never know. Just the irritating "Mooooiiiiles" that she starts every complaining sentence with would be enough to drive anyone over the edge. Interesting how the series only letdowns are carryovers from The Next Generation.
The lack of Rom and Leeta in the finale was a shame. Both characters did have their stories tied up in the previous episode but an appearance would have been nice. As would a few clips of Jadzia in the ending montage, she was a main character for 6 of the 7 series after all...
So overall it was good, which is an accurate description for the entire series. There were moments of sheer amazement, such as the series 5 cliffhanger. However there were some moments of pure tedium, usually involving boring Klingons. The characters were engaging and for the most part it was well written. There were a few loose-ends that were left untied but anything of importance seems to have been cleared up. Overall the series gets an 7/10. I daresay that'd be a considerably higher mark if there were two things absent from it: Klingons and Keiko. However if you are able to get past these and the usual crap that comes with any Star Trek, it can be a very enjoyable and rewarding series for the viewer.
Bashir is the character I feel sorriest for. He loses both Miles and Garak, two people that have been his best friends on DS9. Although Ezri does a damn good job of making up for it.
Not moved at all by Worf's departure and it seemed that none of the crew were either, considering that Ezri waving from a balcony was the best goodbye they could muster.
Odo's departure was tragic but very predictable. It's always been made clear that he'd return home if his people weren't a bunch of empire-ruling psychopaths. Interestingly, the Dominion still exists in the Gamma Quadrant as it was only their army on Cardassia that was defeated. In series 6 we knew that they were cloning new troops in the Alpha Quadrant and one can assume that it was they who surrendered on Cardassia. The dominion isn't beaten, just simply shoved back to their side of the wormhole.
Dukat's death was a bit rushed and seemed tacked on to the end. It's a shame that he only got a scene back in Cardassian form. It'd have been criminal to let him die a Bajoran when that look simply took away his evilness. I'd love to know how Sisco suddenly decided to run for the fire caves suddenly, but there'll never be an answer. Weyoun's death was also rushed, Garak suddenly flicking into war-crime mode for a moment wasn't exactly out of character but it could have been handled a tad better. All deaths seemed a bit rushed really, considering that these characters have been villains all the way through or certainly for a good proportion of the series.
Keiko had a mercifully short role in the finale. A total bitch on her first appearance and just about the only character that didn't develop at all. How Miles didn't brutally murder her at some point I'll never know. Just the irritating "Mooooiiiiles" that she starts every complaining sentence with would be enough to drive anyone over the edge. Interesting how the series only letdowns are carryovers from The Next Generation.
The lack of Rom and Leeta in the finale was a shame. Both characters did have their stories tied up in the previous episode but an appearance would have been nice. As would a few clips of Jadzia in the ending montage, she was a main character for 6 of the 7 series after all...
So overall it was good, which is an accurate description for the entire series. There were moments of sheer amazement, such as the series 5 cliffhanger. However there were some moments of pure tedium, usually involving boring Klingons. The characters were engaging and for the most part it was well written. There were a few loose-ends that were left untied but anything of importance seems to have been cleared up. Overall the series gets an 7/10. I daresay that'd be a considerably higher mark if there were two things absent from it: Klingons and Keiko. However if you are able to get past these and the usual crap that comes with any Star Trek, it can be a very enjoyable and rewarding series for the viewer.
Sunday 2 January 2011
Up to the last episode of DS9...
The 8 episodes of the finale so far have been fantastic. I was starting to get bored at the start of the seventh series, it felt like the series was re-treading ground from series 1 and 2, especially with the shape shifter episodes.
Yet again the light-hearted ones were the best, with Badda-Bing Badda-Bang being the best. Vic Fontane truly was an inspired character. It almost seemed daft making Ezri a as Vic seemed to do a better job. 90 minutes for the series to tie up a hell of a lot of loose ends.
Most of all I hope that Dukat taken on Cardassian form again. At the end he should die as a Cardassian, not a Bajoran. That's if he dies at all. This series has been so much like Blake's 7 throughout that it wouldn't surprise me if he didn't make an appearance at all, just like Servelan.
Yet again the light-hearted ones were the best, with Badda-Bing Badda-Bang being the best. Vic Fontane truly was an inspired character. It almost seemed daft making Ezri a as Vic seemed to do a better job. 90 minutes for the series to tie up a hell of a lot of loose ends.
Most of all I hope that Dukat taken on Cardassian form again. At the end he should die as a Cardassian, not a Bajoran. That's if he dies at all. This series has been so much like Blake's 7 throughout that it wouldn't surprise me if he didn't make an appearance at all, just like Servelan.
Saturday 1 January 2011
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