Yeah, Siskoid, what happened to your weekly review of the new V series? Well, you see, what happened is Tuesday came, and I was sitting in the living room, and I sort of chose not to watch it.
1088. The Last Verse
REVIEW: The two stories end with criminals being vindicated and the real villains revealed. In the case of the Riker story, it's a big action set piece that's let down by the art. At one point, Riker destroys part of a bridge that is still there in following panels. The doctor story, on the other hand, has plotting problems. It's just an endless babble-a-thon as people retread or reveal wholesale incriminating clues about the culprit. Much of it was set up in an issue that you'd have read a month earlier, not that much of it left a mark on me TWO DAYS AGO. Boring and not very pretty to look at.
With its newest revision, About Time 3 has just gone from the slimmest volume in the series to the fattest, from 180 pages to more than 500 in fact! Flipping through, I don't think there's any section or essay on the 3rd Doctor's adventures that hasn't been revised, rewritten or expanded. I don't regret buying it at all, and can read it cover to cover without feeling like I've read it all before. While I was shopping at Mad Norwegian Press, I also picked up Time Unincorporated volume 1, featuring fanzine articles and book treatments by Lance Parkin (of Ahistory fame).
DVDs: Kung Fu Fridays brought us Once Upon a Time in China II, in which Jet Li reprises his role as Wong Fei Hong, this time fighting a strange cult of Westerner-haters as well as the Manchurian regime, just trying to keep his country stable. Though comparable to the first movie in terms of entertainment, I think this one's just a notch easier to follow. Not enough Donnie Yen though! Picture quality is only marginally better than the first film - Tristar didn't do much to help these along. And no extras to speak of (the DVD puts the "English dubbed version" in the special features though).
I also flipped Doctor Who's The War Games, a massive DVD release that includes 2 and half hours of extras in addition to the 10-part story (3 discs). The War Games is mostly remembered for the first mention and appearance of the Time Lords, and as Patrick Troughton's last story (Jamie and Zoe's too). But that's the last episode. Before that is a sweeping epic that takes you through various historical wars and some mad futuristic sets, and Philip Madoc's War Lord is one of the better acted villains of the era. It doesn't even feel like 10 episodes, moving along quite nicely. In addition to the usual stuff, the DVD also includes features on black and white television, regeneration, 2nd Doctor comics, Malcolm Hulke's Target novelizations, Pertwee's bits from the Devious fan video, and more. Great package. (The Easter Eggs are for completists only, like 20 minutes of sound taken from location filming.)
Big Finish Doctor Who audios: Gareth Roberts is always good for whacky fun and though I thought of steering clear of an audio called Bang-Bang-a-Boom, I thought it was great fun. A complete parody of Star Trek (Dark Space 8 shows some obvious roots), it features the 7th Doctor and Mel posing as fleet officers at an interstellar singing contest / telepathic peace conference, and memorably, an alien opera singer putting the moves on the good Doctor. I wasn't TOO sure about the sentient hamster's voice, but you see what I mean about wacky. Surprisingly, they don't get Bonnie Langford to sing, which I would have thought would have been the whole point.
Rob Shearman's Jubilee was up next. Though Shearman famously reworked this 6th Doctor/Evelyn story into New Who's "Dalek", it doesn't have that much in common with it. The tortured Dalek, yes, but there's a whole lot more craziness on show in the audio. There's an alternate timeline, a completely psychotic guest cast, and a paradox I don't think I can explain. The script is Bob Holmesian in its wry humor and well crafted satire, and there aren't too many Daleks (which, in large numbers, tend to irritate the listener). "Dalek" remains the tighter, more heartfelt story, but Jubilee is funnier and more epic in its scope. It's also got at least one jaw-dropping cliffhanger.
After those two, The Dark Flame by Trevor Baxendale, featuring the 7th Doctor, Ace and Benny turned out to be a disappointment. It's just... ordinary. And we get so few audios set during the New Adventures that I wish it could have been more. The plot revolves around a resurrected force from the beginning/end of time and seems grandiose enough to fit the NA era, but there's little here we haven't seen/heard before in other Doctor Whos. Benny's flippant humor gets old very fast and the villains are two-dimensional.
Improv: Had myself half a tour this week. I couldn't do the last four out of nine shows because of an event I had to help prep for Saturday. An event that got postponed as it turned out, which makes me a gloomy gus indeed. What we do is basically improvised one-hour plays in schools based on class suggestions or set dressing we find in situ. The only show I participated in worth mentioning on this blog is a fantasy epic in which a court jester becomes the unlikeliest of heroes and saves the king's life. Great success, with excellent period costuming, humorous but dynamic battles, and stage magic that really took the kids in. My own dual roles as a master at arms and a manipulative counselor on the side of good were minor, but had nice scenes with the principals.
Michael May's Plump Sister is to The Christmas Carol what my Hyperion to a Satyr is to Hamlet. But while I haven't found time for Hamlet one-offs in popular media, Michael's gone and handed us a Ghostbusters Christmas Carol this week. Give him some love.
1087. Trek to Madworld
REVIEW: Disappointing for a large number of reasons. Most importantly, I think, the book seems to change premise a third into it. The idea of fitting an extra 700 people aboard the Enterprise had promise, and Goldin is particularly adept at having his characters work out problems logically (until the end, that is). Alas, none of this is relevant, because we're whisked into a surreal "comedy" universe at the mercy of a Trelane wannabe. Though meant to be comedy, Goldin's dry style in the opening third (his prose sometimes reads like D&D room descriptions) is a cross-purposes with the rest of the novel's tone. It never becomes funny. Best it can do is whimsy. Just as the opening chapters turn out to be irrelevant, there's a lot more padding to come. Even Kirk is heard to say Enowil's myriad demonstrations become boring after a while, and there's a huge epic starring a non-descript Hero at one point that goes on for pages and pages of who cares. Matika's attempt at sabotage leads her on a side-thread that is just as colorful and irrelevant, especially since her unconvincing romance with the Romulan leads no one to think Enowil is missing LOVE. It's much like her being described as a maverick debater, and then not taking part in the debate scene. Kirk's solution is ok, if not great, but his wish is what takes the cake. If Enowil can do anything, how about just making Epsilon Delta 4 habitable? A lot less convoluted than uprooting a mining colony and dropping them into a Lord of the Rings marathon. I'd still like to read that "stuff 1100 people on the Enterprise story though.
This is it! The double-sized epic blow-out! The Wraith War to end all Wraith Wars! It all ends HERE!
He has to regain the honor lost when he let Rom be killed, but still... Not only should one of Rom's sons get a chance for proper avenging, but it hardly makes sense for the other Knights to respect the duel's conventions when victory is on the line. But what do you expect from a leader who's idea of strategy is this:
Yes. watch your back, Starshine. Especially when the bad guy is on your front. One last cue: THAT MAKES ROM SAD (from now on, you're expected to know when you should just chant those words).
And Firefall actually makes it scream! So much for consistency. Hasn't this sequence already made Rom sad enough?! Apparently not, because Sentry uses the scream as a diversion to finally stick it to his Wraithknight foe. (In space, everyone can hear you scream.)
I love his reaction, but the death blow is all in shadow, anti-climactic at best. THAT MAKES ROM SAD! The Deathwing goes crazy and moves to attack the poor misguided alien fleet, but the Spaceknights still have their hands full with the remaining Wraithknights. Methinks it's time for a deus ex machina, and it comes in the form of Axadar the Neutralizer that doesn't look like Rom's Neutralizer, popping out of nowhere (subspace).
It wasn't destroyed by that bomb after all, just 'ported itself (very slowly) to Tristan's hand. And not only does it enable him to nullify the Wraithknights' armors, but also send the Deathwing to Limbo (so it was a polymorphed Wraith?). On top of that, the gun reveals all the plot the comic can't in its few remaining pages. THAT MAKES ROM SAD! It tells Tristan Lord Gaspar was the mole. It reveals that anger is what keeps Balin from holding the Neutralizer. And so on.
Uh-huh. Right. You know what to say to that.
1086. Dreams Die
REVIEW: When Friedman cuts off a thread, he starts another, so plenty of stories on the go here. The Riker thread has me wondering if the killer's motivation is believable or justification for choosing the least likely suspect (and why telegraph it on the cover?!?). The monks' treasure will probably be revealed in the next issue. I'm not expecting the Earth to move. The Crusher thread feels a lot like Riker's in that it introduces another big cast of new characters, most of which won't get more than cursory development. When the mystery is solved, we won't care much because we won't have known the characters very well at all. The villain is "comic book" in the extreme, spewing exposition and nursing ridiculous motivations. Good thing Pulaski's in it. She's pretty entertaining. Both threads have some action, but that's really not Skelton's forte. I'm not sure if that's a Data thread starting up or just a "cut scene" to explain what's been happening with the emotion chip. It probably should remain the latter.
Name: Shakira
1085. The Bajoran and the Beast
REVIEW: The Ro story tries to subvert the usual "Beauty and the Beast" Trek plot by not making the "beast" a villain, but it feels off. On the one hand, it's got its creepy moments that are continually deflated by there not being any danger at all from the old man. It's like a non-mystery. On the other, it tries to flashforward Ro through her own version of Duet, which just isn't credible given the length of the story. As for the Riker stuff, well... Yesterday I compared it to the Friedman novels Reunion and Saratoga. Today I can confirm that it has the EXACT SAME premise as those novels. A bit predictable.
Name: Isis
Skills: Eat 4, Sleep 7, Mischief 8, Wit 7, Inspire Jealousy 6
1084. Friends and Other Strangers
REVIEW: As I've said before, I like it when the comics (and novels) are used to fill in the gaps in continuity. We've heard about Riker's Altairian mission a few times before, but never its specifics. Friedman uses that gap to introduce us to Riker's former crew (as he does for Picard in Reunion and Sisko in Saratoga), and I like how (again, as usual) he attempts to make the guest crew feel like a good alternative to the Enterprise's. I hope to discover more on these characters as the story develops. The Ro Laren stuff also holds interest, setting up a mystery, but also exploring her personality. And she's one of my favorite ancillary TNG characters...
Name: Selina Kyle
Golden Age costume:
Lee Meriwether:
Animated series:
New Look Catwoman:
Skills: Eat 3, Sleep 6, Mischief 10, Wit 9, Putting the moves on Batman 8
Jim Balent:
Halle Berry:
1083. Just Desserts!
REVIEW: I think the plot synopsis is indictment enough, but I guess I should pad things out more. The issue comes off as preachy. Not only does Picard get morally superior with the Utalabrians, but a couple pages are given over to Crusher giving a lesson on what allergies are. And with such accurate scientific information, it's odd that the rest of the story makes absolutely no sense. We're to believe the Enterprise can fire "medicine bolts" and that a young boy and a giant star-creature use the same cure? Pass.
Name: Greer Grant
1082. The Choice / Cry Vengeance / Out of Time
REVIEW: In "The Choice", Friedman gives me two things I like - a story that fills in a gap in Trek lore, and more Ro Laren! The details of her court-martial, muted on the show, are believable and don't make Ro out to be the bad guy, and her solution in the present is classy and shows her growth. Top notch art from Gordon Purcell here as well. The art on Cry Vengeance is even better, what with frequent cover artist Jerome Moore on board. Unfortunately, Chris Claremont's story makes use of his every tic. There's needless voiceover, a ninja chick with unexplainable powers (Jamie hasn't aged a day because of Vulcan yoga!), word bubbles that are so numerous they obscure the art, and continuity so opaque as to make me give up in frustration. Debt of Honor was a fine graphic novel, but trying to give it a TNG sequel is just messy and indulgent. Out of Time is a short little interlude that makes a natural connection. It's not Ship of the Line, but is cute as an instance of TV's Frasier needing a psychiatrist's help.
Name: Pussy Galore
1081. Brother's Keeper
REVIEW: I've been a strong critic of Howard Weinstein's writing, but Brother's Keeper features none of his usual tics and is a pretty effective Geordi story. On the series, I never managed to connect with Geordi. He was Data's straight man and none of the stories focusing on him specifically were much good. Here, the friendship that defines him is put at risk, and consequently, the story is charged with emotion. Weinstein even reverses the usual plot point about a pushy admiral who might want to take command of the ship. The art is better than usual and the characters all look and sound like they should. And great final scene, making something inevitable a little more special.
The theme of this week's buys is people fighting the supernatural on tv. I got the Sarah Jane Adventures Series 2 and for really, really cheap, all seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I've probably watched less than a season of Buffy over the years, but I've never disliked it, and recent Whedon discoveries like Firefly and Dr. Horrible made me jump at the chance of getting all seven seasons essentially for the price of a single season of Star Trek. Why not.
DVDs: Flipped Spooks/MI-5 Series 1, and even with only 6 episodes, I thought it was an engrossing success. After that shocker in episode 2, I was hooked for life. As the series is still going on, I think it's gonna cost me a pretty penny to get up to date. And it was lovely to catch Hugh Laurie (House) and Naoko Mori (Torchwood) in "before they were stars (to me)" moments. There are tons of extras on the discs, with clever "you are the spy" menus that make them all seem like Easter eggs (I eventually found that the skip button could release me from watching the overlong animations). In addition to commentary tracks, there are all sorts of featurettes, interviews and hidden credits (the show airs without credits... ooh, secretive!).
Our Hong Kong movie showing this week was Infernal Affairs 3, at once an immediate prequel and sequel to the original film, whereas IA2 took place so long ago, it really just stands on its own. Tony Leung and Andy Lau are back and in great form, though sadly, the characters of Wong and Sam are very minor players this time (which is fine, given they got starring roles in the previous installment. People talk about diminishing returns, but there are still some great scenes and awesome stylistic touches (the dual psych appointment for example). The DVD does have fewer features though, with no commentary and only a short (but good) featurette to call its own.
Big Finish Doctor Who audios: My, how that ipod is proving useful! Wanting to find out a little more about new companion Hex, I decided to listen to a few more 7th Doctor stories. The first of these was the quite strange Dreamtime by Simon Forward, which made impressive use of Australian mythology. I didn't always understand what was going on, but strong sound design and sufficiently interesting images made it a winner overall. It basically starts with the TARDIS landing on Ayres Rock flying through space on a small asteroid and goes on from there. Good because it was so unusual, though I was disappointed the "clutch" aliens weren't actually the Chelonians from the New Adventures (they're Forward's creations from The Sandman, which I skipped, but will go back to soon).
Then came Live 34 by James Parsons and Andrew Stirling-Brown, one of those audios that actually uses the audio format in a clever way. Gone is the Doctor Who theme, and instead we get a series of radio broadcasts (on Live 34) that tell the story of impending revolution on a colony world through news items, interviews, and investigative reports. It's a fun experience that unfortunately (and perhaps necessarily) devolves into long exposition in the last chapter. Still, lots of nice touches, from sound dropping out to censored words, as well as a real live news presenter lending his voice to the faux radio station. As someone who used to produce similar radio news programs, I can vouch for the fact it actually SOUNDS like such a broadcast (until the last bit at least) and I could tell just what was going on behind the scenes in the studio just by experience.
I don't know what kind of episode Edward Young's Night Thoughts would have been on tv, but it was commissioned for Season 27, which never happened. I guess it would have turned out something like Ghost Light. While I appreciate the attempt at a moody, thoughtful horror story, I've got to call this one a failure. Despite the atmosphere, nothing really happens for two chapters, and then the whole thing turns into melodrama that had me turning my eyes into my head. The only thing worse than the ham-handed revelations was the time travel physics on show that are so far past nonsense that they plunge head first into drivel. But at least something happens in the last half.
Simon Guerrier's The Settling is Hex's first foray into history and of course, he tries to change it by preventing a massacre. It's a great vehicle for his character, using his compassion and self-doubt to good effect. And is that a crush on Ace he's nursing? Fun dynamic. While I'm a fan of pure historicals, and I like that the audios do routinely go down that route, as a North American, this one lost me in parts. I'm afraid Oliver Cromwell is not as big a historical figure here as he is in the UK. Made me learn more about history, which I suppose is the whole point! Also, top marks on the very evocative music. Very nice.
Switching gears, I listened to The Sandman, Simon Forward's story that ties into Dreamtime (yeah, I got them in reverse). Though it has an intriguing premise, with the 6th Doctor consciously being an entire species' bogeyman, the various aliens' voices are just plain annoying. For the same reason that I find Dalek stories a little trying - screaming distorted voices - I had trouble with this one. Anneke Wills (60s companion Polly) plays one of those voices, but you can't tell it's her, nullifying any cool factor her participation might have generated. Good ideas, good imagery, irritating execution.
Someone Else's Post of the Week
Doctor Who's Character Sheet is up for discussion on Hero Press. Make sure to click the link to the pdf to read all the wonderful "Traits" your favorite Time Lord has. This is making more and more excited about the upcoming role-playing game!
