Saturday 28 February 2009

Futurama - Into the Wild Green Yonder

Perhaps the final Futurama story ever, but I hope not. The series is far better than The Simpsons, it's got a much more open formart, much more interesting characters and better vocal talent too (imo). It's such a shame to see how it got cancelled so suddenly, then brought back again and now it faces another uncertain future. The story is a pretty interesting one with lots of small subplots all about ecology and preserving habititats for endangered species as well as a larger story about good and evil and tinfoil hats. There's a few nods to past stories, the bugaloo one with the Martians comes immediatly, and the pilot with the career chips. All in all it's a good episode to end on and yet leaves you wanting more, more, more...

9/10

Red Dwarf Marathon pt. 6

for me Red Dwarf V is the best over all season of the show, although I do like almost all of VII too :)

Holoship 9/10 - A wonderful Rimmer episode to start the season with, finally he has a real loving relationship with a woman and he sacrifices all he ever wanted to give her what she wanted, it's a real tear jerker ending that comes out of nowhere and really shows a different side to Rimmer who's usually despisted by all.

The Inquisitor 10/10 - Fantastic! A brilliant script full of witty ideas and it gets time travel right for a change, and the showdown between Lister and the Inquisitor is just genius. Full marks for the innovative use of a severed hand in a sitcom...

Terrorform 9/10 - Another Rimmer episode, this one treats him much more like usual, and the use of the Copocabana music is great. The Taranshula gag too is just outstanding.

Quarantine 10/10 - Just when you think the show can't get any better it does and what an episode too. First of all there's the usual Rimmer humiliation scene, then he goes crazy and wears a dress as he sucumbs to a holovirus and then there's the funny ending as the others get their revenge on him by putting him through what he did to them, marvellous!

Demons & Angels 11/10 - The 'high' versions of the crew are funny but the 'low' versions are much funnier still. It's interesting to see the hippies and then the hells angels and the evil Holly is a wonderful Elvira-esque change to her usual blonde bimbo look. Of special sickening note is the scene where Lister is forced to eat a tarantula, that gives it the extra bonus mark.

Back To Reality 10/10 - The season goes out on the most format stretching storyline so far, making the crew and the viewers think that the past 5 years has been a Total Immersion Video Game (ala Better Than Life) but they're entirely different people than who they thought they were. The guest cast is great too with that guy from Harry Potter and the really weird one from Twin Peaks putting in two memorable and all too short appearances.

Thursday 26 February 2009

Closing Time Miss Brahms


Are You Being Served actress Wendy Richard has died at the age of 65, her agent has confirmed. The star, who also played Pauline Fowler in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders for 21 years, had been suffering from cancer. Her agent Kevin Francis said: "She was incredibly brave and retained her sense of humour right to the end." Last October, Richard revealed she had an aggressive, terminal form of cancer. Soon after that she married her long-term partner John Burns. Francis said the star passed away in the Harley Street Clinic in London with her husband by her side.

Spider-Man musical set for 2010

A musical based on the Marvel comic book hero Spider-Man will open on Broadway in 2010. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark will include the story of the superhero's origins and will feature music and lyrics by U2 members Bono and The Edge.

Is it the 1st of April today???

Text Driving Crash

Lord Ahmed, 51, pleaded guilty to driving dangerously in the Christmas Day tragedy on the M1 near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, last year. He sent and received a series of five text messages while driving at 60mph in the dark along a 17-mile stretch of the motorway. His elderly mother and his wife were passengers in the car at the time. Shortly afterwards he collided with an Audi which was stationary in the fast lane of the motorway after crashing into the central reservation. Slovakian Martyn Gombar, 28, who was living in Leigh, Lancashire, died.

Red Dwarf Marathon pt. 5

White Hole 9/10 - A superb story, it starts off with one idea, about making Holly smarter and effortlessly transitions into a much wider and more interesting one about playing pool with planets to repair the space-time continuum. The series has really evolved beyond its early ship-bound character-orientated beginnings into a wonderfully comedic space saga.

Dimension Jump 10/10 - Ace Rimmer - what a guy and how jealous am I of Mellie? There's so little time for things too because once things are over they're over, there's not one dull moment in the story, it doesn't allow you to get bored with any flat bits in the script as they've all been replaced by gags or character moments.

Meltdown 8/10 - Another great story and a great way to round off the 4th season. Rimmer gets the chance to live his dream as a great military leader and although he does win he also wipes out his own side too! The Caligula interrogation scene is a riot as he keeps slapping Lister when Cat speaks, much to Lister's chargrin. Also the celebrity impersonators actually look like who they're supposed to be, which isn't always the case in some shows.

Wednesday 25 February 2009

Lent

I've decided to give chocolate up for Lent!

Tuesday 24 February 2009

Red Dwarf Marathon pt. 4

Polymorph 10/10 - The ultimate Red Dwarf episode, not one gag fails, not one flat moment, it's all laughs and screams as the crew are terrorised and attacked one by one until there's only one chance left: let's get out there and twat it!

Bodyswap 5/10 - It should be funny but a lot of it just doesn't work. Rimmer as Lister and Lister as Rimmer somehow just doesn't get going as a concept.

Timeslides 7/10 - This is a pretty funny episode that shows us young Rimmer in the flesh, after seeing a brief family video in Polymorph. We get to see his brother Frank too, and even Adolph Hitler, but it just never quite manages to make it all work.

The Last Day 9/10 - A wonderful character piece that lets the characters bare their souls and have fun at the same time. Rimmer's french kiss story will sicken anyone who's alive and Lister's abandonment story really pulls the heart strings.

Camille 4/10 - A bad remake of Casablanca, the only enjoyable part was the fruit gag at the start, its all downhill from there.

DNA 5/10 - Apart from the brief scare moment there's not a lot to enjoy. Kryten as a human is an ok concept but nothing really comes of it excape the unseen poleroids.

Justice 6/10 - An interesting story that seems to want to do something good but it never quite happens. Things start to happen but never get completed. The ending is a relief quite frankly. The high score is for Rimmer's trial and Lister trying to burn a blanket.

Monday 23 February 2009

My Samurai

Reiko, if you click on the link then I get a little extra cash :)
click here

Sunday 22 February 2009

Ironing

I like ironing and I ironed a few things earlier while watching episode 1 "Different Worlds" of The Planets on video (remember those things?)

more housework done

washing clothes
hoovering upstairs
tidying up
weeding the garden (still so much of it to do too)

there's still some ironing to do too, but that can wait until after Time Team :)

Red Dwarf Marathon pt3

Me² 5/10 - Rimer vs. Rimmer is quite fun to watch as is Rimmer's death, but the whole episode somehow fails to work as there's not much for the rest of the cast to do.

Kryten 7/10 - This is a brilliant episode, Kryten is a wonderful character and fits in well with the others and the rebel scene is just magical.

Better Than Life 8/10 - RD2 is firing on all thrusters now as this is a wonderful storyline as we see the crew induldge in all their fantasies except Rimmer's all go wrong with hilarious results.

Thanks for the Memory 5/10 - It starts off well but kind of loses it during the flashbacks and we get no resolution either as we don't see what happens once the final flashback ends so we never know if they bury the memories phystically again or just try to pretend it never happened.

Stasis Leak 9/10 - Wonderful stuff with a bizarre twist ending and the final time we see the Kochanski until Ouroboros (the illusion in Psirens isn't real) and Rimmer assasuting Hollister is a classic!

Queeg 7/10 - A somewhat quiet and subdued episode compared to the rest of the season. It's all for nothing too but it's funnier that way but it never quite seems to work right.

Parallel Universe 8/10 - Tongue Tied is a wonderful intro to the episode and really lets Danny let loose as a singer and dancer. However it's Lister's episode in the end as he not only sleeps with his other self he also gets knocked up, much to Rimmer's delight!

Backwards 9/10 - The opening Star Wars scrawl tells us of all the things they don#t want to show happening on screen, Lister giving birth, Holly's head sex change and Kryten's arrival. The episode proper feels like the series has been turned up a few notches too. There's new sets, new uniforms and more gags per minute. Plus the Star Trek IV invisible ship gag is good too. Kryten's disguise is my favourite scene. The handling of backwards time however is done really badly with some things happening before they should.

Marooned 7/10 - A Lister and Rimmer piece that really opens their characters up and lets them wander in new places. Rimmer lies about losing his virginity when he was younger (we already know he lost it on Red Dwarf to Yvonne McGruder) while Lister reveals he was only twelve! Lister destroying Rimmer's property to save his own is also slightly out of character too, Lister's usually a pretty selfless person on the whole but I guess it's more funny for him to be a bit of a git like Rimmer this once.

MuggleNet: Half-Blood Prince Countdown