Dead London & Max Warp

Dead London - An interesting premise of having an adventure set inside someone's mind, as the TARDIS gets caught up in the mind of an alien and they find it very hard to get out again.

Max Warp - A rather poor story that lampoon the boring car show Top Gear (it's not a patch on the much more superior Fifth Gear - if you like car stuff - which I don't that much to be honest). The guest cast are all good in an embarassing way and the simplistic plot leads me to wonder how desperate they when making it as to not have anything better instead. Paul McGann reading out the Liverpool phone directory would be better imo.

relaxing weekend

I plan to do very little this weekend and be a lady of leisure as much as possible :) Now that I've finished my 'Allo 'Allo marathon I plan to watch very few DVD's for the next couple of days, just Sex and the City - The Movie and (when it arrives) Quantum of Solace. I have some Doctor Who audio books to catch up on and so will listen to them for the next week or so.

'Allo 'Allo Marathon Part 14

it's the end of the war...

Tarts and Flickers - The Gestapo are in drag again, and Von Klinkerhoffen decides to assassinate Hitler with an exploding picture frame! The end is almost here as all thoughts of winning the war by the Germans has gone, now they're talking about surviving the end of the war.

A Fishy Send Off - The Germans play golf, Rene and the Resistance organise a fish float and the episode ends with the second Allied invasion of France (the first one having failed) this time the Germans prepare to flee instead of fight.

A Winkle in Time - In the last hours of the occupation Rene is uncovered as Nighthawk by the Germans and they decide to let him off as it's too late now to do anything about it. The British Airmen return, having been shot down again, and the British army arrive in town to secure the surrender of the german and the capture of their forces, including the Gestapo. The war is finally over with Nouvion liberated. The story then skips forwards many years to when Rene and co are all aged, Gruber, Von Strom & Helga return to Nouvion to see the old sights and meet old friends, they discover the missing portrait of the Fallen Madonna and Rene decides to elope with Yvette at long last. A good ending to the series instead of leaving it open and unresolved. I've enjoyed this marathon a lot, it was good too to watch the whole (and very complicated) plot strands begin, develop, interweave and then finally end, well all but one: whatever did happen to the cuckoo clock?

'Allo 'Allo Marathon Part 13

A Woman Never Lies, Hitler's Last Heil, Awful Wedded Wife, Firing Squashed, A Fishful of Francs, A Swan Song, Gone with the Windmill, A Tour de France, Dead Man Marching

Armed robbery, people dressed as Hitler and Goering, the return of the ruthless communist resistance and Rene is apparently killed again, twice! The series is nearing its end now, as armed British soldiers are seen in occupied France for the first time, but at least it's trying something new and somewhat diturbing by making Rene the love slave of the communists!

'Allo 'Allo Marathon Part 12

Up the Crick Without a Piddle, The Gestapo Ruins a Picnic, The Spirit of Nouvion, Leg it to Spain!, Prior Engagements, Soup and Sausage, René of the Gypsies, A Bun in the Oven & Arousing Suspicions

Rene & Edith end up in England and meet Hans who is now working for the British army! They return to France and get caught up in various things like the German propaganda newspaper, the escape of the British airmen (which fails again) before a sudden jump forward 2 years in time. This plot device is the beginning of the end for the series as it takes them from the middle of occupied France towards the time of the liberation. Yvette thinks she is pregnant too and Rene is the father!

'Allo 'Allo Marathon Part 11

Crabtree's Podgeon Pist - Vewry little happens really, it's mainly all set up for the next episode and Crabtree is hard;y even in the episode even though it's named after him!

Rising to the Occasion - Instead of getting the airmen to freedom in a ballon Fanny and Ernest are swept away! Quite a funny ending to season 6. Plus Von Klinkerhoffen going mad is quite amusing too.

A Quiet Honeymoon - Alberto Bertorelli must be a time lord as he has regenerated! Von Flockenstuffen takes over the town and at first everyone thinks its a good idea. Fanny and Ernest arrive back eventually too only to be arrested.

An Almighty Bang - Watching everyone turn on Von Flockenstuffen is done quite well. His plan to kidnap Churchill on a painting holiday does not go down well and it's Rene who actually gets the credit for it all.

Fleeing Monks - Rene tries to avoid getting the collaborator's medal by pretending to be a monk. The Gestapo follow him to the monestry to try and locate the airmen. It all goes wrong of course...as usual...

Doctor Who DVD Release Schedule

just found out when the next few DVD's are going to be released :)

20th April - Image of the Fendahl (4th Doctor & Leela)
11th May - The Deadly Assassin (4th Doctor)
25th May - Planet of the Dead (10th Doctor & Zoe from EastEnders)
22nd June - Delta and the Bannermen (7th Doctor & Mel)

(there goes my theory that they were holding the whole of season 24 back to sell as a box set this christmas)

'Allo 'Allo Marathon Part 10

Desperate Doings in the Graveyard - Gruber seeing the ghost of Rene's dead twin brother is hilarious, even if it needed almost a whole episode of build up story to make it halfway plausible.

The Gestapo for the High Jump - The cast dressed like they're in Rocky Horror is quite funny and the scared Italians refusing to do a parachute jump is really funny.

The Nouvion Oars - This one isn't quite so funny until the final moments when the German rowing boat is sunk by the periscope.

The Nicked Airmen - Helga trying to seduce Herr Flick is funny, as is the Resistance trying to rescue the airmen.

The Airmen De-Nicked - Not so much a funny sequel, although the handcuff joke was pretty funny

The Crooked Fences - The sight of five people sitting in a room with brown paper bags on their head is hilarious, especially as they all give each other away.

Attack of the Cybermen

A fun 80's stroll down memory lane, or rather Totters Lane, as the TARDIS retuns to the site of its very first location, the junk yard at 23 Totters Lane, listed as Susan Foreman's place of residence which turned out to be where she and her grandfather hid the TARDIS. Flashforward 22 years relative time and the 6th Doctor and Peri return drawn by a signal to discover old foes and very old foes at work, in a complex plot involving Cybermen, Cryons, time travel and changing history. The Doctor barely manages to survive and only does so thanks to the help of former adversary Lytton (last seen in Resurrectiuon of the Daleks) who dies to save the time lord and thus complete his mission to protect the Cryons from being destroyed (along with their home planet Telos) by the Cybermen. The script mixes story strands from The Tenth Planet, The Tomb of the Cybermen with Resurrection of the Daleks and 100,000 BC (wrongly called An Unearthly Child to this day by the BBC). This story is not perfect but it's not bad either, certainly an enjoyable way to spend an evening and the commentary is pretty interesting too as the cast chat about their memories of the story and their fellow cast members.

Dilbert

I've added the Dilbert widget to the sidebar :)

Doctor Who Day

I bought The Sontaran Games today (I worked out the companion substitute was a Rutan before the end of chapter 2!) and when I got home Attack of the Cybermen (on DVD) and Orbis (on CD) were waiting on the mat for me :) I'll watch Attack... tonight as I need a break before watching anymore 'Allo 'Allo episodes.

blogger keeps logging me out

everytime i post something and then view it I have to sign in again to post something else :(

Shuttle Discovery heads for space station

Discovery blasted off from Florida's Kennedy Space Centre - a welcome sight for Nasa officials anxious to get the flight going after a month of delays. A hydrogen leak had prevented Discovery from lifting off last Wednesday and, before that, hydrogen valves kept the shuttle grounded for weeks in February. Commander Lee Archambault and his crew, which includes two former schoolteachers, should reach the international space station on Tuesday. They are delivering one last set of solar wings for the space station and some critical equipment for a relatively new water-recycling system.

Python Swallows Pet Dog

Patty Buntine became worried when her Maltese terrier-cross Bindi failed to show up for breakfast at her home in Australia's Northern Territory. "She was always there so I got worried and went to look for her," she said. "I went around the side of the house and that's when I found the snake. It couldn't move and had its head up in a striking position. "It's belly was bulging - it looked like a great big coconut was inside it. I knew straight away that it had ate Bindi.

She should have been more concerned that it could get though an obviously poor fence into the garden rather than an act of nature. In fact she should have really been concerned that the snake could have eaten an unattended baby, then how would she feel if that happened?

been bad this weekend

with hayfever, possib;y cold on top of that and i think a touch of food poisining too, still I haven't let it prevent me too much from doing my housework, just slow me down, as I'm still on doing the washing, I'll do the ironing tonight. I've done a bit of dusting and hoovering too but not that much. I hate being ill and try to act normally because the housework still needs doing whether I am ill or not.

'Allo 'Allo Marathon Part 9

I really need to get a life as I watched 13 episodes yesterday to complete the super-long season 5! The Reluctant Millionaires, A Duck for Launch, The Exploding Bedpan, Going Like a Bomb, Money to Burn, Puddings Can Go Off, Land Mines for London, Flight to Geneva, Train of Events, An Enigma Variation, Wedding Bloss, Down the Drain & All in Disgeese. The main plots involve the stolen Gestapo money which turns out to be forged. A new plan to get the Airmen away back to Blighty, plastic explosive disguised as christmas puddings, four stolen bars of gold and a stolen Enigma machine. There's 3 air raids in this season, the first real sign there's a war on apart from the occassional set to with the Resistance and the German soldiers. For only the second time in the show the series ends on what could be considered a proper ending if the show was not cancelled.

Majority 'want Iraq war inquiry'

Almost three quarters of British people believe there should be a public inquiry into the invasion of Iraq, an opinion poll suggests. The BBC Radio 5 Live poll also found almost two thirds are not convinced UK soldiers should be kept in Afghanistan.

'Allo 'Allo Marathon Part 8

Listen very carefully I shall type this only once...I watched a few more episodes this morning to finish off volume 1 of season 5: René - Under an Assumed Nose, The Confusion of the Generals, Who's for the Vatican, Ribbing the Bonk. The plans to invade england advance then retreat as the german generals are mistaken for escaping british airmen. Von Strom is blamed for this and so he plans to sell the painting to pay the vatican to hide him, so Rene must go back to the Communist Resistance to retrieve them, but everyone is captured and General von Klinkerhoffen won't pay the randsom! So the DeGaulle resistance plan to get the real painting, give the fakes to the german officers and kill off the germans and the communists in one go but cannot because the communists have Mimi and the real paintings so they resort to break into a bank and steal the money to pay the randsom themselves to get Mimi and the paintings back. It's all very complicated but not too much.

'Allo 'Allo Marathon Part 7

it's getting more like a soap opera now with plots lasting over several episodesinstead of being self contained, so I'm just going to do one quick review for the eps I watched yesterday... Dinner with the General, The Dreaded Circular Saw, Otherwise Engaged, A Marriage of Inconvenience, No Hiding Place, The Arrival of the Homing Duck & Watch the Birdie. The town is preparing for a high level meeting between top German generals to plan the invasion of Britain, however the Gestapo believes they are meeting to plan the assassination of Hitler! The Resistance plan to infiltrate the meeting and obtain photographs of the plans. Meanwhile Rene is captured by the communist resistance and it is revealed he once had a love affair with their leader when they were younger. Rene is forced to marry Denise but Edith substitutes herself for her, but Yvette and Mimi substitute the real priest for Crabtree so the wedding is not legal. This earns them the wrath of the communists and the swear revenge. The airmen meanwhile try to give themselves up but the Germans believe they are french peasants being cheeky! It's all rather slow going but steady as the plot advances slowly and with much complication.