Venus is back, and I’m starting to appreciate the approach of alternating between associates for Steed. It certainly keeps things fresh. This time Venus has found herself a job as a singer in a French nightclub, where there is a lot of 60s dancing going on: lean forwards, wriggle hips from side to side, repeat. It’s a good job with a decent rate of pay, and Steed waltzes in and messes it all up for her. She is remarkably tolerant of him. Continue reading
I’m betting most of you know the story of Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. At least, you’ve either read the Illustrated Classic as a kid, or you’ve seen the Disney movie, or you just know the story because it’s one of the original science fiction stories. But have you ever read it? It’s not that it isn’t good; there is a story and it is intriguing but the book reads a bit like a text book. It’s slow and chock full of facts about the depth of the sea and the water pressure that accumulates per square inch, and it talks about the various life under the sea… in short, it reads like Verne is teaching a bunch of bored kids and he puts a story to it to keep them interested. Not a bad strategy but a bit slow by modern standards. Wolf 359 is conceptually marvelous, but in production, it’s one of the slowest episodes of the series, rivaling The Production and Decay of Strange Particles. That’s saying something! 
It’s been a while, but we’re back with some games that I got into while we were on a Twilight Zone kick!
Star Trek decides to boldly go into some unusual places and for this episode, we are going to the planet Argelius II … or Whitechapel, circa 1888. You know who we’re about to meet already, don’t you?
I’d be lying if I said I liked the name of this episode, but it’s not one of those weirdly spelled alien names as you might expect, but rather it’s a Welsh word for, essentially, a maze. That might not make sense in an alternate universe, but it’s explained away with a wave of the hand that just makes the listener think, “ok, let’s just accept it and move on.” And then it gets really good, really fast. The worst thing about this one is the cover art, in fact. (Typically I love the cover art, but this one left a lot to be desired!) One thing you never expect in a Doctor Who story is for the Doctor to start out with the upper hand, yet episode one basically puts the Doctor in a place to dominate the dominator. The Kro’ka is trapped by the Doctor very early on which is a distinct change; a subversion of the standard expectation. So from the word go, I wasn’t worried about much in the line of Welsh words turning up in the Divergent universe. 
Natsuo is in love with his young, beautiful teacher, Hina. When he is invited to a mixer by a couple of friends his heart isn’t really in it, but he goes along and meets a girl his own age, Rui. She takes him back to her place and suggests a one night stand. Being as he’s a teenage boy, he’s not going to say no to that. It’s not as seedy as it sounds, although the animation does go a bit further than the average anime in terms of what it shows, but the point is that Rui just wants to experience what it’s like and there’s no emotional connection at all. As is typical for the first time, the world doesn’t really move, even if the bed does a bit. 
Hats off to Johnny Cash. Not only did he take on an acting role, and do an amazing job of it, the character he played here was a distorted version of himself. Tommy Brown is a big star in the world of country music, but he is also a murderer with a propensity for going after underage girls. It must have taken some courage for a successful singer to take on an acting role like this.
When I watched Try, Try, I was disappointed and made the comment that out of 20 episodes, there were only 4 really great ones. I neglected Blurryman when I said that, which would have brought us up to 5. With You Might Also Like, I can say there were 6 really great stories, and three (Blue Scorpion, Replay, Downtime) were on the higher end of average. Having said that, this episode is not without its commentary but it did one thing right – and I mean really right – it has a sense of humor. I laughed a lot during this episode. The episode is broken into 4 chapters focusing on Gretchen Mol as Mrs. Janet Warren who notices she’s losing time in her day. She finds herself waking up in her bed when she wasn’t there previously. She invites her friend Greta over, who experiences the same thing while in her company. This leads to some outstanding dialogue because, while they are both freaked out by the events, Lee gets distracted talking about how much light a room gets and other mundane household things. Janet is initially confused by Lee’s apparently casual dismissal of what happened, but ends up entertaining the conversation, which actually makes it even funnier. Janet, unable to get her friend to help her (“your problems are not my problems!”), comes up with a plan, and then things get really enjoyable. 
Not for nothing, but you have to give Big Finish massive kudos for some of their stories. The advantage of being in a different universe means they have the freedom of playing with the logic of the land. Add to that, the very format is different to televised episodes which can give them the ingredients for some outstanding storytelling. The Last is just another example of how to pull the wool over the… ears… of the listener. 
I bought this anime series expecting a bit of fun about a group of friends putting together a baseball team. I wasn’t disappointed, but I also got an emotional roller-coaster into the bargain. After a few episodes I checked online and found this has its origins in a game made by Key, who were also responsible for Clannad, so I was no longer surprised to be watching something that stirs the emotions almost every episode. This is no Clannad, but it shares an ability to make the viewers care strongly about the plight of each and every character, despite a large ensemble cast. 
Some Doctor Who stories are good, if a bit mundane. I mean, it’s not an out-of-this-world story that has the Doctor’s friends under mental control of some alien influence that tries to kill them. Been there, done that. What is interesting is that this story has something to say about religion and that adds a layer of complexity to my feelings about it. Lead Writers
Roger Pocock
Mike Loschiavo-
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