My Review of The Sarah Jane Adventures 2x02: "The Day Of The Clown"

Written by Phil Ford
Directed by Michael Kerrigan

Sarah Jane: “I’m going to offer you a choice, Rani. Cross over the road, go back to your parents and the life you lived before you moved here and nothing will have changed or you could come with me. If you do that, nothing will ever be the same again.”
Rani: “I want to know the truth.”
Sarah Jane: “Then tell your Mum I’m giving you a little work experience.”

Seeing companions come and go is something that no longer should faze viewers. With this series we lost Kelsey and gained Clyde, something which has been more than beneficial to the show’s dynamic and now with the loss of Maria, we get Rani. No, not that one.

Inevitable comparisons between Maria and Rani will no doubt surface in the same way that some fans will continue to pit Rose and Martha against one another. There was a lot of talk about Maria, both Luke and Clyde feeling her loss and then there was Rani coming to live on Bannerman Road.

Moving into Maria’s house with her parents was another thing to set off the replacement issues as well but aside from the fact that they’re both teenage girls who get caught up in Sarah Jane’s world, there does seem to be some differences. Rani seems a bit more cerebral than Maria for starters.

Within the first few minutes of her debut, she adopted a snarky friendship with Clyde, combating his flirting with her with some ease. She also tried her best to get to know Luke, who seemed more than resistant at first to let her. He even said that she couldn’t replace Maria. Not that Rani is trying to mind.

What obviously sets Rani up as the new girl is her ability to see clowns. This was something both her and Clyde had in common but unlike Clyde, Rani didn’t try to tell an adult what she saw. It was only when her, Luke and Clyde noticed a rather sinister looking red balloon did she open up about the thing she was seeing.

Rani’s curiosity was something that did seem drilled in quite a lot in the story as well. Gita made a point of telling Sarah Jane that Rani wanted to be a journalist and it was only when Rani proved to be persistent in wanting to know the truth about the clowns and aliens did Sarah Jane decide to fill her in on things.

Rani certainly didn’t waste time in getting used to think. She confessed to Luke before the alien encounter that she believed in the weird and she certainly revelled in looking around Sarah Jane’s attic and asking Mr Smith questions. Yes, people, I think Rani is going to be a keeper.

As for the villain of the piece – I don’t particularly like clowns myself. Unlike Sarah Jane who has a fear of them, I just don’t like clowns all that much. Having a clown as a villain isn’t the most original thing to do but with the alien connection, there’s a lot of fun to be had.

Once again we got a nifty reminder that there’s often some truth behind fairytales and myths. Sarah Jane and Clyde went to Spellman’s Magical Museum and learned about the whole Pied Piper fable (something which Mr Smith had also touched). A clown stealing kids is always something that’s going to illicit a serious amount of fear in many an adult.

Bradley Walsh isn’t one of my favourite actors on UK television but he was absolutely perfect for this role. Donning three personas – Spellman, Odd Bob The Clown and Pied Piper isn’t an easy task but Walsh managed to make each role his own with the Spellman and Odd Bob roles being the most prominent.

From a psychological standpoint, the interplay between Sarah Jane and Odd Bob/Spellman was utterly brilliant. It’s great to see a villain that can get under Sarah Jane’s skin and even Luke found himself surprised to see his mother scared during the story.

The meteorite connection of the episode was something that flew over my head when I first watched it but now it made sense upon repeat. Being free from the meteorite and craving fear gave Spellman the perfect chance to feed and he wasted no time in trying to round up as many kids as possible to feast on.

The best part of stopping that part of his plan was Mr Smith being used to phone every child under Spellman’s influence. The unfortunate part was that Sarah Jane got a bit smug too soon and Spellman got back at her by stealing Luke. Granted there was no doubt he’d be seriously harmed but it was another power play in the battle of wits between Sarah Jane and Spellman/Odd Bob The Clown.

If fear was the thing that fed Spellman/Odd Bob The Clown, then laughter had to have been the thing to stop it. It’s great that Clyde’s sense of humour went from being criticised several times in this story to being the thing that actually stopped Odd Bob in this show’s evasiveness towards violence.

Clyde’s jokes might have been CBBC worthy (appropriate for this series) but not every joke has to be filthy to be funny and it end up being the thing that rendered Spellman back inside a bit of meteorite. You could say that it was an easy way to dispatch of him but Clyde and Rani’s quick thinking made it feel more organic, at least for me.

With villains aside and introducing Rani quite nicely, there was some other highlights in this story. First off unlike Maria, it seems that Rani has the annoying father in Haresh and the nice, if clueless mother in Gita. I am actually looking forward to seeing how both characters develop over the season.

Then there was also Sarah Jane’s flashback to a creepy clown puppet she had as a child. Elisabeth Sladen does benefit from the weighty material as Sarah Jane opened up to Luke about her childhood fears and her parents death. I suspect that this is another big theme for this season.

Also in “The Day Of The Clown”

Although we don’t see Yasmin Page on screen, we do have a voiceover of Maria’s email to Luke at the start of the episode.

Sarah Jane (re Maria): “How is she? Does she like Washington?”
Luke: “She says it’s awesome.”

What was the name of that protection device that Rani got from Sarah Jane? Come to think of it, did Sarah Jane ever give Clyde any alien tech to keep?

Luke (re Maria): “I’ve never lost anyone before.”
Clyde: “Well, it’s not going to be the same without her, that’s for sure. Who am I gonna have to save from Sontarans, Gorgons and Slitheen now?”

Clyde: “What are you?”
Odd Bob The Clown: “All I want to give you is a balloon?”

Clyde also made a point to reference the Kudlak and how they abducted kids before. It was nice that Sarah Jane also told Rani about helping aliens as well as stopping them too.

Luke: “Mum understands things like this.”
Rani: “Believe me Luke; whatever’s going on, no-one understands things like this.”

Rani: “But you’re a journalist?”
Sarah Jane: “I am.”
Rani: “Not with alien gizmos in her attic, who doesn’t bat an eyelid at a shape changing alien clown piper thing.”
Sarah Jane: “That’s more of a hobby.”

Speaking of clowns, we saw an image of Clara The Clown from the Doctor Who serial, “The Celestial Toymaker”. I’d recommend the “Lost In Time” DVD for that.

Spellman: “I don’t think you have any say on the matter, Miss Smith.”
Sarah Jane: “Perhaps I should phone a friend.”

Spellman: “Not scared of me, Miss Smith? Oh but I think you are.”
Sarah Jane: “If you hurt my son, Spellman. If you’ve done anything to him, I will destroy.”

In terms of returning characters, we briefly saw Professor Rivers and the Pharos Institute from “The Lost Boy” in this story as well.

Sarah Jane: “What’s wrong Mr Spellman, not game for a laugh?”
Spellman: “People have shuddered in fear at my shadow for over 700 years.”

Rani (to Gita): “Not weird, Mum, surprising. The universe is a surprising place.”

I wonder how long it will be before Rani learns about The Doctor from Sarah Jane as well?

For an episode devoted to clowns, “The Day Of The Clown” certainly tickled a funny bone, delivered some nice psychological moments of terror and insight and more importantly, introduced Rani in a brilliant way. It’ll be interesting to see where the writers take her but she’s more than a replacement for Maria.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

My Review of The Sarah Jane Adventures 2x01: "The Lost Sontaran"

Written by Phil Ford
Directed by Joss Agnew

Maria: “It’s me or the Earth.”
Sarah Jane: “No, one life is as sacred as an entire planet.”

When I first saw that exchange in the trailer for the second season, I mistook it for a petulant moment for Maria. Of course in all respect, while Maria might be a teenager and therefore prone to strops, there’s a lot about this story that highlighted her maturity as a character.

I guess when you’ve lived on Bannerman road for less than a year and faced off enough creatures (Trickster and Xylok I’d rank as most dangerous), you’re going to learn a few life lessons and Maria’s one was that you have to move on.

When Alan admitted that instead of London, they’d have to relocate to America for his new job, I thought Maria wouldn’t take it that well. If I hadn’t known that Yasmin Paige was leaving the series, I would’ve assumed that Alan would’ve jacked in the job offer knowing that Maria wouldn’t want to leave Bannerman Road.

Maria agreeing to go to America actually surprised me. I guess as much as she loves working with Sarah Jane, Luke and Clyde, her family always is going to come first and for that, I can’t begrudge her. It’s the scenes however where she has to tell everyone of her departure that are particularly well thought out.

Sarah Jane fell into the trap of cutting herself off when Maria told her. Sarah, you’ve had two incidents where that tactic does more harm than good, so I did feel for Maria when Sarah Jane was cold with her. I expected better.

Luke’s reaction was also similarly sad as well. He had that whole puppy dog look about him when Maria told him that she was leaving. I think Luke had a bit of a crush on Maria, one that he’ll never get to act on as well. Oh well, at least he still has Clyde around as a friend and he’ll be able to see Maria providing Sarah Jane does keep her promise to visit Maria and Alan in America maintained.

Sarah Jane did thankfully come around at the end of the episode and made one hell of an apology to Maria. The fact that Sarah Jane viewed Maria as the daughter she always wanted would probably would sound naff in other shows but the delivery was beautiful here. Sarah Jane and Maria did have a wonderful Doctor/Companion dynamic that was hard not to love.

Also brilliantly done in this story was Chrissie. Typical, she’s severely irritating in all of her previous stories but the one that definitely seems to be her last is the one where the writers decide to make viewers care about her. She might not be mother of the year but it was hard not to feel a bit bad for her when she told Alan that she was going to miss him.

I think the brilliant part was also her discovery of aliens existing. Sometimes Alan really should try to be more convincing in his lies. It was totally telegraphed that Chrissie would come back and break into Sarah Jane’s house to see what was actually going on.

I did think that as soon as Alan started talking about aliens, Chrissie would instantly dismiss him. The fact that she was able to tell that he was being sincere was almost as brilliant as the sight of her knocking out Sontaran Kaagh with her flipping high heels. Well, what else are you going to use when hammers aren’t available?

The other highlight about Chrissie was her remembering everything about alien life. Maria and Alan assumed the knock out gas would’ve stunted her memories but Sarah Jane found out quickly that Chrissie wasn’t half as clueless as she looked. I guess that finally means that whatever Chrissie has with Sarah Jane ended too.

As for the main plot of the episode, I’ve never been a big Sontaran fan but anything is better than Slitheen and they actually worked brilliantly for the opening story. Having a lone Sontaran, hell bent on vengeance over the ATMOS plotline in Doctor Who is exactly why the Sontaran worked so well.

“The Sontaran Stratagem” and “The Poison Sky” aren’t favourites of mine but the continuity references are fantastic and while a Sontaran is nowhere near as scary as a Dalek, the dread that Sarah Jane felt when she knew it was them responsible for the light show around TYCHO wasn’t unjustified.

There are plenty of great exchanges in this episode. Kaagh is far more interesting a Sontaran figurehead compared to General Staal and his exchanges with Clyde and Sarah Jane in particular are delightful. Kaagh doesn’t hold back on his feelings of superiority and he certainly did delight in revelling every time he had the upper hand in this episode.

Because of all this, it then became something of a massive humiliation when Luke managed to shut down all of the codes and Chrissie was the person who knocked him out. Damn, heels can be killer. I’m not sure if Sarah Jane letting him go was a smart thing to do though. Sure, we know her opposition to violence and the like but you also don’t have to be a genius to know that Kaagh will be back for round two come finale time.

Also in “The Last Sontaran”

The story opened and ended with a similar monologue of Sarah Jane lamenting about family and friends. These are always far better done than the ones Torchwood did in their first season.

Maria (re letter): “I think it’s come.”
Alan: “What if it’s a no.”
Maria: “Then it’s a no and nothing’s changed, has it?”

I felt sorry for both Nicholas and Lucy who got caught up in Kaagh’s scheme to destroy the Earth with the satellites.
Clyde: “An alien computer debunking flying saucers. Now I’ve heard everything.”

Luke: “Space is a big place, Clyde. All the radio telescopes in the world couldn’t monitor all of it.”
Clyde: “So, you mean they’re looking the wrong way?”
Maria: “And let’s face it, most aliens don’t want to be seen.”
Clyde: “Unless they’re ready to jump us.”

Given that two months prior to this season starting up, I’m surprised we didn’t get a sly references to Daleks and Davros in this one.

Sarah Jane (to Maria): “Nothing stays the same forever. If there’s anything I’ve learned in my life, it’s that people always move on.”

Lucy: “Spaceships? You’re talking about spaceships here?”
Sarah Jane: “Come on, in this day and age the idea of aliens shouldn’t be so difficult to accept.”

There were a few times in this story where Sarah Jane commented on Mr Smith gaining a sense of humour. I guess Alan did well in that respect.

Kaagh (to Sarah Jane): “You have encountered my kind and survived. You are indeed an extraordinary female.”

Sarah Jane: “The Doctor’s my friend, Kaagh, so you better watch out.”
Kaagh: “No, it’s you who is in peril.”

Clyde made with the spud related jokes like he was going to do. I did laugh when Kaagh referred to him as “Bitesize” though.

Chrissie: “I don’t believe you, Alan. I know when you’re lying. I’ve always known. Maria’s in danger, isn’t she and it’s got something to do with Calamity Jane?”

Kaagh: “Nothing will stop us.”
Chrissie: “Try my size eight, Humpty.”

The trailer for the next story did show that Rani Chandra would be moving into Maria’s house with her parents. Looks like Sarah Jane will have another fighter in her corner.

Sarah Jane (to Maria, re Chrissie): “Your mum will have saved the world. She won’t have a clue.”
Alan: “Believe me, it’s better that way. We’d never hear the end of it.”

Sarah Jane (to Maria): “No, I was wrong. You see for the first time, I felt as if I’d found a family and so soon, so sudden, I felt as if I was losing it. Losing the daughter I always wanted.”

Chronology: Six weeks passed at the end of the episode. I’m not sure how many since “Journey’s End” for Sarah Jane and Luke.

“The Last Sontaran” made for a good opening story, solid in many places and a bit more adventurous than anything involving Slitheen. You also have to give credit for the way Maria was written out of the series.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

Brothers And Sisters - Season 4 More Promotional Photos

I saw them and decided they were worthy of blogging. Another two and a half months until More4 air the fourth season for UK viewers mind you.

Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys), who this season is broachin into fatherhood. The reaction seems to be mixed with viewers. I'm gonna be objective and see how I feel when the episodes air over here.

Justin Walker (Dave Annable), who this year is intent on marrying both Rebecca and going to med school. Hopefully the latter isn't something the writers decide to jack in when Justin finds the going tough.

Ryan Lafferty (Luke Grimes). If I could vote for a 'neither use, nor ornament' character that wasn't a certain mistress, he'd get my vote. Hopefully Season 4 finds a way of organically keeping him on the show. If not, then the heave ho. No, I'll try and be generous with Ryan.

Robert McCallister (Rob Lowe). Last year saw him dominated with governor ambitions and the near collapse of his marriage. Given the rumours surrounding Kitty this season, can they get things back on track?

Scotty Wandall (Luke Macfarlane), the other half of probably the best gay couple on television right now. Yes, I'm hoping outside of imminent parenthood that the writers have other storylines for Kevin and Scotty.

More pictures can be seen here ...http://www.brothersandsisters-online.com/

Gag reel for Season 3 is here ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP90lvGVuVo

My Review of "Dead To The World"

Written by Charlaine Harris
Released in 2004

Sookie (to Sam/Arlene): “I just hope not to be beaten up. I don’t want to go to the hospital. I don’t want to see a doctor. So my resolution is to stay out of trouble.”

There’s a reason why I prefer not to bother with New Year Resolution – I’m bad at keeping them and to be fair, Sookie’s chance of staying out of trouble were never going to be successful. The girl just attracts it wherever she goes. Here’s another good example of that.

In the previous three books, we’ve had a serial killer targeting fang bangers, the Fellowship and Russell Edgington, so it’s time for some witches to come into play, yes? Except this lot aren’t the conventional bunch.

Sure they’re nasty but when the last time you saw or read about witches who can shape shift and guzzle vampire blood? Never and it gives Hallow and her nasty brother Mark’s coven a bit of an edge. Sookie got drawn into their world the second she decided to help Eric out again.

Giving Eric memory loss for the majority of the book was certainly an interesting turnaround. Stripped of his arrogance and entitlement, the book played on a more vulnerable Eric, almost dependant on Sookie for safety and emotional support. It’s also in this very book that Eric and Sookie finally do the deed in quite the understated manner.

Things used to be simple when Sookie had no sex life so to speak of. Now she’s got three suitors all eager to get into her good books. Bill seemed to be keeping his distance in the hope that she’ll take him back, Eric was mostly glued to her for the majority of the book and Alcide was uncovering corpses with her.

Much as I like Alcide, he did still come complete with the repugnant Debbie. It’s not that Debbie’s a bitch to Sookie that bothered me; it’s just that she’s a plain psycho. Even after being abjured, she made two efforts to kill Sookie. On the plus side, Sookie managed to do us all a favour and end Debbie’s miserable existence.

As for the Hallow/Mark segment, the disadvantage of the book is that often the baddies feel unexplored. Apart from power of Shreveport, there’s very little in the way of depth for the character and despite an excellent fight involving shifters, weres, vampires and Hallow’s coven, Hallow herself seemed to be taken of rather easily.

When Sookie wasn’t in another life or death situation, another worry for her was Jason’s disappearance. The book teased for the longest time that Hallow was involved, only for the truth of what happened to him being a lot more interesting. I certainly can’t wait to see that development played out in later books.

- Because I’m such a big fan, I adored the fact that Sookie and Eric were watching tapes of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
- Bubba doesn’t need an invite to enter another person’s house. That’s one plus side to him being a wrongly made vampire.
- We also got fairies in this book with the introduction of Claudine, who largely hung out with Tara.
- Chronology wise, this was based in January. Unsure of the year though.

“Dead To The World” isn’t my favourite of the bunch but this book series is cracking stuff. I still want more stuff on the likes of Sam and Tara but the Bill/Sookie/Alcide/Eric quadrangle is surprisingly quite interesting as is Jason’s new fate.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

She's Got Him (Doctor Who Season 5 Spoilers)

Yes people, another one. Well, the spoilers and set pictures are certainly coming out in form.

Matt Smith (The Doctor) and Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) filming another scene on the first episode.

It seems that judging by these photographs that Amy actually is a copper and is trying to arrest the Doctor as well. Something which he isn't obviously all that pleased about. Shades of Gwen Cooper. The cop thing I mean.

Karen Gillan said in DWM that her fitness level was going to be tested on this show. Hope she likes running because even without a certain Donna Noble quote, we all know there's an outrageous amount of the stuff to do.

Amy is something of a tie grabber as these pictures can show. Is it me or is there a bit of UST between her and The Doctor? I know after Rose, that's the last thing that a lot of viewers want to see but those pictures show a lot of chemistry between Eleven and Amy.

Another one at the ice cream van. Maybe the baddie of the episode is trying to kill people with 99's. Joke, people.

It also seems that Eleven's sonic screwdriver is also on a list of upgrade/revamps from Season 5. Why not? New Doctor, Companion, TARDIS, Title Sequence, Sonic Screwdriver. I just hope the newness (is that a word?) doesn't overwhelm casual viewers too much.

Some YouTube Goodness ...

New Title Sequence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fAQ26q5ATI

Amy Grabbing Eleven: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9mDt68fuuY

More Filming: http://www.youtube.com/user/slrpap#p/u/11/zM7M7mzZ6yQ

My Review of True Blood's 1x12: "You'll Be The Death Of Me"

Written by Raelle Tucker
Directed by Alan Ball

Rene (to Sookie): “You’re not gonna shoot me. Woops. Told you.”

So after twelve episode, both Sookie and Rene have that much needed confrontation with one another that we’ve been clamouring for. In the book, there was something of a low-key feel to it, so it’s not totally surprising that the same would apply here.

Rene certainly had some neck on him. Jason sat in a police cell pouring his heart out and feeling guilty about all the deaths that occurred and Rene went on to suggest that Maudette and company deserved what happened to them. Geez, Rene, I wonder what you deserve then.

Rene’s outing as the killer couldn’t have come anytime sooner than it did here. Andy was ignorant enough to ignore Sookie’s pleas about Drew Marshall but Rene acted weirder towards Sookie (almost like he wanted her to know who he really was), Arlene came across incriminating tapes and Sam could smell him all over.

The scenes between Sookie and Rene certainly had their tense moments. Rene preyed on Sookie’s abilities and certainly went nuts at the right time. Sookie, even when the baddie takes the bullets from the gun, still hold onto the damn thing. Running out of the house was smart. Leaving the only weapon available to you not so much.

Because Sookie spent most of her time trying to hide from Rene, we missed out on her actually asking why he targeted fang bangers. In flashbacks we saw that Cindy was one and that he killed her in a frenzied rage but apart from hatred towards the undead, Rene doesn’t have that much depth as a baddie.

Sookie very nearly escaped from Rene with her life. Sam was able to provide a reasonable enough distraction. Rene’s bigotry also extended to shifters when he furiously started beating on Sam in the same level of disgust that he harboured for Sookie. Only Bill’s rescue attempt was a failure.

In other shows, movies, etc, it wouldn’t take long for daylight to turn a vampire into dust. Here, it’s certainly longer and most definitely agonising as Bill slowly crisped in a bid to get to Sookie. At least Sookie and Sam were able to get him buried before he was actually finished off by the sun. Can’t help but not love Sam for that at least.

As for Rene, there were plenty of horrible ways that he could’ve been dispatched with, so Sookie slicing his neck with a shovel is almost light hearted compared to the anguish that Rene has greatly caused. The one thing I did love from this debacle was everyone rounding up to see her afterwards.

Sookie told everyone about Sam’s heroic, caring side that he needed to show more often. I will agree about the element to his character, even if his jealousy of Bill is a glaring consistency with him. Then there was Tara being all matey with Sookie (more of that next season), Arlene apologising and Jason vowing to be there for her. It’s enough to make you melt. No, I’m not being sarcastic.

As for Sam, one minute he’s loving being the hero of the hour, the next he’s got a face like thunder when he met Tara’s new gal pal. No point being cryptic here, Maryann knows that Sam’s a shifter, he definitely seems to know that something isn’t quite right with her and it’s enough to get him considering skipping town. I know in the books, there’s something between them but I’m guessing the series will intend on doing something different.

Tara right now basically seems to think that Maryann is her fairy godmother. It’s hard to blame Tara for thinking that way. Maryann bailed her from jail, has given her somewhere to stay, sort of introduced her to the handsome looking Eggs and also has given her quite the confidence boost. For that alone, I want to liken Maryann.

I got a kick out of seeing a more confident, relaxed Tara. She is a good person who deserves good shit to happen to her. The unfortunate part is that this episode only confirmed that Maryann is bad news and that Tara will have a new set of problems to deal with in the next few weeks.

Speaking of problems, making teenage girls should be a no-no to vampires. If Eric can’t control Jessica and Pam is annoyed by her, then what hope does Bill have with keeping the stroppy madam in check? Jessica did everything in her power in the previous episode to defy Bill, so I can’t see her turning over a new leaf anytime soon.

Also, it’s convenient that Bill having to face his responsibilities with Jessica should come at the very moment that him and Sookie made up. No apologies were exactly exchanged but the fact that Bill tried to save Sookie from Rene was enough for her to give Bill a second chance.

The other big problem stemmed from Jason’s involvement with the Fellowship. To be fair, Jason is easily led and if Amy had no problems in manipulating him, then a fanatical group intent on wiping out vampires weren’t going to have such a difficult task in doing it also. And just when Sookie was hoping that Jason was going to keep himself out of trouble.

As for the end scene, the foot in Andy’s car. It had better not be Lafayette. I’ve read the second book and I know that Lafayette was attacked in this episode but I seriously do not want him dead. Sookie and Tara on the other hand took ages to scream. Anyone else would’ve yelled quite instantly.

Also in “You’ll Be The Death Of Me”

After seeing Kenya in the previous episode, we got to meet Kevin in this one. He’s not how I’d imagine him.

Tara: “This isn’t food, this is sculpture. And this place? You ain’t just a social worker, are you?
Maryann: “I’m a lot of things. Just like you. Coffee?”

Tara mentioned her name being stupid in an attempt to apologise to Eggs for teasing him about his. Eggs could be an interesting.

Ari (re fang bangers): “And while your methods were flawed, your intentions were pure.”
Jason: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Tara: “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have laughed. My name’s screwed up too.”
Eggs: “Tara’s a pretty name. Suits you.”

We got some flashbacks on the moments that Rene/Drew killed Cindy, Maudette, Dawn, Adelle and Amy.

Terry (to Sookie/Rene): “Nobody ever listens to me but they should.”

Sookie: “You have no idea how sick and twisted some people are.”
Rene: “Oh Lordy, I can believe that. Yes Ma’am.”

Arlene found a box with Maudette and Liam’s sexcapades as well as a tape for Cajun Dialect. Wow, Rene, talk about sloppy workmanship there.

Rene: “Spread your legs for a dead man. Mama would roll in her grave.”
Cindy: “Get the fuck out of here.”

Sookie: “Sam, you need to let people see the real you because you’re kind and brave and there’s nothing there not to love.”
Sam: “Right back at you.”

Alan Ball directed this episode but didn’t write it. He did that a lot with the finales for Six Feet Under as well. We also some legalised vampire/human marriage as well.

Sam: “What the hell are you doing here?”
Maryann: “Did you think I wouldn’t find you? You silly, silly dog.”

Sookie: “You’re alive.”
Bill: “Well, technically not but I am healed.”
Sookie: “Would you like to come in?”
Bill: “Yes.”

Standout music: Ray LaMontagne’s “Trouble” and Johnny Winter’s “You’ll Be The Death Of Me”.

Jessica: “Hello Daddy.”
Bill: “What’s this?”
Eric: “There are favours and there are favours.”
Pam: “She is extremely annoying.”

Andy: “Where’s my car?”
Tara: “Andy Bellefleur, the only thing you’re driving tonight is us crazy.”

Chronology: There was a two week jump at the end of the episode.

“You’ll Be The Death Of Me” has a sort of low-key feel for a season ender. That’s not to say that plenty doesn’t happen in the episode but it doesn’t have an epic feel to it. However as a finale goes, it’s one of the best ones though.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

Arresting Presence (Doctor Who Season 5 Spoilers)

The new logo for 2010. What do you think? Not bad IMO.


Blimey, talk about spoilers. Again, another Doctor Who Season 5 spoiler related blog. They're certainly coming out in force.

Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) is a police officer or stripper if that skirt's anything to go by. Matt Smith (The Doctor) is also clearly wearing his predecessor's outfit as well.

Mostly filming of this episode (the first one) and mainly the scenes I'm guessing where Eleven and Amy meet for the first time. I didn't realise female cops looked this good. Or is Moffat appealing to his straight male contingent?

Those scenes with Eleven and Amy and an ice cream van by the looks of it. Can't wait to find out the alien threat in this one.


More photos can be seen here ... http://www.flickr.com/photos/alun_vega

Nip/Tuck - Season 6 Promotional Photos

Wow, another day, another new show and the sixth and final season of Nip/Tuck gets underway this month. Hopefully after the seriously disappointing fifth season, improvement will reign supreme.

Sean McNamara (Dylan Walsh) looks on. Will he realise his new woman is another loony?

Christian Troy (Julian McMahon) the serial womaniser. Will marriage sate him?

More typical shots of the guys with a model. Cute but we've seen them before.

Season 6 will contain 19 episodes, with the 100th episode marking the series finale. All of the season has already been filmed and Rose MacGowen will be taking from Katee Sackhoff as the deranged Teddy. Famke Janssen is back as Ava Moore too.

Season 6 airs Wednesdays at 10pm from October 14th on FXUS. Season 5 (remaining eight episodes) airs on FXUK from Wednesday, November 18th at 10pm.

Trailers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gew2FQBJkmo and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB_jLs15MfU&feature=related

He's Reborn? (Doctor Who Season 5 Spoilers)

This might constitute for October, it might not, depending on what other juicy nuggets I can find. Reminders that the likes of Alun Vega, Planet Gallifrey, Life And Combom, Blogtor Who etc have covered a fair chunk of this information via their blogspot and photobucket accounts in the last few weeks. About four or five episodes have been filmed since Season 5/Season 1/Season 31 went into production in mid July.

Unknown Character (Terrence Hardiman), Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) during a take.

Male fans seem to appreciate Karen Gillan in her robe, quite a lot from the online communities I've been frequenting the past month. She is pretty, I do admit that.

Location filming at a private house on Llandaff Green. It seems that the episode currently being filmed is in fact the first one.

The evidence is seemingly behind Matt Smith's lovely red robe as he's seen wearing Tennant's converse and brown pin-striped pants.

Another picture shows that this might be the neighbourhood in which he meets up with Amy Pond. Though we've seen no pictures of Karen Gillan today.

Annette Crosbie is the latest actor to sign on to the series (and I bet it will be a while before DWM announce her casting as well). Unsure of her role. Maybe a neighbour of Amy's? Grandparent perhaps?

There's been a few spoilers circulating as to how Eleven and Amy are supposed to meeting. One that has done the rounds has been Eleven meeting a younger version of his latest companion before meeting her in the present day. A bit like The Girl In The Fireplace, then.

Expect more Season 5 set spoilers as they become available and more interesting. Opinions on these blog would be appreciated.

ETA: Also according to someone on GallifreyBase, here's Season 5 writers/directors/blocks. Not sure how true these are.

EPISODE ONE BLOCK 3
written by STEVEN MOFFAT

EPISODE TWO BLOCK 2
written by MARK GATISS
(WW2 Dalek story)

EPISODE THREE BLOCK 2
written by GARETH ROBERTS

EPISODE FOUR/FIVE - BLOCK ONE
written by STEVEN MOFFAT
(The River Song story)

EPISODE SIX BLOCK 5
written by RICHARD CURTIS

EPISODE SEVEN BLOCK 6
written by STEVEN MOFFAT

EPISODE EIGHT & NINE BLOCK 4
written by CHRIS CHIBNALL

EPISODE TEN BLOCK 6
written by NEIL GAIMAN*

EPISODE ELEVEN BLOCK 5
written by TOBY WHITHOUSE

EPISODE TWELVE & THIRTEEN BLOCK 7
written by STEVEN MOFFAT

* Neil Gaiman has said on his Twitter page that he is NOT writing for Season 5. Tis a shame. Remember the list isn't a proper confirmation, just what I found from a poster on GallifreyBase.

My Review of Doctor Who's: "Time Crash"

Written by Steven Moffat
Directed by Graeme Harper

Fifth Doctor: “Who are you?”
Tenth Doctor: “Oh brilliant. I mean, totally wrong, big emergency, universe goes bang in five minutes but brilliant.”
Fifth Doctor: “I’m the Doctor and who are you?”
Tenth Doctor: “Yes you are, you’re the Doctor.”

Okay so given the fact that in the space of three seasons that this show has thrown many a thing that could be deemed fan fiction in our faces, is the meeting of two Doctors really enough to shock us?

After all, we’ve had The Doctor turn human, kiss every single one of his companions (including Captain Jack) and RTD did make a lot of slashers happy by playing up the homoerotic tension between The Doctor and The Master in the last three episodes of the third season as well the fact that we’ve had Daleks versus Cybermen but a collision of Doctors is always going to be something special.

Cohesively, “The Three Doctors” had the strongest of plots with Omega but “The Five Doctors” tugged at certain strings and “The Two Doctors” was also something fun to behold. I would mention “Dimensions In Time” but like many people, I really do want to deny that particular spoof’s existence.

Twenty three years after his departure in “The Caves Of Androzani”, Peter Davison’s dashing, if somewhat mixed Fifth Doctor is back and as a result, we’re treated to seven minutes of sheer geekiness as Davison sparks off brilliantly with David Tennant’s Doctor. In fact, it’s probably the first time since “Last Of The Time Lords” that the Tenth Doctor gets to have a bit of fun.

Of course there’s an element of confusion to be had as well. The appearance of the Fifth Doctor can only spell an array of disaster and while Tennant gets to act like a geeky fan boy (not much acting required), Davison’s Doctor isn’t pleased to see a younger version of him swanning around in his TARDIS and acting like he’s been sleep deprived for a month.

The Doctor is pleased to see his older self but he doesn’t have any problem in giving his fifth incarnation a dressing down. Now for everyone who thinks wearing celery is as lame as having to eat the stuff, there’s a little bit of teasing at the vegetable’s expense.

Teasing aside, there does seem to be a merging of two worlds (TARDISES?) and it’s up to the memory of both Doctors in order to solve things. While the main danger plot doesn’t convince as much, it’s the last moment of the serial that will really hits home for a lot of viewers.

Now we know that writer Steven Moffat and David Tennant are big fans of Peter Davison’s tenure on the series and there’s a nice bit of lip service just as the Fifth Doctor begins to leave. Plus the way this ties into “Voyage Of The Damned” is quite nice. Maybe next time The Doctor will play attention to putting up his shields.

- Although not credited, the last scene in “Last Of The Time Lords” with Martha opens up this scene rather nicely.
- Unsurprisingly enough both David Tennant and Peter Davison are titled in the credits for this. That would be the first time for two men in Doctor Who, credit wise.
- There are mentions of Nyssa, Tegan, the Cybermen, the Mara, Time Lords with funny hats and The Master so this could be set before “The Five Doctors” for the Fifth Doctor.
- Oh and The Master is gay. Not really, but the joke was too good to pass up and come to think of it, the Fifth Doctor had the most interactions with The Master outside the Third Doctor.
- This is also available on the Season Four DVD box-set due out on November 17th 2008. Thank God for YouTube because I actually fell asleep when this originally transmitted.
- This was also directed by Graeme Harper who directed Peter Davison’s departure in “The Caves Of Androzani”.

Quote, Unquote

Tenth Doctor: “Cos you know what, Doctor? You were my Doctor.”
Fifth Doctor: “To days to come.”
Tenth Doctor: “All my love to long ago.”

The more I watched “Time Crash”, the better it seems to get. All these mini-scenes from Doctor Who add to the show and seeing as Steven Moffat himself said this was cannon, I’m more than happy to agree with it. It’s nostalgic without going overboard and it was for Children In Need to boot.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

My Review of Doctor Who's: "The Infinity Quest"

Written by Alan Barnes
Directed by Gary Russell

Martha (re Balthazar): “I know he was rotten to the core but still.”
The Doctor: “Oh I left him a way out.”

One of the cool things about a show like Doctor Who is how unrestricted the storytelling can be. Not only do we have spin-offs, audio plays, books and comic strips to compliment the weekly televised adventures but now we can also the pleasure of an animated feature along with it.

Designed as thirteen three and a half minutes episodes that were aired weekly on Totally Doctor Who, The Infinity Quest is something a lighter tale with The Doctor and Martha as they take on the nefarious Balthazar and his quest for the infinite. The infinite of course being the nifty concept of getting your heart’s desire.

Of course The Doctor doesn’t really believe in the infinite but it doesn’t stop him and Martha from opening the story by stopping Balthazar from destroying earth and free a giant robotic bird named Caw either way.

However despite a brief stay at Volag Noc, Balthazar is no sooner out of the intergalactic slammer when he uses Caw to trick The Doctor and Martha in aiding his quest for the infinite. They have to find four data chips in order to get the exact location and Caw doesn’t exactly have to go to great lengths in order to get them interested in doing Balthazar’s dirty work.

Nope, it seems just the thought of actually stopping the baddie from achieving his goal is enough to do and soon enough The Doctor and Martha nab the first data chip in the middle of an oil war between pirate lady Captain Kalico and her treacherous matey Swabb.

Of course the flipside to this then is that Kalico is killed as they collect the first data and this also happens when they land in their next location with the less savoury Mergrass. The common thread in this quest is that The Doctor and Martha seem to be caught in the middle of big galactic wars.

In the second one, it’s a war between mankind and a bug like alien race known as the Mantisphid. There are some ethical moments between whether or not the Mantisphid are deserving of living after they’ve slaughtered the majority of the human race to claim ownership of the land they’ve acquired.

Although in my opinion The Doctor doesn’t owe the Mantisphid anything, he does decide to save them from extermination by posing as a pirate and pretending he was responsible for all the carnage. This is probably the only part of the story that made me visibly cringe. David Tennant’s very funny but he does get a little too OTT with this particular segment.

Fortunately things pick up much better when The Doctor and Martha wind up as prisoners on Volag Noc. Now I know The Master may have quipped about The Doctor being a menace but I was genuinely impressed with the number of convictions he managed to notch up in his 900 plus years of existence. Jail sentences on Volag Noc are certainly harsh though.

Martha on the other hand is her awesome. Without The Doctor for a few minutes she deduces that Gurney isn’t the real governor at all and we also don’t have to wait long for The Doctor to get assistance from real governor Locke in escaping the joint. However there is a brief moment when The Doctor does have to save the other prisoners from being completely wiped out.

As for Balthazar, well it doesn’t take him long to re-emerge and take The Doctor and Martha prisoner before Caw winds up dying. The flipside for The Doctor is that he is left to perish in the snow while Martha is forced to find the infinite with Balthazar, who as a villain isn’t that particularly original.

Nope Balthazar’s heart craves for destruction and loads of riches. Martha’s meanwhile craves for The Doctor and her crush on the Time Lord is really emphasised here like it has been in many Season Three episodes. Of course when she spots the real Doctor, she’s smart enough to snap out of it and not believe anymore.

Balthazar on the other hand just winds back in Volag Noc. Well Caw did have to find a way to redeem itself and this was a perfect way to achieve that. The Doctor and Martha on the other hand just decide to head to a new location given that the infinite seemingly no longer poses a big concern.

Also in “The Infinity Quest”

As an episode this got the same opening and end credits as the series does, except for the animated TARDIS.

Kalico: “You two might want to hold on tight – to the rail.”
The Doctor: “Ay, ay Captain.”

Martha got scolded by The Doctor for her pirate impression. In all fairness, it was his that was really bad.

The Doctor: “These are warplanes?”
Mergrass: “What do you expect in a war zone?”

Kelvin: “I don’t want to die.”
Martha: “Well you didn’t.”

We got a mention of the Nestene from “Rose” and the Racnoss from “The Runaway Bride”. I’m not sure where the great vampires’ part comes from though.

Mantisphid Queen: “What have you done, Doctor?”
The Doctor: “Taken the rap for you and ended your war.”
Martha: “They’ll never believe you.”

Scanner: “No scanning of criminal activity.”
Martha: “Well obviously.”

So in his 902 years of existence, The Doctor has managed to acquire an outstanding 3005 convictions which included traffic violations, evading library fines and planetary demolition. Naughty boy!

Gurney: “Don’t you get it? He’s escaped; your friend let him out.”
Martha: “We’ve only been here five minutes. Nice one, Doctor.”

The Doctor: “How did you find us? It’s very tricky tracking a TARDIS.”
Balthazar: “I had insider information. Have you met Squawk?”

Balthazar was played by the wonderful Anthony Stewart Head who appeared in the Season Two episode “School Reunion” as Mr Finch.

The Doctor (re TARDIS): “This isn’t a taxi.”
Balthazar: “Set the controls or Miss Martha here gets skewered.”

Martha (re The Doctor): “He’ll be back.”
Balthazar: “He’s a thousand light years away in the cold.”

The DVD of this had trailer for Season 3 on DVD, Season 1 of Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures’ episode “Invasion Of The Bane as well as interviews with David Tennant, Freema Agyeman and Anthony Stewart Head.

Martha (re heart’s desire): “What did it show you by the way?”
The Doctor: “Doesn’t matter. Didn’t work anyway.”

This serial is supposedly set after the televised episode “42”. To be fair, I don’t think there was really any references to the adventures that Martha has had with The Doctor so far anyway.

As a set of thirteen mini-episodes, this is okay but when viewed together as one big thing, “The Infinity Quest” is a mixed bag. On the positive side the animation is terrific (and life like) and there are great performances from David Tennant, Freema Agyeman and Anthony Stewart Head and there’s an overall sense of fun. On the flipside, the story isn’t terribly exciting and Balthazar does feel too much like a one note villain, despite Anthony going above and beyond to make him interesting. Still points for the effort and the overall sense of fun that was clearly had in the making of this special.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

My Review of Doctor Who's: "Pudsey Cutaway"

Written by Russell T. Davies
Directed by Euros Lyn

The Doctor: “Go on. What do you think?”
Rose: “Who are you?”
The Doctor: “I’m The Doctor.”
Rose: “Where is he? Where’s The Doctor? What have you done to him?”

Set in between “The Parting Of The Ways” and “The Christmas Invasion”, it was generously nice of Russell T. Davies to give us a little taste of the Tenth Doctor a month before David Tennant made his presence very much felt during the 2005 festive season.

All in the aid for Children In Need, the not so imaginatively titled “Pudsey Cutaway” sees Rose not dealing with the fact that The Doctor can regenerate at all. Given that this series has been designed for newcomers in a big way, this was a nice thing to play on as it’s easy to see why Rose isn’t coping so well.

She’s travelled with The Doctor for a whole season and nearly died courtesy of the Daleks and the energy from the TARDIS. With the man bobbing up and down like an overexcited school boy, this should’ve given her a big hint about the art of regeneration. Rose naturally assumes this man has stolen her Doctor.

The thing is Rose doesn’t exactly make any strong attempts to uncover the truth. Sure she’s quick to remember various things during the first season but her fear rather than anger or curiosity is highlighted somewhat more. Also because this is only seven minutes long, halfway through Rose does realise that the man standing in front of her is the same Time Lord who just snogged her a while ago.

David Tennant is good in this. Okay so his performance in this piece isn’t on the level of Christopher Eccleston but “The Christmas Invasion” sorted that one out. Right now in his seven minute scene, he’s cute, funny, enthusiastic, mysterious and just a little dangerous to boot. It’s also worth pointing out that like his predecessor, this new Doctor is able to flit back and forth with these gamuts of emotions quite expertly.

When he’s not persuading Rose that he’s really The Doctor, he asks if she wants to go home. When Rose didn’t provide an answer quick enough he decided to go back to the Powell Estate on Christmas Eve. Again this would lead in nicely to a certain episode and while he doesn’t forget about Jack, The Doctor isn’t exactly in a mad panic to go back and save him. That’s one negative point against The Doctor.

Sometimes I wished we had seen a little bit of Jack in the second season but the dangerous part comes when The Doctor starts behaving erratically and speeds up the TARDIS. Although Rose is perfectly within her rights to freak out she should be grateful that this Doctor isn’t going to strangle her anytime soon. That would definitely add to the tension between The Doctor and Rose right now.

- Rose mentioned her experiences with Gelth, the Slitheen and Nanogenes when attempting to assert her cleverness.
- The Cloister Bell went off at the end of this scene. That will occur in future episodes of the series.
- I loved the CIN ads both David Tennant and Billie Piper did during this special scene. You can find them on YouTube if you look real hard.
- The Doctor telling Rose about their first encounter/word in “Rose” was a nice shout out.
- If The Doctor knew Jack had to rebuild the Earth, how did he think Jack was going to do it?
- This is the first anything really with David Tennant’s name in the Opening Credits. I’m so glad it was featured on the Season Two DVD because I missed its original broadcast.

Quote, Unquote

Rose: “Can you change back?”
The Doctor: “Do you want me to?”
Rose: “Yeah.”
The Doctor: “Oh.”
Rose: “Can you?”
The Doctor: “No. Do you want to leave?”
Rose: “Do you want me to leave?”

As mini-scenes go, “Pudsey Cutaway” is a lot of fun and over the next few years, it would be little things such as this that would continue to add to the joy of watching Doctor Who and even reviewing it. It was a nice way of briefly introducing David Tennant before “The Christmas Invasion”.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

My Review of True Blood's 1x11: "To Love Is To Bury"

Written And Directed by Nancy Oliver

Sookie: “I rescind your invitation.”
Bill: “Sookie, don’t please. Sookie, please.”

I hate to admit but if there was ever a time in which Bill should’ve had his invitation rescinded by Sookie, was now the best time? I can already guess that when the killer strikes at Sookie again, she’s going to regret giving Bill the heavy ho.

In fact a lot of the reasons why I find Sookie giving Bill his marching orders wrong are down to the fact that she’s unaware that he made a vampire. That really would be the best reason for such an action. Here it was because Bill and Sam got into a scrap (after Bill caught Sookie and Sam kissing) and she was largely mad at Bill not being by her side.

Sookie and Sam really did get close in this episode. Last week she spent most of her time fuming at Sam for not being honest with her about being a shape shifter. This week, they’re flirting, teasing each other and playing detective. Now, here are two people who really should be friends and nothing more.

Don’t get me wrong, a lot of their scenes together were enjoyable but I just don’t think of Sookie and Sam as a couple. The fact that both of them are complicated and wanted simplicity also seemed rather drilled out as well.

As a detective team, they found out more about one of the victims that either Andy or Bud have been able to come up with all season. So, the girl in Sookie’s visions turned out to be a fang banger and Sookie used some gentle blackmail to get a bigoted officer to fax over a picture of the dead girl’s brother that conveniently will be spotted at the worst time.

If I hadn’t read “Dead Until Dark”, I might have been shocked to learn that Rene was the killer but maybe it’s appropriate. I’ve noticed in past episodes that Rene does have his own anti-vampire attitude, even if it hasn’t been as overt as Arlene, Jason or anyone else on the show, it’s been there.

Plus in the previous episode, he made his stance on vampires clear to Sookie when he danced with her and Jason filled him in all on Amy’s V addiction as well. I so wanted Amy to get her comeuppance but not through being another in a long line of victims from Rene. Being strangled to death while high – does that constitute as painless?

Amy didn’t exactly go out on a high in this episode, even if she was off her face. She spent way too much time attempting to justify her actions towards, was pretty abusive towards Jason and even after grovelling with a slap up, she still managed to get Jason to go on one last V trip with her. Jason really should’ve booted her out the door.

However once again, because Amy got killed, Jason was in the firing line. The interesting thing is that now he’s convinced he murdered Amy, along with Maudette and Dawn but adamant about not killing Adelle. Even though Jason has done a lot to annoy as a character, it’s really hard not to feel bad for him here. It’s also like all of Sookie’s possible defenders have been pulled away from her. Except Sam.

Speaking of Sookie’s men, Bill was largely separated from his girl due to his new duties as a maker. I gotta say with angst flowing all over the place, why would any vampire want to turn a teenager into one of them? Jessica proved the point that it’s not necessarily a great idea.

Deborah Ann Woll is a good piece of casting for the role of Jessica. Delightfully bratty, Jessica’s non stop tantrums about wanting to kill and basking in a newfound sense of liberation versus vampire obligation which included brushing up on her swearing gave Bill plenty of ripe opportunities to look on exasperated at the girl. Of course, brattiness only works in moderation, so Jessica will have to get good characterisation if she’s a keeper.

I also couldn’t help but love both Pam and Eric sort of taking pleasure in Bill’s task. It’s clear that he feels responsible for Jessica but she’s a teenage girl and while some of Eric’s methods worked a bit, Jessica is going to be hard work for Bill. Plus, Sookie is going to be pissed when she finds out that Bill made Jessica.

Also in the pissed stakes was Tara. Drinking and driving always gets you punished and being belligerent to Kenya got Tara locked up for the night in jail. Tara does seem to be on a slight destructive course but Lettie Mae seemed too cold for me. If it was for Tara, Lettie Mae might be dead during her alcoholic bouts.

With Lettie Mae callously washing her hands off Tara, it was interesting that Maryann stepped in and was keen to save Tara. Nice to know the naked woman with a razorback has a name, a purpose and a house you could literally get lost in. However the trailer for the next episode strongly indicated that Maryann might not be all that she seems. Tara really can’t catch a break, can she?

All in what seems like a lifetime since he’s had anything big to do; Lafayette now added blackmail to his list. You know, I don’t endorse blackmail but come on, how could anyone not be angry with a senator like David Finch? Lafayette certainly was and warned him accordingly.

The problem with David was on one had, he slamming vampire/gay rights but on the other, he’s sleeping with men and needing V. He’d be doing a better service for his constituents if he actually told the truth. Lafayette might be playing a dangerous enough game in trying to take on David but boo to hypocritical closeted politicians all the more.

Also in “To Love Is To Bury”

Nancy Oliver was a script writer for Seasons 3-5 of Six Feet Under, writing some incredible episodes like “Untitled” and “Ecotone”. It’s great that she directed this one as well.

Bill: “I find myself doubting whether you were ever truly human.”
Pam: “Thank you.”

Bill was supposed to have sex with Jessica as a part of his ritual with her. He even slept in the ground with her.

Jason: “Yankee bitch.”
Amy: “Dumb fucking hillbilly.”

Lafayette (re David): “Did you just hear what he said?”
Terry: “I can’t listen to politicians no more. I get a seizure.”

Jason got bailed on by Hoyt having to attend a baby shower (he seems to enjoy them) and Rene going on a date with Arlene. Before or after bumping off Amy?

Amy: “I did what you said. It was all my fault, Jason. I’m so sorry.”
Jason: “You made dinner for me?”
Amy: “I’d do anything for you.”

Sam: “Do you love Bill?”
Sookie: “I think I do but where is he? If vampire politics are more important to him than me … I don’t know.”

The girl in Sookie’s dreams/visions was Cindy Marshall, a waitress in Big Patty’s Piehouse. Her brother was called Drew, aka Rene.

Jessica (to Bill): “You’re supposed to take care of me and you suck and that’s funny because you do.”

Tara: “Fuck you. You’re not my mother. Get out of my sight, you evil bitch.”
Lettie Mae: “I love you.”
Tara: “No, you don’t. You never did.”

How come Tara didn’t recognise Maryann the social worker as the naked woman she nearly ran into? The character of Kenya also features in the Sookie Stackhouse books.

Jessica (to Bill/Eric): “I don’t obey anybody. Those days are over.”

Eric (re Bill): “You want to stay with your maker, don’t you?”
Jessica: “No, he’s a dick. Dick, dick, dick.”

There was an interesting scene between Eric and Bill where they argued over Sookie. And was I the only thinking that Jason’s bed sheets looked like bin bags?

Tara: “You’re not a Jesus person, are you?”
Maryann: “No, no, nothing against religion but I’m not a Jesus person.”

Sookie: “You are fun. It’s one of the reasons I’m still working for you.”
Sam: “Yeah?”
Sookie: “It’s not for the tips or high class clientele.”

Standout music: Ryan Adams "Two" and The Cowboy Junkies "To Love Is To Bury".

Andy: “This is the worst confession I’ve ever heard in my life.”
Jason: “Fuck you, Andy, it’s all I got.”

Chronology: A few hours after “I Don’t Wanna Know” finished up.

“To Love Is To Bury” has all the trappings for a good set up to the finale. Sookie’s definitely in clear and present danger, Bill’s got the responsibility from hell and our main focus point for the second season is also making herself known.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

Brothers And Sisters - Season 4 Cast Shots

Thank Christ. ABC have finally released cast shots for Brothers And Sisters fourth season. Thanks to marea67 for alerting me on LiveJournal.

Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys) with longer but just as cute hair as last season.

Scotty Wandall (Luke Macfarlane) with his arms folded.

Justin Walker (Dave Annable) exuding some testerone there.

Ryan Lafferty (Luke Grimes) certainly looking better with shorter hair. Hopefully that means some better storylines as well this season.

The entire Season 4 cast out in the sunshine. Maybe the new season will be upbeat, despite the rumours surrounding Kitty. God, this is going to be good.

More cast photos here ... http://brothersandsisters-tv.com/gallery/index.php?cat=33

My Review of "Club Dead"

Written by Charlaine Harris
Released in 2003

Sookie: “Okay, I’d hoped to avoid this, but ... Bill, I rescind your invitation into my house. Eric, I rescind your invitation into my house.”

If you think that quote is dramatic enough, it should give you a very good description for how the third book plays out. Sookie and Bill may be ship-worthy on the series, True Blood but the books have been more conflicting with me.

There are a lot of problems with Sookie and Bill as a couple on screen but I think the biggest one has to be Bill’s possessiveness. It’s never going to be an endearing trait and territorial as he is, this book actually doesn’t feature him a lot in. Though that’s more than compensated with the fact that he’s virtually mentioned every second page.

We’re at the stage that in Sookie and Bill’s relationship, things have gotten progressively sour between them. Bill’s attempts of cataloguing a vampire directory for the Queen Of Louisiana and his attempts of keeping this from Eric, Pam and Chow had Sookie threatened by them.

Worse than that for Sookie was Bill being kidnapped, which meant that Sookie had to team up with Werewolf Alcide in Jackson, Mississippi. This is the book that has Sookie with not one suitor but three of them and each of them have their pros and cons.

Alcide could arguably be the best man for Sookie. Not only does she have the pleasure of being with him in the daylight but he’s a bit of a confidence booster, has the sister from Heaven (seriously, try not liking Janice) and can more than deal with the dark world that Sookie’s been sucked into. Even his little moments of jealousy and bitch ex-girlfriend Debbie aren’t strong enough deterrents.

Then there’s Eric. Now I’m someone who’s always preferred Angel to Spike in the Buffyverse but given that Eric is very much the latter, I’m finding myself baffled with how much I like him. It’s probably down to the fact that he’s less territorial and there’s more playfulness with him compared to Bill.

Out of the three of the suitors, Bill is the one who fared worst in this book alone. While it’s not his fault that gay vampire Russell Edgington decided to snatch or that Lorena enjoyed torturing the hell out of him, it’s the fact that he intended to ditch Sookie for Lorena that’s bothersome and the rape scene in the trunk (despite him being hazed and hungry) that screw him over.

In fact it’s a combination of all of these that had Sookie rescind his invitation at the end of the book along with Eric. There’s more than enough times in the book where Sookie openly expressed her growing apathy with Bill and Eric bringing constant danger to her, so it’s a pretty organic decision that’s made.

As for the plot with Russell, it’s one of the things that falls apart here. Sure, Sookie gets the home invasion from hell and even Eric isn’t unscathed but the ending with Bill giving Russell a piece of the vampire directory did feel like an afterthought. Faulty plot developments can be forgiven for some good character moments and dialogue and that’s where the book is strong.

- It seemed a bit of a coincidence that Tara would also be in Jackson with vampire Franklin Mott. I wonder if we’ll see her and Sookie’s dance routine on the series.
- This book gave Bubba some fun stuff to do, though apparently he can take instruction a bit too literally. Like stuffing a corpse in Alcide’s closet.
- Taboos aren’t much to vampires. Despite his constant lusting for Sookie, Eric actually had some downtime with a male vampire as well.
- Chronologically, this story took place around Christmas, so it’s about six or seven months since Sookie and Bill first met each other.

“Club Dead” is a riveting read and while it would be nice to have some more development on the other characters in Sookie’s life besides her vampire suitors, it’s hard to knock it that much. Plus, kudos for Sookie getting to stake Lorena.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

Brothers And Sisters - Season 4 Sneak Peeks (Spoilers)

Damn it, ABC, less than a week to go and no cast shots. This bites. Oh well here are some nice premiere pictures of Kevin (Matthew Rhys) and Scotty (Luke Macfarlane) that go some way to amending that.





In the space of the previous three seasons, we've had Kevin and Scotty go from boyfriends to exes to boyfriends and a married couple. This season we're getting them in the role of parents. As steps go, it does seem to be the natural next one and while some of the previews have indicated that Kevin is more enthused that Scotty, I am hoping this doesn't completely mirror Kitty/Robert in Season 3.

ABC have released five previews which can be watched here ... http://spoilertv.blogspot.com/2009/09/brothers-and-sisters-5-sneak-peeks.html

The Season 4 trailer can be viewed here ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g62VPU0AKs

Overall thoughts, I'm so looking forward to the fourth season. I know some people aren't loving this show as much as the first season but it's still got my attention.

Meanwhile for UK viewers, Season 3 is available on DVD from October 19th. Attitude magazine gave it a 4/5 rating, which was nice of them.

My Review of Buffy The Vampire Slayer's: "The Movie"

Written by Joss Whedon
Directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui

Buffy: “How do you know all this?”
Merrick: “Because it is your birthright and I’m a part of this. You come with me to the graveyard and I will show you.”

So this movie’s been released for the last seventeen years and it’s taken me now to review it? My bad but hey for a movie that’s supposed to be so abysmal, my urge to chuck things at the screen during its duration was nowhere to be seen. What do you make of that?

It’s been documented enough times on the series that prior to being a slayer, Buffy was little more than Cordelia. Apparently learning that your destiny is to slay vampires can be traumatic, humbling and increases your savvy. Buffy went through virtually all three of these emotions within the movie.

For the first few minutes we saw Buffy as a cheerleader with shallow mates, a dumb jock boyfriend named Jeffrey and obsessing about a school dance while taking the piss out of stoners Pike and Benny. Then Merrick showed up and she was forced to confront the fact that her destiny was a lot bigger than wanting to marry Christian Slater.

Maybe I’m a sucker for slayer/watcher scenes because all of Buffy and Merrick’s scenes were an absolute joy to watch. Her attempts to reject her birthright ran absolutely true and despite tension between Buffy and Merrick, there was some wonderful moments where they actually bonded with each other.

The scene where they discussed jobs and Buffy’s gentle poking about Merrick making a joke was endearing. Then again in a totally weird way, so was Merrick showing Buffy that catching a knife meant that she was chosen. Yeah, that’s a real convincing argument there.

Kristy Swanson might not have garnered the same acclaim that Sarah Michelle Gellar would deservedly get during the series run years after this movie but I had no problem adjusting to her Buffy and similar enjoyed Donald Sutherland as the otherwise doomed Merrick.

In fact Merrick’s death about two third into the movie struck a chord for me. The first time Joss Whedon has murdered a beloved character in his popular franchise. That should’ve been foreshadowing for some of the deaths we would have to endure on the series itself.

With Merrick dead, the only other person Buffy had in her corner was Pike. Luke Perry isn’t a bad actor, though he does seem to vary with certain roles. Here, he’s quite enjoyable, quirky and even a bit cute. Pike’s also sort of Xander like in a way but that might just be me. I certainly had no problem with him spending time with Buffy than the vacuous bloke she was dating in the movie.

Pike also proved himself to be useful in the fight where Lothos and his pals showed up at the school dance. Cheesiness aside from Rutger Hauer, even he’s more fun than some of the vampires we’ve seen on the series. His minion who lost an arm courtesy of Pike, not so much.

If there is a flipside with the movie (a serious one, aside from the inherent cheesiness and lack of depth provided for Buffy’s pals), it’s that Lothos and Buffy don’t actually have that big a confrontation. Yes she killed him quite publicly and he did blather on incessantly about them being connected but it did feel he died too easily in the end.

The actual vamp attack on the dance was hilarious in a sort of bad way. I laughed my head off with some of the other kids getting knocked and even Pike’s stoner mate Benny didn’t get to enjoy being a vampire for all that long. Plus the vampires didn’t exactly exude that much menace but if you don’t take things too seriously, you’ll find this movie is a lot more palatable because of it.

The end scene with Buffy and Pike sharing a dance before they left Los Angeles was nice. It’s almost a shame that Pike never actually made it to Sunnydale but at least we have this movie to enjoy him in.

Also in “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”

I loved the slayer dreams we got to see in this movie. Too bad none of Buffy’s predecessors were mentioned by name though.

Pike: “What’s your name?”
Buffy: “Buffy.”
Pike: “Yeah, figures.”

It’s funny watching this movie and seeing the likes of David Arquette, Ben Affleck and Hilary Swank, the latter who played the most irritating character of the movie.

Benny: “I got a newsflash for you. Another shot of this and I’ll have sex with you.”
Pike: “Yeah and you’ll never call me.”

Buffy (to her friends): “How do you not tread on the Earth? You kind of have to, right?”

Merrick talked of wanting to be a bookmaker, which Buffy instantly dismissed. She wanted to be a buyer.

Buffy: “I never hit anybody before.”
Merrick: “Well, you did it perfectly.”
Buffy: “I didn’t even break a nail.”

Amilyn (to Pike/vampires): “You ruined my jacket. Kill him a lot.”

One of the places that Buffy and her friends hung out was a coffee bar called Café Blasé. It’s where her and Pike introduced themselves, despite first meeting in the cinema.

Lothos (to Buffy): “Has our time finally come, have you ripened so fast? Come closer, look at me.”

Merrick (to Buffy): “Remember about the music. When the music stops, the rest is …”

The rest is silence. Buffy used that silence to get from Lothos thrall at one point in the movie and Amilyn was still alive by the end of it.

Buffy (to her friends): “Guys, I think reality stepped out of here about five minutes ago.”

Pike: “Will I get my ass kicked if I ask you to dance?”
Buffy: “Maybe.”
Pike: “You know, Buffy, you’re not like other girls.”
Buffy: “Yes I am.”

Pike was actually in some of the pre Season 1 comics that Dark Horse used years ago. I also loved the news cover at the end of the movie.

Pike (to Buffy): “We’ve got a problem. I got a bag full of solutions. What do you want to do?”

Lothos: “You are just like the other girls.”
Buffy: “Maybe I’ll surprise you.”

Standout music: “I Fought The Law” by Mary’s Danish was the one I found most interesting.

Lothos (to Buffy as he dies): “Now I’m really pissed off. Oops.”

Pike (re mess of dance hall): “Did I do all that?”
Buffy: “No.”
Pike: “Did you do all of that?”
Buffy: “Yeah I did.”

Chronology: The movie was released in 1992 but maybe for continuity with the series (despite this movie not being referenced in the show), let’s say 1996.

For a movie that’s supposed to be so bleeding awful, “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” isn’t actually that bad. Okay, there are some segments that are seriously cheesy and the vampires aren’t going to illicit fear but if you don’t take it too seriously (even though there are some emotional moments), it’s actually a lot of fun.

Rating: 7 out of 10.