I loved The Unicorn and the Wasp.

*spoiler*

DONNA:
That poor footman. Roger’s dead and he can’t even mourn him. 1926, it’s more like the dark ages.

 

 

Poirot and Marple sniffing out cylons. Still can't help but thinking that Number 3 would just try to shank Ms. Marple.

BSG: "Revelations" was really good. What did you guys think of the reveal that Earth is just a nuked out husk of a planet?

Can you believe that there are actually people on the Internet saying that "it's not really earth" "it must be the Alpha Centauri System"(Which is incredibly absurd)?

Honestly, I have no idea what Ronald Moore is going to do for the now last 11 episodes. What else is there to do? Except explain the weird Hybrid from "Razor" and How the Hybrids know absolutely everything. And, exactly what the hell is Kara Thrace afterall? The only thing I can think of is that the Originating Artificial Intelligence responsible for all the Cylons and prophetic Hybrids is somewhere on the planet.

Doctor Who:

Marc, I watched the Agatha Christie episode of Doctor Who and I agree, it was a very entertaining episode. Doctor Who is probably best at these weird pseudo-historical themes with lots of humor.

Recommendations:

- Warren Ellis' Astonishing X-Men run begins on July 2nd. I'm really looking forward to  this run. I can just imagine Ellis' dialog for Emma Frost.

- Warren Ellis' "No Hero" Issue 0 with Art by Juan Jose Ryp is coming out on Wednesday. I highly recommend this miniseries. The hyper-detailed art by Ryp is worth the $1 alone (Wait, that sounds like an insult). The plot is weird sci-fi historical superheroes. Psychedelic drugs invented by a 60's guru give people superpowers. It actually much better than my pathetic description.

- Absolute Sandman Volume 3 HC Recently came out. This is Neil Gaiman we're talking about so it's definitely good. It has Sandman Issue #50 with art by P Craig Russell. That is probably the best issue of the entire series. I won't spoil it for any one who hasn't had the pleasure of reading it.

- Coraline Graphic Novel Adaptation by P Craig Russell and Neil Gaiman: They're making an animated movie from this story to be released in February 2009. It's a wonderful story about a little girl who's ignored by her parents and all the unusual adults in the coop apartment house they live in. She goes exploring this house out of boredom and discovers a door that leads to a weird parallel universe that has strange versions of all the people she knows. Very Creepy. And with P Craig Russell's ART sure to be absolutely beautiful. This book is available tomorrow.

 

 

I loved the Unicorn and the Wasp, it really cemented Donna as my favourite companion(second only to Sarah-Jane)

 

As for The Doctors Daughter, I really dont know where to start with it.

 

It was poor, very poor. Practically all of Marthas scenes could have ben cut from the show and I dont think the episode would have suffered for it, she really should have just left at the end of the preceeding episode and all of TDD could have focused more on the doctor, donna and jenny. I have always felt sorry for Martha/freema, she never seemed to have escaped from the ghost of rose and now she was outclassed by the donna and to a lesser extent Jenny.

 

Not that I cared much for Jenny, I cant quite place my finger on what I didnt like about her.

afhickman

"It takes a village (to make Village People)"

Why is Fred making Barney wear the wig again?

I watched the Agatha Christie episode on Doctor Who and caught ALL the references to her books, thank you. It's a trick the writers pulled in the earlier Shakespeare episode as well. (It's now officially time to stop, guys. I mean it.) Having said that, I reported on this episode a week ago (all right, not quite a week), but not knowing where to post it, I put it on the Flying Monkey. Nobody saw it. Here's the original post:

Doctor Who airs an "inclusive" episode

afhickman

"It takes a village (to make Village People)"

I just watched "The Unicorn and the Wasp," an episode of "Doctor Who," in which the Doctor teams up with Agatha Christie to solve a murder mystery. Among the suspects is the son of the manor, who is having an affair, ala "Maurice," with his own version of Alec Scudder. It's all a lot of fun, with tons of in-jokes for Christie fans, and it starts with a body in the library. As a bonus, even Donna is less irritating than usual!

 

I really enjoyed "The Doctor's Daughter" but something about the narrative pacing of "The Unicorn and the Wasp" bugged me,no pun intended.

How bad is it that I remember Marcia Wallace from reruns of Bob Newhart? At least it's just from reruns and not the first run.

This episode didn't do great things for the Martha Jones character.  I think it has more to do with the writing than the actual character, and I'm definitely glad to see Martha whenever possible.  The same thing happened with the "A Day in the Death" episode from Torchwood; Martha became useless by that point in the story arc.  The relationship between Donna and Martha was great, and I can't wait to see ALL the modern Whoniverse characters return for the fourth series finale.  Seeing the promo picture with all the Doctor's current and former companions together, as Dixie Wetsworth (MADtv) would say, "Moisture!"

Not many can pull off that hair Marc. It's pretty much you and Bea Arthur.

 

 

 

Oh, and CASUAL REFERENCE TO BEN FOR THE WIN!! I am now a official part of the Angry Puppy canon and need my own Top Trumps card and entry in the "Complete Angry Puppy Visual Encyclopedia" in stores this holiday season.

 

...seems to be doing the "heavy lifting".  They always write her doing the 'crap' (thankfully, mostly off-screen) and getting only the occasional thank-you for it.  In the "Blink" episode of DW, they said that while she and Doc were trapped in 1969, it was SHE who had to take a job to support them.  In the Family of Blood/Human Nature two-part story, she had to take a job as maid at the school, putting up with the prevailing racist attitudes of the period.  And of course in the season finale it was up to her to sneak around planet Earth for a year, being hunted by the Master's goons, spreading the word about the Doctor being able to save the world.  She had to endure the idea that her family (and the Doctor) was being held hostage, and watch all sorts of death and destruction. The writers seem to like making her endure all sorts of hardships.  The quicksand thing was just another day at the office by this time.

 

I am a huge Agatha Christie fan too.

I counted 15 titles, Why didn't they ask Evans, The secret Adversary, N or M, Nemesis, Cat among the pigeons, dead man's folly, they do it with mirrors, appointment with death, cards on the table, sparkling cyanide, endless night, crooked house, taken at the flood, the moving finger and Death comes as the end.

Now that's the kind of mystery geek challenge that i could actually do, I haven't been able to do one since the Queen songs.  

I've got that edition of the book that the Doctor shows Donna at the end, Death in the Clouds. 

David Tennant's dad is in that episode, he's one of the waiters in the garden pouring the drinks.

Another great vlog guys. 

I'm shocked, SHOCKED, I say, to discover that none of the other gay geeks out there have mentioned another role of Fenella Woolgar's (Agatha Christie in "The Unicorn and the Wasp")!  Especially since it's a gay role and she's not the only "Who" link to it.  Last year the BBC broadcast a six-part series called "Jekyll" that was a modern retelling of the classic "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." 

The story revolves around the character of Tom Jackman who's apparently the last living descendant of Dr Jekyll (although the show loves stating that but also muddying the waters by mentioning that Dr. Jekyll had no heirs when he died).  Anyway, Fenella Woolgar plays the part of Min, the pregnant lesbian lover of the detective that Tom's estranged wife hired to follow him.  It's not a huge role, but she's around quite a bit and she's absolutely hilarious in the role... you wouldn't think it would be possible to be hilarious in a dark drama like this without coming across as corny, but she pulls it off wonderfully.  "Pot... Kettle"  ... 'nuff said (and yes, you'll have to watch the series to know what that means 'cause I'm not explaining).

At the risk of gushing too much about the series, it was really interesting (Dr. Jackman and Hyde communicating with each other by leaving messages a digital voice recorder, Dr. Jackman's quest to understand and control Hyde, Hyde's not-so-subtle ways of getting revenge on his alter-ego, the evil shadowy corporation following them, etc).  I thought the final episode was a bit of a letdown, but overall the series was very interesting and gripping.  James Nesbitt who played Tom Jackman/Hyde was amazing as Hyde... you could tell he really relished the role and he was a total joy to watch.

Oh, and I almost forgot the other Doctor Who connection... the series was written by Steven Moffat, who's written most of my favorite Doctor Who episodes.  I'll be sorry to see Davies leave, but I'm pleased that Moffat's taking over the helm.

BTW, Marc... while I'll definitely grant you that "The Unicorn and the Wasp" was a pretty good Doctor Who episode... the best???  Come one... one word... "Blink".  I'm still waiting for someone to buy me the tee-shirt. "The Angels Have the Phone Box".   Downright creepy.

One final BTW: did ANYONE else think that the guy who played the priest looked eerily like Peter Davison in the preview to the episode?

...of The Middleman on ABC Family, and I've got to say it's kinda awesome. It's like a cross between Buffy, Men In Black, and The Tick. Plus it's got Matt Keeslar.

Have you guys seen it yet?