ABC - 25th March 2009 - 10.00pm

After last week's disaster, this is much more like it. We reprise with the shooting of Chris and Ray by gangster Jimmy McManus and both men are then rushed to the Emergency Room. Meanwhile, McManus is gunned down and the 125 must set about finding his assailant. However, Ray rises from his bed and sets out to join the rest of the team to track down the killer even though it is Sam who is seemingly to blame for the murder.

...she keeps vanishing right at the crucial moments

As we are now only two episodes from the end of the series, I guess the writers realised it was time to draw many of the strands together as the conclusion hurtled towards them. Hence, we get further down the road in attempting to solve some mysteries. First up is the reappearance of Sam's hippy neighbour, Windy. When she was introduced way back at the start of the series I had a funny feeling that we'd get the song Everyone Know's It's Windy on the soundtrack and predictably this week we did. And very welcome it was too. We still don't quite get to fathom out just who she is even at this late stage in the series but it's clear she must be some sort of hallucination because she keeps vanishing right at the crucial moments. Sam is framed for the death of McManus and the story revolves around him trying to clear his name, despite the fact that he keeps having bizarre visions that show him committing the crime. It's a neat guessing game to keep the audience on their toes but it gets rather derailed by the arrival of Agent Frank Morgan, played by Peter Gerety. Those of us familiar with the BBC show know that the Frank Morgan character was instrumental in bringing Sam's story to its close in the original series. This fitted in with many of the allusions to The Wizard Of Oz that the BBC show cleverly played with.



I really didn't see the point of naming the character Frank Morgan in this episode even though we learn he was the voice on the telephone in the basement and that he has some connection with the Aries Toy Co. (in itself a reference to the Aries file on Sam some episodes back) and that at a launch party Sam witnesses one of the customers at the bar swallow one of those weird nano-bots that were so much a part of the opening episodes of the series. We're not entirely sure what's going on here and what the exact nature of Frank Morgan is. He does read Sam's psychiatric evaluation files and thus knows a great deal of personal intelligence about Sam to use it to confuse him in the episode's rooftop denouement. But he also knows much more than he should and that's the puzzler. So between 'Aries', Windy and Frank Morgan we get a genuine effort to plunge the show back into the central debate about Sam's business in 1973 but we're left feeling rather more confused and in conclusion none of it is really that meaningful.

Sam and Annie have changed and are, seemingly, connected together

Either there is a nano-robot inside Sam, according to Morgan, that is somehow concocting all of this in his head (and I don't buy Morgan's nonsense about Sam being affected by his father's bad blood either) or Morgan is lying and we have yet to see why Sam thinks he's from 2008 and living in 1973. Again, we get good cast ensemble playing, although Gene Hunt was so underwritten this week Harvey might as well have phoned in a performance. Imperioli is always a joy to watch and the development between Sam and Annie is welcome. The final scenes of Annie talking Sam down off the roof after Morgan suggests the only way to resolve his dilemma is to throw himself off it, is more or less a mirror of the very first episode of the BBC series. Loved that nice little scene at the end where Chris, recovering in hospital, notes how Sam and Annie have changed and are, seemingly, connected together.

Not a bad episode but you do get the feeling that writers are running around in a panic and trying their best to tie up all the flailing loose ends. They've certainly got a massive effort to make for the final episode next week - we still don't know who Windy is, what Aries is, whether Sam is in 1973 and if he will get back to 2008. I hope we get a satisfactory send off.

ABC Life On Mars site

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Cathode Ray Tube Life On Mars US Episode 16 ABC

SCI-FI HD - 20th March 2009 - 9.00pm

SPOILERS FOR UK VIEWERS

Hmmm. I like the original 1978 design of the Cylon Centurions and, well, yes, I like the 2003 CGI design of the Cylon Centurions. But, erm, which is better? (Turns to camera and winks) There's only one way to find out! (Jumps up and down with millions of other Galactica fan boys and girls) FIIIIIIIGGGGGGHHHHHHT!

And that's pretty much what you get for your money in the first half of Ron Moore's 90 odd minute finale to what most of us consider a genre changing series that deserves to be recognised as one of the great television dramas of the last five years. The finale itself is trying to be an obvious crowd-pleaser and, I think, laced with some self-satisfaction from the writing team too. And we still don't get all the questions answered. The odd thing, and forgive me here as I race right to the end of the episode, is the unnecessary coda set in present day Earth where we get that clunky 'ooh, don't mess with artificial technology' message with the montage of robots as the angelic forms of Baltar and Six stroll into Times Square. This show is not about the dangers of robots and artificial technology. It's about humanity, whether you're a toaster or a human, and about all their capacity for good or bad. We don't need hiting over the head with a warning about technology right at the end because the whole series is already full of it. Adama at Roslin's grave was the right ending; the coda in Times Square was Moore being masturbatory (he's in it for God's sake and it's too much of a breaking the fourth wall moment in itself). Yes, it can also be interpreted as a question over the "all of this has happened before and all of this will happen again" cycle, and that what happened to Kobol, the Colonies, and the original Earth might indeed happen yet again. But it still felt wrong to me. And let's not get started on the series' idea of God, just yet.

Moore has been exceptionally lucky to have had such a great ensemble to work with.

OK. The Opera House. It was the Galactica all along and I thought the whole sequence with Roslin, Athena, Baltar and Six chasing after and eventually picking up Hera and entering CIC, intercut with all the visions of the Opera House, and then culminating with that shot of the Final Five on the balcony and on the upper level of the CIC was superbly done. A brilliant fusion of editing , music and performance and a very neat way to 'explain' the Opera House visions. This at the end of the mother of all battles. The first half of the story is exceptionally tense and gratuitously spectacular as the Galactica jumps into the jaws of The Colony and all hell breaks loose.



If you like your Galactica with guns, explosions, Cylon on Cylon fighting then this was for you and the visual effects team certainly surpassed themselves with the battle sequences. Intercut with the whole of the episode, and similiar to Daybreak Part 1, are more flashbacks to pre-Holocaust Caprica. Here we get to see that Bill's meeting is all about retiring and taking a new job, a discussion between Kara and Lee about the fear of death, Ellen and Saul desiring just to be together, Baltar's treason and Roslin's involvement in politics. Last week, these sequences felt misplaced but this week I think we can more clearly see the parallels with the long journey that each of the main characters undertook, particularly Roslin, and I felt this dovetailing was more successful this time round. Much of that success is really to do with the actors and the way they've taken this kind of material and given it heart and soul. Moore has been exceptionally lucky to have had such a great ensemble to work with.

No wonder Tyrol decides to become a hermit in Scotland.

What's less satisfying are the number of other closures here. Putting aside Baltar's epiphany in CIC about 'choices' and 'faith', I did feel that after his attempt at brokering a peace goes horribly wrong the writers found themselves in a corner with Cavil. He did unfortunately end up as the Black Hat and I found it somewhat inexplicable that the only way to cap his story was to have him put a gun down his throat. This felt a little too easy to me and it didn't satisfactorily complete his story, the show having abandoned his counter-philosophy about purity and evolution several episodes ago. Boomer's change of mind, her choice or exercise of free will, was rather heavily signposted anyway so it was no surprise that she'd grab Hera and make a run for it. I suppose there was some satisfaction in that Athena gunned her down in an act of pure revenge and it does fit emotionally in the show, especially as we get a flashback to Boomer's first meeting with Tigh and Adama and that whole scene about paying Bill back.



Tyrol's strangulation of Tory when it is revealed that she bumped off Cally was, for me, just Moore gratuitously goofing off again even if it was payback time. The Final Five are all rather dysfunctional and that's underlined by the later scene on Earth when Tigh acknowledges he'd have done the same. But you did Saul, when you poisoned your wife, remember? No wonder Tyrol decides to become a hermit in Scotland.

The idea of a 'clean slate' is a conceit that just doesn't quite work.

It is also revealed that the visions of Six and Baltar, and the resurrection of Starbuck are all part of God's plan. They are all 'angels', guardians of the fate of humanity it seems. And that's as much explanation you get about Starbuck. She's just an instrument of God. Some will find issue with the fact that many of the events in the finale are simply explained as acts of God, and indeed some of the contrivancies here are explained away rather casually as 'God did it'. I don't mind this because it does fit in with the religious and spiritual themes of the series and the notion of God and Gods has been with the series ever since it started. Divine intervention is nothing new to the series but I felt that it was rather crudely used to paper over explanations for Starbuck and the visitations of the angelic Baltar and Six amongst other things. I also wasn't convinced about the casual way all 38,000 survivors decided it was best to cast off their creature comforts, their technology and ships and go native. Evidence of their origins would surely have been found 150,000 years later. Lord knows how they coped without their hairdressers and telephone sanitizers. And middle management must have been in an uproar without access to a jolly good hot bath. The idea of a 'clean slate' is a conceit that just doesn't quite work.

Battlestar Galactica certainly refused to let its soul lag behind.

Despite these problems, there is, in the last forty odd minutes, a neat structuring of each character's story beginning in the Caprica of the past and their ending in the present on Earth. It does justice to each of the people we've been close to for over four years even if it does feel like it will go on, akin to Return Of The King, for ever. The acting from all the principals is what ultimately saves this and I'd single out James Callis as Baltar because the redemption of the character feels very true and Callis gets to the emotional core with such economy in the final scene where he and Six plan their farm and the reason for those flashbacks to his father become clear. And just look at the little scene in the first half with Roslin and Doc Cottle for emotional power and Mary McDonnell's playing of that is superb.



Underpinning all of the episode is, quite frankly, some of the most extraordinary music for television you are ever likely to hear and composer Bear McCreary really deserves a plaudit for his amazing work here. The first hour is grand space opera on an epic scale whilst the last is a meditation on the capacity of the human soul, the need for faith and the cycle of life. McCreary weaves his spell throughout it all, including nods to the original series Colonial March as Galactica and the fleet disappear into the sun. Whilst the finale is not entirely successful for some of the reasons I've gone into, it, and the series, is best summed up by Lee Adama's observation, "If there's one thing that we should have learned, it's that, you know, our brains have always outraced our hearts. Our science charges ahead. Our souls lag behind." It's not about the technicalities of the plotting in the end, the awkward way that this finale tries to wrap up the story, it's about the emotional content and the characters. Don't let the powerful emotional content, the religion, the politics and the mystical get dismissed amidst the fussing about the jigsaw puzzle plotting. Overall, it's a moving farewell to the series. Battlestar Galactica certainly refused to let its soul lag behind. So say we all.

Previous reviews:

Daybreak Part 1
Islanded In A Stream Of Stars
Someone To Watch Over Me
Deadlock
No Exit
Blood On The Scales
The Oath
A Disquiet Follows My Soul
Sometimes A Great Notion
Revelations
The Hub
Sine Qua Non
Guess What's Coming To Dinner?
Faith
The Road Less Traveled
Escape Velocity
The Ties That Bind
He That Believeth In Me & Six Of One

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Cathode Ray Tube Battlestar Galactica Daybreak Part 2

ABC - 18th March 2009 - 10.00pm

Oh, dear.

There is so much that is wrong here it is so very hard to decide where to begin listing a catalogue of the sheer awfulness that occupies the 40 odd minutes of this episode. OK. This is an ensemble show. It is, isn't it? It's great that our characters get to go undercover and investigate the unsavoury goings on in New York. We've had everything from gay bashings, swingers parties and the black civil rights movements. Last week we had a very amusing episode that gave the character of Annie some excellent developments. This week, it's the St.Paddy's day episode, so let's do a really obvious 'rip the piss out of the Irish-Americans' and plonk Sam Tyler incognito in the middle of a bunch of Irish gangsters as an Irish docks worker with a massive set of sideburns and a terrible Irish accent. It'll be fine cos actor Jason O'Mara's Irish too and he'll be in on the joke (or not, judging by his attempt at an Irish accent). To quote Neil Tennant, 'did you see me coming, was I that obvious?'. Yes, you bloody were.

...it's devoid of any irony, subtlety or contextualisation at all

What's annoying is that the episode's plot simply pushes all the other characters to the edges of the narrative and simply has Sam spending an awfully long time getting down and dirty with all those gangsters and leader Jimmy McManus' tarot reading sister who just happens to be a friend of Sam's mother. Written down like that the plot truly does look contrived and it's done in the most condescending and cliched manner possible. Therefore, we barely get scenes with Annie, Gene, Ray and Chris and worst, it's devoid of any irony, subtlety or contextualisation at all. Hey, let's face it, it's funny anyway to depict the Irish as drunken, violent, thuggish, stupid, devious and criminal. Isn't it? I'm sure that their 'celebration' of Irishness will go down very well this side of the pond after the shooting of two policemen by the Continuity IRA.

Dreadful effects, dreadfully sentimental slop.

The nadir of the series so far, the episode's inability to offer a comment on the way they depict the Irish-Americans here, just simply showing them as a criminal underclass, misses an opportunity to do something exceptional and to defy the cliches and conventions. The worst sin this commits is in being rather boring. The obsession with testosterone and alcohol fueled manliness, masculinity reduced to its most vapid form, is utterly tiresome. It also has the side effect of aligning Sam's character to one of a womanising, knuckle-dusting cop even if he is undercover and is required to submit himself to a role. There were glimmers of life in the attempt to bolt the 'Irish gangster' plot to the continuing relationship with Sam's mother, Rose. This would have been OK if it hadn't resolved itself with adult Sam spilling his guts out to a rapidly CGI morphing younger Sam. Dreadful effects, dreadfully sentimental slop. How the future Sam doesn't remember talking to himself as a child baffles me. The only other thing worth noting was the brief scene with Annie where Sam promises her a date. That's likely to be when she's a pensioner in 2009 judging by the way things are going.

...a poor episode that no amount of reconnecting Sam's adult life to his childhood can save

Then we get that ending. If you hadn't nodded off during this dull tale about mobsters double crossing each other, stealing VCRs, getting drunk and beating each other up then the final scene where the Irish gangster Jimmy McManus, on the run at the end of the episode, guns down Ray and Chris would probably have had you sitting bolt upright. It was shocking and had a whiff of desperation from producers who've just been told their show isn't coming back for a second year. If they have killed off the Michael Imperioli character then they've removed one of the series best actors and a tent pole character that has often made the series just about worth watching. So, all things considered this was a poor episode that no amount of reconnecting Sam's adult life to his childhood can save.

ABC Life On Mars site

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Cathode Ray Tube Life On Mars US Episode 15 ABC

SPOILER ALERT!

It would seem filming has also now commenced on the final two part story to feature David Tennant. Shooting took place at Cardiff University Blackwells bookshop this morning (21st March).

Intrepid reporters Alun Vega, Brigade_Leader and Scooty were on the scene and very kindly offered some very spoilerific commentary on what was being shot as well as some smashing pictures. Thanks to them all for this. Much appreciated.



"Euros Lyn is directing a scene in the bookstore. An author called Verity Newman is signing her book: Journal of Impossible Things. The next customer steps up to get his book signed: it's The Doctor. They have a short conversation. He has a slightly stern but sad expression. He turns and walks away."







Verity Newman is played by Jessica Hynes. Yes, Jessica Hynes is back. This snippet coupled with the Journal Of Impossible Things suggests strongly a link back to the Joan Redfern character in Human Nature/Family Of Blood. Note that John Smith mentioned to Joan that his parents were Sydney and Verity (named after the original series creator/producers). Spooky! What does this all mean? Especially after The Mirror reported this week that Donna, Rose and Martha were also returning for the tenth Doctor's send off.

More pictures here courtesy of Brigade_Leader and Scooty. Thanks guys!

Brigade_Leader's Photobucket Album

Scooty's Photobucket Album

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Cathode Ray Tube 2009 Specials Doctor Who

'That Carphone Warehouse boy's been on the phone / he wants to upgrade the mobile you own...'

On 9th April it will be 25 years since the iconic pop anthem West End Girls justifiably became a hit, albeit a club hit in Los Angeles and San Francisco. And here we are now with the release of their tenth studio album, Yes. And judging by the collection of songs here the combined genius of Messrs Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe remains undiminished. Joining them are the Xenomania production team and their own resident pop czar, Brian Higgins who co-wrote three songs on the album, the redoubtable Johnny Marr and Last Shadow Puppets arranger and strings boffin Owen Pallett. This is a significant return to form and most reviewers agree that it's their best since Very in 1993. Not only does the songwriting and production hit the same giddy heights here but there are also satisfying echoes of the halcyon days of Actually (known as the 'Imperial Phase' in PSB circles) and some of the mature compositions of Behaviour, perhaps one of their most seriously underrated albums.

'you need more than the Gerhard Richter hanging on your wall'

Things get off to a cracking start with the current single Love Etc, co-written with Xenomania who add their customary sheen to all three songs on the album. It's got that great chanting chorus and those lilting, melancholic melodies as well as an acidic swipe lyrically at the vacuous but greedy lives of the well to do and the famous for not being famous. The irony, and it wouldn't be a Pets album without massive dollops of irony would it, is that Tennant not only points out that these lives are devoid of the one thing they can't get more of, namely 'love' but that the playing field is pretty much level these days when it comes to pointless acquisition. As with much of Tennant's lyrics the sharp wit is to the fore and 'you need more than the Gerhard Richter hanging on your wall' is worth its weight in gold here. And only the Pets would dare to slap Tchaikovsky in with a hip-hop beat and handclaps for All Over The World. Again, the Pets obsessions about the power of cheap music and its appeal to genders of many hues are present and correct here. 'It's sincere and subjective, superficial and true' sighs Neil. Does he mean pop, love, sex or all three?

Owen Pallett gets the strings going full tilt on Beautiful People and Neil dreams of a life far away as a wonderful Mamas and Papas influenced California sound permeates the song. It's all about aspiration, as all good pop songs usually are, and Marr even throws in a very Midnight Cowboy style harmonica as counterpoint. It's a lovely, summery, shimmery big slab of gorgeous pop. Smashing string and brass flourish at the end. Marr's jaunty pop sensibilities also inform Did You See Me Coming? which is another of those Pets songs about relationships that happen through fate or by accident. A perfectly good bit of throwaway pop that keeps the upbeat flavour of the album ticking over with another infectious chorus and melody.

'Who d'you think you are, Captain Britain?'

Vulnerable is classic Pets and is one of the strongest tracks on the album. This harks back to Actually and Behaviour in its construction and melodic flavour. It's beautiful with a very hooky chorus and a sad lyric about living in the public eye and loving in private. Neil's concerns about the fine line between how we conduct ourselves in private and public surface here. Pulsing electronics, acoustic guitar and tinkling percussion capture the melancholic sweep of this perfectly. More Than A Dream, another co-written piece with Xenomania, is an insistent pop fable that celebrates aspiration, change and dreams with a seductive, glossy disco production. Not the strongest song on the album but I guarantee the melody line will be going round your head for days. At this point things start to go strange (in a good way).

Building A Wall is an hilarious call and response between Neil and Chris with a nightmarish lyric about the indomitable British spirit in the face of the Cold War accompanied with jangly guitar from Marr. Tennant grumps about the state of the nation...'sand in the sandwiches, wasps in the tea, it was a free country' to which Chris cheekily counters with 'Who d'you think you are, Captain Britain?'. This brings back memories of the anxieties catalogued on Very and captures a quintessential British attitude to the madness of detente. Owen Pallett adds a swish of gorgeous strings to the very haunting and 10cc-ish King Of Rome. Neil's singing is particularly evocative on this tale of a lonely man searching for meaning in his life. This is pure Pets, with slabs of synth, little flares of synthetic brass punctuating the melody and piano breaks. Stunningly lovely and very moving with its plaintive chorus of 'Oh, baby call me, baby call me...today'. It's back to Very with the rumbling charge of Pandemonium, a Sixties Chain Reaction pastiche meets Doctor Who inspired stomp about a love-hate relationship where one partner copes with a lover who creates chaos everywhere but secretly loves it all. Great backing vocals, smashing bits of harmonica, squelchy synthesisers and Moroder style sequencers. Great fun.

'from York Minster to the Firth of Forth'

Quite possibly the finest thing they've written is The Way It Used To Be. This has a very melancholic feel right off Behaviour. And it captures the Pets other great quality in the way that Neil uses the past, nostalgia and memories to act as a salve for the future. It could have come from late period Abba in the way it describes a tale of betrayed love with its lilting piano chords. The weird electronics two thirds in are fabulous and the Xenomania sheen, especially the female harmony vocal, is a perfect match for the Pets writing. Superb. The album ends with a further out on a limb composition, Legacy, a fusion between the elegiac qualities of Behaviour and their soundtrack to Potemkin coupled with swirls of musical theatre. Neil's vocal on this is marvellous too. It's a montage composition telling of police arrests, armies being raised in the North, 'from York Minster to the Firth of Forth' (very West End Girls), lots of brass and strings as well as jittery electronics. 'Public opinion may not be on your side / there are those who think / they've been taken for a ride' suggests Tennant is working through his Labourite disappointment with Tony Blair and his decision to join the Iraq War. The continuing refrain of 'you'll get over it' is either his sympathy with the public's political disenfranchisement, or a snippet of his own internal thoughts. It's an idiosyncratic way to end the album, will probably puzzle a great many, but it secretly thrills me that it's a through line from It Couldn't Happen Here and My October Symphony all the way here to Legacy.

A terrific pop album, returning to many classic Tennant and Lowe themes, both musically and lyrically - celebrity culture, the public/private dividing line, nostalgia, Englishness, class politics, the puritan work ethic. It's full of lovely melodies, chord structures, musical pastiche and demonstrates clearly that they are the last bastion of classic British pop songwriting. Anyone who can mention Gerhard Richter, The Man From Uncle, Captain Britain, Carphone Warehouse and 'Northern pain' on one album gets my vote. Welcome back, Neil and Chris.

YES - Pet Shop Boys (Parlophone 6953452 - Released 23rd March 2009)

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SCI-FI HD - 13th March 2009 - 10.00pm

"The end times are approaching."

Quite contentious this one. I mean, is Ron Moore deliberately baiting the show's fans by going back to pre-Holocaust Caprica on the cusp of what we hope is a ball-breaking finale? One imagines many fans are asking themselves why he decided to structure the episode with a fair amount of time flashing back to our main characters lives pre-Galactica. Is this a cynical exercise to prepare us all for the debut of the prequel series Caprica? Or is it cleverer than that? Oddly, it's a bit of everything. The flashbacks to Baltar, featuring the mutual hatred between father Julius and his son, does connect with the present events on Galactica, especially in the scene where Lee challenges his argument and actually makes him realise how untrustworthy and selfish he actually is. We also get that odd drunken moment from Lee and Adama's ominous one hour meeting but are left none the wiser. Poor Roslin seems to have had a pretty shitty life judging by the backstory we get here. Two sisters and a father killed by a drunk driver (not Lee, I hope) is enough to make anyone sit under a fountain until their mascara runs. So what was the point of the flashbacks? To show that our main characters had complicated lives even before the Cylons nuked the city? Is Anders flashback where he gabbles on about the sporting act of perfection just another excuse to get him naked in a bath tub? I can see the connection with his fate as the new Hybrid but we need to be told.

...into the heart of darkness one last time

Flashbacks aside, we did get all sorts of resolves flying at us. Tyrol is in the Brig and chatting to Helo about that pesky, untrustworthy Boomer. He's very heavy handed about this point so I think we should expect some further acts of despicable behaviour from her again. Very briefly it's mentioned that all those involved in the mutiny are freed to join up on the suicide mission to The Colony. Not a terribly satisfactory resolution to the problem that quite a number of these people committed treason and should be standing trial. Rather glossed over. Anders, soaking nicely in his Cylon bath tub, must obviously answer Adama's question off screen because one minute Bill's overseeing his move to the Base Ship and the next he's putting a big red line on the deck and asking for those interested in a suicide mission to step across the line. What prompted him to take the Galactica into the heart of darkness one last time? To me, it seemed rather reckless to invite a cancer riddled ex-President, the new leader of the Quorum, Starbuck, Helo and all of the Final Five onto the mission. That's all the main characters, apart from Baltar, potentially nose diving into a black hole with a cheery little wave and lots of space battles. Formulaic, huh? Please Ron Moore, please do something entirely left field and extraordinary with the fates of these characters. They deserve it. Flash forward, back, left and right but don't just do a heroic last hurrah based around one more big CGI battle.

...a very big, cliched black hat

It certainly felt right to have that big scene on the flight deck with Adama's speech and those shots of various people making their choices about whether to go down fighting for the sake of what we assume is a most important little girl, or to stay at home and indulge in scavenging and arguing politics. And bless her, Roslin hobbles from her sick bed to take her place with Adama whilst a tormented Baltar glares painfully at Caprica Six as she too joins the Galactica for one last battle. Is Baltar finally going to do the right thing for the right reasons? I hope we see some resolution to that next time. It's moments like these and the quick conversation between Adama and Hot Dog, Adama turning back to grab the photo of Hera off the wall (a beautifully shot moment where the camera lingers on Adama in he doorway), the gossip between Tory and Ellen and the painful scene between Athena and Helo that weave in and out of what amounts to a patchwork quilt of an episode and yet more set up for next week.



By the end of this we have moved a bit further forward thankfully and Galactica is about to set off for The Colony (a stunning bit of CG effects) which hovers on the edge of a black hole. Hmmm, black hole? Wormhole connecting past, present and future perhaps? And in the meantime, can someone do something with Cavil please? Dean Stockwell is fabulous but the character is now sporting a very cliched big black hat. So, we're hurtling towards the end and we've still got loads of questions. Will we get to solve all those visions of the Opera House, will we know why Starbuck came back from the dead, will we find out more about Daniel, will we know more about the importance of Hera? And who will live and who will die? Lots to tie up next week in what amounts to 90 minutes. I'm worried for them.

Previous reviews:

Islanded In A Stream Of Stars
Someone To Watch Over Me
Deadlock
No Exit
Blood On The Scales
The Oath
A Disquiet Follows My Soul
Sometimes A Great Notion
Revelations
The Hub
Sine Qua Non
Guess What's Coming To Dinner?
Faith
The Road Less Traveled
Escape Velocity
The Ties That Bind
He That Believeth In Me & Six Of One

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Cathode Ray Tube Battlestar Galactica Daybreak Part 1

ABC - 11th March 2009 - 10.00pm

I really enjoyed this episode. It's warm, funny and does a tremendous amount to make us care about pretty much all of the characters. Everyone gets a great moment in the story and best of all it puts the relationship between Sam and Annie centre stage. And Gretchen Moll does some incredible work here as Annie. It's a shame that the series has been cancelled because this episode shows the format working at the height of its powers and the US writing team getting a proper grip on where they might want to take the series. Bit late now, though.

...sees himself orbiting the Earth

Bryan Oh and Adele Lim's script, 'filler' material that actually works, riffs on the original UK Episode 4 from Series 2 and does borrow heavily from the plot. In the UK original, it's Avon ladies selling make-up that are at the centre of a wife-swapping party and a murder hunt. Here, they've substituted flight attendants and pilots. And it works. However, like the original episode, it's very easy to work out the identity of the suspect and both have a slightly anti-climactic ending because of this. It doesn't matter because the journey to arresting the suspect is highly enjoyable and here the director David Petrarca indulges us with a near-perfect mesh of stylised visuals and music cues. The differences are also interesting in that Annie is sent undercover as the deceased Valerie Palmer because she looks identical to her and this seems to have an intriguing symbolism within Sam's alternate reality/coma-verse. There are flashbacks to his chldhood again and we also see Annie/Valerie's face depicted on a magazine from his childhood. This female doubling is a repeated meme throughout the series and adds a fascinating edge to what is essentially a highly comedic episode. And to add to Sam's mystery further watch out for that mesmerising scene where he looks out of the plane window and sees himself orbiting the Earth, neatly paralleling the flashback of young Sam playing at being an astronaut.

...one of the best, visually and musically

It's great for Annie. She gets to go undercover as Valerie, her relationship with Sam definitely shifts in the right direction and she has the courage of her convictions, after doing a rather marvellous bit of police work, to stand up to Gene and demand a future as a detective at the precinct. Excellent character development and full of charm, especially the late night walkie-talkie conversation with Sam and their preparation to go undercover at the swingers party as George and Laura Bush. There's also room in this for a sweet sub-plot for Chris Skelton who nervously seeks Sam's advice on dating which then proves to be successful, offering itself as the innocent alternative to all the kinky goings on at the party. I also loved director Petrarca's visual homage to 1970s culture, initially with all the sequences at the airport and on the plane and especially with that lovely slow motion reveal of the women flight attendants, including Annie, to Shocking Blue's original version of Venus, and then later with the kitchy interior decor of Ronald and Rita's house. He even manages to splice in archive footage of LAX to add a bit of verisimilitude. The episode is certainly one of the best, visually and musically. The conclusion is also pretty life-affirming too, dovetailing Annie's ambitions and Valerie's origins by simply having that fantastic Partridge Family track, Point Me In The Direction Of Albuquerque, belting out on the soundtrack as Sam and Annie talk about Valerie and how similar she is to Annie.



There is a lot to enjoy here, the stakeout in Chris' hippy chic van, the arrest of the knicker fetishist on the plane, the sight of Annie in basque and suspenders whipping an equally gorgeous Ronald (the hunky pilot), Gene bringing a hooker to the party...and though it may not address many viewers concerns, including the Aries project file, the mini-robots, Sam's father and the weird phonecalls and television set moments, it's still a highly enjoyable episode that's camp, funny, sexy (Sam with a 'tache, Ronald in his briefs, Annie in dominatrix mode) and bittersweet. Most of all, it makes us finally fall in love with the Annie/Sam dynamic and it's almost as good as the one established by John Simm and Liz White.

ABC Life On Mars site

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Probably the first exposure to Disney animation that I can recall as a child, I probably saw a re-release print of Pinocchio sometime in the late 1960s. This, Bambi and 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea terrified the life out of me. In fact, I vividly recall being escorted out of the cinema because I found Bambi and Leagues too traumatic an experience at such a tender age. Pinocchio is a pretty dark rites of passage story, culminating in the scene, as horrific as any horror film, where Pinocchio's bad-boy sidekick Lampwick, transforms into a donkey. It's done in a very Gothic manner with Expressionist shadows against a wall. But it's also a very tender and moving tale too, with a beautifully observed father-son relationship between Pinocchio and Geppetto, Jiminy Cricket's indomitable loyalty to the innocent and impressionable wooden boy and the grotesqueries of Stromboli who, along with the Coachman, is emblematic of the fear of the physicality of our fathers in childhood. I love Stromboli's physicality in this film, his anger literally makes the film shake.

...nothing short of superb and incredibly realistic in a very physical sense

This is again a beautifully restored version for Blu-Ray. It's presented in its original 1.33:1 Academy ratio which seems to niggle some purchasers because it doesn't completely fill the frame of their widescreen telly. It's not made in widescreen and therefore it shouldn't fill the screen. What you do get is a 70 year old animated film that looks lush. It may not have the immediacy of detail that made the Blu-Ray of Sleeping Beauty such a winner but the format makes the beautifully textured backgrounds stand out and the effects animation is well highlighted here, culminating in the scene where Monstro, the giant whale, chases Pinocchio and Geppetto through the waves where the water effects are nothing short of superb and incredibly realistic in a very physical sense.

The ending is still incredibly moving and can still make a grown man cry.

What makes this film such a delight though is the character animation. It is leaps and bounds beyond what was achieved in Snow White and is probably some of the finest work the studio ever did. It's dynamic and detailed with perfectly observed movement. Look at the way Stromboli dominates the frame, or the detail imbued into Figaro the cat, the non-human and human version of Pinocchio and you'll see a talented team of animators surpassing themselves at the craft of character animation. The double act of Honest John and Gideon, the two con-men who sell Pinocchio to Stromboli, is a wonderful blend of character acting, screwball physical animation and visual comedy. Add to this the atmosphere of Pinocchio's kidnapping in the middle of a storm, Geppetto's imprisonment in the innards of the whale, and the dark surrealism of Pleasure Island, full of bold colour and deep contrasts.



And it is one of the first films that uses music and song to tell the story emotionally. Jiminy Cricket singing 'When You Wish Upon A Star' would melt the stoniest of hearts and emotionally synthesises the themes of hope, conscience and moral choice that are the centre of the film. I'm not sure the 7.1 sound mix is justified to be honest as even though there is good stereo direction there is little use of the sub-woofer to give the sound field a kick up the arse. Still, it sounds wonderful despite this quibble and doesn't detract from a superbly presented package and a film that is incredibly moving and can still make a grown man cry. An immaculate presentation of a life-affirming tale, this clearly shows what the Blu-Ray format is all about.

The double disc edition comes with a huge haul of extras. The one you should aim for first of all is The Making Of, then the Cine-Explore picture-in-picture commentary.

• Cine-Explore Feature: Picture-in-Picture video commentary. Animator Eric Goldberg, Leonard Maltin, and J.B. Kaufman discuss the film, its impact on cinema, and its lasting influences while original storyboards, stills, and archive footage appear on screen. The commentary also has an audio-only option.
• No Strings Attached - The Making Of Pinocchio: At almost an hour this is a thoroughly impressive behind-the-scenes documentary, in HD, that covers some of the material in the commentary but also has loads of stuff not covered elsewhere.
• Deleted Scenes and Alternate Ending
• Deleted Song: The song "Honest John" dropped from the film presented in audio.
• The Sweat Box: An interesting glimpse into the animation production process where animators presented their work in progress to the boss himself, Walt Disney.
• Live Action Reference Footage: Live action footage used by the animation team for character references, with contextualising commentary.
• Galleries: Huge collection of reference materials, including drawings and photographs.
• Plus: Geppettos Then and Now, Disney Song Selections, Music Video, Pinocchio's Matter of Facts: A pop-up trivia track, Trivia Challenge, Trailer Gallery, Pleasure Island Carnival Games, Pinocchio's Puzzles

(Screencaps courtesy of Blu-ray.com)

Pinocchio (Disney Blu-Ray 70th Anniversary Platinum Edition - Region Locked - 3 Discs - Cert U - BUC 0106701 - Released 9th March 2009)

SCI-FI HD - 6th March 2009 - 10.00pm

Well, this was a trifle dull. I can see what the writer Michael Taylor was under orders to do and there were occasional flashes of interest here but my eyes were getting heavier and heavier as this one went on and on. And quoting Henry Beston for the title is probably a dead giveaway that this one's a bit more languid than the rest of the season so far.



That's not to say that nothing much happens. A great deal does happen but it's offered to us in a ponderous and deliberately slow way by director Eddie Olmos. He and Michael Taylor are content to move the chess pieces of the narrative in their own good time but the trouble is that this makes for very soporific viewing. And as most of us have been paying avid attention over the last few weeks we've already worked out what those chess maneouvres are. It was inevitable that after Boomer's collision with Galactica that the old girl would be ailing. Cue much angst from Adama as he tries to make a decision on whether to abandon Galactica for the Base Ship. Meanwhile, Anders has become Galactica's own 'bathing beauty' as he's plugged in like a hybrid and scarily starts to connect to all the retro-fitted Cylon goo in the ship's hull. What's the betting that he'll jump the ship right into Cavil's waiting arms? And we've got the Opera House visions back which seemed inevitable as the very key to those visions, little Hera (loved the symbolism of her docking the Galactica model next to the Base Ship model perhaps suggesting the fate of Galactica in a future battle) has been snaffled away by Boomer.

'New Command'

The real highlight of this week's episode was the snippy little tete a tete between Starbuck and Gaius. I adored the scene where Gaius is having a shave, perhaps sloughing off an old skin in preparation for the battle to come, and Starbuck, knickers round her ankles, sat on the loo, has a wee in front of him. She has a tinkle whilst discussing the afterlife and angels with him. It's a wonder he didn't slice his face open. This wonderful scene, in which she reveals, rather stupidly I thought, that she is undead and has the proof, is then extended into the funeral service for those killed in the collision, where both Cylon and human casualties are being honoured, Gaius decides to blurt out the news that, indeed, Starbuck is dead but yet lives on. No one seems greatly shocked by this news but then these poor people must be at their wits end and one more visitation from the afterlife must seem terribly inconsequential compared to what has just happened. Loved Sackhoff and Callis in these scenes which provided the story with some much needed frisson, especially that well deserved slap he gets from her at the end of the funeral. Perhaps this is what she was looking for all along. A bit of peace. She certainly looks more at ease with herself when she next visits Anders, plugs him back in after Tigh got the screaming ab-dabs at the thought that he could jump the ship, and promises that they'll both work out what the sodding music means. Scarily, he opens his eyes and declares, 'New Command'.

Boomer certainly looks worried after all that mummy bonding she's just done

Poor old Karl Agathon. The relationship with Athena is obviously suffering and the poor guy is desperate to get a rescue mission out to find Hera. Tamoh Penikett does distressed extremely well and it's gut wrenching to see Adama dismiss his appeal so brusquely. No sign of Tyrol this week. One assumes he's in the brig for clubbing a Cylon over the head last week. Meanwhile, the horribly conflicted Boomer is obviously suffering parental pangs as she has to deal with a distressed Hera. She finally delivers the child to Cavil, who has been waiting at 'The Colony' which is where we assume the Final Five originally gave the Cylons their human appearance and resurrection ability. He rather evilly rubs his hands and mentions playmates for Hera. Is he going to open her up and duplicate her, I wonder? Boomer certainly looks worried after all that mummy bonding she's just done. Finally, Adama's gone off his trolley whilst painting a wall and done a Jackson Pollock all over himself because he's realised that he must abandon Galactica before she falls apart. Cue, collapsing on the floor, having a little weep and a big glass of whisky. He promises to send her off 'in style'. I don't think that means a paint job and a cruise round the galaxy. More like a nose dive into a certain Base Ship.

You see, that all sounds exciting. But it's so leaden for the most part and merely amounted to slowly moving the pieces around ready for the 'shit your pants' end of an era, three part finale, Daybreak. Let's hope we get clear answers in the next two weeks (Part 1 next week and then the two part conclusion the week after) and a fitting send off for the whole show.

Previous reviews:

Someone To Watch Over Me
Deadlock
No Exit
Blood On The Scales
The Oath
A Disquiet Follows My Soul
Sometimes A Great Notion
Revelations
The Hub
Sine Qua Non
Guess What's Coming To Dinner?
Faith
The Road Less Traveled
Escape Velocity
The Ties That Bind
He That Believeth In Me & Six Of One

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ABC - 4th March 2009 - 10.00pm

Alas, poor Life On Mars. Cancelled last week by ABC with only 17 episodes under its belt. There is an indication that the producers and writers will get a chance to finish the story properly so at least we won't be left hanging in mid-air wondering whether Sam actually manages to get back to 2008.

Judging by this week's instalment it won't be any time soon and we'll be waiting until the very last episode on April 1st. This episode is very much about Sam trying to adjust to his situation, bookended by two relevant scenes. In the opening, Sam relates a dream of him wandering through a time frozen office to a police shrink, and the advice is to pretty much accept what's happened and try to move on. By the end of the episode, we see Sam doing just that, actually enjoying the company of his fellow officers in a bar whilst waiting for a fight to start on TV. The whole business about the Ali fight, whilst providing some nostalgia, was basically filler material.

How handy

The trouble is that the filling in this particular sandwich isn't exactly much to write about. There's a very dull plot about a bomber targeting cops where it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out who planted them. Twice the episode directly looks at the suspect and the second time Chris points out that he was at the first bombing. Duh! This is all interlinked with some torturous affair between a female politics professor, Pat Olsen, played rather excellently by The West Wing's Janel Moloney, and Rodney Slaven, the charismatic leader of a terrorist cell, the Weather Underground. When the husband shows up it's clear he's going to be important to the plot despite the fact that he's kept on the sidelines until the final ten minutes. It's a pity that the entire plot resolves around his quick confession in the interview room as until then the thriller elements of the story were quite interesting and I was half expecting the dead terrorist leader to miraculously appear to spice things up. But he didn't. The husband is so upset over these revelations he leaps into a car that's been rigged to explode to kill Gene. How handy.

'save the pigs'

However, we were given a bit more of Gene's murky past and his association with the cops in the Red Squad, a mysterious gang of cops who allegedly were more vigilante than upholders of the law. I enjoyed getting more background on Gene and Harvey was particularly strong in the episode and the interrogation scenes suggested a nice chemistry between him and Jason O'Mara. Loved the in-joke of the first bombing located at a bar called Glenisters. Sam fares particularly badly in this episode because they simply take away all his obsessions and turn him into 'good' cop next to Gene's 'bad' cop. The minute he decides that assimilation is the best way forward the character becomes rather boring. The only interesting thing to note was the footage of terrorist leader Rodney Slaven admonishing Sam to 'save the pigs' which didn't really make much sense and seemed a half-hearted attempt to reassure us that Sam is still out of kilter with 1973.

In the end it was scripting by numbers and a very forgettable plot that added nothing of any significance to the mythos. A waste of a particularly good cast this week too. Let's hope the last four episodes provide a proper swan song for the series.

ABC Life On Mars site

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Finally. It's here. After 23 years of gestation, false starts at various studios, numerous directors rumoured to be attached to the property, Watchmen emerges into the harsh light of the 21st Century. Was it worth the wait, was it worth all the fuss? Categorically, yes. Let's get one or two things out of the way for a start. This isn't going to please the fanatics of the original graphic novel simply because director Zack Snyder has had to detach certain scenes, sub-plots and vast amounts of peripheral detail present in the book and has made the decision to change the ending which will probably annoy some. To be honest, I was never a huge admirer of Alan Moore's original 'what the...?' ending with the trans-dimensional squid. Snyder's ending does work in terms of the movie that he has decided to fashion from the graphic novel. The central plot is intact, many of my, and probably your own, favourite scenes are delivered with much aplomb. I was worried that a mainstream audience would just not get this film and it still worries me. Those interested in SF, fantasy, comic books and action films, but who may not have read the original graphic novel, will I think get it completely.

It is an alternative 1985, Richard Nixon is still in power, popular after a huge US victory in Vietnam. The victory is possible because of superhero Dr Manhattan (Billy Crudup), a glowing blue creature with powers to rearrange matter at will. He was one of the Watchmen, a retired gang of superheroes, including Ozymandias / Adrian Veidt (Matthew Goode), Silk Specter 2 / Laurie Jupiter (Malin Akerman), Nite Owl 2 / Dan Dreiberg (Patrick Wilson), Rorschach / Walter Kovacs (Jackie Earle Haley) and The Comedian / Eddie Blake (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). The film opens with the murder of The Comedian and Rorschach's attempts to uncover the killer.

a bravura use of montage, voice over and music

What we do get is a feast for the eyes, a detailed, labour of love that is extremely reverential to the graphic novel and some particularly inspired performances from Jackie Earl Haley as Rorschach, Patrick White as Nite Owl and Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian. The noirish detective story at the centre of the film, much like the graphic novel, gives Snyder the opportunity to frame the film with Rorschach's diary entries and introduce each of the main characters. For the majority of the film each character's present day tragedy is rooted in multiple flashbacks, giving us vast amounts of information about these characters and the alternative history in which they exist through beautifully constructed and visually rich moments of concise cinema. Snyder cuts to the chase and for at least an hour this is the Watchmen film that we all dreamed about. From the stunningly detailed opening credits, economically essaying the alternate history of the 20th Century and the place of super heroes within the context of World War 2, the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War and Nixon's rise to power, to the flashback and flashforward character vignettes that culminates in a bravura use of montage, voice over and music in the unpeeling of the Dr. Manhattan story which simultaneously whisks you from childhood, to youth and to emotionally distracted glowing blue uber-mensch. All done to a suite from Koyaanisqatsi by Philip Glass, ironically another film about life in turmoil. It's probably one of the most exciting pieces of cinema I've seen in a long time.

Confessions Of A Spandex Wearing Super Hero

Many complaints have been hurled at the way Snyder brings the romance between Nite Owl and Silk Spectre to the screen. I really didn't have a problem with this and thought Patrick White was particularly effective as the rather vulnerable, if impotent, Dan Dreiberg and Malin Akerman, whilst not as accomplished playing Laurie, brought some sensitivity to the role. Snyder does stumble during the development of their romance and misjudges the sex scene in the Owl Ship. Whilst it is, I assume, supposed to have a kinky edge to it, it just turned into the giggle inducing farce of Confessions Of A Spandex Wearing Super Hero instead of what should have been a scene about real, physical connection between two lost souls. Scoring it with the now worn out song 'Hallelujah', with the deteriorating cultural effect of its recent reality TV show connotations, didn't help matters either. Far better was their post-coital break out of Rorschach from prison and their rescue of kids trapped in a burning building. Both scenes express everything that is positive about super-heroes in the film. The acts of great heroism they are capable of even when the others around them represent their complete antithesis despite the feeling that Laurie and Dan are in it for the sexual kicks. The action sequences are pumped, adrenaline fueled slabs of destruction and violence, a plethora of blood soaked, bone crunching hand to hand combat where Snyder does slightly overuse his box of tricks with copious amounts of slow motion, freeze frames and jump cuts. Fear not though, the fights and violence aren't as mechanistically fetishised as his work on 300. The violence is also extreme and bloody, often quite disturbing, and smacks slightly of a deliberate attempt to make the material edgier for a 2009 audience whose palates are less discerning that those of their counterparts in 1985.



In the middle of the sub-plots with Laurie and Dan, the ex-superhero cum capitalist Adrian Veidt and the navel gazing of Dr.Manhattan in exile on Mars, there's the rather stunning Jackie Earl Haley as Rorschach. His story, related to the prison psychologist after his incarceration, is again a stylish exploration of his existentialist origins, his nihilism born from a troubled childhood. Again, these are details another adaptation might well have left out but their presence here make the film and the character all the more richer, going to the heart of the graphic novel's own exploration of identity, amorality and ethics. As a whole, Alan Moore's satire on comic book heroes and their relationship to the state, the politics of warfare, the nature of authority, the disease of capitalism, the sexualising of superheroes, religion, quantum mechanics and God is pretty much intact and unmolested. Which does beg the question - what is the relevance of the themes to 2009?

our current shade of mass hysteria

As a cultural product so embedded in the Cold War politics of 1985, where Reagan and the Russians almost seemed prepared to accept nuclear annihilation, how does it now connect with the viewer? This is the film's biggest problem for me. Sure, we can use the Vietnam/Cold War craziness as a reflection of our own post 9/11 paranoia with the War On Terror but the film doesn't give any ground and in its reverence for the source material and the socio-political context of the late 1970s and early 1980s the film tends to suffer from a distancing effect. Watchmen has an awful lot to do - it must competently tell us an alternate history of the US, make us care about a set of often unsympathetic, troubled superheroes and it also has to recreate that mid-1980s fear and paranoia about nuclear war. Many of the characters endlessly talk about nuclear war and that's where the film flounders as these conversations simply replicate the cat and mouse strategic madness between Reagan and the Russians without emotionally engaging the audience. Whilst the scenes of nuclear destruction look fabulous they are detached from us. We're worrying about deflation, a crippled economy and the War On Terror. That's our current shade of mass hysteria. And in the end the examination of forms of mass hysteria is possibly how we find we can eventually relate to these themes of mutually assured destruction.



There are also homages to Taxi Driver, The Man Who Fell To Earth and Dr. Strangelove in the film's lavish production design, even some echoes of Blade Runner and The Matrix in the general feel of the film. The visual effects are, for the most part, excellent and Billy Crudup, as the naked, blue glowing Dr. Manhattan, just about manages to give a performance through swathes of CGI although you'd be forgiven if you get somewhat distracted from his existential philosophising by the rather conspicuous sight of his glowing blue cock. Crudup, along with Matthew Goode's rather pallid and undernourished turn as the anti-hero/villain Adrian Veidt, is possibly one of the weaker performances in the film and falters to deliver that rather crucial moment of realisation in his and Laurie's humanity on the surface of Mars. I also had a problem with the prosthetic make-ups for Nixon and Laurie's aged mother. The make up for Nixon made him look like a Spitting Image puppet and gave the actor no alternative but to put in a rather one note performance.

In the end it is a successful adaptation and abridgement. Even at the long running time of a very packed two and three quarter hours you still feel you're watching a much reduced version. This is, hopefully, something Snyder will now rectify with the Director's Cut announced for DVD. But it still requires you to consider it, mull it over and even now I feel I've barely scratched the surface, intellectually at least, with this review. So, surely it's no bad thing if a film is still prompting you to think about it hours, or even days, after you've seen it. Oh, and get to an IMAX screening if you can as this looks particularly stunning on a huge IMAX screen.

WATCHMEN (Cert 18. Released March 6th 2009. Directed by Zack Snyder)

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