TV: SHERLOCK

A modern day Sherlock Holmes is one of those ideas that’s so strong you wonder why nobody’s done it till now but Steven Moffett is a master at converting the obvious into something surprising. The famous detective fits perfectly into today’s technology filled world- all the Blackberrying and Googling does not overwhelm the forensic attention to detail that is Holmes’ main characteristic. One of the best aspects of the episodes is watching a befuddled Dr Watson (Martin Freeman at his twitchy best) marvel at his new friend’s deductive powers. However many modern elements intrude -and some of them like constant assumptions that the two are a couple or how useless the police are seem a tad old fashioned – nothing shifts the dynamic too far from the heritage of the character. The familiar totems of the legend are re-worked to great effect (no three pipe solution; now it’s a three patch one!) and in Benedict Cumberbatch we have one of the great Sherlock Holmes of any era. Somehow he and the script manage to present the same sort of character beloved of previous versions and the actor cuts a brilliantly preoccupied figure yet retains the audience’s interest.

I’d suggest a few tweaks for season two, specifically cutting the episode length to an hour. Each of the three episodes so far contain some slack that would normally be edited out and a shorter running time would better serve the material. The other issue is with the sound mix which has the incidental music very loud and much of the dialogue mumblingly low meaning a Wii like workout with the remote is required.

Apart from that, there is so much to enjoy in the excellent direction, strong performances and twisting plots. The latter take their cue from classic Holmes but add enough new material to sustain even the most ardent fan of the detective. Each of the episodes have their strengths whether it’s the sheer momentum and humour of the first, the atmosphere of the second or the tension of the third, probably the best of the trio. It doesn’t take a detective to realise we definitely need more episodes!

MUSIC: ARCADE FIRE - THE SUBURBS

Suburbs are not often written about in songs as they lack either the glamour of inner city life or the romanticised joy of the country. Instead, they just sprawl on the outskirts of cities and people that live there often dream of escape. Re-visiting his childhood suburbs Win Butler has created a claustrophobic, humid song cycle humming with expectation and longing. There’s a suggestion of amazing things beyond the ordinary and the tone is restrained yet fascinating. It’s a clever trick to pull off not least for over an hour but there is not a single filler here.

There’s no story as such but repeated themes and lyrics link together to form a vivid picture of a certain type of environment. The religious imagery and grandiose church organs of Neon Bible are gone so the album doesn’t impress as much on first listen. Repeated exposure though does draw you in and suggests that ultimately these songs have more depth and will endure long after the noise of the uneven second album has burned itself out. In this less extroverted incarnation, Arcade Fire will make more sense to more people. Bruce Springsteen remains a touchstone, both musically (especially on `City with No Children`) and also lyrically with constant references to cars, running, kids, the sprawl and the ordinary life of suburbs as well as relationships (“I have no feeling for you now I know you better”). There’s every chance this material will resonate far more with a wider audience than the clenched quasi religious tension of their last album or indeed the ecstatic holler of their first.

Arcade Fire have matured and there is, despite an initial sense that all the songs are too similar, more variation once you get under the skin of the music. `Sprawl 2 (Mountains Beyond Mountains) could be Blondie, `Modern Man` is all skinny 80s post New Wave, ‘Rococo`, seethes and sneers at “the modern kids” who “build it up just to burn it back down” while the group has never been more rock and roll than `Month of May` or `Empty Room`. `Deep Blue` starts as an acoustic centred reverie on days past and builds on a bittersweet rhythm to an incredibly catchy conclusion followed by `We Used To Wait` oddly the only track that sounds like any of their old material, albeit with a different approach. With a great Arcade Fire album for people who don’t like Arcade Fire, they have just made their best music yet.

EVENT: THE DOCTOR WHO PROM

No television broadcast comes close to conveying the grand vastness of the Royal Albert Hall. The richness of the carpets, the detail of the stonework outside and the decor in, the height of the domed roof all come as a vivid surprise when you enter for the first time. It is therefore slightly embarrassing to be doing so to attend a Doctor Who Prom; you feel as if the honour should really belong to something by Wagner or perhaps a Last Night knees up. Thank goodness then they didn’t have Doctor Who Proms in the 1980s! Can you imagine the attempt by Kamelion to do a walk on? Or the length of time it would take Colin Baker to do the links on account of him having to say everything three times. Or for the live singer to be none other than King John to perform that old show stopper `We Sing in Praise of Total War`. These days, the series’ incidental music deserves this setting. When the `End of Time` regeneration music echoes across the circular auditorium it is genuinely stirring and powerfully rendered. As the concert climaxes with `Song of Freedom` aka the pulling the TARDIS home music well, how could anyone resist? It’s a brilliantly triumphant piece on TV but hearing it live with a full orchestra, choir and – yes- church organ is magnificent.

Themes from the series are interspersed with well known classical pieces like `Mars`,`O Fortuna` and `Ride of the Valkyries`, in other words the greatest hits of the classical world. Children fidget because they know full well this has nothing to do with Doctor Who, but for the rest of us it’s an interesting match plus how many times do we get the chance to hear this music in the context for which it was composed? Acoustically the Hall is far better than the most HD HD digital TV or iPod will ever be.

Undoubtedly the series’ music reminds us of the context in which we first heard it- and there are scenes played on several screens in case we’d forgotten. There’s a fairytale quality to much of the newer music that contrasts with the more epic Tennant era stuff and balanced with the classical pieces made for a diverse programme. The atmosphere is tremendous with giant cheers each time anyone from the series walks on stage to introduce something, though this is mostly Karen Gillan who oddly gets more nervous as matters proceed. The cheer when Matt Smith appears- initially in Doctor mode recruiting a bewildered looking child to help him save the Proms- nearly dislodged that impressive roof. There were monsters too, the Judoon stomping about menacingly were particularly striking- a little girl sitting close to my vantage point almost exploded when one of them came close. New design Daleks and Silurians out of the context of their episodes also looked rather fab. This was a truly joyous concert, a communal celebration of the brilliance of Doctor Who and its music. What other TV show can muster that?

FILM: INCEPTION

Inception is as fantastic as the trailers suggested, yet even more so. It builds in on itself, layer after layer, into the world of dreams; the Inception of the title being the ability to invade someone’s dreams and make them believe they are in an alternative- but real-scenario to get them to co-operate. How it presents this idea is most unexpected- the settings are realistic yet the happenings inside them askew. Several times the narrative uses a simple idea to convey the plot and does so with such clarity of purpose that you follow it all the way. The action piles up with exciting results making us forget some of what we are seeing isn’t real. Christopher Nolan and his editor make sure we are never totally disconnected from reality with a great idea involving the way time spans out with each layer you go through thus allowing us to indulge in simultaneous jeopardy with essentially the same characters. The script also contains some signature moments that will stick in your head- notably the cityscape of Paris `folding over`, people tied together being pulled along an upside down hotel corridor and a perpetually falling vehicle.

Yet what really takes the film up a further notch is the humanity of the characters. Movies like this often sacrifice characters for clever ides but Inception has both. A superb cast make the most of an excellent script that explores the human side of the situation as much as the technical ideas. The result is an absorbing two and a half hours and Christopher Nolan’s finest film yet.

BOOK: UNDER THE IVY-THE LIFE & MUSIC OF KATE BUSH (Graeme Thomson)

Music biogs can be a little dry filled with too many facts or alternatively far too much supposition and theory. Graeme Thomson’s exhaustive account of pop’s most evasive star goes back to the source – the music. In 8 albums released over increasingly elongated periods, Kate Bush has created a body of work owing little to passing trends. Rooted in folk traditions and using mythological and natural imagery to convey feelings about very ordinary things, she has created something unique.

Drawing on the warmth of her close family upbringing as well as a refreshingly open sensuality, a sense of the absurd and an honest empathy with the changing of the ages of life she has staked her unique place. Musically she has veered from early more conventional sounding soft rock –albeit fronted by her distinctive singing- into daringly experimented realms. She has taken on characters as bizarre as a donkey and as ordinary as a woman hanging out washing, she has even sung along with birds. Whether it’s Aborigines, rain making machines or soldiers, she’s inhabited them all and more.

The book discusses both the inspiration for her songs as well as the mechanics of their creation and yet maintains a critical eye when need be. For anyone who has luxuriated in these albums it seems somehow fitting that an old fashioned paper book finally gets to the root of them. One theme running through her story is a stoic determination to do things her own way; from her insistence on `Wuthering Heights` being her first single (amazingly the record company wanted something else!) right up to her selected and limited promotional activity for 2005’s` Ariel`. Thomson draws on 70 new interviews with collaborators from all eras to shed some light on her concentrated recording methods and it’s great to finally see her least commercially successful album `The Dreaming` get a fair hearing alongside her biggest success 1985’s `Hounds of Love`. If the book lacks direct access to the woman herself, it does justice to her work and you imagine she’d be happy with that, having repeatedly stressed how for her the music is all. Unless she were to one day write her own autobiography –which let’s face it seems unlikely- then this is a book any Kate Bush fan should find rewarding. After all there could still be another 7 years to her next album!

DR WHO: THE BIG BANG

I’m not sure I get this episode at all; I made the mistake of reading a couple of other reviews first but they only confused me further. Being no expert on fairytales it’s difficult for me to say if this story-and by logical extension- this season qualifies as one. What I do remember about them is that they put over a clear message and it might just be me but even two viewings left me foggy as to what was really being put across here. The Big Bang is clever (too clever for me), wordy, busy and suitably epic and yet...and yet rather like Rory when he became a Roman, I found it very distracting. Watching it made me feel like I was reaching for something I really wanted but I couldn’t quite touch it and the more it went on, the more frustrating it became. Say what you will about Russell T Davies’ finales; I loved them, for their bravado and big fat emotions that didn’t care. The Big Bang is (has to be) careful and intelligent which is fine but this is a FINALE! I want explosions, I want a very evil antagonist to taunt and tease the Doctor, I want more than what amounts to- despite the threat we’re told about- an insular drama about four (admittedly lovely) people. I want a threat that by the last half hour is simple to follow and involves a jeopardy we can identify with. More than that I want a companion that we can really care about. Amy Pond remains as strange and unusual as she is the moment we meet her. This is not to criticise Karen Gillan who has a beautiful empathic quality especially in her quieter moments, but the story leaves Amy unaffected. What has she learned, how has she changed? Not a jot. She continues to belittle Rory whose extreme loyalty seems misplaced if this is his reward while we continue to puzzle over what the Doctor sees in her considering the sort of companion he normally invites aboard. I was waiting for this final story to open the enigma of Amy, to find out who she really is but it doesn’t. For anyone who says I wasn’t watching closely enough, I can assure you I was and what’s more watched it again to make sure. The point is that it should be clear the first time. I’d imagine actually that the average viewer found the temporal tech talk boring and / or confusing while there isn’t a lot of action apart from one stone Dalek that has to keep refuelling. Mind you that does at least spare us the coloured ones.

The overall threat is just too enormous to focus on while the ending seems similar in concept to the much maligned 2007 season closer in which millions of people `think` the Doctor back to his true self. And then time is rolled back. The Asda ending. As a wrap up, this is the sort of thing that sits in second place behind “it was all just a dream”

It is an episode full of unanswered questions. Here are some of them: How does the Doctor suddenly know so much about the Pandorica? Now he can even fly it. And why exactly was it built to fly? In fact, what was the actual plan of last week’s alien alliance once they’d trapped the Doctor? And where did all those aliens all go off to anyway? Have they trapped the Doctor and then gone off to Costa Coffee? Then there’s the question of why anyone would find the Pandorica buried as it is under Stonehenge and if they did would they really allow a centurion to travel around with it? Who or what does drag the TARDIS away to explode and why? Perhaps it’s the sinister voice that declares “silence will fall”. He’s right of course; silence does fall when it comes to telling us what is going on! Why isn’t the Doctor physically vaporised when he flies the Pandorica into the exploding TARDIS? At the end, when Amy brings the Doctor back does that mean this season’s adventures happened or not- if they did, why aren’t the two of them in a time loop?

There probably is an explanation for all this and more in Steven Moffat’s head but that’s not where it needs to remain any longer. He spends ages telling us how the Doctor escapes the Pandorica yet the questions above are side stepped and by the end the hint is we’re having more of this next season. All of which undermines the undoubtedly clever way themes have been weaved through previous stories. Certainly it’s a much more assured `arc story` than the tagged on likes of Bad Wolf or Torchwood, but in not finishing it off properly it just seems tricksy for the sake of it.

So did I like anything? Oh yes, the cast are great, whatever nonsense they find themselves having to say- Matt Smith in particular shifts from frivolity to sombre refection perfectly. The general flow of the episode is involving enough while Toby Hynes directs with vigour. Some individual scenes possess the vital end of season impact, notably the Doctor’s trawl though his recent past and the goodbye to Amy, the story of Rory’s two thousand year odyssey, Amelia’s discovery of the Pandorica in the museum and the lovely wedding ending complete with some demented Doctor dancing. And the fez, loving the fez!

In fact, it’s not a bad episode per se but by marking it up so strongly as the climax to the whole season, it doesn’t pass muster. Judging from the general response and the very high AI I seem to be in a minority on this one. Perhaps I’m finally growing out of Doctor Who?

WARNING: contains strobe lighting

DR WHO: THE PANDORICA OPENS

Well, well well. This is either the most audacious narrative ever to come from the series or a set up for a mighty disappointment depending on what happens in part 2. That’s the trouble with 2 parters you see. Can the `Big Bang` ever unravel the conundrum adequately? All the stops are certainly being pulled out here- who’d have thought that anything could make The End of Time look reasonable and modest? When that Pandorica opened I’m sure I caught a glimpse of a kitchen sink!! The best thing about this episode is its forward motion. The longest ever pre titles sequence was a little over contrived to facilitate this season’s main supporting characters coming back on for another bow, but once the titles were done(and oddly I am growing to like them...a little) it was full pelt into what is broad popular sci-fi telly. Much of this stuff wouldn’t look out of place in a lot of other series, lacking something of the unique Who signature but that does make it enormously entertaining. The viewer is just about able to keep up, though I suspect a second watch will clarify a few points. Director Toby Hynes gets to grips with gusto handling a variety of fast moving scenarios well- he creates a great chaos when the spaceships arrive, the alliance of enemies is framed to thrill us all and the Pandorica is impressively shot.

It’s interesting that Steven Moffat at this juncture favours the kind of bizarre idea that Russell T Davies might employ- in this case Roman Autons. Viewers will of course not be fooled into thinking Amy is dead but even so both Karen Gillan and this season’s unsung hero Arthur Darvill play their big scene as if it means the world and win our hearts despite the slightly incredulous scenario. As for the big old Pandorica itself, remember all the speculation as to who or what Bad Wolf was and how we were looking at it the wrong way? Well, here we are again. I had half guessed the Doctor would be in there, but was expecting a crazed future Doctor to give Matt Smith some dual action, but the idea of the monsters joining together to trap the actual Doctor in it was genuinely inspired, perhaps Moffat’s best of the season to date.

On the face of it he has also created an impossible to get out of cliff-hanger- even though we kind of know things are not as they seem. My predictions at time of writing this on Monday 21st are; that that Cyberdart is what somehow revives / saves Amy, River goes back to fetch Amelia (that was the TARDIS noise in ep 1 when she’s sitting on the suitcase that then cuts to Amy). Not sure how the Doctor gets out of the Pandorica unless he’s got some travelly thing in his coat. As for the voice declaring that “silence will fall”, it sounds like either Davros or the Black Guardian. The Big Bang could refer to the re-creation of the Universe, perhaps? Let’s see how right or in all likelihood wrong I am!

An episode that climaxes with the Doctor trapped by a collection of his greatest enemies, his companion dead, the TARDIS out of control and the entire Universe destroyed has got to be followed by something truly memorable. Right now, though, Steven Moffat is on top of it all!

DR WHO: THE LODGER

How topical can you be! Less than an hour before England’s first World Cup match here’s Matt Smith playing football and judging from his performance, our team could have done with his help! They certainly failed to be as solid and convincing as this episode which passes deftly from being funny to serious without losing the ball. We tend to forget that James Corden is an actor and thankfully it’s this side that he shows rather than the `Gavin and Stacey` type many were expecting; indeed it’s left to the Doctor to provide the laughs to Cordon’s convincingly reticent Craig. Gareth Roberts paces a slim idea well, wisely highlighting the Doctor’s attempts to fit in rather than emphasising the threat which, if you think about it, can be investigated by simply walking up the stairs. Roberts cleverly acknowledges this and keeps coming up with delays stopping the Doctor from doing that very thing. The chemistry between Smith and Cordon is excellent; Smith excelling as the funny man, Cordon refreshingly lovelorn and indecisive. There’s some nice fan touches too, with the Doctor’s device reminiscent of the thing he made in `The Time Monster `and a prominent picture of Van Gogh on the fridge. The football scenes call to mind the fifth Doctor’s triumphant though more sedate cricketing victory in `Black Orchid` which of course also had something lurking upstairs.

For a story like this to really work the revelation needs to be good and unlike `Black Orchid`, it certainly is with an unexpected lurch into a TARDIS like control room and lots of static; surely we were expecting some sort of monster? This makes what does happen a genuine and well played surprise with a denouement right out of Russell T Davies’s book. The only parts of the episode that jar slightly are Amy’s asides from the TARDIS which seem rather over acted from the usually reliable Karen Gillan but do allow the Doctor a chance to explain it to us! Which has to be better than a head butt!!

DR WHO: VINCENT AND THE DOCTOR

A literate and lyrical episode, `Vincent and the Doctor` is excellent showing the often misinterpreted Richard Curtis is an extremely strong writer. He brings humanity to Van Gogh and is aided further by a brilliant performance from Tony Curran. Woven through a script that parallels the painter and the Time Lord’s similarities as well as the power of art Curtis packages humour, action, and a rather good and ultimately sympathetic monster with a sense of joi de vivre that has personified the best of the revived series. He plays with different people’s perceptions and how they are acted upon and both Matt Smith and Karen Gillan sparkle with such a good script. As with `Amy’s Choice` it shows the benefit of writers who we might say are outside the Doctor Who circle.

In handling depression Curtis manages to convey what’s needed and does not shirk from the fact that, ultimately Van Gogh cannot be somehow cured of his affliction but it is that very thing that drives his art. There are so many set piece sequences that light up the episode; plenty of banter, neat historic observations, some striking cinematography that reflects the painter’s work and at its heart a warmth that matches the setting.

As for the end sequence I don’t think there’s been anything as eloquently moving in the show since the final few minutes of Family of Blood. This – and the lovely scene where the Doctor and Amy see the starry night sky through Van Gogh’s eyes - surely nudge the episode ahead as the best of this season so far.

DR WHO: COLD BLOOD

I didn’t like to say last week but when they had Rory taking the ring back to the TARDIS and then standing in a grave, he may as well have had `Dead Man Walking` on his lapel. Its a pity as Rory was the touchstone for the current TARDIS crew; without him Amy seems a bit weird; her responses to situations do not seem those of an ordinary girl in extraordinary situations. Take the bit where Rory sees her on the screen and is naturally concerned about her; she just says something sarcastic about him being clingy. One of the key things about a companion is you have to not just like them but understand them and Amy has become more incomprehensible as the season’s progressed. We don’t really know her, never mind like her. At least Arthur Darvill has given the last chunk of episodes a humanity and a bit of fun too.

Elsewhere inside a positively lovely to look at Silurian city, questions abound. Like, how can there be rivers of lava so relatively close to the surface in Wales and if there are how can people walk across bridges over them without frying? Indeed how can those bridges be built? And, perhaps more pertinently, why does Chris Chibnall tease but not deliver? The lead up is decent enough if a tad cliched with characters poised to be good and bad with lots of potential but then a flippantly played `negotiation` sequnce in which the Doctor leaves things to a drilling expert, Amy Pond and a nice old Silurian undermines the story. This trio are barely representative of the characters we’ve seen, never mind the wider world. Who outside the room is going to honour any agreement that may occur? The tone of the Doctor is all wrong too -having ranted at people in recent weeks for no good reason, here he forgives Ambrose (who has caused half the trouble) with a little chat and a pat on the head (well metaphotically). He declines to lead the negotiations depsite his experience and knowledge. He never even asks questions about all the grave robbing / experimenting Malonkeh has been doing either. Ambrose’s husband is sporting a rather horrible looking dissection scar and nobody says a thing about it. Eldane’s commentary suggests one day man and reptile will live together but you can bet they won’t. It doesn’t ring true, none of it. Individually any one of these things- and others- would not matter but collectively they undermine the brassy action and suggest that for all Chibnall’s intentions, this is just a run-around.

Granted there is a pace to this episode missing from its predecessor, a palpable tension in the air when Aliya is killed (though Ambrose is never taken to task about it) and though her sister is a one dimensional character Neve McIntosh deserves praise for playing Silurians as another race as opposed to Stephen Moore who just seems like a bloke in a mask. Robert Pugh in the episode’s most effective strand manages a simple if flawed human dignity as Tony Mack; perhaps it’s he who will one day broker the peace?

It’s difficult to see who this story was aimed at. Fans will almost certainly find it wanting when compared to the 1970 original which made a better job of the arguments and morals, younger viewers would certainly find their attention wandering because for a story with an army of dangerous lizards in it, there was a lot of chatting and very little of the army of dangerous lizards. Yet it’s hard not to imagine a further re-write might have tempted more subtly into view, a wider sweep that made us believe in the threat and a more effective resolution. What this story really tells us is that unless you have something genuinely new to offer, don’t tamper with a classic.

DR WHO: THE HUNGRY EARTH

Using the familiar `community under siege` scenario,` The Hungry Earth` is a busy though not especially exciting episode. Adam Smith aside, the direction this season has been ordinary which is OK if the script is good but for less thrilling episodes like this a more innovative approach might bolster the story. Ashley Way does pull off some tense moments when eveything goes dark and there’s a skulking Silurian but the day light scenes use the same colour palette as every other episode this year. Don’t they have tone meetings any more? Or does the cinematographer just love washed out grey? From a fan POV (though most viewers won’t care) the design of the new look Silurians is not a patch on the originals though the prosthetic itself is excellent and expressive.

Steven Moffat is right to praise the simple brilliance of the idea of intelligent homo reptilia who occupied the world before we did but there are no signs yet that scriptwriter Chris Chibnall is ready to treat it with the same moral tone as did Malcolm Hulke. However it may be this aspect will come to the fore in part 2.

Given it’s a two parter, there should be more space for character development but this set up is by numbers for the most part and it may sound petty but neither Robert Pugh nor Meera Syal convince as part of a drilling project, largely due to the script. We get no real feel for this project either and the Doctor seems to get to make all the decisions while everyone else stands about waiting for him to do so, whereas you’d think they’d be resourceful people. To care about characters in this sort of scenario we need to feel something for them and so far, it’s hard to. Even Amy and Rory seem like muted versions of themselves this week, the latter being sent on a pointless diversion where he doesn't do anything.

Things liven up when we venture underground with an ending that suggests a much better, livelier part 2. At least there’s no sign of the Myrka!

DR WHO: AMY'S CHOICE

It’s been said so many times that even a Yeti would probably freak if it saw itself on a Tooting Bec toilet, but Doctor Who is best when it shows strange behaviour in ordinary places. And Amy’s Choice is Doctor Who at its best- unpredictably the best episode this year so far. Who’d have thought it? Penned by Simon Nye, it posits the Doctor, Amy and Rory in two scenarios- one is apparently a dream, the other reality. Or so says the self styled Dream Lord- played with devilish delight by Toby Jones, in his element. Nye’s best work thrives on interaction- his best sitcom was Is it Legal? In which every character was a superb creation, played to perfection and that’s a strength Doctor Who can gain from. So, we have proper banter between the three leads- Amy is less odd here, Rory less accident prone, the Doctor less eccentric. Nye establishes the dynamic between them so perfectly you almost want the three way banter to just go on. His other masterstroke (though to be fair perhaps show runner Stevie M thought of it) is having old people as the menace. Though possessed- obviously- the sight of Zimmer supported, handbag wielding homicidal pensioners sacking Amy’s house or breathing poisonous fumes that reduce victims to dust is at once horrid and very funny (two old women carrying a wooden bench to break open the door had me in stitches for some reason!). Nye takes care to straddle that com-tragic line with skill and avoids offence- though some may gulp as an attacking pensioner is knocked off a roof. There’s some subtle menacing too, between the two Lords; Matt Smith gives his most measured performance to date in this episode; he’s calmed a little now yet has a delivery that reminds us he is alien- his reaction to Amy’s pregnancy is a picture- while Toby Jones’ matter of fact threats and hints make you want him to be defeated (the sign of a great villain is how much you dislike them)- and yet curious as to who he is.

Nye brings out nuances that Moffat has only been hinting at- you suddenly realise it is odd that Amy and Rory are a couple- and in about two sentences we’re then shown how strong their bond really is. Both Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill achieve this chemistry without losing themselves- not for them the soppiness that has overcome some of their TARDIS predecessors. They can do it with a glance or a well written line of dialogue. The episode is more than anything, about the relationship of trust between the Doctor and his companions. In recent years there has been a tendency to give the Doctor a human reaction to things and the denouement here- which I won’t spoil for those yet to see it- is that it underlines the character’s alienness while at the same time giving us more understanding of Amy than we’ve been allowed till now. In using Rory as a fully fledged character Nye makes him a mirror on both the Doctor and Amy. I’d say- probably to the horror of fans everywhere- that this three have the potential to be the quintessential TARDIS crew; of course it depends on what the rest of the season has lined up for them of course, but we’re starting to see just how valuable having three characters in the ship can be. This is a fun, inventive, surprising and when it needs to be a lovely episode- Simon Nye should write more Doctor Who because he’s shown that you can do fairy tale and you can do epic sci-fi, you can be funny and you can have a heart; all in one brilliantly wrapped package.

FILM: ROBIN HOOD

Given that there have been 8 million versions of Robin Hood over the decades, the chance that another one would add anything to the legend seems unlikely yet Ridley Scott’s latest big screen epic actually does achieve something new. In telling a sort of prequel to the Robin Hood we know so well, the film manages to seem fresh and vibrant. Scott’s filmic style is well suited to the tale; his love of light, fluttering flags, bone crunching action and natural locations brings immediacy to the screen that is actually far more effective in transporting us there than some 3D films have been. Yes, it is stylishly presented but sometimes you can only gape in appreciation at the vision. The best such moment comes as the two forces head into battle and we see an army charging along the top of the Dover cliffs while in the same shot, the invading French are landing. Scott’s action sequences are second to none; every nuance of battle that we need to see is presented in a sort of chaotic ballet and some excellent sound work completes the job. The narrative makes a fair job of matching this activity too. As Robin Hood is merely a legend with no historical evidence to suggest he existed, the movie make sit’s own timeline, one in which Richard the Lionheart is slain on the way back from the Crusades and Robin Longstride, a taciturn archer ends up brining the crown back to England and pretending to be Sir Robin of Loxley. The turn of events is depicted with big screen efficiency for sure, yet there’s a verisimilitude to the progress that is more than you’d expect in this sort of film. The cast are well matched- Eileen Atkins in particular makes a matriarchal Queen Mother who does the right thing despite clearly hating King John, whose played strongly by Oscar Isaac. Cate Blanchett is the modern Marion who accepts her role in proceedings while gradually falling for Robin. Max Von Sydow has fun being defiantly doddery as Loxley Senior while Mark Strong manages yet another spin on the villain’s role. It really isn’t a proper film unless he’s the villain. It’s Russell Crowe who is the weak link; you could accept his odd accent if he’d made Robin less dull- there are times when Crow looks like he’d rather be anywhere else. He does get his stirring speech but after such powerful, complete roles on the likes of Gladiator and Master and Commander, he’s curiously low key here. This is a full blooded big screen romp that charges forward like the unstoppable hero it portrays.

THE GENERAL ELECTION

So, the election result left us with so many questions like who actually will end up as PM? How come some polling stations actually ran out of ballot papers? What did happen to the idea that the Lib Dems would gain over 100 seats? And did David Dimbleby really stay in the same chair for about 18 hours? If the campaign was leader centric then the results have been even more so with Messrs Cameron and Clegg trying not to appear too eager for power and trying to surmount alot of what are- if you read their respective manifestos- serious policy differences. Meanwhile, like a dark, brooding presence Gordon Brown remains in No 10 waiting on the outcome. It is, you must agree, far more interesting than the normal election.

The (in)decision the country came to on May 6th leaves a tantalising crossroads- either we will start paying off the huge deficit almost immediately or not till next year. Of course the Conservatives will quote 100 `leading businessmen` who support their plan to cut the National Insurance increase proposed by Labour but of course these businessmen act only out of self interest. They don’t want to pay any more NI out of their profits. Meanwhile, every other comparable country appears to agree with Labour that cutting now- on the cusp of a fragile recovery- is folly and could even see us spinning back into recession which with our deficit is a dangerous thing to happen. Now nobody likes a National Insurance rise but it is one which all working people would pay and isn’t that fair? The ONLY alternative, which the Conservatives have swerved around discussing publicly, is that VAT will need to go up, perhaps to 19%. Apart from that swingeing cuts this year- as opposed to managed cuts afterwards- would mean increased unemployment and thus less consumer spending and those `leading businessmen` will rue their hasty enthusiasm for Cameron’s plan. His other big idea- “small government, big society” is a cannily wrapped return to the sort of “greed is good” mantra that we had in the 1980s which, yes, did lead to prosperity, but also to the credit economy and look where we ended up with that in 2007 – 8. And would you really just trust ”anybody” to open a school?

What, sadly, none of the three parties addressed properly is the lack of a manufacturing and production base to shore up the UK in torrid economic times, as if service industries and banking are the only way to keep a country afloat. Instead of abandoning manufacturing it is that area we need to be propping up rather than financial institutions which make enough money (out of us mostly) to look after themselves. Also, we need to increase the agricultural and farming industry so they grow and –combined with greener technology- make us more self sufficient and efficient. And more real. Still, whatever the results and whatever happens next, at least we have a nation engaged with politics again and you can bet that the manifestos of all parties will have to be more rigorous in the future if we all become more involved.

DR WHO: VAMPIRES OF VENICE

So brisk it looks like a few scenes were edited out, this episode is tremendously entertaining and quite lavishly staged considering this year’s budgets are supposed to be lower and they didn’t even go to Venice. The plot does bear a number of plot similarities with Toby Whithouse’s previous story `School Reunion` - notably the way the main villain and the Doctor treat each other, the aliens disguised as something else – but the different setting overcomes that. Whithouse’s approach to antagonists is refreshing and just as Anthony Head and David Tennant got to spar verbally with each other, the trick is repeated to arguably even better effect with Helen McCrory and Matt Smith, both relishing the confrontation. Again, the aliens know of the Time Lord and he’s allowed to come and go when in the old days he’d have spent episode 3 locked in a dank cellar. Whithouse also plays with our assumptions about vampires in a pleasing twist well revealed. Meanwhile Arthur Darvill does a great job of making Rory just goofy enough to be likeable and the interaction between the three TARDIS crew is excellent. A punchy, solid episode you’ll enjoy more than once.

ASH: A-Z Vol. 1

A survey has just found pop is more popular than rock (wasn’t that always the case?) but if you’re looking for a group who combine both then it’s Ash. They’ve been going for an age but a couple of years back declared they wouldn’t be releasing any more albums, just singles. And their singles had always been the highlights of their albums anyhow. Recently they’ve been releasing a single a month and this collects some of them. Technically of course that makes it an album! Anyway, it is simply a great collection of songs, surprisingly varied in sound and style yet unmistakeably Ash. It’s like listening to a greatest hits collection or something. Highly, hugely recommended if you like tunes, choruses, guitars and odd titles.

DR WHO: FLESH AND STONE

The episode seems to morph in front of our eyes from one thing to another, shedding skins and somersaulting around with confidence. It is absolutely riveting as a result, even when watched after midnight on the iPlayer. In fact the occasional technical hitch can obviously be blamed on that crack in time – and not your Broadband! Last week’s cliff-hanger is resolved differently than expected- I’d thought the bottom of the ship would open and a force field would pull them up and in but having them hanging upside down was a novel twist- loved the camera reveal of this too. The rush to actually get inside was another masterful piece of staging courtesy of Steven Moffett’s mouse and Adam Smith’s cameras. The visual shifts- from caves to shiny spaceship to forest to great big white light – are masterfully achieved by the designers.

Amy’s countdown creeps up without us noticing at first but throwing in the Crack as well is yet another plate spinning. Up till now, this running thread has appeared to be just like previous arcs, a little hint each ep and then presumably the big revelation in part 12. Yet here we are in ep 5 and Moffett develops the notion considerably, explaining it and having the Doctor use it as a way of defeating the Angels (cos I was wondering how they were going to stop something so unstoppable). The Angels themselves have proved a more flexible enemy than `Blink` suggested; while you could argue its been at the expense of the simplicity of the original idea, the developments have turned them from a one off hit into arguably the revival’s first brand new iconic monster. Showing them actually moving near the end doesn’t detract either- they just look even creepier.

As ever the acting is top of the range with the leads remaining as astonishingly good as they’ve been each week- how can they keep this up? Matt Smith is as unpredictable in a way only Tom Baker could match but he seems even looser to do his thing while rocking the Davison shirt look and the Troughton braces. Karen Gillan is already (after five eps!) up there with the series’ best companions. Her canny acting skills mean she can say even the most arch, written dialogue and make it seem honest and real; her panic is leagues away from the screaming of some of those other girls but it’s Amy’s attempts to keep up with the Doctor’s verbal shorthand (“I’m going to do a thing”) that delight- “explain” she demands as if she’s ready for anything. And she can act with her eyes closed! I do hope all of this doesn’t turn out to be a yawnsome `Amy is possessed` thing in week 13 because why shouldn’t a human be as resourceful, fearless and questing as she appears to be? Iain Glen and Alex Kingston too are excellent, though the latter seems a little lost with everything else going on but happily reminds us she’ll be back!

Steven Moffat has described his vision for the show as a fairy tale but what he’s really creating is a temporal tapestry with links and connections woven together in what is beginning to look like even more of a 13 part story than the 2005 season was. He’s eating up ideas, mixing themes, playing with our heads a little all the while ramping up expectations to a considerable degree. He’ll have to pull off something really, really tremendous when that Pandorica does open won’t he?

DR WHO: THE TIME OF ANGELS

Each period of Doctor Who seems to find a couple of talismanic directors who best capture the intent and mood of that particular time and in Adam Smith, it seems as if the Moffat era may have found it’s first. After a couple of lesser episodes (whose faults admittedly stretched further than simply the direction) the series is back on track. Smith gives the episode his modern approach and just as with `The Eleventh Hour` the result is buzzing with life. He can somehow show off all the latest whizz bang camera tricks yet harness the humanity of the actors as well so it never fells showy and always keeps you involved. Here, in a totally different sort of locale he creates a tension and atmosphere that supports the plot so well. He also avoids just repeating the tricks that made Blink so unique yet still conjures up scares from something as mundane as statues. It’s helped by the fact that Steven Moffett stretches what we already know about the Weeping Angels to make their return worthwhile. The result is an effective run-around, tension mounting with more of a sense of impeding something rather than outright horror. Perfect Doctor Who of course.

Now we also have the return of River Song, a polarising character loved and loathed in equal measure but here Moffat makes her more likeable and less smug, so you can just begin to see what the Doctor likes about her. She’s meant to be younger here than in her previous appearance and it’s good that we see this through Amy’s eyes as she works out River’s importance. Karen Gillan is great at this; teasing the Doctor, wanting to know. Considering this was the first episode filmed, the chemistry between Amy and the Doctor is already stellar, they look like they’ve known each other for decades and it’s a witty new dynamic.

In lots of ways this feels like the natural successor to `The Eleventh Hour` and ends on a suitably enticing cliff hanger.

FILM: CEMETERY JUNCTION

A strong big screen directorial debut from Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, Cemetery Junction is about life choices and what influences our decisions, hardly new ground you might say but delivered with considerable success. Set in 1973 and filmed in nostalgic though never unrealistic tones, the film follows three early 20 something mates. Brian (Tom Hughes) works in a factory, lives with his alcoholic workshy father and enjoys nothing more than a good fight in the local bars from which he is extracted, arrested and then released without charge by the sympathetic police sergeant. Freddie (Christian Cooke) has just started work at a life insurance firm, where he discovers his steely eyed boss’s daughter Julie (Felicity Jones), his former childhood acquaintance is going out with ambitious Mike (Matthew Goode). Snork (Jack Doolan) is a trainee railway station announcer and the constant ruin of the trio’s attempts to chat up girls thanks to his crude way with words.

The film charts Freddie’s immersion in the world of company work – the work ethic at first inspires him to begin to pull away from his friends’ continued riotous behaviour until attending the annual works ball offers a frightening glimpse of his future. Julie meanwhile inspires him to join Brian’s oft stated aim of moving away.

The pacing is brisk but framed beautifully and if some of the dialogue can seem slightly too scripted at times, the cast deliver it fresh and unaffected. Though Christian Cooke is ostensibly the lead and does a strong job of portraying Freddie’s increasing doubts about his life choices, it is Tom Hughes who nearly steals the film with a phenomenal performance filled with confidence and authenticity. Yet ultimately it is Emily Watson whose quiet dignity provides the most stunning moments. As the ignored lonely wife of Freddie’s boss, she is able to convey just enough of her inner feelings in every scene in a masterful performance. Her face when Freddie asks her to dance at the ball is at once ebullient and heartbreaking . Felicity Jones is tremendous too, her character’s rebellious streak carefully contained in the period authenticity of less liberated women. All of the cast are great though, as is often the case with English films.

As you’d expect there’s plenty of humour, some of it slightly too wise after the event, some perfect and the scenes with Freddie’s family are like a good sitcom with Gervais himself playing the prejudiced but hard working father. The antics of the main three- particularly Snork- lead to one of those excruciatingly funny but embarrassing scene that Gervais and Merchant do so well. Their observational skills remain peerless; the script takes time not to paint parental characters in miniature instead giving them plenty of time to allow us to better see the full picture. During the second half there are several gorgeously understated but significant moments – some funny, some poignant- one of which has absolutely no dialogue at all but speaks volumes. The ending is in some ways pure Hollywood but it never seems forced.

`Cemetery Junction` makes you realise how a film set in 1973 is now as much a period drama as one set in 1873 - the Britain we glimpse here is sepia toned and carefully restrained with none of the outgoing nature we see in today’s society. The film’s themes though are universal and in a different context could be played out today. There’s no clearer measure of the film’s excellence than the fact that when it ends you really wonder what happened to these characters next.

DR WHO: VICTORY OF THE DALEKS

Winston Churchill and the Daleks? It’s easy enough to come up with a striking idea like that but translating it into a good story is another matter. For a while Mark Gatiss pulls it off; the idea that Winnie has really had some Daleks built - and the intrigue as to exactly how - creates much interest while thanks to a cracking Churchill, courtesy of Ian MacNeice it seems as if this will be a strong offering. Then Matt Smith goes bonkers in a badly judged scene, the Dalek’s true intent is revealed (we might have known it’d be something boring like rebuilding the Dalek race having fallen out of time...again) and before we know it a new toy range is being paraded in front of us. Well, that’s what it looks like. The story thus sometimes seems to act as little more than a 45 minute trailer for, presumably, the proper big return of the Daleks at some later point. Gatiss’ focus on Bracewell (an understated Bill Paterson) is more rewarding and the episode might have been better had it concentrated solely on the inventor and his Ironsides leaving the wider Dalek plot for another day. This strand does provide a surprisingly lyrical end to a story that contrasts with all the guns and metal elsewhere and shows the Doctor and Amy back at their best.

The newly designed Daleks are not very impressive. Rather like the new title sequence, they suggest a production team determined to change things for the sake of it rather than because they need changing. The newly designed Doctor is proving similarly random- if you are going to have a burst of anger then the viewer needs to interpret them though the companion; Gatiss seems uninterested in Amy leaving her standing about doing very little in the middle of the episode. Matt Smith’s performance is erratic though with a scene like the lengthy time he has to hang about on the Dalek ship what more can he do? This sort of thing hampered some episodes of David Tennant’s debut season – the Doctor showboating in front of his enemies who seem happy to have him there. The jammy dodger is a funny touch but there’s a chance that this Doctor could be a little too self consciously eccentric and the writers need to be careful with that aspect. There’s nothing that wears out a welcome faster.

Visually – redesigned Daleks aside - the episode scores more highly than for its content. The fighter pilots attacking the Dalek saucer is a superbly rendered sequence and suitably surreal as well. Inside the saucer, it’s nice to see a redesign that does work while the confined war rooms are well realised. Overall this is a story that could have been awesome but ends up uneven and furthermore lumbers us with one of the series’ icons looking like a range of paint pots. Still, it’ll be easier when they play football!

THE FIRST ELECTION DEBATE

The fact that a whopping nine million people watched this first ever leaders TV debate is encouraging and suggests that the idea that nobody is interested in politics may not be true. Though the format was a little restrained, especially for those used to the arguments of the BBC’s Question Time, it allowed key issues to be properly discussed. Clever sound bites were never going to be enough to carry 90 minutes and thankfully were kept to a minimum. All three leaders put across their parties’ domestic policies well enough for us to end up with a better understanding of their strategy. Consensus has it that Nick Clegg won if only because not all of the 9 million would have seen him before though sometimes his chastising of the other two was a little patronising. His strong presence though might help the Lib Dems break through in the polls for a while and perhaps, if people are tired of Labour but unwilling to vote Tory, the third party will gain more seats than last time and even hold the balance of power. Gordon Brown fared as well as an incumbent PM could in this situation, struggling at times to present his party as `new` when they’ve been in power for 13 years. In that respect the recession has, perversely, helped Labour by changing the political landscape and allowing Brown to suggest that having led us through it, he needs to finish the job. David Cameron has had to wait four and a half years for an election and it’s unclear if the opinion polls Tory leads are due to dissatisfaction with Labour or support for Conservative policies. The Tory election manifesto seems thinner in content than either of their rivals and anyone expecting something to entice floating voters from him did not appear in this debate. His ideas about people opening their own schools and so on did not get much of an airing either, which is a pity as it is- economic issues aside- a key idea that people will either love or loathe. The main argument of the debate boiled down to whether we trust Labour to complete the recovery and then make cuts to pay off the deficit or whether we want the Conservatives to start making cuts now which Labour say could send us back into recession. Economics is a funny business- and nobody mentioned the fact that the deficit will shrink anyway as the economy recovers- so it’s hard to make a choice but it is the issue that people should be thinking about more than any other between now and polling day.

As a TV event, the debate was absorbing and - without adverts (on ITV!) or the sort of heckling that makes the Commons look like a closing time argument - did something to begin to repair the reputation of and public interest in - the political system. And that can only be a good thing.

DR. WHO: THE BEAST BELOW

Its been suggested that to gauge Steven Moffat’s feel for the series, this, rather than `The Eleventh Hour` is the episode to see rather like` End of the World` proves to be far more of a template for RTD than `Rose`. In which case, there are reasons to be doubtful as to whether the `Moff`s’ crown will stay in place as The Beast is below par. For example; would Amy, so soon after first setting foot into the TARDIS, adapt and make the intuitive leap that the Doctor fails to make? For that matter would the TARDIS not detect the fact that Starship UK is being piloted by something as large as a star whale? And are the Smilers there for any other reason than to provide a monster of the week?

On the one hand there are plenty of nods to the show’s recent past (Magpie Electricals, references to previous monarchs the Doctor has met) yet on the other Moffett starts a whole new future history as if the series hasn’t got enough of those already. It wouldn’t matter if he was taking a year zero approach but he clearly isn’t so what’s his game? He tends towards repetitive images too- that’s two weeks in a row for a little girl, we have the same mix of retro 1950s items bolted onto something futuristic in the TARDIS as we now see on Starship UK and when you think about it, Liz Ten is a similar sort of character to River Song whom we’re meeting again in two weeks. If the Universe seemed a little more confined with Russell T Davies it’s becoming positively claustrophobic under his successor.

That being said, there are some appealing Doctory bits to this story- the glass of water, the way he’s out of the TARDIS while Amy is still looking at the screen, his exploration of the engine room and his later flashes of anger. Moffat pens some interesting material suggesting Amy feels she has to impress the Doctor but surely this soon she should get it wrong and he should spot what to do? Her moment in the Sun should come at the end of the season, as it did with Donna. Moffat’s scripts do possess a less direct, more cerebral approach than much of his successor’s work and this can be to the series’ advantage but for week two this episode feels too talky. What happened to the creepy atmospherics that made Blink so good?

Some have suspected that Moffat will approach the show with what amounts to a feminist agenda- boiled down they mean strong women / weak men and the (albeit early) evidence suggests there may be something in this. Here, at the story’s pivotal moment he leaves the Doctor in the shade and it’s Amy who takes control. It has to be said that both Matt Smith and Karen Gillan act all of this so well- it’s just that it’s a little too early for it. The Doctor and Amy’s rapport suggests great things as the season develops- in fact I’d venture to suggest that Karen Gillan is the most versatile companion actress the show has ever had, but it will depend on the discipline of the writing.

As with last week supporting characters get the minimum of space in particular Terence Hardiman is wasted in a minor role when he would surely make a memorable villain. Meanwhile, Moffat seems reticent when it comes to horror, death and shock. He’s noticeably more cautious now than when he was a guest writer and significantly more so than RTD whose view was the Universe can be a dangerous and scary place. Whether it’s the direction, writing or acting isn’t yet clear but there hasn’t been a moment in either episode where anyone has looked to be in the slightest danger. Doctor Who has always been bolder than that. All we’re left with at the moment is the proverbial `mild peril`. The much vaunted Smilers do little, their potential to be very scary neutered by some bland direction. It may seem picky but the CGI isn’t up to the usual standard; it may be budgetary and we have been spoilt in recent years but Starship UK looks more like an old fashioned 70s model shot and the star whale when we see it at the end is unconvincing. And my tv isn’t even super duper HD!

Next week, crikey, it’s Winston Churchill and the Daleks, two icons about whom there is surely absolutely nothing new left to say. It’s all a ploy to make us look forward to the return of River Song isn’t it? Never mind the Doctor, the series is feeling more than a little raggedy at the moment.

DR. WHO: THE ELEVENTH HOUR

“What did I see?…”

Eleven Great Things about `The Eleventh Hour`

Fish Custard. Kids all over the UK will be asking for this despite the fact it looks disgusting. It’s not clear whether you should have the fish fried first or not. I suppose it depends on how Scottish you are.
The sheer timey wimeyness of it. This is possibly the best way ever to introduce a companion that you wonder why it’s taken all this time to think of it. The interplay between the manic Doctor and stone faced Amelia is so funny.
The crack in the wall. It’s not in the wall, it's everywhere. Genius. Because I’ve seen it on my back path too. Let’s face it, we’ve all seen that crack somewhere.
Amy not Amelia. OK so it’s a stretch that someone living in such a roomy house would need to be a kissogram and but I suppose they had to get the micro skirt in somehow. Karen Gillan brings a playful quality to the role that just manages to show a little of the disappointment Amy feels. And note how her `growing up` is not as sophisticated as she thinks it is, as if Amelia is still there working on those dreams. Does she hit the Doctor with a cricket bat because of the twelve years rather than the fact he’s a burglar? Of course she does.
Rory. The way he’s become a nurse because he’s in love with Amy and she’s obsessed by “the raggedy Doctor” and even made him dress up as the latter when they were younger. Rory is, lets face it, the person most of us would be in these circumstances. Arthur Darvill puts all this over brilliantly and surely must return.
The Atraxi - tricky to come up with new aliens nowadays but these are so strikingly realised that it’s a “wow” moment when we see them floating above the world.
A man and his dog but it’s the man barking as well - another so simple idea that works so effectively and taps into the idea of the familiar turning bizarre.
The Doctor’s recall sequence is a surprise stylistic lurch that works so well provided they don’t do it every episode.
The new console room. I really did mouth the word “wow” when I saw it having managed to restrain myself from opening out the Radio Times cover all week. It is stupendously good, more than making up for the dodgy new opening titles and theme tune version.
Matt Smith. Good isn’t he? Who were those other Doctors again?
Questions? Lots of ‘em which is good. Like what happened to Amy’s parents? What year is she from? You can see the 02 arena at the start but this is 14 years before Amy steps into the TARDIS. And what does “Silence will fall” mean? And what was that thingy with the TARDIS scanner screen at the end? I like questions almost as much as I like apples. But not as much as fish custard.

FILM: KICK ASS

“I always wondered why no-one did it before me” muses Dave Lizewski as he recalls, voice over style, his exploits as Kick Ass, a superhero without any powers at all. He’s just an ordinary guy clad in a green and yellow scuba suit trying to fight crime. This premise is so brilliant you wonder why nobody has done it before but Mark Miller and John Romita Jr have, first as a comic book and now a super cool, funny, knowing and kicktastic movie! It’s bound to be high on people’s lists of Best Films of 2010 because a) it is very funny and immensely entertaining and b) it just does not care. Made outside the big studio system and shot mostly in the UK, though you can’t tell, it is packed with violence and foul mouthed utterings, many of the latter from an 11 year old girl. It winks at the established forms of superhero mythology both from Dave’s pov – his inspiration is Spiderman et al- and also within the context of the film where Kick Ass gets his own comic and another –real- superhero- Big Daddy speaks like Adam West. Deliberately. Director Matthew Vaughn hits all the buttons - this is a perfectly paced film that surprises from the very first frame to the very last. It maintains momentum through a nigh on two hour running time, manages to give its characters space to breathe and delivers action aplenty. Its action that you may be shocked to find yourself amused by- always nasty and dirty violent but with a streak of humour you can’t fail to be won over by. Case in point- a character is killed by kitchen knives which hit his chest in exactly the same layout as we’ve just seen them in the rack! You’ve got to laugh, really you have. The movie is brimful of moments like this and not all on the violent side either- for example when Kick Ass acquires a sidekick called Red Mist there’s a priceless bit where they drive about in the latter’s self styled Mistmobile grooving in their own way to the music in the car.

That it’s a killer cast only further pushes this movie upwards- Brit Aaron Johnson nails the American teen in about three lines and is superb later on when things start to run out of control. Mark Strong may be filmmaker’s villain of choice right now, but he’s never been better than he is here and Chloe Moretz as the potty mouthed pint sized Hit Girl is a riot especially in scenes with Big Daddy, played with gusto by Nicolas Cage in his best performance in about a decade or more. Christopher Mintz Plasse finally escapes McLovin as Red Mist- the only slight nag about the whole film is that he and Johnson don’t get enough screen time together; the little they do have is so well played. There isn’t space to go through everyone else but suffice it to say over here we get extra interest by spotting all the UK thesps sporting Yank accents but as a comic ensemble they manage to combine inane bickering with ultra violent acts perfectly. Also, Dave’s mates and his putative girlfriend are characters rounded enough for us to know and like them, providing an alternative view of the superhero melee that we can identify with as viewers.

Vaughn frames the film comic book style but doesn’t lay it on with a tank of paint. There are some wipes, a few captions, an enthusiastic voice over at times and one flashback told in inks but this is still the film medium and at key points, Kick Ass provides an emotional punch too, particularly as matters take a more serious turn. Even so, the dark humour and clever asides are never too far away. It’s this ability to flick through the range of moods that makes the end result so confident and clever. The script services what is on the surface a preposterous story with enough verisimilitude to see it home and has something to say about the perception and chasing of fame. Dave is kept likeable while our eyes are opened- with him- to the self centred nature both of committing and fighting crime. The difference between the sadistic Frank D’Amico and the viciously vengeful Big Daddy is small when you think about it.

You really need to see Kick Ass - words cannot put across what a visually adept, lithe and plain funny film this is and it’s a relief for once to see a movie surpassing the hype that surrounds it. Yes, it really will be your new favourite film!

DR WHO: THE MASQUE OF MANDRAGORA (DVD)

This story would make a gripping novel involving spooky goings on in catacombs, the evocation of a time where science was beginning to overhaul superstition as education spread and the arrival of an immensely powerful alien energy. As a limited budget pre CGI TV programme it often struggles to convey either the period richness or the power of Mandragora. Well dressed sets mean we at least get our eerie catacombs while fresh location work in Portmerion helps, but San Martino is sparsely populated and the few inhabitants it does have rarely look more than slightly annoyed by the goings on. The passions that the `new science` should inflame are for the most part sidelined in favour of the somewhat tedious Count Frederico whose political strategy is to kill everyone, backed up by bogus predications from his soothsayer Hieronymous whose hair appears to have journeyed from his head to his chin! Perhaps it was an experiment that went awry. Both characters vie for broad pantomime villainy undercutting the lyrical aspects of Louis Marks’ script though sometimes the writer only has himself to blame for the results his dialogue generates . Elsewhere he does convey the wonder of the age in the persona of Giuliano and his exchanges with down to earth confidante Marco and of course the all knowing Doctor. The story is far more of a success than it should be because of Tom Baker who invests much into its themes – his Doctor looks at home here- and the fact that Marks writes a resolution so Doctorish it should be watched by any aspiring series writer to this day. As for the dreaded Helix itself, some CSO diamonds and a superimposed sparkler are unlikely to have convinced even in 1976 but once it settles in stone, matters do improve. James Acheson is the other key player - the costumes are more convincing than most of the people wearing them and the Demnos masks suitably menacing, especially in the strikingly directed attack on the masque. Marks never really clarifies the alien’s broader intent but it does provide the story’s visual strengths with Hieronymous’ face of light and a convincing sequence where the power is transferred from the altar to the brethren. Unusually for a 70s story, MOM gets better as it progresses, even more so when the tiresome Count is despatched at the end of part three. Though its position in the shadows of later classics from this season is unlikely to be changed there is some good material in this lesser known story and a bonus is the excellent making of feature in the extras.

These two reviews were intended for use in issue 26 but didn’t make it to the issue so are reproduced here instead…

DR WHO: THE WATERS OF MARS

reviewed by Chris Arnsby

Bits of The Waters of Mars are downright excellent. That's a horrid and mealy-mouthed way to start a review because it gives away the fact that this is going to be mostly critical but it needs stressing because otherwise what follows could seem like 800 words of shin-kicking. The entire sequence from the Doctor entering the airlock to his return after the destruction of the escape shuttle is possibly the best moment from this year of specials. The acting, direction, music, it all comes together to create a doom-laden atmosphere as the crew of Bowie Base One try to escape intercut with the Doctor's haunted expression as he listens to the desperate crew-chatter on the radio. Special praise needs to go to whoever rigged the lighting for the spacesuit helmet; in certain shots it makes Tennant's face look skull-like. It's a simple effect but it works wonderfully and adds to the increasingly sombre mood as three of the Mars base crew die in quick succession. But it takes something like forty-five minutes of a one hour episode to get to this point, and those forty five minutes don't seem to be filled with very much except a collection of ideas which all seem great when examined individually but never quite gel.

The monsters look wonderful (all drooling and gross, even if some of the shots of them spewing water look unintentionally comic) but don't do much beyond standing around looking eerie. What are they doing at the end of the story when they start shrieking around the disintegrating ice sheet? Are they shrieking because it's breaking up? Are they breaking it up by shrieking? It looks suspiciously like they're just doing something because the writers feel it would be a bit weird not to see them again between the explosion of the shuttle and the destruction of the base.

Knowing from the start of the story that the crew of Bowie Base One are sentenced to death by history should lend the story a grim inevitability but instead it seems to kill the tension stone dead because ultimately we know the Doctor isn't the sort of hero to walk away and we're waiting for him to pull that million to one rabbit out of a hat and save the survivors. Putting him in this role also sidelines him for chunks of the early plot while he does nothing more than look guilty and try to make his excuses and leave. Worse, it's ultimately a bolt on moral dilemma. Snip out all the “fixed moment in history” plot and it could be attached to almost any other story. Blink; the Doctor realises with horror that he must allow the statues to send Sally Sparrow back in time to fulfil her destiny. Partners In Crime; the people killed by Adipose Industries have to die because the knowledge that aliens exist will drive the human race out into space to seek its destiny, but slimmer and with a better resting heart rate. Granted, that last one was a bit glib but the point stands. Although the story looks like it should be about the Doctor wrestling with his conscience and deciding who makes the rules you can take that whole sub-plot away and be left with a perfectly serviceable Doctor vs. the monsters on Mars story, which is not really something you can say about Father's Day or The Fires Of Pompeii; to take two stories which play with similar concepts. There if you take away the moral dilemma about messing with history you rip the heart out from the episode.

Maybe the problem lies with the idea of doing a year of specials. From a selfish perspective I'd much rather have some Doctor Who than none but it places too much pressure on each individual story to be an event. When you've got thirteen episodes to play with Planet of the Dead would make a great season opener but it feels too lightweight to be one of only four hours of Doctor Who in a year. Likewise, The Waters Of Mars would work well in a full series, especially one that had weeks to examine the Doctor's position as Time Lord Victorious but here that feels rushed and dealt with in a scene where the Doctor goes a bit bonkers for five minutes before realising he's gone too far.

Focus on what's good. Adelaide Brooke's suicide, another incredibly dark moment for a family series and the point where you realise the Doctor has taken responsibility for her death far more than if he had left her to die on Mars. The Doctor's stating of his name, rank and intention when he arrives in the base. Maggie changing behind Yuri as he talks about his brother. The hero shot of the Doctor re-entering the base, backlit as Murray Gold's music bursts into life, which manages to be simultaneously laugh-out-loud over the top and absolutely right for the moment.

Ultimately I wish I could be more positive because for those brief moments, and around ten minutes towards the end, The Waters of Mars was brilliant.

DR WHO: THE END OF TIME

reviewed by John Connors

We didn’t really expect Russell T Davies to conclude his tenure with a modest little story now did we? Course not. We expected- and received- a gigantic big epic, albeit one different in tone to Journey’s End. The latter had seemed like a full stop on many aspects of the era and indeed the subsequent two Specials showed some signs of treading water. Good enough, yes, but vital? Possibly not. Thankfully Waters of Mars opened up a new seam, one that dug to the heart of the Doctor as a person and the things he did. Journey’s End, in retrospect, was looking at other people’s reaction to the Doctor and how he had shaped them from Donna to Davros. The End of Time takes the Doctor’s own view, allowing us some insight into his feeling and fears while contrasting it with those of an ordinary Earth man, Wilf. If the cause of regeneration turns out to be a very familiar one, a self sacrifice for a single person, the means of getting to that point are very different.

The End of Time welcomes- and needs- at least three viewings before things settle in your head. In fact there’s more than a little timey wimeyness about it; once you realise the Time Lord scenes are set in the Doctor’s (and our) past and that this is why the Doctor had to stop and seal the Time War it starts to make more sense. It’s a story we’re drawn into by prophesy, a fictional device that can look like narrative weakness if not handled well. Davies gets this right- tying it up with the Ood, an increasingly fascinating creation, it plays right back to earlier stories so that only now you can see how detailed a tapestry he’s woven. Yet just as amazingly he makes one crucial slip up. In the cafe scene where the Doctor is telling Wilf about his impending death, he goes out of his way to mention the four knocks. “He will knock four times” he says with emphasis. Now we, the viewer, already know this and it is irrelevant detail to Wilf, so why does the Doctor say it at all? Imagine if he hadn’t? Imagine Wilf knows nothing about four deadly knocks when he starts tapping the glass? As it is, the scene is still brilliant; largely because we’d forgotten about those four knocks by now- we all assumed it was The Master and the drums (or the banging of the oil drum in part 1). The point is if Wilf had known about the four knocks, wouldn’t he have avoided knocking four times? Of course, and that would never have done, so zip back and cut the relevant line in the cafe scene. You don’t always have to explain everything, as later Davies proves by declining to have it said out loud who the mysterious Woman is, yet it is clearly the Doctor’s mother. Yet it’s better that this is never said on screen.

This Doctor’s finale, despite all the fire and brimstone surrounding it, is a personal battle with the Master. While their clashes are always enjoyable, the latter’s plans are often bafflingly obtuse and this time is no exception. What raises the bar however is our realisation in part 2 that his entire behaviour has been caused by the drumming in his head placed there by the Time Lords somehow (and after one viewing I’m not sure how to be honest!) so they can escape the Time War. This unlikely idea is a means to an end though and you cannot deny the power of John Simm in these episodes, a feral creation as desperate to live as the Doctor. Eschewing the rubbishy way in the 70s the two foes would shake hands and team up, Davies’ script plays a subtler game. Each of the Time Lords toys with the other and the result is electrifying leading to a crucial scene where the Doctor literally doesn’t know which way to turn. Somehow this kind of dilemma holds more power than the armies of swarming aliens that we now expect at season endings.

The Doctor and Wilf, eh? Aren’t they just brilliant together? Old men feeling their age, their weakness, yet still with fight in them. Both in his response to extraordinary situations and the dignity with which he acts, Wilf is probably new Who’s most realistic character of all. Bernard Cribbins is superb in grounding this story in a very human way and he interprets Davies’ top notch dialogue so well. For both John Simm and David Tennant too there is plenty to sink their teeth into- literally for Simm who chews chicken and scenery with equal relish though the key to his performance is the more thoughtful brooding moments with the Doctor. Watch his face in the scene where the Doctor is tied to the chair and starts to talk about how The Master could be different- Simm barely seems to move a muscle yet you can see The Master’s mood altering. Even as late as the Doctor uncertainty over whether to shoot him or Rassillon, when he tells the Mater to `get out of the way`; Simm’s face shows the character knows why. David Tennant fires on all cylinders giving quite the best final story performance of any Doctor though there are some who would say his responses are sometimes a little less alien and more human than perhaps they should be. I feel this fits in with what has been a most `human` Doctor, an alien who has learned as much from Rose, Martha and Donna as they have from him. Perhaps a little less effective was the return of the Time Lords, they just did rather a bit too much talking in the old style of the show and I sensed people’s attention might wander during the lengthy opening to part 2. Still, no doubting Timothy Dalton’s on screen power- he could yet return to James Bond as a villain! There’s plenty of time for action too; director Euros Lynn has over the years become part of the fabric of the show and delivers even more mind boggling stuff here. The way the Doctor / Master scenes are handled works very well and the dodging of missiles in part 2 has to be one of the best action sequences of the current series. Lynn seems to particularly love the faces of his cast- there’s a fantastic bit where we see The Master leaping into the Immortality Gate his face arriving directly in front of where the camera has been from the start. Elsewhere, he shoots in close ups between Tennant and Simm, or Cribbins, capturing every nuance of their performances. Murray Gold’s music remains an essential part of the show, never better than here where it takes an almost elemental position amidst the melee. Gold is endlessly inventive- I’ve heard his work in other things too- and manages to paint the mood; any intrusiveness is down to the sound mix rather than the quality of the music. Here, he introduces some of his most filmic music yet.

The final 20 minutes is a surprise bonus rounding off not just this Doctor but Russell T Davies’ entire era. It would probably be over indulgent at any other time but just like we do at Christmas, sometimes a little excess is just the thing and at least it is a lot more convincing than the similar way JK Rowling finished the last Potter. It’s a neat summation of the era’s strengths with some wry teasing, action, old monsters and a sudden beautiful moment that takes your breath away; in this case the bit where the Doctor reveals he borrowed a quid from Donna’s father for what will obviously be a winning lottery ticket. Then after all his nostalgic trips, it’s just the Doctor and us struggling in the snow (gosh, how prescient that felt when the winter arrived three days later!) with the lovely Ood singing him to sleep. The sheer elegance and poetry of moments like this (well, OK twenty minutes like this) is so bold and powerful. The regeneration itself is as fiery as Tennant’s Doctor has been-a contrast to his predecessor’s brave face at the end as this time he declares “I don’t want to go”. Needless to say almost everyone watching would probably have yelled “We don’t want you to go!”

And we don’t. In the end it felt like the full stop that we’d thought Journey’s End was. It felt like the best era in the history of the programme was over and it will never be this good again. Which is exactly how it should feel. For now, we can only cheer for the outgoing team who have created something incredible and enduring. Now it’s up to someone else to do it all again.

DR WHO: RUSSELL T. DAVIES WITH BENJAMIN COOK - THE WRITER'S TALE

Prevaricating and staying up all night while reminiscing about real hedonism (rather than hard work) Russell T Davies works on his last year running Doctor Who with the mood of a man wanting to escape- at least subconsciously. His mannerisms and messages in the first half of this second volume essay the thoughts of someone unhappy with their job even though he constantly denies that he is. It’s a fascinating read like its predecessor, if only because absolutely none of this comes across in the finished TV production. Watching most episodes you’d think they were the product of a secure, confident writer brimming with brilliant ideas and a rare sense of what works and what doesn’t. The Writer’s Tale tells us most of all that without his support team, RTD would never have made it through six years of this inner turmoil and journalist Benjamin Cook has, over the course of this correspondence, become part of that support team. Davies relies more and more on Cook’s neutral but perceptive feedback and more of the latter’s ideas about the course to take seem to make it to the screen – or not in several cases where he steers Davies away from some appalling concepts (notably a Star Trek crossover!).

Yet you can also see where Davies’ impatience with himself and other writers comes from as he talks more about his family and personal life this time displaying an unsentimental yet moving turn of phrase that is far removed from his jolly “marvellous” persona. At times, the book is just funny particularly in the build up Operation Cobra where Davey T announced his departure from the series and at times terrifying when an unexpected encounter with fans at an exhibition brings on a panic attack. Bubbling away in the background is the changeover with the new production team making their presence felt- a plan to use Daleks in `The End of Time` is scrapped after Moffett suggests he’d like a gap before they appear in his series. And there’s also the story of how `Waters of Mars` was almost cancelled due to financial issues. He talks interestingly of his writing process too, of the way he wanted the show to take place in the now, a Doctor Who in the present tense. He does seem aware of the criticisms made of this scattershot approach yet here’s also a sense of that amazing outburst from the Doctor in Tennant’s final episode in Davies’ simmering (albeit contained) frustration about how his input into lauded episodes on which he is not credited goes unrecognised. Finally, it is Cook who suggests he just take co-credits from the get go with the Specials and thereby share the credit. Like the first volume The Writer’s Tale is absorbing and informative, not just about the series or the man himself but about writing in general and the development of ideas. Don’t be put off by the size of the tome, you really should read every word.

And this is what we said about the original book in 2008:

You don’t just read this book, you sort of become part of it. Basically a year’s worth of often lengthy email correspondence between Doctor Who’s grand fromage and journalist Benjamin Cook it somehow entangles you to such a degree that after 500 odd pages I felt I needed to email Benjamin before doing anything. It made me like Russell less as a person, but admire him more as a writer which given the title is probably about right. So, if you’re expecting the Hooray Russell chirpily sitting in his Cardiff flat, then you’ll be disappointed, likewise if you’re hoping for a blow by blow `making of` in any traditional form. Instead what you get is infinitely better.

It is implicitly agreed early on that Benjamin will remain “Invisible Ben” an observer of rather a participant in the creative process whose function is to prod and probe Russell’s methods, means and motivations. Of course he is anything but invisible; the emails that pass between them become more and more entwined in the work itself, not so much in its fiction perhaps but certainly in its process and drive. They infect Russell’s thinking and make him consider aspects of his work- and even himself- in a way he had not before and that must have dripped through into the final results of the series. Benjamin’s questions are couched in sympathetic asides, interesting tangents and layman’s queries and thus obtain more complex complete responses than even the best one off interview would. He cajoles Russell into revealing more and more of his feelings towards writing, the tricks he uses, the relationship he has with the chaotic regime that is a Doctor Who season in full flow. Russell thus becomes brazenly open about his choices, his methods and even who he fancies to the point where after a few hundred pages the reader begins to dislike him. Benjamin meanwhile remains inscrutably aloof (we learn nothing at all about Benjamin except he goes to Glastonbury!) One thing is how remote he seems from the actual physical mechanics of production- in fact Benjamin seems to be on set more often than Russell is. The writer meanwhile often seems trapped in his four walls, swigging coffee and sucking cigarettes till 4am, typing in adrenalin fuelled frenzy. We quickly meet the nervy, self doubting, neurotic, opinionated, bluff Russell who will teeter on the edge of emotional burnout over plot details, procrastinate spectacularly over writing the first episode of season 2 of Torchwood (and end up not writing it) and ramble on about his inadequacies. At times he reminds you of the kid who spends all his time creating an elaborate revision timetable rather than actually just revising. If he treats himself badly then his treatment of others will send devotees of customer care programs into a spin. He admits how he can sack people on a whim, how he doesn’t care about upsetting them if it’s better for the programme. There’s a wonderful/horrible bit where he is happily talking of ditching a script that Mark Gatiss has been slaving over for a year and has to be reminded to maybe contact the latter first to let him know. He agrees with a verbal shrug. Elsewhere, he gripes about the amount of re-writing he does on everyone’s scripts; early on moaning about the plaudits Paul Cornell got for `Human Nature`, conveniently forgetting the latter wrote the original book! Then much later he spends days re-writing Helen Raynor’s Sontaran story leaving this reader somewhat embarrassed that I gave her all the credit in my review in Jargon! He’s a contradiction alright; he’d probably claim credit for `Terror of the Zygons` if he thought he could and yet he works so tirelessly on the show that you’re marvelling he’s even still alive! Paradoxically his own caustic views resemble those of the internet snipers he hates so much. What are we to think?

The one thing missing is his honest view on the finished product. He’s quite willing to take pot shots at Mine All Mine (which I still think is one of the best things he’s written) yet when it comes to, say, `Voyage of the Damned` which is covered in (perhaps too much) detail we never discover what he thinks. He suddenly reverts to Hooray Russell, going on about the ratings. It does makes you wonder whether he’s had us all fooled; whether the neurotic writer is just another character that he knew would make for a better read than anything more mundane. A pity too that he spends a lot of time talking about `Partners in Crime` and much less on `Midnight`, which is a far more intriguing script.

About a third of the way through the tone changes and becomes a bit more factual with some quite detailed information about the way he chooses and develops characters, the way that scripts and budgets tie together, that sort of thing. The book’s length is partly down to the reproduction of the entire scripts for both `Voyage` and `Partners` which only the truly dedicated are likely to read properly. The intensity of the exchanges palls for the final third and things conclude with Benjamin directly influencing the show by suggesting cutting the original end of season cliff-hanger where Cybermen appear in the TARDIS.

Other highlights include Russell’s superbly cynical account of attending the season 4 launch which will make some people who recognise themselves go into shock though for the rest of us it’s highly amusing. There’s an ongoing use of Skins as a counterpoint to Doctor Who as the two discover the brilliance of the former’s second season culminating in Russell sending a fannish email to Skins’ creator. We’re also taken through the early process for the 2008 Xmas Special giving us a feeling of what it’s like to see draft scripts of an episode we haven’t seen and we’re there when Steven Moffett says Yes to taking on the series , amazingly back in September last year.

The Writer’s Tale is a quixotic giant of a book, at once fascinating and infuriating. And best of all we can what we like about it because he won’t care. Hooray!!

TV: GLEE / FILM: SHERLOCK HOLMES / FILM: THE BOOK OF ELI

We don’t really have Glee clubs in our schools; the nearest thing is the regular play or panto but in the States it tends to be the place where the artistically inclined (read misfits) end up either because they’re talented or just because it’s the only place where they can find friends. Glee club is also the big rival for sports in terms of school attention and budget, a facet that is amusingly exploited in what is already 2010’s TV show de jour. Glee works because it doesn’t try too hard to be different and contains enough familiar aspects (and music) to cater for a wide range of tastes. It’s well served by a witty script and a likeable cast whose strengths paper over the notion that we’ve seen all of this before. With 22 episodes ahead though, you do wonder how they can sustain the entertainment quotient to be found brimming from the first trio. Hopefully the show will develop the nascent relationships and make us love rather than simply be amused by them and hopefully someone won’t threaten to quit glee club in every episode. Then again a show that can rehabilitate a Journey song can probably do anything! By week 22 we hopefully won’t have stopped believing in Glee.

Rinky dinky piano and high speed camera wipes herald the latest version of Sherlock Holmes courtesy of Guy Ritchie with Robert Downey Jr in the title role. That it works is no real surprise- London is as much ingrained in Ritchie’s every pore as it is in the original novels but that this new take is so fresh is rather more unexpected. Ritchie’s cameras are so busy it sometimes feels more like a 3D film which ably supports the rapport between Holmes and Dr Watson. All vestiges of smoky rooms and refined chat are swept away, replaced with a hectic cocktail of action and quips, all of it spot on. Rarely have the two characters seemed as vital as they do here. Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law are perfect casting, especially the latter who seems to have finally found a role that suits him in Watson’s long suffering demeanour.

The plot swirls with a mystical air, all beautifully deducted by Holmes who amusingly applies his prowess as equally to solving crime as to winning a boxing match with a heady mixture of the cerebral and the physical. If the ending is a little bit of a fizzle after some amazing set pieces (in particular our two heroes being chased by a ridiculously large assailant underneath a half finished ship) it does set up a sequel that should be unmissable. Having got back on form with RocknRolla, Sherlock Holmes is Guy Ritchie’s best film yet.

Post apocalyptic films tend to go for spectacle whereas The Book of Eli has a smaller focus. Directors the Hughes brothers set out a familiar enough stall- grimy brown palette wash, extreme violence, bleak soundtrack and much mumbling but there is a central core to this film that makes it work. Denzil Washington is the enigmatic Eli, travelling at the behest of God with what seems to be the only copy of the Bible left. Living on his wits (sometimes with rather unbelievable guile it has to be said) his progress is hindered in a shanty town run by nasty intellectual Gary Oldman who hordes books and seems to control the place. The narrative takes a while to warm up but once it does, opens up to become a story of hope even if we’re never allowed too much of window into Washington’s soul for reasons that become obvious later on. The violence does sometimes seems at odds with an intellectual thread that is never fully developed and when Michael Gambon and Frances de la Tour turn up as gun laden country hicks, it adds a brief humanity- and a dash of humour- that’s snuffed out too soon.

There’s a good ending though that manages to offer a little optimism to balance the grim reality and includes a satisfying twist you probably won’t guess helping to turn the Book of Eli into something a little more than many of its genre antecedents.

DR. WHO: THE END OF TIME

The best regeneration stories capture the essence of the outgoing Doctor adding a very personal note to a character we know and love. Sometimes it plays against type- Logopolis’ funereal aura seems to trap the fourth Doctor’s ebullience in pessimism whereas sometimes it adds a definitive flourish to what we already know- think The Parting of the Ways’ epic climax followed by a very selfless act. The End of Time combines both with the Doctor knowing he is to die and, in keeping with his lust for life- not wanting to yet in the end once again sacrificing himself for one person. There’s plenty of time for action (the dodging of missiles in part 2 has to be one of the best action sequences of the current series) and mind boggling narrative yet the very best parts of this story are small and fragile.

Russell T Davies’ wisely seems to have realised you can’t get more epic than last year’s Journey’s End smorgasbord of planets and returning characters. Instead, he makes the Tennant Doctor’s finale a personal battle with the Master. While their clashes are always enjoyable, the latter’s plans are often bafflingly obtuse and this time is no exception. What raises the bar however is our realisation in part 2 that his entire behaviour has been caused by the drumming in his head placed there by the Time Lords somehow (and after one viewing I’m not sure how to be honest!) so they can escape the Time War. This unlikely idea is a means to an end though and you cannot deny the power of John Simm in these episodes, a feral creation as desperate to live as the Doctor. Eschewing the rubbishy way in the 70s the two foes would shake hands and team up, Davies’ script plays a subtler game. Each of the Time Lords toys with the other and the result is electrifying leading to a crucial scene where the Doctor literally doesn’t know which way to turn. Somehow this kind of dilemma holds more power than the armies of swarming aliens that we now expect at season endings.

There’s also a strong thread about battle scars; Wilf and the Doctor’s scenes together- especially the one in the cafe in part one and on the spaceship in part 2 tap into the renewed respect for veterans of conflicts brought home by the real news every day. For all the strides taken in making companion figures more real, Wilf is probably new Who’s most realistic character of all, both in his response to extraordinary situations and the dignity with which he acts. Bernard Cribbins is superb in grounding this story in a very human way and he interprets Davies’ top notch dialogue so well. For both John Simm and David Tennant too there is plenty to sink their teeth into- literally for Simm who chews chicken and scenery with relish though the key to his performance is the more thoughtful brooding moments with the Doctor. David Tennant fires on all cylinders giving quite the best final story performance of any Doctor though there are some who would say his responses are sometimes a little less alien and more human than perhaps they should be. I feel this fits in with what has been a most `human` Doctor, an alien who has learned as much from Rose, Martha and Donna as they have from him. Perhaps a little less effective was the return of the Time Lords, they just did rather a bit too much talking in the old style of the show and I sensed people’s attention might wander during the lengthy opening to part 2. Still, no doubting Timothy Dalton’s on screen power- he could yet return to James Bond as a villain!

The mise-en-scene, the action, the inevitable tone- all of these are as sumptuous and thrilling as we have come to expect and no less impressive for that familiarity. We used to dream of Doctor Who being this bold, this striking and it is disappointing to read early reviews neglecting to even acknowledge this any longer. Plot wise there are few gaps but some of these offer us the opportunity for endless speculation such as whom exactly is the woman played by Claire Bloom (the Doctor’s mother? Romana? Leela?) and how was the Ood civilisation speeded up. The main plot is typical of Davies’s emotion led narratives and while there are elements that might be clarified, it can’t subtract from the power of what we see and personally I’d trade all the technical gubbins for some emotion any day. In that spirit, the final 20 minutes is a surprise bonus rounding off not just this Doctor but Russell T Davies’ entire era. It would probably be over indulgent at any other time but just like we do at Christmas, sometimes a little excess is just the thing and at least it is a lot more convincing than the similar way JK Rowling finished the last Potter. It’s a neat summation of the era’s tropes with some wry teasing, action, old monsters and a sudden beautiful moment that takes your breath away; in this case the bit where the Doctor reveals he borrowed a quid from Donna’s father for what will obviously be a winning lottery ticket. In one scene, Davies manages to wrap up a character arc in a feel good way and pay a little tribute to an actor who could have been a part of all this.

The regeneration itself is as fiery as Tennant’s Doctor has been- a contrast his predecessor’s brave face at the end as this time he declares “I don’t want to go”. Needless to say almost everyone watching would probably have yelled “We don’t want you to go!” Doctor Who has a neat line in what- if’s and any feeling that perhaps he should have stayed for a fourth season to work with Steven Moffatt is tempered by our first minute in the company of Matt Smith. Like Tennant himself- and the Doctor in this story says- the moment the regeneration is over, the old guy is forgotten and you can’t wait to see what the new guy will be like. If you stayed tuned and sat through another grumpy Eastenders you’d find out courtesy of a surprisingly revealing trailer which seems to indicate a new season not radically different to what we’ve already seen except for muted colour tones giving a sort of washed out look. And if his immediate post regen moments saw Doctor Smith channelling (rather well) the departing Tennant, one quiet line of dialogue - “Trust me, I’m the Doctor”- told us all we needed to know about how good he’ll be once he settles into his own persona. The Doctor is dead, long live the Doctor. All together now- Geronimo!!

FILM: James Cameron's AVATAR

"A beautiful car with no engine"- Stephen King, on Stanley Kubrick's film of The Shining.

This is, by some distance, the worst thing Cameron's had his name on since Rambo: First Blood Part II. The script is a laughable mess, littered with idiotic plot holes, galumphing exposition that wouldn't look out of place in Thunderbirds, banal dialogue and unbelieveable characters. I don't mean that you don't believe in them, but that you literally can't.

Have you seen Dances With Wolves? Then you've seen Avatar. The two films are in all honesty identical in plotting terms, with Jake Sully's "journey" - dear God almighty, I hate that term - mirroring Kevin Costner's beat for beat, and this is only one of the less obvious of the film's flaws. The story is so well-trodden and schematic, with set-ups so blatantly signposted you can see the pay-offs coming a good hour before they turn up, that literally nothing unexpected happens at any point in the film. Let me say that again for emphasis: IT IS POSSIBLE TO CORRECTLY GUESS THE ENTIRE STORYLINE WITHOUT SEEING A SINGLE MINUTE OF THE FILM.

The reasoning behind putting an untrained marine on an alien planet is frequently cited as being ridiculous early on, but there is never any real attempt to make it plausible, and equally baffling is the decision to make Sigourney Weaver's character a smoker in an enclosed environment with limited oxygen. It is also not explained why the US government is working alongside a private corporation on mining an alien planet, on behalf of the entire Earth. The script is a mewling, childish joke. The acting is something else.

Sam Worthington was plucked from obscurity for the lead role, and boy does he look it. When away from the CGI stage, he is merely unexpressive, without even the subtlety of expression to hint at hidden depths. When he is playing the alien Jake, his face gains movement. Sort of. The smile/frown acting he indulges in for the rest of the film is almost comical in seemingly depicting him as bipolar, and unfortunatly this cannot be easliy blamed on the technology. Zoe Saldana as the alien princess is perfectly fine and comes across very well through the rendering, demonstrating that Cameron's headcam gimmick can work, but only when there is expression to capture and an actor capable of communicatiing it. Pauline Kael once described an actor as "unattractively untalented". Sam Worthington could have been that actor.

Stephan Lang's performance as the villianous Quaritch has been singled out by critics, but in retrospect I have no idea why. His character is a depthless cipher of off-the-peg badness, who goes around doing evil things while nonchalantly drinking coffee or being similarly off-hand purely because he's evil. A token attempt is made at the end of the film to explain him as being loyal to the human race, but that really doesn't mean anything. Try replacing "human" with "master".

All of which is, quite frankly, a way of skipping around the elephant in the room: Cameron's "game-changing" visual effects.

Once the film reaches the half-hour mark or so, and Jake Sully's mind is transmitted into the alien-human hybrid, the CGI takes over. At first, the spectacle of seeing the alien world and its flora and fauna is impressive, but the novelty wears off very quickly and you soon realise that you are watching a computer-animated feature with live-action segments. This would not matter if the story or characters were compelling, but they are not. Because the story is so bland and unimaginative, and the characters so dull and generic, I never actually cared enough about what was happening to overcome the hurdle of films that use this level of CGI, namely the total absence of danger. Just as floating mountains look nice but are devalued when you can insert literally any conceivable landscape, so if you remove the appearance that your characters are ever under threat, or even that you should care if they ever would be, you are left with something which is completely unengaging on any level other than visceral excitement - and because everything more complex that people standing still and talking requires a militia of CG artists to draw it (even the song on the end credits, a bland dirge performed by professional blank Leona Lewis, required three lyricists), you are simply left with the impression of seeing a flurry of pixels whirling across the screen. Unlike the action scenes in Cameron's heyday of the late 80s and early 90s, real people are never in danger.

So is it really game-changing? Game over, man. Game over.