It wasn’t quite another raid on religion this week but we did have a Christian, who was embroiled in a pedo case though! Before anyone takes offence, he didn’t do it!
A young lad is found dead, clogging up a drainage pipe, by his headmaster. The lad had befriended another boy, who was now missing. Evidence is found that the boy was sexually abused and the men in the frame are the missing boy’s ‘uncle’ and their landlord – a convicted ‘dirty bastard’.
The headmaster of the school also happens to be Nikki’s former teacher and we get a nice back-story for the pretty pathologist. Apparently she ran away from school, unhappy at everything and the teacher, Noel Hopkins, retrieved her and was her ‘mentor’.
Meanwhile Harry and Leo are on a ‘Berracane hunt’, after the drowned lad was found with the chemical in his body. So it’s a case of ‘find the chemical, find the boy’, simple then, isn’t it!
The net to catch the nonce is widened and after the revelation that Hopkins is acquainted with the landlord, the weird Christian (the dead boy’s stepfather) and the fact he had a phone call from the uncle, put him in the frame. Oh and the uncle is found dead after being hit by a train, when he was on his way to meet Hopkins. He’s that badly disfigured – he’s mistaken for the missing boy.
Nikki doesn’t believe that Hopkins is behind it but that doesn’t stop her questioning herself when Hopkins gives her some home truths. Is she ‘The Lost Child’ this story is about? As the police learn that it was the uncle that was killed, they have to let Hopkins go. But that doesn’t stop a hate mob, drawing graffiti on his property and firebombing his house. Comparisons with this can be made to real life events, when innocent people are attacked, like the Paediatrician, who was attacked by a group of toothless simpletons who believed that he was a Paedophile!
Anyway I digress, we learn that the missing boy isn’t missing after all. The ‘uncle’ and the ‘boy’ are the same person. It’s clear that the landlord made him pose as a 12-year old boy, in order to lure young lads to the pair’s ‘secret hiding place’. Unfortunately, the only evidence is photos of the landlord and the man ‘at it’. But landlord will get is comeuppance as he has Berracane poisoning and not long to live. Sweet justice, wouldn’t you say?
It was another well written episode, Emile Fox (Nikki) and especially guest star Reece Dindsdale (Hopkins) were superb, at acting this harrowing story out.
8/10
Next Time: It’s the last story of the series and the BBC has decided to splash out on a trip abroad. Is it Las Vegas? No, it isn’t - it’s in Africa, which is a shame – those CSI chumps need a good kick up the arse!
Sunday, 9 November 2008
Saturday, 8 November 2008
Heroes (Series 3) Volume 3 - Villains - Episode 5 - Angels and Monsters
The latest episodes of Heroes chugs along rather nicely, without really trying. That’s not to say ‘Angel’s and Monsters’ is a bad episode, it just isn’t as good as previous episodes! You can even play a game whilst watching this – counting every time the word ‘Monster’ is uttered! There's even a nice change at the start of this episode - Nathan does the 'bollocks narration' instead of Mohinder!
Nathan is still being followed around by Linderman, who claims to have been sent by ‘a higher power’ to help Nathan. Nathan takes this to be ‘from God’ – the fool! Later, Nathan finds out that his powers where given to him by Dr. Zimmerman, the bloke who also worked on Tracy and her sisters. Now does this mean Nathan isn’t his mother’s son? Both of his parents and ‘brothers’ have abilities. Or does it mean the whole plot of abilities running in the family, is bollocks?
Mohinder continues his weird behaviour and confronts a drug dealer, as you do, and whacks him in some sort of cocoon, which he has also done to his neighbour from last week. Maya becomes suspicious after hearing news of the missing neighbour and after she investigates, finds Mohinder’s ‘secret stash’. She is discovered and whacked in a cocoon herself, hopefully this will be the last of Maya – she isn’t my favourite character, in fact I would go as far as saying she’s very sleep-inducing! It should be interesting to see what they do with Mohinder’s character, I suspect this is the beginning of the end though, for the Indian geneticist.
Meanwhile, picking up from the end of last week’s episode, Peter attacks Sylar and then becomes infatuated with what his mother is thinking and starts to cut open her head – until Sylar recovers and knocks him out. Will Peter become the main ‘villain’ now? I suspect not, as I reckon there is a lot more evil to come from Sylar and his new-found ‘mother’!
Boring Claire is on the trail of an escaped Level 5 convict – Stephen Canfield, who can create vortexes. We learn that he had accidently ‘murdered’ his neighbour by opening one up. He seemed remorseful and just wanted to find his family, who had disappeared when he was taken by The Company. Noah and Sylar turn up, Stephen gets scared and opens up a vortex and makes a run for it. Sylar ends up saving Claire and the three go and meet Stephen, who had also arranged to meet his family, thanks to information given to him by Claire.
Noah though, says that he’ll let Stephen go free if he trapped Sylar in a vortex. Sylar has got the ‘super hearing’ ability though, so it’s not a great idea! Stephen refuses and traps himself in one of his vortexes. What I want to know is: Where do these vortex’s go? They must go somewhere, in time or space….
Back at the Bennet household, Claire's real and adoptive mothers realise that she was lying about her trip to a ‘cheerleading retreat’. Her (real) mother believes that she has gone after a dangerous escaped Level 5 prisoner, Eric Doyle, who she happens to know. She goes after him but the man seems to have the ability to make people do what he wants. Then follows a lovely scene at his dinner table, which leads to the most awkward since Spiderman 1!
Adam, let loose by Hiro in the last episode, eventually agrees to help the loveable Jap to find Daphne. They go to a bar, which happens to be a ‘hang-out’ for ‘special persons for hire’. Adam gets into a fight and is thrown out, later he’s captured by persons unknown, who we learn later is ‘Pinehurst Industries’. Daphne and her friend Knox turn up and challenge Hiro to prove his worth, to join them. With Hiro desperate to go undercover, he completes the challenge set to him by Knox – stabbing Ando. Even though it was shocking to see this, I reckon Hiro will go back and ‘fix’ this. Surely he will?
Daphne meanwhile, is another who has been seeing Linderman. She returns to the mysterious ‘Pinehurst Industries’ and we learn that he has hired her and tasks her with finding one more person – Matt Parkman. However, Linderman isn’t Linderman – he’s Maury Parkman, who has been implanting the image of Linderman in Nathan and Daphne’s head. And that’s not all, after Cherie Blair had one of her ‘dreams’, the mysterious man who was in it turns out to be running Pinehurst from the comfort of his sickbed, her husband – Arthur Petrelli.
It wasn’t the most action packed episode but the amount of plotlines which have been revealed made up for that. I’m not sure about having The Company vs. Pinehurst plot and I thought Arthur was dead? It seems in Heroes (and in most sc-fi shows, to be fair) that dead doesn’t mean dead. Although in one case – I hope Maya is dead!
6/10
Next Time: Arthur turns out to be some random bloke who has no powers at all. I wouldn’t be surprised, considering how Heroes loves giving us ‘twists’!
Nathan is still being followed around by Linderman, who claims to have been sent by ‘a higher power’ to help Nathan. Nathan takes this to be ‘from God’ – the fool! Later, Nathan finds out that his powers where given to him by Dr. Zimmerman, the bloke who also worked on Tracy and her sisters. Now does this mean Nathan isn’t his mother’s son? Both of his parents and ‘brothers’ have abilities. Or does it mean the whole plot of abilities running in the family, is bollocks?
Mohinder continues his weird behaviour and confronts a drug dealer, as you do, and whacks him in some sort of cocoon, which he has also done to his neighbour from last week. Maya becomes suspicious after hearing news of the missing neighbour and after she investigates, finds Mohinder’s ‘secret stash’. She is discovered and whacked in a cocoon herself, hopefully this will be the last of Maya – she isn’t my favourite character, in fact I would go as far as saying she’s very sleep-inducing! It should be interesting to see what they do with Mohinder’s character, I suspect this is the beginning of the end though, for the Indian geneticist.
Meanwhile, picking up from the end of last week’s episode, Peter attacks Sylar and then becomes infatuated with what his mother is thinking and starts to cut open her head – until Sylar recovers and knocks him out. Will Peter become the main ‘villain’ now? I suspect not, as I reckon there is a lot more evil to come from Sylar and his new-found ‘mother’!
Boring Claire is on the trail of an escaped Level 5 convict – Stephen Canfield, who can create vortexes. We learn that he had accidently ‘murdered’ his neighbour by opening one up. He seemed remorseful and just wanted to find his family, who had disappeared when he was taken by The Company. Noah and Sylar turn up, Stephen gets scared and opens up a vortex and makes a run for it. Sylar ends up saving Claire and the three go and meet Stephen, who had also arranged to meet his family, thanks to information given to him by Claire.
Noah though, says that he’ll let Stephen go free if he trapped Sylar in a vortex. Sylar has got the ‘super hearing’ ability though, so it’s not a great idea! Stephen refuses and traps himself in one of his vortexes. What I want to know is: Where do these vortex’s go? They must go somewhere, in time or space….
Back at the Bennet household, Claire's real and adoptive mothers realise that she was lying about her trip to a ‘cheerleading retreat’. Her (real) mother believes that she has gone after a dangerous escaped Level 5 prisoner, Eric Doyle, who she happens to know. She goes after him but the man seems to have the ability to make people do what he wants. Then follows a lovely scene at his dinner table, which leads to the most awkward since Spiderman 1!
Adam, let loose by Hiro in the last episode, eventually agrees to help the loveable Jap to find Daphne. They go to a bar, which happens to be a ‘hang-out’ for ‘special persons for hire’. Adam gets into a fight and is thrown out, later he’s captured by persons unknown, who we learn later is ‘Pinehurst Industries’. Daphne and her friend Knox turn up and challenge Hiro to prove his worth, to join them. With Hiro desperate to go undercover, he completes the challenge set to him by Knox – stabbing Ando. Even though it was shocking to see this, I reckon Hiro will go back and ‘fix’ this. Surely he will?
Daphne meanwhile, is another who has been seeing Linderman. She returns to the mysterious ‘Pinehurst Industries’ and we learn that he has hired her and tasks her with finding one more person – Matt Parkman. However, Linderman isn’t Linderman – he’s Maury Parkman, who has been implanting the image of Linderman in Nathan and Daphne’s head. And that’s not all, after Cherie Blair had one of her ‘dreams’, the mysterious man who was in it turns out to be running Pinehurst from the comfort of his sickbed, her husband – Arthur Petrelli.
It wasn’t the most action packed episode but the amount of plotlines which have been revealed made up for that. I’m not sure about having The Company vs. Pinehurst plot and I thought Arthur was dead? It seems in Heroes (and in most sc-fi shows, to be fair) that dead doesn’t mean dead. Although in one case – I hope Maya is dead!
6/10
Next Time: Arthur turns out to be some random bloke who has no powers at all. I wouldn’t be surprised, considering how Heroes loves giving us ‘twists’!
Sunday, 2 November 2008
The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 2 Episodes - 5 & 6 - Secrets of the Stars
Russ Abbott continues the trend of ‘this year’s most bizarre casting in a children’s television show’, in this story - ‘Secrets of the Stars’.
The comedian, best known for his sketch show in the late 80’s, plays a fake astrologer, Martin Trueman, who is given ‘the gift’ of the stars, after he is hit by a unknown force. Trueman can now perform a number of correct predictions, which creep out Sarah and the gang when they go and see one of his shows.
Before the show everyone fills out a card, with their name and date of birth. Luke gets a little upset, as he doesn’t have a birthday, as he was ‘activated’ in ‘Invasion of the Bane’.
It makes for a very interesting plot, as Trueman’s plan is to make everyone in the world to obey his will – by using their star signs to control them. Apparently astrology exists on almost every planet and was once a real thing – in a universe that was here before our own. Not sure if many kids could understand that!
There are some nice nods to classic Doctor Who characters, the Draconians and there’s even a flashback scene with The Doctor, using clips from the episodes ‘School Reunion’ and ‘Journey’s End’.
Later, Clyde is possessed by Trueman and intends to kill Sarah – but doesn’t, after Luke tries to persuade him. Meanwhile everyone on the planet is being possessed, star-sign by star-sign.
The team head down to Trueman’s theatre and try to stop him. It looks bleak but Luke realises he is the only one who can stop it. He is able to discharge the energy generated by ‘the Ancient Lights’ as he was never born – so he doesn’t have a star-sign. They try and save Trueman but he instead ‘joins the stars’ rather than being put in jail, after his plan involved taking over every broadcast signal, to get his message through.
The first part built up really well but I was a little surprised to see that an adult relationship provided a bit of dynamic, when Trueman’s client was taken over and her husband was a bit peeved. Considering this is a children’s program, I feel that the writers don’t dumb down the stories too much and that is to their credit.
I was a little bit disappointed with part two, I just didn’t buy the whole star-sign stuff, controlling everyone on the planet. Russ Abbott was great though and it was nice to see him back on television, apparently he’s going to join the cast of ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ soon and at 61, he’s probably one of the youngest members of that cast – ever!
7.5/10
Next Time: Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown, who is banned from television, guest stars as Sarah’s estranged husband. Fat bastard!
The comedian, best known for his sketch show in the late 80’s, plays a fake astrologer, Martin Trueman, who is given ‘the gift’ of the stars, after he is hit by a unknown force. Trueman can now perform a number of correct predictions, which creep out Sarah and the gang when they go and see one of his shows.
Before the show everyone fills out a card, with their name and date of birth. Luke gets a little upset, as he doesn’t have a birthday, as he was ‘activated’ in ‘Invasion of the Bane’.
It makes for a very interesting plot, as Trueman’s plan is to make everyone in the world to obey his will – by using their star signs to control them. Apparently astrology exists on almost every planet and was once a real thing – in a universe that was here before our own. Not sure if many kids could understand that!
There are some nice nods to classic Doctor Who characters, the Draconians and there’s even a flashback scene with The Doctor, using clips from the episodes ‘School Reunion’ and ‘Journey’s End’.
Later, Clyde is possessed by Trueman and intends to kill Sarah – but doesn’t, after Luke tries to persuade him. Meanwhile everyone on the planet is being possessed, star-sign by star-sign.
The team head down to Trueman’s theatre and try to stop him. It looks bleak but Luke realises he is the only one who can stop it. He is able to discharge the energy generated by ‘the Ancient Lights’ as he was never born – so he doesn’t have a star-sign. They try and save Trueman but he instead ‘joins the stars’ rather than being put in jail, after his plan involved taking over every broadcast signal, to get his message through.
The first part built up really well but I was a little surprised to see that an adult relationship provided a bit of dynamic, when Trueman’s client was taken over and her husband was a bit peeved. Considering this is a children’s program, I feel that the writers don’t dumb down the stories too much and that is to their credit.
I was a little bit disappointed with part two, I just didn’t buy the whole star-sign stuff, controlling everyone on the planet. Russ Abbott was great though and it was nice to see him back on television, apparently he’s going to join the cast of ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ soon and at 61, he’s probably one of the youngest members of that cast – ever!
7.5/10
Next Time: Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown, who is banned from television, guest stars as Sarah’s estranged husband. Fat bastard!
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
David Tennant - Thank-You! - A 10th Doctor Tribute 2005-09
It’s with a little bit of sadness and shock that I write about the announcement that David Tennant will quit his role as The Doctor after the 2009 specials. It was always something that was going to happen but it was rather a shock when he announced it at the National Television Awards, where he picked up the award for best actor.David has been a great servant to Doctor Who, even outside of filming, he has been promoting the show tirelessly and always has time for the fans. And that’s because he’s a fan himself!
It was 2005 and David Tennant burst onto the scene in the BBC Three drama – Casanova, written by Russell T Davies. His portrayal of the famous character was absolutely fantastic and that probably secured his dream role to play the Timelord he had religiously watched as a lad.
Rumours have been circulating that Tennant was always going to succeed Christopher Eccelston after the 2005 series. I suppose with the main members of the Doctor Who team, cutting their ties with the show after 2009, we will find out the truth behind the goings on in that first series.
Fast forward to June 2005 and we had known for months that the revived series was going to lose its Doctor. The production team were furious the news got out and since then they have fought to keep the programme’s plots a secret. But not many fans expected David Tennant to appear at the end of ‘The Parting of the Ways’ as the newly regenerated Doctor! It was a nice surprise, the first of many!
From his 10 seconds on series 1, David took the role on and became, arguably, the most popular Doctor ever. Women love him, men love and want to be him and he turned out to be a stalkers dream! But fair play to him, he stuck with it and handed in superb performance after superb performance.
Now I’m not a massive fan of his first series but the final two episodes of the 2006 jaunt where quite simply some of the best ‘Who’ ever. David had finally settled into his cheeky, geeky and quite brilliant characterisation of The Doctor and from then on – it was bliss. His chemistry with other cast members is always fun to watch and even his little quirks, which he brings to the role, are done very well.
However one thing that could be missed though, is his influence on the programme itself. He had recommended many things for his character to do and even had a say in a couple of casting decisions.
He has said he wants to go out on a high – well he certainly is! He still has a long year of specials to get through and that can go as slowly as possible!
So thanks David and good luck! Bring on the specials!
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
Silent Witness Series 12 Episodes 7 & 8 - Judgement
Silent Witness continues their ethnic tour of Great Britain and this week’s (un)lucky contestants are the Hasidic Jewish community. Personally, I’m not sure what they are trying to tell us but if it gives us a little bit of an insight into other cultures (discounting the murders of course!), then it can’t be a bad thing.
After a Jewish man is found dead, the man’s family don’t want the team to do a full post mortem. Harry is annoyed and instead does a ‘dry’ post mortem – which, by the title, involves not cutting him up. The Jewish community believe that this is the handy work of a group of Polish builders, who by birth, have a vendetta against Jews.
It turns out he has been murdered and despite the family’s reservations, Harry goes ahead with a full post mortem. Some mobile phone footage of the attack, is later found on one of the Polish builders and the net seems to closing in.
Back at the office and Leo is on the case of a young girl, who was found dead after a drug-fuelled party. The owner of the house is under suspicion but is the girl’s sister hiding something? Oh and another thing – Everyone involved in this particular case are Australian. How many more of the world’s races do they need to collect before the end of the series?
Harry is getting on the nerves of the Jewish community and the feeling seems mutual. And after another man, who seemed to know something about the crime, is found dead, things can only get more heated. After the first murdered man’s brother is arrested for the murder of the second man, Harry believes he has him bang to rights – the DNA evidence proves that. But it seems Harry is mistaken and the Jewish community is in uproar - as is the investigating officer, who makes sure Harry is suspended from the case.
Leo, who is now getting cosy with his ‘lover’ from the other week, is still waist-deep in dodgy Aussies. It turns out that the murdered girl’s boyfriend supplied her with drugs and when she was discovered – it was thought she was dead. She wasn’t and was taken outside, on the cold balcony. Which is not where you want to be in a drug-fuelled coma. The girl’s sister was involved but she tried to save her life but it was in vain. This was a nice side story that didn’t get in the way of the main event and that’s something which this programme does so well.
Meanwhile, it looks bleak for Harry but when Nikki shows him fresh copies of the DNA, they come to the conclusion that the arrested man had another brother – who did it. The said brother was exiled from the community, after he was suffering from a mental illness. His father, the Rabbi, had no contact with him and the fella, obviously felt a bit peeved. He had taken a job on the Polish building site and when he saw his brother, he tried to speak to him. But as the chat got a little more heated, the Polish workers got involved and kicked him to death. Sadly the lad had to get involved and after a later confrontation with the other man, he killed him as well by pushing him into the path of an oncoming van.
It was a rather sombre end and it seems that the lad will be locked up in an institution. But its good news all round for Leo, as he moves in with his woman. Will it last? Possibly but I got the feeling that the writers were perhaps showing that Leo was more obsessed with his work than he should be. Will he change?
It perhaps wasn’t the best story of the series but considering how high the bar as been set, its no disgrace. I just hope that they would find more inspiration away from the many communities that London holds! A word too for the music in this story – loud at times but very good nevertheless! As in any television production, music is very important in setting the scene and the BBC do that better than anyone. It’s just a shame they tend to pay 5 million a year to ignorant, stupid berks!
7/10
Next Time: Evangelical Christians are next up on the Silent Witness stage of ‘Ethnic Murder Mysteries’. Wonder how many complaints the BBC will get?
After a Jewish man is found dead, the man’s family don’t want the team to do a full post mortem. Harry is annoyed and instead does a ‘dry’ post mortem – which, by the title, involves not cutting him up. The Jewish community believe that this is the handy work of a group of Polish builders, who by birth, have a vendetta against Jews.
It turns out he has been murdered and despite the family’s reservations, Harry goes ahead with a full post mortem. Some mobile phone footage of the attack, is later found on one of the Polish builders and the net seems to closing in.
Back at the office and Leo is on the case of a young girl, who was found dead after a drug-fuelled party. The owner of the house is under suspicion but is the girl’s sister hiding something? Oh and another thing – Everyone involved in this particular case are Australian. How many more of the world’s races do they need to collect before the end of the series?
Harry is getting on the nerves of the Jewish community and the feeling seems mutual. And after another man, who seemed to know something about the crime, is found dead, things can only get more heated. After the first murdered man’s brother is arrested for the murder of the second man, Harry believes he has him bang to rights – the DNA evidence proves that. But it seems Harry is mistaken and the Jewish community is in uproar - as is the investigating officer, who makes sure Harry is suspended from the case.
Leo, who is now getting cosy with his ‘lover’ from the other week, is still waist-deep in dodgy Aussies. It turns out that the murdered girl’s boyfriend supplied her with drugs and when she was discovered – it was thought she was dead. She wasn’t and was taken outside, on the cold balcony. Which is not where you want to be in a drug-fuelled coma. The girl’s sister was involved but she tried to save her life but it was in vain. This was a nice side story that didn’t get in the way of the main event and that’s something which this programme does so well.
Meanwhile, it looks bleak for Harry but when Nikki shows him fresh copies of the DNA, they come to the conclusion that the arrested man had another brother – who did it. The said brother was exiled from the community, after he was suffering from a mental illness. His father, the Rabbi, had no contact with him and the fella, obviously felt a bit peeved. He had taken a job on the Polish building site and when he saw his brother, he tried to speak to him. But as the chat got a little more heated, the Polish workers got involved and kicked him to death. Sadly the lad had to get involved and after a later confrontation with the other man, he killed him as well by pushing him into the path of an oncoming van.
It was a rather sombre end and it seems that the lad will be locked up in an institution. But its good news all round for Leo, as he moves in with his woman. Will it last? Possibly but I got the feeling that the writers were perhaps showing that Leo was more obsessed with his work than he should be. Will he change?
It perhaps wasn’t the best story of the series but considering how high the bar as been set, its no disgrace. I just hope that they would find more inspiration away from the many communities that London holds! A word too for the music in this story – loud at times but very good nevertheless! As in any television production, music is very important in setting the scene and the BBC do that better than anyone. It’s just a shame they tend to pay 5 million a year to ignorant, stupid berks!
7/10
Next Time: Evangelical Christians are next up on the Silent Witness stage of ‘Ethnic Murder Mysteries’. Wonder how many complaints the BBC will get?
Saturday, 25 October 2008
Heroes (Series 3) Volume 3 - Villains - Episode 4 - I Am Become Death
We spend some time in the future, with the two Peter’s in this week’s episode of Heroes. Things have taken quite a bizarre turn, very bizarre!
The formula, which gives normal people abilities, as been made public and is available to buy by all those who are rich enough. Future Peter wants to avoid this and later we learn that the world would be destroyed if it carried on. Unfortunately for future Peter – he is a wanted ‘terrorist’ and is being hunted down by ‘The Company’, which now includes Claire. It seems that Claire wants to kill her ‘Uncle’ and she does, but she realises that the Peter from the past, the one that could change history, is still at large. Future Peter tells him beforehand to seek out his nemesis, Sylar. Peter goes looking for Mohinder, who thanks to his own drug, is living alone and in an awful state. He tells Peter where Sylar is before going to eat a small child or something!
The weirdness continues as Peter find Sylar - who is now living in Claire’s old house and is a doting Dad to his son – called Noah and calls Peter his ‘brother’. I suppose it’s a good contrast to the character he plays in ‘our’ time and it seems this series is trying to dilute his character by giving him an excuse to murder (the hunger!)
We learn that Peter is after Sylar’s original ability – the power to find out how things work, in order to ‘fix’ the past. Sylar is reluctant but after a ‘painting of the future later’, he lets Peter have it, with a warning that the hunger to want more, will come with it
Unfortunately Claire and her ‘team’ - Daphne and some bloke called Knox, arrive not long after and try to capture Peter. They take Sylar’s son hostage and accidently kill him, which enrages Sylar and he explodes, due to the fact he can’t control the power which he had stolen from Ted Sprague. Thanks to their regenerative powers, Claire and Peter survive and the latter is locked up and tortured by the former. Nathan, who is now the President and married to Tracy, arrives and speaks with his brother and allows Peter to read his mind. Peter gets curious though and wants to know how Nathan’s mind works – he starts to cut up his brother’s head in a Sylar-style attack, before stopping himself and teleporting back to the present.
Peter is back on The Company’s level 5, in Sylar’s prison cell, where he angrily attacks his new ‘brother’, as Sylar mocks him about his new found hunger. It’s turning into a rather brilliant storyline, one which makes sense for a start! The fact that Peter can absorb abilities whilst Sylar has to murder people, to steal them, is already a good dynamic and shows the two to be on two ends of the same scale. I still think this ‘brothers’ plot isn’t needed though!
Elsewhere, Matt is still on crack, as he dreams he marries Daphne in the future (the one we saw with Peter) and they both adopt Molly and have a child of their own. But after Sylar blew up, Daphne isn’t quite quick enough and collapses in Matt’s arms – fulfilling the painting, which was painted by his African mate.
Hiro and Ando spend the majority of the episode trying to escape from their cell and the pair also have a heart-to-heart about the state of their friendship. But just as Hiro is about to escape, they are summoned by Cherie Blair. She tells him that his father would be disappointed in him for losing the formula but after Ando speaks up for his friend, Cherie sends them on a mission, saying that Hiro holds the ‘key’ to getting the formula back. That key is Adam Monroe, who Hiro buried in series 2! Upon waking up from his latest death, Adam angrily grabs his former friend and it looks like he’s in trouble!
Meanwhile, Nathan and Tracy ‘get it together’, as we learn that Tracy and Nikki where part of an experiment, which resulted in them, plus their unseen sister ‘Barbara’, receiving abilities. It’s all too much for Tracy and as she fails in an attempt to confess to the murder of the reporter, she tries to jump off a bridge – where Nathan flies in and saves her.
And it’s clear that Heroes have ripped off ‘Jekyll and Hide’, as Mohinder’s temper seems to getting worse. He attacks his neighbour, who comes back for a second confrontation. Mohinder isn’t having any of it and drags him into the flat. I very much doubt he wants him to be part of a threesome with Maya, do you? Again, that is certainly going to be interesting, to see that being played out. If it’s the beginning of the end of his mind-numbingly tedious and downright cheesy voiceovers – then most Heroes fans will be delighted!
9/10
Next Time: Angela ‘Cherie Blair’ Petrelli goes on Jeremy Kyle to talk about interbreeding in the family. Is this is how all our ‘Heroes’ get their powers? Magic formula indeed!
The formula, which gives normal people abilities, as been made public and is available to buy by all those who are rich enough. Future Peter wants to avoid this and later we learn that the world would be destroyed if it carried on. Unfortunately for future Peter – he is a wanted ‘terrorist’ and is being hunted down by ‘The Company’, which now includes Claire. It seems that Claire wants to kill her ‘Uncle’ and she does, but she realises that the Peter from the past, the one that could change history, is still at large. Future Peter tells him beforehand to seek out his nemesis, Sylar. Peter goes looking for Mohinder, who thanks to his own drug, is living alone and in an awful state. He tells Peter where Sylar is before going to eat a small child or something!
The weirdness continues as Peter find Sylar - who is now living in Claire’s old house and is a doting Dad to his son – called Noah and calls Peter his ‘brother’. I suppose it’s a good contrast to the character he plays in ‘our’ time and it seems this series is trying to dilute his character by giving him an excuse to murder (the hunger!)
We learn that Peter is after Sylar’s original ability – the power to find out how things work, in order to ‘fix’ the past. Sylar is reluctant but after a ‘painting of the future later’, he lets Peter have it, with a warning that the hunger to want more, will come with it
Unfortunately Claire and her ‘team’ - Daphne and some bloke called Knox, arrive not long after and try to capture Peter. They take Sylar’s son hostage and accidently kill him, which enrages Sylar and he explodes, due to the fact he can’t control the power which he had stolen from Ted Sprague. Thanks to their regenerative powers, Claire and Peter survive and the latter is locked up and tortured by the former. Nathan, who is now the President and married to Tracy, arrives and speaks with his brother and allows Peter to read his mind. Peter gets curious though and wants to know how Nathan’s mind works – he starts to cut up his brother’s head in a Sylar-style attack, before stopping himself and teleporting back to the present.
Peter is back on The Company’s level 5, in Sylar’s prison cell, where he angrily attacks his new ‘brother’, as Sylar mocks him about his new found hunger. It’s turning into a rather brilliant storyline, one which makes sense for a start! The fact that Peter can absorb abilities whilst Sylar has to murder people, to steal them, is already a good dynamic and shows the two to be on two ends of the same scale. I still think this ‘brothers’ plot isn’t needed though!
Elsewhere, Matt is still on crack, as he dreams he marries Daphne in the future (the one we saw with Peter) and they both adopt Molly and have a child of their own. But after Sylar blew up, Daphne isn’t quite quick enough and collapses in Matt’s arms – fulfilling the painting, which was painted by his African mate.
Hiro and Ando spend the majority of the episode trying to escape from their cell and the pair also have a heart-to-heart about the state of their friendship. But just as Hiro is about to escape, they are summoned by Cherie Blair. She tells him that his father would be disappointed in him for losing the formula but after Ando speaks up for his friend, Cherie sends them on a mission, saying that Hiro holds the ‘key’ to getting the formula back. That key is Adam Monroe, who Hiro buried in series 2! Upon waking up from his latest death, Adam angrily grabs his former friend and it looks like he’s in trouble!
Meanwhile, Nathan and Tracy ‘get it together’, as we learn that Tracy and Nikki where part of an experiment, which resulted in them, plus their unseen sister ‘Barbara’, receiving abilities. It’s all too much for Tracy and as she fails in an attempt to confess to the murder of the reporter, she tries to jump off a bridge – where Nathan flies in and saves her.
And it’s clear that Heroes have ripped off ‘Jekyll and Hide’, as Mohinder’s temper seems to getting worse. He attacks his neighbour, who comes back for a second confrontation. Mohinder isn’t having any of it and drags him into the flat. I very much doubt he wants him to be part of a threesome with Maya, do you? Again, that is certainly going to be interesting, to see that being played out. If it’s the beginning of the end of his mind-numbingly tedious and downright cheesy voiceovers – then most Heroes fans will be delighted!
9/10
Next Time: Angela ‘Cherie Blair’ Petrelli goes on Jeremy Kyle to talk about interbreeding in the family. Is this is how all our ‘Heroes’ get their powers? Magic formula indeed!
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Big Finish Doctor Who 114 - Brotherhood of the Daleks
The TARDIS materialises. Despite console readings to the contrary, the Sixth Doctor and Charley step out, unexpectedly, into an alien jungle, where they find themselves stalked and then ambushed. They have landed in the middle of one of the Dalek wars, and this time the tactics used by both sides are threatening the very nature of reality.I don’t know how to review this audio. On one hand its one of the most landmark Dalek stories that Big Finish has done. On the other, it’s the most bizarre pieces of writing this side of ‘Ghost Light’!
Okay, you can actually follow the story so the Ghost Light comparison is a bit harsh but imagine if Terry Nation based the Daleks on Communists instead of Nazis – that is what ‘Brotherhood of the Daleks’ is basically about!
The first disc (or two parts, whichever you prefer) pulls you into the story brilliantly. The Doctor and Charley land on what The Doctor thinks is an ice planet but instead its Spiridon, first seen in Jon Pertwee’s ‘Planet of the Daleks’ in 1973. But is it Spiridon? The TARDIS doesn’t think it is!
The Doctor and Charley meet a team of Thals who are waiting to be rescued, whilst they are on the run from Daleks. One of their member has been killed and they seem rather trigger-happy and after the TARDIS disappears, will The Doctor, his ridiculous deerskin apparel and Charley, get out alive?
It’s a gripping listen but once you get to part three, that’s where it all goes bonkers! At times you’re not sure what is real and what is not real. Considering this is a fiction anyway, it gets all the more confusing! Add to that the fact that the Daleks seem to remember Charley (from the audio) ‘Terror Firma’ - you’ll struggle to keep up!
It’s quite interesting to see what this story does to the Daleks. I suppose it ratifies the fact that the Daleks will never change but I would like to see a continuing arc of different Daleks, with a different agenda. Big Finish toyed with this in the ‘Dalek Empire’ spinoffs (which are a great listen, if you’re into Daleks) but I would like to see a change in direction with future Dalek stories. Let’s stop using them as joke devices, which is what the television series has done and make them into the menacing threat they should be!
As always, Colin Baker and India Fisher are on top form as the 6th Doctor and Charley. The Charley story arc is also getting that little bit more interesting. Although I do hope we have this pairing for a few years yet, I hope this plotline isn’t done to death! It isn’t surprising to listen how easy the two have settled down together. I do get the feeling that the 6th Doctor could fit in with every one of his past and future companions and that is all due to Colin, who apart from being loveable, has the best name in the world! Me and him and so much in common!
Michael Cochrane (who plays Murgat) is the main guest star in this audio. He has appeared in the television stories ‘Black Orchid’ and, (surprise, surprise!) Ghost Light’. He also appeared in the 7th Doctor audio, ‘No Man’s Land, which is well worth digging out!
There are also over 30 minutes of extras, which are also well worth a listen. If only to hear people trying to talk normally, but having the Dalek sound affect on their voice! As always the behind the scenes stuff is very informative and adds that little bit of gloss to each release. Just hearing about how India Fisher wanted to re-record a scene because she wasn’t happy with it, just shows how much work everyone puts in and that’s just great to hear. It does make you wonder how a small company like Big Finish, gets all its releases out and at the same time, maintain the high quality they have set themselves.
Despite the strangeness of this release, it’s still a good story that has plenty of twists and turns, more so from part three onwards! You may have to listen to it at least twice to understand what’s going on, though!
4/5
Next Time: its “HAPPY 45th BIRTHDAY DOCTOR WHO!”, as Big Finish will be celebrating by releasing ‘Forty Five’, with the 7th Doctor, Ace and Hex.
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