TV Treats

Review of Doctor Who (2008, S04E01)

The previews of "Partners in Crime" had me worried but they were wrong, a great fun episode to launch the new series. My biggest concern, Catherine Tate, turns out to be a pleasant surprise and I think she'll fit in well.

The plot is one of the more straightforward ones. Both The Doctor and Donna Noble are investigating a suspicious weight-loss company called Adipose. The CEO is played wonderfully by Sarah Lancashire who has come a long way from Corrie.

This strange company promises incredible dieting results, all from taking just one pill. We go through a very amusing sequence of scenes where the two investigators keep missing each other by split seconds. She has realised that saying no to The Doctor in the Christmas Special was a mistake and she is seeking out trouble since she figures he'll be close by.

Eventually we find out that the weight loss occurs due to the fact the the fat turns into little creatures that detach themselves from you at night and are collected by the company. Even worse, the CEO is basically a wet nurse who is breeding all of these creatures under contract. This of course breaks "Galactic Law" and is seen as a bad thing.

Why do all Sci-Fi series have this mad notion of laws that spread across the Universe? We can't even agree a common side of the road to drive on and yet they think billions of aliens will agree to a set of laws!

There isn't much tension in this episode as it is mainly played for laughs. They baddies partially get their comeuppance and of course The Doctor gets himself a new assistant. The only mysterious bit was the sudden appearance and disappearance of Rose right at the end.

Whilst I enjoy these romps, it's the really scary ones that get me going (who could forget the statues?). All in all though, a decent start and I'm gagging for more.

Torchwood (Exit Wounds, S02E13)

Wow, they pulled it off, absolute highlight of the season. Utterly riveting, feelings of sadness, empathy and loss. Why can't they deliver at this level all the time. But no cliffhanger?

Captain John's first appearance in the show was silly, high camp and not very impressive. What a turnaround they achieved with the season finale. Explosions all over Cardiff, each member of the team dealing with one location. All because they were mean to him? No not quite.

Capt John takes Captain Jack back to 27 AD. He shows him a bomb that is molecularly bonded to his arm. Everything he has done was under duress. Suddenly Jack's brother Gray appears, hugs him and stabs him. He has the anger of centuries and blames it all on Jack leaving him behind to be tortured by monsters as kids on their home planet. Even worse, he buries Jack alive, effectively forever. Capt John throws in his ring into the grave.

Whew, ring turned out to be a transponder and Jack is eventually dug up thousands of years later by Torchwood staff and placed in frozen storage so he doesn't encounter himself on another time-line.

Meanwhile, the horrible weevils are everywhere and the nuclear powerstation is going into meltdown. Poor Tosh gets shot by Jack's brother and it looks like Owen dies when the room is flooded with radiation. But surely he is dead already? Is this the way to reset that dead-end plotline for the next season?

Gray is defeated but Tosh dies.

I don't mean to sound flippant about the plot because I found the whole tortured brotherly relationship touching and was also very surprised that they killed-off Owen in addition to the insipid Tosh. After so many let-downs during this season, they got the plotting and acting spot on. Looking forward to the next series already!

Review of Torchwood (Fragments)

Not sure what to make of this one. Distinct signs of budget running out completely but great twist at end. Team (except Gwen) investigate alien activity in deserted building. It blows up. History of each joining Torchwood then shown.

The premise was a bit silly but it was a good opportunity to put each character in context. Gwen is obviously left out since we know how she joined.

They cut back to 1492 deaths earlier (for Jack) and show Torchwood women trying to kill him over and over without success. Their job is to deal with phantasmagoria and figure out who this "Doctor" character is. Eventually they just hire him.

Owen's was the best from a dramatic point of view. He was due to be married but his fiancee was showing early onset Alzheimers. He insisted on one last MRI which showed a tumour. The doctors operated and all are killed (just as Jack arrived) because the tumour was actually an alien. Nice one actually.

Toshiko's was the "let's do a Guantanamo thing" story. She worked in a research facility and stole plans to a sonic modulator (a bit to close to sonic screwdriver for my liking). She built it and brought it to some baddies who were holding her mother hostage. All were arrested and she was put in a cell without trial for life. Of course, jack came to the "resuce" and offered her a job.

Everyone got out by the skin of their teeth and Owen magically suffers no permanent damage (what with being dead and everything). Then we find out who the culprit was. Dale Winton, sorry I meant Jack's old partner who they got rid of in a previous episode. He is shown in Star Wars Hologram along with the character who has been mentioned a few times  - Jack's brother.

OK, so they grabbed me with that. Now I can 't wait to see what happens next!

Review of Torchwood (Adrift)

Not a bad mix at all in this episode with Gwen's personal and professional life interfering with each other. Kid disappears, Gwen's old police flame asks her to help, strangeness is uncovered.

The whole episode revolves around the massive number of missing persons in Cardiff and how they might be related to negative spike rift activity. Gwen susses that they may have been wrong about the rift all along and that stuff can travel in both directions. Jack seems strangely uninterested and tries to dissuade her from investigating further.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, new hubby is getting ever more pissed off over her lack of commitment to them and her avoiding of conversations around babies. Unlike the silly Jack-Ianto nonsense, this actually comes across as authentic writing and acting.

Ianto points Gwen towards an island off Cardiff where she uncovers the truth of the missing persons. Some of those taken by the rift come back. But all are mentally destroyed and many are badly burned too. The young kid who had disappeared 7 months earlier is now a middle-aged man horribly disfigured.

Gwen insists on bringing his mum to see him with terrible consequences for both as people.

I knew I had an issue with some of the acting in Torchwood and couldn't quite put my finger on it until I watched this. Unfortunately I realised that the weakest link is Barrowman. His "musical theatre" background seems to be getting in the way of expressing emotion properly and everything is forced and over-acted. He needs to relax a little, his facial expressions don't have to reach the back of a crappy theatre.

So the see-saw of good-bad continues with Torchwood and we are coming close to the end of the series. I wonder what the series cliff-hanger will be? Gwen is a tranny maybe?

Review of Torchwood (From Out of The Rain)

Easily the worst episode of Torchwood ever. What the hell was it about? The boogie man? Ghosts? A complete collapse in creative imagination?

I know they were going for the "ooooo soooo sppooooooky" vibe that the Statues episode in Doctor Who did so well. But this was just silly nonsense with zero tension.

Bunch of characters you've never encountered before have "their last breath" taken by Carney Folk from an old movie reel. Whoopie doo.

I'm finding it hard to say anything about this episode apart from: everyone dies except one kid. You won't care. Gay in-jokes kept to a minimum. That is all.

p.s. so is Owen still dead or not?

Review of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares USA

I hate almost all of Ramsay's TV output except for the UK Kitchen Nightmares which should be mandatory viewing in all UK catering colleges. The business of feeding people is deeply interesting. Whilst this US one is good, all his worst traits are coming to the fore which I dislike.

If you don't know the series, it's simple. He goes into a failing restaurant and (usually) fixes it. Most of his ideas seem incredibly obvious to us on the outside but when these people are up to the necks in it, they can find it hard to see a way out. He provides that way out.

The UK one usually has him pretty aggressive as always but tempered with a burning desire to help and direct. The anger only comes when the people won't listen. If a guy who runs a several-hundred-million dollar restaurant business gave me advice, I'd take it without question!

I've seen two US ones now. The dodgy Italian with the Sopranos wannabe and the one about The Mixing Bowl Eatery. Both set very near NY which makes you think the programme was made on a tight budget. The episode last night was a bit different because for once, there was no issue with the ability of the chef/owner, just with what he was serving. When they opened 10 years previously, there were 4 other restaurants. Now there were 41 and the menu hadn't changed!

In many of the UK ones, Ramsay just takes the "fresh local" approach which is usually appropriate. This time he needed a unique angle in a crowded market. So he went the healthy route which seemed perfect and looked like it suited the style of the owner. A quick room-revamp and lots of grief with the useless manager and all was fixed.

Despite enjoying it, I saw two problems with the show. First, he is doing that nonsense hyper-aggressive hyper-insulting bullshit from Hell's Kitchen rather than showing the people some respect. Second, the problems the restaurants have seem less interesting somehow. Maybe I've just grown bored of the show but I actually cared that the two Welsh nutters succeeded but I feel little empathy with those on the US show. Or is it because they are so obsessed with confrontation that they've forgotten the human side?

Still worth a look.

Review of Torchwood (2008)

I had been looking forward to this for ages. Whilst last year's series had its ups and downs, overall it impressed. This season premier for 2008 was a huge disappointment. Less Doctor Who spin-off, more Queer as Folkwood.

Sure there have always be the LGBT undercurrents in Torchwood and what else can you expect given the writer but this episode was just incredibly boring with lots of guy on guy action, minimal real action and zero tension.

It's been so long since the last series I can't even remember what happened. A recap would have been nice. So Jack's back and his old boyfriend appears claiming nuclear bombs will go off. Of course he has an ulterior motive and is soon picking them off one by one. The welsh bird with the gappy teeth ends up paralysed in a lorry container. I swear I thought they were going to find Peter Petrelli in there speaking with a Northern Irish accent.

So they weren't bombs, they were parts of a key to a diamond. Except the double crosser was double crossed and ended up with a bomb embedded on his chest. This lead to the only 2 minutes of action in the episode with no actual engagement since you know they are all going to survive.

I don't know what Russell has up his sleeve. As long as it is sci-fi and not hard core gay porn, he has a chance of recovering things. The "what's coming next" did actually look exciting with minimal tongue action.

I'll give it a few more weeks before making up my mind.

Review of Top Gear (Autumn 2007)

Top Gear (Autumn 2007)

It's a kids programme for adults. I've loved it since it was serious and boring. Hate to miss it now

What can you say about Top Gear? Back in the old days, it was for anoraks who loved cars and was presented by men in flat caps. Every car they showed had to have its bonnet opened so you could look and admire the engine bay. But I still loved it.

Now it's a silly bit of nonsense and better for it. Of course Clarkson and Hammond annoy lots of people, that's their job. They admitted on the Top Gear blog that they felt last season had too much silliness and not enough cars. You can see they are trying to redress the balance.

Tonight's episode had the smallest car ever made - the Peel P50 from the Isle of Man in 1962. Absolutely brilliant vehicle with a hilarious piece involving Clarkson driving it around the inside of the BBC building.

The bit with Hammond racing in a Bugatti Veyron against a EuroFighter Typhoon was a pretty standard cookie-cutter routine but impressive all the same.

The convertible Rolls Royce was ok and May presented it well, I just find them terribly boring.

Highlight of the night was the Ronnie Wood interview followed by his lap in a reasonably priced car. What a character, what a life! Clarkson clearly idolised him.

The only major criticism I can make of the show is that they have done nothing to mark the terrible death of Colin McCrae. They appear to have an enormous aversion to rally racing in general but ignoring his tremendous career and ability is an insult and I hope they have just delayed because they are preparing a special piece on him.

Sure they have become formulaic but it's a solid formula. Long may they continue.

Rated 4/5 on Oct 28 2007 by TV Treats
Review Tags: automobile, car, cars, entertainment, humour, kids, tv, uk
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Review of Californication Season 1

Californication Season 1

Pleasantly surprised to find an enjoyable, fun , leightweight comedy with a little bit of bite. Duchovny is back!

I'm always wary of new series that are hyped by the TV stations. They make you wonder why all that effort has to be spent. If the programme is good, viewers will generally (but not always) follow. As a result I avoided Californication for a few weeks. Silly me.

I checked it out last week and have to say I loved it. It's pretty standard slacker humour but done with enough cutting lines by good actors that it rises above the crowd.

Duchovny plays an author who lives alone, drinks a lot and screws a lot. He has a strange relationship with his ex-partner and accidentally slept with the 16 year old daughter of her new partner (if you follow me).

He has obvious "commitment" issues and it looks like we'll see a parade of girlfriends as the series progresses. I heard it is quite graphic but saw nothing in that one episode. Damn :-)

The interchanges between him and his daughter, ex-partner and friends make it very watchable. He's just a likable guy and obviously they have a decent bunch of writers doing the humour.

Well worth a look.

Rated 4/5 on Oct 28 2007 by TV Treats
Review Tags: comedy, drama, humour, series, sex, tv
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Review of Bionic Woman Season 1

Bionic Woman Season 1

I really do want to like this but it is just so weak. Episode 5 was a welcome improvement but it needs more.

As I explained in my first review of this, I loved the old 70's series so I'm willing to give this a lot of slack. Sadly it just is not impressing. I think the core problem is that they have actually managed to spend less money making it than they did on the original.

Special effects are few and far between in each episode which is ok but the fight scenes are truly awful. They feel rushed, amateurish and lacking in any sort of punch (pun intended).

This week's episode had Jamie going undercover in a University to find out how brain implants were being used to control soldiers and make them kill their fellow soldiers. The twist was that she had to speak with a British accent. Oh dear, I'm sure it was funny on paper - British accent plays American putting on a British accent. It just annoys.

However, the addition of some romance with a CIA agent actually worked quite well with some decent interplay and sexual tension between the characters. I can only hope that he becomes a regular.

The geek back at HQ has potential too and the blonde lesbian is always good for a laugh. The storyline involving the "first" bionic woman seems to be going nowhere and is getting repetitive.

I'll give it a few more weeks as it is not grossly annoying like so many other new series.

Rated 3/5 on Oct 28 2007 by TV Treats
Review Tags: adventure, fantasy, nbc, sci-fi. action, series, spy, television, tv, usa
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