Buys
Don't put 15$ boxed sets of each season of the old Wonder Woman tv show and expect me to not buy them. I'm not made of stone, after all. So yeah, all three. And back-ordered for a while, I finally got my hands on the Doctor Who Soundtrack for Series 4. Couldn't wait to have the Song of Freedom from the end of Journey's End in my library, but there's a lot of good music here, especially from A Dazzling End on.
Also this week, more Classic Who action figures, including Daleks from The Daleks, Planet of the Daleks and Genesis of Daleks, and some beautiful 60s Cybermen of all stripes, along with a couple of tiny Cybermats. There was a Cyber Leader from the most recent Christmas special in the set, maybe to make it sell better, but not needed. I've always loved the classic Cybermen (Tenth Planet through The Invasion) the best.
"Accomplishments"
DVDs: Flipped Quantum of Solace, which I hadn't even seen yet (now I'm ready to tackle Snell's review). You can't beat Casino Royale - it was the origin story - so no, Quantum isn't quite as strong, but I'm not sure I would condemn it on the basis that it's a return to older Bonds. It continues on directly from Casino, and Daniel Craig gives them same kind of performance. It's the logical follow-up. So I liked it, even if I wasn't blown away (takes a lot for stunt work to really take me aback... which Casino did at least once). Everything on the DVD definitely fits in the "promotional" category, with its Hollywood voice and carefulness not to reveal anything substantial about the plot. I did enjoy the 32 "blogs" from various members of the crew, but that's all website stuff. Nothing original for the release.
Books: As I continue to devour the Doctor Who New Series novels, I hit a rough patch with Martin Day's Wooden Heart. It has an intriguing science fiction idea at the heart of it, and relatively strong guest characters, but the principals are just terrible. The 10th Doctor has never been such an asshole. And Martha's only character trait seems to be that she's scared. I did enjoy it for its ideas, its prose, etc., but when the licensed characters are badly characterized, it sinks the whole enterprise. The plot has the heroes enter a virtual world from a deserted prison satellite. Running around ensues.
Thankfully, Mark Morris' Forever Autumn could actually be an episode of Doctor Who. In fact, it's everything a Halloween Special should be, that holiday's version of The Christmas Invasion. Halloween decorations and costumes come to life in a New England town (with a link to the Carrionites!) in this Spooktoberfest story, which has a pretty effective atmosphere, some interesting set pieces, and charming interplay between the Doctor and Martha. Oddly, it's the first of these novels to further the so-called "Gay Agenda" by featuring a gay character. Notable for these books, which are on the whole, completely lacking in "kissy stuff".
Someone Else's Post of the Week
Like a fine wine, PostmodernBarney has been dishing out some of its best posts since it hit the 5 year mark. Who can resist the new Star Trek movie as written by Brian Michael Bendis, Geoff Johns and P.G. Wodehouse? It gets some funny responses too.
Don't put 15$ boxed sets of each season of the old Wonder Woman tv show and expect me to not buy them. I'm not made of stone, after all. So yeah, all three. And back-ordered for a while, I finally got my hands on the Doctor Who Soundtrack for Series 4. Couldn't wait to have the Song of Freedom from the end of Journey's End in my library, but there's a lot of good music here, especially from A Dazzling End on.Also this week, more Classic Who action figures, including Daleks from The Daleks, Planet of the Daleks and Genesis of Daleks, and some beautiful 60s Cybermen of all stripes, along with a couple of tiny Cybermats. There was a Cyber Leader from the most recent Christmas special in the set, maybe to make it sell better, but not needed. I've always loved the classic Cybermen (Tenth Planet through The Invasion) the best.
"Accomplishments"
DVDs: Flipped Quantum of Solace, which I hadn't even seen yet (now I'm ready to tackle Snell's review). You can't beat Casino Royale - it was the origin story - so no, Quantum isn't quite as strong, but I'm not sure I would condemn it on the basis that it's a return to older Bonds. It continues on directly from Casino, and Daniel Craig gives them same kind of performance. It's the logical follow-up. So I liked it, even if I wasn't blown away (takes a lot for stunt work to really take me aback... which Casino did at least once). Everything on the DVD definitely fits in the "promotional" category, with its Hollywood voice and carefulness not to reveal anything substantial about the plot. I did enjoy the 32 "blogs" from various members of the crew, but that's all website stuff. Nothing original for the release.
Books: As I continue to devour the Doctor Who New Series novels, I hit a rough patch with Martin Day's Wooden Heart. It has an intriguing science fiction idea at the heart of it, and relatively strong guest characters, but the principals are just terrible. The 10th Doctor has never been such an asshole. And Martha's only character trait seems to be that she's scared. I did enjoy it for its ideas, its prose, etc., but when the licensed characters are badly characterized, it sinks the whole enterprise. The plot has the heroes enter a virtual world from a deserted prison satellite. Running around ensues.
Thankfully, Mark Morris' Forever Autumn could actually be an episode of Doctor Who. In fact, it's everything a Halloween Special should be, that holiday's version of The Christmas Invasion. Halloween decorations and costumes come to life in a New England town (with a link to the Carrionites!) in this Spooktoberfest story, which has a pretty effective atmosphere, some interesting set pieces, and charming interplay between the Doctor and Martha. Oddly, it's the first of these novels to further the so-called "Gay Agenda" by featuring a gay character. Notable for these books, which are on the whole, completely lacking in "kissy stuff".Someone Else's Post of the Week
Like a fine wine, PostmodernBarney has been dishing out some of its best posts since it hit the 5 year mark. Who can resist the new Star Trek movie as written by Brian Michael Bendis, Geoff Johns and P.G. Wodehouse? It gets some funny responses too.
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