Saturday 31 May 2008

What's the point?

OK, at the moment I have several projects on the go, and none of them I can get motivated about at the moment, because they feel pointless. This is the trouble with writing scripts and screenplays, they don't feel complete until they have been made.

The projects are as follows:

Music to watch the world go by (Previously known as RSF) - This screenplay is written up to second draft standard, and now I can't do anything with it as I cannot afford to make it! Oh well, maybe next year

First Night - This musical is plotted with 3 or 4 songs completed, along with several pages of dialogue, but at the moment I can't seem to get on with it cos I don't forsee any time when it will get performed!

My First Alien Invasion Movie - Again, this screenplay has been plotted, and about 6 pages of script have actually been written, but what was designed to be my cheap B-Movie has got infinitely more complicated, and therefore I can't afford to shoot this either!

37 - This screenplay doesn't exist beyond vague plot ideas in my head, and one day I might write it!

Untitled Novel - This is exactly what it sounds like, and while this may turn out to be the best idea, as unlike a film or show the written product I create would be the final product, the trouble is I find it hard to write prose!

So, my question to you guys is this.

Is it worth me writing anything?

Thursday 29 May 2008

The World in my Hands

This is a piece that I have literally just written. I don't know why, I don't know what it is for, I don't know how to classify it, I don't know if i shall hate it in ten minutes time.

But I felt it should go somewhere. (Don't worry, it's short)

THE WORLD IN MY HANDS

I sit here upon my alleged throne, surveying the wonder of all that is beneath me, and I am forced to consider, is their life better than mine? All of those souls there, beavering away below me, are they happy? Do they feel that true happiness? In some way, I hope that they do, because I like to believe, in my more philosophical moments, that the pain, and the sorrow, and the guilt, and all of the other burdens that I bear, are borne for a reason.

For freedom. For pleasure. For the happiness of others.

These are the reasons I am here, alone. Too frightened to change, too scared to move, too petrified of the slightest alteration. Balanced here, like the proverbial father who has just got the television aerial to pick up a clear signal, but who is now precariously balanced on the window ledge, torn between providing for his family, and his own comfort and desires. This is the manner in which I exist.

I sometimes consider it. Throwing off the shackles, trusting the world to keep turning without my say-so and allowing myself to experience the pleasure. I dream of abandoning this sensible method of living and embracing my wants fully.

But I fear that my existence can not be altered. I chose my path and the bell has been rung. To please those below me I must continue my futile struggle against the incoming darkness, aware that eventually it will triumph and I shall become engulfed. Hoping, against all hope, that when I am destroyed another shall take my place. Not daring to imagine how it will be if there is no replacement, no alternative, no other me.

Just the darkness.

I stare down at the world, safe in my hands. And I weep.

Doctor Who 4.7 - The Unicorn and The Wasp

Hello all, many apologies for not posting in 2 weeks, but I have been very busy.

And drinking :P

So, this is my review of The Unicorn and The Wasp, which I enjoyed (unsurprisingly, as it was Dr Who!) But i didn't feel it was as exciting or as interesting as The Doctors Daughter last week.

As this review is so late, I'm simply going to write Pros and Cons for this episode.

Pros:

The woman playing Agatha Christie was great
The murder mystery was very well planned
Liked the cheesy flashbacks
Liked the attempting to shoehorn as many Agatha Christie Book titles in as humanly possible!
GIANT WASPS! :)

Cons:

The Unicorn was kind of pointless, simply there to cause suspicion
Donna was much more loud and annoying this episode
The glowing amulet/jewel was slightly pointless!!

But yeah, I enjoyed it.

Better review of this weeks, I promise.

Thursday 15 May 2008

A Writing Collective....

Greetings to all!

I have been thinking. Those of you who know me will be aware that I have been umming and aahing over whether I am going to shoot anything this summer - filmwise...

I can't shoot RSF, as it would cost me too much and needs a lot of organising, and I can't shoot My First Alien Invasion Movie, because the script is nowhere near ready. But I want to practice directing and filming.

Which brings me back to an idea I had a few months ago... a sketch show.

But a sketch show requires ideas.

So I thought of something.... anyone up for being a staff writer for a sketch show? If I like the idea I shall have us all meet up (probably in the pub) in a couple of weeks where we can discuss ideas and see what happens :)

As far as being a writer goes, if you just want to come and suggest ideas, thats fine, if you want to write a draft of the sketch, thats fine, the only proviso is that as Director/Head Writer, I get to choose and re-write any bits I think could be better/funnier/easier to shoot!

Anyone up for it?


Oh... and happy birthday Rai!

Tuesday 13 May 2008

Dr Who 4.6 - The Doctor's Daughter

Oh. My. Gosh.

What a good episode!!

By the way, this is my second attempt at writing this entry, as I wrote a huge blog about this on Sunday, and then my computer crashed! So I shall attempt to re-create it, as best as I can.

So, why did I like this episode so much? Cos it was great. That's why :D

Georgia Moffett was outstanding (and hot, which helps admittedly) at a role that, by rights should have felt rushed and forced, but instead easily segued into being a natural fit with David Tennant's Doctor and Catherine Tate's Donna.

I was surprised when I surfed the net after watching, to discover that many reviews considered it one of the worst episodes of this season, and said that it felt like "Old Who".

Yes, the whole episode felt rushed, and it did feel as if it could have been a classic Who serial (in a good way) rather than being compressed into the 45 minutes, which did cause some of the incidental characters to be rather more two-dimensional, but with the primary story being the interaction between The Doctor and Jenny, that was always likely to be the case.

Oh and also, I loved the old-school Quicksand that Martha and the Hath encountered. Loved the Hath on the whole really, I thought they were different looking (well, at least for new who, where every alien (bar the Daleks (I've just realised I'm into the third set of brackets inside each other, which gramatically is not allowed I am sure) whos design is obviously from classic who) is a humanoid in some way, shape or form, usually being an animal-type who walks upright) and generally a nice contrast to the others.

I'm sure I had more I wanted to write here, but I have forgotten it.

Oh well, maybe later.

All in all, a great episode.

Next week, Agatha Christie, period costumes and a giant wasp. Am I looking forward to it? I don't know. I never really look forward to the past ones.... we shall see


EDIT: - I discovered that Blogger saved most of the entry i thought was lost! So here's the chunk of it I didn't cover above


DON'T READ ON IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT.

SERIOUSLY

THIS IS A SPOILER



So, Jenny's death was a little cliche (and could help reminding me of Owen's (first) death in Torchwood earlier this year) but it was worth it for the wonderful Doctor acting and the moment of leaving her behind. But her ressurection. I don't understand what that was about. We saw her breath out gasses that looked, to me, like the regeneration energy that the Doctor breathed out in Xmas Invasion, but it also looked like the terraforming gas that had been released. In my logical mind I can see a few different reasons for why she is alive:

1) She regenerated, but because she was unaware of how to do it, she didn't change her physical appearance - To me, this could be the case, but doesn't make huge amounts of sense.
2) The terraforming gasses brought her back to life - I don't even begin to understand how that would work, but should we ever get an explanation I could see this being the one RTD chose to use, because it's simple.
3) Because she had only recently been created, the regenerative abilities which allowed the Dr to grow back his hand, allowed her to grow back whatever was broken.

Anyway, I think we will see her again, although I don't thinkit's likely this season (unless the finale ends up at some point in the same timeframe as her, since she has no time machine) and I don't think we will be seeing a spinoff as some people seem to think, cos apart from anything else, she is now one of the leads in the Spooks spinoff - Spooks: Code 9

Friday 9 May 2008

Life in London

So, I haven't written on here in ages (apart from the Dr Who review I just posted) and I'm sitting at my computer now feeling a little downhearted because I have no exciting plans or anything to do tomorrow, and I wish I was in Poole, so that I could go to the beach in tomorrows boiling hot weather.

But I can't. So that's that.

So what should I do tomorrow? Ideally it won't cost me very much money and will entertain me a lot.

Ideas anyone?

Doctor Who 4.5 - The Poison Sky

I know that this is really late, and I apologise for that. There is no real excuse other than... well I don't really know. Was hungover on Sunday and then I just havent got round to it!

So... What did I think of the episode?

I liked it. It was a good continuation of the previous part, and all in all it was an entertaining episode.

Not amazing, but entertaining nonetheless.

We got a reference to the Brig (YAYYY!!!), We got to see Donna hit a Sontaran with a mallet, and we got a resolution to the issue that, whilst it was scientific nonsense (burning the top layer of the atmosphere? Please....) felt like a good proper solution rather than pointing a sonic screwdriver at a problem!!

Martha was underused, even as her evil clone twin, and I was sad to see the demise of Ross, but all in all I enjoyed it.

Oh, but what was the point of that cliffhanger? The one with Wilf in the car seemed to be there just to create unneeded tension, and whilst it did not feel as weak as some classic Who cliffhangers (the ACTUAL cliffhanger in Dragonfire springs to mind), did feel rather pointless.

Next week? The Doctors Daughter.

I can't begin to express how ambivalent I am about this idea. And I know that I have no details about this episode... but I am hoping it blows me away....