Seriously, if you haven't seen this yet, don't read my review...
OH MY F***ING GOD.
This series just keeps getting better and better....
That was outstanding. (As you can tell, from the fact I'm writing this 4 minutes after it ended!)
The first half of the episode was slow, but good, showing much more detail of what happened in the 60s, with the first encounter of the 456.
Peter Capaldi is doing brilliant work as Frobisher, a man who is watching his life crumble as it all collapses from underneath him...
Johnson (as played by Liz May Brice) finally got to show some emotion other than "lets hunt them all down and kill them whooppeee!"
But that final sequence - from Lois informing the cabinet room that Torchwood are taking over, to Jack and Ianto's entrance into the MI5 building, the showdown with the 456, and then... that twist.
The 456 release a virus which kills everyone in Thames House. EVERYONE. And we all know that Jack can come back to life, but Ianto, poor Ianto.... He dies in Jacks arms.
I have to say, they've got some balls. "I know, we're down to three regular cast.. lets kill one..."
Although... and this is a big although, and possibly just the thoughts of a sceptical mind, but they made a big thing of showing us Ianto's body, and the line "There's nothing we can do.." made me wonder if there is going to turn out to be something they can do....
But I hope not. Because the massacre at Thames House was such a defining moment of this show, that I hope it continues.
The preview for tomorrow just.... well I've watched it a couple of times, and I can't even figure out anything that will happen...
Everything is on the table.. and kudos to the Torchwood team for that.
9 out of 10. Easily.
Looking forward to tomorrow....
Thursday, 9 July 2009
Torchwood: Children of Earth - Part Three - SPOILERS
I have a feeling these reviews are going to get shorter as this week carries on...
So, Day Three (incidentally, why did they have to force it so that everything happens on different days.. i'd have just called it Parts One - Five, but I digress..)
Lots of good stuff, I liked it more than Part Two, and possibly more than Part One.
The 456 in the tank was creepy.. and I'm torn as to whether I want to get to see it fully, because it might be a letdown!
Loved the way that Frobisher has been set up to fail because he's expendable....
Jack being the guy who gave them the children last time? Not surprised in the slightest...If someone did something bad in the past its always Jack :P
But the thing that is making me think... and i'm not sure if that's good or bad... is that in a normal Torchwood episode (or an episode of most things) then as soon as the audience knew who the aliens were, Torchwood knows. That's why I had a bit of a shock when it took till Jacks phone call to Frobisher to discover that it was the 456.
Intriguing relationship between Frobisher and Jack...
Lois was better than yesterday - although she shouldn't have managed to get away with that godawful excuse for getting into the room...
Lots of nice character stuff still - and I loved the Torchwood Hustle ;) Although, who'd believe John Barrowman was a waiter in those tracksuit trousers? And why didnt the guy report his Porsche being stolen directly to the police.... who would have noticed when Jack kept driving around in it!!
All good.. not much more to say...
8.5 / 10
Bring on part four....
So, Day Three (incidentally, why did they have to force it so that everything happens on different days.. i'd have just called it Parts One - Five, but I digress..)
Lots of good stuff, I liked it more than Part Two, and possibly more than Part One.
The 456 in the tank was creepy.. and I'm torn as to whether I want to get to see it fully, because it might be a letdown!
Loved the way that Frobisher has been set up to fail because he's expendable....
Jack being the guy who gave them the children last time? Not surprised in the slightest...If someone did something bad in the past its always Jack :P
But the thing that is making me think... and i'm not sure if that's good or bad... is that in a normal Torchwood episode (or an episode of most things) then as soon as the audience knew who the aliens were, Torchwood knows. That's why I had a bit of a shock when it took till Jacks phone call to Frobisher to discover that it was the 456.
Intriguing relationship between Frobisher and Jack...
Lois was better than yesterday - although she shouldn't have managed to get away with that godawful excuse for getting into the room...
Lots of nice character stuff still - and I loved the Torchwood Hustle ;) Although, who'd believe John Barrowman was a waiter in those tracksuit trousers? And why didnt the guy report his Porsche being stolen directly to the police.... who would have noticed when Jack kept driving around in it!!
All good.. not much more to say...
8.5 / 10
Bring on part four....
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
Torchwood: Children of Earth - Part Two - SPOILERS
So, I got the chance to catch up with part two late last night on iPlayer...
This won't be a long review like the one for Part One was, as a lot of it is similar, due to the serial nature of the story!
I thought that this second installment was not quite as good as the first, missing Jack for a lot of it, and it all feeling a bit deadly serious.. which is understandable I guess, when people are trying to kill you, but I hope it doesn't stay like that.
Good things were abundant, including Ianto's family causing a distraction, the evil woman's great plan for dealing with Jack (bring on the cement mixer!) and the JCB!!
However, Lois Abibba (or however one spells her name), is fast becoming a useful plot device rather than a character. I could believe the whole "having your bosses password on a post-it" thing, because we all know stuff like that happens, but by Day 2 she is stealing information and aiding fugitives? I mean, granted, the fugitives are Torchwood, so we know they're not evil... but she doesn't!!
Also, why is she doing it? This was my big problem with the episode I think, because people are by nature selfish. So she should have a reason for doing what she's doing. If they'd made her a mother, it would make more sense, or established some form of child presence in her life, as then she would be worried for her child. But she doesn't (or if she does, we don't know yet), and because of that, she doesn't seem to have a motive...
One thing I forgot to mention in review one is how beautifully shot the whole thing is, kudos to Euros Lyn for some brilliant style and flair...
Oh, and a nag from episode one was that I hope that the SUV theft doesn't just turn out to be random, because it was so convenient that Ianto lost the car the day that they have to go on the run....
In total - This Part gets an 8/10
Anyway, Part Three is on in like 3 and a half hours
Good Times :)
This won't be a long review like the one for Part One was, as a lot of it is similar, due to the serial nature of the story!
I thought that this second installment was not quite as good as the first, missing Jack for a lot of it, and it all feeling a bit deadly serious.. which is understandable I guess, when people are trying to kill you, but I hope it doesn't stay like that.
Good things were abundant, including Ianto's family causing a distraction, the evil woman's great plan for dealing with Jack (bring on the cement mixer!) and the JCB!!
However, Lois Abibba (or however one spells her name), is fast becoming a useful plot device rather than a character. I could believe the whole "having your bosses password on a post-it" thing, because we all know stuff like that happens, but by Day 2 she is stealing information and aiding fugitives? I mean, granted, the fugitives are Torchwood, so we know they're not evil... but she doesn't!!
Also, why is she doing it? This was my big problem with the episode I think, because people are by nature selfish. So she should have a reason for doing what she's doing. If they'd made her a mother, it would make more sense, or established some form of child presence in her life, as then she would be worried for her child. But she doesn't (or if she does, we don't know yet), and because of that, she doesn't seem to have a motive...
One thing I forgot to mention in review one is how beautifully shot the whole thing is, kudos to Euros Lyn for some brilliant style and flair...
Oh, and a nag from episode one was that I hope that the SUV theft doesn't just turn out to be random, because it was so convenient that Ianto lost the car the day that they have to go on the run....
In total - This Part gets an 8/10
Anyway, Part Three is on in like 3 and a half hours
Good Times :)
Monday, 6 July 2009
Torchwood: Children of Earth - Part One - HERE BE SPOILERS
So it's that time again, where I abandon the strange and often morose wonderings of my blogs, and get down to something specific...
It's Review Time!!
Torchwood: Children of Earth - Part One
The first episode of this brave new structure for Torchwood worked astoundingly well, in this reviewers humble opinion, restoring a lot of faith in the writings of Russel T Davies when he doesn't try to add too much "child humour", as sometimes occurs in Doctor Who.
Starting off with the first freeze of the children, and showing us around the people we would encounter, before we knew any of them had connections to the story was a fabulous opening, and I didn't miss the "Stupidly overwrought and pointlessly dramatic Torchwood Opening voiceover"(TM) at all....
After I watched this episode I had to go and have a bath.... no wait, that sounds wrong. It's not that it made me feel dirty or anything... No, this is all wrong. I'm going to start this paragraph again, do you mind? If you do, tough. Write to someone who cares :P
I had to stop and think for a while after watching this episode, and I still don't really know how to review it, because it's so obviously the first act of a five act drama and an awful lot of it was setup. It was nice giving the characters the space to breath, and I didn't realise how slowly it was moving until I happened to look at the clock during Ianto's conversation with his Sister, and realised we were over half way through the episode!
The family connections were well done, and it was nice to see some backstory for Jack and Ianto, rather than Gwen (being as we know most things about her already!). Jack has a daughter - not overly surprising, but I did like the reason she doesn't like to see him...
Rhys coming up with the realisation that the timings were around British times was nice, and showed how he is slowly becoming involved more in the teams work, and there was some brilliant dialogue, not least "Have you gone bender?" :)
The Westminster elements were well done, tense, not giving too much away about the alien plot, and the pieces were carefully being wrangled into place, which is obviously much easier to do in the telling of one five-hour story.
I didn't see the betrayal of Rupesh coming, which worked as a nice twist, and the whole build up to the cliffhanger was FANTASTIC... with the alien plot elements and the imminent destruction of the hub beautifully intercut with each other.
Minor quibble with the cliffhanger is that we know they are not going to kill Ianto or Jack off, as they're already down to three leads! But even so, it was good, and the "next time" trailer was well edited, not showing Ianto at all (I don't think), and just showing a screaming burned body (which I assume is Jack..).
On the whole, I liked it a lot, and it felt good to have the team back :)
So far - 8.5/10
Let's see how tomorrows goes.
Except I'll be at work till late. So that review might not go up till Wednesday...
It's Review Time!!
Torchwood: Children of Earth - Part One
The first episode of this brave new structure for Torchwood worked astoundingly well, in this reviewers humble opinion, restoring a lot of faith in the writings of Russel T Davies when he doesn't try to add too much "child humour", as sometimes occurs in Doctor Who.
Starting off with the first freeze of the children, and showing us around the people we would encounter, before we knew any of them had connections to the story was a fabulous opening, and I didn't miss the "Stupidly overwrought and pointlessly dramatic Torchwood Opening voiceover"(TM) at all....
After I watched this episode I had to go and have a bath.... no wait, that sounds wrong. It's not that it made me feel dirty or anything... No, this is all wrong. I'm going to start this paragraph again, do you mind? If you do, tough. Write to someone who cares :P
I had to stop and think for a while after watching this episode, and I still don't really know how to review it, because it's so obviously the first act of a five act drama and an awful lot of it was setup. It was nice giving the characters the space to breath, and I didn't realise how slowly it was moving until I happened to look at the clock during Ianto's conversation with his Sister, and realised we were over half way through the episode!
The family connections were well done, and it was nice to see some backstory for Jack and Ianto, rather than Gwen (being as we know most things about her already!). Jack has a daughter - not overly surprising, but I did like the reason she doesn't like to see him...
Rhys coming up with the realisation that the timings were around British times was nice, and showed how he is slowly becoming involved more in the teams work, and there was some brilliant dialogue, not least "Have you gone bender?" :)
The Westminster elements were well done, tense, not giving too much away about the alien plot, and the pieces were carefully being wrangled into place, which is obviously much easier to do in the telling of one five-hour story.
I didn't see the betrayal of Rupesh coming, which worked as a nice twist, and the whole build up to the cliffhanger was FANTASTIC... with the alien plot elements and the imminent destruction of the hub beautifully intercut with each other.
Minor quibble with the cliffhanger is that we know they are not going to kill Ianto or Jack off, as they're already down to three leads! But even so, it was good, and the "next time" trailer was well edited, not showing Ianto at all (I don't think), and just showing a screaming burned body (which I assume is Jack..).
On the whole, I liked it a lot, and it felt good to have the team back :)
So far - 8.5/10
Let's see how tomorrows goes.
Except I'll be at work till late. So that review might not go up till Wednesday...
Monday, 29 June 2009
Strange thoughts...
So, it's midnight, I've got the week from hell approaching, I can't sleep, I'm too hot, and my mind keeps wandering to other things.
Recently I've been cleaning up and tidying up paperwork and stuff, and have found various things that have caused me to wonder whether all relationships are based on lies.
Now before I go on, I'm not being emo, and I'm not being depressive, I'm just curious. While tidying up I found various documents, paper and e-documents, from ex's, and possible ex's, and close friends....
And I just wonder. When people write things, do they mean it? And am I the only person who finds that when things are written down they hold more truth in my head than when they are spoken?
I'm not complaining, reading some of the things I found today made me smile and remember good times, and that's a great thing, but I suspect the confusion that is running through my mind is to do with the fact that I have, and always have, had trouble with letting go of conversations, feelings and ideas.
I guess that probably makes me a little stupid.
I have no reason to write this, and maybe tomorrow morning I'll decide to delete this. Or maybe not. I don't even have a conclusion or any idea how to end this post.
So I will just end it here.
Peace Out.
Recently I've been cleaning up and tidying up paperwork and stuff, and have found various things that have caused me to wonder whether all relationships are based on lies.
Now before I go on, I'm not being emo, and I'm not being depressive, I'm just curious. While tidying up I found various documents, paper and e-documents, from ex's, and possible ex's, and close friends....
And I just wonder. When people write things, do they mean it? And am I the only person who finds that when things are written down they hold more truth in my head than when they are spoken?
I'm not complaining, reading some of the things I found today made me smile and remember good times, and that's a great thing, but I suspect the confusion that is running through my mind is to do with the fact that I have, and always have, had trouble with letting go of conversations, feelings and ideas.
I guess that probably makes me a little stupid.
I have no reason to write this, and maybe tomorrow morning I'll decide to delete this. Or maybe not. I don't even have a conclusion or any idea how to end this post.
So I will just end it here.
Peace Out.
Sunday, 21 June 2009
Transformers 2 and other stuff - Spoilers Be in this review
So, I just came back from seeing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen... and I have to say, I think that the best description of it comes from Sprog who named it Transformers: Revenge of the Explosions.
It was pretty good, suffering mostly from all the thing that a sequal suffers from - too many characters, certain "contracted" actors returning with nothing to do, an attempt to make it bigger and better making it more convulouted and overlong....
Oh. And way too long a climax.
Seriously, the whole Egypt section - WAY TOO LONG!!! And how long does it take Sam and Mikaela to run a mile!!
Devestator was quite cool, but pretty well wasted... the plot didn't need him AND the Fallen AND Megatron....
Oh, and Sams parents? Not needed. And the stoned mum bit at the beginning.. not funny.
Why didn't we get any answers about the decepticon college girl?
If there's two chunks of the allspark left, and one of them is able to revive Megatron, then why doesn't Sam just take the other one straight to Optimus Prime, rather than use it to wake Jetfire?
Why in every film like this do we have the irritating Government idiot who tries to shut down the project? What did that do to aid the plot?
And how much money did Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson get for however few minutes of screentime they actually had? I wonder, was there a lot more of their plot that was cut?
I know this sounds negative, but there were bits I liked a lot... the editing style was much better than the first one, you could mostly see who was fighting who in the fights without the camera cutting every five seconds....
Oh and I know I'm echoing every straight man who saw it.. but Megan Fox.... droool.....
There were some good jokes, the return of Agent Simmons was done in a great way, and it was partly great popcorn entertainment.
All in all, it was fun, but by the end it was dragging. I'm usually a fan of long films, especially if I'm paying a fortune to see them in the cinema, but even I was wondering how long it had been going on by the end. Then I thought we'd reach the end... then I realised the Fallen hadn't turned up yet.....
So yeah. 7/10 i think.
Moving on... in other news, my deadline for Out of Time has been extended a week, so it should be done by next Friday (26th), although that'll depend on work - which will be madly hectic this week.
And also, I am ridiculously excited by New Super Mario Bros Wii... and Mario Galaxy 2... and the new Metroid Game... click here for trailery goodness!
Talk soon
It was pretty good, suffering mostly from all the thing that a sequal suffers from - too many characters, certain "contracted" actors returning with nothing to do, an attempt to make it bigger and better making it more convulouted and overlong....
Oh. And way too long a climax.
Seriously, the whole Egypt section - WAY TOO LONG!!! And how long does it take Sam and Mikaela to run a mile!!
Devestator was quite cool, but pretty well wasted... the plot didn't need him AND the Fallen AND Megatron....
Oh, and Sams parents? Not needed. And the stoned mum bit at the beginning.. not funny.
Why didn't we get any answers about the decepticon college girl?
If there's two chunks of the allspark left, and one of them is able to revive Megatron, then why doesn't Sam just take the other one straight to Optimus Prime, rather than use it to wake Jetfire?
Why in every film like this do we have the irritating Government idiot who tries to shut down the project? What did that do to aid the plot?
And how much money did Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson get for however few minutes of screentime they actually had? I wonder, was there a lot more of their plot that was cut?
I know this sounds negative, but there were bits I liked a lot... the editing style was much better than the first one, you could mostly see who was fighting who in the fights without the camera cutting every five seconds....
Oh and I know I'm echoing every straight man who saw it.. but Megan Fox.... droool.....
There were some good jokes, the return of Agent Simmons was done in a great way, and it was partly great popcorn entertainment.
All in all, it was fun, but by the end it was dragging. I'm usually a fan of long films, especially if I'm paying a fortune to see them in the cinema, but even I was wondering how long it had been going on by the end. Then I thought we'd reach the end... then I realised the Fallen hadn't turned up yet.....
So yeah. 7/10 i think.
Moving on... in other news, my deadline for Out of Time has been extended a week, so it should be done by next Friday (26th), although that'll depend on work - which will be madly hectic this week.
And also, I am ridiculously excited by New Super Mario Bros Wii... and Mario Galaxy 2... and the new Metroid Game... click here for trailery goodness!
Talk soon
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Deadline 2 - So how's it going?
So - I'm supposed to have Out of Time finished by Friday..... and so far it's Wednesday, and Im 1/3rd of the way through.
So how's this going to work?
I don't know.... I honestly don't know if I'm going to finish it in time.....
So how's this going to work?
I don't know.... I honestly don't know if I'm going to finish it in time.....
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