Friday, January 18, 2008

Hello my dears, Co-Pilot here!


Top 5 Unlikely Dr/ Companion Romantic Liasons...

5) Tom & Tegan
4) Sylv & Mel
3) Willy & Sara Kingdom
2) Col & Peri
1) Willy & Ben


Top 5 Atrocious Accents

5) Tryst
4) Theodore Nicolai Kerensky
3) Stor
2) Delilah
1) Dame Billie Piper on Parky recently


Menage-A-Trois?

9) Vivienne Fay, Amelia Rumford & Romana
8) JNT, Gaz & Matthew Waterboy
7) Chris, Capt. Dick & Rose
6) Davros, Nyder & some embryonic Dalek jelly!
5) Gilbert, Joseph C & Kandydarling!
4) Peter, Turlough & Turlough's brother
3) Pat, Jamie & Col!
2) Jon & a lucky dip from any other 2 of the Unit "family"
1) A fab free for all between Glitz, Dibber, Handbag, Balazaar, Broken Tooth, Merdeen, Queen Katryca, Col & Jayston!!!


Nepotistic Ballistic!! - Season 4 casting news!!!...

Beryl Reid's daughter, Graham Crowden's nephew & Eileen Way's kitty as the New Shaboogans!!


Night night!!

Co-P (with a dash of cumin from the 'Cozer)

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Torchwood Returns!....but first a quick look back...

Hello loves,

Last night the Co-Pilot & I strapped ourselves to the couch with some Gin & Tonics & a vast array of nibbles to re-watch the final two episodes from season 1 of Torchwood. On the whole we were suitably impressed.

I was a restless 'fan in waiting' with Torchwood for most of the first season. I wanted to adore it but felt it was often flawed & rarely worthy of my potentially slavish, slobbering fan love. Of course I was going to watch every episode regardless, but it was very easy to pick at. Slow motion 'strutting in duffle coats' wank, Cardiff tourist video padding, ridiculous plot contrivances, clunky set pieces & some blushingly embarrasing dialouge just to name a few of the constant (but very much repairable) faults. The basic concept of Torchwood is strong & the cast is a winner, the production team just needed to do a lot of tightening up & thankfully they got very near the mark by the end of the season.

The final two episodes are a huge improvement on most of the season up to that point. John Barrowman shows unexpected & much welcome subtlety & humility, particularly in 'Capt Jack Harkness'. The posturing, vaseline grinned cardboard-try-hard man of mystery has given way to a textured, sympathetic & nobly tragic figure. With this change, Jack has become much sexier & more ponderable. The appearance of the real Capt. Jack on the scene makes Jack more mysterious than ever & at the same time much more vulnerable as his fraudulent identity is exposed. This gives Barrowman lots of 'actors meat' to bite into. Barrowman, to his credit, knew what the stakes were in these crucial episodes & he plays the revelation & its aftermath beautifully. When it really counted, after seeming to be coasting at times during the season, he pulled out all the stops. As the 'cockular' (as opposed to titular? ey, ey!) head of the cast, he needed too.

The cocky Captain is rendered relatively shy & awkward by the stunning Mr Rippy as the 'real' Capt Jack. Barrowman wouldn't have had to try too hard to be convincing in his attraction to Rippy though. Rippy is quite possibly the sexiest guest star ever to grace the Who-niverse. He even makes Barrowman look a little homely (only by impossible comparison though!...sorry love!!). Their scenes together are spot on; resplendant with natural intimate chemistry, smouldering sexual tension & careful nuance. Surely Rippy & Barrowman need to spin-off into another spin-off & enjoy all the 'fondant supreme' that a saucy 10.30 evening slot can offer!!!!

Dramatic highpoints were plentiful. Gwen's breakdown as she cradles Rhys' lifeless, bloodied body in 'End Of Days' is gut wrenching. Her anguish, while riskily noisy & frantic, is utterly believable in the hands of such an assured actress. A quite stunning performance. The gunpoint standoff with the team divided over whether or not to open the rift & who to side with was another breathstopper, superbly played across the board.

And who can forget ol' 'vinegar lips'; Bilis Manger. At times sounding like a camp, evil D84, at others reminding one of a more theatrical third cousin of the unblinking, malevolant Morgus from Androzani, he is the best villian that Dr Who hasn't had in its 3 seasons so far. He is the finest 'nasty' in the new Who-niverse. Shifting from posturing eye-brow raising villian to brutally callous monster in a blink (& sometimes with a poisonous purse of his vinegar lips) he is truly marvellous. Hopefully RTD had him put on ice immediately after filming 'End Of Days' so that his advanced years don't prevent a slew of much anticipated return appearances.

Although the huge stomping horned beastie was a d-grade excuse for a lavish season finale showdown, Barrowman's conviction just got it over the line. The Torchwood team friction was the real showdown anyway. That was more than good enough. Jack's resurrection 3 days (?!) after vanquishing the beast was lovely too, the religious inconography that would have soiled any such moment in recent Dr Who is thankfully absent & we have a truly touching & beautifully underplayed scene with Jack welcomed back by the surprised team. No need for sweeping strings; the guilty tear soaked look at Jack from Owen, the excited rush for a hug by Tosh, the trembling, disbelieving lovers kiss from Ianto; they all speak volumes & help the scene to resonate much more deeply than would have been the case with the orchestral mush & stylised emotional manipulation of new series Dr Who. The teacher must learn from the student it seems.

I'm very much looking forward to season 2 & this little freshen up on where things left off has filled me with fan saliva of the finest kind, ready to gush forth...

Lucozer...

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

RTD's bucket of warm ego nog!... 'Voyage Of The Damned'!!

Oh Russell! You've put on your naughty apron haven't you love?! You know, the one with the big plastic knockers on it. You've served up for chrissy dinner just what I expected really; a fat, greasy turkey. However, it must be said, a relatively tender & juicy one (compared to Runaway Bride) with lashings of salty luke-warm gravy on a table laden with glittery party poppers full of quick bangs (& cheap plastic crap of course).

The first 10-15 minutes were actually rather good. There wasn't too much to fault. The set up & lead up to the asteroid hits was handled with Russell's trademark casual, off-handed (over)confidence backed up by some marvellous FX. The Titanic looked great hovering above Earth & the TARDIS walls re-aligning looked fab. I liked the sonic screwdriver/ champagne cork gag too. Oh how we drunkenly tittered. Geoffrey Palmer was the other great thing about the opening minutes. He invested his small part with subtetly & depth. He was sadly underused though & shamefully killed off after only 15 minutes at most.

The re-jigged theme tune! I almost forgot. Wonderful. I've never been a huge fan of Mr Gold's OTT orchestral version but the drum heavy remix with new string stabs & synth pads has well & truly polished the turd. It's now the sweetest poo brown you've ever heard. It's the best version since the marvellous 1980 Howell version. I know the Co-Pilot is a big softie for the '86 mix though. If Murray re-mixed this himself, then, well, I'm his newest tolerator!

From about the 15 minute mark on though, Russell's writing lapses into trademark laziness; too much running around, adolescent lovey dovey mush, theft of ideas (I'll only call it homage when it's done well) such as the second rate 'Robots Of Death' schtick, silly psuedo religious claptrap AGAIN!!! (the Doctor summoning the angels) Really Russell! Come on!!...just to name a few of the flatulent faults. I did however like the flabby fancy dress couple & when dear old 'Buckingham Bessy' waved off the Titanic with her cheery tidings, I did want to give Russell a big bear hug. If you're going to be silly, then be operatically silly like that. Don't go half way. Much of VOTD goes half way; it's half way silly, half way dramatic, halfway credible & halfway scripted.

Kylie was 4 parts cheap bubbly white to 1 part chartreuse (I HATE chartreuse, it tastes like dishwashing liquid). Not too bad I suppose, but when we could have had a Martha or a Sally Sparrow aiding the Doctor, it really wasn't good enough. Clive Swift does quite well despite some lame dialouge.

'Voyage Of The Damned' is the huge fart that just won't come out when you're lying face down on your bed christmas night after eating & drinking far too much all day. You know it will stink but you know it's the only thing that will make you feel better. VOTD is that kind of awkward contradiction. It is as awkward as the metaphor I've just coughed up like a furball in an effort to capture this unweildly slab of christmas pud.

For the Co-Pilot, who had his birthday on the day of viewing & assembled his family & friends in a marvellous 'Anethian tribute' to himself, it turned out to be the token gift inside the huge, flashy package with golden ribbons & bows. Better than 'Runaway Bride' but a few mince pies short of 'Christmas Invasion'

'Weakling Scum!!!!'...Lucozer....

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Peter Davison in 'Time Crash' - the hard stats!

There are so many reviews around for 'Time Crash', many of which cover the same ground & many of which have already covered in blushing detail the ground I would cover, so I think it would be painfully redundant at this point to add another generic review to the slew!

What I have decided to do instead is crunch some numbers relating to Time Crash & Peter Davison in particular, hopefully in a fabulously insightful & didactic manner that will contextualise Davison's return to Dr Who & his performance in Time Crash in a fresh & enlightening fashion...Then I will loudly sigh, smoke a cigarette, roll over & go to sleep with my stuffed yeti...

Anyway,

Peter Davison returns to the role 23 years after his last regular appearance in 1984's 'Caves of Androzani' (no I'm not counting his 90 seconds of inane running around in that dog's dinner 'Dimensions In Time'). I also don't count the 'Big Finish' stuff; not because it's not great or because I contest its canon status (actually I do - but another time!), but because the voice is only half the performance, maybe even less. Davison slots his voice AND his body into the canon, as the 5th Doctor, for the first time in 23 years.

Why am I harping on about 23 years??. Well, it is by far the longest gap between drinks from the furry gallifreyan cup??!! (both as it were AND so to speak) for a returning Doctor. Believe it or not, in the case of Patrick Troughton, the previous record span holder, there was (only) a span of 16 years!! between his last regular appearance in 'War Games' (1969) & his third & final return in 'Two Doctors' (1985). Seven years short of Peter's mammoth 23 years & broken up twice. Pat's gap was divided thus, 3 years forward to the 'Three Doctors', ten hence to 'Five Doctors' & finally a brief 2 years to the 'Two Doctors'. In terms of 'keeping his eye in' as the Doctor, Pat's longest break without dusting off his giddy aunt & stroking his recorder was just 10 years.

The only other returning Doctors, Hartnell & Pertwee, had relatively brief spans of 7 years ('Tenth Planet' in '66 to Three Doctors in '73) & 9 years ('Planet of Spiders' in '74 to 'Five Doctors' in '83) respectively. This seems really quite bizarre to me. At the time of Pertwee's return in 'Five Doctors', it must have seemed aeons since he was the incumbent (let alone Troughton!), years stretching back through the two seasons of Davison & the entire Tom Baker era. 9 years is but a blink compared to Peter Davison's 23 year span. Whoops, I forgot the return of Sylv (a mere 7 years: Survival '89 to 'The Movie''96)...but who cares? The movie was shizen & after watching 'Silver Nemesis' last night, I don't want to think about Sly McCoy at the mo anyway.

Where is all this going? Well I guess I'm saying that for Pat & Jon to have been wonderful & effortlessly slip back into the role was not really such a feat. They were both superb of course, but it really shouldn't have been any other way. They had much shorter times away from the role & were always 'older' Doctors, so the change was never going to be too jarring. Davison however, who through his era embodied youth, vitality & often naive innocence in a refreshing slant on the character, is stuck with the problem of trying to authentically capture the same youthful spirit, 23 years on, lumbered with a (albiet well kept) 56 year old body. The tough question is how to pitch it? By far the youngest Doctor cast in the role in the original series (29 years in 1981), he is now one year older than William Hartnell was when Hartnell, the all-time oldest doctor at the time of his casting, was originally cast in the role. Considering all this, Peter does pretty well with the help of a mostly pretty tidy bit of fanboy fluff from S Moffatt.

The 'time differential' explanation was deftly tossed off so that it didn't seem too pointedly the fix up the 'older doctors' solution that it was. Perhaps with the 'time differential-ed' older body & older voice came the (somewhat out of character) grumpiness as well. I feel Davison's vibe was more 'impotent frustration' than 'stern grumpiness' when under stress during his tenure. However, considering his newly flagging middle aged hormones & 'greying' cells, Maybe the 5th Dr couldn't help being crabby & cantakerous when thrown into a desperate paradox situation with Tennant's charming (in this instance at least) boggle-eyed geek blabbing at him. It was also good to see the character stretched & developed just a little, rather than having it stunted by continuity fascism & the variable & limited writing of the 5th Doctor's own era. Such things should never be allowed to get in the way of good TV & more importantly, good Dr Who. Apart from having to say 'TARDIS' about five times too many for a 7 minute vignette & his first few technobabble lines seeming a bit forced through his smokers husk (not sure if he does?), Peter settles nicely & I smiled broadly watching Dr's 5 & 10 huddle over the console together in feverish Doctorisheness!

If Davison's 5th Doctor was a few yards of scarf & a few teeth & curls short of iconic prior to Time Crash (pretty much only Tom is truly iconic in the role, with the 'twee a distant second) he is now, at least in Britain. The biggest small-screen star in Britain, David Tennant (although I'd listen to you if you argued Davison himself is, or perhaps 'best loved' is more his mantle?), deliciously fetishised the 5th Doctor before the eyes of a mammoth 11 million viewers. He reminded us of Davison's very own 'teeth & curls'; "the hat, the coat, the crickety-cricket stuff, the stick of celery". This was done very pointedly. Moffat (ably helped by Mr Harper) has now lovingly established the 5th Doctor, his own favourite, as the charming british flavoured small screen sci-fi icon that he wasn't quite. Probably I didn't need quite so many qualifiers, 'Iconic' is perhaps enough on its own now when it comes to Davison's 5th. All done in just over 7 minutes.

Well done loves. The Doctor AND the TARDIS!! Congratulations & well played!!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The Co-Pilot's in the kitchen with a spatula & he isn't afraid to use it!

Loves! The Co-Pilot is with us again to cast his keen culinary eye over seasons 1 & 2. What will he find? some hands down cheese & chive crackers? some out and out caviar & champagne corkers? or perhaps some cheap mouldy cheeses?...Over to you Co-P


Rose - Fairy Floss (6/10)
End Of The World - A cheese platter (7)
Unquiet Dead - A lovely glass of red (9)
Aliens Of London - A cheap surprising glass of champers (7.5)
WW3 - A cheap unsurprising glass of champers (5)
Dalek - A spectacular gateau that looks better than it tastes (7)
Long Game - Some toffees, mint creams & licorice that has gone hard (5.5)
Father's Day - Cordon Bleu! (9)
Empty Child - A cellar full of winning vintages (10)
Doctor Dances - A second cellar full! (9.5)
Boomtown - A cellar full of tomato juice :( (5.5)
Bad Wolf - Fabulous champagne & wonderful hors douerves (10)
Parting Of The Ways - ...Followed by a thoroughly wonderful meringue (8.5)

(insert ten-inch)

Christmas Invasion - A fun xmas bon-bon containing crappy jokes, a silly paper hat &
a hom-hum plastic trinket

New Earth - Artificial sweetener (4)
Tooth & Claw - A heart sunday roast (8.5)

(From this point on, the Co-Pilot gives a big contemptuous yawn to scores out of 10. Scores are for books fools!)

School Reunion - A favourite pasta recipe...overcooked
Girl In The Fireplace - A deliciously opulent tiramisu enjoyed amongst tender
embraces & longing sighs with your beautiful lover!

(oh Co-Pilot you old silver tongue you!!)

Rise Of The Cybermen - A hot cup of instant coffee
Age Of Steel - A (Lucozer?)-warm cup of instant coffee
Idiot's Lantern - Brussel sprout & anchovie pie
Impossible Planet - An exotic goulash
Satan Pit - Fondue!
Love & Monsters - Soggy chips
Fear Her - Burnt toast
Army Of Ghosts - The keys to the candy store
Doomsday - A delicious but unsatisfying feed from the candy store

Runaway Bride - Christmas turkey - in the figurative sense & no other!

Thanks Co-P!

I'm off to the fridge....
x Lucozer.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

More Delphonic delights from the Co-P!

The eyebrows are blazing again....


20 Superb Scores

The Daleks
Dalek's Materplan
Evil Of The Daleks
The Invasion
Seeds Of Death
Sea Devils
The Silurians
Death To The Daleks
Terror Of The Zygons
Pyramids Of Mars
Seeds of Doom
Deadly Assassin
Ribos Operation
City Of Death
Leisure Hive
Earthshock
Enlightenment
Five Doctors
Resurrection Of The Daleks
Caves Of Androzani


5 Best Music Makers

Tristram Carey
Dudley Simpson
Geoffrey Burgen
Malcolm Clarke
Peter Howell

hon mentions: Roger Limb, Jonathon Gibbs, Carey Blyton

dishon mentions: Murray Gold (90% of the time) & Keff McCulloch (without exception)
(Dishons interjected by the Lucozer :) )


12 Fantastic Directors

Dougie Camfield
David Maloney
Lovett Bickford
Paul Joyce
Micheal E. Briant
Paddy Russell
Derek Martinus
Graeme Harper
Peter Grimwade
Timothy Combe
Rodney Bennett
Joe Aherne


Stay tuned for part three where the Co-Pilot, 'All Creatures Great & Small' style, sticks his arm up the 'new' series & pulls out, among other things, a tiramisu, soggy chips, an anchovie pie & goulash!! Intrigued?, so am I!!!


Lucozer.

Monday, October 29, 2007

5 & 10! - Davison & Tennant have a 'Time Crash'

So we now know that Peter Davison will be appearing in the special 'Children In Need' Dr Who episode as has long been rumoured...

Firstly, Peter looks pretty damn good for 56. Unlike Tom & Colin, he will get away with the extra years as Pat & Jon did in their anniversary returns. Remarkable considering he was by far the youngest Doctor in the original series & that changes from early 30's to early 50's are much more noticeable than say mid 40's to mid 60's.

Of all the previous Doctors, Tennant is really more like Davison than any other (albeit with more gurning & manic moments) It will be fascinating to see Moffatt play out the differences & find a dynamic between them.

Hopes/ Fears etc....

I hope we get a 25 minute story ala 'Curse Of The Fatal Death' & not just a 3-5 minute insubstantial bit of fluff like the 9-10 post regen scene & the excerable 'Dimensions In Time'. I'm betting we will get 8-10 minutes, 15 at the very most. If they've got Peter in & shoehorned him back into his costume, they should let him get his feet wet. I don't want him to get settled then see the credits roll.

A special Davison era influenced title sequence would be nice. I'm sure they'll just bung his name on the existing credits as happened with Tate/ Barrowman etc.

A few salty Troughton/ Pertwee style barbs would be fun, as long as they don't degenerate into RTD Cyber/ Dalek Doomsday-esque 'don't go there girlfriend' clunkers. I wouldn't mind a bit of...

5th Dr (with sighing disdain) 'oh dear, a cockatoos crest & chatter to match'

10th Dr (cutting & dry with a smirk) 'still a vision in beige I see'


or perhaps this...

5th Dr (flabbergasted) 'What's with all the tics?, you're like a hormonal teen on
uppers'.

10th Dr (gurning & scruffing hair) 'Weeeelllll!, we finally hit puberty at 956 & get interested in chicks. I can't seem to focus sometimes'


I fear that my dialouge, although patently fabulous & fun on paper will actually be close to the truth!

Hmmm, let me digress for a moment. Presumably Davison will emerge just after the Titanic crashes into the TARDIS & just before Tennant runs off to step back in time with Ms Minogue. What will happen? Or unless, oh my god!, could they?, no!, they couldn't!, OMG!!!, maybe the scene will be unto itself, maybe it WON'T have a clear point in chronology, AAAHHHH, gulp, maybe it won't even really be CANON. Could it be another DIM? Grimace, gurn, scratch, gurn, gurn, grimace. I think it will be canon & will be taken seriously with Moffatt writing. Let's pray daily to RTD to make it so.

Fabbo then!, bring on Nov 16th.

Lucozer.