Unpublished posts: Sticking stuff in my eyes

Here is an unpublished and unfinished blog post from space year 2014. It is a little bit like a time capsule. How could 2014 Rob know that eventually even he would be ready for the Moffat era to end, though I would have kept Capaldi forever. 

Also, Gotham did eventually manage to become a complete car crash.

Stay safe. 

2020 Rob. 

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Some of the things I've enjoyed watching in 2014...

Doctor Who

I think, for once, everybody expected the new Doctor to be fantastic but Peter Capaldi still managed to exceed most expectations. What an extraordinary, prickly, comical, considered and occasionally Machiavellian-seeming Doctor he has been. 

The consistency of this run has been excellent, with only one bum note out of the last sixteen episodes. Securing the talents of Ben Wheatley to direct two episodes shows just how much the production team want to keep the programme fresh. If the Steven Moffat era of Doctor Who ever comes to an end, and I rather hope it doesn't, it will surely be looked back on as the most ambitious and innovative period of the show since the 1960s.

That's my opinion, others are available.

Days of Future Past and Guardians of the Galaxy - I loved Captain America: The Winter Soldier but it somehow managed to be my third favourite comic book film this year, purely through having the bad luck to be released in the same year as X-Men: Days of Future Past and the amazeballs Guardians of the Galaxy. What a year for comic films when you can almost overlook The Winter Soldier. 

X-Men: Days of Future Past had a slight advantage as I am already a pronounced fan of X-Men films and comics and was really bloody excited about it. Aside from translating a truly classic comic story to the big screen (Proteus next please!), this film was going to bring together the casts of two separate and somewhat contradictory big screen X-Men films and confront the continuity problems (well, some of them anyway). The end result could have been a total mess but instead produced probably the best X-Men film yet made and certainly one of the films of the year. X-Men: Days of Future Past is a work of genius. 

I'm excited all over again at the thought of the extended version expected next year. I can't get enough of this film.  

Guardians of the Galaxy had me excited too but for different reasons. I had no knowledge of the comics at all so was purely excited at the prospect of a new and seeminlgy very different Marvel Studios film.

Penny Dreadful

I wanted to hate this. It was for completely selfish reasons, mind. I have been trying to nail the concept for a supernatural Victorian returning drama for a few years. I might as well give it up now. Penny Dreadful won me over quickly with its lush visuals, fantastic performances and genuinely frightening moments. Eva Green shines among a stupendous cast as the sad and terrifying Vanessa Ives. Series two is one of my most anticipated events of 2015. 

Black Mirror: White Christmas

The emergence of Charlie Brooker as a world class screenwriter should have surprised no one. With Dead Set he took his wise and demented eye and created a darkly amusing drama that reflected the same concerns and drive that infused his writing and broadcasting. With Black Mirror he has further explored these themes and honed his skills. White Christmas, his feature length Black Mirror portmanteau special, was Brooker epitomised. Intelligent, vulgar, horrifying and compassionate. 

Bolstered by the talents of the incomparable John Hamm, Rafe Spall and Oona Chaplin among others. 

Mad Men

One of the greatest questions facing humanity in 2015 must be this one: What are we going to do in a world without Mad Men? It's with the familiar sense of hot anticipation and rising calamity that I look forward to the last ever episodes of this extraordinary series in a few months. 

Gotham

Gotham is really, really good. It feels weird writing that as it should be a total car crash. But it isn't. 

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D

Continues to improve. In a world glutted with mediocre comic book tv series SHIELD continues to carve its own path. Uniquely tied into an ongoing series of films it this year gave us something we have never seen before. We were able to see a TV series cross over with a mutimillion dollar movie, The (outstanding) Winter Soldier, and use it to prompt a massive change in direction for the show. SHIELD does not get enough recognition for its innovation and plumb uniqueness. 

Ghostbusters

Parks and Rec

Also of note...

Flash, Arrow (by association), American Horror Story, The Lego Movie, Frozen, Star Wars, Star Wars, STAR WARS!!!!!

Some of the things I've enjoyed reading in 2014...


Bendis' X-Men

Snyder's Batman

Tomasi's Batman and Robin

Hickman

Doctor Sleep

The Dark Tower

Sherlock Holmes

I have always loved Sherlock Holmes.

I couldn't tell you when I first encountered Holmes. I think I had a Read-it-yourself book of The Hound of the Baskervilles as a boy. I also remember an animated version of the same tale. I don't think it was until the centenary of the publication of A Study in Scarlet that I actually read any Conan Doyle though. There was a lush Radio Times cover and an Omnibus or Late Show special, and I started reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes while lounging about the house in my dressing gown. Needless to say I was hooked straight off and still re-read the stories repeatedly today.

Film-wise I remember enjoying Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce seasons over and over again on the BBC (6pm on BBC2 if memory serves). It never seemed strange to me that Holmes and Watson should be battling the Nazis. I have since discovered their radio shows online, which are quite fun, especially for the sponsors adverts (you can also find The Shadow and many more old radio shows on the same site).

Basil Rathbone was generally regarded as the greatest Holmes of all for many years. There were others; Peter Cushing, a huge Sherlock Holmes enthusiast, played the detective in the 1959 Hammer version of The Hound of the Baskervilles and again for the BBC in the late sixties. Christopher Plummer did a great job in Murder by Decree, among other actors, but Rathbone was generally accepted to be the best.

Until 1984.

Jeremy Brett played Sherlock Holmes on ITV from 1984 until 1994, when Brett's poor health prevented him continuing in the role.

I'll show my hand right now and confess that he eclipses all other Sherlocks for me. His sudden theatrics, his nanosecond half smiles, that fantastic voice; Jeremy Brett is Sherlock Holmes stepping straight off of the end of Conan Doyle's pen. He inhabits the role perfectly and it is a brave actor that steps through the door to 221b Baker street in his wake.

Which brings us to Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes from last year with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson.

There was a lot of stuffy scepticism about this "modern" Holmes before it came out but I must admit that I liked the trailer at first sight and was cautiously optimistic. I really enjoyed the film.

It's true that the emphasis is rather more on the action than the detection but I think it captures the spirit of the stories well, and especially the character of Watson and the relationship between the two friends. I could have done without Irene Adler, who seemed present only to tick a box and deprive Watson of some screen time, but otherwise I enjoyed the film immensely.

I look forward to the sequel with much anticipation. However shall I pass the time?




Only by enjoying Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat's take on Sherlock Holmes in a twenty-first century setting. I'm very bloody excited about Sherlock, which starts on Sunday night (BBC1/BBCHD 9pm). It's hard to imagine two writers better equipped to bring Holmes back to the small screen for the first time in years. Moffat has already demonstrated that he can bring nineteenth century classics into the modern day with Jekyll (still my very favourite example of his work (any chance of that second series Steven? Pretty please.)).

Benedict Cumberbatch certainly looks the part and while I'm less certain of Martin Freeman as Watson I'm happy to trust Moffat and Gatiss. Even though this programme seems to have been in production for ever I know almost nothing about the plots (not even if they intend to adapt any of Conan Doyle's stories) or guest stars. Very exciting.

The early reactions are positively glowing, and the trailer certainly looks good. The game is on!

UPDATE: Steven Moffat on Sherlock Holmes in the Radio Times:

When I was a little Beano-reading Doctor Who fan – about nine or ten – I was desperate to know more about Sherlock Holmes. It was a name I’d heard. I knew he was some kind of policeman, I knew he had a funny hat, and I knew he was in a film called The Hound of the Baskervilles, which once came on the telly and got me sent to bed because it was too frightening. I remember lying upstairs that night, too excited to sleep – because I could hear the baying of a terrible hound, and the rapid-fire voice of a policeman who fought monsters. I needed to find out more, because I knew already this was my kind of hero: if Doctor Who had been a detective, clearly he’d have been Sherlock Holmes.

BBC's Sherlock site

The Sherlock Holmes Museum

The Singular Society of the Baker Street Dozen

The Equinoctial Gales

Jekyll (spoilers)

Steven Moffat’s Jekyll succeeded in modernising a classic tale not by turning Jekyll into a yuppie and setting it in Canary Wharf, but by reinterpreting the source material and creating a sequel where none might have been thought possible.

To tell his story he had a generous six episodes which might have been too many if he hadn’t employed so many interesting techniques, such as lengthy flash back sequences, one even flashing all the way back to the nineteenth century. One of the best aspects of the series was it’s refusal to tell the story in a straightforward way.

James Nesbitt’s performances as Hyde and as Jackman were splendid. Tom Jackman was reserved, understated and dignified while the irrepressible Mr Hyde was over the top enough to make Jim Carrey look like a stick in the mud. Hyde could have become irritating had his exuberance been overused but the character’s unpredictability prevented the viewer becoming tired of him. At any moment Hyde could change moods and scare the pants off you.

Gina Bellman, as Claire Jackman, was sexy, strong-willed and had a good line in snappy dialogue. The final episode saw Claire on the edge of panic as her children were threatened and her past was revealed to her. This left Bellman with a lot of screaming and panicking to do and her performance seemed less impressive as a result. A shame when she had been such a strong player in the preceding episodes.

Of the rest of the main cast Denis Lawson exuded white-collar evil throughout the series. His performance was excellent and his comeuppance most satisfyingly played out. Michelle Ryan seemed to have little screen time across the series but was fine when she appeared. Meera Syall was excellent as the unconventional detective hired to track Mr Hyde. A brief appearance from Mark Gatiss as Robert Louis Stevenson was an unexpected pleasure, as was Nesbitt's turn as the original Jekyll and Hyde.

Patterson Joseph is always entertaining and was obviously having fun here. Linda Marlowe was at times unbearable but her performance was integral to the twist ending which is a major achievement.

Previous dramatisations of the classic tale of Jekyll and Hyde have opted to make their lead man up as a hairy beastie to depict Hyde (or to get someone else to pay the alter ego, Martine Beswick perhaps?). In this latest version Nesbitt is only superficially altered; his eyes and his hairline are tinkered with. The rest is acting. Revolutionary stuff.

The mad as trousers conclusion to Jekyll has inspired some talk of a second series. As it stands the conclusion of the tale is a fitting end to an always riveting and unpredictable series. It might be better to leave it that way.

Shoe the goose

Work has been a bit crazy since my week off hence no updates and very little writing. I have got two different ideas brewing for the Red Planet Competition - just need to develop both a little and see which is the best runner.

No more work done on 'Hitman', I'll probably read through it on Sunday and start a second draft next week.

The cause of the delay has been a combination of a lot of extra pressure at work due to sickness and also an interview for a new job on Monday. The interview went well. So well in fact that I start my new job on August 13th. I'm still with the same company but from now on when people ask me what I do I'll be able to say I work in IT. In the Midlands.

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In 2000AD 'Mutants in Mega City One' is turning out to be the best Dredd story I've read in years. John Wagner is taking old stoney face into very new moral territory and the repercussions are likely to have huge consequences for him and his city. He's even had to get new boots and we all know what that means.

Defoe continues to be extraordinarily good. What seemed initially to be just a bit of fun zombie hacking is turning into an ingenious re-imagining of English seventeenth century history. This has the potential to run and run.

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BBC2 start running the excellent Heroes next Wednesday. Do not miss it or you'll feel a right lemon. Crayon it into your diary. In the meantime you could pick up the latest issue of the Radio Times to find out what all the fuss is about.

Save the cheerleader, save the world.

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Steven Moffat's Jekyll has been fantastic. The reinterpretation of the original story has been imaginative and surprising. James Nesbitt has delivered two excellent performances both as Tom Jackman and his malevolent alter ego while Gina Bellman, as his confused wife, is captivating. A fantastic effort all round. A full review will follow after the series has finished.

Likewise reviews for The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords and Blink are on the way.

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Finally, I'm now available for poking on facebook, it's like MySpace but with class. In fact, I've probably got a greater online presence than a lot of successful writers. Somehow that doesn't seem like a good thing.

Laters.

Blink (Spoilers)

Sally Sparrow is fascinated by old houses and discovers a message left for her forty years earlier under the living room wallpaper of an old house in Wester Drumlins. Next moment her best friends vanished and she keeps having conversations with a DVD extra.

Each series of Doctor Who has had at least one determinedly Doctor-lite episode. The first series The Long Game saw much of the story told from the point of view of Adam and the inhabitants of Satellite Five. Series two saw Hustle star Mark Warren take a lead role as Elton Pope, Doctor-watcher extraordinaire. Both are good episodes but suffer for the lack of everybody’s favourite Time Lord (especially Love & Monsters as when he does turn up his motives and actions seem somewhat questionable).

The first stroke of genius from 'Doctor-lite' newbie Stephen Moffat is to use only three sequences of the Doctor, but one of these taking the form of a video recording which we see played through several times and which plays in the background in many other scenes. In this respect the episode could hardly be more Doctor-full.

The second genius brainwave is in the creation of a monster which cannot be observed moving. By their very nature the 'Weeping Angels' must always be stationary and is therefore also cheap. There may not even be any CGI in this episode, there certainly aren't any showy effects sequences.

In Sally Sparrow we have a curious, impetuous heroine reminiscent of Sarah Jane Smith in attitude. Finding herself caught in a mystery she pieces the clues together to save the Doctor and Martha who are stranded in 1969. Had she had the opportunity to meet the Doctor properly she is just that sort of person he’d whisk away for an adventure.

Carey Mulligan is an engaging and likeable guest lead who has strong support from her colleagues Lucy Gaskill, Finlay Robertson and especially Michael Obiora as the Policeman who is rather taken with Ms Sparrow, before getting blasted back to the sixties.

Steven Moffat’s Who scripts are always eagerly anticipated but what he delivered for series three was a total surprise and a resounding success. His talent for invention and ability to write sexy, modern dialogue are second to none. Blink is that rarest of things, an instant classic.