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I've been a bad blogger...

Hello! I've been naughty - I hope Santa will forgive me! I haven't blogged since January and I feel very guilty. I have been very busy with work for the past six months but am now coming out of that heightened busy state to a more normal "business as usual" way of working so I want to get back to updating the blog and maintaining the news feed more regularly.

On the subject of Doctor Who, I just want to say how great Matt Smith is as the 11th Doctor. Quite easy to understand what the producers saw in him at the interview waaay back in the middle of 2008. Wasn't that a long time ago? And doesn't David Tennant seem like a distant memory now that Smith has stamped his personality all over the role?

The Sarah Jane Adventures continue to impress me more with each series. I am convinced that Clyde would make an excellent companion to The Doctor. Maybe when Amy and Rory move on, he should fill their shoes?

I have high hopes for Torchwood S4 with it being co-produced by Starz - who brought us the fabulously gory and rather rude Spartacus: Blood and Sand.

Don't forget to check out the superb "Ultimate Regeneration" book from the nice folk at Kasterborous. It is a compilation of news, reviews and articles covering the first five years of the return of Doctor Who to encompass the RTD area. 50% of the book is new material to put all the varied articles into context - with some of those articles written by yours truly. Check it out here...

Kopic's Newsround

I am now writing a regular feature for Kasterborous.com entitled "Kopic's Newsround" just in case you hadn't already realised... :-)

Here's the start of today's bulletin:

Series 4 news is still thin on the ground, but some lucky son-of-a-gun from TV Scoop has seen the first two episodes at a press screening recently and reckons that Catherine Tate as Donna "did a good job (or certainly a better job than I was expecting)".

I’m not sure what to make of that, personally. Is "better than I was expecting" a glowing recommendation? Apart from the first episode, Partners in Crime, which seems to be another one of those lame-ass comedy efforts like New Earth (read the article if you dare), the second episode, Fires of Pompeii, seems to have impressed the author who says that it "was just dynamite" and goes on to say... READ MORE

Don't forget to read Part 2 of the Kasterborous Round Table 2007, also written by me.

That's it. Shameless self-publicity over now!

Torchwood Ends! Doctor Who Returns!

I haven't posted any more reviews of individual Torchwood episodes... I kinda lost the impetus and didn't get fired up enough to write anything. What does that tell you? Torchwood has great "moments" but the bits in-between tend to leave one feeling cheated. Go and read Lawrence Miles' blog for an excellent summary so far. I wonder what tricks they can pull out of the hat for the season finale this week that'll make people actually WANT to watch more?

As for Doctor Who... Wow! The latest trailers look good, don't they??? Hope the show lives up to the promise. Only a few days away now. Head on over to Kasterborous.com and you'll see yours truly writing a semi-regular news roundup over the coming weeks.

Torchwood: Meat

An excellent episode, IMHO. Two in a row. I don't have any quibbles with this one, so if they can keep up this standard then it will all have been worthwhile! :)

I thought Kai Owen gave an outstanding performance as Rhys and gets my award for "The Most Appropriate Use In Character Of The F Word In An Episode Of Torchwood" for that wonderful shouting match with Gwen. Great drama. Did anyone notice that the louder they got the more Welsh they sounded? So, kudos to Eve Myles and Kai Owen for bringing fantastic drama to Torchwood.

There were no cringe moments for me this week. Even Jack's joke about eating alien meat was funny.

This gets a definite thumbs-up and a 9 out of 10.

As an aside, to anyone out there who wonders why we people who write about Doctor Who and Torchwood criticize the shows we profess to love, I say this... We genuinely love these shows and what they stand for, but there's always room for improvement and open and honest debate. This is true for every aspect of life, not just our TV shows. That's why we become involved in politics, become school governors, do voluntary work, join discussion groups, etc...

Torchwood: To The Last Man

Definitely the best of three so far, by miles. Touching performances from the Tosh, Owen and Tommy characters. It felt at times a little like classic Sapphire and Steel... and then Ianto and Jack ruin it all with that big snog. ENOUGH! WE GET IT! Jack'll shag anything with a pulse and Ianto is a love-sick puppy. Can we have at least one story where this element isn't shoved down our throats?

I'd give it 8 out 10.

BTW, I liked the rift key thing. As a plot device, it was just another 'magic wand', but as a lovely piece of Victorian/Edwardian brassware objet d'art... I love it! I want one to go with the fob watch in a display case with a copy of the Doctor's journal :-D

Torchwood: Sleeper

Hmmmm. Not sure about this one. Ianto was starting to annoy me, sounding like a naughty/petulant schoolboy most of the time. The story itself was a bit bleh - a bit "Terminator", a bit "Battlestar Galactica". Glad to see there were still no F words in the dialogue, though. Good!

Probably not one that I'll choose to rewatch. I'll watch Ep 1 again to see the masterful Marsters in action.

5 out of 10 for this one.

Torchwood: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

Overall, I'd say 8 out of 10. An excellent start to the new series and not an F word in sight. Or hearing. Loved James Marsters as Spike as Capt John. His British accent is getting better, for sure. :-D

[Some very slightly spoiler-tinged info ahead]

Only two things that detracted from the overall experience :-

1. We know Capt Jack is 'omnisexual' but why do they have to underline it and add exclamation marks to this fact by having him indulge in gay kisses? I am not a homophobe, but I do find this whole 'gay agenda' thing a bit overwhelming. I feel as though this is just a vehicle for RTD to write his gay drama under the guise of a gritty sci-fi action drama. Enough with the kissing, already! A short aside into Dr Who speculation... If Donna and the Doctor snog then I'll be sorely tempted to switch off until someone else takes over running the show.

2. More cases of 'deus ex machina'. It really annoys me when they come up with some techno-babble and a magic wand to 'move the plot along'. What was that rubbish Tosh spouted about triangulating on where a mobile phone HAD been used??? And what about that bomb thing that homed in on the DNA of whoever killed that woman??? How does that work? Is it psychic? Can it read DNA halfway across the universe for an event that happened in the past (or future)?

Anyway, those points aside, it was truly a great start to the second series. The old lady at the beginning was funny... "Bloody Torchwood," she mutters and shambles off. So much for them being a top secret organisation, eh!?!? :-)

So, keep up the good work and Go Team Torchwood!

Torchwood

At last! After waiting for at least 28 years since the last series finished a year ago (I think my perceptions have been overfiltered there!) Torchwood returns to UK screens tonight. Woohoo!

I find that I am looking forward to this much more than Dr Who's return this springtime. The Dr Who previews after Voyage of the Damned left me in no doubt that Donna Noble will carry on her relentless shouty barrage. I hope I'm wrong! We must trust that RTD knows what he was doing when he cast Catherine Tate.

Whereas, Torchwood is now into it's second year and has hopefully toned down all that unneccessary swearing - it just distracted from the storylines. Most criminal in that respect was Owen's comments about being a ".... buddy" in that out of time story (whatever it was called). Who actually speaks like that???

Anyway, as long as the swearing is toned down and the characters get proper development beyond the cyphers they already are but not at the expense of the storylines... then we'll have a winner.

Go Team Torchwood!