Or More specifically how good is Bernard Cribbins.
Well Cribbins aside, we have seen a resurgence in UK genre TV, but I wanted to wait until Dr Who was finished before doing a wee summary. Not as in depth as my previous ones as it will mainly be me taking a sneaky opportunity to talk about how good Dr Who was.
UK genre TV has had a bit of a renaissance since the return of Dr Who under Russel T Davies four years ago, the shows popularity has challenged the BBC to do more with the Saturday Teatime slot and even encouraged some competition from the other side. ITVs primeval is now in its third series and while I don't watch it reports have been encouragingly positive. The BBC's other main series (Although not strictly genre) is of course Robin Hood, which saw some improvement in its second series with some riveting episodes and a very good finale, although it has not yet reached the standard of Must watch TV.
Dr Who itself has become a franchise, while the K9 animated series remains hung up in development hell Who has established its 3 series, Torchwood for Grownups, Sarah Jane Adventures for kids and Dr Who for all the family.
Sarah Jane I didn't manage to catch, but what I saw was a revelation in children's entertainment, it was well written, non patronising and entertaining kids SF, like when I were a lad. Anyone who argues that all we can give kids are US imports should see this. Its got its second series as well.
Torchwood was a vastly improved series from the misfiring effort we had last year. Now it is actually becoming a more "Grown Up" companion to Dr Who, gone is the pointless "Because we can" sex'n'violence and even swearing was toned down. This is possibly because a pre-watershed cut was asked for, so monsters that shag their victims to death were a no-no. It also had Buffy's James Marsters as Captain John, a corrupt time agent and former partner of Jack, and an over-reaching story involving Jack's long lost brother. It had some better ideas this year, we saw some of Torchwood's past, had some creative use of jack's immortality, some backstory from the rest of the crew and had a heartbreaking finale that saw the death of Owen (Who had become quite likable) and Tosh. For the future Dr Who's finale hinted that the new cast may include Martha Jones and Mickey Smith, I sincerely hope so.
Dr Who, the jewel in the crown, really fired on all cylinders this year. There was much trepidation when Donna Noble, from "The Runaway Bride" was announced as companion. This proved to be unfounded as Cathrine Tate did a fantastic job, giving us a companion who was keen to travel, and refreshingly, not infatuated by the Doctor. Her and Tennant played off each other fantastically and, truth be told, she as been my favorite New Who companion. Which made her ultimate fate in the finale all the more tragic. The series itself, really didn't miss a beat, highlights were definitely the unrestrained joy that was the Agatha Christie themed "Unicorn and the Wasp", the lesson on how to do a bottle episode that was "Midnight" and again textbook what if style episode with "Turn Left". By pure accident (the death of the actor playing Donna's Father) we received a standout character this series, introduced in the Christmas Special Wilf Mott, Donna's grandfather played by Bernard Cribbins has been an absolute joy. For a finale Davis decided to go all out in his last effort, we had Rose return, Sarah-Jane, Torchwood's crew all come together to fight Davros and the Daleks, the finale was a rip-roaring roller coaster of a ride, and while it had some iffy plot points the excellent performance turned in by All concerned, particularly davros made it classic stuff that not even a false alarm regeneration can ruin. The ending was a tearjerker with Donna slowly being killed by Timelord knowledge in her head, the Doctor was forced to remove all her memories of him, and advise her family to make sure she never remembers. The episode has two of who's finest moments, the TARDIS being flown properly by Martha, Jack, Rose, Mickey, Sarah-Jane, and The Doctor, and Wilfs final speech "No, no - but every night, Doctor, when it gets dark, and the stars come out, I'll look up on her behalf. I'll look up at the sky, and think of you" still brings a tear to the eyes.
Anyway, enough of that, the future, well, I'll miss having a regular series next year, only 4 specials, on the other hand I'll have a baby to look after so probably for the best, it will be 1 by the time who starts properly and with any luck will either be quiet or be interested.
Bernard Cribbins was ace. He'll be sorely missed in future seasons.
ReplyDeletePrimeval is well worth catching. Very much of the "daft and it knows it" camp, its not afraid to be some Saturday night silliness and not take itself too seriously. Both seasons have been enjoyable, with the second season having a more focused arc plot.
Sarah Jane Adventures is well worth trying to catch on repeats or DVD (whenever they get around to releasing them). It came out of the gate firing on all cylanders, which was an absolute revelation after how shakey on its feet, Torchwood season 1 had been. Most of its episodes rivalled its parent show, and "Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane" had a plot adult enough, and direction scary enough in places, to easily rank up with the great Who episodes.
And talking of Torchwood, I enjoyed Season 2 a heck of a lot. It was really nice to see that the creative team had taken a proper critical eye to what had and hadn't worked in season 1, and what emerged was a lot stronger show.
I'm really surprised its got the reduced episode count next year, and talks of "retooling", as this was a show that had just found its stride (even if the Jack's brother stuff turned out to be a big anti-climax).
Oddly enough the episode I caught was "Whatever happened to Sarah Jane" yes what did I do on my honeymoon, watch SJA.
ReplyDeleteI am a bit surprised about retooling again as I'd have let this year run, ok teh stuff with Gray was a bit pants but otherwise great stuff. Only possible bonus about this years Torchwood is that they may be trying to get it all done in one week and so pitch it as more of a drama serial like the recent criminal justice series. If we have what is effectively a 6 hour episode I think it coudl really work, or an ongoing story but have it set in a different Torchwood Time period each episode, with the last two or three being set with teh present day introducing Martha and Mickey.