Dalekboy

( No real spoilers in the episode descriptions, minor spoilers in the overview... )

The Myth Makers 7.25

For the most part Myth Makers is a highly enjoyable story, filled with wonderfully written characters. The portrayal of most of the Greeks and Trojans being over the whole ten year war is handled with a good sense of humour - they've gone beyond anger and through into boredom and tiredness.

The only member of the guest cast not to get any humour is Cassandra. Doomsaying her way through the story, naturally no-one listens.

The main cast are kept reasonably busy, except for poor old Steven who gets put out of the way. The Doctor has some fun, but in some ways this is Vicki's story. Which is odd as she gets nothing to do in the first episode.

( Spoilers )In some ways, with the sheer fun of the earlier parts, the last episode feels a bit unsatisfying overall. It's not bad, but it's a hell of an about face on the previous episodes in terms of tone. But then again, it's about the destruction of a city, so it'd be hard and inappropriate to the story to fill the episode with the level of humour present earlier.

Movies 'til the end of January, plus some thoughts and charts under the cut. 37 watched for the month, rather pleased with that!


22nd January
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)

23rd January
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

25th January
Final Destination

26th January
Alice in Wonderland (1951)
Tron

27th January
The Black Hole

28th January
The Invention of Lying

29th January
Danger: Diabolik

30th January
The Little Mermaid
Escape from Alcatraz

31st January
Scooby Doo
Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of the Four

( Read more... )

The Red Polo Gallery next door is closing down. Very sad about this, and sad for the owner, Ian, who is a lovely guy. Just one of those bad timing things - a handful of things went wrong at once, car troubles, rent going up, and so on. Any one of which was survivable but all hitting at once has meant he has to close his doors.

There are two other galleries in Cooma, but what I liked about Red Polo was that, apart from being right next door, he was actually doing interesting stuff and taking some chances with interesting and different showings. The other two galleries are very traditional, not a bad thing, but nice to have some real variety. The other sad thing about this is that the other galleries may possibly see Red Polo closing as proof that staying safe is the best option.

In other nicer news, we have so many insects around here! It's very cool. Today while I was out working in the backyard I found a nice big caterpillar, so called Lex over to look at it. The back yard always has at least four or five butterflies hanging about, so I was able to remind Lex about the butterfly lifecycle. One of his favourite books is The Very Hungry Caterpillar so it's nice to be able to show him insects that he has a familiarity with.

And while I was putting out the washing, there on the clothes line was a cocoon, so had to go in and get Lex to show him that.

We keep getting a variety of small beetles in the house, so most days I'll get Lex to carry a beetle out of the house in his open hand. Though he manages to keep missing it when they extend their wings and fly off.

There's also a nice variety of spiders. Was very happy with the Christmas Spider we had outside the ensuite, but it's since moved off.

There's a big variety of cockroaches, I just wish we could keep the buggers out of the house. Wouldn't mind if they were native, or could do Buzby Berkley musical numbers like in Joe's Apartment, but sadly they're just annoying. I have a lot more tolerance for the native variety than I do for the imports.

We also have at least three different species of ants in the back yard. Little ones, bigger ones, and little ones that bite.

Haven't had a really good look at what's hanging out in our trees yet.

Oh, and Lex impressed me the other week by accurately counting the four butterflies that were fluttering about him.

Nomination for the 2011 Chronos Awards for excellence in Victorian science fiction in 2010 are now open. The awards will be presented at to Continuum 7.

To lodge a nomination please click on the Read more link below.

( Read more... )

Been a while, but here you go... No real spoilers, but probably some in the comments.

3.05 Mission to the Unknown Written by Terry Nation, Directed by Derek Martinus

On the planet Kembel Marc Cory finds a dark secret that threatens the galaxy.

This is a fabulous mini-story. Wonderfully melodramatic in a very 1940's British war movie style, it builds to a satisfying ending.

One wonders what it must have been like, back in the days where the vast majority of the audience would have sat down knowing nothing about Mission, for there to be a single episode without the Doctor and no warning about this. One can imagine the audience sitting there wondering when the TARDIS would appear all the way up to the end credits.

And more than this being just a Doctorless episode, this story was nothing less than a prelude to a much bigger story, one that wouldn't be seen for another four weeks. How many people expected the following episode to pick up where this one left off and were left scratching their heads?

The characters are simply but clearly drawn, the stakes are made known, and an old enemy returns. Terry Nation at his best.

This was Verity Lambert's last episode as producer. In some ways it's kind of odd that her last episode featured none of the show's regular cast. But another point of view is that she finished on a unique rule-breaking episode, which feels sort of appropriate given the television program she helped create.

8/10

"The seven of us represent the greatest war force ever assembled! Conquest is assured!" - Robert Cartland (Malpha)

( picture under cut for the curious... )

The 2011 Chronos Awards for excellence in Victorian science fiction in 2010 will be presented at Continuum 7.

Nominations will open in one week and will be open for two months. The nomination and voting process will be similar to previous awards.

The key dates for the 2011 Chronos Awards are:

Nominations Open: Sunday 23 January 2011
Nominations Close: Sunday 27 March 2011
Voting Opens: Sunday 3 April 2011
Voting Closes: Sunday 15 May 2011
Awards Announced: Continuum 7 (see the program for details)

Any queries can be sent to awards@continuum.org.au

Wide distribution of this post is welcomed but please acknowledge the source and provide a link back.

While I'm still coughing, and flat out looking after two children and not doing much of anything else, a lot of things improved in the last days of 2010, including my movie watching. So here's the list of flicks watched to date. Eighteen so far, so rather pleased with that.

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So, below the cut are the last of the films I've seen in 2010. I lost the dates I saw them, but they pretty much date from the start of September until the end of the year. It's a longish list, 23 movies, but not as long as one would expect over three months. Moving house and all the hassles involved, plus kids, have put a serious dent in my film watching.

( Read more... )

Lex has been running around this morning, varying between playing with his toy drill, and carrying around and cuddling MaybeZoe's pink Minnie Mouse soft toy.

It's nice to watch. I like that he's free to play with whatever he wants. I know some of my relos would have been taking Minnie Mouse off him and giving him 'boys' toys to play with. As it is, I'm sure some will be quietly horrified.

What a shame.