Doctor Who does Brexit #DoctorWho #DrWho #JodieWhittaker

So, episode 2 of the new series is called ‘The Ghost Monument’ and sees the Doctor and her companions stranded on a dead and deadly planet called Desolation. They’re also caught up in an intergalactic rally-race – they need to reach a place called The Ghost Monument to win the big prize, facing all sorts of perils along the way. At the same time, the Doctor is intent on solving the mystery of what (or who) killed the planet and its inhabitants in the first place.

Unlike the great opening episode of this series, the second episode doesn’t have that much in terms of a realistic sense of jeopardy. Also, there isn’t much of a moral dilemma to proceedings, so we are not as engaged as we might be – and the episode isn’t as compelling as it should be. Don’t get me wrong – there are enough decent scifi ideas to keep everything watchable, but the various obstacles really don’t challenge either the viewer or the Doctor when it comes to problem-solving. Indeed, the fact that the Doctor’s companion Ryan is scared of heights and ladders seems to be more of an issue than anything else – and then he just shrugs and climbs the ladder anyway.

The second episode also suffers from a fair bit of characters sitting around and navel-gazing. We get into a debate about whether its a cruel universe in which you have to look out for yourself or whether we’re all stronger together (even when there are refugees involved). Yes, it’s all a bit preachy and a not very subtle comment on Brexit. Then there’s a preachy bit when the Doctor goes all anti-guns, etc.

Is it worth it all? Yes. Mainly because of the new-look Tardis – which gets a thumbs up from me (even though I don’t like the redone title music). Oh, and there are more references to the evil Stenza (the baddies from the first episode) – so it seems they will be the main threat in the larger story arc. Thankfully, there is a ‘larger story’ going on – so that should keep us going even through the odd place-holder episode like this one. Episode 2 scores just a 6 out of 10 from me, but I’m looking forward to the rest of the series – as Jodie Whittaker is doing a very good job and Bradley Walsh is an absolute revelation! Onwards!

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Doctor Who ups the body count! #DoctorWho #DrWho #JodieWhittaker

I counted at least four deaths in ‘The Woman Who Fell to Earth’, the one-hour opener of the new Doctor Who series. These deaths ‘worked’: in that they increased the sense of jeopardy, none of them was gratuitous and the baddie was made to seem properly bad. This series certainly feels more mature and serious than previous ones: the evil aliens (‘The Stenza’) have come to Earth to conduct ‘a hunt’ in the Predator-style, and Predator is much more horror-driven and adult as a franchise than Doctor Who. The increased ‘jeopardy’ stopped anything seeming silly, puerile and throwaway – indeed, the action was compelling and engaging.

What about Jodie Whittaker as the first female Doctor, you scream? Well, Jodie was excellent. She was totally unaffected (unlike some previous actors in the role), you see. The humour was therefore natural, unforced and more nuanced. That’s half the battle of playing the Doctor, actually. Hats off to her. And the script seemed stronger than in previous series – although it could simply have been Jodie doing so well with the material. I particularly enjoyed the rebooted ‘sonic screwdriver’ being ‘a Swiss army knife, without the knife’, and the new costume selection in the charity shop. But that’s just me. I score the opener an optimistic 8.5 out of 10. Onwards!

The feds are worse than the narcos in Ozark #Ozark #Netflix

What would you not do to save your family? Would you agree to go launder drug money in the sleepy lakeside town of Ozark for a Mexican cartel? Would you lie to the FBI because you were already complicit? Would you start killing if it then turned out you were treading on the toes of local poppy-growers and about to start a narcowar? What would you not do?

It all starts small for the humble accountant from Chicago Marty Byrde (played excellently by Jason Bateman), whose business partner has been skimming from the cartel. Marty only avoids being executed with some very quick talking and fast thinking. He convinces the cartel that he can increase their profits if they let him launder money down in the south. He’s given 24hrs to uproot his whole family and relocate to Ozark. He then has one month to clean $8m – which proves to be far more difficult than he made it sound. But his troubles are only just beginning…

I’ll stop on the plot there, to avoid spoilers. Besides, as you might glean from the above, this brilliantly dark Netflix series (actually, there are two full seasons already available) is about how ‘good’ people can be led into dark deeds by making a series of small and apparently trivial compromises. It is also very much about how the small lies that people tell (ostensibly to protect others) are actually born from a selfish place and inevitably end up hurting people far more than they protect them.

Some might find Ozark too dark, brutal or lacking in a ‘moral centre’, but for me the show rings true. Nothing is black and white. Everything is morally grey. This is today’s world or, if not the whole world, then definitely Trump’s America. The show is satirical, funny, tragic, delightful, surreal and terrifying all at the same time.

Things happen that seem random… except they’re not. The events always come from decisions made by people. People sometimes make their decisions in good faith, only then to realise they’ve made a mistake. Other people make their decisions in deliberate bad faith. Who tends to win out?

The random events reveal themselves to have been planned throughout. There is genius at work in the writing of Ozark. The twists and turns are surprising, shocking, awe-inspiring and disorienting. We question reality and hold tighter and tighter as we feel it slipping through our fingers. Insanity and the loss of control are but moments away. We dare not look away in case we miss something vital to sense and survival. Utterly compelling. Go watch it. It scores 9.5 out of 10 from me! (Not 10, because I’m scared what that would mean.)

An interview with fantasy author A J Dalton! #fantasy #writing #authorinterview

The interview is on the Serious Editorial website here: https://siriuseditorial.wordpress.com/2018/09/05/q-a-with-fantasy-author-aj-dalton/

Killing Eve coming to the UK #KillingEve

BBC America released the tv series Killing Eve in the US back in April 2018. It went down an absolute storm and will be released in the UK on the BBC this autumn. A second series has already been commissioned. What’s all the fuss about? Well, quite a few things actually.

First off, it’s a mix of spy-thriller and detective show. There’s also plenty of unexpected and quirky humour – enough to keep us off-balance, grounded and frequently delighted. The main character of Eve is played by Sandra Oh (of Grey’s Anatomy fame) and she’s on the trail of a Russian female-serial-killer-for-hire. The female leads become obsessed with each other in a fascinating manner – hating each other as much as they are intrigued by each other. The weird but refreshing thing for the viewer is that we feel a conflicted loyalty for the two women throughout (we feel sympathy for the killer in that she had a terrible upbringing and is still being ‘used’ by her ‘handlers’). We await their confrontation with as much dread as bated breath. There are surprising plot twists aplenty, but they all make sense and never harm the credibility of the whole piece (unlike in a show like Sherlock).

Killing Eve does of course have a strong feminist outlook (as the Biblical reference in the title suggests), but the show is never preachy or high-handed about it. It never lets its message get in the way of good old-fashioned entertainment. Hats off to the writer Phoebe Waller Bridge (who also wrote BBC3’s Fleabag).

I enjoyed the series immensely and score it a 9 out of 10. Watch out for it!

‘Astrophysics for people in a hurry’ #astrophysics #sciencefiction @neiltyson

This short book (can’t be more than 40K words) by the American astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson will tell you all you need to know to impress anyone anywhere anytime. Anywhen. Honestly.

Don’t know your ‘dark matter’ from your ‘dark energy’? (Really? Sheesh. You need to get out more.) Then Astrophysics for People in a Hurry is for you. Always vaguely understood neutrinos and pulsars but not well enough to explain it convincingly to anyone? Then spend just a few minutes reading one of the short chapters and you’re away.

Scared of maths and equations? Don’t be. This book is written in a very accessible style with very down-to-earth examples (literally) that make the larger concepts easy to understand and also easy to remember. And there are delightful flashes of humour too and references to science fiction movies to stop things from being either too dull or too geeky.

And there’s even more. The book also somehow manages to weave in the history of all astrophysics to boot! And philosophical implications. And the final chapter is as thought-provoking as it is enlightening and inspiring. Neil deGrasse Tyson, I doff my cap to you. (And I have quite a fine cap, truth be told.)

The Frankenstein Chronicles are well worth a watch #Frankenstein

The first series of the Frankenstein Chronicles was actually made back in 2015, but it was aired on an obscure ITV channel, so never really got the audience it deserved. It has now been launched on Netflix and is apparently doing so well that there is talk of a third series being commissioned. So what’s the show all about?

Sean Bean plays detective John Marlott in the London of 1827. He is tasked by the Home Secretary Robert Peel with clearing up a series of grisly murders that are apparently inspired the novel Frankenstein. Someone is trying to stitch several dead bodies together in order to reanimate a corpse via the science of ‘galvanism’? Grave robbers become suspects because of their access to the dead… and then so do various notorious surgeons.

In the course of his investigations, Marlott interviews the poet William Blake and the writer of the ubiquitous novel (Mary Shelley). All the while, he is dogged by the journalist Boz (the young Charles Dickens). Fact and fiction merge in this series, as do reality and dream, to create an immersive and disorienting psychological landscape. It is properly dark and gothic.

Each of the two series currently available on Netflix is comprised of six one-hour episodes. What that means is that the narrative is brisk throughout, without any duff or drifting episodes. And because proceedings are brisk, plot twists come as sudden and genuine revelations. The finale of series 1 is awesome.

The Frankenstein Chronicles perhaps represent what the Penny Dreadful show was trying to achieve. The Frankenstein Chronicles are far more successful and artistically accomplished, however. And Sean Bean carries the show superbly, as do the supporting cast (particularly the black policeman Nightgale, played by Richie Campbell). If you like gothic detective fare I strongly recommend this series to you. In being set before the Victorian era, it also offers something fresh and different in its visuals and setting. It’s a 9 out of 10 from me.