Random thoughts

Wow! The best one for me! Burn Gorman seems to really relish the challenge of playing um a dead man! I found the episode gripping. I mean okay I suppose the story itself was slight but that was the point. The episode was all about Owen and the team's reactions to him. We see him go through a whole range of emotions: anger, apathy, despair and finally a contentment, a realisation that this may be all that we have and we should make the most of what we have. I think the message in this episode is very much a reaffirmation of RTD's belief that Doctor Who is a positive series and I really belief deep down after the rather fraught series one, that Torchwood is ultimately beginning to reflect that philosophical view of life. I like the way the story was structured with Owen's past three days since defeating Death shown in flashback whilst in conversation with a woman contemplating suicide. I also liked the positive spin on life at the end of the episode. I really enjoyed Joe Lid

Spoiler alert: contains comments on Dead Man walking. After the initial shock of seeing Owen die last week, I immediately expected him to be fully resurrected the following week. Okay strictly speaking this does not happen. It would appear that by the end of the episode that Owen on a half life form will be about for a while longer. In a way this raises an interesting and intriguing question: what is life? If you cannot do the things you normally take for granted, how would you react?. The teaser for the following episode appears to attempt to answer that question. However, back to Dead man walking. Jack rather predictably jeapordises the future of everyone for the sake of a friend. With some characters I would expect that to happen but somebody who has seen the consequences of time travel and the actions of others would surely resist the temptation? We see Jack in some sort of Hellfire club- I was a little disappointed with this scene- I'd like to have seen more of it and the char

I have no idea whether it is correct to apply the above title to the workings of the subconscious but what the heck- it sounds good! Why have I started off with such a title? Well because I'm basically trying to work out the inner workings of the character Alex's , protagonist of Ashes to ashes, mind. In this episode she falls out with her mother- a subconscious resentment of her mother's relentless career progression? (Is that remark I've just made an unfair one in which women are supposed to feel guilty for pursuing careers as well as being mothers?) Is her anger directed at the fact her mother died when she was young? Who says the mind is rational? What do we make of her the elevator scene? Is this all going to be the dying thoughts of Alex or the thoughts of someone who is fighting to survive? Will the production team try to make a twist where all this turns out to be an alternative reality. Probably best if it doesn't. If my memory serves me correct the idea b

You know for someone who is addicted to spoilers I was surprised last night. Well things started off in a manner I am accustomed to: My wife and Step-son asking me, very politely, not to spoil anything from the episode. Admittedly, I didn't know too much but I had seen the flashbacks to the Boeshane peninsula photos on a spoiler thread some months ago and I had also surmised by a poster on a forum that the character, Adam, would be someone who was capable of manipulating memories. I surmised this mainly due to the fact that the poster was complaining that the plot of the episode was too similar to Border Princes, one of the tie in Torchwood books. I admit there were one or two similarities between the two texts but there were enough differences to keep me intrigued. I enjoyed the scenes between Rhys and Gwen when she had no memory of him: this was an interesting and slightly disturbing premise- how would one react to this in real life? Quite powerful stuff! I am still not convinced

Last year whilst watching the dramatic reveal of Professor Yana being no other than the Master in disguise and then witnessing his subsequent regeneration, it made me vow that I'd never read spoilers again. So what did I do the next day? I went on the spoiler section of the then still titled Outpost Gallifrey! The dramatic and exciting events of Utopia had been known to me since February! Does it really matter in the grand scheme of things? Probably not- there are far more important things to be concerned about in life- or so they tell me! However, after that episode I went to a friend's wedding reception where I spoke to another friend who was positively excited about it all- I've known since February was my rather sour reply. It was at this point I began to understand why RTD and the rest of the production team go to great lengths to keep things secret: they want excite and surprise us. Another friend of mine at the wedding asked me not to reveal what happened on that epi

Personally, I was really impressed by this film and found it impressive. However my step son and daughter hated it and thought it was really lame. I found it gripping particularly when the monster first hit New York. Not the greatest movie ever but a ...( read more ) refreshing alteration of some of the codes and conventions of Blockbuster monster movies. This is what I wrote in a review for flickster movies on my facebook account. My step-son found the whole idea preposterous and complained that it was Blair witch meets Godzilla. At this point I had to point out that was the point of the film. To be fair on him, I think his argument that they should have just got out when the big monster thingy started bashing the army was a logical one. What won the film over for me was the sequences at the beginning of the rampage, I really felt tense and that is something I haven't felt whilst watching a monster movie in years- I genuinely felt unsettled by the visuals which came over like a p

When I first heard of this idea my heart sank: What's the point of creating a drama around characters who have been established as the figments of an unconcious man's imagination? How can one worry and feel for characters who in effect cannot die? Would a third season of Gene Hunt result in the character becoming a parody of himself?It was with a mixture of trepidation and intrigue that I sat down with my wife to watch the episode and you know what? I found myself enjoying the episode and thinking my God! it works! I confess that I do miss Sam- indeed I ended up rewatching the final episode of Life on Mars on BBC4 straight after the ending of the show. However, I think it is to be expected that the character of Alex Drake is always going to pale when compared to a character who we have grown attached to over the last two years. I am also willing to give the character time to grow before making a more definitive judgement on her. The winning point of the show: Gene, Ray and Chri

Rhys returns in this episode. Initially, I found the premise of this story rather dubious: the boyfriend of an operative in an alleged secret organisation helps the organisation out! Mind you I had forgotten, ironically enough, about the retcon drug. This particular plot device has its uses and provided an interesting emotional and moral dilemma for Gwen at the end of the episode: does she wipe her fiance's memory or not. The resolution elicits an interesting response from Jack. I must confess, I was unaware he had such strong feelings for her and felt as if this did come somewhat out of the blue. Mind you one of the reasons why I am enjoying season two more than season one, is that the characters do appear to be more likeable. I can remember reading somewhere that the producers of Torchwood were brave in creating characters who were unlikeable. However, I have to disagree: I prefer being able to create some sort of empathy with the characters. Don't get me wrong: I like anti-h

Too tired to think of anything profound or even mildly entertaining. I'm sure I'll have plenty to say in the future!- Mark Richardson 3rd February 2008. Probably not the most inspiring way to start a blog.  So 12 years later, I will start again. Welcome to my Blog.  In this blog I will publish short stories, reviews, extracts and blurbs.  I'm mainly interested in Genre fiction covering Science Fiction, History, Fantasy and Crime.  I don't get many readers but if you are having a read, pop a comment in the comments box below!  Enjoy :) Mark Richardson 25th February 2020.