This Week in Geek (25-31/03/13)

Buys

Got the two Season 4 Venture Bros. DVD sets at an acceptable price. I'm sure I'm not the only one having problems with how animated series tend to be packaged and sold these days, i.e. with fewer episodes than any given season contains. Are animation fans simply unable to wait a 13-episode season to come out that they must be catered to with slimmer, but more frequent releases? At least these are clearly marked as volumes 1 and 2. I can't even begin to understand the naming scheme for series I might want to invest in in the future like Adventure Time and Young Justice.

"Accomplishments"

DVDs: To get back in the groove before Season 3 airs tonight, I quickly flipped Season 2 of Game of Thrones, a season I found a bit slow and repetitive watching it week to week. I must admit. It didn't bother me as much on second viewing, in part because of the more rapid pace of viewing and because I'd since read the book (A Clash of Kings) and came at it from a different, more comparative, angle). I thought Denerys was screaming about her dragons a lot more than she actually did. But 3 episodes over 4 hours is much worse when we think of it as an entire month as broadcast. The flaw is that the show must cater to its actors, whereas the books have no such obligation to their characters. To keep them around each week when the plot has nothing for them to do, we get an invented romance for Rob, a heck of a lot of walking for John Snow and entirely too much of Denerys begging for money or her dragons' return. Not surprisingly, the best episode is the Battle of Blackwater where we DON'T cut to these various stories. The highlights are Tyrion's role as the King's Hand (no surprise there), a certain humanization of Cersei (not in the books), Arya connecting to Tywin Lannister's story, Theon journey of douchebaggery, and anything Brienne-related. Still plenty to see, and that opening sequence gets bigger and bigger. This was always going to be a more low-key season because the book itself is all set-up. Book 3 was awesome-balls though, so we're in for a ride (or a heck of a lot of cheap tricks to avoid showing the expensive action - please don't skimp on the Denerys thread). The DVD includes 12 cast or crew commentaries for 10 episodes (or really for 9, because episode 5 doesn't get one), as well as a thorough half-hour making of about the Blackwater episode, a half-hour round table discussion wtih a few of the actors (not in front of an audience), and a shorter bit on the religions of the world. No DVD space wasted on repeated encyclopedic text features, instead offering a booklet with the various houses and a fold-out map of the world, as well as a trading card.

The Hidden Fortress may just have jumped to #1 on my list of favorite Kurosawa films. I knew it was a major inspiration for Star Wars in how it told the story mostly through the POV of the clowns (and I swear you could put the SW soundtrack on the early scenes and it would work), but I wasn't expecting it to be so funny. Like, uproariously funny. I knew Kurosawa had it in him from Sanjuro, certainly, but in that film Toshiro Mifune's character was a clever kind of funny, a trickster character who spoofed the samurai code. In Hidden Fortress, you don't laugh with the protagonists, but at them. They're stupid, greedy, foolish, cowardly, and suffer constant reversals of fortune as a result. You want them to pay for their sins, but also to survive so they can get into trouble again. The slapstick is excellent too - I could watch two hours of these two guys trying to climb a slippery slope. Kurosawa somehow also makes this an epic story about getting a princess to safety across enemy lines, with some "cast of thousands" moments and a brilliant spear fight between the real hero of the story, again played by Mifune, and a respected enemy. The tomboy princess stradles the drama/comedy divide in the film, by not taking Mifune's crap AND allowing her experiences while disguised as a commoner turn her into an empathetic and wise leader. It's a very rich and satisfying film that smoothly changes tone to suit whatever characters are on screen.

The Key to Time season was one of the first Doctor Who DVD releases in Region 1, and for the longest time unavailable in the UK, so all six serials were in dire need of the Special Edition treatment and some proper extras. All that was on there, really, was a commentary track and the production notes subtitles. Coming so soon one after another in my review schedule, it was impossible for me to flip each story's DVD before moving on, but I'm slowly trying to catch up. Flipped The Ribos Operation at least. My thoughts on the episodes themselves were made clear in my DVD reviews (a great introduction for Romana, and wonderfully witty script), but if we're talking extras... The commentary track is the one from the original release, shared between Tom Baker and Mary Tamm who clearly enjoy each other's company and make for a fun commentary duo. The disc also includes a 20-minute making of for the serial, and an hour-long documentary on the whole of the Graham Williams era (season 15-17), which I found extremely funny at times (the documentary, I mean). Finally, there's a Season 16 vintage trailer, a few minutes of continuity announcements (from before or after the episodes, as broadcast) and the usual photo gallery. More as I get through the season.

Audios: No word on whether or not Sara Kingdom gets a second life aboard the TARDIS yet, but Simon Guerrier still gets to use her as part of the Doctor/Steven team in The Anachronauts, another double-length Companion Chronicles audio in which Jean Marsh and Peter Purves share the narration. Unsurprisingly, Guerrier brings his trademark sensitivity to both characters, but the plot is a bit confounding. It starts with the TARDIS crashing into humanity's first time machine, one meant to be used to escalate a war into the temporal realm. And then there's a long portion of the story taking place in Berlin during the Cold War that's pretty harrowing, but... What's real and what's not? Ultimately, some things are such red herrings that, while useful as characterization tools, large portions of the story aren't particularly germane to the plot. I'm going to say this one bears a re-listen in the future, when a more knowing ear will pick up on a certain thematic richness.

Richard Dinnick's The Wanderer sends the first Doctor, Barabara, Susan and Ian to 1903 Russia where they meet a figure from history (I won't spoil you), one who is affected by an alien artifact. As usual, William Russell is an emotional and convincing narrator, and the script is worthy of the voice he's been giving to his relationship with Barbara in this series. The story does meander a bit early on, but I think that keeps listeners from guessing at what's really going on, and there's some very effective acting from Tim Chipping as the eponymous wanderer. Or is that wanderer the Doctor? Or Ian himself? I was reminded of The Rocket Men in the way Ian's introduction was clothed in more introspective discourse, giving the story a bit more weight than its plot would otherwise give it.

In Tales from the Vault, Jonathan Morris makes use of two past companions that aren't part of Big Finish's licensing agreement, Grace and Chang Lee from the TV Movie, by casting those actors in new roles, UNIT officers working at the Vault, a repository of alien artifacts. They serve as a framing tale for short anthology tales featuring recordings made by Steven, Zoe, Jo and Romana I, which seem very cursory at first, but end up playing a part in UNIT's own story as everything comes together pleasantly. I hope their keep the promise of telling more stories from the Vault, as it's an effective showcase of the range's actors and variety of tones (the Jo stuff is hilarious). Good show, Mr. Morris, good show.

Gaming: I finished Sleeping Dogs on my XBox 360, a sandbox adventure (the only type of game I really play) based on Hong Kong action films. You play an undercover cop infiltrating the triads and getting more and more ambivalent as to where your true loyalties lie. Unlike Grand Theft Auto, you grow in ability, leveling up in Cop, Triad, Martial Arts and Face, and weapons are very hard to come by indeed. Instead, there's a pretty cool martial arts engine with plenty of moves, and even in-play violent animations when you pull a nasty trick on an opponent, like hanging them from a chandelier or dropping a car engine on them. To get 100% and all achievements wasn't all that time-consuming and far less frustrating than in similar games, even those there are plenty of side-games and side-missions available. One of the things that makes it easier is a restart from checkpoint option whenever you die or get arrested by incredibly competent cops. Lots of cool action, like bullet time, sideswiping races, and parkour, but also procedural stuff like hacking, safe-cracking and bugging (and karaoke), it all fits together nicely in an intensely dramatic story. As a major fan of Honk Kong cinema, it was cool driving around locations I recognized from so many movies (the trick is learning to drive on the left), though the map isn't a true sandbox. There are plenty of inaccessible spaces (jungles and even buildings) fenced off and acting simply as three-dimensional matte paintings. Overall, I quite enjoyed it and am thinking about getting the expansion packs that turn the story into a horror flick as everyone you killed comes back from the grave to haunt you.

Yesterday was Tabletop Day, an international event suggested by Geek & Sundry, and as a big fan of Wil Wheaton's Tabletop series, I wanted to do something. Decided on it last minute, but two or three friends accepted the invitation and we played a couple things, beer in hand. To break the ice, a Milk & Cheese board game (actually a magazine pull-out... I'm thinking, out of Wizard?), which we played with HeroClix just to spice things up. The ice broken, we sat down for a game of Cosmic Encounter, my very favorite strategy/board games, and Marty's giant-sized Macrons stomped all over my Amoebas and Nath's Subversives. Then Isabel arrived, but we were getting a bit tired, so it came down to another round of Milk & Cheese (Nath's dairy product domination was unchallenged) before we flipped the pull-out over and played its Madman board game and tried to get all the books Dr. Flem needs before moving to the True Love space. Marty won it while we were all stuck on that darned Dance Party. We should do it again sometime. Don't even have to wait 'til March 30th.

Hyperion to a Satyr posts this week:
Act IV, Scene 4

Your Daily Splash Page this week features a splash from every DC title, alphabetically, from Hawkman to Hitman.

Doctor Who #495: The Androids of Tara Part 2

"That thing? That's my dog." "But it's a machine." "Well, so is your Prince."

TECHNICAL SPECS: First aired Dec.2 1978.

IN THIS ONE... Grendel's plot explained, the Prince kidnapped, and the Doctor puts an android on the throne.

REVIEW: How awesome is Count Grendel? Before the Doctor showed up, he was clearly on top of the situation. He's captured Reynart AND Strella, the two people in line for succession, hoping to force the latter to marry him and make his claim a better one (then make her disappear) after becoming some kind of interim king when the Prince doesn't show up at the coronation. He's got guards posted near the entrance to the secret tunnels, which tells me he knows the Prince might have tried to get in through there (only mildly guarded because he's got Reynart in his dungeon), and has the Archimandrite eating out of the palm of his hand and ready to offer him the crown directly if the Prince doesn't show. AND he's got his men guarding the room if he needs to take the crown violently, AND more dressed as peasants to stage a spontaneous demonstration in his favor. The whole bit where he gauges the number of times he should humbly refuse the crown shows the kind of master politician he really is. Now he's also got Romana, the Princess' double, as a back-up should Strella keep refusing him, as well as an android version of her which could do the same, though here acts as a potential assassin (yet another back-up). You can't fool me, program makers, I recognize android acting when I see it. No wonder he tries the throne out for size. It's practically his already. Grendel is even ruthless and political in his personal relationships. Madam Lamia is a former lover, eventually discarded but still loyal, something he cruelly describes as giving her "attention" once. Never a word in the wrong place with this one.

Tara continues to benefit from nice locations and design choices, like the wonderful coronation room, with its massive alien clock and colorful lighting, lavish costumes (this is a story about hats, isn't it? Hats with nips), and Renaissance-inspired music (I haven't said, but on the whole, the Key to Time season has had strong, even memorable, musical themes). Through the political story, a portrait of the world starts to come together, and I'm impressed that the reason there are secret tunnels - for noblemen to escape walking through a plague-ridden city - is also the reason why Tarans started relying on androids (too many dead to keep the economy running). That's efficient world-building.

Romana shows some empathy for the captured Prince and loathing for Grendel, but otherwise, she's relegated to waiting for K9 to besiege the castle. As for the Doctor, he plays his role in Tara's affairs as a comedy to take the sting out of helping Reynart's men under duress. He's got "George" the android in tow, a dull-faced, gauche automaton who delays the heroes by hitting its head on a low cave ceiling, or sluts his speech to the court, adding some exciting and amusing complications to the narrative. They also keep the Key to Time in the story by showing Lamia try to drill it with a dremel tool.

REWATCHABILITY: Medium-High - There's a lot of pleasure to be had from Grendel's Machiavellian plans, but I think our heroes might have had bigger roles to play.

Reign of the Supermen #470: Silver Age Wonder-Man

Source: Superman vol.1 #163 (1963)
Type: Analog/Replacement

Last week, we took a look at Superman's first analog, Wonder Man, who wouldn't see a second story until he fell into public domain thanks to DC's legal action. Is it my imagination, but did DC reference that character 24 years later in Superman #163? Purple instead of red, a little cape, a hyphen, but otherwise quite close. He comes to Metropolis and steals Superman's thunder, replacing him in the hearts and minds of the citizenry... Superman should call DC's lawyers.

The story begins with Superman drilling under the Earth to put beams inside the planet's crust and prevent an impending earthquake in a "distant Western city".

Maybe there wouldn't be such a risk of earthquakes if Superman didn't consistently DRILL THROUGH THE EARTH with his body. His next mission is to help test a nuclear reactor, but this guy Wonder-Man shows up to do it for him. And he's at least as competent, even if the nuclear engineers aren't.

Superman is mystified. He must know who this cat is. X-Ray vision reveals he's no robot. Kandor reports no tourists have left the bottle city. Everyone accounted for in the Phantom Zone. But while he indulges his obsession, Wonder-Man is out there doing good works.

No wonder Superman's popularity takes a hit. When Wonder-Man brings an ancient statue to Metropolis, a gift from a South American country Superman was meant to deliver, Supes starts to wonder how Wonder-Man even knew about it. And when it starts to rain on the parade, the Man of Steel goes up into the clouds to try and change the weather, but he AGAIN gets trumped by his blond rival.

As you can see, the Silver Age Superman is always focused on his own popularity. Though Wonder-Man is doing good things, Superman brands him an interloper. He confronts the new kid on the block, and his fears seem to be justified when Wonder-Man tells him he should retire to his Clark Kent identity AND he pulls out a chunk of kryptonite. Superman is forced to let Wonder-Man have his career and take his place in parades, awards ceremonies and all that other junk Superman was always up when he wasn't saving the world.

As per the Silver Age Superman formula, this WHAT THE--?! set-up is followed by one of several flashbacks to explain said set-up. Wonder-Man started life as Ajax, the best and brightest of Superman's robots. That's how he knows Superman's schedule, identity, etc. Recently, Superman asked Ajax to fly into space to stop a meteor swarm moving towards Earth while he went on his earthquake-prevention task in, as it turns out, earthquake-riddled Canada (STOP DIGGING THROUGH THE EARTH, SUPERMAN!!!).

Ajax finds a spaceship trapped on a magnetic asteroid there, and freeing it, gets his knocked out by a smaller meteor. When he comes to inside the ship, the grateful aliens have put his machine mind into a synthetic human body with a full complement of Superman powers!

They also give him a chunk of kryptonite in case Superman gets jealous. And if Superman isn't already, he's about to come face to face with the green-eyed monster. Wonder-Man saves a helicopter in the coolest, craziest way...

...AND puts the moves on Lois Lane, which Silver Age readers will know as the girl Superman keeps stringing along. So Superman says goodbye to Metropolis and walks - does not fly - to his Fortress of Solitude to live out his days. But Wonder-Man is waiting for him there to tell him he's moving in. There's a fight and eventually, kryptonite prevails.

That's when those aliens come down and reveal they're really members of the Superman Revenge Squad! Flashback #2!

Sorry, Mr. Editor, but Attal looks quite young in that panel compared to the Reed Richards look he's now sporting. Footnote fail. But the point is, Attal wants Superman dead because Superboy once stopped his daddy from conquering a few planets. His initial plan was to throw that chunk of kryptonite at him when he came to investigate the meteor swarm, but he had to change it when a Superman robot came calling instead. He disabled the robot with a remote-controlled chunk and put his mind in a super-powered synthetic body, and gently manipulated him so that he would eventually come to blows with his old master... Wait. WAIT! Attal can build synthetic bodies with all of Superman's powers and THIS was his plan?! Sigh.

But it doesn't work. Wonder-Man swoops in and throws the kryptonite back into space and he and Superman throw Attal and his ship up there too. Flashback #3 reveals Ajax knew they were bad all along because they'd given him x-ray vision and a suite of super-senses, so he saw/heard them discussing their real plans. He merely PLAYED the part they wanted him to play so he could trap them. Superman is still being outshone, so of course, he needs to say he knew all along too. How?

YOU SO DIDN'T KNOW, SUPERMAN! WE COULD READ YOUR THOUGHT BUBBLES AND YOU NEVER KNEW. And if you did, like 10 seconds before everything was revealed, that is still the cheesiest reveal in any superhero comic ever. Get a room, guys.

But they don't have time to get a room. Flashback #4 tells us that Wonder-Man also heard the baddies talk about the expiration date on his new body. Alas...

And that memorial still stands today, or would, were it not for half a dozen Crises unmaking reality since then. Wonder(-)Man: He was born a rip-off, he died a cheap one-off gimmick.

Doctor Who #494: The Androids of Tara Part 1

"Do you mind not standing on my chest? My hat's on fire."

TECHNICAL SPECS: This story is available on DVD and in a Special Edition boxed set. First aired Nov.25 1978.

IN THIS ONE... Doctor Who does The Prisoner of Zenda. The Doctor goes fishing while Romana finds the fourth segment. The former helps fix a princely android, and the latter is captured by Count Grendel.

REVIEW: I won't lie. Maybe The Prisoner of Zenda is a thing in the U.K. Maybe it's even a thing on this side of the Pond. But I only ever come across it in connection to this Doctor Who serial. The program at least owned the fact that it was ripping off something its viewers would recognize, with the Doctor saying "It's been done before" in regards to Prince Reynart's plan to use a decoy (an android instead of a convenient double) so he can sneak into his own coronation without Count Grendel's interference. Don't worry about convenient doubles, there's one coming anyway, or so the sharp viewer might intuit from Grendel and his striking surgeon-engineer Madam Lamia recognizing Romana. A perfect double for the other noble in line for the throne, Princess Strella, surely. (In the Zenda story, the princess is named Flavia. Sound familiar? A Time Lord by that name shows up in 1983's The Five Doctors, written by Terrence Dicks who also script edited a television Zenda broadcast the following year. Hmm.)

Writer David Fisher's given himself a strong, if not entirely original, narrative base then (something lacking his Stones of Blood), but thematically, he seems to have used Zenda's mirroring and reversal strategy to create certain effects as well. For example, we expect the Zenda plot to center on Reynart and his android ("George" as the Doctor calls it), but a Zenda'd Romana is in the wings. Fisher has created a Medieval/Renaissance culture kept alive by noblemen, but the peasantry is skilled in such things as android-making. The fairy tale castles and idyllic woodland (great locations all around) hide a technologically sophisticated society. And where it's usually the companion who wanders off and gets into trouble, here the Doctor does much the same. With the fate of the universe at stake, he decides to take a break and go fishing (the fourth Doctor is just flaky enough for this not to be completely out of character) while Romana, ever the more competent one (as she also shows with her knowledge of chess), finds the segment of the Key by herself. In another twist, the segment is found in the first few minutes of the serial instead of at the end. Of course, it's immediately impounded by Count Grendel, so this'll be a recovery mission as opposed to a treasure hunt. The Doctor gets into trouble, like a wet companion, but the double-reversal is that so does Romana.

Has Peter Jeffrey ever played Cyrano de Bergerac? His Grendel certainly has the look and presence required. He's quite good as the suave but dangerous swordsman plotting to win the crown of Tara by treacherous default. Lamia (great names on this side of the ramparts, really) has a strange episode at one point where she zones out. What's that about? Thinking Romana is an android, they almost cut off her head, until they notice a swollen ankle. Write it down in your calendars, kids: November 25th, the anniversary of the only time a twisted ankle ever SAVED a companion's life. On the other side of the wood, the Doctor charms the Prince, a gracious sort, but rather written and played to type, by haggling the price of his android-fixing services DOWN. Reynart's guards are brutish non-characters, but they at least allow the Doctor to poke fun at authority figures, which Tom Baker always does well. Oh, and for the kids, there's an ape-like monster in the forest, but it's just a red herring.

THEORIES: I can't believe this is my second Theory post about the TARDIS wardrobe, but more information has come to light. This episode shows Romana enter the room beyond the TARDIS (which I'm sure is on a carousel depending on what's needed) and look at a single rack of disparate costumes apparently classified in alphabetical order. "Tara" (immediately the latest fashion for the exact era) is after Tahiti and Tally-ho. It's an amusing gag, but this tells me at least some of the clothes inside the TARDIS are mathematical constructs just like the capsule's rooms. Romana called up a "file" (T), which the TARDIS adjusted to current temporal location (which might explain some of the coincidences regarding companions walking out of the TARDIS with appropriate garb, like Sarah Jane in The Pyramids of Mars). If the clothes in the TARDIS are such constructs (i.e. were never sown by a person), it could also explain how they change to fit the Doctor when he regenerates into a different body type, or how his coats can have bottomless pockets.

REWATCHABILITY: High - An episode that has its cake and its eat too. It's a science fiction story based on a fantasy romance, and a faux-historical set on an alien world. Bit of everything, with nice locations and sets, plenty of twists and turns already, and a couple of great actors in the guest cast.

Kung Fu Fridays in April 2013

March ends on a Kurosawa film, and already I'm looking forward to April. What kind of Asian cinema fare will I be showing Friday nights? Read on...

Triangle - Ever since one of my Hong Kong Action Theater RPG players started using Louis Koo as his character's avatar (under the name Tommy Chu), I've been looking for a good Louis Koo movie to put on the schedule (KFF had already shown all the better, most available ones). Triangle is a heist movie directed in half-hour chunks by three of Hong Kong's best directors: Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam and Johnnie To. It's also got three leads: Louis Koo (our poster star this month), Simon Yam and Sun Hong Lei. It already sounds like one of our role-playing sessions...

Shaolin Rescuers - Is it me, or has it been a little while since I showed a Shaw Brothers classic? Shaolin Rescuers should be fun because it features the popular character of Pai Mei (yes, from Kill Bill), and if you know your Chang Cheh (it's a "Venom" film), should be violent, bloody, accidentally homo-erotic, and inventive in regards to martial arts and weapons.

Ichi the Killer - Takashi Miike's controversial Yakuza thriller was banned in a number of countries and condemned in others for its portrayal of violence and cruelty. The DVD even comes with a "Collector's Blood Bag". Uhm, ok. If I'd read the film's description and it had been made by anyone other than Miike (13 Assassins, Sukiyaki Western Django), I probably would have skipped it. But given the director's other work, I'm going to say this will be amazing.

Vampire Effect - Oh North American packaging... This is really The Twins Effect, a movie I've heard a lot more about, a crazy vampire hunting movie starring the Cantopop sensation known as The Twins. Edison Chen also features, as does Jackie Chan in a "special guest appearance". Donnie Yen directs the action, so that right there is enough for me to put this on the "to watch" list. Let's kill some vamps!

And that's April! Those who can't find my house can at least expect to read capsule reviews of each film on the following Geekly roundup. Cheers!

Doctor Who #493: The Stones of Blood Part 4

"Aren't you supposed to be offering me a last toffee apple or something? A blindfold, a hearty breakfast, a free pardon?"

TECHNICAL SPECS: First aired Nov.18 1978.

IN THIS ONE... The Doctor is put on trial by the justice machines, but he tricks them into uncovering Vivien's real identity.

REVIEW: What the hell happened to this story? The first two chapters was a Gothic horror tale about druidic sacrifice, old gods, precarious cliffs and bloody stone circles. The sharp turn into hyperspace in Part 3 was inventive, but made you wonder how it was all going to tie in together. Very badly as it turns out. Part 4 feels like as tacked on a Terry Nation trek through a swamp or a Bob Holmes Indiana Jones puzzle (to put David Fisher is the best known company possible). The Doctor is put on trial by the Megara - logical, argumentative "justice machines" who once destroyed their creators' galaxy after finding them lacking - in a white room, with Vivien Fey in silver make-up acting like a child blaming her sibling, and any mood cultivated in the first half of the story is completely lost. And though the trial leads directly to Vivien's defeat, that's a problem too. The Megara are dangerous to the Doctor, sure, but they become the instrument of her defeat and the Ogri's too, and one can't shake the feeling that the Doctor's had to manipulate a bona fide deus ex machina (at the end, they're magically dispatched back to their ship, and their earlier botched execution of the Doctor is so badly staged as to be a cop-out as well).

I do like the Megara in principle. They're a cool effect, and proper absurd children of Franz Kafka in the way they conduct themselves. I like how, machines or not, they become impatient with the Doctor's objections and legal wrangling, and I like how the Doctor has to play TV lawyer and solve a crime for them while he himself is the accused. However! I find it rather stupid that once Vivien is revealed to be the space criminal Cessair of Diplos, all her crimes only amount to eternal imprisonment, while every misdemeanor committed by the Doctor or Romana apparently invokes a death sentence. They turn Cessair into a stone in the Nine Travelers circle, which may seem poetic justice, but is completely nonsensical. What are they going to do with the Ogri they've arrested? He's already a stone. The episode's structure is frustrating because Romana, K9 and Emilia Rumford go to all the trouble of finding clues to Vivien's real identity, which all become moot by the time Romana returns to hyperspace with the evidence. And the Doctor's bottomless pockets strain credulity when he pulls a barrister's powdered wig from them.

And at the center of it all is Vivien Fay/Cessair of Diplos in as camp a performance as I've seen on the program to date, and though I'm quite capable of using that term as a positive, here I most certainly do not. I HATE HER WITH THE HEAT OF A THOUSAND BURNING SUNS! The fake laugh, the smug looks, the cartoonish grimaces, and the summoning of the Oooogrriiiiiiiii. Oh Emilia Rumford isn't too far from being a cartoon either (look at her final scene where she opens one eye to check if the TARDIS is there), but at least she's a charming cartoon. It's an energetic performance, but Emelia's character turns into an unquestioning ally of the Time Lords without much motivation. Like a lot of elements in the script, she's there to facilitate the plot, not to experience it.

VERSIONS: I'm unaware of any notable changes made to the story in the Target novelization.

REWATCHABILITY: Medium-Low - Tom Baker is clearly enjoying himself, but ultimately, the plot falls apart. AND I HATE VIVIEN FAY SO MUCH!!!

STORY REWATCHABILITY: Medium - The Stones of Blood is really two 2-parters. One a Gothic tale with intriguing characters and nice location work, the other a camp space opera/Matlock interlude. Guess which one I liked.

Indie Comics Week: East of West

Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Nick Dragotta
Publisher: Image Comics
Currently on: Issue 1

As predicted/promised/threatened, today's selection is yet another Image release, this one hot right off the press. Jonathan Hickman's new series is a western taking place in an alternate history where the the Europeans didn't completely wrestle the Americas away from the First Nations, the Civil War didn't really end, and a game-changing meteorite hit the center of the U.S.A. Now it's the year 2064 and despite the high tech, it's still a wild frontier. To complicate matters, three of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have just been incarnated on the Earth, while the fourth, Death, is already running rampant through the world (which seems to annoy the rest). It's a fabulous set-up, up there with Hickman's current indie hit, The Manhattan Projects (which you equally should be reading). Hickman's trademarks are present, including designed chapter starts/stops and a narrative structure that asks the reader to put together the pieces of the puzzle as the issues roll out. Hickman always plays the long game, but East of West really starts with a bang and seems more straightforward than Projects or his superhero work on SHIELD, FF and now, Avengers.

Co-creator Nick Dragotta provides art that's at once slightly expressionistic, which is well-suited to the subject matter, and slick and technical when it needs to be to create this future world. I particularly love the pale rider's mechanical mount, a crazy image worthy of this crazy, crazy story. I don't think it's too early to call East of West one of my favorite books.

Long weekend ahead of us, so this ends Indie Week (something I should probably do, in some form, every 6 months), but I won't let you go without mentioning some great indie books that didn't meet my criteria for this series. Every series I lauded in a Get In on the Ground Floor column but one is still going (and only one other is about to end), so that's six books I still heartily recommend. I'd also throw in The Hypernaturals (Boom!), a superhero book that blends Doom Patrol strangeness with Legion of Super-Heroes brand futurism; Higher Earth (Boom!), an imaginative action story set against a multiverse; Mind MGMT (Dark Horse), Matt Kindt's wonderful riff on The Men Who Stare at Goats; and The Massive (Dark Horse), Brian Wood's post-enviro-crash thriller and his best replacement for DMZ. These are all further along than their 6th issue, but none are yet at their 12th. If we're talking mini-series, let me recommend Brian Wood's OTHER book, Mara (Image), about a volley-ball superstar in the future who's hiding some unusual powers; The Private Eye (Panel Syndicate), another gorgeous SF tale by Brian K. Vaughn and Marcos Martin; and High Crimes (MonkeyBrain), a noir thriller set at the foot of Everest (I was under the impression this was a mini, but now I'm not sure...). And though I disqualified licensed properties, I'd like to say how much fun I'm having with Boom!'s Steed and Mrs. Peel.

Well? What are you waiting for? Get reading!

Doctor Who #492: The Stones of Blood Part 3

"Pow. Pow. Pow is a technical expression, Professor. It means that all the microcircuitry will fuse into one great urgh of molten metal."

TECHNICAL SPECS: First aired Nov.11 1978.

IN THIS ONE... After escaping the Ogri, the Doctor goes to hyperspace to save Romana, but is cornered there by "justice machines" and Vivien Fay herself.

REVIEW: The story kind of falls apart in Part 3. When my notes are full of questions about plot holes, inconsistencies and the like, it's a sure bet I wasn't enjoying myself very much. For example, how can the Doctor name the three Ogri from Ogrus? Are there only three? I know Gog and Magog are from the Bible, but what's the connection to celtic stones? Why do the Ogri need people to pour blood on their little shelf when they can obviously go out and strip the flesh right off people's bones? Should K9 be up and running already? And should his nose laser really act as a forcefield? I'm also mystified by the idea that hyperspace is said to be impossible, when the ships in Frontier in Space worked on that basis (a technology we'll also see in the future). The Whoniverse clearly has FTL travel, after all.

But perhaps I was put in a critical state of mind by some of the dialog and performances. Vivien Fay (or whatever she wants to call herself) has every right to be over the top - an alien criminal who's been acting the goddess for thousands of years - but I really hate her for it. It's too much and pulls me right out of the story so I can roll my eyes and sigh. While K9 and Romana had a nice thing going in the previous episode, here the Doctor just shouts at his know-it-all dog a lot, and it's irritating. Emelia continues to be the one to watch, exasperating the Doctor with her foolish bravery, as when she decides they should try and capture an Ogri. It's really too bad the Doctor never went back to make her a companion.

What saves Part 3 is all the eye candy. Ok, maybe not the Atari-style graphics (above), though that has a certain nostalgic charm, but there are a lot of visually exciting moments. The Doctor playing matador to force an Ogri off the cliff is right out of a cartoon, but it works. The Ogri attack on poor, hapless campers - horrific! The ship in hyperspace isn't so impressive a model, but the way the Doctor is fitted into its windows, and how the aurora borealis hyper-sky can be seen through them from inside are. I really like the effect for the Megara, sprites that bubble in size in time with their speaking. They're a particularly crazy idea in a story about evil druids, but there you go. We also get some neat cameos by past monsters, now dead husks in the ship's cells, like the Wirrn, and what appears to be an android from The Android Invasion. Amusingly, the Doctor pulls out a sonic screwdriver to just smash a lock. And for the 'shippers out there, the Doctor and Romana hug each other to stand on the X that should return them to the stone circle.

THEORIES: The Doctor tells Professor Rumford he's not from outer space, he's from "inner time". Being facetious, I'm sure, but can we make sense of the comment? If only Antony Read's tenure hadn't included The Invasion of Time, with Time Lords acting like border guards and the Vardans and Sontarans both attacking with spaceships, we might have been able to conclude that Gallifrey isn't in normal space at all, but somewhere outside it, inside time itself. Whatever that would mean.

REWATCHABILITY: Medium - Enough fun elements that you can safely switch your brain off and let the plot holes pass you by. The smug villain is a real drain though.

Indie Comics Week: Nowhere Men

Writer: Eric Stephenson
Artists: Nate Bellegarde and Jordie Bellaire
Publisher: Image Comics
Currently on: Issue 4

"Science is the new rock'n'roll!" This slick-looking book presents a world where the Beatles are basically replaced by a quartet of genius scientists and forward-thinkers, leading to a sort of cult of science, where even "punk gangs" are followers of a certain branch of science. Or to put it another way, it's a close cousin the Jonathan Hickman's The Manhattan Projects (another indie book you should be reading), but the mad science is public instead of secret. I'll admit, Nowhere Men is a very dense read, and as a result, sometimes difficult to follow from month to month. Part of it is that we're following a heck of a lot of characters, including the aging Fab Four and a whole crew of scientists on a space station owned by their World Corp, who are quarantined because they're turning into... not sure. Humanity's next evolutionary state? And of course, there's a conspiracy afoot, or it wouldn't be a comic featuring a corporation.

Bellegarde's cool, designed art looks just technical enough to fit this high-tech world and he brings a lot of imagination to the mutated characters and gear alike. Stephenson takes a page out of Watchmen by including a lot of in-world "documents", like magazine articles, fake ads, and book excerpts, all beautifully designed that deepen the world and give the comic a more cerebral edge than most. It'll all probably read better in trade, but some detail from two-page spreads might be lost in the collection's crease, so maybe the singles are the better product. And yes, this is another example of a comic that feels completely unpredictable.

And it's another comic from Image, which I swear I'm not doing on purpose. Haven't decided what I'll be talking about tomorrow, but I wouldn't be too surprised if it was yet another Image book. It's difficult for an old comics reader like me to come to terms with Image today filling the role imprints like Epic and Vertigo used to, a line of creator-owned books that push the boundaries of modern comics and tell stories quite unlike what the mainstream is doing (perhaps with more of a science fiction slant). To think, Image used to be about art-over-substance and overly-rendered, angst-ridden, teeth-gnashing, ultra-violent superheroes. The company has certainly grown up and I couldn't be happier.

Doctor Who #491: The Stones of Blood Part 2

"Hello. I hope that knife's been properly sterilised." "Blasphemer." "No, no, no, no. You can catch all sorts of things off a dirty knife, you know."

TECHNICAL SPECS: First aired Nov.4 1978.

IN THIS ONE... Vivien Fay is revealed to the druids' goddess, and some moving stones crush those who have disappointed her. Also, K9.

REVIEW: Hey! No reprise! It was so well done, too! And so is the beginning of this episode. Romana holding on for dear life looks pretty real, and even the CSO shot of waves crashing down below succeeds. Sorry Romana, the Doctor can't hear you, he's unconscious, strapped to a stone, waiting to be sacrificed by druids! It's with some delight that I note Romana eventually getting bored with her jeopardy. It does take a while for anyone to come to her aid. The Doctor's lucky this time. First, the druids aren't all on board with human sacrifice. Second, he wakes up at an opportune time, and as he so often does, he entertains by taking it all in his stride and making light of the situation. And third, Emilia Rumford shows up, taking an evening bike ride through the moor. Because that's the kind of ballsy, batty old lady she is. (One may wonder if she was at all the prototype for the 6th Doctor's audio companion, Evelyn Smythe. Evelyn isn't so dotty, but there's something of Emilia in her.) The druids run, K9 is called in to play bloodhound (listen for the wooden boards he runs on behind the tall grass!), and Romana is saved.

While I admit I haven't been too kind with K9 since he premiered, here the production seems to have found its sweet spot in regards to the metal pooch. He's argumentative, but in an amusing way. His computers start whirring for the longest time rather than admit he doesn't know something. He's used as a tool in acceptable ways (as a dog, really), and he's mortally wounded in a heroic battle with a blood-drinking, glowing menhir called an Ogri (that seems odd, what is its relationship to the ogres of folklore?). This would in fact be the perfect time to kill K9 off, because I've just suddenly found a liking for him. And isn't that always the way with generally unlikable characters? Their last episode is the one that will make you miss them. Of course, that would mean he would have died at the... hands?... of a great big slab of stone that would be one of Who's more ridiculous monsters were it not for the violent imagery that accompanies it. To whit: The description of De Vries and his Martha's gruesome deaths ("skulls smashed to a pulp") and the full bowl of blood the Goddess feeds it.

The Goddess, it's no surprise, turns out to be Vivien Fay. Those missing paintings all feature her in various historical periods, and besides, her fake laugh tells me she's hiding something. (It could just be a strange acting choice, of course, but the episode already has a terrible over-actor in Martha.) Once we know Vivien is the baddie, we're allowed to see her in ceremonial garb and zap, she tornadoes Romana to Oz with her staff. Expect it all to be explained scientifically in the next episode, though one explanation given in THIS episode seems strange to me. The idea that the Cailleach can take various forms makes the Time Lords come to the realization that it's all thanks to the third segment, which has metamorphic properties. This is the first we've heard of the segments having ANY properties, much less unique ones depending on the piece. Did writer David Fisher have conversation with the script editor no one else had?

REWATCHABILITY: Medium-High - The episode has some excellent visuals and great pieces of dialog too. Emilia Rumford is a fun, atypical ally for the Doctor, and for once, I'm even liking K9's contributions. Shame about some of the "bigger" acting from guest performers.

Indie Comics Week: Great Pacific

Writer: Joe Harris
Artist: Martin Morazzo
Publisher: Image Comics
Currently on: Issue 5

We've all heard of the new Sargasso Sea being created in the Pacific Ocean with floating garbage, right? Well, in Great Pacific, Harris and Morazzo give the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" a bit more heft, making it as big as Texas and solid enough to walk on. Part eco-fable, part thriller, the story sees boy millionaire Chas Worthington fake his own death and claim the Patch for his own with the hope of nation-building and finding a solution to an environmental disaster. What I certainly didn't expect was some myriad elements as Polynesian natives worshiping a cephalopod creature living beneath the makeshift island, a Russian nuke, and modern-day pirates. All that, plus governmental and corporate interests wanting to drag his ass back home and maybe steal whatever he's got cooked up for the Patch. Chas has got his hands full. And could a romance be in the works as well?

Co-creator Martin Morazzo has a style that's vaguely Manga which I find pretty appropriate for a story that takes place halfway between the U.S. and Japan. He's put a lot of effort into this book, because New Texas (as Chas calls his sovereign nation), is an incredible place to draw, full of detailed particles of plastic, and with a topography of vertiginous crests and shallow puddles. It must be a toil to draw the environment each month, but obviously a loving one. Somehow, this offbeat book is always near the top of my pile the week it comes out. I don't know where it's going, and that's a rare and precious thing (which will not seem so rare during Indie Week, because I think that's one feature all my recommendations share).

Doctor Who #490: The Stones of Blood Part 1

"Never mind. Forget it." "Forget. Erase memory banks concerning tennis. Memory erased." (Part of that line was another .wav file we had on an old computer for trashcan deletion or somesuch.)

TECHNICAL SPECS: This story is available on DVD and in a Special Edition boxed set. First aired Oct.28 1978.

IN THIS ONE... The next segment appears to be on present-day Earth, near a druidic stone circle.

REVIEW: Ah, no epilogue last time, so a massive prologue this time. Watched in close sequence, going through the whole premise of the Key to Time again is redundant, but I have to acknowledge that it makes sense in the context of how it was originally broadcast. At least they find a good reason for it in the story - letting Romana in on the Guardians' involvement, as trust is built between her and the Doctor - and ultimately, it's a help to modern audiences who might slide a random story into their player. Not too surprisingly, there at least one segment of the Key on Earth, but since the object will turn out to be alien, it may just be the TARDIS finding it more easily during its stay on that mudball the Doctor calls his favorite. Tried and true coordinates and all that.

After the serious exposition, some humorous banter, Romana choosing the worst possible shoes for the English countryside, K9 being literal, and in a reversal from past practices, Romana is a companion who needs Earth explained to her, but not the rest. It's a nice twist on the usual formula, and it means she's not really used as a cabbage head. The things she wonders about, we don't. The things we do, she's right there explaining them along with the Doctor. Sometimes even before he does. She's not so much bossy as she is super-competent, and he's the insecure one who feels the need to make decisions already made. Strong women becomes something of a theme in The Stones of Blood, with the archaeologist duo of Emelia Rumford and Vivien Fay showing up, the latter derisive of "males" (you may or may not consider these two Who's first gay couple as a result), while De Vries' house was formerly inhabited by a series of (potentially black) widows. Viewers who know their Arthurian legends should immediately sit up when hearing one of them was called Morgana, especially since we've already been introduced to a Fay.

I'm frankly surprised the show has never done druids before, which would have been a good fit under either Dicks or Holmes. Of course, they aren't really historical druids, but rather modern-day cultists using stone circles to conduct their rites. As is common in this type of story, we can expect their goddess, the Cailleach, to be some alien being. But for now, it all seems very supernatural. Ravens and crows everywhere (I'm pretty sure someone as reasoned as Romana shouldn't be thinking they look "evil" though), the mystery of stones that might be moving, a surreal tour of a house that includes missing portraits, a cool feathered creature/ritual costume, and the Doctor playing a role foretold (and that's the third Key of Time story in a row to include mental powers such as prescience - coincidence?). Spookiest of all, Romana being drawn to the cliff's edge by the siren call of the Doctor's voice. Ooh, that fall looks pretty real!

REWATCHABILITY: Medium-High - A strong mystery, a well-used location, some memorable characters, good banter... More than enough to forgive a lengthy and repetitive exposition scene.

Indie Comics Week: Clone

It's another hell week at work, so I thought I might save some time at home by giving the next four days an overall theme. While mainstream comics continue to get a lot of play in the media (both niche and mainstream), independents shouldn't be neglected, especially since there are a LOT of excellent creator-owned indie comics out there. The market is really exploding with them, and they're putting a lot of the Big Two's output to shame. Every day until we reach the long weekend, I'll be whole-heartedly recommending one such book, to which I hope you'll give a try. Ground rules: All are continuing series, not minis. None feature licensed properties. And none are further along than their fifth issues, with a better than average chance to go back and find the published issues, or not so long to wait for a trade if one is coming. Clear? Without further ado...

Clone

Writer: David Shulner
Artist: Juan Jose Ryp
Publisher: Image Comics (Skybound imprint)
Currently on: Issue 4

Clone is a no-holds barred action techno-thriller about cloning. In the first issue, Dr. Luke Taylor comes face to face with his own clone, wounded in his kitchen, there to warn him that yet another genetic copy of him is after him, his wife and unborn child. It's all part of a massive conspiracy that features not just those three, but dozens of Luke Taylors more (under different names, obviously). Is he the original? Unknown. Why has he been able to procreate when clones don't have viable sperm? And with so many versions of the same character about, are any of them safe? There's also a running subplot about a Republican vice-president who is to vote nay on a stem cell bill, but has an ill daughter who might benefit from the research, though obviously, that research is well advanced in secret. What role will he play beyond bringing a healthy dose of real politics about cloning into the book?

Writer David Shulner comes from television writing (The Event) and brings a fast pace to his story that just won't let up. Questions, plots, yes, but also lots of violence and action. Ryp's intricate angst-ridden artwork gives the book a strong, cinematic look that fits the tone perfectly. Clone is so high concept, it feels like a mini-series, but Image has announced up to #7 with no end in sight. That's great news because up 'til now, the book has been pretty prediction-proof. I could definitely see this get developed as a movie down the line (Skybound's mission statement is conducive to it), and I've seen a lot of SF thrillers that fit its aesthetic in theaters lately. But don't wait for the movie! The comic is such a wild ride, you'll think the images are really moving!

Doctor Who #489: The Pirate Planet Part 4

"Bafflegab, my dear. I've never heard such bafflegab in all my lives."

TECHNICAL SPECS: First aired Oct.21 1978.

IN THIS ONE... All the bad guys are killed one way or another.

REVIEW: There's a big difference between mad science used for comic effect and the same used as plot, and the meta-textual stab at bafflegab doesn't actually take the sting out of it. One instance might not be a problem, but almost everything that happens in this episode does so because the plot requires it, and uses technobabble to cover its tracks. We get a holographic projector that can transmit personality and knowledge as well as a person's visual, and that makes the hologram become truly corporeal over time. We get K9's ability to broadcast a counter frequency to the inhibitor already countering the Mentiads' psychic gestalt. We get the time dams keeping Xanxia's body alive ultimately needed more energy than the universe has. We get the TARDIS and the planet shaking apart when they try to materialize in the same space. And we get a finale that's fairly neat, but is all told and not really seen. The Doctor unshrinks one planet in the Captain's collection and fills the pirate planet up, and flings all remaining planets into the vortex, and I guess that's safe because everything's dematerialized(?). Ending everything on a "crude but satisfying" explosion (more meta-text) could have worked, but the Doctor laying wire to blow the citadel up is a bit ridiculous. Only "Newton's Revenge", turning off the inertia neutralizer to slam guards into the wall, felt at all earned among the scientific marvels on display.

Slow film scenes tend to drag the episode's energy down, but the death, destruction and threat to reality itself get it back up. Mr. Fibuli dies, sadly, and the Captain does too at Xanxia's hands. She'd been controlling his cyberwear all along. At least he dies a hero. His bluster shown for the act it is, he was primed to destroy Xanxia and release himself from her hold (though it apparently wouldn't have worked because TECHNOBABBLE REDACTED). His last acts of resistance come to naught, but the Doctor betters his plan and wins the day. It's happily ever after for Zanak, now positioned somewhere nice in the galaxy. I guess Kimus and his girl (a character with very little to do after all) get married or something. The Mentiads aren't to get new members, probably, but who knows. One thing that bugged me about them is Pralix taking charge when he should be the rookie. Must be the gestalt mind putting words in his mouth, but then, why speak at all? Getting the most out of the actors you're paying for, eh? In any case, they're good at pushing plungers with their minds (lazy asses) and manipulating spanners that can magically blow up an entire console (neat effect, but barely justified). That's probably got applications in every day life. Good luck, Zanak!

The balancing act between comedy and drama is once again well handled. In the comedy section, you'll find the not infrequent double-entendre dialog for when characters are sprawled together on the floor ("We've done it, Doctor." "Yes, the question is, will we ever be able to do anything else again?") and the Captain realizing his guards are so unbelievably stupid, he should just order them to destroy everything to make sure they do what he wants. In the drama section, you'll find a small touching moment when Fibuli is found dead, and the Doctor not brooking any argument from Romana as he commits to his final play ("Please go. Please go. Go."). No Key to Time epilogue, I needn't have worried (though I do wonder how they collected a super-condensed planet from the vortex). The idea that the segment WAS a whole planet is a fantastic one, of course, proving right here in the second story that segments really CAN be anything. So obviously, it's going to be some trinket in the next serial.

VERSIONS: Because Douglas Adams kept the novelization rights, this is one of the few stories not adapted for the Target Books range.

REWATCHABILITY: Medium - Plenty of action and excitement, with an occasional laugh, but entirely too dependent on technobabble and fantasy science to do its thing.

STORY REWATCHABILITY: Medium-High - Despite ending on a weaker note than it began, the second chapter in the Key to Time saga has some grand ideas and humorous wit thanks to Douglas Adams. It's his first Doctor Who script, so he doesn't quite have a handle on the show yet, but you can see how he'd eventually become one of Who's most loved script editors.

This Week in Geek (18-24/03/13)

"Accomplishments"

DVDs: Ripper Street is a new BBC series starring Spooks' Matthew MacFadyen as the police inspector who took over the Whitechapel beat after the Ripper murders, and its first series (8 episodes) proves to be a dark mix of Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes movies and CSI: Victorian London. The Ripper murders loom large in this world, a world where modern serial killing has just been invented, and the characters are clearly haunted by those unsolved crimes as well as their own secrets. Inspector Reid lost a daughter under unusual circumstances and it could tear his marriage apart. The sad and sympathetic Sgt. Drake must harness his innate violence and the regret that comes with it. And Captain Jackson, the brilliant yank doctor living in a whorehouse, why is he running from American lawmen? Those each episode features its own case, the overall story of each character is advanced, and neither introductions nor deaths are rendered meaningless by the next installment. This is a living, breathing, and very filthy world, and I'm happy to note a second series has been ordered. The DVD extras are quite disappointing however. Only a few minutes of actual making of material (with some depth, so the complete interviews might have been worthy), supplemented by material from other sources also owned by the BBC. So we have a 5-minute tour of Whitechapel from some other program, and the Jack the Ripper: Prime Suspect documentary that uses modern forensic techniques to solve the most famous cold case in history. Unfortunately, there's a SERIOUS sound mixing problem that blares music at you while you can hardly discern the narrator's words. Let's hope for better next year.

Flying Swords of Dragon Gate is China's first 3D movie, and it shows. Elements are too often coming at the camera, or obviously separated from the background plate. In general, the effects are overdone and not completely realistic. Director Tsui Hark has gotten better at it since the effects-laden Zu Warriors, but I find him closer here to Double Team than the superlative Seven Swords. Not to say the film doesn't have some good qualities. There are some great roles for actresses, many of which steal the show right out from under Jet Li's feet. There's a nice "special appearance" by Gordon Liu (as was remarked by my KFF club, ALL Gordon Liu appearances are special). And there's a nice mix of drama, comedy and action as the heroes go up against an evil bunch of eunuchs. Flying Swords, like a lot of modern Chinese films, I find, has an over-convoluted plot and could have jettisoned one or two subplots for clarity. It's fun eye candy, but far from the director's best. The DVD extras include some short but deep making of featurettes, 20 minutes of interviews with cast and crew, and a half-hour montage of behind the scenes footage. Pretty good.

Audios: Retconned first Doctor companion Oliver Harper's story arc ends with Simon Guerrier's The First Wave, and I'm sorry to see him go so early, though it does tie into Steven's heartbreak season, losing four - now five - companions in a row. Coming off a hard SF story, I'm surprised to find another, and one that resembles The Cold Equations so closely in tone as well. Again, Steven and Oliver are running out of air, and again, the cost of traveling with the Doctor is addressed. Making this the Doctor's first meeting with the Vardans largely redeems these ineffectual aliens from The Invasion of Time and gives the episode a bit more weight for continuity buffs. Needless to say, Guerrier's prose is once again a highlight, and while The First Wave is perhaps the least engaging of the three, it's still well above many Doctor Who audios in quality.

Quinnis was a world mentioned all the way back in The Edge of Destruction as an untold adventure from when the Doctor was traveling alone with Susan. Marc Platt tells that story in the simply-titled Quinnis, with some slightly spoilery framing material coming off An Earthly Child (which I haven't heard yet). Platt creates a strange and intriguing world built on high bridges, praying for rain and afraid of a bird-like creature that acts as a portent of doom (and played by Carole Ann Ford's own daughter). It's a beautifully told tale, in which Susan's willingness to make friends may prove a weakness, even though the plot often takes a second seat to descriptions and world-building. That does fit the first Doctor's era however, and Quinnis is at least interesting as a prequel to the series as we know it.

John Dorney's tribute to the Rocketeer, a first Doctor, Ian-narrated adventure called The Rocket Men, is quite exciting, as pulp SF should be. William Russell really captures the breathless, hair-raising action that's demanded of him by a script that keeps turning every situation into a cliffhanger. This is done with an unusual structure that goes back and forth between two sequences, often revealing how Ian will get out of the situation through retroactive story-telling. It's very well done, and it would work simply as an action piece. However, Dorney goes the extra mile by making this about the Ian-Barbara relationship, exploring the feelings that seemed obvious on screen without any television script making note of it (at least, until the Sarah Jane Adventures). I'm loving the heck out of the 1st Doctor Companion Chronicles.

Gaming: Organized a video game Olympiad for university students this Friday. The idea was to have teams compete in a variety of games of all types and all eras. We had everything from Halo 4 on the Xbox 360 all the way back to Missile Command on the Atari 2600. The most recent NHL game on the PS3 and the original Zork. Players had to score millions of points on the Dreamcast's Giga Wings 2, do choreography for Just Dance 3, and reduce pollution in a SimCity 2000 version of Sault-Ste-Marie (I'm kidding, I think it was Chicago). And we had popular games like StarCraft II, Sonic, Angry Birds, Super Smash Brothers and Mario Kart, but also obscure dreck like Super Nintendo's Shaq Fu. I hope the teams had fun. As the one handling the Zork station, I can't say I was met with anything other than players' puzzlement and frustration. "You mean there aren't any graphics?" At least no one was eaten by a grue.

Hyperion to a Satyr posts this week:
Act IV, Scenes 1-3 - French Rock Opera

Your Daily Splash Page this week features a splash from every DC title, alphabetically, from Hawk and Dove to Hawkman.

Doctor Who #488: The Pirate Planet Part 3

"You don't want to take over the universe, do you? No. You wouldn't know what to do with it, beyond shout at it."

TECHNICAL SPECS: First aired Oct.14 1978.

IN THIS ONE... The Mentiads are nice after all, old Queen Xanxia is found surrounded by time dams, and K9 brings back a dead parrot.

REVIEW: The dreaded Part 3 padding syndrome rears its ugly head, with plenty of shots of people walking in a field and the Doctor finding himself BACK into enemy hands (there's even a repriese of the all-sorts trap), but it tries to throw a lot of stuff at the screen so you don't notice. And though there are some memorable set pieces, a lot of time is spent on straight exposition. Some of it is of the recap variety - Zanak's gobbling up of planets - but most of it sets up what is to come - how the Captain came to the planet, who Queen Xanxia was, where the Mentiads' powers come from, and various explanations of the technologies used onscreen. With Romana pretty much on the ball this serial, it's up to Kimus to be the cabbage head, which makes him ask "What's that?" a lot, twice when poiting to people, and both times, the Doctor says "It's your beloved ___________". Let's just say it's not my favorite script of the lot.

While the Captain's incessant shouting is getting tiresome, it's still fun to see Mr. Fibuli manage his temper, or the nurse lord over him in an understated way (is there ANY doubt she's really Xanxia by this point?). His best moments are when the Doctor appeals to his warrior's code and when he shows off his awesome collection of crushed planets. But though he tries to chew up as much of the scenery as possible, it's still Tom Baker who steals the show. Not with his usual wit and manic energy, but with actual emotion. When he discovers the true monstrosity of the Captain's plans, there's complete disbelief and outrage. Not just anger, but a sense that the Doctor might just break down and cry at the scope of this man's thoughtless acts of genocide. Acts that are so beyond his comprehension, morally, that the next few scenes have him more distracted than he's been since maybe The Time Monster, when he was haunted by his inability to catch the Master. One step behind on ever part of the Captain's plan, realizing too late that the Mentiads - the voice and fist of a host of dead worlds - are heading into an ambush. And he doesn't even know Earth is the next target yet! (On this, let me just say it's over-egging the pudding. It's like the audience can't see this evil for what it is unless our own world is threatened. It's a cheap coincidence and we don't see Earth or anything by the end of this. They might at least have named a needed mineral we actually know.)

The more action-oriented set pieces include the Doctor walking the plank in the cliffhanger (very piratey), and of course, K9's duel with the Captain's Avitron. We knew the latter had to happen. We wanted it to happen. And perhaps because of that, we accept how it stretches the show's effects to their breaking point. It doesn't look very good by today's standards, and maybe even by the day's, but you tell me if K9 bringing the robot bird in doesn't make it all worth it. (Aw, he made the Captain cry.) It's the best use K9's been put to all episode, as the rest strains credulity. He pilots an aircar? His sensors can detect something happening "all over the planet"? Up until now, K9's been used as last-minute laser gun rescue or comic foil, but this is really the first time he's become a fully-fledged companion. Or depending on your appreciation of the metal dog, a rolling deus ex machina that can do anything the plot requires it to.

REWATCHABILITY: Medium - Rather talky and the dialog isn't always up to standards, but Baker is very strong and the production continues to create vivid images and high concept SF concepts.

Reign of the Supermen #469: Wonder Man

Source: Wonder Comics #1 (1939)
Type: Analog

When we think of early Superman analogs, especially those what was then DC Comics went after legally with cease and desist court orders, our thoughts will usually go to Captain Marvel. But there was one hero who preceded the Big Red Cheese, much closer on the heels of Action Comics #1 (only 6 weeks later!!!), and about a year before Billy Batson ever uttered the word "Shazam". That hero was Wonder Man, a Will Eisner/S.M. Iger creation made to order for publisher Victor Fox to cash in on the Man of Steel's overnight success. DC's reaction was swift and immediate, and Wonder Man wouldn't appear in a second issue of Wonder Comics. Today, we wouldn't look at this character and think "Superman", but back when Superman was the ONLY superhero, anything like him (i.e. a super strongman in tights with a secret identity) was derivative enough to warrant legal action. Once DC and other comics companies created more diverse superheroes, the character became a whole genre, and it would require a lot more to call someone out for plagiarism. A Wonder Man appearing 2 years later, for example, probably wouldn't have been a problem. Thankfully, his one story starts with a one-panel origin so can look at how closely he matched Superman's paradigm:

Fred Carson is given amazing strength by a magic ring given to him by Tibetan mystics, and keeps a day job as a "timid radio engineer and inventor". Those elements all sound closer to Captain Marvel's details-to-be, but we'll concede that 1) "Wonder Man" isn't a far cry from "Superman", 2) one plays at being timid and the other at being "mild-mannered", and 3) they have the same powers. Just look at how Eisner draws Wonder Man running at locomotive speeds, looks awfully familiar.

Obviously, there's also a girl around the office, the boss' daughter Brenda/Nora (this is an obvious rush job, with character names changing between panels and Wonder Man inconsistently wearing hia mask), acting as a Lois Lane stand-in.

So whatever happened to Wonder Man when he was denied a second issue? No one knows. At least he had skills he could fall back on in the job market.

Wonder Comics would go on, and Wonder Man's loss would be The Flame's gain.

But now that nobody cares and he's fallen into public domain, Wonder Man has made a comeback through the magic of web comics!

You can follow his adventures at http://wondermanexcelsior.blogspot.com !

Doctor Who #487: The Pirate Planet Part 2

"I'll never be cruel to an electron in a particle accelerator again."

TECHNICAL SPECS: First aired Oct.7 1978.

IN THIS ONE... Romana is arrested. The Doctor rescues her. They go down to the mines and discover Zanak's terrible secret.

REVIEW: I could look it up, check through some program guides, etc., but I wanted to see if I could detect the influence of Star Wars on the program for myself. Ever since Graham Williams took over as producer, there's been a greater emphasis on space opera, certainly, but that could just as well have been a reaction to the more down-to-Earth Hinchcliffe era. The show's always had rayguns and spaceships, so that's not enough to say, "Ah! The program makers have seen Star Wars and are rethinking everything!". This episode is the first time I can point at the screen and actually say just that. The aircar is a dead giveaway, looking a heck of a lot like Luke's land speeder, but the Mentiads are starting to look more and more like the Jedi. Powerful mental powers, the robes... and K9 saying their abilities leave "a disturbance in the ether". Clealry, he's got anti-copyright violation software. And one could conceivably tie Zanak to the Death Star, at least in function. I'm not ready to say Douglas Adams was doing more than winking at the SF sensation of his day, but the design team certainly went there.

Regardless, Adams does manage a good equilibrium between comedy and drama. We've got Romana talking about her first aircar like a spoiled little girl, and handling the Captain with an innocence born of a sense of superiority. How can she really be in danger from this posturing bully when she's an awesome Time Lord? It's quite amusing. Some of the humor is more obvious and thus weaker, like those stupid, stupid guards. The Doctor can knock on their helmets and not get a reaction, the fool who follows a trail of all-sorts and gets his car stolen meekly waves away at the thieves, and their marksmanship makes Stormtroopers look like elite snipers (is it me, or are those guns rather rude too?). Tom Baker goes slightly over the top at times, once again - grrrr - looking right into camera to deliver an ad lib, but he has some strong moments too. His Doctor is always great when working under duress, consistently acting like working for the enemy was his idea all along, outpacing his escorts, and in this case, offering double-salutes to the Captain. I love how he arrives on the Bridge just as orders are given that he might be found, fast-talking his way through the scene. The drama comes from the premise itself. Zanak is a "pirate planet" because it materializes around small world and strips them of their minerals, killing all life in the process. No wonder the Mentiads are always screaming about murder (it's Obi-Wan and the souls of Alderan). And who's this new character, the Captain's fetching but creepy nurse who seems more in control than he is? Is the release he seeks from her clutches? There's a certain pathos in the way the Captain seems to fall into a fit, his eyes rolling in his head in every direction, after(?) she administers his treatment. He's not the big boss here. Kimus vowing to avenge Bandraginus V achieves a kind of absurd earnestness that represents well the serial's dual tone.

So nice science fiction ideas throughout - lest Adams be known only for silliness - including the teleporting planet and the inertialess corridor. The location work is surprisingly complementary to the studio stuff, the power plant used as Zanak's engines filled with solid colors that match the Bridge's palette, and a large structure (doors) built into a cliff face. The mine has the proper look as well. Yes, you suddenly realize you're in the real world all of a sudden, but nothing really clashes with the production's design ethic (like it did in The Invasion of Time).

REWATCHABILITY: Medium-High - While some of the comedy bits did annoy me slightly, the episode is filled with fantastic ideas, cool character humor and impressive sense of design.

Get Out of the Beast's Face!

A puzzle for the kids because TGIF.

Doctor Who #486: The Pirate Planet Part 1

"Diamonds, Andromedan bloodstones, gravel, more diamonds. Don't they have street sweepers here?"

TECHNICAL SPECS: This story is available on DVD and in a Special Edition boxed set. First aired Sep.30 1978.

IN THIS ONE... The first episode by Douglas Adams. The TARDIS apparently lands on the wrong planet. There's a pirate captain with a robot parrot on his shoulder, and "Mentiads" attack the town.

REVIEW: I'm trying to look at this one with fresh eyes, but I've seen it too often not to know what's really going on. It's actually pretty amazing how close to the vest Part 1 plays things - Why isn't this Calufrax? Where are the precious stones coming from? Why is there a captain, but no ship? Who are the Mentiads and why do they chant about being murderers? Even old Queen Xanxia gets a mention - All that stuff will be explained or pay off in due course. Adams is well-known for his humor, and that shows through here, but he isn't given credit very often for his plotting. The way The Pirate Planet is set up, all mysteries ready to unfold, should work to remedy that.

While Adams' brand of humor can be found in the borderline silly names of people and places (Bandraginus V is even just a letter away from where one of the Pan Galactic Gargleblaster's ingredients comes from - Adams loves conflating his Hitchhikers' Guide universe with Doctor Who's), it plays out mostly through the characters. We get the Romana from The Ribos Operation Part 1 back, the Romana who likes to mock the Doctor and can even be insolent with fascist-looking guards, the Romana who knows how to drive the TARDIS better than the Doctor does, a Romana who can get the locals' attention when the Doctor completely fails at it, and even steals his jelly babies shtick. Frankly, I'm surprised he didn't take more offense when she called his "capsule" a "vintage vehicle". I'm still not keen on the K9-Romana pairing, but at least he takes her side (there's something in that dog's innate programming that seems to favor companions) and makes a handy chair. Not sure what the tin dog means by knocking guards out "indefinitely" - sounds like death or coma to me... Not much comedy from the family we meet, but then these kinds of stories need earnest rebels to  question their obviously evil leaders (it must be said the telepathic Mentiads talk like baddies too, even if they're on the side of right; maybe they should use the word "recruit" instead of "harvest"). The villains ARE funny though. The Captain has a most outlandish patois, off-the-charts bluster that may be part of an act if his quieter moment, yearning for release, is any indication. Mr. Fibuli (great comedy name) is his classic whipping boy. And of course, there's the robot parrot. A ROBOT PARROT. That's funny without even trying, and I love the moment when it sees K9 on the monitor and the camera zooms on its non-expression. These two were made to be archenemies.

Zanak, the planet that is not Calufrax, is no Ribos either. Its beige clay walls, empty squares and low wet hills aren't much to look at, though one can appreciate the contrast of the technological fortress overlooking the town. Go inside the buildings, however, and there's a world of color there. The townsfolk paint their walls with vegetation, while the pirates live in a technical world of pure blacks and colors. And both favor strongly designed color on their clothes. The Mentiads are really the only unfashionable characters in the program. One characteristic they ALL share is rudeness, which I guess is what happens when you have a whole planet of rich people... even if they clearly can't have an economy that runs on jewels falling from the sky.

Oh yes, one small note about the Doctor's dog-bitten lip. Not unusually, the serials weren't shot in order because it appears quite fresh here and there's even an in-story reason for it. Bangs his lip on console. Yeah, bit stagey, that. You'll just have to use the word timey-wimey to describe the scar he has in The Ribos Operation...

THEORIES: Romana's read the files on the Doctor and is our best, objective source on the Doctor's early years and time line. In the previous serial, she gave the Doctor's age as 756. Here, we discover he's been traveling in the TARDIS for 523 years. In other words, he left Gallifrey when he was 233. Now let's remember that he said he was 450 in Tomb of the Cybermen, which given the unbroken string of companions can't be more than  4 years or so after An Unearthly Child. I'm less interested in the 300-year gap between the 2nd and 4th Doctors (it could prove the existence of Season 6b, which I'll only discuss in The Two Doctors, or could be played after The Invasion of Time or mid-Robot to account for the events of The Face of Evil), than I am about the 200+ years unaccounted for between his leaving Gallifrey and having to leave Totter's Lane in a hurry. If these numbers are correct, Susan appears to have been older than Romana is at this moment, and in fact be as old as the Doctor was when he stole the TARDIS! Or are we to understand she regenerated into a younger body at some point? Or more likely, that he went back for her long after he left left the planet, perhaps on a call from her mother or father? For extracanonical completists, that would allow him some time to play with his other grandkids, from the era's comic strips, at least. But you'd think the Doctor would have a better handle on the TARDIS controls in Season 1 if he'd been flying it for 200 years, so the explanation may be completely different. What if he piloted this very TARDIS on observation missions and the like well before he had the idea to run away with it? That would allow him to pilot the capsule for the correct length of time, yet have An Unearthly Child take place only a few years after his and Susan's escape from their homeworld.

REWATCHABILITY: Medium-High - Douglas Adams throws plenty of mysteries at us and does so with gusto and a balanced dollop of his trademark humor. A promising start to an important relationship between this writer and the show.