Quiet Week

By: Matt Kamen
Date: Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Another entertainment lull between conventions and events hits the UK this week, but there is at least one show on the imminent horizon.

BICE and Easy

The Bristol International Comics Expo is only three short weeks away now, to be held at the British Empire and Commonwealth Exhibition Hall in, well, Bristol. The event will be focused around the 30th Anniversary of 2000AD and once again play host to the prestigious Eagle Awards. Head on over to their site now to add your vote for your favorite comics and creators of the last year. There looks to be a bigger emphasis on manga than ever before at Bristol – not surprising given the surge in popularity for that sub-medium in the last few years. The 'Draw The World Together' charity event returns, raising money for EveryChild and netting you some nifty original sketches from your favorite artists. Speaking of, there are over 100 guests from all areas of the comics field scheduled to be in attendance, one of the largest turn outs ever.

BICE looks to be pretty comprehensive as far as UK comic conventions go. At this close to the event though, it should be noticed that the main hotel, the Ramada Plaza, is fully booked now but other nearby hotels still have vacancies.

Doctor Who Round Up

We're a third of the way through the third series of all new Who now and it's shaping up to be one of the best yet. Episode three, Gridlock, which saw the Doctor and Martha return to New Earth from season two's premiere episode, was the weakest so far but still a solid and enjoyable 45 minutes.

Gridlock started off slow, and the desperation to get somewhere was felt as much by the audience as the characters trapped in the endless motorway. The pace quickened in the second half of the episode though as the Doctor starts piecing together the mysteries keeping people trapped in the subterranean motorway. Tennant proves again how much more physical he is than previous Doctors with a rather nifty chase sequence through multiple flying cars, while Freema Agyeman gets to stand on her own for most of the episode after being separated from the Doctor. The problem with this episode was that the meat of the story felt like filler. We knew from hype beforehand that this would be the episode that the Face of Boe was to finally give up his secret, the one we've been teased with for two years now, and the wait to get to it was quite infuriating. It wouldn't have been quite so bad if the revelation had been something unexpected and not one that had been predicted by everyone who'd been paying attention to the series as a whole. It'll be interesting to see how that 'secret' plays out by season's end though.

Daleks in Manhatten aired this weekend and was a retrun to form after the slight lull the week before. This is an episode that did what Who does best – fusing seemingly disparate elements from real world history and outlandish science fiction together into a cohesive whole. Landing in Depression-era New York, the Doctor and Martha get involved with a rash of missing people cases from a homeless settlement in Central Park. That in itself could be creepy enough without the mutated pig-men running around or the appearance of the Doctor's oldest foes.

I couldn't help thinking this was a bit of a "Screw you!" to the Terry Nation estate regarding use of the Daleks. The short version is that the Nation estate owns the rights to the Daleks and their ubiquitous design, not the BBC. The Beeb had to pay for the rights to include the Daleks in the new series and even then, they supposedly only got the rights for three years. Of course, if the Daleks don't look like pepper pots on wheels by the end of the story and possibly change their name to reflect that, I'd imagine that leaves the BBC free to use them whenever they like… Ending on a cliffhanger, this week's coming episode should clear that up once and for all. Barring lawsuits of course.

Ratings for the series are holding at a solid 6.5 million viewers on average for Saturday night first run episodes. Nothing to be sniffed at for the UK and certain to guarantee the continued success of the franchise for the next couple of years at least.

New UK DVD Picks for 30/04/2007

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Slimline Releases

The whole series of Deep Space Nine gets re-released in space and wallet saving thin collections. Arguably the strongest Trek series to date but also the one furthest from the core concept, the Avery Brooks-headed show bucked Trek convention by having over-arching plots that spread multiple seasons and getting considerably darker in places than its predecessors. A worthy addition to any science fiction afficionado's collection.

The Outer Limits: Season One

The millenial update of the 60s' classic, the first season collection contains all 22 episodes and four documentaries and making of features. The anthology show has a surprisingly A-list cast to boast, including Ryan Reynolds, Beau Bridges and Robert Patrick. Bite size and generally thought provoking sci fi at its best.

Fantastic Children Volume Six

The final volume of one of the most unusual anime series to hit the UK. Stylistically, there's little to compare it to, its combination of minimal detail and subdued style almost the exact opposite of everything else being released nowadays. Plot-wise, Fantastic Children is best compared to a lost Brother Grimm fable inspired by a nightmare of the future. A haunting and moving anime series deserving of much wider recognition.

That’s it for this week. Thoughts? Comments? Hatemail? Contact me at mattkamen@gmail.com