London Loop Sections 19 and 20

Well, I'd planned to do these two in April as per my previous post, but La Niña had other plans, what with it having been rather wet recently.

When I actually did do it, the British weather just couldn't seem to make its mind up, as it commonly does...

Section 19 (Chingford to Chigwell)

The forecast was for possibly thundery showers (at least from the BBC) and the rain started as I was travelling up to Chingford on the Overground. I decided that I would take things a bit at a time, being prepared to abandon the walk if things got too bad.

This 4.1 mile section took me two hours and five minutes to do, partly due to difficulties finding my way to the next part of the route in Buckhurst Hill. The Forclaz trekking hat I got from Decathlon did wonders at keep the rain and later the sun off my head.

This section, which takes you through the eastern part of Epping Forest, is fairly flat and generally easy walking, but there were some badly overgrown bits that I had difficulty getting through. I also ended up walking along a road as the main route was a quagmire, stepping onto the verge when traffic was approaching.

I reached Chigwell and a light lunch in one of the local gastropubs, during which the rain came down, also drenching the people at Trooping the Colour in Central London.

I gave serious consideration to going home at that point, but when I came out, the rain had stopped and the wind wasn't too bad.

Section 20 (Chigwell to Havering-atte-Bower)

Like I said, the weather was inconsistent. The wind came and went. The rain stopped, then started, then stopped...

This section was supposed to be 6.4 miles, but it ended up being somewhat longer due to the fact I managed to end up badly off in course in Hainault Forest Country Park, followed by the golf course straight after. The mud got quite bad in some sections, but generally only in the bits under tree cover. The rain got quite heavy at times, but my clothing was waterproof and the hat worked as well.

The walk also took me past two massive piles of manure and this rather interesting sign at the Chigwell Row Water Works:

As I reached my home borough of Havering, the rain still fairly heavy and dark clouds in the sky, I did consider aborting at several points, but decided to push on.

You can see all the way to Central London at various points of the Loop, which I might have mentioned before:

As I neared the end of the walk, I entered Havering Country Park, where I had been told that there were some sequoias present - examples of what can grow to be utterly huge trees. I didn't initially see and wondered if I couldn't see the trees for the wood.

I did eventually find them though along a long avenue of trees. They are pretty impressive, but having only been here since they were imported in during Victorian times, they are nowhere near as big as their American relatives:

I finally reached Havering-atte-Bower, 3 hours and twenty minutes after I started.

As you can see by the water droplets on my lens, it was raining again. With the 375 bus to Romford a long time away and the other bus stops at least 20 minutes walk away, I decided to get an Uber home.

At which point it stopped raining.

I did over 33,000 steps and my right leg did not let me forget it all evening.

Just one section left to go now.

Pyramid schemes (Review: 'Doctor Who' 1.7, "The Legend of Ruby Sunday")

• Why can't the Doctor just materialise the TARDIS inside UNIT instead of crash-landing into the operations room? Also, putting the operations room next to the helipad doesn't seem like the greatest idea on the planet.
• This Doctor is the only one who could yell "Give me the lovin'!" and not look ridiculous. It's a great performance from Ncuti Gatwa all round here, covering comedy and drama with aplomb.
• Ruby is definitely a good companion. Not one of my favourites, but I've seen considerably worse.
• People do an awful lot of travelling in the space of two hours; does this world not have the massive traffic problems Central London has?
• What happened to the previous UNIT scientific advisor that we saw in "The Giggle"?
• The Time Window just sounds like more handwaving technology, but it's not like that's uncommon for Doctor Who.
• "Probability of trap, 96% and rising" is definitely a great line.
• We still don't know who Ruby's mother is. Perhaps we'll find out next time.
• UNIT does seem a bit overstuffed with characters, especially many that we've not seen long enough on screen to care about.
• "Wrong anagram". Well, that was a twist and a half. Bringing back the original voice actor as well. Now how did he get out of that time corridor?

Conclusion

Well, if you're going to bring back a villain from the past, that's not a bad one to bring back, that's for certain. Even if no-one holds down a pillow this time.

9/10

General Election 2024: Post 1

I must admit that I haven't been following this that closely. Being in full-time employment and with a bunch of other stuff to do has rather limited my time.

It's clear from this that the Tories are going to lose and lose heavily. Going out of power after 14 years would be expected anyway, although their government and this last Parliament in particular have been a shambles of massive proportions. Sunak has been the best PM of the last three and that's damning with faint praise; his early departure from Normandy will be mentioned in his obituary, I'd say.

I don't detect a massive deal of enthusiasm for Labour. Certainly I don't have it myself. I would have liked to see more of a move back towards the EU and a softer tone on immigration. Fiscal circumstances are cited as the reason for a lot of restraint - the Tories have saddled us with some massive debt levels - but I get a feeling the party could be bolder. I also wonder just how many actual votes they'll get.

The Lib Dems will probably do quite well - maybe even recover to their 2000s level of support and seats. But they are not going to get near to power for a good while.

Reform will have a strong turnout, but their votes will be thinly spread. In time, they may replace the Tories as the main right-wing party, which is arguably a case of be careful what you wish for.

In any event, we're going to have some real challenges in the next few years. Starmer may be a bit dull, but dull is better than Boris Johnson by a long chalk.

I can't imagine the Fifth Doctor doing much of that (Review: 'Doctor Who' 1.6, "Rogue")

• The pre-titles sequence is particularly great here. Contains some wonderful lines then a memorable death sequence.
• Can we have Kate Herron and Briony Redman back for future episodes? They were great.
• I cannot imagine most of the Doctors dancing to Kylie Minogue, let's for sure. Not only goes Ncuti Gatwa carry off the Regency outfit with aplomb, he's got a great variety of performance in this.
• A very good episode for Ruby Sunday, who finds herself very much with her own plot and bringing what can be described as "Northern" to the whole literal and metaphorical party. Plus she plays a key role in the denouement, something companions rarely do.
• Rogue was great fine. We may well see him again at some point, even if only in audio format.
• They keep killing Indira Varma! The Chuldur shapeshifters were generally a good deal of hammy fun. One is reminded of the Slitheen, but they were doing their stuff far less for giggles.
• The Doctor having a gay relationship would be something new and dramatic, if we'd not already seen it with Thirteen and Yaz. Mind you, this was much better written than those two.
• The Doctor moving on quickly from a relationship that didn't work out reminds me of "The Girl in the Fireplace"... which was eighteen years ago now.
• Just when you think jokes about the TARDIS have all been used up, we get a gag about it resembling a shed. I'm pretty sure there are TARDIS sheds already in some fan's gardens.
• A whole bunch of points in this where I genuinely laughed out loud. Good job.
• Glad to see a tribute to William Russell at the end, a man who had a massive impact on the show's early success.

Conclusion

An excellent episode, although perhaps not the canon-altering one that some said it was.

9/10

D-Day +80 Years

Operation Overlord was a massive operation. 156,000 soldiers and 195,700 naval personnel were involved on the Allied side just on D-Day itself, a number larger than most of the armed forces on the planet today. 

Over two million had arrived in France by the end of August 1944. Some of them would not come home and many of the others would be traumatised for life. D-Day, especially Omaha Beach, would expose a soldier to more carnage in one day than most of us today in a more peaceful world experience in our whole lives.

It would not end on that day either; it would be a long and hard slog until Paris was liberated. You can read my 2014 post in the subject.

Now the Normandy campaign is fading from memory as the veterans pass on - at least two who were planning to attend today's events died before they could get there.

It now falls on us to ensure that their sacrifice is never forgotten and that we work for a world free of tyranny in all forms.

For those who assaulted those five beaches on 6 June 1944, thank you and I hope you are never forgotten.

Bleak Mirror (Review: 'Doctor Who' 1.5, "Dot and Bubble")

• This will inevitably be compared with Black Mirror - in fact, RTD came up with the concept before that show was a thing.
• It does start off a bit saccharine and silly, but I think that's part of the point.
• The Doctor and Millie spend most of their episodes on a screen; perhaps this was another thing linked to Ncuti Gatwa's filming for Sex Education?
• How does someone go for multiple days without urinating at all? What do they eat and drink on Finetime?
• Very good performance by Ncuti and Millie in general; especially Fifteen's frustration at the end.
• Lindy Pepper-Bean's general saccharinity makes the twist at the end much more dramatic, but also serves as a reminder of what we all could do in a situation like that.
• This thing is saying an awful lot about being reliant on technology. I went to Kelvedon Hatch bunker today and one would not hold up much hope for an influencer in any nuclear exchange. Except for any survivalist ones, who might have a chance.
• Some of the elements of this episode don't really bear close scrutiny; it's more a parable than anything else, I'd say.
• Having the supposedly vapid pop star actually be most in tune with the situation was a good twist.
• That's a stupid way to operate a door mechanism.
• I'd argue that defeating the genocidal AI might be a priority, Doctor, before it tries it on anyone else.
• The ending is downright bleak and seeing the Doctor turn away, knowing there's nothing he can do, is really quite moving.

Review

Definitely one of the darker episodes I've seen from Russell T Davies, or indeed Doctor Who for quite a long time. It starts a bit silly, but the payoff is worth it.

8/10

Edit: I managed to completely miss the bigotry displayed in this episode by the people of Finetime. Which says a lot about white privilege, I suppose.

Un eithaf rhyfedd (Review: 'Doctor Who', 1.4, "73 Yards")

• The complete lack of a title sequence, even a title card, is pretty rare for the show, but has happened before.
• Ncuti Gatwa is barely in this one. Was there a reason in terms of scheduling that this is so Millie-focussed?
• While this is clearly meant to be a focus on Millie's acting talents, merely sticking her in a pair of glasses doesn't make her a convincing 40-year-old. They did a much better job with Karen Gillan (who is now 36) in "The Girl Who Waited".
• A Welsh village pretending to be backward and superstitious just for the LOLs. I am sure that some other places will do that too.
• Why can the woman be exactly 73 yards away and no more, no less? How does she drive everyone who talks to her to run away scream?
• Nice to see UNIT make an appearance and for their role as a support service for former companions.
• A search for "Mad Jack" found a rather eccentric Regency-era chap who once tried to cure hiccups by setting his shirt on fire.
• I was rather reminded of "Turn Left" in this episode. Not to mention Mr Saxon from Series 3.
• It's a good thing that far-right politicians don't generally tend to be handsome chaps like Roger ap Gwilliam was in this one. The regular ones are a big enough problem already.

Conclusion

This "Doctor-lite" episode has some rather great atmosphere, but also far too little explanation to be truly great.

7/10

Sunday, Munday, Zappy Days! (Review: 'Doctor Who' 1.3, "Boom")

• The last bit of Steven Moffat on Doctor Who was the Twelfth Doctor warning his future incarnations about consuming pears. That rather undersells the final speech he did.
• An AI killing someone because they won't recover quickly enough and will consume more resources than the bottom line is happy with is pretty chilling. While something already done in Doctor Who.
• We've definitely heard the name Villengard before - a past Doctor blew up their weapons factories and had them replaced with banana groves.
• Using your own body as the bomb and turning you into a carriable memorial... that's dark.
• Ncuti Gatwa spends most of this episode standing still on a landmine, unable to do much moving and yet delivers his finest performance as the Doctor in the five episodes we've seen in him so far.
• A very good episode for Millie Gibson too as well. I wasn't expecting Ruby to get nearly killed in this one!
• There were definitely things I was thinking about Munday Flynn. Like "she's wearing a lot of eye make-up" but not "that's Varada Sethu!", which didn't occur to me until I watched Unleashed straight after.
• Not 100% sure about the writing for Splice though.
• Susan Twist is going to be in every episode of this, isn't she?
• Definitely an episode where the "power of love" saves the day. Here it just about works.
• Moffat and RTD are both atheists and so take a couple of shots at organised religion. In fairness, they're not 100% wrong in some of their comments. As an Anglican myself, but not a marine of any form, I know my denomination has been pretty dodgy at times. The gag about "thoughts and prayers" also works well - it's become seen as a cheap refrain by politicians unwilling to do anything about gun control in the states to the point it can no longer be done straight.
• The snowflake thing is pretty meaningful, it seems. I thought Clara, but that was actually a leaf.

Conclusion

Steven Moffat has on the whole been a superlative Doctor Who writer - it's rare he's ever written anything bad.

This definitely is an example of one of his best.

9/10

My Millie screams better than your Millie! (Review: 'Doctor Who' 1.2, "The Devil's Chord")

• I watched this the day after the first episode - I'd been out for much of the day on Saturday and generally limit myself to one DW episode a day.
• Jinkx Monsoon eats the scenery like there's no tomorrow in this episode. It's like her volume switch is stuck or something. Also, making Maestro non-binary was a nice touch.
• Going into the title sequence via the use of the piano version of the theme is a good one. However, the tune doesn't really work on one instrument, so cutting was wise.
• The impression that I'm getting from the trailers is that Fifteen will be a lot more varied than past Doctors and to be honest, I'm pretty fine with that. He looks good in all of them.
• Ruby Sunday does rather a lot of screaming in this episode and getting dragged across a floor by her feet. It's like Disney are deliberately trying to ape Stranger Things.
• The Beatles singing rubbish songs was probably one of the best ways to get around the fact that they couldn't afford the rights to any of their songs - indeed, the use of "Ticket to Ride" back in 1965 has caused DVD issues.
• The overall concept of someone stealing music from the universe works well.
• Doing a modern-day take on that 1980 scene in "Pyramids of Mars" is probably needed for the modern audience. I was just too busy knowing it was a homage to appreciate it and wondering when the world got destroyed, as the London Eye is present there.
• Would an American audience have heard of Cilla Black?
• Nice call back to the Toymaker.
• Of course, this is the episode that aired on Eurovision night...
• Frankly by the end of this, I was finding it rather silly. The show has a far-out premise, but good writing generally keeps you from seeing the flaws until a while later. Not this one.
• The musical number at the end was really, really quiet unnecessary and I found myself comparing it to "Idiot Control Now" from Mystery Science Theater 3000 and not in a good way.
• Well, Steven Moffat has done next week's. He has done some good stuff over the years - his RTD1 era work was superb.

Conclusion

An interesting opening concept ended up falling apart by the end of the episode, which just got far too silly.

Frankly, I'd have taken five minutes off this one and given it to the first episode.

I hope this is the only RTD clunker of the season.

4/10

Children and animals (Review: 'Doctor Who' 1.1, "Space Babies")

• They've added a new bit to the title sequence, making it slightly longer and arguably much more enjoyable.
• The opening was rather frenetic. A bit too frenetic frankly. Not sure that info-dumping all the key bits of the lore in the first ten minutes was really necessary.
• Not overly used to Fifteen yet; he's got a rather different tone. Or rather different way of delivering the same sort of lines that other doctors would.
• Ruby seems decent enough, but I would need more time to get used to her.
• The music was rather too loud and distracting in places.
• The butterfly effect bit was a decent short gag, but ultimately unnecessary.
• The CGI animation of the babies was frankly a bit creepy.
• Abandoning the station, but not being able to turn the baby machine off because it's illegal. I think that's a rather pointed comment about American abortion laws.
• Some rather clever science fiction tropes here.
• Ah, the Nannie filter... it's the sort of humour this show loves to do.
• Also, you're not a companion these days until you've been been gunged or soaked it seems.
• And RTD still hasn't outgrown toilet humour gags.

Conclusion

An enjoyable story, but still somewhat flawed. Could have done with being a bit longer to let some bits breathe.

8/10

I feel sorry for the scenery (Review: 'Star Trek' 3.14, "Whom Gods Destroy")

As a general rule, if someone is bursting into laughter at Star Trek because of how ridiculous it is, then it's clearly not a good episode. This one would frankly be really suited to be accompanied by Emily Connor, Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot.

• Of course the asylum planet is called Elba.
• Considering that mental illness at the time included homosexuality and some people still think it's one, I'm not sure I'd want an instant cure to all mental illness. It also appears to not have worked that well as I am sure there are plenty of crazy people in Lower Decks. 
• Most insane people don't cackle to the best of my knowledge.
• The chess problem was a good bit of thinking by the Enterprise crew.
• There is a massive amount of hamming it up in this episode, by no means limited to Bill Shatner, although he does have his moments. Steve Ihnat (who died tragically young aged just 37) as Garth of Izar, eats a load of scenery in particular, along with Yvonne Craig.
• Speaking of Yvonne Craig, best known for playing Batgirl in the 1960s Batman series, her character is the sort of "Green Skinned Space Babe" that most people think of when imagining TOS, complete with another skimpy costume from the dirty mind of William Ware Theiss. D'Vana Tendi would not be impressed.
• Instant cellular metamorphosis? Really, that's just too silly even for Star Trek.
• Garth of Izar pretending to be Spock is clever though.
• Real power derives from the masses, not some farcical dining room ceremony!
• An explosive that can be set off by dropping it isn't really a very practical explosive. "Hoist by his own petard" comes to mind.
• The BBC skipped this episode in re-runs until the early 1990s because of the "torture" - I've seen much worse in 1970s Doctor Who.

Conclusion

Leonard Nimoy complained at length about the script for this and I can see why. This like many a work featured in Mystery Science Theater 3000 is a few script passes away from actually being good.

But it really isn't. 

3/10

Easter 2024

When someone has been a Christian for a while, it's not always easy to find something new to cover in the Easter story.

But there is still stuff to find. The Palm Sunday service last week mentioned how Jesus was putting his own twist on the traditional triumphant processions of leaders then and now; coming in on a much more humble animal to symbolise the true way of doing kingship.

Also, I recently learned how the fact the son in the Parable of the Prodigal Son having to feed the pigs was the lowest job he could get - remember pigs are unclean in Judaism.

Jesus came to free us from the heavenly consequences of our sin, although that doesn't necessarily mean getting off scot-free on earth. Not by a long chalk in some cases. We are still expected to act in a just and right way, which can mean owning up to our mistakes sometimes. Regardless of how many mistakes we make though, he still loves us. 

Happy Easter everyone.

So, this 15-year-old girl puts on a proton pack... (Review: 'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire')

I saw the new film yesterday at a rather different venue to my usual one - the Vue in Leicester Square, which has handprints of some famous actors at the entrance and a time capsule not to be opened until 2093.

The screen was much smaller than the ones in Romford, but all the chairs reclined.

Anyway, my comments on the film:

• Mckenna Grace is again the MVP, as she was in Afterlife. She ends up on her own arc for much of the movie as Phoebe's forcibly benched on the grounds that she is, well, 15. However, she gets to demonstrate the fact that she's a real genius several times, including in the third act. Ghost Corps see Phoebe as the main character going forward and they're not mistaken in that choice.
• Emily Alyn Lind's character is entirely absent from the trailers, but plays a vital role in the overall story.
• Finn Wolfhard isn't frankly one of my favourite actors and I'm not really keen on Trevor Spengler in general. His most notable moment is an encounter with Slimer and that's saying something.
• Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon have a good double act going, with his funny man to her straight woman. The "Busting makes me feel good" bit in the trailers is part of a longer and actually pretty good gag.
• The old gang get some good material to work with, although Venkman doesn't really do all that much in the picture. Winston Zeddemore's overall leadership role works very well and I'd be happy to see him in other movies.
• Kumail Nanjiani as Nadeem is arguably the comedy heart of the movie, with some great gags involving him, especially one bit in the climax.
• Walter Peck is back and is a rather cartoonish foil for the Ghostbusters. The main villain of the piece is far more chilling, pun intended.
• The visual effects look great throughout, although they might have driven the movie's budget up beyond the point it can be profitable.
• The movie doesn't outstay its welcome, although there are some pacing issues in the first half with the climax somewhat rushed. The fact they had to do principal photography with the writers on strike - before the actors walked out themselves - meant that the opportunity The trailers are pretty misleading, but when are they not?
• The 1984 score makes several welcome appearances in this movie.
• The ending is a nice call back to the original movie too.

Conclusion

A highly enjoyable popcorn movie, or whatever your choice of foodstuff is, because I don't eat popcorn. It's not got the greatest plot in the history of movies, but does everything have to?

8/10

Persian Incursion Playthrough Notes

 As promised, please see my playthrough notes here.

Some pages are missing as I forgot to save the scan and others didn't scan very well. Sorry for that.

Insert Kai Pun Here (Review: 'The Karate Kid', 1984)

Watched this on Netflix over the last three days; that streamer of course is responsible for Cobra Kai, one of their longest-running shows at six seasons. Although some wags may remark that getting a second season is long-running for Netflix.

Anywhere, my thoughts on a very 80s movie:

• It takes 41 hours of non-stop driving to get from Newark in New Jersey to Reseda in California. How long would the journey take with all the stops in a car that needs jump-starting on several occasions.
• As is common with many a movie teen, Ralph Macchio was in his early 20s when he did this movie. He manages to look convincingly younger in this, demonstrating the right sort of 'I know more than you, old man' attitude that works for a coming of age piece like this. You do sympathise with him and want him to be happy. He's mentioned in Stranger Things as someone Max Mayfield finds to be hot and I can see why.
• Speaking of attractive people... Elisabeth Shue as Ali. Now I'm more familiar with the older Ms. Shue from her role in the latter seasons of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, but I can see that she must have been popular among certain female-liking types in the 1980s. The term "girl next door" springs quickly and she's definitely got the outfits for it.
• Mr. Miyagi. Now this is a case of "it's trope-y because it wrote the tropes". I'm sure I've seen quite a few characters like him over the years. The broken English, Japanese accent stuff definitely would not fly in this day and age, but the character is more than just a stereotype; he's got a sad backstory involving a darker side of American history not really explored at that point.
• "Wax On, Wax Off". Having not seen this movie before, I figured there was some sort of point to that, but I wouldn't have waited for four days before asking what it actually was.
• My experience with Asian martial arts consists of precisely one judo lesson, but they make the rules fairly clear here. Although my own research seems to suggest under-18s don't get black belts. Not these days at any rate.
• However, I did do fencing at university. The earlier fights in the tournament are over quickly and much more realistic for actual combat. The final showdown... well, that's clearly choreographed.
• Bullies in 1980s movies are particularly creative in their cruelty, while simultaneous being as dumb as a box of rocks. Hey, it comes with the genre.
• Cobra Kai do not seem as a whole to be very nice people, but we get some depth near the end, where they're reluctant to follow instructions from their sensei.
• I see Bill Conti did the music for this - he also did the Rocky series and the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only, one of Moore's better movies. It's good, but I can't say it's memorable, bar some of the other songs.

Conclusion

A pretty enjoyable slice of pure 1980s teenage movie with some good performances and generally well-made.

8/10

London Loop Section 18

Or [audible squelching], as it would appear on a Netflix show.

Yesterday, I made my way to Enfield Lock station in the north of London, intending to cover Sections 18 and 19 of the London Loop. This would entail a walk to Chingford, then another one from there to Chigwell. About 9.5 miles.

Now it started off reasonably OK, apart from getting rather lost on the first bit of the walk before I realised I'd turned off one turn too early.

I reached Enfield Lock, not the biggest thing to name an area after by a long chalk.

I crossed over the River Lee Flood Relief Channel, which marks the boundary between the London Borough of Enfield and Epping Forest, which isn't in London.

So far, so good. Then I crossed Sewardstone Road and the whole thing went to pot. Or rather to mud. The next field I had to cross was very muddy and the grass itself squelched under my boots as I walked along. It hadn't rained that day, but a bunch of rain from previous days and weeks had saturated the ground.

Things didn't get much better condition-wise from there. Several times I was having to step across muddy puddles that were deep enough that you couldn't see the bottom and came dangerously close to the liquid mud ending up inside my boots. They needed extensive cleaning when I got home.

I passed Gilwell Park, home of the Scout Association (I went there when I was in Cubs) and then got some great views towards Central London from Yates Meadow.

I eventually reached Chingford, back in the London Borough of Waltham Forest and had lunch in the Holly Trail Café before making a start on Section 19, hoping things would get better.

I got as far as the Butler's Retreat and seeing the path ahead was still a quagmire, my heart was no longer in it. I wasn't prepared to spend at least two more hours trudging through thick mud, especially as the weather was turning.

So, after a look round the Visitor Centre and the Queen Elizabeth Hunting Lodge (that the Tudor monarch probably never personally used), I headed for home.

I plan to do the next two stages - getting me to Havering-atte-Bower - at some point in April, keeping a careful eye on the weather as usually. Hopefully be less muddy then... 

Don't mind me. I'm just here for the screaming British woman (Review: 'Damsel')

Millie Bobby Brown is very much one of the main attractions of Netflix. At least they seem to think so, considering that they make big films centred around her, with The Electric State coming next.

Now, I wouldn't call myself a massive fan of the woman in Stranger Things (I prefer other characters in that), but she's pretty charming in Enola Holmes and when I saw this movie was coming out, I decided that there are worse ways to spend two commutes. I watched this on my tablet, so I didn't notice the CGI issues.

So anyway, my thoughts on this:

• The movie takes rather a long time to get going. It's about thirty minutes before Elodie is yeeted into the dragon pit.
• MBB is admittedly one of the common type of "slightly haughty posh British actresses"; or that's the sort of roles she plays outside of Stranger Things. Playing a noble lady therefore comes across as fine, but without a great dialogue coach, she's not going to pass as a shop assistant from Romford, unlike say Michelle Dockery.
• Elodie screams a lot. Like seriously a lot. In fairness, much of it is in circumstances where screaming is to be expected, but MBB is definitely getting the reputation as a scream queen out of this. The actress has a wonderfully expressive face and can do a range of emotions very well; there's a good overall progression to her arc in this movie. A movie openly feminist and released on International Women's Day to boot.
• Another aspect is that this is basically "Millie Bobby Brown does a striptease". Well, part of one. Her dress gets progressively torn to shreds over the course of the movie and by the end, she's gone from "royal ball" to "Romford nightclub and having fallen down the escalator at the Brewery". She gets some fairly nasty injuries, but most of them are healed and nothing ends up detracting from her beauty at the end of it.
• There's some deep horror stuff in all of this, because Elodie isn't the first young woman to have been fed to this particular dragon by a long chalk.
• The plot is a pretty good one, although some of the character motivations at the end are a bit odd and the conclusion of the story leaves some big questions open about the future.
• Shohreh Aghdashloo has exactly the right sort of voice you'd want for a dragon; reminding me of the late Sir John Hurt in Merlin.
• Ray Winstone does Ray Winstone, just Ray Winstone with a castle. Now, I say that Pegasus was a one-trick pony, but I get a feeling that he was slightly miscast in this one.
• Robin Wright as an evil queen is arguably the best of the rest of the cast; one notes that one of her early roles was of course in The Princess Bride. None of the others really stand out.
• One can't help but notice the resemblance in names between "Elodie" and "Eleven". No-one makes an "El-o-die" pun, which is a pity.

Conclusion

A decent enough film, but not a true great. Definitely saved by Millie Bobby Brown.

7/10

Scanning old material

I've been scanning some of my old notes and am currently finishing off the scan of my Persian Incursion playthrough that I did in 2012-2013. If you look in the November 2012 posts, that's where it starts

The raw PDF will be uploaded here shortly - minus 10 pages I somehow failed to save before throwing the originals away.

Not Skimping on the Skimpy (Review: 'Star Trek' 3.13, "Elaan of Troyius")

• Biochemical stuff making a woman irresistible to men? I've seen that sort of thing several times before. It's also date rape.
• Elaan wears no less than four revealing outfits in this episode. Some of the other outfits are typical Trek silly ones.
• Diplomacy is about being nice to people that you utterly despise. Jay Robinson does a great job as Petri in this regard, reminding me of the late Alan Rickman.
• Arranged marriages are inherently dubious. That should have been explored in more depth and would have been today.
• France Nuyen, who plays Elaan here worked with William Shatner four times, including on stage in The World of Suzie Wong in 1958-59, where they both won awards.
• I hadn't noticed this until I saw it discussed on Memory Alpha, but the Dragon Lady stereotype is in full force here - with a mixed heritage actress seemingly using brown make-up to make her skin darker.
• This marks the first appearance of the D7 battle cruiser in Klingon use; it previously featured in  "The Enterprise Incident" (filmed after this but aired earlier) in Romulan service.
• Engineering clearly isn't very well guarded. One red shirt, who swiftly ends up with a broken neck.
• We're in full "sneaky Russians" mode with the Klingons here. By having the Enterprise blow up and killing Elaan, they'll trigger a war and be able to take over the ruins.
• William Shatner does a very strong performance here, with subtle emotional performances and a strong commanding moment in the climax.

Conclusion

Some of the action in this is pretty good. Some of the gender and ethnic politics less so.

5/10

King Charles III diagnosed with cancer

 I wish His Majesty all the best at this difficult time for him and his family.

Space Saw (Review: 'Star Trek' 3.12, "The Empath")

I've never actually seen any of the Saw movies, by the way. Anyway:

• How did the record tape get on the table in the first place when the two people involved were transported away?
• This was one of the four TOS cases where someone sent in a script unsolicited and it actually got made into an episode. I wasn't aware you could actually do that!
• Of course, the lifeform is female!
• Clearly saving on the set construction costs here with the minimalist set construction more akin to a theatrical production. I'm reminded of "Spectre of the Gun", which did similar.
• That's a 1960s haircut if ever I've seen one.
• Having walked ten kilometres today, I can tell you that six is not a short distance to walk.
• Of course, Kirk's shirt comes off again! But McCoy's one gets damaged as well.
• This is all rather Swan Lake with the balletic style movements at times. Not that I've ever seen that.
• The Vians are torturing people. In fact, the BBC didn't air this in the original run and not at all until 1994, although Sky One aired shortly before that.
• There's some very good shots here with injuries fading in and out; remember this was pre-CGI.

Conclusion

An alright episode, but not a great one. Clearly a budget saver.

7/10

A superb theatrical experience (Review: 'Stranger Things: The First Shadow')

Went to see this at the Phoenix Theatre today. 

Definitely the most spectacular thing I have ever seen in an actual theatre that does plays; there's some brilliant effects more akin to an actual episode of the television show, where it's hard to tell what's live and what's been pre-recorded.

The cast are great; remember this is a mostly British cast doing American accents. In particular, the Oliver-nominated Isabella Pappas as Joyce and Louis McCartney as Henry Creel stand out.

The runtime is very long, but there's an awful lot of plot covered during it and it definitely sets up Season 5 very well.

Definitely worth £75, although bring your own cold drinks because they're very expensive in the theatre.

10/10

Well, at least it's not Hobgoblins (Review: 'Doctor Who', "The Church on Ruby Road")

• I get a feeling we're going to see that mysterious woman at the church again.
• The letters in the companion actor's name get out of the way of the TARDIS. They're sensible, I see.
• Ncuti Gatwa has a very different energy about him to David Tennant or the other Doctors. Which is of course a good thing. He's got a strong heroic vibe and is a fast talker as well, which are good Doctor traits to have.
• Millie Gibson as Ruby - bit early to say if I like her. She feels generic RTD companion to me, but she does have the whole "foundling" back story. She does a decent enough job though.
• A new sonic screwdriver and those special gloves. See they're trying to sell more merchandise.
• The Disney budget is clearly displayed on the screen - they'd never have this many goblins in the old days.
• Goblins have fallen rather out of the popular mainstream in the last few decades and I'm not sure this will do much to bring them back; they don't really do that much that makes them a real threat bar "pranks".
• Most of the goblin musical bit was released on YouTube before the episode along with an accompanying single on Spotify. It's a highlight of the episode, which isn't saying a great deal for the overall quality.
• The rules of time travel have never been consistently applied in this show, that's for sure.
• Suspect we'll be seeing Mrs. Flood again.

Conclusion

A fairly mediocre episode, saved by the quality of its leads.

6/10

Merry Christmas

In this rather bleak time for many, especially those in the Middle East and Ukraine, may God's love and grace be with you all at this time.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas.

 

Andre Braugher 1962-2023

I watched all of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Raymond Holt was one of its greatest characters, brilliantly brought to life by Andre Braugher. He could deadpan like no other. 

He was also great at drama, in that show and the short-lived Last Resort that I watched, in which he played a submarine commander. But that was just part of a highly acclaimed career - he was nominated for 11 Emmys, winning two of them.

His death at 61 comes far too soon and he'll be massively missed.

Rest in Peace.

Dutch Angles, Get Your Dutch Angles! (Review: 'Star Trek' 3.11, "Wink of an Eye")

• Watching this on a modern screen, you can see very clearly that's a photographic backdrop in the opening scene.
• Compton, you're a bit of an idiot for drinking the water without properly testing it. No wonder you ended up a dead red shirt.
• I'm not entirely sure they really thought much about this accelerated time thing. At the rate things are going as perceived in regular time, it would be many days or weeks from Kirk's perspective.
• The use of the Dutch angle in the accelerated time was a clever idea, in retrospect.
• And it's another Theiss classic outfit, seemingly in danger of popping open but never doing so.
• The acting from the guest cast is pretty poor in this.
• So, you're kidnapping people for the purposes of sex. That would be called out a lot more these days.
• These days, you would use digi-doubles for the scenes where people are frozen in place; here you've got the actors standing as still as they can and trying not to blink.
• Kirk is actually quite clever, leaving the message on the tape and swapping it over like that.
• How are we seeing footage from earlier in the episode when there was no in-universe camera present?
• The final scene is pretty poor, even by comedy episode ending standards.

Conclusion

An interesting concept, not particularly well executed.

4/10

Chris Chibnall, Hold My Beer (Review: 'Doctor Who', "The Giggle")

• Stooky Bill really existed; I believe he might be in the Science Museum's collection now.
• The current version of the opening theme is a great one and I hope it sticks around for a while.
• I've only seen the surviving episode of "The Celestial Toymaker" - it's not got a great reputation in the fanbase. I will probably check out the animated version though.
• I guess that means "The Nightmare Fair" isn't at all canon, but it's not like this show has ever had a firm canon policy for extra-televisual works.
• When the Doctor tells a companion to go back to the TARDIS, you know that the situation is a serious one.
• Great job from David Tennant and Catherine Tate as usual.
• Neil Patrick Harris makes for a great villain; we might not have seen the last of him, but let's not bring the Toymaker back too quickly.
• Wasn't expecting that long a call back to the Steven Moffat era, that's for sure.
• RTD also allows those who didn't like the Chibnall era a good get-out that can explain it away.
• Very good to see Mel back. Not to mention Kate Stewart and Shirley. I wouldn't be surprised if they all turn up in a spin-off as we know Bad Wolf have created a LLC for one.
• This probably could have done with being about ten minutes longer.
• UNIT has really stopped the secrecy, that's for sure.
• Well, I can't say I saw that coming. [spoiler indeed]
• Where's your trousers?
• The Christmas Special looks to be a lot of fun.

Conclusion

RTD has decided that the Timeless Child was something to one-up and gave us this ending. Fortunately, unlike Chris Chibnall, he's got the writing skills to make it work.

9/10

Midnight 2: Electric Donna-loo (Review: 'Doctor Who', "Wild Blue Yonder")

• The Issac Newton scene at the beginning... wasn't really that great. It could have been dropped entirely and the episode would not have suffered for it.
• Have they added some more piano to the opening titles?
• As an episode fundamentally involving just two actors, this relies heavily on the acting skills of its leads. Lesser leads could have sunk this episode quite badly.
• David Tennant is a superb actor, able to demonstrate subtle nuances in his portrayal i.e. the doubles not getting things quite rate.
• Catherine Tate is also a lot better than many have historically given her credit because of her tendency to do comedic roles. She does a very good job here.
• I was very much reminded of "Midnight" from 2008, which doesn't have very much of Donna in by virtue of the filming lengths at the time.
• Awful lot of corridor action here, that's for sure.
• Even with Disney money, the CGI did look a bit silly.
• Clearly they're saving on the actor budget, throwing that to the other two specials in this particular "season".
• Great final scene, with the much-missed Bernard Cribbins making what would be his final appearance on the show and reminding us how great Wilfred Mott was. Rest in Peace, Mr. Cribbins.

Conclusion

 

Not quite as strong as the previous week, but still very good.

7/10

So, next week brings the regeneration...

RTD is back, for good and for ill (Review: 'Doctor Who', "The Star Beast")

• Having a snazzy Marvel-esque introduction sequence is a bit odd. It's even odder when you know that the Doctor is a Marvel character by virtue of Doctor Who Magazine having been published by Marvel's UK arm - including the 1980 comic this is an adaptation of!
• The title sequence is showing the increased budget that Disney are bringing to the show. It looks spectacular and the new theme is a grower.
• David Tennant has stepped back into the role like he never went away. Of course, he's done Big Finish audio dramas - with Catherine Tate as well - but that's different to a full physical performance.
• Catherine Tate as Donna Noble is a companion you don't forget in a hurry. She's got a big personality, a very expressive face, and a gift for reactions. Her relationship to the Doctor is more a friendship one rather than a potential lover one, like Thirteen and Yaz.
• The resolution of Donna's metacrisis issue was very RTD in style. See "The Last of the Time Lords" for one of the more egregious examples of resolving a plot issue.
• Yasmine Finney as Rose does a particularly good job - there's a great character that really deserves some appearances in audio, because I doubt she'll be getting many in live-action.
• 56 scientific advisors? That sounds like an alarmingly high turnover rate, like Spın̈al Tap's drummers.
• Plenty of good gags here, including the psychic paper not updating for the Doctor now being male presenting.
• We've not got any "regeneration crisis" stuff this time - there's already been a comics story with the Daleks that is "canon" as far as you can get here. It wasn't needed in any event. If we get it with Fifteen, it shouldn't be too long.
• Beep the Meep is an adorable villain, but I had more fun with one in Star Trek: Lower Decks.

Conclusion

A highly enjoyable story that while not the best story for a new fan to jump on, proves to be a pleasing 60th anniversary tale.

8/10

60 Years of Doctor Who

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the first episode of Doctor Who. In terms of longevity and impact on science fiction, only the Star Trek franchise beats it.

I haven't seen all the available episodes, but they are all now on iPlayer. I also intend to watch the colour version of "The Daleks", although probably tomorrow. 

Then we have three specials over the next three Saturdays with David Tennant. I will try to watch those as close to live as possible and hopefully review them here.

Many happy returns to a great show!

Let's Make MST3K Season 14

In case you're not aware, Mystery Science Theater 3000 is crowdfunding for a 14th season.

It's one of my favourite shows, but it's going to be a challenge to get the money, so they need all the help they can get. Otherwise, there might not be a new season or they'll need corporate backers that might restrict their jokes.

Please take a look and hopefully you'll back it.

That kiss is a lot darker than people seem to remember (Review: 'Star Trek' 3.10, "Plato's Stepchildren)

• That is one clumsy bit of opening exposition. Oof.
• The cold open is badly rushed.
• Having the big shadow turn out to be a dwarf is well... I wasn't entirely comfortable with it. Alexander is a good character though.
• Psychokinetic delirium is a good concept.
• Kirk's statement about Starfleet's views on equality would have resonated particularly strongly at this time, with the backdrop of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination and the election of the bigoted Richard Nixon earlier in November 1968.
• This plot wouldn't be out of place in an episode of Lower Decks, but there's a strong element of horror to the story as well. In fact, it was not aired in the UK until 1993 because of the torture elements in the story.
• The wire handlers must have had a field day. Which reminds me, I need to ask a question on Reddit...
• Lot of hamming it up here, even by TOS standards. The cast also get to show off their dancing and singing skills.
• This was not the first interracial kiss on American television. It wasn't even Shatner's first interracial kiss on television. That said, we barely see any lip contact, with the story cutting away very quickly. There's a whole long discussion about that which you can find on Wikipedia. Also, it's not consensual for either party.
• How powerful Parmen actually is varies - sometimes he can control multiple people, sometimes he has difficulty controlling one. Also, how does a population of 38 not suffer massive inbreeding problems.

Conclusion

A good overall episode, but there are some logical problems. It does have some memorable moments as well.

7/10

Walking update

Unfortunately, my plan to do Sections 18 and 19 of the London Loop back on 27 October got frustrated by a tree coming down on the overhead wires at Clapton, followed by weather warnings. I'm not going to walk in a torrential downpour, it's not fun and it's actually dangerous.

So, with the light and the weather against me, it will likely be February before I can resume this. Maybe March.

Armistice Day 2023

Today marks the 105th anniversary of the end of the fighting in the First World War, with the Armistice at Compiègne resulting in a ceasefire, followed by the Treaty of Versailles the following year.

Events in Gaza and Ukraine in particular have reminded us that war is about destruction. It means the loss of people's homes and businesses, loss of power, food and water. It means unexploded ordnance turning up decades later and entire communities ceasing to exist as anything but memories or photographs.

Most importantly, it means the loss of people's lives, military and civilian alike. Not that the distinction makes much of a difference to the people left behind and the people themselves. Everyone suffers in war, where morality erodes all too quickly in the name of "victory", whatever that is.

We have seen all too well what happens when other people are treated as less than us and we will sadly see yet more of it. All I and others can do is work to reduce the suffering.

We will remember them.

Bottle Episode of Ham (Review: 'Star Trek' 3.9, "The Tholian Web")

• Star Trek had two dedicated studios for its use at Desilu's studios - Stage 9 and Stage 10, now Paramount Stages 31 and 32. Stage 9 was used for the Enterprise sets, with Stage 10 used for off-ship scenes. This one used Stage 9 pretty much entirely entirely.
• This is very clearly a budget-saving episode, albeit one with a fairly large number of extras - the most ship personnel in one scene in fact for TOS. The Defiant is clearly a redressed Enterprise bridge, the interior only seen in one scene.
• They seem to have missed a bit explaining why the transporter went down in the first place.
• Chekov's screaming is particularly memorable, that's for sure.
• DeForest Kelley does very good anger.
• Why did they not believe Uhura when she saw Kirk? Are they stupid?
• As Memory Alpha has pointed out, this is not Starfleet's first mutiny. It's not even the first TOS mutiny.
• The environment suits from this actually look pretty decent, although were apparently a real problem when it came to bodily functions. But "MC COY" with a space in the middle.
• The effects on this episode got the show an Emmy nomination. That rather shows how far the VFX industry has come since 1968.
• The Tholian ship comes in rather too slowly for something flying at half the speed of light.
• Injecting someone through a spacesuit? That doesn't seem like it would work.

Conclusion

It's a bottle episode, sure, but sometimes those can be among the best a show does. I wouldn't say it's one of the best Star Trek episodes, but it's still pretty good.

8/10

 

London Loop Section 17

A holiday in September meant that I was unable to do any more of the trail until today. It's quite possible that I won't be able to finish it this year as the nights get longer and the weather gets colder.

We shall see.

Section 17 runs from Cockfosters to just south of Enfield Lock station, taking in Enfield Chase, which was a historical royal hunting ground that is currently undergoing a major restoration process. Nearby Forty Hill Farm has also seen the reintroduction of beavers, but I didn't see any.

The paths on this route are of high quality and it being a warm Saturday, there were plenty of people around. Curious Dog count was two.

The section also includes the most northerly part of the entire LOOP, although there is nothing on the ground to mark that. No particular reason there should be, I suppose.

The route also contains Maidens Bridge, supposedly the site where Sir Walter Raleigh laid his cloak down for Elizabeth I to walk on to avoid some mud. The local history sign does a "lost his head" pun, due to his later beheading.

Lunch was at the Rose & Crown, which claims a connection to Dick Turpin via his grandparents owning the place and him possibly hiding out there. The highwayman has a lot of legends attached to him, so we don't know how true that is.

An easy walk overall; I finished the 8.3 miles in just over four holes, including lunch.

Aim to do Sections 18 and 19 at the end of the month before the clocks go back.

HS2

Sadly, unless we can bring costs under control, cancelling HS2's Northern leg is the best option.

But the money must now be used on genuine improvements elsewhere. I doubt that the Tories will deliver that... for one thing, they might not be in power much longer.

In which Kirk and McCoy get Dalek-zapped (Review: 'Star Trek' 3.8, "For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky")

• Straight into the action here, that's good. Although it's odd that there aren't further attacks on the ship after the initial missile barrage.
• That's an exceedingly long episode title!
• I believe this was still a time when cancer was a very taboo subject. However, any tension is lost because I've seen the TOS movies and know McCoy survives. He also doesn't show any physical deterioration, which would have added to the peril.
• I am sure those rocks have turned up already. Definitely some props were reused. Unfortunately, the fact this is clearly a studio is obvious on modern screens. They should have a 1960s mode on streaming platforms.
• Some pretty decent camerawork in some scenes, especially when they come down the staircase.
• The zapping effect reminds me very much of the one used for Dalek exterminations in Doctor Who at this time - with some modifications i.e. visible skeletons, it's still used today.
• We get another William Ware Theiss skimpy outfit - and a female lead with a ridiculous hairdo. It's 1960s Star Trek, I should really expect that.
• A romance plot for McCoy is an interesting one. It would have worked better had Natira been better acted; it's a very stilted performance and I wrote "Show me more of this Earth thing called kissing" in my notes before crossing it out. At least she survives, unlike some of Kirk's previous love interests.
• How does Spock know the language of a species dead for 10,000 years and where the planet was destroyed?
• The ending is a bit rushed; this might have worked a lot better as a two-parter, to be frank.
• Is that Jan-Michael Vincent as an extra in this? IMDB doesn't list it as one of his early credits, but he was acting at this time.
• The whole concept could make for an interesting mini-series; I'm reminded of Silo myself.
• I noticed the IATSE logo at the end - they've been around since 1893, but I hadn't realised their logo has been around on TV credits for that long. The AMPTP logo is also there.

Conclusion

There's a lot of interesting ideas here, but they're bogged down in a rather sappy romance plot with a poorly acted female lead.

6/10

Boiling Point (2021)

Watched this film today in anticipation of the new BBC1 series - while not the best thing I've ever seen, it's technically brilliant, being done on in one continuous take (the ad breaks of Film 4 mean that was less obvious). It's also a reflection that many of the big disasters in life happening through no malicious act, just a series of small, inadvertent errors.

Stephen Graham is a superb actor.

7/10

Spain 1-0 England

Watched this today. Despite the massive amount of Spanish simulation going on and a ref making some dodgy decisions, we were definitely outplayed at the end of the day and the result was fair.

It's good we got this far and this, along with the Euro 2022 win, will do wonders for the women's game in England.

Sir Michael Parkinson 1935-2023

A true legend of British broadcasting has died aged 88.

Rest in Peace.

London Loop Section 16

When I started my walk on Wednesday 9 August, I discovered to my annoyance that my camera had run out of battery, so the photographs are from my phone.

Section 16 of the LOOP, which runs from Elstree & Borehamwood to Cockfosters is the longest one of all, coming in at eleven miles - and has very few break points in the first section. This resulted in me spending around three hours between beginning and a break for lunch, which might be a bit much for some people.

My arrival at Elstree was rather delayed as industrial action on Thameslink meant a reduced service and a further delay resulted in me spending half an hour at Farringdon waiting for a train.

But once I got there, I did some stretching - essential to avoid major injury - and headed off.

The Section is mostly fields and wooded paths, the latter not always very well signposted, with the result I went badly off the path at least three times and as a result ended up missing at least one item of interest. I have raised my findings with Inner London Ramblers as usual.

Fortunately, there's nothing too steep and it wasn't too hot. It was moderately muddy under foot in places after the rain on Tuesday, but I've encountered worse in other sections. Make sure you have insect repellent as there are a lot of bugs at this time of year.

Overall, this wasn't much of a challenge, even if it took a good while - about four and a quarter hours of walking.

Lunch was at the Queens Arms in Barnet - decent food for a reasonable price and they had The Hundred (i.e. the cricket) on the TV screens.

Cockfosters is at the end of the Piccadilly Line and will be a bit inconvenient for me to get back as if you want to avoid Zone 1, it takes four trains. But I'll only be going back there once...

Curious Dog Count was three.

SAG-AFTRA and WGA Strikes

I support the unions in the States who are striking for better pay and conditions for jobbing actors, who won't earn anywhere near as much as the big $100,000+ an episode stars. AI is a concern, but it's not good enough yet to supplant a decent writer and may never be.

But sadly, even giving them everything they want won't fix the serious issues in the industry. It has become bloated, with too high salaries at the top, too many content providers and a dearth of decent ideas.

We are going to see a major contraction in content creation over the next few years and that will make things even harder for many.

London Loop Section 15

Did this section on Saturday just gone - I would have done it this week, but train strikes meant I would have had problems getting back from Elstree.

Frequently I've had to brush mud off my walking boots when I get home from these things, but this was not the case this time - it was a pleasant and dry day, while not being too hot.

The first bit from Hatch End was one I had done before on the previous walk and was heavily overgrown in places, but once I got past the garden centre at Carpenders Park, things got a lot more pleasant, although I did end up going badly off path more than once. There's only so much Inner London Ramblers can do as they rely on cooperation with local landowners and the various councils.

I found out that the pub I'd hoped to have lunch was in fact permanently closed - and had been for a year. So, I had to go to another one nearby that was a pricey brasserie, but no eatery is really cheap at the moment in this country.

The route takes you across Stanmore Common, with views all the way to Central London on a good day.

I'm not a flower expert, but there was also a lovely field filled with what I think are buttercups, albeit near the M1.

All of this is accessible by Oyster card and contactless travel, too! Just make sure you have a printed map and some good boots. Don't wear shorts as some of the foliage is high now and occasionally prickly.

US Upfronts 2023

The writers' strike in the States has severely hampered the television scene there and a lot of series will not start their new runs until next year as a result. We are 27 days into this strike, the actors' union is balloting its members for industrial action and we could see a near complete shutdown of Hollywood as a result.

After the boom, this is very much the bust. The 'main' networks are commissioning a fraction of what they were doing even a few years ago.

Some series of note:

• NCIS: LA was cancelled after 14 seasons - I had lost interest in it a while back.
• CSI: Vegas has gotten a third season and will likely get a fourth. While still rather good, it isn't frankly up to the original series.
• The Arrowverse is dead as the CW refocuses its efforts on an older audience. This includes a spinoff for The Librarians, which was a TNT show and will likely be set in Europe, as North America isn't known for its castles.
• The Blacklist will wrap its final season in July; as I predicted some years back, the grand finale will be called "Raymond Reddington". I have still to watch all of Season 9 and there is no firm UK date for Season 10.
• Star Trek: Discovery will be cancelled after its fifth season. It's frankly run its course now but did the job of re-establishing TV Trek. The announced Academy series will likely act as something of a continuation, reusing its physical and digital assets.
• Star Trek: Picard finished its three-season run in fine form, providing an excellent concluding chapter for the TNG-era crew.
• CBS were boasting about having five 11-million viewer shows. I remember they used to get 20 million viewers for NCIS.
• The new series announced for the networks look uninteresting - do we really need a cop show spinoff from The Good Wife?

So, we've got these prop swords... (Review: 'Star Trek' 3.7, "Day of the Dove")

Not that long to Strange New Worlds returns - and it's got a crossover with Lower Decks that should be a lot of fun, but I'm trying to get a couple more of these in before those two shows start.

• We've not had the Klingons turn up for a while - this is one of the three appearances of the D7 battlecruiser in the original series as transmitted, with four more added in the remastered version.
• In this case, the Klingon makeup is really obvious. I am watching it on HD on a tablet, not on a 1960s analogue television.
• Again, nearly all taking place on the ship, apart from one planet scene.
• This is an interesting scenario; Star Trek often does these, but the execution is sometimes lacking.
• We still haven't got the "honourable" Klingons we come to know and love; these ones still retain the strong Imperial Japanese and Soviet Union influence they were originally written with.
• Warping out of the galaxy? Haven't we just had that?
• Pretty strong anti-war message in this one, I would say.
• I really did not like the scene where Chekov, even under the influence of an alien entity, attempts to rape the Klingon scene officer. I suspect that it would not be made in modern Trek.
• This is the only time a female Klingon seen in TOS.
• Lots of sword fighting in this one, including a couple of big fights in the corridor. The choreography must have been a challenge as even a blunt sword can hurt it if it hits you in the face.
• And of course, Scotty likes claymores.
• Shatner has some good stuff, but sometimes he's acting a bit too hard, and it shows.
• Everybody laughs at the end - but this time it serves a purpose.

Conclusion

Generally, a very good episode - a great concept and on the whole, well realised. Some bits haven't dated well, mind, but that's true of TOS in general.

8/10

Tina Turner 1939-2023

 We've lost another music icon, simply put. Tina Turner's career produced many an iconic banger, with "GoldenEye" in particular a contender for best Bond theme.

Few people get a musical about them while they're still alive - she was that much of a legend, overcoming a troubled childhood and abusive relationship to become one of the biggest female artists of all time.

Rest in Peace.

London Loop Section 14 + a walk to Watford

Section 14 of the London Loop is a pretty short one - at just shy of five miles from end to end, including the station links, I was able to do it in just over two hours.

As stages go, it was distinctly average. There was some bad mud in the opening sections, and I decided as a result to take the suggested diversion route on the latter stages to avoid what might be an even worse bit.

I was justified - the alternative diversion is nicer with wider paths and less mud, although you do have to go through a couple of golf courses.

I'd come prepared for rain, but it stayed dry for the whole day bar some light spots in the morning. In fact, I ended up with a decent sweat and quite a few dead bugs on my neck as the insect repellent only partly worked.

As a near two-hour public transport journey each way for a comparatively short walk wasn't justified, I'd decided ahead of time to do a bit more. The 9.3-mile section onto Elstree was too long to do in an afternoon even if the light is now favourable for that, especially as I'd done five miles already.

So after, doing a chunk of Section 15 to get me to a garden centre for lunch, I used the Go Jauntly app to navigate my way to Watford Junction station through some more of the woods east of the West Coast Main Line, around four miles. This involved some overgrown and unkempt paths through the woods along with a few wrong turnings as this wasn't a guided path, but also some nicer bits like below:

My right leg was starting to complain (a fairly heavy landing from a stile that was my fault not helping), especially once I got to a forty-minute walk through Bushey and Watford itself - I considered giving up and hoping on a bus. But I persevered and made it to Watford Junction, which isn't exactly the best-looking station on the planet, before getting the LNWR train back to Euston.

Curious Dog Count was five. I think. I encountered several in one go at one point.

Planning to do Section 15 at the beginning of next month; I've got seven bits left to do and as some are combinable, I will need five days to finish the loop off.

Why not give it a try yourself?

The Actually Pretty Good Corral (Review: 'Star Trek' 3.6, "Spectre of the Gun")

This is another Gene L. Coon episode, albeit written under a pseudonym and is so far frankly the best episode of Season 3 that I've seen so far.

So, my thoughts:

• When an alien telepath tells you to turn around, it's probably a good idea. Especially as you people have encountered plenty of such situations before.
• The half-built town, which is obviously something done for budgetary reasons (it's also all in studio), is cleverly explained.
• The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, which didn't actually take place there, also formed the basis of an entire story of Doctor Who in the Hartnell era, "The Gunfighters". It would be one of the last 'pure historical' stories i.e. a story set in the past with no science fiction episodes and isn't considered a classic.
• Chekov really does not cover himself in glory during this - spending far too much time flirting with a vapid young woman who also does nothing for female writing in this tale.
• There's certainly a particularly good concept here and it's well handled, with a keen sense of inevitability as the characters try to avoid the gunfight. This would have made a good plot for Legends of Tomorrow, sadly cancelled on a cliffhanger.
• Spock is well done, proving his worth as the science officer and figuring out the situation in time to save everyone's lives. The others also do well, except for Chekov as mentioned above.
• Clearly the budget wasn't there for the Melkotians, of which we get one entirely static creature and a voiceover.
• Sadly, humans have not overcome their predilection for violence, as current events continue to demonstrate.

Conclusion

I don't think we get many great episodes in this run, but this is one of them, despite some flaws.

8/10

Well, I suppose a hexagonal box doesn't need lunch (Review: 'Star Trek' 3.5, "Is There In Truth No Beauty"?)

As I continue my way through Star Trek's third season, the budget cuts remain clearly obvious - this entire episode takes place on the ship bar model/CGI shots and it's clear that the set space available is now limited.

It's also clear that interesting concepts are not working in their execution. So, my thoughts:

• The music in this is a bit much - the dramatic stings should not be that noticeable in general.
• Everyone's behaviour towards Dr. Jones is frankly rather chauvinistic at best. Kirk confronting her in the med bay is just unpleasant to watch.
• Not sure how something being ugly can make someone homicidally mad. Especially as we never see the actual form of Ambassador Kollos.
• I see this is the original of the "Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations" mantra.
• The idea of a blind person having a sensor net is an interesting one, but you'd think the technology would be smaller than a cloak.
• Diana Muldaur, later twice nominated for an Emmy, makes her second TOS appearance here.
• The show was still working out its mechanics of how warp drives work.
• Nimoy gets to do something a bit different from his usual Spock acting, but then it all goes to pot when he goes crazy.
• Indeed, the other bit of going crazy acting isn't that good either.
• The fight scenes we get in this look particularly badly done, even for a show not known for its realistic hand-to-hand combat.
• Perhaps this was a lower-budget episode to save money for elsewhere?

Conclusion

Not a good episode, sadly, but it isn't awful. I hope something better comes along as we continue, but I'm not optimistic.

4/10

The Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla

I rang for this at my Church this morning and the delay in getting home meant that I missed the first fifteen minutes, but I saw the rest.

It was definitely one of those events that showcase Britain at its best - we do pageantry like no-one else - with plenty of symbolism and the right level of pomp. Charles will have a challenge adjusting the monarchy for a modern age with growing republican sentiment - and the Metropolitan Police look to have gone too heavy-handed on dealing with potential protests - but he seems to be trying. He has gotten more popular over time and it says something that the two least popular royals present made quick exits after the main event. 

There also seem to be some good memes coming out of this too - Penny Mordaunt has earned herself some kudos for holding those swords for so long.

Now to enjoy the rest of the second of three long weekends this month.

Never Work With Children or Animals (Review: 'Star Trek' 3.4, "And the Children Shall Lead")

With Picard having concluded in brilliant style, I am going back to the original series for a bit, at least until Strange New Worlds starts in June and Lower Decks follows soon after that.

This one is considered one of the worst episodes of Star Trek, full stop, as I found out after I watched it. It seems to be one of those episodes with an interesting concept that falls apart in the execution.

So, some thoughts on all of this:

• It's clear that the budget has been badly cut - we only get two sets beyond the existing Enterprise ones and they look they've used previous bits of scenery.
• Good child actors are hard to come by. You may get one in a production - sometimes, like in Stranger Things, you get an entire cast - but often they're clearly not experienced enough for the job. As in this case.
• When Gorgan turns up for the first time, my immediate thought was about Mystery Science Theater 3000. Hiring a high-profile attorney - Melvin Belli was the lawyer for Jack Ruby, the man who killed Lee Harvey Oswald and was known as the "King of Torts" before that - to play a villain was a publicity stunt that the production team realised was a mistake.
• Gorgan does have an interesting overall plot - kill the adults, then use the kids to get to more adults - but how has he given them the powers to mind control people?
• The mind control gesture is a bit silly looking.
• Uhura seeing herself have a long, slow death hits a bit harder in the light of Nichelle Nichols' later dementia.
• We get two redshirts killed in this - beamed out into space - and we don't even see their deaths in space. Again, clearly budget cuts.
• The costumes for the kids look a bit silly, quite frankly. Then again, in the 1960s, many things looked a bit silly.
• Everyone gets to ham it up under mind-control. Not necessarily very well.
• I am sure that in one of the fight scenes, the redshirt flips himself!
• We also get Chekov's gun! That is different from Chekhov's gun of course.
• The resolution is poorly done - badly acted and filmed as much as anything. At least we don't get a laughing ending, but those kids will be traumatised for years.

Conclusion

It's a pretty poor episode of Star Trek but I've seen a good deal worse in other media.

3/10

London Loop Sections 12 and 13

 

Sometimes, walking the London Loop can be a very pleasant experience. At other times, you're wondering if you're going to make it to the end without sustaining injury.

Thus was the case for this walk. It was a dry Wednesday in April, sure, but for large parts of Section 13, it might as well have been a wet day in November.

Section 12 mostly operates alongside the Grand Union Canal, and I was able to walk it faster than the man driving the red canal boat could get along it, even before he had to stop at the various locks. It's no wonder that the railways very much did for the commercial canal business in this country. Indeed, you can see the under construction HS2 as you go along this route, along with the Chiltern line.

After lunch at the Coy Carp pub in West Harefield, the only eatery open on that route, I continued onto Section 13 and once I got around halfway, reaching Bishop's Wood Country Park. things got bad. Very bad.

At several points, I nearly fell over, and the mud would have been on more than my trousers. I have flagged this with the Inner London Ramblers, who "run" the Loop as the word "hazardous" is valid at several points.

Anyway, I plan to do Section 14 at least next month. Hopefully, it won't be as bad as parts of Section 13.

Easter 2023

Easter has come round again, and I thought that this article was well worth sharing:

Jesus rose from the dead. Here are 3 reasons why we can be confident.

It contains some stuff that I'd not heard before - namely the other "messianic" movements that completely disappeared.

In any event, Jesus died to save sinners - and that's all of us. I know all too well that I sin at least once every single day and sometimes a good deal more. Without Jesus in my life, I'd probably be in a much worse place than I am now morally. He has been my rock and my guide since my childhood, and I wish to continue being a Christian until my dying day. 

That does not mean endorsing everything his followers do - far from it - but it does mean holding fast to the essential truth of his message, about loving one other as he has loved us.

Happy Easter!

April Fool's Day

I don't have an April Fool's joke for this year. For one thing, it snuck up on me, like in other years, before I could think of anything good.

I might do something next year. If I remember. But don't wait up.

Picard has been very good mind. That's not an April Fool's either.

Paul O'Grady 1955-2023

I only really knew Paul O'Grady as Lily Savage and later as a TV host; I didn't know until reading his obituary of all his activism for LGBT people in this country, at a time when homophobia was much worse than it is today.

The term "national treasure" definitely applies to him, and he will be deeply missed, having gone far too soon.

Rest in Peace.

Vladimir Putin wanted for war crimes

The ICC wants Putin to face charges of war crimes for the abduction of children

It's clear that there is an attempt to ethnically alter Ukraine, or at least the parts that Russia controls, to make it more Russian - and putting these children in Russian families is just a part of that. Putin has many crimes to answer for, although I am not sure whether he will answer for them in any earthly court. If he is overthrown, Russia handing him over will likely be a condition of normalising relations, but he may end up dying first - and facing a more perfect judge.