I've been watching The Thick of It's latest series and I really haven't talked about my love for that show enough. When I watched In The Loop I said at the time that it was the best film I'd seen this year, and that still stands, and The Thick of It is the television series that In The Loop was spun off from.

Best way to describe it is the anti-West Wing. It's a sitcom about British politics following the work of the staff of the fictional Ministry of Social Affairs and Citizenship; Ollie, Glenn and Terri and their Minister Hugh or Nicola (depending on the series); and it subscribes to a view of politics which is about winning, spinning and in which government staff are all vaguely incompetent and the character you find yourself rooting for is the monstrous chief of government communications Malcolm Tucker who wanders around the show ripping other characters to shreds with profanity laden rants and incredibly creative and graphic threats. He's kind of from the same mold of anti-heroes as Gregory House, Bernard Black and Gene Hunt, but with a lot more rage and swearing.

In the grand tradition of brilliant British comedies, there's only been a few episodes made (sixteen in total, three of which have yet to air), but as the series's have been spread out, it's fascinating watching as the political context the characters are acting in mirrors the situation in Britain at that time – the first six episodes being during the Blair years, the two specials being about Blair's stepping down and the current series is the Labour party under siege and trying desperately to cling on to power.

But basically you should watch it because it's the most hilarious show on television and to prove it, I have found YouTube clips:

Tucker's Law
Sauna with Pavarotti
The Ipod Rant
Goldfish Bowl Roast
They Spelt Your Name Right and Everything

This series the Minister has changed to Nicola Murray and I wondered how it would work at first, because unlike the rest of the MPs on the show, she's actually quite sympathetic, but it's actually improved the show, I think, since I love the Malcolm-Nicola dynamic. And hell, I ship it.

And for those of you reading who do watch The Thick Of It, I have a Thick Of It/Torchwood crossover fic rec: Spinners of Earth by degroove in which Malcolm and Jamie take on the 456. This is the way it should have gone down.

Peter Capaldi has to get some kind of MVP award this year, because between his role as John Frobisher on Torchwood and his role in Malcolm Tucker In The Loop and The Thick of It, he's been the best thing in both the best television shows that I've watched this year and the best movie that I've seen this year.

Quick drive-by reaction

( Spoilers )

Number list of mostly random but sometimes related thoughts time!

1. The other day I was thinking about who in RTD's Who universe, the same ideas keep on being used throughout with new spins on them (for example, the idea behind Father's Day was used in Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane, and that evolved into Turn Left, or the repeating motif of the bride, and something occurred to me: ( cut for speculation based on casting spoilers and the ending of Children of Earth )

2. Watched V and was really disappointed. The buzz coming out of comicon was that it was brilliant, but the dialogue was appalling at times, the characters really thin and the whole thing was executed with the subtly of an anvil (it really doesn't get more heavy handed than a crucifix falling over and shattering as the space ship enters orbit). Plus it felt so rushed.

3. The latest episode of House was also disappointing. Although is about time the writers managed to find an excuse to get Hugh Laurie back in a period costume.

4. In other Hugh Laurie-as-the-Prince-Regent related win: I cannot believe I did not know of the existence of this Annie Lennox music video until a couple of days ago. Though really, who would pick John Malkovich over Hugh Laurie?

5. I miss Blackadder.

6. I've really gotten into FlashForward after the last episode. But then, how could I not with the casting that show has. Last episode had Sulu, Shakespeare and River Song investigating some crazy nihilist cult lead by Leoben. Not to mention, the huge disaster at the heart of it was apparently caused by the alliance of Meriadock Brandybuck and Steve from Coupling.

7. A trailer for Invictus has been released which is a movie I really want to see for many reason, rugby being one of the few sports I will actually watch on occasion, and I do remember watching that particular World Cup match when I was a kid (of course, I was cheering for the other team, and it will be interesting to see how the media in NZ covers the movie since it's widely believed that the All Blacks were deliberately poisoned before that match). I really want to see some day a movie made about another the 1981 Springbok Tour of New Zealand, which was another time rugby and apartheid mixed. I just think the mixture of the two teams playing against each other against the violence between police and rioters outside the stadiums would make for an awesome sports movie. That's me though, if I made a sports movie it wouldn't be feel good flick, it would be about violence, politics, racism and New Zealand's screwed up national psyche.

8. Finally, I have developed a crush on David Strathairn. Is that weird?

This week on the Clyde LangerSarah Jane Adventures, the Doctor continues to be bad at weddings...

( Do not look at me. Everything is normal )

Anyway, I love this series so much.

I've gotten so much into House this season, episodes are getting their own review posts. Don't have an icon though, so Martha will have to do (which leads me to wonder why I have never seen Martha-meets-House crossover fic).

( House 6x06 Brave Heart )

I've been totally failing when it comes to posting lately. Life's been hectic the past few weeks. Unfortunately, I don't see it getting any less so in the foreseeable future.

Still into FlashForward, particularly given the latest revelations that ( spoilers ).

The season opener of SJA reminded me why I love the show so much: it's just so damn cute. And there is Clyde. I am so looking forward to the Doctor showing up. It feels like forever since the Ten has graced my television.

My level of an episode of Glee I have decided depends of two factors: 1. How much screen time Jane Lynch gets, and 2. How much screen time Kurt gets. Also, Sanctuary continues to be cracktastic.

What I have gotten into the past couple of weeks though is House. I haven't had this much affection for the show since season two and it may be entirely due to Chase finally getting a storyline. The long overdue reunion of the original team may also be a major contributing factor, even if it's only for a short time since Jennifer Morrison is due to be leaving. But yes, Chase getting actual screen time and a storyline. And Jesse Spencer proving why I think he's one of the most underrated and underutilized actors on television. Yay!

And because there's a meme floating about and it looked like fun:

( 100 Female Characters I Love )

I finished watching Sports Night!

I think Quo Vadimus is one of my favourite series finales ever. I'm a big fan of endings being open ended, and it doesn't get much more open ended that that. The major plotline - the future of the show - is resolved, but none of the romantic plots are given resolution and Sorkin seems to deliberately leaves the relationships of the show in ambiguous places.

I, in fact, really like the way the show handles romance in general. Yes, the dating plan is contrived, but at the same time, I really like that after a season of will-they-wont-they, Dana and Casey screw up their relationship before it can even begin and it becomes a definite 'they-wont'. It's not satisfactory in a romantic comedy sense, but it is satisfactory in that it's realistic. Plus it reminded me of Broadcast News.

I will do a bit Sports Night pimping post eventually, with pictures and things, when I have the time/energy.

Also, watched Stargate Universe and – surprisingly - I don't hate it. I don't think it's great, but I don't hate it, which is something.

But basically what I got from watching it is that the Stargate writers obviously watched BSG and decided they wanted to make that show, so watched and took notes and decided that what made BSG great was death, darkness and the shaky-cam. So what we got was Stargate with death, darkness and a shaky-cam.

Unfortunately, what made BSG great was not death, darkness and the shaky-cam (although, I do think BSG is one of the most beautifully shot shows on telly). It was complex, layered characters, intelligent writing and big themes with more hits than misses their execution. And well, the Stargate writers have never been that great at characters, and particularly not at character development, the writing was to much of a rip off to be intelligent and themes, umm, what themes? (can we shoot some bad guys now?)

And more unfortunately, in order to make it a new, 'improved' and 500% more serious Stargate, they had to do away with the elements that made the Stargate franchise so wonderfully watchable in the first place: the funny, the crack and the team-y goodness. Coz what Stargate is to me, it's funny sci-fi crack, filled with team-y goodness.

Plus, I can't seperate it from the rest of the Stargate Universe, which means that I can't sit back and watch the characters scrambling around for a double episode trying to fix a problem and not think to myself, 'just give Sam or McKay duck-tape and a crazy straw and they'd have that fixed in five minutes.'

Still, I found it didn't actively suck. And it was great seeing what SG1 is up to these days (for the record: Jack's gotten fat, Daniel's the host of 'Stargate for dummies' instructional videos, and Sam's in command of her own spaceship, and has Teal'c waiting for her in her quarters. Okay, I made up that last part, but somebody's got to be a rabid Teal'c/Sam shipper, and the lack of a Teal'c cameo was disheartening). And I actually want to see what happens next week, so I will probably watch.

Haven't been up to much lately. Have been watching a lot of TV though:

Flash Forward - I've seen the first two episodes of this show and I am completely hooked. The first episode was sort of the half way point between Lost and the first season of Heroes – Lost in its visual style and feel, but Heroes in it's theme of 'can you change the future?' - but in the second episode it comes onto its own. The second episode opening with the kids I felt was absolutely fantastic. Plus the writers seems to subscribe to the Steven Moffat school of making everyday things as creepy as hell to scare the audience.

Plus, on top of the awesome regular cast, which includes Joseph Fiennes, Jack Davenport and John Cho (Shakespeare! Norrington! Sulu!), Alex Kingston was in the pilot, Shohreh Aghdashloo's got a guest role and I believe Gina Torres is going to be in the next episode. Oh, and I actually give a damn about the love triangle. That so rarely happens. But then, the husband is Joseph Fiennes and the other man is Jack Davenport and there's a cool fate vs. free will aspect to it, so it's one of the hottest and most interesting love triangles that I've come across.

Only major problem that needs to be fixed is the clunky exposition dialog. It's not a Heroes level of bad, but it's still bad enough to let the show down.

Glee - Still ridiculously in love with the show, although I'm finding the pacing and the amount of things happening in an episode a bit weird. My favourite bits of late were the football team dancing to 'Single Ladies' and the sing-off between Lea Michele and Kristen Chenoweth to 'Maybe This Time'. And I ship Kurt/Finn.

House - The opening was so very good it nearly made up for the disappointment I felt with the season five finale. Nearly. It depends where the Huddy story goes (hopefully away to die). The next one was back to the same old, and was a bit of a miss. Although I've moved from hating Foreman/Thirteen to just finding the relationship boring, which I suppose is a positive step.

SJA - In case you haven't seen them: pictures have emerged of David Tennant's guest stint, and they are very squee worthy. Although, I do have concerns about the episode based on it's title.

twelvecolonies held a vidding challenge and I entered, and the result is below.

Note to self: never, ever, ever try to vid a seven minute long song again.



Title: Citizen Erased
Vidder: meddow
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica
Music: 'Citizen Erased' by Muse
Spoilers: 4x00 Razor
Summary: Kendra Shaw has seen all she'll ever be.
Vidder's Notes: This is a slightly longer (4:14) version than the vid that appeared in the twelvecolonies challenge, as that was cut down to size so it wouldn't be disqualified.

Download links: Large (34 MB) Small (14 MB) Direct link to BAM vid vault.

( Embedded version and further vidder's notes below the cut )

Oh, Emmys. Using music written by a composer you snubbed, for a drama show you snubbed, in the drama montage.

Fat!Lee salutes you!



(Hey, I'm happy. I've been looking for a good excuse to use this Fat!Lee gif for ages).

On to the actual subject of this post. A random thought that's come to me while watching lots of Sports Night: The West Wing is my Star Trek.

You know how you hear from engineer, scientists, actors, politicians and all manner of people in all manner of jobs that watching Star Trek back in the day helped them to go into those careers because it was a show that presented a vision of society and the world as it could be that inspired them. Well, that's how I feel about The West Wing, and Sports Night for that matter. That the world should be filled with smart, witty, passionate people who are genuinely compassionate and devoted to what they do. Work colleagues should be like family and a place of work a home. Reasoned debate conducted at a rapid pace while walking down corridors should rule decision making. And being a big dork should get you everywhere in this world

Aaron Sorkin's view of the world is one that's hopeful and positive, and thing is, coming back into the Sorkin's worlds after something of a break, I've realized how much that world and those characters meant to me how it's my idealized society, and I'm never going to stop wanting that world, just as I'm never going to stop wanting to be CJ Cregg when I grow up, or just as much as I'm never going to stop amassing a mind full of useless trivia. I'm always going to want to find that workplace and those colleagues and it's never going to stop driving my actions.

Of course, all this would make Aaron Sorkin my Gene Roddenberry, which is unfortunate since I think Aaron Sorkin is a jackass. But it does make Toby Ziegler my Spock, which I can totally live with.

I'm so very happy with Glee having finally started. I loved the second episode about the same amount as the pilot, a bit more actually since some of the characters that bugged me a bit in the pilot became a bit more sympathetic, such as the football coach and lead-guy's wife (I'm going to go out on a limb and say I don't dislike her, because she seemed to be getting a clue about her own selfishness), that and the humor has become a bit more absurd, which I like. Plus there seemed to be more scenes with Jane Lynch, and any scene with Jane Lynch in it has thus far been utterly hilarious.

Two things bugged me: I hope the other four Glee kids aren't going to be relegated to background singers in the show every episode. I want some focus on them, but so far the show's given them barely any attention. And the songs seem too over produced. I expect the actual music used to have been pre-recored in a studio and the actors to be lip-syncing in the scene, but it shouldn't be so glaringly obvious that's what's happening.

Other than that *love*

Also watched the pilot of Virtuality, which was going to be Ron D Moore's new show post BSG, except it didn't get picked up and all that has been made was a pilot, which was turned into a tv movie.

Basically: at team of astronauts are spent out on a ten year mission to find another habitable planet, while they're on their mission, their exploits are being beamed back to Earth as a reality tv show and they spend most of their free time in a virtual reality programme which has started playing up and a mysterious un-programmed figure is murdering them all. So it's part Star Trek, part Big Brother, part 2001: A Space Odyssey.

It started off boring, the reality-tv thing didn't work for me, and I started ticking off characters I'd seen before in BSG. There was the bratty and hard-as-nails female pilot, the gruff, misanthropic and responsibility-adverse second in command, the very intelligent, self-absorbed and morally ambiguous British guy, the hot white male captain, as well as a character introduced being diagnosed with an incurable degenerative disease, a Adama-Tyrol amalgam, the male version of Head!Six, and another I couldn't decide if she was Dee, Boomer or Gaeta.

So yeah, I was not at all surprised at first that it didn't get picked up. But then things on the ship went to hell and it it became really intriguing towards the end, it actually got almost forth-wall breaking, asking if reality was real. (Apparently there was a cut speech in No Exit, in which Ellen Tigh comes very close to suggesting they're fictional characters, so I wouldn't be surpised if RDM went there and had his chacters become vaguely self aware in his next project)

But what really amused me was that if you follow the BSG character archetypes, it's became clear towards the end that RDM finally figured out to what do with Lee Adama: ( Spoilers ) That had me sitting back and declaring the show awesome.

As it got interesting and the characters came into their own towards the end, I'm quite sad it didn't get picked up. But then, it was Fox so that was to be expected.

Nothing much to report. Work has been stressful for the past couple of weeks and it's that funny time when the sun is out but it's still cold and lately I've been feeling lazy and all I've been wanting to do is curl up in bed with DVDs.

Watched The Chatterley Affair. I love, love, love the concept of this movie, which is that two of the jurors in the Lady Chatterley's Lover obscenity trial embark upon an affair and decide to enact the sex scenes in the book. It's all there for debate: sex, love, art vs pornography, censorship, class, etc. Execution could have been better though. It felt like it needed another half an hour at least to actually explore the main characters and give a bit of meat to the Twelve Angry Men style juror scenes or the issues at the heart of it. Plus, it could have done with some more inspired direction.

Also, David Tennant has a cameo, and it is win.

Also in legal dramas featuring actors who've portrayed the Doctor, I watched “Let him have it” which is a biopic starting a very young and adorable Christopher Eccleston about Derek Bently, a nineteen year old kid who was hung for murder in Britain in the 1950s. He was tried and found guilty for murder under joint enterprise for the killing of a policeman. Bently was intellectually disabled and would under modern law probably have been found to have diminished capacity, didn't have or fire a gun, was technically under arrest at the time and the phrase that was used to convict him 'let him have it' probably was telling his co-offender to give the cop the gun, rather than shoot someone with it. Anyway, he was hung and later given a full pardon.

Couldn't help but compare the movie to the far superior Pierrepoint (which I raved on abouthere), and again, could have done with a bit more of the legal debate and public reaction.

Also, I have been listening to the BSG season four soundtrack a lot lately, particularly the Daybreak disk, which is the last outing of the magnificent themes that developed over the series and often they gorgeously merge into one another. The ending of Assault on the Colony stands out in particular, where at about ten minutes in it changes to Kobol's Last Gleaming which then merges into The Shape of Things to Come and then again on into All Along the Watchtower. There are about twenty other tracks I could rave on about (like the use of Gaeta's Lament in Blood on the Scales, I didn't notice that in the episode, or how being able to sit at a piano and start playing Kara Remembers would be a really neat party trick), but I shall spare you all. Yes, I think Bear McCreary is a genius. Although one who should sometimes just say 'no' to bagpipes (they do work amazingly well in big battle pieces, but not in emotional moments).

Finally, I bought Sports Night the complete series on DVD and am not so patiently waiting for it to arrive in the mail. Expect me raving on about why you should all watch this late 90s sitcom in the weeks to come.

With fall tv premiers happening soon, this is about the time when I go on a tv cull, deciding what to watch and what to not watch. But this year, I seem to be watching very little so I don't need to drop things to make room. Of the new shows last year, the only one I really checked out was Fringe, and I got bored of that pretty quickly and stopped watching. I keep on meaning to give up Grey's Anatomy, but somehow I keep watching despite myself. Last season's House finale disappointed me a lot and I loathe Huddy, real or imaginary. (For me it's House/misanthropy, House/Wilson/misanthropy or House/Wilson/Amber), but I'll probably still end up watching that as well.

But yeah, in new shows I'm quite excited about Glee, because the pilot was adorable, I seem to love musical television shows and I loved Popular back in the day, which was by the same guy (anyone else remember that show? It was a lot more witty than normal teen fare). Flash Forward's getting a bit of hype, and I can't help but love the cast, but the central premise seems just a bit dull. I'll check out the pilot, but if it doesn't get interesting quickly or turns out to be as frustrating as Lost, I'll probably not watch.

In the battle of the next potential BSGs, I'm really exited about V, which unfortunately doesn't premiere until November. I've got little to go on aside from buzz, but the buzz is good. I've seen the pilot for Caprica, which has an even further away premier date of January. I liked it a lot, but it's more Rome than BSG. That's not a bad thing as I loved Rome and I'll certainly watch Caprica, but the setting gives it such a different feel to its parent show and its certainly weird that my mental comparison goes first not to the show that spawned it, but to a completely different and not at all related show. But then, I think of BSG as Rome in space, since, aside from the religious aspects, it has a similar mixture of military matters, political intrigue and personal drama. Actually, it struck me the other day that Lee and Zarek from Sine Qua Non to Blood on the Scales are kind of like Octavian and Mark Antony, the inexperienced adopted son vs. the second in command for to be the heir to Julius Caesar's (Roslin's) throne. (And if Zarek is Mark Antony, I would suppose that would make Gaeta Cleopatra...).

Anyway, back to what I was talking about, Stargate: Universe actually has the most BSG-esq premise, but I'll only watch if it gets good reviews. I trust the Stargate writers to do lighthearted, snarky and slightly cracky. I don't trust them to be able to pull off serious, intelligent and dark.

One thing I have noticed lately is that aside from the likes of Doctor Who, Grey's and House, most of the television I watch these days I don't watch when it originally airs. Lately I seem to discover it on DVD some time after it originally aired and often after the series has ended (as is what happened with Rome, BSG and Life on Mars), and by the time I've gotten into it everyone else has moved on. So I'm determined to be more onto it with my show watching.

It's been a while since I made a numbered list:

1. I've been spending what little free time I've had lately vidding, and amazing movie maker's actually working, only crashing once every three hours or so max and it's saving. By writing that, I've probably now jinxed it, but it is such a freaking miraculous development I had to post about it.

2. Saw District 9, which is very good, if a little gory. Yay for originality and intelligence in an action-y summer movie.

3. Is True Blood any good? I'm still in BSG-withdrawal and trying to get over it by rental-stalking the cast and my girl crush on Michelle Forbes and residual Cain love might just be enough to get me past my aversion to vampires.

4. Speaking of the above, I have an 'Admiral Cain is totally one of the greatest villains like ever!!!!!' meta posts in me, but I'm tired right now.

5. I managed to pick up all three of the Back to the Future movies on DVD for a ridiculously low price, and this makes me exceptionally happy. I need to pick up the Indiana Jones movies and The Goonies and my beloved childhood movies collection shall be complete.

6. There was a six, but for the life of me, I can't remember it right now.

Lastly and just because, three Starbuck vid recs:

Art Bitch by hollywoodgrrlThe summary is Kara Thrace is SUCH an Art Bitch and OMG, she totally is. I love when vids present a fun and new perspective on characters.

Learn to Fly by jarrow (Starbuck/Kat) Imagine how awesome a slashy vid about two dueling top gun space pilots could be, then add on another pile of awesome and you've got this vid.

I'm Not Dead by dualbunny An amazing vid about Kara Thrace which touches upon her personality, the important relationships in her life and best of all, her season four arc and manages to do it with such a brilliant cohesion that I wouldn't have thought possible.

Hollywood's complete inability to come up with an original idea is only second to the writing of female characters in romcoms when it comes to making me despair about the current state of big-budget entertainment, and rebooting Battlestar Galactica again, so soon after it was just successfully rebooted, just proves how ridiculous it's getting. First of all, why? The 2003 reboot only provided six years of acclaimed television, lasted longer than the original series and spawned a spin-off. Was is not successful enough? Secondly, there is no way comparisons would not be drawn. And I understand it, if they return to the original material (I haven't actually watched the original series), there would be no Roslin or Six (or any of the other skin-job model Cylons for that matter), Baltar would be properly evil rather than, well, Baltar, and Starbuck, Boomer and Admiral Cain would all suddenly be men. Weird.

I watched The Edge of Darkness recently, a political thriller about nuclear weapons from the BBC, which aired originally in 1985. It is bloody good. Basically, it's about a cop who witnesses his daughter's murder which causes him to investigate and in turn become involved in a conspiracy involving governments, environmental protesters, secret agents and some wonderful larger-than-life characters. It gets a bit nuts, but just when I think its skirting the edge of credibility, I remind myself that the French government sent secret agents half way around the world to blow up anti-nuclear protest ship in Auckland Harbour the very same year it aired, and so things really were a bit crazy back in the 1980s.

While normally when I watch old TV, I kind of have to adjust my mindset to take into account the low budgets, sub-par effects and the plodding pace, going on twenty-five years after it originally aired it holds up. It seems the BBC actually spent money on it, and the direction and pacing holds up by today's standards. And thinking about its impact, I think it's clear Ashes to Ashes in particular borrows heavily from it, and the daughter hanging about the main character after her death makes me wonder if it was the first time the ghost trope was used on television. These days, its hard to think of television shows that don't have characters talking to dead people.

I also re-watched Children of Earth, and if any one character gets to come back, can it please be Johnson? I've decided she's my favourite of the new crop, as not only is she incredibly competent and morally ambiguous but for a purpose, but they also bothered to give her a degree of compassion, a quality writers don't usually bother with in secondary characters of that nature. Plus, I want Alice back, but that might be because Johnson/Alice is my Torchwood OTP, as messed up as it would be. Oh, and I want Lois as the new Ianto and creepy dude as the new Tosh, because they'd get left behind in the hub while the rest go on missions, and watching Lois constantly one-uping creepy dude to keep him in line could make for great entertainment.

From that Five Things Meme. Feel free to give me more as I love doing these sorts of things.

For ishie

( Top Five things to crossover with Battlestar Galactica )

( Top Five ways I would have ended it if I were in charge )

For airie_fairy

( Top Five Teenage Characters )

For artic_fox

( Top Five moments where I wanted to bitch-slap the Doctor )

I've been working on this fic for the femgenficathon and I've gotten over my fear of writing in a new fandom, got most of the characters and tone right and pulled it back from being too talky (all my fics seem to start off with way too much dialog and I have to cut tonnes of it out). But somewhere along the way, it stopped being gen. Well, it's borderline, but since I'm pretty conservative in my definition of gen, I wouldn't be comfortable with it classifying it as such. It's not a problem, I can just post it outside of the ficathon, it's just amusing to me that it happened. I blame BSG and the insane level of UST between the political elite on the show and the love dodecahedrons.

Also: the trailer for The Lovely Bones has come out. To be honest, I haven't read the book, but I'm all kinds of excited because of the Peter Jackson factor. While I love the Lord of the Rings movies and thought King Kong was great, I actually think Peter Jackson is at his best mixing fantasy with period suburbia, like he did in Braindead, Heavenly Creatures and The Fighteners, and I'm really excited to see him return to that kind of film making.

And because I'm bored and coz I love making numbered lists:

Ask me my fannish Top Five [Whatevers]. Any top fives. Doesn't matter what, really. And I will answer them all in a new post.

Movie Rec: I saw In the Loop yesterday and it's the best film I've watched at the movies all year, and also the funniest movie I've watched in longer than that. It's a political satire about a British cabinet minister who after a bit of a gaff about a potential war in the Middle East, finds himself in Washington being used as a puppet by both the anti-war and pro-war portions of the US Government. It's got some of the most glorious and creative insults, threats and curses in cinema history (oh, how I would like to see what the airline version of the film would be like - probably a five minute film of various characters looking at each other). Best character has to be Malcolm Tucker, who is both the villain and the guy you find yourself rooting for just because he has some to the best lines and is the most competent of the bunch, and if you weren't already thinking Peter Capaldi is brilliant after Torchwood, you will be after this.

Plus, it also adds a lot of weight to my current theory that the best things dealing with Iraq are the things in which the word 'Iraq' is never used.

And speaking of Torchwood actors, I was reading that John Barrowman might not be around for series four as he may be on Desperate Housewives, and all I could think of was how this would be brilliant.

I said it in my review of Day Five, but now that the immediate reaction's worn off, I stand by not wanting to see Jack Harkness again. First of all, I think pop culture needs a cull of emo immortals because the 'Everyone I know dies while I stay eternally young, pretty and healthy' thing has been done to death and I am absolutely utterly and truly sick of it.

Secondly, I don't think Barrowman's got the acting chops to really do the devastation to Jack at the end of Day Five justice in a long term sort of capacity. He does a great intergalactic playboy and he did really well for Barrowman in CoE, but I often cringed when it came Jack's big emotional moments through series one and two of Torchwood.

But mostly, I'm just sick of TW!Jack. Doctor Who!Jack was wonderful. I loved him with Nine and adored his appearances with Ten, but he's well and truly dead. I don't think a post-Day 5 Jack could show up on DW unless the write the character so OC the Torchwood watching audiences would throw things. TW!Jack always seemed to me to be a different character because they were trying to peg the fun, action-sidekick into the dark and brooding leader role and managed to mess up what I liked about the character doing it, creating this character I hated because he wasn't the character I loved.

Anyway, the character had gone, his leaving was upsetting, but also it felt right. I hope they don't bring him back. Plus, there's Gwen, Johnson and - if they want to keep it in the family - Alice, who could all act as replacements.

I'm all nostalgic for Nine at the moment. I think it's because of all the ads for GI Joe on the telly. (Dear Christopher Eccleston, please be in better movies. I adore you, but I'm not paying money to see that even though you're in it). So for picspammy's short form challenge I've done the Doctor Who season one launch trailer. The below is not dial-up friendly.



( Nine! Unexplained fireball! Billie pouting like it's 1998! )

twelvecolonies

Where three teams of BSG fans (Team Galactica, Team Basestar and Team Colonial One) battle it out for ultimate supremacy and bragging rights. It's loads of fun and if you say I sent you there, my team gets points.

Also, Rosencrantz watched Daybreak Part II for the first time the other day and had the best reaction I've seen so far: “Wow. Starbuck can run really fast.”

Now I've got to go finish that picspam I've been working on for picspammy