Torchwood: Children of Earth could be best Torchwood yet

Although I have been blogging on sci-fi for more than a year now, this is my first post on Torchwood ahead of its truncated but excitingly scheduled third series, Children of Earth.

I tried to work out why it had missed out earlier, and I think the reason is for large parts of its first series and some of its second, it just wasn't very good. And for wasn't very good, read a total fucking mess.

It started with a great premise - Captain Jack leading a team defending the earth from alien menaces by using alien technology, with a more adult vibe than Doctor Who. So far, so cool ... but ... where to begin?

For starters, huge chunks of the show didn't make sense, I mean, you're a top secret team, but you drive a big car with your name on it and tell everyone who you are. You keep a pterodactyl for no reason? You stand on top of the Welsh Assembly building, again for no reason?

Secondly you're supposed to be using alien technology to save the earth, but - presumably for budget reasons - we never saw much of it.

In fact their standard tactics were argue, swear, shag, get Jack killed or kill Jack themselves, Jack comes back to life and saves the day, which is fine, but for a supposedly top secret anti-alien team I was expecting something more, like a sense they knew what they were doing and had some sort of clue.

The swearing bothered me, because it felt like they were a middle-class teenager having a party when their parents were away who thought saying fuck was so shitting cool, yah! Fuck yah, we just said fuck!! It takes more than that to make a programme an adult drama.

John Barrowman was overpowering as Captain Jack, which meant that the rest of the team withered next to the power of his awesome, indestructible jazz hands.

And then there was Owen. He was supposedly the ladies man, but was such a rat-faced little turd that it was hard to imagine any woman - alien or not - going within 10 yards of him.

Christ he got on my nerves, right up until he was vapourised in a nuclear meltdown. Normally when a central cast member dies it is a moment for sadness and reflection but I was wooting with delight.

It added up to a wildly uneven programme with the very talented Eve Myles and handful of good episodes - They Keep Killing Suzie was the best from S1 - being lost amid some very poor writing, effects and undeveloped ideas, like the episode where the bloke was knocked down and died, but didn't, but then he did, or something. I've seen school plays with a better storyline.

However it did enough to justify the second series and the bar was raised massively, mostly by the introduction of James Marsters as Captain John, who was brilliant whenever he appeared.

Along with other guest stars, much better plots and better use of Cardiff as a location, it meant I no longer had to watch through my hands and could actually talk about it in work the next day without people pointing and laughing.

Not everything worked - the Meat episode featuring the whale from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was a clunker - but the show felt more comfortable and sure of itself.

Which brings us to series three, Children of Earth, which looks nice and creepy if the trailer is anything to go by - kids are always creepy in sci-fi.

It has actually had some buzz built up around it by the BBC's delays in deciding when to broadcast it.

Although they only have five shows - presumably to save money - they turned that potential weakness into a strength by broadcasting on consecutive nights.

That was a brilliant decision by whoever made it, meaning the show is now a BBC1 prime-time event.

Of course the flip side of that is it has to deliver, but without Who to work on, all the energy of the creative team down in Cardiff is focused on Torchwood for the first time.

To me, Torchwood has improved but it has never really delivered what it promised to do when it started out, but the success of series two and what I have seen so far gives me real hope it will finally step up.

Roll on Monday July 6!

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's hello from Mexico on set of Paul

I think my arithmetic is correct when I say that Simon Pegg+Nick Frost = fun, games and pants-wetting, crying with laughter comedy.

That means this teaser blog for their new film, Paul, is well worth keeping an eye on.

I found it on their official blog site, immediately Google Readered it and would advise you to do the same.

As I understand it, the film is about two sci-fi geeks on a pilgrimage to Area 51 who have an alien encounter - also starring Seth Rogan, Sigourney Weaver, Bill Heder and Jason Bateman.

That's some cast, and I imagine the slacker/nerd roles will be quite a stretch for the duo to portray, but hopefully they'll pull it off. When they do, I think it means Pegg will be the coolest geek ever on top of his turn as Scotty in Star Trek.

Of course, the high spot of their creative collaborations for me is Spaced (as good as Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead have been) especially this bit about the telepathy between men.

So what do you think? Looking forward to it?

District 9's Dark Knight-style viral marketing helps it stand out

IN WHAT is rapidly becoming a more and more crowded marketplace, new sci-fi films have to try something different to stand out - and District 9 has learned that lesson well.

The previously low-profile film has been attracting some serious heat in America with its clever campaign says Sci-Fi Scoop, asking people to report aliens should they see them, and warning them not to pick any up.

I love all that breaking the fourth wall shit, and while spreading buzz through word of mouth in the real world can be a risky business, when it is done well it pays off massively.



The best example I can think of recently was the campaign for the Dark Knight, which went into viral overload and made millions of people around the world feel part of the film months before it came out. The result was a massive surge of goodwill from a super-charged audience to whom the film had a direct connection with.

If they can hoover up a share of that action, I am sure the people behind District 9 - producer Peter Jackson and director Neill Blomkamp - will consider it money well spent and more films will look to move away from more traditional ideas.

We live in an ever more connected world with more and more tools to link up with people from every corner of the globe, the idea of which was science fiction only a few years ago.

While those tools can be used for real good - like Twitter's coverage of the aftermath of the Iranian election - I'm all in favour of using it for relatively frivolous stuff like this too. Your thoughts?

While you're pondering, here's the trailer and the original film it is based on.

Capricorn One - great sci-fi moments number six

CAPRICORN One is a film that I don't own on DVD, but if I happen across it on TV I find it impossible not to watch.

Thrilling conspiracy theory nuts everywhere, its premise has a team of astronauts forced to take part in a fake Mission to Mars by threats against their families (one of the astronauts was OJ Simpson, so he would have taken some real convincing), as NASA budget cuts mean their ship's life support would not keep them alive.

They film pretend broadcasts from a set on an isolated military base, but when the spaceship burns up on the way back home just as they were on their way to meet it, they realise they have to fight for their lives and try to reach civilisation, at the same time as journalist Elliot Gould tries to expose the truth.

Truly a child of its time, with America still recovering from the aftermath of Watergate and Vietnam in 1978 when it was made, it boasts a great cast and exciting storytelling from director Peter Hyams, all of which can be summed up by the phrase don't trust the man. (and don't look too closely at the script, which has more holes in it than a faulty heat shield. A LEM on Mars anyone?)

However my sci-fi moment is not Elliot Gould or Telly Savalas's performances, enjoyable as they are, or the sense of creeping paranoia that pervades the movie, or even twinkly-eyed Hal Holbrook doing that avuncular but ruthless monster thing he made a career out of.

Instead it involves Sam Waterston, who plays one of the astronauts, happy go lucky Peter Willis. (Spoilers ahead, if you haven't seen the film)

As part of his escape attempt, he has a long scene where he climbs a huge cliff, typically telling himself a joke as he goes.

It seems to go on forever, with Willis nearly falling but clinging on and painfully inching ever upwards through sheer willpower, each line of the joke a gasp for air until ...... he reaches the top and finds the faceless soldiers, who had been waiting there while he climbed, to kill him.

All he has left is to say the bitter sweet punchline before Charles Brubaker (James Brolin), escaping in another direction, sees the flare go off that signals his friend has been caught and killed.

On the face of it, Brolin is the movie's hero and Gould also has the flashier role, while OJ Simpson was then still an all-American football hero.

But Waterston's nuanced performance made me care for his character more than the others and I was really hoping he would be the one to make it.

Les Posen descibes the scene as an emotional highlight in his blog and I would agree 100%.

Every time I watch the film, that is the moment I watch most closely and remember most strongly.

Overall this film is a guilty pleasure, but Waterston's moment briefly elevates it into something much more real. Will the remake be able to do the same?

Joss Whedon's Dollhouse is just a nasty nerd fantasy

Joss Whedon's Dollhouse is still relatively new, but I can't help but think he has been playing it out in his mind for the past few decades.

The show is about Echo, who has had her memory wiped along with other 'dolls' (jocks and fit girls), who live in an idyllic sanctuary called the dollhouse before they have new memories implanted to take on different jobs - be that girlfriend, doctor, bank robber or assassin.

So far, so Joe 90, albeit with big rat replaced by a comfy looking chair and - natch - a geeky science type (i.e effectively the avatar of a famous director, whose name rhymes with Woss Jhedon) who controls the doll's memories.

Oh Joss, normally I love your work and I reserved judgement in this case for a while, but were your younger days really so miserable that you have to take your twisted revenge now?

"All the jocks and pretty girls will be mine to control, MINE I TELL YOU!!!!! They will do what I say for once!!" Cue manic laugh and high pitched organ music. "I'll make their lives miserable ... sob ... (whisper) just like they did to me ...."

And that is a massive shame because - the questionable psyche of the show's creator aside - Eliza Dushku makes the most of her role as Echo, switching effectively between her personalities.

The rest of the cast are impressive too, especially Tahmoh Penikett - fresh from finding Earth on Battlestar Galactica - who adds weight as FBI agent Paul Ballard. Searching for the Dollhouse's secret, he utilises the same three steely determination he put to good use up in space.

However, Fran Kranz as Joss, I mean Topher, the computer genius, makes me want to put my fist through the screen whenever he's on it.

Jesus, he's annoying and massively creepy, hovering over the dolls after their mind-wiping like a pervy younger brother who has crept into his sister's room and played dress-up when everyone else was out at the shops.

"Did I fall asleep?" the dolls always ask to that lurking goon. This nasty show should be put to sleep for good, which is incredibly hard to say after Buffy and Firefly.

It seems my view is not the majority as it has just been renewed for a second series, but if you want my opinion, avoid.

Han Solo PI - Star Wars genius from You Tube

YOU'VE probably seen this by now, but if not, you're in for a treat.

I always said Han Solo was the coolest character in Star Wars and this Magnum title sequence homage just makes him cooler by comparison. (leaving aside the Selleck/Ford/Indiana Jones links too)



That is about as good as it gets for You Tube mash ups. Here's a side by side comparison:



Fantastic work! And yes, another example of someone with too much time on their hands, but praise Jebus for that.

1970s TV science fiction stars and superheroes - best ever picture by Dusty Abell

This is one of the greatest things have ever seen - my eyes and brain are still arguing over whether or not it is real.

Pretty much all the 1970s television heroes and heroines I grew up watching and loving, fantastically captured and realised by artist Dusty Abell.

How many of them can you name? I've had a go in invisotext below, and remembered most of them, at least shakily and in some cases almost certainly incorrectly, but I'm still missing a couple.

From left - Wonder Woman, The Man from Atlantis, Starbuck, ?????, Apollo, a Cylon warrior, Steve Austin, ??????, Logan, Cylon Leader, Lucifer, The Invisible Man, Spider Man, the Bionic Woman, Romana (Actually Leela, thanks Gary), Robot, Doctor Who, Urko, Dalek, ??????, ?????, Buck Rogers, David (thanks again Gary) Bruce Banner, Hulk, Twiki, Wilma Deering, Maya, Mork, don't know name, but was the Greatest American hero or something like that, John Koenig.

The ships, from left, Buck's space fighter, SHADO 1 (?), G Force (?), Eagle, Cylon basestar, Tardis, Colonial shuttle, Battlestar Galactica, SHADO interceptor, UFO, Colonial Viper, space fighter, Cylon raider.

It is a wonderful piece of work. But I first saw this on the excellent Live for Films blog, created by Phil Edwards, which I urge anyone who has even the slightest interest in movies to check out asap.

Runaway, Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons - great sci-fi moments number five

A STORY in the New Scientist says that sinister government scientists are on the verge of producing radio controlled bullets that can be programmed to explode when they are a certain distance from the rifle.

Leaving aside the obvious reaction (Whoa!! That's so fricking cool!!) it brought back a sci-fi memory buried in the deeper recesses of my brain, which I never thought would surface again.

Runaway, starring Tom Selleck, and his moustache.

And Kiss lead singer Gene Simmons. And written by Michael Crichton. If you're thinking it soulds like a mad film experiment gone tragically wrong, you'd be pretty much spot on. Or so I thought - because the reaction to this post tells me this film should be filed in the guilty pleasures folder.



Get all that? The basic premise is Selleck - still battling against that lack of big screen presence back in 1984 that would have sunk Indiana Jones if he'd got the role - is a police man dealing with robots, now an every day part of life (in a boxy, useless kind of way), that have gone rogue.

But Gene Simmons (actually not that bad) is an evil scientist who is turning all the Toilet Cleaner droids and Orgasmatrons into merciless steel-coated killing machines.

The reason the film came to mind is Simmons has a gun that fires bullets which lock on to a body's heat signature and can change direction, meaning they never miss. Except when they are fired at Tom Selleck, who is protected by his moustache.

He also has killer spider robots that shoot acid and inject poison (which sound like they were dreamed up by a 12-year-old fanboy) and jerk around the screen unconvincingly before exploding. Despite this, anyone threatened by them seems to lose all locomotive skills, simply standing still and waiting to die when even a gentle jog would be enough to reach safety.

I'm not sure if I'd like to watch it again now because - let's be honest - it looks shit, but back in 1984, 12-year-old me suspended his disbelief sufficiently to enjoy it alot. It does have some good scenes in it though - not least a car chase with a difference (hovering robot bombs that zoom under cars before blowing up) - so I will probably give it a chance, if only for the IT IS THE FUTURE line in the trailer.

And a word to the wise for the government scientists working on the remote control bullet now. If one of your number has slicked back black hair, mutters to himself all the time and is putting in alot of overtime on his own, don't leave the keys to the gun cupboard lying around.

And watch out for spiders.

P.S Watching the trailer again, did you see GW Bailey as - in a foreshadowing of the role that would define his later life - the chief of police? That Police Academy audition (also released in 1984) must have been a piece of piss after this!

William Shatner watches Star Trek and meets Chris Pine, JJ Abrams

Despite the seeming bad blood about not appearing in the new Star Trek film, you have still got to love William Shatner.

He seems genuinely pleased by what he sees, but - showing the savvy that has seen him get the absolute maximum from his talents - still mentions his feud with George Takei and his new book about Star Trek Academy.

I've read a couple of his books and - while I suspect he is not too involved in the actual writing of them - they are fairly decent holiday page turners. I think the latest one may get lost against the backdrop of the big film hoopla though.

Still, it was nice to see him show good grace here about what everyone now says is a worthy addition to the canon.

Here's a bonus vid I just found too, where he meets the cast of the new film and at one point, seems to ask JJ Abrams outside for a fight. Good old Bill.

Watch Chuck and join the Nerd Herd

I HATE going shopping, but on Tuesday night I'll be first in the queue at the grand re-opening of the BuyMore for series two of Chuck on Virgin 1.

For those who don't know - and that is a surprisingly high number given how excellent the show is - Chuck tells the story of the eponymous character, a geek that works fixing computers in a superstore, but then has America's secrets downloaded into his brain via email. This video gives you the skinny.



Chuck then has the ability to 'flash' on key information, cueing secret agent escapades with spies galore, all the while maintaining his normal life with friends and family who have no idea what is going on.

I happened across the show by accident last year and was hooked from minute one.

There are loads of reasons why - starting with the cast. Zachary Levi is note perfect as lovable geek Chuck, backed up by Yvonne Strahovski as Sarah and the brilliant Adam Baldwin as Casey, his spy bodyguards.

The trio have tremendous chemistry, with Baldwin - as he did in Firefly and Serenity - stealing every scene he is in.

But they are supported by a great set of oddball supporting characters, led by Chuck's best friend Morgan (Joshua Gomez) and the rest of the BuyMore staff, who add layer upon layer of fun and games to what could have been one note roles. The same is true of Chuck's sister Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) and her fiance, Captain Awesome (you have to watch).

The cast are also helped by the show's creators who really pull out all the stops in their scripts - funny and affecting, as well as loaded with geeky pop culture references for people like me to pick up on, and then make everyone else in the room wonder why I am laughing.

On the face of it, the show is more spy comedy than sci-fi, and transparantly made to be geek wish fulfilment. (ordinary bloke who loves sci-fi, becomes hero who saves world, with help from cool mates / beautiful women)

But the whole thing is done with such charm and love - for the characters and for the sci-fi world that Chuck and Morgan obviously dig - and that pushes it into the scope of this blog and overcomes any cynicism.

I'm massively grateful for that because it is a wonderful programme which presents a world that anyone would love to hang around in and has attracted a massive fanbase.

That fanbase was key because, as with any American show that is clever, funny and appealing, it only just survived getting the chop from the network with the help of a massive public campaign.

It recently had its third series confirmed in the USA but I get the feeling that as it is not called Heroes or Lost (which seem untouchable no matter what depths they plumb) it won't be around for too much longer.

Check it out at 9pm on Tuesday on Virgin 1 while you can - you won't regret it.