Dibs and dabs


Various notes on what's interesting in movies and television

For those of y'all that don't follow the Lord Mayor of Twittertown, AKA Stephen Fry, he's back in L.A. at the moment shooting an episode of Bones, reprising his role as Dr. Gordon Wyatt. I can't wait until it airs.

Battlestar Galactica's in full swing, but I've missed the last two episodes. Bad fangirl. No frakkin' biscuit.

The first season of Ashes to Ashes, the follow-on to the original (U.K.) version of Life on Mars, will hit BBC America the first week in March. (OT: muttering from Daughter during a weekend Top Gear marathon: "BBCA needs a HD channel.") Folks who are fans of LoM but haven't seen A2A yet are in for some surprises beyond the basic changes in time, place, and protagonist's gender. But whether or not you approve of Alex and the changes in Gene's character, I think you'll like the way they've expanded the characters of Ray and Chris. Bonus guest appearances: Matthew Macfayden (in a mullet and a mustache! Oh, Mr. Darcy! The things some guys'll do for their wives...) and Geoffrey Palmer. The second season of A2A is in its final production stages and due to start airing in the U.K. in late March or early April.

Meanwhile, the U.S. version of Life on Mars is losing ratings ground thanks to having moved nights after its hiatus over the holidays, and I'm certain not helped by the network showing the episodes out of order even though the last episode before the hiatus ended on a bit of cliff-hanger. Being piggybacked with Lost did not make up for being up against American Idol... But word of mouth from the-fans-on-the-Internet is that when it started deviating from the original U.K. stories, it started finding its footing. It's a shame the move happened at the same time.

The teaser is out for the new season of Torchwood, which for the three fans of it that haven't already heard, will be shown all in one week on five consecutive nights, and shown the same day on both BBC and BBCA. The limited season (five episodes instead of 13) has many speculating that this is the final one...

Meanwhile, their parent show Doctor Who is still in a bit of a jam with their Easter special, since they shipped a bus to Dubai and it didn't get there all in one piece. Rewrites and show date slippage are both rumored.

If you can still find Coraline in 3D and you haven't seen it yet, do so soonest. Bite the bullet and pay the extra. Alas, that wretched Jonas Brothers movie was due to wipe out most of its venues after just a couple of weeks. If you can only see the regular version, go see it anyway.The only time it feels like the film was taking advantage of the 3D effect (as opposed to it just being an enhancement of the film) is right at the beginning with the Other Mother's needle, and at the very, very end of the closing credits, where they show some ribbon versions of the jumping mice with their ligatures (if the snot-nosed teenagers who clean between showings don't damn near run you out of the theater rather than let you stay to see it.) The ending is not quite the same as the book -- it's been moved to America, and they've added a character. But otherwise, it does a good job of capturing the book. BTW -- NOT FOR LITTLE 'UNS. In fact, if you've got an 8 - 10-year-old with delicate sensibilities and a tendency to crawl in bed with you b/c of nightmares after they watch something scary, at least wait until it comes out on DVD. Bonus: French and Saunders as retired burlesque performers!

Posted: Tue - February 17, 2009 at 11:59 AM   Home         | | View Technorati reactions

©