Being Human (Warning: Spoilers)

As some of you know, I am a massive fan of Being Human. I think it's one of those brilliantly simple concepts that when you say it, you wonder why it hasn't been done before (Like Deadpool attacking you with his Health Bar in Marvel vs Capcom 3).

The core concept is that a Vampire, a Werewolf and a Ghost sharing a house, trying to live as humans. As the Series evolved, the Werewolf, George, entered into a relationship with another Werewolf, Nina. The Vampire, Mitchell struggled with his nature over the course of the series, and Annie... well, Annie made an awful lot of Tea.

The Cast (From left to Right): George, Nina, Mitchell

But then something changed. Between the Second and Third Series, Mitchell went on a rampage with a fellow Vampire, and butchered an entire trainful of people. Eventually, he had George kill him to prevent the Old Ones (the leaders of the Vampires) from controlling him.

Mitchell was gone.

But that's ok. TV Shows lose are bound to lose one or two cast members from time to time. It's natural.

Before the Fourth series started, Russell Tovey, who played George, announced that he was leaving 'at some point during the series' (try the first bloody episode). This was fairly quickly followed by an announcement that Nina hadn't filmed any scenes (it was revealed that she'd been killed off-screen). Yep, that's right. The fourth series lost three of its four cast members before the second episode.

But that was alright. They already had a spare Werewolf in the form of Tom McNair, a recurring character from the Third Series. The series quickly introduced Hal, another Vampire who had been living with another Ghost and Werewolf. When they died/moved on, Hal was left with Annie, Eve, the virtually human baby of George and Nina concieved when both were in Wolf form, and Tom. Initially, I was looking at this as the end of Being Human. Too many cast members are gone. It won't last and it won't be as good.

From left to right: Hal (Vampire), Annie (Ghost) and Tom (Werewolf)

I was wrong.

The Fourth Series, while a bit slow in part, was just as good as the previous three series. The dynamic was obviously different, with Annie, determined to protect Eve, as the heart of the group, but it worked. It had drama in the form of the War Child story arc, comedy with the reappearance of Adam the Teenage Vampire and romance with Hal and Alex (that didn't end well).

Then came the final episode.

In the penultimate episode, the aforementioned Alex was captured by Vampires and drained, her blood fed to Hal deliberately. As is the case in the series, she became a Ghost upon her death. That's when alarm bells should've rung in my head.

Anyway, back to the Finale. To cut a long story short, the Old Ones have arrived, Hal is scared because Mr Snow (Mark Gatiss) can control him, and Hal gives him Eve to protect her. A very pissed off Annie, flanked by Alex, arrive and get the baby back before Annie detonated a homemade bomb Tom wiped up earlier, killing not only Eve (sadface) but also every single member of the Old Ones (YAY).

Her door appears.

In Being Human, a Ghost is a Ghost because he/she has some unfinished business. Once it's complete, a door appears and that person can finally move onto the Afterlife. Annie steps through, picks up Baby Eve (yay) and is told by Future Eve (who's life no longer happened) that 'They (George, Nina and Mitchell) are waiting for her through another door. Annie, with a big grin, steps through and goes to Heaven (even though she's a babykiller).

So yeah, next series will feature no member of the original cast. Will that be a good thing? I don't know.

But I can't wait to find out.

Live Long and Prosper

Doctor Who spin-offs

As is often the case, the idea for this blog came from something I read. It basically details how, at the moment, Steven Moffat has no plans for producing another Doctor Who spin-off (at least not in the near future).

To date, there have been three attempts* (two successful) at a spin-off series. The first was called "K9 and Company" and featured Elisabeth Sladen reprising the role of Sarah Jane Smith. This was the only spin-off attempted during the original run of Doctor Who, and didn't get beyond a pilot.

The second was "Torchwood" starring John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness. Its Fourth Series, entitled "Miracle Day" aired last year, and the series is currently in 'Limbo' (its future remains uncertain).

The third was "The Sarah Jane Adventures", once again starring Elisabeth Sladen as Miss Sarah Jane Smith. Sadly, that series came to an end after its Fifth Series due to her untimely death.

Both of these were made when Russell T Davis was the Executive Producer of "Doctor Who". He contained to remain involved with both after leaving the parent series, although to a lesser extent with the SJA due to being in LA with Torchwood.

So the question I ask now, do we need another spin-off?

Steven Moffat's tenure as Mr Davis' replacement has introduced characters that could carry their own spin-off. After the initial airing of "A Good Man Goes To War", I recall my Twitter feed being filled with requests for Vastra and Jenny to receive their own series (If I remember rightly, I was one of them), and who wouldn't want to see them kicking arse in Victorian times? (Even Steven himself thought so).

However, I think that with both "Doctor Who" and "Sherlock" demanding his attention, he should avoid doing any spin-offs. Managing two shows (especially THOSE shows)  must be hard enough for him. I would rather he focus on producing them two, rather than adding to his workload with a third, and producing sub-par work on all three.

So, in my humble opinion, we should leave any spin-offs for the time being.

So say We All

*Note: The K9 Series produced by Bob Baker does NOT count as far as I am concerned. While it may use K9, the Doctor has yet to be referenced. Until that occurs, it will remain non-canon as far as I'm concerned. (plus I HATE K9's design on it.)

Why I hate Wil Wheaton

I am not happy. Today, I returned home to check my usual websites of a non-pornographic nature, and I was HORRIFIED to find the name 'Wil Wheaton' (or his twitter name) not once, not twice but three times on DIFFERENT sites! First, he invaded my Youtube, then my Trek site and finally he appeared in my Twitter feed (I don't follow him. Some git retweeted him).

So I thought about it, and decided I would list the reasons why I legitimately dislike him. (There will be no pictures of Wheaton - that would just hurt.)

First off, he played the single most irritating character on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Now I know that hating Wesley Crusher isn't uncommon (most fans do). He was a wimpy, whiny, know-it-all brat. In countless episodes, he found the solution where countless MORE experienced officers, were clueless. In one episode, while under the influence of a virus supposed to make him drunk, he successfully fooled the Ship's Computer into giving him command AND then saved the ship with a brilliant idea.

In his final appearance as the Hated One, he's supposedl to come across as someone who's lost his way in the World. What he succeeds in doing is pissing off absolutely everyone on the Enterprise. Seriously! Even his own Mother hates him at the end. So when he disappears off to become a Traveler, you don't feel happy for him. You feel sorry for ALL the other Travelers.

Thank you for taking him away. We would send a fruit basket, but we don't know where you live. Also, you're fictional.

So hating an actor based solely around ONE role he played is pretty bad. I know, I used to argue this point myself when hatred of Wheaton was brought up.

Then he started popping up in almost every show I love. Criminal Minds, A Town Called Eureka, The Guild, The Big Bang Theory HE.WAS.EVERYWHERE. And in every single one, he played an obnoxious little twat (at least in Criminal Minds, he had the decency to die). Again, this could be a case of him being an actor who's found a niche of playing arseholes.

So go away and look him up on Google Images. Go! Do it now! Just don't link me to any please! (Also, please come back and read the rest of this blog!)

Aside from picture of Wesley Crusher and a random one of Kevin Smith, he seems to looks absolutely smug in every single one of them. It might just be the end result of seeing him in all the shows I love and making me cry because of it, but even in the ones where he's smiling nicely, he looks smug. And not "I've got a hot wife and more money than you" smug, but "I am so much better then you" smug.

I hate that about a person.

(Also he knows Felicia Day and won't introduce me to her. BAD MOVE WHEATON!)

I may never have met you, Wil Wheaton, but until you come here to my house (bring me a Star Trek figure if you do) and prove me wrong OR play a role where you're a nice, warm endearing character (that shite you did as a kid doesn't count), I shall continuing hating you.

So Say We All.

Again with the disappointments

First of all, let me say this.

I am a Twitter Junkie.

Like MSN and Facebook, I am on Twitter all the time. I don't post as much as some, but if I am awake, you can bet that I am on it. I like it. It's fun and it allows me to stal...follow the celebrites I find worthy of my attention, as well as my friends and loved ones. 

That said, I also follow Toy Companies, specifically the ones related to Doctor Who.

If anyone is surprised by that, they can leave now.

Now, as my loyal readers will know, I like to rant about the figure releases here, the good and the bad. However, I also once ranted about how Underground Toys made an absolutely HUGE deal on Twitter about a magical, brilliant, fantastic cancer curing figure*. When the announcement came, it was a re-release.

We were all disappointed, but hey. Life moves on.

THE BASTARDS DID IT AGAIN!

Today, I went onto Twitter as I normally do, and found that Underground Toys were making a Special Announcement (Their words, not mine) on this VERY day. Sufficed to say, I rushed to my friendly e-neighbourhood toy forum (link provided) to share this wonderful news. A few people commented their hopes (which for some reason included Adric) and there was a slight buzz about the place that usually occurs when such an annoucement is imminent.

The annoucement... ONE whole shop (just one shop- not even the entire chain) would be selling the Seeds of Doom Set (already announced) a few days early. I agree, we were foolish to buy into the hype, but we like new figure announcements, especially when they're sets with new figures, not re-releases and certainly not that one store out of hundreds is getting a set slightly earlier than the rest.

Thank you, good night 


*Neither Underground Toys nor Character Options nor the BBC ever claimed that The Time Monster set could cure Cancer. Any cancer curing properties this Set may or may not have are entirely coincedental. 

I have a problem

I'm a writer. I write original stories with my own characters, occasional fanfics, stories with characters from dozens of TV Series within one Universe, and scripts. However, I get writer's block a lot ! I start a story, read it for a bit and decide that it's rubbish and either save it for later, or just delete it.

At the time, it seems like a good idea. Later, however, I look back at what I've deleted and regret it. That said, even when I try to re-write what I've deleted, I find that it isn't very good so I give up again.

Then I read this.

As usual, Neil Gaiman has the answer to my problem. To anyone else in my reader pool (all six+ of you) has this problem. I suggest you click on that link and read what is written. Take it to heart. Because of it, I actually completed a short story.

Update: Also, huge congratulations to my friend Jeremy, who passed his driving test today!
So Say We All.

Philip Madoc (1935 - 2012)

Today, another star of Doctor Who passed away. He did not play a Doctor or a companion, or even one of the regular villains. Instead, Philip Madoc protrayed four one-serial enemies.

He first appeared, not on the main series, but in the second of the Peter Cushing Doctor Who films, The Dalek Invasion of Earth 2150 AD, alongside future Companion actor Bernard Cribbens. He first appeared on the main series during Patrick Troughton's last series as the Doctor, first appearing as the Gond Eelek (pictured below).

.Madoc in The Krotons

He soon followed this up with an appearance as a villain known as the War Lord, who in conjunction with a Time Lord called the War Chief, abducted humans from various points in history, in the Second Doctor's final serial, The War Games.

The War Lord

Following this appearance, he remained away from Doctor Who, appearing in several prominent series, including a famous appearance in Dad's Army as the German U-Boat Captain with the List.

Followed that, he returned to Who in his most famous role on the series. In The Brain of Morbius, He protrayed the Scientist Solon, devoted of the insane Time Lord Morbius. He was tasked with rebuilding the Time Lord's body using whatever parts he could find, and for some reason, thought Tom Baker's head would be perfect for the job!

He appeared one last time in the series, protraying the character Fenner in The Power of Kroll, again appearing alongside the Fourth Doctor. He was quite disappeared with this role, as he had originally been intended to play a different character. 

Although he returned for two Big Finish Audio Adventures and was rumoured to be putting in an appearance in The Big Bang, that was to be his final appearance on Doctor Who. However, he continued to have a varied career, including his two most famous roles in A Mind to Kill and The Life and Times of of David Llyod George.

He died in his sleep, surrounded by his family, following a short battle with Cancer. My sympathies to his wife, chidlren and grandchildren.

Solon and his master, Morbius (top pocket)

Rest in peace, good sir.