Where's the real Zombie?

I admit it, I've overstretched myself this month.  Nanowrimo, combined with working a fulltime job as well as rehearsing for a Panto iminent at the beginning of December.  It's turning me into a ZOMBIE with full on groaning, shuffling and desire to eat ur brainz.

I apologise for this lack of blog posts about TV and I'm interrupting my flow of words in Nano to get rather excited about the Walking Dead.

We watched the first episode last week and I freaking loved it.  Andrew Lincoln (hello Egg) was great and the story was compelling. I am all fired up about these walkers. I believe it's based on a graphic novel and there is a visual style to the series which oh so subltly tells you that.  I cannot wait to see more.

A little bit of magic

I know I've not been the most prolific recently. I've had a fair amount going on in real life which has impeded my tv watching so I've not had a whole lot to say.

In an insane move I've also signed myself up to do NaNoWriMo this year and after years of procrastination I've given myself an ultimatum to write the novel I've been thinking about forever.

How this will impact what I can find to say about TV I don't know so I shall have to wait and see what happens. But to quote Granny Weatherwax. I aten't Dead.

I appear to have picked up a few readers! Which is awesome and I think some of you I don't even know irl. Which is even better I'm finding an audience somewhere  which is good. Please feel free to comment, I live for the knowledge that someone other than me is interested in my blatherings.

While I'm here I kind of wanted to talk about the BBC show Merlin.  Its shown on BBC One on a Saturday night in what I call the Doctor Who slot. It stars Colin Morgan as a young Merlin with Bradley James as Arthur.  There is Morgana and Gwen played by Katie McGrath and Angel Coulby.  Not to mention the best bit Tony Head (giles!) as King Uther and Richard Wilson as Gaius Merlin's teacher.  There are loads of great cameos in the show, episodes veer between funny and dark with plenty of monsters.  Having said that this series has been much darker in tone.  And whilst the show can feel a little bit repetative at times the calibre of guests the show attracts more than makes up for it.

Great Saturday night tea time fayre.

Oh and John Hurt is the voice of the dragon :D

Up

We watched Up earlier in the week.

It's a brilliant film but what got me was the opening sequence which had me sobbing. It is so honest and sad and it just got to me.  The rest of the film thankfully is nowhere near as sad. But I imagine its a very different experience watching it as a child than watching it as an adult.

It's a film about loss, its about hope, its about adventures and its about surprises. I think it's probably the best film they've ever made.

I loved Doug. He was the best interpretation of a Golden Retriever I've ever seen.

I also loved the cone of shame!

Pixar really nailed it with this one.

My Doctor?

Not an easy question really is it? Well it used to be. I'd have said David Tennant without a second thought.  But now we've lived with a series of Matt Smith's Doctor with Steven Moffat at the helm I'm a little more conflicted. Towards the end of Russell T Davies' tenure I found myself more than a little frustrated with the way he finished things.  Not to say I could do any better, I couldn't but I felt there was an over reliance on things he's touched on before. I was ready for something new.

Matt Smith was mostly something new. He shared enough traits with David Tennant's Doctor for it not to feel quite so jarring but he was the new Doctor and like the hussy I am I loved him straight away.

Ten was amazing because a lot of the time with the coat and the energy he felt more like a superhero. Eleven, well he's kind of geeky all thinky and much more awkward. This doctor seems that little bit less human and more prone to disengage.

So when eleven turned up in the Sarah Jane Adventures I was joyful, because it was lovely to see him interact with the scooby gang.  I'm not old enough to remember Sarah Jane from the first time around, so I'm really not old enough to remember Jo Grant. I thought their interactions were very sweet, there was a very big sense of Mallory Towers between the two of them, they were altogether dotty but marvellous.

I loved the episode but I have some reservations to do with the idea that RTD was treading on an already well trodden path. I know SJA is a kids show. But in the past RTD has written some incredible things for children's TV. Century Falls anyone? This felt a little derivative for me. I  liked it but it felt like I'd eaten too many sweets after it was over.

A slow burn

I'll admit it I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to some things. As a rule I don't watch reality TV, I don't like back catalogue musicals and I don't do soaps.

Having said that there are a few exceptions to most of these things; I like strictly come dancing, We will rock you and no I don't watch soaps. Or if I'm more honest I don't watch things on ITV.  However, one show has in recent times made me tune into ITV1, Law and Order UK.  Even that's unusual for me, I'm not really a lover of procedurals.

So what on earth has made me leave my snobbish high principaled tv watching and watch not only a procedural but one on ITV1, well that's an interesting story and my boyfriend will probably tell you that it's down mainly to Jamie Bamber...













I'm a big fan of pretty much all of his work, having come across him first in Battlestar Galactica I sought out other shows he's been in like Hornblower and when Law and Order UK came out I was watching pretty much for one reason only.

Having said that over the last two and a half series has managed to make this show graduate from a chance to watch Jamie in a show to being something I watch because the stories are compelling. Dammit ITV doesn't make drama like this anymore does it? I hadn't thought so but it appears it does. So I've been sucked in and now I'm a fan not just of  'teh Bamber' but of the show, of the fantastic performances from Bradley Walsh, Harriet Walters and Team Order Ben Daniels Freema Agyeman and Bill Paterson. They also have a pretty high calibre of guest stars too which has made for pretty compulsive viewing from someone who wasn't expecting to enjoy it and was just hoping to see some pretty.

The writing has been consistent and the characters are all pitched beautifully and have developed or at least gained confidence and have become something quite slick and very enjoyable.  I don't mind eating my words when something comes along to change my mind and to do so in a grown up and convincing way.

It seems I'm now a real fan of the show and I don't care who frakking knows.

Meeting your heroes.

Have you missed me?

I know I promised a write up of Dragon*con and I did on my live journal but some of the things I wrote about I wasn't sure I needed to share, I'm not sure the audience for this blog wants to read about which fast food outlets I sampled in Atlanta.  But the Con was a hell of a lot of fun and I really wanted to write about meeting Eddie McClintock.

I wanted to talk about meeting Eddie McClintock. The guy is a complete rockstar. I got to chat to him at the convention and he's very sweet and funny. We got to talk about London, about Manchester and Factory records. He was okay with the mild flailing and generous with his time. He made my convention because whenever I encountered him, whether waiting for a lift, or in a panel he was happy to be there and soaking up the atmosphere.  As an aside he does some amazing artwork and he's been designing t-shirts all of which are great. I love my purple goo 2010 Warehouse 13 t-shirt :D

What I like most about Eddie, is that he wants to interact with the fans. He responds to them on Twitter and facebook. He's certainly won me over as a fan and as such I feel much more loyal to Warehouse 13 as a show and I'm now forever telling people about it and recommending that they catch it when they can.

That's the pinnacle of fandom, as I interact in it, meeting the people who make the shows you love and then getting to talk to them and letting them know you appreciate their work. 

Steven Moffat, Sue Vertue and Q&A at Kaleidoscopicfest.

Last Thursday I had a real treat. We, that is me and my chap went to see Steven Moffat and Sue Vertue at the Catrin Finch Centre, Glyndwr uni.

It was quite an intimate setting about 200 hundred people in the audience all there to listen to them speak about the process of adapting Sherlock in their recent adaptation with Mark Gatiss.

The first thing that struck me is just how dry Steven Moffat's wit is. He's also very playful and teasy with his wife which was lovely to see.

We were treated to some clips from the shows and questions were asked about casting Sherlocl (Benedict was the only person they asked to read.) Casting John (Matt Smith auditioned pre who but Martin Freeman twinkled).  They were also asked how they choose which parts of the story and he said that Mark Gatiss especially is like a magpie where SH is concerned and they use parts from everywhere in order to create the stories.  He also mentioned that MG and he both loved the 1940s Rathbone Holmes films.

It was definitely a fascinating insight into a process that fascinates me, I've always been interested in adaptations and I like to see where they go.

Steven Moffat really is my writing idol.