Destination Planet Cornwall

We're off to Cornwall tomorrow morning for a week of sun ( hopefully ), sea, sand and pasties. I might be able to do some blogging while we're there, but I can't promise anything. Er, so I won't.

We've been agonising for some time about going because my Mum is so ill and we feel guilty as hell for leaving her. However, everyone we've spoken to, including Mum and her carers, have urged us to go and have a break while we can. Hopefully we'll be able to relax as much as possible and recharge our batteries. I think we'll need to.

Doctor Who: Cold Blood ( review with spoilers )

Leapin' lizards - Just a mini-review this week, sorry. Reality intrudes yet again, leaving me with little time for blogging. And even less time to review a show about time-travellers. Excuse me, I think I just stepped in some irony, don't want to get it on the carpet.....

So, Cold Blood, part two of Chris Chibnall's Silurian morality tale. Metaphors abound as the lizard-men "illegal immigrants" mass at our world's ( underground ) border, demanding their share of the surface. While the good Doctor tries to broker a peace deal, angry and frightened mother Ambrose kills lizard-warrior-woman Alaya, pushing the Silurians towards total war.....

A fine ending to the story, again very trad Who, but very intelligent and moral, with all the characters acting for what they think are the best reasons, not just as "goodies" and "baddies": I think the Silurians' creator, Malcolm Hulke, would approve. I love the scenes in the Silurian city, but then I'm a sucker for secret underground bases and cities in fantastic fiction, and often in my dreams too. And just when we think the story is over, invasion averted, humans and Silurians at peace ( for the next 1000 years, at least ), there's a sting in the tail... sorry, "tale".....

Poor Rory. He didn't understand much of what was going on, but he was honest and decent; he wanted to help people and he wanted the love of a beautiful red-head. What he got was death at the hands of homo reptilia and the final indignity of being wiped from existence by that pesky Crack in time. Rory now never lived and even Amy has forgotten him. But the Doctor remembers. And, as he said, "Time can be re-written", so.....

who knows?

Maybe we'll see him again when the Pandorica opens.

Four Out Of Five Bow Ties.

GK Chesterton

A word from our founder:

Smile at us, pay us, pass us; but do not quite forget;

For we are the people of England, that never have spoken yet.

( From "The Secret People" by GK Chesterton, 29th May 1874 - 14th June 1936 )

Are you listening David Cameron?

Doctor Who: The Hungry Earth ( review with spoilers )

"Dear Doctor Who,

"When I grow up I want to write for your telly show. I've got a great idea for a story. It's set in a Welsh village ( like The One With The Maggots ) where people are drilling down into the earth ( like The One With The Drilling Project ). The village is suddenly surrounded by an invisible wall ( like The One With The Horned Demon ) and monsters come up out of caves ( like The One With The Cave Monsters ). Hope you like my idea! See you next Saturday,

Christopher Chibnall ( Age 8 and 1/2 ) "

The Hungry Earth does seem at times to be one big love-letter to early 1970s Doctor Who. And that's fine by me!

"We're trapped and something's burrowing towards the surface....."

The Doctor promises Amy and Rory a trip to sunny Rio ( probably feeling guilty that his evil alter-ego trapped them all in a frozen Tardis last week ) but, of course, it all goes pear-shaped and they end up in a Welsh village in 2020, where a "big mining thing" is drilling 21km into the Earth's crust. However, something is stirring far beneath the surface, and the Tardis Trio and the residents of Cwmtaff ( how Welsh is that name? ) find themselves under attack from the Silurians, led by tough lizard chick Alaya. She's come to kick ass and ( presumably ) eat flies.....

After last week's surreal shenanigans, this episode is the most traditional Who story we've seen in a long time: a small community is under siege by strange creatures, one companion is kidnapped, the other says "What's happening?" and "I don't understand!" ( a lot ), the Doctor sits down for a debate with his enemy, and the Tardis is out of control as and when the plot demands. But don't get me wrong - these are the kind of elements that make Doctor Who the show it is and always has been: a fun adventure series for kids and adults alike, often spooky, often thought-provoking, but never too serious for too long.

And there's a lot to love in this episode. The chemistry between Matt Smith and Meera Syal, as project boss Nasreen, is wonderful to behold - with Nasreen's pinging of the Doc's braces being a laugh-out-loud moment. The design work on the Silurian warrior and her briefly-glimpsed underground city is beautiful, promising so much more next week. The scenes in the darkened churchyard are atmospheric, recalling memories of The Daemons and The Curse Of Fenric for us old-timers. And I'll have to mention Matt Smith again: he really is fantastic in this episode, by turns boyish, steely, distracted and charming. And his scenes with young Samuel Davies ( as Elliot ) are filled with the childlike sense of wonder Steven Moffat has brought to this new Who era. Great stuff! I'm looking forward to next week's conclusion, which promises to be bigger and bolder in scale, with the Silurians ( or homo reptilia ) on the warpath. Hopefully Amy will have more to do than be a ( gorgeous ) damsel in distress, and hopefully the hot- weather-induced ratings dip will turn around :-(

Four Out Of Five Bow Ties. ( or Welsh Cakes. )

What's going on. ( An open letter to the Blogsphere. )

Blog posts have been few and far between here at The Glass Walking-Stick lately, as you may or may not have noticed. This is down to an intrusion by the ever-troublesome "real world" which is seemingly forever waiting to trip us up.

I mentioned a while back that my Mum was ill and I wondered whether to blog about that or not. I had plenty of much-appreciated support from you guys out in blog-land, but I decided not to hit you with my problems, and to just carry on with the usual inconsequential nonsense you've come to expect. But now my Mum's condition has worsened and her care is taking up a lot of our time, so my output here is necessarily less then before.

I'll still hopefully maintain some kind of presence here - particularly with the Doctor Who reviews which seem to get later each week - but things will probably stay fairly quiet around these 'ere parts for a while at least. Then again, I might find it therapeutic to churn out all sorts of rubbish; I'll play it by ear for now.

Thanks for your time,

cerebus660 ( Simon. )

Do I really have to get up and go to work?

Just a few more minutes? Pretty please?

Rubaiyat Of Omar Khayyam

'Tis all a Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays:

Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays,

And one by one back in the Closet lays.

According to the oracle Wikipedia, today is the birthday of the great 11th century Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer, Omar Khayyam. Above is my extremely battered 1941 American edition of Fitzgerald's translation of Khayyam's famous Rubaiyat. The introduction by American poet Louis Untermeyer claims the poem's philosophy is "a vigorous, free-thinking hedonism, a casual but frank appeal to enjoy the pleasures of life without too much reflection."

Sounds good to me!

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough

A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread - and Thou

Beside me singing in the Wilderness -

Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!

Doctor Who: Amy's Choice ( review with spoilers )

And when the Doctor wakes up, all his friends wake up too.....

This week the Tardis Trio find themselves in a world where they can't tell dreams from reality, where nothing is what it seems and menace lurks behind the most harmless of facades. Sort of how I feel every Monday morning.

The Doctor: "Listen to me. Trust nothing. From now on, trust nothing you see, hear or feel!"

The Doctor is visiting Amy and Rory, five years after they left the Tardis. The couple are living in a rural idyll, Amy is pregnant and baking cakes, Rory is now a doctor and has grown a rather disturbing ponytail. But then they wake up in the Tardis and it was all a dream. Or was it? They find themselves alternating behind the two realities, unsure which is real, all at the whim of this strange chap.....

The Dream Lord.

Described by Simon Nye ( this episode's writer ) as "a relentless piss-taker", the Dream Lord delights in confusing and upsetting our heroes, as well as putting their lives in danger: in one reality they face an army of aliens hiding inside the bodies of pensioners, in the other the Tardis is dead and drifting towards a sub-zero fate within minutes.

The Dream Lord: "If you had any more tawdry quirks you could open up a tawdry quirk shop. The madcap vehicle, the cockamamie hair, the clothes designed by a First Year fashion student."

I've always been a sucker for stories like this, from the fragile realities of Christopher Priest's novels to the Hollywood surrealism of Vanilla Sky ( hey, I liked it! ) to any number of cheapo horror films dabbling in paranoia and delusions. Amy's Choice isn't exactly a classic of this sub-genre but there are some lovely, surreal touches throughout: the sound of birdsong in the Tardis signifying another change in realities, Rory's "death", the army of pensioners assaulting the country cottage, "There is an eye in her mouth!", the Tardis turning distinctly frosty.

The three lead actors and Toby Jones as the Dream Lord all give great performances, ranging from subtle to broad as and when required. Simon Nye's script isn't the full-on comedy many expected from the creator of Men Behaving Badly, but it has its moments - "If we're going to die, let's die looking like a Peruvian folk band" being the killer line. So, a fine episode, obviously an effects-lite breather between bigger-budgeted stories, with plenty of twists and turns, and a revelation for Amy - her Choice is Rory.

Three And A Half Bow Ties out of Five.

The Doctor: "Something here doesn't make sense. Let's go and poke it with a stick....."

The Heroic Age?

Marvel's much-trumpeted "Heroic Age" , supposedly featuring a return to greatness for their classic Silver and Bronze Age heroes.

And Deadpool. ( Yeah, right. )

Hang on..... "Origins Of Marvel Comics"? Where have I heard that before? Oh, yeah.....

Phew! That's better. Excelsior!

Doctor Who: The Vampires Of Venice ( review with spoilers )

"Blimey, fish from space have never been so..... buxom."

After the widescreen epic that was the last two-parter, this week's trip in the Tardis is a lighter story, almost a "romp" as nobody but journalists would say, which still finds room for bloodied fangs and human fish-bait.

"Any where you want, any time you want. One condition: it has to be amazing!"

The Doctor, concerned at Amy's recent "Do you fancy a shag?" moment, whisks her and dopey boyfriend Rory back to sixteenth-century Venice, in the hopes of rekindling their romance. Here, the new Tardis team discover the exclusive girls' school run by Signora Calvierri is a front for vampiric aliens who plan to sink Venice and populate the Med with their rejuvenated aquatic race. In an attempt to rescue a Venetian boat-builder's imprisoned daughter, Amy is fanged by vamps, Rory takes on a sword-wielding alien, armed only with a broom, and the Doctor probably wishes he'd taken them to Butlin's instead.....

As usual with single-episode Who, the story zips along without much regard for logic, taking many narrative short-cuts and dodging plot-holes as it goes. The boat-builder and his daughter are cyphers and the aliens' physiology is suspect. And, it has to be said, the climax involving the Doctor climbing a tower to dismantle some alien tech is far too familiar for anyone who's watched The Idiot's Lantern or Evolution Of The Daleks.

However, apart from a few dodgy CGI moments, the whole thing looks fantastic, with the Croatian city of Trogir standing in handsomely for Venice. The beautiful backdrop of alleyways, arches, palaces and courtyards provides a perfect setting for the Hammer-horror pastiche of torch-wielding heroes and "pale, creepy girls who don't like sunlight". And the star-turn this week comes from Helen McCrory, regal and commanding but ultimately tragic as the guardian of a dying race, who shares some wonderful scenes with Matt Smith.

"One city to save an entire species. Was that so much to ask?"

And the Crack In Time arc makes its obligatory appearance as Signora Calvierri talks of the last days of her planet, Saturnyne:

"There were cracks. Through some we saw silence and the end of all things."

So, all in all, a fun episode, rating a good Three-And-A-Half Bow Ties.

No vamps here, honest...

Just us girls. ( No Vampires Of Venice review yet: fangs have been too hectic this weekend )

Hung Parliament?

It doesn't look good, does it? As it stands this morning the Conservatives have won the most seats, with Labour not far behind, meaning we might be heading for a government with no clear majority. The Lib Dems, who recently seemed to emerge as a credible third party, have lost out big-time. What happened there? Probably a case of the British public chickening-out and voting for the devil(s) they know. Obviously we'll find out more as the day progresses but the UK's future looks depressingly Blue at the moment.....

UK Election Day 2010

This is a public service announcement ( without guitars )

Please vote today. This could be one of the most important elections in many years so please don't waste your hard-won right to vote. Please vote with your conscience and don't be swayed by others, no matter how well-intentioned. And don't listen to biased, uninformed bloggers...

But for God's sake don't vote Tory :-)

Happy Star Wars Day!

May the Fourth be with you etc. etc.

And Happy Birthday to my Mum! We love you!!

Put your back into it!

Listen to Uncle Cerebus, kiddies: look after your back! You only get one, and if you don't take care of it..... well, you might just end up sitting at home on a workday, dosed-up with painkillers and trawling the net for pictures of spines.

And you don't want to be doing that.

You really don't.....

Soundtrack: I Want You ( She's So Heavy ) by the Beatles.