Merlin, vampire telly, lovely radio 4 and some EDA-ishness

[usuallyhats]

- Merlin was much better this week, I thought, apart from two things. One wasn't their fault; it was the massive banner plastered over the top of the screen informing me that if I am over 75 I can get help upgrading to digital TV before the switchover. Alas, there was no way of telling it that a) I am not over 75 and b) I have a digibox, it just chooses not to acknowledge the existence of the BBC at this time. The other was their fault and is spoilery: WOT NO MORGANA? Seriously, is she ever going to have anything more to do than stand around looking distressed? I really hated the way they mentioned that the Witchfinder was interrogating her, but then never actually showed that or followed that up at all in any way. It also reminded me how much I hate Merlin's failure to tell her the truth. >:( I shall just have to go back to creating intricate fanon in my head. On the plus side, I adored Team Merlin 'n' Gwen saving the day, especially when Gwen had a go at Arthur and made him listen to her, that was ace. Actually all the character interaction stuff was v. nice. And next week looks pretty good too, though again I predict little to no Morgana and very little Gwen. Grrr.

- I was IMDBing Idris Elba last night, as one does, when I suddenly stumbled upon the fact that Vampire Bill from True Blood also played Jack in Ultraviolet (the TV series, not the film. I have not seen the film but I JUDGE IT for not being the TV series). Possibly everyone but me already knew that, but I did not recognise him even a little bit! In my defence he had very different hair ten years ago. Anyway, I also found out that Idris Elba is going to be in a BBC 1 thriller type thing with Paul McGann and Indira Varma. DO WANT.

- The Unbelievable Truth was excellent last night, I had to stop eating a few times because I was laughing so much. Highly recommended. Sadly it was the last one in the series but happily next Monday the new series of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue is starting.

- I only have one Anji EDA left, woe! I've been trying to string them out by going back and reading the early Eight 'n' Sam ones which I skipped, and to that end I read The Bodysnatchers a while ago: quite fun, but it got a bit unnecessarily gory, grr. And I am trying to like Sam, because I feel guilty about hating her so much and I know I'm going to warm to her later on, but she was still quite annoying. I assumed she was joking when she asked, of Victorian Londoners, something along the lines of "haven't they heard of global warming?", but from the context... possibly she wasn't.

Comments

[everlasting-day.livejournal.com]

Ultraviolet! One of the very best vampire-related things ever made. How I wish there was a second season or books or something, because it was so good.

Idris Elba, Paul McGann and Indira Varma in the same show? Oh god yes.

I never did warm to Sam. I've read quite a few of the EDAs with her in, and even the fab ones like Vampire Science get hampered by her presence. She really was A Bit Awful and probably one of the worst companions of all time. Compared to how amazing Anji was it's almost laughable, but then the EDAs generally weren't quite as good before Justin Richards came onboard as editor with The Burning, where they became the best Doctor Who books ever.

[usuallyhats]

Whenever there's a "What else should Big Finish adapt?" thread, someone usually brings up Ultraviolet. I really wish there was more of it!

I do like Sam more in the later books of hers that I've read - The Taint onwards, plus The Scarlet Empress, but in the early ones... gah. Almost everything I've read from The Burning onwards has been fantastic, yeah. (ANJI ♥)

[vandonovan.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on Morgana, but I thought the actress did an amazing job of looking genuinely distressed and afraid she was going to get found out despite the fact that the writer's almost undoubtedly just . . . forgot all about her. Her acting was so good that I thought later on it'd be revealed that she was somehow responsible for the hallucinations the three women had, but no. It was just Katie knowing that her character would be paranoid as fuck that she was going to get caught.

I really do hope they give her more to do in later episodes. We're running out of them this season and with the exception of the Mordred one, she's not had nearly enough to do.

[usuallyhats]

Oh, I agree, I think Katie McGrath does a great job with what little she has to do, which makes it all the more frustrating that we see so little of her! I was really hoping that she'd be foregrounded more this season, but alas, it doesn't look like it.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I don't really like any of Eight's book companions - I much prefer Charley, Lucie and Izzy...

That series - Luther - looks intriguing. You know Paul's in 'Collision' all this week - the new Anthony (Foyles War, Alex Rider) Horowitz penned drama on ITV1?

[usuallyhats]

I absolutely love Fitz and Anji, they're two of my favourite companions, so it baffles me that I dislike Sam so much! Overall I think Eight does pretty well for companions: I go back and forth on Charley but I love Izzy, Fey, Destrii, Lucie, C'rizz...

I'd heard about Collision but I keep missing episodes, so I think I'll have to wait until it's repeated or on DVD! Have you been watching it? Is it any good?

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Izzy is a lot of fun. I don't know Fey or Destrii...

I've not seen anything of Collision as yet. I don't know if I want to watch it...

[glinda-penguin.livejournal.com]

*hides from Merlin spoilers*

The Unbelievable Truth was excellent I had to put down my knitting at several points because I was laughing too much to continue, though I'm a little sad now as I'd not listened to it before and wish for more, and there shan't be any until the new year :( Also Tony Hawks seems to be all over my listening today as he was on the Big Finish podcast I was listening to earlier as well...

Aww early Eight & Sam *nostalgic* I seem to remember her being less annoying the first time round, but then I was thirteen when I first read them so... *hugs very battered paperbacks* I suspect the authors just weren't very good at writing teenage girls, either that or they were a bit too fixated on setting up the whole alternate timeline stuff to make her fully three dimensional. (Izzy > Sam however)

[usuallyhats]

I thought I'd read somewhere that The Unbelievable Truth was going to be repeated on BBC7, but I can't find any evidence of that. Hopefully it'll turn up there eventually!

I suspect the authors just weren't very good at writing teenage girls
I think that may be it. The ones that I have liked her in were the later ones, where she'd grown up a little, so hopefully I'll warm to her eventually.

Izzy > lots of people!

[livii.livejournal.com]

I just finished that EDA this morning! Horribly gruesome for no reason, I agree. It was my first Sam and my first non-amnesiac Eight, so, interesting. Sam grated somewhat espescially w/ her unbelievably tasteless joke about the Holocaust. I almost didn't want to finish it after that, I was so pissed at the author. I likef this Eight but it seemed like a caricature at times.

I've finished all the Anji ones, and want to give Sam a fair go but am tempted to goback to Fitz and Trix for a while...

[usuallyhats]

espescially w/ her unbelievably tasteless joke about the Holocaust.
Oh yes, that was awful :/ And not in character for Sam, I didn't think, based on the few books of hers I've read.

I've finished all the Anji ones, and want to give Sam a fair go but am tempted to goback to Fitz and Trix for a while...
I'm worried about ending up with nothing but lots of early Eight and Sam ones, so I'm trying to save up the Fitz and Trix ones as much as I can!