Outcasts, the BBC's new sci-fi drama for grownups is a dreary Western in space, with none of the charm and spark of Firefly or Serenity but all the Holby-fied inertia of the failed "Survivors" reworking. Outcasts is a drab, beige thing full of men with big chests who look like they learned to act in Gillette commercials, loading rifles on the planet Lensflare. There's a lot of dull Next Generation-talk about protocols and thin women worrying about children.It's Media Folk In Space basically; it desperately needs the bleak, black comedy and bloodthirsty edge of Being Human before it vanishes in a dust-storm of cancellation.
The apparent anxiety about anything remotely fantastic on tv is stultifying and tedious; thankfully, the animated Star Trek series I've been watching on dvd had no such problems. The second season was weaker than the first (which saw Larry Niven's Kzin make an appearance- although a colourblind producer gave them pink spacesuits). Nonetheless, it brought us a colony creature in the shape of Bem (who called himself "This One" like Mantis from the 70s Avengers) and the feathered serpent Kukulca'an (which Shatner keeps pronouncing "Kukli-can"). It's hugely imaginative, suitable for all ages and not remotely ironic.
This One or this one?
This week, I've been listening to two Dr. Who audios. In Prisoner of the Sun, Doctor Eight has been held captive for six years by lady Terminators called Mercurials.His task is to maintain an unstable star to prevent it from consuming a populated planet. Always a gregarious old Time Lord, he has constructed some mechanical assistants, Chloe and Daphne, whom he has modelled on lippy Lucie Miller (all of whom are voiced by Twitter's own Sheridan Smith). Then a pair of gun-happy rebels turn up on a mission to make the Doc a martyr to their cause; and bizarrely "Hagan" is played by Antony Costa, from Blue.
An interplanetary rebel, yesterday.
McGann's Doctor seems to spend an inordinate time in chokey, even for a Time Lord: in the novels Seeing I and Interference and on audio in Minuet in Hell and Something Inside, to name but four. This was a forgettable couple of episodes enlivened only by the presence of Smith. playing a pair of brassy Northern androids. It's touching-and oddly creepy -to see that the Doc's initially fractious relationship with Lucie has mellowed to the extent that he's creating artificial helpers in her image.Which suggests she's possibly not going to survive the two-part season finale even though Big Finish companions rarely exit for long.
Meanwhile, The Hounds of Artemis was a freebie in Saturday's Guardian. James Goss' period tale of archaeological hi-jinks in Turkey was read alternately by Matt Smith and Claire Corbett. I find Matt's impression of Karen Gillan endearing, Corbett is an excellent reader and the story is recounted as a letter and diary extracts. But yet again, I found myself snoozing midway into the story: AudioGo products are wonderfully soporific.There's a bit of lycanthropy and a cruel "goddess" from space but no tension or suspense. Goss and co. should listen to Genesis of the Daleks to hear how it's done.
Hey kids, comics! Romita Jr's covers for The Avengers are vibrant and colourful and the Oral History segments are highly entertaining, giving some in-depth characterisation to mainstays like Hawkeye and the Wasp. However,as usual, the storytelling itself is very, very slow.After a charming two-hander with Luke Cage and Jessica Jones (and something's afoot with Doc Doom but he belongs in the FF's toybox, Brian!), New Avengers featured a gritty Chaykin sequence with Nick Fury (the "real" one- not Samuel L. Jackson). Enough with the conspiracy stories, already, Bendis.
I'm not taken as yet with Phil Jimenez's Perez-inspired Legion Academy, nor am I convinced there's a market for a Legion spin-off. But Night Girl looked fantastic and I'm interested to see that Chemical Kid is much the same spoiled moneybags that Jim Shooter outlined in Chemical King.
The regular Legion title is far too compressed for me but I'm impressed with face time for Tellus and Tyroc. But enough with Earth-Man already, Levitz.
Knight and Squire reminds me of Alan Moore's Captain Britain in the early 80s -although with much more humour and charm.The web of pop culture references (from Round the Horne and Chas'n'Dave to the Wurzels and Lindisfarne) and the pacing of this mini-series makes it a must-read for me. I would love to see Cornell on JLA. Witty jokes about Eurovision and homages to Valiant and Look-in are shockingly counterpointed with the murder of a supporting character by the Joker (although Jonathan Ross' status as victim was probably too much to hope for). I'm very much looking forward to the conclusion of the story of Jarvis Poker, the British Joker.
Next: Ionisation
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