The Rude Wind's Wild Lament

I'm trying to fit in another brief post today to match last year's total of 58 before the end of the month. Still doesn't seem likely. Got to the end of term, somehow- I've done about eight hours of marking outside the Working Time Agreement in the last six days. It always seems to be dark and my sleep pattern is horrendous. It's also been tough because I live in one of the few regions of Scotland that voted for Tory austerity and Brexit last week, in spite of the financial calamity that will inevitably ensue.

Escapism has been badly needed, therefore. Walking to work, I enjoyed The Home Guard, a Second Doctor audio adventure which, I believe, is the last performance by Elliot Chapman as Ben Jackson. It was a spooky story for dark winter mornings in which Jamie and Polly McCrimmon were members of an English Home Guard unit, under the Doctor's command. In a very clever twist, we discover the secret behind the machinations of the Master- played here for the second time by James Dreyfus ( although the music cues were designed to remind us of Roger Delgado.) 4/5 Talmars for a subversion of the Dad's Army format.

I also listened to UNIT Encounters at the end of November. Of the four adventures here, Andrew Smith's Sontaran story was the weakest: his usual, dull fare. Matt Fitton's South Amercian guerilla story The Dalek Transaction depicted the deadly efficacy of one of the Outer Space Robot People without its shell. Roy Gill's ghostly communication satellite story Invocation was a very interesting idea but False Negative, a mistaken identity farce by John Dorney , drew on 1970's Inferno and was the most amusing and entertaining of the set. 3/5 Talmars

I've been enjoying Star Trek Discovery for the last couple of months and didn't anticipate a major plot twist- more about that in a future post. In the late autumn, I also watched the Netflix Defenders series on dvd.

Of course, these Marvel heroes are not the "non-team" as created by Roy Thomas and developed by Englehart, Wein and Gerber through the first half of the 70s. They're closer to the Bendis New Avengers of the 00s. They occupy a tangential position to the MCU like Agent Carter and Agents of SHIELD.

Picking up plot threads after Elektra's death in Daredevil series 2 and beginning with Luke Cage being released from prison, Defenders brings the protagonists of the four gritty series together in a grand scheme of the Hand. Immortality is the prize for the magisterial  and terrifying Sigourney Weaver as Alexandra and her peers in the Hand strive for a mystical power source beneath the streets of Manhattan.
With the death and resurrection of the assassin now known as the Dark Sky, Daredevil is on a path of self-destruction that ends in his self-sacrifice- but is all as it seems? Luke and Danny develop a grudging respect and the team of Misty Knight and Colleen Wing is born in this series. I also liked the logical depiction of DD's fighting style: primarily boxing, like DC's Wildcat.

Had the four Netflix series not been cancelled, I would very much liked to have seen a second season with the likes of MCU alumni Cap, Nick Fury, Doc Strange, Black Widow and Spidey- maybe introducing White Tiger or Spider-Woman, or crossing over with Cloak and Dagger. But it wasn't to be. I would recommend Defenders however, if you enjoyed DD or Jessica Jones. I definitely enjoyed all five Netflix series more than Endgame.

I'm going to see Star Wars on Sunday so I may post about that, just before Xmas. I'm also re-reading a childhood favourite, The Dark is Rising, for what might be the fifth time.

He's making a list; he's checking it twice...

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