Sunday 28 July 2013

Sherlock | A Study In Pink Review

Welcome, to the personal blog of James R Mortimer. Apparently, writing a blog about everything that happens to me will honestly help me.

But then nothing happens to me.

And so, in my void of nothingness, and on the first day of a holiday in Wales, yesterday I rewatched A Study In Pink, the first Sherlock episode. Normally when I sit down and watch something it won't take me very long to get bored. Or I'll get distracted. Or something will turn up on YouTube and I'll watch that instead.

I watched A Study In Pink in one go, non-stop. And it's amazing. It is an almost perfect episode, and it is one of the best pieces of TV drama - ever. Seriously. It's complex, yet completely logical and easy to follow. There's perfect dialogue between the characters, and Steven Moffat not only overcomes the tricky 'first episode' hurdle, but shows all the other writers how first episodes should be done.

I remember the first time I saw this - and it had me fooled the whole way through. Recently a friend of mine began watching Sherlock - and she's fallen in love with it as well. (Not just because of Benedict Cumberbatch, although that has something to do with it I expect.) Sherlock is a wonderful series, and its first episode paves the way brilliantly. There's enough in it to warrant a rewatch, as the conversations and the relationships between the characters make it a joy to watch the story over and over again. The plot, for someone who hadn't read the Conan Doyle story until afterwards, is surprising - but it's also conveyed in an inventive enough way to make it interesting for those who know what's going to happen.

There's only so much I can say about how wonderful it is. And so I'll pick up on why it's "almost" perfect. The scene with John and Mycroft, although full of tension and very interesting the first time you watch it, is just a bit of a bore second time around. There are moments when I enjoyed it - but the rest of the time it just feels like it's dragging. It's one conversation tagged onto another and then another, and it begins to get dangerously close to a "filler" scene. I realise that the episode had to be extended by half an hour and that the pilot is without this scene (the pilot has more problems though so we won't go into those yet), but in other moments, that half an hour is filled well. The episode is handled better as a longer story. It's just the Mycroft/John scene that interrupts this - and that's all it does, interrupt the story. (Although I will admit - I did wonder if they'd actually given Moriarty to Mark Gatiss.)

The other issue is a tiny, tiny problem. "Sorry sir, who's status?" the pointless character who John can flirty with says at the end. She delivers the line so poorly - and it's not a great line anyway. It's in there purely for the geeky "Sherlock Holmes & Dr Watson" moment - which might work if delivered well and vaguely realistically. But it's a cliche line played as a cliche - and it really makes the episode end in a bit of a cringey way.

But apart from those. It is amazing. And you know it's a good episode when how someone says a line is one of my only criticisms.

So overall - I'd give this episode a 95% score of awesomeness. It is THAT good.

A Side Note on the Pilot: The Pilot, or what was intended to be the actual Episode One, isn't good. Maybe because it doesn't even compare to the episode one that aired - but maybe because it's just not great. It feels wrong in some ways. Sherlock wears a forensic suit-thing, which feels wrong. He spends the whole of the confrontation scene drugged which completely messes up the tension. The dialogue is just so much better in the actual episode, and everything seems much more considered and real. It feels like a wider story in the actual version - and the Pilot is relatively one-dimensional.

So yeah - thank Goodness the BBC wanted three 90 minutes.

Monday 15 July 2013

The Day I Went 'Cuckoo'

I rather like that blog title.

As you must have heard in the news recently, JK Rowling published a book under the pseudonym 'Robert Galbraith' a few months back. The book, The Cuckoo's Calling, is a Private Detective Crime Thriller Thing, and it had received overly positive reviews. Some said it was exceptionally good for a debut writer, while someone else said how clever a man was to describe women's clothing... Swiftly moving on.

JK Rowling said that the experience of writing as Robert was "liberating", and the concept of writing under a pseudonym to avoid judgement from Harry Potter fans and general critics is a good idea. To get good feedback based on the story and not the name is kind of the point of being a writer. So good old JK (sorry for quoting Doctor Who then, it just slips out).

Here arises the problem. JK Rowling has been exceptionally clever, and she is an exceptionally clever woman. Both "Hagrid" and "Dumbledore" were names from a classic novel that she adapted. The problem is that I just don't like her writing style. I've never got the Harry Potter hype, I'm not a huge Potter fan at all (although the films are good..) and JK Rowling isn't my cup of tea.

However, like the rest of the nation I expect - I downloaded a Free Sample (no way was I buying the book straight away) of The Cuckoo's Calling for Kindle. Just out of curiosity. Just to see how she wrote now, just to see what it was like - JK Rowling writing free of the reigns of popularity.

So despite my dislike of her works, there I was, the night of the 14th July, reading the first few chapters of the book. And I enjoyed it. It's not without it's faults, definitely, but it is very enjoyable. It's gripping, grown up - and it feels very real. I can feel myself in the places described, and there's all sorts of precise detail, dropped in to enhance the book. It never distracts. The book keeps one flow of thought, and as you turn to the next chapter, you desperately hope the scenario doesn't change. Thankfully, 'til the end of Chapter 3, it doesn't.

And obviously judging a book on the first three Chapters is odd - but that's the point of a Sample. I think it's the only Kindle sample I've ever finished, and the only time I've been tempted to buy a Kindle book based on whim. Most of my books I have a previous interest in, be it with the author or theme. This is JK Rowling. I should have no interest - yet it fascinates me. And the book is good.

The sentences are ridiculously long sometimes - and that can be annoying. It does work occasionally, even if it took me a few reads to get everything, and it is a clever way of showing quick action. But in a long sentence, small details distract. They should be saved 'til afterwards - sometimes it feels like three sentences in one. And sometimes, when there's not really much happening, long sentences are use for back story - which doesn't really work. So that is a flaw. And it could get quite annoying.

But all this leads me to my question - to the point of this blog entry. Have I gone Cuckoo? Because I actually want to buy this book. Should I buy this book? Maybe I should - you know, it's interesting, I might finish it, I do want to know what happens next. I could put up with the long sentences. Maybe I'd even lose the "This is JK Rowling, stop reading" thing in my head. Or maybe I shouldn't - it's £10, it's a risk, and that could be spent on Tom Odell's debut album, which I've been meaning to buy since it came out a few weeks ago.

So - yes or no? That's more a rhetorical question, and the answer will probably end up being yes.

Because taking a risk might be worth it. Maybe I will actually enjoy it. I have so far - so that's a good enough reason to keep going.

Or maybe I'll just give up. Either way, giving up or not - surely it's worth a go first?

Tuesday 2 July 2013

I Don't Like The Daleks

But that's ok - because The Caves of Androzani isn't my favourite episode either.

The Daleks have never really captured my imagination. The entire nation seems to be in love with them, even now, and especially after their first appearances in the 1960s. There was huge uproar when Moffat, Gattiss and the design team decided to "mess" with their iconic look in Victory of the Daleks. The thing is - I like the Rainbow/Power Ranger/Parody/Paradigm Daleks. I like the fact that they have roles, I like the fact they have designated colours. To me, the new Daleks (and the moment they destroy the old ones I hated) was the best thing about the episode.

So does this make me a Doctor Who fan with a flaw? Does it even make me a fan? Yes. It just means I'm a fan with an opinion that dares to be different. For me, the Daleks ran out of stories after The Daleks' Master Plan. They can beat the Thals and Terry Nation could preach some anti-War messages, they came to Earth, they chased after 'Doctor Who'. Oh and then they killed people in a twelve-part epic - that is supposedly epic. Then that's it. People are in love with Power of the Daleks, but it's still using the same ideas. You give the Daleks no power, they get power, they kill people - yawn. Lots of people say it's the character in Power of the Daleks that makes it so good. That's fair enough. I'm quite a fan of Mission to the Unknown, and the majority of that is character based.

So the Daleks vs the Humans might work, as a series. Terry Nation attempted this - and maybe that would've even been interesting. But he failed so we'll never know. The point is - Daleks vs the Doctor and the TARDIS crew has been done to death. Pardon the pun. There are some amazing Dalek moments, even now, and I'll explain those later - but the fundamental idea of the Daleks is old. And, sorry guys, it's exhausted. The Cybermen you can reinvent and make supposedly scarier. You can always push them - they have a human connection to us. The Daleks can invade our planet as much as we like - you can show them killing as many people as they like - the fact is - they are boring and overused.

If we look at Asylum of the Daleks. It's a fantastic episode for one reason. Oswin. She is what makes it good. Without her - it would be boring, with too many scenes of Amy and Rory stupidly arguing, and people constantly looking for deactivated Daleks. "Ooh, is that from The Chase?". The other good thing about Oswin is that she is a Dalek. So there's a new idea there with the Daleks, something pushing the idea forward, something interesting about these ancient and irritating pepper pots. The idea of a Dalek Asylum is awesome too. The idea of the Special Weapons Dalek was awesome (and should have been Oswin, in my opinion). There are ideas that push the creatures in new directions - it is possible. It just doesn't happen enough. And it wouldn't be long until even these ideas are exhausted.

Dalek 'Golden' moments cover a range of things. When I first saw Resurrection of the Daleks, I became obsessed with the creatures for the first time ever. Watching it back, I'm not sure why. I mean assassinating Gallifreyan people - what? But it inspired me, I wrote Dalek things, I came up with new Dalek ideas. Then I got bored. For me, they always get boring. Revelation of the Daleks pushes them in another new direction, but again, for me it's the setting that works better than the Daleks themselves. Genesis of the Daleks is amazing - probably because they do hardly anything! Davros is awesome in it - but even he gets boring. Remembrance of the Daleks is a fantastic episode - and the Dalek battle is awesome, and there is a real sense of mystery. Mystery & imagination are brought to the Daleks and their methods, and it's interwoven with a really human story - so it works.

In an attempt to push the Daleks in new directions, because everyone realises new ideas are needed, there seem to be a few standard "new directions" that writers use. One of these is the "let's turn them into a cult thing". I haven't listened to too many Big Finish stories, but I saw a DWM cartoon of one (back in the days DWM did that), and the Fifth Doctor picked up a toy of a Dalek. This kind of 'mocking' the icon the Daleks have become is a little bit too much for me. It's just as boring as the idea of the Daleks in the first place. The stories become predictable.

The other "new" direction that people use, and the one that prompted me to write this blog in annoyance, is the attempt to make the Daleks good. EVERYONE DOES IT! "Dark Eyes", Big Finish's landmark Eighth Doctor box set, had some really good ideas. One of these was initially to make the Daleks good. It is a genuinely creepy idea - except it gets boring. They have to be revealed to be evil, the humans have to act all innocent til the point someone dies, and the Doctor has to get angry. It's predictable. The Dalek Generation by Nicholas Briggs, as far as I know, does the same thing. And today (2nd July), the Seventh Doctor Short Story was released. It's written by Malorie Blackman! Wow!

Oh - but it's about the Daleks.. turning good?

It annoys me that all Dalek stories now, and there are an increasing number, make the Daleks good in order to try and push these creatures in a different way. But it doesn't work. The new ideas are getting boring.

Unless someone can reboot the Daleks, unless someone can make them appealing all over again - or unless they have a REALLY REALLY REALLY long rest without the entirety of fandom going "OH NO MOFFAT'S GIVING THE DALEKS A REST", then they might work.

But for now - the Daleks deserve to be exterminated. Along with all these ideas of making them 'good' for the five minutes.