Archive for May, 2011

A photograph of the overnight torrential downpour and hailstorm with thunder and lightning from the bank holiday weekend just gone. You can see a few of the hailstones bouncing off the top of the street light as bright dashes flying away from it.

• Writing and rendering at the same time (since I need 100 renders for the picture I'm working on) #
• The PG Cert version of this joke – Cidre not Cider ads are Rubbshi not Rubbish. The 15 Cert version goes: Cidre not Cider ads are Pssi not… #
• @symatt Nice view #
• @GRIMACHU @call_me_salome @Jeezius You're getting into Round, Square and Arched window territory there (Triangle windows are a conspiracy) #
• 2 New blog posts: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides review http://bit.ly/mFpHpy & Doctor Who The Rebel Flesh http://bit.ly/l3AkDU #
• @very_true_thing Who then point the finger at Google Analytics when the various numbers they collect at different points don't add up #
• @very_true_thing Sadly it wasn't my choice & it was their own metrics that didn't agree, they tried to blame it on GA's JS breaking theirs! #
• Changing my future bestseller's title now RT @ghostwoods: The most common words in SFF titles http://bit.ly/i7NnEM #
• @OverheardSoho Suggest you try variants of Eiffel Towered (try towering) in Urban dictionary – I think you'll find the answer educational. #
• I've managed all of 250 words but sadly I'm too tired for writing tonight. So either TV or maybe some fun on the Wii before an early night. #
• @grahamwalmsley Depends what type of game you want to make. Something that fits popular, mass market games or cult and edgy in a game type? #
• @grahamwalmsley Funnily mass market are often complex (eg D&D) while cult are often KISS (eg Over the Edge) #
• I'm running at about half my usual number of tweets for this month. Don't worry I'll not go mad and send 40 a day to catch up. #
• @Danacea If that's not a made up name I really think someone needs a word with her parents. #
• @call_me_salome How will you and @ghostwoods communicate? #
• @ghostwoods @call_me_salome So those acrobatics mean So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish? #
• I didn't know if you could do searches in google reader & if you put in @ somerandomusername it would offer to subscribe to their tweet feed #
• @call_me_salome Have cake? #
• Great idea twitter – sign us up to a whole pile of new emails rather than letting us opt in to what we want #fail #
• @buffybot85 Easy to fix but easier still would have been to not make it the default. One decent conversation and my email is flooded. Grr. #
• @call_me_salome No more cake for me today. Not one but two. Saddly the cake catapult wouldn't have fired one all the way to London #
• @buffybot85 And all over the world other twitter users are having their hopes of being liked dashed… #
• @call_me_salome Yes two – small ones – and the second one was an accident #
• Playing with MapTools but do I really want to learn another programming language – even one this simple? #
• @ehlanakovas Personally I'd prefer to be really good at a few rather than learning new ones all the time #
• @RPTools Thanks. I watched a couple of tutorial videos last night so I think I can see how it hangs together #
• @RPTools I code for a living so I'll start simple and build macros from there. #
• @Troppers You need wine to start doing that? I just need stupid TV lol #
• @RPTools Will the current macro system still be supported or is it a complete replacement with JS? #
• Enough of fiddling round with maptools macros. Time for bed said Zebedee #
• @beltonwriter Good Morning. Good Night #
• @Danacea The Snowman 2 maybe? I'm flying round & round, waiting for the Samoan drop. The pain is massive now. Dadaadadadadaaa Dahdadadaadada #
• Due to a shortage of cats and dogs its raining Rhinos and Kangaroos here at the moment… #
• @daneofwar We're a very generous nation – we're happy to share our rain with you – in return could you send us some of your beer #
• Google Correlate intrigues me. Correlations for Cold and Hot couldn't be more different lol http://bit.ly/k0vDhT #
• @daneofwar I'm not sure if the ferries will cope with the 60 million heading your way but the extra heat might keep the rain off lol #
• Just heard the open top tour bus go past outside. You've really got to want to see all those Beatles' sites to do that in torrential rain. #
• @grahamwalmsley Only one word in one on Page 3 Glossed? #
• New Post: Blitz film review http://bit.ly/j5IZlD #
• @bishopjoey Just check @ghostwoods doesn't bill you for the meeting #
• @beltonwriter Good morning #
• @beltonwriter Thanks for the #ff #
• Last Night's Blog Post: Blitz movie review http://bit.ly/j5IZlD #
• @symatt They come. They go. The good ones stay (and the weird ones you thought would go sometimes too). #
• @MoonWolf95 Thanks for the #FF Have a fun weekend #
• @simplychrista Thanks for the #FF Have a nice weekend #
• @6violet9 Thanks for the #FF have a fun weekend #
• Local butchers had roast, stuffed belly pork as a new choice on the cooked meats at 70p a quarter. Hopefully sandwich #win for lunch. #
• "This experimental film was made before the invention of women" lol Paul Merton's Birth of Hollywood #
• Thin roast, stuffed belly pork sandwiches definitely a #win for lunch. #
• Is that the time? Need to start thinking about dinner and Doctor Who #
• Good Doctor Who. Wow love the giant space hamsters #fakespoiler #
• @grahamwalmsley I enjoyed it – not the best this year but not a stinker #
• @darkdwarf And when the Doctor mounted the TARDIS on a giant radioactive space hamster and rode it through space and time. Wow! #fakespoiler #
• Dear BBC3 tech round up: a cookie is not software and it doesn't track our action. It can be used to but that's not its only use #fail #
• @ehlanakovas They should fit them with bells so you can hear them coming. #fakespoiler #
• @darkdwarf Best cliffhanger evaar – literally with the giant space hamster hanging over the 4 dimensional cliff edge #fakespoiler #
• @darkdwarf It was a nice idea but having to watch through your legs and over your left shoulder was uncomfortable #fakespoiler #
• Back into Maptools… I think I've almost got this macro is almost beaten into submission #
• Initiative rolls sorted in MapTools. Time to disconnect for a few hours. #

Blitz is a rare type of British film – the cop film.  They just don’t come along too often these days – our cops spend their time policing TV screens in all their variegated variety – to the point where Hot Fuzz was a pastiche of how a US cop film set in a small British town would have turned out rather than transplanting a British one.  So Blitz was interesting if for no other reason than to see how it would tackle the genre on the big rather than the small screen.  To add to the interest was the casting of Jason Statham, Paddy Considine and David Morrissey in the same film.  If nothing else it deserves some attention for having the balls to open the same week as the juggernaut that is Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

The Good: Paddy Considine and the other character actors lift Blitz out of being just another Jason Statham man on a mission movie.  It’s not that I dislike Statham but I thinks he’s better when he’s got a strong or interesting cast around him (The Bank Job, The Transporter or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) than when he has to carry everything himself (especially Crank and to a lesser extent The Expendables).  Here, while he is essentially Statham being Statham’s usual character he does interact with other cast members with more than just his fists and a one liner.

There is a leaning towards British social realism rather than Hollywood action.  Blitz also harks back to classic 1970s British cop shows like The Sweeney and Special Branch or cop shows set in the 1970s Life on Mars.  If it weren’t for the mobile phones and the CCTV this could have been the 1970s.

The Bad: The central cop killer plot is sadly a bit of a stretch and it gets stretched further and further as the film goes on.  That plot is driven by the character of Barry Weiss (Aidan Gillen) from his record he was just a small time street criminal till he was humiliated by Statham’s DS Brant.  Only then does he come up with a master plan to take revenge on the police.  For awhile he becomes a Moriarty like figure who knew where all the CCTV was and who had a car stashed in a car park for months.  Yet then he’s switches to making it up as he goes along which he has a Captain Jack like ability to be and do the right thing at the right time almost without a thought.

The film seems confused about creating a sense of psychological realism around the Weiss.  For the first two killings he’s cold and calculating.  Then for all his bravado he lost his lunch after the third killing, so why not the earlier ones?  Yet we learn he has previous for GBH so is this a film about a hardened nutter or a carefully studied piece of psychological realism?  I don’t think this was Gillen’s fault it just doesn’t seem to have been thought through when the script was being written.

Then there was the minor niggle of why change the name of the Metropolitan Police to the London Police? Was someone worried that foreign viewers wouldn’t work out where they policed from the aerial shot of the city and the repeated mentions of London?

One plot flaw was very much a fridge moment in that I only realised in when I was at my fridge when I got home not during the film.  Why when they have the suspect in custody for 48 hours wasn’t a team tearing his flat apart to find the bag that would have provided the evidence to convict him?   In a 1970s cop show it would have been the anti-hero cops.  In 2011 a killer of five including three police officers would have had the Met’s full attention focused on the suspect not just local CID.  In 2011 a full team of scene of the crime officers would be stripping his flat down.  They’d have found the bag with the gun and the trophy he’s taken from the dead officer, he’d have

The Ugly: This is an ugly film in a good way.  A lot of work has gone into making this a film that shows the ugly and ordinary sides of London. There are a few money shots where they slip in a landmark in the background or in an aerial shot but by and large they work hard to place this film in a real, non tourist city.

The portrayals of violence in many of the 1970s shows and films caused an outcry in the press yet  seem tame now.  Blitz doesn’t pull any punches – the violence is uncompromising, visceral and not for the squeamish.  I found it uncomfortable to watch at times but it did tell us a lot about Brant and what he was capable of.

The Verdict: Blitz is a solid British movie that was an enjoyable diversion for an evening.  I don’t think it will become a classic or even a cult movie.  I do hope it does well enough to encourage more Brit Cop flicks to be made and more films with Statham with a strong supporting cast or Considine in the lead.  I won’t be rushing to get the DVD but if you don’t see it at the cinema worth taking a look at.

In September 2010 on a trip to London I stumbled into the sets being built for the London sequences of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.

It’s funny how your memory can play tricks on you – I thought I had quite a few pictures of the sets but I’d only taken two. Thinking back though I’d gone a bit mad taking photographs earlier on the Thames, at the Observatory and around the National Maritime Museum by the time I got to the College my feet hurt and it was trying to rain so I put my camera away and used my eyes for looking instead.

• My kitchen smells of lemon, herbs and spices must use the natural lemon extract cleaner and refresh my herb and spice jars more often… #
• Grrr. No auto correct I mean matte painting not mat painting. #
• @MoonWolf95 lol #
• @MoonWolf95 lolol Software telling me I didn't know what words I wanted to use when commenting on the excellent matte paintings for Dr Who #
• @mondocomico Good catch thanks. I seem to be having a weekend dominated by typos. And I even made a note to check that lol. #
• @xtamsynx England nothing? The last week we've had plenty here. #
• Yesterday's Blog Post – Doctor Who: The Doctor’s Wife http://bit.ly/lvFzs4 #
• @xtamsynx lol (except for when I was caught out in a torrential downpour the other day very not lol) #
• @jearle Given there are Blacksmithing bots I'm not surprised. I gave up updating my bot topic list when it went past 280 chars #
• @blindgeekuk Could be your number of followers triggering – I seem to see more in the run up to passing each hundred… #
• @blindgeekuk The spammers usually unfollow after a few days if I don't follow back anyway. Not sure about the logic of when they follow. #
• @thedeadone Genuine fair trade is still worth supporting – but as with any label some scammers will jump on it to make a profit. #
• @thedeadone A lot of it comes down to do you trust the company claiming it. If a company with no track record suddenly claims it… #
• @thedeadone …I'd be a lot less convinced that if say, Traidcraft, who are specialists were involved. #
• @thedeadone Any company claiming fair trade needs to be doing end to end checking – otherwise they Can't be doing proper fair trade. #
• @thedeadone That's why fair trade has been an ethical and PR bombshell for companies that didn't know their whole supply chain. #
• @FakeTSR Is this some sort of medieval musical chairs game and when the lute stops… Well you know the rest? #
• Bug chasing relief RT @jazzchantoozie @robinkelly1: Blueprint for disaster – how bad scripts are entirely predictable http://bit.ly/kmy5Sn #
• @SarahDarkmagic reminds me of a campaign idea I've never run: lvl 1 students are sent to tidy college attic. Emerge after campaign @ lvl 20 #
• @SarahDarkmagic Yup – but not with a bit of offcut wallpaper – basilisk hide to protect against alchemy class accidents. #
• @simonjrogers Personally I prefer RTal CP to Shadowrun if there are fantasy elements & no scientific sounding explanations its Not CP. #
• @jearle @ghostwoods @simonjrogers Nail hit on head. #
• @simonjrogers Wouldn't something more Esoterrorists/Trail + Cyberpunk be more distinct. Shadowrun has CP + Fantasy market covered already. #
• @simonjrogers Excellent I didn't think you would be but then didn't SJG write a whole game just to find TSR had done it 10 years before? #
• Lego Pirates of the Caribbean is far too addictive. Far, far, far too addictive. #
• @buffybot85 The new twists on the lego games really fit the film, there are some really nice touches & the puzzles are great. #
• @buffybot85 The one thing that has me confused at the moment is I can't figure out how to buy extra characters lol #
• New Scientist has 7 good pieces on emerging disruptive tech look for "2020 vision" on http://bit.ly/m3LMUk (free reg required) #
• The sun's come out and so have the buskers. #
• @call_me_salome Sadly they suffer from limited repertoires and even more limited talent. The only unlimited things are their PAs #
• @richeym Thanks. No apology required I was starting to wonder if I was going a bit doolally. #
• @6violet9 Thanks for the #ff #
• @beltonwriter Have a good night – your twitter day ends as mine begins #
• Overheard on the bus: "This time I want a girl …or a boy" "There are other options?" #
• @eyedoubleyou @richeym More then #
• @call_me_salome Question you probably won't understand: But is it Round, Square or Arched? #
• @xtamsynx Thanks for the #ff #
• @call_me_salome But can you see a film probably of a factory making cake through it? #
• @inrepose lol #
• RT @inrepose: @impworks There are other options: Girl, Boy, Politician, Estate Agent. I think those are the primary sex's. #
• A Shibboleth for Brits of a certain age: The true window shapes are Square, Round and Arched. Triangle windows are an abomination. #
• @CaptCalamitous @call_me_salome Early Games Workshop IL & SJ lived in a camper van by the office & joined a sports club next door to shower #
• @KimKnox I prescribe a course of real music. #
• I keep being reminded of a short story I wrote… "Item 3 on the Agenda" http://bit.ly/mkxjEg #
• @newint I may just be too quick off the block but that link goes to a 404 error page? #
• @simplychrista Thanks for the #ff #
• @daneofwar Thanks for the #ff #
• @daneofwar Like your new avatar – thought for a moment I was being followed by the great Heinz Wolff (who you've probably never heard of) #
• @daneofwar That's the one #
• @DJD73 Thanks for the #ff #
• Ironic lone busker singing "Here comes the Sun" in the rain outside our office #
• @daneofwar lol I was more thinking you looked like him in the early 80s when I was growing up with his TV shows #
• @simonjrogers Nice #
• @simplychrista Left leg check. Right leg check. Left arm check. Right arm check. Body check. Head check. Spirit check. I'm all here #
• @b_s_lynn Thanks for the #FF #RPG #
• @vmdolphin Thanks for the #ff #animation #cgi #
• @simplychrista He'll be like the astrologers after the Great Fire of London – every excuse will come out. #
• Writing a review of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides #
• @Thisangelbites Complete random coincidence – The sky just went really dark here in the rainy north as your tweet appeared lol #
• @Thisangelbites Big coats too. #

The latest Dr Who episode The Rebel Flesh was a nicely done, solid story with nothing to complain about.  That’s a relief after the time I’ve spent on reviews for The Doctor’s Wife or Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.  The Gangers are nicely realised I may be over reading one comment by the Doctor but I’m assuming these Plastic People are prototype Autons.

I do have one question: Where did the highly corrosive acid they are pumping from under the medieval monastery on the island come from?  I do hope it’s explained next week because thirteenth century monasteries don’t tend to have been built on the site of former ICI plants.

As to the ongoing series 6 /32 mysteries…

It  may give us the answer to the question of how we saw the Doctor die given we now know there is a Plastic Doctor who may be floating around past the end of next week’s The Almost People.

Rory’s reaction to the Plastic People is a nice touch.  Does this shed some light on the picture of the Lone Centurion in The Doctor Goes to War from the Radio Times a few weeks ago?

There were the inevitable reminders of Amy’s Schrödinger pregnancy and ‘eye-patched woman’ making a brief appearance.

So roll on next Saturday and part 2: The Almost People.

I thought Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was a hundred and thirty-seven minutes of silly pirate fun. It missed some of the magic of the PotC: The Curse of the Black Pearl and lacked some of the elements that sustained PotC: Dead Man’s Chest and PotC: At World’s End. However better than some of the reviews I’ve seen that would suggest it was a far worse film than it is.

The big problem all the sequels to the Pirate of the Caribbean film have is that they will be compared to  the hit that the original Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was.  You’re never going to be able to recreate the impact of seeing Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow for the first time.

On Stranger Tides starts out well Jack impersonating a Judge could have been played for more laughs but that would have slowed the narrative down.  We’re quickly treated to Jack’s cracking escape sequence followed by Keith Richards appearance as Captain Teague and the cracking fight between Jack and Angelica’s impersonation of Jack.  Jack is Shanghaied by Angelica aboard Blackbeard’s ship we get into the meat of the film’s plot.

Everyone is off to sea in a race between three competing sides to get to the Fountain of Youth first. We have the Revenge with Blackbeard, Angelica, Jack and the missionary Philip against Pirate turned English Privateer Barbossa against the Spanish king’s expedition.

After fighting with mermaids, trekking through jungle, looking for a pair of chalices on a ship loaded with gold balanced on a cliff edge which should have had [Micheal Caine] aboard to say “hang on lads I’ve got an idea”, extracted a tear from a mermaid and had an encounter with the Spanish we get to the climax at the fountain.  Here we have a series of battles followed by a moral dilemma and a cliché that had been sitting around waiting to happen ever since Angelica explained the ritual earlier in the film.  The film wraps up leaving the surviving characters in various situations from which any and all of them can return for future instalments depending on the availability of the actors.

Overall a hundred and thirty-seven minutes of silly pirate fun.  Sadly I have a few quibbles …

My biggest one is that opening cracks along so nicely then once we leave the merry old England of Richard Griffiths’ King George the pace slows down a bit and never recovers.  The plot didn’t create any urgency to the rush to the fountain.  Blackbeard has the prophecy of his death, the English are trying to get there to claim it before the Spanish, Barbossa hopes to find Blackbeard there to take revenge and Jack’s interest has been set up in the earlier films.

Ironically the one thing that could have been used to add pace, the Spaniards intention of destroying the Fountain of Youth, wasn’t revealed and instead was used as  a bit of a damp squib twist at the end.  Had we known their larger, better equipped expedition was going to destroy it everyone else would have had a reason to rush to get their first.  The Spaniards’ were one of the film’s two missed opportunities.

The second missed opportunity was the relationship between Syrena the Mermaid, and Philip the missionary.  Rather than being the new Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann they were relegated to being the plot mechanic to get a mermaid’s tear.  Had Philip been more of a firebrand, possibly establishing the Spaniards’ religious intention to destroy the Fountain as a profane artefact, torn by his love for an inhuman mermaid he could have been a far more interesting addition to the film.  Instead we got a rather bland, more tea please, stereotype who stripped from the waist up presumably to provide some eye candy for the fans saddened by Orlando Bloom’s absence.

Blackbeard could have been a bit more villainous, a bit more irredeemable and could have made more of his swords power.  With Jack and Barbossa around Ian McShane needed to turn his performance up to 11 where as it was sitting around at an 8 or a 9.  His zombified, mystic henchmen also lacked something – they weren’t up to the skeletal pirates of the first film or even the fish men hybrids of the second and third.

My last quibble is that the final battle just didn’t pay off.  I’m not sure why not but it just lacked the energy of the opening.  If it had it could have redeemed the films other flaws.

Those are quibbles though.  I’ve seen far worse films but as I said already this has to compete with the three earlier films.  There were lots of positive things…

Jack Sparrow and Angelica had a real spar.  At times their chemistry lent towards being Carry on up the Caribbean with a high level of double entendre which fortunately really worked to establish them as a former couple who still have a spark.  It was a good idea to pare down the number of characters from the previous films, a few more cameos from smaller parts amongst crews might have been nice but losing lots of the bigger characters gave this story room to breathe.  The old relationships that remained between Jack, Barbossa and Gibbs all worked well.

As a Vue user it was really nice to see some top-notch landscape work with Vue.  I really couldn’t see the joins between virtual and real landscapes.  I may be wrong but I don’t think it was just spectacular jungle backdrops that had been produced in Vue this time but also I think some really nice rocks, cliffs and possibly a few cloudscapes might have too.

So overall I thought Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides wan an enjoyable, Friday night, popcorn pirate movie.

What I really want to do now is watch Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl or play the Lego computer game…

I think this is the first time DarkDwarf and I have independantly taken photographs of the same thing for our blogs. Here is a shot of the Port of Liverpool Building reflected in Mann Island Development I took a couple of weeks ago but fell through the cracks of being busy doing other things.  Scarily we had almost the same title.

So was the new Doctor Who episode, The Doctor’s Wife, a return to the form of The Impossible Astronaut and The Day of the Moon after The Curse of the Black Spot last week with its rather damp powder?  Would Neil Gaiman writing an episode turn out to be a stunt to promote both the show and the writer?

The action opened with a nice pre-title teaser and didn’t let up till the end credits rolled.  The story cracked along at a great pace with twists and turns along the way.  The story was full of nods to Dr Who Lore while adding a few bits itself around the relationship between the TARDIS and the Doctor.  But, like Idris, I’m getting a bit ahead of myself…

Having a writer as famous as Neil Gaiman write an episode brings both expectations and a certain fear.  Sometimes using big name writers or actors can end up being a stunt when they can’t mesh their ego with a show even one they love as much as fans.  Thankfully Gaiman really knew what a Who episode should deliver and the cast and crew delivered his vision 100%.  He packed in some big ideas, some nods to Who lore, some snappy dialogue, some spills, some thrills and some behind the sofa scares too.

The episodes first big idea was having a villain who feeds on the energy of TARDIS and who lures them in using Time Lord psychic distress messages.  A villain that feeds on TARDIS needs to be a big villain a bloke in a latex mask just wouldn’t have cut it.  So we got an asteroid sized villain who to all intent and purpose was a disembodied villain like Tolkien’s Sauron.  Yet disembodied villains are hard to pull off and can go very badly wrong.  Thankfully House, voiced by Michael Sheen, managed to be threatening through his power to shape other characters environment and play tricks on their minds.  To aid him House had the delightfully gothic, patchwork henchmen Auntie and Uncle along with a bad Ood.

I know some fans would have loved to have seen a 1970s TARDIS control room but I think the choice of the now dusty steampunk one fitted better with the story.  The scratch built TARDIS had the honour of getting elements of one of the shaky set 1970s models and got to shake, rattle, roll, fizz and bang its way along in a rare TARDIS chase sequence.

The Junk World or Plug Hole at the end of the Universe (a lovely line echoing the title of Douglas Adam’s book in the week of the 10^th Anniversary of his untimely death) was wonderfully realised through the set dressed quarry and matte paintings with joins that didn’t show.  The wonderfully theatrical lighting in blues and greens with shafts of light coming from odd angles really worked to create an eerie, gothic feel.

Alongside shooting in a quarry and the use and nods to old control rooms Gaiman snuck in another Doctor Who cliché with the running down the TARDIS corridors.  I find it odd that fans are complaining about using corridor chase scenes in a Doctor Who episode or that they used the wrong corridors.  It almost seems like some people desperately want something to complain about being wrong with the episode.  If the chases were set in rather uniform corridor sets for budgetary reasons rather than in a disused hospital or other location isn’t that in itself a nod to the truth of Doctor Who having to live within its means?

The snappy, dialogue was littered with great lines just casually thrown away like “Another Ood I failed to save”.  Alongside crowd pleasing great lines delivered beautifully like “Fear me I’ve killed hundreds of time lords.” “Fear Me, I’ve killed all of them…”

The second big idea, which according to confidential was the inception of the idea for the story, was personifying the TARDIS  as Idris.  This let Gaiman play with the origin story. The revelations that the TARDIS stole the Doctor so she could see the Universe and that she takes the Doctor to where he needs to be not where he wants to be are great additions to the shows back story.  This could have been a real disappointment but the writing and the acting both hit the mark.

Gaiman laid the foundations with a great deal of restraint and respect.  Suranne Jones played the part beautifully moving through confusion to acceptance, to understanding and finally to dying.  Along the way delivering some great moments with the Doctor.  By not being entirely tied to linear time even when trapped in a body gave Idris an otherworldly quality. Knowing what people are going to say and do, archiving things that haven’t happened yet.  There was a real intimacy to her relationship with the Doctor the TARDIS really is the Doctor’s Wife and that relationship is complicated. Yet she wasn’t just about big ideas and back story she had nice human moments vanity on seeing herself in a mirror; thinking Rory is the pretty one.

There are some really great lines between the Doctor and Idris but I’ll pick one “I exist across all space and time.  You talk and run around; bring home strays” sums up the show so well.

So inevitably we come to the end of the ride that has had Amy and Rory in jeopardy with first of being eaten and then from a bad Ood and a disembodied threat that plays with the TARDIS and inside their heads. That great Doctor Who cliché of running down identical corridors turner on its head to be a great asset with interesting and scary stuff happening in the corridors.  Meanwhile the bubble universe will reach absolute zero in three hours and Idris dying.  Yet working together The Doctor, Idris, Amy and Rory manage to see off the Ood and the House.  Leaving Idris / TARDIS one last moment for Gaiman’s gothic sensibility “‘Alive.’ I’m alive.” And  after a bit of fun interplay and underlining the new addition to this series’ mystery the last scene a moment between The Doctor and a set, sorry the TARDIS, there aren’t many shows that could have an actor playing to the set as a character.

So if you’ve not guessed yet I think Gaiman, cast and crew have pulled off a top notch Doctor who that worked really well and was also good, old fashioned fun.

Before I go we got one obvious addition to the Series 32 / Series 6 mysteries list:

• The only water in the forest is the river.

Not really a lot to go on there – River may be River Song and a library is a dead forest where River was left in virtual form at the end of Forest of the Dead or I could be reading far, far too much into one line.

• @MoonWolf95 A rather late thanks for the #ff #
• @6violet9 A rather late thanks for the #ff #
• @RobertWThomson A rather late thanks for the #ff #
• Sssh you didn't see me here & I didn't mention any Doctor Who related blog posts http://bit.ly/lFQYb2 or http://bit.ly/kXrru6 right? #
• @call_me_salome For my Dirk Dangerous stories I used to use the names from spam emails but the quality isn't what it used to be. #
• This tweet is a mirage. I am too busy to tweet. #
• @ehlanakovas There are no tweets. Move along now. #
• @call_me_salome Thats about 2 inches longer than some of the skirts I saw walking through Nottingham the other day #
• Did I really take 164 pictures? I may just have gone a bit snap happy at Hardwick Hall last week… #
• @call_me_salome I'm not saying you should just that there would be some shorter skirts (at least in my home town about 9PM on a Saturday) #
• @simplychrista Not good. Its a bit late but I'd say get a cheap diary and start noting the date and time each time it happens. Speak to CAB. #
• @simplychrista Citizens Advice Bureau – but you may have left by the time you get to see them. #
• @simplychrista If you have a diary (especially if they do things with others around to witness it) you can point to a pattern. #
• @simplychrista Plus photograph the damage he did to the door frame as it shows the level of violence you feel he is threatening. #
• @simplychrista That way if you do have to get the Police involved you've got stuff to support your side of things. #
• @simplychrista I've never had a landlord that bad but did have one who ended our tenancy and tried to pull insurance fraud at the same time! #
• @simplychrista To maul some Chaucer "oftentimes cursing returns on him that curses, like a bird that returns again to its own nest" #
• @grahamwalmsley What are you watching / reading? #
• @grahamwalmsley Agreed the other 3 have been very good – I have the kitchen one waiting to be watched #
• Hardwick Old Hall Photograph http://bit.ly/lOQ1Xs #
• @symatt My sympathies – had a 55min wait for a connection. Then the train was delayed when a woman lost both her shoes down the gap! #
• @bluinkalchemist Based on the stats for my website saddly The Expendables has a very rabid set of fans. Shame the film was like bad flan. #
• @bluinkalchemist Personally I thought that The A-Team was the better film but money talks – The Expendables took more and cost less. #
• @call_me_salome @ghostwoods Need definition of Coffee Ninja… and if we're going there Cowboy and Alien too probably #
• @call_me_salome That sounds like the "Look Zeppelin!" approach than a highly skilled ninja #
• @call_me_salome @ghostwoods I don't think its evil but I don't drink it. In the UK 1 in 10 don't like it – only 1 in 20 don't drink it! #
• @ghostwoods @symatt Why do I start to think there is a comic or a version of Munchkin in this lol #
• @call_me_salome Doesn't that make you the Glamorous Assistant to a Coffee Illusionist. Or would the sequined costume be one step too far? #
• @call_me_salome We're getting better – used to be 1 in 99 didn't drink tea or coffee while 1 in 10 didn't like it! #
• @symatt I've not got 1st Ed a friend spent a lot getting a set – small white books from memory. Red box came after that. #
• @ghostwoods @call_me_salome I didn't think you'd object lol #
• @ghostwoods lol Glad I don't have to clean your place then. I've been told Sequins play havoc with hoovers. #
• @call_me_salome That's probably more information than I needed to know lol. How did we get here from coffee? #
• This is either a very random shopping list or pass phrases for meeting secret agent. I guess I'll find out on my lunchtime walk. #
• @SarahDarkmagic Is there a link to that? #
• RT @ArtonomyBlog: Oh wow. The BBC Domesday project is relaunched!. Fascinating!! http://bbc.in/lChxcE #
• @DaveAllsop Am I reading that right and those can be used in other publications? #
• @jearle @scimon @daveallsop With that pedigree I'd be worried if the design wasn't any good. Plus you've dabbled in the tech side a bit #
• @GeekyClean Really sorry to hear that. Get well soon. #
• @gamefiend Look good. I have it but @RobinDLaws signed it and I keep fighting my urge to put it in a bag when I pick it up to read it #
• @symatt It'll go green and fall off #
• The Shadow Line so far is proving to be an absolute joy. Hope they can keep it up for 5 more hours. #
• My RPG Second 11 http://bit.ly/lWekyi #
• @6violet9 Thanks for the #ff have a fantastic weekend #
• @tapastapas Thanks for the #ff have a great weekend #
• @KimKnox Predict weather will be changeable but not extreme. Which according to the book I'm reading explains our culture. #
• @simplychrista Thanks for the #ff I'd say something clever bout still having all my own teeth but my wit is fails me lol #
• @symatt Thanks for the #ff thanks for the plug for the vaguely structured pile of bytes that is my website Have a great weekend. #
• @daneofwar In one tweet you single handedly persuaded me all the teachers I know are lying about how hard they work #
• @symatt Look on the bright site at least it wasn't a kettle on the gas – it would have boiled dry by now and set your kitchen on fire #
• @daneofwar I'd go with Carry On Columbus #
• @symatt Still if you wanted a day to have picked to have done that today would reinforce some mumbo jumbo. And Computers – Who needs them? #
• @KimKnox I'd recommend the book if the anthropologist author wasn't trapped by her class prejudices about certain parts of the middle class #
• Last night's @daneofwar inspired blog post My #rpg second 11 http://bit.ly/lWekyi ( following on from http://bit.ly/mUzrlY ) #
• @blindgeekuk My sympathy. I maintain a legacy system with at least 30 for one location, 25 for another and many with 3 or more lol #
• @daneofwar Rumour has it its a real horror movie #
• @daneofwar Or that might have been horror of a movie #
• @gamefiend Are you signed up to Technorati? Not what it used to be but little things can help. #
• @gamefiend Many of the other blog promotion sites seem to have fallen into the abys #
• @gamefiend Promote your RSS feed – you may not see those readers in stats (or use Feedburner to get some stats + extra services) #
• @gamefiend If your serious about it there are sites that will suggest when to tweet for maximum exposure (I've not tried them). #
• @gamefiend Fair enough. I never tried Blog Carnival but I know some people who swear by it. #
• @DJD73 Thanks for the #ff Have a Great weekend #
• @FatDragonGames Thanks for the #ff Have a Great weekend #
• @RobertWThomson Thanks for the #ff Have a Great weekend #
• @xtamsynx If I was doing #ff this week I would but I do them rarely rather than every week. #
• @TheScriptLab How big a difference the Atlantic makes – Withnail and I is hardly obscure this side of the pond! #
• The drums we can hear from the office aren't restless natives its the start of Light Night in Liverpool http://bit.ly/jrPGal #
• @MoonWolf95 Thanks for the #ff Have a Great Weekend #
• The semolina like fog that has infected my brain since last night seems to be clearing. Maybe I can get a little writing done before #drwho #
• Good writing session. Now a little dinner before we get to see what Neil Gaiman does with #DoctorWho #
• @symatt Your typo confused me lol. Tonight's Doctor Who was scripted by Neil Gaiman. #
• @MoonWolf95 Don't worry I'll not tweet any spoilers – I'll save them for my blog with a big spoilers banner #
• @symatt I'll reserve judgment till I've seen it. Hopefully it will be. #
• @MoonWolf95 I'm not officially really confused – especially after @symatt's Meil Gaiman tweet lol #
• Anyone who wants to know how to write a fun stand alone Doctor Who episode couldn't do much worse than watch tonight's #
• @MoonWolf95 @symatt lolol #
• @DanDiplo Doh! Editing down to 140 characters failure lol. I liked it. #
• RT @craig3djarvis: pity that red button doesn't launch nukes #eurovision #
• I have a simple solution to Eurovision I use every year – I watch something else #
• You lot are really being rambunctious for a Sunday morning #
• @symatt lol Hope its a rambunctious Christening and not a raucous one where the water in the font is cold and makes babies scream #