What I have been watching
Aug. 18th, 2015 07:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scripsiSo, back in the saddle again and back to try to post regularly. So here is a post about what I have been watching the past four weeks. The first two weeks of my vacation was very rainy, so I watched more shows than I usually do on my vacation.
Husband and I have finished watching New Who. I’m happy to say that he likes it (he found the Classics utterly boring) and I enjoyed re-watching it. I’m still a bit divided about the last season, though. I do like Peter Capaldi a lot and I really enjoyed him learning to relate to people again. I found him rather harsh when I saw it first as I kept thinking that he ought to be happier, after all he had just learned that Gallifrey wasn’t destroyed. Then I remembered that even if it was just two episodes for us, for the Doctor there had been many years when he was stuck on Trenzalore. I imagine the immediate joy could very well turn into apprehension as exciting things sometimes do when it takes too long to realise them. Also, eleven really though he was on his last life and had probably learned to accept that he was going to die for good. So in a sense Twelve is a newborn, suddenly landing in a life he hadn’t thought he was going to get. I also really enjoyed his and Clara’s relationship. And I enjoyed Missy a lot and was very pleased with myself as I pegged her for the Master as soon as she called the Doctor “my boyfriend” in the first episode.
What I enjoyed less. Danny Pink. Well, I have nothing against the character, but he basically felt like a plot device whose main purpose was to die. And I don’t really get New Who’s need to get everyone and his aunt involved in romantic relationships. And though I could understand why Danny was suspicious of the Doctor, I didn’t understand why the Twelve suddenly couldn’t stand soldiers. Even if he always has been critical toward the army and disliking its actions, it hasn’t been down to this personal animosity before and it felt a bit heavy handed. Also, we met a descendant to Danny (and probably Clara) early on, which first made me think he would come back from the death or that Clara would find out she was pregnant. Neither has happened, so I hope Danny does come back somehow or I will be very annoyed with that particular plot. And I can’t understand why Missy can’t be called the Master even if she is a female right now.
I’m glad that both Missy and Osgood are returning the next season. And I wonder if Jenny is returning. There is that girl in the trailer who seems to be someone the Doctor knows and Clara mentioning her in Death in Heaven may be a bit of foreboding.
Kid and I continue with Seven, and I like him and Ace more and more now when I can watch them properly and not just an episode here and there.
I have continued with The Strain, season 2. A little less beheadings, I’m thankful to say. I still like David Bradley and Kevin Durand a lot, and Corey Stoll’s character still annoys me. We have also just begun with watching Sense8, which seems promising so far.
And I have re-watched Ivanhoe from 1997. I have a soft spot for that story, I saw the 1952 movie when I was a small kid and fell in love with Elizabeth Taylor’s Rebecca. It also features Joan Fontaine and one of my all time baddies; George Sanders as Bois-Guilbert. My father read it for me several times as well. And as a Swede I have seen the 1982 TV-movie more times than I can count, because for some obscure reason it is shown on every New Years Day for the last 30 years, or so. In case you don’t know the story, it’s about one of Richard Lionheart’s knight; Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, who returns to England. He has quarreled with his father and can’t marry his childhood sweetheart because his father wants to marry her of to someone else. He get’s wounded in a tournament and healed by a Jewish woman called Rebecca who falls in love with him. At some point they, and just about every other character are imprisoned by some evil Norman knights and one of them; Bois-Guilbert, falls for Rebecca. It all ends with a witch trial and a Big Fight between Ivanhoe and Bois-Guilbert.
I really love the mini series. It’s in six parts which gives the story time to unfold and it’s very well cast. Ralph Brown, who plays the evil Russian scientist in Agent Carter, makes a very slimy Prince John and there are a lot of other good actors like Victoria Smurfit, James Cosmo, Aden Gillett, Ronald Pickup and Sîan Phillips. And Christopher Lee plays an extremely bigoted religious leader with his usual panache. But what make the series really worthwhile for me are Ciaran Hinds and Susan Lynch as Bois-Guilbert and Rebecca. He is not a nice man, but Hinds does a great job of a man with a lot to answer for, who, when he least expects it, falls in love with a woman he had just planned to rape and discard and becomes a better man for it. And I thin he and Lynch has a great chemistry and you can readily believe that even if she stays true to herself, she is also tempted to what he has to offer. Unfortunately the love triangle is rather marred for me as I find Stephen Waddington’s Ivanhoe a complete bore. I just can’t see what Rebecca and Rowena sees in him.
Husband and I have finished watching New Who. I’m happy to say that he likes it (he found the Classics utterly boring) and I enjoyed re-watching it. I’m still a bit divided about the last season, though. I do like Peter Capaldi a lot and I really enjoyed him learning to relate to people again. I found him rather harsh when I saw it first as I kept thinking that he ought to be happier, after all he had just learned that Gallifrey wasn’t destroyed. Then I remembered that even if it was just two episodes for us, for the Doctor there had been many years when he was stuck on Trenzalore. I imagine the immediate joy could very well turn into apprehension as exciting things sometimes do when it takes too long to realise them. Also, eleven really though he was on his last life and had probably learned to accept that he was going to die for good. So in a sense Twelve is a newborn, suddenly landing in a life he hadn’t thought he was going to get. I also really enjoyed his and Clara’s relationship. And I enjoyed Missy a lot and was very pleased with myself as I pegged her for the Master as soon as she called the Doctor “my boyfriend” in the first episode.
What I enjoyed less. Danny Pink. Well, I have nothing against the character, but he basically felt like a plot device whose main purpose was to die. And I don’t really get New Who’s need to get everyone and his aunt involved in romantic relationships. And though I could understand why Danny was suspicious of the Doctor, I didn’t understand why the Twelve suddenly couldn’t stand soldiers. Even if he always has been critical toward the army and disliking its actions, it hasn’t been down to this personal animosity before and it felt a bit heavy handed. Also, we met a descendant to Danny (and probably Clara) early on, which first made me think he would come back from the death or that Clara would find out she was pregnant. Neither has happened, so I hope Danny does come back somehow or I will be very annoyed with that particular plot. And I can’t understand why Missy can’t be called the Master even if she is a female right now.
I’m glad that both Missy and Osgood are returning the next season. And I wonder if Jenny is returning. There is that girl in the trailer who seems to be someone the Doctor knows and Clara mentioning her in Death in Heaven may be a bit of foreboding.
Kid and I continue with Seven, and I like him and Ace more and more now when I can watch them properly and not just an episode here and there.
I have continued with The Strain, season 2. A little less beheadings, I’m thankful to say. I still like David Bradley and Kevin Durand a lot, and Corey Stoll’s character still annoys me. We have also just begun with watching Sense8, which seems promising so far.
And I have re-watched Ivanhoe from 1997. I have a soft spot for that story, I saw the 1952 movie when I was a small kid and fell in love with Elizabeth Taylor’s Rebecca. It also features Joan Fontaine and one of my all time baddies; George Sanders as Bois-Guilbert. My father read it for me several times as well. And as a Swede I have seen the 1982 TV-movie more times than I can count, because for some obscure reason it is shown on every New Years Day for the last 30 years, or so. In case you don’t know the story, it’s about one of Richard Lionheart’s knight; Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, who returns to England. He has quarreled with his father and can’t marry his childhood sweetheart because his father wants to marry her of to someone else. He get’s wounded in a tournament and healed by a Jewish woman called Rebecca who falls in love with him. At some point they, and just about every other character are imprisoned by some evil Norman knights and one of them; Bois-Guilbert, falls for Rebecca. It all ends with a witch trial and a Big Fight between Ivanhoe and Bois-Guilbert.
I really love the mini series. It’s in six parts which gives the story time to unfold and it’s very well cast. Ralph Brown, who plays the evil Russian scientist in Agent Carter, makes a very slimy Prince John and there are a lot of other good actors like Victoria Smurfit, James Cosmo, Aden Gillett, Ronald Pickup and Sîan Phillips. And Christopher Lee plays an extremely bigoted religious leader with his usual panache. But what make the series really worthwhile for me are Ciaran Hinds and Susan Lynch as Bois-Guilbert and Rebecca. He is not a nice man, but Hinds does a great job of a man with a lot to answer for, who, when he least expects it, falls in love with a woman he had just planned to rape and discard and becomes a better man for it. And I thin he and Lynch has a great chemistry and you can readily believe that even if she stays true to herself, she is also tempted to what he has to offer. Unfortunately the love triangle is rather marred for me as I find Stephen Waddington’s Ivanhoe a complete bore. I just can’t see what Rebecca and Rowena sees in him.
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A
Date: 2015-08-18 08:55 pm (UTC)Re: A
Date: 2015-08-18 10:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-18 10:26 pm (UTC)I enjoyed Season 8 of Doctor Who much more than seasons 6 and 7. I barely got through second half of Season 7, it was mostly boring. But I enjoyed Capaldi as the Doctor and the stories of Season 8. I didn't mind Danny (I also hope the whole descendant thing will be cleared up), and I like Clara much better with 12. I still need to watch the last Christmas special. At least now I'm looking forward to the new season again. I adore Missy. Great choice by all.
I really enjoyed Sense8 and all the characters.
I haven't seen the Ivanhoe miniseries but it sounds fun from your description. I read the book as a teenager and really didn't like it ( except Rebecca, she was awesome) so I was never interested in adaptations before.
no subject
Date: 2015-08-18 10:36 pm (UTC)I've seen two episodes of Sense8 and really liked the characters so far.
The book is very much a product of it's time and a lot of what I didn't mind as a child, I really don't like today. And it's a terribly romantic story with damstrels in distress and grand heroic gestures. But the mini series makes the characters more rounded and it also tone down Scott's rasism (I dare say he wasn't by the standards of the early 19th century, but it's definitly unsavoury by todays' standard.)
no subject
Date: 2015-08-19 02:50 am (UTC)As for the Doctor's dislike of soldiers...he never tolerated them well. And constant bombardment on Trenzalore as various soldiers from various factions went head to head in the middle of civvies...well, I can kinda get it.
*HUGS*
no subject
Date: 2015-08-19 04:17 pm (UTC)True, the Doctor has always had a complicated and not always pleasant relationship to the military, but he seemed to tolerate the Soldiers in the Dalek episode rather well, and they were in Active duty, so why dislike Danny so when he was retired? One would imagine one retire because one doesn't want to be a soldier any more, which was indeed what Danny felt.
I could readily accept the Doctor not liking Danny because he was important to Clara. In many ways he treaded Danny much like Mickey, like not getting Mickey's name right and not getting Danny's subject right. And he wasn't really nice to Rory either until he became a full companion. In short, the Doctor seems to have a problem with Young men who compete's with his companion's attention-he is simply a bit jealous. (Not necessarilu sexual jealousy, you can be jealous when it comes to friends too.)
So I think the Doctor's animosity didn't need that extra bit about not liking soldiers to be plausible and felt it was there just so the Viewers wouldn't forget that Danny had been a soldier as that was important in the last episodes. Which felt a bit Heavy handed. :)
*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2015-08-19 02:00 pm (UTC)Very much agreed on your assessment of Danny. I felt he deserved so much better. I think that Twelve is getting softer, and I can totally see his gruffness in the beginning too. You just articulated it better than I could. :)
I'm working my way through the Classics too. I'm still on Two but on his last season. I am in love with Jamie. Not going to lie, lol.
no subject
Date: 2015-08-19 04:24 pm (UTC)Me too! :)
Yes, I Think Danny did. :)
Well, Jamie is a darling, so no wonder! :D I was very happy when he turned up again in one of Six's episodes!
no subject
Date: 2015-08-19 02:47 pm (UTC)I found the Dr's hate for soldiers too much too and I didn't like Danny as a character. I didn't dislike the actor. I hope the new series is more hopeful/cheery.
no subject
Date: 2015-08-19 04:28 pm (UTC)I hope the new season gets a bit cheerier as well. I thought Twelve was much more easygoing in the Christmas epsode, so I feel confident it will. :)
no subject
Date: 2015-08-20 03:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-20 03:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-20 03:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-20 04:38 pm (UTC)I Think it was over 20 years since I saw Son of Fury so my memory of it is rather hazy.
no subject
Date: 2015-08-20 07:20 pm (UTC)*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2015-08-20 07:25 pm (UTC)