By Roy Mathur, on 2019-08-30, at 22:41:46 to 23:18:26 BST, for Captain Roy's Rocket Radio Show, Listen
Boris Johnson is trying to bamboozle the UK into the chaos of a no-deal Brexit, fires are eating up the world's carbon stores in the Amazon, and pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong are being intimidated.
Let's not forgot those things, but let's also take a little break so that we can talk geek. Call it a really really tiny Summer holiday. If you're a listener, rather than just reading these notes (and I sincerely hope you are), I've even gone as far as rearranging this episode's topics in a different order so that we end on a high note.
Don't expect too much right now. I have missed too many of the new releases and will have to await the DVD release dates.
On the other hand, that means... more Doctor Who specific episodes, and books and comics etc.
Turns out I seem(ed*) to be able to drink coffee again without setting off my IBS.
The other day, I made full pot to celebrate. And by a full pot, I mean an office size percolator pot filled to the brim. I had an industrial-sized mug and it was gloroius! I heard angels sing as I quaffed my Sumatra.
*But not today. };-<
Dirty deputy is murdered and his equally dirty partner deals with the fallout in this new Amazon TV drama.
In tone, I found it Lynch-lite, but also slow as frozen molasses. I couldn't even make it through one episode. This is what happens when a creator gets too much latitude. Disciplined to the constraints of a reasonable runtime for a movie, Nicolas Winding Refn is great (Drive and Neon Demon), but here, what appears to be a promising sleazy noir, becomes stodgy porridge from its unbearably lumpen pace. Co-creator, and renowned comic book writer, Ed Brubaker should also share some of the blame.
At D23, Ewan McGregor talked about the upcoming untitled Obi-Wan Kenobi show on Disney Plus. It will start filming next year and it set eight years after the events at the end of Revenge of the Sith and before A New Hope.
Also mentioned at D23, was the Rogue One prequel. Reprising their film roles, the Disney Plus show will star Diego Luna as Cassian Andor and Alan Tudyk K-2SO. Again, we still don't know the title of the show, but filming will start in London next year.
Much as I hate trailers, my resolved crumbled in the face of the Force, and I watched both new Disney D23 Star Wars trailers with drool running out from the sides of my mouth.
The latest trailer for The Mandalorian is so, so cool. Storm Troopers' helmets on spikes, Death Troopers, gun slinger droids, dust (and presumably tumbleweed; please let there be tumbleweed), and Werner Herzog (I forgive you for Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979); every auteur is allowed one stinker). It all looks wonderful. Though I never liked the oldie timie westerns, I'm okay with a space western with grit and spaghetti and I am looking forward to this.
The show will be available to stream via Disney Plus from November the 12th.
If this has piqued your desire for more great sci-fi westerns, one of the best is the novel Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future (1986) by the prolific Mike Resnik. It is a very rich, full, and violent saga about space bounty hunters. It should appeal to any fan of the Fett or Firefly.
In the latest trailer, I actually screamed when Rey flipped the her double bladed light saber into staff mode. I screamed. No cynicism, no irony, no dramatic irony or sarcasm, I am absolutely very much looking forward to seeing this for Christmas.
We also have the mysteries of that incredible armada of black star destroyers, the final revelation Rey's origin to look forward to (please don't let me down on this one JJ), not to mention seeing Fin, Poe, R2-D2, C3-PO, Chewie, Leia, and Luke again.
As it is the end of Luke Skywalker's story that began in 1977, this movie has a very special resonance for me. After this, the movies will contain none of the original actors, and though I will probably follow the movies until the day I die, it is a very important milestone. I'll probably cry as the end credits roll.
I'm looking forward to this retro looking sci-fi thriller staring and produced by Brad Pitt. It looks amazing and, if the trailer accurately reflects the film, hits all the right notes for me.
The film opens on September the 20th, and may very well be the last movie of the year I see at the cinema before The Rise of Skywalker at the end of the year.
I have been tracking the latest repair of fibre internet non-service. The repair was several days late and when I checked, after a night on constant disconnections (29th August), I found that I had apparently reported the fault to BT. Of course, I never did, so let's assume it was my phantom twin! I have since started formal complaint procedures.
The internet still sporadically cuts out several times a day. It's simply unacceptable, but short of further escalating the situation by going the legal route and contacting the industry ombudsman, I'm not sure what else to do. I still need an internet service, but if all the ISPs available are using BT's OpenReach infrastructure, I can't see how swapping provider will help.
I knew there would be some trouble going in (my previous internet connection on BT's ADSL was never great), but I wasn't expecting quite this level of unreliability from fibre. It's pants.
...a Doctor Who specific episode.