Doctor Who, Life Is Wild, Superman, The Hardy Boys Mysteries

Monday, November 19th, 2007

06:00 Life Is Wild
07:00 Doctor Who
11:00 The Hardy Boys
12:00 Superman

Life Is Wild. Episode 4 uses the same basic story as Episode 3, which isn't a good sign. Once again, Katie has a choice to make. Will she do the right thing, and side with her famly? Or will she be selfish? And, just as with Episode 3, we spend three-quarters of the episode watching her prepare to do the wrong thing before, at the last minute, coming to her senses. But that's not the worst thing about this disappointing episode. The storyline given to 11-year-old Chase is the worst piece of nonsense I've seen in weeks. He's taken it into his head to make reparations for all the crimes against the black population of South Africa. This involved buying lunch for a random girl at school, and preventing the cleaner at the lodge from doing her job. This isn't just nonsense, it's embarrassing to watch.

Doctor Who. Season 27, Episode 12. The Doctor, Rose and (the absolutely brilliant) Captain Jack are beamed into various TV Quiz shows (Big Brother, Weakest Link, etc.) and have to make their way out. It's completely off the wall and great fun to watch. Particularly the scenes where Jack and the Doctor work together.

The Hardy Boys. Season 3, Episode 5. Another great script from the forgotten season of The Hardy Boys. The first ten minutes or so follows a girl called Ria who is being followed by a mysterious man with a tattoo on his hand. To escape him she hides in a boat yard and stumbles into something she shouldn't see: a group of modern day pirates who hijack yachts and sell them to South American buyers. Ria, for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, is kidnapped and held for sale to a white slavery ring. Enter Federal Agents Frank and Joe Hardy, on the trail of the missing girl. Some pretty good detective work leads the boys to the girl's last known contacts and they are soon on the trail of the pirates. However, all is not exactly as it seems. Even when the pirates are located and defeated, it turns out that some other players in the game have been lying and the case is far from over. All the twists in the story make for enjoyable viewing and, once again, Joe comes off better than Frank. He's a pretty clever detective, remembering a random but crucial piece of dialogue from earlier in the story, and he's very much the all-action hero again: chasing one of the bad guys up a cliff face and giving him a taste of justice, Joe Hardy style.

Superman. Season 2, Episode 19 is the best episode yet. It opens with the funeral of Clark Kent. Superman is among the mourners and, in flashback, he tells us the events that led to this particular day. Having Superman narrate the story is a big plus. Since he's normally such a stoic individual he's not always the most interesting presence on screen. Batman verbalises his detective work and when he faces the crooks, they usually do a lot of talking. Superman tends to stay silent all the time and, since he's basically just a strongman, the final battle of most episodes is often just a slugfest. Having him narrate the story is a great change of pace. We get more insight into him in this episode than in any other episode so far. And it's wonderful.

Aside from that, the story is pretty darn good, too. Clark interviews a man on death row, hours before execution. Curious about the case, Clark does some methodical (and enjoyable-to-watch) detective work and uncovers a vital clue to the man's innocence. However, at this point, his car is blown to bits by a bomb and "Clark Kent" has to appear to be dead for a while.

It's pretty much a flawless episode. The story is engrossing and very well told. The character work, on the regulars and semi-regulars, is impressive. The battle at the end is visually exciting. And the final scene is a jaw-dropper: it features the execution of the real killer. Who, just as the switch is flipped, realises why Clark survived the bomb blast...

Highlight? Superman.

Aliens In America, Journeyman, Life Is Wild, The Hardy Boys Mysteries

Monday, October 29th, 2007

04:00 Aliens In America
07:00 Journeyman
08:00 Life Is Wild
01:00 The Hardy Boys

Aliens In America. Episode 3. They are trying to strike a balance here. This episode attempts to work on three levels: Justin has created a fictional club for him and his friends to use as shield to escape their parents, and - basically - look at porn. Hilariously outdated porn, yes, but porn none-the-less. Raja is dropped into this world of theirs and analyses their objectification of women. This is both funny, and insightful. I love when TV does this. On a second level, we see Raja (hilariously) mistaken for a terrorist, and this leads to some nice observations about personal freedom and vigilance and when/where to draw the line. Some of this is comedy gold. Fantastic. Finally, the shows plays it's teen politics card. Normally, Justin is our guide to this world. But this time out, it is his sister Claire who gets a plotline, as she tries out for cheerleader. The comedy here falls flat. It's been done better elsewhere. Also, the character of Claire is still a bit vague to me. What are they doing with her? The other characters are pretty much locked-in at this stage (and I've grown to appreciate Scott Patterson) but I'm kinda clueless about Claire yet. Is she nice? Mean? Clever? Bimbo? What? For the storyline with the cheerleaders to work, I think we had to empathise with Claire. And we can't do this without knowing her. She certainly seemed cleverer than the other girls, but then I couldn't see why she wanted to be a cheerleader in the first place. Except for the slapstick (of cheerleaders falling down a lot) there wasn't much to laugh at in this storyline, but the rest of the episode was superb. One of the best new shows.

Journeyman. Episode 3. Gretchen Egolf is the best thing about this show. She and her character: the supportive wife of a time-traveller. He went back to the 1989 San Francisco Earthquake in this installment and the story that followed was tedious and a by-the-numbers take on time-travel that we've seen in loads of these shows before. His wife, meanwhile, had to cover for him back in 2007, and do some journalism to help save his job, something that used to be her job. And she was good at it. And I was far more interested in her and what she did than him. And I was hoping he'd run her story unaltered and tell her she was a better writer than him, or something. But that didn't happen. The episode cliffhanger, however, was all about her, so I can't wait to see what happens next. And Egolf was simply fantastic in that final scene. I used to watch her in Martial Law without really noticing her, now I'm smitten. It's a wonder what the right character can do for the right actor.

Life Is Wild. Episode 3. You know a new show is a winner (and inching it's way into your heart) when every character, and every storyline, holds your interest and entertains you. The lodge welcomes it's first guests, the school has a singing contest, the dad helps an elephant, there's a trouble-making kid in town and there's a major decision for Katie to make. Will she chose the boy she fancies over her family's needs? Hmm. I wonder. The cast make the material work. And I adore the love-triangle that's springing up around Katie. She likes the bad-boy, but we know that there's a much nicer guy, a genuine guy, and he really loves her. If only she'd notice him. It's great stuff.

The Hardy Boys. Season 3, Episode 4. Frank and Joe pose as archealogy students on a dig in Greece while they investigate a murder. The setting could be season two (Hardy Boys find adventure in a foreign land!) but the tone is season three (murder, drug smugglers, lies, deceipt!). The producers mis-judged their core audience when they revamped the show so drastically, but the result is, in fact, a very good detective show. The duo work very well together in this episode. And Joe is quite the tough guy now. He survives a cave-in - at one stage - and later over-powers two violent foes without breaking too much of a sweat. The chase thru the archaeological dig site is a series highlight, I think. The bad-guy keeps flinging stuff in Joe's way, but all to no avail. Joe then does a cool slide-along-the-ground at the end, and proceeds to beat the living tar out of his foe. Great stuff.

Highlight? Life Is Wild.

Life Is Wild, Superman, The Hardy Boys Mysteries

Monday, October 15th, 2007

11:00 Life Is Wild
12:00 The Hardy Boys
01:00 Superman

Life Is Wild. Episode 2. My enthusiasm for this new series only grows larger and larger. This outing opens the tapestry of the show even wider by sending our heroine to school for the first time and introducting some really rather excellent new characters. Aside from that storyline, all the other plot lines are very good, too. Maybe giving every character a different plot is a bit much, but it pretty much works in this instance. The cast shine. The location is sumptuous. And, after only two weeks, I really really care about all of these characters.

The Hardy Boys. Season 3, Episode 1. When The Hardy Boys returned for it's third season, in October of 1978, it was as a very different show. During the first two seasons, the stories were lightweight and breezy. Joe was a wisecracking reluctant hero and nobody ever died. These detectives investigated 'mysteries' - not murders - and they tended to stumble into the middle of their cases, while doing more mundane work (like delivering important documents to/for their father, they were always doing that).

Season 3 changed the tone of the series in a major way. And it alienated fans. Ratings fell. And it was cancelled. I, myself, was fan of the show back then and I disliked the third season. Imagine my surprise tonight when I saw the premier for the first time in - maybe - 25 years and discovered that it is really rather superb.

We open with Joe and his girlfriend and... we stay with them. For ages and ages. These early scenes introduce us to Jaimie, his Summer fling and the first girl we've seen Joe get serious about. So serious, in fact, that he proposes. And on it goes, and it's all very sweet and romantic and unlike anything the show has ever done before. About a quarter of the way in, Jaimie is killed by a drunk driver. And it's quite a shocking moment. It's understated and - therefore - all the more shocking because of it. Also, unlike the death of you-know-who on Prison Break, it is a shocking death that takes places within the context of the story in progress.

Discovering that the drunken driver is under investigation for a much more 'important' crime, and will not be prosecuted for the hit and run killing, Joe goes completely off the deep end and into vigilante mode. He sets up an elaborate cover, against the wishes of his (barely seen) brother Frank, and rapidly becomes 'best friends' with the drunken driver in an effort to get him prosecuted for that much more 'important' crime.

And all of it is... superb. It's not like anything that happened in previous seasons, but Shaun Cassidy has absolutely no problem playing the dark side of Joe Hardy. In fact, Joe becomes seriously cool and dangerous for the first time in the series. And it's awesome. I can't wait for Part Two!

Superman. Season 2, Episode 17. One of the best episodes for this series. Bizarro, the not-quite-right clone of Superman, returns ten episodes after his first appearance. He didn't die after all (gasp!) but is, in fact, alive and wandering around in a confused and lonely state. If he's not "Superman" then who the heck am he? It's a wonderful story. Quite sad. The way Superman and Lois treat him (with honest empathy throuoghout) only serves to raise the episode up even higher. The score is noteworthy (particularly during the aerial sequences) and the resolution is very fitting. Gee, I guess that's the last we'll ever see of Bizarro...

Highlight? The Hardy Boys.

Life Is Wild, Superman, The Hardy Boys Mysteries

Monday, October 8th, 2007

07:00 Life Is Wild
11:00 The Hardy Boys Mysteries
12:00 Superman

Life Is Wild. Episode 1. A teenage girl has to adjust when her dad, step-mum and assorted sibling move from New York to South Africa. He's a vet, so their day-to-day life is now full of animals of all shapes and sizes. She's utterly adorable. The most upbeat and likable teenage girl I think we've ever had on a TV show and I must confess to being eager to see episode 2. While the central idea is hokey, the cast and location really makes it work. The girl (Leah Pipes), her dad (D.W. Moffett) and troubled step-brother (Andrew St. John) are superbly cast, and the whole thing was light and breezy and kinda fun to watch. This one's a keeper!

The Hardy Boys Mysteries. Season 2, Episode 22. It's not normally a good sign when you see six writers listed for one episode, yet this outing for Frank & Joe Hardy is actually a pretty decent affair. An old friend of Joe's (a cute girl, naturally) calls for help when girls on her college campus start to disappear. On the way there, there's a great piece of continuity as Joe reflects on all the bad luck that seems to follow them around (referring to particular events from all the most recent episodes). Even better follows, as the kidnapper starts leaving messages where he names the Hardy Boys as if he knows them. How could he know them? Unless, as other characters point out, it's from the famous Nancy Drew Kidnapping Case (the previous episode). I love the show does stuff like this.

Anyway, being the Hardy Boys Mysteries, the college campus is resplendant with cute girls (all of whom are swooning at the sight of these well-coifered detectives). Stepfanie Kramer and Kim Lankford are both very good, but the absolute acting honours go to Valerie Bertinelli as the frightened girl who sends for Joe, and still has a massive crush on him. The plot has all the usual red-herrings, twists and turns and a very, very chilling final shot.

Superman. Season 2, Episode 16. Superman teams with Dr. Fate when an evil spirit rises and takes the Daily Planet building (and everyone in it) hostage. Superman is powerless against magic, and - indeed - takes quite a battering from the evil spirit. His first meeting with Fate goes not well, as the good doctor has given up on the old Good Vs. Evil thing as he sees the futility of it all. Evil never gives up, he says wearily. Supes, of course, ever the boy scout, doesn't let this deter him and returns to the battle. Some nice action (including an awesome pit that Superman has to dive into) and interesting debate between the two heroes make this an above-average episode of Superman.