Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Mau Mau, and other stories
I finally watched the Caprica pilot (it’s a TV show ‘premiere’ episode, not a man who works in planes) and it was rather good. What a brilliant reviewer I am!
Obviously there was more to it than this, as it comes from the same place as Battlestar Galactica (but it’s not its Torchwood, oh no) so features a world we have visited before only a bit further back in time. The prequel to a complex not-just-sci-fi show whose main themes were what humanity is capable of in order to survive, terrorism seen from both sides, how different types of religion can live together and of course Fighting! In space! is going to be an interesting proposition and Caprica lived up to my expectations. This show is closer to our world in its technology so there are versions of early artificial intelligence, virtual reality group player games (with better avatars than my Wii Mii), religion-based terrorism and faith schools (ooh), plus some good old fashioned family bickering thrown in for good measure. No space stuff though, so it’s just kind of sci-fi. Hmmm… I like a nice dollop of philosophy in my entertainment for I am slightly pretentious and Caprica gives you a fair bit to think about (simple plot: rich boffin’s stroppy daughter gets involved with monotheistic terror group while working on a genius level AI version of herself. Shit hits fan. Another family are affected and their lives overlap) although this never becomes too technical or talk-downy. The whole thing looks really pretty, with good music which comes as no surprise to fans of Galactica. Good stuff which would work well on BBC Four (lazy Mad Men comparison, apologies).
Talking of sci-fi-y stuff based around issues of identity, technology and ‘what makes a human human?’ I also watched the final Dollhouse. This finale goes back to the futuristic 10 years later world (Echo had a grey streak to show this) last seen at the end of season one in the episode that Fox never showed in America. It may have been shown over here, I know it was on the DVD. Anyway, it was a good ending as it actually ended the story which is a rarity in these axe-happy telly times, but the whole project has never felt all that brilliant. Maybe I’m being tough on Joss Whedon and co as they have a great body of work and I expected too much, maybe it was a bit ropey. The crapness of the first half of season one certainly did not help and it really needed to be a serial in the format of 24 rather than a ‘job of the week’ show like some other thing that I don’t watch. The premise was shaky at best and choosing an actress with a limted range to play the main character who gets through a lot of different peronalities may not have helped. She does a good Faith From Buffy though. Dollhouse was always better as an ensemble piece and had a handful of great episodes but as one big saga it is far too erratic.
The other talky thinky sci-fi I liked this week, and in fact only listened to as it is a play, was A Thousand Tiny Wings. This was a Doctor Who audio and an excellent one at that, showing how to do a scary Sylvester McCoy story right. Set in 1950s Kenya, it manages to mix an unhappy reunion between the Doctor and an old enemy who happens to be from a Nazi timeline (see old play Colditz for that story. Co-starring David ‘Who?’ Tennant), a group of women living in fear of the Mau Mau in a farm house, a mysterious injured non-human found in the jungle and something sinister involving groups of tiny dangerous birds… hence the title. I’m not giving anything else away except to say that it is a particularly good example of how to use the audio format for suspense and drama, with a nice amount of philosophy and politics thrown in (not in a dull way, I promise, even the whole debate about Nazism is interesting and fits the story) to the mix. Big Finish have been on top form recently and this one kept me gripped, like my 16 year old self watching Ghost Light all those years ago but with a story that is easier to understand.
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