Doctor Who: Image Of The Fendahl (BBC DVD)

In England this month, Image Of The Fendahl comes to DVD, with its Australian release just a few months away. I have to admit to be slightly biased in regards to this story as I remember watching it as a child and being just enamoured of it. Rewatching it, this is the story with English sex symbol Wanda Ventham, but frankly it is Leela (Louise Jameson) who blows me away. I've never really found the Doctor's companions of old hot, but I'm finding, more and more, that my feelings on that are changing, and frankly, Leela in those skins...

Back to maturity though!

Image comes at a strange time in Tom Baker's Doctor Who era; producer Philip Hinchcliffe had been stepped down due to the levels of violence and horror his stories had, and script editor Robert Holmes was keen to follow his boss, with whom he was very much in sync with. New producer Graham Williams was ordered to tone it all down, but convinced Holmes to stay on, and Image is Holmes last story (in production order) and it seems he's very much gone back to the style he preferred. Image has all the hallmarks of the Hinchcliffe era - a gothic horror story, homaging a classic (in this case the wonderful 1950's television series Quatermass And The Pit; although truth be told it probably owes more to the 60's Hammer film version than the BBC television version) and featuring some rather horrifying and violent moments. There is, in fact, one scene that is extremely shocking, and even Tom Baker, on the audio commentary seems shocked by it.

The story essentially stems around a skull that is twelve million years old, and the Doctor and Leela have tracked down a time rift which is powering up the skull to release a creature that was imprisoned by the Time Lords and which feeds on death itself. It's simple enough, and the story itself is just rife with wonderfully atmospheric scenes, such as the opening where a hiker is killed by an unknown force, which ultimately affects the Doctor at the end of Part One. Performances are quite fantastic all round, though there are three performances which are, quite frankly, mesmerising.

Dennis Lill plays Dr Fendelman, with a teutonic accent and a mustache that deserves its own spin-off series. That aside though, he positively throws himself into his performance and is just amazing. Daphne Heard, similarly bizarrely accented but without the mo, plays ole Mrs Tyler who baint be approvin' of them scientists, but there's just something about her that makes you shut up and accept everything that comes out of her mouth without a second's hesitation.
However, it is Tom Baker who steals the show. With Williams in the producer's chair, Baker was getting more and more opportunity to do exactly what he wanted to with the part. His ad libs come think and fast in this story, with some moments such as the Doctor telling his feet to move, and then telling them to turn around, showing Baker at his most off the cuff extravagant. The thing about this, though, is that Baker is constantly charismatic. He's like William Shatner...just completely bizarre and yet compelling viewing. Baker is not my favourite Doctor, but there's no denying that his sheer charisma makes him the most watchable of them all, dragging the audience in with his golf ball eyes and making them follow him like a bohemian Pied Piper. In Image he switches from over the top eccentricity to sombre authority. He's truly fabulous.

However, the true star of the story is director George Spenton-Foster. He appears to be absolutely against long shots, and there are copious amounts of close ups, moodily lit, that truly make the story claustrophobic. Doctor Who seems to work at its best when you have a small group of people in a small space, with something outside trying to get in, and something inside going slowly mad (the formula still works; note Midnight). Spenton-Foster knows exactly how the formula nees to work, and brings it home with a bang.

The DVD for this one is one of the "cheap" DVDs, which means that, instead of five documentaries, you only get one; you get the audio commentary, deleted scenes and digital restoration (which is, as always, superb). So, fundamentally, it's still a great DVD with some great extras, and given the tendency recently for DVD documentaries to have a barely peripheral association to the story that it is associated with, it's nice to have just one documentary that is entirely focussed on Image Of The Fendahl. That said, the documentary itself doesn't really reveal an awful lot of new information for the hardened fan, but for others it will be a nice grounding - though I was astonished to discover that everybody hates the Fendahleen...I love them. I think they look great.

But all the extras could be tossed aside for the audio commentary. Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, Wanda Ventham (Thea) and Edward Arthur (Colby) are all terribly entertaining, regaling the audience with stories that have nothing to do with the story, but are fascinating, and, of course, Tom Baker is without doubt as mad as a hat full of berries, discussing how old women ask him about his sonic screwdriver, and how he is mistaken for Claire Rayner.

This is another great DVD from the Doctor Who Restoration Team, and is an absolute classic Doctor Who story that everyone should have on their shelves.

The Biggest Loser Australia (Couples) - Season 4

And so The Biggest Loser (Couples) comes to an end, with twelve weeks of Ten regretting having gotten rid of Big Brother, and so making up for it by putting TBL contestents through more and more ridiculous challenges.
I said at the beginning of this season that it looked like it was going to be the most gimmickiest of the entire lot, but as time went on it became clear that, not only was it the most gimmickiest, it was also going to be the one that was most manipulated by the producers. This is, of course, the one thing that lead to the downfall of BB, and so it was the one thing you'd think the producers would attempt to avoid.
Nonetheless as the game progressed it became clear that the producers had favourites that they were determined were not going to be leaving the show, and it was clear that Nathan was at the top of this list, as despite being voted off the programme twice he was returned both times.
This year seemed to be the year of catchphrases, as "the game was about to change forever" and "we've come to the pointy end of the game" were trotted out with monotonous regularity. Seriously though, unless the game was suddenly changed to "the contestent with the biggest weight gain is the winner" how exactly would the game change forever? I do remember, rather entertainingly, that on one walk, Nathan was told that the power he had was unprecendented in the history of The Biggest Loser. I can't remember what that power was (it was so memorable), but I do remember Sharif commenting, on Nathan's return, that he had no power whatsoever. So much of TBL was a case of build it up, because it's nothing.
It was nice to see that Bob and Jillian weren't remotely associated with the show this year, and it gave Shannon and Michelle the chance to really make their claim on the programme. I'm not entirely certain why, but obviously the producers decided that they needed more to make the programme work, and so aside from Shannon and Michelle, and the always entertaining Commando, we were given Emazon, who, quite frankly, was the most pointless person on the programme. Her workouts were not as terrifying as the Commando's and, aside from constantly shooting her in the dark, she wasn't even as terrifying as Michelle on a bad day.
Then, of course, we had the contestents, given to us in couples, which could have provided a bit of tension if you liked one half of the couple, but not the other, but at the end of the day, if you liked one, you would invariably like the other, and the feelings for hate were similar.
I couldn't stand first couple Tania and Ramses who were kicked out after a week and then bitched and moaned everytime we saw them again, even banging on about how they were going to kick arse when they had the chance to return. As it transpired they not only failed to kick arse, but also failed to lose much weight and it was a very poor final weigh in for them.
However, my feelings of hate for Tania and Ramses were nothing compared to the vitrolic loathing I had for bogan friend mothers Jodi and Jeda. Good god, could there be a more unlikable couple in the house? It seemed that they were going to take up the mantle of moaning and bitching from Tania, and then some. I was so pleased to see the back of them, and even more so, after they complained that they shouldn't be going, Sharif put them in their places. And then, after being told we'd be seeing two hot chicks in the finale, we still just saw two fat bitches.
I had something of a rollercoaster ride with Nathan and Andrew, initially liking them because of their blunt honesty about the way they played the game, but this turned to dislike when it became clear that they - or Nathan at the very least - were pricks in the way they played it. It was extremely entertaining when they attempted to manipulate Holly and Mel and it completely backfired. What shat me even more was how they kept on about the intention to get rid of the pair, and then turned about face. However, once the two were separated, it was interesting to see that Andrew became a whole lot more likable, and Nathan found his home having his arse repeatedly kicked by the Commando every day. And, to their credit, they looked fantastic at the final weigh in.
Holly and Mel were the most annoying couple in the show this year, sniping at each other and making no friends througout the entire show. However, what irked me even more was that they twice said they wanted to leave the game. Look, girls, if you want to go, SOD OFF! Don't wait til you're voted off - pack your bags and walk out the door. At the finale, Mel looked atrocious with hair that looked like she'd taken styling tips from the Jackson 5 (and complained that she still weighed the same as she did on the return weigh in - you chose to leave rather than continue to workout you stupid BITCH!), while Holly looked fantastic. Shame she didn't have the personality to go with it.
Amanda and Stewart had the most to lose, Amanda being an incredible 170 kilos, and yet by the end had managed to get that down to below 115, so big power to her. I felt for the two of them, although they were both a bit mercenary at times, and Amanda did come across as feeling a little bit sorry for herself. Stewart's weight loss was incredible, and Amanda, despite the fact that Ajay seemed to call on her to do it everytime she looked sideways, had a voice that was simply phenomenal. I hope she does get somewhere as an opera singer because she deserves to.
Sammi and Cameron didn't impress me to start with, and this was the one pair that did actually split opinion. I quite liked Sammi, but Cameron was a miserable, negative git, that just moaned for the entire twleve weeks. He finally managed to pull his act together, but still he seemed to chuck a tantrum in the final week. At the end of the day the pair were really non-entities, but I was glad to see Sammi ignore her father and friend and, when given the choice of evicting Sharif or Stewart, she followed her heart and got rid of Stewart, rather than her friend.
Ben and Sean were non-entities for the majority of the time they were in the show as a couple, though I do recall the week they had to have takeaway food for the entire week and Ben chucked the shits because he thought it was counter-productive. Quite frankly I was in complete agreement with him and it makes you wonder why the show does this to these poor bastards. Happily, after Ben left, Sean stepped up and became a quiet little powerhouse. At the final weigh-in I was astonished at how much weight Ben had lost as he looked amazing, but was utterly pleased as punch that Sean won the eliminated contestants prize as he the amount of effort he put into working out was incredible. It was also good to see he got rid of that godawful gap in his teeth.
Tears seemed to be the order of the series with Sean bursting into them every five minutes, but when he wasn't crying it was Julie. Julie and her daughter Meaghan represented the old woman and the hot woman. Meaghan was clearly a bit of a stunner and when she turned up in the finale she looked absolutely hot as. However, it turned out she was a bitch and far more manipulative than anyone claimed - indeed although Julie said Meaghan played honestly, it was clear that that was anything but the case. Julie, on the other hand, sobbed her way to the final five, and most hilariously, when meeting Emazon, walked into an empty room and burst into tears. I felt bad for her as she clearly had issues, but dear oh dear...
My favourite pairing from the outset were Sharif and Teresa, not just because Sharif was 180 kilos (always back the biggest), but because they were fair, honest and determined. From the outset they lead the way, helping others who couldn't quite keep up, and taking the lead in a quiet and effective way. I cheered all of them, and was devastated when Teresa was sent home, but more so when it was Sharif - sent home on Meaghan's whim rather than a proper elimination. When Sharif got the chance to return I was exteremely happy. The weight loss on both of them by the finale was amazing, and they both looked fantastic - Teresa, actually, looked hot. This was the pair everyone should have aspired to, and they really were fantastic role models.
Finally there was the winning combination of Bob and Tiffany. Bob, the oldest contestent ever, was like the energizer bunny, never giving up and just giving it his all from start to finish. His final weight loss (55% of his body weight!) was absolutely incredible, but the fact he was such a decent and nice guy made me glad he won the competition. Tiffany, seemed a bit of a wishy-washy character and never really established a particularly strong personality, but she was clearly determined and I was just as glad to see her get into second spot. Credit to her.
I didn't find TBL to be compulsive viewing this year, and I don't think I watched a single friday night episode as they are becoming more and more reduntant - stupid challenges which aren't resolved until the Sunday anyway. The producer's interference in the show is getting too obvious and unless they want to go down the BB path they really need to pull back from that. Perhaps just going back to the old days of fat people working out and losing weight might be a better idea for next year?

Doctor Who: The Forgotten (IDW Comics)

It's kind of funny to think that Doctor Who's big break in America is more likely to come through a series of original comics there than through the television series, tucked away on the Sci-Fi Network - although truth to tell, the ratings there may still be higher than the sales of the comics.

Nonetheless along comes - and I've been quite slow in this review - The Forgotten, a trade paperback, collecing the six issues of the series written by Tony Lee and Pia Guerra, with Stefano Martino and Kelly Yates.

Of course the big hook about this series is that it actually features all ten Doctors over the six part series. The tenth Doctor wakes up to find himself in a museum to himself and on touching a variety of objects presented to him by Martha, he recalls adventures from his past. Ultimately, however, he is being pursued by someone who has the ability to manipulate the environment that the Doctor is in.

The nine mini stories are all quite entertaining, though by virtue of the fact that they are really only about 10 pages long, there is not an awful lot of depth to them. The big mystery is actually who is manipulating the Doctor and why Martha seems to know things that she couldn't possibly know.

Lee's story is fun and light, but lacks any real substance to it, appearing to be, more often than not, an excuse to bring the ten Doctors together. One feels though that this could have a little more editing to it to give a bit more definitive characterisation to it.

On the artwork side, Nick Roche provides the covers for the first five issues, and it's pretty clear that it is a good thing he isn't doing the inside art. While it's all very well to describe Tennant as a virtual cartoon, the fact is that there are times when Roche's artwork is so far removed it's not funny. Indeed, given the versions he does of the various Doctors on the front covers, we should perhaps be grateful that Roche at the very worst wasn't given the chance to draw any more McGann or Eccleston.

Guerra, on the other hand, seems to have a slightly better idea of what she is doing, though and her renditions of the various Doctors are quite good (although her second Doctor is waay off in the final issue). Stefan Martino has a bit of fun with the fourth and fifth Doctors, while Kelly Yates gets the chance to do the eighth and ninth Doctor's, though she is probably the weakest of the three artists.

All told, The Forgotten is a better miniseries than Agent Provocateur, but to date both of them lack what makes the new series what it is today - the emotion. A comic allows for an epic grand scale, but there is plenty of room for character as well.

The Pink Panther 2

People who have the time to care may discover that I didn't entirely hate the new version of the Pink Panther, even in spite of it having the obvious pitfalls that I suspected it would have, and so I toddled off to see The Pink Panther 2 with my expectations a little higher than they were for the first film. Incidentally, I think it's pretty clear that the days of unique titles for sequels have passed - now we just stick a number after the original title, or attempt to do something clever like put a number into the original title. With Fast & Furious it looks like they can't even bothered to change the original title...people will still go see it no matter what.

The big difference between the new series of Pink Panther films and the original series is the target audience. Blake Edward's films may have been slapstick, but the target audience was clearly an adult audience (witness the amount of boobage in A Shot In The Dark if you don't believe me). Steve Martin's films are a family event, and the first film succeeded by catering to that audience. That said, it's strangely where the second film tends to go awry. For some reason, while most people know they are making a family film, some of the screenwriters (possibly Martin himself) has forgotten this, and there are a few jokes in the film which sit uncomfortably with the rest of the film - most notably the jokes about being politically correct. Now, while I laughed out loud at these jokes, and particularly enjoyed the "my little yellow friend" reference to the original films, the joke about oggling the beautiful girl - funny though it was - seemed just crass given the level of the film. I had a similar feeling when, in "The Cat In The Hat", the cat almost swore.

The other thing that is infinitely annoying about this film is the complete lack of continuity with the first film in regards to the Pink Panther. In the first film, it was the largest diamond in the world, but was in a ring on a football coach's hand. Now, it is the symbol of France and is far, far too big to be in a ring. This sort of carelessness is, quite frankly, just annoying and it's here where the screenwriters and producers need to go back to the original films to take some lessons: don't contradict yourself...you don't have to have the Pink Panther in the film to call it a Pink Panther film. All it needs is Clouseau.

Steve Martin makes less of an impact as Clouseau this time round, and sadly, once again saves the day by being a very intelligent detective rather than than just extraordinarily lucky. Fortunately, while Martin is going overboard with his physical comedy and just looking stupid, there are others to take on some of the comedy - in this case Alfred Molina and, surprisingly, Andy Garcia. Molina has some clever lines, but Garcia comes dangerously close to stealing the movie with amazing precision on his lines and, more than that, giving some equally clever slapstick comedy. I would actually love to watch more of Garcia's character rather than Martin's.

I see that the box office returns for this film are particularly bad and so, as a consequence, I doubt we will see a Pink Panther 3. At the end of the day this is probably a good thing. There is a place for this kind of film, but it's quite far removed from the original Pink Panther concept and as a result really isn't a Pink Panther film.

Doctor Who: Beautiful Chaos (BBC Books)

Gary Russell has had a pretty charmed life given he is a Doctor Who fan and one would assume that, although he hasn't gotten to actually portray the Doctor, he must have reached the second best goal of his life. Over the years he has produced Doctor Who audios, written Doctor Who novels and is now a script editor at Upper Boat. It's a little surprising then that Beautiful Chaos is his first New Series Adventure.

Beautiful Chaos has Donna return to Earth and so characterisation is going to be the most important thing in this novel as the Doctor/Donna relationship has to now factor in Sylvia and Wilf. Writing for Donna is a bit tricky, as one tends to write more for Catherine Tate than for Donna, and writing for Sylvia is just as hard as you have to make a negative character still sympathetic. Regardless of the story of Beautiful Chaos, Russell has managed to nail the four central characters and the complex relationships between them. Wilf is postive, loving of Donna's new life and deeply respectful of the Doctor, while Sylvia is negative, but for all the right reasons - she is terrified of losing her daughter so soon after losing her husband, she has shouldered huge responsibilities while Donna has left them, and she is struggling to accept the situations that have been thrust onto them. The majority of the story takes place before Donna is finally returned to her family, but a coda gives us a chance to see that even Sylvia has a grudging respect for the Doctor and an understanding of what he means to Earth.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given his tendency towards what people refer to as "fanwank", Beautiful Chaos mines the series history for its villain, bringing us the evil Mandragora Helix that once plagued the fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane in Italy during the 15th century. Central to the Doctor's defeat of this entity, which is attempting to manifest and control Earth, is an elderly lady who Wilf has taken a shine to, and who suffers from Alzheimer's. This is a tricky topic to deal with and Russell handles it rather sweetly, not shying away from the disease and the inevitability of its outcome. Rather nicely as well is Wilf's wonder why the Doctor can't cure it after all his travels.

All in all, Beautiful Chaos is probably the best of the four Doctor/Donna novels to date, helped no doubt by the fact that Donna's journey has finished on screen. But good work Gary for providing such a great character driven story.

Doctor Who: Planet Of The Dead

When you set the bar high, if you fall short people are going to criticise you for not being as good as you were. For James Bond that meant that Licence To Kill, despite being a box office smash, was regarded as a bit of a failure because it didn't make as much money as the other Bond movies - it was compared to it's predecessors, rather than it's competition. So as a result of that, with Doctor Who's special effects always looking so great these days, I have a gripe about the CGI rendered flying bus at the end of Planet Of The Dead. It just looked more than a little pasted on, particularly when one of the swarm smashed into it and appeared to make no indentation on the bus whatsoever.
It's a pretty good thing, I feel, when the biggest complaint you have with an episode of Doctor Who is the below-par CGI. In light of the fact that this episode was still in post production days before it was broadcast, perhaps the smash of the bus in Dubai caused the tighter than usual post production.

There were a number of things to note about this particular story, and one of them was the much talked about overseas shooting in Dubai. Dubai looks quite impressive as the planet Sans Helios, effectively nothing more than a giant desert, but one can't help feeling that it was marginally unnecessary.

The guest cast was up to its usual standard, but there were four standouts for me, all of whom deserved to be mentioned. From the least important; Noma Dumezweni returning as Captain Magambo (although this is the first time she appeared in the normal universe) gave us a lot more to the character than was seen in her last appearance. Of particular note was her pulling a gun on her scientific advisor to order him to shut down the ever growing wormhole that was the mcguffin of this episode. Harsh though it may seem, her actions seem very much in keeping with a UNIT soldier who sees the protection of the planet more important than the safety of a few civillians.

Next up is Ellen Thomas as Carmen, the older lady who has a psychic gift which gets better and better on the alien planet of the dead. Although she has very little to do, really, in the story, it is her prophecy to the Doctor at the end of the story that is more disturbing than anything else.

Lee Evans plays UNIT scientist Dr Malcolm Taylor who is an affectionate parody of the traditional Doctor Who fan (unlike the parody that was the Victor Kennedy). Taylor has read all the Doctor's files and knows his adventures inside out and loves the Doctor. With his county accent and "I love you, I love you, I love you" line at the end of the episode, this character had great potential to be extremely annoying and, frankly, crap. However, Evans gives the character a lot of warmth and is a very, very likable person.

But it was Michelle Ryan that generated the most concern for the hardcore Doctor Who fans. Her turn in Bionic Woman was hard to pin down, and despite a good performance in Jekyll, there was always the Eastenders shadow hanging over her. As Lady Christina de Souza, Michelle Ryan played a companion very much in the mould of Romana, and this character worked very well opposite Tennant. Christina has Martha's sass, Donna's independence and Rose's admiration of the Doctor. I wanted her to continue with the Doctor on his travels, and was disappointed that she didn't.

Cast aside, as usual, and with the exception of a certain bus, the production was up to its usual standards. The Swarm was quite disturbing, and looked quite scary, while the Tritovores, which in photo looked terrible, came across quite effectively and their deaths were actually a little sad.

I found myself enjoying Planet Of The Dead a lot more than I did The Next Doctor, and as we count down to the Doctor's tenth regeneration, it seems as though we have some great stories to come.

Red Dwarf: Back To Earth

It's been twenty-two years since Red Dwarf first lazily made its way across our screens, at the time being repainted by its slobby only-living crew member Dave Lister, and nine years since the substantial former-hologram Arnold Rimmer kneed Death in the balls to make an escape from the Reaper. Since that time, Red Dwarf fans (myself included) have hoped for a return from the team, and our hopes were constantly kept up by "The Movie" - a movie with a script, a cast, but with no funding.

Now Back To Earth brings the crew back for three episodes (half a season no less). Sadly, there is something less than satisfying about this particular outing.

It really comes down to the fact that Back To Earth is essentially a "best of" collection of the original series. Three episodes without, sadly, an original idea in sight.
The first episode has the crew bored out of their brains (hello Backwards) while Kryten is on holiday, but on his return they discover there is something on board the ship (hello Polymorph) and it is in the water supply. Kryten, Lister and Cat go to investigate, leaving Rimmer to man the sonar (hello Back To Reality). When they destroy the squid in the water (Back To Reality again) a new hologram arrives giving Rimmer a day to get his affairs in order (err...Me^2) and then sends the entire crew into a new dimension.

I won't bother detailing the final two episodes, which essentially revolve around the crew discovering they are fictional characters of a television show called Red Dwarf, and they need to find their creator, a la Blade Runner. Finally, they discover that they are recycling the actual plot of Back To Reality.

The first episode takes about ten minutes for the actors to get their act together and remember how they played their parts, and at that point the squid fight takes place which is quite entertaining - primarily because Rimmer dances to elevator music as the fight gets out of control on the screens behind him. It's very slapstick, but it's the highlight of the episode. Indeed, it's the highlight of the first two episodes. If the first episode was a slow news day on the Dwarf, the second episode is positively static. The concept of the crew discovering that they are fictional characters was extremely clever and very funny in Back To Reality, primarily because it allowed the cast to play an alternative group of characters who were quite far removed from their regular characters. Sadly, although the plot of Back To Reality is recycled here, the alternative characters don't actually appear and so as a consequence there is little to actually laugh at.

Part Three is probably the funniest of the three episodes, and strangely enough the appearance of Kochanski actually lightens the episode. Craig Charles got the opportunity to have a rather emotional moment in Part One, but in Part Three the ending is Charles best acting in the entire nine series. Part Three also contains the other funny moment in the story as Krtyen, Rimmer and Cat attempt to inveigle themselves into Coronation St.

Sadly Part Three also contains more recycling than the rest of the episode, including obvious jokes from The Simpsons and plot from Blade Runner. Even worse, the Blade Runner and Red Dwarf plot points are actually highlighted when the characters remind the audience of the episode they came from.

Tim McInnerny said that he would never do another series of Blackadder because people didn't want to see the cast fat and bald; they wanted to remember the series as it was. Red Dwarf is proof positive that it is better to travel in hope than it is to arrive as after waiting nine years for Red Dwarf to return, the result is nothing short of a waste of talent.

Bernice Summerfield: The Two Jasons

I was about two-thirds of the way through The Two Jasons when I suddenly thought to myself, "hold on a sec...this is just Death And Diplomacy all over again". Sure enough by the time I got to the end of the novel (or novella really, because this is not a terribly long book), Dave Stone pointed out that he was indeed just retelling the Death And Diplomacy story because it needed to be told for the new audience of Benny fans who would never have read this book.

Except...I'm willing to bet that the only people who are listening to these Benny audios, and reading these Benny novels are only doing so because they continued on from reading The New Adventures back in the nineties. And after nine years, if people are still listening/reading these things then they don't really have a lot of a problem with the Jason/Benny backstory.

So essentially, one can't help but wonder...what's the point of this book then? It tells a story that most of its audience has already read or really don't care about.

OK, yes the story is quite entertaining (although you really need to be a fan of Stone's work or, quite frankly, you'll hate the entire thing) and yes there are some new elements in the book that we haven't read before, but frankly it's going to take more than a "ooohhh look - Roz and Chris...and a thinly veiled reference to the Doctor" to make the book worthwhile.

Doctor Who: The Story Of Martha (BBC Books)

Series Three of Doctor Who provided Martha with a nice, year long gap to have a lot of adventures that we would never know about because the entire year was undone when the paradox machine was destroyed. Dan Abnett attempts to bridge the gap a little with this particular novel, though it is interspersed with a number of short stories by other writers who give us adventures that Martha had with the Doctor elsewhere.

David Roden's story tells how a group of people appear to be turning into monsters, though it transpires that this is actually a natural evolution and when the final survivor gets the opportunity to die or change...well...

Steve Lockley & Paul Lewis tell the story of a space station who receive messages from aliens that offer the the opportunity to solve all their problems.

Robert Shearman's story deals with the Doctor and Martha joining an explorer who plans on going to Antarctica, but the Doctor begins to realise that they are going nowhere and have been doing the same thing over and over again.

Finally Simon Jowett's story is a love story of a human and an "artificial" which is forbidden, although it soon turns out that the humans are actually only advanced "artificials".

Most of these stories, truth to tell, are quite underwhelming. Only Robert Shearman's story really stands out above the others, and this is primarily because it is told in such a different style to the other three.

However, that said, the framing story is quite a lot of fun as we join Martha tracking across the world and we discover why Japan was destroyed at the Master's insistence. It's quite a novel idea to think that an alien race were about to invade Earth but were interrupted by the arrival of the Master's own invasion.

The Story Of Martha is an entertaining read, and shows that there is still a place for the short story concept in the new world of Doctor Who. It's a shame that we don't see more of it.

Monsters Vs Aliens

Dreamworks seemed initially to be just knocking a few animated movies together in an effort to make some money. There was hardly any attempt to actually do it properly, and on occasion it seemed that their ideas were identical to other animated movies that were being released at the time. With Monsters Vs Aliens, Dreamworks has come up with a very clever idea that incorporates a few quite funny concepts.

Told mostly from the perspective of Susan, we meet a young woman who is hit by a meteorite and promptly becomes a giant (with white hair, bizarrely). And so we get the first thread of the storyline which is Susan attempting to deal with becoming a "monster" and being unable to return to her old life.
We meet the other monsters - the Missing Link, Bob, Dr Cockroach and Insectosaurus. It's worth mentioning the rather excellent vocal work down by actors Reese Witherspoon (Susan), Seth Rogan (Bob), Hugh Laurie (Cockroach) and Keifer Sutherland (playing their captor General W R Monger). These actors really bring their characters to life and ingest them with a large amount of humour.

Of course the fact is that the monsters are all based on a group of 50's monsters that were always a bit of a joke (50ft woman, the Blob, the creature from the black Lagoon, and one of Godzilla's opponents). It's this sort of thing that really, really makes the movie a family movie - the kids can enjoy the general silliness, but the adults, particularly the older ones, who can identify who these monsters actually are.

Through in an alien who looks like a 1950s alien, but with tentacles, and agani Rainn Wilson gives Gallaxhar the OTT performance that is perfectly required.

There is still a lack of depth to this movie, unlike the Pixar movies, but Dreamworks is clearly making a lot of effort, and they are starting to produce some quite quality work.