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    Thursday 31 December 2009

    "...I was there at the dawn of the third age of man..."

    Reading a post over at one of the internet forums I frequent, I was reminded that today, December 31st 2009, it is exactly ten years since Channel 4 aired the last ever episode of probably the best pure science fiction show ever made; Babylon 5. It was one of those shows that really grabbed me by the throat and never let go.

    The idea behind the show was a great one; it was to run for five years, and in those five years tell one, big, self contained story with a clear beginning, middle, and end; and by the time we got to that end that would be it. That's where the story ends, and there would be no loose ends...

    (Of course, mice and men intervened; Season 5 was, for about 2/3 of it somewhat below par, there were loads of loose ends, some left deliberately to set up a spin off series which only managed half a season, and a movie that never happened... Anyway...)

    At the point Babylon 5 started, TV sci-fi series were pretty much just a string of separate stories, with episodes that could (with odd exceptions) be watched in pretty much any order. They were designed so that you could turn on an episode and watch a complete story in 45 minutes. Babylon 5, initially, appeared to follow the same pattern, as many of the early episodes did tell complete stories. There were some obvious threads running through the episodes - such as the hole in Sinclair's mind, and why the Minbari surrendered when on the brink of victory in their war against Earth - but these were background. However, pretty soon this changed and B5 pretty much became a serial. I hesitate to use the phrase "sci-fi soap opera", as that will stir up negative connotations in people's minds, but that's more or less what it was.

    There were turning points in the first season; the sixth episode, Mind War, introduces us to the Psi-Corps, and the wonderful Mr Bester, played with a chilling menace by Walter Koenig. You always knew you were in for a treat when he turned up... but the biggest shocker in this episode was the glimpse at the end of a creature not seen for thousands of years... just the briefest of appearances, but enough to make you think there is much more going on here than we know of.

    This would be expanded further in the biggest turning point of all in the season, Signs and Portents, in which a mysterious man, Morden, arrives on the station and goes to the main ambassadors asking them one, simple, question; what do you want? (Of course; that question is at the core of all drama. Remind me to tell you about that one day.) It is their reaction to this question that shapes the entire future of the show. It is Londo Molarri of the Centauri Republic who Morden, and his associates, ends up allying with, doing Londo a favour with a promise that somewhere along the line, Londo will do one for him... Faust, anyone? When we see his associates at the end of the episode, and what they can do... we know there's only one way this will end; in fire.

    Mention of Londo brings me to, what in my mind, was the best thing about the show. The relationship between Londo and G'Kar. The changing relationship between these two characters over the course of the show was a joy to behold. Every time they had scenes together the screen was on fire. Episodes that were humdrum and run of the mill were elevated just because they had scenes together (the "mad bomber" episode, for example, is completely redeemed by the scene when the two of them are trapped in a lift. G'kar's reaction is priceless.). This is largely due to the fact that the actors portraying them were so great; Peter Jurasik and, the late, Andreas Katsulas were just perfect. They sparked off each other brilliantly, no matter what was asked of them. There is a scene, in a bar, in the season two episode The Coming of Shadows where this is exemplified; Jurasik has hardly any lines in the scene, almost everything about his performance is conveyed by the expression on his face, he doesn't need to say anything. It's all there.

    Now, I could go on and write a couple of dozen more paragraphs about how great the show is, and wonderful scenes, and moments that will make you cry, and moments that will make you laugh... but if you've seen the show before, you'll know them. If you haven't I'll end up spoiling it for you.

    And, if you've not seen it; get it. But, be warned; don't bother with the TV movies or Crusade. Just watch the 111 episodes from The Gathering to Sleeping in Light.

    Thinking back to how eager I was to see each new episode, it's really like how I feel right now with Lost. I'm just so keen to see these last 18 episodes. And the anticipation and speculation as to what will happen next. And the spoiler avoidance... oh, it's going to be fun...

    ...but when it's all over; what then...?

    Monday 28 December 2009

    "...what...?"

    Okay. Now I've seen some bad list TV shows in my time, but Channel 4's The Greatest TV Shows of The Noughties easily tops the list of the worst of the lot. It was billed as;

    It's the end of an era: the decade no-one can pronounce is coming to an end; and Channel 4 is celebrating by finding the greatest music and TV programmes of the past ten years. Channel 4 has conducted a survey with the leading TV critics and industry figures, and asked the public in a YouGov national poll, to tell us what they think was the greatest television of the last ten years. In a decade apparently dominated by box-sets, will the number one show be The Wire ? And where will Big Brother chart? The Greatest TV Shows of the Noughties counts down the 20 shows that represent the best of the decade.

    With a description like that, it surely couldn't go wrong, could it...? Well... Let's just say it was the most bizarre list of "best shows of the Noughties" that could possibly be imagined, with shows that didn't belong there, shows that didn't deserve to be there, and great omissions... Here's the list, with comments;

    First of all, before it started, I confidently predicted it would be The Wire that wins it; after all it gets plaudits everywhere, and even Charlie Brooker gushes over it like a 15 year old gushes over the Jonas Brothers... Anyhow;

    20) Dragons Den

    Alarm bells should have started ringing here. I mean. it's not a bad show, in fact it's quite entertaining. But 20th best, of the whole decade...?

    19) I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here

    And if the alarm bells hadn't yet started ringing they should have by the time we got here...

    18) Strictly Come Dancing

    And by now they should have been a cacophony of noise and pain.

    17) Spooks

    At last, something deserving of its place.

    16) Coronation Street

    Okay, alarm bells again. Now, whilst Corrie has indeed been on all through the Noughties, it's not really a programme that's really a "Noughties" show; it's the same it's always been. Constant. Confortable. Ever reliable.

    15) Gavin and Stacey

    Whilst I'm not really a fan of this, it does deserve its place here; it's been phenomenonly popular.

    14) Grand Designs

    Really. The will to live it lost.

    13) Shameless

    Glad to see this one there.

    12) Harry Hill's TV Burp

    Now, I was somewhat surprised to see Harry in the chart; pleasantly surprised, but surprised none the less.

    11) Friends

    No, sorry; this is very much a 90s show; everything about it is rooted in that decade. Yes, it ended in the 00s, and was repeated endlessly throughout the 00s, but that does not make it, to my mind, a 00s show.

    10) Life On Mars

    Hooray!

    09) Planet Earth

    I never actually saw this, but it certainly deserved its place from the clips shown. I think this is going to be one to track down on Blue Ray when I finally go HD...

    08) The Office

    Strewth! Three deserving shows on the trot... surely things are looking up...!

    07) The Simpsons

    D'oh! No. Similar comments to Friends; yes, new episodes througout the 00s, yes, endless repeats throughout the 00s... but common consesnus is that the peak of Simpsons episodes was the mid-90s run, and it's been losing steam throughout the 00s... a point even made in the programme yesterday. Several times... Ho-hum...

    06) The X Factor

    Hmm... Certainly a phenomenon, but worthy of being so high...? Nope...

    05) QI

    Yeah... I can see this being worthy of being in the list, but not so high...

    04) Britains Got Talent

    Stone me, how anything with Piers "Morgan" Moron in it could get in this chart is beyond me...

    03) Doctor Who

    Hooray! Glad to see it here. Now, I know there will be some of you here that will cite the arguments I gave for # 7, 11 and 16 and say that for those arguments this should not be here... however, there is a difference. That difference is that the new, Russell T Davies, series of Dr Who is an entirely different production from that which went before; it's not a contiunation of the same processes, it's something entirely new and 00s. With 7, 11 & 16, you could interchange 00s and 90s episodes and there would be no real difference.

    02) The Apprentice

    This surprised me greatly; I can see an argument for it being in the top 20, but at #2...? I mean, I enjoy it, but would never have seen it placed so high.

    It was, when watching, at this point I repeated my earlier prediction to The Mrs that The Wire would win. "We've gone the whole list, one left, and The Wire's not been on yet; it's #1." After all, why would you have Dominic West as a talking head if The Wire wasn't in the list.... So they announce the #1 and it's;

    01) Top Gear

    Hang on... Top Gear...? I can see it belonging in the top 20 list (see #3 argument, rather that 7, 11 & 16)), but at the very top...? Even Clarkson seemed surprised.

    Frankly, at least half that list didn't belong there. How any such list could ignore Lost, which pisses on everything else the 00s had to offer from a great height is beyond me... (But that's my pure personal opinion).

    Speaking more objectively, the omission of shows like The Wire, The Soparanos, The West Wing, or even Battlestar Galactica, from the list was quite shocking (and it should be noted that of those four shows, there's two I've never even seen an episode of; so it's not my own bias, just knowledge of shows with a high critical acclaim). I mean, Grand Designs better than The Wire...? Charlie Brooker is probably laying catatonic on that sofa of his, brain reduced to mush at the inanity of it.
    It's unusual for me to agree with every position in such a list, but usually it's possible to understand the reasoning behind why shows are rated so high. Here... well, the mind is well and truly boggling...