Darque Edge

Want to know why the car's fin changed? Continuity error. They wanted to go with the double-fin, but it flip-flopped about like John Kerry (Woot for dated references I don't believe), so they redesigned it and used it for the rest of the movie. They just forgot/didn't bother to change it. What annoys me about this movie is how cheap it looks. Burton's films may have dated, but dammnit, they looked good at times. I also think blaming Burton for all of Schumacer's excesses is unfair - this is the start of the serious rot that leads to 'Batman and Robin', and that's sheer Schumacer. Actually, what really annoys me is that 'comedy' guard in the opening scene. Possibly the worst written character in movie history. 'It's a traa-aap!' 'Hey! That's my hee-aaring aaaid!'. Christ, he's grating.

You have to remember that, before the new series, The Doctor had never mentioned family other than Susan. It seemed a pretty big leap that he never had romantic interest since then, so most people assumed that she was either adopted, or that it was a case of keeping up appearances, or that she wrongly believed he was her grandfather and that he let her believe it. Essentially, since The Doctor never showed any other romantic interest, there are no mentions of family in the rest of the series, it was generally assumed that there had to be some other explanation for Susan. Eventually, it went as far as the invention of 'time-looms'. Time Lords were essentially born through time paradoxes. This is because a lot of Doctor Who fans have never had sex, and it makes them feel inadequate if Sylvester McCoy can get some and they can't. Another damn good podcast, though. Weird hearing the cybermen like that.

Horror Express isn't a Hammer film either. Between that, and the 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' mess-up (Keanu wasn't cast because of 'Speed'. That didn't come for another few years. Keanu was hot because of 'Bill and Ted'), I find I tend to listen to the movie parts of these with equal parts enjoyment and wishing that you had IMDB open while you record. (Edit - hmmm. That sounds harsher than it was intended to. The point is more that you tend to go from memory more than is perhaps useful) As a trivia point, the reason Britt Ekland didn't go fully nude was that her boyfriend at the time was pissed off with the idea that she would go fully nude around a camera crew, but was fine with her going topless (I think). Ekland had no idea that a body double was being used - the double hid in a car, and they pretended to wrap up for the day. Britt would leave, and the double came in. Ekland was mainly annoyed because the double was rather more ample in the arse department.

Latest podcast is up! We're revisiting The Matrix, ten years on...

Right, first things first - there's a new episode up (yay!). This week: Shows that ran their course. After last week's show on 'gone too soon', this week we discuss shows that ran just the right length of time. The shows in question? 'The West Wing', 'Babylon 5' and 'Blake's 7'. Stavros - still waiting for that email. Do you want to PM me it? Also, we've done some rejigging, and the emails should be easier to find now.

Oh wow, guys, you remember that TV series I was pushing REALLY heavy a little while ago that you all ignored? Guess you could have been ahead of the curve on this one, but y'know, it's fine. I'm not bitter or anything. Honest. Go buy it. It's AWESOME.

Yep, Firefly is great. You can also pick up the movie 'Serenity' for not much money, but be warned - it's basically Firefly Season 2, so watch the boxset first. Stav, good call on the email thing - I'll point it out to Matt. Meanwhile, why not stick that nitpick to me on either chris@geekplanetonline.com or PM it to me here. Or stick it in our feedback, 'cause that's always useful, even if it highlights our stupidity.

Hmmm - will it make more people listen if I explain that we managed to expose Dave to a goatse image, and it's the funniest thing I've heard in ages? In the meantime, this week's podcast is up, and is about TV series that ended in a short amount of time. Firefly, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Middleman, Fawlty Towers, Ultraviolet and more.

For the first time though, it'll be in an episode written by Stephen Moffatt. This is reason to be excited again.

Turlough seemed to know his way around it in 'The Five Doctors', but couldn't fly it. I was wondering if you'd get the Alfred connection - you may not know that Gough(sp) was also one of the main protaganists in the first Christopher Lee 'Dracula' movie. Great show, though. What's your spoiler policy with regards to rumours in future series? For example, since you did this, some casting things have been confirmed for the last episode, and on some levels, I'd hate to have them spoiled.

Quarter of a century. Makes a girl think. Keep pushing at it, sugar, some day you won't get the fuzzy end of the lollipop. (Yes, it's a gratuitous movie reference...)

Latest episode is up, and Matt, Dave and I are discussing scary movies. We also discuss childhood memories of early terror (American listeners may need to be aware that Tony Hart is a beloved 80s kids TV presenter, who had an animated plasticine puppet as a sidekick to appreciate how weird it is that I used to be freaked out by him) and Dave gets very foolish with google images. At around the 20 minute mark, we have the google images bit, and I swear I almost died laughing while we were recording this.

Thought this may interest any London based comic fans. Mike Carey (Hellblazer, Lucifer, X-Men, The Unwritten and loads more) is reading from his next Felix Castor novel and doing a Q&A on Thursday 18th June in the Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green (Zone 3). It's an intimate venue, there'll be refreshments, and on top of that, he's agreed to let me interview him for Geekplanet afterwards. Anyone up for it? Or fancy suggesting questions for my interview? Also, at the risk of plugging, my latest column on geekplanet is all about Mike Carey. (Talking of plugging, I'm not just shilling here - genuinely thought people may be interested in putting forward questions for the interview. Yoda, obviously, feel free to move it if it isn't appropriate).

Wow. I really can't do initials when I'm tired.

With less unintentional stealing from FYYE, we're back with a DOUBLE-LENGTH special. Matt and I are looking at books loved by adults, but written for children. WARNING - contains Twilight and Harry Potter. And Neil Gaiman. And Roald Dahl.

And the latest episode is up. This week, we've got Dave back on, and we're discussing Wolverine and Star Trek

You live in the US. You haven't seen UK Doctor Who fans. Asexuality is a better option than constantly getting turned down. Oh, and as a UK Doctor Who fan, who knows other UK Doctor Who fans, I'm talking about those other Doctor Who fans. The sad ones. Not the cool ones reading this.

Read the Gay Agenda article. I agree, the show may have a so called "Gay Agenda" but it's nothing out of the ordinary. It's the 21st century, big whoop. Having gay characters is completely normal, it's not as if no one before 1950 was gay. Besides, it's Captain Jack. Who wouldn't want him? I know, but in amongst UK fans, especially those of the old series, it was a HUGE deal. For no particularly good reason. Mind you, since Time Lords were supposedly created by 'genetic looms', and (whisper it) "sex" didn't exist in the series, I think amongst some fans, it's just down to downright terror.

Hey all - I know the shill threads are below, but a heads up that we have a review of the latest BBC DVD (The Deadly Assassin) up at GeekPlanet. Also, we have a new column (Queer Eye for the Sci Fi) looking at the old question of whether or not there is a gay agenda in New Who. I figure this is stuff that fans of the shows here would be interested in.

Latest film podcast is up - and this week, we're going classic, with my personal favourite movie, Casablanca. On top of that, there's even pro-wrestling discussion... EDIT - Stavros, just to mention your point, I love soundtracks as well. To be honest, the reason I didn't with 'Shawshank' is because, scandalously, I haven't watched it recently enough to remember it strongly. We do talk a bit about Casablanca's, not least because it's a great score.

BUMPED, because it's out on DVD. Seriously, trust me. This rocks so much.

You're more than welcome. It's something I only found out about recently. In the meantime, my latest column (available here) is all about one of my favourite comic characters - Gambit. Let the mocking commence.

Okay, the latest 'Standing at the Edge' is all about Alan Turing, who cracked the Enigma Code the Germans were using. It's an important story, and one that made me very, very angry.

Yeah, I watched 'The Time Meddler' last year, and I hadn't realised it was him before I watched it. He's fantastic in the role, and huge fun. I loathed Christina, incidentally. Great arse, shame about the actress. I also had problems with the character.

Sorry to hear about that, guys. I'm currently going through a divorce, and know how much that all sucks emotionally. Glad it's all so amicable.