Eoghann Irving's Blog, page 14

Fall on the Potomac Our good weather has come to an end it seems.

See it here: http://flic.kr/p/ALXV8y

Lost Boy

So now you know what we are, and now you know what you are. You’ll never grow old Michael and you’ll never die… But you must feed.

Great bit of ink work by Daniel Govar here. Really captured the attitude of the character I think.

Source: DeviantArt

 

LEGO Lord of the Rings — Then King of the Golden Hall

LEGO builder Cameron Wilson has constructed this lovely version of Edoras (King Theoden’s capital in Rohan) from The Lord of the Rings and it’s a wonderful bit of work.

I strongly recommend you click through to Wilson’s post where he has a bunch more detail photos (including inside the hall where Gandalf faces down Wormtongue) and a surprising easter egg.

You can find that  over at MOCPages.

LEGO Lord of the Rings — Then King of the Golden Hall

LEGO builder Cameron Wilson has constructed this lovely version of Edoras (King Theoden’s capital in Rohan) from The Lord of the Rings and it’s a wonderful bit of work.

I strongly recommend you click through to Wilson’s post where he has a bunch more detail photos (including inside the hall where Gandalf faces down Wormtongue) and a surprising easter egg.

You can find that  over at MOCPages.

Marvel Comics Cosplay — SpiderGwen

I’ll be honest, I don’t entirely get the internet’s sudden fascination with SpiderGwen.

She’s an entirely derivative character (even more so than the original Ms. Marvel or She-Hulk were. She worked well as part of the Spider-verse story where the idea as to have a million variations on Spider-Man, but she’s not really a compelling character in her own right.

Basically she’s Peter Parker only a girl and she exists in an alternate timeline. What makes her better than the 725 previous Spider-girl/woman/females that Marvel has come up with I don’t know.

All that said, I do like this bit of cosplay as photographed by WhiteLemon.

Doctor Who Review: S09E03 — Under the Lake

I love a good base under siege story in Doctor Who and that’s exactly what Toby Whithouse gave us this week. Or at least he gave us the first half of one, but I have high hopes for part 2. Whithouse has a pretty good track record when it comes to Doctor Who. He has given us The Vampires of Venice, The God Complex and A Town Called Mercy,  all of which should a solid grip on how to tell a Doctor Who story and in this case I think he’s come up with something that should appeal to all Who fans.

What’s So Great About a Base Under Siege

This particular story-telling trope isn’t unique to Doctor Who but it is something that the show has leaned on heavily over the years. The Patrick Troughton era for example is famous for it as the technique was used to compensate for small budgets and tiny sets. In the modern era where the show is shot more like a movie it has been less common but The Waters of Mars is an excellent example of the format.

One of the reasons it works so well in Doctor Who is that it is such an efficient use of limited time. You only have a handful of characters to focus on which allows you to give them at least the appearance of depth and you have limited locations which lets you focus your world building. On top of that the siege immediately puts tension into the situation and cliffhangers spring naturally from it.

Which is exactly what we got with Under the Lake.

There’s No Such Thing As Ghosts

The Doctor has never been a believer in the supernatural so no matter how many times ghosts and demons turn up in the show, you know there will eventually be a scientific(ish) explanation for them. I did like the way he instantly dismissed the notion of ghosts only to, having eliminated the probable, return to it later on and completely embrace it.

I really liked the Doctor’s portrayal  throughout this episode. It was a great blend of elements we have seen previously. Yes there’s some of the “manic pixie” from earlier incarnations, but we also get the thoughtlessness (the cards were a lovely touch) and the obsession with solving a problem. Having recently been watching Tomb of the Cybermen (a great base under siege story) I thought it was interesting to compare Troughton’s manipulation of people into exploring the Tombs with the way Capaldi here blatantly manipulated people to stay and solve the mystery.

I am actually contractually obliged to praise Peter Capaldi’s performance in every episode of Doctor Who, but he gives me plenty to work with here. There’s an energy to it that is captivating, but also a subtlety to his facial expressions. There’s a lot going on under the surface and it’s so fun to watch.

First Amongst Equals

In Doctor Who the supporting cast for any particular story is basically just there to provide information and get killed. That’s still the case in this episode as well, but Whithouse has done a great job giving the characters enough depth that they aren’t blatant information spouts and we do actually hope for them to live at least a bit longer.

The weakest of the characters would be Pritchard who is absolutely the one note greedy corporate stooge that is so common in Doctor Who but Whithouse cleverly sidesteps that criticism by having the Doctor dismiss him as an idiot. The other characters however seem pleasantly competent in their jobs  and capable of functioning without the Doctor’s input.

What this leads to, unusually for recent Who, is a situation where Clara does not stand out.  She doesn’t have the technical skills that the other characters have nor any particularly useful knowledge. She’s there and she’s eager to help, plus smooth things over when the Doctor ruffles feathers, but she’s not better than anyone else. That’s rather different to how she’s been portrayed of late but it works well in this story.

Obviously He’s Not Dead

I’ve seen a little criticism online for the obvious fake out that is the Doctor’s ghost. Clearly the title character of the show is not dead and therefore it’s not much of a cliffhanger! Except that the purpose of a cliffhanger is not specifically to make you think someone is dead but to give you a reason to tune in the following week.

Yes, we know the Doctor will survive. But how? What happened to him? The cliffhanger has us asking questions and wanting answers. It works.

What weakens it, however, is the fact that it is the second time in only 3 episodes that this style of cliffhanger has been used because it’s almost exactly what happened with Clara and Missy. Repetition will always weaken a concept no matter how good it is. They definitely need to vary their cliffhangers a bit more.

Tension, Tension, Mood and Tension!

A base under siege story stands or falls on the mood it creates. We as a viewer should feel the siege tightening and our protagonists getting increasingly frantic as their options are removed. Under the Lake achieves this quite effectively first by setting up the threat of the ghosts then by gradually revealing how sophisticated and dangerous they actually are.

It’s a classic situation where every time one of the good guys falls they join the ranks of the enemies making each loss doubly bad. Their ability to walk through walls; the reveal that they can control the base; their attempt to bring others to the base; the odds just kept stacking up against the Doctor and his friends.

And then that clever “victory” in the middle of the episode gave the audience a chance to breath and dwell on the questions that have been building about what is actually going on. Which also gave the opportunity to really squeeze us again near the end and bring the panic right back.

Next Week on Doctor Who — Before the Flood

It looks like we break out of the confines of the base somewhat next week. I hope that doesn’t weaken the tension, but there are plenty of questions that need answering.

Doctor Who Review: S09E02 — The Witch’s Familiar

Episode 2 is even better than episode 1 (which I enjoyed a lot). I’m pretty sure a lot of the people who haven’t liked the direction Who has gone in for the last few seasons still won’t like it though. The show isn’t offering methodical, fill in all the gaps type of stories. It takes jumps and expects you to accept it (like the cuppa). Nor is it offering up sciencey science fiction. In all honesty it rarely did, but it has fully embraced bombastic movie blockbuster fantasy in stylings in recent years.

The Titles, They Mean Something

So last week Clara was the Magician’s Apprentice and this week she is the Witch’s Familiar. It’s a clever bit of word play and thematically appropriate while not precisely the center of the episodes. Again I would caution against spending too much time  analyzing their significance.

They are clever, they fit and… that’s about it really.

Am I A Good Man?

There are really two threads to this epsiode, the most important (if only by default) is the interaction between the Doctor and Davros.

From his conception Davros has essentially been Hitler and his portrayal has been that of shouty, crazy man. As his appearances continued he got louder and crazier until his previous appearance in nu-Who where he was absolutely barking which did seem like a bit of a waste of the character. After all the whole reason for creating Davros was to give the Daleks a voice that wasn’t monotone and could have a bit of subtlety to it.

But in this episode we get an almost human Davros. A man at the end of his life who is experiencing doubts and fear. Of course it’s all a trick, but for those moments when Davros turns off his electronic eye and opens his own there is a real poignancy and the comparison between the two characters works brilliantly given both the history and the fact the Doctor has previously been told he would make a good Dalek.

I really loved those scenes as an expression of what the Doctor is and what he wishes others could be. And yet, in the end it was all a trick.

The Doctor Without Hope

Or at least that’s obviously what Moffat wanted us to see him as, but it’s hard to buy into that because this Doctor always has a plan and usually a plan behind that plan. He tells Davros that he came because a dying man asked him to, and perhaps he was hoping that in the end Davros would have a change of heart. But he was also ready for betrayal.

So were we really expected to believe that he actually thought Clara and Missy were dead? That’s a hard sell. Obviously the idea here is that a Doctor without hope is much like Davros. That in his rage and loss he would lose his compassion. But in the end compassion and hope are the defining traits of Doctor Who so this is little more than a red herring.

And sure enough in the end, even when waving a gun around, the Doctor chooses compassion. Though, admittedly, he does kill a lot of Daleks along the way, but you can argue that he lets them kill themselves.

A Pointy Stick

Missy is the Master is the Doctor without conscience or compassion.  That comparison is being drawn pretty directly here.

Back in the Pertwee era the Master and Pertwee were on strangely good terms for people with radically different moral views. They both had that rather superior attitude and an intellect that was beyond anyone around them. Moffat has taken that notion and updated it for nu-Who.

So now Missy is much crazier than the Master used to be, but then so is the Doctor. And she’s sharp dangerously sharp, but charismatic. We as the viewer want to like her. The Doctor and even Clara want to like here even when they know they shouldn’t.

This episode does a phenomenal job of walking the line between having you cheer on Missy and then reminding you just how dangerous and cruel she can be. She toys with Clara (who she sees as little more than the Doctor’s pet) mostly just for her own amusement.

And in the end she tries to get the Doctor to kill Clara, not because she sees Clara as a threat (a non-Timelord just cannot be her equal) but because she doesn’t like any of the Doctor’s interest going elsewhere.

Souffle Girl

Considering the first time we ever saw Clara Oswald was when she had been turned into a Dalek, watching her being put into a Dalek this episode was particularly creepy. As was her panic when here the words she spoke were translated by the Dalek casing.

I don’t know that Doctor Who has ever really explained the relationship between the Dalek creature and the Dalek casing. I had assumed that most of it had to do with genetic manipulation of the creatures themselves. Does the casing behave that way because the creators couldn’t imagine needing those words and actions or is the casing actually enforcing the behavior?

Admittedly Clara was mostly a victim in this episode, unlike the first part where she was in control for a large portion of it. But she was a victim of circumstances (an an exceptionally evil and brilliant mind) rather than any failings on her own part.

Things I Didn’t Like

Yes there were a couple.

Dalek goop is clever in some ways but problematic because given how many billions of Daleks have existed there should be whole planets covered in the stuff. Also it lead to less than thrilling Dalek destruction scenes. Yes “My vision is impaired” is something of a classic line, but tanks that can be destroyed by mud is not that impressive.

Wearable tech is a cheap gag. It’s not horrible and I’m happy for the sonic screwdriver to get less air time, but the sunglasses could get old very quickly indeed. Though he does make them look good.

Four Brilliant Performances

There are really only four actors in this episode and they all gave phenomenal performances. Julian Bleach managed to make Davros seem human for a few moments, Jenna Coleman’s fear and frustration stuck inside the Dalek casing was palpable. Missy’s glee and casual threats never failed to amuse. And of course Peter Capaldi went from manic to dangerous to tragic and back effortlessly.

Unanswered Questions
What was the Doctor’s plan to get free if Missy hadn’t shown up?
I still want to know why Colony Sarff works for Davros?
Missy has a daughter?
So what is in that Confession Dial?
Where did that cuppa come from?
Next Week on Doctor Who — Under the Lake

I do love a good “base under siege” Doctor Who story.

Book Review — Star Wars: Aftermath

Chuck Wendig’s entry into the Star Wars mythos has garnered a lot of attention and a lot of criticism. The first is not surprising given the he is essentially launching the “Journey to The Force Awakens”, the second seems disproportionate to any literary or fan crimes committed.

Fast Paced Present Tense

One of the biggest criticisms comes from the writing style. Wendig has chosen to imitate the feeling of the Star Wars movies by using the present tense and a lot of very short or broken sentences. I think this does in fact capture the pacing of the movies very well. It may however come across as rather jarring to many of the readers who are used to a more conventional style in their Star Wars novels. And in my experience fans do not like change.

I am not a huge fan of writing in stories in the present tense, though it is becoming increasingly popular amongst authors, because I find it does take me out of the story at first however when done well, as I think it was here,  it can draw you in every bit as deeply as the more traditional past tense. There was definitely a very movie like quality to this book, something that most of the previous Star Wars books I’ve read failed to capture.

I will note however that I was listening to the audiobook version and it’s possible that may have helped smooth over the prose style a bit.

Who Are These People?

Rather than focus on the big name characters we spend our time primarily with new characters or the occasional bit player from the Star Wars movies (remember the canon now is primarily the movies and animated shows). This will no doubt also upset segments of the fan base who really want to see their heroes in action, but I personally found it preferable. You really can’t do anything very interesting with Luke, Leia etc. Not in terms of character growth anyway. Their big moments are mapped out on screen, that’s just how it is.

We do get to spend some time with  Wedge Antilles and Admiral Ackbar and Han Solo and Chewbacca get a cameo as it were, but primarily this is about the new characters introduced for this story and those characters have clearly defined character arcs. This is a good thing.

Inevitably some of those characters and story arcs are better than others. The strained mother/son relationship got on my nerves after a while though I found the two characters individually to be quite interesting. I was more interested though in both the bounty hunter and the ex-Imperial Loyalty Officer whose more jaded views on the world amused me.

And while the book doesn’t have a hissable villain like Darth Vader or Palpatine, the simple competence of Admiral Sloane makes her a formidable enemy.

Not So Happily Ever After

When The Return of the Jedi ended the implication was that the Emperor’s fall sort of magically eliminated the Empire as a threat. That works for a boys own saturday afternoon action adventure (which is what Star Wars aimed to be) but it doesn’t actually follow logically from the world that was built.

So Aftermath shows us that, no the Empire is still there. It’s reeling and directionless but an organization that big doesn’t just instantly collapse. Aftermath is also a more subtle portrayal of the war than we have seen on screen, taking the time to show us why people might actually like the Empire or want to serve it.

We also get a series of interludes that show us how the rest of the galaxy is handling things while this particular adventure is going down. Those are actually the scenes I liked the least. If the intention was to set the scene for future stories, they certainly do that, but they do it by taking away from the current story being told.

The Audio Book

Production on the audio book version of this novel is top notch. The narrator Marc Thomspon does a great job giving the various characters distinctive voices and he is accompanied by music and sound effects (including Droid and Stormtrooper voices) that really draw you into the story.

Combine that with the prose style and you get a very kinetic “audio movie”. If you like audio books at all then this is probably the best way to enjoy this particular book.

Buy, Borrow or Skip

If reviews on the internet are anything to go by then I’m in the minority here, but I think if you are a Star Wars fan you ought to buy this one. To me it has the feel of Star Wars without being bogged down by the main characters from the movies.

It won’t give you any real insight into The Force Awakens, nor is it a galaxy spanning adventure that shows us how the New Republic expands. Rather it is a narrowly focused adventure in the “aftermath” of the Emperor’s death that gives us a taste of the upheaval throughout the galaxy.

Aftermath: Star Wars: Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Star Wars: The Aftermath Trilogy)

by Chuck Wendig [Random House Audio]

Price:
$29.11
£19.24
CDN$ 48.63
EUR 43,14
EUR 49,29

TV Review: Sense8 S01E01 — S01E04

The modest goal of the latest Netflix Original Sense8 (created by the impressive teaming of the Wachowski’s an J. Michael Straczynski) was to reinvent the television series. So if nothing else this show is shooting for the moon and while the landing isn’t smooth, but I think they at least made orbit.

The high concept of Sense8 isn’t radically different to other genre bending shows. Basically you’ve got a group of 8 individuals who are going about their lives when they are somehow gifted with the power to sense each other, talk to each other and utilize each other’s skills. There’s also an evil (I’m assuming) group lead by a sensate who are hunting down other sensates .

I’m four episodes in and that’s about all I can tell you regarding the metaplot for this 12 episode season. Which leads me to perhaps the biggest criticism of the show.

Sloooooow

The pacing of Sense8 is at times glacial. A lot of time is spent not just on people talking and getting on with their daily lives, but sometimes just walking or sitting or staring. There is a reason for this mind you, it’s not just being arty for the sake of it.

The story is trying to submerge you in the lives of these characters just as they find themselves gradually enmeshed in each others lives. And so we experience not only their confusion as they see an experience strange things, but also their relationships and their normal experiences too. Having watched four episodes I’d say that I think this approach is going to pay off, but it does make the early episodes a slog.

The producers are aware of the issue and sensibly front load the show with some scenes that not only feature the most familiar names in the series, but also that set up that meta-plot thus giving the viewers a feeling that there will eventually be a payoff. But after that it’s down to introducing the characters. And it’s such a large cast (8 central characters each with their own supporting cast) and it’s so disperse (each in a different location around the world) that the time it takes to establish all the people eats up most of two episodes.

Not TV, Not HBO

When I reviewed Daredevil I said that it was a show that was taking advantage of the fact it was free of a weekly release schedule.  Sense8 pushes the limits of its freedom as hard as it can.

The episodes run 55 to 60 minutes in length and you have to make a minimum of a 2 hour commitment even to get an idea of where the show is going. Really it wasn’t until I’d finished episode 4 that I started to feel I had a good grip on what it was trying to do. That’s four hours of time, which even on a service that encourages binge watching is a pretty major commitment if you’re not sure about a show. My guess is that a lot of people will never get past episode one.

That’s a shame because pacing aside there’s a lot to like here. Not least of which is the incredibly diverse characters. We have multiple races, genders and sexualities on display here and the show makes a serious effort to avoid a US focus. I’m far from an expert on some of the cultures portrayed but they at least feel authentic.

The attitude towards sex is a bit less prurient than you generally see in HBO or Showtime shows too. The human body is certainly very present and a healthy variety of couplings are on display, but the portrayal is of another aspect of these people’s relationships rather than something titillating. Which is important, because Sense8 is all about relationships.

Relationship’s First, Action Second

The traditional network tv format (which has been stretched by cable, but never really broken) has regular bursts of action to keep the viewers attention. Sense8 can do action and there are some really strong scenes, like the one where kickboxer Sun Bak briefly inhabits the body of Nairobi van driver Capheus Van Damme and helps him to fight off his attackers, but action is clearly not the point of the show and it happens infrequently.

We spend far more time learning about Van Damme’s mother who has AIDs and his desperate attempts to get the drugs she needs. Or about the relationship between Nomi the trans-woman activist and her girlfriend Amanita (who I didn’t recognize as Freema Ageyman until episode 2) which is then contrasted the relationship with her estranged family and makes the scenes where she is essentially kidnapped so that she can be “fixed” far more emotionally powerful.

And thats why I think this show is worth the initial investment. Because the connections you as the viewer make with these characters by exploring their lives will pay of with  a much stronger emotional reaction when the pivotal plot points occur.

Sense8 is using SF not as a metaphor for what is happening today, but instead using it to shine a spotlight on the characters who are already living in today’s world and let us see what they are really like.

The big question for me is how they are going to pull all of these separate stories together. It’s clear that they are going to somehow, but the individual plot lines are separated not only physically but tonally. I really hope they can pull it off.

Book Review: Lock In By John Scalzi

There’s no mistaking what Lock In is, it’s a police procedural. It’s got a couple of twists to the formula but at its core it is unapologetically the sort of detective story that CBS would happily put in their lineup. Procedurals tend get looked down on because they rely so heavily on a certain pattern, but they’re also really popular. Which should tell you something.

More importantly Lock In is a well executed procedural, and the twists are interesting in their own right too.

What’s It All About?

The story is set in the near future after a virus (named Haden’s Syndrome) ravages the world on a scale close to that of the Black Death. The virus doesn’t just kill people though, in some cases it re-writes their brain leaving people conscious but unable to control their own bodies, or “locked in”. To solve the problem of these Hadens, technologies have been developed that allow them to control humanoid robotic bodies (nicknamed Threeps) letting them interact with the rest of society.

Naturally there are tensions in this new society both between normals and Hadens and also amongst Hadens themselves. Our protagonist Chris Shane (a new FBI agent) and partner Leslie Vann find themselves  a murder where the prime suspect is an “Integrator” (a person who can let a Haden use their body instead of a Threep) but who claims no memory of the murder. When additional murders occur it becomes clear that something much larger is going on.

Threeps, Hadens, What?

There’s definitely a learning curve with this book as you familiarize yourself with the terminology and the history of “recent” events. Have no fear though because the book starts with a giant, blatant infodump of tedious comprehensiveness!

Why the decision was made to do that I don’t know, as if you can simply be patient for say an additional 5–10 pages you’ll get all the explanations you need included in the narrative. It’s a brilliant concept that we like to call “Show, don’t tell.” Scalzi does it more than competently so the infodump is not only tedious and off putting but completely unnecessary.

The concept of Threeps is particularly interesting to me. It essentially side-steps the whole AI, robotic consciousness issue completely. These are androids with no brain.  They’re fancy people carriers basically, allowing a Haden to move around, talk to and touch people.

But at the same time, the nature of Threeps isolates Hadens. Threeps look humanoid, but they don’t look human. You can’t eat or drink and by extension then you can’t taste. It is implied that sex might be possible, but it’s also implied this is a fetish more than anything else. Hadens then are isolate, a society within a society.

In this regard the closest comparison I can think of is deaf people who have their own language and culture. And similarly to deaf people some Hadens  don’t want to be “cured” and re-integrated into society. They have their own unique thing going.

The tensions within and without Haden society are well represented and we get characters from pretty much all viewpoints and several who don’t really seem to have a side. There is a gap though in the representation of Hadens. We are told that a large body of Hadens spend most of their time in a virtual world rather than the physical one and we are given some examples of their individual virtual worlds. What we don’t get though is any insight into how the Haden’s who are primarily virtual dwellers interact amongst themselves. There’s just some rather weak excuse about how it’s not possible to describe to people who haven’t experienced it.

Who is Chris Shane?

So the big twist in Lock In is that Scalzi very carefully doesn’t reveal the gender of his protagonist Chris Shane. The name itself is gender neutral and to his considerable credit Scalzi manages to write from Chris’ perspective and keep gender out of it without wrapping himself in linguistic knots.

The effect was perhaps limited for me by the fact that I was listening to the audio book and the version I got was voiced by Wil Wheaton. Combine my tendency to assign white male to any character who isn’t clearly described and I just went through the story seeing Chris Shane as male.

It certainly doesn’t get in the way of the story, though I’m not entirely sure how much it adds to it either. If an absence can be an additive. Chris Shane is very much a physical rather than virtual Haden, but seems almost asexual the way they are portrayed. It’s not just that we don’t see Chris engage in any sort of intimate (or even romantic) act. That in itself is not particularly surprising in a procedural where the focus tends to be on the murders to be solved. It’s that we never got a sense that Chris looked at anyone in a sexual way at all.

It seems to me that might be a little bit of a cheat when it comes to trying to avoid gendering your protagonist. Or perhaps it’s meant to  be an indicator of how different the world is for a Haden who has a whole virtual realm to explore? Are normal humans simply not thought of that way?

Enough With The References Already

I don’t know that there are actually a huge number of pop-culture references in the book but the ones that are there stood out a lot for me. Threeps makes sense, but when you have at least two characters who make references to old films only to have other people not recognize the reference so that the character can then explain the reference, it just feels heavy handed.

I get it, Scalzi is an internet geek and internet geeks love their pop-culture references, but it didn’t feel like it belonged in the story.

Did You Like It?

Yes, it’s a short work so there wasn’t time to get bored, but the central mystery kept me curious all the way through and the concept of Hadens Syndrome and the effect it had had on society (primarily via the introduction of robotic Threeps) was fascinating.

Buy, Borrow or Skip

This one is a buy unless you have a burning hatred for all things procedural.

Lock in

by John Scalzi [Gollancz]

Price:
$13.43
£10.49
CDN$ 16.16
EUR 21,49
EUR 21,81