An absolutely brilliant show, ordered with a two season contract… canceled now.
That’s Amazon for you.
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Happened all the time: Firefly, V - original and reboot!, Terminator S.C.C., Dark Angel, Travelers, Raised by Wolves, Halo (probably) … each one cancelled without a decent ending
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But they did not have the contract.
If „Etoile“ had been done without the second season order I would have been annoyed about the cancelation, too, but would not have been shocked because the show is expensive and apparently not what the masses like.
To promise second seasons to a production and then kill it is just the way power now asserts itself: hey, we‘re the masters, we don’t have to stick to agreements.
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Normally I wouldn’t care about this, since we’ve already had a remake, another TV adaptation, and, of course, the classic original film.
But, since it’s Mike Flanagan adapting Stephen King, I have no doubt that this will be worth watching and not just be a remake for the sake of a remake.
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Not a good sign…
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Disney still dragging their feet. Betting the BBC are really regretting partnering with them now.
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That’s weirder than I expected.
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Doctor Who (Disney+)
My wife and I gave the last two seasons a try. But while everyone is doing their best it felt strained and often ill-conceived (the goblins‘ song?).
Gatwa brings charme and acting prowess but even he cannot raise the material to the level of surprise and weird fun the show once excelled with.
It’s all been there done that, going through the motions. Maybe they would have benefitted from a showrunner who had never been involved with WHO.
There is a lesson here for Bond, I presume.
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Ncuti Gatwa’s run as the Doctor was a mixed bag, but what era of Doctor Who wasn’t? He had some strong episodes with 73 Yards and Dot and Bubble, deserving to be remembered with the best of them.
First time around Russell T. Davies was quite smart about what monsters and characters he reintroduced from the classic series; this time, less so. He’s plundering Doctor Who’s back catalogue for more obscure villains to bring back. I’ve said before that I liked the return of the Toymaker as it was for an anniversary special, and I don’t think he expected anyone to have seen the original as it’s a lost episode. But I question the wisdom of basing the series finales around Sutekh and the Rani and the less said about him reducing Omega to a mindless CGI monster the better.
That said, I have read some interesting rumour and speculation about what could have been. I won’t go into it right now unless anyone’s interested. But the story goes he had to rework the end of series 1 and much of his plans for series 2 because Millie Gibson chose not to stay on and then had to rework the end of series 2 to make it an exit for Gatwa.
Still, there was fun to be had, and we had some enjoyable stand-alone episodes. However, it looks like we’re in for a long wait until the next one.
In the meantime, I am looking forward to The War Between The Land And The Sea. I like the UNIT team they’ve established and the Sea Devils/ Silurians are one of my favourite parts of Doctor Who lore.
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Oh dear, even those Paramount+ trailers for ST-Discovery and SECTION 31 are dreadful beyond belief…
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It is surprising how Paramount treated one of their most popular and important IP for years/decades.
And STRANGE NEW WORLDS got a fifth season, I understand, but with a very much reduced episode number.
Strange indeed. Because even if it is surely a pricey show they could at least have given it the respect it deserved.
Apparently, they only give Taylor Sheridan everything he wants. More horses in STAR TREK?
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Saw this online today and don’t think it has been shared yet.
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So now award winning stuff with Jack Nicholson isn´t safe anymore either? 
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It’s all going to implode one day. 
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I’d really wish there was some kind of obligatory exam where you have to write a detailed 15.000 words essay pleading your case why this remake is absolutely necessary and adding to the cultural heritage of humanity in at least three different ways before being allowed anywhere near a classic.
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Dep. Q (Netflix)
Netflix is a curious company. It’s not enough that you pay them monthly - without fault, for years - and be done with it. No, they aren’t satisfied until you actually watch some of their stuff and pester you with a barrage of tout emails offering you enough diversion of almost any kind to last you three lifetimes. Sooner or later you just give in. Which is how I came across Dep. Q.
The Netflix adaptation of Adler-Olsen’s Department Q series is transplanted into Scotland, and with the move from Denmark come a number of minor adjustments to the locale and the nine episode format. I hasten to add that I’ve neither read the book(s) nor watched the film(s), a Danish-German co-production with German ZDF that were a thing about a decade ago. So I can not judge Netflix’ Dep. Q against the previous adaptation.
What I can tell, however, is that Dep. Q is an excellent ensemble effort with Goode, Pirrie, Manvelov, Byrne, Miller, Sives, Bonnar, Dickie and the rest all in excellent spirits and form, delivering a Tartan-Danish Noir mystery thriller in nine handsome chapters. This is at turns gripping, funny, baffling, even touching. It keeps you coming back for more not just because the main case is as much a mystery to the audience as it is to the characters. It’s also simply fun to watch Goode’s Morck feeling his way through the Edinburgh maze of crime, suspected corruption and layers of secret passions and animosities.
Adler-Olson is said not to have been happy with the prior Danish adaptation of his works. Dep. Q is maybe suffering from just that tad too much cliché profanity - a drinking game for every ‘%^*ing’ in the dialogue would have you in a coma - but otherwise the mise-en-scene is faultless, all the main characters get little scenes to shine, the Scottish idiom is colourful but doesn’t need subtitles. And the sense of locale, Edinburgh and surroundings, is authentic even if Mhòr and other locations are fictitious amalgamations created for the purpose of this production.
I dare say Adler-Olsen can at least be proud of the production values shown here. Dep. Q has a perfect balance of intrigue, suspense, humour and carefully weighed action/violence. We care about the characters and the implied bigger context further seasons may explore. For me, in spite of this being a more outlandish case, it worked far better than the recent Rebus adaptation.
Recommended.
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The Saint (original 1962-1969 series starring Roger Moore): I watched this series as a kid, and hadn’t seen it since. My husband, who is nine years younger, had only ever seen Return of the Saint from 1978.
We upgraded our streaming service earlier this summer, and my husband went searching for what was available. He came across The Saint and started watching, and we’ve been watching ever since. We both agree that Moore’s portrayal of Simon Templar has distinct similarities to his portrayal of James Bond. In fact, my husband remarked: “He played the Saint the same way he played Bond!”
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Century 21 Films on YouTube has a number of excellent behind-the-scenes documentaries about popular British tv shows like The Saint, Return of The Saint, The Persuaders, Callan, Garry and Sylvia Anderson shows and the like.
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Have just been going through Return of the Saint set, a present from Mrs Jim to regress me to my childhood and keep me occupied whilst she does whatever it is Mrs Jim does.
Surprisingly acid, for basic fluff. I recall seeing repeats of this in the middle of the day in the early 1980s sometime and a couple of things had stuck with me:
- the episode in Venice with that horrible neck brace weapon thing; can’t have been more than about 8 or so when I saw that. Haunted me for ages.
- George Cole’s horror mask, which is still most unpleasant.
- The one with the female strangers on a 'plane plot, the weird sexual griminess and grimness of which I couldn’t appreciate at the time.
Had forgotten the one about the Israelis hunting “Black September” - quite pointed at times, still obviously resonates.
If you put those on at lunchtime now, you’d be shot.
I feel the chest of memories long-padlocked away is being crowbarred open.
Shame Ogilvy never got Bond, although I understand he wasn’t interested. His (hugely) abridged cassette-tape readings of some of the novels remain formative, too. Played so often into transparency that it’s habitually his voice that speaks written Bond to me, more so than any of the film actors.
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