television

Chris Knight's avatar

“Diane, 11:30 AM, February 24th. Entering the town of Twin Peaks.
It’s 5 miles south of the Canadian border, 12 miles west of the
state line. Never seen so many trees in my life. As W.C. Fields
would say, ‘I’d rather be here than Philadelphia.'”

— F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper

Looks like we may yet be going back to the Double R Diner for that cherry pie and a damn fine cup of coffee…

“Twenty-Five Years Later…”

twin peaks, the red room, little man from another place, dale cooper

“.ria eht ni cisum syawla s’ereht dna gnos
ytterp a gnis sdirb eht, morf er’ew erehW”

This is something I thought would be more unlikely to happen than new Star ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

More than any other Doctor previous, it seems like there was no initial “sinking-in” period when Peter Capaldi made the transition from Matt Smith during “The Time of the Doctor” almost two weeks ago.  Maybe it had to do with how the Twelfth Doctor flashed into existence instantaneously before our eyes, rather than have a lengthy regeneration sequence.  One moment I was on the verge of tears watching Smith’s beautiful departure, and then WHAM!! without warning it’s Capaldi ranting about his kidneys and screaming “DO YOU HAPPEN TO KNOW HOW TO FLY THIS THING?!?”



 
It’s not a pic of him yet after he picks what will become his signature look (in fact he’s still wearing the clothes that Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor was wearing) but the BBC has released a photo of Capaldi (along with Jenna Coleman) on his first day on the set for a Doctor Who story ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

It’s “The Empty Hearse”, and it’s the first new episode in almost two years.

And it is bloody, gob-smackingly brilliant!!

This is television of the highest calibre. Better than most big-budget films at the cinema, definitely.

Okay, I’m gonna watch it again. After the work I pulled off today, I’ve earned the respite 🙂

(And maybe soon I’ll afford myself time to finally watch this season of The Walking Dead.)

Well done, Moffat and Gatiss and Cumberbatch and Freeman. Well done indeed....

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

I loved it!!  But first…

If if was nothing else, it had to be said: 2013 was the Year of the Doctor.

The anticipation for Doctor Who‘s fiftieth anniversary ramped up fast after the year began.  The coming of Jenna Coleman’s Clara as a regular companion certainly started things off nice.  Some of the ensuing half-season was a little touch and go, but otherwise it proceeded in fine style…

…and then came “The Name of the Doctor”.

More than half a year later, in spite of everything that we’ve watched since, I’m still feeling numbstruck by the season finale (find my review here).  Throughout the ensuing summer and fall I think a lot of us were tormented with the thought: had Steven Moffat finally lost it?!  For the first time ever Doctor Who seemed poised to derail completely.  The image of that unknown incarnation of the Doctor, ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

I will go to my grave believing that the Nineties gave us the best television animated series that have ever been produced.  Think about it: Tiny Toons, Gargoyles, X-Men… and of course Batman: The Animated Series, a show that forever raised the bar and redefined what cartoons were capable of.

But of all those shows and more, it’s The Tick that holds the most special place in my heart from that era.

Based on Ben Edlund’s underground comic book, The Tick premiered in 1994, ran for three seasons and stunned everyone with its unique style of superhero parody and screwball comedy.  The Tick was the one show I made a point to always watch on Saturday mornings (even if I worked late the previous night and was low on sleep).  It was such a big influence on me that when I finally got Internet access for ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

A&E fired the star of not just its #1-rated series, but the top-rated series in the history of cable television.

That’s not just shooting yourself in the foot; that’s chainsawing your leg off at the hip.

This will go down as the stoopidest move in television programming history.  He could have been less crass about it, but Robertson said nothing any more offensive than the vast majority of other series.  Based on Robertson’s comments, I’d say that he’s expressing the heart of a true Christian: love God, and love each other.  When Phil Robertson said that he has no hate toward anyone else and that God created each of us equal and loves us in spite of how wayward we go from Him, I can’t but trust his heart on the matter.

Let’s say this for what it really is: Phil Robertson and the rest of his family on Duck ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

“The Day of the Doctor” became a truly epic event: the kind of cultural milestone ranking up there with the premiere of Star Wars in 1977, Woodstock and the final episode of M*A*S*H.  The day after the fiftieth anniversary special of Doctor Who aired, Guinness certified it as the most-watched simulcast of a dramatic presentation ever.

I purchased “The Day of the Doctor” from iTunes as soon as it was made available and have watched it all the way through twice and some scenes many times.  And they were plentiful: “NO MORE”, the Moment, the tribute to past companions (including Captain Jack Harkness, and why are River Song’s red high-heels hanging there anyway??) in the Black Archive, all of those TARDISes that swooped out of nowhere, that very fleeting glimpse – with an anger and determination that would cower Hell itself – of the Twelfth Doctor’s eyes, finally seeing ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

For various reasons, it was a very hard thing for me to get through and watch this.  Part of me wanted to “sit it out”.  But I knew that later, however rough things are now, that I would come to regret it if I didn’t.

I’ve been watching Doctor Who for a very long time and I’ve been blogging about the show ever since it first re-started in 2005, back when a lot of us had to bootleg it across the Internets after transmission in Great Britain.

I can’t abandon something just like that, something I’ve come to care for and appreciate so much.  Something that I’ve been thankful has been there.  No matter how hard it becomes.  No matter how painful it is to face.  When you love something, you stay with it even if you grieve at times  You endure for it.

I can’t leave something wonderful and ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

Awright, ‘fess up: How many others out there have their TV’s tuned to nothing but BBC America all this past week?

This has become the single greatest week of television broadcasting in the history of anything.  Apart from an hour of BBC News early in the morning, it has been wall-to-wall Doctor Who.  And I have not got nearly enough of it.  The network even ran “Pyramids of Mars” from the Tom Baker era on Monday afternoon, followed soon after by the 1996 Doctor Who television movie.

My workload has been packed with freelance projects.  If I’m not watching it directly I’ve still had BBC America on the tube as I write and research.  It makes for excellent (or should that be Cyberman style and pronounced “EKS-selent”?) background noise, even inspiring.  Although the past few nights I must confess that my dreams keep getting invaded by Daleks screaming “Exterminate!  ...

Read more

Chris Knight's avatar

“Great men are forged in fire. It is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame.”
— The Doctor (“the one who broke the promise”)




I don’t know what stokes me most about “The Day of the Doctor”: seeing the Time War at last in all its horrific glory, the return of the Tenth Doctor and Rose, the interaction between Matt Smith and David Tennant’s Doctors, Daleks attacking and getting ‘sploded, the return of the Zygons…

Okay, no doubt about it: John Hurt as The Doctor that we didn’t know about.  The one that whatever it is that he did, The Doctor was so ashamed that he has never acknowledged his existence… until now.  Because I really believe that this Doctor is the reason that The Doctor, in his ensuing generations, has been such a haunted and wounded man beneath the jovial, childlike surface.

(Thanks again to good friend ...

Read more