Raven

Quite a bit to catch up on! Like others, I thought the episode was a bit flat and disappointing on first viewing, but I watched it again last night and when you know what is coming it does seem to hang together a bit better. I think there are several things here that are adding up to detract from the story as a whole. Firstly, outstanding as his performances were in the first two episodes, Matt Smith is still a new Doctor, and the writers - no matter how skilled they are - will have been writing him blind (they wouldn't have seen Matt Smith on the screen to know how he acts and behaves, so they were probably writing more from a show bible than from having seen him perform). In the last two stories there will have been consistency in his character because they were both written by the same author; Gatiss is the first new voice for this Doctor and I think you can see that in the subtle differences in how his character behaves. Secondly, what ever else it is, Victory is clearly a reboot story for the Daleks, sweeping away the RTD legacy and all the Time War angst to bring in a new set of Daleks for a new era in the show. To a greater of lesser extent, reboots always have their hands tied and 45 minutes isn’t a lot to work with if you have a shopping list of things that must happen. I think this story may have worked better as a two-parter, with an expanded story to flesh out the detail of what was going on. Third, we've only seen the new iDaleks in one studio bound set, I strongly suspect that they will be a lot different when we next see them and that they will be a lot more impressive and intimidating. Have a few CGI versions whizzing around, against a large vista and I suspect they will look awesome! (remember, each Dalek had a different role so it’s likely that we will be seeing them in groups of the same colour, rather than assorted like Smarties!). I'm sad to see the old Daleks go, but I'm interested to see what they will do with the new Dalek hierarchy (and I'm pretty sure we are going to see them again this season, I can't see them retro-fitting the Daleks like this for just the one episode!). I'm not completely sold on this series just yet, but I am sold on Matt Smith. I think that if the writing is right he will shine, and as the show goes on, and the new production team find their feet, and the writers get used to Smith, I think things will only get better (as they did with both Eccleston and Tennant). Moffat seems to be taking his visual inspiration for this series from the Peter Cushing films - the TARDIS certainly reflects that, and so do these new Daleks. I'm also wondering if they have made them colourful to make them more striking in HD. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no! You obviously haven't sat though Fear Her or the Dalek's in Manhattan two-parter recently! He does have a spot of personal history with the Dalek's remember, if nothing else they paid no small part in the destruction of his home planet so the chance to get rid of them forever is still going to be tempting even when weighed against the Earth. I don't think she did, she just has a better grasp of human emotions that the Doctor and knew that love and not pain was a more powerful emotion. She’s no worse in that respect than any of the other new series companions have been.

Pff, you Topper, you . . .

I've not see a version where they are not (the book was originally published in 1951).

I did a Wow!

Picked up The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Juliet, Naked in Tesco in a two for one offer. Hoping I can kick-start my reading mojo again . . .

There will be another one next year! I'm a bit split about Titanic, as I think there is quite a bit of snobbery about the film because it was so successful, but at the same time I can see its flaws. It does quite a lot very well indeed, but it is let down by some pretty clunky dialogue and some pretty big historical inaccuracies. Still, it looks good, and the scene after the ship actually goes under - with all the people trashing about in the sea - still carries quite a big hit.

Good man!

Men in Black?

I'll second the recommendation for The Kraken Wakes as well, it is very good!

On the 98th anniversary of its sinking, I watched Titanic last night. James Cameron really is good at making films look great, but by god he can't write romantic dialogue!

Soak the whole shirt in a bottle of cheap red and be brazen!

I like the sinister black spins of the Penguin Classics range, so I always go for them first.

^ The recent adaptation was pants, if you want to see a good one, get hold of a copy of the 80's version. The book is really rather good though.

^ Go and read Triffids, now!

Thanks for the suggestions folks, I shall look into some of the above a bit further!

Good lord, you've already read my target number of books for the year!

Yes, I don't quite understand the logic in allowing a weekly magazine to spoil your reveal (especially one that hasn't made its own way onto the net!). This one is what I thought it was (having picked up a copy on the way home). Suffice to say it is another cover spoiler, not quite as bad as the Human Dalek one from a couple of years back, but its still annoying (though maybe only to the hardcore fans!).

^ I'm talking about the magazine, not the web site.

I've heard a bit more since I posted the above and if it is the spoiler I believe it is then it is more spoilery than the trailer at the end of last weeks episode.

Unless you want this week's episode to be spoiled for you, avoid this weeks Radio Times! (I've not seen it myself, I've just heard that it is rather spoilery).

Granted, bUt YoU gO iNsANe remembering all the embarrasing things you have said down the years. I wish I knew what to wish for next.

The Welsh bit, it's broken again . . . If RTD were still writing the series I could see him putting in a link to Torchwood like that, but I don't think Moffat would do so. I think it is something else, but I have no idea what!

I've re-watched it this afternoon (day-off!), and being more awake it - unsurprisingly - made more sense, although I would still argue that there are some plot holes.

Picked up a few books in London yesterday: Dance, Dance, Dance by Haruki Murakami (I've been looking for a non-knocked about version of this for a while now), The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland (a bargin at

So much for enforced reading time, I managed about six pages on the way up and on the way back the train was full of Chelsea supporters, so not real progress. It's annoying, there is just enough here to hold my interest, but not enough to stop me from putting it down. I think if there was more happening that just people chasing after other people I would be reading this faster. Anyway, for anyone who is interested, I took a look and Forbidden Planet in London has the complete series (in those natty little black covers, though).