Raven

Been reading more than you could have imagined? Or has your mojo deserted you? Whilst I’ve not read as much as I hoped I would have by now, I’ve been ticking over fairly nicely, so no loss of mojo, but could do better! Found any new favourites? Been disappointed by others? My liking of Haruki Murakami has continued to grow, and I also enjoyed Mike Gayle’s latest, even if it wasn’t his best. Past that, several of the books I have read this year have been re-reads. If I have been disappointed in a book, I’d have to say it was in jPod, which I found to be a bit of a let down after the excellent Microserfs (it hasn’t put me off reading further Douglas Coupland novels though!). (Full list and reviews of what I have read here: Raven’s Reads). Been sticking to your reading challenges? Or pushed them to the side in the name of being spontaneous? Accept no challenges, that way you are never defeated! Bought more books than you've read? (Please tell me I'm not alone in this!) Oh yes, but I’ve not been too bad this year – I think I’m only two or three down on the number read vs. the number bought. Been spending too much time at BCF when you could otherwise be making inroads into your TBR pile? And if so, are you going to do anything about it? (Let me guess...'Yes' and 'No', right? ) I’ve probably whittled away time on here – and other forums – that could have been put to better use, but I’m not going to beat myself up over it! And finally, where do you hope your reading will take you in the next 6 months? I’d like to knock a couple more science fiction classics off the list (Foundation perhaps, or Flowers for Algernon?), another John Wyndham novel (either the Chysalids or The Trouble with Lichen), a couple more Murakami’s (Norwegian Wood and Wild Sheep Chase, probably) and I’d also like to finish off my re-read of Mike Gayle’s novels (only two left) and the book about Henry VIII I started in May.

Ahead of Torchwood: Children of Earth screening on BBC1 next week, Radio 4 are airing three audio dramas over the next few days. The first, Asylum, aired this afternoon, but fear not if you missed it, those nice people at the Beeb are making them available for download - free of charge - for the next seven days. Go here: Torchwood downloads for the first one!

Yep, though not so much of the content post series four. Series two to four was great, series five was plops, the TV movies - with the exception of the excellent In the Beginning - were mediocre* and I haven't seen much past that (I've not heard good things about Crusade, Legend of the Rangers or the B5 shorts they did a couple of years back). *Though after watching The West Wing, I would like to see the one where Martin Sheen plays a Soul Hunter again!

I think the Star Wars films, or rather the prequels (where the bulk of the story actually lies), are very badly plotted. In the original trilogy it was basically a simple story about some good guys trying to over-throw an Evil Empire. In the prequels, where Lucas had total control over what happened (he bank-rolled the films from his own pocket and made the films he wanted to) the lack of continuity between the two sets of films, and very poor scripts, actually destroyed a lot of the mythology that had been established in the original films (even to the point where they have a Star Trek like explanation for the Force - terrible!). When you see the time, money and effort put into the prequels - by so many people - it makes you weep that the story was generally so poor. I actually prefer Star Trek when it avoids the technobabble (as they call it). The Next Generation suffered from it quite a bit, but nowhere near as badly as Voyager. Lines of random, semi-plausible sounding phrases spewed out at the end of an episode, to get the crew out of the problem of the week at the expense - usually - of the plot and characterisation, often proved more distracting than helpful. Russell T. Davis has it right with the new Doctor Who - you don't need, or really want, four pages of techno-speak to explain the situation, having a magic box that does the job quickly, whilst keeping the focus on the story and characters is much more rewarding.

I saw Star Wars in the cinema when I was six, and it basically kicked off my liking for all things science fiction, but then Lucas went and made the prequels and since then my affection for all things Jedi has waned considerably. I still like the original trilogy, and I'd still rate Empire as one of the best sequels ever, but the prequels have tainted them (the gloss is more than taken off Anakin's redemption at the end of Jedi when you remember that he hacked up a room full of children . . . etc). I've also been a Star Trek fan since I was a kid as well, firstly through watching the original series on Monday nights, then the films and The Next Generation when it first came out on video in the UK in 87/88, right up to last month and being there on the first day of release for the new film (which to my mind was an excellent re-boot of the original series!). Given that, I believe that drawing direct comparisons between the two is like trying to compare chalk with cheese - to me they are two very different beasts. Star Wars tells an "epic" story over the course of six films, Star Trek tells an ongoing story over many, many TV episodes and iterations. Star Wars is only trying to tell the one story, where as Star Trek gets to tell many, and because of the difference in the formats it has much more time to develop cultures and have philosophical debates which would be inappropriate in a film saga. I suspect we may very well see a switch in two over coming years however, as I strongly suspect that Star Trek won't be trying to tackle weighty subjects in it's current film format, and with a live action Star Wars TV series in the pipe, we may well find that Star Wars get's to flex the same thoughtful muscles that Trek previously did on the small screen.

I really like the film (Film 4 seem to show once every couple of months, btw) but I didn't get very far with the book - not sure why! I think I'll have to give this another go at some point!

It's September 1944 and I'm an American paratrooper in E company of the 506th, just about to jump into occupied Holland. Monty reckons we'll be across the Rhine in five days, what could possibly go wrong?!

Triffids is very good, have you read any other Wyndham novels?

Babylon 5's strength was in its characters and the story arc that ran through all five seasons. In a lot of ways it felt like Lord of the Rings in space (which isn't surprising given the number of Tolkien

I remember Babylon 5. It wasn't actually shortened, they didn't know if they were going to get a fifth season so they wrapped up the story in the fourth only to then be told, after they had finished filming, that they were being renewed (they then had to effectively re-start the show for one year, and that didn't really work). Seasons two to four was very good though. They have tried to resurrect the B5 franchise a number of times but, so far, without any success. They will be released on DVD, that's how I watch them.

You may be pleased to know that Futurama has just been resurrected for a full 26-episode season on Comedy Central! There was only one season of this, wasn't there?! There are loads of shows I've liked that were untimely axed or not renewed. Like others, Firefly is my main bug-bear, but others include Space: Above and Beyond, and a rather brilliant vampire show C4 did many years ago called Ultraviolet. Sadly, I can now add Primeval to that list as well . . .

How about Iceland, that's part way, or Greenland, that's closer to Canada!

Go half way - select "Other" and specify The Mid-Atlantic.

Primeval extinct. No great surprise, falling viewing figures combined with ITV tightening their purse strings. I feel the show would have lasted longer if it had a more cohesive mythology, but it was fun whilst it lasted.

It's one of my favourites as well - Ninja Morris Men, excellent stuff!

You missed out the modesty! I've read Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, but not recently, it's a very good play as I recall (the film version with Tim Roth and Gary Oldman is pretty good as well). Amongst many other things, Tom Stoppard also wrote an excellent screenplay for the film Enigma, based on the Robert Harris novel.

I've just read that David Eddings has passed away.

The Dark Crystal is an excellent film, and still holds up very well today. If you want to watch a so-bad-it's-good film, Beastmaster is worth a look (though it is very silly). Hawk The Slayer may be pushing things a little too far, though!

Not too hot, he's just lost.

I was sure I read something on Digital Spy recently that linked the two, but having done a search on the site I can't find anything. I'll have another look later.

Max Clifford.

She's just going for the full celebrity experience. "Three weeks of fame, I've not tried rehab yet!"

I don't think I'm ever going to be able to watch Jude again . . . That's The Doctor, he can't do that! One of my favourite book to film adaptations is David Lean's version of Great Expectations, a great story anyway, but wonderfully filmed - top stuff!

Doh! Chalk that one up to late night posting, I actually meant Order of the Phoenix! Six-hundred odd pages of waffle, two-and-a-half hours of fun!