Let's All Meet Up In The Year 2000

A lyric from Pulp's 'Disco 2000' it continues "Won't it be strange when we're all fully grown?"

The last year of the twentieth century & George Bush is elected President of the USA, unless you count Florida. And they didn't.

I was supposed to be working hard on my A-Levels, but if I'm honest I spent more time on Oklahoma, Habeas Corpus and A Doll's House.

These are a few of my favourite things from 2000:

Film
Small Time Crooks
Woody Allen's crime caper is great fun with wonderful performances from Tracey Ullman, Elaine May and Brian Markinson. Here's the trailer.






Best In Show
Christopher Guest's wonderful mockumentary takes on dog shows. The cast are uniformly fantastic with Guest, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, John Michael Higgins, Michael McKean, Michael Hitchcock, Parker Posey, Jennifer Coolidge, Jane Lynch, Fred Willard and Ed Begley, Jr. all giving excellent performances. Here's the trailer.

O Brother, Where Are Thou?
Based on Homer’s Odyssey, the Coen brothers inspired depression road movie sends a fantastic trio in the form of George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson on a riotous ride as it mixes comedy, adventure and some great music. Here's the trailer.



Dancer In The Dark
This film is often described as having an implausible plot. It is a musical folks, and since when have expected plausibility from our musicals? This particular musical wears its implausibility like a hard won badge of honour. Apparently loved and loathed in equal measure, which is an achievement in itself. I couldn't care less about the Dogme manifesto, but Björk gives an astonishing performance in the lead role and that alone is worth your attention. Here's the trailer.

High Fidelity
Breaking up is hard to do in this adaptation of Nick Hornby's novel. John Cusack, Jack Black, Todd Luiso and Joan Cusack are all wonderful. Rob’s Top 5's speak to the geek within, but they also set the tone: can you enjoy life whilst always reviewing it? A question close to my own heart and to which the answer eludes me. The variations on the "So shall we leave at that, then?" scene are fantastic and the music is great throughout. Here's the trailer.

TV
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Doomed; A New Man; The I In Team & Goodbye Iowa; This Year's Girl & Who Are You?; Superstar; Where The Wild Things Are; New Moon Rising; The Yoko Factor & Primeval; Restless; Buffy Versus Dracula; Real Me; The Replacement; Out Of My Mind; No Place Like Home; Family; Fool For Love; Shadow; Listening To Fear; Into The Woods
The rules have changed in Sunnydale with the arrival of The Initiative, the chip in Spike's head and the discovery by Buffy and Riley of each other's secret identities. Despite averting another apocalypse, Doomed is not a big episode full of revelations, but instead one about clarification. The nitty gritty of these new elements is explored. Giles has been marginalised for much of this season and instead of just sulking A New Man gives us some comedy hi-jinx. A brace of two-parters changes everything, again. Buffy joins up with The Initiative in The I In Team which confirms Maggie Walsh as absolutely and definitely this season's Big Bad until the last scene. With Maggie gone, Riley's loyalties uncertain and Adam on the loose, Goodbye Iowa gives us a view of how the rest of the season is going to pan out. All of which is put on hold by the welcome return of Faith in This Year's Girl and her bodyswapping with Buffy in Who Are You? Both Sarah Michelle Gellar and Eliza Dushku are wonderful as each other's characters. Superstar is fantastic and really shows the versatility of the show. Where The Wild Things Are shows the strength of the ensemble, Buffy and Riley may be the stimulus but it is the rest of the Scooby Gang that carry and resolve the story. Oz returns in New Moon Rising to discover how much the show has change d in his absence and that he no longer fits. He will be missed. The big showdown occurs in The Yoko Factor & Primeval as Adam gets his comeuppance in spectacular style whilst capitalising on the themes of separation that have run through this season. Having dealt with the Big Bad an episode earlier than usual, season four ends with the more introspective Restless concerning the fall out from the spell that invoked the first of the Slayers and shows that no one does dreams better than Joss Whedon.
In principal, season five opener Buffy Versus Dracula sounds like a terrible idea and yet once again this show make s it work spectacularly. The episode also introduces Buffy's little sister Dawn as if she's always been around, and Real Me is another mission statement episode establishing her relationships with each of the rest of the Scooby Gang. Xander is duplicated in The Replacement and Nicholas Brendon proves that double the Xander is double the funny. After three largely standalone episodes Out Of My Mind is the soapiest yet and sets Joyce, Riley and Spike off on their paths for the rest of the season. No Place Like Home introduces Glory and reveal s Dawn's origins as The Key. Tara is thrust into centre stage in Family and Amber Benson is wonderful. Told largely in flashback, Fool For Love details Spike's earlier run-ins with previous Slayers features a great performance from James Marsters and is beautifully shot. Things get serious in Shadow with Joyce discovering that she has a brain tumour, Riley going in for some recreational Vampire activity and Glory sending a big snake after The Key whatever it may be. Listening To Fear sees Riley reaching out to the remnants of The Initiative, but Kristine Sutherland and Tiny Jewish Santa are the real highlights. Into The Woods sees the remnants of The Initiative reaching out to Riley, but it's Brendon's performance that stands out again.

Angel: Somnambulist; Expecting; She; I've Got You Under My Skin; The Prodigal; The Ring; Eternity; Five By Five & Sanctuary; War Zone; Blind Date; To Shanshu In LA; Judgment; Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been?; First Impressions; Untouched; Dear Boy; Guise Will Be Guise; Darla; The Shroud Of Rahmon; The Trial; Reunion
Angel Investigations return to help the hopeless with Somnambulist, the most 'cop show' episode of the series which is chock full of 'detecting' montage and ends Kate Lockley's ignorance of the supernatural. The overnight pregnancy episode is usually a bad idea, but when Cordy is Expecting the result is far more touching. Allegories of female genital mutilation are not common on television and She redresses the balance whilst also giving Alexis Denisof some spectacular pratfalling opportunities. I've Got You Under My Skin is a great example of episode that puts its own spin on a classic horror trope of demonic possession and makes it the lesser of two evils. The parallel narrative of The Prodigal draws comparisons between Angel and Kate's relationship with their respective fathers. Angel's 'birth' and John Mahon's conflicted performance are particularly well done. The Ring is a gladiatorial fight to the death episode, but as usual one that is far better than the competition. Briefly bringing back curseless Angel, Eternity has its cake and eats it. After wreaking havoc in Sunnydale, Faith arrives in Five By Five & Sanctuary on the run and moves quickly from hired assassin to torturer to victim in a two-parter that features wonderful performances from Denisof, David Boreanaz and Eliza Dushku, marks the first time Wolfram & Hart goes on the offensive and more importantly is when Angel really steps out of Buffy's shadow. J. August Richards makes an impressive debut as Gunn in War Zone. Christian Kane's Lindsay has a crisis of confidence in Blind Date and ultimately decides redemption isn't for him, which sets the tone for the Wolfram & Hart episodes to come. The first season finale, To Shanshu In LA, is epic and yet touching, with a surprising cliffhanger ending.
The second season opens with Judgment in which Angel accidentally kills one of the good guys and can't seem to do anything right, but more importantly the late Andy Hallett is wonderful in his first episode as the Host, a character whose juxtaposition of attributes encapsulates Angel as a TV show better than any other. Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been? is a fantastic fifties piece which taps into some good ol’ McCarthyist paranoia. First Impressions brings Gunn further into the fold and gives the new selfless Cordelia a mission. Untouched sees one of Wolfram & Hart’s plans go awry, but only after showing that they are the lesser of the two evils in Bethany's life. The law firm's plot concerning Angel and Darla becomes both clearer and more confusing in Dear Boy. Denisof and Art LaFleur are excellent in the equally excellently named Guise Will Be Guise. What Buffy's Fool For Love (above) was for Spike, so Darla is for…well for Darla. Her history is beautifully told with prodigious amounts of flashback often showing the same scenes as Spike's episode, but from her perspective. The Shroud Of Rahmon is a heist, but it's Denisof and Charisma Carpenter that provide the highlights. Angel undergoes The Trial to save Darla and it's tempting to wonder why he bothers. The last scene is great. Darla and Drusilla's Reunion leads to a massacre worth cheering and then the most-shocking episode ending in the entire series.

Star Trek: Voyager: Blink Of An Eye; Tsunkatse; Live Fast And Prosper; Muse; Fury; Life Line; Unimatrix Zero; Critical Care; Inside Man; Body And Soul; Flesh And Blood
The crew of the USS Voyager watch generations pass on a planet in the Blink Of An Eye in lovely slice of hard SF. Jeri Ryan, J.G. Hertzler and Jeffrey Combs all put in great performances that make Tsunkatse better than yet another-gladiatorial-fight-to-the-death episode has any right to be. Live Fast And Prosper is very enjoyable, punctures Star Trek's pomposity beautifully and the enjoyment of Gregg Daniels character at playing a Vulcan is very funny. B'Elanna find herself as a playwright's Muse and the Greek-chorus plays she inspires are a great device. Kes returns in Fury and Jennifer Lien is wonderful as her bitter older self. Robert Picardo pulls double duty in Life Line and the results are fantastic. In the sixth season finale, Seven visits Unimatrix Zero, the shared virtual world in the subconscious mind of the Borg is a fascinating notion.
The cliffhanger is a massive cheat and robs the Borg of most of their menace, but Part II is saved by wonderful performances from Tim Russ and Susanna Thompson. The Doctor is kidnapped and put to work in Critical Care is another allegorical episode which is a damning indictment of the US health system. Inside Man sees another great appearance by Dwight Schultz as Barclay and also as his ultraconfident holographic alter ego Reg. Ryan's performance as the Doctor inhabiting Seven's Body And Soul is uncanny and very, very funny. The return of the Hirogen and their holographic prey in the TV Movie Flesh And Blood makes comparisons with slavery. The ever reliable Picardo and Roxann Dawson help prevent this episode being too simplistic and reassuringly the self-appointed holographic messiah Iden is a more complex character than he first appears.

Futurama: Why Must I Be A Crustacean In Love?; The Lesser Of Two Evils; Put Your Head On My Shoulder; Raging Bender; A Bicyclops Built For Two; A Clone Of My Own; How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back; The Deep South; Bender Gets Made; Mother's Day; The Problem With Popplers; Anthology Of Interest I; War Is The H-Word; The Honking; The Cryonic Woman
The first episode to centre on Dr. Zoidberg is Why Must I Be A Crustacean In Love? as the Planet Express crew visit his homeworld for what is essentially a great remake of Star Trek's Amok Time with lobsters. Put Your Head On My Shoulder is a great Valentines episode. The Lesser Of Two Evils introduces Bender's 'twin' Flexo which breeds mistrust aboard the Planet Express ship and leads to excessive searching of Leela's underwear drawer, Bender's "little thing called style" and features the great line "No one in New York drove, there was too much traffic." Raging Bender sees Bender become a professional wrestler, but the scenes of Hermes with a brainslug and the foreigner with his "crazy passport" are the highlights. The scenes in A Bicyclops Built For Two set inside the internet and video game are fantastic. How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back is fantastic. The scenes of Hermes 'holiday' and the Bureaucrat song are wonderful. A Clone Of My Own is a wonderful Farnsworth episode which introduces Cubert and features young people using curse words to great effect. The Deep South is a nice diversion as a visit to lost city of Atlanta with a wonderful exposition-covering Chamber of Commerce video narrated by folk-rock troubadour Donovan. Bender Gets Made introduces the Robot Mafia and features the line: "Those are the finest cigars in the universe. I can stink up a whole maternity ward with one of those things". The hilarious The Problem With Popplers owes more than a little to Star Trek's The Trouble With Tribbles and features another brilliant song. Mother's Day concerns mankind's over reliance on technology, the re-invention of the wheel and features possibly the only geriatric supercentarian seduction in animation. The four 'what if' scenarios of Anthology Of Interest I are all great. The Honking is a wonderful mix of werewolf and horror car movie jokes with a great plot twist. On first glance War Is The H-Word is a hybrid of references to M*A*S*H and just about every other war movie, but it also contains a plethora of ball-based gags, a government sponsored suicide bomber and an interesting commentary on homosexuals serving in the armed forces. The Cryonic Woman is a measure of just how well Fry has fitted into 31st century life and how grateful we should be that the series isn't about his on-again-off-again girlfriend of the past thousand years, Michelle.

Marion And Geoff
Each of Rob Brydon's ten minute monologues as recently-separated minicab driver Keith Barrett is a tour de bloody force.

The League Of Gentlemen: Destination: Royston Vasey; Lust For Royston Vasey; A Plague On Royston Vasey; Death In Royston Vasey; Anarchy In Royston Vasey; Royston Vasey And The Monster From Hell; the Christmas Special
More special stuff from The League Of Gentlemen. The nosebleeds storyline of the second series is a far more integral element than the new road was of the first. Papa Lazarou and his circus arrive at Destination: Royston Vasey and find it even stranger than he is. Herr Lipp shares his Lust For Royston Vasey. Pauline lays siege to the Jobcentre and nosebleeds reach epidemic proportions in A Plague On Royston Vasey. Tubbs and Edward begin searching for a no-tail for their son David and find more than they bargained for in Death In Royston Vasey. The town is quarantined causing Anarchy In Royston Vasey, Pauline's siege peters out and the episode has an incredibly bleak ending even for The League Of Gentlemen. It all comes to a head in Royston Vasey And The Monster From Hell with a shotgun wedding and an angry mob, ironically despite their many crimes Tubbs and Edward are innocent of these particular accusations. The unnamed Christmas Special is a great portmanteau tale with a framing story featuring Bernice hearing confessions of sorts on Christmas Eve, with very funny stories for Charlie and Stella, Herr Lipp and Chinnery's grandfather, and setting the tone for the third series.

Farscape: Nerve; The Hidden Memory; The Way We Weren't; Look At The Princess; Won't Get Fooled Again; The Locket; The Ugly Truth, A Clockwork Nebari
This is where Farscape really takes off. Outer space vies for attention with inner. Gigi Edgley is a welcome addition to the cast and Wayne Pygram is fantastic as Scorpius (and Harvey). The Look At The Princess trilogy which begins to show the scope of what Farscape could achieve. Won't Get Fooled Again is a human reaction to A Human Reaction, an epic love story in The Locket, a courtroom drama with subjective testimony in The Ugly Truth and A Clockwork Nebari probably contains the single-most shocking image shown on television ever.

Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends: Hypnosis; South Africa; Gangsta Rap
Louis Theroux turns his focus on some more subcultures. He investigates the world of Hypnosis and with the likes of Marshall Sylver and Ross Jeffries employing it in such cynical ways the results are scary mix of comic and heartbreaking. Louis visits post-Apartheid South Africa and interviews Eugène Terra'Blanche and various other members of white Afrikaner separatist communities and finds a surprising variety between them. Louis investigates the porn, the pimping and the pessimistic promotion of Gangsta Rap, each of which seems worse than its predecessor. The individuals that he meets are fascinating: Mello-T spends more time on his extra-curricular activities, Wild Wayne is a great rap ambassador, Master P's definition of "keeping it real" does him credit, Reece and Bigalow are very endearing lyricists and Theroux's rapping is more impressive than you would expect.

Human Remains: An English Squeak; Slither In; All Over My Glasses; Straight As A Flute; Hairless; More Than Happy
Rob Brydon and Julia Davies are fantastic in each of these six bleakly comic episodes of a mockumentary sitcom that each focus on a different relationship. An English Squeak presents the audience with the aristocratic Flick and Peter living in the shadow of Flick's dead fiancé and a medical condition that prevents their intimacy, but only when her husband is in the room. Slither In provides the least dysfunctional couple in the series with swingers Gordon and Sheila, both keen to talk about their proclivities despite exes, naysayers and a sister in a coma. Steven and Michelle take the next step from their bullying relationship with a "Lady Diane" inspired wedding, the wedding dress shop scene, the ABC of bands game and Spiel, Spindalero and Sausages: All Over My Glasses might just be the funniest half hour of television comedy ever made. Christians and curly sausage casseroles abound in Straight As A Flute, but it's Beverly and Tony's assessment of their neighbours and aubergine hair dye that makes this episode. In Hairless, Fonte and Barne are musicians whose creative output is odd, Fonte has no problem describing the songs of Alanis Morrisette as her own work: "All I’m taking is the lyrics and the tune, that's all I'm taking from Alanis", while Barne reads too much into the psychology of his own compositions. Les and Ray run an increasingly eclectic Brighton boutique in More Than Happy and their tragic history is revealed slowly and the timing as they talk over and contradict one another is perfect, plus the episode features the best wig ever seen on TV.

Black Books: Cooking The Books; Manny's First Day; Grapes Of Wrath; The Blackout; The Big Lock-Out
The first series of the bookshop-based sitcom sets up its three main characters with skill and Dylan Moran, Bill Bailey and Tamsin Grieg are wonderful throughout. Cooking The Books isn't just a fantastic first episode, it's a fantastic episode full stop: the customer with the leather fetish, "and the plug went in some Tizer", Nick the fugitive accountant, Chunky soup, Martin Freeman's interrupted diagnosis, The Little Book Of Calm, the Christians who've never been indoors and Fran's gadget. It's Manny's First Day and he's already struggling to keep his job wrangling with the rules of the shop, the closed sign, Bernard's urinary multi-tasking and David Cann's customer. Grapes Of Wrath is a classic, with its descriptions of shop filth that are almost literary in and of themselves, Kevin Eldon's cleaner is excellent, the onscreen drinking tally and Frankenstein's vineyard are hilarious. The Blackout gives each of the characters their own storyline with great success and Bernard's dinner party faux pas are very, very funny. This divide-and-conquer strategy continues very successfully with The Big Lock-Out which features the funniest use of a Subutteo player in British television…

Jam
Chris Morris creates the bleakest sketch comedy show ever made. Jam is a bold post-modern masterpiece with its particularly innovative uses of editing, grading and sound. Amelia Bullimore, David Cann, Julia Davis, Kevin Eldon and Mark Heap are all fantastic in their many and varied roles. Highlights across the six episodes include: the 4ft Noddycar, the poppadom fight, thick people winning arguments, all Cann's Doctor sketches, Martina's present, the plumber mending the baby, Mr Lizard, abortion coffins, Billy's parents at the Police press conference, the little hoover, Maria, acupuncture, the Lulch's estate agents, "And you should lock up", Ted's laissez faire parents, musical chairs and "Babies don’t cry!?"

Gormenghast
The phrase All-Star Cast is usually not as rewarding as it sounds, but Celia Imrie, John Sessions, Warren Mitchell, Ian Richardson, Neve McIntosh, June Brown, Christopher Lee, Richard Griffiths, Eric Sykes, Windsor Davies, Stephen Fry, Steve Pemberton, Spike Milligan, Gregor Fisher, Cameron Powrie and Andrew N. Robertson are all fantastic in this luxuriant adaptation of the first two of Mervyn Peakes Gormenghast novels.

Now And Again
Twelve episodes of this brilliant series were broadcast in 2000, but I can't remember how this show ended and as it is shamefully unavailable on DVD I may never find out... It probably shouldn't be on this list, but I loved it so it is.

Music
Clinton: Disco And The Halfway To Discontent
The album by Cornershop's side project is a jaunty mix of the usual musical styles with an increased amount of dance flavour included.
Stand out tracks: 'People Power In The Disco Hour', 'Buttoned Down Disco', 'Electric Ice Cream (Miami Jammies)', 'Mr. President', 'Welcome To Tokyo, Otis Clay'

Eels: Daisies Of The Galaxy
The third album is a distinctly lighter affair than its immediate predecessor without bring overly sentimental. Full of simple, yet, beautiful symphonies and self-deprecatingly humorous lyrics.
Stand out tracks: 'Grace Kelly Blues', 'Packing Blankets', 'The Sound Of Fear', 'I Like Birds', 'Flyswatter', 'It's A Motherfucker', 'A Tiger In My Tank', 'A Daisy Through Concrete', 'Wooden Nickels', ' Mr E's Beautiful Blues'

Gomez: Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline
This collection of B-Sides, session tracks and live performances holds together better than most albums. The track selection shows Gomez in a more experimental light and shows the direction they would take with In Our Gun, while songs like 'Bring Your Lovin' Back Here' and 'Flavors' still have that distinctive Gomez sound. It may be controversial to admit it, but I prefer the cover of 'Getting Better' to the original...
Stand out tracks: 'Bring Your Lovin' Back Here', 'Hit On The Head', 'Flavors', '78 Stone Shuffle', 'Shitbag', 'Getting Better'

Lemonjelly: .KY
A compilation of three EPs released by the Electronica duo. Each track features eccentric samples beautifully surrounded by a musical landscape that ebbs and flows wonderfully. 'The Staunton Lick' is fantastic, one of the most accomplished composition ever to arrive in my shell-like.
Stand out tracks: 'In The Bath', 'A Tune For Jack', 'The Staunton Lick', 'Homage To Patagonia', 'Page One', 'Come'

Placebo: Black Market Music
Rockier and more consistent than either of the band's first two albums, Black Market Music is filled with lyrics that eschew the hedonism associated with Placebo and instead seek to question it.
Stand out tracks: 'Taste In Men', 'Days Before You Came', ' Special K', 'Spite & Malice', ' Black-Eyed', 'Blue American', 'Commercial For Levi', 'Narcoleptic', 'Peeping Tom'

Books
The Truth by Terry Pratchett
The advent of movable type leads to the publication of the Discworld's first newspaper and with it investigative journalism. This novel is crammed full of references to the Watergate scandal and becomes a treatise on print media and the presentation of the news. As with many of Pratchett's works this book is oddly prescient and has remained topical in light of the News International phone hacking scandal.

A Local Book For Local People by Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton & Reece Shearsmith
Taking the form of a scrapbook compiled by Tubbs, The League Of Gentlemen's book is horrific and beautiful all at the same time. The tone is set by the dustcover made of human skin and Tubb's naïve observations on the things she has found. Highlights include a tourist's guide to Royston Vasey, editions of the local newspaper, Attatchments dating profiles, a Stump Hole Caverns leaflet, a Look-In article about Crème Brulee, Henry & Ally's Video finder, Herr Lipp's tours, Legz Akimbo (especially Linda's bio), The Curse Of Karrit Poor (ahead of its appearance in the Christmas special, above), a page from "the book" from the charity shop sketches. Comedy tie-in books are rarely this good.

Never Trust A Rabbit by Jeremy Dyson
A thought-provoking collection of twisted and comic short stories.








Slow Down Arthur, Stick To Thirty by Harland Miller
With a title is inspired by a line of dialogue from The Man Who Fell To Earth, this coming of age story is very funny and deals with the horror of wasted potential wonderfully.




Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion by Terry Erdman with Paula M. Block
To say this book is an episode guide doesn't do it justice, this book is the most thorough reference work on this on any other television programme interviewing actors, writers, directors, producers and all manner of crew members, but to a level of depth that is probably unprecedented.

Comics
Doctor Who: The Glorious Dead
The ten-part story The Glorious Dead is epic is all right places, the representations of the Glory are intriguing, the reveal of the Doctor's bedfellow is impressive, the Doctorless chapter is fantastic, the trip through the Doctor's subconscious, the identity of Morningstar and the final twist all make for the best Master story ever.




Games
Escape From Monkey Island
Guybrush Threepwood and his wife Elaine return in the fourth game of the Monkey Island series and they are rendered in 3D graphics for the first time. Reunited with Herman Toothrot, the Voodoo Lady, Murray, Stan and LeChuck. This time around he searches islands old and new for the Ultimate Insult and his quest takes him into the murky world of politics and the bizarre arena of Monkey Kombat. Most importantly the sense of humour is the same as ever.

Recommendations welcome.

A Space Odyssey

To borrow from the title of Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film.

The twenty-first century began with the year that George W. Bush became the US President, the UK foot and mouth crisis struck, the first space tourist was launched and the attacks on New York's World Trade Center took place.

In 2001, I took my A-Levels and started University, whilst there I performed in a production of Three Sisters.

These are a few of my favourite things from 2001:

Film
Ghost World
Not so much a place, as a state of mind. Two girls who are living proof that being cool is for losers. Thora Birch and Steve Buscemi are fantastic in this adaptation of Daniel Clowes comic. Here's the trailer.





The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring
JRR Tolkien's 'unfilmable' novel comes to the big screen and it's an absolute triumph. Every detail feels right and the casting is excellent across the board: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Sean Bean. I was working in a cinema when this film was released and it was depressing how many audience members walked out at the end completely unaware that this was only part one of a larger story. Here's the trailer.

The Curse Of The Jade Scorpion
Woody Allen returns to the screwball comedies of his earlier career and leads a great cast with some great gags, but combines it with stunning period style in this beautifully shot noir (in glorious colour). Here's the trailer.




Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Disney goes all Jules Verne on two mighty quests: the first to discover lost Atlantis and the second to revitalise its traditional cel animation department. The animation is great and the stark straight lines of pre-World War I technology are a refreshing sight. The story is more adult than you would expect, the evil is capitalism and reassuringly there are no songs. Here's the trailer.

Planet Of The Apes
Another film that is not as bad as its reputation. Tim Roth and Paul Giamatti give great ape in this 'reimagining', Danny Elfman's music is amazing and the ending is a great callback to the original novel by Pierre Bouille. Here's the trailer.




The Royal Tenenbaums
Wes Anderson’s family comedy-drama is fastidiously constructed and as weighty as it is whimsical. The cast are all wonderful, the soundtrack is astonishing and the humour laced with irony. Here's the trailer.





Amélie
Jean-Pierre Jeunet's quirky, colourful and whimsical tale has a sardonic seam of humour running through it. The French title, Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, translates as The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain which seems so fitting it's odd it was dropped for other languages. Here'a the trailer.


TV
Spaced: Back; Change; Mettle; Help; Gone; Dissolution; Leaves
Daisy is Back from her travels in Asia and the finest sitcom of the twenty-first century returns. Change and not the small kind as Tim and Daisy both need to look for work (and Jeillo Edwards says "Phantom Menace" like no other). Daisy, Brian and Tim & Mike all have their Mettle tested in a One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest-esque restaurant, an art installation and Robot Wars respectively (Reece Shearsmith’s practically phonetic delivery of "Oh da ah hadden fort ah dat" is a particular highlight). Tyres returns in Dark Star Comics heist episode Help. Camden bar crawl (and mime gunfight) episode Gone is fantastic and Peter Serafinowicz is wonderful. Things fall apart impressively in Dissolution. The last episode is wonderful and yet it Leaves the audience begging for more. The more I write about it the less I do it justice. The scripts are replete with geeky references, but also full of heart. Edgar Wright’s shooting and editing style and fantastic performances from Simon Pegg, Jessica Stevenson, Mark Heap, Nick Frost and Julia Deakin come together to make a TV show that is more than a TV show, it's practically a way of life. They’ve done something bloody spectacular.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Triangle; Checkpoint; Blood Ties; Crush; I Was Made To Love You; The Body; Forever; Intervention; Tough Love; Spiral; The Weight Of The World; The Gift; Bargaining; After Life; Flooded; Life Serial; All The Way; Once More, With Feeling; Tabula Rasa; Smashed; Wrecked
Nicholas Brendon, Alyson Hannigan and Emma Caulfield are wonderful as the now-Rileyless Scooby Gang finds themselves subject to a love Triangle or two. The Watcher's Council arrive in Checkpoint and their interviews of the Scoobies are a great device and seeing Buffy get her way is wonderful. Dawn discovers her origins in Blood Ties and Michelle Trachtenberg does ample justice to this adoption parable and Clare Kramer's reaction to Glory's teleportation is priceless. Crush examines Spike's relationships with the women in his life and finds them all wanting. Relationship issues remain under the microscope in I Was Made To Love You, Shonda Farr is wonderful as ‘perfect girlfriend’ April, Buffy deciding she is better off boyfriendless and seeing Joyce feeling well enough to date makes the ending all the more poignant. The Body is quite simply one of the best episodes of television. Ever. The entire cast are fantastic, the lack of music and choice of shots really add to the isolation of grief and the dialogue is beautiful throughout. Dawn's attempt at resurrection in Forever owes a lot to The Monkey's Paw and features great performances from Joel Grey and Amber Benson. In Intervention, it's Sarah Michelle Gellar's turn to pull double duty and her turn as the Buffybot is pitched perfectly and the last scene is wonderful. Tough Love is an other chance for Hannigan and Benson to shine and begins the mad dash to the season finale. After years of being an unused option, run and hide is finally the order of the day in Spiral and the resulting car chase action sequences are great. With The Weight Of The World on her shoulders Buffy falls into a catatonic state and it's great to see Willow take charge in her absence. The epic season finale (and hundredth episode no less) arrives and The Gift is another great ensemble show with everyone at their best, but Gellar is fantastic as Buffy chooses between death or Glory. The last shot features the best epitaph ever.
Buffy comes back from the dead in Season Six opener Bargaining and Brendon, Hannigan and Gellar each put in another fantastic performance as the show takes yet another turn for the darker. After Life is another great ensemble piece that concerns the consequences of Buffy's resurrection and the reveal of where she thought she was in the meantime is heartbreaking. Buffy has always been about using monsters as analogies for real life problems, in Flooded the real life problems are big enough already and Gellar is great as put upon Buffy. The episode also introduces the Trio, who return in Life Serial to test Buffy in different ways, all good but it's Jonathan's time loop that is the most entertaining. The by now bi-annual Halloween episode All The Way isn't as much fun as its forebears, but it ably sets up the themes for the rest of the season. I’m no expert on musicals, but Once More, With Feeling is easily the most engaging I’ve seen. The songs are all great and retain Whedon's knack for dialogue in the lyrics and Caulfield, Benson, James Marsters, Anthony Stewart Head and Hinton Battle are all wonderful. The amnesia episode is an other TV staple and Buffy's offering, Tabula Rasa, is an other great ensemble piece with some very funny scenes of the Scoobies without their memories and then a very sad montage after they remember. After Giles leaves and Tara breaks up with Willow, the various relationships on the show all take a hit of some sort in Smashed, Elizabeth Anne Allen returns as a de-ratted Amy and Willow paint the town red and Buffy and Spike shag a house down. Willow's magic addiction and Buffy's denial reach their lowest ebb in Wrecked. The tone of the season so far is more adult and it looks like things will definitely get worse before they get better.

Angel: Redefinition; Blood Money; Happy Anniversary; The Thin Dead Line; Reprise; Epiphany; Disharmony; Dead End; Belonging; Over The Rainbow; Through The Looking Glass; There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb; Heartthrob; That Vision Thing; That Old Gang Of Mine; Carpe Noctem; Fredless; Billy; Offspring; Quickening; Lullaby; Dad
With both Angel Investigations and Wolfram & Hart in crisis, Redefinition moves the goalposts again and Angel turns mute and broody. Julia Lee and Sam Anderson in Blood Money and it’s great to see Lindsay and Lilah running back and forth, back and forth. Happy Anniversary brings The Host centre stage and really starts you thinking Andy Hallett should be a regular. The events of The Thin Dead Line bring the Angel-less Angel Investigations closer together than ever before and a chilling last scene between Cordy and her ex-boss. Angel finally hits rock bottom in Reprise and Sam Anderson puts in another wonderful appearance. After a great opening sequence wrong footing long-term Buffy fans, Epiphany is a definite turning point as rock bottom hits back and Angel swallows his pride and gets the gang back together. It takes comedy episode Disharmony to cement the new dynamic, with great scenes of misunderstanding between Cordelia and Harmony and then again when Cordy phones Willow, and the Vampire pyramid scheme stuff is really well handled. The aptly-named-in-more-ways-than-one Dead End is a great send off for Christian Kane and really marks the end of an era. The rest of season two takes a very different turn as Los Angeles receives unexpected guests from Pylea, The Host's home dimension in Belonging and it's great to see him (now-named Lorne) fitting in so well as a part of Team Angel and absolutely certain he's never going home again. Until he's forced to, with Cordelia Over The Rainbow and the rest of the gang attempting to mount a rescue, Charisma Carpenter is hilarious on her journey from ‘Cowslave’ to 'cursed one' to ruling monarch. The Pylean quartet continues with Through The Looking Glass which features great performances from Amy Acker and Mark Lutz, but the highlight is easily the dances of Lorne's brother Numfar. There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb rounds off both the season and the jaunt to Pylea with another ensemble episode that gives every one enough to do and back in LA ends with a surprise Sunnydale visitor.
Angel returns for a third season with Heartthrob, an episode about love and grief, but the A story takes a back seat to the cameos: Fred is now part of the team, but is only coaxed out of her room long enough to be sent back during a fight, Vampire hunter Holtz who we've heard mention of before and pregnant Darla. Carpenter is wonderful in That Vision Thing, but David Denman's deadpan Skip steals the show. That Old Gang Of Mine concerns the shades of grey that the show inhabits and Steve Niel's Huge & Horrible demon couldn't look more helpless if it tried. Carpe Noctem is a great twist on a bodyswapping story, throws up some very funny scenes and really gives Boreanaz something to enjoy. The aptly-named Fredless sees Fred attempting to avoid her parents, the scenes of Angel Investigations being suspicious of the Burkles and vice versa are great, and Trish's "Did I get it?" is adorable. The misogyny-is-bad message of Billy may not be subtle, but Cordy's reaction to it is great. Darla returns to LA in Offspring and sets up the rest of the season (and arguably rest of the series as well) with great scenes of Wes and Gunn's scroll heist, Fred's politeness to Darla and Sahjhan's lighting a cigarette. Everyone is after Darla's baby in Quickening, but it's Sahjhan and Cyril that are the highlights. Lullaby is a great last hurrah for Julie Benz. The highlights of Dad are Angel's confrontation with Linwood, the hospital scene and Lorne moving into the hotel.

Star Trek: Voyager: Shattered; Prophecy; The Void; Workforce; Human Error; Q2; Author, Author; Natural Law; Homestead; Renaissance Man; Endgame
The seventh and final season continues as the USS Voyager is Shattered into several different time periods and Chakotay travels between them revisiting several episodes from previous seasons in a story like that feels like a 'greatest hits' compilation. Prophecy is a packed episode, which sees the return of some old school Klingons travelling for generations unaware of the truce with the Federation akin to the Japanese holdouts after World War II, the belief that B’Elanna's unborn baby is a messiah, the cynical and political use to which that concept is put, as well as a disease which all the Klingons expect eventually to succumb to and Neelix's enthusiastic efforts in his relations with the Klingons. It sounds like it should be too much for one episode, but it works wonderfully. Voyager is trapped in The Void, where ships compete for resources and piracy is rife, Janeway forms an alliance of vessels to cooperate in an escape attempt in a nice little episode. The two-parter Workforce is wonderfully sinister. A Q episode always gives Star Trek a shot in the arm and Q2 is no exception, John and Keegan de Lancie are fantastic as father and son team, Q and Q. Author, Author begins as a comedy as the Doctor writes a thinly veiled roman à clef holoprogram about the crew of the 'USS Vortex' and takes a crueller twist in the revisions by Paris, before turning into a treatise on the ethical concerns and questions of holographic rights and authorship. Robert Picardo is hilarious in comedy and compelling in tragedy in equal measure and the last scene is very funny. Natural Law is a nice Prime Directive sidestepping episode about the cultural contamination of a primitive society and the decision to prevent their potential exploitation at the hands of their more advanced neighbours. Ethan Phillips' performance lifts Homestead above expectations and Neelix's farewell scene brings a lump to the throat. Almost everybody gets a turn at playing the Doctor in Renaissance Man, as he is forced to impersonate several members of Voyager's senior staff, this episode is a nice slice of comedy hi-jinx and the Doctor's confessions as he fears the end is near are very funny. Series finale Endgame borrows story elements from the admittedly excellent episodes Timeless, Dark Frontier and All Good Things…, but also manages to be more than the sum of these parts. The highlights include the scenes set in the alternate future after Voyager's return via the long route, Dwight Schultz as the elder Barclay, the Doctor’s chosen name, Vaughn Armstrong makes a perfect Klingon, Torres and Paris' differing reactions to her false labour, the USS Voyager's explosive entrance to the Alpha Quadrant and Kate Mulgrew is great as both Janeways. Having its cake and eating it too was the best possible ending for Star Trek: Voyager.

Enterprise: Broken Bow; The Andorian Incident; Cold Front
Two hundred and twenty seven years before Voyager's triumpant return home, Broken Bow, the pilot episode of Star Trek's prequel series goes more boldly than most and features great performances from Scott Bakula, John Billingsley, Jolene Blalock, Connor Trinneer and John Fleck. The Suliban are fantastic villains and their temporal cold war is a brilliant concept. The Andorian Incident introduces Jeffrey Combs as Shran and in one of the bravest innovations of this series this episode gives us the first indication that after thirty five years of television Vulcans might not be as benign as we were lead to believe. Cold Front heats up the temporal cold war and gives the series Matt Winston's Daniels at his enigmatic best.

Futurama: Parasites Lost; Amazon Women In The Mood; Bendless Love; The Day The Earth Stood Stupid; That's Lobstertainment!; The Birdbot Of Ice-Catraz; The Luck Of The Fryrish; The Cyber House Rules; Insane In The Mainframe; Bendin' In The Wind; Time Keeps On Slippin'; I Dated A Robot; Roswell That Ends Well; A Tale Of Two Santas
The Planet Express crew take a Fantastic Voyage-esque trip into the bowels of Fry's bowels in Parasites Lost, an episode which makes the relationship between Fry and Leela more complex and manages to be very funny indeed. Most SF series have done the female-dominated society story at some point, but few deal with clichés as well as Amazon Women In The Mood, plus Zapp Brannigan singing 'Leela' to the tune of 'Lola' by The Kinks is worth the price of entry alone. Bendless Love examines a love triangle of the most tangled variety. The Day The Earth Stood Stupid is phenomenal: the Hypnotoad is fantastic, the Nibblonians are wonderful and Fry's defeat of the Brainspawn is very satisfying. Zoidberg's comedy yearnings lead to That's Lobstertainment! and the making of The Magnificent Three, but it's Bender's brief tenures as Boiler and as the movie's Executive Producer that provide the highlights. The Birdbot Of Ice-Catraz is another example of an environmental episode of the sort that Futurama excels at. Told largely in flashback, The Luck Of The Fryrish, is a beautiful episode about loss with comedy graverobbing. Adoption is "a great way to have a kid without having sex" and Bender takes full advantage leading to a hilarious tale of child neglect in The Cyber House Rules. A spell in a robot asylum Insane In The Mainframe is a horrific, degrading and dehumanising experience for Fry which owes more than a little to One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and features some real time ageing. Beck is great in Bendin' In The Wind and Cylon & Garfunkel are hilarious. Time keeps on slipping in Time Keeps On Slippin' and the jumps in time through the wonderfully pointless game between the Harlem Globetrotters and Earth's atomic monsters and pop starlet Wendy's career are hilarious, but the ending is heartbreaking. I Dated A Robot features another great episode of The Scary Door and the eponymously-titled public information film within is fantastic. Roswell That Ends Well is a lot of fun as the Planet Express crew accidentally travel back through time to 1947 and crash in Roswell. It’s great to see Zoidberg flirting with President Truman, his subsequent autopsy (Zoidberg's, not Truman's) and Fry messing around with own genepool. A Tale Of Two Santas is another great Xmas episode with another great song and a cameo from Jesus.

Farscape: Liars, Guns & Money; Die Me Dichotomy & Season Of Death; Self-Inflicted Wounds; Incubator; Scratch ‘N Sniff; Infinite Possibilities; Revenging Angel
The show gets darker, more adult and more playful. The three-parter Liars, Guns & Money brings back loads of first season guest stars and sets them all against Scorpius, while the second season finale and its follow up show that you can't really keep him down and that everything has a price. Self-Inflicted Wounds sets up a sense of loss which cuts deeper than expected. Dividing Moya's crew in two and alternating episodes between them gives a greater variety in story. Incubator explores Scorpius’ back story and some how keeps him enigmatic, Scratch ‘N Sniff is an editing masterpiece akin to a Fear And Loathing On Lomo and the two part Infinite Possibilities brings the two Crichtons storyline to a surprisingly downbeat close. Back on Moya, Revenging Angel sees Crichton dreaming in the style of a Looney Tunes cartoon.

The Armando Iannucci Shows
The funniest comedy show of the twenty-first century (go on world, you have 89 years to prove me wrong). Unfortunately for all concerned it was broadcast in the wake of 9/11 and mostly sank without trace. Highlights include Hugh talking about life in the good old days when the internet was in black and white, the village which employs a sniper, Walking With Nazis, the British theatre's fundraising attempts in Africa and swearing in cress.

Dr. Terrible's House Of Horrible: And Now The Fearing…, Frenzy Of Tongs, Curse Of The Blood Of The Lizard Of Doom, Scream Satan Scream!
Steve Coogan is fantastic in all seven of his roles across these six episodes. And Now The Fearing… is seventies style portmanteau horror of the Amicus breed, Frenzy Of Tongs is Doctor Who's The Talons Of Weng-Chiang with extra Fu Manchu and crustaceans instead of rats, Graham Crowden and Simon Pegg are great in Curse Of The Blood Of The Lizard Of Doom, and Scream Satan Scream! is more Wenchfinder than Witchfinder General.

A Small Summer Party
This prequel to Marion & Geoff is essentially a dramatisation of events described by Keith in that series of a party held in honour of the titular characters and their affair is uncovered and from the brilliant twist of its teaser to Keith’s bizarre parting gift made up entirely of footage filmed by attendees.

Brass Eye: 2001 Special
Chris Morris' brilliant 'Paedo-geddon' satire is less about making light of paedophilia and more about the abuse of the public's moral indignation in news broadcasts regarding paedophilia. Phrases like "depravitivity", "intergenerational sex" and "makes your child smell like hammers" abound. The special features great performances from Simon Pegg, Julia Davis, Doon MacKichan and Morris himself, while appearances by self-appointed paedophilia experts Gary Lineker, Sebastian Coe, Dr. Fox, Richard Blackwood, Philippa Forrester, Kate Thornton and Phil Collins reveal how little consideration these celebrities put into such bold claims. Any doubts about the validity of this special was surely dispelled by this damning coverage from the Daily Star.

When Louis Met The Hamiltons
Louis Theroux gets an incredible scoop as a bizarre sex scandal while he is interviewing Neil and Christine Hamilton, but the real beneficiaries are the Hamiltons themselves. Christine's flirty banter, Neil's awkward humour and Granny's voice of reason allow the viewer behind the façade, humanising the pair that were previously painted as mere caricatures. The documentary also provides an insight into the workings of the press.

Music
Pulp: We Love Life
The seventh (and to date the final) Pulp album takes the band into ever more contemplative mood. Embracing nature and yet maintaining a reassuringly wry outlook on life. Lyrically as impressive as ever, but more melodic than its predecessors. 'Weeds II (The Origin Of The Species)' looks at the themes of 'Mis-Shapes' through a This Is Hardcore lens and arrives at "Do your dance, do your funny little dance". 'The Night That Minnie Timperly Died' is a fantastic single that never was.
Stand Out Tracks: 'Weeds', 'Weeds II (The Origin Of The Species)', 'The Night That Minnie Timperly Died', The Trees , 'Wickerman', 'I Love Life', 'The Birds In Your Garden', 'Bob Lind (The Only Way Is Down)', 'Bad Cover Version', 'Roadkill', 'Sunrise'

Gorillaz: Gorillaz
The animated hip-hop dance Latin punk dub reggae electronic acid rock fusion band’s eponymous first album is a great fusion of hip-hop dance Latin punk dub reggae electronic acid and rock.
Stand Out Tracks: 'Tomorrow Comes Today', 'New Genious (Brother)', 'Clint Eastwood', 'Double Bass', 'Rock The House', '19-2000', 'M1 A1', 'Clint Eastwood (Ed Case Remix)'

The Strokes: Is This It
The zeal and intensity of The Strokes' debut album is incredible. The simplicity of the production feels so fresh and as if recorded live. Staccato rhythms and guitar solos abound unashamedly but nothing seems out of place or self indulgent, while the lyrics tell tales of city lives and city loves they also have a sense of being out of place.
Stand Out Tracks: 'Is This It', 'The Modern Age', 'Soma', 'Barely Legal', 'Someday', 'Last Nite', 'Hard To Explain', 'New York City Cops', 'Trying Your Luck', 'Take It Or Leave It'

Eels: Souljacker
The band's fourth album is less autobiographical than its predecessors and turns its focus instead towards circus freaks and the dispossessed. Exhibiting E's usual lyrical gift and distinctive Eels sound while combining them with luscious string arrangements, the sounds of children's toys and elaborate piano.
Stand Out Tracks: 'Dog Faced Boy', 'That’s Not Really Funny', 'Fresh Feeling', 'Woman Driving, Man Sleeping', 'Souljacker, Part I', 'World Of Shit', 'Souljacker, Part II'

Books
Thief Of Time by Terry Pratchett
Procrastination is said to be the Thief Of Time, but the creation on the Disc of the first truly accurate clock threatens to stop time itself. The Auditors Of Reality are a great concept and it's reassuring that they are as fallable as the rest of us. The novel is replete with allusions as varied as The Matrix, James Bond, Reservoir Dogs and the Book of Revelations. the pages are populated by wonderful characters old and new: The History Monks, the Auditors in Human form, Susan Sto Helit and the fifth Horseman of the Apoc(r)alypse (who left before they became famous) among them.

The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett
Beautifully illustrated throughout by Paul Kidby. On the face of it this seems like a blend of the modern Discworld stories with the more fantasy-based earlier in the run, but actually that does it a disservice. This is a story about rules, playing with the reader’s expectations of narrative structure and drawing attention to these conventions as conspicuously as possible with very funny results. Shorter than the usual Discworld fare and yet still crammed full of characters, Leonard of Quirm is beautifully handled and Harry Dread, a villain that never made it big is a great new addition.

The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett
The first Discworld novel aimed at children certainly doesn’t condescend. Maurice, his educated rodents and a piper named Keith have a racket along the lines of The Pied Piper Of Hamelin, but with talking animals and added cynicism. The rat king is terrifying, Malicia's ideas of proper storytelling are great, the scene between Darktan and the Mayor is wonderful.

Carter Beats The Devil by Glen David Gold
The fictional biography of Charles Carter, stage magician and suspect in the murder of the 29th President of the United States is compelling, dark, intricate, witty and mischievous. In the 1920's at the height of his fame Carter meets Harry Houdini, Philo Farnsworth, the Marx Brothers and of course President Harding in a richly drawn depiction of the era. The overriding themes of Carter's life are those of escape and wonder. Using both those elements to great effect, Carter the Great's stage act does not disappoint even on the page and manages to live up to the lofty ambition of the title.

Comics
Fray: Big City Girl; The Calling; Ready, Steady…; Out Of The Past; The Worst Of It
Joss Whedon has done it again, but Buffy spinoff Fray is much more than just a Melaka the Vampire Slayer-style retread. His future slayer, Melaka Fray, is a worthy successor to Sunnydale’s heroine, but in a great exercise of world building, Melaka's world has no magic in it and she has no idea that she is the slayer. Just as one of Buffy's strongest assets was those cast around the slayer, Fray's dramatis personae is another superb array of characters: Urkonn, Gunther and Loo are all great. Whedon's script is fantastic an the lexicon is part-Buffy, part-Firefly and yet still fresh. The vibrancy of Karl Moline and Andy Owens artwork gives Fray a real identity. Fray is fantastic.

Doctor Who: Ophidious; Beautiful Freak; The Way Of All Flesh
The strip turns full colour in Ophidious and introduces Destrii and ends with a shocking twist on a bodyswap story. Izzy tries to come to terms with what has happened to her in Beautiful Freak, a fantastic two-hander character piece set entirely within the TARDIS. The Doctor and Izzy meet Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera on a visit to Mexico in 1941 on the day of the dead in The Way Of All Flesh and the parallels drawn between Destrii's current identity crisis and Kahlo's accident are very nice.

Online
Doctor Who: Death Comes To Time 1
Sylvester McCoy returns as the Seventh Doctor once more in Dan Freedman's bold reinvention of Doctor Who. Death Comes To Time's first episode At The Temple Of The Fourth is epic, maybe self consciously so, but this sense of scale is great. McCoy, Stephen Fry, Kevin Eldon and Leonard Fenton are all wonderful and Lee Sullivan's accompanying illustrations look great. It's unbelievable that Radio 4 turned this down and very unfortunate that it isn't still available online.

Wikipedia
The free online encyclopedia written by volunteers. People knock it because anyone can edit it, but that's precisely what makes it great. Millions of articles, in 282 languages, often updated within seconds of news events making it often the most up-to-date site available on any given subject.

Art
Time And Relative Dimensions In Space by Mark Wallinger
I love how it echoes this scene from the 1979 Doctor Who story City Of Death.







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