"No, Not the Mind Probe!!?!"

Well, new X-Files was on here in Blighty last night, after my months of fevered speculation and anticipation I naturally made sure I caught it. And did it live up to my expections?

As ever, for me a pithy comment will never suffice when an epic rambling dissection is an option, and with that Wordpress thingy I started a while back and still haven't made much use of, I thought, why not indeed?

BEWARE - SPOILERS!!

https://jjpor.wordpress.com/2016/02/09/x-traordinay-rendition-the-x-files-2016-premiere-my-struggle-spoilers-abound/

Tl:dr - Nothing would have, tbh, but I liked it a great deal. At the same time, I can understand completely the reasons some others have expressed for not being as enamoured with it. So yeah - looking forward to next week's now :D

EDIT: In case you're now scratching your head in puzzlement (as you can no longer watch the embedded video), it was a trailer for the new X-Files miniseries which is due to air in January 2016 and which, as you may imagine, I am very, very excited/anxious about. Except now it's gone, seemingly as part of some sort of recherché advertising strategy on the part of the makers.

This article may shed light on the matter (you can also watch a new trailer there with some of the same footage as the old one):

http://www.cnet.com/news/mulder-pops-the-question-in-latest-x-files-teaser/

How the...flip did I not know that William Russell was in The Great Escape before seeing him dragged out of a tunnel by a German guard earlier today?!

Alas, the Luftwaffe dude did not exclaim "Hande hoch, Chesterfield!"

Pre-Who, too, as Wiki informs me the film was released in June 1963 - no wonder David McCallum looks about twelve!

In other news, Last Christmas was imho very good indeed - "Sweet Papa Crimbo!"

...was a fairly whacked-out cartoon they used to show on Children's BBC back in the early 90s. It was about this alien planet (I assume) where there was, well, a lot of ocean. A bit like Earthsea or somewhere. And pirates. And "dark water", which was like this Lovecraftian abomination from the Beyond, one part oil slick one part The Blob, which was slowly eating said planet and generally interfering with the kewl adventures of the various pirates. Oh, and there was some likely young Chosen One looking for lost amulets or something in order to fulfil his Destiny, and possibly do something about the dark water. It was actually better than I've probably just made it sound.

That, however, has little or nothing to do with this week's episode of New Doctor Who...

It is a truth universally acknowledged (well, that might be overstating it a tad) that you cannot truly know yourself until you have been put under some sort of existential pressure. It is only in the moment of crisis, this somewhat overdramatic take on human nature posits, that somebody fully understands who they are and the things of which they are capable. I do not think I am exaggerating when I say that I experienced such a moment a few minutes from the end of Dark Water...

( Mucho SPOILERS and raw, emotional truth under the cut! )

Anyway, that's enough from me. Let's wait until Saturday and then you can all watch me trying to eat those last words there. ;)

Twenty years ago today.

( X-Day. )

Astonished and saddened this afternoon to read that one of my pop-cultural touchstones Rik Mayall - Lord Flashheart, amongst many other things - has passed away today. No word as to cause yet, but 56 is too young in any case. My thoughts go out to his family.

One thing he did that I haven't seen mentioned in any of the articles and obituaries that are online now, but which stuck very vividly in my mind, was his "reading" (more like slapstick performance-art re-enactment) of Roald Dahl's George's Marvellous Medicine on Jackanory back in the day. I remember it being an absolutely frenetic, bravura sort of performance that was probably wasted on the kiddly-winks such as myself who were watching it.

Less than 24 hours to go, at least here in the UK, until Eleven bites the big one and Mr Peter Capaldi takes up the Doctorly mantle. In the meantime, please allow me to extend the best wishes of the season - and of whichever midwinter holiday you may or may not be celebrating - to all of you. Have a good one. :)

And thinking of Eleven, and my own sadness tinged with excitement concerning his impending demise, I thought I'd just run through eleven of my favourite Eleven stories and why I like them:

( 11 Eleven Stories )

There were certainly a number of others that would have made the list had it been longer, or had I been compiling it on a different day. The only reason The Day of the Doctor didn't make it is because I don't think it counts as purely an Eleven story...and because I'm still recovering from it a month later and can't really offer an objective assessment as yet. I'm sure all of you will have your own that you would have included in such a list while being quietly appalled by some of my choices. Who fandom - I hope it never changes. :) Please feel free to discuss any serious omissions I may have made in the comments to this post.

I can't shake the image of that bit at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, with that knight and Count Scarlioni and so on:

"He chose...poorly."

Look, it was the only pun I could think of, okay?

( SPOILERY musings follow... )