I thought it was reasonably good. For me that amounts to a huge positive because, on the whole I haven't been able to stand Dr Who since I was a kid. Not because it was/is frightening [I was never one to watch from behind the sofa or hold my hand to my face, like I'm supposed to have] but more that I found the meandering stories, that seemed to be driven by whimsy and circumstance, quite tiresome. The quality of the productions always put me off too. I'm afraid you have to blame programmes like the original Star Trek which, although itself made on a relative shoestring, just looked so much sharper and pacier. I was a child of the Space Age, not Victoriana, and what was cool at the time was exploring Space. Having said that, the premise of the Doctor being a time traveller always appealed to me because he's obviously a nod towards the HG Wells character in The Time Machine. Plus, I've invariably liked anything with Peter Capaldi in it, right back to Local Hero, so I gave this a go. And lo and behold, it wasn't bad. After the opening scenes it got a little bogged down, in my opinion, while the running issue of Clara not being able to adapt to the new Doctor, was established, and his own adjustment to a new persona, but after that it got underway. It was well made, well acted and well written. I can't really ask for too much more. Although the time travel premise is fine by me, by staying true to the Dr Who flavour, they still don't get it quite right for me, but perhaps I'm coming round slowly after all these years.
Why did I think Monopoly would be a good way for the family to connect and get along with before school holiday are over? The kids are happy, but the Mrs is livid with me after a row about rent turned personal.
I think Capaldi will be excellent. A more serious Doctor, perhaps? Risk is a good game, but the box always splits and the pieces end up leaking out and you can't be bothered to get it out of the cupboard to put them back and they often end up in the Hoover. Monopoly always goes on too long and once you have started to lose it's a very tedious and slow death. Never play it with more than 4 players unless you have no plans for whole day.
Much more fun to play the Portsmouth version.....you don't pay any rent and buy caravans! please log in to view this image
Serious question ok ? With the darker nights starting to draw in , can anyone suggest an interesting board game that two can happily play ? Sci fi preferably ? *** THIS IS A SERIOUS QUESTION ***
Hungry Hippos is a laugh...can be played with 2, though better when 4 play. Can get aggressive. N.B. Disinfect your computers...I've been coughing and spluttering all over my keyboard
What's wrong with Lidl? It's cheap, and probably less chavy than Asda or Tesco. Less pretentious than Waitrose too. Though I think Sainsbury's has the best mix of being relatively cheap while not being too chavy
I used to like Blake's Seven. It was like watching Crossroads for the stage sets and an amateur production of Gilbert and Sullivan. The story lines were generally good though.
So the set shaking when an actor went near a wall didn't give it away I'm wondering if it was filmed live, because they didn't seem to correct the wild eyed looks when someone messed up the script.
Nothing at all wrong with Lidl or Aldi. In fact, their European sourced food stuffs are far better in terms of what they actually taste like, without paying a premium. Anyone who still does their main shopping at places like Tesco is just throwing money away and sacrificing flavour, in my opinion. And articles in consumer magazines back that up. I like that fact that all cultures [and all classes if we're going to play that class card] drop into Lidl and Aldi.
And don't forget Poundland...anyone who buys toothpaste, shampoo, aluminium foil and other basics elsewhere is mad. And go to Poundland if you need basic DIY stuff as well...WD40 for £1 for example.
By the way, am I late in my appreciation of the excellent David Sedaris..? http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03lnprh
