How do you spot a creepy troll... Announce the 13:th Doctor.

So i am going to make this short and sweet... 

Most of the people i have seen complaining about the new person playing the Doctor are trolls... They have no agenda or interest in the actual thing. They just like to stir shit up and get a sociopathic rise out of others feeling distress. 

Sadly they create a vicious circle of negative reinforcement. Their childish antics radiating way beyond what they them self can even understand. 

So don´t feed this little piles of human feces, do not give them anything to react to. If you can, just report them for flame-baiting. 

I´l get back to the actual new doctor once i see the new episodes. 

But here is my stance.... 

the GENDER of a fucking time-traveling alien that can live multiple lives by regenerating their body is irrelevant. The representation value that the choice of the new Doctor has is significant.  

Go forth and conqueer. 

The new Top Gear. Life after Clarkson.

So I was sitting here thinking about what my next post should be about. At first I leaned towards how most mobile games tugs on my nerve with the bait and switch tactics of making everything harder to get the longer the game is out. But I felt it was both a dated topic and that I did not have much more to say about it than that. So I will leave it with… “Dear mobile game designers… Fuck you”.

So I went back to the drawing board, hence the lateness of this post (but if you are a regular… and I use that term loosely… reader this will in fact be an early post as it has not been weeks or months since the last one.) But I simply decided to talk about Top Gear, especially the new series that just wrapped a short season. Let me first make it clear that this is not the Clarkson era Top Gear, and I am very pleased with it. Enough DNA left to make it recognizable as Top Gear but a new dynamic and enough changes to inject some vitality in to a show that had grown staler than a month old loaf of bread.

Because let us be serious for a while. The old show was so predictable that you could predict each down to the joke. The car reviews were still good but the rest was cringe worthy at best and desperate for the most.

So this new show brings in a new set of talent since Clarkson made his exit with the other two stooges. The setup is much more reminiscent of the competing UK motorshow Fifth Gear. Beyond the core duo of Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc taking the place of Clarkson, Hammond and May an expanded cast including a bunch of people I have no idea who they are… Apart from Sabine Schmitz do make the show have a bit more variety.

Beyond that most things remain the same, gone is the news segment, pretty much the only part of the old show I still enjoyed. And no longer having “a star in a reasonably priced car” they have “two stars in a rally-cross car” a segment that is about as hit or miss as the old one but at least it is something. Beyond that the show kept its car reviews of cars you will never even get to dream about and the story based challenges like “is a car, a bike or public transport faster across city X”.

Matt LeBlanc of course deliver a spot on impersonation of Matt LeBlanc and as expected by a seasoned actor hit all the beats. A sort of safe and toned down Clarkson. Big thumbs up from me. Chris Evans for me is not as good of a fit but I am sure that once he have a season or two beneath the belt he will stop chafing in the role. (Edit: Shortly after posting this i found out that Chris Evans decided to not continue on with Top Gear) The banter is still good and there is a warmth to it. BBC have toned down the toxicity that came to mark the later season of the Clarkson era and seem to work towards having the crew being more including and well… behave less like arsehats. Now I know some people liked the “edge” in the classic anti-authority vibe if sticking it to the norms and “PC Police”. But having Clarkson… A smart man… Acting like a punch drunk baboon for cheap laughs got old in the end.

This new Top Gear is very much a modern production, designed to offend no-one or at least as few is one can. But it was in my mind needed, the show had to be reeled back in before it was given some slack again. I am sure that BBC will now put the writers and showrunners to task going over the feedback and tweaking the show for the next season.

We fear change as Garth Algar put it. But sometimes change is needed and I feel that Top Gear was in need of such change. My recommendation is to give the new show a chance, go in with an open mind and enjoy the show for what it is. 

Elementary he said… Sherlock and the abominable bride (spoiler free)

When viewing BBC´s Sherlock one always have to go in with the mindset of enjoying a rare but small bit of bit of confection This modern adaptation of A.C Doyle´s master detective is in many ways one of a kind. Now with that said I do start to wonder if it has not begun to become a tad bit long in the tooth. This episode take place directly after the end of the last season. The season ended with Sherlock putting a permanent end to a particular problem. As a result he was placed on a plane heading for banishment. Only to be recalled about five minutes in as an old foe shows it´s face again. After a quick recap it then sends us off with a nice “what if” scenario set in the 1800´s

The episode is set in the time of the original Sherlock Holmes, as such it takes place in London in the late 1800´s. Holmes and Watson are tasked to solve a very strange murder and we quickly find out that the game is… as it should.. afoot.

The episode plays freely with the classic Holmes tropes and I have to say that I got a tiny thrill form seeing Cumberbatch don the classic outfit. Freeman also fit very well in with the look of the time, complete with mustache and bowler. In fact I think that Watson is the character they have the most fun with out of the main cast. Giving him a bit more attitude and letting him spar much more with Sherlock. Especially as things take the predictable but enjoyable turns, as in you know there will be some twists and turns not that it was a predictable episode. In fact it hits you from left field more than once. The episode does also visit the somewhat darker sides of Sherlock in a very clever way.

The cast and crew as usual is top notch and this time we also add a layer of set and costumes that also feel spot on, even if I have t admit that I am but a novice when it comes to fashion and architecture from the 1800´s. Now a very real problem is that both of the main cast is getting and more big roles and it is kind of unclear as for how long this will be a thing. Now thanks to how compact the show is I guess it would be easier to fit shooting in between other work and it is not like thay have had a regular schedule to begin with. But this would in my mind work very well as a last episode. A nice way to round off a very good series. And that is in a way what ties in to my earlier comment about it getting abit long in the tooth. Some of the luster is in fact gone. And I am in way curious to see where they will take this as they are moving beyond the classic stories and seeking new lands. Now they have not used all the stories but most of the big ones have in one way or another been referenced.

But either way it is still a very enjoyable watch and I highly recommend it to anyone that is a fan of the series or just well produced television in general.