Wow, I'm impressed with myself. This semi-regular blogging thing's working for me again . Sooo, we've had a few more Doctor Who eps, the seventh season of Scrubs concluded with an episode meant to be broadcast earlier in the run so it made no sense, I dug out some Buffy DVDs and started getting addicted to that again whilst I should be revising for my GCSEs..., and I'm gonna start reviewing albums, starting with Accelerate by R.E.M.

Doctor Who

Is it just me or does anyone else think this is the weakest series so far? Basically every week I've felt the show's become predictable, not particularly exciting, and Catherine Tate, no matter how good people say she is, reminds me of one of her sketchshow characters. Anyway, these two have been better than the ones before.

The Doctor's Daughter - I sighed when the Doctor was cloned, cos it just robs the show of most of the real father-daughter drama. She's kinda his daughter, but she's a clone...not an ACTUAL daughter. Apart from that, this was pretty good. The Hath look quite cool, and the Doctor's shouty speech at the conclusion is good (if a bit reminiscient of the one in The Christmas Invasion). Martha doesn't get a whole lot to do though, which is odd, and Donna noticing the dates seems like it's been tacked on to make her look clever. So, Jenny's out there...yet another character set to retrun at the end of the series, maybe? 8/10

The Unicorn and the Wasp - I enjoyed this episode more than any other this series. Mainly because it was so daft. The wavey lines for the flashbacks, the Doctor miming to Donna what he needed to expel the cyanide from his body, the sheer ludicrousness of the villain being a giant wasp. All very silly, and also quite enjoyable. The plot's not the best, but it made me laugh and kept me watching far more than Partners in Crime and Planet of the Ood did. Not the best episode so far in terms of drama and all that stuff, but the one that's been the most FUN. 8.5/10

Buffy

Once More, With Feeling - just brilliant from beginning to end. Although the songs are the main talking point here, what I think is just as great are the plot developments, such as Tara finding out Willow's been messing with her memory, and Buffy revealing to her friends they dragged her out of heaven. Anthony Head and James Marsters are great singers, and their songs are probably the best, but none of them are bad. There are also some very funny moments and lines here ("So that's it, you've just come to pump me for information? / What else would I want to pump you for?"). One of the best Buffy eps. 10/10

Hush - a great concept for a show. Everyone gets their voices stolen, so mime and writing on cards become commonplace. The scene where Giles explains what's going on is hilarious, and the Gentlemen are both terrifying and very, very funny. 9/5/10

Something Blue - Willow's grief over breaking up with Oz is very well portrayed, as is her friends' reactions to dealing with her. But the spell she casts, causing all sorts of mayhem is what stands out as being one of the funniest things in Buffy. Giles trying to get drunk to drown out the sounds of Buffy and Spike kissing, and all that stuff is great. One of the highlights of Season 4. 8/10

Restless - my all time favourite episode of Buffy. A whole episode of dreaming, basically, leading to some incredibly weird, and some very funny images, while also delving deeper into the characters. Giles's song is great, and there are some truly memorable lines ("We need to build a fort. / I'll get some pillows"). 10/10

Scrubs

It's painful to see one of my favourite shows sink to a low quality, especially when it's been so good for six series. Season 7 ended with an episode set mainly in a fairytale land, as Dr Cox tells his son a bedtime story. The trouble is, it's not really very funny, so everything ends up looking weird for no reason. If this show returns for an unconfirmed eighth series, it needs a strong linking plot and some decent jokes, two things this series has been decidedly lacking in.

Music

R.E.M. - Accelerate

Yeah, I know they're an old band, and most of my friends say "R.E.M.? Oh, my mum likes them!" but I don't care, I like them . This is their recently released fourteenth studio album. One of the most aggressive, fastest, and definitely shortest thing they have put out in all their years of music making. 11 mostly short, biting rock songs with crashing guitars and well-written lyrics. Here's a link to the two singles so far from the album. The first, Supernatural Superserious features some very loud guitars , while the other, Hollow Man, has a nice combination of guitar and piano.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_We6ubpUHZs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2PbySA3DAg

Please post comments, I'll try and blog again soon.

Fireexit