Mark Thomson

It's poised to start next week finally. The new episodes are titled:

4.1 Partners in Crime
The Doctor runs into Donna while investigating the strange side effects of a weight-loss drug at Adipose Industries.

4.2 The Fires of Pompeii
The Doctor takes Donna to Pompeii the day before Vesuvius erupts.

4.3 Planet of the Ood
The Tardis randomly arrives at the Central Ood Facility and the Ood are starting to revolt.

4.4 The Sontaran Stratagem
Martha summons the Doctor back to Earth after some suspicious global murders are linked to technology from Atmos Systems.

4.5 The Poison Sky
The Sontaran's are forced to accelerate their invasion plans after the Doctor begins to interfere.

4.6 The Doctor's Daughter
On the planet Messaline, in the middle of an endless war, the Doctor meets the most important woman of his life.

4.7 The Unicorn and the Wasp
In 1926, Agatha Christie disappeared for 10 days. Was it amnesia? A nervous breakdown? Or a Giant Alien Wasp..?

4.8 Silence in the Library
One hundred years ago, the universe's greatest library was sealed off, leaving only one warning: "Count the shadows". But now, the shadows are moving again. The Doctor and Donna must uncover the terrible truth behind the Nodes and the horrifying Data Ghost, to find the library's secret.

4.9 Forest of the Dead
As the shadows rise and march, the Doctor forges an alliance with the mysterious River Song, but can anyone stop the Vashta Nerada? While the Doctor discovers long-buried secrets and revelations about his own future, the sinister Nodes declare that Donna is doomed.

4.10 Midnight
The Doctor is trapped, alone, powerless and terrified, on the planet Midnight. Soon, the knocking on the wall begins. Only a woman called Sky seems to know the truth – but as paranoia turns into a witch-hunt, Sky turns the Doctor's greatest strengths against him, and a sacrifice must be made.

4.11 Turn Left
Donna's entire world collapses, but there's no sign of the Doctor. Instead, she finds help from a mysterious blonde woman – a traveller from a parallel universe. But, as Donna and Rose Tyler combine forces, are they too late to save the whole of creation from the approaching darkness?

4.12 The Stolen Earth
Earth's greatest heroes assemble in a time of dire need, can the Doctor's secret army defeat the might of the new Dalek Empire. With battles on the streets and in the skies, the Doctor and Donna must brave the Shadow Proclamation to find out the truth. However, a fearsome old enemy waits in the shadows...

4.13 Journey's End
The entire universe is in danger as the Daleks activate their masterplan. The Doctor is helpless, and even the Tardis faces destruction. The only hope lies with the Doctor's secret army of companions – but as they join forces to battle Davros himself, the prophecy declares that one of them will die.

Something of a rarity in the recent batch of animated children's films, this ones actually pretty good. The visuals are stunning, but the stories good too. Usually you only see this with Pixar films. That's not to say that Dreamworks animated features aren't any good, it's just that movies like Shrek or Madagascar are lower down the ladder than The Incredibles or Bugs Life. Gone are the usual plethora of pop-culture references, and for once there are actual characters with motivations. I'd recommend this for the kids (and it's adult friendly too). Check it out.

Plot Synopsis:

Young penguin Cody is the subject of a surfing documentary charting his rise to fame in the Big Z Classic. Cody idolised a famous Surfer, Big Z, as a replacement for his father who was eaten by an orca. Big Z is presumed killed after surfing into an area of jagged rocks during a competition.

Cody manages to join the Big Z Classic tour, and after a serious accident in the first leg of the competition due to the local jock penguin, Cody is taken to a reclusive hermit penguin to recover. During their time together they improve each other's outlook on life - and Cody discovers this hermit is Big Z.

Cody is trained by Big Z, and re-enters the competition. He fails to win the competition by saves his chicken friend, and learns to find greater value in things than competition and trophies.

I didn't really go into this with high-hopes. Let's face it, anything with something versus something else as the title isn't going to be gold. So low expectations aside, how is it? Not too bad, but not great - could have been better. The effects are awesome, the actions good, the Alien Queen's never looked better, but there's plot holes you could drive a truck through, and dialog that occasionally makes you cringe. I had hoped the Extended Cut would redeem itself by adding back some R-rated goodness, but sadly it wasn't to be. You get a couple of minutes of the whaling station 100 years before the actual story, and a little bit more alien gore. Sadly the blood is still missing. Plot wise, the temple and alien rite-of-passage rituals weren't a stupid idea, but setting it in the ice was just stupid. The Predator's come for warmth, god knows how they survived in the snow - not a pair of mittens or a bobble-hat in sight! Still if you don't think too hard, it's fun, and nice to look at and listen too. Hopefully the next installment in the AVP franchise will return to it's adult roots, and give us something really frightening again.

Plot Synopsis:

Weyland Corporation uncovers an ancient temple under the ice on Bogatoya Island. Charles Weyland takes an expedition to explore it. They inadvertently awaken the Alien Queen stored in stasis in the temple, and some of their member's incubate aliens. The Predators arrive, and begin clashing with the aliens and the team, who have taken their shoulder cannons from the temple. The last human survivor is forced to team up with the last surviving Predator to defeat the aliens. They fight the Alien Queen on the ice, and the Predator is killed, but the Queen is defeated. The Predator's return home with the body of their fallen comrade. On the way back, an alien/predator hybrid bursts out of the predator's corpse.

I saw this film at the movies when I was much younger. Still a lot of fun, and a hell of a lot funnier than some of the spoof movie's that come out these days. I watched this with my daughter and she still found it funny. Leslie Nielsen is hilarious.It's amazing how deadpan and straight faced he remains no matter what's going on. The other supporting characters are equally as funny - who knew Priscilla Presley was funny? Although in hindsight, you almost find yourself hoping that the horrible things that happen to OJ Simpson's character were really occuring given the whole 'thing' with his wife. Some scenes worth mentioning: assault with a concrete willy, Drebin at the press conference, saving the Queen, practicing safe sex, Nordberg's various accidents, car chase with a learner driver, and Drebin's various acts of destruction in Ludwig's office.

Plot Synopsis:

Incompetent Police Detective Drebin of Police Squad is assigned to find who injured Officer Nordberg. Along the way he stumbles into a plot to assassinate the Queen (Manchurian Candidate-style) who is visiting America. Drebin stumbles along causing mayhem and destruction, but ultimately manages to save the Queen, and defeat the evil Ludwig.

Finally got the last wisdom tooth out today. Glad it's finally over. Just one more appointment left now and the entire dental treatment plan is completed, and with it the last of the $2,500 it's cost me. Still I haven't had any dental work done in 15 years, so I suppose if you average it out over that period it's not too bad. Rob's got another $2,500 on her teeth, and Micky apparently needs braces now (although I don't think she needs anything). I think we should just about qualify for a discount considering the amount of money we've put down at the dentist lately. It's disappointing that the Government doesn't include dental subsidies as part of it's medical cover.

A co-worker recommended this film to me. He raved on about how great it was, awesome story and action. All I can say is - I won't be taking film advice from him anymore. This film was the biggest piece'o'crap I've sat through in a while. The only thing good about it was the effects, everything else, story, acting, was rubbish. There are gigantic plot holes that make no sense. The film jumps to random locations with no explanation whatsoever. The actors behave deadly seriously so you can't even treat the film as a spoof/joke/comedy, but most of the time their lines are delivered with such a lack of passion, you can tell they realise their in a piece'o'crap and are just sleepwalking through to the paycheck. I definitely do not recommend this film. I wouldn't even recommend it to children - it'll just make them stupider.

Plot Synopsis:

Based on a Korean legend, it has something to do with a chosen one being pursued by an army of dragons, that, ummm... frankly i'm confused by the story. Who the hell knows what was going on?

Well they're finally done. Took me weeks and weeks but I've managed to complete 2 pages of Rally Mark for the next issue. I'd like to thank Robin who's provided the necessary encouragement and support (ass-kicking) to get these done. I can't believe they're done now.

Things I learned:

• I still need to work on anatomy. It's friggin hard to get right.
  
  
• I need to get faster.
  
  
• Putting speech bubbles in at the beginning saves drawing and painting detail that's going to get covered later.
  

Still it's going to be exciting to see them in print. I'll have to start drawing some more right away so I can meet the October deadline of New Ground.

Possibly one of the funniest films I've seen in a long time. I'm surprised the Americans weren't more insulted by it. I can only conclude that either it went over their heads or they're more tolerant than I'd give them credit for. Of particular note, world locations given in a distance from America, the team's causing more destruction than the terrorists, pretty much anything with Kim Jong Il, FAG, and Matt Damon. Hilarious, but very adult - this isn't one for the kiddies. Mind you, most of South Park isn't (which is by the same creators), but they really cross the line here with the puppet sex scene (especially the Unrated version). Recommended if your an adult with a sense of humor.

Plot Synopsis:

Terrorists try to blow up Paris with a WMD, but are foiled by Team America - a global police force. During the ensuing destruction, a team member is killed. They recruit Gary, and Broadway actor as a replacement. He's sent to infiltrate a terrorist stronghold in the Middle East. They think they have foiled the terrorist plot, but realise they have failed when the terrorists blow up the Panama Canal.

The team are blamed for the global violence and destruction by FAG (the Film Actors Guild). Gary leaves depressed, blaming himself. The rest of the Team pursue a lead to Durkadurkastan, but are captured by the North Koreans.

Meanwhile, Gary's become a hopeless alcoholic, but after a passing drunk teaches him a lesson, he returns to the team's base. Spotteswood realising Kim Jong Il was the mastermind behind everything, sends Gary to rescue the team, so they can foil his plans. Kim has recruited the FAG Actors to host a large peace conference as a diversion, while he destroys the world with WMD's.

Gary frees the team, and together they defeat Kim Jong Il. Kim is revealed to be an alien cockroach, that flees the planet in a small spaceship. The team is reunited, and returns to defending the planet.