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Randomness, ok
1. I know this is probably going to surprise a few people, but my interest in the new version of Murder on the Orient Express was never particularly high (Johnny Depp, y'know. So dull and also an asshole). However, the trailers make it look incredibly awful. Like, painfully badly done. Just to check, I have also watched the Suchet trailer. It has some of the same beats, but it's just better. So my interest is at the point of "if someone pays me, I'll watch it." I'm old, I'm allowed to be judgemental.
2. I cannot believe it is mid-November already. Like. Wasn't it just my birthday?
3. Teslacon this year was... mostly all right. I still find the back-patting "Steampunk isn't like all the other girls" bullshit the fandom tends to say and act like utter, well, bullshit. Because, no. Fandom is fandom, no one is special.
4. HOW AMAZING IS THOR RAGNAROK. I... I need to write a post.
5. Also, I need to talk about Sherlock series four at some point, because I have watched it and I have thoughts and such (and Thor sort of coagulated a couple of them for me, disturbingly).
6. That aside, can I also state that my attraction to Loki (and possibly Hiddleston, ok, don't judge) confuses me. But he wears a black on black tailored suit at one point, and I was just like "...nng." I would have to go back and watch, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't all that in the first two movies.
7. I was re-watching some of the older Midsomer Murders, and I find them a bit... annoying. Like, some of the later ones go all over the place and can be pretty out there. But some of those early ones just---the killer's logic and motivation makes no fucking sense. There are also a lot of killer suicides in that first four seasons. Or cop-assisted ones. (I also re-watched part of the one with Vivian Fay as a novelist, and she still remains amazing. And it is also still one of my favorites)
7a. I also really can't stand Troy very much. :/
8. I also re-watched some of season 9 of Doctor Who. Because Clara is my girl, and I just. That season has bits that will make me flail forever (and the ending, just.). Oddly, I'm pretty sure I still owe a post talking about season 9? I should get on that, because I did have thoughts about it once upon a time. And I should stop putting it off as it should mean I'm watching season 10 soon.
9. Work is work. Got my review this week, which was a good one. I appreciate that.
10. It is dark enough as I walk to the bus stop on my way home from work that I'm seriously considering investing in some glow sticks so I'm actually noticeable in my black winter coat and dark trousers and black shoes.
2. I cannot believe it is mid-November already. Like. Wasn't it just my birthday?
3. Teslacon this year was... mostly all right. I still find the back-patting "Steampunk isn't like all the other girls" bullshit the fandom tends to say and act like utter, well, bullshit. Because, no. Fandom is fandom, no one is special.
4. HOW AMAZING IS THOR RAGNAROK. I... I need to write a post.
5. Also, I need to talk about Sherlock series four at some point, because I have watched it and I have thoughts and such (and Thor sort of coagulated a couple of them for me, disturbingly).
6. That aside, can I also state that my attraction to Loki (and possibly Hiddleston, ok, don't judge) confuses me. But he wears a black on black tailored suit at one point, and I was just like "...nng." I would have to go back and watch, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't all that in the first two movies.
7. I was re-watching some of the older Midsomer Murders, and I find them a bit... annoying. Like, some of the later ones go all over the place and can be pretty out there. But some of those early ones just---the killer's logic and motivation makes no fucking sense. There are also a lot of killer suicides in that first four seasons. Or cop-assisted ones. (I also re-watched part of the one with Vivian Fay as a novelist, and she still remains amazing. And it is also still one of my favorites)
7a. I also really can't stand Troy very much. :/
8. I also re-watched some of season 9 of Doctor Who. Because Clara is my girl, and I just. That season has bits that will make me flail forever (and the ending, just.). Oddly, I'm pretty sure I still owe a post talking about season 9? I should get on that, because I did have thoughts about it once upon a time. And I should stop putting it off as it should mean I'm watching season 10 soon.
9. Work is work. Got my review this week, which was a good one. I appreciate that.
10. It is dark enough as I walk to the bus stop on my way home from work that I'm seriously considering investing in some glow sticks so I'm actually noticeable in my black winter coat and dark trousers and black shoes.
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(to be fair, that's one of the episodes I think makes NO SENSE for motivations)
Also, the Tom saying they should break in places and blaming it on Troy. AUGH. I know Police Procedure is chucked out the window A LOT with this show, but it hurts me, A.j. It hurts me.
I do miss Kate! I liked Kam a lot, too, though, and I'll miss her now she's gone. Basically, if I could have had a season where they traded off it would be awesome (I also miss Gail Stephens, but I knew they'd never in a million years let a woman be Barnaby's side-kick)
...er.
You were talking about rambling, there... =D
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I did like Kam! I just really didn't twig to her rather forced ~cuteness~ with either of the new detectives. I rather adored how Kate was just taken out of that dynamic even if Whatsisface #1 walked after her like a starry-eyed duckling. She was all "NOPE. We're platonic besties, period." And while I was a bit on board with Kam and Whatsisface #1, their ~meet cute~ stuff was bafflingly poorly acted. Which was odd as they were both fairly competent actors. Whatsisface #2 just. He's paste. Like, Whatsisface #1 was at least memorable in how subby he was. Whatsisface #2 is just kind of bland white douchebag. (Sorry, I have FEELINGS.)
And Gail was LOVELEY. I am super saddned we didn't get her full time. That would have been a whole lot more interesting. Although, I'll own that my favorite of the later mysteries is The Killings of Copenhagen and it 100% had to do with the Danish detectives. I also wanted to applaud the cinematographer on that one as it actually LOOKS lovely.
And re: the latter Poirots, OMG. For as much as they changed stuff in the Suchet Appointment With Death and Murder on the Orient Express, those were GORGEOUSLY shot episodes. Not perfect, but damn, there were some absolutely beautiful shots.
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Kate was like Charlie's big sis! It was adorable. And I haven't watched the early ones with her, so I don't remember but I think they tried to hook her and Ben up once, too (and I feel like the off-screen implications of them working together are possibly romantic as well? idk)
And I really disliked the forced Kam-Charlie stuff. Like, it made me go off Sarah just a bit with how she was constantly shoving them together. Also, there was the one episode where it was heavily implied Kam was throwing her tennis game to flirt with him and UGH. That is why I hate Ziva/Tony, too. A woman should not have to make herself look stupid to get her man.
Otoh, I, um, I hopelessly ship Kam/Winter (whatsisface 2). It is SO embarrassing. Even if their stuff was a bit silly. I still say there should have been a kiss, dammit.
(let me cut myself off from blathering more. am verbose tonight)
It's funny, but the one Poirot I immediately think of for the cinematography is Hallowe'en Party. Which is a darkly-shot episode, but it's so vibrant and full of colors.
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Ok, and it's also because it's not as easy - for DW, I have to make the effort, since I stopped downloading stuff at one point, and DW is one of the ones the reporters target quick, so the links were often gone before I'd get to them.
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I've watched the first 18 series (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) of Midsomer Murders over the last few months, and Troy is by far my least favorite sidekick. And the only one aside from Bullard to get an actual send-off episode, instead of our being told the next season that he/she got transferred. (Except for Scott, who called in sick one day and then was never mentioned again...)
One thing I found interesting is that you can see the rise of the procedural as the show progresses. Earlier seasons often took the Christie-esque approach of building up the victim's world and relationships before killing them off (the "killer commits suicide" is also a popular Christie trope) while more recent series have the victim die right at the start, or after just one introductory scene, and are more prone to discussing technology and methods. Not that it' become anything close to a procedural, but the influence is there.
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What's weird is that, having seen some of the other Poirots, I probably wouldn't mind Branagh (I mean, I don't think of anyone but Suchet as Poirot, but just as some random detective type).
Also, it probably doesn't help my dislike that the reviews I was reading of the movie don't even MENTION the Suchet series, and at least one of them was going on about how we'd desperately needed Poirot to get the cinematic treatment, and, well, like them or not the last ten years of Suchet's run WERE incredibly cinematic with gorgeous photography and brilliant casting.
But you are correct about Marple. That does lend itself to ever and more reboots. Poirot, otoh, I think we need maybe another decade? Like, the Sherlock Holmes movies were nearly two decades after the Brett Holmes series, and Sherlock and Elementary, too.
Although I think perhaps a modern take on Poirot a la Elementary could be all right.
Scott was the first, I think, to randomly disappear. But yeah, the show is a bit abrupt about them all. And I think Troy only managed it by being in the middle of a season. The rest have all tended to be between seasons when contracts expire or actors pick a different show to go with.
The Christie-esque approach is actually one of the reasons I quite like watching the show - even the later seasons have given a lot of insight into the people involved. It's not just detectives doing their thing.
But it has gotten more about the deaths, science and detecting a bit more. It's usually fairly good science, though. I've not felt like going "you can't get dna from that or fingerprints from bullets, stop it" much.
I feel it's gotten a bit more into psychology, or tried to, with newBarnaby's degree being touted often. Whether it's the correct psychology or not is another matter entirely.
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I haven't read any reviews, but ugh. And it's not old or obscure in the least.
re: Midsomer. Yeah, the approach is why I've watched so much despite all the issues. To me, the main dividing line between mysteries and procedurals is why and how. Procedurals are mostly concerned with how the crime was committed and how it's solved. The people involved largely fill in the gaps. Mysteries are about why the crime happened, and the victim and the people in their lives are central, and the crime is solved partly with the how, but largely by the detective learning about them and their lives. A lot of mysteries pile on the the more technical procedural stuff, but most British mysteries (and elementary) seem to stay on th mystery side of the line.
I waffle on my feelings about how often they bring up John's degree. On the one hand, there are times when there seems to be an "intellectualism over experience and instinct," (which was pretty heavy at times in the early John/Jones episodes) but usually the focus is on how he has the degree because it's a subject he loves, and he's proud of it because he worked hard for it. At the least, he doesn't really seem to have much of a superiority complex about it.
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4. Going to see Thor sometime this week. Finally.
5. Huh. I didn't know you'd watched any of that show. I'd be curious to read your thoughts.
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But I also find its treatment of women... not so great.
It probably doesn't help that Moffat and Gatiss both have narrative tropes that my brain adores, even when they're in a non-Doctor Who context.
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