vivdunstan

We watched this last week, another 20-years-on anniversary rewatch. I remembered really liking this story on first watch, with some provisos. And it's still great.

Tightly written, full of content. There's an original Scottish setting, and it was nice to see David Tennant's Doctor use a Scottish accent, and be incorporated into the plot.

Rose is very resourceful and brave, leading the prisoners' defence. But at the same time she is phenomenally irritating re the repeated "We are not amused!", and her Princess Anne jibe was incredibly misjudged by RTD. And I say that as a non royalist.

The episode is full of exciting action scenes, from the opening monk acrobatic hijinks, through to the werewolf transformation, and the final climax.

A strong guest cast, mostly Scottish, helps immensely. Pauline Collins - a Classic Who returnee to Doctor Who - is a memorable Queen Victoria.

Much running along corridors, and more stairs. But effectively done, and not annoyingly repetitive.

Some nice uses of history, and as a book historian I especially liked the woodcut showing something relevant from James V's era. Unlike Jonathan Creek's "Satan's Chimney" episode with Mary Tamm, this story at least got the correct Scottish monarch!

And nods to the future, re both Torchwood and Bad Wolf.

Great stuff, albeit still with a few quibbles. And, yes, incredibly tightly written, which again RTD2 and also Capaldi-era Moffat could take lessons from.

Oh and the early 2000s special effects seemed to hold up well for me watching two decades on.

Got through two films the last couple of nights while Martin is away on a work trip.

The Mummy was a rewatch, and I’m amused how many of the lines I could remember. It is extremely derivative of the 1932 Universal version, but has pizzazz and charm galore, and I love it. In the last few days news came out of a possible new Mummy film starring Rachel Weisz and Brendan Fraser. Yes please.

Death on the Nile is the Kenneth Branagh version. Charming enough, but for me nowhere near as much fun as the 1978 Peter Ustinov version. But it kept me amused, I liked some of the reworked bits, and was impressed by the English accents of the American cast. Rose Leslie also put a lot of effort vocally into her role as the French-speaking maid. I watched this on Disney+ and had access to loads of extra behind the scenes features, which was nice. I was agog that they built replicas of the SS Karnak and the temple at Abu Simbel.

Watching Paul Murton follow the River Dee, and thinking some of the Aberdeenshire folk sound awfully like Scottish Borderers! A uni classmate of mine at Dundee used to think my accent sounded as though I was from Brechin or somewhere up there. Nice to hear folk who sound “local” for me anyway. My accent is a mix of Edinburgh like / Borders cross, and a much stronger version which comes out the more puggled I am or if talking to eg my Mum! The Hawick part can come out really strongly then. Plus perhaps an added Somerset twang thanks to 30 years marriage 😜