Kamen Rider W: Hidari Shoutarou's Hardboiled Delusion Diary (2009-10)

These shorts were included as extras on W's myriad DVD releases. Because the plot points that are mentioned in each delusion don't always line up with the Dopant suits that appear, I recommend viewing these post-series for the sake of ease. If you absolutely insist on risking it, just don't watch number 11. It contains a catastrophic spoiler for the endgame. You've been warned.

12 shorts, ranging from 3-5 minutes, apiece.

Kamen Rider W Forever: A to Z Net Movies— 26 Rapid-Fire Laughs (2010)

The Witches and the Grinnygog (1983)

A miniseries based on the children's book of the same name (1981) by Dorothy Edwards. I've not read the book. I had, however, watched the series back in the 80s when it was first screened on British TV. Once the actual Grinnygog appeared onscreen the memories of that time came flooding back to me - almost literally, I felt like I'd been hit by a driving wave of forgotten salad days.

The Grinnygog is a horned, cheeky-faced stone statue about the size of an average garden gnome. The little guy doesn't actually do very much besides look cool, but the majority of the important events that subsequently occur in the lives of the main protagonists happen as a result of his sudden appearance. Without seeming to do so directly, he influences and twists the threads of fate so that the correct people are in the correct place at the correct time.

The witches appear later, and for a while their motivations are a mystery to the children that the story centres around most and, by extension, to the viewers.

There are five kids in all, four of whom are working together to create a museum of local history, a place where the town's past can be viewed and appreciated by everyone regardless of age. Their research not only educates them in the obvious manner but also proves useful in other ways.

It's both a fascinating and enjoyable exercise for me to look back at children's television from yesteryear and note how often the makers of the shows tried to scare the crap out of us and feed us compelling tales of Britain's pagan past.

TWatG doesn't tread the scary route but does take the other, and it does it in such a way that neither condescends nor elevates the importance of one individual belief system over the other. I feel that's an important point to stress because being a children's show means its target audience is typically more suggestible than viewers in some other genres, and kids should always respectfully be allowed the freedom to form their own opinion about such matters.

6 episodes, approx 25 minutes each.

3 of the wayside faith out of 5

Kamen Rider W (2009-10)

I'll leave this bit, here, out of respect to the friends who helped me write it:

The purple and green of W’s base form speaks to the fundamental theme of the series: one does not exist without the other, because they exist within one another. Philip’s sins mirror Shoutarou’s and their strengths and weaknesses complement and compensate for one another’s. The concepts of compassion, justice, human frailty, fear, loss, and community are examined, but far eclipsing of those is the exploration of the true nature of family.

When Games Attack (2004–05)

I was excited to see Dominick Diamond in another video games review show, because GamesMaster (1992-98) had been so good, but the excitement was short-lived. When Games Attack was a bit of a turd. If it was a gaming peripheral it would be a Virtual Boy or a Nintendo Power Glove—a used one!

It was a Gamer.tv production for the cable/satellite channel Bravo. Bravo was a kind of schizophrenic entity; it had a large roster of quality series from yesteryear that I could watch all day long, but its original content was made up of shows that seemed to have an alternative universe King Midas handling them, turning them not to gold but to shit. What's worse is that much of their output was targeted primarily at the kind of people that would routinely browse the top shelf of a magazine rack but leave instead with a copy of FHM or Loaded. If you have friends like that get them to seek help, forthwith.

It stuck to a rigid formula each week. Dom, rounder of face and paunchier, much like myself, indulged his passion for all things football by having a large portion of each episode dedicated to an ongoing footy game tournament. I'm not a fan of the sport in any form, so could skip that part without remorse.

'Behind the Game’ did what it claimed, giving information on the inspiration, development and release of a specific game, both retro and modern.

A weekly Top 5, such as Most Pathetic Games or Crappiest Game Plot, seemingly researched by juggling ducks, was stretched out over the running time.

Queeny and Cugly, a parody of Sooty and Sweep style puppets, would pit two similar games against each other. It was a disaster.

Perhaps the worst feature of all was a semi-regular rhythm game section where glamour models, I'm guessing on loan from the likes of the aforementioned magazines, bounced around amateurishly while lecherous commentary made the fiasco even more unbearable, if that's possible.

And finally, although sometimes outside the games-related remit, the on-location features hosted by either Dom or Caroline Flack were occasionally fun.

20 episodes, approx 25 mins each.

2½ letters of dubious origin out of 5

Wallace and Gromit's World of Invention (2010)

World of Invention is a science programme with short segments devoted to new inventions, both practical and whacky. It's like an updated Tomorrow's World but with claymation presenters alongside the human ones. At time of writing it's been three years since it was filmed, so some of the inventions may well have already gone into production (or the trash), but that shouldn't detract from the fun.

Wallace is the host. He's the guy with the desk. He introduces the science segments and is Wallace through and through; Peter Sallis knows what he's doing.
Gromit shuffles around in the background serving tea, and narrowly avoiding frequent death; it's business as usual for the pooch.

Each episode has a theme into which each invention fits, such as Nature, Flight, Safety, etc, meaning that each individual episode can be used as a supporting teaching aid for young viewers - you can entertain them while covertly teaching them stuff, without compromising on either aspect. If you're lucky, it'll inspire them to delve further. If you're unlucky, you'll be assaulted with a bevy of questions afterwards about things you know nothing about.

The science is split between cool stuff (jetpacks!) and practical stuff that will change the lives of people all over the world (e.g. a fridge for third world countries that needs no electricity to work). If you have any interest in science whatsoever there'll be something here that grabs you, no matter what age you are. Seriously, who doesn't want to see a fuel cell powered by dead flies?

6 episodes, approx 30 minutes each.

3 curiosity corners out of 5

Wallace and Gromit's Cracking Contraptions (2002)

Cracking Contraptions is a colourful collection of animated shorts from the award winning Aardman Animations featuring their most successful creations: Wallace, the enthusiastic inventor, and Gromit, his long-suffering pet pooch.

The shorts are best described as slices of life. Each adventure features one of Wallace's crazy labour-saving inventions that go awry. Gromit knows that if he's to ever have the quiet life he craves he'll need to prevent disaster and then clean up the mess. The idiom 'a dog's life' applies to Gromit in more ways than one.

The episodes were created to slot into the BBC's 2002 Christmas TV schedule, between the soap misery and the festive crap, meaning episode length is much too short for any extensive character development to happen. They rely instead on your knowledge of the claymation duo from the previous W+G releases. If you haven't watched those yet, I recommend you do because they're fantastic.

The collection was released as a limited edition R2 dvd that's now hard to find, but Aardman have since posted them all on their YouTube channel (HERE).

10 episodes, approx 3 minutes each.

3 developments out of 5

Wonderfalls (2004)

A quirky drama about a young woman who is dissatisfied with her crappy retail job in a Niagara Falls gift shop, especially after her coworker is promoted over her despite him still being in high school. While fuming about it, she somehow manifests the ability to speak to the inanimate animals she sells that begin to ask her to perform odd requests that encourage her to help people, sometimes at her expense and often in funny and oblique ways.

Caroline Dhavernas plays the caustic and anti-social Jaye who at first only reluctantly goes along with the animal's requests while questioning her sanity, but eventually starts to soften up to the people around her like her overbearing parents, lesbian sister and pretty much all people she tries to actively avoid. Eric, played by Tyron Leitso, is the love interest and new bartender at Jaye's favorite bar as he was recently married, but ran off from his honeymoon after catching his new wife cheating on him with a hotel staff member. He drank and cried for three days until the owner gave him a job. His kindness and good nature is the antithesis of Jaye, but he finds her interesting nonetheless and sees her as not as uncaring as she thinks usually because of the good deeds the animals force her to do.

Creator Bryan Fuller continues his trend of shows revolving around special young women in an odd situation except this time he has the added benefit of executive producer Tim Minear who also worked on another great and cancelled FOX show, Firefly. With a cast full of great actors and a fresh and original premise, Wonderfalls gained critical praise and a loyal fan-base despite only airing 4 episodes before being cancelled by FOX. There is great character development especially a noticeable shift in Jaye and weird comedy bits. Plus it's just nice to have a show that isn't a medical drama or police procedural for once.

Episodes to See:
Ep. 8 Lovesick Ass - A quite hilarious plot about a mail order bride with an excellent guest performance by a young Spencer Breslin.

Buyer's Guide:
Thanks to a grassroots petition, there is a DVD set available of all 13 episodes made for season 1 though it is only available in Region 1 so far. Also now through Netflix.

5 smooshed-face lions out of 5

The Walking Dead Season 2 (2011)

 

The world we know is gone, but keeping our humanity? That's a choice.

Following the events of season 1, the band of survivors leave Atlanta and start to make their way to Fort Benning, but are derailed by zombie hordes. What follows is a season full of missing persons, morality decisions and anti-hero antagonism.

After the departure of showrunner Frank Darabont audiences are treated to an extended 13 episode run despite a reduced budget which can be a bit noticeable for those who pay attention with less dynamic camera angles, less shooting locations and less of the zombies. While the most is made of the first two, less of one of the main draws is quite jarring. Whether it makes the show less of itself or makes their sparse appearances more memorable is up to the viewer. There is also the issue of some characters fading into the background, mostly T-Dog who is given precisely zero interesting arcs while seemingly every other character experiences some sort of change or growth. The conflict between Rick's morality and Shane's cold survivor logic is the main drama replacement for the zombies. Neither is really wrong and the back and forth is very interesting, sometimes irritating, but wholly great. The extended character drama is a nice trade off for the reduced budget limitations which are minor irritations if the viewer is inclined to let them go.

Episodes to See:
Ep. 11. Dale-centric episode that is at the heart of the humanity and morality of the show.
Ep. 13. Action packed finale with many things coming to light and plenty of teasers for next season and fanwank.

Buyer's Guide:
Available in DVD and Blu-Ray box sets, both regular and limited editions. Also on iTunes, Netflix and Amazon.

3½ Carl is never in the fucking house out of 5

The Walking Dead Season 1 (2010)

The fever burns you out, but then after awhile...You come back.

The Walking Dead is a Frank Darabont produced AMC show that follows Officer Rick Grimes as he wakes up in the hospital after a gunshot induced coma to find the whole world has gone to shit in a zombie apocalypse, so he sets out to find the whereabouts of his wife and son. On the way he must learn to survive in this new world of infected corpses called "Walkers" while scrounging for food, ammunition and dealing with survivors who may or may not have held onto their sense of morality and humanity let alone their sanity.

This first season is some high quality stuff with decent effects, sweeping dynamic camera shots and some good action. Don't know whether it was the cost of those or just TV politics that made it so we only got 6 episodes, but they are great episodes. The downfall being it is hard to get invested in characters in such a short time so a lot of drama often won't carry any weight especially if it involves just ancillary characters. Not to say there isn't any good drama. The horror setting is really just a backdrop for some interesting character studies in how human morality holds up in a world with almost no consequences. It's just limited given the truncated season. And there is cool zombie-killin' action if that's what you came for.

Buyer's Guide:
Widely available on DVD and Blu-Ray in both regular and special editions. The European release is censored for excessive gore, so if that bothers any purists find another source for viewing.

4 Take a shot every-time Daryl does what any logical person would do out of 5

Welcome to the NHK (2006)

Anime is known for being a world of adventure. Heroes (and heroines) are consummate badasses. Villains range from heartbreakingly tortured to sickeningly evil, and are often a compelling mixture of both. It's a place where people punch each other from within the confines of a giant robot suit, where kids have the power to destroy or save the entire world, and where even death can be defeated by the power of love and friendship.

Welcome to the NHK is none of those things. It's full of characters are human, often depressingly so, and there are no magical fixes to their problems, nor any evil villains who are the source of them. The show's lead, Tatsuhiro Satou, can barely stand to leave his own house, and constructs elaborate fantasies that explain away his own shortcomings. It may not sound like the most exciting show in the world, and sometimes it isn't, but these characters and their stories are incredibly involving, and I want to root for them even when all they do is sit in front of their computers and look at porn.

Welcome to the NHK is entrenched in Japanese culture. It deals with the nation's hikikomori epidemic, and one of its most significant plotlines revolves around ero-games. But in spite of that, it's an intensely relatable story that I think has a universal appeal. The show is so true to life that it may be off-putting- its characters are screwed up people who aren't always likable. Sometimes they act like jerks, and almost every member of the cast is their own worse enemy. It can be torturous watching these guys sabotage every chance at happiness they get.

But Welcome to the NHK isn't a dark, gloomy series about how depressing life is. It's an exploration of the incredible amount of absorption self-loathing requires, a reminder that better things are often easily within your reach. It's a powerful look at the reasons why we look down on others, a reassurance that everyone is screwed up in their own ways, and that's okay. It's a testament to living even when life doesn't seem like it has much to offer, and proof anime doesn't need robots and giant swords to be awesome.

I recommend watching the series subbed, as I find the voice-acting to be stronger, but the dub is more than passable.

24 episodes. 24 minutes each.

Episodes To See:
Welcome to Heaven!- This episode and the arc surrounding it are probably my favorite of the entire series. I don't know if I've ever related to a character as much as I relate to Tatsuhiro here.

Welcome to the Winter Day!- A great example of just how human the characters in Welcome to the NHK are allowed to be.

Episodes to Avoid:
Welcome to the NHK is a character piece through and through, and every episode is worth watching because of it.

Buyer’s Guide:
A delightfully cheap "value edition" was released in 2010, and is still readily available on Amazon.

5 conspiracies named after television networks out of 5.