Artemis Fowl
by Eoin Colfer (Viking, 2001); audiobook read by Gerry O’Brien (Puffin, 2013)
The fairy world is imaginatively realised and affords a new set of (magical) parameters within which Colfer can manifest Artemis’s ingenious criminal scheming. O’Brien’s audiobook reading goes some way towards papering over such writerly cracks as blatant tell-don’t-show and one-dimensional, stereotyped characters.
Doctor Who: Out of Time
by Matt Fitton; dir. Nicholas Briggs (Big Finish, 2020)
David Tennant and Tom Baker make for an arresting duo and are given time to interact, the story’s emotional depth further complemented by Kathryn Drysdale’s performance as Jora. A shame, then, that the threat had to come from blustering, blogging, self-opinionated Daleks.
Teen Titans: Beast Boy loves Raven
by Kami Garcia; ill. Gabriel Picolo (DC Comics, 2021)
The title says it all, with Garcia and Picolo keeping an unapologetic focus on Raven and Beast Boy’s burgeoning romance (instalove, to be sure, but not out of keeping with their age and shared insecurities). The bad guys’ plan is concomitantly half-arsed.
Dylan Moran: What It Is
(Live in Sydney, 2009)
Moran appears more inclined to make a point than in previous recordings, and consequently less able to do so (his off-the-cuff artillery ceding ground to encroaching vagueness and derailments of thought). When in flow, still a waspishly beleaguered, bildungs-roaming, man-child philosophiser nonpareil.
Doctor Who: The Five Companions
by Eddie Robson (Big Finish, 2011)
Nostalgia is well and truly satisfied with five former companions yanked back into the fray. Evergreen acting chops notwithstanding, the opportunity for poignant character moments is largely frittered away in a pointless Death Zone slugfest involving Sontarans, dinosaurs and, inevitably, screeching Daleks.
Doctor Who: The Daleks in Colour
by Terry Nation, with new material by Russell T Davies; ed. Benjamin Cook (BBC, 2023)
The colouring works well! However, too much plot has been expurgated, leaving this version frenetic and a good 25 minutes short. Quiet moments, suspense and drama give way to near-farcical, jump-cut action montages and the grandiloquent fanfare of Mark Ayres’ new score.
Bill Bailey: Thoughtifier Australian Tour
Live @ Brisbane Convention Centre (23 November 2024)
Bill Bailey kept himself amused and the Brisbane crowd equally so with a freewheeling show mixing self-aware stand-up and multi-instrumental musical comedy. Highlights from the latter included Bill’s touch-sensitive musical balls and a piece de resistance Kraftwerk spoof on the laser harp!
1968: The Year that Rocked the World
by Mark Kurlansky (Ballantine, 2003); audiobook read by Christopher Cazenove (Phoenix, 2004)
A deep dive into the momentous-seeming socio-political events (mostly American and European) that shaped 1968. Kurlansky makes connections and shows likenesses, but whereas he biographises 1968 down to its minutiae, he omits the ‘what happened after’ contextualising necessary to establish lasting impact.
A Certain Scientific Railgun, Season 1
(Tokyo MX, 2009-2010)
A 12-part story told across twice that many episodes. The result is excellent character development (with frequent meanderings into schoolgirl slice of life) but an almost negligent dilation of the spec-fic element. Poorly integrated crossovers from A Certain Magical Index don’t help!
Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale of War and Empire
by Michael Palin (Penguin, 2023); audiobook read by Michael Palin (Penguin Audio, 2023)
Palin argues for his great uncle’s relevance but doesn’t really succeed. Assiduous research has seduced him into including too much detail about Harry’s parents, while the lengthy section on military service, illuminating of the First World War more generally, lacks biographical interest.