Nolan's Greatest Hits

With the recent release of Interstellar it seems to have become fashionable to rank Christopher Nolan's films in order of preference and never one to miss the chance to be part of the in crowd, here is mine. I've left out Following as I haven't seen it. So, in reverse order, let's begin where a majority of these lists seem to start:..

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

The epic conclusion of the Dark Knight trilogy was very much a mixed bag in terms of the film delivered. When a plot point is so out of place from the film that it takes the audience out of enjoying the film then, to my mind, the film has failed in it's basic premise, to entertain. There are some good points, the action is well staged, the cast is great and the film hits a lot of emotional beats. However, it tries to take what was happening at the time (I think the Occupy Wall Street movement was partly an inspiration) and takes it to what it considers to be it's logical conclusion. Having read Knightfall a long time ago (the comic book where Bane famously cripples Bat Man) it has some great ideas and imagery but they just don't translate well in this film. Too many plot holes stand out, the police storming the tunnels, Bane excavating exactly under where the Tumbler vehicles are, dumping Bruce Wayne in the prison halfway across the world. It's similar in some ways to it's predecessor but much more amplified here. You can see where the story could have gone and ultimately wish it had, a misfire.

Insomnia (2002)

After the incredibly clever Memento earlier, we have this remake of an earlier Norwegian thriller. With casting such as Al Pacino, Hilary Swank and the late Robin Williams. The film is a thriller set in Alaska where the days are incredibly long and it's this phenomenon that the film plays on with it's central character (Pacino) suffering the effects of lack of sleep. Williams plays the villain (but not as effectively as he would do in One Hour Photo that came out in the same year as this) and it's effectively a cat and mouse between him and Pacino. It's relatively formulaic and procedural and is worth a watch but seems to offer little in terms of repeat viewing.

Interstellar (2014)

The films that Nolan has made between the Batman trilogy have mostly been his strongest (see later for more details) and it was with great expectation and much baited breath waiting for this. As a film, it looks great, incredible production values, great casting but, like the Dark Knight Rises before it, it suffers from story problems. I go to the cinema to be entertained, if I wanted a science lesson, I'll hop onto the Discovery Channel. The parallels with 2001 are throughout the film, from design cues and plot points. It reminds me a lot of Ridley Scott's Prometheus and it suffers a lot of the same disappointments. I wanted so desperately to enjoy this and I will probably buy the Blu-Ray as I imagine the extras will be incredibly good.

Memento (2000)

A film that is basically shown backwards beginning with the ending and ending with the beginning. Skilfully handled both in production and in the edit suite, it concerns Guy Pearce trying to find who killed his wife but his problem is that he cannot form new memories and can only remember the last seven seconds. Consequently when he learns something new he writes it in felt tip on his arm and has to rely on these notes as his investigation carries on. Ably abetted by Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano, Memento is a unique film that rewards repeated viewings as hints and clues are dropped throughout the film. The DVD even has a unique feature that will show the film in the right order and is quite a different experiance than what you might expect.

The Dark Knight (2008)

The sequel to the successful reboot of the Batman film franchise was eagerly expected, not less by me. Even though it would be overshadowed by the untimely death of Heath Ledger the Dark Knight would go on to be incredibly successful both critically and financially. I don't think ultiamately it's as good as Batman Begins as the this was the first film where I felt I had to watch it multiple times to get the the most out of it. I think it's more dense than it needs to be and the excursion to Hong Kong was unnecessary. It is still worth your time though and is still vastly superior to the disappointing third part of the trilogy.

Batman Begins (2005)

The Batman franchise had lain dormant since 1997's ill judged Batman & Robin and its told Warners were initially reluctant to hand Nolan the reins. Thankfully they did and we got one of the best super hero origin stories ever. Origin stories can be tricky beasts as there tends to be a level of market penetration already (if my mother knows that Bruce Wayne's parents were killed and Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider the consider a level of penetration achieved).

The Prestige (2006)

Possibly Nolan's most underrated film, it has jostled at the top of my chart for a while with what could at the top and it's second by the narrowest of margins. Adapted from a novel, it features Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman as feuding magicians at the turn of the century. The story plays out across three seperate time lines afrom the beginning of the feud, through to it's end. One comment I keep making is that Nolan's films have some incredible casting and this is no different with possibly David Bowie walking away as the mercurial Nikolai Tesla. It's a film I can go back to again and again and find something new. In a case of studio duplication, the film "The Illusionist" came out around the same time with a higher profile but I don't think there's any contest as I think that sreally inferior to Nolan's effort.

Inception (2010)

It was a close call between this and the previous film but I came out of seeing this on a real high having had a great time. Great visuals and a great case come together in waht had originally been a horror film but was retooled into a heist. I can even forgive it for playing loose with it's own rules as the ride is just so much fun. In a time where summer blockbusters are dominated by sequels or reboots, this was a rare moment of an original IP knocking it out of the ballpark to the tune of £800 million dollars and whilst not as much as the previous "The Dark Knight" I view this as a superior film. I also think it's superior to the more recent "Interstellar" as it accomplished the goal of both enjoyment and getting the audience to think about what they are watching.

 

 

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Dungeons & Dragons: The New Edition

The big news in gaming this week was the release of the the new Starter Set for probably the most well known of all RPG systems. Some view the 4th edition (released in 2008) as a mis-step and a massive step backward from 3/3.5, I don't but that's for later. What was interesting was the way that the system was play tested, Wizards would issue a packet, we would play it and then send them our thoughts. All of that has led to this, with a Players Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide all forthcoming in a series of staggered releases.

In addition to the new releases, they have also published the basic rules as a free to download PDF you can use to take a character from level 1 to 20.

But what about the game itself, what have they fixed and what have they broken?

At its base and from what I've read I do think they have fixed the fundamental problems with the fourth edition (4e) but have taken out some of the components that made that system so much fun to play.

 

For me, the biggest problem with 4e was character progression and how the character abilities advanced. I'm still really surprised this wasn't flagged during playtesting but go above level 10 and there just becomes too many options for a character in combat. One complaint I heard about 4e was that you played your character sheet and not your character and I think this was one of the prime faults. At higher levels you had too many choices as you tried to string ever more spectacular combinations together. I'll miss the powers system in that it gave a wonderful flavour text rather than just "I hit the Orc with my sword".

I like order in my RPG's, the combat system was geared around minis, almost becoming a wargame at that stage which is probably why people didn't like it but it cleared any ambiguity when it came to when a characters were in range, on difficult terrain, in cover, etc. Even back when I was playing 2nd edition, we would often draw the combat out to help visualise the battle, I always felt this added to the game rather than detracted and was very happy when I saw 4e also embrace this kind of gameplay. 5e does away with it and is replaced by a more generic "distance" rule, that initially doesn't even seem as cohesive as the one seen in "Edge of the Empire" for example.

Vancian Magic, or the need for Wizards/Magic-Users to prepare or "Memorise" spells has been a bugbear of mine since 2e, I believe it was there in the beginning but I'm not sure. It adds an extra level of complexity on a character that is arguably one of the harder to play anyway. Clerics don't have to do this for their "spells" so why are Wizards so penalised. One of the things I loved about 4e was the balance it gave characters, everyone had a similar number of "powers" available to them, it was an equality I hadn't seen before. So e characters would inevitably be better at some things but I think the rule of "linear fighter, quadratic wizard" was at last broken.

These aren't my only issues with 5e but my main ones, 4e had its issues but it was such a radical departure from what had gone before, it was possibly doomed before it began which is a massive shame as there are so manyo good elements.

Ultimately, looking back, 4e was an attempt to balance the system between all classes, and whilst I feel they were successful in that, the problems with character advancement in relation to combat got in the way. I haven't played 5e much since the early play tests but I am hoping too and I will play a Wizard to see how it works now.

 

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What would make my "perfect" Role-Playing Tabletop game?

A previous post alluded to my slightly complaining as to the time it was taking me to roll up a character for a modern RPG (in this case Shadowrun 5e). A subsequent comment on Facebook got me thinking as to what would I want from a modern RPG? These are my thoughts..

"Easy" character creation

As I alluded to in that earlier post regarding creating a character in Shadowrun 5e, it wasnt straight forward to almost the point of impenetrability, Pathfinder is not far off that level that but not quite as bad. 13th Age has had one of the easiest to follow systems i've encountered for a while and that's what I want, particularly if there is no digital backup like D&D had with both the downloadable and online versions of Character Builder (I've not played with Hero Lab so can't really comment). You pick your ability scores, choose your paths, buy equipment and you are done. Both Edge of the Empire and FFG's Rogue Trader employ a tree based system that works well and shows you how the character works and is relatively straight forward.

Structured Combat

The fourth edition of Dungeons and Dragons has had many detractors and the combat system has been a constant target for two reasons, the second I will talk about later (character advancement) but the first was that people didn't seem keen of having to resort to miniatures to resolve combat. Most combat systems treat things like distance as arbitrary values at the discretion of the Game Master but 4e wrote concise miniature rules into the core system. Some thought that it felt too much like a wargame rather than a traditional RPG. I disagree, I liked the system and think this part of the combat system works. It removes confusion and helps when working out cover, area effect, line of sight, etc. Even back when I was a fairly avid second editon player we would often resort to miniatures just to be clear of ambiguity when in combat, plus people do remember where D&D came from, don't they?

Character Advancement

The biggest problem with 4e (in my opinion) is the character advancement after around 10th level, the number of powers available increases and each round of combat takes longer as players try to string together ever more impressive combination of powers. This is great at level 1 as you have multiple options in combat but what is great at early levels soon goes out of control. This problem only gets worse the higher the player level, the more powers, the longer combat takes. My ideal system would handle this by scaling the effect of powers with a player level with the option of swapping powers out at various points which I think how 5e will handle it (or at least handle it better than 4e did). I also like the mechanic in 13th Age that has the escalating die in combat that increases by one each round and that number is added to the player attack rolls.

Some kind of Tablet Interface

Using paper and a pencil is certainly traditional and has its roots in the very beginnings of the hobby (which is around 40 years old) but this is the 21st century, isn't it time for some innovation here. There are a range of homebrew spreadsheets for both character creation and management and these range massively in functionality. The only real attempt at something like I'm envisioning is by Hero Lab and that isn't quite what I would hope for (I haven't used it but going on what Ive read and been told by other users), it gives you character management and there is a reader for the iPad but it's read only and not quite the interactive sheet I would be hoping for. Wizards of the Coast, with their Character Builder have shown the way that online character management can work and be a real boon for the player. They took flak for the subscription model but it gets to the stage its almost too useful not to have, certainly in my book.

Summing Up

So is my "perfect" system out there yet? No, If you had the story mechanics/character creation of 13th Age, the dice mechanics from Edge of the Empire, combat rules and digital backup of D&D 4e. I have high hopes for D&D Next but until the official release it's hard to say what shape the final rules will be in.

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It was the dawn of the 13th Age?

I've been playing Dungeons & Dragons for over 20 years, starting with some first edition, a lot of second, not much third (wasn't keen) but been a relatively steady player of Fourth since it's release in 2008. Fourth edition of D&D has been the subject of a lot of criticism for aspects of its system, such as it's reliance on miniatures to help resolve combat. For me, I like the structured nature of the system and the ordered way you are able to achieve things, but then when you get over 10th level combat takes an exponential amount of time as you get additional powers and abilities, how this got past playtesting is one of lifes mysteries. But what happens when the lead designer of third edition and the lead designer of fourth edition get together and design a system, 13th Age happens..

During a D&D Next playtesting

Just over a week ago I was able to attend the fifth D&D Tweetup (@dndtweetup) and got chance to play the system and experiance it. The organiser of the Tweetup, Adam Page, has been asking for some comments about the system and here are mine from what I've seen/played so far.

Creating a Character

I used a pre-generated character at the Tweetup but there was still scope for customisation before play began and this philosophy carries from the main sourcebook which puts character background, history and where you slot into the campaign before pretty much everything else. Three pieces of background information are key to beginning your character and also help to differentiate it from any version of D&D I've played, they are: -

• One unique thing about your character
• Your relationships to the Icons
• Background skills

The first two are primarily there to enhance your background and story and instead of picking from a list of skills that you might have done previously, you pick skill titles that fit in with your character background (as tailored in the first two elements) and assign points as appropriate and these are then used at key points in the adventure such as a skill check.

 

Rolling a 1st level character didn't take that long and was a refreshing change from when I tried to roll up a character for the new version of Shadowrun that I blogged about previously. The core rule book flows well and reminds me a lot of D&D booms of old but remembering the designers backgrounds that's not much of a surprise.

 

Combat

Combat is where fourth edition fell over. Badly. One of the primary complaints is that it turned the role playing game into a board game or a war game of some kind (these people do know where this game descended from, right?). I wasn't one of them, I liked going down to miniature level, it removes ambiguities about location, line of sight, cover, difficult terrain, etc. Where the game fell apart for me was in the character progression and the number of skills/powers gained. The first 10 or so levels are ok-ish but soon after combat can become unwieldy as the number of options open to players begins to overwhelm and ever more intricate plans to try and chain them together eats into combat time. As an experiment we created level 28 characters for a one off game and a single round of 5 players took just over 45 minutes to complete. I believe this is one thing that been fixes in the fifth edition of D&D (also known as D&D Next) but I haven't played enough of the available preview packets to really comment on that.

The nature of the combat is fairly familiar, roll for initiative, add modifiers, roll for attack, add modifiers, roll for damage, add modifiers, etc. one thing that stands out and one thing I wanted to see how it played was the escalation die. This is basically a D6 that in the second round of combat, it shows a 1 and that gets added to players attack roles, this increments every round until getting to 6. This gives players am increasing chance to hit and various powers have better effects depending on what the D6 is showing. I think this works well and gives players a feeling of being suitable heroic the longer a combat goes on for.

We had two significant combats during the Tweetup and both went well and seemed relatively quick. Reading the book character progression seems familiar to 4th edition but as the core sourcebook only covers the first 10 levels of character advancement it's hard to know how this would work when characters get into their teens in terms of levels.

Summing up

I had been wanting to learn more about 13th Age for a while and I can say I wasn't disappointed, there are a lot of good ideas here that seem to want to shift the emphasis of the game from rules to story and that's not a bad thing, mostly. Unlike other, it seems, other people I liked the reliance on miniatures in Fourth Edition, for reasons I've already stated above. 13th Age also sidesteps the problems of character progression above 10th level by only having 10 levels in the sourcebook. It's also keen to keep to overly familiar tropes (such as rolling a D20 to hit) instead of trying something new with dice like Fantasy Flight have done with both Warhammer 3rd Edition and Edge of the Empire. All of this against what is likely to drop at GenCon this year with the probable release of 5th edition as from little I've played a lot of the ideas either had or were planned to be incorporated into it.

 

Arguably 13th Age is a spiritual successor to the D&D that a lot of us have played, it fixes a lot of things wrong with Fourth edition whilst putting story and roleplay back at the forefront and that's not a bad thing but without the brand recognition that D&D has, can it ever really penetrate the market with much success? With only one expansion on the horizon, a lot is left to the players and DM's imagination and that will carry you so far before you become hungry for more.

 

 

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Adventures in Arduino

Around 9 months ago I bought both a Raspberry Pi and An Arduino Micro-Controller. The Pi is a proper computer whereas the Arduino is much more simplistic, I was looking for a programming project and it would take an off-the-cuff comment after a Laser-Tag LRP event to provide inspiration. The latest sensors we use for Laser-Tag have the ability to programmed with different configurations as per each games requirements. The only way to do this in the fielt was to pre-program set configurations that could be transmitted using a device in the field, but if you wanted a different configuration to one that you had with you then you would need a PC to reprogram them, the idea was floated of a device that could do on-the-fly configurations in the field without needing a PC.

First test with LCD menu

The Arduino seemed a perfect fit for this as the Pi would seem like overkill. Initial research seemed to indicate that the Arduino would work so picking up a couple of other bits (such as an LCD screen) I set about prototyping my project on breadboard.

The hardware came together relatively quickly, the first part of the programming was implementing a menu system, I had a couple of examples of the type of thing I wanted to achieve and moslty they worked. The majority of the logic used in the code hasn't really changed since I was coding back in College (more years ago then I care to think) but there were other issues (like switch debouncing) that I hadn't anticipated but the Arduino user forums were both helpful and unhelpful in equal measure, as with most times when searching the Internet, it's not the answer that matters but how you ask the question.

Finished Prototype

Once the menu system was done my next problem was to how to transmit my parameters to the sensor, the methodology was simple, Infra-Red, but the I didn't understand the format of the data, and the fact the data also relied on a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) to confirm the data just added to the problem. In the beginning I hadn't been keen on involving the designer of the system as I knew he had a lot on so I tried to only ask questions when I had to, after one such conversation, he sent me some code and he had converted his code from Assembler into C (what the Arduino uses). A few tweaks were still needed but mostly it was there, once we had the basis of transmssion we could then add in multiple parameters. Hopefully the code I'd written was scaleable and able to be expanded with future developments.

Constructing an actual prototype was relatively quick, requiring only one afternoon and a bit of a morning once I'd got my Dremel back from my dad. It's not the finished design as I'd like to mount the front switches better than I have and the circuit needs mounting better to keep it from moving where the programming socket it on the side.

 

 

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6 TV Shows that only lasted one season, but deserved more..

Sometimes the candle that burns twice as brightly only burns half as long, sometimes a TV show leaves a huge impact on your viewing life and it's gone never to return for whatever reason. Lists like this are relatively common but the following shows are more personal to me for various reasons. Every show is one I have watched multiple times and have drawn inspiration from in my writing of multiple LRP adventures over the years. They are presented in order of transmission.

Star Cops (1987)

"Spacemen a ten-a-penny, what they need is a good copper?"

Science-fiction has had an illustrious history at the BBC, from early days with Quatermass, through to Doctor Who, Survivors, Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, etc. However, in the late 1980's things started to go sour on the genre; Blakes 7 had ended (memorably) in 1981, the second series of Hitch Hikers was mired in disputes and would never get produced and Doctor Who had endured its transmission times and series format being changed and would be out on hiatus for 18 months. Chris Boucher (Doctor Who writer & Blakes 7 writer/script editor) had pitched his "Science-Faction" series that would be more realistic than the previous series he had been involved in. Boucher would immediately clash with appointed producer, Evgeny Gridneff, in his own words "things started at the bottom and worked their way downwards". Boucher disagreed with a lot of the choices made for the series, from the choice of the song that played over the opening credits, the decision to shoot on video as opposed to film and actual production choices in the series itself.

The most well known of these occurs in the first episode, two characters are eating in a restaurant, the script (as written by Boucher) called for them to be sitting in a booth with an appropriate visage playing behind them that could be keyed in later via CSO. The main character (Nathan Spring) is alerted to a tv transmission he wants to see, and the idea was that the visage behind them would change to this broadcast, again keyed in via CSO. The reality was that the scene was played at a table and when Nathan needs to see his transmission, waitress wheels in a "telly on a trolley", Boucher makes this point on the DVD commentary of the episode.

The series is set in the year 2027 where there are multiple space stations, a moon base and exploration missions to the asteroid belt. Crime is not unknown on this new frontier and justice is handled by volunteers who form the ranks of the International Space Police Force otherwise known as the "Star Cops". The main character is a career policeman who is thrust into a new career against his wishes.

Much like Blakes 7 before it, production values varied tremendously from some great model work of shuttles and space stations, to some incredibly cheap looking set design and a lot of Casio calculators being used as control panels. The series had two directors in Christopher Baker who directed the first half of the episodes and the rest were done by Graham Harper; Baker lit the sets brightly but Harper was more subtle and dropped the lighting in an attempt to generate atmosphere and largely I think he did. Aside from some relatively bad racial stereotyping and almost-comedic acting in places the writing is consistently good throughout and even the weaker episodes have something to offer. Subjects tackled included cyber attacks (I know Max Headroom had mentioned ICE before but even so), electronic snooping, bio-weapons, etc. all make an appearance. Things we take for granted now such as video conferencing, voice controlled technology make early appearances and the main character uses what can only be a nth generation Siri like device.

The one series of Star Cops aired in the summer of 1987, going out on BBC2 at 20:30, BBC support included a press pack (that occaisonally turn up on eBay) and the cover of that weeks Radio Times. Boucher would go on to write 5 of the 9 produced episodes with John Collee and Phillip Martin penning two each, a tenth planned episode was never produced due to industriual action at the BBC. The series was not renewed with the ubiquitous reason of that it "failed to find an audience", Boucher would claim that the series had effectively been cancelled before transmission.

Doctor Who would be cancelled in 1989 and the sci-fi flag would then be carried by comedy series Red Dwarf, until Bugs would start on BBC1 in 1995. Science Fiction would return to the BBC in 2005 with the return of Doctor Who and then again in 2010 with The Deep and then again in 2011 with Outcasts. Where those last two series had high production values, they were both sorely lacking in the writing department and suffered the same early cancellation as Star Cops.

Although attracting mixed to negative reviews at the time, the series has gone under re-evaluation in recent years with praise being given for its writing.

Earth 2 (1994)

"Next time I volunteer for something, remind me how unsuited I am for this kind of stress."

An expedition from a dying Earth lands on a distant planet to try and make a new home. Sound familiar? It's almost the same as the previously mentioned BBC series, Outcasts. The expedition is sabotaged and ends up crashing to the surface far from their intended landing point, the series then chronicles their trials and tribulations as their journey starts. Various themes are weaved throughout the series such as the social classes that they left behind, what to do when crimes are committed on the new world, etc. The series could be accused of being a little 'preachy' at times but I don't feel that affected the series as a whole.

There was a glut of sci-fi series debuts around the early 90's, Babylon 5, Space Rangers, MANTIS, Star Trek: Deep Space 9 and Star Trek : The Next Generation would end this year after seven successful years.

Like Firefly that would follow 8 years later, the episodes were not shown in the intended order (at least they didn't have to effectively film a new pilot) and as such events happened in a different order and didn't flow as they should have. Like most series, it had a high production budget and was shot almost exclusively on location and various stories tried to flesh out the characters back stories, not always successfully it has to be said but as with most series on this list, I think there are more hits than misses.

Ultraviolet (1998)

"So thats it? Two Hail Mary's and don't shoot any more civilians?"

Whilst TV series about Vampires of have Vampires in them are quite commonplace now, the late 1990's was a different time. Back then there was only Buffy The Vampire Slayer, i wasn't a fan, I hadn't drank the Joss Whedon Koolaid and blamed him for the mess that was Alien : Resurrection (although in these more enlightened times I realise how little of what he wrote then made it to the screen). In the midst of this came a little Channel 4 show, that arrived and then departed with little fanfare.

The basis is that Vampires exist and there is a Government department to investigate and where necessary, to also "neutralise" them. Never referred to as Vampires, they are called either Code 5 (which is V in Roman numerals) or Leeches, they are shown as highly intelligent and manipulative and dangerous in the extreme (with the almost overwhelming force this is used against them). In a nod to myth, they cannot be seen in mirrors or observed using electronic surveilance, when using phones, they have to use a computer and a voice synthesizer.

The humans can use carbon tipped bullets, garlic gas grenades and video camers with monitors that attach to their guns to aid with detection. All six episodes were written and directed by Joe Ahearne (who would go on to work on Strange and the series of Doctor Who) and as such they have a very stylistic look that is consistent across the series. Elements of it haven't aged well, each character uses a Motorola Star-Tac, all of the computer graphics are hilariously chunky, mini discs are the recording medium of choice, etc. Each show was relatively well contained but elements of a story arc emerge early on and these come to fruition by the end but could also have easily led to a second series. With subjects such as abortion and paedophilia, the series was quite adult in nature and was also keen to show the toll on the characters as the series goes on.

Unlike the other shows on this list, Ultraviolet was never cancelled, Channel 4 never asked for any more to be produced. There was an attempted US remake in 2000 with Idris Elba reprising his role of Vaughn Rice but this never got past the pilot stage and one of the producers would go on to comment that they "messed it up".

Firefly (2002)

"Just once I'd like things to go according to the gorram plan."

Greatest cancellation travesty in the history of TV.

Rubicon (2010)

"There's no trust, no faith, no honesty in men."

Premiering on AMC a month before The Walking Dead, Rubicon attempted to show a different side to the war on terror, showing us the analysts who analyse data and then offer judgments and advice based on that data and also the pressure and toll making potential life or death decisions has on those analysts. As an example, an early episode has some of the characters debating over new intelligence as to whether or not to recommend a drone strike but with the potential of civilian collateral damage. Against all this, some of the characters are pursuing their own agendas and running their own investigations but in such a high pressure environment, how long is it before "the codes break them"? The series also features high level conspiracies with governments being manipulated by a select few is positions of power.

With several overall arcs running throughout the series, it's potentially not the easiest of things to watch and is easily best watched in as few a hits as possible to get the most out of it. Drawing upon 70's films such as Three Days of the Condor, The Conversation and The Parallax View for its inspiration, it showed ordinary people trying to deal with immense pressure. This wasn't like 24 and isn't what you would call action packed, its very much a "slow burn" serial with the stakes gradually getting higher as the series comes to a head and whilst there is a degree of conclusion, there was certainly plenty of scope for another series.

Like other shows, it achieved early high ratings but these waned and the show was not renewed.

Camelot (2011)

"Fate can go begging, Destony has to be won."

I am a big King Arthur fan, with the exception of Monty Python I've probably watched most King Arthur films (The 2004 Clive Owen film is a guilty pleasure) so I was looking forward to this. With Eva Green as Morgan and Joseph Fiennes as Merlin and written and produced by Chris Chibnall (Torchwood / Broadchurch), it boasted a great cast and high production values. Chibnall allegedly based the series on the classic La Morte d'Arthur, the classic telling of the myth and the series featured the well known parts of the story with a little twist inserted here and there, often to the betterment of the story. This wasn't an early evening show like BBC's Merlin, with nudity and violence on the same levels as a cable tv series (it was co-produced by Starz).

A lot of the well known characters ffrom the myth are mostly present and correct and the series attempts to portray Arthur is his very early days (similar as the BBC Merlin). Production values are high, the cast good, a couple of the episodes are weaker than others but mostly I feel its a good attempt at not just the story but the fantasy genre as a whole.

People seem to have mostly forgotten about this series as the fantasy behemoth, Game of Thrones, would premiere a month later. The series was was not renewed with production and scheduling difficulties given as the reason, if Game of Thrones had not premiered a month into it's run and arguably taken a lot of it's glory then I think a second series was definitely in the offing and the ending to the final episode certainly hinted at some story threads that could have continued into a second series whilst staying true to the Arthurian legends it was trying to follow.

 

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Is the right "App" now a reason to stick with a particular service/company?

Bizarre conversation the other day, a guy was speaking to wanted to change banks for some reason but wasn't going to as the app the new bank provided wasn't as good as his current one. As having a website became so essential in the late 1990's and then having Social Media in the 2000's, is having the better app now essential to online survival in the 2010's?

Certainly the Amazon app is easier to use and manage your account than the website is, but is an app now enough to guarantee customer retention. Certainly the "available on App Store" icon seems more prevalent than ever before in various commercials that flash before my eyes.

If you wanted to change provider, service, whatever, is an app enough to retain your loyalty?

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