Videogum » BBC

Dr. Who Movies Are Coming! Something Something TARDIS!

Kelly — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:00:16 +0000

Harry Potter director David Yates is developing the BBC’s longrunning Dr. Who series into what is sure to be a very profitable movie franchise. Good going, David Yates! Somebody’s gotta make all that money. #birdie4TARDIS

Ask Idris Elba

Gabe — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 19:45:56 +0000

To promote the upcoming second season of the very great BBC cop drama Luther, which is so great, Idris Elba answered questions that people submitted on Facebook. Idris Elba! Stringer Bell! But also Luther! (If it isn’t clear by now, you should be watching Luther, and if you aren’t, fucking fix it.) Now, all of these questions are very dry and kind of sound like they were written by a Publicity Robot whose job was to Make Everything Sound A Little Bit Boring. Except that it’s Idris Elba doing the answering. So actually it is pretty great. I could listen to him answer questions about what it was like making THE PHONEBOOK and still enjoy it. No pooftero. Supposedly there are five installments of Ask Idris Elba, but the BBC has only uploaded four. That’s plenty, although I do hope that the main mystery detective John Luther has to solve in the coming season is what happened to the fifth installment of the YouTube publicity interview?! What a game of cat and mouse he could play with such a mystery. I’ve also posted the new trailer for Series 2 (in England they call “seasons” of television “series,” which is why they lost the Revolutionary War, I think?). It looks great, obviously.

Teamwork

starlee kine — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 21:57:19 +0000

I’ve just started on Season Two of Skins (British version obviously.) I realize I’m late to the game, but not extraordinarily so. Like, I’m still meeting people who are either willing to talk at length with me about it or who haven’t watched any of it yet. After this, I’ll move onto Downton Abbey. I’ve been told I can polish that off in a day, if I work really hard at ignoring the rest of my life. I’ve been told to watch Peep Show but I’m not positive it’s for me. Which is different than saying it’s not good. I’m sure it’s good. You see the difference, right?

While I still have some time here, I’d like to just throw out there a nominee for the new British television show that Americans should be getting obsessed with. I’ve already seen it but I’d be willing to watch it again. For the good of my country.

The show is called Cracker. I’m positive some of you have heard of it. But I want you ALL to have heard of it. I want the Glee kids to be dropping references about it. I want it to be a new expression. I want everyone to be saying, “Oh, I just crumbled a cracker in my mouth” instead of “I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.” Mainly because I will do ANYTHING to make people stop saying that latter expression, even if it involves dedicating the rest of my life to making you love a show about a sweaty, British, drunken, gambling addict criminal psychologist, who is nonetheless a totally appealing character. (True story: Last weekend I met a guy…not a GUY guy, just a male human…and the subject of marriage came up. Like I said, apropos of not much, “How do you feel about marriage?” And he said, “I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.” It was the worst thing that’s ever happened to me and that will ever happen to me. Even if, say, my dog were to die in the future, which he won’t, he’s going to live forever even if I have to zombify him to make that happen, but if he WERE, having heard someone put those two sentiments together in one sentence would still have been worse.)

Human Planet Trailer, You Guys

Gabe — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:30:39 +0000

Fuck outta here, polar bear. IT’S OUR TURN!

Misfits is good and you should watch it!

BradOFarrell — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 17:30:48 +0000

Guys! This show is so good! I don’t really have a newsy angle on this–I asked Gabe beforehand if I could gush about how good of a show Misfits is and that’s what I’m doing. The entire show is on YouTube, legally I think (the content is ‘claimed’ by the network and it’s uploaded in full episode 45 minute chunks? That LOOKS pretty legal) and you could watch it all in a weekend and it would be a great way to spend a weekend. It’s British show so there’s only 13 episodes total even though there are two seasons. British TV is weird. Also there’s going to be a new season in the fall so it’s not like you’re watching a ‘dead’ TV show.

I know that Gabe and 30 Rock likes to call you guys “nerds” but you’re not really nerds. If you guys were really nerds I would be talking about how the new season of the Pokemon anime has crazy 9-11 symbolism and stuff. But you’re not nerds so I can’t talk about Pokemon (psych, I just did! You just got stealth nerd’d!) or over-indulgent nerd stuff. I bring this up because Misfits is a show about superheroes, but it’s a show about superheroes that is engrossing and watchable even if you’re not a nerd because it’s a really good show!

Misfits is about five antisocial adolescent criminals in a community service group. In the first episode (embedded above) they get struck by lightning and they all get superpowers that reflect their individual antisocial quirks. They don’t really use their powers for good or evil, to put it in nerd terms, they’re like chaotic neutrals. In each episode they have to do some project for their community service which usually leads them to encountering other antisocial individuals who were given powers by the storm.

The powers of the five main kids are pretty neat, too! One girl, Kelly, is really self-conscious and can hear people’s thoughts, so now she knows What Women Want. Another girl, Alisha, uses her sexuality to manipulate men and gets the power to reverse-rape men by touching them. Then there’s a creepy introverted kid named Simon who gains the power to turn invisible whenever he’s ignored. And Curtis, an olympic runner who got banned from athletics because of drugs gets the power to turn back time whenever he regrets his actions.

Then there’s Nathan Young, the show’s protagonist, who doesn’t even get a superpower right away. Nathan is one of the best television characters I’ve seen in a long time. I’m cautious about explaining the nuances of his character, I feel like that might be cheating you out of the experience of watching the show more than dropping big spoiler bombs would be. But, essentially, Nathan’s character is written to be sort of a mascot of “our generation” (mine and yours, not old man Gabe’s) and we gradually see a longing to make meaningful connections with other people, hidden behind a charade of knee-jerk cynicism.

Anyway, you guys should all watch it, and then we can have fun spoilery discussions about it in the comments. But, for anyone who has seen it, avoid spoiling anything at least for today! Then we can all come back to this post after we’ve watched it and have a Videogum slumber party! Isn’t Simon totally dreamy? Isn’t Kelly’s accent the best? Lets all become Misfits heads!

Classic News Blooper (As If There Is Any Other Kind)

Gabe — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:46:29 +0000

News bloopers are the best, always*. (Via Lindsayism.)

*To give you a sense of just how magical news bloopers are, this particular news blooper is in relation to the Jaycee Dugard story, which has to be one of the est stories of all time. Nothing about that story is even remotely funny. It’s a living nightmare. And yet, here we are, with another hilarious news goof. I bet there were some hilarious World War II yuck-em-ups that have since been lost to the sands of time. “Hitler today continued with his spermicidal campaign against the Jews. Whoops! I mean–” And now you have graduated from News Bloopers Are Funny Because School, WITH HONORS.