Outcasts - New BBC Sci-Fi/Drama

If, like me, you were blissfully unaware of this series until you accidentally caught the premier whilst pessimistically scouring the usual tripe on TV that passes for entertainment, it will no doubt have almost been a pleasant surprise to find out the BBC had commissioned a relatively gritty sci-fi drama set in the not-too-distant future.

As a long-term Twitter user (I refuse to refer to myself as a Twit, especially since Piers Morgan used it to describe his Twitter presence...) I was startled by the flood of negativity that was directed towards Outcasts from the Twitter public. Seeing as I had only caught the middle 10 minutes, and then read the various complaints about it, I decided to watch it from the beginning on iPlayer to see just how appalling it was, and I was pleasantly surprised by how good it actually was. Perhaps it was because from the various tweets I'd read I was expecting the acting to be on par with a primary school's rendition of Hamlet and the plot to be just as flimsy as cling-film, but Outcasts certainly didn't strike me as being that bad. There were a few minor flaws in it, but nothing that robbed it of it's overall enjoyability for me.

The premise for the show definitely has potential.It's the not too distant future and the surviving handful of humanity have fled Earth after what is hinted at as being World War III. They set up a new civilisation on the Earth-like planet of Carpathia, and soon enough they've established a fully functioning bureaucracy on their new world. Yippee for them. There are mentions of a curious disease (C23) that killed off quite a lot of their children, and also that there are people who do not share the ideals of their society (a feeling I know all too well!). Whilst all these subtle mentions scattered throughout the first and second episodes are evidently an attempt at constructing a history, it just didn't feel 'real' enough for me (let alone the fact it's only 30 to 50 years in the future... Space is bloody big, so how the hell did they find a nice habitable planet so quickly?!). I'm willing to accept what they're showing me as the present, but something about the past feels very hollow. But, I think Outcasts has a lot of little surprises up it's sleeve yet to come, so perhaps there's a good reason for this?

What I believe Ben Richards (writer for Outcasts, also known for penning Spooks and Party Animals) is going for with this series is that underlying aspect of human nature that will always be a part of us. Towards the end of the first episode, Mitchell Hoban (Jamie Bamber) posits the questions 'do you really think human beings can live in peace?', which I think neatly encapsulates the premise of the show. We want to believe we can live in peace, like to think everything will be all shiny and happy, but the chances of things turning out that way are incredibly slim given our penchant for discrimination, war and generally putting others down. I'm not saying everyone is intrinsically a self-motivated warmonger-er, that's far too cynical even by my standards, but I do believe that everyone has a different view of what is morally beneficial to society and themselves.

Admittedly, the end of the first episode had left me a little dubious, seeing as they killed off one of the characters, who not only seemed like they were going to be a focal character, but was the only one who had appealed to me within the first half an hour. I don't consider that a brilliant sign, as I don't see many of the characters as being particularly likeable, so it's hard for me to have any real sympathy for them when things start to go horribly wrong... It's also exceptionally slow paced, so unless you're willing to give it a chance to explain itself or are capable of tolerating bouts of boredom this probably isn't the show for you. I just like to think that it's pacing itself appropriately. Would the reimagined Battlestar Galactica have been so successful if they hadn't included several space battle sequence in the first episode? That would have been astoundingly slow in the opening mini-series were it not for the Cylons being all murdery and what not...

Quite frankly, if I didn't often think about the absurdity of society, human nature, and how it could possibly be improved (if you're interested, email me, not all of my ideas are genocidal!), Outcasts might appear to me as another one of those boring series disguised as a quite interesting one, so I can understand where some of the critical reception is coming from. Whilst it qualifies as Sci-Fi, don't expect robots, aliens, lasers, or many spaceships, as technically this belongs in the drama category, just with all the extra stuff Sci-Fi can give you. If anything, I'd say the only Sci-Fi thing about it is that it's a completely different planet, which allows the show to literally start from scratch and recreate human society, without all the trappings of our Earth-bound demographic.

It is a series I will definitely continue to watch to see where it goes. I think it has a lot of potential that a lot of viewers didn't realise in the first episode, which was redeemed for those who continued to watch the second one. There are a lot of things brought up that could really make an intriguing series, but unfortunately by not making this obvious from the get-go I fear it may have lost a large portion of it's viewing figures (who would much rather watch Big Fat Gypsy Weddings instead, apparently...).

The third episode airs tonight at 9 on BBC1, so if like me you'll be watching the telly instead of spending time with a loved one, I would recommend giving it a go. The trailer for Outcasts can be seen immediately below.

Happy New Year

Just a very quick blog post to wish my readership (all 7 of you!) a happy New Year and the best of hopes for 2011.

So, yes...

Happy New Year!

January Sales and the Degradation of Society

The following is a work of humour, and should not be taken as a bitter man's rant on the January Sales and humanity as a whole. Despite the fact that that is exactly what it is.

Is it just me, or does humanity suffer a slight evolutionary lapse during that period just after Christmas and the middle of January? It appears that the whole of mankind declares "Well, enough's enough." and discards any sense of civility and common decency in favour of kicking each other's heads in. It's as if after being nice and polite to everybody for almost a year it's just too much, and all their pent up anger reveals itself in the glorious eruption of the January Sale Riots.

Now, I may be a misanthropic bastard at the best of times, but after tripping over a myriad of trousers, shoes, knickers, and elderly people, all casually strewn across the floors of even the most reputable retail outlets like fallen soldiers of some bloody war, I've achieved a new level of people-hating wonderment. Human behaviour has always fascinated me, largely because I've never really understood most of it. People will get into heated arguments as to how best to remove a red wine stain, where to park the car, or what paving slabs they should use for the patio, whilst I'd be more interested in discussing reality (the illusion of?) and the ethical implications of Hitler possibly being reincarnated as a starving African child as some kind of karmic debt.

The latter is apparently not appropriate 'light conversation' to have over Christmas dinner. Especially if you feel the need to stand up and goose-step energetically around the dining room... Mind you, it's better than doing it in the middle of a restaurant.

Anyway, I digress. I'm relatively certain I don't belong in the human race any more, either because I'm too highly evolved to be considered human (please stop your derisive laughter...) or am just a completely alien life-form. Or both. Or neither. Either way, consider this my resignation from humanity, I'll go and live with the dolphins if the aliens reject my application. But my point is I fail to see the logic behind the mob-mentality, general disregard for garments and readiness for combat all in the name of 50% off jeans... I can't help but feel that were we in the grips of a nuclear fallout this would be acceptable!

Back to the story at hand... I went to try a shirt on in the fitting rooms (as you do) and was instructed to use one of the vacant cubicles, a fairly obvious instruction I felt but I wasn't going to question this person's qualifications. The only problem was, there was no indicator as to whether a cubicle was vacant or not, so it was more changing-room roulette than shopping. Which sounds sort of fun when I word it like that. Anyway, I approached a door and went to open it (presuming, somewhat 'stupidly', that an occupied fitting room would be locked) only to find staring back at me a rather startled woman struggling into a fairly sizeable negligee. The best I could really offer in this circumstance was to back out of the cubicle apologising profusely whilst everyone in the area glared at me like I was a broad-daylight changing room rapist.

Admittedly, they can be forgiven for making such accusations considering the circumstances. I fear that were this to be a court case, it would very much be one sided. And not the one sided-ness that would be in my favour!

Perhaps I'm wrong (first time for everything, I suppose). Perhaps appropriate decorum for shopping is to fight your fellow man over a reduced garment, and to just throw anything that you either disprove of or is the wrong size on the floor. I'm sure the house-elves will be pleased to clean it up afterwards.
Hopefully society will recover by the middle of January, but until then there's only one tactfully designed shirt left in Marks and Spencer's and it's every man for himself!

National Novel Writing Month - A Retrospective

I went into National Novel Writing Month at the beginning of November with a spring in my step and a song in my heart, and with my wide and dewy eyes I gazed upon the word count that was to be my goal. 50,000 words.  Having only found out about this event 3 days into it, I would have to average 1851 words a day which, whilst seemingly a little steep, was perfectly manageable.

Under certain circumstances.

One of said circumstances is that you can keep your imagination from bouncing around like an over-excitable labradoodle. I started with a respectable and serious novel with deep philosophical and political connotations which would put our entire social paradigm into question, but before long I noticed small cracks starting to appear, revealing a sense of humour beneath it. Not that this novel didn't have room for humour, but the contrast between the main narrative and these snippets of wit and whimsy was so stark that it would have been more subtle to walk into an office with an electric blue mohawk and a 'My Little Pony' briefcase. It wouldn't work!


Unfortunately, my imagination spotted this and leapt onto the idea with the fervour of a horde of crazed rabbits that have just seen something that rabbits really like (don't think too much about that metaphor, I certainly didn't). Suddenly, I had the idea for the novel I was writing at the time, a sequel, a completely different novel, and about two or three plays running rampant in my mind.

There was also an infinite number of monkeys at my door wanting to talk to me about a script for 'Hamlet' they'd worked out, but I told them I had enough problems of my own and to come back sometime next week.

Anyway, in conclusion, I've decided to dedicate myself to my imagination, take it out for candle-lit meals, long walks, and write a novel in my own time rather than try and squeeze a story out within a month.

Great Gorilla Run

I know what you're thinking. "Bron, you charismatic stallion, it's been over a week since the Great Gorilla Run. Why haven't you Blogged anything?" Unfortunately, despite having a blog, I'm not the most frequent of bloggers. Regardless, the past week has been filled of it's own distractions to derail my focus from blogging (as infrequent as it is).

Well, what can I say about the event? It was a not un-windy day, and somewhat cold. Despite this, the gorillas still removed their heads to reveal they were actually sweat-drenched humans afterall. There was a substantial amount of supporters, mostly gathered around the start/finish line up Mincing Lane (close to Monument), where Bill Oddie awaited to hand out medals to each runner as they crossed the line to the sound of an all-gorilla percussive band.



I'm not entirely sure what else I can say about the event!
A thousand people hopped into some gorilla costumes and went for a run around central London, leaving pedestrians and drivers baffled. Most amusingly was the bloke out for a casual run, completely oblivious of the event, suddenly being overtaken by a band of gorillas. I sincerely hope he still doesn't quite understand what went on to this day...

Oh, and a most gratuitous thank you to Bill Bailey for posting about this event to his followers on Twitter - the Animal Ledger website received so many views from his tweet that the bandwidth had to be upgraded! Bill Bailey is a supporter of both the Sumatran Orangutan Society and International Animal Rescue, and we really appreciate him publicising this event in the hope of gaining more sponsors.