I can't remember how well this tallies with the rest of the series, but I always thought that Zak's apparent blandness was part of the reason Kara was attracted to him (and why the less stable Lee was similarly tempting). Their relationship seems to have occurred during a more stable time in her life - she'd found a…

I also think Tony Zhou was right in his 'Every Frame a Painting' episode on Edgar Wright's films - American comedy films in particular have settled into a mold that doesn't make full use of cinematic tools. TV comedy over the last decade has been really experimental and exciting, but the tendency towards Apatowian…

For me, the key issue is figuring out what stories are best told in which format. Taking two examples from the last year, there's no need to stretch 'Gravity' or '12 Years a Slave' over 13 hours, let alone 5 seasons. They are extremely powerful experiences on their own. On the other hand, something like 'Mad Men' or…

2012 is a pretty good example of how this award goes wrong. Three Doctor Who episodes (including, it goes without saying, the winner), a Community episode, and an acceptance speech from the previous years' awards made up the nominees. Left out: Fringe's third season, the first seasons of Game of Thrones, Alphas, and…

Fair enough on Orphan Black, though Firefly did manage to lose out to an awards show gag. But my main issue is that the category has, until the last couple of years, mainly served to glorify Doctor Who (and novelties like the Gollum speech, and an internet video about fucking a sci fi author) at the expense of all…

And here I thought the Hugo Award was a prize for best 'Doctor Who' episode. I think 'Battlestar Galactica' got one award over its entire run (awarded before 'Doctor Who' premiered), and I think 'Lost', 'Fringe', 'Orphan Black', 'Angel', and 'Firefly' are/were left out completely.

Yep. From Kalgoorlie, you'd have to fly back west to Perth, then east to Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane to head to LA.

As an Australian, I really enjoyed it when Lost tried to engage with its Australian setting, even if it sometimes didn't get it quite right. A good example of this is in 'Numbers' - the place Hurley goes to find Sam is a real place. Kalgoorlie is a mining city east of Perth. But the pronunciation is horribly wrong.…

I picked this up yesterday hoping for something different - while Watch Dogs is around the corner, I figure that between new Batman, MGS, InFamous, and Assassin's Creed games I'll spend enough of the year with third-person action/stealth hybrids to not rush out for that one. Not far into it, but so far it's pretty…

Probably not a wildly popular opinion, but 'Basic Lupine Urology' holds a special place in my heart. There was a time when Australian cable showed nothing but episode after episode of 'Law & Order', meaning that between sick days, study breaks and holidays when there was nothing to do, I've probably seen every episode…

I think one of the (many) things that makes 'Human Nature'/'Family of Blood' so good is that it doesn't use its historical setting as a backdrop. 'The Shakespeare Code' and 'Daleks in Manhattan' went out of their way to portray the past as a colour-blind society where class is played more for laughs than anything…