Lara Pulver Forum

I'm enjoying Lara in Robin Hood so much I am considering starting a wepage on her.

Well, maybe I'll use a blog to automate things a little...

In the meantime here's a forum I've started:

http://larapulver.proboards.com/index.cgi

Hopefully some like-minded people will find it and we can get some Lara/Isabella discussion going.

Lucy Liemann in Reggie Perrin episode 3

Not much Lucy in this weekend's episode I'm afraid. There was another water cooler moment though:



I did actually like the line that went something like "we don't actually make anything in this country anymore, but we know a man who does and it's my job to email him".

Any sign of that Jasmine screen saver on the BBC website yet?

Lara Pulver in Robin Hood Episode 3.07

This episode had a lot of Isabella in it I am happy to say. There are various spoilers in my comments below so be careful if you've not seen it yet.

Prince John has a plan to dry the wells in order that the peasants will love him for giving them water. He tells Isabella his plan knowing that she will tell Robin. Then he informs Gisborne to follow and kill them both.

Isabella does indeed tell Robin the princes plan. He asks why she is helping him and Isabella gives a number of reasons that include being on the winning side.

Gisborne briefly captures them but is knocked out. An emotional and tearful Isabella is close to killing him for making the last 17 years of her life hell.

Robin and Isabella eventually end up in a flooding dungeon. They escape but rather than stay to rescue Kate Isabella pleads with Robin to escape with her and start a new life somewhere else. He refuses as such a life can only be a dream for him. When the Prince and Gisborne turn up she switches sides and denounces Robin. There follows an ambitious four-way sword fight where opponents constantly switch. It's good fun.

At first Isabella's betrayal of Robin didn't ring true to me as she had gone out of her way to help him in the last two episodes. However looking back over this episode the clues are there. When she discussed the reasons for helping Robin the one thing she didn't mention was doing the right thing. She also expressed her resentment of Gisborne on numerous occasions and she clearly wants to escape any dependence on him. Robin seemed a likely way out for her.

At first I was a little annoyed by her betrayal but now I can see the writers are producing a quite complex character for Isabella. She is certainly one of the most interesting characters in the show, walking a tightrope between the men she is trying to manipulate to escape her old life.

Lara Pulver is doing a great job. I can't believe that it's her first TV role.

Toby Stephens continues to excel as Prince John. He even gets to tell Gisborne "You're fired" in true Apprentice style. I doubt they had that phrase in medieval times but he makes it work.

Richard Armitage as Gisborne gets to do little more that glower, but he does it well.

There now follows a few screen-grab type images of Isabella. I can't help myself. =sigh=

(Oh, by the way, no episode next week! Eurovision! Grrrr!)

Star Trek movie - my first thoughts

I went to see the new Star Trek movie last night. Actually it was a very last minute decision. I had intended to wait until today. There was quite a good sized crowd in the cinema for it. I have to say it was a younger "cooler" crowd than would be normal for a Star Trek movie!

I have to admit at this point that I am a long time Star Trek fan. I've seen most of the movies in the cinema when they first came out, had the die-cast Dinky Enterprise toy as a kid, bought the novels and videos in the 1990s, and last week I bought the remastered DVDs.

Be aware of spoilers that may follow. I'll try to keep to general observations rather than a blow-by-blow account of the story.

The movie is very fast moving. The quieter moments are there but you can be sure the movie won't dwell on them for too long.

The opening sequence on the USS Kelvin was a strong one. The editing and performances were nicely handled as George Kirk is forced to stay behind on the doomed ship and talk to his wife who is escaping on a shuttle.

The young Spock being bullied by some snot-nosed Vulcans lets us discover how emotional he can be.

Bruce Greenwood was excellent as Captain Pike convincing Jim Kirk to enlist. I liked the scene on the shuttle where we get our first sight of Karl Urban as Doctor McCoy.

Zachary Quinto as Spock is good. I kept comparing his performance to Nimoy's in the old show so the fact I didn't hate him is a good sign. I think more than any other his is the part people will focus on most and he needs to make it his own and he did.

All through the movie Chris Pine plays a very cocky Kirk. The audience I saw the movie with seemed to love it. They were continually laughing, mostly at Kirk's lines and reactions, but also at anything Scotty did, some of McCoy's lines, etc. I like Simon Pegg but I felt he was overdoing the overreactions in the background. Still, he always got the big laughs so I guess that what the audience wants. The "Kirk with big hands" slapstick was a step to far, but again the audience seemed to love it. The movie maintains a jokey tone throughout with the exception of the opening sequence and the central "Vulcan sequence".

While avoiding spoilers I had more or less unintentionally discovered what happens in the middle of the movie. I wish I had not as the surprise would have been a major one.

Nimoy pops up as the older Spock from the future. Part of me feels his presence in the move was an unnecessary reminder of the first cast of actors who played these roles. On the other hand it works perfectly to tie the new movie into the series. By the time I saw his scene at the end of the movie I was comfortable with the role of "Original Spock".

I do like the new new look of the USS Enterprise. I think 75% of me loves it and the other 25% of me is complaining "but the engines are too close together!" Ah, I think it will grow on me...

Two observations about the Enterprise in the move. I would have liked to see a few more shots of the ship filling the screen. There's the "Titan arrival" sequence where she rises up out of the clouds and I'm reminded at what a stunning design the ship has. The other point is that we don't have a traditional engineering room. Instead it looks like they filmed in something like a chemical factory with lots of catwalks and big vats.

I would have liked to see more of Karl Urban as McCoy. In this movie he is only playing a supporting role. Uhura gets a much larger part than she did in the series along with a very surprising romantic partner.

It was great to see the classic gold, blue and red uniforms. Pointedly Kirk never wears the gold shirt until the very end of the move when he becomes the official captain of the Enterprise (much like Daniel Craig not saying "the names Bond, James Bond" until the very end of Casino Royale).

The cast was good. In hindsight Eric Bana didn't get too much to do as Nero but he made the most of it. The appearance of his ship and the casual way it swatted aside any opposition created a sense of jeopardy.

Michael Giacchino's music worked well. He stayed clear of the famous Star Trek theme pretty much until the end of the movie (again similar to the use of the Bond theme in Casino Royale).

At the end of the movie a few audience members started clapping. Actually clapping. At a Star Trek movie. What a strange world we live in where Star Trek is suddenly cool!

So that's the new beginning of the Star Trek crew. hopefully the next movie will be able to send them off on an adventure with a few quieter moments and a few more shots of the ship!

Lara Pulver - "Oh, you adorable girl!"

I watched my second episode of Robin Hood tonight. It was episode 6 of the third series and was titled "Do you love me?" And I have to say I enjoyed it very much.

Toby Stephens arrived as Price John and in a single episode made paying the licence fee worthwhile. His prince is a vain creature who wants to be king. He wonders why the peasants don't love him when he tries to burn down their church with them inside it.

"Long live Prince John," say his guests. "Long live me," he replies.

He sets up Gisborne and the Sheriff to fight each other to the death, apparently so he can blame Robin Hood. We get a pretty good sword fight resulting in the apparent death of the Sheriff. Until later we see his hand move...

Lara Pulver returns as Isabella and by now methinks I am quite smitten. She seemed to grow more attractive as the episode went on. But beyond my shallowness I do note she is a pretty damn good actress. Many of her scenes are with Toby Stephens where she's playing up to his vanity, describing her "capture" by Robin and whispering a "King John" whenever needed.

And she looks great in a period frock.

Minus points for snogging Robin. It seemed a little too soon. Oh well, it had to happen eventually I suppose.

I don't normally do the screen-grab thing, but in this case I will make an exception as there are not many photos of Lara/Isabella out there. It was no hardship.


I may have a go doing the screen-grab thing next week. I'll see how it goes.

Lucy Liemann in Reggie Perrin Episode 2

Episode 2 of the BBC's new Reggie Perrin was on last night. It was moderately entertaining in that "I didn't actually laugh out loud but almost smirked occasionally" kind of way.

The studio audience do need to be calmed down a little bit, although some of Reggie's fantasy moments are potentially funny.

I wouldn't go near the thing if Lucy Liemann wasn't in it. Fortunately she had a little more screen time this week so here are some screen grab type images to enjoy

First of all here is Reggie's computer screen. I do hope the BBC creates a Jasmine screen saver and puts it on their website. Who do we write to?



A water cooler moment. How are you finding your feet?

Later in her office to talk about the stubble conference.

Just before Reggie kisses her...

... and just after!

Terminator: TSSC Episode 2.22

So, for what might be the last time here are my comments on a new episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Sarah is in a prison cell being interviewed by an FBI guy who played someone on The West Wing. He asks where John is and Sarah says he is dead. Sara asks to see a priest. It's the same priest from the first episode of the season when they hid in his church and tried to deactivate Cameron. Sarah explains about the terminators and asks for his help.

John and Cameron are hiding in a motel. He is angry at Cameron in case she has been giving off radiation from her power source that has made his mother ill. Cameron gets him to check her power source and it's "cold" which is "good". This is actually a very creepy and uncomfortable scene that requites John to straddle Cameron on the bed.

The priest makes contact with someone who in turn visits John and Cameron. It's the chick who was hanging out with the gang of forgers from the first season. She hands over new passports. John looks for a message from his mother. The girl passes on a message: Don't try to rescue Sarah.

A terminator goes into a gun shop to buy a silencer. (The gun dealer doesn't know how lucky he was to survive.) Later the machine tries to kill Weaver and seems a little confused that bullets didn't do the job. Weaver dispatches him.

Cameron sees Ellison outside and gets him. He says Weaver wants to meet John to thank him for saving the daughter. Ellison passes on a message for Cameron: "Will you join us?" Cameron is momentarily taken aback. This certainly seems to confirm that Weaver is the same T-1000 from the sub in the future.

The guy from The West Wing asks Sarah if she know where Danny Dyson is? Miles Dyson's son has vanished. Is he perhaps the one behind the SkyNet malware that infected Cromartie? Is he working on SkyNet, perhaps against his will?

John and Cameron go to rescue Sarah anyway. Well, Cameron does most of the work. Lots of guards shoot her so shes got that cool exposed endoskeleton look going on. John Henry/Cromartie is watching from his basement room and unlocks all the doors. Sarah escapes and is reunited with John and Cameron.

John and Sarah go to visit Weaver. Meanwhile Cameron breaks in to the basement to supposedly destroy John Henry.

While John and Sarah talk to Weaver one of the drone aircraft from an earlier episode flies into Weaver's building and explodes. Weaver turns into a metal wall to protect them. They run to the basement to discover Cromartie is gone and Cameron is in his place. She has given Cromartie her chip.

Sarah recognizes the Turk computer which has, surprise, three red dots on it. Weaver says she is not developing SkyNet but rather a means of combating SkyNet. So it does appear that there is a faction of machines who for some reason want to prevent SkyNet winning the war.

Weaver activates a time displacement "bubble" sending herself and John into the future. John is quickly discovered by members of the resistance including none other than Derek Reese, his father Kyle Reese and Alison, the girl who looks like Cameron. Not only do they not recognise John, they don't appear to know the name "John Connor". Does this imply they've not met him yet, or that by jumping into the future there has been no John Conner around since the war started?

This was a very strong episode with a great cliffhanger. I love time travel paradox stuff so this is great. Every time someone jumps back or forward through time a new draft of history is created.

If the show ends now if will be a great shame. I guess we will hear in the next few weeks.