Happy Boxing Day! 2020 is nearing its end, and this might be my last blog post of the year. So instead of doing something comparatively ambitious, like gushing over the latest Pixar film Soul and having to explain exactly why it's wonderful (though I'll get to that at a later date, hopefully), I'll follow my own tradition and make a list, this time of things I wish to happen cultural-consumption-wise in 2021. That I would like us all to be able to get out of pandemic mode goes without saying. I'd better not start to think of those people who, with a smug, slightly pleased air, claim that "it would be naïve to think that things will ever return to what they were before", or I'll not feel Christmassy at all.
A new epic, multi-episode adaptation of a Dickens novel. I guess? I know I'm always whining over this, but I think it's fair to say that British costume drama is not in its best form at the moment. When I was sighing over the BBC only turning out villain-light stuff like Cranford back in the day, I didn't know how lucky I was. The Luminaries moved at a glacial pace, and overall the Beeb seems more concerned with polishing a progressive image than with presenting the viewer with something timelessly entertaining and thought-provoking, as a stellar Dickens adaptation should be. In short, I'm not sure I trust them with Dickens at the moment. ITV is a possibility, but I doubt they'd be prepared to take a risk with one of Dickens's lesser-known novels, like Barnaby Rudge or (you knew this was coming) Dombey and Son, and I would much rather see them adapted than yet another David Copperfield, Oliver Twist or Great Expectations.
I suppose we costume drama nuts aren't entirely dependent on British TV anymore. There's always Netflix, for instance. However, after having seen the first episode of Netflix's Bridgerton, I'm not sure that - how shall I put this - they're that concerned with historical accuracy. I know the version of the past we see in period dramas is always incredibly sanitised, without all the filth, rotten teeth and premature aging that would have been part of (for instance) real 19th-century London. Still, I would like a Dickens TV series to be set in some approximation of Victorian England (or 18th-century England in the case of Barnaby Rudge), not Cloud Cuckoo Land. To sum up, I'd rather not have a Dickens adaptation at all than a botched one.
Disney animation getting its act together - and coming up with a new, strong villain Not only have the latest films from Disney animation, Frozen 2 and Wreck-It Ralph 2 - Ralph Breaks The Internet been lacklustre, they were seriously lacking in the villain department. The same can be said for Pixar's films since quite a while back: while the heart-warming Soul is a return to form (I liked Onward too, but Soul is better), it does not have a villain. (The biggest threat comes from an over-zealous soul-counter who is, after all, only doing his job.) I don't think I would have liked there to be a villain in this particular film, but the non-Pixar films could definitely have done with one.
The trailer for Disney animation's next film, Raya and the Last Dragon, leaves me a little torn. The animation is beautiful, but the plot seems reminiscent of Moana/Vaiana: Plucky girl goes on a quest to save her home, followed by cute animal sidekick (not so cute in Moana's/Vaiana's case) and ultimately joined by a wacky character, who's supposed to be the answer to the problem but who proves unreliable, so the plucky girl has to do most of the work herself. Add to this that Raya is a trained warrior, and so is in danger of falling into the personality-free kick-ass category of heroines. Still, one shouldn't deduce too much out of trailers: those for Soul were pretty awful. It could be interesting to explore South East Asian folklore, if this is what the film is setting up to do. Question: are there any interesting villains in South East Asian folklore that we might have a chance of seeing in this film?
Chris Chibnall making a decent fist of series thirteen of Doctor Who - then bowing out I've always had my doubts about Chibnall as show runner, but I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, I really did. After two series and a special, though, I'm still not convinced by the Chibnall era. It's not always been awful, but it has very seldom been wonderful. Chibnall hasn't even been able to convince me that making the Doctor a woman was a good idea. I was rather taken with Whittaker's Doctor to start with, and I think I can stand her whimsical bounciness more than most - I'm grateful that we've been (for the most part) spared moral grandstanding from her. When she was supposed to go into darker, more serious territory in series twelve, however, she left me rather unconvinced: there was a great speech in The Haunting of Villa Diodati which she nailed, but other scenes worked less well. The whole controversy about the Doctor not knowing how to respond to Graham's fears that his cancer might come back could, I think, possibly have been avoided if Whittaker hadn't chosen to meet Graham's outpourings with a blank stare. Alien? Possibly. Doctorish? Not really. And though it's hard to dislike the Thirteenth Doctor's "fam" (though I hate that "fam" stuck - what's wrong with companions, anyway?), they're not as engaging as companions of the past.
We will be given a shortened run of Doctor Who next year, which was more than I dared to hope for (I'll probably be blogging about it in 2022 when the DVD is out). Before that, there's the New Year special which, judging from the trailer, looks like pretty typical Chibnall fare - competent, but not great. Captain Jack is back - good. Tru- I mean Robertson is also back - not so good. (I really like Chris Noth in Sex and the City, but not as an unsubtle American politico bad guy.) There's still a chance that Chibnall will produce a perfectly serviceable series thirteen - preferably retconning some ideas from series twelve that didn't go down so well - but after that, could we please get someone else as show runner?
More Star Wars content to get really nerdy about I've not yet blogged about The Mandalorian, which I've finally been able to see as I now have a Disney + subscription (I got it the very day the streaming service was introduced in Sweden - the Mouse need fear no rebellion from me). Suffice it to say, for now, that it's as just as good as everyone says. One of the great joys of the autumn and winter of 2020 has been watching The Mandalorian, then the nerdy comments and discussions about The Mandalorian on YouTube. And now Disney has announced half a dozen or so Star Wars-inspired TV series, so there seems to be more geeky fun where that came from. Not all of the series sound that interesting, but hey - I'm prepared to give pretty much all of them a try. That Thrawn guy, who's slated to appear in the Ahsoka Tano series, sounds very promising.
