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5.1 Transilience Thought Unifier Model-11 In Transilence Thought Unifier Model-11 we go into the future where the Observers take over and the Fringe team hop over the twenty years to the year 2036. What this story brings us is the certainty that Letters Of Transit wasn’t just a twist in the Fringe timeline, but the model for a post-alternate world narrative. With only 13 episodes in this final Fringe outing, clearly it will mostly involve fighting the once-benign Observers, and maybe putting a few things back to how they once were....

Plenty of Futurama episodes in the past have dealt with the idea of a main character ‘dying’, but this week’s instalment of the sci-fi animation deals with the death of the one person who can’t really die, Bender. Even though we witnessed thousands of mini-Benders biting the proverbial big one last week, the genuine article meets his end at the hands of an angry ex, a heartbroken Suicide Booth. Cue gag where his remains are delivered to Planet Express by DeadEx....

Yet here’s Gambit, stumbling forth out of the crowd of awards contenders with nothing but a stiff upper lip and the promise of a campy caper. It’s a remake of a Michael Caine-Shirley MacLaine comedy vehicle from the 1960s that seems to have been willed into life against all odds. After years in development limbo, with multiple cast changes, script rewrites and various directors attached to the project, we’re now presented with 90 minutes of frothy comedy helmed by Michael Hoffman (whose last film, the Leo Tolstoy biopic The Last Station, was neither frothy nor a comedy) and headed up by an all-star ensemble featuring Colin Firth, Cameron Diaz, Alan Rickman, Stanley Tucci and Tom Courtenay....

2.6 The Old Gods and the New The violence in this show is sudden and shocking, but when you add significant gore, what was once a grimace becomes very uncomfortable and stomach-turning. This episode had several uncomfortable moments, from the rioting crowds in King’s Landing apparently dismembering someone bare-handed to Sansa’s narrow escape from a band of rapey peasants (via the Hound, who brought the ultra-violence in defense of the auburn-haired Stark in a spectacularly-directed scene by director David Nutter), and Jon Snow’s adventures beyond the wall with the prettiest wildling possible (Ygritte as played by the gorgeous Rose Leslie, late of Downton Abbey)—which was uncomfortable in a completely different way from the other two, and also very amusing....

This week is a very simple idea, but one we’ve found helpful in testing times. It sprang from this episode of The Adam Buxton Podcast which features journalist Miranda Sawyer talking about her 2015 book Out Of Time. It’s a great listen, humorous and honest, and like the book, explores the modern mid-life crisis, ageing and the sense a lot of us sometimes have that life is slipping away from us....

If, like me, you have anxiety, and regularly want to hide in the toilet even if you’re already sat on the toilet, then what helps me might help you. When I’m feeling crap, I find what helps most is setting my mind on achieving maximum ‘cosy’. This takes different forms depending on where I am. For example, if I’m already at home on my sofa, then not much effort is needed....

One of the interviewees in the documentary is George Lucas, and some of what he has to say in the movie has popped up in a clip over at Hero Complex. Given that there was a period where it felt like Star Wars and Star Trek fans were at some kind of loggerheads, Lucas nonetheless argues that Star Trek proved vitally important to Star Wars. “Star Trek softened up the entertainment arena so that Star Wars could come along and stand on its shoulders”, he argued....

The next generation won’t be so lucky, with the programme shunted off to terrestrial Siberia, ‘Five’. Even without the move, Neighbours seems pretty determined to shake off all of its viewers. The show is currently in the second worst form it has ever been in. They changed the logo. Harold is effectively leaving the programme. They brought in the least interesting family since the Hancocks (the Parkers), failed to kill off characters who were years past their sell-by-date (Steph, Toadie, Janae) while losing all of the young bucks that kept the programme watchable (Dylan, Sky, Izzy)....

4.6 Highway Of Tears Grimm treated us this week to plot development, some delicious dialogue, and the best laugh-out-loud line of the series so far. This was all a relief, particularly as we were all expecting the most awkward sex scene in TV history. To recap, we discovered last week that Juliette must sleep with Nick in the guise of arch nemesis Adalind in order for Nick to regain his powers....

6.6 The Return This is actually a huge asset to Homeland, because for the first time since Brody died in season 3, I feel like the producers have a good handle on what the tone of the show is and what it needs to be. Just as season 1 had the juicy concept of a POW being brainwashed into a Manchurian Candidate type of terrorist splinter cell, season 6 is actually exploring the conspiracy theory wingnut of every political strip’s most fevered nightmare: a false flag operation....

You see, the world’s foremost vampire has been away for a while. Over a hundred years ago, he left society behind, and found sanctuary in the middle of a large, haunted forest. There, he set up camp and founded a ghoulish getaway for fellow freaks: Hotel Transylvania. Now, it’s a permanent fixture on the monster world’s social calendar – a Butlin’s for beasties, if you will. Frankenstein, Quasimodo, the Invisible Man, they’re all checking in....

A bomb explodes in a central London pub. Two Synths are lynched by an angry mob. Armed police carry out a raid that ends in a stand-off at gunpoint… Humans has covered a lot of ground since the day Joe Hawkins decided he could do with a bit of help with the hoovering. Counterintuitively, making Humans more specific to post-2016 referendum UK politics has brought the show closer to the tone of the 2012 Swedish original....

Incorporated Season 1, Episode 4 Now that Incorporated is on its fourth episode, the culture in which the characters live is beginning to gel, providing context for why the protagonists are sometimes less likable than the supposed villains. Who thought that Roger Caplan, for example, would ever garner more sympathy than Ben? The reversal of expectations is becoming less of a problem as the series progresses, though, because the corporate intrigue and political and social realities are infinitely more interesting than Ben’s quest to save Elena anyway....

A thrilling opening, using the economic bubble of Iceland as a starting point, asserts itself through fast-paced editing, a score that takes cues from Hans Zimmer, and cinematography that, to be honest, has no place in this tale of boardrooms, bankers and bailouts. While not mincing words or failing to lay blame where it is due, the film safely sidesteps the cheap demagoguery of Moore, with the filmmaker’s voice taking a backseat to compelling infographics, eloquent talking heads, and the soothing, familiar voice of Matt Damon....

Establishing the world of Inside Out takes up the opening third of the film, charting an eleven year old Riley’s life so far, and the prospect of her moving house and city. This is narrated by Joy (Amy Poehler), who arrives in Riley’s head at her birth only to be shortly followed by Sadness (Phyllis Smith). Setting up both Riley’s internal and external life takes time, as we set up the aspects of her personality – Joy, Sadness, Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Fear (Bill Hader) and Anger (Lewis Black) – and the way this cartoon world version of her brain operates....

Everyone’s talking about the show as Heroes meets Skins. Who do you feel the show is aimed at? Is it a show for teenagers? Iwan: I think it is aimed at teenagers, but I do think everyone can enjoy it. Antonia: It’s from about 18 to 30, really. Antonia: It’s total cinematic quality, isn’t it? The vision that Chris Ross and Tom Green had for it was really cool. It’s not your average sitcom style quality....

Into the Badlands Season 3 Episode 4 Nice job, Into the Badlands. You continue to hold your own this season. For the most part, you stay consistent with the pace and quality of your storytelling. You give us beautifully choreographed fight scenes every week. And, what’s more, you expect us to handle thought-provoking philosophical concepts on a regular basis now. “Blind Cannibal Assassins” is a great episode of Into the Badlands, but there’s one thing that keeps it from being fantastic: the performances....

Sadly it’s with a certain amount of reticence I have to report that Ironclad II isn’t a patch on the first, despite an attempt to replicate the formula. What really stands out above all other aspects of the film’s production is that it’s like watching somebody remake the original, without understanding what worked and with a tiny fraction of the budget. Since it’s the same writer/director I can only assume that it was the restrictions on raising an independent budget that have weighed so hard on the final product, but it permeates every aspect with a significant impact....

1.2 Brother, Can You Spare A Brain? Hence Blaine (David Anders), a fellow zombie and someone who appears to be the series’ first ongoing villain. He’s great for a number of very clear reasons, and he dominates episode two with snark, charm and menace that sets us up nicely for whatever shenanigans he plans to get up to over the course of the upcoming season. In another echo of Tru Calling (aside from, you know, the entire premise), Blaine comes into the morgue as an ally and potential friend for Liv, offering insight into her condition, someone to talk to on the same level, and possibly even someone who knows what happened to her that night on the boat....

iZombie Season 3, Episode 13 Everyone discovers an awful lot of things. Zombies are real, Liv slept with Chase Graves, Clive doesn’t pick up on hints. This episode was just chock full of revelations. It also had a whimsical choreographed dance number, which they can get away with because: brains. I have to admit, Liv telling Johnny Frost to come right out and say that zombies are real seemed pretty direct....