Eurovision! That's delightful.

I really liked this episode. Nicely surprising.

I did as well. I was totally taken in by the adorable dimples.

Did anyone else see Legends of Tomorrow last night? I thought it was delightful!

I need to go back and watch LOT. What's a good jumping on point? When did it start to not suck?

Last season was very good, but this season is consistently charming.

I missed most of last season, so I'm out of the loop for a lot of what went on; however, with this new season, they seem to be having fun with a number of tropes.

What's a good jumping on point? When did it start to not suck?

Season 2.

I think I stopped watching some time in season 1 and felt like I should figure out exactly where and pick up where I left off, but maybe I'll just jump to season 2...

Yeah, I stopped in S1 because I couldn't stand whatshisname, the dude who was also on Doctor Who. Arthur something? Maybe? The dude in charge. He was so awful I gave up. (I hear he's gone, but I never went back to check it out.)

Oh dear God I just watched the latest Doctor Who and BUBBLE WRAP! It's Doctor Who and the big threat is BUBBLE WRAP! It's a payoff to a relationship stretching back 43 years, pretty much as long as bubble wrap has existed within the public consciousness. Bubble wrap is the key to understanding a fundamental element of classic Doctor Who. (In other words, I thought that was just hilarious.)

For this one we're going back to one of the greatest of the classic adventures, The Ark in Space. (I give it 10/10.) Question: what really sets classic Who apart from the new series? Somewhere near the top of the list has to be that audience favourite - dodgy special effects. Wobbly sets, unconvincing models, glaringly obvious CSO, men in rubber suits. Exhibit A: gifs from the Third Doctor adventure, Invasion of the Dinosaurs: [link] My favourite scene is one where a T. rex and Brontosaurus apparently share a snuggle.

(In fact, it was never really that bad. It was produced on a shoestring and sometimes it showed, but the design team more often got away with it. Case in point: the design of the Daleks.)

Back to The Ark in Space. This was the first adventure from the production team of Hinchcliffe and Holmes, and announced that Doctor Who was now all about the horror. Ark in Space does a brilliant job of translating Alien for a family-friendly audience. Even more impressive in that it came out four years before Alien. (As far as I'm aware, there's no evidence that Dan O'Bannon or Ridley Scott had seen Ark in Space.)

Basic plot: a space station carrying the hibernating remnants of humanity is invaded by space wasp-like creatures who intend to lay their eggs in the sleeping humans like they were caterpillars. You can see the design of the creatures here: [link] Larvae on top, adults on the bottom. Oh, and here's a gif of one of the larvae in motion: [link]

They go straight for the body horror in episode 2, when the human leader ignores the Doctor's warning and gets himself bitten on the hand, and starts transforming into one of the space wasps. You can see a pic from the episode 1 cliffhanger here: [link] He's rather further gone by this stage: [link]

The point of linking these pics is: Noah's transformation (yes, they call the Ark's commander Noah) and the larvae were realised via a fairly new and interestingly textured packing material going by the name of bubble wrap. The crawling larva is a stuntman wriggling along the floor in a roll of bubble wrap. Noah's arm? Wrap it up in bubble wrap and spray paint it green. In space, no one can hear you go poppoppoppop!

(It really did go poppoppoppop. They couldn't record sound for the crawling stuntman larva because of the bubble-popping cacophany.)