I am – Hercules!!

Because the first episode leaked out onto the Internet a few weeks ago, I’ve perhaps 70,000 reviews of it in my e-mail box, mostly positive, all apparently from longtime “Doctor Who” fans.

If I’m not mistaken, this first episode in quite a few years finally just finished airing for the first time on BBC1 a few minutes ago. Here now an excerpt from the only review that was sent to me so far today:

So what’s it like?

Not bad actually. Better than it has any right to be. Damn you, I love it. But not in the way I thought I would.

Deciding not to go the Battlestar Galactica route, this is a show for children and families. It is funny, cheeky and weird. There are gags and punchlines. There is silliness. Slapstick.

There’s also people being mown to the ground by machine guns. But guns emanating from the wrists of shop mannequins brought to life and roaming the streets. The nastiness is there. And there’s an overaching plot hinted at which means a war is coming, big time.

A sense of danger and excitement. A sense of safety and trust. Mad ideas competing for space. And from trailers for future episodes, taking some seriously hardcore science fiction concepts and putting them in front of a mainstream audience. Basically what the best of British TV sci-fi has always done, just this time with a little more money than usual. But it is very British, closer to Cold Feet than Buffy, more Our Friends In The North than Sopranos. It won’t “travel”, which means every country except the USA will love it and put it on primetime.

We’re sucked into his world, and we’re given the same choice council-estate living “Rose Tyler” is given. Stay where you are in your hum drum lives. Or take the trip of a lifetime.

Again, this is just an excerpt. You can read the rest of it here. (As I write this the author, Rich, has had the thing up 10 hours now and his “comment” count is still zero; let’s see if that changes now that the episode has actually seen broadcast!)

Please do not email me any more reviews. I have 70,000 and need no more. But please do feel free to post in talkback if you believe you have something useful to add.

Looking for bumper stickers, plush toys and girls’ underwear covered with cute cartoon double-amputees? Visit The Herc Store!