Tag: Wild West

Doctor Who: The Gunfighters

Doctor Who: The Gunfighters

by Donald Cotton (Target, 1985); audiobook read by Shane Rimmer (BBC, 2013)

Book cover: “Doctor Who: The Gunfighters” by Donald Cotton (Target, 1985); audiobook read by Shane Rimmer (BBC, 2013)

As daring an experiment as Cotton’s original script (and even more so in audiobook form with Rimmer’s total commitment to cowboy drawl). Superbly witty on a line-by-line level, and unlike so much of the Doctor Who canon the prose has independent merit.

Doctor Who: A Town Called Mercy

Doctor Who: A Town Called Mercy

by Toby Whithouse; dir. Saul Metzstein (BBC, 2012)

TV poster: “Doctor Who: A Town Called Mercy” by Toby Whithouse; dir. Saul Metzstein (BBC, 2012)

Whithouse delivers unto the Wild West setting a diverting yet not insubstantial self-contained episode. Ben Browder makes a compelling marshal. Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill put in nuanced performances to balance Matt Smith’s uncommonly volatile embodiment of delighted child and world-weary ancient.

Rango

Rango

dir. Gore Verbinski (2011)

Verbinski_Rango

A surprisingly cohesive animated comedy. Johnny Depp is peerless as a chameleon who, stranded in the Mojave Desert, survives his introduction to the Wild West by impersonating (blending in by way of chutzpah and bravado!) a tough hombre by name of Rango.

 

Lucky Luke: The Daltons Redeem Themselves

The Daltons Redeem Themselves

by Morris & Goscinny, trans. Erica Jeffrey (Cinebook Ltd, 2012) [from Les Dalton se rachétent, Dargaud Editeur Paris, 1971]

Goscinny_Morris_The Daltons Redeem Themselves

For Asterix junkies who’ve been in withdrawal since René Goscinny’s death in 1977, a retrospective fix now exists in the translation of his collaborations with artist Morris on the American wild west Lucky Luke series: different characters but the same potent humour.

 

Derelict Space Sheep