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
dir. Gore Verbinski (2011)
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.
The Daltons Redeem Themselves
by Morris & Goscinny, trans. Erica Jeffrey (Cinebook Ltd, 2012) [from Les Dalton se rachétent, Dargaud Editeur Paris, 1971]
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.
Doctor Who: The Runaway Train
by Oli Smith (BBC Audio, 2010)
This pointless paradox in the Wild West plays cavalier with time (oh lord), the dunghill moment being when the runaway train, while outrunning a spaceship, is caught up to by horses that already have galloped for thirty minutes in the opposite direction.