Another evening of daft Sci Fi and football last night - just the other way around from last week. I'll reserve judgement on the Doctor Who story until next week but I was rather looking forward to the Silurians. These, along with the Sea Devils, were some of the most memorable monsters from the early 1970's episodes and, for me, they were one of the more interesting science fiction ideas. What would reptilian life be like if it had evolved in to highly intelligent forms? It's difficult to gauge how intelligent dinosaurs and other Cretaceous life forms had evolved to. Generally speaking, it is regarded that Troödon was as advanced as they went but there are whole rafts of extinct animals for which precious little remains - including many early human ancestors. If Homo Sapiens were to become extinct, how much evidence of our existence would remain in 65 million years time? The episode itself appears to be a set up for a big special effects extravaganza next week - although the effect of Amy being sucked into the ground was pretty horrific for me now - let alone what I would have thought of it as a child.
The football caught me out - I had expected it to be on Wednesday night but the Saturday night showing was a bonus, allowing me to lie on the couch, put my feet up, drink too much beer and hurl abuse in the general direction of some of Europe's fittest and most gifted sportsmen. Such is the nature of armchair spectator sport. Prior to the game, the TV commentators and much of the press had seemed to be siding with Inter Milan. I think this is largely due to the presence of José Mourinho, who is an entertainment in himself - which is just as well as I have found his teams to be as dull as dishwater. I groaned when Liverpool and Chelsea drew each other for the umpteenth time. I really couldn't face it. I think the last time I watched "The Special One" pitting his wits against Rafael Benitez, I became engrossed in the process of photosynthesis which was proceeding in the centre circle. I'm not one to pass up free football on the telly but, for the next tie, I went for a David Attenborough documentary on the other side which at least allowed for some decent action - or at least allowed me to watch the grass grow in time-lapse. Needless to say, a German wife and German beer was enough for me to side with Bayern Munich.
As it was, Mourinho's tactics were much as expected as he defended in numbers and aimed to catch Bayern on the break. It worked. Two shots on goal, two goals and a victory in the bag. From a neutral perspective, I would have wished for someone like Barcelona or Arsenal in the final although I was glad to see a Bundesliga team back at that level. I haven't seen many top flight German games recently, as they have largely gone down the British route of banishing them to premium channels, but they have always managed to entertain me in the past. However, this was something that Inter were not going to allow. I can almost accept this tactic from a team of journeymen but this is a side that can count talents like Eto'o amongst their number - a player that I occasionally spotted and was surprised to find he was still on the pitch.
Still, it's the end results that count and this is why Mourinho is successful. The only thing that was unforgivable about Inter's performance is the number of cynical professional fouls and play acting that they seemed to get away with. Referees don't like to deal too harshly with these early in the match but I thought the way Robben was hacked down early in the first half was a debatable red card offence - let alone a simple free kick. However I did notice the ref, Howard Webb, waving on the more dubious dives and theatrics which is some credit to the official. Other than that, it was a frustrating 90 minutes football and I could only wish that Bayern had a huge centre forward of the likes of Jan Koller or Peter Crouch who can make a nonsense of the ten man defence.
Anyway, next week it's the second part of the Who story and the wonderful campfest that is Eurovision!
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I had noticed a lack of Welshness about this series so this episode does help resolve that.
ReplyDeleteThe two-partedness caught me out so, like you, I'll reserve final judgement for next week - it seemed OK though.
The Amy being sucked under was a bit gruesome - on a par with the drownings in the Venice episode - we haven't let the children watch them yet but probably will.