Wherefore art thou, Maddy?

Hello! Is it me you're looking for?

Well look no further, for I am here once again to thrill you with my every utterance about the tellybox. Two weeks in a row, it's practically a record!

Since I made my big comeback last week with a bit of a call back to the very first show I ever talked about on here, I thought that this week I'd continue the nostalgia (trading on past glories) theme, and talk about the show whose post has proven to be more popular than any other in the history of the blog. I speak, of course, of Wolfblood.

(As Wolfblood is ostensibly a childrens show, this will be one of those all too infrequent posts where I refrain from any and all swearing and sexual innuendo. It'll be tough, but in the immortal words of Robert Webb, just grit your teeth, it'll be over soon.)



It's always been hard, I would imagine, to be a TV showrunner with a hit on your hands, suddenly being faced with the loss of your lead character.


 M.A.S.H. lost one half of their main duo after 3 seasons, Stargate: SGI saw a massively popular character walk away after 5; of course he came back, but then others started leaving, and we all know what happened next; and of course the almighty juggernaut that was Cheers had to wave goodbye to it's female lead while at the height of it's popularity. I'm sure some long sleepless nights were had by all in each of those situations.

The writers and producers knuckled down though, and in all 3 of the cases I mentioned, they came up with solutions and their shows not only kept going, but thrived for many more extremely successful seasons. And in each case, the answer was simple; life goes on. People come and people go, but hospitals, super secret military wormhole bases and, er...pubs, keep on going. It's sad for a while, and you miss your mates, but the new guy is cool enough, I guess, so...

These days though, it's going to be harder. These days, you have internet fandom to deal with. These days, you have 'Shippers'. Which means when a character leaves, especially one that is part of a very popular 'ship', you're going to have blowback. You're going to have people who will loudly proclaim that they will never watch again because their favourite characters will now never get married and live happily ever after. Fans have always had these opinions of course, but now, they're organised. And woe betide any showruner who doesn't pay attention.

This year, Wolfblood (jewel in the crown of CBBC's current roster) has been hit with this exact problem. Aimee Kelly; lead character Maddy in the show; is nowhere to be seen.

Where you done gone to, Maddy lass?

(I've done no research whatsoever as to the reasons for her departure. Frankly, that's her business. My interest is in how it affects the show I love.)

So how are they to proceed? Well, life goes on. Maddy and her parents have left, but her fellow Wolfblood (and potential love interest, despite my fervent protestations) Rhydian, played by Bobby Lockwood, recent winner of some Saturday night light entertainment yawn fest or other, and human friends Tom and Shannon (Kedar William-Stirling and Louisa Connelly-Burnham) still have to deal with threats of exposure from their schoolmates; pack Alpha Jana still has to deal with being a teenage girl trying to control a pack of wild wolfbloods, as well as her own powers; and the wider world of curious scientists and opportunistic big business is an ever present, if not always obvious, threat.

Will Tom and Shannon make sure the Wolfblood secret is safe?

Or will these lads learn the truth?

Or maybe this lot?

Or might trouble come from a new direction?

Yeah, they've plenty to be getting on with.

At time of writing, 6 episodes of season 3 have aired, which puts us at roughly the halfway mark of the season. And it has to be said, they've done themselves proud; in large part because they haven't pandered to the vocal minority on the internet who would have you believe that without 'Maddian' (which a commenter on my last wolfblood entry helpfully tells me is the going term) the show can't go on. Well sorry, Maddian fans, but it can. And what's more; don't stone me now; it's even better.

The Season 3 Line Up

The 3rd season is darker; more intense; more intricately plotted. In short, it's more mature. Don't get me wrong, I'm no hater of Aimee Kelly, Maddy, or even, though it pains me to say it, the Maddian concept; well, maybe that last one, but that's just because I want so desperately to see one blooming platonic male/female lead duo on my tellybox. In fact I think the record clearly shows that I had nothing but praise for Kelly, and for the show when she was leading the cast. But in the wake of her departure, life has, yes, gone on without her, and the end result isa superior show.

Could they have made these tonal shifts if the show was still Maddy-centric? Of course. Would they have? That, I don't know. I can hazard a guess though, and based on the fact that much of the new direction has actually spun out of her departure, and the increased prominence of newly promoted lead, Jana... I'd have to say it's unlikely.

Jana

Ah yes, Jana. Played by Leona Vaughan, she was introduced in season 2 as, well, someone to get the gang into scrapes now that Rhydian; whose hot headedness had been the main cause of such things in season 1; had calmed down a bit, and she very quickly became a firm favourite. In my house anyway; I can't vouch for anyone else. She must have struck a chord somewhere, because this year, with Kelly gone, Vaughan is right up there, front and centre in the titles, as lead female. Does her introduction, in hindsight, hint that the writers had an inkling Kelly was on her way out? Were they seeding her replacement a year in advance? Who knows? Well, they do, presumably, and it's very possible all the 'proper' fans do too, if it's been talked about in interviews and stuff. I don't read them, so I wouldn't know. Much more fun just to wildly speculate.

So with Lockwood, William-Stirling and Connelly-Burnham not missing a step, Vaughan effortlessly stepping up and killing it with her pivotal arc, the show is in very good shape for the future. And with creator Debbie Moon, and her team of writers of course, having proven that they can weather even the most potentially catastrophic of cast upheavals, it's a future that has the potential to be a very long and interesting one indeed.

Bit of a long one that, wasn't it? It's not my fault, it's the Gods of Making Stuff Up As You Go Along's fault. Blame them.

Join me again next whenever, when I shall be writing about any one of a hundred shows. Will you have heard of the one I choose? Will I like it? Will you care? The answers to these and no other questions, will be right here. 

Wizards vs Aliens

At the risk of alienating the adults amongst my readership, such as it is, I'm going to talk again about childrens television. Again. Sorry y'all.

With Wolfblood; CBBC's spectacularly well received supernatural drama created by Debbie Moon; having completed it's first run and disappeared from our screens for the time being it's time for CBBC to launch it's next attempt to take the sci-fi/fantasy world by storm and indoctrinate a new generation into it's charms. Namely, Wizards vs Aliens.

From the people who brought us The Sarah Jane adventures, Wizards vs Aliens is the tale of a bunch of aliens coming to Earth to steal it's magic, and being faced with opposition from a bunch of wizards. Pretty self explanatory really.

I had been operating under the impression that this show was put into production following the unavoidable early cancellation of The Sarah Jane Adventures, which came about when Sarah Jane herself, Elisabeth Sladen, passed away. It would seem, if this month's Doctor Who Magazine is to be believed, that that is incorrect; the show was actually conceived much earlier, as a stop gap to fill SJA's slot while Elisabeth Sladen underwent treatment for the illness that would eventually claim her life.

Regardless of the time frame though, the fact remains that this is a show created by, written by and made by the same team that produced SJA, and by that token will be judged to it's predecessor's very high standards. Sadly, it will be found wanting, when it is.

If we're being sensible though, we'd expect nothing less. That show caught lightning in a bottle. It had a lead of immense natural charisma in Sladen, 3 young cast members without a weak link among them; especially in the first season, because I don't care what anyone says, the show lost something very special when Yasmin Paige left; and let's not kid ourselves, in the Doctor Who universe, it had an incredibly deep and fully realised mythos to draw from. WvA doesn't stand a chance against that.

Scott Haran and his posse

If we take those comparisons out of the equation though, how does it fare? On it's own merits, as a new show, does it make you want to keep watching? At time of writing only the opening two parter has aired; though the second story will have by the time this is posted; and I have to say that yes, the opener did it's job. I enjoyed the show. I didn't love it, but I enjoyed it.

I'm still going to complain though. Come on, you knew I was.

Some of the aesthetics bothered me; the logo looks cheap and the theme music sounds like it should be attached to a sit-com, rather than a drama; the main villain, who is a puppet voiced by Brian Blessed which should make it awesome by default but doesn't, looks ridiculous; and the hidden base of the wizards is through a portal in the toilet. That last point just... it's a joke, I understand that it's a joke, I get the joke, but it's a joke that's mildly amusing, once; and they've tied themselves to it for the duration.

The Nekross alien dudes. Shiny.

All of that pales though, in comparison to the biggest of my problems with this show; something which I may have mentioned once or twice since the show was first announced; that bloody horrible title. It's not even that it sounds tacky and cheap and third rate sci-fi original movie-ie. I mean, it is that, but it's more than that; it's incredibly prohibitive, from a storytelling standpoint, surely?

Nekross King. Should be awesome, just looks stupid.

Think about it. The title tells you that the show is about wizards, fighting against aliens. How many variations on that do you have? Especially since the reason for the conflict; the Nekross want to consume the wizards' magic; means that they are tied to ONE alien race as the regular antagonists. This is a show that is, unless they pull off some extremely nimble creative gymnastics, going to get very repetitive very quickly and all for the want of someone saying 'you know what lads, it's great as a concept, but maybe we should just see it as a working title, eh?' But of course, this is the almighty RTD, so called genius, so I'm guessing there was a hell of a lot of yes man-ing going on in his BBC meetings.

All of this may seem like petty complaining to you, and yes, I'll concede, they are all small things. But they are the kind of small things that people notice, even if they don't realise they do; and the kind of small things that will cement a show in someone's mind as good, rather than great. Which is a shame.

Of course, you could say that it's only a kids show, so why hold it up to the same standards as primetime drama. You could say that, but I'd hate you forever. Because do you know what that attitude boils down to? It boils down to 'it's ok to give kids shit, because they don't know any better.' They do know better, they deserve to be catered to by people who respect their intelligence, and they'll respond when they are. Why do you think SJA was so popular? Or Wolfblood? Or what about Horrible Histories? I rest my case.

As I say though, I did enjoy the show, for all my complaining; I think it has huge potential, if they can escape from the traps they've set for themselves. Oh, and if the sidekick character becomes less annoying. I'm not worrying too much about that point though; when Wolfblood started I thought the best friend characters were awful, but by the end of the run one of them, Shannon (Louisa Connolly-Burnham), had become the absolute beating heart of the show and totally stolen it form under the leads noses.

Wolfblood's secret weapon

These things just take time.

Next: A post about the back half of Caprica, or 'Why Magda Apanowicz is awesome.'