The X Files: "Conduit"

A teenage girl vanished from the shores of Lake Okobogee, Iowa, leading Mulder on the hunt for evidence of alien abduction. Scully is concerned, however, that Mulder's growing obsession with the case has less to do with the missing girl and more to do with his sister Samantha, abducted by aliens when he was a child.

So with the format and tone of the series firmly established, this fourth episode takes the time to better explore Fox Mulder's background and motivations for researching the X Files. It also does some remarkably good work in defying traditional genre stereotypes. Ask yourself this: two FBI agents investigate a crime. One is pragmatic and responsible, concerned with evidence and logic. The other is emotionally compromised and foolish, following their heart and their feelings at the expense of proper procedure and responsibility. Which agent would typically be the man, and which agent the woman? This episode may be focused on Mulder's backstory, but it continues to craft Dana Scully as one of the strongest female protagonists in American television.

Who50 #5: "The Seeds of Doom"

Who50 counts down to the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who by reviewing my favourite episodes and serials over the history of the programme, counting down from #50 to #1. Today, #5: "The Seeds of Doom", a 1976 serial written by Robert Banks Stewart and directed by Douglas Camfield.

 One of Doctor Who's longest-running reputations is for being very scary for small children. There is an entire mystique built up around children hiding behind their sofa, or peeking out from behind cushions. I'm not sure if I was a particularly unusual child, but despite adoring Doctor Who from the age of three I never found it very scary. Except for "The Seeds of Doom", of course. "The Seeds of Doom" gave me nightmares.

This epic six-parter acted as the finale to Season 13, Tom Baker's second year as the Doctor. It is, in many ways, the archetypal Doctor Who story. It features the Doctor and Sarah-Jane Smith, it wallows in body horror (a staple of the series), it is in part a knowing pastiche, and it features an iconic, well-remembered monster. Its writer, Robert Banks Stewart, was one of the best writers of the period. Its director, Douglas Camfield, is pretty much the best director that Doctor Who ever had.

The Pull List: 25 September 2013

I was in the queue to buy comics this week, and I couldn't help but notice the young woman standing in front of me. She was holding both trade paperbacks (to date) of Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples' Saga, and I overheard her explaining to the store clerk that she had read the first volume at a friends' house and was so entertained by it she had to buy the next volume - and a first volume of her own. I could be making an enormous assumption, but she didn't appear to have been in a comic store recently - or certainly not regularly.

Comic books used to be an enormous mainstream medium, with issues regularly selling in the vicinity of half a million copies. Now publishers celebrate when their books break 100,000. Marvel and DC both seem to be fighting a battle to the bottom - DC more so than Marvel - with an apparent aim to retain a gradually declining readership of 30something men rather than to break out and capture new readers in any significant fashion. Yet it's books like Saga that actually are making it happen. On paper it looks like it's selling okay but not brilliantly - issue #13 sold around the 55,000 mark - but that's just individual issue sales to comic shops. The trade paperbacks are selling like gangbusters, and the book is picking up awards left, right and centre.

How has it managed this when so many other comic books have not? Let's take issue #14 as an example. It's got stunning artwork by Fiona Staples, as always. Her art emphasizes the characters over the background, and that accentuates to us that this is a story about character over plot. Brian K. Vaughn writes outstanding dialogue, able to turn from drama to comedy on a dime. There are strong characters, both male and female, that we like and believe in. Each issue treats us with respect, and doesn't take our business for granted. Time and time again, and definitely in this week's issue, Saga is as close to damn-perfect as a comic book can get.

If DC and Marvel treated its characters with the care and respect that Vaughn and Staples show to theirs, we might have a few more broadly acclaimed comic books out there. They might be more popular. Comic books - or graphic novels at any rate - might become mainstream culture again. (5/5)

Saga is published by Image Comics. It is written by Brian K. Vaughn with art by Fiona Staples.

Under the cut: reviews of Aquaman, Revival, Star Wars Legacy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: New Animated Adventures, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, The Wake, Wonder Woman and Young Avengers.

Holy Flying Circus (2011)

In 1979 the Monty Python comedy team - John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam - released their latest motion picture into British cinemas: Monty Python's Life of Brian. The film generated massive controversy, with 39 town councils across Britain banning the film from exhibition. So great was the furore that Cleese and Palin appeared on the late night talk show Friday Night Saturday Morning to debate the merits of their film with an Anglican Bishop and comedy writer Malcolm Muggeridge. The debate did not go as Cleese and Palin expected.

Holy Flying Circus is a 2011 made-for-television film, first broadcast on BBC4, that explores that debate and the events that led up to it. The film is written by Tony Roche, best known as co-writer of political satire The Thick of It, and directed by Owen Harris. It is a remarkable film, not because it's well written and well acted (and it is), but because the production team behind it have made the choice to tell the story of Monty Python in the style of Monty Python.

The X Files: "Squeeze"

A former academy classmate of Scully's requests her assistance in a string of brutal murders in Baltimore, in which victims are found with their livers ripped out. Mulder comes along for the ride, tying in a string of identical murders 30 years in the past, and 60 years, and even 90 years. Facing growing resentment and opposition from their peers, Mulder and Scully close in Eugene Victor Tooms, an unusual human being with a horrifying physical ability.

"Squeeze" marks what we might consider the opening trilogy of The X Files. The pilot established Mulder and Scully, the FBI's "X Files" program and the idea of alien abductions. "Deep Throat" established the government conspiracy story arc. As a follow-up "Squeeze" marks the first of the series' celebrated "Monster of the Week" episodes: stories about freakish creatures, monsters and mutants that generally stand alone but which provide some of The X Files' most memorable and iconic moments.

Babylon 5: "Convictions"

A string of bombings threaten the station. When one explodes near a docking port, Lennier saves Londo Mollari's life - only to be critically injured himself. When Sheridan orders for the perpetrator to be captured as soon as possible, Ivanova brings in some unusual assistance: a group of human monks relocating to the station in order to study alien religions.

"Convictions" is what I'm beginning to consider a fairly typical Babylon 5 episode: in broad strokes it's fairly tedious and full of cliche, but in the smaller details it's regularly quite well observed and entertaining. Certainly the central plot - a disaffected and mentally unhinged human contractor is running around setting off bombs - is entirely missable. There isn't a well-worn stereotype that isn't ticked off in this storyline, and it's further worsened by a ridiculously over-the-top and shriekingly painful performance by the actor playing the bomber. I'm amazed Sheridan doesn't just slap him in the side of his head, take away his trigger device and send him to his room.

Who50 #6: "Blink"

Who50 counts down to the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who by reviewing my favourite episodes and serials over the history of the programme, counting down from #50 to #1. Today, #6: "Blink", a 2007 episode written by Steven Moffat and directed by Hettie McDonald.

Amateur photographer Sally Sparrow enters an abandoned house in the search of images to capture, and instead finds a set of creepy stone statues and a message to her, hidden behind some wallpaper, from someone called the Doctor warning her about "the weeping angels". What follows is not only the most effective horror that Doctor Who has ever presented, but also the best-ever exploitation of time travel for narrative purposes in the history of science fiction television.

There are more emotionally engaging episodes of Doctor Who, and more effective ones as well, but in terms of sheer writing mechanics this is the greatest episode of all time: constructed like a clockwork machine in which every cog and gear has a purpose, and every movement ticks over in perfect precision.

The Pull List: 18 September 2013

Ales Kot is rapidly becoming a writer to watch in American comics. His miniseries Changes was bizarre but engaging, and he's started dabbling in scripting some comics for DC and Marvel as well. Zero is his latest series; a near-future espionage book with artwork by Michael Walsh (Comeback). The first issue launched on Wednesday, so with a lot of hype behind this talented new writer I figured it was well worth a look.

The book follows Edward Zero, a secret agent sent into the field in Palestine to recover stolen biological technology from the body of a Palestinian terrorist - a terrorist that's currently still fighting in the streets against a super-powered Israeli soldier.

There's more than a hint of Warren Ellis about this book: it's certainly very bold and provocative, however it doesn't quite gel in the way that Ellis' work usually does. There's something a little juvenile about the book: the violence is ridiculously over-the-top, and it feels like Kot picked the Palestinian setting for no reason other than to be edgy and a bit controversial. Truth be told it could be set in any war zone on the planet and the story would still work. There's also a weird sex scene thrown into the issue that feels completely out of place and entirely gratuitous.

I suspect this will be a bigger success for Kot than Changes was: it's more commercial and a much less challenging read. On the other hand, it does appear to be giving us material we've seen many times before. I may check in on the book again down the road, but for now I have to be honest: Zero #1 didn't grab me.

Zero #1 is published by Image Comics, with writing by Ales Kot and art by Michael Walsh.

Under the cut: reviews of Batman, Daredevil, The Flash, Thor: God of Thunder, Uncanny X-Men and X-Men Legacy.