With my trip to Manchester, UK coming up quickly, I decided to re-watch Life On Mars. It had been many years since I had the pleasure of watching the Gene Genie in action. I laughed aloud many a time to his brutal quips.
In addition to his disparaging repartee, there were also the jibes from Ray. I laughed heartily in the scene where Chris asks what a nol-au-vent is and Ray replies with all the confidence and aplomb of a gourmand as a cheap cigarette smolders between his yellow fingers, "It's puff pastry shell filled with a savoury meat mixture." That line was delivered just perfectly.
Oh, and the scene where the gang busts out of the building with the pool and chase a suspect in their swimming trunks cracked me up. In another, Gene says something about a Bakewell tart and, having been doing some prep for the trip, I knew what it was.
I kept waiting for the Quattro but, after it never appeared in the series 2 opener, I figured it must be in Ashes to Ashes. With Ray smoking a cigarette in basically every scene he's in, I wondered if the actors were tobacco lovers themselves or if they were given clove cigarettes.
Hopefully I'll be able to find a filming location or 2 while I'm in Manchester. The most prominent one, Stopford House, whose exterior stood in for the police station, is out in the burbs. We shall see...
Now I can recline while watching my TV again. I think it's been almost 3 weeks since I've used it. Not sure what to watch. The Museum of Innocence? That new Ken Burns doc on Thoreau?
I now have a couch and I have the pet hair attachment for my vacuum. Now I just need a cat.
As a fan of The Young Ones I've always assumed that the flashes of found footage was a send up of the notion of subliminal messaging or just goofy gag.
That's from "Bambi", a.k.a. - the University Challenge episode.
Now I learn that these images were part of a running gag that was meant to have a payoff at the end of the show but that it was nixed by bureaucrats.
So the flash frames were never intended to be just a random piece of nonsense. They were meant as a running gag throughout the six episodes, which cumulated in a punchline...All of which meant that when “Summer Holiday” was broadcast on the 19th June 1984, it was shorn of its intended flash frame, and the punchline to the whole joke.
Ken Burns is presenting a documentary about Henry David Thoreau come the spring. It's not clear to me what his role is in the production as it's billed as "A film by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers." so perhaps he is a producer as opposed to a director.
It's been almost two years since I've done a Doctor Who marathon. I had meant to delve into the Third Doctor's tenure months ago but then heard about the release of Pertwee's first season on bluray so I waited for its release. That being done, the fun can begin.
The previous Doctors each had 3 seasons but this would be a fiver. I also think the Third Doctor has had a few more novels written about him than his predecessors. Short stories and novellas I'm not so sure of. I was looking forward to jumping into the Pertwee era as it had been a while since I've watched any classic Who and hadn't read much of it in the past year and a half or so either. Plus Pertwee was my brother's favorite Doctor and so I took some comfort in knowing he'd be watching and reading along with me over my shoulder throughout this little endeavor.
When I left off, the Second Doctor was falling headlong into a black void courtesy of some vengeful Time Lords. Jon Pertwee's time on the show began with "Spearhead From Space" and the Doctor falling out of the TARDIS and onto a patch of wildflowers who were probably not happy to be squished by a rogue Gallifreyan. But at least he fell in color!
Not only was it in color, but the story was shot exclusively on 16mm film. And so the visual style is akin to Nu Who's cinematic approach, utilizing a single camera instead of 3. Not only that, but we get a country ton of location scenes with studio sets being kept to a minimum. I never knew why until a day or two ago when I looked it up: apparently shooting on location allowed the show's makers to avoid getting tangled up in a labor action of some kind which apparently only affected BBC HQ.
Legendary Doctor Who scribe Robert Holmes penned the script and the story opens with a shot of a radio tower before cutting to a control room with some fellow diligently looking at a radar screen. His direct superior, a woman no less, enters and I noticed her tie clip - U.N.I.T.!
I also noticed the video quality which was sharp and clean. Perhaps a bit too clean as there seemed to be less grain than I recall seeing previously. It appears to have been upscaled and the frame rate boosted too. Maybe not 48 FPS like The Hobbit but the motion appeared to be smoother than the show ever was on broadcast TV.
The guy watching the radar notices some thingies descending to Earth and landing in sector 5 - Epping. You bet part of my brain started singing "Yes, it's the battle of Epping Forest..." We then cut to an old duffer in sector 5 who witnesses the thingies land and he is adorned with a lovely red cravat. The script continues on its merry way of introducing us to all of the main characters and plot threads. The TARDIS then lands and the Doctor falls out as noted above. In the back of a car Liz Shaw is being taken to her latest assignment - at U.N.I.T. HQ. I noted how the music went from that typical minor key oboe stuff to something jazzy and perky for Liz's intro.
Swinging London meet stodgy military man. Liz is brought to the Brigadier's office and he looks slightly uncomfortable, slightly anxious commanding from behind a desk. It is here that I noticed the use of short lenses. The scene wasn't full of shots and reverse shots but instead we get some nicely composed frames with both speakers in it at the same time with one in the foreground and another in the background. Some nice depth of field here.
The Doctor spends basically all of episode 1 and a good chunck of episode 2 at the hospital in a self-induced coma. While not an ultra-salutary Zero Room, the place has some gorgeous wood paneling and wainscotting going for it. It's hard to blame him, really. He was forced to regenerate, had some of his memory wiped or hidden, at least, and was exiled to Earth in a non-operable TARDIS. He eventually wakes up and effects an escape but not before taking a shower and stealing some aristocrat's duds and an antique car. I guess this is where the Doctor develops a fondness for older automobiles. Bessie, here we come.
We learn that what the U.N.I.T. radar operator saw was the second volley in a few months of these glowing 12(?)-sided shapes that were power units. They reminded me of those old Tupperware Shape O Sorter Balls - and that the bad guys had taken over a plastics factory. There's a nice scene where someone at the hospital says in reference to the Doctor, "Something odd about his face" and we cut to a doll's face being made. I have to admit that I had no recollection of Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well" playing over the initial scene at the factory. Considering that song was released around the time "Spearhead From Space" was being shot/assembled, this is a notable injection of contemporary pop culture into a Doctor Who story. Thankfully no one thought it a good idea to feature any Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac in "The Robots of Death" or "The Talons of Weng-Chiang".
We are eventually introduced to the Nestene, a nasty non-corporeal alien who likes to invade other planets. The Nestene apparently ran into Mr. McGuire at some point because they have a thing for plastics. And so they chose to take over Earth by using armed, cravat-wearing mannequins - Autons, some of whom are in the form of various government officials.
The Doctor jury rigs a gizmo out of various parts found at U.N.I.T.'s lab that can deactivate Autons. (Nowadays this would simply be a new function of the sonic screwdriver.) He and Liz, with U.N.I.T.'s help, would infiltrate the factory and put paid to the Nestene's fouls plans. But not before a bunch of Autons posing at shop window mannequins
rampage through the streets killing helpless people, including about
half a dozen queuing at a bus stop in an orderly line the likes of which
has never been seen in this country. In the end, though, the fine citizens of Epping could once again safely window shop for cravats.
"Spearhead From Space" was a ball of fun. At 4 episodes, it may be the shortest story Pertwee ever did. The Third Doctor is friendly and charming yet also a bit haughty. While he may be suffering from memory loss, he hasn't forgotten that he's superior to humans. Liz is skeptical in a Dana Scully kind of way as well as sassy and sarcastic which made it seem like had she traveled back from the 1990's. She's also smart and highly capable. (Also like Scully.) No signs of screaming and cowering in the corner here. A nice feminist counterpoint to the Brigadier's more Victorian(?) demeanor.
There are some nice low angle shots here and I think these along with the glasses worn by various male characters gave the story a vague but palpable The Ipcress File vibe. I wonder who the costumer was. Did this person work on Doctor Who before or after "Spearhead From Space"? I don't recall seeing so many cravats on the show in any other story.
It's not quite true that the Nestene sought to take over the Earth only with maniacal mannequins. It was also growing a big tentacled beastie in a tank at the factory. Although cheesy looking, I loved it, especially what looked like an eye in the center of the malicious membrane adorned with green slime. The giant tentacles that it sports at the story's climax looked straight out of a Muppet adaptation of a Cthulhu tale. A classic Who moment.
I found it interesting that it took about half the plot for the viewer to be told just what the good guys are up against. Similarly, going into the final episode I didn't have much of a feeling that things were coming to a head. The Doc, Liz, and the Brigadier were still sorting things out as opposed to devising a masterplan.
It also occurred to me that it was the Nestene and their Autons who were the bad guys in the first episode of the resurrected Doctor Who 20 years ago. That was their first TV appearance since the Pertwee era and it got me wondering if I shall encounter them in a comic or book at some point in my marathons.
I can't believe I missed this: James Burke has a new series of Connections that came out last year. It's called Connections with James Burke. I shall have to check this out.
There's a new trailer out for Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. Some fine use of J.S. Bach. I am looking forward to seeing this come the new year.
It is to take place in 1933 which makes me wonder if the producers are going to skip over The Fatherland Files, which takes place in 1932, and go directly to The March Fallen. Maybe the show will use elements of both.
While I enjoyed the fourth season, I am ambivalent about the derivations from the source novel. It seems that they wanted to emphasize the rise of the Nazis whereas I recall that, in the novel, they were a growing cancer but a small tumor largely relegated to the background. Plus, I recall that Goldstein's identity and motivations remained obscured for much longer than the TV show.
Regardless, I am looking forward to see how the show ends and am hoping that Lunapark gets an English edition.
I started watching season 4 of Babylon Berlin yesterday and the first thing we get is Charlotte looking for a record of this tune. Just blatantly catchy.
Netflix is now showing a Chinese TV series called Judge Dee’s Mystery. It's based on the 18th century detective tales that come to us English speakers as Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, which I read back in 2012.
I have only watched the first episode and found it to be a lot of fun. It takes place during the Tang Dynasty, I believe, but I am unsure of the exact year. The Tang Dynasty lasted from the 7th until the 10th century so there's a big time frame here. Our hero, Di Renjie, was a real Chinese magistrate who lived in the 7th century so perhaps that's when it takes place.
So far he has demonstrated some superior fighting skills as well as a preternatural ability to observe his surroundings a la Sherlock Holmes. There is a trio of sidekicks and we've had a small dose of supernatural wuxia. Lots of Steadicam and/or crane work as there is an abundance of smooth camera movement around the big sets. I think each mystery takes 3 or 4 episodes to solve so I have barely dipped a toe in the water.
I enjoyed The Signal, on the whole. The ending was done well as it was rather neat and explained a mystery or two while others were left unsolved. But getting there was something of a mixed bag.
I'm trying to find a nice, concise way to explain the element or elements that left me less impressed. How's this: The Signal is a mix of sci-fi first contact a la Contact and some paranoid conspiracy thriller and the first one that comes to mind is Enemy of the State. Nothing wrong with that but I wish that it had been more of the former and less of the latter.
The enigma of the signal itself was downplayed - even got lost, at times - in favor of Earthly conspiracies and betrayals and the story of a family. I wish the events on the space station hadn't been shown so explicitly in the same way that what happened on the plane was kept shrouded in mystery for most of the show.
I guess I wanted to be tantalized by the signal itself more and see less of Sven and Charlie running from authorities.
A couple new Polish TV shows are debuting on Netflix soon.
I enjoyed the first couple seasons of The Mire and now the third is due next month on the 28th. The initial one takes place in the mid-80s and featured many fine period collars and I think every character chain smoked. Looking forward to seeing how the show ends.
And in just a couple days a show called Detective Forst airs. Nothing like an Eastern European murder mystery.
Some friends and I recently finished our first foray into the Tales From the Loop RPG. It was just the starter scenario, which I believe is called "The Recycled Boy".
I've not seen the TV series and both it and the game are based on the artwork of Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag. We played kids living in Boulder City, Nevada in 1986 who are startled by an incident at our school involving a robot - they are everywhere in this world. It is basically the 80s we all know but with robots and some funky technology that takes advantage of the Earth's magnetic properties.
Also, one of our classmates has gone missing and a teacher has been hurt. We're on the case!
I played a 13 year-old boy named Chad. And just like when I was his age, he is a jock. (Ahem.)
Chad's favorite song is "Looks That Kill" by Mötley Crüe and he has the hots for his classmate, Maria. And he has a +2 hockey stick! Chad's father is a drinker and a philanderer, which hit rather close to home. Ha!
It took me a while to get into playing a boy as opposed to a wizard or a cop or a starship crew member or an investigator looking to cults. But I think I got into the swing of things. A fun game and I look forward to doing another scenario.
While I remember hearing about the Tylenol murders on the news as a kid, I couldn't recall any of the details. And so I found Painkiller: The Tylenol Murders, a new docuseries about the killing of 7 people in Chicagoland in 1982 by cyanide-tainted Tylenol, to be quite informative. It also provided a good laugh seeing those hairstyles and collars from the early 80s.
I felt that the penultimate episode (of 5) was overly tabloidy for my taste.
"Look how intrepid reporter Brad Edwards is!"
"We found James Lewis!!"
Plus using drone shots for every establishing shot was just garish. Look at what our new toy can do! And they used the same shot of Lewis walking towards the camera over and over. I guess the editors felt, if you find a way to make him look menacing, mechanical killing machine, go with it. I prefer a little more variety.
Regardless, it was interesting to learn more about a bit of history from my childhood.
I began watching season 2 of Dark Winds recently. Based on novels by Tony Hillerman, the show features Navajo police officers led by Lt. Joe Leaphorn. As they solve crimes, we get to know the friends and families of the officers and the Najavo community in some part of Arizona that I cannot recall more generally. It's a fine show, although I would offer that this season isn't as good as the first in that the killer is identified early on so this season is more thriller than mystery.
But my crush on Jessica Matten continues unabated and I remain surprised that the show hasn't been canceled since it is based on novels by a white man and not a Native American.
Anyway, watching the new season brought to mind Kay LeClaire, a Madisonian who gained some well-deserved infamy earlier this year when she was exposed as a European-American and not the Native American that she was posing as. (Such people are called "pretendians".)
I wondered what happened to her since the racial revelation of late last year. My internet searches only return articles from this past January when the news reached Madison and people disassociated themselves from LeClaire. Hilariously, Tone Madison's editor couldn't find enough swords to fall on and sounded more blameworthy than LeClaire herself. It seems she just issued a statement, returned items she shouldn't have had, and then skulked off into anonymity.
It would be fascinating to have a chat with her.
Sites show that she got married a few years before this fiasco and, if she was still married when her cover was blown, what did her husband think? Not only was she going around claiming Native American ethnicity that she didn't have, but she was also altering her appearance. And I don't just mean donning Native American clothing; she was darkening her skin. Did her husband explicitly approve? Or did he give tacit assent by staying silent and just letting her get on with the deception? What about other family and friends? Did they know or look the other way?
Unsurprisingly, articles stick to the white woman pretending to be a Native American one. But what about the converse? LeClaire is apparently of German, Swedish, and French-Canadian stock. Does she actively dislike her ancestry? Or was it simply more fun and profitable to deny it? I tend to think that there's a line, even if not a thick one, between dallying with personae, on one hand, and self-loathing on the other.
While I am not privileged to LeClaire's thoughts, I do feel that her subterfuge was just as disparaging of European ethnicity as it was of elevating Native American.
Perhaps we will never know what went through her head. Or maybe she'll write a book in a couple years and have a Netflix series that's the equivalent of Fox Night at the Movies - Portrait of a Pretendian - made of it and laugh all the way to the bank.
I am happy to see that Season 2 of 30 COINS is coming. I thoroughly enjoyed the first season and will admit that ending, well, I did not expect that. Creepy, thrilling, depraved - great stuff!
And Megan Montaner...it's always a pleasure to watch as she plies her trade.
