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[jimmm kelly]

These days I tend to binge watch TV series, rather than watch them week to week. However, this summer I was interested in seeing what UNDER THE DOME was all about, so I binge watched the first two seasons and then started in on the third. Too bad I didn't look for some reviews before I did that, as the series starts out promising but quickly gets worse. This season might be the worst yet--although, now I'm looking forward to it each week, just to see how low it can go. Turns out pretty low.

[profh0011]

I learned years ago that if I watch too many episodes in one sitting, they all tend to blur together and then I can't remember what happened in what episode.

Much better to watch several shows in rotation!

On the other hand, there have been some shows I've watched multiple episodes at a time, just to GET THROUGH them.  This has included HILL STREET BLUES (I don't even like it anymore apart from seasons 6 & 7), DARK SHADOWS (when you have about 1,000 episodes on tape...) and STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION (I never would have beleieved that after all these years, the 1st season would wind up as the only one I liked!).

[profh0011]

After a 6-month break-- right in the middle of a story-- I got back to DOCTOR WHO again.  What sets this current view apart from most others is, this is the first time since the early 80s I'm watching the individual episode versions, instead of the edited movie versions.  I have these from "Inferno" (only about half of the Pertwees were run this way in Philly at the time, the rest were not yet in the syndication package) all the Tom Bakers and up to "Terminus".  For whatever reason, after that they stopped and only ran the "movies".

Just finished "The Androids Of Tara" last night.  Been watching ONE episode at a time.  The entire season with Mary Tamm remains one of my favorites!  It's sometimes hard to believe she's gone...

[jimmm kelly]

Much better to watch several shows in rotation!

Well I do that, too. After binge watching the entire run of SEINFELD, I went back to it again from the beginning, but just watching one episoe every Thursday night. Although lately I've been giving up that slot to wath UNDER THE DOME. But I'll soon get back to my weekly viewing of Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer.

You may remember a few years ago, when I was laid up, I binged watched ALL of DOCTOR WHO (yes, all of it). Now I'm watching it again, but just one episode at a time, on Saturday afternoons. Yesterday, I started THE REIGN OF TERROR with episode one: "A Land of Fear."

For the original series of STAR TREK, what I'm doing is watching a number of episodes (one or two a day) and then taking a break and coming back at it again a few weeks later, with more episodes. So right now I'm stopped in the middle of season two--watching them in production order.

It's been a hot dry summer in Vancouver and the last thing I want to do is sit at home--so I haven't been watching a lot lately--preferring to be outside in the fresh air.

[profh0011]

BEYOND THE TIME BARRIER

What a DAMNED good movie!  Not one single actor I recognized, but a decent script, decent set designs, etc.  This could easily have been a feature-length episode of THE OUTER LIMITS.

Although presented as an "American International" film, I saw not one name associated with them, and with MUCH higher than usual production standards (and quality of product), I suspect this was an independant production, and theyv just handled the distribution end of things.

[profh0011]

I've found watching STAR TREK in (mostly) production order is SO much better on so many levels, and there is a surprising amount of "continuity" that is simply not apparent at all the way NBC ran it.  Mostly stuff NOBODY ever, ever mentions (not that I've seen).

Like the direct connection between "COURT MARTIAL" and "THE MENAGERIE".  The opening scene in "MENAGERIE" refers directly to the climax of "COURT MARTIAL", yet "COURT MARTIAL" was run at least a month later.

You know, I saw the SAME thing in the 2nd season of NIGHT COURT, once I figured out what order the episodes SHOULD be watched in.  (Part of it you could tell just by the length of Ellen Foley's hair... heehee)


Each time I've watched DOCTOR WHO lately, I've been doing it differently.  A few years ago, I decided to watch EVERY single story in my collection... all "movie" versions, of course, and ONLY the ones that were in syndication in the 1980s.  I have NOTHING that was released since... except for "Tomb of the Cybermen", which I got on video the month it came out.

Once, I started just with the Roger Delgado stories.  Another time, I started with the Mary Tamm episodes!!  (I've liked her from the instant I saw her, and that's only increased over the years.  Too bad she only did one year.)

Once, I watched a set of Daleks stories back-to-back-- starting with "Destiny".  (I just DON'T LIKE "Genesis".  And, I've seen it too many times.  The last time I watched it, the time I watched EVERY story, I decided, that was it, the LAST time I'd ever watch it.)  I ended my Daleks mini-marathon with the 2nd Cushing film.  STILL my all-time favorite Daleks story!

Quite a few years back, I'd watch an entire run by one Doctor, then an entire run by another Doctor... but jumped around, so they weren't in order.

More recently, I actually spent a month or two rotating between 3 or 4 Doctors between EACH story!!  That was a LOT of fun!  (Mostly, Davison, Colin Baker & McCoy)

The current run (which I started sometime last year), I started from the beginning again... but decided, okay, THIS time, I'm gonna SKIP anything I just don't like!!  And, in a fit of absolute absurdity, the first 2 Daleks stories, I watched the Cushing films INSTEAD of the Hartnell versions!!

But thanks to Youtube, this particular run was the ONLY time I have EVER seen the 2 pertwee episodes that were MISSING from syndication in the 80s-- "Planet of the Daleks" part 3, and "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" part 1!!!

Somehow I made it through EVERY Pertwee this time... even the ones I DON'T like.  But I did skip "Genesis", and once I get to the JNT era, I'm sure I'll be skipping a LOT more.

The crazy bit was when my VCR broke down right after I watched "The Deadly Assassin" part 3.  So for about 6 months, Tom Baker's Doctor was DEAD!!



Decades back, I once dug out "The Android Invasion" to show to a friend who had NEVER seen the show.  he got hooked.  Yeah-- THAT one, which fans are always knocking!  I like it.

For many years, the only stories I ever dug out all by themselves-- totally separate from the rest of the show-- were "Ressurection" (to help me make sense of it-- it really IS a bloody mess, and MY syndication copy is MISSING tghe music and sound effects from the 2nd half!!), and "Terror of the Vervoids" (because I just adore Bonnie Langford).

However, in recent years, a 3rd story has been added to that number... "The Gunfighters".  It's become my FAVORITE William Hartnell story!  And at least once, I watched it as part of a "Wyatt Earp" marathon, which included MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, GUNFIGHTER AT THE O.K. CORRAL, TOMBSTONE, RETURN TO DODGE, and "Spectre of the Gun".  They may not be "accurate", but the guys who played Earp & Holiday on DOCTOR WHO are among the most likable and watchable.

[Captain Audio]

Only actor in "Beyond the Time Barrier" that I recognized was the great character actor Vladimir Sokolff. He had a long distinguished career. Probably the best movie he was in was "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and of course "the Magnificient Seven".

This was one of my favorite of the older Sci Fi films.

Just watched a Gerry Anderson film that I had not seen since it first came out "Journey to the Far Side of the Sun".
Of the two I like "Beyond the Time Barrier" much more.

"This could easily have been a feature-length episode of THE OUTER LIMITS."
Actually theres a ep pf Outer Limits that is very much like "Beyond the Time Barrier" in many ways, "the Man Who was Never Born" starring Martin Landau.

[profh0011]

I was thinking about that.

It also reminded me of some of the themes from PLANET OF THE APES, only in a far LESS-devastated future.

It seemed sad that things broke down so completely near the end.  It turned out the 2 guys in charge of the Citadel were working at cross-purposes (the military guy was TOO arrogant and paranoid to be of any use to anyone but himself), and all 3 scientists wound up double-crossing EACH OTHER.  So,  with the one "nice" girl having been killed accidentally (shades of "Nova" in "BENEATH..."), it made it all the better that the guy should return to the past and prevent that future from ever happening.


I have been progressively LESS thrilled with the APES films more and more as the decades go by (INCLUDING the 1st one, which "everybody" raves about-- I think it's a pile of CRAP compared to the novel).  Now, even more, I see it as a really inferior, degenerated take-off on a MUCH-better story done years earlier.  Like most Hollywood "remakes".

[profh0011]

There's a number of movies over the years that have reminded me of feature-length OUTER LIMITS stories, in content, look, attitude, etc.

The first one that struck me that way, of course, was BLADE RUNNER.  The story is very similar to "The Duplicate Man", and the climax takes place in the SAME location as "Demon With A Glass Hand".  But I think the TV episodes are better!

[bowers]

Yes , "The Outer Limits" had some very good writing at times. Unfortunately the extremely low budget special-effects and ludicrous alien/monster costumes detracted from the overall quality. Even for the early 60's, bad rubber masks and gloves just didn't do the job- and this series used a lot of them! We got more laughs than scares from some episodes. For some fright, I preferred "Thriller". Cheers, Bowers

[Captain Audio]

I forgot to mention that just after watching "Journey to the Far Side of the Sun" I ran across an article about the planned restoration of the futuristic automobile made for that film.
They actually built three of these, you can see the other two in the base parking lot during one scene.
The other two of the cars still exist but are in relic condition and deemed not restorable.
One or more of these were used in the series "UFO" one being Stryker's car.

Not quite so Iconic as the Batman TV series Batmobile but still a blast from the past part of sci fi vehicle history.

Also in the news Elon musk bought the Lotus Elan based submersible from "the spy Who Loved Me", one of if not the coolest of Bond vehicles.
The car spld at auction for not quite one million bucks, which must have made the previous owner happy as a claim because he got the car for $100 USD when he bought an abandoned storage container with contents sight unseen.
Musk was a bit disappointed when he found the submersible car did not actually transition from road worthy to sea worthy, that was done with camera tricks, but the submersible itself is a functioning mini sub.
Elon Musk intends to build a fully operational transitioning vehicle based on the Tesla car.
This reinforces my long standing theory that Elon musk is in fact a Bond Super villian just biding his time before revealing his scheme for world domination.
His well known fear of Artificially Intelligent robots stims from the fact that only they could possibly defeat his army of killer cyborg ninjas.
A Tesla based transformer is just the tip of the ice berg.

[jimmm kelly]

Yes , "The Outer Limits" had some very good writing at times. Unfortunately the extremely low budget special-effects and ludicrous alien/monster costumes detracted from the overall quality. Even for the early 60's, bad rubber masks and gloves just didn't do the job- and this series used a lot of them! We got more laughs than scares from some episodes. For some fright, I preferred "Thriller". Cheers, Bowers

I haven't gone back to look at many of the past OUTER LIMITS episodes and maybe I shouldn't. They were quite effective. I think that series formed much of my consciousness--it's a part of my neural network now and determines how I perceive reality. Maybe had I been a little older when it aired, that wouldn't have been the case. But it worked for me--although, whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, I'm not sure.

[profh0011]

I guess it's the 4-year-old in me.  I have watched the 1st season of THE OUTER LIMITS at least 4 times in its entirety since the mid-90s, when I rented every one of the tapes in sequence.  I've NEVER had a problem with the "effects", visuals, masks, etc.  I'm just so focused on THE STORIES, all the rest doesn't matter that much.

I suppose it's like people who complain about or like to laugh at Gerry Anderson's THUNDERBIRDS, because ... "IT'S A PUPPET SHOW!!!!!!!!!!"  People really need to get the F*** over themselves.  They sound like arrogant know-it-all teenagers, who, everyone should realize, all think they know more and better than anyone else, and have lost all sense of wonder or imagination in their single-minded quest to be "adult", "grown up", "mature".  (These same peolpe find it impossible to enjoy anything written or drawn by Jack Kirby.  In FACT, when I watch Anderson's SPACE PRECINCT-- my vote for the best damned thing he ever, ever did-- the whole thing "feels" more like a Jack Kirby story than anything ever "adapted" from his works.)

But the thing is, what all those people who laugh at the marionettes and miniatures COMPLETELY miss, is, it's the WRITING on THUNDERBIRDS that seriously needed work.  I mean, really!!  Sylvia wanted a spy show, Gerry wanted a show about big vehicles.  He "won", but they got a compromise that was a "match made in HELL".  Worse-- his attitude prevailed for the next 10 years, increasingly so, until it led to the inevitable DIVORCE.  Funny thing... after they split, suddenly, Gerry's shows started to include the HUMANITY that had been completely missing since STINGRAY.

That's been my observation over the decades.

[Captain Audio]

Twilight Zone and Outer Limits were so top notch in all categories other than special effects that they remind us even now that special effects can't save a bad story or ruin a good story.
When the effects are masterpieces in the artistic sense if not that great in the technical sense they can be the true draw for an otherwise mediocre film, but you'll remember the effects rather than the story.
The lydecker bros are an exception, Every effect they accomplished fitted seamlessly with the story. Still some of the most believable effects ever.

[profh0011]

I just had to pass this on... A thought from one of my friends overseas...

"People who mock seeing the strings in the puppet shows presumably also mock the fact that they can see the punctuation in a novel."

[profh0011]

I often lament that my friend in Wales has never seen TERRAHAWKS or SPACE PRECINCT.  When the 1st came out, many knocked it for being "silly" and "childish" and going back to looking like a "kiddie show" with its style of puppetry.  But it had MUCH better writing than any Anderson show since STINGRAY, the characters were really likable, it was FUN to watch, and often exciting as well.

And then there was SPACE PRECINCT.  I loved the show from the first moment I saw it, and over the years it has actually become one of the ONLY shows I can think of where I can honesty say "I love every frame of every episode."  It's THAT good.  On a level of maintained quality, it blows 60s STAR TREK completely out of the water!  I'm absolutely astonished to be able to say such a thing!!

And yet I can scarcely think of ANY show that was met with such outright HATRED, dismissal, derision, insults that SP.  I think a large part of it has to be that you have a vast percentage of the audience that has been acclimated to "something else".  To me, I love the concept, the designs, the action, the visual effects, but most of all, the CHARACTERS, and the WRITING.  My God, it's the BEST damned thing Anderson ever did by such a wide margin... it's no wonder he spent 10 years trying to raise money to have it made.

All the same, I will be the first to admit MOST of the aliens LOOK RIDICULOUS!!!  They do!!  And you know what?  IT DOESN'T MATTER!  I think of "Captain Podley", the guy in charge of the Precinct, who actually-- absurdly!!-- has a NEW YORK IRISH accent!!  It's one of the most insane ideas I've ever run across-- it's funny as hell-- and yet, HE comes across as a far more belieavble, likable, and "REAL" character and personality than ANY of the characters in all 7 years of ST:TNG.  (I watched the entire run of ST:TNG about 2 years ago, first time since it was first-run... good God, how did I ever sit through it the first time?)

[profh0011]

Watching another of my FAVORITES this week...

"Oy--OY!! 'Oooh's th' little tin dog??"
"Your silliness is noted."

[Captain Audio]

"Space Precinct" was alright, I guess I watched every episode. It was enjoyable, though not my idea of a serious science fiction series.
The short lived "Star Cops" was more to my liking. Both were in the High Frontier sub genre.

Stark Trek in all its incarnations and spin offs always disappointed in the alien appearance department, with only a few races, such as the Klingons, Cardassians, and Feringee getting the proper attention to detail.
They got around the obvious difficulty of so many intelligent races looking very human by the device of having a billions of years earlier race seeding the universe so that when they died out their would be new intelligent species to live on after them. Practically all intelligent races carrying that seed of ancient humanoid DNA. The entirely non corporeal and rock monster types not so much.

[profh0011]

2 movies I'd never seen before, both based on the SAME story:

THE DOCTOR AND THE DEVILS  (1985)

THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS  (1960)

This covers the same ground as THE BODY SNATCHER (1945), although that was filtered through Robert Louis Stevenson, while these other 2 are closer to the real-life incident of murderers supplying bodies for scientific study.

The Henry Danielle role is played by Peter Cushing and Timothy Dalton, while the main murderer-- the Boris Karloff role-- is played by Donald Pleasence & Jonathan Pryce !!  (That's a whole collection of some of my favorite actors there!)

I'd been wanting to see the Dalton / Pryce film since it was first announced, and it's crazy it took me this long.  The other one, I didn't even know about until recently.  I'm glad I decided to watch the older one 2nd, as I wound up enjoying that one more.  Each reflects the style of its era, but while the 1960 film is more "stylized", it also turned out to be more VIOLENT.  I was surprised than 2 of the main characters got killed in it who both somehow escaped in the later film, while they reversed which of the criminals turned state's evidence in the later one (the earlier was apparently more accurate).  But in the earlier film, BOTH killers got separate forms of "justice".  And the doctor at the very end wound up more sympathetic, as his sudden attack of conscience was played up MUCH stronger.

To sum up, I'd say the 1985 version was DAMNED good-- but the 1960 one was a truly GREAT film!!!

[paw broon]

"Oy--OY!! 'Oooh's th' little tin dog??"
An episode which still makes me quite emotional. 
Just watched the first episode of Space Precinct and I'm sorry to say, It didn't do much for me.  I'll try another one just in case.  And the comparison with '6o's Star Trek is odd as they appear to be 2 distinctly different shows.  One being 'tecs in space and the other a soap opera on a space ship with aliens and monsters.  While I still watch Star Trek from time to time, I can't say that it is a favourite, enjoyable though some episodes can be.  The tin dog, Caretaker (the school janny) and Space Patrol - the real one, not the live action American one) are shows I'd rather watch.  Oddly, as I was never a big fan of the Matt Smith stories - I thought he made a good Doctor - I have been watching some of them again and rather enjoying them
Also, and sadly, the last series ever of New Tricks is showing and it's a real shame it's ending as the new cast seem perfectly capable of carrying on as long as the stories are as good as the first episodes have proved to be.  It's not exactly a new idea to have a change of cast in the same show, Taggart, Doctor Who, Midsomer Murders, New Tricks itself spring to mind

[profh0011]

THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE (1961), a real "epic" for a British sci-fi "disaster"movie.  Told entirely from the POV of a newspaper office and its staff, this features Edward Judd in the "Karl Kolchak" role (or sorts) while Leo McKern reminds me a bit of "Lou Grant" in the MOST LIKABLE character I've ever seen him play!  The plot-- which delves into things Jules Verne once tackled in one of his COMEDY novels ("THE PURCHASE OF THE NORTH POLE") makes as little sense as it did in Irwin Allen's VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, but it doesn't matter, as it's the HUMAN drama that's the real focus from start to finish.  The dialogue is fast, furious & witty, and would fit right in in anything done by Howard Hawks.

[profh0011]

"Oy--OY!! 'Oooh's th' little tin dog??"
An episode which still makes me quite emotional. 

Well, actually... that was "Drax" in Part 5 of "The Armageddon Factor"!!

[profh0011]

"And the comparison with '6o's Star Trek is odd"

I was comparing it with ST:TNG, in that even the dumbest-looking aliens on SP were more "human" and "likable" as characters than the "humans" on TNG.  I quickly came to LOVE every single character on SP, while by the time it ended, I was genuinely SICK TO DEATH of every single character on TNG.

The only comparison I tend to make with STAR TREK (the real one) is that ST had good episodes and bad ones... on SP, every single episode was INCREDIBLY GOOD.

But again, "personal taste" no doubt factors in here big-time.

I mean, LOOK at all the comics fans who absolutely HATE every single aspect of Jack Kirby's work.

[paw broon]

Tin dog?  And here was me thinking you were on about School Reunion, which is, of course, a wonderful story.
It's a long time since I watched The Armageddon Factor, although a cable channel here showed The Androids of Tara recently.
As for all the comics fans who absolutely HATE every single aspect of Jack Kirby's work, I haven't encountered any.  I know some fans who simply love almost everything Kirby.  But really, some of the later stuff was poor, whether because of inkers or himself losing it a bit, or simply being rushed and churned out, I don't know.  Going back to reading it now is a chore.  And, admission time, I never liked Kamandi and I get serious stick from a couple of friends for that
I do watch occasional episodes of STNG if it's one I fancy.  Same with Voyager, preferably later ones.  I couldn't sit down and spend a weekend with either one.

[profh0011]

THE LAST GLORY OF TROY

I get the feeling this is either the 2nd-- or 3rd-- film with Steve Reeves as the same character.  In this, the Trojan exiles try to settle near a city, but ONE man's power-mad ambitions stirs up trouble, and even a full-scale war.  HE wants to marry the peace-loving king's daughter-- against her will-- so HE can become the next king.  But she doesn't love him... and when she meets Steve Reeves, it's all over.  About 15 minutes in (as soon as I found out the guy's men were STEALING cattle from the city's fields) I KNEW by the end of the movie, he and Reeves would be going at it, one-on-one.  And I was RIGHT!