Comics UK

This is excellent. Thank you Phil. The Buccaneers was really popular in it's time and there are some episodes on youtube:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O0zbQw-BRU
My wife was a big fan, probably because of Robert Shaw
But the show, like so many others, doesn't stand up so well.
A friend recently bought the Sir Francis Drake box set and we watched an episode last time I visited. Same as The Buccaneers, good back then but hasn't quite stood the test of time. The worst one for that is Sword of Freedom, which was my favourite when I was young and recently I have watched a couple of episodes and, well, to be kind, it's a bit slow.

I'm convinced that the Continental books are Italian reprints. Placing a monthly order for those books wouldn't have lasted as they seemed to cease publication soon after. In Italy, however, t.v. was seriously rationed and controlled, even in comparison to the U.K. and I have the feeling that is why photo comics were so popular there and endured for decades.

I note that the page from Weekly Illustrated is a non word balloon story, rather a text strip, whereas the Dial 999 magazine has word balloons.

I Know Where I'm Going got pulled from 6am showing last week; in place it was They Knew What They Wanted with Charles Laughton as a plantation worer; he reminded me of Oliver Hardy. I switched over.

I Know.. getting a more justified peak time showing today with a documentary on it showing before.

Whilst on subject of "Space Patrol", in this month's "SFX" magazine it gives a top ten of best forgotten sci-fi serials, of which Space PAtrol is one.

Also Mentions "Space:ABove & Beyond" which I heard was very good.

One odd bit of 'Space Patrol' trivia I discovered recently is the fact that the uniform of the United Galactic Organization was in reality a rather dull grey - in spite of the fact that it was always shown in comic strips as bright red. This can be seen on the endpapers of the 1966 TV Comic Annual, which features the only colour stills I've ever seen from the series.





...Presumably the tunics were meant to be red, but grey produced a better tonal value when it was filmed in black & white!

- Phil Rushton

Been watching a lot of the Twilight Zone over the last few days. The original one not the later colour one. Funnily enough over the last day or so I've been thinking it would have made a good comic.

Also a funny thought I had recently I was watching The Return of Sherlock Holmes and I thought if they made a remake with Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson that would be excellent. They're a bit older now and not so anarchic so I thought it would be a great fit, kinda like Fry and Laurie had with Jeeves and Wooster. Just me eh? Oh well!

Does anyone remember TIMESLIP?

I spotted a VHS of one story in a charity shop the other day and it seems like one of those 'why didn't I watch this' scenarios. Exactly the kind of thing I would have loved, but I have no memory of it whatever.



http://www.timeslip.org.uk/

For some reason I never watched 'Timeslip' when it was on TV either. If it was even half as weird as the comic strip version that Mike Noble drew for Look-in then I reckon we both missed out on something special!



- Phil Rushton

Timeslip was a great serial, or set of 4 serials, and is available on dvd. I watched the first story again recently and it was still enjoyable, despite the fact I have seen it a number of times. The box set I bought is from Carlton and contains all 4 stories.
There is an official Timeslip website and you can find it here:-
http://www.timeslip.org.uk/

philcom55 wrote:For some reason I never watched 'Timeslip' when it was on TV either. If it was even half as weird as the comic strip version that Mike Noble drew for Look-in then I reckon we both missed out on something special!
- Phil Rushton

I had fond memories of watching it at the time and borrowed a friend's DVD a couple of years ago and was amazed at how good the stories were for the time. Cryogenics, global warming and even cloning! At the same-ish time Jack Kirby was doing his thing about clones so I was the most educated person in our school on the topic...IF anyone ever talked to me

Right, it looks like this one is a DVD must-see for me then! It sounds like a sort of Sapphire and Steel Juniors.

Those bubble-headed thingamies in that strip are way creepier than anything I remember from Dr Who. Thanks for that, phil, I'll have to seek out the strips too.

Another under-appreciated classic, IMo, was LUNA, starring Patsy Kensit. A few clips of it popped up on 'You Saw Them Here First' the other night. I wish this would get a DVD release cos I had SUCH a crush on Patsy. My first love!

( I can't think why...)



What I especially loved was that the show had it's own jargon, like a sort of kiddie Clockwork Orange speak.

http://luna.randomstatic.net/technotalk.php

Speaking of Timeslip - I can remember visiting a mate's house at the time in early noughties, and watching his video tapes of Timeslip - got to see first three adventures but I never got to see final series part about the Time Of The Clones.

All these episodes on the tapes were in black & white only, although I did see a clip of the Ice Box episode in colour, so I knew it was originally.

I know that some episodes only survive as monochrome and the latter episodes ended up being made in monochrome due to a strike by colour technicians at ITV. (I have a few dvds in my collection of other many TV shows affected by the strike).

I've not got Timeslip on DVD and I don't think its available at momnet - hope a bumper DVD re issue happens soon; or look out for the dvds 2nd hand (won't buy off net as I have no computer).

Timeslip was quite a disturbing programme, very 'adult' for a 'kids' sci-fi fantasy.

It was played straight, unlike say todays' DOCTOR WHO which is just a permanent nod and a wink direct to the audience.......Timeslip and early Doc Who were more like straight dramas, none of this 'the actors and audience are all in on the joke, it's not really serious' tongue-in-cheek nonsense.

Timeslip was my favourite kids tv show of the seventies. I bought the DVD box set a few years ago and they still hold up as good TV sci fi. Don't expect to see aliens though. It's all about alternate timelines, meeting future selves, and clones.

The two stars, Cheryl Burfield and Spencer Banks were guests at a Bristol Comic Expo a few years ago. It was nice to finally meet them. They were there with Mike Noble, and of course it was a pleasure to meet him too.

Noseybonk!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7QTYKyUCAM




Don't blame me for the nightmares...

Not retro tv but this is the closest this forum has to it - does anybody watch Toy Hunter on the Quest channel? Its about a vintage toy collector in the USA who travels the country buying toys from the 60s, 70s and 80s many of them comic and fantasy tv related. Its amazing how many people have garages and attics filled with old toys.

Not related but I watched Hell's Kitchen on ITV 2 the other night because Stan Lee was guest diner - he was quite funny too.