Retro TV
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ISPYSHHHGUY
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Re: Retro TV
thanks for getting into the spirit of the reviews, guys!
Re: Retro TV
Bought a number of dvd's in the last few weeks as there seemed to be a lot of old shows appearing. Sapphire and Steele arrived yesterday, so apart from checking that the discs played, I haven't watched a full episode yet. The accompanying booklet is a good read, especially for anyone who hasn't seen the series. Really looking forward to watching again the 2nd. serial, the one set in the old railway station. From what I remember, spooky, sad, atmospheric stuff.
Currently working my way through the childrens serial, City beneath the Sea. Gerald Flood stars. The show seems to do a lot with very little and I think it's an entertaining watch still, despite it's age. The Pathfinders set of serials is available on dvd, again with Gerald Flood, and is well worth a watch, even though the space helmets have no face plates!
Timeslip is really good and I bought the dvd collection as soon as it was available. Excellent t.v., but for me, TheTime of the Burn Up, is a bit weaker than the other parts.
Currently working my way through the childrens serial, City beneath the Sea. Gerald Flood stars. The show seems to do a lot with very little and I think it's an entertaining watch still, despite it's age. The Pathfinders set of serials is available on dvd, again with Gerald Flood, and is well worth a watch, even though the space helmets have no face plates!
Timeslip is really good and I bought the dvd collection as soon as it was available. Excellent t.v., but for me, TheTime of the Burn Up, is a bit weaker than the other parts.
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ISPYSHHHGUY
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Re: Retro TV
Time of the Ice Box was more atmospheric, I thought, Paw.
Regarding Sapphire and Steele; I thought Joanna Lumley looked stunning in that; if I recall correctly, the series was disrupted by the infamous 1979 ITV strike, which kept the entire network off the air for a few months.
Because of this, I lost the thread of Sapphire and Steele, but apparantly, there's a really creepy later serial where an unseen, Magritte -like surrealist character stalks photographs and manages to terrorize the real-life people depicted in them.
Haven't seen this one yet, but hope to eventually, old son.
Regarding Sapphire and Steele; I thought Joanna Lumley looked stunning in that; if I recall correctly, the series was disrupted by the infamous 1979 ITV strike, which kept the entire network off the air for a few months.
Because of this, I lost the thread of Sapphire and Steele, but apparantly, there's a really creepy later serial where an unseen, Magritte -like surrealist character stalks photographs and manages to terrorize the real-life people depicted in them.
Haven't seen this one yet, but hope to eventually, old son.
Re: Retro TV
I remember watching this in the visual aid's room at infant school the tv was a massive wooden box with a tv screen behind the wooden doors and the waiting in anticipation of the dots disappearing on the schools programs continuity thing for Look And Read to start and for some bizarre reason the tv was next to a gas cooker!stevezodiac wrote:The BBC has just released The Boy From Space on dvd. Here is a preview:
When brother and sister Dan and Helen see a strange object falling from the sky one night, they set out to look for traces of a meteorite in the nearby sand-pit. There, they are confronted by a strange thin man, and discovers a boy called Peep-peep who speaks a bizarre alien language.
Originally broadcast in 1971, as part of the BBC’s educational ‘Look and Read’ strand, The Boy From Space was shown again in 1980 in a revised version featuring new presenters Wordy and Cosmo, as well as updates – including a new forward and a voice-over – to the main drama.
This long-awaited DVD release presents the complete 1980 series along with extensive extras contains the original 1972 BBC Records recording of the story, and alternative presentations of the original TV drama which allow for Dan, Helen and Peep-peep’s adventures to be experienced in new and exciting ways.
Special features:
•The complete 1980 series (10 x 20 mins): all ten episodes of the BBC’s classic ‘Look and Read’ series, featuring Dan, Helen and Peep-peep’s story, as well as helpful tips from Wordy and Cosmo
•Feature-length presentation (70 mins): exclusive version of Dan, Helen and Peep-peep’s adventures, edited specially for the release
•BBC Records LP: audio version (55 mins): Original spoken word recordings from the 1972 vinyl release, narrated by Charles Collingwood
•BBC Records LP: film version (55 mins): an exclusive presentation, combining audio from the 1972 LP with footage from the 1980 TV broadcast
•Original animated sequences
•Illustrated booklet with essays by British TV experts Christopher Perry and Ben Clarke; comprehensive credits
Re: Retro TV
It's creepy as hell!ISPYSHHHGUY wrote: I lost the thread of Sapphire and Steele, but apparantly, there's a really creepy later serial where an unseen, Magritte -like surrealist character stalks photographs and manages to terrorize the real-life people depicted in them.
Haven't seen this one yet, but hope to eventually, old son.
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ISPYSHHHGUY
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Re: Retro TV
OK, JT: I'm sold, you have convinced me----this story is on my hit list.
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ISPYSHHHGUY
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Re: Retro TV
A bit of an obscurity this week, and if no-one remembers this item, I'm not surprized; ---but who knows?
SECRETS **** opening drama of the BBC 'BLACK and BLUE' satirical series, Aug 1973, approx. 55 mins.
This superbly-scripted, jet-black comedy stayed in my memory for a decade or three before I was able to revisit it again, and it remains a personal fave rave offering.
Scripted by Pythons Michael Palin and Terry Jones [although they don't appear in this] the premise is indeed Pythonesque and macabre: a worker in a factory manufacturing luxury chocolates falls into a vat of the molten stuff, and ends up becoming an unwitting ingredient in the boxed sweetmeats.
Rather than alerting a boardroom crisis, feedback sales results where the boxed chocolates containing human meat have been accidently sold reveal that the public has a definite taste for chocs with added 'human flesh' as a bonus ingredient, selling out very speedily.
The cynical bosses [the managing director is played by Warren Mitchell] embark on a ploy to procure further human corpses in order to appease public demand: perfectly legal animal meat just doesn't cut it, and it's clear that the public crave cannibalistic human flesh in their chocolates.
Events escalate to the point where we see a conveyor-belt feeding endless corpses into the chocolate vats, including an Arch-Bishop in full elaborate clobber.
This play also contains some exquisitely-realized Cadburys' Flake-inspired mock TV commercials, with a seductive, sultry maiden toying seductively with a box of Secrets, proclaiming directly to the audience:
WE LET PEOPLE INTO OUR SECRETS!
A note on technical quality:
The good news is that this excellent black comedy is available for public 'consumption' [groan!] as part of the added extras in the Palin-Jones RIPPING YARNS collection put out by Network.........the bad news is that the original 2-inch BBC tapes are more than likely wiped [although theories on this fact differ] and the version on offer here is culled from a very early domestic home recording from someone in 1973 , and the quality is pretty rank------watch it on a scaled-down computer monitor if you must view this, it's more acceptable.
Still, I'm grateful that this can be seen at all.
This teleplay was remade as a feature film, Consuming Passions [1988]----, which I haven't seen, but apparantly it's pretty dire.
['4/5, one star off for the poor quality of the recording, but it's the BBC's fault, really.]
SECRETS **** opening drama of the BBC 'BLACK and BLUE' satirical series, Aug 1973, approx. 55 mins.
This superbly-scripted, jet-black comedy stayed in my memory for a decade or three before I was able to revisit it again, and it remains a personal fave rave offering.
Scripted by Pythons Michael Palin and Terry Jones [although they don't appear in this] the premise is indeed Pythonesque and macabre: a worker in a factory manufacturing luxury chocolates falls into a vat of the molten stuff, and ends up becoming an unwitting ingredient in the boxed sweetmeats.
Rather than alerting a boardroom crisis, feedback sales results where the boxed chocolates containing human meat have been accidently sold reveal that the public has a definite taste for chocs with added 'human flesh' as a bonus ingredient, selling out very speedily.
The cynical bosses [the managing director is played by Warren Mitchell] embark on a ploy to procure further human corpses in order to appease public demand: perfectly legal animal meat just doesn't cut it, and it's clear that the public crave cannibalistic human flesh in their chocolates.
Events escalate to the point where we see a conveyor-belt feeding endless corpses into the chocolate vats, including an Arch-Bishop in full elaborate clobber.
This play also contains some exquisitely-realized Cadburys' Flake-inspired mock TV commercials, with a seductive, sultry maiden toying seductively with a box of Secrets, proclaiming directly to the audience:
WE LET PEOPLE INTO OUR SECRETS!
A note on technical quality:
The good news is that this excellent black comedy is available for public 'consumption' [groan!] as part of the added extras in the Palin-Jones RIPPING YARNS collection put out by Network.........the bad news is that the original 2-inch BBC tapes are more than likely wiped [although theories on this fact differ] and the version on offer here is culled from a very early domestic home recording from someone in 1973 , and the quality is pretty rank------watch it on a scaled-down computer monitor if you must view this, it's more acceptable.
Still, I'm grateful that this can be seen at all.
This teleplay was remade as a feature film, Consuming Passions [1988]----, which I haven't seen, but apparantly it's pretty dire.
['4/5, one star off for the poor quality of the recording, but it's the BBC's fault, really.]
Re: Retro TV
"Sapphire and Steel - Creepy as hell"
Oh yes indeed. It was the 4th. story and I finished it last night. Really well done with a seriously good bad guy and Steel getting on at Sapphire again for "failing". People die in a nasty way and the whole thing is claustrophobic. I know I'm not watching in order but I just had to watch a wee bit of the 2nd. story - the one in the old railway station. So good.
Also, another chapter of City Beneath the Sea, in which Gerald Flood finds out where he is being held captive, his young companion is swept away in an ocean current, and sabotage rears it's head. Will our heroes save the day? Find out next week (or tonight if I have a free half hour).
I decided to spalsh out and buy 2 Doctor Who dvd's. Moonbase and Tenth Planet, both of which have animated "lost " episodes. I only had these on old videos with telesnaps filling in the gaps.
Oh yes indeed. It was the 4th. story and I finished it last night. Really well done with a seriously good bad guy and Steel getting on at Sapphire again for "failing". People die in a nasty way and the whole thing is claustrophobic. I know I'm not watching in order but I just had to watch a wee bit of the 2nd. story - the one in the old railway station. So good.
Also, another chapter of City Beneath the Sea, in which Gerald Flood finds out where he is being held captive, his young companion is swept away in an ocean current, and sabotage rears it's head. Will our heroes save the day? Find out next week (or tonight if I have a free half hour).
I decided to spalsh out and buy 2 Doctor Who dvd's. Moonbase and Tenth Planet, both of which have animated "lost " episodes. I only had these on old videos with telesnaps filling in the gaps.
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ISPYSHHHGUY
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Re: Retro TV
MONTY PYTHON Series 4: 31 Oct-5 Dec 1974, BBC 2, six episodes ****
the term 'Flying Circus' has been removed for this series
I can't remember seeing any reference to Python anywhere in this forum, however I've always been something of a fan, following it from Series 3 [1971-72]: first time around, I never really understood much of the humour, or indeed recognized any of the Python performers, ---believe it or not, in 1972 even John Cleese wasn't all that well-known in a mainstream sense, not like Sid James or Benny Hill was, for example......how times change!
All I knew of Python was that it was TV unlike any other; to be honest I find the material hit-and-miss, but if you are in the mood for siliness, the show is very hard to beat.
Series 4 is often cited as a bit of a let-down by some fans, and yes, Cleese had departed by now, also Gilliam wasn't able to do much in the way of his savage animations.
I find this series perfectly reasonable, if below the inspired anarchic wierdness of Series 3, but here's my lowdown on the 6 shows [the other series had 13 shows apiece, here the shows are wisely cut back to a mere 6]
1] The Golden Age of Ballooning:
often cited as the very worst Python episode ever put out, this period costume drama does indeed drag after a promising start: the best bits are perhaps Chapmans' standing ovation walk-on part, Palins' Glaswegian 'Louis XIV' and a really good b/w skit involving Jones swelling up like a balloon. Also, any item featuring anything called the Golden Age of Colonic Irrigation can't be all bad!
2: 'Michael Ellis':
A solid entry, mainly set in a Harrods-like department store: good bits of business like Carol Cleveland returning a faulty flame-thrower [it repels bystanders], Palin selling Idle an ant, and an excellent 'how to end the show' Department: after a sunset ending, a fade-in /fade out version, we get a very abrupt sudden ending to the show.
3: Light Entertainment War:
starts of well with RAF Banter 'bally tenpenny ones' etc,---probably penned by Idle----- but descends into standard fare like 'woody and tinny words' , which fail to set the world of comedy alight.
4: Hamlet:
Manic absurdity with a boxing match so severe, that one boxers' head is brought in in a seperate paper bag, the best item in this one is likely the inspired 'Queen Victoria Handicap', presented like a rabid horse race.
5; Mr Neutron:
an excellent start to this one, with suburban ladies casting out lethal-looking missiles to a rag-and-bone cart, this one builds on the insanity of a global conflict, as Chapmans' muscular Superhero character does a bit of innocent shopping, the planet is all but nuked out by crazed US Military types. Not a great sci-fi pastiche, to be honest.
6: The Most Awful Family in Britain:
The very last instalment of Python starts with an absurdist skit that remains a masterclass in tasteless TV: the appalling Garibaldi family, a truly nightmarish bunch who seem to have inspired Queen in their I want to Break Free mid-80s promo video, and also the look of the later Young Ones. The remainder of the show is so-so, with some pretty graphic tastelessness as Jones' character is seen badly stabbed but still has to fill in inane NHS forms.
So there you have it! [4/5]
the term 'Flying Circus' has been removed for this series
I can't remember seeing any reference to Python anywhere in this forum, however I've always been something of a fan, following it from Series 3 [1971-72]: first time around, I never really understood much of the humour, or indeed recognized any of the Python performers, ---believe it or not, in 1972 even John Cleese wasn't all that well-known in a mainstream sense, not like Sid James or Benny Hill was, for example......how times change!
All I knew of Python was that it was TV unlike any other; to be honest I find the material hit-and-miss, but if you are in the mood for siliness, the show is very hard to beat.
Series 4 is often cited as a bit of a let-down by some fans, and yes, Cleese had departed by now, also Gilliam wasn't able to do much in the way of his savage animations.
I find this series perfectly reasonable, if below the inspired anarchic wierdness of Series 3, but here's my lowdown on the 6 shows [the other series had 13 shows apiece, here the shows are wisely cut back to a mere 6]
1] The Golden Age of Ballooning:
often cited as the very worst Python episode ever put out, this period costume drama does indeed drag after a promising start: the best bits are perhaps Chapmans' standing ovation walk-on part, Palins' Glaswegian 'Louis XIV' and a really good b/w skit involving Jones swelling up like a balloon. Also, any item featuring anything called the Golden Age of Colonic Irrigation can't be all bad!
2: 'Michael Ellis':
A solid entry, mainly set in a Harrods-like department store: good bits of business like Carol Cleveland returning a faulty flame-thrower [it repels bystanders], Palin selling Idle an ant, and an excellent 'how to end the show' Department: after a sunset ending, a fade-in /fade out version, we get a very abrupt sudden ending to the show.
3: Light Entertainment War:
starts of well with RAF Banter 'bally tenpenny ones' etc,---probably penned by Idle----- but descends into standard fare like 'woody and tinny words' , which fail to set the world of comedy alight.
4: Hamlet:
Manic absurdity with a boxing match so severe, that one boxers' head is brought in in a seperate paper bag, the best item in this one is likely the inspired 'Queen Victoria Handicap', presented like a rabid horse race.
5; Mr Neutron:
an excellent start to this one, with suburban ladies casting out lethal-looking missiles to a rag-and-bone cart, this one builds on the insanity of a global conflict, as Chapmans' muscular Superhero character does a bit of innocent shopping, the planet is all but nuked out by crazed US Military types. Not a great sci-fi pastiche, to be honest.
6: The Most Awful Family in Britain:
The very last instalment of Python starts with an absurdist skit that remains a masterclass in tasteless TV: the appalling Garibaldi family, a truly nightmarish bunch who seem to have inspired Queen in their I want to Break Free mid-80s promo video, and also the look of the later Young Ones. The remainder of the show is so-so, with some pretty graphic tastelessness as Jones' character is seen badly stabbed but still has to fill in inane NHS forms.
So there you have it! [4/5]
Re: Retro TV
Oh, the Old Railway station!paw broon wrote:"Sapphire and Steel - Creepy as hell"
Oh yes indeed. It was the 4th. story and I finished it last night. Really well done with a seriously good bad guy and Steel getting on at Sapphire again for "failing". People die in a nasty way and the whole thing is claustrophobic. I know I'm not watching in order but I just had to watch a wee bit of the 2nd. story - the one in the old railway station. So good.
Also, another chapter of City Beneath the Sea, in which Gerald Flood finds out where he is being held captive, his young companion is swept away in an ocean current, and sabotage rears it's head. Will our heroes save the day? Find out next week (or tonight if I have a free half hour).
I decided to spalsh out and buy 2 Doctor Who dvd's. Moonbase and Tenth Planet, both of which have animated "lost " episodes. I only had these on old videos with telesnaps filling in the gaps.
*shudder*
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stevezodiac
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Re: Retro TV
For those of us who only have freeview CBS Action launches there on October 1st and will be showing Star Trek The Original Series, Star Trek TNG, Gunsmoke, The Streets of San Francisco and The High Chaparral. Also Nash Bridges which I never watched and know nothing about.
Re: Retro TV
Just got a DVD yesterday of The Changes - a sci fi childrens series of the 70s. Can't wait to watch this as it was great when I first saw it as a kid and will enjoy it more now.
Show still gets talked about today.
Show still gets talked about today.
Re: Retro TV
One that stuck in my brain from childhood. Well worth a re-watch!DavidKW wrote:Just got a DVD yesterday of The Changes - a sci fi childrens series of the 70s. Can't wait to watch this as it was great when I first saw it as a kid and will enjoy it more now.
Show still gets talked about today.
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ISPYSHHHGUY
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Re: Retro TV
THE RUTLES****
UK debut screening: 27 March, 1978: BBC 2; expanded version runs 73 m
The third Python-related item put forth by me in as many weeks , this musical parody-pastiche of the Beatles legend is my own personal favourite satire on the music biz; although This is Spinal Tap is much more revered in rock circles, it does very little for me personally, and in fact I can only remember two scenes from Tap, neither especially good.
THE RUTLES was not even the first parody of the Beatles in the 70s: the Christmas 1975 GOODIES special THE GOODIES RULE----OK? sports a very good spoof on the phenomenon called BOOTLES which is fine, but very brief, and lacks the sheer full-on scope of this no-stone-uncovered offering.
This special was an off-shoot of the mid-70s RUTLAND WEEKEND TELEVISION, a post-Python Eric Idle project that espoused the virtues of ultra-low-budget Regional TV.
This project benefitted greatly from the input of ex-Bonzo Dog Doodah Band Maestro Neil Innes, who delivers spot-on [in the main] variations of the Beatles sound, reminiscent of the sort of thing by Harrison that Lennon and Mc Cartney may have rejected as 'not good enough' in the early days.
The jingly jangle-pop of I Must Be In Love --with it's attendant A Hard Days' Night-like 'wacky' b/w visuals----actually hit the lower regions of the official charts in early 1978, I remember it well.
The sheer attention to detail in this work is staggering, even to those with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Beatles' History: everything from the Cavern recreations, to fake footage inserted into actual scenes of Beatlemania, all the way through to a spot-on recreation of the final Get Back rooftop performance of '69 [Lennon loved the pre-release video so much he refused to return the advance tapes, but advised Innes to tone down the too-similar Rutles variation on grounds of copyright].
The style of comedy approached here is more restrained than Python, with some good cutting satire all the same: 'the Rutles are bigger than God', 'Che Stadium' etc------there's even a pretty good Yellow Submarine pastiche, with very similar all-new animation, in the style of concept artist Heinz Edelman [who visualized the look of the 1968 cartoon] that was commissioned seperately.
Lots of impressive cameos--including one from George Harrison--------also from Michael Palin , Bill Murray, Paul Simon and many others. There's probably a bit too much of Mick Jagger retelling the Rutles legend, though.
The 16mm footage looks about as good as is humanly possible, although perhaps the soundtrack could have been beefed up a bit with some pseudo-stereo from the vinyl recordings; hence only four stars.
The Rutles 1978 recordings can be heard here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XujqTG6tWLw
[4/5]
Last edited by ISPYSHHHGUY on 05 Oct 2014, 19:31, edited 1 time in total.
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stevezodiac
- Posts: 5209
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- Location: space city
Re: Retro TV
I love the Rutles and funnily enough I was looking for the cd in the record shop at Greenwich this lunchtime. Was wondering which category it would be under - 60s, 70s, Beatles related or Soundtracks? Couldn't find a copy so I'll have to try ebay. i had the vinyl album and (as I mentioned here a few years ago) the song Get Up and Go was omitted because it was too much like Get Back. Has it been restored to the cd version?