Losing it[1]

No, wait! Forget the bloody awful 1962 movie[1]. This is the far superior 1981 BBC adaptation of the John Wyndham novel[2][8]. I remember seeing this when it was first shown, but not since[3], so its release on DVD is definitely a Good Thing.

For those unfamiliar with the story[4], it begins with what is believed to be an unusually impressive meteor shower, which is admired by everyone who can see it. The next morning, Bill Masen (John Duttine), who is in hospital with bandaged eyes, wakes to find the world changed forever. Most of the population has been blinded by the meteors[5]. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the triffids are a major problem. Triffids are large, carnivorous plants with a deadly poisonous sting. Now that would be nasty enough, but these things can uproot themselves and walk. In a series of flashbacks we learn that triffids were bred somewhere in the Soviet Bloc for their oil, which has extremely useful properties. Masen worked on a triffid farm, and it was a triffid sting that was responsible for the damage to his eyes, which saved him from being blinded.

The story follows Masen and other survivors as they try to rebuild their lives and some kind of civilisation, while dealing with dangers from other people and the ever-present and menacing triffids. It’s implied that the triffids have some kind of intelligence…

And just to complete the “we did it to ourselves” theme, it’s suggested that the “meteors” were not a natural phenomenon, but might have been the result of someone’s orbiting weapon system exploding a little higher than it was designed to do. And there was the little matter of the mysterious disease that killed so many people - was that someone’s weapon too?[6]

The story ends on a note of hope. Masen and his friends gather on the Isle of Wight, where they can more easily keep the triffids at bay, and believe that one day they will be able to return to the mainland and sweep away all the triffids and finally rebuild civilisation.

It’s all very nicely done. The triffids look pretty much as described in the book, most of the events occur as depicted in the book, and the acting is of a high standard. The DVD doesn’t have any extra features, but there is a more informative than usual twelve page booklet.

My recommendation: read the book, then watch the DVD.

[1]
if you really insist. But you’re much better off not bothering. It’s a travesty. Truly dreadful.

[2]
A classic in the very British style of dystopian SF. If you haven’t read it, do so at your earliest convenience. It’s widely available in a variety of editions, just one of which is shown here.

[3] It may have been shown on UK Gold or some such channel, but I’ve never managed to catch it
[4] And where have you been??
[5] More of which later
[6] Possibly the most annoying thing about the 1962 movie[7] was the omission of this. In the movie, the triffids apparently drifted in from space with the meteors, missing the whole point of the book.
[7] Apart from the time filling sub-plot they made up about a couple on a lighthouse who discover that triffids can be killed with sea water. Woop-de-doo, big deal….
[8] Apart from being updated from the 1950s to the 1980s, it’s close to the book

I mentioned Sky Captain when I saw it in the cinema last year, so this is just a quick update on the DVD. There are some nice extras - the usual “behind the scenes” stuff (lots of shots of actors strolling around blue screen sets), some deleted scenes, and a moderately silly gag reel.

Perhaps the most interesting extra is the original six-minute short film that was created something like five years before the movie was released - it’s presented as the first chapter in a serial, very much in the Flash Gordon style. Most of it appears virtually unchanged in the final movie, but it’s an entertaining little piece.

It’s also interesting to learn how this developed from a very low budget project into a major production. And the movie’s a lot of fun, too. As I said last time I mentioned it.

This is a slightly[1] overdue review. While Want Two[2] was released only a week or so ago in the UK, I got this on import last year, as I couldn’t be bothered waiting for record companies to get their act together. The release here might have been deliberately timed to coincide with Rufus’s tour[3], but on the other hand it might be general weirdness.

This is Rufus’s fourth album, and it’s pretty much the usual kind of thing - lots of operatic touches coupled with distinctly unsuitable lyrics[5], and some damn catch tunes.

I’m particularly keen on The One You Love, which might even be out as a single[6]. If I had a clue about musical arrangements and the like, I would probably be able to describe this more coherently, but let’s just say it has an interesting rhythm and some lyrics that stick in the mind[7]

The mind has so many pictures
Why can’t I sleep with my eyes open
The mind has so many memories
Can you remember what it looks like when I cry

Another little gem is The Art Teacher, sung from the point of view of a woman looking back to when she was a schoolgirl who fell in love with her art teacher, and

All this having been said,
I married an executive company head
All this having been done, a Turner - I own one
Here I am in this uniformish pantsuit sort of thing
Thinking of the art teacher
I was just a girl then
And never have I loved since then
No never have I loved any other man

You can find some short sound samples on Rufus’s website if you’re interested. If you do fancy this CD, look for the limited edition with the extra DVD - it includes a full length concert as well as Rufus walking around San Francisco enjoying the scenery[8]

[1] Understatement
[2] The follow-up to 2003’s Want One
[3] I’ve got tickets!![4]
[4] Now all I’ve got to do is persuade someone to go with me…
[5] Plenty to offend the kind of people who get offended by this kind of thing
[6] Can’t quite see Rufus troubling the singles chart, but stranger things have happened.
[7] Well my mind, anyway
[8] So to speak

Now this makes a change. A Doctor Who DVD release of a story I’d never actually seen before. Or if I did, I was about five years old and it’s been deleted from long term storage[1]. Anyway, what we have here is a story from 1968 featuring Patrick Troughton as the Doctor, Frazer Hines[2] as Jamie and Wendy Padbury as Zoe. All in glorious black and white[3], and (as usual with these DVD releases) remastered, digitally processed and generally magicked into a remarkably watchable piece. It would still be watchable if the quality was poor, but the restoration work does help…

This was something of an experiment for Doctor Who - unlike the usual pure sf or historical stories of the time, this was more of an exercise in fantasy. It obviously didn’t catch on, as subsequently the series stayed with sf.

Anyway, as the Tardis is threatened with being destroyed in a volcanic eruption, the Doctor activates an emergency device which removes it from normal space and time, and into a strange environment. Stranger than usual for Doctor Who, even. The Doctor and his companions find themselves in a world populated by characters from fiction, such as Gulliver, and some rather dangerous mythological creatures to make things more, err, interesting.

As one might expect, there is a controlling force at the centre of all this, and it has designs on the Doctor. Can the Doctor avoid being turned into a fictional character[4] and so falling under control of the master[5] of the world of fiction? Will he and his companions ever return to normal space and time? Well, of course they will. But there’s a lot of fun and games in the process.

This stands up quite well, despite the limitations imposed at the time - very basic effects, recording time so limited that fluffed lines occur a few times and the general low budget feel. I enjoyed it, and not just as a historical curiosity.

Along with the five episodes of the story, the BBC have included the usual generous selection of extras:

• The ever-popular production subtitles - lots of on-screen background information
• A rather good “making of” documentary with contributions from some of the cast and crew
• Frazer Hines talking about his role as Jamie
• And, err, a Basil Brush sketch from the 70s, included because it used one of the Yeti costumes used in another Patrick Troughton story. I remember watching Basil at the time. More nostalgia

All in all, another quality release from the BBC, who deserve a lot of credit for the Doctor Who DVDs.

And of course, the new Doctor Who series starts soon. I’m really looking forward to that!

[1] Funny, it’s usually my short term memory that’s bad
[2] Perhaps better-known these days for spending many years on Emmerdale Farm
[3] Doctor Who didn’t switch to colour until the beginning of the Jon Pertwee era
[4] Yes, yes, I know
[5] Not to be confused with The Master, of course

Ahhhh, nostalgia. Dad’s Army was a long-running BBC sitcom that ran from the late 60s to the late 70s. Based around a unit of the Home Guard[1] in a small English town, and featuring some unforgettable characters, this is classic TV at its best. This DVD offers a small sample of some particularly fine episodes, including what has to be one of the funniest scenes in any sitcom ever.
The platoon has been assigned to guard the crew of a German U-Boat before they can be taken away by the regular army. The captain of the U-Boat (played by Philip Madoc) starts making a list of those who cause offense so they can be brought to account when the Germans win the war[2]. It is at this point that Pike (the youngest member of the platoon, played by Ian Lavender) starts to sing:

Whistle while you work, Hitler is a twerp, he’s half-barmy, so’s his army, whistle while you work

to which the U-Boat captain replies:

Your name will also go on the list! What is it?

and before Pike can respond, Mainwaring shouts

Don’t tell him Pike!

Wonderful stuff, worth the price of the DVD for that scene alone

[1] Volunteers ready to defend the country in the event of a Nazi invasion in World War II
[2] Leading to a lovely panto-style “Oh yes will”, “Oh no you won’t” routine between Madoc and the platooon leader Captain Mainwaring (Arthur Lowe)

I didn’t get round to seeing this one when it was in the cinemas[1], even though it sounded like the kind of thing I’d enjoy. Anyway, I eventually got round to buying it on DVD and watched it last week. Ashton Kutcher stars as Evan Treborn, a young man whose life has been plagued by mysterious blackouts. One day, he starts to read the journals he has kept since childhood and finds that he can move back in time and change what happened. The tagline of the movie is “Change one thing - change everything”, and that’s what happens to Evan and his friends. As he keeps trying to make things better by changing the past, a new present is created, each worse than the last. Eventually, he makes one final, drastic change to his past…

What’s interesting about The Butterfly Effect is the way the main characters change each time Evan changes the past - the actors have the challenge of playing something like four different roles each, and make a superb job of it. Each time Evan wakes up, he has to adjust to a new reality - some more disorienting and disturbing than others.

The movie is visually impressive, as well as being rather more intelligent than the average Hollyweird production. There are brilliant effects for Evan’s journeys back in time, and for the memory flashbacks he experiences when he wakes up.

Thrilling, intriguing, thought provoking. A good movie that I’ll need to watch a few more times, as I’m sure I missed some details the first time. If you liked Donnie Darko[2], you should like this too.

[1] This happens a lot
[2] And if you didn’t, what the heck is wrong with you?

Oh good. It’s another Doctor Who DVD! This one was first shown in 1977, and stars Tom Baker as the Doctor, and Louise Jameson as Leela.

The story was inspired by the poem Flannan Isle by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson, which I remember studying in school. It’s set on a lighthouse, a perfectly isolated location for the events that unfold. One by one, the crew of the lighthouse and the survivors of a shipwreck are killed. The generator powering the light keeps failing. What is going on? Can there be a connection between the deaths and the strange light that one of the crew saw falling into the sea?

As ever, the Doctor identifies the source of the trouble, and arrives at a solution - too late for the people in the lighthouse, but in time to save Earth from invasion or destruction.

There’s the usual generous selection of extras - the now-standard production subtitles, a look at some of the huge range of Doctor Who merchandise and a couple of documentaries.

Hmmm. Ever so slightly down today at 207.2 pounds (14 stone 11.2 pounds, 94.0kg).

Being in full holiday geek mode, I watched the extra features discs from Return of the King. Over six hours of excellent behind the scenes stuff.

Yes, it’s Boxing Day, and I’m ever-so-slightly heavier at 207.6 pounds (14 stone 11.6 pounds, 94.2kg).

Another quiet day. Watched the extended verison of The Return of the King[1]

[1] A review or report or something may appear in due course….

Seven years ago, student Prentice McHoan’s uncle Rory mysteriously disappeared. Prentice (engagingly played by Joseph McFadden) narrates the story of the strange events in his eccentric extended family and what he discovers. It all begins on the day his grandmother explodes[1] and things develop from there. We meet various people along the way as Prentice learns more, and we see a series of flashbacks based largely on the book the missing Rory was working on. We see Rory (Peter Capaldi) both in flashbacks and in Prentice’s (presumably) imagined conversations with him.

The Crow Road is based on the Iain Banks[2] novel, which I’m going to have to read again now. Banks had no direct involvement with the adaptation, but was apparently very happy with the result - he’s quoted on the cover as saying

Annoyingly better than the book in far too many places

I’d previously bought The Crow Road when the BBC put it out on VHS. Unfortunately, at that time some genius at the BBC had decided that the thing to do with TV series was to edit them into “movies” for video release.[4] So this is the first time the series has been available in its uncut form, and a Good Thing too. There’s an interview with Banks on one of the two discs, and the whole thing is well worth watching. Four hours of quality drama with quite delicious black humour running through it. One of Banks’ finest books, adapted into one of the best TV dramas of the last ten years or so, and finally available on DVD. Me like

[1] Crematorium. Pacemaker. Enough said.
[2] Not to be confused with hard sf writer Iain M Banks[3]
[3] Even though they’re the same person
[4] Some Doctor Who releases suffered this fate[5]
[5] Fortunately the DVDs are better