BBC Mini-Series: The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy

A gentle greetings to my readers as today we try something a tad more cultured as compared to last week of jiggly girl anime. Dear lord that was painful to sit through. No, this week I took it upon myself to give us something a bit more stimulating, looking into our fellows across the pond. I have noticed thus far of my many recommendations to view this or listen to that, I have not been disappointed. This week shall consist of BBC Mini-Series. Commonly this is a feature via Television that is comprised of 6 episodes ranging roughly between 2 and a half hours to about 4. Today we look at that radio show, that became a series of books into a mini-series and then finally film. So grab your towel, pack your electronic thumb and don't panic. This is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Hmm forgot a line or did one of them break wind?

Brought to use by the Sci-Fi/Comedy stylings of the late Douglas Adams tells the tale of a unsuspecting ape descendant who no longer pick fleas of his guests. His name is Arthur Dent (Simon Jones of BBC2 Playhouse, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Reds, Brideshead Revisited, The Meaning of Life, Brazil, Black-Adder II, Shrinks and Twelve Monkeys) and someone is trying drive a by-pass through his home. His friend of long standing, Ford Prefect (David Dixon of Escort Girls, Heydays Hotel, The Tempest, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Circles of Deceit: Dark Secret, Original Sin, Holding On and The Bill) who is in fact from a small planetoid in the region of Betelgeuse and not from Gilford after all feels compelled to drag Arthur away from the impeding bulldozing for a drink and conversation.

Squaring away with the contractors on waiting until they return, Ford begins to tell Arthur of an impeding doom for Earth itself. A construction fleet of starships drop out of orbit, explain very nicely that the Earth is scheduled to be demolished for a new hyperspace bypass and it should only take a few minutes of their time. Arthur and Ford hitch a lift on board one of the ships via transmat beam as Ford explains he actually does research for a guide book allowing you to see all the marvels of the universe for no more than 40 Allterian dollars a day.

False advertisement. A fun plastic pal to be with, indeed.

Due an extremely painful embark on Vogon poetry, our heroes bluff their way through it only to be chucked into space via airlock without as so much as a by your leave. Possibly 20 seconds worth of air remaining, our twosome is scooped up by another vessel with an improbability of 2 to the power of 260199:1-0 that it is scarcely worth mentioning...unless you are rescued by Zaphod Beeblebrox (Mark Wing-Davey of The Third Part of King Henry VI, Richard III, A Winter Harvest, Big Deal, A Sort of Innocence, Resurrected, One Against the Wind and Final Fantasy XII) Ford's semi-cousin from 4 of his mothers and former galatic president and Trillian (Sandra Dickinson of Cover, Philip Marlowe, Private Eye, Triangle, The Lonely Lady, Supergirl, The Clairvoyant, The Two Ronnies, Eisenhower & Lutz, Blato and Space Truckers) an astrophysicist that Arthur once met at a party and failed to get anywhere with.

Life playing silly buggers with our cast of outcasts they traipse about the universe searching for the imponderables of life, the universe and everything. They are hunted, shot at, ridiculed and in general have quite the adventure in spite of Marvin the paranoid and manically depressed android (Stephen Moore of Play for Today, Rough Cut, Diversion, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Where the Boys Are, The Last Place on Earth, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4, Small World and Thompson).

Originally a 12 part radio play written by Douglas Adams while writing for Doctor Who at the time, the actual voice cast joins the mini-series with the exception of Jeffrey McGiven was replaced by David Dixon. A last minute replacement playing the Dish of the Day at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe was Peter Davison of Doctor Who fame suggested by his now ex-wife Sandra Dickinson.

I'm not getting you down, am I?

The Hound of the Baskervilles Week: The Hound of the Baskervilles 1988

Welcome back boys and girls to Day 4 of The Hound of the Baskervilles.  I apologize for the delay of this review but family matters and a bum tooth caused a bit of a roadblock.   This time around we will focus on the late brilliant Jeremy Brett (My Fair Lady, The Merry Widow, A Picture of Katherine Mansfield, A Legacy, Seagull Island and The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes) brings his ellegance to this exemplary detective character.   So gather around the kiddies around the fireplace, wrap them in a wool blanket and be prepare to be astounded.  This is The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Silver will settle the score with that werewolf.

Stapleton: The moor is full of spoilers.
Dr. John Watson: But what was it?
Stapleton: The peasants say it is the Hound of the Baskervilles calling for its prey.



Based on the TV series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes this TV movie is did take liberties of the source material in order to stem it down, our film opens with Sir Charles Baskerville on the grounds of Baskerville Hall.  Dr. Mortimer (Alastair Duncan of Taggart, Split Second, Tracey Takes On..., Providence and The Batman) takes up a meeting with Sherlock and Watson (Edward Hardwicke of The Scarlet Letter, Richard III, Elizabeth and Love Actually) to express his great concern for the nephew of his best friend Sir Charles.  Young Henry has been residing in Canada for his scholastic was given an anonymous note left at his London hotel room warning him away from the moors of Devonshire.

Do explain this BFG weaponry. Sounds most fascinating.

Mortimer is convinced of a legendary torment of a demonic hound roaming Devonshire moors sought the blood of Hugo Baskerville's descendants to quench its hunger.  Taking in this story with a degree of concern, Watson is dispatched with Mortimer to greet Sir Henry and Holmes would endeavor to find the truth behind the monster and the legend if any to be found at all.

I had just a few comments to make about the TV movie now.
Aside from a few temporal goofs such as Watson's revolver was a Webley Mk VI .455 while resembling a 19th century revolver it was not manufactured for the British Army until 1915.  30 years prior to when the story was created.   Seldon was a victim of a botched lobotomy, a  procedure that had not came to pass until the 1950s.   This TV Movie stayed true to the Victorian Era and held that with language, clothing and location.
Quite impressive portrayal of the classic story even if I do not hold it in high regards.

Mud bath of DOOOOOOM!!!

BBC Week: Danger Mouse

Tally ho old beans and welcome to Day 5 of BBC Week.  Well we have experienced quite a bit now, haven’t we?  From Science Fiction to Murder Mystery we have managed to cover the scope of the BBC…but we have not covered children’s entertainment and no worries on that end.  I’ve got you covered.  So grab your tights, convert your car to plane and catch that dastardly Greenback.  This is Danger Mouse.

Hmm, dare say he is not interested in a tango.

Penfold: Oooo spoilers.

Danger Mouse: Penfold, shush.

From the producers of the The Wind in the Willows and The Big Friendly Giant came a parody of James Bond and Patrick McGoohan’s Danger Man and Secret Agent.   In a seemingly innocent mailbox (pillar box for the Brits) on the corner of Baker St; the World’s Greatest Secret Agent, Danger Mouse and the World’s Worst Assistant, Penfold(a smartly dressed hamster) would have to be ready at a moment’s notice to spring into action regardless if it is in fact afternoon tea.   Their commanding officer Colonel K (apt he was a badger as he went on and on and on) would send these bravo fellows (one brave fellow and a sniveling coward) into life and death situations against the fiendish toad known as Baron Silas Greenback and his raven thug Stiletto.   

Oh 'eck chief, the natives seem restless.

Now then let us be clear.  The writing is hilarious, the puns will make you occasionally cringe and our hero is the cool headed and well measured adventurer in spite of his cowardly assistant.  Never could quite understand how DM didn’t have him pink slipped or smother him to death in his sleep but I guess he knows what he is doing.   Throughout the adventures we encounter a myriad of characters such as: JJ Quark, Professor Squackenkluck (NEIN NEIN NEIN! 27.), the mysterious and shadow laden Agent 57, the dastardly Count Du Du Duckula, Burgles the Squadron leader (a hawk) and many others that puns left you reeling with laughter or a mild snigger nevertheless.   Make no mistake that our white one eyed friend for Justice (boy that sounded all wrong), Ahem our eyepatch wearing explorer, our suave swashbuckler is prepared for just about anything.  With his two-way Dick Tracy watch, his bubble screen car that converts to a plane and submersible and the occasional use of his utility pockets he is on the case.

I recently saw the UK release versus the American release and saw a few subtle differences.  For example: Greenback’s henchman Stiletto has an Italian accent in the original UK version whilst in the US he has a Cockney accent.  Odd that, as well as the incidental music had two different scores on both these versions.

Nothing good on the telly.

 The shading technique were less defined in areas and characters in the series due to 2000 cels for a 10 minute cartoon but that is to be expected when managing on the time constraints to crank out an episode each week.  All in all the jokes are fun, the scripts were well written and we looked forward to Danger Mouse thwarting the criminals at every turn even if most of them managed to escape down a tunnel or a secret exit to their awaiting vehicles to whisk them to freedom. 

BBC Week: Space: 1999

Hello all and greetings back to the BBC Week Day 4.  Well we have experienced Comedy, Mystery and even the unusual hybrid of Sci-Fi Comedy.  What say we tackle some science fiction that does NOT revolve around a little blue police box?  Shocked to find there is more than one British Science Fiction out there?  Well get your bloody heads out of the sand and be observant.  I mean really.   How about some alumni of the Mission: Impossible TV series heading up a space station and no there is no Tom Cruise in this.   So don your space suits, prime your laser pistols and prepare to do the Star Trek bridge shimmy.  This is Space: 1999.

HellOOoOoOOOo Nurse!!!!

John Koenig: It is to live as your own man than as a spoiler in someone else’s dream.

250,000 miles away from the Earth, the 311 inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha commune, work and prosper as Earth Space Research Center on the Moon until…a plot device is unleashed.  For decades humanity got the brilliant idea to store their nuclear waste on the crevices of the Moon’s far side.  Guessing Lake Armstrong is filled to the brim and Pink Floyd is most vexed.  A surge of electromagnetic waves hit the waste with such magnitude that the whole Moon experiences an explosion of a massive thermonuclear proportion for the Moon from the Earth’s gravitational orbit like a giant booster rocket.   Hurled at this enormous speed our citizens of Moonbase Alpha on stuck on a runaway rocket with no return in sight, they must colonize a new home and explore strange new civilizations and other societies that are positively dystopian. 

Chronometer...OF THE FUTURE!!!!

From the combined efforts of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson (Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons) comes a series without involving marionette puppets but still scale models and forced perspective.   Starring Martin Landau (North by Northwest, Mission: Impossible, Destination Moonbase-Alpha, Meteor, Trial by Terror, The Evidence and Entourage), Barbara Bain (Perry Mason, Mission: Impossible, Destination Moonbase-Alpha, Murder, She Wrote, Bel Air, American Gun and Political Disasters), Nick Tate (Division 4, Homicide, Spyforce, The Day After Tomorrow, Destination Moonbase-Alpha, Dolphin Cove, Open House and East of Everything) and Catherine Schell (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Moon Zero Two, The Return of the Pink Panther and The March).

I have but a few words on this series.   The show was froth with guest stars that were other humans or beings of other worlds throughout the episodes to the likes of Brian Blessed (The Black Adder, The Last Days of Pompeii, Flash Gordon and Doctor Who), Isla Blair (Battle of Britain, An Englishman’s Castle, Doctor Who and The Final Cut), Bernard Cribbins (Jackanory, The Railway Children, The Wombles and Doctor Who), Sarah Douglas (Thundercloud, Superman, Superman II, Falcon Crest, Return of the Living Dead III and Strippers vs Werewolves) and Peter Cushing (The Curse of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula, Doctor Who and The Daleks, Land of the Minotaur, Star Wars, Shock Waves and Mystery on Monster Island) the popularity of this show has amassed generations of science fiction fans and to this day is deemed while a hokey intro; a creditable Sci-Fi series and beloved by many.

Slouching is bad for command and the posture.

BBC Week: Mystery!: Campion

Greetings and a warm welcome to all you little, enthusiastic readers.   Well we have seen a bit of space oddities and a loopy duo sketch comedy but what do you say to a little murder?   Oh not yours of course… (for now) but a poor miscreant that knew not where to turn.   So grab your meerschaum pipe, observe all and interrogate everyone.  This is Campion

 

A Doctor? Well I was once.

Albert Campion: Albert Campion- born May the 20^th 1900. Name known to be a spoiler. Education: priviledged.  Embarked on an adventurous career, 1929. Justice neatly executed, nothing sordid, deserving cases preferred. Police no object. Business address: 17 Bottle Street, Piccadily, London W1. Specialist in fairy stories.

A posh gentleman of well to do decides to use his cunning intellect to benefit people well deserving of some Justice, our Albert Campion (Peter Davison of Doctor Who, All Creatures Great and Small, The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything, Mrs. Bradley Mysteries, At Home with the Braithwaites and Law and Order:UK) is a believer in his clients and will stand by them until the truth is unveiled.  Oh he has come to expect his clients to tell the odd fib or the blatant lie but with his companion of ill repute Magersfontein Lugg (Brian Glover of An American Werewolf in London, Doctor Who, Lost Empires, To Kill a Priest, Kafka and Alien 3), a man of many talents and friends in low places the two seek out to prove who done it, how they did it and why. 

Commonly Campion deals in the unusual cases or be it the unorthodox.   Many is the time his deductive reasoning is called into play when a murder has occurred and he does his level best to remain objective.  That being said the dear fellow does have a wandering eye for the most unavailable lady but steadies himself to not pursue such endeavors in spite of his manservant Lugg’s teasings.

When utterly baffled Campion’s police friend Stanislaus Oates (Andrew Burt of Emmerdale, The Bill, Oscar Charlie, I’m Alan Partridge and MI-5) does come around for the advice on a case if not a hire for that same case.

Whut you lookin' at? Clear off!

And now I have a few tidbits about the creation of itself.  This show is set in the 1930’s as a nod to its phenomononal writer Margery Allingham. Campion was nothing more than a minor character in The Crime at Black Dudley but came back strong in Mystery Mile.  After a less than stellar response to her occult in mystery series, Campion seemed to be a winner with three novels under her belt and she even wrote short stories and some journalism for The Strand Magazine.  Campion was such the success that she went on to create 17 more novels and over 20 short stories of the fellow.  Campion has ties in nobility and government as well as known to get around the more dubious in the criminal underworld allowing his ear to always be able to catch a thing or two.  Rather than the obsessive nature of Sherlock Holmes, Campion’s series is a bit more lighthearted and jovial even in the face of danger.

And that is my badger impersonation. Nifty, huh?

BBC Week

This week we give a salute to the folks across the pond, these people brought us Doctor Who, Miss Marple, Hercule Pirqot, Albert Campion and the like.  A land of mystery, fantasy and great legends.   The realm that felt Young Ones and Monty Python would benefit us all and frankly we needed that.

I had this similar problem at Petsmart.

Why on Io, does the rest of the United States seem almost unobservant to the wonders the BBC have brought us?  So this week we take time to acknowledge the fascination that is BBC and for crying out loud people there is a BBC America channel for the past 5 years and counting.  WAKEY WAKEY POLLY PARROT!!!!