tv review
Reviewing insightful and thought provoking science fiction TV and technology.
Rewatching... Star Trek: The Alternative Factor
Thursday 30 March 1967 This one starts out very promisingly. A quite gripping prologue in which the Enterprise passes through some kind of magnetic field, and as Spock puts it, reality momentarily "winks out". We get some classic Enterprise turbulence acting this week, as the crew on the bridge do some synchronised staggering as the ship lurches back and forth. I don't think I've seen much of that (if any) in the series so far. Spock also reports that at the exact moment of this 'winking out', a man suddenly appeared on the previously lifeless planet below them.
By Nick Brown9 years ago in Futurism
Rewatching... Doctor Who: The Macra Terror – Part 3
Saturday 25 March 1967 Crabs are unlikely creatures to use as an enemy, even in a sci-fi fantasy series. I can only see glimpses, so it's difficult to tell how convincing they are but it's hard to imagine something so rigid and bulky being particularly threatening. And crabs are not the speediest of creatures so I presume one could just walk away from them briskly. But ok, these are space crabs so maybe they move like lightning. And they're rather large. Of course in the 21st century version of this programme we'll see animal-based aliens all the time: space rhinoceroses, space wasps, space pigs, space whales, space cats, space giraffes...and indeed a return of the Macra, but in 1967 this is a bit of a novelty. Ok, maybe not space giraffes.
By Nick Brown9 years ago in Futurism
Rewatching... Star Trek: Errand Of Mercy
"...we Klingons play to win" Thursday 23 March 1967 There's this race of aliens called the Klingons, and Kirk doesn't like them. They're warlike and brutal; Starfleet has just advised that negotiations with them have broken down, and ordered the Enterprise to fly to a planet called Organia and protect the inhabitants.
By Nick Brown9 years ago in Futurism
Rewatching... The Avengers: Never, Never Say Die
"I've killed him again!" Friday 17 March 1967 Ah, one of my all time favourite episodes. A close up of a pair of smart shoes. They are soon muddy shoes and we see a tall man walking towards a main road. It's only Christopher blimmin' Lee! He steps in front of a car, is killed and in-hospital pronounced dead on arrival. Gosh, what an opening! But the prologue isn't over yet: as the medics walk away the man's feet start to twitch, and suddenly he gets up and marches out of the hospital. Zombies...on The Avengers??! That was a superb pre-title scene, and also one of my favourite episode titles.
By Nick Brown9 years ago in Futurism
Rewatching... Star Trek: The Devil In The Dark
"I'm a doctor not a bricklayer" Thursday 9 March 1967 As far as boldly going and seeking out of new life and civilisations goes, mankind seems to have been doing a pretty good job of it already, judging by the number of Earth colonies we see in Star Trek. This week the Enterprise crew have been beaten to a 'new life' discovery by a colony of miners who've discovered something lurking in the caves they're working in.
By Nick Brown9 years ago in Futurism
Rewatching... Doctor Who: The Moonbase – Part 4
“…we’ve got enough madmen here already.” Saturday 4 March 1967 There are really impressive numbers of Cybermen in this. They march across the lunar landscape and begin to assemble a weapon. I count eleven onscreen at the same time. With others inside their ship you really believe they are a credible threat.
By Nick Brown9 years ago in Futurism
Rewatching... Star Trek: This Side Of Paradise
Thursday 2 March 1967 "Who wants to counteract paradise, Jim boy?" There are two things I especially like in Star Trek. One is when the crew all start going out of their minds, and the other is when it's set on a familiar Earth type planet. So I enjoyed this week's episode.
By Nick Brown9 years ago in Futurism
Rewatching... Doctor Who: The Moonbase – Part 3
Saturday 25 February 1967 "Clever. Clever. Clever." I like the Cybermen’s new voices. Perhaps not as easy to understand as the old ones but much scarier and more emotionless and robotic. Emotionless in tone mind you, but the dialogue still gives away emotional oddities. I’m not sure if “Clever. Clever. Clever.” is sarcasm at Hobson’s realisation of what the drops in air pressure indicated when the Cybermen got in, or self-congratulation. They also come out with words and phrases such as “excellent” and “stupid Earth brains”!
By Nick Brown9 years ago in Futurism
Rewatching... Star Trek: Space Seed
Thursday 16 February 1967 The Enterprise encounters an old 1990s spaceship drifting and sending out a Morse code message. Apparently, in the mid 1990s we had our last World War, a “Eugenics War” where we tried to perfect our race with “selective breeding”. As Spock says, “a strange and violent period” in our history. Thank goodness those days are over, eh?
By Nick Brown9 years ago in Futurism
Re-watching... Doctor Who: The Moonbase – Part 1
Saturday 11 February 1967 The fish-based shenanigans in the Atlantis-set The Underwater Menacewere fun but not really my idea of Doctor Who. Now this is more like it. After the cliffhanger last week the out-of-control TARDIS is buffeted around before hovering above a familiar rocky, crater filled surface before landing. Polly’s all set to congratulate the Doctor for an accurate landing on Mars, except it’s not Mars. They’ve landed on the moon. The moon is a bit of a hot topic here in 1967. NASA has been sending out probes recently, searching for a suitable landing site for the first manned expedition. And just two weeks ago a launch rehearsal ended in tragedy when a cabin fire killed the three crew members of Apollo 1. Tonight though, the moon is positively bustling with activity, with no less than (spoiler alert) three parties at the same landing spot.
By Nick Brown9 years ago in Futurism
