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Cult Fiction - January 2007

Blakes 7 - The Web

January 31st 2007 10:55


Michael E. Briant returns to direct the fifth episode of the series here (he previously directed the wonderful and memorable first episode). More than the other directors of the series so far, he seems to have a more recognisable touch - lending his episodes (well, the two I've seen so far) an air of creepiness, or wrongness. As such, this is one of my favourite episodes of the initial bunch I've watched.


Blake and co. are taken by surprise when Cally, under some kind of malignant alien influence, starts acting all alien and malignant (this includes planting a bomb onboard the Liberator). This, coupled with a mysterious web in space that entangles and ensnares the ship, leads to the crew being held hostage by some fabled members of Cally's race known as 'The Lost'.

Blake goes down to the planet underneath the web to investigate and negotiate, and discovers a desolate scientific base under siege from grotesque little creatures called Decimas. The Lost are holed up in the base and wish to borrow some power from Blake's ship, this will enable the Lost to fry the Decimas to death. Suffice to say, Blake is less than enthusiastic about helping the Lost commit genocide, especially when he learns about their experiments involving genetic engineering...

This is a firmly sci-fi episode, dealing with themes of genetic engineering and scientific culpability. We also get to see some decent aliens this time too... the Decimas are completely non-human, even in regards to their small stature and high-pitched language, and they don't look too b-grade. The Lost themselves are also well-designed... the creepy little guy in the tank was fairly nightmare-ish, more a creation of horror than cult-sci-fi. I was quite shocked to see something so downright disgusting-looking.


Good episode. The end scenes of frenzied attack were fairly well-directed too, a fine example of a good director overcoming low budget and typical 70s/80s BBC sci-fi production values.
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Doctor Who - Redesign a Monster Pt. 2

January 30th 2007 11:00
Two weeks ago I put up a blog called Doctor Who - Redesign a Monster, featuring some imaginative re-designs of classic and b-grade Doctor Who monsters - showing us how some of these fantastic creatures might've looked had the BBC had a bigger budget. Anyway, here's a bunch more, this time from a different artist, Dean Betton (who kindly granted me permission to put them up here).

Alpha Centauri
A hermphrodite species of six-limbed creatures, a representative of which featured in the 1972 story 'The Curse of Peledon' and the 1974 sequel 'The Monster of Peledon'.

Original


Redesign


Ice Warriors
The honourable and warlike inhabitants of Mars. Featured in the stories, 'The Ice Warriors' (1968), 'The Seeds of Death' (1969), 'The Curse of Peledon' (1972) and 'The Monster of Peledon' (1974).

Original


Redesign


Redesign


The White Guardian
The less-sinister counterpart to the Black Guardian. The White Guardian featured in 'The Ribos Operation' (1977) and 'Enlightenment' (1983).

Original


Redesign


Mestor
The king of the Gastropods, from the atrocious story 'The Twin Dilemma' (1984).

Original




Sensorites
Alien race from the 1963 story 'The Sensorites'.

Original


Redesign


Time Lords
The Doctor's race. They feature in lots of stories, but mainly 'The Deadly Assassin' (1976), 'The Invasion of Time' (1977), 'The Arc of Infinity' (1983) and 'The Five Doctors' (1983).

Original


Redesign


Mandrel
Featured in the 1978 story 'The Nightmare of Eden'. I reckon this redesign is pretty great.

Original


Redesign


Sontarans
A classic race of militaristic troll-like aliens that featured in the stories 'The Time Warrior' (1974), 'The Sontaran Experiment' (1975), 'The Invasion of Time' (1977) and 'The Two Doctors' (1985). They'll probably crop up in the new series at some point soon too.

Original


Redesign


Redesign


And that's it for the moment.
Anyone interested in contacting Dean can do so via his email, DarkAngelDTB@hotmail.com


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The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse

January 28th 2007 23:25


Recently I watched all three series (and the Christmas and Live specials) of The League of Gentlemen. It was sad because I watched it all so quickly and now there is no more for me to see. I left the the film, 'The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse', till last. And I'm glad I did, as it was a suitable swansong to all the characters (if it is to be their last appearance).

If you haven't seen The League of Gentlemen then you're missing out on something really special. Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith and Mark Gatiss play a whole town full of odd characters. The town in question is Royston Vasey, a backwards place full of the inbred, insane and downright creepy. The show itself is a unique mix of black comedy, drama and horror. The first two series are very much in the sketch-comedy mould, albeit a little more advanced (think 'Little Britain', but not as monotonous). Various subplots run through the episodes concerning each set of characters. The Christmas Special and third series moved beyond this format though, ditching the laugh-track and opting for more complicated and involving storylines. I especially liked the Christmas Special, it played out like a homage to various horror films with it's four self-contained stories, managing to revolt and scare as much as it amused.

And that brings us to the film.

Wow.

From the start it appears to be something quite different. We get a big screen-styled score and a real epic feel to the proceedings. As much as I'd like to talk about the plot, or even the opening scene, I can't bring myself to do it as it might spoil it for you. Suffice to say, it's miles away from the sketch-comedy of the first series but every bit as good.

If there's one thing that's been consistent with the Leage of Gentlemen, it's their ability to surprise and be bizarre. This film takes the bizarreness a whole extra step further, but what else were we to really expect? This is the big screen, it has to be different. I loved this movie. It made me really fall in love with the characters too - one-joke and one-dimensional characters are given depth, but it's done in such a way that it doesn't cheat what we have come to accept in the television show. It's hard to explain, you just have to see it. It's a brilliant work of post-modern metafiction (sorry to use words like that, but they really are the best description for this movie), and the plot might seem to disappear altogether at one point (hilariously so) but hang in there - it all becomes clear by the film's end.

Very few film versions live up to the television series they are based on or following on from, 'The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse' is just about the only one I can think of that might just be the exception to the rule: an improvement.

HIGHLIGHTS: Geoff Tibbs and Herr Lipp steal the movie completely. Whilst they were both amusing characters in the show, here they become loveable, flawed human beings. Tibbs cracked me up the whole way through, and Herr Lipp was (scarily) quite moving.

It's a shame we don't get to see more of Papa Lazarou, Edward and Tubbs, but the fact that they appear at all (and in the context that they do) is enough for me.

And the best highlight of all is the stop-motion animation. Yes! It was wonderful to see some Harryhausen-styled special effects in a contemporary film, and it fit the tone so perfectly. I loved it, I loved it, I loved.
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Blakes 7 - Time Squad

January 25th 2007 07:32


This episode sees the Blakes 5 become Blakes 7... joining Blake's would-be rebel force is Cally, and Blake also acknowledges Zen (the Liberator's computer) as a crew member. As seems to be an emerging pattern, this episode seems to take place almost directly after the last episode, and the plotline, whilst linnear, doesn't always feel like a complete narrative - it feels more like an ongoing series of linked and not-so-linked subplots


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Hey Dad..!

January 24th 2007 06:11


If you lived in Australia between 1987 and 1994 (or, inexplicably, Germany around the same time), chances are that you watched an episode or two of 'Hey Dad..!', one of the few successful Australian sitcoms


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An Unearthly Child

January 23rd 2007 05:40


Thought I'd go right back to the beginning with my Doctor Who reviews. Here's the very first Doctor Who story


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The Hogfather

January 22nd 2007 04:23


The Hogfather is the first case of a Terry Pratchett novel being adapted into live action. In the past we have had one or two animated Discworld mini-series, and a stop-motion mini-series of 'Truckers', but no one has ever put a Discworld novel up on the screen in live-action form before. Perhaps the special effects haven't been up to scratch in the past... the recent advances made in CGI in the last ten years have made it possible for all sorts of books and comics to be adapted for the screen. This is great news for Discworld fans and the recent success of this adaptation should pave the way for further live-action of Discworld novels


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Blakes 7 - Cygnus Alpha

January 19th 2007 09:08


Following on the previous episode of Blakes 7, 'Cygnus Alpha' shows Blake's crew coming together and introduces us to the prison planet the prisoners were heading towards. We learn that the ship that has fallen into Blake's hands is called The Liberator, and that is appears to be sentient and rather highly advanced (featuring teleportation technology). Blake decides to head to Cygnus Alpha to rescue the rest of the prisoners, in the hope that they will crew this new ship and help him fight against the Federation. Meanwhile, Cygnus Alpha itself though appears to be a puzzlingly un-prison-like place... there are no guards, no prisons, and the locals appear to be loyal to a strange and harsh religion


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Torchwood Series overview

January 17th 2007 11:47


Well, it looks like Torchwood might get to Australian television some time in the near future (hopefully before the next series of Doctor Who goes to air - which will most likely by June or July). A second series has been commissioned for Torchwood... I don't really know when this might go into production, it will probably be aired in the UK directly after the third series of Doctor Who finishes


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Blakes 7 - Space Fall

January 16th 2007 11:30


Space Fall
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Doctor Who - Redesign a Monster!

January 15th 2007 10:44
I've been hanging out on a Doctor Who messageboard recently (yes, incredibly nerdy I know, but it's a disease and I can't help it) and there have been some threads on there where Doctor Who fans post their art. One rather inventive thread, partly inspired by the recent new look Cybermen in the new series (see background of this blog!), posed a challenge to artistic Doctor Who fans... if you could redesign any classic monster from old episodes of Doctor Who, how would you do it?

Anyway, one particular artist (Neil Sims) did some fantastic work with his redesigns, so (with his kind permission) I'm going to post them here


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Blakes 7 - The Way Back

January 11th 2007 10:30


An entry for all the sci-fi fans and cult TV enthusiasts out there... good news, I have in my possession the entire series of Blakes 7. I will be reviewing episodes here and there as I work my way through the series from beginning to end


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End of Days

January 10th 2007 11:34


TORCHWOOD EPISODE 1.13 - "End of Days


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Captain Jack Harkness

January 9th 2007 11:31


TORCHWOOD EPISODE 1.12 - "Captain Jack Harkness


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Legally Blonde

January 8th 2007 05:14


'Legally Blonde' isn't a particularly original film. I don't think you could really call it a 'cult' film, though I think it had a kind of kitschy value to it that made it more endearing than most mainstream comedies. It knows what it's trying to achieve, it doesn't stretch itself, and it knows how to use the cliches of the genre to good effect. I enjoyed this film. I can't help it, okay? I just did


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The Sarah-Jane Adventures

January 5th 2007 01:34


Viewers in the UK were recently treated to the debut episode of 'The Sarah-Jane Adventures' - the latest spinoff from the new series of Doctor Who. This hour-long episode acts a taster for the rest of the series (which is due to air later on in the year) and went to air on CBBC - the children's orientated channel of the BBC


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The Waterboy

January 3rd 2007 07:55


Adam Sandler plays another loser with an exceptional sporting skill (ala ‘Happy Gilmore’), but this time the guy is a full-blown retard, and the film steps even further away from the safe comedy territory trodden by it's predecessors


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Video spinoffs of Doctor Who

January 2nd 2007 06:30
Delving into the ever esoteric extended world of Doctor Who, here are some strange offshoots of the Doctor Who franchise that have cropped up on video in the last decade or two. You could probably term them as 'Spin offs' of Doctor Who, but they are - as a majority - fan-made productions and I don't think any serious Doctor Who fan would probably count them as truly a part of the show's official history. They are all straight-to-video adventures utilising certain aspects of Doctor Who (where permission has been granted by those who hold the copyright to these things, or where it can simply be gotten away with without too much worry), often also making use of the actors and actresses who have been involved with the show in the past.


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Hogfather movie

January 1st 2007 00:37

Hogfather trailer - click to watch.

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