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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.181.138.66
Posted on Saturday, November 12, 2016 - 02:08 pm:   

For when the time arises!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 5.68.172.16
Posted on Sunday, November 13, 2016 - 11:52 am:   

I recently found myself in the cherishable position of being able to afford to collect all the classic era 'Doctor Who' DVDs - at long last. For me that lasted up until the end of Series 15 around the middle of Tom Baker's tenure. After that, imo, the show went into a steady decline that the new incarnation, for all its early promise and incidental pleasures, never really put right.

Tonight I intend to begin a long dreamed of project... I am going to watch (or listen to) every episode from the start of 'The Unearthly Child' (1963) to the end of 'The Invasion Of Time' (1978). One episode a night - switching to BBC radio produced audio CDs for the lost episodes of the 1960s that have not been lovingly restored through animation. That involves an awful lot of television, in nice little half hour chunks, many of which I have never seen before. When one talks of dreams coming true one rarely means it but this is one case in which that description is more than apt. Classic era 'Doctor Who' is my favourite TV show of all time and the one that had the most profound influence on my life. This is gonna be bloody good!! Watch this space.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 5.68.172.16
Posted on Sunday, November 13, 2016 - 12:00 pm:   

I also picked up the entire 6 season run of the cult 1960s horror soap opera 'Dark Shadows' (1966-71) and will be doing the same with it. Yep, that's all 1,225 episodes and the 2 movies! I haven't seen a single second of any of them and only know the show by reputation and Tim Burton's brilliantly entertaining 2012 homage/remake. I have been rather busy collecting like a demon these past few months and now is the time to begin enjoying myself. What pleasures await!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 5.68.172.16
Posted on Sunday, November 13, 2016 - 12:11 pm:   

Erm... and the entire 'Star Trek' collection. Original series, animated series (that fits in perfectly with the wonderfully animated episodes of DW), all the films, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager & Enterprise. Phew! That means starting with 'Enterprise' and then following it with the Original and best series, etc... slotting in the films where they belong in chrono order. I considered starting with 'First Contact' but as that is a Next Generation time travel story I'll fit it in there. That's what I spent my work pay-off on, among other things, and it'll be worth every penny. TV Heaven, imho.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 5.68.172.16
Posted on Sunday, November 13, 2016 - 01:14 pm:   

Oh... and every genre series I was able to think of. All the Quatermass series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The AH Hour, One Step Beyond, The Twilight Zone, Boris Karloff's Thriller, The Outer Limits, all the Gerry Anderson stuff including "lost rarities", Space Patrol, the Irwin Allen series, The Avengers, Out Of This World, Out Of The Unknown, Danger Man, The Prisoner, The Munsters, The Addams Family, Bewitched, I Dream Of Jeannie, Batman, The Invaders, Mystery And Imagination, Journey To The Unknown, Night Gallery, Monty Python (I consider it absurdist horror), all the good Scooby Doo stuff, Ghost Stories For Christmas, Thriller, Dead Of Night, all those great 1970s horror one offs, Shadows Of Fear, Haunted, Shadows, Kolchak : The Night Stalker including the two movies, Planet Of The Apes, The Tomorrow People, Survivors, The New Avengers, Beasts, Supernatural, Scorpion Tales, Armchair Thriller, Tales Of The Unexpected, Blake's 7, The Omega Factor, Sapphire And Steel, The Nightmare Man, Hammer House Of Horror, Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense, Tales From The Dark Side, Tales From The Crypt, Red Dwarf, Twin Peaks, The Kingdom, Eerie, Indiana, The X Files, Millennium, The Lone Gunmen, Harsh Realm, Ghosts, Chiller, The Hunger, Futurama, MPD Psycho, The League Of Gentlemen, Jam, Dr Terrible's House Of Horrible, Nighty Night, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, The Mighty Boosh, Snuff Box, Twisted Tales, Masters Of Horror, Masters Of Science Fiction, Fear Itself, Fringe, Dexter, Sea Of Souls, Afterlife, Apparitions, Crooked House, Funland, Psychoville, Inside No 9, Hunderby, Black Mirror, Game Of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Fear The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, True Detective, Utopia, Hannibal, and no doubt a few others that slipped my mind just then.

Yes, I probably am insane and will need a bigger house.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.181.138.66
Posted on Sunday, November 13, 2016 - 02:09 pm:   

Wow! I have a set top streaming thing and have just started watching Dark Shadows - it's gorgeous. Crossroads written by Aickman. Sadly three episodes in the streams don't seem to be working.
I've been buying the early Who's and am up to The Keys to something or other, set on four islands in space. The sets are the most minimal ever devised for the series but the atmosphere - BECAUSE of it, is just incredible. And it's just so damned creepy.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 5.68.172.16
Posted on Monday, November 14, 2016 - 02:58 am:   

Really looking forward to 'Doctor Who', Tony. I wasn't aware until recently that every episode still exists in at least audio form so following the entire series is still possible. A minor miracle really.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.155.222.29
Posted on Monday, November 14, 2016 - 11:43 am:   

Both Who and Dark Shadows have that 'first take' quality we never see anywhere now. It gives them a live quality.
Saw what might be a favourite film already last night - The Age of Adaline. It reminded me of Portrait of Jennie and Ghost and Mrs Muir, fantasy that teaches you things about life that only fantasy can. No effects (well, only one near the end), no hovering in the air doing kung fu stuff. This is the sort of film /we forgot they could do.
Also currently watching the hilarious comedy gold that is Most Haunted. I never used to watch it when it first aired - well, enough to put me off - but now I realise it's a sort of real version of The Office. Acorah is pure Brent, sort of monstrous but sympathetic. It's also hilarious.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 2.218.184.163
Posted on Monday, November 14, 2016 - 12:15 pm:   

That exciting and fresh "first take" quality is one of the things I love most about 'Sergeant Bilko' and 'Hancock's Half Hour' too Tony. I love those magic moments of improvisation and when the characters have to hide their faces because they are hopelessly corpsing. It adds immediacy and extra hilarity to the comedy that is impossible to capture any other way than live.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 99.153.254.41
Posted on Monday, November 14, 2016 - 05:11 pm:   

I would like eventually to watch some of the old series "Dark Shadows." I've only seen those two movies from back in the 70's (not the recent Tim Burton one); the second one is middling at best, sadly. But that first one, House of Dark Shadows, is a classic of its time, really worth watching. I use it as the best example of the rarest story form, the "portmanteau": it's one continuous narrative telling three distinct stories in order - not an anthology, but not a single narrative either. Great 70's atmosphere, creepy, soapy... and Joan Bennett!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 2.218.184.163
Posted on Sunday, November 20, 2016 - 12:12 pm:   

Well I've been watching 'Doctor Who' one episode a night from the very beginning for over a week now and it is bloody fantastic! I am totally hooked. It's the strength of the storytelling, the serious commitment of the acting and the compelling addiction factor of wanting to know what happens next after every cliffhanger coupled with the ease of just watching the show in nice little half hour segments that make it so damn enjoyable. If anything the black and white 60s episodes look, to my eyes, even less dated than the colour 70s episodes and the pace of the show is exemplary entertainment. Even better than I always dreamed now that I'm finally realising this long held ambition. And, to my amazement, Heather is really enjoying it too!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 2.218.184.163
Posted on Sunday, November 20, 2016 - 12:17 pm:   

The first appearance of a Dalek literally sent shivers of excitement up my spine. Timelessly brilliant television!! It is vastly superior to the new incarnation because the whole thing is done so wonderfully straight. And I've years of this quality to come... gulp!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 2.218.184.163
Posted on Sunday, November 20, 2016 - 12:30 pm:   

I'm finding Hartnell's Doctor to be refreshingly sinister, manipulative, selfish and curmudgeonly. A million miles away from the cheesy humour we get from the character nowadays. Barbara and Ian's predicament is genuinely unnerving having been kidnapped by the old man and whisked away into a terrifyingly unpredictable world where anything may be lurking around the next corner. And Susan is by turns charmingly naive and bewitchingly alien as "the unearthly child". Fantastic stuff!!
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 2.218.184.163
Posted on Sunday, November 27, 2016 - 05:40 pm:   

Just finished watching the first two series of 'Inside No 9' and excited to hear the news that it is returning for a third series starting with a Christmas Special next month. In my opinion they haven't set a foot wrong with any of the twelve playlets so far. In fact I would go so far as to say that they represent the best work of Shearsmith & Pemberton's career. And that coming from a long time 'League Of Gentlemen' and 'Psychoville' fanatic. The quality of the writing and ensemble acting in each one and the sheer variety of storytelling styles they have mastered is of an altogether higher order of television comedy. Not since the days of 'Monty Python' and 'Ripping Yarns' have we seen such consistently brilliant and original comic genius on display.

Here is my ranking of the twelve episodes so far:

1. The Harrowing (s1:ep6)
2. The Trial Of Elizabeth Gadge (s2:ep3)
3. Tom And Gerri (s1:ep3)
4. Séance Time (s2:ep6)
5. Sardines (s1:ep1)
6. Cold Comfort (s2:ep4)
7. La Couchette (s2:ep1)
8. A Quiet Night In (s1:ep2)
9. Nana's Party (s2:ep5)
10. The Understudy (s1:ep5)
11. Last Gasp (s1:ep4)
12. The Twelve Days Of Christine (s2:ep2)

Now roll on 'The Devil Of Christmas'... 🙂
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.155.219.225
Posted on Monday, October 30, 2017 - 12:51 pm:   

I thought it was the weakest series so far. :-(
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 109.155.219.225
Posted on Monday, October 30, 2017 - 12:52 pm:   

Enjoying Stranger Things, Star Trek Discovery, Mindhunter...blah di blah.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.181.136.165
Posted on Thursday, April 19, 2018 - 06:16 pm:   

Lost in Space, which is as wooden as people say, but that's what makes it so likable and refreshing.
Jessica Jones, though it's gone off the boil. David Tennant is maybe the most frightening villain ever.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.181.136.165
Posted on Friday, April 20, 2018 - 09:31 am:   

Jeezuz, sometimes, looking back on this place I think it could be called the Up it's Arse Corner.
:-(

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