And all of a sudden it’s just a couple of months until Marvel’s The Avengers hits the big screens. Sorry, I should say Avengers Assemble, as apparently that’s what the movie poster will say in the UK. I assume this is to avoid confusion with TV shows that feature bowler-hatted gentlemen with umbrellas and cat-suited… Read More »
Do you remember that scene near the end of Close Encounters of the Third Kind? The mother-ship has finally set down and done the thing with the music and lights. It all goes quiet. Then the door opens and a bright light floods out. And inside the light you can just make out silhouettes. You… Read More »
So what is likely to be the final episode of Pan Am limps onto our tv screens and it’s an underwhelming experience. Rather than pick up the action on the day that JFK is shot we have moved forward to New Years Eve 1963. Each of our characters is given their own little sub-plot. Dean… Read More »
So upstairs downstairs returns for six full episodes from under the looming shadow that is the hot-air-filled balloon of Downton Abbey. Right away I note with satisfaction that there are no dogs being walked in the grounds of a sunlit stately home garden so we are ahead on points. There have been some changes at… Read More »
A press release has revealed that Marvel Comics are releaseing a three-part miniseries based on the movie version of the Black Widow character from The Avengers movie. A look at the promotional art confirms that they certainly are going for Scarlett Johansson’s likeness. The comic will be set between the events of Iron Man 2… Read More »
Do you remember when you’d been watching a show for years, right from episode 1 probably, and one day you’re get a glimpse of an episode from the first season? You would think ‘Wow, they look so young! Were their voices actually that squeaky? Were the stories actually that, well, naff?’ Welcome to episode 13… Read More »
I first read Condition Black back in 1991 when the book first came out in hardback. In fact I remember it was around the time of the first Gulf War and the book was displayed for sale with topical headlines referring to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. In fact Seymour included an introduction referring to the… Read More »
First of all I have to mention the fact that the BBC originally planned to show two episodes last night, but for one reason or another decided to just show one. When the announcement was made over the closing credits that there would not be the second episode, well, I was actually a little disappointed.… Read More »
After last weekend’s Pan Am double bill on the BBC it’s just a single bill tonight. The episode is titled ‘Diplomatic Relations’ and mainly concerns itself with a trip to Moscow to test the waters of running a scheduled service between the USA and the USSR. Dean sits glumly looking out the window after his… Read More »
One of the highlights of my television viewing for Christmas 2010 was the new iteration of Upstairs Downstairs which was aired on BBC1 over three consecutive nights. Series 2 was promised and it’s finally here. Almost. I found the first series a refreshing antidote to the just-completed first series of Downton Abbey. For one thing… Read More »