Reviews

Forget the supposed inspiration for this series and ignore the occasional political comments. In truth, it bears very little resemblance to the events on which are its loose inspiration.

With that out of the way, it's actually a very decent series, well written, directed and acted for the first 4 episodes, things I am rarely able to say about any modern BBC drama. It even benefits from a low level musical score which doesn't intrude on the action or dialogue. There are moments of genuine emotion and the tensions in a divided community are laid bare. Unfortunately, the last 2 episodes are rather too slow, introspective and drawn out, as if the writers had difficulty filling the allotted time, which does detract slightly from the overall quality.

As always in modern drama, there has to be a quota of assorted minorities and so we are presented with an Asian police chief and Black school headmistress, as well as a neurotic Asian train driver who murders his daughter-in-law for no obvious reason. All three parts could have been allocated to anyone of any background although the last is an entirely unnecessary one; none really does anything to enhance the production.

The cast is high profile and excellent and the atmosphere created by the location and historical connection works very well for the most part. Overall, I have to say that the good outweighs the bad and I'm happy to give it a 7, which would be 7½ if that was allowed.

Let's be honest, this is appalling tripe. It's a vast mish-mash of disparate ideas, everything that the writers thought up, with very little concern for sense or logic. Spanish conquistadors ruled over by a child, ridiculous figures in Ku-Klux-Klan outfits, quite laughable monstrous creatures, ship wrecks and plenty of violence, all thrown together in an utterly haphazard manner.

The acting is weak, the script likewise; the action makes very little sense and the story is nonsense. The story actually goes nowhere, leaving the survivors in some sort of nautical limbo and viewers likewise. By the end, I had no idea who had avoided the seaweed, giant crab, rubber scorpion or whatever it was that was seemingly trapped in the conquistadors cellar. What's more, I didn't care.

If this is even remotely like the Denis Wheatley novel it's supposed to be based on, I'd be very surprised. Wheatley may not have been the greatest novelist of his time, but he was a lot better than this film.

I hadn't watched 'Gremlins' for a good few years but remembered it as a pretty funny, yet scary, film. watching it now, probably 20 years since my last viewing, I have to say that it's aged rather well.

It's a fast moving film with few quiet moments. It's scary and funny at different times and actually scary and funny at the same time as well. It also benefits from the lovable little 'Gizmo', the Mogwai who has rules attached to his keeping. Unfortunately, an accident with some water soon reveals that 'Gizmo' can produce some horrible offspring if the rules aren't observed.

Whether it was meant or not, there's an underlying message about the danger of not adhering to rules as the monstrous Gremlins wreak havoc upon a small town at Christmastide. However, it's also the case that some of the Gremlins' bad behaviour mirrors that of some of the less well behaved people that we all may know; I'm pretty sure that sitting in a bar, getting drunk and tormenting the bar girl isn't something that's restricted to Gremlins, though they make it all very amusing.

This film is fun though whether today's children would enjoy it is debatable. I suspect that many would find it dated, and younger ones would find it too scary. Nonetheless, I still think it's one of the better comedy horrors, well worth watching and one I'll happily watch again.

The 1971 version of this chilling tale was exactly that - chilling. The notion of an extra-terrestrial microbe coming to Earth with devastating consequences was brilliantly handled. This can't be said of this 2008 TV mini-series.

Sadly, this overlong adaptation of Michael Crichton's thriller is an overblown piece of nonsense. The background noise is frequently overpowering while assorted madcap dashes hither and yon are nothing more than attempts to create additional drama where none is needed. There are pointless additions to the original story and, of course, lots of military action with soldiers shooting at anything and everything. The introduction of a journalist 'hero' is completely unnecessary and simply detracts from the central plot which is the effort to identify and contain the microbe; that alone would be more than gripping enough to keep viewers' attention if it wasn't lost in amongst all of the extraneous junk.

The 1971 film may now be a bit dated but it's infinitely better than this frenzied modern version. Avoid.

I well remember watching this series when it was first aired in the UK sometime in the mid to late 1960s. Back then, it was different, fun, amusing and quite exciting to think of a family taking such a bold gamble and venturing out into deep space.

Sadly, the years have taken their toll. After watching the first few episodes of a rerun I have to say that I find the whole thing bordering on the ludicrous. Even for the 1960s, much of the science is laughable and the way in which the supposed head of the expedition, Professor Robinson, allows the villain of the piece, the comically villainous Dr Smith, to do pretty much whatever he likes in his attempts to destroy mission, ship and family defies belief. The space ship wobbles around like a Frisbee and the sets are reminiscent of 'Crossroads' in their lack of solidity.

A less likely group of astronauts is hard to imagine, wrapped up in their own little personal worlds and with none of the attributes of real spacefarers. The brilliant child, soppy sentimental girl, doting mother and potential young couple who might just become involved, simply don't cut it. As for the robot, he's a left over from 'Forbidden Planet' but has suffered a curious personality change, becoming alternately villain, friend and comedian. With a change of clothing and converting the 'spaceship' into a covered wagon, this would have been just the same as a series about pioneers in the wild west, and they wouldn't have needed to make much in the way of changes to scenery or scripts.

When I was in my early teens I might have given this 7 or 8; today I can't bring myself to consider more than a 3, and that mostly out of nostalgia. It doesn't begin to compare with 'Star Trek' and really is a rather sad, silly and outdated offering.

This is a confusing film that makes very poor use of an all-star cast. Widmark, Redgrave, Sutherland, Bridges, Lee and more plod their ways through a story which has little explanation until the very end, which is reached after far too long a time.

None of the cast seem very enthusiastic, and much of the action is of the 'fast and furious' type, accompanied by loud music, often adopted in films with little to really shout about. The majority of the film makes little real sense with people being killed off but no one doing much about it except, of course, the hero played by Sutherland. People race around over the snow, over the ice and over the water, making maximum use of assorted vehicles, but to what purpose ?

In the end, it's just another story about those pesky Nazis doing what Nazis always do - hiding in the shadows, murdering and stealing. Yawn ! It's 2 hours of very underwhelming and, frankly, largely boring stuff, made all the worse by the ridiculously overblown casting.

Worst is that I'll never get those 2 hours back.

While the 'Victoria' series has been quite well done, it has, for me at least, lacked punch and seemed a bit pedestrian. Until this episode, that is.

"Faith, Hope and Charity" dealt with the horrors of the Irish potato famine of the 1840s and showed, with a fair degree of bluntness, how the UK government reacted. Members of Parliament were more concerned about upsetting their most powerful supporters than with helping millions of starving people and used every possible excuse for not helping, sadly a situation which still persists with most political groupings in most parts of the world today.

There was a lot of dramatic licence; for instance, I can find no evidence that Robert Traill had an audience with the Queen and for a domestic servant to interrupt the Queen in a palace corridor would have been unthinkable at the time, but the points were nonetheless well made. Robert Traill was a real person who really did do his best to help, dying of typhus fever which he most probably contracted as a result of his efforts. Some of the scenes were genuinely heart-rending, especially for anyone whose Irish ancestors were affected, and the overall story was very well handled.

This rather shocking period of British history is rarely mentioned but 'Victoria' will undoubtedly have raised its profile very significantly. "Faith, Hope and Charity" was well written, well presented, well acted, gripping and genuinely educational. Let's have more like it.

I have to declare an interest in that I've been semi-addicted to 'Star Trek' since it was first broadcast in the UK. Nonetheless, I still watch the original episodes and the films (yes, it's very sad) and, without doubt, 'The Whales' is the very best of Star Trek.

I say 'The Whales' because that's how everyone remembers this film; 'The Voyage Home' seems a little less than revealing of the story line. Having decided to return to earth to face the authorities after their dramatic rescue of the resurrected Spock, Kirk and Co. discover that Earth is under threat from an alien object which is emitting tonal messages which cannot be understood. Spock identifies the necessary response as being that of a hump back whale, a species long extinct in the 23rd century. Of necessity, Kirk decides to try to travel back to the present day to see if he can find some hump back whales to save the day. What a plan ! It's a great Sci-Fi film without that much Sci-Fi, but with a lot of enjoyment. The script is unusually good, filled with odd references that raise a smile. The contrast between the imagined 23rd century and the reality of the 20th allows for a mass of amusing moments and Spock's attempts at imitating 20th century 'colourful' language are often hilarious. There are many opportunities for the star cast to have their moments too, Scotty's difficulties with using a 20th century computer being one of the best, but Kirk's "I'm from Iowa, I only work in Outer Space" is a real corker.

McCoy can't believe the deficiencies of 20th century medicine and Spock, still recovering from being dead, is full of little comments that make one smile. Catherine Hicks as the rather dishy Doctor Gillian makes the most of meeting a group of visitors from the future and has her own great lines. Given the opportunity, who wouldn't want to travel to the future ? No doubt purists can dig mile wide holes in the plot, filming, acting and all the rest, but none of that matters. It's a terrifically fun film with a genuine message about the harm that 20th, and 21st, century humans are doing to our planet and the potential consequences of that. It has plenty of drama and action, plus bits of comedy and, even, potential romance. The ending might be a bit predictable but who cares ? I've probably seen this film a dozen times over the years and I'll undoubtedly watch it again. It may not be a 'Great' film but it is great fun and great cinema. it's worth every bit of an 8/10.