TV Shows Discussion

[fragger]

Same here Art, which is why I only watch stuff on DVD. I don't dare even trying to watch anything like Bog Brother (no, that's not a typo) because I know I'd put my foot through the screen within the first minute and I might hurt myself doing so.

But those commentaries from Charlie Brooker are a riot :-D And I couldn't agree more with everything he said, especially about that despicable little twerp in the first clip. Best argument for the legalisation of abortion yet ::)

[Jim di Griz]

Yeah, Charlie Brooker feels pretty much the same way about TV which is why he's so much fun for folks like us. Most of his Screen Wipe programmes are UK programming specific, but as you see he does other stuff too.

That's why the Dead Set story is great, it just takes those elements and runs with it, asking all the while: would any of these types actually survive in real life? It is more of a dark satire than comedy.

[fragger]

I've watched all of Babylon 5 and I really enjoyed it despite an occasional silly episode, mainly in Season 1. I like a series that is ongoing with lots of interwoven story arcs and ever-evolving characters, and which actually goes somewhere with a beginning, middle and end. I watched all the B5 movies as well but except for The Gathering and In The Beginning I thought they were somewhat superfluous. Great show in total though, will definitely watch it all again sometime.

I've also been watching Battlestar Galactica (the newer version, not the corny original series, which I like to call "Bonanza In Outer Space"). I'm quite enjoying it, a somewhat grittier and way more character-driven affair than its predecessor, although the society it presents is a bit too much like Modern America projected among the stars considering the fact that it's supposed to be a parallel human civilization far removed from Earth (people wearing contemporary western-style clothing and speaking with American speech patterns, and so on). Considering that Earth is regarded as a kind of hoary legend to the characters in the series (a largely mythical "thirteenth colony"), it would have been nice if this far-flung brother race which has never had any contact with the people of Earth had been depicted as having a totally different sense of aesthetics, politics, fashion and social affectations from us, but there you are. Still, it's not half bad, with an unfolding storyline, lots of plot arcs and the like.

Bab 5 is the more entertaining production of the two though, for me anyway.

[Art Blade]

those are my favourites and in that order  :) :-X

[Jim di Griz]

Yeah, I almost stopped watching BSG the remake when they flashed back to Starbuck and Adama at the time of Zack's funeral...there were Humvees everywhere.

A small quibble, I know but it was endemic of that whole using what is familiar to make the viewers feel comfortable with the material. It's an executive thing to ensure more people, ie: non-SF fans can pick up and watch it. Star Trek: Next Generation at least tried to use props from other parts of the world.

Ten months later, I gave it another go and am glad that I did. Third series starts to really kick off  :-X

In the end though, I prefered the original's approach to what Earth meant and how it was percieved. I never actually saw the end of Bonanza in Space  ^-^ so I don't know where in Earth's timeline that the Galactica finally found Earth. I do know it was either current or sometime in the future due to one episode having the "One small step for Man..." sound byte at the end. I'm also guessing that Earth was sufficiently advanced enough to help stop the Cylons still on their tail.

So I'm with you on that fragger, language and societal development should have been far more diverse. Names from Greek mythology are all fine and believeable, the rest is stretching things too far.

Having said all of that, the series is overall a very good one with very fallible characters that adds a good dynamics kind of sense to it all.

[fragger]

...I don't know where in Earth's timeline that the Galactica finally found Earth. I do know it was either current or sometime in the future due to one episode having the "One small step for Man..." sound byte at the end. I'm also guessing that Earth was sufficiently advanced enough to help stop the Cylons still on their tail.

You're right Jim, in the original series Galactica finally reached Earth relatively present day (for when the series was made). I do remember that the producers ripped off a lot of footage from the movie Earthquake (same studio, Universal) and matted Cylon fighters into the scenes to make it look like they were shooting the buildings and knocking them down ::) I don't remember much more than that, though.

I'm still in season 1 at this point, but I will probably watch all of it :-X

[Art Blade]

The new Galactica series ends before they reach Earth.

Fragger, I recommend the pilot film to the new series, Battlestar Galactica, which is a masterpiece of about three hours. It was made as a mini series of 10 episodes but is available on disc in one solid piece without interjections.  :)

[Fiach]

Thanks for the heads up on Brooker, never heard of him until now tbh :)

Looking at the Big Brother bit, I seem to remember the Jade Goody incident, I think Jade went in basically to build up her media presence to help launch a perfume range uner her own name, but because of the racism incident, nobody bought it....hence the tears she was leaking all over the set in the final segment :)

[Art Blade]

lol, I find the mere thought ridiculous to think someone wanted to buy a perfume so they'd smell like a Big Brother candidate.

[Jim di Griz]

The new Galactica series ends before they reach Earth.

Fragger, I recommend the pilot film to the new series, Battlestar Galactica, which is a masterpiece of about three hours. It was made as a mini series of 10 episodes but is available on disc in one solid piece without interjections.  :)

Are we sure of that  ;) I'm saying no more in view of possible spoilers though.

Yeah, the pilot is good as is Razor one of the two films looking at the BSG situation from another angle, a bit like the Babylon 5 films did.

That first episode though: 33 was so strong.

[Jim di Griz]

Thanks for the heads up on Brooker, never heard of him until now tbh :)

Always a pleasure. He was a comedian first but I think he got sidetracked by TV criticism and now is more involved with writing TV.

lol, I find the mere thought ridiculous to think someone wanted to buy a perfume so they'd smell like a Big Brother candidate.

I think you have underestimated the amount of Chavs in the UK  ^-^ they love that kind of s#!t...

[Art Blade]

Indeed, I forgot about those chavvers  :-D I'm just so bloody glad I'm not one of them.

[Fiach]

Council House And Violent :)

[Art Blade]

 :)

[JRD]

Just got my hands on the irst two seasons of A Game Of Thrones. Third season is airing now.

I was a bit skeptical about it at first. Too much hype usually means made for the masses but I was wrong. I feared it could be too much on the same lines as Lord of the Rings with knights, dwarfs, monstruous creatures, elfs..... but no... well, actually, there's knights... and a dwarf too, but only one so far and... oh, wait... dragons too... but no elfs!!  ::) ... but it's nothing like LOTR. The story is much less fantastic and made for an adult audience. Characters have a good backstory and it took me several episodes and wiki searchs to understand all the houses and relationships and what happened before the story start to be told.

I'm following closely all the characters and the interwoven stories with great joy. It seems it can span a few more seasons with good entertainment.

Good television for a change!  :-X

[Fiach]

I was up quite early this morning and to kill some time, I turned on the TV and wound up watching ITV4, crikey what an awesome channel, very few adverts, but the programmes are all old ITV programmes from the 70's, The Proffessionals, The Saint, The Sweeney, Minder etc.

But they even have old soccer matches in The Big Match Revisited, it was pretty amazing watching Chelsea playing with Osgood and Bonetti and it was amazing looking at the conditions in which the played, there was a couple of inches of snow, all the pitch lines had to be dug out of the snow and they played with an orange ball.

Good times, now I'm off to the Bay City Roller convention :)

The Professionals- 70s (Full) Theme Tune

The Sweeney - opening theme - intro

Minder Theme (full)

The Saint TV intro (1962-69)

and of course a tongue in cheek lol :)

Bay City Rollers - Bye Bye Baby (HQ) |Christmas TOTP '75|

[Jim di Griz]

Just got to love The Sweeney I always used to point folks who were fans of Morse at that, to show them how John Thaw used to be  :)

I'm refusing to watch the film remake on principle  ^-^ you can't replace Jack Regan! Or Detective Carter...

[Fiach]

Just got to love The Sweeney I always used to point folks who were fans of Morse at that, to show them how John Thaw used to be  :)

I'm refusing to watch the film remake on principle  ^-^ you can't replace Jack Regan! Or Detective Carter...

The movie isn't too bad, it does retain the hard-a$$ atmosphere and the guy who plays Carter does do it well, Ray basically plays Ray, but he carries it off well enough, with a nice nod to Scum during the film.

The worst part is the love affair between Regan and a totally hot and incredibly younger chich, it's just not believeable and it's pretty core to the storyline.

Have a couple of pints and watch it, its not too bad :)

[fragger]

Fragger, I recommend the pilot film to the new series, Battlestar Galactica...

Cheers mate, but I already learned about that the hard way. I picked up Season one, put disk #1 into the player, selected Episode 1 (called "33"), and the first thing I heard was, "Previously on Battlestar Galactica..." !? So I stopped it. Checked my selection: Season one, check... Disk one, check... Episode one, check... Play... "Previously on Battlestar Galactica..." WTF? Did I miss something? Yep, I did - the whole bloody pilot miniseries! So then I had to go and order that...

I'm refusing to watch the film remake on principle  ^-^ you can't replace Jack Regan! Or Detective Carter...

I haven't seen that remake and have no desire to. Thaw will always be Regan and Waterman will always be Carter for me 8)

The Sweeney was recently re-run here - on the same channel right after Inspector Morse! Talk about a before and after - or should that be an after and before? :-()

Great show The Sweeney, I've always been a fan of that one :-X

[PZ]

The Saint is one of my all time favorites  :-X

[Fiach]

In The Flesh (BBC 3 part mini series)

The premise is that, there was a zombie outbreak, but they now have a cure for the Previously-Deceased, which entails the administration of a drug every day.
The zombies have been rounded up and treated, then given rehabilitation therapy to re-integrate them back into their previous communities.

The problem is that, the communities are very angry and bitter from the losses of family members and lack of government help in combatting the zombies, causing militas to be formed.

The story centres around one such zombie, who's sister is also a member of one of the militasBloody good stuff.

[Jim di Griz]

Ah, it's out already...

I think it was your good self who mentioned this series a while ago, so I went looking for trailers. It does look interesting. I'll have to see if it's up on iPlayer yet  :-X

[fragger]

The new Galactica series ends before they reach Earth.

Actually, it doesn't - they do reach Earth.

Did you watch the whole series? The final season, #4, is in two parts. You didn't miss Part 2 by any chance, did you?

[Art Blade]

feck.

[Art Blade]

I just checked. I have Season 1, 2.1+2.2, 3, 4 and "the final season" (which would be 4.2). It appears that watching the three-hour pilot film more than once and more recently than the series has blurred my memory with regards of how the series ends.

So I think I remembered the wrong bit, the end of the pilot:

Spoiler

After they had gathered all civilian ships and jumped out of the cylons' reach, commander Adama (senior) gives an inspiring speech, later the president and he have a private chat and he reveals to her that the secret "only known to the fleet command" (where Earth is) was a lie to give the crew hope.