Ipswich, we have a problem: Space Cadets, the reality show that never left the ground. This wasn't something I watched much at the time. After the seminal 2004 season of Big Brother, I'd given up on reality television, having decided I'd seen the apogee of the form with John Tickle attempting to hack the system from the inside. Plus the premise seemed unintentionally cruel, trying to convince gullible people that they'd gone into space. This Guardian piece shows that even the presenter, Johnny Vaughn had misgivings and actually managed to water down some of the things the producers wanted to do, and made sure the contestants received some compensation for their humiliation.
Talking Stock: Hi-de-Hi’s Opening Titles features some typically specific and totally fascinating research from John Hoare which makes an excellent central point about the gatekeeping of historical footage by some news organisations. Pathe have been quite liberal about uploading their old newsreels online (especially on their YouTube channel), whereas Reuters still consider them to be of commercial use and so haven't been quite as rigorous (although they too have recently made more footage available through the Pathe channel). Incidentally, yes, I'm trying another blog post format, only using the big titles when it's for a much longer piece.
All of the Oscar Nominees in 2021 and where to watch them.
Film The clue is in the title. Unlike most years, when the films nominated for Oscars aren't available in the UK for some months afterwards, thanks to the slow apocalypse only Promising Young Woman doesn't yet have a UK release date and the vast majority of everything else is already on the main streaming platforms or will be by the end of April. So I thought you might like a guide to what's available where. Anything with an (*) is a short film.
Amazon Prime
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Sound of Metal (12th April 2021)
Apple+
Disney+
Burrow *
Nomadland (30th April 2021)
iPlayer
Netflix
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
If Anything Happens I Love You *
Love and Monsters (14th April 2021)
NowTV
Promising Young Woman (16th April 2021)
The United States vs Billie Holiday
YouTube
A Concerto Is a Conversation *
Collette *
Vimeo Free
Rent or Buy Only
Vimeo Rental
Curzon Home Cinema
Cinema
Another Round (25th June 2021)
The Father (11th June 2021)
Not Currently Available
Genius Loci *
Hunger Ward *
Opera *
The Man Who Sold His Skin
Two Distant Strangers *
White Eye *
Five Things I Liked About The Wandavision finale.
TV It's been a while since I've been this excited about seeing an episode of television, but after eight simple weeks of build up, with so many question to be answered about the show, you bet I was sat in front of my television at 8am this morning waiting for the Disney+ upload. Any-hoo I have some thoughts, so let's fulfil the promise of the title of this blog post. Spoilers, obviously.
(1) No Huge Cameo
After weeks of speculation based on some veiled comments in publicity videos, neither Doctor Strange, Mr Fantastic or Magneto wandered in at the last moment to distract us from the big emotional arc of the show. The appearance of Luke Skywalker at the close of business in The Mandalorian had already been baked into the storyline, whereas a surprise cameo in Wandavision, an even bigger boss than Agatha, perhaps Hayward being revealed to Mephisto in disguise, was not on the agenda here. He was just some human tool. Instead, quite rightly, the climax focused on the characters who we'd become attached to over the previous eight episodes, that it truly was Agatha All Along.
(2) The Triumph of Intellect and Romance Over Brute Force And Cynicism
Although both Wanda and Vision enjoyed the MCU trope of fighting a mirror enemy who shares their powers, lots of flying in the sky and throwing magic or lasers at one another they both ultimately won their respective competitions by outthinking their opponents, Wanda using the same technique Agatha employed initially to kerb her powers and Vision and White Vision having a meeting of minds which resulted in the latter rekindling his memories of being the former B-4. The source for the title for this paragraph in case you're wondering.
(3) Symmetry
I've already seen criticism which suggests that the show simply becomes another action action fighty fighty thing from its humbler origins, especially from those who liked the earlier funny ones. But the show actually has a very symmetrical structure, the opening episode filmed completely on a sound stage in front of a studio audience in academy ratio, the finale with all of the tools of big budget filmmaking in a scope setting, a production decision which itself comments on the development of the television as a whole.
(4) Evan Peters
Absolutely amazing. After weeks and weeks of speculation in YouTube videos, on social media, on here, it's revealed the production team have just been fucking with us and that Evan Peters isn't playing the alt.Quicksilver from the FoX-Men but just some random bozo with a euphemistic surname who like everyone else in town has had his identity replaced. As I've said previously, the MCU is going to want to do its own spin on mutants as and when and acknowledging the existence of the cast from the other franchise would simply draw away from an endeavour which will already be a source of comparisons. Can you imagine the actor who's going to play Wolverine next? Damn.
(5) Consequences
The show acknowledges that although Wanda has somewhat come to terms with the tragedies in her own life and become stronger because of it, she herself has brought pain to others. Even though Wanda is clearly the protagonist of his series, unlike most of the MCU's heroes, she now finds herself in the ambiguous place of having destroyed even more lives, albeit psychologically. So although she's allowed to walk away at the end much as she did after Lagos, it's more because she's too powerful to contain at this point having absorbed Agatha's gifts too. Much like the rest of the MCU actions have consequences and there are no reset buttons or easy outs.
I've found a use for motion flow on modern televisions.
TV There's nothing much to this post except to note that a whole new level of verisimilitude can be gained when rewatching the earlier audience-based episodes of Wandavision by ignoring Tom Cruise's advice (and mine usually) and turning on the Motion Flow or Smoothing feature on your modern television and letting it interpolate extra frames making it look like the video tape such shows would originally have been recorded on. Oh and turn down sharpness to zero if you can for added smudginess.
This does of course fall apart when the outside world intrudes and the episodes cross cut between the two formats, not to mention that with so many shows from those earlier periods being remastered for HD anyway due to the way they were shot, your mileage on this may differ anyway. Perhaps if the show ever reaches a physical format, Disney might make it available on limited edition VHS, with the widescreen scenes panned and scanned or open matt for old times sake.
We Need To Talk About Wanda Maximoff. Spoilers.
Film Sort of. Maybe? The reveal at the end of this week's Wandavision was trending on the Twitter within a few hours and there are already hundreds of blog posts and Youtube videos on the topic. But, goddamit I haven't been this excited since the last big thing which happened in a vertical multimedia conglomerate franchise and sometimes you just have to get your ideas on monitor (no not that one) even if they're tired and unoriginal. You will not see anything interesting here. This might as well be a large space created by some line space html or whatever bloated mess this new editing system on Blogger uses to create gaps in text.
Spoilers. Obviously.
As you might expect its about that appearance of Evan Peters as Pietro. Some of the more mainstream areas of the media are already suggesting that we're seeing the first appearance of the X-Men in the MCU with the implication that they're sticking with the same casting as the Fox films after all and blah blah blah even though it's been pretty well established that when and if the X-Men turn up in the MCU they'll be recast and presumably recharacterised to more tonally fit what that actually means. Because why would you not? Why should Kevin Feige and pals be stuck with whoever Matthew Vaughn or Bryan Singer have chosen?
Here's my theory. Thanks to Disney gobbling up Fox, Disney+ now carries a whole bunch of MARVEL films not set in the MCU including both Fantastic Four and X-Men. Click on the MARVEL logo and there they are now listed as "Marvel Legacy Movies". Some casuals might not necessarily know that there's much of a difference between the franchises, but there they are, they exist and in their own way part of MARVEL cinematic history, for better or worse along with whatever Sony and New Line Cinema (now owned by Warners) have made (not to mention the various TV shows).
They could just leave that content out there but again, when the MCU does produce their own version they have to be special in their own way. One of the problems with both Sony and Fox's approach is in their persistence to recast and reboot, there's been diminishing returns. In a better structured version of that the X-Men franchise, Days of Future Past would have been the final word, but instead we were given two lesser sequels which couldn't measure up to that masterpiece (especially in its extended form) which only went on to do more damage to the integrity of the franchise.
Instead, with what we've heard about in relation to Spider-Man: Something Something Home and the next Doctor Strange film's title I think Phase Four across media is going to be about establishing these other franchises as part of a multiverse, of making them "count" and Peter Maximoff from the X-Men universe is only going to be the first of numerous cameos and visits to these other worlds which means, much as is the case in the Whoniverse, everything happened. All of it. Every adaptation of a MARVEL property from Japanese Spider-Man to The Incredible Hulk.
Yes, yes, Into The Spider-Verse is a great movie and so was the comic it was based on which did pretty much the same thing as I'm proposing and I'm aware of the "why bother?" attitude. But the philosophy of the MCU is that everything is connected and this whole business feels in keeping with that. On a business level it's a win-win. However much Peter is developed in Wandavision, it's a way of pushing viewers towards films they might not previously have thought about catching up on (although I assume the crossover audience between these different franchises has to be pretty big).
Unless all of this is wishful thinking and Aaron Taylor-Johnson hasn't replaced Evan Peters by the end of the next episode, a mistake having been corrected. Or he simply gets popped away again for being anomalous. But it doesn't feel like you'd cast Evan Peters and he would agree to do the role if there wasn't some other great narrative afoot. The pace and presentation of the reveal doesn't stack up. When a comic book ends with a page size reverse shot of its hero entirely surprised by someone standing on their doorstep, that someone is always of substantive import, not often ignored or side-lined in the following issue.
Something which is also probably irrelevant but I can't stop thinking about is how similarly structured Wandavision and the latterday X-verse films are. Just as WandaVision's sitcom diegesis is seemingly skipping through the decades from day to day, the X-verse film starting with First Class are each set in a different decade even though its characters barely age. Despite having been born in the 1950s, Peter Maximoff looks much the same as he does in Days of Future Past as Dark Phoenix, set about twenty years later. It's handwaved off as something to do with the mutant gene but what if it was as a result of the hex energy seeping into the other reality?
All of which is the paraphernalia of gossamer thin fan theorism but the central point to all of this is that for those of us wondering how the MCU was going to work post Endgame, we can see that we're heading into a series of stories potentially just as ambitious as the first three phases if not more so. At a certain point this evening, I was so hyped up about this, I began to consider if it might include other Disney properties, if the Doctor Strange film will feature appearances from the Star Wars or live action fairy tale franchises, Stephen doing battle with a Mandalorian or Maleficent. God, I love this stuff. More please.
[Updated after episode six] Gah, now I don't know. Maybe? Between Tom Holland saying that neither Toby Maguire or Andrew Garfield are in Spider-Man 3 and the suggestion that Evan Peters is playing a zombie version of the MCU character so his whole casting might actually nothing more than a reference to recasting in sitcoms I'm starting to doubt the whole premise of this blogpost.
So either something completely wacky is going to happen in the next couple of episodes, or we're heading for something akin to Russell T Davies's time on Doctor Who when we'd all be thinking of some incredibly intricate and complex reason for a thing and it actually turns out to be much, much simpler.
Nevertheless, this doesn't discount the idea that Steve Strange won't turn up at the end of episode eight and on seeing Even Peters and knowing that he's from another reality (with the added bonus of Bandersnatch Cummerbund saying words like "mutant" and "X-Men") realising that something has gone terribly wrong with the multiverse leading into the next Doctor Strange film.
Just an added thought. The final moments of the introductory film of each MARVEL phases has presented the greater theme of the rest of the phase: Iron Man closed with the start to the formation of the Avengers. The multiple suits at the close of Iron Man 3 prefigured Ultron's army. Captain America: Civil War ended with Steve's phone shaped olive branch and they only defeated Thanos when they worked together.
[Updated after the finale] Huh, huh, huh, huh, she said boner.
Lockdown Links #8
I’ll Tell You a Story…
"Today, we’re going to answer a huge burning question about The Young Ones. No, nothing to do with flash frames, or hidden fifth housemates. This is the really important stuff. Exactly what is the farty neighbour watching on her television in “Cash”, just before she switches over to Andy De La Tour doing a public information film?"
Fatherland: Limited Edition Blu-ray - Notes on an Essay:
From Frank Collins: "Due for release by Indicator on 19 April 2021, this limited edition Blu-Ray of Ken Loach's Fatherland(1986) features my new essay on the film in the booklet that accompanies the first pressing."
Billie Piper: ‘I know about dysfunctional relationships – what it costs to be a woman’:
"After 25 years in the limelight, the actor says she is finally finding her voice as an actor, writer and now director. Does life imitate art?"
Magary: I tested the dumbest PPE of all time - the Rich Guy COVID Helmet:
"The Microclimate Air is the pandemic accessory you do not need."
THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7: Aaron Sorkin samples the menu:
"DB here: Love him or hate him, you have to admit that Aaron Sorkin has carved out a unique position in contemporary Hollywood. If we want to understand craft practice from the position of media poetics—that is, the principles governing form, style, and theme in particular historical circumstances—we can usefully look at him as a powerful example."
What Parler Saw During the Attack on the Capitol:
"As supporters of President Donald Trump took part in a violent riot at the Capitol, users of the social media service Parler posted videos of themselves and others joining the fray. ProPublica reviewed thousands of videos uploaded publicly to the service that were archived by a programmer before Parler was taken offline by its web host. Below is a collection of more than 500 videos that ProPublica determined were taken during the events of Jan. 6 and were relevant and newsworthy. Taken together, they provide one of the most comprehensive records of a dark event in American history through the eyes of those who took part."
Non-geographic postcodes:
"Note that a number of non-geographic postcode sectors are also contained within geographic postcode areas."
San Antonio 10-year-old cashes in on GameStop stocks he was gifted 2 years ago:
"When Jaydyn Carr unwrapped his GameStop shares his mom gifted him for Kwanzaa two years ago, neither mother nor son expected he'd eventually be in the middle of a stock surge."
Lessons from A Pandemic Anniversary:
"It's not just what we know, but how we know it."
Dungeons & Dragons Has an Antisemitism Problem:
"The roleplaying game is one of my favorite things in the world, which makes it all the more disappointing to find coded antisemitic themes throughout."
Joe Biden times a hundred.
Politics You may have noticed that despite everything which is happening in the world and my clumsy references to it, one name hasn't appeared. It still won't. I banned myself from using it and most often used various euphemisms in its place. The only occasions when it's crept through have been in link posts as part of pull quotes, this book review, quoting one of the Doctor's lines in this Who review and this post a week out from the inauguration in 2017 about what I thought his presidency would look like through the medium of Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi. I wasn't wrong about him, or that Vanessa Carlton looks like mid-70s Sarah Jane Smith in the promo for the Counting Crows version.
But it's a new, dawn, it's a new day and as John Legend sang at the Inauguration Concert last night, I'm feeling good and I have absolutely no problem talking about the new president Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden.
Joe's first inclusion on this blog was back in 2008 as part of a link post where I actually wrote the pull test myself (the thought!) and how I couldn't remember his name during a pub quiz. I have absolutely no memory of that night or who I might have attended a pub quiz with. Unless it was some Twitter related event. Huh. Then his name wasn't mentioned until last August when Taylor endorsed him. Finally I used his surname a lot in the title to this post when he was declared winner and again pretty much predicted everything which has happened in the past three months including the Twitter ban (although that came sooner than I expected), not that I wasn't saying anything that cleverer people than me hadn't already.
None of which is to say that I'll be talking about US politics a whole lot more than I have, but it will be liberating to have the option when I want to, especially around Christmas time. Not to mention that because the Annoying Orange made flesh no longer consumes the oxygen of the Western world, more focus will inevitably fall on our own idiocy infestation in the UK and how their mismanagement means the number of COVID deaths in this country will be one quarter the US total by this time next week despite us having one fifth of the population and a much tinier, more controllable island. Not that I'll be talking about that much either. There's another name I haven't said on here since 2012.
What keeps you watching Doctor Who?
TV At the turn of the year a friend online asked me this question and bless them I replied with three paragraphs worth. Unfortunately it wasn't an easy answer. Revolution of the Daleks was not good. Apart from the tired main story, however fabulous it was to see Captain Jack back in vision, his participation was not integral and so ultimately wasted. Here's what I wrote:
"Jodie's incredible when she's allowed to be but she's being under-utilised and in general I don't know what Chris Chibnall is trying to do with it in a way which wasn't the case with previous showrunners. I haven't rewatched an episode since The Woman Who Fell To Earth and one of the reasons I stopped writing reviews was because there's barely anything to say about it. It feels like a mid-table football team keeping afloat while remembering the glory days.All of which ignores my excitement at the Doctor's new secret origin and the storytelling potential that brings across the franchise, on and off television. She now has her own era similar to Star Wars' The High Republic or Star Trek's Enterprise, a whole set of adventures set before the time we already know. What keeps you watching Doctor Who? How could I not?
"I don't watch Doctor Who all the time in the way that I perhaps used to. I'll return to things when they're rereleased and I'm still a completist in that way but its the major franchises, MARVEL, Star Wars and Star Trek which make me excited in a way that the RTD era and early Moffat eras used to. There's no comparison in dramatic terms between last night's Who and the Agents of SHIELD which turned up on Disney+ yesterday, and that was a timeloop bottle episode.
"But thankfully even if TV Who feels like its motion going, its part of an echo system of content which includes the novels, comics, BDs and especially Big Finish which is doing some incredibly exciting stuff lately now that they have all the toys. Time Lord Victorious has been a triumph. If anything keeps me as a fan, the special thing, it's that and being part of a sort of community that shares a very particular and peculiar frame of reference."
Keep Your Distance.
Life The BBC has a short piece about the police issuing fines because of lockdown breaches in the Tower Hamlets area. They're shown approaching and fining a group of four men using gym equipment in a park in Poplars, breaching the rules (more than one person, also there are signs forbidding the use of the climbing frames and whatnot. "We ain't doin' nothin' wrong" one of them plaintively says as he's handed a £100 fine. I have no problem with any of this, this I have no problem with.
Except, I live next to a park and it isn't safe more me to go walking there. One of the assumption that the virus can't be transmitted outside, and although the potential is greatly reduced, it's not impossible especially if you're engaging in activity which involves heavy breathing, like running. The narrow pathway around a large section of the park is usually full of joggers, few of whom are social distancing, none of whom are wearing masks. On occasion, people even stop to have a chat making the situation more precarious.
But such activity is if not mandated, encouraged. I don't understand why enforcement is being carried out in some scenarios and not others, why four blokes in a park wrongly using gym equipment is policed, but groups of people jogging together on narrow pathways, inches away from each other and impossible to avoid if you're just out for a walk is given a pass. But the lack of masks is the worst. Runner's World recommends it and 78-year-old Joe Biden is fine with it. If you're in a place were social distancing is knowingly impossible, why risk it?
The upshot is I've given up my daily walks for now. Pretty much anywhere I've tried strolling with intent, especially around the park, I end up dodging into the road to distance from people and with my heightened anxiety the process becomes far too stressful to be of much use not to mention dangerous. On occasion, I've had to stand facing a tree, bush or wall with my hood up to let a person by, like a hedgehog curling up to avoid danger if only to reassure myself. Perhaps all of this is just paranoia, but a risk still feels like a risk however risky that potential risk might be.
Arden Shakespeare Third Series Complete Works.
This complete works follows roughly the same structure as the individual volumes. There's an introduction offering a general overview of the production of the plays which includes a short biography of the writer, the works in performance and print and their legacy. The language is slightly less academic than usual, perhaps because there's an expectation that a wider audience might purchase a complete works for the shelf and the paperback in particular is a very reasonably priced option in comparison to some.
After the poems, the plays are then presented in alphabetical order from (ironically) All's Well That Ends Well through to The Winter's Tale, unlike the Oxford Complete Works presents them in date order or the RSC edition which mostly follows the First Folio. The Oxford just has one version of Hamlet and two Lears, but the Arden does the opposite, having previously offered Q1 & F in one volume with Q2 in the other. It also includes Double Falsehood which even the most recent edition of the Oxford forsakes in favour of a page explaining the existence of Cardenio.
These are the plays as they were originally published, pruned of their footnotes but retaining the editorial presentation choices. Sir Thomas More has additional labels noting which hands in the original manuscript held at the British Library wrote each section with different fonts utilised if this occurs in the middle of a speech. The Lear uses san-serif Fs and Qs to denote which passages are singularly present in each version of the play.
Each play is heralded by a single page introduction, essentially an abstract of whatever the original editor thought was important in the individual publications. A bibliography at the back of the book lists hundreds of books and websites covering all aspects of Shakespeare scholarship, a whole degree course across six pages. This is followed by an index of sonnet first lines, the first lines of the songs across the plays and finally a glossary, which means I finally have an explanation for what a "fardal" is.
Despite already owning the majority of the Arden Thirds thanks to review copies and my own wages, this is still an invaluable possession. Alphabetising the plays makes them much easier to cross reference between texts and the various introductions are a swift reminder of what to look for when encountering the plays, finding a decent middle ground, both scholarly and accessible. So congratulation to Arden for reaching this milestone and I can't wait to see what the fourth series has to offer. Arden of Faversham perhaps?
Arden Shakespeare Third Series Complete Works. Edited by Ann Thompson, David Scott Kastan, H. R. Woudhuysen & Richard Proudfoot is published by Bloomsbury. 2020. ISBN: 9781474296366. Review copy supplied.
Babylon 5 Looks Like a Big Pile of Shit.
TV Just before Christmas, between lockdowns, I was lucky enough to visit a charity shop or two including the Barnardos on Smithdown Road. Imagine my amazement on finding, all alone on the shelf, the complete Babylon 5 DVD boxed set for just £25. Knowing full well that a new lockdown was imminent, I decided that this was to be my new bingeing project, at least a few months worth. I duly bought and almost broke my back carrying it home, this heavy beast with the equivalent of seven seasons of television inside.
Then, between Christmas and New Year I began watching it. The pilot episode is notoriously patchy, as so often pilot episodes are, although I've been a fan of Tamlyn Tomita, who plays deputy command on the station, since The Joy Luck Club which she made the same year. But there was enough for me, despite her recasting, to want to settle in and see the rest of the series, for which I've always had fond memories since its original Channel 4 broadcast.
Then during episode one, I began to see a problem I'd already had wind of but wasn't quite prepared for - how ugly it actually looks. Like much mid-90s TV, Babylon 5 was originally broadcast in the 4:3 aspect ratio, but like FRIENDS and other WB shows at the time, had its live action sequences shot on film in 16:9 in an attempt to keep them future proof, which definitely worked on FRIENDS, whose HD transfers are gorgeous.
Sadly, to save money, the CGI sequence were created in 4:3 which was fine at the time since the TV audience wouldn't know different, but ran counter to the point of shooting the rest of it on the assumption that future generation might want to have a more cinematic experience. When it came time to release the series on DVD, the studio was keen to release it in widescreen but oh god, the CGI, the CGI.
As this old Engadget post explains, the decision was made to remaster the 16:9 footage and then to zoom and crop the CGI sequences to fit the frame even during live action sequences. Which means whenever there's any CGI on screen, the image noticeably loses what already weak definition it has and the composition becomes distractingly cramped.
The effect is to pull the viewer out of the story every time a computer generated shot occurs, either in the space sequences which are often rendered incoherent or the live action scenes when on occasion there'll be a cut to some mad close-up in the middle of a sequence breaking up the rhythm of the piece. Even worse are the moment when there's a crossfade from a CGI sequence to a fully live action and the latter remains zoomed in.
On a couple of episodes, the CGI sequences haven't even been cropped. They've simply been stretched to fill the 16:9 space even in those transitions making the whole thing almost unwatchable. Quite why they didn't bother on those occasions isn't clear, although its true that they tend to be episodes which less CGI than others so they could simply have decided to use their meagre budget elsewhere.
This decade old page takes a much more detailed look at just how awful these transfers look also pointing out how a decent upscaling result could have been achieved and also that the NTSC and PAL (Region One and Region Two) transfers also differ in numerous subtle ways in terms of framing. The author becomes increasingly both cross and resigned to the horrors across the length of the article.
The upshot of all this is I'm finding it incredibly difficult to watch Babylon 5 in this form. The first season is reputationally a bit of a slog, but there's plenty in there to enjoy but every time there's a CGI shot I'm pulled out of the story. Plus the colour timing is incredibly drab even though my TV is collaborated to make Technicolor pop.
Perhaps I'll just watch FRIENDS again.
Then, between Christmas and New Year I began watching it. The pilot episode is notoriously patchy, as so often pilot episodes are, although I've been a fan of Tamlyn Tomita, who plays deputy command on the station, since The Joy Luck Club which she made the same year. But there was enough for me, despite her recasting, to want to settle in and see the rest of the series, for which I've always had fond memories since its original Channel 4 broadcast.
Then during episode one, I began to see a problem I'd already had wind of but wasn't quite prepared for - how ugly it actually looks. Like much mid-90s TV, Babylon 5 was originally broadcast in the 4:3 aspect ratio, but like FRIENDS and other WB shows at the time, had its live action sequences shot on film in 16:9 in an attempt to keep them future proof, which definitely worked on FRIENDS, whose HD transfers are gorgeous.
Sadly, to save money, the CGI sequence were created in 4:3 which was fine at the time since the TV audience wouldn't know different, but ran counter to the point of shooting the rest of it on the assumption that future generation might want to have a more cinematic experience. When it came time to release the series on DVD, the studio was keen to release it in widescreen but oh god, the CGI, the CGI.
As this old Engadget post explains, the decision was made to remaster the 16:9 footage and then to zoom and crop the CGI sequences to fit the frame even during live action sequences. Which means whenever there's any CGI on screen, the image noticeably loses what already weak definition it has and the composition becomes distractingly cramped.
The effect is to pull the viewer out of the story every time a computer generated shot occurs, either in the space sequences which are often rendered incoherent or the live action scenes when on occasion there'll be a cut to some mad close-up in the middle of a sequence breaking up the rhythm of the piece. Even worse are the moment when there's a crossfade from a CGI sequence to a fully live action and the latter remains zoomed in.
On a couple of episodes, the CGI sequences haven't even been cropped. They've simply been stretched to fill the 16:9 space even in those transitions making the whole thing almost unwatchable. Quite why they didn't bother on those occasions isn't clear, although its true that they tend to be episodes which less CGI than others so they could simply have decided to use their meagre budget elsewhere.
This decade old page takes a much more detailed look at just how awful these transfers look also pointing out how a decent upscaling result could have been achieved and also that the NTSC and PAL (Region One and Region Two) transfers also differ in numerous subtle ways in terms of framing. The author becomes increasingly both cross and resigned to the horrors across the length of the article.
The upshot of all this is I'm finding it incredibly difficult to watch Babylon 5 in this form. The first season is reputationally a bit of a slog, but there's plenty in there to enjoy but every time there's a CGI shot I'm pulled out of the story. Plus the colour timing is incredibly drab even though my TV is collaborated to make Technicolor pop.
As the Engadget article explains, there are craftspeople willing and able to set about creating commercial HD masters of the series, and that there might even be excellent 4:3 transfers which could be spruced up for release ala Star Trek. There are some "remastered" SD versions doing the rounds on streaming services, which do look better but apparently have new problems like missing scenes.
It's incredibly frustrating to think that the WB is willing to spaff millions towards a mediocre director to create a bloated version of a superhero film failure in order to placate a group of 4Chan refugees, but can't find the resources to create dynamite restorations of one of the seminal science fiction shows of the 90s. Doctor Who fans have been incredibly lucky.
Now I'm left wondering if I can carry on watching Babylon 5 in this compromised form. Perhaps in the past when watching films in the correct aspect ratio was a dream and I frankly didn't even know what the term meant I would have been more forgiving and wouldn't have noticed. But it's difficult to forget all of that when you've become habitually laser focused on such things.
All The Time Lord Victorious Stories And Where To Buy Them.
TV The Time Lord Victorious multi-platform Doctor Who adventure seems incredibly intimidating with its many releases. The notion is that it can either all be consumed or rather like Glastonbury you can pick and choose what you're interested in. But we're Doctor Who fans so we want to do it all and in the correct order.
The commercial website for the show has a timeline but as the TARDIS Datacore entry indicates it doesn't include all of the stories and even used in conjunction with the release schedule requires a bit of leg work in order to work out how to access everything. So I thought I'd do the leg work for you. Let me know if anything is missing.
THE FRACTURED UNIVERSE
The Last Message (Video Trailer)
See above.
The Last Message (short story)
Accompanies Doctor Who Figurine Collection Time Lord Victorious #1 available here.
Daleks! (Animated Series)
Released on YouTube. Here are the links.
01: The Archive of Islos
02: The Sentinel of the Fifth Galaxy
03: Planet of the Mechanoids
04: The Deadly Ally
05: Day of Reckoning
The Restoration Empire (short story)
In these three issues of Doctor Who Figurine Collection Time Lord Victorious. The TARDIS Datacore has a synopsis.
Defender of the Daleks (Comic)
Published by Titan Comics. There are links on their website offering options to buy physical copies.
Issue One
Issue Two
Or you can buy the whole lot as a digital graphic novel for Kindle or Comixology.
Master Thief/Lesser Evils (Audio)
A download from Big Finish.
Echoes of Extinction (Eighth Doctor) (Audio)
A download from Big Finish or Vinyl at Asda depending on the pandemic. Watch this page for details.
Can I Help You? (short story)
On the Brian The Ood t-shirt here. You can read the text here.
He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not (Audio)
A CD and download from Big Finish.
The Enemy of my Enemy (Audio)
A CD and download from Big Finish.
The Waters of Mars (TV)
It's on the BBC iPlayer. If you want to buy a physical copy, it's available on BD as part of the Road To The Dark Times sampler which also includes Planet of the Daleks, Genesis of the Daleks, The Deadly Assassin, State of Decay, The Curse of Fenric and The Runaway Bride all of which reference of feature species from The Dark Times (they're all on Britbox too). Also on The Complete Specials boxset.
What the TARDIS thought of ‘Time Lord Victorious’ (Short Story)
You can read this here.
THE DARK TIMES
The Dawn of the Kotturuh (Short Story)
On the official commercial website here. Password is "darktimes".
River Song's Guide To The Dark Times (Book)
It's in the Doctor Who Official Annual 2021.
Monstrous Beauty (Comic)
Published in Doctor Who Magazine across three issues. Issues 556 and 558 are both still available from Panini, 557 is at Forbidden Planet:
Doctor Who Magazine 556
Doctor Who Magazine 557
Doctor Who Magazine 558
Pocketmags has digital editions:
Doctor Who Magazine 556
Doctor Who Magazine 557
Doctor Who Magazine 558
The Knight, The Fool and the Dead (Book)
Amazon link.
All Flesh is Grass (Book, Chapters One to Three)
Amazon link.
The Minds of Magnox (Audio)
Amazon link.
Tales of the Dark Times (Comic Creator)
Doctor Who Comic Creator is an art app on the Apple and Amazon app stores and Google Play. Once downloaded the Time Lord Victorious pack is available as an in-app download for £2.99.
Mission to the Known (Short Story)
Accompanies Doctor Who Figurine Collection Time Lord Victorious #1 available here. The TARDIS Datacore has a synopsis.
All Flesh is Grass (Book, Chapter Four until end)
Amazon link.
Mutually Assured Destruction (Audio)
A CD and download from Big Finish.
Exit Strategy (Short Story)
Accompanies Doctor Who Figurine Collection Time Lord Victorious #2 available here. The TARDIS Datacore has a synopsis.
THE VICTORIOUS DAYS
The Hollow Planet (Game)
This Escape Hunt Print and Play game can be bought from this link. The tie-in website is free to visit here.
Genetics of the Daleks (Audio)
A CD and download from Big Finish.
A Dalek Awakens (Escape Room)
Tickets can be booked here.
The Edge of Time (VR Game)
Purchase options here.
Time Fracture (Immersive Experience)
Opens in Spring 2021. Details here.
UNIT Field Logs
YouTube links:
14681 UNIT Field Log
14682 UNIT Field Log
14683 UNIT Field Log
14684 UNIT Field Log
Canaries (Book)
Read it here and as part of the Wintertime Paradox anthology.
Echoes of Extinction (Tenth Doctor) (Audio)
A download from Big Finish or Vinyl at Asda depending on the pandemic. Watch this page for details.
Secrets of Time Lord Victorious (Short Story)
Available as part of the Doctor Who commercial site's newsletter which doesn't appear to have an online version. The TARDIS Datacore has a synopsis.
Or you can buy the whole lot as a digital graphic novel for Kindle or Comixology.
Master Thief/Lesser Evils (Audio)
A download from Big Finish.
Echoes of Extinction (Eighth Doctor) (Audio)
A download from Big Finish or Vinyl at Asda depending on the pandemic. Watch this page for details.
Can I Help You? (short story)
On the Brian The Ood t-shirt here. You can read the text here.
He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not (Audio)
A CD and download from Big Finish.
The Enemy of my Enemy (Audio)
A CD and download from Big Finish.
The Waters of Mars (TV)
It's on the BBC iPlayer. If you want to buy a physical copy, it's available on BD as part of the Road To The Dark Times sampler which also includes Planet of the Daleks, Genesis of the Daleks, The Deadly Assassin, State of Decay, The Curse of Fenric and The Runaway Bride all of which reference of feature species from The Dark Times (they're all on Britbox too). Also on The Complete Specials boxset.
What the TARDIS thought of ‘Time Lord Victorious’ (Short Story)
You can read this here.
THE DARK TIMES
The Dawn of the Kotturuh (Short Story)
On the official commercial website here. Password is "darktimes".
River Song's Guide To The Dark Times (Book)
It's in the Doctor Who Official Annual 2021.
Monstrous Beauty (Comic)
Published in Doctor Who Magazine across three issues. Issues 556 and 558 are both still available from Panini, 557 is at Forbidden Planet:
Doctor Who Magazine 556
Doctor Who Magazine 557
Doctor Who Magazine 558
Pocketmags has digital editions:
Doctor Who Magazine 556
Doctor Who Magazine 557
Doctor Who Magazine 558
The Knight, The Fool and the Dead (Book)
Amazon link.
All Flesh is Grass (Book, Chapters One to Three)
Amazon link.
The Minds of Magnox (Audio)
Amazon link.
Tales of the Dark Times (Comic Creator)
Doctor Who Comic Creator is an art app on the Apple and Amazon app stores and Google Play. Once downloaded the Time Lord Victorious pack is available as an in-app download for £2.99.
Mission to the Known (Short Story)
Accompanies Doctor Who Figurine Collection Time Lord Victorious #1 available here. The TARDIS Datacore has a synopsis.
All Flesh is Grass (Book, Chapter Four until end)
Amazon link.
Mutually Assured Destruction (Audio)
A CD and download from Big Finish.
Exit Strategy (Short Story)
Accompanies Doctor Who Figurine Collection Time Lord Victorious #2 available here. The TARDIS Datacore has a synopsis.
THE VICTORIOUS DAYS
The Hollow Planet (Game)
This Escape Hunt Print and Play game can be bought from this link. The tie-in website is free to visit here.
Genetics of the Daleks (Audio)
A CD and download from Big Finish.
A Dalek Awakens (Escape Room)
Tickets can be booked here.
The Edge of Time (VR Game)
Purchase options here.
Time Fracture (Immersive Experience)
Opens in Spring 2021. Details here.
UNIT Field Logs
YouTube links:
14681 UNIT Field Log
14682 UNIT Field Log
14683 UNIT Field Log
14684 UNIT Field Log
Canaries (Book)
Read it here and as part of the Wintertime Paradox anthology.
Echoes of Extinction (Tenth Doctor) (Audio)
A download from Big Finish or Vinyl at Asda depending on the pandemic. Watch this page for details.
Secrets of Time Lord Victorious (Short Story)
Available as part of the Doctor Who commercial site's newsletter which doesn't appear to have an online version. The TARDIS Datacore has a synopsis.
Lockdown Links #7
No mask, no shop - UK supermarkets insist on face coverings:
"Tesco, Asda and Waitrose will not let shoppers into their stores if they are not wearing a face covering, the British supermarket groups said on Tuesday, joining rivals Sainsbury’s and Morrisons which made the policy change a day earlier."
Public Radio Stations Rebuke 'N.Y. Times' Over Actions In Correcting 'Caliphate':
"An influential group of more than 20 public radio stations in major cities across the country are condemning the actions of The New York Times and its star host of the hit podcast The Daily, Michael Barbaro, in addressing the collapse of the newspaper's award-winning audio series, Caliphate."
Seven shows for lockdown 2021 that you probably haven't watched yet:
"Check out these top TV shows to try."
D.C.’s Vaccine Jackpots Are Getting Out of Control:
"Pharmacies have quietly been offering leftover COVID-19 shots to random people in the store. You can guess where this goes."
“This is a Nightmare:” Big Bang Comics’ John Hendrick on European Comics Retail, Post-Brexit:
"You may have heard of this whole Brexit thing. The departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union has been an eternal process, lasting since the beginning of time and causing an unbelievable amount of stress and debate over that span of time."
Rebekah: the techno DJ fighting sexual abuse in dance music:
"As #MeToo stories start to emerge in the dance scene, UK star Rebekah tells her own as she presses for industry change with her #ForTheMusic campaign."
The art and craft of screen graphics – interview with Daniel Højlund:
"Continuing the ongoing series of interviews on fantasy user interfaces, it’s my pleasure to welcome Daniel Højlund. In this interview he talks about the evolution of motion design in the last ten years, his work process, the balance between ideas and tools, and the pace of working on big sci-fi film productions. In between and around, Daniel dives deeper into his work on “American Assassin”, “The Martian”, “Blade Runner:2049” and the recently released “Pacific Rim: Uprising”."
Writing Godzilla:
"Godzilla was written in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico — Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin’s favourite screenwriting ground. The first draft was started in late October 1996, and was completed in December the 19th of the same year."
Doctor Who The TV Movie Target Paperback:
[From Gary Russell on Twitter: "Look at this glorious cover by Anthony Dry. Beautiful, utterly beautiful. And yes, the text has been *slightly* updated from the original with a couple of moments I was asked to take out in 1996 now put back in, some better geography and a few errors corrected. V proud of this."]
Amazon Unveils A Synopsis For The Lord Of The Rings Series:
"Having spent boatloads of money to secure the rights to, and produce a series based on JRR Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings, Amazon has been at work on the show in New Zealand. And the first official synopsis for the series is online."
Complete Index of Every Film Reviewed in the Theatrical Release Section of Empire Magazine.
When the lockdown hit, I took out subscriptions to just three magazines. Doctor Who's parish circular, Sight and Sound and Empire and of the three that was the only one for which I didn't have access to the complete archive. So after saving some pennys here and there, I set about listing was missing and making the relevant orders. In the late 90s, I managed to buy about five years worth of Empires at a car book sale for about a fiver which meant that I wasn't down by that many issues but some of the earlist numbers are not cheap. Nevertheless, I now have the whole of Empire Magazine (ish, see below) sitting underneath the table I'm writing this on, plus a few other places because god knows there's a lot of them.
Then I had an idea that I'd catch up on all of the films they've ever reviewed in the theatrical release section. That necessitated creating a database containing such a list and that kept me busy in odd moments throughout the back end of last year finishing on Christmas Eve. How many could there be? Up to the end of 2020, nine thousand four hundred and sixty four (9464). Which, even taking into account everything which is either not available, wildly expensive due to having had their DVD deleted ten years ago and anything which I've seen and don't wish to see again, that's impossible. Plus, barring reissue, it ignores everything released before the middle of 1989. So I'm going back to the old method of watching anything which looks interesting ...
Which then left me this database and what to do with it and so inevitably I'm posting it on this blog in case its of use to future researchers who want to see the reviews in context rather than just on the Empire website and need a roadmap on where to look. In some cases, what's online comes from a later DVD or BD review, especially films which have been reappraised. But the majority are just as they originally apppeared. Of course the really stupid thing for me to do would be to have linked everything in this list to the relevant reviews, but honestly I have better things to do. Or at least I keep telling myself that. Since the Empire Magazine website itself doesn't have a search function, I've created a dedicated Google should you want to look for anything.
Some caveats. This is a very long list, typed very quickly (so no page numbers or star ratings). Let me know if there's anything outrageous through the usual channels. It's also incomplete. There are two issues missing which I know for a fact I've owned at some point but have re-ordered and so I'll add them in when possible. The years refer to the dates on the magazines so issues released in December of a year which have a January date on them with be labeled with the following year. Also remember, this won't be everything theatrically released in the UK each month, just what Empire deemed necessary for them to review (which explains some glaring omissions).
All Flesh Is Grass (Time Lord Victorious).
Multi-Doctor stories are always about the differences and Una carefully delineates their perspectives between the still optimistic Eighth Doctor, Ninth nursing his survivor guilt and Tenth believing himself powerful enough to have the power of mortality in his hands. The cover art tells you everything you need to know about him, wearing that itchy Gallifreyan head gear and robes as though he's become the symbol of some manifest destiny. When Tenth described himself as Time Lord Victorious in The Waters of Mars, this was the fearful character that we assumed he would become. When he tells Wilf later about it all going wrong, he could just as easily be referring to this.
The author captures Eighth perfectly, especially his passive aggressive sarcasm and although Tenth remains the focus, he's given plenty of action as the consequences of his own alliance with the Daleks becomes all too real. Castellan knows what readers who haven't heard the Big Finish audios think since they're all tied together pretty tightly and the book only gives the briefest explanation for how they ended up working together or how he and Brian the Ood assasin know each other. But that's the point of these cross platform franchise promotion. To draw the consumer into enjoying as much of it as possible.
But honestly its just a pleasure to have the Eighth Doctor in novelistic prose again outside of the many short stories which have appeared since The Gallifrey Chronicles. Until recently he's been thought of a classic Doctor but since Time of the Doctor, he's become a kind of bridging incarnation between the two, although Big Finish have brought those barriers down considerably anyway with the Tenth Doctor turning up all over the shop thanks David Tennant keeping himself busy between series of Staged. Hey Big Finish, Michael Sheen is right there.
The book even manages to provide a more nuanced explanation for how the Doctor doesn't remember meeting his other selves between adventures but often refers back to them. They both remember and don't. The memories of these meetings return when they're in each other's company but submerge at other times. My guess is that it also has to be matching incarnations. Ninth still believes Gallifrey was destroyed because he wasn't a part of The Day of the Doctor and that adventure is still in this Tenth's future.
Placement: Well, yes indeed. Firstly, I'd thought I'd missed something at the start of the Mutually Assured Destruction audio and yes, it turns out All Flesh Is Grass bridges the gap between that and The Enemy of My Enemy, so I'll have to shufty them around. But despite the theme music on the audios, this Eighth Doctor feels earlier that the Time War version. At one point he references not popping back to visit Romana and K9 on Gallifrey often enough which doesn't seem consistent with his Time War inclination. So I'm moving the whole lot to the start of the Time War era for now. But honestly it might as well be just before Shada.
Lockdown Links #6
BBC Philharmonic binaural recordings:
"Binaural sound gives headphone listeners a realistic impression of 3D space. Sounds can come from all around you, including above and below, giving a greater feeling of immersion."
Streaming: the restless career of Nicolas Cage:
"While the actor turns the air blue in Netflix’s History of Swear Words, delve into his eclectic back catalogue from Moonstruck to Mandy."
Magic at the End of the Lane: ‘Classic’ Doctor Who, from An Unearthly Child on January 1st to The TV Movie on December 31st:
"(Day Nine — January 9th 2021 Wall of Eyes and Rider From Shang-Tu) I’ve got a bit of a fascination with the TARDIS. Not so much the fictional TARDIS as it appears within Doctor Who, but rather the TARDIS as a prop or a set used in the production of the programme. You may have noticed that in this blog already, because I keep pointing out what I think are interesting things about the prop as I go along."
Remake/remodel: 45 weird and wonderful alternative film cuts:
"All films exist in slightly different cuts but sometimes the alternative versions are fascinating in their own right, with entirely new scenes and different rhythms that enable them to stand on their own against the original. We pick some of the most intriguing examples."
WindowSwap:
"Let's face it. We are all stuck indoors. And it's going to be a while till we travel again. Window Swap is here to fill that deep void in our wanderlust hearts by allowing us to look through someone else's window, somewhere in the world, for a while. A place on the internet where all we travel hungry fools share our 'window views' to help each other feel a little bit better till we can (responsibly) explore our beautiful planet again. Let's travel without moving for now. Let's window swap."
Have a taste of ‘gumbo diplomacy’ by making this Biden nominee’s classic recipe:
"Anyone who has served a big pot of gumbo to family and friends knows exactly what Linda Thomas-Greenfield means when she refers to “gumbo diplomacy.”"
Bong Joon-Ho Talks 괴물 (The Host):
"The budget's scale might be similar, but what we wanted to show and how we do it is completely different. Also, the film doesn't cling to spectacle like many Hollywood blockbusters do. So if you really have to compare it to a foreign film, it might still follow the alien theme, but more than Independence Day it would be something focusing on the family like Signs maybe?"
The Day the Great Apes Died: The Legacy of the 1995 Philadelphia Zoo Fire:
"Twenty-five years ago, the tragedy at the World of Primates building broke the city’s heart and raised a loaded question: What, exactly, do we owe the animals in our care?"
Simon Pegg on where the four Beatles' voices are found in your mouth:
"In this 41-second video, Simon Pegg describes his party trick of showing how to do Beatles impressions based on where they are in your mouth. John is high in your head, Paul is higher, George is on the side of your mouth, and Ringo is right up front."
Lucy and Ardi: The two fossils that changed human history:
"Kermit Pattison, author of Fossil Men: The Quest for the Oldest Ancestor and the Origins of Humankind, tells the story of two skeletons that changed our understanding of the evolution of humans."
Lockdown Links #5
Transformers: The Movie and The Great Toy Massacre of 1986:
"Transformers: The Movie traumatized a generation of kids with a string of startling deaths."
DOCTOR WHO – ‘Revolution of the Daleks’ reviewed by Frank Collins:
"The Doctor escapes from her alien prison with the help of an old friend, and returns to help prevent a disaster."
[Editor's note: Absolutely fair summation of what was a deeply average episode. Chris Chibnall's best decision as showrunner was to hire Jodie Whittaker. His worst was deciding to write some episodes himself. Apart from the odd bright spot usually credited someone else, his tenure has been a catastrophe.]
Climate change: 2020 in a dead heat for world's warmest year:
"New data from EU satellites shows that 2020 is in a statistical dead heat with 2016 as the world's warmest year."
[Editor's note: Of course is bloody is. I'll shut up now.]
The untold truth of Jif peanut butter:
"Peanut butter has a long and interesting history. Evidence points to the Incas being the first people to grind peanuts, and the first person who made peanut butter in the United States was John Harvey Kellogg, who invented a form of it in 1895 (via National Peanut Board). Jif was born more than half a century later in 1958 (via Jif)."
Food at 20: its biggest year:
"20 years ago when BBC Food was first created we would never have imagined how we’d be celebrating its 20th anniversary. The average weekly traffic across all weeks in 2020 was 3.4m unique UK browsers, which was up +74% on the average for the previous calendar year. The peak weekly traffic came at Easter with 6.4m UK unique browsers.. That’s quite a birthday party!"
Chicken tikka masala:
"Chicken tikka masala – we love you. A quintessential British recipe and one that shouldn't rely on a phone call to the takeaway."
What Would Statehood for Washington, D.C. Mean?
"On Wednesday night, Democrats clinched a narrow majority in the Senate, wresting control of both chambers of Congress for the first time since 2011."
Ian McKellen Shares Regret Over Not Realizing Elliot Page’s Struggle on ‘X-Men’ Set:
"McKellen reflects on Page's "difficulty with communicating" during the production of "X-Men."
Roku acquires Quibi’s content:
"Quibi is dead, but its shows will live on."
What I learned playing 30+ years’ worth of Jeopardy! video games:
"From the Apple II to PS4, digital Jeopardy! spans 40+ games and traces the medium's history."
Mutually Assured Destruction (Time Lord Victorious).
Lockdown Links #4
Doctor Who's Sacha Dhawan on his battle with anxiety: 'Getting help was scary':
"The young actor, who plays the timelord’s arch enemy The Master, talks about his meaty new role in The Great – and reveals how he overcame the fears that used to leave him traumatised in his trailer."
What Anxiety Does to Your Brain and What You Can Do About It:
"Anxiety is a perfectly normal and natural part of being a human. There are always going to be times when we’re more nervous or worried than others, but for some, anxiety is a much stronger, more fearsome force—one that never goes away. But what is anxiety exactly, and what’s going on in your mind (and your body) when it strikes? How do you cope when it takes hold?"
Scoring The West Wing: Q&A With W.G. Snuffy Walden:
"Composer W.G. Snuffy Walden on putting The White House to music."
Blue badge permit 'shocking disparity' revealed:
"People with non-visible disabilities such as autism or Parkinson's disease face a "shocking disparity" when applying for a blue badge parking permit, a BBC investigation has found."
A midsummer night's sax comedy: the return of the lost Shakespeare jazz musical:
"It had the hottest musicians, the coolest singers – and Louis Armstrong playing Bottom. But Swingin’ the Dream was a $2m flop. Can the RSC breathe new life into this big band take on the bard?"
Williamson Art Gallery closure threat would 'leave many people's lives much lonelier':
"Campaigners say losing the 92-year-old gallery would 'leave many people's lives much emptier and lonelier'"
Alfre Woodard Discusses Police Violence and the Ending of Clemency:
"Clemency, the 2019 film directed and written by Chinonye Chukwu, is a masterwork. It centers on the life of Bernadine Williams (played by the marvelous Alfre Woodard), a death row warden facing her 12th execution — that of Anthony Woods (a striking performance by Aldis Hodge)."
Putney to Manchester:
"As part of a Tomorrow's World investigation into transport efficiency, BBC producer Paul Ferris attempts to travel from south-west London to Manchester on foot, buses, underground, overground, BEA coaches and plane. He discovers that it is a bit of a faff. Originally broadcast 6 January 1966."
The Generation that Doesn’t Believe Helen Keller Existed:
"And what that says about the world we’re growing up in."
Microsoft tried to buy Nintendo, but got laughed out of the room:
"The company wanted Nintendo's software for the original Xbox."
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