TV – Page 6 – I am Ashley Elsdon

Making my way through the third Doctor, Colony in Space

Posted by ashleyelsdonon February 9, 2016in TVLeave a comment

So I’m slowly collecting the Third Doctor, and, currently, not in any kind of chronological order, as I’m sure you can tell. However, I will be remedying that soon enough. For now I’ve been watching the Colony in Space, which, certainly by today’s standards is a very violent story. It was the 70’s of course and different standards applied, we shouldn’t forget that. Even so, I think that the body count was probably high for its time.

All things being equal I thought it was a good story. Of its time of course, and quite different in every way to the Doctor Who of today (that’s a good thing of course). The Master is possibly one of the most changed elements from later Doctor Who. Roger Delgado’s Master is very different even from the later Master of Logopolis (a personal fav of mine).

It’s certainly interesting to watch, and completely enjoyable to see Mr Pertwee. He was an excellent Doctor.

Doctor Who, The Time Warrior, Sarah-Jane Smith’s first adventure

Posted by ashleyelsdonon February 3, 2016in TVLeave a comment

This is a great story. Sarah-Jane’s first outing with the Doctor, and a great one to start off with too. Sontarans are always good fun right!

I hadn’t seen this in ages, but it really has stood the test of time, and, as ever, Pertwee is brilliant.

Finished watching Planet of the Apes, the TV series

Posted by ashleyelsdonon February 1, 2016in TVLeave a comment

I’ve said it before, I’m a big fan of Planet of the Apes, in all its iterations. Of course, my favourites are the original films from 1968 to 1973. Above is the TV series which came out in 1974 and ran for only 14 episodes.

Having watched it again in 2016 I realise that it was very much like a lot of other TV series in the 70’s. Built to run as long as possible, with a handful (in this case 2 humans and an ape) of good guys going from place to place and doing good, righting wrongs etc. There are plenty of examples of this kind of TV show from the period.

The sad thing is that the TV version of Planet of the Apes wasn’t about the story at all. It started off being about the story and then devolved into a weekly story about going from village to village. When it ran out of episodes the series didn’t even end. There was no closure at all. It was a shame really.

So now I’ve only got one more DVD to watch. The animated series, which is apparently not bad. We’ll see, and I’ll let you know what I think.

3rd Doctor … The Mind of Evil

Posted by ashleyelsdonon January 31, 2016in TVLeave a comment

This is a great old story 3rd Doctor story. An excellent performance from Roger Delgado and of course from Mr Pertwee himself. I really liked this story and it has been restored beautifully as well.

This version comes on 2 discs. The second disc has some really good extras on it and some very interesting revelations about how the production was put together and the issues that it faced.

The restoration job on the series was really good, both picture and audio. I have to say I was very impressed with it.

I’d seen this story on TV in the not too distant past so it wasn’t totally new to me, but it was good to see it nevertheless.

The final piece of this puzzle

Posted by ashleyelsdonon January 25, 2016January 24, 2016in TVLeave a comment

I’ve watched all of the original films, the TV series, and this is the final piece in the puzzle for me. It’ll be interesting to see how this one leaves things. From what I’ve read it is quite different from the previous interpretations.

Of course I’ve still got the book to read too.

Thunderbirds, the original, and what’s coming …

Posted by ashleyelsdonon January 5, 2016January 4, 2016in TVLeave a comment

These pictures are from the upcoming new episodes that were funded via Kickstarter last year. I’m really looking forward to seeing them, and in preparation I’ve been making my way through all of the original episodes, which is no minor task I can tell you. I’m only disc 4 so far, but it’s worth it. I’m enjoying seeing them again.

Return to the Planet of the Apes

Posted by ashleyelsdonon January 1, 2016in TVLeave a comment

I was researching around the Planet of the Apes stories to see what other things I’d missed, and I came across this spin off which was made after the original film, and after the TV series. It has a different view of the ape culture where the apes are more sophisticated and have a higher technology culture than portrayed in both the films and in the TV series. Apparently this is more in keeping with the original book, which I’m sad to say I’ve never read! I must put that right soon though.

So I’m planning on getting hold of this at some point soon, although possibly after I’ve watched the whole of the TV series.

Looking forward to the new episodes of Thunderbirds

Posted by ashleyelsdonon December 28, 2015December 28, 2015in TVLeave a comment

I kickstarted these new episodes a while back and I’m really looking forward to them, but I’m expecting to only watch them when I’ve got through the entire existing set of episodes. Only then will I watch the new ones. I want to get it done in order you know.

Anyway, the picture above was on the Christmas email from the project. It looks pretty cool. I can’t wait to see what they’ve done.

Thunderbirds are go!

Posted by ashleyelsdonon December 27, 2015December 27, 2015in TVLeave a comment

Always loved Thunderbirds as a kid, can’t stop now. I’m sure I’ve seen all the original episodes, but, as I’ve kickstarted the new 3 episodes coming next month, I wanted to have a complete set. Now I do. Now I’m going to watch the lot!

Planet of the Apes, the TV series (1974)

Posted by ashleyelsdonon December 27, 2015December 27, 2015in TVLeave a comment

I am a big fan of Planet of the Apes, in all its iterations. My favourite being the original films dating from 1968 to 1973. This is the TV series which came out in 1974 and ran for 14 episodes. I remember seeing it on TV, although I’m guessing that was reruns. Of course, after that was the Tim Burton remake in 2001 and more recently the two movies, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”, and “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”, both of which I’ve thought were well made and good interpretations of the story.

I’m enjoying watching these again and seeing how the makers were trying to create a nice long running season of episodes, but sadly only got 14 out.

I’m going to be interested to see what the next film in the current series does. It is meant to come out in 2017. I’m hoping that they’ll do more than just the next one, that they’ll take the story into a new direction too. Let’s see.