I am Ashley Elsdon

someone who's doing some things

Tag: TV

Yep, TV stuff. I like watching TV. Not all TV, but some shows.

I liked Mr Corman

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I have to admit that I only watched this because I like Joseph Gordon-Levitt and I thought that the premise was quite interesting. I finished it just the other day and overall I really liked it. I thought it touched on a lot of issues that people have faced over the last couple of years.

I also really liked watching him make music with a range of different devices, some of which I’ve used and owned in the past.

It was a shame that it was cancelled. I think that a second season of it would have been interesting. I know I would have watched it.

His Dark Materials (BBC)

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I was aware of this story and the books, but had never really thought about reading them. So when the BBC announced their new series I decided to give it a go. I have to admit that I had low expectations as they’d not exactly done a great job with War of the Worlds.

But, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. It was actually very good indeed. I watched all of the episodes, and, whilst I can’t say it was a story that I found totally gripping or interesting, it was actually good.

I think they’re making more of this too. I would definitely watch more if they do. If nothing else I expect it’ll be diverting.

The other thing it’s made me do is to get the first of the audio books. I haven’t started listening to it as yet, but I’ll get to it eventually.

Revisiting Survivors

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Survivors is a relatively little known TV show from the 1970s. It was about a virus that killed off almost the entire population of the planet. The people who were left were the ‘Survivors’. This is of course the subject of quite a lot of TV shows and films these days, but back then I think it was quite ground breaking.

It only got 3 seasons on TV, but, a few years ago, Big Finish, a company that makes some of my favourite audiobooks brought it back, with the three lead actors as well. Big Finish produced 9 seasons of it, each with 4 hour long episodes. It was brilliant. In fact, so much so that I’m revisiting the whole thing this year. Starting with the TV series. Which, in my opinion, stands the test of time, and is actually better than a lot of TV these days.

Survivors from the 1970s took a slow approach to storytelling. Or maybe that was the norm back then? Either way, it took its time in each episode. It had a natural feel too that somehow made it more believable.

I’ve enjoyed watching this again, and remembering the characters, the story and the where it took us.

Now that I’ve finished watching it I’m going to move on to listening to all of the audio stories that Big Finish Productions created. There are 9 box sets of these, so that will probably take me a while to get through I should think. When I do, I think I might post a summary of my thoughts on the whole thing.

The Dark Crystal

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THE DARK CRYSTAL: AGE OF RESISTANCE

When I first heard that Netflix was going to make a series based on the Dark Crystal, I have to admit I was somewhat skeptical about the whole thing. However, I knew I was going to at least give it a try, as I’d been a fan of the original film from when it first came out.

I was, like many others I suspect, very happily surprised by just how good it was. Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is an excellent series that is entirely in keeping with the original and very respectful to everything that the film did. I’ve enjoyed it so much that I’ve now watched the whole thing twice, and gone back to watch the original movie too.

In fact, I’ve now started reading the Dark Crystal Creation Myths graphic novels too. I suppose I’ve become a little obsessed with it, although there’s nothing especially wrong with that.

I was very pleased to hear that another season is also in offing, and I’m certainly looking forward to that. Personally I’m not sure I can get quite enough Dark Crystal for now.

But why is it so compelling? Why has it been such a hit? Sure, there are plenty of people who remember the original movie and have nothing but fond memories of it, but I think it’s more than that. Dark Crystal is a very traditional story of good versus evil. There’s nothing new there, but it isn’t always as simple as that. It’s about community, and joining forces, about loyalty and innocence and friendship too.

THE DARK CRYSTAL: AGE OF RESISTANCE

BBC’s War of the Worlds

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I was actually really looking forward to seeing this. However, it has been a massive disappointment. It is actually one of the worst things I’ve seen, and most certainly the worst rendering of this story ever, and I include the Tom Cruise version, which was decidedly awful too.

I don’t really understand how they got it so wrong though. I mean, there’s a book. They read the book right? It doesn’t take much to get this right. They left out a load of stuff though. Stuff that was in the actual story, and they put in a load of stuff that wasn’t in the story. I’m not entirely sure why though.

It seems to me that this is a result of a very simple error that can be boiled down into a simple equation.

Original Story + Useless Additions – Cool stuff from the original = Crap Version

Sure, that’s probably an oversimplification, but basically it’s what happened, and it should have been totally avoidable.

As far as I can tell, no one (in their right mind) thought this was any good at all. I’d agree. However, if you’re interested in a far superior version, that is audio only, then you should try the version that Big Finish produced.

Big Finish’s version of War of the Worlds

Now this is excellent. Really good and really enjoyable. I can thoroughly recommend it.

Citizen Smith

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Tooting Popular Front

If you don’t remember Citizen Smith (and you’d need to be of a certain age to do so), then this post is probably not for you. Citizen Smith was a sitcom back in the late 1970’s. It ran for about 3 years and was probably quite good for its time.

A couple of years ago I posted about its return, but it seems that hasn’t happened. I can’t even remember where I heard about it.

The other night I got the DVD out of seasons 1 and 2 and started to watch them. I’d started this before, when I bought the DVDs, but hadn’t got very far. Once again I didn’t get very far. Why? Mainly because it was really awful.

When I say awful, I don’t mean awful by 1970’s standards, I mean by today’s standards, which is of course totally unfair. Judging this show by today’s criteria makes no sense at all. It wasn’t written or performed by those standards and it shouldn’t be watched by those either. That’s hard though. When I watch this I simply can’t help but see it in terms of what is in my opinion good for now.

In reality it was a great show for its day. I can remember enjoying it back then, and the fact that I can’t really enjoy it now shouldn’t damage that memory.

I’d still like to see a reboot of it though. I think that could be fun.

For now, I don’t think I’ll be putting those DVDs back in the player.

Watching Star Trek, from the start …

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I’ve just finished watching what was the final iteration of Star Trek, “Enterprise”. Of course “Enterprise” was set before the original series of Star Trek, but was the last to be made. Having watched it I’ve now started watched the original series from the start as it’s just turned up on netflix. In fact, it isn’t the only Star Trek series that’s arrived on netflix. In fact they’ve now got the original series, TNG, DS9 and Voyager too. So I now have a unique opportunity, I can watch every episode in strict chronological order.

And that’s what I plan to do now. I’ll be going through the lot!

Watching the Colony

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I’ve been watching this series since episode 1, and now it’s on episode 7. So far I’m still not entirely sure what is going on at all. It seems to be about a post alien invasion world, but there have been no aliens in it at all so far and all I can work out is that there are a bunch of rebels and a lot of people trying to hunt them down.

It feels like it should be good, but as I’m still not entirely sure what is happening I can’t be certain. I’d like it to be good. I’d like there to be some aliens as well, but so far, not so much.