Beyond the Roundels

So, I was absolutely, definitely going to get on with doing the serious editing needed on the Yule-fic tonight.

And, um, somehow I felt the need to do the Onion Headline meme with Dracula instead. Someone had better appreciate my obscure fannish procrastination, so here, have a meme:

( I'm still not sure how Jonathan avoided being in this, so clearly I need to try again harder next time )

Thank you, and good night. (Yes, I may still be rather tired. *hand waves* *strange things fall out of my photo editor*

(Not an obvious combination of TV series, lol, but linked by a common factor & what that is you can probably guess.)

Anyway, I have been watching the BBC's 1980s biopic Oppenheimer lately, starring Sam Waterston. It also features in the 7th and final episode some guy called James Maxwell as Lloyd Garrison.

I did enjoy it, but it was also slightly distressing as this is my last bit of James Maxwell available on DVD that is new to me. (There are, though, two things available by online methods that I need to get to, I just keep hoping that either they'll release a DVD or Talking Pictures will oblige me by showing them, as I'm not great at watching stuff online.) But still. I get through the bad stuff by reminding myself that if things get to their worst, I might be able to purchase some James Maxwell! What's a person to do when there is NO MORE?*

Anyway, it was very good, although in that taking-it-very-seriously-practically-a-docudrama way that I thought even the BBC had done with by 1980. It even still had a narrator (John Carson, liadt). I think it could easily have lost an episode, too (half of episode 1 could have gone, for a start). As I knew only the vaguest things about the Manhattan Project prior to this, I can't comment on accuracy, although old time BBC usually at least try quite hard.

It was, though, aside from the two or three Genuine Americans who had been enticed over by the prospect, a field day for people who can do dodgy foreign accents, plus all the regular Americans and Canadians based in the UK. I ticked them off as they popped up, and my only question was, when would Ed Bishop arrive?

The answer was, as it turned out, episode 4. *g*

But Sam Waterston was very good, and it also had David Suchet as Edward Teller, coming into his own with his first major TV role, and, the dodgy-accent brigade included Milton Johns! In an actual proper serious role! Amazing. Bless him.**


I have also, hence the unlikely title, finally got round to screencapping the Bognor installment in which James Maxwell and Patrick Troughton are both monks in a honey-making religious community that is rocked by MURDER and espionage. I have brought pics. You can thank me later. :-D

( I don't even know what to label half of this )



* Rewatch previous purchases, obviously. *happily disappears into Girl on Approval for a bit*

** He had to try and sell the scene in The Android Invasion in classic Who where he discovered that he was not missing an eye, he just hadn't ever thought to look under his eyepatch! So obv. he deserves all the good things, even if he hadn't already earned a lot of audience fondness for somehow being ridiculously likeable while playing all the slimy creeps in 70s & 80s children's TV. His accent was the dodgiest, but he was otherwise very good indeed in it.

This morning, I woke to find an excellent new Sapphire & Steel fic in the Past Imperfect collection, and then had cause to mention the series to a flister. This must mean today's thing I love is going to have to be Sapphire and Steel.

And since there's been no easily available fandom primer anyway since eponymous_rose tragically locked down their journal and with it the best ever S&S intro, I may as well go full on manifesto here. Because Sapphire & Steel is a very odd series that is not going to be to everyone's taste, but it is truly amazing and original and worth trying if you have any interest in TV SF and a reasonable amount of patience for old time TV.

(I used/adapted some text and pics from an old manifesto for het_reccers on LJ, which is why they have a Photobucket logo on. Sorry about that.)


“There is a corridor. And the corridor is time. It surrounds all things and it passes through all things. You cannot enter into time, but sometimes time can enter into the present… break in and take things. Take people…" (Sapphire, Assignment 1)

S&S starred Joanna Lumley and David McCallum and ran from 1979-1982 (on ITV, aka The Other Channel, not the BBC), and while there are only 34x 25min episodes, broken down into six serials, known as "Assignments," it's been highly influential in much SF that's been made since. It was created by PJ Hammond, who'd written for Ace of Wands (UK 1970s fantasy children's series) and would later write two episodes for Torchwood, but is still most famous for Sapphire & Steel. It has the slow pace and low budget values of much British TV of the time - but takes the clever approach of turning both into virtues in a way that can still unsettle modern viewers.



All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension. Transuranic, heavy elements may not be used where there is life. Medium atomic weights are available: Gold, Lead, Copper, Jet, Diamond, Radium, Sapphire, Silver and Steel. Sapphire and Steel have been assigned.

The first rule of S&S is mystery. We don't know who or what Sapphire and Steel are. We know that they're not human, that they have strange powers (including telepathy) and that they are sent by a higher authority to intervene on our behalf against Time, which in the S&S universe is a malevolent force using any means it can to break free and wreak havoc. And by any means, we here mean paintings, photographs, clocks, pillows, motorway service stations, flowers and nursery rhymes. Everything is a potential "trigger" or threat.

PJ Hammond has said in interviews that he has no idea what Sapphire and Steel are, or where they came from. “It’s part of the mystery, not to know… Not knowing has never bothered me.” And: “I don’t think that Sapphire & Steel were ever human in the basic sense. … I think they come closer to representing the spirit and the soul.”

The Guiness Book of TV once summed it up by saying something like "There are many ways to hold a TV audience. Complete lack of explanation is not supposed to be one of them..." And yet, with S&S, it works. And, as you can tell, I love it.

So, basically, that's it. You can already go read the fanfic or run off to YouTube/place you obtain DVDs to watch it. Congratulations!

The main caveat (apart from "it's old TV, it is very static and often beige") is that it originally started as a children's show, and the trappings of that are still apparent in "Assignment 1" so be patient with the two child guest stars etc., as it will only get better from here. (I could advise you to start elsewhere, but you'd miss Lead and the only kind of explanation of the series we ever get, so it's best to give it a go and only skip it if you really can't be doing with the child actors.)

( More pics and much continued lack of explanation and some flailing and fic recs under the cut )

[In the interests of actually posting about things I watch, have this one I wrote in January! One day I may be up to date...]


I wanted to see The Borgias (BBC 1981) because it was what Alfred Burke did next after Enemy at the Door (and also had Simon Lack's final TV appearance - he died shortly afterwards). Also because the BBC went all out for it with location filming and getting Adolfo Celi as Rodrigo Borgia, but then it flopped completely, going up against Brideshead Revisited on ITV and was hastily pushed away into a late spot, so reviews were divided as to whether it was terrible or had just been unlucky.

I'm not entirely sure what to make of it: I don't think it's terrible - what it is, despite the location filming, is essentially standard old-school BBC historical drama, which had the misfortune of going up against something in (what was then) the more modern format. But it's also not that brilliant, either, although I think that because I really got rather fed up with Oliver Cotton's Cesare. It wasn't a bad performance, but it wasn't anything like as strong as Adolfo Celi, Anne-Louise Lambert, or Alfred Burke and yet he had the lion's share of the screen time, which made it an annoying experience. If you liked Oliver Cotton and his terrible wig/hair (? hard to be sure), it would be much better. Highlights included Peter Benson (the BBC's Henry VI) being ridiculously good in a tiny role (as ever) and Sam Dastor (the BBC 1979's Casca) turning up as Machiavelli, which was brilliant.

Also, to keep on the BBC Shakespeare theme, I now know where they got that wig they put on Tessa Peake in Two Gentleman of Verona. It's Anne-Louise Lambert's Lucrezia Borgia wig, I'll stake my life on it. The BBC couldn't run to two such long blonde crimped 15th C Italian wigs. It's just that it suits Anne-Louise Lambert and is fine in the more naturalistic lighting of The Borgias; it's appalling on Tessa Peake-Jones in the BBC Shakespeare's brightly-lit theatrical sets. (See: terrible fake hair I'm still not over.)

( Wig pics )

So, it's interesting, some good performances, presumably not bad on the historical accuracy front and Alfred Burke wound up pope (what else do you do with a man with the face of a saint, a librarian or a confidence trickster, after all? For the sake of humanity, he still had his beard). Not enough Alfred Burke, though. And far, far too much Oliver Cotton/his terrible hair.

Bonus, though: gif of Alfred Burke reacting to the news that his wine has been poisoned. The universe just continually lets one down, really.

( Cut for oh dear poison gif )

Since I was complaining a few posts ago about the lack of James Maxwell in Subway in the Sky, I should say:

a) That paid off - swordznsorcery pointed me to this Design for Loving campaign sheet from eBay, which has a large pic of Mr Maxwell, plus a synopsis and cast list, and then liadt pointed out that it is up on the BFIplayer here (although only for rental, and I'd have to watch it online and not keep it and rip it and cap it, but still; if lack of JM overcomes me anytime, I could do that). Plus, bonus pic!* (It was 1962, though. I can't remember why I had 1958 in my head. I should know by now there is no 1950s JM, however much I want to make that not be true.)

And b) my other film, The Third Secret, which I will have to talk about properly sometime (it was very pretty and complicated) coughed up a satisfactory cameo. ( Cut for pictorial proof )


* I don't know why James Maxwell looks like he's in a threesome there, though. Don't these people know that he only ever makes worshipful love to people's hands and would be tragically in the way?

Another of the things I've watched in the period since May, courtesy of the Drama channel, is the 1980s BBC WWII drama Tenko.

I knew that this featured Stephanie Beacham and Louise Jameson, and was largely written by some of the people who were responsible for Wish Me Luck (and some of The House of Eliott), and was about women PoW in Japanese internee camps in Singapore in WWII. And since I like both WML & HoE (both v female-centric 80s & 90s historical dramas) and also things that feature people trapped in relatively small spaces and ensemble casts, I recorded it.

I would write a sensible review, but what I didn't know was that:

Stephanie Cole is in it as a curmudgeonly lesbian atheist doctor who winds up making fast friends with a fearsome Dutch nun, even though she doesn't understand how that is a thing that is a thing. MY HEART.

But, yeah. It's addictive, your mileage will almost certainly vary, has a high death count (something like 14 regulars, mostly in the first season and a half, die, on or off screen), and MY HEART. I think probably I shall be requesting it for Yuletide.

It walks quite an difficult line and mostly, I felt, pretty well, given the subject matter and the fact that the majority of its main characters are privileged and prejudiced, being British (and Dutch) in Singapore, save for one storyline in The Reunion (which isn't bad as such, but they needed a whole series to tackle it properly if they were going to go there; as it is, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth). But YMMV, and I was a bit distracted by all the HEARTS IN MY EYES for most of it.

Anyway, this is why I'm relieved I can watch Secret Army and mostly just think, "Hmm, after this, I have to rewatch 'Allo 'Allo, don't I?" I can't go round casually giving my heart to every problematic old TV show that comes along, or what would be left of me?


I also bought S2 of ITV's 70s anthology series, The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes with my birthday money. As the name implies, this is a set of dramatisations of other late Victorian detectives who aren't Sherlock. I got S2 because it promised me more Douglas Wilmer (BBC 1960s Sherlock), and a guest appearance from Suzanne Neve. I'll talk about the rest sometime, as I've deserted it for Department S for the moment. (Not because it was bad, but because it cries out to be watched in winter, and also I wanted a series to get into as opposed to an anthology.)

Anyway, Suzanne Neve guested in "The Absent-Minded Coterie", featuring Charles Gray as M. Valmont, France's greatest amateur detective (which you can find here at YT if you weren't lucky enough to get it in the Network sale), and I will pause to note it here, because it turned out to be made of all the things I like. I mean, if you combined Inspector Neele/Mary Dove's dynamic with Poirot and Sherlock Holmes and Adam Adamant, this is pretty much what you get, with bonus Suzanne Neve. Anyway, clearly a thing calculated to please me is not going to please everyone else, but I am delighted to inform you that France's premier amateur detective is not up to outwitting Suzanne Neve and that she gets to appear mysteriously out of the fog and commit crimes and then be smug while wearing epic hats. I recced it to john_amend_all because the above things are a lot of where our likes meet, and he informed me that the original story doesn't even have Suzanne Neve's character (Miss Mackail) in it, so sometimes 1970s adaptors take the best liberties with things.

( Have some hats )

Because I finally got started on Ripper Street S4 (\o/ But I am only 1 ep in; don't spoil me) and THIS HAPPENED. (No, it was not that they shot Matthew Macfadyen in beautiful blue lighting with perfect matching tie; that happens a lot. It's one of the reasons I watch.) It was much better than that (but probably only if you are me):

( 50 year snap )


In other news, Yuletide progress continues and I'm behind deadline for my Fourth Doctor recs post (the two facts are not unrelated) which I thought was today. Readers, it was yesterday. I hope to have it posted by at least tomorrow.

Forsyte Saga (BBC 1967) Fleur/Jon picspam (10 Tumblr graphics; 88 pics) for hc_bingo square "forbidden love". (And completing two possible bingos at once! \o/ Well, it can still only be one bingo, but I get to choose which one I claim. If I don't complete another possible bingo before I'm done. Ha.)

Notes: Fleur Forsyte/Jon Forsyte picspam (also some Fleur/Michael, Jon/Ann), plus Soames and Irene. Warnings for infidelity & spoilers for very old TV and literature. (Feat. Susan Hampshire, Martin Jarvis, Eric Porter, Nyree Dawn Porter, Nicholas Pennell, Anne Fernald.) It got a bit ridiculously epic, but I blame that on Susan Hampshire's face.

Also, sorry, being obscure again, but, look, a second 'impossible' bingo square completed! How could I not? (I'm still on Team Michael, though.)

( I've staked my claim, you're mine )

First, something I should have added to my first post of the day (sorry about the spammage!), but aralias took some B7 prompts and wrote a collection of fic for Gauda Prime Day, all of them not allowed to be focused on Blake/Avon. The fics all seem pretty awesome and include a great Tarrant/Dayna one for me. (Not the only Tarrant/Dayna in the set, either!)


And so, one more post for today - another meme post, this time: Why not tell us more about the three musketeers, or you could talk about the NAs? for aralias


The Three Musketeers! I'm not sure whether aralias meant just the Richard Lester film(s), but let's talk about the Musketeers generally, why not?

( The Three Musketeers )

But I was fishing these two pics out for Tumblr purposes & thought I'd share (again, in both cases, but it's been a while):

( Actors with small children )

I realised recently that I obviously had never picspammed this episode of The Avengers, which I watched early this year. I don't know how eager you all are to see James Maxwell in a silly costume, but there is also Emma Peel. No excuse is needed for picspams involving Diana Rigg as Emma Peel, obviously. Her awesome is reason enough in itself.

This picspam comes courtesy of the wonderful Liadtbunny, a terrible Enabler of Old TV-watching. (Thanks, Liadt, for these 12 episodes of The Avengers, for Enemy at the Door - and therefore Public Eye - and even for Children of the Damned! Everyone else: okay, you can blame her for all my obsessions, basically. ;-p)

( The Superlative Seven )

As promised/threatened! A picspam of ITV's 1968 version of Dracula, made as part of their Mystery & Imagination series, with Denholm Elliott, James Maxwell, Suzanne Neve, Bernard Archard, Corin Redgrave, Susan George and Joan Hickson.

This was actually the first version of the original Dracula I'd ever seen/read, so I can't comment on changes properly, but from what the info booklet tells me and Googling, this version cut out some sections to keep the action contained in Whitby (barring one flashback), conflated Renfield with Jonathan Harker (who's already married to Mina), and Lucy has only one suitor, Dr John Seward (her fiance). This results in two pretty random canon couples, and the only thing to do is ship them with everyone else. Which, to be frank, they are already only too inclined to do...

But, as you can tell, this is not the world's greatest adapation of Dracula. And thank goodness; where would be the fun in that? ;-p

( Horror duller than a party political broadcast apparently )