VisionQuest Episodes 5 & 6 review

 

A series that is as happy being literal as it is being philosophical VisionQuest enters its second half after a climactic fourth episode. What follows are two episodes that have divided viewers and longer-term comic fans. While there are smatterings of action, the narrative momentum slows here to enable character exploration and perhaps a little too much exposition plus yet another unexpected antagonist. If, like me, you enjoy something more than just guns and chases then there is a lot of more thoughtful material here though, don’t panic, there’s still someone with a massive plan that will affect the whole world!

Spoilers after the break!

Top of the Pops 24th October 1991

Reviewed by Chris Arnsby 

Tony Dortie: “Eyes open for a full house. From Elstree it’s Top of the Pops with the biggest and best live. Starting with 2 Unlimited and the busiest dancers around!”

 [2] 2 UNLIMITED: Get Ready For This. This edition opens with a splendid pan round the side of the Mess stage looking towards the Cyclorama stage. Rod Litherland works his usual magic with lights and smoke and points a bank of white lights at equipment hanging down from the ceiling to once again create a sort of Close Encounters look.

VisionQuest Episodes 3 & 4 review

 

It’s easy to see how VisonQuest could be irritating for some with its clever dialogue and sudden tone shifts but these are advantages as far as I’m concerned. The dialogue for example is witty even in what seem like throwaway comments. At times, it has the rhythm of a sitcom while still being quite serious when it needs to be. Visually it plays with TV imagery in a similar way to WandaVision. Its an appealing mix if you’re willing to go with it and these two episodes double down on those aspects as the series improves further.

 

Top of the Pops 17th October 1991

Reviewed by Chris Arnsby

"Kickstarting tonight’s Top of the Pops, back with a vengeance is Slade and Radio Wall Of Sound.”

[33] SLADE: Radio Wall of Sound. That opening pan across the studio is lovely. Rod Litherland’s lights send beams through the studio smoke and the circular lighting rig at the centre of the ceiling glides over the camera like one of the UFOs from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

I didn’t know Slade had such a long career although I do remember their last comeback, in 1984. After that they released six singles between January 1985 and August 1987; the most successful being Mysterious Mizster Jones which peaked at [50] in March 1985. Their Wikipedia page is amazing. It ups and downs like a roller coaster. Early years; Glam rock, success and peak; Decline in popularity; Stateside; Wilderness years; Comeback and heavy metal following; American breakthrough; Second decline in popularity; Brief comeback and break-up; and there’s still time for a final section called Aftermath and Later Years. Right now, in 1991, we are in Brief comeback and break-up.

VisionQuest Episodes 1 & 2 review

 

VisionQuest, like its narrative forerunners, WandaVision and Agatha All Along, dips in and out of reality and asks us to believe in a digital world as well as a real one. With AI suddenly front and centre in the news it makes the show even more timely than the previous chapters.  For those who may be less up to date with the lore relating to this most unusual character, the first episode of this new miniseries provides a succinct update, with clips, that tells you what you need to know. It’s an essential introduction to what might otherwise be a somewhat baffling show. Even with this opening montage some may still struggle with all the whys and wherefores and the fact that, for all the sharp action scenes, there’s a lot of philosophical musing about life and existence in the dialogue. Dig in though and there is treasure to be found…

 

Lady review

 

In Samuel Abrahams’ debut feature a documentary crew turn up at the palatial stately home Ravenhyde Hall to make a film about the life of its enigmatic owner Lady Isabella. Yet it soon transpires that things are not as they seem and the director becomes drawn into the eccentric aristocrat’s self-absorbed world. I’d been wanting to see this for a while but it had a limited theatrical release and is now on Amazon Prime. If you watch it don’t assume that the knockabout trailer or opening segment is all Lady has to offer. The material may well be presented in typical fly on the wall style – wobbly cameras, fourth wall breaks etc – but there is a heart to the story that only becomes apparent later on. It’s sometimes a little overwrought in its methods yet also unpredictable, imaginative and ultimately moving.

 

Spoilers after the break

 

Top of the Pops 11th October 1991

 Reviewed by Chris Arnsby

“It’s Top of the Pops. Everyone’s live and firing as interaction. From Brighton, DJ Carl Cox, I Want You Forever.”

 [24] DJ CARL COX: I Want You (Forever). I know I have cloth ears. I cannot work out what Tony Dortie says in the opening voice over. What’s written above is my best attempt at transcribing what is said.

Carl Cox has brought along a couple of friends, one of whom is Kelly Overett and in November 2024 she posted this on Facebook:

“The very first time I appeared on TV. On Top of the Pops dancing for Carl Cox in 1991. 33 years ago! To dance on TOTP in this era, we joined the Musicians Union and were paid £240 (yep, that’s a lot of money) BUT if you were an Equity member you earned £500 for doing the same thing. I was a council estate kid raised with little to nothing. I think I was the first rave dancer (and maybe the only rave dancer) to ever have an Equity card, which i got whilst in SL2 and we did TOTP’s several times.”

I’m slightly embarrassed to admit I’m not sure which dancer is Kelly, I think she’s the one wearing the black headband.

Liverpool Comic Con Photo Post

Some pictures from last weekend's event, just a small number of the dozens of guests and happenings going on around the arena and conference centre or as its somewhat randomly named Liverpool Experience Campus which just sounds like a University though its actually an arena and conference centre. If you want to book for next time, due to be held in April 2027, tickets are already available from the website
 www.comic conventionliverpool.co.uk