Z Nation Season 3 (2016)

 

Catching up on the Zs - its wild peril in season three of this splatterific series, first shown in 2016  

Curiously the third season begins with an episode set sometime in the second. No Mercy is introduced as a flashback episode though it’s not clear when it is supposed to be set, especially if, like me, it’s two years since you watched season two. It’s a feature length premiere that re-introduces us to the attributes that make Z Nation a top-class adventure series with a creative edge when it comes to the Zs themselves. For example, we have zombies sporting metal helmets so that they can’t simply be despatched in the usual manner with a shot to the head.

They are part of the force used by an enigmatic character known as The Man who is searching for scientists whose name he has on a list. One of those names- Doctor Miles Teller -is holed up at a remote community built around a research lab. It just happens to be close to where our motely band of protagonists currently are. It’s a brisk episode with plenty of action yet not without a heart either. Teller’s wife for example was isolated years after she became infected from one of her experiments attempting to find a cure. Her glowing semi zombie appearance is alarming yet she is not a monster and the episode makes her sympathetic even though she can’t speak. 

Unfortunately, that doesn’t quite work as well with a sub plot about a feral boy, only able to make animal noises, who starts to copy 10K (they name him 5K!) though this puts him a risk.  Unlike Teller’s wife, the boy’s inability to speak and the fact that 10K isn’t the most loquacious character hampers this plot though there’s a terrific chase the two are involved in.  As ever the episode is presented for maximum impact, director Abram Cox enjoying the opportunities all the dust and sunlight offers to contrast the harsh outdoors with claustrophobic indoors. Why the community paint everything red when about to defend the place isn’t clear but it definitely makes for a great visual.

Top of the Pops 15 March 1990

 

Words: Chris Arnsby
Simon Mayo: “Well, welcome to the pops. We've a rock and roll edition for you tonight with three debut performances before seven thirty. And now we start with a band who are appearing at Manchester Apollo tonight and then they're at Wembley next week. They're at number twenty seven doing Deliverance. Would you welcome please to Top of the Pops, The Mission.

 [27] THE MISSION: DELIVERENCE. Wow, somebody really loves The Mission. Listen to them shriek.

Belated noticing of Format Change: Paul Ciani's gone right off having the host introduce the show from the studio Crows Nest. It hasn't been used for that purpose since Anthea Turner was up there for the 15/02/1990 show.

Snow White review

 

Disney’s venerable fairy tale deals in absolutes so may seem ill equipped for the modern age where everything is held to question and things are rarely clear or clean cut. Can a story with such simplistic figures survive? The answer, at least as far as the latest adaptation goes, remains in the air. Online generated controversies over casting and the rumoured political differences between the two leads that made them enemies in real life as well as on screen have already given the film a bad reputation. Judging from the rows of empty seat at the first week performance I attended this may have put some people off.  Yet those arguments, rather like the plot of Snow White, take a simplistic view of matters being either right or wrong and few things actually are. On an artistic level the film is also suffering due to its proximity to Wicked which has superior songs, stellar performances and a more involving plot. Nevertheless Snow White does what it is supposed to do and if the delighted reaction from kids at one particular development at the showing I went to is any indication it seems to hit the right notes for a younger audience.

 

Top of the Pops 8 March 1990

 Words: Chris Arnsby
 Bruno Brookes: “Good evening. How are you? Welcome to your favourite fab pop show. This is Top of the Pops on a Thursday evening. Bros are in the studio a bit later on amongst Marc Almond live. First of all at number Five here is Guru Josh with a great song called Infinity 1990s Time For The Guru.”

 [5] GURU JOSH: INFINITY (1990's: TIME FOR THE GURU). Quantel transitions! Is anything more likely to get these reviews off to a worse start than me trying to describe via the medium of text why something has visual appeal? I might as well try to explain what a horse feels like to a man with no fingers.

Anyway. Something complicated has happened to the Quantel box. Previously the electronic effects have all been hard edged but here they've got a much softer appearance. Has someone invented the Blur filter? The result looks eerily liquid and makes the modified pictures almost flow across the screen.

Mysterious Island (1961)

 

Mysterious Island was one of a slew of pictures produced by Charles Schneer that specialised in action adventure coupled with stop motion monsters courtesy of Ray Harryhausen. Yet it lacks the flair and invention of others and comes across, despite the presence of big monsters, as rather uneventful. It is an attempt at less outlandish rather than mythical creatures; all of the dangers on the island are simply overgrown species we recognise and unfortunately this robs the story of a lot of excitement. Well, would you rather see a cyclops come to life or a giant chicken trying to be menacing?

 

The Electric State review

 

The Electric State is rumoured to be the most expensive streaming movie yet made though I really think it deserves a cinematic release to truly appreciate the retro futuristic designs on display. Its based on an illustrated novel originally called The Passage by Swedish artist Simon Stalnehag. He started out as a concept artist and illustrator for video games and created the drawings that formed the basis for his books in his spare time, inspired by a childhood love of science fiction films.

Spoilers after the break

Mickey 17 review

 

Bong Joon Ho’s successor to his Oscar winning Parasite proves a timely release with its depiction of technology getting ahead of ways to control it and also portraying a somewhat unhinged but powerful politician let loose. It’s a lively if overlong story originally intended for release a year ago and it seems to have already been written off as a box office failure. At times it feels like the script writers have made a simple idea complicated with too much extraneous material. Like last year’s Megalopolis though it is not short of ambition and something to say, it’s just that the delivery is not always as concise as it could be.

 

Top of the Pops 1 March 1990

 Words: Chris Arnsby

Jakki Brambles: “Well hello. Good evening and welcome. It may well be a windswept Great Britain but we have got a sizzling show for you tonight and you can hear it loud and clear, crystal clear, on Radio 1FM in stereo. Starting tonight's show with a man who's had more hits than I've been on diets. We're into the thousands here. Welcome Shakin' Stevens.”

[29] SHAKIN' STEVENS: I MIGHT. The winter of 1990 was blustery with high winds (no more curried eggs for me, no wonder I can't go to parties any more, etc). I remember the Burns' Day Storm of 25th January but I don't recall what Wikipedia calls Storm Vivian, 25th -27th February, which is what Jakki Brambles is referring to here. The wind must have been howling outside as this edition was recorded on Tuesday.