All reviewed by Chris Arnsby
01/08/1985
Mike Read: “Hello. [to Mike Smith]
You've just got time to change... too late.” Mike Smith: “Thank you very much.
Thank you very much indeed. What has got style?” Mike Read: “Peter Powell?”
Mike Smith: “No, no, no, come on. What has got style? What's got good looks?”
Mike Read: “Steve Wright?” Mike Smith: “No, no, no, what has got a record in
the charts at the moment?” Mike Read: “Me? No.” Mike Smith: “No... with all those
things welcome Five Star.”
[18] Five Star:
Let Me Be The One. The new Top
of the Pops title sequence is rubbish. It's just rainbow colour bars and a
piercing electronic tone. No, actually this episode (downloaded from
Tutankhamun's tomb https://mega.nz/folder/h0snQACa#uiNNqosfbdrfzODHsE1clw
) is digitised straight from the BBC
master tape; first we get two minutes of VT colour bars, then the countdown
clock (generated on a BBC Micro to judge by the chunky pixels), and finally the
real title sequence. I wonder how this escaped from the archives? It's a night of two Mike's, and an exercise
in clashing host styles. Mike Smith wants to be silly, and Mike Read doesn't
(or can't). Or maybe I'm being unfair as I find myself liking Smith more than
Read. This is the last time the two Mikes host Top of the Pops together
although they both stick around for a few more years. Mike Smith would present
his final show in early 1988, and Mike Read could be seen until February 1989.
Regardless. Here's Five Star. Drilled to
parade ground perfection and fully coordinated in movement and clothing.
They're dressed in soft versions of American Football shoulder pads, with a
numeral 5 on the front in a different colour for each person. This is how the Mighty
Morphin Power Rangers would look if they formed a pop group in their spare
time. It's a tribute to branding, before branding was a thing.
