Top of the Pops 15 June 1989

 

Words: Chris Arnsby
Mark Goodier: “Hello. Welcome to Europe's top TV and radio pop show. With stereo sound on Radio 1FM. And making his debut on the Pops, Simon Parkin.”
Simon Parkin: “Thank you, Mark. What a programme we've got for you tonight. REM, Jason Donovan... in the studio, as are Fuzzbox at seventeen with Pink Sunshine."

[17] FUZZBOX: pink sunshine. Lead singer Vix is still waving her giant pin around. It looks lethal and could have someone's eye out.
“The gossip is there's going to be a cartoon series based on Fuzzbox.” Oh, really Mark? I must have missed it.

 

 

Doctor Who- Empire of Death review

These reviews have been very much instant mostly positive reactions to each episode but now we’ve reached the finale after what seems like a short run its time to reflect not just on the thrills of this particular episode but on the overall impact of the season. I do feel that when these eight episodes come to be rewatched without the twists and surprises they will seem less involving. I say this because the best bits for me have been those twists and surprises. Yet now I know them what is left? Unlike some of those knotty Steven Moffat episodes which actually need to be watched more than once, 2024 Doctor Who is more about instant reactions; the gasps and the LOLs. Like a lot of material that now streams into our homes it is not necessarily robust enough to hold up under closer scrutiny. I suppose that is appropriate for a culture increasingly obsessed with what is coming rather than what might already be here

 

Spoilers after the break

 

The Golden decade of the England football song

 

In the Nineties music and football reached a moment of harmony. New Order’s 1990 song `World in Motion` managed to both encapsulate sport and music without being embarrassing to either. It set the standard met by two other similarly inclusive songs ; 1996’s `Three Lions` and 1998’s `Vindaloo`. This trio rescued football songs from the mire in which they had hitherto lurked simply because these are great songs anyway even if you ignore the sport. Back in the Seventies and Eighties football songs largely consisted of a lyric about how the team was going to win the Cup, ironic really that few teams who released such songs managed to achieve that goal. 

 

 

Top of the Pops 8 June 1989

 

Words: Chris Arnsby
Bonus master tape bit: “This is not the start of the prog... another clock after the warm-up” That's the mysterious message on the VT clock at the start of tonight's edition. And there's a code as well EX T042097 / H50804. What can it mean? I wonder why the editor wanted to keep the studio footage of the warm up (sorry, warm-up) and produced a non-standard tape that had to have a message at the start to stop the wrong bit of the tape being broadcast to the nation?

Anyway, the fake clock reaches zero and we're into a wide shot of the studio. Nicky Campbell can be seen up the Crow's Nest, Nothin' That Compares 2U by the Jacksons is playing over the studio PA, and there are two people on stage. “Alright,” says the bloke holding a microphone who I'm going to guess is Floor Manager Iain McLean, “would Nicola Brand make herself known to me please.” It could be Brand or Brinde or Brine. Surely it's not Nicola Bryant, still loose in the Top of the Pops studio after sneaking in during a Doctor Who recording break on the 02/08/1984 show.

Iain McLean continues: “Nicola Brinde. She has three people, where is she? Nicola?” Did Iain ever find her? There's no way to know because the picture cuts to a 10 second countdown clock for the opening titles and the studio sound is blanked by an electronic tone. This disappointing state of affairs runs for around 40 seconds. And then the picture bursts back into life.

Doctor Who- The Legend of Ruby Sunday review

 

Let’s Twist again lol. The presence of Susan Twist in roles of varying sizes in every episode this season and even back into the specials has been one of the more fascinating things about the latest run. I laughed at RTD’s comment when asked about this that there was a shortage of actors even though I sort of wanted it never explained and she would just be in every episode and that was all. Inevitably the time has come for explanations though and for Susie T to step up and play a larger role in this first half of the season finale. Yet she is just part of an episode that has a lot of chatter and exposition in its first half before exploding into one of those archetypal RTD finale scenarios he specialised in during his first tenure which people either like or don’t like. Personally, I really like them as they tend to dispense with caution and have a momentum that carries all forward even if admittedly this is sometimes at the expense of logic.

 Big spoilers after the break. She's seen them. She's spooked.

TV Review- Lost Boys and Fairies

 

Adoption is a wonderful thing yet could also be an awkward topic to get right in a drama, even more so to make it interesting enough for a viewer. Lost Boys and Fairies reaches to fresh territory being a series about a gay couple who decide to adopt. Before watching I wasn’t sure how this would fit together but it turns out to be extraordinarily well. Written from experience by Daf James the three-part series, now on iPlayer, skilfully mixes a story about growing up (and not just the kids), exclusion and a sense of place into a trio of engaging episodes. It delights, intrigues and sometimes shocks and I’m not just talking about the language. While it sometimes does play into the trope of LGBTQIA drama tending to be about tragedy it weaves so much more into its message and is presented with such care and in such a vivid manner (musical numbers as well, of course) that it is irresistible. Its been called a coming of middle age story and I’ll go with that.

 

Top of the Pops 1 June 1989

 

Words: Chris Arnsby
Anthea Turner: “ Hi there! And we are well and truly live on tonight's Top of the Pops! On BBC1! And also Radio 1! But you can hear us on FM Stereo!”
Gary Davies: “We have an action-packed programme. Double Trouble and the Rebel MC, Neneh Cherry, Fuzzbox, but to start us off, here is Sinitta.”

 No caption. That's odd. Pressures of a live show, presumably. Well, this is Sinitta and she's at [19] with Right Back Where We Started From. Tut, fancy ending a sentence with a preposition like that. Sinitta is attended to by four cowboys. I don't know why. Then, midway through the song, the stage is invaded by a saxophonist who is just in time for the saxophone break, which is lucky.

Doctor Who- Rogue review

 

You can’t enjoy every episode though there is always someone wiling to stand up and say it’s the best. So `Rogue` isn’t one of my favourites this year but not for the reasons you may think. I just found it rather lacking in anything special despite one already much discussed scene. Admittedly the bar for the show over the years is set high but not every episode can be a classic and this one left me unmoved.

 

TV Review- Dead Boy Detectives

 

Introduced in April, Dead Boy Detectives is an offshoot of what we should probably called The Sandman universe (The Sandverse?). having been an offshoot comic. Like its Neil Gaiman penned parent, this series can be erratic, perhaps deliberately, so that the narrative swings from comedic to horrific. This is exemplified by the opening credits which don’t really capture what the show is like at all even though they are fun depictions of skeletons up to all sorts of japes. Rather than open with an origin story the dead boys are already in business in London in the first episode though by part two end up in the US, an odd relocation to spring so soon. The main cast are excellent, the dynamic between them being the best thing about the series while the strongest episodes are inventive and sometimes disturbing while keeping exposition to a minimum.

 

Top of the Pops 25 May 1989

 

Words: Chris Arnsby
Simon Mayo: “Hi, welcome to Top of the Pops. A special lingua franca edition of the programme today. We have Australians, we have Austrians, we have Americans, the odd British person here and there as well. We're also going to be teaching you how to yodel. If you've never yodelled before, here comes your first lesson. It's Edelweiss at number five on Top of the Pops. Down here.”

 

Doctor Who- Dot and Bubble review

 

`Dot and Bubble` opens with bold ideas, then labours the point till it breaks out and becomes something more interesting. Its set in what must be the distant future yet uses mostly contemporary references and behaviour albeit slightly exaggerated. Billed as a commentary on modern online culture it also touches on the vanity of super rich youth. It is enlivened by peppy performances, a surprising turn near the end and a wonderful nomenclature. However what it really needs more than anything is the full presence of the Doctor  again used sparingly for the second episode running.  This means Ncuti Gatwa is not making as much of an impression as he should in his first season especially when its only eight episodes long.

 

Top of the Pops 18 May 1989

 

Words: Chris Arnsby.
Anthea Turner: “Hell-o! Come up and join us! Welcome! To tonight's Top of the Pops! Now Mark and I have studied the form and we have got hot show for you tonight!”
Mark Goodier: “Yeah. Indeed. We have stereo hits from Paul McCartney and Stefan Dennis and Bobby Brown. And we start with a guy who has had thirty one hits. Shakin' Stevens.”

[28] SHAKIN' STEVENS: love attack. I'm not following Anthea Turner's “studied the form” comment. It sounds like it should be a lame horse racing pun but the Grand National was on the 8 April 1989 and the Derby doesn't take place until 7 June. BBC Genome offers no clues. The only sporting event I can find is International Pro-Celebrity Golf, at 11pm Thursday, Terry Wogan and Rodger Davis v Russ Abbot and Ian Woosnam. Terry Wogan and Rodger Davis won by three pins and a submission.

Shakey's career has been remarkable but we are now in the twilight days. This is as good as it's going to get for Love Attack. His next single will get up to [18] but after that his songs will mainly stall in the lower reaches of the Top 40 (if they are lucky). The one exception, a Christmas miracle when The Best Christmas Of All gets to [19] but we'll save that for next year.

 Trigger warning -References to the Hillsborough disaster are included in this post.

 

Doctor Who- 73 Yards review

 

People often talk of the flexibility of Doctor Who and while its true to say that the series has always encompassed a variety of storytelling types its much rarer to see it taking an abstract route. Steven Moffat is usually most associated with non-linear temporal storytelling but with `73 Yards`, Russell T Davies shows he can do it just as well.

 

Stuff: Soggy Sunak, Liverpool (Taylor's Version)

 

Why are political correspondents so often quirky? Is it because they have to listen to nonsense day in day out? I ask after watching both Chris Mason and Robert Peston’s attendance at Wednesday’s General Election announcement. They both, in their own way, tried to cover all possible ground eking out the time as the 5pm scheduled speech slipped by almost twenty minutes and I thought how unusual both of them were. What they do convey though is the excitement that ebbs around political circles at this kind of event. It has been a while. We’ve had leadership changes but the last actual General Election was four and a half years ago and current PM Rishi Sunak has decided now is a good time to go to the country. For Messrs Peston and Mason plus the cohorts of other correspondents and presenters this is, as one of them said, their `Cup Final`. As such it is treated with similar predictions as to what the speech might say. The difference from football is that the commentators do seem to know in advance what it will say and in some ways are part of the choreography of the whole thing.

 

Wet, Wet, Wet: Rishi wishing he was lucky

Top of the Pops 11 May 1989

 

Words: Chris Arnsby
This is a live edition, so the copy I'm watching has some background music to the BBC countdown clock, Good Thing by the Fine Young Cannibals. “Ooh oohh,” sings an unidentified mystery someone (might be Bruno Brookes), this is followed a few seconds later by an instruction to the audience, “c'mon, we want some more noise!” A few desultory cheers follow as the Floor Manager, Carmella Milne, starts a five second countdown into the opening titles. 

Bruno Brookes: “Good evening. How you doing. Thursday night means another Top of the Pops and we are live-er than live. In the studio a little bit later on we've got Hue and Cry and the London Boys to name a few, there's a brand new number one as well. First of all, down here at number twenty eight, Swing Out Sister, You Are My Life.”

 

Doctor Who- Boom review

The return of Steven Moffat to Doctor Who relatively soon after his mammoth stint as showrunner is a genuine surprise especially as he seemed to be losing enthusiasm by the end of his period. It was an era that had somewhat of a mixed reaction- a lot of long term fans saw it initially as a return to traditional Who until they decided it wasn’t. The public meanwhile felt less certain about his twisting tales that made them think more than the previous era’s primary emotions. Moffat has written more Doctor Who than anyone (though I suspect RTD is catching up now) so you’d have to wonder- as he himself has publicly done- does he have any more ideas for the series?

 

Review of the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

 

Kicking off an intended second modern trilogy, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is a movie that appears to start small and builds towards a big climax. Yet there’s more to it than that, a real craftsmanship to every frame, a sense that this is a deeper, broader movie than the title may suggest. People might scoff at such a thought but regardless of whether you get the story or even the concept this is a very well posed movie that easily betters most other films in any iteration since the classic 1968 debut to which it owes a certain debt.

Top of the Pops 4 May 1989

 

Words: Chris Arnsby
Andy Crane: “And good evening and welcome to a truly international edition of Top of the Pops. Lot's of pretty ladies on the show tonight and making her debut is one of them.”
Jenny Powell: “And I'm very happy to be here. But I'm not the only girl on the show, there also Debbie Gibson, Kylie Minogue, and there's someone down there with my hair on their chin. It's Edelweiss”.

 [28] EDELWEISS: bring me edelweiss. I'm terribly sorry. I appear to have fallen into the wrong parallel universe. This one has a band dressed in Lederhosen opening Top of the Pops and doing baffling things to SOS by Abba.

Doctor Who: Space Babies, The Devil's Chord reviews

 

Doctor Who is a series that has enjoyed so many iterations due to its evolving nature. Pick any era of the show at random and it will reflect the values and style of tv and wider society at that time. Yet its fans often fail to appreciate this flexible quality and would prefer it if the series remained the same hence the usual outcry anytime there is a change of Doctor, showrunner or even scheduling. For me the criteria of what makes good Doctor Who has never changed and that is simply do I like it? I don’t care who makes it or what platform it sits on, I just want some good storytelling.

This season is, oddly, the third season one in the show’s history (though there have been many resets that could have qualified for that number) and is being pushed as a good jumping on point for viewers unfamiliar with the concept. American viewers especially are likely targets as this version of the programme more than any other needs to succeed in that market to win a longer term future. You know how streamers like to cancel shows, right? Russell T Davies returning as showrunner combined with a bigger budget and promotional reach (adverts on the New York subway!) raises the potential of Doctor Who becoming bigger than it has ever been. So, as you can imagine American studio executives saying, “Let’s see if the content delivers…”

Film Reviews: Challengers, The Fall Guy

 

Tennis is an intimate game. However many spectators and officials may be watching it’s a physical contest between two people and Challengers, the latest from Luca Guadagnino, definitely gets that. The whole film centres around a match in a lower rung tournament where former friends Art and Patrick find themselves at different points in their tennis careers. Art is a top player but on a losing run and pondering retirement, Patrick has passed his best (partly due to his own lack of discipline) and for him these events are a lifeline. The key connection between them is Tashi, who has dated them both but is now married to and coaching Art. It is her idea to make him play in an event that is really beneath his status. As the two players progress towards an invertible final match, we are privy to flashbacks charting the oscillating three way relationships between them over a period of thirteen years.

Watching (some of) a 64 day Twitch Subathon

 

It’s often said that the under thirties enjoy most of their entertainment online rather than through conventional media like television, radio or cinema and this has led those of us more familiar with the latter to scratch our collective heads and go “Huh?” Last year I explored the world of streaming only to find the actual gameplay was too busy for me yet what I did discover was that this is often only the best known part of this online community. One the most gruelling ideas someone had was the subathon where a streamer will remain online IRL all the time. Even when sleeping!! What would this be like I wondered so this year I decided to dip in and out of one of the most ambitious subathons there has so far been and what did I find? Joy and whimsy! Brain rot! Burning toaster! Storms!

I Went to Devon!

 

Where is Torbay? That was the vexing question when I recently visited Devon. It keeps getting mentioned yet there seems to be no such actual place, no town called Torbay. Turns out it’s the collective name for Torquay, Paignton and Brixham and I suspect the title originated as an amalgamation of Torquay Bay. It’s a unitary authority and more importantly one of the UK’s favourite homegrown holiday areas also sometimes referred to as the English Riviera due to the topography, large number of boats and balmier sunny temperatures. So, I went in April.

Top of the Pops 27 April 1989

 

Reviewed by Chris Arnsby
Gary Davies: “Hello. Good evening. I hope you're well. Welcome to an action-packed Top of the Pops. As you can see tonight I'm all on my own so they've enlisted a little bit of help. Who have we got in the studio tonight.”

Mystery Lady 1: “Beatmasters and De La Soul.”

Mystery Lady 2: “And the Fine Young Cannibals and Yazz.”

Gary Davies: “But to start off with, at number eleven in the charts, with a song called Requiem, the London Boys.”

 

Film review: Civil War

 

In these days of media saturation, it is rare to go see a film with no expectations as to what it might be like and come away very impressed but that was the case last week with Alex Garland’s latest Civil War. The film imagines breakaway states battling the US Army in a revolt against an authoritarian government. Considering what happened in Washington not so many years ago the idea of divided United States tipping over into civil war does not seem as far-fetched as it may once have been. This film deliberately seems to avoid too many details of why such an event has happened and is much more interested in its effects on individuals though it does show a President who relies on meaningless but patriotic soundbites to rally his cause. It sounds worryingly familiar.

 

Devon photo post

I recently spent several days in Devon visiting Paignton, Torquay, Brixham,  Kent's Cavern and Totnes so here's some pictures from the trip. Its an interesting and beautiful area and there's a lot of steep hills!

Top of the Pops 13 & 20 April 1989

 

Words: Chris Arnsby
13/04/1989

Mark Goodier: “Good evening. Welcome to Europe's top pop show. It's Top of the Pops and we've got a good one tonight with the brand new number one in the UK, plus you get the chance to see the U2 video, and first a band who just can't wait to get on, with Edwin Starr joining them, it's the Cookie Crew with Got To Keep On.”

[21] COOKIE CREW: got to keep on. Edwin Starr is not the same as Alvin Stardust. I'm not sure how I got the two confused.

Why just Mark Goodier? He is the only presenter listed in the Radio Times so the plan was always for him to go solo. Out of curiosity I went back to find the last time there was only one host, it was 04/02/1988 and Mike Smith. While I don't believe there was any serious interest in turning Mark Goodier into the new Mike Smith, I started wondering about Goodier's television career outside of Top of the Pops. It's basically a single episode of forgotten quiz Scruples (“The game of moral dilemmas”) hosted by Simon Mayo (at the time much more of a candidate to be the next Mike Smith). And an appearance on UP2U which was the summer replacement for On The Waterfront, which was itself the summer replacement for Going Live, but only ran up to the start of July for some reason.

It looks like solo hosted shows are coming back. It's presumably a good way to spread out the presenting pool and also save a bit of cash.

Top of the Pops 6 April 1989

 

Words: Chris Arnsby
Simon Mayo: “Hi. Welcome to Top of the Pops. BBC1 and Radio 1 together one more time. In order of alphabetical things coming up today we have Paula Abdul, and Cold Cut, and Simply Red, and Anthea Turner.”

Anthea Turner: “Thank you very much, Simon! Hello! Listen can you keep a secret!”
Simon Mayo: “Only on Thursday nights.”
Anthea Turner: “Okay! At number 22 it's Brother Beyond they're on stage now!”

[22] BROTHER BEYOND: can you keep a secret? Simon Mayo can keep a secret on Thursday nights, what a shame Top of the Pops is recorded on a Tuesday. I know this fact, among others, thanks to a link to an auction house sale of five Top of the Pops camera scripts, forwarded to me by commenter mumu03; https://content.easyliveauction.com/auctions/images_lots/59C27F972E0E337C9017486B42435C8C_bou01/1100329224.JPG

Alex Rider Season 3 reviews Episodes 5 - 8

 

Episode five

A gripping episode sees this season really earn its spy points courtesy of three separate yet intertwining strands. Alex is sent on what seems like a traditional mission to infiltrate a house to lift the contents of the safe. Yassin will be joining him and needless to say there aren’t any funnies on the way. Yet this turns out to be different from expected – after all Scorpia don’t specialise in conventional crime- challenging Alec’s moral stance over killing people as he watches Max Grendel being shot. After Alex is incensed by this he uses some of the kit from the job to break into Julia’s office which of course he was expected to do. Scorpia’s sneakiness knows no bounds.

Alex Rider Season 3 reviews Episodes 1 - 4

 

Though it doesn’t always seem to receive a lot of high profile support in the media Alex Rider is a class show. Compared to how much publicity and hype other shows have it has slipped in though a side entrance rather like its main character might do. It hasn’t helped that the show has had to sprawl over a lengthy period due to actors’ availability and the pandemic.  This time there seems to have been a more concerted effort to push it though this is the final season, partly I imagine because the teenage characters are now being played by actors in their mid twenties, and promises to complete Alex’s story.

It’s not just the actors who are maturing, the production this time seems geared towards a slightly older audience – and I note that Otto Farrant gets an executive producer’s credit too. Whereas we had the school setting of season one and the game background of season two, this third offering is less contained and wilier as a good agent would be.  There is a layer of sophistication to things, the kids are no longer fumbling about but this time are being more proactive and prepared for things. They’re operating on their own too unaware of the Department’s dealing with a new Scorpia threat. There are lies and deceptions but played out in a very human context with a pleasing minimum of unlikely ideas.  Of course, a James Bond adventure is done and dusted in less than half the run time this eight part series of 45 minute episode so the pace is slower though this only adds to the tension. Along with the series’ trademark understated electronic score it also helps distinguish Alex Rider from other spy genre material.

 

 

Film Reviews- Two current releases and two Seventies films

 Last week's watches!

If you like huge monsters constantly battling each other you are a match for this film. So over the top that you can’t actually see the top, Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire is a chaotic noisy stew of various giant creatures in successive dust ups levelling cities as they go. Any characters or messages that might be lurking are swept aside by relentless monster action edited so sharply we leap from one scene to another. It works fairly well for the first half but the longer it goes on and the more creatures turn up the more repetitive it becomes. 

Top of the Pops 30 March 1989

 

Reviewed by Chris Arnsby.
This is a live edition (kindly supplied by commentator Billy Smart, who is keeping these write-ups on life support by sending me the relevant episodes to download) so there's some pre-show chatter over the countdown clock. The talk starts in media res with someone briefing the crowd.

 “I don't wanna see no silly faces. None of that. All right we know its live. Still get your meet and...” (?)He's interrupted by someone else, probably Floor Manager Carmella Milne: “Stand by...”
[The two voices jumble over each other]
Male voice: “Somebody catch me... [giggles from the crowd]... no one.”
Carmella Milne: “Good luck everyone.”
Male voice: “Sorry about that... [inaudible]... look Dennis the Menace top...  ”
Carmella Milne: “Here we go ten, nine, eight...seven... six... five... four... three... ” Titles roll.

Gary Davies: “Hello, good evening, we are live on BBC1 and Radio 1FM we have five bands live in the studio tonight including Roachford, Fuzzbox, The Cult, and The The.”

Bruno Brookes: “Okay we start on Europe's number one TV pop show at number sixteen, Pat and Mick I Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet. Right down here.”

 

Review- Wreck season 2

 

Season one of Wreck was a low key success largely through word of mouth. Framed with horror iconography it’s killer wore a duck mask representing Quacky, the mascot of a cruise ship company Velorum. A duck mask may not sound that scary but there is something unsettling about it’s expression and also the fact that its wearer is carrying a very large knife. Yet in between the frights were characters who were more than the standard potential victims and had interesting lives of their own plus a central character searching for the truth about his missing sister. The media seem to have flagged up the LGBTQ+ aspect of the show though this is included as being part of the everyday lives of the two main characters despite the official title of episode one.

There is a lot of violence – and I mean a lot- which is both realistic yet absurd at the same time and if this sounds like something that would disturb you its probably better to avoid. Also I’d recommend for maximum effect watching an episode a day rather than bingeing because it really draws out the tension and the mystery. I’d actually advise this with any thriller or mystery. Binge watching may seem more convenient but you are missing out on a whole part of the appeal of such shows which is that gap where you speculate and anticipate. The episode reviews that follow were penned directly after I’d watched each episode on different days so they make no reference to subsequent events. It’s a bit like live reacting except obviously not live.

Spoilers lurking in the dark after the beak, I mean, break…

 

Top of the Pops 23 March 1989

 

Words: Chris Arnsby

Mark Goodier: “Hello. Welcome to a special Easter-stylee Top of the Pops.”
Andy Crane: “A lot of girls on the show tonight. Live in the studio there's Kim Wilde, also Alyson Williams and Lisa Stansfield with Cold Cut.”
Mark Goodier: “Of course. And you get them all in FM stereo on Radio 1.”
Andy Crane: “But first...”
Mark Goodier: “...The Reynolds Girls.”
Andy Crane: “I'd Rather Jack.”

 [10] REYNOLDS GIRLS: i'd rather jack. Merry Easter. Through zero planning I've found myself writing up the Easter 1989 episode in the week running up to Easter. Will I actually get it sent over to John in time for the Bank Holiday weekend? Watch that space.

Speaking of Easter, Mark Goodier unironically describes tonight's show as “Easter-stylee.” He must be hunted down and neutered for the good of the species. I don't know if it was Mark Goodier's thing* to refer stuff as BLANK-stylee, but it's driving me nuts trying to remember what I associate this with. I've got a vague memory of a song lyric which goes “something something dance hall-stylee something,” but I don't want these write ups to turn into middle-aged man noodles about half remembered things from 40 years ago so I'll just stop this sentence here**.

Film Review- Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

 

The second `new` Ghostbusters film opens with a bang before slowing to a crawl and a little while in you realise it is essentially a remake of the 1984 original with more characters. You've got the original Ghostbusters and the new ones plus sundry additions and the result is an enjoyable if crowded production. It seems to fall into a category of movie that is becoming more prevalent of late- the film that is fine but not exceptional. I don't think its as good as Afterlife though it doesn't have that nostalgic kick to propel its finale. On the plus side it looks great, has some exciting sequences and a strong comedic performance though not from who you think it will be from. 

Spoilers after the break

 

Review- Doctor Who Season 15 Collection

 

Just released in the ongoing Collection series of box sets, Doctor Who Season Fifteen brims with character and is bristling with ideas. If the production values sometimes flag you hardly notice because there is so much going on. Admittedly it’s not always cited as a fan favourite because it was the point at which Tom Baker’s presence became larger than life but if you enjoy that- and I certainly do- this is essential classic Doctor Who. Season Fifteen is a changeover season and these can be the most interesting ones where a production team are finding their feet and yet aspects of their predecessors remain. The results here are more varied than you’d expect.

 

Top of the Pops 16 March 1989

 

Words: Chris Arnsby
Simon Mayo: “BBC1 and Radio 1 together as the Breakfast Crew stay up late for you, introducing the nation's number one newsreader Rod McKenzie.”
Rod Mckenzie: “Among tonight's hot headline acts weve got Chanelle and Fuzzbox.”
Sybil Ruscoe: “But first tonight. They're live in the Top of the Pops studio with Round and Round, down there it's New Order.”

 [22] NEW ORDER: round & round. Justice for the Rod McKenzie one! His first Top of the Pops appearance, 12/01/1989, was officially unacknowledged. He didn't get a credit in the Radio Times or an on screen caption. This time he gets both. This presumably also means he got paid for this repeat under the BBC's arcane rules about who gets a lick of the shiny brass ring that is the licence fee.

With all this said. It's a shame Rod wears the same outfit as last time; yellow long-sleeved polo shirt and blue jeans. Rod, if you come back again you need to make a quick raid on Man at C&A. Speaking of ampersands (what a link), the BBC caption generator can do them. I don't think I've noticed that before.

Reviews - Wandavision, Love and Monsters

 

Two gems from 2021

When it debuted three years ago Wandavision offered a radically different scenario to the Marvel movies’ scale and approach.  Having not watched it till now I obviously know most of the twists (though not as it turns out all) but the true test of a great show is how well it works under those circumstances. Is it all twists or is there something more?

Top of the Pops- 2nd & 9th March 1989

Words by Chris Arnsby.
02/03/1989

Gary Davies: “Hello. A very good evening to you. It's Thursday night, welcome to another Top of the Pops.
Anthea Turner: “And tonight in the studio we've got Sam Brown, Tyree, Texas, and Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine!”
Gary Davies: “But first we're going to blow the house down will you welcome Living In a Box.”
Anthea Turner: “Yeeeeess!”

 [17] LIVING IN A BOX: blow the house down. More thunderflashes. The BBC has invested in a new type which send up a shower of sparks and a less smoke than the old ones. The first round of sparks go up following the line “don't be afraid, let it show.” This is a bit of a shame because the next line is, “don't be afraid, just let it explode.”

Did someone hear “don't be afraid,” and press the button too early? This speculation is confirmed when the second time the “let it explode,” line is used a nice shower of sparks busts up behind the band. And the third time. At least whoever's finger was on the button got the timing right for the final round of explosions at the climax of the song. (John- If, as previously confirmed, they live in "a cardboard box" blowing said dwelling down would not be that difficult)

Reviews - Damsel, The Sidemen Story

 

Damsel

The idea of a damsel in distress who rises to the occasion rather than waiting for a prince to rescue her is a fun idea that this film starring Millie Bobby Brown of Stranger Things leans into. In an unspecified time and place that borrows from English history and mythology, a struggling family offers their eldest daughter Elodie to the royal family to marry a prince which seems fairytale enough till we -and she – learn the terrible truth about what the marriage will mean. I should have said awful truth really because the central conceit of the film is so unintentionally silly which somewhat undermines the subsequently deadly serious proceedings resulting in an uneven if enjoyable enough result.

 

Top of the Pops 16 & 23 February 1989

 

16/02/1989
More housekeeping: Top of the Pops cannot be stopped! (except by the BBC in 2005). Many thanks to Billy Smart and mumu03 who both stepped in and offered help to keep these write ups going. Billy Smart has kindly hooked me up with the relevant episodes and I understand from the Popscene forum (in other news, I've learned there's a Popscene forum) that efforts are being made to get the whole huge archive back online somewhere. Let's see what happens.

Mark Goodier: “Yo. Good evening and welcome to Europe's number one pop show.”
Andy Crane: “It's two days after Valentine's Day but we're still feeling romantic, we're still feeling mushy.”
Mark Goodier: “Well almost, with our first band. They are the biggest British rock band in the world.”
Andy Crane: “This is single number six from Hysteria, Def Leppard...”
Mark Goodier: “Woh!”
Andy Crane: “... Rocket!”

 [20] DEF LEPPARD: rocket. The biggest British rock band in the world? Iron Maiden make a note to never appear again on Top of the Pops.

But enough of that. These write ups have been given a new lease of life so lets use it to talk about camera positioning. This edition opens with an odd, and very dark, shot of the audience. The camera then rises up to reveal our hosts in the crow's nest. But where is the camera? The crow's nest sits at the join of the two arms of the main stage and the camera has been placed behind the stage right arm, in the gap between the back of the arm and the black drapes used to cover the studio wall. This is why the crowd shot looked so murky, they've been gathered in a part of the set that was never lit or designed to appear on camera.

This angle also allows a good look at the painted flat that hangs behind the crow's nest. I think it's been there since the twenty fifth anniversary party revamp, 31/12/1985, but you don't normally get to see it because it's behind the hosts. We get a much better angle here, although it's partially obscured by a combination of Mark Goodier, some bloke, and a couple of heart-shaped balloons. The logo is a canvas flat hung from the ceiling (it's gently swinging backwards and forwards, and you can see one of the ropes suspending it from the lighting grid) with the Top of the Pops logo stuck on; the big white circle in the middle casts a shadow.

Film Review- Dune Part 2

 

This is a proper thrill of a movie which faithfully represents the book while keening towards making as exciting a film as possible. It sets a different pace from the first part being dynamic and exciting where that was thoughtful and moody while succeeding in painting a place that seems realistic. Even though there are plenty of digital effects they are rendered to fit in with the picturesque locations. The book is famously knotty, filled with the internal thoughts of many of the characters and this film captures that aspect even better than the first part without resorting to endless narration. There are also some of the most thrilling battle sequences you’ll see peppered through the film. If part one had a stillness, part two barely stops for breath and is certainly the zippiest two and three quarter hour film I’ve seen. At the end I felt like I had sand in my shoes.

Spoilers follow in this review...

 

Reading the original Dune novel

 

With the second part of the film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune now with us, I have been re-reading the book and oddly I’ve done it in two parts. I’d hoped to finish it in 2021 to post just before the first film was released but circumstances meant I had to stop half way. So, in a way that paralleled the film this year I’ve finished the book and completed this post before the second film! It’s a hefty tome as you might imagine and despite the reach of the movies there is still some material left out though this is not one of those book versus film comparison articles. Rather I wanted to re-live the novel itself.

Happy Twenty Ninth!

 

Are you a leapling? Tomorrow is 29th February – that date that only comes round every four years because of temporal oddities. As people ascribe superstition to anything a bit out of the ordinary there are a lot of Leap year traditions many of which relate to the old fashioned concept that only on this day a woman can propose to a man. In ye olden times only a man could propose marriage so women had to wait till 29 Feb to do so. Nowadays of course a woman can propose on any date of the year if she chooses and people don’t accuse her of breaking the laws of the land nor does she change into a turnip. So where does all this nonsense come from? The answer it seems involves an unlikely mash up of the Moon, Julius Caesar and St Patrick.

 

Top of the Pops 2 & 9 February 1989

 

Housekeeping: The Mega folder I've been using to download these episodes has gone very AWOL. If anyone can use the comments to link me to another source of episodes then that would be really helpful. If not, these write ups have come to a very unceremonious end...
(John- Which would be a pity because nobody wants to end in February. Plus these are the most viewed posts on the blog and without them the whole future of the blog is at risk. And possibly also the world. OK maybe not the world. So if anyone knows of an alternative source - as the iPlayer only keeps a random handful un-chronologically - that would be wonderful. Otherwise Chris is going to start reviewing every episode of Weather starting in 1950)

Words by Chris Arnsby

02/02/1989
Steve Wright. “Hi!! Hello!! Good evening!! Hello and welcome to another exciting Top of the Pops!! I'm Steve Wright!! This is Simon Mayo!! Tonight we're going to be in full effect!!”
Simon Mayo: “We certainly are and we're going to check out the hat parade first of all. At number five, on the Love Train, this is Holly Johnson in the crowd in the middle there.”
Simon Mayo: “Yeeah!!”

Steve Wright died on 12^th February this year. After I'd written up this episode. A quick re-read has shown I didn't say anything rude about him -this time- and given me cause to reflect. Steve Wright was part of the Radio 1 furniture by the time I tuned in so I don't really remember having an opinion about him. If you tuned in between 3-5.30pm he was just there. What I do remember is his move to host the Breakfast Show in 1994 which drove me away from Radio 1. The antics of Wright and his Posse were too much for my fragile 7am state as I was preparing for a day at work. And that was it, until I started watching the Top of the Pops repeats. Steve Wright's first show was 07/02/1980 and going back I find I was surprisingly positive about him:

 “It's Steve Wright's first show. He only started as a Radio One DJ in January 1980 so he's really been rushed on to Top of the Pops. Simon Bates had to wait ages for his turn. The classic line-up I remember is almost completely in place. Only Gary "sloppy bit" Davies is missing. So how does Steve Wright do? Not bad. It's a more polished performance than Simon Bates gave at the end of 1979 but Steve Wright needs to learn to stop waggling his head around so much.”