Reviews from a caffeinated window #4

Doctor Who: Arc of infinity (1983)

Reviewed by: FrillyShirtCyberman

The gist of it:

The story starts with Traitor to Be chatting with Big Headed Baddie. They talk about technobabble and then propose to take over the Doc (ooh, scary!). Cue to other two technicians, who are snooping about, discover the conversation and report. Wow, Gallifrey and the US Department of Home Security have a lot in common.

It’s Manga Kahn and L-Ron!

Cue to The Doc and Nyssa, being happy that Tegan got left behind. So happy that they don’t even mention her. Nice going, guys, your award for “friend of the year” arrives with your new costumes. The Tardis is attacked by an Evil Swirlie o’Death and Slo-mo (TM) which has the power to overlay the image of Big Headed Baddie over The Doc.

Davo’s face says everything. He would. Right now.

This is when I stop the DVD, go and select the new CGI effects and go back. Oooooh, shiny!

The Doc and Nyssaconcubine are recalled to Gallifrey. There’s a plot about and The Doc’s life is in danger. So naturally, The Timelords, being wise aliens and all, decide that the best option is to execute the Doctor, so he will be safe of Big Headed Baddie.

Brings the term “fancy dress” a whole new meaning…

I check out the sleeve. Written by the fella of Keeper of Traken. Ah, that explains everything.

The T-lords (sounds like a rap group) tell Doctor-to-be, Colin Baker, to shoot Davo so he can become the next Doctor. He does so, prompting the universe to the evilness of “The Twin Dilemma”.

Colin Baker delivers Peter Davison his pink slip.

The Doc accepts his fate, while chatting with Nyssa and Leela’s husband, Damon (no relation to Mr. Adrian Sherlock). Before the execution, Nyssa goes gangsta-gangsta on us, shooting Colin’s band of thugs and trying to save the Doc, who tells her “bad Nyssa”, smacks her bottom and goes happily to be executed.

Brainy genius or shoot-em-up girl? Alicia Keys needs to watch her back…

At the same time, some nitwits replay “An american werewolf in london”, but in Amsterdam. They are cheapskates and decide to sleep in a crypt. Nice going, dudes. The one with the Ghastly Socks o’ Green Death (TM) gets zapped by a Robot Chicken (played by Seth Green), just for being fan of garish fashion. His friend sees this and does the obvious thing: go and beat the dealer that sold them the hashish and pot at bar. Man, those things can give you a bad trip.

Attack of the 80’s tacky fashion sense.

The friend gets some survivor’s guilt and goes to check on his friend (or maybe to get his wallet, y’never know). He finds he’s become a zombie after being forced to watch Eastenders. So he hightails it to the airport, only to meet with disaster there: Tegan is back (cue cliffhanger music).

We feel your pain, man. We are watching this serial too, you know?

Meanwhile, those crazy old farts, the T-lords, find that the Doc wasn’t really killed. Isn’t that like being a little pregnant, guys? Nice efficiency, no wonder the Daleks whoop yer bottoms in the Time War!

Here, Colin, the BBC’s 5-year contract to play Dr. Who. Now kill Davo!

The Big Headed Baddie is revealed to be Omega, who just wants to live. Awww, poor fella. Here’s a hug. Now, grow a pair and live your life, mate! The Doc tries to do a deal with the T-lords, when the Traitor to Be is revealed: it’s the Celestial Toymaker. Gee, the T-lords are really thick, aren’t they? They have a quintessential baddie (and ex-butler to Bruce Wayne and ex-shagger of Polly) amongst them!

What did you just said about Anneke Willis?

Trigger happy Colin arrives and in the midst of the confusion, thinks it’s “Attack of the cybermen” and shoots Traitor to Be/Alfred/Toymaker dead. Omega reveals itself and announces that he has “pwned” them all. The Doc insists in going to Amsterdam. The T-lords agree, thinking that going on a weed spree would be a nice way to say goodbye to the galaxy.

Ok, Nyssa, we gotta score some gear and some special “brownies”.

Davo runs around in the canals and goes into the crypt o’ convenience. He’s about to save Tegan (please, don’t) when Robot Chicken Ergon attacks him. Luckily, trigger-happy Nyssa sets her phaser to “extra crispy” and blasts the dretched thing into oblivion. Meanwhile, Omega’s plastic surgery works out and now looks like Lady Killer Davo.

It’s the chicken o’death!

The plot forgets about Tegan’s cousin and friend and they all run around for ages. Lady Killer Davomega walks around a bit and starts to go all Quatermass Experiment on us (without Gatiss, thank Jebus). After more running, Nyssa’s violence finally permeates into Mack Daddy Davo, who shoots Omega down. And they call Colin Baker a violent Doctor?

Don’t smoke pot and watch this, kiddies…

Everyone is happy at the end (except Omega and the general public). Then Tegan says “strewth, Doc, now you are mine, all mine!”. It turns out it was the Master, all along… (cue cliffhanger music)

Rant:

I dunno why this story gets so much bad press from so many fans. Granted, it’s slow and Amsterdam is milked for all it’s worth (mind you, i think they filmed all in 3 blocks, tops). Johnny Byrne does have some great ideas and they ooze through the plot. Nice to see some Frankenstein homages and Peter Davison does pull it off. His face of wonder/sadness while he’s playing Omega is fantastic.

Late for the fancy dress party…

It really makes you feel bad for Omega, even if he’s deranged enough to work with a deadly chicken. He granted the Timelords the technology to time travel and what does he get for his troubles? Eternal loneliness. No bottle of cider or gold rolex! Not even a pink slip!

He had the kid hacking the cable box to get some HBO. Alas, they only got CSPAN and FOX NEWS in the antimatter ship.

Colin B and Michael Gough do great jobs with their parts. I really like the coldness in Colin’s Maxil. He’s just following orders, and when he gets a hint of something not being right, he keeps snooping around. He’s like something out of The Sweeney! Michael Gough has little screen time, but his arguments about defending Omega are good. “He’s one of us!”

C’mon, man! Nyssa is not watching! Share some of that Amsterdam gear!

Like I said before, the Timelords do come as real bastards on this one. Granted, they forced poor Pat Troughton to regenerate and were Renaissance Florence corrupts in Deadly Assassin, but in this one they are real thick pencil pushers. No wonder the corridors are so grey in Gallifrey: it’s a government office, with red tape and all!

Buncha pencil pushers!

Companion-wise, it’s nice to see Nyssa along with the Doc. No wonder Davison has said on docummentaries that Nyssa was his favourite companion: he’s a bit of Liz Shaw, since she knows her stuff and does practical things, instead of being a whiny companion. I like how they bring her anger out on this one. Like the great Johnny Byrne (I like his scripts, except Traken) says on the docummentaryon this dvd, she has lost her father and her homeworld. The Doc is the only she has left, so obviously she will be very defensive of him. In my humble opinion, The Visitation and this are the best serials for Nyssa. Maybe this one is the best for her character.

Some character development: from genius to trigger happy harpy!

As much stick as Adric got, at least they had a few lines mentioning him after he left. No love for Tegan in Arc. None whatsoever. Not that I mind. Off with the witch! Burn her!

Tegan’s gone!

The dvd is very good. The effects are not that intrusive and enhance the story. This is the first time I can honestly say the CGI was needed to make it a bit better. The transfer is also very good. The extras have a nice little extra hosted with Sophie Aldred being stalked by Johnny Byrne. I’ll take this story as an underrated classic, warts (and Tegan’s cousin and friend) and all.

Chatting up the prostitutes.

On a final note, what’s with the fascination with chickens? Does Omega have a Kentucky Fried Ergon on his antimatter world? And Colin’s hat…urgh… is he the NBC peacock or what? He likes to make chicken’s clucking in the commentary and documentary. Fun times and an excellent DVD for an underrated adventure.

On a sad note, Tegan’s back.

Crap. She’s back!

Frillyrating

Extra captions:

Where did you hid the drugs, naughty girl?

What do you mean “Cindy Lauper wants to sue for plagiarism”?

Quickie news

-NME has the tracklist for REM’s new cd:

01. Living Well’s The Best Revenge
02. Man Sized Wreath
03. Supernatural Superserious
04. Hollow Man
05. Houston
06. Accelerate
07. Until The Day Is Done
08. Mr Richards
09. Sing For The Submarine
10. Horse To Water
11. I’m Gonna DJ

I Really like the title of the first song

-STP reuniting? Ultimate-guitar says so! click here for the lowdown!

-Is it Nine Inch Bjorks now? Her last single, declare independence sounds a lot like monsieur Reznor’s 2005 hit.

Spinster #3: The Dark Side

Sam here, more cool music to check out!

Godspeed you black emperor – F# A# (infinity symbol) It’s the end of the world and they feel fine. I really can’t start how to describe this guys, except start by two quick facts: a demo version of East Hastings gives 28 days later’s first minutes of London desolation an entire identity that will never be taken away and… they got arrested in the USA, reported as terrorists! Maybe they heard the album. It starts out with a creepy voice-over, depicting apocalyptic scenes. The dialogue is peppered through out the song’s movements (all songs last more than 10 minutes). East Hastings has a street preacher who is drowned out by a bagpipe that then segues into a guitar ambient, which ends up exploding on us (and the speakers) to go into a weird radio transmission about barges with radio antenna towers on them. Finishing touches? How about a mosquito flying around? And then, the piece de resistance, Providence. A 29 minute masterpiece, starting with a conversation about the end of the world, followed by a viola solo that precedes a bit where you can feel you are running away from the music. More dialogue, akin to the childcatcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. More guitar madness, with some balalaika-like sounds. It all ends up with a voice asking “where are you going?” and some nice feedback ambient with some electronic touches. A quickie hidden song follows after some minutes of silence. The album is a quintessential column of post-rock. Highly recommendable.

Best tracks: All 3 of them. Providence if you ask me to choose just one.

Check them out if you like: Sigur Ros, Slint, Mogwai, 65 days of static.

Want a second opinion?

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:pht67ub0o0jj

http://www.canuckistanmusic.com/index.php?maid=11

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/18130-faoo

Trustcompany – The lonely position of neutral I found this cd in a lonesome rack at the Virgin Megastore at Picadilly Circus. I only knew the songs Hover and Falling Apart, so I took a quick risk with them. I don’t regret it, as I don’t regret my other blind acquisition of that day (Finch’s What it is to burn). I can see the comparison to Linkin Park, since Kevin Palmer’s range is pretty much the same as Chester Bennington’s. A bit like Editors and Interpol, if you ask me. I’ll stick to Trustcompany, I liked their songs better. The lyrics are angst-ridden and the guitars do their job proper, with the little arpeggio at the beginning of Running from me my favourite piece. The track Figure 8 has a very wicked ending, and Falling Apart is a magnificent piece of loneliness. Finally is a real tearjerker, but it sadly goes a bit Hoobastank on us. The closing track Take it all sounds like a proper surrender: all emotions have overwhelmed you and you just decide to give the proverbial inch. Take the yard, fellas, you have earned it.

Best tracks: Take it all, Running from me, Falling apart, Finally.

Check them out if you like: Linkin Park (mainly the voice, no rapping, though), Helmet (they use a variation of Page Hamilton’s tunings), Full Devil Jacket, Sevendust.

Want a second opinion?

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:ejtxlfke0cqr~T1

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?reviewid=14496

http://www.abc.net.au/splatt/review/music/reviews/s670911.htm

I am Kloot – I am Kloot Gotta admit that this group didn’t grab me on the first spin. This mancunian trio, who use pain as their main inspiration, are kind of famous because their song avenue of hope featured on the credits of the movie Sunshine. Good-ish movie, methinks. Whoa, back to this cd, now! We are treated to a little marimba with the opening track, untitled #1, and then a healthy mix of sad, longing ballads are interspaced nicely with a few rocking songs (cuckoo being my favourite). They decide to stop all tracks with the moving Proof, which uses some lalalala’s to lift your spirits and make you smile in a bad day. But don’t take it from me, ask Christopher Eccleston. The last tracks are good too, with not a reasonable man being like one of those drunken moments when you are confessing something to a girl. Something you shouldn’t be confessing. Anyhoo, the album ender, the same deep water as me (is it a tribute to The Cure, I wonder?) is tragic and has a quickie sax solo that adds to the depression. Check this Manic Mancunians and take a ride on their tram of sadness that goes around the city centre. I can say honestly it’s the UK’s response to American Music Club.

Best tracks: Not a reasonable man, Proof, Life in a day, The same deep water as me.

Check them out if you dig: American Music Club, Duncan Sheik’s Phantom Moon, Sparklehorse, Elbow (for the pain ridden lyrics), Grant Lee Buffalo.

Want a second opinion?

http://wm11.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:jvftxqqaldte

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/18779-i-am-kloot

Thanks to Emilio Valencia, FrillyShirt for the Kloot and Godspeed records.

Quick music news.

Some quick news doing the round at The Peninsula:

Do you like British Sea Power? Sure you do! Check out their great new single at spin.com.

Filter is back! Richard Patrick talks about the new Filter record at Blabbermouth.

A new R.E.M. record? Released on april the first? Michael Stipe says it’s a rocker

Oh, my stars and vibratos! Now music gets sponsored. Well, Coldplay sold out anyway, but this sponsored-music program sounds bad. Real bad. For the artists. This does not bode well.

Spinster #2: Now with second opinions added.

by Sam.

Hello again! Another week, another batch of records to check out!

Electrelane – No shouts no calls This little gem, from the now-extinct group from Brighton, is a bit of a change to their previous works. Not that it matters, since it sounds so good from beginning to end. The greater times kick starts the album and it never lets down on the energy, the wicked organ and the “oooh aahs!”. Cool instrumentals like Between The Wolf and The Dog and The Lighthouse add some extra variation, while nice, soothing voices bring some slight sense of tranquility in Saturday and To the east. These English girls will be sorely missed. Take a bow, girls.

Best tracks: ALL OF THEM! Tram 21, Saturday, The lighthouse.

Check it out if you dig: The Lo-fi genre. I can’t think of a single group to compare with (although those brummie fellas from Broadcast feel like a distant cousin).

Want a second opinion?

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/42641-no-shouts-no-calls

http://www.spin.com/reviews/2007/06/0706_electrelane/

http://www.nme.com/reviews/electrelane/8386

The Grails – The Burden of hope A very solid album that fuses space rock with post rock and some nice little servings of country. Burden of hope (the opening track) permeates slowly, with a menacing slow pace that takes you up by surprise after the one minute mark. The deed sounds like the preamble to a little high noon shoot out in a corridor-filled space station. There’s a very interesting cover of Space Prophet Dogon (originally by Sun City Girls), which is segued in from the previous song, Invocation. This cover gives respect to the original, but they manage to imprint their own kind of madness in an already demented song. If the crew of Firefly ever needed a rocking album, this would probably be doing the rounds aboard Serenity.

Best tracks: Burden of Hope, The deed, Space Prophet Dogon, White Flag, the solemn Canyon Hymn.

Check them out if you like: Post rock groups like Slint, Godspeed! you Black Emperor and Dirty Three.

Want a second opinion?

http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/1297

http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=31624

http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?ean=658457102923

Foo Fighters – Echoes, silence, patience and grace This very mixed album is hard to categorize: it sticks to a formula of “quiet start, then erupt” that is becoming a little too repeated on Foo Fighters’ albums. The album doesn’t feel comfortable until track 3, Erase/Replace, which is a great song followed by another nice little one called Long Road to Ruin. Ruin is where the next song Come alive takes us. Again, the quiet, almost whispered start and then explosive middle, feels too samey and stagnant. It’s done much better on the But, Honestly track. There’s some good tracks in the album (ballad of Beaconsfield miners, Stranger things have happened), but sadly I can’t really recommend it enough. Try their first two records if you are going to start to listen to the Foos. It is step forward from their last two or three albums, in my humble opinion.

Best tracks: Erase/Replace, Long road to run, ballad of Beaconsfield miners.

Want a second opinion?

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/45760-echoes-silence-patience-and-grace

http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=268140/

http://www.spin.com/reviews/2007/09/0709_foofighters/

Reviews from a caffeinated window #3

Doctor Who: Time-flight (1982)

Reviewed by: FrillyShirtCyberman

The gist of it:

The Doc decides to cheer Tegan and Nyssa up after Adric gets himself whacked by the Cybermen driving under the influence. They end up in Heathrow (finally!! kick Tegan off, Mack Daddy Davo!) and walk around ’til the police gets them. After pulling rank with the airport security guys (UNIT, baby, UNIT), The Davo and his bints are told that the Concorde disappeared (damn valet parking!).

“They are cheap as chips”, thought the delusional Timelord…until he saw the bill.

Since any collateral damage is paid by the Brigadier’s chequebook, The Doc suggests to get another Concorde airborne and do a bit of investigating aboot. The Concorde disappears too, with Tardis and all and reappears in the past. Waaaaay back in the past. So much, that Tegan grows magic hair curlers. The horror!!

“Oh my God! We are trapped in a 60’s serial!”

There, an old dude in a fat suit (Mike Myers or Eddie Murphy, take yer pick) is doin’ some hocus pocus chanting (or singing along Britney Spears, can’t remember). His called Kalid and does bad ass stuff, like singing mistah luvva luvva, bombaaaSTIC to summon soap sud monsters and watch his sphere o’ death (TM)

“What’s that? Fat bastard? Norbit? I don’t remember!”

Before you can say “Langoliers”, The Doc, his bints and the three pilots (one looks like Magnum!) start going all Scooby Doo on us. Nyssa develops telepathy after being bitten by an insect called Badplotus Devisus. The Dude in the Fat Suit sends some grey jello monsters to attack but they survive. After wandering through the papier mache sets (and doing a great homage to Patrick Troughton’s coin flip in “The Invasion”), they finally confront The Dude, who turns out to be the Master.

“Ok, which of you cnuts said Delgado was better?”

Planning to use the souls of an extinct alien race to power off his Tardis. Davo hits him with a copy of the Dianetics book and races to defuse the situation. The Master recovers and gets all the passengers from the flight crammed together into his Tardis, which has better leg room than most American Airlines flights.

Yup, more leg space than most airlines.

The Doc and co are left to die, but Pilot Magnum sabotaged the Masters Tardis and his two other friend pilots switched some circuits that the Master nicked, so now he’s trapped too in this time zone. In a homage to 80’s airline hostage crisis, The Davo goes Interpol and exchanges the passengers for some circuits of goobledygooks. The Davo helps the Concorde lift off, pushing it easily like it was a Corgi model.

No, I don’t have a Ferrari or a manservant called “Higgins”. Why do you ask?

They go back into Heathrow (and without losing luggage, proving that this story is fantasy). The Master ends up in Hull with the rest of the alien souls. Tegan is thankfully left behind.

Rant:
I knew before hand the baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad rep this story had, but still watched it with an open mind. I had vague memories of it, remembering only the Heathrow bits since I remembered the airport from my trip with my mum and aunt in early 1990 (i saw this story for the first time in 1991).

It does have some very cheap sets (caves) and badly designed monsters (the grey pudding/custard/soap bubbles plasmabaddies!!). I feel it tried to cover way to many things without answering them: Nyssa’s telepathic? Why take the concorde, which doesn’t sit as many passengers as other planes? Heck, steal a mexican bus, dude, you’ll keep your Plasmatons fed forever!

The Master is riddled with terrible plans in the 80’s.

Davo does the best he can with his part, which I dug. The Master wasn’t really necessary, but I prefer Ainley’s acting in this one over Castrovalva, just to compare two stories from the same season. The best bits are the ones in the airport and the film inserts from the Concorde, which don’t amount to much, really. The three pilots from the Concorde are bit of a weird act. They start as disbelieving dudes, but soon become the tech-savvy Moe, Curly and Larry. One of them even pilots the Tardis!

Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. It’s the brigadier!

It isn’t a really terrible story per se, but somethings are unexplained. Ok, so Nyssa is more perceptible to ESP than others, it’s inferred but not acknowledged. The production does falter a lot around, with clever cost-cutting moves like using mirrors with landscape painted on used. Sometimes to terrible results, other to okay-ish ones. I’m a firm believer that if you can’t do an effect, don’t show it, just let them imagine it. Then again, I read a lot of books and have a fairly active imagination. What the heck do I know about tv?

Peter Davison was caught nicking BBC supplies…again!

All in all, I don’t rate it as the worst Peter Davison story. It just feels a bit crammed in some parts, too spread in others. The actors do a decent job, so no problem on that aspect!

It was good to lose Tegan. Too bad she comes back next year!

Go for some duty free booze, will ya? (*thinking* yeah, be gone, so I’ll have Mack Daddy Davo for me!!)

Frillyrating:

Reviews from a caffeinated window #2

Chocky’s Children (1985)

Reviewed by FrillyShirtCyberman

The gist of it:

A year has passed and Matthew is getting better at drawing. No more science for the little guy, since now he’s getting bigged up by art teachers. He’s won a few prizes and his parents are off to Hong Kong for business and vacation, so they’ll drop their son with a kooky artistic aunt living on the country. They do so and while exploring the surroundings, Matthews is happy to see that the windmill he keeps drawing does exist (it’s called the Nutley Windmill, it’s on Surrey and Prentis Hancock still works at it).

Man, acting is such hard work.

Meanwhile, Ed Straker has gone a bit crazy after all the ordeal with moonbase, so now he kicks it with big lobbying industry dudes, having tea and crumpets with kid-snatchin’ scientists and sending his goons to act like gardeners in kooky artistic aunts houses.

Get me moonbase! And my agent too!

Not that she notices. You could get away with underage drinking and not get caught by this silly aunt. You could use her house as a center to recruit assassins and she would think you are just playing gotcha. You could start having telepathic conversations with a freckled girl you just met and she would look at the phone and think “my, i didn’t knew dial disc phones had a silent setting!”. She’s so oblivious to her gardener’s intentions, that she forgets the basic rule of any sci fi story: suspect any efficient staff worker. At the drop of the hat, they’ll just change allegiance, either by having some silver coins or free DVDs from sendit.com .

She fell for the old “reach for the sky, silly bint, whilst I backstab you!” bit.

Matthew meets Albertine by the windmill, and faster than you can think telepathy, they can talk without opening their mouths. They get on quite well. Albertine is over protected by her dad (the great Prentis Hancock!), but she manages to sneak about. Matthew, Albertine and the silly aunt do clay art together and Matthew is surprised to see that Albertine makes the same homeworld thingie that he had on a paiting on clay.

“That’s very good” said the aunt. “You are much better than my other apprentices, Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore”

Chocky reappears and tells that she/it learned her mistakes and now helps without talking. She’s helping Albertine do some great maths and science stuff, and more marvelous, she’s making Prentis Hancock act! Matthew talks to Albertine about Chocky and she’s crossed, since it would mean that she hasn’t done any work at all. Relax, girl, that’s what we call a PhD. Cue Ed Bishop visiting around and discovering the secret of Albertine’s success:

You let the poor girl surf all day and night, right?

Matthew goes Colin on Albertine’s clay thingie and plans to go away, but after seeing The Boss of SHADO nearby, Albertine and Matthew elope…ehrm, no, they just hide out in the woods.

The series addresses the issue of underage drinking.

Albertine is caught and Chocky helps Matthew go Prison Break on us. They are almost caught again, but they use their mental power to invocate A Thousand Bad Pop songs and evil Ed Straker and company are smitten to the ground. Prentiss Hancock (looking and acting like Richard Chamberlain), Matthew’s dad and his goofy glass friend arrive in the nick of time with the fuzz and everything’s cool.

You do it to yourself, you do, and that’s what really hurts.

It is revealed that Matthew and Albertine are not the only kids influenced by Chocky, and all paintings by Matthew are places where the children of Chocky live.

Rant:

I feared that this sequel would be dross, as I certainly had little memories of it. The windmill stuff I’m sure I remembered, but I thought we had some flashbacks about the ordeal of Matthew (clearly i was misremembering episode 6 of this series).

As much stick as Prentis Hancock gets, he’s good on this series as Arnold Meyer, the curmudgeon dad of Albertine. Ed Bishop does a great turn as a creepy bastidd with a no holds barred attitude.

Monsieur coolness… so classy that he takes time to fix his tie before menacing those pesky kids!

Again, Andrew Ellams carries the show, now with the help of Anabel Worrell, who plays Albertine with top marks too. The country setting is very nice too. Aunt Cissie (Angela Galbraith) does a one-note cool aunt bit, but it’s not forced. It’s a bit of mixing the dad and mum’s role in one (disbelieving, then believing).

Chocky is used very sparingly, perhaps appearing less than in series 1. Which is good. There’s some weird hocus pocus stuff in the last episodes, but it’s not that bad.

Whoa! Spinach does make you stronger!

I loved how everything did connect at the ending. The “calling all kids” bit wasn’t as bad as I expected, in fact, it was kind of shout out homage at Wyndham’s own work, The Midwich Cuckoos (you know it as The Village of the damned). I absolutely loved this second series and gotta big up all the actors for doing great work. The music is sparse, but very good. The theme song is still haunting me!

Frillyrating:

Reviews from a caffeinated window #1

(Editor’s note: I assure you Frilly doesn’t do drugs, he’s just bonkers!)

Chocky (1984)
Reviewed by FrillyShirtCyberman

The gist of it:
Nice kid Matthew Gore enjoys his birthday with a friend and his family on the cool eighties London. Next day, during class, a weird CSO smoke tunnel jumps around the children, checking them for cooties. Since Matthew is the only one who has heard of Head and Shoulders, this extraterrestrial Tunnel o’Smoke (TM) decides to enhance him (sans steroids).

It’s either the spirit of Roger Waters or some proof that schools in England are liberal about pot.

At first, Matthew is a bit at odds with Chocky, since she/it considers Earth’s technology old-fashioned and stupid. With time, both start getting on like good friends and Matthew gets more and more skilled in everything ranging from science to arts. Heck, he even destroys a videogame with his l33t haxx0r abilities. Then again, maybe it was an 80’s Xbox.

Thanks for ruining another childhood, Bill Gates…

Working more and more as a Gestalt (see? I read Theodore Sturgeon!), Chocky helps Matthew get better grades, draw better and manages to make him understand what Cricket is all about, so now there is little to no doubt that it is an intelligent being. The whole family go for a few days of chillax at a friend’s cottage. A boat hits the jetty where Matthew and his sis are fishing, but Chocky manages to help Matthew save his sister and himself from drowning.

Remember kids, don’t drown unless half and hour has passed since your last meal.

Everyone congratulates Matthew, but he’s angry that he gets recognition when Chocky is doing all the work and things go belly up when he’s kidnapped outside school. He reappears in Hell (filmed in Birmingham) and is taken back to Surrey (purgatory).

You are in a spot o’ bother, you yampy rugrat!

By the end, Chocky appears to Matthew’s dad, who is trusting his son all the way. She/it explains to dad that Matthew will be in danger as long as she keeps visiting him. She waves goodbye with a smokeful goodbye. Matthew now delves into art and it’s getting very good at it. His dad re engraves the medal he had for rescuing his sister by naming Chocky as the saviour of both kids. Matthew smiles and then the music is cued.

This scene always gets me.

Rant:

I have fond memories of this series, as i saw it a year before going to England for the first time in my life. I kinda identified with being the weird kid who is a bit goofy but still a nice boy, so I guess that’s why i rank it high on my nostalgia factor.

Some parts of this show kept in my mind, like the painting of Chocky’s world, the medal of honour thing and the being kidnapped by nasty scientist stuff. I also had this vague idea that it had good acting. Revisiting it again on DVD didn’t changed my mind, I’m happy to report! Special kudos for Andrew Ellams (Matthew) for carrying the show on his shoulders. And his dad, actor James Hazeldine, does a great job too. I haven’t watched “The Omega Factor” series he was in, but I think it would be a good buy.

The little sis (Zoe Hart) is a bit of a cypher, but does what she can with her lines. Glynis Brooks voice is excellent and conveys the alien emotions perfectly. My bugbear would have to be the mum (Carol Drinkwater) acts like a desperate one, always afraid that her son is bonkers, so I guess the actress does convey this properly. Or she’s just a real bitch. She gets a bit tiresome (hey, where’s the love for your kid? What’s next, no wire hangers?) by ep 4, but still does a good job.

Gee, darling… could you stop being such a bitch with Matthew?

This first series never lets down, and I can honestly say it never felt padded. A great show based on the works of one of sci-fi’s greatest, Mr. John Wyndham.

Frillyrating:

Spinster #1: Deconstructive cover albums

Hey, mates, Sam here… I’ll be doing the music stuff in the blog. Without any further ado….

Grant Lee Phillips – Nineteeneighties This little cd that i got for 59 pesos is a nice gem. Grant Lee covers Joy Division (The Eternal), Pixies (Wave of mutilation), R.E.M. (So. Central Rain) and The Church (Under the milky way). I like the way he preserves the emotion from the lyrics (particularly in R.E.M. and Nick Cave’s songs) with a completely different arrange. The cd is very quiet, with Grant Lee playing virtually everything (including a toy piano in The Cure’s Boys don’t cry). Nice, calm music to relax by.

Check it out if you dig: Grant Lee Buffalo, Mark Kozelek, Codeine.

Mark Kozelek – What’s next to the moon Mark Kozelek (of Red House Painters fame) shows his adoration of crazed australian rockers AC/DC with this radical reworking of Bon Scott’s classics. Who could’ve thought that AC/DC lyrics could sound so … romantic? So pained? Filled to the brim with longing and pain, Kozelek works his magic through ten songs, being If you want blood and Bad boy boogie the bona-fide classics. No drums or bass are required on it, just good ol’ Mark, his soothing voice and his impossibly tuned guitar.

Check it out if you dig: Red House Painters, Tim Reynolds, Dakota Suite, Ida, Dave Matthew’s Some Devil or if you want to anger some AC/DC fans.

Sun Kil Moon – Tiny Cities This universally reviled album did the unforgivable sin of daring to cover Modest Mouse. I might like some of their output, but this cd is great. Some of the songs are a bit samey, but others elevate the original material to masterpieces (on top of my mind: Space travel is boring is changed from a screamadelic piece of crap to a little ditty to drive calmly in the forest). Very alternative guitar tunings are used on this one, with Kozelek and company hoping to alienate the Fashion Indie scene (you know the ones I refer to) by deconstructing and digesting the Indie Scenesters lovegods, Modest Mouse. Grey ice water, Convenient parking, Tiny cities made of ash and the already mentioned Space travel are easily the stand out tracks.

Check it out if you dig: Evan Dando, Mark Kozelek, Red House Painters, Duncan Sheik’s Phantom Moon, Coastal, Idaho, Rex or if you want to anger some Modest Mouse fans.