Sci-Fi Serials


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Got to be Dr Who of the oldies

All the modern ones coming out the USA ie Flash forward, Defying Gravity, Heroes and that one about the Alien fish type things in the Everglades start to get tedious after a bit , as if they are wringing as much out of that dead horse as they can , (If you know what I mean!!)

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I agree with you there, Beefsteak.

I started watching Flash Forward as they were promoting it so much, but I gave up during the second episode, as you say, they're just wringing it out.

The same thing happened with Star Trek, so many spin offs, it got tedious, the classic first series was great and so was Star Trek the next Generation, but as for the other stuff, I couldn't really be bothered with it.

Dr Who is superb, it has this certain 'Britishness' about it, even now.

I remember the first ever episode, I seem to recall it was broadcast on the day of JFK's funeral and had to be repeated the week after as the BBC thought that people might have been too upset to watch it.

What would be the first Doctor that you started watching Beefsteak, Jon Pertwee?

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I remember William Hartnell vaguely (and hiding behind the setee when the Daleks appeared!!) But Patrick Troughton is my first proper vivid memory, with those great big 'Yetis' and his side kick "Jamie"

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The Prisoner ---- if you get the chance to watch the new 6 part Prisoner that has been made...DONT....its crap....supposed to be an explanation of what it was about....what rubbish.

Sorry but is the Prisoner Sci-Fi...it maybe fiction but i doubt it was Sci-Fi or did I miss the episode where the space ship landed and took off again, mind you i wouldn't blame it taking off again has anyone walked along the beach at Port Merion like I and Diezel have?

I enjoy Voyager and still do, am at moment catching the new series where at the end they get back to earth.

Farscape is another Sci-Fi series I enjoyed.

Bip.

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The Prisoner ---- if you get the chance to watch the new 6 part Prisoner that has been made...DONT....its crap....supposed to be an explanation of what it was about....what rubbish.

I've never heard of that one, where did you see that, is it British made, who's replaced Patrick Magoohan then.

Portmeirion is a lovely place, fantastic beach, estuary and scenery, you get a great view of it from the other side if you travel on the train up to Porthmadog.

I don't see why it shouldn't be classed as Sci-Fi, just because it's not all about 'Little Green Men' in spaceships.

My favourite episode is where he got away, then was flown back in a Meteor jet (Boulton Pauls ejector seat test aircraft in reality) and chucked out, they don't make 'em like that anymore.

Blakes 7 was great as well with terrible wobbly sets, trouble is, I think that Gareth Thomas, who played Blake, had to dissapear back off to the RSC and that other episodes kept making up excuses for his non appearance. I always fancied Servalan myself, a bit of a tasty villain.

Does anyone remember 'A for Andromeda' from the early 60's, another wobbly BBC production in black and white, but famous for her first major performance in the Andromeda role by Julie Christie, who was an unknown actress up until then.

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Aaahhh,...once again back to my mispent youth! I feel there was nothing to approach the origional Star -Trek. The plots could be viewed on so many levels,from pure brain food ,to simple what you see is what you get.

In those days with no TV(of my own).,the whole college would turn out to watch,-not a seat to be found anywhere.

Next,an ungodly moaning and wailing noise as everyone sang(?) along with the opening theme music then intense silence as we followed the plot to the eventual `goodies ' winning. An unsurpassed weekly `not to be missed' I understand William Shatner was not the initial frontrunner for the part.

However this is about all my brain can cope with today.

Breakfast of Champions’ by Kurt Vonnegut

breakfast_of_champions.jpgBreakfast of champions is about a young farm boy named Yigg who has one eye on a stalk. He is also green — sometimes purple. When the hay harvest is ready, Yigg decides he no longer likes eating hay puffs and goes on a quest for better cereals.

A good Sci-fi cereal.

(OOps hope no one black balls me for talking about `hay puffs!!!)

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The Little known Strangerers (c.2000)

The story centres around two alien agents, Cadet Flynn and Pseudo-Cadet Niven. They are incredibly advanced and evolved vegetables on an information finding mission to Earth, where they take on human form. Their supervisor is accidentally decapitated shortly after arrival leaving the cadets to fend for themselves.

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My earliest recollection of sci-fi was Quatermass, which must have been on the wireless? Dad liked to listen to it and only being one place for everyone to sit in those days, you listened to it as well! I remember hiding behind the settee, because it scared the beejeebers out of me. [which makes me think it was on the telly, but we didn't have a telly until '57]When my kids were younger they loved a kids programme, and for the life of me I can't remember what it was called, but the main objects in the series were like water towers on long legs, that strode around everywhere. Anyone remember this and can tell me what it was called? This would be early 80's at a guess, cos we left the UK in 86.

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I remember an old ITV serial called, 'The Trollenberg Terror'. Things like octopusses lived up this mountain and people had trouble lighting cigarettes. Very odd!

Sounds like something out of the Goon Show. !rotfl!

Now THERE was a show to remember!

Actually used to sit down for "Journey into Space" each week. Aaah! the days of radio. Always left with a cliffhanger until next week.

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My earliest recollection of sci-fi was Quatermass, which must have been on the wireless? Dad liked to listen to it and only being one place for everyone to sit in those days, you listened to it as well! I remember hiding behind the settee, because it scared the beejeebers out of me. [which makes me think it was on the telly, but we didn't have a telly until '57]When my kids were younger they loved a kids programme, and for the life of me I can't remember what it was called, but the main objects in the series were like water towers on long legs, that strode around everywhere. Anyone remember this and can tell me what it was called? This would be early 80's at a guess, cos we left the UK in 86.

'Quatermass' was on BBC television. 'The Quatermass Experiment' was first in which a man returned from space only to suffer any plant he touched growing on him. He looked a bit of a QuaterMESS.

'Quatermass and the Mark' came second. A shower of meteorites fell, containing elements of a larger intelligence and 'Quatermass and the Pit' dealt with remains of superior cavemen being found in a buried spaceship crash landed in London by Martians. All good family entertainment! Films were made of all three and the 'Goons' made a show of 'Quatermass and the Pit'entitled,'The Scarlet Capsule', in which the spaceship turned out to be an old tube train.

It sounded very reasonable I thought.

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So the Trollenberg Terror was there and I wasn't dreaming! Many thanks for calming my fevered imagination! I've always enjoyed the book 'The Day of the Triffids' but always thought John Wyndham's other classic, 'The Kraken Wakes' to be a better book. I can't understand why no one has ever made a film of this.

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When my kids were younger they loved a kids programme, and for the life of me I can't remember what it was called, but the main objects in the series were like water towers on long legs, that strode around everywhere.

Sounds like the BBC series Tripods.

Tripods

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The Tripods was never finished....we have the whole of the TV series ( both )...but the third was never made....we had to download a comic of it to find out what happened. ( one day when we were ill we stayed in bed and watched the whole 12 hours strait )

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I agree with you there, Beefsteak.

I started watching Flash Forward as they were promoting it so much, but I gave up during the second episode, as you say, they're just wringing it out.

The same thing happened with Star Trek, so many spin offs, it got tedious, the classic first series was great and so was Star Trek the next Generation, but as for the other stuff, I couldn't really be bothered with it.

Dr Who is superb, it has this certain 'Britishness' about it, even now.

I remember the first ever episode, I seem to recall it was broadcast on the day of JFK's funeral and had to be repeated the week after as the BBC thought that people might have been too upset to watch it.

What would be the first Doctor that you started watching Beefsteak, Jon Pertwee?

firbeck; we remember the first episode of Dr. Who. also. It was the first show on TV following the football results. There had been nothing, no news at all on the TV after JFK's assassination. And then there was this music and this totally different kind of show. Tom Baker was one of the best, we think.

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The Tripods was never finished....we have the whole of the TV series ( both )...but the third was never made....we had to download a comic of it to find out what happened. ( one day when we were ill we stayed in bed and watched the whole 12 hours strait )

I always thought it was an attempt at making the beasts from H G Wells 'War of the Worlds' benevolent, my favourite Sci Fi book ever written, nothing else can compare when you think how long ago it was thought out.

I recall that Speilburg and Cruise thought about making their last film on the subject true to the book, they didn't as it was considered too 'British', I think their judgement was wrong, Victorian cavalry v aliens, a lost opportunity, hopefully, sometime, someplace, Euro lottery twice winner and I'll make it, it's an incredible story.

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  • 1 year later...

The Little known Strangerers (c.2000)

The story centres around two alien agents, Cadet Flynn and Pseudo-Cadet Niven. They are incredibly advanced and evolved vegetables on an information finding mission to Earth, where they take on human form. Their supervisor is accidentally decapitated shortly after arrival leaving the cadets to fend for themselves.

I have recently re-watched Episode 1 of which I have a copy.

The equivilent agency of 'men in black' in this series arrive in a strange but apparently genuine vehicle?

It looks eastern european. Does anyone know what it might be?

car1-1.png

car2.jpg

car3.jpg

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