Welcome to our third and final issue of the year, something that I still can’t head around (time really does fly when you’re having fun!)
Although this our big, bumper holiday issue, we have tried to keep the content as neutral as possible so it will appeal to people of all sensibilities, not just those who enjoy and celebrate Christmas. As well as a brilliant new short story by Catherine Dyer and an exclusive interview with a member of Doctor Who royalty, we have the first of what I hope will be many contributions from our self-confessed ‘Teletubby,’ Mr Robin Richardson.
But on behalf of everyone here at Spectrum, we wish you a very merry Christmas however you choose to celebrate it, and very happy new year. See you in the Spring!
Oliver Dallas
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The editor wishes to thank Catherine Dyer, Sadie Miller, Susannah Moorefinch and Robin Richardson for their assistance and contributions to this issue.
film cans which originated from AP Films, the production company behind Thunderbirds. These reels contain footage from the series that has been unseen for over six decades, including test shots, uncropped effects shots and alternative edits of existing episodes. Some of the footage from these recent finds can be seen in the UNSEEN THUNDERBIRDS documentaries which are currently available to watch, free of charge on youtube.com/@century21films28
THE FANDOM MENACE
Lucasfilm have confirmed that The Acolyte has been cancelled after just one series. Although no official reason has yet been given for the cancellation, actor Amandla Stenberg admitted that the news was ‘not a huge shock’ to her after ‘experiencing a rampage of hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol’ from fans online since the show’s announcement. This statement is backed up by an industry source who told Dateline that the online discourse, as well as low viewership played a big part in Disney’s final decision to not renew the series. At the time of publication, the series is still available to watch on Disney+.
LIFE FINDS A WAY!
Universal have officially unveiled details about the seventh Jurassic Park film. Titled, Jurassic World: Rebirth, the film will be set five years after the events of Jurassic World: Dominion, where the planet’s ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs. The film will star Scarlett Johansson (pictured above) as covert ops expert, Zora Bennett alongside Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey (also pictured above). Filming has wrapped and the final edit is expected to be finished and released in time for July 2025.
A BAD OMEN?
According to Dateline, filming of the third season of Good Omens has been paused following serious allegations which have been made towards creator and showrunner Neil Gaiman. Gaiman has reportedly offered to stand down from his duties in order for production to resume.
GOONIES NEVER SAY DIE?
According to The Sun, a sequel to the 1985 cult classic has been greenlit by Warner Brothers and will star the surviving members of the original cast. Actor Corey Feldman, however, denies any knowledge of these talks happening.
A MERCHANT IN SPAIN
Actor, writer and comedian Stephen Merchant has been cast in the third season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, which is currently filming in Spain. ‘As a fan of The Walking Dead, I was excited when they asked me to join the universe.’ He said on X, ‘But don’t ask me for spoilersmy lips are sealed.’
CUT-OFF BLADE
Disney Studios have confirmed that Marvel Studios’ remake of Blade has been removed from next year’s release schedule and will be replaced with Predator: Badlands instead. This decision follows from the unprecedented success of the previous Predator film Prey and Disney CEO Bob Eiger’s statement back in May that the company will only be releasing ‘a maximum of three’ Marvel films a year going forward.
HOLLAND GOES FOURTH
Tom Holland confirmed on The Tonight Show that a fourth Spiderman film is ‘good to go’ and should begin filming in summer 2025.
ALIEN: REMUS
Steve Asbell, the President of 20th Century Studios confirmed to Dateline that a sequel to Alien: Romulus is currently in the works and that he hopes that Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson will return to reprise their roles. Asbell also confirmed in the same interview that a new Planet of the Apes film will be coming in 2027.
FALLOUT ALONE
Amazon have confirmed that Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin will be joining the cast of Fallout: Season 2 as ‘a crazy, genius type character.’
A LOST HOPE?
Following the departure of Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight from the project, Disney have confirmed that the yet untitled Star Wars film starring Daisy Ridley has been removed from their December 2026 release schedule and will instead be replaced with Ice Age 6
A NEW HOPE?
According to Deadline, a new trilogy of Star Wars films are currently in the works. X-Men producer Simon Kinberg is apparently in talks with Lucasfilm to produce and write the new trilogy which will continue the story left off from the last. Kinberg previously worked for Lucasfilm as consultant on The Force Awakens and as a co-creator, writer and producer on the animated series Star Wars Rebels
NEARBY CONVENTION DATES
• London Comic Mart & London Pop Market: Sunday 1st December at The Royal National Hotel, 38-51 Bedford Way, London.
• Croydon Star Wars Weekend: Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th December at New Addington Leisure & Community Centre.
• Fantom Events January Signing Spectacular (Doctor Who themed): Saturday 25th January at St Michael’s Centre, Elmwood Road, Chiswick.
• Megacon Live: Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th January at the ExCel, London.
• London Film Fair : Sunday 26th January at the Royal National Hotel.
• London Anime & Gaming Con: Friday 21st Sunday 23rd February at Novotel London West.
FEATURES
INTERVIEW: SADIE MILLER
50 years ago this December, Tom Baker made his unforgettable debut as the fourth Doctor Who. To celebrate this milestone, Big Finish Productions have commissioned a special one-off audio drama starring Tom and Elisabeth Sladen’s daughter Sadie Miller as Sarah Jane Smith.
Sadie very kindly took time out of her busy schedule to grant me this exclusive interview about the making of this story.
So, Sadie, what can you tell us about The Curse of Time? All I can say is that it’s a fun Earth adventure for the Doctor and Sarah with plenty of quirky characters and the perfect atmosphere for Christmas!
This story is celebrating fifty years of Tom as the Doctor. What do you think is the reason for his continued success and popularity? I think Tom combines a lot of what people enjoy about the Doctorhe is clever and enigmatic but also very childlike and always excited to make new discoveries.
And what is it like working with the man himself? I’ve actually only recorded once with Tom, back in 2019, which was such a treat. He records separately to everyone else (and often changes the script!) so it’s always fun to find out what he’s been up to when we get to the studio to record our session!
Whilst we’re still on the subject of recording, how do you approach playing Sarah? I have to rewatch old episodes to get the tone of her voice as keeping to the 70’s RP period is very important. I always try and find TV stories that echo the script of the current BF to see Sarah’s reactions and how that could play out on audio.
And out of the stories that have been released so far, which has been your favourite? Ah, so many! I really enjoyed Past Lives as I got to work with Ingrid Oliver and Jemma Redgrave, which was awesome, but I think I’d probably choose The House that Hoxx Built as it’s such an off the wall script but so tightly written and with such a small cast. I think it captures a lot of the tension and ebbs and flows that makes Doctor Who so iconic.
Where would you like the character of Sarah to go next? I’d love to find out what happens to her post Classic Who and pre The Sarah Jane Adventures as that’s also the age I am now!
Doctor Who: The Curse of Time will be available to purchase on CD and download from December.
Words: Oliver Dallas
BLAKE’S 7: A MISUNDERSTOOD CLASSIC?
In the twentieth century of the first calendar, a writer went to the BBC with an idea for a new science fiction series. The idea? ‘The Dirty Dozen in space.’ The result? A series which still divides opinion to this day, despite a devoted fan following and a home media release which has recently topped the best seller’s chart. But for all it’s success, why is Blake’s 7 still regarded by some as the absolute nadir of British television?
Following on from the recent success of his apocalyptic drama series, Survivors, Dalek creator Terry Nation was invited to pitch a new series to the BBC’s then head of drama, Ronnie Marsh in September 1975. After his first idea, a crime drama about an American criminology professor living in Oxford fell on death’s ears, Nation in a flash of desperation quickly improvised a second, a space opera set in a future which is ruled by a totalitarian regime called the Federation. The series begins with a group of criminals being transported to a prison planet. Under the leadership of a wrongly convicted politician called Roj Blake, some of the prisoners manage to escape in a highly advanced spacecraft, which they then use to wage war on their oppressors.
When asked by Marsh for a title, Nation, in another flash of desperation, christened it Blake’s 7. Marsh was impressed by the idea and eventually commissioned Nation to write a thirteen episode series. Because the series would be inheriting the budget of the series it was replacing, Softly, Softly: Task Force (a low budget police drama), Marsh went away in search of a producer who would be able to make this expensive vision a credible reality. He ended up approaching David Maloney, a BBC staff director famous for helming some of Doctor Who’s most highly regarded serials, including Nation’s Genesis of the Daleks.
Intrigued by the idea, Maloney accepted the position and like Blake on the prison ship, quickly assembled a team. Most of the production staff that he hired were ones that he had previously worked with on Who and could trust to deliver within time and on budget. Notable choices included writer Robert Holmes, music composer Dudley Simpson and set designer Roger MurrayLeach who produced both the iconic exterior and interiors of the Liberator spacecraft (pictured top left).
After declining the position for himself, Holmes recommended his writing protégé, Chris Boucher to be the series’ script editor. Although Boucher was more than happy to accept the job having worked as a freelancer for many years, he wasn’t quite prepared for the challenge that awaited him. ‘I didn’t know that Terry only did first drafts!’ He revealed in a 1987 interview with Joe Nazzaro. ‘(He) was a consummate professional and what he had to do was 13 50-minute episodes and that’s what concerned him. He did on one occasion say, did we want rewrites or did we want the next episode? We naturally wanted the next episode, so that left me with the rewrites.’
From the very start, Nation envisioned Blake’s 7 as ‘Robin Hood in space,’ with swashbuckling heroes and thoroughly evil villains, but by the time Boucher had finished the rewrites, he had, by his own admittance, turned the series into a morally ambiguous ‘Che Guevara in space,’ in which the actions of our so-called heroes were constantly put into question. Were Blake and his crew really freedom fighters? Or were they terrorists who caused more harm than good?
Stage actor Gareth Thomas (pictured top centre) was chosen to play the Che Guevara-like Blake. Although Thomas had had experience acting in television, this was his first leading role in that medium and as a result, he felt that he had a tremendous amount of responsibility resting upon his shoulders. ‘It’s up to the leading actor to make sure that the cast is up to crack,’ he told Nazzaro in 1986. ‘It’s not control in terms of actually taking physical responsibility,’ he reassured him, ‘It’s bearing the weight, it’s leading by example, both in terms of acting, but also in terms of behaviour; it’s not when you crack the gags on set, it’s knowing when not to crack gags on set.’
Thomas as Blake lead a diverse cast of characters which included Sally Knyvette (pictured right) as smuggler/pilot Jenna Stannis, Michael Keating (behind Knyvette) as cowardly thief Vila Restal, Paul Darrow (behind Keating) as amoral computer expert Kerr Avon, Jan Chapel (left) as an alien telepath called Cally and David Jackson (behind Chapel) as Olag Gan, a strong but gentle giant who was implanted with a brain limiter that prevented him from harming or killing anyone. Peter Tuddenham rounded off the main cast as the voice of various supercomputers, including Zen and Orac (beneath Thomas).
The most popular member of the seven was Avon, who’s self-interest and unpredictability proved popular with audiences. ‘I was in the unique position of being able to do what I really wanted to do,’ Darrow explained in a 2005 interview with Kevin Jon Davies, ‘If you’re the hero, you’ve got to behave in a certain way, but when you’re the guy just behind the hero’s shoulder then you could do what you like. Actresses would get quite cross with me, they would say, “Oh Paul, you kiss me in this episode, (and) everyone that Avon kisses dies so I won’t get another episode out of it.” So I was known as the kiss of death to a lot of actresses.’
One actress that did get to kiss Paul and live to tell the tale on multiple occasions was Jaqueline Pearce (pictured top left on the next page) who played Servalan, the Supreme Commander of the Federation. Originally envisioned as a one-off character, Pearce was so popular with everyone that she was retained as a series regular. ‘Jackie was sensational,’ agreed Nation, ‘She was this tremendously sexual, sensual woman made of ice. I think there is something in a woman that is much more brutal than a man.’
Despite Nation her femineity to enhance the character, Pearce herself remembered it differently. ‘Originally, the designer saw me the producer, in jackboots and helmet and safari suit.’ she recalled in a 1993 interview with Jon Davies, ‘so I said; “No, because with my hair this short, you might as well cast a man, and I think it’s much better to go completely the opposite so that she looks incredibly feminine and has this masculine capacity for power.’”’
Another character which went on to become a popular regular was Space Commander Travis, portrayed in the first series by the late, great Stephen Greif (pictured top right). Dressed in black leather with an eye patch and a robotic arm which fired laser beams, Greif was under no illusions that he was playing a caricature. ‘He was a very black and white character,’ he explained in ‘93, ‘almost Teutonic in his dedication to the job. He was an obsessive soldier.’ ‘Travis got to be something of a joke...’ admitted Nation, ‘I was sending it up slightly, and Stephen was playing it up slightly, but he played it with such panache that it didn’t seem overloaded at all.’
As well as Servalan and Travis, Blake also had to contend with something in a galaxy not so far, far, away from his own… ‘When we were preparing it (the series), this very minor film was released called Star Wars…’ Murray-Leach recalled in 2002 to Jon Davies, ‘David (Maloney) and I went to see a preview, and when the opening shot with the spaceship flying over the top of the camera hit the screen, I got up and left! No, I didn’t really, but I felt like it. I said, “I can’t sit here and watch this and then try and go back to the BBC and produce something that was going to be compared.”’
Interviewed in 2006 for The Cult of Blake’s 7 documentary, special effects designer, Mat Irvine remembers Maloney ‘coming in (to his office) and saying, “I’ve just seen this new film, Star Wars, we want effects just like that.” And me and Ian Scoones, my colleague at the time, said, “well, great, give us the money,” but we never quite got the same amount of money that Star Wars had got…’
On one occasion, the purse strings were so tight for Irvine and his team that they had to resort to using yogurt pots and broken hairdryers as spaceships for a climatic battle sequence.
But model spaceships weren’t the only things on the show that were made out of household items... To replace missing teleport bracelet props, Irvine looked to Blue Peter for cheap alternatives. ‘They’d shown kids, “Hey! You can make your own Blake’s 7 teleporter bracelets,” and they made these cardboard bracelets… We did the same thing.’
Unlike Irvine and Murray-Leach, Maloney and Thomas were not deterred by the big budget delights of Star Wars. ‘We did hope that some people would go and see Star Wars and then turn and say “let’s go and look at this thing on BBC.’ Thomas confessed in ‘02, ‘I mean, yes, we got reviews like “bargain basement Star Trek” and things like that, but I always negated that, I said “no, I don’t believe that.” It’s bargain basement, yes, but a totally different concept.’
Despite the mostly negative response from critics which ranged from ‘classically awful’ to ‘paralytically awful,’ an average of over ten million viewers tuned in to the watch the series when it launched on the 2nd January 1978. It was a huge success, especially with younger audiences, and three more series were made in response to that. Flash forward over forty years later and the series lives on in audio, print and a brand new Blu-Ray release which recently topped the sales charts.
So why does the series continue to endure, despite it's critics and high budgeted competition?
‘Blake’s 7 started out as an adventure show and ended up as a soap, and I think that’s why it has a devoted following,’ Theorised writer and critic Kim Newman in ‘06, ‘and also with people who admit, “yeah, some of the acting is pretty poor and some of the writing is completely off the wall,” but kept tuning in for the people.’
Director and producer of Series 4 Vere Lorrimer came to same conclusion as Newman thirteen years earlier in ‘93. ‘The fact that, perhaps, it wasn’t so expensively laid out, in some ways had an endearing quality about it. The public liked the people in it because they weren’t great, gigantic heroes, they were human like us, and they were all very fallible and endearing.’
I also believe that the characters were the real reason for the series’ initial and continued success. There’s a reason why Avon and Servalan are still fondly remembered and not the spaceships and props. The characters and their interactions with one another are what you should be invested in, not the special effects. It’s a space opera, but with the emphasis firmly on opera.
Blake’s 7: The Collection: Series 1 is available to purchase on Blu-Ray now. The complete series is also available to purchase on DVD.
Words: Oliver Dallas
ROBIN’S RECALL #1
Being the absolute Teletubby I am, I've been comfort-watching a guilty pleasure of mine...
Red Dwarf Series VIII (1999), the Tekken 4 -esque "one we don't talk about" given its shark-jumping lack of popularity with most, set aboard the titular mining vessel the size of a city, now resurrected by the Clarke's Third Law magic of sufficiently advanced technology (otherwise known as nanobots).
However, that literal-minded naughty nanotech has followed the original blueprints of the Dwarf, to re-create the ultimate space prison, filled with a rogue's gallery of ghastly convicts, evil guards, and queer-coded staff antagonists (Smegging 90s!).
Sci-fi prisons are something of interest to me: most memorably, the Atlas prison camp of Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare (2014); the Pent House Criminal Facility full of mechanically augmented humans in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - A Criminal Past (2017), or the tri-level Used Future squalor of Chronicles Of Riddick - Escape From Butcher Bay (2004.)
To my mind, and please correct me, Red Dwarf has yet to feature anything of the sort until now, although as an, albeit comic, sci-fi philosophy vehicle, it has explored themes of crime and punishment in earlier series.
This has been done with the karmic computers in the Justice Sphere (Series IV) and the egocentric vigilante and temporal judge, The Inquisitor (Series V.)
Red Dwarf, with its Zeerusted, spraypainted-keyboard-on-a-wall roots, always had Alien (1979) as a creator's Word Of God inspiration. Ordinary workers being subject to harm and death for the benefit of a space corporation...a tale as old as time, but I don't think the real Crew Expendable features didn't come through until now.
The Canaries, an interstellar Dirlewanger Unit filled with Asimov-averse "droids from G-Wing", scum "with arms like toilet walls," and animated killers such as the aptly named Killcrazy, become The Boys (And Girl) From The Dwarf's lampshaded vehicle for conflict during their stay on Floor 13, Red Dwarf's secret brig level.
Jupiter Mining Corporation (JMC) law now applies to them again following the resurrection of the ship - as they've now been "recaptured" and detained, and due to Lister believing he was signing everyone up to a close harmony singing collective, the crew are now part of a force sent into Smeggy situations to see if they'll die, so then the JMC knows if it's safe to send the *important* people.
As the name implies, this is much like the coalmine dwelling death-detection of idiom and history. "The scheme's the thing!", the Souther High Command says, before dropping you into the Quartz Zone...
Given of course their quotidian duties of running away and surviving all kinds of space scum before being incarcerated, like murderous android Rogue Simulants, horrendously ugly and amorous Genetically Engineered Life Forms; gestalt entities composed of multiple personalities, and-
-even recently defrosted zombie scientists, they've more of a fighting chance than most even without their main character Plot Armour (one character even tests this, with headshots with a gun, during the episode!)
And so, in what I think is the best episode of the season, the expendable penal legion with the eye wateringly loud safety-yellow vests on (the Canary theme, natch,) take a submarine down to a sunken ship on an ocean planet, known as the SS Silverbergnamed after Meryl Silverburgh from Metal Gear Solid (1998), maybe?
They find the reason the JMC exploratory probes didn't find a crew, because it didn't *need* one. Instead, a sapient AI called Cassandra, named after the Greek legend, is the sole occupant of the Silverberg, entombed for safety in a remote derelict deep underneath the waves.
As you'd expect, she possesses the Cassandra Truth effect, where like Apollo's Trojan princess, nobody believes your warnings even if they're true. A perennial autistic gripe if there ever was one, given the caprices of the Double Empathy Problem, nicht wahr?
Cass' has the power to predict future events and misfortunes with unerring accuracy - much to the worry and disconfirmation biases of the subjects of her predictions, as we shall see.
The face in the Zordon column, although without the Rangers guardian's smartphone videocall expanded face, is that of Geraldine McEwan (pictured above), who Wikipedia tells me was Miss Marple, and Miss Thripp in Wallace & Gromit: Curse Of The Were-rabbit (2005).
While I think she has a touch of William Harnell's original Doctor Who about her, she is mostly calm and logical in her patter. Her predictions of what the crew are about-
-to say and what happens to them are not obviously egoistic or to show off, but just a demonstration of her natural abilities as a predictive computer - "a very dangerous thing indeed" even in her own words.
You've probably seen enough available examples in sci-fi for this situation - the solipist bombs in Dark Star (1974), conflicted HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968,) and even John Henry Eden's genocidal ZAX AI in Fallout 3 (2008) - to predict some conscious computerised amoral Smeg happening very fricking soon, though.
And as this is BBC sci-fi, and nothing is ever as it seems, you'd be half right!
As it turns out, Cassandra is still capable of deception and of revenge despite her affability, and she plans to punish her predicted killer before the foreseen events of her own "death."
She plans to drive a grammar school boy humourist's idea of an abused and helicopter-parented awkward sod turned cowardly chickenshit heel, Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie,) and plushie-hugging stock sci-fi sex object and occasional beacon of sanity Kristine Kochanski (Chloë Annett,) to sleep together out of pity for Rimmer's supposed impending death - a ruse by Cassandra!
This is to incite Dave Lister, a heroic space slacker played by Robot Wars star (and former cocaine fuelled cab passenger) Craig Charles, who has frankly creepy unrequited designs on Kris played for laughs (Smegging 90s misogyny!) to jealously kill his own crewmate with a harpoon gun after happening on them during such an act.
This predestination based ruse fails miserably, as Kryten, Robert Llewellyn's Canadian-accented, novelty condom-headed service mechanoid, and now a wearisome transgender joke given his assignment to the Women's wing due to lacking a ding-dong (Smegging 90s gender essentialism!) uses his own computational power and predictive ability to outfox the tinsel-ruffed, sassy old dame on that sinking ship.
Alas however, the bulkheads break (how convenient (!)) and the ship starts flooding, driving Rimmer and Kochanski deeper into the Silverberg's lower regions where Cassandra dwells, and like Raiden and EE, manage to avoid drowning.
Given the old pump station looks of this place (pump stations, multistorey car parks, and Blake's 7-esque stone quarries being the Beeb sci-fi locations of the time, I guess,) I'd not be surprised to see Archer and T'Pol firing phasers at the pursuing Orion Syndicate, or Dominik Diamond talking to footballers playing Street Fighter II under Patrick Stewart's massive projected head.
Lister, sporting a set of translucent yellow scuba goggles, re-enters the ship to save Rimmer and Kochanski, armed with the new info from Kryten just as much as his speargun, and confronts Cassandra in her lair.
Lister is perennially his own man, would-
prefer to be in ignorance as to how he dies and wants the means to carve out his own life and make his own decisions unfettered by fate. He defies that he is the one to kill Cassandra as predicted, and triumphantly sticks his wad of chewed up gum on the wall as an exclamation point.
However, Libet's button will has been well and truly pushed!
The chewed-up chud falls down, setting off a Home Alone style Rube Goldberg chain of domino-like, sequential object-collision events.
This knocks a glass of watered down Scotch onto a plug, causing a power short, which after wrecking some delicate machinery nearby, eliminates Cassandra by proxy!
Her last "word" is a brief gaze of knowing indignance towards Lister, sick of his Smeg, before she finally explodes in a terrific hail of sparks.
Likewise, and ever the Viewer Surrogate, a dejected "Smeg" is shaggy space dog Lister's only retort.
The complete Red Dwarf series is available to watch for free on BBC iPlayer.
Words: Robin Richardson
FICTION
SUN AND MOON
By Catherine Dyer
Solar 44 awoke, as he always did, at 6am sharp in his small, plainly decorated apartment in the Lunar Embassy in London. He showered for ten minutes, cleaned his teeth then put on the leftmost of the white shirts and black suits in his wardrobe. Having dressed himself, he exited his apartment, walked directly to the embassy canteen to acquire a ham-and -cheese croissant and black coffee for breakfast, and then sat down in his office to silently listen to the Ambassador complain about all the ways that the President was making his job difficult today.
On this particular morning, however, there was a deviation from the routine. Today, the President was making life difficult for the Ambassador by sending his daughter to Earth for the Embassy to babysit, and the Ambassador wanted Solar 44, as his most experienced assistant, to give her a tour of London.
“I am not,” Solar 44 protested, “the most entertaining of people. Are you sure it should be me?”
The Ambassador sighed and looked him directly in the eyes, “it doesn’t matter if she has fun, it matters that we keep her safe. I am not having the President’s daughter doing anything irresponsible in an Earth city on my watch.”
“Understood.”
*
The President’s daughter was a short woman in her early twenties, wearing a rather revealing outfit and with her hair, dyed bright pink, in a messy bob. Solar 44, on the other hand, was a tall bald man in a suit. The two couldn’t have contrasted more.
She was also loud. The sort of person whose voice was stuck on the highest volume setting. As soon as Solar 44 had formally introduced himself and explained his role, she demanded in the most audible manner possible that he get all of the cheesy tourist destinations out the way first and then show her the city’s finest bars.
Cheesy tourist destinations, thought Solar 44 to himself. I presume she does not refer to actual cheese. I suppose she might like to see the Clocktower first, and then perhaps the Tower Bridge, or the Tower of London It was at this point that Solar 44 noticed all of the tourist sights that immediately came to mind involved towers. Fascinating.
The President’s daughter, it turned out, was not especially interested in towers. “Doesn’t this city have any shops or something?” She whined.
“Well, yes,” said Solar 44, “of course there are shops. Would you like to go shopping?”
“Hmmm, I wonder,” she replied, her voiced positively oozing with sarcasm.
Life would be much easier if people said what they were thinking. “I presume that means ‘yes.’
“What sort of shopping most interests you?”
The President’s daughter (it was at this point that Solar 44 realised he had foolishly forgotten to ask her name) looked at him for a moment, clearly exasperated. “I dunno, maybe see what clothes they have on Earth?”
“Clothes shops, I understand there are a great many of those on Oxford Street. I shall take you there.”
*
Oxford Street was busy as usual. The President’s daughter poked listlessly at various skirts in various shops and almost bought a jacket but decided against it. Solar 44 noted, with regret, that she still didn’t seem to be enjoying herself.
“Is everything alright,” Solar 44 began to ask, before pausing and saying, “I don’t believe I got your name.”
“That’s about right,” she groaned, “my name might as well be Miss President’s daughter after all.”
“So what would you prefer I call you?” Asked Solar 44 in his usual businesslike manner, realising immediately afterwards that he perhaps should have expressed some sympathy.
“My name, for what it’s worth, is Serena. Can we go find a bar now?”
“Alright Serena, I shall take you to a bar.”
Solar 44 did not normally frequent bars. As a consequence, he was not sufficiently familiar with the city’s establishments to recommend one.
How does a person who does not know about bars find out what bars are good without the person standing next to him realising he does not know about bars? He asked himself.
He considered the possibilities for a moment. I have colleagues at the embassy who partake in alcoholic refreshments in the evenings. Perhaps I can recall them mentioning places they liked to frequent
Ah, yes, Miss Fisher! She goes to a bar called Twilight near Piccadilly. I can take her there
*
Twilight was, perhaps appropriately, dimly lit and decorated in deep reds, browns, blues and purples. They probably meant it to create a cool, trendy ambiance but Solar 44 just found the place dark and noisy.
Serena seemed to perk up though, and immediately headed towards the bar. Solar 44, for his part, found somewhere to sit where he could keep an eye on her.
A moment later, Serena turned round and shouted, “hey, Solar Whatever, you want anything?” “Just a cola for me.”
“Boring! Oh, wait, are you Solars not allowed alcohol or something? Sorry if I was insensitive.”
And with that she returned to flirting with the young woman next to her, pausing briefly to bring Solar 44 his drink.
The bar was playing some sort of noising music with a pulsing beat. Most of the patrons were sat in groups, loudly conversing amongst themselves, while a few were dancing.
Solar 44 did his best to keep an eye on what Serena was doing despite the dingy lighting and abundant aural stimulation.
Serena seemed primarily interested in getting attractive people to buy her drinks. Solar 44 made a mental note to keep track of how many drinks to ensure she did not get excessively drunk.
Four drinks later, Serena, visibly tipsy, sat down opposite Solar 44.
“I thought you looked kinda lonely sitting there by yourself.”
“It is fine. You are having fun, I am working.”
“Doesn’t seem fair really.” Serena paused, and took another swig out of the glass of beer she was holding. “You sure you’re fine with that?”
“I am.”
“Mind if I talk a moment anyway?”
“Not at all.”
Serena smiled slightly, then downed the rest of her beer.
“You know, it’s nice being somewhere where nobody recognises me. Let’s me be normal for a moment.”
Solar 44 nodded to indicate he was listening.
“Back on the moon, I never get to be anything but the President’s daughter. If I go anywhere it’s ‘hey look it’s the President’s daughter.’ If I do anything it’s like, ‘today the President’s daughter did this, let’s discuss how that impacts the reputation of the Presidency’.”
Her voice was a little slurred, but still clear. Her tone made her frustration abundantly obvious.
“It’s good to just hang out in a bar and get a bit drunk.”
Solar 44 had never been drunk but nodded anyway. It most likely was good for a young woman her age to get out of the spotlight for a time as she said.
“Thanks for bringing me here anyway. You’re a good listener, Solar 44.”
FILM: BORDERLANDS (2024)
A bunch of miscast misfits go in search of a MacGuffin in not only the worst film of the year but one of the worst films ever made.
Cate Blanchett looks bored throughout, Jamie Lee Curtis doesn't even bother trying and Jack Black somehow manages to be more irritating than Kevin Hart. And the less said about Ariana Greenblatt, the better
If you’re a fan of the video game that it’s based on, then you're going to be left feeling disappointed. If you’re a fan of movies bad or otherwise, then you’re also going to be left feeling disappointed. If I had to sum up the entire film into one single word, then it would be claptrap. Complete and utter claptrap. Avoid!
Borderlands is available to purchase on DVD, Blu-Ray and VOD now, if you dare…!
Words: Oliver Dallas
DVD & BLU-RAY: DOOMWATCH (1972/2024)
Following the tradition of many TV programmes of the time, Doomwatch is a feature film adaptation of the series of the same name. Ian Bannen stars as Dr Del Shaw, who is investigating the affects of an oil tanker spillage on a remote island village. When the body of a child is found buried in the woods, Del, with the help of teacher Victoria Brown (Judy Geeson) discovers that the villagers have been genetically altered by contaminated fish.
Despite some strong performances particularly from Bannen and Geeson, and atmospheric direction, the story itself suffers from the same problems that affected the TV series in it’s later years. It’s not sure whether it wants to be a folk horror mystery or a environmental conspiracy thriller, resulting in a final film that doesn't really cohere or succeed in being either genre. I would recommend it as a curio, if nothing else.
Words: Oliver Dallas
BOOK: DOCTOR WHO IN WONDERLAND (2024)
"Like Alice, I try to believe three impossible things before breakfast."
The Doctor and his companions visit the dreaming spires of peaceful Oxford, hoping for a brief respite from their travels.
But when Lewis Carroll appears at a garden party and their fellow guests transform into animals, they realise that everything is not as it seems . . .
An unknown cosmic foe has trapped them in a twisted version of Alice’s Wonderland. Separated from the TARDIS and from each other, their only hope of escape lies in cryptic clues teased by fan-favourite characters from Carroll’s classic tale.
Out of all the eras of the show, Peter Davison’s is arguably the closest in style and tone to Carroll’s fantasy classic. A lot of the monsters and villains from that period were oversized animals and Davison’s well-mannered but often frustrated take on the Time Lord perfectly mirrored that of Alice. If any incarnation was going to go through the looking-glass and face down a Jabberwocky, then it would indubitably be him.
As well as the charmingly offbeat tone of Carroll’s book, author Paul Magrs also manages to capture the campy, almost pantomimish tone of mid 1980’s Who. Because this adventure takes place during the Black Guardian trilogy (turning it into a quad trilogy), the crow obsessed immortal does inevitably make an appearance, and in a guise that is for better or worst, totally in keeping with that period of the programme. Without giving too much away, you won’t be able to look at the Black Guardian or the Queen of Hearts the same way ever again after reading this book
But before you go away thinking that this book is as mad as a hatter, it does offer some profundity in the form of the real-life Alice. Her reconciliation with the man who cursed her with her immortality is a highlight and proof that Magrs can write pathos as well as comedy.
Out of the many Doctor Who books that I’ve had to read and review this year, this was, by far, the best and most enjoyable. It had me grinning away like a Cheshire cat throughout. I’m not usually one for doing ratings, but because I enjoyed this one so much, I am going to take a leaf out of Carroll’s book and rate it in terms of bunsworths. I give it eleven stickybunsworths out of ten!
Doctor Who in Wonderland is available to purchase in paperback and eBook format now.
Words: Oliver Dallas
TV
TV AND FILM GUIDE
DECEMBER 2024
Skeleton Crew: Season 1: A Star Wars spin-off about a group of children who go on an adventure to get back to their lost home. Starring Jude Law and Kerry Condon, the series will be available to watch on Disney+ from Tuesday 3rd.
Tomorrow and I: Season 1: Anthology series exploring the intersection between futuristic technology and Thai culture. Available to watch on Netflix from Wednesday 4th.
Bearstars: Season 3: An animated series about a world inhabited by civilised, anthropomorphic animals and where eating meat is strictly illegal. Available to watch on Netflix from Thursday 5th.
Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld: Season 1: An animated supernatural series about a Chinese-American teen who is being hunted for her superpowers. Available to watch on Netflix from Thursday 5th.
The Box of Delights: A repeat of the 1987 fantasy series starring Patrick Troughton as a magical Punch and Judy man. Available to watch on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer from Saturday 7th.
One Hundred Years of Solitude: Season 1: An adaptation of the 1967 magic realism novel of the same name. Available to watch on Netflix from Wednesday 11th.
Marvel What If...? Season 3: Animated anthology series exploring alternative timelines within the MCU. Available to watch on Disney+ from Sunday 22nd.
Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour: A colourisation of Patrick Troughton’s final story as the Doctor. Available to watch on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer from Monday 23rd.
TV (Continued)
Woman of Stone: A new Ghost Story for Christmas based on the short story Man-size in Marble by Edith Nesbit. Available to watch on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer from Tuesday 24th.
Doctor Who: Joy to the World: 2024
Christmas special starring Ncuti Gatwa and Nicola Coughlan. Available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from Wednesday 25th.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl: The long awaited return of the cheese loving inventors will be available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from Wednesday 25th
Squid Game 2: The long awaited return of the South Korean dystopian thriller will be available to watch on Netflix from Thursday 26th.
FILM
Nightbitch: Amy Adams stars as a stay-athome mum who has the ability to transform herself into a dog. Opens Friday 6th.
Y2K: Julian Dennison and Rachel Zegler star in a horror comedy about technology coming to life and trying to kill humanity on New Years Day 2000. Opens Friday 6th.
Kraven the Hunter: Superhero film starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson as a “protector of the natural world.” Opens Friday 13th.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim: Animated prequel featuring the voices of Brian Cox, Luke Pasqualino and Miranda Otto. Opens Friday 13th.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3: Sequel starring Jim Carrey, Keanu Reeves and Idris Elba. Opens Saturday 21st.
JANUARY
2025
FEBRUARY
TV
Goosebumps: Season 2: David Schwimmer (pictured above) plays the father of teenage siblings who unravel a profound mystery dating back to 1994. Available to watch on Disney+ from Friday 10th.
FILMS
Nosferatu: Remake of the 1922 original starring Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult and Lily-Rose Depp. Opens Friday 3rd.
Companion: Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid star in a phycological horror about a woman who is being romanced at gunpoint. Opens Friday 10th.
Wolf Man: Remake of the 1941 original starring Christopher Abbott, Julia Garner and Matilda Firth. Opens Friday 17th.
Presence: Supernatural horror starring Lucy Liu and Julia Fox. Friday 24th.
Mickey 17: Robert Pattinson stars as a disposable employee who is sent on an expedition to colonise a new planet. Friday 31st.
The return of the animated superhero series will be available from A horror retelling ’s story.
Celeste Dalla Porta and Gary Oldman star in a coming of age drama about the reincarnation of a mythical siren.
Captain America: Brave New World: Marvel sequel starring Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford and Giancarlo Esposito. Opens Friday 14th.
The Monkey: Theo James and Elijah Wood star in an adaptation of Stephen King’s short story of the same name. Opens Friday 21st.
Vicious: Dakota Fanning (pictured below with Dakota Fanning) stars as a woman who finds herself fighting for her existence after receiving a strange gift from a latenight visitor. Opens Friday 28th.
