PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Sanctuary Season 1

I got the first season dvd set from the library and watched it over the weekend. It's a show I hadn't even heard of before. Mind you, I don't watch the Syfy channel much, I can barely type the dumb spelling they use. The show is about a 157 year old woman, Amanda Tapping, who runs a sanctuary for abnormal beings. Because of her experiments with vampire blood in the 1880's she never ages. There were others involved in the same experiments and they surface through the series.

There's a whole secret world going on that regualr folk don't know much of anything about and in the opening 2 parter it comes spilling into Robin Dunne's life. He's a police forensic psychiatrist who's working a case that Amanda and her group are also dealing with. That connection leads him to a new job working for her. You can see the first chunk of the 2 part opening story on YouTube. There seems to be plenty of episodes there and many for free. The 1st season has 13 episodes and they first aired October 3 2008 and ran through January 5 2009. Amanda lives in a old CGI church with her own secret underground complex. There are many abnormals there, most of which we never see, a couple of employees and her daughter. Emilie Ellerup plays Amanda's daughter and she's an ass kicking, gun shootin' blonde with attitude. Christopher Hyerdahl plays two roles. He's Bigfoot, an abnormal who works in the Sanctuary, in most episodes. In random stories he shows up  as Amanda's old flame from the 1800's who was also Jack The Ripper. He's better now. Oh, wait he's not. He was one of the people that joined Amanda in taking the vampire blood. His power is teleportation. Ryan Robbins plays the computer guy who is also turns into a werewolf guy. Ryan is the only one of the five who isn't a regular cast member. He gets upgraded to regular cast status in the second season.

As Robin gets introduced to the life at the Sanctuary we meet up with many of the abnormals that inhabit that world and we learn some of the problems they have. In the 3rd episode the Sanctuary gang find three woman who have been buried for 800 years. An evil secret organization, the boringly titled The Cabel, is trying to capture and control abnormals for their own gain. They become the big bad for a spell. The woman at the head of that group is a cold blooded stereotype who you can only hope will be murdered sooner than later. She causes a lot of harm to the folks at the Sanctuary.

Some of the episodes are more your stand alone monster of the week type stories. This one has some folding guys who can fit into a tiny space, that one has a beast that can mimic anyone's looks, another is the show's tribble episode after some cute fuzzy critters turn into a rapidly multiplying issue. The show has an ok mix of comedy and drama but generally takes itself too seriously. Other episodes deal with the ongoing Cabal story arc. The season ends with the Cabal capturing Amanda's daughter and turning her into a teleporting super vampire. From what I read all 4 seasons end with a cliffhanger.

Much of the show is shot green screen and there aren't any real sets in some cases. Sometimes the CGI sets work well and other times it looks pretty fakey. It certainly gives the show a chance to go just about anywhere or when. The stories are ok and the characters aren't too annoying. I find the show is much like stuff you've already seen, like it was the lovechild of Angel and Warehouse 13. Lots of monsters and high tech science stuff. There's plenty of fighting, gun shots and the occasional explosion. I didn't stop me getting through the whole season in a few days. I have theo other 3 seasons lined up next.  

79111 Constitution Train Chase

The largest of The Lone Ranger sets is the train set. It's a $100 set with 699 pieces. That's not a great price per part, over 14 cents each, and since they aren't parts that I need... You can just imagine where I'm goin' with that. Mind you, these large sets often get a mark down on Amazon, or the large box stores, and I certainly have managed to score the odd one over the years. I got a couple of the Toy Story Train Chase set that way. For the most part the train sets aren't the thing I'm interested in but I really liked that one. Very colorful. I do like the wheels that they use, both on the engine and the cars, and the cow catcher. You get 8 sets of the wheels and holder that you see on the right. Typically a train car would have 2 of those units at each end of the car so this set would only let you build two regular train cars. Building trains is costly. Especially if you have one of a good length. If you check Bricklink the price of the wheels, holder and metal axel gets to $2 if you wanted to buy a dozen at one go. People sell them as a complete unit and they are about the same price as seperate pieces. Then you've got to buy the connectors and they're over a buck each in any quantity. You're looking at a ten spot before you even build the car. 

The black and dark green do look nice. There's a bit of reddish brown and some good bit of the light and dark blay. If I built more trains those parts might make the set more attractive to me. The availability of the parts on Bricklink serves me better than the complete set. Anyone with a limited budget for their hobby has to make their purchases based on what they think they need to build what they want to build. A person's preference really becomes evident when they inventory the sets they buy. I did that on Brickset and could see in actual numbers what the trends were. Not that I didn't think that's what I was already doing.

 

It doesn't look like there enough track to get that train too far but you can always buy more. Then you can add a town. Of course the train isn't motorized and some review I read said it would be hard to add that function. The train engine and cars are a bit shorter than they are in the average train set. Here's are all the features in the set: 

Make a high-speed rescue on rails with the Lone Ranger!

The chase is on to save Rebecca and Danny from Butch Cavendish and his gang of henchmen on board the speeding train, Constitution! Help Tonto to place the dynamite and blow up the water tower to stop the speeding train in its tracks! Ride to the rescue with the Lone Ranger alongside on his trusty horse, Silver. Jump aboard the highly detailed locomotive with 3 cars and dodge the gatling gun! Uncover the secret coal wagon hideout, blow the prison wagon door with the dynamite and escape to safety with Rebecca and Danny! Includes 7 minifigures with weapons and accessories: the Lone Ranger, Tonto, Rebecca Reid, Danny Reid, Butch Cavendish, Latham Cole and Captain Fuller.

• Includes 7 minifigures with weapons and accessories: the Lone Ranger, Tonto, Rebecca Reid, Danny Reid, Butch Cavendish, Latham Cole and Captain Fuller
• Features Constitution train, a full set of track, exploding water tower and the Lone Ranger’s horse, Silver
• Features locomotive with lots of authentic detailing, coal car with secret hideout, wagon with rotating gatling gun and a prison wagon with sliding door, opening roof and exploding rear door function
• Water tower features exploding function, detachable container and water elements
• Weapons include 3 revolvers, rifle, sword and a slingshot
• Accessories include 3 dynamite, 2 silver bars, 2 silver nuggets, shovel, bottle and a pocket watch decorated element
• Turn the handle and fire the gatling gun!
• Topple the water tower and stop the train in its tracks!
• Build your own track shapes with 16 curved and 4 straight track sections
• Defeat Cavendish and his mob to bring justice to the Wild West!
• Connect the magnetically joined train wagons
• Measures over 3" (9cm) high, 22" (58cm) long and 1" (5cm) wide
• Water tower measures over 7" (18cm) high, 2" (7cm) wide and 2" (7cm) deep

If I was wanting a playset this one has some ok features and you certainly could improve it with some additional building. You know, put some plants around, build a station. TwinLUG had a go at building a western layout for the comic con a while back but it never turned into a cohesive thing. The parts were still fun and I have a slight interest in trying that again sometime.  

   

There's 7 minifigs in the set, nice ones, but buying the three smaller sets has given me a good variety of costumes to reuse and plenty of Lone Rangers and Tontos. I like the action picture below but the horse is wrong. The set comes with a white horse not a brown one. The picture comes from the Grogall Brickshelf page. It's also the main illustration on the Lone Ranger Product Page over at the LEGO website where they crop out the horse and the front of the engine. Makes me wonder what caused that change. Was there a 2nd horse that got dropped? Hopefully I'll have forgotten that question by the time I post this.

Have Gun - Will Travel Season 6

Finally, after nearly a decade, the complete Have Gun - Will Travelis out on dvd. The 1st season dvdcame out May 11th 2004, the 2nd season May 10 2005, the 3rd season January 3 2006 then nothing until March 2 2010 when season 4 volume 1 came out. They split the seasons into two set at that time. The 2nd half of season 4 came out July  2010 and season 5 volume 1 November 30. The 2nd half of season 5 came out February 22 2011 and then there was a long hiatus until both sets of season 6 arrived May 7 of this year. Four days short of 9 years. Before the last season hit the street I had been thinking Paramount and CBS Televison Distribution had just given up. I was kicking myself for not buying the 6 season bootleg that had been available. It disappeared off the bootleg site and there you go. You snooze you loose. So you can guess I was happy to see the pair of 2 disc sets pop up on Amazon. I ordered them right away. There are 32 episodes in the season and there are 8 of them per disc. There are no extras.

 

Richard Boone, a 7th generation nephew of Daniel Boone, stars as Paladin. He hires himself out as a gunfighter, and problem solver, for large chucks of cash. His typical fee is $1000 at a time when a sherrif might earn $100 a month. He lives in San Francisco and travels around the American West in the time after the civil war.

Genesis has Paladin's origin explained. One of the better of the season. Richard Boone plays two roles, one of whom has a death scene. William Conrad plays the man who hires Paladin under false pretentious. He will pay for that lie.

Taylor's Woman has Harry Carey Jr hire Paladin to stop his marriage to his bossy housekeeper. That guy is a pussy and he gets what he deserves. The housekeeper.

The Fifth Bullet has Paladin returning a man to his home while being chased by some men who want to kill him. Ben Johnson has a small part. Ben was a real cow hand. In 1940 Howard Hughes hired him to take some horses to California and he stayed. His career lasted 56 years.

A Place For Abel Hix has Paladin respond to a call for help. He finds the man dead when he arrives. Robert Blake plays a young Mexican man who was the man's best friend. He helps Paladin get the killer.

Beau Gest has Paladin help a sherrif that's gotten old. Paul Richards plays the sheriff and Faith Domergue plays the housekeeper in love with the sheriff.

The Bird Of Time has Paladin trying to transport a murderer with others trying to stop him. John Hoyt plays one of the men after the murderer and future director Hal Needham plays one of his henchmen.

Memories Of Monicahas Paladin get into the middle of a love triangle with a sheriff, a murderer and the woman. Hal Needham plays another cowhand in this one.

The Predators has Paladin and a criminal get stopped at the shack of a young woman and her brother who are being harrassed by murderous raiders. Richard Jaeckel plays the criminal who gets some chance of reform.

Shootout At Hogtooth has some local businessmen hire some gunslingers to clean up their town. Now they need Paladin to drive the trio out.

A Miracle For St Francis has Paladin try to get a statue of St Francis back to the mission it was stolen from.

Marshal Of Sweetwater is Paladin's old army buddy and he's played by David White. He's the sheriff of a town and he's become a tyrant. It doesn't go well for him once Paladin comes to town.

Man In An Hourglass has Paladin hired to find the son of a woman his client had once loved. Edgar Buchanan guests.

Penelope has Paladin re-unit a man and his wife.

Trail At Tablerock stops a town from turning justice on it's ear, then he has to gun down the guy on trial anyway. Sometimes it doesn't pay to help strangers.

Be Not Forgetful To Strangers has Paladin help a young couple have their baby on Christmas eve in a saloon full of drunken cowboys. Duane Eddie plays one of the cow hands.

The Treasure has Paladin in the middle of a hunt for $80,000 worth of stolen money that wasn't there in the first place. Deforest Kelly guest stars as a creepy guy and Lee Van Cleef as a cowboy.

Brotherhood has Paladin get in the middle of a fued between two Indian men. One, Charles Bronson, is the sheriff in a town that doesn't like him and his brother wants to stay native.

Bob Wire has Paladin in the middle of a range war between cattle men and sheep men. Like they just don't stink alike. Woodrow Parfrey, a popular tv actor, plays Bob Wire who sells barb wire.

The Debutante has Paladin looking for the long lost grand daughter of a rich woman. Wayne Rogers plays the son of the man who bought the grand daughter when she was 6 years old.

Unforgiving Minute has Paladin running from bandits in Mexico. He gets some help from a couple who's marriage is falling apart. It doesn't go well for the wife, played by Patricia Medina, but she gambled and wound up backing the wrong horse.

American Primitive has Paladin help his old friend Harry Morgan hunt down a man who killed 5 innocent men. The killer thought the men had killed his son and he was wrong.He went to jail, bust out killing more men and now he has to die. It's the code of the west.

The Burning Tree has Paladin bringing a man who killed 5 wives to justice. He stops at a town only to find they want his prisoner to give to the local indians. The chief has died and they need a scalp to bury with him. Paladin puts a stop to that. Whit Bissell and Elinor Donahue guest star.

The Cage At McNaab has Paladin set up by the wife of a condemmed man. Paladin is knocked out and substituted for the doomed guy. He has to escape and set things right. Lon Cheney Jr plays the prisoner who helps him a bit.

Caravan has Paladin riding guard for a spoiled Indian princess. Some folks want to kill her.

The Walking Years has Paladin drugged in a bar. When he wakes he's chained to the floor by a young woman who wants revenge for being given to the indians 6 years ago. Paladin

Sweet Lady Of The Moon has Paladin escort a murderous psychopath that his doctor says is cured. The doc is wrong and some folks die. Harry Carey Jr guest stars.

The Savages has Paladin take a man and his mentally challenged daughter to see a reclusive sculpture. Turns out the man lied and he wants to kill the sculpture. Paladin has to kill him.

The Eve Of St Elmo has Paladin hired by a crippled rich guy to get the man who crippled him. George Kennedy plays the preacher who keeps calling for peace. He mostly gets it.

The Lady Of The Fifth Moon has Paladin transporting a woman to a boat for China. Unfortunately some guys what to kill her. Paladin and the woman have a bit of something going so you know that's going to end badly for the lady. William Schallert plays a Chinese guy.

Two Plus One has Paladin save a young indian girl. She sticks with him, telling him he owns her now. That will have to get resolved as Paladin doesn't want a sidekick.

The Black Bullhas Paladin captured by a crazy matador who beats him and then fights him in the ring as if he was a bull. The matador gets gored. Faith Domergue plays the matador's wife.

Face Of A Shadow has Paladin hired to meet a rancher and escort him and his $10,000. When he gets to the  rendezvous spot the rancher is dead. The only clue is a gypsy earring. Paladin figures out who did it. Lee Van Cleef guests as the leader of the gypsys and Harry Carey Jr has a part.

A nice enough bunch of episodes. Some were better than others but mostly they were entertaining. I want to go back and watch the whole series again sometime soon.

Not all the season 6 episodes are on YouTube but a good few are. There are plenty of episodes from seasons 1-3 there but little from 4 and 5. I would recommend watching them but I'm a big fan of the series so I'm biased. At least you can get a feel for them without investing any money in the series. I was glad to buy them and I'm getting fussier about what I buy anymore. I have most of the shows that I want to watch several times and Netflix and the library can fill in the ones I just want to see once.

Science Fiction Sunday 234

 

The library provided another William Hartnell serial, number 8, which was the last of the first season. The Reign Of Terror first aired on August 8 1964 and ended on September 12. The first Doctor is joined by Carole Ann Ford, Jacqueline Hill and William Russell on a trip to 1793 France during the French Revolution. Old crabby pants thinks he's got them to England so William and Jacqueline can return home. That Doctor, he sure can pick the places to land, oh, wait, he can't, the Tardis still doesn't work right. Not that he would admit it. They go to search for clues that he's right and wind up in an abandoned house where they are caught in the middle of some citizens chasing some other guys. The Doc is knocked out and everyone else is taken to Paris. The citizens burn the farmhouse with the still horizontal Doctor in the upstairs bedroom.

Don't worry, we all know he'll escape. The Doc chases after the rest of the Tardis gang and effects a sort of rescue. Everyone escapes and gets caught a couple of times each. It's a six parter, so you have to expect a bit of that. There's a lot of the show shot in the prison and some other bits are shot in the house of the men who are plotting against the evil tyrant Robespierre. He is a real dick that one. Mind you some of the monarchy he replaced were real pains in the collective ass. The King of France, Louey had lost his head because he lead the country into ruin. The resulting ruling class didn't do that very good a job of anything but killing people. At least the guillotine was quicker than starving. In one of the making of interviews it's mentioned that kids of the time when the show originally aired would know about the French Revolution and intimated that they wouldn't know much about it today. I know I knew a little, stuff that I had learned in school, but I had to go look it up on the Wikipedia to get some more detail. They sure sucked, those Frenchies. Eventually the Doc and the gang get in the same place at the same time and with the help of a spy from England they get escape Paris to the place they first landed. Then the Tardis takes them off for the next adventure on The Planet Of The Giants. There were memos passing around the BBC about the renewal of the series and who was going to be in the show if it did re-air. Jacqueline and Carole were most discussed for the chopping block. The show would return the following year of course and all three of the companions would leave the series in that season. Most of the serial was ok but a lit long. Better than some of the other historical programs.

  

Episodes 4 and 5 had been lost. There was a sound track from a fan and they re-created the show with flash animation and released it on this dvd last February. That's a couple of screen caps from the episodes. Kind of scarey, huh. It's still better than some of the previous attempts to re-create an episode. There's the usual commentary and a couple of making of featurettes. The photo gallery had several nice pictures.

79110 Silver Mine Shootout

That's one of the least attractive of the background shots for these sets. The mountains are fuzzy and the playset looks like a big lump. There are a lot of parts in the set, 644 of them, that has a cost of 70 bucks. That's almost 11 cents each and though a lot of them are small parts it isn't bad for the most part. There are a couple of big dark tan BURPS which is something you don't see that often. People in TwinLUG have a wide range of views on the BURPS piece, some liking them and others dissing them seriously. I like them, they are handy for filling a space quickly and the big ones are rather sturdy. The set is heavy on the tan and blays with some good amount of black, reddish brown and dark tan. Almost a third of the set is made up of slopes, there are over 170 slopes in the tan and blay and 39 inverted slopes, which could come in handy for someone who wants to make some rock formations. A good number, 48, of the slopes are of the cheese variety. I'm not sure I like the way they mix the colors in the actual set. A person could do better than that, I think.

 

Even though the mountain looks kind of weak there are several things to do and some odd parts to create the action. There's a big slide in there and things to swing and move. There are a couple of the modern train tracks and a couple of the old train tracks. The piece that Tonto is riding in the picture below is the top of a large trunk but sadly there is no bottom to it. I hate when they do stuff like that. Hey, here's half of something. There are a few accessories but they are common enough ones. I do like the cow skull that they include. I wouldn't buy the set just for that but it might turn up somewhere else and there's always Bricklink. Here's the decription:

Reclaim the silver with the Lone Ranger and Tonto in the Silver Mine Shootout!

Sneak up on Butch Cavendish and his bandit buddy in the Silver Mine Shootout! Help the Lone Ranger, Tonto and Chief Big Bear ambush the gang and reclaim the silver in a set that’s packed with functions! Enter through the secret waterfall and climb the ladder up to the crane. Lower the crane’s bucket and tote away the silver! Send the boulder flying and fire the exploding rock function as you battle to get out of the mine with the treasure! Escape fast by tripping the trapdoor and sliding down the chute. Load everyone into the cart and launch the dynamite into the air with the catapult! Includes 5 minifigures with weapons and accessories: the Dusty Lone Ranger and Tonto, Chief Big Bear, Butch Cavendish and the bandit, Skinny Kyle.

• Includes 5 minifigures with weapons and accessories: the Dusty Lone Ranger and Tonto, Chief Big Bear, Butch Cavendish and the bandit, Skinny Kyle
• Features rock detailing, falling skull, secret waterfall entrance, ladder, turning crane and lowering bucket, boulder launch function, exploding rocks functions, trapdoor, chute, cart with quick escape function and a dynamite catapult launcher
• Weapons include 3 revolvers, rifle, tomahawk and a bow with quiver
• Accessories include a barrel, 3 dynamite, shovel and a pick
• Lower the bucket into place and reclaim the silver!
• Sneak through the secret waterfall entrance!
• Dodge the flying dynamite!
• Take a wild ride on the chute
• Jump in the cart and make a quick escape!
• Collect the Lone Ranger and Tonto in their dusty mine outfits
• Silver Mine measures over 9" (24cm) high, 10" (27cm) wide and 9" (25cm) deep

       

That's the Lone Ranger, Tonto, Chief Big Bear, Butch Cavendish and Kyle. Nice outfits on the minifigs and plenty of good hats. For the most part the set is nice but not something I need too much. Be nice to see it on clearance. July is coming up and there's always a chance of markdowns when the new sets come in.

It's Garry Shandlings Show Season 3

I had been watching the discs of It's Garry Shandling's Show Season 3 intermixed with other things from Netflix. I have copies of the shows that I had recorded from cable and they are watchable but I wanted to see the extra features and listen to the commentaries. The show ran from 1986 to 1990 and this season started on October 21 1988 and ended on April 21 1989. There were 20 episodes which were written by a small crew of writers that included Garry Shandling and his then writing partner Alan Zeibel; plus several guys who would go on to work on The Simpsons: Tom Gammill, Max Pross, Al Jean and Mike Reiss. The bunch of them appear on the commentaries. Each season has three or four and a couple of short interview featurettes. Nothing to earth shattering about the show but interesting enough to listen to. The $100 cost of the four seasons has made me not bother replacing my copies but there you go. I still enjoy watching the episodes, even after seeing them 4 or 5 times over the years. The cast is entertaining and the stories are silly and fun to watch. Garry and his platonic friend Nancy are working in a travel agency as the show opens. Nancy strands the Shumaker's grandparents on a trip and Garry has to get them home. There's a live election show and a parody of The Natural with Ping Pong instead of baseball. Garry's neighbor Leonard gets married in Las Vegas in a 2 parter. There's a three part story about saving Mr Peck's comedy club with guests Carl Reiner, Father Guido Sarduci and Red Buttons. I've never been to a comedy club, I alway figured there would be too much chance of spending an evening listening to crappy comics. Grant has trouble with a bully and Garry's mom opens a pet shop. In real life Garry's real mom had a pet shop. Garry becomes a Big Brother but it doesn't work out so well. Garry and Martin Mull play a gold tournament together. Most of the shows from the first two seasons are available to watch free on YouTube but the 3rd season is a couple of bucks a pop. Might as well buy the dvds. I've got season 4 starting soon and I'm sure I'll be entertained by those discs.

Friday Night Movies 426

Our first film was Tobe Hooper's 2000 flop Crocodile. Sperhauk hadn't ever seen it and when he saw it cheap he picked it up. I hadn't even heard of it but that's not too surprising. I might not have heard of it even if it had been a good movie. Some college kids go stay at a lake that has a large crocodile in it. One of them has a dog. Not much happens during the movie. There's a scene with the croc early on, before the students get to the lake, where he eats a couple of rednecks for busting up some of it's eggs, then not much happens for a while. The students have rented a houseboat and it's parked right next to the nest with the broken eggs. They have their fun and some personal drama before the croc does anything more than hide in the shallows of the lake. After a while the croc gets to chomping and there's the usual running about and screaming. The kids get attacked and the croc destroys their houseboat. While running through the woods the students come across the local sheriff and the comic relief hillbilly who are looking for the crocodile. The two men join in the fun but soon enough only 3 of the kids are left. Why they let that one jerk ass guy survive I can't imagine. We all hated him. It's one of many choices that the film makers made that didn't help make me think positivily about the movie and I'm not alone, it only scores a 3.1 on the IMDb. Some of the scenery looks nice enough but sometimes the action is too close to the camera and that camera moves too fast to see what's up. The special effects are a mixed bag, some watchable, some pretty poor. There's an amazing shot of the croc jumping out of the lake and arching over the boat. Amazingly bad and not bad in a good way. There's a fun shot of the little fuzzy dog jumping through the croc's mouth. The dog was the best actor of the lot. I'm kidding, the guy who played the sheriff, Harrison Young, is a better actor. You'd have seen him in 1, or 5, of his movies. Still, that dog was pretty natural and his leap sure made us laugh. Not too much else did and the story is so familiar it leads to boredom. Not something I'd need to watch again.

Mike went to the premiere of The Giant Spider the other night and he got a free copy of the dvd. It's a locally produced horror film and we watched it, even though Mike warned us it wasn't that good. I never listen. It is short, only 70 minutes, but it seems longer. That's not added value. The movie is B&W and it apes the 1950's giant monster movies that our group of cinema fans enjoys. There's a giant spider roaming the area around a town. It chows down on the unsuspecting town's folk and there's lots of running around and yelling. The military is called in and there's more yelling from the bald general. More stuff happens but I can't remember how it ends. I was seriously falling asleep by then. All of us are fans of the 1950's SF and Horror genres and we weren't at all keen on it. It scores a whopping 8.4 on the IMDb until I put my 4.o score in. That was being generous, I thought. Technically the movie is fairly well made for the low budget. There's some green screen and cgi work that mostly works. The script is where thigns fall apart. Those old 50's scripts approached the story from a different angle than the film maker Christopher Mihm. They weren't intentionally trying to parody themselves and that distinction creates a different feel to the original 1950's movies. No matter, I wouldn't recommend it, better you should watch the movies that inspired it. At least we got to have an early night.

TwinLUG At SpringCon 2013

TwinLUG was at the local comic con this last weekend. We had six tables and several hundred people stopped by to see what was there. Several members of the club brought lots of different things to look at and there was even a game to play. There was some Micropolis, a large castle and forest scene, some houses, some micro moonbase, a mural, and several dioramas. I have some more pictures on my Photostream. I haven't made a set yet. Flickr has changed and it's not very attractive anymore. Max has some more pics on his Flicker photostream.

Doc Martin - The Movies

 

Here's another thing I got from the library. I've become fixated with UK TV for some reason and when I saw the Doc Martin dvd with it's "Thoroughly charming" label I figured I'd checked it out. It's a two disc set that has the two tv movies that Sky Broadcasting produced in 2001 and 2003. There was a 2000 movie called Saving Grace that doesn't seem to be at the library, Amazon or NetFlix. That was the first version of the fish out of water when a London doctor sets up in Cornwall. 

The first of the movies is Doc Martin and Martin Clunes plays the doctor, who's name is Martin Bamford. As the movie opens he joins his three doctor pals at a resturant for lunch. There he learns that they're all shagging his wife. After tossing their table he leaves and confronts his wife. She doesn't seem to care about it but she's an awful person and Martin should be glad to be well rid of her. He takes the train to Cornwall to be on his own. After the cab breaks down he has to hoof it into town on foot, in the rain. He looses his shoes. There's some bad ass shit happening to this guy for much of the movie. There's some comedy mined from his pain. Ha ha. He gets a room in the pub, has some drinks, meets the locals and winds up lobster fishing. He also falls right into the mystery of the jellies. Some unknown person has been making jello and leaving the molded dessert on people's front steps with incriminating evidence inside. Enough people have gotten them that the town is pretty upset and people are blaming each other. Some stuck up old cow is even blaming the doctor but she's a great big busy body asshole so what are you going to do, huh. The Doc makes some friends and comes to like the place. Since the local doctor is unfit he decides to stay, even after his wife comes to take him back. She won't sleep with him, instead she wants to go to couples counciling. Martin wises up and bolts. Who could blame him. 

In Doc Martin And The Legend Of The Cloutie the Doc has settled in somewhat. He tries to buy a property but is cheated by a stuck up rich bitch who wants to tear down the shitty old cottage and turn it into a 2o house estate. The Doc's plan is to scare them away but the locals say he should use a Cloutie. That's a bit of cloth that you tie to a tree. After that you make a wish and when the cloth rots off the tree, you get your wish. There's a price for the magic. Eventually the doc gets his house and the horrible woman is driven off of the farm.

Both were funny, a bit sad, and fairly well told. They were fun to watch but after reading about the changes to the series when it aired a year or so later I'm not so sure that I might want to bother with them. The re-imagined character, now with ITV, is supposed to faint at the site of blood, be somewhat grumpy, socially inept and selfish. That makes him less of a likeable character, so I'm waffling on the other 5 series on dvd. Maybe when I start to run out of better old shows. These I'd watch again but I'm not interesting in buying them.

Vexed Season 1

I saw Vexed at the library and remembered Lucy Punch from the 2009 St Trinians movie which I had just seen a few days earlier. In this short lived 2010 British tv series she plays Detective Inspector Kate Bishop who transfers to London from Bristol. She gets partnered with Detective Inspector Jack Armstrong, played by Toby Stephens. Their both kind of high strung and impulsive. The 2 of them made 3 episodes together and that is the whole 1st season. The show came back for a 6 episode 2nd season in 2012 without Lucy, then it was cancelled. Only the first season is out on dvd so far, the 2nd season is due next month. It got mixed reviews from the critics and I can see why. It's a comedy and there are jokes but they're the kind of jokes that are born from thoughtless actions, stupid words and poor police work. The two of them are pretty much the worst detectives. They do catch the crooks but mostly by accident. I laughed once in a while and it sort of kept me interested but it never got any better than the first episode. The two of them are just such dumb-asses. I'll check the library for the second season in a month or two but I'm not having much hope it will be better.