PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

No Heroics Series 1

No Heroics Series 1 Created by Drew Pearce. One series of 6 episodes aired in September and October of 2008.

No Heroics universe is simulated to ours but it's populated with superheroes. Locally they're nicknamed Capes. Many are good and helpful, some are so much less so. A little group of lesser Capes hang out at the superhero pub The Fortress.The club doesn't allow superheros to wear costumes or use their powers. It's rather like a normal pub otherwise.

The group we follow along with are:

Nicholas Burns - Alex - The Hotness - controls fire.

Claire Keelan - Sarah - Electroclash - controls machines.

James Lance - Don - Timebomb - can see 60 seconds into the future.

Rebekah Staton - Jenny - She Force - World's third strongest woman.

Their main annoyance is Excelsor, he's a full of himself superhero that has plenty of powers and exciting pieces on the news. He especially likes picking on The Hotness. Jim Howick plays Simon the bouncer, he's the Thundermonkey and he can summon monkeys to kick your ass. If you wait around for them to arrive by delivery service, it may take a couple of hours for them to show up. Sometimes the baddies just go home. Steve Speirs plays Norse Dave, he's the bartender, we never learn much of anything about him.

Alex and Sarah used to date, now they're that annoying couple that bicker, Don is gay, rather dark and always on the pull, Jenny and Sarah used to be a super duo, they didn't last too long, they weren't very good, Jenny has trouble with dating.

I liked the scripts, I found some nice funny bits and some nice dark bits, I even laughed out loud a few times. People compare it to Mystery Men but it's more like The Specials. I was happy to see it and hope to watch it again before the end of time.

Science Fiction Sunday 842

Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams Series 1 2017-8 Developed by Ronald D Moore and Michael Dinner. Ten episodes based on PKD short stories aired on Amazon Prime in 2017-2018.

Half the episodes were filmed in the UK and half in the US. There's a bunch of name actors involved: Timothy Spall,Geraldine Chaplin, Steve Buscemi, Greg Kinnear, Sam Witwer, Anna Paquin, Maura Tierney and Brian Cranston were the ones I knew. There were plenty more I didn't know.

Episode Titles and Story Title:

The Hood Maker - The Hood Maker

Impossible Planet - The Impossible Planet

The Commuter - The Commuter

Crazy Diamond - Sales Pitch

Real Life - Exhibit Piece

Human Is - Human Is

The Father Thing - The Father Thing

Autofac - Autofac

Safe And Sound - Foster, You're Dead

Kill All Others - The Hanging Stranger

The episodes were about 50 mins each and the stories adapted were rewritten, some more than others. The Hanging Stranger get re-titled Kill All Others and the story changed from a secret alien invasion to mind control by the government. I actually read the story just a few mins ago. Way different. Autofac was a bit more like the story. I didn't check any of the other stories. 

Enjoyment wise, it's a mixed bag, some I found more interesting than others. Some just left me cold, I didn't care for those stories. It's often compared to Black Mirror, which started in 2011, the 3rd Series came out in 2016, PKD's Electric Dreams came out the following year. It has a similar feel but not quite as sharp as BM. Sometimes BM leaves me cold too. I still prefer Charlie's Wipe Work.

I don't think I'll ever get back to Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams but I know I'll watch some of my favorite Black Mirror stories again. 

Science Fiction Sunday 841

Karaoke 1996 Written by Dennis Potter and directed by Renny Rye. A BBC & Channel 4 co-production. Dennis Potter was dying of pancreatic cancer during the writing and production of the TV productions.

Albert Finny plays Daniel Feeld, he's a well known and well paid writer, he writes books, plays and TV programs. He likes to drink, lately he's been feeling poorly. Daniel's out at a restaurant with his agent Ben. Daniel thinks he hears people at another table speaking lines from his as yet unreleased TV program Karaoke. It's being edited as Daniel and Ben have a drink. Trouble is, the table is too far away, Ben isn't hearing any lines, neither is Anna, the producer on Karaoke who just dropped by for a chat. Daniel drinks more and his agent gives him a ride home. Daniel gets out of the car, goes for another drink and collapses in the bar.

Daniel's taken to hospital. While there he learns there's something seriously wrong with him. He'd better get his house in order. Daniel decides to write a play set in the future. We meet a bunch of people over the 4 hours, several stories are revealed, small incidents give Daniel his end plans. He helps some people and punishes a really bad man. Couldn't ask for a better ending.

There's a good cast, the ones I knew were Albert Finney, Roy Rudd. Richard E Grant, Keeley Hawes, Hywel Bennett, Saffron Burroughs, Ian McDiarmid, Liz Smith, Alison Steadman, Julie Christie, Fay Ripley and Ewan MaGregor. It's a good production with plenty of interesting bits going on. The musical numbers were worked in well and there's a nice version of Pennies From Heaven near the end.

Cold Lazarus 1996 Written by Dennis Potter and directed by Renny Rye. Each story was aired as 4 episodes, each about an hour.

In 2370 some scientists are working in a bio-lab in Britain. They're trying to access the memories of Daniel Feeld's long frozen brain. They've managed to retrieve some memories but with great cost. The company that owns the lab is headed by a horrible woman called Martina, she's tightfisted with her cash and vindictive when you go over budget. She's not happy with the lab spending so much money on some bio products and cuts it's budget. A media company owner called David is thinking he needs to steal the head and peddle the memories as reality TV. He approaches the head of the lab and she's interested in his money. David's offering a lot of cash.

The Britain of the future has a heavily damaged landscape with armed guards guarding buildings. Conglomerates run things and the police are rather fascist. Citizen's stay home and experience virtual reality. There's a resistance groups called RoN, they want Reality or Nothing. They're disruptive and murderous. One of people in the lab is in the group. There's a good amount of time spent on the RoN part of the story. I found it the least interesting bit of the story.

The head is stolen and installed in David's lab. Lots of money and equipment open up more memories. Things go south after that. Most of the lab staff don't make it to the end of the story. It's a tough world in the future. There's a good bit of story near the end pondering the ethical side of revealing a person's memories to the general public as entertainment. 

Besides Albert Finney I knew some of the cast, Frances de la Tour, Ciarán Hinds, Henry Goodman, Donald Sumpter and Rob Brydon as a head in a jar.

I enjoyed both stories. I hadn't seen them before. Not sure if I'd watch them again.

Your Money Or Your Wife 1960

Your Money Or Your Wife 1960 Based on the play Count Your Blessings by Ronald Jeans, screenplay by Ronald Jeans and directed by Anthony Simmons. A British film about inheritance and divorce.

Donald Sinden and Peggy Cummings are married and in debt. They rent rooms to tenants who are behind on their rent. Peggy's aunt leaves them some money but it's doled out monthly. There's a bit that gets them thinking of divorce, they can access a large chuck of the inheritance if they split. Trouble with that is getting grounds for divorce. It leads to some comic bits.

Despite the script being a bit dull and weak jokes it's generally fun to watch. Richard Wattis is the actor that stands out among the cast. Barbara Steele pops up for a few scenes.

The Franchise Series 1 2024

The Franchise Series 1 2024 Created by Jon Brown A British American co-production about the making of a superhero movie called Tecto: Eye Of The Storm.

Daniel is the first assistant director on the film, he's trying to keep the staff focused on getting the day to day work done and problems that come up from the various personalities of the actors and crew. There are plenty of problems that pop up. Everyone is needy, weak and prone to complain about everything. It would be a horrible place to work. Not for me.

It's fun to watch. I got a good number of laughs. Sadly the series got the axe after one series.

Science Fiction Sunday 838

The Martians And Us 2006 Written by Laura Humphreys, directed by Rachel Bell, Lucie Donahue and Laura Humphreys. Narrated by Peter Capaldi.

A three episode documentary on British SF writers and Martians. Commenting are Kim Newman, Brian Stableford, Doris Lessing, Brian Aldiss, Will Self, Arthur C Clarke, Margaret Atwood, Nigel Kneale, Christopheer Priest, Iain Banks, China Miéville, John Christopher and several other people I didn't know.

Plenty of info on SF writers of the past by current SF writers,. I thought it was entertaining despite being 20 years old. You can watch the episodes on YouTube.

Saint-Pierre Season 1 2025

Saint-Pierre Season 1 2025 Created by Allan Hawco, Robina Lord-Stafford and Perry Chafe for Hawco Productions. Written and directed by a bunch of people. 

There were 10 episodes of this Canadian production set on the island of Saint-Pierre. It's one of the small group of islands known as Saint-Pierre and Miqelon. They are a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France. The group of islands are just west of Newfoundland.

Allan Hawco plays Inspector Donny "Fitz" Fitzpatrick of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary. He was sent to Saint-Pierre for investigating a Newfoundland politician. That politician is also living with Fitz's ex-wife and their children. His arrest by Fitz goes viral, as punishment he's reassigned to Saint-Pierre. It begs the question: why would S-P take him on in the first place? Some might remember Allan from The Republic Of Doyle and his other TV appearances.

Fitz is in a fish out of water sort of situation. It's a rather common plot point, trouble making cops are sent to small towns in the hinterland but usually their assignment is in their own country. Death In Paradise and Rocco Schiavone are similar enough. I bet you could name a dozen more without having to work too hard. I'll start off with The Mallorca Files.

Joséphine Jobert, late of Death In Paradise, plays a Paris cop who's called Geneviève “Arch” Archambault. She's Saint-Pierre's Deputy Chief. She's come to the island for her own reasons. She's not happy with Fitz at first but she comes to value his crime solving talents. The crimes are fairly varied, some tie in with the local baddie Sean Gallagher, played by James Purefoy. It's Arch's life goal to take this scumbag down.

There's a new victim or two each week. There's plenty of driving around and a few punch ups. I mostly enjoyed the stories each week, though there seems to be a good bit of family drama going on. Sadly the show ends on a cliff hanger. I don't care much for that. I'd still watch a second season if there is one and I'd rewatch the first season again.

Death In Paradise Series 14 2025

Death In Paradise Series 14 2025

The 2024 Christmas Special introduced the new detective from the UK. He's another annoying guy who doesn't want to be there. Don Gilet plays DI Mervin Wilson. He's abrupt, rude, demanding and the least interesting guy in the head seat so far. At least Danny John-Jules makes an appearance as Officer Dwayne Myers, sadly it's his last appearance in the series. Mind you Dwayne has returned to the series so much you'd think he was a yo-yo. 

Series 14 starts with the murder of the newest recruit to the team. Officer Brice was found dead on the road to the station on his first day. On his way out of town DI Gilet runs into the murder scene and decides to help out. He solves the crime but damages the station's electrical supply. He's such a dick. At the end of the episode he finds out his estranged mother died in a boat wreck. He thinks it could be a murder and decides to stay. That gets wrapped up in the second episode. It was an accident, she should have checked the weather and stayed home. It was a pretty poor plot point.

The replacement Office is named Sebastian Rose, he's gangly and annoying. We also find out this series that the Commissioner is being phased out. It's too early to speculate how that will end. Most of the rest of it's about the same. I'm sadly a bit less interested in the series this time around.

Video Nasty Series 1 2025

Video Nasty Series 1 2025 Written by Hugh Travers and directed by Christopher Smith and Megan K Fox. A TV series set in Northern Ireland.

Two horror film fans, Billy and Con, are trying to collect the last of the 72 horror VHS tapes that were on the government banned list. The movie is Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker from 1981. Coincidentally I had just watched that film last week but hadn't posted about it yet.

The series is set in 1985. The guys have a lead on the VHS tape, they have 3 tapes to trade but they have to travel to England to make that trade. Their other problem is they need to pay back the money they stole from the school graduation fund to buy some of the collection. They hope to sell the collection for enough money to payback the cash from the school fund. They aren't the smartest couple of guys you'll ever meet, I hope they would at least copy the tapes first.

The pair set off for the UK with Con's sister Zoe. She's as feisty as they are stupid. They do find the person who has the tape but Fangoria Fangirl turns out to be a bloke. Poor Billy had the kind of high hopes in meeting her that stupid people have. The others make fun of him. He deserves it. Back home the story of the stolen money gets out because Con blabbed to Zoe and she blabbed to the kind of friend stupid people have. You know the kind, they can't keep a secret and they can't keep their mouths shut.

In the town they are headed for a murder takes place and the trio become suspects. It turns out that the rich people in the town have a dark evil side. They kidnap the trio and plan to kill them in some sort of ritual. The trio's parents come after them, aided by the police.

It has a mostly happy ending for the trio, they didn't get killed, they don't go to jail and Billy winds up with Zoe. I wish they had been punished a bit more but Billy winding up with Zoe is a bit of punishment for them both.

I would have enjoyed it more but the teens are annoying. It's nicely made and Hugh knows his horror tropes. I got to the end but probably wouldn't have to watch it again anytime soon.

Science Fiction Sunday 830

The Doombolt Chase Series 1 1978 Written by Don Houghton, directed by Robert Fuest and Peter Graham Scott. A 6 episode series from ITV that's only vaguely science fiction. It's mostly a teen adventure story involving the British Navy.

Commander David Wheeler re-directed his Navy ship to run down a small boat. It didn't appear to be occupied but they don't stop to check. Wheeler gives no explanation to the Navy and is court-martialed. Wheeler's son Richard doesn't get any explanation from him. Richard decides to investigate with the help from friends Pete and Lucy. Pete is a junior seaman and was on the bridge when the incident happened.

They stumble on some baddies who are lead by a scientist. He worked on the Navy's beam weapon project but quit about a year ago. He's improved the beam weapon and plans to blow up a giant supertanker if they don't give him £5 million. The teens help thwart the plan. At the end it's revealed that Commander Wheeler was court-martialed as part of a plan to smoke out the baddies.

It's mostly entertaining, there's a lot of running through fields. Helps pad out the 6 eps, I guess. I probably wouldn't watch it again.