Cult TV Times

issue 00 | april 2013

Why We Write Welcome to Cult TV Times. Another month, another new e-magazine - but we’re not here primarily to keep you up to date. After all, if you want what’s new and current, what’s the latest out there, there are a ton of places you can go to online and still several in print to find all that out. The problem we find is that, after a while, it can feel like all of us as readers are at the mercy of the news and PR cycle. Worse, they’re all ultimately just variations on the same headline, all hitting social media feeds within minutes, telling us all the same thing, making the new old in the space of a day.

We will cover some shows as they become available to view in the U.K., and there will be some news as well as reviews, but ultimately that’s not what we’re here for at CTVT. No, what we’re here for is to have a good old natter with you about shows we love - either have done or still do now. We want to talk about shows that were mainstream, but are now cult; that are mainstream elsewhere in the world, but in the U.K. are cult; or were, are and always will be a joy and pleasure to very few of us, the true definition of a “cult TV” show, regardless of their genre. We want to talk about TV movies that stay burnt in your memory long after you’ve forgotten the latest multiplex fare, one-offs that stand out years after they were made.

We might even try and convince you that a Japanese TV movie, watched without any subtitles on the official DVD release, with the friend who bought it translating, was one of the most enjoyable nights we’ve ever had in front of the telly, and that you should try it too - if it wasn’t impossible to get hold of these days.

None of this is to forget the people who work so hard to bring these shows to us, and we will profile those we recognise for their contributions as “Legends of Cult TV”. Exploring franchises, shared worlds and crossovers, arguing over the same show, debating whether something deserves to be forgotten or celebrated - all of that is our remit, what we want to write about and will do here at CTVT. If watching television is a shared experience with others, then this is about those experiences as we had them, the joy, the pleasure, the confusion, the anger, all the sum emotions experienced while sitting in front of the screen that can be different from those a book or comic or film create. The possibilities inherent in stories told on the small screen, especially serially, keep us coming back time and again; they get us excited, and CTVT will be about conveying that excitement to you.

In part this magazine started as a bunch of writers arguing heartily about our favourite TV programs in the pub, and we want to share the joy (and sometimes frustration) of those arguments with you. We’re excited about what we have planned for future issues, but for now, welcome to our establishment, pour yourself a drink of your choice, and let’s geek out about cult TV. Hugh K. David [ Editor ]

News

A Midsummer’s

Dark Knight While

Marvel’s colourful cast of costumed crusaders continue to illuminate the silver screen, cross-town rivals DC have been forced to observe enviously, with a certain Dark Knight their sole provider of spandex cinema status. Thankfully for DC fandom, the small screen most definitely belongs to Starling, Central and Smallville; alongside the quivered crusades of Oliver Queen as Arrow, the publishing house’s animated universe continues to flourish.

Cartoon Network’s DC Nation canon, home to the cel-shaded adventures of the likes of Green Lantern and the Teen Titans, will launch Beware the Batman this July. The first show to be headlined by the guardian of Gotham since The Brave and the Bold wrapped in 2011, classic storytelling ➷

The latest DCAU series brings Batman back to the small screen.

17

News

seems to be colliding with contemporary techniques this time around – judging by the trailers the tone of Beware the Batman will hark back to the glory days of Bruce Timm’s Batman: The Animated Series while utilising the computer generated animation synonymous with the latest screen escapades of Hal Jordan.

Do check out those trailers before you reach for the CGI-repellent bat-spray, though. While Green Lantern: The Animated Series has alienated some audiences with its overly basic animation style, Beware the Batman seems to have added a number of layers and shades to proceedings. It’s not quite as striking and eyeball-saucering as Dark Deco, but not much is.

Meanwhile, the childlike qualities of The Brave and the Bold and preceding show The Batman seem to be making way for a tone more befitting the Dark Knight Detective. Beware the Batman sees the crime-fighter teaming up with the blade-wielding Katana (currently 18

a member of the Justice League of America in print), while villains of the piece include screen debuts for Grant Morrison creations Professor Pyg and Mr. Toad, with Anarky taking the role of lead antagonist.

Beware the Batman will be produced by Batman Beyond veteran Glen Murakami and Mitch Watson, with the writing staff includes Watson, Mark Banker and experienced DCAU scripter Greg Wesiman.

With Kevin Conroy hanging up his cape and cowl following video game Arkham City, the title character will be voiced by Southland’s Anthony Ruivivar, accompanied by Kurtwood Smith as Jim Gordon and Sumalee Montano as Katana.

It’s a ballsy move to reject fan-favourite and mainstream recognisable elements of the Batverse such as Robin and The Joker, but fingers crossed Beware the Batman will finally return Bruce Wayne’s animated shenanigans to the heights of the early 1990s. The Cult TV crew will certainly be tuning in to find out if it does. ❙

News Banshee Screams Across The Atlantic

If

you like your pulp crime down and dirty, like a shot of bad whiskey drunk from a bloody glass in a sleazy dive, then Banshee is the show for you. The story of ex-con & thief Lucas Hood turned sheriff in the small Pennsylvania town of Banshee, whose arrival there opens up dark secrets but also drags behind him a maelstrom of danger, the show has performed so well in the U.S. it already has a 2nd season renewal, with juicy casting news emerging since.

U.S. cable channel Cinemax’s first fully-original programme debuted in the U.K. at the end of April on Sky Atlantic. Executive produced by Alan Ball (Six Feet Under, True Blood), the show was created and is written by first-time executive producers David Schickler and Jonathan Tropper. Greg Yaitanes repeats his House duties as executive producer and director of half the series.

There's a noticeable Nordic Noir element, with episodes shot by Danish director Ole Christian Madsen (Unit 1, Flame & Citron). and chief antagonist Kai Proctor played by the menacing Ulrich Thomsen (Those Who Kill).

Other international talent on view includes Brit Ben Cross (Star Trek), Croatian-American Ivana Milicevic (Casino Royale) as the female lead, and New Zealander Antony Starr (Rush) as TV's latest alpha-plus male. The homegrown cast are no slouches either, with Demetrius Grosse (Justified), Matt Servitto (The Sopranos) and Trieste Kelly Dunn backing up Starr as the local cops, while Hoon Lee and the great Frankie Faison (The Wire) support him from the other side of the law. ❙ BE WARNED:

Your new weekly dose of sex & violence from TRUE BLOOD’s Alan Ball

This show is NOT for the squeamish, and shows clearly the results of the bone-crunching action choreography with bloody special effects. Along with ample nudity and sex, those seeking clean-cut entertainment need not apply, but fans of TRUE BLOOD and “mature readers” comics will not be disappointed..

News

Full Scream Ahead

We

TV is having a resurgence in the US. Whither new UK series?

here at Cult TV are big horror fans, so it is a real pleasure to see the genre starting to return in rude health on the not -so-small-anymore screen.

Supernatural still carries on flying the flag for the genre as it did throughout the lean years, and the success of HBO’s True Blood may have begat more vampire shows, but the freedoms of cable amply demonstrated by the latter show have demonstrated the way forward for the genre. Both MTV’s Teen Wolf and FX’s American Horror Story are now into their 3rd seasons, returning to U.K. TV later this year on Sky Living and FX U.K. respectively. A&E’s Psycho prequel Bates Motel has already been renewed for a second season thanks to decent ratings and critical appreciation. Hannibal, the latest iteration of novelist Thomas Harris’ mythos, is due in May on Sky trailing terrific reviews from the U.S. full of praise for showrunner and future Legend of Cult TV subject Bryan Fuller. Now news comes from across the ➷

News

pond of yet more horror shows being greenlit. Could this decade prove as fruitful for horror fans as the 70s and 90s previously?

MTV are looking to follow on from their successful Teen Wolf re-boot with a Scream series. The pilot was announced at the end of last month, as a co-production with Dimension Films, and original director Wes Craven is being courted to helm it.

While no mention is made of original scriptwriter Kevin Willamson, who currently executive produces The Vampire Diaries and The Following, production company DiGia Vision is slated to produce just as they did on the Teen Wolf pilot. It will be interesting to see what writers are brought on, and especially whoever is chosen as showrunner.

Horror fans know well the name and passion of writer-director Guillermo Del Toro. Now he has not one, but two series in production. The first is the expected adaptation of the book trilogy he co-authored with Chuck Hogan (The Town original novel), The Strain, about a CDC team fighting an outbreak of vampirism in New York. Del Toro & Hogan will co-script the pilot; Del Toro will direct; Carlton Cuse (Nash Bridges, Lost, Bates Motel) will produce, and Corey Stoll (House of Cards U.S.) will star. If it goes to series then Cuse will also serve as showrunner.

The second show from Del Toro, and the big surprise, is a live-action adaptation of one of the finest manga ever created for HBO: Naoki Urasawa’s Monster. Already adapted in Japan as a 74 episode anime, this gripping, epic thriller tells the story of a Japanese doctor who gives up his life to hunt down a serial killer he feels responsible for, having saved his life as a boy. Del Toro again hopes to direct, this time from a script by Blighty’s own Steven Thompson (Sherlock, Doctor Who). ❙ All of these have Cult.TV.Times stamped all over them, so expect to hear more about them here.

Moribito:

Guardian of the Spirit

ometimes a show is ahead of its time.

Other times, it is released between waves of popularity it could have ridden, and yet other times still, it is simply never going to have an appeal to a wider audience, even as time goes on. One could argue that, out of all the excellent Japanese animated TV shows the legendary company Production I.G. have worked on, Moribito is the perfect example, at least outside of Japan, falling between two waves of popularity for the fantasy genre in cinema and now television. It is, however, arguably the best TV series written & directed by Kenji Kamiyama, better known for Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex and Eden of the East, and deserves to be far better appreciated by Western fans of fantasy telly.

A straightforward tale, which in the book moves briskly and feels slightly smaller in scale, Kamiyama and Production I.G. open out the novel across 26 episodes with a care worthy of Peter Jackson, deepening characterisation, increasing the scale of the conflicts, adding twists and turns in the build-up to an epic confrontation and finale that, emotionally, can only be likened to the feeling as one reaches the end of Mysterious Cities of Gold. The superb action and stunning visuals, par for the course from Production I.G., are actually the least interesting part of the series, as the emotional arcs and individual philosophies on display are far more compelling, providing for mature, rounded characters well conveyed via subtle animation and voice-acting. That is not to say the scenery is to be dismissed; as always with Production I.G., they spend money and time animating that which other studios would save on, be it a background detail or something nly on camera for a short space of time, and the effort pays off in convincing the viewer of the depth of the world shown onscreen. In this sense the show occasionally feels like a movie from the beloved Studio Ghibli, with a similar love of ➡

Kamiyama and Production I.G. open out the novel across 26 episodes with a care worthy of Peter Jackson.” scenery and facial nuance; at other times there is a sense of the kind of detailed motion the great Katsuhiro Otomo places in his work, while finally the well-choreographed and even better-shot fight scenes attain the complexity of Madhouse’s work in Sword of the Stranger.

Why then did Western fans fail to clasp to their bosoms a clear labour of love from director Kamiyama? On its U.S. TV airing via the Adult Swim slot it took 8 months before episodes beyond the first ten were aired, while it never.

The series’ US home ents release almost died with the problems of company Geneon, but was rescued by Media Blasters. Certainly, they and other companies releasing it around the world did their best, with excellent translation, subtitling & dubbing, but promoting it off the back of I.G. & Kamiyama’s success with Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex seems to have given viewers the wrong idea about what experience they would get from it. Fans of cyberpunk have not always been fans of fantasy, even if these days there is a great deal more crossover between fans of SF and Fantasy than ever before, while those enamoured of the core combination in GitS: SAC (complex questions of identity in the information age combined with cyborg action from the ne plus ultra of female fetishisation that is Major Kusanagi) may well have found themselves completely at odds with a ramble through a medieval fantasy world

full of philosophical considerations about childrearing, social class, individual vs. state responsibility and violence tempered by compassion and mercy. Maybe a realistically-strong woman who is never, ever reduced to fan-service stereotype, of plausible physical build and ability, with more dimension than simply kicking ass, was too much for them (cf. the huge popularity of the gross oversimplification of Hit Girl in the film version of Mark Millar & John Romita Jr.’s comic Kick-Ass). Maybe, even more so, the problem lay in what is and is not specifically Japanese in the show; after all, significant numbers of Western anime fans pride themselves on watching and trying to understand those shows they consider to be most Japanese, often preferring to ignore when shows are actually built on elements already familiar to Western audiences, e.g. Golgo 13 being how the Japanese see James Bond, or Cowboy Bebop’s roots in 60s U.S. serial telly screened in Japan. ➷

It is, however, arguably the best TV series written & directed by Kenji Kamiyama.”

To Clarify Western fantasy fans, by and large, remain interested in fantasies built around medieval European settings. This is not simply a matter of physical trappings, but speaks to philosophy and morality that appeal to the readers.

Previously successful fantasy anime brought over have tended to use Western/European fantasy contexts: Rune Soldier, Aura Battler Dunbine, Slayers, Berserk, and the best of them all, Escaflowne. Moribito is, first and foremost, a fantasy built on a medieval Japanese setting, and makes no concessions to Westerners.

There are parallels, of course, but they are not pushed to the fore to make it easy for foreign viewers. Philosophically, while our lead is a warrior, she does not come from a warrior class, hobnobbing with nobles and rich folk, nor is she driven by bloodlust or vengeance. Instead, she is independent, proud, driven by a desire to balance the moral ledger that led to her becoming who she is. Balsa’s friends are beggars, peasants, herbalists and a wise woman, and they do not stand for any one political entity or aim for battle, but look to protect both the future for all and the life of a child entrusted to them. We are a long way from the typical heroes of Western fantasy indeed, but just as much removed from previous Japanese fantasies that found

international success such as Ninja Scroll, The Twelve Kingdoms, or Basilisk. In fact the closest comparison would be Studio Ghibli’s international breakout film Princess Mononoke, another mature period eco-fable with a strong heroine, also eclipsed in Western popularity by Ghibli releases before and after.

In the end, the very things that have made the show cult outside of Japan are precisely those that make it an original viewing pleasure, a joy to watch and the standout of Kamiyama’s television career to date. The Japanese medieval setting, the elemental magic, the philsophical discussions, the measured pace of revelation and the action are all presented with all the skill and beauty to be expected from Production I.G. If the SF shows they worked on look to the trials and tribulations of living in the information age, Moribito looks back to humanist values, recognising that drought is a catastrophe worth fighting against as much as, or even more than, (cyber-) terrorism, that raising a child to do more than just survive can even validate a warrior, and that co-operation and teamwork can achieve more than competition or deception. ❙ Round up One of the many joys of watching Cult TV from around the world today is the ability to access a show worthy of the time and effort of viewing, however unsuccessful it was on release. Moribito is readily available worldwide, on DVD in the U.S., U.K., Spain, Germany, and Australia as well as Japan, while blu-rays can be bought from Japan and the U.S., although only the latter is English-friendly. The first two novels in the series can still be bought in English, although the second never sold well enough to make it to paperback. Other European language editions of the first novel are available.

Editorial: hugh@culttvtmes.com Web: gareth@culttvtimes.com Advertising: advertising@culttvtimes.com

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Puppet

Master Scott, Virgil. Gordon. Alan‌ and the other one, whatsisname. The most famous family of the 60s are still cult heroes today. Allan Bryce recalls his exclusive interview with the man who created the Thunderbirds legend, Gerry Anderson.

C

an there be any more iconic figure in the world of cult TV than the late, great Gerry Anderson? The puppet master who created such legendary shows as Thunderbirds died on Boxing Day 2012 at the age of 83 but he leaves behind a rich legacy.

I went to interview Gerry over 25 years ago for the now-defunct Video World magazine and found him to be a most amiable and entertaining man. Here is pretty much what I wrote back then. I like to think it represents one of the most thorough interviews Gerry ever did and I’m sure that it will give you some fascinating insights into this amazing man’s lengthy career.

The first thing I noticed when I entered Gerry’s office at Bray Studios ( formerly the home of Hammer horrors) just outside Windsor was that two-foot model of courtesy, Parker. He looked as though he might spring to life at any moment and rush off to fetch Lady Penelope’s pink Rolls Royce.

But with nobody to pull his strings he didn’t even bother to take my coat, and instead sat contentedly in his glass case while his creator poured us both a cup of coffee and settled down to discuss how he became the Gepetto of the small screen.

The year was 1986 and at the time Gerry was a softly spoken, balding Englishman in his mid-50s.

Within the last thirty years he had turned puppetry into a fine art, but ironically, as he explained, it was not a subject he chose to get involved with in the first place.

“I started off in the industry as a technician,” he told me, “and after some years I decided I would like to make my own pictures, so I formed a company.

“I literally thought that the telephone would ring and people would say, ‘I want two feature films, when can you deliver them?’ But of course this didn’t happen.

“Then one day just as our money had almost run out, a lady called Roberta Lee, who had been involved in television for some time, came to us and said: ‘I’ve written 52 episodes of a show called The

Granada didn’t come back to us for any more. They just said, ‘Thank you very much, and goodbye.

Adventures of Twizzle. Would you mind making these into 15-minute shows for £450 each?’

“Of course we snapped at the chance. I’ve always said that if the question had been, ‘Would you make a documentary about crocodiles?’ then I would have ended up the foremost producer of crocodile pictures!

Anderson hated the idea of puppet movies at the start: “All those papier mache dolls bobbing up and down in front of painted backgrounds! But the series was a big success and then Roberta Lee hired us again to do Torchy, The Battery Boy, and I began to see that what was emerging had the potential to be a respectable type of film. There came a point at which we contrived to make the puppet film look as near to real life as we could, just to prove to people that we could make a respectable feature film if given the opportunity. But instead they just said, ‘Aren’t this guy’s puppet films great?’ - and I got stuck with them!"

Resigned to his fate, Anderson sunk his profits from Twizzle and Torchy into the pilot episode of a half-hour western puppet show entitled Four Feather Falls, which featured the voice of that mean hombre Nicholas Parsons! This was bought by Granada in 1960 and turned out to be another hit.

“But strangely enough,” he recalled, “Granada didn’t come back to us for any more. They just said, ‘Thank you very much, and goodbye.’ This meant we were stuck with a property we’d been developing ➷

Captin Scarlet and the Mysterons 1967-1968 32 episodes

called Supercar. But then Lew Grade came along and took a look at it and asked us to make 26 episodes for ATV. Then came Fireball XL5 and Lew was so pleased with the product that, rather like the man from Remington razors, he bought the company!”

Now with considerable backing from ATV, Anderson’s puppet empire went from strength to strength, notching up a number of television ‘firsts’ in the process. Fireball XL5 was actually the first English film series to be shown on an American network, while Anderson’s next show, Stingray, was the first English series shot in colour.

“We did this for two reasons,” he explained. “One was for the American market, and the other for its library value in the future.”

So intent was he in capturing a slice of the lucrative Stateside market that he deliberately gave the shows an American feel, to the extent of using American voices and spelling - the shows were announced at the star as being in ‘color’ rather than in colour!

He defended his motives this way: “It’s like a Spanish guy coming over to England and saying, ‘We have a police show that is absolutely fantastic and we have copied the English backgrounds and have got English speaking artists…’ We would just yawn and say, ‘You’ve got to be kidding!’

“So we tried to overcome this by making shows whose very premise was American. For instance, if it was anything to do with space technology I felt wholly justified in saying it would be the Americans - or the Russians - behind it. I like to think we produced believable shows that were suitable for American, not English subjects twisted and distorted to make them more suitable for the States.”

Whatever Anderson’s recipe, it certainly proved a success with Thunderbirds, the first of his shows to last a full hour. “In fact it started out at 30 minutes,” he told me, “but after we had made the first nine episodes, Lew Grade decided that we should pad them out to an hour long, which enabled the stories to be much more highly developed than before.”

The adventures of the Tracy family International Rescue team, Parker, Lady Penelope and of course

I like to think we produced believable shows that were suitable for American, not English subjects twisted and distorted to make them more suitable for the States.

Brains became Anderson’s biggest hit to date.

“It was a phenomenal success,” he said. “It was every British producer’s dream to get his show on one of the three American networks, and when Thunderbirds was taken to the States, every one of them wanted to buy it. The problem is that Lew Grade insisted it be aired at 8.30 at night, which is really Prime Time, and consequently it was up against stiff opposition. I think that it was a mistake to put it on so late, because although it got good ratings it missed its opportunity to become another Star Trek.”

Thunderbirds was a long way from Twizzle and Torchy in its sophisticated use of puppetry and special effects techniques and by now Anderson had coined a new description for his work.

“I began to call it Supermarionation, which comes of course from marionette - because with all due respect, puppet films at that time were mainly Bill and Ben The Flowerpot Men and Muffin The Mule jumping up and down on a piano. If I said puppet film it didn’t really create the impression of the type of film we were making. They were now becoming quite expensive and using lots of special effects.

Our puppets had progressed from having papier mache bodies with fixed mouths, fixed eyes and carpet threads to having bodies that were made ➷

UFO 1970 - 1971 26 episodes

I would say I am the guy who recognises and selects the talent, turns them into a big orchestra and then conducts. an example,” he said. “A man drives up to a hotel, gets out of his car, goes through the swing doors and checks in his baggage. If you are doing that scene in live action then you hire a car, find the hotel, take a few lights along with you and shoot it. However, if you take the same script with puppets, then we actually have to make the street, make the car, the inside of the car and the character the hotel interior and the receptionist; every single thing that goes on the screen, including the sky. So it usually takes us about six months to build and prepare a series, and if we only make one then the entire cost is attributed out of wood, heads that were fibre glass shells and to that single episode. The more we do the cheaper eyes and mouths that moved. Eventually, of course it becomes.” we graduated to radio-controlled prosthetics and Without wishing to appear rude I asked what full-size characters.” exactly Gerry himself contributed to each episode.

When I asked Gerry how much it cost to make a “That’s a perfectly reasonable question,” he puppet he replied, “People often ask that. If you were smiled. “I don’t think there is another one like me to make a replica of one of our existing puppets you and it is not easy to describe my job. Generally would be talking three or four thousand pounds speaking you have a film based on a book or a (and remember, this was in 1986). But the very first writer who comes in to create a show. Then you one, which involves drawing, sculpting, testing and have Mr Moneybags the producer, who organises modification could cost many thousands. You just things. Well I am all of these and mire, because I can’t put a price on it. But of course once a puppet follow a show through from the germ of an idea is made there will be no problems with increased right through to its completion. I always write the salary demands from the stars of a series as it first script which sets up the basic premise and becomes more successful.” then I supervise every stage of the production.

Which is why Anderson liked to make his shows And this is not to say I want to take all the credit in large batches. “Let’s take an imaginary script as for everything we do. I work ➷

Joe 90 1968 - 1969 30 episodes

with very clever people, sculptors, puppet masters, artists, art directors and special effects men. They all make their contribution. I think to sum it up I would say I am the guy who recognises and selects the talent, turns them into a big orchestra and then conducts.”

If that’s the case then Anderson’s most successful symphony must be Thunderbirds, which stretched to an astronomical 32 episodes, and then hit the movie screen in two feature films called Thunderbirds Are Go and Thunderbirds 6, both of which did extremely well.

The former featured a guest appearance from pop idol Cliff Richard and his famous backing group The Shadows - or rather their puppets.

“Obviously we asked Cliff for his permission,” smiled Gerry, “and got him to write us a special song for the production. Then we made the group as puppets and staged quite a big number. The interesting thing was that when we had the premiere at Tottenham Court Road, the first time the puppet of Cliff appeared on the screen a girl fan in the balcony couldn’t contain herself and screamed out loud. The entire cinema just collapsed into laughter to think that even his puppet could provoke such a reaction!”

In the early 70s Anderson turned his hand to producing a live action science fiction adventure entitled Journey To The Far Side of the Sun, using

his special effects expertise to embroider an unusual tale of an astronaut (Roy Thinnes) who returns from a deep space voyage to find he has landed on a mirror image of Earth, where the inhabitants act very differently.

“I’d always wanted to do a live action feature, and the notion of the script was such an intriguing one that I felt this was a good opportunity. Unfortunately it was not a commercial success at the time, although it was later shown regularly on British and American television and at science fiction conventions, and I have had a lot of favourable comment on it. I think the problem was that it took itself seriously at a time when science-fiction movies weren’t supposed to do that.”

So it was back to the puppets for a while and more hit programmes like Joe 90 and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. Then, as a favour to Lew Grade, Anderson produced his only non-fantasy show, The Protectors, with Robert Vaughn and Nyree Dawn Porter, and he stayed with live action for UFO and Space 1999, two science-fiction shows that weren’t hugely popular at the time but managed to build a huge cult following over the years.

In fact much of Anderson’s output looks better in retrospect, and has a durability that makes it popular on DVD and even Blu-ray to this day though the sharper clarity means you can easily see the strings!

Sadly Gerry didn’t get any royalties for these releases. “I was hired and paid pretty well,” he said philosophically, “there’s no point in complaining.”

The only one of his shows that he actually owned lock, stock and barrel was the Terrahawks, of which 26 episodes were made. “It wasn’t the success of Thunderbirds,” he told me, “but on a worldwide scale it did as well as, say, Stingray.”

One of the most popular characters in the show was undoubtedly the chief of the Zeroids - a race of small circular silver balls - whose speech was provided by Carry On comic Windsor Davies. I asked Gerry how he chose the voices for his characters and he said “It’s quite simple, we go out into the ➷

I found myself saying,'Look, we're not going to need that again and we don't want it, cart it away, so we had better burn it.

Thunderbirds 1965 - 1966 32 episodes

marketplace and audition. I don’t think we have any preconceived notion about anything, really. We have the puppet made and then we get twenty or so people to struggle to produce a voice for it. When we get the voice we feel is right, we then see the character emerge and the writers can get to work.”

At the time of my conversation with Gerry he was in production on Space Police, a live action show with a sci-fi slant. “It deals with an American policeman who is posted out to a space station, which is a parody of the sort of police precinct house you get in New York, all peeling grey paint, mountains of paperwork and nutty people. The police cars are spaceships of course!”

Before the interview wrapped I had to ask Gerry something that had always intrigued me about his shows. What happened to the likes of Steve Zodiac, Mike Mercury and all the rest of his puppet heroes after the camera stopped turning?

“Its the same as any other cinema or television production, I’m afraid. There’s never enough room in the set store to keep everything. Yesterday I went

to the set store on Terrahawks because we needed room for Space Police equipment and I found myself saying, 'Look, we're not going to need that again and we don't want it, cart it away, so we had better burn it.' It happens on all productions, and of course if ten years later the thing happens to be a success then these items often turn out to be very valuable and you wish you had kept them - but at the time all you want to do is make space for the next production.”

So the ultimate irony is that after having survived innumerable perils from every corner of the galaxy, Gerry Anderson’s creations often ended up in the dustbin. Where was International Rescue when it was really needed? ❙ Gerry Anderson passed away on Boxing Day last year. Nearly all that has survived of his extensive legacy is available on DVD from various labels across the globe, and a handful on Blu-ray. Check out www.culttvtimes.com for more on these and other classic TV shows.

Gerry Anderson April 14, 1928 - December 26, 2012

Mick Garris LEGENDS OF CULT TV

B

orn Michael Alan Garris in Santa Monica in 1951, the subject of our maiden Legends profile has always lived and breathed the fantastical elements of the film industry. When a career as a musician petered out in the mid-1970s Garris began a new chapter as a journalist and critic, covering music and cinema for reputable publications such as Cinefantastique and Starlog throughout the decade. The seeds of a career were truly sown for his future in 1977, when George Lucas hired Garris as a receptionist.

The entrepreneurial enthusiast used the industry contacts afforded to him by such a post to set up his first TV show, Fantasy Film Festival, which saw Garris interview some of Tinseltown’s finest genre godheads on-screen, as well as granting the fledgling entertainment guru his first production credit.

Beginning the 1980s working as a press agent in Hollywood, Garris continued to carve a niche for himself as the go-to guy for science fiction and horror promotion. After directing several ‘making of ’ puff pieces for network television, a career as a TV writer began when Steven Spielberg approached Garris to write and edit several episodes of the Beard’s Amazing Stories. This began a long love affair with anthology television, encapsulated by stints on horror shows that varied from the stinking (Freddy’s Nightmares) to the sublime (Tales from the Crypt). The silver-haired helmer also served as showrunner on the short-lived lupine drama She-Wolf of London, while writing and directing various TV movies – including Disney’s Fuzzbucket and the horror prequel Psycho IV. 1988 saw Garris make an inauspicious cinema debut with Critters 2, but his next silver screen venture changed the face of his career. 1992’s Sleepwalkers gained mainstream attention as the first screenplay written expressly for the screen by Stephen King.

While the result (the tale of an oedipal mother and son team of soul-sucking werecats) was hardly a masterpiece, it began a partnership between writer and director that endures to this day; a dynamic duo that helped screen adaptations of King’s finest ➷

This began a long love affair with anthology television, encapsulated by stints on horror shows that varied from the stinking (Freddy’s Nightmares) to the sublime (Tales from the Crypt).”

written works achieve critical acclaim that matched the appreciative audience response.

Having abandoned hope of truncating his epic novel The Stand sufficiently for a George Romero-directed big screen adaptation, King personally requested Garris as director for the next best thing; a multi-hour ABC mini-series, budgeted at $28m and requiring an arduous 20-month shoot. The success of The Stand, arguably the biggest television event of 1994, convinced ABC to re-team writer and director for a pet project of the best-selling author; a 1997 mini-series retelling of his celebrated spine-chiller The Shining. King has never made any secret of his distaste for Stanley Kubrick’s interpretation of his story, unimpressed by the British director’s substantial changes to the source text and disappointed with Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of Jack Torrance. The Garris-directed mini-series was a significantly more faithful affair. Another King conversion followed later in ’97 –the Fox TV movie Quicksilver Highway, which adapted the Maine man’s The Chattery Teeth and Clive Barker’s The Body Politic – before a hiatus from horror.

The key credits on Garris’ resume for the next few years were TV movies. In 1998 he directed SF thriller Virtual Obsession for Hallmark, while 2001 saw him tackle NBC’s courtroom drama The Judge, following that up a year later with a modern take on Frank Baum, Lost in Oz. Naturally more King collaborations were on the cards, and Garris stepped behind the camera for Riding the Bullet, the curious tale of a young man’s encounters with a variety of characters while hitching across America, and Desperation, another ABC-sponsored mini-series.

2005 saw the debut of Masters of Horror, our man’s masterpiece, which you can read more about elsewhere in this issue. Following the cancellation of the show Garris shifted the template to another genre; Masters of Science Fiction aired on ABC in 2007. Six Stephen Hawking-narrated episodes were produced, with directorial luminaries including Jonathan Frakes adapting stories from the likes of Harlan Ellison, Robert Heinlein, John Kessel and Robert Sheckley. Alas just four episodes made their

.. the show was unceremoniously cancelled, passing quietly into the television graveyard... way to the screen before the show was unceremoniously cancelled, passing quietly into the television graveyard, and seemingly souring the relationship between filmmaker and network.

A similar fate befell Fear Itself, Garris’ next project and a spiritual sequel to Masters of Horror. Movie studio Lionsgate stumped up the financial backing for the show, which was sold to NBC. The network commissioned thirteen films –with directors including returning Masters John Landis and Stuart Gordon, alongside notable newcomers such as Ronny Yu and Darren Lynn Bousman – to air as part of the NBC Networks ‘All-American Summer’ in 2008.

Eight movies were aired before the Olympic Games, but the show never returned to screens afterward; once again, fans could only eagerly-awaiting tales such as John Dahl’s Chance when the show surfaced on DVD a year later. A shame, as while the fearful flicks provided for this series did not match the gory glory days of season one of Masters of Horror, there was plenty to enjoy about several of them.

Garris has been forthright about the experience of making Fear Itself, explaining that the episodes were inked before the Writer’s Guild of America strike of 2007 – meaning NBC brought in non-union scribes for re-writes, a move which the producer felt that had a detrimental effect on the stories. A 2010 interview with Dread Central, home of horror on the internet, revealed some frustrations with the result of the show, with Garris confiding that “…everything had

MICK GARRIS ON TELEVISION • Bag of Bones (TV Mini-series) Executive Producer/Director (2 eps, 2011) • Post Mortem with Mick Garris (TV Series) Executive Producer/Host (10 eps, 2010–2011) • Happy Town (TV Series) – Director (1 ep, 2010) • Fear Itself (TV Series) – Writer (11 eps, 2008–2009) • Masters of Science Fiction (TV Mini-series) Co-Executive Producer (4 eps, 2007) • Masters of Horror (TV Series) Executive Producer (26 eps, 2005–2007), Writer (24 eps, 2005–2007) Writer (Teleplay) (3 eps, 2005–2006), Director (2 es, 2005–2006), Writer (Short Story) (1 ep, 2005) • Desperation (TV Movie) Executive Producer/Director (2006)

.. this man is “one of us”, a dedicated fan and lover of all things cult and quirky... to whitewashed for network TV, and directors lost creative control. Sometimes you need a story with teeth, and NBC took away the teeth of Fear Itself ”.

Perhaps these experiences were what persuaded Garris to undertake a temporary change of tack, hosting days of Garris’ career while simultaneously embracing the future of the entertainment industry. His most recent work to reach the screen was the latest Stephen King adaptation to date, the ghostly tale Bag of Bones, which aired as a two-part mini-series on the Arts & Entertainment Network in 2011.

U.K. viewers were treated to a different experience, with Channel 5 re-editing the project into a single three-hour epic in December 2012 – viewers wishing to watch in its original form can do so by importing the Region 1 DVD release. Whispers also suggest that another horror anthology show is in the works – could this be the long-rumoured Masters of Italian Horror finally reaching fruition?

Whatever it is, it will have to wait; Garris is currently hard at work on Invasion, a SF conspiracy thriller described as “The Outer Limits meets Mad Men”. Sounds intriguing, and certainly one to watch. Perhaps the concept of Invasion also sums up just why the Cult TV Times crew love Mick Garris so much: this man is “one of us”, a dedicated fan and lover of all things cult and quirky, who has managed to build himself a hugely successful career in the arena of offbeat entertainment. That’s the kind of talent and dedication that ensures his status as a Legend of Cult TV. ❙

• Lost in Oz (TV Movie) – Director (2002) • The Judge (TV Movie) – Director (2001) • The Others (TV Series) - Director (3 eps, 2000), Writer (1 ep, 2000), Supervising Producer (2000) • Host (TV Movie) Writer (Teleplay)/Producer/Director (1998) • Quicksilver Highway (TV Movie) - Actor (uncredited)/ Writer (Teleplay)/Producer/Director (1997) • The Shining (TV Mini-series) Director (3 eps, 1997) Actor (1 ep, 1997) • New York Undercover (TV Series) – Director (1 ep, 1995) • Tales from the Crypt (TV Series) – Director (1 ep, 1994) • The Stand (TV Mini-series) - Director (4 eps, 1994), Actor (1 ep, 1994) • She-Wolf of London (TV Series) - Writer (20 eps), Executive Consultant (20 eps, 1990–1991) • Psycho IV: The Beginning (TV Movie) – Director (1990) • The Making of 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom' (TV Movie) – Story Consultant (1989) • Freddy's Nightmares (TV Series) – Director (1 episode, 1988) • Amazing Stories (TV Series) - Story Editor (22 eps,1985– 1986), Writer (Teleplay) (7 eps, 1985–1987) Writer (Story) (2 eps, 1986), Writer (1 ep, 1987), Director (1 ep, 1986) • Fuzzbucket (TV Movie) – Writer/Producer/Director (1986) • The Making of 'The Goonies' (TV Movie) • Making a Monster Movie: Inside 'The Howling' (TV Movie Producer/Director (1981) • Fear on Film: Inside 'The Fog' (TV Movie) Producer (1980)

showtime's masters ( The whole story )

What makes a master? The dictionary defines the plauditory noun as “a person eminently skilled in something, as an occupation, art or science”, clearly a concept that CTVT favourite Mick Garris took to heart when he set out on his Masters of Horror project at the turn of the century. Garris’ long and varied career in TV is profiled elsewhere in the pages of this periodical, but there can be no doubt that it was what began as an informal dinner for friends and colleagues that would become his Masterpiece.

T

he aforementioned dinner took place in California back in 2002, when Garris invited nine of the most celebrated names in horror cinema to dine with him. The guest list varied in many ways, with legendary old hands such as Tobe Hooper and John Carpenter breaking bread with comparatively fresh-faced young bucks such as Guillermo Del Toro, but all attendees had one thing in common – a passion and prowess for screen shivers. This earned them a nickname; the ‘Masters of Horror’.

So many creative forces sharing the same proximity can only end one way, so it was no surprise when Garris pitched a concept to U.S. cable channel Showtime as a result of these social gatherings. In Masters of Horror, an anthology show to be produced by Garris, a baker’s dozen of these feted filmmakers were afforded the opportunity to adapt any project of their choosing as a short film. The comparatively relaxed censorship standards of U.S. cable TV were held up as a fair exchange for working to tighter budgets and schedules than a typical movie shoot.

Aired over 2005 and 2006, the first series of Masters of Horror was the crown jewel of Garris’ empire.

The line-up of directors was arguably the strongest, with the full roster of founder Masters bar Del Toro stepping behind the camera for a mini-movie. These nine were Garris, Tobe Hooper, John Carpenter, John Landis, Don Coscarelli, Joe Dante, William Malone, Larry Cohen and Stuart Gordon; Dario Argento, John McNaughton, Takashi Miike and Lucky McKee made up the final foursome of the lucky thirteen.

While some of these names enjoy more mainstream recognition than others, each of them was provided a chance to shine.

Anthology horror was nothing new. Viewers spent the ‘70s browsing Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, while the ‘80s and ’90s were dominated by Monsters and Tales from both the Crypt and the Darkside. Don Coscarelli’s series-opening movie, Incident On and Off a Mountain Road, made it clear that Masters of

...the first series of Masters of Horror was the crown jewel of Garris’ empire Horror would be a different animal, making these classics seem camp by comparison. The Californian adapted a short story from Joe R. Lansdale (a partnership that had previously birthed the celebrated cinematic incarnation of Bubba Ho-Tep in 2002), teaming Coscarelli’s Phantasm alumni Angus Scrimm with Grimm actress Bree Turner for a gruelling tale of survival horror. Incident On and Off a Mountain Road made the rules that governed Masters of Horror pretty clear from the start; these films were likely to be loaded with violence, gore and profanity, the production values would belie their lower-budget origins, and unlike the celebrated anthology shows of yore, there was no guarantee that the bad guys would get their comeuppance in a satisfying final twist. This quality was mostly maintained throughout the first season of the show.

Celebrated scholar of Lovecraft Stuart Gordon took the reins for the second segment with Dreams in the Witch House, an abridged adaptation of one of Howard Phillips’ more disturbing tales of witchcraft and sacrifice from Gordon and Dennis Paoli, while Dario Argento’s addition, Jenifer, was a typically mysterious mixture of the erotic and the grotesque.

Lead actor Steven Weber scripted this adaption of a 1974 horror comic book, the story of a police detective and the deformed victim of a crime he investigates. Unsurprisingly, Argento was the first director to push the limits of Showtime’s tolerance – Jenifer was the only movie broadcast with network-enforced cuts for violence and sexual content.

John Landis brought some light-hearted laughs ➷

Sadly, season two of Masters of Horror was a more uneven affair – the highs were high, but dear lord did the lows plummet the depths to the table with Deer Woman, a comedy-horror dramatization of a Native American myth scripted by his son Max, and John Carpenter provided arguably the season’s highlight with Cigarette Burns.

Carpenter teamed with AICN.com newshounds Drew Sweeney and Scott Swann for a spiritual successor to his ‘Apocalypse Trilogy’ of cinema releases (The Thing, Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness), the tale of a French film – seen only once, and the cause of a homicidal riot, sparking an obsession for a troubled young film dealer – was one of the most visceral and disturbing submissions of the season. Joe Dante also hit it out of the park with Homecoming, a satire adapted from a Dale Bailey story by celebrated screen scribe Sam Hamm.

Dante’s twist on the zombie outbreak saw reanimated soldiers, killed in action during an unpopular war, returning from their graves to vote in a Presidential election. What the movie lacked in subtlety it made up in storytelling, ensuring that while the lampooning may make the movie a dated time capsule, the script still entertains.

Sick Girl was another treat, with Lucky McKee and Halloween: Resurrection writer Scott Hood hatching a twisted romance between two young women and an oversized antagonistic insect, while Pick Me Up, Larry Cohen’s contribution (adapted by David Schow, based on his own short story), was also a

hoot. Schow’s script pitted two serial killers – one a hitchhiker prone to hacking anyone unfortunate enough to offer him a ride, the other a driver with a predilection for slicing and dicing hitchers – against one another, with the ever-feisty Fairuza Balk stuck between the squabbling slaughterers.

William Malone’s movie, Fair Haired Child, was an inoffensive but ultimately forgettable fable, inked by 1408 adaptor Matt Greenberg, akin to the works of Wes Craven, while John McNaughton (parachuted in to replace George A. Romero at the eleventh hour following scheduling conflicts) shepherded Clive Barker’s short story Haeckel’s Tale to the screen, scripted by Garris himself. A twist on the Frankenstein mythos with a typically sensual kink that we’ve come to expect from Barker, McNaughton’s film was another season highpoint.

For all this commendation, it would be inappropriate to say that season one of Masters of Horror was flawless. Tobe Hooper directing a Richard Matheson story scripted by the son of the author really should have been a home run, but Dance of the Dead was a missed opportunity, a thoroughly dull tale of a post-nuclear world.

Garris himself also slightly missed the mark with his conversion of his own short story Chocolate, starring one-time friend of E.T. Henry Thomas.

The movie is interesting enough but far too long, paling in comparison to some of the efforts of the producer’s peers.

Naturally the infamous final flick, Takashi Miike’s Imprint, has yet to be addressed. The unflinching Eastern artist didn’t hold back in his nightmarish twist on the Memoirs of a Geisha theme (originally appearing first as a novel from Shimako Iwai and re-written for the screen by Daisuke Tengan), packing his film with disturbing scenes of violence, torture and incest. Showtime declined to air the episode, truncating the first season of Masters of Horror to twelve episodes and leaving the movie to debut on DVD. Garris initially attempted to negotiate with the network and discussed the possibility of performing trims and cuts to the more graphic content, but ➷

eventually decided to leave Takashi’s work as the director intended. The rationale provided was “Imprint is what it is. It really was a case of “let’s not hack this up”. Let’s all just agree to release it in its complete form on DVD, and hopefully its audience will be able find it that way”.

Masters of Horror was a critical and ratings success for Showtime, ensuring the show’s renewal for a second season of a further thirteen flicks. Seven veterans of season one returned, with McNaughton, Coscarelli, McKee, Cohen, Malone and Miike bowing out for this sophomore series; Brad Anderson, Ernest Dickerson, Tom Holland, Rob Schmidt, Peter Medak and Norio Tsuruta were the six horrific helmers that made up the new Masters. Sadly, season two of Masters of Horror was a more uneven affair – the highs were high, but dear lord did the lows plummet the depths.

Tobe Hooper kicked off proceedings in October 2007 with The Damned Thing, a second collaboration with Richard Matheson Jnr –inspired this time around by an Ambrose Bierce short story. Thankfully this was much more satisfying outing than Dance of the Dead, a troubling tale of a Texas sheriff driven by invisible demons – demons that soon threaten to turn the whole town on each other. John Landis returned to introduce us to a warped Family unit in one of the series’ highlights, written by Brent Hanley and featuring George ‘Norm from Cheers’ Wendt portraying the kind of neighbour from hell that ITV2 don’t warn you about. Dario Argento’s return in the Matt Venne-written Pelts was every bit as gory, sexy and OTT as a film featuring Meat Loaf as a fur trader dealing in cursed coats can be, while Stuart Gordon took an interesting path with The Black Cat, again co-written by Dennis Paoli. Discarding Lovecraft in favour of Edgar Allen Poe, Gordon created a story that was half-biopic, half-adaptation of the gothic legend’s famous tale.

Joe Dante’s The Screwfly Solution and John Carpenter’s Pro-Life both provided a change in content and cadence for the genre icons, in a brace of flicks that re-teamed the esteemed directors

with their successful screenwriters from season one. Carpenter’s flick featured Ron Perlman as the gun-toting and god-bothering father of a teenager seeking the termination of her supernatural pregnancy. The film was occasionally ham-fisted, but frequently raised eyebrows as well as questions.

Dante’s adaptation of androgynous author Raccoona Sheldon’s 1977 short story, however, was doubtless the most unsettling instalment of season two; an account of a viral outbreak that puts a terrifying twist on the battle of the sexes. Mick Garris rounded out the returning warhorses of season one by adapting Valerie on the Stairs, an enjoyable, albeit not earthshaking, reworking of a Clive Barker story.

Writer-director Brad Anderson and Rob Schmidt made impressive introductions to the show with their season two offerings. Anderson’s movie, Sounds Like, featured a striking central performance from Chris Bauer as a call centre supervisor who develops incredibly sensitive hearing, while Schmidt delivered arguably the finest film of the season with Right to Die. John Esposito’s script opened with a car accident that leaves a young woman in a coma while her husband walks away, supernatural shenanigans soon start to occur – events which influence hubby’s decision as to whether to switch off his spouse’s life support. Right to Die was the perfect blend of big issues and spooky storytelling, giving a viewer something to think about beyond whether they need to change their underwear.

Sadly this was where the quality ended – the four as-yet unmentioned episodes of season two were bona fide stinkers.

Ernest Dickerson’s The V Word was a dull and generic vampire tale that has been told dozens of times before, usually far more successfully than what the Garris-penned screenplay provides here. The Washingtonians, based on a Bentley Little short story and directed by Peter Medak, was a camp and confused cannibalism caper that could never decide if it should be laughed at or with – a rare misstep from Cemetery Dance publisher Richard Chizmar and his production partner Johnathon Schaech. ➷

We All Scream for Ice Cream, a career nadir for Tom Holland, was an utterly bizarre telling of a murderous Ice Cream Man, adapted by John Schow from a short story by Southern Gothic hero John Farris. Finally Dream Cruise sank the season. This nautical nonsense took its cue from a short story from Koji Suziki (the author of Dark Water dubbed ‘the Japanese Stephen King’), adapted by the director and Naoya Takayama. Filmed in the land of the rising sun, this was nothing more than a cash-in on the then-flourishing Kaidan craze.

Despite these occasional artistic stumbles Masters of Horror still sucked in audiences, with the gruesome goings-on second only to The Tudors in Showtime’s ratings. Alas this wasn’t enough to save the show, as the network pulled the plug following the conclusion of the second season. The template Garris laid down with Masters of Horror would live on, however – sister shows Masters of Science Fiction and Fear Itself aired on ABC and NBC respectively during 2007 and 2008.

Those shows met somewhat undignified fates, fortunes which are profiled elsewhere in your copy of this magazine. It is to Mick Garris’ credit that Masters of Horror was made at all though – the mid-1990s was a world of reality television and sanitised 12A terror at the flicks, so bringing the great and the good of Hollywood horror to the small screen was a brave and inspiring move. The final project may not have enjoyed a one hundred per cent success rate, but it was rarely less than memorable. As a result, it will always hold a place in the affections of the horrorhounds here at CTVT. ❙

Meet the Masters: Don Coscarelli Incident On and Off a Mountain Road (S1) Horror Highlight: Phantasm (1979) Stuart Gordon Dreams in the Witch House (S1); The Black Cat (S2) Horror Highlight: Re-Animator (1985) Tobe Hooper Dance of the Dead (S1); The Damned Thing (S2) Horror Highlight: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) Dario Argento Jenifer (S1); Pelts (S2) Horror Highlight: Suspiria (1977) Mick Garris Chocolate (S1); Valerie on the Stairs (S2) Horror Highlight: The Stand (TV) (1994) Joe Dante Homecoming (S1); The Screwfly Solution (S2) Horror Highlight: The Howling (1981) John Landis Deer Woman (S1); Family (S2) Horror Highlight: An American Werewolf in London (1981) John Carpenter Cigarette Burns (S1); Pro-Life (S2) Horror Highlight: Halloween (1978) William Malone Fair Haired Child (S1) Horror Highlight: The House on Haunted Hill (1999) Lucky McKee Sick Girl (S1) Horror Highlight: May (2002)

Meet the Masters: Larry Cohen Pick Me Up (S1) Horror Highlight: It’s Alive (1974) John McNaughton Haeckel’s Tale (S1) Horror Highlight: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) Takashi Miike Imprint (S1) Horror Highlight: Audition (1999) Ernest Dickerson The V Word (S2) Horror Highlight: Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight (1995) Brad Anderson Sounds Like (S2) Horror Highlight: The Machinist (2004) Rob Schmidt Right to Die (S2) Horror Highlight: Wrong Turn (2003) Tom Holland We All Scream for Ice Cream (S2) Horror Highlight: Fright Night (1985)

the mid-1990s was a world of reality television and sanitised 12A terror at the flicks, so bringing the great and the good of Hollywood horror to the small screen was a brave and inspiring move

Peter Medak The Washingtonians (S2) Horror Highlight: Species II (1998) Norio Tsuruta Dream Cruise (S2) Horror Highlight: Ring 0 (2000)

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Reviews Game of Thrones: The Complete First and Second Seasons (2011-2012) Person of Interest: The Complete Season 1 (2011-2012)

Game Of Thrones: The Complete Seasons 1 and 2 Region: free ] Format: Blu-ray

Official Synopsis

Review

Hard though it may be to believe for some, there are people in this world who remain adamant that Based on the bestselling fantasy book series A High Definition does not exist. “HD is a scam”, they Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, this exclaim, “a myth generated by the entertainment sprawling new HBO drama is set in a world where industry to part fools from their money.” summers span decades and winter can last a Little is known about these curious citizens who lifetime. From the scheming south and the savage cannot – or perhaps will not – accept the ocular eastern lands, to the frozen north and ancient ecstasy that High Definition can bring. Perhaps Wall that protects the realm from the mysterious their vision, much like a T-Rex, is based entirely on darkness beyond, the powerful families of the Seven movement. Perhaps they rub sand in their eyes before Kingdoms are locked in a battle for the Iron Throne. watching TV for a jape. Perhaps they’re perfectly This is a story of duplicity and treachery, nobility happy with their DVD box sets, thank you very much, and honour, conquest and triumph. In the Game of and we should just leave them alone.

Thrones, you either win or you die.

Before you do that however, take one last roll of the dice and introduce a HD-sceptic to Game of Thrones.

The first two seasons are now available on Blu-ray ahead of the debut of the third on Satellite TV, and oh Lordy are they a visual feast.

SEASON ONE. Fortunately Game of Thrones can also claim to be In the second season the epic HBO original series far more than empty-headed eye-candy; showrunners Game of Thrones, kings from across the fictional David Benioff and D. B. Weiss have earned their place continent of Westeros vie for the Iron Throne. As at televisions top table on merit with these adaptations winter approaches, the cruel young Joffrey sits of George R. R. Martin’s sprawling sequence of upon the Throne in King’s Landing, counselled by best-sellers A Song of Ice and Fire – the tale of seven his conniving mother Cersei and his uncle Tyrion, separate kingdoms, and eternal unseemly squabble who has been appointed the new Hand of the over the iron throne which governs them.

King. But the Lannister hold on power is under With each run of ten episodes adding up to assault on many fronts, with two Baratheon’s an approximation of one of Martin’s books, donning crowns, and Robb Stark fighting as the home video block-viewing is arguably the best King in the North. In the meantime, a new leader way to enjoy Game of Thrones. A truly epic is rising among the wildling north of the Wall, project where over a dozen characters could lay adding new perils for Jon Snow and the Night’s claim to being the series lead, and with plots, Watch, while Daenerys Targaryen looks to shore sub-plots and red herrings spinning off in every up her depleted power in the East with her three direction imaginable, it’s easy to find yourself newborn dragons. With tensions and treaties, lost in such an addictive labyrinth. Expect to animosity and alliances, Season Two is a thrilling pop a disc into your player on a sun-drenched journey through a riveting and unforgettable Saturday morning and emerge, blinking and landscape. Based on the bestselling fantasy book slightly disorientated, on Saturday night, series by George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones wondering where the weekend went. Possibly is a story of duplicity and treachery, nobility and with an overwhelming urge to challenge your honour, conquest and triumph other half to a sword fight. ➷ SEASON ONE.

Season One was The Sean Bean Show, with the former Boromir restoring his beard-and-mullet combo to portray Ned Stark, noble advisor to Mary Addy’s boisterous King Robert Baratheon.

The story of the Stark family dominated proceedings, but frenemies The Lannister’s provided much of the drama. Michelle Fairley, Kit Harrington and Richard Madden offered solid and stoic performances as Catelynn Stark, Jon Snow and Robb Stark respectively, but Peter Dinklage should be serving time for scene-stealing as the scheming Tyrion, while Lena Headey turned in another iconic villainess as Queen Cersei, chilling the blood from twelve paces. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau proved to be an inspiring choice as the sovereign’s incestuous love Jaime, equal parts dashing and dastardly, while Jack Gleeson’s performance as Joffrey must rank as one of the all-time great boo-hiss characters than any viewer would love to hate.

The show’s debut set the tone almost instantly.

By the time the end credits rolled on the pilot, we had witnessed the frozen wastes of the North, the land beyond The Wall, the great keep of Winterfell, the wealthy and aspirational King’s Landing, and the desert lands of Essos. With the title of the show taking its name from Martin’s first novel, Season One of Game of Thrones revolved around countless claims to the throne of the seven kingdoms; lashings of sex, violence and shocks followed, with constant rug-pulls leading to regular cliffhangers and production values that would shame many Hollywood blockbusters.

It didn’t take long for Game of Thrones to find its stride, but by Season Two the show had worked its way up to a veritable gallop. Taking its inspiration from A Clash of Kings, this cluster of epiodes shifted gears and focus to some of the wannabe rulers of the seven kingdoms that we saw less of during Season One. The role of Charles Dance, as the metaphorically-moustache twirling Tywin Lannister, was welcomely expanded, while the charisma of Coster-Waldau was unrelenting, peeling away layers of the character of Jaime Lannister. The

other revelation of the show’s second outing was the maturing of Emilia Fox’s portrayal of Daenerys Targaryen, the dragon-wrangling Princess. Fox grew into her regal role throughout the two series’ to date, moving from green young girl to entirely convincing as an ambitious and ruthless leader of nations by the end of Season Two. If anything this series of Game of Thrones was superior to the first, which was no mean feat. The scope seemed even bigger, and with no exposition to hold the plot back events unravelled at a dizzying pace. There is no such thing as a bottleneck episode of Game of Thrones, with events that seem low-key on a first glance revealing themselves as essential later in proceedings. Truly this is a show that benefits from, as opposed to diminishing upon, repeat viewings.

Video & Audio Repeat viewings that are more than welcome thanks to that reference quality transfer. The snowy wildernesses of the North are a brilliant white, while scenes in the desert wasteland across the narrow sea almost sizzle off the screen. The DTS sound mix is every bit as extraordinary, which is thankful for a show that places such stock in sonic strategy – from the rumbling opening of the bombastic opening theme, Game of Thrones blows away the competition.

Extras An already-appealing pair of packages is made irresistible by the extensive and insightful extra features. Both box sets include audio commentaries ( featuring cast members alongside the two showrunners and George R. R. Martin), in-episode guides and character profiles. The rest of the packages are a diverse bunch, however.

The Season One Box Set includes a monster-sized interactive Guide to Westeros, an Anatomy of an Episode, a 30-minute Making Of, a separate conversation with Benioff, Weiss and Martin about the process of bringing the prose of the latter ➷

.. this man is “one of us”, a dedicated fan and lover of all things cult and quirky... to television, an insight into the opening credit sequence and a focus on The Night’s Watch. Season Two’s collection focusses on The War of the Five Kings, the show’s Histories and Lore and Religions of Westeros, a talk with the Game of Thrones Inner Circle (a roundtable discussion with the cast and crew) and a Behind the Scenes look at The Battle of Blackwater Bay. You’ll need a second weekend off to work your way through this lot.

The producers advise in the second commentary not watching this version before having seen the season, as some of the character and backstory they trimmed from the pilot was worked into later episodes over the course of the first year, so would constitute spoilers. More production information, more from Jonah on the contrasts between working in cinema and working on TV, and a fascinating mention of working with his brother on the edit of Memento and what he learnt about how to handle flashbacks, something crucial to this show.

Summary Game of Thrones viewers who have yet to read Martin’s books are notoriously spoilerphobic, so it’s best not to say too much to set the scene about what is to come. Needless to say, Season Three – adapting the first half of the epic A Storm of Swords – will be packed with further heart-stopping twists and captivating character studies. The Blu-ray release is almost certain to be one of the highlights of the 2014 calendar. Brace yourselves. ❙

Title: Game of Thrones: The Complete First Season

Title: Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season

Label: Warner Home Video Release date: 2012 Format: Blu-ray Video format: PAL Aspect Ratio: 16:9 1:78:1 Soundtrack(s): English Dolby Digital 5.1 DTS-HD, French Digital Surround 5.1, Latin American , Spanish DTS Digital Surround 2.0, Castilian DTS Digital Surround 5.1, Polish DTS Digital Surround 2.0 Subtitles: English, French, Latin American Spanish, Castilian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish Runtime: 561 mins approx.

No. of discs: 5 Packaging: Cardboard gatefold packaging Region Coding: B Buy from Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Game-ThronesSeason-Blu-ray-Region/dp/B006FIXFVC/ref= sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1365012238&sr=8-3

Label: Warner Bros.

Release date: 2013 Format: Blu-ray Video format: PAL Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 (16x9) Soundtracks (BD): English: English Dolby Digital 5.1 DTS Digital Surround, Castilian Spanish 5.1, French 5.1, Latin Spanish 2.0, Polish 2.0 Subtitles: Brazilian Portuguese, Castilian Spanish, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Latin Spanish, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish Runtime: 542 mins approx.

No. of discs: 5 Packaging: Cardboard gatefold packaging Region Coding: B Buy from Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Game-Thrones-Season-Blu-ray-Region/dp/B00A6W6Z1U/ref=pd_ bxgy_d_h__text_y

Person of Interest: The Complete Season 1 Region: free ] Format: Import Blu-ray & DVD

Official Synopsis YOU ARE BEING WATCHED.

A supercomputer developed by reclusive billionaire and software genius Harold Finch (Michael Emerson) analyzes data patterns in surveillance for the U.S. government to identify impending acts of terrorism.

But the computer, known only as “The Machine,” can also identify ordinary people who are about to be involved in violent crimes. Can those crimes be stopped before they take place? Secretly tapping into The Machine, Finch and ex-CIA agent John Reese (Jim Caviezel) use vigilante tactics and state-of-theart technology to identify the soon-to-be victims and prevent the crimes from occurring. Meanwhile, two NYPD detectives (Taraji P. Henson, Kevin Chapman) are drawn into the cases and the mystery surrounding the two covert crime fighters. From The Dark Knight’s Jonathan Nolan and J. J. Abrams’s Bad Robot Productions (Fringe, Lost) comes all 23 heart-pounding and thought-provoking Season 1 episodes of the edge-of-your-seat thriller series Person of Interest.

It is this depth that keeps audiences coming back to the show week after week, enhancing the state-of-theart action and first-class acting, drip-feeding the longer arc, keeping us hooked to find out more

fantasy, something fairly evident when looking at those which succeed and those which fail. While built on the premise of an ex-spy working for a reclusive tech billionaire in New York to save ordinary individuals in difficult circumstances, a sort of modern-day Equalizer, this is only one part of Review Person of Interest, the essence of the weekly case.

The bigger story, the longer arc, is about surveillance New to the 2011 US TV season, this action show from technology, government secrets and individual rewriter/producer Jonathan Nolan and producer J. J. sponsibility, and how two such broken characters Abrams was so successful it was renewed for a second have come to be and why they operate together, season currently airing in the U.S., while season 1 allowing the show to walk that tension successfully. airs on 5 USA in the U.K. This set comprises all 23 Person of Interest arrived with a less-than-subepisodes of the first season, an extended version of tle pilot bearing the hallmarks of both producer J. J. the pilot, 2 commentaries, a featurette and a gag reel. Abrams and writer-producer Jonathan Nolan, seen Spies remain fertile ground for action-packed by some commentators at the time as negatives. adventures on television and in cinemas in an Certainly, the way they chose to tell the story is era when we have more than enough evidence of reminiscent of both Lost and The Dark Knight – how spies actually operate. Partly this is because flashbacks powered by the Machine illuminate the audiences prefer their spies in the classic 60s James pasts of the two lead characters, while the Machine Bond mould when it comes to being entertained by itself at the heart of the story is a more reality-based them, as opposed to the Smiley mould, the recent extrapolation of the system built by Lucius Fox for LeCarre adaptation’s success not withstanding. This Bruce Wayne that crystallises some of the moral means the history of spies on screen has rested on issues at the heart of that film. However, as with this tension between dry realism and action-packed all the best series it took several episodes to hit ➷

returns once more to the Bad Robot fold after his iconic role in Lost, and brings the heart to the lost tech-head Harold Finch, a man who achieved scientific immortality and permanent financial stability at the cost of complete anonymity and personal tragedy. At first he is actually the more appealing and human of the two, though equally as wounded, but their mutual paranoia makes for good laughs, like two hedgehogs dancing. Taraji P. Henson and Kevin Chapman make interesting human beings out of their good and bad cops respectively, while the show provides juicy its stride, with episode 14 “Wolf and Cub” being recurring roles for veteran performers Paige Turco, particularly important to defining the show. Set Robert Burke, Brett Cullen, Michael Kelly, Annie partly around a comic book store (and with that Parisse, and Enrico Colantani, along with a great manga & movie-referencing episode title, it would straight-arrow fed played by Brennan Brown, best have to be), this makes explicit that Person of known to UK audiences for being the Hollywood Interest is not really about ex-spies, no more than producer in the Orange cinema ads. This sense the Punisher is about war veterans or Batman is of a network of people linked to the leads, along about victim trauma. Instead, this series is the TV with the glimpse of “numbers” dealt with outside equivalent of one of those late-80s darker DC comic of the main episode plots, suggest a larger ongoing series in the wake of Miller’s Dark Knight and tapestry that we only see crucial glimpses of, Year One, such as Vigilante or The Question, with Reese as a modern-day Shadow seeing the with genuinely interesting current issues explored evil in the hearts and minds of all (coincidentally wrapped up in issue-by-issue action-packed cases. another late-80s DC comic). It is this depth that Jim Caviezel joining a regular American TV keeps audiences coming back to the show week hourlong drama was the big casting news, but on after week, enhancing the state-of-the-art action first airing he seemed quite stiff, taking several and first-class acting, drip-feeding the longer arc, episodes to relax into the admittedly tightly-wound keeping us hooked to find out more.

John Reese, former army/black-ops spy. Watching the series through again, he locates the humour Video & Audio and violence in Reese immediately, providing enough of a balance to the broken man to keep The U.S. set contains 4 50GB BDs and 6 DVD-9s. Given audiences interested. His performance deepens the BDs are region free, it seems safe to suggest the U.K. in sync with the increased revelations about the BD-only set is identical, as Warner have kept other US/ character’s backstory, which leads one to wonder UK TV sets identical (Fringe in particular), but this if he needed more meat on the bones of the writer cannot confirm this just yet. Video on the BDs character to be able to more effectively convey looks superb, much better than UK TV transmissions the man behind the stare. At any rate, once he and definitely better than many discs out there. All the hits his lanky stride he moves forward with all usual benchmarks by which one judges these things the strength and heart he brought to so many are handled to perfection, including colours, depth, big-screen roles, aided by his clear involvement in textures, skin tones, black levels and so on. The New many of the action sequences. Michael Emerson York locations look great week after week, while ➷

actors are seen in such unforgiving detail one wonders if some of them long for more forgiving technology. Audio on the BDs is a top-notch DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, so anyone burnt by previous Warner releases carrying compressed audio can buy without fear, with a variety of alternative audio and subtitles also available. The DVDs carry 480p versions of the same episodes, just with fewer per disc, and look far cleaner and more colourful than UK TV transmissions, still with decent audio but with less options for dubs and subs.

more to do with the showrunners wanting to maintain some mystique over the show, and that is fair enough in this viewer’s eyes. First up is the commentary on the pilot on both Disc 1s, in which exec producers Jonathan “Jonah” Nolan and Greg Plageman discuss everything about the production of that pilot, the series, location shooting, the cast, etc. They discuss some of the cuts made to get the first cut down from 71 to 44 minutes, and some of the character stuff they mention has been returned in the second extra, the extended or “Producer’s” cut of the pilot, on Extras BD 4/DVD 6. Again including a commentary, There are only four extras here, but there’s this version runs 55 mins, and has the feel and enough in them to make them worth viewing, flow of European TV in that sense. There are even if they don’t stretch to the depth of previous some terrific shots that are far more cinematic, Bad Robot productions. One suspects this has which were lost for the final cut, but the ➷

essence of the story was maintained. The pair only introduce themselves at the beginning of the extended pilot commentary, so one can only tell them apart on the aired pilot commentary if one has heard the other or can catch the one time they refer to the other by name. This is when the Lord of the Rings Extended Editions concept of having subs identify who is speaking seems essential rather than optional.

The producers advise in the second commentary not watching this version before having seen the season, as some of the character and backstory they trimmed from the pilot was worked into later episodes over the course of the first year, so would constitute spoilers. We get, more from Jonah on the contrasts between working in cinema and working on TV, and a fascinating mention of working with his brother on the edit of Memento and what he learnt about how to handle flashbacks, something crucial to this show.

Finally there is a short but interesting featurette on surveillance tech and trends, designed to up the viewer’s paranoia and make the show seem less SF than it currently is, and a very short gag reel that manages to contain some good laughs and a priceless impression of an acting icon by Caviezel.

Summary Of interest to fans of previous works from the producers – Memento, The Prestige, The Dark Knight Trilogy for Nolan, Alias, Lost and Fringe for Abrams – this show is a mainstream hit in the U.S., with good reason, but only cult over here so far. Pitched somewhere between The Shadow and The Equalizer, the show is dark but watchable, action-packed but with great character work, and has an ongoing arc that is as fascinating to watch unfold as any hourlong that has aired this century.

While is great that 5 USA air it in the U.K., BD is the best way to see it, and Warner Bros. have produced a great region-free package only slightly let down by less-than-in-depth extras. ❙

Title:

Person of Interest: The Complete Season 1 Label: Warner Bros.

Release date: 2011 Format: Blu-ray & DVD Video format: 1080p (BD)/ 480p (DVD) Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 (16x9) Soundtracks (BD): English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 French: Dolby Digital 2.0 Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0 Portuguese: Dolby Digital 2.0 Japanese: Dolby Digital 5.1 (N.B. Only available on Japanese menu settings) Subtitles (BD): English, French, Spanish, P ortuguese, Japanese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Norwegian and Swedish Soundtracks (DVD): English, Portugese Subtitles (DVD): English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese and Korean Runtime: 1012 mins approx.

No. of discs: 4 x BD-50, 6 x DVD-9 Packaging: 22mm case wiuth 4 2-sided shelves, in card slipcase Region Coding: Region-free (BD); Region 1 (DVD)

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