Television Episode Review.

[Inspector Abberline]

Review an episode or series from any television show,no matter what genre.

(mods please modify or exterminate as you see fit.)

[Inspector Abberline]

Steptoe and Son
Pot Black.
Harold buys a full size snooker table and all the trimmings from the local snooker hall,and to Albert annoyance,Harold is having the full size table delivered and placed in there sitting room.Unfortunately with the table in place it does not exactly leave a lot of room for anything else,including using the cues.Of course this is another in a long line of examples of Harold trying to beat and get one over Albert,Harold is determined to beat Albert at any cost but as usual he seems unable to beat him,whether its down to Harold's incompetence or Albert's luck and cheating. Well after loosing badly to Albert inside the sitting room,Harold has the genius idea of moving it out into there scrap yard where there will be more room to play.where he is still determined to beat his old man.Even though they play till four in the morning in the pouring rain and thunder and lightening,Harold will not quit until he has beaten Albert once and for all.Even though Harold eventually wins,mainly because Albert throws the game so he can get out of the rain,what Harold does not see,because he is making a celebratory cup of tea,is Albert performing several trick shots on the snooker table,thus proving his skill at the game without humiliating his son.Another classic episode from the writers Alan Simpson RIP and Ray Galton,this was episode 6 series 6,and unfortunately this was an episode that got wiped by the BBC in there extreme wisdom and the the only version available is a black and white copy,that suffers slightly from being a little bit fuzzy,but is still very watchable especially if you are a die hard fan. It deal with Harold's continual inability to deal with the fact that his father Albert is always beating him at what ever Harold tries to do,hobbies,sports or women.The episode is basically,just the two actors Wilfrid Brambell, and Harry H. Corbett,apart the removal men,one of which is an unaccredited Arthur Mullard.You can keep your modern gross out comedies,nothing can beat Albert making Steak and Kidney pie with his false teeth as pastry cutter,eughhhhhhhhhhhh.....

[Inspector Abberline]

Doctor Who - Inferno
Im know Who expert,so this is more like the meanderings of idiot than an expert on Dr Who,all relevant information was nicked Guv.

Well I definitely had not watched this story before,so it was a nice coming to a story knowing very little of what it was all about apart from what I had read via the synopsis. Again I will not go into all the whys and where fores of the story or plot,but it has to be said they literally throw everything and the kitchen sink into the plot.I mean we have Unit giving security to a secret project where they are trying to drill into the earth's crust to explore some sort of new energy. We also have some rather suspect green ooze seeping from the equipment which turns anyone who comes into contact with it,into a werewolf like creature. And while the Doctor is fannying about with his Tardis console,he manages to transport to a parallel dimension where things are slightly different.well that's is what you get when you mess about with nuclear power.Did I say I was not going to mention the plot,well obviously I lied didn't I.
The feeling I got with this story was it was slightly bigger than what the budget could deliver,although budgetary restrictions aside it was still very good,mind you I quite like the excuse The Brigadier gave when one of his men asked for more soldiers,I mean at best I counted about six in one shot,not exactly a large contingency of men for what seemed like a quite large area to patrol.What I did enjoy was the location,a good old fashioned industrial estate billing out clouds of god knows what into the atmosphere,and according to the internet the location was filmed at Kingsnorth Industrial Estate in Kent. Jon Pertwee was as usual very good,and a lot more serious in this story,then again the planet is on the verge of exploding so he damn well better take it all seriously. I believe this was Caroline John's last episode,and was certainly better in this than she was in her first episode,especially when in the parallel universe parts she gets to play a baddie of sorts. Olaf Pooley as the head baddie was ok,but to be honest he was more irritating than plain evil and just kept complaining all the time when he wasn't pulling bits of the computer apart.All in all a very interesting story if some what convoluted in parts,it also made for a very believable story apart from the bits about the men changing into primeval creatures,still very good indeed.

[Inspector Abberline]

Spearhead from Space

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My brain being rather on the small side cannot hold much memory,a bit like one of those old memory cards with 54mg,I need to upgrade to at least 4 gig of memory for me to retain any information before the last lot of info is pushed out the other side of me head.Thus I was very surprised that I had in fact seen Spearhead From Space after all,I could of sworn blind that I had not watched it before,even after reading the synopsis.But as soon as I saw Mr Pertwee stumble out of the Tardis and being taken away by the men of Unit to the hospital it all came flooding back.Well it nearly did,for one thing the Blu Ray version looks superb,and for what I am assuming (i have no idea of the budget for the series at the time) is a low budget BBC show,looks tremendously sharp and crisp,obviously being filmed in 16mm film stock adds mightily to the look of the story. Once the story is up and running you instantly get the impression that Jon Pertwee is really putting his stamp on the role as the new Dr,I should imagine at the time of broadcast this would of been a hell of change in acting style compared to Patrick Troughton,with Pertwee coming over all flamboyant dandy.I won't go in to much depth about the story,since im pretty sure you are all more familiar with the story more than I am.Lets just say its your standard alien invasion with added meteorites,but of course with any of the early Dr Who series,it was always how good the monster or aliens looked,well as a kid that was how I use to measure an episode any way.Well the Autons would of been pretty scary to the little me back then,and the scene where the showroom dummies in the windows of the shops coming alive and shooting everybody,would of given me nightmares that evening,even if they were all wearing dressing gowns. Caroline John's as the new assistant was just as irritating as any of the other assistants,me personally I would prefer the Dr to be a solo character,but hey who am I to argue.Apart from the Dr himself,my favourite character is Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier with just enough British stiff upper lip to make him a pretty likeable character.Overall a very entertaining story and a good start to the Pertwee years,My only gripe would be Ed Wood style octopus the Dr has to fight off towards the end,still Pertwee does a a fine job grappling with the tentacles and looking all boss eyed.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

American Horror Story: Asylum.

Episodes 4/5 I Am Anne Frank

Asylum, the second series of American Horror Story is a definite step up from it's first - Murder House. Set in a dark and grimy asylum in 1964, it's a whole lot edgier and dare i say it scarier.

The horror isn't from ghosts this time (It might be aliens though...time and more episodes will reveal all) it's from the barbaric practices of the asylums staff and inmates. I always find asylums and the idea that once in one of these places the staff can do pretty much anything they want to the inmates in the name of therapy (usually shock therapy) including rape and any amount of crude sexual practices to lobotomy's and other out of date torture procedures all in the name of therapy.

Briarcliff asylum is run by nun, Jessica Lange and surgeon in chief, James Cromwell and visited by a criminally insane psychiatrist, Zachary Quinto. Among the inmates are nymphomaniac, Chloë Sevigny (You don't want to know what happens to her at Cromwell's hands) and investigating reporter, Sarah Poulson.

This double header episode see's Franka Potente admitted to the asylum claiming she is Holocaust survivor Anne Frank. Soon she sees Cromwell and identifies him as a Nazi doctor who tortured people at Auschwitz. Cue grotesque aversion therapy techniques and character reveals i won't spoil here.

I wasn't over impressed with American Horror Story's first season but this second one is gripping and horrifying viewing.

[Inspector Abberline]

The Mind Of Evil.
Brain washing criminal's into rational well balanced people,by extracting there negative impulses that are sent to a box that stores them up,when the negative impulses are removed we have a normal lowly member of society,thus is the purpose of the Keller Machine. So its a good job that the Doctor and Katy Manning (Jo Grant) have arrived at Stangmoor Prison on behave of Unit to check up on Keller and his new gizmo.Mean while Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier ,is over seeing the first World Peace Conference,and is having trouble with the Chinese delegation,especially Pik-Sen Lim as Chin Lee..The story by Don Houghton has rather marvelous ideas,especially the machine that captures all the negative impulses,and like most of the best Who stories,its quite heavy going for what was principally seen as a kids show,if the brain washing was not enough to send the kids scurrying behind the sofa then the brain sucking machine creating havoc amongst the hardened criminals and killing anyone in close contact by showing them there worst fears,must of been a real high light for a Saturday early evening slot,as the family sat round the telly eating there early evening meal.Production wise the location of the Prison makes for a great setting,and Dover Castle in Kent certainly looks better than say the usual gravel quarry or sand pit,and even the interiors of the prison are not to bad looking,certainly as good as any episode of Porridge any way.We also have a wonderful piece of set decor in the shape of an actual missile launcher they managed to borrow from the navy,a rather menacing piece of hardware which would of been hard to replicate real size,although im sure the special effects department would of come up with some wonderful models im sure,but nothing beats the real thing does it. This is my first time seeing Roger Delgado as The Master,and I have to say he fits the role splendidly ,he never crosses over into pantomime villain,although he does come across more like a Bond villain at time,he manages a level of menace that is realistic without going OTT. Yet he also manages to be quite a charismatic character, and you do get the feeling that The Master and the Doctor have a past history which he uses to his advantage,especially at the very end of the show with his phone call.The other highlight was of course Katy Manning,easy on the eye but a good strong character at times.I thoroughly enjoyed this series,the acting was well above average and Delgado was excellent.

[Inspector Abberline]

Steptoe and Son Season 5 Episode 6
"T.B. or Not T.B.?"

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What resonates throughout the series of Steptoe and Son,is that the writers strives to look at issues that were effecting them at the time whether it was politics,religion or sex,In this case its tuberculosis,something close to the hearts or lungs of the writers as both Galton and Simpson both contracted the illness,and basically met because they in the same hospital together with the illness.So it comes as know surprise they would use this for one of there stories later on in life. TB also had a stigma attached to it,as it was seen as a disease that only poor people got,so it fit's in well with the whole class issue that also ran throughout the series. The story itself is fairly simple premise,Harold is going to have and xray at a local mobile center to have his lungs checked for tuberculosis,and suggests to Albert he might want to do the same,especially considering that he has smoked a cigarette the length of 45 miles and left dog ends about 5 miles long throughout his life,some good ,maths by Harold there. Of course Albert rejects the idea believing that ignorance is bliss and its better not to know any way. Of course whenever Harold suggests anything then Albert will automatically refuse point blank. Eventually Harold manages to convince Albert to go with him to the clinic,although not without some coercion and some scare tactics,mainly to do with wearing some clean underwear .When finally they get to the clinic and are greeted by the nurse on reception,there are couple of great gags as both Albert and Harold both try to pull the poor woman. Albert has great lines in this sequence of events as he basically humiliates Harold in front of the nurse.When the nurse asks whether Harold has been x-rayed before,Albert buts in and reminds Harold that he has when the horse accidentally kicked him in the cobblers ,and follows with x-ray of the gentiles ( a lovely bit of mixing your words up ) and that he is ok and can still have kids,of course this is all done to belittle Harold as Albert thinks that he can impress the nurse.Another great piece of dialogue comes after wards when Albert says he loves nurses because "there stone cold bonkers" ,where upon Harold replies "they would have to be, to go out with you" which is a great response from the now deflated Harold. Tb or not Tb is a marvellous episode,although the mix up with the results was a bit obvious to say the least,but there is some great scenes that both show how great the acting talents of Corbet and Brambell were,Wilfred Brambell shows some true emotion of grief when he thinks Harold might die,only to start squirting the room hoping to kill any germs Harold might of left.Harry H Corbet does some great faux illness as believes he is at deaths door. Again this is in black and white,not sure if it was filmed so or the dim heads at the BBC wiped the original colour copies.