Out of the Unknown Mini-Reviews (Disc 1)
Okay, my thoughts on Out of the Unknown, because, hey, despite my embarrassment at my lack of science education and unfortunate introductions to anthologies I once read, I've decided that I am still allowed to like and have opinions on science fiction. However, it's mid-century stuff, so this probably barely counts as a rebellion, but given that I simply can't read things like this at the moment, it's lovely to have even this I can watch.
And let's just say - can you imagine any TV station now deciding to put out an anthology of serious SF plays based on current SF stories and novels? But back in the 60s, Irene Shubik thought it'd be cool and so did Sydney Newman, so here we have another series by Sydney Newman and a female producer that unfortunately got partly burninated by people.
Here goes - some brief reactions to the remaining episodes, without being spoilery! (Possibly a pointless exercise, but here goes!)
No Place Like Earth
From a John Wyndham story (with Terence Morgan, Jessica Dunning, Hannah Gordon, Joseph O'Conor and George Pastell. Geoffrey Palmer makes a brief appearance.)
Apparently Irene Shubik, the producer felt this one hadn't gone well for various reasons and didn't want to open with it, but Sydney Newman insisted because it was the only one of the options available by a big name. I'd have to agree with the producer on its being the weakest installment so far. It's watchable and some of the dialogue is thoughtful and a little poetic in places and there are some interesting ideas at the bottom of it, but otherwise... it's very flawed mid-century SF/TV.
Apocalyptic rating: 4 out of 5 (well, maybe 4 1/2 for so thoroughly destroying the Earth - it split in half and disintegrated, the hero tells us. Nobody knows why).
Women in Space: Don't ask. Just don't ask. /o\ (Somebody - presumably John Wyndham - had obviously thought about the future being multicultural, even if the BBC couldn't keep up - but heaven forbid that women should get into space in the far future, except for breeding. The main Martian woman is a nice part, though, but I think any small credit for that goes to the production and the actor and not the original story. Also, thanks to Survivors, when they were giving the numbers of surviving humans, I was going, "well, actually, that's not enough to breed from according to Charles. The humans are all doomed anyway!" And serve them right, too, this would seem to feel. It's hard not to agree.)
The Counterfeit Man
From a story by Alan E Nourse (with Alex Davion, David Hemmings, Charles Tingwell and Keith Buckley).
Pretty cliched SF doppelganger story, but as a TV dramatisation it works as a psychological drama/exercise in paranoia in a confined space, which is something 1960s BBC can do very well when it tries. There's also some really nice direction and use of the spaceship set, plus David Hemmings is particularly good (and, hi, Keith Buckley from Level 7, who is pretty cute). I'm not even going to ask why everyone had their hair died blond; it did make it hard to differentiate some of the characters sometimes. I presume the original work has the answer, but I'm not sure I want to know.
Apocalyptic rating: 2 1/2 out of 5, or 3 out of 5?
Women in Space: ha ha ha ha. Don't even expect them to be able to support themselves back on earth without their man. The future is male. And disturbingly white and blond. I dunno.
But it does work as a weird, psychological 60s thing, definitely.
Stranger in the Family
Original script by David Campton (with Richard O'Callaghan, Justine Lord, ERic Lander, Peter Copley, Daphne Slater, John Paul and Jack May).
This is pretty well done, with some nice location filming, and it's contemporary-set, but even though I like Richard O'Callaghan and this has some good bits, I think the overall concept is very similar to all those Damned films (children/young people with weird abilities who wind up killing people, and people try to shut them up and it doesn't go well), so I felt it dragged a little. But that was probably unfair of me. It had Richard O'Callaghan, bonus Sinister Jack May and that guy who's been in everything old I've watched in the last few months. (No, not James Maxwell. Peter Copley. *points to pic*.) And some bits were very well done. But I'm all Damned out, okay, 1960s!
Apocalyptic scale: 0.5 out of 5 (for mentions of needing children with weird abilities to survive etc. again.) but otherwise not even a small apocalypse, even if several people don't make it to the end.
Women in Space: it's 1960s Britain, so nobody gets any further than the top of a block of flats.
The Dead Past
From a short story by Isaac Asimov (with George Benson, James Maxwell, David Langton, Sylvia Coleridge, Willoughby Goddard and Shirley Cain).
I loved this. How much of that is due to presence of James Maxwell, I don't know. However, it was a very well done, efficient and effective adaptation of the short story, the small cast were good and the characters believable with interesting interactions between them. The set design and costumes were great and complemented the whole concept, and the direction was good. Nothing was wasted or throwaway; it all tied into the story or the themes or concept or characters in some way. (It's the sort of thing I like anyway, as a 1960s play - contained cast, neat script, interesting if dated ideas and character interaction you could definitely run with in fic.)
I'll do a more detailed and babbly post some time, because I have lots more to say that would be spoilery and also I have many, many screencaps of important things, like James Maxwell. And the set and costumes, too. And other people.
Apocalyptic rating: 2 out of 5 (I reckon society may have a serious tremor, but it'll adjust and hopefully be slightly less repressive afterwards), although I think at least a 3 out of 5 for the impact as presented here.
Women in Space: nobody's in space anyway, but apparently either Mr Asimov or the adapter couldn't imagine that any academics might be female, something I wouldn't have thought actually needed imagination.
(I'm not saying this anthology is especially sexist for the times, I should add - I don't think it is, & I'm hopeful for yet more women later, and maybe some of them will even be allowed on spaceships! But male imaginings of the future that are actually backwards compared to the times are making me raise my eyebrows a lot here. I think you notice it more on screen, because, HEY, do we never get to go into space except as breeding stock?? That is just no fun at all, thanks. Of course, many of the stories may have been written years before this, but I'm suddenly feeling super-appreciative of early Doctor Who just casually having a female astronaut in The Sensorites at least a year before any of this was broadcast.)
And onto disc 2! (Pics here taken from the stills gallery, because I'm too lazy to screencap things that don't have James Maxwell in them.)
Crossposted from Dreamwidth -- Comments there:
And let's just say - can you imagine any TV station now deciding to put out an anthology of serious SF plays based on current SF stories and novels? But back in the 60s, Irene Shubik thought it'd be cool and so did Sydney Newman, so here we have another series by Sydney Newman and a female producer that unfortunately got partly burninated by people.
Here goes - some brief reactions to the remaining episodes, without being spoilery! (Possibly a pointless exercise, but here goes!)
No Place Like Earth
From a John Wyndham story (with Terence Morgan, Jessica Dunning, Hannah Gordon, Joseph O'Conor and George Pastell. Geoffrey Palmer makes a brief appearance.)
Apparently Irene Shubik, the producer felt this one hadn't gone well for various reasons and didn't want to open with it, but Sydney Newman insisted because it was the only one of the options available by a big name. I'd have to agree with the producer on its being the weakest installment so far. It's watchable and some of the dialogue is thoughtful and a little poetic in places and there are some interesting ideas at the bottom of it, but otherwise... it's very flawed mid-century SF/TV.
Apocalyptic rating: 4 out of 5 (well, maybe 4 1/2 for so thoroughly destroying the Earth - it split in half and disintegrated, the hero tells us. Nobody knows why).
Women in Space: Don't ask. Just don't ask. /o\ (Somebody - presumably John Wyndham - had obviously thought about the future being multicultural, even if the BBC couldn't keep up - but heaven forbid that women should get into space in the far future, except for breeding. The main Martian woman is a nice part, though, but I think any small credit for that goes to the production and the actor and not the original story. Also, thanks to Survivors, when they were giving the numbers of surviving humans, I was going, "well, actually, that's not enough to breed from according to Charles. The humans are all doomed anyway!" And serve them right, too, this would seem to feel. It's hard not to agree.)
The Counterfeit Man
From a story by Alan E Nourse (with Alex Davion, David Hemmings, Charles Tingwell and Keith Buckley).
Pretty cliched SF doppelganger story, but as a TV dramatisation it works as a psychological drama/exercise in paranoia in a confined space, which is something 1960s BBC can do very well when it tries. There's also some really nice direction and use of the spaceship set, plus David Hemmings is particularly good (and, hi, Keith Buckley from Level 7, who is pretty cute). I'm not even going to ask why everyone had their hair died blond; it did make it hard to differentiate some of the characters sometimes. I presume the original work has the answer, but I'm not sure I want to know.
Apocalyptic rating: 2 1/2 out of 5, or 3 out of 5?
Women in Space: ha ha ha ha. Don't even expect them to be able to support themselves back on earth without their man. The future is male. And disturbingly white and blond. I dunno.
But it does work as a weird, psychological 60s thing, definitely.
Stranger in the Family
Original script by David Campton (with Richard O'Callaghan, Justine Lord, ERic Lander, Peter Copley, Daphne Slater, John Paul and Jack May).
This is pretty well done, with some nice location filming, and it's contemporary-set, but even though I like Richard O'Callaghan and this has some good bits, I think the overall concept is very similar to all those Damned films (children/young people with weird abilities who wind up killing people, and people try to shut them up and it doesn't go well), so I felt it dragged a little. But that was probably unfair of me. It had Richard O'Callaghan, bonus Sinister Jack May and that guy who's been in everything old I've watched in the last few months. (No, not James Maxwell. Peter Copley. *points to pic*.) And some bits were very well done. But I'm all Damned out, okay, 1960s!
Apocalyptic scale: 0.5 out of 5 (for mentions of needing children with weird abilities to survive etc. again.) but otherwise not even a small apocalypse, even if several people don't make it to the end.
Women in Space: it's 1960s Britain, so nobody gets any further than the top of a block of flats.
The Dead Past
From a short story by Isaac Asimov (with George Benson, James Maxwell, David Langton, Sylvia Coleridge, Willoughby Goddard and Shirley Cain).
I loved this. How much of that is due to presence of James Maxwell, I don't know. However, it was a very well done, efficient and effective adaptation of the short story, the small cast were good and the characters believable with interesting interactions between them. The set design and costumes were great and complemented the whole concept, and the direction was good. Nothing was wasted or throwaway; it all tied into the story or the themes or concept or characters in some way. (It's the sort of thing I like anyway, as a 1960s play - contained cast, neat script, interesting if dated ideas and character interaction you could definitely run with in fic.)
I'll do a more detailed and babbly post some time, because I have lots more to say that would be spoilery and also I have many, many screencaps of important things, like James Maxwell. And the set and costumes, too. And other people.
Apocalyptic rating: 2 out of 5 (I reckon society may have a serious tremor, but it'll adjust and hopefully be slightly less repressive afterwards), although I think at least a 3 out of 5 for the impact as presented here.
Women in Space: nobody's in space anyway, but apparently either Mr Asimov or the adapter couldn't imagine that any academics might be female, something I wouldn't have thought actually needed imagination.
(I'm not saying this anthology is especially sexist for the times, I should add - I don't think it is, & I'm hopeful for yet more women later, and maybe some of them will even be allowed on spaceships! But male imaginings of the future that are actually backwards compared to the times are making me raise my eyebrows a lot here. I think you notice it more on screen, because, HEY, do we never get to go into space except as breeding stock?? That is just no fun at all, thanks. Of course, many of the stories may have been written years before this, but I'm suddenly feeling super-appreciative of early Doctor Who just casually having a female astronaut in The Sensorites at least a year before any of this was broadcast.)
And onto disc 2! (Pics here taken from the stills gallery, because I'm too lazy to screencap things that don't have James Maxwell in them.)
Crossposted from Dreamwidth -- Comments there: