A four part serial originally broadcast by the BBC in September, 1976 and now available on DVD, "The Masque of Mandragora" finds the Doctor (Tom Baker) and his companion Sarah Jane (Elisabeth Sladen) facing both sinister court intrigue and an attempted invasion from a malevolent form of intelligent energy in 15th century Italy.
From 1973, "The Three Doctors" was intended to celebrate the (at the time) tenth anniversary of the Doctor Who series. The four part serial managed to pair up the then-current Doctor, Jon Pertwee, with the two previous actors associated with the role: William Harnell who played the role from the show's beginning in 1963, and Patrick Troughton, who succeeded Hartnell in 1966 (and who in turn was replaced by Pertwee in 1970).
From 1977, "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" finds the Doctor (Tom Baker, the fourth actor to play the character in the series) and companion Leela (Louise Jameson) time-travelling via the TARDIS to Victorian London. Originally there to take in some theatre, our protagonists quickly run into trouble...
Given that there's been a TARDIS depicted in this blog's header since I began posting entries, I'm finally getting around to watching the various Doctor Who DVD sets we carry in the library. Up first for review is the four part serial "Day of the Daleks" from 1972, starring Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor.
Sorry to report that British television and film producer/director Gerry Anderson passed away on December 26th at the age of 83. (Click here for details.)
Before I finish up my account on Saturday at the NY Comic Con, I just want to point out that despite my less-than-enthusiastic take on the DC Comics panel (see last post), the kids & fans who attended really enjoyed it. They clapped and whooped it up when hearing about what was coming up for their favorite heroes, and the DC staffers who were at the panel were clearly proud of their efforts. Maybe the "New 52" will be successful. But it's just not my tea.
Anyway, after that panel, I attended the one given by Hermes Press on the upcoming Dark Shadows movie. Based on the 1966-71 TV series that I'd run home from school to watch every afternoon (and which the library carries on DVD), Dark Shadows is now being turned into a big-budgeted motion picture due out next year directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp. Hermes Press is currently reprinting the 1968-1976 comic book series, plus a new novel by DS regular Kathryn Leigh Scott, who appeared with fellow cast member Lara Parker (the latter on Skype) to reveal as much as they could about the new film. (Among other things, both ladies and fellow original cast members Jonathan Frid and David Selby will be making cameos in the new film, and that a restored "Director's Cut" of the 1971 spin off film Night of Dark Shadows -with Parker, Selby and Kate Jackson, directed by series creator Dan Curtis- will be released on DVD six months after the new film's release!)
The crowds got bigger and bigger and so did the lines. I had to skip this panel on military science fiction simply because I felt the walls closing in and went home. In my next post, I'll cover the last day of the Con.
Today's mystery readers (or at least the ones under 35) probably have heard of, but haven't read, any of the forty-plus novels and short stories starring the fictional mystery writer and detective Ellery Queen. But from the character's debut in 1929 (in The Roman Hat Mystery, credited to "Ellery Queen" but actually written by EQ creators/cousins Frederic Dannay & Manfred B. Lee), Ellery quickly became popular right into the 70s.
Way back when, I had talked about the 1960-62 anthology TV series Thriller, hosted by the great Boris Karloff. (Read my post on it here.) At the time I expressed my hope that the series would be someday released on DVD. Well guess what? Thriller is now available as a 14 -disc set with lots of extras like audio commentaries, separate music tracks by composers Jerry Goldsmith and Morton Stevens, and original promos not seen in nearly fifty years! And the library carries it! (Click here to reserve it.)
My thanks to everyone who attended last night's showing of Get Smart. After all these years, it's nice to know that the adventures of Maxwell Smart (Don Adams, who was never funnier) still resonate with audiences after over forty years!
On Thursday night, April 16th, at 7:30 pm, in the second floor Meeting Room, Greenwich Library's Classic and Cult Television will show the original "pilot" episode of Get Smart.
