tv movie

Review: Doctor Who – Peladon

Posted on by indiemacuser

Review by Jacob Licklider

The 1963-1989 run of Doctor Who is fascinating in the fact that in the 160 serials (including The TV Movie in 1996), there are few stories that are direct sequels to previous stories, much less sequels within the same production team. Generally the closest you would get are stories like Attack of the Cybermen doing a sequel to The Tenth Planet and Attack of the Cybermen over a decade after the prequel’s release or Snakedance to Kinda and Mindwarp to Vengeance on Varos essentially being extensions of the themes of the previous story, but doing its own thing. The Curse of Peladon and The Monster of Peladon are an oddity as they both share the same setting, several of the characters, and feel like a natural extension of the same story. Peladon being the setting of both is a big factor in why the two stories feel so connected, the sets are the same and it feels like the planet is evolving and changing. The Curse of Peladon aired as the second story from Season 9 beginning at the end of January 1972, so as it is the 50th anniversary of Episode One while I am writing this, Big Finish Productions are celebrating with Peladon, a four story box set revisiting the planet throughout its history as well as continue the spirit of Peladon stories in reflecting the politics of the real world using allegory for a stark contrast of the good and bad of today’s world.

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Interview: Daphne Ashbrook

Posted on by indiemacuser

Written by Lewis Mainwaring

Daphne Ashbrook is known for both her comic timing and deeply complex emotional portrayals on both the big and small screen. One of her best known roles (and my personal favourite) is that of Dr Grace Holloway in the Doctor Who TV Movie (1996). We recently caught up with her for an interview about her life both on and off screen.

IMG_0093-794x800“I love, love, love getting lost in a character’s reality. Quite fun leaving my own boring life at the door. Ha!”

 

 

 

 

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Horror ‘B’ Movies – Bats (1999)

Posted on by indiemacuser

In the run up to Halloween this year; I’m looking at some horror ‘B’ movies that are watched mostly for the sheer comic value of the laughable story, production & performances. Horror is a genre which continues to deliver this type of film in spades.
These films have picked up a cult following over the years however.

Bats (1999)
IMDb 3.6/10 – Rotten Tomatoes 17% – Budget £6.5 Million / Opening $4.7 Millionbatslc1bats
The eponymous ‘batastrophe‘ from director Louis Morneau is a comedy of errors right from the start; but not intentionally so. It also deserves some kind of award for the number of times the characters say the name of the film. The ludicrous plot borrows heavily from many stereotypes of the small town horror/disaster genre and the result is only worth watching for the comic value.  It did manage to spawn a TV movie sequel ‘Bats: Human Harvest (2007)‘ for the SyFy channel. The bats here are a poor patchwork of CGI, animatronics and real bats. Continue reading →