Page Created: 09/25/10. Last Updated: 10/29/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 12/29/07.
BRITISH TELEVISION NIGHT
Torchwood: The Ghost Machine
Doctor Who: The Curse of the Fatal Death
The Omega Factor: The Undiscovered Country
Doctor Who: The Runaway Bride
MEETING SUMMARY:
Meeting Date: February 10, 2007.
Meeting Site: Saddle River Valley Cultural Center.
Official Attendance: 19.
Meeting Program: Viewing of Videos of U K Science Fiction Shows.
Notes:
Although we sometimes fill in for canceled guests with video programs, this event was conceived as a video event.
Meeting Memories:
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2007 Philip J De Parto
...The main program was a selection of rare British science fiction television shows....
First up was "The Ghost Machine," an episode of the BBC cable series, TORCHWOOD. TORCHWOOD is a spin off of DOCTOR WHO, and is the name of the extra-governmental agency responsible for investigating and neutralizing extra terrestrial and other unorthodox threats to the United Kingdom. Captain Jack Harkness, who appeared in a season one episode of DOCTOR WHO, is the head of what remains of the agency.
TORCHWOOD is in such dire straits because its headquarters was destroyed and most of its operatives killed during the Dalek/Cyberman War season two finale of DOCTOR WHO. Unlike its sister show, DOCTOR WHO, which is a BBC Broadcast series, TORCHWOOD is a BBC cable show. It is grim and sometimes graphic. Most members of the team have emotional scars of varying severity. One occasionally wonders how some of these people got their jobs.
Harkness' operation was originally set up to monitor and contain the BBC equivalent of a BUFFY Hell Mouth. While various sorts of aliens and alien technology spill out of the rift, some of the worst menaces are of the human variety.
"Ghost Machine" is one of the best episodes of the first season, both in the writing and in the acting. It successfully strikes a balance between Point of View character Gwen's home life and the job, her happy moments and her stressed ones, and sharing the spotlight with several members of the cast.
The second item on the program was an encore presentation of DOCTOR WHO: The Curse of the Fatal Death. We had shown this Comic Relief special about four years ago. The benefit starred Rowan Atkinson as The Doctor and Jonathan Pryce as The Master. Julia Sawalha, Johanna Lumley, Richard Grant, Hugh Grant and Jim Broadbent are also in the production.
The plot of the production is the Doctor's announcement that he plans to marry his latest companion (Swalha) and retire. The Master enlists the Daleks help to make sure that this will truly be the Doctor's last adventure. Delightfully silly.
The third program of the evening was "The Undiscovered Country," the first episode of a short lived BBC series, THE OMEGA FACTOR. OMEGA has an interesting history. The series was created by former DOCTOR WHO Associate Producer George Gallaccio and stared James Hazeldine as psychic journalist Tom Crane, Louise (Leela of DOCTOR WHO) Jameson as Dr Anne Reynolds, and John Carlisle as Dr Roy Martindale, head of Department 7, Britain's odd phenomena agency.
The show lasted only one season (ten episodes) in 1979 and was plagued by controversy due to its subject matter (objected to by traditional Christians) and time slot (objected to by sensitive parents). It was never rebroadcast, syndicated, or offered on VHS. It recently became available on DVD.
The show was slower paced and more atmospheric than the current crop of science fiction offerings. The hero had been writing a series of articles about psychics and discovers that Drexel, a psychic of ill repute, is not only alive but is the real deal. The scene where Crane is walking home and the street lights behind him start blink out one by one is chilling. Our hero is recruited into Department X after a Drexel-induced car crash kills his wife.
We pulled a rabbit out of the hat for the final feature. I did not advertise it in last month's newsletter because I wasn't sure if I would be able to obtain it in time for the meeting. The video was "The Runaway Bride," the season three opener of DOCTOR WHO.
As you may remember, season two of DOCTOR WHO ended with Rose Tyler trapped in a parallel universe and separated from the Doctor. He is alone in the Tardis when a young woman from Earth wearing a wedding dress materializes beside him and asks what is he (the Doctor) doing here?
The show was broadcast in England on Christmas Day last year and offers a couple of homages to "The Christmas Invasion" from the year before. The BBC was clearly trying to catch lightning in a bottle a second time, with mixed results. Among the highlights was a car chase involving the Tardis.