Remember when we did a watchalong a few years back? The difference is that rather than co-ordinate a set time we have a whole week to accommodate different time zones and schedules. Also I'm too lazy to work out the times necessary like @Higgins did.

So, from this Monday we have a week to watch DN in all it's glory then report back here in this thread before we move on to FRWL. If it turns out to be only CHB and me then so be it, but it'll be more fun if others pitch in.

WARNING - CONTENT NOTICE

The content of this comic strip contains very strong language not permitted in the ongoing threads of this site. It also contains themes that some readers may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised for those who may be easily offended. The content has been cleared for posting by the moderators.

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THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH - Deviation Five - Free Love - Part Two

The Department Of Truth continues next Thursday.

Today, The Man From UNCLE…

I will start with the Pan Book Of Horror Stories series, there were some lovely covers to these.

Here is my first wish:

Conan: Red Nails

Red Nails is one of the best and darkest of the classic Conan the Barbarian stories. It's a mix of epic fantasy and the dark occult.

Director: Robert Eggers (The witch, the Northman)

Conan: Jason Momoa (it wasn't his fault the 2011 film wasn't that good)

Olmec: Javier Bardem

Valderia: Krista Kosonen (Beforeigners, Bladerunner 2049)

Tascela: Renate Reinsve (Sentimental value, Backrooms) There may be a theme of tall Nordic actresses here ...

Pretty girls, action scenes, horror, sci-fi and noir are some examples of the genre’s that are included in the terminology of pulp art. Below is an example of what will be posted.

Some of the pictures you will recognise from book covers, magazine covers and movie posters, but before the typography is added. Others may be rejected artwork or legitimate paintings of a movie scene etc. etc.

I will add more pictures as regularly as possible.

IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED PLEASE DO NOT CONTINUE VIEWING THIS THREAD

Whether you are a fan or not, feel free to contribute to the thread. I will be posting some reviews and thoughts as I watch or read, but not in any specific order or to any timeframe…

When I was a teenager, I avidly read Alistair MacLean, borrowing books from the library and purchasing others when I could afford to. I never had a complete set as I stopped collecting in 1983. I didn’t read a single one of his novels ever again after that, except for the occasional dip into my favourite, Caravan to Vaccares. Until recently…

In 2019 I was browsing my local British Heart Foundation and they had four of MacLean’s novels on sale at £2 apiece, the Harper reissues from 2009. My original MacLean collection was mostly the vividly enticing Fontana paperbacks from the late seventies, but I gave them away to a charity shop – yes, even Vaccares – a couple of decades ago. It suddenly felt as if a higher literary and charitable power was telling me something. A fire was ignited. I bought the four novels and read them all in rapid succession. The question for me now was whether I wanted to restart a dormant obsession. I think, after four more years, the time is about right…

MacLean is easily researched on Wiki and various other websites, so I don’t see the need to bore you with a resume of his life, career and work. However, I will start the ball rolling with a brief summary, as I perceive it, of his literary canon:

Alistair MacLean (1922 – 1987)

Along with many commentators, I consider the MacLean writing oeuvre falls into five distinct acts:

Act 1: Early Success: 1955 – 1959: MacLean releases his first five novels to great acclaim. They are excellently plotted, well prosed and eminently readable.

Act 2: A Period of Doubt: 1960 -1963: Maclean believes people are only buying his novels because of his burgeoning reputation. These misgivings increase after the success of the film The Guns of Navarone. He publishes under a pseudonym in an attempt to prove himself. Eventually, despite continued success, he takes a sabbatical.

Act 3: International Period: 1966 – 1971: MacLean returns with six highly successful novels and a string of movie adaptations which make his fortune.

Act 4: Treading Water: 1973 – 1978: Returning from another sabbatical, MacLean seems to lower his interest in the novels, preferring to follow his lucrative movie projects. His books become less well-structured and appear formulaic.

Act 5: Decline: 1980 – 1986: A series of tepid novels bring Maclean’s career to a close while the movie adaptations dry up. He still sells books by the million but the reservations about his talent during the early sixties seem to have become a self-fulfilling prophesy by the early eighties.

I have still not read all of MacLean’s novels, but of the ones I have, if I needed to pick winners from each of these acts, I would nominate:

1: The Last Frontier

2: Fear is the Key

3: Caravan to Vaccares

4: Breakheart Pass

5: River of Death

which is not your usual list, missing many established favourites.

From the movie adaptations [there are fifteen – 14 for the cinema and 1 for television] of the ones I have seen, I would suggest the following three titles [in release date order] perhaps best interpret MacLean’s work for the screen:

The Guns of Navarone

Where Eagles Dare

When Eight Bells Toll

So, guys, over to you…  

Some not so lovely film tie in covers to tide us over. The second one of Vaccares is there because it is one of my favourite hardback covers of all time - along with my avatar, of course.

In memory of the late Ozzy I am going to start the thread with his crazy interview on the TV programme Night Flight in 1982. I have posted two versions of it below. The opening part of the interview is particularly hilarious where Ozzy seems to be somewhat "under the weather":  

Another crazy interview that immediately comes to mind is the following one with the singer James Brown on CNN on 4th April 1988 where Brown seemed to be under the influence of drugs and ended up adeptly getting most of his song titles worked into his answers. There are so many great lines in here and I think the interviewer did particularly well despite the adverse conditions she faced:

I will share more crazy interviews in time but in the meantime please feel free to pitch in videos with your own favourite crazy interviews and why you love them! 

You can access it here: https://department-m.agency/map/

I wanted to build the ultimate geographical dossier for 007 fans. Right now, the map includes:

• Cinematic Locations: The exact filming spots across the 60-year history of the franchise. You can browse the locations by Bond actor era or specific film.
• Literary Locations: Real-world locations used by Fleming in his original novels (like the actual Sotheby’s from The Property of a Lady or the specific casino inspirations for Casino Royale).
• The Lifestyle Archive: Pins for tailoring (Anthony Sinclair, Turnbull & Asser, etc.), gear, and historically significant spots for the franchise. You can easily see where each brand is located in case you are planning a new trip to a place like London.
• Community: I’ve also started mapping out global Bond fan clubs, content creators and podcasts.
• Historical timeline: Where Bond has been according to the films (sometimes actual filming location and the location in the film’s story differ).
• Noteworthy Events for Bond fans: The map scans and updates on regular basis events that would be interesting for us Bond fans like concerts, gatheralls, location tours by Martjin Mulder, cinemas showcasing classic Bond movies etc. You can save an event or all the listed events easily to your calendar.
• Bucketlist items for Bond fans: evolving list of Bondian experiences (open to your suggestions).
• Dossier: You can create your own personal list of favorites from all these categories.
• And couple other features…

I would truly appreciate your feedback, comments, and ideas based on your first impressions.

Final note: This is entirely a fan tribute project, and I intend to keep it free (no need to create an account or deal with other modern digital annoyances). The feature set and stored data will grow over the coming years based on your feedback. I hope you might even discover new trivia, locations, or interesting content creators from the map like I did when developing it to this stage.

Thank you in advance for the feedback, comments and ideas.

P.S. There might be a hidden feature for Fleming fans if you zoom in enough on the map…

As a youngster I collected almost every Target paperback released up to 1984, I read the comic, avidly watched the show, especially the repeats of older episodes, as these came around so rarely in the days before video. Now there is an enormous fan industry built up around Dr Who. I’m not cynical about it; it was always there; it simply feels more pious these days.

So, I wouldn’t ever call myself a Dr Who fan or an expert – ‘interested observer’ perhaps? – and I won’t have anything to do with the reboot. I enjoyed Christopher Eccleston’s opening series, but quickly lost interest. In my opinion, the show is seriously compromised by the fifty-minute format and cramming about a half-dozen companions into the TARDIS – at least that’s what it looks like to me. [I should clarify this by saying I stopped watching after Eccleston, so it’s only an impression.]

There are, I expect, good reasons for this (export sales primarily, transmission slots secondary) but there was something quaintly familiarly comforting about tuning in every weekend for a half-hour dose of dodgy sci-fi. I enjoyed the cliff-hangers and the tension and it was easy to identify with one or two main characters. As I became an older teenager, the episode structure was used as an excuse to not watch a story if I thought it started badly. This happened a lot after Peter Davison’s tenure.

I hold the Classic Series with much affection. It was part of my growing up. It had the same impact on me as James Bond. I used to discuss it as school with my mates: “Did you see… How about… What if...” You know the kind of thing. It was still seen by most people, even my peers, primarily as a kids show and I watched less and less in the eighties. I also got a Saturday job and wasn’t at home when it aired. I think the pub came into it too at some point. I never forgot the show, mind, so when I realised I could watch old episodes in clandestine isolation – just me, a bottle of wine and some cheese – and watch them all the way through, breaks for coffee and the toilet excepted, it felt like a return to a youth once passed. I particularly enjoyed all the extras provided on the DVDs.

Dr Who made a come-back in 2005 and I was just about through my re-watch by then. A new James Bond was on the horizon. I’d just started to write poetry and short stories. It was around this time I joined AJB and jubilantly reignited another affection.

But, in the continued extended absence of Bond, and after akashicseer’s thread and now wishing I’d thought of this at the start of Covid – all that wasted lockdown time! – I’ve started to watch Dr Who on line, including all the ‘lost’ episodes reimagined by stitching together production stills or devising shuffling animation. This perhaps is the real delight as not only am I watching the classics I could never see as a child, but I’m watching stories believed ‘lost’ from the BBC archives. Reproducing these episodes is due to sterling work by animation companies both employed by the BBC, like Cosgrove, or unofficial fan content, like Loose Cannon. There is also a huge debt to the conscientious early fans who recorded the transmissions at home on reel-to-reel audio tape. 

I am seriously enjoying this Classic Series once more!

NOTE: This topic isn’t an appreciation thread. Anyone can get enough of that on the specialised sites. I’ll just be putting out my extended thoughts about the series, season by season, story by story, and if anyone wants to chip in with a bit of banter, all well and good. It will be a long thread, 26 years worth of episodes, but I understand there is some secret love for Classic Who on AJB. I will, of course, point out anything which reminds me of James Bond.

So, I bring you Chrisno1’s Retrospective of Classic Dr Who…    

NOTICE:

1. I obviously want members to contribute to the thread. Although I would prefer that comments be specific to the serials I have already reviewed, I do appreciate this may sometimes be difficult. Some discussion of future stories is fine as long as it's relevant. I'm trying not to venture too far ahead in my own comparisons as I write the reviews, so a similar discretion would be appreciated. Let's remember this is NOT a general Dr Who APPRECIATION THREAD - as I stated above this is a REVIEW THREAD.
2. I would also prefer that COMMENTS are COMMENTS, not REVIEWS. I know that's harsh, but the title does state whose reviews are meant to be on here: mine !!! Of course, good analysis of a story I've reviewed - or analysis of my review - is perfectly acceptable.
3. SPOILERS WILL OCCASIONALLY ABOUND.

Excited to join this community. I've been a Bond fan since Roger Moore but Pierce Brosnan is my favorite Bond.

I'd like to share my 1st secret mission video which is on YouTube, of an original spy character, Neon SpyGirl, and her robot morphing penguin sidekick, and their secret missions that I've brought to life using AI tools including Kling and LTX

I thought and hope some of you might enjoy these videos since they are in the same genre as 007.

I have created 3 videos so far of different missions and here is the 1st one.

▶️ Watch Neon SpyGirl in "Mission: Shadows in the Ice"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MyB1KjCgQc

Would love to get any feedback and happy to discuss the creative journey.

Goldfinger:

Sean Connery (or Kermit) as James Bond

Miss Piggy as Piggy Galore

Bunsen Honeydew as Goldfinger (This isn't colourblind casting!)

Sam the Eagle as Leiter

Statler as M

Waldorf as Q

Animal as Oddjob

Janice (the singer) in a double role as the Masterson girls.

Go on - cast!

• Wolves light fires to keep Monsen away.
• Monsen can start a fire with just his hands. Even in the rain.
• The Americans used Lars Monsen to check the accuracy when they made the GPS system.
• The monsoon season is named after Lars Monsen.
• Monsen chops wood with his hands.
• Lars Monsen doesn't bring huskies on expeditions to pull the sled. The dogs are just food.
• Monsen only dances with wolves.
• Nobody knows why Lars Monsen carries a knife.
• At the end of special forces survival week Lars Monsen weighed 14 pounds more than when it started.
• Rivers and lakes freeze over in the winter to protect the fish from Lars Monsen.
• Everyone can piss against the wind, but only Monsen doesn't get wet.
• Lars Monsen never gets cold feet.
• Only Lars Monsen can catch cod and dolphins in lakes.
• If you knock on the inside of the cabin door, Lars Monsen opens from the outside. The outdoors is Lars Monsen's home.

Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning

Sentimental value

I have a few candidates, but it's hard to decide what others think is weird/unusual or strange:

- Vulcanic stone from Iceland

- A Gurka knife (bought in Katmandu by a friend)

- A workbench my great grandfather got as payment for helping out rebuilding the town of Ålesund after the fire in 1904.

- An enormous (about six feet tall) firewood stove bought in 1910.

What weird items do you have in your house?

Any thoughts?