Tom Tellam
Member
I\'m Walking Backwards to Xmas...
Posts: 34
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Post by Tom Tellam on Dec 22, 2009 12:16:51 GMT
Just bought and watched the DVD set of this incomplete series. It certainly has a charm all its own. Its a tragedy we can't enjoy every episode.
A lot has been made about Harper's character being a pre-cursor to Pertwee's Doctor but I found him at least physically very much like the current actor David Tennant. Or is that just me?
Its certainly a lot more than just a poor man's Avengers!
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Post by Alan Turrell on Dec 22, 2009 16:32:22 GMT
One of my all time favourite 60s shows i watched some of them when they were originally on tv in 66 and 67 i also have the dvd set of what shows survive plus the scripts to the missing episodes .I enjoyed the interview with Gerald Harper and Juliet Harmer i think they genuinely enjoyed making the show it was interesting going back to different landmarks from the series to see how things have changed from the 60s to the present day.My personel favourite episode is "SING A SONG OF MURDER" like you Tom when i first saw David Tennant as the doctor he really reminded me of Adam Adamant the way he looked and the way he played the part a great series i hope they can find more missing episodes some day.In fact im gonna watch them all again soon.
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Tom Tellam
Member
I\'m Walking Backwards to Xmas...
Posts: 34
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Post by Tom Tellam on Dec 24, 2009 5:58:34 GMT
Alan, I'm glad its not just me who sees the Harper/Tennant physical link. Maybe Harper would have made a good who if they had thought of casting a younger man in the 70's until waiting until the 1980s. If they get any younger than Matt Smith the Doctor will be wearing a school uniform!
While clearly proud of it (and rightly so) I found it interesting that both she and Newman appeared to regard it as a failure. Its an astounding brilliant concept though and there are flashes of brilliance. The scene when Adam first encounters the later 20th Century was very effective.
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Post by adriane17 on Dec 28, 2009 16:09:22 GMT
Adam Adamant Lives! is one of my all time favourite shows. The first season was the strongest (IMHO) but certainly the largely missing second series still holds memories for me - I remember the opening to the long gone Death Begins At Seventy with the guy in the wheelchair being pushed down the stairs by a "nurse". As eight to eleven year old children we used to scare ourselves witless by pulling a curtain over our faces, shining a torch upwards and hissing "I AM THE FACE"...
The formula became a little tired I suppose but it is certainly something that might work if revived today. If you put Adam Adamant and Jason King together then you get a pretty good approximation of Austin Powers of course...
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Post by davemachin on Dec 29, 2009 14:55:03 GMT
I watched AAL on it's first broadcast in 1966 and the first episode is still a classic of it's kind. I bought the dvd set when it came out although I found some of the episodes that followed on from the first to have dated badly. Quite sad and it is rare for me to buy a dvd of a vintage series and be disappointed by it. This is one of those though, which is unfortunate as I was excited to see it released. Still some good episodes in there though.
Dave
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Post by Stephen Doran on Dec 29, 2009 17:24:07 GMT
I watched a few episodes again after about 18 months and agree that episode is a good one also good to hear Hideaway by Dave Dee,Dozy,Beaky,Mick/Tich in the background too. One of my all time favourite 60s shows i watched some of them when they were originally on tv in 66 and 67 i also have the dvd set of what shows survive plus the scripts to the missing episodes .I enjoyed the interview with Gerald Harper and Juliet Harmer i think they genuinely enjoyed making the show it was interesting going back to different landmarks from the series to see how things have changed from the 60s to the present day.My personel favourite episode is "SING A SONG OF MURDER" like you Tom when i first saw David Tennant as the doctor he really reminded me of Adam Adamant the way he looked and the way he played the part a great series i hope they can find more missing episodes some day.In fact im gonna watch them all again soon.
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Post by Alan Turrell on Dec 29, 2009 20:56:24 GMT
The "SING A SONG OF MURDER" episode had the song "THIS IS THE MOMENT"by The News which was released on decca i have a copy of this along with the really good b side which is also on the dvd called "ya ya da da" both tracks written by Chris Andrews
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Post by adriane17 on Dec 30, 2009 9:01:32 GMT
Yes-This Is The Moment/Ya Ya Da Da was a good single. The B side was also recorded by another 60s icon Sandie Shaw as Chris Andrews was her songwriter.
As others have said the first episode is a classic. The one I'd like to see Ticket To Terror set on the Underground is sadly missing from what is otherwise an almost complete first season. Interesting that D For Destruction (guest starring Pat Troughton) turned up when the four episodes of The Ice Warriors were found.
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Post by Stephen Doran on Dec 30, 2009 10:09:34 GMT
Ticket To Terror sounds good im a great fan of the underground in films and tv has anyone here seen it when it was 1st on ?Im wondering now was the Department S episode Last Train To Redbridge a remake of the Adam Adamant episode?
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Post by Andrew Martin on Jan 3, 2010 10:57:08 GMT
Interesting that D For Destruction (guest starring Pat Troughton) turned up when the four episodes of The Ice Warriors were found. That's not the case - the Ice Warriors episodes turned up during the clearout of part of Villiers House in Ealing in 1988. D for Destruction was always in the archive since it was handed over by BBC Enterprises along with a batch of 16mm duping prints of the series, it was however mis-identified because the original label had the title of another AAL episode and so it was not recognised until a few years ago that the BBC held the episode - but it was completely unrelated to the Ice Warriors find.
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Post by adriane17 on Jan 3, 2010 15:53:32 GMT
Thanks - I had read that but I stand corrected!
Incidentally I recall watching a version of A Vintage Year For Scoundrels which lacked incidental music (and possibly some dialogue?) many years ago - which made for a very surreal ballroom scene early on. Presumably this still exists or I wouldn't have seen it but is there anything else such as an "Australian censors' reel) as with the odd Doctor Who clip?
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Post by Nick Cooper on Feb 1, 2010 15:24:35 GMT
The one I'd like to see Ticket To Terror set on the Underground is sadly missing from what is otherwise an almost complete first season. Technically it's not the "Underground" as it's set on the Waterloo & City line, which was run by British Rail at the time!
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Post by Nick Cooper on Feb 1, 2010 15:38:01 GMT
Incidentally I recall watching a version of A Vintage Year For Scoundrels which lacked incidental music (and possibly some dialogue?) many years ago - which made for a very surreal ballroom scene early on. Presumably this still exists or I wouldn't have seen it but is there anything else such as an "Australian censors' reel) as with the odd Doctor Who clip? A number of episodes in this form circulated amongst fans in the late-1980s/ealry-1990s. With the exception of Ticket to Terror, all the first season episodes were produced as telerecordings, rather than on video tape, as they required more editing than tape would usually stand. One byproduct was that the music and sound effects were post-mixed on a separate magnetic ("sep-mag") soundtrack, whilst the film recordings retained the original optical soundtrack. It was the latter that many illicit copies mistakenly used, rather than the sep-mag.
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Post by adriane17 on Feb 1, 2010 19:04:54 GMT
Is that the reason Ticket To Terror is the only first season episode missing? That season has a very high survival rate - 12 out of 13.
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Post by Nick Cooper on Feb 2, 2010 12:52:06 GMT
Is that the reason Ticket To Terror is the only first season episode missing? That season has a very high survival rate - 12 out of 13. 15 out of 16, you mean! Episodes 1-13 & 15 survive as the 35mm finished programmes, in much the same way that most of the handful of Dr Who episodes made on 35mm do. The 35mm D for Destruction (episode 16) was junked, but a 16mm copy turned up later.
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