Hard News: Conversation Starters
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The handsome and steady-eyed Patrick McGoohan, who has died aged 80
We have a bumper sticker "I am not a number" on our car (and another "I have escaped" on our ancient caravan, which sits under a tree in our front garden) but very few get the references. Bought a complete set of The Prisoner for my 21 year old son for Christmas.
For better or worse, McGoohan will be remembered for The Prisoner. If you ever get to Wales (Ceregion, North Wales), do pay a visit to Portmerrion--a fascinating and odd place.
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"don't tell me those man-tits are real..."
While Wrath of Khan is a tour de force of over-acting and I love it, best to stick with the original Space Seed, and marvel over the astonishing man-porn of Khan's costuming. Those man-tits are real. And prominently displayed as much as possible.
Time for a commemorative "KHAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!"
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I bought the Prisoner DVD box set and, while we were staying in a place that had no reception for a month, we decided to watch an episode every night. We got to about ep 9 or 10 when we realised that, while the story line is as opaque as ever, the acting was truly awful (even the great man, himself) and we gave up.
I think he was an actor for his time, when his time didn't expect greatness on the telly. I respect The Prisoner as a breakthough piece of television, and I relish my memories of growing up watching it, but I'm afraid it doesn't stand the test of time as an inherently good piece of television.
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Have to give Montalban credit for resisting pressure to 'Anglicise' his name -- like Martin Sheen -- back in the day
Martin Sheen (born Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez) actually didn't anglicise it as much as just choose a whole new stage name. He adopted it from a Catholic Archbishop he admired, who was an early TV religious figure.
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. . . marvel over the astonishing man-porn of Khan's costuming.
The mullet, the mullet . . .
Truth is, I didn't know they were called mullets back then. Used to think of them as Australian rock star haircuts.
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I saw Star Trek 2 as a child. The ear-wormy things scared the living hell out of me. I saw it aged about 7 or 8, and I still can't watch the movie. I'm getting quite uncomfortable just thinking about it, actually.
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While Wrath of Khan is a tour de force of over-acting and I love it
Get out of my brain, Emma. Star Trek II is the campiest (and therefore most awesome) of all the films, I think. Of course, my Star Trek love is based heavily on its kitsch-value, which is why I have such profound admiration for episodes like 'Spock's Brain'.
Time for a commemorative "KHAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!"
I wonder how many people have "KHAAAAAAN!!!!!' as their status message on Facebook right now... two of my friends, at least.
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Get out of my brain, Emma. Star Trek II is the campiest (and therefore most awesome) of all the films, I think.
The true awesomeness of TWoK is director/(uncredited) writer Nick Meyer -- who also did the same for No. 6, and co-wrote No. 4 which is weirdly hilarious. Why did Meyer rock -- because he wasn't a Trekkie, and was more interested in making entertaining but coherent films than moisturising with fan-boy jism. Which is one reason I'm cautiously optimistic that J.J. Abrams' effort isn't going to be the cinematic equivalent of a brain-eating space earwig. ("Must turn phaser on myself... agony unbearable")
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The true awesomeness of TWoK is director/(uncredited) writer Nick Meyer -- who also did the same for No. 6, and co-wrote No. 4 which is weirdly hilarious.
Ha, I was thinking that the next time they really tapped the Khan vibe was 6, with the Klingon commander swivelling round in his chair with his eyepatch rivetted to his skull quoting Shakespeare. Brilliant.
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Ha, I was thinking that the next time they really tapped the Khan vibe was 6, with the Klingon commander swivelling round in his chair with his eyepatch rivetted to his skull quoting Shakespeare. Brilliant.
Ah, Christopher Plummer as General Kang (I assume Kodos wanted too much money), but for me his finest genre hour was as an ever so slightly bonkers virologist in Twelve Monkeys. And he's still the sanest person in that gorgeously melancholy madhouse of a film.
Perhaps it runs in the family, because his daughter Amanda has a brief but memorable scene as an Oracle with a serious craving for candy with Lucy Lawless in Battlestar Galactica.
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We have a bumper sticker "I am not a number" on our car
Well your car certainly is. Something like BLT169 probably.
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Well your car certainly is. Something like BLT169 probably
'fraid not. Some people call it a 'people-mover' but I prefer to call it an over-sized van-thingy, which is difficult to back (witness the numerous dings!)
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For better or worse, McGoohan will be remembered for The Prisoner. If you ever get to Wales (Ceregion, North Wales), do pay a visit to Portmerrion--a fascinating and odd place.
Indeed it is, I just found the hordes a bit off putting. I expected it to be fairly sparsely inhabited which I guess happens when you watch it as a child still thinking a part of what you see on the box is real. Incidently, when we first got it in NZ it was in black and white (and everyone..the adults that is...just thought it was odd. I don't think it was THAT widely watched here by anyone over 21 then), and I remember the first colour broadcast when it was repeated in, I think, the late 70s or early 80s, as having more impact.
I loved, still do, Danger Man, and bought a bunch of DVDs for a pittance at the Warehouse some years back. The odd thing about that was that many of the indoor scenes were filmed in an almost identical set, with just a few ornaments, the odd bit of furniture and a painting or two changed. And we didn't notice at the time.
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That Ford Falcon didn't want to be BLT169 either. Have seen vehicles with ELF plates but have yet to see an EMO.
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I remember the first colour broadcast when it was repeated in, I think, the late 70s or early 80s, as having more impact.
hell, yeah. late on a Sunday night, i think. being only about 13, at first i couldn't figure out what the point was at all, but then i just got drawn into the psychedelic bizarreness of it all. hugely educational on so many levels.
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For better or worse, McGoohan will be remembered for The Prisoner. If you ever get to Wales (Ceregion, North Wales), do pay a visit to Portmerrion--a fascinating and odd place.
One of the most enjoyable days of my life was spent at Portmerion, on acid.
We had a marvellous time chancing across the carefully created vantage points, which, on inspection, turned out to be mere architectural confections. It wasn't at all crowded, but there was a mysterious dark-haired young woman with a cat who kept appearing.
And then I had a special moment walking out across that estuary ...
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hell, yeah. late on a Sunday night,
After RWP...it became a big night for a while.
One of the most enjoyable days of my life was spent at Portmerion, on acid.
There goes your next American visa.
It wasn't at all crowded
It was silly crowded when we were there. But then I think you may have been inhabiting your own world that day.
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and some of the clips on RWP in those days were pretty mind-bending too ;-)
which surely means...
communist television (there were no ads on a Sunday back then) destroyed my brain cells! country calendar was the worst offender, i tell ya. or was it the sheep. and the dogs. never mind. -
or was it the sheep. and the dogs. never mind.
Are you sure you weren't fellow travelling with Russell @ Portmerion?
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'fraid not. Some people call it a 'people-mover' but I prefer to call it an over-sized van-thingy, which is difficult to back (witness the numerous dings!)
Hell, try backing out past those things in an ordinary car! My two year old isn't able to call out to me yet to tell me there's a bus approaching at speed.
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(quote)>ountry calendar was the worst offender, i tell ya. or was it the sheep. and the dogs. never mind.</quote)
I worked as a producer trainee/director when NZBC TV split in 2, and I tell ya, what was never shown about the dogs & the sheep would've destroyed entire minds let alone brain cells...
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O bugger. Doing something wrong. Wont persist.
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i confess, i was the cat. what would number two say if he found out?
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but there was a mysterious dark-haired young woman with a cat who kept appearing.
If you were on acid then that was probably bad jelly the witch.
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