Counter Measures - Series 3. Big Finish (A Great set of Audio stories)

A very well presented Audible. This is the third series I have listened to while at work. I particularly liked the last story. Some splendid ideas for uncanny mystery and scientific manipulation in dangerous areas. All set in Britain of 1965. Everything seems to work well within the confined limits of that time and place. Very entertaining and well worth listening to. It is also very atmospheric too. I will listen to all the other Counter Measures on Big Finish. I'm a fan all the way.

HARDWARE - 1990 science fiction film.

Richard Stanley wrote and directed the script for the British science fiction movie called Hardware. There were some noted cameo roles from Rock Stars of the time. Three of them being Iggy Pop as the radio presenter and the strange desert traveler who finds the robot parts played by Carl McCoy of Fields of the Nephilim rock band. Then there was Lemmy of Motörhead and Hawkwind fame.

The two main stars were Dylan McDermott and Stacey Travis. American actors who gave the movie a broader range of audience appeal.

The desert wanderer has unknowingly found parts for a self-repairing robot. It is some form of military hardware and once it repairs its self after being sold to an out of work creative artist, the diabolical machine goes on a killing spree. The original version had a number of grisly murders in it. However, it was edited before release and many of the more gruesome scenes were omitted.

It has since become a cult movie but it did cause a great deal of controversy when the British comic group 2000 AD saw the film. There was a court case of plagiarism issued and by Fleetway comics because it was from a short story called SHOCK! It was in the 1981 Judge Dredd Annual. The case was successful and certain monies had to be paid and on-screen credits to the story of SHOK! are included in screening, etc.

The film is set in a post-apocalyptic future and was made on a budget of £950,000 and grossed in excess of 5.2 million at the box office. Some of the close camera work and lighting gave the film some good authenticity.

Judge Anderson - The Abyss by Alec Worley (2000 AD comic character)

Judge Anderson of Mega-City One – (2000 AD)

Many of us are Judge Dredd fans from 2000 AD comic strip and we have seen this character bloom into novels, graphic novels, audiobooks and films etc. I’ve now read a number of his stories and will, no doubt, read more and hopefully enjoy future on-screen entertainment too.

What I liked about the second movie called simply, Dredd was the introduction of another character named Judge Anderson. I was intrigued by her psychic ability. I knew of her image in comic strips but had never read much about her. Her image is often on front covers but I was more interested in Dredd’s cold character. Because of the movie, I developed a better interest in the Anderson character and wanted to know more. I thought the actress who played Anderson in the film did look like the comic strip images I have seen.

Anderson, as a character, has an approach that differs from Dredd’s. She can’t help having empathy with some of Mega-City One’s millions of citizens. This is because she sees deep and hears all the inner voices. She can’t help getting caught up in the reason and consequence aspect of things. Though she is still a hard arse when the occasion demands. We always get see t the face of Anderson because the helmet interferes with her psychic ability etc. Therefore she removes it when getting off of her law-master motorbike.

The Dystopian World of the Judges.

This huge metropolis of Mega-City One is surrounded by the poison Earth and people can be arrested and sent to isolation cubes for pro-democracy relays. This overcrowded and claustrophobic society is always on the edge having been through an atomic world war. There is ninety per cent unemployment and huge tower blocks are turf areas controlled by various crazy urban gangs. Large numbers of residents feel loyalty towards the blocks they live in. The Judges are often hated. Yet they are needed. The whole society of the numerous Mega Cities around the world have similar setups with these Judges ruling the areas as a police state. They are undermanned and so the police become Judges as well. Obviously, they have wide-ranging powers. They can catch criminals and pass judgement and sentence on the spot. Including on the spot execution, there and then, if deemed necessary.

It all makes for a disturbing dystopian future where extremist policemen, from our own perspective, are necessary anti-heroes. Democratic well-intentioned believers (who really could not control such an overpopulated and variable decaying urban world) are the villains.

And In Such A World Judge Anderson Must Function.

In this Judge Anderson story audiobook, I enjoyed yesterday, (It is called the Abyss by Alec Worley) the female psychic judge is sent to a prison hospital to evaluate a woman who is the head of a political movement to bring about the end to the harsh rule of the Judges. In effect, she is a terrorist in this dystopian world. Her underground group are called Bedlamists.

The terror leader’s name is Moriah Blake and Judge Anderson do a psychic evaluation of the sedated prisoner in the hospital wing of a huge prison block. Anderson needs other psychic police colleagues to put a strong mind shield around her thoughts to stop the other many prison inmates from breaking into her concentration etc.

A raid of Bedlamists terrorists brings about a consequence whereby Judge Anderson is trapped in the Asylum hospital and is in the corridors when all the hundreds of prison cubes are opened. Spilling out into the corridors are hundreds of the drug-crazed psychopaths, murders, rapists and many other types of criminals of Mega-City One’s finest nut jobs. The building is under siege in a Mexican stand-off between Bedlamists and Judges. The terror group is searching for Judge Anderson via the TV monitors before power is shut down. Judge Anderson must discard her uniform and dress like the mad inmates and mingle. She must also try to find the source of a huge bomb.  

This is a real on the edge of your seat listen as Anderson builds a psychic wall to hold off the disturbed minds she is forced to move amongst. She can also hear some inmates who are incarcerated for not filling out a tax form on time, a young lad who evaded paying a traffic offence and a student nurse who’s been in a prison cube for a year, awaiting an evaluation, because her student boyfriend was arrested at a pro-democracy rally. Such people are among the more extreme criminal elements. We are in a world where society can’t afford democracy and some people are mere collateral damage to the extreme law system. Democratically minded people are terrorists. It’s all total dystopian horror for us, the listeners, who are rooting for the extremist right-wing Judges. This world needs them.

Has Anyone read the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O' Brian?

I have resumed reading the Patrick O'Brian Naval stories of the Aubrey-Maturin series. I am on novel 15 at the moment. It is called Clarissa Oakes in the UK. It is known as The Truelove in the USA. Many of the stories are set during the Napoleonic war, but a huge section of the this Aubrey-Maturin series takes place during the US/British and Canadian War of 1812 to 1814.

The stories unfold as a continuing saga. A little like Poldark at sea, The dialogue, of which there is a superb and rich amount, makes the reader feel they are there in the time of early 19th-century sail. The descriptions of ship, sea and tide are very compelling. The two main characters of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin show us everything we need to know as these dynamic stories sail on.

At sea, Jack Aubrey is a man of great substance. He has a knack of telling how a ship is upon sight. He can tell if the crew are seasoned by the way the enemy or a friend goes about the rigging. He can note an experienced group of seamen who have not worked together before. He notices every little blemish of vessel or crew. He is a Royal Navy officer who knows his trade.

Stephen Maturin is Aubrey's physician and is also a British government secret agent. He knows nothing of seamanship but is excellent friends with Jack Aubrey because of their shared interests in music. As a physician, he also makes for a competent ship's surgeon.

By contrast, Aubrey is a complete duck out of the water upon land. A bit of an idiot who seems to get himself into all sorts of financial problems when back home. Here, his trusted friend Stephen Maturin often comes to the rescue.

These Aubrey-Maturin naval tales are a complete delight. I think there are about twenty stories in the saga. Therefore, after this serious is finished, I'm thinking of the Alexander Kent, Richard Bolitho stories. What does anyone else think? I would like to hear from any person who enjoys a good naval yarn. 

The Horror of Giant Carnivorous Plants.

Giant carnivorous plants have always given me the creeps. Ever since reading John Wyndham's, The Day of The Triffids. Then there were things like Venus flytraps and other incests consuming plants. Even though they were small, I still found them ghastly.

As a child, most of us have overactive imaginations. We are prone to extreme exaggeration when we are in our schoolboy groups talking about such things. I was no exception. I can remember us schoolboys being deep in discussion during the dinner breaks. If a lad told a whopper of a lie, we were all sucked in by it.

I remember being told of Triffid size Venus flytraps living in the remote areas of the Amazon jungle. We all believed the fanciful tale. Someone had seen it in a documentary that the rest of us had missed. We all believed the huge tale because we wanted to.

Of course, when I got home, I would go racing off to my Dad. He was always a fountain of knowledge concerning such things. He would bring me down to Earth with a slight bump and a more honest opinion. I think he may have laughed because he enjoyed the way of kids being sucked in by such stories after watching a science fiction movie.

He would say, "Giant carnivorous plants were for science fiction movies and lad's comics."

Sometimes I would waver and reason that remote jungle areas of the Earth were remote because such plants existed. That is why no one lived there. Who knows, perhaps on other planets - lol. There must be some sort of gluttonous plant somewhere in the universe.

The Fat England Man in His Garden.

He seeks them here,
He seeks them there,
Mad growing plants everywhere.
A little rain,
A little sun,
Food for plants and all is done.
The verges around,
The wildflowers abound,
Dig a few up and plant elsewhere.
Elsewhere in my garden,
So to the farmers beg my pardon,
Cascading and portraying our summer sun evening.
Even in summer, 
Our weather goes duller, 
But tomorrows will come.
Second to none, 
The next day has begun,
More flowers more colours,
Yet to come.

Time for the Stars by Robert A. Heinlein (My Goodreads Review)

Time for the Stars by Robert A. Heinlein

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this a long time ago. It was in my school's library and the front cover caught my attention. There were a few human visitors on board a boat. A rowing boat if my memory serves me correctly. In the background was a floating round spaceship. A sort of lifeboat from which the boatmen had left. There were tentacles thrusting up out of the water and they were about to attack the boatmen. I was captivated by space travel and dreamed of adventure on other worlds. The cover flicked the switches so I borrowed it from the library. I remember the book focused on twin boys. They had telepathic connections. One could go on the adventure to distant stars while one stayed home. The travellers could communicate by telepathy. As the ship got further away from Earth travelling in excess of light speed etc. The time lapse increases as the twins communicate. What seems like a day or two on board ship becomes months back on Earth. Lots of other concepts too. I remember I enjoyed the adventure when the travellers explored the new world they come across. Also coming to the part that the front cover depicted.

The Last Days of Thunder Child

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