Mr Jago meets Oscar Wild and also meets his wordy match. (Jago and Litefoot -season 4)

Jago and Litefoot go Season Fourth. I can't help loving a bit of pretentious flowery dialogue. In these Jago and Litefoot stories, we have it in abundance. Especially from the Victorian theatre manager, Mister Jago. Professor Litefoot does not do bad either with his pretentious wit. Now we have the Doctor Who character of Leela thrown into the mix with her Sevatean warrior straight talk. It all makes for splendid dark humour and a wonderful uncanny season 4 jaunt. This series had two fine stories out of the four. I must confess to being not to keen on the first tale set in Brighton. But the second and third just blew me away with fiendish cleverness on the part of whoever wrote the scripts. The fourth was hijacked and I felt our friends went backstage for long periods. One of the stories, I liked, involves Oscar Wilde. The creepy tale is very clever and an absolute peach of a listen. A diabolical conundrum that is splendidly thought out. I know I am always raving about the wonderful dialogue between Jago and Litefoot but I honestly can't express how much I love it all. In one part of the tale, Jago heaps colourful and pretentious praise upon Oscar Wild. The arrogant writer casually bats back a culinary machine gun of pretentious words that leaves Jago dumbfounded and gulping. For once the theatre manager is at a loss for words. Furthermore, he has been raked by several words that he has never heard before. It was excellent humour. Then, to top it all, the actual story was fabulously dark and ghastly. Science fiction - horror and Gothic shivers at its sublime best. Whoever sat down and thought out this plot was very good indeed. Then the fourth seemed to bomb a little. Jago and Litefoot are the stars and in this story, they seemed to be pushed in the background. Therefore despite having one of the most enjoyable of the stories so far, it also had one that was not so good. I might have given it three stars out of five, but I did enjoy the Oscar Wild story. That got a six out of five - lol. The overall performance earns the entire series 4 a four-star in all.

Counter Measures - Series 2 (Doctor Who - spin-off)

Counter-Measures: Series 2 Box Set by Matt Fitton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very well presented Audible. This is the second 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 1963. Everything seems to work well within the confined limits of that time and place. Very entertaining and well worth listening to.

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Jago and Litefoot Series 3 - with Leela from Doctor Who.

Jago & Litefoot: Series 3 by Andy Lane
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This third series spreads its wings a little more and each of the four stories draws to a dynamic climax in the fourth tale.

Leela of Doctor Who fame turns up on Professor Litefoot's front door. She has been sent on an important mission by Romana (Another Doctor Who companion)

Leela has a device that measures the fabric of time and there are holes and distortions around Victorian London. She needs the help of Jago and Litefoot to put the anomalies to right. This our intrepid duo agree to do and off we all go on some splendid uncanny adventures.

Great fun and highly recommended to any Big Finish fans or Doctor Who spin-off fans. I know I keep mentioning it, but the dialogue between Jago and Litefoot as complete quality. I love it bits.

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Future Shock - 2000 AD Comic.

I saw a splendid documentary about a well-known British comic last night. I downloaded it from Amazon Prime etc. The documentary was about an hour and forty-five minutes with all these creatives from writing, artwork and editorial of a comic. The comic in question is 2000 AD and I’m sure many of us will remember when it first came out in the late seventies. I certainly do and I remember many of the first Judge Dredd stories along with a host of other characters.

As I recall, it was a time of upheaval in Britain. There were strikes. Wilson and then Callaghan Prime Ministers were going to the IMF for loans and the Punk Rock trend was metamorphosing into a rage of anti-authoritarian discontent. And then Margaret Thatcher came along.

(I'm not having a pop at any of the politicians that I'm mentioning. They were all in this circumstance as we all were.) :D

This documentary is a series of interviews about how the British comic 2000 AD went against the grain and was also disestablishment with many of its stories. The artist and writers were a mishmash bunch who foresee the decline of the average comic in the newsagents. They wanted to go against the grain a produce something edgier and darker.

I got to listen to the views of these 2000 AD founders as various creative people spoke about the survival of the comic through good and bad times. How it is still doing well to this day. The big-name creative comic writers and artist were Pat Mills, Dave Gibbons, John Wagner, Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman, Brian Bollard, Dan Abnett, Alan Grant and Carlos Esquerra. Also, a among guests was Karen Berger of Dark Horse and Vertigo comics.

It was a very interesting look at how so many of the other British comics did not like this new 2000 AD comic and often tried to stop the creation for all manner of reasons. But 2000 AD rode the storm, especially Pat Mills who has stayed the distance. A great listen if you have the time.

1. How many of you people remember reading 2000 AD back in the day?

2. What did you think?

3. Who were your favourite characters? 😃👍

The Watchman Movie - (The Ultimate Cut is Three Hours and Thirty-Five Minutes.)

The Ultimate Cut is Three Hours and Thirty-Five Minutes.

Last night I watched a film called; The Watchmen. This was a second time around. I had enjoyed it some years back even though I did not entirely understand all of it. In parts, it was rather deep and dark but I think much of this aspect is what I liked.

Because it was a directed by Zack Snyder and he was in the Future Shock 2000 AD documentary that I had watched recently, I decided to give the movie a second shot.

I noticed there was an Ultimate cut. This was a mammoth three hours and thirty-five minutes on Amazon prime.

Therefore, I downloaded and did the goggle-box thing yesterday evening. I thought it was very alluring and loved the retro theme of the film. There were parts set back in this retro American 1940s and then on to episodes of 1959 and to the 1970s of an alternative President Nixon and Doctor Kissinger time.

The actual problem for our retired Superheroes is set in the mid-1980s when the former Soviet Union is in Afghanistan and we are moving towards an all-out nuclear war. Our superheroes are rather flawed which gives over to empathy for the viewer to indulge. We have a retired 40 something man whose name is Daniel Dreiberg. He was once Night Owl II, obviously a mark II from one of the retro heroes from the 1940s decade. We also have a woman who is called Silk Spectre II. Her name is Laurie Jupiter. Her older mother was a superhero and I’m presuming she was Silk Spectre I. (The original from the 1940s decade.)

In one scene, from this ultimate cut, Laurie Jupiter and Daniel Dreiberg wander down a side alleyway like Bruce Wayne’s Mother and Father once did. A group of street gang muggers come before them. Obviously, the gang does not know the civilians are retired out of costumed superheroes.

The fight scene was absolutely wicked and ferocious, to say the least. The woman, Laurie Jupiter (Silk Spectre II) it breaking arms and legs while Daniel Dreiberg is punching and slinging these urban villains all over the place. It was fast and brutal. I was sitting there thinking, “Oh my word.” I think they call it choreographing a fight scene? Well, they did it very well.

There are a whole host of other characters like Rorschach. A man that wears a white mummy type mask. There are pitch black stains that move around the front of the mask constantly changing all of the time.

Then there is this man called Doctor Manhattan. He looks like Silver Surfer but is a highly advanced atomic and quantum scientist who has become so advanced that humans are almost becoming irrelevant to him. His condition is because of an accident with a radiation blast back in 1959.

We have an old and blighted superhero called The Comedian. He is from the 1940s group but is still around in the mid-1980s as the story starts. A washed-up and past his sell-by date bloke who does not want to accept it.

Even though they are parading about in these outrageously strange outfits and are full of surreal personal problems I was compelled by it visually. The fight scenes are dynamic and rather violent. I can’t completely understand the entire film but I think most people can immerse themselves in it. I’ll definitely watch it again because I believe it is a story whereby you can learn extra things each time you watch it. Also, the Ultimate Cut version has a number of people and scenes edited out of the original film.

A Dieselpunk Soviet Union.

I was chatting with someone about Steampunk and Dieselpunk. They are often art concepts of people of the past imagining these types of art deco worlds of the future. A future that might have been or a future that never came to be.

Often the artist is of today imagining things from a past perspective point.

I rather like this upbeat image of a prosperous Soviet Union society. The futurist 1930s where there was no Starlin etc. Here is a splendid look of a more perfect Soviet Union than we might expect. A world where the Soviet Union is prosperous on an encouraging panoramic urban level. Better perhaps, than any of the Socialist Rupubilics' actually was.

1. Could such a socialist dream have been realised?

2. What would have needed to happen besides no oncoming World War Two?

3. Perhaps in this world, the democracies became urban decaying crime-ridden areas and the East was prosperous?

4. Could such a thing ever have happened?

Delicious Dialogue with Words that are a Culinary Delight.

Jago & Litefoot: Series 2 by Andy Lane
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The second outing with Jago and Litefoot. The Victorian would-be sleuths of anything strange, paranormal or other extraordinary phenomena. Their paths and friendship brought about by an encounter with Doctor Who and his companion Leela. These dark and humorous stories are developed from The Talons of Weng Chiang.

Jago and Litefoot are a bumbling force to be reckoned with as they endeavour to put the world to right. Very enjoyable and will do the rest of the audiobooks over time. Splendid fun and a delicious dialogue between the two that is akin to a culinary delight. Splendid fun.

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