Golden Sunsets Redux - 60 Years of Memories - Part 6 - 1972

It’s a fairly short recollection this time, but exactly why do I have fond memories of the sound of bouncing ball bearings ?…

1972:

The trivia:

• Biologist Ivan Sanderson was one of the founders of cryptozoology - the study of unknown, extinct or legendary animals, such as the Yeti, Bigfoot or Loch Ness Monster.  He wrote extensively on the subject, but his credibility was damaged when he claimed to have  discovered the footprints of a fifteen foot tall penguin - something that later was proved to have been faked. In subsequent years he identified twelve areas around the world which he named "Vile Vortices" and which were apparently the sites of unexplained disappearances and mysterious phenomena. This was all published in a 1972 collection of essays under the title “Investigating the Unexplained”. The best known of these “vortices”, centres of magnetic or space time disturbances, is of course the “Bermuda Triangle”.

• Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard used globally to regulate clocks and time zones. Everyone knows about the addition of a leap day every four years, but most will not be aware that UTC has had to be adjusted by “leap seconds” several times in recent decades, due to changes in the Earths rotation. Since 1972 has a leap day and two extra leap seconds, it is officially the longest year in history. 

• The first ever stuffed toys based on Paddington Bear were created in 1972 by Shirley Clarkson as Christmas presents for her children. When interest in the toys increased, Shirley and her husband Eddie started selling them in local shops - even though they didn’t have the rights. Threatened with an expensive lawsuit, a chance introduction to author Michael Bond in a lift resulted in him granting them a licence - which they kept for many years. It made the Clarkson’s fortune, a fact which has always been cited as an important step in the career of their son Jeremy - presenter of "Top Gear" and “The Grand Tour”.

The memory:

Cascade

In the days before computers, consoles (or pretty much any type of electronic device beyond something with a few beeps and flashing lights), toy manufacturers were always looking for the next thing to keep kids entertained. One could argue that this led to some of the most innovative and unusual toys and board games ever released. Sure there was the usual stuff like Lego and Barbie and Monopoly. But the 70s also gave us such oddities as “Stretch Armstrong”,  the interchangeable world of the “Micronauts” or Airfix’s plane on almost invisible wires that could decapitate a sibling “Flight Deck”. Kids were encouraged to put plastic in the oven with “Shrinky Dinks” or poor oozy “Slime” into the gaps between the sofa cushions. Plus tie-in toys abounded including the classic “Six Million Dollar Man”sets, Evel Knievel’s Stunt Cycle and personal favourite “The Game of Jaws”. 

But along with these were also things that were less of a game and more of…an experience - and this brings us to “Cascade”, released by British toy legends Matchbox. It’s…well, I could try and describe what it looks like but it's far easier to just show you a picture:

At its core “Cascade” is a form of perpetual motion machine and it makes for a highly unusual toy for kids. Once the pieces were out of the long box, it only took a few minutes to spread out the yellow plastic sheet, slot the red pieces together, plug in the tower section (with accompanying spinning 'flag') and finally place the three drums on their designated spots - oh and don't forget the *huge* battery to power the thing. But everything had to be exactly right or the "magic" wouldn't work.

As you flicked the switch, the yellow screw started to turn with a slightly grinding noise. Slowly you fed in the ten steel ball bearings provided to the bottom of the tower and watched them rise to the top  - where they would drop off the steep ledge. If you had placed the drums correctly, the ball bearings would then bounce once on each drum and then clatter into the receptacle at the end. Some would be captured in the scoring slots and others would escape and flow down the slide and by force of gravity, run along the thin strip and back to the tower for another journey. By use of a second switch, you could also control the flow of the balls - either letting them go from the tower one by one, or releasing all ten for a full "cascade".

Eventually all the balls would be caught, at which point you could release them for another round. There were various basic games described in the accompanying leaflet but alternatively you could remove the scoring plate and the balls would continually run up the tower, bounce off the drums and then go round and round and round again. As the blurb says "It's baffling, it's fascinating, it's soothing... it's Cascade".

To be honest it took a lot of trial and error to get the full effect. Although there are circles on the base sheet to indicate where the drums should go, just going with the default often meant that the balls bounced correctly on the first drum and then went everywhere as they spun off on drums two or three. Slight tweaking of the positions and many reattempts later, suddenly the fates would align and all ten balls would bounce perfectly across and clatter into the end container - cycling round again and again. It was wonderful to see.

I don't ever remember really playing the "games", just letting the balls bounce endlessly and hypnotically until my brother and I got bored or (more likely) the batteries ran out. Eventually after a couple of years either something plastic broke or the battery was left in too long and ruined the compartment and that was then end of that.

As you can see from the pictures I've managed to find, there were a couple of different versions (possibly UK and US) - one made of red and yellow plastic with a yellow base sheet and one made of blue and red plastic and a blue sheet. Nowadays complete and fully working versions are very rare and enthusiasts have had to cannibalise parts from multiple purchases to experience the joy of the bouncing balls. There are even a handful of videos online showing everything in motion. It’s probably a long shot after all these years, but I’d love to get my own set and relive the childhood excitement of “Cascade”.

Honourable mentions: 

• The Amazing Mr. Blunden - Based on Antonia Barber’s 1969 book “The Ghosts”, this charming Dickensian-style mystery film was Lionel Jeffries directorial follow-up to all-time classic "The Railway Children". It’s a period tale of time travel, ghosts, of paths not taken and the chance to right wrongs. Apparently beating the likes of Peter Cushing and David Niven to the lead role, veteran actor Laurence Naismith puts in an unforgettable performance as the titular mysterious old man with a twinkle in his eye. Although I didn’t realise it at the time, he had supporting roles in two other of my favourite films - “Scrooge” and Harryhausen skeleton-fest “Jason and the Argonauts”. The other actor of note is Diana Dors who genuinely frightened me as odious housekeeper Mrs Wickens. It's a truly wonderful film, oozing with heart, atmosphere and enough cheer to melt even the hardest of hearts - plus like “The Railway Children” they all wave goodbye at the end!  I was utterly captivated the first time I saw it. For many years it was unfairly forgotten except by die-hard fans, which include Marks Kermode and Gatiss - the latter of whom had a pretty reasonable go at a remake in 2021. The original is still the best though.

• The Burke Special - This BBC series focussed on various aspects of modern life and (amongst other things) how changes in society and technology affected the individual. James Burke (by this point well known as a presenter of science show “Tomorrow’s World”) would wander round a studio full of members of the public, pulling them into sometimes odd experiments related to the topic of the week and explaining how things worked. It was both entertaining and educational - distilling down complicated ideas for the man or woman on the street. It’s hard to give a full description because although I definitely recall watching various episodes between 1972 and 1976, sadly almost none exist in the BBC archives. It’s included here because it was my first exposure to Mr Burke - who I consider an absolute genius and one of only two scientists (the other being Carl Sagan) who genuinely changed my life and how I think about the world. Burke would go on to create “Connections” (perhaps his finest work) but let’s end with a clip of the great man in action in one of the “Specials”, explaining how the economy works…

• The Poseidon Adventure - I love disaster movies and the 70s had more than its fair share of great ones. An all-star cast coming together to face great adversity as something generally goes horribly wrong - with the audience playing detective to try and work out who will live or die. But as far as I am concerned this capsized luxury ocean liner tale is the daddy of them all. Produced by “Master of Disaster” Irwin Allen (also responsible for genre classics “Lost in Space” and “The Time Tunnel”) its incredible sets, non-stop action and thrilling moments of peril make it a real treat. I may have been drawn by the appearance of SF favourite Roddy McDowall as ship’s waiter Acres, but I stayed for the heartfelt perfomances from Gene Hackman, Shelley Duvall and the rest. Even now when I know what’s going to happen, I still enjoy it just as much. A poor sequel followed in 1979 (starring Michael Caine no less) followed by a pair of remakes in the early 2000s - the latter of which is only worthwhile for Richard Dreyfuss. 

• Silent Running - The directorial debut of special effects guru Douglas Trumbull, this post-apocalyptic science-fiction movie has an environmental message that is as important now as it was then, even if it is framed by the US counterculture movement of the time it was made (the phrase “global warming” was 15 years away). It made a huge impression on me, not just because of the themes, or the superb central performance by Bruce Dern, but also because of the three robots his character worked with. Played by bilateral amputees, Huey, Dewy and Louie had real warmth and personality and play more and more of a role as the film progresses. I'd take them over R2-D2 anytime. While it has a downbeat, melancholic ending it’s still full of awe-inspiring imagery - the beauty of nature contrasted against the vast blackness of space - plus the unmistakable voice of Joan Baez singing “Rejoice in the Sun”…

• Watership Down - Rabbits are deeply embedded in human culture. Symbols of fertility or good luck. As tricksters or agents of chaos. Plus they are hugely popular in British literature. Lewis Carroll, Beatrix Potter and AA Milne have all created rabbit characters that are beloved the world over. But for me, it’s Richard Adams’ magnificent story of Fiver, Hazel, Bigwig and their friends that captured my imagination like no other. Their world felt totally real -  no walking on hind legs and wearing waistcoats here - and the dangers both animal and man-made were terrifying. It was the first fictional story to make me properly cry with the power and emotion of the story. I read it over and over again, each time discovering something new. Yes, the 1978 animated version is rightly lauded and it’s images scarred a generation, but General Woundwort was even scarier in my imagination. 

• Rainbow - Just the first Bungle. The stuff of nightmares. What were they thinking?.

We're All Stories In The End 12 - Cat's Cradle : Time's Crucible

 It's a trilogy, but not as you know it...

Cat's Cradle : Time's Crucible by Marc Platt

Seventh Doctor Adventures number: 5

Originally published: February 1992

Companions: Ace

"You're on your own, Ace."

The TARDIS is invaded by an alien presence, and is then destroyed. The Doctor disappears.

Ace, lost and alone, finds herself in a bizarre deserted city ruled by the tyrannical, leech-like monster known as the Process.

Lost voyagers drawn forward from Ancient Gallifrey perform obsessive rituals in the ruins.

The strands of time are tangled in a cat's cradle of dimensions.

Only the Doctor can challenge the rule of the Process and restore the stolen Future.

But the Doctor was destroyed long ago, before Time began.

So this month we are back near the very start of the Virgin New Adventures, with the 1992 fifth novel  - and the first written by Marc Platt.  

And if I'm honest, it's a bit of a mixed bag really

Yes there are some clear attempts at clever world building and expanding the universe of Timelord lore. Yes the peek into the "Time of Chaos" of ancient Gallifrey and the cult of Pythia  is certainly new and yes, the TARDIS colliding with a prototype time ship and turning inside out - into a city where you can cross time streams as easily as crossing a river - is definitely a cool concept.

This book *wants* to be complex  - this is from the guy who wrote Ghost Light after all - and I'm all for being thrown in at the deep end and not being spoon fed a plot. I don't mind the mentions of vague concepts such as as Lungbarrow and Looms, as clearly looking back from a position 30+ years later, we know that will at be picked up (albeit a long way down the line).

But at times it just felt like it was trying too hard.

The writing style is by turns incredibly clunky and incredibly convoluted and…well sadly, incredibly dull. Parts - especially in the first half -  feel overwritten to the point of being meaningless, as if the author wanted to show off how abstract he could be and how many tortuous similes he could cram in. It's page after page of purple prose that genuinely made me sigh with exasperation.

And just what does a phrase such as "Swerving the command frog" mean anyway?

Things do get better plot wise as the book progresses. From the point that Ace climbs into the TARDIS attic and finds the "Willby Doctor" waiting for her, it starts to come together, even if, a bit like the tower at the heart of the city, you can see the cogs and gears of the ending sliding into place. I figured out that there must be a third Process a good while before it was revealed - although I was never really clear on what any of them really wanted beyond "The Future".

The problem is, by that point I just didn’t really care about the fate of any of the supporting characters.

The Chronauts were very underdeveloped - apart from maybe Shonizi and Vael they're paper thin - and even those two have just a veneer of characterisation.

Ace fares a little better, but only because her character had been developed (to a degree) before this novel. Her horror at the thought of being turned into an insect guard felt real -  but even she's not consistent. When exactly did she develop feelings for Shonzi ?  They only seem to have known each other for five minutes !

In the end there is an awful lot happening - with the sphere contracting, the TARDIS being reborn, platforms whizzing up and down and multiple versions of the same people & monsters in the same scene. Stuff is meant to feel that it has incredible importance, yet I felt utterly detached from it, as it's all presented in such a cold, clinical fashion. Much like the deleted alternate futures, it didn’t matter.

I just couldn’t connect with any of it. It was an odd feeling.

So despite it's grand themes and ideas and allusions. Despite it  trying something new, "Times Crucible" is, at least in my eyes, a very flawed book.

I'm glad I read it. But it's definitely not one that I would go back to any time soon.

Oh and by the way - isn’t mercury incredibly toxic? Not sure anyone should be wading through a river of it !

Although now that I think of it, describing the descending  moon / egg as "The most momentous impact since Adric hit Mexico" ? That did raise a smile....

Golden Sunsets Redux - 60 Years of Memories - Part 5 - 1971

So what do you get if you mix a bunch of historical figures with ideas of resurrection, alien overlords, religion, man's inherent inhumanity to man and a study of ethics? Probably one of the most original and astonishing science fiction ideas ever published  - and a book series that is in my top twenty of all time.

1971:

The trivia:

• Astronaut Ed Mitchell piloted the Apollo 14 lunar module and was the sixth person to walk on the Moon. He said of his experiences: "From out there...international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch."

• Sizzling grilled meat served with onions and peppers on a flour or corn tortilla. We all know what that is, right? Although the first culinary evidence comes from the ranch lands of Texas in the 1930’s, there is actually no known written documentation of the word "fajitas" prior to…1971.

• After a four and a half month journey, NASA’s Mariner-9 became the first spacecraft to enter the orbit of another planet when it reached Mars on 14th November - only narrowly beating two Soviet probes that arrived weeks later. However, due to a planet-wide dust storm, the entire surface of the planet was obscured, resulting in Mariner-9’s cameras being turned off until mid-January of the following year. 

The memory:

To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip José Farmer

At the round earth's imagin'd corners, blow
Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise
From death you numberless infinities
Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go.

7th of the "Holy Sonnets" by John Donne

Prolific author Philip José Farmer first appeared in this trawl through my memories when his odd Doc Savage / Tarzan mash-up “A Feast Unknown” got an honourable mention. But now we come to what many consider his most famous series. This was one of those occasional books that I bought on a whim - intrigued by both the cover and the blurb on the back of the paperback. Billed as the first volume in the “magnificent Riverworld" saga”, at the time I didn’t know that this spur of the moment purchase would eventually grow to me reading multiple novels, several collections of short stories and spark a lasting interest in some new historical figures. 

Although it came out in 1971,  I think I must have originally picked up “Scattered Bodies” in. ..1979? That sounds about right. I do know that once I started, it was a book I simply couldn’t put down and I sped through it in around three days. I was so absorbed by the storyline that I immediately went out to buy the others in the set - only to find that the final (at the time) fourth book had still not been released !

So here's the premise. Millions of years in the future, every single human who has ever lived is resurrected along the banks of an endless winding river. From the earliest Neanderthals through to the 21st century (when 99% of the population was apparently wiped out during a disastrous first contact with aliens from Tau Ceti).  They all awaken on the shore naked, but in bodies as they were at age twenty-five - and in perfect health. Lost limbs have reappeared, genetic defects and diseases are all cured. Those who died younger than 25 appear in a body from that point of death (and age up to 25), but there is no one under the age of five and children cannot be conceived. Should an individual "die" due to suicide, an accident, or at the hand of someone else, they just resurrect again at a different place along the river.

Every person appears with a metal container strapped to their wrist which can only be opened by them. When placed in huge mushroom-shaped "grailstones" which are dotted along the riverbank, and charged via a periodic electricity bolt, these "grails" dispense food, drink, cloth  - and luxuries such as alcohol, mild drugs, tobacco and "dreamgum" which can induce hallucinations.

At the start there is no technology on this world and metals and ores are almost non-existent. The mountains that rise steeply from the plains are impassable and life exists at a very basic level. But what initially seems like paradise soon turns into anything but, as human greed and violence asserts itself. Thousands of tiny fiefdoms and kingdoms appear along the river - some are peaceful but many are ruled by dictators who put those unfortunate enough to be reborn in their areas into "grail slavery" - giving the poor people only basic rations and keeping the luxuries for themselves. 

Into this new and strange existence comes renowned colonial explorer Richard Francis Burton (no relation to the actor). He soon surrounds himself with a disparate group of friends from all eras, which includes Alice Lidell (the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland). Burton is unique because he became concious in the "holding space" before resurrection and has seen a glimpse of the race that created Riverworld. Visited by a mysterious figure, Burton is compelled to take his friends and find the source of this endless river and confront the "Ethicals" in control. After many trials, including being enslaved by the infamous Nazi Herman Göring, Burton finds himself close to being captured by the Ethicals, so kills himself over and over and over again - each time hoping that he will get closer to the secrets of the tower at the headwaters of the river.

If that doesn't sound fascinating enough, the subsequent books introduce an even wider array of characters both real and fictional and detail their various efforts to discover the reason for humanity's rebirth. This includes author Samuel Clemens (who wrote as Mark Twain). Thanks to the assistance of the Mysterious Stranger, he enlists the help of Viking warlord Eric Bloodaxe, Lothar von Ricthofen (the WWI fighter pilot known as the Red Baron), King John of England and Cyrano de Bergerac to help mine a fallen meteorite and build a huge paddle boat known as the 'Not For Hire'. He intends to sail upriver and find the source of the river. Though it may be millions of miles and his voyage may take centuries, Clemens is determined to find answers.

Through the course of (what became) five novels, Farmer weaves the adventures of a dozen or more famous faces and people from a vast range of cultures and time periods into his huge sweeping narrative. He even writes himself into the storyline in the guise of author “Peter Jairus Frigate”. The true purpose of the "Ethicals" and their reasons for creating Riverworld are shrouded in mystery and the metaphysical answer challenges everyone's opinions of what it means to be alive. It’s a saga where you definitely need to read the first four books to get the full effect of Farmer's imagination. You could miss out book five and not lose anything from the main plot (even Farmer himself calls it a “sidestream” novel), but it does give some more weight to the philosophical questions being asked across the series as a whole.

As for the main protagonist, Richard Francis Burton was an extraordinary man to choose. A 19th century explorer, translator, soldier, writer, spy and diplomat, who apparently spoke 29 languages, he was also one of the first Europeans to visit Mecca. Translator of the "1,001 Arabian Nights" stories and the "Karma Sutra". Part of the group who discovered the great African lakes while hunting for the source of the Nile. Burton did all these things and much, much more. You can see why Farmer picked him. Learning about him through his fictitious exploits in the novel, I became fascinated with the real person, seeking out books by and about him from my local library (this being in the days before the internet of course). I learned many, many interesting facts through reading Farmer's work.

In the 90s there was an attempt to turn Riverworld into a shared universe anthology series with multiple authors contributing alongside Farmer, but only a couple of volumes made it to shelves before it petered out. There was also a role-playing game rule book and a poorly received video game.

Inevitably there have been a couple of bids to turn Farmer's vision into a TV show. The Sci-Fi Channel had a go once in 2003 (but that only went to a pilot) and then tried again in 2010 as a 3-hour TV movie. Both version are very flawed and hampered by both a lack of budget and the fact that the producers just didn't seem to really *get* the concept or the characters. Burton is replaced by an American astronaut in the first attempt and then becomes the villain in the second. That's no way to treat one of the greatest explorers of the 19th century !

Despite the fantastical setting and the SF concepts that are explored, the novels paint a disturbing picture of mankind. No matter the circumstances, we seem to degenerate into the worst examples of our species. There will always be those who want power and wealth and will do whatever it takes to obtain it. Sadly it appears that Farmer was quite prescient. I can understand some criticisms that the writing is very description-heavy and perhaps veers into a pulp style, but that's okay - as I’ve said before, I've grown to really appreciate that genre. Some may also find the occasional violent scenes unpalatable, but I don't think that it's gratuitous and it's all within the context of the heaven / hell world the author has created.

It is worth mentioning that Farmer also created two other unique fictional settings that are worth looking into. First there is the "World of Tiers" which features a series of artificially created pocket universes and one specifically which contains a planet consisting of cylindrical layers stacked on top of each other to form an enormous cone-shaped tower. The other series is "Dayworld", set in a dystopian future where overpopulation is solved by allowing people to exist for only one day a week - the rest of the time they are in suspended animation. However there are a few individuals who are 'Daybreakers' - living seven different lives across the week and working to destabilise the system. If you like high concept science fiction, Farmer is the man to go for. Some brilliant covers by Chris Foss too.

When I was young and first read them, I found "To You Scattered Bodies Go" and it's sequels to be brilliant pieces of science fiction with plenty to say about the human condition. Despite their age and changing tastes and moralities, I still think the series (and the first book in particular) stand up amazingly well today.

Honourable mentions:

• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory - a gold-plated, timeless, five-star classic. Roald Dahl hated it, but he’s wrong, the miserable git. With an eccentric yet steely twinkle, Gene Wilder is pitch perfect in the title role (Dahl wanted Spike Milligan apparently. <<shudder>>). A genuinely great supporting cast, plus dancing Oompa-Loompas, catchy songs and hideous children getting their comeuppance adds to the delight. And let’s not forget that nightmarish boat tunnel sequence. How can you not love this film? The Burton “remake” isn't even worthy to shine its shoes - although the recent Timmy Chalamet prequel is surprising good.

• Mr Benn - to a certain generation, the phrase "As if by magic, the Shopkeeper appeared" immediately transports us back to a period when all of space and time was accessible via the door of a changing room. This wasn't "Doctor Who", it was a little man in a bowler hat who went on the most incredible animated adventures (personal favourites are “Wizard” and “Spaceman”). Written and drawn by David McKee and narrated by the soothing voice of Ray Brooks, the nation's children took Mr Benn to their hearts and he became a national institution - images appearing on adverts, posters, T- Shirts and even, in 2024, in “Doctor Who”…

• The World of Val Doonican LP - okay so maybe I’m fudging things here slightly, as this “Best of” album came out around 1968/1969. However I would have been too young to have heard it then, so it gets a place in 1971 when I was four years old. This coincides with my earliest memories of visiting my maternal grandparents in Sudbury, Suffolk. They had a massive “radiogram” that took up a corner of the living room in their cottage - complete with record player - and one of the albums in the cupboard was from good old Val. He was already a staple of Saturday night TV and on rainy weekend visits I’d put the LP on and listen to his smooth voice crooning out such hits as “Ellusive Butterfly” and “Walk Tall” - plus comedy classics “Rafferty’s Motor Car” and “Paddy McGinty’s Goat”. Those songs and that album cover bring back such happy memories from a genuinely golden time.

• Master Mind - no not the brainiac TV quiz show, but the “Invicta” peg based logic game (although many confused the two). Players had to guess the colour and placement of four pegs chosen by their opponent - their only indicator of success being a combination of black or white “feedback” pegs. The idea being that you work out the right combination before running out of turns. It’s more complicated than it sounds, trust me. A staple of kids Christmas presents (probably due to its size and cheapness), “Master Mind” is undoubtedly most famous for the picture on the box of an immaculately groomed bearded man in a suit, shadowed by a beautiful Asian woman. I must have played it for hours with my younger brother and there were multiple variations over the years. Sadly the picture does not depict an international spy and his associate, but the owner of a local chain of hairdressers who lived near the factory and a computer science student from Leicester University !

• Dave Allen At Large - obviously I was far too young to watch the hilarious sketches and monologues from the first few series of this landmark show, but as the years went by and I was allowed to stay up later, I became a huge fan. Dave’s relaxed style, perched on a stool, smoking away and sipping on a whiskey (actually ginger ale) was one of my formative experiences with comedy. I loved it as he appeared to get angrier and angrier. Never afraid to poke holes in the absurdities of life and the pomposity of religion, his routines were masterclasses in both timing and delivery - and laugh out loud funny both then and now. 

• Madman Across the Water by Elton John - not one of Reg’s best albums commercially, but boy does it have a bunch of songs that have stood the test of time, especially to my ears. I’ll always listen to the title track, plus standouts “ Levon” and “Indian Summer”, but it’s the 6 minutes and 17 seconds of the sublime “Tiny Dancer” that sits in the highest reaches of my favourite EJ music - especially after its brilliant use in the 2000 film “Almost Famous”.  Now that’s a movie I will definitely come to…