Golden Sunsets Redux - 60 Years of Memories - Part 10 - 1976

I didn't get where I am today without knowing a thing or two about British situation comedies...

1976:

The trivia:

• In May 1976, Los Angeles County physicians staged a month-long strike as part of a protest over medical malpractice insurance premiums. During the strike, researchers observed that the mortality rate appeared to decline by about 18%, compared to the same period in previous years. This statistic quickly had some critics implying that modern medicine might be doing more harm than good. The truth was that around 11,000 fewer non urgent operations were performed during the strike. The drop in mortality likely reflected the avoidance of surgical complications in older patients. It didn’t stop the conspiracy theorists though. 

• On 1 April 1976, the beloved British astronomer Sir Patrick Moore appeared on BBC Radio 2 and announced a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event. At exactly 9:47 a.m., the planets Jupiter and Pluto would align in such a way that their combined gravitational pull would temporarily counteract Earth’s gravity. He told listeners that if they jumped in the air at that precise moment, they would experience a “floating sensation”. Hundreds of listeners called in to say they had felt lighter, floated around the room, or even bumped their heads on the ceiling. One woman claimed she and eleven friends had been “wafted from their chairs and orbited gently around the room”. Of course, it was all a hoax.

• There were no red M&Ms between 1976 and 1986 due to a controversy involving a synthetic food dye. However that dye was never used in the colouring of M&M's at all. Mars just decided to withdraw the colour  to avoid "public confusion", replacing them with orange ones. A series of protest groups were set up including the ‘Society for the Restoration and Preservation of Red M&Ms’ and thousands wrote letters to Mars demanding their return. In 1987, Mars quietly reintroduced red M&M’s after the panic subsided.

• Ronald Wayne is often referred to as the “forgotten founder” of Apple. He co-founded the company alongside Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and held a 10% stake in the newly formed Apple Computer Company. But just 12 days later, he sold his shares back for $800, concerned about financial liability. Had Wayne held onto his 10%, his stake would be worth over $95 billion today. It would have made him one of the richest people on Earth. Surprisingly, Wayne has said he doesn’t regret the decision. 

The memory:

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin

Reginald Iolanthe Perrin lives in suburban Climthorpe with his wife Elisabeth. Every day he walks the same route to the same railway station, to sit in the same carriage, across from the same faces on the same train (which is invariably late) to the same office at pudding and ice cream manufacturers "Sunshine Deserts" to do the same sales executive job he has done for the past goodness knows how many years.

Every aspect of Reggie's working life is grating on his already fragile nerves. His boss C.J. is a pompous oaf, who talks in mis-quoted cliches and how he "didn't get where I am today without...". His two subordinates Tony and David are next to useless yes-men who just parrot everything C.J. Says and insist that everything is "Super" and "Great". The new sales campaign for Exotic Ices seems utterly pointless. It's all so boring. It's enough to make him want to scream...

So Reggie begins to imagine having a passionate embrace with his secretary Joan across her desk and pictures his mother-in-law as a waddling hippopotamus. He starts to act very oddly - writing rude letters to the train company, arguing wildly with the tea lady about pieces of cake and experiencing more and more outlandish daydreams. As time goes on his eccentricities get crazier and his friends and family begin to worry. Reaching crisis point, Reggie ends up giving a drunken rambling speech at a conference and vows to end it all. Walking to the beach he leaves his clothes there and... well a story of apparent death and rebirth is just getting started...

Across three increasingly absurd series, Reggie keeps trying to leave his past behind and live a life of anonymity, individuality and peace, but finds himself drawn back to his family - firstly in disguise and then under a false name. Incredibly, no matter how bizarre the schemes he comes up with, Reggie keeps succeeding. "Grot", a shop that sells only useless things (square footballs, tins of melted snow, empty cardboard boxes, etc, etc) becomes a commercial phenomenon. His commune, where people can retreat from modern life, is embraced by the very people he’s trying to escape from. It's exactly what he doesn't want.

It's perhaps hard to imagine a show about the apparent utter pointlessness of modern 1970s life and a desire to escape it all being funny, but it is - enormously so. This is partly down to the subtle, clever and satirical writing from creator David Nobbs, and partly to the ensemble cast of oddball characters - each with their own catchphrase - that surround Reggie Perrin. Sunshine Desserts boss C.J. is my favourite, but there is also wonderful humour to be had from politically correct son-in-law Tom ("I'm not a ---- person..."), company quack Doc Morrisey and especially Elisabeth's brother Jimmy, played with typical world weary laconic charm by the always reliable Geoffrey Palmer ("Bit of a cock-up on the catering front I'm afraid...").

Of course the glue that holds all this together is the wonderful central performance from Leonard Rossiter as Reggie. Already a household name for his turn as grubby landlord Rigsby in ITV's "Rising Damp", this series sees him take his particular form of frenzied acting to new heights. It also helps that he is able to reel off the writers occasionally stream of consciousness dialogue at an incredible pace, adding to the manic nature of Reggie's character.

It's an almost note perfect display of a man going through a mid-life crisis - questioning the meaning of existence and needing to break out of the confines of everyday life and go off and do something - anything - more adventurous. Rossiter manages to play this with just the right mix of madness and pathos so that you genuinely feel for the man and the stresses he is going through, even when he is acting in the strangest ways. His physicality, his timing, his ability to shift from deadpan to manic within a single sentence. It veers close to the cliff-edge of over-acting,but never quite goes that step too far.

It's a performance and a programme that always makes me laugh, no matter how many times I have seen the episodes. While it's true that series one and two are the best, there are glorious absurdist moments throughout all three. Those character catchphrases have entered into everyday use (each time my wife tells me to have a good day at work, I respond just like Reggie with "I won't!"). But it's also the little things that delight -

• The letters gradually falling off the Sunshine Desserts sign. 
• The fact that the computer picks the best flavours to start the Exotic Ices brand with as "bookends, pumice stone and West Germany"
• The ever more bizarre reasons why the trains are late ("Twenty-two minutes late, escaped puma, Chessington North").
• The fact that Doc Morrissey always has the same symptoms as the patient he is diagnosing and his prescription is *always* two aspirin.
• Son-in -law Tom's odd choices for home-made wine, including sprout, turnip and banana gin.
• No matter how bad Reggie’s disguises are, no one recognises him. 
• The Sunshine Desserts meetings are filled with meaningless buzzwords - and whoopee cushions.

The belated 1996 fourth series, "The Legacy of Reginald Perrin" features many of the original cast but is sorely missing it's late star. It raises a few smiles, but it feels a bit like a corporate TV decision with a lack of originality, rather than having something worthwhile to say about '90s Britain. The Martin Clunes "Reggie Perrin" remake from 2009-2010 is just awful. Avoid it like the plague.

As I get older, I have more and more appreciation for Reggie and his frustrations. At times I am sure we can all feel trapped by the confines of the roles we have defined for ourselves - whether that be exhausted parent in the middle of the night, middle-manager dealing with a difficult employee or high-powered executive with the responsibility of a huge company. Some days we all just want to escape. I know I have. I don’t imagine my mother-in-law is a hippopotamus though…

Honourable mentions:

• Action comic (UK) - Let’s be honest, this should have been my number one choice. The huge impact this title had on the UK comics industry and on me as a reader cannot be emphasised enough. So why isn’t it? Well, partly because I’ve written about it once before, many years ago here. The other reason is that it seemed too obvious. It probably would top many peoples lists for 1976 - the comic is still spoken about fondly nearly fifty years later -  but I like to mix things up a little bit. So anyway, here it is, deservedly at the top of the 'honourable mentions'. A comic that had no silly jokes or cheerful sports stars - just an unstoppable shark lunging out of the water and ripping people to pieces. And it was the star of the strip! Then there was 'Death Game 1999', a dystopian future sports nightmare with manic cyborgs and violent deaths a regular occurrence. It both scared and thrilled me. Buying "Action" felt different, naughty even. I continued to read it even after the five-week ban. Sure, it was a shadow of its former self, but I still loved all the iterations of "Spinball". The merger with "Battle" was a step too far though - at the time I wasn't interested in a comic mainly about war and anyway, I'd discovered this new publication called 2000 AD...

• Imperial Stars - The first in the ten volume "Family d'Alembert" sequence written by Stephen Goldin is based on a novella by space opera grand master E.E. 'Doc' Smith. The titular family hail from DesPlains, a high-gravity planet that has endowed them with extraordinary strength, agility, and coordination. They perform in the Circus of the Galaxy, but in reality it is a front for intelligence operations for the Empire of Earth. Brother and sister Jules and Yvette travel the galaxy to investigate corruption, invasions and a conspiracy that threatens the Emperor himself. I adore this series. It’s pulpy serialised space opera at its best, full of twists, turns and a great dynamic between the lead characters. I may have come for 'Doc' Smith's name (given that he wrote another absolute favourite, the epic "Lensmen" saga), but stayed for Goldins ever-escalating plot. He’s the first author I ever corresponded with, when he sold me copies of two of the novels that were unavailable in the UK (this being the days before eBay). It also resulted in my first ever author dedication and autograph.

• The Big Bus - A spoof of the disaster movie genre which follows "Cyclops", the world's first double-decker, 32-wheeled, nuclear powered bus (yes really) on it's non- stop maiden voyage. No Leslie Nielsen (it beat “Airplane” to the big screen by four years), but it does have Stockard Channing, René Auberjonois, Larry Hagman and Lynn Redgrave, all playing it dead straight - plus lots of very silly jokes. The bus is a character in its own right - over-equipped (it has a swimming pool, bowling alley and a piano bar) and constantly on the verge of exploding. The film bombed at the box office, but for me it really is a guilty pleasure, up there with the best of the genre. An overlooked gem. 

• The Eternals - After a period at DC creating (amongst other things) the grand opus of the “Fourth World” saga, Jack “King” Kirby returned to Marvel and launched into a similar tale of gods, monsters and aliens. This time he took his inspiration from the many “ancient astronaut” theories popular at the time and the cosmic mythology of the Celestials, Eternals and Deviants was born. At a young age, I knew nothing of the legendary writer / artist and his vast impact on the comics industry.  What I did know - finding an issue of “The Eternals” in a seaside newsagent - was that I was hooked from the first panel. The tale of genetically enhanced humanoids living in secret and the arrival of the “Fourth Host” to judge humanity, is full of Kirby’s brand of bombast and mythic storytelling. Weird characters like the red-skinned Karkas or Brother Tode, plus the cosmic power of the Uni-Mind. To someone like me just starting a journey into US superheroes, it was like catnip. I couldn’t get enough, scouring every shop and spinner rack to find more issues. It would begin a life-long fascination with the great man’s work - and what a journey that would become. 

•  Oxygène  - I didn't really get addicted to the sublime electronica of Jean Michel Jarre until 1981’s "Magnetic Fields", but I can clearly remember hearing "Oxygène Part IV" on the radio and being very, very interested. What struck me most was how unlike anything else it was at the time. It wasn’t pop, or lift muzak or a TV theme - it felt like something…special. Both looking to the future and yet blending the influence of melodic themes of the past - and linking to my burgeoning interests in technology. Truly a piece of music that got stuck in my head. When I discovered the whole album a few years later it was more that just a new sound - it helped solidify my love for electronic music as a whole. From that point on I have continued exploring what the genre offers, always willing to look for something new - but “Oxygene” and it’s soundscape remains one of the benchmarks which I measure other music against.

We're All Stories In The End 14 - Cat's Cradle 3 : Witch Mark

 Time for a little fantasy to creep into the Doctor Who world....

Cat's Cradle : Witch Mark by Andrew Hunt

Seventh Doctor Adventures number: 7

Originally published: June 1992

Companions: Ace

"Spare no sympathy for those creatures. They were witches, they deserved to die."

A coach crashes on the M40. All the passengers are killed. The bodies carry no identification; they are wearing similar new clothes. And each has a suitcase full of banknotes.

A country vet delivers a foal. The mare has a deep wound in her forehead. In the straw, the vet finds a tapered horn.

In the darkening and doomed world known to its inhabitants as Tír na n-Óg, the besieged humans defend the walls of their citadel Dinorben against mythical beasts and demons.

The TARDIS's link with the Eye of Harmony is becoming ever more tenuous and is in urgent need of repair. But the time machine takes the Doctor and Ace to a village in rural Wales, and a gateway to another world.

                                             

So apologies for the pun, but I'm going to let the cat out of the bag straight away.

"Cats Cradle - Witch Mark" is not the rousing climax to a trilogy of interconnected adventures. To be honest, it’s probably an offence under the trades descriptions act to even call it a trilogy at all. No wonder Virgin did away with the umbrella titles after this.

While there *is* a conclusion to the flimsy "the TARDIS is seriously damaged" through-line stemming from "Time's Crucible", that feels utterly tacked on at the end in a "dictated by the editors, oh if I really must" way, so I'll not mention it... ever again.

Instead what we do get is mainly a "Doctor Who meets the fantasy quest genre" novel.

Touchstones are probably the "Narnia Chronicles" and definitely "Lord of the Rings" - with the latter providing some of the chapter titles for the book, not to mention some blindingly obvious call outs. But there are also elements of Gaelic, Welsh and other mythologies woven into the backstory 

I'll get to my thoughts on the actual plot in a bit, but it's perhaps telling that it was the origin, adaptation and use of these medieval names and stories that intrigued me the most.

I've come across many of the Irish names and concepts elsewhere - primarily in the "Sláine" comic strip in 2000 AD, written by Pat Mills. And here in "Witch Mark", some are used pretty straight.

The supernatural otherworld of  Tír na n-Óg is often described as being accessed via ancient sites, so a stone circle fits well. And while the Tuatha Dé Danann were not generally shown as the ruling council of the land, they *were* depicted as kings, queens and warrior heroes and had shapeshifting powers. The leader was known as Nuada though  - and in the most famous tales lost his arm in battle, eventually replacing it with one made from silver. Maybe he was an early Cyberman ?

Other names have been appropriated to fill Andrew Hunt's world. The Firbolg of myth were men, not centaurs.  The Fomoir were hideous sea creatures, not trolls.  And the Sidhe were often the fairy folk - definitely not Hobbits with fox like characteristics. Actually, see the novel "Autumn Mist" for an alternative take on those creatures. 

Meanwhile, distrusting warrior chieftain Chulainn is far removed from his Gaelic namesake - who served as the inspiration for the afore mentioned Sláine - warp-spasm and all. But Dagda and Arawn seem appropriate names for the twin suns of Tír na n-Óg - given that one is associated with fertility and the other with death.

Most interesting of all though, is the name given to the "magician" at the heart of this quest - Goibhnie.

In Irish mythology he was one of a trio of divine craftsmen, a metalsmith, provider of a sacred otherworld feast - and brewed ale that could convey immortality on those who drank it. The "Craftsman" side totally fits with the idea of the alien Troifran scientist that created the world.

Not all the creatures stem from Gaelic pre-history. The unicorns are known as Ceffyl, which as any Welsh speaker (of which I am NOT one) knows means horse. Pretty on the nose there. And the Dinorben fortress did once exist in Wales, although its long since been destroyed.

All that and an appearance from Herne (from English folklore) who lives backwards in time (like Merlin of Arthurian legend).

Anyway, enough with Andrew Hunt's melting pot framework  - what about the actual novel?

Well it's absolutely the most traditional Doctor Who story in this loose trilogy. It's a a non-manipulative Seventh Doctor and an immature Ace who still uses phrases like "bog breath" - so clearly *not* the gun-toting hero from "Warhead". 

Plus it all starts off in a '90s "X-Files" kind of a way - a remote Welsh village where strange things are happening, a grizzled local who seems to know more than he is letting on, locals disappearing without warning, a bus crash full people with no identification except for a strange birthmark. We even have a Mulder stand with Inspector Stevens of the Yard.

Though once the Timelord and his companion stumble into Tír na n-Óg - more quickly than I expected - the fantasy influences are worn loud and proud. And Frodo and Sam - sorry the Doctor and Ace  - are sent on an impossible mission to defeat the evil dark lord and restore things to normal, although no one really thinks they will succeed. 

Hunt also throws in some demonic monsters, a Welsh cult burning people at the stake, not to mention centaurs, Ace forming a telepathic bond with a unicorn - *and* a description of pregnant women having their stomach's cut open and the babies being strangled with their own umbilical cords !

It's a heady mix.

I kind of like the premise - basically "the world is ending so the fellowship of fantasy creatures and men breaks because the humans are selfish and want to become refugees in our world". And I can't remember Doctor Who doing a pure fantasy of this type before.

But here lies my problem. 

I wish it had stayed as a fantasy setting. It would have been something different.

Not everything in Doctor Who has to have a scientific explanation - and to be honest, once it was revealed that the world was all the work of genetic engineering by an alien, I kind of lost interest a little. Not to mention that once that came to light, the whole thing seemed to rush headlong to a conclusion, with numerous plot threads just left hanging - 

Where did all the money founds on the people in the crashed coach come from?

The same goes for the replicas of the Doctor and Ace. I assume they were "demons" but what purpose did their disguise serve? If it was just to kill Janet and Hugh - then what? The whole element seemed to peter out.

Was David really Bathsheba's missing brother ? If so, what happened to send him to Earth ?

It feels like it could have done with quite a few more pages and a different resolution - one that didn’t have to tie into that trilogy ending that shall not be named.

How much of this was down to it being Andrew Hunts' first novel is difficult to say.

But the ideas were solid, even if I personally would have preferred a different (and more fulfilling) execution.

Golden Sunsets Redux - 60 Years of Memories - Part 9 - 1975

Bear with me. It's going to be quite a time-twisting, decades-hopping path before we get to the memory in question this time...

1975:

The trivia:

• On the 18th July of 1975, seventeen year-old Erskine Ebbin from Hamilton, Bermuda was hit by a taxi and killed whilst riding his moped. It was almost exactly one year after his brother Neville was also killed - riding the same moped, on the same road, by the same taxi driver, Willard Manders. Astonishingly, according to the boys’ father, even the passenger carried in the taxi was the same in both instances. It sounds almost too co-incidental to be true…

• The classic BBC TV show “The Goodies” featuring Grahame Garden, Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor was known for its episodes of surreal comedy. During an episode called "Kung Fu Kapers", transmitted on 24th March 1975, Bill reveals he is a master of the secret Lancastrian martial art known as “Ecky Thump” - which usually entails wearing a giant flat cap and braces and wielding a black pudding as a weapon. Viewer Alex Mitchell of King’s Lynn, Norfolk laughed so much that he fainted, started to breathe unusually and then died of what was suspected as a heart attack. The story made news around the world. It wasn’t until 2012 when his grand-daughter had a similar near fatal cardiac arrest, that doctors realised that it was actually a rare condition known as Long QT Syndrome.

• On the 6th August 1975 the New York Times featured a front-page obituary for renowned fictional detective Hercule Poirot. The story gave a brief history of his career and detailed how Poirot had died at Styles Court, his Essex nursing home - along with fact that he had taken to wearing a wig and false moustache “to disguise the signs of age that offended his vanity”. It also carried a notice from Agatha Christie’s publisher that the final Poirot novel, "Curtain", was to be published on 15th October.

The memory:

Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze

Legendary pulp hero Doc Savage first appeared in his own magazine in March 1933, following on from the success of "The Shadow".  Although often classed as the world's first superhero, he actually had no powers. Instead Clark Savage Jnr had been trained almost from birth by a team of scientists assembled by his father. This punishing regime honed his mind and body, giving him huge strength, agility and fighting skills, a photographic memory and a vast knowledge of science. Main writer Lester Dent envisioned him as a cross between Sherlock Holmes and Tarzan, coupled with an innate sense of goodness.

Headquartered on the 86th floor of Manhattan's tallest skyscraper (implied to be the Empire State Building), Doc also possessed a large array of vehicles, futuristic gadgets and weaponry, including the "mercy bullet" which only put its victim to sleep. His fortune came from a hidden South American gold mine that was bequeathed to him after his very first adventure. Lastly he had a secret retreat in the Arctic wastelands known as the 'Fortress of Solitude' (Superman stole that idea) where he could carry out experiments, meditate and get away from the stresses of everyday life.

Possessed of distinctive bronze skin and hair and golden eyes (traits shared by his cousin Patricia) and accompanied by his five friends - Ham, Monk, Renny, Long Tom and Johnny - who were all experts in their chosen fields, Doc punished evildoers and solved mysteries across 181 'super-sagas'  - all the way thorough to 1949. Controversially, Doc also sometimes operated on the brains of the criminals he subdued, curing them of their evil ways.

I first came across Doc and his friends in my mid-teens via some very battered Bantam paperbacks that my friend Matt showed me at a London comic-mart. Bantam had been reprinting the stories since the 1960s, many featuring the now classic James Bama image of a titan of a man with a sharp widows peak hairline and a tattered shirt, showing off his huge muscles. The artwork on the front was certainly intriguing enough but at the time I was more interested in comics and modern science fiction and fantasy novels than pulp stories from the 1930s, so I dismissed them as a relic of the a bygone era...

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Back in the days before it was a countrywide chain of hugely successful multi media pop culture stores, there were two shops called "Forbidden Planet", both in London. In St Giles High Street you had "FP2", which was the film and television hub. This was less than two minutes walk from the flagship store in Denmark Street - and in the 1980s that was the absolute mecca for fans of science fiction, fantasy and comic books.

(From the comics in the window this picture was taken in mid-1987...)

I absolutely *loved* Forbidden Planet. Even now, decades after they have moved premises, I just have to walk past the old shop front and the memories come flooding back from the myriad times I visited over the years, from around 1980 onward. I even went weekly when I started working in the big city. There was no CCTV back then, so after spending five minutes gawping at the current weeks comics displayed in the window, any bags you had were handed in to the guy sat on the stairs as you walked in through the narrow doorway off the street. In return he would hand you half a playing card and clip the other half to your possessions with a clothes peg. Thus crudely identified and secure, you were then allowed through the door on the left into the shop itself.

It was a long narrow space with dozens of  low shelves of novels at the front and racks of comics at the back - with everything else crammed in between. Back issues, posters, artwork, models - it was an absolute cornucopia of stuff, suffused with that old comic book smell which you just don't get in today's pristine mega-stores.  I still have a T-shirt with one of the Brian Bolland promotional images on it (although I'm far too large to fit into it now). I attended signings, made new friends and purchased hundreds of new comics and novels - all thanks to this magical place.

This is all very interesting you might think, but how does this relate to the "Man of Bronze"? Well, Forbidden Planet was where I rediscovered this classic Golden Age character...

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On one of my regular visits to the shop in the summer of 1988, I was doing my usual trawl through the bookshelves in search of something new to read when I came across a deep blue cover showing the figure of a burly man in a ripped shirt in front of a bolt of lightning. "Doc Savage Omnibus  #5" it proclaimed "Five Doc adventure classics in one giant volume!". Vaguely remembering a similar image from many years before, I took a look at the back cover and inside blurb. Hmmm... these stories sounding quite interesting.

You see, in the intervening years I'd learned a new appreciation for the characters from prior decades and those that had been the antecedents of the superheroes that I loved. There was a vast wealth of history out there, both prose and pictorial and now being in my early twenties  - and only very recently having read the bombastic update of "The Shadow" by Howard Chaykin, I was just in the right frame of mind to explore the world of the pulp heroes of the past. Forgoing my usual insistence to only buy a new book series from the first volume (#1-4 not being present on the shelves at the time), I took the omnibus to the friendly guy behind the counter and paid my £5.99.

It's worth mentioning here that it wasn't until much, much later that I discovered that not only was this not the first omnibus in the series, but the stories collected in each book were not even necessarily in chronological order. As I mentioned earlier, Bantam had been reprinting Doc Savage since 1964, but as the tales got shorter they combined them first into double novels and then these multi-story omnibuses. Volume five reprinted "super-saga's" 170-174, but such a sequence was unusual and other books had adventures seemingly at random from across the decades.

At the time though I didn't known any of this, so as I worked my way through "No Light To Die By" and the subsequent stories, I lost myself in a world of 1930s mystery and intrigue with ex-Nazi's, a rented gorilla suit, a female poisoner and a sunken ship. Sure the plots were a bit creaky and obviously of their time, but I found them very enjoyable. This first quintet only featured, Doc, Ham, Monk and a guest appearance from cousin Pat, but mentioned other characters that were "off on their own adventures" or "busy". I wanted to know more, so a few weeks later I went back to Forbidden Planet and found Omnibus # 6. That was it - I was hooked...

Over the coming months and years I would buy all of the Omnibuses and through second hand book-shops and similar places also purchase quite a few of the older Bantam reprints. I never did amass a complete collection of all 181 stories in paperback (I have since through the wonders of e-books), but that was okay. 

Then in 1991 Bantam began printing *new* Doc Savage novels, beginning with "Escape From Loki" by long-time Savage aficionado Philip Jose Farmer (remember him from back in 1971?) and I got all those too, right through until 1993 when the series was first cancelled.

A couple of asides at this point (in a post full of asides). Farmer also wrote a 1973 biography of  Doc Savage from the viewpoint that he was a real person and that "Kenneth Robeson" was just recording fictionalised versions of the Savage memoirs. He also linked Savage to dozens of other fictional characters in his "Wold Newton Universe". I mentioned this briefly before, in my 1969 piece when I wrote about "A Feast Unknown". It's a fascinating idea that blurs the line between fiction and reality. Alan Moore has commented that this concept was a significant influence on his work on the "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" comic book and its various sequels. 

So, we have established that I developed a love of the Doc Savage stories from the 1930s, which I rediscovered in the 1980s and that I read the books well into the 1990s - so how does all this fit into a memory of something released in 1975 ? The answer involves Farmer's other favourite character, Tarzan...

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When I was much younger I loved the "Tarzan" TV series. Although it was originally transmitted between 1966 and 1968, the British TV channel "ITV" showed the series on what seemed like a continuous loop on Saturday mornings in the 1970s. Like the Adam West "Batman" show, it became imprinted on the memories of most children of that decade. I was already familiar with the character from the black and white Johnny Weissmuller movies that my dad liked to watch, but this was a more educated ape-man, returning to the jungle after becoming tired of living amongst "civilised" men. With high production values, action packed storylines and filming in real jungles (admittedly Brazil rather than deepest Africa) it was a technicolour feast for the eyes. Accompanies by local boy Jai and ever-present chimpanzee Cheetah, Tarzan was one of my favourite TV heroes.

The real reason for the show's success was of course the amazing Ron Ely in the title role. An impressive well-built figure who could act, swim, fight and interact with animals - and do all his own stunts - he had a real screen presence and embodied the the role of the Lord of The Apes for a generation.  I've never forgotten him.

Which brings us, at last, to the point of this long rambling piece. One Saturday somewhere around 1989, I was flicking through the TV channels and paused to watch the end of a TV show (the name of which I can't remember). After the credits rolled, there was an announcement of the following programme, something along the lines of "Up next it's the afternoon film. Ron Ely is Doc Savage - The Man Of Bronze".

What !?  WHAT !? There was a Doc Savage movie? How had I missed this? Somehow in the year since I'd started reading the books I'd not come across this fact. Quickly I took a look on the "Teletext" pages for the channel (this is pre-internet remember. Oh and if you don't know when Teletext is, I recommend you look at the pages here. Hours of fun.) Ah, this film was made in 1975 -  that might explain why I had missed it. That plus it probably wasn't shown that often. Or when it was shown the name didn't ring any bells. Who knows. The point was it was on now! This was too good an opportunity to miss. Quickly I grabbed a blank videocassette, put it in my machine and pressed record just as the sonorous voice over and the patriotic strains of John Philip Sousa's "The Thunderer" march began...

Adapting the basic plot of the first novel, "Doc Savage: Man Of Bronze" sees our fearless hero investigating the death of his father. Vowing to solve the murder, Doc and the "Fabulous Five" attempt to travel to the republic of Hidalgo, but are opposed at every turn by a stream of tribal natives, relentless assassins and supernatural creatures - plus the ruthless and maniacal Captain Seas - who wants the riches of Hidalgo for himself.

Many of the core elements of the character are present - the 1930s setting, the 86th floor headquarters, Doc's daily exercise regime, the Fortress of Solitude, the strange "trilling noise" that Doc makes during times of mental stress or excitement and the various eccentricities or habits exhibited by his faithful companions. Even Monk's pet pig Habeus Corpus gets a look in. There are also plenty of bronze coloured retro gadgets and vehicles.

 But if you are expecting a straight-laced action / adventure story in the mold of "Raiders of the Lost Ark", which faithfully adapts the usual serious tone of the novels, well this is not the film for you. If however you enjoy the tongue in cheek, camp, self-aware, winking at the audience kind of thing that the "Batman" TV series did so well, and can go with the flow then you will "get" it. It's very, very silly in places  - for example the cartoonish villain's henchman sleeps in a giant baby crib - and the final fight sequence (with subtitles) has to be seen to be believed, The production values are great but there is some cheap looking animation and the acting is sometimes so far over the top, it comes back down the other side. But the truth is that all of that can be forgiven because it's just so much damn fun and outrageously entertaining - I adored the film that first time I watched it and I still do. This is the kind of film that the words "cult classic" were invented for.

Ron Ely was perfectly cast as Doc. Benevolent, intelligent, always three steps ahead of the bad guys, he exuded charisma and inhabits the role as if it was made for him. Like Adam West before him, Ely plays it absolutely straight even in the oddest of situations. Likewise the look of Johnny, Long Tom, Ham, Monk and Renny may not be exactly true to the books, but they are close enough that you can recognise the characters that Lester Dent created.

Apparently not everyone could see the fun side of having a humourous Doc Savage movie. "Purists" absolutely hated it. I can sort of see their point. They had probably been waiting years for a faithful adaptation of their favourite pulp franchise - and this certainly was not it. Maybe because I had come late to reading the books and only discovered the film fourteen years after its initial release, I was able to enjoy it more on it's own merits rather than weighing it down with decades of expectation. It seems that the musical choices (the Sousa marches, etc,) came in for particular scorn. If you want that all removed and some of the effects updated, there is a fan-edited "Detarnished Edition" out there on the interweb. I do have a copy and while it turns the film into something more akin to a colour version of the old Republic cliffhanger serials, it also loses some of the charm.

There's one other thing that I want to mention about "Man of Bronze" and that's Doc Savage's car. It's a now extremely rare bronze Cord Model 810 convertible with modified running boards (for Clark Savage Jnr to stand on) and it is just absolutely stunning. I have always appreciated cars from the early decades of the 20th century and for me this one is just at the top of the pile. I. Want. That. Car. Sadly unless I win the lottery and can have one custom adapted to look just like that picture below I think I'm out of luck..

In conclusion - more than thirty-five years after reading my first Savage story I still enjoy Doc's adventures in novel and comic book form. There have been multiple suggestions over the decades that a new film version will be made, with everyone from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Dwayne Johnson up for the role. Maybe it will happen, maybe it won’t. Until then I have the 1975 version of the Man of Bronze and I know I may be in the minority here, but despite its flaws the film always makes me smile. It's not a guilty pleasure at all.

Time for some music...

Honourable mentions:

• Jaws - There are movies you watch - and then there are movies that become part of your DNA. For me, "Jaws" is the latter. It's probably my favourite film of all time and certainly the one I have purchased in more different formats than any other (yes, even the disc for the Phillips LaserVision). It's astonishing that a film made under such difficult conditions ended up being just about perfect. John Williams' iconic score. The superb performances - especially from the magnetic Robert Shaw. The way that being forced to keep the shark mostly unseen actually makes the film better. Fifty years later it's as powerful and scary and dramatic as ever. I've watched it more times than I can count and I love every single frame. It's not just nostalgia. "Jaws" was the first film where I wanted to know how it was made - that got me interested in the art of film-making. The first film where I knew the name of the director and followed his career. The first film I could quote lines from. I may never need a bigger boat - but I'll always need "Jaws".

• The Rocky Horror Picture Show - There was a time in my late teens / early 20s when "Rocky Horror" wasn't just a movie - it was a lifestyle. I must have been watching it on a weekly basis. Richard O'Brien was my idol. I went to every live stage show and film screening I could find. I dressed up as Brad in his lab coat and white underwear. I shouted out talk-back lines, threw rice, toast and toilet paper with gusto. I bought every LP going. In short, I was addicted. There's something about "Rocky Horror" that just spoke to me. It wasn't just Tim Curry strutting his stuff in fishnets and a basque. It wasn't just the marvelous songs where I knew every lyric. For someone that didn't have a lot of friends (especially after leaving school) it gave me a sense of belonging. And although the decades have passed and I fell in love with other things, I only have to hear the opening notes of "Science Fiction, Double Feature" to be back in that time.

• Space:1999 - In my humble opinion this is Gerry Anderson's finest live action series (although I do have a lot of affection for "UFO"). It helps that it has one of the best theme's in the history of SF television. Barry Gray's thunderous orchestral blast, the whining electric guitar riffs accompanied by glimpses of what was in the episode this week. It's simply glorious. The show has an absurd premise really - a nuclear explosion blows the moon out of orbit, where it travels across interstellar space in mere months. But this wasn't "Star Trek". It was more philosophical. More eerie. Yes, there were monsters (none more horrifying that the tentacled horror from "Dragon's Domain"), but there was time to ponder the meaning of life. Martin Landau was never less than brooding magnificence and Barbara Bain was worthy if a little dull. My favourite though was the wonderful Barry Morse as Professor Victor Bergman. He wasn't the flashy science guy - he was warm, grounded and had a kind of quiet sadness about him. A shame he only lasted the one series. The second not only dropped him (and the fabulous Main Mission set), but also the theme and the more serious elements - going for a "creature of the week" vibe that never quite worked. At least we still had the Eagles and the Com-Locks and the Stun Guns. Those are technical elements that still stand up today. Oh and yes, like every school boy, I did have a massive crush on Catherine Schell as Maya...