Golden Sunsets Redux - 60 Years of Memories - Part 12 - 1978

When it came down to picking something for this year, there was just one LP I keep returning to again and again and again...

1978:

The trivia:

• In 1936, facing religious persecution, Karp Lykov fled with his wife and two children into the remote regions of southern Siberia. Over time, they had two more children, all born and raised in isolation. For over four decades, the family survived with no contact from the outside world, living a log cabin, growing their own food, and surviving off the land. They had no access to modern medicine, electricity, or even basic news - so were unaware of World War II, the moon landing, or any major global events. In 1978, a team of Soviet geologists surveying the region by helicopter spotted their cultivated land. Despite initial hesitation, the Lykovs welcomed the visitors and slowly began to learn about the modern world. Tragically, within a few years of contact, three of the children died, possibly due to exposure to unfamiliar viruses. Only the youngest daughter survived, and continues to live in the wilderness to this day. 

• Kurt Gödel was one of the most brilliant logicians of the 20th century, whose work fundamentally changed the way we understand mathematics. He was also a close friend of Albert Einstein. However, despite his towering intellect, Gödel struggled with severe anxiety and paranoia. He was particularly afraid of being poisoned, a fear that grew more intense as he aged. Because of this, he refused to eat any food unless it was prepared by his wife, Adele. When she was hospitalised for six months, Gödel, unable to trust anyone else, stopped eating. He died of starvation in January 1978, weighing just 65 pounds.

• The French created their own 1970s version of the internet called "Mintel", where you could shop, chat to friends, send mail and check stock prices. It was an interactive videotex system developed by France Télécom, accessed via small terminals connected to telephone lines. The French government distributed millions of these devices for free to encourage adoption - and it was a huge success. There were still over 800,000 terminals in use when it was finally shut down for good in 2012.

The memory:

Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds

"No one would have believed, in the last years of the nineteenth century, that human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space. No one could have dreamed we were being scrutinised, as someone with a microscope studies creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. Few men even considered the possibility of life on other planets and yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this Earth with envious eyes and slowly and surely, they drew their plans against us..."

How many versions of this incredible album have I bought now? The double LP (twice), the cassette, the CD (the first thing I ever bought in that format), the 7-disc Collector's Edition, the DVD of the live stage performance. The list goes on and on - and it’s never enough. Across 95 minutes, Jeff Wayne manages to tell the classic H.G. Wells story of Martian invasion through music and song in a way that has never been equalled.

Like most people I guess, I first came across the album via the song "Forever Autumn", which was released as a single and reached number five in the UK charts in August 1978. Justin Hayward's haunting vocals were perfect and as the presenters of "Top of the Pops" announced that it was from a musical version of "War of the Worlds", my ears pricked up even more. I'm sure I had read the original book by this point (I went through a phase at around age ten of borrowing all the "classics" from the library - Ivanhoe, Treasure Island, The Three Musketeers, etc).

I persuaded my parents to buy the record for me as a Christmas present and once the usual festivities were over and the relatives had all gone home, I was allowed to listen to it. I may have been familiar with the story, but what I wasn't expecting was the surprise of that opening narration from the superb Richard Burton and then those first few crashing chords. I was hooked instantly.

This was (and continues to be) a truly immersive audio experience. The thumping bass guitars, fabulous repeated themes and melodies, and extended sequences of prog-rock-esque music swept me away to Victorian London and the strangeness that was to come as a cylinder from outer space landed on Horsell Common. The sound design was just perfect - no-one can forget the noise of the cylinder unscrewing or the ear-shattering "ULLA" cry of the Martians as the tripod war machines rose above the terrified onlookers.

To help with the visualisation, the original LP version was accompanied by a 16 page booklet featuring several paintings by artists Peter Goodfellow, Geoff Taylor and Michael Trim. From that classic cover as a war machine attacks the warship Thunderchild, to the creeping of the Red Weed across the English countryside, to the crows picking at the dead flesh of the aliens after they are defeated  - the images reinforced the power of the story. I used to pour over the details for hours.

Richard Burton of course is responsible for much of the heavy-lifting of the narrative in between the music and the songs. His sonorous Welsh tones drive everything forward and if you listen to the out-takes (available in the Collector's Edition) you can hear how much he was enjoying getting his lips round the various passages of text, many lifted directly from the novel. I particularly like his reading of the description of the hideous Martian creature, as it prepares to dispense death from the heat ray:

“Its lipless mouth quivered and slavered - and snake-like tentacles writhed as the clumsy body heaved and pulsated.”

There were other versions of the narration recorded for overseas language markets, including one featuring Anthony Quinn, but nothing can supplant Mr. Burton in my memory. He is as intrinsic to the success of the production as the music and lyrics.

He's not the only excellent voice on the album though. Jeff Wayne fills out the rest of his cast with some highly talented vocalists, many of whom were / would go on to become musical legends. The previously mentioned Justin Hayward (The Moody Blues), Julie Covington, Chris Thompson (Manfred Mann's Earth Band), Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy) as Parson Nathaniel and not forgetting David Essex as the "The Artilleryman". Each voice adds something special to the story. Essex is steadfast at first as the loyal soldier and then increasingly deranged as he wants to rebuild the world underground. Lynott is perfect as the poor religious man who finds himself doubting his own faith in the face of the Martian's overwhelming alien superiority and believing that they are heralds from Satan.

I must have listened to the record over and over and over again in those first few weeks, the headphones glued almost permanently to my ears. If this was my introduction to the idea of the "concept album" then I couldn't have picked a better one! Yes it deviated from the source novel in a few areas, but I didn't care.

As time went by "War of the Worlds" was a constant companion and then in the early-80s, the music impinged on my other burgeoning interest - computer games. I was a big devotee of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum - a primitive machine by today's standards but with it's 48K of memory and 256 colours it was a revolutionary and ridiculously successful product at the time - spawning an entire industry of software houses and home programmers. In 1984, CRL released a Spectrum version of "War of the Worlds". I bought it of course, but to be honest it was a pretty poor graphical adventure. I just kept wandering around various locations looking for the Martian base and dying of hunger. After a few days of getting nowhere (and I always considered myself pretty good at these kind of games) it was abandoned. I've found out since that you had to visit the locations in the same order as they were on the album, but even so, it's not something I have any desire to revisit.

In 1989 there was a resurgence of interest in the album when Ben Liebrand released a remixed version of the classic first track "The Eve of the War" and it got to number three in the singles charts. I still have the 12" around here somewhere. This led to other alternative mixes and eventually a double CD full of them in 2000 known as "ULLAdubULLA - The Remix Album". I think I borrowed a copy from  somewhere but a few of the alterations were too extreme and  it was veering into the club / dance genre - really not my thing. They re-released it in 2006 with even more versions but to me they are an interesting curio, nothing more.

2005 / 2006 was also the time when Jeff Wayne really began to ramp up his use of the material in the new century, partly to capitalise on the release of the Spielberg film starring Tom Cruise. First there was the 2-disc 5.1 Suround Sound Hybrid Super Audio CD set. This was then included in the 7-disc collectors set, along with a hardbound version of the booklet and 80 pages of behind the scenes photographs . Plus the best of the remixes, hours of out-takes and rare unused tracks and songs (most never heard before) and a "making of" DVD. It truly was the best set a fan could hope for and I quickly snapped up a copy. Just thinking about it makes me want to pull it down from the shelf and listen to everything again.

Jeff's next trick was a live stadium tour of the full work, complete with 48-piece string section and rock band. The centrepieces were a 11 foot high 'virtual' Richard Burton, which via image projection and lip-syncing moved along with the words of the Journalist, and a giant Martian fighting machine appearing on stage complete with heat ray. Some of the original musicians and cast returned as well - and various other singing roles were taken by performers such as tenor Russell Watson, ex-pop star Jason Donovan and a host of former reality TV singers.The tour was so successful that it went to Australia and New Zealand and mainland Europe - and continued in one form or another right through to 2011. I never got to go sadly, but I do have the DVD of the 2006 Wembley Arena show. It's a great set of performances, even if the images they used of Burton for the huge virtual head were of his younger self rather than the craggier, older looking man I remembered from his later career.

During a break from touring, Wayne worked on a *new* version of the album. Dubbed "The New Generation". it 'allowed the composer to re-interpret his music and 'use more modern production techniques'. All the major roles were recast and in a moment of absolute sacrilege (at least to this listener), Burton was dropped in favour of Irish actor Liam Neeson. "Kaiser Chiefs" frontman Ricky Wilson became the Artilleryman and "Take That"'s Gary Barlow provided vocals for the sung thoughts of the Journalist. Soul singer Joss Stone was also cast as Beth. So big question  - was it any good? 

Despite his film pedigree, Liam Neeson just couldn't compete with the golden voice and gravitas of Burton. It came across as more of an flat "audio book" performance rather than an acting one. He got quite a bit of new dialogue too, but I can't think of one line that felt like an essential addition. Gary Barlow and Ricky Wilson did actually make reasonable stabs at their roles, "Forever Autumn" was actually pretty good, if a bit less orchestral, while Wilson was no David Essex, but I quite liked his Artilleryman. Elsewhere though Joss Stone could certainly sing, but definitely NOT act. Parson Nathaniel was here played by Maverick Sabre (yes I had no idea who he was either) and the problem was a total lack of chemistry between the two, which made "Spirit of Man" just a bit of a damp squib. There were also a few bits taken from a 1998 PC strategy game (I had to look that up) including, would you believe a couple of lines of Martian dialogue. 

It was all still recognisably "War of the Worlds" with the brilliant songs and themes from before but to be perfectly frank it's been "tinkered with" a bit too much. Wayne had added lots of sound effects and extra "whoosh" noises and drumbeats - and they all stood out at right angles from the original score. It's a bit like the "updated" versions of the original "Star Wars" trilogy - the core is still there but the digital frippery around the edges detracts rather than adds to the experience - and like those CGI creatures, I think these additions will date very quickly. What was once a timeless classic became something...less.

Don't get my wrong, anyone who came to this for the first time would still be blown away by the power, excitement and vibrancy of Wayne's vision, but for those of us who grew up listening endlessly to the 1978 version, the "New Generation" recording just reinforced how good that really was. Who knows, maybe it did introduce a host of younger people to the music - personally I would have just handed them a copy of the original...

This new take on the album also went on tour under the sub-title "Alive on Stage!" between 2012 and 2013 with some of the cast repeating their roles and Liam Neeson appearing via much improved holographics. Former pop stars Marti Pellow, Brian McFadden and Shayne Ward also popped up during various iterations of the round the country performances. There was more new material in the live shows which was not present on the CD (including new scenes), plus enhanced pyrotechnics and special effects. At one point they even had actor Callum O'Neill on stage as author H.G. Wells across three ages of his life. Again I did not go to any of these shows , but bearing in mind my less than high opinion of the "New Generation" in the first place, I don't think I even considered it, nor did I get the eventual DVD.

Then in late 2014 there was a one month "Final Arena Tour". This featured the addition of Carrie's father as a new character and lyrics to "Life Begins Again". A prologue was performed as a pre-show segment with the characters performing among the audience rather than on stage.

In late 2015 it was announced that Jeff would be debuting a full theatrical "re-imagined" production in London's West End for a very limited run, conducted live on stage by the man himself. As well as the virtual Liam Neeson (no Burton sadly), the cast was to include Jimmy Nail as Parson Nathaniel, Heidi Range (Sugarbabes) as Beth, Daniel Bedingfield as the Artilleryman and  "Robin of Sherwood" star Michael Praed as "George Herbert". Most interesting of all was the news that David Essex would be returning to the Victorian era for the first time in over 35 years! I looked at my wife (also a big fan) and she looked at me - "We have to go!" we said almost simultaneously.

So on a cold Saturday in March 2016 we found ourselves in the fourth row of the Dominion Theatre, eagerly looking forward to a night of revisiting the greatest concept album ever made. Surrounding us were hundreds of other people of a similar age, and as the curtain rose and Mr. Neeson spoke those opening words, there was a ripple of excitement the air...

Hmmm. Perhaps I'd been too excited and expected too much. It was more than the previous "live on stage" shows I'd seen on DVD, that was for sure, but less than a full blown musical, so it fell somewhere in between, into a realm that was all a bit...odd. That's not to say the production team didn't throw everything at the wall. There were flame-throwers, lasers, alien tentacles, back projections of Victorian London, a full height Martian fighting machine clomping on and off stage at various moments, Liam Neeson popping in and out from all directions, diminutive Jeff Wayne sliding backwards and forwards on his podium as he conducted his heart out -  and lots and lots of people running around.

Michael Praed looked and sounded great, but when most of his lines were given to holo-Liam, he ended up spending a lot of the time just staring up at a screen. They should just have dumped the pre-recordings and let Michael do the whole lot live. Jimmy Nail was suitably boggle-eyed and raspy as the Parson experiencing a crisis of faith and Heidi Range could hold the high notes  - but the biggest surprise for me was Daniel Beddingfield, who had a really excellent voice and belted out the songs originally performed by David Essex.

David himself had the more undefined role as the "Voice of Humanity" so didn't do a huge amount of solo singing, but his croaky fading voice probably wouldn't have been up to it anyway - after all he was 69 years old - and let's be fair - his name was really there to draw in the punters. My least favorite part of the second half was the interpretative dance sequence, where red-clad ballet enthusiasts rolled around pretending to be the Red Weed. It seemed to go on for ever. I know that it's a long sequence of purely instrumental music, but maybe they could have been more ambitious.

Despite these flaws it was still an enjoyable show, and there was a deserving standing ovation for Jeff and the cast as they took their bows, The truth was, it didn't matter how much spectacle you threw at it - the main attraction was clearly the music. Even though it was the less-preferred "New Generation" version (with added bells and whooshes), it was hard to deny the thrill of hearing it played live and at full volume. It took me right back to that Christmas in 1978...

Since that big event, Jeff has continued to tour the album - in 2018, 2021/2022 and most recently in the spring of 2025. However, there have also been two other expansions to the franchise. Firstly in 2018 there was a five-hour audiobook "rendition" released via Audible.com. With more new story and musical content, the cast included Michael Sheen as the journalist, Taron Egerton as the artilleryman, Ade Edmondson as Ogilvy, Theo James as Parson Nathaniel and Jeff Wayne's daughter Anna Marie Wayne as Carrie.

Lastly, in May 2019, "Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds: The Immersive Experience" opened to the public in London, just a stone's throw from where I work. Set across 22,000 sq. feet, the nearly two-hour production combines music from the album, immersive theatre, virtual reality, holograms and a cast of twelve actors. As of October 2025, it's still running and has proved to be enormously popular. 

It's been a long and winding journey across the decades. There are still rumours of a full film version and despite his age Wayne shows no signs of slowing down. The power of the story and the music has been captivating listeners and audiences for more than forty-five years now  - and I have no doubt that I'll be listening to it for the rest of my life.

ULLA !!

 does last a long time - which for those who aren't a fan of the impressive interpretive dance Honourable Mentions:

• The Wild Geese - My second Richard Burton starring vehicle and what a film. What a cast. Richard Harris, Roger Moore, Stewart Granger, Frank Finlay. Hardy Kruger. The list goes on. I love the old ensemble war films like "The Guns of Navarone" and "Where Eagles Dare" and this has a similar feel, but with a darker and more modern edge. It tells the story of a bunch of ageing mercenaries contracted to rescue an Mandela-like African leader from imprisonment, with unexpected and deadly results. It’s gritty, violent, cynical and surprisingly emotional. The cast are perfect - Burton’s weary gravitas, Moore’s suave charm and Harris’s tortured intensity are supported by an ensemble of rounded and complex characters. Maybe on first viewing I didn’t grasp the politics or the moral ambiguity, but I understood the themes of loyalty and sacrifice. It’s a film that made war stories feel personal and I've lost count how many times I've seen it. Without any doubt - an absolute classic. 

• Blakes' 7 - After "Doctor Who" my second favourite British SF show and I’ll be honest, during its four series run, it held the top spot. A programme that was allowed to be clever, camp and character driven - and dared to say sometimes the heroes don’t win. There’s just so much to love - the stirring theme music, the amazing design (I’ll fight anyone who dares to tell me that the ‘Liberator’ is not the most beautiful spaceship in SF), the morally messy characters. Rebellion wasn’t easy. Heroes were flawed, villains were sometimes right and people died. It was silly and over the top and grim - and ultimately tragic. Okay, so some of the effects were a bit ropey. Maybe the performances veered towards pantomime. I didn’t care. I loved every character, every moment of adventure - even that astonishing, shocking ending. I made my own teleport bracelets out of plastic bottles and an ORAC computer out of cardboard, all so my friends and I could create our own adventures. Over the decades my love has never waned and the show’s legend has lived on, through comics, novels and full-cast audio adventures. One day I’ll write much more about it. But let’s be honest, as much as Blake was the good guy, we all wanted to be Avon…didn't we?

• Superman - Before superhero movies were brooding or ironic, there was the one that dared to make you believe a man could fly. Christopher Reeve didn’t just wear the cape, he *was* the character - that perfect balance of bumbling charm as Clark Kent and quiet strength as the Man of Steel. It's a portrayal and a film that has become so iconic that it has influenced all subsequent versions - even the comics. Maybe Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor is not quite how I think of Superman's arch nemesis, but the other performances are so strong that it papers over any cracks. More modern interpretations may have better special effects or delve deeper into the lore of the character - and I appreciate them all in various ways - but I think my heart will always belong to the original. Knowing what Reeve faced later in life off-screen, my appreciation of the man continued to grow. He wasn’t just Superman by donning the costume, he was a superman in spirit too.

• Centennial - The 70s saw the rise of  the historical blockbuster TV mini-series, which my parents and I greatly enjoyed. Prestige “events”, mostly based on best-selling novels and stripped across the week. They had all-star casts, and a budget to match. First in 1974 there was the Burt Lancaster starring "Moses the Lawgiver". Then in 1977 there was "Roots" and "Jesus of Nazareth". But the most ambitious of these (and the one I have the most fond memories of) was "Centennial" - the 12-part, 26-hour history of a fictional town in Colorado between 1795 and the then present day. Part Western, part family saga, part history lesson, it starred almost every well-known TV actor of the time - including Richard Chamberlain, Raymond Burr and Lynn Redgrave. Its stories were of Native Americans, fur trappers, ranchers, immigrants and outlaws. The word "epic" doesn't begin to do it justice. Each episode felt like a movie, and I learned more about US history by watching than from any reference book. The series doesn’t get talked about much these days, but it paved the way for miniseries like North and South, Lonesome Dove, and Band of Brothers. What’s even better is that when I found a copy on DVD many years later, it was still just as powerful and moving. 

• Starlord - 2000 AD's more colourful, short-lived sister comic - most notable for giving the world "Strontium Dog" and "Ro-Busters". Lasting a mere 22 issues its legacy is huge. But as good as those famous strips are, there are other stories which were just as interesting and sadly now seem to have been forgotten. In the early issues a favourite was “TimeQuake”. It had everything an SF obsessed kid could want: time travel, green frog-like aliens, Nazis, Aztecs in spaceships  - and in former tramp steamer captain James Blocker, a hero who looked like he’d be more at home in a pub brawl. It featured some stunning full-colour work from Ian Kennedy and others. But my own top strip was "Mind Wars" - a complex space opera by Alan Hebden and Jesus Redondo featuring psychic twins fighting against an alien empire. It was surprisingly mature, with some high-concept storytelling, clever twists and characters with emotional depth. - paired with gorgeous art from a real master. It needs a prestige collected edition, so others can discover its wonders.

We're All Stories In The End 15 - Christmas On A Rational Planet

 Lawrence Miles seems to have an excess of ideas....

Christmas On A Rational Planet by Lawrence Miles

Seventh Doctor Adventures number: 52

Originally published: July 1996

Companions: Roz & Chris

"An end to history. An end to certainty. Is that too much to ask?"

December, 1799. Europe is recovering from the Age of Reason, the Vatican is learning to live with Napoleon, and America is celebrating a new era of independence. But in New York State, something is spreading its own brand of madness through the streets. Secret societies are crawling from the woodwork, and there's a Satanic conspiracy around every corner.

Roz Forrester is stranded in a town where festive cheer and random violence go hand-in-hand. Chris Cwej is trapped on board the TARDIS with someone who's been trained to kill him. And when Reason itself breaks down, even the Doctor can't be sure who or what he's fighting for.

Christmas is coming to town, and the end of civilisation is following close behind...

                                             

Ah - another Lawrence Miles book. My first since reviewing "Alien Bodies" way back in part one of this strand. But this time, it's his first Seventh Doctor story - and apparently his first ever published novel. Will I start to see the genius that apparently everyone else does ?

Well let's get the bad news out of the way first.

This is a book about Order versus Chaos. Or Reason versus Superstition. Or Faith versus Science. Or Man versus Woman. It has big themes and strong metaphors. It has opinions and Larry *wants* you to know what he thinks - so you'd better listen, because he's going to keep telling you, over and over and over again, until it sinks in.

That's all very well and good - I don't mind a healthy dose of subtext. The problem is, some of it's all a bit…clumsy, and other elements are just, well, dare I say it, slightly dodgy.

I don't buy this "men are the architects, women are the chaotic ones" concept one little bit. I don't mind the gynoids -  'female' robots that aren't created but 'just are' , sure that's an interesting idea - but the fact that by being female they are less rational - nah, I'm not having that. In an infinite universe are there really only two genders - and men are the important builders ? 

Sexist? Quite possibly.

The first half of the book is also confusing to the point of being incomprehensible. Maybe its deliberate. Maybe it's first novel jitters. Maybe I'm just stupid. But Miles seems to have the concentration span of a gnat. 

He flits between scenes faster than a Weeping Angel  - so much so that you've had no chance to digest what is going on before - zip - its onto the next thing. It's like literary whiplash. I only just managed to keep up, and that was only after going back a few pages because I thought I'd missed something.

Then there's the Amaranth - the most maguffiniest of macguffins, without which large sections of the story just wouldn’t work. Sure, anyone can make things up to get their story going. That's fiction. But it take a special kind of Lawrence to write yourself a "rational" device which can warp reality and solve any knotty plot corners you might get yourself into.

Okay, maybe I'm being a trifle unfair.

Lastly, Don't ask me to name any of the supporting characters. Apart from the guy who was so tightly wound he might explode, none of them were even the slightest bit memorable. And if I had to read the word "cacophony" one more time, I think I would have screamed out loud and frightened my fellow train passengers.

But after all that moaning, what *did* I like ? Lot's of bits and pieces actually - and despite my criticisms, the book does all start to come together in the second half.

The Carnival Queen was an intriguing villain, stemming from Time Lord pre-history and supposedly a representation of all their irrationality. Who knows if the tale she told was actually real or not - it could have all been a deception.

As we know from "Alien Bodies", Miles likes wrestling with Doctor Who mythology and twisting it into new weird shapes - and it's no different in this book. So here, along with the origins of the "Watchmakers", we also have the first mention of "Grandfather Paradox", a bottle universe. *and* Time Lord biodata possibly being played with,

Then there's the peculiar, if slightly disturbing idea of the game "Eighth Man Bound" - played as a way for bored young Timelords to get a glimpse into their own future. Of course the Doctor is one of the only Time-teens to see his Eighth incarnation - foreshadowing much ?

All that and a possible explanation as to why the Third Doctor had a tattoo.

It's all good fun, and you can clearly see Miles putting the building blocks in place for the kind of stories he wants to tell in the future.

I also enjoyed his consideration that the Doctor is defined by his companions and needs them to give his existence meaning - something that the new series has picked up on several times.

That along with his excellent grand speech summing up why the Doctor does things - "Reasons. Principles, truth , love and harmony. Peace and goodwill. The best of intentions". Lovely.

It all makes me think that Miles *does* understand the core character of the Doctor. Underneath all the radical concepts and challenging prose he gets it. In fact, based on the two novels of his I've read so far, I'd say he's more in tune with the Seventh Doctor than the Eighth.

The companions don't suffer too badly either. Both Roz and Chris get a bit of backstory - Roz perhaps more so - which is good for someone like me who is reading their stories out of order.

Roz is also the more competent of the two. I can't see her fiddling with things she doesn’t understand and accidently destabilising the TARDIS !

Speaking of which, the whole concept of the "Interface" and how it manifests on the TARDIS walls was a lot of fun - as were the various rooms and corridors Chris encountered on his travels. I particular enjoyed the fact that the TARDIS library's copy of "A Passage To India" contains a series of dimensional portals, each leading to a different location.

On a more sombre note, Woodwicke’s witch hunt (and it's very….localised apocalypse) is definitely a reflection of some of the paranoia, conspiracy theories and hatred for "the other" that was prevalent in the 80s and 90s. Sadly the same distasteful behaviours and cult-like ideas can be seen in the society of today, with the current persecution of ethnic minorities and those in the LGBTQIA+  community.

It seems we are always doomed to repeat the mistakes and the hatred of the past, whether in literary form or the real world…

Finally, I read that there is a fan theory that this book contains references to every Doctor Who TV story. I've no idea if that is true - but I did spot a few obvious ones, such as Chris mentioning that "We can’t change history. Not one line" and nods to Quarks, Invisible Daleks, Morbius, the Taran Wood Beast and a bit of Venusian Akido. 

Haiiii !!!!!

So, okay Mr Miles, I think you won me over with this one. A few annoyances but in the end a pretty intelligent and original first story

What do you have for us next ?

Golden Sunsets Redux - 60 Years of Memories - Part 11 - 1977

This is one of those landmark moments. A time when a whole bunch of important things came together. I can categorically say that what I read, watched, and listened to in this year changed my life forever. So although officially there is one 'memory', there are actually lots of things to talk about. Science Fiction and Fantasy was about to fill my world...

1977:

The trivia:

• On 15th August 1977 in Delaware, Ohio, a State University radio telescope known as "Big Ear" detected a 72 second long narrowband radio transmission from deep space - originating near the constellation Sagittarius. It was on a frequency that many scientists believed intelligent aliens might use. Named the "Wow!" signal (due to the word astronomer Jerry Ehman wrote while reviewing the data), it was never repeated. Despite decades of investigation and speculation, it remains unexplained - but continues to inspire new generations of enthusiasts and those involved in SETI (the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence).

• At 5.10 pm on 26th November, the audio signal for the ITV Southern Television news broadcast was hijacked for six minutes by a distorted voice. It claimed to be  from an extra-terrestrial entity named "Vrillon" ("Gillon" or "Asteron" in some transcripts)  - a representative of the "Ashtar Galactic Command". The message urged humanity to abandon our "weapons of evil", embrace peace and spiritual evolution, and prepare for a 'great awakening'. Despite local alarm, most investigations concluded that it was a technically sophisticated hoax, especially as "Ashtar" is a name associated with UFO and New Age lore dating back to the 1950s.

• A Filipino couple accidently received the equivalent of one million dollars into their account in Manila due to a clerical error by a Mellon Bank employee in the US. They promptly withdrew the whole sum and spent it on property, medical expenses and gifts to friends and family - then disappeared. Mellon Bank tried to recover the funds via legal means, and while the Philippine court initially ruled in the couples favour, that judgement was eventually overturned. But by then, the money was all gone and the couple were nowhere to be found...

The memory:

"Hang on a minute" you might think. "Surely 2000 AD should be an obvious choice for 1977 ? This is where 'Thrill Power' began isn't it?". Well, you'd be right - the writers and artists and stories within its pages shaped my love for comics in a huge way. The fact that it's the only thing from forty plus years ago that I still read today, *and* still have every single issue, is testament to its undeniable influence on my life. The spirit of 2000 AD is embedded deep in the DNA of the person I am today -  and in the subjects I enjoy writing about on this blog.

The thing is, I could never do justice to the everlasting energy of the Galaxy's Greatest Comic in just one post of a few hundred words, or limit myself to the stories of one year (as good as those from 1977 are). 2000 AD is too big and too important. I wrote about my love for the early Dan Dare stories many years ago, and M.A.C.H.1 got a hefty mention in the post for 1973, but there is much, much more to talk about - and I'll get to it all, in time. But for now, in recognition of 2000 AD's debut, here's a montage of some of the covers that came out in that first amazing year (with credit to the excellent retrosmack blog for pulling these together).

Close Encounters Of The Third Kind

So after those stunning examples of Thrill-Power, it's time to move on to the main event - and Steven Spielberg takes another slot in my favourite films of all time. Sure, "Jaws" may have wowed me with its scares and excitement, but this - this is on a whole other level. I guess it's not surprising really when you consider how, even from an early age, I was fascinated by science and space exploration and the idea of aliens from other worlds. 

Interest in UFOs was at its absolute peak in the late 70s, but much like me, Spielberg had been intrigued by them since he was a young boy. He wanted to create a film where the extra-terrestrials were benevolent, not creatures to be feared - and had begun to develop the idea years earlier under the title ’Watch The Skies’. But it was after the huge success of “Jaws” gave him more clout with the Hollywood studios, that he finally found himself with the freedom to pursue it fully. 

After securing a deal with Columbia Pictures, Spielberg assembled a team that could match his vision. He brought in special effects expert Douglas Trumbull - fresh off  “2001: A Space Odyssey” - to lead the visual effects and John Williams was on board for the score, continuing their creative partnership. By 1976, the pieces were falling into place. Filming took place in Wyoming and at a massive hanger in Alabama, while Trumbull and his effects team had to invent new techniques on the fly - combining miniatures, matte paintings and practical lighting. As the scope expanded, studio executives grew nervous and Spielberg had to fight to maintain the tone he wanted. It was a deeply personal project.

And for me, even before I saw a single frame, I knew there was a kind of buzz in the air. Posters, trailers, magazine write-ups - all hinted at something vast and mysterious. The haunting image of a lonely road leading to a glowing horizon - and the tag line of “We Are Not Alone” - was everywhere. British TV aired documentaries on alien encounters. Queen Elizabeth went to a Royal Premiere. This was a big event.

But the odd thing is, "Close Encounters" is *so* ingrained in my memories, that I'm honestly struggling to remember when I first got to watch it. Did I get taken to the cinema by my late grandfather in early 1978? (the timeline just about fits and there are memory flashes about sitting in a darkened room watching something about UFO's - and no, it wasn't that *other* famous SF film) Did I get that first feeling of astonishment when I saw it on BBC1 around age 12 or 13? Who knows for sure - I guess the exact moment doesn't matter. What does is that "CE3K" sits there in my personal history like an enormous black hole making a gravitational dent in space-time.

For those that have yet to experience it, the film is really the story of everyman Roy Neary and single mum Jillian Guiller as they have differing encounters with something not of this world. Both are deeply affected by the experiences. Gillian's three year old son vanishes. Roy gets third degree burns on his face and finds his stable family life torn apart by forces which he can't understand. The result is that both become obsessed with a mysterious mountain in Wyoming. 

Travelling to the site and avoiding the military courdon, they arrive in time to see dozens of UFOs. As government specialists communicate with the ships via colours and tonal frequencies, a gigantic mothership lands and strange aliens emerge, along with many people thought lost decades earlier -  and they haven’t aged in the intervening years. Roy is selected to join a group who are to visit the mothership and after a final conversation using simple hand gestures, the aliens ascend to the stars with their new friends.

A paltry few words can't begin to explain the sheer mesmerising power of this film. It's full of iconic moments - images I can picture immediately when I just close my eyes. The lost ship stranded in the Gobi desert. The screws unwinding in the golden light of Jillian's apartment. Roy sculpting a replica of Devil's Tower out of rubbish in his living room. The five notes played to the alien spacecraft are as recognisable now as the theme to James Bond's adventures or "Raider of the Lost Ark" (they were also the first thing I could ever copy on an electronic keyboard). All these things pale behind one of the most astounding, awe-inspiring sequences in science fiction - the mothership appearing above the mountain and then slowly turning over. I’m sure I sat there with my mouth open. Cinema doesn't get much better than this.

The film is  not without some minor faults and unanswered questions. Why did the aliens take the people in the first place? Did they lure little Barry away just to get his mother to Devil's Tower? That seems particularly cruel. Doesn't Roy Neary give up on his family and kids to go off in a spaceship just a little too easily? Yet at the time of viewing, you don't even think of these things. You are swept up in the story and visuals. 

It’s well known that Spielberg was pressurised by the studio to release the film quickly, which meant he was unable to refine things quite the way he wanted.  It was a huge success anyway, but Columbia offered him the chance to re-edit the film for a 1980 “Special Edition” re-release. It’s…okay, and the scenes inside the alien mothership are impressive, but they really weren’t needed and remove some of the wonder. The director regretted it too, so in 1988 he released a final “Director’s Cut”. While that version may be the closest to his vision, the original is still my favourite.

I think we all really want our first meeting with intelligent beings from another planet to be as peaceful and magical as that pictured in this film  - both sides putting their efforts into communicating and making friends rather than immediate aggressive actions. Sadly the current reality is probably going to be more antagonistic. As a species we are just not ready for a close encounter...

Looking back, it’s hard to overstate what “Close Encounters” meant to ten-year-old me. It wasn’t the spectacle - though the FX, music and sheer scale were unforgettable. It was more that it opened my mind to the possibilities of science fiction. That it wasn’t all heroes with ray guns. It could say something about the who were are as humans. From that moment on I was hooked. Books, films, TV shows, comics - you name it - I wanted to experience it. It was life changing.

Watch the skies...

Honourable mentions:

• The Fantastic Journey - Although it only lasted a brief ten episodes, this show is remembered, by me at least, for the Bermuda Triangle / time-travel / Mysterious Island concept and for the cast of interesting actors - including Roddy "Planet of the Apes" McDowall and Ike "Witch Mountain" Eisenmann. My favourite was Jared Martin as Varian, a "more evolved" man from the 23rd Century with his multi-purpose tuning-fork-like 'Sonic Energiser' - which looked much cooler than the Doctor's screwdriver. Sure, the things the group encountered as they travelled through the various zones were overly familiar SF plots - a giant pulsating brain controlling the population, Joan Collins as the leader of a group of female revolutionaries who overthrow their male oppressors, a society of androids fighting green-skinned aliens - but it was still thoroughly enjoyable. For some reason it's always stuck in my mind. It was only in later years that I learned of the production troubles, abandoned characters and curtailed episodes. Within a few months of its cancellation, many of the the production crew had moved on to a new show - namely:

• Logan's Run - Not the classic Michael York film (which I adore) but the 14-episode TV spin off. The premise was basically the same: in a post-apocalyptic future, survivors live in a domed city where life is a disco-tinged party - until you turn 30, when you undergo “Carousel,” a rebirth ritual that actually kills you. Logan 5 is a Sandman, hunting down “runners” trying to escape their fate, but he starts to question the system and along with rebel Jessica 6, flees the city in search of the mythical “Sanctuary”. It’s a modestly budgeted show (lots of reused sets) and the plots are again your standard hoary 70s SF fare - but my own over-riding memory is of dry-witted android companion REM (played by Donald Moffat) and the cool silver cars than the Runners and Sandmen travelled around in. Despite its brief run, the series tackled some big ideas: freedom vs. control, aging, identity, and the search for truth - but it arrived just months after the debut of that tale from a ‘galaxy far, far away’ and audiences suddenly wanted space battles and cinematic spectacle on their TV screens, not philosophical thoughtfulness…

• A Spell For Chameleon by Piers Anthony - Not the first fantasy novel I ever read (I guess that honour goes to Enid Blyton's "The Magic Faraway Tree") - nor my favourite published in this year (that's getting a mention in a later post in this strand for a different reason) - but the one that made me realise that fantasy could be charming and funny. The first in Anthony's "Xanth" series (which currently runs to an astonishing forty+ volumes) it concerns the adventures of "Bink", who is exiled from his homeland because he *doesn't* have a magical talent. It's full of strange creatures, people with amazing abilities and groan worthy puns - perfect for younger readers. I collected, read and re-read the Xanth books for several years, but eventually I grew out of them, as my tastes changed and the plots became rather repetitive - plus some of the portrayals, especially of female characters, have not aged well. The first eight or so are probably the best and at the time were a good introduction to fantasy. Terry Pratchett is far, far better though, as I was to discover in just a few short years...

• Space : Magic Fly - I still remember the first time I heard this sublime piece of French electronica. It just didn’t sound like anything else on the radio - not rock, not disco - it was something…alien. No lyrics, no vocals - just a hypnotic funky instrumental track that pulsed and shimmered like a satellite signal from another galaxy. “Space” were producer Jean-Philippe Iliesco, composer Didier Marouani and keyboardist Roland Romanelli - and they predated Daft Punk by wearing cosmonaut helmets in all their performances, adding to the mystique. Released in May 1977, “Magic Fly” became a massive hit, reaching #2 on the UK Singles Chart, predating the synthpop boom and solidifying my love for electronic music, even though it took me *years* to find the LP.  But enough talk, it’s time to get groovy…

• The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction  - The first SF reference book I ever bought, from a much loved bookshop in Sudbury, Suffolk. The smell of the pages as I opened it, the glossy sheen of the illustrations, and the feeling that I was holding something important. At £3.95 it was a hefty purchase (standard paperbacks were only £1 back then) - but I had to have it. A fascinating visual and thematic history of SF, it opened with a chronology that tracked the evolution of sci-fi across books, magazines, films, TV, and fandom from 1805 to 1976 - before moving into deep-dives on things like space travel, time machines, alien contact, robots and other dimensions. All of this was accompanied by illustrations galore - cover art, comic panels, pulp magazine spreads, and film stills filled every page. I poured over this book for days, reading it cover to cover multiple times. It’s definitely nowhere near as exhaustive (or text heavy) as the later "Encyclopedia of Science Fiction", but as a time capsule from an era when the genre was exploding into the mainstream, it’s amazing. And yes, I still have the same copy on my bookshelf.

• The Man From Atlantis - Included in this list because -  incredibly - it was the series that made me stop watching Doctor Who (see here for some more details). Heresy, I know. Sure it had a suitable muscled and attractive star in Patrick Duffy as the last survivor of the lost city of Atlantis - discovered washed ashore with webbed hands, gill-like lungs, and no memory of his past. Okay, it was glossy and sun-drenched and had a weekly parade of  covert missions, government scientists, sea monsters and camp madmen. And yes, the way “Mark Harris” swam was strangely mesmerising. But honestly - what was I thinking? 

• Children Of The Stones - Seven of the scariest half hours of children's television ever transmitted. Astrophysicist Adam Brake and his son Matthew arrive in Milbury, a seemingly idyllic village surrounded by Neolithic standing stones. But something’s off. The villagers are too happy and they all seem to be under some kind of psychic influence. As Adam and Matthew investigate, they uncover a web of time loops, cosmic forces and ancient rituals. The stones aren’t just relics of history - they’re part of a sinister supernatural event. The show is notable of course for the spine-chilling music full of wailing voices, the brain-twisting existential plot and the appearance of a pre-"Blakes' 7" Gareth Thomas - not to mention Ian Cuthbertson as the terrifying Hendrick.  It also features actor Freddie Jokes and around this time I had a thing of being *very* scared of him. He seemed to be everywhere during the 1970s, and I kept coming across him in a variety of forceful roles. I think it was those extraordinary eyebrows..

• Star Wars - Nah, it'll never take off...

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.