Ever lose your heart to a starship trooper? Well, try losing a leg to a Klingon!
I don’t mean Chewbacca rip an arm off, limb loss. I mean, he got a hold of my prosthetic leg and tried to make a weapon out of it to whip up Klingon bloodlust. He left me clinging on (see what I did there) to the side of a transporter while he read my new book, The Time Warriors, When Angels Burn.
All I did was ask to sit on his Klingon captain’s chair for a photo then the great leg escapade began. It seems Bat’leths are on their way out so rushing at an enemy with a human leg will make an enemy turn and run. Well, you can be sure that whomever’s leg the Klingon is holding ain’t running anywhere any more. I bet he watched Ghosts of Mars. I tried top kick him in the behind but it got stuck and don’t ask me how.
Does a Klingon shit in the woods? After seeing my leg sticking out of there, I don’t want to know, really.
So there I was, leg off, stump hanging and doing my best to hop when off he went and sat in his command chair to read. So there he sat, my leg at his feet like Commander Kruge’s pet lizard dog in Star Trek 3 The Search for Spock. Then I noticed he’s reading my new book The Time Warriors, When Angels Burn. I bet Worf wasn’t such a naughty Klingon.
So, if the Klingonds buy the book in numbers equal to the space armada that attacked Cardassia in Deep Space 9, then I can buy a new leg or two. Am I still clinging on to the transporter where he left me? Will I ever get my leg back? And how many books will the Klingon race buy? Or was Q right? I woinder has he ate any good books lately? Should |I be insulted if they don’t eat them?
Klingons are komplicated!
Check the evidence below ro see this heinous crime!
I last saw Jenette Goldstein once in Belfast at an old convention but my cash was taken up by the likes of Billie Piper, Nan Visitor and Rene Auberjonois. But I would get my chance to finally tell her just how she traumatised me one Sunday afternoon many years ago.
It was in fact only a few months ago that I relaised that Jenette was the foster mother of John Connor in Terminator 2 and a helmsman on the Enterprise B in Star Trek Generations. But she has made her mark to millions as the tough marine that fought alongside Ripley, Sigourney Weaver, in the classicly acclaimed Aliens. Vasquez was such a fan favourite that every new generation keeps her alive. Indeed, the character of Tasha Yar when they rebooted Star Trek was based on Vasquez. To maintain that physical change is a credit to Jenette and to make her burn on screen and then die in a line that resonates through time itself, is no mean feat.
So I paid for my photoshoot but had to pay on the day for the autograph.
And I know how chatty she is and always laughing so up I went o finally tivk Vasquez off my bucket list.
So, I avouided watching Titanic for ages. Three hours long didn’t appeal to me, still doesn’t amnd we know the ship sinks in the end so where was the story? Finally, one Sunday afternoon, I gave in. I had nothing to do and decied to ge tthe Dvd for a lazt afternoon. I was fully prpeared to turn it off but didn’t. A couple of hours through, i paused and got a bowl of spahetti hoops and some rounds of bread.
I was sat on the sofa, The iceberg hit and all was well. Well, until they discovered they were sinking and there wasn’t going to be enough lifeboats.
And then Jenette appeared on screen. She was an irish mother who knew she and her three children were going to die. As she told them the story of Tir na Nog, I just erupted into tears. I spent the rest of the movie trying to finish my spaghetti hoops, using a tea towel to hide my tears from the others in the room and by the time Leo sank into the icy water, I was tangoed.
I never expected that reaction to a movie I had dismissed but the power of that scene alone epitomised the tragedy of the whole scenario, even all these years down the line.
We also talked about her time on Star Trek on the day that saw the last time Scotty, Kirk and Chekov would be together ever on celluloid. She openly told her memories of that day and how nice Shatner was. At the rime of writing this, I’m hoping to meet Shatner myself in Dublin in November as part of my bucket list. I shared the time of meeting Jimmy Doohan and we had a great time recalling icons like this.
But jennette is an icon too and stands proud among others like Doohan, Shatner and Walter Koenig. And who maoing us would not like to have seen Vasquez as head of security of the Enterprise. Unlike tasha yar, I’m quite sure, she’s have been around for a very long time. Again, no disappointments or egos here; just great memories and a T shirt photo to make any marine proud.
Bobby Bumblebee sat still on a red and white spotted toadstool. He was staring at Rose who stood before him hands on hips.
“I don’t like beans. Bees make enough funny noises as it is without farting to,” Bobby said.
Rose tutted loudly. She was irritated more than usual. Lala lightly tapped her on the shoulder.
“You may want to calm it down. It’s not Bobby’s fault.”
Rose looked at her friends. Diamond nodded in agreement.
“Willy Wasp came into our hive with some of his buddies. He began shouting at the Queen’s head bodyguard. Someone had told the boss of the wasp factory that some bees had been backstabbing them about being lazy. That the bees did the majority of the pollinating in Ballinfree with the wasps taking credit when they shouldn’t.”
“What did the Queen’s bodyguard say?”
“Well, that it wasn’t true, but someone had told two other workers that wasps were saying that bees had stolen the job of pollination and were doing a sloppy job. “
“Do you know who said that?” asked Diamond.
“No,” answered Bobby. “No names.”
“One rumour, two rumours make murky waters, as my grandfather used to say,” Lala said.
“You think someone is stirring on purpose just to cause trouble?” Rose asked.
“Or they misheard what was said,” Diamond suggested.
“But even at that. Bees and wasps have worked together since forever and I’m sure it’s not the first argument they had over the years so why is this one so bad? The roses could have been badly hurt if Berty, Micky and Harmony hadn’t stepped in!”
“There has been a sort of rivalry between us,” Bobby said. “The wasps always look like they are going to headbutt you with their funny shaped heads but it’s just how they look,” Bobby said.
“Oh, so not only are we liars and lazy but now we look funny!”
Startled, they all turned to see a wasp sitting on long blade of grass. It had been obvious; she had been listening to their conversation.
“Wilma Wasp! It’s rude to listen in to other people’s conversations!” Rose said crossly.
Wilma nodded her dark head at them, antennae quivering.
“Not when the treacherous bees are spreading lies about us.”
“From what I hear, the wasps started it!” Bobby shot back.
“Funny looking, I believe you said. They look as if they are going to headbutt you, I believe you said, Bobby?” Wilma said, arms folded.
“That’s not what he meant, and you know it!” Diamond said, taking to the air with a flutter of her wings.
“Oh, do the ‘look down their noses at everyone’ butterflies are taking the bee’s side without even asking our version. Rabbits and frogs too. Wait until I tell the others what happened here!”
Have you seen how people throw a wake for themselves just to see who would turn up and what they would say about the deceased? Well, I thought, why wait until a celebrity you admire to die before writing how much they have impacted you through their movies or television roles.
For someone that was treated shamefully by the BBC, Colin Baker is by far one of the bravest and solid people I’ve ever met.
Blamed for the state of Doctor Who at the time for being too violent (all now proven as baseless and behind the scenes machinations by the BBC) they decided he needed replaced. So, he was sacked when he intended to run longer than Tom Baker. I loved Colin’s Doctor and he had an enthusiasm for the role rarely seen.
I remember Colin when he was the British JR Ewing in The Brothers and a mad tyrant in Blakes 7. So when he was announced as the sixth Doctor, I was excited. Now we all know there were missteps with the costume and gruff direction but when Trial of a Time Lord came out we got to see the Doctor Colin really wanted to play. The late Terrance Dicks said the in his hands, Colin would have been the greatest of Doctors.
He could have walked away when he was sacked but he didn’t. I met him at Panopticon at the Imperial College after it all happened and he had just done a slim challenge to raise money for cot death. He had lost his son Jacke to cot deth previously.
But Colin would emerge as the greatest ambassador that Doctor Who has ever seen. Not afraid to speak his mind, he stood up and when history showed that the cancellation/hiatus of Doctor Who was down to Michael Grade’s dislike of the show.
He was always there promoting the show and expanding the sixth Doctor in the Big Finish audio plays. Every time I’ve met Colin, he has been nothing but a gentleman and was so nice to my son. Colin does not suffer fools gladly but he gives the fans the attention and time every time.
I love to see him on other shows, The Chase, I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, Pointless and much more. He even returned as the sixth Doctor in the stage play, The Ultimate Adventure, taking over from Jon Pertwee.
Colin is a class act and a prime example of how to stand up and dust yourself off and survive the darkest of times. He got the role because producer John Nathan turner saw him at a wedding and he commanded the room. He still commands every room he visits to day and at the time of writing this, I will meet him again in Lisburn, Northern Ireland.
He may be in his eighties but the sixth Doctor is as popular as ever with the action figures reaching crazy prices. Ans that is all down to the power that is Colin Baker. His passion, his fearlessness, loyalty and always ready to entertain and help dogs, Colin is a true legend.
Time passes and people grow older. Some of us look great and the rest of you…well, time’s a bitch.
But one celebrity that time seems to have ignored completely and transformed into another character is Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel’s Cordelia, Charisma Carpenter. When I met her in September of this year, I had to look twice. I don’t know what I was expecting but to say Charisma is looking great is an understatement.
Her hair was tied back and wearing glasses and the first thing that struck me was just how much she looked like Lynda Carter from the Wonder Woman series. During that series, Lynda’s secret identity was agent Diana Prince. She too had glasses and tied back hair. You don’t believe me? Compare the photo below to the one above.
Seems clear to me talking about the similarity.
Charisma I had heard could be difficult with fans but not a bit of it. She is one of the nicest people you could meet. She looks you in the eye when talking to you, doesn’t rush you or seem eager to get you out of the way so she can get as many fans through as possible. We all know why she was killed off in Angel and the issues she had at the hands of Josh Weddon so it is to her credit that rose above all of this to burn the character of Cordelia into an icon fans still to this day love and admire.
I pointed out to her how similar she looked to Diana Prince which led us to talking about Lynda Carter. Charisma has never met her but follows her on social media. We chatted about everything bar Buffy and Angel and it was great, I’m sure while celebrities will inevitably talk endlessly about their shows and characters but it’s refreshing to chat about other things and life itself.
I usually get comics signed by celebrities which are relevant to their show or character and I was surprised to find that there is only one comic book that focused on Cordelia itself. I find that bizarre given how integral the character is to the entire Buffy universe.
So, I got it signed and while David Boreanez was due to also appear before cancelling to go to the Emmys, I would have perhaps got him to sign it to as Angel and Cordelia are as intertwined as Buffy and Angel.
I’m so glad I got to meet and chat with Charisma. It was truly a pleasure.
It’s not every day that Superman swoops into town for a visit but last September, that’s exactly what happened.
At a comic con, Tyler Heochlin and Elizabeth Tulloch arrived to meet fans. Elizabeth also doubled for her screen partner and husband in real life, David Giuntoli who played Grimm.
I had been so excited by this because Superman and Lois had taken the formula and created something brand new with it. And thanks to James Gunn, it had been tragically cut short because he was making this highly anticipated new Superman movie to reboot the DC cinematic universe to make it reach Marvel’s standards. Well, that was a fuck up, wasn’t it? Fans were denied another three years of this great show and I don’t say that lightly.
Tyler is effortlessly the best Superman in years, up there with Cavill. He makes it seem so easy. I became a fan of his when he starred as Derek the werewolf in Teen Wolf. So when he cat as Superman in the CW universe, it was a great choice. When you meet him in real life, he’s much taller and with those chiselled features is every bit Clark Kent/Superman.
And let no one tell you that he isn’t kind and patient with fans. He shakes everyone’s hands, gives hugs and makes sure those few minutes with him stay with you the rest of your life. Now as he arrived that day, he went straight into photo shoot mode.
I had booked the duo with both him and Elizabeth Tulloch. I’ll talk about Elizabeth in another post. At the time I had my prosthetic leg, my good leg in a plaster cast and had to use two crutches to get about. But there was no way I was going to have those crutches in the photo. So I put them aside and hobbled over.
When I saw them, I said, I’ve been waiting on this for months and Elizabeth replied, so have we. So I got in between them, a wee bit wobbly but Tyler had a hold of me and said,” Superman’s got you.”
Well, I had feelings I’d never had since Dean cain stood behind me and pulled my hoodie open just like Teri Hatcher did for him in their publicity shots for the show at the time. And at 58, I know I will always be the kid and never lose the love of all this which suits me fine. Other people can put away childish things but those people are denying themselves as to who they are.
So, photo done and still spinning, I had to queue to get their signatures. I usually get comics signed by the relevant actor and in this case, the minute I saw the cover I knew exactly what I wanted. It was an image used in the promo material for the show and was the most beautiful cover,
We got chatting as he said welcome back. He was understandably quiet on the James Gunn saga but I assure him nobody was happy about it and everyone was firmly on his side. We chatted about Teen Wolf and just what made him the personification of Superman for this new era, not that lame movie one. He is gracious and kind to everyone and you can see it is not forced or fake. Tyler is very amiable and open to everyone.
So, the last time the Walking Dead’s Tom Payne was in Northern Ireland, he was with Michael Rooker at a comic con. I was ready to rock and roll. However, a month before I was due to meet them both, I had my leg amputated.
Sigh.
So, no Tom and no Michael, just a wheelchair and a stump. I have met a lot of the Walking Dead cast and at this stage am ticking off who’s left. I also started getting the comics signed where they either first appear or something significant happens to their character within., I started that with Khary Payton aka King Ezekiel with his debut appearance in the comics. I met Madison Lintz earlier this year who played the ill fated Sophia, so the list is coming down. And now I have Tom off the list and comic signed.
but it was a day of adventure that had me standing arguing about who Tom really was.
So Tom was the first guest I met on the day. I was the first one up and had the opportunity to chat with him at length. I have to say, he is not one to rush people and is as gregarious as any Irish person. I told him the amputation story and how I lost out on meeting him the last time but now I finally met him. We’d seen him at Walker Stalker in London two years in a row but the cost of getting the biggies like Negan and Daryl etc meant we didn’t get to meet Tom. We then got on to how the Walking Deas cast are a family unit thanks to appearing at cons all over the world especially with characters, Jesus never appeared with. We compared it to the casts of Star Trek who tell of a similar feeling but with the Walking Dead it seems tighter.
And so, Jesus first appearance issue signed and sealed and added to the collection.
I had a photoshoot later in the day with him which wasn’t going to happen until twenty past three.
So I queued up and my ticket was scanned. Once the photo was done that was me on my way home, a happy man.
But there was to be one last twist in my celebrity journey.
I was at the front of the queue. A man walked in and the girl said go ahead and get my photo. I looked at the man and then at her.
“That’s not Tom,” I said.
She looked at me. She checked with the photographer who said it was Tom Payne.
“That’s not Tom Payne from the Walking Dead unless he had some serious plastic surgery since ten o’clock this morning,” I said.
“Well, sure, get your photo with him anyway,” she said.
“Oh alright, so that means I get a free one with Tom Payne since this isn’t the photo I paid for.”
She looked to the people queuing behind me.
She asked who they were queuing for and they said……..Tom Bennett from House of Dragons.
Wring Tom and wrong queue. The lady doing the tickets had out me in the wrong one. I was told then that it was the other photo booth, so I went up to there only to be told that Tom had finished up eleven minutes ago. I sighed as no one was quite sure what was happening. I was offered a selfie but declined. I’d prepaid so wanted the professional photo.
And so I went back to the original booth area and waited. The young lady that had made the mistake came up and told me Tom was going to come back for the photo. As I sat on a speaker crate, who comes next to me but the Bionic Woman herself. She was doing her makeup before her shoot. We got chatting about the day and how nice people were to her. That’s because you mean a lot to people and we are so delighted to see you in Ireland, I answered. Then another face appeared. It was Charisma Carpenter, Cordelia from Buffy the Vampire Slayer dressed as a cat from the iconic Halloween episode. Then Tom Bennett appeared and there I was surrounded by celebrities I wanted to meet in a sealed off area. I couldn’t even take a photo which would have been awesome!
Tom then came up to take the photo and we got the photo finally.
I couldn’t have written this. I felt like the man that came face to face with Sasquatch but didn’t have time to take a photo. So the lesson was that from every mistake, comes something positive and I got an experience I could never have paid for.
While I absolutely love the Bill Skarsgard version of Pennywise, none of it could have happened without being set a very high bar by the great, late Tim Curry.
While the modern Pennywise benefits from CGI effects, when Tim Curry never had those available to him. His effects were all practical and not a computer in sight. While Skarsgard’s version is very much performance driven, it is something that Tim had to face when he debuted the killer clown in the 80s.
Clowns have never bothered me one way or the other but Pennywise has risen to become the most terrifying monster in cinema and television with the run of the recent |Welcome to Derry.
Curry is like a tight rope walker. he balances perfectly between the loveable clown and the monster. He uses deceit and hallucination to scare people, to throw them off balance so he can strike. A great example of this is when Pennywise appears in the shower room while young Eddie.
The horror of grown man entering a shower while a child is naked has paedophilic overtones but it is the way Curry plays it that makes it even more chilling. he calls to |Eddie from the drain, one white gloved hand pushing up and then another to open the drain. It is clearly stop motion but it allows Pennywise to pop up. He casually attacks Eddie by calling him girlie boy and wheezy. He taunts him, promising he will like it down where Pennywise wants to take him. He warns him running will do no good and to come back anytime and bring his friends. If you look, t=you will see Pennywise’s eyes are not normal. They have a jaundice tinge to them that give him a sickly look. In a human, eye discolouration usually indicates a medical condition or something is wrong.
Curry maintains a chirpy, happy clown funny man stance until he tells Eddie to bring his friends. With a deft bow of his head, Curry brings the head back up to reveal a mouth full of savage teeth, roaring then descending into laughter.
This is a perfect example of how Curry used simple tricks to make him scary alongside practical special effects. When he takes control of the shower heads that snake out to attack Eddie, they are jerky but serpentine in intent.
Similarly, in the scene of grown up Ben Hanscom where he comforts what he thinks is his long time crush, Beverly Marshall. They embrace but as Ben looks in the mirror, he sees Pennywise’s long yellow clown trousers. jerking back, Pennywise is there and laughs, “Kiss me, fat boy!”
As a master of shape changing and deceit, Pennywise gets into people’s heads in order to kill them. A little torture is good for the soul they say and when he eats them, it’s always nice to taste some adrenalin or cortisol.
Curry latches on to all of these character traits and throws them at us full blast.
The first scene we see him is the one with Georgie. As this is the first glance at the main villain, it was important that Curry made the audience sit up and scream. If the initial scene with the onscreen murder of a child shocks, then it lets the audience know that nothing is safe in this story. Indeed, Welcome to Derry ran with this to great effect.
Georgi’s paper boat has been swept into the sewers. Georgi can’t get it but meets helpful clown, Pennywise.
Pennywise’s face, unlike the remake, is in full light so Georgie can see the clown. Curry did a lot of eye movement to highlight Pennywise’s reflections.
“Come on, Bucko., Don’t you want a balloon?” taunts Pennywise, keeping the boy’s attention with threats. When Georgie says he shouldn’t take stuff from strangers to strangers because his dad said so, Pennywise seems offended, introducing himself as Pennywise the dancing clown and he is Georgie, so they know each other. his facial expressions and eye movements are critical here like he’s shy and stunned Georgie has to go. he then lures the boy with his lost paper boat, promising more balloons of all colours and sizes, cotton candy and all sort s of other prizes down where Pennywise is.
You can see the subtle change as the predator is on the edge of losing his prey. You can see his expression become hard as he tells Georgie about the balloons. When Georgie asks do they float, the face hardens like a snake about to strike, saying, “Oh yes, when you’re down here with me, you’ll float too!”
The mask falls with the words “You’ll float too!” he shouts it as he rips the boy’s arm off.
You’re not sure if the rage of pennywise is at himself for almost letting Georgie slip away or because his own primal urges have gotten him riled so close to food but whatever it is, the change from likeable, friendly clown to minster is subtle, making the final attack that much more powerful.
It is beautifully lit as you only really get Pennywise’s face in bright view because it is his expression and tone of voice that draws children in. It is their love of clowns, balloons, cotton candy and surprises that are easy weapons against children.
But even when the Loser’s Club grown up versions return to the town 27 years later, Pennywise still knows their inner weaknesses to taunt them. He drives Ritchie mad with exploding balloons of blood and beep, beep has never seemed so scary.
It is no wonder that Curry made an instant classic with Pennywise when it first aired. And there was a lot of trepidation when it was announced there was to be a remake with a brand new Pennywise. What both Curry and Skarsgard have shown us is that a character such as Pennywise is only successful thanks to the man behind it. The performance is all and Curry, whether it be as Legend, Pennywise, Congo or Scary Movie 2 is the best one to look to amplifying the fear factor of the material through voice, gesture and inflections.
When you think of Pennywise, you will always see Tim Curry.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Copyright Paramount
When the character of Hemmer was announced as part of the cast of Strange New Worlds, I was more than excited. We were getting a series regular from an unknown species that was introduced in Star Trek Enterprise in its fourth season. The Aenar were a sub species of the Andorians which were previously unknown. When the Romulans launch a marauder that can appear as any craft they wish, the Andorians see a Tellarite vehicle and vice versa. It is designed to create conflict in the Alpha Quadrant and start a war that will allow the Romulans to invade. There is no Federation at this point but we see the first footsteps as Archer (Scott Bakula) manages to unite Andorians, Vulcans and Tellarites against the threat. The ship it turns out is being remotely piloted by the brain power of a captured Aenar, Gared. Andorian Commander Shran (Jeffrey Coombs) leads Archer to the Aenar domain where Gared’s sister Jhamel agrees to help. The Aenar are blind but highly telepathic to the point their other senses are superior which is why the Romulans kidnapped Gared in the first place. Gared was imprisoned on Romulus but able to control the marauder ships easily. He could also speak to his sister across the void too such was their abilities.
The chance to explore such a fascinating race was a spectacular opportunity launching Hemmer into the same league as Data, Odo and Spock. A pacifist that refuses to take part in the Enterprise’s battles but was there to help in any other way. Such moral conflict was ripe for writers but as the current Kurtzman backlash shows, they hadn’t a clue what to with him. Little did we know that the producers intended Hemmer to die before the end of the first season. He becomes infected with Gorn babies and sacrifices himself to kill them and save his crew mates. To say I was pissed was an almighty understatement.
They said Bruce Horak would be their franchise’s Jeffrey Coombs who has played multiple roles in Trek over the years. But did that happen?
Nope, it didn’t.
Again, a wonderful opportunity to showcase a severely sighted actor as a central character alive for fresh exploration and worldview. So why then did Trek screw up so bad and to be honest, we should have seen the signs right there of the end of Trek, swopping character for politics and woke.
Hemmer did not appear in all of the episodes and in some he was merely a walk on. He was front and centre in the Elysian Kingdom where we saw his humour, adaptability and telepathic abilities. He was dead the next episode, All Those That Wander. So, since the plan was always to kill him off, it was vital you had him front and centre so audiences would fall in love with him. Not that they didn’t but given what was coming, it was an opportunity totally wasted. Kurtzman, like Disney, did not know what he had and what the legacy should be.
Now, where could Kurtzman and his team have looked to see just how it should be done? How to fully endear a three dimensional character to the audience before they are killed off in a shocker of an episode. Hmmm….
Look no further than The Orville and Seth McFarlane.
How ironic that a show that was meant to be a comedy version of Trek but soon found itself delivering stories better than Star Trek Strange New Worlds did.
And it came in the form of one Charley Burke.
Played by Anne Winters, Charly was introduced in the third season as a new navigator. In the second season, in the episodes Identity parts 1 and 2, the Orville’s robotic emissary, Isaac was revealed to be on a mission not to learn about organics but to assess their status for genocide. With the Orville crew captured, the Kaylons launched their fleet to exterminate first Earth then every other planet of organics from the galaxy. Isaac turned on his own people but not before thousands had been killed in the battle.
One such person was fellow ensign Amanda, who served with Charly. Charly fell in love with her but never got to tell her how she felt. Amanda was killed while saving Charly.
So, when she ended up on the Orville serving with Isaac, she made it clear that she hated him. Isaac had triggered the battle and his restoration as an active member of the Orville crew was met with isolation and distrust.
There was nothing backwards as Charly. She told Isaac how she felt about him and why.
“One second she was there and the next, she was gone. Along with 300 other people. Because of you. So, you see, it really is a shame that you can’t feel anything. Because you deserve to feel all the pain in the universe.”
Now exiled from Kaylon and hated by those around him, Isaac committed suicide.
One of Charly’s skills was the ability to see problems in five dimensions. This skill helps her save Isaac. Once restored she tells him, she didn’t do it for him. It was sonly the pleas of young Marcus Finn that swayed her to do it.
Isaac was a father figure to the Finn kids and while young Marcus doesn’t hold a grudge, his older brother does.
While this story arc continued for the whole season, Charly still was in the middle of the action, almost being executed at the hands of a Krill in a coup.
When a weapon was created that would kill every Kaylon, Charly helped with the construction of the device. With a peace of sorts now in effect, she went with her shipmates to Kelly Grayson’s cabin. We learned Charly could sing as she duetted with fellow pilot Gordon Malloy. Charly opens up to Kelly about how she feels about this. We know Charly by this stage.
Indeed, she is forced to team up with a human looking Isaac when the ship goes back in time to rescue Mally who was stranded in our time. In order to go home again, she and Isaac must locate dysonium to power the quantum drive.
She handles a bar full of bikers, can ride a motorcycle, passes Isaac off as her brother and fiancé before they get the mineral. She is disturbed by Isaac trying to make small talk with her. He is simply trying to get to know her. While Charly isn’t exactly warming to Isaac, she opens up and tells him all about Amanda and how the Kaylon invasion took away any future with her. Like Data, Isaac is a smart cookie and still thanks her for saving his life.
And that is the difference between Hemmer and Charly. She was kept at the centre of the show, each week peeling off another layer off her character. The best Hemmer got was to be a Yoda to Uhura.
Hemmer kind of feels like Captain Phasma; a great character woefully misused and left to fail.
Little did we know that the entire reason for Charly was about to be made very clear and just how carefully constructed was her plotlines right under our noses.
As I said earlier, she helped construct a weapon that could destroy thousands of Kaylons at once. It is a doomsday weapon but one that makes the Kaylon stop and think twice. For now, the Kaylon threat is ended, at least until they find a weakness. They will not as Charly and Isaac are the only ones that know how it ticks. They have set a self destruct into it if tampered with.
But when it is stolen and handed to the Krill and Moclan alliance, the race is on to stop them setting it off, so it destroys every Kaylon in existence. Earlier in the season, Charly would have cheered for this but she cannot stand by and let an entire species be murdered even if they are robots.
Forced to team up with the |Kaylon to stop the massacre, they arrive too late.
The weapon is activated and Charly cannot turn it off.
There is only one option.
Charly must stay behind and focus the blast into the Moclan secret base to save the Kaylons.
Now, this was a shocker and came right out of the blue. How could they introduce such a great character that we have grown to like and love then kill her off? Charly manages to tell Amanda that they will be together soon before she is killed in the explosion. There are no tears, no regrets, just a relief that Charly will be with the woman she loves again. Even in her death, we learn that Charly is a believer in life after death.
Kaylon Prime is confused about what Charly has done. He cannot concede why someone that hated his kind would give her life to save them.
In scenes that are just stunning, Grayson yells that she did it to save the Kaylon from being wiped out of existence.
It is her sacrifice that begins a new dawn between the Union and the Kaylon. Up to this point, organics were things that could not be trusted and had to be killed. They judged the rest of the species by the cruel actions of their builders who tortured and degraded the robots as slaves.
Now, the sacrifice of one girl whose world was shattered by them, has died to protect their right to exist.
As Isaac tells the Prime; the organics are his friends which is what he was trying to tell his species all along.
We know Charly. We don’t know Hemmer. We cared about Hemmer but we took Charly to our hearts because she was right there with us every week, not reduced to a mere couple of scenes.
When we walked away from the Hemmer’s death, we were stunned at the stupidity of it. When we walked away from Charly’s, we were broken hearted.
For a show that started a s a comedy homage top Trek, busted its balls compared to the Kurtzman era, tackling issues Trek had not touched. I’d swop the musical episode for any of the Orville episodes in any season.
Shame on you, Kurtzman and well done Seth McFarlane.
We will always mourn Charly but we will always wish Hemmer had been handled right.
The seventies for many seem like the Victorian era but for those of my generation, it was only yesterday.
Our childhoods were filled with Star Trek, Space 1999, Swap Shop, Logan’s Run and so much more. But there are certain shows and characters that burn into your mind for the rest of your life.
Two such shows were the Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. Steve Austin and Jamie Sommers battled all sorts of things from Death Probes to Fembots to aliens who controlled the Sasquatch. Steve’s fight with the Sasquatch is the core of my childhood. I was fascinated by the Bigfoot legend and to see him on screen fighting Steve Audtin stayed with me and many of my generation.
But with the arrival of Jaime Sommers, Steve’s former girlfriend, teacher and star tennis player, the world changed. After Star Trek’s Uhura, Jaime was my second crush. The Bionic Woman brought a whole new dimension to the world of bionics. She brought a compassion to the series, a compassion we didn’t have with Steve.
Remember, both shows at their heart is about dealing with disability and taking control of their condition rather than moping about. It was turning disability into a positive force to show no matter what, you can still beat the odds. While The Bionic Woman was cruelly cut short because of network politics, those three seasons stayed with me to this day. I still watch them because they have a great, timeless entertainment quality.
Lindsay brought humanity and compassion to the show as seen in The Vega Influence, Deadly Ringer and Run, Jamie, Run as well as Tomorrow is Doomsday. Lindsay is so immediately likeable that you would want to go with her on her journey.
I saw her and Lee Majors do cons in England and shook my head as to why they couldn’t come here. I was resigned to the fact that I would never meet them.
That is, until this year of 2026.
Lindsay was announced as a guest for a comic con in Northern Ireland, I was in right away. I paid up front and had a dilemma as to what to get her to sign. I ended up going with a copy of Mad Magazine with her and the Six Million Dollar Man on it.
The day came and there she was. Lindsay Wagner, now in her seventies and looking amazing. We had a chat about the show, its impact and at one point, she did the thing with her hair. In the show, when she was using her bionic hearing, Jaime would move her hair back slightly from her ear. Well, I nearly collapsed on my crutches when Lindsay did this right in front of me. It wasn’t planned, it just happened and the fanboy in me was grinning from ear to ear. But I had done it, I had met a childhood heroine, got her to sign something, got to tell her just how much the show meant to me. Now that I am disabled, it adds a new shade to the show for me but in a good way.
But little did I know that my meeting Jaime Sommers wasn’t quite over yet. When I went for my photoshoot with the Walking Dead’s Jesus aka Tom Payne, there was a mix up. They were trying to tell me that Tom Bennett from House of Dragons was Tom Payne. I’d been put in the wrong queue and I was amazed the organisers were trying to convince me to get in with “Tom Payne.” It wasn’t him as I knew him from the show and the fact I’d met him earlier that day. To this day, passing off Tom Bennet as Tom Payne amazes me now. So I had to sit out the back waiting for someone to find the real Tom Payne. So as I was waiting, who comes along and stops beside me to do her make up but Lindsay for a photoshoot. I got chatting to her again, asking her was she enjoying her time in Northern Ireland. She said that everyone was so kind which really touched her. As this was the Bionic Woman’s 50th anniversary, how great must that be to not only meet fans from the time it was broadcast but new generations. We also got the chance to tell her that she humanised disability long before anyone else did and in a way that will last long after the 50th anniversary.
So, after all this time, I got to meet one of my childhood icons, not once but twice on the same day. I got to tell her how I felt about the show from childhood to manhood. How could I not treasure that memory?
Have you seen how people throw a wake for themselves just to see who would turn up and what they would say about the deceased? Well, I thought, why wait until a celebrity you admire dise before writing how much they have impacted you through their movies or television roles.
What can I say about Tom Baker? He is an icon of the highest degree and now in his 90s, Tom still has that same twinkle in his eye he had throughout his career.
He is, of course, the Doctor, the fourth to be precise and he elevated the show to international status under the watchful eye of then producer, John Nathan Turner. For seven magical years, Tom played the Time Lord and let’s face it, it really went to his head. He broke relationships that were mended later on in life and was just this tornado of energy. I first saw him as the magician Koura in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger.
“Always do what you’re best at!” he cried in Nightmare of Eden and he did exactly that. But for me, Tom went way beyond Doctor Who but the show is my first love and I’ve stuck with all these years in good and bad times. Earlier today, I watched a few episodes and one of them was Planet of the Spiders where Tom arrived and straight on to Robot. I have so many great childhood memories from that era. I remember omnibus editions of Robots of Death, falling in love with Leela and wanting a K9 all of my own. I was and still am, terrified by the Image of the Fendahl. I was frightened when Sarah Jane went blind in Brain of Morbius and the monster was right behind her. What if they get stuck on Skaro thousands of years in the past in Genesis of the Daleks when Davros debuted?
Tom’s voice is up there with Morgan Freemans. I used to watch the Book Tower weekly as he read stories that enchanted me just from his voice alone. He was a raconteur with a sharp wit and often messed with interviewers. I remember his sullen look and popping of the cheeks when his departure was announced. He was leaning against the Tardis as if all was lost for him.
I suppose in a way, it was. He was leaving the show that he defined more than anyone else up to that point. He was going on to play |Sherlock Holmes in the Hound of the Baskervilles, the Life and Loves of a She Devil, voiceovers, stage and conventions in America. So loves is Tom that the creators of Little Britain hired him to do voice work for them on every episode which again highlighted his md sense of humour and wit.
While he forever regrets not doing the Five Doctors twentieth anniversary story, he has returned time and again as the fourth Doctor in various things for Children in Need, the 50th anniversary story, the Day of the Doctor as the curator who looks exactly like the fourth Doctor and Shada restoration.
I’ve never met Tom and at this stage never will which is a pity. My late friend did when Tom landed in Belfast and visited schools here which can be found online. I still am jealous of him. But I can live with that.
Tom was a guiding light in my literature, reading and imagination as I too dreamt of joining him in the Tardis. Indeed, he joined the Big Finish audio plays where he has met his other selves, joined old companions like Leela and K9 and fought old foes like the decayed Master. And even now, Tom still has that love of the show and fans and always does a Christmas message for everyone.
His legacy is not that he is Tom Baker but his legacy is us. Every child that tuned in to see the madman in the giant scarf and were spellbound. We stayed with him in books and fired our imaginations. If I were to produce a show, there would be a place for Tom for sure.
I’ll finish by telling you of our house when his regeneration finally came in part four of Logopolis. I can tell you who was there, where they were sitting and what we were doing. A hush fell over us as the fourth Doctor sighed his last and in a cocoon, handed it all over to Peter Davison. Even my dad, who wasn’t a fan turned to see the fourth Doctor die.
There are few legends in the world but Tom Baker remains one of them and perhaps, the greatest of them all.
