By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Photos copyright Columbia Pictures
I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.
Regular visitors to the site will know I love, love, love Roddy McDowall. From the minute I watched How Green Was My Valley, I was a fan. Of course his portrayals in Planet of the Apes and Fantastic Journey were great so when I heard he was in this new vampire movie Fright Night, I was in. He is magnetic in all he does thanks to his distinctive voice and body language and as typecast horror actor and television host, Peter Vincent, this is no exception.
At one time Peter Vincent was the Peter Cushing of his era but now is reduced to hosting a low budget show that shows a different horror movie every week like Creature Features. It’s called Fright Night but it is dwindling in the ratings. He has become trapped by his own success as his Victorian garb seems like that is how he dressed normally. He is living in the past, his acting career now finished as no one sees him as anything other than a vampire killer. It is obvious this pains him as it does presenting his show. But it allows him to keep a foot in the horror genre but when the network cancels Fright Night he has nothing left. It was all he had. while he is stuck in the past, the audience have moved on.
He is forever acting, maintaining the persona of Peter Vincent the fearless vampire killer and star of such movies like Orgy of the Vampires. So when Charley Brewster arrives begging him to help kill his vampire neighbour Jerry Dandridge, Peter is thrown that someone actually thinks he is what he is pretending to be. It’s easy to be a brave horror icon when the fangs are made of rubber. This gives us a nice look beneath his façade; a man once idolised by millions is now broke and largely ignored. Even his apartment is filled with items from his career. He carries a leather bag that would not have been out of place in Victorian times. He almost looks like he is about to step back in time to fog shrouded alleys to stake the undead. He is a sad man desperately trying to hang on to former glories. The world has moved on and do not believe in vampires but as we will see Peter Vincent is exactly what the world needs right now.
When Amy and Evil come to him to help Charley, he boasts that he has been offered a leading role in a new movie but when Amy offers him 500 dollars he takes the job. Dressed as his character they go to Jerry’s house where he drinks holy water in front of them and passes their tests. However when Peter sees he casts no reflection in the mirror things change for him. Terrified he walls himself up in his apartment surrounded by everything that would keep a vampire away. But he isn’t safe at all because the reason Jerry was not affected by holy relics is because Peter Vincent has lost faith in everything. When Charley calls him to rescue them from the nightclub, he refuses out of fear. He sees no future as he has no purpose in anything so when Evil comes to his apartment to kill him, Peter manages to summon up the courage to be the vampire killer he has always claimed to be. When faced with the real thing and suddenly realising that there is no place to hide from the monsters, he finds a new courage that comes from all his movie roles. The fight of his life is not the pursuit of ratings but fighting for the life he has given up on. There are real people relying on him to help save the day.
Here Peter comes into his own and wearing his costume almost like a superhero outfit, he and Charley wade into Jerry’s lair determined to save Amy. His holy relics work now on Dandridge because Peter has regained his faith in the light. Now his bravery does waver at times but Peter and Charley work together to destroy Jerry and his cohort Billy Cole. Amy is restored to normal.
This battle gives Peter a new sense of purpose and he gets Fright Night back on the air only this time he ventures into other genre movies like sci-fi. He is no longer just a ham from the past and still has relevance to the world which for the energised Peter is a lot brighter now.
McDowall seems to make his performance look easy but his story arc is such a subtle and relatable one. Look at the scene where Amy offers to pay him. One second he is boasting of new horizons and in the next he appears like a starving puppy thankful for a meal. His emphasis on “How Much?” speaks volumes of what he is going through inside. It speaks of depression and fear for the future which is so relevant to today’s society. McDowall is such a great artist you have to watch the movie again just to catch everything, especially his puppy dog eyes.
If you watch the Fright Night convention reunions, all of them speak very highly of Roddy and how he conducted himself on set. He was personable, down to earth and a great raconteur with stories about Hollywood that will never be shared. It is clear how much he was loved because he was a true gentleman that respected people.
Peter Vincent is nothing short of a great example of an acting masterclass delivering a perfect layered performance.
By and copyright of Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
“I got outside and realised I only had my hospital gown on which promptly fell off because it wasn’t tied at the back. I was naked…almost. When they do an operation like this, you’re fitted with a catheter. So there I am, naked as the day I was born with a big frigging catheter hanging between my legs. I am scundered, I thought to myself. I tried to remove it but my zombie fingers wouldn’t work.”For far too long zombies have been seen as the monsters they are not so it’s time for a few changes! Welcome to Zombie Blues where you will discover what really goes on behind those dead eyes and shuffling walk. You will meet ten different zombies each with a story to tell. From Vegetarian Zombie to Kidney Trans[plant Zombie to The Zombie who would be King, you will reevaluate everything you thought you knew about the undead. You will finally get to hear their side of the story. What lies behind their tears and how did the apocalypse really begin? Enter if you dare because everything you knew about zombies is about to change.
VICTIM ZOMBIE
I suppose when I really admit it and look deep down, I was always one of life’s victims. Not that I ever set out to be but the universe, it seemed, always had other ideas. It was almost like some cosmic jester took great pleasure in making me the butt of his jokes or look dumb.
For example, when I would meet a girl I fancied, what would come out of my mouth was not what my brain was thinking. I remember one time in particular; I was on a bus going to a concert, Coldplay I think, and ended up sitting beside a very nice girl. It was going fine until I decided to tell her I would probably be sick having eaten a chocolate bar because I get travel sick. I don’t think it was the kind of conversation she was expecting.
The minute I said it, my brain was screaming at me because the being sick sentence was not what my head wanted to say. Needless to say, I never saw her after the bus ride again.
But it’s always been like that for me. I either find out about a job I really want the day after the application date closes or I’m the guy just behind the person that buys the winning scratchcard. I seem to zig when I should have zagged. I discover a celebrity I want to meet is in town only after they have left. I was stuck in a crap job with an asshole boss, an object of mirth for the more confident members of my species. You know the one; the loud mouth jocks that find prey like me easy pickings. I can feel the nervous tremble in my voice when I try to find it funny so as to not give them any further ammunition. I am the skinny nerd that the girls see as a friend. The guy that doesn’t drink at parties so he ends up as chauffeur. And no matter how I try I can’t quite find that streak of luck everyone else seems to have.
My mum, bless her, saw the disappointment in my face, probably etched permanently over time like a stone eroded by a continuous drip. She always gave me that loving smile which helped nothing and said God had a plan. Personally, I think God pissed off long ago.
I’ve cursed him a lot over the years but doubt he’s listening. But then again, that’s a part of me I hate. I can scream and shout like the best of them but it’s all internal. When I fall victim to something I smile awkwardly and allow the world to think I’m okay that they got the girl or got the winning ticket. But in reality, inside there’s another me that’s punching them in the face or sweeping the girl up in my arms and with one deep kiss, she falls for my charms. Well, in my head anyway but I plod on slightly ashamed of myself and feeling it’s just another one of those days. One day it’d probably get better.
So really when I look back, it’s no surprise that I’d end up as a zombie. Just my luck.
Now here I am surrounded by….well, let me tell you how I joined the undead.
Horror has always freaked me so I avoided it like the plague but who doesn’t know what a zombie is? Well, anyway I’d been on my way home from the newsagents where I’d done the lottery. Funny how you buy a ticket and there’s always a feeling you’re wasting your time but at the same time sure you would win but never do.
On my home I pass a trio of tower blocks in between which is a play park of sorts for kids. It leads onto a wooded area and a large pond where suburban kids could see wildlife up close. I spent a lot of time there as a kid and loved feeding the ducks and different wild birds. It also served as a shortcut home. It was a mild day with the sunlight mellowed by the canopy of trees. The air was tepid and the quiet broken with the calls of ducks and birds.
But as I rounded the edge of the path that would take me across to my house I saw a little girl lying on the ground. I stopped in surprise looking around for her parents or any other adults. You know what it’s like these days. You just can’t take the chance but I could hear a choking sound. She was convulsing. My God, was she an epileptic or had she some sort of illness? Every instinct in my being told me to walk on just in case but I couldn’t. What if I was wrong? What if she died because I did nothing? A hundred scenarios ran through my head like a flood and I could make sense of none of them. There was only one course of action. I ran over and dropped to one knee, reaching out to turn her over. I could see her jeans were ripped across the knee and seeping with blood where she had fallen.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.
Like Reverend Lowe in Silver Bullet, Uncle Ted from Bad Moon is not a villain in the true sense of the word. He is the unfortunate victim of a werewolf attack, one he was not intended to survive. At the movie’s opening, he and his girlfriend, Marjorie, are attacked by a werewolf in Nepal. She is killed and Ted is bitten but manages to blow the monster’s head off with a gun before passing out.
We skip forward several months and meet Ted’s single mother lawyer sister, Janet (Muriel Hemmingway) and her son Brett along with their loyal German Shepherd, Thor. Ted calls Janet and reveals he has been home for several months, lives in a trailer and Marjorie has left him. He declines her invitation initially to come stay with them because he is fearful if he turns he will kill or curse them too. However bodies are turning up where he has pitched camp and declared animal attacks. To take himself out of the police view, he finally accepts Janet’s invitation and drives his trailer to her home. If the police search his trailer, Ted will become a suspect due what he has in his closet. Janet finds heavy duty handcuffs and Brett discovers his journal detailing some disturbing things.
It is clear Ted is a tortured man and has spent his time desperately searching for a cure to his condition. The lore that the wolf can only be killed by a silver bullet is mentioned when he and Brett are watching a horror movie. Ted comments you could always just blow its head off. He should know as that is how he killed the one that turned him. Everything that has been told to the world about the werewolf lore is only what Hollywood has made up. By Ted’s reasoning if the lore is false then maybe there is a cure. In the movies if you kill the wolf that sired you then the curse would be broken but that has obviously not worked.
Ted is now seeking close proximity to his family as the police found the mutilated bodies near to his camper. Maybe after all the fruitless searching, the answer lies in the familial bonds. Maybe the love of your family can stop the werewolf from rising. But just in case, he refuses to stay in their house but instead lives in the RV he owns. This allows him to go running in the woods where he handcuffs himself to a tree at night until the morning sun rises. But like Reverend Lowe, it seems the closer the full moon gets the more the wolf takes over.
Ted however never foresaw a problem with the family pet, Thor. The big German Shepherd at first is friendly around Ted but as the wolf grows in Ted, Thor senses it and challenges Ted at every step for invading his territory. He urinates on his RV and refuses to let him go for a run in the woods. It becomes a battle of the Alphas as Ted returns the favour and urinates on Thor’s kennel. The wolf intends to claim this territory as its own. It doesn’t care about the family or how close they are to Thor. The dog’s response is to seemingly become more aggressive but Janet just sees Thor as being a good guard dog and doesn’t realise the danger on her doorstep. He is protecting Brett and her so Ted has to find a way to get Thor out of the way.
At the movie’s opening, a book salesman tries to con Janet by claiming Thor bit him when he goads the dog. Of course he doesn’t count on Janet being a lawyer and his scam is exposed there and then. But driven by revenge he returns to the house only to meet Ted in full wolf form and is promptly torn apart. However Thor is blamed for the attack and taken away to a pound leaving Janet and Brett completely open to Ted’s wolfishness.
However, Janet grows suspicious of her brother’s behaviour and when she discovers the full horrifying contents of the journal she puts herself in mortal danger. Too late, Ted goes after Janet who follows him into the woods to discover why he is behaving so strangely. The wolf is in control now and no familial ties can protect his sister and nephew. Janet sees first hand what her brother has become and realises Thor was right all along. When Brett frees Thor from the compound, he rushes home to save Janet who is trapped upstairs by the wolf. It is a battle to the death as Thor and Wolf Ted tear into each other. Janet manages to empty a gun into Wolf Ted and he is badly injured.
Thor takes advantage of this and they both crash through the upper floor window. Despite his injuries, the werewolf escapes into the woods. Also injured, Thor follows him but Ted is now human and badly injured. He has been shot multiple times and fallen from a height which again shows werewolf lore of healing is a myth, Thor does the only thing he can and tears Ted’s throat out to end his terror and suffering.
Bad Moon is a great little movie that makes the werewolf a grey area. Ted has been searching for a cure, consulting top doctors around the country but knows there is none. Not even a life of solitude makes this curse any easier. No matter where he goes there will be bodies. Life as a werewolf will not allow anyone to live alone in the mountains as the drive of the wolf will win through every time. It is a death sentence that will only come from the end of a gun or the jaws of a loyal pet. It speaks to the tragedy of the curse of the werewolf that not even the pure unconditional love of a family can prevent.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Photos copyright Paramount Pictures
As a sci-fi fan, the smallest things often become a big issue or niggle away at you until you say something or make comment on it. While this will not be a long article, it is something that has always sat in the back of my mind since I initially caught it on during the first time I watched the Star Trek Voyager episode Scorpion part one.
In Scorpion part one, Voyager has finally reached Borg space and inadvertently find themselves caught in a war between their cybernetic enemies and Species 8472. Species 8472, dwellers in another dimension made of fluidic material, has been destroying Borg cubes making them more powerful than the cyborgs. There is one safe passage through Borg space that Voyager needs but it is swarming with Species 8472 ships. This forces Janeway into making an unholy alliance with the Borg much to her first officer’s, Chakotay, chagrin. This causes tension between captain and first officer but events will bring a new crew member aboard when Voyager helps save the Borg.
When Janeway desperately tries to find a way through Borg space, she looks back to logs from captains that have fought the Borg previously. To be fair, all they have to go on is the episode Q Who when Q flings the Enterprise to the Delta Quadrant where they meet the Borg for the first time ever. The following meeting was the Best of Both Worlds when Picard was transformed into Locutus of Borg. Hundreds died in the battle of 359 as showcased in Deep Space 9’s debut The Emissary. Sisko lost his wife in the massacre beforetaking command of DS9.
Chakotay finds Janeway mulling over the logs searching for something that will let her figure out how the Borg think and find a way to get the ship through their space unharmed. He sits and they discuss the logs. Janeway then reads Jean Luc Picard’s log about the Borg from his experiences then moves to a section of one Captain Amasov’s log from the Endeavour. We can only assume he was a survivor of Wolf 359. Chakotay smiles to himself causing Janeway to stop and ask him why he is laughing. He reveals she was doing a good impersonation of Amasov using his inflections. He adds that she was doing a pretty good Jean Luc Picard too.
Now when I heard that, I near choked on my cornflakes. What was Chakotay hearing? Janeway no more sounded like Jean Luc Picard than I look like a six foot giraffe. I’m pretty sure that Amasov would also say she sounded nothing like him inflections or not. Has Chakotay been smoking something or is this a case of an almighty ass kissing? The next time Neelix organises a talent night, please God do not let Janeway do any impersonations and tell her she’s spot on.
At least Picard did a fairly decent impersonation of a speech giver in Timescape but let’s not go into Deanna Troi’s Irish accent. It’s right up there with David Boreanaz in Angel. Funny how the smallest things become a mountain.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Photo copyright Warner Bros
So after nine weeks of very up and down episodes, does the finale deliver any hope at all for those who have stuck with it?
I came away from this finale feeling like it was a wrap up of this season’s threads and a stepping stone to a new series. If nothing else, the stunning final shot may well guarantee a second season for the excitement alone.
I cannot fault the performances here as the Lee and Keiko storyline wraps up as they find each other once again. Once again Kurt Russell shows what a brilliant actor he is when he makes first contact with Keiko who has not aged a day while he is an old man. I don’t think he has really had the chance to show off his skills until now. Their interaction is captivating and you can feel the pain of lost love.
Keiko has used Doctor Suzuki’s homing device to send a gamma signal that she is still alive and ready to be rescued. She is devastated at how much time has passed and that her son grew up without her and that William is dead. Again we get a nice cameo to the John Goodman scene from episode one. His message was for his son, Hiroshi (although I still think Lee was the real father).
I said last time there was too much going on to resolve in the last episode and I was right but they manage it while openng the door to a new playscape. Using the calling device and Lee’s old probe ship that plunged him 20 years into the future, they draw Godzilla to them and the bat monster from the battleship episode. I was expecting a lot more monster wise as Godzilla in the previous episode seemed to be heading to what we thought were other Titans fizzled out. Human wise they have wrapped things up as Kentaro manages to reconcile his with Dad in a way while Tim quits Monarch aware that Keiko is alive and well.
There is no spectacular monster slamdown to speak of to really be honest but needless to say I knew the escape pod would end with Lee dying to get his beloved home. But is he really dead? Wouldn’t he have been caught up in the wake that propells the probe home? Surely it works both ways as they all fell down and lived so why not up? I’m not counting Russell out of the show just yet if it gets a second season.
The Randas are reunited (and even Kentaro’s mom manges to get the chance to tell her husband to politely fuck off) but the pod has landed them back but two years into the future. Kentaro, Tim and Hiroshi now work alongside Brenda, May’s super rich nemesis Brenda head of AET and doing what Monarch didn’t. As a storm rages overhead Kentaro says a lot has changed in the last two years. They flee underground as the base locks down.
From the trees and out of the storm comes King Kong. He roars and the screen goes black.
Now that alone was enough to make me sit up and wonder is this part of the New Empire movie? But if we go to a second show, there can be no more of this family drama dragged out to unbelievable lengths and a lot more monster madness. There has been a lot of missed chances in the first season and tear your hair out with frustration moments.
Yet despite myself I want to see what happens now with Kong on the scene. To the writers and producers, learn from your mistakes and deliver what fans want, nay, deserve from a show with this title.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Copyright Warner Bros
So here we go with the penultimate episode so what to expect?
First I smell a baby daddy issue as Uncle Shaw seems to be closer to young Hiro than his Randa “Dad” in the aftermath of Keiko’s death. Where’s a paternity court when you need them?
Shaw leads an expedition to the Underspace (Hollow Earth as seen in Kong Vs Godzilla) like a reverse moon mission. Historically, the shots of the four pilots entering Doctor Suzuki’s deep Earth probe echo the shots of NASA astronauts boarding their shuttles for the space missions. Only this ship will penetrate the realm on the wake of a Titan. However the trip leaves near devastation in its wake. Similarly the explosive cliffhanger from last week leads to Kentaro being cut free from Monarch who tell him Cate, Shaw and May were killed in the implosion. However we now as an audience they are trapped in Underspace.
We discover how Shaw has not aged. He disappeared in 1962 and wakes in 1982 where he is greeted by a grown up Hiro. But Hiro is not keen on speaking to him as he mourned them all and moved on. But talk they do as Hiro finds out for Monarch what happened to Shaw’s mission. The story is told in a beautifully cinematic way making the Underspace a scarier place than we thought. Shaw ends up in the Monarch detention center the Randa’s rescued him from.
Kentaro meets his father whom he tells of Cate’s death in a heated moment with Kentaro blaming him for everything. But we learn Cate is alive and well when she is rescued from being savaged by a monster from the person she least expected tto see….Keiko is alive, well and still the age she was when she fell into the Underspace.
This is a much improved episode which delivers answers and the family drama is effective and not drawn out like it has been.
I have a feeling this will end on a cliffhanger which I hope it doesn’t unless there is a sharper written season two. But right now while this was a better episode, it still has not gained momentum enough to promise a second season. Maybe the finale will blow us away….
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
I used to write and share interviews with another site. Recently I discovered three of my interviews had someone else’s name, Chevy Chase as Fletcher with photo of said character in a sad attempt to humiliate me and take my credit away for the interview. Thing was they forgot to remove my name from the bottom; what a horrible nasty thing to do. Credit belongs to the person who did the work, (screenshots available). Oops! So here is the interview I did in all its glory back where it belongs; on the Time Warriors site.
She is an Irish actress that has journeyed through time battling dinosaurs and finding true love in Primeval, fought sea monsters in the movie Grabbers drunk as a skunk and now makes history as the first Irish lady of time travel as she stepped through the Tardis doors to battle the Daleks alongside the eighth Doctor in the new Big Finish epic Dark Eyes. She is the first Irish companion in the show’s history both on and off the screen, something our man Owen has been campaigning for all his life apparently. Please meet the wonderful Ruth Bradley.
TW: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into acting?
RB: It’s a bit of a cliche but I can’t ever remember wanting to do anything else. So I started classes at the Gaeity School as a kid and got an agent at 15 and started working in Dublin. I moved to London straight after school and have been here ever since.
TW: How did the role of Molly come about? Did you have to audition?
RB: I didn’t have to audition, which is always nice. I got a call from my agent about playing Molly and jumped at the chance. I love studio voice work and haven’t done it in years. I had been the Irish language voice of the pink Power Ranger when I was 14. Strange but true.
TW: Molly packs so much into her four adventures, how much input did you have on the character?
RB: Molly is very much her own person while caring deeply for this strange man that has come into her life.
The scripts were all complete by the time I came on board and I think Nicholas [Briggs] had written her so brilliantly, Molly just jumped off the page. She was so well drawn that there was nothing character-wise to flesh out. I came up with the accent, which is stronger than my own, but the rest is all Nicholas. She came across as a woman ahead of her time in her fearlessness and I was really intrigued by the fact that when we first meet her, she seems quite harsh and even a little aggressive. I was interested in the challenge of bringing the audience around to warming to her after that initial introduction.
TW: Did you realize how much of a big deal the introduction of Molly was?
RB: The Dark Eyes box set has become a huge hit and has been promoted like it was a TV special. I had no idea how big a deal Molly’s introduction was. I just thought they were great scripts and I felt I could have a lot of fun playing her.
TW: Can you tell us about your first day of recording?
RB: All of the cast were there. It was very relaxed, we all had coffees and got straight to it in our booths. It was instantly a great and relaxed vibe.
TW: Molly is very much a lady before her time, strong, bolshy, a humanitarian and a perfect companion for the Doctor with a very strong back-story; did the script help you realize her better or did you see opportunities to expand on to make her even better? I thought the script was so well written, it was all there for interpretation. When a script is good, it’s like a bible and you keep referring to it. I think there is endless scope to where Molly could go. She adapts to any situation and develops a childlike awe throughout when introduced to the Doctor’s worlds.
TW: What is Paul McGann like to work with? He seems a real perfectionist and very passionate about his Doctor.
RB: He’s great. He’s very focused and professional and knows exactly what he’s doing but he’s also great fun and open to trying things. I just remember lots of laughing all day. 8 Given how the stories end, when can we expect Molly to return? I think Molly could definitely return. We shall see!
TW: If we could switch to Primeval for a minute; Emily was very much another lady before her time. An abusive husband and seeing that there was something else going on in Victorian London that just wasn’t right; bringing her to the 21st century as part of a time travelling crew seemed so natural for her. Many believe that the Primeval team had finally become the team it should be with characters from different times fighting together. Was this where the creators planned to take the series if it had gone to further seasons?
RB: Emily was another lady before her time and definitely adaptable to all times, as is Molly. She was thrust into the past and I think she developed strength through that process so she found it impossible to readjust to her Victorian home when she returned. I actually don’t know where the creators planned to take it after the final season. It was open-ended but it also felt like a perfect closing to the whole show.
Everyone talks about acting to a golf ball on a stick when working with these types of special effects. How did you find it? I enjoyed it very much. A little odd to begin with but I think the best way to describe it is like being a kid playing games. If you let go and rediscover that imagination children have, the golf ball on a stick does become a T-Rex or Future Predator or whatever you like!
It was a real shame Primeval ended when it did. Where would you have liked to have taken Emily’s character if it had progressed? I think she would have made a great strategist with her knowledge of living in many times. I also would have liked to see her get a driver’s licence at some stage!
TW: You’ve also done Grabbers, which is a gem of a movie. Did your Primeval experience work in your favour when fighting the Grabbers?
RB: Yes, I think Primeval was great for that because I had some experience of the green screen and CGI beasts world. Paddy Eason from Nvizible was on set all the time, on hand to show us a drawing or early creation of a grabber in motion, which was really helpful before certain takes.
TW: I thought it was a great movie – only the Irish could defeat monsters while drunk as lords. There was a great chemistry between the leads. I imagine you all had a great laugh making it.
RB: We really did. It was such a great cast and crew. Unbelievably bad weather conditions didn’t even break the camaraderie! We just got on so well and all felt we were working with a great script and wanted to serve it well. It was a real ensemble job.
TW: Do you now realize you are the First Irish Lady of sci-fi? You’re up there with Colm Meaney and Liam Neeson! Are you a sci-fi fan?
RB: That’s extremely kind! I hadn’t thought of it. I do enjoy sci-fi. Basically, as long as you’ve got great characters and a strong script, you can’t go wrong.
TW: Finally, what new projects have you lined for the future? Personally, I would love to see Molly deal with the Eleventh Doctor.
RB: I’ve just finished shooting a movie called The Sea which will be out later in the year. Not sci-fi I’m afraid, but hopefully there will be more of that in the future, and some more Molly.
TW: Ruth, thank you so much and don’t leave it too long before Molly steps through those TARDIS doors again.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Back in the 80s, the American soap operas dominated the airwaves. Dallas and Who Shot JR was the biggest cliffhanger in soap opera history and set the world talking about it in such a frenzy. Dynasty and Falcon Crest were the big boys to the point Dallas got its spin off, Knots Landing, and so Dynasty got one too in the form of the Colbys starring Charlton Heston and Stephanie Beacham.
However, unlike Knots Landing, the Colbys were cancelled after just two seasons. So in the wake of the Bobby in the shower cliffhanger in Dallas and with each show going for bigger and better showstoppers like plane crashes, earthquakes, death and terrorists at wedding massacres, the producers of the Colbys decided to go out in the craziest ending of all time. And what could be crazier than a UFO carrying off one of the cast?
Now they did put money into it with the guys behind the special effects of Close Encounters of the Third Kind designing the ship. It looks great and who couldn’t fail to get excited when the ship lifts off from the classic desert setting, does a U-turn in midair and flies right at the camera then stopping in freeze frame with the dramatic soundtrack booming.
The effect is visually stunning and utilises the common UFO scenarios of an alien abduction to great effect leaving the audience gasping. In a nice touch, Fallon’s experience aboard the UFO is referenced and shown in flashback when Fallon and Jeff return to parent show Dynasty. Casual sci-fi fans should be aware of this given the effects and the guys behind it.
If nothing else, it gives the Bobby in the shower cliffhanger a huge run for its money. Awesome!
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.
Photos copyright 20th Century Fox and Columbia Cannon Warner
Most villains end up showing some degree of compassion or become good guys when they see the error of their ways like Vader. But there are the ones that are just pure bastards that will walk over nuns and children to their very last breath just so they get their own way. One such example is the hulking Kurgan from the first Highlander movie back in 1986.
You know the one; where Sean Connery is an Egyptian Spanish immortal that speaks in a Scottish accent. Before you ridicule, it’s Sean Bloody Connery; he can do what he wants (plus a certain Jean Luc Picard should be as French as frog legs and croissants but is more Downton Abbey…but I digress).
The Kurgan is one of the immortals destined to fight other immortals to behead them and absorb their power. The thing is, you don’t know you’re immortal until someone kills you. So imagine a bloodthirsty power-house, that cares for no-one or nothing but his own selfish needs, suddenly discovering he is immortal. In order to claim the ultimate prize, each time you behead a fellow immortal, their essence is released. It takes the form of a white storm and you’re lifted into the air as lightning wracks your body. No matter what the time period, the Kurgan manages to revel in the dark side of society waiting for the day he can face Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert), take his head and be granted the Prize at the Gathering. In the end, as they say, there can be only one and the Kurgan fully intends to be that One. The Kurgan has no name but comes from an ancient tribe from Russia; a tribe so vile and horrible they threw children into pits of starving dogs just for sport. He is a savage that is the perfect warrior and the strongest of all the immortals. He would, in the 20th century, take the name Victor Kruger and be equally as unfriendly as Freddy.
Clancy Brown is a great actor and an imposing presence and as a kid, his sheer raw hatred and desire to be the One knew no bounds. He would stop at nothing to achieve it and his yellow brick road is soaked with the blood of hundreds if not thousands of slaughtered bodies, including ordinary people, which he now sees as pawns to be used in his games.
We first meet him in the year 1536 when the clan MacLeod go into battle against the clan Frazer, the Kurgan in their ranks. He reminds the clan leader Murdoch to remember their bargain and that Connor MacLeod is his. The Kurgan is on his horse, his head bowed slightly wearing a fanged animal skull as a battle helmet. Clancy Brown’s distinctive face is perfect adorned by that animal skull and in full armour wielding his sword. Now it is not known what sort of animal it is but it is a type of sabre toothed creature which is extinct. This may be an indication of just how long Kurgan has been around. Immortal hunting takes decades as they hide themselves well and you’re not exactly tripping over them in the street. Add to that they are global so it’s not an easy kill. People like Murdoch Frazer are a lower species to the Kurgan, a disposable means to an end. As MacLeod has yet to discover that he is immortal, the Kurgan has him in his sights. Every other MacLeod can fall but he wants Connor for himself. Just as well immortals are sterile; one Kurgan is bad enough.
Confused as to why none of the Frazers will battle him, Connor soon finds out why when the Kurgan rears over him as lightning splits the sky. Such a nightmarish figure is he that the Kurgan takes advantage at the frozen Connor and stabs him through the side. We have just seen the Kurgan gallop over men killing them as he goes in order to get to Connor so wounding him to bring him to his knees is a nice tease for the audience. As Kurgan raises his sword and cries ‘there can be only one’, Connor’s cousins drag the Kurgan away while he yells “another time MacLeod.”
One what? Why didn’t the Kurgan just lop Connor’s head off there and then? A great example of show not tell. Somehow the Kurgan knew about Connor and when he discovers later that Ramirez has trained Connor to defeat him then his focus is multiplied. Connor is the only one that can possibly stop him but the question remains, how did the Kurgan know that? When they meet again, the Kurgan has assimilated into the eighties (or present day to those of us who were alive back then). He is still hunting immortals and goes by the name Victor Kruger. He has slicked back black hair and prefers leather jackets like a goth type figure. He also likes his Queen, who sing of winning the prize and being the one. What a coincidence (thanks Queen, best soundtrack ever). MacLeod is now called Nash, an antique dealer.
MacLeod is still very much on his radar and there are literally a handful of immortals left. The Gathering is fast approaching. New York will be their final battle and only the arrival of the police stops the Kurgan almost killing Connor. No matter what; Connor must not allow the Kurgan to take the Prize.
The Kurgan’s tactical stabbing of Connor and his subsequent rise from the dead ends with Connor being banished from his clan. He lives in the wilds with his wife Heather but the story of the man who rose from the dead and exiled to the wilderness allows both Ramirez and the Kurgan to track Connor down. This is a valuable lesson that highlights the difference between both men. Refusing to leave Heather so she can meet someone and have children, Connor is devastated when he outlives her. He loves her with all his heart but a good woman like that is a plaything to the Kurgan; a mere vehicle to release his base desires upon, torture and mutilate. In literally ten minutes, the Kurgan decapitates Ramirez, destroys Connor’s home and rapes Heather. His power and appetite for destruction knows no bounds. It is symbolic of his effect on Connor’s life. As long as the Kurgan exists Connor can have nothing. We get a taste of the destruction the Kurgan will bring when a crowd witness him impaling a man on his sword, consumed the essence of the fallen immortal then steals a car with an old woman in it. he calls her mom and speeds off where she ends on clinging to the bonnet her husband more worried about his car than her.
Whatever it takes to pass the centuries. Connor realises that with the loss of both Ramirez and his wife, that he cannot be with anyone again. He must lead a solitary life, adapting to the times until the Gathering happens wandering and adopting Ramirez’s katana. Everything he wanted he can never have, leaving him alone to ponder the millennia of darkness that will fall if the Kurgan wins.
On a side note, the entire sequence of Connor and Heather’s life together played against the Queen song ‘Who Wants to Live Forever’ breaks my heart every time. Seeing heather grow old, can it be that Connor is the most selfish of them all for not giving his beloved up so she could have a family. When she says she wanted to have his children, it is clear she blames herself when in fact the fault lies with him. Excuse me a moment folks, things got a little blurry there as I watch it to write this piece. Gets me every time.
It says a lot for the menace of the Kurgan when you spend centuries looking over your shoulder for that face or that telltale glint of a sword in the moonlight. In the end they will all be drawn to New York for the final battle.
Like Eddie Hall going up against the Mountain, the Kurgan is not adverse to using mind games to shake Connor. On Heather’s birthday, Connor keeps his promise of lighting a candle for her when the Kurgan tracks him down. The House of God seems an ironic setting for these two given God is not even on the Kurgan’s radar. He mocks the nuns, wishing them a happy Halloween and puts out the candles the devout have lit for the dead. Even the priest is not immune to his taunting’s about God and totally disrupts the cathedral. He has shaved his head as a disguise. But together with his stitched throat scars, he looks more like Frankenstein’s monster (which everyone refers to as Frankenstein anyway). There is a look of Hellraiser about him like this. Now they are the final two.
If Connor ever needed a final spark to push him to beat the Devil, it is when he discovers Kurgan raped Heather thinking it was Ramirez’s woman. She never mentioned it to Connor and kept it secret until she died. On this night it will be the spirits of Heather and Ramirez that truly defeat the Kurgan.
But ever mindful of a tactical advantage , the Kurgan kidnaps Brenda Wyatt whom Connor has developed a relationship with. He terrifies her by playing chicken on the city streets and running innocent people down before playing Brenda’s terrified screams over the phone to him.
Their final fight is in the Silvercup studios. It is brutal, violent and literally destroys the place including a water tower that floods the room. Connor uses all of Ramirez’s training to slice away at the Kurgan who, even when the final blow comes and his head comes off, is laughing.
There is a something about the Kurgan that sparks imaginings of dark magic and sorcery making the audience’s imaginations run wild. In the novelisation it reveals that he first died in 970 BC. He was murdered by his father who smashed his head in with a rock and upon returning to life, murdered him in return by making him swallow a hot rock. He then fled to join bandits to avoid punishment and met the Bedouin. He would teach the young Kurgan all about the Gathering but presumably was beheaded at some point. After that and perhaps because his own father killed him, the Kurgan became a ruthless warrior battling alongside the Mongol hordes, the Vikings and Visigoths to name but a few. No-one would ever do that to him again and when you immerse yourself in such violence then it becomes your very nature. Or it could be said that becoming the ultimate warrior in those battles then you will be the One.
They wanted Clancy back for the sequel Highlander 2: The Quickening but on seeing the script and the money said no. The Kurgan would be mentioned in the Highlander television show but the four-part comic book series Highlander: Way of the Sword delves much deeper into the Kurgan. The meetings with Connor we see in the movie were not the only ones that happened.
There are many villains on and off screen but few that leave an impact not only on big screen history but on pop culture as a whole. Whenever I see Clancy Brown now in anything, I always picture the Kurgan, a monster not born out of devil worship but the darkest recesses of man himself and what he is capable of in the quest for power.
By and copyright of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
“I got outside and realised I only had my hospital gown on which promptly fell off because it wasn’t tied at the back. I was naked…almost. When they do an operation like this, you’re fitted with a catheter. So there I am, naked as the day I was born with a big frigging catheter hanging between my legs. I am scundered, I thought to myself. I tried to remove it but my zombie fingers wouldn’t work.”For far too long zombies have been seen as the monsters they are not so it’s time for a few changes! Welcome to Zombie Blues where you will discover what really goes on behind those dead eyes and shuffling walk. You will meet ten different zombies each with a story to tell. From Vegetarian Zombie to Kidney Trans[plant Zombie to The Zombie who would be King, you will reevaluate everything you thought you knew about the undead. You will finally get to hear their side of the story. What lies behind their tears and how did the apocalypse really begin? Enter if you dare because everything you knew about zombies is about to change.
SAVE THE PLANET ZOMBIE
Hi, I’m Lily Taunton from Chicago and I’m a zombie. It’s pretty obvious I know.
Not my first choice to be honest but it’s hard enough to walk about when you’re dead without the added weight of a backpack.
So what’s in the backpack I hear you ask? I don’t? Well, I’m going to tell you anyway because this is my story and if irony had a face, it’d be mine; not the last guy you were talking to.
As you know, Mother Nature did something to bring about the rise of the undead to help clean up the planet from the scourge of humanity. The irony lies in what I did when I was a human.
I was the ultimate save the planet girl.
I sponsored animals in those adverts you see. I joined protests about the ozone layer both in person and online. I recycled, switched to energy saving bulbs, the works. I even got to go on a protest overseas to stop Japanese whaling ships. Any group that wanted help to stop and reverse the damage we as a species were doing to the planet, I was there. I even stopped using deodorant and got a bike.
Don’t be smirking. A girl can keep fresh with an active life while saving the world. That’s what my backpack has in it as well as leaflets and booklets to hand out to people on how the smallest change at home can make a difference.
I used to watch people bustle past me, blindly grabbing the leaflets from me with a grunt of an acknowledgment before dropping it in the nearest bin. That annoyed me and as I watched their retreating backs, I wondered if they had children at home and what sort of world those kids would see, If only their parents took the time to listen just for a moment. Still, at least they didn’t litter.
So it’s ironic that even as an undead, I’m helping save the planet in Mother Nature’s perverse way but stuck in this zombie body. We have no choice and I wonder if I wouldn’t have been better dying in the outbreak. I came out of a side street on the bike and was hit by a car. I remember a thud, the world turning, a pain in my head and then nothing. My last thought was that the driver didn’t watch the caution adverts on TV about cyclists.
I know now the zombie outbreak had started so people were rushing home to their families. It was timed to cause maximum chaos and disruption. I was the ant under the boot so to speak.
I must have died, my neck broken I think because I came to as a zombie. I could feel my head was tilted at a funny angle. My helmet had come off with the impact of the crash and my penny glasses were gone. But the back pack had stayed.
Did I mention I was a vegan too? Now meat, well flesh, is my only appetite. I can’t communicate but I hear the song of Mother Nature in my head. I hear her plan for the extermination of the human race and when the last one dies, the entire zombie nation will simply lie down on the nearest grassy patch and decompose. We will help fertilise the land again.
It’s pretty clear my life and undeath, if you will, was always to follow the path of saving the environment but the zombie part never really figured into the equation to be honest. You’d think it would be the perfect dream for me, complete symmetry knowing that I achieved what my life had been about. The Earth will survive despite all we did to it and that’s good.
You’d think I would be happy with that as a lifelong environmentalist. I’m not because I fought for a better future for humanity, to educate them to what they were doing, not this genocide. Mother Nature would thrive. Human cities would be reclaimed by the plants and trees. There’d be very few mammals though; we sort of eat them too.
Ever wondered about that guys? Why we eat anything that moves except fish and insects and birds? Well, the bird one is obvious. We can barely grab humans or dogs without sufficient quantities never mind something that can sit in a tree and give us one of those looks that only a bird can do. It’s very simple. You know humans taste like chicken to us but we see only an infrared thermal signature
The Time Warriors and Beyond 
