By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
The year is 1942, and both neutral Eire and the British-governed North of Ireland have thus far escaped generally unscathed from the war. But the arrival in Southern Ireland of Peterson – a Nazi assassin posing as an ordinary intelligence-gathering Abwehr spy – soon threatens to disrupt the tentative peace between the Allies in the North and de Valera’s Irish Free State. With the help of a clandestine group of renegade Irish patriots, Peterson’s mission is to force an Allied invasion of Eire. But the IRA is watching, and waiting, and the hunter soon becomes the hunted… This recently updated version of Days of Rain contains a glossary which provides details about the Abwehr’s most successful Irish spies.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Copyright NBC
Once it makes contact you’ll never be the same again
Two very different agents must work together when the wreckage of a crashed spaceship begins to affect humanity. Starring Jonathan Tucker and Riann Steele this exciting new sci fi series is coming soon.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Once again we comb the massive history of Doctor Who and focus not on the man himself but one of the massive support chacracters who’ve made him the Timelord he is today…
Photo copyright BBC
Romana, full name Romanadventrulaundar, was the first Time Lady we ever encountered ( if you don’t include Susan who we really knew little about).
Posing as the high president of Gallifrey, the White Guardian assigned her to help the fourth Doctor and K9 mark II in the search for the six missing fragments of the Key to Time. Played by Mary Tamm, later of Brookside fame, the first incarnation of Romana had spent her life in the safety of the capitol with no experience of the outside universe. Hence she was a typical Time Lord; aloof, condescending and looked down her nose at the Doctor and his old-fashioned type 40 time machine. There was no doubt she was stunning in her first appearance, regally dressed in a flowing white gown, but needed fashion tips from the Doctor – eg never wear high heels when you land on muddy moors as in the stones of Blood.
It wasn’t long before Romana discovered that life wasn’t all black and white and the universe was filled with terrors. In her first adventure, the Ribos Operation, she was nearly eaten alive and danger after danger came after that.
She was a strong lady who came to understand why the Doctor loved this way of life despite the life and death situations and she fell in love with K9. During the search she faced the stone Ogri, giant monoliths that drained the blood out of their victims and were servants of the Calliach, found her doppelganger on the medieval world of Tara where android doubles of people were rife in a political attempt to gain access to the throne, faced the Captain whose pirate planet consumed other worlds and his deadly robot parrot sidekick, the giant swamp monster Kroll where she was almost sacrificed before the battle with the Black Guardian’s agent the Shadow as the fate of the universe literally hung in the balance. With every story Romana gained a sense of humour and a new way of looking at the universe.
When Mary decided to leave, Lalla Ward took over the role in Destiny of the Daleks. This incarnation was so fashion conscious she was literally a walking wardrobe, regal and elegant in one breath and casually gorgeous in the next. She had a great sense of humour. love for this wandering life and could hold her own. Over their next series of adventures she battled Nimons, Minotaur parasites and I vividly remember being terrified when Romana was transported to another universe that had been devastated by the Nimon, all alone and with no way back. She wore one of her most famous costumes, the school girl, in the classic City of Death against Scaroth of Jaggaroth played by Julian Glover. The chemistry between the Doctor and Romana was such it spilled over into real life and she married Tom Baker which was not to last.
She is also the only companion to have a story cancelled on her. Shada had been partly filmed before being wiped out by industrial action. An audio adventure later saw this resolved as the eight Doctor picked her up because they had unresolved business. Shada was later completed in various mediums like animtion.
Her final season saw both Romana and K9 written out but not before the fantastic E space trilogy which saw the introduction of Adric, vampires, the lion like Tharils and the marshmen and possessed by marsh spiders. Romana didn’t want to go back to Gallifrey despite being ordered home so she stayed in E space to help free the Tharil slaves who were also time sensitives along with K9.
But of course that wasn’t the end of her. She returned in the Big Finish range alongside the sixth Doctor and Daleks where we discovered she had become President of Gallifrey. This turn of events was further explored in the acclaimed series Gallifrey which saw many TV Time Lords return and teamed her up with both Leela and K9 Leela became a great friend. They have really put these two characters through the mill ad managed to bring back Mary Tamm in an alternate universe. So the first lady of Gallifrey is alive and well and thriving, her life as adventurous and danger filed as ever.
And after all these years isn’t a bad thing. Long may she reign.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
They came from a world torn apart in a time experiment. Their key to infinity became their death knell. The last survivors, huddled together in the Juggernaught, a military spacecraft, were led to Earth by a vision. Varran, a scientist that had cracked the secret of time travel and the man behind the destruction, had seen the future. Something was coming to consume creation itself and the last battlefield lay on a blue green planet in a system of nine; Earth.
Now they live among us, living by our laws and rules since the nineteenth century while Varran watches from above. They could be the lollipop man, your best friend, the banker or the old lady that watches the world from behind net curtains. They are waiting for the call to battle when darkness falls. Now Varran, the man who doesn’t age, along with Jacqueline, Jacke for short, Michael and Tyran, descendants of the Xereban race are the guardian angels of Earth. They don’t know when or what form the darkness will take but it is coming. Earth must be protected. They are the Time Warriors. These are their stories.
Copyright Owen Quinn
Spooklight
CHAPTER 1
Winter had well and truly begun to rip away the last shreds of autumn, digging its ice cold claws into its fellow season like a dragging carcass. Wisps of mist crept along the forest land beyond the village like a mass of genies released from a million bottles. Winter had come and there was no putting the cap back on.
Like all graveyards across the world, this one seemed to take on an ominous mood beneath the overcast day. The biting cold made the headstones glisten with frost like mini galaxies. A baleful wind heaved across the land like a banshee wailing the loss of all the souls beneath it. Blackening shadows began to spread across the ground, filling the gaps between the graves like tar. Light melted slowly as if it had given up on life, mocked in its failing strength by the carrion crows that perched skeletal branches on the trees that lined the graveyard.
A shadow appeared from the side of the road where a car was parked on a grassy verge. It was overhung by a willow tree, its branches drooping over the wall like reaching hands. The dark figure pushed one of the large iron gates open. It creaked gratingly at his touch as if protesting his presence. The grass hissed under each step like water sizzling on a griddle. The man entered the graveyard, wrapped up against the chilled night air.
A yellow beam of light slit the darkness as he turned on a torch, an upright version that lit his way in the murky gloom. The last thing he needed was to fall and break a limb or crack his head open in this place. It was a fair walk even in daylight so travel by car was the usual method of getting to the cemetery for anyone.
He shivered but not from the cold. Some animal screamed somewhere from the fields beyond on a nocturnal hunt. Silent shadows swooped amid the trees, owls or bats he reasoned.
His leather shoes made little sound bar the occasional scuff on the hardened ground as he made his way purposefully amid the graves. His head was bowed and face was hidden by a black bowler hat that spawned new shadow. His long brown coat was buttoned tightly with only the glimpse of a white shirt and patterned tie showing from the upturned collar peeking from beneath the scarf wrapped round his neck. His black leather gloved left hand flexed involuntarily as he walked. He wasn’t even aware he was doing it. He felt his nose start to run in the cold and deftly wiped it with the back of his hand revealing a brown moustache cresting thick lips and a pointed dimpled chin.
He stopped before one headstone near the centre of the cemetery.
He said nothing but his slumped shoulders spoke volumes. He took off his hat, holding it reverently before him against his lower body. The light breeze ruffled his side parted brown hair.
He was a normal looking man, neither handsome nor ugly with green eyes. Those eyes did not shine with life like a normal person’s. Indeed they matched the weary look that etched his features. He just stood there staring at the words on the headstone. He was seeing another time, another place. If it had been darker, he could easily have been mistaken for one of the stone statues that held a silent vigil for the dead.
Dotted around the graveyard, they held their peace to allow mourners to grieve. If they could speak, they would tell tales of sorrow; of how grief had drawn so many lost souls to this place. This place was flooded with their tears. They knew how it got into your very soul and changed you forever. Grief broke the complacent belief that it always happens to someone else, opening human eyes as to just how fragile life is. All the angels could do was stand vigil and respect the dead.
The man sighed and raised his head, pursing his lips. He put his hat back on and turned to leave when something stopped him in his tracks.
He froze, eyes wide as he saw a glow flitter from amid the sentinel trees. The breeze shook their remaining leaves as if cowering before the thing that was emerging from between them.
The man stood in fascinated fear unable to believe what he was seeing. His heart screamed at him to run but his head wanted to know what he was seeing.
Was this what he had been waiting for since that day life changed? Was this the message confirming what he had been aware of but never truly mastered all his life? He watched in stupefied fascination as the light darted about and spun like a snake’s head on the hunt for a meal.
The sky was thick with dark clouds that battered across a weak moon making what he was seeing more vivid in the dark.
A deft emerald glow was coming from behind the line of dark gnarled trees. He could see the criss cross of branches illuminated as the light moved between the gaps and down around the trunks. It skimmed the back lying hedges making their normal green foliage turn into a deeper, sicklier colour. He thought for a moment the strange light was going to move away into the adjacent fields but he caught his breath as he saw it stop.
Maybe it’s a torch or a balloon he thought. Perhaps it was one of those Hollywood movie moguls filming some upcoming feature. The special effects were very life like if it was. That would also explain why it was moving independently of the breeze which was blowing north.
Peering closer he could see there was no movement down there plus the fact the land was too rough for people to tramp about making movies. He knew there was a deep ditch down there from his daylight visits. He was also aware the graveyard was lined with barbed wire fences that end because the fields were grazing land for cattle. The light was droning through the air as if searching.
The man swore it was showing intelligence. It paused as if thinking and a cold dread shivered the man’s spine. His throat tightened as the thing emerged from behind the trees into full view.
The vivid green light heaved through the branches in a ghostly cloud that coalesced into something new.
Hovering in midair was a sphere of green light, tendrils of energy writhing all around it. Sometimes they crackled in the air or flicked to touch headstones as it passed over them. He could see in its light that those lightning spurts left no burn marks on the trees or surrounding foliage. It was silent. The man cocked his head scarcely able to comprehend what he was seeing.
“My God,” he breathed unsure what to do. His fists were tight and his body tensed ready to run if necessary.
The orb grew a deeper sickly green throwing off various shades of green. The halo sizzled with a fierceness that seemed to reach into the man’s mind. In his head was the scream of a million wasps.
He began to shake. His face fell as the basketball sized sphere moved closer, turning in his direction. It carved a path through the dark with a spotlight green glow, its path illuminating the headstones on a course straight towards him.
The man cried out to the heavens for the Almighty to help him. It could only have come from Hell, some type of demon seeking to steal the souls of the dead from their eternal rest. He knew it was nothing holy. It didn’t fit in with anything he had read from the good book and it stirred a sharp fear in his gut.
As it approached, dark emotions stirred in his mind as if it were trying to reach inside him. Every instinct told him to run. Every fibre seemed to be on fire. He couldn’t move. His breath caught in his throat as he heard something in his head. It calmed him. Rising to his feet he stared at the sphere. Despite himself he reached a tentative hand out to it. There was something whispering to him. He stood gazing up at it as it hovered over him like a moon. His features were bathed in its emerald glow as tendrils of lightning touched his face. He shot his hand out as if to grab it but green fire consumed him in a frenzy. His body arched in agony. He screamed as it bore down on him. In a second, the graveyard went dark.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Copyright Paramount Pictures
Jean Luc Picard was gone and Locutus of Borg now stood in his place!
Guinan stood in shock at the turn of events. The Borg, that terror that scratched her nightmares, had returned and taken Jean Luc Picard. To many Picard was a legend, an indestructible oasis in the midst of any tempest. He was the one they turned to; the one that held this ship together. What would happen now that thread had been pulled? How soon before the tight tapestry that consisted of the Enterprise crew’s unfaltering faith in him withered? If it crumbled too much then the fight with the Borg would be over before it began. First Earth then the entire Federation would be assimilated; an ocean of hopeful flames being extinguished with one cold deathly breath.
Closing her dark almond shaped eyes, Guinan breathed deeply letting her mind reach out to her shipmates. She could feel the subdued fear and disbelief. It took a lot for her to push down her own horror at this turn of events. While she knew the bridge crew were maintaining a brave face for the sake of the crew, that crown lay heavier on Will Riker most of all. He was now Captain with a first officer in the shape of Shelby nipping at his heels for the captaincy he had shied away from for so long. Add to that he had just given (thankfully an unsuccessful one) the chance to blow the abomination out of the stars that now wore Picard’s face. Regardless of the mechanical implants the crew still saw their captain no matter what he called himself. If the Borg could convert the best of them so easily then no one really stood a chance. Any battle and the massacre of thousands at Wolf 359 were mere spit against the wind than a historically remembered battle of the brave. It would be easier to surrender and allow everything they were become part of the Borg Collective. It washed through Guinan as she returned her expressionless gaze to the star filled vista out the window of Ten Forward.
Copyright Paramount Pictures
The entire future rested on a spin of this coin and yet she knew that it wasn’t over. She kept a secret that could not be revealed until the time was right. Part of her roared at the Fates that this was wrong but she had to find a way to salvage the situation. The stench of hopelessness wafted the corridors of the flagship like decaying wraiths seeking a place for their souls to rest. Riker was not thinking like a captain. The bridge crew could see nothing beyond the fact they had just tried to kill their captain. They were leaderless and swimming in treacle. Even the promotion thirsty Shelby was thinking of how she could get skip to the top of the ladder if she found a solution to all this. Troi was overwhelmed by the waves of despair. Worf was cursing his own failure as were Geordi and Wesley. Parents held their children close, terrified these young ones’ futures would be taken away. With a gasp, Guinan heard a mother sob to her husband, ‘Never again a lullaby.’
No! she vowed.
Although she could not yet see it there was a way to save the day. The Borg would be defeated and Picard would be restored. She knew it. She had seen it. For a moment Guinan stared at her own reflection in the window. She held her own gaze as it suddenly came to her. All the crew needed was a nudge in the right direction. The answer lay within them; all it would take is someone that had seen the hidden future her shipmates could not know. Phasers and photon torpedoes would not solve this; it would take the crew to look at things differently. Allowing herself a sly smile at the memory of the moment Picard and she first met (oh Jean Luc if only you knew but soon old friend), Guinan’s course was set. She had the key to salvation with the knowledge she had kept hidden for all these years. She somehow knew the future she had seen was closer than she knew.
“Ok Locutus, here they come,” she whispered. She knew where the wounded Riker would be and what he was thinking. Ignited by this new spark of hope, Guinan glided out of Ten Forward formulating a plan. There will be lullabies again she promised. Despair had been replaced by thoughts of Data’s severed head and Mark Twain.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
‘I’m a little too old to play the Hardy boys meet Reverend Werewolf!’
Let me say right up front I bloody love Silver Bullet!
Based on the Stephen King novella Cycle of the Werewolf which incidentally is King’s shortest book to date was renamed Silver Bullet for the screenplay adaptation. Telling the story of a small town of gripped in terror as something slaughters its residents, it for me stands up there with King’s best adaptations. Initially the townspeople think have a serial killer on their hands but none of them realise it’s a werewolf. It is only when the killings become more savage in nature that alarm bells go off. The only person that knows the real threat is a kid in a motorcycle wheelchair called Silver Bullet and his sister who resents being his carer.
For me Silver Bullet is the perfect balance of comedy and horror with a real solid human core. I love the fact the lead character is a disabled kid, Marty Coslaw played by the late Corey Haim because it’s a role model ahead of its time. His family is so relatable to audiences especially those who live with a loved one with a disability every day. His sister Jane (Megan Follows) is Marty’s unofficial carer, something that is very relatable these days to many. Jane resents the fact her parents see no wrong in Marty because he is disabled and that it’s her fault if he is late for dinner. Even when Marty is partly responsible for Jane falling and ripping her tights when his friend Brad throws a snake at her. It doesn’t matter that it is the boys’ fault; Jane’s mother, Nan, expects her to just suck it up. But we see the other side of the coin when Nan and Red argue over Marty and her treatment of him which reveals fears the kids would never be told. This only adds to the reality of the emotional core to the story. It’s clear Marty hates the fact he is disabled and the impact on his sister when he gives her money for new tights and watches sadly from the sidelines as other kids play soccer.
The movie is very much about the bond between brother and sister as adult Jane speaks in both the beginning and the end of the movie in voiceover. The normal sibling rivalry is amplified by Marty’s disability but it’s all put into perspective with the battle with the werewolf. It affirms their love for each other and that they will always be there for one another no matter what. Like the cycle of the wolf, siblings go through the same love hate battles generation after generation. red vocalises this beautifully in a quiet moment with Jane and Marty. This bond is also seen in the moment after Marty has been almost killed by the werewolf on the bridge while he is setting off fireworks. He tells Jane and she completely believes him. There is no doubt in her mind so it is up to her to find whoever has an eyepatch where Marty pierced the werewolf’s eye with a rocket. Only then can they end the town’s nightmare.
Another nice touch is that the only person that understands both Marty and Jane and can see what’s going on is their Uncle Red played by Gary Busey. Red loves his drink too much and bad women and is a pain in his sister’s side. She doesn’t like the way he treats Marty as if there is nothing wrong with him and Red puts her in her place highlighting the treatment that Jane sees on a daily basis. Only Red and Jane can see there is so much more to Marty than his disability. It’s actually a nice social commentary on how people look at someone with disability in general. One character sees them as all ending up on welfare and should be electrocuted. Indeed Jane only sees red as a chronic drunk which she doesn’t mean but says only to hurt Marty. In a way they come to learn there is more to the world than what they see every day and that is brought to the fore when people start dying. Silver Bullet ina way is a story about perception and not seeing the world for how it is.
The first death, a decapitation, is dismissed as an accident on the tracks. But then a young, single mother abandoned by the father of her baby is ripped apart in her bedroom as she prepares to commit suicide while a the cruel, drunken father of Marty’s friend and potential girlfriend, is impaled in his shed by the wolf. Brady, Marty’s best friend, Tammy, is also ripped apart adding a new emotional element to Marty’s quest as he was the last person to see Brady alive.
The entire town is gripped by terror resulting in lynch mobs spurred on by loud mouth citizen Andy. They have heard the howl of the wolf and there is a pervading sense of fear of something not natural lurking amid their normality. No one will openly say it is a monster except for Marty but they don’t need to. The question remains who is it? This is where I think they made a huge misstep with the reveal of the wolf.
As we know it is Reverend Lowe brilliantly played by Everett McGill. Lowe is tortured by his condition (It’s not my fault!) and beautifully plays into the idea that a man becomes wolfier the closer he gets to the full moon. As the movie progresses he is the mediator begging the folks to see sense and follow the will of God and not give in to violence but this changes when his secret is revealed. His attitude and demeanour become darker; much more evil especially in the scene where he tries to kill Marty on the bridge. As I mentioned earlier Jane tries to find the werewolf by going round the houses and businesses on a bottle drive. It is then she discovers Lowe with a bandage over his eye. However the impact of this is totally lost as previous to this we see Lowe suffer a nightmare where his entire congregation turns into werewolves. While it’s a great scene with a werewolf bursting out of a coffin, it tells us quite clearly who the wolf is, taking away the impact of Jane’s discovery. This to be fair is the only thing the movie screws up as the rest is a delicious dance between the lines of horror and comedy. The comedy is not the slapstick type but in fact is generated from the horror itself.
In the lynch party scene where the townsfolk going en masse to hunt the killer down, we see patrons of the bar in the fog draped woods where the wolf hunts them from below the blanket of fog. The bar owner, Owen Knopfler, being beaten to death by his baseball bat, the Peacekeeper, in funny in its execution as the visual of a wolf using a baseball bat is ludicrous enough. On the flipside when Lowe murders the Sheriff with the same baseball bat it is vicious and brutal again echoing the theme of the closer the man gets to the full moon the more the wolf’s killer nature takes over. When a bear trap catches one of their legs, the comedic efforts to get him free ease the tension of the scene because we know what’s coming. What adds to the fun in this scene is that none of the characters are butch hardmen but more along the lines of people you’d see in a sitcom. Tie that in with the distinct soundtrack and it works perfectly especially with the realisation the wolf has been right with them beneath the fog all the time. This false sense of laughing at horror is overturned when Marty is trapped on a covered bridge by Lowe. The tension is off the scale as Lowe viciously tries to run Marty down by smashing his car into the Silver Bullet. Lowe’s facial hair is thicker indicating the wolf is taking over. In a deep voice almost demonic, Lowe tells Marty all about what motivates him. Everyone that died was a sinner whom Lowe saved from eternal damnation which only shows that Lowe has cracked and the dark part of him is taking control now the full moon is close. There is no fun in this scene at all, just pure unadulterated terror. Lowe is intent on murdering Marty and he even begins to change. Marty cannot run and the Silver Bullet is out of gas. Only the timely arrival of a farmer saves him. Similarly to the first attack on Marty on another bridge as he sets off his fireworks. We only get glimpses of the wolf firing our imagination as to what it fully looks like. When Jane is trapped alone in the Reverend’s garage with him having discovered that Lowe is the wolf and the shattered Peacemaker her fear is palpable.
The battle is on as Marty must find a way to stop the wolf now he is a target. Of course it doesn’t help he riles Lowe by sending him notes telling him to kill himself. When Jane and Marty tell Red what they know he responds with my favourite line ever; ‘I’m a little too old to be playing the Hardy Boys meet Reverend Werewolf!!’
Red is as wily as he is loudmouthed. At first he doesn’t believe his niece and nephew until he finds paint from Lowe’s car on the Silver Buller exactly where Marty said Lowe tried to run him off the road. Jane’s words finally hit home for Red; ‘I believe in Marty. You used to believe in him too Uncle Red.’. Laying his trap, Red gets his sister and husband out of the way for the weekend and has a silver bullet made. I fell like there is an almost fairytale quality to the movie as Jane describes the bullet maker as an old world craftsman, a sort of wizard of weapons, They know Lowe is coming for them and are ready. What I really like is the fight is on a small scale. It is a family against a monster who must be defeated in their home, the only place they feel safe in. The tension is built one layer at a time when firstly the lights go out then Jane sees the wolf lurking in the window. Busey is great here as his trembling hands nearly drop the bullet. When the wolf comes exploding through the wall the wolf is revealed in its fullness. Now behind the scenes there was a battle to get rid of the wolf costume as the producer Dino de Laurentiis wanted rid of it but King and designer Carlo Rambaldi refused so it stayed. For me it is a very Goldilocks style wolf adding to the fairy tale quality of the story. I have to mention the effects here as Lowe transforms back into human form. It’s beautifully done and the classic last minute scare makes us jump.
The end scene of the Jane and Marty together is perfect. It’s not over indulgent or gooey. It a simple affirmation of the movie’s overall themes. Silver Bullet is a love letter to the bond between siblings that no matter what life throws at them no matter how bizarre, they will always have each other. Absolutely beautiful movie.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
1978 and yet another sic fi series debut. And again this one was first broadcast as four, made for television movies, the success of which lead to the commissioning of 13 weekly episodes. Starring then unknown actor, Patrick Duffy as the titular character Mark, the very first movie set out the show’s parameters.
Mark was suffering amnesia and believed to be the last survivor of the city of Atlantis and had webbed hands and feet, has super strength and is able to breathe underwater for long periods of time while withstanding great depth pressure. He had a unique style of swimming that kids all over the land tried to copy much to the chagrin of school teachers everywhere on trips to the swimming pool (see video below).
Mark would ally himself with Dr Elizabeth Merrill, played by Belinda Montgomery, who worked for the Foundation of Oceanic Research and utilizing a submarine called the Cetacean. Although on the twelfth episode, Montgomery’s character was replaced for no rhyme or reason by Dr jenny Reynolds, played by Lisa Blake Richards. Over the course of the episodes Mark gained a supporting cast between the crew of the Cetacean and members of the Foundation.
After helping defeat a mad scientist, Mark offers to stay and learn more from the humans which leads them into a series of adventures ranging from sea monsters to aliens to space spores. There was even hints of mark’s background in the story‘Shoot Out at Land’s End with Duffy playing the dual role of both Mark and Billy, where Billy apparently has had his webbing removed surgically. The four television movies were wildly different to each other, deftly showing how versatile the format of the show could be if given the chance.
And it was when a further thirteen episodes were green lit for a series which looked like it would be a ratings smash given the demographics based on the four movies. This would also be a format tested with both Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactica.
The ratings were good, despite criticism of the show being too aimed at kids but not only were there spin-off novels produced, but a comic book series too.
Here it thrashed Doctor Who in the ratings, the only other American import to do that was Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. There was almost a toy range produced but never got past the prototype stage. All-in-all that wasn’t bad for a show that was cancelled after thirteen episodes.
The stories may have been deemed as made for kids, but there was a great effort to make the stories different and utilize the sci fi elements such as monsters and aliens. Even to this day, the ocean is unexplored and therefore a blank canvas for all sorts of adventures. Herbert F solow , Mayo Simon (Phase IV), Alan Caillou (Man from Uncle) all had experience in the fantastical and were well suited to bringing new adventures for the Man from Atlantis but like so many other shows in this era, the axe fell.
There are so many theories and politics from this era that the reason for the decision may never been known but two things were certain; kids loved this show; like bionic jumps it was something they could identify with and copy in water and two, it ensured Patrick Duffy’s place in a new soap opera called Dallas playing someone called Bobby Ewing. Funnily enough, water would play a vital part in a scene with Duffy that would change the course of that show too… but that is another story.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Life rarely differs in the Irish village of Craiglann, especially for Miles Kivlehan and the other downtrodden unfortunates who reside in the Adullam mission home. But then, in a few short days, everything is turned upside down. The Stranger arrives and moves into the haunted farmhouse opposite the mission home, a local girl goes missing, and an unearthly storm threatens to destroy the town.Enter Tomas. To Miles, Tomas is just a free-spirited wanderer who occasionally returns to Adullam. But to Father Joseph – the mission home’s stern administrator – Tomas is the Devil incarnate. And, as the storm rages and tempers fray over the fate of the missing girl, Tomas intentionally plunges the small township into even greater peril…
Posted by Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
With kind permission we bring you Tripp;s Smokepit podcast featuring Irish author Damien Larkin where the talk the slippery slope of writing. Find more info on Damien on his links here
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Copyright Marvel Studios
The initial trailers and episode of this new show from Marvel were a bit of a culture shock. Anyone expecting super villain and massive battles in the vein of Infinity War and Endgame is going to be sorely disappointed. Indeed what we get is a parody of Bewitched and all those old sitcoms where life is perfect in a white picket fence stance. Women were the consummate housewives and men were the working husbands in grey suits trying to get that promotion from their angry bosses. The acting is exaggerated and the values are those of the 50s literally jump from the screen. Wanda and the Vision are the new couple in the neighbourhood trying to fit in while masking their true identities. Simple household chores are sorted with magic and Vision hides his true form in a human guise.
We get comical situations lifted straight out of that genre like having the boss over for dinner to impress him enough to get that elusive promotion and taking part in a magic show to gain favour from the head honcho of the neighbourhood, Dotty. While this concept is jarring at first, it soon becomes clear something else is going on. Mysterious beekeepers emerge from the sewer and Wanda hears a voice from the radio asking her who is doing this to her? Doing what?
Suddenly she is pregnant and reverses time back to the beginning. Is this Wanda having a mental breakdown over the Vision’s death? Grief is a veil of grey yet the scene ala Pleasantville where the black and white world suddenly floods with colour may be her grief cracking to remember happier times. Has she created this world to prevent a mental breakdown? We have the themes of having the perfect life, fitting in and just being able to do all the things other people do like having babies and being accepted. Note the scene where they sleep in separate beds like the old sitcoms yet something forces the beds together as it is acceptable to see couples sleeping in the ame bed in this era. Everyone sleeps in pyjamas and the wife is pristine to greet her husband coming home from work. It is clear some external force is affecting things or is it Wanda herself? Or could it be she is being held in this false world as she has something in her head that someone else wants? Is that connected to the Vision?
By the end of episode two my skepticism was gone and there is enough intrigue to keep me coming back. Knowing Marvel the real answer is probably nothing that we have come up with. It seems Pleasantville has just become Twin Peaks with the Scarlet Witch and the Vision right in the middle of it all.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 
