Topic: My PILOT Marathon

[richierich]

Title: Father Ted: Series One

Certificate:15
Year:1995


Plot:The irreverent BritCom that has been called 'undoubtedly the finest comedy about three Catholic priests stuck on a tiny island off the Irish coast ever made' is now available on DVD. Features all six episodes of the highly-acclaimed premiere season, in which the trio's shaky grasp on reality is challenged by such things as the arrival of the world's worst funfair and the All Priests Stars-in-Their-Eyes Competition.

Good Luck, Father Ted
Ted gets his chance to be on TV when he is to be interviewed by a magazine programme. But 'FunLand', the most pathetic travelling fair ever invented has come to Craggy Island, and while Ted is distracted with Father Jack, Dougal seizes his moment of glory.


My Review:
Witty and intelligent comedy, that literally created a cult following in UK.
It felt a bit disjointed as the actors feel their way into their roles, and begin working together for the first time. Ardal O'Hanlon has the best lines in this opener, with Frank 'Feck Off' Kelly in top form. Personally I never found Dermot Morgan funny, but obviously a great loss nonetheless that he died young.
It's a nice blend of British comedy, at times quite subtle and character based, at others in your face brash and crass.
I've probaly seen 20 or so episodes at different times over the years, but will one day plan to watch the whole series in order, I will, I will, I will.
 

[richierich]

Title: New Tricks: Series 1

Certificate:M
Year:2003


Plot:Superintendent Sandra Pullman, whose brilliant career is sidelined after a hostage rescue goes disastrously wrong ("you shoot one dog...") has been put in charge of a new department - The Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad (UCOS). However she is soon dismayed to discover that her unit is to be manned by former detectives who have long since hung up their badges.
Pullman's recruits - grieving widower Jack Halford, once her mentor in the murder squad; the compulsive obsessive ex-Inspector Brian Lane and ex-Sergeant Gerry Standing, one of the top thief-takers of his time, who left the force amid rumours of corruption - might have years of experience, but they know little of modern police methods. Can she create a crack team out of this trio of eccentric dinosaurs who are quickly discovering the rules of the game are no longer what they used to be?

Pilot
When Roddy Wringer is released on appeal after serving twenty years for the murder of a nightclub hostess - a crime he always claimed he did not commit - his case gets reinvestigated by UCOS - The Unsolved case squad. The squad is to be made up of some of the best retired officers available
The squad gets headed up by Det Supt Pullman, who is moved after shooting a dog in a hostage rescue gone wrong. With Jack Halford she sets out to build her team and investigate the case.

My Review:
New Tricks began as a one-off episode, first shown in March 2003, which gained enough viewers for a series.
Class
Pure Class
The best way to finish this months pilot marathon, the best of the best saved til last.
Top rating - just buy it.
 

[Tom]

Crime Traveller

Episode 1 - Jeff Slade & the Loop of Infinity
Jeff Slade is a detective who is in trouble with his boss when a stakeout goes wrong. His partner, Holly Turner, is on hand to help him out. Her methods. however, are unusual (to say the least!)and involve a time machine....




Meet the most unconventional investigative duo of any time - JEFF SLADE and HOLLY TURNER in the mystery adventure series Crime Traveller.
Sleuths come and go, working on intuition, luck and clues, but Slade and his science officer colleague Holly are armed with something extra in their fight against crime - their very own Time Machine.
Invented and developed over the years by Holly's father, quantum physicist Professor Fredrick Turner, the Time Machine is a bizarre mixture of DIY technology, but it works.  Unfortunately the Professor disappeared during one of his time travel experiments, leaving his daughter convinced that he is still out there somewhere, stuck in another dimension.
Holly is now in charge of the Professor's extraordinary legacy, which is kept hidden in her apartment.  When Slade, a charming maverick detective, discovers the Time Machine's existence, he convinces Holly to use it in order to solve major crimes.  The scene is set for a rollercoaster ride, through the present and the past.
High speed chases and intriguing puzzles are solved with the aid of their unreliable Time Machine, in this stylish, fast-paced drama.

Ridiculous plot and concept, made worse by some particularly hammy acting by most involved. The contraption which Holly has produced to travel through time looks like it is made from old washing up liquid bottles and cereal packets. It must also be shy, as it only works when the curtains are closed. To ensure they don't get back 'before time runs out', bizarrely they have to wear huge digital watches the size of a plate on their wrists??
The plot had as many holes as a piece of edam, a distinct lack of 'whodunnit' suspense, and paradoxes which were non-sensical.
Flimsy attempt at sci-fi, but at the time a novel idea for a detective series.
 

I have watched the first series now and I must say, that even though I was sceptical after the first episode, I quite enjoyed it. I didn't have a problem with how the machine looked. It was built by her father after all over a period of many years. Its material is from different times. E.g. some vacuum tubes are still used. As for closing the curtains: As I understood it, that the closing of the wooden curtains also closes a special circuit. And everyone inside that circuit (i.e. inside the room) travels through time.
I had a problem with the huge wrist-watch though. Luckily it was hardly seen.
What I liked about this series is, that they sticked to their established time-travel principle, that nothing can be changed in the past. Everything you see always happened this way. Some stuff you see before the time-travel happened, but we later find out, that they were caused by the time-travellers themselves.
To summarize: This is an average crime-solving TV series with a little time-travel twist. The first episode is rather week, but I enjoyed the other three episodes of this first series. Especially the last one.