John’s Newsround – 14/11/05 News Posted by John Hoare on 14th November 2005, 01:59 IAN: Welcome back online, sir. How are you feeling? JOHN: I can’t remember anything. I don’t know who I am. What is this place? Who are you? IAN: Ah, you have a touch of amnesia. That’s quite common after such a long period in Deep Sleep. You’ve been out for just over twelve days. JOHN: Twelve days? IAN: Actually, I woke you last Friday, but you absolutely insisted on another three days. So, what’s the best thing to do when Red Dwarf gets possibly its best DVD release yet? Erm, go AWOL for practically two weeks. Sorry about that. No doubt, however, you’ve all been too busy watching the VII DVD and reading the online comic to notice. FLIBBLE PUPPET: TOS, then. And: Is something amiss? God no, what could possibly be amiss, when you see… pictures like that. Perfect. I don’t think there’s any more that needs to be said. Should be with us by the end of the month, although you’ll be able to buy it at Memorabilia. HEADKNOCKERS: Oooh. OOOOH. Excellent. I must admit, I didn’t expect these to be episode-specific ones – nor did I expect anything other than the main characters to be represented. The Inquisitor, Kryten with Psi-scan, and Fearless Lister to come at the end of the month (and again, at Memorabilia), with Psi-Virus Rimmer, Duane Dibbley, and a Psiren coming in the New Year. Excellent choice of characters. I WANT TO SEE A KOCHANSKI ONE BECAUSE THEN I CAN SET IT OFF NODDING AGAINST MY CROTCH AND IT’LL LOOK LIKE SHE’S GIVING ME A BLOWJOB HA HA HA. BRITTAS BOXSET SIGNING: Chris Barrie. Silverscreen. Oxford Street, London. Friday 25th November. Between 12.30 and 2.00pm. Have fun. If you don’t want to have fun, however, read Sci-Fi Online’s review of the boxset. Apparently, the first series “hasn’t aged very well” (erm, what?), “has enough homophobic, sexist and racist jokes (well, one of each actually) to make people “tut” in these more enlightened times” (not getting character jokes, there – and surely you should be concentrating more on the positive and groundbreaking portrayal of Tim and Gavin?), and “a little like a cross between Fawlty Towers and Hi-De-Hi (if you can imagine how truly horrendous that would be)” (actually quite an accurate description – but seeing how both shows are great, how could it possibly be horrendous?) STOP GETTING BRITTAS WRONG! Oh dear, I do believe G&T has finally jumped the shark with that last quote. CZECHMATE / CZECH IT OUT / DOUBLE CZECH AND MATE SUCKER / RETRO? CZECH. BOOSTERS? CZECH / ETC: They get a IV release – no extras. That it all. Bonus points for the subtle quoting in the TOS headline, though. Sadly, subtle is something we haven’t quite got the hang of yet. FILM CELLS: Remember Argos was going to have an exclusive one of these – the VII set? Well, with its non-appearance in the latest Argos catalogue, here’s the latest about it from Andrew on the Webboard: “Irritatingly we’re still waiting for word on the Argos release. It seems they may not be doing the exclusive after all. So we’re still holding on to find out if it’ll come out as a wide release, as a limited edition somewhere else, if Argos will run it at a later date, or if it just won’t come out at all. Show of hands, please: who was interested in the Argos one? (Enough interest they may go for a general release.)” Well, if sales of the VII DVD are anything to go by, they may want to go for general release. Again, from Andrew on the Webboard: “On day of launch we were officially number 2 in the UK, only tailing Star Wars Episode III. There has been some celebration at GNP and 2 entertain… :-) Excellent. And today’s tip for enjoying the VII DVD even more? Go straight to the Switching Chips chapter on Tikka To Ride. It’s a really good episode then…
>with Psi-Virus Rimmer Shouldn’t it be Holo-virus Rimmer? Or maybe they just like the Psi prefix, being as we have Kryten with a Psi-scanner and an upcoming Psiren?
Damn. Missed the update by just 23 minutes (I went to bed eventually), but was it worth waiting for! Was it bollocks.
Up until midnight last night the Film Cell mention (Out now awaiting stock)has vanished from the Play.com site… It seemed to vanish some time on Friday!
I like the Alan Partridge series 2 ep 4 reference (if that’s what it’s meant to be). Maybe the only episode of series 2 that’s up there with series 1. The Sunny Delight going over the Bond videos is a top moment, and the way that Alan looks at them and says ‘yeah, they’re ruined…’. Anyway, you could do a lot worse than getting the Brittas boxset. Some of the comments from that review are deluded (what’s with the constant Fawlty references?), but I agree that the last two series maybe shouldn’t have been made. I think it became a little more like other shitty BBC1 sitcoms, and…that’s that. But the first five are gold. Maybe if the reviewer watched a lot of episodes at once, Chris’s Brittas voice drilled into their brain.
What, no ‘TMYNYN bonus features released over at the OD’? No comic review? No cover, booklet and oh-so-important sticker coverage? What’re you doing this in your spare time or something? Oh, yeah. Sorry. :-) Any fan sites running DVD reviews, let us know – the rd.co.uk review-review will happen in a few weeks, and we’d like to mecilessly nick quotes from the best fan reviews, too.
>Maybe the only episode of series 2 that’s up there with series 1. Stop getting Partridge wrong, monkey. That’s the weakest of series 2! (some great laughs…but come on!)
Woah, hang on just one ruddy second. How can you say that it’s the weakest of series 2??!! Episodes 5 and 6 are way weaker (I just despise the parts with the tax people and when they go to ‘Bono’s house, so slow and weakly scripted), and I still think the first ep where he goes to the school is pretty lame. The best three are easily 2, 3 & 4, with 4 being my favorite for a number of reasons. The stuff with ‘Tex’, visiting Lyn’s mum’s grave ‘the underground base of an evil genius, and then Dr. No’, destroying his cereals.
Have to agree with Mr Monkey, I think that’s the best of the lot (even if Alan’s viewing schedule is slightly incorrect). Although I love the stuff with the Tax people. Particuarly the teddy bear.
I agree with eps 2 and 3 being great. 3 tops the scale for me…how pathetic Alan becomes over a “friend” is masterfully acted. However I thought 6 was rather good and would rank it as one of the better episodes (the Prayerwave interview is priceless). I’d say that both 4 and 5 are the weakest of the batch, though…with 4 narrowly edging out 5. Sorry. I much prefer Bono’s house to the Bondathon…which is a shame, because Alan’s reenactment of The Spy Who Loved Me is Oscar worthy.
Yeah, I think the Bond one is by far the best, for most of the moments mentioned above. I’d like it even more if it still contained the deleted scene that referenced my home town, though : Alan : So where are you actually from? Tex : Crosby. Michael : Aye, there’s a Crosby in Texas, we looked it up! Alan : There’s also a… Texas Homecare in Crosby…
> Mr Andrew – how come you haven’t commented on our extras yet?! Ah, um, well – what can I say? Devoted, committed – and we appreciate the free publicity! :-) Seriously, well done guys. You obviously worked bloody hard. I’m glad it paid off. (Oh, and the DVD money gag would have been great if it had worked; otherwise the final cut is the best cut.)
I think IAP2 has a lot in common with VIII. Lots of great jokes; some odd characterisation; lots of production problems; has a rather off-kilter feel at times; dodgy plotting; some fans defend it, others think there are serious problems compared to previous series…
Both the DVD Money and the White Hole things were my idea. Both worked excellently on paper. Just not on screen. Conclusion: I should write a book.
Well, the thing is, I hated IAP series 2 when I first watched it, just like I hated series VIII. But now, I enjoy it way way more (Partridge, not VIII). You can sort of tell that Coogan was pissed off during the series, but in the end that might have helped it. It’s such a twisted and deranged series at times, like the mentalness of him piercing his foot on the railings. I think I would have preferred it if they’d started the series with Alan being more successful (and they should have shown his military-based quiz on UK Conquest!).
It just seemed to be a lot more ‘sitcomy’. All time best episode has to be ‘Basic Alan’, where the most exciting thing he gets up to is popping to the motorway service station to buy some windscreen washer fluid…
“I’m a zombie, I’m Alan Partridge, I’m dressed as a zombie!” (I was going to go to a Halloween party dressed like that, y’know) “Sack Lynn for being unloyal… DISloyal…” “Bill… Bill Car…” “Read the small print on your CONEtract” Easily the best ep :-)
– B. Oddie? This is Bill Oddie! – We thought it might have been ‘body’. – What’s rude about a body? – Tits?