"Music is back!", they screamed (while most penniless artists cried, a UK based musician absolutely raking it in with an on average 14K earnings a year). That's right, in 2024 sales hit a 20 year high - but kind of not actually really if adjusted for inflation and streaming and all that - so the shops and Spotify are quite happy to clean up.... as well as all ye olde "legacy artists" still (re)punting their 20-30-40-50 years + wares. With all that in mind, let's keep things moving forward thinking with, er, Braw's UndergRound up of all things, erm, kinda pretty much legacy artist, um....
First up The Orb had a fairly quiet 2024, cropping up for a joint (ahem!) tour with Ozric Tentacles and yet another hardcore fan fleece in the (admittedly quite beautiful looking) Orboretum, curated by the one and only (perpetual dawning member) Alex Paterson, a man well versed in dressing mutton like lamb, especially in this case, the (very best, early) tracks truncated for reasons of space and much of the rest of it given over to their particularly anonymous and superflous Kompact era. What about Orboring, perhaps the better title?
Still, when all else fails Rob always defers to the advice of the wonderful The Orb Music & RemixesFacebook group and thus finally properly stumped up for two of Paterson's more recent side-projects, Seti by Sedibus, a warm, organic, semi-ambient stunner with (back) on point samples and Enter The Kettle by OSS, a mostly lumpen 4/4 techno stomper that fails miserably by comparison. It's sprightly, sure, and better reveals itself in part over time, but of the 8 tracks it's a similar split of 4/4, half (mindless floor) filler and half fine (enough)....
After his successful 'redux' of Cydonia it was high time Rob got around to mapping and exploring the vast soundscapes of Orbvs Terrarvm, making good use of the 2008 2cd version to cook up a similarly satisfying reconstructed alternate take. In fact, the mixes on the second cd are mostly far superior to the album versions - they have a certain space and clarity often denied the claustrophobic, overstuffed initial release - so with a bit of reordering, and the inclusion of Montagne D'Or from the BBC Sessions 1989-2001, he made a wonderful travelling companion to their '94 peak....
So it was therefore left to System 7's 777 and Power of Seven to plug this gaping black hole, Miquette Giraudy's shimmering synths and Steve Hillage's stuttering guitars more than a match for the lower reaches of the Ultraworld.... that Thrash, Paterson, Keogh and Glover are all guesting surely helps. Close your eyes (always helps!) and 'Ship of the Desert' could be an adventurous early Orb outlier....
System 7 - Ship of the Desert
Oh, and how's that for a connection as Steve Hillage was also to be found setting the controls on The Charlatans' third album, Up To Our Hips, another record that was subject to creator 'curation' in 2024, a certain Tim Burgess hoping, "the expanded edition allows the listener a never before sneak peek behind the curtain at a record being made by a band in crisis." Apparently. As, for a start you can't really tell this from peeking at any of the extras and, as you can imagine, this release still trails miles behind Rob's own super deluxe of 2023. If anything it seems The Charlatans were not so much in crisis in 1993/4 as unable to tell which of their songs were in fact the best. If you ever had the chance to set a record in stone for the future Rob doubts he'd fill up a second cd with weaker versions of the superior non-album tracks - Subterranean still sparkles but the excellent You and Everybody is subject to a step back, a half-baked demo which is a waste of vinyl, the Easy Life (a fairly pedestrian track in itself) b-side being far superior and not some tinny sounding workout. As well as the welcome Hammond surge of the hitherto unreleased Full of Culture, perhaps set aside as the guitar/organ interplay is still a little clumsy, yet to settle down, there's nice alternate run throughs of Feel Flows and Stir It Up, a trailing b-side that even 30 years ago had more life and urgency than much of the album proper. In addition we have airings of a near-grinding Out , it's not nearly as weedy in its official capacity as Rob remembers, just trimmed down to its detriment, and Withdrawn, tho the already out there session of Up To Our Hips is superfluous compared to the demo, what with its better chorus and genuinely affecting stoned whoosh....
The Charlatans - Up To Our Hips, You & Everybody and Subterranean demos
Photo by Derek Phillip, Manchester 1989
Another UTOH out-take (the last?), Dardanella, is to be found on The Charlatans' own sprawling best of, A Head Full of Ideas (Deluxe Edition) which, a little like the lavish Acetone box set of 2023, is worth the entry price alone for this colour picture of late drummer Jon Brookes thrashing away at his kit (as per the b/w cover of debut single Indian Rope).
Keeping with the Manchester connection, if ever there was a surprise waiting in the musical wings in early 2024 then it had to be wholly unexpected partnership of Liam Gallagher and John Squire, the guitarist renewed and unleashed after 20 years (pretty much) inactivity, ditching the downbeat, the weary and the reflective questioning of his solo albums in favour of lyrics with a more wry and familiar (and populist) ring, seeming to have recovered some of his anthemic qualities and found a comfortable middle ground between the chime of the Roses debut, Second Coming's rocky bombast and the more Beatles-ish songwriting that characterized The Seahorses. Of course, if anything required quite an adjustment for Rob, then getting used to Liam's "big" voice as they stormed through a more overdriven sound than the Roses ever had, the powerhouse stadium scraping vocals and lashes of guitar, while not ever feeling too far from that band. It's easy to imagine several of the songs filtered through Mani and Reni's glorious rhythmical dynamic and coupled with John Leckie's spacious production - no doubt it would have made a very respectable third coming (with about 5 years more polish, ahem). Overall it's a little too verse, chorus, verse, chorus, guitar, chorus in structure throughout, but with Squire's subtle, slow-burn songsmithery at work it's a triumphant return after 20 years away. Indeed, poor old Ian Brown must be fizzing (in a typically defiant and somewhat churlish manner) at the "what could have beens" of 2017.
And, as a final thought, how about the frightening fact we're now as far away from OASIS as they were from The Beatles when they started out. Hmm....
Similarly, Goth behemoths The Cure - pretty much a genre all to themselves - much anticipated Songs of a Lost World finally arrived after 16 years (of latterly teasing), a huge sprawling sweep of emotion, like watching your last sunset, bathed in glorious warmth as the light fades and a cold, unstoppable darkness creeps into your bones.... A strange record with a magnetic pull, hard to resist such is the overpowering weight (or should that be wait?) of it, a critically impervious monster of an album that moves glacially, all consuming, and one that never fails to put Rob on an existential edge....
RIDE's Interplay arrived a bit different, with a stripped back sound, Andy Bell and Mark Gardener never sounded so youthful, so much like themselves. Of course, there's the typical RIDE rush of the soaring Portland Rocks, a recapture of that early shoegaze sound arriving with a jolt of instant misty-eyed nostalgia....
DIIV's Boiling a Frog seemed to take last album Deciever's woozy (and best) moments (Acheron?) and stretch them out over a whole record. Unfortunately this frustratingly vague approach sees much of the record drift off – the melodies don't really catch and at times they simply hark back to the edge of Deceiver, so why not just listen to that? The big question is how would it (and the band) land in a live setting (at SWG3, no less "Scotland's Worst Gig x 3" or "Surely the Worst venue in Glasgow" by a long shot, with sludgy sound and a rubbish views of the stage)....
enjoying Underworld, London by way of the Cafe del Mar, to immerse himself in the incredible layered and rippling warm synth washes of Second Toughest In The Infants, surely peerless in the genre of classic techno 'builder' as tracks morph and weave together slinky minimal acid techno of Plastikman
The shuddering stoner sprawl of Bardo Pond's Lapsed and Amanita, the modern love (as in Arthur Lee) shapes of Arial Pink's Haunted Graffiti's Before Today, the boozy sticky floor bar-room b(r)awls of Japandroids Post-Nothing and Celebration Rock, the angular indie jabs of Interpol's Turn on the Bright Lights, an album finally hitting home and painfully so....
In spite of the comedown from Stuart Braithwaite's pill-poppingly pointless autobiography, there was a definite rewarding return to Mogwai's discography in 2024, from the Scottish snottiness of their fearless (Satan aside) debut to the icy atmospherics of Happy, or the hammer of Mr Beast, to the simmering threat of Zidane, right up to new album, The Bad Fire. Although they seem to have lost their knack for truly (monu)mental tracks - nothing these days slams home like early tracks Helicon 1 or Summer - there's a pleasing overall consistency to their recent records....
Mogwai - Black Spider 2
And there's always (tea) time for MF DOOM's distinct brand of hip-hop in the shape of the holy “quinity” of Operation Doomsday, King Geedorah, Madvillainy, Viktor Vaughn and MM..FOOD (with a hefty side salad of his Special Herbs for very good measure)....
After much stargazing Rob settled onQuark, Strangeness and Charm as his Hawkwind homeworld, touched down by its melancholy space-rock mood and a blatant sucker for the sweep of its sf tinged lyrics. Thanks to Atomhenge there's a nice 2cd version that, with a bit of i-Tweaking, yields up an equally satisfying alternative take....
Bandcamp - Offland, The Aliens, The Longcut, (100mountains?)
gtrgg rg dhfh nemt vnrr terg detg kjng sl jgldjgdl gldg fjdlg dg ldj ls ejg lghnkdh nfnh kfhDIIV - this directness is just a little at odds with their vague, sonic sheltered stage presence
A mere day after last year's 'myoosik' round up dropped Rob headed off to the (Glasgow) Barrowlands to catch Slowdive (capably supported by the amiable, easy London quartet Whitelands, all nifty 'nugaze' shapes, nimble guitar and impressive, propulsive drumming). Slowdive themselves took things up a considerable (and surprising) notch, Rachel Goswell proving to be their secret weapon - she looked like the happiest person there, all wide smiles and gentle, expressive dancing/moves, totally at odds with the scene's general (ie. male, affected) spaced indifference. While perhaps lacking RIDE's killer bombast, there's something undeniable about the band, a soulful and truly affecting emotional core beneath the skyscraping songs, one that reaches deep and resonates. (For Rob there's also a strange tinge of melancholy, knowing that the late Nick Talbot of Gravenhurst loved the band but sadly didn't (have the will to) live to catch this vindicated and exceptional second incarnation.)
September saw Rob head off highly anticipating a near rerun of 2022's concert by Godspeed! You Black Emperor at the Barrowland Ballroom. Sure, it was more politically pointed than last time around - any tour backing an album called "NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD" has to be - and, yes, it was ridiculously loud and unbelievably good, (oft called) "end times" music documenting the last gasp of humanity - think despairing footage of wildfires and destructive industrial processes - while acting as a breath of life-affirming fresh air, both brutal and beautiful. Who'd imagine stark footage of a small bird bobbing on a branch to a thunderous soundtrack would be so affecting? So is this "new dawn" music perhaps, a band doing everything they can to reach us, to shake us up, to get through to us. Indeed, Rob came away thinking nothing more than the fact that music could and can, that it should, change the world, and, y'know, maybe, just maybe, save it....
Those of you paying attention earlier (and who have made it this far!) might be wondering if DIIV managed to pass muster live this time around? Last spotted on these shores just before the pandemic hit it was business as usual for the tight 4 piece, with gurning rhythm guitarist/goblin ??? front and centre yet again - evidently he hasn't changed his "medication" since the QMU in 2019 - only this time the song lyrics were projected on to his twisted features, allowing Cole to play to the side(line). "Hi, I'm Zachary Cole Smith of critically acclaimed indie band DIIV and I approve this message", intones a poor actor likeness on the video backdrop. Indeed, the pointed 'prominfomercials' that screen between songs - the band will endorse anything from your product to your corporation or candidacy - seem a little at odds with the vague leanings of the music, the singing barely audible (intentional), buried in the vanue's muddied mix (unintentional). Still, no doubt they gave it their all - no deceiving Rob it was a 5 star performance in a (SWG)3 star venue....
...says (Irmin) Schmidt (CAN). 'What makes, I think, a piece of art, whatever, paintings, sculpture, music, literature - it defines a historical moment. It's made, say, in 1971. What makes it last is that when it succeeds, it's because of a presence of mind that includes in it future possibilities.'
'There is a phrase from [French writer] Paul Valery - in an interview, when he was asked about inspiration. The first phase comes from "up there", and the rest is shitty work. There is the potential. And then it is about concentration, to get to the essence.'
Stephen King - quote "Yep, and there is no gravity, the earth just sucks."
Southland Tales ending, Bill and Ted 3, Igby Goes Down, Marty Feldman
Best thing - Toni Erdmann song
David Hockney End bossiness soon. Not 'now' as that'd be too bossy.
The place was hot! So very, very hot! He hurried. And he wondered as he sped, the gauge rising before him: What had it been like on that day, Whenever? That day when a tiny sun had lain upon this spot and fought with, and for a time beaten, the brightness of the other sky, before it sank slowly into is sudden burrow? He tried to imagine it, succeeded, then tried to put it out of his mind and couldn't. How do you put out the fires that burn forever? He wished that he knew.
"A ship in harbour is safe, but that's not why ships are built." amiable indie flick Fremont
"I get high because the world is cruel and people are lonely. I work so that I can buy drugs that make people seem kind, friendly, free and beautiful." Samotari/The Loners
The Verve play us out.... See you in the next one (have a good time)....
2025?! Eh, whit?! Can it honestly be that time of year again/already/unfortunately, when Braw (Underg)Rounds Up - or should that be UndergRinds Up? - the past 12 months-ish of unpop-culture to an audience of approximately 30 (of which about half is simply Agent Rob just 'checking back in'?).... If the past year has come to symbolise anything, as we teeter back and forth on the ultimate brink, then Alan Moore and David Lloyd caught the very moment perfectly in the above four panels (from the excellent V for Vendetta). The sad truth is, it is all over, it did happen while we were all sleeping - it's now just a case of when, of how quick the poison will spread/act. Do we have a dozen days, mere months, another yo-yoing year of existence left at best? As Braw-fave Tim Burgess put it....
"I feel it too. This broken world. There is no second chance."
But, hey, let's brush all that abstract death and destruction to one side and talk distractions! Let's sweep those bad vibes under the carpet - as Western "civilisation" says, "Hey! Keep it down whydontcha! Cantcha see I'm tryna watch NETFLIX here!" - and concentrate on the 'content' (*shudder*) that's just about allowed Rob to be content, to put his restless mind at ease as the (Doom and Gloomsday) clock somehow ticks without ever talking. So without much further ado (or indeed 'please a-don't!'), let the year's pundown begin....
Yesss! 2024 saw the long awaited prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road roar into multiplexes in the (not so sleek) shape of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, a definite case of 'from hmm to vroom!' for Agent Rob as he steadily got into this ambitious post-apocalyptic epic. Indeed, from the title's fumbling mouthful to the lengthy running time, to the bigger scope and abundance of FX and locations it was a little like George Miller going all Star Wars prequels on himself. If anything harked back to Fury Road it was the notion of the main character (Max) taking something of a back seat (to Furiosa) while the story motored along in and around him. Only here, it was Chris Hemsworth as (the excellently monikered) Dr. Dementus who stole the story hubcaps from the titular heroine, his shredded red cape and massive hooter 100% gonzo Thor unleashed. Still, it proved Miller's lost none of his wildcard touch in the intervening (lost) years, and one could only marvel at the unhinged imagination on show, from the cast of endless grotesques to the battered, vivid, post-apocalyptic environments. Again, for all its faults Furiosa still leaves other big screen blockbusters trailing in its dust. "One for the road", as they say....
And what of The Boy and The Heron, the much touted return - in a year very much of much touted returns! - of the not actually kinda really properly fully retired Hayao Miyazaki? Well, for all it was truly gorgeous to look at, the stirring, evocative visions of nature and endless blue skies, all spliced with a typically gentle yet slightly creepy sensation, there was always that nagging feeling of it being a poor man's Spirited Away (sorry!) while an anonymous A. N. Other flagged it as a 'greatest hits' of Ghibli....
Rob'll have to admit to being more affected by the effective The Wild Robot (which had enough shameless Ghibli cribs to near enough pass it off as Laputa II, nicking all the best of its nature and expressing it wonderfully in a exceptional painterly style). Y'know how they generally/generically(?) make kid's films with a few gags thrown in for the adults, the ones that fly over the wee one's heads while mummy and daddy have a wee chuckle to themselves? To be honest, this film felt more like an adult's film with a few gags for the kids, such was the weight of the story. Heavy, man....
And what of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, an almost leisurely, old school story, gently winding its way towards a (predictably) FX heavy climax - but, (ape)man, what special effects! The absolute (monkey) business yet again....
It was all quiet on the Film Four front this year, with just a clutch of world, indie and Brit-cinema - First Love, Minari, Drive My Car, The Swordsman, Moneyboys, Wheel of Fortune, Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Northman, Undergods , Croupier, Wish You Were Here, and Rita, Sue & Bob Too - while Rob also enjoyed the acclaimed modern animes of Your Name and Weathering With You, films running high on immersive mood and irresistible teenage emotions, and recoiled from the sluggish, misfiring modern blank that was Bullet Train (you're quite happy when it starts then absolutely overjoyed when it finishes). As for Talking Pictures TV, there was just a handful of their usual rarer fare in Pulp, Jour De Fete, Fuzz, Thomasine & Bushrod, Hi, Mom! andLifeforce, one of the final films Rob and Agent Johnny discussed, the effects as special as Mathilda May's stunning space vampire....
But if you really want a true cross-section of film 'content' then where better than browsing the local charity shop? Rob used his precious pinched pennies to pick up everything from endlessly entertaining world cinema startlers - Gomorrah, Suburrah, Romanzo Criminale, Mauvais Sang, Chinese Odyssey 2002, Open Hearts (from Braw fave Susanne Bier)....
....Toni Erdmann, Allegro, Rust and Bone, Un Cour En Hiver, Etre et Avoir, Jamon Jamon, Human Capital, Festen (with Braw fave Trine Dyrholm), Burning, Le Gout Des Autres....
....to homegrown-ish greats - Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself (written by Braw fave, Anders Thomas Jensen), The Big Man, Comfort & Joy, The Trench (written and directed by Braw fave, author William Boyd) and Slow West (from ex-Beta Band-er and yet another Braw fave, John Maclean)....
Slow West - Ben Mendelsohn (intentionally?) rocks a John 'Wolf King of LA' Phillips look
....to big screen block and schlockbusters - Logan Noir, The New Mutants, Avatar: The Way of Water, Godzilla*Kong: The New Empire (quite simply one of the worst films ever made, a $150,000,000 pile of komplete King Krap, and the second stinker of this year to unfortunately star Braw fave, Atlanta's Brian Tyree Henry)....
....to all manner of indie, classic and cult films - Office Space, Cross of Iron, Stoker, Thief, Igby Goes Down, Somewhere in Time (Christopher Reeve's performance/look a fascinating/distracting mix of Mark Hamill's wide-eyed boyish charm and Harrison Ford's rugged alpha male), Time Bandits, Snowpiercer, Shopgirl, Macross Plus, Paranoid Park, Cry Macho, Melancholia, Dogma, Black Moon Rising, Beetlejuice, Robot and Frank, Southland Tales, War On Everyone, 360, Bringing Out The Dead, Howard The Duck, The Crazies, Inglorious Bastards, Batman Returns and The Night of The Hunter....
A definite 99p charity find was a copy of Zack Snyder's Justice League (AKA Once Upon A Time in the DCU), the much discussed and fan demanded epic that promised us the director's 'original vision' (presumably that included the middling CGI?) stretched over 4 ('Why so serious?') desaturated hours. (It's not that well known a fact but if you play all the pointless slow-motion scenes at normal speed the running time clocks in at only 3 hours....) Of course, if by 'original vision' you mean a sort of mirthless epic that is wash-over-you-watchable while adhering pretty closely to the (far superior) MARVEL template (that Snyder seems to think he's both rejecting... and surpassing). But, y'see, he isn't, for here we have a reluctant troop-mustering (but broody) Bruce Stark, the tech-trickery of Cyborg-Iron Man, the goofy dudery of Aqua-Thor, the comic relieving wisecrackery of Spider-Flash, and... well, at least there's Wonder-ful Woman - thank God for (whatta) Gal Gadot! And, like fellow 'visionary' (ie, clueless) modern director JJ Abrams - witness how JJ chucks the camera around in The Force Awakens in a desperate attempt to make the pedestrian interesting - Snyder sure knows his camera moves but has no real idea how to make effective use of them. Put simply, if you stack these (not so fantastic) 4 hours up against the effortless one-two punch immensity of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame's 5 hours and 30 minutes then the winner's a no-brainer....
There was also plenty opportunity to firm up and delve into The Archives of DVDoom, with Braw faves Takeshi Kitano - Outrage Beyond, Kids Return, A Scene At The Sea, Dolls, Getting Any - and Wong Kar-Wai - Fallen Angels, The Grandmaster, My Blueberry Nights- and Hayao Miyazaki - Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Laputa, Porco Rosso, Kiki's Delivery Service - providing the refreshing viewpoint, the quintessential world cinema at home fix....
And, in a somewhat unexpected twist to the tail end of the year, plenty of screentime was given over to the tache-era of (super Scot) Sean Connery, Rob giving a 'sci-five' to Outland and Zardoz (far out land, man!), as well as enjoying truly great films like The Man Who Would Be King, The Name of the Rose (where his star power is somewhat at odds with the film's otherwise chilly and grotesque arthouse leanings, but it's still a good warm up for), The Last Crusade, all conveniently culminating in Sir Sean's Oscar winning tough guy turn in The Untouchables....
And what of television? Doctor Who returned under the much heralded tutelage of (old) 'Nu-runner'Russell T Davies, only bigger (budget), bolder, faster, fizzier, the FX a notch up, a nu-NuWho entry point for the uninitiated - "I'm the Doctorrrr." purrs Ncuti Gatwa in his strange mix of accents - boasting a slickness, energy and, with sincere apologies, 'sexiness' denied Jodie Whittaker's era ("Come back Jodie, we loved you, all is forgiven!" they cried).
But then, RTD pitching the show as "unashamedly queer" upfront was hardly the best move, making up folk's (small) minds and sharpening their fanboy knives beforehand, while the main star tagging Jon Pertwee's third incarnation as a "slut" is not the most endearing of comments to the die-Whords, who took all the "honeys", hugging and dressing up as they will (or most likely won't). It makes the show not so much a 'turn off' and more a general public 'not even turn on'. It's hard to tell if this is more 'Flop-ter Who' or 'Woke-ter Who'?
Mind you, if anyone is 'turned on' it's the Doctor himself, now (as feared) either Captain Jack-ed up or reduced - in some sort of attempt to address the ever-increasing 'mental health crisis' - to a kind of simpering ninny. When he's not getting the horn the minute he steps out the TARDIS and spies some/any tail he's usually to be found crying his eyes out come the end of the episode (twice in Christmas's crowd pleasingly story-centric Joy To The World!). Fine once or twice in a blue moon, but it wears a little thin over an entire series. Y'know, Rob was always under the impression the character of the Doctor is an alien who likes us, but is not like us....
Which makes you think, wouldn't it be nice to sit back and watch Doctor Who in an age where the 'showrunner' is simply invisible? In his desperation to apply his 2024 manifesto RTD seems to have lost/forgotten his 2005 cross country conquering 'teatime touch', it's deserted him (or should that be 'desserted'? him) making for a main course that could either be average stories bolstered by superior FX or great stories smothered by the same. That's what Rob spends most of his time watching trying to work out - it's hard to see the jam for the custard(?) - but he would never go back for a second watch to figure it out as, well, it's just not that interesting. Like the series launch-preceding Eurovision Song Contest there's that nagging sense that all the spectacle is merely diminishing the song, the story, to background. Y'know, let the tales breath, or at least catch their breath....
Sure, RTD feels that classicWho was many things to all people, hammering home the point of its universal appeal and vast diverse reach, and that's fair enough. Only.... looking back the original show wasn't trying to be anything to anyone, it was just an entertaining, on the cheap science fiction show of remarkable ideas that was being rattled out at an even more incredible rate. But, then again, RTD is his own Doctor Who's biggest fan, which admittedly works very well in the context of the BBC's increasing tendency to self-congratulate itself, enjoying nothing more than to sit back and (prematurely) toast a job well done... as it fails and flounders.... (See, or rather don't, further series of Killing Eve, The Tourist and The Fall - indeed it did, after a nervy 'lock your doors and windows' opening before descending into formulaic fluff - for details.)
So while Doctor Who's far from perfect, it hardly warrants the 'go woke, go broke' neckbeard backlash, the endless gloating and picking over ratings dips and speculating on DI$NEY's ire. C'mon, at least it'strying.... trying to be bold, to try new ideas, to push ever-onwards. By contrast those other lucrative cash cow(ard) IPs Star Wars and Star Trek have retreated into obvious creative cul-de-sacs, farting out fan servicing riffs on their classic eras, all flash and no bang, serving up 'content' that's safe AF (and pretty much dull AF too), making Doctor Who a show that, for all its faults, should be cherished. We should try to see Who through (or see through Who?) else it'll make way for what...? More cooking, more baking, more come dancing, more traitoring, more pottering, more portraiting, more first dating, more first sighting, more Goggleboxing, more jungling, more denning, more Got Talenting, more Chelseaing, more countless crap that forms the (flimsy) fabric of our pop-tv-culture? Nah, no thank you. TV should always aim for amazing, should aspire to expanding your mind, should frolic with the fourth dimension and not simply reduce your grey matter to mediocre accepting mush....
Mind, you would think in 2024 they could get four fab actor lads who at least looked like The Beatles!
But of course, the moment Ncuti's Doctor calls a Dalek 'sexy', it really is all well and truly over....
Still, all (constructive!) criticism aside, we have to thank our lucky stars and credit RTD with persuading the BBC to materialise all of the classic era Doctor Who on to the planet iPlayer (for the show's 60th anniversary)....
....Agent Rob making (grabbing!) the necessary time and space to start at the (almost) beginning, motoring through the incredible William Hartnell* and Patrick Troughton incarnations (first and last seen as late night omnibi on UK Gold circa 2000)....
*Surely the inspiration for Yoda, the hmms and mannerisms, the kindly but vague demeanour masking a sharp intelligence with a sinister undercurrent – once the idea takes hold it's almost impossible to shake! And no wonder the poor old fellow's run is laden with 'Billy Fluffs'given the rate they were churning out the show, around 40 weekly episodes a year! How did they find the time...?
From the first series
instant creative lightening in a bottle iconography of The Daleks,
the John Miller“lasting first impression” of The Keys of
Marinus, the decidedly creepy priest Tlotoxl and cleverly painted
scenic backdrops of The Aztecs – the best (surviving?) historical
story? - The Sensorites, with its creepy incidental music and that
freaky first alien glimpse to The Reign of Terror, an historical
slog recreated in an okay-ish atmospheric sub-anime-esque style....
Series 2 - they're not 'seasons', sorry - kicks off with
Planet of Giants and the first instance of the dematerialisation
sound effect, then comes the brilliant The Dalek Invasion of Earth with the
spooky 'robomen' and (hurrah!) the first glorious utterance of
“Exterminate!” in the episode titled 'The Waking Ally' before it really takes off in the following 'Flashpoint' as does the TARDIS, complete with 'scraping noise', after Hartnell's
emotional goodbye to Granddaughter Susan (“Something's cooking...”). Then we
have The Rescue with its moving TARDIS console and the excellently
monikered Koquillian, superb 'doomy' music, while Barbara continues
indulging her passion for killing random alien creatures at a moment's notice.
This is followed by the knockabout nonsense of The Romans and the
over-ambition of The Web Planet – though the Menoptra look amazing
as do the chilly black and white establishing shots, and the
excellent episode titles, 'Crater of Needles'!, before things quickly
get back on track with the involving The Space Museum before coming off the rails
again with The Chase, silliness supreme with its daft Daleks, then
pulling into a worthwhile final destination with The Time Meddler, with its
wonderfully downbeat conclusion and moody end titles....
Next up is Series 3's
Galaxy 4, recreated (in purely 'functional' animation), with
excellent eerie techno-esque incidental music while Hartnell is at
his most shifty and nuanced – the episode 'Air Lock' has an amazing
speech by the villainess of the piece, Maaga (here>> 5:55 to 6:55) – and The Ark, one of
the best of the early serials with the leery Monoids and a superb
twist, and The Gunfighters, a pitch-perfect western romp with its
tinkling ballad and 'yee ha!' wild west atmosphere (that's far from
perfect story-wise unfortunately), then The War Machines, a brilliant
contemporary setting (and the steadily emerging story template) with beautifully
crisp exterior filming and the nice touch of giving the menacing
supercomputer WOTAN his own credit in the end titles....
Then it's time for
Series 4 and the First Doctor's goodbye in a final creative rush,
what with the arrival of the Cybermen (and Mondas), an unnerving electronic
buzz under the theme, the inverted 007 vibes of their 60s cyber-theme and
their cool cyber-credits – Krail, Talon, Shav, Krang, Jarl and Gern!
- though sadly the perfunctory animation robs Hartnell's last moments of
their true power....
Not so The Power of the Daleks, Rob's initial trepidation washed away by the tight animation, probably the best of the recreated bunch, the Daleks perfectly suited to the silky smooth CG, exuding a silent and creepy aura, and David Whitaker's tremendous story - the Quatermass-ish vibe would have seen it slot seamlessly into Tom Baker's Gothic era – as Patrick Troughton's oblique new Second Doctor slowly finds his feet. Next up is The Underwater Meh-nace, a soggy slog of a story that makes Moonbase all the more cyber-excellent in the lead up to The Macra Terror, again with primo animation (colour, hmm) and some jolly old 1984-ish fun. The same goes for The Faceless Ones, another top tier tale that simply takes its slow-build time – with just a hint of romance in the air for Jamie, and a sneaky WANTED! poster for The Master – and the series concluding The Evil of the Daleks....
By Series 5 it's all falling exactly into place, Jamie and the Doctor easily establishing themselves as a truly fantastic pairing, and it's evident right from the off this is something special, from The Tomb of the Cybermen - a compact, atmospheric 4 part serial that again heralds what is to come – through The Abominable Snowmen, such a simple idea so well executed – the surviving episode is wonderfully chilly – to the brilliant debut/design of The Ice Warriors and Patrick Troughton on a roll as the Doctor's double, the scheming Salamander in The Enemy of the World, while The Web of Fear forms a lovely one-two with Snowmen, the Hammer-ish vibe and visibly plusher production values seeing the TARDIS crew catching up with a familiar (human) face (while introducing another in the making, a certain Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart) and having Jamie momentarily pause and ponder in front of an SNP poster in the London Underground. Rounding off this best series of the black and white era is Fury From The Deep, why hello there, sonic screwdriver!, a smart proto-Alien-esque tale that grips from the get go....
By contrast Series 6 is beginning to run out of design steam – The Quarks (from The Dominators) and The Krotons being none too steady on their poorly designed 'legs' – but behind the scenes names that would soon become synonymous with the show make their first appearance, those of Terrance Dicks, Robert Holmes and Malcolm Hulke. Still, there's plenty of surviving brilliance in the literate madness of The Mind Robber, and further worthwhile outings for The Cybermen (The Invasion) and The Ice Warriors (The Seeds of Death) and the concluding brilliance of The War Games, a top tier 10 parter that explores a brilliant idea brilliantly, boasting a great turn from Philip Madoc, and also manages to take the lore of the show on in leaps and bounds – it really sets everything up for years to come, and seems a perfect jumping off point for 1970's explosion into colour....
Which brings us rather neatly to a well intentioned i-Gesture that was bound to blow up in everyone's faces, the butchering of The War Games In Colour rounding off the year in truly damp Doctor squib style, the epic 10 part serial reduced to a clumsy jumble, the bulk of the 90 minutes given over to turding up the polish of the closing Gallifrey scenes and Troughton's regeneration, the whole thing seemingly an excuse to allow RTD and Co. to give the whole thing a ghastly self-satisfying NuWho retrofit splatter....
If you can believe there was room for other television, then FX's Justified impressed with it's cunning arc from the so-so 'by the book' episodic feel of the first season to a sprawling and engrossing character piece, all hung on Timothy Olyphant's slow drawl and quick draw and Walter Goggins cold and intense turn, while Showtime's Homeland stuck to it's guns(!), remaining a frighteningly plausible and truly nerve-shredding and superior bingeworthy watch. HBO's True Blood just kept it enjoyably silly - the vampire, ahem, "drama" not so far from the nonsense of What We Do In The Shadows after all....
Tin Star from Kudos was a series truly powered along by a gripping Tim Roth in anti-anti-hero mode, his glassy-eyed bad cop, badder cop central performance helping the show stay (just about) on the right side of (un)believable at all times - always a sign of great television.... As opposed to Showtime's Your Honor, starring a post-Breaking BadBryan Cranston in a preposterous show, one which started strong then jumped the believable shark about 4 episodes in. The verdict? Guilty (of being complete crap, sorry)....
With its likeable cast of goofy characters drawing you into the daft drama The Umbrella Academy was an unexpected highlight of 2024, while Doom Patrol - a sort of thematic big little brother if you consider Grant Morrison's late 80s early 90s comic patrol likely proved the inspiration for Gerard Way's out there academic oddballs - just about managed to hit the same highs across its run....
Another inspired 2024 find was 1974's Kolchak: The Night Stalker, 20 episodes of sheer old school televisual treat, pitting dogged Chicago reporter Carl Kolchak,played with a hugely likeable bumble and fizz of keen-eyed nervous energy by Darren McGavin, against all manner of strange paranormal and supernatural incidents....
Why, there's everything in the pick and mix here, vampires. sorcerers, spirits, werewolves, zombies, aliens, robots, witches, demons, kitchen sinks (well, there is a sort of possessed hospital building, so close enough). Of course, every time Kolchak gets uncomfortably close to the bone he's nixed by (mostly government) cover-ups just as he unearths the unpleasant truth (which remains buried). Sound familiar? Yep, it's nothing short of a sort of proto-X-Files, and its influence on that series creator Chris Carter has been acknowledged as such....
Comedy got a good (often charity) outing in 2024, with Rob stumbling across DVDs of the likes of Guest House Paradiso, Drop Dead Fred, Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl, Clockwise, The Best of Spike Milligan, The Marx Brothers 8 Movie Collection, The Smell of and Bang Bang, it's Reeves and Mortimer and (oh yes!) Beyond The Fringe on his (not so very far) travels....
Moving over Dud for a moment it was great to see Big Banana Feet get a polish up and (re)release in 2024, a 1975 The Big Yin stepping up to the iconic plate to momentarily see off Rob's beloved Mr. Moore (The Wee Yin?) until Auntie Beeb celebrated Peter Cook's passing on the 9th of January, treating us to endlessly watchable compilations of Not Only... But Also - witness Moore in his element tinkling the jazzy ivories! - and simply amazing chat show excerpts....
As we near the end - no, merely the end of part 1 - here's a splash of punk faves The Clash from their excellent music documentary, Westway To The World, a true eye, mind and ear opener for Agent Rob, and one that sets us up nicely for part 2, 2024's year in music, books and comics....
