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Pulaski – The Last Resort – tape 414
This tape opens with a little John Kettley, presenting the weather, then a trailer for The Courage to Fail. Then, an episode of Pulaski, Roy Clarke’s Meta-detective show about an actor playing a...
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Milestone: 16 Terabytes and Counting
Today, this ludicrous project of mine reached another milestone. I filled up my fourth 4 Terabyte hard drive with the contents of my VHS library – 16 Terabytes of video data. Here’s how the project...
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Forbidden Planet – Toxic Avenger – tape 1858
In the final decade of the 21st Centure, men and women in rocketships landed on the moon. So starts Forbidden Planet, a seminal science fiction film of the 50s. One one hand, it wasn’t very optimistic...
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Doomwatch – tape 1813
More grim tales from the government department that likes to put a bad face on the news, Doomwatch. The first episode here is By The Pricking of my Thumbs… which turns out to be a brilliant title, and...
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Harry Enfield & Chums – tape 1860
Here’s some Harry Enfield for you. It’s the first series of Harry Enfield and Chums – the very first episode, in fact, the one where Kevin turns into a teenager, and where Ben Elton become ‘Benny...
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Babylon 5 – tape 1835
First on this tape is a first-season episode of Babylon 5. B5 was a slow burn, and the first season was a bit pedestrian, with only a few standout episodes. In The Quality of Mercy, Dr Franklin finds a...
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Warning Sign – tape 1884
The tape opens with part of an episode of Get Stuffed, the annoying ‘youth’ inflected cookery programme the popped up in late-night slots in the 90s. I blame Janet Street Porter. It’s Christmas on LWT....
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Film 94 – tape 1882
More reviews from the BBC’s erstwhile flagship film programme. Barry reviews: The Specialist D2: The Mighty Ducks Shallow Grave Timecop Amateur Wes Craven’s New Nightmare Tom Brook talks to Warren...
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Have I Got News For You – Seinfeld – The Simpsons – US Top Ten – tape 1881
The tape opens with the end of Later with Jools Holland, with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. There’s trailer for Steptoe and Son and The National Lottery. There’s a trailer with Anne Bancroft in...
View ArticleSeinfeld – tape 1880
After another bit of Stand-up comedy, we’ve got more Seinfeld, with the second part of the story we looked at on the previous tape – The Trip part 2. After this, there’s another episode, but the start...
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Babylon 5 – tape 1817
First on this tape, it’s the very first episode of Babylon 5, J Michael Straczynski’s epic Science Fiction series. And Channel 4 pull out all the stops with their cliché-ridden introduction. “We’re...
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Wake Up With – Blue Ice – Pat and Margaret – tape 1885
This tape opens with Wake Up With Libby and Jonathan. Nigel Planer, Susie Blake, Stephen Moore, written by Andrew Nickolds – how could it fail? It’s a comedy obviously inspired by Richard and Judy – a...
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Planet Earth – tape 1883
This tape opens with some Gardener’s World. Then there’s a trailer for Goal TV – a whole night of football for BBC2 viewers. Gosh, the 90s was a wasteland, wasn’t it? Then a trailer for Later with...
View ArticleGoodfellas – tape 1834
Presented as part of Channel 4’s DeNiro season, here’s Scorsese’s Goodfellas. It’s a film I have problems with. I find it admirable as a film, well directed, as you’d expect, but I just hate all the...
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Crimewave – tape 607
It’s over to BBC2 for this presentation of Crimewave, a collaboration between Sam Raimi and the Coen brothers. It’s shown as part of their American Wave season, but there’s no introduction here. It has...
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Clive Anderson Talks Back – tape 1843
Clive Anderson Talks Back opens this tape. The first guest is Terry Jones. He talks about his series on the Crusades, and his recent book Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Book. Next it’s Damon Hill....
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A Better Tomorow – I and II – tape 1876
On this tape are Movie Channel presentations of John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow, and his sequel, A Better Tomorrow II. Sadly, these are the dubbed versions, and the dubbing is so execrable that these are...
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Ed Wood – Look Back in Angora – Glen or Glenda – tape 1878
First on this tape is Ed Wood: Look Back in Angora, a documentary about Edward D Wood. It’s almost all footage from Wood’s movies, with a few interviews with some of the people who knew him, It’s quite...
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Weird Night – tape 1879
Here’s an unusual tape. From December 1994, the BBC had a whole night of programmes dubbed Weird Night. Later in the evening, there was a selection of culty films, but most of the early evening was a...
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Bugs – tape 1963
First on the tape today, Bugs, which opens in fine style with a long helicopter chase. It’s just a slight pity that they couldn’t quite spring to crashing an actual helicopter (or even a miniature) at...
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