Saw: Journey to the Center of the Earth
1963 screen adaptation of the Jules Verne classic becomes another contributing factor to the nagging suspicion that I may be losing the soft spot in my heart for the campy 60s. A collection of one-dimensional characters I care nothing about thrown into a disjointed storyline with plot holes galore are definitely not overcome by what is, admittedly, a pretty dazzlingly colorful backdrop. Not recommended. 2 out of 5 Netflix stars.
Saw: Dr. Who: In the Beginning
First set of episodes (you know - the Dr. Who's, as I discover, are produced as a series miniseries), including the original pilot episode, which introduces the characters of the Doctor, his granddaughter, and the two science teachers, and follows their adventure as they are thrown backwards into time to witness, and become involved with, a series of cavemen with British accents discovering fire. I was really looking forward to this. Unfortunately, the crappy writing, trite storyline, and marginal acting left me really flat. Really. Another knock on the campy 60s. Also, 2 out of 5 Netflix stars.
Saw: MST3K: The Dead Talk Back
Saw this with a friend, while somewhat inebriated. The potential would seem to have been there, with a mad scientist who solves crimes after creating a radio that can talk to the dead. Unfortunately, the crew was either not up to their usual standards of excellence or else the raw material just wasn't there. For whatever reason - I did not enjoy this one nearly as much as I usually do. I have yet to meet the man or woman who enjoys MST3K as much as I. But this one was a mere 3 of 5 Netflix stars.
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7 comments:
I am intrigued by your Dr. Who viewings. Very.
As for Journey to the Center of the Earth - that is one dry film - slow slow beginning
I prefer 20000 leagues under the sea
Dr. Who: Let's talk. I will say that I find myself increasingly torn on my Netflix ratings between "How much did I like it?" which is, essentially, the rating system you're given, and "How good was it?" which is often not necessarily the same thing. It may not seem like much of a difference, but that difference is what will allow me to watch "Mudd's Women" probably another dozen times or more in the remaining years of my life, while I may never actually get around to renting "Tucker: A Man and His Dream" again.
I enjoyed the Dr. Who pilot episode(s) about a three out of five, but could not rate it higher than a two and still live with myself.
I've been hesitant to get into the older Dr. Who episodes (and by that I mean older than circa 70s and early 80s). I guess I'm concerned of that whole camp thing about which Dan is expert. I grew up watching Dr. Who on Fridays, especially during high school (and by default, also catching Dr. Horkheimer, Star Hustler on PBS). Then, this weekend, I saw a bit of some early '60s episodes at a comic book store. I got intrigued. Damn. There's only, what, eight thousand episodes of this show?
700-some.
Good lord.
A certain era of Dr. Who was popular in my house growing up, though I was too young to get in to them. I did develop an affection for one particular incarnation of the Doctor from the time.
I watched an episode or two of the newest Dr. Who and found it ok. There was a girl side-kick that had terrible buck teeth, portraying the worst stereotype of English socialized dentistry imaginable.
The opening score is the best thing about Dr. Who. I find it to be bad British television.
I, personally, wouldn't go so far as to cast a wide net over all 700+ episodes, as a result of my experiences with the first two multi-parters. I think the concept is intriguing, but they definitely hadn't (in my view) gotten the formula down by 1963.
To PMix: I think the version of Dr. Who that we all grew up with (whether we watched it or not, we couldn't help but to stumble upon it occasionally on iPBS), was the raggedly scarved, permed Tom Baker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Doctor.
I think it's possible that, after all these years, I could find those funky 70s episodes very enjoyable. But I kind of hate the idea of missing all of the background that ensues in the 11 years in between.
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