1999 was the year that the first elections of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly took place, the Earth was circumnavigated in a hot air balloon for the first time, the Columbine High School massacre took place, Slobodan Milošević was indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo and the world worried unduly about the wrath of the Y2K bug.
I spent 1998 studying for my A-Levels, appearing in Kiss Me Kate and turning eighteen.
These are a few of my favourite things from 1999:
Film
MagnoliaOn a random day, a tangled web of intertwined lives are shaped and reshaped by coincidence. P. T. Anderson's masterpiece features fantastic performances across the board and not one, but two very surprising shifts in tone. Here's the trailer.
Being John Malkovich Andy Kaufman's continually surprising script is brimming with ideas: the 7½ floor, Malkovich inside Malkovich, the resurgence of puppetry, the chase through Malkovich’s subconscious. The film takes twists and turns and becomes the most extraordinary love story ever told. Puppetry, comedy, metaphysics and existential ennui. John Cusack, Catherine Keener, Cameron Diaz and John Horatio Malkovich himself are wonderful, while everything Orson Bean does is absolutely sublime. Here's the trailer.
Sweet And Lowdown Sean Penn stars in Woody Allen's biopic of the world's second best jazz guitarist (after some gypsy in Europe), the arrogant, childish and kleptomaniac Emmet Ray. Samantha Morton steals the show in every scene she has and the descent of the crescent moon is fantastic. Here's the trailer.
Star Trek: Insurrection The ninth Star Trek film concerns "the forced relocation of a small group of people to satisfy the demands of a large one" and that larger group's quest for a fountain of youth. It feels like exactly the sort of Star Trek that Gene Roddenberry would have approved of. As with the other Next Generation films, Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner get the lion's share of the action with the other characters getting only moments such as Michael Dorn's Worf reluctantly singing Gilbert & Sullivan, LeVar Burton's Geordi seeing a sunrise with his own eyes for the first time, romance between Riker and Troi being rekindled and F. Murray Abraham makes a wonderfully chilling villain as Ru'afo. Here's the trailer.
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Mike Myers is hilarious in his trio of roles in this spy spoof sequel which exploits time travel, "how much England looks in no way like Southern California" and running gags from the first film with very funny results. Mindy Sterling, Seth Green and Rob Lowe are all wonderful and Heather Graham is a Bondgirl par excellence. Here's a fantastic trailer.
The Straight Story Based on the true story of Alvin Straight's six week journey across rural USA on a lawnmower. This beautiful off road movie explores themes of mortality and family and Richard Farnsworth is fantastic as Straight. Here's the trailer.
Galaxy Quest SF fandom is a great concept for a comedy and Galaxy Quest doesn't disappoint. The cast are uniformly impressive. Here's the trailer.
Doug Limon's tangled web of a weekend has a great cast, a Tarantino-esque sscript and style and forms a black comedy triptych as its plot threads interweave. Here's the trailer.
TV
The first episode, Beginnings, sets up the dynamic of this slick and stylish flatsharing sitcom perfectly. Daisy meets Tim and they move into a flat at Marsha's house masquerading as a Professional Couple Only, but it's the rapid editing, pop culture references, great music and surreal elements that make this the most inventive sitcom of the twenty-first century a year early. The introductions of Marsha, Brian and the getting to know you sequence for Tim and Daisy are brilliant. In order to avoid work Daisy throws a party in Gatherings which gives Mike and Twist proper introductions and features fake sex noises, Daisy singing 'Hot dog jumping from almond cookies' and Brian to the rescue. Brian takes Daisy and Tim to see Vulva's Art and highlights include zombies, Cassandra's phone number and "It's not finished. It’s finished." Brian's literal tribute to the self reflexivity of Rembrandt, the colourful tale of Pom Pom, Paul Putner, Mike's 'death' and Peter Serafinowicz is great as Tim Battles Duane Benzie while paintballing. Between Gramsci's politics and Colin's kidnap, Chaos ensues and the rescue attempt is great and Twist running comes into her own with the DK urban warfare range and "Is Jabba the princess?" Michael Smiley is wonderful as Tyres in Epiphanies and his mood swings are inspired as are the Scrabble fight, the clubbing scenes, the glorious remix of The A-Team theme tune and Tyres' exit. The first series Ends beautifully with Mike returning to the TA, Brian and Twist on a successful date and Tim realising life with Daisy is better than it was with his ex. Simon Pegg, Jessica Stephenson, Mark Heap, Nick Frost, Julia Deakin and Aida the Dog are magnificent throughout. It should be required viewing.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Gingerbread; Helpless; The Zeppo; Bad Girls & Consequences; Doppelgangland; Enemies; Choices; The Prom; Graduation Day; Earshot; The Freshman; Living Conditions; The Harsh Light Of Day; Fear, Itself; Beer Bad; Wild At Heart; The Initiative; Pangs; Something Blue; Hush The slayer's third season (and senior year at high school) continues with another great metaphor episode, Gingerbread is about mass hysteria, which proves that paranoia is often far more dangerous than the problem at hand. As usual it's a terrifying concept that is dealt with intelligently and the episode is chock full of funny like Willow's "A doodle, I do doodle. You too, you do doodle too", Cordelia's "wake up in a coma" and Oz's "We're here to save you" lines. Buffy turns eighteen and is made Helpless in an episode about how disempowering reaching adulthood and realising that your parents are flawed can be with great opening and ending scenes. After the briefest (and therefore probably the funniest) Previously On… sequence, Cordelia declares Xander The Zeppo in the first episode of Buffy that redefines what the show can do, the inversion of the A and B stories reduces the apocalypse to the background, raises Xander's quiet night out to epic status and Nicholas Brendon gives a fantastic performance in Buffy's funniest episode. Two-parter Bad Girls & Consequences introduces Wesley, gives Mr Trick a great exit line and is the turning point for Faith. Buffy turns to another SF staple, the 'Evil Twin', with the return of Vamp Willow in Doppelgangland and once again deals with it better than anybody else. Naturally Alyson Hannigan is fantastic in both roles and also as both characters impersonating the other, the hugging scene and Percy's Roosevelt papers are hilarious. Buffy capitalises on its own mythology in Enemies and sets up the showdown between the Slayers in the season finale. Hannigan gives great hostage in Choices and Oz's silent decision making is great. Angel's dream and Jonathan's Class Protector speech are wonderful as Buffy saves The Prom. The Class of '99 goes to war on its Graduation Day in an amazing two-part season finale which has great character moments for everyone, the Mayor is probably TV's most enjoyable villain, the students disrobing is triumphant (though not for the reasons you might expect), Oz's final line shamelessly spelling out the show's metaphor is a great touch. Scheduled to be broadcast the same week as the Columbine High School shootings, Earshot was understandably delayed, but it was worth the wait. Buffy's temporary telepathy gives great insights, especially into the inner thoughts of Cordelia and Oz. Veering from comedy to tragedy and back again with incredible skill. Probably the best standalone episode in the entire run of the series.
After high school comes college and The Freshman shows Buffy not out of her depth, but unsure of it and is a great 'mission statement' episode. An episode about irritation is not an easy thing to pull off, illustrating annoyance without just being annoying is tough and yet some how Living Conditions manages it. The Harsh Light Of Day sees the welcome return of James Marsters, Emma Caulfield and Mercedes McNab, and proves you can learn more in college than you realise. Fear, Itself is a classic, as magic causes the Scooby Gang's fears to manifest it demonstrates the strength of the ensemble, despite spending most of the episode separated. Beer Bad replaces the usual intelligent dialogue with caveman grunting and the result is a bad episode of Buffy, but what it shows is that a bad episode of Buffy is still much, much better than a good episode of a great many other shows. After a great cameo from Spike, Wild At Heart features great performances from Hannigan and Seth Green as Willow and Oz's relationship is tested and the latter leaves Sunnydale. He will be missed. The introduction of The Initiative in The Initiative is really impressive, but it's Spike's promotion to the regular cast and his scene with Willow that make this episode great. Buffy attempts to fend off a vengeful spirit whilst preoccupied with cooking the perfect thanksgiving dinner in Pangs unaware of Angel's return. Protecting her from the wings he interacts with pretty much everyone except Buffy and the subsequent awkward dinner conversation is great. Something Blue is just fun. The almost-silent Hush is a phenomenal piece of television. Watch it.
Angel: City Of…; Lonely Hearts; In The Dark; I Fall To Pieces; Rm W/a Vu; Sense & Sensitivity; The Bachelor Party; I Will Remember You; Hero; Parting Gifts Angel forges out on his own, but only gets as far as Los Angeles. The pilot City Of… sets up our hero as an atoning dark knight with equivalent Batcave and Batmobile, and with Cordelia as his secretary and Doyle as a messenger keeping his destiny on track. The episode sets up Tina as a damsel for Angel to save and Russell Winters as Angel's big bad and then neither of these things comes off quite as we expect. Initially a monster-of-the-week detective show the series seeks to establish its own identity and Lonely Hearts brand of almost sexually transmitted possession is definitely a step in that direction. Conversely it's the link s to the series we know and love that make In The Dark such a success as Spike and Oz crossover from Buffy. I Fall To Pieces is Angel at its creepiest. Rm W/A Vu is a great Cordy episode with a B-story that gives us a glimpse into Doyle's life and introduces Phantom Dennis. Sense & Sensitivity is good example of an idea that is allowed to work better here than it might in a lesser TV show, rather than simply being oversensitive there is far more scope in having the affected characters unable to control their emotions and reveal more about themselves. It's also another opportunity for Wolfram & Hart to emerge from the shadows. We learn a little more about Doyle in The Bachelor Party and Carlos Jacott puts in another great performance. When Buffy arrives in LA the ante is upped and the resulting I Will Remember You is the best love story that never happened. Hero is fantastic, a great send off for Doyle and all the more poignant after Glenn Quinn's death. Setting the pattern for the next couple of years Parting Gifts gives Cordelia the link to The Powers That Be and brings Alexis Denisof's Wesley back into the fold.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Prodigal Daughter; The Emperor's New Cloak; Field Of Fire; Chimera; Badda-Bing Badda-Bang; Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges; Penumbra; ‘Til Death Do Us Part; Strange Bedfellows; The Changing Face Of Evil; When It Rains; Tacking Into The Wind; Extreme Measures; The Dogs Of War; What You Leave Behind The final season continues with an interesting twist on the semi-annual 'O'Brien must suffer' episode with the return of the Prodigal Daughter as Ezri investigates the Chief's disappearance on her homeworld. Another semi-annual tradition are the episodes set in the Mirror Universe, and The Emperor's New Cloak is a lot of fun with Quark and Rom’s theft of the cloaked cloaking device, Rom’s attempts to understand the differences between the alternate realities and realisations of the Mirror versions of Ezri, Brunt and Leeta are great. Field Of Fire is a forensics-style whodunnit in the vein of CSI and another great use of Ezri. Chimera presents Odo with Laas, another Changeling who isn't part of the Dominion and J.G. Hertzler plays his feeling of superiority over the 'monoforms' wonderfully, Quark gets a great speech about genetics and Nana Visitor deserves a special mention for the palpable sense of guilt that she gives Kira about the possibility that their relationship is holding Odo back. Badda-Bing Badda-Bang isn't just DS9's version of a heist movie, it's DS9's version of the original Ocean's Eleven, it's mostly frivolous, but great fun. William Sadler makes a welcome return as Sloan in Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges, a well told espionage story which makes Section 31 seem even more complex. Setting up the next eight episodes of the epic end of the series, Penumbra is the calm before the storm and shows that the show is going to go all out as Ezri rescues Worf and they are captured by the Breen, Sisko proposes to Kasidy, but is subsequently told by the Prophets not to marry her and the sight of a Dukat surgically altered to appear Bajoran is very shocking. In spite of the Prophet's warning Sisko and Kasidy are joined in marriage 'Til Death Do Us Part, the political wrangling continues as the Breen and the Dominion form an alliance and Ezri and Worf are handed over as gifts, but topping Dukat as a Bajoran, is Kai Winn unwittingly becoming romantically involved with him. Winn and Dukat make Strange Bedfellows as the Pah Wraiths send her a vision and she struggles with her faith and as the Cardassians begin to be victims of the Dominion's plans for the war, Damar is increasingly uncomfortable as puppet leader. Louise Fletcher and Casey Biggs are phenomenal as their characters each undergo an about face. The Changing Face Of Evil sees both these characters finally switch allegiances as Winn turns to the dark side, in scenes which another great performance from James Otis as Solbor, and Damar's resistance turns the Cardassians against the Dominion, shown as a broadcast witnessed by all the major players at the same time. The space battle at Chintoka is great and the destruction of the USS Defiant is a hell of a blow. When It Rains… it pours., this episode is packed with developments: Odo, Garak and a now Starfleet Kira aid Damar's resistance, Gowron takes over the Klingon deployment seeking glory, Bashir and O'Brien discover Starfleet deliberately infected Odo with the morphogenic virus and Dukat is blinded and shunned by Winn. Tacking Into The Wind keeps all the balls in the air and the "something has to be done" scene between Sisko and Worf, Garak lurking in the shadows, the scene between Kira, Garak and Damar after the latter's family has been killed, Ezri's appraisal of the state of the Klingon Empire, O'Brien and Bashir's 'devious' scheming, Gowron's death, the Mexican standoff aboard the stolen Jem'Hadar ship are all excellent. Bashir and O'Brien take Extreme Measures to find Odo's cure and Sloan is determined not to make it easy for them in the most SF episode of the last nine, A Tale Of Two Cities being the key to realising they've been duped is a lovely device and it's great to see these two friends get one last adventure together before all hell breaks loose. The new USS Defiant arrives at DS9, Odo is cured of the virus killing his people, Damar becomes the champion of the people of Cardassia, the Emissary's wife discovers she is pregnant, The Dominion retreats and the Alpha Quadrant alliance decides to go on the offensive and press home the attack in The Dogs Of War, but the big picture of the Dominion War has largely left Quark on the sidelines and so the penultimate episode redresses the balance somewhat and is a wonderful last hurrah for the Ferengi: Armin Shimerman, Max Grodénchik, Wallace Shawn, Chase Masterson, Cecily Adams and Jeffrey Combs (in both his roles) are all as great as ever. The finale, What You Leave Behind, is astoundingly good: Ezri's reveal in the first scene, O'Brien resisting telling Bashir about his post-war plans, Broca's uselessness, the Female Changeling's dismissive reaction to Weyoun's offer to give his life for her own, Bashir and Garak's final scene together, Worf's weird repetition of "Minsk", Vic's farewell song, Sisko's toast, Dukat getting everything he wanted, Winn's reaction to the disappearance of the Kosst Amojan, Sisko's ascendance, Odo and Quark's lack of goodbyes, the last line (and the fact that it's Quark that gets to say it), the beautiful last shot are all amazing. It's an achievement that the end of the Dominion war doesn't completely dominate this episode and the tying up of loose ends and the separation of O'Brien from Bashir, Kira from Odo and Sisko from Jake and Kasidy leaves the viewer with a satisfactory sense of closure without being sentimental. Avery Brooks, Rene Auberjonois, de Boer, Michael Dorn, Cirroc Lofton, Colm Meaney, Shimerman, Alexander Siddig, Visitor, Marc Alaimo, Biggs, James Darren, Fletcher, Hertzler, Salome Jens, Penny Johnson, Juliana McCarthy and Andrew Robinson are all excellent throughout. So ends the best of the Star Trek series and one of the best television series ever made.
Star Trek: Voyager: Latent Image; Bride Of Chaotica!; Gravity; Dark Frontier; Think Tank; Someone To Watch Over Me; 11:59; Relativity; Equinox; Survival Instinct; Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy; Riddles; Dragon's Teeth; The Voyager Conspiracy; Pathfinder From memory loss to conspiracy via a Sophie's Choice dilemma, Latent Image is great and Robert Picardo is fantastic as the Doctor attempts to discover what happened to him and then to resolve it with his ethics. Bride Of Chaotica! is incredibly camp, but also great fun. Gravity is excellent and Tim Russ and Lori Petty are fantastic together. TV movie Dark Frontier is epic, brings out the best in Kate Mulgrew, Jeri Ryan and Susannah Thompson and the flashbacks to Annika’s childhood are great. Jason Alexander is suitably eerie as part of the Think Tank, an episode that is incredibly simple and all the better for it. Someone To Watch Over Me is a delightful romantic comedy with an very sad ending. The millennial flashback scenes of 11:59 are great and the Y2K bug prediction is bold (and as it turned out largely accurate). Voyager's encounters with the USS Relativity revisits earlier episodes and complicates them with a fascinating temporal paradox. Voyager discovers the USS Equinox, another Starfleet ship in the Delta Quadrant which has travelled the same path, but abandoned its ethics along the way. It vindicates Janeway in a season that saw her questioning the decision that marooned her crew.
The second part sees the two Captains switch positions as Janeway tries to get revenge by any means possible and Ransom has a change of heart and repents, but once again it's Picardo and Ryan that rescue the story. The sixth season continues with Survival Instinct, which forces Seven of Nine to choose quality or quantity of life for three of her peers. Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy is great fun and the Doctor's daydreams are all wonderful, especially his operatic diagnosis of Tuvok's medical condition and Seven as his muse. Ethan Phillips and Tim Russ are wonderful in Riddles, a great Neelix and Tuvok episode. Dragon's Teeth features wonderful CGI effects and some great scenes for Neelix. A little learning is dangerous thing and an overabundance of information causes Seven to theorise The Voyager Conspiracy and sets Janeway and Chakotay at loggerheads, it's a little late in the day to convince but compelling nonetheless. Dwight Schultz is as wonderful as ever in Pathfinder and his scenes aboard the holographic USS Voyager are particularly poignant and this episode manages to bring the real one a step closer to home with being cloyingly sentimental.
Red Dwarf: Back In The Red; Cassandra Series VIII begins with epic three-parter Back In The Red which sees the Starbuggers return to the small rouge one to find it bigger than ever before and amazingly with its long dead crew resurrected. After seven series of being the last man alive, Lister is suddenly back at the bottom of the pile. It's great to see him reunited with Rimmer, how Cat and Kryten react to their new situation and Mac MacDonald makes a welcome return as Captain Hollister. Cassandra is an intricate locked box of an episode reminiscent of Dwarf circa Series V, with some nice jokes in it and it's nice to see each of the characters reactions to learning their future.
Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith prove themselves to be three of the country’s best actors as their sketch show meets sitcom comes to television. The dark comedy world of Royston Vasey is brilliantly brought to life in Welcome To Royston Vasey: from its fantastic opening joke with the wonderful Frances Cox, Benjamin visiting the Dentons, Tubbs and Edward at the Local Shop, Barbara, Chinnery, Pauline and her jobseekers, Geoff, Mike and Brian telling "Mau Mau", the characters are more than mere grotesques but have a real depth to them, the visual gags are brilliant and the horror movie references are very rewarding. The first series is made up of groups of sketches which for the most part only have the town in common, but with the construction of The Road To Royston Vasey as an overarching storyline, the introduction of the "special stuff", Henry and Ally's video selection and Pop's son(s). Aqua vita, "there is a Swansea", the roundabout zoo, Bernice's sermon and egregious are among the many highlights of Nightmare In Royston Vasey. The series takes on an epic quality with the discovery of The Beast Of Royston Vasey and turns darker still with Farmer Tinsel's scarecrow, Charlie and Stella's date and Legz Akimbo Theatre Company gives Theatre-In-Education a bad name with its unfortunately accurate portrayal. Gatiss is excellent during his monologue as the Stump Hole Caverns tour guide while Geoff uses his speech as Mike's best man to settle old scores and Barbara misunderstands Benjmin’s advances as Love Comes To Royston Vasey. Things culminate in Pauline's dismissal, Geoff finally firing his gun, the return of Tubbs and Edward's son David, the reveal of the contents of the towns postboxes, Barbara's operation and Benjamin makes another attempt to Escape From Royston Vasey.
Futurama: Space Pilot 3000; The Series Has Landed; I, Roommate; Love's Labors Lost In Space; Fear Of A Bot Planet; A Fishful Of Dollars; My Three Suns; A Big Piece Of Garbage; Hell Is Other Robots; A Flight To Remember; Mars University; When Aliens Attack; Fry And The Slurm Factory; I Second That Emotion; Brannigan, Begin Again; A Head In The Polls; Xmas Story Matt Groening and David X. Cohen's vision of the future gets a solid start with Space Pilot 3000. The characters of Fry, Leela, Bender and Farnsworth arrive fully formed and the trademark cruel humour is already in place. Amy joins the Planet Express crew as they make a delivery to the moon in the both touching and funny The Series Has Landed. I, Roommate is I, Robot meets The Odd Couple and the flathunting montage is great. Introducing Zapp Brannigan, Kif and Nibbler, Love's Labors Lost In Space, is a step into a more adult arena and the Vergon VI fauna are great. The demonisation of humans in Fear Of A Bot Planet is great and best summed up in the It Came From Planet Earth B-Movie line featured within: "Relax Wendy, humans will never come to our defence less little town. It's perfectly safe to let our guard down, even for a second." As extinction tales go, A Fishful Of Dollars is funnier than it has any right to be. The episode introduces Mom and her assumption of Fry's plan for the last tin of anchovies is as terrifying, as the last scene is funny. My Three Suns is a more sedate, but no less brilliant episode featuring a unisex robe. The Planet Express crew go up against A Big Piece Of Garbage that threatens Earth in an episode which highlights the show's interesting take on environmental issues. Hell Is Other Robots compares religion with addiction and hilarity ensues. The Robot Devil is a great character and the episode features the first of many wonderful original songs.
A Flight To Remember sees Leela and Amy both pretending to be dating Fry aboard the starship Titanic, what could possibly go wrong? The episode's highlight has to be Hermes facing up to his past as a limboer. Mars University is Animal House with an actual animal as Guenter the monkey with the Electronium Hat bests Fry who enrols in college to become a college dropout. When Aliens Attack is wonderful, the Monument Beach scene, the Single Female Lawyer scenes and the reassuring-everything-back-to-normal ending. Fry And The Slurm Factory is reassuringly disgusting. Bender is forced to feel Leela's emotions in I Second That Emotion which the episode exploits brilliantly, whilst introducing the sewer mutants very successfully. Brannigan, Begin Again is wonderful: the Neutral planet, "I'm going to allow this", Fry's "Woooooh", the Midnight Cowboy parody, Bender looking back and laughing. All of it. As a treatise on political apathy A Head In The Polls is very funny, Billy West's Nixon is a triumph and its The Scary Door opening is excellent. Introducing Robot Santa and Tinny Tim, Xmas Story gives us a terrifying vision of the Christmases of the future and features some great yuletide gags.
Farscape: Premiere, Thank God It's Friday, Again; I, ET; DNA Mad Scientist; Jeremiah Crichton; A Human Reaction If Firefly's Mal Reynolds is Han Solo done right, then Farscape's universe is the Mos Eisley cantina writ large. For obvious reasons most of the first season concerns Ben Browder's fish out of water Crichton, but Virginia Hey's performance as Zhaan deserves a special mention.
Doctor Who And The Curse Of Fatal Death Featuring no less than five Doctors and a fantastic performance from Jonathan Pryce as the Master, Steven Moffat's Comic Relief spoof is a loving tribute that pokes fun in all the right places.
Wife swapping is your future, and Louis investigates the world of Swingers, finds it difficult to fit in and exposes cracks in a relationship. Louis tries his hand at professional Wrestling and discovers that while it isn't fake, it is predetermined and the WCW's Sarge trains him hard enough to prove the distinction. Rowdy Roddy Piper, Pistol Pez Whatley and the AIWF come out of it very well.
An excellent three part series following the Pulp frontman around fascinating artwork created by people with no formal training. The documentaries take in Les Rochers Sculptés, La Maison de la vaiselle cassée, Jardin du Coquillage and Ferdinand Cheval's Palais Idéal in France, the Coral Castle, Miracle Cross Garden, Beer Can House, Bottle Village and Watts Towers in the USA, Las Pozas in Mexico, the Tower of the Apocalypse in Belgium and the Chandigarh Rock Garden in India. Cocker's insights are great and his French is very impressive.
The first ten episodes of this excellent and criminally unavailable TV show were broadcast this year. Eric Close, Dennis Haysbert, Margaret Colin and Gerrit Graham are fantastic in the story of Michael Wiseman, a man whose brain is transplanted after his death into the perfect genetically engineered body and resurrected as a tool for espionage. Wiseman is given a new life and trained to be a spy, but is unable to leave his old life, wife and daughter behind. The show was a great mix of action and comedy
A class of schoolchildren attempt to tell the story of the birth of Jesus as they understand it. Tim Firth's Christmas tale sees the children played by a great cast of adults on an oversize set. The misunderstandings and logical leaps of the children, both about the nativity story and life itself, are very, very funny and sometimes heartbreaking.
Music
The band's third (and eponymous) album, also dubbed the X-Ray album, is fantastic from start to finish and consistent throughout. Musically it is mature and assured, but the trio have lost none of their sense of fun.
Stand Out Tracks: 'Moving'; 'Your Love'; 'What Went Wrong (In Your Head)'; 'Beautiful People'; 'Shotover Hill'; 'Eon'; 'Jesus Came From Outta Space'; 'Mary'; 'Born Again'; 'Mama & Papa'
This electronic album which feels like it came from an astral conjunction of a Sheffield supergroup. Jarvis Cocker's lyrics are fantastic and the vocals by Tony Christie, Phil Oakey and Stephen Jones from Babybird are all great.
Stand Out Tracks: 'Walk Like A Panther', '1st Man In Space', 'Stars On Sunday', 'I Walk', 'Happy Birthday Nicola', 'Plastic Diamond'
The band's sixth album moves further away from their Britpop roots with a baker's dozen of tracks largely about love and loss that stretch them musically.
Stand Out Tracks: 'Tender', 'Coffee & TV', '1992', 'B.L.U.R.E.M.I.', 'Trailerpark', 'No Distance Left To Run', 'Optigan 1'
Ultrasound: Everything PictureThe sole double album release from Ultrasound is an epic and sprawling beast of an album with layers and layers of sound. Every song feels like a big hitter, the anthemic 'Stay Young' builds into what I'm sure would have a crowd pleaser given half a chance, while songs like 'Cross My Heart', 'Floodlit World' and 'My Impossible Dream' show the enormous musical ability of band. The unassuming 'Sentimental Song' is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard and the title track is a 21 minute symphony that revisits the first ten songs expertly and is at turns triumphant and discordant and then a hidden track like a delightful lullaby. This is a bittersweet beauty of a record as sadly their inability to remain in the 'Same Band' denied us a follow up.
Stand Out Tracks: 'Cross My Heart'; 'Same Band'; 'Stay Young'; 'Suckle'; 'Fame Thing'; 'Aire & Calder'; 'Sentimental Song'; 'Floodlit World'; 'My Impossible Dream'; 'Everything Picture'
The second album is another slice of hazy pseudo-Americana in the same vein as the first, but with a more refined production this time around.
Stand Out Tracks: 'Revolutionary Kind'; 'Bring It On'; 'Blue Moon Rising'; 'We Haven't Turned Around', 'Rhythm And Blues Alibi'
The band’s second album is a grand soundscape heavy on the psychedelia and eastern mysticism, but it's the rockier tracks that impress the most.
Stand Out Tracks: 'Mystical Machine Gun'; 'Shower Your Love'; '108 Battles (Of The Mind)'; 'Sound Of Drums'
Breakbeat programmer Mr Scruff has excelled himself with this diverse collection of tracks.
Stand Out Tracks: 'Spandex Man'; 'Get A Move On'; 'Midnight Feast'; 'Shanty Town'; 'Blackfoot Roll'; 'Fish'
Books
One of the themes of the Discworld series is the conflict between tradition and progress and the twenty-fourth novel pulls in both directions as the Ankh Morpork City Watch expands and modernises. Vimes briefly becomes the city's ambassador to Überwald, the disc's allegory for Transylvania, where he investigates the theft of the Dwarf's Scone of Stone and becomes embroiled in Vampiric intrigue. A crime thriller set against a fantasy backdrop that is as funny as it is scary. References veer from Dracula to the plays of Chekhov and back via the Diet of Worms and The Italian Job.
Alternating between a Discworld story featuring the creation of a universe of 'Roundworlds' by the wizards of the Unseen University and scientific explanations of the creation our universe, the Earth and the beginnings of life. This book is a great literary contribution to popular science and the two halves compliment each other and made up for shortcomings in my own knowledge of science.
This story of a misnthropic boy who takes a perverse pleasure from the kicking of pigs is an escalating morality tale with inevitable (and horrific) comeuppance. The novel is wonderfully macabre and the accompanying illustrations by David Roberts are just as unsettling.
These six short Christmas stories are hilarious, from the titular tale of the trials and tribulations of being one of Santa's helper elves in a department store to 'Season's Greetings To Our Friends And Family!!!' is a great parody of the traditional American holiday newsletter with a touch too much honesty in it.
Comics
Doctor Who: The Fallen; Unnatural Born Killers; The Road To Hell; TV Action! The Eighth Doctor is reunited with Grace Holloway in The Fallen a story that riffs extensively on Paul McGann's TV movie and the fantastic final panel makes it obvious to the reader that this is the beginning of another epic story. Adrian Salmon's simple storyline and stark artwork for the Doctorless strip Unnatural Born Killers reintroduces Kroton the Cyberman with a soul, as he takes on a pack of Sontarans and loses his home. The Road To Hell is paved with good intentions as the Doctor and Izzy arrive in 17th Century Japan during an isolationist period, Lady Asami being driven mad by images of Japan's future from Izzy's mind is great and the concept of forcing immortality on a Samurai who try as he might cannot give his life and therefore his continued existence dishonours him is fantastic. The TARDIS lands at BBC Television Centre in TV Action! which is a nice little comedy strip that shows a snapshot of the BBC's output in 1979 and features a guest appearance from Tom Baker of all people.
Recommendations welcome.
