VISION ON SOUND EPISODE 155 - TX SEPTEMBER 24 2023

09/24/23 • 59 min

PAUL CHANDLER on THE INVADERS, THE WILD WILD WEST, VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, and BEWITCHED.

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on September 24th 2023

This week, all the way from THE SHY LIFE PODCAST, PAUL CHANDLER, THE SHY YETI himself is back here on VISION ON SOUND because, well, he had an idea that he thought that I might like to talk about for the show, and knowing - as he does - that I’m always eager to grab at any such demonstration of enthusiasm from the team, he suggested that I might like to try it out.

So, basically, PAUL asked himself the question about what sort of Archive TV he might be able to see if he was up and about and away from home and didn’t have his extensive collection of television with him. What kind of programmes, essentially, could he watch on a website like THE TUBE THAT IS YOU that might just scratch that itch when he was far, far away from the shelves of YETI TOWERS...?

Over the course of several evenings he picked out a few random choices of single stories from four American television series that were popular in the 1960s, and whilst narrowing this down to choices from a single decade might not be quite as completely random as he initially planned, it does give us the opportunity to return to this theme on another occasion by selecting shows from another decade.

Anyway, future planning aside, the four very popular and successful series PAUL chose were THE INVADERS, a QUINN MARTIN PRODUCTION from 1967 which featured ROY THINNES as ARCHITECT DAVID VINCENT in an era of deep paranoia when you had to have a responsible profession in order not to be a complete “ALIENS ARE HERE” spouting crackpot, apparently.

After that he ventured into THE WILD, WILD WEST featuring ROBERT CONRAD and ROSS MARTIN, before taking a VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA with RICHARD BASEHART and DAVID HEDISON, and ended up being BEWITCHED by SAMANTHA the urban witch as played by ELIZABETH MONTGOMERY.

For THE INVADERS PAUL picked out THE TRIAL from the second season, from THE WILD, WILD WEST, he chose THE NIGHT OF THE SIMIAN TERROR from late in the third season, and from VOYAGE he picked TERROR ON DINOSAUR ISLAND from the second year. Finally, it’s a pair of fifth season offerings from BEWITCHED, that he chose, in order to keep the running times consistent, the two-part story COUSIN SERENA STRIKES AGAIN.

So if you want to watch the specific shows we’re talking about after the programme, at time of recording PAUL found all of these episodes on YOUTUBE, and it’s always a joy when I can present a show where my guest has done all of the homework.

PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

PAUL CHANDLER on THE INVADERS, THE WILD WILD WEST, VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, and BEWITCHED.

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on September 24th 2023

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VISION ON SOUND EPISODE 154 - TX SEPTEMBER 17 2023

WARREN CUMMINGS on T J HOOKER...!!!

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on September 17th 2023

This week WARREN CUMMINGS is back and we’re talking about a show we touched on when we discussed TV CHEESE a few weeks ago, the strangely successful WILLIAM SHATNER Police Series from the early 1980s, TJ HOOKER...!

So let’s kick up those FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL TIME ENGINES and do an unnecessary forward roll back to 1982...

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VISION ON SOUND EPISODE 156 - TX OCTOBER 01 2023

A FOR ANDROMEDA & THE ANDROMEDA BREAKTHROUGH.

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on October 1st 2023

This week, our resident researcher of some of the earliest examples of television science-fiction, MICHAEL HERBERT returns, this time to talk all about the seven-part 1961 BBC television serial A FOR ANDROMEDA, and its six-part sequel from the following year, THE ANDROMEDA BREAKTHROUGH.

Mostly remembered as being a breakthrough role for JULIE CHRISTIE, and possibly as one of the stepping stones towards the creation of DOCTOR WHO in 1963, all but one episode of A FOR ANDROMEDA is lost, presumably forever, although the surviving episode, alongside episode reconstructions based upon surviving film clips and the telesnap archive mean that you can sort of get to watch the serial, albeit in a somewhat fragmented form.

THE ANDROMEDA BREAKTHOUGH, however, survives in its entirety - although sadly for home viewers, in a long-deleted DVD set. Such are the quirks of the television industry of that time, however, it now featured SUSAN HAMPSHIRE in the role of Andromeda.

Written by FRED HOYLE and JOHN ELLIOT, both serials feature a rare leading role for PETER HALLIDAY playing the hero JOHN FLEMING. HALLIDAY is an actor who listeners might know better for his roles in several DOCTOR WHO stories such as THE INVASION and CARNIVAL OF MONSTERS, but, as we discuss, that’s not the only DOCTOR WHO connection that A FOR ANDROMEDA has.

Incidentally, as well as all of his insights into A FOR ANDROMEDA, MICHAEL also has a brief update to share about his continuing work on his biography of MALCOLM HULKE that he shared in a previous edition of the show, so you’ve also got that to look forward to as we head back to the radio astronomic new frontiers of the early 1960s...