As I write this the final episode of Ashes to Ashes season 2 will air tomorrow evening.  Like Alex Drake, time is running out for me – I must speculate now or it will forever be lost to the past.

Since recording the last podcast (on Monday the 1st of June, overlapping with Ashes to Ashes 2.7) I have now had a chance to see the penultimate episode of season 2.  Or series 2, if you prefer, but that is even more confusing in the context of Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes – during the podcast the phrase ‘the first series’ was used.  Did we mean Life on Mars in general or just Ashes to Ashes season one?!  We meant the latter in that case.  But I’m drifting!

I was clearly very wrong on my assumption that the mysterious ‘young’ Martin Summers was actually the ‘time travelling’ middle aged Martin Summers who had, somehow, assumed a different appearance.  Keith was very correct – there were two Martin Summers, the 2008 version and the ‘native’ 1982 version.  Does that mean he cannot change his appearance? Probably. Does this put paid to my theory that Martin Summers is, in reality, Sam Tyler in disguise? Most probably but not certainly. Is Fake Keith’s £5 bet with me, that it is Gene Hunt in the hospital bed AND that Martin Summers is Sam Tyler, in danger? I think so!

Ever since the final episode of Ashes to Ashes season one, there has been a new wrinkle of doubt about the 1980s reality. Did Gene Hunt save the young Alex Price (or Drake, as we now know her) in the real 1981? Alex’s flash backs to the event, before she relived it in her coma, suggests he did. How is that possible? Is/was there a real Gene Hunt? Perhaps the 2008 Gene Hunt (who, assuming he’s 46 in 1982 (Glenister’s current age) would be about 72 in 2008) is in a coma along with Alex and Sam Tyler before her? Maybe but I don’t quite buy it. As for him being the man in the 2008 hospital bed that we saw in the first scene of Ashes to Ashes 2.1, no, I think the hints that he is Martin Summers are too strong for that.  That would also displace Summers and, rather late in the game, raise the question as to what/where is he in reality.

As for Martin Summers – “The first man ever to live through a successful suicide attempt!”  What does his killing of his younger self tell us? That just leads me back to thinking this 1982 world is a fiction, as we all (Alex included) originally thought.  But if none of this is real, why is Summers going to so much trouble to put ‘Operation Rose’ into operation? Personally, I think it is a fiction. Somehow a shared fiction, a shared unconscious.  But there are rules to it, nonetheless.  A powerplay to break the reality?  Summers claims to be able to leave 1982 anytime he wishes.  Is he just staying for entertainment then?  What’s the point?  The only ‘real’ thing he can influence is Alex’s mind but when she wakes up I can’t see how any hold on her would persist into the real world.  My speculation runs dry here.  I can’t see Martin Summer’s motivation or goal.  Operation Rose?  Clearly he needs a lot of firepower and he couldn’t wield all that on his own.  Looks like he’s planning a little war.  Revenge against someone in power?  A fantasy revenge he can play out but, at the end of the day, it doesn’t mean anything in reality.

So, Sam Tyler.  Is he dead? I was absolutely convinced he was in that final episode of Life on Mars.  I always read that as him committing suicide.  I know others didn’t see it that way at the time but the writers confirmed that and the files Alex Drake had on him quite clearly say ‘Suicide’. So why the sudden doubt?  For one thing, the rumours that a Life on Mars star (that isn’t already part of Ashes to Ashes!) will be turning up in Ashes to Ashes season two.  The general assumption is that it would be Annie (who Sam Tyler apparently married in the 1970s years that were, in reality, his last seconds of life in 2006).  But what would be the point of Annie turning up if that isn’t a pretext for Sam Tyler to return?  Perhaps the whole ‘returning character’ thing was nothing but misdirection, there to make us think that Martin Summers is Sam Tyler?  Possibly.  We’ll find out tomorrow evening, I suppose.  Still, I quite like the idea of Alex and Sam meeting up.  Are those reports of a third and final Ashes to Ashes season true (that will wrap up BOTH Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes)?  What of that old fashioned iPod, that we so closely associate with Sam Tyler, that appears alongside Martin Summers’ 2008 hospital bed?  More misdirection?  So small that only the real fan will see it – just the sort of people they would try to misdirect.  I do think Sam Tyler is dead but I can’t help but like the idea that the fifth and final season of the Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes saga might end with both Sam and Alex working together.  It probably wouldn’t work, though – I’m not sure even Gene Hunt could cope with both of them!

So the big ending tomorrow?  Obviously the ‘evil’ Martin Summers has to be dealt with.  Death in 1982 means death in 2008?  Probably.  That will prompt some big reveal about the nature of 1982 which will push us into a slightly different direction for next season.  Perhaps Alex will gain the ability to move between 1982 and 2008.  That raises the question of why she would ever leave her daughter, Molly, for 1982 again, though…

Also, has anyone else noticed that the amount of the 1980s compared to real time has dropped dramatically recently?  Since being shot and found, Alex has spent about 6 months in 1981/2.  Suddenly she is found and the time between the ambulance arriving and them finishing the (presumably) several hour long surgery was only a matter of weeks (at most) in 1982.  Let’s assume she was found within the ‘golden hour’, that was 6 months in the 1980s, for an hour in 2008.  Then, for presumably several hours in 2008, she only lives through a few weeks in 1982.  Most of that was before they took the bullet out, too, in case we think that is the cause.  Adrenaline dropping?  Does Martin Summers experience 1982 time at the same speed as Alex now does?  I doubt they’ll ever talk about that in the series!

So, pretty light speculation in the end.  I have more questions than theories.  Let’s see what answers the final episode of Ashes to Ashes season two brings tomorrow!

Prompted by J. J. Abrams’ fantastic 2009 Star Trek film, I have rented the first Blu-Ray disc of Star Trek (The Original Series, as it is now known).  Below are a few random thoughts that occurred to this virtual ST: TOS newbie.

Before I begin I should give a bit of background on my knowledge of Star Trek.  As a child I grew up in the mid seventies and through the eighties, so Star Trek, to me, was a TV series BBC2 repeated a lot at 6PM and there were also a few films.  I’m not an American and I certainly wasn’t around in the late 60s to see TOS when it first aired.  Star Trek was something my father watched and bored me terribly.  It wasn’t as exciting as Star Wars (and all the adventures my expansive Palitoy/Kenner action figure collection had) or as fun as Doctor Who.  To be honest, I hated the Star Trek TV series.  Boring, old fashioned rubbish.

There were also the Star Trek films.  I have vague memories of going to the cinema with my father to see Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I would have been about 4½ at the time and perhaps this film has more to do with my childhood hatred for Star Trek than the original TV series did!  I don’t remember much about it, except being disappointed that some humanoid turtle creatures featured in a film promo magazine (that I presumably picked up at the cinema and looked through, waiting for the film to start) didn’t actually appear in the film.  I’m sure they must have been there somewhere but I failed to spot them (perhaps because I had to go to the toilet part way through the very long film!)  [Just now I did a Google search and discover that the creatures are called Rigellians.]  I was hoping for something like Star Wars but what I got was anything but!

Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home has rather fonder memories for me, however.  It was probably one of, if not the first, film that my friend Ian and I went to see on our own.  Unlike other Star Trek, as it seemed to me at the time, this one had a sense of humour.  It had some action and didn’t try to preach quite so hard (though clearly it had a preachy theme at its core!)  I was also familiar with Star Trek 2 and 3, though I’ve never cared much for Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock.

So, my knowledge of original Star Trek is mainly from little bits of the TV series I caught (or were on in the background) and the film series.  So, I know the characters fairly well (at least in their, fatter, film forms).   I was a big fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation, though which I first saw in 1989 (and filled a bit of gap left by Doctor Who), so am very familiar with the Star Trek universe, just not the original series.

Now the first three Star Trek episodes are behind me, I feel ready to offer my initial thoughts and observations.  Those episodes are The Man Trap, Charlie X and Where No Man Has Gone Before.

I have watched the ‘remastered’ versions in HD.  Basically that means they’ve gone back to the original film footage, rescanned it in and fixed up visual defects, such as dirt on the film and faded colour.  On the Blu-Ray there is also the option of watched new CGI effects (most notably the new CGI Enterprise) or the originals.  Naturally I went with the new CGI effects.  Quick comparisons (via the ‘angle’ button on my remote) suggest (as does their featurette on the remastering process) that they have been very faithful to the original effects shots.  Certainly they feel as if they fit right in to me.  Like the improved picture quality (and the 7.1 audio mix) I suspect that most people, when they see the new HD version with CGI effects, will think nothing has changed at all.  This is probably how they remember it but, of course, their memory will be cheating them.  Most special effects, if done well, should not be noticed by the audience.  The same is true of remastered and HD material in general.  Of course if people saw the originals on a big HD TV they would be surprised by just how bad it looks.  It’s almost a shame so much work has to go into remastering when so few people will notice or appreciate the difference.

Onto the episodes themselves!

In some ways the three episodes are quite similar, particularly Charlie X and Where No Man Has Gone Before.  Each of them involve a threat to the Enterprise from a lone individual who has gained power over others.  In the first case, The Man Trap, it turns out not to be a human being but a ‘Salt Vampire’ with the ability to project a different physical appearance and paralyse people before sucking them dry of salt (don’t we all hate it when that happens!)  Charlie X sees the Enterprise ferry a young man, a recently rescued marooned survivor of a transport crash, who has some incredible telekinetic powers.  Naturally this Charlie Evans goes bad and starts to kill people and take over the Enterprise.  Likewise the episode Where No Man Has Gone Before (WNMHGB!) sees someone, this time Kirk’s old friend and subordinate Gary Mitchell, gain incredible telekinetic and telepathic powers, goes bad and takes over the Enterprise.  Given the unconnected episodic nature of Star Trek, it seems incredible to me that the producers didn’t do a better job of shifting these stories apart in the running order – they weren’t filmed in that order.  I am, of course, assuming that the episodes to come don’t feaure the same basic story idea!

As expected I did find the episodes quite plodding.  That isn’t quite as pronounced on the third of them, WNMHGB, which just felt like better TV than the other two.  WNMHGB is odd in that it is actually a pilot episode (the second pilot, after the suits didn’t like the first (which was, of course, partially recycled in The Menagerie – with a comedy Captain Pike and his beeper)).  There are many differences in WNMHGB and the other two, most notably some of the cast and the costumes.

Talking about Star Trek costumes… Why, oh why did they abandon the decent female uniforms in WNMHGB for the dreadful miniskirts that we all associate with Uhura and yeoman Rand?!  Take a look at these:

On the left we have Dr. Dehner and Yeoman Smith from the second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before. On the right we have Lieutenant Uhura and Yeoman Rand from the series proper.  I couldn’t find decent full height shots of Dehner or Smith but they wear trousers – in stark contrast to the female uniforms from the rest of the series, as depicted here by Uhura and Rand.  Also the pilot costumes don’t have those stupid lopsided open necks.  What were they thinking when they changed them?! Let’s get rid of the practical outfits?! Don’t think I’m trying to be PC here – I honestly think Uhura and Rand’s costumes are rediculous!  Besides, to my taste I think Dehner and Smith look a lot more attractive in their uniforms – Uhura and Rand just look like they should be hanging around on street corners at night!  Let’s not even talk about those impractical and rather silly looking beehives haircuts they move to from the simple, practical ones of Dehner and Smith.  I like intelligent, practical women not two bit tarts!  Star Trek took such a massive backwards step and I don’t really understand why.  It is rather fitting that they parody the women’s final costumes in Futurama with Zapp Brannigan because parody is all those costumes are good for.  Kind of a shame J. J. Abrams continues that in the new film.

That’s where I’ll leave it, for now.  So far it hasn’t been anything like as bad as I expected.  It does feel very slow by today’s standards but that is equally true of Doctor Who from the same era.  It doesn’t yet exhibit the fun character interplay I expect from TOS but I assume that will come soon enough.  I am also hoping for a bit more variation in terms of basic plot but I assume that that too will come soon enough.  I’m trying to keep an open mind.  It has promise…

For far too long I’ve not really blogged (http://twitter.com/AdamJPurcell aside).  That’s made me feel a little guilty.  Not because I think anyone else is disappointed (I doubt anyone has really noticed!) but because I find it interesting to look back at what I was thinking and doing, months or years later.

Sometimes I wondered if I should just leave this blog as a list of podcast entries.  Should I be pushing the latest podcast down the page because of my ramblings? I’ve come to the conclusion – yes, why not? Most people seem to use iTunes to download the podcast (based on the Apache web server logs) and I suspect the majority of the others access it via the RSS Feed (http://blog.staggeringstories.net/?feed=rss2&cat=13).  I shouldn’t use the podcast as an excuse not to blog!  In fact it should be my inspiration.

When I listen back to some of our podcasts (especially if I’m editing that one) I, inevitably, think of all the things I intended to say but forgot or things I should have said but it just didn’t occur to me at the time.  Isn’t a blog the perfect opportunity for me to redress that?  No, I’m not expecting listeners to come here to get my personal podcast errata.  It’s not a podcast patching service! Think of it as a DVD extra (probably the type you get on rubbish barebones DVDs, like a pointless cast bio that nobody ever looks at!)

Who knows, perhaps it might even spawn a little discussion or two along the way.   Maybe my podcast compadres might even be inspired to do the same, from time to time.  We’ll see (will I even keep it up this time?!)

This entry was a bit of a NO-OP to start with but I hope to shortly talk a bit about the new Doctor Who companion (as to be played by Karen Gillan – character name currently unknown!), Ashes to Ashes and my thoughts on watching Star Trek: The Original Series from a newbies point of view.   We’ll see where it goes from there.

We are safely back from Egypt. It’s almost like we were never there already!

I can’t speak for the others, though I’m sure they’ll agree, I had a fantastic time. So much to do there, so little time.  I plan to do a proper travelogue entry on the main Staggering Stories site for the next update.  In the meantime, here are a few more photos (I took over a 1000 photos!):

Dendera Temple

Some more of Dendera Temple, with adventurer!

Some local fishermen on the Nile.

One last picture of a Pyramid, with various modes of transport.

Just a quick update at a friendly McDonald’s Wifi point.