I was away for most of the past two weeks. Where? On a cruise! Two full days sailing, then around some islands (which I'll detail in the next posts), and then two days back. Weee!
On board, I had my own room with a port hole, up on deck 10. That was largely fine, until on the way back when the waves got quite high, and I was... needing a little medical help to get through. I was mostly alright, but the pills helped.
There are two restaurants you can eat at, one where you sit down at a table with others and have a proper meal from a menu, the other being the buffet. I went to the buffet for each meal so I could control what I had better. Beyond that, you are paying for everything (the only free drinks were water, bad tea and bad coffee and juice in the morning). Any drinks, you pay. Any food at any other place, you pay. And think cafe prices.
There were also shows every night. Most of them were fine, a couple... were rather weak, and the only reason I watched was because I didn't have anything else to do at the time. Otherwise, the main activity I attended was the quiz events, which I mainly hooked up with another couple, and... well... I won a fair bit of tat so yay?
Would I cruise again? Not keen on it, but not completely against it. Maybe a one way trip so I could fly back and not have that bad weather?
Pictures of the ship are available.
[END]
Sunday, 31 May 2015
Pacific Pearl
Saturday, 30 May 2015
SIR: Viper
Another Knight Rider inspired series, and they have a car with powers. But it doesn't talk. And the powers are that it changes into a slightly different car. Oh the times the guy gets away because he changes the car he’s in and they never suspect a thing...
But aside from that, it really did come off as a lesser Knight Rider, with similar crime of the week adventures, and always a chance to show off the Viper car changing its shell. (It’s like the obligatory transformation sequence in magical girl anime shows.)
It almost died after one season, but came back for three more. The hell? I'm not sure if I ever saw more than the first one, and thought that was the end of it. Guess after all this, I have yet more to see and remember.
[END]
Friday, 29 May 2015
SIR: Strange Luck
Want a show with a gimmick? How about the guy has lots of coincidences happen around him? Usually useful ones? A show where the guy doesn't pay for coffee because he can lucky get a scratch ticket to payout within a few picks.
Such is Strange Luck, a one season show that had odd adventures every week where Chance (yes, that was his name) Harper had things go his way because that was his ability, even if it didn't seem so at the time. One episode started with that riddle 'a frogman is found dead in the woods'. Another one had his chance powers transfer to his friend. And the last episode ended with tying into the X-Files!
As much as I remember this series fondly, and desperately want to see it again.., it's not available on DVD! Inconceivable!
[END]
Thursday, 28 May 2015
SIR: Seven Days
Again another show in which missed the pilot. But the basic idea is that when catastrophe hits, this exclusive team needs to find out what happened, then send the (lone reckless horny) pilot dude back in a device which goes back seven days who can then spill the beans and stop it from happening.
Often, they only just got there in time, because you need tension. And yes, there was the obligatory evil twin episode (the bad part of the good guy being split off when travelling back in time badly once). This even lasted three seasons.
However, there were some basic problems I had with the show that were never addressed. If the pilot goes back through time… what happens to his past self? The team is always surprised whenever the pilot contacts them, so what happened to the pilot self that was supposed to be with them? Did he disappear and they never noticed? Does he integrate his selves? Never explained. And neither is what happens to the travel device, which is a one-shot deal and gets wrecked. There’s the one device they have that they will send him back if needed, but what about the ruins? And although they never did this, I totally expected an episode where he had to go back more than once, chaining his way backwards through time. An obvious trick they missed.
And there's now another (completely unrelated) series now called 7 Days, so no-one remembers this one.
[END]
Wednesday, 27 May 2015
SIR: Starman
No, not the David Bowie song... although that may have been an unacknowledged source? Anyway, this follows on from the movie starring Jeff Bridges, although this one starred Robert Hays. The baby that was created in the end of the film has grown up to mid teens, and Starman returns to be his father and search for the missing mother.
Which means they are on the run, going from town to town, trying to avoid the authorities who want their hands on some alien works. With how the Starman creates his body, they could easily recast, and we also have the return of the magic balls, although these ones are reusable.
Another one series shot, but it contained some good character moments.
[END]
Tuesday, 26 May 2015
SIR: Riptide
Now what if we had a Knight Rider type show where the vehicle was the gimmick, only this one doesn't talk. And is a boat. An ordinary boat. So, really, a crime of the week show set near a marina that conveniently has the bad guys going out on a boat so the good guys can chase after him. (And this was ripped off in the Simpsons.)
One thing I particularly remember was that there were three people (okay, guys) in the main team. Two jock types and a nerd type with technical skills. And yes, they were all appreciated in their way, even if the nerd guy was the butt of a joke or two. One incident in particular I remember (and I'm sure it's from this show, and even in the opening titles, but not in the ones I found) was that they came to a fence with a locked gate. The jocks scale the fence on either side of the gate, while the nerd guy picks the lock, and they end up on the other side at the same time, with a shared look of 'oh, we could have gone that way'. A brilliant way to show off the core characteristics.
Another series without the full DVDs available.
[END]
Monday, 25 May 2015
SIR: Quantum Leap
Jump around to anywhere in (recent) history and have an adventure around an individual life. This is a different way to sort of do an anthology series, ie a show with different characters and basically different leads each episode. Except there’s the continual presence of Sam and Al to provide meta-commentary on what should be happening and to help make it happen.
When this series came out, the future with the Leaping device was set in 1999, with techno glow everywhere. When the novelisation came out (written much later), going into the lead up to the pilot, they explain the outfits away as being 'ironic' and not at all the style at the time.
However, by the last season, the writers had given up on the 'everyman' scenario, and seeing how many famous people they could interact with. Then we hit the final episode, which ended up being one of the best ways to send out a series ever.
[END]
