#Doomwatch

[weirdlookindog]

THE GHOUL SHOW!

Grave of the Vampire (1972), Island of the Ghouls (Doomwatch, 1972) & Garden of the Dead (1972)

[mater-argento]

The horror films of Peter Sasdy.

[bitter1stuff]

[zippocreed501]

...images from the lost continent of cult films, b-movies and celluloid dreamscapes

SF films based on TV shows

No! I'm sorry, but the shit you got away with back in the sixties just ain't gonna fly these days. No-one's wants to watch some misogynistic a-hole sleep his way around the galaxy. I mean, that guy didn't care if they had tentacles or not!

The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) Thunderbirds Are Go (1966) Doomwatch (1972) Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) Star Trek: First Contact (1996) Lost in Space (1998) The X-Files (1998) My Favorite Martian (1999)

[kwebtv]

Simon Oates, Joby Blanshard, John Paul, Robert Powell and Wendy Hall in "Doomwatch"

[culttvblog]

Doomwatch: The Logicians

Spoiler warning: this blog post gives away the conclusion of the episode.

This post is heavily reliant on the much superior post about this episode on the Archive TV Musings blog which can be found here: https://archivetvmusings.blog/2016/05/08/doomwatch-the-logicians/

This episode of Doomwatch is a rollicking tale of public school life in the UK and is very much of the genre where the boys get out of hand and do things like make a nuclear reactor or riot, or something. I LOVE its depiction of the boys stealing a top secret formula from a pharmaceutical conpany where they're lucky enough to have had outings. I love the depiction of the boys planning this using a paper map in the dormitory. I love the way one of the boys gets trapped in the pharmaceutical company's office because the repeat visit on which he was supposed to have been rescued has been cancelled after the theft of the formula. Basically, this episode is the Famous Five force fed a handful of LSD and let loose on an unsuspecting world.

I am stressing the boys' school story aspect because honestly I think this is the best aspect of this show. Unusually for Doomwatch the ethical aspect in question is not to do with the stolen formula, which is for a newly discovered antibiotic, but is, as the title suggests, about the question of logic, which is where the intended theme of the show rather goes off the rails and makes it best to focus on the show as a rollicking school story.

The problem with the logic theme is this. I just cannot believe that the subject of youngsters taught supposedly in a completely logical, scientific way, would be as disturbing to Doomwatch or anyone else as it is supposed to be in the show. Obviously I may be biased since we live in a world where the lack of reason and logic has become epidemic and we could do with far more people operating with simple logic and unemotionally, in my opinion. In addition to the depiction of logic as more concerning than it would be, we also have the problem that the school is run far from logically. Even the boys themselves comment that there is literally nothing in the way of discipline or order, and beyond the computers in the classroom, the school comes across far more like the legendary Summerhill school. The episode also shoots itself in the foot by making out that the boys are being taught by computer, and yet has a scene where they are clearly being taught by a teacher and the computers are doing little more than a multimedia presentation. I must stress that these mammoth contradictions in the show do not mean I don't think you should watch it, it's great.

It turns out that the reason the boys have stolen the formula is for the utterly endearing one that they want the company to pay a ransom to get it back which they will then donate anonymously to the school, which they know has been struggling financially. This is a striking level of loyalty to the school, given that as far as I can see it's a complete shambles, even by the boys' own estimation.

I think this episode could have been improved by focussing on the way both the school and one of the boys' fathers have rather absented themselves from the role of a parent and instead expected the boys to discipline themselves and hand over the role of teacher to the computers. This would still have allowed the episode's focus on a concern about pure logic by contrasting the logic with the parental and teacher's role.

An excellent adventure, though, and one well worth watching.

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Archives from 2013 to September 2023 may be found at culttvblog.blogspot.com and there is an index to the tags used on the Tumblr version at https://www.tumblr.com/culttvblog/729194158177370112/this-blog

[cultfaction]

Preview- Doomwatch (Bluray)

After the waters surrounding the remote island of Balfe become over-polluted by chemical dumps, some of the inhabitants begin to exhibit extreme behavioural and physical changes as they transform into violent and deformed creatures -enter Doomwatch! Directed by Peter Sasdy (Taste the Blood of Dracula, Countess Dracula, Hands of the Ripper) and based on the successful BBC science fiction TV show…

[cinemaquiles]

Metáfora sobre a ignorância em filme que envelheceu mal: A ilha da radiação (1972)

[tenth-sentence]

The first programme depicted animal to human heart transplants, and later episodes were to feature genetic engineering in rats, and a scientist secretly keeping aborted foetuses alive in incubators for his experiments.

"Frankenstein's Footsteps: Science, Genetics and Popular Culture" - Jon Turney

[oxbl00d42]

Doomwatch - Insel des Schreckens - OMG!!

Doomwatch - Insel des Schreckens ist ein absolut krasser Film aus den 70er Jahren, der dich auf eine abgefahrene Reise in eine verfluchte Insel mitnimmt! Hier geht es um Mutationen, Krankheiten und blutige Szenen, die dir das Blut in den Adern gefrieren lassen! Die Story dreht sich um eine Gruppe von Wissenschaftlern, die auf eine abgelegene Insel geschickt werden, um herauszufinden, warum dort alle krank werden und freaky Mutanten entstehen! Es gibt viele Szenen, wo die Leute sich in monsterähnliche Kreaturen verwandeln und die Wissenschaftler umbringen wollen! Aber die Wissenschaftler lassen sich nicht unterkriegen und kämpfen gegen die bösen Monster und die kranke Atmosphäre der Insel! Es ist ein Film voller Action und Nervenkitzel, der dich garantiert auf die Kante deines Sessels bringen wird!

Der Film beginnt damit, dass ein Fischer auf der Insel von einem seltsamen Phänomen berichtet: Alle Fische sind tot und das Meer scheint vergiftet zu sein. Als die Wissenschaftler auf der Insel ankommen, finden sie heraus, dass es tatsächlich eine Krankheit gibt, die von einer Fabrik auf der Insel verursacht wird. Die Fabrik produziert ein Pestizid, das in das Meer gelangt und die Fische tötet.

Aber das ist noch nicht alles. Die Krankheit breitet sich auf die Menschen aus und verursacht Mutationen, die zu freaky Monster-Kreaturen führen! Die Wissenschaftler müssen nun schnell handeln, um das Rätsel zu lösen und die Krankheit zu stoppen, bevor es zu spät ist. Aber sie sind nicht alleine auf der Insel. Die Inselbewohner sind misstrauisch gegenüber den Wissenschaftlern und versuchen, sie daran zu hindern, ihre Arbeit zu tun.

Im Laufe des Films wird es immer spannender und actionreicher. Die Wissenschaftler stoßen auf immer mehr Hindernisse und müssen gegen die Zeit kämpfen, um das Geheimnis zu lösen. Die Monster-Kreaturen werden immer aggressiver und bedrohlicher. Es gibt viele Szenen, in denen die Wissenschaftler um ihr Leben kämpfen müssen.

Am Ende des Films gibt es eine dramatische Wendung, die ich hier nicht spoilern werde. Aber ich kann sagen, dass es ein überraschendes Ende ist, das dich mit offenen Mund zurücklassen wird.

[idrawtoomuch-gw2]

So unless Anet adds an actual Ice-Covered Chest skin and (icy) Hoof Boots Grim is about as complete as he's probably ever going to get.

[kwebtv]

Doomwatch - BBC One - February 9, 1970 - August 14, 1972

Science Fiction (38* Episodes)

Running Time: 50 minutes

Stars:

John Paul as Doctor Spencer Quist 

Simon Oates as Doctor John Ridge

Robert Powell as Tobias 'Toby' Wren

Joby Blanshard as Colin Bradley

Wendy Hall as Pat Hunnisett

John Barron as The Minister

Jennifer Wilson as Miss Willis

 Vivien Sherrard as Barbara Mason

John Nolan as Geoff Hardcastle

John Bown as Commander Neil Stafford

Jean Trend as Dr. Fay Chantry

Elizabeth Weaver as Dr Anne Tarrant

Moultrie Kelsall as Drummond

[culttvblog]

Doomwatch: Public Enemy

High time I blogged about Doomwatch again, since I haven't posted about it for about five years, to my surprise. Briefly to recap the history: Doomwatch (1970 to 1972) was a science fiction show about the titular agency, which investigated various scientific and environmental dangers. The show gained a reputation at the time for being able to predict the future because of its depiction of things which then happened. I hope it played a role in educating the public to the reality that you can predict what will happen and this is only what bookies do on a daily basis.

The premise is that a company called Carlingham Alloys are not managing their chemicals and emissions properly, and this has resulted in a hugely raised death rate from pulmonary disease in the area and a child's death resulting from climbing on the roof of the factory to rescue a ball. The episode represents Doomwatch's investigation into this situation, demanded by the local councillor.

The episode is essentially about a moral quandary, to my mind, although there is a scientific aura given to this debate by the fact that Carlingham are working on a new substance which will revolutionise everything, pretty much. We are therefore already in the familiar 1960s TV territory of the wonders of technology and what happens when these new developments go wrong.

Doomwatch tell Carlingham that they need to get on top of what we would now call Control of Substances Hazardous to Health, and need to take action which will cost more than they are prepared to pay. Carlingham react by announcing that they are therefore going to pull out of Carlingham completely and concentrate all their work in Leicester, which would mean closing essentially the only employer in the town, and this is what causes the moral quandary.

The alderman who demanded Doomwatch's intervention was elected (obviously by the townspeople) on a platform of tidying up the town, and in fact we see residents commenting that it's like the entire environment is poisoned and there is obviously some public opinion that something has to be done.

On the other hand, when Carlingham announce that they are leaving, the employees of the factory of course don't want to lose their jobs or relocate elsewhere and suddenly there is a groundswell of opinion that they would rather chance it and risk that they won't be the ones who get the pulmonary disease. This gives rise to one of those scenes which feel like they occur so frequently in Doomwatch, where the public are up in arms about safety precautions intended for their own safety.

Despite Doomwatch's magical repute for predicting things that were going to happen in the future, I think the series was as good at paying attention to what was going on in the world and presenting issues like this one in a dramatic form that the public would take to. In fact I think this is a very good example of the show presenting these issues. The matter of health and safety must have been in discussion in the UK at this time in preparation for the passing of the Health and Safety at Work Act in 1974, which unified and simplified a lot of previous regulations for individual industries. This episode must essentially be based on the discussions going on in Westminster and trade journals in the years before that act.

If I have perhaps made it sound a bit didactic, I should stress that the episode doesn't at all feel like a textbook of ethics or health and safety, while still being guaranteed to get you arguing about it if you were the sort of family that discuss the telly as you go along. My personal opinion is that you take a risk by living in an area with really only one employer because if they move or go bust this is exactly the sort of situation that happens, and also that the parent company which decides to close the factory are clearly terrible employers, whose only interest is their own profit and not the health of their employees.

I just have a couple of criticisms: one is that Dr Lewis in the factory is played by Trevor Bannister, an actor who I'm afraid I can never take seriously in a straight role. He is however perfect as the voice of the anti-health and safety brigade. My other criticism is that the show depicts no trade union activity at all in a factory which is such a death trap that it is a caricature, and I wonder whether this is credible for the time.

This episode is a solid example of Doomwatch taking an issue of the day, expounding the issues involved, and plugging in to how things would develop in the near future.

This blog is mirrored at

culttvblog.tumblr.com/archive (from September 2023) and culttvblog.substack.com (from January 2023 and where you can subscribe by email)

Archives from 2013 to September 2023 may be found at culttvblog.blogspot.com and there is an index to the tags used on the Tumblr version at https://www.tumblr.com/culttvblog/729194158177370112/this-blog

[cultfaction]

Derrick O'Connor - The Irishman with intense screen presence and versatility

Derrick O’Connor was an Irish actor known for his intense screen presence and versatility, which allowed him to excel in a variety of roles across film, television, and theatre. Born on January 3, 1941, in Dublin, Ireland, O’Connor’s career spanned several decades, during which he became known for his distinctive character work and collaborations with acclaimed directors like Terry Gilliam. His…