Wow. Just updated the sidebar and realised how much TV I've watched over Christmas. Although there were days when I didn't watch any TV at all. The TV hasn't been all that exciting. What have been the TV highlights? Well...

I wasn't going to do the BBC's Test the Nation quiz, but I was downstairs and mum made me. She was doing it, you see. Maybe she wanted competition, I don't know! Anyway, I beat her, just. I (apparently) knew quite a bit about the current affairs of 2002! I scored 67%, which was above average. I like it when I'm above average at things. :)

It was entertaining, and when the BBC finally get the results put up online the statistics should be worth a read. Their latest estimate is 7th January. Which means you can still do the test online, if you want to.

The other thing that was highly amusing (and thought provoking for sci-fi fans) was Cruise of the Gods. I'll paste in the synopsis from the BBC website:

A one off special, Cruise of the Gods, and stars Rob Brydon as Andy Van Allen, the former hero of Children of Castor, a fictional Eighties cult TV show.

Andy's career has since taken a nosedive and he is now working as a hotel porter. Meanwhile, his co-star, Nick Lee (Steve Coogan) has shot to fame in the syndicated US show Sherlock Holmes in Miami, sold around the world.

An unusual offer may rescue Andy from obscurity. The Children of Castor fan club have invited him on a fan cruise. But all is not plain sailing when an unexpected death and a misguided sexual encounter change the course of Andy's life.

The synopsis doesn't do the show justice. The main plot centres around an actor called Andy. What's it like to be a sci-fi actor who doesn't get any work (apart from a time travel film about a boy called Billy and his time travelling bike) when his show ends?

Andy starts off as an arrogant sort of man who thinks that all the fans are pathetic and doesn't really want anything to do with them. He feels this way even though most of them probably have better jobs than he does. Plus Children of Castor was a truly awful show in the first place. Anything that features lines like, "When will we learn the lesson of potato"... well!

The more we see of Andy the more we realise that (although the sci-fi fans are truly sad and pathetic) he's just as sad and pathetic if not more. He actually believes he's a good actor (or does he?). He hates the fans who admire him. He's willing to take advantage of their admiration. And when his successful co-star turns up, he's even more aware of how pathetically sad his life has become.

The story does have a happy ending, though. In the end he discovers that there's one person on board who agrees that the show was complete and utter rubbish - and that person's the illegitimate son of someone who played a mutoid on Children of Castor. The only reason he was a "fan" was because it was the only connection he had with his father. He persuades Andy to put on one last show for the fans, and they live happily ever after.

Probably.

It's hard to explain. It was a complicated sort of plot, touching on a lot of issues. Someone had done some excellent sci-fi fan research!

It was all very amusing. And sad. Good stuff.

There's just one more thing I want to say. And I'm not sure why. Too much Red Dwarf, probably.

"I've been fished to death!"

Sorry. :D

posted by Fiery Fred @ 5:16 PM