It pains me once again to have to deny you the “Chitty” you deserve!
Alas, we must once again beg your indulgence as we postpone our holiday discussion of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” (1968), on Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner.
Next attempt will be Friday evening at 7:30 EST. In the meantime, wish Roy a speedy recovery. We suffer for our soup, so you don’t have to!
Once upon a time, before 1700+ cable channels set to work eroding our collective intelligence, there used to be three networks, a few independent stations operating out of Philadelphia and New York, PBS, and the odd UHF channel.
During the holidays, once everyone’s stomachs were distended, and the adults were engaged in conversation in the kitchen or dining room, the kids would find somewhere in the house to huddle around a special broadcast of “The Wizard of Oz” or “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”
A reminiscence of those halcyon days was to have been an important component of our discussion of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” (1968) on tonight’s Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Unfortunately, the program has had to be postponed. I blame the Child Catcher and those infernal lollies!
I hope you’ll join us now on SUNDAY EVENING AT 7:00 EST. Bring the last of the leftovers to the comments section, when we livestream on Facebook, YouTube, and elsewhere! We apologize for the inconvenience.
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Now I’m off to fill the evening with the 1981 WOR-TV Thanksgiving Kong-a-Thon, a copy of which was kindly sent to me this week by Jon Haag.
I mentioned Robert Helpmann this morning in my post about composer Malcolm Williamson, in connection with the ballet “The Display.” By coincidence, Helpmann, then one of the world’s most famous dancers, played the Child-Catcher in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” (1968), a film that we’ll be discussing on Friday, on a special holiday edition of “Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner.”
You can detect Helpmann’s natural grace in his sinister portrayal. (He was also creepy in the Powell-Pressburger classics “The Red Shoes” and “The Tales of Hoffmann.”) Ironically, it was he himself who was imperiled by an accident during the making of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” But according to Dick Van Dyke, he emerged from the life-threatening situation with élan. At the time, Helpmann, a Sadler’s Wells veteran, was co-director of the Australian Ballet.
“Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” is based on a children’s book by James Bond creator Ian Fleming. Like Helpmann himself, we’ll enjoy our cranberry sauce shaken, not stirred, on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Bring your Thanksgiving leftovers to the comments section. There will be plenty of turkey to go around when we livestream on Facebook, YouTube, and elsewhere, this Friday evening at 7:30 EST!
Behind-the-scenes anecdote about the Child Catcher here:
Last night, the Doctor was “in,” for our discussion of “City of Death” (1979) on Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. I even donned my 19-foot “Doctor Who” scarf, knitted for me by my aunt as a Christmas gift in 1984. (Apparently Tom Baker’s was only 18 feet, but this was before people could confirm such things on the internet.) I also recollected a tiny TARDIS given to me by my sister. While not exactly a Whovian, 38 years ago, I suppose I did have the hair.
All in all, not a bad show for two casual “Who” watchers, thanks in part to the lively viewer comments and an unexpected visit by the “Chat Girls.”
I hope you’ll join us next week for a special holiday edition, and our memories of the family classic “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” (1968), based on the book by Bond-creator Ian Fleming. Sing along in the comments section, when we livestream on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter (if it still exists), next Friday evening at 7:30 EST!
We’ve been so deep into “geek” the past couple of weeks on “Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner” that it stands to threaten the very fabric of space and time!
Next, we take a nostalgic journey back to Dr. Who, and the four-part serial “City of Death” (1979). An over-qualified Julian Glover gives a most theatrical performance as the villainous Scarlioni, who has his mind set on stealing the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, as Catherine Schell twirls her cigarette holder most provocatively.
The script editor is Douglas Adams, whose “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” was broadcast only the year before as a popular radio play, and whose spin-off novel was about to explode into a cultural phenomenon – just about the time when this particular storyline ended, as a matter of fact. Adams used his pull as a writer for Monty Python to snag a cameo from John Cleese. Watch fast also for Eleanor Bron. The script is credited to “David Agnew,” a pseudonym.
Tom Baker is quirkily amusing, as always, in the title role, though coming back to the series after all these years, the production values are just as painful as I remember. The creature make-up is fun, though, and the show’s opening never fails to set up your expectations that you might actually see something good for a change.
By the bye, my aunt knitted me a Dr. Who scarf for Christmas one year, after I went away to college. I never wore it, for fear that it would get caught in a subway door! After roughly 38 years, I have retrieved it from a dresser drawer in my parents’ attic, and I will proudly don it for tomorrow night’s discussion.
So be sure to drop by for our Who’s-on-first routine. The comments section will be awash in Jelly Babies on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. All the Whos in Whoville will want to join us for the Facebook livestream, this Friday evening at 7:30 EST.
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Here’s the belated link to last weekend’s discussion about the “Star Trek” episode “Tomorrow is Yesterday” (1967).
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