On the train down, I listened to the latest Big Finish boxset starring Tom Baker. I want to look at Whovian products next time, however.
On the way back, I listened to the third and (allegedly) final BF boxset re-imagining The Prisoner. The first episode Free For All feels very contemporary with its tv debate. However, The Girl Who Was Death ( the first episode I ever saw- very unrepresentative of the rest of the series) is a very, very loose adaptation and the next script, The Seltzman Connection was somewhat unsatisfactory. Briggs resolves the story in No One Will Know in a different way from McGoohan's own tiresome and nonsensical climax. But this set doesn't quite succeed in welding its sci-fi elements to the sinister whimsy and ambiguity of other segments. The performances were fascinating, especially Mark Elstob and Lucy Briggs-Owen but while the series has had its own identity, the resolution seemed a little prosaic. Having said that, it's more successful than the tv reboot of 2009.
When I got back from Glasgow, I went to see Birds of Prey/ Harley Quinn. Thanks to my Moray Playhouse loyalty card, I got to see my eleventh film for free. It's good that this is a diverse, empowered production and I think teens might like it. Margot Robbie's chaotic antihero, unshackled from the Joker, has support from other Bat-Universe staples. Ewan McGregor plays the sadistic Black Mask as a Disco Lounge Lizard and the 80s Huntress is portrayed as an angsty, rather needy character with a mocking tone. The language is very strong, however, which is a continual weakness in DC film and animation; it strikes me as adolescent. The colours are sickly and the visceral violence and Looney Toons tone weren't for me.
In addition to Montoya and club singer Black Canary, teen pickpocket Cassandra Cain rounds out the BoP roster and she also stars in Shadow of the Batgirl. Mentored by Barbara Gordon and living in a library, Cassandra's journey from assassin to hero is one of self-doubt, depicted in a rough, Manga-flavoured style and garish colour. It's amusing and charming but, reading the DC Kids line for school, I preferred the design and themes of Green Lantern: Legacy and the cute Zatanna and the House of Secrets.
Last Saturday, I travelled by train through the storms again, this time for a Teaching Poetry Workshop at the Scottish Poetry Library, very close to Holyrood. I picked up the aforementioned Zatanna book in Forbidden Planet and also dropped into the fandom memorabilia store Galaxy. I had to resist buying a Batman bookend in the sale.
Going back and forth to Edinburgh in one day, I listened to the Big Finish re-imagining of Adam Adamant Lives!. Written by and featuring Guy Adams, A Vintage Year for Scoundrels adapts some of the tv exploits of Verity Lambert's time-warped defender of the British Empire.
I think I first saw the first episode in November 2006, as part of a BBC4 retrospective. For years, I confused it with Virgin of the Secret Service, a fairly obscure ITV series of the late Sixties I finally uncovered in July 2017.
Blake Ritson plays the Edwardian adventurer and also the internal voice of his nemesis, the Face. Like BF's Eleven, Adam is often in wrestling with an inner dialogue with his alter ego.
Georgina Jones is a more independent and diverse character than in the original and the third episode successfully wrong-footed me, regarding her eventual fate. Sheila Reid has a fantastic monologue, worthy of RTD, in that final episode too and I'll definitely check out future boxsets.
Coming soon: Fourth and Seventh Doctors on audio and the Timeless Children
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