Author Archives: Roger Pocock

About Roger Pocock

Co-writer on junkyard.blog. Author of windowsintohistory.wordpress.com. Editor of frontiersmenhistorian.info

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Entropy

Posted on May 11, 2024 by Roger Pocock

Entropy means a thermodynamic quantity representing the unavailability of a system’s thermal energy for conversion into… actually, we don’t need the physics explanation. In the context of human life, the word is used to represent decline into uncertainty and disorder. … Continue reading →

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Twilight Zone: Living Doll

Posted on May 10, 2024 by Roger Pocock

This episode gave me an interesting thing to consider.  I’ve been struggling recently with this series because I remember liking it a lot more than I do now.  My chief complaint is that so many episodes deal with jerks.  But … Continue reading →

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The Avengers: Have Guns – Will Haggle

Posted on May 8, 2024 by Roger Pocock

The Avengers often seemed to be a series that couldn’t decide what it wanted to be. It started off as fairly gritty espionage thrillers, and soon became a show that wasn’t taking itself very seriously. It’s perfectly normal for a … Continue reading →

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Normal Again

Posted on May 4, 2024 by Roger Pocock

There have been many examples of novels and television dramas that challenge the nature of reality. It’s an idea that was popularised by Descartes, but goes right back to Plato: can we trust our senses to tell us the difference … Continue reading →

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Twilight Zone: The Last Night of a Jockey

Posted on May 3, 2024 by Roger Pocock

I realize that Rod Serling lived during a different era from the one I grew up in.  I recognize that in 2000 years, we’ve seen more progress in the last 100, than in the previous 1900 and if you really … Continue reading →

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The Avengers: Look – (Stop me if you’ve heard this one) – But There Were These Two Fellers…

Posted on May 1, 2024 by Roger Pocock

“Red noses – what does that conjure up?” “Inebriates.” It also conjures up an image of clowns, source of a common phobia called coulrophobia. The first link on Google suggests that it is not a well understood phobia, but I … Continue reading →

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Hell’s Bells

Posted on April 27, 2024 by Roger Pocock

Welcome to the latest instalment of Buffy the Miserable Slayer, although this week it’s somebody else’s turn to be really miserable, with the collapse of Xander and Anya’s relationship, in the most spectacular way. There aren’t many more dramatic ways … Continue reading →

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Twilight Zone: A Kind of a Stopwatch

Posted on April 26, 2024 by Roger Pocock

I used to love The Twilight Zone.  In fact, it’s one of the very few series my mom and I ever shared because she had watched this series in her younger years.  I also shared it with my cousin, often … Continue reading →

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The Avengers: Noon Doomsday

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Roger Pocock

If it weren’t bad enough having to watch an episode written by Terry Nation last week, Noon Doomsday is another Nation episode, but it’s also trying to be a Western, the genre of television I will cross the road to … Continue reading →

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: As You Were

Posted on April 20, 2024 by Roger Pocock

Last week, in Older and Far Away, we looked at the theme of losing people from our lives, something that was happening for too frequently for Dawn’s liking. This week, As You Were provides us with the next chapter in … Continue reading →

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Twilight Zone: Nightmare at 20,000 Feet

Posted on April 19, 2024 by Roger Pocock

It is one of the most well-known episodes of The Twilight Zone.  It’s up there with the likes of Eye of the Beholder and It’s a Good Life and even got a remake for The Twilight Zone movie, replacing William … Continue reading →

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The Avengers: Legacy of Death

Posted on April 17, 2024 by Roger Pocock

When I saw who wrote Legacy of Death, I was expecting a couple of things: a character called Tarrant, and not a very good episode. I was half right. If you are a sci-fi fan, you will probably understand the … Continue reading →

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Older and Far Away

Posted on April 13, 2024 by Roger Pocock

Sometimes it can feel like we are losing people from our lives far too quickly. That tends to happen as we get older, with the inevitable deaths of significant older friends and relatives. I remember an old friend complaining about … Continue reading →

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Twilight Zone: Steel

Posted on April 12, 2024 by Roger Pocock

I grant you that I’m not into sports, but if there’s one that I think should be outlawed, it’s boxing. I mean, we’re better than the gladiators, right? Haven’t we grown since those days when bloodsport was the order of … Continue reading →

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The Avengers: All Done with Mirrors

Posted on April 10, 2024 by Roger Pocock

For a viewer who is used to The Avengers showing us a silly idea and then running with it, a telescope picking up sound from a great distance probably seems like just another example of asking us to accept the … Continue reading →

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Dead Things

Posted on April 6, 2024 by Roger Pocock

[Trigger warning: themes of domestic violence and rape discussed.]  Just when you thought Season Six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer couldn’t get more miserable, we are presented with Dead Things, an episode where everything just feels horribly wrong. It’s an … Continue reading →

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Twilight Zone: In Praise of Pip

Posted on April 5, 2024 by Roger Pocock

It’s one of the biggest letdowns in the world when you’re a reviewer and you watch a thing, make notes, write up said review, and then find the review was eaten by demons, summoned forth by the large hadron collider, … Continue reading →

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The Avengers: False Witness

Posted on April 3, 2024 by Roger Pocock

I knew very little about The Avengers before I embarked on this viewing marathon, other than hazy childhood memories of watching a few episodes, but one fact I couldn’t help escaping was the hierarchy of Avengers girls, in the opinion … Continue reading →

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Doublemeat Palace

Posted on March 30, 2024 by Roger Pocock

This is a rarity for Season Six of Buffy, a monster-of-the-week episode. It feels oddly out of place here, because we are so used to dangers being created by Willow, or occasionally a mild threat from the trio, but for … Continue reading →

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Twilight Zone: The Bard

Posted on March 29, 2024 by Roger Pocock

Oh, if only parting were sweet sorrow!  In this case, it’s about the happiest thing in the world to be done with season 4 of The Twilight Zone.  Those of you following my reviews of Buffy The Vampire Slayer know … Continue reading →

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