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Roger Pocock
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Recent Posts
- Columbo: Grand Deceptions
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Doomed
- The Twilight Zone: Still Valley
- Love, Death and Robots: Pop Squad
- The Avengers: Two’s a Crowd
- Buck Rogers: Time of the Hawk
- Angel: Parting Gifts
- Columbo: Sex and the Married Detective
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Hush
- The Twilight Zone: The Midnight Sun
- Love, Death and Robots: Ice
- The Avengers: Man-Eater of Surrey Green
- Buck Rogers: Flight of the War Witch
- Angel: Hero
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Author Archives: Roger Pocock
Columbo: Grand Deceptions
We begin with a slow panning shot across model soldiers on a battlefield, and it’s a great way to start an episode of Columbo. Anyone who has seen the 1970s episodes will also have high hopes, because we know the … Continue reading
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Doomed
The memory cheats. I remembered Season Four of Buffy as being far weaker than the seasons that surround it. So far, that’s not the case. It might be that the closing few episodes created that impression; we will see. But … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Television
Tagged Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Doomed
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The Twilight Zone: Still Valley
I remember hating history class as a kid in grade school. “Mom, why do we have to learn history? It’s already happened!” I was a futurist. There was an announcement when I was a young man, maybe around 18, that … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television, The Twilight Zone
Tagged Rod Serling, Still Valley
1 Comment
The Avengers: Two’s a Crowd
Last week, writer Philip Levene gave us killer plants. This week he mines another old favourite trope by introducing a double for Steed. It’s a tricky story to get right, and many attempts over the years at a doppelgänger story … Continue reading
Columbo: Sex and the Married Detective
Name two things that don’t fit naturally together. You might say wellington boots and sunglasses, trampolines and caviar, hospitals and popcorn, bicycles and leathers, libraries and raves, pineapple and pizza, swimming pools and face paint, or even tubas and detectives. … Continue reading
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Hush
For many Buffy fans this is the best episode of the lot, and for once I am in complete agreement with popular opinion. I could name a few other episodes that give Hush a run for its money (I won’t, … Continue reading
The Twilight Zone: The Midnight Sun
The Midnight Sun takes a long time to open; about 6 minutes before we have any real information at all. All we know is that Norma (the lovely Lois Nettleton) lives alone, paints and it’s blisteringly hot out. I recognized … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television, The Twilight Zone
Tagged Holocaust, The Midnight Sun
2 Comments
The Avengers: Man-Eater of Surrey Green
We continue to veer back and forth between crime dramas and science-fiction, and Man-Eater of Surrey Green is very clearly in the latter category. There are not even any human villains that are not victims of possession themselves; no criminals, … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television
Tagged Day of the Triffids, Man-Eater of Surrey Green, The Avengers
1 Comment
Columbo: Murder, Smoke and Shadows
If I can be permitted to engage in a brief moment of nostalgia, when the first season of Columbo was made in 1971, the first episode was directed by somebody you might have heard of: Stephen Spielberg. He went on … Continue reading
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Something Blue
This is almost entirely a comedy episode, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Any show needs light and shade, and Buffy is beginning to really excel at the lighter episodes, after some early struggles. The reason the show works so … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Television
Tagged Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Something Blue
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The Twilight Zone: Deaths-Head Revisited
I have always felt bad for cowards. I mean, maybe it’s because I can relate to what it’s like to be frightened of something that later proves to be so carefree, but cowardice is natural. What isn’t natural is for … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television, The Twilight Zone
Tagged Deaths-Head Revisited, Holocaust, Rod Serling, World War II
3 Comments
The Avengers: Dial a Deadly Number
We start with a mystery this week: six company chairmen have dropped dead in less than a year, and they were all members of the same bank. What is going on? Steed investigates the world of share dealing, and meets … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Television
Tagged Dial a Deadly Number, The Avengers
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Columbo Goes to the Guillotine
If you are a fan of a television show that ended years ago, its triumphant return is a magical moment. I can’t quite claim to be in that lucky contingent with the return of Columbo in 1989, because I wasn’t … Continue reading
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Pangs
This is a triumphant and hilarious episode for reasons I will get to, but let’s get the negatives out of the way first. Pangs is extremely awkward in its approach to the topic of Thanksgiving and Native Americans. It’s a … Continue reading
The Twilight Zone: It’s a Good Life
It’s a Good Life is one of those Twilight Zone episodes I’ve seen dozens of times before, but when you plan on writing about a show, you see it again as if for the first time. You notice things that … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television, The Twilight Zone
Tagged Bill Mumy, It's a Good Life, Rod Serling
2 Comments
The Avengers: The Hour That Never Was
The fourth season of The Avengers has hit new heights of brilliance, and I thought it couldn’t get any better than wonderful episodes like The Town of No Return, The Cybernauts or Death at Bargain Prices, but this series just … Continue reading
Mrs Columbo: Love, on Instant Replay
Kate’s final case is an unusual one. The victim, Laura White, had been asking for trouble with her twisted behaviour, running a dating agency and using that as an opportunity to threaten her clients and film her exploits. In the … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Spinoffs, Television
Tagged Columbo, Crime, Kate Loves a Mystery, Kate Mulgrew, Love on Instant Replay, Mrs Columbo
2 Comments
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Initiative
This is the moment we are guaranteed there will always be something hugely entertaining in every episode, because Spike is now a regular cast member, added to the opening credits. I remember watching this the first time round, with no … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Television
Tagged Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Initiative
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The Twilight Zone: The Grave
Montgomery Pittman gives us The Grave; an episode that strangely lacked any opening credits. I’m frankly a little tired of these trips into the Wild West, but that’s a personal issue. It’s just that I really think the street justice … Continue reading
Posted in Entertainment, Reviews, Science Fiction, Television, The Twilight Zone
Tagged Halloween, The Grave
8 Comments
The Avengers: A Surfeit of H2O
Have you ever been caught out in one of those rain storms where the water will find its way through your waterproofs, however good they are, and there’s no point even thinking about keeping up an umbrella? In the most … Continue reading
The View from the Junkyard 