Box Set 2 - the Wonder of Woolies

"Mark Davies" wrote:

> Picked up set 2 in Woolworths at about 10.00 am today. Watched
> "The Long Sleep" when I got it back home .Have'nt seen it in 26
> years.
> A disturbing episode then and remains so.
>

Mark, thanks for the tip! I tried HMV and Virgin first today, they
didn't have it. I wouldn't have thought of looking in Woolies if
you hadn't posted this, but they had plenty of copies so big
smiles all
round.

Have only watched half an hour or so - bits of TLS and Mindbender -
the audio/video quality appears to be every bit as high as the first
set from what I've seen so far.

Fantastic to be able to capture nice, stable stills of those
monochrome images of 1970 London around Piccadilly Circus and Covent
Garden. I always wish I could jump through the TV and walk around,
I love that part of London.

The packaging isn't QUITE as good as box set 1 - the photos used for
the digipack are a bit cheesy (silly-looking posed shots with
weapons mostly), nowhere near as atmospheric as the moody, dark
shots used for the first set. The booklet is well done, though.

The CGI animations are exactly the same, but that's OK. Have only
briefly looked at the extras - some 'behind the scenes' and
promotional stills. Which disc has the Ed Bishop commentary? Anyone
know? The booklet doesn't mention this.

Fantastic to have the entire 26 episodes in glorious DVD quality.

James, the episode with the Ed Bishop commentary
is SUB-SMASH. I'm sure we'll all be interested
to hear how good of a commentary this is! ;-)

Marc

"Marc Martin" wrote:
> James, the episode with the Ed Bishop commentary
> is SUB-SMASH. I'm sure we'll all be interested
> to hear how good of a commentary this is! ;-)
>

Subsmash - yes of course! I'd forgotten - thanks Marc. Well, I've
just watched it with Ed's commentary and I must say I don't think
people will be disappointed - the commentary gets off to a slightly
hesitant, slow start but as the episode develops there are loads of
interesting insights and comments on the script, the set, fellow
actors, the making of the episode (it was "murder" to work on the
tilted Subsmash set) and so on. It's actually quite charming - Ed
is very relaxed and has a good chuckle at the script from time to
time. It's something Ed Bishop fans will treasure I think,
definitely. It's fairly sparse, and he doesn't talk over the
dialogue the whole time, but he certainly brings Subsmash to life.

One or two tidbits - Ed comments that George Sewell was 'a joy to
work with' and that their styles complimented each other, he's kind
about Michael Billington's acting - "his gestures could speak
volumes" and he has a kind word for Mike's hairy chest as well. He
talks about the watch that was given to him by Gerry & Sylvia
Anderson, and has some kind words to say about the 'lovely' Suzanne
Neve (Mrs Straker), saying that the on-screen relationship with Mrs
Straker (who is shown in flashbacks in Subsmash) worked very well.

The timbre of Ed's voice has changed quite a lot - he sounds a bit
like Mr Anderson from Beavis & Butthead. "Have you boys been
whackin' off in my toolshed?" But I think his voice may have been a
little strained when the commentary was recorded. As I mentioned a
few months ago, I had the good fortune to speak briefly with Ed
after meeting him by chance in a Tescos in London before Christmas,
only a few weeks before the commentary was recorded I believe, and
his voice sounded much more familiar then.

James

[hidden email] wrote:
I'll tell you what - tomorrow I'll capture this bit onto an mp3
file and put it up on my webspace.

<<And he has a kind word for Mike's hairly chest as well>>

Are you sure it was Ed Bishop your were talking to and not Mike Myers made
up as him for part of the next Austin Powers movie?

James K.


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>Even Mike would envy Austin's chest hair<VBG>

>Amelia

Well that sort of what gave me the idea that it might have been Mike Myer's
in a Ed Bishop disguise. I remember hearing him talk about how the family
were so impressed by Sean Connery's chest hair in the Bond movies. So when
our other James said he had met Ed in that store and said he even had a kind
word for his chest hair I got the idea of one of those Mission: Impossible
type switches. If that is the case he better get the real Ed back to us soon
and unharmed or ... heck I'll just let you and the Klingon on deal with it,
and save the ammo<BEG>

James K.


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