Re: What to watch? Need Recommendations
I see a lot of new stuff here. Some more Classic TV stuff you might find interesting:
First let me second Cadfael. A Benedictine monk who used to be a crusader is now an herbalist at the Abby of St. Peter & St. Paul. Medieval Quincy, anyone? It's one of the few series I can watch over and over. It's based on a series of mysteries by Ellis Peters, and is well researched with incredible production values. Shot in the actual town of Shrewsbury, it is a joy for the spirit.
Patrick McGoohan in the original series The Prisoner is worth your time. Seventeen episodes, all pure mind-fruit-ery. He plays a retired spy who is captured before he can get off to Tahiti. He wakes up in an apartment he thinks is his until he looks out the front windows upon a place called The Village. Known only as No. 6, he is pressured, tortured, and generally fruited with by his captors, who are led by a different No. 2 almost every episode.
Action/Adventure from Japan you say? Two series that leap to my mind immediately are:
Baian The Assassin (of which only seven episodes starring Ken Watanabe, Isao Hashizumi, and Miho Jun are available in the U.S.)
Zatoichi Monogatari (Tales of Zatoichi) staring Shintaro Katsu as the blind swordsman.
Baian is an acupuncturist by day, healing his community's ills as a physician, and an assassin by night, killing those whom the law cannot touch, those who must die for the good of all mankind. Miho Jun plays O-Mon, Baian's love interest (she's just a living doll, too). Isao Hashizumi plays Hikojiro, Baian's closest friend and fellow assassin. Seven episodes in the U.S. release, sumptuously filmed, with a soundtrack by Isao Tomita.
Zatoichi is a blind masseur who is also death on two legs with a sword cane. He wanders from place to place in Edo period Japan, always kind to everyone he meets (except Yakuza and other miscreants who want to collect his head for some kind of bounty) he often finds himself fighting battles he didn't want to against enemies who don't stand a chance.
Back to Britain for a bit:
Blake's 7. It's cheesy low-budget sci-fi in the best traditions of the BBC. It has the most flamboyant theme music in outer space, the grooviest looking starship (the Liberator), and one of the sexiest villainesses ever (Jacqueline Pearce as Servalan). Yet... with all that, there's a certain quality in the writing, and the story still rings true after all these years.
Another British (before there was a UK) import to the US, The Avengers, is well worth the time, more especially the episodes starring Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg. (Of course, these were from before she was knighted...)
From America, The Untouchables with Robert Stack as Elliot Ness. Based on true stories from Agent Ness's case files back in the days of Al Capone and Prohibition, this late-night black and white series is still a hoot after all these years.
Hmm... Science-Fiction: The original The Outer Limits is well worth at least one trip through its 49 episodes spanning two seasons. Some of the best speculative fiction out there from major writers of the period, done in glorious black and white. The later remake of this series isn't too bad, either (1995 to 2002, and produced by Pen Densham.)
Space: Above and Beyond is a grim look at Earth's future after encountering a decidedly unfriendly species. It's worth watching if for no other reason than R. Lee Ermey's stellar performance as Sgt. Major Bojus.
Last but certainly not least: Firefly. A beautiful series that died an untimely death, but what there is of it is amazing. Yeah, I'm a Browncoat.
That oughta keep ya busy for a while.
This message was last edited by the user at 09:45, Wed 29 Jan 2020.