ORBzine UK TV Roundup March 2001

31st March 2001 - Saturday

Xena: Warrior Princess [Season 2, Episode 10] The Xena Scrolls

This is reviewed in a special supplement

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Today's SF films include Arachnaphobia, Man's Best Friend,

30th March 2001 - Friday

Earth: Final Conflict [Season 1, Season 1] Decisions

This is reviewed in a special supplement

Now and Again [Season 1, Episode 3] On The Town

Reviewed in our special supplement here

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Today's SF films include Death Becomes Her, Ice,

28th March 2001 - Thursday

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman [Season 1, Episode 8] Smart Kids

This is reviewed in a special supplement

27th March 2001 - Tuesday

Lexx [Season 2, Episode 10] Wake The Dead

This is reviewed in a special supplement

26th March 2001 - Monday

Today's SF films include Reposessed, Interview with the Vampire and Body Snatchers [1979].

25th March 2001 - Sunday

Lexx [Season 2, Episode 9] 791

This is reviewed in a special supplement

X-Files [Season 7, Episode 16] Chimera

This is reviewed in a special supplement

Stargate SG-1 [Season 2, Episode 19] One False Step

This is reviewed in a special supplement

24th March 2001 - Saturday

SF:UK - Frankenstein

Frankenstein's Monster is such a success worldwide because of the British people who had input into the mythos.

James Whale, director of the Universal screen adaptation, was a closet homosexual and a veteran of the trenches in World War One.

Boris Karloff was an English actor who, under an extensive makeup job, managed to make the monster convincing and sympathetic

Mary Shelley had given birth to stillborn children, so she wrote her book about a less unpleasant form of procreation

Charmed [Season 2, Episode 10] Heartbreak City

This is reviewed in a special supplement

22nd March 2001 - Thursday

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman [Season 1, Episode 7] I've Got A Crush On You

This is reviewed in a special supplement

Buffy [Season 4] Where The Wild Things Are

This is reviewed in a special supplement

21st March 2001 - Wednesday

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine [Season 7, Episode 4] Take Me Out to the Holosuite

This is reviewed in a special supplement

20th March 2001 - Tuesday

Thunderbirds [Season 2, Episode 4] Lord Parker's 'Oliday

This is reviewed in a special supplement

Star Trek: Voyager [Season 2, Episode 24] Tuvix

This is reviewed in a special supplement

3rd Rock from The Sun [Season 5, Ep 21-2] The Big Giant Head Returns Again

This is reviewed in a special supplement

Lexx [Season 2, Episode 8] White trash

This is reviewed in a special supplement

19th March 2001 - Monday

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Today's SF films include Exorcist III.

18th March 2001 - Sunday

Lexx [Season 2, Episode 7] Love Grows

This is reviewed in a special supplement

Bombay Blush

This week the presenters check out an Indian superhero - Shaktimaan! The red and gold-clad hero is made of 5 elements [earth, air, fire, water, space] and uses his powers to take on terrorists and drug dealers. The plots seem about as interesting as those on Lois & Clark , but unfortunately the SPFX are of the Bollywood level.

One might be tempted to sneer at the low production values, but when was the last time we saw a BRITISH superhero? What the hell ever happened to British Science Fiction?

Star Trek: The Original Series [Season 2, Episode 11] Friday's Child

This is reviewed in a special supplement

Stargate SG-1 [Season 2, Episode 18] Holiday

This is reviewed in a special supplement

X-Files [Season 7, Episode 15] En Ami

This is reviewed in a special supplement

17th March 2001 - Saturday

SF:UK - When Aliens Attack

This is the first episode of a series that explores the British roots of modern Science Fiction. This week it is the works of HG Wells.

To discuss War of the Worlds the presenters visit the site where in the book the Martians attacked and destroyed Woking in Surrey. Wells was an atheist, and his portrayal of priests was very negative. The Hollywood version took the opposite approach. This book was the first use of the blaster-gun!

The Time Machine was the first real story about time travel. Wells was a Socialist, and his creation of the Morlocks and the Eloi was his visualisation of the eventual result of the Class system. He hated the complacency of the suburbs, and wreaked havok on it whenever possible.

The Invisible Man was Well's take on the concept of the mad scientist.

Charmed [Season 2, Episode 9] Ms Hellfire

This is reviewed in a special supplement

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Today's SF films include Gremlins, Masters of the Universe, Fifth Element and The Exorcist.

15th March 2001 - Thursday

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman [Season 1, Episode 6] Requiem For A Superhero

This is reviewed in a special supplement

12th March 2001 - Monday

The Others [Season 1, Episode ] Don't Dream Its Over

This episode was written and directed by John Garris, and smacks of self-indulgence on his part. As always, the Others have to deal with yet another supernatural encounter. The doctor [Gabriel Macht] has dreams about a woman, and becomes obsessed. This has an understandably negative effect on his relationship with the blonde Other.

The Others decide to Channel the dreams, which gives every member something to do. Yes, their contracts must insist that they all get a couple of lines in every episode.

As the story develops we learn the dream woman is called Mary Jane, she lives in the East End of London, towards the end of the Victorian age. This reviewer easily guessed what her surname was, and from that the plot is obvious. John Vickery [Neroon in Babylon 5 ] pops up with top-hat and doctor's bag as a historical character that could also be linked to B5 ...

Destination Mars [Part 1 of 3]

This is a documentary that covers both the history and the planned future of the exploration of Mars. The history covered reaches from the Mariner probe in the 1960s and the Viking probes of the 1970s to the probes sent in the 1990s. The future covered is an experiment in survival equipment that is being held on Devon Island, Canada, within the arctic circle.

Arthur C. Clarke appears in an interview, and shows that although he lives in Sri Lanka he has retained his Bristol accent.

Disappointments include the fact that no mention is made of the Cydonian Face or of the Martian moon that is apparently hollow. Ah well, maybe in episode two ...

11th March 2001 - Sunday

Timecop [Season 1] D.O.A.

This is reviewed in a special supplement

Stargate SG-1 [Season 2, Episode 16] A Matter Of Time

This is reviewed in a special supplement

10th March 2001 - Saturday

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys [Season 5, Episode 9] For Those Of You Just Joining Us

This is reviewed in our special supplement

5th March 2001 - Monday

The Others [Season 1, Episode 7] Theta

The College girl visits a sorority house, and uncovers ghostly goings on. Guest-star babes include Jeanette Brox, Jill Bennett and Gabrielle Union. The writer/director was Fred Golan.

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Today's SF films include Omega Doom,

4th March 2001 - Sunday

Timecop [Season 1] The Future, Jack, The Future

This was reviewed in a special supplement

X-Files [Season 7, Episode 13] First Person Shooter

This is reviewed in a special supplement

Stargate SG-1 [Season 2, Episode 15] The Fifth Race

This is reviewed in a special supplement

3rd March 2001 - Saturday

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys [Season 5, Episode 8] Darkness Rising

This is reviewed in our special supplement

Charmed [Season 2, Episode 8] P3 H2O

This is reviewed in a special supplement

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Today's SF films include Electra,

1st March 2001 - Thursday

Now and Again [Season 1, Episode 2] Origins, Part II

Reviewed in our special supplement here