Well, dear readers, BKs Are Go. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, BKs Are Go just like Thunderbirds Are Go but not. I say that because I’ve just finished watching a wonderful documentary from 2014 entitled Filmed in Supermarionation, the story of Gerry Anderson and his puppet TV shows. I will admit to never having even been aware of them except peripherally until I got the two feature films on laserdisc back in the day. I thought they were amazingly weird but fun and then I saw a few episodes of the TV series that spawned the films, and they were even goofier. The entire TV series was put on Blu and Ray in the UK, but for whatever reason, the people who released it put it all in widescreen instead of its TV ratio of 1.33. Shout Factory released it a few years ago in the proper ratio and I may just have to get it. I also had learned of a few of their other shows like Supercar and Captain Scarlett but never saw any of them. I also enjoyed their first foray into live action, Doppelganger (Journey to the Far Side of the Sun in the US). By now, you dear readers know how much I hate all those Netflix documentaries that all look and sound the same and try to be something they’re clearly not – I just don’t get the point. Thankfully, the makers of this documentary clearly love their subject and don’t try to tart it up with extraneous things like shots of leaves, drone shots of buildings or forests. They gather together a lot of the original team who made these shows and take them to their various original studios where they reminisce. First of all, they’re all delightful people, there’s no negativity, just fond memories of the work they did, with lots of fun anecdotes. Cleverly, it’s all “hosted” by two of the puppets from Thunderbirds in all new footage shot for the documentary and really well done and voiced by the original actors. The story of Anderson’s humble beginnings in 1950s TV with his kid puppet shows and then branching into more adventurous fare when Lew Grade agrees to produce their stuff, well, it’s just a terrific documentary and I enjoyed each and every one of its 120-minutes. It’s free (with commercials) on Tubi and comes highly recommended by the likes of me.
And now, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to more Stanley Black stuff – right now, a suite from West Side Story that is tons of fun. Stanley Black was also a fine film composer – he did the UK version of Jack the Ripper (re-scored by Pete Rugolo for the Joseph E. Levine release in the US) and he did a beautiful score for a film I absolutely loved, Hand in Hand. He wrote the theme from the genius comedy show The Goon Show, he scored the Cliff Richard musical films, plus scores from some wonderful Brit films, including It Always Rains on Sunday, The Trollenberg Terror (The Crawling Eye in the US), The Battle of the Sexes, the classic The Day the Earth Stood Still, Rattle of a Simple Man, and many others. But he was most well-known for his best-selling records, all light music, MOR albums, dance music, film music, and theater music. I’m sure there are plenty of nice examples you can hear on the Tube of You.
Yesterday was a day of resting my voice. I only had one brief telephonic conversation and that was the extent of my talking. My voice is a bit better and hopefully another day of rest will do the trick. I didn’t get enough sleep – about five hours – tried to get another two and mostly failed – watched more of the Darrell Brooks trial – he was especially disgusting in yesterday’s session and it’s impressive that the witnesses, many of whom had their children injured, didn’t erupt at his antics. His favorite thing to do is when the other side objects to his nonsense he immediately shouts “grounds” even as their giving the grounds. Then he repeats “grounds” even as the judge is overruling his objection. And his sovereign citizen malarkey is just so stupid – “I don’t recognize anyone by the name of Darrell Brooks” he repeats ad nauseum. The judge is amazing – calm, not letting him get away with nonsense, but keeping the record very clean and clear so he has no way to get a mistrial, which, of course, is the game.
For food, I got Panda Express and it was good. I’m still waiting to hear about locking down which club we’ll shoot in – all other locations have been set. Then around six I tried again to get more sleep but mostly failed due to having not quite digested the Panda Express food. Then I watched the documentary and that made me happy, and then it was time to write these here notes.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, and it’s my intention to keep resting my voice. I may try to do the meeting/meal that didn’t happen on Tuesday but only if I’m feeling up to it. Then I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Friday, I’ll Zoom with David Wechter regarding the last set of notes we got, most of which simply annoy me in a major way. Saturday will be a ME day and a complete rest day and then Sunday we resume shooting – two songs to do in a recording studio. I think that will go relatively quickly, at least that’s the hope. Then we shoot in a house on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday we’ll do the club and green screen stuff. Then all that will be left are a series of Face Time calls between Kerry O’Malley and Sami and Cindy Williams in Sami.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, rest my voice, maybe have a meeting/meal if I feel my voice can deal with it, and then I’ll watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Were you a fan of the Gerry Anderson puppet TV shows? How did you discover them. And do you still enjoy them? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where BKs Are Go.