Post by alanhayes on Aug 28, 2005 7:51:35 GMT -5
OK... After a couple of tentative posts, I suppose it's time for me to put my cards on the table. What do I think of Jupiter Moon?
Well, I'm here at the Jupiter Moon Forum, so it follows I must like the show enough to register... ;D
Let's have a bit of history, then...
Back in 1990, I was a BSB subscriber (though I got a round dish, not a Squarial, always a source of annoyance to me!) and spent a lot of time watching the Galaxy Channel and The Power Station (which featured a young Chris Evans before he became the most irritating prat on TV). Galaxy was a channel I tended to watch for the archive programming - William Hartnell Doctor Who, The Goodies, The Outer Limits and Target. I thought about watching Jupiter Moon, but despite having my dish and D-MAC decoder in time for the satellite launch, clearly this was a series that for some reason, seemed to be well underway even at the time of the BSB Launch. (I never could understand why BSB was running for 5 weeks on cable before it started transmitting from the Marcopolo satellite! Running their soap before the channel started properly could be seen as a bit of an own goal...)
Anyway, I caught a few isolated episodes, and quite frankly, it didn't grab me. I remember being less than impressed with some of the acting, and the soapiness of it was a bit of a turn off for me at the time. I tuned in expecting something a little more like the BBC's Moonbase 3, and instead, it seemed I was getting that crossed with Brookside. So, I settled down with my BSB TV Month, tuned in to all the old shows, and completely missed the brilliant new one.
Until now... when it's an old show too!
When the DVD releases started last year, it couldn't have been better timed for me. Let's face it, I've never really got over the demise of BSB - I loved their service, and to have it taken away after such a promising start by Rupert Murdoch's quasi-American and unimaginative Sky TV service was a tough pill to take. I look back fondly at BSB's short tenure on the airwaves - eight months only, if memory serves. And the promise of Jupiter Moon on DVD seemed a way to recapture some of the Galaxy magic, even if it was a series that I wasn't particularly fond of at the time.
Now, I don't know if time has changed me, or just the process of sitting myself down and making myself watch a series of episodes rather than the odd one or two, but care of these Oracle DVDs, I've completely fallen in love with the show. Even the soapy elements - which 15 years ago were a huge turn-off for me - are ones I find interesting. This is like Moonbase 3 populated with real people with real lives. And it's fun!
The SF ideas - such as the station being swallowed up by the plasma ball, and the Ilea crew's attempts to find a way out - are engaging and genuinely dramatic. It's actually a relief not to have Doctor Who or Blakes 7-style gun battles every five minutes. This is much nearer to pure SF than either... and is all the more fascinating for being a human drama as much as a space opera.
The characters are generally great. I love Eliot, the washed up, sloshed and obstinate Captain. I think Finbow is terrific and I have fallen in love with Hurley and Melody... And Anna Chancellor proves in Jupiter Moon that she would have been an excellent 90s Servalan, had Blakes 7 been revived at the time. A terrific actress, who has deservedly done well for herself.
There are a few weak links, like Jason Durr, who seems to be so concentrating on his German accent that he tends to be somewhat unconvincing. Andrew Read as Timmy is also not always quite as believeable as he might be. He's not at all bad... just not as good as some child actors. Did his career continue in thesp mode, I wonder?
So, in conclusion, the series is bloody good and I'm enjoying watching it for the first time. At this point, I'm 28 episodes in (having finally started watching the series last weekend!) and am dreading running out of episodes before the next DVD release!
Oracle are doing a remarkable job in making this obscure but wonderful series available after all this time. Who knows, maybe a Big Finish audio revival isn't entirely out of the question after all!
Well, I'm here at the Jupiter Moon Forum, so it follows I must like the show enough to register... ;D
Let's have a bit of history, then...
Back in 1990, I was a BSB subscriber (though I got a round dish, not a Squarial, always a source of annoyance to me!) and spent a lot of time watching the Galaxy Channel and The Power Station (which featured a young Chris Evans before he became the most irritating prat on TV). Galaxy was a channel I tended to watch for the archive programming - William Hartnell Doctor Who, The Goodies, The Outer Limits and Target. I thought about watching Jupiter Moon, but despite having my dish and D-MAC decoder in time for the satellite launch, clearly this was a series that for some reason, seemed to be well underway even at the time of the BSB Launch. (I never could understand why BSB was running for 5 weeks on cable before it started transmitting from the Marcopolo satellite! Running their soap before the channel started properly could be seen as a bit of an own goal...)
Anyway, I caught a few isolated episodes, and quite frankly, it didn't grab me. I remember being less than impressed with some of the acting, and the soapiness of it was a bit of a turn off for me at the time. I tuned in expecting something a little more like the BBC's Moonbase 3, and instead, it seemed I was getting that crossed with Brookside. So, I settled down with my BSB TV Month, tuned in to all the old shows, and completely missed the brilliant new one.
Until now... when it's an old show too!
When the DVD releases started last year, it couldn't have been better timed for me. Let's face it, I've never really got over the demise of BSB - I loved their service, and to have it taken away after such a promising start by Rupert Murdoch's quasi-American and unimaginative Sky TV service was a tough pill to take. I look back fondly at BSB's short tenure on the airwaves - eight months only, if memory serves. And the promise of Jupiter Moon on DVD seemed a way to recapture some of the Galaxy magic, even if it was a series that I wasn't particularly fond of at the time.
Now, I don't know if time has changed me, or just the process of sitting myself down and making myself watch a series of episodes rather than the odd one or two, but care of these Oracle DVDs, I've completely fallen in love with the show. Even the soapy elements - which 15 years ago were a huge turn-off for me - are ones I find interesting. This is like Moonbase 3 populated with real people with real lives. And it's fun!
The SF ideas - such as the station being swallowed up by the plasma ball, and the Ilea crew's attempts to find a way out - are engaging and genuinely dramatic. It's actually a relief not to have Doctor Who or Blakes 7-style gun battles every five minutes. This is much nearer to pure SF than either... and is all the more fascinating for being a human drama as much as a space opera.
The characters are generally great. I love Eliot, the washed up, sloshed and obstinate Captain. I think Finbow is terrific and I have fallen in love with Hurley and Melody... And Anna Chancellor proves in Jupiter Moon that she would have been an excellent 90s Servalan, had Blakes 7 been revived at the time. A terrific actress, who has deservedly done well for herself.
There are a few weak links, like Jason Durr, who seems to be so concentrating on his German accent that he tends to be somewhat unconvincing. Andrew Read as Timmy is also not always quite as believeable as he might be. He's not at all bad... just not as good as some child actors. Did his career continue in thesp mode, I wonder?
So, in conclusion, the series is bloody good and I'm enjoying watching it for the first time. At this point, I'm 28 episodes in (having finally started watching the series last weekend!) and am dreading running out of episodes before the next DVD release!
Oracle are doing a remarkable job in making this obscure but wonderful series available after all this time. Who knows, maybe a Big Finish audio revival isn't entirely out of the question after all!
