Sapphire & Steel - A Review
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- In our 2nd Episode of Look...Look and Look Again we peek at a late 1970's piece of televison gold.
Look ...Look and look Again is dedicated to cult television and film from a buygone age.
Pull up a comfy sofa and relax as we take you back to something grey and very, very blue.
All clips, sounds and retrospective derring do are non profit. No copyright infringement is intended. Don't forget to buy the DVD or Blu Ray and show your appreciation of this by hitting like and please comment.
I was ten years old when it started. Im 54 now. I guess time just slipped through the cracks...
😁 Very well put - doesnt it just 🦀
ASLO - the ending to the final adventure i thought was sheer bliss. In fact, the final adventure followed like classic S&S right to the end but when that final ending is revealed it hits you hard, cos you just didn't expect it. Pure joy. Now THAT"S how a final twist is supposed to work. Really nice.
Can't disagree with a single word of that review of a truly unique show. Wonderful! Kudos also, if I may, for mentioning Big Finish's furtherance of the series featuring the late David Warner - one of the few actors who could replace David McCallum.
The one with the faceless business man has to rank as one of the most scary and disturbing TV shows ever! Scared the life out of me
Made me shudder Sapphire and Steel is the show I recall scaring me the most out of all the shows. One of its strengths was using everyday objects as focal points of terror. I was only about 3 at the time and used to cuddle into my mum as suitably petrified. I loved Dr Who but knew it was not real but ghosts and household objects attacking the 'grown ups' made made many sleepless nights. Oh and in the same story a girl is trapped in a photograph and the faceless man sets it alight and you hear the screams from her as she burns to death ! And all on a Monday night about 7 in the evening. Could you imagine that now - the woke brigade would end up in A&E or the station would be sued I expect. Wonderful, wonderful stuff indeed. Probably my favourite 'cult' programme ever. Crab
@@LOOKLOOKLOOKAGAIN it was definitely super creepy. The WW1 one was brilliant as well. The whole thing was to be honest, there is no way it would get made now not a chance. Definitely up there for me with my all-time favourite, Children of the Stones.
Oh god I still think about the faceless ep (and refer to this) today. Many contemporaries simply can’t remember it at all though. I thought it was superb.
Saw it as a kid over here in Belgium back in the late seventies. Scared me senseless. Loved it! Joanna Lumley was so beautiful and mesmerizing. Wonderful storytelling.
I would go as far in saying it is one of the best science fiction and fantasy programmes ever made. Very unique and it's simplicity added to the eerieness of it all. Thanks for your comment. Crab 🦀
Sapphire & Steel was made at a time when programme-makers credited their audience with imagination and an attention span!
A programme that would never be made today. Possibly one of the creepiest t.v shows. I would go as far as saying this is my number 1 cult show. It is a binge watch I never tire of and always spot something I overlooked several times before. 👍🦀
@@LOOKLOOKLOOKAGAIN Agreed. It definitely benefits from repeated viewings.
I have the Network boxed DVD set and book. Huge devotee.
Non Transuranic elements only puhleeeeze
Definitely imho one of the best sci fi shows ever made. It's my number 1. So cerebral, scary and brave to put a show out like this and at 7 p.m. Nothing scared me much as a child but this did , i can remember curling up on my mums lap as a little one watching this and traumatised by the plague victim, roundheads, ghosts of soldiers on the station, the goose pillow attack, man with no face and plenty of other things in it's short run. I thought big finish done the programme proud as well. Unfortunately the sheer caliber of writing, acting and the fact the people involved didnt treat the viewers as dumb is something we will never see again. I also like the fact that the show was so sad - the fate of Tully and the sufferance of the soldiers was very dark and to use just an empty corridor and with careful lighting and acting turn it into a submarine running out of oxygen was unbelievably clever and believable. I may watch these all again sometime soon. Best 🦀🍎
A cross between X-files and Dr. Who.
Sapphire & Steel, as otherworldly heroes battling time meddlers, are quite a divergence from Doctor Who. Your review channel for all these British sci-fi gems is greatly appreciated. 👍🏻👍🏼👍🏽👍🏾👍🏿
Yet another brilliant video and discussion of this incredible series whose two Roundheads in the Cottage scared me silly as a child. Wasn't the Krypton Factor on after this? I think this is your eighteenth video I've watched to it's completion this week and I've learned so much. You Sir are an Encyclopedia of British TV and Cinema classics. ❤❤❤❤❤❤ l salute you.
Wow - you're digging into my old stuff !!! 🤣 God its ropey. The roundheads, plague victims and white eyed parents petrified me when I saw this. It was the only show that genuinely freaked me out , that and World's Beyond. I loved Dr Who (63-89 version) and still do but it never scared me quite as much as this. For me Sapphire and Steel is the best science fiction series ever made. Best 🦀
Oh yes the krypton factor with gordon burns and music by art of noise if I remember correctly. Loved Krypton. It was the all part of that blakes 7, angels and kenny everett era , all rounded off by a video nasty on a friday night. Glorious era. 🦀x
You should organize a night of Crab Apple Classics. Rent out a small Hall/meeting room/hotel function room+80" TV or large screen for the night,charge everyone £30 and fit in 200 of us! You would be the greatest Compere! We could have tea and cakes and the best episode of say Sapphire & Steel,Blakes 7,The Tomorrow People,The Avengers + a Hammer House of Horror episode+your all time favourite Hammer+Amicus then a Q&A afterwards,it would be a hoot! And you'd make a tidy profit. I'd go! CRAB APPLE PRESENTS....It would be a Triumph! Just an idea for future reference,thanks again. 😃
I would love to - one day but I wouldn't charge and would be happy with fish and chips afterwards. Best always Crab
Just to cover the Room etc. Wouldn't want it costing you a penny! It would be a wonderful night. P.S. Its 111 Years today since Peter Cushing was born. That's one of my drawings of him in my Avatar,l adore the man. I'll celebrate with Amicus/Hammer Cushing films this evening. HAPPY CUSHING DAY!
I met David Collings years ago and ased him about the last episode ending on a downbeatand he said there was a story that his character was gonna rescue them but David MaCullum didn't want to do any more
@@iancrosdale1165 Oh thats a nuisance. I believe they coukd if stretched to another season. ATV becoming Central didn't help much either I would imagine as usually when stations are taken over there is usually a new broom that sweeps away the old for new. I can see silver rescuing them for new adventures. That is a great shame though. Thanks for sharing your information and experience. 🦀
such a great show
A product of its time and what a great time for television it was too. Crab 🦀
@@LOOKLOOKLOOKAGAIN i introduced a 20 something friend to it a few years ago was slightly surprised how much she enjoyed the series as its pacing is definitely not modern
@@somthingbrutal Its odd you say that as did the very same thing and Children of the Stones proved a hit when i recommended it to a lad across the road - he is 18 . I guess not ALL teens/early twenties want the fast paced bilge or patronising dysentry the ad men want them to buy into. With Sapphire & Steel the slow almost absorbing pace is its strength. It creeps up on you and when it gets a grip you cant brush it off as 'you are in it' so to speak and something like that takes time to build. It is one of my favourite shows - if not my favourite science fiction show - unique and quite unnerving. I am sure if Nigel Kneale would have written for a programme in the late 70's it would have been this. Quite, quite wonderful. 🦀
Hi Hon. Another monumental epic of a video, which as this is a more unusual production i think is thoroughly worth it and does the series some major justice. Regarding initial DATES, if it helps - i was 14 in 1979 and vividly remember when it began in our region, which was Gloucester UK so we got a mix of HTV and ATV Midlands on our sets. It was September when the show began, and the second adventure then picking up straight after in October and running until the lead-up to Xmas. The show did not return in our region until the fall of 1980 with Story-3. X
Many thanks - I thought of cutting this down as it was only the 2nd episode so very early stages as you can tell but found I couldn't. Possible one of my favourite t.v shows ever this had me totally captivated. Most peple used to , allegedly, scurry behind the sofa with Dr Who but this used to scare me as a child. I recall sat on my mums lap and squeezing her tight in fear (and excitement)as the ghosts of the soldiers appeared on the platform. Sapphire and Steel had , for me, such a simplistic way about it visually that when the effects were achieved they seemed to have more impact. Less is sometimes more so the saying goes and if this needed visual representation then S&S would be up there. The ending to the series seemed to have such melancholy as well as claustrophobia - I felt genuinely upset, when I was a child, when they were caught in the time trap with no way out. These were most certainly my unsung heroes. A show that most certainly couldn't be for today as the slow(ish) pace, low key effects and the highly cerebral way the plots unravel themselves at times just simply couldn't demand an audience it was a product of it's era and the era it was made complimented the show admirably. 🦀😃x
Watched the ace of wands episode “Peacock pie” this week written by PJ Hammond and I see how it could serve as a prototype in some ways for Sapphire and steel.
It’s a shame they didn’t bring Brian Wilde back as Mr Peacock in Sapphire and steel.
He would’ve been a perfect villain for them.
Totally agree. A simple way of villainery but highly effective. Love that story. 🦀
All DVD sets are now out of print and the transfers on the Shout! website are awful, with your stills looking better and closer to the show. Wish they would get the Blu-ray upscale treatment BBC has been giving to older DOCTOR WHO season. SAPPHIRE AND STEEL is great!
Totally agree it is my favourite sci-fi programme. R.I.P David McCallum x
Loved the army based one on a train station,I remember though that there was a itv strike at the time so we couldn't get to see the whole story to later in the year which was annoying.
Disappointingly there was but they re-run this story (as it was an 8 parter) . Its a great shame they didnt squeeze a little more out of it. One set in a lighthouse or a church wouldve been suitably desolate, claustrophobic and enough dark corners to scare us. The best science fiction series ever made imho. So intelligent, written, acted and directed. Its simplicity was its key. The big finish audios are worth a listen especially the early ones, got a bit daft as it went on. 🦀
Story 5 is my favorite. I know, I know, but I just love it!
It has its charms, very Agatha Christie in concept - in a way it makes a refreshing change from the others with some super moments - the cricket match playing from bygone times is one - when they find the broadcast is from the radio transmission rather than a cassette recording is one highlight and the virus demise is slightly unsettling too. I love this show.
I really dig what you're doing with your channel! It's really clever and I've found a couple new jems because of your deep dives and recommendations - Hammer House of Horror alone was like finding the golden ticket in a Wonka bar. Thank you for all the excellent content! ❤
@Nope.Unknown That's lovely to know and I am eternally grateful for your comment - it inspires me to crack on with what I am doing as well as knowing my channel inspires others to govand seek. It takes me ages to do and I aim to continue with the documentary/reviews as long as people want them. Once again many thanks. Best 🦀
I was incredibly young when Sapphire and Steels last episode aired. But that last story stayed with me for years. Until it reached DVD for the first time. I had to purchase each set as it came out. The picture quality, even for DVD was pretty bad. I found out the the US version had better image quality and extras.. luckily the now defunct (sob) Network box set arrived and was so much better! Better image quality and extras! I should also mention that during the mid 2000’s I stumbled across a fantastic S&S website (sadly long gone) and the chap behind it was so enamoured with the ghost train station story he made a PC game called “Darkfall” which is still around and pretty spooky.
A friend of mine gave me darkfall as because he knew I liked Sapphire and Steel - it was very eerie. Such a shame when decent sites go. I , alas, have seen the demise of many. I loved the net in its early days but thats what you get when the hippies of tech retired and sold out to major corporations and the armani boys take over. Anyway enough moaning. I have two box sets of this one a two set from about 2000 and the other from a&e from the states , treasured as much as this programme possibly inmho one of the best science fiction series ever made. Thanks for your comment . Best 🦀
Hello Sweetie - remember me? Just a few notes regarding the ENDING of this show. Not that you've got it WRONG, please don't think that munchkin, ....but myself i know a bit about how TV & Movie companies work, and i think it may have been more to do with Central-TV coming IN much more than anything else hon. So you're on the right track but you can take THAT as a confirmation. Several shows that were popular were axed at the time in 1982 simply cos the new outfit wanted to make room for their own belated product, which as it turned out never lived up to all the talk anyway. That said - Lew Grade, head of ITC has always been a hero of mine and i know he left the company in 1982 after disagreements with his new partner, Robert Holmes-Court from Australia. You see hon, even THEN most TV bosses were more concerned with money than entertainment. There were a few though that thought differently and in Britain we were lucky to have Lew whose attitude all the way through his tenure as ATV boss from 1955-76 was 'if the audience like it, then it goes on'. Well, Mr.Court didn't believe in People, and at that point Lew sold his shares and left his own company. ITC after that point only lasted a couple of years and then folded. But the programmes ITC made have lasted and been remembered all over the world thanks to Lew - one of them, was Sapphire & Steel, which if anyone else had got hold of it would never have gone on the way Mr. Hammond wanted it to be. You see, that was another maxim of Lew's, was to to stand back and let creators get on with the job. His job was selling. XX
@Paul Davidson i REMEMBER Pipkins, - with Hartley Hare! X
The more I look into series from ITC as you I have a lot of time for Lew grade. I love the bravery of television back then in putting out things in prime time and taking a punt in it's success. TV is not brave anymore and most of it is purely cash based - there was a balance between mainstream and fringe back then - now it is purely on revenue and popularity. I am guessing that Sapphire and Steels popularity was also attributed to the lead stars popularity - if made now I cannot think of any actors who would want to be cast in the parts especially that famous. I am glad they did though as they are both perfectly cast and really seemed to have nailed Hammonds vision. Thanks for the insight into some of the background to this show and for sticking with one of the earliest reviews - it is rather crude in execution. Crab x
Joanna loved MacAloom, as she used to call him...
Bless him. They were both cast so well.
Loving these episodes mr crab,your voice was quite low in the first episode though.
Thank you. Experimenting with my first microphone at the time. Once you get onto the later episodes, you will see a change. When I started it was a cheap mic and a free editing suite - changed a bit now thanks to Filmora and dedication. Enjoy the series. Thanks for your comment. 🦀
When I was a teenager I had a way out of the series climax when the 4th Doctor and Romana turn up and rescue Sapphire and Steel then join forces to fight the Time Agents of the Black Guardian who is that higher power Sapphire mentioned
A crossover would have been awesome
What’s the music at the end of this review and what programme did it belong to
Ah , thats my season 1 theme its called 'fruity flutes' by Reg Whale - it used to be the amazing theme to Farmhouse Kitchen in the 70's and 80's . They then changed it to s synth version in the 80's and like most revised themes - it was awful. 🤣 Used to watch this with my nan and go and cook after it when i used to bunk off school from being bullied every day. That was the 80's for you. Crab 🦀
@@LOOKLOOKLOOKAGAIN cheers mate I thought I knew it from somewhere I used to love thattoo and used to bunk off school to watch it too lol
Great series. Please do space: 1999. Series one in particular was marvellous. Until Fred Freiburger ‘monstered’ it up.
Definitely food for thought I have both series on blu ray and will well dust them off after I have finished my Metzger reviews for sure. I feel some wholesome viewing will be needed after that . Very best 🦀
@@LOOKLOOKLOOKAGAIN thank you. That would be brill but tbh I’ve been enjoying everything you e been doing - love the perspicacious commentaries.
Sapphire and Steel Each adventure is basically a nightmare and like dreams not everything immediately makes sense with that feeling of ni no escape Will it ever end
The Weeping Angels from Doctor Who would fitted into S+S nicely
I like the weeping angel idea for sure. People trapped in a prison of dreams. Poetic but equally terrifying.
God I love this show.