Un Village Français 4.07

Le visiteur

or The Visitor

9 Nov 1942

Dr, Larcher and Sarah go to a farm to get milk, early on a Sunday morning. They find a wounded man hiding in the barn. He came from London. Larcher leaves Sarah with the man and goes to get his wife so that she can help him operate on the man who is in bad shape.

A man knocks on Bériot's door. He uses a pass phrase and explains that he is on a mission. Bériot takes him to see Marie. She is suspicious of him. He asks a lot of questions but won't tell her anything. She takes him to see Crémieux.

Müller is back. He has a brief meeting with Servier and Larcher, who is trying to get back to the man in the barn. Müller explains that he back and untouchable by Kollwitz. There were two men who parachuted in from England. One of them is dead and the other was captured at a farm. He wants Larcher to do what he can for the man to keep him alive.

Inuyasha 1.09

Enter Shippo... Plus, the Amazing Thunder Brothers!

Shippo, a young fox demon who looks like a child tries to take the shards of the Shikon Jewel from Kagome and Inuyasha. His first attempt is unsuccessful but he manages to get his hands on them and trap Inuyasha with a spell. Kagome goes after Shippo. She catches up to him just as he runs into Manten, one of the Thunder Brothers, who have already found a few shards and are looking for more of them.

Kagome and Shippo try to escape from Manten, Shippo gets away but Kagome is captured. Manten takes her back to his lair. He is getting ready to boil her when Hiten, the other Thunder Brother, shows up. Hiten seems uninterested in Kagome until he learns that she knows where there are more shards of the Shikon Jewel. She also claims that Inuyasha is her lover.

Shippo finds Inuyasha and convinces him that they need to find Kagome. They are out looking for her when the Thunder Brothers strike.

Doctor Who (1963) 12.01.X2

Behind the Sofa: Robot (2018)

44 minutes

Group 1: Tom Baker (The Doctor), Sadie Miller (daughter of Elisabeth Sladen), Philip Hinchcliffe (producer)

Group 2: Louise Jameson (Leela), Janet Fielding (Tegan), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa)

The two groups named above sit and watch Robot. Presumably they watched the whole story but they only show clips of them talking about it. 

This was my first experience with a Behind the Sofa feature. It was okay. I don't recall any anecdotes from the chit chat. This is the first time that I can recall seeing or hearing Sadie Miller in anything. She has replaced her mother in a few Doctor Who audio dramas.

Paranoia Agent 1.11

No Entry

Ikari works security at construction sites since he lost his job as a police detective. He winds up working with a thief whom he arrested years before. The thief doesn't hold it against him. They both miss the old days.

Ikari's wife spends most of the episode at home. She tells her life story to a visitor, Shonen Bat. She admits that recently she got a medical diagnosis left her feeling hopeless. Shonen Bat seems to feed off of her desperation and grows bigger but he doesn't frighten her. The longer she talks the more she becomes more resolute and adamant she becomes about her past decisions and about her future.

Her health is failing. She needs an operation. At the beginning of the episode she was contemplating not going through with the operation. By the end of the episode, over the course of telling her story, she changes her mind.

Wonder Woman 1.03

Beauty on Parade

Steve Trevor visits Fort Russell in Maryland which was recently hit by enemy agents, presumably Nazi sympathizers. There is a beauty contest about to happen there. The base commander insists that security is very tight but Steve and Diana have doubts.

Diana Prince dons a wig and enters the contest under the name Diana Paradise. One of the other contestants is very put out by Diana joining the contest at the last minute but the others are much more welcoming.

The sabotage turns out to be something other than what Steve and Diana suspected. It wasn't intended to destroy a government project. It's intent was to set a trap for General Eisenhower. Steve and Diana find out just in time to prevent an assassination attempt on General Eisenhower.

Slaying the Dragon (1988)

Slaying the Dragon (1988)

directed by Deborah Gee

58 minutes

This documentary is about the way that Asian and Asian American women were been portrayed in movies and on television from the late 1920s to the late 1980s. It starts in the era of silent films with Anna May Wong. Using clips of movies and interviews with actors, scholars, and others the documentary traces the ways in which portrayals of Asian woman changed over the 60 plus years that it covers.

This documentary wasn't even on my radar screen until I did a little research after watching The Crimson Kimono (1959). James Shigeta, one of the stars of The Crimson Kimono, appeared in this documentary. I watched it on Kanopy.

I enjoyed watching this documentary which opened my eyes and made me aware of some films that I had not seen and, in some cases, even heard of before now.

The Crimson Kimono (1959)

The Crimson Kimono (1959)

starring Victoria Shaw, Glenn Corbett, James Shigeta

written, produced, and directed by Samuel Fuller

82 minutes

LAPD Homicide Detectives Charlie Bancroft (Glenn Corbett) and Joe Kojaku (James Shigeta) are assigned to investigate the murder of Sugar Torch, a stripper. Their investigation leads them to Christine Downes (Victoria Shaw) an artist who also goes by Kris and who painted a picture for Sugar Torch. Both detectives fall for Kris.

She chooses Joe but Charlie has already told him that he (Charlie) wants to marry her. Joe doesn't know how to deal with his dilemma which is complicated by the societal pressures and his friendship with Charlie which goes back to their service in the military during the Korean War. Joe is considering quitting and leaving town when a break in the case brings him back together with Kris and Charlie.

Abbott Elementary 2.10

Holiday Hookah

School lets out for the holidays. Janine, Gregory, and Ava all wind up at the same hookah bar that night. Janine and Gregory dance together. Jacob crashes Melissa and Barbara's little holiday get together and brings the mood down by talking bad about everything related to Christmas.

Thoughts

Good but not great. Neither plot line really did it for me. It was a little weird having a story that didn't revolve around something school related.

Animal Kingdom (2010)

Animal Kingdom (2010)

starring Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Guy Pearce

written and directed by David Michôd

113 minutes

Teenager Josh Cody is sent to live with his relatives after his mother dies of a drug overdose. His uncles are all criminals. Josh's grandmother looks after them. Pope (Ben Mendelsohn), one of his uncles, is in hiding from the police. Things seem reasonably calm until the police decide to kill Baz Brown (Joel Edgerton), Pope's best friend. Pope and his two brothers retaliate by killing two police officers.

The police retaliate. Pope tries to exert control over Josh and Darren, his remaining brother. Things get uglier and uglier. Josh gets questioned by Police Detective Nathan Leckie (Guy Pearce) who urges Josh to tells them what he knows. Josh is caught in an impossible situation but then something happens that ultimately helps him decide which way to lean and what he has to do.

Sugar 1.01

Olivia

Private Investigator John Sugar is hired to find twentysomething Olivia, the missing granddaughter of film director Johnathan Siegel. It is Jonathan who hired him but it isn't long before Sugar meets David, Olivia's twentysomething half-brother who also works in Hollywood.

Sugar, in the process of searching Olivia's car, finds the dead body of a man, no one he recognizes. Sugar also crosses paths, intentionally, with Melanie Mackintosh. He found a strip of pictures from a photo booth of Melanie and Olivia, in Olivia's apartment.

Sugar has a mysterious wound on his arm. He hallucinates, towards the end of the episode that he is bleeding profusely. He gets in the shower but later when he wakes up (still in the shower) he discovers that he hasn't been bleeding and that the wound is still bandaged.

Inuyasha 1.08

The Toad Who Would Be Prince

Kagome and Inuyasha meet Amari Nobunaga, a young man who is desperate to save Princess Tsuyu, for whom he has strong feelings. They discover that a 300-year-old toad demon holds the princess prisoner. The demon also has one of the shards of the Shikon Jewel.

Kagome, Inuyasha, and Amari sneak into the home where the toad demon holds Princess Tsuyu. The toad demon has merged with the husband of the princess. Inuyasha is ready to kill the demon but  Kagome orders him to stop because killing the demon will also kill Tsuyu's husband.

Kagome learns from Myōga that by using fire she can  drive the demon out of the husband of Princess Tsuyu. Kagome, using a candle and a bottle hairspray that she brought from her own time, hits the demon with a spray of flames that drives it out of the prince's body. Inuyasha quickly separates the demon from the shard of the Shikon Jewel.

Doctor Who (1963) 12.01.X1

Are Friends Electric? (2007)

39 minutes

This is the making of documentary for Robot although it also covers the transition from the eleventh to the twelfth season, from one production team to another, from Jon Pertwee to Tom Baker. There is footage from a script read through where most if not all of the actors can be seen including the one who played the Robot.

The people interviewed for this documentary feature include

• Barry Letts, producer (1970-74)
• Philip Hinchcliffe, producer (1974-77)
• George Galaccio, production unit manager
• Terrance Dicks, writer and script editor (1968-74)
• Elisabeth Sladen, Sarah Jane Smith

Paranoia Agent 1.10

Mellow Maromi

The production assistant on a new anime series about Maromi can't seem to do anything other than day dream. He spends most of the episode doing just that. He imagines things and flashes back to the events of the past few days. His inability to do his job correctly causes all sorts of problems for the other people working on the Maromi show.

He is shown driving the video tape of the first episode to the television studio that will be broadcasting it, in a number of scenes. His flashbacks and dreams seem to punctuate that trip. Along the way he is pursued by Shonen Bat. The episode ends with him seeming to become Shonen Bat.

Wonder Woman 1.02

Fausta: The Nazi Wonder Woman

Fausta is sent to America to capture Wonder Woman and bring her back to Germany. She starts by capturing Major Steve Trevor. Wonder Woman catches up to Fausta and her goons in a warehouse in the Southwest quadrant of Washington, DC. Wonder Woman rescues Steve. Fausta gets to see her nemesis in action in person for the first time.

Fausta comes up with another plan. She impersonates Wonder Woman at a war bonds rally. She lures Wonder Woman into competing against her in a test of strength. Wonder Woman is caught off guard by Fausta's goons and knocked out with ether or chloroform.

Steve is in the audience at the war bods rally. He doesn't see Wonder Woman get captured but he suspects that something is up. He follows the car that Fausta and the unconscious Wonder Woman are in but the car he is driving experiences engine trouble and he is unable to prevent Fausta from flying back to Germany with Wonder Woman.

Dark Matter 1.01

Are You Happy in Your Life?

Jason goes out one night to have some drinks with a friend who is celebrating a big win. Jason is attacked, while on his way home, by someone wearing a mask, and taken prisoner. Jason is knocked out and wakes up in a quarantine facility. He escapes from the facility and quickly finds out that things have changed. His wife and son don't exist or he can't locate them. He finds his home but his wife and son aren't there. Someone from the quarantine facility is.

The man who attacked Jason looks just like Jason under the mask. He goes to Jason's home and impersonates Jason and gets into bed with Jason's wife.

Thoughts

This show is available on Apple TV+. I was able to watch this episode because the first episode was available for free, without a subscription. I don't have a subscription to Apple TV+ and this episode wasn't enough to get me interested in getting one. 

Where is this all going? I don't know and I don't really care enough to want to know.

The Phil Silvers Show 3.26

Bilko the Male Model

Bilko catches the eye of some advertising executives after he appeared in the background of a photograph that ran in Life magazine. The head of the ad agency proposes a test case to see how well Bilko's face can do selling smoking jackets. Bilko tilts the playing field by talking the president of the ad agency into running the test case in Roseville, KS.

Things fall apart for Bilko's modeling career soon after the test case is declared a success.

Thoughts

David White played the part of Larkin, one of the advertisting executives. This is his fourth and final appearance on this show. He played different characters in each of his four appearances. He is best known to me for playing the part of Larry Tate on Bewitched.

This was a fun episode.

The Dark Corner (1946)

The Dark Corner (1946)

starring Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, William Bendix, Mark Stevens

directed by Henry Hathaway

95 minutes

Private Investigator Bradford Galt (Mark Stevens) recently moved from San Francisco to New York City. Kathleen Stewart (Lucille Ball), his secretary, notices someone tailing them one night while they are playing games in an arcade. Stauffer (William Bendix), the man tailing them, claims to be working for Tony Jardine, Galt's former business partner. Jardine double crossed Galt in the past which resulted in Galt spending a couple years in prison.

Galt doesn't know it but Jardine is having an affair with Mari Cathcart, the young wife of art gallery owner Hardy Cathcart (Clifton Webb). Hardy pays Stauffer to murder Jardine and place the blame on Galt, which he does. Stewart and Galt scramble to try and figure out what happened and how to find the murderer.

Inuyasha 1.07

Showdown! Inuyasha vs. Sesshomaru

Sesshomaru almost kills Kagome but Tetsusaiga, the sword, protects her. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru fight.  Kagome gives Tetsusaiga to Inuyasha. Sesshomaru transforms into a giant wolf-like creature. The fight moves outdoors. Inuyasha can't seem to make any progress until after he promises to protect Kagome. Sesshomaru runs off after he has been injured his sword wielding half-brother.

Inuyasha and Kagome return to the village. She tells Kaede about what happened. Kaede speculates that the true power of the sword may be activated by the desire to protect a human. Kagome tries to tell Inuyasha but he isn't interested in listening now that he has Tetsusaiga.

Nothing But a Man (1964)

Nothing But a Man (1964)

starring Ivan Dixon, Abbey Lincoln

written and directed by Michael Roemer

95 minutes

Duff Anderson is part of a crew workingon the railroads Alabama when he meets Josie Dawson, a school teacher and the daughter of a preacher. Her father is against it and he makes his feelings clear both to Josie and Duff.

Duff has a 4-year-old son by another woman. He has his doubts that the child is actually biologically his. Duff travels to Birmingham to visit his son. It has been a couple years since he last saw him. While he is there he learns that his father is back in town. He visits with his father who really doesn't want to have anything to do with him and seems to be more interested in getting drunk and high.

Doctor Who (1963) 12.01.04

Robot - Part Four

The Robot keeps the Doctor, the Brigadier and his troops away from the entrance to the bunker. Miss Winters has Professor Kettlewell start the countdown to launch the nuclear weapons. Harry and Sarah escape with Professor Kettlewell. The Robot accidentally kills Professor Kettlewell with the disintegrator gun and then goes insane when it sees what it has done.

The Doctor stops the countdown just in the nick of time. The Think Tank people are rounded up. Everything looks like it is going better but then the Robot somehow makes his way back into the bunker and starts the countdown all over again. This time U.N.I.T. has enough time to remotely get the countdown canceled.

The Brigadier tries using the disintegrator gun on the Robot. Instead of destroying the Robot the disintegrator ray make it grow larger. The Doctor and Harry visit Professor Kettlewell's lab. They return to the bunker with an active solution which is made to disolve metal. The Doctor tosses a bucket-full of the solution on the Robot and it shrinks down until it finally dissolves into nothing.

The episode ends with the Doctor, Sarah, and Harry leaving in the TARDIS.

Paranoia Agent 1.09

ETC

Four women stand around and trade stories they have heard about Shonen Bat, Lil' Slugger. The stories get increasingly bizarre and ridiculous as the episode unfolds. 

One of the women is married to a screenwriter. Her stories are the most out there. The other three women give her a lot of flack for not being able to come up with better stories.

The only character in this episode that I recognized from previous episodes is Shonen Bat.

This episode has plenty of laughs and is mostly humorous but the humor isn't what I would call run of the mill.

Edge of the City (1957)

Edge of the City (1957)

starring John Cassavetes, Sidney Poitier

directed by Martin Ritt

85 minutes

Axel Nordmann (John Cassavetes), arrives in New York City, in need of a job. He finds work but Charlie Malik, the supervisor who takes him on, doesn't make his life easy. Tommy Tyler (Sidney Poitier) offers Axel a job on his team. It takes some prodding but Axel finally accepts the offer. Charlie doesn't take kindly to Axel leaving his team and tries to strong arm him into returning.

Axel's life takes a turn for the better. Charlie can't stand to see that and applies enough pressure such that Axel contemplates quitting Tommy's team and going back to work for Charlie. Axel finally finds the strength to tell Tommy about what it is that's bothering him. Tommy does what he can to protect Axel but Charlie undoes that and Axel finds himself at yet another crossroads where he has to make a tough call, this time without any support from Tommy.

Abbott Elementary 2.09

Sick Day

Ava removes everything from the refrigerator in the break room, including Janine's lunch. Janine eats her lunch anyway and calls in sick the next day. Ava can't find a substitute so she takes over Janine's class herself.

Barbara and Melissa enjoy the day without Janine. Jacob stands up for Janine. Gregory pushes Ava to act responsibly.

Thoughts

I thought that the Barbara and Melissa subplot was kind of ridiculous. I was kind of surprised to see them get so happy about not having to spend a day near Janine.

Poor Things (2023)

Poor Things (2023)

starring Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe

directed and produced by Yorgos Lanthimos

142 minutes

Scientist Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) restores life to the body of a dead woman. She was pregnant at the time she jumped from a bridge in London. He takes the brain of the unborn child and places it in the woman's head. He names her Bella Baxter (Emma Stone). Godwin, or God as he prefers to be called, cares for Bella. It takes time for her brain to develop.

God makes plans for Bella to marry Max, his assistant. Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a lawyer, convinces Bella to go with him to Lisbon. God reluctantly lets her go. Bella embarks on a journey that takes her from London to Lisbon to Alexandria to Paris and then finally back to London. She grows along the way from a childlike woman into one who has very definite ideas of what she wants.

Inuyasha 1.06

Tetsusaiga, the Phantom Sword

The Unmother, the demon that is impersonating Inuyasha's mother, tries to wring the location of his father's tomb out of Inuyasha. She first tricks him by bringing back his memories from childhood. He is caught in her spell and doesn't realize what it happening. Kagome can see that the creature that claims to be Inuyasha's mother is anything but that but she is bound by magical chains that prevent her from moving or even crying out. She finally does with some help from Myoga the flea, whose bite bites helps her to break free from the chains. Kagome manages to break the spell with which the Unmother has enthralled Inuyasha.

Sesshomaru returns. He has heard enough. He knows how to find their father's tomb. He uses his magic and retrieves the black pearl from within Inuyasha's right eye. Sesshomaru uses it to open a portal to another dimension. He crosses through. Kagome and Inuyasha follow him. There they find the tomb.

Amazing! Exploring the Far Reaches of Forbidden Planet (2006)

Amazing! Exploring the Far Reaches of Forbidden Planet (2006)

27 minutes

This documentary was made for and included with the 50th anniversary DVD set of Forbidden Planet. I found it and watched it on YouTube. There are quite a few people interviewed for this short documentary, 20 according to IMDb. There were actors (Leslie Nielsen, Anne Francis, and more), special effects people, writers, directors, and other people connected in some way to the film industry or Forbidden Planet.

The focus is mainly on the look and feel of the movie, including the special effects and the music. There is some time spent talking about the origins of the movie. It was the first science fiction movie that was not a B-movie but an A-movie.

Doctor Who (1963) 12.01.03

Robot - Part Three

Sarah rushes in and distracts the Robot. Benton and other troops from U.N.I.T. show up and open fire on the Robot but they are unable to harm it. They hear a noise in a cabinet and find Prodfessor Kettlewell inside the cabinet, bound and gagged.

Sarah and the others, including the Doctor, return to U.N.I.T. HQ. She is talking to the professor when she gets the idea to infiltrate the next meeting of SRS (Scientific Reform Society). Benton objects but U.N.I.T. doesn't have the authority to stop them and the Doctor is still asleep, recovering from his most recent encounter with Kettlewell's Robot.

Professor Kettlewell gets into the meeting and then helps Sarah sneak into the building. She starts to record the meeting and take pictures but then she is found by the Robot. The Doctor, the Brigadier, Benton, and a squad of troops show up but they are unable to prevent Miss Winters, Jellicoe, Kettlewell, and the Robot from escaping with Sarah as their hostage.

Paranoia Agent 1.08

Happy Family Planning

Three people (Fuyubachi, Zebra, Kamome), who met through an internet message board, make plans to commit suicide. They try a number of things but none of them seem to work. Fuyubachi is an older man with white hair. Zebra is a guy in his twenties. Kamome is a young girl. Fuyubachi and Zebra, at Fuyubachi's suggestion, try to lose Kamome when they find out how young she is. 

The trio starts in Tokyo but then heads out to the countryside. Their only encounter with any of the other characters from previous episodes in Shonen Bat. They talk about Shonen Bat before he shows up. They try to get him to kill them but he runs from them and gets away before they can get him to fulfill their wish. They suspect that he might be FOX, another person from the message board.

They try to kill themselves by asphyxiation, overdosing on pills, hanging, jumping in front of a train, but none of their attempts are successful, probably because they are already dead.

The Phil Silvers Show 3.25

Bilko the Genius

Bilko takes an aptitude test. There's a mix up with the results of his test and he is mistakenly classified as a genius. Bilko is put in charge of a team of soldiers who are all scientific experts. He puts them to work predicting the outcome of horse races.

Thoughts

There's a little more to this episode but not much. Most of the regulars from the show make a brief appearance early in the episode but after that Barbella and Henshaw are the only ones to appear in the last two-thirds of the episode.

This was fun. It falls short of greatness but I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Star Wars (1977)

Star Wars (1977)

starring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford

directed by George Lucas

121 minutes

After watching the 1997 version of this movie  I decided to give the original version another try. I have the limited edition two-DVD sets of the first three Star Wars movies (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi), which include the original unaltered versions of the movies. It was such a breath of fresh air to watch the original cut of Star Wars (1977). It was reassuring to see that my recent experience at the theater didn't ruin the original for me.

Forbidden Planet (1956)

Forbidden Planet (1956)

starring Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen

directed by Fred Wilcox

98 minutes

Starship C-57D lands on Altair IV despite a warning from one of its only two inhabitants, Doctor Morbius (Walter Pidgeon). Commander Adams (Leslie Nielsen) and his crew are there to find out what happened to the Bellerophon, another starship which landed on Altair IV twenty years before.

Doctor Morbius tells them a bit about what happened to the rest of the crew and passengers of the Bellerophon. He also shows them the fantastic technology that the Krill, the former inhabitants of Altair IV, left behind. It isn't long before Starship C-57D and its crew are attacked by a giant invisible creature. Some crewmen are killed. Commander Adams decides that it is too dangerous to stick around.

Star Wars (1997)

Star Wars (1997)

aka Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (20th Anniversary version)

starring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford

directed by George Lucas

123 minutes

I went to see Star Wars (1977) tonight at the AFI Silver Theater. I wasn't sure which version they were going to show. I hoped that it would be the original theatrical version. I guessed wrong. It was the 1997 version that I saw tonight. I saw the 20th anniversary version of Star Wars (1977) in theater in 1997. I didn't like it then. This is the second time I have seen it since 1997 and I still don't like what George Lucas' tinkering does to the original.

Inuyasha 1.05

Aristocratic Assassin, Sesshomaru

Sesshomaru, Inuyasha's older brother, comes looking for him. Sesshomaru is looking for the grave of their father. Sesshomaru thinks that his younger brother might no where it is.

Kagome returns to the feudal era and brings with her a bicycle and a first aid kit. She tries to help Inuyasha heal from the wounds he received during battle in the previous episode but he has already healed up. Inuyasha and Kagome learn about Sesshomaru and his quest from Myōga, an anthropomorphic flea.

Inuyasha doesn't have long to wait before Sesshomaru and Jaken, his assistant, show up. They bring with them Inyasha's mother. She died a long time ago but as Sesshomaru explains, it is within his power to bring people back from the dead.

Doctor Who (1963) 12.01.02

Robot - Part Two

Miss Winters and Jellicoe walk in and give the robot orders to halt. They tell Sarah Jane about the Robot and then give her a demonstration in the hopes of convincing her that it cannot be used to harm people. They ask Sarah Jane to swear that she won't tell anyone about what she saw but she leaves without agreeing to their request.

Sarah returns to U.N.I.T. HQ and tells the Doctor and and the Brigadier about what she saw. Sarah, the Doctor, and the Brigadier go to visit Professor Kettlewell. She tells him about what she saw. Kettlewell gets very distressed by the news that the Robot may have been ordered to do things that are against its programming, like killing people.

Miss Winters and Jellicoe reprogram the Robot and send it out on a mission. It breaks into the home of a government official, kills him, even though that is against its prime directive, and steals some plans.