The Sweeney is on BritBox in Remastered Form

Today I was reminded that the brilliant old British television "copper" series The Sweeney is on the BritBox streaming service. Not only that, it's in "remastered" form. Actually, I think it's been on there for a while in that form.

The remixed audio is very good, as is the picture.

The email headline: "Find new favorites on BritBox with Prime Video." (Since I live in Canada, the headline might work better as: "Find new favourites on BritBox with Prime Video.")

The Sweeney is a favourite telly-series of mine. John Thaw and Dennis Waterman have great chemistry together. Those London locations, from the mid-seventies, are absolutely fab.

Get your trousers on, you're nicked!

Picturing: Friend Donald Visiting in the '90s

For years I lived on Brunswick Avenue, here in Toronto's beautiful "Annex" neighbourhood. To lessen the possibility of any pilgrimages, the street number will not be published here. (The house was just south of Dupont Street.) One lovely day an old friend of mine, since high school, visited and volunteered to be a photo subject. Donald photographed nicely, certainly in subdued light.

Jokes aside, I think this picture captures one of his patented moments of studiousness. Hopefully that's not the Toronto Sun he's studying, absorbing. "That 'paper' is not allowed in here!"

Thirty years ago. Wow.

Postscript: I need to find the negatives for these pictures I upload. Scanning the original neg allows for a much better image, and its manipulation.

Quote: Ralph Waldo Emerson on the Everyday

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year."

Yeah, stop being so negative all the time... every day.

A Christmas Story: One from Space

Christmas is great when you're a kid. This morning I thought about my favourite memories. Quickly I nailed one: 1970.

(After reading that, pretend you have a faulty memory. This is more correct: "He posted about the Christmas of nineteen-ninety.")

While that Parker Brothers "Battleship" game was pretty cool too, believe me, my favourite present that year was the AMT "Star Trek U.S.S. Enterprise Space Ship Model Kit". 

(Star Trek was sparking hot. The series had finished its NBC network run only eighteen months earlier. Toronto television station CFTO was running/stripping the episodes at 5pm on weekdays.)

It was not a simple plastic model kit as it was "lighted". Small light bulbs, included in the box, could be inserted into the top and bottom of the primary hull (the saucer-shaped portion) and at the front-ends of the engine nacelles (those long tubes). The former were capped by green-tinted discs, and the latter were topped-off by amber-tinted domes. My mother helped me with the wiring and the insertion of the lamps' power source: a D-cell, not included with the kit, sat in the secondary hull (the bottom tube-like section).

Building a model kit is fun, but seeing the completed AMT U.S.S. Enterprise suspended from my bedroom ceiling was a trip, and it looked great with the bedroom light off.

I remember something else from Christmas Day 1970. My dad was in the process of carving the turkey when he looked over at the Zenith colour television set and said: "I'm surprised this is on today." (The episode was "The Return of the Archons".)

Fond Christmas memories.

A Christmas Story: A Christmas Eve in West Germany

Having a father in the Canadian Armed Forces plopped me down into a slightly different culture: West Germany ― the Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany). While listening to the radio a few years ago I heard a piece about whether or not it's cool to let the little ones open their gifts the night before Christmas. This brought back memories: some bright, some dark.

As is the tradition in that part of Europe, opening the boxes and wrappings is done the night before. A then little one, me, not only did not complain but decided then that Germany is one great nation. I remember well one Christmas where our landlord and his wife came up to say hi and to present us with presents. I remember mine: a Matchbox toy of an early 20th century automobile.

Roll back a few years to my first Christmas in Germany. Santa Claus back in 1960s Deutschland was not a big thing ― if you'll pardon the expression. Saint Nick, however, was. Well, let me tell you what that man did to this then five year old. One evening my parents summoned me to our apartment's entrance. Standing inside the door was a tall figure, a woman (probably a teenager), dressed up in full Saint Nick attire. My mother said "look dear" as she pointed at my shoes which were parked neatly on the mat. I saw it, an inanimate thing in one of my shoes... a lump of coal. ("Noooo!")

I, dressed fashionably in what some crude folk might refer to as a "wife-beater shirt", held both hands up to my face and started crying. My parents laughed. It was not funny.

LP: The Great White North — Bob & Doug McKenzie

The Great White North

— Bob & Doug McKenzie —

Rick Moranis & Dave Thomas

Anthem Records

1981

* * *

For those readers here who weren't around in the early 1980s, this LP (Long Playing) disc of vinyl sold many copies here in Canada, and a few beyond our borders. 

The Great White North — Bob & Doug McKenzie was released in November of 1981, which is exactly when I snapped it up from a bin at Sam the Record Man, and it was a "Christmas album", especially so given its takeoff on the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas". Like many fans of Bob and Doug and their SCTV segments, I played The Great White North many times. Right from the first spin we fans knew just how good it was as a piece of comedy gold all its own.

So, take off, eh?! Pass me a stubby!

Postscript: At the time I was working at Molson Breweries, specifically the (now gone) bottling plant just off of Highway 400, in Barrie, Ontario. I was "Maintenance", and part of my job was to keep the fridges in the staff restaurant and executive lounge stocked with beer. So the record album really resonated with me, eh?

Bob: My brother Doug doesn't even know what 'resonated' means, eh?

Doug: I do too, eh?! Take off! Hoser!

Bob: Yeah, it's what happens to you when you inhale too much beer... in one gulp.

Doug: Geez. I know that feelin', eh?

Quote: Filmmaker Rick Hancox on One's Knowledge

"Write what you know. The research... it's already done!"

One cannot write about that which....

CBC Radio Interview: Filmmaker James Cameron

While Canadian filmmaker James Cameron was here in Toronto for the Canadian premiere of his new epic feature film, Avatar: Fire and Ash, the CBC Radio interview program Q with Tom Power had him in their studio this past Friday to talk about a few interesting subjects: the natural world, imaging technology, AI, and film production, which includes his latest flick.

Posted on YouTube by the radio show's account, the episode title is drawn from a bold proclamation by the super-successful creative man:

"James Cameron says AI will never replace actors and artists in his films"

The director is his usual articulate self, and the interview is of a high standard, expected of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's radio division.

* * *

Show notes, dated December 19, 2025, from the above Q with Tom Power video:

"For three decades, James Cameron has dedicated so much of his creative life to the 'Avatar' franchise. The iconic director, producer, screenwriter and editor spoke with Q guest host Talia Schlanger about talk about his fascination with both nature and technology, writing characters he wants to understand, and how he may explore using generative AI in future projects."

Dr. Seuss on Reading

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."

It's a grand voyage in learning.

I Quote Me: Reading the Toronto Star Minutes Ago....

"There's another f*cking Avatar movie?!"

Blu-ray: Home for Christmas (Black Zero)

In October I posted a piece about Black Zero, a Toronto-based multimedia publisher — founded by filmmaker, scholar, and archivist Stephen Broomer — specializing in the archiving and restoration of Canadian experimental cinema from the 1960s to the present. This former patron of Toronto's experimental film group The Funnel considers such work to be vital, especially so given the fragile nature, and condition, of many films produced decades ago. Broomer's dedication to preserving Canadian underground cinema, especially those titles all but forgotten, is something I very much appreciate given my strong interest in that film form.

Last week I grabbed another Black Zero title, Home for Christmas, from Bay Street Video here in the great metropolis of Toronto. I give a double recommendation:

Black Zero

Bay Street Video

Postscript: I've been going through the Blu-ray set Josephine Massarella — Green Dreams, and have found the content — films and supplemental material — to be impressive. "Film at eleven!"

Malcolm S. Forbes on Education

"The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one."

We're open for business!

Picturing: Filming Aliens in their Limbo Lair

Yours truly, behind the Arriflex BL III 35 mm camera, shoots a scene of aliens doing their evil thing. Hyper-Reality is the name of the uncompleted film. I co-wrote (with the talented Tim A. Cook and Michelle Berry), directed, and designed the short ― of a planned 22-minute duration.

We shot these sequences in Studio 1 at the then 23FPS Studios here in Toronto. At the time I was working as an "optical camera/printer operator" (film compositor) at Film Opticals of Canada Ltd.

My initial designs for the "Alien Lair" had a rocky wall background, as in a cave. This approach would have been yet another expense, and it forced me to rethink the idea:

Go "Full Irwin Allen"!

Redesigning the abode with a black limbo background was the cost-saving key, and one method of many that the always frugal Mr Allen impressed upon his crew during production of the (horrible) television series Lost in Space (1965 - 1968).

Abraham Lincoln on Reading

“I feel the need of reading. It is a loss to a man not to have grown up among books.”

It's a loss too common, unfortunately.

The Great Orson Welles Narrates a Movie's TV Trailer

Those thirty-second television adverts promoting an upcoming major motion picture are rarely narrated by a cinema great. But, when that particular great has a longtime connection with Robert Wise, the man who recently helmed a particular greatly anticipated major motion picture, it would make sense to reteam for its theatrical and television trailers.

Orson Welles, with his distinctive voice, really made the upcoming release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture seem like an important movie event — that major motion picture. The telly-verts started in November of 1979, rolling through to the picture's release on Friday, December 7th.

* * *

Had a feature film adaptation been made of Gilligan's Island, hiring Mr Welles to do the same for those seven stranded castaways would have been the correct and vital choice.

"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale. A tale of a fateful trip. That started from this tropic port. Aboard this tiny ship. A tour boat called... Minnow. The mate was a mighty sailing man, the skipper... brave and sure. Five passengers set sail that day for a three-hour tour... a three-hour tour. The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of the fearless crew, the Minnow would be lost... the Minnow would be lost. The ship set ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle. With Gilligan... the skipper, too. The millionaire, and his wife. The movie star. The professor and...  Mary Ann. Here on... Gilligan's Isle."

Star Trek: The Motion Picture — 46 Years Later

This morning I learned that it was forty-six years ago today that the first Star Trek movie was released. In March of 1978 I was listening to Toronto radio station CKFM when a news bit announced: "Paramount Pictures will spend fifteen million dollars on a Star Trek movie . . . It will be released in December of next year."

On Friday, December 7, 1979, Star Trek: The Motion Picture finally hit movie theatres after much anticipation and fanfare, and on that very day I stood in line with friends for some movie that ended up disappointing many people ― even though it went on to make a lot of money ― but became the favourite film 'in the series' for some.

Picture a dozen teenagers meeting at the big picture house to see one of the most anticipated pictures ever. Try and imagine our disappointment when the end credits rolled: not that we wanted the show to go on, but more a case of "that was it?"; or as friend Mike said after he turned to me from the seat to my left: "I thought it would be better than that."

(The next morning I shuffled to the living room, where siblings were watching the Star Trek episode "Wink of an Eye". Is this some sort of joke? An editorial on what I saw last night? You thought this episode was bad? Last night's event flick made "Wink of an Eye" look like a masterpiece?)

Star Trek: The Motion Picture was, and still is, a polarizing strip of celluloid. "We get it, you hate this movie." (The dirty little secret is a lot of Trekkies do not like ST: TMP for the simple reason that there are virtually no "starship battles". Boo. Hoo. Trekkies!)

One thing's for sure, it is still the biggest budget Trek of the bunch, the only one given "A-picture" status by Paramount Pictures ― not that it means anything outside of trivia circles. However, the studio was not entirely happy with the box office results; even though the film brought in the bucks it was not highly "profitable", which is proportion of money made compared to money put in. While touted as soaking up 42 million production dollars, its real cost was about 28 million. (In its zeal to promote TMP as being epic in cash outlays, Paramount included the costs of the aborted Treks: the motion picture of a planned 1976 release, and a return to television scheduled for 1977.)

More importantly, that great cast was back, even if their magical chemistry was seemingly put on hold for 132 minutes. One hundred and thirty-two minutes.

What do I think of the picture now? Well, I watched it over the Christmas holidays last year, as it had been many years since I last saw its pictorial shimmerings... if somewhat static standings. My brother mentioned to me a couple of years ago that he had recently watched it: "It actually has some pretty solid science fiction concepts."

After my rewatch: "I agree! It's a better movie than what our own reviews indicated in nineteen seventy-nine." And that score! That element has always been great: one of cinema's greatest.

* * *

On December 7th of last year, I took a look-back at Star Trek: The Motion Picture. If you, dear reader, have been mercifully spared the Blushings of Geekdom, you might not want to bother.

The fun started here: Star Trek Motion Picture Day: AMT Klingon Cruiser 

Star Trek Motion Picture Into Box Office Orbit

The above is a little and archival newspaper clipping from the Toronto Sun regarding the week following the December 7th, 1979, opening of the very first Star Trek movie; titled, simply enough, Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

I remember reading at the time — in another newspaper piece — that the film took the classic dip after its opening week but regained some of its traction with the movie-going public immediately afterward. It ended its run having made a lot of money, but not as much as Paramount had hoped for considering the substantial investment.

In December of last year I rewatched the featured film for the first time in years: I liked it.

Did I see Star Trek Into Darkness, or any of the "Next Gen" features? No. No interest whatsoever.

Humour: Forty-One To What?!....

This afternoon I was talking with someone and I mentioned an episode of TVO's public affairs program The Agenda from May of 2019. I had gotten home a little later than normal that night and popped on my appointment television program already in progress....

Host Steve Paikin had a few guests at the table. The subject seemed to be about children in sports. Paikin turned to the lady sitting to his right and said something like this:

"There was a case last October where a Cambridge hockey team made up of a bunch of eight-year-olds played a team from another town and won the game by a score of forty-one to nothing."

A look of concern passed back and forth between the woman and the host.

I thought: "What? How is that possible? Were they playing the Leafs?"

* * *

After I originally posted the above on May 8, 2019, Mr Paikin saw the piece and responded with a simple: "That's not funny!"

Leafs fans.

Hey, I'll cut him some slack. He's also a Hamilton Tiger-Cats fan.

Jim Rohn on Reading

“Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary.”

Don't stay ordinary, certainly not deliberately.

Story: Of Bunkers and the Rounds

I arrived in (then) West Germany in October of 1966 when the war, WW2, was just two decades in the past. Because of this handy fact there were lots of 'residual matter' left lying around from that great conflict. Bunkers were common in the area I lived ― just two kilometres from the French border and the dividing, and all-important bulkhead, Rhine River ― for they were part of the defence of Nazi Germany. Courtesy of many years of warm and cold weather back-and-forth action, expended shell casings and unfired rounds of ammunition would constantly pop to the surface ready for us little ones to collect. These weapons of war were great and much desired collectibles. ("Hockey cards? Ha!") However, as part of our education at home and at school our superiors made it clear that we were never to touch, never mind collect, those potent pieces of history.

One could still find reminding-bits of warfare in the local bunkers, of which an example sat in a field very close to where I lived in Iffezheim. I admit that I did at least once go right up to the bunker but did not try to climb around inside as it was by then a collapsed structure. (One of my most vivid memories is of something I saw while travelling on an RCAF bus in the early 1970s; out my window, as the trees parted, was a sight to behold: a field of anti-tank traps. The scene of light-grey-toned pyramids spread orderly over the green grass was almost beautiful.)

One day on the CFB Baden-Soellingen Elementary School grounds a fellow schoolmate pulled out a clear plastic bag to show off to our small gathered circle. In this conveniently-transparent bag, one which could have been used to contain a few ounces of water and a small-calibre goldfish, was a large assortment of small and medium-calibre ammunition. There was a mix of fully-intact rounds and empty shell casings. A veritable grab-bag of violence.

That's all!....

Iffezheim, Germany, and immediate surrounding area.

(CFB Baden-Soellingen was just a few kilometres south-west from here.)

Ray Bradbury on Reading

"You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”

Too many people today have no interest in reading, unfortunately.