SeaQuest DSV - Season One

That's Scheider's best Freeman's catalogue pose...

1990's US TV schedules were littered with sci-fi shows that never made it past their first season. Earth 2, Dark Skies, Harsh Realm, Space: Above and Beyond and VR.5 are now only recalled by rabid fans and uber-nerds (which probably tells you all you need to know about me!), and are generally considered failures because of their one-season-wonder status. True, there were some shows that carved a minor niche in 90's TV history - the Trek franchise alone managed to have three shows within the decade (although each had their own faults), and you had the likes of Sliders and Babylon 5 that didn't rely on franchise familiarity to reach the heady heights of five seasons. But SeaQuest DSV is something different from any of those. This show lasted three seasons, more by good luck than good judgement, and even with the headline names attached (star Roy Scheider and executive producer Steven Spielberg), has the reputation of being a stinker. Hell, at 57 episodes, it must have done something right. Right?

Starting in the then-distant future of 2018(!), the show follows Captain Nathan Bridger (Scheider), designer and captain of the United Earth Oceans Organisation submarine SeaQuest and his multicultural (through American eyes) crew as they try to bring peace to the new frontier of the 21st Century, the oceans. Naturally, starting off as a high profile prime time TV show, the producers go for every available demographic (hence the casting choices) and whilst this means the show has relatively high production values (though at times, it does look cheap, which I'll get to later), it also means that the writers have to pull their punches due to the time slot in order to keep every viewer happy - and as the saying goes, try to keep everyone happy and you end up pleasing no-one...

Premiering in 1993, SeaQuest used the then new and exciting field of CGI to portray the undersea actions and yes, it hasn't aged very well at all. At the time, the graphics were considered decent but murky and viewing on DVD today confirms that, though they are not as bad as I recall. You have Dr. Bob Ballard (he who led the expedition to locate the Titanic) as a technical consultant and, at least for season one, talking head at the end of each episode - more on him in a bit. Unlike some TV shows of the time, there is a sense of some continuity between episodes, but only where it suits the story, and usually you can, like the network did, treat each episode as a standalone story. This doesn't work when the broadcast order is scrambled (as mirrored by the DVD running order), with one character moving from Admiral to President then back to Admiral again within three episodes. The fact that the network was screwing with the play order tells you pretty much what they thought of the show.

So, does the show deserve it's reputation. Well... not quite... ish...

Where to begin? First up, SeaQuest season one has an identity issue. Many a first season of any show is uneven - after all, they are trying to find their feet and figure out what does/doesn't work whilst trying to get that all important second season renewal. You just have to look at Star Trek: TNG to see how long it can take, where it was well into its third season before the show started to work. With SeaQuest, however, you can see the initial goal for scientific accuracy and realism but the seemingly ever present drive of American TV shows to add "humour" brings up some really stupid stories; The Treasures of the Tonga Trench being a really, really poo (literally) episode. Then there is Knight of Shadows, a Halloween episode that, aside from one decent scare, shows how silly and vapid the show could get (and that's only episode eight...). Later episodes rattle from serious geo-political intrigue to war criminals, mermaids and aliens. Tonally, this show is all over the place.

Realism suffers a lot even when you have the respected Bob Ballard doing his piece to camera during the end credits, linking the episode's story with a real world (or frankly ludicrous predictions of what the future holds for humanity and the oceans). You see, it looks like he's been press-ganged into doing them, held at gunpoint, fitted with an overly small SeaQuest DSV baseball cap and marched around the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute to sprout word salads to make you feel that the show is more science fact than fiction. Yet by the time you get to Knight of Shadows (which has ghosts on a hundred year old sunken liner), you can see the desperation in his eyes, the sheer panic at wondering why he has to say such things on camera, the pleading to the viewer to call the cops. Seriously, watch him, watch his eyes! Fortunately for Bob, he was rescued by the end of season one and we never see him again on SeaQuest.

Casting did a decent enough job with most of the actors, I have no issue there, but some characters are poorly handled and, dare I say, miscast. Scheider is always good value and as the season progresses, you can see the other actors becoming more comfortable in their roles; Stacey Haiduk as Lieutenant Commander Hitchcock (younger lady eye candy) and Don Franklin as Commander Ford (supposed foil to Scheider) in particular but really, the casting choices of Stephanie Beacham (Dr Kristen Westphalen - thinking man's totty) and Royce D Applegate (Chief Crocker - to get your Grandpa interested) are puzzling. Beacham, for one, comes across as rather too plummy and is pretty much an exposition machine (apart from the last two episodes when an out of the blue romance with Bridger appears because... the writer's needed something to do???), though her turn in Knight of Shadows is particularly cringe-worthy. John D'Aquino (Lieutenant Krieg) is suitably annoying and the source of much of the (American) humour - think Sgt Bilko and you have the right idea, whilst Ted Raimi (Lieutenant O'Neill - he's the awkward nerd) and Marco Sanchez (Sensor Chief Ortiz - Cuban, so we're going for ethnic minority eye candy) are suitably decent in their limited roles. The last two main characters... well...

Darwin the (f***ing) Dolphin is a Marmite addition to the crew - you'll either love him or hate him. Guess which camp I fall into... It's not the idea of a dolphin in the crew that's an issue, it's the way he's brought to life, with annoying speech effects by Frank Oz and those bloody pan pipes. Yep, pretty much every time he appears on screen, you get bloody pan pipe music! Arrgghhhhhh!!!

Finally, you have Jonathan Brandis as child prodigy (and border line sex pest) Lucas Wolenczak. Oh. Dear. Lord.

Look, I get it. I really do. Wolenczak is a teen genius who happens to be easy on the eye for those who like the blond floppy hair look. As a network TV exec, you want your teenage male audience to want to be him, and your teenage female audience to want to date him (this is the early '90's, that's how binary the TV networks looked at their audiences). Not calling Brandis out here (because his personal struggles both during and after the show are well known, leading to his untimely suicide), but the handling of his character ranges from heartfelt (he was effectively dumped on the SeaQuest by his parents) to the aforementioned sex pest. In one episode, he is in the gym with Hitchcock and notices her chest. He starts staring with an expression that defies polite explanation. Being a TV show from the past, the director then cuts to a few seconds of Haiduk's chest moving up and down due to the exercise. Yeah, they did that back then in family TV shows and is about as subtle as a diver's boot to the bollocks... In another episode, he get's to re-use that look with another crew member who, to put it politely, is old enough to be his mother. Cue another few seconds of uncomfortable viewing. And that's not even to mention the safe sex/abstinence message at the end of "Abalon". Just wow...

Like most TV shows, SeaQuest has its fair share of guest appearances, and like most TV shows, these are variable in quality (I'm looking at you, Murder She Wrote. You lived (and died) by your guest actor casting). You get William Shatner as unshaven despot Milos Teslov, complete with "accent". I don't know what accent, so we'll just go with "accent". Then you have Charlton Heston as some kind of Dr Moreau character - though he obviously believes he is in a different TV show and out-acts pretty much everybody else on screen with the exception of Scheider. W. Morgan Sheppard is given little to do as the submarine's hologram, which is a shame, whilst Richard Herd is dependable as Admiral/President/Admiral Noyce (that bloody running order thing again!). Kent McCord rocks it as an astronaut for two episodes, kind of like a '90's Anson Mount (no disrespect to either actor meant in that comparison), whilst James Shigeta gels nicely as a confederation President, even if it does look like he's just walked off the set of Die Hard (pre-gunshot to the head, obviously). We even get Seth Green in the painfully technologically dated episode Photon Bullet, where he plays... Seth Green. To top it off, we have David McCallum. In the '90's, he scored gigs on Murder She Wrote, Babylon 5, VR.5, The Outer Limits and Team Knight Rider. Alongside the similarly talented David Warner, it seems you weren't a '90's show without one of these two actors. Warner's '90's run included Murder She Wrote, ST: TNG, Wild Palms, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Babylon 5, The Outer Limits and Total Recall 2070. Kudos to Babylon 5 for snagging both, albeit in separate episodes. Anyhoo, back to McCallum in SeaQuest and... it's not good. Set in an outpost called Broken Ridge, McCallum plays an Australian, but in no way gets the accent. In fact, his accent does a Grand Tour to anywhere but Australia during the course of the episode. Lord knows why he was cast here, but it was the wrong choice.

It's a shame then that most of the stories in season one are pretty forgettable and that the world-building was so haphazard. Indeed, apart from the episodes already mentioned, it's difficult to recall many of the others. What should have been exciting and dramatic often falls flat, much like the cultural approach to humour. Above all, this show feels like it is going through the motions, meaning most of the episodes come across as generic retreads of familiar themes, and that's before you get to casting choices and slightly dodgy production values (one episode with astronauts uses barely disguised motorcycle helmets that look more like something out of Blakes 7 than a prime time US TV show - and yes, I have just finished watching the four series of B7 and know exactly how cheap it could look!). Given a bit more depth (yes, I went there), this show could have been a ratings success in the long term. As it was, it was an expensive show to make and expectations were probably set too high. In the end, no-one really knew which direction to take the show.

SeaQuest DSV season one falls into a common trap of many TV shows, both genre and mainstream, in that by trying to please network execs, advertisers and viewers, it came across as bland and boring. Bad in places, though not as terrible as many think, it demonstrated a level of promise that unfortunately, it couldn't deliver. Out of ten, I'd stretch out to a six, since there was the foundation of a decent show in there somewhere. However, the network were troubled by the ratings and this meant changes for season two...

The Lenovo Yogabook - long term review

I've had the Lenovo Yogabook for something like three and a bit years now and it's turned out to be not too bad a purchase. When originally released, there were two models, one with Android and one with Windows 10 - the model I chose. It's a 10.1 inch convertible powered by an Intel Atom x5-Z8550 quad core processor, comes with 4GB of non-upgradeable LPDDR3 RAM and 64GB of storage. A powerhouse, this is not. The touchscreen display resolution is a better than full HD (1920 x 1200) and is bright enough to use comfortably both indoors and out. It is, however, reflective as hell. Also, with such a high resolution in such a small size, the default settings make text very small. You can scale the resolution and that may help for those of you with less than brilliant eyesight but even I can't handle more than a couple of hours working with text on here. Two cameras (one above the display, one to the top right of the keyboard) provide video call options in whatever format you use the device. Storage is expandable by up to 128GB via an SD card slot and you also have mini HDMI and micro USB ports for attaching displays and other devices. Note though, the micro USB port also doubles as the charging port so in reality, you're very limited to what you can do if the battery needs charging. Speaking of the battery, the blurb promises up to 13 hours. The device itself is quite light and handy, yet feels reassuringly solid with its magnesium alloy construction.

You can see the reflections in the bezel, the screen is exactly the same.

What really caught my interest when looking at this laptop was the design and the keyboard. The unique (for a laptop) Watchband hinge permits both laptop, tablet and tent mode, and is firm and stable in use. It keeps the screen in position when used as a laptop, nicely folds in tablet mode and is rock steady when used in tent mode. The keyboard, however, is the main talking point. This is the much vaunted HALO keyboard, where the 'keys' are illuminated sections of a capacitive panel. You can select haptic feedback that gives a little buzz every time you hit a 'key' but that got a bit annoying after a while. Without the feedback, you'll have to concentrate on your typing and even with the best will in the world, you're not going to hit your regular typing speeds. In fact, during the initial familiarisation with the laptop, you'll be making more than a few mistakes and some users might get more than a little frustrated with the concept. Put the time in though and it's ok. 'Key' size is decent, even if some of the lesser used keys are a little on the small side. The trackpad beneath the keyboard is, however, tiny and the two mouse 'buttons' are also similarly finicky to use. Overall though, if you're used a phone or touchscreen keyboard, you'll know what you're getting.

Not great connectivity.

The choice of keyboard, however, also permits the Yogabook's biggest draw. You can draw on it. The supplied Real Pen stylus uses the digitiser pad (with 2,048 levels of sensitivity) so that you can draw to your heart's content, something that works very well. You switch between the pen and keyboard modes via a small round pen icon at the top of the keyboard. Replace the nib with a supplied ink cartridge and you can clip the Book pad (a posh notepad) onto the digitiser and start writing notes on paper that are picked up by software on the Yogabook. This is an accurate system that works well with text, drawings and the like. It certainly adds to the versatility of the device.

So what do I use it for?

It started off as an on the go text input and content consumption device - although the keyboard did prove slightly too cumbersome for regular use so I ended up buying an OTG USB adapter and a Logitech wireless keyboard. The Yogabook did turn out to be an excellent tablet replacement, certainly for magazine scans and pdf's. It's just the right size to read scans at full resolution and light enough not to feel tiring after an hour or two of holding it. It does stutter at times, especially when loading from an SD card and realistically, Windows 10 prefers more than 4GB of RAM but it's usable, especially when I installed Libre Office. Battery life never approached the claimed 13 hours; 9 to 10 hours of usage for reading was pretty common, especially in the early days. Currently though, it's more like five to six hours and that means that a replacement is probably due at some point. Once again, I start thinking of the Armbok...

This was a cracking magazine in its time. But those bloody reflections...

So now that this machine is less of a workhorse and more a leisure device, I am spreading my wings a bit as to how this can be used, gaming being one suitable option. By gaming, I certainly do not mean anything recent - hell, anything at all with 3D graphics is going to hammer this machine into the ground. No, I was thinking retro console and DOS games, and there is certainly enough power here to run RetroArch, my go to emulation app. It handles Megadrive and SNES titles with ease, but anything more recent, the 3DO for example, is a tad too much for the device. That still leaves thousands of titles for the numerous 8 and 16-bit consoles, as well as handy 8-bit computer emulation with the keyboard. As you can see below, when teamed up with the Hyperkin Duke X-Box controller, you get an idea of the size of both devices. I'll probably get round to buying an 8BitDo Bluetooth controller that will be a bit more portable and not take up the the micro-USB port. Combine that with the HDMI out and you have a very nice little retro games machine that slips easily into a bag and is good for a few hours play.

Good old Desert Strike... plus reflections.

The controller is big, the laptop is small...

When launched, this was a niche device and one that wasn't overly successful. There was a follow up laptop with the HALO keyboard but that was discontinued a couple of years ago. Like most convertibles, the Yogabook ends up being neither fish or fowl, with the addition of the keyboard proving less practical than you'd want, whilst Windows 10 is not a tablet OS even with touchscreen accessibility. Despite that, it is a useful machine and has seen good use since I purchased it, especially once I discovered the joys of Archive.org and the Out of Print Archive for old PC and gaming magazine scans. A note of caution though. Visiting Archive.org is very much like journeying down the rabbit hole and it is a very interesting time sink.

The lack of ports is a bit of a bother at times and I do feel that with enough use, that micro-USB port is in danger of breaking - it certainly feels loose when plugging in cables and that is a major concern given that this is the only means of changing the battery. Time will tell. The battery is also non-replaceable, a feature that has kept my Asus Eee-PC is use for over a decade. As for a replacement, that's going to take some consideration...

Recent goings on

With the back end of April fast approaching, it should come as no surprise to any of you that not much has been happening given the current situation. There are a couple of things to note though...

Beer with Cards (or is that Cards with Beer?)

First up, I have received my edition of Craft Beer Brewer by Bazcardz (via Gamecrafter). A nicely produced little card game, the aim is to end up with the highest number of points by brewing the best beer you can. With cards.

OK, it's a bit more than that. You get a Yeast card and five random ingredient cards. Over four turns, you discard and replace your cards to build a beer that has to have a Yeast with compatible Malt and Hops cards. Additional points can be earned for having suitable Flavour and Brewing cards. Community cards can also be used, but watch out for the "Ale Fail" cards that introduce problems into your brewing and, more importantly, cost you points. The person with the highest number of points at the end of turn four is judged to have brewed the best beer. You also get to name your beer and at that point, well, it's your imagination.

It sounds simple but it is a fun game to play in short bursts, especially if you're drinking beer at the same time. The real benefit of the game is that it is also educational and with several playthroughs, you'll start to learn more about beer brewing than you thought possible whilst playing a card game. It's pretty much obvious who this game is aimed for and it has provided a few interesting hypothetical beers whilst more mainstream bottled beer has been consumed. If you fancy trying this game out, you can purchase it from Gamecrafter here. You can also follow the game's creator on Facebook here, where you'll also find a brief YouTube video that explains the game more fully.

Reviewing games should be fun... shouldn't it?

My most recent review for Retrovidegamer is The Perfect General for the 3DO. It wasn't supposed to be that game though. No, it was supposed to be Flying Nightmares for the same console. Nominally a flight sim based on the Harrier (it seems to be based on the previous Domark title AV-8B Harrier Assault), this is a terrible game. Confusing and complicated controls, poor responsiveness to control input and a horrendous difficulty level, it's just not fun to play. After several hours I had had enough. To hell with it. These things should have some level of enjoyment and that was sorely lacking here. I am not one who gets angry whilst playing videogames and I can honestly say, hand on heart, that I have never thrown a controller down but I came close with this one. Flying Nightmares? More like F*****g Nightmares! And no, I am never going back to it.

Avoid this title like the plague...

Reading habits

With the current situation, I have been fortunate enough to be able to work from home, as has my good lady. What this has meant, however, is that I have started to rattle through my reading pile at a vast rate of knots as out of house activities are limited to the odd walk and a trip to the shops. After all, there is only so much television one can deal with and I find reading a very comfortable alternative. Recent titles have included A J Venter's "Battle for Angola", Leopold Scholtz's "The SADF in the Border War", James Barr's "Lords of the Desert" and Cary Elwes' As You Wish. The latter, an unexpected present from my good lady, is a whimsical and funny tome about the making of The Princess Bride - arguably one of the most perfect movies ever made. If you've never read the original book by William Goldman, you should. Never seen the film? Inconceivable! And once you have read or seen either of those, buy "As You Wish". Next off the reading pile is something closer to home (geographically), George MacDonald Fraser's "The Steel Bonnets".

Videogaming

Finally, onto that other relaxing past time, playing videogames for pleasure. Over the last couple of months, I've managed a replay of Mass Effect's 1 and 2. A good time was had and a realisation that whilst ME 1 was a good start to the trilogy, ME 2 really did get a whole lot better, in story, characterisation and presentation. Following those two came Bioshock and Bioshock 2, the latter of which I am still progressing through now. Old games, to be sure, but still very playable and entertaining. Not something I could really say about quite a few modern day titles, especially those with a focus on online play. That's just me though. On the side, there is Cold Waters, a PC based Cold War submarine simulator that's proving challenging and rather fun.

Speaking of old games though, I have finally put the money down for a Blaze Evercade handheld console. With an eye firmly on licensed emulated versions of dozens of retro titles released on cartridges (how quaint...), this has had my attention since it was announced. You can find out more about it via the link above and make your own mind up, but for me, it ticks the retro box in a nice, legal package. With a release window between May 22 and the middle of June, I'll let you know what I think of it when mine is delivered.

And so, back to The Steel Bonnets. If you're never read any MacDonald Fraser before, certainly give the Flashman series a go. The Pyrates is also a hoot and his non-fiction work is similarly good. Until next time...

Edge of Darkness

Edge of Darkness was first broadcast on BBC 2 thirty five years ago. Immediately afterwards, it was given a repeat on BBC 1 – yes, it was that good and it later won 6 BAFTA's. Watching it in 2020 via the superbly produced Blu-Ray release only confirms that what they got so right back then when broadcast in 1985 stands up all too well in 2020.

CD single and Blu-Ray

I know, I know, culturally, it’s a million miles away from where we are today – the fashion screams mundane ‘80’s, computers are quaintly text based with dot-matrix printers, every time a telephone rings, you’re deafened by the bell and, on the surface, the politics are ancient, but for all of that, this tale of international nuclear conspiracy holds up very, very well.

And whilst the nuclear conspiracy tale might be one to draw you in, it is the journey of Yorkshire police officer Ron Craven (a never better Bob Peck), whose daughter (a young Joanne Whalley) is murdered in front of him and the investigation as to why she was killed that drives the story. Indeed, Craven’s descent into what appears to be a grief filled madness takes up a good third of the story – visited as he is by her ghost and the flashbacks to her childhood.

The special features are a decent addition, but nothing different from the DVD release

It is not all about Craven though, though he is the glue that holds the story together, as we are introduced to a supporting cast that lifts each episode of EoD to new heights. From Joe Don Baker’s slightly unhinged CIA agent Darius Jedburgh and Jack Watson’s old-school union leader James Godbolt; to the perfect pairing of Charles Kay and Ian McNeice as government fixers Pendleton and Harcourt, there isn’t a duff piece of casting here. Being a BBC production, there are some lovely real-life cameo’s of then current TV presenters and politicians which adds flavour to the production.

Mixing nuclear politics, 1980’s socialism and Gaia theory, EoD never quite goes full mental with it’s story, remaining grounded throughout (though famously, Peck refused to entertain the idea that his character turn into a tree in the final shot). With 20 weeks of production and a budget of £2 million, writer Troy Kennedy Martin and director Martin Campbell are given more than enough room to tell their tale well. Over six episodes, the story is slowly unfurled and tension built and, despite what might seem a pedestrian plot, nothing is wasted. Every plot point is dealt with in some way, even if it is just a seemingly throw away line. There is no sense of bloat or padding – everything has it’s place. This is an intelligent drama and requires, nay demands the viewer's attention. That’s what gives EoD it’s deeper appeal. It's engrossing and by the time you get to the penultimate episode (Northmoor), you know a worthy finale is near. And it’s Northmoor that also demonstrates one of the key highlights of the show: the soundtrack.

Composed by Michael Kamen and Eric Clapton, the music is pitch perfect for the tone and feel of the program. Whether it be the soulful, slow beats that accompany Craven’s grief or the heart-pounding clean guitar work of Clapton during the action sequences in Northmoor, every track fits. It is a successful pairing that continued to Hollywood with the Lethal Weapon series. I used to have the soundtrack on BBC cassette until it disappeared during a house move. The replacement CD single was a great find and no, it’s not for sale. At the time of writing, there is one for sale on eBay for £50 which is just plain nuts – and no, I didn’t pay that for my copy!

CD single with adapter - it's so sute!

With spot on politics for its time, on the surface EoD might seem anachronistic now, but that is to ignore the undercurrent running through it. Despite the support of Jedburgh and help from Pendleton and Harcourt, Craven is on a one man quest and by the final episode, you understand that despite whatever actions undertaken by individuals, the greater political cause will continue in its own, monolithic way. This is shown in a lovely, understated manner when Harcourt, Pendleton and Bennett (a superbly slimy Hugh Fraser playing the boss of IIF, the owners of the nuclear site at Northmoor) sit down for a meal in the final episode. Also, any comparison of the political style and content of the two main UK parties in 1985 and their modern day counterparts are... well, that's up to you. 

I originally owned this on DVD which wasn’t really a good transfer – after all, it was broadcast quality, which for those of you who lived through the ‘80’s wasn’t that great. The Blu-Ray transfer, however, is superb. Seriously, some of the shots in this show look almost blockbuster in quality – such was the benefit of using film and having the effort put in for the Blu-Ray release. If you can only pick it up on DVD by all means watch it – the quality of the writing, direction and acting are still there, just you’ll get a better visual and audio experience on the more modern format.

For me, Edge of Darkness is the quintessential 1980’s political thriller. It gets so much right, even if the politics, culture and tech have changed in the intervening years. Whether you watch this as a piece of entertainment or as an historical curio, it is certainly worth your time. It is truly a masterpiece! 

Dreamcast: Year One - A Review

Dreamcast: Year One by Andrew J Dickinson is a love letter. A one hundred and ten page love letter to be sure but a heartfelt one too, and if you’ve read my rambling piece about Sega’s final home console here, you can already guess as to why I bought this book. An unofficial telling of the console’s first year, I can honestly say that anyone who is a fan of the console (or videogaming history in general) should pick up a copy as soon as they can. Yes, it’s that good.

An A5 softback, this is a good quality publication with a glossy finish. Screenshots are well presented and the artwork is well matched to the topic. Overall, there is an air of quality about it and at £10 for the physical copy, feels good value too.

Beginning with the background to the genesis (see what I did there...) of Sega’s home consoles of the Nineties, Dickinson guides us neatly through the minefield of company politics and competitors in the home console market of the period to the eventual launch of the 128-bit wonder in Japan, North America, Europe and Australasia. For me, this was much like re-watching Death on the Nile – you know the story beats (if not quite remembering the specific plot points) and whilst you know how it ends, the story still has that car crash fascination that makes it hard to turn away from. Dickinson’s telling of the tale (the Dreamcast, not Death on the Nile) makes it all the more engrossing.

Next up are the interviews, and what a selection they are. Starting with former Sega of America COO Bernie Stoller, you get an on-the-spot measure of the challenge Sega faced when trying to get the machine into players homes. The conflict between Sega of America and Sega of Japan is laid bare and I learned a few new things reading through Stoller’s answers. The following three interviews cover the UK magazine scene of the period, with Caspar Field (DC-UK), Ed Lomas (Official Dreamcast Magazine UK) and Dave Kelsall (Official Saturn Magazine UK). These are revealing interviews of how gaming magazines operated in their heyday – and how Heath Robinson some of the production kit was! As noted in the book, at a time when titles like the Official Playstation Magazine had a circulation knocking on 500,000 copies per month (!), times were certainly different and part of me started feeling very nostalgic to those days of anticipation for the next issue of whatever mag I was into at the time. What you do get from this trio is the passion each brought to their job, and I can certainly say for DC-UK, that passion was obvious when reading each issue. The final interview is with Tom Charnock who runs the largest online community for the console, The Dreamcast Junkyard. This is a fan point of view piece and I cannot disagree with the gentleman’s thoughts at all.

The next section is a set of retrospectives (of titles both good and bad) that cover a good range of games (my favourite being Toy Commander which, at the time, simply blew me away with it’s graphical style and tongue-in-cheek gameplay). We also get a number of mini-pieces from Kickstarter backers about their most memorable games, which is a nice little touch.

Finally, we have the games list: every title launched in the console’s first year with box art and region specific release dates where applicable. Flicking through these pages made me realise just how many of these games I actually got to play at the time! Where the time and money came from, I have not a clue, but there were some good memories to enjoy from that section alone.

Naturally, since this is Year One, there is the promise of a Year Two publication and I for one will be supporting the Kickstarter for that book when it is announced. As per the update on the first book’s Kickstarter page (28/02/20) the second book should get a funding launch in May/June this year with a delivery date about the same time next year. In the meantime, you can (and should) buy this one. With the current Corvid-19 situation, only the digital pdf version is available at present (tweet from the author 17/03/20) but at a reduced price of £5, which is excellent value. Hopefully, physical copies will be available for those who want one when circumstances permit.

So there you have it, Dreamcast: Year One. A superlative look at one of the most underrated and under-appreciated home consoles ever released and a tome for any videogame fan’s library, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. You can keep up with the author via Twitter here, where you'll also find details about ordering a digital copy of this fine tome.

February goings on

February's shenanigans began with an early morning wake up on Sunday 2^nd for a 90 minute trip to the Vapnartak wargames show held at the Knavesmire stand at York Racecourse. A decent show by any measure, it occupies four floors of the stand, with most of the traders occupying the ground, first and second levels, with demo, participation and competition games mixed in here and there, plus more on the third level.

Taken before any of the public were let in.

No action at all in this shot.

As you can see from these pictures, it’s quite well laid out and there is a decent amount of space between stands, something that other shows in the past have lacked, especially Partizan when it was held at Kelham Hall. With a good amount of traders, there was pretty much something for everyone, and I know I lingered far too long at Dave Lanchester’s book stall for my own good, but that’s for another time. Of the demo games I saw, two caught my eye.

Look at the size of that thing!

Rather tasty looking too...

The “Down on the Adriatic Sea” game was a nice set up (Fiume 1920), topped by the frankly ludicrous pre-dreadnought at one end of the table and some really pretty looking forts. Then there was the Entebbe game, which, for me, looked absolutely brilliant. Whilst there was no sign of Elizabeth Taylor, I did feel that if I were at put a game like that on, I would add three competing camera crews. Impish, I know, but there was an indecent rush to dramatise the operation in the months after and there is the opportunity to be a little bit silly here and add a bit of humour for the players.

Attendance at the show was good but, like all Sunday shows, just after 2pm, Thanos must have clicked his fingers and pretty much all of the punters vanished, leaving the traders to have a wander about amongst themselves. Some things never change.

The venue remains one of the better ones, airy and well lit. Show food will never win awards but it must be said that York’s is at the better end of the scale. That could not be said for the bar. Now a bar at a show is always a welcome thing, but three 500ml bottles of a decent Theakston’s Pale Ale tipped the wallet at £17.40! Ouch!

This was sipped very, very slowly...

February saw the release of Locke and Key on Netflix. An adaptation of Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s supernatural comic book series, this follows the Locke family as they discover that the ancestral family house is home to magical keys that can unlock doors (and people) in ways that are both good and bad. All is not well, though, as there is an entity after the keys for its own purposes. This one interested me from the trailer as it promised a dark, horror filled supernatural tale that, at 10 episodes, had enough room to breath but not sprawl about for seemingly endless episodes. My good lady, not a horror fan at all, viewed the trailer with some trepidation and warned that she’d give it a go but reserved the right to drop out at any point. She needn’t have worried.

You see, whilst Locke and Key is a supernatural drama, the horror elements promised in the trailer (and the source material which, I’ll admit, I am not overly familiar with) just aren’t as prominent as advertised. Yes, there are some mildly scary moments but it pulls its punches when it comes to delivering genuine scares. The story is good and I can’t fault the production values. The cast are, generally speaking, very good, with just a couple of instances of scenery chewing that kind of fit but also take a bit away from the beats of the story. Where the show really falls down though is its reliance on familiar tropes – the high school kids, whilst rightly focusing on the nerdier bunch of friends, ticks pretty much every box when it comes to jocks and “popular” girls. There are nods to modern day social media that have been added cos, well, it’s 2020, but some dramatic character beats are glossed over – the mother’s alcoholism being a prime example. Then again, the show has an issue with alcohol as one character polishes off a half of a bottle of whiskey and seems just tickety boo when dealing with an attack on the family just an hour later. I know the younger of us can handle booze better but that is pushing the bounds of reality. Oh, and Keyhouse, the family home is a lovely building but suffers from that familiar plot device – even with the doors open, you can’t hear shouting downstairs when you’re upstairs. Come on, it’s not that big a house! With enough story threads left open for a second season (still unannounced at the time of posting), Locke and Key is a decent show and worth a watch. It never feels like it is overstaying its welcome and the premise has promise. Give it a go if this type of show appeals.

My good lady and I have also managed to catch up a little bit with a DVD boxset: Blakes 7. We watched the first series last year and came to the general conclusion that whilst they accomplished miracles on the budget, it had not aged well at all. Still, there are four series in total so we said we’d get through them eventually. Series two is pretty much a direct follow up to the first, with just a couple of cast changes: Brian Croucher takes over as Commander Travis and we lose one of the main group near the half way point of the series – no spoilers but to be honest, it’s no great surprise given that the character was left on the shelf most of the time, so in the words of a Newcastle Upon Tyne resident, he had to gan… (Sorry, not sorry!).

Once again, the budget (or lack thereof) is plain to see, but considering what they managed to put on the screen, it’s not bad – think of how bad the first couple of seasons of ST:TNG look now. True, the model work varies from decent to just plain naff, and any backdrop work (Voices from the Past, I’m looking at you) is quite laughable. More serious issues arise from the acting which, outside of a couple of key characters, is rather iffy and certainly not helped by the writers wanting to prefix everything (and I mean everything) with the word “space”. Cos, you know, it’s set in space. With forty years hindsight, it seems to treat the audience with a degree of condescension that the RP accent highlights as well. Bless him, even Mr Croucher struggles to get his mouth around his lines whilst refusing to lapse into his real accent. There is also the feeling that they were trying to fill the timeslot with what they had rather than produce a show with episode lengths that matched the budget - you'll see far too many lingering camera shots and scene setting model work that just seems to be there to fill in the time. It is easy to mock a show that occupied a tea time TV slot but I genuinely like Blakes 7. The premise, the story lines and the feel of the show are just right, but it’s the execution of those that falls down – but as I have said above, they accomplished miracles on the budget and for obvious reasons, they couldn’t show too much violence or explore the more serious themes to their fullest extent. The show does, however, remain timeless for the ultimate double act of Kerr Avon (the late, great Paul Darrow) and Vila Restal (Michael Keating). The banter between these two is brilliant and you can’t help but think that Alan Rickman watched these shows when preparing for the role of Snape in the Harry Potter films.

An unexpected snow day also gave us the chance to re-watch (for me, at least) Edge of Darkness, re-released last year as a shiny Blu-Ray collection. No new content as such but the presentation is faultless and at times you forget you’re watching a thirty five year old TV show. For those who haven’t seen it, EoD is a classic political thriller, as DI Ron Craven (the never better Bob Peck) searches for the truth behind his daughters murder, leading him into the secret world of nuclear politics. I'll come back to this in a later post.

Reading wise, I managed to finish a couple of history books that joined the charity donation pile (I am trying to trim the library down a little bit at the moment. When I started encroaching onto the fourth bookcase, I realised I had a problem – and no, it’s not a shortage of bookcases, sadly…). I also purchased and finished the paperback edition of The Expanse series eighth book, Timat’s Wrath. Regular readers will know I am a fan of both the book series and the accompanying TV show (for which those of you who have Amazon Prime, you can catch up with all four seasons now, whilst for everyone else, seasons 1 to 3 are available on DVD and Blu-ray). Timat’s Wrath is the penultimate novel and you can tell straight away that loose ends are being tidied up ready for the finale. Some might feel aggrieved that familiar and favourite characters are bumped off with almost casual ease but the sprawl of story hanging after seven books means there has to be some culling and to be fair to the authors, they do it rather well. It only took three days to finish this one (the joys of public transport) and it left me wanting more. The Expanse series is one of those rare multiple volume stories that actually tells a tale, unlike say The Game Of Thrones books that are simply too long, meandering and padded to be enjoyable, at least for me. Of note with both series though and, it seems, most modern sci-fant fiction, is the fixation on food – what people are eating, the taste, texture etc, as if there is a writing school out there that teaches would-be authors that to get readers to empathise with the characters, keep telling them what they’ve had for dinner. It’s really not necessary.

And so that's it, until next time.

RISC OS? But why???

So came the cry the other day whilst at work as I was chatting to one of the developers about my RISCOSbits purchase from a few months ago. A gentleman of a similar vintage to myself and an owner of multiple Raspberry Pi’s, he is not afraid of a command line and is a self-confessed Linux nut. Naturally, being at work, we were obviously discussing a piece of code I was to test when the subject “maneuvered” towards RISC OS. He was quite interested in that, like me, he had experienced RISC OS back in his school days and was aware of it’s availability on the Pi.

“It’s pretty horrible and clunky,” he opined, “and I wouldn’t like to fight with an OS just to get something done”

Well, thinks I, this is not what I feel and so we pitted pro’s and cons for a good twenty minutes before a tiresome sprint review called us away. It did get me thinking though. I could explain to someone with a passing knowledge of RISC OS why I think it’s a lovely little OS but how could I pass on that enthusiasm to someone who had never touched it in their lives? Hmmm…

The basic desktop.

Let me be clear from the outset, RISC OS is going to be a bit of a culture shock for anyone used to Windows, Mac OS and Linux and it is not for everyone. The three button mouse configuration and the thought processes behind it will take a bit of effort to embed and even I sometimes slip with muscle memory recalling a Windows mentality. What the RISC OS set up gives you is control and subtlety. That three button mouse layout (Select/Menu/Adjust), the method of window management and the sheer common sense approach of true drag and drop functionality: all add up to make RISC OS, for me, a lovely operating system to use. True, it originates from the 1980’s and that is (sometimes painfully) obvious now – consider how Windows and macOS have changed over that period, but that it not to say RISC OS is bad. In fact, whilst toolbars have taken over screen space (which isn’t such a problem with modern day high resolution displays), it just looks far cleaner to have the menu structure behind a mouse button press. It’s lightweight and offers little frippery. It can look “busy” as the screenshots attest but I was aiming to have quite a few folders and programs open at the same time. The main question though, is can it be used as a primary computer OS in 2020, and for me that answer is… mostly...ish.

Many, many windows.

Look at it this way. In this age of always connected, online dependent computing experiences, RISC OS harks back to a time where you didn’t have or need an internet connection. Troubling for some that statement may be, this is computing how it used to be before, say, 1994. Is that a bad thing? Well, it depends upon what you want to do. As an aside, you will need an internet connection in this day and age just to get new software, but once you have the software, for many tasks, you don’t need that connection any longer. In day to day use, RISC OS just doesn't need it.

For me, I want a content creation machine, something I can generate blog posts, general writing, the odd spreadsheet and a bit of coding on the side – hey, I’m a software tester who dabbles in the dark side. Know thine enemy, I say :-) Out of the box, my RISCOSbits machine covers that pretty well. Edit is a great little text editor but if you prefer something more feature filled, the announcement that Impression Style (not the fully featured Impression X) is now free was a boon. With Pipedream covering the spreadsheet duties and enough programming tools already on board, I feel most bases are covered. What helps here is the Pling store, where a decent variety of software is available for free or modest cost – think the Apple App store but a lot smaller. Size isn’t everything though and what is on offer should cover all of your needs. There is a fly in the RISC OS ointment that needs addressing though and this impacts what I do a lot with regards to Blogger and Wordpress...

These cover a lot of needs without resorting to additional software.

Web browsing. The included browser, !NetSurf, is basic in the extreme and isn’t suited to the modern day internet. This is a well known issue with RISC OS and is being sorted with the development of two new browsers, OWB and Iris. Both are in development at the moment and as such, not ready for the prime time just yet but they are more capable than !NetSurf and the situation is improving. 2020 looks like the year that RISC OS could be a replacement operating system for me. Rather than create blog posts and reviews for RVG in RISC OS and then transferring to Windows via a memory stick, I’ll be able to post online as per my usual Windows PC. This may also mean a new toy.

Impression Style 

For a couple of years, a lot of my writing has been completed on a venerable Alphasmart 3000. A brilliant little typing device, it offers distraction free writing and a stellar battery life (only changed the three AA’s twice!). However, transferring text to my PC is slow and can’t be done without monopolising the Libre Office window that the document will occupy, so I can’t set the transfer away and move onto something else. Also, it’s starting to fail in little ways: the space bar is becoming less reliable (double spaces are a bane), the screen has a couple of minor issues and overall, whilst I feel it’s still a lovely machine, its time is probably due. At present I am using a three year old Lenovo Yogabook convertible running Windows alongside a Logitech wireless keyboard. I really think the halo keyboard on the Yogabook is a great idea, but it’s just not comfortable or accurate enough for sustained typing. This set up, using Libre Office, is quite nice, but really requires a table or rest to use properly and the USB OTG cable for the wireless keyboard adapter hangs in an awkward manner if I use the Yogabook in tent mode. It works, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a bit of a kludge and the Yogabook itself lacks ports and is woefully under-powered. Even using it with the wi-fi switched off (so purely as a text entry device and not typing directly into Wordpress or Blogger) has seen a drop in the battery life of the machine and where once I was getting 8 hours or so, it’s now down to about 4 before I need to reach for the charger – which also takes up the single micro-USB port so no more wireless keyboard for a couple of hours at least. Sadly, taking all of that into account means that, despite being a lovely little set up and one that is very portable too, I can’t see it lasting another couple of years.

This is where RISC OS comes in. When one, or both, of the new browsers are released in a stable fashion, my intention is to combine those with a new Armbok (Armbook but hey, typo’s). For a touch over £400, this will provide a native RISC OS laptop and proper access for my online needs. Yes, I could buy a Windows laptop for less, but I have worries there which I’ll get to in a moment. I like using RISC OS and am getting very used to how it works. And that’s the thing, it just works. No updates, no constant harrying from a notification centre and little privacy intrusion. Part of me would like to dip back into the macOS world but frankly the cost of entry is too high for me. With a new Armbok, I could centre my daily domestic computer use to RISC OS and only have to dip into Windows for the odd game and specific software packages.

So why not a new Windows machine? As noted above, there are a number of issues I have here. One is cost. Wait, you cry, £400 can buy you a decent laptop. True, but for one with the combination of performance and spec that would last a few years, you’d have to spend a bit more than that. Indeed, 8GB of RAM seems to be the standard acceptable now and if you want that much memory, the cost starts edging upwards. Then there is the bloat, the constant need to update and the sheer intrusiveness of information gathering in the OS. You can tinker with these but in the end, Microsoft’s recent history with Windows updates does not fill me with hope that the situation will get any better. Apple seems a bit better in this respect but then again, wanting £1k plus for your basic Macbook Air (ignoring the discounted 2017 model which is probably near the end of it’s life) is just too much. I am a tekkie but even I have limits on how much I’ll drop on kit.

So this brings me back to RISC OS. The operating itself is very resource frugal in both memory and  storage. The hardware, certainly for desktops, is easily repairable (remember, the RISCOSbits machine I have is just a cased Raspberry Pi 3B+ which costs in the region of £35…) and in regards to the Armbok, a lot of thought and testing seems to have been done in getting this to market. I am not saying RISCOS is for everyone – the very fact that it is not an on-line centric operating system would probably scare quite a few people off. The fear of not being connected at all times might do that, but consider this – how much of your day do you spend at a computer that does not require a connection? Ok, if you run a website, online business or need tools like Office 365 or Google’s online suite then obviously, you’ll need that but if you don’t need a network connection, then why have one? I know I get more work done when I am not online, and I suspect many other people do too and this chimes nicely in with the Armbok. Once the browser situation is sorted, I can work offline with a laptop offering 12 plus hours of use then quickly hook up to post what I need to. Overall, that feels like a tempting way of working and as a second machine that will do a fair bit of travelling, the Armbok fits the bill.

You don't even have to spend as much as I did to get started in RISC OS

You may think me a bit of a Luddite, harking back to an operating system that to this day lacks native wi-fi connectivity, but that would be to miss the point. I don’t need a 24/7 online connection and for the majority of my non-gaming computer needs, I don’t need a lot of what Windows and macOS offer. The Armbok will cover that and I will be using software that works for me. As noted above, RISC OS is not for everyone, and to be fair, it is a niche OS, but given a little bit of thought and use, it is a more productive OS compared to Windows/macOS, at least in my humble opinion. That it is still under active development and has new hardware being released for it speaks volumes. There is also an active show scene for users, and there are  a number of active content creators in YouTube - check out WiFi Sheep's videos for example, where you'll find show reports, introductory videos and much more. The market isn’t huge but then again, the cost of entry isn’t either. If you have an interest in alternative OS’s, or just fancy giving something less mainstream a try, then give RISC OS a chance. It’s not a perfect OS by any means but it is improving. You never know, you might find it useful for a second machine...