Misfits Mid-Life Crisis Adventures in East London & Surrey.

Week 387, Saturday 13^th until Friday 19^th November 2021.

Before I start this ramble, I wanted to say I know there are many more important things to be annoyed about, the state of the planet including the environment, famine, war and diseases.  The way people in power seem to do what they like, with their fingers constantly in the till hoping that we won’t notice.

This week I got annoyed by television.  This will sound sad but I fondly remember the days of just 3 channels BBC 1, 2 and ITV when I was growing up.  If a programme was missed I would have to hope for a repeat in a couple of years or just get over it.  Terrestrial TV changed In 1982 when Channel 4 and 1997 with Channel 5 coming on to the scene to shake things up.  Old fashioned terrestrial TV’s days were number after the explosion of cable and satellite TV in the late 80s early 90s, which embraced technology (The Internet) this would eventually lead to digital broadcasting.  When I think of this type of television the biggest name in my opinion has to be SKY TV.  I don’t know this as a fact, but they must be the biggest of the multi-platform channel provider in the UK.

My first experience of so many channels that I didn’t know what to watch happened when I visited Canada in 1988.  As a fan of the magic box in the corner of the living room I was immediately hypnotised by the choice.  I’m surprised I saw any of that beautiful country because of the TV in my aunts flat.

Home Entertainment evolved again a few years ago when streaming services appeared.  I am now personally paying (no one’s forcing me, I realise) for a number of different services on top of the TV licence fee and the general satellite package that allows me to view what is considered a basic package of more than a hundred channels most I will never actually watch.  

Why am I boring you with this you ask?  This week Star Trek Discovery, series 4 was due to premiere on Thursday 18th November on Netflix .  Like a lot of people I discovered Star Trek in the 70s and have watched and re-watched (a number of times) every new series.  Two days before the new season was due to start news broke that the series had been pulled from the streaming giant in the UK and other territories because Paramount who own the rights want to stream it on their new service next year.  A couple of months ago all Trek disappeared in the US, so I am not totally surprised it happened here.  At the time of writing all the other older series are still available to watch for us at the moment it’s only Discovery.  Amazon Prime currently holds the rights in the UK to show Trek series, Picard and Lower Decks.  Series 2 of Picard is due in February 22, I don’t know if this will also only be viewable on the new Paramount+ when it becomes available, I wouldn’t surprise me if it did.  I understand why Paramount are doing this they want a slice of the extremely lucrative streaming pie.

I really was looking forward to the further adventures of the USS Discovery crew this week.  As I mentioned above, this is all about money, personally I think Paramount should be ashamed about the way they have dealt with this.  They already earn a huge amount of money from all the licensing of the thousands of Trek products, do they really need more.  Of course they do, streaming really is the future of home entertainment until a new technology comes alone.

As I mentioned I do miss the small number of TV channels I was exposed to as a child.  These days we are all Television programme controllers, who decide what and when we view something.  I very rarely watch live TV anymore.  One day I will schedule new Star Trek Discovery into my own personal channel on regular repeat.  If anyone wants to subscribe to my channel I am sure I can do you a special deal, you know where to contact me.  I won’t be in it for the money, honest.

And Finally…….

This week I said a little too loudly when out, “everything but the green”.  A couple heard as they walked past, I noticed a slight side glance back from one of the of people as they hurried away.  Not sure what they thought I was talking about, they didn’t appear to be old enough to remember “Everything But the Girl” in the 80s and 90s.  Or perhaps they thought I was talking about a certain green herb that a lot of people near the local tube station like to smoke.  

Its times like that I wish I had the confidence to have gone after them to reassure them all I was confirming was that evening I would put out the black and orange bin for the next morning.  The green garden waste was not due to be collected until next week.  See all very honest, but that’s how I worry what others think.  It would be better if I spoke a little quieter in future.

My Mid Life Crisis Conts……

This week I have watched:

“Alias”, (S1, ep 14).  “Another Life”, (S2, ep 7).  “BBC Children In Need: 2021″, (TX: 19/11/21)(I dipped in and out of the main programme).  “BBC Children In Need: 24hr Drumathon (With Owain Wyn Evans)”, (BBC Iplayer Live)(TX: 12/11/21).  “Children In Need: Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Kitchen Disco Danceathon”, (BBC Iplayer Live)(TX: 16/11/21)(I dipped in to both challenges many times during the 24hrs). “Babylon 5”, (S1, ep 7 & ep 8). “Blake’s 7”, (SC, ep 5).  “Ciao Alberto”, (2021).  “Click”, (13/11/21).  “Crimson Peak”, (2015).  “Enchanted”, (2007).  “Fort Salaam”, (S2, ep 6).  “Grimm”, (S1, ep 6).  “Have I Got For You”, (S62, ep 6, TX: 12/11/21).  “Hunting The Essex Lorry Killers”, (TX: 10/10/21).   “Jungle Cruise”, (2021).  “Lexx”, (S2, ep 8).  “Miriam And Alan: Lost In Scotland”, (S1, ep 1, TX: 16/11/21).  “Missions”, (S2, ep 9 & ep 10).  “Predestination”, (2013).  “Star Trek (Original Series)”, (S3, ep 22 to ep 24).  “Stargate Atlantis”, (S3, ep 12 & ep 13).  “Strictly Come Dancing: The Results”, (S19, ep 8, TX: 14/11/21).  “Tangled”, (2010).  “Taskmaster”, (S12 (S3 on C4), ep 9, TX: 18/11/21).  “Thaddea Graham (Talking about Bel in Doctor Who Flux)”, (Twitter)(TX: 15/11/21).  “The Great British Bake Off”, (S12 (S5 on C4), ep 9, TX: 16/11/21).  “The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice”, (S7 (S5  on C4) ep 8, TX:12/11/21)(ep 9, TX: 19/11/21).  “The Golden Girls”, (S6, ep 23 to ep 26)(S7, ep 1 to ep 14).  “The Graham Norton Show”, (S29, ep 8, TX: 12/11/21).   “The Lakes With Simon Reeve”, (S1, ep 1, TX: 14/11/21). “The Last Leg”, (S23, ep 7, TX: 12/11/21).  “The Orville”, (S2, ep 5 to ep 7).  “The Sky At Night”, (TX: 14/11/21).  “Universe”, (S1, ep 4 & ep 5, TX: 27/10/21).  “University Challenge: Children In Need Special”, (TX: 19/11/21).  “Top Gear”, (S31, ep 1, TX: 14/11/21).  “V War”, (S1, ep 9 & ep 10).  “Van Helsing”, (S5, ep 12 & ep 13).  “What We Do In The Shadows”, (S3, ep 8 to ep 10).  “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”, (S8, ep 4, TX: 02/08/96).

“Doctor Who Watched This Week”……

“Flux: Chapter Three: Once, Upon Time”, (S13 (S39 since 1963), Chapter Three, TX: 14/11/210).

“Olaf Presents”……

 “The Little Mermaid”,  “Moana”,  “The Lion King”,  “Aladdin”,  “Tangled”, (All TX: 12/11/21).

This week I have listening to:

“30 Animals That Made Us Smarter”, (BBC World Service/Sounds)(S2, ep 21, 15/11/21).  “Brian And Roger”, (S5, ep 8, 17/11/21).  “Coronavirus Global Update”, (BBC World Service/Sounds)(12/11/21) (13/11/21) (14/11/21) (15/11/21) (16/11/21) (17/11/21) (18/11/21) (19/11/21).  “Farscape (Muppets In Space)”, (The Incomparable) (17/11/21).  “Griefcast”, (S8, ep 7 (ep 155), 17/12/21).  “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Buddha”, (ep 44, 19/11/21).  “Maximum Power A Blake’s 7 Podcast”, (SA, ep 9, 14/11/21).  “NASA: Houston We Have A Podcast”, (ep 221, 12/11/21)(ep 222, 19/11/21).  “NASA’s Curious Universe”, (Mini Episode, 16/11/21).  “Nick Abbot Whole Show”, (12/11/21)(13/11/21)(14/11/21)(19/11/21).  “Radio Astronomy (The Sky At Night Magazine)”, (08/11/16)(18/11/21).  “Rob Beckett And Josh Widdecombe Parenting Hell”, (S3, ep 36, 12/11/21)(ep 37, 16/11/21)(ep 38, 19/11/21).  “Smersh Pod – License To Kill”, (Pt 1, 26/10/20)(Pt 2, 27/10/21).  “Smersh Pod – No Time To Die”, (Pt 1, 17/11/21 (Pt 2, 18/11/21).  “Space And Things”, (STP15, 10/12/20)(STP16, 17/12/20)(STP64, 18/11/21).  “Space Soldiers – Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe”, (Chapter Eight, “The Fiery Abyss”, 13/11/21).  “Star Trek Universe”, (07/01/19)(16/11/21).  “The Adam Buxton Podcast “, (ep 169, 18/11/21).  “The Audio Guide To Babylon 5”, (ep 54, 29/05/16).  “The Doctor Who Show”, (15/11/21).  “The Froth with Rhod Gilbert And Sian Harries”, (S4, ep 8 (ep 44), 16/11/21).  “The Nick Abbot Habit”, (15/11/21).  “The Radio Times: Doctor Who Podcast”, (01/11/21)(08/11/21) (15/11/21).  “The Skewer”, (BBC Radio 4/Sounds)(S5, ep 3, 18/11/21).  “Toby Hadoke’s Time Travels- Indefinable Magic”, (11, 19/11/21).  “Tripodscast”, (Trailer)(ep 1, 16/10/21)(ep 2, 30/10/21)(ep 3, 13/11/21).  “WTB”, (S3, ep 14 (ep 57), 19/11/21).  “Wolf And Owl”, (ep 50, 17/11/21).

Songs I Enjoyed This Week, Were By:

“Morrissey”, “Blur”, “Cast”, “Catatonia”, “Embrace”, “Garbage”, “James”, “James Blunt”, “Longpigs”, “Manic Street Preachers”, “Mansun”, “Muse”, “R.E.M”, Rupublica”, “St Etienne”,  “Shed Seven”,  “Space”,  “The B52s”,  “The Good, The Bad & The Queen”,  “The Lightning Seeds”,  “The Sugarcubes”,  “The Wannadies”.