Permutation City Blog

As a fan of Hitchhikers this film had a lot to live up to and I watched it with some trepidation. I wasn't as unhappy with this film as many of my friends but maybe that's because I had such low expectations to start with. I do like the Vogons, they're perfect, and the improbability drive is great. Fans will certainly spot the jewelled scuttling crabs from the book but can you see the gazelle? However there are many problems with this film: Ford Prefect is now a pointless hanger on, the whole Kavula storyline is a waste of time, and did they have to add a love story?

I'm a fan of hitchhikers in general and the books as well, pocket portable entertainment. I wonder what it would have been like to read the books first, I can't help but think of the TV characters as I'm reading. All of the books are good except for the last one, Mostly Harmless. Too much time had passed and it doesn't fit right with the others, just too new.

Saw the film tonight and have never read the comic. This felt like an ordinary comic book conversion, enjoyable enough but not special. There were some nice moments, good massed crowd sequence at the end. It didn't quite pull everything together for me, perhaps the original would do this better.

Would you like to have a spaceship that can blow up planets? The Lexx is commanded by Stanley Tweedle through an unlikely series of accidents. All of the heroes in this series have their problems, often many of them. Produced at a similar time to Babylon 5 and Farscape but with a very different style and, I expect, a much lower budget.

Dream Hunters is set in the world of Sandman and told in the style of a Japanese folk tale. Although this story has no historical precedent it feels wonderfully natural and is set with wonderful illustrations. I prize artwork here above any that is on up on my walls. This is a beautiful book.

This film is great fun but also an impressive piece of technicial work. Live action and animation are blended seamlessly with cartoon characters moving real world objects and vice versa. Anyway, it's all about a cartoon rabbit who is wanted for murder and the private eye who, unwillingly, helps him. Along the way you get to see all your favourite old cartoon characters performing normal cartoon violence.

This is an enjoyable movie with good voice acting from the stars and technically impressive puppetry which is well animated. Unfortunately it must be compared to The Nightmare Before Christmas which is by far the superior film. It seems there is only room for one animated Tim Burton film with talking skeletons in my life.

Some films stand out from the crowd and Akira is one of these. Its animation shows fantastic attention to detail and its soundtrack roars along with the motorcycles. While the plot might not actually makes sense it is stylish and mysterious. Watch out for the psychics, the film gives a powerful sense of how dangerous their abilities really are.

Red Dwarf has been round for a long time. During eight series it's had time to re-invent itself more than once. On the whole it's been good with many memorable episodes. The first two series are particularly fine. Back then they didn't have any money just a good script and some funny actors. For me series six was the last with anything interesting in it, don't bother after that.

Nothing to do with science-fiction or fantasy but definitely worth a mention. On first viewing I didn't like this show. I was wrong, it's hilarious. Bernard Black is the owner of a bookshop who hates customers and takes it out on well meaning assistant Manny. (That's a quick summary of most episodes.) If you like Bill Bailey or Spaced then give this a watch. First and second series are excellent although the third series is a bit of a let down, it has its moments but not many.