Cult TV Blog

I am absolutely delighted to make Ride Ride, another episode of Tales of Unease, one of the few episodes I have written about twice here, not least because I don't think I even came close to doing it justice when I talked about it in my series of posts on orphaned episodes. It was orphaned at the time, but Network's glorious release of this series means it can be viewed all restored and sparkling, and I honestly think it comes across quite differently in its restored version.  I note that reviews about this one are strictly mixed, and I honestly wonder whether this is influenced by the poor versions of this show people have had to see up until now. In my humble opinion it is absolutely excellent and the restoration only brings its quality out. One of the things I didn't say last time, and which I'm now reminded to say by having blogged about  The Two Faces of Evil since then, is that the plot is yet another variant on the vanishing hitchhiker urban legend, only (I hope...

I have promised myself that I will save the rest of Max Headroom to return to at my leisure in the future. You all understand that this isn't at all because my grasshopper mind has already moved on, don't you? In fact where it's moved to is my Christmas present to myself, which is the Network release of the 1970 anthology series Tales of Unease. This is a series I have long wanted to see in its entirety, even though I don't tend to get on very well with the rather changeable nature of anthology series, because I loved the orphaned episodes I have written about here in the past (click on the Tales of Unease label in the menu to see those posts) and also because I have been struck by the unconditional, yet intelligent, adulation I have seen this show receive in the cult TV blogosphere. Well done, Network for releasing it, First up we have The Old Banger, the final episode broadcast in the original run, and which I was particularly keen to see because I have never seen a r...

The introduction to this series of posts can be found  here . Another episode from  Tales of Unease . This one is in a few places online. I'm afraid I can't remember which so can't link the right one, but in one copy the sound drops out for much of the show, but if you start watching that one don't despair - try one of the others because they're not all the same and the whole show with complete audio is out there. The above link is quite critical of this show because of the absence of explanation in the plot and unsatisfying conclusion. My own reading would be that I think the unease it leaves you with is largely the point. I also would think it's deliberately not explained fully and leave space for the viewer to think about it. In retrospect one of the reasons to watch this show is for its utterly sixties atmosphere (it was shown in 1970). Art students are perhaps one of the more countercultural avocations of the time and quite a bit of the show is devoted to t...

The introduction to this series of posts can be found  here . When I started this series I rounded up odd episodes of shows that I had come across and saved over a number of years. Many got ruled out but I'm delighted to say that unexpectedly, random episodes are leaping out at me and I have discovered a number of new shows while barely trying at all. This is one of them.  Tales of Unease was a  seven episode anthology series whose stories were adapted from a number of previously published anthologies and broadcast in 1970. Like most of these shows there isn't much on the internet but this one has the luxury of a  summary of all its episodes which makes me want to see the whole thing, despite only having found two episodes actually available to view. There is a fascinating account of another episode  here . Calculated Nightmare is about what happens when a disgruntled employee turns a firm's technology against the directors who have decided to make him redundan...