Jonathan Creek DVD Box Set

When I was about 13 years old, I watched a programme called Jonathan Creek with my mother. She did her best to try and explain what it was about but I didn't really get what she was on about and it is only now that I can fully appreciate how difficult it was for her to explain what the programme was about. The particular episode, which I now know is entitled "The Scented Room", involved a painting being stolen from a sealed room, where the door had only been closed for 30 seconds and the hall outside was full of people. So how did the thief do it?

Rather than spoil it, I suggest you watch it, but what followed was an hour of brilliant mystery solving and unravelling that captured my fancy the moment the solution was revealed. This I knew was my kind of programme. The only problem? Jonathan Creek wasn't on all that frequently, even now with Sky Digital the problem wasn't wholly solved and the interwebs only has two-three episodes that are viewable. My solution - buy the DVD boxset.

Even though I had watched them all weeks ago, only now have I got the chance to share the experience. Jonathan is played by the brilliant Alan Davies, and for series 1-3 is accompanied by Crime-Investigative writer Madeleine (Maddie) Magellan played by Caroline Quentin and for series 4 is joined by journalist Carla Borrego whom Jonathan had a previous relationship with. There are guest characters in episodes including Anthony Head and Bill Bailey to name but two. Before even getting to the premise of the whole thing, I should point out that throughout all the series and specials the acting and characters are very believably, in particular Alan Davies. Once you become familiar with the character of Jonathan Creek from watching it, you find yourself hard pressed to imagine anyone else in the role. What's more is the line between Davies and Creek is very hard to define, thus adding to the performance and credibility of the character. His character also develops over the course of the episodes in a subtle yet noticable manner.

Creek himself works for illusionist Adam Klaus (played by Anthony Head in the first episode and later by Stuart Milligan. Creek's job description is probably best described as "Illusion-Maker", making the props and tricks for Klaus' show, fooling the audience. He's not much of a socialiser and struggles with women at points. However over the course of the series' he becomes more open and charming, likely due to his working relationship with Maddie that is started in the first episode.

In any particular episode, Creek is usually faced with an "impossible" crime or feat or mystery. More often than not, Creek is brought in my Maddie who usually is called upon in the first case as an investigative writer by the "client", to help her out. What's more, she also writes about Creek's endeavours, generating an unwanted fame meaning that in some and in particular later episodes he is "hired" to solve the mystery.


I should stress perhaps that it isn't always murder at the heart of the story, though I must admit some of the best ones DO relate to murder mysteries. The thing that makes the programme special and watchable is that like any crime/mystery series, like Inspector Morse for example, you want to solve it as well. Whilst you know the solution will be revealed by the shows end, you can't help but try and figure it out for yourself. Trust me when I say that what you think is the solution is very probably miles off the mark.

I guess in part my interest in the show is fuelled by my chosen profession of engineering, as the type of thinking I have to do is in many parts similar to what Creek has to do.

"Making the impossible possible" is an often cliched phrase thrown about in these kind of things, but the style of Creek is unique in the sense that it requires very lateral thinking, something that many people, myself included, simply cannot do off the bat. Unlike a crime series such as Inspector Morse that I mentioned above, where the crime is very motive based and a little piece of the focus is given to technique, the plots of Jonathan Creek give equal emphasis on both, almost doubling your value from the point of view of story-telling and mystery solving and I can guarantee that you won't be disappointed with the end results.

In an early episode Creek makes a statement regarding the "impossible, the improbable and what's practical/logical" as he is about to reveal how the particular crime occured. The ideas of "impossibility", "improbablity" and "logical" are the cornerstones of the series' brilliance and it's these set the tone for all the episodes to follow. In order to solve these mysteries, you need to separate what's impossible from what's unlikely, and then establish how the unlikely could've been done. I can guarantee that in each case you will be thoroughly satisfied with the end result, scratching your head at the ingenuinity of it all yet just how simplistic it all really was.

The DVDs themselves are what they are. All the episodes and specials minus "The Grinning Man" which was shown January 09. There are several bonuses available including documentaries, interviews, etc. Standard fare stuff.

On just a general note of the episodes all together, it seems as though the mysteries/quality of the episodes in series 4 wanes a bit. I'm not suggesting they're bad by any stretch of the imagination, but if you watched them in order as I did the "impossibility" shall we say of the mysteries isn't as grandiose as the earlier seasons, though the episode "Gorgon's Wood" - the last in series 4 - is certainly up there with the best of 'em.

Jonathan Creek has generated huge viewing numbers across England, and the success of the show is shown in the specials that are produced this year and for next. If you like a mystery this is certainly for you. I can guarantee a thoroughly enjoyable experience with the perfect blend of humour, mystery and drama. Just remember to bring your lateral-thinking-cap with you when you do.

~The Damo

P.S. I can't link to episodes, but if you want to find some online, google it and you should be fine.

Thunderbirds Are Go!!!.... Tomorrow!

How cool was that? As a 4/5 year old kid in the early 90's, Thunderbirds - which preceeded Saved By The Bell cause the tapes we took off the Tv have the opening credits of Saved by The Bell on them - was simply the SHIT! Not that the word "shit" was in my vocabulary at the time or in fact even a buzz-word back then for a positive description of something, but it was most definitely the thought on my mind. I can distinctly remember the Christmas when good 'ol Mr. Claus himself left me Tracy Island under the tree, the perfect addition to my collection of metallic Thunderbird vehicles which were currently residing in my makeshift Tracy Island up in my room consisting of a cup with a piece of card over it (for TB1), an eggbox (for TB2) and one of those ring toy things you give to babies (for TB3).



But Damien (D, Damo, Fuckface or whatever name you happen to call me), why are you telling me this? Well as it so happens, yours truly was so ecstatic to find a "Thunderbirds - The Complete Series" DVD box set on Amazon.co.uk, that not only did he order it but he also got very nostalgic and spent a better portion of two hours yesterday evening watching Captain Scarlet on Veoh.com. Naturally, DVD sets of the Andersons' other works are available too, but none so much as captivated me as much as the Thunderbirds did. Well...I liked Captain Scaret a bit too, but it scared me shitless since it was kindof a grown up version of the Andersons' work, where people got shot, died, were resurrected by the deep-voiced Mysterons and there was blood and... As a 4/5 year old kid that was scary, especially after becoming so familiar with the usually smiley faced Thunderbirds.

Thing is though...that was me when I was small, in the early 90's, and yet...both the Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet had been made in the 60's. So what makes the Thunderbirds so good and so much so that even today in 2008 I can watch them on the TV/online and still enjoy it, and not be put off by the fact that you can see the strings of the puppets or stuff like that (and believe you me that revelation only hit me years after Thunderbirds had ceased being shown regularly on BBC2, when I was smaller I hadn't noticed the strings ONCE in all my time watching them. This fact I attribute to the now and more recently improved picture quality of modern TV's). The thing is though, one shouldn't be bothered by the fact that you can see the strings, in the 1960's - WHEN THIS WAS MADE - this was revolutionary, equivalent to what game developers are doing for the Xbox360 and Playstation 3 today! Supermarionation, colour images, action sequences, explosions...Thunderbirds was bringin special effects people were seeing in the cinema to the home TV screen.



Not only that, one also has to remember that the Andersons' series', all of them in fact, captialised on the un-restrainable lust of the 60's era of creating futuristic visions of our world. The year now is 2008, and even back in the 90's some of the stuff in the show I saw was very revolutionary - eg. Video Phones, but now, we can see such technology being integrated into our society. Video calls are almost a mandatory feature of modern 3G phones. It is fair to say Gerry Anderson was a true visionary. Remember, Thunderbirds is set approx 2060-2080 and Captain Scarlet is somewhere round the same time. Take the SPV in CS for example. It has the passengers facing backwards (for protection in a crash) and uses monitors to allow them to see where they are steering - technology which is being integrated into next generation aeroplanes being designed by Boeing. However, what kept Thunderbirds a grip on reality was its ability to relate to its own era, using iconic locations such as the Empire State Building (one episode involves a project to move the building after an alteration to sub soil conditions...or something like that!), or its often frequent use of "London Internation Airport" or "Heathrow" for you and me, which has and still is one of the busiest airports in the world.



What was also nice about Thunderbirds was that it was always ready to have a story set in any part of the world. Nowhere was too good or too run down that the producers decided "No, we only want to do the BIG cities and countries in the world!". Yes, it did have stories set in the big cities and all that, but other places got a look in; my home of Ireland was in one episode - granted I now don't appreciate the rather (shall we say) stereotypical approach of the characters in it, but perhaps back in the 60's that was accurate. Another thing which likely helped the series and is something which modern series can fall prey too is trying to keep the stories original. Almost everything today is scrutinised for not being "original", everywhere is rife with examples, in books for instance we have Eragon - Lord of the Rings (or in fact ANY fantasy novel ever written) and the video game industry is riddled with copies or stolen ideas etc. But Thunderbirds never had the same thing happen. Yeah sure, it was a "RESCUE" - maybe - but the style and circumstances were always different, meaning the International Rescue team had to employ different gadgets and gizmos to get the job done, but at the same time, they would re-use certain things and you'd be like "Oh yeah, I remember when they used that to...". Arguably the most famous of those things being "The Mole" which was a drilling machine stored in one of the Thunderbird 2 pods, or "Fireflash", a super-sonic aircraft which appeared in a few episodes - though only the centre of attention in two.

There exists an argument that if something manages to stand the test of time, then it is truly a masterpiece. The Beatles have done it, The Wizard of Oz has done it and Thunderbirds has most certainly done it. When something can continue to entertain long after its technological sell-by date, you know you have a winner. Though easily eclipsed by modern puppetry and special effects, the original Thunderbirds still maintains a charm and a class that can never be replaced.



F.A.B. (Not FAB as in brilliant, F.A.B. is something they say in the programme...don't know what it means tho...)

~The Damo

Aside: Back in 2004 a completely new TV series entitled "Thunderbirds IR" - IR being International Rescue - was scheduled into production and set for release in 2005. It used CGI for complex scenes, completely redesigned Thunderbirds vehicles and modern puppet similar to the standard used in Team America: World Police, a parody in its own right of Thunderbirds. It was shot in "Hypermarionation" a tribute to the original "Supermarionation" which can be seen in the credits at the top in the video. The series is on permanent standby after the merger of two companies of which one was running the production of the series. The trailer can be found at Youtube. Personally I'm not impressed, it appears very American-ised and the bits of CGI ruin effects which were masterclassed in the original.