Feared By The Bad, Loved By The Good

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Nicky and I have been enjoying the highly entertaining 1950s TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood.

The series strong narrative holds up well, even today, and what is pleasing is all of the major characters are well-rounded and given plenty to do.

While Richard Greene's Robin Hood is always the hero, one never left with the impression that other characters are merely supporting fodder, an feeling that one very much gets from series such as the original Star Trek series in which every other episode is some exotic femme falling in love with Captain Kirk.

What seems odd to viewers today is that the series has a high number of contract players and it's not unusual to see the likes of stalwart TV star Paul Eddington play a villain in one ep and the dashing Will Scarlet in another.

Completing the hat trick of enjoyment is the star spotting throughout the series (especially for those familiar with English film and television).

Passing through Sherwood forest are Dr Who (Patrick Trouton), Leo McKern, Richard O'Sullivan, Donald Pleasance, Jane Asher, Joan Sims and Edward Mulhare.

Don't just take our word for it, watch part of the debut ep below:

Foxy, Fightin', Fast Shootin' Funky Squad

A stranger to Australian shores in the 1990s might be forgiven for thinking that the the country could only support one comedy writing group.

And they'd be about right.

From the sophmoric beginnings as the D-Generation at the beginning of the decade to acclaimed TV and filmakers (The Castle, The Dish) of Working Dog productions at the end of the decade, a core group of members flowed through the humour factory turning out interesting one-off series like Funky Squad (1995).

Screening on the ABC, the series played out like an old Aaron Spelling series with laboured jokes and all. Amongst the most interesting part of the seven episode series is that it contained its own ad breaks featuring genuine TVCs of the late 1960s/early 1970s.


The period jokes continued with the publishing of The Funky Squad Annual. Although a quintessential English tradition, the Annual, released either for summer or Christmas, was filled with short stories, comics and puzzles to last the youngster through to the next TV season.

I Asked You Not To Tell Me That

Although not in the best conditions, this 1969 reprint of Get Smart fiction, stands as another example of TV product tie-in.

"Is not limousine," Boris said. "Is sight-seeing bus. I was on sight-seeing tour and I got separated from the group."

"I see," Max said. "That explains why you're down here in this hole." He turned to Blossom. "That explains everyting. Know what we've blundered into? A tourist trap!"

Even in print, you can still hear Don Adam's delivery accompanied by the de rigeur laugh track.

Get Smart (1965-1970), remains an outstanding television series which doesn't fail to hold its appeal in the more than 35 years since Max hung up his shoe phone.

For Nora, Get Smart has always existed as reruns and evokes memories of Sunday afternoon television on Channel 7 where two episodes would be shown back-to-back. It became such a regular event that she now boasts being able to recall plot and guest stars within two minutes of watching any episode.

Nick recalls the series first hand (just) and remembers reading the Get Smart comic strip found weekly in the innovative Gerry Anderson comic book enterprise TV Century 21. In the US, Max got eight full-length comics of his own.

Although Get Smart was developed in response to pop culture phenomenon James Bond, it also exists in the pantheon of greats in its own right thanks to the outstanding comic ability of Buck Henry and Mel Brooks.

One of the classic episodes The Groovy Guru, guest starring F-Troop's Larry Storch, what a guy - he even has his own My Space site) inspired moderately successful Australian band, The Sacred Cowboys.

Here's an extract from Get Smart and The Groovy Gurus and we dare you not to sing "Kill Kill Kill Thrill Thrill Thrill" by the end of it:

Like, Groovy

In decades before the Internet and fanfic you had to buy the official stuff.

None of this, write your own stories malarky, who do you think you are?

Anarchist. Hippy.

You're just the viewer and if you don't like our character development, well that's just too bad.

Read the cover daddy-o, it's like the 'Authorized Edition' man.

No great literary shakes here but an interesting use of character description shorthand as not to distract from the impending action:

The man with the machine gun was tall and bony and had the face of Bing Crosby beneath the cloth brim of his work cap. As the man with the crowbar went past, the driver saw that he had the face of Raymond Burr.

Raymond Burr might have wanted it back - he was playing Ironside at the time.

Here's a glimpse of the series:

Light My Fire

Now, I ask you, what better way to promote your brand new soap opera set in a fire station, than by giving entertainment writers the means to create their own conflagration.

The short lived (1995-1996) series ran on the Seven Network and while not very extinguished, sorry distinguished, it's notable for the appearance of Mrs Hugh Jackman (Deborra-Lee Furness) as Dolores and fellow thespian Liddy Clark.

Clark gave up acting to become a Queensland Labor Party politician and quickly got her fingers burnt as Indigenous Affairs Minister over the Winegate affair.