selected from
Cult Times #62

Highlights this month by Paul Spragg (PS), Richard Atkinson (RA)

For full day-by-day listings of all UK TV channels, see magazine

It’s been a rough ride for Angel since it started its Channel 4 run. After the show was heavily cut for its early evening timeslot (working on the basis that no one over the age of 10 could possibly be interested in a show with vampires and silly things like that in it), there was a deluge of complaints.

Things were unclear as we went to press as to what’s happening to the series, but a move to Tuesdays (albeit in the same slot) is on the cards, with late night repeats at a later date. The good news (for Welsh readers) is that S4C have struck a deal whereupon they will be showing the uncut episodes in their later Tuesday slot.

Regardless of all this, Angel really starts to kick into high gear as it passes the season midpoint. Particularly noteworthy this month are Somnambulist, featuring some insight into Angel’s early vampiric life, and I’ve Got You Under My Skin, an exorcist-style tale that’s so scary that it’ll probably last 10 minutes on Channel 4. All that and the characters, especially Wesley, begin to become more rounded. (PS)

Selected from
Cult Times #62

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCI-FI!
Various days and times

It’s the fifth birthday of the former Sci-Fi Channel (home of all things Science Fiction), and to celebrate the event, there are all manner of things happening throughout this month.

This week you can see classic Sci-Fi films such as Metropolis, Aelita, Logan’s Run, Fahrenheit 451 and Barbarella along with documentaries looking at their impact on the genre. In fact, for the next couple of weeks there are documentaries galore, from a look at 1984 to a guide to the development of Science Fiction. There will also be showings of the first and last episodes of Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants, and selected Bionic stories. Many happy returns!

Selected from
Cult Times #62

FARSCAPE
The Ugly Truth
Monday, 18.25

The Moya crew meets up with their old ‘friend’ Crais, who is looking to depower Talyn before he can inadvertantly destroy any more ships. However, as Crichton and company decide whether or not to help him, Talyn lashes out and destroys a vessel, seemingly by himself. Before they know it, the Moya personnel are being held for questioning, and each has a different version of the truth.

A similar principle to The X-Files’ Bad Blood, we get the same scene played out from the viewpoint of different characters, and it’s quite fun to see how they think of themselves. The final resolution isn’t especially surprising, as there’s no other way for everyone to escape death, but it’s the chance to see Crichton as a fawning idiot and D’Argo as the world’s most macho and intelligent man that makes this well worth checking out. (PS).

THE SIMPSONS
You Only Move Twice
Friday, 18.25

LOOK OUT FOR
THE SIMPSONS
Season Twelve – first UK showing from Sunday, 18.00 on Sky 1

Homer takes up a new job, but his boss is a little bit on the megalomanical side... If there’s one thing The Simpsons does well it’s parodies, and this one plays the Bond franchise for laughs with marvellous results. Not only is there a wonderfully over-the-top villain, there’s also a very Bond-esque theme song to set it off a treat. Plus, of course, it’s a Homer episode, and when has there ever been a bad one of those

Selected from
Cult Times #62

STARGATE SG-1
Tangent
Wednesday, 20.00

STARTING THIS WEEK
THE TRIBE
Season Three – first UK showing from Saturday, 16.50 on Channel 5

The oh-so-clever Earth people at the SGC have managed to create a hybrid of a Death Glider and an aircraft, and it goes like a dream. Of course, once O’Neill and Teal’c take it for a run it goes like a nightmare, taking them out of the solar system and aiming them at where Apophis is currently based. And by the time they get there, both will be long dead...

It’s a simple premise, but one which generates an impressive amount of drama as O’Neill and Teal’c travel further out and Carter and Jackson try to acquire a ship that can travel fast enough to rescue them. Just as you think it’s going all right, things take another twist in this exciting and, in places, rather moving, little story. (PS)

ROSWELL
The Toy House
Thursday, 18.00

LOOK OUT FOR
THE SIMPSONS
Season Twelve – first UK showing of new episode A Tale of Two Springfields at 18.00, Sunday on Sky 1

We all have big secrets that we keep from our parents. At 16, most normal teenagers don't tell their parents anything. Max Evans isn’t normal. And one day, when he’s having a cosy chat with Mom in the kitchen, he gets cornered into saving her from chip-pan fire tragedy using his alien powers.

Diane Evans has always thought there was something strange about her adopted children, and now she has an opportunity to force it into the open. Perhaps, thinks Max, it’s time to come out. What’s more important: the lives that he and Isabel have built up in Roswell, or their alien heritage?

Combine this with both Liz and Maria desperately trying to get some attention and you have an episode that deals effectively with all the series’ concerns, and one of the best so far. (RA)