Update: Metal Gear Marathon
Oct 17th
Hi guys,
It’s been a while I know! However, I’ve not been sitting around doing nothing! The Broom Cupboard posts have been temporarily put on hold so I can concentrate on another short term project that is taking up some of my time at the moment!
Basically I mentioned a while ago that I was concentrating a lot of my efforts on The Broom Cupboard’s sister site (that has no connection to it at all, other than it’s on the same domain!), Shadow Moses: Metal Gear Realm.
Well there have been a few developments. I also mentioned in my post on the 18th August, that any Metal Gear related thoughts or reviews would be based there instead of on The Broom Cupboard. Alas, the reviews have come seeping through and I am pleased to announce that the first THREE chapters of the ultimate Metal Gear review, cleverly (?) entitled “Metal Gear Marathon” are now live for your perusal!
Chapter 1 – Introduction
Chapter 2 – Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Chapter 3 – Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Chapter 4 – Metal Gear
Chapter 5 – Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
Enjoy!!!
The Broom Cupboard will be back in action with full reviews and exciting news, within the next few months. Meanwhile, as I say, all reviews for the forseeable future (as you can see by the MG Marathon Intro, I have a big job on my hands!) will be over at Shadow Moses. See you over there!
P.S. If you’re wondering why I started with MGS3, read the introduction.
Star Trek: The Original Series & Animated Series (1966 – 1969 & 1973 – 1974)
Aug 18th
Star Trek Opening Sequence
With all the hype surrounding the new Star Trek movie when it was scheduled for Christmas 2008 way back in 2007, I set myself a target to watch every bit of Star Trek history ever created and see what the phenomenon was all about.
I’m by no means a ‘Trekkie’ or ‘Trekker’, however they like to refer to themselves these days, but I wanted to do things properly. My initial instinct was to buy the ‘Enterprise’ complete set and start off completely chronologically. However, £160 quid later and after hanging around on a few forums, I was quickly deterred from this way of thinking and was convinced to start with ‘The Original Series’, then some movies, ‘The Next Generation’, some more movies, ‘Deep Space 9’, ‘Voyager’ and finish off with ‘Enterprise’ which many of you may or may not know is story of how it all began, but I can’t be totally sure because I’ve not watched it yet – even though I have the box set sitting in my room unwatched and very tempting!
Anyway, needless to say after forking out £160 on the Enterprise box set, (this seems expensive but if you’ve ever looked into purchasing a ‘complete’ set of any of the Star Trek series, you will know that this is quite cheap in comparison), I was penniless and luckily my girlfriend kindly bought me ‘The Next Generation’ and ‘Animated Series’ box sets before they too went up in price. I couldn’t afford a TOS set so I was convinced by a workmate to join up with Lovefilm (an online rental service) and I starting renting each of TOS disks in order – starting with The Cage (TOS Pilot episode – U.K. Series 3 – Disk 7).
Out of curiosity, I also rented the re-mastered disks (the ones with the HD DVD side and DVD on the other). The episodes look incredible and the work the studio has done on restoring the already beautiful originals is incredibly and worth it if only to see the special CGI work and reworked sound. Unfortunately, only season 1 was available to watch when I went through them but I believe that season 2 is imminent and I’m looking forward to a possible Blu-ray release which will no doubt tempt me into purchasing the complete set of re-mastered TOS.
Spock, Kirk and Scotty
As for the series itself I have mixed feelings. I started watching Star Trek: TOS as a child, it used to be on BBC2, slotted in between Neighbours and whatever was on BBC1 after the news, as a kid I could never understand the news so I always waited patiently for whatever came next by watching The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Star Trek! I don’t really have fond memories of TOS from my childhood because it always bored me a little and could never quite understand it, it was a little too old for my comprehension, however, like any other kid, I could appreciate the coolness of the gadgets and the space theme. The same can’t be said for the Fresh Prince, Will Smith was right m=on my level with that one!
So it has to be said that I really wasn’t going into this with the highest of expectations and many people advised against me trying such a feat, quoting that I have hundreds of hours of Star Trek ahead of me and is it something I wish to waste my life on? Well my answer was simple; I really wanted to try it out, to see if I could understand it for once. Since those days of being quite bored watching TOS as a child, I had since visited the theatre to watch ‘First Contact’ and had watched a number of awe inspiring TNG episodes that made me want to watch the whole thing from scratch and witness the growing of such a huge phenomenon. With the growing success of Battlestar and the recent reconditioning of Star Wars theatrical films, it felt like a good time to revisit an ongoing fascination of mine – space.
‘The Cage’ is a classic episode and one that I’d advise everyone watch as it really fits chronologically. Coupled with the later re-imagining of it in ‘The Menagerie’ they are considered the best of the TOS stories. Season 1 was the best of the lot for me, with the introductions of the Klingon’s and Khan, it really invites you into the world of Star Trek. It’s funny seeing the characters and races in their original glory, from their inception, knowing that all along you’ve been familiar with their characterisations from later incarnations, whether it be through the latter ST spin-off’s or through movies solely focussed on them some 20 years after the TOS episodes were made.
Seasons 2 and 3 faded into a bit of a blur to me really, I felt that as I tried to concentrate, I fell asleep! This is by no means a fault of the show itself but rather a fault of mine that I have not got the attention span to deal with dated effects and with what seemed to me as dull storylines. Cinema and television has moved on so much in the last 40 years that it seems that Hollywood has set bigger and bigger standards for itself, thus making some things of old, almost unwatchable because they do not keep the pace like so many films and shows do in this day and age. For example, if the stories of TOS are compared to some of the stories that they’ve dealt with in latter series’ and movies, it would be fair to say that a film with a storyline like First Contact, is a lot more impressive and fascinating than the majority of the second and third season of TOS.
This of course is going to infuriate a few readers and let me categorically say that I’m not calling The Original Series bad, nor am I calling it boring, I’m just saying that it wasn’t for me and I find far more enjoyment in the more modern incarnations of the Star Trek world.
This said, there were many of the 79 episodes that I found very good. The mobsters, where Kirk makes fun of the gangsters, very funny indeed and the aforementioned episodes which involve Khan, the Romulan and Klingon based episodes are also very good.
After completing TOS, I moved on to the Animated Series, which in a word is simply spectacular. I loved the animation and although it is still not considered cannon in the Star Trek universe, I loved the stories. Many of the ground rules set out by Gene Roddenbery were cemented into the animated Series and many of the ground rules set out in the world of the Animated Series were cemented into Star Trek lore and followed in later instalments, which leaves us baffled as to why it is not considered cannon. It should be, it is by far a worthy addition to the Star Trek world, with captivating stories that last no longer than 22 minutes each with good commentaries not to mention superb characterisation in both the crew and the numerous enemies. It keeps your attention and deserves to be part of any collection.
Since, I have moved onto the first four movies and am now embarking on The Next Generation, watching the 5th and 6th movies in amongst them in order of the date the episodes were aired and movies released. I will then move onto Deep Space 9 in full and Voyager later on.
In the mean time, please feel free to download the PDF which gives the order in which I am following the Star Trek universe. Hopefully it will help you in any endeavours you may have of following the series too.
Star Trek Chronological Timeline (PDF Document)
This is by no means a strictly chronological document, if it were, the episodes of TNG, DS9 and VOY would crossover and by mixed in together as they were aired alongside each other at some points in time. However, as I have not been able to find any documentation on the exact crossovers, I have not been able to incorporate it into this document. If anyone can help me identify and find the crossovers, I will be more than happy to amend the PDF document to make it completely chronological.
Update: Metal Gear Solid
Aug 18th
Just a little update, as some of you may have noticed, many of you may not care, the site has not been updated for a while. The reason for this is because I have been working ’solidly’ (excuse the pun) on a new project called ‘Shadow Moses’.
Shadow Moses: Metal Gear Realm, is a tribute site for the Metal Gear saga created and developed by Hideo Kojima and Konami, the site is hosted alongside The Broom Cupboard and my personal website. Initially, I wanted to place all Metal Gear reviews and thoughts on The Broom Cupboard but my ideas grew and grew and I ended up having thoughts for two separate websites.
Some of you may or may not know, but I have a fondness for the Metal Gear series and what better way than to set up the ultimate tribute through a website. I have an extensive collection of Metal Gear related items, so I decided that I wanted to showcase the collection – now known as ‘The Virtuous Collection’ online. I will also post any Metal Gear related thoughts and reviews on Shadow Moses too.
Please stop by and take a look at: shadowmoses.jonathanpthomas.com
or click this banner…
Enjoy and I hope you like it!
P.S. You will be pleased to know that you can now access The Broom Cupboard even easier through thebroomcupboard.jonathanpthomas.com
Battlestar Goldmine
Jul 9th
A Cylon - 2007 reincarnation
As we all await the arrival of the second half of the fourth and final season of Battlestar Galactica, the Ron Moore reincarnation, we find ourselves rushing to the net for more and more information and possible gossip in the hiatus. Well, in my quest for more Galactica in this lul of TV nothingness, I have stumbled across a superb blog written by a designer on the Galactica series. He has posted some informative and very interesting pieces about the Cylon centurions of the latest series and how they tried to stay true to the orignal vision of the Cylons we saw in the 1978 Battlestar Galactica.
You can view the “Anatomy of a Cylon” – Battlestar visual effects, blog post at Darth Mojo’s site here.
More recently, Darth Mojo, has written an article about the recent half season (season 4) cliff-hanger, which includes a visual effects breakdown of how they achieved the final scene of Revelations (season 4 episode 10), a scene that will be imprinted in our minds until we see the rest of the season appear on our screens in 2009, unless of course, a T.V. movie appears before then.
You can read the article BSG VFX: REVELATIONS here. In the coming weeks, on Darth Mojo’s blog, he will be breaking down the visual effects of each episode in the season so far, starting off backtracking with “The Hub” (ep 9), so keep checking back there for more BSG goodies.
Darth Mojo’s site has been added to the blogroll, I love the site personally and I’ll back him all the way as he keeps the nostalgic view of Battlestar Galactica (1978) as well as bringing it into the 21st Century with the new show, which of course, we all know is something special!
Talking of something special, BSG re-creator Ron Moore certainly has brought us more than our fair share of superb sci-fi, starting with Star Trek: TNG as well as DS9 and Voyager. He is continuing to produce quality stuff with BSG, what’s next for him and what does he make of his phenomenal success story? Take a look at Wired Magazine’s extended interview with him here. Honestly, you need to read it, it’s eight pages of mind numbing goodness!
More on BSG soon, if you’ve had a look around Mojo’s blog, you’ll also see Star Trek stuff too, also very interesting visual fx reading, that’s what’s next for this blog…Star Trek: TOS! See you soon.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Jul 9th
Finally, 2008 saw the end of a 19 year wait for an all new instalment to the Indiana Jones series. With all sorts of rumours flying around about several different scripts such as “Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods”, “Indiana Jones and the little green men” and “Atomic Ants” etc! All code names and plots for the eventual unveiling of what was to be forever known as “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”.
I won’t dwell too much on the hype that surrounded this release, because we all know about the computer that got stolen with ‘vital’ plot information on it, court cases and ultimate secrecy that ended up becoming one of Hollywood’s worse kept secrets ever. It was obvious that this film was going to be about aliens, yes, you heard correctly. An Indiana Jones film about aliens.
Needless to say I was sceptical to say the least. The thing I loved the most about the series was the believability (is that a word?) of the stories. The fact that I was convinced that such archaeological devices existed in the Ark and the Grail etc. But for me, aliens were asking a bit much of me and the audience. It just didn’t seem to fit in to the Indiana Jones universe and lore.
Nevertheless, I paid top prices to go and view this at the cinema on opening day. It was packed out and there was an air of expectancy and excitement that only a Spielberg and/or Lucas film could conjure. As the opening scene kicks in we were treated to the Paramount mountain fading into a molehill (cliché?…mountain/molehill!) with a disappointing CGI creature popping its head out of the top. Annoyingly this creature pops up numerous times throughout the film. Perhaps the most annoying thing about this though, is the irony of Spielberg saying that he wanted to continue in the original B-Movie vein he had established with the first three films, disposing of the need for overused CGI effects. The original trilogy had a very organic/natural feel to them, the sometimes, over-use of CGI in this movie totally goes against that grain.
Mutt Williams/Henry Jones III played by Shia LeBeouf
The story centres around a middle aged Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) who, whilst on his travels, is stopped by a biker named Mutt Williams (Shia LeBeouf). He gives Jones a coded message from an old colleague, Harold Oxley (John Hurt) that tells him of a Crystal Skull with psychic and magnetic powers that he hid in the grave of Francisco de Orellana, a Conquistador who went missing in the 1500s while seeking Akator (also known as El Dorado). They are tracked by the not so evil Colonel-Doctor Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), who, in my eyes, fails to capture the true essence of an Indiana Jones antagonist. She, of course, is accompanied by Soviet soldiers.
After eventually being captured by the Soviets, Indy and Mutt find themselves in the middle of a jungle base held captive and accompanied by Oxley and Mutt’s mother, a former love interest of Jones’ who was first introduced in Raiders of the Lost Ark – Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen). We see that Oxley has suffered a mental breakdown and portrays some very strange behaviour, and we also discover, during their escape, that Mutt is indeed Indy’s son.
This is particularly important as it also explains the dynamic between the characters leading up to this point. Earlier in the film we see another classic Indy bike chase, this time, Henry Jones Jnr. is the passenger seat, holding on for dear life in the waist of his, at the time unbeknown to him, son. We get a similar feel for their relationship as we do with Harrison Ford and Sean Connery in the third instalment. Only this time, Indiana has done some growing up and it’s Mutt who is doing the showing off. We also catch a glimpse of the cheeky grin and look for approval by Mutt which is quickly thwarted by the now middle-aged Jones who is clearly unimpressed and more worried about staying in one piece.
That jungle scene!
Jones and Co escape the clutches of their captors, by any means necessary involving and unconvincing and perhaps, at times, over-the-top Jungle chase. Without spoiling it too much, there is an awful scene where Mutt gets himself up a tree, accompanied by a few tree-hopping-CGI monkeys and it puts me off the whole scene entirely. It seems unnecessary and useless in an Indiana Jones film, I’m all for humour but we’ve never seen rubbish like that before in an Indy film, at least nothing that I’ve cringed at like I did in that scene.
They eventually reach the Temple of Akator but they have been followed by the Soviets all the way. They have been following a trail left by Indiana Jones’ former partner, Mac (Ray Winstone). Earlier in the film Mac defected to the Soviets, betraying Indy in the first act of the film. The escape in the jungle allowed him to get back on side with Indiana and he begs for Indy to let him join them. In a second betrayal, he leaves traces of their tracks and Spalko and her men follow them into the temple eventually revealing Macs complicity.
As they head into the chamber of 13 alien, crystal skeletons, one with the skull missing, they are appsoached by Irina Spalko who eventually proceeds to place the skull on the headless skeleton. Oxley regains his sanity amongst the chaos that replacing the skull has caused, he explains that the aliens are the secret to the Mayans advanced technology, a question that has riddled us all for hundreds of years.
As the film concludes, we see an amazing crescendo of water and the now ruined temple, with the group looking on in awe as what could only be explained as an Unidentified Flying Object rising from the ground and disappearing into thin air. As the Amazon floods the crevice left by the alien ship, it disposes of any evidence of Akator. In true modern Hollywood fashion, the film ends on a high note, a very cliché wedding. Perhaps it was necessary for this old timer though.
Thankfully, just before the credits, we see Indy’s hat on the floor about to be picked up and donned by the younger of the Jones’. I don’t know if it was me but everyone in the cinema sat back in shock at the thought of it…would he?…wouldn’t he?…he’d better not! Thankfully all our hearts were put at rest when Indiana Jones put on the hat as he and his new bride exit through the chapel doors.
Overall, the nostalgia factor was great, perhaps I enjoyed it more than I should have because I loved the references to the Ark and the warehouse at the beginning which appeared at the end of ‘Raiders’. Shia LeBeouf was a great addition to the cast and it was nice to see Indy become a human being again, this through the emergence of his son and becoming a husband and father, but if Mutt Williams was to carry on the flame (as suggested by Lucas and across the internet), I think it would be a shame. For once Hollywood should stick to the plan and keep it as simply Indiana Jones, not Indiana Jones and his son’s dog’s uncle.
Keep checking back for your DVD needs
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Jul 4th
Well it’s taken a month but I’m back to complete the Indiana Jones franchise. It would be a shame not to write about the last two films in the series as they are probably the most controversial of the four films, and of course, they make for good banter!
Probably, for me ‘The Last Crusade’ is the most accessible Indiana Jones film, for the fact that it has intertwining stories that we can all relate to, most notably the story of the father-son relationship between Henry Jones (Sean Connery) and Henry (Indiana) Jones Jr.
A young Indiana Jones played by River Pheonix
The third and for years, seemingly final film (until it was succeeded by 2008’s fourth instalment, ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’), kicks off with a young Indiana Jones (the late and very talented, River Pheonix) scouting around caves and basically getting up to mischief as he stumbles across some treasure hunters, he discovers the Cross of Francisco De Coronado which “should be in a museum”, much to the dismay of Indy! Three years after retrieving the Lost Ark, Jones recovers the cross once again, getting revenge on the robbers that took it back from him when he was younger.
Hi father, Henry Jones (Connery) is kidnapped by Nazis whilst searching for the Holy Grail. Guided by his seniors diary, Indy sets out to rescue him and finds both he, his father and his captors intertwined in a quest to recover probably the most sought after archaeological relics of all time.
Holding on for dear life! - Indiana Jones in the tank chase
The most memorable part of the story of the Last Crusade, for me, is the tank chase. Both Henry Jones Snr. and Marcus Brody are captured by the Nazis and held in a moving tank. Indy chases after the tank in an attempt to rescue them, however, it’s never easy and Jones finds himself hanging on for dear life as he gets squeezed between the tank and a solid rock cliff side with only a turret to hold on to! The conclusion of the scene sees the rescue of the two captives but the seeming demise of the hero as the tank pummels toward the bottom of a canyon. We see an emotional Henry Jones Sr., one that makes clear his love for his son when he sees the tank plunge to its demise, thinking that Indy is falling with it.
The emotions come to a typical father-son end when Indy emerges on the brow of the cliff, they share an intimate hug and an exchange of devotion for a short lived second or two, then Henry quickly shakes himself down and declares that they should get a move on, the Nazis are getting away! Meanwhile Indy, is still craving a little more of his fathers attention. Earlier in the film, Indy takes his father for a ride in a motorbike chase and as he pulls off his boyish stunts, he looks to his father with a cheeky grin and laugh, seeking his approval. Needless to say that Henry Sr. looks on in disapproval, unimpressed by his schoolboy antics! This is a classic man-to-man/father and son dynamic that is typical of many relationships and proves my previous point that many of us can relate to Indy and his fathers relationship. This is what, for me, makes this film stand out among the rest. With unforgettable performances from both Harrison Ford and Sean Connery, we get a real taste for the more down to earth and real side of Indiana Jones, not just the superhero/out of this world side.
Henry Jones (Sean Connery) and Henry Jones Jnr. (Harrison Ford)
They get captured by the Nazis and the crescendo of the film and epitome of their relationship comes when a Indy must walk through the temple that houses the grail avoiding deadly traps whilst guided by his fathers diary. Knowing along the way that he must save his father, the only way to do so is to retrieve the Holy Grail. He successfully navigates his way through the death traps and takes a walk of faith across a chasm to reach a Knight of the Last Crusade who guards a number of false cups as well as the real grail. His captors choices get them into trouble but Indy chooses wisely to eventually emerge the victor in a suspenseful and rewarding ending which sees Indy and his comrades ride off on horse back into the sunset.
This truly is one of my favourite films of my childhood, not because it’s necessarily the best of the Indy films but because it is one that I remember well, and the first Indiana Jones film I saw in a cinema! For nostalgic purposes this gets a top notch 4 star rating!
For your DVD needs… (click the DVD cover for amazon listing)
 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Special Edition DVD |
Back from shore leave!
Jul 1st
Hi guys, just to let you know, I’ve not forgotten about my duties to this blog. Even though the essence of a blog is to update it as often as I can, lots of you will know that this is not always possible. But I’m back now, fired up and ready to go with lots more stuff to write about.
I will of course be finishing where I left off with the conclusion of the Indiana Jones quadrilogy. Then I’ll be moving onto new things. I’ve recently finished the Star Trek: The Original Series and Animated Series so will be covering a low down of that. As well as my endeavours to complete one of the greatest gaming sagas in the past 20 years – the Metal Gear franchise.
So look forward to that guys. I’ll be back with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade soon!
Jonathan
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
May 30th
As I stated in yesterdays post, many people regard ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ as the definitive Indiana Jones film. However, in my opinion, it plays second fiddle to ‘Temple of Doom’. I emphasise “in my opinion” though, probably my only reasoning is because I remember much more about watching this film when I was a child than I did the first instalment. I wasn’t even a year old when ‘Temple of Doom’ arrived on our shores in the U.K. but judging by the length of time it used to take to get from the box office to the little screen, the terrestrial television rights probably didn’t occur in the U.K. until at least 1986-88 maybe? (Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, I was young!) So that means I would have been about 4-5 years of age watching this for the first time on television. I loved every minute of it!
The opening scene, a little out of place in an action adventure movie, starts with Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) signing in a Chinese nightclub. Indiana Jones is trying to negotiate the trading of an artefact from Chinese gangsters. Things go horribly wrong, Jones and Willie end up scrambling amongst chaos to find a crystal and a life saving antidote that will cure Indy from a deadly poison fed to him by the Chinese gangsters during the negotiations. They manage to escape with the help of a little friend, 12-year-old Short Round (Ke Huy Quan), a mini Indiana Jones wannabe who adds a lot of comic relief to the film.
As they find their way out of the clutches of the gangsters they board a plane, and are left for dead mid-flight. When hey safely avoid crashing inside the plane, they find their way to a distressed Indian village. The village has been stripped of all it’s life, the people are starving and their children have been taken. The shaman tells Indy that he must recover a sacred stone that belongs to the village, that he believes will restore the village back to its natural thriving state. They discover it is one of the Sankara stones, stones that have a magical effect on whoever possesses them, hense why the village has seen such a depression since it was taken.
As they set out on their journey, they arrive at Pankot Palace and everything seems fine and they are treated like royalty. Until they stumble across the Temple of Doom where rituals of a sacrificial nature are being carried out and we find out that the village children are forced into labour underground in a mine.
Indy sets out to retrieve the stone and to free the children from slavery, in the process he meets some near death experiences including being possessed and almost having his heart ripped out by the Thuggee’s psychopathic high priest – Mola Ram (Puri).
The Chase is on!
In one of the most memorable scenes of my childhood, they break the children free after raising havoc in the Temple, and they set out to escape the clutches of the Thuggee warriors. In a wild chase they race through tunnels within the mine shafts in a small rail carriage. Closely followed by the warriors, as the warriors slowly meet their demise one by one, Mola Ram spills a massive reservoir of water that will no doubt flush Indy, Willie and Short Round out of the mines, in the aim of killing them off once and for all.
Needless to say Indy saves the day in spectacular fashion and returns safely to the village, stone in hand and children by his side. On recent viewing this film stands out as one of my favourite movies of my childhood. There were no effects, like there were at the end of Raiders which made it look its age, just simple fun. I think this film optimises, for me, the way Indiana Jones films still manage to take you out of reality and place you in suspended fantasy for a couple of hours!
For your DVD needs… (click the DVD cover for amazon listing)
 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - Special Edition DVD |
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
May 29th
Righteo people, hope you had a good bank holiday weekend. This week we’re kicking off with a bit of an Indiana Jones special, the last week (and the rest!) has been absolute Indy mania across the globe and what better way to start the week than pay homage to one of the greatest action heroes of our time.
The first of the now four Indiana Jones feature films was made before I was born but somehow I still managed to remember a lot about the film from when I was a child. I was brought up watching Indy, like many of us, on the ITV weekend repeats every so often back in the 80’s and 90’s. I loved the character and the adventure; I was always into puzzles and watching Indiana Jones try to manoeuvre through temples and ancient relics always made me smile. It opened up my mind to actually believe I too could be an archaeologist who could find long lost treasure that “needs to be in a museum”!
Indiana Jones when he attempts to replace the statue with a bag of sand!
Raiders kicks off with probably one of the most memorable scenes of all of the films put together, Indy a jungle with Alfred “Doc Ock” Molina searching for a golden statue. When they find it, we see the classic Harrison Ford victorious grin, until he realises he’s just set off a trap and now he needs to run! In the process of escaping this deadly tomb he gets betrayed by Satipo (Molina) and left for dead. Miraculously fighting his way out of the pickle in true Indiana Jones fashion he passes a now dead Satipo on his way out and encounters the evil Belloq (Paul Freeman), the foe that causes most of the problems for the duration of his journey in pursuit of the Ark of the Covenant.
The film is probably the most loved of the quadrilogy, with such memorable scenes underground when Indy finds the Ark only to lose his grip on it when Belloq finds him. This leads to both Indy and Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) getting trapped with hundreds, if not thousands of snakes. This scene itself pretty much sums up the classic mix of humour and action/adventure that we have all came to love about the Indiana Jones films.
In his pursuit of the Ark, Jones finds himself escaping the caves, blowing up aeroplanes and catching a ride on a submarine to an island where Belloq and the Nazis want to open the Ark in the hope of finding the tablets on which Moses made the covenant with God.
The final scenes lead to a crescendo of what can only be described as God’s wrath and in classic B-movie fashion Spielberg pulls off some old school (but no doubt breakthrough at the time) effects to create a truly nostalgic 1930’s feel.
On recent viewing (in readiness for the new instalment), the closing scene at the warehouse was reminiscent of a closing scene in an X-Files episode. Events in the fourth film made more sense when thinking back to this very scene in the Raiders of the Lost Ark.
And for your DVD needs…
 Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark - Special Edition DVD |
Ryan Giggs and the Kings of Europe!
May 23rd
The Manchester United League and Champions League Double winners of 2008
What a year it’s been, the Welsh winning the Grand Slam, Cardiff getting to the FA Cup final and doing us all proud when they were at Wembley last week, even the Welsh national football side have pulled their act together in fairness to John Toshack and his young squad. Also, although I’m a Cardiff fan, I think Swansea deserve a “quick” mention, well done on promotion, it’ll be good beating you in the Championship next season. It all amounts to a phenomenal year for Welsh sport and let’s hope the coming season is just as good and better.
I’ve been well into football since 1992, around the birth of the Premiership and the dominance of Manchester United. My father was a fan of George Best and Bobby Charlton and spoke highly of them and the glory days of United. I personally grew up a fan of Gary Lineker and as he retired, found myself looking for another hero. Then along came the Welsh wizardry of Ryan Giggs. It made sense to me, at that time, my last year in primary school, to follow Manchester United. I have followed Giggsy and the team on their ups and downs for 16 years now.
People often ask me who I support, I say Cardiff, predominantly because they are local, but if I want to watch and follow good football, it has to be Manchester United. Sir Alex Ferguson is a genius, and the last 16 years have been a lesson in how to manage nearly three or four generations of footballers and get the best of them every time.
In the second half of the 90’s (after the departure of Eric Cantona in 1997) he built a squad of youngsters that would go on to dominate the premier league for three consecutive seasons in 1999 as well as win the UEFA Champions League to become kings of Europe for the second time in their long history, second only to the team of 1968 that beat Benfica 4 – 1. 1999 saw the replacement of such legends as George Best, Bobby Charlton, Dennis Law and Nobby Stiles who lifted the cup in ‘68 to the new kids David Beckam, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs, to name but a few.
The Manchester United treble winning side of 1999
We lifted the cup at the Nou Camp with one of the greatest comebacks ever witnessed, 2 – 1 against Bayern Munich. Witnessing goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in injury time! Ferguson was later knighted for his contribution to football. Although United held on to the league title for two more consecutive seasons, they failed in their attempts to regain the Champions League and therefore these seasons seemed to go unnoticed amongst the press in the United history.
Here we are 9 years, a Rio Ferdinand eight month ban, 4 titles, and a few dodgy signings later in 2008, Schmeichel and Beckham-less. But now, we seem to be stronger than ever! It’s been probably the most nail-biting and close seasons ever with Arsenal and Chelsea hot on our heels for the best part of the last few months. After our 2 – 1 loss at Stamford Bridge a few weeks ago, it all looked so bleak, Chelsea levelling us on points and them looking the favourites to progress to the final of the Champions league, it seemed as if retaining the Premiership title and the European Cup were miles away.
Then, along came the golden boy of United’s past two decades, I’m not talking of legends such as Cantona, Keane (definitely no golden boys!), David Beckham (who lost that title when he left for sunny Spain and flopped) or even the invincible Paul Scholes. I’m talking about the longest serving Manchester United player that has ever lived, the Welsh winger, Ryan Giggs. Overtaking Sir Bobby Charlton’s appearance record of 758, in this years first ever all English Champions League final against Chelsea, Ryan Giggs came on, not only to score and secure the win against Wigan (United’s 17th league title, one behind Liverpool) on the final day of the Premiership season but he slotted away one of the winning penalties that won us the glorious double, 1 – 1 (6 – 5 on penalties) against Chelsea in the Champions League final 2008.
Ryan Giggs - 1999 and 2008 Champions League Winner
To achieve this feat whilst only playing football for one club in his entire career is one phenomenal record. And to top it all off, he’s Welsh! A true sportsman and one that us Welsh can be proud of.
So what does the future hold for United now? Hopefully an 18th and maybe a, Liverpool beating, 19th league title which would be the icing on the cake for Alex Ferguson’s fruitful (to say the least) career. And no doubt they will chase the retention of the Champions league title they have so deservedly won this season. A feat that no club has managed since the inception of the Champions League and hasn’t been achieved on the European Cup front since AC Milan in 1990 and 1980 by an English club (Nottingham Forest).
Come on Giggsy, come on United, promotion for Cardiff next year and look out the rest of the world, here come the Welsh national Rugby and Football boys!
Update: Here’s the amazon.co.uk links to the DVD’s that will keep this season and other historic seasons in our memories forever! (Click the DVD to visit the amazon listing).
 Wales Grand Slam 2005 DVD |
 Wales Grand Slam 2008 DVD |
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 Manchester United - Treble Champions 1999 DVD |
 Manchester United - Double Champions 2008 DVD |
 Ryan Giggs - True Red DVD |