Tropical Heat

 I used to watch this in the 1990s. Well I say watch it, I would have it on in the background, while feverishly flicking through the channels, hoping to catch a glimpse of flesh, late at night

Its very 1990s I can even hear the elevator pitch, in my head

It's Magnum PI meets Moonlighting in the Tropics. 

It's Canadian and thus like Street legal, I assume that it was acquired by ITV in part of a Commonwealth exchange program. It was old when I saw it, the first series dates from 1991 Which makes it younger than the X files.  So the Red-headed lead, may not have been based on Dana Scully. Which means I was mistaken 

 I was watching Tropical Heat, in the later 1990s. It was shown at weekends by LTW. It was alright, and more than a few of peers seem to have caught it as background viewing 

SO I re watched Tropical Heat , as I have been for the last few months, looking back at a lot of retro TV. Cheers which is great. Magnum P.I which is a legend and finally Tropical heat  which is not very good. The two leads have not gone on to much success, I watched it last night, and I cannot remember the name of the redhead, who is Nick's foil. Oh it's Sylvie Girad. 

Carolyn Dunn is a Newfie - She seems to have left the business 

Looking at her IMDB page Carolyn is a star of genre TV particularly as selected by the commissioning editors of late night TV in the 1990s. Her credits include, 

Highlander, Highlander the Raven, Earth Final conflict .Kung Fu the Legend continues, The Hitchhiker

Friday the 13th the Series, Alfred Hitchcock presents ,Night Heat, War of the Worlds

Oh and as I mentioned Street Legal. Looks like Carolyn did not leave Vancouver 

My guess is her Newfie/Irish good looks, gave her a lot of red headed roles 

https://web.archive.org/web/20080122104939/http://www.capebretonpost.com/index.cfm?sid=99909&sc=152

I have since learned that Tropical heat  was filmed in three different locations. Mexico,  Israel, and South Africa. I remember being surprised that there were scenes of product placement with El Al in the credits and titles of the second series 

 I imagine the change of location, leaving the USA to film in South Africa etc. put Actors  off working on Tropical Heat. Much harder to sneak in a guest role in Voyager and a commercial for Budweiser, if you have to fly in from Tel Aviv  Though I think Tucker Smallwood, worked on the show for a while. 

The man who played Spider, Ian Tracey has a decent career- Carolyn Dunn seems to have worked quite a bit So perhaps I am being unfair.

So, the pilot. Well, the opening scene is a murder in a Seafood restaurant in what is supposed to be Philadelphia. This scene is not acted well, and the location is obviously a local tourist place in Mexico. In fact it reminds me of a cebecheria in Peru. The special effects of the gunshots are not done well

The murder is  watched by a cute button of an 8 year old. Who seems to be forgotten later on. 

 We then have the credits. I note that one of the bathing beauties has a fake tattoo of tropical heat. Which is the Series title card. A tattoo would be edgy in the early 1990s 

After the teaser we are introduced to life in Key Mariah,  Which gives us the B story of the episode -  a subplot about the pre-Spider bar owner buying  beer from a new supplier- The supplier a bikini wearing brunette has used her wiles to get into Pre-Spider's, chequebook.  This however runs the risk of upsetting the local brewery which is run by a local gangster. We do not see this local gangster, which means we don't not get introduced to a recurring villain in the pilot. 

So going about his day to day business, which means never buttoning his shirt and drinking straight from bottles Nick, interrupts a stakeout, by a black Philly detective who is hundreds maybe thousands of miles away from his jurisdiction. The Detective is a black man like in Lethal weapon, Stakeout As I said this is made in the very early 90s. There is a few moments of tension when Nick, tries to understand why the Detective does not want any cops to help them. For a while, I wondered if the Detective would be a wolf in sheep's clothing 

Not so 

The plot was about an evil corporation buying art- or at least one of middle managers. Key West could have been a tax haven like a lot of the Caribbean is, which would have meant some interesting storylines. The series does not have the wit to do that. So the bad guys are buying fancy 1990s art and using it to smuggle drugs. It was actually quite an interesting idea. The nice lady artist that Nick Slaughter meets, makes modern art. She welds stuff- again this is edgy in the 1990s  ( Also the nice artist is happy to let the black detective point his gun at her for a while ) 

Nick does not understand art, and so the artist in Bermuda shorts explains it. 

Slyie does things with computers

Well, eventually the Philly detective, is talked into talking about what happens. The nice lady artist, and Nick set a trap for the bad guy. Nick gets a bit beat up. The Corporation tell the hitman who did the shooting in the fish shop that he crossed the line. ( Something actually did come up while I was watching this again, so I skimmed it. ) That said the material is not engrossing.

The B plot is resolved, by nick slaughter taking Pre Spiders beer, and the saleswoman home 

So my verdict on Tropical Heat. Well it's  not great. It was reasonably distracting, watched with the sound off, while hoping to catch an erotic journey to Minsk on channel 4. Its a pity because they had a nice setting, if they had simply not tried to do a cheap version of Magnum P.I or Moonlighting, they may have made a better show 

The Pyramid of Mars

 

So I have a pet theory about episode. 

The power of regeneration that the Timelords have-Via the Timeless Child is a gift of the Osirian's-Who  knew they would not be there to defeat Sutekh. Now imagine the horror  if he  Sutekh had allied with the Daleks or such. So they gave the power of regeneration to the Timelords via the Timeless child. That way, they could shape the fate of the Doctor, to destroy Sutekh. Regeneration means that Sutekh cannot trace the Dr through time

Well there is a reason it is a classic. I had the novelisation of this-Picked up at a school fete or jumble sale

I think this is the first time I have watched it all through, rather than bits and pieces

Tom Baker is almost malevolent In this episode he is driven, and distant. The Dr fights his most dangerous enemy, and he has gone toe to toe, with the Daleks. Interestingly the Time lords are far away 

Yes that is Mr Bronson! 

I wonder what the Ice Warriors were doing when Sutekh was enthroned on Mars

I like the description of the Osirian's domed heads and brains like spinal staircases

Its just so good. It is one story I would like to see remade. At conventions people ask other Doctors to read out the speech from The Rings of Akhenaten. Can you imagine Smith or Capaldi in full Edwardian garb..

 I am surprised that no one has come back to this story. Yes I know the Beast, in Impossible planet - Who is also hinted to be Satan- Novelisation does this explicitly. But why not a cult of Sutekh

Well perhaps things should be left buried 

Planet of the Spiders

 This is actually quite a dark episode of Dr Who. 

It must have been terrifying watching it as 7 year old in 73. As an aside I think the Actor playing the abbot is in yellow face too. 

I think this episode  gets overlooked because of the obvious filler. The chase scene, and because its a regeneration story. It is a wearying story. You can feel Jon Pertwee's age

The  Abbott offers an interesting maxim about time. The poor horse that you whip so hard. 

There will be spoilers :

Firstly, the Dr/ Jon Pertwee is beaten- It is the Great One's arrogance that leads to her downfall We realize that she has complete physical and emotional mastery over the Dr. She can turn him into her puppet. Pertwee's awkward movements as the Great One forces him to spin for her amusement. Shows off the Doctor's age and fragility  The Human rebels on Mettebulis 3 are beaten - (We will return to that planet again in Hide- A story I have reviewed here)

 I am interested in why (Hide excepted )Dr has never been back to the planet of the Spiders , nor why have not seen the Spiders again. Is it too traumatic? Would the desire for revenge be too strong?

Did the Valeyard or Timelord victorious return...

Secondly we have Sarah Jane Smith possessed- This must be a mentally taxing episode for Sarah, the scene where she is in the spiders larder waiting to be devoured, is a moment of Fridge horror. Then when she sees the Dr appear, only for him to appear beaten- A prisoner of the Spiders. The episode skips over this but for a few moments. Sarah must be in utter despair. Being exterminated by a Dalek is surely a kinder fate. 

The Spiders hating being called Spiders is interesting. It is a Human name. So that make sense- They are not Spiders, they are the 8 legs. The Spiders define themselves differently The Spiders are truly alien, despite being terrestrial in origin

Eusocial spiders having a Queen is a twist on biology. I wonder if the Spiders were bio- engineered in universe for some reason. Or maybe they were the great ones first experiment 

The  antagonists are interesting-  The first -Lupton, like everyone in this story is preying on the weak .

But who is weak?

 Lupton passed over and conspired against wants revenge on the world- A salesman, not a King, or Vizer, or General or Scientist. . To this end Lupton manipulates a small group in the Abbey. A spider tries to manipulate Lupton's group. Lupton and the Spider try to manipulate the Queen and council of Spiders  The Spiders manipulate the Dr through the rebels and then openly

 The Spider she notes that his( Lupton's)  mind is stronger than the Metabelians Which seems to imply the Metabelian humans have been domesticated by the Spiders. The children of the colonists are now livestock. 

Gareth Hunt is playing the leader of the human rebels. There clothes seem almost like Apaches - With the desert and crystal this is almost a Western. Pertwee as the Cowboy coming to put things right, and being bushwhacked 

This episode left an impression.. It took a toll  Farewell Jon Pertwee. I really enjoyed your stories 

St Brigit's day

 Its cold. I was up too late last night drinking. I have been unwell, I get test results next week

My parents have both been vaccinated against Covid 19. That said, the Health authorities  have detected the South African strain in the neighbourhood and my sister will get tested

My daughter has enjoyed a vacation in Lima province. She visited several offshore Islands, and Chilca 

I have been watching a lot of Cheers I really enjoy it. It is a lot more innocent time, Cheers is visited by people across the Partisan divide. The Chiefs of staff. They have just had a gay story line. Interestingly the gay bar is called Vito's - Almost a soprano's reference 

 I have enjoyed a mostly dry January. 

I have reached the Tom Baker era of Dr Who, I really enjoyed Planet of the Spiders 

My life is work, and then evenings by my beside. The pubs, and indeed the churches are still closed. 

No barbers, no holidays. Lima went into quarantine this week . We can just keep out fingers crossed and wait for summer