Sapphire And Steel

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I unashamedly give this 5 💎, while accepting that at least one of those points is due to nostalgia. However, given this has feels of the Edwardian ghost stories of E.F. Benson and M.R. James crossed with a sci-fi take on higher-dimensional physics, with multiversal entities engaged in an eons-long conflict waged between malignant psychic incursions and anthropomorphic elemental beings, it's right in my wheelhouse, anyway.

Bookwomble It helps that the novelisation author is also the creator-screenwriter of the TV show, so it's entirely authentic, and reading the book felt just like watching the show. 3mo

TieDyeDude I never heard of this, but it sounds exciting. Is it just the one book? It looks like the TV series is available on Tubi in the US. 3mo

Bookwomble @TieDyeDude Yeah, they only released one novelisation of the first storyline. The show had five or six storylines, of which the second is probably my favourite, featuring an abandoned train station haunted by WWI soldiers, and other entities, but they're all good. Worth a try if you like the low budget but well-scripted feel of, say, '70s Doctor Who 🙂 3mo

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Bookwomble

Sapphire And Steel | P.J. Hammond

"The figure raised its head very slowly and then turned its body, equally slowly, to face Rob.
The figure has no face. No features. There was only a darkness under the strands of hair, where a face should have been. Just a blackness. A nothingness."

There's some creepily effective descriptions from Hammond, as befits a screenwriter, but I had to restrain myself from adjusting the punctuation towards the end ?

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Bookwomble

Sapphire And Steel | P.J. Hammond

"All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension.
Transuranic heavy elements may not be used where there is life.
Medium atomic weights are available: Gold, Lead, Copper, Jet, Diamond, Radium, Sapphire, Silver and Steel.
Sapphire and Steel have been assigned."

This quote is from the TV show opening credits rather than the book, and is about the only explanation given about who/what the MCs are. Wonderfully enigmatic ?

Bookwomble You Tube clip of said opening credits, with '70s radiophonic theme and portentously overblown actorly diction - love it!: https://youtu.be/A_ACM8DYj8c?si=u_GQnFx7WQ5Ak6qo 3mo

TheBookHippie This art. Stunning. 3mo

The_Book_Ninja I read this post before I went to bed last night. And it made me dream about the show! It‘s available to watch on ITVX I might just give it a watch. It‘s been so long since I saw it 3mo

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Bookwomble @TheBookHippie I liked how this came out, too. I've about 100 other tries that made them both look like they'd had bad plastic surgery! 😄 3mo

TheBookHippie @Bookwomble 😅 3mo

Bookwomble @The_Book_Ninja As long as you forgive the late '70s production values, the performances and writing are still excellent. That said, the Second Assignment, about the haunted railway station, the set design and effects are creepy as fuck! 😱 I think the show holds up really well. There's been talk of a reboot over the years, but I wonder if a new production could resist the temptation to give backstory to S&S, which I think would be a mistake. 3mo

The_Book_Ninja @Bookwomble No reboots please. There isn‘t an actor around nowadays that has iconic McCallum hair. 3mo

The_Book_Ninja Also…. https://youtu.be/y05mMRJrUnE?si=yQJn0o9jk80B8CCK 3mo

Bookwomble @The_Book_Ninja That track stands up for itself! I was trying to figure out what DM's contribution to the music was, and I see that he conducted the musicians. I was waiting for him to sing to see if he was better or worse than Shatner! 😂 3mo

The_Book_Ninja @Bookwomble Who “sings” best, The Shatt or Nimoy?🤣 (edited) 3mo

Bookwomble @The_Book_Ninja Well, they're both execrable, aren't they? I do, however, have "Shatner Clause", Bill's Christmas duets album, in which he is so knowingly bad it's kinda good, and then he's singing with some great artists, like Iggy Pop, so it is fun ? 3mo

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Bookwomble

Sapphire And Steel | P.J. Hammond

#BookHaul
Weirdly, I was not only thinking about Sapphire and Steel a couple of days ago, but had an online trawl for the novelisation and decided it was that bit more than I wanted to pay, only to find it today at the same bit more, but the nice man accepted a lower offer, so here it is! 💎🔩😍
The Frank Herbert has a great Ian Miller cover, and it's Frank Herbert 😁
Human? Has some big name authors, and also another fantastic cover!
Happy 😊

The_Book_Ninja Nice! 3mo

RamsFan1963 I remember the Sapphire & Steel TV series, and my huge crush on Lumley, but I didn't know there were books about them. 3mo

Bookwomble @RamsFan1963 There's only one novelisation by the creator, and there was one annual aimed at younger readers. I think there's some fanfic books, and there's a series of Big Finish audio dramas with different actors, but otherwise, this one is it, which I'll be reading next 😊 And, yeah, Joanna was a great choice for the show. She and McCallum took up a big slice of budget, but their performances made it better than its production values. 3mo

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RamsFan1963 @Bookwomble I'm not clear on my timeline, but Sapphire & Steel was after McCallum starred in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. right? 3mo

Bookwomble @RamsFan1963 Right. I don't know the exact dates for UNCLE without looking it up, but I'd have thought late '60s. Sapphire and Steel aired in 1979 to early '80s 🙂 3mo

Suet624 Ilya from the man from uncle! My heartthrob. 3mo

tournevis Good haul! 3mo

Bookwomble @Suet624 He's a stylish dude. I only vaguely remember UNCLE, it must have been on at a funny time or aired against a show my dad wanted to watch instead, but I remember him more clearly from his '70s version of The Invisible Man - did you see that one? 3mo

Bookwomble @tournevis Yeah, I was chuffed to little mint balls to find these 😊 3mo

Suet624 No, I didn‘t see that one. However, I saw him in person a number of times when I worked at Burton snowboards HQ. He was somehow related to Jake or his wife. He had an alcohol problem at the time and sadly he was no longer gorgeous. Thankfully, he cleaned himself up eventually. 3mo

Bookwomble @Suet624 His second wife was Katherine Carpenter, so perhaps she was Jake Carpenter's sister? Sad to hear he went through a stage of alcohol misuse, and positive that he came safely through that. He passed away last year at the age of 90, which is a respectable age, and he's generally spoken of with affection, which isn't a bad legacy ❤️ 3mo

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Bookwomble

Sapphire And Steel | P.J. Hammond

My ironing entertainment is watching a DVD of the '80s TV show Sapphire and Steel, about a pair of transdimensional psychic detectives who are assigned by an unknown force to investigate, and if necessary eliminate, incursions of a malevolent Time entity which uses anachronisms and strong human emotion to break into our plane of existence. Originally developed for children, the producers asked for the spook-factor and tension 👇🏼

Bookwomble ... to be increased and it aired in an early evening slot instead. Actors Joanna Lumley & David McCallum were perfectly cast as the elemental operatives fighting to save existence, but not necessarily the humans caught in the crossfire.
Book link? There was a novelisation of the First Assignment which I'd like to buy, but can't quite bring myself to pay over a tenner for. I'll have to keep looking in charity shops, when that becomes a thing again. 4y

TrishB I did love this show! 4y

Bookwomble @TrishB Me, too (obviously, I guess!). I think it still works very well. They were limited in terms of budget and special effects, but I think that brings out the quality of writing and acting. This plotline has a strong anti-war sentiment to it. 4y

Michael_Gee @Bookwomble Joanna Lumley!! 4y

Bookwomble @GhostStories Yes, she is terrific in this show. For a genre piece, she got to express a subtle range of emotion 💖 4y

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