Just time for a few words on Wayward Pines ahead of it’s final episode on Thursday night at 9pm on Fox (various catch-up TV methods are available). The strength of the series has been in the way the story has actually developed each week.

I loved the idea of leaving a gap after episode 5 which revealed a lot we didn’t know but by no means answered all our questions.
Perhaps the master stroke for the storyline as a whole was the arrival of Ethan’s wife and son in town earlier than in the novels on which the series is based. Ethan and his family becoming increasingly central to the conflict in Wayward Pines was a shrewd move.

  
The bomb plot set by those who concealed their hatred of the town and the way it was run was a timely reminder of terrorist plots in our own world. Even more so Wayward Pines was clearly intended to be a perfect human society, the fact is in many ways this has put our own society(ies) under the microscope.

Is the town meant to be our own world as it should be, is the electric fence there to keep the residents in (or under control) or failing that is it more a metaphor for the trap we are all in. The trap being our circumstances: our jobs, our homes or lack of them, our financial situation, our personal problems, our health, our relationship or inability to relate with others.

And the Abbies or aberrations are they a threat that has truly evolved from humans, a manufactured and botched experiment or more philosophically the part of ourselves that prevents us becoming the person we want to be.

It’s food for thought and the Abbies are certainly feasting… 

  

Jeremy Kyle  “I am not a self-righteous man who has to hide behind a bouncer when I stir up trouble”

Jeremy Kyle has entered a war of words with Russell Brand over his opponents controversial opinion regarding the minutes silence for those who recently lost their lives in Tunisia. 
  Mr Brand who made comments suggesting it may be a tiny bit wrong to supply armaments to countries with controversial records on human rights and that maybe the UK is getting a bad reputation for acting as an arms dealer something which is best left to less democratically run countries and/or gunrunning organisations

He questioned whether doing this might be more effective than a minutes silence in honour of those who died. 

It has been acknowledged that although ‘Brand as usual has phrased his case badly he has at least not suggested it would be wrong to honour those who died – merely more effective to take action to prevent this happening again or on a larger scale’ said a person who had not wildly overreacted to Brand.

Meanwhile boggle-eyed voice of sanity Jeremy Kyle – who regularly mocks people on a stupid daytime TV show for airing their dirty linen (metaphorically) in public has suggested that Brand thinks he is, “clearly some kind of all commanding God figure, who can shout at the world and make it do his bidding” .

We apologise for an error above the quote supposedly about Russell Brand from Jeremy Kyle was in fact a considered description of Jeremy Kyle’s persona on his incredibly well-balanced television programme on which he says and does nothing controversial.

Impartial observers : ie: everyone except Russell Brand & Jeremy Kyle have called for them to “at least both try and be silent, a minute will do for a start but if they could both shut up and stop sticking their oar into everything regardless of their knowledge or ability the world would probably in some small way be a better place.”

Model shot from SS Gamma 50 50 50 as seen in Opening Credits 1971-1972 (Season 1 & 2)

The Steve Guildersberg creation SS Gamma 50 50 50 is about to have a major retrospective of it’s making, film sequels also including a biography of Guilderberg’s life, work and legacy. News of the contemporary reboot of the series in the 2015 Summer Blockbuster SS Gamma 50-50-50 executive produced & directed by GJ Hanrahan (release date June 29th worldwide) is also included in the documentary  by Unusual Number Productions.

Interviews with former cast and crew and Steve Guildersberg’s son Eugene make up a substantial amount of the documentary. The production also takes in the flawed attempt to revive the series in 1983 with SS Gamma 50 50 50 : The Motion Picture – a movie with overblown music, overly long special effects sequences and a next to incomprehensible plot.

It is said that those with an advanced course in astrophysics have died trying to unravel the plot of the 1983 film. The movie includes elements such as the ship entering a temporal causality loop, the ships captain interacting with no less than 12 versions of himself from different time zones, an attack by the Hojatoy from F’ratou’h 7, In4maTIon the androids continuing quest to become less human and 16 versions of the ship crash landing in an attempt to restore time to its normal flow.

Unusual Number productions hope to include a CD of original music from the 2 seasons of the original series in the DVD pack as part of a special edition. A booklet providing in4mation on the series and subsequent films will also form part of this package.

The Documentary is in production now and with luck will be available in the Autumn of 2015.

Many Thanks to the Estate of Steve Guildersberg for permission to use the above photo of the original SS Gamma Model

i breathe, I try to achieve something 

I make plans but they come to nothing

I try to avoid leaving the house alone

Am I afraid of everyone else or of me?
Hours pass – small things eventually get done 

Cups are washed, I attempt to tidy

But I distract myself with the chatter in my head

It means nothing – all it wants is to pull me down

I try to rest, I try to read, I try to get things done

But mostly I try rather than succeed

I discourage myself when I attempt constructive things
Projects are begun, then I lose all confidence

I mock my attempts to create, to achieve

The prison of the mind is just as real as a cell

With bars and a locked door

How do you escape your own thoughts
The mocking laughter, You thought you had a good idea

My inner critic laughs mercilessly at myself, tears of laughter

As I wound myself with my innate rejection of all

Everything I have done – all I have ever achieved is useless

Other people argue that thought in your head is wrong

But sadly in my mind, what they say – doesn’t make any difference.

  
Only 11 points in Scrabble (without double/triple word/letter scores) Bipolar is a leading cause of death by suicide in the UK among men. Despite this the Government and Local Authorities are cutting funding to key Mental Health groups and centres across the UK. Increasingly those in need, and on low incomes, are having to partially fund these essential services as further cutbacks are made. The government’s response to this problem is to set up a group investigating deaths by suicide of the mentally ill.

Now the Conservative Government want Britain to dismantle its links with Europe starting with the European Court of Human Rights. Effectively we are to lose the last court of appeal in Britain because it suits the needs of David Cameron’s Party. 

A party that 64% of those who voted in the General Election did not vote for and therefore doesn’t represent the views of the majority. They want to take every citizen in the country’s Human Rights away – hasn’t the General Election already done this anyway?

The local bus company for the Island south of Southampton, Lymington and Portsmouth is to be renamed Rotten Service. The New Improved Route 1 is to be rebranded the not at all better due to virtually every bus being cancelled service. Other Routes will include shuttle buses that don’t run due to operational reasons and a new Route 3 where each bus breaks down creating a domino effect of cancellations on all other services. Regular tweets will note that all is running well and there are no problems followed by 28 tweets telling you which buses are cancelled in the next hour.

The first episode of Wayward Pines – wore so many pop culture references that it was almost blink and you’ll miss them. George Orwell’s 1984, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (Nurse Pam and the Psychiatrist), The Prisoner (1967) TV Series and it’s 2009 remake, Twilight Zone Episodes where the reality of a situation is spun on it’s head, Twin Peaks vibe to the town – I could go on.

However this was not a bad mix to my mind the slow burn of the first episode where we gradually realise nothing is quite how it seems was particularly captivating. 

The lead role of Ethan Burke – a secret agent on the search for 2 missing agents is clearly a ruse to plant him in Wayward Pines but he certainly brings to mind the persona of Number Six from the original sixties version of The Prisoner in his determination to fight back.

Also what’s great are the mentions of the lack of crickets in the town, the camera and bug in the fan on the porch revealing the show’s and the novels paranoid credentials.

Maybe my positive spin on the show is coloured by the fact that the influences on it are all amongst my favourite shows and novels and films. I love the idea that even those that Ethan can seemingly trust are wary of supporting him too much. The emotion of fear pervades the people of Wayward Pines – the ruse to make it seem like a normal town is clearly collapsing inward. I particularly rate the title sequence with the model of the town picking out its numerous landmarks and buildings.

Don’t be fooled by the electric fence surrounding the town – we are not even close to solving this. 

Much better than yet another reality, quiz or comedy show – it’s thoughtful, intelligent and interesting to watch – if it wears it’s influences on its sleeve it’s because they are timeless and valid today too. 

Ethan Burke – Trapped In The Inescapable Town of Wayward Pines

Thursday’s at 9pm on FOX (UK)