Toy Story
dir. John Lasseter (1995)
Pixar’s first feature-length film and the first ever to be fully computer-animated. Pioneering kudos aside, Toy Story remains (thirty years on!) a charming, perfectly paced and pitched family film whose script earns the viewer’s engagement and whose toy characters are joyously compelling.
The Mysteries of Great Cities
by Baroness E. Orczy (The Royal Magazine, April-October 1902)
reprinted in “Rivals of Sherlock Holmes”, ed. Alan K. Russell (Castle Books, 1978)
Seven serviceable mystery scenarios (almost entirely unrelated to the titular ‘great cities’), dressed up as short stories and related by a one-quirk armchair detective to a superfluous Watson figure. Orczy offers no investigation and little by way of intrigue or literary merit.
Science Fiction Movies
by Philip Strick (Octopus Books, 1976)
Broad in its definition of science fiction, wide-ranging in its consideration of obscure and/or non English–language movies, Strick’s compendium offers both a balanced, incisive overview of the vintage SF corpus and a good-humoured jumping-off point for delving into individual genre films.
First Term at Malory Towers
by Enid Blyton (Methuen, 1947)
audiobook read by Beth Eyre (Hodder Children’s, 2017)
The first book of what might be Blyton’s best series. First Term introduces the characters and setting while forever preserving the boarding experience within a spirit of post-war optimism. A delightful school story with ups and downs and an open, straightforward charm.
Protection
by Robert Sheckley
Galaxy Science Fiction (April, 1956); UK No. 39 (June, 1956), pp. 54-63.
One of those technically insubstantial Sheckley short stories that nevertheless skims along with sufficient comedic insouciance to qualify as a good read. The protagonist accepts an alien protection service, just because it’s free, but in doing so brings about his own undoing.
The Girl on the Boat
by P.G. Wodehouse (George H. Doran, 1922)
audiobook read by Frederick Davidson (Blackstone, 1998)
Consummate audiobook reading. Incongruous cover. Though P.G. muffs the ending a bit—rather than prove himself through breaking up a dog fight, Sam Marlowe prevails upon Billie Bennett as a cowardly Galahad—the buildup is vintage Wodehouse, ingeniously woven and drolly expressed.
The Tricksters
by Margaret Mahy (Orion, 1986; CollinsFlamingo, 2001)
A supernatural coming-of-age novel. The large family cast adds a chaotic, disorientating element but also a homely verisimilitude plus, it turns out, a mystery hiding in plain sight (masquerading as a smokescreen for the overt, speculative goings-on!). Slow-building but worth committing to.
Kiss Me Kate, Series 1
by Chris Langham & John Morton (BBC, 1998)
A delightfully droll, oft-overlooked British sitcom that sails along on character interplay and comic timing. Perfectly cast with Caroline Quentin playing a sardonic counsellor, Chris Langham her deadpan colleague, Amanda Holden their naïve receptionist, and Darren Boyd their affable but dim-witted co-tenant.
Raison D’Etre
by Timothy Zahn, Analog (October, 1981), pp. 94-109.
SF short story envisaging an off-books government project where comatose, telepathic/telekinetic infants, kept like battery hens, have their powers harnessed to neutralise radioactive waste. While Zahn presents a challenging moral dilemma, the first-person segments (one subject’s burgeoning awareness) make for laborious reading.
Monkey, Series 2
(Nippon, 1979-1980)
Half the episodes were adapted into English only for the 2004 DVD release, the step-down in quality highlighting the sublime mastery of David Weir’s original work. The second-string opening and closing themes are spirit-dampening missteps (though ‘Holy and Bright’ has its charms).