Continuing on my Brit TV kick...watched all four 25-minute parts of "The Beautiful People," the final story of the third series (season) of the 1970-1972 program, Ace of Wands. This is another show that had a large chunk of its episodes wiped (in this case, by either Thames TV or the ITV network). All 8 stories (26 episodes) from the first 2 seasons are sadly lost. What remains is the complete third season, which was released by Network on a DVD set with solid transfers, a nice making-of doc and an 88-page booklet about the show. Reputedly this 3rd series is not as good as the first two, but from what I've seen of it, it's still a fun, colorful show. Much like Doctor Who, Ace of Wands consists of several stories or serials, usually 3 to 4 episodes in length, with each episode ending in a cliffhanger. (The series itself ends on a cliffhanger, as the show was cancelled after this final story and replaced on the ITV schedule by The Tomorrow People - a practice that happens even more often today, in this modern age of serial storytelling.)
The show revolves around an illusionist named Tarot, who seems to also possess some real magical abilities, especially in telepathy and hypnotism. Tarot lives with a pet owl called Ozymandias and spends his time between magic shows taking on all manner of strange and nasty villains, or investigating odd and threatening events. Also akin to Doctor Who, he's assisted by a couple of younger pals, in this season photographer Chas and his dolly bird sister, Mikki. "The Beautiful People" of this story are a brother and his two sisters, an odd, detached trio who travel around having jumble sales and village fetes, giving expensive but free prizes out to poor pensioners. Their seeming philanthropy masks a sinister motive, however, and it's up to Tarot and friends to find out who they are, where they come from and what they are up to, before their cruel games become fatal.
This is a very 70s show in every sense, with hair styles, fashions and lingo (courtesy of the snarky Chas) very much of the time, which just adds to its appeal as far as I'm concerned. By modern standards the pace is fairly sedate, but the story is original and intriguing. The leads make for an engaging group, with Michael Mackenzie possessing some decent charisma as the central hero. Edward Hammond is also good as the effete yet threatening villain, Jay. Being a early 70s British children's show (again, like Doctor Who, a children's show in name only), the budget and special effects are not first class by any means, but the writing, acting and ideas are all good, and the series can get nicely creepy from time to time. I had a good time with this show and would recommend it. Although the Region 2 DVD set is splendid and cheap, I suggest interested parties check out an episode or two on You Tube first (where you can find all existing episodes).
The theme song and credits are pretty dang groovy:
The show revolves around an illusionist named Tarot, who seems to also possess some real magical abilities, especially in telepathy and hypnotism. Tarot lives with a pet owl called Ozymandias and spends his time between magic shows taking on all manner of strange and nasty villains, or investigating odd and threatening events. Also akin to Doctor Who, he's assisted by a couple of younger pals, in this season photographer Chas and his dolly bird sister, Mikki. "The Beautiful People" of this story are a brother and his two sisters, an odd, detached trio who travel around having jumble sales and village fetes, giving expensive but free prizes out to poor pensioners. Their seeming philanthropy masks a sinister motive, however, and it's up to Tarot and friends to find out who they are, where they come from and what they are up to, before their cruel games become fatal.
This is a very 70s show in every sense, with hair styles, fashions and lingo (courtesy of the snarky Chas) very much of the time, which just adds to its appeal as far as I'm concerned. By modern standards the pace is fairly sedate, but the story is original and intriguing. The leads make for an engaging group, with Michael Mackenzie possessing some decent charisma as the central hero. Edward Hammond is also good as the effete yet threatening villain, Jay. Being a early 70s British children's show (again, like Doctor Who, a children's show in name only), the budget and special effects are not first class by any means, but the writing, acting and ideas are all good, and the series can get nicely creepy from time to time. I had a good time with this show and would recommend it. Although the Region 2 DVD set is splendid and cheap, I suggest interested parties check out an episode or two on You Tube first (where you can find all existing episodes).
The theme song and credits are pretty dang groovy:
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Gorgeous "bad" girl who just invites trouble and Matt can't see it.
