Luna - Cult TV Series Review

Whilst falling down the quirky old British television shows rabbit hole, researching cult TV shows to watch, I heard about Luna. It was a well liked but mostly forgotten children's show about a found family unit living together in a dystopian 2040s city after environmental collapse. Knowing all this it sounded right up my street so I thought I'd check it out.

Doing some research I found that there had been two series which had aired in 1983 and 1984 on ITV. The show starred a 14 year old Patsy Kensit. Now, I knew of her as the 90s girlfriend of Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher and an actress who was in Lethal Weapon 2 but that was pretty much it but others knew of her from this show and a member of the band Eighth Heaven.

A young Patsy Kensit stars in this show and is good in the title role of Luna.

Set in the year 2040 within the bureaucratic confines of the Efficiecity, a sealed-off metropolis due to a polluted outside world, Luna offered a decidedly distinct and colourful vision of the future. The inhabitants, officially known by their 'batch codes' rather than names, are artificially grown and assigned to shared living quarters. Kensit, in the first series, played the titular character, '72 Batch 19Y,' who earns the nickname 'Luna' because she was 'batched' on the moon.

The show is a blend of futuristic dystopia with everyday family situation comedy. Luna lives with an eccentric 'family' unit, including Gramps (an old punk fond of 'classical' 1980s music like Human League), Brat (a 'dimini male' from the same batch), and the robot Andy (played by co-writer Colin Bennett). This unconventional household navigates the rigid rules and obscure jargon of the Efficiecity, leading to many humorous situations such as wanting a pet, going on holiday, saving an obsolete (android) family member from being junked. Yknow, all the typical comedy tropes we know and love.

The show was created and produced by Micky Dolenz of The Monkees and carries the same anarchic and goofy nature as that series but Luna was surprisingly prescient in its exploration of themes like artificial intelligence, bureaucratic control, and environmental degradation. However, it was all wrapped up in a package digestible for  younger audience. Its blend of sci-fi, comedy, and subtle dystopian undertones made it stand out from typical children's programming of the era where it covers themes that were also explored in The Prisoner (in that Luna is more than a mere number under control), George Orwell's 1984 (in that there is a hierarchical beauracracy that controls and oversees everything) as well as most family situation comedies.

One of the most distinctive elements of Luna was its 'echno-talk' – a futuristic dialect designed to be easily understood by computers (but reminded me of the ‘True. True’ Cloud Atlas speech patterns. Phrases like "diminibeing" (teenage girl), "habiviron" (living quarters), "batchday" (birthday), and "obligivation" (deactivation/death) litter the show and, from doing some research, seem to remain fondly remembered by fans. The language and wordplay is a huge part of Luna's charm, emphasizing the show's thought-provoking themes about individuality and conformity in a highly regulated future.

Patsy Kensit, at around 14 years old during the first series, delivers a performance that is both precocious and earnest. She delivers the lines with gusto and even manages to talk to a dodgy looking alien muppet creature like it was a real being.

Despite its relatively short run and its status as a somewhat forgotten gem, Luna still works as a show that you can watch today. Its unique world-building, quirky humor, and Patsy Kensit's early performance make it a genuine cult TV series. Nearly 40 years after its release, it remains a fascinating and slightly unsettling glimpse into a future that, in some ways, doesn't feel so far off today.

I Am (Not) a Number: Decoding The Prisoner- Book Review

A short while ago, I finally saw the entire 17 episode run of The Prisoner. It was the first time I had seen the show and viewing it with no nostalgia attached, I could still see why the series had maintained a cult status. Like Twin Peaks, of which I am a huge fan of, the more one delves into the quirkiness, lore and theories, the more one appreciates what was done. It has clearly inspired many shows including Lost, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The X Files and so many more.

It is a singular show and it's tight episode run has kept it evergreen by avoiding the bloat and repetition that plagues a lot of series.

The series is now seen as cult with its allegory of socio-politics, but it was a prime time show when it was initially released. I don't know how Patrick McGoohan managed to get funding for it as it is so ahead of its time yet of its time; the Cold War was alive and well and the fear permeates this singularly psychedelic and Kafka-esque show with some real world analogies. However, it also embraced the Summer of Love with its fashion, crazy carnival of colours and The Beatles' All You Need is Love.

The show sure goes to some odd places and it can be difficult to parse what you have just seen, so a book promising to explain the key takeaways sprinkled across the episodes as well as a grand theory intrigued me enough to buy it.

Alex Cox gives a brief overview of each episode (in the order in which they were shot) and dissects aspects of them which builds to his grand theory or decoding if you will.

The book is slight but it does capture the zaniness and kookiness of the show well, showing how McGoohan created a vibe without necessarily spoon-feeding the audience with an ending that neatly tied the solution in a bow. Instead, what we get are little clues dotted throughout, which, if considered as a whole, makes sense and is cohesive. I agree with Cox's final analysis and also agree that the ending is rather obtuse but decodable if you consider the show as a complete tapestry with a overarching design that takes in the geopolitical situation of the time as well as the space race confirms my views too.

The book is a good read and enjoyable as a companion piece whilst watching the show.

The Prisoner- Cult TV Series Review

I have been a film aficionado for a long time. My father brought me up on classics like David Lean's adaptations of Oliver Twist and Great Expectations as well as the various black and white classic comedies of Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy. However, I became interested in cult TV series and films whilst attending University. Our campus was media-centered and as a result it had a huge catalogue of videos to rent, free of charge. I ploughed through many often taking the maximum 8 out at a time and consumed them voraciously. As a result, I believe that I am quite literate in films and TV but the series that really attract me are the more offbeat curios that were before my time and appreciating them for what they were, whether that be Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Twin Peaks, Children of the Stones, Ghost Stories for Christmas, Tales of the Unexpected, The Twilight Zone (in my opinion, the pop culture lodestone for so much that followed) or the myriad of niche films and series of yesteryear.

There was one series that I kept hearing a lot about so I thought I'd right that wrong; I would watch The Prisoner. I knew of The Prisoner through The Simpsons parody but also from reading various publications and magazines that spoke of the series in reverential tones.

Viewing the show with no nostalgia attached, I could see why the series has maintained a cult status. Like Twin Peaks, of which I am a huge fan of, the more one delves into the quirkiness, the lore and the theories, the more one appreciates what was done. It has clearly inspired many shows including Lost, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The X Files and so many more.

It is a singular show and it's tight 17 episode run keeps it evergreen by avoiding bloat and repetition... I mean, there's only so many ways you can attempt to escape by boat!

Patrick McGoohan is compelling in the role as 6.

The series is now seen as cult with its allegory of sociopolitics, but it was a prime time show when it was initially released. I don't know how Patrick McGoohan managed to get funding for it as it is so ahead of its time yet of its time; the Cold War was alive and well and the fear permeates this singularly psychedelic and Kafkaesque show with some real world analogies. However, it also embraced the Summer of Love with its fashion, crazy carnival of colours and The Beatles' All You Need is Love.

The show sure goes to some odd places, such as Once Upon a Time where 6 is brainwashed and regresses to certain points of his earlier life, or Free For All where he becomes a demagogue.  However, it does make a weird kind of sense and shows the hopelessness of it all. In the words of 2, it doesn't matter if it's East or West who control the Village, it is '... a perfect blueprint for World Order'.

In Free For All, which is a very disorienting episode that looks at electioneering, it examines democracy in a vapid society where there is the guise of free media and culture. It could be analogous for much of the world today.
In Chimes of Big Ben, a pretentious art competition sees 6 create a flat pack boat and sell it off as a chapel door with a cross. He wins the competition, after being heavily supported by 2, and wins. This sideways look at the pretentiousness and corporate interests in art is a very unsubtle thumb of the nose to the art work of the 60s.

Other episodes I particularly liked include Hammer into Anvil, which sees 6 do some outlandish things in order to confuse and befuddle 2 into thinking there is a conspiracy against him, and Checkmate, which sees 6 combine with other uncooperatives to escape from the island. But, who can he truly trust?

There were a few others that I didn't care for, generally amongst the latter half of the series, but they were still worth a watch as they added to the mythos of the show.

The finale, Fall Out, is an extraordinary piece of work. It is utterly incomprehensible at first viewing, at least for me, but by piecing ideas from various episodes you can make a kind of sense, much like Twin Peaks: The Returns episode 8. I don't get it all but think The Prisoner is all about the power of the individual which is supreme but also about how individuality affects the social fabric so it is oppressed by those in power. The reason 6 resigned and what he was involved in are not the important things here, nor is the question of who or what number 1 is. What matters more is the vibe of the show which looks at the surreal, psychedelic and counter-culture movements and how it is seemingly a threat to common society- a fear held by many Libertarians.

I read the essential I Am (Not) a Number: Decoding The Prisoner by Alex Cox and his theory is one that rings true for me. I can get behind his theory and, with the passing of time, it seems the most accurate in my understanding of what the series is about.

Overall, I loved the show and even thought the central mystery remains for me, like it does for my theories of Twin Peaks, it will remain long in my memory.

LINK- Children of the Stones: Cult TV Series Review

LINK- Dead of Night: Cult TV Review

LINK- The Stone Tapes: Cult TV Review

LINK- Tom’s Midnight Garden: Cult TV Review

LINK- Children of the Dogstar: Cult TV Series Review

LINK- How to be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Mike Schur- Book Review

LINK- The Good Place and Philosophy- Book Review

LINK- On And On And Colston ( Or, How We Kinda Sort of Learned to Talk About the Legacy of Colonialism and the British Empire)

LINK- ‘Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire’ LINK: Elden Ring- Videogames As Art