I own the DVD-set collection of Sapphire and Steel, an amazing british TV series in the late 70’s early 80’s.
I suppose some of you remember them, David McCallum and Joanna Lumley, as two non-human agents from an unknow agency, dealing with Time conflicts and strange threats…, the show was underrated in its time, now a cult classic. Dark, sinister and often creepy… probably the strangest series of all times.
Sapphire and Steel would be a great remake, either in movies or in a new TV show, now that the “collective intelligence” is smarter and open-minded to receive and understand this kind of issues.
I’ve never seen the show, but I read a review of the series finale in a Doctor Who magazine. At the time I wanted to see it but now I think I might get pissed off about the lack of resolution.
Yeah I know, not a terribly insightful post but dammit, I hate to see a thread sink into oblivion without a single reply! It’s happened too many times to me…
Don’t get pissed off by the lack of resolution. The series look as fine as an 80’s series can look, but its importance resides in the stories more than in its images. Try and find the DVDs if you can (and if you like, of course), and don’t get spoiled by the seasons finale: I knew too much before I could see the complete series and still enjoyed it a lot.
I’d heard of the show (usually accompanied by the phrase “pretentious crap”, but that was from a Prisonerphobe so I discounted it), but never had a chance to see it.
Followed your link… woof, Joanna Lumley certainly looks good in it. That’s justification enough in my book. But then we get to the synopsis of Episode 1:
Now that’s just some damn fine writing. Eat your heart out, Aaron Sorkin!
Maybe that’s the source of my erstwhile Prisonerphobe colleagues complaints. Chemists are not going to take kindly to the idea of Jet, Diamond, Sapphire, and Steel as elements (although a 100% pure diamond is at least compatible with the concept of atomic weight).
I always wondered why P. J. Hammond, creator of the series, being so sophisticated to write, didn’t bother to check which “elements” were not elements, just looking at the periodic table. Someone around said that the concept of “elements” is more compatible with the idea of “agents” than from atomic weight, but the intro always was stating that: “medium atomic weights are available”… and “transuranic heavy elements may not be used where there is life”, that is, the elements beyond uranium.
It’s supposed that Gold, Copper, Jet, Radium, Lead, Sapphire, Silver and Steel, all are only code names.
Whatever, the series are not crap. High imagination, beyond all pretentious scientific justifications. They deal with beings from unexplainable sources, with only brief sights of their origins. No science to be justified because there was no science stated. Just mysterious facts.
I’ve got the DVD sets … I think it’s a classic piece of SF surrealistic drama. There are, to be fair, a couple of bad bits, but the series as a whole definitely has more hits than misses.
Apart from the downbeat nature of the finale, I didn’t mind it so much … one of the strengths of the series was that it did leave so much unexplained. It kept you wondering.
Also, IIRC - they’re simply not all elements. I think it’s somewhere in the first story that Sapphire says there are … hmm … can’t remember the exact number offhand … something like a hundred and thirteen of them. (And then Steel says there are actually only a hundred and eight, or some number like that: “You can’t rely on the transuranics, they’re unstable”) So, there are clearly more agents than there are chemical elements - so some of them are named after gemstones, or alloys, like, well, Sapphire and Steel.
I remember seeing the show while visiting my grandmother. It made a tremendous impression on my teenage brain; in fact, I think I thought it was the coolest show I’d seen. I think I might have to see if I can locate a DVD or two and borrow a DVD player for this.
I remembered seeing it in The Netherlands as a kid (earlie eighties). IIRC the show constisted of several sets of connected episodes telling separate stories. I only saw the one connected with that nursery rhyme Upstairs, downstairs. It was very spooky, in a good way.
As much as I know, the only release is in two set of 3 DVD each, containing the episodes I to III and IV to VI. It’s in PAL, region 2. I’m from Mexico, the only way to see it is in my PC, because our television system is NTSC. Bought it from Amazon.
I watched the complete series with my 9 y-o son. He was impressed, but I could see that not as much as me when I saw it the first time, when I was 18… mmmhh that must means something, but I don’t know what ;).
My memory may be dodgy, but I think there’s a region 4 (Australia) DVD release, same format, but reportedly better quality. (But, as I say, my memory may be dodgy.)
I have a video set of one season, and watched another season at an SF con. Definitely has the weird gene that so many British fantasy shows of the time did, from The Avengers to the Prisoner.
Eat your heart out, Aaron Sorkin!