The first recording starts with the end of Mama Mirabelle’s Home Movies.
Then it’s a repeat of Charlie and Lola – I’m Far Too Extremely Busy.
Media Centre Description: Children’s animation. Join Lola and Charlie, a brother and sister, as they deal with topics that affect their everyday lives. Lola simply doesn’t have time to play today – she’s far too extremely busy organising her office full of mermaids and running her own cafe, dentist and library. There is no way she could find the time to play Charlie’s new card game – Flip Flop. However, when Marv comes round to play cards, Lola isn’t sure that being extremely busy all the time is quite such a good idea.
Recorded from CBeebies on Sunday 13th April 2008 18:13
BBC Genome: CBeebies Sunday 13th April 2008 18:15
After this, Colin Salmon is back to trail his bedtime story.
There’s a trail for Charlie and Lola. Then the recording stops with the start of the Rubbadubbers.
The next recording starts with the end of The Real Hustle.
There’s 60 Seconds of news.
There’s a trail for Young Mums’ Mansions.
Then it’s a repeat of Doctor Who – The Fires of Pompeii.
Media Centre Description: Psychic powers and stone beasts run riot in old Pompeii, but can Donna dare the Doctor to change established history?
Recorded from BBC THREE on Sunday 13th April 2008 19:58
BBC Genome: BBC THREE Sunday 13th April 2008 20:00
There’s a trail for Blood, Sweat & T-Shirts, and the Heroes Peter ident.
Then the recording stops with the start of Doctor Who Confidential.
The next recording is a film, The Legend of Zorro. I’m sure I watched this at the time, as I really liked the first one, but I have no memory of this.
It’s set at the time when California was voting to become part of the United States.
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But some people don’t want statehood, like bad guy Jacob McGivens (Nick Chinlund) who attempts to steal the votes when they’re being taken to the Governor.
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There’s a feisty young kid, a big fan of Zorro, who isn’t putting up with this disruption of the constitutional process.
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Some of the horse stunts in this look quite dangerous for the horses, as they crash through solid looking voting booths.
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Jeepers, now they’re crashing through brick pillars. I’m assuming this is CG or light rubber bricks because this is all looking very dangerous.
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Of course Zorro is there to stop the bad guys. The action in this is fun, if rather implausible.
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At one point Zorro loses his mask, and two men who have been following the fight see his face.
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Zorro gets the results to the Governor who announces that their district has voted to join the Union as a free state. So that’s a happy ending, right?
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Alejandro (Zorro’s true identity) returns home to his wife Elena. But almost immediately they’re arguing, as he promised to quit when California got statehood, but he wants to wait until all the votes have been ratified in a few months. The bells start ringing for Zorro in town. “If you walk out that door, you are not sleeping here tonight.” “Maybe I’ll just take my suitcase.” I don’t like it when Mummy and Daddy fight.
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We learn that their son Joaquin is the little boy we saw in the town square, so he’s clearly taking after his father, even though he has no idea his father is Zorro.
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Next day, in town, Elena notices two men watching her. She confronts them, beats them up a bit, but they pull a gun. “The real question, Senora de la Vega, is who are you? The devoted wife of a wealthy don? Or an independent woman held captive by her husband’s secrets?” “What do you want?” “Your help.” He holds up Zorro’s mask from the opening sequence.
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Now, all of a sudden, Alejandro is served Divorce papers.
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He’s visited by is friend and confidante Frey Filipe, Zorro’s ‘man in the chair’.
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Oh look, it’s Tony Amendola again, playing Joaquin’s teacher.
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Joaquin gets to do a bit of swashbuckling to avoid the teacher’s cane.
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Bad Guy McGivens is back in town, menacing people for the deeds to their ranch, and slapping Alejandro around when he confronts him. Alejandro has Joaquin with him so he can’t respond in kind.
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Frey Filipe takes Alejandro to a wine tasting on a local vineyard recently purchased by a French Count, Armand (Rufus Sewell). He’s surprised to see that Armand’s escort for the evening is Elena.
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Alejandro gets very drunk that night, but then witnesses a huge explosion.
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Next day they meet again in town, and Armand challenges Alejandro to Polo, although this looks more like jousting. Maybe this is actually a thing, I’m not a horsey person.
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McGivens goes after the ranch owner, and Zorro has to rescue the wife and baby from a flaming barn.
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Elena is sending messages by pigeon to the two men from earlier, who are Pinkertons detectives, so she’s there to watch Armand.
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Armand and McGivens are working together, McGivens brings the deed to the ranch he stole. And Zorro finds plans for a railway track to the vineyard.
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Elena finds a messaging machine, which has a message about a successful explosive test, and a reference to Orbis Unum.
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Zorro bumps into Elena, but because he’s still bickering with her, he doesn’t let her tell him what she’s doing.
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Joaquin is on a school trip when McGivens’ posse stop for water. He hides under their cart and when they reach their destination he watches as they’re loading boxes on what turns out to be soap. Zorro rescues him.
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There’s a father-son moment that Joaquin doesn’t realise is a father-son moment.
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It’s all about the hugs.
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Frey Filipe finds out what Orbis Unum is. “It’s Latin. It means one world. It represents the Knights of Aragon, an ancient brotherhood that ruled over Europe in secrecy after the Crusades.” “Wait, wait, wait. Armand is a knight?” “Some believe that they’re the masters behind all the kingdoms in Europe. Even today. Years of prophecy they wrote nearly a thousand years ago. It shall be a land in the west of great power that shall rise to threaten the serpent. Only by turning the power onto itself shall the serpent survive.” “A land in the west?” “America. They want to destroy it. With soap?”
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The Pinkerton detectives capture Alejandro so he can’t interfere in their attempts to gain information about Armand’s plans. “The divorce was your idea, wasn’t it? You blackmailed Elena to lure in the Count.” “We prefer to think of it as a mutual understanding. She agrees to help us. And we promise to keep the true name of Zorro secret from his enemies. The name you share with your wife. And son.”
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Joaquin has crept out at night looking for Alejandro, who spots him from his cell being thrown out of a bar.
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He helps Alejandro escape.
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Elena gets to do some fighting at last.
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Zorro arrives to join in. Matching monograms.
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Armand is pitching his plan to some confederate politicians. They’re extracting glycerin from soap and producing nitroglycerin. “Tomorrow, a shipment of nitro will depart by train. It will be met at the state line by Colonel Beauregard, who will take possession of this shipment and distribute it throughout the Confederate Army. As we speak, we are preparing to launch a pre-emptive strike against Washington, forever tearing this country apart. Gentlemen, the Knights of Aragon will soon be restored to our former glory, as we stand in shadow and watch America destroy itself.”
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In the church, where Alejandro has left Joaquin with Frey Felipe, McGivens’ men come for him. They shoot Felipe and take Joaquin.
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Armand has rumbled Elena. He serves her pigeon for dinner. She runs, and discovers the bodies of the two Pinkerton agents.
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Zorro is captured trying to blow up the train, and unmasked in front of Armand, Elena and Joaquin.
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Armand leaves on the train, leaving McGivens to kill Zorro. There’s a big fight, but he’s outnumbered, and it doesn’t look good, until Frey Filipe leaps in, back from the dead. The bullet hit his crucifix.
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McGivens gets blown up by a drop of nitroglycerin from the machine that was filling bottles.
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We’re now set for the climax, which is, frankly, bonkers, and my favourite part of the film starting from the moment that Armand is gloating over Elena on the train. They hear hoofbeats outside. Armand raises the blind on the window and Zorro, who is riding right next to the train, punches him in the face.
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Zorro’s on his horse riding along a high plateau next to the railway. Is he going to end up jumping onto the top of the train? What do you think? But then there’s a low tunnel approaching, so he jumps the horse into a conveniently empty traincar.
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Zorro fights Armand, but you know it won’t end here as dying in a swordfight isn’t enough of a death for the main villain.
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Elena takes Joaquin to the rear of the train, and puts him on the last car, telling him to make his way back to town. “You are the son of Zorro. You can do it.” Then she releases the rear car from the rest of the train so it slows to a halt. It happens to be the car Zorro left his horse in. Joaquin looks with purpose at the train departing and makes choice. He’s not going back to town when there’s lives at stake.
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Elena faces off against another henchman. She grabs one of the bottles of Nitro, stuffs it down the back of his trousers, then kicks him off the train, where, coincidentally, some more of Armand’s co-conspirators were waiting for a rendezvous, and they all blow up.
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Surely nothing can go wrong now? Wait a minute. Where are they signing the treaty that will make California part of the Union? On a railway car? Joaquin is somehow there, overlooking the crowd, and he can see Armand’s train approaching. I’m not quite sure the geography of this makes any sense at all given where Joaquin left the train but frankly I don’t care any more.
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Zorro and Armand are now fighting on the cow-catcher at the front of the train.
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Joaquin tries to switch the points and divert the oncoming train, but his pickaxe breaks.
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So it’s up to Zorro’s horse to switch the points.
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Armand gets the upper hand and is about to stab Zorro when Elena comes along and kicks the knife away.
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Zorro ties Armand to a hook on the cow-catcher,
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Zorro and Elena get off the train with the help of his whip (which hasn’t seen much use in this film).
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Armand gets a pretty acceptable end for a villain as he crashes into the stops at the end of the railway line. Not quite falling from a great height onto something spiky, but good enough.
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And the whole train explodes.
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The treaty is signed. Zorro is there as hero of the day, and he throws his hat to Joaquin.
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“Dad.” “Yeah.” “Why didn’t you tell me who you are?” “When you were born, I vowed I would give my life to keep you safe. I thought I could protect you by hiding the truth. But your mother was right. It wasn’t my secret to keep. It belongs to all of us. So I promise I will never lie to you again, never.”
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And they get remarried, which is inevitably interrupted by the town bell ringing five times to summon Zorro.
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Well, I don’t think that was really up to the same level as the first film, but once the bickering between Alejandro and Elena stopped, the film finally kicked into the kind of fun the first film had, and I thoroughly enjoyed the big stupid train chase.
Media Centre Description: Light-hearted adventure sequel. Despite promises to his wife Elena that he would lay the legend of Zorro to rest and concentrate on his duties as a father, Alejandro de la Vega cannot resist adopting his disguise to put right injustice. Eventually, Elena leaves him for a wealthy French aristocrat whose activities lead Zorro to suspect that beneath his love rival’s suave exterior beats the heart of a common rogue.
Recorded from Five on Sunday 13th April 2008 19:58
In the ad breaks, there’s a news report that I confess rather took me by surprise. It’s a report of the death of Mark Speight, presenter of SMart. I knew this was coming, obviously, but I wasn’t expecting to see it here, and it rather floored me.
After the film, the recording stops with the start of Nurse Betty.
The next recording is another of these bumper sized recordings of Doctor Who – The Fires of Pompeii. Although this one is even missing the start of the episode. In fact, it’s a recording of the same showing we saw earlier, it just started at five past eight instead of just before 8pm
Media Centre Description: Psychic powers and stone beasts run riot in old Pompeii, but can Donna dare the Doctor to change established history?
Recorded from BBC THREE on Sunday 13th April 2008 20:05
BBC Genome: BBC THREE Sunday 13th April 2008 20:05
After this there’s the episode of Doctor Who Confidential mentioned earlier (and see later).
There’s a trail for The Wall and a sports edition of 60 Seconds.
Then, there’s the next episode of Gavin and Stacey.
This one hasn’t annoyed me as much as the previous one, as it’s more about repairing the damage that was done in that one. But I still can’t help thinking that James Corden’s character Smithy is an exact representation of his actual personality.
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Ruth Jones makes a good living statue.
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Julia Davis makes an appearance.
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As does Adrian Scarborough.
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The Shipmans are protesting against a mobile phone mast, despite complaining all the time about how terrible their mobile phone reception is.
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Gavin and Smithy’s friend group includes Russell Tovey and Matthew Baynton.
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Still, it looks like Gavin and Stacey might be going to reconcile at the end.
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BBC Genome: BBC Three – Sunday 13th April 2008 – 21:00
After this, a trail for Young Mums’ Mansion and Glamour Girls.
Then, it’s a whole episode of Pulling. Featuring Rebekah Staton doing a great pitch for her business idea: Cockloleeze.
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BBC Genome: BBC Three – Sunday 13th April 2008 – 21:30
After this, there’s more 60 Seconds news, and this one included the Mark Speight news.
There’s the Claire themed Heroes BBC Two ident. Plus a trail for Blood, Sweat & T-Shirts.
Then the recording stops with the start of Lily Allen and Friends although this was a compilation of “the best bits”. I’ve never felt so old. James Corden is a guest, and one of the facts the show gives is “he enjoys watching football with his friend Russell Brand”.
There’s another separate recording of Doctor Who Confidential – The Italian Job.
Media Centre Description: Behind-the-scenes look at the making of Doctor Who. There’s a trip to Rome to witness the making of the Doctor’s latest volcanic voyage. Filming at the famous Cinecitta Studios, the production team face an Italian job of colossal proportions, while David Tennant heads up Pompeii and climbs Mount Vesuvius.
Recorded from BBC THREE on Sunday 13th April 2008 20:48
BBC Genome: BBC THREE Sunday 13th April 2008 20:50
Then there’s something that’s new, at least. It’s a movie, Timecode, which I thought was a science fiction movie, but actually it’s a Mike Figgis split screen film, and the first thing I notice is that Julian Sands is playing a character called Quintus – like the brother from Doctor Who. Just another small coincidence which seem to be common with this blog. He even introduces himself thusly: “I’m from Roman Springs, and I say to your tension, Veni Vidi Vici.”
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It has a fairly good cast, including Holly Hunter (bottom left).
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Stellan Skarsgard (bottom left).
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I have to admit I bailed on this one after about 45 minutes, as it was full of characters I didn’t like mumbling bullshit and doing inappropriate things in the workplace. And I was getting Mike Figgis and Mike Hodges mixed up, and thinking I’d rather watch Morons from Outer Space instead of this.
Media Centre Description: Drama using a split-screen format to chronicle the various sexual shenanigans in a Hollywood film company. Adultery, sex and drugs fuel the events which take place during the casting sessions of the company’s new film. The project involves a range of characters, including a lovestruck lesbian, a randy producer and a number of aspiring actresses.
Recorded from Channel 4 on Monday 14th April 2008 02:40
The recording stops with the start of Headland.
The last recording today starts with the end of Dog Borstal.
There’s a trail for The Wall and Young Mums’ Mansion.
Then, another repeat for Doctor Who Confidential – The Italian Job.
Media Centre Description: Behind-the-scenes look at the making of Doctor Who. There’s a trip to Rome to witness the making of the Doctor’s latest volcanic voyage. Filming at the famous Cinecitta Studios, the production team face an Italian job of colossal proportions, while David Tennant heads up Pompeii and climbs Mount Vesuvius.
Recorded from BBC THREE on Monday 14th April 2008 04:33
BBC Genome: BBC THREE Monday 14th April 2008 04:35
After this there’s trails for Glamour Girls and Blood, Sweat & T-Shirts. Then BBC Three closes down.
Here’s the ad breaks for The Legend of Zorro.
Here’s the Timecode ads.
Adverts:
- Johnson’s Holiday Skin
- trail: Dom Joly’s Complainers
- trail: Swordfish
- Cadbury’s Dairy Milk – Don’t Stop Me Now
- L’Oreal Elvive
- Seat Leon
- Kwik Fit
- Wii PES 2008 – Ian Wright
- Gillette Fusion Power – Thierry Henry, Tiger Woods, Roger Federer
- trail: Men in Black 2
- trail: Dirt
- Robinson’s Fruit Shoot
- Son of Rambow in cinemas
- Oral B CrossAction Complete
- Robert Plant, Alison Krauss – Raising Sand
- John Frieda Weather Works
- Direct Line
- In Bruges in cinemas
- Tesco
- The Edge of the Eighties
- Five News
- Coca Cola
- O2
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall in cinemas
- Lynx
- Daily Mail
- Corn Flakes
- St Trinians on DVD
- trail: Extraordinary People: Half Man, Half Tree
- British Gas
- Rice Krispies
- Leatherheads in cinemas
- Hardy’s
- Staples
- 118 118
- Stella Artois
- trail: Shark
- Russian Standard
- Chrysler Grand Voyager
- Herbal Essences
- Muller Little Stars
- The Feeling
- Kinder Bueno
- The Eye in cinemas
- Berocca
- trail: Dom Joly’s Complainers
- trail: Swordfish
- Vodafone
- Avon Anew Clinical
- F&F at Tesco
- PokerStars.com
- Usher
- KFC
- trail: Five Drama
- trail: E4
- Red Bull
- trail: Quest for the Lost Ark
- trail: The Wedding Date
- Specsavers – Thunderbirds
- trail: Dirty Sexy Money
- trail: Skins
- Sainsbury’s Bank
- trail: Child Genius