Reviewing the BBV catalogue

[Deleted]

Yep, I'm taking the plunge. Every week for the foreseeable future I'll be watching a BBV production and giving my thoughts here. Wish me luck.

[Deleted]

I will be starting with "AUTON" as that's the one that called to me most on their website

[iank]

You poor bastard.

[Deleted]

Mar 13, 2024 22:27:57 GMT iank said:

You poor bastard.

Oh not at all, I'm honestly having a blast. I have a real thing for crappy movies, as well as something of a fascination with bootleg video art, which goes hand-in-hand with this experience. I've watched 4 already lol

[Deleted]

The BBV ones are actually relatively easy to source. The Reeltime ones are a different story. Afaik Shakedown was only ever released on VHS

[Ludders II]

Mar 13, 2024 22:53:07 GMT @theyakemperor said:

The BBV ones are actually relatively easy to source. The Reeltime ones are a different story. Afaik Shakedown was only ever released on VHS

I've got pretty much everything. If you get stuck, feel free to PM me what you need, and I'll send you a link. 

For my money, I genuinely think that their audio stories were much better than their videos, but some were much worse than others.

[Deleted]

Mar 14, 2024 0:33:34 GMT Ludders II said:

Mar 13, 2024 22:53:07 GMT @theyakemperor said:

The BBV ones are actually relatively easy to source. The Reeltime ones are a different story. Afaik Shakedown was only ever released on VHS

I've got pretty much everything. If you get stuck, feel free to PM me what you need, and I'll send you a link. 

For my money, I genuinely think that their audio stories were much better than their videos, but some were much worse than others.

Oh well that's a boon. Tracking this stuff down sometimes feels like a wild goose chase. Thanks for your help in this case

And yeah, I can imagine that being the case, but I find their videos a really fascinating look into the wilderness years as well as possibly the mind of a madman lol. But honestly for being knockoff tat some of them aren't half bad, and occasionally manage to generate a pretty cool vibe, the cinematography while trashy can also be stark. I'm a big fan of exploitation films in general and these fit very nicely into my collection. 

[rushy]

I find it hilarious that everyone - Gatiss, Briggs, the cast - have collectively left Bill Baggs behind.

[Deleted]

Mar 14, 2024 1:24:28 GMT rushy said:

I find it hilarious that everyone - Gatiss, Briggs, the cast - have collectively left Bill Baggs behind.

It's pretty crazy how almost everyone involved ended up going on to bigger and better things, considering the very low prestige of these productions. Reece Shearsmith even makes an appearance. From what I've heard Baggs was a bit wired in general and during the 2000s, by which point most involved had left for greener pastures, he was still insisting on pumping out the same old stuff, which became even more difficult once the revival began and I guess everything became a whole lot more litigious in regards to licensing. I think the 2008 Zygon movie was the nail in the coffin for this sort of market, despite its infamy. Everyone saw it for what it really was. It wasn't fun anymore, it was just tired and trying too hard to be edgy. 

[rushy]

true story - Baggs once asked me to review BBV products.

[Brian MK.II]

Compared to Reeltime, BBV's output is more mixed but when they're good in the case of the Auton trilogy (the first two at least), P.R.O.B.E and The Airzone Solution, they're about as close to a 90s Who as you get. When they're bad however, it's almost Torchwood levels of awful. (The worst offender being Zygon: When Being You isn't Enough which makes Abducted by the Daleks look like a classic).
 
As for the reason why everyone moved on, it doesn't help that Baggs is reputed to be a supreme c*nt behind the scenes. Stories of him not paying actors, Davison outright saying he'll never work with him again and calling him a bastard, accusations from other writers about plagiarism and his reportedly hiring a suspected nonce for one of his 2020 projects.

[Ludders II]

Mar 14, 2024 1:24:28 GMT rushy said:

I find it hilarious that everyone - Gatiss, Briggs, the cast - have collectively left Bill Baggs behind.

And Keith Barnfather with him I assume.

[Ludders II]

Mar 14, 2024 2:19:12 GMT Brian MK.II said:

Compared to Reeltime, BBV's output is more mixed but when they're good in the case of the Auton trilogy (the first two at least), P.R.O.B.E and The Airzone Solution, they're about as close to a 90s Who as you get. When they're bad however, it's almost Torchwood levels of awful. (The worst offender being Zygon: When Being You isn't Enough which makes Abducted by the Daleks look like a classic).
 
As for the reason why everyone moved on, it doesn't help that Baggs is reputed to be a supreme c*nt behind the scenes. Stories of him not paying actors, Davison outright saying he'll never work with him again and calling him a bastard, accusations from other writers about plagiarism and his reportedly hiring a suspected nonce for one of his 2020 projects.

Fascinating. I never knew any of that. Apart from Zygon being shite. (Although worse than Abducted By Daleks, hmmm How do you choose?) 

[Ludders II]

Funnily enough I watched these again fairly recently after giving the majority of them scathing reviews around 2007.
Some of them didn't seem so bad second time round. Perhaps it's Jodeh/Nc*nti effect. 
I'll reserve comments until Yak gets going.

[burrunjor]

Mar 14, 2024 1:24:28 GMT rushy said:

I find it hilarious that everyone - Gatiss, Briggs, the cast - have collectively left Bill Baggs behind.

This is quite an interesting video that covers the stranger as well as a lot of the early 90s projects. It also explains what happened to Baggs, he basically pissed the BBC off and wound everybody up from Colin to Sophie to Nick Briggs in various ways, like not paying them, being a diva on set, and he's also been into some really weird shit since, all of which have made him a pariah in fandom.