Reviews

Along with "King of the Rocket Men", this was still being repeated on BBC TV in the early to mid eighties. If I was loading up a time capsule of this period both these series would definitely go in.

Someone watching it for the first time will think it is silly but this is one of the best examples of the "Serials". Don Del Oro will make you laugh (When I was little my nickname for him was Mr Dustbin head) and it was funny upon being shot at he says "Your bullets can't harm me" then he stumbles back, seemingly less than happy. I also like the way he dispenses with Sebastian in the first episode.

I watched this again because I had good memories of it from years back, there are some good stunts and good music, it has the ingredients you expect including water,rockfalls,runaway carts... Apart from the first episode(with Ralph Faulkner)the swordplay wasn't nearly as good as I remembered it, and yes it features the inevitable "flashback" episode! It gets 8 out of 10 because it still suffers from slow pace, padding and the other tricks. If you are interested in these serials I recommend the book by William Witney, "In a Door, Into a Fight, Out a Door, Into a Chase" although there is only a small entry about this series in it.

This show had potential but may have been a bit too parochial to appeal to large audiences, the weaker shows like "Cat With Ten Lives" putting them off. later episodes were much better: "The Man Who Came Back" and "The Long Sleep" are my current favourites. The was a certain X-Files feel to some of the episodes which it would have been nice to see continued.

I felt there was a problem of their concept of the aliens. I never really bought into it.

Some of the acting was overdone and the science fiction was sometimes too clunky, although I felt the collection of main characters worked well: Ed Straker, Alec Freeman, Paul Foster, Virigina Lake. Alec Freeman made a good foil for all of the others it would have been nice to see these characters explored further.

I liked this film. It has the same set of values as Manta Manta, so the comments for that film also apply here. Like "Manta Manta", the number of Mantas in this film will not disappoint Manta fans. Elements of the car chases are even the same with the car driving up onto the car transporter and the car driving into the river (although unlike "Manta Manta" this one floats and drives on the water).

It revolves around a young lads daydreams which include his girlfriend and passing his driving test and getting a Manta GTE. The story also concerns two rival gangs, one is the Manta Club and the other is the Golf GTi club. The friction between the two gangs generates a couple of good car chases (one to the theme of Radar Love!).

The film gets off to a good start with the guy daydreaming that he uses a white Golf GTi to rescue his girlfriend from the clutches of a sinister black Manta making menacing hydraulic rumblings, that is chasing her round a deserted train station. There is a great scene with everyone jumping into a row of black golf GTi and doing a raid on the rival manta gangs patch using inspector Clouseau style comedy bombs, which detonate into confetti!

The film descends into some kind of slapstick comedy for the final chase scene but it is still effective. The star of the last half of the film is the custom Manta that has the stretched bonnet with four sets of wheels upfront.

To anyone outside Europe and in the UK the film might be described as quirky. This film will probably appeal to Europeans, anyone interested in German culture, anyone interested in car chases, and the eccentric comedy will be appreciated by the youngsters. Understanding German might be an advantage and also in places I felt I was missing the occasional cultural gag.

I still don't know what the deal is with the foxes tail on the car aerials!