Mark Thomson

Man I'm tired. Freakin exhausted, but I'm going to quickly jot down a few thoughts. I arrived in Brisbane today, and I'm preparing for the first day at the new job tomorrow. I've had a couple of power naps, made it out to the shops for supplies, and tried to learn to find my way around the area.

The flight over was tons of fun, okay it was a budget cattle-class flight so I shouldn't complain since it was cheap, but having a seat where your elbow to elbow with the next passenger, the jerk in front lowers his seat back into your lap, and you stationed right next to the toilet, so everyone keeps stopping by to press their ass or crotch against you is not fun. On the plus side however, the cabin crew for Pacific Blue provide excellent service, and keep the atmosphere light and fun. Definitely the high point of the flight.

The heat hasn't been too intolerable so far, mostly its been overcast and warm, but its comfortable. Probably just as well since the pool is out of commission. Ross shut off the pumps while they were away because he was worried they might get blocked and burnout, so we've come home to a solidly green pool, with a green slick on top - kind of like somebody pureed an orc into the pool. Ross lept into action, and its starting to improve, but its probably going to be a couple of days before it's swimmable again.

Lulu is gorgeous as always, but I think she is a little upset with Rosina because she left her at the kennel. She's been very quiet, and looking a bit mopey. That's okay though, because she comes to me for a bit of a cuddle - luckily she hasn't started humping me again though.

Kind of nervous about starting the new job tomorrow. It's scary because I don't know the area, what the building looks like, the people, the job or anything. It's a complete mystery. I just hope we're making the right decision by moving over here. It is all very different than what were used too. After 32 years in one country, I hope I'm not too old and set in my ways.

Okay I admit it. It was far to late, and I'm working far to frantically to try to get everything done this week. I've been backing up data, consolidating data, and cleaning out my various computers. I guess it was inevitable that i'd fuck up at some point, and I've done it. By golly it wuz a goodin... I accidentally deleted a large section of my blog this evening. Fortunately it wasn't the database, but unfortunately it was the graphics files. I've managed to luckily recover most of it from the backup, but I'm not too sure about the calendar and some of the other plugins, so if you notice anything screwy, just hang in there and I'll try to get it sorted out soon.

I'm off to Brisbane on Sunday for training for my new job, but I should have access to a DSL connection while I'm away.

Well it's out now. Word's getting around the place that I'm leaving. Some of the women decided to organize a party (despite my express wishes that I didn't want a fuss), and started notifying people. So the gossips have kicked into high gear, and now I'm getting people coming to me asking me about the rumors. Annoying! I had just hoped to leave quietly, no fuss on Friday. Especially since I don't want to have to put up with the bullshit of a party, people who've never liked me making out suddenly that its a tragedy I'm leaving. Who needs to waste time on that!

Good news though, house might sell soon. We've had a few interested parties now, who've come for a look through the house more than once. Should be getting close to an offer now. The only thing I'm worried about, is that Rob will take the first bullshit offer we get. Reality is, we need to walk away from NZ with as much coin as we can get, so I'd rather take or time and get the maximum we can, rather than folding for the relief of having it sold.

Last Monday was heart attack material. My counterpart at work unexpectedly resigned! Fortunately I'd had the meeting and received an offer of employment in Brisbane, but since I was planning to resign the same day, it accelerated the timetable greatly. I had to come in and resign the next day, which came as a shock to my manager. I've been horribly riddled with guilt over it, although I know I shouldn't be. I'm glad it's finally done now and out of the way, since I've been having trouble sleeping due to stressing about it. Now it's just a case of getting them to release me from my current contract. As per usual they're dragging their heels, and procrastinating on a decision.

I've already started meeting with clients as part of the new job, and I'm really excited to get started on it. I like a challenge, and the new people I'll be working with seem positive and excited about what they do. Makes a change from the sad losers I've been stuck with for the last 7 years - most of them can't be bothered to do any work, some don't even turn up. It'll be nice to feel excited about work again, and rewarding to accomplish something.

We barely survived Beagle's wedding last weekend. My feet are still aching after 14 hours of running around taking pictures, and running little errands. But it was all worth it, they had a fabulous day and Beagle just looked gorgeous. Also my family polished up pretty well too, and I felt extremely proud of them the whole day. Bev also did really well too with his speeches, and wrangling the respective families. We have 950 photos to sort through, retouch, and print now.

Our in-laws are over visiting at the moment. It's been great to see them so far, but I'm looking forward to getting our bed back. It's hard having other people in your personal space, you can't say or do what you want, and having to sleep in the kids beds is not comfortable.

Well surprise today. My sidekick resigned this morning. Slightly disturbing since I'm planning on resigning tomorrow. Talk about a dual kick to the scrotum! I've got a meeting with new employer tonight, contract in hand, plans to start prepping for a new project, so it's all go. I would have preferred though to have been the first resigner rather than the second, since the management team will probably be pissy about him leaving now.

I had to write a letter to my remaining customers this morning, which was really hard. It's still difficult to not feel bad, like I'm somehow letting them down by leaving. I hope there isn't going to be too much fallout. I'll probably fold like a house-of-cards if they get upset. I guess I'm something of a rarity nowadays, actually giving a shit about people I work for. I'll just have to harden up I guess.

Things are finally starting to move along. The bathroom renovations are almost complete. Thank the maker, I'm so tired of being covered in tile dust from the angle grinder. There's nothing quite like blowing your nose and having brown terracotta tile dust come out of it for hours afterwards. It's just gross! The house has been on the market for a couple of weeks now. We're having our second advertised open-home this weekend. Ironically we've had more interest at the unadvertised open-homes than the advertised one, where all we got was a nosy old cow from across the road that decided to have a look through. Hopefully this weekend will be better.

I met the guy running the NZ branch of the company I'm currently looking too for employment. I'm quite excited as the job looks more varied than I was expecting, and it looks like an opportunity to be involved in something that could become quite cutting-edge. They would like me to fly to Brisbane now to hammer out an offer, so I might be going next week. Unfortunately we're tied up this week with preparations for Beagle's wedding this weekend, and a Marriage Course (No no! we're fine, we just thought we might learn some new tricks!).

Rob survived the raunchy Hen's Night, and I think Beagle had a good time, which I was very happy about since she's been having such a hard time with the Crohn's disease. Bev sat up all night with Beeb playing X-Box till 2.30 am, so they were both looking pretty shady the next day. The wedding is this coming weekend, so there is lots of preparations to make this week. I'm a bit apprehensive since I'm the wedding photographer, so my mantra is "Don't feck it up!" at the moment. I'll just shoot like a man possessed, and sort out the best photos later.

Haven't written anything in here in awhile. I've been real busy. Rob has finally returned from her traveling, having outrun an exploding volcano and dealt to evil jungle robbers, she has returned recharged and ready to go. Consequently, things have now switched into high gear.

The house has gone on the market, after three days of solid puttying and repainting on my part. The forgotten bathroom is finally seeing some action, as Rob has somehow managed to shanghai a contractor to come do it. She's an amazing force to be reckoned with, and I have to pinch myself sometimes that I could be so lucky to share my life with such a wonderful person. I tried for two months to get a contractor to turn up and do it - she manages to get one the day after she came back! Flipside of that though, is that I'm now shackled to an angle grinder shaping tiles for the wall and floor in the bathroom.

At least we've had some interest from people already in the house, so hopefully it won't take too long to sell it. There's quite a lot of uncertainty about everything at the moment; trying to sell house, trying to get a new job, trying to leave old job. It's hard to know what to do when the timeline is constantly in flux. So I can't quit job without having a job to go too because need money to pay mortgage, but if house is sold no mortgage, so can quit job here and go over there and get job. Difficult!

The job front has been a bit of a trial so far. It's not that there aren't jobs available, but they're either tardy in getting back to you, or they don't advertise what they want properly, or they want you straight away and aren't prepared to wait. I've got a bit of a too'n'fro going on at the moment, and I might have to fly over for a couple of days to see some people. We'll see what happens! I'm starting to think it might just be easier to get something once I'm over there though.

I've just about had a guts full of this latest project at work. So we find out again today that we're working on the wrong code because this stupid Russian woman left the old code there, but added the new code to a different location. So everyone is working on the old code at the expected location, only to discover they should be working somewhere else on the server. Why don't you just remove or archive off the old code, and replace it with the new code, but leave it in the same place so that everyone is still working in the expected location?? Honestly, this project has been such a disaster from start to finish.

I've never had to work with a group of programmers that don't even bother to implement any kind of version control, so you have to worry about other people changing files that your working on while your working on it. There's nothing like spending ages chasing a bug in code only to find out hours later that someone introduced the bug to the code while you were working on it. We're supposed to have a deadline for next week, but I can't see us reaching it at this point. This is the second time now I have finished all the required code only to have them screw it all up. And to add insult to injury, the stroppy cow gets all bitchy with me - why? because she doesn't understand english, because she can't communicate properly or be understood? and why would she do something that stupid in the first place?? Of course they don't take any responsibility for anything! I checked with them a bunch of times to make sure it was right, but I can't understand a damn thing she says... I can't wait to leave!

I hate it when things unravel and you don't know what to do. With Rob away its difficult to know what to do about some of these things, because she's the one who organised them and I just don't know. I've been trying to ring her, but Wayne's going to have to go drag her in from the jungle to somewhere with a telephone before I can speak to her. So the arrangements for her friend's wedding have gone wrong, the place that was doing hair, nails, stuff has cancelled because they can't get enough people to do the work?? Probably shouldn't have booked the appointment if they're that understaffed in the first place.

The couple that took our dog are now wanting to send it back again, otherwise they're going to dump her at the SPCA. I'm not sure what happened there, but they're saying that they've had a good long roadtest and decided they don't want her now. I don't get it, because they had her for nearly 3 weeks trial before we handed her over as a permanent arrangement, and it's now been over 2 months since that happened. Pretty frickin ridiculous a 3 month trial!?!

The guy I had recommended to me to finish the bathroom installation still hasn't called. None of the other weasel contractors from the phone book have called, and so we're no closer to getting that finished. I had hoped to have the damned thing installed, and finished all the tiling before the missus returned, but it's not looking like it's going to go that way.

I'm also forced to drag the children into work with me at the moment, because I can't find any acceptable day care to drop them into while the holidays are on. Micky is moaning incessantly, and making as much of an irritation as possible. I think it's just because she wants to hang out with the boy down the road that fancies her. Bloody hormonal pre-teen is bad enough, but now I have to fend off horny boys, and deal with her mood swings and appearing breasts!

I just can't wait till Rob returns. It's just too much bullshit to have to deal with, on top of two jobs, and all the idiots that come along with that. Oh okay, I miss her too...

'Carlisle, I want this case. I like it a lot. I eat bugs for breakfast!'

This is another favorite episode. The theme of hypochondria that runs through this has some great opportunities for comedy, and once again the central characters interactions are just great. Ralph obsessing that he's been infected, even though his symptoms are easily explainable, and Bill's invincible immune system (right up till he discovers he's unprotected), followed by his rapid crumbling is brilliant.

Although some of the effects aren't always great by today's standards, they're still neatly executed. The sky diving sequence where Ralph rescues Bill after he's thrown from a helicopter is ingenious, and the music fits the event perfectly. I particularly enjoy them being slammed against the ground, but Bill is still delighted to be alive. Great episode!

Plot Synopsis:

Harvey Locke, an army soldier, crashes a truck near Faultline, after he passes out at the wheel, sweating heavily, with lesions on his skin. Carlisle briefs the agents on the Locke case. Bill lands in trouble again for talking during the briefing. One of a series of stolen machine guns was found in the truck with Locke, and Carlisle wants to know where the rest of the guns are. Bill volunteers for the case, but has his hand pushed down by Carlisle, until the other agents find out Locke has a highly contagious plague, then the volunteers withdraw. Carlisle is forced to give the case to Bill, and Bill receives a battery of innoculations that are supposed to protect him. The other agents visit Bill and start paying up old debts, figuring that he'll soon be dead of the plague.

Ralph is playing basketball with the students, when Tony shoves him roughly to the ground to make a goal. An argument develops and when Ralph steps in to break it up, he gets punched in the face by Tony. Bill shows up to recruit Ralph and the suit for his latest case, but initially neglects to tell him about Locke's plague. As usual Ralph is volunteered in by Bill.

On the way to Faultline, Ralph is concerned that he could contract the plague. Bill figures that the suit will protect Ralph, but he isn't so sure. Bill points out that he had a whole batch of innoculations, and Ralph is disgusted that Bill protects himself, but not Ralph. Bill proceeds to rattle off the list of possible symptoms for plague, which just makes Ralph worry even more.

Bill decides to start at a gun range favored by paramilitary personnel. He buys some coffee at the gun range and starts asking about Harvey. Ralph burns his mouth on the coffee, then gets upset after he drinks it and Bill throw's his away reasoning that you shouldn't eat or drink in a contaminated hot zone. Some shooters ask the coffee vendor about Bill. Rio reports into his partners that someone is asking about Locke.

Rio and the other shooters follow Bill and Ralph to their hotel. At the hotel they run into Pam. Bill is very annoyed that his counselor has come out to the possible plague zone. Ralph goes to Pam's room to explain to her what is going on. Rio's crew abduct Bill from his hotel room. Ralph gives chase, crashing through the motel sign on the way out. Flying through the middle of a flock of birds, he continues to give chase.

Bill is taken to a military installation out in the desert. He observes a military drill in progress while waiting for the commander to arrive. The commander arrives and questions Bill, but the interrogation is interrupted when Ralph breaches the perimeter defenses. He takes Bill up in a helicopter, and when Bill still refuses to talk, he throws him out. Ralph flies up and grabs Bill, and takes him back to the ground. Bill is terrified and very grateful to Ralph for saving him. They commandeer a vehicle and return to the hotel.

Ralph is convinced he's contracted smallpox, even though his symptoms can be easily explained away. Bill is confident everything is okay, until he finds out from Carlisle that he didn't get an innoculation for smallpox. Bill starts to develop instant smallpox symptoms now, and Pam can't believe the two hypochondriac's complaints.

Bill and Ralph go to visit the Disease Control centre. They realise that the research center in Needles will be the target because it has a stock of the smallpox virus, and the paramilitary group want to use it against the Middle East. Pam tells the doctor that Bill and Ralph think they are infected. He tells them it is impossible that they are infected, because the symptoms don't show up for at least two weeks. Bill makes a miraculous recovery. They try to notify the lab in Needles but find that the phones to the lab have been disabled.

The doctor gives the group an innoculation for smallpox, and Ralph heads off for Needles. Bill takes a helicopter to the lab. Bill and the doctor are captured by the military group when the arrive at the lab. They have the ampule of smallpox virus in the lab. Ralph arrives and starts disabling the soldiers outside. Bill knocks the ampule out of the commanders lab, Ralph receives a holographic warning, and busts through the wall of the lab catching the falling ampule in time. Ralph and Bill capture the military group, and Bill marches them out the front door to Carlisle's amazement.

Everyone who has had potential exposure to the smallpox virus has been placed in quarantine for two weeks. Carlisle and Bill have been playing checkers and sniping at each other. Ralph and Pam have been spending some intimate time locked in the tv room. The doctor arrives and ends the quarantine, when Bill sneezes and lands everyone back in quarantine again.

Plot Synopsis:

Kermit introduces the show and announces that Connie Stevens is this weeks guest. He then introduces his friend Lydia. The curtain opens and Kermit sings Lydia the Tattoed Lady, while a female pig with red hair, and covered in tattoos dances. Lydia kisses Kermit repeatedly at the end of the song. When they come off stage, a jealous Miss Piggy is waiting, and she introduces Kermit to her fist.

Gonzo the Great is chasing Hilda wardrobe lady, pestering her to fix his old teddy bear. Hilda refuses, saying his teddy bear is too old and mouldy, and Gonzo is too old for a teddy. Fozzie overhears Hilda say that the bear is the worst thing she's ever seen in the theater.The Swedish Chef makes meatballs, but when he drops one he discovers they are very bouncy. He decides to serve them up with a tennis racket. Statler gets in on the act, returning the Chefs serves, while Waldorf calls the score.

Wayne and Wanda are complaining that they haven't been able to sing, and Wayne thinks they should cancel the Connie Stevens number so they can go on. Connie appears, and Wayne has to backtrack on his opinion. Kermit appears and tells Connie that he has gotten her a backup group - The Mutations - for her song. Kermit introduces Connie's number in a 50's disc jockey style.

Connie sings Teenager In Love, while The Mutations try to upstage her.

Gonzo asks Kermit about his bear (while Fozzie eavesdrops through the door). Kermit says it is the worst and he wants to get rid of it.

At the dance, the rats have ties on, and Animal is dipping and slamming his dance partner against the floor. A female muppet criticises her partner for dancing a foxtrot, but the fox thinks that's okay.Floyd sings Ain't Misbehavin while Janice and Zoot accompany him.

Kermit and Connie are sitting at the Talk Spot couch. Connie begins to sing Close To You when Fozzie appears and starts to sing along.

Fozzie is packing his possessions in his dressing room. He's decided to leave because nobody wants him around. He overheaers Gonzo and Scooter talking about the bear and how much they like him, but that it'd be nice to get a new one too.

Zoot is preparing to play a piece of music that Nigel the conductor wants to do. Zoot isn't pleased about it, but Nigel threatens to replace him if he doesn't do it. He starts to play the music, which consists of a single note every so often. After a while he is joined by Mahna Mahna on triangle, and Mahna starts to get carried away, hitting Zoot's sax, music stand, and face, before Zoot blows him away with a powerful note from his sax.

Gonzo plays the 1812 Overture on the violin while growing a tomato plant. The tomato plant runs amucking, grabbing Muppets and carrying them away. Gonzo is booed off stage again.

Fozzie bids a tearful farewell to a baffled Kermit. Gonzo interrupts saying, "If the bear goes, I go". Fozzie is touched by his loyalty. Kermit explains to Fozzie that everyone was talking about Gonzo's teddy bear and tells them they can both stay. Gonzo and Fozzie celebrate.

The Newsman tells us that they will be receiving a special hotline call. He picks up a red phone, but drops it, burning his fingers.

Kermit, introduces two special guests, Bert and Ernie. Bert is scared of being on stage, but Ernie turns him into a sophisticated showman in tophat and tails. Bert does a number with Connie, before being led away by Ernie.

Kermit invites Connie onstage and gives her a Muppet likeness of herself. Connie is dragged away by Gonzo's rampaging tomato plant. Kermit says to tell Gonzo either the plant goes or he does.

Features:

• Kermit sings Lydia the Tattooed Lady



• Jealous Miss Piggy karate chops Kermit



• Gonzo wants Hilda to fix his teddy and upsets an eavesdropping Fozzie



• The Swedish Chef plays tennis with his meatballs



• Connie Stevens sings Teenager In Love



• At the Dance, Animal keeps slamming his dance partner against the floor



• Floyd sings Ain't Misbehavin



• Kermit talks with Connie Stevens who sings Close To You



• Fozzie packs to leave because nobody likes him



• Zoot plays Sax And Violence with Mahna Mahna



• Gonzo's Tomato Plant runs amuck



• Kermit clears up Fozzies misunderstanding



• The Muppet Newsman is burned by the hotline phone



• Bert and Ernie visit, and Bert sings Some Enchanted Evening with Connie Stevens



• Connie receives a Muppet likeness of herself

Plot Synopsis:

This episode starts with the gong exploding when Gonzo hits it after the theme song. Kermit welcomes the audience to the show and announces tonight's guest star is Juliet Prowse and "we've also got Mahna Mahna, whatever that means."

Two cowlike creatures called Snowths sing a song with the words "Du doo du doo du" while a crazy scatting creature, Mahna Mahna, keeps getting between them shouting his name and disrupting the Snowths song.

Statler asks Waldorf what a Mahnamahna is? And Waldorf replys, "Who cares!"

Backstage Kermit is sipping some milk through a straw, when Scooter, interrupts with Muppy to discuss a song they will be doing. Kermit insists they're not performing, until Scooter reminds him that his uncle owns the theater and the "Simon Smith and His Amazing Dancing Dog" number's one of his favorites. Muppy thinks he's a killer dog, and bites Kermit, then drinks his milk.

Kermit goes and introduces Gonzo's act. Gonzo proceeds to eat a rubber tire to the music of Flight of the Bumblebee. He's eventually booed off stage.

Scooter apologizes to Kermit on Muppy's behalf just before letting him know Muppy's latest demand: his own dressing room.

Juliet emerges from her dressing room and comments that she's never had to share a room with someone who eats a tyre.

Kermit introduces Juliet. She then dances with green horse creatures before fading into the scenery. Waldorf comments to Statler about Juliet's disappearance, and Statler shows Waldorf that he can do it too.

At the ballroom, Mahna Mahna dances with Wanda, while Mildred and George dance together. Miss Piggy dances with another pig. A monster asks his partner is she minds if he smokes, and smoke starts coming from his head, filling up the ballroom till everyone is choking on it.

Rowlf plays piano and sings one of the most unheard of classic songs of our time - a song that only sold two copies. "I bought one and George bought one, where were you?"

Kermit has a quiet discussion with Juliet, and she calls him "the Robert Redford of frogs". Kermit gets Juliet to kiss him.

Fozzie prepares for the Cowboy sketch. Muppy presents his latest demand: he wants the title of the whole show changed to "The Muppy Show".

Rowlf sets up the scene for the Cowboy sketch as he plays saloon piano. He remembers the day Kid Fozzie came to town. Fozzie attempts to rob the bar with pickles for guns. After much taunting, he shoots the chandelier down trapping the bartender. After Rowlf knocks away his carrot/knife, Fozzie produces - an APPLE ... and the fuse is lit! The apple bomb explodes destroying much of the saloon.

Waldorf comments that he can't understand why Muppets find explosions funny. Statler lights his cigar and it explodes.

Zoot asks Juliet what has one eye, sharp teeth, and is long and fuzzy - it turns out to be her fur stole. Juliet looks shocked as the monster uncoils from he neck and zips away.

Prima donna Muppy has locked himself in his dressing room so Kermit recruits Fozzie to take his place.

Scooter dressed as ringleader with mustache sings Simon Smith and his Amazing Dancing Bear while Fozzie on a chain dances along! Rowlf accompanies on piano.

Statler makes Waldorf think his hearing aid has run out of batteries again. When Statler makes fun of Waldorf, he gets a punch in the face.Kermit tries to conduct the Muppet Glee Club, an assortment of frogs, chickens, and pigs (including Miss Piggy.) He waves his baton but no one sings! Kermit points out this is a Glee Club and he should hear something when he waves his baton. Unfortunately everyone sings something different! Kermit gets the group to agree on "Temptation" and assigns the lucky Miss Piggy the solo. The Glee Club does an excellent version of the song, but Piggy gets carried away and starts smothering Kermit with her affections.

Kermit presents Juliet with a Muppet likeness of herself for appearing on the show and earns a second kiss (actually third, if you count Piggy's kiss).

Waldorf asks Statler what he thought of the show, when Mahna Mahna pops up between them in the box.

Features:

• Mahna Mahna



• Waldorf and Statler criticize Mahna Mahna



• Scooter persuades Kermit to let Muppy the Dog do an act



• Gonzo eats a rubber tire to the tune of Flight of the Bumblebee



• Muppy demands star billing from Kermit



• Juliet Prowse dances with horse creatures



• Statler turns invisible



• At the ball - Smoking monster



• Rowlf sings You and I and George



• Kermit talks with Juliet - The Robert Redford of Frogdom



• Muppy demands the show is renamed



• Rowlfs Western Sketch with Kid Fozzie



• Waldorf and Statler with an exploding cigar



• Juliet's feather boa monster



• Muppy behaves like a prima donna



• Simon Smith and His Amazing Dancing Bear



• Statler's Hearing Aid gag



• The Muppet Glee Club sing Temptation



• Juliet receives a Muppet Juliet Prowse

"Look at me Ralph, it's your chance to look forward. Remember what you see."

Another great episode, this time expanding the mythology of the suit and the green guys with the discovery of a previous owner of the suit. JJ providing a visual lesson of how the suit can be abused for personal gain is also an important item of character development, and part of the reason why I found the premise of the American Heroine so difficult to swallow. Given that they have faced first hand the reason for being vigilant against self corruption, to allow Ralph to forget that lesson and allow his ego to run wild still doesn't sit well with me.

Bill reacting to JJ's insulting comments about his middle-level, mediocre performance with the FBI is funny, since Bill thinks he's a great Fed, but deep-down probably knows he's not that great without Ralph and the suit. JJ is very similar to Bill in behaviour, and eventually Bill is big enough to admit that they're both a bit blunt. The introduction of the new Telekinesis power is good, Ralph's UFO turn with an jetliner, and Bill's terror when he realises the green guys will come for them in the end are some of the really good things in this episode.

Plot Synopsis:

Ralph's class are watching the news coverage of JJ Beck, a self-made millionaire with little formal education, that Ralph is using to encourage his kids that they can excel if they want too. Bill is watching the same news in a diner across town. When he leaves he is approached by two guys wanting him to sign a petition, but when he does, he's sprayed with a chemical and abducted. Ralph's class finishs up, and he tells Tony that if he doesn't work harder he's going to fail and miss graduation again. As Ralph is leaving, he's approached by two guys again wanting him to sign a petition, and he is drugged and abducted. One of the guys goes into Ralph's car and gets the suit case out of the tyre well where it was hidden.

They are both driven to one of Beck Industries hangars, and handed over to Marshall Dunn, JJ's partner. When they are taken inside the hangar, the find JJ Beck alive, but just barely. His business partners conspired to make him sick so that he would die and they could take over his assets. JJ faked his own death, and now wants Ralph to recover his will from his doctor, who is selling it to his business partner, Jordan. JJ seems to know all about Ralph and Bill and the suit, even going so far as to mention the spaceship approaching them. He forces them to help him, otherwise he will expose them to the world.

Marshall takes Ralph and Bill to Las Vegas, where the doctor is being paid off by Jordan in the casino. They have to use the suits Power of Telekinesis to disrupt the casino payoff, then they can retrieve the will. JJ wants to make sure all his millions are left to charity when he dies, atoning for his amoral attitude during his lifetime. Ralph asks Marshall how to use Telekinesis, and Marshall explains, much to Ralph's surprise. He starts to practice on the plane, and manages to throw and assortment of drink s and magazines at Bill.

In Las Vegas, as they are driving to the casino, Ralph holographs in on Marshall being captured at the airport. Ralph flies back to the airport, but strays into the flightpath of a commercial airliner, bouncing off its hull, and crashing into the bushes near the airport. Later, Bill berates Ralph for losing Marshall, and hopes he'll make a better go of it at the casino.

Inside the casino, they locate the doctor, and start trying to disrupt his game. Ralph is having a hard time concentrating because of all the distractions inside, but eventually manages to make all the slot machines pay off. The roulette table that the doctor is playing at is rigged to let him win, but once Ralph starts interfering with the suit the doctor starts to lose. Jordan quickly instructs his staff to throw Ralph out. Meanwhile, Bill has run into some old busts at the casino, and they all gang up on him, beat him, and drag him out to the desert to kill him. Ralph sees Bill being taken, and flies after them. There car hits him and flips over landing on its roof. Bill and Ralph try to hitchhike back to the city, but no-one will pick them up. The doctor's car drives past them and explodes, detonated by Jordan now that he has the will from the doctor.

Ralph reports back to JJ, and realises that JJ must have had a suit of his own. He admits that he did, and that Marshall was his partner. Unfortunately, the power of the suit corrupted JJ, and he used it to grow his business empire. Eventually Marshall left him, and the green guys took his suit away. JJ contacts a disbelieving Jordan and forces him into a face-to-face meeting.

On the way out to the meeting, JJ warns Ralph not to let the power corrupt him. Ralph admits to JJ that they lost the instruction manual. JJ thinks its probably for the best, since it will keep them from becoming too powerful, and corrupting them. Jordan arrives by helicopter, and attempts to kill JJ. Ralph stops the sniper, and Bill rescues Marshall. As Jordan tries to escape in his helicopter, the alien spaceship arrives and forces the helicopter to crash. Hovering over the desert, JJ and Marshall are taken inside, and leave with the green guys.

Back at school, Bill visits Ralph, but there is something bothering him. Ralph is happy that JJ has atoned for his past by giving his millions to help the poor. Bill is bothered that when their time comes to die, the aliens will return for them. Ralph thinks that would be a fantastic experience, but Bill isn't convinced.

"This request is for Ralph, from your Star Admirer... This is all news radio coming to you from Palmdale... Coming to you live from Palmdale..."

This episode is one of my all time favourites. Theres some great comedy and interaction between the characters in this one, and best of all, the mysterious green guys make a reappearance. The meeting in the desert with the dead guy who gives them an impossible task to accomplish, the ship arriving, and Ralph pursuing the green guys for another instruction book is just great. Watching Bill and Ralph crumble under the pressure, and particularly Ralph losing his grip in the face of constant public ridicule (it's interesting that William Katt really did hate the suit and must have helped him when he had to parade around in it) and this difficult task from the green guys is really great. They bicker and argue with each other like a married couple, but you get the feeling that they're coming together as a team.

"Well actually, its umm, actually, i umm, think its a little bit faster."

Ahh the first episode of Season Two. The first full season starts off with Ralph using the suits powers to win at pro baseball. It's a good episode with the first theme of fulfilling your dreams, but not getting so carried away that the power corrupts you. It would be easy to see how suit's powers could tempt and corrupt someone of low moral character, and fortunately Ralph has his friend's on hand to point out when he's getting carried away.

There's some good interaction between Bill and Ralph again, and Bill being caught out after blustering about his contract negotiation skills is priceless. Ralph becoming a little bit caught up in himself and boasting about how his pitch "is a little bit faster" than 120mph mirrors Bill's bragging, especially since they both wind up looking like fools. Eventually Ralph is forced to realise that once he's had his 15 minutes of fame, nobody cares or remembers anymore. Pam is mostly missing from this episode as Connie Sellecca was heavily pregnant at the time, and she's mostly relegated to on-the-phone conversations with Ralph.

Plot Synopsis:

Players in the Stars baseball team are being terrorised and beaten by thugs to stop them winning their games. Bill recruits Ralph and the suit to join the sports team and stop whatever is going on. Bill takes Ralph for a try-out to see if he can throw, and Ralph is delighted because his childhood dream was always to pitch in pro-baseball, even though he was never that good. Ralph throws the ball so fast, it breaks Bill's hand when he tries to catch it, and catapults him backwards across the field. Despite the pain, Bill realises this is going to work better than he could have hoped, and rushes Ralph to the Stars training field to show him off.

The tryout goes well, and Ralph pitches out the Stars best hitter. They rush to sign him up, and Bill decides to take care of all the contract negotiations. Ralph leaves it up to Bill and can't believe that he's going to be pitching for the Stars. When he returns home he's attacked and threatened by the thugs. Ralph puts on the suit and chases the thugs across town, stopping their car. But when a civilian car and a bus nearly have an accident, Ralph is forced to let the thugs go to stop the bus.

Bill is disappointed that Ralph let them get away, but brags about he contract he secured for Ralph, complete with a 3 million dollar salary. Ralph cannot believe it! He starts appearing on TV chat shows, and Pam warns Ralph not to get too carried away. It's the suit thats responsible for his amazing pitching performance anyway. The thugs are concerned that Ralph will jeopardize their plans; they need the Stars to lose the pennant, so they can bet against them and win enough money to pay for a huge shipment of guns which will be used for a revolution in a South American country.

At the game, Bill realizes that he's messed up the contract negotiations when Deborah the Stars owner, comments to Bill about the contract being a giant insurance policy, not an actual salary, and that Ralph won't get a cent until he dies. During the game, Deborah is kidnapped from her box by the thugs on the recommendations from the team captain. Ralph holographs in on her abduction, but by the time he gets to the box, she is gone. Bill arrives and is disappointed again that they got away, but Ralph manages to holograph off a hotdog that one of the thugs dropped. Exciting the stadium under the pretense of a skydiver, Ralph flies to the thugs hideout. Ralph quickly disables the thugs, and locates Deborah. Bill arrives, but can't get the thugs to talk, so Ralph deposits one of them on top of a billboard until he blabs the whole story. Bill tells Ralph he has to win the game, and Ralph tries to fly back to the stadium with Deborah, but crashes in the dust outside.

Racing back to the stadium, Ralph puts Deborah back in her box, and gets her to put him into bat. He knocks the ball out of the park and wins the game for the Stars. Bill arrests the thugs and the team captain, and busts up the gun running ring. Bill later points out to Ralph that people will forget about him over time, and takes him to a bar where they try to stump Big Al, a sports trivia nut. They struggle to remember Ralph's name, and Ralph admits that even though people will forget what he did, he never will.

This is such a classic cult movie. For anyone that loves the blues, or a huge car chase, this is a great movie. The loose plot threads wind through a collection of great songs, and cameos by blues music greats such as Cab Calloway, John Lee Hooker, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles.

The humor is very dry at times, but I find that quite appealing. It's never goofy slapstick stuff, some funny stuff just sort of happens, or the brothers do something which comes off funny. There's some great quotes, and running gags such as the Illinois Nazi's, the cops with broken watches, the Good'ole'Boys are hilarious.

The picture on the DVD is the best I've ever seen it. They must have spent some time restoring the image given the age of the film. I think I have the collector's edition of the movie as it has some small cuts restored in it such as Ellwood storing the car in the overhead trains generator room. I was quite surprised when I first watched the DVD as I've only ever seen the censored version on TV, and I didn't know that it had some swearing in it. Even so it's quite mild by today's standards. The audio is excellent, and the songs really rock along well through the sound system.

The extras are pretty good, some documentary material with excellent stories about the making of the movie, and it's stars. John Belushi sounds like quite a character, and it's a shame that the booze and drugs got him, he'd doubtless have been quite a well known comedian if he'd survived.

Definitely pick up this movie and give it a look. It's a favorite of mine, and now the next generation are learning to love the blues. My kids already enjoy watching it, and my son really likes the soundtrack.

Plot Synopsis:

Jake Blues is released from Joliet State Prison and picked up by his brother Elwood in an old police car. They go to visit the Penguin, a nun that administers the orphanage where they were raised by her and Curtis, an old black blues man that lives in the basement. They find out that the orphanage is due to be sold because the church will not pay the back taxes owed on the property.

Curtis sends Jake and Elwood to see Reverend Cleophus (James Brown) at the Triple Rock Church for some 'churching up'. Jake doesn't want to go, but while there has an epiphany from God - reform their blues band to raise the money to save the orphanage.

Elwood doesn't know where all the members of the band are, but he'll try to find them. On the way home they're stopped by the police for a traffic violation, and Elwood makes a run for it. They lead the police on a chase across town and through a local shopping mall causing chaos and mayhem. After evading the police they return to Elwoods room at the transients motel.

The next morning the pursuing cops from the previous night and Jake's parole officer arrive at the hotel to arrest the boys. As they knock on Elwood's door, a mysterious lady outside blows up the building. The brothers dust themselves off and head out to look for the band.

They track down the first few members working as a lounge act and recruit them back into the band. That leads them to their trumpet player at a snooty restaurant where they cause trouble until he's 'persuaded' to rejoin. They track down the last members at a soul food cafe. Elwood makes enemies of the Illinois Nazi Party who are now looking for them. Finally reunited with the band, they stop by Ray's Music Exchange to get some instruments.

Jake has to get them a gig, and fakes his way into a venue by pretending to be a country'n'western band. After they are found out, they make a run for it, with cops on their tail, the mysterious woman trying to kill them, and Bob and the Good Ole Boys in hot pursuit.

The band give Jake one more chance to make good, so he calls in a favor from an old agent who gets them a big gig in a concert hall up north. Curtis and the children help to spread the word, while Jake and Elwood drive around advertising the concert. Elwood runs out of gas on the way to the concert, and they're both stranded at the station until the tanker arrives.

Arriving at the concert, they sneak in past the hordes of police that are waiting, and the angry Good Ole Boys, where they perform before making their escape. On their way back to the car, the mysterious lady tries to kill them again. It turns out to be Jake's fiance who is trying to kill him because he didn't turn up for their wedding. Jake couldn't make it because he'd been put in jail. He lies to her, and they make their escape with all the police in pursuit. The Good Ole Boys give chase but wind up in the local lake.

The police pursue the boys back to Chicago, where the Nazi's catch up and give chase. The brothers elude them and make it to the assessors office to pay the taxes. By this point, the army, swat team, national guard, helicopters, tanks, firemen, and police have all been called in to catch them. They pay the taxes for the orphanage and are promptly arrested. At the end, the whole band are in jail together, but at least the children's home is saved.

I was overjoyed when the announcement came out that Doctor Who would be making a return to TV. As a long time fan of Who (my favorite doctor is Tom Baker), I was dismayed when the show was originally taken off, and always looked forward when visiting Oz to watching reruns of it on their TV stations. It's been far too long since it was on here, unfortunately though the new episodes were only available on this stupid piddly little Prime station we have here. Most of the frickin country can't receive it, otherwise you have to have a SKY decoder. Arrrrrgh! I've had to wait for the DVD's to come out, which have been wonderful.

The first episode comes with the usual amount of exposition and setup baggage that weighs down firsts of any series. It's not a bad episode, but I think it's probably more enjoyable for people who aren't familiar with the series. I just wanted them to get on with it since I'm already clued up on the Doctor. Still it was fantastic the first time the Doctor appears, and the Tardis tucked away between the buildings was great. I almost missed it the first time.

I really like the redesign of the Tardis, and the production values on this new series are fantastic. Every week is like a mini movie, with no more wobbly sets or props made out of detergent bottles. Rose is quite likeable in an everyman/woman kind of way, and I'm sure for those people that find her stunning that's an attraction. Christopher Ecceleston was a better choice than expected, running the whole gamut of emotions, unpredictable, wild, with a dash of jaded innocence. You can almost see hints of the other Doctors personalities running through his performance.

The Autons were an interesting choice for an opening villain, a nice way to connect to previous continuity, although animated shop window mannequins is probably a bit light-weight by today's standards. Other scarier classic villains are back in subsequent episodes, so that's something to look forward too.

If your a fan of Doctor Who, or just into sci-fi in general, this is definitely a series worth watching. I hope it does well and continues to stay on as long as it did in the first run. My children are already hopelessly addicted to the series, new Who-philes in the making.

Plot Synopsis:

Rose Tyler is a common London girl living on a council housing estate with her single-parent mother. She gets up, goes to work at the department store, has lunch with her boyfriend Mickey and returns to work. Nothing particularly exciting happens, until she is asked to drop off some items to the store manager in the basement. While stumbling around looking for him, she is attacked by plastic mannequins in storage. The Doctor rescues her, and after helping her escape from the building, promptly blows up the department store. Rose fails to notice the blue police box sandwiched between two buildings as she makes her way home.

The next morning, not much point getting up since she doesn't have a job to go to. The Doctor turns up at the Tyler's flat looking for more Autons, and is attacked by the plastic mannequin arm that Rose bought home the previous night. After subduing the arm, Rose's curiosity is peaked, and the Doctor gives her some cryptic information before vanishing in his blue box.

Rose starts to investigate the Doctor on the Internet, and finds the contact information for Clive, a conspiracy theorist who has been tracking the Doctor over the years. Rose meets with Clive and he shows her photos of the Doctor from different time periods, and he warns her that where the Doctor goes death follows. Meanwhile, outside Mickey has been attacked and eaten by a plastic rubbish cart. When Rose returns a plasticized replica of Mickey is waiting for her. They go for a pizza at a restaurant, and Mickey starts harassing Rose for information about the Doctor's wereabouts. The Doctor arrives again to rescue Rose, and Mickey goes on a rampage. The Doctor severs Mickey's head, and escapes back to the police box. Rose follows but can't quite believe her eyes - the innocent blue box contains a huge spaceship on the inside.

The Doctor explains about the Tardis, and uses plastic Mickey's head to guide the Tardis to the location of the Nestene Consciousness controlling the plastic Autons. They arrive near the Millenium Wheel, and the Doctor realises the Nestene is using the wheel as a huge transmitter dish to animate and control the plastic Autons. As the Doctor heads towards a final confrontation with the Nestene, it realises that the Doctor could destroy it, and sets all the plastic Autons on a rampage of destruction through London. The Doctor is restrained by the Autons, leaving Rose and Mickey to dump the vial of anti-plastic that the Doctor bought into the vat containing the Nestene, destroying it.

After the Nestene is destroyed, the Doctor returns Rose and Mickey to the council estates. He offers Rose the opportunity to travel with him, which she initially refuses, until he points out that he can also travel in time. Rose abandons Mickey and leaves with the Doctor.

This is a neat little film and marvel of animation. The hours and hours of work that goes into making these little plasticine characters come to life is amazing. From the people that created the wonderful Wallace and Gromit series, comes this tale of rebellious chickens trying to escape from a chicken farm.

With multiple homages to WWI prisoner/escape movies, as well as little references to later known movies such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones, its very cleverly written. The characters are a delight and it's hard to pick a favorite, each with complete personalities and quirks, and hilarious dialogue. You'll find yourself quoting them! I highly recommend this film, as it's not just for the kids, and anybody should be able to appreciate the wonderful animation in this film.

Plot Synopsis:

Ginger's an unhappy chicken on Tweedy's Chicken Farm who dreams of a better place, and isn't afraid to try to escape. Along with a motley assortment of other chickens, they concoct schemes trying to get free. Unfortunately, they're largely unsuccessful until Rocky the Flying Rooster crashes onto the farm, and Ginger is given her latest plan. Ginger persuades Rocky to teach the other chickens how to fly so they can leave the farm, but Rocky isn't telling the whole truth.

When the horrible and bitter Mrs Tweedy decides to turn all the chickens into pies for more money, the race is on to fly the coop. Luckily after Rocky rescues Ginger from the pie machine, and sabotages the machine, they're bought more time. However, the flying lessons aren't working out so well, and Ginger is perplexed as to why they can't fly.

Finally Rocky's secret is revealed; he is a circus chicken who's fired out of a cannon and can't actually fly under his own power. He abandons the other chickens and leaves them to their fate. Dejected the other chickens give in, but Ginger concocts another plan, they will construct a plane! Fowler the RAF mascot chicken helps with the design, and the others furiously steal whatever they can get from around the farm and start building.

When the pie machine is finally repaired, and the farmer figures out what they're up too, they make their escape. After battling Mrs Tweedy in the air over the farm, they flee to a small island in the middle of a lake where they start a new colony and live happy and free range.

When the new Batman film was announced, I was excited but apprehensive after the two previous films were so disappointing. I can still watch Batman Forever, but I loathe Batman & Robin. I can't stand George Clooney in most things, and the Robin character I've never really liked. Batman is the ultimate hardass, he doesn't need to have a whining kid following him about. And don't even get me started on the campy-gayness of Schumacher's interference in the franchise - bat nipples anyone??

So I was really pleased when it premiered and the wonderful reviews for it started to come in. And although I didn't end up getting to the theatre to see it, mostly because the theatre prices here are just obnoxious now ($15 for an adult - I can get a new release video for $8), the day it came out on DVD I purchased it immediately. I loved every minute of this film. Sure it's a little slow starting, but it's an origin story so you expect a certain amount of exposition to these things.

Still this is one of the best origin stories I've ever seen on film. It's very well done, cutting back and forth between the past and present, but always with an eye on presenting Batman as a reality. There are no sculpted bat nipples, no cars covered in neon, just functional design that could exist. The Tumbler is quite possibly the most aggressive powerful car I've ever seen, and what guy wouldn't want one? Everything is developed and explained in a believable manner, that really helps to ground the film in a reality, a 'this guy could really be real' feeling.

I'm looking forward to a sequel, which should be something pretty cool now that the origin baggage is out of the way. The hint at the end towards the Joker appearing was pretty cool. I just hope they don't kill the Joker at the end of the movie like the other films did, since Batman never kills the Joker, just sends him back to Arkham Asylum.

The casting is really inspired as well, lots of big name quality actors who do excellent work, with the exception of Katie Holmes who is a bit meh. Gary Oldman in particular looks and acts like Gordon, and Christian Bale is also a very believable Batman. Caine, Neeson, and Freeman are fantastic as always.

Well recommended, certainly the pinnacle of modern superhero films at this time.

Plot Synopsis:

Young Bruce Wayne plays in the yard of his parents mansion with a friend when he falls into a hole in the ground filled with menacing bats.

Later Bruce is an adult imprisoned in a Chinese jail, when thugs attempt to kill him. He brutally beats them down and is placed in solitary. A man, Henry Ducard, approachs Wayne and offers him training, with what Bruce comes to discover is the League of Shadows.

Bruce recalls being rescued from the cave by his father Thomas, and later taken to the opera. During the performance he becomes scared of the bat-like performers on stage and asks to leave. As the Waynes step outside into an alley, a gunman robs and kills Bruce's parents.

After Wayne is released he travels to the mountains, to a monastery where he is trained in the ninja arts by Ducard. Henry helps Bruce to face his fears, and gives him the skills he will later use to avenge his parents.

Bruce recalls trying to kill the man that murdered his parents but failing. When he confronts Carmine Falcone, a local mobster about his involvement in the death of the Wayne's, Bruce is beaten. Bruce decides to head out into the world to experience crime, and gain an understanding of the criminal mind. He lives as a criminal for awhile, training and gaining experience, before he is captured and incarcerated.

When Ducard reveals he is working for Ras Al Ghul (The Demons Head), and tries to induct Bruce into the League of Shadows so that he may destroy the crime-ridden Gotham City, Bruce declines and a fight ensues. The monastery is destroyed, but not before Bruce has saved Henry's life.

Returning to Gotham City, Bruce finds Wayne Enterprise's has become less philanthropic and more money grubbing, producing military weapons instead of products that improve people's lives. Bruce insinuates himself back into society, and slowly builds his plans. Creating an identity that will strike fear and create an aura of myth around him, he begins building the Batman. Lucius Fox from Wayne Tech helps by providing Bruce with various pieces of equipment and technology that he uses to build his batsuit etc.

Batman begins to take on organised crime in the city, forging links with Detective Jim Gordon, and slowly brings justice to the organized crime element in the city. As he investigates he finds that there are connections to something much larger, and he crosses paths with Jonathan Crane aka. The Scarecrow.

Gradually it is revealed that Henry Ducard is really Ras Al Ghul, as he spreads Scarecrows fear toxin through Gotham's water supply network, and then attempts to spread it through the city with the help of a stolen microwave emitter device.

Batman battles Ras Al Ghul, ultimately stopping him with the help of Jim Gordon. The city is ultimately saved, but there's still a lot of work to do. Wayne's mansion was destroyed, but Alfred will help him make some 'improvements'. He recovers Wayne Tech from the shark that was running it, and places Lucius Fox in charge. And Jim Gordon asks Batman for help with a new villain, handing him a Joker playing card left at the scene of the crimes.

Busy like a crazy bee-like insane thing, buzzing furiously about. So much to get done at the moment, I've been so tired the last few days. I'm tearing through the jobs at home trying to get the house sorted for our move, cleaning out piles of paperwork, junk, and media. We just sold a bunch of our stuff on the net, kudos to the Mrs. for organising all that. She's off overseas on her jaunt in little over a week now, so lots to do before that happens.

My regular job is busy at the moment trying to get the StudentMax system sorted out, and other business is quietening down. I've decided to just finish the outstanding work but not look for any new work, especially since we lost a couple of hostings recently - not through any fault of ours i might add. Strange that someone who has been having problems with Telecom would choose to move all their business to them, just because its easier. Isn't that an oxymoron?? I'm a bit sad to have to wind the business up, considering how much work we've all put into it, but it's necessary as part of our great move, and who knows, maybe I'll set up again once we're settled in Oz.

We've almost found the dog a new home, which is a shame, we've really been missing her since she's been away on trial, but Rob's worried if we take Coco she might get killed by a dingo or roo. So we found a nice retired-man who loves dogs and is looking for a furry companion to fill his time in. I'm feeling pretty comfortable that they'll look after her.

I'm also drawing a short comic strip at the moment, hopefully for inclusion in the next issue of New Ground, if I can get my act together in time. Plot is finished, storyboards are started, characters are designed, started on panel 1, so cross fingers!!

I first saw this film on VHS after my brother rented it. It's a classic film, and certainly one of the best from Ahnuld's action stable. The film starts off as a war film with some suspenseful tones that create tension, the military team start as the predators hunting the missing personnel, and later the rebels. Slowly hinting that something else is out there hunting them, before the predators turn into the prey.

It's a good choice that the Predator creature isn't shown until nearly the end of the film, just the ghostly distortion of his cloaking field to hint that he's out there. Since your never quite sure where it is, or was that flicker it just then, you spend the early parts of the movie on edge looking out for it to appear. The creature is a brilliant design, large, powerful, and an interesting combination of a lizard and a crab. Quite iconic!

The story is quite good, something a bit different. Action packed with some good suspense, and well thought out. The fact that the predator hunts using heat-based vision is quite clever, especially when the hero deduces that he can turn invisible by masking his body heat. The theme of concealment is used multiple times on both sides; concealed bodies, hidden agendas and traps, etc.

The DVD I have is the twin-pack Predator I and II. It doesn't have much in the way of extras, just a trailer and commentaries. I would have liked the Collector's Edition because it has a lot of behind the scenes material, but as it was a gift I'm not complaining.

The picture is pretty good for a movie its age. There is some dust and grain evident, particularly during the titles at the beginning. Mostly they aren't hugely obvious because of the busy backgrounds; they tend to get lost in the complexity of the foliage. It would have been nice if the studio had given this print a proper cleanup, as it wouldn't have taken much to make pristine, and it's definitely a piece of movie history worth preserving.

The sound is excellent with good use of the surround channels, and good detail from the little clicks the predator makes, to the loud gunfire. I get a lot of complaints from the wife about the noise this one makes.

Well worth seeing, and definitely worth owning if your an Arnie fan. This is another favorite of my daughters, who is a massive Arnold fan. I keep waiting for her to bring home a huge hulking Bavarian boyfriend one day.

Plot Synopsis:

An alien vessel approaches Earth and drops off a small pod that hurtles down towards the surface. In South America a helicopter drops off an American military team at a small base in the jungle. Dutch (Schwarzenegger) meets with the commander and an old friend about an operation to retrieve some missing personnel from in the jungle.

The team are deployed in the jungle and eventually locate the crashed helicopter. The personnel are all missing, and after searching the eventually find them; skinned and hanging from a tree. They go looking for the rebels that did this, and attack their encampment. It then transpires that the rescue was just a cover to find this village, eliminate it, and pickup any intelligence they could find. Dutch is pretty angry that he was manipulated and his team put at risk. He resolves to head for the extraction point.

Members of the team are killed brutally, quickly, and efficiently while they travel through the jungle. They realise that something in the jungle is hunting them. After a few deaths and a couple of sightings of something shimmering in the jungle, they settle in for the night and construct elaborate traps should the unknown come for them. The predator has no problem circumventing the traps and attacks during the night. It continues to pick them off during the remainder of the trip until only Dutch remains.

Discovering that he can conceal himself from the creature by covering his entire body in thick mud, he creates traps and weapons, then attracts the creature to fight and hopefully destroy it. After some initial success wounding the creature, and disabling its shoulder-mounted cannon, Dutch finds himself battling the predator hand-to-claw, and eventually defeats it with a carefully concealed trap. As the predator lies dying, it activates a self-destruct device, which Dutch luckily manages to outrun. The extraction helicopter arrives to find Dutch standing in the middle of a large area of flattened and scorched jungle.

This is a really great film. I didn't get to see it until I was into my late teens, since we weren't allowed to see things that were scary, although my grandmother used to watch the sunday night horror movies with me, which is where I first saw Alien. Aliens dispenses with the monster/horror-house feel of the first film, and opts to turn it into a war film with horror elements.

This film redefined so many genres, and has inspired so many modern films and videogames today, particularly the popular Halo series. It also introduced new elements to the Alien canon; the military, expanded on Weyland-Yutani, and the alien queen. The DVD I have of this is the special extended edition which has an introduction from the director, James Cameron, and a lot of footage that was originally missing reinserted. This footage adds a lot to the story, expanding on Ripley's retrieval, the establishment of the colony, and the colonists being sent out to the alien ship by the Company. The picture and sound is probably the best I've ever seen it, certainly better than the original VHS version I'd seen, but obviously not as good as something newer that's been shot digitally.

The movie is still as scary-as-hell, with tension built gradually, only limited views of the aliens initially, good use of audio, lots of dripping, little noises etc. This film still sends my wife scuttling behind the couch. She can't understand how this can be one of my daughter's favorite films.

Plot synopsis:

Flight Lieutenant Ellen Ripley is retrieved from the shuttle Narcissis by a deep-space salvage crew purely by accident. After drifting for 50+ years in suspended animation, she was close to drifting out into deep space when they retrieve her. After being returned to a spacestation in orbit around Earth, she makes her recovery, only to find that anything she loved is dead and gone.

After an inquiry into the deaths of her crewmates and subsequent destruction of the Nostromo are glossed over, and her tales of the alien disregarded as fantasy, she's demoted to working the cargo dock at the spaceport. When communications from the colony that was established on the planet containing the crashed alien ship mysteriously cease, she is offered the opportunity to redeem herself if she will accompany a group of Colonial Marines as an advisor. She reluctantly agrees thinking that the Marines are going back to destroy the aliens, not capture for study.

They arrive on LV-426 to find the colony deserted, but her worst fears are confirmed when they discover some face huggers in stasis in the lab. Ripley and the marines find a small child living in the ventilation ducts, and Ripley takes her under her wing. Eventually tracking down the missing colonists to the atmospheric processor station, the marines head over in the APC to find them. On one of the lower levels they find the colonists cocooned into the wall, used as birthing hosts for aliens. An intense battle breaks out, and many marines are killed before Ripley can evacuate them in the APC.

Planning to leave on the dropship and nuke the planet from orbit, they summon the ship to pick them up. Unfortunately it is destroyed when an alien gets on board and kills the crew while in flight. Falling back to the colony command center, they fortify their position and attempt to wait out the night. Burke attempts to impregnate Ripley and Newt using the alien facehuggers in the lab, so that he can smuggle the gestating aliens back through quarantine to the Company for research. Ripley and the marines destroy the facehuggers before that is able to happen. The marines send Bishop out to the transmitter to summon down the second dropship from the Sulaco. Later the aliens travel across from the processing station using a maintenance tunnel, and manage to penetrate the command center. Once again the group is forced to flee. More marines are lost, also including Burke who gets his just reward, and Ripley and Hicks make it to the second dropship, unfortunately losing Newt in the process.

Ripley refuses to leave Newt behind, and instructs Bishop to take her to the processing station sho she can get her. She arms up, and heads down into the lower levels searching for Newt. She finds her just in time to avoid implantation, but on the way out, stumbles across the alien queen laying face hugger eggs. Destroying the queen's nursery, Ripley makes her escape, with an angry queen in tow. They just manage to escape in time on the dropship as the processor explodes and destroys a sizable chunk of the planet.

Back on the Sulaco, celebrations are shortlived as the alien queen reappears, having smuggled herself back concealed on the dropship. After a short battle between a powerloader-enhanced Ripley and the queen, she manages to open the airlock doors and suck the huge alien out into space. Ripley places Hicks and Bishop into the hypersleep chambers, before depositing herself and Newt for the long trip home to Earth.

Went mountain biking with Robin from work today and some of this friends. Weather was a bit drizzly in the morning, but it wasn't so bad because it helped to pack down the sand base in the forest, so the riding was pretty good. We took it easy because some of the others weren't experienced riders, although from their devil-may-care attitudes to doing the stunts on the course, you'd think they were pros. I was taking it really carefully today, because I've had so many accidents lately since I installed the shoe cletes.

Unfortunately on one of the jumps, Robin's brother Andrew pulled a Lance Murdock. He did a beautiful jump, but yanked the brake as he was landing and the bike flipped over onto its side slamming him against the ground. I swear my heart stopped when he lay on the ground not moving. I thought he was unconscious, but mostly it was just a lot of pain. We thought he might have been a bit concussed, but Rally Mark thought he'd probably just separated his shoulder so we weren't too worried. He looked a bit sick, so we sat with him for awhile and he eventually hobbled back to the car.

It put real dampner on the day - it was hard to enjoy the ride knowing that someone was seriously hurt. We puddled on for a bit and had a good ride in the time that remained. When we returned back Andrew looked terrible, very pale, and not doing at all well. It was a bit of a bummer that everyone called it a day, but realisation dawned later that it was the right thing to do. Robin took Andrew to the Accident Clinic and they did an x-ray, discovering that it wasn't a separated shoulder but a broken collarbone. Really explained why he wasn't looking too good, probably in shock. I'm glad he got some help, and I hope he gets better soon.

Yay my little man has finally returned. He's been away staying variously with my parents or my grandmother for the last week. I've missed him heaps. It's just not the same without him. I can't even imagined how I lived before I had my children. Sure they sometimes drive you mad, but you never stop loving them, and you only ever want them to be safe.

We had another round of juvenile behaviour again from a certain female relative (you know who you are!). I was really disappointed that she couldn't find it in her heart to also take my daughter on a planned trip to the Circus with my son. I thought it was really unfair, given that we even offered to pay her entry and deliver her to the venue. All they had to do was spend time with her. Apparently that was too difficult! I don't necessarily believe that it's because they have anything against Micky, but I think that another party has perhaps said something that's caused some friction. Really I think it's about the ongoing vendetta against my wife, which is causing us both a lot of aggravation. The thing the other party doesn't seem to realise is that by hurting her, your also hurting me. I can't say I'll be sorry to see the back of them when we move to Australia. It will be nice for the kids to have some real proper grandparents - Rob's family are so nice it fills me with shame to have inflicted my horrible parentage upon her.

Anyway it's great to have the family all home again. I found a big box of lego in the attic on the weekend and I gave it to Bay. He was so excited, it was a bit difficult getting him to go to bed last night because he wanted to play with it. He was up at 6am this morning building a model Halo city with little lego Master Chiefs.

I can still remember being allowed in my teens to see the first Robocop. It's a brilliant film, sure its graphically violent, but its black comedy themes of corporate enterprise generating profits at the expense of dehumanising and destroying peoples lives is still very much true today.

Murphy's journey to regain his humanity is often touching and heartfelt, and in striking contrast to the acts of violence the character perpetrates in his pursuit of justice. I guess there is 'justifiable' violence in the world. Peter Weller does a great job communicating his struggle to regain who he once was, the loss of his life and family, through layers of prosthetics and a bulky suit. Nancy Allen is also excellent as Murphy's tough partner Lewis. And who could have suspected that Kurtwood Smith who plays such a horrible bad guy in this could later go on to be hilarious in a comedy series.

I hear a remake is in the works somewhere down the track. I honestly don't know why Hollywood feels it has to remake a film that is perfect just the way it is. No doubt they'll foist some PG-13 piece of crap upon us. I'd rather they did started a fresh trilogy of stories with the character and made it an R-rated, than do another PG-13 kiddie friendly movie like Robocop 3 that completely misses the point of this character. Mind you we've seen a lot of this politically-correct crap lately - Aliens vs. Predator anyone?

The picture and sound quality in the DVD is pretty good considering the age of the movie. I hear an HD release of this film is too be offered soon, and it would be interesting to see how much better that print is. There are some extras about the making of the film, behind the scenes etc that are quite interesting, especially some of the director's comments about the film.

Plot Synopsis:

Detroit is a city in a bad state - crime is rampant, violent gangs roam the streets, and its not being helped by the large corporation at its heart, Omni Consumer Products. With plans to tear down a large section of the city and build a new corporate run Delta City, OCP is doing nothing to discourage the violence and lawlessness. When their plan to sell and deploy military robots, Enforcement Droids 209, go wrong, a backup plan is ordered - Robocop. OCP manipulates good cops into situations where they could be killed in order to provide material for their project. Alex Murphy is recently transfered to the worst Metro Police Dept in the city, and on his first day is brutally killed by Clarence Boddicker and his gang.

OCP take the barely living remains of Murphy and rebuild him into Robocop, erasing his memories, and deploying him as an unstoppable anti-crime machine, mostly as a PR exercise. Murphy is reunited with his partner Lewis who reawakens his memories, and leads him on a search to reclaim his humanity. In the process, he hunts down Boddicker and his gang to bring them to justice for his death, and uncovers corruption leading back all the way to OCP.

I'm going to break away for a moment from my usual DVD reviews and actually review a movie. We don't often go to the movies, mostly because of the excessive pricing, but we treated our daughter to the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie last night. It had some good bits, but I'll agree with most people that it wasn't as good as the first one. Personally I feel the pacing was a bit off. It had some really exciting, thrilling sequences, but there was lots of exposition, and it dragged a bit in places.

I suspect the problem is possibly that it's part one of a two-parter. I don't know whether it was originally written as two parts or one complete script that was cut in two, but its mostly all exposition and setup, and really only comes together towards the end of the film. My wife complained that while it had some good bits, it was mostly boring. I'd be interested to see part two (or part three in the series) when it comes out. I think most of the action and resolution will be in the last movie. Personally, I think it should have been written as one complete movie with some threads into the next.

Something else that strikes me as a bit odd, and I've seen it commented about in other forums, so it's not just me - Captain Jack seems odd. It's nothing that Johnny Depp is doing, as usual he's fantastic, but instead of Jack being a great pirate pretending to be a fool, he's the other way round this time. In the first film it was almost like it drunken idiotic behaviour was merely a distraction so that others would assume he wasn't a threat, but really he was. This time he just seems to lurch from disaster to disaster, bumbling along, and just narrowly escaping. I guess it just seemed strange for the character. Another friend commented that perhaps it was because Sparrow was deathly afraid of Davey Jones. Perhaps he's right?

I suppose it didn't help that we were only able to get into a late session and we were pretty tired by the time it finished - nearly midnight! I'd probably still buy it on DVD when it comes out, but I don't think i'll pay theatre rates to go again. Perhaps I would enjoy it more in the comfort of my own home when I'm fresh and alive.

What's good:

• Captain Jack - even as a fool he's still good fun


• The undead monkey


• Davey Jones and his crew


• The Kraken


• The cannibal island sequence


• The fight over the chest sequence


• The Voodoo Witch - dirty, but strangely sexy all at the same time

What's bad:

• Lots of exposition - can drag on a bit


• Some sequences don't serve much purpose - seem to be in it just for the sake of it


• The new governor - his scenes are mostly exposition - not that interesting. Hopefully it'll play into something more later.

So how should I rate it. I'd have given Curse of the Black Pearl a 10/10, so I'll have to give Dead Man's Chest an 8/10. It's not an abomination to entertainment, but could have been better - may improve upon subsequent viewings with it's missing half intact, the eventual Pirates of the Caribbean - End of the World.

Things are developing at high-speed as usual. Robyn's got the idea of immigrating into her head, and I've come home to find this, that and the other arranged. We've already got somewhere to live, something to drive, she's found a job, and I've put my feelers out into the job market to see what's available. I have managed to get her to agree to waiting for a few months though, and just investigating everything we need to know to make sure that moving to Brisbane is the right thing for us to be doing.

Already though it's looking pretty attractive. Houses are much more reasonably priced and we could probably get into something pretty spectacular on what we'd get for our place here. Jobs look to pay a lot more, so it's looking pretty good. Cars didn't look much cheaper though, so we're going to investigate whether we can take the SP20 with us or not. We've been told it's pretty hard to insure imported imported Japanese vehicles over there, but I guess its worth investigating since we just spent $15k on it and it would be a shame to flick it on so soon. Damnit, I was so happy with it too...

Bit of a downer though, I received an email from a client today who wants to cease hosting of his site with us. This is the second one in two weeks now, although both for different reasons. One is throwing in the towel because he isn't getting much business out of it. Unfortunately is company name uses too very common words with an 'and' in the middle, so when you put it in the search engine it comes up with everything under the moon that has those two words in it. Usually his site doesn't pop up to the top. We've tried everything we could, but he really needs to look at rebranding his business. So it's a shame but not entirely unexpected. The other client has been having problems with his telecommunications provider (Telecom again!!) and is sick of receiving multiple bills from different providers so he's looking to consolidate. I've offered to combine the lot, but haven't heard back yet so I don't know what's going on. Might be easier just to let him go now since we're looking at moving on. Still in two minds what to do about the business though: let it go, or try to carry it on from a distance?

We've been talking about whether to move overseas or not. There's increasingly becoming less and less to keep us here. Don't get me wrong, we live in a beautiful country and given the choice I'd rather be here, but the money is crap compared to how much its increasingly costing to live here. It's just becoming too hard now, petrol's just gone up again, local rates have gone up 10%, more compliance charges for things, ARC rates have gone up, food has gone up 30% in recent months - it just seems like theres no end to it. How are we left to manage this, I get a mediocre 2% pay increase from work. I've just recently dodged the redundancy bullet, and ironically I've been given more opportunities now to do development work instead of support work which I've been becoming increasingly tired of. But theres no more pay, no recognition, no modification of my contract, so I'm kind of confused now as to what's going on. Seems like I've been handed more work to do, and I'm supposed to be happy about it. I suppose on one hand the fact I still have a job is a good thing, but I work to live, not the other way round.

So we're starting to ask the hard questions, should we sell up and move across the ditch to Oz? We're going to look into it, best to see what the advantages and pitfalls must be rather than just being enamoured with the idea of the 'grass being greener over there'. It's hard to look at how well the inlaws are doing over there and not be a tiny bit envious, although after our experiences of the excessive heat over there at Xmas, I'm still a tiny bit dubious about the idea. But I always thought if I worked hard then I could have the things that I wanted and enjoy my life, and now it's just working to have enough money to put gas in the car to go back to work again, or to be able to have lunch today, stupid little things that we shouldn't have to obsess over in life.

I guess we'll see in time. We don't have to rush into anything at the moment. Rob is considering returning to parttime work after her trip to PNG, so we've got time to consider, and maybe her returning to work will help alleviate some of the pressures we've been feeling lately.

I have to say, I really really struggled with whether or not to review this episode. I hated this episode with every fibre of my being. Not only does the concept just not sit right with me, but the fact that they selected this woman who is just terminally annoying, I can only wonder what the hell they were thinking?

The fact that Ralph gets exposed to the world, and the President just happens to be on hand at the time is ridiculous. He's been buzzing around the place for 3 seasons, and been sighted by plenty of people and yet he's never made it into the news. Yes there was the one time when he made it onto the cover of the paper, but they didn't know it was him. Then he supposedly lets the fame go to his head. Yet we've seen in other episodes when he's either seen his ego go awry, or been faced with the consequences of the suit corrupting individuals such as J. J. Beck, so why he would behave like that when he's seen it, experienced it, and learned from it, doesn't make any sense.

Then the green guys come along and express their unhappiness, but they don't take the suit away, they let him choose a successor? Why wouldn't they just select someone? After all they choose Ralph and Bill in the first place. Then they allow Ralph to select this big-haired bimbo of a replacement who wants to run off and save the whales? Arrrgh! I can see why it didn't make it past a half pilot episode!

While it saddens me that this great show got canned because of Knight Rider, if this was where the show was going to end up, it's probably just as well. I'd rather it continued with the same characters, or at least come up with a plausible reason to reboot. Maybe it would have been better to see the characters aged, and the aliens returning to take them away, and then they select a successor. Just not this hippy kindergarten teacher!

There are a couple of good bits, mostly Robert Culp as usual. His reactions to Ralph passing the suit to a woman are priceless, and the scenes where he's being interrogated by Holly's adopted daughter and great. Unfortunately the rest of the episode is bleurgh!

Plot Synopsis:

Bill Maxwell sits in his office, documenting his adventures with Ralph, and describes the latest shakeup. Ralph is exposed to the world, and after letting his ego run wild because of his new found fame, the greenguys summon Ralph and Pam to a meeting. They command that he select a successor and pass the suit on.

Ralph searches and selects Holly Hathaway, a kindergarten teacher. Bill is not too pleased when he finds out that Ralph has passed the suit to a skirt. Bill undertakes to train Holly, but Holly doesn't want to follow Bill's commands. Holly decides to take the suit to save whales in Alaska. Bill tags along, and they get into a fight at a bar. Holly wins using the suit. And then the episode ends with Bill recounting how Holly might work out okay.

"Yours truly, Dumbo Maxwell is chugging across the finish line. Folks up in the gallery yelling Go Geezer Go!"

This is one of my favorite episodes from Season One. Again it's not the crime story that makes this episode shine, but the character development again. A lot of people criticize the subsequent seasons for overblown plots, and really that's the fault of the networks trying to turn the show into 'monster of the week', and it was always at its best when Cannell kept it focused on the characters and their lives trying to cope with the suit. In the extras, Cannell goes into the development of the show at some length, and later comments about how much he had to fight the studio interfering in the stories of this show. Ironically it was the studio's meddling that ultimately caused the demise of this show, and I hope somebody looks back at some of the Cannell shows now and realises they should have left him alone. Of course that's not to say that some of the 'monster of the week' episodes aren't good, but we'll get into that in Season Two.

In this case, it's focused on what happens when we achieve our ambitions, or get left behind unfulfilled. We've all been there, trapped in the dead-end job that goes nowhere, while lesser employees are boosted up the ladder without any merit. It's a joy to watch Robert Culp's Maxwell grapple with his advancing age and lack of career prospects as the younger team members are advancing upwards. He plays the obsessive angle just right. It's also nice to have an episode that focuses on Pam a bit, and shows what a superb actor Connie Selecca is.

And on top of all this, we get a new power - pyrokinesis. I like the running joke that's been going this season about how many government-issue cars Ralph has managed to destroy so far. In a way, the fact that Ralph lost the instruction book for the suit is a stroke of genius, since it stops him from becoming too powerful, or making things too easy, a fact that's eluded too in a later season.

This is a great episode, and easily one of the best of Season One.

Episode Synopsis:

Bill's waiting out in the desert for Ralph, and filling in time by reading the obituary section of the paper. Ralph arrives late, and Bill complains about how he's sitting around sizzling in the desert, and how useless Ralph is with the suit. They need to get in some practice time. Ralph hasn't got long to spend though because he has a meeting with the principal, and Pam couldn't make time to get sandwiches and Cokes because she has a work meeting. As usual Bill thinks his priorities are more important than everyone elses. Bill wants Ralph to try to see if the suit can do pyrokinesis. Ralph concentrates on starting a fire on a bush in front of him, but accidentally sets fire to Bill's government-issue car. The car explodes, and Ralph apologises as it is the third car this year he's destroyed. Bill is worried he's going to get in trouble for it, so he'd better get Pam to organise a legal defense.Meanwhile, Pam is meeting with her boss who offers her a junior partnership in the law firm that she works for. Ralph meets with the principal who gives him a promotion to Temporary Vice Principal. Ralph's first job is to discipline Tony Vilicana. Bill doesn't get a promotion but gets a newer and much younger boss, who wants him to explain how he's totalled another car.

Bill is depressed that he's not going anywhere, missing out on the promotions despite his years of service. Ralph receives his new office as part of his promotion, and Pam accepts the partnership offer. As Pam and her boss leave the restaurant, two thugs follow them and plan to trap them. They make their move in an alley and stop the limo. They threaten Pam's boss, Clarence, about not buying off the commission because Springsong won't stand investigation, and that they'll kill him if he doesn't behave. Luckily, they mistake Pam for Clarence's daughter. Pam asks Clarence whats going on, but he just makes an excuse and brushes it off.

Ralph tells Bill about his new promotion at work, but Bill is too busy obsessing about having a coronary to notice. When Ralph tells him about Pam's new promotion though, Bill is dismayed. The world's gone bad because he's been passed by and everyone else is moving ahead. Bill's upset because a work colleague his age recently died, and like Bill he was passed over and went nowhere. Bill's thinking about retiring, but Ralph isn't having a bar of it. They're both in this together, and Bill is not abandoning Ralph with the suit and the little green guys. Pam arrives home and interrupts, she's in trouble and not happy after the gunmen incident.

The gunmen report into their boss that they passed along the message to Carter and his daughter Mary. The boss realises that they've made a mistake and threatened him in front of a witness since Carter's daughter is in London. He tells the gunmen to fix it.
Pam explains what happened to Bill and Ralph. They offer to investigate, which means they'll have to check into the law office. Pam suggests they take Bill's car since the bad guys might know what she drives. But they can't because Ralph blew it up - third government car totaled this year. They take Ralph's instead.

At the law office, the gunmen watch as they go into the building. Bill is impressed by the swankiness of the offices, but comments that Pam's office is probably in the basement. It's on the top floor with the other offices, and is very nice. Bill looks disgusted especially since he has a cubicle. Pam asks Bill to follow her, and Bill assumes its Carters office, but it turns out this large plush office would have been Pam's. Bill gets visibly sicker as Pam shows him Carter's office. Ralph goes into Carter's closet and puts on some of his clothes to holograph off of, and starts to pickup some information about a file for Springsong Records. Pam goes into Carter's desk and gets a file for Springsong Records, and Bill just looks confused. Ralph thinks he has the whole thing solved, but he's just been holographing off Pam who has the file. He feels like a fool.

Pam goes out into the hallway and is grabbed by the gunmen who have snuck in. Pam manages to call out. They drag her outside to the car. Ralph flies out the window and chases the car. The car races around the streets and swerves to a stop after a hubcap comes loose. Ralph flies down and crashes through the back window of the car. He disables the gunmen and rescues Pam.

Back at the Bureau, Maxwell hands over the two thugs, and gets a lecture from the new boss about jurisdiction. The two thugs get hauled away to the psychiatric hospital after they talk all about Ralph in the suit. Bill and Pam sit around lamenting how bad their day has been. Ralph offers to rip the handle off the vault at the law office to get the Springsong file, and wants to stay with Pam to make sure she's safe.

Next morning Pam is waiting for Ralph to pick her up when Carter arrives. He wants to explain what's going on, and asks Pam to sit in the car with him while they talk about it in private. Carter then traps Pam in the car, and drives off with her. Ralph arrives moments later to find her missing. Bill arrives later to pick up Ralph, and says he's been investigating Springsong and found a connection to a Mr Hagman and a casino in Vegas. Looks like Carter has angered somebody in the mob.

Ralph and Bill go to visit Mr Hagman, and find him dead in his pool. Bill gets called into Palmer's office again to explain his jurisdictional bungling again, and Bill spills out the details about Hagman's mob connections and Pam's kidnapping. Palmer promptly takes Bill off the case and assigns it to Carlisle. Bill is crushed, and has pretty much given up on the FBI when he has to explain to Ralph that he's been reassigned. Ralph snaps Bill out of his depression, and they head to Ralph's house to see if they can sniff up a fresh lead on Pam.

Carter and Pam are waiting for the Tucson connection to arrive. When he finally arrives Mr Spencer is pretty angry with Carters mess ups, and says he's tied up the mess with Hagman, now he just has to sort out the loose ends like Pam. Pam tells them that she also told Ralph. Carter says he can get hold of Ralph, and Spencer wants them both taken to the junkyard and killed there.

Ralph is at home trying to holograph on Pam using her photo, when Carter calls and arranges the meeting at the junkyard. Ralph is told to come alone, but naturally Bill won't let him. They arrive at the meeting and once Pam is safe with Ralph, Bill tries to badge them. The mob thugs start shooting, and Ralph starts to disable them when the crane operator drops a car on top of Ralph. Pam and Bill fear he's been squashed, but he gets out of the trunk of the car, picks it up and throws it. The mob guys get in their car and try to make their escape. Ralph tries to set fire to their car, but only manages to ignite some junk instead. Bill drops the electromagnet from the crane in the path of the car to stop them escaping. Ralph admits to Pam that for once he's happy he has the suit.

Ralph takes Pam to see his new office at the school. Bill arrives and makes fun of how small his office is, saying that Ralph finally got the phonebooth he always wanted. Pam got to keep her junior partnership, and Bill has been forgiven with Palmer. So much now that Bill wants to go to Washington with Palmer, and expects everyone to pack up and go with him. The episode ends with the group arguing again.