The
Sandbaggers - Set Two (1979/BFS DVD Set)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: C Episodes: B
Ian
Mackintosh's The
Sandbaggers
continues as Roy Marsden's Neil Burnside, the head of the Special
Intelligence Sector who runs these special agents, is still not over
a major mission from a year ago. The first episode (of six) from
this box shows a flashback opening, which recalls the show. If you
have not seen it, you would have no idea of what really happened.
Since it was unbroadcast originally, that makes it an inexcusable
case of censorship, but Set
One
(reviewed elsewhere on this site) offers it and that entire box
should be seen in order before checking out this one.
The
title refers to special agents who do specific missions when
bureaucratic and political means fail. By this time, the section has
been hit harder than usual in the field, making Burnside's job even
more complicated.
There
are six episodes in this second box, and like Dr.
Who
(Michael Ferguson is a new director here who worked on both shows),
this is a series where the indoors are videotaped, while the outdoors
are filmed (on 16mm film). Peter Creegan and Alan Grint also joined
up as directors this time. This series uses actual film for that
part. It was produced when color videotape (PAL format in this case)
was still a new thing, so that makes what you see all the more
unique. The technical aspects match those of the first set.
The
1.33 X 1 full screen images are in color and a disclaimer about
quality trouble appears at the beginning of each DVD. There are
video images that briefly shake sometimes, but the picture is usually
stable. Producer/director Michael Ferguson knows how to construct
this world most convincingly, while creator Ian Mackintosh's
teleplays are some of the brightest ever created for television
anywhere. It is amazing how well this particular series endures,
over a dozen years after the end of The Cold War. That situation
often plays second fiddle to the games afoot in this most-complex
world of espionage.
The
lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is average as well, showing its age, but
it is about as clear as it is going to get. Obviously, the British
accents sometimes get slightly distorted, so the audio fails there,
and the DVDs do not have captions or subtitles of any kind.
Otherwise, it is serviceable and Roy Budd's music and theme song is
really good. Besides a brief guide to the alphabet soup of
abbreviations the characters use throughout the series worth using to
better understand what is going on repeating itself on this set,
other extras include an Ian Mackintosh biography his brother Lawrie
wrote, production stills from the show, dialogue highlights from all
the shows, and an episode guide to all twenty shows with bonus
information.
The
episodes
here are:
At
All Costs
Enough
of Ghosts
Decision
by Committee
A
Question of Loyalty
It
Couldn't Happen Here
and
Operation Kingmaker
This
is
the point where we usually give synopsis of each show, but we cannot
in this case, or we could give away too much. In general, the shows
increasingly flush out this often-dark world, and then we get really
good character development. These shows touch up things like
kidnapping, terrorism, hijacking, defectors, the situations really
involved with the likes of the JFK assassination, and more daring
items that are as bright today as ever. This exceptionally cast
series includes Ray Lonnen (Sandbagger 1), Alan MacNaughtan, Richard
Vernon, Elisabeth Bennett, Diane Keen, Richard Berson, Dennis
Burgess, and a parade of top talent that ups the suspense level with
their convincing work.
Last
time, I noted that this series this reminded me of outside of the Spy
genre was U.F.O.,
the early 1970s Science Fiction show with Ed Bishop as Commander
Straker, often in the same position. The show got just as dark as
this one. The
Sandbaggers
continues to surprise and highly recommended, though it was wobbly
towards the beginning here after the censored show. That eventually
worked itself out. It was ironic, then, when a new secretary shows
up named Straker. We will conclude the series elsewhere on this site
with Set
Three.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
