Sapphire & Steel?
- Thread starter TIN_MAN
- Start date
From the DVD blurb:
"Set in a world in which the future and past collide and time overturns reality, Sapphire and Steel captures your consciousness and takes you to altered states. Eerie, frightening forces are at work and Sapphire and Steel have been assigned...
Only Sapphire and Steel (Joanna Lumley and David McCallum) can stop the strange events and restore natural order to the universe. Two superhuman agents assigned to safeguard the structure of Time - using their uncanny powers they protect the present from invading evils of the past and future."
It's really fantasy/horror rather than sci-fi. The series is from the late 70's to early 80's, so the production values, while high for British TV, are also of that era. Don't expect CGI effects, space battles, or cool explosions.
If you're into cult TV, $14.99 sounds like a bargain.
"Set in a world in which the future and past collide and time overturns reality, Sapphire and Steel captures your consciousness and takes you to altered states. Eerie, frightening forces are at work and Sapphire and Steel have been assigned...
Only Sapphire and Steel (Joanna Lumley and David McCallum) can stop the strange events and restore natural order to the universe. Two superhuman agents assigned to safeguard the structure of Time - using their uncanny powers they protect the present from invading evils of the past and future."
It's really fantasy/horror rather than sci-fi. The series is from the late 70's to early 80's, so the production values, while high for British TV, are also of that era. Don't expect CGI effects, space battles, or cool explosions.
If you're into cult TV, $14.99 sounds like a bargain.
I'd say that for $14.99 you have to go for it! 
I have both box sets (all the episodes, called assignments). Sapphire and Steel are, I suppose some kind of temporal investigators. They investigate situations where Time appears to have a real presence (often malevolent) and something has gone wrong in the time line (though not in the way of alternative timelines). They are atmospheric, talky, quite stagey dramas, I really loved them as a kid. Sapphire is the lovely Joanna Lumley, some kind of Time sensitive investigator. Although both characters are quite distant she is the more approachable of the 2 in their interactions with any humans. Steel is cold and distant and quite businesslike, and doesn't seem to rate humans at all. Don't be expecting quick humour, banter or fast action. They are very drama-led in the best tradition of tv drama of that era. They are joined on a couple of assignments by Lead and Silver. I'd recommend having a look, if only to test out a cult classic.
ETA: I don't want to give too much away, but the way Sapphire and Steel's final episode ends is a bit of a classic.
I have both box sets (all the episodes, called assignments). Sapphire and Steel are, I suppose some kind of temporal investigators. They investigate situations where Time appears to have a real presence (often malevolent) and something has gone wrong in the time line (though not in the way of alternative timelines). They are atmospheric, talky, quite stagey dramas, I really loved them as a kid. Sapphire is the lovely Joanna Lumley, some kind of Time sensitive investigator. Although both characters are quite distant she is the more approachable of the 2 in their interactions with any humans. Steel is cold and distant and quite businesslike, and doesn't seem to rate humans at all. Don't be expecting quick humour, banter or fast action. They are very drama-led in the best tradition of tv drama of that era. They are joined on a couple of assignments by Lead and Silver. I'd recommend having a look, if only to test out a cult classic. ETA: I don't want to give too much away, but the way Sapphire and Steel's final episode ends is a bit of a classic.
And how it continues on in big finishes recent and still being made audio adventures is a complete mindfuck...
"It's a deal it's a steal at twice the fucking price, hell it s the sale of the fucking century... i think I'll keep it?"
And suddenly the other shoe drops. That new bloke on Primeval is from Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Hell thats a load off.
Buy it, then make love to it.
"It's a deal it's a steal at twice the fucking price, hell it s the sale of the fucking century... i think I'll keep it?"
And suddenly the other shoe drops. That new bloke on Primeval is from Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Hell thats a load off.
Buy it, then make love to it.
At that price it's a bargain. It was a very cheap show, slow-paced and stagey, but the performances and spooky atmosphere hold it together. David McCallum's Steel is how a so called "Dark Doctor" in Dr Who *should* have been
The first story was intended as a children's show, but it's pretty good nevertheless.
The second is overlong but incredibly creepy, with a nasty ending
The third is rubbish
The fourth is just the right length, as creepy as the second one, and generally perfect
The fifth is very much like a Dr Who story (perhaps because it was cowritten by the then DW script editor), and good fun
The sixth is kind of weird and unsatisfying but not all bad
The first story was intended as a children's show, but it's pretty good nevertheless.
The second is overlong but incredibly creepy, with a nasty ending
The third is rubbish
The fourth is just the right length, as creepy as the second one, and generally perfect
The fifth is very much like a Dr Who story (perhaps because it was cowritten by the then DW script editor), and good fun
The sixth is kind of weird and unsatisfying but not all bad
Thanks for the reviews everyone, sounds like my kind of show
Great! Don't forget to come back and tell us how you get on.
There is a few elements i don't like about the show........more precisely Copper and Zinc.
No but that's quite a bargain for a great show.
..its like a supernatural X-files but with the scepticism removed....good stuff and quite scary for way back on 1979 TV.
No but that's quite a bargain for a great show.
..its like a supernatural X-files but with the scepticism removed....good stuff and quite scary for way back on 1979 TV.
There was an episode (2 I think maybe?) of Torchwood written by PJ Hammond which felt like he was writing Sapphire and steel situations and Villains as foils for our established heroes in Cardiff.
Silver is so cool.
Silver is so cool.
Definitely get it. Ignore that awful cover blurb, and also all the posts in this thread (:-)) and just watch it.
It is a series that should just be watched, so it can boggle your mind and give you nightmares, without having anyone try to explain it to you before that.
It is a series that should just be watched, so it can boggle your mind and give you nightmares, without having anyone try to explain it to you before that.
$14.99! Crap, I should buy this!
Mmm... Joanna Lumley...Here's a quick pic of Sapphire and Steel. Yes, that is Ducky, or Illya Kuriackin, depending on yer era.
No, all are gems.
Totally freaked me out. Two episodes in particular. Even to this day I still wonder how it would be possible to destory every photo of yourself if you needed to. And the episode set in the train station still comes to mind when ever anyone mentions good tv, or tv that's had an effect on you.
Another couple of shots, if only to show off Sapphire's changing styles:
And never have another one taken - an even more scarily impossible task in today's CCTV-covered society
Hey gang, just got "Sapphire and Steel" in the mail! Watched the first episode, or "Assignment", It's good, I like it. The beginning was kinda slow, but then it picked up until then end, where it began to drag abit again, but all in all, it was a good show! I especially like the fact that the writers seem to have done their homework on paranormal activities, what with all the repetitive actions, rhymes etc. I see Sapphire and Steel as being kind of "Devas" for the elemental realm, whatya think? Looking forward to seeng the rest of the series!
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