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Dom Robinson reviews
Assignments 1-3
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 37115 03903
- Running time: 500 minutes
- Year: 1979
- Pressing: 2002
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 80 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Mono)
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
- Fullscreen: 4:3
- 16:9-Enhanced: No
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: 3 * DVD 9
- Price: £40.99
- Extras: Introductions, TV Times article, cast biographies, stills gallery.
Directors:
- David Foster and Shaun O’Riordan
Producer:
- Shaun O’Riordan
Screenplay:
- P.J. Hammond
Music:
- Cyril Ornadel
Cast:
- Sapphire: Joanna Lumley
Steel: David McCallum
Rob: Steven O’Shea
Helen: Tamasin Bridge
Lead: Val Pringle
Silver: David Collings
Tully: Gerald James
Pearce: Tom Kelly
Rothwyn: Catherine Hall
Eldred: David Gant
“All irregularities will be handled by the forces controllingeach dimension. Transuranic heavy elements may not be used where there is life.Medium atomic weights are available. Gold, lead, copper, jet, diamond, radium,sapphire, silver and steel. Sapphire and Steel have been assigned.”
Voiced by an uncredited David Suchet, these are the words heard over the opening credits for each episode and, jesus, did thisbizarre classic used to fucking freak me out, or what? Just look at the openerof Assignment One: clocks tick all over a house, far too many than any housewould realistically have – in fact, it sounds like “Time” from Pink Floyd’sDark Side of the Moon. A girl is put to bed by her parents to the tuneof a nursery rhyme, there’s an echoing, howling wind in the background. Thetick of each clock increases in volume and, one by one, stops. Time has frozen.A shimmering hum envelops the house, but only the son of the household and hissister seem to be around to witness it, so where have their parents gone?
Who you gonna call? No, not them, but the SAS – that’s, Sapphire and Steel.In the 21st Century, when the media attempt to convince the public that there’sa paedophile on every corner, in the SAS world it’s still okay to let twocompletely hatstand adults into your house without showing their ID.
I could criticise the acting and say that there are wooden performances fromthe two leads, Sapphire (Joanna Lumley) and Steel (David McCallum),but that’s the nature of their characters. They stand and stare as they recitetheir lines in an almost-monotone but captivating fashion. Then again, maybeMcCallum’s excuse was that he could’ve been one of a number of stunning-lookingelements and instead became a rolled up ball of tin foil. Both have the powerof ESP when they don’t want others to hear their thoughts though.
Sapphire ponders her future.
This boxset contains the first three assignments, comprising of half of theSAS output, and labelled as Assignments I, II and III. The first and last havesix episodes, while the second has eight. The basis for assignment one I havealready mentioned, although the reason for their parents’ disappearance is becausethey’ve become trapped in time.
In No.2, a ghost hunter (Gerald James)makes contact with the spirit of a WWI soldier who’s slightly disgruntled aboutbeing dead, but D’oh, if he goes and raises the awareness of Darkness, anevil force that feeds off the resentment of people who have died prematurely.
For the final assignment in this trilogy, a couple from the future (CatherineHall & David Gant) take a trip in time to the present day. As time is resentfuland bitter about this, their young child is transformed into an adult. Try explainingthat one with a 70s haircut. Add to that one of those ginger actors from the70s in the form of Silver (David Collings).
Steel ponders his haircut.
There’s no complaints with the picture. Shot on video in 4:3, it looks a littlesoft and at times when people walk about quickly their movement seems a tadblurry, but I won’t fuss about this because it’s not distracting and such adamn good job has been done to remove any print defects – it looks as clean as avery clean whistle – and I doubt when the series was created that the makersthought we’d still be watching it over 20 years down the line.
I have a niggle with the sound though. Not because it’s mono, as that cancreate fantastic effects such as the ticking clocks on Assignment I, butonce in a while the sound is out-of-sync with the picture. Only seems to happenin the first story, so it shouldn’t put you off buying the boxset.
The extras begin with Introductions, several text pages of info aboutthe crew, plus the cast and a description of assignment one.Disc 1 also contains a TV Times Article from July 1979 when the series began,written by Linda Hawkins.
The next disc contains a stills gallery with several pics from the firstthree assignments. All are quite small, even though they are described underneath.Disc 3 contains cast biographies for the two leads plus an Introductionto Story for this assignment.
The menus have the theme tune and appropriate motion, there are four chaptersto each episode, making 80 across the whole boxset and subtitles come in Englishonly.
Overall, it’s a shame there’s not a massive amount of extras here, but SAS isa must-have at any cost. Buy it now!
Realistic extras were hard to come by in the 70s.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.