Category Archives: Reviews

‘Beast Wars’ Review #38 – ‘Proving Grounds’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

We’re back to a single-episode story in Season 3 of ‘Beast Wars: Transformers’, as we’re checking out ‘Proving Grounds’ – a story about Blackarachnia, who leaves the Maximals and is convinced she has no place among them. She also isn’t willing to be reprogrammed to have her Predacon core removed. Blackarachnia also gets stalked by the Transmetal II version of Dinobot, who is the only other Predacon featured in the episode. Megatron and other Predacons like Waspinator, Inferno and Quickstrike don’t appear in this story at all. The first time I saw ‘Proving Grounds’ was on Volume 2 of the four official VHS releases of ‘Beast Wars’ containing Season 3 episodes that had never been shown before via GMTV in the UK. The episode was later released in a ‘Beast Wars’ Volume 2 UK DVD release, which included it and the two-part story ‘Feral Scream’ set before it. I’ve also seen ‘Proving Grounds’ in the ‘Beast Wars’ 15th anniversary DVD box set, and it can now be seen on YouTube. Will Blackarachnia leave the Maximals forever or will Silverbolt persuade her otherwise? Continue reading →

Cinema Experience – ‘Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

At Vue Cinema – In Cardiff, Cwmbran and Merthyr Tydfil anyway – there’s a Roald Dahl season of films being shown. This includes films like ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’, ‘Matilda’, ‘The BFG’ and ‘The Witches’. Last Saturday, I saw ‘Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory’. YAY!!! Continue reading →

‘Beast Wars’ Review #37 – ‘Feral Scream’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s time for a two-part story in Season 3 of ‘Beast Wars: Transformers’. Today, we’re checking out ‘Feral Scream’, a story about Cheetor where he gets a new Transmetal II body. We’re also introduced to a Transmetal II version of Dinobot, who was created by Megatron to become part of the Predacon cause. This story has a horror aspect to it, particularly when paying homage to ‘Frankenstein’ and the Werewolf story. The first time I saw ‘Feral Scream’ in its two parts was on Volume 2 of the four official VHS releases of ‘Beast Wars’ featuring Season 3 episodes that had never been shown before via GMTV in the UK. The two-part story was later released in a ‘Beast Wars’ Volume 2 UK DVD release, which included it and ‘Proving Grounds’. It’s funny looking back on that Volume 2 UK DVD release, as I thought it would’ve included more than three episodes compared to the Volume 1 UK DVD release, which had seven episodes on it. I’ve also seen ‘Feral Scream’ in the ‘Beast Wars’ 15th anniversary DVD box set, and it can now be seen on YouTube. Continue reading →

Quick DVDs Review – ‘Victoria’

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SPOILERS ALERT!!!

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

For the past three months, I’ve been enjoying another Christmas present from last year, which is the ITV series ‘Victoria’, starring Jenna Coleman as Queen Victoria. I found this a very well-made historical TV drama, and Jenna Coleman is amazing as Queen Victoria. 🙂 Continue reading →

Audiobook Review – ‘Doctor Who – The Novel of the Film’ (1997)

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Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

What good timing this is! 😀 As it’s the 30th anniversary of the ‘Doctor Who’ TV movie, I’ve checked out and reviewed the 1997 abridged audiobook of the 1996 BBC Books edition of ‘The TV Movie’ novelization – also known as ‘The Novel of the Film’ – by Gary Russell. It’s read by Paul McGann, who played the Eighth Doctor in ‘The TV Movie’ and currently plays him in the Big Finish audios. The audiobook is included in the ‘Tales From The TARDIS: Volume Two’ collection via Audible. The story features the Eighth Doctor, Grace, the Seventh Doctor and the Master. Continue reading →

‘Beast Wars’ Review #36 – ‘Cutting Edge’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Let’s check out another episode of Season 3 of ‘Beast Wars: Transformers’ today! It’s time for ‘Cutting Edge’, an episode where the Maximals help a couple of children named Una and Chak who have been attacked by a fleet of Cyber-Raptors, created by Megatron, and they need to get back to their tribe. This episode also showcases Blackarachnia and Cheetor as characters, as they’re ordered by Optimus Primal to escort the children back to their tribe. In the UK, ‘Cutting Edge’ was released in the first of four official VHS volumes of ‘Beast Wars’ when Season 3 wasn’t being shown on GMTV. It was the third episode presented in Volume 1, following ‘Deep Metal’ and ‘Changing of the Guard’. The episode was later re-released in a special ‘Beast Wars’ Volume 1 UK DVD release, which included the three-part story ‘The Agenda’, ‘Optimal Situation’, ‘Deep Metal’, ‘Changing of the Guard’ and ‘Cutting Edge’. I’ve also seen ‘Cutting Edge’ in the ‘Beast Wars’ 15th anniversary DVD box set, and it can now be seen on YouTube. Is this an episode that will showcase what will happen in the next story, which is a two-parter? Why has Megatron specifically created this fleet of Cyber-Raptors and what technology has he been using? Continue reading →

‘Beast Wars’ Review #35 – ‘Changing of the Guard’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

We continue our look into Season 3 of ‘Beast Wars: Transformers’ by checking out the third episode called ‘Changing of the Guard’. In this episode, the Maximals must find a way to recover Sentinel, the security system of their spaceship, the Axalon, before it ended up in water in ‘Optimal Situation’. This episode also continues the story of Depth Charge hunting Rampage, which began in the previous episode ‘Deep Metal’. In the UK, Season 3 of ‘Beast Wars’ was released on official VHS tapes as opposed to being shown on GMTV. ‘Changing of the Guard’ was released in the first of four VHS volumes of ‘Beast Wars’ called Volume 1, which included ‘Deep Metal’, ‘Changing of the Guard’ and ‘Cutting Edge’. The episode was re-released in a special ‘Beast Wars’ Volume 1 UK DVD release, which included the three-part story ‘The Agenda’, ‘Optimal Situation’, ‘Deep Metal’, ‘Changing of the Guard’ and ‘Cutting Edge’. I’ve also seen ‘Changing of the Guard’ in the ‘Beast Wars’ 15th anniversary DVD box set, and it can now be seen on YouTube. Will the Maximals achieve their goal in salvaging Sentinel from the remains of their spaceship whilst having to contend with the Predacons? Continue reading →

‘Beast Wars’ Review #34 – ‘Deep Metal’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Let’s continue our look into Season 3 of ‘Beast Wars: Transformers’ by checking out the second episode called ‘Deep Metal’. This is an episode where we’re introduced to a new Maximal character called Depth Charge, who is on the hunt for Rampage (formerly known as Protoform X). Like with ‘Optimal Situation’, I never saw ‘Deep Metal’ on TV. In the UK, Season 3 of ‘Beast Wars’ was released on official VHS tapes as opposed to being shown on GMTV. ‘Deep Metal’ was released in the first of four VHS volumes of ‘Beast Wars’ called Volume 1, which included it, ‘Changing of the Guard’ and ‘Cutting Edge’. It was re-released in a special ‘Beast Wars’ Volume 1 UK DVD release, which included the three-part story ‘The Agenda’, ‘Optimal Situation’, ‘Deep Metal’, ‘Changing of the Guard’ and ‘Cutting Edge’. I also saw ‘Deep Metal’ in the ‘Beast Wars’ 15th anniversary DVD box set, and it can now be seen on YouTube. Will the Maximals gain a new ally in Depth Charge when he comes to prehistoric Earth? Continue reading →

‘Beast Wars’ Review #33 – ‘Optimal Situation’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s the beginning of the end, as we come to the third and final season of ‘Beast Wars: Transformers’. I’ve greatly enjoyed sharing my updated reviews on the ‘Beast Wars’ episodes over the past year. Today, we’re checking out the first episode of Season 3 called ‘Optimal Situation’, which is a follow-up to the three-part story ‘The Agenda’ at the end of Season 2. Season 3 was never shown on GMTV in the UK, as the episodes were released on official VHS tapes instead. ‘Optimal Situation’ got its own VHS tape and was exclusively available with a ‘Beast Wars’ toy that you could purchase from Toys ‘R’ Us. That’s how I purchased my copy of ‘Optimal Situation’ from Toys ‘R’ Us in the UK. I later saw ‘Optimal Situation’ in a special ‘Beast Wars’ Volume 1 UK DVD release for Christmas in 2001, I believe. As well as ‘The Agenda’ and ‘Optimal Situation’, it also contained ‘Deep Metal’, ‘Changing of the Guard’ and ‘Cutting Edge’, which I’ll be sharing my updated reviews on soon. I also saw ‘Optimal Situation’ in the ‘Beast Wars’ 15th anniversary DVD box set, and it can now be seen on YouTube. Will the Maximals win, defeat Megatron and save Optimus Prime of the Autobots? Continue reading →

Book/Audio Review – ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

I’ve finished checking out ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ book by Douglas Adams. I read the book along with the audiobook read by Stephen Fry via Audible. It’s been fascinating to check out the first book of ‘The Hitchhiker’s’ franchise compared to checking out the first ‘Hitchhiker’s’ radio series called ‘Primary Phase’. I purchased the 42nd anniversary edition of ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ book, which also includes a foreword by Russell T. Davies, who is the showrunner for ‘Doctor Who’, both from 2005 to 2010 and lately from 2023 onwards. Continue reading →