Have we come to a point where TV and Film will change to the point where we will not recognise it any more? Some may argue that this has already happened but even those franchises running today are now fading away into nothingness. Should we move on and not talk about the inevitable or should we remember the classics and boycott new formats?

Okay. So it’s time to build up a background to this article. For those of you who have watched the Life on Mars and its follow up show Ashes to Ashes, you will know that this has come to a close after 4 years. Starting out as Life on Mars in 2006 on BBC1, the protagonist Sam Tyler was hit by car in 2006 and awoke in the 1970′s. Was he in a coma, was he dead or was he actually transported? The follow up show Ashes to Ashes sees DI Drake (yes, it’s a Police setting) getting shot and waking up in the 1980′s. The relation between the shows was very close and ended with an amazing outcome for both shows. Now some may argue that this sounds like a load of garbage, but with all the poor TV repeats and other gimics, this was a great original production with high quality values. Phillip Glenister who plays DCI Gene Hunt has made an historic character icon in TV history. This has all but gone now.

BBC show Ashes to Ashes

LOST, the TV show ran by ABC since 2004 has finally come to an end after 6 seasons with a total of 121 epic episodes. Originally airing here in the UK on Channel 4, series 3 kicked off on the subscription satellite channel Sky 1. Disappointing as this was, the Internet soon became a LOST fans best friend. Those people who cannot deal with the complex storylines and see the wider picture kind of gave up on lost around seasons 2 and 3. The series has been epic and made way for many U.S. styled shows like 24, Invasion, House, Scrubs and FlashForward here in the UK. By the looks of things, LOST is the show that withstood the test of time and made it to the end with a huge fan base. Without giving away to much in terms of spoilers, fans are pleased that the island was real and is in no way a dream or alternative time period. “Whatever happened, happened”. The show ended in a full circle and has tied up the characters individual stories throughout.

ABC show LOST

Doctor Who, the the cult British sci-fi series, has been a roaring success since its return to TV in 2005. The executive producer who brought it back was Russell T. Davies and remained with the show until December 2009. Russell oversaw four grand series between 2005 and 2008 whilst keeping the tape rolling with a series of 4 specials for 2009. The 2009 specials built up to the departure of the 10th Doctor played by David Tennant. The Doctor is a Time Lord from a planet called Galifrey. He can travel in time with his TARDIS that is stuck in disguise as an old 70s Police Box. He has fought some terrifying foes in the past couple of years and met his match in late 2009 when his arch nemesis The Master led to his fall. The Doctor has a way of cheating death by regenerating into a new body. The process has consequences though; different personality, new habits, new regimes. The only remaining element is his memory of his past events. With Tennant gone as the long running Doctor, the producer and main writer Russell T. Davies also departed. New show runner and producer Steven Mofatt continued the shows legacy when it returned in April 2010 for a fifth series. His new style brought Doctor Who back to his routes like in the classics from the 70s and 80s whilst completely changing the introduction, logo and theme tune. All this accompanied with the new 11th Doctor played by unknown actor Matt Smith has led to some people speculating whether the Doctor Who that we knew has gone. Don’t get me wrong, the new look show has its highlights and Matt is a great Doctor, but something magical feels missing if you catch my drift?

BBC show Doctor Who

FlashForward, the show made by LOST creators ABC has been cancelled due to poor viewer perception of the franchise. The show, despite doing well here in the UK, did not perform as well in the United States as predicted. It seems that shows in the style of LOST cannot just be churned out whenever it suites them. FlashForward involves a global blackout on Earth that caused everyone to blank out for a minute or so. During this time, people was their futures on a specific date in a years time. This has taunted many, drove people mad or cured people. The theme of the show is based in a US police special forces branch trying to uncover the cause of the blackouts, if they happened before on a smaller scale and if it will happen again. This is another original show that will soon vanish after its 1st season. We have been told that the end of season 1 closes the story in a way but may leave some minor things left open. These would have been revisited in a 2nd season.

ABC show FlashForward

James Bond movies have had breathtaking success since the early 1960s and paved a way for other action shows to follow. Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig have all brought something new to the Bond era. The last traditional James Bond movie was Die Another Day in 2002 featuring Pierce Brosnan. Since then, the franchise had its first reset with Daniel Craig portraying agent Bond when he first got his double O license to kill. Now this has caused trouble all over the Bond fan base. Craig is a good Bond despite that continuity differences and it is much more action packed, following the style of Bond writer Ian Fleming more closely. The main issues are that many features which made a film a Bond film have vanished. No Q Branch, no gadgets, no Miss Moneypenny, no theme tune based on the movies title and an entirely different actor to fit the bill of James Bond. The only returning actor is Dame Judy Dench as M, James Bonds boss. Dench is set to step down from James Bond after one more movie. Here comes the next joke, the next Bond film or film 23. MGM who produce and publish James Bond are bankrupt and up for sale. The next Bond film has been put on hold indefinitely according to reliable news sources. What will this mean for the future of James Bond?

MGM show James Bond

Terminator has quite possibly destroyed itself after last year. The cancellation of the TV series Sarah Connor Chronicles in its second season and the new franchise approach in Terminator Salvation (movie 4) has possibly crippled it all. Okay, the TV series was fairly good and action packed with some good actors basing attitudes from the original Terminator productions. Shame is was cancelled after season 2, leaving may things such as survival and the villains meaning unknown. The 4th movie (entitled Salvation) was a great movie but not a Terminator movie! Face it, without Arnold Schwarzenegger then Terminator isn’t Terminator in its purest form. They should have made a good ending this him on his last outing and ended the franchise. Schwarzenegger started as The Terminator model 101 from 1984 to 2003, making 3 movies in this time. Movie 1 in 1984 was a low budget production to see what the reception was. Movie 2 in 1992 steped up the mark and is said to be the best Terminator production to date. Movie 3 in 2003 was criticised by many mainly due its director and showrunners being different. However, the 3rd film was action packed and ended with the machine takeover having started. At least this paved the way for some form of meaning about movie 4. Movie 4 is set many years after the machines have taken the planet. John Connor, an enemy of the machines and long running character in the franchise just did not fit the bill in the latest movie. Maybe due to the new actor playing him. Okay so Schwarzenegger made an appearance as old Terminator model 101, NOT! Well he did, but it was footage taken from older films and re-edited with stunt actor camera tricks. Is this what it has all come to?

James Cameron's Terminator

With no Jurassic Park 4 ever materialising, no word on a Metal Gear Solid movie that was highly mentioned and many other things that are in-existent…. is this the end to TV and Film as we know it?

Normally, due to my mass intake of caffeine, I would be awake until at least 4am before my brain decided, right BED time, but today my brain decide to try and get me to go to sleep at 20pm (Early, I know).

Well I am guessing that I should just be able to nod of but I can’t just just one useless reason – DARN FLICKING LIGHTS.

Right now my computer has two flicking lights, one for power and the other everything the HDD is accessed (Which is going mad so either it is backing up or some random cracker is messing around with it). The next light that I can see is my laptop (Which I am using to make this post) and that has four (Yes FOUR) flicking lights.

First, the HDD, power, LAN and then wi-fi.

So, I turned of my computer (being the biggest source of light) in hoping that I will be going to sleep however, I thought wrong. It is now something like 23:24 and I am sitting here, awake.

So, I then tried to cover up my laptop (The laptop has important things running, I just can’t turn it off yet) and then just where I was nearly asleep, the flipping street lights comes on and comes racing into my room.

So, I pull the blinds in hoping that will work and, knowing my luck, the lights still comes though the blinds. Feeling defeated, I prepared myself for for a sleepless night and it was then, I saw a way to go to sleep ….

(Part 2 coming soon, based on a true event that has happened to me in the last week).