Mahinda’s Little World

I’m watching The Sky at Night, for the first time in absolutely ages. It’s a programme I used to watch almost religiously for a period during my teens, when I took an avid interest in that sort of thing.

It’s a 50th anniversary special tonight, with what seems to be Kryten doing an impression of the young Sir Patrick Moore — it’s a "time travel" special.

Oooh, there’s Brian May, in Patrick Moore’s back garden to watch the recent lunar eclipse! You just can’t imagine too many rock stars doing that sort of thing. I forgot he was an avid astronomer.

And now Patrick Moore’s head is floating around, Gamesmaster style. Does anyone reading this thing remember Gamesmaster? Classic television, naturally, featuring first a sarcastic Dominik Diamond and then a manic Dexter Fletcher. Daniel, one of my schoolmates, happened to be the first ever contestant — they had a gaming challenge every episode, in his case a level from Mario Bros. Needless to say, he failed to win the Gamesmaster Golden Joystick…which he blamed on missing a mushroom. He never really managed to live it down!

Anyway, back to The Sky at Night…

There’s an awful lot more snazzy computer graphics than there used to be…maybe it’s because it’s a special episode. It’s quite something how different (yet spookily the same) Moore looks from how I remember him (because anyone on TV you’ve not seen in a while reverts to how you first saw them, naturally). He really must be getting on a bit. 

Now Brian May’s back, talking about the possibility of life on Mars. It’s all getting a bit surreal.

The Gamesmaster’s head is floating around again, this time around Jupiter.

You couldn’t make it up!