The Russians Are Coming explores a little-known meeting in 1819, and the Vietnam War live in session.
TV
The Russians Are Coming
NB: The TV1 listings in the November 5 and 12 issues of the Listener say “To Be Advised” at 4.55pm every weekday, and at 7.30pm on Tuesday and Thursday because, at the time we went to press, TVNZ had not made a decision about the programmes that would screen in those timeslots. However, TVNZ has since announced it will screen Coronation Street at 7.30pm on Thursday and Fridays starting November 10. Ellen will screen at 5.00pm every weekday.
iGenius: How Steve Jobs Changed the World (Discovery, Sky 070, 7.30pm). A late change to the schedule following Steve Jobs’s untimely demise. MythBusters‘ Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage present a special about the visionary Apple founder that includes interviews with Lee Felsenstein, founding member of the Homebrew Computer Club; Daniel Kottke, a friend of Jobs who became an early Apple employee; and John Draper, a computer programmer who taught phone phreak skills to Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. There also additional comment from Tom Brokaw, Stevie Wonder, Pete Wentz, and the New York Times‘ Joe Nocera.
The Russians Are Coming (Maori, 8.30pm). Maori Television continues its Pakipumeka Aotearoa season with The Russians Are Coming, a doco about the little-known meeting between Maori and Russian voyagers in Queen Charlotte Sound in 1820. Two Russian exploration expeditions were sent out in 1819 as part of Tsar Alexander I’s expansionist aims: one to the Arctic and the other to the Antarctic. The story of the visit to Queen Charlotte Sound by the Southern Polar Expedition, led by Commander Thaddeus von Bellingshausen, is told through the first-hand accounts of the voyagers. There is also a dramatisation of a meeting on board one of the expedition’s sloops, the Vostok, and commentary from Russian and New Zealand historians and naval experts. Maori traded with the Russians – as a result, Russia is now the repository of one of the most significant collections of taonga outside New Zealand. Producer-director Toby Mills travelled to Russia to see the collection and says they are “taonga that tell us of people who no longer exist, because Te Rauparaha came to the Sounds several years after the Russian visit and annihilated the inhabitants of that area”.
Poirot (Prime, 8.40pm). This week’s Poirot veers into The 39 Steps territory, with a mystery set in Dover just before World War II. A dead man is discovered surrounded by clocks stopped at 4.13. Young Tom Burke plays Lieutenant Colin Race, who asks Poirot to help when Sheila Webb (Jaime Winstone) is implicated in the death. The cast also features Phil Daniels as Inspector ’Ardcastle, Lesley Sharp and Geoffrey Palmer.
Rugby League (Sky Sport 2, Sky 031, 1.30am Sun). Round two of the Four Nations tournament, and the Kiwis play Wales on the hallowed ground of Wembley Stadium. This is followed by an England-Australia derby at 5.30am. Next week, the Kiwis play England in Hull, which doesn’t sound depressing at all.
Other Live Sport Today: Day five of the cricket test between Zimbabwe and New Zealand (morning session Sky Sport 1, Sky 030, 9.00pm, afternoon session 11.35pm); round three of the WGC HSBC Champions golf (Sky Sport 2, Sky 031, 4.00pm); A-League soccer game between Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar (Sky Sport 3, Sky 032, 7.30pm); Premier League soccer, Newcastle United v Everton (Sky Sport 3, Sky 032, 1.30am), followed by Manchester United v Sunderland at 3.45am.
FILM
aimRenderAd(300, 250, '300X250','ContentRect','/POS=POS2'); if(!$.browser.msie){ ContentRect_frame = $("#ContentRect")[0]; ContentRect_frame.src = ContentRect_frame.src; }Madagascar (TV2, 7.00pm). A lion, a zebra, a hippo and a giraffe walk into a crate. Not quite on a par with DreamWorks’ best offerings (Shrek, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit). There’s a good solid storyline, although it gets a bit ethically cornered when Alex the lion (Ben Stiller) reconnects with his inner wild animal and vows not to eat his friends but then discovers sushi. Like fish aren’t people, too. (2005) 7 – Diana Balham
Memento (TV1, 8.30pm). Poor old Leonard (Guy Pearce) knows something awful happened to his wife but he can’t remember what. I know what you’re thinking: this is a spin-off of Ellen DeGeneres’s character Dory the blue fish from Finding Nemo, right? No, silly, Dory can’t take photos. She’s a fish. Leonard, on the other hand, is constantly snapping Polaroids, taking notes and tattooing himself in order to piece together the events that led to his having the short-term memory of … a fish. Christopher Nolan (Inception, The Dark Knight) has created a typically smart and jittery thriller that will confuse the hell out of you on first viewing: the narrative plays 52 Pick-up with Leonard’s already fractured thought processes. (2000) 8 – Diana Balham
New in Town (TV3, 8.30pm). Old in Movieland. Yet another retelling of the hoary old fish-out-of-water city-slicker-in-the-country story. (And what’s with all the fish? – Ed.) Renée Zellweger and Harry Connick jnr try as the hard-ass Miami businesswoman and her hairy Minnesota love interest, but the only point of difference here is an extreme climate. It’ll leave you cold. Zellweger seems more comfortable playing the very English Bridget Jones. (2009) 5 – Diana Balham
Six Days, Seven Nights (TV2, 8.45pm). The Hawaiian island of Kauai stands in for Tahiti in this watered-down action adventure starring Harrison Ford and Anne Heche. Ford does his Indiana Jones kind of thing anyway, as a grumpy pilot stranded in the Pacific with yet another whining big-city girl out of her comfort zone. Temuera Morrison and Cliff Curtis play feral brown people (they have never really risen above that in Hollywood) who attack our heroes because … that’s what feral brown people do, apparently. Several clichéd situations rolled into one: for the definitive odd-couple actioner, rent The African Queen. (1998) 6 – Diana Balham
My Tehran for Sale (Maori, 9.30pm). Maori TV screens another important world film you probably won’t see anywhere else on TV. This Australian movie, made by Iranian-Australian poet Granaz Moussavi, tells the loosely true story of a young Iranian actress in Tehran whose stage work is banned by the authorities because it is openly critical of the republic’s hard-line policies. She meets another actor who offers her a chance at a new life free from oppression. It has been reported that actress Marzieh Vafamehr – who appears in the film without a hijab headscarf – was arrested in July and has been sentenced to jail and 90 lashes. This film was never intended for release in Iran but has been distributed illegally – and condemned by conservative commentators. (2009) 7 – Diana Balham
The Spy Who Loved Me (TV1, 11.55pm). The 10th Bond and one of the best, made when Roger Moore was still slim and charming. It was also the first to have an original story, although it carries the title of Ian Fleming’s novel. The movie has all the right elements – a megalomaniac who wants to destroy the world (Curd Jürgens), a crazy assassin sidekick (Richard Kiel as the huge, steel-toothed Jaws) and a sexy offsider for Bond (Barbara Bach as KGB agent Anya Amasova). Plus, Bond’s car is also a submarine. (1977) 8
RADIO
Saturday Morning with Kim Hill (Radio New Zealand National, 8.10am). American English professor-turned-novelist Charles Frazier shot to fame when his award-winning novel Cold Mountain was turned into a movie in 2003. He has just released his third novel, Nightwoods, and is one of Hill’s guests today. She’s also talking to two Kiwi academics: University of Auckland psychology professor and brain expert Michael Corballis and University of Canterbury associate professor Annie Potts. Described by Hill’s producer as a “chicken panegyrist”, Potts is a co-director of the New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies and is writing a book on the natural and cultural history of Gallus gallus domesticus – the common chook. Also today: economist Ravi Batra; art with Mary Kisler; Bruce Russell plays Flying Nun favourites; and children’s books with Kate De Goldi. Info and audio here. – Diana Balham
The Vietnam War/F in Math Recorded Live at Roundhead Studios (95bFM, 11.00am and Friday, 2.00pm). Don’t bands have funny names these days? Today’s first bunch are Auckland-based five-piece “country/psychedelic/doo wop” combo the Vietnam War, who someone rather cruelly called “a Kiwi version of Jack Johnson”. If they can overcome this slur on their originality, their Grey Lynn slacker sounds could be the next big thing. Then it’s F in Math, a solo project for ex-Mint Chicks bass player Michael Logie, which shows what one music geek can do with a bass guitar, a laptop and a collection of effects pedals. He manages to sound like an entire band but avoids the creative differences that beset so many creative folk. There will be live streaming and podcasts on 95bfm.com and video here after November 5. – Diana Balham
Music Alive (Radio New Zealand Concert, 8.00pm). Tonight’s concert from last year’s New Zealand International Arts Festival should whet the appetite for next year’s event – and possibly send you in the direction of Womad, too. It’s a performance by Djan Djan, a nation-straddling collaboration between Malian kora player Mamadou Diabaté, Australian blues guitarist and singer-songwriter Jeff Lang and Indian tabla whiz Bobby Singh. Together they pool their considerable talents to offer music from their respective countries and cultures. – Diana Balham
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