Watched "THE BUTCHER OF LA VILETTE" - can't wait for more!

Local television ran the third season of the gritty and very well written French crime show ENGRENAGES a few weeks ago and I don't remember the last time I was that captivated by a cop show!



ENGRENAGES (or "Spiral" as it's re-titled for the international market) is head and shoulders better than anything I've seen from the US for a looong time. I wonder if there's more stuff this good on French television and if there is it's one more reason to shake one's angry fist at Danish TV for having given us nothing but Anglo-Saxon films and TV shows for so many years! It wasn't till two or three years ago that some of the smaller channels began to screen films from other countries in Europe, other than Scandinavia that is.

I have the first season of ENGRENAGES on DVD and as soon as the third season finished (which I dvd-r'ed every episode of!) I could do nothing but race my imaginary sports-car (right out of The Persuaders) to the nearest Amazon store and order the missing season 2 right away! I received it today. xD



All three seasons are released on DVD in France and the UK. Unfortunately, I need the subs so I have to go with the UK sets - word is the quality of the French sets is better as they are 4 disc sets whereas the UK sets are squeezed down to 2 disc sets - but even so they look alright. The English subs are alright altho I wish I'd taped all three seasons from TV as the subtitles are much better translated in the Danish editions (which also means I won't bother ordering the third season on DVD).



Will there be a fourth season? I have no idea but somehow I kinda fear it could be a letdown, I mean how can you top season 3???

If you haven't already checked out ENGRENAGES I highly recommend you do. You'll find a brief beginner's guide from "The Guardian" newspaper here.

Insanity comes in many shapes and forms

For fark's sake!!! >_<

I used to be able to follow and tape TV shows in the old video days. Before everything (telly show wise) began to come out in complete DVD box sets I would tape everything that I found interesting. Why? Well, cos I figured this psychotronic stuff would probably never be shown again, it would be lost! So I followed and taped stuff like THE X-FILES & MILENNIUM for years and years, and I had complete seasons taped off TV. For me, taping complete shows goes all the way back to the 80s when I remember taping complete runs of (the truly fabulous) WIDOWS and THE YOUNG ONES (on Betamax). And I had complete runs of THE SIMPSONS and SEINFELD (and my cousin taped ALL episodes of the original STAR TREK series from German tv in LP but then discovered that LP wasn't as good as SP so he then taped ALL episodes AGAIN when they were re-run, hahaha). However, some years ago it all became too much and I threw in the towel. Stopped completely. A couple of weeks back a Danish TV channel began running a French crime show called ENGRENAGES (released as Spiral in English) and I though the trailer looked really cool so I decided to start taping the show (alright, so I'm an old dude as I still say "tape" even tho it's via a dvd recorder now!). I knew the show would probably become available on dvd in France but with these things you can never be sure if the English speaking territories are gonna pick them up, and I need English or Scandinavian subs as my French basically consists of knowing how to say merde and sacre bleu (apparently the French don't even say the latter anymore, LOL). Also one other very important aspect is how GOOD the subtitles are! Unfortunately many subtitles on DVDs and video tapes released in the English speaking territories are terribly executed simply because in contradiction to places like Scandinavia these places haven't had a long tradition of making subtitles. They're simply not aware of the ins and outs of how to translate and put them on the screen. Sometimes you'll see retarded features like a translator repeating someone saying "I think, ehh, well, I think..." which is a normal way of speaking but it makes for terrible subtitles (and the written line should just be "I think..."). Also, I don't want subtitles from some clown who doesn't think subtitles shouldn't have punctuation marks! I want proper subtitles goddammit! So this was another reason I wanted the show off Danish tv as I knew the subs would be good. Well, episode #1 went well. The show was really good and a highly welcome to the American and British crime/cop shows. Episode two also went well (taping wise) but with number three I fucked it up. For fuck's bloody sake! As I said I used to tape shows on end and now I can't even keep focus enough to tape a series with a limited episode run! >_<
I set the recorder to tape but forgot to change the date as it started after midnight. >_<
I was so pissed off I went straight for Amazon to check if it were on DVD, found it, and ordered it right away! I guess I could wait for the re-run but you never know with Danish television, it could be another 6 months before we see a repeat, and I hate missing an episode. I haven't received the box yet but I hope the subs are good. I didn't see anyone complaining about them in the user sections but unfortunately there were quite a few people complaining about the subs on the Australian release of season 2! Season 2 and 3 are also out on DVD in the UK and I hope they've made their own translations and that they're good. Some people would rather watch films and tv shows in brilliant dvd picture quality altho the subs are crappy then watch propper subs via a tv rip. Well, I beg to differ: I'll choose the tv rip any day. :D

The only trailer that I could find for season one is dubbed into, eh, some eastern Euro lingo:



NB. The headline: Yes, I'm sure some would regard this as insane. Jebuz, calm down, it's just a tv show. Sure, but I want my proper subs, why can't I have my proper subs, arrrgh gimme my proper subs!
*foaming mouth, spastic convulsions, twitching, green puke on shirt*