The Brigadier recounts one of his earliest adventures…

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen are probably best known to the world through the Terry Gilliam film, which allowed the former Python to let rip with his visual imagination, thanks to tales that never let the truth get in the way of a good story. In a world where there are leaders who seem to have taken that as their core principle, it’s fun to have a more gentle and genial take on it – and that’s what writer Paul Birch and director Barnaby Eaton-Jones provide here.

Richard O’Brien sounds as if he’s having a whale of a time (choice of cliché there very deliberate) as his story gets progressively more fantastic – by the end I was half expecting him to have engaged in Socratic dialogue with the creature he’s trying to save. His final proclamation shoves this series firmly into Sci-Fi Bulletin territory…

Sophie Aldred has little to do in this opener, expressing some surprise at the utterances coming at her down the video channel, but there’s a hint of an agenda and I suspect she’ll be more than just a foil as the episodes progress. Joseph Fox’s sound design and music is occasionally too on the nose, but it widens the scope of the drama admirably.

Verdict: An enjoyable divertissement from the all-too-real world. 8/10

Paul Simpson

‘The Barren Author’ will be released 31 October 2020 
Price: £3.99 each episode or £19.95 for all 6 if bought together
http://www.spitefulpuppet.com

Click here to read our interview with Richard O’Brien

Click here to read our interview with Sophie Aldred