Rent Johnny and the Bomb (2006)

3.6 of 5 from 47 ratings
1h 48min
Rent Johnny and the Bomb (aka Terry Pratchett's Johnny and the Bomb) Online DVD & Blu-ray Rental
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Synopsis:
"Johnny and the Bomb" is based on the novel by Terry Pratchett and stars Zoe Wanamaker , Frank Finlay and Keith Barron. When Johnny Maxwell (George MacKay) and his friends help mad old Mrs. Tachyon (Zoë Wanamaker) with her trolley full of strange black bags, they end up in 1941, at the height of the wartime Blitz. When they finally return to the present it's...different. And 'wrong'. Was it something they did? The mysterious Sir Walter (Keith Barron) helps them find the answer but can they - and the trolley - move fast enough to put things right? It's a race against Time and if they lose, no one's life will ever be the same. In fact Johnny won't have a life at all...
Actors:
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Directors:
Producers:
Peter Tabern
Writers:
Terry Pratchett, Peter Tabern
Aka:
Terry Pratchett's Johnny and the Bomb
Studio:
Warner
Genres:
British TV, TV Action & Adventure, TV Children & Family, TV Comedies, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi & Fantasy
BBFC:
Release Date:
04/09/2006
Run Time:
108 minutes
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles:
None
DVD Regions:
Region 2
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen 1.78:1 / 16:9
Colour:
Colour
Bonus:
  • New Interview with Terry Pratchett: Interviewer - Sarah LeFanu (Artistic Director, Bath Literature Festival)

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Reviews (1) of Johnny and the Bomb

Highly entertaining time-slip drama for both kids & adults with a top British cast - Johnny and the Bomb review by PV

Spoiler Alert
08/02/2024

I really enjoyed this. Decent simple story. Great actors, early George McKay (Pride, 1917) and Matthew Beard (Vienna Blood). And the great Keith Barron (The Land that Time Forgot etc) and Frank Finlay.

Adapted from a PROPER kids' book - not the sort of preachy woke lecturing middle grade kids books of now, which remind me of propaganda books under Nazi-ism/communism, or else cartoon character whizzbang simplistic stuff which does nothing to lift the literacy of kids. my advice to parents - raid the archive for decent books and stories for the young 'uns. Go back to the future!

Obviously inspired by the expression BAGS OF TIME with a silly time machine shopping trolley - BUT WHY NOT? All time travel tales are silly and vague re the details of how to do it! So if a story skirts over the how then fine - though I do know agents/publishers challenge this in submissions (WHY? IT IS FICTION!) No need to explain the (fantasy) science! OK so this is not up there with BACK TO THE FUTURE or THE TIME MACHINE (1960 film is sublime). But it is fun and it hangs together and works.

This is very traditional actually - people go back in time, change something then have to go back again and put right what they made wrong. That is a trope used by so many stories and authors. So nothing original here BUT it is a good fun proper story.

I have never seen this on TV and it seems to have vanished from the schedules for some reason - maybe the use of 'slur word' (SHOCK HORROR!) which the woke taliban of TV would certainly trigger warning now or maybe cut or mute as in so many 1970s sitcoms. No word is wrong in and of itself and when in dialogue in a story should NEVER be muted or cut - if the usual baby-brained wokies are offended and triggered, they should grow up and get an education as they clearly lack one.

I suspect Terry Pratchett felt he had to address race and gender in this film (though not the 2004 book which is the last of the Johnny Maxwell trilogy) so did so. Does not add much though and thankfully no absurd diverse cast in 1941 which they'd do now (in 1939 there were just 6000 black people in the UK out of a population of 44 million).

Anyway, I really enjoyed this. Yes, it is yet another time-slip drama, and as ever with these things, the logic/science of time travel is NEVER explained and is always vague and magical BECAUSE IT IS NONSENSE. It is the same in all time travel films. Oddly the only story which tried to explain it is the Czech novel NEWTON'S BRAIN, published 18 years before HG Wells THE TIME MACHINE.

Be aware: A tachyon or tachyonic particle is a hypothetical particle that always travels faster than light.

4 stars.

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