Today’s “Then and Now” goes to the heart of Europe with Belgium, and who can forget 2002’s classic Sister from Sergio & the Ladies? You have? Then here’s a reminder:

I praised last year’s entry, Je T’Adore, as the best of the year – so it was knocked out in the semi-final. As a result, this year’s entry from The KMGs (The Krazy Mess Groovers – yers…) is competing in tonight’s semi-final. It’s all gone very disco – and surely, surely will qualify for the final. Won’t it? This is Love Power:

Millennium has written an good piece about Blake’s 7. (The reason for the post is some new audio plays, but it’s worth reading even if – like me – you’re not interesed in them 😉

I mention it for entirely spurious reasons. This passage…

And often when it loses the plot it is because it’s stopped trying to remember what’s going on in the rest of the galaxy. So you end up with something like the DEEPLY EMBARRASSING “Voice from the Past” when everyone forgets that Travis isn’t working for Ms Servalan any more, or the SEXIST DRIVEL of “Harvest of Kairos” which would clearly rather be set in a pre-War Federation and has NO IDEA what Ms Servalan’s personality (or indeed RANK!) is supposed to be!

…reminded me of one of the most memorable lines from the series. Whether it showed a powerful, sexual woman or was just terribly sexist is open to interpretation, but here it is. The context is that Servalan has been snogged by the original Jack Sugden from Emmerdale Farm. Servalan’s line:

There is the question of that degrading and primitive act to which I was subjected in the control room. I should like you to do it again.

Today we rewind to 2003 and Estonia’s entry by Ruffus – who, confusingly, are also know as Claire’s Birthday. In a year (like most) dominated by pop, the guitar band’s catchy entry stood out. Placed 21st out of 26, however – five places above 2003’s disastrous UK entry from Jemini – meant that Estonia failed to qualify for the final in 2004, the year the semi-final qualifying stage was introduced. Ruffus certainly deserved to do better, so here – with relatively low picture quality I’m afraid – is Eighties Coming Back:

Last year, Estonia were again stuck in the semi-final, managing only 18th place and failing to qualify. Consequently, they’re back in the semi this year. Attention fact fans: their singer this year, Gerli Padar, is the sister of Tanel Padar who you’ll all remember won the Eurovision for Estonia with Dave Benton and 2XL and the song Everybody back in 2001. This year’s entry isn’t anything special but may muster up enough votes to reach the final. Decide for yourself. It’s called Partners in Crime:

With the local elections out of the way and my sleep patterns returned to something approaching normal, it’s time to move on to something infinitely more important than politics: the annual festival of pop and patriotism, key changes and campery, that is the Eurovision Song Contest.

We have two evenings of nonsense to look forward to: the semi-final on Thursday, and the main event itself on Saturday night.

I aim to review the runners and riders for the semi-final before the show on Thursday (something of a deadline to work towards there), but I’m also going to post up a daily “Then and Now” video, courtesy of the magic (and dubious copyright) of YouTube. We begin with Denmark.

Last year’s entry Twist of Love didn’t score well, so Denmark must once again fight their way to the final. This was also the case three years ago, when one of my favourite entries of that year, by Tomas Thordarson, failed to win the approval of the viewers and was knocked out at the semi-final stage. Here he is – in promo video form, as it’s better than the less impressive live performance – with 2004’s entry, Shame On You:

That was then, so what do they have in store this year? You may well ask. Following last year’s victory by demon rockers Lordi, many countries have opted for guitar acts (of which more later). Not so Denmark. Their selection – the drag act DQ – stands a good chance of appealing to those who like their Eurovision camp and poppy but without veering towards the silly (compared to, say, the controversial Ukrainian entry). Bearing some similarities with Israel’s 1998 winner Diva, this is Drama Queen: