Megaloman a la Italia

this was the first way I ever saw the entire series of Megaloman.  as I wrote about it here, it's one of my favorite Japanese super hero shows.  this Italian song opening is very, but a bit cool.  not a patch on the original but what's gonna top that.

oddly enough, I couldn't find the Japanese intro on youtube.

glad the Italian one has been preserved here now.

Gamera and me

apparently, my writing career will always have something to do with Gamera.  I wrote my first article for Scary Monsters #9 about Gammera the Invincible. turned out to be the cover story, even.  back then, in December of 1993, seeing subtitled and widescreen versions of these movies was a pipe dream. 

now, one can see all sorts of versions.  astounding.  in 1999 I wrote liner notes for "Attack of the Monsters" when it was released on home VHS.  and now, I'll be writing about the titanic terrapin again.  it's my fate!

Leo opening song

here's a fun clip from Ultraman Leo.  I would love to see more of this series.

Max! Max! Max!

here's the opening theme to Ultraman Max, a series I greatly enjoyed, even with some questionable HK subs.

just a taste for the poll!

Ultra Poll!

got a new poll up, this time to about the various Ultras.  I just chose four that always seem to get short shrift, though Leo and 80 both showed up in Ultraman Mebius.

and I chose not to use cartoon Ultras or the side characters (sorry Astra).

vote!

Superman vs Batman

it's about time Superman shows up on "The Brave and the Bold". he showed up in the background  early on,  but this time we get a full team up fight episode, as he is exposed to red K, and we all know what that does to him.

there was a conscious decision not to have him show up in the first two seasons, so perhaps we'll get Diana as well this season.  so awesome to have more episodes to look forward to!

and Lois is still Lois.  I like the way she looks, very classic and yet she still acts like Lois Classic.  yuck.  drop her, Batman.  thanks to Bat-Blog for showing me the clips!

Xenorama #15 cover

I am almost speechless at this amazing cover Dan Ross made for Xenorama #15.  I love it so much I'd almost turn it into a tattoo.

it's just that good. 

anyway, the issue is almost finished, and this inspires me to get it all done soon! 

think it's an attention getter?

Gokaiger #4- What are Friends for?

we get a lot of swords in this episode, as Gokai Blue (is that right?) has to practice to beat the weekly kaijin.  the episode starts with the team trying to make their robot turn into other robots (like Battle Fever J's) but failing.  the onlookers are all less than impressed with the failure as well, putting their cell phones down.

then we get to the badguys sending their weekly guy down to terrorize the Earth.  he has a special sword technique and apparently that's Blue's specialty.

it's a pretty good episode.  no special guest star, but Gekiranger makes an appearance so that made me happy.

a bomb of a movie!

I am glad I am watching "The Batman" if for no other reason that the name of the movie to your left.  how awesome is that?

even better is Bruce's reaction to Dick saying "we are so watching this movie."

I think this was The Clock King, but couldn't quite tell.

subtitled superhero shows

remember back when we all used to think about seeing subtitled Japanese superhero shows?  when it started happening it was usually the current Kamen Rider, Super Sentai or Ultra show.  now, though, there's a ton of older stuff finally getting it's due.

I mean, look over there- subtitled Kamen Rider.  no V3, or Hibiki after the title.  just the original Rider in all his glory.  that is also one daunting task, since it's a long series.

so I thought I'd be friendly and post some of these places that are doing such good work for the rest of us.

• Hikari Senshi- Ultraman Gaia, Zubat and Gogo V
• KITsubs- Kamen Rider, Skyrider
• Order of Zeronos- Kamen Rider X, Gokaiger
• Hi No Tori- Kamen Rider Amazon, Keiji K, Ultra Seven, Demon Hunter Mitsurgi, more
• Grown Ups In Spandex- Gokaiger, more
• Deserves Subs- Mazinga Z

there are probably more I've missed.  it's almost too much now to watch 'em all!

King Kong Escapes

the second time I ever saw King Kong.  I saw this one a lot in the movie theater back in the 70s.  seemed to be a favorite of the owner, or something.  do they even do summer kiddie matinees any more?  probably not.

 

I think I kind of like it more than King Kong vs Godzilla, sorta, because there are more monsters.  actually, I'm glad I don't have to choose.

Darkseid Descending

yes, finally back to the Brave and the Bold!

in this fun episode the new Justice League (based on Justice League International) is formed, with many of the same characters as the comic book.  here we have J'onn showing off his love of cookies (though not the delicious Oreos from the comics).

he's not quite the same Martian Manhunter as we saw in the Justice League, but then this isn't the same cartoon.  I really enjoyed the first 30 or so  issues of Justice League.  I liked Kevin Maguire's artwork a lot, and Batman got to punch out Guy.  I've discussed that already! once it became a serious book it got less fun.

but here, it's still fun. Billy West is Skeets again, which is pretty much the only voice that should do the robot.  or whatever he is.

I was holding off on watching the rest of the series, as I thought it was over, but according to Wiki there's at least three more episodes being made.  which thrills me to no end!

Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster

I like this movie, but always want to love it.  there's so much going  for it, but what it lacks is more monster vs monster action.  it doesn't live up to the poster, that's for sure.

there's a lot going for it, shooting in Puerto Rico, things like that.  the basic idea of the android Frank vs the alien monster is sound as well.  just needed a few more battles.

the plot is basically "The Mysterians" (1957) with Mars wanting to take Earth women.  hmm, I think there's a movie with that title as well- Mars Needs Women!

how'd they know?

second episode of season four of "The Batman" has our heroes (now with Robin and Batgirl) taking on "Team Penguin" (which is the name of the episode.

the Penguin gets the idea from watching a movie, which is pretty much the A-Team.

how did they know in 2006 there would be a forgettable remake of a fairly fun tv show?  blind luck of insider knowledge.

it's fun episode, and I like the villains they use here.  heck, even Killer Moth gets to take on Batgirl again.

Robot Detective opening

while we are talking about "K", here's the opening theme.  I can't say it's an all time favorite of mine, but I do enjoy it.

Robot Detective! 1-5

I'd only ever seen the first four episodes of this show before, unsubbed as was the norm back in the day.

it's really cool to see it subtitled. so far we have met BAD, the robot rental agency.  they have a variety of robots for almost any nefarious purpose one could want.

and we've met K, and his mysterious "Mother". the fights are not quite like anything else Toei is showing as well, closer to western style brawls than slick martial arts. it's a very physical style which suits the combatants.

K also has a pretty cool car.  I'm looking forward to how it all unfolds.  and just why the Japanese police so easily take to a Robot Detective!

Stop the Future- the Epoxies

this video is from the Epoxies 2005 album "Stop the Future".  it rocks.  of course, they broke up in 2007 so seeing them live is a bit out of the question.

still, I'd like to see Roxy Epoxy and the Rebound on tour sometime.

anyway, it's a great album. any  of their stuff is highly recommended.  thanks to youtube for hipping me to this!

The Brave and the Bold season 1 v.2

back to a fun Batman!  though it's more light hearted than some of the other Batman related media, there's still death and mature themes in this series.

we just aren't beat over the head with it constantly.

anyway, this is the last 13 episodes of season one, which means only 26 more for the entire series.  drat.  and where's the movie that usually accompanies a Batman series these days?

probably no extras on this one either.  it came out today, but I'll get it in the next day or two.

The Son of Zorro

no, not the serial, but rather possibly Man with the Golden Winchester from 1973.  it looks pretty cool.  can't find a picture of it at all! so I used a stock one.  it's pretty easy.

anyone got a copy of the movie?

Captain Satellite

here's a great new item Captain Satellite: Number Zero
by my pal Chris Elam.  there's more info on his blog here, and I can recommend Lulu.com as a fine Publish On Demand source as well.

there will be more fine books coming from Lulu.com in the future, I'll tell you what!

it's a look at the comic book universe he has created.  I've read some of the stuff in here, and if he was writing for one of those other publishers I guarantee comic books would be fun again and I would be reading them.

RX in the lead!

Kamen Rider Black RX is in  the lead!  there is still one day to vote in the poll!

I'm quite fond of this show, as it's one of the few original Rider series I've watched all the way through.  I actually like it more than Black, which seems to be a rare thing for people to  admit.

but what's a Rider show without the henchmen to throw around?

the Enterprise

as Scotty said, "with no letters or numbers..." (well, something like that).

still hasn't been improved upon since 1966.

90th Birthday tribute to Ray

even though it was nine months ago, this is pretty darn cool.

Heroes from the East

possibly Lau Kar-Leung's best movie, this one is so much fun.  everything works in this movie completely.  there are so many martial arts styles on display here it's never boring.

it's also very non-traditional, as the Japanese aren't portrayed as subhuman villains.  they can't compete with Chinese styles, but then, they didn't make the movie!

part of this movie was used in "Fist of Legend", specifically the love between the Chinese and the Japanese.  good stuff in both movies.

Gwangi Comic book

I love the movie "The Valley Of Gwangi" as I may have mentioned before.  owned the coloring book for many years, have the DVD.

always thought I wanted the comic book.  but thanks to this excellent blog (and Dan Ross as well!) I think I can pass on it.  I do really like the cover, but that's because it's an adaption of the awesome movie poster.  can't go wrong with that, for the most part.

but the inside... you can tell Jack Sparling had nothing but b/w stills to work with.  and even then, not one of the prehistoric critters matches up with the ones in the movies.  except maybe the eohippus (now Hyracotherium).

so as a curiosity it proves again that Ray Harryhausen's movies usually got the short shrift with comic book adaptions.

Rider Poll

just picked four of the first series of Kamen Riders.  hope it requires a little pondering before the vote!

Space Sheriffs

I've never seen any of the Space Sheriff shows, aside from a few clips here and there (my pal Chris Elam has graciously sent me several comps).  they spawned the "metal hero" genre in Japan, and some would say mutated with Kamen Rider as well.

anyway, we start with Space Sheriff Gavan, who was the first one.  I like the idea of a Green Lantern Corp, I mean Space Police being sent out to stop various evil space aliens.

Gavan comes from Earth (well, his mother did) and is happy to help defend it.  Mimi is there to help him, with her laser powers of illusion.  or something, as an illusion of a bird can't really fly.

the first episode is pretty good, and quite action packed.  this series was made right before effects started to take over completely for Japan's superhero show (parents with nothing better to do complained about all the dynamic violence or something, I've heard).

I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the series.

Let's Go Kamen Rider! trailer

it's even subtitled in English!

I've enjoyed the last two Kamen Rider movies for the most part.  I haven't seen enough of Den-O to really decide much about it, but if they don't have our favorites selling moves to the current Rider then I'll be happy.

and there are the other guest stars as well!  wonder what this year's super sentai movie will look like now...

and looking at all the whiny comments on youtube about the movie already... fanboys upset that only kiddies will enjoy Kamen Rider... who do they think was the original audience anyway?

Batgirl Begins

certainly more fun than "Batman Begins" anyway!

season 3 starts out with a much cooler theme song (the other one was pretty cool as well, thanks Edge) and the dreaded thing some batfanboys hate, the sidekick. 

the teenage sidekick, mind you, as Babs barely looks 15 let alone old enough to drive or anything.  but since it's a girl, then perhaps it OK.

I have to like that it's nice to see Barbara Gordon again in the suit.  never did understand why "The Killing Joke" is considered canon, while some many other graphic novels are not.

anyway, she's not too bad. the humor is a nice addition to the series. she's the "hero in training" which is also a plus.

of course, she was friends with Pamela Isley, now Poison Ivy.  another teenage addition to the show.  I know it's geared toward that audience, but meh on that.  it's still the part of the show I like least so far.

I believe there's a Robin the future as well, but I won't swear to it.  the new theme rocks though, did I mention that?

ring time!

there's no love for Shazzan in this poll!  I really like the show a lot, but with only one vote, I can understand why he wouldn't get any.

of course, Birdman has none either, but while I have grown to enjoy the program I am no huge fan of the show.  he's such a square hero, though I like Avenger a lot.

I did forget two other shows, "The Arabian Knights" and "The Three Musketeers".  one could argue the Musketeers isn't any kind of super show, but the Knights would qualify, with all the magic powers put into use.  next time for sure!

3. Turn Courage into Magic- for real! Go Heroically!

we get a plot about destroying the planet with earthquakes by the villains, which leads three of our heroes to go black then white.

are some people really complaining about the girls being in the various guys' costumes?  that's what they want to waste their time and energy on?  that's just... odd.

anyway, MagiRed,from  Maho Sentai Magiranger shows up to help Captain  Marvelous and Doc find out more about the various powers.

I've seen the first 13 episodes of MagiRanger, I liked it OK. the robots were a bit ridiculous, and that holds true here as well, as the Red Dragon combines with the Gokai-bot to turn into something completely preposterous.

and if you know anything about sentai robots, that's saying something!

but this is a good episode as well, and it's always a plus to see Big One back.  here's hoping Sokichi Banba actually shows up sometime...

Golden Vampires in 1974

one of the cooler things you get when fads of movies are dying out is the inevitable mixing of genres.  happens all the time with movies, and even between themselves (see The One Armed Swordsmen (1976) or The One Armed Swordsmen (1976)). 

The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires is such a movie.  it's a lot of fun, though sadly missing Christopher Lee as Dracula.  when it was brought over to the US several years later it was badly edited into a near incomprehensible mess.  fortunately DVD rescued it from that.  heck, I even had a VHS tape with both versions on it, thanks to Anchor Bay.

the kung fu is pretty good here, but they had to tone it down as it would overshadow the rest of the movie.  it would have been kind of cool to see a hopping vampire as well, but these are minor quibbles.  fun to hear David Chiang speak in his real voice, too.

the next poll

as you can see, I chose more of the obscure H-B cartoons this time (as I think Space Ghost or the Herculoids would win easily).

so have fun, vote!