fall 63 Outer Limits preview

I've never seen this before. it's really cool.  I love "The Outer Limits" as it was used to scare the bejeebers out of kids on Friday nights before Sci-Fi Flicks started on KWGN Channel 2.  so many fond memories of lots of episodes.

look out! the homecoming queen has a got a gun!

I had forgotten how funny Julie Brown is, or at least was.  this sure would have livened up my homecomings...

Spaaaaaaaaaaace Ghooooooooooooost!

nothing will ever top this cartoon,  so please never let there be a "live action" version.

Jerry Lawler vs the Monsters

See Jerry Lawler take on all The Monsters that were brought into Memphis to destroy him!!!

1. Footage of Jos LeDuc (which includes the Blood Oath and LeDuc tossing Lawler out of the Ring)
2. Jerry Lawler vs. Jerry Blackwell
3. Kamala Video
4. TV Debut of Kamala
5. Jerry Lawler vs. Kamala
6. The Road Warriors Promo
7. Jerry Lawler & Austin Idol vs. The Road Warriors
8. Jerry Lawler vs. Bruiser Brody
9. Jerry Lawler Interview about King Kong Bundy
10. Jerry Lawler vs. King Kong Bundy
11. Jerry Lawler vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Extras

• Kamala Speaks
• Kamala vs. Bill Dundee
• Lance Russell Talks about Jos LeDuc

this is one of the DVDs from Highspots and it's loads of fun.  like the others, it's more or less chronological in nature, from say 1981 to sometime later.  the cool thing about this disc is the two Road Warrior matches.  well, it's the first one I Iike, as the second one is the most common match on tapes and DVDs.  the first one the Warriors were sans "Precious" Paul Ellering in that bout (they had very publicly fired him and beaten him up on TV).

listening to Kamala speaking is fun, as is Lance's memories of Jos LeDuc.  good stuff, order it here.

Happy Birthday Ace!

I know most people choose "New York Groove" or "Shock Me" but I love this one from Unmasked.  it's such a great power pop song.

Happy birthday to Ace Frehley, one of if not the major influence on my guitar playing.

Alexandra Cabot(s)

while discussing various and sundry interesting items with my pal Mr. Owari, he mentioned that Casey Kasem is now 79 years old.  which surprised me, that the voice of so many cartoon characters is that old.  he did Shaggy and Robin and Alexander Cabot III for Josie and the Pussycats.

that led me to think about his twin sister, Alexandra (pictured here with her cat Sebastion from the cartoon series).  she really was the one that made the cartoon series, as she had the gumption and fortitude, wrongheaded as it usually was, to actually get things going.

anyway, it dawned on me that the show  Law & Order: Special Victims Unit had a character with the same name.

ably played by Stephanie March as the ADA for the unit, the name being exactly the same seems to be far too much of a coincidence. 

so my question to Chris was if anyone knew if it actually was deliberate.  it's really quite awesome to think so, since the Law and Order shows (all 23 of them) are so highly regarded. it would just be too funny to know that one of their main characters owes her name to a cool cartoon from the 70s.  or a comic book from the 50s, if you prefer... 

dinosaur article from the past

Way back in the early 80s, this came along.  I've seen the skull many times at CU.  wonder if it's still there.

as exciting as seeing a Triceratops skull was, the prospect of seeing One Million Years, BC (1966) on the big screen was a much bigger draw.

however, after arriving at the college and getting to the classroom where the movie was showing, we were greeted with a professor (I think) dressed in a ridiculous dinosaur costume who proceeded to tell us we would be seeing One Million B.C. (1940).

Shogun Warriors Diecasts

seeing a Shogun Warriors commercial on tv was something really cool.  the most famous one these days is the one featuring Godzilla, but there were a few others.  I've never seen this one before, it's for the smaller versions.  I owned the Raider one from Getta Robo G.

ancient Japanese toys...

I am not a huge toy collector these days- I ruin collectability by actually taking them out of their boxes and playing with them- but I do like the occasional cool piece.

growing up in Colorado, there were not a lot of these sorts of toys or figures or dolls or what have you. which is why I cut out this here newspaper article back in the 80s sometime.  the school in Chicago might as well have been on the moon at that time.

sure would have been fun to see at the time, and then let them know at least what some of the monsters were.

6. The Most Important Thing

we get a pleasant and action packed morality tale.  our heroes and villains learn of a tree that produces gold.  the Zangyack send their weekly monster down to fetch it.

he is a master of disguise, or so he tells his bosses.  I am very fond of him as a character, and I hope somehow he can return, though I suspect that's kind of rare.

he's not the most ept of kaijin out there, that's for sure. in fact, he's not effective at all.

but we get to see my favorite Sentai in action again, JAQK.  this is a Gokai Yellow story, for the most part.

The Brave and the Bold, sort of!

this is a fun redub with voices from the 60s show.  it works really well.

been a few days since a bat post, so here is one, in case you missed it.

a dangerously insane individual...

seeing Cowboy Bill Watts being inducted into the  2009 WWF (sorry, just can't use the "real" name) Hall of Fame made me think of something my official source of Mid-South Wrestling, C. Elam once told me:

"as I watched wrestling and  listened to Bill commentate, it slowly dawned on me I was listening to the ramblings and rantings of a dangerously insane individual..."

this was before I saw many of the actual Mid-South matches, and his logic is so outre that in wrestling, it made sense. and watching his acceptance speech, nothing has changed!  and of course, this is no knock on Bill, nor was Mr. Owari completely serious.  I don't think.

I do miss Boyd Pierce and those suits of his.

Save the Earth day

I was going to use the trailer for Godzilla vs the Smog Monster (1971) but came across the song that played over the titles.  it's a cool song, done with care to sync up properly and it works well.

and a great message in the lyrics as well.  this is one of the Godzilla movies I have actually seen on the big screen, back in the day.  it's pretty gruesome when one thinks about the imagery in it, and yet it's aimed pretty squarely at kids.  good stuff!

it's Gamera, man

I finished my Gamera article and mailed it out today.  here's a preview-

Batmen

remember this here post? well, here's the clip to back it up.  now that I've enjoyed the series of Batman Beyond it's not such a big issue (like a tv cartoon could be, right?) but I still don't like the ever so dark and mostly hero-less future this episode portrays.

plus the final season of the JLU seems to negate this possibility as well.

I really do have a love/hate relationship with time travel stories. is it me or does Old Bruce look to be in better shape than he did in Batman Beyond?

the Yesterday Machine (1963)

never heard of this movie before. it's low budget and a little slow movie (so much talking) but the characters are fun.  it starts out with Howie and Margie having car trouble and going to an old house to get some help.  something odd is happening...

there is a light on!

wait, wait, before you start thinking about a different movie, that's pretty much the end of the similarities. Howie gets shot by some Civil War soldiers and Margie disappears.

most of the rest of the movie is Sandra, Margie's sister, and a reporter looking for her.  what they find is an evil Nazi trying to use a time machine to bring back Hitler so they can win WWII. 

it's a pretty fun 80 minutes of low budget goodness.  the acting ranges from bad to passable, but I've seen worse in major movies.  too bad the picture quality isn't better, but it's nice to be able to see it at all.

Goseiger VS Shinkenger - Epic on Ginmaku

this is the 2011 team up movie of the then current Sentai team (Tenso Sentai Goseiger), and it's immediate predecessor.  I know nothing much about either team, though I liked seeing Samurai Sentai Shinkenger show up on Kamen Rider Decade.  naturally, a seemingly defeated enemy shows up and Goseiger can't figure it out.  then Shinkenger shows up, and there are some differences and disagreements, but they work it out in the end.

there is a lot of cool action.  the kid playing GoseiRed looks like he's about 12, which doesn't make him seem very mature to be leading a team of fighters.  but that's just a minor quibble, and symptomatic of the overall nature of the shows.

and look who shows up near the end!  Captain Marvelous even breaks the fourth wall, telling the other pirates "this is for the movie, make it flashy".  the obligatory robots only show up at the very end, which is a good thing.  this movie is quite enjoyable.

Demon Hunter Mitsurgi

Demon Hunter Mitsurgi is one action packed and awesome show.  it only lasted 12 episodes, but it tells the story.

the three siblings fight the Scorpion Army in medieval Japan, despite the fact they have motorcycle helmets and hand grenades as well as the magical warrior they summon to fight the monster of the week.

the cool thing is that the monsters and our giant hero are all done by some stop-motion animation.  it's certainly not the smoothest you will see out there, but it's really kinetic and cool.  and who thought it would be done on a superhero series?

this allows the monsters a little more freedom than the standard actor in the suit- we get bugs and birds and skeleton things.  very nifty.

this is the Earthquake Monster Gragran!  it's creepy looking.

Namor of Atlantis...

here's a whole episode of the fun 60s "suspended animation" cartoon.  gotta love the actual Marvel artwork!

the voice acting is quite good.  Namor sounds great, just like he should.  why aren't these out on legit DVD? gotta think with the success of Iron Man as a real movie these would be a no brainer.

tempramental last will

the Frantics rock.  this is a shorter version than the one on the record, but it's still really funny. it's also interesting to see what the cast looks like, as I always picture different people.

one more for Jenny and the wimp.

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (2010)

started watching this a while ago, but am revisiting it now.

and if nothing else, I like it because of Krypto's appearance.  lord I miss that dog.  the voice acting is most of our favorites from the JLA/U as well, which is also a real plus.

basically it's Kara Zor-El coming to Earth, and Darkseid trying to use her to kill Superman.  it's not bad, but it's not the best.  Darkseid's voice especially isn't that good. still, I am enjoying it a lot.

more Krypto!

PR the movie

when you find this in the bargain bin, it's hard to resist buying it. so I didn't.  but it may end up as a gift to someone... (yes, that means you Mr. Owari).

I don't think I've seen it since it came out in 1995.  how has it suddenly been 16 years?

review to come. you have been warned!

Gamera theme song

subtitled in English! from "Gamera vs. Guiron" (1969).  my first Gamera movie, and my second favorite.

enjoy!

apparently April is Gamera month now.

"Bat-Mite Presents: Batman's Strangest Cases!"

 this is episode #51 of the most excellent cartoon "The Brave and the Bold".  it has Bat-mite hosting three adventures, starting with an adaption of Mad Magazine's "Bat Boy and Rubin" story.  I've read this one many times, and it's a little weird seeing it in color (it was in a book when I read it). however, it's a great adaption for a satire!

 next up, we have a Bat-manga adventure, and it's done 8-man style.  this was fun,  but the "poorly dubbed on purpose" thing was tired in the 80s, and just wouldn't even have been true at all in the 60s. other than that minor quibble, I enjoyed this one as well, and would have loved watching this as a kid.

finally, we have a re-do of the nadir of Batman's animated career... the team up with the Scooby gang.  they still battle the Joker and the Penguin, but this time we get a cameo from "Weird Al" Yankovic as well!  of course, they do make fun of Hanna-Barbera's more limited animation from the time.  once is funny, five times, the joke wears thin.

the final battle makes up for it- there's more action in 2 minutes than in the entire season of Super Friends.  Bat-mite lets us know that Batman couldn't throw a punch back in the 70s, but he fixes that.  if Scooby had been more like this, I might like him more!

Dacya turns 5

my baby butt Dacya Clementine is now five years old. she is wonderful and I love her!

Gamera got a VIras...

here's the Japanese trailer for the fourth Gamera movie.  I have only ever watched the first movie in it's original language.  weird, huh?

all the trailers are pretty cool overall though.

5. Judgement Pirates

I think it's Dekaranger that guest stars a bit here, but I am not sure.  it's the SPD, anyway, and we see the dog police man.  our heroes have to stop a plot to send missiles all over the Earth.

this is an action packed episode, full of great battles and effects. even the obligatory robo battle is pretty fun.

Gamera vs Monster X

here's a fun tv preview of the sixth Gamera movie, Gamera vs Monster X. it's probably my third favorite Gamera movie (it's a lot easier than Godzilla as there are a lot less of them).

color covers

back in the day, when I was originally publishing the fine Xenorama magazine I got a lot of fine contributions.

this cover for issue #3 was one of them.  Allen E. Miller provided it and it is awesome.  sadly, the way it was reproduced at the time (say in 1993 or so) was pretty inadequate.  so here it is in all it's colorful glory.

this is just a great picture of Space Ghost.

I should use this as a back cover for #15... I wonder where Allen is these days.

rocky trailer

here's the trailer from the Monolith Monsters. I think a sequel to this movie could be really cool.  these crystals could be reactivated and menace the world again!

Cap'n Satellite 0

remember when I wrote about this here comic? 

well, I got it last night.  Mr. Elam  has done a great thing, making it available.  his universe is filled with colorful heroes and villains, and I can imagine fun stories taking place on large and small scales.

I also like the fact that time actually passes in his universe- his characters age and even die.  and quite possibly stay dead, which doesn't ever seem to happen any more. seriously, Bucky is still alive?  who's next, Uncle Ben?

anyway go here for ordering information and even more info!  great job, Chris!

Superman/Shazam: the Return of Black Adam

I still find it very funny that in winning their lawsuit against Fawcett Comcs, DC shot themselves in the foot.  talk about short sighted!

and now most people think the character's name is "Shazam".

anyway, this here cartoon is pretty fun, despite not quite being as whimsical as the original and best Captain Marvel.  Clark visits Billy Batson to do a story on him, and we get a short version of CM's origin.  and then Black Adam shows up and we get a three way battle. 

even Tawky Tawny appears!  sort of.

the rest of the DVD is shorts containing the Spectre, Green Arrow and Jonah Hex.  all are well done, and with different styles of animation.  it's also not for small kids.  the Hex one is the weakest of the bunch, but also the shortest. 

overall, it's very enjoyable, though not very lengthy.  I'd like to have seen a couple other toons to round out the disc to at least two hours.

The Batman still

yes, the show has become enjoyable. it's not quite my Batman, but it's actually closer to how a show should mature as the seasons progress, even a cartoon.

we meet the JLA in the final episode of season four.  well, just cameos so far, except for the Martian Manhunter.  Green Arrow has shown up in season 5, along with Superman (voiced by George Newbern, a welcome return).

naturally, it's nice to see more heroes.  and these might actually be the JLA heroes I am most familiar with- Barry, Hal and Katar, which will be quite pleasant.

Godzilla vs Gigan

probably my least favorite of the original series, due to it's poor use  of stock footage (playing count the shots from other movies was fun, though), Godzilla vs Gigan  has a great new monster.  I've come around to liking a bit more in recent years. 

 it also features the last movie my favorite Godzilla suit was in as well. this is the Japanese trailer, not the US one.

Speed Racer (2008)

OK, who's idiotic idea was it to make this movie 2 hours and 15 minutes long?  that was the biggest mistake ever.  it should have 80 or 90 minutes and it would have cost less, made more money and been a better movie.  the filmmakers just had to put too much on the screen, like five episodes worth of Speed Racer, and it's too much at one time.

the other big mistake was an over-reliance on green screen and cgi.  there's something moving in every pixel of the frame, it is sensory overload.  the movie is so true to the US version of the cartoon except that it misses the simplicity of the animation.  a breather for the eyes would be really nice here and there.

having said all that, I really do like the movie.  the cast is fun, they used a real chimp for Chim-Chim (amazingly enough) and there's plenty of action and even martial arts stuff.  it's all very enjoyable in about 3 doses, but not all at once.  you also get Peter Fernandez and Corinne Orr with cameos.  gotta like that.  but mostly it makes me want to watch the cartoons more than anything.

Mad Scientist #19

just received my order of three issues of Mad Scientist, and I am greatly enjoying them.

the magazine covers a wide variety of issues. #19 covers the Creature from the Black Lagoon (in many incarnations),  Gorosaurus and possibly my favorite article of the issue, season four of Doctor Who, the first regeneration!

there's lots of cool pictures and art in it as well.  the zine looks great, and I hope Xenorama can look half as good when it finally makes it's long awaited return. 

order all the back issues of this you can.  they are sold out up to #15 as of this writing.  I got issues 19, 20 and the newest one, 22.  these are really enjoyable, and full of great information.

vote!

there's one day left to vote for the Ultra of your choice! poor Max!  even Cosmos got a vote so far!

great Megalon news (possibly)

I know what day it is, but it looks like Godzilla vs Megalon will finally get a DVD release it deserves.

go to August's blog here and read all about it! it'll be nice to own decent print of the movie.  here's hoping Media Blasters sneaks the trailers on as a bonus.

I won't believe it til I see it in my hands though.