almost Hallowe'en time...

... and what monstrous terror awaits us this month?

so tomorrow begins the Hallowe'en season, and last year I started showing a trailer a day for the entire month.

I did a lot of my favorite movies last year, so I am going to try to show ones that I didn't use last year.  probably will have a few repeats though.  I'm going to look through last year's crop.

man it was fun to do!

Land of the Lost theme song

I wish it had the end theme as well, as it would make a really nice song. this really is one of the best shows that was on in the 70s. the Sleestak scared every one of us, and yet we all wanted to know more about them. there was so much mystery about the whole show, which was really nice. though, I wish when the series ended they let the kids and their uncle return home.

terrible lizards!

remember when dinosaurs actually were terrible lizards?

here's the man eater (and cow eater and anything else it wants to eater) from "The Beast of Hollow Mountain".  it ate every living thing it could, not bothering to consider if it was hungry or not.

now that's a monster!  these days, dinosaurs are merely animals, with plenty of feathers that make them look like large chickens with teeth.  I know it's probably more scientifically accurate, but it's really a way to make them quite boring.

how about this critter?  a young allosaurus, who had already killed at least one of the Shell Tribe- more than a meal, immediately went after a young girl in a tree!

I mean, she wouldn't even be more than a bite for him, look at the size difference there.  now why would he even bother with a morsel that size unless he was really malevolent.

boy I miss these dinosaurs!   add to that the different ways the looked, usually due to the artist designing them, and you get some really neat creatures.

this is just a cool shot of Crankysaurus Rex, possibly the last movie dinosaur to have an actual personality.

War of the Gargantuas (international trailer)

I'd love to see the promo they showed for this when I originally saw it on Channel 2. it was cool. this is the trailer people got to see oversees when it was released in English speaking countries. it's been redubbed, as that's not Tamblyn's voice there.

One Million BC (1940)

I have not seen this movie in close to 30 years.  and I didn't remember much about it at all, which now that I've seen it again is pretty astounding, since One Million Years B.C. is actually a pretty close remake, although much more exciting with creatures that looked like actual prehistoric animals.

here we have Akhoba and Tumak battling with their staffs.  I am amazed at how much Robert Brown looks like Lon Chaney, Jr. in the remake.  that was quite a surprise to me as well.

 Tumak hides from a lizard.  again in both movies, but I don't think it was quite as intentional in the remake as some of the other scenes are.

 Loana teaches Tumak to fish.  this scene is made unintentionally funnier by Tumak's insistence on spearing a fish, even as the "dinosaur" attacks the tribe.  he continues much longer than he should have.

 pretty much the only thing that even resembles a dinosaur in this movie.  and it's barely able to be seen at all.  compare this fight to the outstanding one in the remake.  tell me which is better.

yeah, he kills it the same way, but they won't even show the suit.  OK, I know that I usually think remakes are useless and needless, but there is an exception to everything.  this is one of them.  there's more about the movie here.  I don't hate it, but it's nothing great.

welcome to the house of fun

yes, a musical interlude from both Madness and the Young Ones. the best part is at the end where the band interacts with the boys. I do just love this series.

Destroy All Planets (1968)

this is my favorite Gamera movie, though Guiron is so close as to be tied for that position.  I have written about it before, here and here, so this time I'll just talk about two of my favorite things from the movie.

the first one of course is the villain, one of the smarter space aliens to try to conquer Earth- Viras.  he looks sneaky, if not quite evil.  they just want the Earth because of the large quantities of nitrogen in our atmosphere.  and like any advance race, they don't really seem to care about what would happen to the planet if they took it or moved in.  besides, tentacled space monsters are just cool.

the other really cool thing about this movie is the Viras space ship.  there's just nothing like it at all, really.  you'd never see something as groovy and non-threatening as this particular ship these days.  gotta love aliens that paint stripes on their conveyance!

The Return of Dracula (1958)

this is a really cool and effective little movie.  I had never seen it before at all, and it's a lot of fun, with some creepy scenes and some effective scares.

Francis Lederer is an effectively suave and dangerous Dracula.  he lived to be over 100 years old, which is kind of cool.

most of the cast is your typical goody goody teenagers, but they are able performers and don't come across as too silly, though they are very polite.

there's some surprise use of color in a staking, which had to cause a gasp or two when the movie was shown originally.  it looks really amazing in a black and white movie.

always fun to see Bronson Canyon as well!

Red and Blue! Our Kikaida

probably not the name of the song.

what you get here is one of the original songs from the first series, set to some great action from 01.

Gatchaman #3

I am usually very lenient towards kids in most stuff.

well not this time.  the kid Makoto is, by his father's admission, a brat.  he justifies this because his mother is gone and the father spoils him.

the giant robot Galactor sends out this time is first disguised as a mummy, but then it's bandages get blasted off.  they are after a new element which Makoto's uncle has developed.  the mummy is pretty indestructable but our heroes find a way to destroy it.  guess what they use?

that new element really works on giant mummy robots!

never wear a ring in front of an older brother, it will give you away as a Galactor agent, or in this case, Berg Kattse himself.

full Kikaida opening theme song

this is one action packed show. it's one of my favorite superhero shows as well, as it has a great story and great characters. I've written quite a bit about the show here and there, but sometime I am going to collect all those thoughts into one article. I hope. this is the full length song, not the "TZ size" version.

OMG! - The Top 50 Incidents in WWE History DVD

it's got some great moments to it, lots of predictable ones, and most come from the "Attitude" era of the wwf, and I bet half feature Steve Austin.

so all the ones you would think would be on there will be- Snuka/Piper, the Hebner Twins, and then all the lame DX stuff, and a lot of "entertainment" I've never seen at all.  Tim White killing himself?

the doc is narrated, so there are no lame announcers doing their "best" and that's a plus.  they also show the year when the angle occurred, and that's good too.

the wrestlers that talk about the angles are a lot of fun as well.  is Santino really that inept at English?  he's really funny.

of course, when you do "OMG incidents" you have to keep topping them, and they tend to get sillier and sillier each year.  VKM's limo blowing, for example.  if you want to watch that sort of thing, that's fine, but it gets old in a hurry.  here's the list of the incidents if you want to know.

Kikaida 01 opening

been in a Kikaida mood recently. here's the opening for the sequel series, Kikaida 01. it's a good show, but sure got short shrift in the original songs department.

Hellboy: Sword of Storms

I have never read any Hellboy comics, but I did enjoy the movies.

I am also enjoying this cartoon, the first of two.  in it Hellboy goes to Japan and fights a wide variety of Japanese spooks and such things while trying to stop the demons of Thunder and Lightning from being reborn.

it's a lot of fun.  impressive to see so many yokai in the cartoon, and so accurately portrayed.  it makes me want to watch two of the Yokai Monsters movies now.

it's also quite funny.  the voice cast is about the same as the movie cast.  I recommend it.

What I Believe

this is slightly different than the video he made, though just as funny. and it's slightly NSF, but nothing horrible.

Dinosaurs!

this is an anthology from 1990 that I picked up in a used bookstore that December.  it features 14 stories from luminaries such as L. Sprague De Camp. Arthur C. Clarke and Brian W. Aldiss.

and they are all about dinosaurs.  well, mostly.  sometimes the stories only peripherally feature prehistoric animals, such as "Strata" by Edward Bryant, set in Wyoming which features ghosts of both the distant past and the more recent past.

there are dramatic stories, humorous stories and some adventure stories.  I think my favorites are "Green Brother" by Howard Waldrop- told by a Lakota medicine man about what happened when "Red Cloud was fighting the Yellow Legs" and ""The Last Thunder Horse West of the Mississippi" by Sharon N. Farber, which features real life rivals Marsh and Cope. 

it's funny and sad all at once.  there are several of these anthologies out there, usually pretty cheap.  well worth hunting them down.

Superboy Cartoon opening

curse DC and their stupid intransigence. I want these cartoons on legit DVD. the worlds needs to see more of Krypto.

Ultraman Tiga

I always thought this was a blue suit, because so many fans didn't like him looking more like Zone Fighter than the traditional Ultraman.  apparently it's violet though!

here he is firing his slow energy ball of death.  it's nice they kind of bulked up the red mode, so he does look like he's more powerful.  it's kind of a neat idea, having three different forms for an Ultra, but since it's designed to sell more toys it loses a few points that way.

the monsters are cool, and nice to see them not slimy like the popular ones over in the states.  they are practical and can move well enough.

nice action pose.  I'm watching the series again, and I haven't for several years.  so weird to think it's been released completely on R1 DVD.  most of the sets are pretty cheap, except for v. 3, which is weird as well.

The Cape Canaveral Monsters (1960)

saw this many years ago on a Friday night- the wonderful Sci-Fi Flicks on Channel 2, of course.  preceded by the super scary Outer Limits, this one was not quite what I thought it would be.

I mean, the monsters are little balls of light. and they are aliens, not really monsters.  they animate some people who died in a car crash (I remembered them causing the crash, but it appears not to be so) and stop several rockets.

it's not an awful movie by any stretch, and there are fun things about it, like the German scientist (Billy Greene) with what is possibly the worst accent ever and the acting is pretty good overall.

but I think when you promise monsters you should deliver monsters.  it only runs 68 minutes so it's not boring.  it's amazing that movies like this ever got made when you think about it.

Queen of Blood (1966)

this is one of those movies Roger Corman cobbled together with Russian sci-fi movies.  those Russian movies had some really cool effects.

this movie has some really cool shots, but overall it's ever so talky.  it has to be Curtis Harrington providing what good stuff there is here.

the movie sends a ship to Mars, where they find a green blood drinking woman.  well, they don't know she drinks blood until they bring her into their spaceship.  she feeds on a scientist or two before they realize what she is, then they give her some blood from their store room.  why on Earth do they think this is a good idea?
spoilers!

Dark Shadows b/w opening

such a fun cool show. and really, if you love the show so much Johnny Depp, make your own homage or tribute to it, don't ape the best parts for a remake. thought you were better than that.

DC-22 the Flash

this was my real introduction to the Flash, Kid Flash, Johnny Quick and the Elongated Man.

oh sure, I had seen them all before thanks to the Teen Titans and the JLA, but this was probably the first time I had read stories dedicated to them.  maybe, it was a long time ago in December of 1973. 

I know for sure it was the first time I had read an Earth 2 Jay Garrick Flash story, and was surprised to find the Three Stooges moonlighting in his book. wait, those are the Three Dimwits- Winky, Blinky, and Noddy (and what an awful thing to do to these guys, really) ... this Flash gets an entire four part story featured, called "Campaign Against the Flash".  I didn't think much of it at the time, but I love the fact that his girlfriend Joan new his identity.

Kid Flash gets his costumed changed to the more familiar yellow and red one in the first story, which later on becomes one of the stupidest retcons ever. it's what happens when you look for "The Secret of the Three Super Weapons".

Johnny Quick battles "The Slowpoke Crimes".  I had met Johnny once before, and still didn't know his origin.  they did manage to make him a bit different than the Flashes, which was a good thing.

now, the Elongated Man appears in two stories, one solo and one with the Barry.  he has two different costumes in the stories. both are fun though.  needless to say I hate what they have done to Ralph and Sue in the recent stories.  I also much prefer Ralph over the lamer Plastic Man.

I mysteriously lost my original copy of this one soon after I bought it, which was a bummer.  bought this one at the good ol' San Diego Comic Con.

Gatchaman 1 and 2

decided I should watch this show all the way through.  I've seen the first 12 episodes about four times as I keep forgetting where I stopped, but this will help if I can keep track.

laying the groundwork for the vastly popular sentai series in a few years is this vastly popular cartoon- Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (科学忍者隊ガッチャマン Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman).  and it really is worth all the praise it gets. 

made by Tatsunoko Productions, of "Speed Racer" fame, it's got some really great designs going for it.  sleep spaceships, cool monsters and neat vehicles.

the characters are all well done as well, including our heroes and the villains. Eagle Ken and Condor Joe are the two heroic leads, one the "follow the rules" type and Joe, who butts heads with him constantly.  Jun is the sexy girl, her brother Jinpei and Ryu are the comic relief for the show, but all get their chance to shine.

Berg Katse is one of the best villains ever, and a lot of the Galactor commanders get real personalities.  you don't feel sorry for them, really, but they are people.

anyway, these first two episodes really set the tone of the show.

• "Gatchaman Versus Turtle King" a large turtle robot is stealing uranium.  Ken follows orders despite Joe riding him for not stopping the robbery.  we see many of their cool toys and some neat powers.
• "The Monstrous Aircraft Carrier Appears" Joe gets found out by Galactor while trying to find out their latest scheme.  where does Galactor get all the money for these giant robots and ships?

this is going to be fun, to watch 105 episodes!  the DVD releases are really nice, as well, despite the new dubs.  

 

The Oath (from Fridays)

oddly enough, the show was pretty decent this time. at least better than the dreadful one the week before when the Cars were the musical guests. count me as one of the fans who loved "The Elder" from the get-go, despite the oddness of the entire project. however, when you hear Ace's solo on this live version and don't hear it at all on the studio version you kind of understand why he would leave the band. well, I do, anyway.

Get Spock!

in the Get Smart episode "Dear Diary" KAOS is after a retired spy's old diary of cases.  this is the spy Max patterned his secret agent career after, as we witness in the episode.

KAOS sends a suave assassin to kill some of CONTROL's informants.  this guy is pretty discreet, and hides his emotion quite well.  he's a crack shot, with the old gun in a briefcase gag.

I wasn't quite sure who this killer was at first, since he's wearing cool shades to protect his identity, but once he speaks it's apparent to all just who it is behind those Foster Grants.

this was a year before Leonard Nimoy donned some pointy ears and it's fun to see him as a regular (sorta) human being, though he really doesn't have much to do but shoot people.

the DVDs for the first season all have Barbara Feldon doing introductions and those are fun.

Switch on! Generation Kikaida!

I just noticed that this month marks the tenth anniversary of Generation Kikaida!  that's great. 

I remember watching grainy tapes of NGN's airing of Kikaida, with the less than stellar subs, and it was really cool to see and understand the show all the way through.

then the announcement the show would air again in Hawai'i, and suddenly, there were DVDs, followed by both the sequel, Kikaida 01 and Kamen Rider V3 as well.  top it off with Inazuman and it's still amazing to me.

so happy tenth anniversary! 

The Land Unknown trailer (1957)

despite some less than stellar monster effects, this is a rollicking adventure movie about a prehistoric land found in Antarctica. I think this was the basis for "The Savage Land" later in Marvel Comics.

Marine Boy book, again

been a while since there's been any Marine Boy talk in the blog, which is just sad, since that's what it started out as.  I am still working on it, but have no plans on the finish yet.  I have to decide on the format and learn a little more technical stuff.

 I also am not sure about the cover.  I had a really nice one, but since I've moved more than once since then I am not sure exactly where it is any more. so I may need a new one.

I'd like it with this monster, Marine Boy,  Splasher and the P-1.  anyone have any more ideas about the cover?

Five Shaolin Masters trailer

redone trailer for an awesome film. one of Chang Cheh's "Shaolin cycle" it's just been released to DVD. here in the US it was released as "Five Masters of Death".

Kiss thoughts

so I'm at the Aztecs football game, and afterward they have the "KGB Skyshow" which is a fun fireworks show set to rock music.  KGB is the station here that now plays "world class rock" which translates to "classic rock" which means they play the same songs (and a few more) that they have played for almost 40 years.

and they set all the fireworks to music I was very familiar with.  it was fun, but the best part was the very end, as they set it to "Rock and Roll All Night".

made me remember why I loved KISS so much in the first place, despite being rather put off with them as of late- the great music.  people can claim it was all about the make up and the show, but that never wrote a single note or played a guitar.  the four originals proved you don't have to be virtuosos on their respective instruments to be great, and they did it for nearly a decade.

yeah, they rock.

Ultras and Riders

these are from "Ultraman vs. Kamen Rider" and have all the changes from the original Ultraman to Kamen Rider Shin. fun!

Invasion of the Star Creatures trailer

this has it's funny moments. it's former Dead End Kids making a comedy sci-fi movie. it's really really silly. perhaps I saw it at the right time, but I don't hate it. I don't love it, but it's not the worst film of all time, or even in the top 25.

"Ain't NASA-Sarily So"

 since I watched some episodes of "The Original Ghostbusters" I thought I would watch some of the competition, the DIC produced "Real Ghostbusters".  this is one I did watch, though hearing Garfield's voice come out of Peter Venkman was kind of weird at the t ime.

this is my favorite episode, though.  there are ghosts in space!  the boys are summed up to the space station Galileo.  the crew is oddly familiar to them, and to any watcher over the age of 18, I would think.  the writers made sure the point was hammered home more than once, in case no one was getting it.

this show has better animation than the Filmation show.  here's a that's the Russian "Keptain" up there and here's the rest of the crew.  they are missing a science officer, but Egon (voiced by the awesome Maurice LaMarche) fills in admirably though.

I watched a couple more episodes and it's a good series, but not great.  this "homage" was done long before it was popular to do such things, even before Star Warners (which I thought was first for a while, before I remembered this one).  just wish they hadn't been so over the top in making sure we knew what they were doing.

Get Smart (opening)

it's one of the best openings of all time. does anyone remember a tag or teaser for the next week's episode with Max in a garbage can, and it getting thrown into an incinerator? I thought I saw it once then never again.

Where Creatures Roam #8

ah, Marvel's reprint monster comics from the 50s and early 60s.  how much fun are they?  this was published in 1971, reprinting three stories from three different comics (Tales to Astonish #31, Journey Into Mystery #73 and Tales to Astonish #25 respectively).  all of these stories are from 1961 and 1962. I think the art is all from Kirby and Ayers, while that Lee guy wrote every story.

• "When The Mummy Walks": a scientist decides the pyramids are ancient spaceships.  turns out he's not quite right, but there is a giant alien inside one...
• "Where Will You Be When...the Spider Strikes!": a scientist experimenting with radiation accidentally brings a small spider into his lab.  bet you can guess what happens!
• "Behold Him! He is the Martian!": this is a bit convoluted, but it's a story that involves both Martian and Jovian spies.  probably the best story in the batch.

I have more of these comics- a few, anyway- and one of the stories scared the hell out of me.    I like most of the stories though, and a few of the monsters reappeared in a second story (Gorgilla, I think and of course Xemnu the living Hulk.. or Titan, if you will). and of course, they have been used here and there recently.

Lightning Bolt trailer (1966)

after James Bond was a big screen hit, spy capers were all the rage- some were large budget, like the Flint and Matt Helm series, but most were these lower budget affairs like this cool one from Italy. more often than not I prefer the lower budgeted ones, as they tend to be more fun, and some bordered on parody, even if that wasn't their intent. this one is pretty cool, and was released on DVD in a widescreen format a few years ago. definitely worth checking out.

Spider-man: the Animated Series (1994)

this 1994 series, that aired for five years is pretty good.  naturally there are some changes here and there (i.e. John Jameson never becomes Man-Wolf) but the acting is good and the animation is decent.

it's not as good as the Batman cartoon, but it's a lot of fun and has a lot of cameos and guest stars.

it does sport an awful theme song though.  it's not like they could top the 60s cartoon, or even the live action Japanese theme (yeah yeah yeah, wow!) but they could have come up with something better than what they did.  go look it up for yourself.

the first season was 13 episodes, which introduced many of the classic villains and his supporting cast.  interestingly The Hobgoblin was shown before the Green Goblin. he was voiced by Mark Hamill doing a pretty good job not sounding like the Joker, but kind of, thus making Hobby sound a bit cooler than I ever thought he would.

I watched most of the series when it was first run and am looking forward to seeing it again.

Gog (1954)

this is a fun, if not very exciting sci-fi adventure, with the emphasis on science and not fiction.  the movie spends half of it's 82 minute running time (at least) before introducing the titlular Gog to the audience, and then it's a lot of science stuff.

in fact, one could show the first 40 minutes to a science class and the kids would be smarter.  or asleep.

the main plot revolves around a series of murders and attempted murders in a secret base in New Mexico.  the OSI (an Ivan Tors agency from two previous films) sends Dr. David Sheppard (Richard Egan) in to investigate.

turns out there's no secret agent or anything, just an enemy aircraft piping signals into NOVAC (Nuclear Operative Variable Automatic Computer) who sends Gog and Magog out to do their dirty work.

it's not a bad movie, but there's nothing really remarkable about it, other than Tors decision to ground it in "hard science", which is cool.

Ultra Q Theme Music

what a great show, and what a great theme song. that's Kunio Miyauchi for you. you get a nice good peek at some of the cool monsters, as well as some truly wonderful and moody black and white photography. really helps the series.

Billie (1965)

sure, it's a corny movie, and Patty Duke looks a bit like a dip when she's running to "the beat", but it's also a pretty decent little movie.

despite it also being a musical, with some of the schmaltziest songs ever.

on the plus side, there's a lot of truly funny lines, and the tomboy has a very supportive family when she joins the boys track team.  heck, even the coach is on her side from the get go, and most of the boys are as well.

I saw this in the 70s, well after the E.R.A was started, so the movie was a bit ahead of it's time.  it seemed to last a lot longer than it's the 90 running time though, and I don't actually remember the ending of the movie.  it's odd, since it was shown on a kiddie matinee and I wouldn't have left the theater early, as far as I know.

Jim Backus is also a wonderful presence in the movie, being a good father despite being befuddled somewhat by the women in his life.

Jackie Chan Adventures, season one

four episodes in, and this is one enjoyable cartoon!  the animation is nice, and cool looking, the acting is good and the writing is excellent.

James Sie plays Jackie's animated voice, while Jackie Chan plays his live action voice.  James sounds a lot like Jackie, except more easily understood.

the plot is right out of Operation: Condor, only not as boring, and lots more fights.  these are some of the best martial arts fights I've seen animated.

Jackie is an amateur archeologist, and is also now the guardian of his nine year old niece, Jade (played by Stacie Chan).  they live with their Uncle.  he gets involved with the Dark Hand (at least in season one) and has to recover 12 medallions before they do.

I wish I had watched it on tv now!

Outer Space Men

this is a tape made to try to arouse new interest in the old Colorforms Space Men. I had never seen one of these or even heard of them until there was an article written about them in Xenorama #14. so while they are pretty cool looking, I don't know if I would buy any. still, the fact they were made to be played with along side Major Matt Mason (now there's a toy I always wanted and never had) is pretty cool.

Manda!

this is one cool "Y-MSF" Manda figure.  I'm not much into having toys like this, or whatever they are called, but it's really a great likeness.

if you are interested you can order it here!

The Nude Bomb (1980)

way back then, this movie was talked about a lot. Get Smart had only been off the air about ten years and was still in syndication in many areas of the country.

I never did see the entire movie, not even when it aired on television.  all I remember is the reviews were not kind to the movie. 

I watched it the other day and it's pretty enjoyable, mostly due to Don Adams reprising his role of Maxwell Smart, Agent 86.  he may be clueless and not always know what's going on, but he's not a bumbler and usually knows what he's doing.  the movie does miss Barbara Feldon as the sexy Agent 99, but this is sort of an Earth B equivalent of the series.  it never refers to 99 at all, which was probably the smartest thing the producers and writers could do.

there's a few off color words here and there, and a lot more innuendo, but it is a spy movie. of course, it's pretty tame now, and seems far more like four episodes of a television series.

I still do remember the ending, though!

Best Theme Song Ever

I'm astounded that I have never posted what is quite possibly the most awesome theme song for any television series ever. I know I've talked about it here and there, but I thought I had posted it. turns out I was wrong.

Randy Savage: the ultimate collection

this is a nice three disc set of matches, but since Randy Savage was not on friendly terms with the wwe there is no documentary about him.

he was an intense personality inside and outside of the ring.  I was never a huge fan of his, but watching these matches is a lot of fun. 

his early stuff is missing, working for both ICW and Memphis, but you can watch those on you tube if you want, lots of his stuff is there. he never really changed much at all from his start to his finish, that's for sure. perhaps he got a little more "kid friendly" but for the most part, whether babyface or heel he was still the same.

the hosts, well, I feel sorry for them having to say the material that's written for them.  is Maria still with the wwe?

anyway, this is worth watching.  RIP "Macho Man" Randy Savage.

Dino Grrl

this is a three minute comp of When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth set to a pretty cool little tune. amazing what a little research will lead to.

Wrestling With Shadows (1998)

just watched this documentary again.  it's still pretty fascinating, but these days I believe the whole "Montreal Screwjob" was a work.  it is really weird to see Bret Hart looking so young and fit only 13 years ago, and knowing that Owen was still alive (apparently the new DVD has a doc on that as well, which I have not seen).

I find it hard to believe Vince McMahon was surprised by what would happen in Montreal, much less with a film crew that wasn't one of his there as well.  he'd take Bret's punch for a storyline, which propelled the wwf out of the ratings tank it had been in for over a year.

it ends as Bret leaves for WCW, where he was pretty wasted.  he should have been their version of Stone Cold Steve Austin, a lone wolf only out to get the title, beating faces and heels alike, instead of having him be a heel or a face, or flip-flopping constantly.

but what do I know?