Meow Mix

this is still a really cute commercial. I can't believe I haven't included any animal food or toys for a whole month. of course, as distracted as I've been I'm lucky I got anything done at all.

Atragon (1963)

just watched this fine movie for the first time in about five or six years.  I wrote about it when I presented the trailer here (and it's been taken down, darn) and my views are pretty much the same.  it's so nice to have an uncut and letterboxed print available these days, as watching it on a small tv screen just isn't the way to do this movie justice.  though we were always happy to have seen it that way back in the day.

Cap'n Crunch Crunchberries

this must be a Jay Ward produced commercial. it sure looks and sounds like it. this is before the Crunchberry beast came along. and later on the pirate got his own cinnamon influenced cereal.

KISS dolls

in honor of Ace's birthday, here's the original ad for the KISS dolls. I would probably have wanted them if they were the 8" versions like my Mego superheroes- nothing better than to have them interact with my heroes, right? but alas, these are all the 12" variety and I just wasn't that interested.

Happy Birthday Ace

Ace Frehley is 63 years old today.  I hope he has a happy and healthy birthday.

Shogun Warriors Godzilla Toy Commercial

in honor of the US release of "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!" here is the solo Shogun Warrior commercial. there's one where he stars with Gaiking and Great Mazinga, but this was separate from that commercial. I think I saw both of them, and they were quite cool.

Cracker Jack ad

damn if this isn't one catchy tune. it's straight from the 70s, that's easy to tell. Cracker Jack was always a good buy, tasted good and you usually got some kind of neat prize in it. though I can't quite remember any of them.

Calgon Detergent ad

this commercial aired ALL the time while I was growing up. every kid I knew could recite it by heart. it was later paid homage to in "Wayne's World II" which I was fully expecting.

Ultraman 22. Overthrow the Surface

Hayata gets orders to go with Anne Moheim to Paris.  it's a big honor, and the gang is very happy for him.  this is another Jissogi episode, and it's full of weird angles, shots and in camera effects, and they all work really well.

Sinclair Dino TV Commercial

if this gas station were still around these days I'd get my gas there. I'd sure love a keychain with the dinosaur logo on it. it would be an awesome addition to my collection. I can't find one anywhere. I should learn how to make the darn things.

Lite Brite Toy 1970

here's another of those toys that nearly every kid or his older sibling had back in the day. it was sort of fun to play with, but what happened when it was done? you just put them away and had a black piece of paper filled with holes, and they tore easily as well.

First Moutain Dew Soda TV Commercial

I don't drink the stuff, but this is a pretty funny commercial. I've never seen it before, but I like it more than the moronic ones they have these days. cartoon commercials are always better!

The Best of Science Fiction TV (1987)

I didn't realize this book was 25 years old til the other day while I was re-reading it.  I bought it in the early 90s and thought it was at least of that vintage.  when it was written, there was only one Star Trek tv show.  I think "Next Gen" had just started airing, so it wouldn't have been around when Javna was writing the book.  it's so weird to think of that, now that there have been half a dozen series and one useless movie remake of the show.

1978 Green Machine

I was gonna go for the Big Wheel commercial, but then saw this later version. it was never as popular as the Big Wheel (every kid or his brother had one of those back in the day) but I knew a few people who owned one. I had to have ridden one once or twice, but it seems like Marx complicated it to try to top the simpler Big Wheel.

1970 Shakey's Pizza commercial

there was nothing more fun than Shakey's Pizza Parlor when I was young. they didn't always have Ye Olde Ragtime Band, but those nights were even more fun. and I really liked the pizza they made. for the longest time the only one in my area was in Boulder, which for a kid, might have as well have been on Mars. so it was a special treat to go there.

Kmart 1974 Commercial

I remember when Kmart showed up in my town. we used to have to travel to Boulder to visit the store. might as well have been on another planet when you are young. I think it was opened about 1973 or so, if I remember correctly. it had such a large variety of toys it was an immediate hit with us kids.

JLA: Fury

Aresia is a renegade Amazon.  sort of.  she's breaking into a vault with Copperhead, Star Sapphire, Tsukuri, Solomon Grundy and the Shade.  most of Luthor's Injustice Gang, who like working for her more than him.  Batman manages to neutralize all of them, except for Aresia.  it all makes sense, but I still don't like unstoppable Batman.

Zeroids commercial (Ideal 1968)

I remember seeing ads for these toys in comic books, but since they were drawings and not actual pictures I was confused as to what they actually were. I figured they were a new comic series. since they were in older books, I thought they didn't last long.

1970 Shasta Cola Commercial

I was looking for the commercial with the song from the 70s, but had no luck. so here's one inspired by "The Yellow Submarine" and just the general feeling of the time. too bad Shasta is really not a good soda!

Best of the West / Johnny West

my brother had a TON of these toys. horses, dolls and all the other fun stuff. I never played with them much, aside from making them battle my Mego heroes as giant villains. I don't know how many of these toys there were, but it seemed like a lot.

Ultraforce cartoon

this cartoon ran for 13 episodes in 1995.  I saw it a few times, but never knew any of the characters from the actual comic.  it's on free at Netflix, and well, it's got adequate animation, and some good voice acting (and some truly lousy lines) as well as a few interesting stories.

Count Chocula

my favorite was the Count in these commercials. this was the very first one, dating from 1971. they sure worked well on Saturday morning viewers, me being a religious one of those. gotta love the vocal acting in these!

Outer Space Men 1968

never saw these at all growing up. ran a fine article about them in the last issue of Xenorama (#15) some 12 years ago. they are pretty cool looking and have an interesting history.

Chips Ahoy with Cookie Man

I meant to post this one on my birthday, but the best laid plans of mice and men and all that... so presenting, all the way from 1968 or so, Cookie Man!

The Avenging Eagle (1978)

well, that's a very poor cover.  doesn't look like Fu Sheng and Ti Lung isn't even featured.  how do these things even happen in this day and age?  the world may never know.  it's sad for this fine movie.

anyway, this is an interesting movie.  it's been remade a couple of time after this, but not as well.  it's directed by Sun Chung, so it looks different than the other Shaw movies directed by Chang Cheh or Lau Kar-lueng.  which makes it more memorable.  the weird plot helps as well.

Micronauts 1: circa '77

I actually don't remember seeing any of the Micronauts commercials at all in this time period, but I didn't need them. I was captivated by the amazing array of vehicles and robots that were presented to us when I saw them in K-Mart for the first time. then the comic book came out and I loved them even more. that first 12 issue run is really great. I wish Marvel could reprint it sometime.

birthday cat

my Dacya Clementine turns 6 years old today.  she's been with me for five and half years. 

she's a prime example of tortitude and always lets me know how her day is going.  or something, she's always chattering.  for some reason she thinks I need to know everything about anything.

I have no idea where she gets that.

Post Cereal Box TV Commercial

I never saw this commercial! it features the "Super" Friends, and all the voices come right from the cartoon. it's no secret how I feel about most of the versions of the series, but this has more action in it than the entire first season!

1965 Ford Mustang Commercial

I'm not a gear head, but I do enjoy the idea of a Mustang car. this is a pretty clever little commercial for what was then a brand new car.

Brave and the Bold, season two part one

wow I miss complete season releases.

having said that, I love the smaller price tag on the half sets.  so it's a mixture of feelings I have.  I love this show, and will buy them regardless.  at least they are not doing the 4-5 episodes per disc they did with many other cartoon series (JLA, Batman, Legion of Superheroes, Young Justice).  I'd think people  would see through that marketing scam right away.

I guess it's for parents who buy them for their kids and don't care if they never see the entire series.  can't fathom that mentality!

(that's mostly a joke.)

Great Mazinga Shogun Warrior

it's a great cartoon and a great toy. I wanted to see the Mazinga series SO bad when this came out. there were a few articles here and there about it, and it sounded amazing. I didn't know at the time that Great Mazinga was the sequel to Mazinga Z. this Japanese ad would have made me drool as a kid!

Freakies Cereal Commercial 1974

this is the first commercial for the Freakies cereal. it certainly worked on me, as I wanted the figures and had to eat tons of the stuff to get them. the cereal wasn't very good at all. there's a picture of me in a Snorkeldorf t shirt somewhere. by the time I ate enough cereal to get it ordered and received, I had gotten taller and it almost didn't fit.

Bulletman The Human Bullet

like nearly every boy in the 70s, I owned a GI Joe doll. I never played with him too much, as I mostly wanted it for the deep sea playset that came with the octopus. wish I still had that! the early to mid 70s had them break out a whole bunch of new style Joes and this "action team", so they could add a few more to their cast of characters.

Major Matt Mason (Mattel 1968)

I think Dr. Suess wrote this commercial. when I was a kid, I wanted one of these SO much. but they were long out of production, and most of the ones around were damaged hand me downs that older kids had. I never did get one until I purchased one on eBay. and then... well, the memory of wanting it and what it would be was better than the actual toy.

Burger Chef "Wolf Burger" 1976

I remember eating at Burger Chef in the 70s, but they disappeared pretty quickly from Longmont, possibly even before the time they were all turned into Hardees franchises. I think I liked their food.

Microman commercial

I loved Micronauts. I had so many of them, and when that stupid kid choked on some part of one of their toys, they all went on sale and I got a lot. of course, he ruined it for the rest of us. stupid kid.

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs

this show from 1993 is pretty cool.  it's based on Xenozoic Tales by Mark Schultz and ran 13 episodes.  it's a shame, as it's really good and deserved to have a nice healthy run.  it's a mystery why kids didn't eat up dinosaurs and lasers and good stories.  though perhaps it was a little ahead of it's time, and would have done better on The Cartoon Network a few years later.

OGG for COCOA KRISPIES

I used to love Cocoa Krispies cereal, and I suspect these series of commercials had a lot to do with it. they aren't particularly funny or imaginative, but they use the words "chocolate" and "dinosaur" a lot.  that would have been good enough for me at that age.

DR 31 Burglary AKA "The Crimson Crusader"

Wizard Boy, Captain Lightning, Commander Jupiter and the Crimson Crusader.  all made up names for this episode of Dragnet which features a "superfan" (the word is used in the show) who steals movie memorabilia about his heroes.  all the names of the heroes have been changed, but given the time period (1969) it's pretty easy to guess who the main hero Stanley Stover (Tim Donnelly) was trying to be.

Mego Hulk and Spiderman Commercial

these are not the Megos I had growing up. I'd think these were available about 1978 or so, when both heroes had anemic tv shows airing. I never wanted the tall dolls like this, and I think I only saw them a few times.

Godzilla: Final Photos

I really enjoy this movie.  it's hard to believe it was released 8 years ago now.  it's also really hard to believe how much some fans hate this movie.  it's not perfect, but what movie is?  it does suffer from being too long, but some judicious editing could make it much better.  my pal Ted did a great fan edit of it a while back.  if only he could get rid of most of the soundtrack...

Strange Change tv ad

for the theme this month I'll be posting unusual commercials from 'round the world and different eras. I don't watch much actual television these days, so I don't see many new commercials. I'm sure there are some good ones, so let me know if there are.

we begin today with a great old one, Mattel's Strange Change machine. boy, this commercial would have worked on me. I love this toy (see here) and never even SAW the ad. it's just that cool. they don't make toys like this any more, that's for sure.

Ultraman 21: Break Through The Smoke

a school boy comes across a field of dead pigeons.  there's an extinct volcano that's started to smoke, and the stuff is poisonous.  naturally, the Science Patrol is called in to investigate.  Fuji practically demands the job, and Hoshino sneaks along in the Mini-VTOL.