Catwoman Tempts Batman

You know, I haven't seen many of these episodes in years. I didn't even remember just how risque some of this dialog was. I'm not sure that I would have been able to resist Selina's charms, but Batman, well, he's always prepared. The banter between them is inspired, and they do have a good chemistry. I think Green Arrow is right in calling them "flirterers!"

Happy Birthday Lucy Lawless

I find it extremely hard to believe I've never written about Xena in this blog.  I'll have to check that out, because, well, it just seems highly unlikely that this is possible.  If so, at least I am rectifying that situation today, on Lucy's 47th birthday.  She's one of my favorite actresses.  Yes, the costume helps, but she's always fun in everything I've seen her do.  She's also one of my five, if anyone cares about such things anymore...

She's a Wonder Woman

The topic is Wonder Woman- not just her comics or her media appearances, but just her.  Fitting for a 2000th post, yes?   I've not ever written extensively about her before.

I'll have to admit I was never a huge fan of Diana growing up.  Yes, I read her comics occasionally, but my main exposure to her was in the pages of the Justice League.  Even when she was in her depowered early 70s phase that's where I saw her the most.  I did buy a few of the comics here and there, but her backstory was one of the more convoluted ones, even when there was an Earth 2.  Add to that Wonder Tot and Wonder Girl and it gets even more confusing, not to mention Steve Trevor dying at least twice.  When DC started setting her stories in WWII again to tie in with the current TV series, I read some of those, which were quite fun.  With comic publishing schedules being what they are though, CBS put Diana into current (1977 or so) days right as DC had her back in the 40s.  Figures.

what next?

So my next post is the 2000th.  I have an interesting topic in mind, and it will feature one of the images in from one of these pictures.

"Dujour Around The World" Dujour

For some reason today I am thinking of this sort of band. Dujour truly represents the epitome of this type of music, as they had to the pinnacle of art f this caliber. I've never heard another group of this sort even come close to what this act truly means to the world of music.

MOTW- Grumpy

Land of the Lost (1973) is Sid and Marty Krofft's shining jewel, easily the best of their shows.  I was pretty amped for it's debut after seeing the commercials for it during the summer, simply because, well, dinosaurs.  I doubt any kid had any idea the quality of writing that was going into the show, which combined with the cool stop-motion and likable characters produced a true classic of the sci-fi/lost world genre.  Much of the credit for that goes to first season story editor and writer David Gerrold, who pretty much created the show out of all the cliches handed to him by the Kroffts.  The show even managed to give the various dinosaur co-stars some personality.

Tom and Jerry: Spy Quest (2015)

I guess if Phineas and Ferb can team up with Star Wars, this isn't quite as far fetched as it may seem. Still, I could think of several other team up movies I'd rather see. I suppose it will be OK, especially if they handle the Quest team properly. Jonny's voice seems off, but I'm so used to the originals that I may never think of anyone else doing it.

The Fooks- Carpe Scrotum "Deluxe Edition"

Got this the other day and it's great.  I reviewed the CD before here, and it's the same set of songs, with four extra live tracks.  Of course, now that I look at that post, I didn't review the CD at all, just the band being live.  Hmm, well, that scraps most of the rest of this post now.  The 13 songs on the CD are all from their live set, both traditional songs and several covers.  I've heard the band play these songs so much I actually prefer their versions to most of the originals now.  I was also surprised that I knew all of the songs, even if I didn't know all of the names of said songs.

The Riddler: The Dean Martin Show

My admiration for Frank Gorshin is well documented in this blog. He's a great actor, and he made the Riddler a credible Bat-villain in the 60s series that no one has been able to top. Just can't be done, it seems. Sheer genius.

Abaranger

 These screen captures are from the fansubbed Abaranger movie.  I'm sure I have it somewhere on my hard drive, and I'm sure I've watched it, but I don't remember much about it other than it had something to do with ice.  I'm sure it was entertaining, since the whole series kept me watching all the way through.  Though now that I've finished that one I don't remember that much about it, other than the thousands of toys they could make with all the robot dinosaurs and various combination robots said robot dinosaurs make.  There's at least five different kind of super mega robots involved here.

Giant Tyrannosaurus vs. Giant Triceratops

A clip from the fun if flawed made for TV movie The Last Dinosaur. I remember watching this when it came on, and knew they had used Godzilla's roar for the T Rex. Didn't bother me, but at that time most people thought all Japanese monster movies were made by the same company.

Green Lantern's Light!

There's only four pages left to fill for the next issue of Xenorama.  It's full of great stuff already, I'm not sure what is left to put in it.  Maybe I'll just find some great pictures and fill it up that way.  Probably not, unless I draw a blank at anything else to put in there.  I'll tell you what, it's a very green issue, as I've alluded to in the past already.  I think it's pretty good as well.  I've included some stuff that's already been printed, though it got truncated and one article that probably wouldn't have seen the light of day except in my own magazine.

KISS vs the Last Dinosaur

This would have been a better movie to make than what's now known as Attack of the Phantoms.  Especially if Tsuburaya Productions had done the effects.  And wrote the script.  The songs could stay the same.  I love that movie, but it's not great.  I prefer the shorter version, even.  Make fans wait a half an hour after the movie starts to see the stars... what kind of dang deal is that?  No one would be foolish enough to do that these days, right?

Majin Monster of Terror 1966 trailer

The eyes have it. When Majin finally comes to life and begins stomping the baddies down (literally, in some cases), it's the eyes that really help portray the vengefulness of this god. It's a well done transition from stone face to "real" face in the movie.

King Kong vs T-Rex (1933)

In a mere three minutes this movie has more life and fun and personality than either of the two needless remakes. Just three minutes of footage- and not all of it's stop-motion animation. One can easily see why the late Ray Harryhausen was so taken with this movie just by this fight scene alone.

Kamen Rider Hibiki

Kamen Rider Hibiki is one of the Heisei Rider series that I have enjoyed, along with  Decade and W.  Perhaps it's because he's not so armored up (at least at first) than most of the newer shows.  All that extra gear just looks bulky to me.  I'd rather be light and fast rather than heavy and slow.  But that's just me. It's weird series, not at all like most superhero shows before or after, so that helps a lot.

The Runaways - Saturday Night Special

My introduction to the Runaways was some network special that Joan Jett took part in. There might have been another Runaway in the mix, but I only remember Joan being there. It was something like the Battle of the Network Stars, but since she wasn't any kind of star at that point, I don't know.

Gappa trailer

Remember when discovering a trailer for a Japanese monster movie in ENGLISH was a rare thing? Both this movie and The X From Outer Space never got theatrical releases here in the States, but both have English trailers. Obviously done for marketing, but there was no way of knowing that back in the day.

MOTW- Gappa

Gappa was such an odd monster movie back in the day before the internets.  We saw the movie as Monster from a Prehistoric Planet, which was released directly to TV thanks to AIP.  It's a fun movie, with one of those rare happy endings for a monster.  Actually, for three monsters, since this time it does Gorgo one better and has a father as well as a mother come to the rescue of the baby Gappa.  There's also a brief shot of a small pterosaur and a large octopus that mama Gappa brings along for baby to eat.

The Twin Nutts Planets

There's a little known Ultra show called Andros Melos.  Well, perhaps lesser known is a better title for it.  It ran in five minute increments and was shot on video in 1981 (at least according to Wiki).  It tied in a bit with The Ultraman Story, but you wouldn't know at first look they were Ultra Warriors due to the armor that's being worn.  Seems like Tsuburaya was ahead of that particular curve by about 15 years.  I really dislike over-armored superheroes these days.  It's a fun little series, full of action and monsters and I would watch it if the whole thing was subtitled (I have the first two episodes fansubbed).

Na Cha the Great (1974, opening sequence)

Here's a fun martial arts fantasy that's rather overlooked these days. It's an often told legend about Na Cha, the son of a god who eventually learns to do the right thing for people. This one stars Fu Sheng in one of his earliest roles as Na Cha.

Alakazam

The late Peter Fernandez told me that the worst kept secret about this movie was that he did the voice of Alakazam, not Frankie Avalon, who just sang the songs.  I thought that was unfair, but Peter didn't seem to mind.  I believe he adapted the script as well, but I need to check my old article I did about the movie for G-fan all those years ago and see what I wrote.  The dialog sure sounds like his writing, with his puns and clever asides.  Of course, as a kid seeing this on television several times growing up, we never knew it was Japanese, just that it was a fun cartoon movie with some good music and great animation.  That's where our knowledge about it ended.

Atom Ant - ''Super Blooper''

I never saw Atom Ant growing up. I wish I had, as I really enjoy the cartoon now. Had I see it as a pre-teen kid, I'm I would have enjoyed it, just like the Impossibles and Frankenstein, Jr. It's not quite as fun as those, but it's still quite enjoyable.

Gigantor vs Magnaman

Been watching my first volume of Gigantor DVD set recently.  Can't remember the last time I did that, and I've been feeling black and white cartoony recently, so this fits the bill.  Gigantor is one of the first Japanese cartoons I ever watched, and I have a vague memory of him and a bunch of other robots standing in line marching, but I've yet to figure out which episode that was.  I was only about four years old, so I think I can be forgiven for having a faulty memory.  It sure did leave an impression, if I still remember it.  I didn't seen Gigantor in action for about twenty-two years, I think, when I came across a VHS tape of the episode "Will The Real Gigantor Stand Up?" which I bought for a whole two dollars.

Cyborg 009

In 1975 or 76 my grade school got two volumes of the Encyclopedia of Comics. It contained information about comics from all over the world. Naturally this interested me greatly. There were so many great things I wanted to read and find out more about from all over the world, but the Japanese stuff really got me, and Cyborg 009 was chief among them.