The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms - Original Theatrical Trailer

Sven is showing this great movie tomorrow.  It is part of an in progress issue of Xenorama, which hopefully will be out next year.  I am looking forward to watching it!

Cute Monster of the Week- Magular

 

Finding a picture of this beast was not easy to do.  So i chose a behind the scenes photo that never happens in the episode (notice the building there in front of the monsters and Ultraman.  It would have been a fun episode, though!  Magular is a heat monster, capable of generating extreme, well, heat.  Whatever it touches starts to melt in its clutches. It is too much!  It never wants to see a day under 60 degrees- it would rather have 70, 80, 90, 100 if you please.  I am sure it loves a green Christmas, and could cause a heat blister.

Superboy makes a statement

This first season tries really hard to be important and have a message.  It got a little too much at times, and bordered on Afternoon Special messaging.  The first season of the show is a little rough, with Superboy fighting crooked beauty pageant promoters, gangsters and Lex Luthor being normal.  Mr. Mxyzptlk shows up once, and we get a few aliens and robots.  Those appearances make the episodes more special, but it makes the other episodes ever so dull.  I like the cast, but I think the second season is going to be better.  They replaced most of the principle cast.

Spider-man: Far From Home (2021)

 

This sure was fun, and a spider-fan's dream.  I loved it.  The ten year old me would have gone completely out of his mind, if he had gotten to see this (and most of the other Marvel movies, I'll tell you what.  It had everything- well, almost everything- in it.  Two thirds of the Sinister Six, three different yet oddly similar Spider-men and all kinds of references to various other Marvel stuff.  I would almost go see it again, if it wasn't going to be on Disney+ in a month of so.  It was a team up movie that actually worked like it was supposed to work.

Sven- The Spider (1958) - Official Trailer

This trailer sure makes the movie sound incredible!  The movie isn't the greatest, but it is a lot of fun.  And unlike the generally superior Tarantula, this arachnid actually goes on a slight rampage through a town.

More Calvin Questions

 

Once again, Calvin is not wrong.  The more think about such things the more they fall apart.  This is one of the great things about Watterson's comic strip- he did what he wanted, without worrying about what his readers would think.  And those of us that had been reading since nearly the beginning loved that.  There were some morons out there who took offense at random strips they came across, but as always, their  opinions barely amount to anything.  Calvin and Hobbes is my favorite comic strip of all time, and I miss it.  I'm glad he has shown up in some newer comic strips these days.

a Santa question

 

Calvin makes a good point here.  How does Santa know all this stuff unless he has a vast network of spies all over the world?  I know, I know, he's also magic.  This sort of thing keeps kids up at night during this Yule season, and also causes that big meltdown on Xmas Eve.  Happened nearly every year at my house hold growing up.  This was always followed by the threat of not getting any presents at all.  I can easily understand why this time of year stresses people out.  Not only that, but Hobbes himself may be a Yule Cat, which would have terrified Calvin, possibly.  Unless he ate Moe, the bully.

Hawkeye 06- So This Is Christmas

 

Clint and Kate team up to take on the Tracksuits, which ends up with Kate battling the freakin' Kingpin which the Swordsman clears his name and helps out.  Hawk and Yelena make each other cry talking about Tasha.  Kate's mom gets arrested and she goes to have Xmas with the Bartons.  Finally Clint gives Bobbi Laura her SHIELD Rolex watch back.  It says Agent 19 on it.  There was much humor, action and real emotion in this episode, and it flew by way faster than a few of the early episodes.  Heck, Scott Lang was even name dropped by Hawkeye at one point, and any episode with an owl in it is always great.  I keep wondering how long Marvel/Disney can keep up shows of this quality.

MOTW- Chandlar

 

Could Chandlar BE more menacing? It would be perfection if it was.  Chandlar battled Red King and did some damage, until Red King removed an arm/wing.  It then wandered off, never to be seen again.  Unless it met a young lady monster who nursed it back to health, it did not become the one winged monster and return to avenge itself against Red King.  Whew, that was a long way to go to get that One Armed Swordsman/Boxer metaphor.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla

Look at this gorgeous print you can watch for FREE on YouTube (with ads).  It's great.  This is the dubbed version, but damn, who would have thought this would be possible?

The Get Smart Handbook

All you want to know about Get Smart!  This book is really fun as well.  It is about 30 years old now, as it was first published in 1993.  The good thing about it is Mr. Joey Green gets to talk to all the principle players who were still alive then.  He also didn't have to endure the short lived- seven whole episode- of the 1995 sequel series, Get Smart (wow, clever title there, Fox).  The book is written in the style of an actual spy handbook, and it's very funny.  I never knew it was written, but got the first two season pretty cheaply from Amazon and wanted to know more about the creation of the show.  This popped up right away.  My copy is complete, but definitely well loved, so it was worth the price I paid for it.

Ultraman Ace Blu Ray review

The picture and audio quality are great.  This was the first Ultra series after the original that I ever watched all the way through. So it's a sentimental favorite.  I can't believe that was almost 30 years ago now, in raw Japanese with no subs.  Who knew we would get these Blu Ray sets with English subtitles?  I know I say that a lot, but it's still amazing to own these sets (I'm not buying Taro, no way no how.  It's too silly).  As stated, the VQ is great, so good that strings and wires are visible for monster and mecha at times.  That never bothers me, since I love the hand made effects, rather than sometimes soulless CGI ships and effects.  Seeing real miniatures is just amazing these days.

The Undead (Trailer 1957)

Since Sven aired this back in April of this year, I probably won't watch it again.  It's interesting, but kind of a mess.  Once a year is just fine for me!

Hawkeye 05- Ronin

Poor Yelena.  She lost her sister and has no real family and apparently is very gullible.  I can't imagine that Tasha didn't tell her all about Clint.  Why would she believe Valentina telling her Hawkeye killed her sister.  I am sure this will be all sorted out in the final episode (I think it's only six episodes long).  This was another good episode though, and that ending surprised me.  It also surprises me that I somehow managed to avoid all the spoilers out there.  Hawk tries to settle this Tracksuit Mafia business before "the big guy" gets involved,  Kate and Yelena have a girls night, and finally Kate rescues Clint from Maya.  I'm looking forward to this finale.

MOTW- Pigmon

 

Poor Pigmon.  In his first two appearances he gets smashed or crushed or killed by the enemy monsters, Red King and Geronimon.  He is pretty cute, so of course he eventually returned in other series.  He was also in Ultra Q under the name Garamon, but was a giant threat in those two episodes.  He must be pretty durable, though.    A different version of the creature was an actual member of the Science Guard Party in The* Ultraman cartoon series.  I think it was a robot, actually.  Pigmon literally comes from the portmanteau of pygmy and monster.  He was helpful and friendly towards humans, and warned the Science Patrol about the threat of Geronimon. He was a valiant and noble ally.

Boris and Natasha (1992)

 

I watched this fun if overlong and scattered movie the other night.  The lead stars, Sally Kellerman and Dave Thomas, wisely chose not to sound like their cartoon versions.  It's hard enough not to compare them, but this helped.  Fearless Leader sets up our two "heroes" by sending them to the US as defectors.  His real agent, known as X, is after a time traveling microchip and the inventor of said item.  There are some very funny bits here and there, but it was scattered all over the place, with models and romance... this could work in a weekly serial, when you got two Rocky and Bullwinkle segments at a time.  Moose and Squirrel do make an appearance in here, of a sort, but they don't reveal themselves until the end of the movie.  Speaking of the finale, it is pretty clever.  Yes, it does involve the macguffin of the microchip.

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

 

This movie feels like the end of an era.  I have enjoyed the "Fourth Phase" movies and shows, but they don't have the same feeling all these movies do.  I know they had no idea how big these movies would get, but I am glad they went for it.  Thanos makes a great "big bad" since he also has the power to challenge all the heroes at once.  They even made time travel work (for the most part).  I had not remembered Loki actually causing the variant to happen.  I thought they played fast and loose with that bit.  I should have known better.  I was not one that got weepy at all the people getting killed in this movie.  It was more the little touches that got me.  Tony talking to his father, Thor talking to his mother, things like that.

Sven- How to Make a Monster (1958)

 

It's funny, I don't think I have seen either of the "I was a Teenage..." movies that AIP made.  I had Werewolf on tape at some point, I am sure, but I don't recall watching it at all.  For some reason many of the later 50s AIP genre movies were never aired in my area on television.  I had to wait until home video to see many of these movies.  Oddly enough, I did see Teenage Caveman.  How to Make a Monster was released with that movie as a double bill.  Caveman is a much better movie.  This one is pretty fun, though, and seeing it though older eyes makes it slightly bittersweet.  One can hardly blame a monster maker who is told he is no longer needed.  Especially when Paul Blaisdell would be told that soon enough.

Captain Marvel (2019)

none of these  3 Captain Marvels are Carol Danvers

I have known Carol Danvers most of my comic book fandom life.  I have seen her through her civilian days, meeting Marv-Ell when she worked with NASA to her working for JJJ and all the other drama that Marvel decided to put her through.  She's had more superhero names than most heroes, including Hank Pym.  I really never saw her assuming the Captain Marvel moniker, but it makes sense.  The MCU is lucky, since they don't have to deal with some 30-70 years of stories that repeat themselves ad nauseam because Marvel didn't want to deal with legacy heroes.  Even though events matter in Marvel Comic books.  That is until the next artistic team shows up.

Hawkeye 04- Partners, Am I Right?

 

This episode clocked in at 40 minutes, and that includes all the credits!  If this keeps up the last episode will be about 10 minutes long.  Boom!  I doubt that will happen, but it would be amusing.  Once again this is an action packed episode, but there are some amusing bits with Kate's mom and Jack.  There is also talk of Tasha and how Clint met her.  Kate still wants to design a costume for Hawkeye.  Finally, Yelena, the White Widow (what else are they gonna call her) shows up.  Clint calls her a Black Widow assassin, but we the viewers know there is more going on.  Did the Swordsman (now ID'd as the leader of the Tracksuits) hire Valentina to send Yelena after Clint?  I am looking forward to the next couple episodes. 

Ant-man and the Wasp (2018)

 

Scott is on house arrest from the events of the Civil War.  He has three days left.  Hank and Hope hate him for helping Captain America.  Can Scott stay out of trouble for the until he is released on probation?  What do you think?  This movie is fun, but it is not quite as good as the first Ant-man.  There is a LOT going on in it, and they could have done without the gangsters altogether.  There was no real purpose to have them, since "Ghost" was a good enough antagonist on her own, along with Hank's former mate Bill (Black Goliath, Goliath, Giant-man II) Foster.  It would have made the movie a bit shorter as well.  Aside from that, it is a fun movie, and it's great to see Giant-man in person yet again.  And of course, that ending... when I saw it in the theater the people sitting next to me gasped at the same time when we realized what was about to happen.

MOTW- Red King

 

Nearly everyone loves Red King.  He's been a super popular monster, showing up twice in the first Ultra series and then many times later one.  He's tough, and cool looking, but really kind of stupid.  He's seems to be the blueprint for Toho's Gigan, who has many similar qualities.  I've never seen the appeal of the kaiju that many fans do- I like him, but prefer Gomora as the kick ass monster of the series.  Perhaps if I had seen him at a younger age I would put him in the top five of monsters.

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

 

Well, at least A Captain Marvel sort of makes an appearance in the movie.  The movie starts with Thanos wiping out the Asgardians that were alive from the end of Ragnarok.  He also kills Loki again, but as we know, he is only sort of dead.  Of course, we didn't know that three years ago, but I'm OK with it.  I started with a real review, but really, the important thing in here is I went into the movie knowing what was (probably) going to happen to The Vision.  I mean, he has the Mind Stone embedded in him.  They did it so well I thought perhaps I would be wrong, but alas, I was right.   I will admit, I wished I was wrong.  At least I still got WandaVision.

Marvel Team Up: Homecoming (2017)

 

I gotta admit, I love Spider-man.  He and Batman were the first heroes I remember reading about and seeing on TV.  It's hard for me to be very objective about the character.  This is a good thing and a bad thing, as I am also overly attached to my ideas of HOW the character should be presented.  I really enjoyed the Raimi films (well, the first two) but never saw the Garfield ones.  I was happy when Peter showed up in Civil War because this is the first time Peter has actually looked like a 15 year old kid.  And he's a great.  So this movie happens after CW, and we get to see Peter try to find his place in both high school and the super hero world. He also has to contend with the Vulture and his gang of thieves.  It's all pretty predictable for some of us, but it's pretty great.

The Cramps - The Creature From The Black Leather Lagoon

                     

Sven aired The Crawling Eye last night, I recently watched it, so there's no real need to go over it.  Next week is How to Make a Monster which made me think of this song.  I thought about putting up the actual video, but it's very Cramps ish, and I decided discretion was the better part of valor.  Enjoy!

Happy 6th Birthday, Emeral Sage

 

This beautiful girl turns six years old today.  She's been part of the family for almost 3 years now.  She arrived weighing about 9 pounds and had a broken upper right fang, which has since been removed due to infection.  She's been such a love and purrs almost immediately when petted. 

Hawkeye 03- Echoes

 

Kate shows Clint a costume to help his "brand".  Guess what it looks like.  Yep, the classic costume.  Maybe she will design the short lived blue outfit next.  Of course, Hawk acts like it is the most ridiculous thing he has ever seen, which is kinda sad.  At least Elizabeth Olsen has mentioned how much she enjoyed wearing Wanda's classic costumer in her miniseries.  WandaVision for the win again!  Anyway, this was a fun episode.  There is a lot more action and the car chase involves a lot of arrows, including one that has the PYM label on it.  Wonder where Clint got that arrow?  The Tracksuit Mafia is given some background, and I know nothing of them.  Kate hasn't figured out that Clint was the Ronin, or she has and is respecting Clint for not admitting it.  It all ends with Jack (The Swordsman) introducing himself to Hawk.

Black Panther (2018)

 

This movie was harder to watch this time, mostly due to Chadwick Boseman's most untimely passing.  Knowing he was battling cancer during all his movie appearances makes me appreciate his work even more.  The movie is quite good, with a great cast.  Sometimes the CGI people look a bit like video game people, but it's not too bad overall.  I do miss fight scenes that don't need augmentation.  I can't fault them for using it, as it does make things safer for the actors, but does it always have to be used?  I didn't realize John Watson was in here, that was a pleasant surprise to discover.  I did see the movie in the theater, but I didn't know most of the actors in the movie until later.  I was glad to see M'Baku rehabilitated.  And he even has a sense of humor! I like the idea of Wakanda being made of various tribes. 

Ultra MOTW- Antlar

 

Antlar is one of the best looking monsters in this first 13 episodes of Ultraman.  It comes complete with a magnetic ray that can even affect Ultraman.  It is strong enough to resist the Spacium Beam when fired point blank.  It's a good thing Ultraman had visited the Earth centuries ago and left a certain blue stone which is Antlar's weakness.  That is a very intriguing part of this story which is never really addressed again, that the Ultras have been around a lot longer than thought.  It makes sense, really, since the Ultra Planet has been established to be thousands of years old.