Calvin and Hobbes 12-22-1985

 Will no one ever challenge Calvin and Hobbes for snowball supremacy?

406. 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)!

           In which we look at a movie that is definitely a cut above most US sci-fi flicks of the time.  It is almost great!

Sven- 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

From Wiki- The first U.S. spaceship to Venus, the XY-21, crashes into the Mediterranean sea off the coast of Italy. Fishermen in their boats head to the spacecraft, enter it through a hole, and pull two spacemen from the nose-down craft before it completely sinks.  In Washington, D.C., Major General A.D. McIntosh discovers that the missing spaceship, piloted by Colonel Bob Calder, has been located. As McIntosh flies to the site, Pepe, a little boy, finds a translucent cylinder marked “USAF” on the beach. It contains a gelatinous mass egg, which he sells to Dr. Leonardo, a zoologist studying sea creatures. Meanwhile, Leonardo's granddaughter Marisa, a third-year medical student, is summoned to take care of the injured spacemen. When Calder regains consciousness, he finds his crewmate, Dr. Sharman, dying as his eight other crewmen did. Back to me and comments:

Xenorama #73 is go!

"We go from the comic books to the cartoons to the fabulous movie from 2001!  We talk about the stories, have episode guides and discuss the musical aspects of the series.  We also try to figure out if the gang are actually secret agents pretending to be a musical band.  The clues are all there, so you decide!  And did we mention that this issue is all in color?  Well, it is!  Get your long tails and ears for hats ready to rock and roll!"  This just got published today, new and improved from issue #48.  While I am quite happy with the original, the color really makes issues pop now.  And the color issues are not much more expensive than the black and white issues.  Go figure!

405. Heroes of the East (1978) review!

               I am pretty sure we have talked about this movie in the past, so here it is again!

404. 7 Song Friday 01-31-2025

              Poor Russia and Belarus- they can't hear one of the songs.  This is so odd, but I don't think I have a big audience there.

20 Million Miles To Earth Trailer (1080p)

           This trailer IS on here way back in 2012, which is astounding to me.  I have seen the movie on Sven before, but I have not reviewed it.

403. Ultraman episodes 32 and 33!

                One great episode and one good one.  You can decide which is which!

DC 100 Page Super Spectacular #6- Facsimile Edition (2004)

I just got this edition from MyComicShop.com, for a reasonable price.  I have an original, but since that is over 50 years old, I thought it would be nice to have readable copy that is only 21 years old.  I remember seeing this on the shelves then, and thinking "pfft, I have an original, what do I need this for?"  Which may have made sense back then, but the older the original gets the less I want to turn newsprint pages on it.  This has better paper and printing, and a sturdier cover, and looks to have been touched up in the coloring department.  Yes, selected recoloring.  There were two stories from the 40s that probably needed it.  There will be a podcast episode about this issue and book, probably for Sunday.

402. Goliath and the Vampires (1961) review!

              There really isn't a true vampire in this movie, but your guess is as good as mine as to what Kobrak actually is.

HOTW- The Green Lama

 

From Public Domain Superheroes: Jethro Dumont, a rich resident of New York City, spent ten years in Tibet studying to be a lama (a Buddhist guru) and learning many mystical secrets in the process. He returned to the United States in order to spread the Buddhist teachings, but after witnessing a murder he realized he could be of more help by fighting evil and crime. He receives his Green Lama powers by reciting the mantra "om mani padme hum." Dumont is also endowed with superhuman abilities acquired through his scientific knowledge of radioactive salts.  Dumont has two alter egos - the crime-fighting Green Lama, and the Buddhist priest Dr. Pali. Back to me again:

401. Doc Savage Histories!

              Here's a fun and enjoyable look at Doc's legacy and overall influence on both comic books and movies.

"Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)" by The Monkees

             I first heard this song as done by the Groovy Ghoulies.  It has become one of my favorites to play as well.

400. Captain America 10 and 11

           We are about done with the Captain America run, 13 episodes fly by when you do two at a time!

Calvin and Hobbes 12-21-85

 I actually have never been lost in the woods.  A store once, when I was a wee agent, but never in the woods or the mountains.

399. The Last Unicorn (1982) review

                Hey, I have a Unicorn label!  What a great movie this is, and this copy is gorgeous!  Go buy it now.

Flush the Fashion in 1980

Remember when Alice Cooper when both punk and "new wave" back in 1980?  I sure do, since I loved the song "Clones (We're All)" and bought the LP from K-Mart in the summer of 1980,  I knew of Alice, but had not heard many of his songs back then, so this was the first time I had heard this many tunes.  I liked all of them.  "Pain" kind of made me feel odd, like it was a forbidden song, but I sure liked it.  Some of the other songs had similar effects, but overall the energy and musicianship made me like it.

398. Wing Chun (1994) review

            This movie rocks, it has for over 30 years.  Just watch it.

Butterfly Swords

 Here is a clue for today's Shaolin Saturday movie- though it is only peripherally related to Shaolin, much like last week's movie was barely related to Shaolin.  Still, if we only review movies that have Shaolin in them, that would be really boring after a while, right?  So this one has legendary origins from Shaolin, but there are a lot of stories about the origins of this style.  Someone really should have written this stuff down way back when.  These are one of two weapons most associated with the style, though.

397. A Shiny Shiny 7 Song Friday on 01-24-2025!

              In which we have some great songs to talk about today.  Take a listen, and YouTube approved!

Godzilla, King of the Monsters! Steve Martin Reporting clip

              Since the trailer for this movie is all over this blog, here's a clip of Raymond Burr, as reporter Steve Martin.

396. Ultraman episodes 30 and 31 in review!

                        We get two monsters today, one that bears a striking resemblance to the Bumble Snow Monster of the North.  You had to know that was coming, right?

395. Beware the Magic Sword of Power!

             This is one of my favorite fantasy movies, and I would have loved sequels, I will tell you what.  Alas, that didn't happen.

HOTW- Moon Girl (EC Comics)

From Public Domain Superheroes Wiki at Fandom.com-

Raised in a small kingdom in a remote part of Samarkand, the girl known as the Princess of the Moon was taught that she came from a long line of women who had been unbeatable in battle. Unfortunately, she wasn't told this until after she had sworn to herself that she would never marry a man unless he was a superior warrior to her.  Taking her family heirloom, a moonstone said to make the wearer invincible, she left her home and traveled to America in search of Prince Mengu, a suitor she had liked but easily defeated. Finding him working as a teacher under an assumed name, she created her own false identity, Clare Lune, and found work at the same school. She then convinced Prince Mengu to join her in fighting crime.  Later, she was joined by a female sidekick called Starlet.  Moon Girl fought enemies such as Satana, Mabelene, Invaders from Venus, Lurani, and Undina.  Now back to me:

394. Vintage Dinosaur Book from 1960 review!

             Here's a look at one of the great dinosaur books for kids.  Most children of a certain vintage had it in their book collection.

Gypsy Pistoleros - Livin La Vida Loca

             Here's a fun UK band that isn't quite definable.  The song was great originally, but I like this sound more.

393. Captain America 1966: 08 and 09!

             We review two episodes today, both of which come from the pages of the early Avengers!  The voice acting is quite good!

Calvin and Hobbes Monday 12-20-1985

 I don't recall having conversations like this with my friends, whether real or imaginary!  I know Calvin is not really a typical six-year-old, though.

392. Samson vs. The Vampire Women of 1962!

             I know we must have talked about El Santo here before, but here's a fun experiment with using clips from the movie!

Sven: Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978)

From Wiki- Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is a 1978 American parody film^[3] produced by J. Stephen Peace and John DeBello, and directed by John DeBello based upon an original idea by Costa Dillon. The film stars David Miller, George Wilson, Sharon Taylor, and Jack Riley.  

The screenplay was written by Dillon, Peace, and DeBello. The film spoofs B movies and was made on a budget of less than $100,000. The story involves tomatoes becoming sentient by unknown means and revolting against humanity.  

Critical reception of Attack of the Killer Tomatoes was mostly negative. The box office success of the film led to three sequels, all co-written by the same three writers and directed by DeBello. Back to me:

391. Shaolin Saturday: Ninja in the Dragon's Den (1982) review!

              This is one fun movie, and it is also quite good.  Ninja are presented as heroic, sort of, and it is nice to see a Chinese-Japanese collaboration where both are good guys.

Ninja in the Dragon's Den (1982)

 

From Wiki- Ninja in the Dragon's Den (Chinese: 龍之忍者) is a 1982 Hong Kong martial arts film directed by Corey Yuen in his feature film directorial debut, and written by Yuen and Ng See-yuen. It stars Conan Lee, Hiroyuki Sanada and Hwang Jang-lee. The film was released theatrically in Hong Kong on 24 June 1982. Me again:  I think I got this on a bootleg DVD the first time I saw it.  I read a review and wanted to see it.

390. 7 Song Friday: 01-17-2025

              Once again, we lose a bit of music- I am sorry Tammy, that I couldn't stand by you, but blame YouTube!

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Trailer

            I actually started watching this movie a few weeks ago on Tubi... I think I have seen it a total of three times.  I liked it, but there are many jokes that miss the mark.

389. Ultraman 28 and 29- of Dada and Goldon!

           Dada is an invasive invader, don't feel sorry for them.  Instead, save your sympathy for the Goldons.

SOS Dada! (Ultraman ep. 28)

 It is amazing how much information can be found in clear copies of television shows and movies.  In the olden days of VHS tape trading, I never noticed this message before.  It was because even the best versions of Ultraman were a generation or two removed from the originals.  The picture was just too murky.  Now thanks to Blu Ray or even DVDs, you can see all sorts of things you missed back then, which is a really nice thing.  The details you can see in the monster costumes is amazing as well.

388. Jack and the Witch (1967) review

          What a wild and wacky cartoon this is!  I am glad to be able to view this print, I must say.

HOTW- Mr. Scarlet

 

From Wiki- Mr. Scarlet is district attorney Brian Butler, who along with his adopted son Pinky the Whiz Kid, fought evil in his city for several years. His success was such that his employment was frequently in jeopardy due to a lack of crime.^[3] As a result throughout his series, he took up several odd jobs to supplement his family's income. He used inventive devices to help him apprehend criminals, and had great acrobatic and hand-to-hand combatant skills.^[4]  In his first appearance in Wow Comics #1, Brian was based in Gotham City. This may be the first use of the name of this city in comics. Later retcons established Mr. Scarlet's base in either New York City or Fawcett City.^[5].  The heroes tangle with a wide variety of villains, including the sinister Death Battalion, who plan the assassinations of top government officials. The Battalion's members include Dr. Death, the Ghost, the Horned Hood, the Black Thorn, the Black Clown, the Laughing Skull, and their leader known as "the Brain" is actually the warden of El Catraz prison.^[6]  Back to me:

387. King Kong vs Godzilla (1962) US version review!

              This movie was a first for me- first Godzilla, first King Kong and first giant octopus!

Adam Ant - Strip

                   This is from Adam second solo LP, called "Strip"- imagine that.

386. Captain America 07: Cap battles the Adaptoid!

                 Cap fights Amazo, I mean, the Super-Adaptoid!  It is a pretty straightforward adaptation of the Tales of Suspense series, minus some thoughtful commentary on humanity.

Calvin and Hobbes Monday - 12-19-1985

Now this is something I never did to the yard.  We did once make a water trap, but our "cover" was strong enough to support the never appearing victim.

385. The Giant Behemoth, the Sea Monster of 1959!

              A rather underrated monsters movie is examined here!  We love the Paleosaurus!

Trailer title cards

 

Ever notice that many of the move title cards on trailers are better than the actual onscreen title?  This happened with Atragon as well, since I have reviewed both of them recently (well, The Giant Behemoth is coming out later today).  This is a much cooler looking title that what appears onscreen.  Even Behemoth, The Sea Monster has a better title card.  This happens a lot more these days, as movies barely have titles, or are placed at the end of the film.  What the heck is that?  What genius thought that was ever a good idea?

384. The Death Chamber of Shaolin Temple (1976)!

                  In which X7 talks about the great ending and prequel of the first three Shaolin movies.  That sentence makes no sense, but it does.

383. 7 Song Friday: Takin' a Ride!

                In which Men At Work gets denied completely by YouTube!  Go listen on Spotify if you want hear the entire episode.

The Robonic Stooges (1977)

 

From Wiki- Moe, Larry and Curly are junkyard-based superheroes who fight crime with their often malfunctioning bionic powers and are given assignments via film projector from their frustrated boss Agent 000 (pronounced "oh-oh-oh") who runs the Superhero Employment Agency.  Since all of the original Three Stooges had died when production began (Moe Howard and Larry Fine had both died in 1975, Shemp Howard died in 1955 and Curly Howard died in 1952), other voice actors were used to impersonate them, mostly veteran voice actors from other Hanna-Barbera productions.^[6] Paul Winchell voiced Moe, Joe Baker voiced Larry, and Frank Welker voiced Curly (Welker had previously used his Curly impression for the titular character in Jabberjaw). Unlike cartoon series produced by Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, The Robonic Stooges did not contain a laugh track.  Me again:

382. Ultraman 26 and 27: The Monster Prince!

            The only monster to defeat Ultraman... Gomora!  A story so big it took two episodes to tell!

Koseidon Star Destroyer Freedom

 

This is the Space-Time Ship Freedom.  It gets destroyed in the age of Gypsum or Chalk, the subtitles were not exact.  It looks exactly like a small scale Star Destroyer.  Yes, the ones featured in most of the Star Wars franchise movies. The first movie came out a year before this show did, so no real surprise that the design was... borrowed... here.  The influence of Star Wars was immediate, with most major and several minor studios trying to cash in on the brand new fad.  Still, I was surprised to see such a blatant... homage... in a Japanese television series.  I shouldn't be, though.

381. Atragon is GO!

           5-4-3-2-1 Atragon is Go!  As in, go watch this movie!  It is easily one of Toho's top three non-kaiju movies.

HOTW- Beast Brat, er, Boy!

From Wiki: As a young child, Garfield Logan lived with his scientist parents in Africa, who were developing "reverse evolution" to bring back extinct creatures. He received a certain amount of abuse from his parents, consequently becoming increasingly reclusive. Garfield contracted a rare illness called Sakutia, which is lethal to every species except the West African green monkey. To save his life, his father used an untested science experiment to change him into a West African green monkey for 24 hours so that the virus could die out. The serum had the unintended effect of permanently turning his skin, eyes, and hair green and granting him the ability to metamorph into any animal of his choice, which also shared his pigmentation.^[8] His parents later died in a boating accident; to this day, Garfield believes he could have prevented their deaths.^[6] After he is rescued from two kidnappers who forced him to use his powers to help them in their crimes, Garfield is left under the care of a court-appointed guardian, the despicable Nicholas Galtry.^[9] Galtry realizes that his embezzlement from the Logan estate will be exposed when Garfield reaches maturity and receives his inheritance, and thus plots to kill Garfield.^[10] The villains he hires to kill Garfield are stopped by the Doom Patrol; Elasti-Girl and her husband Steve Dayton expose Galtry's embezzlement and adopt Garfield. Garfield later joins the Doom Patrol. His uniform includes a purple cowl, and he takes the code name Beast Boy.^[11]  Me again:

380. The Fearsome Flesh Eaters of 1964!

            We have talked about the Flesh Eaters before, I think, but this is a bit more in-depth!  Literally, in some cases!

The Hellflowers - I Cried

                     Here's the new video by The Hellflowers!  I sure wish they had more of their "bat" shirts in my size!

379. Captain America 06: The Dang ol' Masters of EVILLE!

            In which we see a first- an actual Avengers cartoon- sorta!  It works out pretty well, despite the rather limited animation.

Calvin and Hobbes Monday- 12-18-85

 I wonder if Calvin's parents ever took him to therapy, or thought about it.  This was something my friends and I did all the time, though.

378. Advent Calendar Part 2! Cats and Dinosaurs!

              In which we stitch together the last 12 days of Christmas, which no one gets a beer... in a tree.

Sven- Abbott and Costello meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953)

From Wiki- A series of horrific murders has terrorized Victorian London and baffled police. While returning home from a pub, newspaper reporter Bruce Adams finds one murder victim, a prominent doctor. The next day, two American policemen, Slim and Tubby, who are studying London police methods, respond to brawl at a women's suffrage rally in Hyde Park. Reporter Adams, young suffragette Vicky Edwards, Slim, and Tubby are all caught up in the fray and wind up in jail. Vicky's guardian, Dr. Henry Jekyll, bails Vicky and Adams out, while Tubby and Slim are kicked off the police force. Unknown to anyone, Dr. Jekyll has developed a serum which transforms him into Mr. Hyde—the "monster" who is responsible for the recent murders. Dr. Jekyll is secretly in love with Vicky, and is angered by the mutual attraction between Vicky and Bruce. He injects himself to transform once again into Hyde with the intent of murdering Bruce. Me again: Shenanigans ensue!

377. Five Shaolin Masters... of Death!

              In which we talk about the next Shaolin movie on Shaolin Saturday!  It is a great one, full of awesome action and great actors!

5 Masters of Death (1974)

Here we have the third movie in Chang Cheh's "Shaolin Cycle."  It is the story of the five masters who went to Central China after the burning of the Shaolin Temple.  Or at least a version of the folklore tale, which is quite alright.  It has a top-tier cast for both the villains and heroes.  The movie is longer than the first two, which is what success will get you.  A lot of authentic kung fu is presented here, both Qing and Chinese.  It is quite the movie, and really good.

376. 7 Song Friday Dancing, Dreams, and Money!

               In which X7 talks about seven songs.  One song is blocked in Belarus and Russia.  Click below to find out which one!

Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953) ORIGINAL TRAILER

                I know I have watched this recently... well, maybe in the last ten years or so.  I am not sure I have seen it from Sven, though.

375. Ultraman 24 and 25 Gubira, Red King and Friends!

                Here we have the show firing on all ultra-cylinders!  A fantastic fish monster starts us out!

The Monster Squad (1976)

From Wiki, of course- The series stars Fred Grandy as Walt, a criminology student working as a night watchman at "Fred's Wax Museum". To pass the time, Walt built a prototype "Crime Computer" hidden in a large stone sarcophagus near an exhibit of legendary monsters. When Walt plugged in his computer, "oscillating vibrations" brought to life the wax statues of Dracula (Henry Polic II), the Wolfman (Buck Kartalian) – who here was named "Bruce W. Wolf" (with one episode revealing that the "W" stood for "Were") – and the Frankenstein Monster (Michael Lane), who was referred to as "Frank N. Stein" in the credits.  The monsters, wanting to make up for the misdeeds of their pasts, became superhero crimefighters who used their unique abilities to challenge and defeat various supervillains. In most episodes, Walt would send the monsters out to investigate crimes and fight the villains while monitoring the activities from the wax museum via the Crime Computer, presumably because his job required him to be at the wax museum at all times. However, Walt would sometimes join the climactic battle with his comrades in some episodes and come to the rescue when needed.  Now my turn:

374. The Baneful Brain from Planet Arous (1957)!

              In which we start Series 03 with X7's review of⁠ The Brain from Outer Space!⁠ It is a fun movie with a silly invader who is trying to take over the world. Seems like many evil brains from space do that regularly.

HOTW- The Ancient One

 

From Wiki- The character who would eventually become the Ancient One was born in Kamar-Taj, "a hidden land high in the Himalayas",^[2] more than 500 years ago.^[3] He spent his youth as a peaceful farmer, until his friend Kaluu discovered the power of magic.^[4] When Kaluu shared this knowledge of the mystic arts with the Ancient One, the two disagreed on how they would use the powers. The Ancient One wished to turn their village into a utopia, while Kaluu desired power and conquest over nearby villages.^[5]  The Ancient One and Kaluu agreed to cast a spell, eliminating sickness, disease, and age from Kamar-Taj. Subsequently, the villagers, under Kaluu's mind-control spell, crown him king of the village.^[2] The Ancient One attempts to stop Kaluu, but the village of Kamar-Taj is wiped out as a result of their conflict.^[6] As a result, Kaluu is banished to an alternate dimension and the Ancient One is stripped of his immortality. Nonetheless, the Ancient One ages far more slowly than any regular human.^[7]  Back to me:

373. A Celebration of Time Warp Comics!

                 This store and its owner have been in my life longer than I care to remember.  Wayne is moving on, and this is a remembrance of the influence it had on me.