The Black Cauldron (1985)

 

This movie was such a big deal in 1985, what with it being Disney's first ever "PG" rated cartoon.  It's still a very Disney movie, though. There are some pretty scary moments in it, but I was far more terrified by the banshee in Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959).  That was a G Rated movie, so go figure.  It's kind of a mess of a movie, so it failed at the box office back then.  

random theropod Monster of the Week

 

This is a random theropod that shows up in the Josie and the Pussycats episode "Plateau of the Apes Plot".  Dr. Madreau invented a ray that would return any living being to it's ancestral form.  This was a small lizard to start with.  You would think the good doctor would know lizards are actually a separate line of reptiles than dinosaurs.  Of course, Alex turned into a chicken at first, and then an ape, so perhaps the machine still needed some fine tuning.  The gang managed to stop this would be dictator in the end, so everything worked out in the end.

WandaVision (2021)

 

Everyone who knows me know I have been a fan of these two characters for decades many years of my life.  They were literally the first super couple I watched fall in love and get married.  I was rather worried about their cinematic incarnations, but both Paul Bettany's and Elizabeth Olson's (I will easily forgive her for being in the terrible 2014 Godzilla movie) won me over.  I didn't even know she was an Olson sister for years!

AIP's Monster Maker

 

I have known who Paul Blaisdell was for years, but aside from his movie work, didn't know anything else about the man.  My appreciation for his work and him in general has now risen a lot.  He was a phenomenal artist and a pretty good actor.  He did so much with the meager budget he was given; in a fair world he would be as well known as Jack Pierce or Stan Winston.  He sure made memorable monsters, no one can deny that!

MOTW- the Paleosaurus

 

The electrically charged Paleosaurus was unleashed on London in 1959.  There was no real reason to explain it's sudden appearance, but fossils had been found in the Thames, so it is assumed it's going home to die.  There's also no explanation of just how Dr Samson  knows it has an electrical charge.  It has been filled with radiation from nuclear tests, which accounts for it's headed back to England for it's final resting place.  What the heck had it been doing before this?

The Zero Stone

I began reading at a young age, and read many books.  Most of the standard kid stuff was fun (Pippi Longstocking, the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew) but once I discovered science fiction literature I was hooked on that.  I read so many different series that I barely remember most of them, and wish I had kept track of the names of books, as some have now receded so far from my memory that I can only recall parts of them.  There is one about an undersea walking giant that I would love to find again, but those chances seem further and further away.

Sabrina, The Teenage Witch (1970)

Filmation had a hit on their hands with their Archie cartoon in 1968, so they went right back to the well and made this cartoon show in 1970.  Sabrina had actually debuted with Arch in 1969, but got her own show, combined with the Groovie Ghoulies in 1970.  Back then, you could not escape the Archie cartoon line on kid TV, it seemed to be everywhere.  Only Josie and the Pussycats escaped Filmation, because Hanna-Barbera bought those rights.  It's probably a good thing, as both the Archies and the Ghoulies were musical acts as well, and adding a third band to the mix would have been a bit of overkill.  Be that as it may, Filmation had a different take on teenagers, and Archie never solved series crimes.

The Mesozine Era

Picked up this fanzine the other day- well, I ordered it from the creator, I mean.  You can get it here as well.  I forget how much fun fanzines are, even as I make my own.  There's just something so personal about DYI zines that makes them fun.  I didn't realize it at the time, but it's one of the reasons I love doing Xenorama.  I get to say what I want about anything I choose.  I have a plethora of talented writers and artist that help out and that is fun as well.  And it's about dinosaurs!  How many other magazines are there in this field now?

MOTW- marine robot spider

This creature was featured in the opening to Marine Boy, but never made it into an episode.  Which is too bad, as its pretty cool looking and would have been a  cool monster for him to fight.  I kept waiting to see it, but it only showed up in the credits.  This was the same thing with the other monster, the underwater centipede.  Good thing the show was chock full of other cool monsters and robots!  It's not really a spider, since it only has four legs, but who's gonna argue with a fearsome robot?

War of the Gargantuas international version

It's amazing to see this on TV and letterboxed or widescreen (i.e. in proper scope) now.  For years this version was rumored to exist, with an alternate dub that called the monsters "Frankenstein" as well as their names Sanda and Gaira.  The proof finally showed up in the late 90s, with a truncated version from Greece called Katango's War.  This had the original English dub and some different scenes in places.  It was subtitled in Greek, but those were easy enough to ignore.  This version ran 76 minutes.  Some of that time was from the PAL to VHS transfer, but there are a few parts missing.