my Kisstory

believe it or not, I did not like Kiss for a long time.  I know exactly where I was when I heard my first KISS album, at Dale Oldfield's house.  it was KISS: Alive! and it must have been on the turntable.  I thought I would hate it, but after listening to side 3, I believe, I quite liked it.  so blame ALL this on Dale.

and Marvel Comics, as they had also just put out "Super Special" #1, featuring KISS as superheroes.

two years and one comic book later, KISS is on tv as rocking superheroes in "KIss Meets the Phantom of the Park".  I'd never seen my musical heroes in action, and as one might expect, I was pretty excited.

at the time, I thought the movie was pretty darn good.  started off a little slow- we don't see the band until about 30 minutes after the opening credits, but once all that useless exposition was done, there they are in full force, singing and fighting various robots- wolf-apes, monsters, samurai, you name it, they are fighting KISS.  in fact, mirroring what was going on behind the scenes, they end up fighting themselves at the end!

I know now it's no great piece of cinematic history, but I still like it.  knowing more of the back story helps.  the pictures here come from the "international" version, which runs about 20 minutes shorter than our TV version does, and it helps the movie quite a bit.  there are more KISS songs added to it as well, and that really helps, since it takes out the rather overused Hanna-Barbera stock fight music present.

the movie was directed by Gordon Hessler, who had done many other tv shows such as Kolchak, the Night Stalker, Wonder Woman and Kung Fu.  not a bad resume, but nothing that says this movie was some kind of letdown from his previous or future work.

when our fearless foursome (or rather, their stunt doubles) are fighting the various robots Abner Devereaux is throwing at them, they use kicks and chops and wild acrobatics to defeat them.  it reminds me (now) of both sentai and Kamen Rider shows.

anyway, it's nice to see it out on DVD.  despite it's many shortcomings, it's a lot of fun.  you get to hear a lot of great songs and see Magic Mountain in the 70s, before it was bought out by 6 Flags.  I think some of the rollercoasters are still there!

so thanks Dale!

Speed Racer (1967)

when I would visit my relatives in WV in the summer (usually) WDCA Channel 20 showed the best kid vid ever.  "Speed Racer" was one of the many great shows they aired in the 70s.  it never aired in the 70s in Longmont, Colorado (or the greater Denver area), so the only place to watch it was back there, as far as I knew.

DC superheroes

I loved watching the action packed Filmation DC superhero cartoons from the 60s.  They had quite a variety of stars- see everyone in the JLA shield here.  missing is Batman, and included was Aquaman (who didn't appear in the 3 JLA cartoons they made).  still, there was more action in 7 minutes of Filmation stories than an hour of "Super Friends" (which was one of the most disappointing things about the 70s show).  of course, the actual stories were not very JLA worthy, not even in light of the sixties.  but that didn't matter, you got to see your heroes in action and that was the really important thing.    that they looked exactly like the heroes from the comics was great.

"The Three Musketeers of the West" (1973)

Because the world need a comedic spaghetti western take on Dumas' classic tale, I present this, a not so great movie.  in it, young Dart, Jr leave Cheese Valley and joins the Texas Rangers.  he meets up with the "Three Inseperables", Portland, Aramirez and Mac Athos and they work with Alice Fergussen in stopping Riche LeDuque in stealing a large amount of gold for the Mexican dictator Ortega.  yeah, that's about all there is to this!  had I seen this movie when I was 13 or so I think I would have quite enjoyed it, the silly slapstick, some cheese fights and some actually inspired action setpieces would have appealed to me.  oh yeah, and not to mention the slight nudity!

Pilder on!

one of the best super robot series ever, Mazinga Z.  I know, the "official" title is Mazinger Z, but since I first saw the Shogun Warrior toy- well, Great Mazinga- spelled that way, that's just how it's gonna be for me.  the show ran for 92 episodes, which is a pretty good run for a Japanese series, cartoon or not!

Godzilla turns 55 today

Happy Birthday to one of the biggest influences on my life.

who knew what would be wrought 55 years ago?

what a scene!

countdown to 100

in eight posts we'll be at 100 entries for this here blog.  I thought there was a poll thing here, or there used to be, or something, but it seems to be gone.  so that idea is shot!

so I am wondering just what to write about for the spectacular 100th blog.  i just don't know quite yet at this point!  if anyone has any ideas, I'm quite open to them.

it could be an Ultraman show, though I really have only seen a few in their entirety.  or any number of Japanese heroes would be fun to write about, such as our pal Jet Jaguar here.  it's not like Godzilla vs Megalon has had too much written about it over the years, right?  but it is something I am well aquainted with, so it would be an easy subject.

however, it could be about comic books, or monsters, or a cartoon series.  I really have no idea at this point.  perhaps I shouldn't even make a big deal of it.  I'll probably forget anyway!  this new photo editor is nice, but danged if I can figure out how to place the pictures where I want them still.  ah, to be technologically challenged! I guess we will just have to wait and see what it happens to be.  I think I can reasonably be assured it won't be "Three Musketeers of the West" which I will be reviewing before too long.  that's one movie that should be left to it's own devices.

no one can compare

mostly I have to try out this here new editor (which of course has probably been around longer than I've realized).  says it has better photo placement, so let's see!

so here's a fine fun cartoon from the 1960s Japan, known as "Usei Shonen Popi"- "Planet Boy Popi".  AIP-TV, trying to capitalize on the very popular "Astro Boy" brought this 52 episode show over here.

while I doubt it had quite the success "Astro" had (and still enjoys) it's a fun show.  it's one of the three I remembered seeing when I was about 4 or so (the other two being Marine Boy and Gigantor).  it certainly left an impression on me, especially with that large medallion with the "P" on it.

I mean, how cool was that?  very.  it could do wonders, as long as it has a full charge.

he had some helpers, Diana Worthy, Dan Dynamo and Aji Baba  who would help him out with all sorts of trouble.

good thing, too, as the Prince had all kinds of problems, including a recurring for or two- notably Warlock, the Master of Martian Magic and Krag from Kragmire, who wears a top hat and carries a deadly watch.

I'll talk more about this at some point, but I really like the new editor.

Frankenstein, Jr and the Impossibles

here's a nifty little show that I have grown to appreciate far more now than I ever did as a kid. I'm sure most people are surprised, but I liked my superheroes serious. none of these "funny" heroes for me- you know, the ones that never did anything right on their own, but still managed to come out on top, usually by accident or with the help of the unsung much smarter sidekick.

feh upon them, I thought (and still do, for the most part).
however, this show... I never saw much of it growing up. I had a Big Little Book (or was it Little Big Book?) of Frankenstein, Jr, where he battles a clone called Crankenstein. I'd kind of like to read that again. perhaps now I'd understand more of what was going on!
but it's the singing Impossibles that become the heroic Impossibles that I really enjoy now. they take on such wild foes as Smogula, Dragula, the Spy-der Man and many others. obviously an "homage" to the Beatles as filtered through Hanna-Barbera's weirdo lens, it works. the songs they sing are quite pleasant as well, even.
here, Multi-man does his stuff. I wonder if he predates Maddox, the Multi-man from the X-men? someone will know.

you can see a show on Saturday Morning Cartoons v. 1, which is a nice sampler, but only for the second disc. I've mentioned this set before, since it also has a Marine Boy episode on it.

Tetsujin 28-go toys

usually I don't post pictures from my "toy" collection- I mean, really, are these toys if they just sit on the shelf and don't move? I don't think so.

but since we've been discussing Tetsujin/Gigantor, I thought it would be fun to post a few pictures of these two figures I have. I keep calling the "GR2" figure the Black Ox, but it's plain that is not who it is. if he shows up in the 2004 series later don't tell me, I have only watched half of the show.

boy, wouldn't it be nice to have figures like this easily obtainable in the States?
here's a side view of the evil GR2- though that name makes me think of Giant Robo, since he did fight GR2.

and here at last is our hero, who always will be Gigantor to me. he looks pretty cool, and the base he is standing on also has a little controlling device on it.

I've got some various other small figures, and some other toys that will appear here occasionally. it's not much of a collection I have, that's for sure. sold most of it to various collectors several years ago- would you believe I got $170 for tagged Megalon figure in 1999?