Comic Book Plus Forum
All And Everything => Watcha ... ? => Topic started by: profh0011 on June 06, 2022, 02:28:44 AM
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I think a general thread for this is overdue...
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW: "Into Infinity" (1975)
Gerry Anderson produced this as a potential pilot for a series that never happened, intended as an "educational" show more than an adventure one. Oddly enough, this wound up coming across as an "English" variation on LOST IN SPACE, between a future where Earth's resources were depleted, sending a family into space, a drive capable of reaching light speed, and the characters being unable to ever make it home by the end.
I find it a bit odd that the cast includes an unusually LOW-KEY Brian Blessed (in the sort-of John Robinson role) and Nick Tate, SANS any hint of his Australian accent, in the sort-of Don West role. The 2 kids make you dearly wish for Bill Mumy & Angela Cartright (HEH).
I only just found out tonight this was made in between the 2 seasons of SPACE: 1999. Derek Wadsworth supplied the music, and would go on to contribute to 1999's season 2.
I have this on THE LOST WORLDS OF GERRY ANDERSON 2-disc box set. The best thing I can say is... it wasn't anywhere near as awful as THE INVESTIGATOR unsold pilot.
More details at Wikipedia...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_After_Tomorrow_(TV_special)
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Back in the 60's I read a lot of Science Fiction and a lot about Science Fiction. Their fandom was very militant and organized well before comic fandom took off in a big way. [ I still have a good friend who was and is a die-hard Science Fiction fan.They are still out there.] At that time there was essentially a civil war between those who thought it was OK to use the term Sci-Fi and those to whom that was anathema. I used to read the Judith Merrill yearly anthologies and her editorials and forewords used to deal with this subject. There were probably thesises written about it.
All to say that I am firmly on the side of those who adhere to Science Fiction. Whenever I see the phrase Sci Fi I feel distinctly uncomfortable. However, now I have that off my chest, I am not going to indulge in any kind of dummy spit about it. Just saying.
Mind you,TV and Movie Science Fiction is arguably a genre of its own. And most comics.
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Forry Ackerman coined the phrase, a play on the phrase "HI-FI". (High Fidelity)
There was also a character nick-named "Hi-Fi" in the SAD SACK comics. ;D
It's easier to type...
Back in the 70s, I did a home-made comics series whose official title was "Science-Fiction Thrillers". Never mind that it wound up being a catch-all for horror, super-heroes, and anything else I was in the mood to include.
But on the cover, the logo read, in big letters... "SCI-FI thrillers".
;)
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LOST IN SPACE: "Junkyard In Space"
"This is THE END!!" ****** (of 10)
NOT a favorite episode of mine. For a show that was too often too silly-- and this story had a lot of that-- this was perhaps the darkest, most NIGHTMARISH episode they ever did. They find themselves trapped, unable to take off-- AND, all their food is contaminated. And WHERE were they going to find food on a planet like that? Wasn't it PAINFULLY obvious the Junkman was responsible for all this? You know, I kinda LIKED "Phanzig" from "Condemned of Space". There was something charming about him, and after all, he had served MORE than his term in the prison. But The Junkman, I would have to rank as possibly the single MOST EVIL villain "LIS" ever saw. He wasn't just threratening the family, or planning to kill the family, he wanted them to die SLOWLY.
The last time I watched this (a year or so back), it suddenly struck me as a really bizarre, sci-fi allegory for a Nazi concentration camp. You trap innocent people in a place they don't want to be, then intentionally STARVE them TO DEATH. Marcel Hillaire, though he made a successful career playing exagerated FRANNNCH stereotypes, was really born in Germany, and wanted to put as much distance between himself and the country he FLED. He may have sensed what I did about this story, and saw it as an opportunity to depict real INHUMANITY on a scale never quite seen on this goofy series before.
I believe Irwin Allen had the mind of an arrogant 5-YEAR-OLD. My late friend Robin often said Allen apparently had NO sense of humor, as he insisted that there was no humor at all in "VOYAGE", "TIME TUNNEL" or "GIANTS". (A bit snuck into "VOYAGE" here and there, but not often.) Robin often suggested that Allen LET Harris do what he wanted, because he admired the humor he was bringing. Never mind that it should have been THE WRITERS' jobs. But the very small stable of writers on all of Allen's shows was another serious problem. They're running out of ideas? THEN HIRE NEW ONES!!! Geez.
The writer (as so many of them often did) really must have not been paying attention. There was NO need to take circuits from the Robot. They had a MATTER REPLICATOR. (You know, the one that looked like a beach cooler.) They could have duplicated the circuits the Junkman asked for. But far, FAR worse-- the Jupiter 2 DOESN'T HAVE ROCKETS to fire!!! W--T--F!!!!!!! A better script editor would have come in handy, too, to FIX crap like this before it was allowed to go before the cameras for posterity. What the Jupiter 2 DID have... was a force field generator, activated from the interior in a few episodes. Turning that on would have prevented Don from docking the Pod. (Someone should also have fixed the line... "How can you dock when it's still in orbit?" That's the ONLY place they can dock, STUPID!
Hillaire was also a ham... but, he showed real sensitivity near the end, when Will got thru to the Robot's memories. And, JUST like The Robot in "War of the Robots", or Verda in "The Android Machine", the Junkman, an artificial being, EVOLVED into a better person. Honestly, if they'd done a 4th season, I'd have wanted to see them take him with them in the season opener, and then drop him off on some other planet by that story's end. You know, he claimed he "owned" the junk planet, but I suspect he was lying. SOMEONE ELSE must have set that whole thing up for some neighboring civilization... and if he left, they would have had to have sent someone to find out what happened. (But the writers, like Smith, never seemed to think more than 5 minutes ahead with anything.)
June & Anne Lockhart may be the only instance I can think of where I fell in love with characters on TV played by both a mother and a daughter. In Anne's case, it was on "BATTLESTAR GALACTICA". In June's case... oddly enough, growing up, I watched her regularly on "LASSIE", "LOST IN SPACE" and "PETTICOAT JUNCTION". But it wasn't until last year I saw her in something I genuinely found myself falling in love with a character she played. And it was a 1st-season episode of "THE MAN FROM UNCLE"-- "The Dove Affair", where she played what may have been the only "innocent" caught in the espionage world who VOLUNTEERED to help Napoleon Solo, rather than being recruited. If you get a chance, check it out. Ricardo Montalban's also in that one, as a VERY charming, likable guy who competes with Solo to get his hands on some vital information.
Robin & I may have disagreed about Smith, but we both agreed, "LIS" was a show that was often good despite itself, and with only a BIT more love and care, COULD and SHOULD have been SO MUCH BETTER than it already was.
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X-BOMBER / STAR FLEET
(Japan / England / 1980-81)
It took me an entire year to polish off THE PROTECTORS (at a rate of one episode a week). Having followed that up with 2 unsold pilots (THE INVESTIGATOR and THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW), tonight I got started on my next series:
STAR FLEET !
I first became aware of this show (which, as far as I know, NEVER ran on any TV station in my area) in the 80s, via a 12" EP titled "Star Fleet Project" by Brian May & Friends (including Eddie Van Halen).
It seems some people in Japan were intersted in doing yet another "multi-ship giant robot" series, this one more influenced by STAR WARS than most, but instead of doing it as an animated cartoon, they decided to to it as a PUPPET show-- X-BOMBER. I was just reading how one of the people involved set his mind to doing something "better than THUNDERBIRDS", but with only about one-forth the personnel and without the ten years of exerience that Gerry Anderson had.
When it got to England, the series was re-titled STAR FLEET. The hard rock theme song "Soldier In The Space" was replaced with an instrumental opening theme, to allow the 3 main characters to speak their names (I'm guessing English producers figured kids wouldn't be able to figure out who they were from just-- you know-- WATCHING the show. We had the same damned problem with kids shows getting dumbed down in America, in the 70s.) A brand-new end theme, "Star Fleet" was added... and it's pretty cool.
Like many later Japanese series at the time, you have one long 24-episode serial (25 in Japan, but only because one episode is all flashbacks). This format has really become popular in the last couple decades over here.
The series was released in horribly truncated form several times over the decades, but, just recently, the ENTIRE series is now out on DVD, and BOTH the Japanese and English versions are together on a SINGLE Blu-Ray, released in March 2019! So, this item didn't even EXIST when I started by Gerry Anderson mega-marathon!
I've been loking forward to seeng this show for a lot of years, in large part because the under-the-table puppets inspired Gerry Anderson to do his next series that way-- TERRAHAWKS. Crazy enough, actress Denise Bryer did voicves on BOTH shows!
I might as well mention a couple of very odd glitches when I watched the first episode tonight. The menu looks designed for "Zoom" mode, but the episodes should be viewed in "normal" screen size. Second, there's a "Play All" button... but, after skipping that (as I usually do), the 2nd episode began playing immediately after the end of the 1st one. Hmm. But most maddening... when I ejected the disc, the picture FROZE on-screen, despite the disc having been popped out... and, the whole machine LOCKED up. I couldn't even turn it off. WTF? I got around it by UN-PLUGGING it. After I plugged it back in, it seemed fine. I sure hope this wasn't some kind of defect with the player that just showed up after only a year. My guess is, something about this specific disc caused confusion with the player. Crazy enough.. I have a music CD that does the SAME THING-- and it happened earlier tonight!
Here's a site that spells out a lot about the show...
star-fleet.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Fleet_(TV_Series)
And here's the English version of the opening credits:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD-9NZsYCQw
(https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/starfleetxbomber.jpg)
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VOYAGE: "The Haunted Submarine"
Time-warping "Flying Dutchman"-style ghost captain **** (of 10)
I have to totally agree with "jecskene"s review, in that this episode is one of many that had great potential, but was totally-squandered in the execution. Which frankly, tragically, is "Irwin Allen" ALL OVER.
An ancestor of Nelson allegedly offers him a chance for endless adventure on the high seas and immortality. But really, he's been condemned for his crimes in life as a slave-trader, and hopes the current Nelson will take his place and live out his "sentence" for him. Taking that wild, way-out premise, the episode is played DEADLY straight and serious, with only a bit of humor at the expense of Chief Sharkey, who, for once, is the butt of a superior officer's frustration, when it's usually Sharkey making sure everybody under his command knows he's the boss.
What drove me to distraction, was Nelson REFUSING to tell anyone-- including Crane-- what was going on-- even after Crane gave him a long-overdue ultimatum-- and then, even after it was all over. Real people DO NOT ACT this way! If I'd been in Crane's position, at the end of the episode, I would have given Nelson another ultimatum. Either he explains what was going on, or I'd put in for a TRANSFER. You can't work with someone you CAN'T TRUST.
Watching so many Irwin Allen shows again over the last 3 years, I've come to an unfortunate conclusion. Allen had the emotional maturity of a 6-year-old. And this episode, if nothing else hadn't already done so, convinced me he insisted his writers do the same. Stories like this COULD have been so much better. He just REFUSED to allow them to be. It's the same level of creative malpractice that led him to give Jonathan Harris completely free reign to write his own material on "LOST IN SPACE", and had 95% of the episodes after awhile focused on Smith, to the near-total exclusion of so many other potentially-good characters, and REALLY FINE actors, who kept being given nothing to do. (Especially June Lockhart.)
The "time freezing" scenes had aleady been done earlier this same season on "THE TIME TUNNEL", and would most famously be used in the "UFO" episode, "Timelash", probably the single best example of the idea I've ever seen on film.
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REALLY FINE actors, who kept being given nothing to do.
Guy Williams - a superstar in Latin America [after Zorro] - understandably assumed that he would be the leading character but found himself in a supporting role. Story goes that he had been signed on at a handsome salary, so he just took the money and acted like the gentleman he was.
Toby Stephens [Dame Maggie Smith's son - who played the young Clint Eastwood in SPACE COWBOYS] also takes a backward role in the current series. This series - which is not too bad - is pro-female and all the female roles are beefed up. And Dr Smith is female, played by Parker Posey. Smith is a nasty piece of work, (not funny) and Don West is a radically different and far more interesting character.
Ironically, IMDB lists the entire cast as having appeared in all 84 episodes, except Johnathan Harris who was only in 83! Which one was he not in, Prof? Figuring you may know!
cheers!
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If there's one Harris wasn't it, it would have to be the UNAIRED pilot, "No Place To Hide", included as a bonus on the last disc of season 1.
Bits of it were used in episodes 1, 3, 4 & 5 ("The Reluctant Stowaway", "Island In The Sky", "There Were Giants In The Earth" and "The Hungry Sea".
It's incredible to think of it, but, if you watch those, try to imagine that when some of the scenes were shot, there was NO Doctor Smith, and NO Robot!!
The entire family was still in suspended animation when they crashed (which is why Don goes "back" into the tube in ep. 3, because he's the only one visible during the crash sequence), and immediately after, the story jumps to 6 months later. When they flee the oncoming bitter cold, they actually go over the inland sea on their way south. In the broadcast version, it's solid ice on the way south... and they voyage over the water on their way north headed back to the ship.
The 2 aliens who appeared in "Invasion from the 5th Dimension", turn up as the cliffhanger at the end of the pilot, watching the family from a distance.
It amazes me how many famous TV series, the pilot episodes were drastically altered in some way before the shows got on the air.
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Two fun Science Fiction 'Epics'
The Shape Of Things To Come (1979)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beLF2VbEi78
Nothing to do with HG Wells of course. More cheap Star Wars knock-off space ships. And do I have to tell you, there is no sound in space?
Poor old Barry Morse looking like he just walked off the set of Space 1999. And I was searching for John Ireland, which is how I found this.
NEXT,
Something quite different?
SLEEPING DOGS - (FULL MOVIE 1997) - C.Thomas Howell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnCae8VTAUo
Don't know if this is related to the video game of the same name.
Big fan of C Thomas Howell.
Enjoy!
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VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA: The Lost Bomb
It Could Destroy Half The World ******** (of 10)
Some INSANE FOOL creates a bomb powerful enough to destroy half the world, as a "deterent". YEAH, RIGHT. Naturally, some UNKNOWN foreign power shoots the cargo plane carrying it out of the sky, then plays a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse trying to get their hands on it. Some days, if it's not one thing, it's another.
Smack in the middle of season 3, comes an international terrorist and intrigue story that seems to have escaped from season 1. HOW did that happen? Gerald Mohr plays "Vadim", the commander of a sub seemingly the equal of The Seaview, who refuses to admit which country he's from. Given his international crew, maybe he's really working for some independant crime syndicate, like SPECTRE, or the never-seen-since the pilot "Dr. Gamma"? (What ever DID happen to that guy? He was all set up to be the show's main recurring villain, then, never showed up again.) Vadim goes thru the whole story with an air of smug superiority, apparently enjoying his ability to out-guess and out-manouever Nelson.
Then there's John Lupton as Dr. Bradley, a bomb expert who grew up together in Brooklyn with Chief Sharkey. Midway thru we find out he's a traitor working for the baddies-- but, being this is an Irwin Allen show, there's NEVER any explanation for how or why this happened, and NO character development at all. Other than jokes about Sharkey's middle name is "Ethelbert".
Crazy enough, Lupton appeared in 2 Allen shows in the same week-- he was also in "The Alamo" episode of "THE TIME TUNNEL" only days earlier!
Writer Oliver Crawford did one of my least-favorite 1st season STAR TREK's, plus 2 seriously-flawed 3rd-season episodes. But here, he does what is easily the BEST episode of VOYAGE's 3rd season. And yet, this was his only contribution to Irwin Allen's shows in the whole of the 60s. The only other thing he ever did for him was 2 episodes SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON in the 70s. I keep saying, if only Allen had hired MORE and BETTER writers.
It amazes me that Gerald Mohr (one of my favorites) was in not only the best episode of the season, but, the same year, my favorite 2nd-season LOST IN SPACE, "A Visit To Hades". Of course, he's a LOT more fun in there.
Now, apart from the episode itself, I saw the weirdest thing today. On the "VOYAGE" Season 3, Part 1, Disc 3 DVD, they included a complete "VOYAGE" comic-book. The story involved "Dr. Gamma", the bald villain whose face you never saw, who was in the pilot, but never returned on the show. His sidekick, "Agent X", was a dead ringer for actor David Opatashu. At the climax, the Seaview is pulled into an underwater sub dock, which looked like it could have been the inspiration for the interior of The Liparus. It contained round elevators, just like the ones seen in Stromberg's "Atlantis", and on the upper level, there were windows thru which you could see sharks swimming.
The only conclusion I can come to is that some of the design work on "THE SPY WHO LOVED ME" was inspired by this comic-book from the mid-60s! There's a connection I never would have imagined.
I coudln't find a pic from the comic online, but, here's a pic of 'Dr. Gamma" from the pilot. INSANELY, he was played by 2 different bald actors in the SAME episode. That's Irwin Allen for you. This pic is "obviously" that of Theo Marcuse. (It wouldn't come up on this board, but it will if you click the link.)
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/1O0AAOSw3utY8WtH/s-l1600.jpg
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Jonathan Harris on being cast on "Lost in Space"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hg9LPr-Glc
Jonathan Harris on rewriting his scripts for "Lost in Space"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxR7QtsorV4
Al Lewis on "Lost in Space" - TelevisionAcademy.com/Interviews
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaljmzklkZI
cheers!
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This one is fun!
Devil Girl From Mars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOs8EzFFgpM
Great Costume!
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Al Lewis on "Lost in Space" - TelevisionAcademy.com/Interviews
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaljmzklkZI
BRILLIANT!!!!! I've found it's really true... when you're in the right "zone", quite often STUFF WRITES ITSELF!
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Today's brand-new BLU-RAY:
THE LOST WORLD
(First National Pictures / 1925)
(Blackhawk Films / 2016 // Flicker Alley / 2017)
The first of multiple film adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic 1912 novel, the film is a mix of adventure, romance, and science-fiction & fantasy. It was also the first full-length feature film from stop-motion special effects artist Willis O'Brien.
I first saw this when I rented a copy sometime back in the 1980s or 90s, and while it was a thrill to finally see it, the then-available copy was not in the greatest shape. This is because, INSANELY, every known print was deliberately destroyed in 1930 to "clear the way" for a newer film that eventually became "KING KONG". This sort of behavior or practice is nothing less than a CRIME against art, in my view, and resulting in it being a "LOST" film for generations. When it was finally rediscovered, as an incomplete print in The Czech Republic (I notice Eastern Europe keeps popping up in stories like this) people were finally able to see severely-edited versions of it. Even at the time, Irwin Allen's 1960 big-budget color remake was considered inferior to the original, though when that came out, no doubt most people had never actually had the chance to see the original film adaptation.
Having fallen into "Public Domain", countless versions have been put out on VHS or DVD. In the early 2000s, I clearly recall TCM ran a magnificent restoration, which apparently involved assembling the best parts of 8 separate prints taken from a whole variety of countries. And yet, THAT is not what I just bought!
Instead, Blackhawk Films has performed a MUCH-more complete and intricate brand-new reconstruction / restoration, again taken from multiple sources in multiple countries, and as a result, now, for the FIRST TIME since it was originally seen in theatres (97 YEARS ago!!!), the film is now COMPLETE, clocking in at 1 hour and 43 minutes. Although the picture quality varies greatly, enough of it looks INCREDIBLE that it was definitely worth getting. The Robert Israel music score is also both gorgeous and thrilling to hear.
I never had a copy of this film before, and now, I'm glad I didn't. By the time the film was over, I was overcome with a sense of sheer JOY that few films I've been getting ahold of lately have given me. I also find it incredibly fitting that the very 1st "stop motion animation dinosaur" film I managed to get on DISC should be THIS one. What a perfect place to start.
Also included as bonuses are 2 earlier short films by O'Brien, and an unfinished film he worked on in 1930 that helped sell his services to RKO for their eventual "KING KONG" epic.
2 of the leads are played by Wallace Beery (Professor Challenger) and Lewis Stone (John Roxton), and I couldn't help but think I was seeing "Long John Silver" teaming up with "Sir Denis Nayland Smith".
I've read disturbing stories that Beery was a real SONOFAB**** in real life off-camera, which suggests to me that he wasn't really acting in this film... just being himself.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/23/Actor_Wallace_Beery_%28SAYRE_4364%29.jpg/705px-Actor_Wallace_Beery_%28SAYRE_4364%29.jpg)
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VOYAGE: The Creature
The Giant Seaweed ***** (of 10)
Another VOYAGE, another giant monster, another MAD scientist loose on the Seaview. When are they going to learn? 1- Never let any strangers onboard. 2- If you let strangers onboard, have them under armed guard at all times. As soon as any scientist tells Nelson, "I CAN'T LET YOU DO THAT!", you know you're in for trouble. Here we have an artificially-created life form that is not only steadily growing and growing, but is powered by electricity and can take over the minds of the crew.
The highlights of this one, I must admit, is that writers John & Ward Hawkins give the regulars more to do than usual. The Doctor gets in a knock-down drag-out fight before being taken over; Chip shows real observation and initiative on his own and thereby saves the ship from being taken over halfway in; Kowalski shoots another crewman dead, then tries to fight off the mind-control; Patterson gets into a fight, shoots someone dead, then shows great remorse at the thought he might have killed the Captain; and Sharkey has to hold off a madman with a pair of cattle-prods (I kept yelling at my TV, "DON'T back up-- move FORWARD!").
This week's guest-actor, Lyle Bettger (the afforementioned mad scientist), made a career of "slick" villains on westerns, and only 2 weeks earlier, had played a Nazi commander on "THE TIME TUNNEL"!
Other than that, the usual high-tension roller-coaster. (Couldn't they have come up with a story title that was LESS generic?)
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X-BOMBER / STAR FLEET: Battle To The Death: X-Bomber Vs. The Imperial Allliance
Happy New Year! **** (of 10)
Having just been forced to KILL his academy mentor in a life-or-death battle, Shiro thinks back on the events of the past 12 episodes.
This is the 2nd "clip show" in only 13 episodes so far. UNFORGIVEABLE! At least having the show on disc allows one to SKIP over stuff like this on future re-watches (unlike in times past when one would have to fast-forward a videotape).
They said they wanted to "out do Gerry Anderson" with this show, and as nearly every Anderson show in the 60s and early 70s had a "clip show" (UFO had 1-1/2!) I guess on this score they've "succeeded". (Yes, I'm being sarcastic.)
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VOYAGE: Death From The Past
HEIL HITLER! **** (of 10)
Nazis in an underwater weapons research lab who've been in suspended animation for 35 years refuse to believe the war is over, and are intent on using missiles to destroy New York, Washington, London and Paris.
Good story idea-- annoyingly-bad execution.
I'm not sure which is the most frustrating. Crane, who's seen everything by now, refuses to accept the idea of suspended animation, despite this being an Irwin Allen show set in 1980. Nobody told these guys the second they woke up what year it was. Security on The Seaview is as PATHETIC as usual. (Two guards in the hall outside Sickbay, on hearing a knock on the door, should have contacted the Captain, NOT opened the door!) Nelson & Sharkey fail to KILL Baron Von Neuberg after nearly being killed themselves, and TWICE he gets the drop on them in the undersea base. The Nazi missiles FAIL to fire, not from anything Nelson did, apparently just from old age systems failure, but there's no mention of the cause. It goes on and on like this. Right up to the climax, when Neuberg is able to FIRE one of the sub's nuclear missiles-- an act that, to anyone who watched seasons 1 & 2, should KNOW this is IMPOSSIBLE, due to the exhaustingly-complex FAIL-SAFE system. (I guess the writers never watched the show.)
MY favorite moment was when Chip Morton got on the comm and told the crew, in reference to Froelich, "KILL him is you HAVE to!" I would have!
I find it interesting that this episode aired on January 8, 1967. 9 months EARLIER, in April 1966, comics writer JACK KIRBY brought back THE RED SKULL from suspended animation in the "Captain America" series. In that story, neo-Nazis revived him, but he was such an Uber-Nazi, he decided to double-cross them and steal their ultimate weapon to use for himself! It's a pity Irwin Allen didn't have any writers that good working for HIM.
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THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1929)
Science VS. Politics ******* (of 10)
An altruistic but naive nobleman-scientist is betrayed by his power-mad EX-friend who wishes to use his submarine as a weapon of war instead of an instrument of exploration. The two men have a final showdown at the very bottom of the ocean, amid the bizarre city of a race of small, undersea mer-men.
The opening credits LIED! This has NOTHING to do with the book it takes its name from. Instead, it very obviously serves as a PREQUEL to Jules Verne's "20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA", showing how Count Andre Dakkar was betrayed and became an engine of vengeance against war-mongers.
It seems when Verne wrote his 1869-70 novel, the French publisher removed the section that revealed Captain Nemo's background and origins, which baffled me when I read it in the late 1980s. Years later I learned that Verne had written Nemo as a Polish Count betrayed by the Russians. But at the time of publication, France & Russia were allies, and this would not have gone over well with Russian readers. In the loose 1874 sequel, he changed it so Nemo would be an Indian Prince who took part in a failed rebellion against the English. This was "okay", as France & England hated each other for centuries! But ever since learning the truth, I've always preferred Nemo being Polish.
Well, in 1926, when production on this epic film began, somebody at MGM must have known about those behind-the-scenes shenanigans. Because although the film takes place in the fictional country of "Hetvia", all the costumes scream "RUSSIAN" to me. And this was less than a decade after Russia went through, NOT one, but TWO political revolutions in TWO WEEKS! First, the Czars, who'd become abusive after centuries, were overthrown in favor of a Democratic government. But before the new regime had time to get their act together, a gang of MURDEROUS CRIMINALS, The Bolsheviks, siezed power, while conning the entire country into thinking they believed in Karl Marx' ideology of a "workers' paradise". It was arguably one of the biggest con jobs ever pulled on the human race.
So in this film, we see the country on the verge of revolution due to the abuse of the royals; a nobleman withdraw to a private island where all workers are considered equals; and a murderous despot sieze power and use every vile means at his disposal to get his hands on the plans of the submarines, so he can use them to "conquer the world". If that isn't political allegory for what went on in Russia in 1918, I don't know what is!
A decade before he became known as the wheelchair-bound "Dr. Gillespie", Lionel Barrymore portrays Dakkar, who goes from single-minded scientist to single-minded vengeance-seeker. My best friend, on seeing the film, asked, "How did those two guys ever become friends in the first place?" (It happens.)
Montagu Love, who I've seen in a number of other films, plays Baron Falon, who's just so visibly EVIL, he makes most Bond villains seem like nice guys by comparison.
Lloyd Hughes, fresh from playing the newspaper reporter in "THE LOST WORLD", is the chief engineer, Nikolai Roget, who's in love with Dakkar's sister Sonia (Jacqueline Gadsdon), who returns his feelings and has as much guts as her brother.
I remember the first time I saw this, it struck me a better title for this film, with a plot of 2 subs slowly sinking to the ocean floor, might be "VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA". In fact, that title would fit this film better than it did Irwin Allen's 1961 film! On top of that, both films share a near-identical scene, when the sub, in the process of submerging, has a squad of soldiers clambering over the hull, desperately trying to get in before it sinks beneath the waters. Something tells me somebody involved with the '61 film saw THIS one!
Something else struck me only after seeing the film at least 4 times. It's been pointed out that this could be viewed as a prequel to "20,000 LEAGUES", if you ignore the ending. I'd already noticed that in the 1954 Disney film, Nemo described his wife and son being tortured to death by his own countrymen, a scene definitely not in Verne's book. But something VERY much like it IS in this film! That would make the Disney film a SEQUEL to THIS film!
But more... Dakkar is not married, and appears to die at the end. But his assistant, Nikolai, was in love with Sonia. It strikes me that Nikolai-- not Dakkar-- is the man who became "Captain Nemo", (Niko / Nemo) and that the events described by James Mason in the latter film took place between this film and that one. (Hey, why not?)
One more amusing bit crossed my mind. When the 2nd sub is sinking uncontrollably, a narration card reads, "No.2 sinks helpless". Read that as "No two helpless"... "No two less"... "NAUTILUS".
Tragically, after multiple delays and reshoots, the film took 3 years to make, and, worse, somehow BOMBED at the box-office, killing big-budget science-fiction films for the next 2 decades. MGM didn't make another until "FORBIDDEN PLANET" (1956). As old-fashioned and creaky as it may seem today, keep that in mind when watching.
As I write this, I just got finished re-watching my decades-old videotape recorded off TNT. Apart from the blips where I edited out all the commercial breaks, the print they ran was in pretty good shape, and might have been from the SAME source as the current 2019 "print on demand" DVD from Warner Archive. Except for one thing. Some of the undersea scenes with the "mer-men", the picture is pretty FUZZY and CHOPPY on the DVD. It's CRYSTAL-CLEAR on my decades-old videotape. That just AIN'T RIGHT.
A near-complete 2-COLOR print was found and restored in the Czech Republic. SOMEBODY needs to do a proper further restoration and Blu-Ray release on this. When they do... I'll be the 1st customer!
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I love that film.
It has little or nothing to do with Jules Verne's Nemo.
One thing I really liked was the diving suits, which were hard shell anti pressure suits . They used a diagonal flange to allow stepping into the lower half then donning and sealing the upper half. The left arm lower torso and legs were in one half while the other held the right arm upper chest and helmet.
Some real thought and skill went into designing and fabricating these.
The scene where an ancient war galley with skeletons of rowers still chained to the benches is dragged into position to use its battering ram was awesome.
This sort of galley was used by Alexander the Great to batter down the seawalls of Tyre.
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VOYAGE: The Heat Monster
Fire Bully From Beyond *** (of 10)
An obsessed Norweigian scientist inadvertendly brings an alien fire creature to Earth, convinced it must be friendly. But it kills his assistant, and once onboard the Seaview, threatens to FRY the sub and KILL everyone onboard, if its orders are not followed by a certain deadline. This is not how you make friends.
My first question: did Alfred Ryder ever play any characters who WEREN'T crazy? THE OUTER LIMITS, STAR TREK, BUCK ROGERS... his list of madmen goes on and on.
I found myself thinking there should have been one scene where Nelson told Bergstrom, "Alright, YOU go talk to it first. Now, if it KILLS you, then we'll go to Plan B." Instead, the alien belligerantly DEMANDS the Seaview crew set off an atomic explosion directly under the Arctic research base, "OR ELSE". And sure enough, Crane & Sharkey discover a whole group of fresh-frozen aliens, brought to Earth the same way, waiting to be set free by the intense heat of an atomic blast. So, clearly, this alien is up to NO GOOD.
Unfortunately, it takes most of the episode before the completely-unhinged Bergstrom (is there ever any other kind of scientist on this show?) finally breaks down and tells Nelson HOW to kill the alien-- just before, sure enough, it DOES kill him.
My second question is-- HOW in the hell did Charles Bennett write something THIS stupid? I've been watching "VOYAGE" from the beginning, and this really does have to rank among the worst-written episodes so far. (And that's really saying something.) I mean, my God, this is the guy who wrote the screenplays for THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, THE 39 STEPS, FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT, NIGHT OF THE DEMON, and, my personal favorite, the 1954 CLIMAX! TV adaptation of Ian Fleming's "Casino Royale", which I've long liked WAY better than the novel!
On the other hand, he also did THE STORY OF MANKIND, THE BIG CIRCUS, THE LOST WORLD, VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (the feature film), FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON, a LAND OF THE GIANTS and 7 episodes of VOYAGE-- all for Irwin Allen. I've said before Irwin Allen needed better writers. But in this case, I must rephrase that, and instead say, he needed better WRITING. This reminds me of what happened on BATMAN when Charles Hoffman took over as story editor, and the quality of everybody's scripts began to go right through the floor.
I'm also reminded that Bennett did WAR-GODS OF THE DEEP. That's one of the few bad films I've seen where, EVEN seeing it in widescreen didn't help.
And to think... I've still got a season-and-a-half of VOYAGE yet to go. OY! When even a really STUPID episode of LOST IN SPACE is far more entertaining to watch... you know you got problems.
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MARY POPPINS (1964)
Practically Perfect In Every Way ********** (of 10)
A supernatural nanny deviously helps a man realize his children are more important to him than he ever realized.
MARY POPPINS was the only movie I ever saw in theatres 3 times when I was a kid (once each in 3 different theatres, starting with a drive-in). That alone distinguishes it from every other film I ever saw in the whole of the 60s. I understand Walt Disney considered this his single greatest achivement. I can't argue with that! In retrospect, I can only think of 3 other live-action films his studio ever made I could rank up there with it, all adaptations of classics of one sort or another: 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, and GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE. This one without a doubt has a particularly special place in my heart, because it's the only one of those I saw when I was a little kid. Mind you, as at least one other reviewer has pointed out, this is not a "kids' film". This is a "family film". That means, yes, it can be enjoyed by adults as well, and in quite different ways.
The art direction, the writing, the music, the casting, the visual effects-- it's hard to imagine any film of this type that is more absolutely perfect in every possible way than this one. Watching it now on disc with a widescreen TV, I was thinking how much it might have been hurt trying to see it in "fullscreen" on an older TV. Thank goodness I only ever did that once (back in the early 90s at my best friend's parent's house, when HBO ran it). That was, by the most uncanny coincidence, the same day I was flying a kite in Chestnut Hill, with no idea I'd be seeing the film later that night.
This film introduced me to so much and so many things, starting with Julie Andrews. At age 5, I adored her. I can fully understand the kids being shattered at her sudden departure at the end-- after a mere 3-1/2 DAYS as their nanny! (And after she told their father she'd "give him a week"-- HAH!) Looking back, her character comes across as very uptight and almost cold on the surface, though Andrews manages to make her a lot warmer than she apparently was in the books. I fell in love with her far more in THE SOUND OF MUSIC!
Glynis Johns as Winnifred, the mother, is adorable in quite a different way, both for her enthusiastic obsession with getting women the right to vote (something that went completely over my head as a kid) to being 100% supportive of her husband, no matter what mood he might be in. One of my favorite moments with her is when she asks Burt to watch the children. It's the only time in the story where he's completely flummoxed and off-balance, and I realized Winnifred did to him what Mary did to her husband!
David Tomlinson's George seems together at first, but his narrow-mindedness that leads to so much irritation, the instant anything goes astray from his restricted view of how life should be, is obviously the problem. I grew up with a father somewhat like him, except in my case, my Dad NEVER had the kind of revelation George did. I had to figure out how to "get along" with him better on my own, and it took me more than 30 years to do so. Watching this movie now, makes me wish things had been different. My brother, who never quite developed a real personality, did manage to point out to me, 30 years ago, that George was really the main character in the film, as he's the one who changed the most by the end. He was RIGHT!
The domestics are each a kick in their own way. Hermoine Baddeley (like Glynis Johns) later turtned up on the 3rd season of BATMAN (as "Frontier Fanny"). Reta Shaw popped up in an episode of THE MONKEES, and was a regular on the tv series THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR, but was also the model for Jack Kirby's villain "Granny Goodness"! Elsa Lanchester, of course, was the title character in THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, and also had an absolutely hilarious role as the nurse in WITNESS FOR THE PROESECUTION. (I had no idea the first time I watched that she was married to Charles Laughton, who starred as the lawyer Sir Wilfred.)
Matthew Garber & Karen Dotrice are wonderful as the children. I suppose the character I related to as a kid was Michael, though I was far more repressed by my Dad than he was by his. It amazes me to think Garber only ever did 3 movies, all of them with Dotrice. The thing that blows my mind watching this is just HOW MUCH he resembles Tomlinson; I can really believe Michael is George's son. By comparison, Jane doesn't look like either of her parents at all! Very odd. Such a tragedy to read that Garber passed away at only age 21.
Of course, the guy who STEALS the entire movie is Dick Van Dyke as Burt, Mary's more down-to-Earth, friendly, jack-of-many-trades fellow magical person. I feel the NEED to say that, as Burt was the first Cockney I ever encountered on film, I have NEVER had the slightest problem with his accent. I watch so many English movies & TV shows, I really cannot comprehend why so many apparently do! I mean, geez, Brian Glover (on CAMPION) has a much-more impenetrable accent. The author may have objected, but it's clear to me Burt very openly loves Mary, but she's too intent on maintaining an "aloof" front to want to admit she feels the same way. Their relationship reminds me a lot of The Doctor & Romana on DOCTOR WHO, especially with Mary Tamm's Romana (except she was a lot more relaxed about showing her feelings).
Mary may set things up and exhibit more magical abilities, but Burt is REALLY the one who draws her out, explains to the children just how much their father is up against it so much, and is the one who genuinely GETS THROUGH to George in the scene when he fears his entire world is about to fall apart. In effect, I feel Burt is the real hero of the movie!
I had absolutely NO idea as a kid that Van Dyke also played Mr. Dawes. NONE! What a CREEP that guy is, too, grabbing the money out of Michael's hand. Later, it's not enough to be firing George from his job, he actually is enjoying HUMILIATING him-- and then gets infuriated when George, having his abrupt change of attitude, refuses to BE humiliated. The guy deserved to die laughing. As his son said, he was never so happy before! Arthur Mallet is another one where I had ZERO idea it was him in this movie until recently, and I've seen him in many things, including THE MONKEES, WKRP IN CINCINNATI, HALLOWEEN. The only other instance like this I can think of, of an actor totally vanishing under both make-up and a performance, was Ann Guilbert on THE NANNY. I kept seeing her name in the credits of that show and THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, but had to look her up online to realize WHO she was playing on both shows. It was jaw-dropping when I found out.
I've seen this film twice on disc now, and both times it's gotten me extremely emotional, in an extraordinary way that goes far beyond any mere "nostalgia". From "Sister Suffragette" all the way to "Let's Go Fly A Kite", I seem to have found the perfect instrument to help me unleash any tensions going on in my life.
I have only ONE major complaint-- and it's not about the movie, it's about the DVD Disney put out. There are MULTIPLE advertisements for other films at the beginning of the disc, plus an excessively-complex "menu", plus an ad for the sound system, the Copyright warning, the comment about the commentary. Even hitting the "ADVANCE" button to skip over as much of this CRAP as possible, it takes a full ONE MINUTE and FORTY-EIGHT SECONDS to get to the start of the movie. UNACCEPTABLE!! This is absolute B***S***. And you know what? The only good thing is, they included a free DVD with the Blu-Ray. Disney's Blu-Rays, like Universal's and Shout Factory's, all contain a "disc authoring DEFECT", wherein if you hit "STOP", it instantly takes you back to the beginning before the menu. I like to take breaks while watching movies, especially long ones like this, but if I do it with the Blu-Ray, I'd have to suffer thru that 1:48 at the beginning EVERY SINGLE TIME, and then search for where I left off! It is especially infuriating when it's the "big" companies whose discs are like this, as a result of them trying to be CHEAP to increase their profits. It makes me want to try running off a custom bootleg copy, just to eliminate all the junk at the start of the disc. (I figured if nobody else was going to bring this up in their reviews, I WOULD.)
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This week's film:
20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1954)
Arguably James Mason's finest role. "I am NOT what you would call a civilized man. I am DONE with society, for reasons of my own, and therefore do not obey its laws."
A friend at work got me a VHS copy of a "Walt Disney Home Video" rental back in the 80s, which was in "fullscreen". (That's SQUARE for modern people who have no memory of traditional TVs..... like my 2 clients.)
In May 2007 I taped a WIDESCREEN copy from TCM, which was a MAJOR upgrade that allowed me to fully appreciate the film for the first tme ever.
Friday, I got it on BLU-RAY.
Ironically, according to the IMDB site, an earlier DVD had "supplementary material". The brand-new Blu-Ray... DOESN'T. Go figure.
Really, I'm shocked that the Blu-Ray of the 1916 film has an audio commentary, yet somehow Disney got all cheap on their own 1954 film and didn't include anything... not even a trailer!
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pwY5L34NHnk/XSh9R4-lguI/AAAAAAAAT0w/Gyx7EXn0lREJI79M0AVkwPVJ5BC8ZYpYgCLcBGAs/s1600/20%252C000%2BLeagues%2BUnder%2Bthe%2BSea.jpg)
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GREAT article on the making of the film.
http://nixpixdvdmoviereviewsandmore.blogspot.com/2019/07/20000-leagues-under-sea-anniversary.html
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Nick Zagarac, who wrote that long blog article, replied to my comments:
Dear Henry:
The Mouse House today, alas, has little to zero interest in catering to the public where hi-def physical media releases are concerned, especially of their live-action deep catalog releases.
The decision to release such time-honored classics as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea without all the hard-won and expertly produced extras made for their 'Vault Disney' DVD releases is truly baffling, as is their executive logic behind releasing Bedknobs and Broomsticks to Blu in only its theatrical cut, and not the meticulously re-assembled director's cut (which ought to have been the real theatrical cut, except that the Christmas premiere was scheduled at Radio City and had to fit into the program to include the Rockettes' show, previews and shorts) is idiotic and thought-numbing.
The tragedy, at least for me, is grossly amplified when one considers how much 'real estate' Disney Inc. owns today, and how much cinema history is being left to languish without the proper curation and care.
Not only are we being deprived of the Disney classics, to include such masterpieces as Song of the South, The Happiest Millionaire, That Darn Cat, The Shaggy Dog, Third Man on the Mountain, The Sword and the Rose, and on and on, but Disney seems intent on hoarding assets from the Touchstone, Caravan, and Hollywood Pictures holdings.
So, no Pretty Woman director's cut (again, made available on DVD ONLY), no While You Were Sleeping, I Love Trouble, Jane Austen's Emma, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Outrageous Fortune, etc, though some of these have been released to foreign markets with little to zero care in their video mastering.
But now, Disney has dismantled the venerable 20th Century-Fox. So, the likelihood we will ever get properly remastered editions of great classics like Call Me Madam, The Seven Year Itch, River of No Return, Star!, Wilson, Forever Amber, Staircase, etc. is minimal to nil.
That means we've lost access to ALL the great Shirley Temple movies. Most of Marilyn Monroe's catalog. Virtually all of Betty Grable, Tyrone Power, June Haver, Jeanne Crain, Dana Andrews, and 99% of Carmen Miranda's gay ole fluff and fun. All but one of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classics is in limbo. So, no The Sound of Music 4K! Obscene!!! No, properly mastered hi-def editions of Irwin Allen's The Poseidon Adventure and Towering Inferno. No original/unaltered Star Wars trilogy.
The 'woke' attitude at Disney Inc. today has managed to proliferate, infect and marginalize much of Walt's legacy, but now, also, has taken a hatchet to the entirety of Darryl F. Zanuck's reign as one of the irrefutable Hollywood titans of his generation.
Will Disney change course in the future? Remains to be seen. In the meantime, those wishing to have some basic connection with their childhood memories need to subscribe to Disney + to get their fix at the studio's whim. The company decides what you see, when you see it, and how you see it. If they don't wish a part of their history to be seen, it's been altered from its original vision without the public's consent, leaving only butchered archival material for generations to come, study, admire and respect.
I shudder to think what Walt would make of all this if he were alive. Mr. Zanuck, a caustic and less congenial mogul of his day, I know, would NOT be pleased!!!
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This also means that if you have a copy of one of these films, even on VHS, keep it, it will eventually be valuable.
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Now I'll probably be going after the earlier DVD version, just for the extras. That's maddening.
Apparently, Disney did a brand-new restoration of the film in 2011... but waited until 2019 to put out the Blu-Ray, because during that time there were 2 different remakes being considered.
As John Huston said shortly before he passed away, "There's NO POINT in remaking a classic." And 20,000 LEAGUES is considered by many (including me) as one of THE GREATEST films Disney ever, ever made.
The problem with videotapes-- apart frm how easily they can be damaged, etc., etc. etc... is that a few years ago, some IDIOTS decided they weren't going to make videotape machines anymore. And most of the ones in the previous 20 years were msde so CHEAPLY, they tended to fall apart in only a couple years. So, virtually overnight, it became DIFFICULT or IMPOSSIBLE to replace VCRs, and people with 40+ YEARS of tapes suddenly have no way to play them.
Right now I'm using a used one that plays fine... except, it has this noticable ELECTRICAL CRACKLING NOISE when it plays. And there's no body who repairs these things now, either.
As a result, I'm limiting myself to playing my old videotapes to 2 days a week. The other 5, it's all DVDs and Blu-Rays, which I only started buying about 4 years ago. Many of them so far have been TV series, which gives me a LOT to watch, but I've also this year been buying ONE disc or box set EVERY WEEK. And many of these are things I never had in my collection before, after 42 years! But I am slowly "upgrading"... and in many instabnces, they're MAJOR upgrades, because the tapes they're replacing may have been recorded BY ME back in the 1980s!
But there's no way to upgrade my whole collection overnight... I need to space things out, money-wise, and time-wise. I enjoy what I buy much better this way.
There needs to be someone smart enough to decide to start making VCRs again-- and make them GOOD ENOUGH that they last 5-10 years. That would make it worth paying $500 for such a "specialty" item.
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The problem with videotapes-- apart from how easily they can be damaged, etc., etc. etc... is that a few years ago, some IDIOTS decided they weren't going to make videotape machines anymore.
Well, they are one of the only technologies that haven't come back again, so maybe they will.
Vinyl and Cassettes are both back. Not sure about 8-tracks? Used to use 8track cartridges for short message tapes on radio. They were very useful.
I remember - around 2005? - It was possible to buy machines into which you could put a VHS and a CD and record the VHS onto the CD. I have long regretted not buying one.
I would be surprised if you couldn't get a good quality VHS machine on E-Bay or the several equivalents.
Also, perhaps, look for a thread on VHS on Reddit?
cheers!
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YES, they do sell VCRs... my previous one was "refurbushed" and I managed to make it last several more years. then the mechanical part SUDDENLY stopped working. I bet a good repairman cold fix it in minutes, but I've no idea how. (The tape refuses to go in now, it just stops halfway in.) I got an identical one to replace it, and this one works perfect, except for the electrical crackling noise. In theory, one could canibalize the 2 machines to get ONE good one out of it, but I'm not gonna mess with it!!
At the moment, it looks like there might be much-better machines out there, but they tend to cost way more than I can afford right now.
I mean, this is why I got the cheapest Blu-Ray player I could find a year ago (one which ONLY had an "HDMI" jack in the back-- no "RCA" jacks). Either the machine, the HDMI cable, or the "converter box" that allows me to use RCA cables, cuts the volume in HALF. It's crazy.
A couple weeks ago, I got a cheap Region-Free DVD Player (for about the same price). This one, as I knew in advance, has both HDMI and RCA jacks, so I was able to get it up and running in minutes, without having to buy extra equipment like I did last year, just to plug it in. ("It shouldn't be this difficult just to play movies", my late friend in Wales said a year ago.)
A Region-Free Blu-Ray Player costs about 5 TIMES what either of these did. Maybe in a few years...
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My dvd/bluray player is a Sony multi region machine which cost around £80 a couple of years ago. I also have a Cambridge multi region dvd only player which I've had for years.
As for sf, I bought a "new" BFI version of the Children's Film Foundation serial, Masters Of Venus. Much better than the dodgy, poor quality pirate copy from years ago.
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If you have a reasonably up-to-date lap-top computer, it should play region-free BlueRay Discs.
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But most new laptops don't have dvd trays. They are becoming rarer thanks to streaming.
Perhaps it's because I'm old and a member of the awkward squad that I don't stream stuff or pay for those Netflix things, preferring a physical box with dvd or cd. A bit like comics. Digital may be the future but you can’t beat the tactile and olfactory experience of a physical book.
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I bought a laptop a few months ago which has a DVD player. Very good quality laptop too.
But you can buy a stand-alone player and attach it for not much more money.
I have too many DVDs not too.
Actually a significant number of younger persons watch movies on their mobile phones, or on a screen and speakers which they attach to the phone.
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VOYAGE: The Fossil Men
Rocks in their Heads (4 of 10)
Strange noises... strange turbulence... and what looks like a rock creature pounding on the hull, which Nelson & Crane don't believe they actually saw. But, this is an Irwin Allen show, so, OF COURSE it's a rock creature. When one of the crew disappears, then comes back, "infected", Nelson & Sharkey use the Flying Sub to find a cave with an underground grotto, inhabitted by... what else? Rock men.
It seems most are sailors from 300 years earlier who were transformed by a "pool of life", making them immortal, but also making them look like Ben Grimm "The Thing" from the FANTASTIC FOUR series. Shades of THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT or THE OUTER LIMITS: "A Feasability Study". Their leader, a survivor of a sub that went missing only 30 years ago, want to take over the Seaview (WHAT ELSE?), and use their nuclear missiles as a threat if Nelson refuses to surrender. Didn't any of these writers watch earlier episodes? This is the 2nd week in a row where someone decides to fire the sub's nuclear missiles, even though with the complex FAIL-SAFE system, it's IMPOSSIBLE for anyone on the sub to do so without cooperation from someone in Washington!
On top of this, I keep wondering how the torpedos are fired backward from the missile room (in the rear of the sub) yet manage to fire forward (while there's no visible torpedo hatches in the front of the ship). Clearly, the simple practicalities of "design" meant nothing to Irwin "I love explosions" Allen.
It's annoying how this story seems to start off very interesting, with some fascinating concepts, but then gets DUMBER AND DUMBER the longer it goes on!!
The smooth, sophisticated voice of the lead rock man, totally inappropriate, wrong-sounding and out-of-place in this episode, was supplied by Bart La Rue, who also did such voices as "The Guardian Of Forever" (STAR TREK: "The City on the Edge Of Forever"), alien machines on LOST IN SPACE ("Space Destructors", "Flight Into The Future") a "Provider" (STAR TREK: "The Gamesters Of Triskellion") and "Yarnek" (STAR TREK: "The Savage Curtain"). He started out doing a ton of voices before segueing into on-screen acting. What makes this episode so odd is actor Brendan Dillon was the credited guest-actor in the opening credits, yet playing the lead monster, you can't see his face, AND, he had his voice dubbed over. WTF? I bet he wasn't proud of this smear on his resume.
My favorite bit was near the end, when Kowalski didn't wait for further orders when he fired that weapon to destroy the last monster. Enough was enough!
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VOYAGE: The Mermaid
The Gilman and The Girl -or- Last Woman Swimming! (4 of 10)
Nelson receives top-secret orders to locate an "unfindable" bomb off the west coast before it endangers a disarmament conference. Too bad he didn't tell this to Crane before The Captain went AWOL to a nearby island looking for a MERMAID. No, really! In a replay of Dr. Smith and "Lorelei" in the LOST IN SPACE episode "Wild Adventure", a character is the ONLY one who sees the mysterious alien girl. At least others on board eventually DO see her, and, she winds up coming in handy locating that "unfindable" bomb!
Of course, this being VOYAGE, this almost- reasonable story is peppered with multiple scenes of brutal combat, destruction and chaos abord The Seaview, as her "Creature from the Black Lagoon"-of-sorts "mate" comes looking for her, rampaging on and on and nearly preventing even his own destruction, if they don't deactivate that bomb in time.
I can't understand how The Seaview crew has repeatedly encounted countless undersea or alien creatures on this show, yet, somehow, the thought of a "mermaid" is scoffed at. They take a monster rampaging in the halls for granted, but not a pretty girl with a tail?
I actually thought this episode was better than several I'd seen recently... but I thought a few scenes seemed... "familiar". Turns out, this was like the equivalent of the stunt Ralph Bakshi repeatedly kept pulling in the 3rd season of SPIDER-MAN (1969), when he would shamelessly RE-USE footage from earlier episodes, and hope the audience didn't notice how shamelessly CHEAP he was being.
In this case (thanks to reviewer "Medelste" for pointing this out), several of the creature rampage scenes were reused from Season 2's "The Menfish", while the entire "bomb disarming" scene was reused from Season 2's "The Peacemaker". BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!!
The Mermaid in question was none other than Diane Webber, who was Playboy's Playmate of the Month TWICE, in May 1955 and February 1956, both times under the name Marguerite Empey. This was not the only time Hugh Hefner used a model more than once as a Playmate! Among her relatively small film resume is a low-budget artsy flick called MERMAIDS OF TIBURON (1962). When I read that there's a scene in that film where she swims next to a SHARK, I realized that many (if not all) of her swimming scenes in this episode were reused from THAT movie!! Oh, Irwin Allen should have been embarrassed by this... but then, look what he was doing at the same time on THE TIME TUNNEL!
Crazy enough, Webber would be the LAST woman to ever appear on VOYAGE. After this, it was an all-boys' show all the way to the end. INSANE!!
I'm surprised I gave a thing like this 4 stars... I only did so because "The Brand of the Beast", "The Heat Monster" and "The Fossil Men" were all FAR-worse. I sensed as I watched that Richard Basehart may have been trying to keep himself from laughing at the absurdity of it all, the way he had to keep repeating questions and order. I also found it amusing how they apparently hired 2 new crewmen we never saw before, just to have them both get the crap repeatedly beat out of them in the fight scene padding with the monster.
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VOYAGE: No Escape From Death
The STOCK-FOOTAGE Horror! (3 of 10)
Tracking down an undersea lab, Seaview is rammed and sunk by an enemy sub. With a major bulkhead in danger of collapsing, and both the air and ballast systems disabled, they have only X number of hours to effect repairs, or everyone onboard will DIE! (What, AGAIN??) On top of that, a giant squishy tentacled thingie created by the enemy lab is endangering the ship, and, Crane, Kowalski & Patterson (WHO ELSE??) get swallowed by it.
All this would be annoying enough, if it weren't for the added absurdity of stock footage taken from what appears to be several previous episodes, including at least ONE from season 1! You have compartments being flooded under red lighting (to disguise it being BLACK AND WHITE footage being re-used), you have this week's only guest-star, Paul Carr, crawling thru a flooded air tube and getting his arm caught in some machinery he's trying to fix (all under BLUE lighting, same reason), and you have 3 divers walking around inside the guts of a giant monster (in full COLOR).
I guess we can say Ralph Bakshi learned a lot watching Irwin Allen (check out the 3rd season of SPIDER-MAN from 1969 to see what I mean).
The HERO of this hour is Chief Sharkey! Ordered to fire a missile to destroy the monstrous tentacled thingie, he hesitates, worried that the 3 divers might still be alive inside, and suggests a way to save them-- WHICH WORKS. Damn. If I'd written (and directed) this episode, I'd have had all 3 guys (especially the Captain) thanking Sharkey-- IN FRONT OF THE ADMIRAL-- while promising him a pay raise.
I honestly can't think of any other prime-time tv show from the 60s that managed to regularly get away with this kind of murder. I sometimes wonder if Irwin Allen had incriminating pictures of somebody at 20th Century-Fox Television? It's possible! After all, we KNOW the guy in charge, William Self, frequented The Playboy Mansion. (That's how the Adam West BATMAN show started.)
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THE TIME TUNNEL: Chase Through Time
Two MILLION Years! (9 of 10)
A foreign spy who infiltrated the complex a year earlier murders a scientist, plants the timing mechanism for an already-installed atomic bomb, and when he's found out, "escapes" into the Tunnel... winding up exactly where Doug & Tony are. They have about 24 hours, by the Tunnel's point of view, to locate the bomb, before it destroys the complex, possibly kills everyone in it, and traps our heroes "somewhere along the infinite corridors of time". WOW. What a premise!
I always remembered this story as one of the real stand-outs. I was even briefly inspired to write my own tribute to it once (but never got past the first page). As things go in the complex, inexplicably, they're somehow "unable to hold" the spy where he is, and so he vanishes from 1547, and the Tunnel has to try to track WHERE he vanished to, in order to send Doug & Tony after him. Which turns out to be ONE MILLION YEARS A. D. Holy cow! They find themselves in a patented 1960s sci-fi future inhabited by "humans" who have pretty much had all their humanity bred out of them, and have formed a society similar to that of BEES-- rulers, soldiers, and workers. And to make matter worse-- the spy they're searching for, somehow arrived TEN YEARS before they did-- has ingratiated himself to their rulers-- and has convinced them (CONNED, really!) to build their own time machine, to "spread their civilization across all time". WHAT?? This makes ZERO sense, but, again, these future-people are incapable of actually thinking for themselves-- and that includes the rulers. The real reason he's doing this, is to get back to his own time. (But of course, he's not going to tell them that.)
As I said, I always remembered this story, but re-watching now, after so long, it really blew my mind, as being EVEN BETTER than I remembered it. So often, on Irwin Allen shows, even when you had a great premise, the writing would let it down. Surprisingly-- NOT this time. Oh, sure, Ray Swaine & Ann MacGregor are as INCOMPETENT as always, and when they're able to do something with the Tunnel, it's usually a matter of good luck and a prayer. But I have to say, this may be the single most mesmerizing episode of the entire run, right up there with the "Titanic" and "Pearl Harbor" stories.
Has Robert Duvall EVER played a likable character? Apart from "The Chameleon" on THE OUTER LIMITS (and he started as a paid government assassin in that one), I can't think of one. He's SO focused on his murderous assignment, and later, when the heroes confront him and attempt to FORCE him to reveal where the bomb is hidden, he repeatedly refuses, over and over, so confident in his arrogance.
Vitina Marcus, "the girl from the green dimension" on LOST IN SPACE, plays a worker who becomes "defective" due to the hero's influence, and decides to help them when they decide to save her life. She asks, "What is LIKE?" "What is LOVE?", and her dormant humanity begins to come out.
Lew Gallo, previously seen in the Pearl Harbor story, is one of the soldiers, whose sole purpose has become protecting Duvall at all costs. When HE's nearly killed in the last act, he cannot comprehend why Doug refuses to kill him, or leave him to die. The best moment in the entire story may be when he takes his laser pistol back, and surprisingly, aims it AT Duvall, demanding he tell the heroes what they want to know. WHY this sudden change of attitude? He says... "I-- LIKE him." Looks like there's HOPE for humanity, yet! (Later on, Gallo switched over to production, and was one of the people in charge of the Stacy Keach MIKE HAMMER series in the 80s.)
The last act takes place in ONE MILLION B. C., which gives Irwin Allen a chance to re-use footage from his own feature film THE LOST WORLD, some of the same footage that had already been re-used in 2 different episodes of VOYAGE, and, to my surprise, the un-aired version of THE TIME TUNNEL pilot! I have to say, sure, they're giant lizards, but just like in Columbia's JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (1959), this may be some of the best use ever of lizards pretending to be dinosaurs.
Presumably, Gallo & Marcus' characters were returned to their own time-- one would like to think together, their influence might bring a major positive change to their otherwise-bleak future society. (If not, some other time period is gonna have a pair of visitors even more out of place than Doug & Tony.) Re-watching this story, I couldn't help but wonder what a 2nd season might have been like. This was the small-screen equivalent of big-budget sci-fi feature film at the time, and in my mind, it looked and felt like what VOYAGE and LOST IN SPACE should have more often, but almost never was. Imagine Doug & Tony making it back to the Tunnel, and those in charge having more knowledge, experience and control over the Tunnel. There might have been an infinite range of stories they could have done, that was only hinted at here.
Several TIME TUNNEL stories had parallels on early DOCTOR WHO, including "Marco Polo", "The Trojan War", "The French Revolution", and even a western. This one clearly parallels "The Chase", which was the FINAL story on that show to feature Ian & Barbara-- before they made it back home to their own time. Suffice to say, DOCTOR WHO didn't end when that happened-- it had barely gotten started, and ran for another 24 seasons afterward. There's no reason THE TIME TUNNEL couldn't have had a longer run-- except the narrow minds of network executives.
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THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1961 / more!)
I watched the 1st audio commentary tonight. This one was from about 20 years ago, with Ray Harryhausen & his friend and historian Tony Dalton. It was interesting, but, I'm afraid it was not one of my favorite commentaries. Harryhausen was so old, his voice sounded weak, and he'd forgotten more than they talked about, and Dalton, trying to keep the things rolling and on-target, showed a SHOCKING lack of knowledge about related films!
He actually complained that the 1929 MGM film had "nothing" to do with Verne's story (OF COURSE!!!) and had the nerve to insist it was "TERRIBLE". Jesus. I love that film. It's clearly a PREQUEL to "20,000 Leagues", and between certain events in it, which are MENTIONED in the Disney film, the 1954 Disney film becomes a SEQUEL.
Dalton seemed completely unaware that the 1916 "20,000 LEAGUES" was in fact also the 1st film version of "The Mysterious Island", and seemed to have NO knowledge of either the 1941 Russian film or the 1951 Sam Katzman SERIAL (both of which I now have on my "wanted" list).
I'm far more interested in older film versions than newer ones, as it seems Hollywood and other places insist on doing TERRIBLE REMAKES of the same stories over and over and over again.
One very interesting bit of knowledge I ran across, was that the 1973 Euro TV-mini-series starring Omar Sharif, WAS made available, INTACT, the entire 6 episodes of it, on a GERMAN DVD with English subtitles, back in 2005. Whoa. One more foreign item to look for next year!
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VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (1961)
Preposterous, Apocalyptic Submarine Epic! (6 of 10)
The Van Allen Belt has caught fire! As temperatures world-wide continue to rise, in 3 weeks, all life on Earth will become extinct. Only genius scientist, inventor and military Admiral Harriman Nelson has a chance of saving the entire planet, with his nuclear submarine The Seaview, by exploding an atomic bomb in the atmosphere at an exact time and location to blow the belt into space. But he’s got everything possible against him—a Russian scientist at the U.N. who claims Nelson is wrong; a sub Captain who’s arguing with him at every stage of the mission; a crew on the verge of mutiny; a woman psychiatrist who insists Nelson is "a classic case of paranoia" who needs to be forcibly removed from command; a religious fanatic who insists it is wrong to go against "God’s will"; a giant squid, an even bigger giant octopus, an underwater mine field, and a U.N. sub determined to blow The Seaview out of the water with torpedoes. Can you say, "disaster movie"?
In the 1960s, 2 producers held sway in the field of TV sci-fi: Gerry Anderson in England, and Irwin Allen in America. 3 years before the debut of Allen’s VOYAGE series came this movie, with much the same sub but an (almost) entirely-different cast. I’ve been re-watching and studying and discussing Allen in great detail over the last 3+ years, and I’ve come to the conclusion he had the emotional maturity of an arrogant 6-year-old. Despite this, he somehow became one of the most successful producers in Hollywood during the 60s and 70s. But one thing’s certain: he really could have used better writers. Virtually NOTHING about this film makes any sense at all, and yet, since the day I upgraded my local commercial station videotape copy to an uncut widescreen one from TCM, my estimation of this film increased tenfold. It may be completely-ridiculous—but it’s unquestionably VERY watchable!
What we have here is a cross between THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE and THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE. Submarine films had been popular since World War Two, and more so since Disney’s 20,000 LEAGUES (1954). Disaster movies were also a popular genre, not all of them involving giant monsters. I can attest, this one’s less depressing than the average ones coming out of England at the time.
Heading the cast is Walter Pidgeon (MANHUNT, NICK CARTER MASTER DETECTIVE, FORBIDDEN PLANET), who, ehh, plays "Harriman Nelson", a man who’se had so much success in his life he’s reached a point where he’s convinced he’s never wrong.
Peter Lorre plays his colleague, presumably because Lorre was also in the 1954 Disney film.
Robert Sterling is Captain Lee Crane, strangely the most forgettable actor in the film. Ironically, David Hedison turned this down because he didn’t like the script; but 3 years later, he accepted the role because he really wanted to work with Richard Basehart.
Barbara Eden plays the only crew-woman on board, who happens to be engaged to the Captain, and the two plan on retiring to some cosy ranch. More than anything else, this shows the movie and later tv series are not in the same continuity.
Frankie Avalon does double duty as a trumpet-playing Lieutenant, and singing the romantic theme song.
Charles Tannen is CPO Gleason, who doesn’t have half the personality of either Chief Curly or Chief Sharkey on the later series.
Regis Toomey, who I always remember from THE BIG SLEEP ("This doesn’t look like the way YOU’D handle it, Phil!") is Dr. Jamieson, who actually has more personality than the un-named doctor on all 4 years of the series.
Mark Slade plays the young seaman Jimmy, who suffers a fate similar to Scotty’s nephew in STAR TREK 2.
Robert Easton is communications man "Sparks". He turned up as one of the main regulars on another submarine show a bit after this, Gerry Anderson’s STINGRAY, where he played "Phones"! A good friend of mine in Wales always maintained that STINGRAY had way better writing than VOYAGE, and I agree.
Henry Daniell, Joan Fontaine & Michael Ansara played, respectively, the Russian fanatic, the psychiatrist, and the religious fanatic. Allen played no favorites here!
The sole actor who returned from this for the series was Del Monroe. However, it should be noted, "Kowski" is a completely-different character than "Kowalski". The former was quick to argue or start fights; the latter was arguably the most good-natured crewman on the sub, always enthusiastic and ready to tackle any job, no matter how dangerous or suicidal it might be. What a guy!
The last time I watched this, I was under a lot of stress. Against all odds or sense, watching this film, of all things, helped me relax and put me in a far-more optimistic mood. When I get a chance, I plan to upgrade my TCM tape to a DVD. It’ll be a good fit with all my Irwin Allen series box sets!
(11-12-2022 / 12-16-2022)
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I saw the most disturbing movie I've seen in more than a year last night. The more I think about it, the worse I feel. So I went to the IMDB, where, about 3 pages in, I finally found SOMEBODY who wasn't saying it was the greatest film ever ever made...
MAN OF STEEL (2013)
One of the stupidest movies ever made. (1 of 10)
lyre15 (June 2013)
Warning: Spoilers
This review is going to be full of spoilers because I am going to mention various gaping plot inconsistencies and outright idiocies in this dog of a film.
Sure, it looks great and the special effects are generally well done. But some people need their movies to at least make some sense.
Let's start with a really basic one: the planet Krypton is going to be destroyed, and no one can be saved except one baby, presumably because they don't have any spacecraft.
Oh but wait, they do have spacecraft. In fact, they have so much spare technology they use it to send criminals into space... so that they will survive and provide enemies for Superman later in the movie.
Jor-El steals the Codex, which apparently contains the DNA of the Kryptonian race. Somehow, there are no backup copies. Oh but what about the actual Kryptonians who are running around destroying things... surely they each have their own DNA? Apparently not, somehow. And how about that baby-making machine in the scout ship: what was it supposed to use if there's only one Codex?
Clark just happens to hear about some top secret ice digging, and somehow knows to go there. How? And Lois Lane is somehow given a tour of the dig and a free place to stay even though she had to sue to be allowed there at all.
Clark discovers the spacecraft and somehow knows how to pilot it and land it somewhere. But then it never gets used again, for example to help fight the invaders later on. Doesn't it have the same kind of engine that's needed to destroy them? And it actually can fly rather than needing to be dropped via an airplane, as Clark's baby spacecraft is at the end of the film. But somehow no one thinks of this.
When Clark is taken to General Zod's ship, he loses his powers because he supposedly needs the gasses in earth's atmosphere to gain and retain his powers. Yet he's shown repeatedly operating in the vacuum of space. If he needed Earth's atmosphere to retain his powers, he should lose them in space.
In numerous fight scenes, massive damage is caused to probably inhabited buildings, which must have resulted in massive loss of life. Why wouldn't Clark/Superman immediately lure his enemies far away from the city, fight over the ocean, in the mountains, etc? In one scene he deliberately throws an enemy through a bunch of buildings, apparently not caring who gets hurt.
At the end, when the world engine is working, Superman flies into its gravity beam where his powers shouldn't exist because the conditions it's creating are like those of Krypton. But after being unable to do anything, he somehow just decides he's going to do it, and then instantly destroys the machine. Because if you really really decide, then you can do anything.
General Zod's ship will be flipped back into the Phantom Zone if its drive field comes in contact with another drive field of the same type, as found in Clark's baby spacecraft. But wait, don't all their small spacecraft use the same engine? Why don't they cause the same problem?
At the end, Superman and General Zod have an extended fight and appear to be equally matched, but when Zod threatens a prototypical family of Father, Mother and Child with his heat vision (and which he somehow doesn't manage to hurt although all he'd have to do is move his eyes slightly), Superman easily kills him, although he was completely unable to damage him until then. Again, just deciding to do something makes it happen.
These are just some of the really obvious major problems, how about some minor but equally stupid ones?
Perry White, Jenny and Steve are walking away from General Zor's ship when Perry says "where's Jenny?" Oh, she's suddenly stuck under rubble that apparently no one noticed falling, and she hasn't bothered to scream or make any sound at all. They struggle to free her, when suddenly the beam stops and they say "He saved us!", even though they didn't know anything about Superman trying to save them, nor that the destruction wouldn't resume, or in fact anything about what was going on.
Martha Kent is violently flung 20 feet or more. But apparently she's completely unhurt even though she's elderly and even a simple fall should have been damaging.
When Superman and Zor are fighting, they fly a great distance and end up falling through the ceiling of something that looks like Grand Central Station. After a few seconds, Lois Lane suddenly appears out of nowhere, because she should be in that scene.
In a 'heartwarming' scene at the end, Jonathan Kent sees young Clark playing with a cape and gets all misty eyed. Wait, how did he associate a kid playing with a cape with anything at all? Why would a cape signify something to him? It wouldn't.
This is a movie that didn't bother to make any sense, and the fact that people accept all the illogic, plot holes and dumbness of it really depresses me. Special effects shouldn't be enough to make a movie popular. The story and the logic of the story should count for at least as much and more.
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Yeah, I agreed with every point here, many of which hadn't even crossed my mind, and this barely touches how bad I felt about the film when I woke up this morning.
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Honestly, it's rare when any movie makes me feel as down as this one. It makes "KISS ME DEADLY" seem warm & friendly by comparison!! I'll be watching all 3 movies over 3 weeks... the 4th week, it'll be the "Superman & Scooby-Doo" team-ups. Those HAVE to be better and more fun to watch!
No kidding, I just got done watching all 13 episodes of "CONSTANTINE". That's a really NASTY supernatural horror series, and yet that was more fun to watch. Well, except for the 13th episode, where, right at the end, I wanted to KILL the writer. That show-- which, STUPIDLY, aired on a major network-- was abruptly cancelled in mid-season, when some IDIOT network exec suddenly decided, he didn't think it was a "good fit" for his network. What, he couldn't have figured that out before he gave it the green light? My best friend and I, the other day, were discussing our own theories for WHERE the unintended cliffhanger (which became an unresolved season-finale) might have been intended to go, had they been able to finish their season-long storyline.
I hate network execs. I'm sure they're all strung out on cocaine, or worse.
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My best friend down in Georgia recently sent me some recent DC movies to watch. I've been working my way thru them, one per week. That's all I can tolerate. "MAN OF STEEL" was the single most DISTURBING film I've seen in years. I think I honestly hated every single aspect of it. When it was over, I wished to God I'd never seen it. But I'm doing this as a "favor" of sorts, so I felt I had to continue on. This week I watched "BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN". It turned out to be the culmination of Denny O'Neil's entire career of being dark, disturbing, depressing, violent, and basically trying to DESTROY superheroes. The SOB never should have touched a superhero comic-book in his life, and his legacy is continuing on in the movies. The fight of the title made BOTH character look like COMPLETE IDIOTS, like an early issue of "Marvel Team-up" on steroids. The main difference between the 1st film and the 2nd one, is that the 2nd one had about 30 SECONDS in it I liked. But 30 SECONDS isn't enough to ever make me want to sit thru the DAMNED thing ever again. These films epitomize everything that's wrong with modern superhero comics-- and movies.
The 2 Richard Donner films were schizo and leaned too close to Adam West. The 2 Zach Snyder films went COMPLETELY in the other direction. Neither capture the real tone of what "Superman" should be.
Crazy enough, the other day I saw "SHIN ULTRAMAN", which I did enjoy. I came away thinking, it was Japan's "answer" to "MAN OF STEEL". Except, 100 times more entertaining. Both were remakes of FAR better stories from decades past. I could imagine re-watching "SHIN ULTRAMAN" one of these days, but, I'm not in a hurry. What I am, is looking forward EVEN MORE than I was before, to getting my hands on the 1966 "ULTRA MAN" TV series on DVD. Because that show, remains one of my all-time favorite things from the 1960s. I mean, hell, it was BETTER than "STAR TREK". How can I say this? Simple: NO-- bad episodes.
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNjZlYzUyZDgtZTdlMi00YjQ1LWIxYzktMTE4ODk3MmFkYzM4XkEyXkFqcGdeQWRpZWdtb25n._V1_QL75_UX500_CR0,0,500,281_.jpg)
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Well said Prof.
I find many DC and Marvel movies unpleasant. DC particularly. Dark, nasty, disturbing. Marvel because, latterly, everything seems to be the end of the world, universe.
I read very few modern comics but recently decided to try a few DC titles. Apart from the books not feeling like value for money, the art was very flash (I prefer a more classic form of comic book art) and all designed to stretch out stories that could be told in one or two issues, not six or eight or whatever. As I've said before, fur coat and nae knickers.
I won't be repeating the experiment with the big two. Why should I when there are other good, new comics out there?
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Apart from mostly books I've bought to support my POE project, for a lot of years, I haven't been able to afford to buy new comics regularly. there's also a major STORAGE SPACE problem, which can only be solved by GETTING RID of at least HALF of my collection (!!!!!), but I haven't had time to sort out what to get rid of and what to keep.
The thing is, I do feel there's a LOT of really fun comics being made out there right now-- none by the "the big two" of course. Just the other day I mentioned that the likes of Gary Carlson, Dan Reed & Mort Todd are knocking out a TON of new comics I'm sure I'd love to read. (I became aware of all 3 of these guys thanks to Carlson's BIG BANG COMICS... which he is still doing!) There's also Steve Rude's NEXUS, which I really would love to catch up on. Or Phil Foglio's GIRL GENIUS, which I am terribly behind on.
I find it really sad when anybody talks about new comics, and ALL they want to bring up is the latest ATROCITIES from Marvel or DC.
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TIME TRAVELLERS (1974 / 1976)
Time Travel ON A BUDGET -or—"TIME DOCTOR"! (5 of 10)
A group of scientists recruit a doctor to go BACK IN TIME to see if they can locate a lost cure for a rare disease that has reoccured after nearly a century, and threatens to become an epidemic. As expected, problems arise when the 2 men arrive in the wrong location, and several days later than planned-- AND, the doctor whose notes they desperately hope to find, has NO IDEA how his patients are managing to stay alive!
In between 2 of his big-budget, all-star "disaster" epics, Irwin Allen decided to take another stab at a time travel series. He'd previously tried to do a variation on "VOYAGE" with "CITY BENEATH THE SEA" (1971), and soon after would do a down-to-earth variation on "LOST IN SPACE" with his "SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON" tv series that ran from 1975-76. But legalities got in the way. The story was based on an unpublished novel, "A Time To Live" by Charles William Byrd (written in the late 1950s). But somehow, Rod Serling wound up writing a story so similar to it that a lawsuit erupted that kept the film from being broadcast for 2 years, and by the time it aired, any momentum of doing a series was already gone. (I'm reminded of how Herman Miller wrote a pilot for a series about a southwestern cop in New York City, "Ben Coogan", which got turned into a feature film instead. But then 2 years later, Glen Larson did the pilot for "McCLOUD", Miller sued, and in every subsequent episode, a credit read "created by Herman Miller", even though he never worked on the show! Seems to me there was the potential for a lawsuit over "LOST IN SPACE" in connection with Gold Key's earlier comic-book series, "Space Family Robinson"... Hollywood, huh?)
This is a very nice-looking, level-headed, intelligent project to be coming from Irwin Allen, who tended to stress "spectacle" and "schlock" more than good writing. But re-watching it today, for the first time in 47 years (!!!), I found it looked and felt just too much like your average "1970s" tv-movie. In other words, DULL as dirt, and somehow feeling CHEAP. I was betting most of the budget went into the costumes. I read the Old Chicago set was built for "HELLO, DOLLY" (1969)-- Allen, like Roger Corman, was a master of recycling. The Chicago fire footage came from "IN OLD CHICAGO" (1938)-- the entire run of Allen's "THE TIME TUNNEL" included stock footage from existing epic feature films. The "Stairway Into Time" was an idea swiped outright from 1970 episodes of Dan Curtis' "DARK SHADOWS" (though it looked a lot more modern), while the computer banks were the same NASA surplus equipment also seen in "VOYAGE", "LIS" and "TIME TUNNEL".
I'd say the best part of this was the cast. Heading things off was Sam Groom as "Dr. Clint Earnshaw". Apart from 5 episodes of "THE TIME TUNNEL" (I thought it was more than that), he also starred in 95 episodes of "DR. SIMON LOCKE", known in America as "POLICE SURGEON"! So you would have had trouble finding any actor more perfectly-suited to playing a TIME-TRAVELLING DOCTOR!
Tom Hallick is "Jeff Adams", who quit the astronaut training program and found the idea of traveling through history more exciting. I've only seen him in a few things, but one of them was Allen's "THE RETURN OF CAPTAIN NEMO" (1978), another variation on "VOYAGE" that is near-unwatchable.
Francine York is "Dr. Helen Sanders", this story's version of "Dr. Ann MacGregor" (Lee Meriweather). York seemed perpetually typecast as extremely-intelligent woman, which coupled with her stunning looks make for one very attractive lady.
Booth Colman is "Dr. Amos Cummings", this story's version of "Dr. Raymond Swain" (John Zaremba), except he seems to have a better idea what he's doing with his time machine than the old "TT" crew ever did. Another actor I've only seen in a few things, I most remember him as "Pat Chambers" in the unsold pilot-turned-feature, "MY GUN IS QUICK" (1957).
Walter Brooke is "Dr. Stafford", who seems less this story's "General Kirk" (Whit Bissell) than Federal Government contact. Among his long resume, I'd bet most will remember him as "District Attourney Frank Scanlon" from "THE GREEN HORNET" (1966-67).
Stealing the movie is Richard Basehart as "Dr. Joshua Henderson", the 1871 physician who's as baffled by the mystery illness as the 2 men from the future. Basehart gets to be a lot crankier than he usually was during his 4 seasons on "VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA".
Dort Clark has a small part as "Sharkey" (no, not "Chief Sharkey"), a drunken sailor infected by the disease. A very familiar face for me, I mainly know him from "THE MONKEES", where he played cops in 3 episodes.
I'm really glad this was included as an extra on the last disc of "THE TIME TUNNEL" set, but I can't imagine being in too much of a hurry to watch it again. As back in 1976, watching it now, I just kept wishing it were better than it is. One thing's for sure, this has to be the STRANGEST "doctor" show I've seen outside of "THE FUGITIVE".
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how Herman Miller wrote a pilot for a series about a southwestern cop in New York City, "Ben Coogan", which got turned into a feature film instead. But then 2 years later, Glen Larson did the pilot for "McCLOUD",
[It was always obvious to me that McCloud was a rip-off of Coogan's Bluff. Astounded me that they thought they could get away with it.
Now it seems there's a band called 'Coogan's Bluff'
Dennis Weaver. of course was a good choice for McCloud.
But what moron thought it was a good idea for Weaver to ride a horse through the streets of cities like New York. Clearly not a logical thinker or an animal lover. Made no sense whatever.
"McCloud" TV Intro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc2wjvoOmVM
Live concert - excellent if that kind of music is your thing!
"Progressive jazz-rock krautrock band in the tradition of Xhol Caravan, Amon Düül, Guru Guru etc."
Coogans Bluff live | Rockpalast | 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rOyH02OP3A
Cheers!
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When AH wuz a BOH... pilots were run at the start of series. I missed most of them. Except for BATMAN.
But in the 70s... they started running pilots separate-- like, 6 months before a show started. I missed MOST of them, too!! In many cases, I never saw those pilots until after the shows were cancelled and went into reruns.
Perfect example... McCLOUD. I saw the pilot about a year after the show ended. I've long ranked it as the SINGLE WORST episode in the entire run. How the HELL did it ever get sold as a series? The last time I watched my tapes, I watched COOGAN'S BLUFF instead, then jumped to season 2.
The 1st season was part of FOUR IN ONE. This was very odd, even by the already-existing standards of rotating series, of which, I keep finding more than I knew existed. They'd run all 6 episodes of one show... then all 6 episodes of the 2nd show... all 6 of the 3rd... and all 6 of the 4th. Then, when rerun season came around, they alternated each show every 4th week. Crazy.
I'm not 100% sure... but I believe I got hooked on McCLOUD during those summer reruns. Every episode was 1 hour (50 min. plus commercials). The first one-hour episode had a finale that involved a chase across Central Park. Sam happened to be standing next to a mounted patrolman (yes, they do have those in NYC!), he borrowed the horse, and gave chase. That scene later turned up in the opening credits. But it didn't really happen that often over the course of 7 seasons. Maybe only twice! 4 times if you count the Oklahoma and Australia episodes.
The next year, THE PSYCHIATRIST and SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT did not return. NIGHT GALLERY became a weekly. McCLOUD became a 90-minute part of the new NBC MYSTERY MOVIES, joined by McMILLAN AND WIFE and COLUMBO (there had been 2 COLUMBO pilots-- one in 1968, a 2nd in 1971; I never saw either until the late 70s-early 80s). I started watching MM&W from the 1st week (they re-ran the pilot at the start of the season), so I actually started that series from the beginning. COLUMBO I walked into the last 10 minutes of the Roddy McDowell episode (I was waiting for NIGHT GALLERY to come on after at 10 PM).
Having re-watched my copies made off THE CBS LATE MOVIE in the early 80s, it's noticable that certain 2nd-season McCLOUDs feel painfully padded-out. My guess, those were written for the hour format but extended to fit 90 minutes. OY. A couple years later, when some IDIOT at NBC decided to make them "all" 2 hours, WAY too many felt written for 90 minutes and painfully-padded out to 120. ARGH. Before that, a 2-hour story was "special" and deserved it. Like, "This Must Be The Alamo", which had 4 stories running at once, a precursor to the later HILL STREET BLUES.
Sometime around 1973 (?) some COMPLETE A-HOLE at Universal decided to re-edit McCLOUD's 1st season into 3 90-minute movies. Not 3 2-HOUR movies. And, they "inter-cut" the stories to make each "movie" look like he was working on 2 cases at the same time. These are ABOMINABLE abortions, and UNWATCHABLE. (They did the same thing with 4 random episodes of THE NIGHT STALKER.) You know what's worse? They LOST the original versions of the 1st season. They haven't been seen since 1970-71.
Somebody put out the McCLOUD pilot and season 1 in one DVD set-- but they're the butchered versions of season 1. A few years ago, they put out a "new" version, but, I have been UNABLE to determine if they found the good ones, or not. NO online reviews confirming one way or the other. A little while later, I looked again-- and the new versions were SOLD OUT-- and copies became VERY expensive. Gee, what am I to make of this?
Since then, I found a blog article about the show, praising season 1. Somebody in Australia found intact copies. The writer warned readers-- the ONLY way he knew of to see the proper season 1, was on region 4 discs from Australia. Well, I have a Region-Free DVD player now... so, I hope to look for that set... SOON.
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I forgot to mention... Glen Larson left McCLOUD after season 1 to do ALIAS SMITH AND JONES. I'm trying to remember if anyone got sued over that (the idea came from a scene in the middle of the film BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID).
After one season, Pete Duel committed suicide. Yikes. Roger Davis (who'd been the narrator) took over, but, just like on DARK SHADOWS, he had no personality. The show ended pretty soon.
Dean Hargrove & Peter Allan Fields did McCLOUD season 2, which I like, it's very nice... but it feels odd. I mean, the season opener, Weaver seems to be impersonating Lt. Columbo. NO, REALLY.
When season 3 arrived, Glen Larson came back. I recently learned he looked at season 2 and thought, "This is ALL WRONG!" Dennis Weaver seemed to be playing "Chester" from GUNSMOKE-- when, he should have been doing John Wayne-- or Clint Eastwood. Season 3 really KICKED ASS. Season 4 was even better! Sadly, season 5 was when they went all-2-hour episodes. Oy. There's an episode near the end of season 6-- which should have BEEN the end of season 6-- that really feels like a satisfying "series finale". I'm sure that was the intention. "The Day New York Turned Blue". But they ran it out of sequence. NBC had cancelled the MYSTERY MOVIES. Everyone was ready to move on.
Then NBC changed their minds. McMILLAN had already lost 3 of their 4 cast members, so between episodes, they revealed Sally and her baby had been killed in a plane crash. Those BASTARDS. On the other hand, I thought the writing improved that year, and I liked Martha Raye way better than Nancy Walker.
COLUMBO continued on as usual. Michael Sloan became producer on McCLOUD... and back then, he wasn't very good yet. So season 7 was a serious dip in quality. Plus, once again, whenever they had any "continuity", those episodes got run noticably OUT of sequence. Idiot networks.
QUINCY M.E. debuted. I loved that... at first. That was Glen Larson's new baby. Jack Klugman felt they lied to him. He wanted to do a doctor show, they wanted a detective show. I only recently found a movie that may have been the model: THE MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET (1942), about a coroner who liked to go out solving the crimes himself. Anyway, 4 episodes in, they pulled QUINCY off the Sunday rotation and made it a weekly on Friday. Klugman was further miffed. After 9 episodes, he told them he wanted changes or he'd walk. They called his bluff. HE WASN'T bluffing. Episode 10 featured Monahan's boss-- L.A.'s Chief Medical Examiner, a Chinese guy (apparently, based on the real-life Chinese Chief M.E.). He kept spouting proverbs, and his chauffer was a black guy. I didn't realize at first they were doing "Charlie Chan & Birmingham Brown". It was fun. But, after ONE episode... NBC buckled, the show was changed, Klugman came back... and I very quickly got bored with what became just another DOCTOR SHOW. How the HELL did that thing last 7 whole seasons? God, it was BORING.
The MYSTERY MOVIES finally vanished the next year... except... they did another season of COLUMBO. But without the rotating schedule, the new COLUMBOs ran... whenever they felt like it. It's no wonder... I missed every episode that year. I NEVER knew when the hell they were on!
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THE FABULOUS JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (Spain / 1977)
I first saw a wretched print of this on TV under its US title, "WHERE TIME BEGAN". A fairly CHEAP Spanish film (aren't they all?) which is arguably the MOST authentic film version ever made (out of many) of Jules Verne's novel, this one has its own quirky little changes & additions. Despite its low budget (and REALLY low-budget dinosaurs-- heehee), EACH time I watched the film, it grew on me more and more, and I genuinely came to like it more than the famous 1959 Columbia film with James Mason.
So in 2019 I got a copy of the "extended European version". WHOA!!!!! Turns out, the US version was MISSING several scenes, had a few scenes assembled into the film in the wrong order, had some inexplicable "special effects" tacked onto the lightning-storm sequence, and, on top of all that, had a REALLY miserable song slapped onto the opening & closing credits. And this was before some TV station ran a fuzzy-as-hell print of it in fullscreen with commercial breaks.
By comparison, the original Euro film was STUNNING-- uncut, widescreen, CRYSTAL-CLEAR picture & sound, GORGEOUS music over the opening & closing credits. In effect, this film I was liking more each time I watched it, in one go, became one of my FAVORITE films. (So much so, I just ignore the dinosaurs... heeheehee.)
The only problem with the disc I had... was it was put out by some outfit called Saturn Productions. The box was UGLY AS HELL, with the label "Exploitation Cinema" on it, and the film was included as the 2nd half of a double-feature with an absolute atrocity called "ENCOUNTER WITH THE UNKNOWN", which was apparently 3 episodes of an anthology TV series that was never sold. On top of that, the disc menu is arguably the UGLIEST one I have ever encountered in my life, spelled out by its own label, "SEPTIC CINEMA" (with a metal portable toilet loudly slamming down as the menu started).
I decided this month to see if I could find a better copy. Well, that's still up in the air. It seems an outfit named VCI Entertainment put out a new version of it in 2016 (though some ads say 2017). However, on getting the disc, it instead said "Sprocket Vault". I pointed out to the Ebay seller that he seemed to have the wrong version listed on his page, yet, after I sent for it, I found the Sprocket Vault disc clarly listed on the actual VCI Entertainment website!! WTF?
I've just watched this new disc, and let me give you a quick run-down. The packaging is very nice (though fuzzy-- it looks like a BOOTLEG). The menu is very nice (and allows you to watch either the trailer or the movie without any wait or fuss). The movie... OY. The sound is loud & harsh, the colors are FAR TOO INTENSE, and in dark areas, things go SOLID BLACK and you can't see a lot. In other words, this makes the infamous Warner Archive HORROR OF DRACULA Blu-Ray look good by comparison.
After I ordered it (but before I watched it), I did more research nline, and found that "earlier" versions of this disc were "pressed DVDs"-- but that these newer ones are "DVD-R"s. Hey, I've seen DVD-Rs. But based on this, not all of them are created equal. Frankly, this disc looks sounds and feels like a BOOTLEG. No wonder it's SO DAMNED CHEAP.
The earlier 2008 disc, from "Code Red", is hard to find. I JUST ORDERED a brand-new copy!!! (Pricey-- but for one of my FAVORITE films, no biggie.) I'm really, REALLY curious to see what it this disc looks like, given how much I like this film. I just have NO interest in ever watching that "Sprocket Vault" disc ever again.
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MASTER OF THE WORLD (1961)
I've seen this film since the late 60s, and in fact have a paperback containing both novels, and Vincent Price's photo on the cover! Some time back I taped it off TCM (so it was a nice widescreen print), but now I have the Shout Factory Blu-Ray. I don't mind the minor damage, what weirds me out more is that apparently the sound volume DROPS in the middle of the picture but then jumps back up for the last third. (Anyone else notice that?)
I love the design of the Albatross; I just kept wishing they'd done some kind of camera tracking shots where it would be seen to MOVE as opposed to just hovering in front of the backgrounds. I think the single BEST visual effect is when it BLOWS up at the end! This comes, unfortunately, without an actual shot of it first crashing into the ocean (heh).
Henry Hull's performance harkens back to the one he gave in JESSE JAMES and THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES, but I liked his character there. David Frankham is just such a JERK in this. He nicely toned it down a lot when he appeared in TALES OF TERROR.
Personally, I have no problem with Bronson's performance here. Although, in 19th century sci-fi terms, Robert Conrad does seem like he would have been a better fit (heh).
This is a "nice" movie, but it'll never be a great one. I'd say, something to re-watch maybe every 10 years... as opposed to yearly, or every 6 months. There are WAY-better Jules Verne films out there (and I'm planning to go after as many as I can find!), but, there are also far-worse ones.
I'm waiting for someone to do a proper full restoration on the 1929 "THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND"-- the PREQUEL to "20,000 Leagues"-- which features a fictionalized version of the Bolshevik Revolution (the Czars, the democratic types, and the criminals who over-ran the country). Verne intended Nemo to be a Polish prince betrayed by the Russians, but his editor felt that would hurt sales at the time, so in anger, he just removed all references to his background, leaving Nemo a total mystery. (The "sequel" was NEVER intended as one when he wrote it, which explains its insane inconcisistencies. The 1961 movie with Herbert Lom is WAYYY better than Verne's novel!)
Currently, the 1929 film is only available on a Warner Archive DVD in "unrestored" status, which-- infuriatingly-- does NOT look as good as the videotape I recorded decades earlier off of TNT! There's NO excuse for that.
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I saw Master of the World for the first time a couple of years ago. I thought they did a pretty respectable job on a bargain-basement budget. Unfortunately the drama was pretty much short-circuited by all the embarrassing "comic relief." I've a sneaking hunch that this may have been inserted because there was comic relief in 20,000 Leagues, and this film's debt to that one is obvious. Vincent Price made an excellent Nemo--that is, Robur. As you say, the design of the Albatross is magnificent. The poster art was great, too. I still have the soundtrack LP which I bought new back in the last century. The score had its ups and downs but the opening theme is doggoned good.
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I guess its obvious, but the Albatross was the template Kirby used for the Shield Helicarrier.
cheers!
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Not to mention... :)
(https://pulpcovers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Modern-Mechanix-Oct-1934.jpg)
October 1934 issue!
(https://pulpcovers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/aerial_landing_field-600x905.jpg)
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Kirby's design is so distinctive and stylish, I think it's criminal whenever anyone decides to try and do better by completely changing it...
By the way, the line reproduction on this website ("ViewComics Online" / the scans look like they came from "Masterworks" books) is abysmal.
(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/eEtqGqzeCfUkd8JaOmJzotj7p81AVBDzFNygt6Yt49rE5Y22JzYgBk3MoHKhNAyXrIO_eFkUIWNV=s0)
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Russian SF Movies released in the US by Roger Corman.
Russian SF
Planet Of Storms (1962) - ENG subtitles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VTF23EFvEM
VOYAGE TO THE PLANET OF PREHISTORIC WOMEN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBHazU0U8uI
Battle Beyond The Sun 1959, US Version (Sci Fi Movie) Roger Corman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqXGuKizlkE
Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet 1965 | Roger Corman, Basil Rathbone |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1dtqIPlERU
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I've seen 3 versions of PLANET OF STORMS. As you might expect, I much prefer the Russian original (with English subtitles). I've never seen the original version dubbed into English.
VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET is okay. I once saw that on TV decades ago. It does make me shake my head that US diestributors felt the compulsion to screw with foreign films so much.
VOYAGE TO THE PLANET OF PREHISTORIC WOMEN, however, is a abomination! More than anything, it reminds me of one of those 3rd-season SPIDER-MAN episodes by Ralph Bakshi where he took one or more previous episodes, made some changes, and tried to pass it off as a "sequel". The end-goal basically being, to get enough episodes made so they'd have 52 off them, at the time, the minimum for a successful syndication package (run 5 episodes a week).
The way PLANET OF STORMS ends, it gives you hope that there is still some remnant of a civilization on Venus, and leaves you hoping for a sequel. ...PLANET OF PREHISTORIC WOMEN is not that sequel. In fact, it totally up-ends the optimistic ending of ...STORMS, by showing the exact same story, but with half the film seen from the other side's point of view. The women in the title are not friendly, in fact, they're directly, deliberately responsible for everything bad that happened in ...STORMS, as they spend the entire film trying to kill the visiting astronauts!
Just to add even more to the confusion, there's another film, titled PREHISTORIC WOMEN, which is totally-separate and has nothing to do with the ...STORMS. It's pretty awful on its own terms, too.
BATTLE BEYOND THE SUN, meanwhile, is an altered version of 'Nebo Zovyot' ('The Sky Beckons'), with a monster added and Soviet propoganda removed. I've seen a horrible print of BATTLE online, but I later saw a PRISTENE, crystal-clear print of NEBO ZOVOT-- in Russian without English subtitles. I just wanted to see what the film was supposed to look like, and it's STUNNING. A bit on the dull side, but a visual feast. JUST like 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. Heh. Stylistically, both films feel like you're watching silent films, but with sound and color added.
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LEGEND OF THE ROLLER BLADE SEVEN (1992)
Philosophical Post-Apocalyptic Action Music Video! (3 of 10)
A reluctant warrior ("What's in it for ME?") is engaged to rescue a psychic woman who's been kidnapped by minions of a crippled evil gang leader in a "forbidden" area known as "The Wheelzone". As Rupert Crosse once said (on an episode of THE MONKEES): "Who WRITES this stuff?"
Writer-actor Scott Shaw teams with director Donald G. Jackson to create one of at least 3 of the most UNBELIEVABLE films ever, ever made. Apparently (I haven't seen the others), they took 2 previous films, THE ROLLER BLADE SEVEN and THE RETURN OF THE ROLLER BLADE SEVEN, and edited them together into this one, though each film has some footage the other 2 doesn't. (Sounds like Ralph Bakshi during the 3rd season of SPIDER-MAN, doesn't it?)
What you have is characters on desert highways and in the LA Aqueduct, travelling on roller-skates, wielding samurai swords and baseball bats, wearing some of the most visually-eye-popping costumes imaginable, action footage repeated over and over like you're watching an MTV video, and some really terrific rock music and banjo music that helps cover up the lack of a sensible or cohesive plot, lack of decent acting, and so on. I have to agree with every reviewer who described this as an "ART FILM". I went into it thinking this would be a perfect fit on the old "USA: UP ALL NIGHT" movie series, and I was proved right. This is definitely the kind of movie that should only be watched really late at night, when your critical sensibilities are at their lowest ebb, with some good food and the lights out (not necessarily at the same time). The brief appearance of Rhonda Shear as an abusive "security guard" only confirms this. Basically, this is one of the most bat-S*** crazy films I’ve seen in a long, long time.
Also on display are the likes of William Smith, Frank Stallone, Karen Black (as a lady psychic) and Don Stroud (who I feel gives the coolest performance in the flick). I honestly don't know any of the others, though I would also agree with whoever said that Allison Coleman as "Stella Speed" steals the show in that ASS-bearing red thong. WOW!
More than anything, this reminded me of CIRCLE OF IRON... on roller skates. That film was actually written around 1969, arguably the most drug-induced era ever for film-making. So it's a good fit.
I note most reviewers gave this a "1" or a "10", depending on if they considered it CRAP or ART. I'm giving it a 3... because, DAMMIT, I genuinely enjoyed this ONE F*** of a lot better than CHARLIE CHAN AND THE CURSE OF THE DRAGON QUEEN, the only film (so far) I ever gave a 1-star review to. Now that one WAS crap. And it had a budget and lots of known actors, so it has no excuse!
I have to admit, the ending left even me confused. How did the heroes defeat the baddies? DID they get killed right at the end-- or not-- and if so, WHY?
But my main point of confusion relates directly to why I bought this film (from the "Kunaki" site, which I accessed directly from Scott Shaw's site). WHERE'S TINA? I watched carefully from beginning to end, but couldn't spot Tina Desiree-Berg. "Hot Blades" it says here at the IMDB. I have no idea which character that was. The DVD packaging sure was nice.
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THE FIFTH ELEMENT (1997)
I think I've now lost track of how many times I've watched the DVD I got a few years ago. It suddenly hit me tonight, THIS has definitely become my #1 FAVORITE sci-fi film.
The story structure and editing is so fast-paced, brilliant, inter-connected & hilarious at times, it feels like you're seeing a much-longer film than its "mere" 2 hours 4 minutes. One of my favorite things is how it so neatly breaks down into 2 halves, allowing me (if I'm in the mood that day) to take a break right in the middle. If there was an intermission, it would have to be EXACTLY where Korbin Dallas tells General Munro...
"I'LL TAKE THE MISSION."
The stuff leading up to that moment, where so many people all converge on his tiny apartment, several trying to take his place on a "contest trip" to a resort (which was supposed to be a cover for a SECRET mission!) happens so fast it's hard to keep track of it all. Not to mention the bit where Zorg's henchman calls him on the phone to say there's "no other way onboard the spaceship"-- yet, SOMEHOW, Priest Vito manages to do just that!
I must have seen this a DOZEN times before I realized how the actions of mostly TWO people caused MOST of the chaos to happen. On one hand, Zorg not telling the Bangalores about the "red button", which wound up causing a massive explosion and possibly killing several of the alien warriors, is what led directly to Zorg getting KILLED later in the film, and the flying hotel to be blown up! But meanwhile, "The President" telling Vito to go home, "This is a military matter now, we'll keep you posted" ALSO caused completely uncalled-for chaos, starting with Leeloo being revived without Vito's friendly face to welcome her and get her mission started right. (I imagine General Munro probably would have recruited Korbin for the mission ANYWAY, had Vito and Leeloo been together to get things started smoothly. WTF were those COPS chasing her for? You KNOW nobody told THEM what the hell was going on.)
The business of Leeloo in the shower, Vito almost suffocating in the automatic bed, and Munro & his assistants nearly frozen to death-- all in Korbin's apartment-- always has me in hysterics.
And then there's "Ruby Rhod" (Chris Tucker). I had to see Howard Hughes' "HIS KIND OF WOMAN" (1953) to realize where the inspiration for his character probably came from-- it was "Mark Caridgan", played by Vincent Price (same moustache even), except Cardigan was enthusiastic & handy with a rifle, while Ruby screamed like a little girl. BOTH guys steal their respective pictures.
I can't get enough of this film.
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/715lQowOZoS._SL1500_.jpg)
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SPACEWAYS (1953)
Wow, equal parts scientific advancement and human drama / murder mystery. From 2 of the people who would later give us classics from HAMMER Films. Alan Wheatley had also played Sherlock Holmes on TV (sadly lost) and the Sheriff of Nottingham opposite Richard Greene's ROBIN HOOD. The plot reminds me of a "link" between the film DESTINATION MOON and the Herge comic-strip story of that same name, with all the extra human drama & mystery going on while preparing to send someone up into space.
The only real down side to this, for me, is the BUDGET that somehow prevented them from doing decent lift-off footage of that glorious 3-stage spaceship. Instead, they mixed in TWO drastically-different designs, by re-using footage from other films! OY. But, if you ignore that (which isn't easy), one very intense bit of drama.
full movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTgbH8Rklzk
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from the CAPRONA message board, on the topic of Gerry Anderson.
FIREBALL XL5 was my introduction to science-fiction. REALLY. The show ran here in America Saturday mornings at 10:30 AM (apparently the "prime time" slot of those mornings) for 2 years from 1963-65. I watched it every week. Steve Zodiac was my hero-- a combo astronaut-explorer-policeman. And I fell in love with Venus. YEAH, a string puppet. A year into the show's run here, I started kindergarden, and I met a girl who was a dead ringer for her. NO kidding. I got a "Golden Book" adventure, the board game, and, in August '65 (only a month before it vanished off the air), the deluxe "Space City" playset. It was devastating when the show disappeared. As far as I know, in my area, it was NEVER seen again.
Somewhere during that time, I caught syndicated reruns of SUPERCAR, but it always seemed too juvenile and trivial by comparison (and that was me as a KID thinking that!).
September '66 we got STINGRAY. Philly's UFH station 48 (always the tackiest of the 3, between them, 17 & 29), ran it on Wednsedays at 6 PM. Yeah, just Wednesdays. Mondays & Fridays they ran GIGANTOR, Tuedays & Thursdays they ran KIMBA THE WHITE LION. I think more UHF stations should have done that sort of thing, with short-run shows. However, I recall missing STINGRAY quite a few times during that initial run. STINGRAY was like a lesser, underwater version of XL5. Sort of the reverse of STAR TREK, which was a space version of VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (if you see what I mean). The actor who did the voice of "Phones" had actually been "Sparks" in the 1961 VOYAGE movie! My late friend Robin insisted there was no romance between Steve & Dr. Venus, but I always thought there was. Here, Troy Tempest was a bit of a cad-- stringing along TWO girls at the same time! Later, 48 ran STINGRAY 5 times a week, but, there really wasn't enough episodes to do that without it getting repetitive real fast. Maddeningly, this was a problem with MOST Gerry Anderson shows!
THUNDERBIRDS first turned up Saturday afternoons at 6 PM, right after ABC's WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS. Probably the only reason I got to see it right from the 1st episode ("Trapped in the Sky"). Loved it, though at an hour long, it took more effort on my part to stick with the stories. Later, it turned up Saturday mornings at 11:30 AM, and later still, with each story broken into the 2-PART format, Monday-Fridays at 7 AM! I really feel that DIDN'T WORK, watching them like that. Had to get up early before school to see it then. (And then it just disappeared forever after that.)
CAPTAIN SCARLET was on Philly's channel 17 at 5 PM. Annoyingly, they started out of sequence, and the 3 connected episodes at the start were run on the 3rd week (following 10 other episodes). Also, like every other show 17 ran at that slot, they'd CUT 5 minutes from the middle of each episode, where the commercial break was. (Apparently, they let the film keep running during the commercials-- THOSE STUPID BASTARDS.) The Sci-Fi Channel, in the 90s, were notorious for cutting shows to ribbons, yet, their run of CS was LESS butchered. In the pilot, for example, on 17, we saw smoke coming from the President's desk. Following the break, CS is zooming along the highway, with the President his prisoner! I didn't get to see what happened in between until the 90s. And every episode was like that.
UFO turned up here (that I know of) in the early 70s, but I got to see most of it when Channel 29 ran it Sunday afternoons at 2 PM (followed by reruns of LAND OF THE GIANTS at 3 PM and THE TIME TUNNEL at 4 PM). It always struck me as a less-advance, more "adult", more serious and DEPRESSING version of CS. In the 90s, it became the 1st Anderson show I managed to tape EVERY single episode of, off the Sci-Fi Channel. Little did I know, every episode had 6 MINUTES cut from it on that channel.
SPACE: 1999 was on Channel 17, Saturdays at 7 PM. I found out decades later they ran the show completely out of sequence. Not sure that matters, though. Whike some shows I'd laugh with, 1999 I'd laugh AT. My GOD, it was so STUPID and contrived and EXCESSIVELY-intense. Each week I swore Martin Landau got closer to a nervous breakdown. The best acting was from Barry Morse. It blows my mind that at the time, I had NO IDEA he was born in London-- not the US! 17 took the show off after 13 weeks. But the following September, they ran ALL of season 2. GO FIGURE. I taped about half of them off Sci-Fi in the 90s, but I swear, I never enjoyed a single one of them. When you have GREAT writers, designers, music, actors, directors, everything, and a show still SUCKS beyond all belief-- there's a problem. I've since seen several documentaries explaining the history of how the show came to be, and it's one gigantic CLUSTER-****. In my view, it never should have been made in the first place.
TERRAHAWKS was run here Saturday mornings at 7:30 AM. I hated having to get up that early on my days off!!! But I did... this became my FAVORITE Anderson show since XL5. My late friend Robin & I discussed Anderson shows at such length. We agreed that from THUNDERBIRDS to 1999, the writing kept getting WORSE AND WORSE. TERRAHAWKS had GREAT writing, and likable characters. I put two and two together when I found out Gerry & Sylvia's marriage had been on the rocks since the mid-60s, and they had a nasty divorce. I saw that as a wake-up call, that he realized people had to mean more than machines. Turns out, "Mary Falconer" was named after Gerry's 2nd wife, Mary.
SPACE PRECINCT -- oh my God! This became my FAVORITE Anderson show, EVER. Great idea, great use of old-fashioned miniatures, WONDERFUL characters (including the goofy-looking aliens, al lof whom were more "human" than the humans on any of the late-model STAR TREK spin-offs), and great writing & directing (several episodes helmed by John Glen, who did 5 BOND films in a row). 17 ran this Saturday nights at 11:30 PM. Boy, way to kill a show, hmm? They took it off after 13 weeks-- just as they had 1999 years earlier. Luckily, a NYC station was running it Saturday nights at 12:30 AM. But then they moved it to Sunday nights at 12:30 AM. And then they moved it to Sunday nights at 1:30 AM. SOMEHOW, just barely, I managed to tape the entire season. I'd heard there was a 2nd season, but it never turned up. YEARS later, I found out they had done a short 2nd season-- just like THUNDERBIRDS-- which was only about 5 or 6 episodes. Still haven't seen those yet.
I deeply regret never having written Anderson a fan letter when he was around.
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PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE (1957)
"My friend, can your heart stand the shocking facts about grave robbers from outer space?"
;D
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SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS (1964)
Got the "Horizon Movies" copy straight from Kino Lorber. It got to my PO Box in 9 days.
I'm not sure I've EVER seen this movie on TV. I first saw it when I was 5 years old-- in late 1964. I was 5 years old. Then, again, a year later! It's amazing how much I forgot, but also, how much I remembered, and vividly. The first act (before the 2 kids show up) is played DEADLY-SERIOUS, which, I think, makes it really "work". It then get more silly and more fun as it goes, but, by then, you're invested in the story.
There's a lot of damage on this, but, most of it's very watchable. After I was done (and I did find myself laughing for almost a whole minute when it was over-- that goes a long way), I read the fine print on the back of the box. I'm going to type that here:
"Due to the rarity of materials available, the master for this film was created from a 16 mm European print secured by Holland Releasing with the HD telecine and color correction completed by Fotokem/Burbank. Since this print was originally created for television, it is presented in a 1:33:1 aspect ratio. The original theatrical release of this film was projected in a matted 1:85:1 with a 'safe top & bottom'. As a result of the master having 'removed the matte', this presentation of the film actually reveals additional information on the top and bottom of the frame."
UH HUH. That explains a lot. I'm GLAD I got it. But, seriously, IS there actually a brand-new scan of the camera negative out there? I've been running across several movies of late where this is happening (including my favorite Euro Jules Verne movie), and getting the "best-ever" version would be cool-- even with something that's every bit as goofy as LOST IN SPACE season 2!
By the way-- and I remember this so well-- there's is SUCH a dramatic build-up and suspense leading to the reveal of exactly what "TORG" is. They mention him several times, you don't see him, then, when the kids are out in the snow, one of them sees what they think are lights from Santa's house. But, NO!! It's a clunky robot! I joked, "It's not quite Stormrobot"-- referring to how in a comic-book I published back in 2002, I actually based a "giant" robot on a 1950s wind-up tin toy robot. I thought it was the funniest idea. The HEAD is similar. I don't think I remembered this movie when I did that. But now I can't forget the similarity.
Hey! Those Martians LEFT Torg behind on Earth!!! How could they DO that?
Also, isn't it insane, that they kidnapped the 2 kids so no one would ever know they kidnapped Santa-- but as soon as they left, Mrs. Claus told the reporters what happened. Those Martians WEREN'T very smart. ;D
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Wasting a day on YouTube, one of the things I came up with was this.
STAR WRECK: IN THE PIRKINNING (2005) | Star Trek Parody | English Subtitles | Finnish SCI-FI movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iD3YlavEm4
STAR WRECK: In the Pirkinning is a 2005, famous Start Trek parody film produced in Finland ???? Finnish full length SCI-FI movie with english subtitles ???? The seventh production in the Star Wreck movie series, and the first of professional quality and feature length. It is a dark science fiction comedy about domination of the world and the universe.
A lot better than you might expect. Amateur acting, but not so much the visuals or the script.
Clearly a fan production.
Enjoy!
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THE FABULOUS JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (1977)
I don't normally buy more than one copy or version of the same movie, but this has become one of my favorites, so I have. I figured I'd compare discs.
Sprocket Vault Region-Free DVD / 2016
Color too intense, WAY TOO DARK, sound louder & slightly harsh
INFERIOR copy, avoid!
Code Red DVD / 2008
Clear picture & sound, too dark, darker than Saturn Prod. version)
BEST onscreen menu / 12 chapters, trailer,
alternate credits (from the US "WHERE TIME BEGAN" version of the film)
Saturn Productions Inc. Region-Free DVD / (date unknown)
“Exploitation Cinema” / “Septic Cinema” /
Slightly less dark than the Code Red disc /
12 chapters w/ “Encounter With The Unknown” (20??)
WORST packaging & onscreen menu
Severin Films Region-Free Blu-Ray / 2023
4K scan from the original negative / CRYSTAL-CLEAR picture & sound!
13 chapters, Trailer, 3 interviews
BY FAR the best version of this film ever made available!
(You can see EVERY detail even in the darkest scenes.)
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MOTHRA (1961)
My 2nd-favorite Japanese monster movie! If GODZILLA was inspired by THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS, then surely, MOTHRA was Japan's "answer" to MIGHTY JOE YOUNG.
Mothra's Song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lmZRRqF6wA