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[bowers]

One of our PBS stations finally came through for us and is starting to show the new "Doc Martin" episodes. Great to see Robert Daws ("The Royal", "Jeeves and Wooster") make a guest appearance. Also some new (to us) episodes of "William and Mary". Oddly enough, they sometimes show these programs back-to-back. Interesting to watch Clunes shift from a warm, empathetic character to a socially inept ass (albeit with good intentions). All three regional PBS stations are starting up their fund raising "Pledge Break" seasons, so it'll be awhile before we get to see any more of these programs for awhile. Sure nice to know they bought them, though. Cheers, Bowers

[narfstar]

Were more Doc's produces after his babies birth?

[bowers]

Hi, Narf. The last episode of season 4 (2009) showed the baby being born in a pub. The show was out of production for a couple of years, but returned in 2011 for season 5. This new season begins with Martin and Louisa returning to Port Wenn with the baby. Cheers, Bowers

[narfstar]

So now I gotta wait for season 5 to get to the USA. Martin is so "un"cool

[profh0011]

The last few days...

TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA
SCARS OF DRACULA
DRACULA A.D. 1972
THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA

...well, that wasn't really a surprise, was it?   

[bowers]

Narf, I live in a small city (under 300,000 metro pop.) in the Pacific Northwest, so we're a pretty small TV market. If we have season 5, the rest of the U.S. can't be very far behind. Cheers, Bowers

[narfstar]

Over twice the size or our total pop But we do get our tv from Chattanooga. I need to check to see if it has come here.

[josemas]

The last few days...

TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA
SCARS OF DRACULA
DRACULA A.D. 1972
THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA

...well, that wasn't really a surprise, was it?   

I'd have been surprised only if these hadn't been the next ones you watched.

Best

Joe

[josemas]

Over twice the size or our total pop But we do get our tv from Chattanooga. I need to check to see if it has come here.

I believe that the new season of Doc Martin is beginning next week here in Phoenix on our local PBS channel but I'm going to hold off on watching until I've caught up on the earlier episodes via Hulu.

Best

Joe

[profh0011]

Last night:

LOVE AT FIRST BITE

Surprise!

I like "7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES", but it's the only one of the 9 Hammer films that tends to "drag" in the middle, and I'd seen it too recently to wanna sit thru it again this soon. So it was fun, by comparison, to see another "Dracula in the modern world" film right after "A.D. 1972" and "SATANIC RITES".  This is an amazing film in many ways.  It would have been so EASY for it to have been totally idiotic and completely disrespectful.  But George Hamilton really did something incredible with his performance.  It was like Adam West's Batman-- he played it with absolute sincerity, making even the most absurd scenes believable, and taking the more "serious" scenes to a higher level than you'd expect in a "comedy".

Now, when Richard Benjamin comes in, and later, Dick Shawn, THEY feel like they walked in from some entirely different movie (the one most people probably expected the film to be).

"What do you think of... THIS!!!"
".....I'd say, you should find yourself a nice JEWISH girl."
"Oh S***, it's the other one, isn't it."

Susan Saint James seems to straddle the 2 "worlds" nicely. She's so crass at times, you'd almost think "Vladimir" (never saw him called that in any other movie) might have been disappointed, but throughout, he sees her as better than she does. And eventually she comes around.  "It must be YOUR decision."  Clearly, this is NOT Chris Lee-- or Bram Stoker.  THAT Dracula was a total B******!

[josemas]

Love at First Bite is one of the Lil Missus's favorite vampire movies.  She's still watching her old VHS tape of it as I haven't yet snagged it for her on DVD.

Best

Joe

[josemas]

My three current weekly cliff-hangers-

Zorro's Fighting Legion-1939-Republic-12 chapters-  this one is a rewatch. I think that this is my favorite of the Zorro serials.  So much great action action and swashbuckling.  Reed Hadley (later to star in TV's Racket Squad and Public Defender) makes a fine Zorro too.

The Green Hornet-1940-Universal-13 chapters-  We recently started watching this one at our weekly Movie Nights.  Apparently it was such a big hit that they immediately started working on a sequel (which we actually already watched several years ago) with pretty much the same lead cast.  The one main difference being that Gordon Jones was replaced by Warren Hull in the sequel (for what reason I'm not sure of as both do a fine job as Britt Reid/Green Hornet).  When the serial was first released the U.S. was inching closer to WWII and it is carefully pointed out in chapter one that Kato (played by Keye Luke) is Korean.

Manhunt of Mystery Island-1945-Republic-15 chapters-  Just started this one and judging by the first chapter it's gonna be a good one- with heroic Lance Reardon (Raymond Bailey) leading the search for the missing Dr. Forrest (inventor of the radiatomic power transmitter) to Mystery island where he runs up against the villianous Captain Mephisto!  Lots of fun!

Best

Joe

[paw broon]

Green Hornet is a very enjoyable serial and I really like Warren Hull (also in The Spider). Oddly enough, despite my love of serials, I haven't seen Zorro's Fighting Legion!  (There is a current mention of Zorro on Vintage Comics Forum with examples of his appearances in the weekly, L'Audace but it's in Italian). 
Can't find The Finder anywhere.  Last night, a new episode of Body of Proof, a series we both enjoy.  Tonight, the next Mentalist of the new series.  We have something called, "Alcatraz" starting here next week - is it worth a look?

[narfstar]

In another comic list, several were big fans of Alcatraz. I did not like the first episode so I did not see any more. Some said that by the fourth episode it was really good. So if you go by them you should like it.

[profh0011]

Isn't it just bizarre how, in LOVE AT FIRST BITE, both "George" and "Louise" (as in, Jefferson) show up-- as a minister and judge, respectively-- and "Jay" (Ralph Manza) also has a cameo, once again as a limo driver?  That's one weird "shared universe".

[josemas]

The Lil Missus and I are watching Alcatraz and so far it's keeping our interest.  A combination of crime show with some (mostly unexplained so far) sci-fi elements thrown in.  It's been doing good in the ratings and thus seems likely for renewal. 

I read that they are filming a spin-off of Primeval up in Canada but can't seem to find a straight answer about another season of the original series.  Has anyone heard anything definite?

Curious

Joe

[josemas]

Isn't it just bizarre how, in LOVE AT FIRST BITE, both "George" and "Louise" (as in, Jefferson) show up-- as a minister and judge, respectively-- and "Jay" (Ralph Manza) also has a cameo, once again as a limo driver?  That's one weird "shared universe".

I wonder how many young kids who might happen to catch the movie these days would even get those connections?   
Kinda' like some of those WWII or Great Depression era references in Looney Tunes I saw as a kid that went over my head back then.

Best

Joe

[josemas]

Green Hornet is a very enjoyable serial and I really like Warren Hull (also in The Spider). Oddly enough, despite my love of serials, I haven't seen Zorro's Fighting Legion!  (There is a current mention of Zorro on Vintage Comics Forum with examples of his appearances in the weekly, L'Audace but it's in Italian). 
Can't find The Finder anywhere.  Last night, a new episode of Body of Proof, a series we both enjoy.  Tonight, the next Mentalist of the new series.  We have something called, "Alcatraz" starting here next week - is it worth a look?

In addition to The Green Hornet Strikes Again serial and both Spider chapter-plays Hull also starred in the Mandrake the Magician serial.  Fine in all (although I wish they had made him wear a mustache in the Mandrake cliff-hanger).
Other than that he mostly appears in B movies (many for Columbia Pictures whom I believe he was under contract to for a while) often in supporting roles.  I've seen him in a couple Boris Karloff pictures as well as one of the Warren William Lone Wolf films.

Best

Joe

[profh0011]

Isn't it just bizarre how, in LOVE AT FIRST BITE, both "George" and "Louise" (as in, Jefferson) show up-- as a minister and judge, respectively-- and "Jay" (Ralph Manza) also has a cameo, once again as a limo driver?  That's one weird "shared universe".

I wonder how many young kids who might happen to catch the movie these days would even get those connections?   
Kinda' like some of those WWII or Great Depression era references in Looney Tunes I saw as a kid that went over my head back then.

Best

Joe

I'm just getting this strange image in my head that George Hamilton's DRACULA exists in the same universe as George Peppard's BANACEK.  (Now, wasn't there a tv show years later where Sherman Hemsley played a minister?)

[paw broon]

Thanks chaps, for the opinions on Alcatraz, we'll give it a try. 
I'd forgotten about Warren Hull being Mandrake and, although I have the serial, I haven't watched it since I got it quite a while ago.
Rumours abound re. Primeval in Canada but like you, I can find nothing concrete.  You never know.
Watched an old b&w film this week, "Space Master X-7, an enjoyable load of old cobblers.

[profh0011]

I wish they would have run more serials on TV when I was grown up.  In this area, the only ones they ever seemed to show were the 3 FLASH GORDONs and the 1 BUCK ROGERS.  And I clearly remember a stretch where the local channel was running ...TRIP TO MARS, BUCK ROGERS and ...CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE, but not the '36 FLASH GORDON.  I mean... WTF???

In the 80's, NJN (PBS in Trenton) ran all 4, at a rate of 1 chapter per week. I managed to tape all of them that way.

In the late 90's I managed to get both BATMAN (1943) and BATMAN AND ROBIN (1948) off of AMC (I think). They ran the complete serials, without any breaks at all, a day apart, Monday and Tuesday night, both at 1:30 in the morning!  I caught the 1st one totally by accident, saw it was about to come on in a couple minutes and scrambled to slap a blank tape into the VCR.  The next day, just on the odd chance, I checked to see what they had scheduled, and sure enough it was the sequel.  I really love the '43 film, in some ways, as much or more than the '66 tv series.

I also got CAPTAIN AMERICA (1943) on videotape by mail-order. Fabulous action, and the most intensely nasty S.O.B. Lionel Atwill ever played in his career.  Ity really captures the fight scenes Jack Kirby put on paper-- if NOTHING else. And there's a reason for that. It's not that they got it so wrong... it's that the entire thing was planned & written as a MR. SCARLET serial, but at the last minute, they changed their minds and made it something else.  Martin Goodman, apparently, was not thrilled... (heh)

[profh0011]

Last night:

FLASH GORDON: THE GREATEST ADVENTURE OF ALL  (1979)

Filmation's finest creation ever!!!


Tonight:

FLASH GORDON  (1980)

Of all the really idiotic movies out there, this has to be the most MAGNIFICENT. Incredible cast (barring the lead), absolutely dazzling production & costume designs (some of which make no sense at all), even more sex & violence by far than the Filmation feature, some really intense, EXCITING sequences, side-by-side with some of the DUMBEST dialogue ever uttered in a movie. Talk about schizo... The one thing I can say without reservation, this film's got WAY better music than the Filmation version. The combined talents of Howard Blake (who scored many Tara King episodes of THE AVENGERS) and the rock group Queen push this film completely "OVER THE TOP"!!!

[narfstar]

OK I hate to admit it but I was 17 and stationed on Staton Island when a movie was playing in NYC called Flesh Gordon.
A sex spoof of Flash. I remember the movie being hilariously funny. I do not know how well the humor would hold up and it is probably less sex than would be on Cinemax now but it was pretty raw for the time.

[profh0011]

My Dad never saw that movie, but he used to deliberately quote Queen Fria from ...CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE (1940) when she referred to him (thanks to her accent) as "Flesh Gordon".  (No kidding!)

Someone sent me a copy of FLESH GORDON about 6 years ago, so I finally got to see it.  It was quite entertaining.  The "sex" parts were rather tame, but the rest of the film was actually far better-- and more "on target" than one might expect.  In many ways, it seemed to capture the feel of the comic-strip better than the Dino DeLaurentis "epic".

I JUST found my copy of BARBARELLA tonight-- of course, I should have guessed, it's on the same tape as the 1980 FG. Guess while I'm at it, I might as well watch both of them.  One reviewer at the IMDB correctly noted that BARBARELLA had a HUGE influence on Dino's film, in look, style, everything. I might say, "How very ITALIAN".

A pity THE ADVENTURES OF STELLA STAR, also in that style, comes across as merely, mostly, "tacky".



And meanwhile...


I cannot believe the timing of this.  I watch FLASH GORDON (1980) for the first time in ages, and TODAY, Brian Blessed gets in the news!!!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1334574/Brian-Blessed-accused-throttling-Savoy-diner-insulted-films.html

[josemas]

I cannot believe the timing of this.  I watch FLASH GORDON (1980) for the first time in ages, and TODAY, Brian Blessed gets in the news!!!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1334574/Brian-Blessed-accused-throttling-Savoy-diner-insulted-films.html

Didn't this happen a year or so ago or is Blessed acting up again?

Curious

Joe