MeTV's SuperSci-Fi Saturday Night

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by JD, Sep 21, 2014.

  1. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    Their online schedule says "('43)", so: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036261/?ref_=nv_sr_5

    And an accidental find of interest to people who get Me...they have a Battlestar Galactica item on their front page, so it's likely to be joining their schedule in the near future.
     
  2. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    Me, too. I love Fleetwood Mac. "Rhiannon" is one of my all-time favorite songs. But somehow this song has totally abandoned my brain cells.

    I wouldn't call it a failure. I find both this and "It's Still Rock And Roll To Me" pretty amusing.
     
  3. David Bixby

    David Bixby Lieutenant Junior Grade Red Shirt

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    He was a David Bowman in Broken Image but I don't know where that episode was set.
    Brown was used in 747 and Escape From Los Santos.
     
  4. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    Definitely didn't seem like Montana. But anytime they don't specify another location, it comes off as Southern California by default.
    _______

    Batman
    "Green Ice"
    Originally aired November 9, 1966​
    "Deep Freeze"
    Originally aired November 10, 1966​

    Sporting an open-headed suit--What, is he trying to air-condition the whole outdoors!?![/mom]

    The first fake bribe in front of the press in the commissioner's office was ridiculous.

    But as Batman himself pointed out, it was just a sideshow. This story was all over the place. Why the green motif in the first part of the story, for example, other than to justify the title?

    I don't know, but it got annoying fast.

    Overall, a very underwhelming, samey-same installment, especially compared to last week's.
     
  5. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Same here.


    I can flush his Stones rip, but "Its Still Rock and Roll to Me" was a great song. Nice memories from Spring 1980!
     
  6. Mr. Adventure

    Mr. Adventure Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    A DJ at my cousin's wedding played this song and I was like "Has anyone actually listened to these lyrics?" to deaf ears.

    Billy Joel's various pantomimes to the lyrics are hilarious.
     
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2017
  7. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    Next week's ears are burning.
     
  8. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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  9. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Yeah--probably one of the few times Hammer failed to successfully brand/sell their version of an older horror film.
     
  10. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Haha! That sounds about right!


    "Vild" was a schtick that seemed to take inspiration from the flood of knock-offs that cashed in on the Bond craze, where too many Euro-villain masterminds (too many also bald) spoke in stereotyped accents. George Sanders created the best Mr. Freeze (ah, how one can miss season one!), but by this point in season two, the producers were looking to ramp up as many over-the-top 60s fads as possible, hence egomaniac Preminger. It did not work.

    You'll get that often at this point in S2. The back quarter is measurably superior to this period.
     
  11. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    Seriously, "The Phantom of the Opera" has two big scenes: the unmasking scene, where Christine yanks the mask off the Phantom, revealing his hideous countenance, and the bit where the Phantom drops the huge crystal chandelier on the audience.

    The Hammer version left out both of those scenes. WTF?

    (Instead the Phantom yanks off his own mask, for no particular reason, just before he's crushed by falling lamp. Really.)
     
  12. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    The Phantom of Vaudeville. :rommie:

    That's nothing. My uncle and a bunch of his friends sang a touching rendition of "House of the Rising Sun" at his wedding. :rommie:

    Hmmm....
     
  13. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Well, the Daylight Savings time skip caused Tony and Doug to miss their landing and get stuck in the vortex, so no Time Tunnel this week.

    Land of the Giants: "Six Hours to Live" is a rather straightforward entry in the "race against time to save an innocent man from execution" genre that countless shows have used. It also reflects a change in approach this season, a tendency to portray the giants' world less as an alien culture and more just as the 1960s United States writ large. Aside from the presence of the Little People, there's nothing about this story that sets it apart from an Earthbound story. We have a man wrongly convicted of murder and his compassionate prison warden hopefully awaiting a reprieve from the governor, with no mention of the oppressive totalitarian regime that this world is supposed to be living under. I can't help but think the story should've played out differently in such a context, with the condemned man being a political prisoner and the Little People having to force the state officials to abandon their trumped-up case against him lest some embarrassing truth be exposed, or something. That would at least have fit into the show's world; this is just a generic TV drama with miniature people added. The giants even have ordinary Earthling names like Joe Simmons, Martin Reed, Harry and Martha Cass, and James Sloan. (The credits only say "Warden Sloan," but I saw a "James" on one of his framed certificates on the wall.)

    By the same token, even though this is from the show's second-most prolific director, Sobey Martin, they've largely abandoned the practice of always shooting the giant characters from below. The camera angles are much more normal, even in some of the scenes where the Spindrift crew are present. They're still usually shooting down from the rafters on the Earthlings, though. It's almost as if they've abandoned the idea that these are normal-sized humans on a planet of giants. If you only saw this episode without knowing the backstory, you'd probably think this was an Earth-based show about doll-sized people hiding from normal humans, like The Borrowers.
     
  14. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    This week, on The Incredible Hulk:

    "Equinox"
    Originally aired March 21, 1980
    Preview link.

    Events in the news the week the episode aired:

    New on the charts that week:

    "Train in Vain (Stand by Me)," The Clash

    (#23 US; #30 Dance w/ "London Calling"; #292 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)

    "London Calling," The Clash

    (B-side of "Train in Vain" in the U.S.; #30 Dance; #11 UK; #15 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)

    "The Rose," Bette Midler

    (#3 US; #1 AC)

    And hopefully you didn't touch that dial the night of the original broadcast, because you might have missed a legendary moment in TV history two hours later on the same channel:



    Thus the season cliffhanger was born...and in the shorter term, a brief pop culture phenomenon....

    "Who Shot J.R.?," Gary Burbank

    (Charted June 28, 1980; #67 US; #91 Country)

    _______
     
    Last edited: Mar 16, 2017
  15. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Amazing how in only a few, short years, Larry Hagman's J.R. was so unique a performance, that it made TV viewers completely forget he was recently (as of its last 1st run episodes in 1970) known in all parts as Major Anthony Nelson from I Dream of Jeannie.
     
  16. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    I should have posed the question: "Where were you when J.R. was shot? Were you watching?"

    My mom watched Dallas, so the TV was always on CBS all of Friday night in those days. IIRC, there was some advance publicity of J.R. getting shot, such that I was intrigued and paid more attention to the episode than I normally would have. I also remember somebody bringing that novelty record to school.

    Oddly enough, the place of "Who Shot J.R.?" in our chronology only came to my attention because the Wiki page for 1980 mentioned the record viewership of the next-season episode in which the shooter was revealed. As you can see from what I posted in the box, they didn't bother to mention the airing of the episode that kicked off the phenomenon.
     
    Last edited: Mar 16, 2017
  17. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    I think I was, though I don't recall clearly. I know I watched the show for a while, though it was a bit mature for me and a lot of stuff probably went over my head.
     
  18. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    This is easily my favorite Clash song. Emo Punk! :D

    This is okay. It's got a nostalgic sound to it now, but I didn't really like it at the time. It was more of the crude, angry Punkness that turned off Hippies like me. As I recall, the line about "phony Beatlemania" in particular disinclined me to Clash fandom. :rommie:

    This is a beautiful song and a beautiful rendition. Just a lovely poem set to music.

    Soap actually got there first-- although "Who Shot Robert Urich?" was not the actual cliffhanger.

    Even now I do a mental double take when I think that it's the same guy playing those two characters.

    My Mother and Grandmother used to love the show, so I used to tape it and keep up with it so we'd have something to talk about. I thought it was awful, but amusing. My enjoyment increased dramatically when Jenilee Harrison joined the cast, because I had a huge crush on her. :rommie:
     
  19. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    Looking back with a bit of detachment, I'm inclined to turn a deaf ear to the punks' conceit in this area.

    Ah yes, so it did. I didn't pay much attention to the show at the time, but I don't recall it stirring up as much of a phenomenon as the Dallas cliffhanger did.

    Even in 1980? I didn't know anyone who had a video recorder then.
     
  20. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    The Incredible Hulk--
    "Equinox"


    Along a seaside town, the Hulk races through the streets, with Jack McGee trying to keep up--but quickly losing the pursuit. Coming to rest under an outdoor staircase, the Hulk transforms back to David Beldeon, and in a panic (due to McGee) hops aboard the boat owned by his employer (Diane Powell) and heads back to her private island, with McGee sure the elusive John Doe was the man on he ship.

    On the island, the self-absorbed Diane Powell demands her home is prepared for the Vernal Equinox party she's throwing only days away. Powell is never slow to remind Pierce (her butler) to stay in his "place" when dealing with her rich friends. Former lover Allan Grable grumbles for a commitment (and about his custody / financial woes) from the woman, but in her usual manner, brushes him off.

    In the library, Diane finds David going through her late father's books--

    Diane: "You really understand dear old dad's work, don't you? When I hired a librarian, I didn't know I'd get a scientist, too. Are you a geneticist?"
    David: "No, no, its just a hobby. But if I were given a choice, I could spend years in here--your father was the best."
    Diane: "Maybe as a test tube man. As a father, I really wouldn't know. He was never around. Dear old dad's will said I had to keep this library going in order to get my inheritance. If it was up to me, I would have burned these books. Every last one of them."

    David plans to leave the island, but Diane insists David not only join her friends for dinner, but attend the masquerade party for the Vernal Equinox the coming night; David cannot talk his way out of the gatherings.

    On the docks, McGee questions the captain of the boat that took John Doe to the island. With a $10 bribe, the captain spills what little he knew about "odd" Beldon, including his torn clothing and his employment on the island, but comes short of taking McGee to the island, fearing crossing Diane would lead to a loss of work. He suggests McGee try to attend the costume party...

    On Powell Island, Diane cuts down her would-be filmmaker brother's (Donald) ambitions and need for money, much to the irritation of the younger sibling. Once again, Diane blows off Allan's romantic overtures and harps on David attending the party, refusing his use of her boat--a fact reinforced by butler Pierce, who echoes Diane's orders, while complaining about his family's long years serving the Powell family. Pierce is not shy expressing his borderline violent anger toward Diane...

    Later, Diane expresses her interest in David--a man unlike any she knows, but he rejects her, instantly angering the woman. She slaps Banner, but he remains unmoved. Diane is relentless in questioning why David needs to leave, even attempting to bribe him, but David--cool and insightful as ever points out--

    David: "It must be nice having all that money. Takes the place of so much."

    As David leaves Diane's bedroom, a man dressed in black watches from behind a pillar, then approaches the woman's room.

    On the night of the party, McGee manages to swim a short distance to the island, and change into a tuxedo. He is--once again--armed with a curare dart pistol, and blends into the party, scanning the crowd for John Doe. Upstairs, the figure in black prepares to strangle Diane, but is interrupted by another partygoer. As Diane officially kicks off the proceedings, McGee tires to remove the mask of a guard, who angrily orders McGee to leave him alone...but the reporter does not--following the man to another part of the house.

    Elsewhere, Diane tries to apologize to David, and get him to join the event, but he coldly refuses, expressing his distaste for the company--meaning Diane. Moments after she departs, McGee enters the room, but David's face is blocked by a lamp--which Banner quickly unplugs. In the dark, David scrambles to find his way out, but McGee--now armed with the curare gun--has other plans--

    McGee: "John Doe. John? Its useless, you know. You might as well give up."

    Banner rams a book cart into McGee, knocking the reporter off balance--enough time for Banner to flee the room, but the doctor repeatedly crashes his way through the hall, until falling down the sta...triggering a Hulk out. In short, the creature is rather pissed off at McGee, who misses one chance after another to shoot him, eventually and literally having the rug pulled out from under him by the Hulk. Later, McGee tracks the Hulk--now back in John Doe form (and wearing a mask) to a costume storeroom, gun in hand--

    McGee: "Three years. Don't move! Its over, John. Take off the mask."
    David: "Mister McGee, mine is not a happy life. All I want to do is get rid of the creature. Why won't you leave me alone?"
    McGee: "From the beginning, no one's believed me. You are my vindication."
    David: "And you'll be destroying me."
    McGee: "I will be stopping an uncontrollable and dangerous force!"
    David: "The creature saved your life--more than once. You know that!"
    McGee: "The creature is also responsible for taking lives! I was there at the laboratory fir. He killed David Banner and Elaina Marks!"
    David: "No! No, no, no--Elaina died in the fire--not the creature! He tried to save her!! "
    McGee: "You'll have every chance to prove that in a court of law. Take off the mask!"
    David: "Will you shoot me?"
    McGee: "It's only an anesthetic--Curare--you'll only be out for a little while."
    David: "Curare's a deadly poison. If you have enough there to subdue the creature, you could kill me!"
    McGee: "Take off the mask! Take it off!"
    David: "Mr. McGee, you're risking bringing out the creature in me...now please..please stay back! You know what could happen!"
    McGee: "THE MASK!!!"

    David pushes clothes racks on McGee, and locks him in the room. As McGee uses a coat hanger to pick the lock, Diane is pushed over a balcony by the man in black; with her grip weakening, she is rescued by her brother...who happens to be wearing the same shoes as her stalker....

    Diane is startled by David--the man begging to leave the island, but she holds him at gunpoint, accusing him of trying to kill her; David reminds her that her general disrespectful behavior would lead more than a few to want to do her harm. Pierce locks him in Diane's closet, and just as quickly as she thought Banner was the would-be killer, she reconsiders his analysis, but is interrupted by Allan, still wanting private time with her. Downstairs, Pierce--learning McGee was not invited--orders him off of the island in the same police boat coming for David...

    Allan--whining about his alimony woes and Diane's unfeeling nature, tries to strangle her. During the struggle, the woman slips David the key to the closet, and once out, attacks Allan, but ends up having his head crushed by the closet door. triggering a Hulk out. Pierce (escorting McGee to the dock) hears the commotion, and joins in the fight, as the Hulk rises, attacks Allan, then turns his rage toward McGee, crushing the Curare gun in his hand. The creature knocks Pierce out of the way, carrying the unconscious Diane to safety in the courtyard. Transforming back to David, he comforts the distraught Diane.

    Later, Diane gives Banner his belongings, a small boat, and bids him farewell. It turns out his choice words have influenced the woman to reconsider her way of life.

    NOTES:

    This is not a cure related episode, and whatever David was researching ended up abandoned in the Powell library..

    The "whodunit" mystery sub-genre gets a quickie run through Hulk-land, complete with angry butler, spurned boyfriends and shift relatives. It was--naturally--the "B" story. Obviously, the focus was the Banner / McGee conflict, which reaches another negative head so close to then end of season three; McGee is as ruthless and self serving (like too many journalists) as he pays lip service to bringing John Doe to justice, but that's overshadowed by his selfish need to be vindicated. This is yet another unbreakable chain to his "Mystery Man" true motivations--its not about helping the Hulk/John Doe--but exploiting him.

    As mentioned in another review, he adds to his ruthless profile by repeatedly shooting at a regular human with a curare-tipped dart; as Banner accurately states, that can kill a man, and McGee certainly had no clue about dose, effects--anything, but he did not care. ...and if someone thinks, "he's using curare based on how it will work on the Hulk," then I offer the fact that McGee knows nothing about the creature's physiology at all--he's just using a simpleminded, aggression-driven "all out" approach, which would kill Banner.

    The contrast between David Banner and Jack McGee is quite striking: note Banner's tormented, impassioned defense of his actions during the lab fire--not only is it now established that he has a stronger memory of his actions while in Hulk mode that night, but his heartbreak over Elaina's death is as raw as ever. While his emotional state is clear, McGee does not care at all--he hammers his demand for John Doe to remove the mask--its all about his need to have his big moment--his ticket to "be somebody" by exposing John Doe. He's utterly unsympathetic to the plight of the man ("mine is not a happy life. All I want to do is get rid of the creature. Why won't you leave me alone?"). This is no Richard Kimble / Phillip Gerard relationship--where the hunter genuinely believes a crime has been committed, and he--as an agent of the law--is determined to bring a killer to justice. With McGee, its always back to his greed / interest.

    ...and let's not overlook how the Hulk was especially menacing toward McGee (slowly approaching him) during the fight scene.

    GUEST CAST:

    Christine De Lisle (Diane Powell)--has a very light list of fantasy credits. Aside from this episode of TIH, her only other credit was--
    • Wizards and Warriors (CBS, 1983) - "Unicorn of Death" & "The Kidnap"
    Paul Carr (Allan) was not far from most notable fantasy productions over the span of two decades--
    • Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond (ABC, 1959) - "Reunion"
    • Men Into Space (CBS, 1960) - "Is There Another Civilization?"
    • Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (ABC, 1965-67) - "Hot Line" / "Long Live the King" / "Hail to the Chief" / "Doomsday" / "Cradle of the Deep" / "Terror on Dinosaur Island" & "No Escape from Death"
    • Star Trek (NBC, 1966) - "Where No Man Has Gone Before" as Lt. Lee Kelso
    • The Time Tunnel (ABC, 1966) - "End of the World" & "Revenge of the Gods"
    • The Green Hornet (ABC, 1967) - "Seek, Stalk and Destroy"
    • The Invaders (ABC, 1967) - "The Innocent"
    • Land of the Giants (ABC, 1968) - "Framed"
    • The Severed Arm (Media Trend, 1973)
    • Circle of Fear (NBC, 1973) - "Legion of Demons"
    • The Bat People (AIP, 1974)
    • The Six Million Dollar Man (ABC, 1974-78 ) - "Population: Zero" / "The Bionic Woman" / "The Bionic Woman: Part Two" & "Just a Matter of Time"
    • Logan's Run (CBS, 1978) - "Stargate"
    • The Amazing Spider-Man (CBS, 1978) - "The Kirkwood Haunting"
    • Time Express (CBS, 1979) - "The Copy Writer" / "The Figure Skater"
    • Buck Rogers In the 25th Century (NBC, 1981) - "Journey to Oasis" / "The Guardians" / "Mark of the Saurian" & "The Golden Man"
    • Solar Crisis (Bridge Entertainment, 1990)
    • Blood: The Last Vampire (Aniplex, 2000)
    • Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Bandai Visual Company, 2002)