The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread

[Christopher]

Well, I sort of gave up my plan to watch episodes of Filmation's Journey to the Center of the Earth on YouTube, since the versions they have are either low-quality with the sound out of sync, or flattened for widescreen, and I'm not sure which of those I find more irritating. But I did succeed in DVRing this weekend's four episodes. It is pretty elementary stuff -- a lot of running and getting caught and escaping and facing monsters and natural and artificial deathtraps, and a different civilization of underground creatures almost every week. But it's surprisingly violent for a Filmation show. There was one episode where they made peace with the locals, but at least a couple where the local bad-guy race got entirely massacred by nature's fury or their own civilization collapsing.

I just saw "Land of the Dead," which was the eighth episode aired, but I'm pretty certain it was the first one produced. The characters give bits of exposition that sound like the sort of thing you'd hear in a first episode, and several of the main characters' voices sound a little different, as though Ted Knight and Pat Harrington hadn't quite settled into their characterizations. And there's an animation sequence of Gertrude the Duck circling a whirlpool and then coming to rest over the middle of it, which is a motion that I've seen used for the duck in several episodes, but this is the only time it actually makes sense in the context of the environment rather than just being a random motion. So it must've been animated for this scene and then reused.

I'm curious enough that I may watch the YouTube episodes after all, just to be thorough. But maybe El Rey will run through the whole series more than once. I guess I'll wait and see if they do.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

when i think of Batman 66 the word sitcom does not come to mind. not at all.

...because it was not designed to be a sitcom. Various William Dozier papers repeatedly refer to the adventure of the series that would draw young audiences, as well as using celebrities that would appeal to adult viewers familiar with them. However, as laziness set in, by the end of the 2nd and the entire 3rd season, Batman was reduced..not to a sitcom (which it never was), but an embarrassing farce.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Decades has been airing episodes of the elusive Police Story today. Recording them to check it out later.

Speaking of that show Police _____ from the '70s, the first Decades Binge of October:

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[RJDiogenes]

That will be interesting to see again. I never cared much for Angie Dickinson, but that show had a great supporting cast.

Now I'm really wondering why they cancelled the Police Story binge. Obviously not a problem with securing the rights.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Now my cable guide is showing Naked City as the Sept. 24-25 Binge instead of The Man from UNCLE. Apparently Naked City is its default Binge until it learns otherwise.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Chaos erupts behind the scenes at Decades!

 

[The Old Mixer]

The Green Hornet
"Give 'em Enough Rope"
Originally aired September 16, 1966

So the Hornet gets a masked villain, sort of...a guy in a ski mask who likes to hang out in a warehouse swinging on a rope.

A million-dollar lawsuit for leaving the word "alleged" out of a story? Could have been a typo or an editorial error...couldn't the Daily Sentinel just print a retraction? I'm no legal expert, but you'd think that Reid fraternizing with the opposition's lawyer would be a more serious matter.

On the subject of Kato's anonymity...the Hornet calls him Kato rather loudly in the warehouse within earshot of several witnesses, though I'd be willing to give them artistic license for that one.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Batman
"Fine Feathered Finks"
Originally aired January 19, 1966

Mildly amusing that one of the Penguin's goons is clearly labeled "Hawkeye."

Notice how ahead of its time Batman was in its awareness of the issue of distracted driving--Robin answers the phone when Batman's at the wheel.

Notice also the gag about Alfred cleaning the atomic pile, coming hot on the heels of Jill St. John's dramatic fate.

I hope that the Dynamic Duo also have a device that automatically scans for bugs and homing devices, the way they like to take items deliberately planted by their foes back to the Batcave to search them for clues. And it's a good thing that Bruce went against his usual M.O. and didn't make his bug Bat-themed...or put a big sign on it....

*******

ETA: I guess that denizens of the Greatest American Heroverse being on a hair trigger to commit people to asylums is working out for Bill and Ralph's little scenario now. In the first regular episode, Bill convinces a group of bad guys to keep their mouths shut about Ralph because an earlier group of bad guys were committed for not taking the same advice.

Yeah, it's definitely becoming a recurring thing. Bill just got pulled over by a cop for talking to invisible Ralph while driving.

And they just did the gag where Ralph randomly becomes visible in a restaurant and has to get out by walking through the place pretending to be advertising for a production of Man and Superman. Never mind that he reappeared standing in front of a door with an "EXIT" sign over it....

Ah, multiple Black Sheep alumni in this episode.

But there we go again...a security guard cancels an alert after seeing Ralph on a camera monitor because he doesn't want to describe what Ralph's wearing.

*******

 

[flandry84]

Never cared for Angie Dickinson??
You've never seen her in "Rio Bravo"then.
Those legs!In stockings too!!

 

[urbandefault]

I get a kick out of watching shows that were filmed on the same backlots, especially on the Columbia/WB Ranch. You'll see the same neighborhood and buildings in multiple shows and movies. It's fun to pick out familiar sites.

Example: This morning I saw an episode of Dennis the Menace, and the Bewitched house was featured prominently. Dennis and the Wilsons were one and two doors down from the Partridge Family house, and on the other side is the house currently seen on The Middle.

There are a ton of others filmed on the same lots. The most recent that comes to mind was the Warner Bros Midwest Street, seen as Stars Hollow on Gilmore Girls, then barely redressed as Bluebell Alabama on Hart of Dixie.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Never cared for Angie Dickinson??
You've never seen her in "Rio Bravo"then.
Those legs!In stockings too!!

Yeah, I don't know why I didn't like her. Maybe I'll like her better now. I like Lynda Carter a lot better now since I've watched the Wonder Woman re-runs than I did back in the day.

I get a kick out of watching shows that were filmed on the same backlots, especially on the Columbia/WB Ranch. You'll see the same neighborhood and buildings in multiple shows and movies. It's fun to pick out familiar sites.

Example: This morning I saw an episode of Dennis the Menace, and the Bewitched house was featured prominently. Dennis and the Wilsons were one and two doors down from the Partridge Family house, and on the other side is the house currently seen on The Middle.

There are a ton of others filmed on the same lots. The most recent that comes to mind was the Warner Bros Midwest Street, seen as Stars Hollow on Gilmore Girls, then barely redressed as Bluebell Alabama on Hart of Dixie.

Somebody should create a Wold Newton Universe for sitcoms.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

The Green Hornet
"Give 'em Enough Rope"
Originally aired September 16, 1966

So the Hornet gets a masked villain, sort of...a guy in a ski mask who likes to hang out in a warehouse swinging on a rope.

Keeping it real. TGH wanted to keep the villains as far away from Batman's Rogue's Gallery as possible, with the exception of Dr. Eric Mabouse from the 2-part series finale, but Greenway knew the series was cancelled by that time, so it did not matter.

A million-dollar lawsuit for leaving the word "alleged" out of a story? Could have been a typo or an editorial error...couldn't the Daily Sentinel just print a retraction?

Error or not, as wee see in the modern day, celebrities and those drowning in social media are instantly and constantly outraged / threatening legal action for anything less than butt-kissing praise, or someone daring to point out something that is clear as day. "Alleged"

I'm no legal expert, but you'd think that Reid fraternizing with the opposition's lawyer would be a more serious matter.

Keep your friends close, but your enemies...or associates of your enemies closer?

On the subject of Kato's anonymity...the Hornet calls him Kato rather loudly in the warehouse within earshot of several witnesses, though I'd be willing to give them artistic license for that one.

Same here. Still, I've always believed he should have used a name while in costume. Green Hornet co-creator George W. Trendle was a consultant for the TV series (up to a point), so I'm not sure if giving Kato a name for his costumed half would have been allowed in any case.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Keeping it real. TGH wanted to keep the villains as far away from Batman's Rogue's Gallery as possible

Problem for me being that it was just unusual enough to draw attention to itself, so it seemed like sort of a half-assed attempt at a villain with an unusual motif. Look, he has a special skill...that he can only use hanging around this one warehouse....

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Problem for me being that it was just unusual enough to draw attention to itself, so it seemed like sort of a half-assed attempt at a villain with an unusual motif. Look, he has a special skill...that he can only use hanging around this one warehouse....

It might not have been fleshed out well, but you can rest assured that that kind of villain is rare for TGH.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Batman
"The Penguin's a Jinx"
Originally aired January 20, 1966

I was willing to let the monitor focused on the furnace conveyor go, but not the way it blew up when Bruce made the furnace explode.

I must have been recalling details from an earlier airing, but the damn umbrella was bugged! That definitely makes the Dynamic Duo look careless, especially when they established that the Penguin can automatically detect bugs. It's a good thing that it wasn't a homing device; and that the Duo didn't drop any info about their secret identities while Penguin was listening; and that Alfred didn't walk in.

It was clever letting the Dynamic Duo plan the Penguin's capers for him...though it's an angle that might have made better sense after the Duo's clue-solving skills were better established.

Aunt Harriet sure is a prude, finding the sight of Leslie Parrish and Alfred asleep fully clothed and sitting up on a couch to be so unspeakably scandalous.

And they're still dropping odd origin details into the stories...in this case, Commissioner Gordon explaining the purpose of the Bat-costume.

*

 

[Christopher]

It was clever letting the Dynamic Duo plan the Penguin's capers for him...though it's an angle that might have made better sense after the Duo's clue-solving skills were better established.

I've seen it said that the interesting thing about the first couple of storylines is that they both feel like subversions of a well-established formula rather than introductions of it. First you have the Riddler arranging a fake crime to entrap B&R for his lawsuit, now you have Penguin staging a non-crime so that B&R will plan his crime for him through their conjectures. Even knowing that '60s shows often began in medias res, with the debut episode being just another adventure of a character or team that's already established, it's an odd way to start. It's probably because both plots were loosely based on comic-book stories from the '50s or early '60s, so they were, in fact, later installments in a well-established formula.

Aunt Harriet sure is a prude, finding the sight of Leslie Parrish and Alfred asleep fully clothed and sitting up on a couch to be so unspeakably scandalous.

The Penguin/Marsha, Queen of Diamonds 3-parter in season 2 establishes that she's the head of the Gotham City League of Film Decency, which protests and censors adult content in motion pictures.

 

[The Old Mixer]

For Oct. 8-9, looks like Decades is bringing back The Millionaire. Looks like the show used the same title structure as Wagon Train..."The Name of Character Story".

 

[Christopher]

Just for fun, how many shows can we think of that had title themes like that? Wagon Train and The Millionaire were "The ____ Story." The Man from UNCLE was "The _____ Affair," though the article was inexplicably dropped in "Alexander the Greater Affair" Parts 1 & 2. Perry Mason was "The Case of the [usually alliterative 2-word phrase]." Men in Black: The Series was "The ____ Syndrome." I think Friends was "The One With _____." Continuum had seasonal themes -- every first-season title had "Time" in it, every second-season title had "Second," the third was "Minute," and the fourth was "Hour." Though that's a different kind of title theme, just one recurring word, rather than a uniform pattern with just one part changing.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Wild, Wild West: "The Night of _______"

Adam-12 had titles that started with log numbers for the first 3 seasons, it seems; e.g., "Log 141: The Color TV Bandit". The log numbers vary greatly and are in seemingly random order. I have to wonder if there are hardcore Adam-12 fans out there who try to make sense of the show while watching it in log number order.

Batman had its rhyming titles for two-parters.

 

[Christopher]

Wild, Wild West: "The Night of _______"

Yeah, that's an odd one. I don't see the connection to the series premise. It's not like the show usually took place at night, and I don't think that naming pattern has any particular connection to either Westerns or spy stories.

Batman had its rhyming titles for two-parters.

And 3-parters. Although there were five cases of non-rhyming titles in season 2 ("The Minstrel's Shakedown"/"Barbecued Batman?" "The Greatest Mother of Them All"/"Ma Parker", "The Clock King's Crazy Crimes"/"The Clock King Gets Crowned," "Green Ice"/"Deep Freeze", and "The Sandman Cometh"/"The Catwoman Goeth," though that's almost a rhyme), and no rhyming titles for any of season 3's occasional 2- and 3-parters.

I just rewatched the short-lived 1992 version of DC's Human Target on YouTube, and since the show's lead character was Christopher Chance, a bit over half of its 7 episodes had "Chance" puns in the title -- "Second Chance," "Design by Chance," "Cool Hand Chance," "Chances Are." But episodes 1, 4, and 6 were "Pilot," "Mirror Image," and "Going Home."

Some shows make a point of having one-word episode titles -- Smallville, for instance. I never liked that practice, since it's way too limiting. All of Blindspot's episode titles are anagrams for the real titles. And there are some shows that draw all their titles from literary quotes. Every season of Orphan Black gets its titles from a specific nonfiction book, starting with Darwin. The first season of War of the Worlds: The Series inexplicably drew nearly all its titles from the Bible, even though none of the show's characters or themes were religious.