Friday, January 04, 2013
Thursday, January 03, 2013
Cliffhanger! The Vanishing Shadow, Chapters 10-12!
With the greater space between installments, I'll be posting more than one chapter each installment!
Chapter 10:
Chapter 11:
Chapter 12:
Wednesday, January 02, 2013
Geek TV: The Herculoids!
Total Episodes:
18 of the original series, 11 added in 1981 (see notes).
Original Air Dates: September
9, 1967-January 6, 1968
Original Network: CBS
Geek Factor:
8
Characters:
Tara
(Voice of Virginia Gregg): Wife of Zandor, and a warrioress in her
own right.
Dorno
(Voice of Ted Eccles): Son of Zandor and Tara (though he calls them
by their first names in the original series, not “Mother” or
“Father”). Tends to get in trouble quickly.
Zok
(Voice of Mike Road): A flying space dragon that can emit laser beams
from his eyes and tail, can survive in space unaided, is capable of
interstellar travel, and can breathe fire.
Tundro
(voiced by Mike Road): A four-horned reptillian creature, like a
cross between a rhino and a triceratops. Can shoot explosive energy
rocks from his cannon-horn, has armored plating, can extend his legs,
and is able to drill through solid rock by spinning his head around.
Geek Guest-Stars: Not
Applicable
Geek Pedigree:
The character designs of the Herculoids were done by Alex
Toth,
a longtime comic book artist who also designed Space Ghost, the Super
Friends, and many other characters for animation. Series writer Ken
Spears
also wrote episodes of Space
Ghost, The Banana Splits, Scooby Doo Where Are You,
and many others. Joe
Ruby
was Ken Spears' partner for many of these, and later, the two would
break away from Hanna-Barbera to form Ruby-Spears Studios. David
Scott
also wrote episodes of Super
President
and Moby
Dick and The Mighty Mightor.
DVD Release: Originally offered
as “Print on Demand” only, the series is available in a complete
set.
Website:
http://herculoidsonline.tripod.com/
Notes:
When Hanna-Barbera revived Space Ghost in their Space
Stars
cartoon, 11 new Herculoids segments were made for it. I was a huge
fan of the original series, and wish it could be revived by people
who would do it right!
Tuesday, January 01, 2013
CBT: Six Million Dollar Man Coloring Book!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Government Comics!
The Beatles Cartoon, Episode 9!
The first singalong is "Long Tall Sally," and as the lyrics play, the Beatles dance on a stage. The lyric mishaps are really pretty minor... on one chorus, the screen shows the lyric "Having some fun tonight..." when Paul clearly doesn't seen the word "Having" (or even "Havin'," which is what he's actually singing when he does sing the word - this error happens a few times), and then later, "Oh baby -- yes, now baby" where Paul sang "Yeah" instead of "Yes." And when he does sing "Yeah," they spell it "Ya," and I don't know why.
Anyway, John comes out to introduce the next song, and of course there's the usual criticism of the kids who don't sing along. Ringo's told to decorate the stage so the folks will join in, and Ringo comes out as a WWI soldier with an enlistment poster, which is a gag they already did before.
Paul's the first to notice it's missing. So, the Beatles get a stagecoach (with an antenna) to search for the stolen guitar, with Ringo driving it. The antenna is supposed to pick up the sound of the guitar, and it isn't long before it does. The rival group's playing it in their hideout, and it sounds great even when they play it! All they need now is a song for it. Outside, the Beatles see this, and Paul gets an idea!
So, the rival band tries to flee the runaway mine car, but Ringo crashes through them... and then goes up another hill, and back down at them again! Next, Ringo's minecar trashes into a rock, sending Ringo and guitar in the air, but the Beatles catch him on their stagecoach! However, they're pursued by the rival band on their own coach, and they throw rocks at the Fab Four! John, Paul and George take their guitars out and use them as bats to hit the rocks back, and all three rocks are on-target. However, this victory is short-lived, as the wheels come off the Beatles' coach, and their horse comes loose. Ringo takes the horse's place and pulls their coach like a rickshaw (I guess the axes roll well enough).
So, another fun episode, although there were a few things that kind of bugged me -- okay, I'll let the whole Indian stereotype thing go, because honestly, it's no worse than any other show from the 1960s, and probably even the 1970s... besides, the guide in the first episode lets us know this is all an act. Still, the two gags about the Indians not winning were in really poor taste! The last segment suffered only from not naming the rival trio -- could no one come up with a name for them? Okay, I'll name them -- the Dalton Trio.
It's interesting that, once again, the episode's beginning and ending segments have the Beatles in the same location -- even if one of the singalong songs uses footage from the previous episode. Perhaps there'll be more of the same as we go along?
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Dog of the Geek: Ms. Lion!
Original Appearances: Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (NBC-TV, 1981-1983)
Other Appearances: Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (Marvel Comics, One-shot)
Biography: Ms. Lion was the pet of Angelica Jones (aka Firestar), a college student at Empire State University. After Firestar, Iceman and Spider-Man worked together to defeat the Beetle, the trio decided to team up permanently, and moved in to May Parker's home. Ms. Lion subsequently became May's pet more than Angelica's. Ms. Lion is aware of the “Spider-Friends”' alter egos.
Powers: None
Group Affiliation: Spider-Friends (if you want to push it)
Miscellaneous: A modern version of Ms. Lion is a male Sheepdog owned by May Parker, without powers, but a founding member of the Pet Avengers... and there's yet another reason I'm glad I'm not reading any new comic books by Marvel!
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