England’s Amicus films made a number of horror and sci-fi flicks between the early 1960’s and the mid-1970’s. They were the rival of Hammer films. Amicus were know for their horror anthology films and they mad seven of those, but they made other films as well. Here are some posters for some of their movies.
You’re not the Skipper.
1961
These rich, fancy pants guys are sitting around in black and white yacking about time travel and whether or not events in time could be changed and blah, blah, blah on and on. Corrigan (Russell Johnson) decides to leave and he talks to an attendant William before departing. Then he feels all whoozy headed and suddenly everything is all olden days and such. He gets to what he thinks is his house, but it turns out it’s really a boarding house and it’s 1865 instead of 1961. Normally when people tie one on they go forward in time not back-oh wait maybe he’s sober. Because everyone who thinks they have just gone back in time almost 100 years must be sober. He realizes it’s the day that Lincoln will be assassinated. He rushes to stop the event, but is rushed to the police station and believed to be touched in the head. A dude named Wellington takes Corrigan into custody. He gets him out of there and begins asking him questions. Corrigan tells him what he knows and then takes a drink from Wellington and is probably just glad it’s not served in a coconut. However it is drugged, Corrigan wakes up later and realizes that Corrigan is John Wilkes Booth and it’s too late. he gets back to his time and is convinced you can’t change history. At least that it until he runs into William who is now rich because back in the past Corrigan convinced William’s policeman relative to go and try to stop an assassination before it happened. This apparently caused him to rise in position and pass on wealth to his relatives.
The negatives-Not a whole lot.
The positives-A strong script and solid acing pull off this bare bones time travel tale. It’s a great episode that is good now and when I first saw it years ago.
Pull my finger.
Ooops I think we just failed to change history.
1967
The effects from a black star throw the Enterprise back to the 1960’s-like groovy, man. However an Air Force has been dispatched to locate the starship when it shows up on military radar-uh oh. The Enterprise accidently breaks the ship with it’s tractor beam-oopsie. However they beam the pilot one Captain John Christopher onto the ship first. So he’s okey dokey but he has seen too much-computers, weapons, Spock so he can’t go back because he might blab. Spock looks to make sure this guy isn’t going to do anything important in the future and he doesn’t. However the son he doesn’t have yet will be involved in a space ship launch thingie that could effect the future if his dad isn’t there to make sure the son exists. Captain Christopher lets Kirk know that he took film of the Enterprise and that it’s likely on earth and will be seen. Kirk and Sulu beam down and break in to get the film, but they have to beam up an Air Force officer to keep cover and then Kirk gets nabbed. Sulu later returns with Spock and Captain Christopher, but the guy from the 1960’s wants to stay now and causes trouble so Spock puts the old Vulcan nerve pinch on him. They beam back and Scotty says he thinks they can slingshot around the sun to get back to their own time and Captain Christopher would go back to not having known about them. They try it and bimbamboom all is right in the world both past and future.
They are right, the film shows that I am a ham.
The negatives-For a time travel event the actual travel part isn’t shown much but that goes with the lack of budget that the original Trek had or didn’t have.
The positives-This is a good, but not great episode. The time travel is handled in a rather low key way, but the aspect of one’s offspring effecting the future was interesting as was the Enterprise being mistaken for a UFO.
You have women in your time too I see.
Now suppose you tell me why they still have hairpieces in the future?
Ah, it has been some time since my last visit here. This week’s insult is Parsimonious Puppet. This one is sure to astound your friends and enemies. Good day to you.
Even though I grew up in the 1970’s I don’t that decade’s cartoons as a whole were as good as the cartoons of the 1960’s. Maybe that’s fitting since Scooby Doo actually began in the fall of 1969. However it’s my choice for best cartoon of the 1970’s. While they borrowed some plots on occasion from Johnny Quest this cartoon managed to create it’s own style by combining action, humor, horror and of course mystery. One of my favorite parts about Scooby Doo was that no matter where they went they managed to find monsters and mysteries. It could be the big city, an isolated beach or their home town but they always found some events that needed to be investigated. They also had likable main characters, catch phrases and the monsters were mostly very cool. This was definitely the top cartoon that I acted out as a kid. It also made me thinking the eyes in paintings were watching me, crooks dressed as monsters and the Mystery Machine was the coolest thing on four wheels. So get set for Scooby-Doo week.
The boy wonder is back to share this wee’k exclamation! It is Holy Rats In A Trap! So it you don’t like your surroundings let this one out and see what reaction it gets.
Spare me the dire doubts, but it is I Dr. Zachary Smith here once again to help enhance your knowledge of insults. This week it is Cackling Cuckoo. A delightful insult to use in the right situation. Good day to you, sir or madam.
This week’s exclamation is Holy Waste Of Energy! So that can be used on either physical or electrical energy or whatever serves your purpose at the time.
Robin is giving out a double dose of Holy Exclamation this week and they are Holy Horseshoes and Holy Merry Go Around. Now you have twice as many exclamations to proclaim as you see fit.
This week’s Holy Exclamation is Holy Here We Go Again! So write that one down and use it if a situation from the past pops up again.
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