Biting the bullet

 

Everyone is of course aware of the big DVD event of the Batman TV series finally seeing the light of day in November. Then the prices were set and the whole series was going to cost a little under $200. So I thought “oh too rich for my blood”. Amazon currently has a pre-order price of $134 something. For three seasons and at free postage that price sounded more on the level. Plus if the price should go down between when I pre-order it and when it’s released I’d get the lower price. So I broke down and pre-ordered it. My love of this show got the better of me but I know that it will be worth it. I first saw this series in re-runs as a kid and loved it right away. Over the years it has been on various channels here and there. It’s currently on ME-tv on Saturdays so I have seen plenty of episodes recently, but it will be nice to have all of the episodes and be able to watch them whenever I want. I have always resisted the urge to buy a bootleg version over the years with the hope that the powers that be would settle what needed to be done and give it an official release. I’m actually kind of surprised it’s happening, but relieved and excited. It’s also great that it’s coming out while Adam West is still alive so he can contribute special features. Now I can’t wait for November to roll around so I can tune in at whatever Bat-time I want and watch one of my all time favorite shows.

I was a teenage movie maker

 

Don Glut might be most known for having written the novelization of The empire strikes back. However years before that actually from 1953 to 1969 he made a lot of home movies. Most were horror and science fiction films and all were fairly short. So this two disc collection includes a documentary about his films plus it includes all 41 movies. The documentary is quite good as it explores what motivated Glut to make these films, hos he did his special effects and other behind the scenes information. You can tell how he had a real love for film and the characters and themes he focused on. He obviously was a big fan of dinosaurs, super heroes and classic monsters so those were normally the main characters he focused on.  You can see his knowledge skill put to use in the films themselves and you can see his confidence and technique grow over the years. His early films were frequently short and he was just a kid. Most of these were very short and the early monster films frequently involved Halloween make-up and costumes and were filmed in someone’s else. The later films saw handmade costumes with more details, outside filming locations and sometimes even miniatures showed up too. Glut even had the chance to pull in known people into his film like super collector and gorilla suit wearer Bob Burns played Superman and Glenn Strange played the Frankenstein monster for Glut although in a mask rather than the make-up he wore when he did the character for Universal. As a kid it was great to see Dracula, Captain America and dinosaurs in films, but years ago if you wanted to see more of these you had to use your own imagination or create your own drawings, stories or whatever. Don Glut had a camera and stuck with creating these films, pulling his friends in to play roles and trying to get better at it which he did. Any fans of sci-fi, fantasy  and or horror films or just film makers in general will finally to enjoy in this set. I bought it the week it came some years ago and watch it frequently.

Shows that should be on DVD

Or maybe this should be shows that I think should be on DVD but likely they won’t be. Now we all know that the 60’s Batman deserves a DVD release and we all know it won’t get one so I’ll leave that off the list. Here you go, feel free to add any others that you like.

Freddy’s Nightmares

1988-1990, 2 seasons, syndicated

A horror anthology show with Freddie Krueger hosting.

Have I seen it? I saw a handful of episodes when it was first on and liked them.

Chances of a release-It has had a release in another region. Unlike other shows on this list it went 2 seasons and featured a very known character. I thinks odds are against a release, but it’s possible.

The Dark Room

1981-1982, 16 episodes, network

A horror anthology show that hit a couple of years before the anthology explosion of the md-80’s. James Coburn hosted it.

Have I seen it? I recall watching it fairly often with my parents.

Chances of a release-I think this one has also been released on another region. I think chances are slim but other anthology shows have been released in recent years as well.

Cliffhangers

1979, half a season, network

The show was meant to be like the old movie serials. So they had three different stories going. I seem to remember that they only got around to showing the ending to one of the three stories.

Have I seen it? My brother and I watched this one every week.

Chances of a release-

Fantastic Journey

1977, 10 episodes, network

This show had to do with a group of people from different time periods being trapped in the Bermuda Triangle.

Have I seen it? Nope, only know it from pictures from old issues of Starlog and various online reviews.

Chances of a release-Doubtful given it’s age and number of episodes.

Project UFO

1978-1979, network

This Jack Webb made show took real sightings of UFOs and dramatized them

Have  I seen it? I would watch this show and then go outside and search the sky for UFOs yet I never saw one. I only really remember the spaceships from this one so I am not sure how good the show would be if I saw it now.

Chances of a release-At this point I really don’t think the interest is there.

Wizards and Warriors

8 episodes, 1983, network

A fantasy show with royalty and a wizard and such

Have I seen it? I have faint memories of seeing a few episodes. I was into anything fantasy related so I liked it back then but remember very little about it.

Chances of a release-No way, too few episodes.

Werewolf

1987-1988,  Fox before it was a real network

College becomes a werewolf.

Have I seen it? I watched most of the episodes during it’s original run.

Chances of a DVD release? Actually it was slated for one a few years ago but word is that it was tough to get the rights to the music so it was shelved.

The Barbarians coming to DVD

I don’t normally announce DVD releases because I leave that for sites that always deliver that kind of news. However I was at Amazon and stumbled upon the news that 1987 film The Barbarians is getting a release on DVD next month along with the 1978 Lee Majors film The Norseman (which I never seen). I remember seeing a short article on The Barbarians when it came out in 1987 and figured it had to be a great and wonderful piece of crap. I didn’t see it until it showed up on TV one afternoon around 95 or 96. It was horrible yet great and way over the top, but that was the only time I ever saw it. Yet here it is just weeks away from coming out on DVD. I can’t wait!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Barbarians-Norseman-Double-Feature/dp/B00CQ8U6A8/ref=pd_sim_sbs_mov_2

The stack

So the biggest problem I have with movies is too many movies and too little time. In my mind I get these and think I’m going to have all this time watch all these movies, but somehow work, the kids, stuff to do at home,  the cats and other just soak up that time like a big sponge. Right now I have several large collections of various sci-fi and horror films plus some small collections and other various movies. The various movies are mostly big budget stuff made in the last 5 years and the reason they get skipped is because I am an old fossil and prefer older movies. Anyways those films are sitting there waiting to be watched and actually this site has given me an outlet that’s helped motivateme more towards watching some of these films so I can review them. I try to spend money of DVDs and mostly I have cut down a lot. However those darm bargain bins and the displays at Halloween always get me. Maybe those films are not any good and perhaps I don’t need them but at $5 can I really pass them up? Around Halloween I picked up a two disc Sherlock Holmes set and a cheapie 10 movie horror set for five bucks a piece and have I watched them yet? No I have not, but some day I hope to get through all these films.

*Is anyone else in this same situation? What’s in your “to watch soon” pile?

The Starlost Sunday-Coming soon

So I am going to buckle down and commit to a weekly segment that I’ll officially start next week, but I wanted to share some background about it first. Starting next week I am going to review one episode of the 70’s show the Starlost every Sunday. Now I never saw this show when it was on. In fact in the pre-internet days of old I only knew of it’s existence through a couple of pictures in issues of Starlog.  It was released on DVD a few years ago, but it was going for around forty bucks which was too rich for my blood, but this past Spring it went down around thirteen bucks so I picked it up. Now I knew that it had a reputation of being let’s say not the best sci-fi show ever made so my expectations were not high. Indeed it has it’s problems (more to follow), but there was some real potential there in a number of episodes. Now I have only seen each episode once so as I start this segment it will only be my second viewing of the episodes and for this segment I will focus on the strengths and weaknesses of each episode. Plus maybe I’ll focus in on what could have been improved upon or expanded on in each episode. My goal here is not to criticize the show although I will be honest in that category, but rather to find the creative sparks in the show as well. Some of you may be saying “what is this Starlost show that you are babbling on about?” Fair enough, I’m old so maybe not everyone knows about it. The Starlost was a Canadian produced show that was designed by Harlan Ellsion. The show was CTV in 1973 and syndicated to local stations here in the states. Harlan Ellison would disown the show before the first episode even aired do to disagreements over the show. The plot revolves around three young people who live in a simple world, but they soon discover their world is really a dome that is one of many domes in a giant spaceship that is out of control. They spend the episodes trying to figure out to get the ship back on course and usually they enter other domes and deal with various people and societies in those domes. The criticisms on this show normally include wooden acting, cheap sets, limited special effects and scripts that could have been better. All of the above do happen, but I don’t think it’s fair to dismiss this show because there were some elements that worked too and that’s what I hope to focus on in this weekly segment. Now I have to clear my mind (no, it’s that hard for me to do) and watch the debut episode this week with the goal of doing a review next Sunday.