Star Trek list-Guests on the original series

 

This list has a long name and it would be “Top five people I wished had been guests on the original Star Trek had the shown gone a forth season”. So here’s the deal I allowed myself to pick five people I would have to liked to have seen in Trek had the shown gone on one more year. I have to list why I think they would have been gone and a role or roles I could have seen them in. Also I had to pick people who were working in Hollywood at the time (1968-1969) but were not a regular part of the cast of another show at the time. Here you go.

 

Barbara Rhoades

Known for-

Shakiest gun in the west and roles on numerous TV shows in the 60’s and 70’s.

Role for Star Trek-Given her height of five feet ten and her presence I see her as an authority figure and probably alien, possibly on the mean side.

Russell Johnson

Known for- Gilligan’s Island, This Island Earth, Black Saddle

Role-A scientist of course, but likely not Starfeet because I don’t see him as Military. Either Federation or a civilian scientist on a colony. Of course if he started building a computer out of coconut shells Spock might raise an eyebrow at him.

In his book Johnson said he was a huge Trek fan and auditioned for a few roles on the original show, but never go the part.

William Smith

Known for-

Any which way you can, Conan the Barbarian, Laredo and much, much more.

Role-The Klingons on Trek tried to be tough, but they normally didn’t have the muscle to back it up. Smith had the size and the mean streak to be a truely menacing Klingon.

Suzanne Pleshette

Known for-

The Birds, Bob Newhart show, a few Disney movies.

Role-I see as a person on a mission, perhaps peace talks. I could see Kirk falling for her, but could also see her being very focused and even stubborn about her mission.

Burgess Meredith

Known for-

The Penguin in Batman, Rocky movies, a couple of Twilight Zone episodes and a lot more.

Role-Definitely an alien probably a devious one.

When I was kid he would be on something and my mom would walk in the room and say “Burgess Meredith? He’s in everything”. Indeed it did seem that way, but he was never in Trek unfortunately.

 

**There go, feel free to add your own to the list.

A list with a long name

Five films I like better now than I did when I was a kid. In no real order.

I first saw this when I was maybe 12 and thought it was alright, but I think the slow pace didn’t click with me. I saw it a decade or slow later and loved the mood.

I was a diehard fan of the original Kong and wasn’t  huge on the 1976 film when I first saw it. In more recent years I recognize it as a decent attempt to update the story.

The original Nosferatu is a classic and one of the best vampire films ever. The 1979 version seemed so caught up in it’s artsy style or so I thought the first time I saw it. The next time I saw it years later it sunk in as a different interpretation, not better but a very strong attempt.

I saw Marooned on TV when I was maybe 11 and just getting into sci-fi films. I was expecting space adventure and was bored. Watching it in more recent years I see it as a space disaster-action flick trying to convey some of what was going on with space missions of the time.

As a huge Trek fan I was very much looking forward to this film. I found it dull, unoriginal and at times even tedious. I may be cheating a little here, but the director’s cut appealed to me more. The film is still far from great, but I have better grasp of what they were to do with it now. I still don’t like those pajama style uniforms though.

Movies I own but have only watched once

1-Starship Troopers-I saw this movie once and it wasn’t even the copy I now  oddly enough. I borrowed it from a friend once. I thought it was a good looking stinker. It was full of bad performances, characters I cared nothing about and flat dialog. However the effects were stunning and so was the action. I bought it used for maybe $3 years ago and have not watched it.

2-K-pax-I bought this for a couple of bucks years ago at a K-mart that was going out of business. I watched it right away and really liked it, but for one reason or another have not put it in the player since.

3-Watcher in the woods-Horror from Disney? My wife saw this when she was a kid and bought it for us to watch around Halloween a few years back. I liked it and have put in my to watch soon pile but have just never gotten around to it.

4-My bloody valentine (original)-I had a room mate years ago who just loved 80’s horror films and he ranted on about this one. I bought it maybe 6-7 years ago out of the bargain bin. It was entertaining is high cheese quantity kind of way. Again I have considered watching it again but that just hasn’t happened.

5-The Phantom-I grew up reading the Phantom in the comics on Sundays. I didn’t see the film when it came out I heard nothing but mediocre responses to it. That didn’t stop me from picking out of the bargain bin like a decade later. I thought it was okay and really wanted to give it another viewing some day… that day has yet to come around.

 

***Do you own any films like this?

Top five cool girls/women from 60’s and 70’s cartoons

1-Trixie from Speed Racer. The girlfriend of Speed Racer so she wasn’t totally independent, but she was way cool. She knew about cars, she could pilot a helicopter and she even knocked down bad guys at times.

2-Velma Dinkley from Scooby Doo. Scooby and Shaggy were the comic relief, Freddie was the drives, Daphne was the eye candy, but the brains and heart and soul of Mystery Inc. was definitely Velma. Just a shame she kept dropping her glasses.

3-Jayna of Zan and Jayna from the Super Friends. An alien who partnered with her brother and were in the Super friends. She could turn into an animal while her brother could turn into some kind of water related substance. So Zan would be snowball or some ice cubes while Jayna was a tiger or an eagle-who got the best of that deal?

4-Gravity Girl from the Galaxy Trio-She left a pampered life to fight crime. She is also the equal of her two male teammates.

5-Natasha of Boris and Natasha from The Rocky and Bullwinkle show-Hey, I didn’t say they had to be heroes. Actually the show began in 1959 but lasted until 1964 so it spent more time in the 60’s. She was cruel and cool at the same time. Kind of creepy yet still likable.

Top five Universal monsters

Between the 1930’s and 1950’s Universal studios cranked out a whole bunch of monster films with a whole bunch of monsters. Many like Dracula, Frankenstein and the Invisible Man were adaptions of novels at least to some extent. Universal became known for making there monster films and the legacy still goes on. Here are my top five favorite Universal Monsters. If you was wrapped over me not choosing the money or you want to stick you head in the dirt because I didn’t select the Mole People well don’t do that. Instead just leave a comment telling who you like. Here’s the countdown to number one.

5-Invisible Man-He’s invisible, he is. In the earlier movies the syrum that made him invisible normally made him bonkers too.

The positives-The first two movies were great. The effects were good for the time. The films made great use of black and white.

The negatives-Some of the later sequels watered down the series.

4-The wolfman-Awhooooooo! It’s a full moon and he’s turning all fuzzy.

The positives-The werewolf lure of the first film was told and played out very well. Lon Chaney Jr. was a very good wolfman.

The negatives-Chaney played Larry Talbott as a big whiny baby in some of the later films.

3-Frankenstein-The monster not the scientist. A big square headed guy who grunts and scares townspeople.

The positives- In the early films Karloff played the monster in such a way that we felt some sympathy for him. The castles and sets particularly on the earlier films were great.

The negatives-As different actors played Frank he became more of just a grunting monster and frequently a tool for various crazy people to use to do their evil bidding.

2-Dracula-A blood sucker from Transylvania who hypnotized woman and tried to suck their blood.

The postives-Lugosi was a great Dracula who did some great eye ball acting. The sets were fantastic too.

The negatives-While John Carradine was a decent Dracula he was no Lugosi. Also Dracula seemed to get killed off very easily.

1-The creature you know from the black lagoon. He’s a little fishy and gets himself trouble by going after human woman, but he was powerful and he kep coming back.

The positives-A very different kind of monster. Great underwater photography and utilizing a stunt man and a swimmer for differen shots worked.

The negatives-The second film wasn’t as strong as the first. The third one was decent, but it hard getting used to seeing the creature look more human and walking around breathing air.

There you go.

5 good things about Star Wars: A new hope

Hey, Star Wars day is tomorrow and although May the third be with you doesn’t have quite the same ring to it I still want to knock out a short liust today. I am a Star Trek fan first and formost, always have been, always will be. Star Wars comes after that, always has, no doubt always will. However I still like Star Wars quite and definitely not only acknowledge it but admire it’s importance within the genre and in film making. However I think the film does more with themes, effects and details that it does with it’s morals. There are some really good movies here however they are not that deep…nope they are not. I didn’t come here to argue I came to give credit. I decided to narrow my list down to 5 good things about Star Wars-A new hope. yes, there are more than 5 total, but my list will be 5 that I like about this 1977 film. Here you go in no real order.

1-The rebels have dirty ships with grease spots on them. This is an awesome display of attention to detail. The Empire has shiny ships because they are the power the top of the line equipment (except for guns that don’t shoot straight). The rebel forces are throwing this attack together as they go. It makes sense that their ships would not be the newest or the shiniest, but they may have good enough mechanics and back planet fliers to pull it off.

2-The interior of the Millenium Falcon. Again with the attention to detail. Most ships we see in sci-fi prior to this are military or exploring ships and both tend to be top of the line unless they have been in a space for a long time. This ship is different because it’s a smuggling ship and privately owned so Han and Chewie may not be taking a swifter around regularly. The interior has a closed in, but lived in feel to it which absolutely fits the kind of ship that it is.

3-Droids! I like some sci-fi robots before this film of course, but C-3PO and that R2 unit certainly gave droid more personality then they had largely had before. We are also introduced to various societies in the Star Wars worlds that use droids in a number of different functions.

4-The number of different aliens we see even if some are just for a few seconds. Not just because we love seeing them, but it makes sense that a world where space travel is commonplace would have beings from many different worlds livign together although no always in harmony.

5-Peter Cushing. Yes, Alec Guniess was solid in his role and Han Solo no doubt took his part and ran with it. You can keep praising Darth Vader, but it took several people to present him while Cushing played the arrogant, ruthless villain with ease all while strutting around the Death Star in his slippers.

There you go. May the thir force or forth be with you!

Guest post over at Vic’s Movie Den

Vic over at Vic’s Movie Den was nice enough to let me write a guest post over at his blog about some Hammer Films I like so go check it out.

http://vicsmovieden.wordpress.com/2013/02/03/mark-from-lasers-monsters-and-barbarians-oh-my-gives-us-his-top-5-hammer-films/