Video Fridays: The FIRST Live-Action THOR!

Thor (Erik Allan Kramer), Stan Lee, and The Hulk (Lou Ferrigno).

Face Front, True Believer!
Though Chris Hemsworth did a smashing job as The Mighty Thor, he wasn't the first choice to personify the God of Thunder in the flesh!
Erik Allan Kramer portrayed a somewhat headstrong Thor in the tv-movie The Incredible Hulk Returns.
Besides the quite-different costume, this version of Thor is two different people, the Thunder God and Don Blake (Steve Levett), a former student of David Banner's (Bill Bixby) who found Mjolnir and can summon Thor from between dimensions by holding the hammer and yelling "ODIN"...

And later the two team-up to...well, you'll get the idea...

Besides being a continuation of The Incredible Hulk tv storyline in a series of tv movies, this was a "backdoor pilot" to promote The Mighty Thor in his own tv series.

Video Fridays: Thor vs the Destroyer!

 Since one of the main "set pieces" in the new Thor movie is a battle with The Destroyer, let's look at it as dramatized using Jack Kirby's art on the Marvel Super Heroes Show...

C'mon admit it, it's KOOL!

Video Fridays: Dr Who and the Daleks

The British have a long tradition of taking successful tv series in every genre from sitcom to sci-fi, and remaking them into feature films.
So, it seemed only logical that, with "Dalekmania" reaching a frenzied peak in 1965,  a feature film adapting the first tv appearance of the lethal pepperpots, would be a box office smash.
It didn't quite turn out that way.
Amicus Productions, basically a lower-budget Hammer Studios, acquired the rights, and produced Dr Who & the Daleks, starring Peter Cushing as Doctor Who.

Note: I said "Doctor Who" and not "The Doctor".
That's because the movie's Doctor is an eccentric human inventor named "Who", not an alien Time Lord using the title "Doctor"!
The TARDIS, while still a space-time travelling device bigger on the inside than the outside, is now the product of one man's expertise, not the culmination of the technology of an advanced civilization.

Beyond that basic change to the concept, the movie was a fairly straightforward condensation of the  seven-episode serial, utilizing the original story's major plot points.
With the benefits of

• being the first color version of Dr Who (the tv show was shot in black and white until 1970)
• a bigger budget than the tv series and
• a music score by Thunderbirds composer Barry Gray

the movie did very good box office in Europe and Asia, though only moderately-well in the US, where the tv show had not yet aired.
Encouraged by the ticket sales, Amicus adapted the second Dalek story into an even more-expensive feature film, Daleks Invasion Earth: 2150 AD.
But that's a story for another time...

The British Trailer

The American Trailer

And, you can watch the ENTIRE MOVIE HERE!

Video Fridays: The Man of Bronze IS the Man of Steel!

The recent Doc Savage posts have produced some of the biggest hit counts this blog has ever seen!
So, for this week's videos, we're going with The Man of Bronze and Ron Ely as two Clarks, one Bronze, one Steel!

First up, the original theatrical trailer...Have no fear! The Man of Bronze is HERE!

The two major fight scenes in the flick in one clip!

And a very special treat: Ron Ely as the Golden Age Superman!

 From The Adventures of Superboy third season finale; "The Road to Hell Part II"

Don't worry, the opening synopsis gives you all the background you need...

Coming soon: The Doc Savage stories from Marvel Two-in-One and Giant-Size Spider-Man, as well as the Giant-Size Doc Savage one-shot, none of which are included in DC's trade paperback reprint! PLUS: the not-reprinted text features and pin-ups from the various Marvel comics and b/w magazines!
PLUS:
The Shadow's Silver Age run from Archie Comics!
The COMPLETE Fox/Farrell Phantom Lady by Matt Baker!
The Green Hornet (Golden AND Silver Age)!
The SECOND Captain Marvel! (The one between DC's SHAZAM! and Marvel's Mar-Vell!)
Jet Dream and Her StuntGirl CounterSpies: the Complete Saga!
..and much MORE superhero(ine) stuff from 1938-1978!
Don't miss any of the fun!

Video Fridays: THE GREEN HORNET STRIKES AGAIN "Flaming Havoc!"

Continuing our weekly feature "Video Fridays"...

After the events of the first serial, Britt Reid and Kato head to Hawaii for a well-deserved vacation.

Unfortunately, Crime never takes a holiday.

In Reid's absence, a racketeer has managed to place one of his men as Managing Editor, killing any attempt by The Daily Sentinel to publish racket-busting exposés!

Lenore Case sees what's going on, but is powerless to stop it, since she's "only a secretary".

She telegraphs Reid, but the gangsters discover the publisher's on the way back and intercept him...

The Green Hornet serial did so well that Universal rushed a sequel into production within six months.

(It usually took a little longer than that, even for popular chapterplays.
There were two-year gaps between each of the Flash Gordon serials.)

Warren Hull, who had recently played both Mandrake the Magician and The Spider in other serials replaced Gordon Jones as Britt Reid / The Green Hornet. In addition, the use of the voice of radio Green Hornet Al Hodge, when Reid was masked, was dropped.

Most of the first serial's cast returned, including Keye Luke as Kato, Anne Nagel as Lenore Case, and Wade Boteler as Mike Axford. However, Managing Editor Gunnigan is said to be incapacitated by a broken leg.

Following the same format as the first serial, The Hornet and Kato chip away at various rackets run by Crogan, played by Pierre Watkin (Perry White in the Superman serials), until the climactic confrontation in the final episode.

Want to see what happens next?

YouTube provider MedigoCobra has posted the entire serial HERE.
Or you can download it in a variety of formats HERE.

And don't forget to check out...

The Classic Green Hornet Store

Video Fridays: THE GREEN HORNET "Tunnel of Terror"

Continuing our weekly feature "Video Fridays"...

It's time to take a look at the ORIGINAL film Green Hornet in his origin episode from the 1940 Universal Studios serial starring Gordon Jones as Britt Reid/Green Hornet and Key Luke as Kato!

While his full-face disguise looked different from the radio and comic version's surgeon-style mask, the characterization and plots were based on the radio show.
And, when masked, the movie Hornet sounded like the hero of the airwaves...because radio Hornet Al Hodge's distinctive voice was dubbed whenever newspaper publisher Britt Reid was masked!
All the supporting characters from the radio show made it to the movie version.
(Serials usually "trimmed" existing characters to keep the plots fast-paced.)
In fact, Kato received more time on screen than he usually got on the radio, as his scientific genius and other talents (including karate) were emphasized.
Oddly, in this incarnation, Kato was now Korean, not Fillipino or Japanese!
Enjoy "Chapter One: Tunnel of Terror"

Want to see what happens next?

YouTube provider LuridPlanet has posted the entire serial HERE.
Or you can download it in a variety of formats HERE.

And don't forget to check out...

The Classic Green Hornet Store

Video Fridays: Sucker Punch!

Continuing our weekly feature "Video Fridays"...

Click on the Banner for REALLY BIG image!

New flick directed by Zach Snyder and starring Fantastic Femmes Vanessa Hudgens and Jamie Chung plus future Fantastic Femmes Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish and Jena Malone!






You can see more Sucker Punch videos HERE!

Video Fridays: Battle LA Alien Invasion Special!

Continuing our weekly feature "Video Fridays"...

 To celebrate the newest alien invasion epic, here's a retro look at some previous extraterrestrial incursions...

UFO tv series (1973)

War of the Worlds (1953)

Quatermass and the Pit aka Five Million Years to Earth

Plan 9 from Outer Space

Mars Attacks!

Earth vs the Flying Saucers

V the original miniseries

Green Slime

Daleks Invasion Earth: 2150 AD

The X-Files

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
and last, but not least...

Godzilla Final Wars: Godzilla vs alien-controlled "American Godzilla" aka Zilla!

Check out our kool

Alien Invasion

kollectibles including...

at
Seduction of the Innocent!™
Martians! Martians! Martians!™
Quatermass
and
The Future WAS Fantastic!™

Video Fridays: GREEN HORNET in "Hornet Save Thyself"

Continuing our weekly feature "Video Fridays"...

A joyous surprise birthday party for Britt Reid turns tragic when the publisher guns down an ex-employee in front of two dozen witnesses...or does he?

Reid was holding the gun when it went off, but did he fire it?

And if he didn't...who did? How did they do it? And why?

Even old friend Frank Scanlon, who was at the party, is skeptical...and he's the District Attorney!

Reid knows he's innocent...and he needs his masked alter ego to help him prove it!

Trivia:
Despite the fact he knows Britt Reid is The Green Hornet, Scanlon doesn't use that knowledge to capture the fugitive publisher.
When Reid ducks out the disguised fireplace entrance Scanlon usually uses, the DA doesn't reveal it's existence to the police.
Nor does he show them where the Black Beauty is, fully knowing Britt will use it shortly.
It's only the third time we see an unmasked Reid in a fight.
The same huge soundstage interior used for two different warehouses in "Bad Bet on a 459-Silent" is used here as a dry-cleaning plant Reid hides in.
Van Williams does the same "almost-fall" from scaffolding in this episode he did in that one!
There's no "Produced by" credit on the episode!
The two remaining episodes ("Invasion from Outer Space" Parts 1 and 2) are produced by a new producer.

Here's the 24th filmed and aired episode..."Hornet Save Thyself".

And don't forget to check out...

The Classic Green Hornet Store
or the kool Green Hornet stuff below from Amazon

Video Fridays: GREEN HORNET Goodies!

Continuing our weekly feature "Video Fridays"...

This week we're presenting some behind-the-scenes stuff from The Green Hornet TV series.
First up, Bruce Lee's audition/screen test for the role of Kato. PLUS: the screen test for Jay Murray as Britt Reid/Green Hornet with Bruce as Kato.

There was another screen test for another Britt Reid, Michael Lipton, but that one's not currently online.
Now, some outtakes...

An alternate version of the end of "The Ray is for Killing"...

More outtakes from a number of episodes...

And finally, an assortment of promos, from local stations, as well as a couple from the original 1966 ABC run!

And don't forget to check out...

The Classic Green Hornet Store
and the kool Green Hornet stuff below from Amazon

Video Fridays: CAPTAIN NICE: Pilot Episode

Continuing our weekly feature "Video Fridays"...

Yes, this promo art was by Jack (King) Kirby!

In January 1966, Batman, starring Adam West and Burt Ward debuted on ABC.
This set off a wave of Bat-Mania, and all three TV networks scrambled to add superhero programming to schedules already crowded with science fiction and fantasy programming ranging from Man from U.N.C.L.E. to My Favorite Martian!
While one or two, like The Green Hornet, were done seriously, most of the new shows were not even campy tongue-in-cheek like Batman, but flat-out comedies!
The best of the new shows was the brainchild of Get Smart co-creator Buck Henry, who was asked to to to superheroes what he had done to spies, hopefully with similar ratings.

"My mom made my costume!"

Broadway actor William Daniels was cast as police chemist/mamma's-boy Carter Nash who gained short-term super-powers by drinking a formula he accidentally created.
Along with veteran performers Alice Ghostly (Carter's overbearing mother), Liam Dunn (annoyed Mayor Finney), Bill Zuckert (inept Police Chief Segal) and newcomer Ann Prentess (police Sgt/Carter's dense-but-cute girlfriend Candy Kane), the show tried it's best to capture the style and flavor that made Get Smart a hit.
It didn't.

It was amusing, and Daniels tried his best, but a limited budget caused a lot of the super-stuntwork to misfire, ruining the jokes.

After only 15 episodes, Captain Nice was cancelled.
Maybe if they had done a crossover with Get Smart...

There was some merchandising including a one-shot comic book, a novel written by the same author who did the Get Smart books, and a limited-distribution batch of trading cards, all of which are HTF.
It's not out on DVD, and unless you videotaped it when it ran on Comedy Channel around 1993-94 (like I did), the only place you'll find it is on bootleg dvds or YouTube.
Here's the pilot/origin episode "The Man Who Flies Like a Pigeon".
Enjoy!

Video Fridays: Nazis on the Moon in IRON SKY!

Continuing our weekly feature "Video Fridays"...

Regular readers are well aware of my love for retro-style visuals in movies, particularly flicks like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow or the recent Robert Downey, Jr. Sherlock Holmes.

Iron Sky is a dark cross-genre action-comedy set in the year 2018, when Nazis, who fled to the dark side of the Moon in 1945, return to claim the Earth for the Fourth Reich!
It's is a Finnish-German-Australian co-production with a budget of 6.8 million euros, and very heavy on CGI.

Here's the first teaser...

And here's the second one...

The cast includes Götz Otto (Tomorrow Never Dies, Schindler’s List, Downfall), Christopher Kirby (Matrix Reloaded & Matrix Revolutions, DayBreakers, Space: Above and Beyond), Udo Kier (Blood for Dracula, GrindHouse), Tilo Prückner (The Neverending Story, Die Fälscher), and German actress Julia Dietze, a future Fantastic Femme if ever there was one!
Screenplay's by Johanna Sinisalo ( a 2009 Nebula Award nominee) and Michael Kalesniko (Private Parts).
The film just wrapped primary photography and fx will be completed in December.

What makes Iron Sky unique is the extent of the collaboration with movie fans and sci-fi community; "crowdsourcing" ideas and content for the movie in a collaborative movie making platform called WreckaMovie, giving the film publicity by sharing information online, even partially-funding the movie by designing and buying collectible merchandise and other means.  One million euros of the budget comes from fans. Pretty impressive!
Check out their About the Film

Video Fridays THE GREEN HORNET in "Fury of the Dragon"

As we mentioned in our Video Fridays entry here, there were two Green Hornet tv episode compilation films produced after Bruce Lee's death.
This is the second one, which received very limited distribution in the US, but was very popular overseas.
As you can see from the ad art, the producers actually played down the connection to the Hornet tv series, playing up Lee with an illo based on stills from his other films!
Using the episodes "Trouble for Prince Charming",  "Bad Bet on a 459-Silent", "The Ray is for Killing", and "Secret of the Sally Bell" as the basis of the film, the editors also added unrelated fight footage from other episodes to pad the running time (as was done in the first film).
It's an interesting, and sad, note to the Green Hornet's career, at a point where he doesn't even appear on the poster for a film version of his own show!
Enjoy.

Video Fridays: THE HUMAN TORCH

Continuing our weekly feature "Video Fridays"...

With the death of Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch II, let's take a look at several of his various media incarnations...
He first appeared in the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon...

I included this because it's the only vid with the seldom-used opening narration!
BTW: the voice of Galactus is Ted Cassidy (Lurch from the The Addams Family tv series.) and The Silver Surfer is Vic Perrin (the Control Voice/narrator of the original Outer Limits.)


He also "apperared" on several lp albums including Golden Records "Amazing Spider-Man #1", "Fantastic Four #1" (Note: the most bizarre thing about these records is all the sound effects in the story were actually spoken with an echo effect.
So, when the cosmic rays hit the spacecraft, you hear an actor saying "RAK-TAK-TAK!"),

 and the Power Records book and record series including "The Way it Began".
BTW, the voice of the Human Torch / Mole Man / narrator is Peter Fernandez, the voice of the 1960s Speed Racer!

His next "appearance" was audio-only when Bill Murray (SNL, GhostBusters, Groundhog Day, etc.) portrayed him on a 1975 13-episode radio series modeled after the dramatic shows of the 1930s-50s!
Click here for the Fantastic Four: "Menace of the Mole Man" radio show mp3

or if you want "visuals" with your radio show...

Johnny did not appear in the 1978 FF animated series, replaced by Herbie the Robot (The Jar Jar Binks of FF history)..

Jack Kirby's original model sheet for H.E.R.B.I.E.

BTW, Johnny was replaced because The Human Torch was optioned for a live-action tv pilot which never got beyond Development Hell, not because the network thought kids would immolate themselves imitating him!

And finally, the trailer for the low-budget 1994 Roger Corman movie version starring Jay Underwood as Johnny! (The music is from Battle Beyond the Stars!)

BONUS: the ONE scene of Johnny in action as the Human Torch!

Interestingly, his animated form seems based on the Fleisher Brothers Superman from "The Mad Scientist" (the very first cartoon)!

 Classic Silver Age Torch T-Shirt

BTW, I'll be wearing this to the memorial ceremony...