As we mentioned in our Video Fridays entry here, there were twoGreen 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.
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)!
It's not often someone can take on the captain of the USS Enterprise...and win!
The Green Hornet can!
OK, technically, he's not the captain of the Enterprise here, but Jeffrey Hunterwas the first man to sit in the captain's chair during the first Star Trek pilot episode, "The Cage".
When NBC said, "close, but not quite", and ordered a second pilot, Hunter turned down the option to return, preferring to do a pilot for Batman producer William Dozier called Journey into Fear based on a novel by Eric Ambler, previously done as a feature film in the 1940s starring Orson Welles!
Ironically, it was in competition for an NBC schedule slot against, among other shows, a secondStar Trek pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before" with William Shatner as the new captain of the Enterprise!
Trek sold. Journey didn't.
Hunter began doing tv guest-star roles, and when offered, took the guest-villain gig on Dozier's Green Hornet series, playing construction magnate Emmett Crown, who's also secretly financing an insurance company which offers "protection" to businesses!
Daily Sentinel reporter Mike Axford is investigating the matter and is told by his boss, Britt Reid, to work with The Green Hornet to expose the still-unknown head of the "insurance" company! Axford intends to do exactly that, and capture The Hornet, as well!
It's cross and double-cross as plans are made and plans go awry, resulting in kool fight scenes, Crown being exposed and captured, and The Hornet and Kato escaping the law again!
SideNotes:
More location shooting, this time at an active construction site outside LA, where Britt Reid is almost "accidentally" killed and, later, The Hornet and Kato face several of Crown's bulldozers trying to crush the Black Beauty.
Since the car's rockets are ineffective against the heavy metal blades of the bulldozers, The Hornet and Kato use the previously-unseen Hornet Mortar (located in the same rear trunk compartment where the flying Hornet Scanner is kept), to loft explosive shells over the blades and disable the dozers' treads. The Hornet Mortar is never seen or mentioned again.
Here's the 14th episode aired (but 15th episode filmed), "Freeway to Death".
Today, the NEW Green Hornet movie starring Seth Rogan and Jay Chou opens!
To celebrate (and contrast), we're offering a special treat...the FIRST Green Hornet feature film, complete and uncut!
Actually, it's a compilation of four tv series episodes, with additional fight footage tossed in, released shortly after the death of Bruce Lee, as you can tell by the promo posters!
The adapted episodes are "Hunters and the Hunted", "Preying Mantis", and the two-part "Invasion from Outer Space", all of which we've covered in previous Video Friday installments.
There was also a second compilation film, called Fury of the Dragon, but we were unable to find it online.
Enjoy this 90-minute slice of history, and if you go see the new flick, let us know what you think!
With the new movie opening next week (and a special movie/tv entry planned for next Friday), we're winding up our look at The Green Hornet tv series with the two-part finale.
If you're going out, go out with a bang. And there's no bang bigger than an atomic explosion!
Mad scientist Dr Mabuse has created a citywide panic by faking a flying saucer crash and appearance by "stranded aliens".
Invading Britt Reid's townhouse (and zapping Kato), the spacesuited fiend demands the publisher help him and his fellow "aliens" get out of town without police interference so their mothership can send a rescue craft to pick them up in a remote area...the same "remote area" a secret military convoy transporting atomic weapons is due to pass through!
Though skeptical, Reid complies and Mabuse leaves, taking Lenore Case as a hostage.
Mabuse intercepts the convoy and hijacks an atomic bomb!
Rescue Casey from a leering lunatic and save the city from atomic Armageddon! It's a far cry from the gangsters and thieves the Hornet and Kato usually handle!
With a new producer and a totally-different approach, this ep seems like a last-gasp attempt to boost the ratings by going with a much more sci-fi/ fantasy-oriented storyline.
Thankfully, they didn't go to the campy level of Batman. It's still played straight.
Every last cent in the series budget was thrown in for location shooting and optical fx, including lots of highway stunt driving along with the show's best stunt-piece; The Green Hornet leaping from the back of Black Beauty to Mabuse's truck while both are barreling down a curving highway at 60+ mph.
Side notes:
The villain's last name, Mabuse, is taken from a famous German pulp supervillain. The GH character is not related to the German character, except in his revenge-crazed desire to blow things up. Larry D Mann plays him with all the scenery-chewing panache of a James Bond foe.
Linda Gaye Scott who played the villain's "shocking" sidekick Vama, appeared on numerous '60s genre shows including Batman, Lost in Space, and Man from U.N.C.L.E., usually in a skintight ensemble!
These are the only episodes without an appearance by reporter and (Hornet's nemesis) Mike Axford, but another red-headed reporter named "Bill" does appear!
And, it's the only episode where Kato is actually knocked unconscious (albeit by electric shock)!
NOTE: the clip provider, HornetNest1000, left out the end credits of ep 1 and opening credits of ep 2, to "flow" the two-parter better. The original source, Encore Action, had omitted the "next week" teaser and "last week" recap when they aired the eps, so HornetNest100's choice makes sense.
Here's the series finale of The Green Hornet (and hint of how the show might have proceeded if they had done a second season)...
Since it's New Year's Eve, an episode about "ringing out the old/ringing in the new" seems apropos...
When a local wax museum updates it's displays to include The Green Hornet and Kato, the wax figure of the previous "star" exhibit, The Scarf, apparently comes to life and resumes his murderous ways!
One of the weirder shows in the series, heavy on mood, no fight scenes, and no appearance of The Black Beauty!
Legendary horror film star John Carradine as museum researcher (with an ominous secret) James Rancourt was the only famous guest-star on the series. Unlike Batman, where famous performers from Tallulah Bankhead to Liberace were given villain roles written especially for them, Green Hornet used dependable, but little-known, character actors as villains. Side Notes:
John Carradine had been considered for the role of The Joker on Batman, but his poor health precluded his doing the role.
SPOILER (sorta): The Scarf's statue really should have shown a younger version of Carradine. Since it looks just like the elderly James Rancourt (albeit with a Van Dyke beard) played by Carradine, it's obvious who The Scarfreally is from the very beginning!
The music score written specifically for this episode was never reused! (Most of the music on the series was reedited and reused in at several other episodes besides the ones they were originally written for.)
Background info on a number of the unnamed city's villains from the early 1900s up to the late 1940s, when The Scarf disappeared, is presented during a tour of the museum, but there's no mention of an earlier Green Hornet. So, the mention of gangster Glen Connors framing Britt Reid's father in "Frog is a Deadly Weapon"doesn't refer to Reid Sr being the 1940s Hornet. What the elder Reid had been blamed for is never explained.
Here's the 23rd filmed and aired episode..."Alias the Scarf".
We've updated this post with corrected video links HERE!
Continuing our weekly feature "Video Fridays"...
It's Christmastime, so let's go with the most-demanded Green Hornet vids of all...
When Titans Clash :
BatmanvsThe Green Hornet!
A decade before Superman vs Spider-Man, this was the first inter-company superhero crossover. The Hornet and Kato had already cameoed on Batman, in the episode "The Spell of Tut", where they appeared in a window during a Bat-Climb.
Celebrities ranging from Sammy Davis Jr. to Edward G. Robinson popped up for brief appearances during these sequences. Even characters from other ABC series like Lurch (Ted Cassidy) from the Addams Family and Col. Klink (Werner Klemperer) from Hogan's Heroes showed up!
Curiously, the visiting duo are regarded as heroes, not villains, and Britt introduces Kato by name.
(Metafiction aficionados have been driven nuts by these interludes, trying to fit them into their respective universes...)
And, as we've pointed out before, both Batman and The Green Hornet featured their characters watching each others' show on tv!
All that was basically ignored when it was decided that, to boost Green Hornet's decent (but not Batman-level) ratings, GH and K would appear as "Visiting Heroes" on Batman.
For whatever reason, none of the established Batman villains were used. (And The Green Hornet had no costumed or even ongoing opponents.)
Instead, a new baddie, Colonel Gumm, played by Roger C. Carmel*, was introduced, along with a plotline involving counterfeit stamps which drew The Hornet and Kato to Gotham.
The motif of GH and K being perceived as villains was utilized, resulting in the Dynamic Duo being as eager to capture them as to jail the corny counterfeiter!
In addition, it's shown that the two heroes' millionaire alter-egos, Bruce Wayne and Britt Reid, have known each other since childhood, and constantly competed over almost everything, including women!
So, it was inevitable the two costumed frat-boys would square-off in the climax...
On-set photo of Van Williams and Adam West during the climactic fight scene
Unfortunately, the gambit didn't pay off. The Green Hornet's ratings didn't improve, and the show was cancelled.
(Note: the show's ratings were good enough to make them eligible for renewal, but, since the producers didn't want to implement network-demanded budget cuts, the network axed the series anyway. Batman, OTOH, continued, with a reduced budget and cut from being twice-weekly to weekly, for another year, before being cancelled.)
Without further adieu, here is the legendary two-parter; "A Piece of the Action" and "Batman's Satisfaction"...
*Roger C. Carmel played numerous flamboyant villains on everything from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. to Hawaii Five-0 to Transformers to Star Trek, where he portrayed Harcourt Fenton "Harry" Mudd on both the classic and animated series!
He's also the answer to the trivia question; "Who's the only actor to play a villain opposite Batman, Captain Kirk, and The Green Hornet?"
One of the problems pretending to be a criminal, as The Green Hornet does, is that you're as likely to be wounded or killed by police as by criminals!
That's exactly what happens here!
Investigating the possibility that crooked police are looting crime scenes before their honest comrades show up, the Hornet is caught escaping from a break-in location, and shot by legitimately-responding cops. ("459-Silent" is police code in this city for a silent burglar alarm.)
He escapes, wounded, but can't go to a hospital since there's an all-points-bulletin out for a wounded Green Hornet, and even the Sentinel's respected publisher would be hard-pressed to explain how he had a gunshot wound in exactly the same spot on his body where the legendary verdant villain was shot! (Plus, the bullet could be forensically-matched to the gun of the policeman who shot the Hornet!)
How will Britt and Kato...
1) Get medical treatment for the wounded hero while avoiding connecting Reid and the Hornet, and having CSIs expose the incriminating evidence (the bullet)?
2) Solve the problem of the criminally-inclined cops, and save Mike Axford, who thinks the Hornet is responsible for the robberies, and plans to trap the wounded criminal, not knowing that crooked cops, who won't hesitate to kill, are behind the break-ins?
The answer to #1 is rather ingenious, and solving #2 is made more difficult since Britt is almost-incapacitated and barely functioning! (Thank God for Kato!)
Tune in below for the exciting answers... Side Notes:
More day-for-night photography, which on this particular print is a little too light.
Since the episode involves break-ins at warehouses, a couple of 20th Century-Fox soundstage exteriors are used for the outside of the two different warehouses, but only one soundstage interior (redressed) is used for both interiors. (The Batman tv series used the same exteriors for their "warehouse" and "alley" shots.)
Here's the 21st filmed and aired episode..."Bad Bet on a 459-Silent".
It's Hornet vs Hornet as an evil impostor with a duplicate Black Beauty (but no masked chauffeur) is wreaking havoc on the Daily Sentinel, attacking delivery trucks (killing a driver) and tossing a grenade into the paper's newsroom!
Who's behind it?
That's what Britt Reid has to discover before more people are injured or killed by this lethal "Green Hornet"!
The second two-part episode has lots of twists and turns as suspects are uncovered, revealed as red herrings, and then killed by the Hornet doppelganger!
Side Notes:
This is the second, and final, appearance of Barbara Babcock as Britt's on again-off again girlfriend, Elaine Carey, who previously appeared in "Frog is a Deadly Weapon".
There were two fully-functional Black Beauties built for the tv show. Both were used in the chase sequences. (Here's a link to a kool website detailing the history of the tv show autos.)
The clip provider has dropped the end credits of part one and the opening credits of part two, as well as the title cards for the second part to make the clips "flow" better as a story
BTW, I've noted the broken links in earlier blog entries due to removal of videos by YouTube.
I'll be editing in alternate links over the next week or so...
Here's the 18th and 19th episodes of The Green Hornet...
The only person who knows where a shipment of illegal drugs is hidden on a salvaged freighter is accidentally rendered comatose before he can tell The Green Hornet and Kato.
They take him to a nearby hospital for treatment, but, after they leave, the man's associates kidnap him...and the attending doctor.
Now our dynamic duo have to a) rescue the doctor, b) keep the comatose guy alive, and c) stop the criminals from acquiring the drugs.
It's cross and double-cross as The Hornet allies himself with the crooks to accomplish his own goals.
But the gangsters have no intention of keeping their side of the deal, either...
Side notes:
For the first time, we see the Black Beauty operated by remote control, including maneuvering and firing it's front-mounted rockets at a sniper trying to kill The Hornet and Kato.
One of the running gags on both Batman and The Green Hornet was showing characters on one series watching the other series on tv! In this ep, the crooks are watching Batman when it's interrupted by a news bulletin about The Green Hornet leaving a wounded man (their drug contact) at a hospital.
More location shooting, this time at a commercial Los Angeles shipyard seen in a number of films and tv series, most notably Escape from the Planet of the Apes.
Here's the 13th filmed and aired episode..."Secret of the Sally Bell".
A series of robberies of wealthy homes has one thing in common...all the victims had recently been profiled by Daily Sentinel reporter Mike Axford!
Has he used his interviews to case the homes?
When Axford is arrested at the site of the latest break-in, The Green Hornet and Kato must uncover evidence to free the hapless newshound.
SideNotes:
The Green Hornet has his first solo fight scene...which he loses! (To be fair, it is against three guys.) When he andKato catch up to the three crooks in the finale, guess who wins?
Seeking info, The Hornet questions a stolen-goods fence named Tubbs, indicating that he's been allowing the fence to continue operating as long as he served The Hornet when needed. A nice touch, adding credibility to the crimefighter's cover as a criminal.
Later, there's a scene at Reid's home where the duo, in costume, but without masks or hats, review evidence. This happens several times in the series. (You never saw Batman and Robin partially in costume)
More location shooting, this time at a small local airport and aircraft hanger also used in several Batman episodes.
Much more day-for-night photography.
Here's the 12th filmed and aired episode..."Deadline for Death".
The opening narration to the Hornet's radio show was "The Green Hornet; he hunts the biggest of all game..."
In this tv episode, the tables are turned.
Wealthy (and crooked) businessman Quentin Crane and his fellow members of the exclusive Explorers' Club use exotic weaponry (like blowguns and crossbows) to hunt and kill gang leaders.
Ironically, the other members are well-intentioned innocents who believe their "hunts" will end crime in the city, while Crane is using them to eliminate competition as he takes over, one gang at a time!
And...the group's next targets are...The Green Hornet and his masked associate!
SideNotes:
When Crane's gangsters break into Reid's home intending to kill him, Kato (with Reid's aid) take them down. It's the second time we see Kato in action sans costume, and the first time in the series we see an unmasked Reid in a fight.
Speaking of which, I wonder what do Reid's neighbors think of the constant hubub at the young publisher's townhouse? If it's not a robbery where a police car gets blown up by a laser beam ("The Ray is for Killing"), or gunshots ("Beautiful Dreamer"), this episode features the first of several brawls. Not to mention the sinister black car constantly prowling the alleys at all hours... Those neighborhood association meetings must have been interesting! (At least the tv Batman's oft-invaded stately Wayne Manor was out in the country. No neighbors to disturb!)
Another thing, the criminals who raid Reid's house are the same baddies he and Kato KOed (while in costume) at a gang-leader's office earlier in the episode. We don't see them again. Rather than let the twice-trashed hoods put 2+2 together ("That little guy who helped Reid fights like the Hornet's driver...Hey wait a sec..."), I wonder if Britt and Kato discreetly "disposed" of them?
There's a LOT of day-for-night scenes here. Depending on the quality of the episode's print, I've seen it almost as bright as day, to barely able to make out silhouettes.
Here's the 11th filmed and aired episode..."The Hunters and the Hunted"
The spotlight is on Kato, as he and The Green Hornet battle a normally-benevolent Chinese secret society whose younger members are extorting "protection" money from helpless Chinatown business owners.
In addition, the society (or "tong") is being secretly manipulated by white gangsters using one of the tong members, Low Sing, as a cats-paw.
The Hornet wants to end the protection racket by removing Low Sing from his position of power by exposing the gangsters' influence on him.
Side Notes: When people mention The Green Hornet tv series, this is the episode they usually refer to. It was the featured episode (due to it's emphasis on Chinese martial arts) in a compilation movie released theatrically shortly after Bruce Lee died.
This is the ep for Bruce Lee fans as he finally gets to strut his stuff in solo combat against multiple foes! Lee choreographed the fights, including the one-on-one finale with Low Sing. Rumor has it that most of the tong members participating in the climactic fight scene were students from Lee's dojo.
It's the only episode where Kato is defeated in hand-to-hand combat as a masked Low Sing attacks him from behind early in the ep.
Besides blasting a door and a tommy-gun with it, The Hornet uses the Hornet Sting extended to full-length as a fighting staff several times in this episode.
There are things in this ep that beg the question; what's Kato's ethnicity in the tv series? On the radio show he's said to be "Oriental", which became Filipino after World War II began. In the two 1940s movie serials, he was Korean. In the 1980s comic and the current "graphic novels", he's Japanese. In this episode, he's familiar with Chinatown and many of it's residents, especially the lovely Mary Chang. He speaks Chinese, and translates conversations between tong members for the Hornet's benefit. Plus, he's well aware of social conventions and procedures of the tong itself. Of course, he's well-versed in the Chinese martial art of gung-fu. Is he Chinese? It's never specifically stated.
Curiously, at the end of the episode, when Britt Reid, Lenore Case, Mike Axford and the previously-blackmailed businessmen celebrate over dinner at one of the businessmen's restaurant, Kato is nowhere to be seen!
Weird Trivia: the toy company that resurrected the 1960s Captain Action action figure line 10 years ago with both a reissued Green Hornet costume and a never-before done Kato costume was called "Playing Mantis"!
Here's the tenth episode produced and aired; "The Preying Mantis".
NOTE: Fixed the YouTube links to provide bigger images.
Continuing our weekly feature "Video Fridays"...
The Green Hornet and Kato face art thieves armed with a laser rifle!
Except for the two-part series finale, "Invasion from Outer Space", this was the most outlandish episode of the series.
Usually, the show was a straight "detectives with masks" format, dealing with gangsters, extortionists, etc.
No flashy costumed villains.
No super-weapons (except The Hornet's, of course).
Curiously, there's no explanation as to how these criminals got their hands on a laser, who taught them how to use it (or who's gonna fix it if it breaks), or why they're not using it for more lucrative crimes.
SideNotes:
We don't know who built the laser. These guys didn't have the scientific background to do so. Was there a mad scientist running around the city?
Why didn't The Hornet take the laser and incorporate it into his weaponry? As it is, leaving it for the police left open the possibility that they could adapt it and use it against him and Kato!
The laser itself is shown to be powered by simply plugging it into an electrical outlet! 110 or 220 volts? It also conveniently fits into a suitcase.
There's location shooting in the Los Angeles storm drain system, both inside the tunnels (where the Black Beauty's green headlights really glow with an eerie effect unseen any other time in the series), and outside using some of the same viaducts seen in Terminator 2 and THEM.
Though it's the ninth episode aired, this was the second episode shot, after "Programmed for Death".
We're using a new YouTube provider, HornetNest1000, so you'll notice a slight difference in the openings of the individual segments, though the picture and sound quality are equal to Michelle66's work.
Enjoy.
Since The Green Hornetwas a weekly show, rather than twice-a-week like Batman, the producers wanted to avoid two-part or continued stories.
However, whether the original concept was to do an hour-long show, or the story editors were unaware of the edict when they solicited scripts, there were several shows that ran an hour.
This was the first one.
Peter Eden is a criminal posing as the owner of a health spa to the rich and famous called The Vale of Eden. Using subliminal motivation via "sleep teaching" to make his clients steal from their own companies and families, turn the loot over to him, and then forget all about it, he's created the perfect method to commit crimes and let others take the blame. The Hornet (as Britt Reid) and trusty Girl Friday Lenore Case go "undercover" to investigate the spa. Eden becomes suspicious of them, and "programs" Casey during her spa treatment to shoot Reid.
When Casey tries to carry out her programming, only Kato's quick action saves Reid from being killed by his own secretary.
SideNotes:
This is the only episode written (actually co-written) by one of the Batman tv series writers.
The basic concept of a spa being a cover for a criminal operation hypnotizing/programming innocents to commit crimes was also used in the movie In Like Flint and the final Batman tv series episode "Minerva, Mayhem and Millionaires"
It's also the only episode we see The Hornet and Kato's gas masks (which they just test, but not use). Considering how often they use gas, either from the Black Beauty's grille-gun or the Hornet's pistol, I'm surprised the masks weren't seen more frequently. You'll note in the photo above they're also color-coordinated for the Hornet (green) or Kato (black/midnight blue).
There's lots more location shooting since the finale involves stealing the proceeds from a racetrack and the duo, in Black Beauty, pursue Eden's henchmen in an armored car all over the place; thru the stables and onto the track itself!
Here's the SEVENTH and EIGHTH broadcast episodes "Beautiful Dreamer I & II" in six segments.
There's no "teaser" for part 2 at the end of part 1, and no "synopsis" of part 1 at the beginning of part 2, which starts at the opening credits with no pre-credits sequence. They do exist, and I got them on audio tape, when I recorded them off tv in the days before VHS and DVD. The syndicated prints that HronetsNes1000 digitized his files from probably omitted them since most stations ran the 26-episode series as a one-hour block once a week, thus the preview and synopsis were unnecessary since the eps ran back-to-back, and by leaving them out, a couple of minutes of commercials were added without cutting into the episodes themselves.
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