Showing posts with label Star Trek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Star Trek. Show all posts

Monday, September 12, 2016

DESDINOVA'S FAVORITE STAR TREK EPISODES


This September marks the 50th anniversary of the debut of the TV series Star Trek. I came from the generation, who were born after it's initial network run (I was born two months after the last episode aired) and came of age before the other big, sci-fi, pop culture phenomenon, Star Wars.

Here are some of my favorite episodes of the original Star Trek.


1. "This Side of Paradise" - Captain Kirk and the landing crew are supposed to evacuate a planet of farmers. The farmers in the colony refuse because they are in a state of bliss. Mr. Spock is sprayed by the spores of a plant, which cause him to fall in love with a beautiful, blonde, female scientist, played by Jill Ireland. This leads to always serious Spock hanging upside down from a tree. Soon everyone is sprayed with the spores including the crew of the Enterprise. Captain Kirk finds out that the effects of the plant spores can be counter acted by anger. He manages to get Mr. Spock back by insulting him by calling him a "jackrabbit" and saying he belonged in the circus "next to the dogface boy."


2. "Mirror, Mirror" - A transporter malfunction sends Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy and Lt. Uhura to a parallel world, in which the Enterprise is a pirate ship, where the crew members kill and torture each other and Mr. Spock has a cool beard.


3. "Amok Time" - Mr. Spock goes back to Vulcan to marry T'Pring, a girl from his childhood. She wants to marry another guy (that dork in the photo), but can only if Spock is dead. She forces him to fight Captain Kirk to the death. This episode is the first time we learn the Vulcan phrase "Live long and Prosper."


4. "A Piece of the Action" - I seriously believe that Star Trek's production company, Desilu, insisted its shows pay homage to one of its biggest successes, The Untouchables. Mission: Impossible has a 20s gangster story and The Lucy Show had an episode complete with Robert Stack and a narration by Walter Winchell. Capt. Kirk and Mr. Spock go to a planet modeled after the 20s gangsters. One of the gangsters is Vic Tayback (Mel from Alice). One of the highlights of this episode is Kirk and Spock trying to drive a car.


5. "Shore Leave" - The crew are on a planet where whatever you are think of suddenly appears. Dr. McCoy sees Alice and the White Rabbit and Capt. Kirk sees a girl he loved and an obnoxious Irish school bully named Finnigan, who wants to fight "Jimmy boy." Finnigan is the second most annoying character from the original Star Trek.


6. "Arena" - Captain Kirk is forced to fight the alligatorish captain of another ship on a desolate planet.


7. "The Trouble With Tribble" - Klingons are bad enough, but the crew has to deal with fuzzy, little balls that eat grain supplies.


8. "Return of the Archons" - A planet filled with mindless, happy people that dress like extras from Little House On the Prairie, except at 5 p.m (The Red Hour), which begins "Festival," when the drink, vandalize property and rape women. Turns out this is the will of Landru and the hooded lawgivers. This episode features the creepiest and most annoying character ever on the show, the overly friendly Bilar (above). "Come for Festival, aye ya? Your daddy can give them a room."


9. "Catspaw" - A story by horror writer Robert Bloch that aired right before Halloween of 1967. The landing crew encounter a warlock, witches (pictured above) and a black cat in an old castle.


10. "Operation: Annihilate" -  Captain Kirk finds his brother dead, sister-in-law hysterical, nephew deathly ill and the citizens of the planet rioting. His sister-in-law screams about the "HORRIBLE THINGS." It is flying jellyfish creatures. One of them stings Mr. Spock. Dr. McCoy needs one to develop an antidote, so Mr. Spock volunteers to go back to the planet and get one. Turns out intense light kills them. Spock volunteers to test the treatment, so Dr. McCoy can save Kirk's nephew. Spock survives but is blind.

I realize I didn't pick the typical choices for favorite episodes, but many list have the same one over and over. I tried to throw in some personal favorites. Hunt these town and check them out if you are not familiar with them. I leave you with this RCA magazine ad featuring Star Trek (click to enlarge).

 

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

MONSTER PHOTO FUN 2015

Click to enlarge
I decided to create some more of these little creations for your entertainment. These are inspired by the Cracked magazine "For Monsters Only" issues. They say great minds think alike. Gilligan over a Retrospace has a similar post. Check it out.




Okay, the last two have nothing to do with monsters, but I saw those photos and could not resist. Those jokes just wrote themselves.

Sunday, March 8, 2015

IS MR. SPOCK THE GREATEST TV CHARACTER EVER?


What was it about Mr. Spock that captured the hearts and imagination of millions around the world? I'm not sure you would call him cool. He wasn't the streetwise kind of cool like the Fonz or Vinnie Barbarino, nor was he that slick, charming kind of cool like Napoleon Solo, but he was cool in a way that was different. He was smart and philosophical than everyone else on the Enterprise, so you might say that made him a nerd or a nerd's ideal. Let's face it, there were a lot of other things that made Mr. Spock popular. Even though he exist in an idealized future, his life, like ours, isn't perfect.

Yes, he was smart, had superhuman strength (which he rarely used), mind reading abilities, a self-defense technique that renders people unconscious, and didn't have emotions to weigh him down, but he wasn't good looking with those bangs, greenish complexion,  the windshield-wiper eyebrows and, of course, the pointed ears. He was the hero for those who weren't good looking. Mr. Spock was the epitome of the person who stood out in a crowd.

You might say, Mr. Spock didn't fit in with his other crew mates. He was in the shadow of the dashing, heroic and good looking Captain Kirk, who you might say was sort of the jock to Mr. Spock's nerd. If Spock was a nerd, you can continue using junior high and middle school archetypes by pointing out that McCoy was the redneck who was always picking on people. He constantly harassed Spock about his green blood.

Add to this another thing about the Mr. Spock character he was multiracial. We found out during the course of the show that Mr. Spock was the child of a Vulcan father and an Earthling mother. Since he wasn't full blooded of either kind, he also didn't fit in with other children on the planet Vulcan, as was shown in the animated series.

This week in 1967, NBC aired one of the first episodes to give us an insight into Mr. Spock, "This Side of Paradise." Granted, they were tidbits thrown out through dialog in a story in which Spock is reunited with a beautiful female colleague named Leila (played by Jill Ireland, who looks like my old flame, Eunice Moneymaker), who had a major crush on him. Spock, of course, paid no attention to her because love is "a human emotion."

The landing party is supposed to evacuate the people on this communal planet, due to a radiation contamination, however, they don't want to go because they are "happy" and "healthy." It turns they are under the influence of strange plants that spray spores causing a euphoria. When Mr. Spock is sprayed with by one of the plants (which looks like a plant called caster beans that my Grandpa Jones planted around his garden to keep moles out), he not only notices how beautiful Leila is, but also notices clouds and rainbows. "Before today, I could tell you how they form in the sky, but until now I never noticed how beautiful they look." He is very close to singing "Both Sides Now."  Mr. Spock also begins defying Captain Kirk's orders and climbing trees.

Besides seeing that Mr. Spock is awkward at love, we find out in this episode about his parents, and he has super strength. Captain Kirk finds that the spores are counteracted by anger. He brings Mr. Spock back to normal by angering him to the point of violence with some rather vicious insults about his looks (Mystery Science Theater 3000 opened one show with a parody of this episode). This and "Amok Time" are the quintessential Spock episodes.

Almost as soon as Star Trek debuted, Mr. Spock became a fascination with people. 93 KHJ Boss radio in Los Angeles ran a Star Trek contest, where the winner got to meet Leonard Nimoy on the set of Star Trek (See the above KHJ Boss 30 Countdown flyer). Cheer Laundry Detergent altered a future man character (played by Robert Rodan, who played Adam on Dark Shadows) to look like Mr. Spock.

 


I noticed on many comments on retro blogs, social and news media websites after the death of Leonard Nimoy that many people said they had a Mr. Spock toy, t-shirt, pajamas, or Halloween costume. Matter of fact, when I was six years old, I was Mr. Spock for Halloween. I made the costume, although none of the stores in Lebanon or Springfield sold the pointed ears, so I had to make due with some "giant" plastic ears. I also had a pair of tube socks with Mr. Spock's picture on them.


I even had this Star Trek coloring book with Mr. Spock wearing a red shirt on the cover. Don't worry, he survived the coloring book.

I think kids gravitated toward Mr. Spock over the other characters because he was the different one. They could be a Captain Kirk or a Dr. McCoy, but Mr. Spock was something they couldn't be...a highly intelligent being from another planet, who was one of the good guys.

Mr. Spock is probably the most complex characters ever created for TV. While he prides himself on being emotionless, he is far from being one-dimensional and boring. Bravo ranked him 21st on their list of 100 Greatest TV characters ever and TV Guide ranked him sixth on their list of 50 greatest TV characters. Personally, Mr. Spock is the greatest TV character ever. Live long and prosper.   


 






Tuesday, September 9, 2014

IT WASN'T A DREAM...IT WAS REAL!





Did you ever have a memory from childhood or your past of something that you were unable to confirm existed? For quite sometime, there were some things that I remembered from my childhood that none of the people around me seemed to remember. Over the years I had searched the Internet for information on this stuff and had turned up dead ends. Only recently have I had these vague memories verified as real.



1. Batman had a large friend that dressed like him named Fatman.  This story first appeared in Batman #113, but I probably saw it when it was reprinted in the 70s in Batman Family #4. Fatman was actually a circus clown, who performed in a Batman costume. He wound up saving Batman and Robin after gangsters locked them in a horse stable. Nobody believed me when I mentioned this character, but now I have proof.



2. The late 70s version of "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette" that featured impressions of Gomer Pyle, Archie Bunker, President Carter, Paul Lynde and others. I for along time was under the false belief this was the hit single version by Sammy Davis Jr. from that era. The reason I believed that was because it was a hit and Sammy often did impressions as part of his act. When I finally heard the Sammy Davis Jr. version, I was disappointed that there were no impressions. Early in the spring, KTXR's Wayne Glenn played on his Remember When radio show a 1978 version by a singer named Thom Bresh, whose father, Merle Travis, wrote the song "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke that Cigarette." That was it! Hearing it now, I realize the impressions are not great, but it is still fun to hear.


Cosmic Crystal from Paul Falcone on Vimeo.

3. There was a school kid made a sci-fi movie called The Comic Crystal that was shown on PBS and the TV show Zoom.  This was the one I really wanted to find out about. I was beginning to believe it might have been a strange dream I had during a high fever. A sci-fi movie made by a kid about another kid who finds a "cosmic crystal." He is attacked by zombies and saved by a cute, blonde, haired girl superhero in a yellow sweatshirt. This film also "borrowed" the sound effects from Star Trek. I thought they showed part of this on Zoom and there was a full version that aired once on the local PBS station as filler between programs. I had Googled it several times and came up with nothing. I tried again recently and found it. It was made by a guy name Paul Falcone and he recently posted it on the site Vimeo. Not only does it feature Star Trek's sound effects, but it features music by Pink Floyd (which I wasn't aware of when I saw this in elementary school). I can't believe how well this holds up today. I would love to hear from this guy. Paul, if you are reading this contact me at d4windsbar@yahoo.com.

I'm glad all of this has been cleared up. I was beginning to think that I was insane.   

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Villain Actor Joseph Ruskin Dies

'Star Trek' actor Joseph Ruskin dies | TV | Entertainment | Toronto Sun

Ruskin was the villain in many TV shows of the 60's and 70s. He played a silent movie villain in this Dr. Pepper commercial of the early 70s. The damsel in distress is Carol Kane.




Wednesday, December 11, 2013

REMEMBERING THE CHRISTMAS WISH BOOK


Hopefully this post will not sound like one of those stupid "What-has-happened-to-our-wonderful-nation" memes on Facebook that conservative people post, but I want to bring up something that has disappeared from the modern day Christmas season that today's children will unfortunately not get to experience. Most of you probably never noticed it was gone, so it more than likely has not been a detriment to the country. I'm talking about the Christmas Wish Book or Christmas catalog.


Major retail giants such as Sears, J.C. Pennys, Montgomery Ward, Aldens, Spiegel and others published a special catalog in the fall called the Christmas Wish Book, which featured special values on the same stuff that was in the regular Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter catalogs.
The main difference was this catalog featured TOYS!

When I was a kid, I would make out my list for Santa Claus by going through the Sears Christmas Wish Book and writing down everything I wanted. Usually, I had a minimum of six pages of thing I hoped Santa Claus would bring me. Sadly, I never got 95% of the stuff I asked for, but it was always a fun activity. This may explain why (As some of my critics and fans have both mentioned) my writing contain long list.

My mother always received the Sears catalog because she frequently ordered from Sears. My grandmother and my aunts got Montgomery Wards catalogs, which I felt was superior. They had great large color layouts for the action figures and toys I wanted. Sears usual had small black and white photos of the action figures and most of the toys. Sears then bombarded us with big color layouts of Winnie the Pooh crap. Examine the photos below of Star Trek action figures. One is from the Montgomery Ward's Wish Book and the one below is from Sears Wish book. See what I mean.

MONTGOMERY WARDS STAR TREK

SEARS STAR TREK
So why do nitwits like Glen Beck, Bill O'Rielly and Sarah Palin not whine and gripe about the loss of the Christmas Wish Book? Because the demise of the Christmas Wish Book was a business decision. It had to do with cutting cost. It is cheaper to display tiny photos online rather than print out several hundred copies of a catalog. Apparently stockholders and profits are more important than the simple enjoyment of children.   

I searched the Internet for scans of pages of Christmas catalogs. I found quite a few here and there. I borrowed a few from Mego Museum. You can find scans of whole Christmas Wish Books at Sherry Lou Toys website. Also this month Plaid Stallions is featuring some retro catalog pages.

SEARS did okay on the GI Joe layout. Click to enlarge
Sears also did okay on this Captain Action page. Click to enlarge.
THE NEXT TWO PAGES DEMONSTRATE WHY I BELIEVE MONTGOMERY WARD'S WISH BOOK WAS THE COOLEST CHRISTMAS WISH BOOK OF ALL TIME!

Click To Enlarge

Click to enlarge

WARDS CHARLIE'S ANGELS & DONNY & MARIE
JC PENNY'S 1980

     

Saturday, November 23, 2013

50 YEARS OF DOCTOR WHO

I'm one of those American kids who discovered the original Dr. Who during the post Star Wars sci-fi boom years. Dr. Who was mixed in with Battlestar Galactica, Jason of Star Command and the revamped versions of Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and Star Trek. Our Doctor was Tom Baker in his floppy hat and long scarf. He was a cross between Bob Dylan and Groucho Marx. Had a robot dog named K-9 and one of his female companions was a scantly clad cavewoman.

I had seen photos of the show in Starlog and other magazines. A TV Guide article on "The Five Doctors" episode sparked my interest in the show. I also had two classmates, both named Robert and both army brats, who talked about watching the show in Oklahoma. Luckily, I had a sister who lived in Oklahoma and I could watch it when I visited her, because as I mentioned in an earlier post about being a superhero fan growing up in the Ozarks, the cool shows were rarely seen on TV in the Ozarks. Dr. Who was seen on public television in Oklahoma, but not in the Ozarks.

Eventually, I was able to collect several VHS tapes of the episodes when a video store went out of business here in Springfield. My problem with the VHS tapes and even some of the reruns I saw in Oklahoma was the editing of them into one long episode instead of their original serial form. The cliffhangers are as important the mystique of Dr. Who as they were to Flash Gordon.

I have not seen very much of the new shows. I saw one with Christopher Eccleston, but I turned it off in the middle. It was the Doctor as I enjoyed him, however I have seen some previews of the David Tendant and Matt Smith episodes. I want to see them because they have the elements of the original show that attracted me to it back in the 80s.

And if you are wondering, I own a copy of the book picture above.  

 

Saturday, August 3, 2013

ACTOR MICHAEL ANSARA DIES 91

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/03/arts/michael-ansara-actor-who-played-cochise-and-kang-dies-at-91.html?smid=pl-share

Among his most famous roles were Cochise in the TV version of Broken Arrow,

Blue Djinn on I Dream of Jeannie (He was married to Barbara Eden),


Qarlo in the Outer Limits episode "Soldier"

and Kang the Klingon on Star Trek.

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