Shemp Howard enjoyed a successful solo career in movies...
...before returning to the Three Stooges to replace ailing brother Curly.
Here he shares the screen with fellow Hollywood icon John Wayne...
...as well as Marlene Dietrich and Randolph Scott.
Shemp could hold his own with anyone on the screen.
I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!
Originally posted on 8/25/20
Currently rewatching: ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (1969).
This was the first Bond movie I was allowed to go see at the theater as a kid. I remember it being rated "M" (recommended for mature audiences), the forerunner to "GP" and then "PG."
George Lazenby's performance has aged well over the years, and Diana Rigg is great, especially for us "Avengers" fans. As the troubled countess Tracy, she is perhaps the best Bond girl of all, and certainly one of the best actresses ever to fill that role.
Originally posted on 1/2/11
Steven Seagal...a generic action-movie title...you pretty much know what to expect going into URBAN JUSTICE (2007). But the big surprise for me is that it delivers it so well.
The plot is simple: a young cop is murdered for getting too close to some shady dealings between his crooked boss, Det. Frank Shaw (Kirk B.R. Woller) and the East Side Gangstas, headed by Tony Montana wannabe Armand Tucker (well-played by Eddie Griffin). The dead cop's dad happens to be Steven Seagal, who blows into town looking for--you guessed it--revenge.
And you know what you're in for with this set-up: a lot of cocky, smart-mouthed gangbangers and other sleazy characters getting the ever-livin' crap beaten out of them or shot to pieces for the rest of the movie. In other words--it's popcorn time!
Now, Steve's hair-and-makeup job in this movie is a bit startling at first. After his initial closeup, I thought, "Omigod, Dracula just gained 50 pounds, fell asleep in a tanning booth, and joined the Mafia." But I got used to it after awhile. His acting, as usual, consists mainly of mumbling while maintaining a steely-eyed glare, but his dialogue isn't all that important as long as you can make out key phrases like "I'm gonna kill the muh-fuggah that killed my son."
We all know that, by now, Steven Seagal is past his physical prime, so most of the time he hides his somewhat substantial spare tire under big, thick jackets--he often appears to have been cocooned. And when he drives his sports car, it almost looks like he's wearing it, too. The fight scenes are edited so that all he has to do is stand in one spot waving his hands around in a series of quick closeups, and the stunt guys go flying.
Thing is, though, the hits look and sound bone-crushingly hard, and when people get shot, squibs spew like geysers. This movie is filled with several intense scenes that pay off in a big way, even if the main character isn't quite as dynamic as he used to be.
But heck, he's Steven Seagal. If you're making a Steven Seagal movie, you don't hire a good actor who can leap and twirl like Baryshnikov, you hire Steven Seagal. He may not be able to move very fast anymore, or display "ooh-ahh" acting skills, but when he goes into kickass mode, he's still da man.
There's a cool car chase that's filmed the old fashioned way--no zippity-doo-dah camerawork or fancy editing, just a couple of cars zooming through various locations at high speed with the occupants blasting away at each other, and ending with a satisfying crash.
This goes for the rest of the film too, which is refreshingly free of the pointless, distracting visual nonsense that many current films are stuffed with. I have to hand it to director Don E. Fauntleroy for being a straight-ahead action director who isn't interested in stringing a bunch of half-assed MTV videos together and calling it a movie.
Besides Eddie Griffin, the capable supporting cast includes Danny Trejo as Chivo, the leader of a Latino gang that Steve initially suspects may have offed his son, and Carmen Serano as a liquor store owner who rents Steve the crummy apartment out back. It looks as though she may be a romantic interest too, but this doesn't go anywhere. At one point, though, her character does get to give Steve the old revenge-never-solved-anything routine with the line "You're just as bad as they are", to which he coolly replies: "No, I'm a lot...fuggin'...worse."
There's a rousingly good shoot-out between Steve and a whole bunch of East Siders that could serve as the finale for a lot of straight-to-video action flicks. But this is topped by the climactic battle, in which Steve goes it alone against the rest of the gangstas and the crooked LA cops, too. Lots of bad guys get killed real bad, and the fake blood goes flying in all directions. I won't give away the outcome, but one thing's for sure--you don't want to be the guy who gunned down Steven Seagal's son. You don't want to work for him, either. Hell, you don't even want to know the muh-fuggah.
URBAN JUSTICE is a kickass action movie. The ending's cool as hell. And, for now anyway, I'm a Steven Seagal fan again.
(SPOILER ALERT!)
As hokey as it may be...
...I think "Urban Justice" is one of the most fun Steven Seagal direct-to-DVD flicks.
It's a straightforward 70s-style action thriller.
And one of the best things about it...
...is what I consider to be a surprisingly cool ending.
I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!
Movies love to fool us...
...into thinking we're seeing what we aren't really seeing.
In this scene, director Robert Aldrich uses the most basic trick imaginable in order to make us think detective Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) and his friend are waiting for an elevator.
When, in fact, there's no elevator there at all.
Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!
When you watch the 1979 Roger Moore/James Bond flick "Moonraker"...
Don't be surprised if you get thirsty for a particular soft drink.
Or have a craving for a certain cigarette.
Or find yourself motivated to spend money on various other products for some strange reason.
Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!
Boris Karloff created the role of the Monster in 1931's "Frankenstein."
Karloff repeated the role in "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935)...
...and "Son of Frankenstein" in 1939.
"Ghost of Frankenstein" (1942) gave us a new Monster in Lon Chaney, Jr.
Bela Lugosi played the Monster in "Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man" (1943)...
...with the help of stand-ins such as Gil Perkins and Eddie Parker.
"House of Frankenstein" (1944) introduced Glenn Strange in the role.
Strange returned in "House of Dracula" (1945), the last serious entry in the series...
...and finally in the comedy, "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein" (1948).
Karloff will always be generally considered as the best actor in the role.
Glenn Strange also made the character his own and is still highly popular.
I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!
Actor/stuntman Glenn Strange made his debut as the Frankenstein Monster...
...in the 1944 Universal classic "House of Frankenstein." The character had previously been portrayed by Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney, Jr., and Bela Lugosi in the earlier films in the "Frankenstein" series.
As legend has it, Strange was visiting makeup maestro Jack Pierce's chair to get a fake scar for his current role, and Pierce, recognizing a great facial structure and physique when he saw it, notified execs that he had found their new Frankenstein Monster.
After playing the role in this and following movies ("House of Dracula", "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein"), Glenn Strange's Monster became second only to that of Boris Karloff. In fact, when Karloff died many newspapers mistakenly used a photo of Strange in the obit.
Strange's craggy visage as the Monster continues to be popular in model kits, posters, action figures, and other elements of monster fandom.
Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!
Originally posted on 4/20/22
THE BLACK CAT (1966)
Stark, crisp black-and-white photography and a knack for embellishing Edgar Allan Poe's short story with a modern edge highlight THE BLACK CAT (Severin Films, 1966), a Dallas-based horror that transcends its low budget while still retaining that old bargain basement charm in a way somewhat reminiscent of CARNIVAL OF SOULS.
This time, a troubled young heir named Lou (Robert Frost), still holding a grudge against his dead father, eases his fractured psyche with alcohol and bad behavior while his faithful wife Diana (Robyn Baker) looks on in helpless despair.
Hoping to lessen his hostility, she gives him the gift of a black cat which he names Pluto. But the cat, who is a good judge of character, strikes out at Lou, who then cuts out the animal's eye in a fit of drunken rage.
Just so I don't give you the wrong impression, I want to say up front that this is a favorable review. I had loads of fun watching THE BLOODY APE, writer-director Keith J. Crocker's affectionate homage to the drive-in trash of yesteryear, and will enthusiastically recommend it to people who come knocking at my door trying to sell me a satellite dish or invite me to their church.
Now that my disclaimer is out of the way and we can speak freely, I'll try to describe this surreal cinematic artifact to you. Imagine a cross between LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, BLOOD FEAST, and your dad's worst home movies. Whatever your mind comes up with, this is worse. Though filmed in 1997, it looks as though it were shot in 1967, buried, and then dug up by somebody's dog in 1997. It makes PINK FLAMINGOS look like it was directed by Terrence Malick. In fact, it makes almost literally every other movie ever made look good in comparison, unless, of course, Billy Crystal is in it.
All of this, however, is simply part of THE BLOODY APE's makeshift charm. Crocker, a devoted grindhouse film aficionado who for several years published the popular fanzine "Exploitation Journal" with his pal George Reis, eschewed the "shot-on-video" look of much of today's indy titles and went instead for the more traditional look of actual film. Super 8mm film, that is--exactly the same stuff that all of us pre-home-video auteurs used in order to make our own geeky home monster movies back in high school. Except here, Crocker managed to shoot a feature film and get it released, so you gotta admire him for that. It's this homespun ingenuity and love for moviemaking that help make THE BLOODY APE such a strangely fascinating experience.
The gleefully bizarre screenplay by Crocker and Reis is another factor. Loosely inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's "Murders in the Rue Morgue", it's the story of a carnival barker named Lampini (after George Zucco's character in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN) and his beloved performing gorilla, Gordo. After being screwed over by an abusive garage mechanic and a crooked rabbi, and then rejected by his girlfriend Ginger while he's proposing to her, Lampini decides to use his ape as an instrument of revenge. Taking a cue from Bela Lugosi's diabolical aftershave murders in THE DEVIL BAT, Lampini mails Ginger some of his special homemade banana cream soap. This lures Gordo to Ginger's apartment, where he kills her roommates in a frenzy of fake blood and banana-scented soap suds.
In one scene, we get to see what would've happened in PSYCHO if Janet Leigh's shower had been interrupted by a crazed gorilla instead of Norman Bates. Then Gordo chases another naked roommate around the livingroom couch a few times before squeezing the life out of her as she looks into the camera and laughs. Rabbi Rabinowitz and Vic White, the incredibly racist garage mechanic, are next on the list, having been given bunches of bananas by Lampini beforehand. I don't want to spoil too much of the intricate plot, but this is where Gordo rapes Rabbi Rabinowitz' wife and then disembowels her. Although this sounds horrible, the fact that the victim is giggling through the whole ordeal tends to soften the heinousness a bit.
Gordo's reign of terror then goes on to include car theft--he drives around until stopped by a cop, whose head he pulls off--and the murder of an ill-mannered video store clerk, which is justifiable. Equally shocking is the scene in which a hippie is furtively taking a leak in some bushes when the confused ape mistakes part of his anatomy for a banana, and... During all of this, an incredibly racist police lieutenant named LoBianco (Reis, who also plays Gordo) is irrationally convinced that the whole killing spree is the work of an innocent black man named Duane Jones (after the lead actor in George Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD), which is a whole other subplot. With his ridiculous hair-helmet wig and fake goatee, Reis is as over-the-top hilarious as everything else about this movie. And as mechanic Vic White, Larry Koster is like a Jerky Boys character come to life. The early scene in which he browbeats the incredulous Duane (Chris Hoskins) out of the garage simply for wanting his car fixed sets the goofball tone for the rest of the film.
Acting honors, however, must go to Paul Richichi as Lampini. With his dopey porkpie hat, cane, and Dracula cape, the ever-cheerful Lampini is a delightfully absurd character brimming with memorable quotes, as during his romantic dinner with Ginger: "The sky has never been bluer, the grass has never been greener, and Japanese sports cars have never been smaller, ever since I laid my head between your breasts," he gushes over a plate of Spaghetti-O's. "My love for you is as deep and as wide as the expanses of your vaginal cavity." To which the nonplussed Ginger responds: "What's the matter with you tonight? You're acting like a crackpot--like one of those self-proclaimed medicine men from the days of yore." Later, regretting his callous treatment of Gordo, he laments that he has become "so overwhelmed with repugnance for my enemies, that my love for my ape completely disappeared."
Now, this is where I usually mention stuff like image and sound quality, but we'll skip that part and go on to the bonus features. The audio commentary is an entertaining gabfest with Crocker, Reis, Richichi, and Wild Eye DVD's Rob Hauschild, who directed the informative "making of" featurette, "Grindhouse Gorilla." Next is a Crocker short film, "One Grave Too Many", which boasts a crude sort of creepiness. Lots of other miscellaneous stuff is included: a gallery of covers from the "Exploitation Journal" 'zine, trailers for THE BLOODY APE and BLITZKRIEG: ESCAPE FROM STALAG 69, a pressbook, original VHS cover art, lobby cards, stills, and other related art.
If you've read this far, you already know whether or not you should watch THE BLOODY APE as soon as possible or avoid it like the plague. It's loaded with exploitation goodies--nudity, violence, badly-done gore, bizarre situations, extreme characters, weird comedy--and done in such an unabashedly crude way that it radiates its own strange kind of fascination. As a Poe adaptation, George Reis accurately comments: "If you're running down the films based on Edgar Allan Poe, it's--one of them." As a study in miscommunication, as Crocker describes it, you couldn't find characters that are more miscommunicative. As cinema, it's like some kind of Super 8mm folk art whose worth can only be measured by each individual who watches it. As for me, I found it to be one of the funniest and most entertaining comedy-horror films that I watched yesterday.
Originally posted on 10/20/2018
If you're already an ardent collector of Stooge-iana, you may have most or all of this material in your collection. But for the Stooge fan who doesn't yet have it all, or for new fans just wanting to get started, Time-Life's new three volume, 13-disc DVD collection THE BEST OF THE THREE STOOGES might be a good bet for big Stooge entertainment.
The eight discs in volumes one and two are from Sony's "The Three Stooges Collection" and contain the first 87 Columbia Stooge shorts--namely, all of the Curlys save for the last ten or so--from 1934 to 1945 (ending with "Micro-Phonies.") For those who don't own the entire Columbia short subjects output from Sony this would be a good place to start.
For those who do have all the shorts on previous discs as I do, the five discs in volume three contain the really interesting stuff. Disc one features the Stooges made-for-TV biopic from 2000 co-starring Michael Chiklis as Curly, as well as three vintage Columbia cartoons from the 30s and 40s in which the boys pop up as guest stars. Since I don't remember ever seeing any Columbia cartoons before, this was of special interest to me as a fan of vintage animated cartoons in general.
Life is full of unexpected events.
For example, you never know exactly when Corey Feldman is going to turn into Michael Jackson.
But one thing's for sure...when he does, things happen.
Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!
Originally posted on 7/19/15
A billion years from now, when they're talking about the worst of the worst made-for-TV movies of all time, VALENTINE MAGIC ON LOVE ISLAND (aka "Magic on Love Island") will still hold its own on the lips and in the hearts of junk film junkies of the far-flung future.
If they still have lips and hearts, that is. And even if they don't, this brain-warp of a movie will make them feel as though their lips are shriveling in disgust as their hearts break from sheer id-curdling incredulity.
A bizarre hybrid of "The Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island", from a time faraway back when people still flocked to watch those multi-segment, faded-star-packed chunks of 70s-schlock entertainment, this 1980 crapfest belatedly distills the worst of both and throws in the worst of just about everything else it can get its hands on for good measure.
Things get weirder when Bill and Bob end up stranded on the other side of the island by themselves, one immobilized by old injuries and the other blind as a bat without his glasses. Madge, who planned the whole thing to force the two men to work out their differences (and "grow") materializes from out of nowhere like Glinda the Good Witch and heals Bob's knee with a laying on of the hands. Ohhh-kay...
Much of the "humor" in this part of the movie comes from Dody trying to fix daughter Lisa up with anything in pants, which, unfortunately, includes Rick Hurst. This leads to Rick dressing in drag at one point in order to avoid Dody. Watching this scene is like seeing the entire concept of comedy suddenly take a huge dump. Later, Rick actually hits on Adrienne while he's in full "mom" makeup and muu-muu, and she accepts. Concept of reality now fully and horribly subverted, thank you very much.
Things hit rock bottom when Rick takes a comedy-relief break to bare his soul to Adrienne with one of those desperate "tears of a clown" speeches that's puppy-dog pathetic. ("You see, I was always the class clown...the bumbler, the fumbler...girls laughed at me...") More sensitive viewers may not survive this scene. If you do, you might actually make it to the end of the movie alive.
Well, you know the old expression:
There are days...and then there are days.
Some are good, some are bad. Some make sense, and some just don't.
And then, inevitably, there comes the day...that Corey Feldman becomes Michael Jackson.
Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!
When Shemp Howard died in 1955...
...the Three Stooges still owed Columbia Studios four short films under their current contract.
So the studio cast frequent Stooge co-star Joe Palma to impersonate Shemp in those films-- along with lots of existing footage -- to create four "new" comedies which were, in fact, mostly remakes.
And thus were created some of the oddest entries in the Three Stooges' filmography.
Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!
We've seen plenty of earthquake effects in modern movies.
But here's how the special effects wizards did it way back in the silent days of 1923...
...as the great Lon Chaney exhorts mighty nature to wreak terrible vengeance for him.
Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!
The great Don Knotts portrayed one of TV's most classic characters, Deputy Bernard P. "Barney" Fife, during the best seasons of "The Andy Griffith Show."
One of his favorite pastimes was calling up his girlfriend Juanita down at the Bluebird Diner and regaling her with a romantic song or poem that he had concocted just for her. Or in one case, an ode to his own dashing exploits as a lawman.
And sometimes, to his great horror and embarrassment, his pal Sheriff Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith) would come through the front door at just the wrong time.
Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!
Originally posted on 6/22/17
"Will you welcome..." Johnny would usually say when introducing his next guest. Over the years there were countless "Will you welcome"s on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson", some who would remain in relative obscurity, and others who would parlay their once-in-a-lifetime chance at fame all the way to stardom.
Time-Life's 3-disc DVD collection THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JOHNNY CARSON: JOHNNY AND FRIENDS FEATURING STEVE MARTIN, ROBIN WILLIAMS & EDDIE MURPHY is about three of those who became superstars in the field of comedy--Steve Martin, Robin Williams, and Eddie Murphy--thanks in large part to their early exposure with Johnny on his classic late-night talk show which is now such an integral part of television legend.
Johnny, of course, was no stranger to either television or comedy, having labored in both fields since the 50s as host or co-host of various comedy, variety, and game shows such as "Carson's Cellar" and "Who Do You Trust?" before finally replacing Jack Paar as host of "The Tonight Show" in 1962.
The first "Exorcist" was scary enough.
But for the sequel, the filmmakers pulled out all the stops with a scene that would go down in cinema history as perhaps the most horrifying thing to ever be shown to unsuspecting audiences on the big screen.
Which is, namely, Linda Blair tap-dancing.
Even as her body is being wracked with pain from some unknown supernatural force, the character of Regan doggedly continues trying to finish her tap-dancing routine while flailing about in top hat and tails and lashing out with her cane.
It's a sight that would give even Gene Kelly nightmares.
Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!
"Tombstone" is pretty much the perfect Western...right?
Well, maybe and maybe not. Because after much extensive research and development...
...we have come up with a way to actually improve the ending of this classic.
Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!
Monty Python's Flying Circus invented the "broken camera" ending for their cult comedy classic "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."
Or did they?
Not quite, because several years earlier, the great Jerry Lewis did it first in his unforgettable Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde take-off, "The Nutty Professor."
Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!
Star Trek's writers always had fun with Spock's character...
...especially all the little quirks and idiosyncrasies that made him so much different from humans.
But in this particular episode, they may have gone just a bit overboard.
Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!
Sure, it happens online.
But what if it happened while you were watching a movie for the first time and it was just getting to the good part?
Talk about a "popcorn-dropping moment."
Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!
(Originally posted on 11/17/09)
There's nothing like a show that's both stupid and cool at the same time to bring out the kid in me. That's the feeling I get watching this boxed set of the entire run of JASON OF STAR COMMAND, a live-action sci-fi series from Filmation that ran for two seasons on Saturday mornings starting in 1978. By that time, I had taken to sleeping in on Saturday mornings instead of jumping out of bed to watch TV. But now, through the magic of DVD, I can catch up on what I missed out on the first time around.
Originally just one segment of a 90-minute show called "Tarzan and the Super 7", JASON began as a throwback to the old cliffhanger serials like "Flash Gordon" that used to get the kids flocking back to the theater week after week (with hefty doses of STAR WARS, "Star Trek", "Battlestar Galactica", and "Lost In Space" thrown into the mix as well). And like these old serialized adventures, each eleven-minute chapter has a sensational title such as "Attack of the Dragonship" or "Marooned in Time" and is open-ended, with Jason and his good-guy companions facing certain death at the hands of the evil Dragos (who has dubbed himself "Master of the Cosmos") to keep kids in the late 70s eagerly tuning in from one Saturday morning to the next.
A spin-off of an earlier Filmation production called "Star Academy", and using many of the same sets, models, and costumes, this series centers around the adventures of a secret branch of the Star Academy, located on a city-sized spaceship built on an asteroid, whose job is to protect the galaxy from evildoers like Dragos. Their number-one guy is the brave, adventurous Jason (Craig Littler, who is currently the Gorton's fisherman), described as a "soldier of fortune" even though he isn't one (if he ever made any profit from any of these exploits, they must've been paying him under the table).
He's really Han Solo Lite, right down to an almost identical set of threads and insoucient (though properly sanitized) attitude, and since Han is a soldier of fortune then, by golly, I guess Jason is, too. But he's also a true-blue, straight-arrow good guy type who feels right at home spouting lines like: "You overestimate yourself, Dragos. Never, on all the planets of the galaxy, has evil won out over decency and honesty--and freedom." Tell 'im, Jason!
The female lead in season one is the button-cute Susan O'Hanlon (PRIVATE PARTS, "All My Children") as Captain Nicole Davidoff, Star Command's leading computer expert. She was replaced in season two by Tamara Dobson (CLEOPATRA JONES) as a super-strong alien named Samantha. Charlie Dell (FIGHT CLUB) plays the brilliant but eccentric science officer, Professor E.J. Parsafoot, who shares comedy-relief duties with a couple of cute droids (of course) named Wiki and Peepo.
Season one's "Commander Canarvin" is none other than the redoubtable James "Scotty" Doohan, who then left to do STAR TREK:THE MOTION PICTURE and was replaced in season two by well-known Western actor John Russell (PALE RIDER, THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES) as the stern, blue-skinned Commander Stone. And along the way we see such familiar faces as Julie Newmar, Angelo Rossito, Francine York, and Rosanne Katon in guest roles.
Dragos, the most rotten guy in the universe and sworn enemy of all that is decent, is portrayed by Sid Haig, best known these days as "Captain Spaulding" from Rob Zombie's HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES and THE DEVIL'S REJECTS. He wears a red and black outfit with black platform boots and a cape, and a silver headpiece that makes him look like he just placed dead last in a Borg costume contest. Haig is the Darth Vader of the series, revelling in his various dastardly schemes with eye-rolling delight and frequently letting loose with his trademark maniacal laugh ("MWAAAH- ha-ha-ha-ha-HAAAAAA!!!")
Dragos has the ugliest spaceship in screen history, the dreaded Dragonship, which resembles a mechanical bulldog with a papier-mache' dragon head stuck on it, and his enslaved minions look like a bunch of diseased Wookies with really bad hair. Most of his schemes are along the lines of trying to disable Star Command's defense shields and sending it plunging into a sun or something. MWAAAH- ha-ha-ha-ha-HAAAAAA!!!
The production values would be laughably bad by theatrical standards, but for a Saturday morning kids' series from the 70s they're impressive--cool, even. Much of it consists of STAR WARS-style visual effects done on the cheap, by some of the same technicians, with ingenuity compensating for lack of budget. The model work is good for the most part, and some of the planet sets rival those that Captain Kirk used to wander around in, as do the Star Command interiors. John Beuchler, who went on to make quite a name for himself as a creature-maker as well as a director, populated the series with a multitude of hastily-made but impressive monsters and aliens.
My favorite aspect of the show, however, is the use of stop-motion animated monsters. I love this stuff, from the Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen classics right down to the jerky dinosaurs from BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN or TV's "Land of the Lost", and JASON features four or five stop-motion animated creatures with a lot of personality. Which, for me, raises the show's appeal to an even higher level.
With the second season, the show was plucked from the "Tarzan and the Super 7" line-up and given its own half-hour time slot. While the episodes continue to form a loose overall story arc, individual plotlines are wrapped up in just two or three episodes. Dragos gets a brand new Dragonship, and, thank goodness, it's sorta cool and nowhere near as butt-ugly as the first one. He also gets a whole menagerie of beastly Beuchler-built cronies, and they all maniacally laugh their heads off just like Dragos--I think maybe it's catching.
Tamara Dobson fits smoothly into the cast and seems to genuinely enjoy portraying the mysterious Samantha--she and Littler have a good chemistry together--while the fine actor John Russell's no-nonsense demeanor as Commander Stone, who strongly disapproves of Jason's cavalier attitude toward authority, gives the series a welcome and unexpected touch of gravitas. The only drawback is that as Jason and Stone gradually warm up to each other later on, Russell begins to smile more often, which is one of the scariest sights in television history.
The three-disc set includes both seasons of the show and some nice extras. The highlight is a half-hour documentary called "The Adventures of Jason of Star Command", which features interviews with producer Lou Scheimer (sadly, his partner, Norm Prescott, as well as Tamara Dobson, are no longer with us), stars Craig Littler and Sid Haig, John Beuchler, and others involved with the production. It's packed with interesting anecdotes and information about the show. There's also a six-minute special effects demo reel, a photo gallery, episode scripts in PDF format, an episode guide/trivia booklet, and several trailers for other Filmation DVD sets that bring back a lot of Saturday morning memories.
I accidentally found an Easter egg. Put in disc 2 and wait for the menu to appear. Hit "stop", then "play." Some leftover interview footage of guest star John Berwick that wasn't used in the documentary, lasting two or three minutes, should then appear. I tried this with the other two discs but no luck. If you should happen to find any more, let me know. And last but not least, three of the episodes contain lively commentary tracks with Scheimer, Littler, and Beuchler, among others. But careful, Mom and Dad--at one point, one of them gets so excited about viewing the old series again that he drops the "F" bomb! OOPS!
Scriptwriters include original "Star Trek" vets Samuel A. Peeples ("Where No Man Has Gone Before") and Margaret Armen ("The Paradise Syndrome"). The stories are fast-moving, simple, and often pretty dumb--in a bad-Roddenberry moment, Captain Kidd even pops up in one episode--but they're also a lot of fun, and not nearly as obnoxious as "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" (with the despicable "Twiki") or the original "Battlestar Galactica" tended to be.
Basically a live-action version of the kind of cartoons Filmation is known for (but without the crummy limited animation), JASON OF STAR COMMAND is corny, cheesy pulp sci-fi for kids, pure and simple, but it's done with such a goofy, unabashed earnestness and childlike sense of adventure that I couldn't help enjoying just about every minute of it.
