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Post by Prince Hal on Jan 21, 2023 12:21:53 GMT -5
Here in the UK, Talking Pictures TV is showing The Lone Ranger from the beginning. I am ecstatic. I shall watch it! I think I saw some colour episodes on Channel 4 in the 90s, but not really seen the series in full. Does the Lone Ranger actually live anywhere? Like the A-Team, he does not appear to have a house. Enjoy! The TV series began in 1949, but it doesn't always show its age, especially in the action scenes. The stuntwork and camerawork are more often than not excellent Some might think of it as a relic, and in many ways, I guess it is, but I loved it as a kid when I saw it in reruns. (It's been on forever and is seemingly always available somewhere.) Plots are pretty formulaic, but when you're making 200+ episodes in five years 52 a year except for Season Two), you're bound to have some repetition. Another fun benefit: many recognizable future character actors appear in guest roles:. Off the top of my head: Glenn Strange (as the villain of the hour, Butch Cavendish in the first two episodes); Jack Larson; Phyllis Coates; Noel Neill; Guy Williams; Michael Ansara; Hugh Beaumont; and Marion Ross. Beware Season Three, though. John Hart wears the mask instead of Clayton Moore, and despite his deep voice and heroic build, he can't come close to the dignity and style that Moore brought to the part. Jay Silverheels, however, as Tonto, provides rock-steady companionship throughout the series. As for a "Ranger-Cave," no, there's no such thing. The closest to a home base that the Ranger and Tonto have is a silver mine that the Ranger and his brother owned. He and Tonto periodically return to it to stock up on silver bullets made there by Jim Blaine, a former Texas Ranger who works the mine for them. No location is given for it that I can recall. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 21, 2023 18:56:09 GMT -5
If you like the Ranger, check out the Cisco Kid, with Duncan Renaldo. Similar in style, but with a Mexican hero, based on a bandit, in an O'Henry story.
There was a made-for-tv movie, in the 90s, with Jimmy Smits, as Cisco, and Cheech Marin, as Pancho, as they help Benito Juarez fight the French....
It's actually pretty good.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2023 7:09:22 GMT -5
Forty years ago today, The A-Team debuted on NBC. Wow.   Is this the greatest show of all time? Maybe. There are shows that are deep, there are shows that are arc-driven, and there are shows that feature great scripts, but I challenge anyone to name a show more entertaining than this one. Oh, and I wish Marvel had done more than a limited series for this one. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 23, 2023 11:20:53 GMT -5
Forty years ago today, The A-Team debuted on NBC. Wow. Is this the greatest show of all time? Maybe. There are shows that are deep, there are shows that are arc-driven, and there are shows that feature great scripts, but I challenge anyone to name a show more entertaining than this one. Oh, and I wish Marvel had done more than a limited series for this one. Worst shots on the planet! They made COBRA look like sharpshooters. It was impressive that they could fire 200 rounds out of a 30 round magazine, on a weapon that only fired in semi-automatic mode. That's a lot of trigger pulls! Most people tend to forget that it debuted without Dirk Benedict. He was not Face, in the pilot. That was Tim Dunigan. I bailed on it rather quickly, about midway through the first season. It was just too ludicrous and repetitive. Even The Master had better realism. Generally, I found that I couldn't stand most of the Stephen J Cannell shows, as they tended to be stunt fests, light on character and repetitive on plot. The one exception was Baa Baa Black Sheep, since it had the aviation angle, the historical angle, and the charisma of Robert Conrad. The history was BS; but, it treated the squadron rather like the classic Blackhawk stories, mixing aviation action with ground stuff, making for an exciting program (for the first season, anyway). It got a bit lost, in the series; but, the name comes from the basic designation of a Special Forces operational unit, which is called an A-Team. It usually consists of 12 men, each with an operational expertise, with others cross-trained to carry out someone else's role. The series had a bit of that, but was never very serious about the military connection or skills, except as background material. The frame up that made them fugitives never held up to scrutiny, either; but, that was tv. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2023 11:46:53 GMT -5
Well, on the scrutiny/military realism thing, even Hannibal’s rank was inconsistent. He mentioned being a lieutenant colonel in one episode, but a computer file showed him as a full colonel. Also, one episode mentioned how Colonel Lynch (former commander of Fort Bragg) had pursued a personal vendetta for ten years, which had embarrassed the US Army. But surely he took orders from someone? Why didn’t they order him to stop his personal vendetta? Such things don’t stand up to scrutiny, but I try to avoid thinking too hard about them. Just out of interest, I’d be interested to know what part of the frame-up you don’t think stands up to scrutiny. If memory serves me right, their commanding officer, Colonel Morrison, ordered the team to rob the Bank of Hanoi to help bring about an end to the war (not sure how that works), but he was killed and all proof of the orders given were destroyed. Can you add to that, I’m sure you can.  I did quite like Colonel Decker, he always had great dialogue. In the episode “Body Slam”, an FBI agent, DeBerg, captures the team, but won’t hand them over to the military: I wonder, who would win that jurisdictional battle in real life, codystarbuck ? |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 23, 2023 21:52:48 GMT -5
Well, on the scrutiny/military realism thing, even Hannibal’s rank was inconsistent. He mentioned being a lieutenant colonel in one episode, but a computer file showed him as a full colonel. Also, one episode mentioned how Colonel Lynch (former commander of Fort Bragg) had pursued a personal vendetta for ten years, which had embarrassed the US Army. But surely he took orders from someone? Why didn’t they order him to stop his personal vendetta? Such things don’t stand up to scrutiny, but I try to avoid thinking too hard about them. Just out of interest, I’d be interested to know what part of the frame-up you don’t think stands up to scrutiny. If memory serves me right, their commanding officer, Colonel Morrison, ordered the team to rob the Bank of Hanoi to help bring about an end to the war (not sure how that works), but he was killed and all proof of the orders given were destroyed. Can you add to that, I’m sure you can. I did quite like Colonel Decker, he always had great dialogue. In the episode “Body Slam”, an FBI agent, DeBerg, captures the team, but won’t hand them over to the military: I wonder, who would win that jurisdictional battle in real life, codystarbuck ? The FBI. Federal law trumps military. They would have the right to hold them and try them on Federal charges, regardless of the military charges brought, under the UCMJ. More than likely, the military would cool their heels until the Feds were done, then court martial them. The Feds could turn them over to the military, for trial under the UCMJ, with added charges. Usually, the Federal and other civilian courts get first crack, then they turn the accused over to the military for their turn. You are not technically trying them for the same crime; rather, they are tried for violations of the UCMJ, related to their civilian offences ("Contrary to good order and discipline" covers a lot of territory, just by itself). As for the back story, the military runs on bureaucracy. There would be a paper trail that would make the Ho Chi Minh Trail look like a hiking path at a campground. There would have to be a ton of people involved to send an operation into Hanoi. The logistics alone would be staggering, not to mention the problem of 3 white faces and one black in Hanoi, in the middle of the Vietnam War. Then, how do you extract them? No A-Team commander is going to accept an assignment like that, without the CIA involved, a lot of brass counter-signing any orders and one big-@$$ carrot dangling in front of them. Cannell watched Kelly's Heroes too many times. I thought the series started well, but quickly got bogged down in the same old plot and I could only take so many instances of "I love it when a plan comes together," and "I pity the fool who don't rotate his tires!" or whatever gibberish Mr T spouted. I might have enjoyed it more if I had been younger; but, I was in high school and had been weaned on better action series and dramas. My question is how did they have so much trouble tracking a customized van? If you are fugitives and hiding from military and civilian law enforcement, you don't go around in a distinctive van, getting into firefights, where no one gets hit. Airwolf was way cooler! |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 26, 2023 20:45:46 GMT -5
The death of Lance Kerwin, who was a prominent child and young adult actor led me to rewatch Michael Landon's tv movie, The Loneliest Runner, on Youtube. Landon wrote, produced and directed it, inspired by his own problems with bedwetting, in his youth (related to his mother's mental illness). Kerwin was all over 70s tv, including the short-lived series The Family Holvak, with Glenn Ford, set in Tennessee, during the Great depression (probably trying to copy the Waltons) and the better known James at 15 (and then James at 16). I believe that got at least a limited dvd release; but, a lot of those After School Specials and tv movies did not.
I was thinking about the tv movies of the 70s, as I watched. There was a period of time where ABC, especially, was putting real resources into filming movies for their Movie of the Week series, to run between network showings of theatrical films. There were some really good ones, in the early to mid-70s:
Earth II-Gary Lockwood, in a sci-fi film, about a space station, orbiting the Earth, as a sovereign state
The Birdmen-aka Escape of the Birdmen-Doug McClure has to get Renee Auberjenois out of Colditz and they build a glider
Death Race-Nazi officer Lloyd bridges hunts for Doug McClure and Roy Thinnes, who are flying a damaged P-40
Brian's Song-James Caan and Billy Dee Williams as NFL players Brian Piccolo and Gayle Sayers
Duel-Dennis Weaver vs a semi-truck
Killdozer-Clint Walker vs an animated killer bulldozer
The Night Stalker-First Kolchak movie, hunting a vampire
The Night Strangler-second Kolchak movie, led to a series
Trilogy of Terror-Richard Mathieson stories, including a tiki doll that comes to life to kill.
Family Flight-Rod Taylor stars as father of a family whose private plane makes an emergency landing in the Mexican desert.
Outrage-Robert Culp as a man driven to violence after his family is terrorized by out of control teenagers
Trapped-James Brolin is a man mugged and knocked unconscious, then finds himself locked inside a department store, with doberman guard dogs.
Men of the Dragon-Jared Martin and Robert Ito as a pair of martial artists, trying to find Martin's sister, who is kidnapped, in Hong Kong.
A Case of Rape-Elizabeth Montgomery as a rape victim.
Born Innocent-Linda Blair as a troubled youth, raped and abused at a juvenile detention center.
Bad Ronald-A troubled boy hides in the attic of a house, which then passes to new owners.
Sarah T: Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic-Blair again, as what the title says.
The Deadly Tower-Kurt Russell as Charles Whitman, the Univ of Texas bell tower shooter.
Sweet Hostage-Blair again, who is kidnapped by a mentally imbalanced Martin Sheen.
I Will Fight No More Forever-Ned Romero as Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph, who tries to lead his people to Canada, to escape the US Army.
Babe-Suzanne Clark as Babe Didrickson Zaharias. Alex Karras plays George Zaharias, her husband.
The Boy in the Plastic Bubble-John Travolta as a young man, born with an immune disorder. Robert Reed plays his father.
Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway-Eve Plumb as a young runaway.
21 Hours at Munich-dramatization of the Munich massacre, using ABC Sports footage of the event
Victory at Entebbe-ABC dramatization of the Israeli rescue mission, in 1976. All-Star cast, including Richard Dreyfuss, as Jonatan Netanyahu.
Raid on Entebbe-NBC version of the mission, with Charles Bronson as Gen Dan Shomron and Yaphet Kotto as Idi Amin. James Woods plays an Israeli soldier.
The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald-What if trial of Oswald, had he lived to be put on trial, with Lorne Green as defense attorney. based on many of the conspiracy theories and discrepancies in official reports.
The Gathering-Ed Asner & Maureen Stapleton gather their family, at Christmas, to reveal he is dying, but they have a long, troubled history.
Like Normal People-Shaun Cassidy sheds teen idol image to portray developmentally challenged young man who wants to be able to marry and live as others do.
Hanging By a Thread-Bert Convy and others hanging from a disable cable car.
Getting Away from It All-Larry Hagman and a group of city people who try to leave their world behind for a small island village.
Some of them have been made available via the Warner Archive manufacture-on-demand site; others can be found on Youtube.
Lot of really good movies done in that decade, before the mini-series became a bigger deal and cable split things off.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2023 7:02:13 GMT -5
On this day 30 years ago, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues debuted on the Prime Time Entertainment Network. Four seasons were produced, the show ending in 1997.
I only saw a few of these. I did like the continuation of the original series - but that, too, was a show I only saw a handful of episodes of (the BBC showed it in the 90s).
I probably would revisit both the original and this show, if there’s a DVD release.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 27, 2023 11:29:20 GMT -5
On this day 30 years ago, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues debuted on the Prime Time Entertainment Network. Four seasons were produced, the show ending in 1997. I only saw a few of these. I did like the continuation of the original series - but that, too, was a show I only saw a handful of episodes of (the BBC showed it in the 90s). I probably would revisit both the original and this show, if there’s a DVD release. The actor portraying the modern Caine's son, Chris Potter, was also the voice of Gambit, on X-Men. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 27, 2023 11:33:24 GMT -5
Speaking of X-Men, did anyone else learn of Jack Kirby's death because of the memorial card, at the start of one of the episodes, when first broadcast? I would sporadically watch it, if I wasn't working and was awake and tuned in because they had been adapting the Phoenix/Dark Phoenix stuff and there was a memorial card, at the start of the episode. I think they rushed it out, when the news broke, for broadcast, because he passed only a few days before.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2023 7:11:23 GMT -5
Fantasy Island debuted 45 years ago today on ABC (there were two TVMs in 1977):  I have only seen the first season of this (DVD). As we all no doubt know, the series starred Ricardo Montalbán as Mr. Roarke, and Hervé Villechaize as his assistant, Tattoo. Guests with lots of money were granted so-called "fantasies" on the island. For instance, one guest’s wish was to become a star baseball player, while a career gambler wished to win big on every game. What made this series most profound was that the adage “be careful what you wish for” was most apt. People discovered that what they THINK they wanted didn’t live up to the reality, and each guest often learnt an important lesson - and in most cases, found something more important. One great story saw a couple wish to go back to more simpler times - but then via historical reenactment, they discovered that simpler times had their own problems. Is this series science fiction or fantasy? I’d go with the latter. While it’d be possible for a wealthy person to build the things necessary to “grant wishes”, I believe a Higher Power was involved. In fact, I believe it was strongly implied that Mr. Roarke was God - and the fact he met the Devil in one episode (played by Roddy McDowell) only confirms that. Roarke was otherworldly, wise and powerful. If he wasn’t God, perhaps a high-ranking angel? I need to see the remaining seasons, I don’t think there was a bad episode in the first season.
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Post by Batflunkie on Jan 28, 2023 11:00:28 GMT -5
Fantasy Island debuted 45 years ago today on ABC (there were two TVMs in 1977): I have only seen the first season of this (DVD). As we all no doubt know, the series starred Ricardo Montalbán as Mr. Roarke, and Hervé Villechaize as his assistant, Tattoo. Guests with lots of money were granted so-called "fantasies" on the island. For instance, one guest’s wish was to become a star baseball player, while a career gambler wished to win big on every game. What made this series most profound was that the adage “be careful what you wish for” was most apt. People discovered that what they THINK they wanted didn’t live up to the reality, and each guest often learnt an important lesson - and in most cases, found something more important. One great story saw a couple wish to go back to more simpler times - but then via historical reenactment, they discovered that simpler times had their own problems. Is this series science fiction or fantasy? I’d go with the latter. While it’d be possible for a wealthy person to build the things necessary to “grant wishes”, I believe a Higher Power was involved. In fact, I believe it was strongly implied that Mr. Roarke was God - and the fact he met the Devil in one episode (played by Roddy McDowell) only confirms that. Roarke was otherworldly, wise and powerful. If he wasn’t God, perhaps a high-ranking angel? I need to see the remaining seasons, I don’t think there was a bad episode in the first season. I always thought that it was a good premise for an anthology show. Didn't appreciate the reboot style horror movie they did of it especially when they rebooted the tv show a good year or so afterwards
Also
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 28, 2023 18:37:44 GMT -5
The early days of Fantasy Island were great, as Roarke was portrayed as more mysterious and sinister. One of the earliest episodes (possibly the pilot) had a female guest ask who Mr Roarke is, and Tattoo replies, "Some call him ...(points to sky), some call him.....(points to the ground)." The guest responds, "What do you call him?" "Mr Roarke," he replies, with a shrug.
After the initial batch of episodes, it quickly settled into formula; so the quality of episodes could really go up and down, depending on the script and the guest star.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 28, 2023 18:45:19 GMT -5
I was watching old school Battlestar Galactica and saw an episode with Batman, Superman and an Avenger. "War of the Gods," the two parter, with Patrick Macnee, as Count Iblis, a mysterious stranger they find on a planet, as the fleet is visited by mysterious lights and several Viper pilots disappear. Macnee is the Avenger (John Steed) and we also see Batman, Olan Soule (voice of the character in the Filmation Adventures of Batman and the Hanna-Barbera New Scooby Doo Movies and the Super Friends) is the Batman (seen on the agro ship, which itself is a reused model from Silent Running) and Kirk Alyn (the movie serial Superman), as one of the poor passengers of a fleet ship. You also get Ben Cartwright and Mrs Robinson's daughter (Ann Lockhart)
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jan 29, 2023 4:42:54 GMT -5
The early days of Fantasy Island were great, as Roarke was portrayed as more mysterious and sinister. One of the earliest episodes (possibly the pilot) had a female guest ask who Mr Roarke is, and Tattoo replies, "Some call him ...(points to sky), some call him.....(points to the ground)." The guest responds, "What do you call him?" "Mr Roarke," he replies, with a shrug. After the initial batch of episodes, it quickly settled into formula; so the quality of episodes could really go up and down, depending on the script and the guest star. Yes, the whole concept was far darker in the pilot movie, with a sort of "be careful what you wish for" vibe. In fact, in that pilot, I recall that after the toast when he welcomes the guests, Roarke says something like "fantasy island indeed" under his breath. And that's underscored with a scene showing the little seaplane that brings the guests taking off and leaving the island, implying that they're trapped there. |
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