RETRO TOY FLASHBACK # 58: Costumes!

Okay, so, if I wanted to humiliate myself more than usual, I'd be showing some really embarrassing photographs in this post. Let's see, there's the photo of me as a nine year-old kid dressed as a Cylon Centurion from Battlestar Galactica (back in 1978, before Cylons were sexy women with glowing spines). And there's the photo of me from my senior year of high school where I'm dressed up as Mr. Spock, replete with pointed ears, black wig, and phaser. And then there's the photo of me as the evil Michael Myers my sophomore year in college.

Now there's a story there, in that last picture. It was Halloween 1990, and Kathryn couldn't come out to play. So, left to my own devices, I decided at midnight to dress up in my Michael Myers, aka "The Shape" overalls and mask and make my tender way over to the girl's dorm on the other side of the campus, across the lake. Well, I did that, and stood in front of the girl's dorm - immobile - just breathing heavy - for like an hour. It scared a few young nubile co-eds, and then I decided it was time to go home.

So I was walking home, across the bridge separating the girl's side of campus from the boy's side of campus. By this time, I wasn't even trying to be frightening. I felt kind of deflated. My face smelled like sweat and spittle, thanks to that damn William Shatner mask, and I was hot and uncomfortable. So I was totally taken by surprise when I bumped into a young freshman girl jogging on the bridge by light of the full moon.

Let me just say, I scared the absolute crap out of this poor girl. From her perspective, she jogged right into Michael Myers. But you see, it wasn't so much fun after all. She fell down in terror, and almost fell off the bridge. I had to rip my mask off and apologize. I tried to tell her that on Halloween everyone deserves "one good scare," but she wasn't having it. She ran away, into the dark, and I felt like a heel. This almost rivals the time I was stopped by the police carrying a machine gun, but that's a story for another post...

*Sigh.* The good old days.

Anyway, after that long and mostly irrelevant introduction, I'm now focusing on another favorite sci-fi collectible today: the costume!!! Hanging in my closet, I not only have a blue Mr. Spock uniform, but a first season Captain Picard uniform, and - yes - an Admiral Kirk uniform from The Wrath of Khan, replete with blood stain. I keep measuring Joel to see when he'll fit into any one of these...

I don't know what it is about dressing up like your heroes (or nightmares...), but I suppose it has something to do with delving deeper into your favorite fictional world. I will say this: Kathryn looks great in a beehive, Spock uniform and go-go boots...

Whenever I visit conventions, I really dig seeing all the folks in costume: the Klingons, the stormtroopers, the Jedi and so on..

So you don't get to see any of the fun photos, I mentioned above, just a shot of the Simplicity pattern from 1992 (from the 2 hour express collection...) of the Star Trek uniforms; and this book from the era of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, called "Make-Your Own-Costume Book."

If I could have any sci-fi costume in the universe, I'd want either a Commander Koenig outfit from Space:1999, or, perhaps even more so, a Sandman uniform from the movie Logan's Run. And it would have to come complete with one of those "flare" guns to take out runners. Of course at my age, my life clock would be black.

So, how about you? What's your dream sci-fi costume?

TV REVIEW: This American Life

One can only wish that all network "reality" television were this good. This American Life is a Showtime "reality" series that, per episode gazes at - but doesn't exploit - the behavior of unusual individuals who share a common problem/world view. That world view may have positive or negative ramifications for said person, but Ira Glass, our series host (who brings the series to television from NPR ...) is restrained and objective, and even though the series is, at times, howlingly funny, one never senses the host's laughing at anyone. He's just observing.

Each installment of This American Life targets "some theme," according to Glass's voice over narration, and then observes how some unique people relate to that theme. In the first episode, that theme is a "reality check," a splash of cold water on the face in which the subject is unwittingly snapped back to unpleasant reality.

The first story in the episode involves farmers Ralph Fisher and Sandra Reddell who, as the story commences, mourn the untimely loss of their pet, a prized bull named Chance. Now, Chance is a special sort of bull. He's tame, loving (he sleeps in the yard...), and had been a guest star in Hollywood films and even on the Letterman Show. He was a loving and sweet pet; part of the family; and Ralph quickly decided he couldn't do without him. That the pain of life without beloved Chance was simply too great a burden to shoulder.

So, Ralph did what was unthinkable just a few short years ago. He has Chance cloned at Texas A&M. As the episode goes on, viewers are introduced "Second Chance," Chance's unusual progeny. The reality check, however, comes into play when Ralph blithely attempts to act like this new bull is actually the bull he's always loved. In a horrifying moment, the young bull gores his owner, sending Ralph to the hospital with bloody wounds (a testicle is destroyed...). The reality check? This changeling isn't Chance at all; not a docile animal...but a bull like most others...just an animal. The sad and enduring fact we remember from Ralph's folly is that death is permanent. We can't bring back our loved ones, no matter how much we try. In horror and science fiction, we've seen this story played out as Pet Sematary, as one example, but it's a little shocking to see it played for real, in a non-fictional setting. The future has truly arrived, I guess. Finally, what makes this segment so fascinating is the way it charts the intersection of the contemporary American family with modern technology. We watch an "average" guy deal with something from the twilight zone - cloning - and it's a fascinating drama.

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The second act of This American Life's first episode is called "The Spy Who Loved Everybody" and it concerns a group called "Improv Everywhere" that plays pranks (the group calls them missions...) on clueless people. The twist is that the pranksters, here termed "agents" want to help people, not hurt them with their missions. In "The Greatest Gig Ever" (mission # 37), the group decides to go give a fledgling, unknown rock group, Ghosts of Pasha, the best reception they've ever seen. The unsuspecting band is thus surprised to discover their new "fan base" at a gig, people who wear "Ghosts of Pasha" T-shirts and know all the lyrics to the band's songs, so they can sing along.

The "reality check" arrives when the group learns, days later, that they've been punk'd. That the response to their music was not authentic; just a trick. Suddenly, the band members are forced to countenance the idea of what it means to be a real band. Is it better be loved unconditionally - as a lie, or simply be unknown? This is another heart wrenching segment, in part because the sensitive leader of the band has lived his life in fear of ridicule, based on an experience with a bully during school. Suddenly, he's the object of a "joke" again. How he responds to this situation is touching, and a re-affirmation of the indomitable human spirit. Are the pranksters kind or wrong-headed? I fall on the wrong-headed side, but you should watch this episode to see how Ghosts of Pasha handles being "punked."

Another episode deals with the notion of "re-inventing your life" and whether it is ever too early, or too late to do that. In "Lights, Camera, Traction" a group of senior citizens dream of making their own short film and getting it into the Sundance Film Festival. The second story involves a grown woman who reads aloud from her diary. The document was written when she was thirteen, and is quite shocking to say the least.

So much of reality television is about dressing people down; about judges criticizing people and making them feel small. So much of reality television is about desperate people humiliating themselves for their fifteen minutes of fame. This American Life represents something totally the opposite. It's an exploration of the bonds and emotions that humans share. There's no finger pointing; just a tugging at the communal heart strings. This isn't a reality show about what separates us, but about what we hold in common.

The House Between Episode # 5 Preview: "Mirrored"

Only one more week until The House Between's fifth webisode, "Mirrored" bows here, on Veoh, and on the home page at www.thehousebetween.com.

I must say -- this is a fun show; as you'll soon see. So scope out the preview below, and return here next Thursday for my director's notes on the episode. Which will be extensive, and hopefully embarrassing to the cast-members! Hah! Then, on Friday the 13th, watch the show...

It's Here!

* 829 Pages.

* 328 Films reviewed

* 156 photographs

* 6 Appendices

* Interviews with: Rebecca Balding (The Silent Scream, The Boogens), Kent Beyda (Fright Night, Humanoids from the Deep), Kevin Connor (Motel Hell, The House Where Evil Dwells), James L. Conway (The Boogens), Ellie Cornell (Halloween IV: The Return of Michael Myers), Thom Eberhardt (Night of the Comet), Richard Franklin (Road Games, Psycho II, Link), Gloria Gifford (Halloween II), Tom McLoughlin (One Dark Night, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives!), Peter Smokler (Alligator), Lewis Teague (Alligator, Cujo, Cat's Eye) and Ken Russell (Altered States).

The back cover reads: "John Kenneth Muir is back! This time, the author of the acclaimed Horror Films of the 1970s turns his attention to 300 films from the 1980s. From horror franchises like Friday the 13th and Hellraiser to obscurities like The Children and The Boogens, Muir is our informative guide.

Muir introduces the scope of the decades horrors, and offers a history drawing parallels between current events and the nightmares unfolding on cinema screens. Each of the 300 films is discussed with detailed credits, a brief synopsis, a critical commentary, and where applicable, notes on the film's legacy. beyond the 80s. Also included is the author's ranking of the 15 best Horror Films of the 1980s.

BOOK REVIEW: Culture, Identities and Technology in the STAR WARS Films, Essays on the Two Trilogies

In a few short weeks, the thirtieth anniversary of Star Wars will be upon us, as hard as that is for of us many of us X'ers to believe. Honestly, Star Wars changed my life. I was in second grade when I first saw it in 1977, and it was the most dazzling, amazing movie a seven-year old's mind could conceive. I spoke with my Dad about the film a few weeks ago during dinner, and the experience of going to see it at a theater in Paramus, N.J. almost thirty years ago. He told me he staggered out of the first viewing with his head spinning. "The real world," he suggested "seemed to move so slow" after seeing Star Wars. Even thirty years later, I recall that feeling of exuberance; that excitement.

George Lucas's space opera has permeated the pop culture in so many ways since '77. It's tempting to gaze at it as some kind of magical watershed production which just appeared - with no antecedents - and went to warp speed, literally, in the public consciousness. Yet the historian in me must remind myself that Star Wars developed the special effects breakthroughs of Brian Johnson and Space:1999 (1975-1977); that Star Wars was originally a variation of Flash Gordon, a property Lucas had first attempted to license; that the film was an homage to such Akira Kurosawa films as The Hidden Fortress; that the blockbuster mentality Star Wars took advantage of had already commenced with such studio films as Jaws (1975); and that even the merchandising blitz it set off had antecedents in Planet of the Apes, Star Trek, The Six-Million Dollar Man, Space:1999 and other genre productions.

I can remind myself of all those facts, and yet Star Wars is THAT film. It's the one major production where all these elements came together like a Big Bang to create a work of art that seemed fresh, new and different. So much of "success" is combination of timing and chemistry, and Star Wars has both of those things in its favor. It was released at a time when people were hungry for escapist fare, but it was also so damn inventive; such a well-told and resonant story. It was seeded with brilliant mythological undercurrents and ideas, and therefore it has continued to exist long past the cinematic marketplace of the disco decade.

So, it's the perfect time to explore Star Wars' significance in American culture with Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy, # 3: Culture, Identities and Technology in the STAR WARS Films: Essays on the Two Trilogies. This is a McFarland collection of fascinating essays edited by Carl Silvio and Tony M. Vinci, and they all gaze seriously and studiously - and intelligently at Star Wars' impact on our culture.

I know the elitists out there laugh at such things, the idea that Star Wars can be examined this seriously, but to them, I blow a big fat raspberry. How is examining Star Wars any different, really, than studying The Iliad or The Odyssey? All these works of art reflect their times and worlds in a deep and clearly resonant way.

The book's introduction notes, correctly that "few filmic narratives have so captivated the public's imagination" as Star Wars. "The textural universes serves as one of society's richest repositories of contemporary myth and social meaning, a galaxy where collective hopes and anxieties are both revealed and imaginarily resolved."

Indeed. I couldn't agree more, so it was with great enthusiasm that I read further. Part I of the Book, "Cultural Contexts" meditates on the "value of rebellion and the dangers of blind democracy," among other things, a particularly relevant topic given today's theory of the Unitary Executive. Another essay, by John Lyden gazes at "apocalyptic fatalism" in Star Wars, the idea that "the plan revealed for the future is set and no one can change it." As evidence of this facet of the tale, Lyden points to all the talk of "destiny" in the Original Trilogy, and character comments such as the Emperor (and Vader's) taunt that "it is useless to resist," meaning that there is a foregone conclusion in Luke Skywalker's journey to hero (or perhaps, villain...).

Part II of this collection of essays focuses on "Identity" and "Politics." One essay is called "The Imperial March: The Galactic Empire as Racial State," but it was "Feminism and The Force" by Diana Dominquez that fascinated me most in this section. Dominguez writes that old fashioned, patriarchal archetypes are shattered in Star Wars during Luke's first meeting of Leia. As you'll recall, he's found her in her prison cell on the Death Star, and she comments that he's "short" for a "stormtrooper." This comeback destroys, according to Dominguez, "The familiar fairy tale trope of the fair unknown knight or prince in shining armor who comes to save the silent but eternally grateful damsel in distress and whisk her away to safety and a life of happily ever after." I remember reading an interview with Buster Crabbe - then an old man - on why he didn't like Star Wars and he pointed to this "liberated" quality to Princess Leia.

Interestingly, Dominguez also sees Padme Amidala of the prequel trilogy in rather positive light. After noting that she goes from being "outspoken" Queen to dying over love - essentially standing by her man (as the song goes...) -Dominguez describes Amidala as an "alarming reflection of the complex, confusing and contradictory messages today's young women receive from society and the media."

The third part of the book was probably my favorite, simply because it aligns with many of my own particular interests. It's sub-titled "Technology and The Public Image" and there's a terrific essay called "Kill Binks" by Dan North, subtitled, "Why the World Hated its First Digital Actor"). It studies the vehement fan response to Jar-Jar Binks, and enumerates many reasons for it.

Equally fascinating is "The Emperor's New Clones; Or Digitization and Walter Benjamin in the Star Wars Universe by Graham Lyons and Janice Morris. This essay studies the impact of Lucas's digital tinkering with the saga to conform to what the artist insists is his original vision for the trilogies. In other words, digitization as "balm" for what the creator perceived as the shortcomings of his original presentation. This essay is even-handed and gazes at how some of the special edition upgrades are positive, while others are quite bewildering. In discussing the addition of a (bad) CGI Jabba the Hut to Episode IV: A New Hope, the authors discuss how an actor's performance (in this case, Harrison Ford's), loses it's "integral" "wholeness" and becomes disjointed and no longer authentic. This is something I've had ample time to consider myself, and discuss with a friend, Tony Mercer, on my own production, The House Between. What happens to actor performances when new special effects and sound effects are added; and the actors are no longer registering the context they imagined? Or that the script initially imagined? This is a fascinating debate, especially in the age of CGI and digital "fixes." There's even a section here on the "Who Shot First?" debate, regarding Greedo and Han in the cantina, and it's stimulating reading.

Here on the blog over the next few months, I'll be celebrating the 30th anniversary of Star Wars with lots of different posts (and picking up my blogging of the films...), but I can think of no better way to kick off that endeavor than with a careful reading of this fascinating collection of essays.

CHOICE likes Mercy in Her Eyes

I got a nice review from Choice Magazine regarding my study of Mira Nair. Her latest film, The Namesake just opened in limited release in several parts of the country this week.

Here's what CHOICE had to say: "...Muir (who has written numerous books on film) demonstrates that his subject is worthy of attention. Muir likes to deal with filmmakers whose work is independent and uncompromised - specifically, with what he calls "singularity," the control of an auteur. Muir calls Nair the spiritual heir to Satyajit Ray, the first great Indian filmmaker. Nair's work tends to depict the struggles of clashing cultures; as Muir puts it, Nair seeks a national versus personal identity, "her own personal India." Muir's discussion is chronological, and each chapter deals with one or more of Nair's works, from her first feature-length film, Salaam Bombay (1988), to her most curent, The Namesake (2006). The chapter on Bombay takes the reader on a step-by-step journey through scripting, financing, and casting to the actual 60-day shooting schedule. Muir avails himself of interviews, articles and Internet blogs, and his coverage is thorough. The first full-length study of Nair, the book includes an extensive bibliography (which lists reviews, periodical appreciations, interviews and blogs), endnotes, and stunning color reproductions from the films. Summing Up: highly recommended."

Woo-hoo! An Indian reporter, Amit Sengupta also did a "global sketch" on me and Mercy in Her Eyes for the Saturday edition of the Kolkata Times , but alas there's no Internet edition, so I can't link to it here. D'oh. It's a nice piece...got a picture of me and everything!

The House Between at The Thunder Child

Hey folks!

There's a new interview about The House Between up at The Thunder Child! Barbara Peterson conducted the interview, and we had a great back-and-forth about the creation of the series. Thanks, Barbara!

Here's a taste of the interview:


My original intention had been to create a series about science fiction fandom and an arrogant writer/guest speaker (to be played by me…) who goes to conventions and makes a fool of himself on stage and with the fans. It would be Curb Your Enthusiasm with a genre twist, and have a lot of sci-fi in-jokes. I was going to do it mockumentary-style, with talking head interviews, which would have been very easy and affordable to shoot.

Very soon, however, I realized that such a premise – while funny – would get old quickly. So I dug back into my endless writing files. Back in 1999 I had written a script leading up to Y2K about a woman who is kidnapped from her car in a parking lot, and wakes up to find herself trapped in a strange house with people from different historical eras. Outside the door is a pulsating force field. So they’re all trapped in this house with no escape. This was a feature script, one where the house was booby-trapped, had hidden passageways, etc. It was called, if I remember correctly, “Last Day.” I resurrected some ideas from this screenplay to create The House Between.

Anyway, check it out! And also take a gander at all the great material The Thunder Child: Science Fiction and Fantasy Web Magazine and Sourcebooks has to offer.

RETRO TOY FLASHBACK # 57: AMT Star Trek Kits

I've blogged about model kits before (back in the early days of this site...), but today, I want to focus specifically on the array of kits once available from AMT for the Star Trek line.

When I was a kid, the only way to play with replicas of your favorite starship (besides Dinky die cast metal ships...) was to build a mode kit. I was never a particularly coordinated kid, so this was difficult. John Muir and glue don't really go together very well. Sticky fingers and smudges and all. Anyway, as far back as 1966, the year the series premiered, AMT (later AMT/ERTL) committed to producing a highly-detailed line of vessels and in one case, a figurine, from Gene Roddenberry's classic series. Fortunately, I have a father who is coordinated and skilled at building models, and he stepped in where his son would only make a mess.

Among my favorite kits from AMT was the Exploration Kit, which featured the equipment trifecta: a Starfleet phaser, tricorder and communicator. I remember my Dad built this kit for me, let it glue overnight, and left it outside my room for Saturday morning play time. I awoke eager and happy, slung the tricorder over my shoulder, clipped on the communicator, gripped my phaser and "beamed" down to the wooded trails near my house for a new adventure. This was after an episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series had aired on CBS that morning. What fun.

In 1980, during the winter olympics at Lake Placid, I grew gravely ill for a long period of time -- we didn't know it then, but my sickness was actually carbon monoxide poisoning resulting from a malfunctioning furnace in our old house -- and I passed the time (with a terrible, unending headache...) with a model of the starship U.S.S. Enterprise that my father built for me. I was ten years old at the time, and still able to escape into adventures with that starship. In particular, I remember flying it in orbit around the globe I had stationed on my desk in my room.

Over the years, AMT released a number of kits from the original series, including a Romulan Bird of Prey (replete with Romulan logo on the bottom...), a Klingon D-7 battlecruiser (as featured in the third season shows...), and even K-7, the space station featured in "The Trouble with Tribbles." There was also a Mr. Spock figurine, one that depicted the logical first officer encountering a three headed dragon on a planet's surface. I had all of these kits, and my favorite - the "interplanetary" UFO. Now, this vessel was not actually from the series itself, just a random alien ship to encounter, but I loved that fact. It was a way to create a new adventure, to have the Enterprise "meet" a new alien, neither Klingon nor Romulan. I played these models out.

Other kits included the shuttlecraft, Galileo 7, and a diorama of the Enterprise bridge. I remember my father meticulously painting the chairs, banister, deck and characters of the latter. The set came with Captain Kirk (seated, for his command chair), Mr. Sulu and Mr. Spock. I always wondered why no Scotty, Uhura or Chekov. The bridge seemed like a "house with all the children gone," with just three officers on deck.

In the year 1979, Star Trek: The Motion Picture arrived in theaters, and AMT released a deluxe kit of the new version of NCC-1701, replete with 'rainbow" decals for "warp speed" effect. This model was larger than the series' editions, incredibly detailed and absolutely gorgeous. It was wired with lights, and made quite the impressive statement. I still believe - and I can't be dissuaded from this - that the movie version of the Enterprise is the most gorgeous starship ever put to celluloid. At the same time, another Spock figurine was released (this time he was gripping a tricorder, not a phaser, and looking at alien fauna, not a monster..), and two other ships: the Klingon K'Tinga cruiser (trashed by V'Ger in the film...) and the Vulcan shuttle. I loved the Vulcan shuttle because it could split into two vehicles for docking: the warp sled and the crew compartment.

Over the years, there were many new editions of these classic models. The first significant change in the Enterprise itself came in 1989, for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, when the model kit was modified to include the shuttlecraft Kirk and party used to raid Nimbus III. Remember "Emergency Landing Plan B?" I thought this was particularly cool. I was in college when the movie came out (and I dutifully saw it six times in the theater...), and I built the model myself. I still have that shuttle in my office.

By the time of Voyager in 1995, I was a happily married adult and AMT/ERTL no longer had the license to Star Trek. It migrated to Monogram at that time, and an era was over. Still, for almost thirty years, AMT and AMT/ERTL were responsible for creating some really beautiful Trek kits. And as a kid, I loved playing with them, and going - along with Kirk and Company - where no man - where no kid - had gone before.

THE HOUSE BETWEEN Ep# 4: Visited

In "Visited," the fourth webisode of the online sci-fi series, THE HOUSE BETWEEN, Arlo (Jim Blanton's) act of violence in the strange house summons malevolent creatures outside in the blackness, the mysterious "Outdwellers." Meanwhile, Astrid (Kim Breeding) and Theresa (Alicia A. Wood) try to save the wounded Bill's (Tony Mercer) life, and wonder if they can trust Travis (Lee Hansen). Produced for the Lulu Show LLC by Joseph Maddrey. Written and directed by John Kenneth Muir. www.thehousebetween.com

The House Between Episode # 4 ("Visited") Director's Notes

This week, I want to share my thoughts on The House Between, episode #4, titled "Visited."

In short: this is our cursed show. Although we had an amazingly smooth shoot, on the day we shot "Visited" our lights kept blowing out. One bulb after the other, after the other, after the other. Finally, production ground to a halt as we ran out of the entire back-up supply of bulbs in short order, and I had to send poor pregnant Kathryn 35 miles away to Uptown Charlotte to find a vendor with more of them. So that wasn't good. I began searching around my shed for a light bar I once utilized on my old movies. It's a device that I kiddingly referred to as "the artificial sun" because it generates so much light (and heat). Amazingly, my resourceful lighting directors Bobby and Kevin were able to make do with this substitute in the short term...and still deliver great work.

So we got through the shoot and put the lighting issue behind us. Then I went to dailies and saw that for some odd reason, the sound was absolutely sub-par for this episode. We used the same mic, the same actors, and the same location as we did every other day, but for some damn reason...the sound was rotten this day. I've restored it the best I possibly could.

Then I got to editing and - lo and behold - the episode started to vex me yet again. Why? Well, it's the most complex, special and sound effects heavy episode so far, and it has been kicking my ass for two weeks. More significantly, it's been kicking the ass of my editing program, Sony Vegas Platinum. I have not been able to get a decent render on the final version of the show yet...the editing program just keeps crashing and crashing. I keep getting an "Exception Error" that said there's an "access violation." Whatever! I've been at this night and day, day and night for over a week now, trying desperately to get a usable episode render. I'm not a happy camper. At this point, I still don't have a decent render, and it's getting perilously close to upload time. Boogers!

"Visited" is our scary and atmospheric episode. And I don't mean just because it's been scaring me this week, either. Part of my task in creating The House Between was to demonstrate how a seemingly basic and limited formula (five people in a house, no way out...) could actually afford the clever scenarist dozens if not hundreds of different and fascinating plots. So we've had our introductory episode ("Arrived"), we had our moody, metaphysical episode ("Settled"), we had our action episode ("Positioned") and now we come to the atmospheric, creepy "Visited." I hope you like what you see. Be sure to watch it with the lights down

Now, storywise, I can't point to any direct series or episode antecedents in "Visited." I will state that this episode introduces the series' recurring enemy, like the Klingon or Borg, the creepy "Outdwellers." Interestingly, if you've watched the series closely, you've already glimpsed these ghouls. Don't know what I'm talking about? Go back to "Arrived" and watch the first ten minutes again. Very closely. Keep a good eye out. There's an Outdweller there...just keep looking. They were always a part of my vision for the show, and a crucial piece of the puzzle.

Anyway, I did name the "Outdwellers" after the mutant "Underdwellers" in the animated 1970s series Return to the Planet of the Apes. Rob Floyd, our special effects guy, designed the creatures and did a hell of a job making them spooky. In garb and style, they are also reminiscent of the mutants from one of my favorite 1970s flicks, The Omega Man.

Ironically, I don't really have too many distinct memories of shooting this episode besides the bulb incident. I think the photography and compositions in this episode are amongst the best of the series. And there was a dramatic scene set in the Parlor from Hell that took forever. Other than that, I was happy with the performances, enthused by the creepy lighting design, excited by the look of our monsters and so forth.

We'll see what you have to say after you watch. If the bloody thing ever renders...

RETRO TOY FLASHBACK # 56: Buena Vista Read Along Adventures.

Ah yes, another relic of a bygone age of toys (namely the 1970s and 1980s).

Almost two decades ago, well before DVD players (and in the era of VCRs...), another way for fans to experience the glory of their favorite sf movie (like Star Wars or Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) involved the exciting technology of...cassettes. Perfect for Borat in Khazikstan today...

What's a cassette? Oh come on, you know! Search your memories....before CDs...after eight-tracks...you know! Anyway, Buena Vista Records manufactured a number of "Read-Along Adventures" for the young ones. These were cassettes that narrated an adventure while the youngling could read along in a 24-page book. "SEE the pictures. HEAR the tape. READ the book," read the material on the back cover of each 24-page book.

Also, Buena Vista noted, you could "give your child a head start in learning to read" with this "24-page book" "filled with full-color illustrations and a high quality read-along cassette." What could be more fun that? Besides DVDs and X-Box, of course...

The back cover also noted that each book features "word-for-word story narration, dramatic character dialogue, authentic sound effects and musical backgrounds." Neat.

In its day, the company released a variety of Star Wars books (Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Planet of the Hoojibs, Droid World, The Ewoks Join the FIght) and didn't slight Star Trek either, making books based on The Motion Picture, The Wrath of Khan and The Search For Spock.

Other titles included Gremlins, The Dark Crystal, E.T. and The Black Stallion. One of my favorites was The Last Starfighter.
A thrill of these "book and cassette" combos was that in some cases (Star Trek and The Last Starfighter, for instance), the books utilized photographs from the actual productions rather than illustrations. This often meant you'd see images that weren't very common; or even better - had been deleted from the film. For instance, there's an interesting view of the U.S.S. Enterprise reckoning with the V'Ger cloud in The Motion Picture edition. And personally, in regards to The Last Starfighter, I can simply never see enough of Catherine Mary Stewart.

As the interior of each book implored on the first page, "LET'S BEGIN NOW!" Really, was there ever a better time to be a kid than the 1970s and 1980s? I guess, cuz now kids have the Internet too. But forgive me for being nostalgic, all right?