Joseph Mallozzi's Blog, page 28

December 25, 2024: Amazing Covers!

A few that caught my eye this week…

Absolute Wonder Woman #3 – cover art by Hayden Sherman

Detective Comics #1092 – cover art by Ashley Wood

Vampirella Helliday 2024 Special #1 – cover art by Jae Lee; June Chung

Justice League Unlimited #2 – cover art by Lucas Meyer

Mystique #3 – cover art by Declan Shalvey

Timeslide #1 – cover art by Michael Del Mundo

So, which were YOUR favorites?

Merry Christmas!

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December 24, 2024: The Christmas Eve Update!

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Whenever I’m undecided on checking out a new movie, t.v. series, or book, I will always check out the reviews.  Not the glowing 8-10 star reviews.  And not the bitter 0-2 star reviews.  The 3-7 star reviews are the ones I want to see as they tend to be the most balanced and, most importantly, will potentially flag any pet peeve I have related to contrivances, conveniences, and coincidences in plotting or suspect logic when it comes to character actions.

So keep those crap reviews coming!

Yesterday was a travel day.  It went about as well as you’d expect…

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Finally got in for about 9:00 p.m.!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

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December 23, 2024: Our Outer Limits rewatch continues with season 1, episodes 29-32!

Season 1, Episode 29, “A Feasibility Study”

This episode was first broadcast April 13, 1964

This was actually producer Joseph Stefano’s first script for the show. It was the ninth episode produced but the 29th episode aired because the network was slow to approve the controversial ending. According to Stefano: “She [the network censor] saw the act of martyrdom as a negative gesture rather than a noble one. But I probably proved my point when ABC saw the finished film, with everyone joining hands. It was very moving and inspirational, and that’s when they approved it. ”

Stefano did have to make some changes to the script however. He recalled: “They were absolutely treacherous when it came to having children in jeopardy.” In the original draft, the neighborhood kids and pets were the first to be stricken. In the end, all references to kids and pets were removed.

Director Byron Hoskin with the final word on those network censors: “They were bloated with self-importance, and threw down the most insane ukases of do this, don’t do that. It isn’t even the amusement business anymore, it’s the world of advertising – and any relation to honest drama is purely coincidental.“

The voice of the Elder of Luminos was provided by British-born Ben Wright who played Zeller in The Sound of Music (1965). Said Wright: “I rather imagine they wanted my British voice to contrast the American voices of the Earth people, to more clearly and easily differentiate them. I was originally to play the part as well, but when they tried to fit me into the alien mask,
they found my head was too big. Like most actors, I suppose.” 1st AD Robert Justman was actually in the suit and mimed the speech.

The highest compliment I can give this episode is that it could have been an episode of The Twilight Zone. It was like a mini movie with some terrific performances, great dialogue, and a surprising ending that, while dark, managed to prove uplifting as well.

Season 1, Episode 30, “Production and Decay of Strange Particles”

This episode was first broadcast April 20, 1964

Actress Allyson Ames, who played Arndis Pollard, was the wife of series creator Leslie Stevens, the writer and director of this episode, from 1965 to 1966.

This was the fourth and final episode of the series to be written and directed by Stevens.

Reflecting back on this episode, Stevens said: ” It was another case of trying to make something out of nothing. To do it with no money, to blast through in four or five days and hope for the best.” And in the end: “I did the best I could on the thing, but I don’t think it was worth a damn .“

The seemingly ever-negative series producer Joseph Stefano weighed in: “That was not an episode I would’ve bought if anyone but Leslie had come in with it.”

In an episode rife with silly technobabble, one scene in particular had everyone laughing. Leslie Stevens recalled the scene in which actor George MacReady makes his homemade nuke: “He’s reaching with needle-nosed pliers into this foaming pot, which is supposed to connect up to some atomic gadget. [Production Manager] Bobby [Justman] lost it, I got tickled, and I started laughing so hard I couldn’t call ‘cut,’ so George just kept messing with this pot of chemicals, on and on, getting more and more desperate because we’re not stopping him . . . because we’re falling out of our chairs with laughter!”

Steven concluded: “The only thing that makes that show interesting is that it’s the first and last time, that I know of, where footage of an atomic bomb explosion has been run forward and backwards.”

Hmmmm. Can’t say I liked this one, but I did enjoy George MacReady’s unhinged performance as Dr. Marshall whose wife refers to him as “Marshall” which leads me to assume his name is Marshall Marshall. Nice to see a young Leonard Nimoy in a scene that seems to pre-sage Spock’s demise in Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan.

Season 1, Episode 31, “The Chameleon”

This episode was first broadcast April 27, 1964

This episode was written by Robert Towne who would go on to write the screenplay for Chinatown.

“The Chameleon” was the last episode of the show’s first season to be shot. At the time, the show was on the cusp of cancellation but series creator Leslie Steven promised the second season would be “wilder, woollier and more chilling.”

Series producer Joseph Stefano spoke positively about this episode: “It was a compassionate story, very moving.”

Not a bad episode even though there are times when it feels like a mishmash of its superior predecessors. I did like the story and I thought the aliens were unique and amusing, but found certain elements of the story a little silly. Still, as the last genuine Outer Limits episode of the season (the season finale, The Forms of Things Unknown, was actually a failed pilot for another show), it did a nice job of encapsulating many of the themes that came before.

Season 1, Episode 32, “The Forms of Things Unknown”

This episode was first broadcast May 4, 1964

Said 1st AD Claude Binyon: “That show was one of Joe’s bad dreams. I don’t know whether audiences can appreciate it as much as the people who made it; unless you understand Joe Stefano, it may not make any sense to you. It’s a world unto him, wholly, and he tries to translate it into lay terms so the rest of us can understand it.”

Director Gerd Oswald found the script no less impenetrable: “I had to read the script seven times and have the cast over to my house so I could explain it to each one of them. Joe and I had many ‘shrink sessions’ so I could find out what was really on his mind when he
wrote it.”

Series creator Leslie Stevens admitted: “It was an extraordinary and peculiar piece. But not a coherent thing for an ordinary audience to grab. It was perceived as being far too arty.”

This episode was actually a failed pilot called “The Unknown”. ABC had expressed interest in a mystery series, so writer-producer Joseph Stefano wrote an alternate version that stripped away the supernatural elements. The time-tilting machine didn’t actually work, Andre only faked his death because there really was no Thanatos tree, and instead of disappearing into the machine Tone is shot dead by Kassia at episode’s end. The two versions were shot simultaneously.

ABC’s refusal to allow Stefano to direct this episode outraged Stefano and Stevens – as would the network’s decision to change the show’s time slot. As a result, this would mark the final episode for series creator Leslie Stevens, producer Joseph Stefano, and composer Dominic Frontiere who would not for the show’s second season.

Series director Byron Haskin placed the blame on their departure squarely on the network: “The Outer Limits could have been one of the biggest hits on TV, if only it had had a little impetus. But I don’t hold much credence for any network attitude though. If you want the truth, they’re all fucking idiots. Really! How they can stay out of the way of bicycles, I have no idea.”

Actress Vera Miles, who played Kasha Paine, may be familiar to Twilight Zone rewatch viewers. She played Millicent Barnes in the excellent “Mirror Image”.

Cedric Hardwicke, who played Colus, also portrayed the titular character in the Twilight Zone episode “Uncle Simon”. “The Forms of Things Unknown” was his final television acting role before his death.

This episode was very unique and I have somewhat mixed feelings here. While I absolutely loved the haunting black and white cinematography, the beautiful direction, and its obvious Shakespearean influences as well as its echoes of Diabolique and Psycho, I found the script a little half-assed. There was little background or explanation for many of the key story elements and I wonder if this episode might have made a better movie. Also, I did really like Tone’s explanation for how his device “tilted” time, allowing elements of the future to tumble back to the present. I found that very interesting.

So ends our first season rewatch of The Outer Limits. Let’s take a seasonal break and resume our rewatch with season 2, sometime in the New Year. Date TBD!

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December 22, 2024: Sharky Sunday!

Unboxing his dinner!

Not enjoying the great outdoors…

And later, snug as a pug in a rug…or blanket –

Sweeping in for his cheese snack…

SlowMo Smelt…

Sharky Snacks – Banana edition!

Out and About with Sharky…

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December 21, 2024: This and That!

Supermarkets today…

What’s been happening the last few days on Capitol Hill…

Welcome to the dawn of MID-tv…

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20241218-netflixs-the-perfect-couple-and-the-reason-tv-was-so-poor-in-2024

My mother was released from the hospital on Friday and is finally home.  We are all relieved.

On Monday, Akemi, Sharky and I fly to Montreal for the holidays.

What are your holiday plans?

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December 20, 2024: Judging A Book By Its Cover!

Books and authors I discovered because I fell in love with their covers…

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December 19, 2024: The Outer Limits rewatch continues with season 1, episodes 25-28!

Season 1, Episode 25, “The Mutant”

This episode was first broadcast March 16, 1964

Series producer Joseph Stefano had this to say about the episode: “‘The Mutant’ was probably the worst show we did. Just terrible. I didn’t care for the cast on it either.”

This episode apparently terrified director Guillermo Del Toro as a child. According to Del Toro, when he saw the mutant, he “started screaming and didn’t stop.”

The name of the show’s production company, Daystar, appears on several boxes as set dressing in various scenes.

The mutated ant that attacks Professor Lacosta is a reuse from “The Zanti Misfits”.

Starting with “The Mutant” all remaining season one episodes were shot in five days instead of six.

The isotope rain effect was achieved by sifting metallic dust through a high-intensity light – a technique later used on Star Trek (1966) for its transporter effect.

Tom Selden, assistant to producer Joseph Stefano, had a run-in with the network while in production on this episode. He recalled: “So I took the call from ABC. And all this asshole wanted to talk about was some network trip that had absolutely nothing to do with what was immediate and necessary at that moment, so I made the choice and told him exactly what I thought: ‘I’m sorry, but I can’t be bothered with that right now. Goodbye.’ That didn’t sit very well with the network and I almost lost my job over that one phone call. It was pretty tense for a few days.”

“The Mutant” started as a story treatment by Ellis St. Joseph (“The Sixth Finger”), was rewritten by Joseph Stefano and Jerome B. Thomas, then re-rewritten by Allan Balter and Robert Mintz (“The Hundred Days of the Dragon”). Sadly, third time was not the charm. Said Stefano: “If you have a good script, you can take away anything you want and it still works. This was not a good script.“

According to Betsy-Jones Moreland who played Judith Griffith, said: “The first night that we were there, my voice went hoarse. I lost my voice from screaming in that cave. I had one hell of a time – it was very cold and very damp. It was very difficult from then on to sound like anything but a frog!“

The mutant eyes were vacu-formed. Dumo Wax was used to arch the actor’s brows into the contours of his head, but the heat at the shooting location, Bronson Canyon, caused the wax to sweat . Eagle-eyed viewers can catch the melted droplets on actor Warren Oates’ face. According to make-up supervisor Fred B. Phillips: “I had to use a strong sealer to keep the eyes from popping off in the middle of a take ” – which they nevertheless did with hilarious frequency.

“l or one of the crew would always come up with these pet names for the “bears ‘ [aka the show’s monsters],” said Joseph Stefano. ” And the right one always stuck.
Because of those eyes, Warren was forever known as the Fried Egg Monster.“

Not a great episode but – let’s face it – we’ve seen worse. Even though the eyes did look silly and the reveal was totally ruined by the episode opening, I did like the idea. And while the demise-in-darkness ending may not have been dramatically effective, I nonetheless did like the idea of the frantic scramble for the light of the candle. Despite Stefano’s criticism, I though the cast did an admirable job with the material.

So, in the end, not a great episode but not bad relative to the preceding installments. Does that make it a Top 10 contender? If this was The Twilight Zone, I’d say no, but given this series, I’m not so sure.

Season 1, Episode 26, “The Guests”

This episode was first broadcast March 23, 1964

The alien creature in this episode is a re-use from “The Mice”.

This episode was based on a pitch by author and Twilight Zone writer Charles Beaumont, its premise markedly similar to his TZ script “Valley of the Shadow” except that, in this case, the town was under the control of a giant brain. Writer Don Sanford was handed the assignment but he totally reworked the original pitch, turning the script around in record time and delivering a first draft that so impressed producer Joseph Stefano that he sent the episode into prep forgetting to add a Control Voice opening and closing.

Reflecting back on the episode, Sanford said: “(It) was such a restriction-less working environment, a one-of-a-kind show. One of the reasons The Outer Limits was so unique was that once the ratings slipped a little, everyone took the ‘magnifying glass’ off them, and they went crazy with these on-the-edge stories, all the oddities they didn’t dare try to slip by the network while the big guys were hovering over their shoulders.” [This echoes my own experience with SG-1’s cancellation and the Teal’c at the Vagina Monologues ending – see pinned tweet in m profile]. According to Sanford: “I still get letters from people about ‘The Guests.’ They see all kinds of deep, subtle meanings . . . things I never intended or hinted.”

Assistant Director Claude Binyon recalled: “We literally built that set with l ights. We used a piece of glass about ten inches by six, representing a set that would have been about eighty by twenty feet. The corridors were painted on the glass. We had to film very carefully, because any camera motion would have caused our set to shake all over!”

Actor Geoffrey Horne, who played Wade Norton in this episode, appeared as a misunderstood Christ-like figure in The Twilight Zone episode “The Gift”.

Gloria Grahame, who played Florida Patton, is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Violet Bick in It’s A Wonderful Life.

Nellie Burt, who played the malicious Ethel Latimer, delivered an equally memorable performance as a wheelchair-bound schemer in “Don’t Open ‘Til Doomsday”.

Vaughn Taylor, who played Randall Latimer, appeared in five Twilight Zone episodes: “Time Enough at Last,” “Still Valley,” “I Sing the Body Electric,” “The Incredible World of Horace Ford,” and “The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross”.

An eerily effective outing with some terrific visuals and gothic elements. Starts off strong but grows rather predictable and the alien’s discovery of love and sacrifice felt a little…cheesy. The alien’s decision to self-destruct the house reminded me of the ending of The Simpsons’ first Treehouse of Horrors installment “Bad Dream House”. Not surprising given how often the show drew inspiration from shows like OL and TZ in particular.

All in all, a nice change of pace.

Season 1, Episode 27, “Fun and Games”

This episode was first broadcast March 30, 1964

The first draft of this episode included a U.N. computer expert, a medical missionary, multiple challenges, and a jellyfish monster. Also, the final scene has the alien step into the light, revealing himself to be an intelligent ape. Series Producer Joseph Stefano rewrote the script to make it more producible, lowering production costs, and excising elements he didn’t like (ie. the intelligent ape).

An altered version of the alien mask, minus the bulging eyes and taloned hands, would be reused in Star Trek’s “The Cage” (1966).

This episode’s lava effect was achieved with dry ice and charcoal.

Joseph Stefano deemed the alien actor’s performance disappointing and a new voice actor was brought in to dub all the alien’s dialogue.

Look out, he’s got a boomerang! Did anyone else get a Predator vibe from this episode? Or maybe even a Star Trek Gorn vibe? I like the classic arena premise but I was not a fan of that boomerang. Or our host villain’s ridiculously over-the-top performance, including the villainous laugh. If the finished version was this bad, I wonder what the original performance was like. Also, getting back to that boomerang, how the hell did Laura master its use of it so quickly?

A middling foray for me.

Season 1, Episode 28, “The Special One”

This episode was first broadcast April 6, 1964

Actor Richard Ney, who played Mr. Xeno, was apparently very enthusiastic about the stock market, giving the cast and crew hot stock tips during production. He had married actress Greer Garson who was 12 year her senior and, during divorce proceedings in 1947, it was revealed he had called her “old”. This revelation enraged fans and dealt a devastating blow to Ney’s acting career. He eventually left the business to become a stock broker.

Marion Ross, who played Agnes Benjamin, is of course best known as Mrs. Cunningham from Happy Days.

Edward Platt, who played Mr. Terrence, is best known for his portrayal of The Chief on Get Smart.

Producer Joseph Stefano commented on this episode, dispensing accolades like hot tamales at communion: “I wasn’t too involved in that show. I liked the story originally, but i t did not come off the way I thought it would.“ Too bad he didn’t have the time to rewrite the episode – or direct and act in it.

The episode ran short so Xeno’s death was stretched out to a torturous slow-mo five minutes sequence.

Let’s leave the final word to episode director Gerd Oswald: “It was too pedestrian; not one of my favorites. I’ve only seen it once, and the most interesting thing in it is Richard Ney. “

I don’t disagree with Oswald’s assessment although I found the prologue quite effective (as someone who is afraid of heights). Apparently, some see this episode as a commentary on television (and The Outer Limits in particular) as xenon gas, the element they so desperately crave, is used in plasma t.v.’s which hit the market in 1964.

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December 18, 2024: Amazing Covers!

A few that caught my eye this week…

Daredevil #16 – cover art by Doaly

Hellverine #1 – cover art by Kendrick Lim

Namor #5 – cover art by Marc Aspinall

Sentinels #3 – cover art by Kael Ngu

Ul

Ultimate Spider-Man #12 – cover art by Jeehyung Lee

Ultimate Spider-Man #12 – cover art by Pepe Larraz

Catwoman #71 – cover art by Sebastian Fiumara

Catwoman #71 – cover art by Lee Bermejo

Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter #6 – cover art by Bjorn Barends

Wonder Woman #16 – cover art by Bruno Redondo

So, which were YOUR favorites?

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December 17, 2024: The Update!

I woke up this morning very sore.  Right thigh.  Right shoulder and wrist.  Neck.  But the fact that I woke up was, in itself, a minor miracle.  In the event I did not, I was in rare form yesterday…

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And on an unrelated note –

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Anyway, I seem to be past the danger zone but, as others have pointed out, concussion symptoms could manifest days, weeks, sometimes months after the incident so I am, technically, not out of the woods yet.

Speaking of symptoms, I do feel exhausted today but, again, I’m not sure if this is a result of a potential concussion or the overall lack of sleep I had the past week.  Between the sleepless nights in that hospital chair in Montreal watching over my mother and the fitful rest I got the last couple of days, it all seems to have caught up to me.

Which makes it perfect timing for tomorrow afternoon’s pitch!  To be fair, it’s only a pre-run-thru ahead of the New Year run-thru ahead of the actual pitches I’ll be doing in late January and early February…while I will, in all likelihood, be in Japan.  7- 11 a.m. Osaka time that is 2-6 p.m. PST and that would be the window.  I’ll just grab my Glitch coffee and be ready to go!

A few other pitches are lining up for the same timeline – the cozy mystery series, The Mote in God’s Eye, the android-themed murder mystery.  We’ll see how things go.

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December 16, 2024: A rough few days!

I got back from Montreal last night, pretty exhausted from my trip that saw me spend three of four nights at the hospital with my mother.  My first night, I got zero hours of sleep, but the following night I was able to get eight hours sleeping in my old bed (even though I woke up incredibly sore).  I only got one hour sleep on night #3 because, after finally dozing off at midnight, the nurse came in at 1:00 a.m. turned on the lights, and woke up my mother to ask if she needed to go to the bathroom.  She did not.  And I was up until morning.  For Night #4, they rolled in a recliner for me and I was able to get six hours sleep.  Last night, even though I’d returned home and was sleeping in my own bed, was a surprisingly fitful night’s rest.  So maybe the lack of sleep caught up with me because…

This morning, I was hit by a bike.  I checked to make sure there were no cars headed my way, stepped off the sidewalk, then turned and caught the cyclist speeding towards me from my right.  She was going the wrong way down a one way street and I hadn’t checked.  I took the full force of the bike and was knocked back, on the street where I bounced my head off the pavement.  Pretty hard.

I was in a bit of shock but felt otherwise okay but one of the witnesses of the incident I go get checked out for a concussion.  So I headed over to the nearby Health One Medical & Wellness Center at The Well where I was checked out by a doctor.  No headache.  No nausea.  No blurred vision.  No confusion.  No memory loss.  He checked my skull and neck for fractures.  All good.

So, I’m back home now.  My arm and neck are a little sore from where I took the hit.  But I feel confidently unconcussed.  However…

These arrived in the mail today –

But there was no return address and, while I remember talking to someone about these a couple of weeks ago, I don’t recall who.  They arrived yesterday, prior to my being mowed down, but could I be suffering pre-concussion symptoms?

 

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